The Idiots’ Empire

26 Sunday Jan 2020

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Gary Barnett on the declining, soon-to-fall, immoral US Empire:

Yes, the American Empire will fall, but it won’t be due to outside threats. It will be due to the abandonment of falsely espoused values, of internal strife and divisiveness, of mass corruption, of political upheaval, of monetary suicide, and of collective immorality. Collectivism breeds empire and allows it to flourish, and because of the loss of individual thought, it becomes the internal disease that leads to the extermination of that empire. This is the real America, not the land of the free and home of the brave, but a collective mob of ignorant sheep awaiting the slaughter due to their own weakness and stupidity.

That’s them, alright. Put that in your constitution and smoke it.

The Unborn Have Never Had a Defender in the Whitehouse

26 Sunday Jan 2020

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Not since Roe. Still, in a campaign-friendly regulatory manner, Trump has done more than most.

President Donald Trump, seeking to court evangelical voters, addressed thousands of activists gathered Friday on the National Mall for the nation’s largest annual anti-abortion rally.

Trump, who this week revealed his “Pro-Life Voices for Trump” coalition for his 2020 reelection campaign, has strong ties to the anti-abortion community and is the first president to speak onstage at the event. Activists see him as a key ally in delivering policy priorities aimed at limiting abortion that he promised in 2016.

“On behalf of our marchers, I’d like to thank you for your stance and your record,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, as she introduced the president.

Imagine that you observed your neighbor being murdered, and unable to intervene yourself, you called the police for help. And, all that they tell you is BS about elections, funding, and future potential legislative actions. You might say: “What about sending a man with a gun?!”

What about it, Trump? He could do three things to end child murder immediately in the US. First, declare that humans, no matter how young, are humans. Second, direct the DOJ to prosecute anyone who performs or facilitates child murder with federal criminal civil rights charges. Seek the death penalty in all cases. Third, to bypass the process and the wait, he could declare an emergency and halt the practice with the military. The first judge or elected rodent who squeaked about it could get the Soleimani treatment as an enemy combatant. Of course, this is the guy who, when cleared by the Senate on the fake charges against him, will do nothing to those who attempted the coup.

All the while, the children desperately need a defender, even if one fictional. I’m working on that.

Yale Puts the “Liberal” in Liberal Arts, Takes Away the Art

26 Sunday Jan 2020

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Yalies, say goodbye to Art 101:

Yale will stop teaching a storied introductory survey course in art history, citing the impossibility of adequately covering the entire field — and its varied cultural backgrounds — in one course.

Decades old and once taught by famous Yale professors like Vincent Scully, “Introduction to Art History: Renaissance to the Present” was once touted to be one of Yale College’s quintessential classes. But this change is the latest response to student uneasiness over an idealized Western “canon” — a product of an overwhelmingly white, straight, European and male cadre of artists.

This spring, the final rendition of the course will seek to question the idea of Western art itself — a marked difference from the course’s focus at its inception. Art history department chair and the course’s instructor Tim Barringer told the News that he plans to demonstrate that a class about the history of art does not just mean Western art. Rather, when there are so many other regions, genres and traditions — all “equally deserving of study” — putting European art on a pedestal is “problematic,” he said.

It must be problematic to teach and showcase the masterpieces from a civilization you’re actively trying to destroy. Yale, which by the way, rates a solid “C” in ACTA’s 2019 “What Will They Learn” Guide, charges about $53,000 per year in tuition and fees. What a deal! Of course, if they keep this up and abolish composition and science (highly problematic, you know), then they may join Harvard with an “F.”

The art of the steal?

Is TBI TMI?

25 Saturday Jan 2020

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No straight story ever emerges from Washington, at least as told or retold by the government. Pentagon says no injuries 11 injuries 34 injuries related to the Iranian missile strike in Iraq.

The Pentagon said on Friday that 34 service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following missile strikes by Iran on a base in Iraq earlier this month, a number higher than the military had previously announced.

President Donald Trump and other top officials initially said Iran’s attack had not killed or injured any U.S. service members.

