Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page
Categories
QuicksearchLinks
Blog Administration |
Thursday, February 9. 2017Thursday morning linksGwynnie's photo from yesterday. Buried in snow today In eastern Germany, the land of Luther, church pews are mostly empty - On the streets where Martin Luther preached, about 85 percent of residents have no religion, 40-plus years after Soviet rule ingrained a deep skepticism of God and religion. Cool: Study finds ‘Snowball Earth’ event gave rise to oxygen based life Musk is the new PT Barnum Coffee and soda pop: Philadelphia Goes Over the Tax Cliff Iceberg! Consider this: Some 40,000 icebergs are created each year. Out of that 40,000, the New York Times can’t find one—in our supposedly perilous age of rampant global warming—that actually constitutes a threat to our well being Gravy Train Flows Wide And Deep At Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Agency No Thug Left Behind - Obsessed with “racial equity,” St. Paul schools abandoned discipline—and unleashed mayhem. Flashback: NAACP Gave ‘Racist’ Jeff Sessions Governmental Award of Excellence In 2009 Sen. Cotton’s immigration bill Hillary The Left's Persecution of Real Refugees from Islam and Communism Illegal Aliens Really Do Vote – a Lot Defending President Trump Is Becoming More Difficult - The president of the United States should never stoop to petty personal attacks against anyone. Trump Destroys Leftist Judges by Reading Law Word-For-Word - Open border activists rewriting law from the bench An inconvenient stretcher - Al Gore was wrong, among other important things, about ‘the tipping point’ Bernie Sanders Villainizes Small Biz Owner for Not Being Able to Afford Health Insurance Sanders is ignorant about real life. New businesses do not make money. They hope to. Reminds me of Hillary's famous "We can't worry about every undercapitalized business in America." Obamacare Exchanges Were in Big Trouble Before Trump Hillary's 'Future Is Female' Femme-A-Goguery Steve Bannon, Antichrist? I've read Breitbart for years, never saw any white supremacy there at all Not A Single Senate Democrat Stands Up To Teachers Unions Goodwin: The Democratic Party has lost its mind — and its soul Trump’s move to end Dodd-Frank disaster all about helping small biz Dodd-Frank did nothing to end Too Big To Fail Second Swedish cop opens up about migrants destroying his country The American Climbing the Ranks of ISIS - John Georgelas was a military brat, a drug enthusiast, a precocious underachiever born in Texas. Now he is a prominent figure within the Islamic State. Here’s the story of his long and troubling journey. Turkey: Erdogan's Grab for Absolute Power And yet Turkey is one of the few nations in the ME which doesn't need a king. Still, I long for the return of the Ottoman Empire. Peace. How to handle Hezbollah in Latin America Bibi Netanyahu on meeting with Chuck Norris: 'Israel is strong but it's indestructible now' Shock Poll: In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders' Party Smashes Rivals Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Comments
Display comments as
(Linear | Threaded)
Musk is the new PT Barnum? I don't recall that Barnum sucked up a ton of tax subsidies and grant money. PT Barnum is often maligned with the "there's a sucker born every minute" misattribution, but Barnum was a showman who took great pride in giving the public their money's worth in spectacle. Musk is more of a crony capitalist who's figured out the magic trick of dazzling the public with the shiny object in one hand to distract from the fact that his other hand's dipping into their pocket.
A big part of the problem is that Musk's defenders claim that it's okay for the government to subsidize Musk because he's producing "good things", while ignoring the principle of the thing - government shouldn't be in the business of picking "good things" to subsidize. They thought Solyndra was a good thing, didn't they? You can't make a principled argument that subsidizing Musk is okay but subsidizing Solyndra is not. It's just a matter of having the right Top Men in charge of making those decisions, right? Yeah Solyndra, didn't they get 100's of millions in tax payer dollars, and promptly go belly up?
Agree, government shouldn't be picking winners and losers. QUOTE: The Left's Persecution of Real Refugees from Islam and Communism ... The President of the United States announced that refugees fleeing persecution by a totalitarian regime would be deported. It did not matter that they had risked their lives to come here. They would be sent back. False. Obama's executive order ended the special treatment granted to Cuban refugees, but provides them the same status as other refugees, including the right to political asylum, and programs to reunite families. People fleeing communism in Cuba are no different than the people who scaled the Berlin Wall and they deserve the same treatment. Cubans who made it to US territorial waters were granted residency till Bill Clinton changed that to the more restrictive "dry foot" policy. Obama was happy to look the other way when people streamed across the US/Mexico boarder, but wanted to restrict Cuban immigration for the same reason Clinton did - Cubans tend to be conservative.
mudbug: People fleeing communism in Cuba are no different than the people who scaled the Berlin Wall and they deserve the same treatment.
