My kind of Olympics commentary: [Video link] [UPDATE] Thanks to loyal reader JC for pointing out that this brilliant spoof is the work of Chris ‘The Viper’ Tordoff of the Hardy Bucks, an Irish mocumentary TV series akin to Nova Scotia's Trailer Park Boys. It centres on five "scheming, drinking, work-shy procrastinators from fictitious ‘Castletown’ in County Mayo, Ireland." Backstory here and here. IrishCentral reports that the spoofed sailing commentary first appeared on Vimeo, but was taken down, either by Vimeo acting on its own or on a take-down demand from the International Olympic Committee. This provoked a profanity laden audio retort from The Viper. Original H/T:...

On January 1, a new law in Ireland bans publication or uttering of material grossly abusive or insulting to matters held sacred by any religion and thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion. The law carries a 25,000 Euro fine and permits some defenses. The website blasphemy.ie declares it "both silly and dangerous." It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentives religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are...