Maggie's Farm

We 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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Much Sorry with Delays
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Monday, October 1. 2018

Monday morning links

Physical fitness makes people right wing? 


 ‘We oppose biological essentialism’: Campus feminists embrace transgender ideology


 WaPo Goes All In On Socialism With An Attack On Capitalism


 Goodbye Nafta, Hello USMCA, Trump's "Wonderful New Trade Deal"


Kanye West wore a "Make America Great Again" cap on SNL, and he said some pro-Trump things and got booed and cut off.


Steyn:  There's little I loathe more than twits who stage public bouts of conscience-wrestling.


Dems take no prisoners


Schneiderman:  Questioning Christine Blasey Ford


This Doesn’t Look Good: Business Was Listed Operating Out of Christine Ford’s Home–Would Explain Second Door


Coyote:  The One Thing I am Sure About In the Whole Kavanaugh Brouhaha -- That My Policy of Not Meeting With Young Women Alone Is Absolutely Justified


 Sex Crimes Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell COMPLETELY EXONERATES Judge Kavanaugh in NEW REPORT


 Five Red Flags Concerning Christine Blasey Ford's Credibility


 Sen. Kennedy to Feinstein: 'You Should Hide Your Head in a Bag'


Hinderaker:



One question I have pondered over the last few weeks is, why are the Democrats so determined to block Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court? Realistically, he is the most moderate nominee they are likely to see from the Trump administration. If his nomination fails, the president will most likely appoint Amy Barrett, who is secure against #MeToo allegations and is both more conservative and younger than Kavanaugh. So what is the point?


To some extent, the Democrats’ bizarre smear campaign against Kavanaugh is explicable on short-term political grounds. The Democrats’ crazed base demands that they #Resist, so resist they will, whether it does any good or not. But I think there is something deeper and more sinister at work...



 The Problem with Ireland? It's 'Too Irish'

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:56 | Comments (34) | Trackbacks (0)

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Yeah, those yoga classes are just full of right-wingers
#1 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2018-10-01 08:27 (Reply)
Yes.

In my experience, physical fitness has no correlation with the political spectrum: I've known leftists who were long distance runners, couch-potato conservatives, libertarian weight-lifters and liberal doughnut-munchers.

However, I will say that hardline fitness fanatics sometimes do tend towards the totalitarian in their perspective, much as all committed ideologues and zealots do.

By totalitarian here, I mean the sort of "smelly little orthodoxies" of both extremes - left and right - that Orwell would have recognized.
#1.1 JJM on 2018-10-02 08:11 (Reply)
" The Problem with Ireland? It's 'Too Irish". I about wept after reading that article. Ireland is our favorite spot to vacation and has been a place where we feel very much at home and safe. Large cities excluded as driving through one can see the foreign elements that have begun to come into the country. On one of our last trips a former Irish policeman told us of the troubles with the increased Muslim influx. We noticed that while shopping the proprietors kept a very watchful eye on the obvious perps. Ireland reminds us of the way it was when we were growing up in America before it lost it's way. And by the way, the most rude and aggressive people we ran into were the young white mothers. Hopefully Ireland will wake up and stop the craziness from ruining their country like other countries in Europe and elsewhere.
#2 JC on 2018-10-01 08:38 (Reply)
Is anyone surprised that a major newspaper is against capitalism? Its a business model that is dieing in todays market. In their eyes I'm sure it seems like capitalism is failing; easier to blame capitalism than their your own business model or ability.
#3 JTwig on 2018-10-01 09:07 (Reply)
QUOTE:
WaPo Goes All In On Socialism With An Attack On Capitalism

No. The Washington Post didn't go "all in on socialism". It's an opinion piece, so it doesn't represent the stated opinion of the paper. Furthermore, the writer, a professor of public affairs at George Mason University, doesn't advocate socialism, pointing out the evident failure of overly egalitarian systems.
#3.1 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 09:26 (Reply)
A lot of people who fail financially manage to conclude that it's capitalism's fault they're offering stuff that no one wants to buy. If only some smart central planners would guarantee a good price for my product, because I deserve it.
#3.2 Texan99 on 2018-10-01 15:58 (Reply)
JTwig: Is anyone surprised that a major newspaper is against capitalism? Its a business model that is dieing in todays market.

