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Monday, November 9. 2015

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The Novels of John Fowles: A Reassessment

Harvard Sex Week is Pretty Much Everything You’d Expect

No Plato week? No Bach week? Is that place a zoo?

Daycare Workers Fired for Refusing to Pretend Little Girl Is a Boy

So we should probably talk about that Colorado sexting ring scandal

Why do we prefer the Rolex to the Timex?

I prefer Timex. You don't care if you lose it, get it stolen, or break it.

Yale Student Goes Into Shrieking Hysterics Over Threat to P.C. Totalitarianism

THIS IS BASICALLY AN ADMISSION THAT MUCH OF THE YALE STUDENT BODY IS MENTALLY ILL

"A Thin-Skinned Minority Is Ruining This Nation": Professor Crushes "Political Correctness" Wave Sweeping America

Not thin-skinned - manipulative bullies

In Britain, Free Speech Goes Out with a Whimper

The Uberization of Money - The familiar middlemen of 20th-century banking and investing are giving way to something very
different. Are we ready for the opportunities—and the risks?

Time to Panic: Global Warming Could Make There Be Too Many Lobsters

Keeping Americans poor in a prosperous country like America is not as easy as you think.

Karl Rove's gratuitous and erroneous shot at Calvin Coolidge.

Union: Obama Threw Workers Under the Bus - Longtime Democratic ally could be big GOP booster in 2016

Time
to Panic: Global Warming Could Make There Be Too Many Lobsters - See
more at: http://moonbattery.com/?p=64962#sthash.EEkNIh3T.dpuf

Killing Ben Carson

It is .. interesting to hear the reporters yelling back at Carson, unabashedly taking the role of advocates for their political party.

9 False Things Obama Said About His Bio That Didn’t Cause a Media Feeding Frenzy

Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’

Lie

Hillary Clinton Lied Under Oath Repeatedly During Her "Successful" Benghazi Testimony

Migrants turn up their noses at 'boring' German village... and some have already left

Daycare
Workers Fired for Refusing to Pretend Little Girl Is a Boy - See more
at: http://moonbattery.com/?p=64988#sthash.j7FGsLPj.dpuf

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:30 | Comments (40) | Trackbacks (0)

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Re: Hillary Clinton Lied Under Oath Repeatedly During Her "Successful" Benghazi Testimony

But it's super important that we get to the bottom of why Ben Carson said he was offered a scholarship to West Point when it's free for everybody who is accepted.

#1 mudbug on 2015-11-09 09:14 (Reply)

Quite amazing when you consider it's been shown large portions of Obama's autobiography were made up, and yet he's never been attacked for that.

Oh, by the way, the Carson campaign facebook page has published recruiting material for West Point aimed at black high school students during Carson's time, and the materials specifically make mention of getting a "full government scholarship" if you are admitted.

#1.1 Jim on 2015-11-09 13:23 (Reply)

re "A Thin-Skinned Minority Is Ruining This Nation"

Oh I dunno. From my point of view the fault lies with the administrators who allow and enable such behavior. Start expelling the spoiled brats and see how much longer this behavior lasts.

#2 feeblemind on 2015-11-09 09:16 (Reply)

As a business leadership coach once told our group, "you get the behavior you demonstrate and the behavior you tolerate."

#2.1 Jim on 2015-11-09 13:26 (Reply)

And give up all that tuition money? Are you nuts?

#2.2 Sam L. on 2015-11-09 17:17 (Reply)

QUOTE:

9 False Things Obama Said About His Bio That Didn’t Cause a Media Feeding Frenzy

More weak tea. Starting at #1:

QUOTE:

In response to a question at a Memorial Day appearance in New Mexico, Mr. Obama said an uncle helped liberate the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz during World War II. The problem? That story didn’t track with history, considering Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet forces.

Obama's great-uncle was with Patton's 3rd Army when they liberated Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald. And yes, there was a media kerfuffle, but hardly more than a quibble.

