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, December 19. 2017Tuesday morning linksWhy ‘The Last Jedi’ Is The Worst Star Wars Movie Ever I Turned My Coworker Into HR When She Gave Me A Christmas Card, And She Changed My Heart Vanderleun does not want a computer for Christmas Ditto to that Schneiderman: Change your behavior and habits first Entire Family Declares Itself Transgender New Apple Watch Delivers 500 Volts To Men Who Get Inappropriate Erections At Work Bitcoin Climate Dilemma: Mining Bitcoin Consumes an Entire Country Worth of Electricity How do you know where to dig for them? Is the Goldwater Rule Outdated? I think calling people crazy, because you don't like them, is unworthy CNN IS CRAZY, BACON EDITION Liberals Are Incensed That Taylor Swift Won´t Be Political or Miserable My theory is that if government has the power to make you miserable, there is either too much government or you need to get a life JENNIFER RUBIN’S LONGSTANDING INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY Lost credibility is almost impossible to regain Bernie Sanders: Corporate Taxes Will ‘Absolutely’ go up if Dems Take Over That's boob bait. Who do they think pays those taxes? I favor a zero corporate tax rate. All The Swamps We Cannot Drain - A tour through the various legislative bills called “Drain The Swamp Act” NYM has a good toon, and this comment: As an anti-Trumper, he advises not listening to Trump at all but to just see what his admin is doing Byron York: Amid firestorms, Trump has year of solid policy accomplishments. Can he keep going? International affairs: Trump’s Doctrine: ‘Principled Realism’ Comes to the Fore And VDH approves: A Jacksonian Manifesto And at Ace:
Norway becomes first Scandinavian country to decriminalise drugs Austria: New Government To Resist "Islamization" Too late. The migrants breed like rabbits, and don't work. Muslim anti-Semitism spurs Jewish exodus from Paris Who Is Qais al-Khazali, and Why Should You Care? Trackbacks
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I think I see the Republicans mid term election strategy. They intent to lose bigly to the Democrats and blame Trump and the "alt-right", Bannon, the tea party and strong conservatives. You can see that in their reaction to the engineered failure in Alabama. Now, I can see some reason and logic in allowing Roy Moore to fail but not in blaming the rank and file conservatives for the failure that the GOPe nefariously planned. This is their midterm plan. A big failure, Democrat takeover of congress, two years of Democrats trying to impeach Trump, giving up on SCOTUS appointments and all of this to rid themselves of those pesky conservatives who have been harshing their mallow. It will be a low point in treachery and swamp fighting back. The losers will be the citizens the workers and those not dependent on the government. The winners will be the illegal aliens and China and Islam. I don't think that the conservative right will go easily into that goodnight. This stupid move by Bush and Rove Republicans will split the party for decades.
Tax-slaved, skin-in-the-game, too-big-to-fail, corporate oligarchy, Wall St-Beltway corridor "conservatives", you mean?
Indeed, the GOP may just commit suicide by driving out their base. Me, I have no GOPers to vote for, living in a BLUE state.
Re: ... And she changed my heart
What a beautiful story! When I was working, I did not wear my religion on my sleeve but I, too, distributed Christian Christmas cards to my coworkers. Thankfully to their credit, they all received them in the spirit in which they were given whether if they were not religious, Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact a devout Muslim coworker went out of his way to tell me he appreciated my card. I worked with some wonderful people! I'm an atheist and I enjoy Christmas. I am not offended if someone gives me a Christmas card. It's just a matter of being kindly.
I have a good friend who is Jewish and likes to go caroling. Re Taylor Swift. Camille Paglia says Taylor Swift has an "obnoxious Nazi Barbie routine. I thought she meant Swift did something like in the movie, "The Producers" and was prancing around on stage in high heeled knee high black boots, a short black leather skirt, a low cut black leather vest, a military style hat, a whip and a swastika on her shoulder. All the other Nazis are begging her to beat them. I think it could be a new career direction.
Vanderleun does not want a computer for Christmas.
