Sunday, January 29. 2017
People tend to forget that many if not most jobs are learned "on the job," if effect, in apprenticeship. Formal education does not teach you how to be a litigator or to be an orthopedic surgeon. They are learned by working under supervision.
In North Carolina, Industrial Internships Put Teens on an Upward Trajectory
Matthew 5:1-12
5:1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.
5:2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
5:10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
From a California pal -
Saturday, January 28. 2017
Images from various places including Moonbattery
The author of this piece, Psychiatry's Chosen People - Jews have always had a special fascination with Freud’s theories—no one more so than my own mother, offers a good picture of a time and place.
She gets a couple of things wrong though. Freud did not invent Psychatry. It's been around for a long time. An American founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, was a Psychiatrist and a leader in the movement towards the humane care of the mentally ill. Another thing she gets wrong is to equate Psychoanalysis with Psychiatry. Psychodynamic ideas are one useful tool in Psychiatry, but just one of the tools in the toolbox.
 Finding the Poetry in 'Paterson' -The film chronicles beautifully banal life in the New Jersey city.
"Banal"?
The Forgotten Holocaust: The Films of Boris Maftsir
How School Choice Changed These Brothers’ Lives.
Let Jerry Brown Turn California Into A Socialist Utopia
MSM BIAS: Headlines From the Women's March vs. March for Life Prove It
The men's march against fascism
How Do You Measure "Success" In K-12 Education?
Freedom of speech and the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act on college campuses
The Neocon Lament - Nobody wants them in Trump's Washington
Scientific American: Trump Mexican Border Wall will be a “Climate Mistake”
Humiliating Mexico over the Wall Would Be a Big Mistake
Ohio State class teaches students to detect and respond to microaggressions, white privilege
Microscope skills required
Trump: Persecuted Christian refugees will get priority
Immigration Priorities: Translators, and Victims of Genocide
Trump argument bolstered: Clinton could have received 800,000 votes from noncitizens
NBC’s Chuck Todd: Media knew how ‘hated’ Hillary was in heartland and we ‘underplayed’ it
Trump remains completely clueless on trade.
Scarborough warns Trump on fighting with the press: The media always wins
Voters Like What Trump Is Doing, and They Can’t Stand the Press
Press Pretends to Fact-Check Trump, But Only Misleads Readers
Surprise! Trump doing what he said he would
Flashback: President Obama Encourages Illegal Immigrants to Vote
Trump is already killing people
At Ace:
I no longer have any investment in any particular political values, save one: The rules created by the left will be applied to the left as equally and punitively as they have applied them to the right. And when they beg for mercy, I'll begin to reconsider. Or maybe not. Because fuck these people.
This new philosophy has freed me of more emotional angst that I can describe. Literally nothing the left says or does matters to me anymore. I don't care about their tantrums. I don't care about their accusations. I don't care if they say Trump is lying. I don't care if Trump is lying.
Germany: A Ministry of Truth is an assault on truth.
Europe Proposes "Restrictions On Payments In Cash"
Why Trump Should Support a Kurdish State
Mexico: Peña Nieto and the Juarez cartel
What military Aid to Israel Buys America
Friday, January 27. 2017
Vox explains how the viral WaPo piece on the State Dept got the story wrong.
How deeply invested is the WaPo in spinning tales to make Trump look bad?
Thursday, January 26. 2017
Entire group of senior State Department administrators resign.
Not yet clear why. Largest single loss of institutional memory and experience on record?
Late note:
I've been reading the comments since yesterday, and felt I should clarify. I posted this as a question, because it is one of the largest losses of institutional memory the government has seen. I didn't clarify to say this was a good or a bad thing, though the article certainly did.
I was clear (in a comment) that I have no idea if this is good or bad. I'm not surprised most comments believe this to be overwhelmingly good. I remain ambivalent.
My uncle spent 30 years working at HUD under many administrations. He retired in the late 90's because the politicization under Clinton was too much to bear. I'm sure in the years since, all departments have gotten worse in this regard. It may be that these losses are no big deal. I'm less certain. My uncle was always a very strong believer in institutional memory. Not that everyone had to be retained, but you always need to maintain a level of management that understands the history and the operational capacity. That is why I believe the only way this is good is if the department is reduced dramatically. Which can happen, as there are well over 20 senior positions now open.
From a sheer "Wow, that's pretty big" point-of-view, I'm stunned at the turn of events. When you drain a swamp, you'd better be sure you know what is replacing the ecosystem. I am not confident in Trump, while I know many here are. At best, he remains 50/50 with me.
The article itself was the first I'd read shortly after this occurred. Many have since followed. I didn't post it to indicate support for the author's position, just that it was breaking news and rather surprising. A friend contacted me last night asking what I thought of all this. I replied "I still don't know. I don't trust the press, I don't trust Trump, I don't trust politicians in general, so I'm left trying to read whatever erratic signals continue to emanate from liars everywhere."
