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, July 22. 2022

Friday morning links

Spectator:  Whatever happened to the good old American trolley? Once streetcar lines connected even rural areas; now they’re almost all gone


 More sharks are being spotted in the waters off Long Island, a trend that experts say is likely to continue -- and they say it's a good thing, as long as people can stay careful


 Shark Bites 16-Year-Old Surfer Off Fire Island, Marking LI's 5th Attack This Summer


 With COVID Sort Of Raging Again, States Have No New Plans Or Something


 Football and the Honor Code Collide at the Air Force Academy


  The Cost of Being Woke


 Conservative professor rebukes higher ed: ‘Whorehouses and mental wards would be much cheaper’


 Sexual Liberation in Public Schools. Los Angeles Unified School District adopts radical “trans-affirming” programming and instructs teachers to work toward “the breakdown of the gender binary.”


 Pushback: Flight attendant fired for having opinions wins big against airline and union


 Illegal immigration starting to hit home for US cities


 20 July 2022: Cuomo Spends $93,211 on Poll to Tell Him He's a Loser


 THE MORE UNPOPULAR HE GETS, THE MORE RADICAL BIDEN BECOMES


 The Great Realignment: Democrats Increasingly The Party of Elite Whites, Republicans Increasingly Racially-Diverse And Working Class


 Here Are the Senior Biden Officials Entangled in Durham’s Criminal Russiagate Probe

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:15 | Comments (33) | Trackback (1)

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re: Dem elites

I've seen several threads on the Bret Stephens Op-ed.
The OpEd was shallow and superficial, and he still gets it wrong. He still has no idea what motivated MAGA. His smarmy, priggish, fixation on Trump is typical. Maybe it's deflection, lest the Snowflakes realize that it's not about Trump, at all.
It’s not about Trump; it never was about Trump. It’s a rejection of the Prog world view; "Der Regulierungsstaat uber Alles", China appeasing globalism, the perverse SJWs, and the malevolent cancel culture. Middle America rejects the Prog vision of a paternalistic future that benefits the cocooned and privileged; the rest of us not so much. I call it corporatism (or a corruptacracy), not communism; but , no doubt, the end game is the same. Whatever it is, it is not benign; it's some sort of creepy hi-tech feudalism and dystopian for the people of Middle America.
In the USA, Trump is the only national public figure to stand up to the globalist cabal; the only president to bring Working America and Main Street to the table. Donald Trump is what happens when both major parties abandon the lower and middle classes to their fates in the name of open borders and globalization. And, then lie about it.
Regular Americans don’t want to give up their heritage and rights, they don’t want a top down government and economy run by unaccountable, China appeasing, careerist, bureaucrats, or a bureaucracy subject to foreign interference, or a bureaucracy captured by multinationals. They don’t want to be the world’s piggy bank, they don’t want to make the world safe for multinationals, in short, they don’t want America to be China’s bitch.
#1 Exasperated on 2022-07-22 09:26 (Reply)
Link to thread on Althouse law blog:

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-worst-line-i-ever-wrote-as-pundit.html#more

post from Kevin:
shorter Bret Stephens:
"Dear Battered Spouse: I can see my violence against you isn't leading to obedience."
#1.1 FromtheAlthouseblog on 2022-07-22 09:38 (Reply)
There were some great comments in that thread.
#1.1.1 Christopher B on 2022-07-22 12:16 (Reply)
'With COVID Sort Of Raging Again, States Have No New Plans Or Something'

They should call the latest variant "Midtermicron."
#2 Maniac on 2022-07-22 09:44 (Reply)
re Spectator: Whatever happened to the good old American trolley?

That's an easy one. The automobile doomed the trolleu.

Trolleys only work for people that live and work next to or near them. They don't have the flexibility of a car, and try hauling your groceries home on a trolley. Finally four can ride as cheaply as one in a car. That can't be done on the trolley.

This is why trolleys have been utter failures everywhere our central planners have decreed they be built.
#3 feeblemind on 2022-07-22 09:47 (Reply)
In most every major city you can put light rail in the same category. Minneapolis is a good example. Over one billion was spent to put the system together and it serves mainly government workers and students. The price of a ticket does not even cover the cost of maintenance and labor. It will be perpetually subsidized by the non-riding taxpayer and capital costs will never be recovered.

