I Got Nuthin’
However, it occurs to me that in eleven years we’ve never had an open thread, in which, I’m told, readers share links of possible interest and then bicker about them. So let’s try one of those and see what happens.
If all else fails, you can always poke through the reheated series and greatest hits.
‘Finland to end basic income trial after two years’
“Europe’s first national government-backed experiment in giving citizens free cash will end next year after Finland decided not to extend its widely publicised basic income trial… It has also introduced legislation making some benefits for unemployed people contingent on taking training or working at least 18 hours in three months.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/23/finland-to-end-basic-income-trial-after-two-years
Neema Parvini on groupthink.
Related to the above.
…unlike army generals, judges or investment portfolio managers – have faced “little to no consequential feedback when they are wrong…
I don’t know about the UK, but in the US, any consequence for an incompetent judge (or judges) is a rare thing, even if they are too Brobdingnagian or too drunk even to show up to “work”.
…readers share links of possible interest and then bicker about them.
Why bother with links? Let’s just go straight to the “airing of grievances.” I mean, I’ve got a lot of problems with you people.
Why bother with links? Let’s just go straight to the “airing of grievances.” I mean, I’ve got a lot of problems with you people.
It was only a matter of time.
[ Quietly hides breakables. ]
Europe’s first national government-backed experiment in giving citizens free cash
There’s your problem.
The Green Papers—A website apparently named strictly from the color of the website pages, instead of variety of politics . . .
Been poking at this one for a few minutes, and my continuing reaction is a general thought of Oh, My it’s a very encompassing US political almanac . . . It’s even got an international section.
—Only ran across the site nearly at random while reading a randomly noted—Google News sidebar, at the time—article on splitting California into three parts.
The Green Papers mission statement:
Welcome! This site is dedicated to the dissemination of facts, figures, tidbits and commentary- in fact, information of many different kinds- related (primarily) to the American political process. We sincerely hope you very easily find the kind of information you are looking for here, perhaps even information- all gathered here in one place- you might not so easily find anywhere else.
David, and whomever . . . . Does anyone know of a comparable website that covers the UK is such detail?
I send this to David directly, but will post this here for everyone’s perusal:
https://twitter.com/NotRightRuth/status/988397006300344320
Try this: “From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez: Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship” by Paul Hollander for a magnificent take down of intellectuals and their worship of power.
Where’s the feckin’ whiskey? Where you hidin’ the feckin’ whisky, baztard? You’re all baztards.
I send this to David directly, but will post this here for everyone’s perusal
Our trans activist Ms Pearce says, mockingly,
Presumably, she would rather the headlines read something along the lines of,
Which is asking a bit much of headline writers, I think.
[ Added: ]
Another trans activist insists on using the genderless pronoun “they” about someone else’s son, which seems a little rude, and does so seemingly on grounds that we must up-end all proprieties, statistics and expectations of normality in order to ease the author’s own personal dissonances. Because her presumption of the child developing gender dysphoria, which is statistically unlikely, should trump the parents’ presumption or preference, even though the odds are very much in their favour, not hers.
[ Added: ]
As noted here before, it’s remarkable how readily some people forget, or choose to ignore, that being treated as genderless, an undifferentiated being, is not generally regarded as a compliment.
For those who are worried about robots replacing humans – the following article is an example of why that’s not so easy:
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/04/experts-say-tesla-has-repeated-car-industry-mistakes-from-the-1980s/
Because her
Are we sure that that’s a “her”? Names are no longer enough insofar as providing sexual clues are concerned. Absent more conclusive evidence I think we should stick with “it”.
Another trans activist insists on using the genderless pronoun “they” about someone else’s son
And from Andy’s link:
Authority seizes upon specific material qualities of the flesh, particularly the genitals, as outward indication of future reproductive potential
To which I respond, “Go fuck yourself then.”
There’s always Paul Johnson’s “Intellectuals”. After finishing it I realized the title was chosen with a deep, bitter irony.
There’s always Paul Johnson’s “Intellectuals”.
Yes, the chapter on Marx is a must-read.
“From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez: Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship” by Paul Hollander
Yes, excellent as usual–although Hollander does seem to have a bit of a blind spot regarding Obama: He makes some critical comments in passing about Trump but never even mentions Obama’s disgraceful record.
It’s a boy, Mrs. Walker – it’s a boy! A son, a son, a son…
How dare society make any guesses on a new infant’s role in it, largely based on expected physical qualities. Every stone age tribe had this figured out; “gender roles” descend from these aggregate qualities, and the training in one’s expected sexed place in society is not any more intrinsically oppressive than expectation when to eat and where to excrete.
