From Pine View Farm

November, 2016 archive

Awakening 0

TRUMPED – watch more funny videos

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Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt 0

Dick Polman.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

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Keeping Up with the Times 6

Catherine Rampell suggests that college students need to change with the times.

What skills and disciplines should workers-to-be master to succeed in the 21st-century economy?

My answer used to involve programming, data analysis, creativity, empathy. Basically, skills that are complementary to rising automation and that will help workers invent new products or support those who do.

Today, my answer must change. In light of the regulatory vision being laid out by President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers, I’d recommend college students bone up on hustling and swindling instead.

Mammas, make sure your babies grow up to be con men.

Follow the link to find out why she says that.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Volunteer politely.

Attorney James Davis represents George Matis Jr., of Republic (Pennsylvania–ed.), who remained jailed on criminal homicide and reckless endangerment charges in the Sunday shooting of 16-year-old Parker Hess at the Republic Volunteer Fire Company.

Hess was shot when Matis removed his legally owned gun from a holster and it fired, striking Hess in the cheek, state police said in a criminal complaint. Investigators haven’t said whether the shooting was accidental, but Davis believes it was.

In related news, it must have been the little white tail, reprise.

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Truth in Labeling 0

Daniel Farmer reports that the Associated Press has issued guidelines that truthful reporting requires using truthful words. In his discussion, he gives some examples:

As (AP Standards Editor–ed.) Daniszewski described it (“Alt-Right”–ed.), “The movement criticizes ‘multiculturalism’ and more rights for non-whites, women, Jews, Muslims, gays, immigrants and other minorities. Its members reject the American democratic ideal that all should have equality under the law regardless of creed, gender, ethnic origin or race.”

It’s time to call such things what they are: racist.

If you say people of color are the enemy, as the governor (Governor LePage of Maine–ed.) has, you’re a racist.

Same thing if you lie and say that black people commit 90 percent of crime in the state when the numbers don’t back you up, if you encourage violence against black men, and if you say immigrants carry disease and are terrorists.

You’re not part of the “alt-right.” Let’s be precise: You’re a racist.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, for I have noted this constancy over my years: Except for a militant few, racists don’t like to be called “racist”; indeed, most will vehemently deny even to themselves that they are racist even as the crosses burn brightly behind them.

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Pay to Play 0

No surprises here.

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Swamp Things 0

Kevin Drum has been keeping track of the Trump’s swamp draining. It ain’t pretty.

Chart showing that Trump is


Click to see the original image.

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The Voter Fraud Fraud 0

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QOTD 0

Barbara Brown Taylor:

As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God.

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Changing the Subject 0

Thom discusses how our compliant corporate media run after shiny things and miss the stories that matter.

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The Galt and the Lamers 1

Return of the robber barons.

What’s next? Child labor?

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Dominance and Submission 0

Josh Marshall continues to explore Donald Trump’s desire for total victory, seeing hints of it in the current kerfuffle over Mitt the Flip as a possibility for Secretary of State (emphasis in the original). A nugget:

If you haven’t kept up on this little sub-drama in the Trump mega-drama, Trump staffers have been floating word for days that Trump will require Romney to publicly apologize if he wants to be Secretary of State – almost literally a ritual humiliation to enter the Trump inner circle. More pointedly, Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway – now some sort of senior advisor to the transition – has repeatedly said in public that if Trump chooses Romney it would be a betrayal of Trump’s supporters.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Give thanks with politeness.

A 2-year-old boy in Philadelphia is in critical condition after his 4-year-old cousin accidentally shot him on Thanksgiving, police said.

The children appear to have been playing with a gun at the 2-year-old’s home in the 3500 block of North 9th Street on Thursday at about 4:23 p.m., police said. The 4-year-old boy was handling the gun when the weapon discharged, shooting his cousin in the chest. The victim’s mother and her boyfriend were home at the time of the incident, according to police.

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Baggage 0

Image of Donald Trump as Washington crossing the Delaware towing a YUUUUUGGGGEEEE barge filled with buildings labeled

Via Job’s Anger.

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Short Attention Span Theatre, #Hashtag Nation Dept. 0

PoliticalProf.

We are a society of stupid.

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Twits on Twitter, Sore Winners Dept. 0

Dick Polman remarks on our thin-skinned Petulant-elect:

Your typical president-elect spends Thanksgiving weekend at leisure, basking in victory, chilling with friends, planning his Cabinet, reassuring the nation, stuff like that. But things are different when the president-elect is a dangerously insecure narcissist. This type of president-elect thumbs stupid tweets on a smart phone.

(snip)

But alas, we’re talking here about Trump. Which is why, at 3:30 yesterday, he typed this:

    In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

Wow. Trump has inspired me to rethink my life. I now believe I would’ve won the Kentucky Derby if I deduct all the horses that ran ahead of me.

More at the link.

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Make TWUUG Your LUG 0

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do. Learn how to use GNU/Linux and its plethora of free and open source software to get stuff done with computers.

It’s not hard; it’s just different.

Tidewater Unix Users Group

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, December 1.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (JANAF Shopping Center). (Map)

Join the forums.

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QOTD 0

Samuel Butler:

Men of science, so far as I have observed them, are apt in their fear of jumping to a conclusion as to forget that there is such a thing as jumping away from one.

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Take a Break 0

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“A Calvacade of Kleptocracy” 0

In related news, Nick Mills is also concerned about the integrity of the press.

In 2003, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, I went to Baghdad as a potential contractor to assess the needs of the Iraqi media. With other contractors hopeful of landing a fat U.S. government contract, I visited radio and television stations and newspaper offices. At the office of one newspaper editor, we were shown into a back room. The editor pointed to a large hook protruding from the ceiling. “That,” he said, “is where Uday [Saddam Hussein’s eldest son] would hang us up by the wrists and lecture us on what we had published.”

(snip)

A free press is the target of dictators, despots and demagogues all over the world. It is possible to be a journalist in a country without a free press, but it’s a dangerous profession. It is not possible for a country without a free press to be a democracy.

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