Maggie's FarmWe 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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Tuesday, October 27. 2015Tuesday morning linksHas Feminism Killed Chivalry? Rick Moranis isn't retired Take a Bow, Human Species Windows 10 shares your files with the internet... here's how to turn it off Alice Bows-Larkin’s plan for Green Economic Ruin Texas’ subpoena of Medicaid records from Planned Parenthood shows why government shouldn’t be involved in health care. Popular liberal policies in NYC pay off benefits in form of more rapes, murders Harris-Perry: Be ‘Super-Careful’ About Using Term ‘Hard Worker’ Because of Poor Moms Hating Free Markets Means Hating Freedom Classic Liberalism Gee, Do You Think Democrats Will Use Dr. Carson’s Plan to ‘End Medicare’ Against GOP in a 2016 Election? Turning Alinsky On His Head With Rules For Republicans
Streisand Effect – Cornell shuts down Jesse Watters on air during student interviews Refugees will freeze to death, warn EU heads - Leaders warn the continent was "falling apart" trying to deal with Airbus Chief: Germany Must Open Labor Markets to Help Immigrants Monday, October 26. 2015How to defend the arts using liberal values
The solution is to be unintimidated. Monday morning linksHere's Why Most Neuroscientists Are Wrong About the Brain] Why are young feminists so clueless about sex? There’s no such thing as ‘artistic nudity’ — Hollywood is conning you, ladies When God Goes Away, Superstition Takes His Place Bradley University Promotes Fat Acceptance Overweight is not exactly a minority. Last I read, Mexico leads the world in fatties, USA is #2. Most Western countries feel fat is aesthetically gross and unwholesome, but many prefer food anyway. Feminism flourishes in the West because the patriarchy is dead, but don't count on it staying that way. "a lot of women are female impersonators." Hmmmm. Women Cry Foul as Glamour Magazine Names Bruce Jenner ‘Woman of the Year’ Who Will Driverless Cars Decide To Kill? A question that will plague the autonomous car industry Sand Causes Cancer, Say British Fracktivists It’s Undeniable: Climate Change Made Hurricane Patricia Worse Slate wrote that too soon - the thing petered out Religious studies professor: Ignoring climate change akin to sin A video Tribute to Vietnam Veterans Featuring the Voice of Mr. Sam Elliott PETA: verbal abuse of sheep IBM: The Big Blue Canary In Armonk What the Washington Post Gets Wrong about Free Markets Does America need to have a purpose? Yes. Its purpose is to secure the blessings of liberty from overbearing government power, for its people. Do Voters Really Care Whether Politicians Are Honest? Benghazi hearings show that Clinton lives in a bubble of deniability On the march to western Europe: Shocking pictures show thousands of determined men, women and children trudging across the Balkans as Migrants and the Fall of European Civilization Had dinner with a Swedish friend this weekend. Just back from Sweden. H told me the Swedes have no problem, on the whole, with mass immigration. He said "Our view is, they are just people. We don't judge them by a few bad apples." EU Agrees To Tighten Border Controls And Slow Migrant Arrival Merkel and Sweden invited them. No way to uninvite somebody. Austrians are arming themselves Saturday, October 24. 2015Saturday morning linksHunting, or defending the ranch? Photo via Gwynnie Can You Get Smarter? How Friendships Change in Adulthood - “We need to catch up soon!” Doctors Agree: Obama’s Electronic Medical Records Mandate Sucks! The Myth of Growth Prosperity Is Good for Marriage, and Vice Versa Mona Charen comments on the above Campus Whiners Keep Winning At her inauguration as Cornell’s new president, Elizabeth Garrett said, “We must heed the call to be radical and progressive.” Another Climate Alarmist Lets It Slip: Why They Want To Scare You Will Bureaucrats Save You From Predatory Capitalists? Crock Boy: When the Media Gets Owned by a 14-year-old Can a Venture Capitalist Jumpstart Illinois? Free college tuition for everyone? Clintons lie. It's their brand. It is assumed. Free college tuition for everyone? How To Stamp Out Cultural Marxism In A Single Generation Good stuff there European social democracy reduces society to a giant insurance plan in which money is pooled together:
