2021 archive
Fingerprints Don’t lie . . . 0
. . . or do they?
The First Date 0
He’s off to a fast start in the new relationship.
The Me! Me! Me! Generation 0
David Horn is fed up with the “Me! Me! Me!” generation. Here’s a bit of his article in The Roanoke Times:
Follow the link for the rest of his screed, and a well-deserved screed it is, I must say.
The Art of the Con 0
Sidney Powell doubles down.
Jeopardizing Jeopardy! 0
Brand loyalty is a thing. What else, to pick one example, can explain the continuing popularity of Jeeps, which have a flock of loyal owners despite consistently earning among the poorest ratings from Consumer Reports?
Brand loyalty also cuts both ways, as Susan Krauss Whitbourne points out at Psychology Today Blogs, where she takes an in-depth look at how the producers of the Jeopardy! television game show shot themselves in the foot in their quest for a successor to Alex Trebek.
Her analysis provides an object lesson in corporate hubris. A snippet:
A Tune for the Times 0
Warning: Mild language.
Plus ca Change 0
Thom points out that there is ample precedent for today’s right-wing in American history.
School Daze 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Chris Huston discusses recent spate of threats and acts of physical and verbal violence directed at school boards, faculty, and even students over common-sense precautions against pandemic, including–indeed, primaril–mask requirements. Here’s one example; a web search will turn up many more.
Here’s a bit from his piece; follow the link for the rest:
Lessons Unlearned 0
In the first half of this week’s episode of Le Show, Harry Shearer reads from the August 16 “Lessons Learned” report of the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
It is not pretty, but it needs to be heard.
You can download the Special Inspector General’s reports (PDF) from the SIGAR website.
I would not call this “recommended listening.” Rather, I would call it required listening.
Running the Numbers 0
In Maine, Paul LePage, the Republican who held the governorship before the current Democratic incumbent, is bent on getting his old job back. It appears he will attempt to make an issue of Maine’s response to COVID-19. In an article looking at the impending campaign, the Portland Press-Herald’s Greg Kesich cites some statistics:
Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis champions an expensive, brand-name pharmaceutical COVID treatment but won’t require anyone to get vaccinated, has lost 42,000 people, at a rate of 197 per 100,000 population.
South Dakota, led by right-wing superstar Kristi Noem, who had the nerve to come to Maine to campaign for Donald Trump last year while her hands-off public health policies were spreading COVID across the upper Midwest, has lost 2,000 people, or 233 per 100,000.
Maine has lost 926 people to COVID, a rate of 69 per 100,000.
The complete article is at the link.
They Drank the Snake Oil 0
A Nevada feed store is now requiring customers to provide pictures of their horses if they want to purchase horse de-worming medicine.
And, in related news, an Ohio judge orders diet of dewormer.
We are a society of stupid.