Last week the U.S. military said 11 U.S. troops had been treated for concussion symptoms after the attack on the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq and this week said additional troops had been moved out of Iraq for potential injuries.

Still no word on the hardware lost. Or, any rational explanation for why our troops were there in the first place.

Pandemic Math

25 Saturday Jan 2020

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This virus, which the Chinese is rapidly spreading, is still statistically insignificant. In Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, only .00011% of the people are infected (add more zeros for the national perspective). Only .00029% are severe cases. And only .000003% have died. Math.

Also, a happy first day of the Year of the Rat to the Chinese! At least they get to rotate critters every year. For those who have been to Washington, we know the US has the rat every year.

 

Space Force: To Idiocy and Beyond

24 Friday Jan 2020

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For the absolute love of God … this. We’re now Star Trek.

Apparently President Trump thought we hadn’t had enough Star Trek spinoffs for one year.

After literal years of anticipation, President Trump debuted a logo for the “Space Force” he’s been touting his entire presidency. It’s none of the adorable logos he asked Trump email subscribers to vote on about a year and a half ago, but instead a near-exact replica of the Starfleet Command logo from Star Trek.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military!

View image on Twitter

75.8K

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40K people are talking about this

I wonder what those 40K “people” are saying. Might they be wondering if some of the $6.5-21 Trillion the Pentagram has misplaced these past few decades has been building a fleet of cash-fueled rocket starships? Nah. Any brown people living on other planets had better take cover now. Beam me up, Scotty.

Rise of the AI Editor?

24 Friday Jan 2020

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I got an email the other day about a new virtual editor software, Audocrit. It allegedly does an amazing job with not only grammar issues but apparently with flow, structure, and more. The review at The Write Life seems positive. if you’re a writer, maybe consider checking it out. I’m not sure how much more efficient or different it is from Grammarly; I may make a trial use of it for an upcoming novella. More, if it helps, later.

Not sure about this and other technology. We at the crossroads of helpfulness and cooption. Or, so I think. Skynet Publishing?

China is FastER

24 Friday Jan 2020

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I got the idea for the title from a billboard I saw once. Anyway, the Chinese do construction in a hurry. We’ve seen time-lapse footage of pre-fab skyscrapers going up faster than Americans could survey the site. Now, they’re building a large hospital the same way and in record time.

China announced Friday that it is swiftly building a 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to patients infected with a new virus that has killed 26 people, sickened hundreds and prompted unprecedented lockdowns of cities during the country’s most important holiday.

On the eve of the Lunar New Year, transportation was shut down in at least 13 cities home to more than 36 million people. The cities are Wuhan, where the illness has been concentrated, and 12 of its neighbors in central China’s Hubei province.

“To address the insufficiency of existing medical resources,” Wuhan is constructing a hospital modeled after the Xiaotangshan SARS hospital in Beijing, Wuhan authorities said in a Friday notice. The facility will be a prefabricated structure on a 25,000- square-meter (270,000-square-foot) lot, slated for completion Feb. 3.

Compare that to the pace in the US where it takes years or decades for permits, committee rulings, and “buy-in.” Also, still not sure what to make of the latest version of swine flu.

The “Virtual Earthquake” of Religious School Funding

24 Friday Jan 2020

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The Supreme Court takes up a Montana law prohibiting state funds from going to religious (Christian) schools.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said such a ruling would be a ‘‘virtual earthquake,’’ devastating to the way states fund public education.

And Montana told the court that, as in 37 other states, it is reasonable for its constitution to prohibit direct or indirect aid to religious organizations.

‘‘The No-Aid Clause does not prohibit any religious practice,’’ Montana said in its brief. ‘‘Nor does it authorize any discriminatory benefits program. It simply says that Montana will not financially aid religious schools.’’

The focus should be on a wall between government and education. While a ruling for the Christians would be a welcomed respite, they should avoid any contact with the state, even with the money originally stolen from them. Earthquake? Really? Why any of this is a concern to “Mrs.” Weingarten is a mystery; her country funds its chosen religious majority schools because that is what its citizens want. Why can’t Americans have the same choice?