In which case, the Obama policy is the correct policy. DrTorch: That's not your call to make.
We didn't say it was. We applied mudbug's standard. In the case of East Germans, if they made it to West Germany, they were provided West German passports, and mostly didn't seek refugee status. If they wanted to go to the U.S., they applied through the standard immigration process. mudbug: People fleeing communism in Cuba To be clear, Cuba was the exception. People from other countries fleeing communism or war or civil strife had to apply for refugee status under the Refugee Act of 1980. The Obama policy meant that Cubans were under the same humanitarian rules as refugees from other countries. It did not mean "refugees fleeing persecution by a totalitarian regime would be deported."
#2.1.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2017-02-09 11:48
(Reply)
you are misleading this forum, to the point of lying. stop this bullshit.
the US welcomed and resettled soviet bloc escapees starting in the 1950s under policies that were close to the one osama ended.
#2.1.1.1.1.1
Thought Kriminal's Beagle
on
2017-02-09 12:16
(Reply)
Thought Kriminal No. 392342-A: the US welcomed and resettled soviet bloc escapees starting in the 1950s
Yes, but those policies have been superseded by legislation a long time ago. Under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, many East Europeans fleeing communism were admitted to the U.S. under a quota system. Eisenhower paroled an additional forty thousand from the Hungarian uprising, but they were not granted permanent residency until Congress acted. In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act set up a more consistent policy, including quotas. The 1965 law forbids many forms of discrimination, but in practice gave preference to those fleeing communism. However, the Refugee Act of 1980 substituted the U.N. definition of refugee, and that created a system where cases have been decided on an individual basis under a quota system. Obama increased quotas because of the refugee crisis. Cuba has been an exception under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. Obama's action puts Cubans under the same law as refugees from everywhere else. Trump seemingly violated at least the spirit of non-discrimination, claiming national security.
#2.1.1.1.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2017-02-09 12:34
(Reply)
no shi'ite, sherlock. the soviet bloc is gone. cuber is still a socialist pigsty and pretending normalization of relations changes anything, or makes life in cuber less analogous to the conditions in eastern europe during the cold war is a devious statement, if not outright delusional. someone can be a refugee under the UN definition and still be inadmissible to the US under US immigration law. in/admissibility is a creation of administrative law under the INA, and therefore within the purview of the president to direct DHS or SoS to interpret it to carry out the intent of the INA. establishing refugee or asylee status is, contrary to what most people here are wanting to believe, not easy, so the standards were eased under rules intended to help victims of communist states which still include cuber. what part of this do you not get?
stating obvious, irrelevant facts is not an argument, its an evasion.
#2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1
Thought Kriminal's Beagle
on
2017-02-09 14:00
(Reply)
Thought Kriminal's Beagle: the soviet bloc is gone.
The laws were changed before the fall of the Soviet Union. And there are still communist regimes in existence, such as China and Vietnam. Cuba has been treated differently since the 1960s.
#2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2017-02-09 14:35
(Reply)
mudbug: People fleeing communism in Cuba are no different than the people who scaled the Berlin Wall and they deserve the same treatment.
While Obama has not barred Cubans, people fleeing war and death from Syria are now barred indefinitely by Trump's executive order. Osama rolled back Wet/Dry Feet policy which was the same as the old one for eastern bloc refugees. did you read the DHS memo or not?
are you misleading the forum intentionally? Thought Kriminal's Beagle: rolled back Wet/Dry Feet policy which was the same as the old one for eastern bloc refugees.
That is incorrect, as already explained in detail. The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 and subsequent U.S. policy treated Cubans differently than other refugees.
#2.1.1.3.1
Zachriel
on
2017-02-09 14:38
(Reply)
you didn't explain anything. you misrepresented legal issues you don't come close to understanding.