The reasons they are impractical is that they are expensive, only go where the tracks are, and if time is money, then waiting for then is expensive. They also carry rather questionable characters through the day which, in general, makes mass transit unsafe for many.

They greatly appeal to politicians because it makes then feel they are keeping up with the other cities. Maybe even getting ahead.
#3.1 indyjonesouthere on 2022-07-22 13:36 (Reply)
There's a story in the 7/24 Star Tribune about how airline and airport staff are afraid to ride the light rail line between the two MSP terminals. That's a two-minute ride, but the stations are deep underground. The Transit Police are, like all Minnesota cops now, unwilling to risk pension and incarceration to make the stations and cars clean and safe.
#3.1.1 Gordon Scott on 2022-07-24 19:08 (Reply)
Great now polio is back. Gee! What are the odds it came across our unprotected Southern border. And Measles too! Remember when immigrants had to show they were healthy and vaccinated? Biden's Make America Third World efforts are paying off.
#4 JustMe on 2022-07-22 09:51 (Reply)
JustMe: What are the odds it came across our unprotected Southern border.

The case occurred in Rockland County, New York, home to ultra-Orthodox Jews, and the epicenter of a measles outbreak in 2018. The strain of polio is associated with the oral vaccine made from a weakened virus no longer used in the U.S. The vaccine can't directly cause polio, but the virus may shed and spread in poorly vaccinated populations, then mutate and revert to a form that causes paralysis.
#4.1 Zachriel on 2022-07-22 12:23 (Reply)
Blaming Jews for the polio outbreak is a new low for you, zach-bot.
Here's a hint to pass on to your programmers: anti-semitism is a dead-end ideology.
#4.1.1 puzzled on 2022-07-22 16:16 (Reply)
puzzled: anti-semitism is a dead-end ideology.

It's not anti-Semitic to note that Rockland was the epicenter of a measles outbreak infecting hundreds among under-vaccinated Orthodox Jews.

The question concerned the southern border. The particular strain of polio is not a wild variety, but one that mutated from a weakened virus used in some vaccines.
#4.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-07-22 20:56 (Reply)
If the Rockland Orthodox Jewish community is generally not vaccinated, how are they connected to a case of polio that appeared in a person who was vaccinated (outside the US, no less)?

Since the southern border was mentioned, I think it is more relevant that neighboring Westchester County is an illegal immigrant sanctuary jurisdiction.
#4.1.1.1.1 RJP on 2022-07-23 00:39 (Reply)
As little as I like giving any support to Zach... Israel uses a combination of live and inactivated polio vaccines, and had an outbreak of vaccine-derived polio this spring, centered in Jerusalem. Most (90%+) people who get infected by the polio virus (wild or vaccine-derived) will have no symptoms whatsoever, so spread is very easy. And obviously, there is extensive travel to Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, by the Orthodox community year-round. So I think that explains it.

I'm deeply concerned about the southern border situation, for public health reasons among others, but this particular outbreak is not due to that.
#4.1.1.1.1.1 Janet on 2022-07-23 07:53 (Reply)
re With COVID Sort Of Raging Again, States Have No New Plans Or Something

It seems covid is coming through at least rvery 3 months if not quicker. Is this the new normal?

