From Pine View Farm

QOTD 0

Hyman Rickover:

Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Clarence Page takes a look at Donald Trump’s recent directive, in which he directed the Republican thought police to assault the Smithsonian Institution for having the unmitigated gall to attempt to portray American history with accuracy. A snippet:

Frankly, I think Trump should feel relieved that the museum’s many exhibits do not highlight his own settlement of a 1973 racial discrimination case against his father and himself, brought by the Justice Department for the Trumps’ alleged refusal to rent apartments in predominantly white buildings to Black tenants.

Follow the link for the rest.

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Gut Reactions 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Kenneth Barish argues that “(w)e are motivated in our political opinions first by feelings and secondarily by ideas.” I don’t know that I fully agree with him, but, given the increasingly toxic nature of dis coarse discourse, I think his article is well worth a read. Here’s a tiny bit from it:

A Supreme Court justice is not conservative because he is an “originalist” or a “strict constructionist.” He is an originalist because he is conservative. Antonin Scalia disputed this, even called it a slander, but his argument is unconvincing. Liberal justices are not liberal because they believe in a “living constitution.” They believe in a living constitution because they are liberal. For Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the starting point and core premise of her judicial philosophy was the awareness of injustice. For Scalia, the starting point was what he perceived as moral decadence in society and the need to defend traditional values. This is why Scalia and Ginsburg, friends for decades, continued to disagree.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Frame One:  A group of plutocrats approach Lady Liberty and say,

Click for the original image.

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Disappeared under the Rule of Lawless 0

Emma talks with journalist Prem Trakker about how Trump and ICE are disappearing persons without showing legal cause for doing so and about the implications thereof.

Afterthought:

I do not think it is an exaggeration to fear that, if we continue on this course, we in danger of becoming a police state.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

At The Philadelphia Inquirer, Faye Anderson takes issue with Donald Trump’s attempt to white-wash (I use that term advisedly) America’s history. Here’s a tiny bit from her article; follow the link for her reasoning.

With the troubling, revisionist, and narrow-minded executive order he signed last month called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” President Donald Trump isn’t trying so much to kill the past as cover it up with as many layers of lily-white paint as he can.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet another “responsible gun owner” feels compelled to expose his portable phallus whilst traversing our highways and byways.

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QOTD 0

Zechariah Chafee:

Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Influencer Idiocy 0

The stupid. It burns.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

Indeed, it incubates idiots and nurtures nutbags.

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Reruns 0

Daniel Ruth contends that we’ve seen this show before. Here’s one of the examples he cites; follow the link for the rest.

Foreign aid gets the boot. Public health is gasping for air. And don’t think of visiting a national park. Meanwhile, the Blofeld of Bedminster strokes his pet Big Mac and orders his own personal James Bond-like Le Chiffre to fire another 100,000 people just for the fun of it.

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Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt 0

It’s what Trump and Musk are trying to do to retirees who want to collect their social security.

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True Believers 0

Caption:  Lib-eration Day.  Image:  Red-hatted men watching money fly out of the savings because of Trump's tariffs.  One says,

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The Process 0

In a longer of a longer article about Trump’s proposed tariffs, including those proposed for jurisdications that don’t have exports–or, in some cases, human inhabitants–Mike Murphy offers this insight into Donald Trump’s decision making process:

Donald Trump has never let history and facts interfere with his gut feeling and kneejerk reactions . . . .

Methinks he pretty much nails it.

Follow the link for context.

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What’s in a Name? 0

According to the Republican thought police, a firing offense.

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QOTD 0

Maggie Gallagher:

Democratic forms of government are vulnerable to mass prejudice, the so-called tyranny of the majority.

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Number Gamers 0

The Late Show does the math.

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The Zombie Fact Apocalypse 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Susan A. Nolan and Michael Kimball note that

  • A zombie fact is misinformation that persists in the face of evidence against it. . . .
  • False beliefs about vaccine risks (a zombie fact) have fueled an outbreak of measles in the United States.

They go on to offer some simple techniques to keep your brains from being consumed by zombie facts.

Given the number for zombie facts careening down the disinformation superhighway, their article is well worth a look.

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The Disinformation Superhighway 0

Two men on a park bench looking at their pones.  First man:  Disinformation, made up lies, misleading statements . . . .  Second man:  That's why I get my news from social media.  First man:  That is social media.

Click to view the original image.

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From Pine View Farm
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