From Pine View Farm

Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

The NAACP has suggested that black student athletes to unite against the New Secesh, refusing to attend sports powerhouses (such as UGa., Alabama, FSU, etc.) in states that are attempting to gerrymander minority voters out of existence. Rick Stron discusses this.

(In the first two minutes, you can watch the New Secesh come out from under their hoods and show themselves. It’s pretty scary.)

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All the News that Fits 0

Donald Trump hold two huge bags fo meney labeled

Click for the original image.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

A panderer to prurience? Why, it panders to prurience with picture-perfect perfection.

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

Via the Las Vegas Sun, Lydia Polgreen hears a rhyme from ancient Greece, when Athens embarked on a reckless war of choice, certain of victory. Here’s tiny bit of her article; follow the link for the rest.

Drunk on the violence they mistook for power, the Athenians blundered on to a far riskier gambit, an invasion of Sicily. The Athenians, initially divided on the war, were eventually persuaded by leaders who believed that the Sicilians were weak and corrupt. They were sitting ducks, unable to defend themselves against so fearsome a foe. It would be an easy victory bringing Athens greater glory.

But strength was not enough.

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QOTD 0

H. L. Mencken:

The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Republican Thought Police 0

The Constitution may protect freedom of speech, but, in Texas, freedom of speech is apparently not street-legal.

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The Courage of His Conniptions 0

Florida Man.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

A 3-year-old accidentally shot a man Thursday night after a firearm was left unsecured in Delray Beach, police said.

I’m certain that, as regards the three-year-old, it was accidental. But, as regards the “responsible gun owner,” it was negligent.

One more time, “responsible gun owner” is an oxymoron.

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American Stasi 0

Yet another persons held in an ICE detention center concentration camp tells his story.

Just read it, and, as you do, remind yourself that this is being done in the name of liberty and justice for all..

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The Rule of Lawless 0

Two prisoners in a cell.  One says,

Click for the original image.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

A shill for merch? El Reg explores how Google plans to infuse its AI with ads.

(Another reason to loathe AI.)

Aside:

My new Anddroid cell phone keeps nagging me to use Google’s Gemini AI.

I keep telling Gemini to go away. (I don’t need nor want what amounts to a talking search engine that chooses search results for me, which is basically all that AI is.)

A couple of times, before I’ve gotten a chance to tell it to go away, it’s eavesdropped on my conversation and started talking on its own, saying stuff that is irrelevant to whatever the conversation was about.

As far as I’m concerned, AI does not stand for “artificial intelligence.” It stands for “annoying interrupter.”

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QOTD 0

Gore Vidal:

The rhetoric of hate is often most effective when couched in the idiom of love.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet another case of politeness on the pavement.

We have become an uncivilized society.

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If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0

At Above the Law, Liz Dye explores Donald Trump’s claims that he and his staff have the right to destroy official documents in defiance of long-established law. Almost as an aside, she notes the irony:

It’s worth pausing to note that the man who spent years braying that Hillary Clinton should go to email jail for using a private server is now arguing that his minions have a constitutional right to conduct government business on self-destructing messaging apps, and that any law requiring them to preserve those messages is an unconstitutional affront to executive power.

Follow the link for context.

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Enablers of Epidemics 0

Via The Japan Times, Lisa Jarvis considers the legacy of the Trump maladministration’s and of Elon Musk’s DOGE in the light of a spreading ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here’s a bit from her article (emphasis added):

. . . DOGE took a wrecking ball to that network. USAID was shut down practically overnight, which led to Ebola-prevention funding being “accidentally” canceled, as Elon Musk cavalierly noted. Musk at the time claimed it had been restored, but ultimately the health infrastructure was dismantled. Meanwhile, the CDC faced its own steep cuts and the U.S. — which had long been the WHO’s top funder — withdrew from the organization entirely.

While it’s too early to directly blame those cuts for the late detection of the current outbreak, one thing is certain: The decimation of USAID and the U.S.’ exit from the WHO will make containing the spread much more difficult.

Afterthought:

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the Trump maladministration and today’s Republican Party do not comprehend the concept of–nor give a tuppence for–the common good.

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The Exit Strategy 0

Donald Trump, hving painted his way into a corner with Iran, sees war with Cuba as a way out.

Click for the original image.

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A Self-Fulfilling Predicament 0

After I read this news item, the one thought that came to my mind was, “Why am I not surprised.”

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Republican Thought Police . . . 0

. . . Meet Facebook Frolics.

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From Pine View Farm
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