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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Friday, December 7. 2018

Friday morning links

77 years ago, a date that still lives in infamy


 From Canoes, Fishermen Guard Africa's Famous Shoebills Against Poachers


 Sugar Taxes Haven't Proved Effective in Tackling Obesity


Duh. Just another tax 


Start-Ups Aren't Cool Anymore - A lack of personal savings, competition from abroad, and the threat of another economic downturn make it harder for Millennials to thrive as entrepreneurs.


Why  Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century


Mother Forcing Transgenderism on 6-Year-Old Son May Suffer From a Mental Disorder, Pediatrician Says


Principal Suspended For Banning Most Things Christmas


 When they go after ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside,’ you know #MeToo has gone mad


A Giant List Of Questions The House Needs To Ask James Comey In His Deposition - These are a lot of questions, but if handled by a skillful attorney, James Comey can be led through the details efficiently.


 "He's Barack Obama, But White" – The Manufacturing Of Beto O'Rourke


 MSNBC’s Katy Tur: Life Is Pointless If We’re Not Focused On Climate Change


Airhead discovers the meaning of life 


 University suspends fraternity members over constitutionally protected speech


 Student cooperative stays silent on no-whites-allowed student housing


 DEMOCRAT RESIGNS AFTER FREQUENTING WOMEN’S BATHROOM: WHY?


 Against Federal Law: Obama OK’d $310 Million In Free Legal Advice To Illegal Aliens


Illegal immigrant families shatter records in November


 Tucker Carlson says Trump is ‘not capable’ and hasn’t kept his promises


 TUCKER GETS ACCUSED OF DISLIKING OPINIONATED WOMEN IN SPICY CLIMATE CHANGE SPAT


 OCASIO-CORTEZ: ‘INEVITABLE’ GLOBAL WARMING GOVERNANCE WILL CREATE ‘ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND RACIAL JUSTICE’


 Climate Crusaders Weigh In On The Cost Of Energy From Renewables


 France scraps fuel tax, weighs wealth tax in response to massive protests


Proving it's about the other kind of green 


 Justin Trudeau’s Canada Embraces a World Without Borders


 ITALY Reduces Migrant Landings by 96% in Only Two Years


 UN fails to adopt US resolution condemning Hamas terrorism


 'We were gonna die together’: Trial testimony lays out years of work by Iran that led to deadly attacks on US troops in Iraq

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:20 | Comments (27) | Trackback (1)

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"You don't like opinionated women, do you?"
Translation: [i]I have lost the argument and have no further points to make. Therefore I will attack your character instead. I will choose something which some liberals will reflexively believe: sexism, racism, homophobia, hatred of science, privilege.[i]
#1 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2018-12-07 10:03 (Reply)
Re: no whites allowed student housing

More campus racism.
#2 mudbug on 2018-12-07 10:10 (Reply)
I lived in Quincy, Mass and commuted to Boston during the big dig—essentially ground zero. I believe the final figure was a little over $20B, but who’s counting?

That road cost about 1,000 times the per-mile national average for interstate highway construction. IMO, the only benefit, in terms of traffic mitigation is that you can now get to the airport from south of Boston without going through downtown. There are still three lanes each direction from Braintree to Boston; it can still take over an hour to go that seven miles.

Yes, the new bridge is pretty. Yes, the highway is concealed around Post Office Square. But, if they had taken a platoon of D10 Cats and flattened a eight-lane surface road from Braintree to Reading, and from downtown into Southie, you’d have better traffic for starters, at a minute fraction of the price, including two bridges instead of a bridge and a tunnel. Additionally, while you had those bulldozers warmed up, you could have provided heavy rail from Southie to the west, so that at least one of the two boondoggle container ports would be useable.
#2.1 Bruce Anderson on 2018-12-08 07:08 (Reply)
Re: Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century

It sounds more like mismanaging the new bridges by encouraging people to avoid them rather than the biggest transportation boondoggle of the 21st Century. For that, I'd give the prize to The Big Dig which cost $14.6B with cost overruns of 190%. I talked to someone from Boston about it after it was finally finished and he had no regrets or complaints about it - not even the cost.

But the century's not over yet and the California High Speed Rail project has only just begun. With a recent cost estimate of $77B and sure to go much higher, it will likely redefine the word "boondoggle."
#3 mudbug on 2018-12-07 10:34 (Reply)
I live in Louisville (moved here 5 years ago shortly before the new bridges opened) and I think he's seriously mistating the case. It wouldn't surprise me if there has been some diversion of traffic to the I64 bridge (untolled) off I65 but he's misrepresenting the change in traffic. The downtown I65 bridge was the best way from the very populous East End of Louisville across the river, as well as the best way from the eastern burbs of Jeffersonville IN to Louisville. A significant portion of that traffic moved to the East End bridge. That was entirely expected, and welcomed to reduce congestion through downtown on I65/I71.
#3.1 Christopher B on 2018-12-07 14:43 (Reply)
" Justin Trudeau’s Canada Embraces a World Without Borders"

That's easy for him to do, since there are not a lot of people looking to move where it is that cold.
#4 Basil L Copeland Jr (Link) on 2018-12-07 10:41 (Reply)
"Justin Trudeau’s Canada Embraces a World Without Borders"

That would be Trudeau, not this Canadian, thanks very much.
#4.1 JJM on 2018-12-07 13:19 (Reply)
re When they go after ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside,’ you know #MeToo has gone mad

Just wondering . . . has #Me too gone after the rap music that refers to women bitches and whores??
#5 feeblemind on 2018-12-07 11:04 (Reply)
That would be RAAAAACIST.
#5.1 Sam L. on 2018-12-07 17:30 (Reply)
We should celebrate Midway Day for our response to Pearl Harbor when we sank four Japanese carriers and killed hundreds of pilots.
#6 James Graham on 2018-12-07 11:08 (Reply)
Occasional Cortex is really scary.

