From Pine View Farm

2020 archive

The Blind Man’s Bluff 0

Bill Bramhall's editorial cartoon for Jan. 9, 2019, showing a blind-folded Donald Trump nearly walking off a cliff. Nearby birds comment:

Click for the original image.

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QOTD 0

Mark Harmon, as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs:

The more I know, the less I understand.

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And Now for a Musical Interlude 0

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The Blame Game 0

E. J. Montini invites you to play.

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Dreams in the White-House 0

Jamelle Bouie finds Lovecraftian overtones to these troubled times. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest of his tale of eldritch horror made real.

Faced with things too monstrous to be real, but which exist nonetheless, Lovecraftian protagonists either reject their senses or descend into madness, unable to live with what they’ve learned.

It feels, at times, that when it comes to President Donald Trump, our political class is this Lovecraftian protagonist, struggling to understand an incomprehensibly abnormal president.

Aside:

Readers of Lovecraft will recognize this post’s title as a pun on the title of one of Lovecraft’s stories.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

She phoned in the politeness.

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Reality of Television 0

Three television sets.  Two are tuned the legitimate news channels broadcasting legitimate news.  The third is broadcasting gossip,

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The Scandal Mill 0

Another Republican “investigation” turns up zilch, nada, nothing, but Sam suggests the GOP scandal mill will continue turning out bogus scandals.

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Razzing the Barr 0

The New York Bar Association is fed up.

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QOTD 0

Jonathan Winters:

Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.

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KISS 0

PoliticalProf.

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The Bombardment 0

Two men staring at laptop.  One says,

Via The Bob Cesca Show Blog.

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Deja Vu All Over Again 0

Title:  The Big Dumb War.  Step One:  Hawks itch for battle.  Step Two:  9/11 falsely invoked.  Step Three:  Boosters of previous war all over TV.  Step Four:  Millions protest around the world and are ignored.  Step Five;  Patriotism of opposition questioned.  Step Six:  War a bloody disaster without end.  Step Seven:  Convention wisdom forms that war was a mistake, but non one held accountable.  (Return to step one.)

Click for the original image.

In a similar vein, David Niose discusses the conditioning. A snippet:

Through a combination of cultural forces, some overt and others subtle, Americans are taught from a young age to accept their country’s militarism without question. This conditioning has numerous ingredients. Themes of nationalism and militarism are frequently injected into public life through the media and other institutions, for example, as is a sense of righteousness, a rarely challenged belief that the country is almost always a force for good.

Fear is also a major element in conditioning minds for war. Americans of all ages are often reminded, by their government and the media, that perceived enemies pose a constant danger. The Soviet threat was used to justify military spending and adventurism around the globe for much of the latter twentieth century . . . . More recently, through constant reminders of the “war on terror,” Americans are effectively conditioned to see evildoers as always looming.

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Facebook Frolics, It’s All about the Benjamins, Reprise 0

Susan Estrich makes the connection.

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New Rage Politics 0

Read the article that David discusses.

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Pep Talk 0

Donald Trump to massing U. S. troops:  As you go off to fight my war, don't forget, I like people who aren't captured.

Via Juanita Jean.

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The Fire This Time 0

Paul Krugman remarks on the apathy which has greeted the burning of Australia. A snippet:

So this should be the moment when governments finally began urgent efforts to stave off climate catastrophe.

But the world isn’t rational. In fact, Australia’s anti-environmentalist government seems utterly unmoved as the nightmares of environmentalists become reality. And the anti-environmentalist media, the Murdoch empire in particular, has gone all-out on disinformation, trying to place the blame on arsonists and “greenies” who won’t let fire services get rid of enough trees.

These political reactions are more terrifying than the fires themselves.

Afterthought:

Unlike Ripley, science doesn’t care whether you believe it or not. Science just is–and will be–regardless of whether anyone believes it.

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QOTD 0

Marie Curie:

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

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The Rule of Lawless 0

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Demonstrate courtesy whilst going about your day-to-day business.

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