From Pine View Farm

Misdirection Play: Hot Air about Windmills 0

Rebecca Burns, author and journalist based in Georgia, to discuss her recent piece in The American Prospect entitled “Against The Wind.”

Aside:

I think that this story, which appeared in my local rag yesterday, may be an example of the misdirection play discussed in this clip.

Most of the valid reports I’ve seen of harm to whales involve collisions with boats, not with stationary objects.

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Fly the Fiendly Skies 0

They get fiendlier every day.

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Establishmentarians 0

Missouri Republicans want to put proselytizers on the public payroll and deploy them to public schools.

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QOTD 0

Stanley Kubrick:

There’s something in the human personality which resents things that are clear, and conversely, something which is attracted to puzzles, enigmas, and allegories.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Squeaker of the House 0

Mike Johnson as a male stripper called

Via Job’s Anger.

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“Who Let the Dogs Out? Who? Who?” 0

When you point a finger at someone else, always remember three fingers are pointing back at you.

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Snaring the Wealth 0

Ted McLaughlin explains Republican’s social security con. The gist (emphasis added); follow the link for the complete article.

The Republicans gained enough power to change the nation’s economic policy (under Reagan–ed.). They instituted a trickle-down economic policy (telling Americans that giving more to the rich would benefit everyone). But the new policy allowed the rich to hog almost all of the rising productivity. That meant the rich got a huge increase in income and wealth, while workers were no longer sharing in the rising productivity.

Since worker wages were not rising as expected (because nothing was trickling down), the Social Security funding was also not rising. This caused the funding problem Social Security will soon see. In other words, the Republicans caused the problem with Social Security with their failed economic policy favoring the rich (at the detriment of everyone else).

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The Krazies’ Kangaroo Court* 0

Cliff Schecter highlights Jamie Raskin’s comments on the House Repulbicans’ farcical impeachment hearings about Joe Biden.

Via C&L.

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*On second thought, that’s probably an insult to kangaroos.

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Dis Coarse Discourse 0

Clumsy Carp reads the definition of

Click for the original image.

For example.

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Shotspitter 0

The EFF has long warned of the dangers of certain technologies with which law enforcement seems enamored, such as shotspotter and facial recognition. Here’s a bit from their latest article on the topic:

On January 25, while responding to a ShotSpotter alert, a Chicago police officer opened fire on an unarmed “maybe 14 or 15” year old child in his backyard. Three officers approached the boy’s house, with one asking “What you doing bro, you good?” They heard a loud bang, later determined to be fireworks, and shot at the child. Fortunately, no physical injuries were recorded. In initial reports, police falsely claimed that they fired at a “man” who had fired on officers.

In a subsequent assessment of the event, the Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability (“COPA”) concluded that “a firearm was not used against the officers.” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling placed all attending officers on administrative duty for 30 days and is investigating whether the officers violated department policies.

Follow the link for context.

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QOTD 0

P. G. Wodehouse:

The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Self-politeness is the politest kind.

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Twits on Twitter X Offenders 0

Cruz spews.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

At AL.com, Frances Coleman argues that the words might be different, but the thought’s the same. A snippet:

Gov. Kay Ivey, a wily old political bird if ever there was one, knows on which side her bread is buttered. Signing a bill that bans diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public schools, universities and state agencies, she said: “I refuse to allow a few bad actors on college campuses … to go under the acronym of DEI, using taxpayer funds, to push their liberal political movement counter to what the majority of Alabamians believe.”

It may not have the same rhetorical ring as George Wallace’s “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” but it puts the point across.

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The Welfare Queen 0

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The Privatization Scam 0

Title:  Georgia Republicans' School Voucher Plan.  Image:  Public schools suffering in a hospital bed while transfusion of dollars goes into arm of man labeled

Click to view the original image.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Another “responsible gun owner,” another child . . . .

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Establishmentarians 0

At the Idaho State Journal, Leonard Hitchcock skewers the reasoning behind the Alabama Supreme Court’s recent IVF ruling. Here’s a tiny bit of his article:

As I see it, the Alabama decision represents the triumph of first-century Christian doctrine over twenty-first-century knowledge.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

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QOTD 0

H. Rider Haggard:

I do not believe in violence; it is the last resort of fools.

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