How to be a good citizen, and how government works, seems long out of fashion. Civics was sort-of replaced by something called Social Studies, whatever that is. Peter Wood: THE DANGEROUS RISE OF ‘THE NEW CIVICS’
It's not easy to be a good and worthy citizen of a town, a state or a nation, but it is one measure by which we all judge others.
Photo, and more: "My Little Old Sod Shanty on the Plains"
No trees out there, for various reasons
Mary Tyler Moore, RIP
She provided years of innocent delight
How green was my Tesla
A woman flew through a tornado in a bathtub and survived
College Student Mistakes Lab Equipment for Klan Rally
What's Causing Chicago’s Homicide Spike?
Government is confused, but it's clearly guns' fault drug gangs
Researchers uncover vast numbers of unknown Nazi killing fields
Competitive Victimhood
The $7 billion school improvement grant program: Greatest failure in the history of the US Department of Education?
Money is rarely a solution for education
Bourbons of the Press, Believed by But 15%, Straggle on in Defeat
Was the Women's March a revolution — or a self-indulgent dead end?
Trump is the revolution
Dem Rep. Barbara Lee: Republicans Want Women To Die From Abortions…
Why The Democrats' Rise Is Far From Inevitable
Moonbat Meltdown of the Month
Are performers dumber than normal people? Like most people, I just assume this is so, because actors tend to say stupid things when not following a script.
Poll: Voters liked Trump’s ‘America first’ address
"President Trump reiterated his false claim that at least three million illegal immigrants cast ballots for Hillary Clinton..."
Powerline: I’m starting to think Trump really is a one-person wrecking crew for the left delivered by divine Providence.
Trump's Great Wall Will Be Costly and Useless and Mexico Won't Pay For It
Trump’s intervention into policing, voting and immigration sets up showdown with America’s largest cities
Texas Reps Move to Protect States’ Rights to Refuse Refugees
Suddenly, people are for state's rights. Local power vs. federal power - a good battle
Defeated candidate Clinton considers launching liberal television show to lay the groundwork for ANOTHER White House run
Trump Administration Preparing Executive Orders To Drastically Reduce U.S. Role in U.N.
CNN Quietly Releases Updated Pic Showing Trump’s Inaugural Crowd Size Greater than Obama’s 2009 Inaugural Crowd
Woops
Sanctuary Cities must still obey the Constitution
‘America’s Having a Love Affair With Tucker Carlson’: Morning Joe Panel Praises Fox Host
How Trump is remaking the ‘culture war’
Networks Give 129 Times More Coverage to Women's March on Washington Than March for Life
Trump expected to order temporary ban on refugees
What if Trump ran Britain?
The DC Empire Strikes Back
Germany Unleashes New 'Ministry Of Truth'
Confronting China's Slow Invasion of the South China Sea Is Long Overdue
Why is this America's problem?
Former CIA director: US must keep military option in Iran open
Wednesday, January 25. 2017
Campus Speaker Disinvitations: Recent trends.
I do not blame tiny minorities of obnoxious, noisy bullies. I blame spineless, castrati administrators. In recent years, even comedians have been barred from some campi. Indeed, Milo is more entertainer than anything else. Reminds me of the equally-charismatic and anti-establishment Lenny Bruce, also banned in Boston.
Not many ballsy people make careers as college administrators.
My pic is from the mirador a good hike down and up from Alhambra, longer due to getting lost wandering through the old Muslim quarter - everybody gets lost trying to get to the mirador. Part of the fun. We linked up with a charming Turkish gal, and a German couple who were equally confused. There is always a jolly party of mostly young people up there at the mirador in the evening.
My previous Spain posts from last November:
Real Flamenco
High-speed trains
Tapas in Spain
Moorish Design and Marble Plaster
Moorish Architecture
A few comments on visiting Spain, with lots of Seville photos plus Carmen's work site
With the amusing election, family matters, and holidays past, I will catch up on my Andalusia photo travelogue from early November.
Another inspiration is that I am re-reading (with more interest and understanding after having been there) Menocal's
In the 700s and 800s, Spain was invaded by Moslem immigration partly from Damascus (then the center of the caliphate before it moved to Baghdad) but especially by newly-Muslim Berbers from North Africa. That immigration wave brought civilization to post-Roman Visigoth-ruled Iberian peninsula, Christian in a Visigoth way, which was a dying place where the term "Dark Ages" accurately applied. That immigration/invasion produced the first Golden Age for Spain. The Muslims brought modern irrigation, agricultural wealth, architecture, art, landscape design, education, medical knowledge, enlightened governance, and poetry to a god-forsaken corner of Europe.
The only other place where something similar happened, as far as I know, was in Sicily where the Normans kept the Muslims on the job because they knew how to run things properly and were well-educated. Those were not the Muslims who grab the news these days.
