Sunday, May 26, 2019
Or committee meetings anywhere
Scholars: 'A Day Is Like A Thousand Years' Actually Reference To Church Staff Meetingshttps://t.co/3SGBrS9B1N
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 2, 2019
Saturday, May 25, 2019
The church is Norman and the intelligence of the majority of the natives Paleozoic
Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse
The village of Market Blandings is one of those sleepy English hamlets that modern progress has failed to touch; except by the addition of a railroad station and a room over the grocer's shop where moving pictures are on view on Tuesdays and Fridays. The church is Norman and the intelligence of the majority of the natives Paleozoic. To alight at Market Blandings Station in the dusk of a rather chilly Spring day, when the southwest wind has shifted to due east and the thrifty inhabitants have not yet lit their windows, is to be smitten with the feeling that one is at the edge of the world with no friends near.
Equality of due diligence across administrations
The Great Revealing. Except, in this instance, almost all of what is reported here has been reported in the past. It was ignored.
From Obama’s Spying On The Press Was Far More Extensive Than Previously Thought by John Merline. Clearly there is a tone of ideological or political animus in the reporting but it is a timely reminder of some revelations going back up to ten years ago.
The Obama administration was notorious for running an exceedingly tight ship when it came to communication. They pursued leakers mercilessly, routinely ignored or ran the clock out on FOIA requests, and sharply limited press access to the president. All in a fashion more comprehensive and extreme than in the past.
And this was in a context where the press were overtly and demonstrably enamored with the administration. They went out of their way to play nice and never complained when they were manhandled by the administration. In contrast to this administration where the mainstream media has been almost entirely hostile (90%-95% anti-administration content) from the very beginning. They were politically and ideologically hostile even before the new Administration came into office.
As Merline notes, Trump might be an enthusiastic taunter of the mainstream media but he has yet to demonstrate the excessive use of law enforcement to pursue reporters as was customary with the Obama administration. The only overlap between the two administrations is that occasionally Trump sends a reporter into Coventry (Jim Acosta) just as the Obama administration used to try and cut off the entire Fox News station.
I have seen over the past couple of years many talking heads trying to pump a panic over an impending dictatorship because Trump insults journalists and the mainstream media. Every now and then I think of going back and digging up all the old stories of the Obama administration about which very few in the mainstream media reported and certainly did not complain about.
Merline mentions many of the instances I recall. I would have thrown in the CIA spying on Congress as well. While not part of the mainstream media (per se), Congress does function similarly as a constraint on the administration. And let's not forget Sharyl Attkisson and her charges of illegal DOJ surveillance of her.
Here is fact-checking from way back in 2014 by Politifact of Jake Tapper's claim that "Obama has used Espionage Act more than all previous administrations". As was their wont, they spilt a lot of ink on supposed nuances and ambiguities but ultimately were forced to acknowledge:
It is the right and the duty of the press to investigate administrations and to hold them accountable.
The mainstream media were badly abused by the Obama administration because they knew what the administration was doing and yet, despite knowing and because they were sympathetic to Obama, they ignored his behaviors and actions. They do need to hold this administration accountable as well. But they are in a very weak position to argue that this administration is worse than the prior.
From Obama’s Spying On The Press Was Far More Extensive Than Previously Thought by John Merline. Clearly there is a tone of ideological or political animus in the reporting but it is a timely reminder of some revelations going back up to ten years ago.
The Obama administration was notorious for running an exceedingly tight ship when it came to communication. They pursued leakers mercilessly, routinely ignored or ran the clock out on FOIA requests, and sharply limited press access to the president. All in a fashion more comprehensive and extreme than in the past.
And this was in a context where the press were overtly and demonstrably enamored with the administration. They went out of their way to play nice and never complained when they were manhandled by the administration. In contrast to this administration where the mainstream media has been almost entirely hostile (90%-95% anti-administration content) from the very beginning. They were politically and ideologically hostile even before the new Administration came into office.
As Merline notes, Trump might be an enthusiastic taunter of the mainstream media but he has yet to demonstrate the excessive use of law enforcement to pursue reporters as was customary with the Obama administration. The only overlap between the two administrations is that occasionally Trump sends a reporter into Coventry (Jim Acosta) just as the Obama administration used to try and cut off the entire Fox News station.