Germany: Asylum Seekers Make Demands:
Friday, October 23. 2015Firearm crimesFrom all over:
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Fitness routine, update Misery loves company. I hope to inspire readers towards my exercise program so you can share the pain with us. My Fridays are just for calisthenics (it's never the same things, but it's always some form of "kick the sh-t out of you morning" at 5 am): - 3 minutes Elliptical wake-up warm-up That's it. One hour. I felt a little faint a few times, and out of breath often. Good stuff. The goal of calisthenics is to use your body with max intensity, not to build strength but to improve endurance, posture, agility, and cardio. If that sounds like a warm-up, then you don't know how many reps I do in each set. After that, coffee, sausage, toast, and eggs at the diner with my Bible pals. Stress and challenge in all areas of life build American strength. That's Life in America, where all citizens strive constantly for physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, relational, artistic, and financial improvement and uplift! What else is there to do? Tomorrow is my 3 day/wk cardio-fat-burner day, first thing in the morning. That will be this simple routine, under 60 mins: 10 min intervals on elliptical That's it. No breaks. I will shorten the calf thing with weights. The stair is a killer for me. Can't do 10 min on it at one shot. (As I explained before, Mon and Weds are for upper, back, and lower body heavy weight work plus pull-ups, pull-downs, dips, rows, one-arm and dumbell presses, etc) I am almost 6 months into this darn program now and showing some progress. Thank God for Sunday - day of rest and recovery before dead lift Monday. We are blessed with a smart, savvy, knowledgeable, attentive trainer who really knows his physiology. Without him and accountability to him, this would not work at all. And I have a "partner" - Mrs. BD. Friday morning linksDylan does Sinatra his way on hallowed London stage Feminist Blog Suggests "Empowering" Halloween Costumes for Girls, Why You Can’t Afford to Retire - And why expanding Social Security isn't enough to help the middle class. Does Privatizing Higher Education Undermine the Public Good? TNR: The Free Market Preys on Your Every Weakness Sheesh Krauthammer: "We're Living In An Age Where What You Say And Its Relation With The Facts Is Completely Irrelevant" Democrats Are Godless Heathen Tyrant Maniacs Because That’s What Voters Want:
Klavan: Waiting on the GOP - Americans are waiting for the grownups in the room to start acting like, well, grownups. Netanyahu is so good
Thursday, October 22. 2015None of this matters
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Cackles
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Thursday morning linksImage via Moonbattery Kitchen Design Isn't Sexist. It Liberated Women. Hamilton Takes Broadway - A Founding Father gets his due—in a hip-hop musical. My kids loved it. Tough to get tix. A movie about Birmingham, Alabama: In Silent Defense of a Fragile God New York is dazzled by its first luxury hotel 5 Things to Consider Before Venting your anger No One Agrees on Mammography Guidelines Polyamory Is Bad For Kids, Polyamorists, And Society So are lots of things Speaker Disinvited from Williams Because Students Got Angry Lunatics running asylum. Where are the grown-ups? Why Won’t Liberals Talk About the Most Important Kind of ‘Privilege’ in America? — It’s Marriage Bourgeois and Christian values are bad Californians on Insane Water Policy: ‘Whatever’ Is Big Government Holding Us Back…From the Future? “Back to the Future” Day reminds us how far we haven’t come. Do They Understand That Their Tax Increases Do Not Apply To The Billionaires? Unrealized gains cannot be taxed - except for when real property is reappraised How Trump is Filling The Void And having fun doing it. Is he a Harry Truman? Trump’s 9/11 Play Beats the Political Insiders at Their Own Game -- Brilliantly Why Hillary Will Likely Win the White House The thing is, nobody expects integrity from the Clintons so it's a non-issue Canada: He can't drink in the pubs anymore Wednesday, October 21. 2015Good for a laugh'Politically correct' is no longer politically correct. I guess we can no longer say "thought Nazis" either. It's sick and getting sicker, as Bob Grant used to say.
