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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Monday, January 6. 2020

Monday morning links

 A first-time flier who threw coins into a plane engine for good luck has been ordered to pay £13,000 to a Chinese airline.


We missed this:  Kanye Takes Sunday Service to Texas Prisons in Surprise Event


 The Collegiate War Against Men


Ice Ages are rare in the earth's history. We're in one now 


 PRAGER: Greta Thunberg: A Living Explanation Of The Left


 Maxine Waters’ Phone Call With ‘Greta Thunberg’ Was Apparently The Work Of Russian Pranksters


 Thoughts On The Latest US Census Data


 "We Cannot Stop Violent Crime Through Policing Alone" Says Mayor of Murder Capital


 Baltimore County Homicides Jump 85% To Record High Amid Spillover In City Murder Crisis 


 The Media's Worst Year


 Colin Kaepernick Blasts Racist ‘American Terrorist Attacks’ In Apparent Reference To Iran


 Trump Blamed For Causing Violence In Typically Peaceful Middle East


 Ricky Gervais Slams Elitist Celebs At the Golden Globes: 'You're In No Position to Lecture the Public About Anything'


 The United States killed the top terrorist on the planet Thursday, and Democrats were…upset. Perhaps “upset” is too vague, they were a combination of angry and scared.


 U.S. Media Says Iraqis ‘Mourning’ Death Of Terrorist, But Some Seem To Be Dancing, Baking Cakes In Celebration


How Trump decided to kill Iran’s Soleimani - The U.S. strike against Tehran’s feared paramilitary commander followed months of Iranian attacks.


 Meet the Other Major Terrorist Killed in Soleimani Drone Strike


 BIDEN REWRITES HISTORY


 Biden Caught In 'Flat-Out Lie' Over Bin Laden Raid


Democratic Impeachment Case Collapses Under Weight Of Time


 Iran Is Not Iraq


 For reasons not difficult to ascertain Hong Kong is dying.


BoJo contemplates fulfilling a dream dear to half of Britain


War With Iran? The United States has preferred toothless sanctions over victory. But sometimes the right sanctions are deadlier than atom bombs.



Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:00 | Comments (22) | Trackbacks (0)

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The easiest way to make Kaepermick go away is to not click on any story about him. His opinion on anything has no interest to me.
#1 FRP on 2020-01-06 08:51 (Reply)
What gets me is that he seems to be spouting the same 1971 Tom Haden pseudo-Maoism that even the Chicoms threw away 40 years ago.

I thought these beliefs were about as fashionable as the Brady Bunch. Who knew?
#1.1 Another guy named Dan on 2020-01-06 09:41 (Reply)
I suspect Colin Kaepernick is not smart enough to string all these complicated thoughts together by himself. I've seen numerous reports that his girlfriend is an uber-woke radical feminist, so I wonder if she is the strong Rasputin-type influence behind the scenes, directing. CK's shtick is becoming tiresome to pretty much everybody now, so I don't think the honorable mentions in the occasional article - like this one, as if anyone cares what he thinks about foreign policy - are going to be going on much longer. Without the shtick, there is no visibility, hence no celebrity to offer for the Nike contract, so.....
#1.1.1 Aggie on 2020-01-06 10:28 (Reply)
The whole Nike-Kaepernick relationship is based on trying to package adolescent rebellion up in little orange boxes and sell it back to adolescents of all ages.

An aside on my background: Back in the mid-80s, I told my parents at the dinner table they were having a 60s day at school. When my mother asked what I wanted to do about that, I told her I wanted to go as an Ohio National Guardsman or a Chicago riot cop. I swear gravy came out my dad's nose in a total Danny Thomas spit-take.