Whatever happened to herd immunity?
#5 feeblemind on 2022-07-22 09:55 (Reply)
OK! It's beginning. Clearly Biden is going to be removed from office soon. And Nancy Pelosi isn't going to be able to wiggle out of this trouble with insider trading that made her and her husband rich so I'm thinking she will be forces to step down. That leaves only one "stumbling block" (boy does that name fit) and that is Kamala.
So my best guess is Kamala is going to be coerced to step down, they don't want her to be president. So here is the timeline. Nancy Pelosi can be pushed out anytime before the election. But Kamala has to go soon to put someone else into her position to be ready to step in when Joe is 25th-ed. I'm thinking that Michelle Obama will be placed into her position when Kamala bows out due to personal/family reasons. Then, magically in a few weeks Joe (is taken off his stimulant shots) and begins to be obviously mentally impaired and congress 25th's him. All before the election. Then Pandemic 2.0 happens and all voting is mandated to be vote by mail and the only people allowed out will be the mules delivering the Democrat votes to the drop off boxes and viola we keep and increase our Democrat congress.
#6 OneGuy on 2022-07-22 10:54 (Reply)
I think they'll keep Kamala (on a chokehold leash) as long as she can correctly read a teleprompter and not go off script. Too complicated otherwise.
#6.1 John Fisher on 2022-07-22 12:51 (Reply)
We have now officially had twice as many deaths yearly from illegal drugs smuggled across our borders as there were American deaths in the 19 year Vietnam war. This is a war, we are under attack. The open borders are essential for our enemies to wage this war. Biden and the eft are intentionally opening the borer and plan on doing the same for all airline flights into the U.S. i,e, get on a plane in Africa, get to the U.S. and you can stay! We are at war and our white house is complicit. They intend to destroy your country and it is probably too late to stop them. And it's gonna get worse.
#7 IdahoBob on 2022-07-22 11:33 (Reply)
re The Cost of Being Woke

That's a good read.

Has my vote for the best link of the day.
#8 feeblemind on 2022-07-22 11:51 (Reply)
QUOTE:
The Cost of Being Woke . . . The practice, no matter how virtuous, produces mental fatigue.

Change is hard.

QUOTE:
The human mind was not constructed to be twisted into contortions to be sure to use the correct wrong pronouns.

Actually, it's much more complex than just the use of pronouns. Among the primary functions of language is to develop, deepen, and sometimes exploit human relationships. Consider the importance of how you utter syllables in traditional hierarchies.
#8.1 Zachriel on 2022-07-22 12:37 (Reply)
With regard to trolleys--let's consider that today's billion dollar "light rail systems" are the modern replacement.

In that case we can look to

Seattle

Seattle to understand why they are failing today. 60 years ago they failed because of the car manufacturing industry. They failed because buses became more convenient, but today, today they fail because they are just moving shelters for the smarter of the homeless crowd. Whenever America wakes up and understands that on any public transportation service and particularly on rail, normal people want to travel in safety and a clean environment. America's unions have destroyed Amtrak. How you might ask? Well, how about this: they refuse to permit two classes of passenger cars. One costs more per ticket, but provides safe, comfortable and clean cars. The majority of passenger cars can remain as they are, loud, filthy and not safe. Rail travel in Europe is the best example of how to build financially viable (if not profitable) rail systems that do as they are advertised--move people cheaper and faster with less negative impact on the environment. Those communist unions have refused to allow two different classes of service. Yes, they have something going on on the east coast run between DC and New York. I have not ridden on this so cannot speak to it, but I do understand that is is allowed to have two classes of passenger cars.


https://www.foxnews.com/us/homeless-seattle-sound-transit-shelter-video
#9 faculty wife on 2022-07-22 13:25 (Reply)
Whorehouses and mental wards ... probably the best description of education INSTTUTIONS today.
#10 indyjonesouthere on 2022-07-22 13:45 (Reply)
Dinner 200 years ago

13 minute video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn5Sjley_r0
#11 feeblemind on 2022-07-22 15:52 (Reply)
Good piece at Breitbart ... Trumps plan for 2025.

Stripping admin state employees out of the federal government. 50,000 is a good start for week 1. There are 2 million fed employees and half should go.
#12 indyjonesouthere on 2022-07-22 16:15 (Reply)
The UK is experiencing so many unexpected deaths from heart issues in vaxxed people that they have installed 10,000 defibrillators on streets.


New Zealand is experiencing record deaths from Covid. The most vaxed and locked down country in the world is setting covid death records! They are also experiencing record deaths from the vaccine side effects. Who could possibly have predicted this???
#13 JustMe on 2022-07-22 21:00 (Reply)
Country, COVID deaths per 100,000:
    United States, 304
    New Zealand, 37
#13.1 Zachriel on 2022-07-22 23:07 (Reply)
Not true.