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Wednesday morning linksComing to terms with autism Principal holds up student election results because winners not diverse enough Conservative female author of ‘The War on Men’ disinvited to speak at Williams College after protests Can't let the kids get ideas Where Did Colleges Go Wrong? From 'puppy days' to trigger warnings, higher ed needs a course correction. Sears goes dhimmi The confused carbon profile of a massive solar power plant Rising oceans? A Common-Sense Solution to Combating Impending Damage from Climate Change - Which is one of the reasons it will be shot down by both liberals and conservatives. Donald Trump is doing America a service Brazil’s Pension Crisis Is Like America’s on Steroids - Unsustainable and yet seemingly unstoppable His Piety, Your Neighbourhood I always liked Schama Trump-ism wins big in Switzerland: Is It Possible to Speak about Culture? The Death of Europe - How the Mohammed retirement plan will kill Europe. A bit confused about fences? ‘Slaughter the Jews’: ISIS Goes on Incitement Blitz Tuesday, October 20. 2015Foreign Aid and Poverty
Deaton is well-liked in the community of Economics because he is generally perceived as not having an ideological ax to grind. In other words, he hasn't spent time justifying one school of thought versus another as many economists, such as Krugman, typically do. Deaton has spent his time analyzing the reasons for, and solutions to, extreme poverty in the world. He was not wedded to a school of thought which supported intervention over markets, or vice versa. What he found, as a result, is broadly accepted by many different schools of thought, because he plumbed the depths of human behavior, particularly the behavior of the very poor. In seeking solutions, he did not limit himself to the need for individual endeavor, or simply promote ideas supporting government aid and intervention. What he found is that inequality was a great driver of behaviors to improve individual position, and promote general progress, as long as there were structures in place to protect individual rights.
Deaton is critic of foreign aid, as that line suggests. His primary thrust, however, is that the world is on the whole wealthier and healthier than it's ever been in history and has the potential to continue getting wealthier and healthier. He points out there is not a nation on earth where infant mortality has risen since 1950. The main reason for this, is income growth which is the result of trade and markets. However, Deaton points out that aid is similar to using an engineering approach to solving a problem. Pumping money into the 'problem' doesn't solve it. The solution requires strong institutions to protect rights and activity.
Deaton is by no means advocating Laissez-Faire Economics. He recognized strong judicial institutions supporting individual drive and effort are necessary, or gains are easily lost. However, he points to the value of trade and markets and the goodwill they spread over a broad swathe of society. He generally disagrees with Piketty's claim that income inequality is a scourge. However, he did worry about centralization of undue influence in the realm of politics, since wealth can be used to derive political power.
By focusing on how the poor behave, rather than on seeking institutional solutions that adhere to a particular economic theme, Deaton has found ways to help the poor, and has created the potential to completely eliminate extreme poverty (as opposed to the relative poverty we often see positioned here in the US by politicians as reasons to provide assistance) within our lifetime. Deaton has done a great service to the realm of Economics. It is a field which often comes under justifiable criticism. One area of criticism has often been the lack of attention paid to poverty, as opposed to wealth accumulation. Deaton, in focusing on poverty, has shown that the two are inextricably linked. Not because wealth accumulation makes others more poor, but because wealth accumulation spreads goodwill to all, if institutions exist to protect individual rights. But he is critical of the use of intrusive aid and handouts, particularly in environments where individual rights are still lacking. Do international aid programs know what they are doing?
