vxbush 5/8/2020 5:52:32 AM

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Morning, campers. I was wasting time in Facebook last night and ran across the response of my liberal friends to the news that the charges against Flynn had been dropped. They were apoplectic and convinced that Barr was folding to let Trump get his way, convinced that Flynn was absolutely guilty and that a guilty plea, once entered, could never be overturned. They were absolutely convinced of his guilt--just like they were absolutely convinced of Trump's collusion with Russia, and that the Special Counsel was going to find evidence of the collusion, etc. etc. 

I would tell them the truth, but they would take anything I share as proof that I'm an idiot. They remind me exactly of the dwarves in the last Narnian book, surrounded by beauty but only seeing the old barn around them, fed wonderful food but only tasting what they would expect in a barn--hay, stale water from a trough, and old, dried turnips. It's just sad. 

Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 6:47:15 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 1:

Trump will continue to be literally Hitler, until the next Republican president, at which time, left wing pundits   will bemoan that he or she can’t be more like Trump.

vxbush 5/8/2020 6:55:14 AM

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In #2 Occasional Reader said: Trump will continue to be literally Hitler, until the next Republican president, at which time, left wing pundits   will bemoan that he or she can’t be more like Trump.

Yes, there is that, but what frustrates me is that these supposedly smart, intellectual, accomplished people are so beholden to the MSM that they will not look at anything else but proclaim it fake news, just like the MSM wants them to do. They think professional Columbia School journalists can do no wrong.

buzzsawmonkey 5/8/2020 7:05:58 AM

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Any time you hear the word "disproportionate," you know you are listening to a lying propagandist.

The term first came to my notice when various Leftists were decrying Israel's "disproportionate" responses to attacks from Gaza, Syria, etc.; apparently, if someone lobs ordnance at you, it's "disproportionate" to kill more of them than they have of you, to use more or stronger weapons than they have, and so on.

I've also seen comments on various sites about the "disproportionate representation" of Jews in various professions, such as the legal or financial or media worlds.

Who determines what is "proportionate," and where do they get off making the external judgment that this and not that is the "proper proportion" of something?

The current eruption of "disproportionate" is the statement, oft-repeated on NPR, that blacks and "people of color" are "disproportionately affected" by the coronavirus.  These groups may be more heavily affected than others, but---"disproportionate?"  That would suggest, not that there might be reasons for one population to be more affected than another---living conditions, diet, life habits generally, social behavior patterns, types of employment---but that there is a "proper proportion" of effect (determined how? by whom?), and that there is some malevolent plot somewhere that is putting a thumb on the "proportionate" scale.

buzzsawmonkey 5/8/2020 7:38:48 AM

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Happy V-E Day!

People used to come up to my father, when they found he'd worked on the Manhattan Project, and ask him earnestly "whether he had any regrets" over having done so.   Dad would invariably look them straight in the eye, and say, "Yes. I regret we did not get the bomb completed soon enough to drop in on Germany."  

lucius septimius 5/8/2020 7:52:15 AM

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In #5 buzzsawmonkey said: "Yes. I regret we did not get the bomb completed soon enough to drop in on Germany."  

They richly deserved it.

buzzsawmonkey 5/8/2020 8:30:32 AM

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Flag of Blue, White and Red

—traditional Appalachian song, updated

Come and listen to my song

Story of a nation wronged

Politicians’ heavy hands

Crush the life from this fair land

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Covid’s deadly, yes it’s true

No-one’s sure what it can do

Doesn’t mean we should shut down

Turning cities to ghost towns

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

How can a chair-warmer tell

What job’s truly “essential?”

A robust economy

Is what keeps the nation free

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Why should someone else decree

If I can earn a salary

While he sits, warms his desk chair

Gets his paycheck, doesn’t care?

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

I would rather earn my pay

Than listen to what experts say

Don’t put the country on the bum

We’ll go to work and take what comes

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Flag of blue, white and red

A man’s got a right to earn his bread

Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 8:44:00 AM

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In #4 buzzsawmonkey said: is the statement, oft-repeated on NPR, that blacks and "people of color" are "disproportionately affected" by the coronavirus.

Well, that just proves that the coronavirus is racist; just like the last solar eclipse was, if you recall.

Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 8:45:48 AM

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In #5 buzzsawmonkey said: Yes. I regret we did not get the bomb completed soon enough to drop in on Germany."  

