OPEN THREAD: I close my eyes then, try to imagine, I’m walking on a beach in the moonlight.
Archive for 2020
July 29, 2020
NEWS FROM MY NECK OF THE WOODS: Knox County Board of Health approves regulation closing bars. “Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs was the only dissenting vote.”
If there’s any scientific evidence, say from contact traces, that bars are responsible for the increase in cases, I haven’t seen it. A friend on Facebook comments: “That vote today to close bars is going to ruin the small breweries that have revitalized areas downtown. These taprooms have been the gold standard of how to behave since day one. Social distancing, masks, and sanitation. I went to Weigels yesterday and there were 9 of 10 people in there without a mask. There was zero enforcement by staff even with a sign on the front door. It’s been like that every time I’ve stopped there. You know who does enforce the rules? The local breweries and taprooms. The local breweries have been the safest places to go since day one and I’m sick that they are shutting them down, while not holding other types of businesses accountable.”
BAY AREA CANCELS SIR FRANCIS DRAKE: Sir Francis Drake statue removed in Marin County.
How explosive can they be in 2020, when in “In the aftermath of the Republican Party’s dramatic takeover of Congress on the strength of the conservative ‘Contract With America’ in 1994, Jackson lamented: ‘In South Africa, we call it apartheid. In Nazi Germany, we’d call it fascism. Here in the United States, we call it conservatism.’”
Then in 2000, “During the Florida mess he accused Bush of ‘Nazi tactics’ and suggested that Jeb Bush was deliberately targeting Holocaust victims, ‘once again.’”
Curious to see Jackson continually redline the Godwin Meter, when “In an early 1984 conversation he thought to be private, U.S. presidential candidate Jesse Jackson disparaged Jews as ‘Hymies’ and referred to New York City as ‘Hymietown.’ Washington Post reporter Milton Coleman, who is black, attended the conversation and reported on it.”
Related: While we’re on the subject of Reductio ad Hitlerum: Pelosi Says She Never Called Troops ‘Storm Troopers’ She’s Lying (Again).
Nancy’s district is near Marin County, home of Skywalker Ranch; maybe she was just goofing on Troops…
PEACEFUL PROTEST INTENSIFIES: Two women arrested in beating of Wisconsin state senator at protest.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: A Few Tips In Case You Find Yourself In A Mandatory “Anti-Racism” Struggle Session.
My first tip is, it is a mistake ever to make a declaratory statement of any kind, even “yes,” “no,” or “I understand.” So, if asked to assent to something, or to say something, what do you do? The answer is, always respond with a question. Also, there is no need for the question that you pose to have anything to do with the question that has been posed to you. In fact, the less related your question is to the thing you are being asked to concede, the better. You can also try to ask a question even if no question has been posed to you. The point here would be to try to divert the “trainer” off his or her prepared outline or script, and onto something that challenges their assumptions.
Here are a few questions I have come up with if you want to have some fun:
Read the whole thing.
2020 IS NOT MESSING ABOUT: Mysterious Seed Packets from China Are Showing Up in U.S. Mailboxes: ‘Treat Them Like They Are Radioactive,’ Officials Warn.
Mysterious seeds are showing up in North Texas mailboxes and state authorities say Texas agriculture could be at risk.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said 200 residents have received unsolicited seed packets sent by mail that appeared to have originated in China. Texas is one of nearly 30 states that have issued a warning.
“We don’t want people opening those up, don’t put them in the mail, certainly don’t plant them. Contact us. Let us pick them up. Treat them like they are radioactive, like they are Kryptonite,” Miller said.
As Jim Treacher adds, “Maybe it’s nothing. I hope it isn’t. But hope isn’t a plan. The CCP has given us no reason to trust them, and anybody who tells you otherwise isn’t your friend. If that makes me paranoid, fine. I’m done listening to people who keep lying to me.”
