From Pine View Farm

Mammon category archive

The Privatization Scam 0

And it is a scam.

You can voucher on it.

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This New Gilded Age 0

This dude has clearly never worried about where his next meal was coming from.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

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The Privatization Scam 0

At the Portland Press-Herald, Ann Arsenault Shultz debunks de bunk.

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Transfer of Wealth, Republican Style 0

Michael in Norfolk deconstructs the double-talk.

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All That Was Old Is New Again 0

Thom argues that Donald Trump is bringing back the spoils system. (And, yes, it was Garfield.)

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The Crypto Con 0

C&L reminds us that cypto is the laundry soap for money-laundering and that Donald Trump is heading for the laundromat.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Title:  Near-Future History Lesson.  Image:  Family sitting in cave.  Woman is roasting a rodent over an open fire while two kids and husband sit dejectedly by.  Woman says to kids,

Click to view the original image.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Apparently, I am not alone in realizing that the 1890s are back.

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Fly the Fiendly Skies . . . 0

. . . and get a complimentary bag of fiendliness.

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

Michael in Norfolk perceives a rhyme in the news. A snippet:

If one studies how Hitler and the Nazi regime came to control news outlets and shut down independent media outlets, in addition to threats and intimidation, newspapers and journals had their office attacked and ransacked as a means of silencing them. Now, as we see America sliding towards oligarchy or even dictatorship, similar threats are being made . . . .

__________________

*Mark Twain.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Robert Reich fears that the existence of independent regulatory agencies may be in the crosshairs of today’s Robber Barons, aided and abetted by the Trump (mal)administration and the Supreme Supremacist Court.

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The Disinformation Superhighway 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Azadeh Aalai looks at how the internet, and particularly “social” media, has empowered scams and scammers. She focuses on the career of Belle Gibson, the subject of two recent documentaries.

Aalai points out that

It isn’t that con artists or scammers didn’t exist prior to the internet age, but, today, the reach and scope of such bad faith actors is so much wider. . . . . Unfortunately, when consumers are lacking in media literacy and/or vulnerable, they are prime targets for such predators.

Follow the link for the rest, and, remember, just because you read it on a screen, it ain’t necessarily so.

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The Cloak of the Crypto Con 0

In the midst of a longer article about how he is somewhat taken aback by the loyalty of the Trumpettes in the face of Donald Trump’s actions, Devin Scillian notes how Trump is profiting from the crypto con:

I’ve also been grinding o? a molar over the launch of the Donald Trump meme coin cryptocurrency. It’s a clear money grab, a way of not only making money o? the presidency but, in the thinking of some of us, profiteering from the Ponzi scheme that continues to define crypto. (Fortune estimates that while thousands of investors lost $2 billion dollars in the rollout, the Trump family raked in $100 million in transaction fees.) Even worse, thanks to crypto’s invisibility cloak, there is no way to know who is pouring Russian rubles and Chinese yuan into the Trump coffers.

The whole article is worth a read.

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Vaccine Nation 0

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This New Gilded Age (Updated) 0

Elon Musk standing in front of a pile of moneybags labeled

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Addendum:

Per Balloon Juice, Mike Lucovich is now banned from Xitter because of this cartoon.

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The Enemy Below 0

On the roof, persons frolic in the social media fun park.  Underneath, social media companies undermine democracy, fuel polarization and disinformation, and mine user data, all for profit.

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One more time, “social” media isn’t.

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The Crypto Con 0

Froma Harrop explains how it works. A snippet:

Bitcoin’s price is fueled by the Greater Fool Theory — that the fool who buys it needs only find a bigger fool to pay more for it than he did. That’s how Beanie Baby mania worked.

Follow the link for details.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Suffer the Children 0

That’s not scripture. That’s a Republican family value.

Black child holding a bowl approaches Donald Trump and Paula White-Cain, saying,

Via Job’s Anger.

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The Privatization Scam 0

Caption:  News:  Texas Senate classifies a family of four making $160,000 as

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