I have seen over the past couple of years many talking heads trying to pump a panic over an impending dictatorship because Trump insults journalists and the mainstream media. Every now and then I think of going back and digging up all the old stories of the Obama administration about which very few in the mainstream media reported and certainly did not complain about.
Merline mentions many of the instances I recall. I would have thrown in the CIA spying on Congress as well. While not part of the mainstream media (per se), Congress does function similarly as a constraint on the administration. And let's not forget Sharyl Attkisson and her charges of illegal DOJ surveillance of her.
Here is fact-checking from way back in 2014 by Politifact of Jake Tapper's claim that "Obama has used Espionage Act more than all previous administrations". As was their wont, they spilt a lot of ink on supposed nuances and ambiguities but ultimately were forced to acknowledge:
Tapper said more than all previous administrations combined, the Obama administration has used the Espionage Act to go after whistleblowers who leak to journalists. The number of cases involving that law support Tapper’s statement. There is reasonable debate over whether the whistleblower label applies to all cases and Tapper said he could have been more precise.I hold the First Amendment as almost absolute. Administrations do occasionally have secrets which need to be kept secret. Military secrets, law enforcement secrets. But the long history of governmental secret keeping is almost a wholly consistent effort to keep secrets which are embarrassing to the government, not secrets which are dangerous to the public.
However, the Justice Department does not challenge the basic figures and the experts we contacted affirmed the general accuracy of the claim.
We rate the statement True.
It is the right and the duty of the press to investigate administrations and to hold them accountable.
The mainstream media were badly abused by the Obama administration because they knew what the administration was doing and yet, despite knowing and because they were sympathetic to Obama, they ignored his behaviors and actions. They do need to hold this administration accountable as well. But they are in a very weak position to argue that this administration is worse than the prior.
A master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots
From The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk.
A great description of totalitarian systems, in this instance, the command and control structure of a military service.
A great description of totalitarian systems, in this instance, the command and control structure of a military service.
Whether it’s the fragment of coding, the fragment of engineering, the fragment of gunnery-you’ll find them all predigested and regulated to a point where you’d have to search the insane asylums to find people who could muff the jobs. Remember that one point. It explains, and reconciles you to, all the Navy Regulations, and all the required reports, and all the emphasis on memory and obedience, and all the standardized ways of doing things. The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots. If you’re not an idiot, but find yourself in the Navy, you can only operate well by pretending to be one. All the shortcuts and economies and common-sense changes that your native intelligence suggests to you are mistakes. Learn to quash them. Constantly ask yourself, ‘How would I do this if I were a fool?’ Throttle down your mind to a crawl. Then you’ll never go wrong.
Brand marketing
Chick-Fil-A One-Ups McDonald's Happy Meals With New 'Joy Of The Lord' Mealshttps://t.co/qXBUEudI0M
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 2, 2019
Faith and Hope
Faith and Hope
Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860)
O, DON’T be sorrowful, darling!
Now, don’t be sorrowful, pray;
For, taking the year together, my dear,
There isn’t more night than day.
It ’s rainy weather, my loved one;
Time’s wheels they heavily run;
But taking the year together, my dear,
There isn’t more cloud than sun.
We ’re old folks now, companion,—
Our heads they are growing gray;
But taking the year all round, my dear,
You always will find the May.
We ’ve had our May, my darling,
And our roses, long ago;
And the time of the year is come, my dear,
For the long dark nights, and the snow.
But God is God, my faithful,
Of night as well as of day;
And we feel and know that we can go
Wherever he leads the way.
Ay, God of night, my darling!
Of the night of death so grim;
And the gate that from life leads out, good wife,
Is the gate that leads to Him.
Friday, May 24, 2019
The wrong sort take a mean advantage of them
The Man Upstairs, 1914 by P.G. Wodehouse.
It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.
Go write for a woman's mag if you want to experience an institution that exploits women.
I saw someone reference the departed Cathy Seipp in a context which made me wonder who she was. The Wikipedia account is spare but adequate. I did enjoy these two quotes of hers. Clearly she had a sharp wit. A non-smoker, she died of cancer more than a decade ago.
I just want to let everyone know having cancer hasn't made me a better person.And.
And to all those proper feminists asking how I could work for a mag [Penthouse] that exploits women like that, I would suggest: Go write for a woman's mag if you want to experience an institution that exploits women.
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