From Pine View Farm

July, 2016 archive

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Be polite to your romantic partners.

Investigators say 19-year-old Jacob Lara and his 16-year-old girlfriend were apparently trying to make his handgun safe at around 12:20 a.m. Friday when the weapon accidentally fired while she held it.

Just another day in NRA lovers’ paradise.

Aside:

The story says the case is going to be referred to a grand jury to decide whether to press charge. Given that, according to the rules of English grammar, the gun clearly fired itself, why the referral is left hanging.

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Conventional Wisdom 0

Warning: In questionable taste, but so is the Republican Convention.

Via Raw Story.

Footnote: No, Tim Tebow won’t be there.

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Chris-Crossed: Christie the Cold-Hearted 0

At Northjersey dot com, Valerie Vainieri Huttle highlights Chris Christie’s utter disdain for those most in need. A snippet:

The most disturbing aspect of this situation (continual cuts in funding for programs to help those who are struggling–ed.) is the complete and utter disregard the governor has displayed for the human casualties of his decision. This indicates a serious disconnect with the struggles of everyday New Jerseyans.

Many of the constituents that benefit from these programs the governor excised have come before the Assembly Human Services Committee with heartbreaking pleas for assistance, pleas that did not fall on deaf ears when we crafted the Democratic budget this year. That is, until it arrived at the governor’s desk.

‘Not worthy’

With the stroke of a pen, the governor told these constituents: You are not worthy.

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QOTD 0

James Boswell:

He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.

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It’s No (Longer a) Secret 0

Josh Marshall reveals his secret for understanding the Trumpery.

Early on I realized that when it came to Trump if I figured out the stupidest possible scenario that could be reconciled with the available facts and went with it, that almost always turned out to be right. The stupider, the righter.

There’s more. Read it.

Aside:

Y’know, I might even watch some of the coverage of next week’s convention.

Read more »

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Role Models 0

Republican reading platform:  We reaffirm the sanctity of tradition marriage, (picture of Trump appears) all three of them.

Via The Bob and Chez Show Blog.

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Nobody Expects the Spanish Republican Inquisition 0

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Droning On 2

Boys and their toys . . . .

A Foresthill man has been arrested on suspicion of interfering with firefighting operations during the recent Trailhead Fire by flying a drone over the fire, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The presence of the drone forced Cal Fire to ground firefighting aircraft due to the risk of a collision.

Information posted on social media helped lead Cal Fire law enforcement officers to 57-year-old Eric Wamser. He was arrested Friday afternoon and booked into the Placer County Jail.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

More polite play:

The boy was in the kitchen, where he was apparently playing with a 9 millimeter handgun and it went off, hitting him in the chest. It’s still unclear to whom the gun belongs, whether it was properly secured or how the boy got hold of it.

Thus passeth another day in NRA paradise, where the right to unending carnage shall not be infringed.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Discordant frolics.

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Driving while Black 0

You don’t have to make this stuff up.

It happens every day.

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Learning To Loot 2

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QOTD 0

John Dewey:

We naturally associate democracy, to be sure, with freedom of action, but freedom of action without freed capacity of thought behind it is only chaos.

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Geeking Out 0

Listening to The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart on QMMP while checking email in Mutt in the Terminator terminal emulator while monitoring computer usage with GkrellM on Slackware –Current with a GUI managed by the Fluxbox window manager, praise Bob!

Slackware screenshot

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“Do the Donald” 0

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Tell Me Again Why They Are Called “Smart” Phones? Once More All Over Again 0

Mine rescue experts and firefighters had to come to the aid of a group of teenagers after they became hopelessly lost in Wiltshire while searching for Pokémon Go characters deep underground.

The four teenagers had ventured into the network of caves at Box to play the augmented reality game, which launched in the UK this week and is already sweeping the nation.

The stupid. It burns.

Addendum:

And then there’s this.

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“Barefoot and Pregnant” 0

At the Boston Review, Kate Manne starts with Donald Trump’s overt contempt for women (even as he lusts after them) and reasons backwards to the more subtle and common aspects of misogyny and what it means. She concludes it’s all about keeping women in their place, their place, that is, as defined by the misogynists. A snippet:

Trump’s blunt kind of misogyny is a good place to start in understanding the general phenomenon. It is so crude, shameless, and unapologetic that we run little risk of getting lost in its nuances. But we must ask the natural next question: What happens to misogyny when it acquires a little subtlety or goes underground and manages more by way of plausible deniability?

The answer, all too often, is that it is transformed into moralistic forms—which are not, as (right wing apologist and professional misdirection player David–ed.) Brooks seems to imply, historical artifacts. What unites these varieties of misogyny, past and present, and moralistic and non-moralistic alike, is that they enforce the patriarchal order by lifting men up and taking down women.

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When Staying Alive Is a Special Privilege . . . . 0

White man to black man holding

Via Juanita Jean.

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Voltaic Brexit 1

I haven’t mentioned Brexit much because I don’t know enough about it; I know only what I’ve read in the papers.

It’s not that I fear displaying my ignorance; it’s that I don’t even have enough ignorance to display. (I will say that my gut instinct is that, in a globalizing world, promoting parochialism is not a propitious proposition.)

I will commend to your attention to the latest episode of the Bad Voltage podcast, which opens with a fascinating discussion about Brexit amongst one Brit living in Britain, one expat Brit, and one American, all of them accomplished and none of them political professionals. The Brexit discussion takes up the first half-hour or so of the show.

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Trump TV 0

Via TPM.

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