Month: November 2017

 
From tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors:

Faceberg announced that they will give users a tool that will let them see if they liked or followed a post by the Internet Research Agency (RUSSIANS).

This sounds good, but it’s not a serious attempt to fix anything:

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From Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged:

I think taking the time to take stock of your blessings in life is a great thing. The troubles of the world weigh on us, sometimes lighter than they should. If I am thankful for my full plate, I have to also know that there are people whose larder has been bare. If I am thankful for my heat and light and access to the world through the internet, I also have to understand what it is to be without these things. If I am thankful for my health, I have to also remember those who are without health care, or who soon could be. If I am thankful for the safety of my home, I have to also think of those who might have no home, or might lose their home.

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Wondering why a few conservative friends are less than impressed.

• Great wealth does not preclude progressive, inclusive views. Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post finds a billionaire we should consider a hero.
   
• Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass is enthusiastic about a candidate for Kentucky’s First Congressional seat.
   
• Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit remembers a largely forgotten sad fact about November 22, 1963.
   
• President Trump boasts about a new invisible fighter plane. Turns out it doesn’t exist. M. Bouffant at Web of Evil may have discovered the source of my President’s aviation confusion.
   
• So, is Michael T. Flynn really cooperating with Mueller and his Untouchables? tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors says the answer is not as murky as it seems.
   
• Infidel753 is part of an enlightening (for some of us perhaps chastening) discussion on the extreme flexibility of Christian moralism.
   
• PZ Myers suggests that the new rules on sexual behavior are anything but new.
   
• Interesting free speech arguments in California. Jon Perr at PERRspectives covers the irony. Conservatives are furious that anti-abortion counseling services are required to reveal the existence of abortion services. Their argument is that compelled speech is not free speech, even if the compulsion is to tell the truth. At the same time, physicians around the country are compelled by conservative legislation to tell lies about abortion.
   
• @bjork55 at Bjork Report reposts the revenge porn that seems about to sink Representative Joe Barton. Warning, you can’t un-see it.
   
• There are murderers, mass-murderers, and serial murderers. blogenfreude says buh bye to the most notorious serial mass murderer of our time.
   
• This week’s note in Trumpian ‘Alternative Facts’ comes from Dana Milbank, who suggests we have gone beyond isolated falsehoods to a new level of alternate reality.
   

Oh, by the way,

Hello. The current administration is trying really hard to make sure you don't know you have access to good, affordable health insurance. pic.twitter.com/VU10FkD2Xy

— John Scalzi (@scalzi) November 1, 2017

 
Neil Bamforth at MadMikesAmerica takes a look at Brexit negotiations. The European Union wants twice in an exit settlement what Britain is willing to pay. There seems to be a common agreement that there exists, in leaving, a moral debt. Neil wonders why, in the absence of any clear legal obligation, Britain doesn’t threaten to simply walk away.

We linked to Neil’s analysis. Infidel753, whom we regard as expert in such matters, reacts:

There is no reason the UK should be paying anything to get out of this parasitic organization, but there are two reasons why the EU is strongly motivated to grab whatever cash it can.

First, there are rumblings of discontent in other member states. Even in France, pro-independence candidates won 43.6% of the vote in this year’s election in May. The EU has every reason to want to make Brexit as painful as possible to discourage others from getting out.

Second, Britain is a net donor to the EU budget and its departure will leave a huge shortfall which will have to be made up by other members. It’s similar to what would happen with our federal budget if a net donor state like California or New York were to leave the US. Anything the EU can grab from Britain’s pockets on the way out will be that much less they have to pry out of German and French taxpayers or save via aid cutbacks to poorer countries.

I’m often surprised at how many Americans seem to think the UK is some kind of giant Disneyland that stopped being a serious country in 1945 and survives on tourism and Monty Python residuals. It’s the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world and a major exporter of things like pharmaceuticals and heavy equipment. It’s the main supplier of financial services in Europe. It’s also one of only two real military powers in the EU (the other is France), so if Europe ever wants to develop its own defense capability more independent of the US, it’s going to need British cooperation, EU or no EU. The Brussels oligarchy is lucky it isn’t dealing with a British government that’s really inclined to play hardball and use all the leverage it has. They don’t really hold a lot of cards here.

More from Infidel753 can be found here.

 
From (O)CT(O)PUS at The Swash Zone:

Yesterday online, I encountered a former Trump voter who was clearly unhappy. Unhappy with what, he didn’t say. Rather, he tried to turn tables and put me on the defensive:

“They are not the monsters you think they are, and until you realize that fact, you will be unable to appeal to their better natures,” he said.

Realize what? I have no need to explain myself or appeal to his better nature. Whether this Trumpster is a troll, a mole, or an asshole is beside the point. There is a penalty flag on the field, a personal foul. How ironic!

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From Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged:

There are a couple of things about l’affaire Barton that I think, just being a reasonable person, don’t seem all that scandalous. He divorced in 2015. He had some consenting relationships with adult women. He sent them communications of a sexual nature. One of the women seems to have felt some way about having competition, and shared material that was intended to remain private. He advised her beforehand that this was a bad idea and not without repercussions.

Here’s the thing–releasing a graphic video or photos of someone in an intimate situation because it screws with them when that person did not want it out and about is called “revenge porn”. It is a crime in many states, and a damn nasty trick to pull on someone.

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