Guard Dog

Looks like Justin Amash will run for President: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/politics/justin-amash-exploratory-committee/index.html He's got my vote. I'd rather be eaten by ants than cast my lot for that idiot Trump. And hell will freeze solid before I ever vote for a goddamned Democrat.

Land O Lakes has removed the Indian woman from their logo Makes sense I guess. Many companies are turning away from using native americans as logos. But, in a funny not funny moment they kept the land... and got rid of the indian!

Hannity, Maddow, and Beck were always the biggest offenders IMO. But they al do it. Every last one.

Don't confuse news reporting with news commentary. Trish Reagan, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, etc. are all commentators. They operate very much like a newspaper editorial page. They discuss the news, giver their opinion of it, "tell you what to think" if you will. On CNN from 11 AM through 4 PM is all news reporting with a little bit of commentary. After 4 PM it's all commentary with a little bit of reporting. OANN is all news until 5 PM, then all commentary. Fox is news from 9 AM to 12 PM then commentary the rest of the time. The commentators are generally bound by the same ethics (such as they are) or regular journalists. Sean Hannity will not look at the camera and say "Bruce is a pinko commie trying to undermine our great President with his internet posts". That would be obviously false. But he might say "Evidence suggests that Bruce is a pinko commie trying to undermine our great President with his internet posts." See how they do that? Take a statement of fact that is false and add two words, a bare fig leaf to hide behind, that makes it an opinion that still sounds like a fact. Watch their shows for that and you'll see they do that all hour long. They will mix definitive statements of fact with opinion skillfully and interchangeably to tell you a story and most folks never catch the difference. The definitive statements of fact will be true. "Joe Biden has been accused of sexual assault" Truth. "How can this great country support a serial sexual predator for President?" Commentary. See how Biden's name is not mentioned in the second sentence? You don't say "How can this great country support a serial sexual predator for President like Joe Biden?" Follow a factual statement with commentary and the viewer just blends them together in their head. This happens all the time on the TV channels. It also happens on the websites. You'll read sentences like this "Reports say Bruce is a pinko commie trying to undermine our great President with his internet posts" or "According to some sources Bruce is a pinko commie trying to undermine our great President with his internet posts", The statement does not HAVE to be factual. They tell you they are repeating what someone else told them but coming from them it's assumed by the news consumer to be true. If they find whatever news channel they are consuming to be credible. I know tis sounds terrible. And they ALL do it. Every single one. But, if it makes you feel any better, it has always been this way.

Not surprising at all. It's a misnomer to say the news is fake. Nothing you see on Fox, or CNN, or MSNBC is false. It's all true, just not all the truth. And it is framed in such a way that the context suits they story they want to tell. The "media" is not in the business of informing. They are not and have never been the gatekeepers of objective truth. They are peddling a narrative and they report on what suits that narrative and ignore what does not. And this is not new.

So, Tara Reade, a staffer for Biden in the 90's accused him of sexual assault.... in the 90's. Despite witnesses nothing came of it because that kind of thing was just covered up back then. Today her name has come back up and no one believes her. No one even wants to hear from her. Christine Ford accused Kavanaugh in 2018 for something that happened in the '70's with no witnesses and everyone automatically believes her. I have no opinion on the veracity of either claim. Frankly, IDGAF either way. If both accusations are true or false I could not hold either man in lower regard. But no matter how hard you are sucking on the male member of your preferred political party you have to at least acknowledge it's a pretty big double standard.

This is a very interesting read on how modern fiction and modern interpretation of old stories have been re-cast as a conflict between good & evil: The Good Guy / Bad Guy Myth I have never been a fan of fantasy fiction. Usually I would describe it as unoriginal or just dismiss it by saying "it just sucks". There are some exceptions of course. But I could never put my finger on why I disliked it. This article cleared some of that up. The lone hero vs the evil king/dark lord etc. trope. How often does fantasy give us a conflict between to equally flawed but equally sympathetic and equally worthy protagonists and antagonists? Not often. Mostly the antagonist is evil for evil's sake. GRRM said something I really liked once. The villain of your story should be the hero if the story were about them. Things used to be that way. Neither Achillies nor Hector were good or bad. Nor were Agamemnnon and Priam. Literary fiction still gets it. Somewhat. Humphrey van Weyden, the protagonist of the Sea Wolf was in conflict with the antagonist Wolf Larson BECASE Hump was moral and Larson immoral. But at the same time neither were good or evil and both were very sympathetic.

I signed up for a membership for scribd today. I didn't want on but they had this cool book with bread recipes I wanted. Since then I've downloaded over 70 books. I'd say it was worth it.

No it's definitely happening. That does not mean the concept has been vindicated in any way. That was the word I was focusing on.

How do you figure that?

It's looking more and more like Kim Jong Un has done the whole world a solid and died.

Forget what they say. Forget the campaign message. Forget even your own political preference. Objectively focus on outcomes. That is all that matters. The equivalency is anything but false. Dogsh-t in a paper bag and dogsh-t shiny gift bag is still a bag of sh-t when you get right down to it.

I admire the fact that you still believe in something. That you can still summon up even a modicum of passion. Even though you know the cause is undeserving of it. I hope you never lose that because you will miss it once it's gone. Take it from one who knows.

Anyone seen this lately? https://www.usdebtclock.org/ Tick tock tick tock

It doesn't matter. Trump, Biden... would you rather French kiss a cobra or bitch slap grizzly bear? The outcome is the same.

Man Who Died Ingesting Fish Tank Cleaner Remembered as Intelligent, Levelheaded Engineer Really? Quod erat demonstrandum

An alarming number of Americans believe a coronavirus vaccine exists and is being withheld Wow. It's one thing to think government, not ours but any, is incompetent. It is. It's a whole other step to think it's evil. But some actually are so there is that.

Yet I have no qualms at all about hunting or fishing. Go figure.

Well, Wilbur was Some Pig!

That was the idea. That was also why I got the chickens. Now they all have names and follow me around and I wouldn't harm a feather on them even if I was starving. But I will take the eggs though. Clearly I'm not much good at this farming thing. I get too attached to the livestock.

Just wow: Trump Suggests Injecting Disinfectant, Shining UV Light Inside Patients to Kill Coronavirus in Bizarre, Rambling Tangent

I had one a little while back. I married her too. Didn't work out well. Not well at all.

I was thinking about getting some goats. Better not. I already have too many critters depending on me

Now there is one I find really irritating. I'd do some civil disobedience on that on but I do actually wear it. I was paying attention in science class when they covered Newton's laws of motion. But it galls me to be told I HAVE to.

File this under the growing list of practical, reasonable, and fiscally sound ideas coming from the Trump Admin: Trump adviser suggests reopening economy by putting 'everybody in a space outfit'