#2.1.1.3.1.1
Thought Kriminal's Beagle
on
2017-02-09 15:04
(Reply)
WE ARE going to cut you some slack, since you are, by your own admission, not fluent in English and find plain meaning "tricky".
again, you either didn't read the article or didn't read the DHS fact sheet. as an aside, initially I thought he was talking about FDR sending the Jews on the St. Louis back to nazi germany, which was a high point in the demoncrap party's long tradition of anti-Semitism. but no, he's talking about barry's revocation of the "wet feet/ dry feet" in effect since 1996. the former policy allowed ordinary Cubans to escape casthole's socialist shithole (unless you disagree with this assessment) and if they set foot in the US, could stay without having to go through the difficult, expensive process of claiming asylum. this was like when there was an Iron Curtain, jump that and you're home free. Osama changed the Feet policy after he kowtowed to the castro brothers and caved in diplomatically because of that miracle, now everything in Cuba is Nice. I could explain the process, expense and difficulty of claiming asylum/refugee status under our immigration laws, but what's the point of educating you? you're more entertaining the longer you have to scramble around in the dark. It has been shown repeatedly, that the Zach-Borg does nothing but read the headlines. She then emotes the lefty European, which is where they reside, talking points.
she's obviously not doing anything thinking for herself, its like she cribs someone's talking points.
she shows no comprehension of this issue. none. OFF-TOPIC
Thought Kriminal No. 392342-A: she's obviously not doing anything thinking for herself, its like she cribs someone's talking points. Our views are our own and freely given.
#2.2.1.1.1
Zachriel
on
2017-02-09 12:08
(Reply)
Our views are our own and freely given, so there smarty pants.
FTFY
#2.2.1.1.1.1
BillH
on
2017-02-09 12:23
(Reply)
ON TOPIC
the honesty of anyone presenting information and the sources are always relevant. it is beyond obvious that you routinely distort laws and data. the only question is whether your are honestly mistaken or intentionally doing this, and that answer to that is obvious as well.
#2.2.1.1.1.2
Thought Kriminal No. 392342-A
on
2017-02-09 12:24
(Reply)
I'm with Senator Cotton on reducing immigration. I would actually argue that we need to be bolder and end the immigration completely. We have over the past 40 years or so over-immigrated and we are paying the price for this. End it, put citizens first.
.. says the guy who'd bar a serviceman from bringing home and naturalizing a wife for no other reason than she's a foreigner.
Cotton's reforms are petty. third or fourth preference visa numbers can take 20 years to come up for national of some countries. at least they are a start. well, its good to see someone finally, albeit indirectly, disagree with windy's anti-immigrant rant re service wives.
One agency that Dodd-Frank created, founded by Elizabeth Warren, the Consumer Finacial Protection Bureau, has employees raking in the cash. I love subsidizing millionaires. Not.
"Illegal aliens really do vote"
The problem is that our politicians know this is happening but they will not undertake an investigation to get the facts out there. This allows the MSM and the left to continue to say that there is no evidence and voter ID isn't needed. This should be easy. The voter registration has all the information you need to do digital searches that would identify those voters who are probably not citizens. Follow that up by talking to the voter to determine that point and if they were not citizens and still voted then prosecute. Do this a few hundred times with jail sentences and watch the illegal voting drop dramatically. "What is allowed will continue." IdahoBob: The voter registration has all the information you need to do digital searches that would identify those voters who are probably not citizens.
That's the problem, of course. Such searches are nearly always full of errors, and these lists have been used to purge legal minority voters from the voter rolls. Reasonable efforts at voter integrity could probably find bipartisan support, but Republicans have been using the excuse of voter integrity to make voting more difficult for minorities. For instance, North Carolina, a state with a long history of Jim Crow, has been found by the courts to have targeted minority voters with "surgical precision". Don't misunderstand, I'm not asking to purge voters based on incomplete information. No! I'm asking to use all methods to find those people who did vote who were not legally allowed to vote and to prosecute and sentence to jail.
E verify will work for voting and for job applications.
Bird Dog: [i]Gwynnie's photo from yesterday. Buried in snow today [/b]
Never fear! Crocuses revel in the snow. We were in Denali last September. We stayed at a back country lodge that is not in the park but reached by a 70 mile trip through the park. It was not there the last time I visited 25 years ago. It is on an old gold mining claim and has been open a few years. Great spot to see some wildlife and the country. We were there at the end of the season and it and the park closed two weeks later for winter.
Reading the No Thug Left Behind article made me very unhappy that the students not causing trouble were suffering so under Valeria Silva's ridiculous policy spurred by Obama equal punishment idea. I cannot imagine having to try to teach for fear of my life or the lives of the children attending school. What our children faced with Voluntary Desegregation (forced busing) was bad enough but what went on in St. Paul's schools was so out of control how did it go on for so long? A culture needs to recognize it is their problem but I doubt that is going to happen as they put the blame on others.
School vouchers for all will keep your kids out of that educational fiasco...even for homeschooling.
|