Actually, the Washington Post is profitable, has a record subscriber base, and is expanding its operations.
#3.3 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 16:21 (Reply)
Coyote is absolutely correct! His is the smartest strategy. From the years 1987-1999 my DH kept a large (40# +/-) rock in front of his office door. The rock propped that door open permanently, even though he was a department chair and there was nothing else blocking access to his door. His philosophy was, "I want the students to feel comfortable coming in and talking with me at any time." Do you want to know the only person that ever moved that rock? I'll be you wouldn't guess it was the male secretary of the Democrat's fraudulently elected black mayor!! Yup--every time he showed up at lunch to pick my DH's brain for free he would push that rock aside and close the door. Such important city business. You know the kind you can't pay an expert to come in and consult with you. One time I went to pick DH up for lunch--tapped quietly on the door and pushed it open. Guess what happened next? Yup--the guy was sitting in a chair next to the door and slammed it in my face so hard he almost broke my nose! Damn -- excuse me--I am a little confused these days-- was that abuse or assault or something? Coyote is absolutely correct the women hanging around that "most liberal school in America" would have pulled a stunt anytime they wanted anything. In the end they just destroyed his career because he would not stay on after they used him as an example of the new power the new lesbo president was going to use on all white males! Yeah baby we should have stayed on for more corrupt fem/nazi BS. Stay with it Coyote and I encourage any man still in a decision making position to do the same thing!!
#4 faculty wife on 2018-10-01 09:23 (Reply)
Coyote is correct. I was a college professor--science and math-- for 10 years. I never met with a female student in my office--door open or closed. If I had an evening tutoring/study session I always made sure it was not solo.
#4.1 rocdoctom on 2018-10-01 16:22 (Reply)
"It's an opinion piece, so it doesn't represent the stated opinion of the paper."
What's the stated opinion? I stopped taking the WaPo long ago because there was no difference between the front pages and the editorial pages. The WaPo journalists aren't reporters, they are democrat apparatchiks.
#5 Ray on 2018-10-01 10:27 (Reply)
Ray: What's the stated opinion?

The Washington Post editorial stance tends to center left. The Editorial Board usually endorses the Democrat for President, have a both-siderist stance in most things, often counsel McCain-style compromise, while rejecting governance "according to the Leninist principles of a self-selected elite".

Ray: I stopped taking the WaPo long ago because there was no difference between the front pages and the editorial pages.

The Washington Post actually has hundreds of journalists reporting from around the world.
#5.1 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 10:49 (Reply)
Our bots aren't human, so they will pick a word in your response and will latch onto syntax to "refute" your point.

Never mind that of the hundreds of journalists all over the world, most are left wingers who will bury stories that embarrass their views.
#5.1.1 Dangerous Dean on 2018-10-01 11:05 (Reply)
Dangerous Dean: most are left wingers who will bury stories that embarrass their views.

Most of what you know concerning current events is due to reporting by journalists. Facts don't go away, even you think them pesky.
#5.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 11:23 (Reply)
Neither are they liable to be reported, if the 'journalists' find they don't advance a preferred narrative.
#5.1.1.1.1 JLawson on 2018-10-01 11:38 (Reply)
JLawson: Neither are they liable to be reported, if the 'journalists' find they don't advance a preferred narrative.

That's fairly rare. More often is that news placement may have an editorial slant. Fox News has actual reporters. Do you think they slant their coverage? Do you have some statistics, or at least an example?
#5.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 11:46 (Reply)
JLawson: Neither are they liable to be reported, if the 'journalists' find they don't advance a preferred narrative.

The reporting of the Iraq War was slanted — towards the pro-war stance of the Bush Administration. Is that what you mean?
#5.1.1.1.1.2 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 11:47 (Reply)
Or the liebots.
#5.1.1.1.1.3 Liebot postmodernism on 2018-10-01 20:57 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Facts don't go away, even you think them pesky.

Right back atcha.
#5.1.1.1.2 B. Hammer on 2018-10-01 12:11 (Reply)
B. Hammer: Right back atcha.

The question in this case is whether or not there is "no difference between the front pages and the editorial pages" of the Washington Post. As the news pages of Washington Post has independent reporting from around the world of actual events, that is quite different from analysis or opinions expressed about those facts.
#5.1.1.1.2.1 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 14:08 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Most of what you know concerning current events is due to reporting by journalists. Facts don't go away, even you think them pesky.

You really aren't very good at your job.
#5.1.1.1.2.1.1 B. Hammer on 2018-10-01 14:18 (Reply)
Liebot.
#5.1.1.1.3 Liebots lie. on 2018-10-01 17:10 (Reply)
Heh. Spot on.

To wit:

Topic: Food, for example.

Human: I enjoy hamburgers.

LiarBot: Beef is a product of [insert bullshit leftist controversy].

Human: But [bullshit controversy] is not racist and sexist.

LiarBot: Sexism is [insert diversion and deflection, jerk topic to second generation of impertinence in as many remarks].

Human: But [diversion and deflection] is untrue!

LiarBot: We freely offered that [allusion to something completely tangential to smear human's intellect while appearing innocent and claiming truthfulness].

Human: But I like hamburgers! And I'm not dumb! [Frustration with being gaslit.]

