Category Archives: National news

Business as usual

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North Korea says U.S. ‘declared war’ warns it could shoot down U.S. bombers

09/25/17: The most clear-cut case ever of North Korea’s decades-old practice of (a) accusing the U.S. of some provocation that never happened, as (b) pretext for escalating their own belligerence.

10/11/17: North Korea appears now to have backed down from that stand. They appear merely to have completely misconstrued a Trump tweet. Other reports have indicated they find Trump’s tweets totally baffling and are energetically seeking help to make sense of them.

Which may make them no different from any of the rest of us.

Anthony Weiner sentenced to 21 months in sexting case

(1) He’s in for, in the words of the Led Zepplin classic, a “whole lotta love.”
(2) The AP seriously misstates the situation, in saying this scandal may have destroyed Hilary’s candidacy. It did no such thing. For the first time ever, I am left to wonder how much such baseless assertions in the media affect our thinking.

Family injured in attack at Six Flags Great America; nine suspects arrested

Stereotypes have basis in fact.

“Scandal:” The meaning of the word

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(Originally posted 2012-07-28 at Trojan Horse Productions. Note that this was after Aurora and prior to Sandy Hook.  Reposted 2014-01-11.)

I don’t have the wherewithal to actually buy and read newspapers; at the convenience store, I merely read the headlines. I found this article by doing a news Google on “Crofton massacre” — which fact illustrates the point I’ll make below.

Police: Md. man made threat, ‘joker’ reference

The English word “scandal” comes from the Greek skandalon, which literally means “stumbling block;” as in Matthew 18:6, where in the King James Version it is translated as “offense,” and Matthew 13:57, which would be translated literally, “They stumbled at him.”

We find that scandals make two different kinds of people “stumble” in two different ways.
Continue reading “Scandal:” The meaning of the word →

Fusion; Scruffy people in commercials; The most bizarre Xmas ever

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(Originally posted 12/30/13.)

George F. Will’s 12/21/13 column, “A dazzling bright future dawns in New Jersey,” is an infomercial for a fusion energy project.

Two points:

“Because of its large scale and long time horizon, the fusion project is a perfect example of a public good the private sector cannot pursue and the public sector should not slight.”

Whatever became of the concept of venture capital?

Continue reading Fusion; Scruffy people in commercials; The most bizarre Xmas ever →

Nancy Lanza, a mother tragic and infuriating

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On Thursdays, for some time now, I’ve been reproducing old posts — reproducing the whole post.  Today I must make an exception, because the comments on this post became much more significant than the post itself.  So I will merely link to the original:

Nancy Lanza, a mother tragic and infuriating

The December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was, at the time, the worst mass murder shooting in American history.  It left the nation stunned.  The perpetrator, Adam Lanza, was a singularly troubled young man, and likewise his mother — the title says it in a nutshell, about her.  The original post links to a WaPo article about her.

Original post appeared 12/28/13.

The fate of pink slime; news about honeybees

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The fate of pink slime

ABC and meat producer settle $1.9-billion lawsuit over ‘pink slime’

The taco beef they gave us the other night was ground extremely fine, which led me to recall this case and wonder whatever had become of it.

This boils down to the power of a pejorative term — or slur.

—–♦—–

News about honeybees

Scientists Finally Know How One Common Pesticide Is Harming Our Bees

Well, I hope you enjoy the video and find it informative.  I can’t watch it.  I’ll have to find a text story somewhere to find out what it says.

 

The most outrageous feature of the Secret Service scandal …

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In 2012, during a trip by President Obama to a conference in Columbia, a number of Secret Service agents hooked up with some — hookers — in a hotel room.  One service provider wound up having a dispute with one client over how much she should be paid.  She evaluated the services she’d rendered at ~$750.  He did not.  The dispute spilled over onto the street and drew the attention of the police.  Thus we had a bit of a scandal.

In my view, however, the most outrageous feature of the event …

… is that he only offered her $30.

Any woman I’d engage gets more than that merely to bat her eyelashes and giggle.

In context, this detail only epitomizes the overwhelming hubris of the entire situation, and is well worth costing the gentleman his job.

(Originally posted 04/17/12 at Trojan Horse Productions.  Reposted 12/04/13.)

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Job creation: Mitt Romney’s other 30%

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(Originally published 10/17/2012 at Trojan Horse Productions.  Reblogged 10/24/13.)

During the 2012 Presidential race, a Democratic party operative secretly recorded Mitt Romney’s remarks to potential donors at a private fund-raiser.  Those remarks included that 47% of voters pay no taxes and thus have no interest in the Republican message.  The release of that recording caused quite a stir.  See “* We are the 47%.”  There are other features of who Romney is and what he does with his money, that got far less media attention.  Like, this one.

Democrats: Political slant marks Romney tax return

Continue reading Job creation: Mitt Romney’s other 30% →