That we now have the luxury that an 11 year old male no longer needs to learn to hunt does not mean it was always oppressive to recognize a new hunter.
Peaceful, tolerant lefties:
“Gun control advocates preach about non-violence,” Bennett commented, “but it is far too common to see them either making threats verbally, or actually physically harming someone and their property. What will Kent State come to when dialogue can’t happen on campus because people are being assaulted?”
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10808
Reading the State of Britain with Roger Scruton
Peaceful, tolerant lefties
Poor impulse control does seem to be a common theme.
“gender roles” descend from these aggregate qualities
Something these lunatics refuse to compass, is the fact that “gender roles” are determined by biology, not society.
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10808
“…the officer told Heil that he could either press charges against Marcinkiewicz or handle it through Kent State’s Student Code of Conduct. Heil told the officer he didn’t have the time or money to drag this through court, and he needed his camera replaced ASAP since he is a film student.”
While I sympathize with Heil’s position, this was the wrong choice. This is where conservative organizations like FIRE need to step up: providing the resources to have these thugs charged, convicted, publicly excoriated and expelled pour descourager les autres. This is one of those “being stupid has to hurt” moments.
To which I respond, “Go fuck yourself then.”
It’s also worth noting Ms Riedel’s inevitable sneery quip about the baby’s penis, as if a baby’s sex organs were some random irrelevance and in no way signified the maleness or femaleness that almost always follows. And as if the thought of a baby boy doesn’t – and mustn’t ever – conjure associations that differ in any way from those conjured by the arrival of a baby girl.
It’s a common evasion, one we’ve seen before.
“However, it occurs to me that in eleven years we’ve never had an open thread”
It occurs to me that practically every thread I’ve ever read here has turned into one. And that’s why we keep coming back.
But hey, why not make it official?
“Thomas Sowell points out that academics and journalists – unlike army generals, judges or investment portfolio managers – have faced ‘little to no consequential feedback when they are wrong, no matter how wrong or for how long.’”
Stanley Baldwin was slightly wrong: it never was actual power without responsibility which has been “the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages”, it’s influence.
“Authority seizes upon specific material qualities of the flesh, particularly the genitals, as outward indication of future reproductive potential.”
It’s an interesting sentence, that. Assuming one meaning of the word “authority”, it’s actually a completely unobjectionable statement of fact. Yes, people who know what the hell they’re talking about do exactly that.
And, since I got nuttin’ either, here’s Kelly Brook blowing a raspberry on Nigel Farage’s belly (via Guido).
“Poor impulse control does seem to be a common theme.”
Another, more relevant, Guido link, then.
Something these lunatics refuse to compass, is the fact that “gender roles” are determined by biology, not society.
I’ve known left-leaning parents who were discernibly irritated by the fact that, despite their best efforts, their own sons and daughters still played and behaved as one might expect boys and girls to do, i.e., somewhat differently, much of the time, and more so as they got older. But acknowledging the biological determinants is apparently taboo among many trans activists, including those linked above. And so instead we get a dogmatic insistence on ‘blank slate’ assumptions. Assumptions that countless parents would, following first-hand experience, find comically unrealistic.
Our trans activist Ms Pearce says, mockingly…
Related…
Johns Hopkins performs complete penis and scrotum transplant on a service member injured in Afghanistan – an unprecedented surgical accomplishment.
Of course, to this one blue checkmark Sarah Sahim replies “…can’t wait for this guy’s new dick to fall off…” Why, you ask – because it was blown off fighting in Afghanistan, of course.
It occurs to me that practically every thread I’ve ever read here has turned into one. And that’s why we keep coming back.
Heh. I was hoping to palm this one off as a thrilling innovation. I see that my hands-off approach to steering comment threads has finally come back to bite me on the arse.
So let’s try one of those and see what happens.
Alternatively, you could get off your arse and do some blogging. :-/
Alternatively, you could get off your arse and do some blogging. :-/
[ Faints with indignation. ]
Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, and even that is too much for some SJWs:
“Violence Industry”; you have to wonder why these asshats chose to be asshats. You can see a summation of the whole mess here.
Learning a foreign language is ‘Cultural Appropriation’ now:
https://twitter.com/phl43
You didn’t ‘serve your country’ you chose a job in the violence industry.
Ms Deveny, our self-described “highly regarded consultant in… cultural trending,” has shared her deep wisdom before.
How can Democrats claim they support women and vote for something like this?
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/04/maine-house-democrats-vote-to-allow-female-genital-mutilation
Last week House Democrats passed a toothless bill that wouldn’t actually ban FGM.
