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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Wednesday, May 8. 2019

Wednesday morning links

Transgender Powerlifter Champion Mary Gregory Is Stripped of World Records 


 “My daughter can see CO2 with the naked eye”


 BATTLING OVER BATTERIES


The only efficient battery is damming rivers and streams 


The Reason Renewables Can´t Power Modern Civilization Is Because They Were Never Meant To


 How Much Did Physicians Drive the Opioid Crisis?


Semenya is intersex. Where should she compete? 


 Don’t Let Students Run The University


George Washington traumatizes students


Really? 


Re Smith College:



A conservative contemplating getting a Ph.D. in the hopes of becoming a U.S. professor would be foolish not to think her political views would greatly diminish her chance of getting professorship. Conservative college employees, furthermore, will take these incidents as reasons to hide.


(Even though I work at Smith College, I can write this article because I’m protected by tenure, a fancy law degree, and a neurodiverse brain that causes me to care less about what people think of me than is the norm. Almost everyone else in the Smith community has far less protection than I do.)



 CNN: Have ‘Fewer Children’ or 1 Million Species Will Go Extinct


The next decent-sized asteroid will solve everything, same as in the past


  Can Anderson Cooper and CNN fall even deeper, or have they finally hit rock bottom?


 Facebook’s latest crackdown begs the question -- Who is the final arbiter of free speech in America?


Answer: Me, of course 


 Can Anybody Around Here Admit Out Loud That The Federal Government Cannot Fix Every Human Problem With Another New Program?


 This Will Be Another Enormous Waste of My Time Feeding the Government Paper


 Democrats Look To A New Century Of Complaining About Every Little Thing


Buttigieg: America never great 


Defined how?


Amusing clips of Biden groping kids 


 Arizona Democrats Claim No Border Crisis - Then Beg Trump For Help With Flood Of Migrants


THE BRAINWASHING OF A NATION - From campus identity politics cults to the media, brainwashing is bigger than ever.


How those Virginia scandals disappeared 


Infuriating Democrats, Trump Plans To Redefine Poverty, Cutting Americans From Welfare


Obama tried to do that too


Pajamas:




 The bottom line for Democrats is that a strong majority (61 percent) of voters say “it's time for Democrats in Congress to move on to other issues now that the Mueller probe has failed to prove that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians.” If Democrats don’t get the hint, they most certainly risk the same kind of backlash the GOP experienced after impeaching President Bill Clinton.




White House vs House: The war is on 


The Gaza Blockade: An Explainer


 New Cuba Travel Sanctions: Restricting What Doesn't Exist Anyway


Is travel to Cuba just poverty porn?

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:58 | Comments (21) | Trackbacks (0)

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"a U.S. professor would be foolish not to think her political views would greatly diminish her chance of getting professorship"

I hesitate to say I don't disagree with this.
#1 rhhardin (Link) on 2019-05-08 09:22 (Reply)
What's the matter with Virginia?

It was NEVER about racism, blackface or sexual harassment. This was, plain and simple, a diversionary tactic.

Note the timeline:

A bill was working through that legislature to allow very late term abortion. The governor strongly supported this bill.

Then came the gaff (when a politician accidently tells the truth)

He was interviewed on radio and plainly said an infant could even be aborted moments after birth. The bill indeed would allow this, and the far extreme advocates wanted this.

That night I watched Tucker. He interviewed a prochoice advocate and simply asked (more than once) if 'she agreed with the governor' s statement'. Simple question,

Even that night I noticed how panicked she was. I've never seen a professional spokesperson so completely terrified. She repeatedly refused to answer his question.. Kept trying to shift the subject to immigration(!), attacking Trump (who was not even in the discussion), but NOT ONE WORD about the governor's statement.

I realized at the time, something big was happening, she seemed terrified that this would blow up, probably because the backlash could be severe.

The next morning 'blackface' suddenly appeared, and the bill quietly died. This entire thing was a massive (and successful) obfuscation. Suddenly it was all about discrediting the governor, about race, and the bill dropped from the publics mind.
#2 Jay on 2019-05-08 09:56 (Reply)
QUOTE:
"Gradually she was able to convince her parents to lower the heating, to stop eating meat. In the meantime, the family lives vegan, they have their own vegetable garden outside the city and they only drive their electric car if they deem it necessary. Her mother also no longer flies – however, an internationally renowned opera singer."


A commendable and virtuous life. I salute their low profile and encourage them to continue striving to make it ever lower.
#3 Aggie on 2019-05-08 10:10 (Reply)
Cuba. A relative returned from a five-day trip a few days ago. "The land is beautiful. You'll see a beautiful old building, and right beside it a pile of garbage." Merchants turn over 100% of earnings and go to a bank once a week and get 20% back. She was impressed with the people and the sights, but she did not have any contact with the reality of living there. Of course, I am a biased anti-dictator-type person.
#4 SgtBob (Link) on 2019-05-08 10:12 (Reply)
Cuba as "poverty porn"... No.

