From Pine View Farm

December, 2016 archive

And Now for Something Completely Different 0

A little Ernie Kovacs seems a fitting end this screwy year.

Share

Festival of Frights 0

This is your country on Trump.

There are dark days ahead, my friends.

Afterthought:

The local rag had before and after pictures. Someone went to a lot of effort to be hate-full.

Share

It’s All about Keeping the Potatoes on the Couches 0

Share

Facebook Frolics 0

Felonious firearms frolics.

Share

Decisions, Decisions . . . . 0

Donald Trump looks as tweet on his cellphone:

Via Juanita Jean.

Share

“It Was Joke, Son, a Joke” 0

Tony Norman marvels at the ability of those who get called out for racist remarks to discover suddenly that they were just trying to make a funny.

Share

QOTD 0

Ernest Hemingway:

There is no finish to a war.

Share

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

The hunt for politeness continues . . .

Bennett had just returned from hunting with a friend and an adult shortly after 6 p.m., Calhoun said. They apparently were passing around the firearm when it discharged accidentally. Bennett was shot in the upper abdomen and died at the scene, Calhoun said.

. . . as yet another gun fires itself.

The gunnularity approaches apace.

Share

Know Them by the Company They Keep 0

Share

Twits on Twitter 0

Trudy Rubin, who is currently touring the Far East, notes that twitting twits cannot be equated with diplomatic diplomats. A snippet:

Yes, there is justification for a firmer U.S. stance toward China on trade imbalances and freedom of the seas and Beijing’s reluctance to squeeze North Korea. But berating the Chinese with no strategy behind the bluster won’t work to America’s advantage, as I heard repeatedly from Chinese officials, academics, and think tankers, as well as from American businessmen in China.

Nor do tweets convey toughness to the Chinese.

Indeed, Trump’s modus operandi is more likely to provoke Chinese retaliation than produce a great deal.

Do read the rest.

Afterthought:

The inherent weakness of relying on the Bully’s Pulpit as one’s go-to strategy is that, when you meet someone who won’t be bullied, just what the heck do you do next?

Share

Flagging Interests 0

Writing at The Roanoke Times, Halford Ryan wonders what would be the results were the Sons of Confederate Veterans and similar groups admit to themselves, as well as to others, what the Confederate Battle Ensign, to which they vow such fealty, stood for. (Oh, they know all right. They know also that admitting that they know would be really bad PR.)

In a related story, Badtux muses on how the South never stopped rising again.

Share

The “Who Cares?” Party 0

Republicans pulling down statue of President Obama in medical garb labeled

Via Job’s Anger.

Share

QOTD 0

Studs Terkel:

Today, more and more, because of the nature of the press and TV and radio, celebrityhood has taken over, and trivia takes over.

Afterthought:

He died almost a decade ago. One wonders what he would say today.

Share

Twits on Twitter 0

Twits with lyin’ eyes.

Afterthought:

I find it amusing when persons try to explain that events clearly founded in racism really aren’t racist after all because, well, they won’t believe their lyin’ eyes..

Share

Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0

Still nicely under 300k.

Jobless claims declined by 10,000 to 265,000 in the week ended Dec. 24 from a six-month high in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.

(snip)

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, fell to 263,000 from 263,750 the prior week.

The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits climbed by 63,000 to 2.1 million in the week ended Dec. 17, the highest since Sept. 10.

Share

Meet the New Boss, Not like the Old Boss 0

Donald Trump reads from lists:  Here are my New Year's Resoltions:  To think before I speak, to not be thin-skinned, to not bully others, to not tweet so much, and not to pay attention to resolutions.

Via Job’s Anger.

Share

Light Bloggery 0

I got me a case of the miseries (as my South Carolina grandmother would have said).

Posting will be sporadic for their miserable duration.

Share

QOTD 0

Stendhal:

The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.

Share

Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt 0

Share

Echoes of That Thing You Did 0

Elie Mystal explains that you can have no expectation of privacy from your Amazon echo. A snippet:

Your expectation of privacy when telling Echo to unlock the murder room should be no more than your expectation of privacy when writing down “I’ma kill that fool” in your diary.

Share