Yesterday the U.S. had 321 covid deaths which is less than 1 death per million.

New Zealand had 22 deaths which is about 4.5 per million.

New Zealand is having record breaking covid deaths.
#13.1.1 JustMe on 2022-07-23 00:24 (Reply)
Yep, according to data from WHO, New Zealand had 518 Covid deaths in the last 30 days, a rate of 10.4 per 100,000. Third worst rate in the world, behind Saint Barthelemy and Monaco. (The Worldometer graphs showing the recent increase in deaths in New Zealand are stunning.)

In the same time period, the US death rate was 3.2 per 100,000.

Over the last seven days, New Zealand is still third worst in the world, but the rate has decreased to 3.4 per 100,000, while the US rate is down to 0.8 per 100,000.
#13.1.1.1 RJP on 2022-07-23 01:08 (Reply)
JustMe: Not true.

The statistics provided were accurate:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51235105

The current daily death rate in the U.S. is currently less than New Zealand, New Zealand's overall death rate is far less than the United States. Also, at its peak, the highest daily death rate in the U.S. was three times that of New Zealand's highest daily death rate.
#13.1.1.2 Zachriel on 2022-07-23 08:47 (Reply)
"The statistics provided were accurate:"

But irrelevant. I did not say New Zealand had the highest death rate for the entire 30 month pandemic. But that is the stat you chose to refute what I did say. I suppose you could have done that little bait nd switch just to make it seem you were right/smart. Or you could be reporting false news to fit your agenda. But either way the fact remains that New Zealand is breaking records in deaths from covid.

Because they are an island with a small population they were able to delay (slow the spread) by draconian measures. At the time they were locking down and up their citizens many New Zealanders objected pointing out that they were paying a heavy price to merely delay the inevitable. Now the inevitable has come home to roost and New Zealand is going to pay catchup. So was destroying their economy and democracy worth it? Not a life will have been saved and in fact the experts think that lockdown and delay will make it worse in the end.

This is all New Zealand's problem but it points out OUR problem. The lockdowns and mandates here didn't help manage the disease but it destroyed millions of small businesses and bankrupted millions of people. It should be a lesson learned... But the elite loved the power. Gretchin Whitmer still has orgasms thinking about mandates. Dr. Fauci wets his pants in anticipation of the next mask mandate. But none of it worked, it all made it worse.

There were a few scientists at CDC who objected to the politization of covid and were advising better alternatives. But they were shut down by people who sounded exactly like you. People who put power in front of America and the citizens. The CDC is no longer about health and America they are now about political power and the WEF. There is going to be a reckoning coming and it may involve the guillotine. I hope our politicians stop this coup and takeover of our constitutional republic but I fear that they won't and eventually it will lead to bloodshed. History is replete with petty tyrant forcing their politics on their citizens resulting in revolution. I hope the Democrats wake up and take their party back before it's too late.
#13.1.1.2.1 JustMe on 2022-07-23 10:37 (Reply)
JustMe: But that is the stat you chose to refute what I did say.

We didn't "refute," but provided context.

JustMe: Now the inevitable has come home to roost and New Zealand is going to pay catchup.

Time will tell whether they will "catchup."
#13.1.1.2.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-07-23 10:46 (Reply)
LOL https://www.breitbart.com/health/2022/07/22/authoritarian-new-zealand-seeing-record-coronavirus-deaths/ No one agrees with you
#13.1.1.2.1.1.1 JustMe on 2022-07-23 10:50 (Reply)
JustMe: No one agrees with you

Concerning? The evidence is that, while New Zealand is experiencing a serious outbreak of COVID, their overall rate of deaths is much lower over the course of the pandemic.

You have asserted that they will "catchup" with the U.S. As noted, time will tell.
#13.1.1.2.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-07-23 11:24 (Reply)
Here's a comparison of cumulative COVID deaths over time:
http://zachriel.com/blog/COVID-USvNZ.jpg
#13.1.1.3 Zachriel on 2022-07-23 09:05 (Reply)

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