My current computer is 5 years old. I see no need to replace it. I have had to replace several components- a hard drive and a power supply unit- par for the course. QUOTE: Given the death-dwarf invasion of Windows 10. I purchased my computer with Windows 7 Pro, which I updated to Windows 10 Pro- per MS urging. After I replaced my hard drive, I had a problem getting it to operate in Windows 10 Pro. I called Microsoft to resolve the problem. The MS representative recommended that I stay in Windows 7. She informed me that as my PC was designed for Windows 7, subsequent updates for Windows 10 would become more and more buggy. That's what a MS representative told me! So I went back to Windows 7 Pro. I was not happy with Windows 10 privacy issues, so I was content to stay with Windows 7. Until 2020. Granted, I believe I turned off all I needed to turn off in Windows 10, but why should I need to do that in the first place?I would agree with Vanderleun that the software "updates" are quite often not an improvement at all. I read somewhere that with the great expansion of computer memory in the last 10-15 years, software is no longer written to use a minimum of memory- which seems to me a good explanation why software "updates" are often problematic these days. Goldwater Rule:
First, remember what direction the pathologising of political thinking into psychological problems it went the first time, and why they made the rule. Second, this happens with every Republican president, it is not new with Trump. Third, it is never quality professional work. It is always dependent on over-interpretation of qualities that a great many people show. Narcissistic, doesn't listen to others, lies without remorse, all that nonsense? What they mean is "he's not listening to us, believing what our tribe says is the the reality, and doing what we say. " If I were sitting in a diagnostic discussion of a patient and someone were putting crap like this forward, voices around the table would be challenging every sentence with alternative explanations of the behavior. Fourth, can we take seriously a psychologist who rails about the narcissism of Bush or Trump and never mentions Obama or Clinton, even in passing? This is cultural warfare, and it is not anything else. And now I don't want to visit Norway. Why would I want to spend my vacation dollars a country to where drug addled people will flock and roam the streets? No thanks. Sounds like Finland is maybe the only country worth visiting in Scandanavia...for now.
I respectfully disagree. I am a hardliner on illegal and dangerous drugs. But I think the effort to punish users is a mistake. Put them in a rehab even if it is in fact incarceration. Use the law to do it but not as a punishment but as forced rehab. Continue to aggressively find, charge and jail drug pushers/manufacturers/and importers. But for users; mandatory rehab each and every time they are caught using.
Bernie Sanders: Corporate Taxes Will ‘Absolutely’ go up if Dems Take Over
--------------------------------------- This is why American companies are no longer in America. Corporate taxes were already the highest in the developed world. Then add high wages, Obamacare, political correctness hiring mandates and all the bevy of other taxes and exactions American companies get hit with, and you see them going out of business or moving abroad. The Democrat morons don't understand we are competing against the whole world. You do stuff like they do, you just kill off the American economy, which is where we are at. But how else are they going to punish the big corporations?
Never bring the corporate oligarchy that stole the vote to heel.
Said no Framers ever. "stole the vote to heel"
Is that English? Is English your second language? You view seems to be punish the producers, the productive, the companies that hire Americans and force them all to move off shore. Your justification seems to be the Democrat double speak of accusing/conflating the "corporations" with the "rich" and somehow the "rich" need to be punished even if it cuts off everyone's nose the face must be spited. Corporations don't pay taxes they pass them on to consumers. The consumers seek out the cheaper goods i.e. the ones that the country of origin isn't stupid enough to over tax the corporations thus increasing the price of goods to the consumer. So all American corporations have two choices: 1. Move offshore and continue to exist or 2. Stay in the U.S. under the stupid Socialist Democrats and go bankrupt. "to be punish the producers"
Is English your second language? Anyway, your view, champ, seems to project the views of others onto them. Has it always been like that or only when you can't be bothered to actually grasp a point that differs from your tiny stereotypes of the usual, cartooned, left-versus-right divide? Hadn't you seen the Princeton report that shows that historically unless you're actually in the oligarchy your vote counts for nothing? Nothing. Do you ever write that bought-off lobbyist tool you call a "representative" or do you just assume that Trump = utter constitutional fealty forever and get back to your grindstone? From there - and borrowing your rhetorical stylings, if I may - your view seems to be to punish the consumers, the earners and the productive, the companies that hire Americans in America by forcing all of the above to bow to those that