I am not talking about famine and the like, just about normal times in subsistence pre-industrial areas with pre-industrial societies. Isn't there a condescending assumption that these brown people cannot figure out their lives by themselves? Why do Westerners wish to intrude on these peoples' lives and cultures? I suppose the Asians and Westerners have done so already through our desire for their natural resources, though, especially in Africa. The classic Heinlein on material poverty: “Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. Germanistan
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Tuesday morning links
Image via The 10 Jobs That Attract The Most Psychopaths Where are the pols and the bankers? Detroit Pastor in Custody After Shooting, Killing Attacker During Church Service English Schools Instructed to Ban ‘Sexist’ Words Like ‘Cupcake’ How Harvard Fights Unions: By Conceding the Union’s Most Basic Claims Salon Calls for Shooting Gun Owners Latest NRA Ad With Black Woman from Projects Will Leave You Speechless Heather Mac Donald Explodes Criminal Justice Myths I learned from that Chicago City Colleges lose students, adds administrators, boosts tuition Climate Treaty Meets with African Disapproval Raiders of the Lost Web - If a Pulitzer-finalist 34-part series of investigative journalism can vanish from the web, anything can. How Deeply Rooted is Cronyism in American Government? 2nd Circuit Calls it The Essence of Politics California’s High-Speed Train to Nowhere Already Running Out of Money - Burbank to Merced, only $31 billion. If We Want To Be Like Denmark We Need a NEW New Deal. Smoking gun' emails just released by UK Daily Mail prove Hillary a bigger liar than Tony Blair Can Any Republican Defeat Ancient Socialist Crone Hillary Clinton? Bernie explains it all Sultan: Israel Must Deport the PLO The Rising Migrant Tide - What Merkel wrought Hamas urges ramming attacks as 'stabbings don't kill enough Jews' MSNBC Correspondent Apologizes For Broadcasting Historically Inaccurate Map Of Israel From Iranian Director Sentenced to 6 Yrs in Prison and 223 Lashes for Kissing Scene in Film: Monday, October 19. 2015The Modern Man vs. A Man's Man
He seems like the kind of guy you would love to have an everyday conversation with, toss back some beer or bourbon, then work with him to replace your septic system. In no particular order. He responds to fan mail fairly regularly, and I really enjoyed his post today:
Continue reading "The Modern Man vs. A Man's Man" SJW comes to the conservatoryPolitical Activism Comes to the American Conservatory Excellence, like basketball, is not equal. That's the problem, besides that excellence is extremely difficult and requires sacrifice. Monday morning linksHow much sleep do adults need? The Spiritual and Spectacular Meet at an Ultramodern Community Center in Connecticut Built for Bond... Aston Martin DB10 College Administrators Have This One Simple Trick for Telling If Your Halloween Costume Is Offensive Anti-GMO ‘Big Lie’: Is labeling really about our “Right to Know”? “I Am The Creepy Guy at the Park” Men with cameras are pedophiles until proven innocent Cowboys: John Wayne is dead A Note to Entitled Millennials in the Workplace: Give Humility a Try The Case of Uber v. San Antonio San Antonio wanted Uber more than vice versa The blogger who brought down Chicago Public Schools chief World is on brink of 50 year ICE AGE and BRITAIN will bear the brunt How not to behave with police, #1: Sadly, Deven Guilford probably got exactly what he deserved and #2: It's Not Against the Law to Be Crazy in California, However . . . Welcome to Jerry Brown's Dystopia For the Left, It’s Always Time for a New New Deal Wealth inequality isn’t a ‘crisis’ — and voters know it iBernie Sanders and the Fixed Pie Fallacy - More for some does not mean less for others By his own acknowledgement (“I agree with the Democrats on most issues”) Donald Trump is no conservative. Katrina vanden Heuvel: Hillary Isn’t a Dynasty Candidate Hillary Clinton adopts a southern drawl Sweden Close to Collapse Henry Kissinger on the Middle East Good stuff The Middle East and Orwellian Historical Arguments Austrian Town of 1,600 Drowns in Migrant Feces and Garbage
