From Pine View Farm

June, 2022 archive

Vaccine Nation 0

Yet more stupid: Ted Cruz picks a fight with Elmo the Muppet over COVID-19 vaccinations.

We are a suicidal society. We are stupiding ourselves to extinction.

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The Translation 0

Donald Trump wearing a hat reading

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Patriot Gamers 0

The stupid. It burns up.

We are a failing state.

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Suffer the Children 0

A real big man.

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The Obvious Will Out 0

Emma points out, “Lay in bed with a tiger and it claws your face.”

He laid in bed with a tiger. It (figuratively) clawed his face.

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The Dynamic Duo 0

Clarence Thomas says,

Via Yellowdoggranny.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Show politeness when passing other motorists on the nation’s highways.

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QOTD 0

Ivan Turgenev:

Death is an old joke, but it comes like new to everyone.

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Originalist Sin, Catch-22 Dept. 0

It’s the best catch there is.

Jonathan Wolf explains at Above the Law. Here’s a bit (warning: mild language):

So, if a justice doesn’t think the right to an abortion should be protected because the word “abortion” doesn’t appear in the Constitution, then that same justice shouldn’t be saying shit in the first place, because the Constitution sure doesn’t say anything about justices of the Supreme Court getting to decide what is and isn’t constitutional.

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Alienable Rights 0

Michael Paul Williams reminds us that the United States and its Supreme Court have a history of granting, then retracting rights. Here’s just one of the examples he cites (emphasis added):

In 1868, the 14th Amendment affirmed citizenship and equal protection under the law for Black Americans. But the 1877 compromise between deadlocked presidential candidates Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden resulted in a Hayes victory, on the condition that he pull federal troops from the South. This politically expedient sellout of Black citizens signaled the end of Reconstruction and a new reign of terror in the South and presaged the Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision upholding the constitutionality of “separate but equal” segregation by race.

“Every 15 years, the status of Black people changed according to the Supreme Court,” Perry* said. “Our rights are as firm as the people who vote to protect them.”

The battle is never over.
___________________

*Howard University political science professor Ravi Perry.

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Devolution 0

Thom sees a pattern.

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One Thing Is Not Like the Other Thing 0

PoliticalProf.

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Republican Family Values 0

Lady Liberty lying on her back, bleeding to death in an alley.  At her feet lies a coathanger labeled

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Aside:

When I was a young ‘un, back in the olden days, my mother subscribed to Lady’s Home Journal and McCall’s Magazine (both of which are now defunct). I read them, because I read everything I could get my hands on, even my father’s issues of U. S. News and World Report, which he subscribed to after Time Magazine ticked him off for some reason.

Those ladies’ magazines were not just about fashion and make-up. The death toll from back-alley abortions was a frequent topic. Because I was a young ‘un, I can’t say that I understood the physiology, at least not until later when I was not quite such a young ‘un, but I certainly understood the psychology: frightened women in crisis, feeling imperiled, futures and reputations endangered, desperately taking dangerous chances to protect themselves, their futures, and sometimes their families.

And today’s Republican Party would bring those days back.

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The Authoritarian Appeal, Reprise 0

Uriel Abulof, like Daniel F. Seidman whom I mentioned yesterday, is exploring the appeal of authoritarianism.

In Part 2 of two-part series (Part 1 is linked at the link), he makes three main points:

  • Some leaders are like toxic therapists: By displaying both power and victimhood, they abuse people’s fears and frustrations.
  • People tend to project their pains onto their leader’s wounds and introject the leader’s strength to seek revenge and redemption.
  • Some Americans feel like victims, a sensation that may be driven by narcissism and manipulation.

Follow the link for a detailed discussion of each.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Once again, politeness becomes child’s play.

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QOTD 0

J. William Fulbright:

Power confuses itself with virtue and tends also to take itself for omnipotence.

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“Checkpoint Clarence” 0

Young woman labeled

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The Authoritarian Appeal 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Daniel F. Seidman compares and contrast democracy, authorianism, and laissez faire approaches to making decisions, with particular attention the the first two. Along the way, he discusses what attracts persons to authoritarianism. Much of what he says sounds eerily familiar . . . .

Here’s a tiny little bit:

What (psychologist Erich–ed.) Fromm observed was that people most vulnerable to authoritarianism are likely to be losing their prescribed place, status, or prestige in a changing social order. Society becomes more competitive when previously excluded groups, such as African Americans in the United States, for example, or women in most societies, are free to compete. This can put stress on those who previously enjoyed a competitive advantage. But it also allows society to expand opportunity and to benefit from the talents of its most able people.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Melinda Hennenberger marvels at the pretzel logic fantasy world of the New Secesh. A snippet:

Texas Republicans not only want to secede but also imagine that after backing out of our country, they would live in an Eden of their own creation where there are no state or federal income taxes. How this penniless republic would then fund even basic services, much less build infrastructure and raise an army, not even God knows. But the state’s record of running its own power grid isn’t a hopeful indicator.

Follow the link for the rest.

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Republican Family Values 0

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