Charlie Hebdo Played a Dangerous Game of "Chicken" with Jihadist Terrorists That Cost Lives

The publishers of Charlie Hebdo knew full well they were risking their lives, and the lives of those they employed, by intentionally trying to offend Muslims, particularly those of a jihadist bent.  This is confirmed by the fact that the now late editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, Stephane Charbonnier, once quipped that he'd "rather die standing than living on [his] knees."

In light of this, nobody should be surprised that Charbonnier, and at least eleven other people who worked on Charlie Hebdo, were murdered in cold blood today by Muslim terrorists.  And yet, some people are miffed at "Screaming" Bill Donahue of the Catholic League for pointing out that the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo was foreseeable.    

Obviously, these critics have mistaken Donahue's pointing out the foreseeability of the terrorist attack that occurred with blaming the victims for causing the attack.  It's admittedly a nuanced distinction, but one that nevertheless exists.

These criticisms of Bill Donahue also detract from the fact that the publishers of Charlie Hebdo have been playing a reckless and dangerous game of "chicken" with Muslim jihadists that, sadly and unsurprisingly, has resulted in the tragic murder of several lives.  

Dear Harvard: *Facepalm*

Much like almost all other institutes of so-called higher learning these days, Harvard was all gung-ho for the passage of Obamacare a few years ago.  Heck, the architect of Obamacare, Jonathan "Americans Are Stupid People" Gruber, is a professor there.

Now comes news that the faculty at Harvard are bitching and moaning about having to pay for increased health care costs that are directly caused by Obamacare.

If there were ever a group of people that was less self-aware than these left-wing elitists, I'd be shocked.

Return of the Los Angeles Rams?

News that the owner of the St. Louis Rams is planning on building a stadium in the City of Inglewood is fortifying rumors that the Rams will be coming back to Los Angeles.  While I hope it turns out to be true (I grew up rooting for the Rams while they were in L.A.) I'm not going to believe the rumor until there's an official announcement.  There's just been too many NFL teams over the years that have publicly used Los Angeles as a bargaining chip to get new stadium deals in their own cities.    

One Year Later...

It's been exactly one year since my last post, which much like all of 2014, was a bit of downer.

Politically, the year ended pretty well with the Republican tidal wave in Congress.  I somehow get the feeling, though, the GOP congressional leadership under John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are going to screw everything up.  Their handling of Obama's unconstitutional immigration legislation certainly hasn't given me much confidence in them.

Unfortunately, the Republican tidal wave across the country barely touched California.  Moonbeam won reelection as governor, Republicans again failed to win a state-wide office, and over 900 new and largely liberty undermining laws have been added to the books.  The only real positive thing that happened in California in 2014 was the Democrats losing their super-majority in the State Senate.

And, oh yeah, my friend Matthew Harper was elected to the State Assembly. Matt, I think, is someone to keep an eye on for state-wide office.

Whether this is my only posting for the year, I can't say.  Facebook and Twitter have pretty much replaced what I started with this blog over ten years ago.  I'm on Twitter almost every day, so if you happen to be interested in anything I have to say, you can follow me at @catholiclawyer.