#3 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 09:23 (Reply)

I would agree that the Buchenwald mistake was a minor one. However, I would also say it was on par with the Carson discussion of the meeting with the general that took place in February rather than May, wouldn't you?

An inconsequential nothing that was brought up by Politico as a 'lie' and then additional pile on by Politico when they claimed Carson's team 'confirmed' it.

In other words, Dr. Carson's minor mistake (a date of a meeting) was treated as if it were a horrible lie (and we already know the content of the meeting was not a lie as explained and accepted by the NYT) and knocked on by the press (even Drudge and Fox). Obama's mistake was treated much differently...

If the press are going to dig and turn up these kinds of things, they really need to do their homework thoroughly before they claim 'lies' in news stories, don't you think? And all candidates with biographies and books should be treated with the same scrutiny, shouldn't they?

#3.1 MissT on 2015-11-09 11:13 (Reply)

MissT: I would agree that the Buchenwald mistake was a minor one. However, I would also say it was on par with the Carson discussion of the meeting with the general that took place in February rather than May, wouldn't you?

Don't know if he did or did not meet Westmoreland, but it certainly goes under nitpicks.

#3.1.1 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 11:27 (Reply)

QUOTE:

It is .. interesting to hear the reporters yelling back at Carson, unabashedly taking the role of advocates for their political party... In particular, he notes that Obama’s college and law school records are sealed. Why is that, he asks. And why have you reporters never investigated to find out why Obama’s records had to be sealed?

That's funny. School record don't have to be "sealed". They're confidential by nature.

Despite his medical background, Carson seems to buy into all sorts of pseudo-scientific nonsense. The stuff about West Point though is hardly worth a mention. It's easy to see why he said what he did. He was being strongly recruited for West Point, so that's how he chose to remember it.

#4 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 09:29 (Reply)

QUOTE:

School record don't have to be "sealed". They're confidential by nature.

That is a semantic difference. Obama could tell the schools to release the records to reporters or investigators (in which case, Fox News, Breitbart, and the Daily Caller would get them, nobody else would be interested). We do agree that the kerfuffle over the West Point story is silly.

#4.1 mudbug on 2015-11-09 09:36 (Reply)

It's not semantic, as Carson clearly thinks they were purposefully sealed in order to hide them.

#4.1.1 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 09:53 (Reply)

It's not semantic at all. Obama knew that people were interested in them and chose to keep them secret. It's not uncommon to release your college records as Kerry and Bush can attest. When part of your narrative is that you are a brilliant scholar - editor of the Law Review for example - it seems logical to show off your grades.

#4.1.1.1 mudbug on 2015-11-09 10:02 (Reply)

mudbug: It's not semantic at all. Obama knew that people were interested in them and chose to keep them secret. It's not uncommon to release your college records as Kerry and Bush can attest.

Bush's college records were leaked.

Carson is asking the press to investigate why Obama's records are sealed. That makes no sense unless you believe that there is something extraordinary about them not being publicly available. Carson picks up bits-and-pieces from the right wing echo chamber, then repeats them.

#4.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 11:02 (Reply)

If Obama was not willing to release his college and law school records, then why didn't the press go interview former classmates, professors, etc. about their memories of Obama in school? Or his friends from high school, as it sounds CNN did with Dr. Carson? If there are no records to look at, easy enough to get perceptions from people who went to class with him. But they never did it.

#4.1.1.1.1.1 MissT on 2015-11-09 11:19 (Reply)

MissT: If Obama was not willing to release his college and law school records, then why didn't the press go interview former classmates, professors, etc.

They did. There just wasn't much of interest to report on.

#4.1.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 11:29 (Reply)

Well, there were some who claim to have never seen him. There was one who claimed to be his roommate. But there was certainly very little interest in his college years. For example, how did he become editor of the Harvard Law Review when he published almost nothing, who paid for his years at Columbia and Harvard?

