From Pine View Farm

March, 2019 archive

Blowhard in the Wind 0

Title:  The Latest Flag-Hugger.  Image:  Donald Trump blowing in a storm labeled

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QOTD 0

Thomas Aquinas:

If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Be polite to yourself.

A man accidentally shot himself in the hand while loading his weapon at the Foothills Public Shooting Complex.

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Budget Bluster 0

Remember, in Republican World, a federal budget deficit is a cause for crocodile fears only when a Democrat is in the White House. Here’s a bit from the AP’s report on the current state of the deficit:

Trump’s budget arrives as the latest Treasury Department figures show a 77 percent spike in the deficit over the first four months of the budget year, driving by falling revenues and steady growth in spending.

Trump’s 2017 tax cut bears much of the blame, along with sharp increases in spending for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies and the growing federal retirement costs of the baby boom generation. Promises that the tax cut would stir so much economic growth that it would mostly pay for itself have been proved woefully wrong.

Follow the link for the compete article.

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“Toxic Nostalgia” 0

Methinks she has a point.

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A New Legal Strategy: the Manafort Maneuver 0

Lawyer talking with inmate.  Lawyer:  You've been accused of serious crimes.  Inmate:  Is there a chance I'll get Manaforte's judge?

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One Minute to Midnight 0

Shaun Mullen is even less optimistic than usual.

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One Thing Is Not Like the Other Thing 0

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Via Atrios.

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The Lies of the Land 0

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QOTD 0

Emanuel Cleaver:

The language has changed. When I grew up and watched the campaigns of John Kennedy, even with Richard Nixon, there was a lot higher level of civility. Now we describe a disagreement as an attack.

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And Now for a Musical Interlude 0

Afterthought:

I must say, Gracie Fields reminds me of one of my favorite fictional detectives.

If you like mysteries, get to know her. Her author, Kerry Greenwood, makes words dance.

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“My Plan Is Not To Shoot You” 0

Learn more here.

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Beta Dog 0

Farron points out the the United States’s international ratings have been thoroughly Trumpled.

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All the News that Fits 0

Foxy shady, one more time.

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Both Sides Not 0

GOP Elephant hold sign saying,

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Facebook Frolics 0

Mark Zuckerberg recently announced efforts to clean up Facebook’s act.

The AP’s Frank Bajak urges us to take that announcement with several pounds of salt. He suggests that it’s Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes for a shifting strategy from the Zuckerborg for assimilating its victims users. Here’s a bit from his report:

. . . critics say the announcement obscures Facebook’s deeper motivations: To expand lucrative new commercial services, continue monopolizing the attention of users, develop new data sources to track people and frustrate regulators who might be eyeing a breakup of the social-media behemoth.

Facebook “wants to be the operating system of our lives,” said Siva Vaidhyanathan, director of media studies at the University of Virginia.

Aside:

When have any of Facebook’s promises to stop misbehaving come to pass?

Mark Zuckerberg is the Eddie Haskell of Silicon Valley.

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All the News that Fits 0

It’s time to stop worrying about “fake news” and start worrying about fake newspapers.

Snopes reports that wealthy right-wing donors are setting up websites pretending to belong to local newspapers and designed to look like local newspaper websites for newspapers that do not, in fact, exist. Here’s a snippet (emphasis added):

The issue is not the creation of conservative content. The issue, according to Kathleen Bartzen Culver, the director for the Center of Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is disguising conservative activism as journalism. “I have no problem with advocacy organizations creating content that reinforces the positions they take on public policy issues on the left, right or center. The issue comes in when they’re not transparent about that advocacy,” Culver told us via phone. “In this case, if you have a conservative take on a policy issue and you want to promote that take, go ahead. But just claim it for what it is.”

Remember, just because you see it on a computer screen, it ain’t necessarily so. Check the bona fides of sources you use for news.

One technique is to check the purported news stories for links to sources; no links indicate dubious or nonexistent sources. Also, links from random Facebook Frolickers and twisty Twitter Trolls are hysterically unreliable.

H/T to The Bob Cesca Show for this news item.

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QOTD 0

Junius (pseudonym):

There is a holy mistaken zeal in politics as well as in religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves.

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Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0

A Town Hall Trumpling.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Be polite to your partner.

Brevard County Deputies said that on Wednesday, they responded to a home call after being told a man was shot. When they arrived, they said both the victim and Morin claimed it was an accidental shooting.

As the deputies continued their investigation, they learned the shooting had been sparked by a domestic violence issue between Morin and her boyfriend. Morin reportedly shot the victim because he was snoring too loudly.

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