From Pine View Farm

2021 archive

Dis Coarse Discourse 0

Title:  Meet the (Partial) Cast of

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If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0

At NJ.com, Albert Kelly compares and contrasts.

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Just the Vaxx, Ma’am 0

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All the News that Fits 0

Gene Collier looks at the deep distrust with which some Americans view the news media and considers the source(s). A snippet (emphasis added):

Released this week to Axios, it (the annual Edelman Trust Barometer–ed.) showed that 56% of Americans agree with the statement, “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things that are false or gross exaggerations.” Even more, 58% think “most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing people.” When Edelman re-polled Americans postelection, those figures were even more discouraging. As it stands, 57% of Democrats trust the media, 18% of Republicans.That last number makes perfect sense when you understand that most Republicans — 60% in a recent analysis by Pew — get their news from Fox News, where the whole panoply of sources would be a comic absurdity if only its deep vein disinformation, especially on coronavirus, weren’t so deadly.

In a related vein, Beth Rabinowitz offers a look back at the era of yellow journalism and how objectivity became a journalistic value.

(Broken link fixed.)

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Facebook Frolics 0

Enforcer frolics.

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Inside Jobs 0

Benjamin Carter sounds a warning. An excerpt; follow the link for the rest (emphasis added).

Imagine the events of the past weeks and months if someone like Hawley had been the secretary of state in Georgia, or someone like retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn held a significant military command. Imagine what would have happened if the Republicans held majorities in both houses of Congress and could have overturned the Electoral College results.

Imagine if the courts had been more generously stocked with judges willing to entertain the Trump campaign’s ludicrous arguments.

Above all, imagine if Trump had been a bit more competent, a bit more strategic, a bit more daring. . . .

It is much more common for democracies to be undermined by seemingly legal actions taken from within than by violence from without.

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QOTD 0

Drew Magary:

There’s a fine line between skepticism and cynicism . . . .

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Connectivity 0

I find it eerie to wake up and find my internet connection is working. As I mentioned earlier, I was experiencing connectivity issues. Were it not for my cellphone hotspot, I would not have been able to maintain my stream of drivel . . . .

Last week, I prevailed upon my ISP to send a tech to my house, and he seems to have fixed it. I will admit that I have some grumps with my ISP, but their tech support is excellent.

I had earlier switched out my modem for a “new” modem from my ISP’s local store, and it turned out that the new modem was dodgy (if I were an ISP and someone moved away and returned their modem, I would repackage it too). The support tech did his thing and installed a different modem, and the connection has been rock solid ever since. But I am still somewhat surprised to get up in the morning and find that the connection is still working.

Of course, with my luck, when I wake up tomorrow, it probably won’t be working.:{

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Unfamiliar Territory 0

Couple watching White House press briefing on television.  Man says,

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The Hole Truth 0

PoliticalProf.

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Uncarted Territory 0

Image:  A New York hot dog vendor at his cart and Donald Trump, reading a newspaper with the headline,

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Once again, we are reminded that politeness is a family value.

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Maskless Marauders 0

David dissects a marauding. (The action begins at about the minute and a half mark, after a short discussion about subscriptions and pledges.)

Honest to Betsy, you couldn’t make this stuff up.

We are a society of stupid.

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Vaccine Nation 0

President Biden opening a medicine cabinet only to find a note reading,

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This Too Shall Pass. Or Not. 0

In contemplating life after Trumpling, Frances Coleman is somewhat optimistic.

Martin Longman is not so sanguine.

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Left Unfinished 0

Donald Trump walking to helicopter as man calls after him,

Via Job’s Anger.

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QOTD 0

Elisha Gray:

Science has no prejudices — though scientists often do. Science is like figures: they do not lie themselves, but the men who figure are often the greatest liars in the world.

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Terms for the Times 0

The Angry Grammarian updates his dictionary. An example (emphasis in the original):

coronasplaining, n: asserting that you know more about infectious diseases than someone with a decade of medical training because you spent 12 minutes “researching” on the internet. See also: covidiot.

Follow the link and broaden your vocabulary.

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Parler Talk 0

A federal judge unsurprisingly rules that the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech does not convey the right to violate a private hosting provider’s terms of service.

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A Notion of Immigrants 0

A woman from India, now a Bollywood star, remembers the racist bullying she experienced attending high school in the United States.

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