Just been one of those weeks…
The religious extremists imposed strict sharia law. In Timbuktu and beyond, they smashed shrines built for Sufi mystics, burned manuscripts and destroyed ancient artefacts.
The priceless texts would have all been lost had it not been for the old guardian families who protected what they could.
Tuaregs and Islamists disagreed over the way their new state of Azawad should be run and began to fight each other.
The government asked for foreign military help and the former colonial power France answered the call.
French troops arrived in January 2013 and were joined by African forces. Within a month, they had driven the violent extremists out into the desert and retaken the River Niger towns.
Plus the usual UN fecklessness. Read the whole thing.
Wow! @Israel_Advocacy breaks bombshell story on the closest friends & campaign staff of @RashidaTlaib, whom she thanked & affiliates w/ publicly. Explicitly pro-terror content, calls to violence such as "kill all zionists," bragging about meetings w/ terorrists in prison, & more. pic.twitter.com/qBSgzCK29I
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) March 28, 2019
When I first went to the Bronx, I expected that the people there, those most affected by the coldness and ruthlessness of the world, would share my atheism. Instead, I found a strong belief in the supernatural, and a faith that manifested in many ways, mostly as a belief in the Bible.
Everyone I met there who was living homeless or battling an addiction held a deep faith. Street walking is stunningly dangerous work, and everyone has stories of being cut, attacked, and threatened, or stories of others who were killed. Everyone has to deal with the danger. Few work without a mix of heroin, Xanax, or crack. None without faith. “You know what kept me through all that? God. Whenever I got into the car, God got into the car with me.”
There are dirty Bibles in crack houses, Qur’ans in abandoned buildings. There is a picture of the Last Supper that moves with a couple living on the streets. Rosaries, crucifixes, and religious icons are worn for protection and good luck. Pages of the Bible are torn out, folded up, and kept in pockets, to be pulled out and fingered nervously, or read over in times of stress, or held during prayers.
I get the sense not enough people in the world read Stephen King’s The Stand (or saw the miniseries). I hear they’re remaking the miniseries. I hope to God they do, in time to warn people:
CRISPR may bring the apocalypse.
Seriously – look at the list of “do’s” and “don’t’s” on that biohacking lab website. Then, know that because that list is there, they realize many users likely won’t follow that advice.
… and if this is what the general public may play with, just imagine what the hidden corners of Tehran or Pyongyang are up to. Or the Pentagon.
We frankly don’t even need someone to unleash a superbug. We just need a critical mass of people screwing around with such things, and then one person makes a mistake.
That’s what set off Captain Tripps in The Stand.
The hubris on display is amazing. Michael Crichton also tried to warn us about this. As Ian Malcom said, too many people are focused on whether or not they “could” instead of worrying whether or not they “should”.
Ugh, everyone is so in awe and starry-eyed over CRISPR experimenting. I’m sure the citizens of Pompeii thought Vesuvius was a beautiful mountain, too.
…
I’m embarrassed to point to my own comments elsewhere, but I really have written at length on this topic, on a different blog … https://www.cringely.com/2019/04/04/prediction-5-drones-become-pizza-to-the-neighborhood-pttn/#comment-700573
Speaking of CRISPER and buying your own biohacking lab:
“In an interview with Buzzfeed directly after the October 2017 muscle-editing stunt, Zayner told the outlet, ‘I want to live in a world where people get drunk and instead of giving themselves tattoos, they’re like, “I’m drunk, I’m going to CRISPR myself.”‘”
Spoiler: the state of California is investigating him. Except that’s probably not a spoiler, because what DOESN’T California investigate?
Lawrence will especially appreciate the last paragraph.