From Pine View Farm

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QOTD 0

Socrates:

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

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The Privatization Scam, Chartering a Course for Disaster Dept. 0

At the Orlando Sentinel, Scott Maxwell explores a race for a seat on the Orange County, Florida, school board that you couldn’t make up.

You gotta read this one for yourself. Words are still failing me.

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Traumatized 0

Much lauded researcher William Hazeltine explores the “moral trama” the United States if facing due to its incompetent and ineffective–nay, counter-effective–response to the coronavirus. Here’s a bit from his piece at Psychology Today Blogs (emphasis added); I commend the entire piece to your attention.

The numbers tell us how badly we are failing to make the most of our advantage. China, the country first affected by Covid-19, has four times the population in the United States, yet on a typical day in August when more than fifty-five thousand new infections were tallied in the US, only 31 new infections were reported in China. Since the epidemic began more than twice as many Americas have died of Covid as have been infected in China. I cite these figures not to praise China but rather to express a collective sense of bewilderment as to what has gone wrong with our response to the pandemic.

Our moral trauma is witnessing death, contagion and economic destruction around us, knowing full well it is unnecessary. Our country has been deeply morally traumatized – by the President through his denials, incompetence, and finger-pointing, and by his administration, his Republican enablers in Congress and compliant state governors.

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Running Mates 0

Frame One, titled

Click to view the original image.

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The Island Flip 0

David’s comments at the end, starting about the four minute mark just before the ad at the 4:51 mark, are quite on point.

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The Ma(i)lfactor 0

Donald Trump says,

Click for the original image.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Once again, we are reminded that “responsible gun owner” is an oxymoron.

Upon arrival, officers found the victim inside the home with a gunshot wound to her leg, police reported.

A 41-year-old man told authorities he had been cleaning his gun when it accidentally fired, according to police.

She did not make it.

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The Reopening 0

At the Hartford Courant, a Connecticut teacher shares her plans for returning to school in these viral times. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the complete article:

When I return to school today for the professional development that will precede our students’ start, I will kiss my 5-year-old and my husband goodbye. I’ll go to school in my scrubs, wear my PPE, keep the windows in my classroom open and begin to troubleshoot teaching and learning under the hybrid model.

When I return home this afternoon, however, I will no longer be able to set foot inside our home. My husband’s medical conditions put him at greater risk for grave health repercussions or death from COVID-19, so I will be sleeping in a tent in our backyard and isolating myself from my husband and young son. We live in a modest home, not configured for quarantine.

(Syntax error fixed.)

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QOTD 0

Confucius:

To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness.

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Facebook Frolics in These Viral Times 0

Rat:  I don't like the idea of contact tracing and the government tracking ouor movement.  It's intrusic and erodes our right to privacy.  Goat:  You've posted everywhere you've gone for the last three years on Facebook.  Rat:  It's different when I do the eroding.  Goat, looking at phone:  Oh, look.  Phots of everywhere you've ever eaten.

Click to view the original image.

(Broken link fixed.)

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Collateral Damage 0

Anyone who has been paying attention has heard reports of persons whose health and livelihood are threatened by the Trump administration’s attempts to destroy the United States Post Office; reports that veterans are not receiving prescription refills from the VA in time have been the most common.

But did you also know that Trumpling the Post Office has also led to cruelty to animals?

Last week Pauline Henderson was shocked when she picked up a shipment of what was supposed to be 800 live chicks from her post office in New Sharon.

Henderson, who owns and operates Pine Tree Poultry, a family farm and chicken meat processing facility that specializes in chicken pot pies, said all 800 chicks sent from a hatchery in Pennsylvania were dead.

Much more at the link.

Aside:

I remember my father, when I was very young and he was still farming, receiving shipments of chicks via railroad postal cars.

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The COVID Clown Car 0

Three clowns in a car, labeled

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Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0

Yet another sign of the Trumpling.

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What Has Trump Done for Women? 0

Amber Ruffin enumerates.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

A 16-year-old boy accidentally killed himself with a family member’s handgun while video-chatting with a friend at his home in New Sharon on Monday, according to police and press reports.

(snip)

The friend who was chatting with the boy noticed something was not right during the interaction. The friend and their father went to the home and found the boy deceased, Nichols said.

Words fail me.

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Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0

A “Back the Blue” Trumpling.

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QOTD 0

Linus Pauling:

The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.

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And Now for a Change of Pace 0

Via KCEA.

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Words Matter 0

At the Inky, the Angry Grammarian welcomes a trend towards accuracy, in particular, towards describing racist conduct as “racist,” rather than softening said conduct with mealy-mouth euphemisms. Follow the link for his reasoning.

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Unpresidented 0

At the Idaho State Journal, Mike Murphy opines that Donald Trump’s comparing himself favorably to Teddy Roosevelt, like much of what Donald Trump says, flies in the face of fact. Here’s a bit of his article:

But then, of course, Trump, who never does his homework before spouting off some grandiose hogwash, once again displayed his lack of historical knowledge during the signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House, saying, “There hasn’t been anything like this since Teddy Roosevelt, I suspect.”

That is the second time this summer that someone has compared Donald Trump to Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. Back in July, as South Dakota governor Kristi Noem introduced Trump prior to his speech at Mt. Rushmore, she likened him to Teddy Roosevelt as a man who “braves the dangers of the arena.”

I have recently read two Theodore Roosevelt biographies and, to paraphrase 1988 vice presidential candidate Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, “Mr. President, you’re no Teddy Roosevelt.”

Follow the link for his reasoning.

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