LiarBot: [Insert some wooden quip aimed at appearing to have an ounce of wit. Resume deflecting into some pedantic, utterly false premise that smears all in attendance. Hide behind tacit defense against being found out to have been lying again and actually pretend victimhood.]

***

And this goes on twenty times a day.
#5.1.1.2 Liebots gotta lie on 2018-10-01 17:14 (Reply)
WaPoo center-left? For various definitions of "center" and "left".
#5.1.2 Sam L. on 2018-10-01 14:11 (Reply)
Sam L: WaPoo center-left? For various definitions of "center" and "left".

For the conventional definition.
#5.1.2.1 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 14:32 (Reply)
Other newspapers, such as the NYT, serve the function of being center-left (which means center-of-the-left, not "somewhere between left and center." They never touch the center. Find me their stories that split the difference between Obama and Romney.) WaPo's function is to be the primary avenue of leaks from government agencies to the public. As most agencies of the federal government, including even fair portions of the DoD, are Administrative State functionaries who lean strongly toward A)bigger government and B) wherever they perceive the long-term power over their particular job to reside, they are necessarily going to favor Democrats, whatever ideology they arrived in Washington with. This is even more emphatically true of the intelligence agencies, which make hundreds of calculated leaks to the Post weekly. For this reason, WaPo journalists who need access to make a living are constantly pulled toward the big-government left. They may hold principles of wanting to be even-handed and even try to be so, but the ratchet only moves in one direction.

This is not the same thing as being part of the radical left, which they also fear. The Washington Post is the house organ of the unelected government.

For those who have not read reporter Sharyl Attkisson's books, they will tell you in stark terms what you need to know about this.
#5.2 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2018-10-01 15:34 (Reply)
Remember the 'recorvered memory' rage of 25 years ago?

People were imprisoned for crimes that NEVER HAPPENED. Families were torn apart, lives were destroyed.

Here we go again.

Do some searching. You'll be horrified.
#6 Jay on 2018-10-01 13:03 (Reply)
I lived it. I work at a state psychiatric hospital and remember the hysteria well.
#6.1 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2018-10-01 15:16 (Reply)
Jay: Remember the 'recorvered memory' rage of 25 years ago?

This is not a case of a recovered memory.
#6.2 Zachriel on 2018-10-01 15:57 (Reply)
The problem is that we don't know that. There is a lot od secrecy around this accuser a lot we don't know and a lot that is intentionally being kept from us. We don't know if she was hypnotized to "help" her make up memories or not. We don't know if she was coached or paid.

Speaking of "paid" she should refuse to accept that money raised by go fund me as it would be a clear conflict of interest. If she accepts it then it should be assumed that she was paid to accuse Kavanaugh.
#6.2.1 Anon on 2018-10-01 18:14 (Reply)
She claims to have remembered the details after therapy.

Close enough.

She apparently worked on a paper in 2008 about using self hypnosis to recover memories and create artificial situations
#6.2.2 jay on 2018-10-02 06:50 (Reply)
This does seem to be a stretch.

Ford's doctorate is in education, not psychology. Her work in the psychology department and on papers appears to have been primarily as a SME in the use of statistical analysis software.

While her therapist's notes might say otherwise (if they are ever examined) I don't believe she's ever said the memory was 'recovered'. One article stated that she had re-evaluated its significance while undergoing marriage counseling but it sounds like her memory of an assault as a teenager has been consistent.
#6.3 Christopher B on 2018-10-01 16:41 (Reply)
" her memory of an assault as a teenager has been consistent."

She isn't even sure she was a teen, She doesn't know when it happened, where it happened, how she got there, How she got home... All her "facts" are guesses not facts. Even her friends who she thinks were there have said they have no clue what she is talking about. This reeks of a phony "recovered" memory and that assumes she actually believes what she is saying. There is considerable evidence that she has made up much of what she has testified to based on Mark Judge's book. That is using judge's book about his life she seems to have gleened information that she could attach to her "memories" in an attempt to bouy up her claims.
#7 Anon on 2018-10-01 20:20 (Reply)
She isn't even sure she was a teen...
#7.1 Zzzzatemypuppies on 2018-10-02 00:44 (Reply)
At this point, we all know how the game is played. The media is increasingly blatantly corporatist and click bait is the source of their traffic and revenues. Ergo, they don’t feature the routine and mundane but focus, magnify, and amplify the bizarre and melodramatic. They disseminate rumours and gossip, take a lot of stuff out of context to smear others, lie to bait people into making rash statements, and some even fabricate stories through photo shopping and selective editing of audio and video. It has come to function like the freak show at a circus. In the Kavanaugh case, I urge you to tune out anything that is not based upon statements made under oath under penalty of perjury; you're just wasting your time.
#8 Exasperated on 2018-10-02 13:46 (Reply)

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