Note to all history teachers and profs: My problem with your courses is that you never seem to locate the details in the Big Picture, into the Big Timeline. Please do it - it's for the kids!
All right, onward from Cordoba to Jaen and Grenada below the fold. I'll do a Madrid post later.
Continue reading "Andalusia travelogue #3, approximately"
What the Death of the Circus Means for Today’s Kids
DOOMSDAY PREP FOR THE SUPER-RICH
Al Gore Dodges a Question About Why His '10 Year' Warning Was an Inconvenient Falsehood
For ten years he has refused to debate anybody
Bummer: ‘Climate Change’ To Lead To More Pleasant UK Weather
The emptiness behind NYC’s rising high-school-graduation rates
Jonah on the Pussy March: I think this is all really quite inane and morally grotesque.
Yazidi Women Sold As Sex Slaves as Vulgar, Privileged, Liberal Women March Against Trump
Z-man on American regionalism:
If you think of America in terms of The American Nations model or maybe the Nine Nations model, the last 200 years can be looked at as a long hegemony of Yankeedom over the rest of the country. Following the Civil War, the South was excluded from having a say in how the nation was governed. The Midwest and Mid-Atlantic were subordinate to the Yankee ruling class, while the West was simply not a factor. This remained the case into the 20th century, as America went from provincial backwater to an industrial power.
The 20th century should have been when this post Civil War arrangement began to fall apart as the South rebuilt and the West joined the Union. Instead, the Great Depression, two world wars and the Cold War locked everything more or less in place.
DNC Chair Candidate Wants to "Shut Other White People Down"
Nice, tolerant, inclusive
Morning Joe to Aides Who Counseled Trump’s Combativeness: ‘You’re a Disgrace, Leave Today’
Trump can never stop stepping on his message with petty nonsense
Why the Left hates tolerance - On the shallowness of left-wing “inclusivity.”
Lefty tantrums:
The destruction in Washington DC and other cities this past weekend was not unnoticed. The violence in the name of moral superiority is hard to overlook. The demands to be heard, the demands to force all others to see their narrow viewpoint, these are hard to see without cringing. It’s the same very uncivilized, quite grotesque, and yes, banal attitudes from years before. When Madonna and Ashley Judd can get up in front of thousands with their message of F-ombs and tampon inanity broadcast to millions of people without an adult from the left standing up to say, “Stop! You are making fools of us all,” you know they are in trouble.
VDH:
If Trump unleashes American know-how and strengthens the economy, then his cultural and domestic agendas, as well as his personal demeanor and language, however radical and jarring, will probably be accepted. In contrast, if he blows up the deficit and sees interest rates spike at Carter levels and the cost of debt service soar, if he allows unemployment to grow — while never exceeding Obama’s dismal economic growth rates — then the Trump agenda will stall and the media will be liberated to obsess over the tweets, gaffes, and bombast of every nanosecond of his presidency.
Bill Clinton on Illegal Immigration, 1995
Sounded exactly like Trump
Governor Greg Abbott hammers a Texas sheriff after she refuses to comply with immigration laws
In 2009, media drooled over Obama. To Trump they bare their teeth.
Trump is typical, a pragmatist
On Wednesday, Trump To Order Building Of Wall, Tighten Border Security…
The 7 Most Egregious Acts Of ‘Social Justice’ In Obama’s Military
Is Brazil ready for freedom and a free-market economy?
Kerry Says Repressive Vietnam 'Embracing' Freedom
Tuesday, January 24. 2017
 Ridicule Didn't Work - The Sokal hoax and its lessons.
Scott Adams on his Talent Stack
The highly unusual company behind Sriracha, the world’s coolest hot sauce
Delicious. I put it on burgers, cottage cheese, pizza, Thai take-out, scrambled eggs
Trump has already redecorated the Oval Office
That was quick. The guy doesn't waste time.
The culture that is San Francisco
Why is Chicago so corrupt?
In Jefferson County, Colorado, George Soros found 'justice was not for sale'
Judge fears Yale has forgotten commitment to free expression
Obama's net worth is $12 million
It always amazes me how rich public servants can become
Surber: President Trump Made JFK and Reagan Stand Up and Cheer
Foxconn CEO Plans $7 Billion Investment in U.S. Display-Making Plant
The "workers" of American will learn to love what Trump is doing. The elites, not so much.
Trump Wins The Unions: Teamsters Praise TPP Withdrawal, Labor Chiefs Describe "Incredible" Meeting With Trump:
But even more notable, was the dramatic pivot by the US labor unions, historically stalwart democrat supporters, who have suddenly emerged as big supporters of Trump policies, and perhaps no one more so than AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka who said TPP withdrawal is "a good first step toward building trade policies that benefit workers."