Saturday, October 17. 2015Saturday morning links Amazing Flower Parade Photos 5 Ways to Manage the Need for Validation A Master Swordsman Cuts A 100-MPH Fastball In Half Guy should play baseball Man Desperately Trying To Wring Every Last Ounce Of Relaxation From Final Day Of Vacation Why Doesn't the Jewish Tradition Hold Noah in Higher Esteem? Abraham and Moses are considered wholly righteous men, but Noah isn’t quite. That’s because, unlike them, he does what he’s told without question. Plastic surgery is a new treatment for mental illness How Bad Will It Get for American Express? As Costco cuts ties, Amex struggles to hang on. Greenpeace founder delivers powerful annual lecture, praises carbon dioxide The Climate Is Indeed Changing: Cooling Ahead Democrat Warmist Sees Real Data With Open Mind And.... Lies about gun sales The film tries to turn gross errors of journalism and judgment into acts of heroism and martyrdom. Introducing The ‘Democratic Socialist’ Party - Bernie Sanders is an extremist. So why do so many people in the Democratic Party sound just like him? Trump is full of it The Republican Obama? Why his rivals fear Marco Rubio. Joe Biden is running They Really Hate Ben Carson - The Left's campaign to destroy another high-profile black Republican is in full swing.
He is off the plantation, a runaway slave Obamacare Delivers. Just Not Very Much Russia 'tried to cut off' World Wide Web - A failed experiment to cut Russia from the World Wide Web stokes fears of Fed-Up Hungarians Close Border with Croatia Over ‘Migrants’ - Is Slovenia next? German Schoolchildren Enlisted to Serve Invading Hordes of “Refugees” Apparently the migrants can't make their own beds or clean their messes The bloody Palestinian war on reality The Paranoid, Supremacist Roots of the Stabbing Intifada
ISIS Fighters Cut Off Beards And Run Away As Russia, Iran Close In Friday, October 16. 2015Conservatives are revolutionary?
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Friday morning links
Cabin porn via Am Digest
Prager University – Is Honesty Always the Best Policy I’m from the Government and I’m Here to Help You—Again! Four Reasons Drugs Are Expensive, Of Which Two Are False Planned Parenthood Not Off the Hook Climate: Why Solving Climate Change Will Be Like Mobilizing for War We Don't Need No Flaming Sparky Cars "Somewhere between 1 million and 2 million Europeans came to the New World between 1500 and 1800; by contrast, over 8 million Africans came via the slave trade" Why the Ruckus Over the Cadillac Plan Tax?
Somewhere between 1 million and 2 million Europeans came to the New World between 1500 and 1800; by contrast, over 8 million Africans came via the slave trade. - See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/10/americas-fact-of-the-day.html#sthash.nZxXKlEJ.dpuf Jim Webb, American Hero - He's everything voters pretend to want in a politician -- but don't. The Democrat Party is Now the Socialist Party France’s Top Weatherman Questions Climate Change, Is Promptly Suspended - Ironically, Philippe Verdier's new book accuses the media of suppressing opposing opinions on climate change. In Marine unit focused on integrating women, seven sex assaults reported Congressman continues push for records of Ranger School classes with women The Likely Bergdahl Endgame MUSLIM MIGRANTS Sell-Rent Refugee Women for €10 a Pop Good-bye Germany Only one in three Germans believe in Merkel's approach to refugee crisis Putin’s War on Terror Backfires? Jihadists have a long record targeting Moscow, but the situation appears to be growing worse. Terrorist Abbas said was ‘executed’ by Israel shown alive in hospital Videos teach would-be Palestinian attackers ‘how to stab’ Jews Media underplay murders of Jewish victims. What the Stabbings in Israel Reveal about Palestinian Society Thursday, October 15. 2015A failure of democratic processesLeftists and statists are always quick to proclaim Market Failure when free markets (aka people) do not do what they want. These alarmist warmists are taking that theme to another level: Democracy Failure. Climate Change Democracy Deniers