move off-shore because, as I just said, you can't possibly be bothered to legislate a solution to that GOPe-led, statist train wreck of corporatist corruption you call a conservative establishment or whatever it is you think you have in your political pocket. Did they take away all your pens? Apparently you'd rather tax the individual's wage to pay for all those corporatist profits. Let's wait for your next insight to see if you know the difference. Or just how simple it'd be to end all this jazz whose only solution as you see it so far is to willingly shackle yourself to your own bizarre notion of capitalism. Your justification, to continue in your dim rhetorical vein, seems to be the Republican doublespeak of accusing/conflating [sic] the "corporations" [sic] with free enterprise where somehow the "rich" [sic] are magically incapable of corrupting your vote with their lobbying. I thing rightists are happy to drop trou and show the latter their unbridled affection even if it "cuts off every GOPe tool's nose the face must be spited", as you so endearingly put it. Corporations paying zero tax rates is the rightists wet dream and central grand fallacy. Apple just recently kited billions through some offshore scheme (that you'd somehow never heard of) and that little stunt and thousands like it absolutely pass the tax burden on to tools like you 24/7. That's what we already call tax-free. Remember Too Big To Fail? Protip: If you're going to be a tool wisely never bitch about it again. As for your tidy little lesson in international competition, such as it is, until you can grasp the elementary concept of fiat money and currency pegging I'm afraid you get an F. There is no such thing as international competition as a free, liberal abstract; there's only the rigged system rightist chumps hang their little hats on like dutiful serfs. As for your closing fail, American corporations actually have but one choice because one is all they need: Keep writing legislation for you dependent wage-earners and keep to their virtual monopolies. As for collectivism and the loss of your liberty while you're out daily battling "Socialist-Democrats" in the Internet, you probably haven't the first clue. I realize it's fun to shove things into the little rightist microscope and cast labels and presumptions and make everything about the FOXNews daytime reality show that plays in loops in rightist heads, but that's the problem. Rightists are easily led, simplistic, and actually operating at direct cross-purposes to their own ideals. Taking it out on guys like me who do them the favor of challenging their malformed notions on economics and liberty is riotously therapeutic to them and all, but in the end I honestly don't care what they think - I certainly won't reason them out of something they weren't reasoned into. I'm just curious to see, in a world up to the brim with leftist psychosis, just how robust is the rightist's ignorance, arrogance, and simple denial about the things he's only ever uttered some dumb slogan about.
#7.1.1.1.1
Meh
on
2017-12-19 16:58
(Reply)
tl;dr
#7.1.1.1.1.1
drowningpuppies
on
2017-12-19 18:20
(Reply)
Then go back to television.
#7.1.1.1.1.1.1
Meh
on
2017-12-20 09:15
(Reply)
Just not into rhetorical flourishes.
They're boring and not very informative. But you do them well.
#7.1.1.1.1.1.1.1
drowningpuppies
on
2017-12-21 13:33
(Reply)
I am in favor of big taxes on third homes. Certainly Bernie, who owns three homes, would agree.
Why ‘The Last Jedi’ Is The Worst Star Wars Movie Ever
----------------------------------------------------- The last one was already one of the worst movies I have ever seen. A total remake, but even there it was messed up. Boring, didn't flow, no editing, much of what was going on made no sense logically, CGI overload using 30 year old memes and props pulled out of the closet, and then you throw in a healthy dose of required political correctness (how did that even make sense "along time ago in a galaxy far, far away"?). Not wasting my money again. The American movie industry is dead, dead, dead. Worst decision ever made was greenlighting Lucas to expand on the original trilogy. He's a brilliant filmmaker but a horrible horrible storyteller - couldn't write his way out of a wet paper bag. (case in point, his obsession to resolve the 'Han shot first' conundrum. It works much better dramatically if you let people wonder but Lucas just couldn't leave it alone) The original trilogy worked mostly because he didn't really have enough power to force his script ideas on the studio, and because he could lean heavily on Campbell's universal mythology. Disney is going to grind the franchise into the dust in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
As a young man, I watched the first three a whole bunch of times in the theaters.
We're a minority, all the geek bien pensants will react in horror, but our family (me, wife, kids, gramps and grannies) watched the second three a whole bunch of times in the theaters. We liked them and bought all the books (and we gleefully thumbed our noses at all the h8rs). The day will come, when the revisionists will arrive to where we've always been. These neo-disney SWs? Meh, dreck. Sorry millenials, life is even grayer than you think it is. You've been robbed yet again. And stay off my lawn! Re Taylor Swift
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