As a reminder, nearly all major unions endorsed Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton, during the presidential election campaign: they now appear to be shifting their allegiance.
The Collapse Of The Left's Great Con
Did the Washington Post just come out against sanctuary cities?
Sanctuary Cities: Restricting law enforcement risks public safety
How Donald Trump can be America's change agent
#NotMySuperBowl.
Trump Targets 3 Agencies With Ambitious Budget Cuts
How Trump is remaking the ‘culture war’
Donald Trump, American hero - Sinner though he may be, Donald Trump is this generation's incarnation of John Bunyan's pilgrim, writes David P. Goldman. Like a character from Sinclair Lewis or Frank Capra, he stands as a lone wolf ready to avenge the injustices of globalization
‘Glad TPP is dead’: Sanders & Dems applaud Trump for pulling out of global trade deal
The Obama years were tough ones for state budgets. Can Donald Trump reverse the damage?
Netherlands PM says those who don't respect customs should leave
China orders more than 100 golf courses shut
French Socialist party in trouble; story is similar throughout Europe
Advice for Mexico
A LIST OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO PROPERLY BOYCOTT ISRAEL
EU Funding to NGOs Active in Anti-Israel BDS Campaigns
WERE THE ARABS INDIGENOUS TO MANDATORY PALESTINE?
Monday, January 23. 2017
I spent quite a bit of time in NY, some with Mrs. BD, last week. Some random pics and observations follow.
Whenever I expect to spend a few days in the city, I bring a bag of my shoes that need polishing, new laces, or new soles, to Eddy's in Grand Central Station and pick them up later. If I have a spare 15 minutes, I like to sit in those chairs and get a shine. Like a guy's version of a pedicure. Feels luxurious. Spit shine, better than I can do myself. $10 including $2 tip.
More below the fold -
Continue reading "NYC with Pussy Protests, Valentin, and a goodbye to the Waldorf-Astoria"
"President Trump" does not seem real to me, but "President Obama" never did either. From Sen. Judd Gregg, Five easy pieces
I am happy to see him go because he was foolish, naive, and deluded about so many things. I will give him credit for being an effective campaigner, though. "Articulate," as Biden said. An engaging talker (who could do either black-talk or white-talk), if entirely self-centered which I suppose can happen if both your mother and father abandon you in childhood.
Via an Insty link, Obama talking brilliantly and content-free in South Carolina:
 Z-man: Essential knowledge includes knowledge about the history of Christianity
Impossible to understand Western civilization without that
Pilot Salaries in 2017: Which Airline Will Have the Highest Pay?
Why We Don’t Call It Rape When a Woman is the Perpetrator
California Unveils Sweeping Plan To Combat Global Warming…
So wonderful
A Skeptic's View on Climate Models
Donald Trump talks to a Jersey guy about a long-overdue debate on climate change
Obama administration spent billions to fix failing schools, and it didn’t work
$ has little to do with it
Sultan: " The retirement of Fake News will be a mostly painless process because the media got what it wanted. Social media sites have put the media in charge of censoring its users."
The Imponderable Ashley Judd
Why do we care what celebs think?
In Hollywood, being open-minded about Trump is worse than rape
The Pointless Paranoia of the Women's Marches
There is no point - it is indeed just a hootenanny
Althouse on the Pussy Marches:
It's demanding that the government get very involved in women's bodies:
We do not accept any federal, state or local rollbacks, cuts or restrictions on our ability to access quality reproductive healthcare services, birth control, HIV/AIDS care and prevention, or medically accurate sexuality education. This means open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people, regardless of income, location or education.
It's more of a "hi" than a "bye" — more of a hi, get in here and never go away. If that's your message, that Fallopian tube ought to be waving furiously.
Elizabeth Warren’s school-voucher hypocrisy
Williamson: Our Unimaginative Politicians, and the Need to Stop Rewarding Them
The post-war era was an unusual time for the United States that was never destined to last indefinitely, with the rebuilt and modernized economies of Western Europe and East Asia cutting into the commanding industrial position we enjoyed in the 1950s; Indians and Chinese turn out to be pretty good at making things and providing services, and the reforms in their political systems and economies, halting and partial though they may be, revolutionized the world economy; the end of the Cold War cleared the way for an expanded global trade regime, which developed more quickly than many had expected as the Internet and other technological progress turbocharged globalization. There’s much more, of course, but the short answer to the implicit question behind so much of today’s economic-policy debate — “Why can’t we have the growth, mobility, and broad consensus of the Eisenhower years?” — is: This isn’t 1958.
Obamacare Replacement Plan to be Unveiled
8 ways President Trump can rebuild America — at half the cost
Kimball on inauguration: A tale of two speeches
Turkey’s currency begins to contract as tyranny takes hold
Ataturk is weeping
Bonus data below the fold: Clinton Foundation tax data from 2014 -
Continue reading "Monday morning links"
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