Sunday roundup

Stop using coal for class warfare; coal kills poor people.

This father's day, two dads who lost two sons to Sandy Hook remind us that guns also kill people, and that enough is enough.

Holy crap:

In a country where half the population does not have enough to eat, Jang was burdened with too much food. In addition to the standard rations for a member of the elite, he received a weekly package of imported goodies pilfered by the state from humanitarian aid donated by the United States and other countries. (In the 1990s, famine in North Korea claimed the lives of more than 1 million people.) Sometimes Jang received milk powder intended for starving babies. “Because we were given so much,” he writes, “it was a chore to collect our regular rations.”

Daniel Byman sums up the futility of going after governance crises with military solutions (and the challenges of going after them with governance solutions):

Quite often, the allies we’re seeking to help are themselves deeply flawed: corrupt, sectarian and repressive. And even worse, they are so by design — their problems are fundamental to the functioning of their politics. In such cases, U.S. assistance can help only on the margins. And that is precisely the case with Iraq today...

By encouraging democratic reforms in these circumstances, the United States threatens the national government’s power. By encouraging minority rights, we undermine the privileges and biases of the dominant community. By calling for an end to corruption and for transparency in government, we threaten the leader’s ability to control and reward his base. And by pushing military reform, we risk making the military the only functioning institution in a weak country and making a coup more likely.

And, wow (in memory of Andrei Mironov):

“I refused, of course, and then they made a rope from a towel. Two of them took my hands so I couldn’t resist, and another one started to strangle me,” he said. “Just before I fainted, I felt relief, strangely enough, and I lost hate towards those guys, because I felt they are weak and I am strong. . . . When I regained consciousness, I saw their faces — they were extremely scared . . . and I was not. After that, I realized they had no more instruments to manipulate me.”

Which reminds me of this priceless wisdom from Maya Angelou, as adapted by Maria Popova:

When people tell you who they are, Maya Angelou famously advised, believe them. Just as importantly, however, when people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them. You are the only custodian of your own integrity, and the assumptions made by those that misunderstand who you are and what you stand for reveal a great deal about them and absolutely nothing about you.

***
There's so much to say in response to this idiocy, much of which is said here, but I just can't believe people think evolution is prescriptive, among other things.

You've almost gotta feel bad for these hopeless dudes.

Another epic fail from the Daily Fail:

"Human rights lawyer attends conference on sexual violence" pic.twitter.com/xI7vXDwlUg via @wendybradley #EverydaySexism
— EverydaySexism (@EverydaySexism) June 13, 2014

Ruth Simmons reminded everyone that the truth doesn't collapse at hearing opposing views.

Journal citations are a poor metric for scientific achievement.