From Pine View Farm

August, 2022 archive

Report from the Field 0

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Florida Man 0

Leonard Pitts, Jr., tells the tale of Captain Florida.

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If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0

Frame One:  Plutocrat holding paaper reading

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Closing Books, Closing Minds 0

At AL.com, Frances Coleman wonders why the right-wing has decided that banning books is the new in thing. Here’s a tiny bit of her article (emphasis added):

Why is it that these days, there’s a flurry of lists of banned books and pressure to suppress any idea that’s uncomfortable? I believe the reason is fear. There are people among us who are afraid of any idea that contradicts their view of reality.

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Monkee Business 0

Joe Patrice is a believer.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Keeping the peace with his piece.

An armed man interrupted an argument between three (12 and 13 year old–ed.) girls on Storms Avenue Monday night and struck one of the girls in the face and then threatened to shoot onlookers, authorities said.

Thus passeth another day in NRA Eden.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Will Bunch opines that Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial candidate seems to one of those risers again.

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QOTD 0

Virginia Satir:

Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.

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No Place To Hide 0

Some good news from Bruce Schneir.

Personally, I keep the GPS (Google calls it “location services” turned off on my Android devices unless I have a positive need for it, which is almost never. That means trackers can know my general location, sure, but they don’t know whether I’m in the drug store or the hardware store.

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The Graham Cracker 0

Field thinks that we–well, he says the media, but I think it’s not just them–may have become numb to the outrageous.

Follow the link and decide for yourself.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Brotherly politeness.

We are a broken society.

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Dis Coarse Discourse 0

Woman speaking to empty auditorium at the

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“Cancun Cruz” 0

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Water Deviltry 0

Nor any brain to think . . . .

Last week, a small Central Texas county just west of Austin made national news after its entire elections staff quit their jobs, leaving the department’s cupboard bare just a few months from the midterms.

(snip)

But a new report from Votebeat and the Texas Tribune shows that the harassment and threats that ultimately drove Gillespie County’s elections department staffers to leave their jobs stemmed specifically from activists invested in conspiracies related to fluoride in local drinking water.

We are a society of stupid.

Details at the link.

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Closing Books, Closing Minds 0

Michael in Norfolk looks at the motivation for the right-wing’s current book-banning frenzy. A snippet:

Hence the current efforts to rid schools and public libraries of any books and information that might cause little Johnny or Susie to realize they have been taught a lot of bunk at home and in the churches they are compelled to attend.

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QOTD 0

Horace Walpole:

The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel.

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On Establishmentarianism 0

At the Des Moines Register, retired professor Norma Cook Everist discusses the dangers of establishmentarianism. Here’s tiny bit from her article (emphasis added); follow the link for the rest.

Over the years I’ve seen this American Civil Religion become entwined with the fundamentalist evangelical right, morphing into a Christian nationalism, distorting both American identity and Christianity. It implies that to be a good American, one must be a certain kind of Christian, and have a certain kind of politics. It implies that people of other religions don’t belong in the United States. Christian nationalism encourages white supremacy and racial subjugation. American Christian nationalism is based on the belief that America is divinely established and superior to other countries. Holding or not holding this belief determines “loyalty” to the country.

(Broken link fixed.)

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Closing Books, Closing Minds 0

At the Roanoke Times, Arnold Schuetz, who grew up and attended school in Germany shortly after the end of World War II, sees echoes of his own experience in current attempts to–you will pardon the expression–whitewash America’s history of chattel slavery and racial discrimination.

No excerpt or summary will do his article justice. Just read it.

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Barr Flies Lies 0

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Dominion 0

Caption:  An ancient dream comes true.  Image:  Frame One:  Man in desert wasteland says,

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I am not sanguine.

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