Shortly before the 2008 election, there was a discussion on TV between Tom Brokaw and Charlie Rose where they both admit neither of them knew much about Obama (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzMas1bVidw) I especially liked where Brokaw said that you had to bring intellectual vigor when digging up good useful information about a candidate. Another place Brokaw didn't bring that vigor was when Clinton was running for his second term. On Imus's radio show, Brokaw wondered if the 'Chinese Funny Money' scandal where there were allegations that Chinese government money was finding its way into the Clinton campaign would have an impact on the race. Imus said (paraphrasing) "Not if they watch your newscast since you've never reported on it." Some things are just not that interesting I guess.

#4.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 mudbug on 2015-11-09 12:21 (Reply)

Not much of interest? No one seemed to remember him. I would call that worthy of further investigation. Why no interest in at least his GPA? Everyone was all over the GPA issue with Bush and Gore in 2000. There were so many claims about Obama's brilliance, yet nothing of substance to prove it. Questions should have come up immediately about this. Instead, swept under the rug and treated as 'no big deal.'

You know why it is a big deal? Because I have liberal friends who are claiming that Obama was vetted just like they are doing to Dr. Carson now. Problem was, he was NOT vetted. The assumption is that he had been b/c the press didn't pursue these topics like they seem to be doing now.

The inconsistencies and outright lies in Obama's book...no big deal. His sealed college records and no clue about what kind of student he was...no big deal. His voting record in Illinois sealed up...no big deal. Yet, these very things are how we make determinations about candidates and their ability to be leaders, to be honest, etc.

Now, because the press did not do their jobs, liberals believe he was vetted in the same way. Lies.

#4.1.1.1.1.1.1.2 MissT on 2015-11-09 13:34 (Reply)

You like being wrong, don't you?

And considering you repeat without question the flaws and errors supporting the pseudo-science of climate change, you really don't have much integrity in this discussion.

Weak tea indeed.

#4.2 DrTorch on 2015-11-09 10:33 (Reply)

His book press kit bio saying he was born in Kenya sure started a kefuffle.

#5 B Moe on 2015-11-09 09:30 (Reply)

Yes, then there's the whole birth certificate, Obama is a communist infiltrator, kerfuffle. How long did that go on? Four years?

#5.1 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 09:32 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Obama is a communist infiltrator

Which news organizations reported that?

#5.1.1 mudbug on 2015-11-09 09:40 (Reply)

mudbug: Which news organizations reported that?

Fox News: Sarah Palin, 'Barack Obama Is A Socialist,' Communism Could Be Coming

Fox News: Obama birth record 'definitely fraudulent,' Sheriff Joe Arpaio says

Should we go on?

#5.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 09:52 (Reply)

Fox News reported what Palin and Arpaio said. I'm not sure what your point is.

#5.1.1.1.1 mudbug on 2015-11-09 09:59 (Reply)

Their. You're not sure what their point is, mudbug. They are staff.

#5.1.1.1.1.1 Ten on 2015-11-09 12:37 (Reply)

By that standard all the news organizations reported that Mitt Romney hadn't payed his taxes for ten years.

#5.1.1.1.2 mudbug on 2015-11-09 10:05 (Reply)

mudbug: Fox News reported what Palin and Arpaio said.

That's right. That went on for about four years or so, until after Obama was reelected for his last allowable term of office, that is, until after it no longer mattered. Keep in mind that Palin was the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States.

mudbug: I'm not sure what your point is.

Carson falsely claimed Obama was not subjected to that sort of scrutiny. Obama was subjected to far worse.

mudbug: By that standard all the news organizations reported that Mitt Romney hadn't payed his taxes for ten years.

Yes, they did. The story was apparently false based on "sources".