Why feminism is AWOL on Islam
Rep. Karen Gerrish of Lebanon called the show-vote a sad state of affair for young, female Mainers.
“Young female Mainers” calls to mind Sandra Dee types dressed for sailing. The FGM-Mainers/FG-maimers are in Maine but are they of Maine?
https://www.city-journal.org/html/isis-happens-11643.html
Foreigners are only granted this kind of regional status as long as they’re foreign enough – if your grandparents moved from New Hampshire, you’re still a blow-in.
“Learning a foreign language is ‘Cultural Appropriation’ now”
But of course. I wondered how long it would take before someone got around to that.
Oh noes! Has this person never seen a Japanese blonde or redhead? Or the Japanese obsession with the Austin Mini (designed, of course, by a Greek bloke who loved to pretend he was an English gentleman)? Or, perhaps more pertinently since the beef seems to be with anime fans, how every other anime you care to name seems to be set in the Park Güell in Barcelona? The Japanese can’t get enough of that place.
Why is “cultural appropriation” only bad when we do it?
Why is “cultural appropriation” only bad when we do it?
To ask the question is to answer it, no?
UK is setting the pace for stupidity…
http://reason.com/archives/2018/04/24/londoners-embrace-knife-control
Who says golf is boring…?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/golf/the-story-behind-that-amazing-goose-vs-golfer-photo/ar-AAwgQEe?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=U452DHP#image=AAwgQEe_1|3
David,
If you hit another I got nothing/open topic opportunity…I did Amazon myself that book on IQ/Intelligence that you recommended, thanks. I was certain a rainy Sunday would give me the chance to get through the 160 pages undisturbed. 60 pages in, my life being what it is, The One Who Must Be Obeyed decided that after 5 years we suddenly needed to vacuum under the couch and behind the recliner…which led to this, that, the other thing, and then the Penguins/Flyers game was on…and…alcohol…and…anyway, I hope to get through it soon, but thought it would make a good separate thread discussion at some point….if you got nothin’ again sometime.
The One Who Must Be Obeyed decided that after 5 years we suddenly needed to vacuum under the couch
It’s a diabolical myth spread by the house-proud. No-one need ever know what’s under the couch, or how long it’s been there, or how it got there in the first place.
What? I’m not the one on trial here.
…Londoners embrace knife control…
When they outlaw toilet paper, only outlaws will have toilet paper…
Alert: Toilet paper shank found.
Personally, I think it would have been easier to make a more traditional sharpened tooth brush, but then, you can’t flush it as easily.
The politicians and busybodies who think up these bans really aren’t very bright if they think villians just won’t use something else.
The politicians and busybodies who think up these bans really aren’t very bright …
It’s almost as if these worthies have forgotten that our success as a species is because we are tool makers.
Farnsworth you did indeed touch on Anzac Day which we are remembering here in Australia. I present you this item which is quite astonishing.
‘So no, I won’t be marching, although I do respect old soldiers who choose so to do. It’s just that I feel no need to “remember” war, let alone legitimise the politically-inspired industry that’s being built around such “commemorations” by leaders and business. These are always ready to jump on the back of genuine emotion and hi-jack real concerns for their own purposes or needs.’
Seems an anti capitalist screed and a genuine insult to those who served and continue to serve their countries so that clowns like this can write their rubbish. Lest We Forget
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/why-i-won-t-be-marching-on-anzac-day-this-year-20180424-p4zbco.html
No mention of stuff under couches would be complete without this scene from The Simpsons.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpz1yOp_Lzw
Seems an anti capitalist screed and a genuine insult to those who served…
Insult, yep, anti-capitalist – more like just more boilerplate lefty claptrap;
Way to miss the point Sparky, remembering the fallen is hardly “commemorating war”.
What a profoundly stupid statement. First, that is like saying no one alive today has a link to their grandfather (or great grandfather) unless that progenitor is still alive, and the Anzacs had bugger all to do with the shaping of Australia (and New Zealand) as it exists today. Second, as it was explained to me by an Aussie, today Anzac day is in remembrance of the fallen of all wars, just as is Memorial Day in the US, though it started as a Civil War remembrance.
It is so typical, he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t like it, so neither should you, you rube.
The politicians and busybodies who think up these bans really aren’t very bright if they think villians just won’t use something else.
Many of these politicians understand perfectly well. But they don’t care, because their intentions are far from noble and selfless.
Arrgh, I forgot again to insert a blank line!
I’ll just back out the door and see if I can run faster than the henchlesbians.