From Pine View Farm

August, 2020 archive

A Simple Choice 0

Kyle Whitmire looks at the two major presidential candidates and boils the contrast down to its essence:

This election is a choice between empathy and meanness.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

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Evil or Stupid? Or Just Willfully Ignorant? 0

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Fellow Travelers 0

Republican Elephant with QAnon

Click for the original image.

In related news . . . .

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The (Self-)Anointed One 0

It’s not uncommon to hear the Trumpettes refered to as a cult. Indeed, the devotion of some his followers despite the facts and reality has often been referred to as cult-like.

At Psychology Today Blogs, John Edward Terrell makes an interesting argument that Donald Trump may indeed be behaving as a cult leader, specifically, a “cargo cult” leader.

Methinks his piece is worth a peek.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

If the two-year old had been packing, perhaps he could have defended himself from the three-year old.

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QOTD 0

H. Rider Haggard:

I have never observed that the religious are more eager to die than the rest of us poor mortals.

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The Dearth of Expertise 0

Writing AL.com, Frances Coleman is taken aback by the proliferation of self-appointed experts, which she thinks can be attributed in large part to “social” media. Follow the link for some examples of said expertise (under the circumstances, though, I shall proffer “expertism” as a more appropriate term).

Aside:

Many of these self-appointed “experts,” of course, meet the classic definition of the term, in which

  • “x” is the mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity,
  • “spurt” is a drip under pressure, so, therefore,
  • “expert” is an unknown drip under pressure.

(Grammatical error corrected.)

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Laboratory Samples 0

Title:  Specimens used for COVID-19 testing and experimentation. Image:  Woman having nose swabbed labeled

Via Job’s Anger.

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A Sign of the Times 0

Sign reading

Via Juanita Jean.

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“The Zombies Are Coming” 0

Sam and his crew marvel at the latest Republican nutbag QAnon-believing candidate.

As one who trained as an historian, I must say–well, I don’t know what to say.

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Giving America the Business 0

Reporter asks,

Click for the original image.

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Facebook Frolics 0

A badge-wearing frolicker.

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It’s Bubblicious 0

Werner Herzog’s Bear explores what he calls the “reality gap.” An excerpt (emphasis added):

Conservatism is less of a set of ideas than it is a mental universe. Conservative media defines the parameters of that world, and if something does not cross that media world’s threshold, it never registers. This gives Trump a huge advantage, since his followers never even hear about his failures and malicious behavior.

(snip)

It’s not merely the fact that so many live in an alternate reality, it is that they CHOOSE to live in that reality. That is an absolutely crucial point that a lot of people don’t seem to get.

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QOTD 0

Fran Tarkenton:

Ignoring facts does not make them go away.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Twits on Twitter (Updated) 0

Fast company.

Addendum:

E. J. Montini comments.

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Decoding De Code, Reprise 0

At the Idaho State Journal, Jesse Robison wonders about that dreaded word.

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Decoding De Code 0

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Despoiled Wilderness 0

A polar bear and an elk look at an oil well shaped in a

Click for the original image.

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Know Them by the Company They Keep 0

PoliticalProf.

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