From Pine View Farm

July, 2017 archive

The Pusher Men 0

Transcript.

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Da Mooch 0

Well, that didn’t take long.

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Civic Duty 0

I might have jury duty tomorrow. The way it works here is that, if you receive a summons for jury duty, you call or check the city website the evening before to see whether you must actually report.

I’m not looking forward to it, primarily because I will have to up and at ’em before I’m usually up, as the Court House is way on the other side of town. On the other hand, if I’m called, I’ll take along that book I’ve been meaning to read.

You can, nevertheless, be assured that, whatever else happens, I won’t do this.

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Running the Numbers 0

There’s no delusion like self-delusion.

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Putting the “Fun” in Dysfunction 0

Man says, series of speech balloons,


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

The Sacramento Bee reports that the number and frequency of racist verbal attacks on California officials has escalated dramatically since January (gee, what happened in January?). Here are a few examples from the report; follow the link for more.

A stranger accosted Sen. Ricardo Lara outside Ella, a restaurant on K Street, earlier this month and screamed profanities and racial epithets in his face, he said. Sen. Holly Mitchell’s Los Angeles district office representatives report getting a call once a month from someone who uses the n-word to describe her or her staff members – something they said didn’t happen before the election.

A fervent group of Trump supporters, who disrupt Democratic town halls and other political forums in Southern California, called de León an “anchor baby” and “illegal alien scumbag” at a Latino summit in May at UC Riverside, where academics and community leaders gathered to strategize ways to fight Trump’s agenda. The protesters continue to post YouTube videos of themselves heckling politicians.

“In my mind there’s no doubt that Donald Trump has opened up this Pandora’s box,” de León said. “There’s no question about it because he’s done nothing as president of the United States to temper it down or heal the nation.”

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Practice makes polite.

Chief Deputy Naldo Gagnon said the victim, 20-year-old Chance Gallant, had been target shooting with five male friends, all in their early 20s.

Gagnon said Gallant was shot after one of the rifles being used by the young men jammed. As two of them tried to fix the weapon, it discharged, striking Gallant in the chest.

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Raising the Tone 0

Donald Trump with arms around Scarmucici's shoulders saying,

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QOTD 0

Rex Stout:

I never try to do any deep thinking while I’m driving; the thinking gets you nowhere and the driving might get you where you would rather not be . . . .

Stout, Rex: The Father Hunt (New York: Bantam, 1969), p. 52.

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Geeking Out 0

Virtual Machines of Windows 7 and SolusOS running in VirtualBox on Slackware –Current.

Screenshot

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Sanctifying Stupid 0

Warning: Language.

Aside:

Paul said, “Faith is the evidence of things unseen.”

He did not say that it is the disproof of things seen.

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Speechless 0

The voice of Jay Ward Cartoons has passed away.

Cast of Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon characters in tears as empty speech bubbles float over their heads.

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I would argue that Rocky and Bullwinkle, in their continual struggle against Boris, Natasha, and FL, offered, beneath masterful puns, silliness, and absurdity, some of the most perceptive commentary on the political theatre of their time, much of it still valid today.

Not half an hour ago I was quoting my favorite line, one that still rings true:

In the Pentagon, there was General Consternation . . . and his entire staff.

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“Not Political Footballs” 0

In the far western corner of Virginia, there is an annual event called the Remote Area Medical Expedition at Wise. Doctors, dentists, nurses, and many other volunteer their time to treat persons who otherwise have no access to health care.

In The Roanoke Times, Dr. Ralph Northam, current Virginia Lieutenant Governor, writes eloquently of his experience there this year. Here’s a bit:

Both federal and state policymakers should also not lose sight of the enormous stress this (Trumpcare–ed.) debate is putting on millions of Virginians. A woman I met at Wise underscored this to me after I diagnosed her daughter.

She was scared, but not about her plan for treatment. She was scared her daughter would be unable to get health insurance because she now had a pre-existing condition. This is a mother and child. These are our friends, our neighbors. They are not political footballs.

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A Worst Class Scout 0

Jack Ohman preview the new Donald Trump Memorial Edition Boy Scout Handbook.

View the video at its original location.

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How Far Will Wells-Fargo? 0

Apparently, pretty damned far.

Scandal-plagued Wells Fargo is back in hot water for signing customers up for products that they didn’t need or want. This time it’s auto insurance, and the bank says it may have cost about 20,000 people their cars.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo acknowledged late Thursday that it enrolled roughly 570,000 auto loan borrowers for what’s known as collateral production insurance on their vehicles when the customers already had appropriate insurance. It will pay $80 million in refunds and account adjustments to those people.

If my father were alive today, he would be ashamed of the industry that he worked in for two decades.

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Sculpted Features 0

Picture of Mt. Rushmore with the rear end of a horse to the right of Lincoln.  Caption:  Adding Trump to Mt. Rushmore.

Via Job’s Anger.

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QOTD 0

John Buchan:

The dividing line between wish and need was never clear.

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Political Hacks 0

El Reg reports on how easy it is to hack American voting machines. A snippet:

This year at the DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas, 30 computer-powered ballot boxes used in American elections were set up in a simulated national White House race – and hackers got to work physically breaking the gear open to find out what was hidden inside.

In less than 90 minutes, the first cracks in the systems’ defenses started appearing, revealing an embarrassing low level of security. Then one was hacked wirelessly.

“Without question, our voting systems are weak and susceptible. Thanks to the contributions of the hacker community today, we’ve uncovered even more about exactly how,” said Jake Braun, who sold DEF CON founder Jeff Moss on the idea earlier this year.

I do not think that the manufacturers are consciously enabling easy hacking. Rather time and again experience has demonstrated that, in manufacturing, security is often an afterthought. For example.

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Symptomology 0

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Whatever you do, don’t give politeness the finger.

Police in eastern Idaho say a 49-year-old Rexburg man accidentally shot off his middle finger.

Rexburg police tell KIFI-TV that the man didn’t think the gun was loaded when he pulled the trigger on the .44-caliber handgun at about 12:20 a.m. Friday.

Aside:

I was taught to assume that every gun is loaded.

The stupid. It burns.

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