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. |
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Tuesday, November 28. 2017Tuesday morning linksSomething Wonderful: The Escherian Stairwell This light-weight jacket has built-in heating panels The great US cities: Playgrounds for Elites - The increasingly left-wing politics of leading U.S. cities clashes with the aspirations of middle-class residents. HISTORY: A TROUBLED ACADEMIC FIELD LIKELY TO GET WORSE Seems to me that lots of people today just learn history from reading books Students are taught that power is the only thing. Haidt via Mark Perry:
Perhaps it is projection. It seems to me that most Americans, at least, seek power only over their own lives to seek their own form of satisfaction as best they are able to. Meanwhile, the power-seekers seek control over poor little us who only want to be left alone and to be given nothing. Why to lower corporate taxes for the common good Richard Cordray Delivers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Punchline That agency was built for politics, not for the people Africans are being sold at Libyan slave markets. Thanks, Hillary Clinton. The only thing that ever worked out well for this genius woman was racking up $200 million without a real job. That takes brains. We Now Have Evidence Comey FBI Did Not Follow Normal Standards in Investigating Hillary Duh James O'Keefe goes to the dark side In Brutal Takedown, Paper Explains How Nancy Pelosi Has ‘Enabled Sexual Predators For Decades’ ISRAEL’S SECRET WAR AGAINST TERRORISM’S FINANCIERS - A new book explores Israel’s daring covert operations against terrorism’s enablers. Trackbacks
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Mark Bauerlein's take on academic historians is a bit of navel-gazing that inadvertently explains why students don't take them, or their courses, seriously. BUT, it doesn't have to be that way. I just finished reading Arthur Herman's How the Scots Invented the Modern World and The Cave and the Light* and I finally dig both history and philosophy. Historians CAN contribute to general society, but most of them don't.
*When I started on these two books, I was oblivious to the fact that they were both written by the same author. And I call myself a trained observer. Ha! He reveals the reason to read books rather than waste your precious life in a classroom
QUOTE: All an academic must do is produce respectable publications and teach moderately well, and then you’ve got security and freedom. Should one read the respectable publication for a few tens of dollars or waste thousands for a mediocre classroom experience. Not to mention the very basis of study is to supplement the thoughts of the author with other sources, i.e., read more than one respectable publication on the subject, which is far more efficiently done by reading than tedious classroom lectures, perhaps a podcast or recorded talk would do. In any case, the American university history departments revealed their inadequacies back in 2015 when they issued nary a peep in celebration of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. It would have been an excellent excuse for a celebration that also promoted the study of history/humanities, but academia could not bring itself to celebrate this first step on the road to inventing freedom for all. "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" is, indeed, and excellent book. I will have to get a copy of "The Cave and the Light." Thank your for the recommendation.
In return, I recommend "Founding Brothers" by Joseph Ellis. James O'Keefe Is a necessary balance. We test the airport screeners with fake bombs and fake terrorists. How else would we know that standards are being maintained. Considering O'Keefe's success so far in exposing fraud and abuse I applaud him. I'm glad that the Wapo got it right but they are supposed to get it right so keep testing them.
I agree. O'Keefe has done brilliant work on the Acorn scandal and several others.
It is nice that the WaPo didn't fall for his ploy. But the fact that so many other publications have fallen for other false accusers from the left (I am looking at you, Rolling Stone!) is why O'Keefe and others should keep doing this. Re: O'Keefe and Project Veritas
QUOTE: On Nov. 13, The Hill reported that the FBI may be investigating Planned Parenthood and its associates for the sale of aborted babies’ body parts for profit. It’s the latest development yet in a scandal that began in 2015 with the release of explosive undercover videos. http://dailysignal.com/2017/11/27/planned-parenthood-deep-trouble-law-turning-point/ Why to lower corporate taxes for the common good
Ain't a corporation in the world that pays taxes, their customers do that! As legal, fictional personas, everything a corporation takes in, or pays out, comes from someone/some place else. Business-to-business sales magnify the effects of a corporate income tax. STUPID! Of course. Corporate taxes are effectively VAT in disguise.
So here, where we have 21% VAT AND 15% corporate tax customers effectively pay 36% VAT on everything, just goes into 2 different buckets at the finance ministry (and yes, I know that's oversimplified). Wait, so robots pay taxes? Buildings? Lobbies and boardroom tables? Uh, of course humans pay all taxes when you insist on 1) seeing it that very myopic way and 2) assume this is a purely economic issue.
Corporatism is stupid. Oh. You actually support corporatism, the largest and most onerous encroachment on putative rightist values there is. You have chosen the form of your destructor. Funny, I'd think it the height of stupidity to forget the crash of 2008, among other similar things ... like the next one, just another monetary debacle enabled by corporatist rightists. Re: Nancy Pelosi enabling sexual predators
She's not the only one. It seems at least Conyers' behavior was an open secret among the press corps and we can assume that if they knew, it was probably common knowledge among other senators and congress critters. But then, after seeing how previous sexual abusers (at least on the Democrat side like Ted Kennedy and Gary Studds) paid no price at the polls, why would anybody think it would make any difference if today's abusers were exposed? The again three more longtime Dem pols are resigning or may not be seeking re-election.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez Rep. Al Green Rep. Raul Grijalva Wonder if anyone asked Nancy about her thoughts. The only thing that ever worked out well for this genius woman was racking up $200 million without a real job. That takes brains chutzpah.
FTFY |