She is articulate and young thus has great potential for harm.
#7 James Graham on 2018-12-07 11:12 (Reply)
MSNBC’s Katy Tur: Life Is Pointless If We’re Not Focused On Climate Change

Airhead discovers the meaning of life

As the belief in climate change/environmental sustainability has morphed into religion, it is a little surprising they haven't developed the equivalent of nunneries and monasteries for the Truly Devoted and Committed.

They could forsake fire and fossil fuels, work the land by hand for sustenance, windmills and solar panels could provide electricity, they could recycle their waste and water . . .

Heaven on Earth, yes?

Or perhaps the worship of climate and the environment doesn't require that kind of commitment?
#8 feeblemind on 2018-12-07 11:30 (Reply)
If intentional communities could be set up without internet and smartphone connection, I would seriously consider moving to one of them.
#8.1 Jim on 2018-12-07 14:04 (Reply)
By "intentional community" I mean a township or planned community, not just a monastery. I guess some could say the Amish, but I'm thinking something different. Essentially going back to the Eighties before everyone was consumed by computers and cellphones.
#8.1.1 Jim on 2018-12-07 14:50 (Reply)
Oh, Tucker, Tucker, Tucker. You begrudgingly 'liked' Trump, but made it very well known during the campaign your personal interactions with him. He thought of Trump as crude. He is not a Trump fan by any means.

He, like most, see the external and cannot imagine the internal workings of the Trump Administration. He falls for a lot of the fake news about the Mueller investigation and other machinations inside the DOJ/FBI.

Sorry, Tucker, but Trump is just smarter and more experienced than you. Maybe you will catch on eventually.
#9 MissT on 2018-12-07 13:17 (Reply)
If Trump doesn't obtain funding for the wall this time around, he's done for.
#10 snopercod on 2018-12-07 13:25 (Reply)
Why is HE done if Congress is the one who won't give it to him? I'd really love someone to answer that. I won't blame Trump. I will blame CONGRESS under RYAN and then CONGRESS under PELOSI. Both have been obstructions. Also, I can look to the anti-Trumpers who were in the Senate who are about to leave. THAT is who was standing in the way of The Wall. NOT Trump.
#10.1 MissT on 2018-12-07 13:35 (Reply)
I don't blame him either, but it seems that some people seem to think that the president is responsible for his promises regardless of a lack of support in Congress - e.g. Tucker Carlson ([url]https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tucker-carlson-says-trump-is-‘not-capable’-and-hasn’t-kept-his-promises/ar-BBQB8Vd?li=BBnb7Kx[/url]). I like Tucker, but I disagree with him on this.
#10.1.1 mudbug on 2018-12-07 13:40 (Reply)
A lot of the public are pretty stupid about how things get done in DC and how the enemy can block some one like Trump trying to help the rest of us.
#10.1.2 JC on 2018-12-07 14:59 (Reply)
I agree. Seems like the Beltway Brahmin have done everything they can to make sure Trump fails.

He is, after all, not one of THEIR exalted caste. How dare he try to rise above his station!
#10.1.3 JLawson on 2018-12-07 15:58 (Reply)
"I'd really love someone to answer that."

I'll step up: All he has to do is veto any budget bill that doesn't contain funding for the wall like he promised to do. See how easy that was?
#10.1.4 snopercod on 2018-12-07 19:05 (Reply)
Ask Chuck the Schmuck how well government shutdowns play out for the party responsible, i.e. the one asking FOR some concession. Even with almost complete control of the DNC progaganda machine he still couldn't sell the idea that it was actually Trump's fault for not making Dreamers official.
#10.1.4.1 Christopher B on 2018-12-08 00:17 (Reply)
"University suspends fraternity members over constitutionally protected speech"

They don't need no stinkin' badges.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Student cooperative stays silent on no-whites-allowed student housing"

Nothing new here. My elite liberal New England college had both blacks-only dorms and dining facilities in the 1970s when I was in college. They were demanded by the black students during the Black Power occupation of the administration building a couple years prior. First time after my coming to America I saw actual racial segregation.
#11 Jim on 2018-12-07 13:31 (Reply)
Re: Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century
I think the inter county connector in Maryland is a good contender. This is a six lane highway less than 20 miles long that cost 2.4 billion dollars, over $100,000,000 a mile. The tolls are so high everybody avoids using the highway.
#12 Ray on 2018-12-07 14:26 (Reply)
At $20B for seven miles, I think Boston’s Big Dig has that beat. All other cities are just playing catch-up.
#12.1 Bruce Anderson on 2018-12-08 07:16 (Reply)
Breaking: Apparently Comey not forthcoming with answers to questions by Congressional committee today.

Imagine that...
#13 Zzzatemypuppy on 2018-12-07 15:00 (Reply)
So France is considering shifting to a wealth tax? Again?

Apparently the French didn't learn the lesson the last time they tried that just a few years ago. They didn't collect nearly as much in revenue as they thought they would, the wealthy started moving their wealth out of France, and many of the wealthy left France rather than letting the Fifth Republic take money it didn't earn from them in order to pay for something it shouldn't have been doing to begin with.

Does the French government really think that if they impose this new wealth tax that it will turn out any different this time? ("George Santayana, please pick up the white courtesy phone. George Santayana....")
#14 DCE (Link) on 2018-12-07 15:26 (Reply)

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