Millions of Canadians fly to Cuba as a winter destination to get away from the cold.
https://panampost.com/yael-ossowski/2014/01/14/one-million-canadians-cuba-every-year-us-citizens/?cn-reloaded=1

I have never gone, nor would I want to go and support the Castro regime, but... most Canadians go to the all-inclusive locations for the beaches, warmth and low cost. Most stay at the resorts and rarely leave. They eat food that most Cubans cannot afford in return for relatively valuable foreign currency.

So, calling it 'poverty porn' is taking an extremely narrow view.
You Americans don't have to leave your country to escape winter. Some states don't have winter... Up here. it's very different.
#5 Earl Wertheimer (Link) on 2019-05-08 10:18 (Reply)
Cuba as "poverty porn"... No....Millions of Canadians fly to Cuba as a winter destination to get away from the cold.

Some Canadian tourists to Cuba may be seeking out something in addition to the warm weather. Bing search: Sex tourism in Cuba.: 7.4 million hits.

When I travel to the tropics, I avoid Cuba, for two reasons. First, I can find much cheaper hotels available in other destinations, such as Central America or Mexico. So why go to Cuba?

A more important reason for not going to Cuba is that most of the money I would be spending as a tourist in Cuba would not be going to poverty-stricken Cubans, who could certainly use my dollars, but to their totalitarian,blood-sucking government. Cuban Gov. to Keep 92% of Worker Salaries.
QUOTE:
Cubans working for firms with foreign capital on the island received a bucket of cold water Tuesday when a new resolution published in the official Gazette fixes their salaries at only 8% of what the joint venture or foreign companies must pay the government in hard currency for their services.
The announcement published by Granma daily quotes Vice-minister of Labor and Social Security, Zamira Marín Triana, as saying the new wage involves a “significant increase” for workers.
Ever since the government announced in October that prospective employees of foreign companies at the Mariel Special Development Zone would be receiving nearly 40% of their real wages before taxes, workers of companies operating with foreign capital on the rest of the island were expecting to receive a higher cut of the wage paid by their employers to the State.
It is the custom in Cuba that if a foreign firm wants its employees to be productive they must pay them an additional amount of hard currency under the table, since the amount they officially receive after the government takes the lion’s share is not a living wage.
Go ahead and spend your tourist dollars in Cuba, but don't forgot that most of the dollars you spend in Cuba will be going to prop up the totalitarian Cuban regime. Do you have any problem with doing that? I do.
#5.1 Gringo on 2019-05-08 16:21 (Reply)
One correction: Earl Wertheimer has stated "I have never gone, nor would I want to go and support the Castro regime," so my final statement is NOT addressed to him, but to Canadians who travel to Cuba.
#5.1.1 Gringo on 2019-05-08 16:25 (Reply)
Those annoying and smug Canadians who are forever touting our wonderfulness as a socially just and globally conscious country are the same ones who routinely jet down to shabby old Cuba for cheap holidays.

I've made myself unpopular on this with more than a few "progressive" family members who like the beaches down there.
#5.2 JJM on 2019-05-09 07:23 (Reply)
How Much Did Physicians Drive the Opioid Crisis? None. It was the drug companies what done it. Physicians ain't got no money, them evil greedy drug companies gots heaps of money and the noble altruistic lawyers are gonna take it all away from 'em.
#6 Jerryskids on 2019-05-08 11:32 (Reply)
According to a commenter at the original story about Greta Thunberg she has never claimed to be able to see C02. Here's what she said “There is at least one new conspiracy theory a day.
The latest – and perhaps most entertaining – spin is that ”I can see CO2 with my own eyes”.
This is of course a metaphor from a book taken out of it’s context, taken from a German newspaper.
No one has said that I can literally see CO2… that is beyond stupid.
This should of course not be necessary to mention but since some respected newspapers have written about this without realizing that this is a fake news campaign I thought it was best to point this out.
While I am at it I also want to point out that when I say that ”our civilisation is almost like a castle built in the sand” or that ”our house on fire” these are metaphors too 🙂 “
#7 FRP on 2019-05-08 11:38 (Reply)
A metaphor that makes no sense in any context.

She got caught in her ignorant nonsense, and someone is back-pedaling for her.
#7.1 DrTorch on 2019-05-08 12:21 (Reply)
Little Greta is proof thatthe Victorians were on to something after all when they used to insist that children should be seen but not heard.
#7.1.1 JJM on 2019-05-09 07:27 (Reply)
"Semenya is intersex. Where should she compete? "

Apparently, the trend is to set levels of testosterone. Why should it only be two levels. Create testosterone classes of competitors. A biological male on the low end of "male" testosterone are not competitive with those with high levels.

