From Pine View Farm

Facebook Frolics 0

Schoolyard scrap.

Afterthought:

My word, Facebook does indeed function as a funnel for foolishness.

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Originalist Sin 0

Elie Mystal notes the malodorous flaw in the arguments of Constitutional “originalists”–you know, the folks who believe that it’s still 1789 or at least can be again. He argues that “originalism” is ipso facto acceptance of segregation as being legal.

A snippet. Follow the link for the complete article:

Originalists try to skirt most of the horrific defects of the original Constitution by referring to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments as curative of all of the Constitution’s racist ills.

But Brown (Brown v. Board of Education, the case that resulted in the Supreme Court’s overturning segregation–ed.) trips them up because the institution of segregation post-dates the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Clearly, the original authors of those Amendments thought segregation was okay. Congress had many, many opportunities to outlaw segregation, yet did not act. And, of course, Plessy v. Ferguson upheld segregation laws as perfectly constitutional. At every time, up to and including the time that Brown was decided, large pluralities of American legislators and legal scholars believed racial segregation was compatible with the Constitution.

(Link fixed.)

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Be prepared for politeness while proceeding speedily.

The motorcycle was traveling west on New Haven Avenue in Melbourne about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, carrying a male driver and a female passenger. For unknown reasons, the driver lost control and hit the curb, a spokesperson from the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Both the driver and passenger were ejected in the crash. A firearm the driver was carrying in a holster on his hip discharged, striking the man in the leg as he tumbled from the bike, troopers said.

I guess safeties are things of the past.

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“The Lying King” 0

Title:  The Lying King.  Image:  Donald Trump on mountain holding sign saying

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Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0

Someone shows politeness to Muslim family:

A Troy (Maine–ed.) family is on edge after someone apparently fired buckshot into a sign marking their new halal butchery that had been installed outside their home and business just hours earlier.

“It’s been scary,” said Kathryn Piper, who recently opened Five Pillars Butchery with her husband, Hussam “Sam” Al-Rawi. “It’s an attack on our home, it’s not just our business.”

(snip)

Piper said she’s worried about the safety of her family, including her two young children. She believes someone targeted their business because of their faith.

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A Rising Rate of Conflation 0

Ed Burmila notes the intensification. A snippet:

But the past three days—during the fallout from the FBI’s raid of the office and hotel of Michael Cohen, “ultimate Trump loyalist”—have made this approach (ignoring the implications of the Trumping–ed.) untenable. In just that short time frame Trump has gone full Louis XIV by conflating an investigation of his wrongdoing with an attack on the state. He has described the execution by his own appointees of a lawful search warrant as a burglary. And he has argued that conversations—those he has spent months insisting (through surrogates, like Hope Hicks) never happened—are in fact retroactively covered by attorney-client privilege.

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The Cost of Staying Alive 0

In the Sunday New York Times Magazine, Siddharta Mukherjee took a fascinating look at a recent study as to what makes health care in the United States consume twice as much of GDP as it does in other industrialized nations. A snippet:

The researchers begin by extirpating some common myths. Are our health care costs astronomically high because we don’t have enough primary-care doctors? No; the number of primary-care physicians in the United States lies squarely in the middle of the 11 countries. Is our population more prone to illness? Yes and no; Americans smoke fewer cigarettes and drink less alcohol, but our rate of obesity is highest. Do we pay more for health care because we use more health care? Again, at face value, no. As a country, we went to the hospital about half as often as the Germans. We consulted doctors about a third as often as the Japanese. We beat the stoic Swiss and the frugal Dutch in the number of days that we spent in the hospital.

I commend it to your attention.

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QOTD 0

Henri Poincare:

It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.

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And Now for Something Completely Different 0

During some discussion on the radio about the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, I learned that Leonard Bernstein had written music for Benny Goodman.

This is one of the pieces he wrote.

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Justice Decried 0

Thom explains to a right-wing caller that a legally-obtained, well-founded search warrant is not a violation of civil liberties; indeed, itt is rather the epitome of them. (The conversation gets a bit contentious towards the end, but remains civil.)

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Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach Today 0

When fellowship is needed, join us . . . .

When: Thursday, April 12, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

Sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.

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Alice in Blunderland 0

Donald Trump as the Red Queen pointing at Lady Justice saying,

Click for the original image.

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“Not with a Bang, but a Whimper” 0

Dick Polman.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Share the politeness.

Two women in their twenties and a young girl suffered gunshot wounds in their legs in West Valley City Wednesday afternoon, and a suspect is now in custody.

(snip)

“He was just passing through and started to shoot,” he said of the suspect. “He shot my wife and my daughter.”

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Ryan’s Derp 0

Reckon he figures he’s done all the damage he could.

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QOTD 0

Lao Tzu:

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

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Now for a Little Eye Candy 0

Another photo from my brother in Virginia’s Northern Neck.

Hawk in tree

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Nor Any Drop To Drink 0

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Facebook Frolics 0

Two men dressed in medical scrubs dragging a man to an MPI (My Personal Information) scanner where a Facebook logo adorns the scanning bed.  One says,

Click for the original image.

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All That Was Old Is New Again 0

Thom explains how Nixon’s odious Southern Strategy led to Donald Trump.

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