QUOTE:

Legend has it that LBJ, in one of his early congressional campaigns, told one of his aides to spread the story that Johnson's opponent f^cked pigs. The aide responded "Christ, Lyndon, we can't call the guy a pigf^cker. It isn't true." To which LBJ supposedly replied "Of course it ain't true, but I want to make the son-of-a-bitch deny it."

#5.1.1.1.3 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 10:15 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Hillary Clinton: Most charter schools ‘don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them’

Bird Dog: Lie

It's difficult to quantify, but the basic premise is supportable. Charter schools, for instance, enroll fewer English language learners, fewer students with disabilities, and fewer homeless students compared to public schools. They also tend to lose more students, most likely lower performing students who return to public schools.

The primary evidence contradicting Clinton are studies that compare charter schools which used a lottery for admission, but there are biases with these studies, as well. For instance, charter schools requiring a lottery are the most popular charter schools, and may not be representative of charter schools as a whole. Furthermore, such studies don't account for the effects of peer groups on educational success. Children whose parents are less involved don't typically apply to charter schools. So even though lottery studies only compare children who applied, the losers of the lotteries return to the public school which includes those children whose parents may be less involved.

#6 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 09:43 (Reply)

Time to Lighten Up: Why do we prefer the Rolex to the Timex. I prefer nothing. Nothing hanging off me that is. Watches, rings, baubles, bangles &/or beads. I was required to wear a wrist watch when I flew trans-atlantic in the '50s-'60s, in the event the aircraft clock malfunctioned they said. The aircraft I flew had four clocks on the flight deck, and two HF radios that could pick up WWV anywhere in the world. Maybe it was a joke and I was the mark, but they gave me a wrist watch and I religiously wore the damn thing like I was told.

#7 BillH on 2015-11-09 10:12 (Reply)

That's a fun article. I certainly can appreciate the artistry of a fine watch, but the realist in me tends to actually use a Gshock most of the time.

Status is a fundamental component of human nature as social animals. It exists in all our closest relatives, it's part of the dynamic of getting our genes into thenext generation. I remember reading an article by a woman in the business of providing expensive entertainment for men, in which she noted that the watch and the suit were her initial cues as to the financial viability of the client.

Status can be in the form of skill (sports, music) or posessions. It's one of the ways we stand out from he crowd. But in different social circles, different status cues are of importance.

Even the somewhat maligned 'trophy wife' situation, can, under the right circumstances, boost status for both parners--her status can increase with the associated wealth, he too gains status (and potentially more wealth).

Status can be even acheived by a form of anti-status where a person by visibly (as opposed to someone who is visibly without resources) casting off the trappings of wealth can be a form of status within certain circles.

[and the article is correct about relics--they are something else entirely]

#8 jay on 2015-11-09 10:33 (Reply)

Obama himself said he was born in Kenya.

His school records are more than confidential. He has spent over a million dollars to make sure his records cannot be leaked. However his fellow classmates and professors have spoken out and 'oddly' they have said they never saw him. Professors who taught classes Obama would have had to take never saw Obama and never had him in a classroom. At reunions his fellow classmates commonly discuss the fact that none of them ever heard of or saw Obama prior to his sudden and quiet unusual rise in politics. Obama is a post turtle; someone put him where he is and he didn't get their by himself. But no one knows how. He as a foreigner (by his own sworn statement) somehow got a scholarship and sudden admission to one of the most prestigious schools in America. Try that yourself or with your kids. Apply to Harvard Law School as a broke foreigner with no record of actually attending Columbia and see if they accept you overnight and pay your way. Somehow I suspect you wouldn't make it unless someone was pulling strings in the background.

#9 GoneWithTheWind on 2015-11-09 10:43 (Reply)

GoneWithTheWind: Obama is a post turtle; someone put him where he is and he didn't get their by himself.

Right. It was a conspiracy to put a mole in the White House. To do so, they faked a birth certificate for a half-African half-white baby, then named him "Barack Hussein Obama". That way he would just slip into the presidency unnoticed.

