Too Venal for Words category archive
Scams and Scamming Scammers . . . and So It Begins 0
I received a phone call today telling me I am eligible for student loan relief and to call [some number].
I don’t have a student loan. (I once had a parent loan, but it was paid off years ago.)
When you get such calls, adopt the motto, “Mistrust, but villify.”
And don’t call them back at [some number]. They are phishing for your SSN &c. so they can defraud you.
What’s in a Word? 0
Per PoliticalProf, not nearly enough.
The Artless Dodger 0
Honest to Betsy, you can’t make this stuff up.
Illegal Procedure 0
At AL.com, Roy S. Johnson takes takes a long look at Brett Farve’s role in misappropriating public funds intended to help the needy. Johnson points out that
Follow the link for the play-by-play.
Twits Who Would Own Twitter 0
Above the Law’s Joe Patrice looks at the latest twist in Elon Musk’s attempt to weasel out of his deal to buy Twitter.
The Maddening Maddened Crowd
0
Yet another (particularly vile) example that “social” media isn’t.
Fly the Fiendly Skies 0
They are fiendlier than ever before.
Facebook Frolics 0
The Zuckerborg is a soulless monster.
And, in further proof that “social” media isn’t, there’s Florida Woman.
The Clown Prince . . . 0
. . . but even clowns can be dangerous.
In 2016, he thought he was not elected, but anointed. He intends to regain his imaginary throne by any means possible.
And far too many of the polity happily volunteer as his dupes, symps, and fellow travelers, wallowing happily in the hate-full-ness.
Not that I have strong feelings on this matter or anything like that . . . .
Judicial Rebuke 0
Judge ridicules Donald Trump’s trumped up RICO suit against Hilary Clinton.
Here’s a bit from the report:
Follow the link for said distillation.
Water Deviltry 0
Nor any brain to think . . . .
(snip)
But a new report from Votebeat and the Texas Tribune shows that the harassment and threats that ultimately drove Gillespie County’s elections department staffers to leave their jobs stemmed specifically from activists invested in conspiracies related to fluoride in local drinking water.
We are a society of stupid.
Details at the link.
A Pile Up On the Disinformation Superhighway
0
SFGate’s Katie Dowd details the destruction.
Doing It the Old Fashioned Way 0
I have learned that, as phone companies have increasingly yielded to customer pressure to become more vigilant in blocking car warranty scammers, the scammers have taken to the mails.
Yesterday, I received a letter from a company I’ve never heard of (“Endurance”) warning me that the “extended service plan” that I never purchased was about to expire . . . .
Be forewarned.
(Gramatikal error correxted.)
The Medicine Show 0
At The American Scholar, Colin Dickey reports on the fantastically lucrative patent medicine industry. It is a fascinating read. Here’s bit:
The dietary supplement industry, of which Moon Juice is just one small portion, sells (according to one estimate) some $35 billion in products per year to consumers in the United States alone. Brands with names like Nature’s Bounty and Purity Products advertise everything from squid oil to chromium to the monkey head mushroom, and all of it is made possible by those two sentences—repeated over and over again, printed on millions of labels in tiny fonts, ritually intoned until their meaning has been obliterated.
Barnum was wrong.
There’s more than one born every minute.
(Spellink erorrs correxted.)