From Pine View Farm

Poll Tax Redux 0

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A Question of Identity 0

Does the individual described in this article remind you of anyone?

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SLAPP-Happy 0

In The Sacramento Bee, Eric Swalwell examines Devin Nunes’s practice of suing everyone who hurts his tender wittle fee-fees, while consistently voting to deny others the same privilege.

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Epidemic 0

Man in hazmat suit with American flag on the back pointing sensor at Uncle Sam, Madam Liberty, and a small child, each of which is pierced with a bullet, one of which is  labeled

Click for the original image.

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QOTD 0

Havelock Ellis:

There has never been any country at every moment so virtuous and so wise that it has not sometimes needed to be saved from itself.

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The Bullies’ Pulpit 0

Thom reports on a Washington Post article about the proliferation of bullying in Donald Trump’s image.

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The Rule of Lawless, Newspeak Dept. 0

A former Federal prosecutor comments on the pardon of Rob Blagojevich. A snippet:

Get out of Jail free card

We have stepped through the looking glass, or entered George Orwell’s dystopia. Criminals are victims. Public servants are criminals. Truth is a lie, and lies told loudly and persistently carry the day. We are at a tipping point where the bedrocks of our society are under attack.

Elsewhere, Leonard Pitts, Jr., has a somewhat different interpretation, arguing that we are not, indeed, living in “post-fact America,” but rather in “post-integrity America.”

Experiments fail, even noble ones.

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The Rule of Lawless 0

Two cops reading suspect his rights:  You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.  But if you know the President you are free to go.

Via Job’s Anger.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

As any “responsible gun owner” (sic) knows, politeness takes practice.

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Dis Coarse Discourse 0

Three men and Santa sitting at a bar.  One man says,

Click for the original image.

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Accredit Where No Accredit Is Due 0

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The Artfulness of the Con 0

Barry M. Mitnick explores why even persons who don’t consider themselves gullible get gulled.

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QOTD 0

Robertson Davies:

Fanaticism is overcompensation for doubt.

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Twits on Twitter 0

The twits are in bloom(berg).

Remember, if you see it on “social” media, distrust but verify.

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

A clinical Trumpling.

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Lowering the Barr Boom 0

At the Idaho State Journal, retired professor Leonard Hitchcock fears that the rule of law is endangered. Here’s a bit from his conclusion; follow the link for his reasoning.

In all of this mess, we mustn’t lose sight of the overriding issue. As the petition of ex-DOJ employees reminds us, “Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.”

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Hoist on the Elmer Gantry 0

Keith Franklin, in a letter to the editor of The Roanoke Times, exposes the con.

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Dialectic, Reprise 0

Here’s another take on “socially liberal, fiscal conservative.”

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Facebook Frolics 0

Frolicking on a level playing field.

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Dialectic 0

In the context of discussing Michael Bloomberg’s presidential aspirations, Werner Herzog’s Bear explores the internal contradictions posed by this statement:

I am socially liberal but fiscally conservative.

Here’s the nub; follow the link for more.

. . . it’s a total contradiction, because socially liberal things like affordable housing, livable wages, and the social safety net cost money.

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From Pine View Farm
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