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Thursday morning linksWhy don’t many Episcopalians tithe? It's not just about faith. It's about where the $ goes. I spent $12K on suits out of some guy’s trunk The study published by Harvard that gun-grabbers fear Panic strikes school after student says ‘gum’ Sheriff Clarke: If Obama Wants to Disarm People, ‘He Should Start with His Security Staff’ Faced with a wave of knife violence, a soaring number of Israelis are applying for gun permits. Wolf hunters deployed to French Alps Save the wolves! 'Aunt' says lawsuit against boy was insurance case Lowlife Kids Continue to Leave the Lunch Line Due to Michelle Obama’s Rules Update On Unions In The Private Sector Illinois To Delay Pension Payments Amid Budget Woes: "For All Intents And Purposes, We Are Out Of Money Now" The era of pensions is past in the US WaPo Wastes 1000 Words Lamenting ‘Inequality’ in…Breakfast Sandwiches Scientific research says it’s safer to drive high than straight, right? Wrong. Here are the phantom studies to (un)prove it American Housing Policy’s Two Basic Ideas Pull Cities in Opposite Directions - Local governments can’t resist trying to make a home both a cheap purchase and a lucrative investment. Libertarianism Isn’t Over, It Never Got Started - Forget Congress and the presidency, just look at your local government. Coates' moral blackmail :
Mr. Coates, tell your kid he can be a famous neurosurgeon Insurers ‘Lost a Lot of Money’ Selling Obamacare Plans Bernie Sanders’s Denmark Comments Show He Doesn’t Even Understand His Own ‘Socialism’ AP FACT CHECK: Clinton, Sanders revise history in Dem debate Why pandering to Latinos is a losing proposition for Republicans. ‘Migrants’ Rights Now Topic A in Calais Cybersecurity Expert: Be Afraid, America. How Buying Guns for Oppressed Jews Built the American Jewish Establishment Iran sends fighters to Syria, escalating its involvement Krauthammer’s Take: We Need to Help the Free Syrian Army Topple Assad Time for a US Maritime Security Strategy for Europe Or time for a European security strategy? Exposing another one: WESPAC SUSAN RICE BLAMES CLIMATE CHANGE FOR CONFLICT IN SYRIA The U.S. Military's 'Top Guns' in the Air Have a Big Weakness Turkey’s 10-Sided War With Itself Wednesday, October 14. 2015Wednesday morning linksStop Worrying So Much About Making a Big Impact It's important to adolescent narcissists, less to mature people We have no right to happiness Duh. Why Some of the World’s Most Famous Chefs Don’t Want a Michelin Star 8-year-old Westport boy on trial for exuberance The rodeo: More Texas Women Will Likely Have to Register for the Draft, US Army Secretary Says Marijuana is not harmless Research That's Just Too Good to Be Tested State colleges: another Cap on Out-of-Staters Disappears The Company Determined to Fix Nuclear Energy The Case for Getting Rid of Borders—Completely WE SHOULD PUT A STIFF EXCISE TAX ON THE BLUE (flood) AREAS TO DISCOURAGE DEVELOPMENT LOOTING: LEGITIMATE POLITICAL PROTEST? The Case for Getting Rid of Borders—Completely The Speaker Crisis and the Rape of the 'Typical American' What happens when Palestinians burn a church Iran tests new precision-guided ballistic missile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under siege on several fronts. Syria Kurds, Arabs Form Joint Military Force Palestinian legal group honors terrorist who killed 2 Israelis Tuesday was another bloody day of Palestinian knifings, shootings, car rammings, and rock throwing. Best of Frenemies :Though the Washington hand credits Obama with deep sympathy for the Jewish state, the incidents he recounts contradict that assertion. How the PA spends its money
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