Related: ‘The Alternative Explanation, a Lab Escape, Is Far More Plausible.’ “We don’t know with absolute certainty that this pandemic started with some sort of accident at a lab in Wuhan. But the non-lab explanation most frequently cited since the outbreak, that the virus can be traced back to some animal consumed at the Huanan Seafood Market, is now inoperable. Not even the Chinese government is contending the outbreak started there anymore, raising the question of why certain American journalists are still echoing an exculpatory explanation that not even Beijing believes is plausible anymore.”
More: Cui Bono?
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Given that the Chinese are currently trying to stave off a food crisis, it seems unlikely that the PRC government would want to reduce U.S. agricultural productivity, which even if it hurt the US would push global prices way up. Of course, there may be other players in China than the Xi government, with different agendas.
HLLARY’S STILL AVAILABLE! Some Biden allies wage a shadow campaign to stop Kamala Harris from becoming vice president.
REAL BIBLICAL STUFF: China fears: Scientists warn volcano extinct for 500,000 years ‘appears to be recharging.’
Whatever could account for China’s run of ill fortune?
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: I’m Not Saying That It’s Aliens, But It’s Aliens.
REMEMBER YOU’RE UNDER OATH: Google CEO Squirms as Jim Jordan Asks if Google Will ‘Tailor Its Features’ to Help Joe Biden.
FLASHBACK: “The habits of progressive social and political discourse almost seem calculated to alienate and aggravate lower class whites. I confess that if a well-dressed, university-educated middle-class person of any gender or ethnicity so much as hinted at my ‘white privilege’ while I was a lumpen child, or my ‘male privilege’ while I was an unskilled labourer who couldn’t afford basic necessities, or my ‘hetero-privilege’ while I was a homeless solitary, I’d have taken special pleasure in voting for their nightmare. And I would have been right to do so.”
HE REJECTS YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTES HIS OWN: Mayor de Blasio forced to defend his grasp on reality of New York City.
ART FOR VLADDI’S SAKE: A Senate investigations subcommittee found a couple of Russian oligarchs used the U.S. high value art market as part of their effort to launder more than $120 million to Russia while evading American sanctions in 2014 in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s theft of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine.
MOSTLY PEACEFUL WARZONE: NY Times: The place where George Floyd died has become a police no-go zone and a place of nightly violence.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: “TWINNING AND WINNING:” ‘World’s most identical twins’ who share a boyfriend are planning to get pregnant at the same time. “The sisters, who live in Perth with their partner Ben appeared on This Morning today where they explained that they wanted to experience pregnancy together. . . . ‘In the past we had separate boyfriends but they didn’t understand our bond. Ben understands us and accepts us for who we are.’ . . . He gets double the love, double the attention so he’s never complaining. Twinning and winning.”
QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: What’s Really Going on in Seattle?
Are they peaceful protests or are they riots? Bonneville’s KTTH-AM Seattle host Jason Rantz was in the middle of the mayhem for ten hours this past Saturday. We spoke to Rantz yesterday to get his take on the situation.
* * * * * * * *
Radio Ink: How is it being covered locally?
Rantz: Locally, radio and TV covered it well, highlighting the destruction and how out of control it got. The Seattle Times, however, was embarrassing in their coverage. They downplayed the violence significantly, they implied police were to blame, and took 14 paragraphs before they even got to the arson, and 18 paragraphs before they got to the munition attack.
Read the whole thing.
Related: “This isn’t journalism. This is activism. This is excusing arson, looting, rioting, and the destruction of minority-owned businesses. This is CNN.“
INFLAMMATORY NORWEGIAN VEXILLOLOGY: The owners of a Michigan bed-and-breakfast have removed a flag after receiving hate mail that they were Confederate sympathizers. It was the Norwegian flag.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: The Importance of Awareness and Avoidance for Personal Defense.
On avoidance, I remember when somebody asked Col. Jeff Cooper what kind of gun he’d carry if he knew he were headed to a gunfight and he responded that if he knew he were headed to a gunfight, he’d stay home.
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: I’m Not Saying That It’s Aliens, But It’s Aliens.