From Pine View Farm

2023 archive

How Stuff Works, “Social” Media Isn’t Dept. 0

Pig:  What's the matter, Zebra?  Zebra:   My Twitter feed.  All the accounts I follow are suspended.  Croc appears and says:  What happen in crocs by Tweeter from moody billunare.  But ees okay--We is free speech absoflutists.  Zebra:  So what happened to all the journalists I follow?  Cros:  Dey not say nice things about crocs.  They gone.  Zebra:  So you're just banning everyone.  Crod:  No.  We no ban peeple who praise crocs.  Dey gun.  Zebra:  But you said you're in favor of free speech.  In what sense is that free.  Croc:  Me free to kick you right off.  Zebra to Pig:  Maybe now would be a good time to get off social media.  Croc:  You banned.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years, Reprise 0

Gary Franks, who served in the House of Representatives during the Clinton Presidency, was the first black Republican elected to the House in New England in five decades. Now, two decades later, he reminds us the KKK may no longer hide in hoods, but that it still does exist. Here’s a bit from his article:

. . . there is the fallacy of being “fair” to Black people which is tantamount to “hurting” white people. This is the true mantra of the Klan, which they call being “woke.”

Follow the link for the rest.

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The Blame Gamers 0

Steve M. summarizes the (Chinese) ballooning sophistry.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

The editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun parses Florida Man’s playbook; they conclude he is implementing a three-pronged strategy to bring back Jim Crow, Here are the prongs:

  • The first is you must separate groups of people as much as possible.
  • Importantly, an essential piece of isolating people from on another is not allowing the history and reality of other people to be discussed.
  • The third essential element needed to create a society that will tolerate racism is to deny the oppressed group equal access to that core of democracy: the ballot box.

Follow the link for their reasoning.

(Not that there’s any kind of pattern that one might discern in recent events.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Once again, politeness becomes child’s play.

Once again, a child is sacrificed to the NRA’s leaden idol.

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“Pay No Attention to the Men Behind the Curtain” 0

Transcript here.

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The Disinformation Superhighway Meets Vaccine Nation . . . . 0

. . . and become the pathway for perfidious propaganda putting you in peril

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QOTD 0

Doris Haddock:

Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we do.

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Geeking Out 0

Ubuntu MATE with the Fluxbox window manager. XClock is in the upper right, GKrellM with the “Glass” theme in the lower right. The wallpaper is from my collection.

Screenshot

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Base Desires 0

Thom and Dean Obeidallah discuss why Republicans don’t like Representative Ilhan Omar and what it says about the Republican Party.

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Fringe Benefits 0

School with signs in front of it reading

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Marketing Malice 0

One of my post categories is “Hate Sells.” We see and hear persons trading in it every day.

At Psychology Today Blogs, Richard Lettieri explores why hate sells. He points out that, in the past few years, hate crimes–defined as “a crime against a person or property that is motivated by prejudice or hatred toward that group”–have increased, while other types of crimes have decreased. In his article, he explores the reasons for this. An excerpt:

During periods of economic disruption and uncertainty, criminologists have documented that hate crimes increase toward minorities and immigrant groups, which are perceived as the drivers of social problems and economic dislocation. This kind of “otherizing” is a defensive psychological reaction that functions to assuage feelings of helplessness and fear.</blockquote>

It is a timely and worthwhile read.

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Elder Abuse Is a Republican Family Value 0

Kevin McCarthy as a purse-snatchee.  He has one arm around an old lady's neck and in his other hand he holds her purse labeled

Via Job’s Anger.

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Calling Out the Craven 0

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has had it with Republicans’ racism, bigotry, and hypocrisy.

Not that they care.

As I have mentioned before, Richard Nixon’s racist “Southern Strategy” has come full circle and consumed the Republican Party. The Republican Party is now the party of the New Secesh.

Video via C&L, which has commentary.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

The editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun weighs in on the antics of the Republican-led House of Representatives incongruously assembled.

The prognosis is not encouraging.

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Debtification 0

At the Idaho State Journal, Jesse Robison makes the case that our health care system does one thing very, very well.

Dr. Rishi Manchanda said it well, “We have a health care system almost perfectly designed to create debt.”

And create debt it does: According to a February 2022 Consumer Credit Report, Americans are carrying $88 billion in medical debt, and that number is significantly underreported. Over 20 percent of U.S. adults have medical debt. Excessive medical costs are the primary cause of bankruptcy in America partially caused by deceptive Swiss cheese insurance policies.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

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QOTD 0

Abigail Adams:

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

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How Stuff Works, Incongruously Assembled Dept. 0

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Originalist Sin 0

At Above the Law, Joe Patrice untangles some pretzel logic promoting the proliferation of portable phalluses.

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Echoes of the Fall 0

Sportswriter extraordinaire Bob Molinaro:

Served up for my fellow curmudgeons is a reminder that at the 2024 Paris Olympics, breakdancing will be a sport. A sport.

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