You may recall my mentioning a Japanese-American acquaintance I knew in law school who declared that the United States had been “racist“ for not dropping the atomic bomb on Germany, as we did to Japan. She was a little stunned when I mentioned that Germany had already surrendered by the time we had the bomb. Pretty much all her life, “racism“ had been the only acceptable explanation.

buzzsawmonkey 5/8/2020 9:14:18 AM

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In #9 Occasional Reader said: She was a little stunned when I mentioned that Germany had already surrendered by the time we had the bomb.

I had the same experience when I was teaching a calligraphy class at my former synagogue; we were having class on Hiroshima Day and one of the students started off on a rant about how the "racist" US didn't drop the bomb on Germany.  I pointed out to her that even the Trinity test was post-V-E Day---never mind Hiroshima and Nagasaki---and she was gobsmacked.

lucius septimius 5/8/2020 9:30:32 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 10:

It takes a special kind of willfulness to be that ignorant.

Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 9:38:07 AM

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In #11 lucius septimius said: It takes a special kind of willfulness to be that ignorant.

Actually, I disagree.  In both my story and buzz's, I'll bet the young woman in question had been fed that narrative since childhood, by family, school, media, etc.   She had no reason to question it.  What requires will is to question the information you're being given, and find out the answer on your own.  

buzzsawmonkey 5/8/2020 12:12:52 PM

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Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 12:54:12 PM

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Quick check; have any of you heard of anyone personally known to you who has been diagnosed with Covid-19 during the past 4 weeks? 

Speaking just for myself; the few cases I'm personally aware of came up over a month ago; since then, nothing. 

Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 1:07:32 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 14:

And on a related note; based purely on personal observation and anecdote, I'd say the Great Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020 is winding down, perhaps even definitively over. 

vxbush 5/8/2020 1:11:59 PM

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In #15 Occasional Reader said: And on a related note; based purely on personal observation and anecdote, I'd say the Great Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020 is winding down, perhaps even definitively over. 

Not here. Hubby couldn't get our regular brand when he went to the store on Saturday. 

In #14 Occasional Reader said: Quick check; have any of you heard of anyone personally known to you who has been diagnosed with Covid-19 during the past 4 weeks? 

No, I'm not aware of anyone having COVID, ever. In my county, there have been a total of 100 infections. That's it. 

Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 1:31:26 PM

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In #16 vxbush said: our regular brand

Oh, I'm not talking about being get one's preferred A-list brand; I'm saying, availability, generally.

vxbush 5/8/2020 1:49:03 PM

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In #17 Occasional Reader said: Oh, I'm not talking about being get one's preferred A-list brand; I'm saying, availability, generally.

Ah. Well, based on what the hubby brought home, I don't think we're quite there yet in central Illinois. 

Occasional Reader 5/8/2020 2:21:59 PM

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In #18 vxbush said: based on what the hubby brought home

What vx's hubby brought home

midwestgak 5/8/2020 3:51:04 PM

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In #14 Occasional Reader said: have any of you heard of anyone personally known to you who has been diagnosed with Covid-19 during the past 4 weeks?

No one personally, but two in the store (of approx. 280 employees) tested positive. 
Those who worked with/ near them where not allowed to work for 14 days from the time of the diagnosis though they had no symptoms. That was about 3 1/2 weeks ago.

Kosh's Shadow 5/8/2020 4:14:05 PM

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In #5 buzzsawmonkey said: Dad would invariably look them straight in the eye, and say, "Yes. I regret we did not get the bomb completed soon enough to drop in on Germany."  

Sometimes, I think Germany should be nuked.

Other times, I think it would be more appropriate to use gas warfare.

Kosh's Shadow 5/8/2020 4:16:29 PM

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In #15 Occasional Reader said: And on a related note; based purely on personal observation and anecdote, I'd say the Great Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020 is winding down, perhaps even definitively over. 

I agree. Was at a store that had NO LIMIT on toilet paper individual rolls. $1/roll, but that store is expensive.

Alice in Dairyland 5/8/2020 4:36:41 PM

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In #16 vxbush said: No, I'm not aware of anyone having COVID, ever. In my county, there have been a total of 100 infections. That's it.

In my county of 40,899 there have been 20+ cases, 3 were hospitalized and 10 of those 20 have recovered.  Yeah, let's shut everything down here./

lucius septimius 5/8/2020 4:48:13 PM

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