From Pine View Farm

Author's archive

Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Psychologist Kevin Cokley rips the curtain off the Supreme Supremacist Court’s recent ruling on affirmative action in college admissions and says what went unsaid.

Here’s a tiny bit from his article:

. . . there is a more difficult and touchier subject that is being avoided in public debate, the unspoken belief that Black people are intellectually inferior.

Follow the link for a thoughtful exploration of this issue.

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The Crypto Con and the Candidate 0

The Majority report crew discuss RFK Jr.’s endorsement of Bitcoin. In the process, they dig into the con behind the crypto.

A Quibble:

I understand why Emma fell into the trap of referring to traditional money as “fiat currency,” but, honest to Pete, no currency is more fiat than crypto.

It is backed by no one and nothing and survives only because persons believe in it.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

An oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” chose to pack his politeness for the plane.

The TSA unpacked it.

Musical NotesGuns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.

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“I Read the News Today, Oh Boy” 0

Man and woman looking at television.  Woman says,

Click for the original image.

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Unprecedented 0

At Above the Law, Joe Patrice argues convincingly that our current Supreme Supremacist Court is just making stuff up; he considers their ruling about the web designer who didn’t want to do a website for a gay couple despite never having been asked to do a website for a gay couple. Here’s a tiny bit from his article:

Once you make the choice to open a business to the public, you agree to abide by the rules. If you don’t want to do that, you don’t have to open a business. That’s been the law dating back to English common law — but apparently the majority has chosen a convenient time to junk its amateur historian antics.

I commend the rest of his article to your attention.

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QOTD 0

Hal Sparks:

The AR-15 is to the Second Amendment what child porn is to the First.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Extra-Special Bonus QOTD 0

Bob Cesca:

“Anti-woke” is the new Jim Crow.

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Vaccine Nation 0

Honest to Betsy, these lying liar anti-vaxxers will latch onto anything to promote their perfidies and imperil the polity.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

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Sunk, One More Time 0

Rebecca Watson points out that the Titan submersible did not sink because of “wokeness,” despite the claims of right-wing nutjobs.

It sank because of stupid.

And, in the spirit of woke and in anticipation of the recent decision by the Supreme Supremacist Court, she also makes some telling points about the value of diversity.

Or you can read the transcript.

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Plessy v. Ferguson Redux 0

White man wearing shirt labeled

Click to view the original image.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet more pistol-pumping politeness on the pavement.

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Numbers Gaming 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Christopher J. Ferguson makes a strong case that the recent dip in school children’s test scores on the NEAP standardized test was not nearly so severe nor so alarming as depicted by (some) press reports and politicians. He points out:

Since 2020, drops in both reading and math were noticed, likely tied to school closures during the Covid-19 epidemic. News media dutifully referred to these drops as “alarming,” an “emergency,” or “grim.” But how bad is the news, actually?

When we look at the official charts released for the NAEP, we can see a small 4-point drop in reading and a larger 9-point drop in math.

. . . even across 5 decades, scores overall didn’t change very much. For reading, scores improved slightly over time before becoming largely static since 2012, then dropping a bit during Covid. Math scores improved a bit more, then dropped a tiny bit since 2012, then more rapidly during Covid. Since scores can range 500 points, how worrisome is a drop of 4 or even 9 points?

Follow the link for his answer to his (admittedly rhetorical) question.

(Broken link fixed.)

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QOTD 0

Adous Huxley:

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

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A Notion of Immigrants 0

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

At The Philadelphia Inquirer, Solomon Jones sees behind the rationalizations to the reality behind the recent decision by the Supreme Supremacist Court against affirmative action in college admissions. Here’s a bit of his article (emphasis added):

But the generational nature of racial preference is cemented into American culture through education. From underfunding schools in Black communities, to allowing toxic materials to languish in Black school buildings, to disproportionately denying college admission to qualified Black applicants, America has used education to maintain and perpetuate inequality. That’s why it was so important for right-wing activists to abolish any effort to correct racial disparities in higher education. Keeping affirmative action would give at least some African Americans a chance to compete on a level playing field. That has never been the American way.

Aside:

God forbid that America should do anything to compensate for the legacy of its original sin of chattel slavery, or, for that matter, even admit that it was.

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Establishmentarians 0

As a reminder, establishmentarians are those who want to make sure that you have that their old time religion.

Or else.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

A `14-year-old was backpacking heat and it did not work out wel–well, actually, it worked out exactly as any thinking person might have predicted.

And thus passeth another day in NRA Paradise.

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The Art of the Con 0

Beggar on street holding a sign reading,

Via Yellowdoggranny.

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Suffer the Children 0

We are again reminded that that is not scripture.

Rather, it is Republican policy.

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