The compromise was short-sleeved white shirt, skinny tie, and broken Walkman headphones: NASA mission controller.
#1.1.1.1 another guy named Dan on 2020-01-06 12:28 (Reply)
I agree that he is probably not smart enough to ever had an original thought about politics or philosophy. I am pretty disgusted with his anti-flag and anti-American actions and opinions. However IF he is doing this simply to get laid it would raise my respect for him to slightly above that of Judas. At least then his reason would make "some" sense.
#1.1.1.2 OneGuy on 2020-01-06 18:06 (Reply)
Yep. He chose her over his career and it's our fault.
#1.1.1.3 Assistant Village Idiot on 2020-01-06 19:58 (Reply)
Soleimani: As Owen points out on the Althouse blog thread, uncertainty and unpredictability are force multipliers. They force the adversary to spread thin, to be on the defensive everywhere 24/7; it consumes resources and contributes to exhasting the enemy physically, mentally, financially. Apparently this is just another one of PDJT's gifts.
#2 FromtheAlthouseblog on 2020-01-06 09:55 (Reply)
It's reversing the asymmetry. The biggest advantage that a non-conventional guerilla force can have is to create the perception that they can attack seemingly from nowhere, then disappear. Witth the right intel and reaction capability, you can reverse this and eliminate the supply lines and marshalling areas they need to support their attacks.
#2.1 Another Guy named Dan on 2020-01-06 12:21 (Reply)
It can work either way. The USA has 300 M+ SOFT targets and many millions of infrastructure targets, public spaces etc. I'm skeptical that the American public has much stomach for a series of sustained terrorist attacks. Nobody has the where with all financially to harden all these targets or even the will. This may have been a factor in the decisions in the early oughts to take the battle to the enemy. Presumably, trained military personnel are better placed to defend themselves than a school bus full of defenceless children. This is a serious downside that constrains action by the President.
#2.2 Exasperated on 2020-01-06 13:43 (Reply)
I can only assume that the Golden Globes is another example of Hollywood complimenting each other and themselves. Do people actually tune in to watch this stuff? I haven't paid any attention to the Oscars since Marlon Brando sent Little Feather to accept his award. I didn't watch it then either but it was in the news and that was the last time I paid attention to it. The only actors whose names I know are Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. The rest are just unknown people who appeared in movies I enjoyed. I'm not sure any of them have done anything really good or useful.
#3 Anon on 2020-01-06 10:43 (Reply)
I have similar opinions to you of the motion-picture industry, but I strongly recommend you have a look at Gervais' speech on u-tube. He certainly didn't compliment them. Hilarious.
#3.1 DeGaulle on 2020-01-06 11:51 (Reply)
Usually I find Gervais' caustic, sneering humor mean, even if it is witty; but now I realize it's because of how it's usually directed: Toward normal people, with Gervais as some kind of minor authority figure. But toward this audience, it was extremely apropos and bitingly funny. It really does make a difference when he's punching up. Some of them take it quite well. Of course, maybe it's just my biases acting up again.
#3.1.1 Aggie on 2020-01-06 13:04 (Reply)
That's a great take. I watched his entire monologue, it is brilliantly devastating. Somebodies have pissed him off.
#3.1.1.1 Phil G on 2020-01-06 13:26 (Reply)
The article about college discrimination against men is just one more author reporting on a situation that has been in place for at least 20 years now. The sad thing is that those women who are being "encouraged" to major in the STEM classes are being paid with additional scholarship monies and personal tutorials. They scrape through the tough classes with minimally acceptable grades and beefed up CV's then they head on over to companies like Boeing and demand it be their turn to lead in higher management departments. It is my humble opinion that the declines we see in companies like Boeing, Microsoft, etc. is a direct result of dragging women through the STEM courses who don't really want to be there. Quality shows folks, merit must be based on actual accomplishment in order to keep our country at the highest level in any field. Sheesh--I am sick of this BS!
#4 faculty wife on 2020-01-06 13:30 (Reply)
It's not just a man-woman thing, in my opinion, it's also generational. When I started working in the oil patch 40 years ago, experience was gained the hard way, 'up through the hawsepipe', learning the vocabulary and the technology by direct practical application in the company of teams with varying levels of expertise and experience. Major oil companies, for example, would normally never consider an engineer suitably qualified for international assignments until they had at least 15-20 years of experience with the company , in addition to the rest of their work experience history: Tough, hardened operations engineers who can actively problem-solve with whatever they have at hand, because they've gotten out of jams the hard way, before. Now when you hire a kid with a 4 year degree, and they expect promotions to Department Manager within, at most, 4 years or so. It's worse with advanced degrees. It's unbelievable how the past 2 generations have been coddled into believing they are automatically life's winners. They have the idea that it's deserved. It's bad enough when parents do it, but companies have gotten so desperate for decent talent that now they're doing it, too.
#4.1 Aggie on 2020-01-06 13:52 (Reply)
This is the problem with any group that receives special treatment because of their gender, color or national origin. I choose not to have a black doctor for that reason. He may well be competent, but I know that the system he trained and graduated in would have promoted an incompetent person of his color for no other reason than his color. I also realize that this is discrimination. But of course I discriminate; I don't eat breakfast burritos or other prepared foods from a hot display at gas stations either and that is discrimination also. Neither of these cases are my fault, in fact you would have to be a fool to not discriminate in the same way. It is the fault of those in charge of our government (or in the case of the gas station the owners).
#4.2 Anon on 2020-01-06 18:14 (Reply)
re For reasons not difficult to ascertain Hong Kong is dying.

