From Pine View Farm

First Looks category archive

Dis Coarse Discourse 0

AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire considers Vivek Ramaswamy’s behavior in the most recent Republican debate and concludes that we have a problem.

It’s still unclear to me what Ramaswamy did to get into a presidential debate. He likes to mention the books he’s written, and for some folks, I suppose that counts as enough experience to share a stage with three governors.

But let’s be clear. He wasn’t in Tuscaloosa Wednesday night because of legislation he’s passed or policies he has implemented.

He was there because he’s a jerk. And a certain portion of the American electorate has decided they like jerks and want more jerks to run things.

Follow the link for his evidence.

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The Immaculate Deception 0

Marcos Bretón looks at the recent claim by Congressman Eugene McCarthy that “that the United States has never sought land after winning a war, except to bury its war dead.” Anyone who knows anything (well, anything factual) about American history knows this to be false. Indeed, a quick web search for “manifest destiny” might be a good place to start.

And McCarthy was roundly derided for his comments.

Breton, though, argues that, in this (self-)deception, McCarthy is hardly an outlier. Here’s a bit from his article:

McCarthy’s comment wasn’t ignorance and it wasn’t particularly partisan either. He was repeating political propaganda in the service of historical erasure, an American affliction that has been bipartisan for generations.

Follow the link for Breton’s reasoning.

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“When People Tell You Who They Are, Believe Them”* 0

Caption:  Trump says he'll only be a dictator

Click to view the original image.

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* With apologies to Maya Angelou.

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Recommended Viewing 0

Secrets of the Stones: Decoding Ireland’s Lost Past, a look at the archeology of Ireland’s from its earliest past through the early Christian era. Plus, the photography is stunning. I would recommend having Google Maps satellite view open as you watch it.

I saw it on Tubi, but I gather it’s available on other streaming services as well.

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Down at the Farm 0

I don’t know exactly what happened yesterday. (My hosting provider’s most excellent tech support told me it wasn’t anything I did.)

But things seem to be working again.

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Recommended Viewing 0

Canals: The Making of a Nation, about how Britain’s canals, mostly created in the late 1700s and early 1800s, affected British economy and society.

I find it a fascinating watch.

You can find it on Tubi (tubitv.com) and likely elsewhere.

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Medicare Disadvantage, One More Time 0

.

Medicare Advantage” is little more than a Republican con to let insurance companies get their paws on money that belonged to the citizenry.

Ask me nicely, I’ll tell you what I really think.

(Syntax error fixed.)

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In the Market 0

The Rude One applied for a job in the next Trump administration.

Check out his application.

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Nit-Picking Hairsplitting Double-Talking Out of Both Sides of His Mouth 0

As far as I can see, this is a distinction without a difference; follow the link for more (emphasis added).

Among the points backing Donald Trump’s argument that the 14th Amendment doesn’t disqualify him from office is one that, at first glance, is a mix of laughable and disturbing: He never took an oath to “support” the Constitution.

Why would the former president emphasize such a thing? That’s because Section 3 of the amendment disqualifies insurrectionists who have “previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution.” Thus, the argument goes in his Colorado Supreme Court appeal, he’s eligible for the presidency again in 2024 because he swore to “preserve, protect, and defend” the Constitution, not support it.

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Speaking of Polls . . . . 0

Image:  Donald Trump speaking gibberish (all Trump quotations).  Caption:  Poll:  Voters find Trump more mentally competent than Biden.

Via Juanita Jean.

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To-Do 0

Husband and wife looking a Thanksgiving To-Do list.  Her's reads

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The Turkey’s Bad Day 0

Turkey wearing prison uniform to man behind desk:

Click to view the original image.

A possibility of sporadic bloggery for the next few days.

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Recommended Viewing 0

The Time-Life series, Lost Civilizations, narrated by Sam Waterston.

It’s available at tubitv.com (and possibly elsewhere for all I know).

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And Now for a Brief Respite 0

Art by George Hendrik Breitner

Via All Things Amazing, an image site (some images NSFW).

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R. I. P. Zandar 0

He will be remembered, and he will be missed.

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Recommended Viewing 0

If you have Netflix, check out Still Game.

It is an absolute hoot.

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The Pusher Men 0

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Fly the Fiendly Skies . . . 0

. . . but don’t ask for a window seat.

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Break Time 0

Off to drink liberally.

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Seg Academies Redux 0

When I was a young ‘un, back in the olden days, and my previously all-white high school started to integrate, suddenly two private all-white schools sprang up in my rural community (I think one of them still exists). To be blunt, they enrolled kids of white parents who were afraid of black folks.

That’s why we called them “seg academies.”

Those of us who stayed in the public schools and got to know and study and play sports with the black kids (who I am certain were carefully screened and chosen to be the early integrators of the previously all-white schools in those early days of integration) looked on those schools–well–somewhat contemptuously. We were in school with the black kids, we got to know them at least a bit, and we realized that they were people like us. True, we may not have gotten to know them all that well, but we got to know them enough to realize that they were human beings like us.

Later on, when I was well out of school, my mother, who was a math teacher, taught for many years in my county’s now-integrated school system. More than once, she told me that they had more problems from (oh what the heck, white) parents than they ever had from students. She was born and raised in South Carolina, but she was able to rise above prejudice to see persons.

And now comes Thom to point out that the proponents of seg academies are still around and still trying to pervert public education to promote racial prejudice.

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