#9.1 Zachriel on 2015-11-09 11:31 (Reply)

Interesting theory, Z...

#9.1.1 mudbug on 2015-11-09 13:01 (Reply)

Glad you agree. There is not a legitimate birth certificate for Obama. The one the white house posted was faked. Why would they do that? Obama's SSN was stolen from someone else. Why would they do that? His claimed place of birth, the hospital or wing in the hospital didn't exist until years after his birth. His parents residence in Hawaii was never there residence and the home belonged to someone who did not know his parents (but strangely his parents would have known of them). Why??? His aunt in Kenya said she attended his birth in Kenya and since she has been hushed up? In His first book Obama said he was Kenyan. In his application for school in the U.S. Obama said he was a foreign born national. The list of these anomolies is too long to list here. There is something very strange going on; on the one hand the lies and errors surrounding Obama's birth are too great to ignore and on the other hand the media is not only ignoring it but spend an unseemly lot of effort in refuting it and shaming anyone who brings it up. Why not investigate it and solve this mystery once and for all???

#9.1.2 GoneWithTheWind on 2015-11-09 13:08 (Reply)

Casio

I had a cheap Casio that was a workhorse. Took it diving to 90 feet with no problems. I eventually died mostly due to me not getting the gasket right when changing the battery. I bought a Timex (mid-1990s) to replace it but the damn thing almost immediately had problems. Threw it out the window as I drove down the road. Bought another Casio.

Rolex - A friend on a ship had a Rolex dive watch he father gave her when she was commissioned. She got water in it while taking a shower.

In any case, since quartz crystals, it is all for show anyway. A personal manifestation of Medieval sumptuary laws.

#10 JK Brown on 2015-11-09 11:11 (Reply)

re Why do we prefer the Rolex to the Timex?

That was an interesting read.

My late brother-in-law once received a Rolex as a gift from his M.D. son.

Was he ever proud of it! He told one and all it was a Rolex and cost 5 grand.

However . . . The watch was not made from precious metals. It was not adorned with precious stones. The watch was made from stainless steel. Stainless. Friggin. Steel.

It looked like other watches but it cost $5000. He HAD to announce to one and all that it was a Rolex because there was no other way to discern that it was.

When he showed it to me and bragged about it, I was unimpressed and suggested other ways 5 g's could have been spent which would have made him happier. All that did was annoy him.

Anyway, as time passed he would often show me his Rolex and brag about it again and again. I would nod in agreement but it was a truly unimpressive watch.

#11 feeblemind on 2015-11-09 11:26 (Reply)

"I prefer Timex. You don't care if you lose it, get it stolen, or break it."

Absolutely.

As a young artillery subaltern in the Canadian Army, I bought myself an expensive big Seiko. It was soon damaged and lost somewhere.

I discovered the obvious: a cheap Timex or Casio digital watch from Wal-Mart was just as accurate and you weren't heartbroken when you smashed it against the side of an armoured vehicle in the dark.

#12 JJM on 2015-11-09 12:18 (Reply)

Why has MaggiesFarm become so much less interesting, informative and inviting since Zac enter the discussions?

#13 jma on 2015-11-09 15:04 (Reply)

It wasn't the arrival of Zach.
It was the departure of Dr Mercury and Marianne Matthews.

#13.1 Jerry on 2015-11-09 16:04 (Reply)

The Gang of Z's been here for much longer than Doc and Marianne have been gone.

#13.2 Sam L. on 2015-11-09 17:24 (Reply)

If Clinton is right and charter schools don't take or keep the hardest cases, maybe that's what public school should be for. People might be more amenable to sky-high school taxes if they knew they were intended to provide public help to kids who had little chance otherwise. Then the rest of us could get on with the job of educating the rest of the kids at a reasonable price and with a reasonable curriculum, in reasonable safety and order.

#14 Texan99 on 2015-11-10 09:09 (Reply)

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Monday, November 9. 2015

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