I doubt if Stuart understands what is going on over there any better than the rest of us.

What does he suggest? Does he think the people of Hong Kong should have meekly exchanged some of their freedom to Beijing in exchange for being able to cash a few more checks?

Are there no rights that are more important than money?
#5 feeblemind on 2020-01-06 14:06 (Reply)
...we are in an ice age now. The work by the Svensmarks is certainly convincing and intriguing even if controversial. It is a considerable improvement over the current IPCC tactic of adjusting the temperatures and hiding the decline. Greta will be disappointed to hear such blasphemy.
#6 indyjonesouthere on 2020-01-06 14:29 (Reply)
Hong Kong was always selected by Beijing to die as it would be a perpetual embarrassment to allow it to shine. It was selected to be harvested but not fed just as the politicians of Detroit always harvested taxes but kept the receipts close at hand. Taiwan would suffer a similar outcome...perhaps as a landfill for toxic waste. Neither can be tolerated just as the other outlier minority groups will not be tolerated. In 50 years HK will look much like Detroit and those that could leave will have left.
#7 indyjonesouthere on 2020-01-06 14:43 (Reply)
I disagree.

The PRC certainly does want Hong Kong to work. The problem for Beijing is how to make the place work without all those annoying and disruptive protests. They are stepping lightly for now because a heavy hand would kill the Golden Goose and they know it.

Conversely, it doesn't seem to have occurred to the protestors that forcing Beijing's hand when it comes to the One China policy ultimately isn't a great strategy.

There is no free and independent Hong Kong to be gained here, and in the final analysis, the PRC will act in its own national interest to preserve the integrity of One China.

Sadly for those protestors, they really are on their own. Any aspirations they have for Hong Kong's future were decided 22 years ago when the Prince of Wales and Governor Patten sailed off into the horizon.
#7.1 JJM on 2020-01-06 16:54 (Reply)
I don't understand. Why is it that we do nothing to help protesters defend themselves against any takeover by an outside party--yet, we will in the end send in our troops! Why doesn't the peace corps have some group that will go in and help these people remain living in a peaceful and economically stable community while they get things sorted out in terms of their freedoms and their government? Why do we wait until there is massive bloodshed? Look what we have/have not done in Venezuela--what a screwup our policy on that has been. Why the heck are we in Iraq? If we need the damn oil so bad send in our troops take over the fields and the pipelines and defend them against all comers. Rather than trying to make nice with drug dealers, or rug merchants or some such group. If/when they really want a democracy as Hong Kong clearly does then we should be there in diplomatic statements, congressional support, and onsite peace keepers. Perhaps, we really need our own Blue Helmets.
#8 Apple pie on 2020-01-06 17:11 (Reply)
:I don't understand. Why is it that we do nothing to help protesters defend themselves against any takeover by an outside party"

You answered your own question when you said: "Why the heck are we in Iraq?"

If you act before the problem is obvious to everyone then you invite your political opponents to destroy you in the media. However if you wait until it is obvious to all you have waited too long and you risk losing the battle. Trump experiences this with everything he does. Because he is a problem fixer he ignores the nattering nabobs of negativism and moves decisively to fix the problem. Then his political enemies and their useful idiot followers tear him up in the press and public opinion.

IMHO this is why Roosevelt "allowed" the attack on Pearl Harbor and why Johnson engineered/exploited the Gulf of Tonkin incident. They were politically Astute and knew that they had to galvanize public opinion before they could "attack" the problem. Trump's problem is that he is logical and uses common sense and expects that when he succeeds and is proven to have been right that opposition would disappear or at least be shouted down by those who could see the truth. I think that even though he is a smart man he did not anticipate that the opposition would actually rather see the U.S. fail than see Trump win. He under estimated the left.
#8.1 Anon on 2020-01-06 23:43 (Reply)

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