The Swiss (I believe) set testosterone levels that transgender must be suppressed below to compete in the "female" category.
#8 JK Brown on 2019-05-08 11:55 (Reply)
"Semenya is intersex. Where should she compete? "

Genetically, HIS DNA is XY; not even "intersex", which is XXY.

HE should compete as a man, against other men. Since HE is one.
#8.1 Ken Mitchell on 2019-05-08 22:39 (Reply)
"Can Anybody Around Here Admit Out Loud That The Federal Government Cannot Fix Every Human Problem With Another New Program?"

NO

QUOTE:
The Dictatorial, Anti-Democratic and Socialist Character of Interventionism

Many advocates of interventionism are bewildered when one tells them that in recommending interventionism they themselves are fostering anti-democratic and dictatorial tendencies and the establishment of totalitarian socialism. They protest that they are sincere believers and opposed to tyranny and socialism. What they aim at is only the improvement of the conditions of the poor. They say that they are driven by considerations of social justice, and favour a fairer distribution of income precisely because they are intent upon preserving capitalism and its political corollary or superstructure, viz., democratic government.

What these people fail to realize is that the various measures they suggest are not capable of bringing about the beneficial results aimed at. On the contrary they produce a state of affairs which from the point of view of their advocates is worse than the previous state which they were designed to alter. If the government, faced with this failure of its first intervention, is not prepared to undo its interference with the market and to return to a free economy, it must add to its first measure more and more regulations and restrictions. Proceeding step by step on this way it finally reaches a point in which all economic freedom of individuals has disappeared. Then socialism of the German pattern, the Zwangswirtschaft of the Nazis, emerges.

von Mises, Ludwig (1947). Planned Chaos
#9 JK Brown on 2019-05-08 12:00 (Reply)
Agreed JK Brown.

It is in Government's interest to 'solve' every problem imaginable.

The politicians can thump their chests and list their "accomplishments" while buying votes and the Bureaucracy gets to grow and order people about, all the while sucking more and more money out of the private sector.

It will continue as long as they have an incentive to do so, and I don't see that changing.
#9.1 feeblemind on 2019-05-08 13:07 (Reply)
re How those Virginia scandals disappeared

They are gone for now, but I suspect they will be back when they run for re-election.

It can be a referendum on the appropriateness of blackface and we'll find out if the electorate really cares.
#10 feeblemind on 2019-05-08 13:22 (Reply)
“My daughter can see CO2 with the naked eye.” I can, too, if it's dry ice subliming.

Don’t let students run the university: There is just SO MUCH they have no clues of.

CNN's Anderson Cooper Loses It Over Trump Kentucky Derby Tweet: No surprise there!

Arizona Democrats Claim No Border Crisis - Then Beg Trump For Help With Flood Of Migrants: Idjits!!!

WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH VIRGINIA? Democrats.
#11 Sam L. on 2019-05-08 13:42 (Reply)
Facebook just deplatformed Bounding into Comics

https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/05/07/censorship-facebook-completely-removes-bounding-into-comicss-250k-strong-fan-page/

Facebook needs to be dismantled.
#12 DrTorch on 2019-05-08 13:54 (Reply)
The opioid crisis is being distorted. Oxycontin is not the first choice of someone using hard drugs. Cocaine and heroin are. What happens is addicts spend all their waking hours looking for drugs or the means to get drugs. If they find prescription cough syrup they will drink it like a soda because it relieves a little of the demand for their drug of choice. Banning cough syrup will not stop drug users. If they find a half bottle of oxycontin they will either grind it up or even resort to a direct injection but it is NOT what they want it is simply what they found in their search for something to fill that imperative that runs their lives. If Oxycontin and it's various related drugs were removed from the market it wouldn't change a thing for them.


ALSO very few addicts were addicted by simply taking prescription drugs as prescribed. If you listen to the talk on the internet you would believe that anyone taking oxycontin or Percocet would inevitably become addicted. There are a few exceptions of course but to become addicted because of use of oxycontin requires that you take it to great excess. Most addicts will crush up 6 oxycontin pills (crushed to bypass any controlled release mechanism) to take and still it won't be enough.

IMHO what I think is happening behind the scenes is that the lawyers are setting this up so that they can sue the drug makers and the lawyers see this as another HUGE payday like the lawsuit against tobacco. It has nothing to do with curbing the opioid crisis.
#13 OneGuy on 2019-05-08 18:38 (Reply)
I have known many friends, family, and acquaintances who got into trouble with legal or illegal drugs and/or alcohol. I can't think of a single one who wasn't primarily treating psychological pain, even if some physical pain was involved as well. Of my friends who have serious physical pain but are healthy and resilient psychologically and reasonably self-aware, none have gone overboard with painkillers. They don't want to go overboard and disappear into numbness and oblivion. They want just enough relief from physical pain to be able to function well and resume their active, satisfying lives.
#13.1 Texan99 on 2019-05-09 06:35 (Reply)

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