- How to escape the culture of mass deception (via RLW in comments). Written from a conservative, not libertarian, perspective. But the basic point is good.
- Thailand investigates the U.S. ambassador for lèse-majesté — because he criticized lèse-majesté arrests.
- Never, but never, ever, did I think anybody would say this about marijuana. Never.
- Ugh. Big data to be the next trillion-dollar business? Oh, please …
- Socks. Containing urine. Circulated by walking. Generating electricity.
- Just because you’re inept and unprepared, buddy, doesn’t mean the rest of us are. (Still, the certification process sounds horribly inadequate if it was anything like he describes.)
- The White House is shocked. Truly. Shocked! That Americans are buying so many guns. Are they really this clueless or is there some Big Lie purpose here?
- Finally. this is what moderate Muslims should have been doing since 2001. And this, too. Kudos to them, and here’s hoping these are not just passing nothings but the beginning of a serious trend.
- Marco Rubio, however much of an establishment-sucking neocon he may otherwise be, deserves a lot of credit for cutting Obamacare off at the knees by legislating against a bailout of insurance companies. But uh oh, it now appears that Obamaites may pull a bailout out of their hats, anyhow.
- Best get those online Christmas orders placed ASAP. UPS and FedEx say this story about delivery delays isn’t accurate. But I’ve already had a “two-day” delivery take four days this month. And I watched online as another package simply sat on a loading dock for three days before ultimately arriving five days late.
- How trolling is done. 🙂
- Normally I am not charmed by “soldier and his dog” photos. But it’s incredibly cool that this injured pair are reportedly being treated in the same hospital room.
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This holiday season, please use my Amazon links for your shopping.
Or drop a little something in the tip jar.
On the Culture of Mass Deception article:
Many years ago (I think I was 18 or 19 at the time) my father gave me a copy of “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” (first published in 1841) for Christmas. It was an excellent educational read, to say the least. The author of the ‘Deception’ article touches on a few of the things that an updated “Madness of Crowds” would touch upon including (only) one sentence on the global warming propaganda we are bombarded with on a daily basis. The article and the book explain very well what is happening in this country yet a vast majority of the people, including millions of college-educated people, simply do not realize that they are being played or that they have succumbed to ‘madness’ … and they will not find out until it is too late.
Leaving aside the issue of licensing, all Mr. Responsible proved is that he’s a frickin’ idiot who can’t tell the difference between a firearms familiarity class (Guns 101) and a licensing class (Guns 102), and that his ‘instructor’ is an incompetent fraud who should never have a passed a fool who demonstrated that he was incapapble of handling and using his weapon properly. It’s that ‘instructor’ who pisses me off the most; he put at least one unsafe clown on the street and gave the victim disarmers more ammunition.
Socks. Containing urine…. well, thank goodness it is FRESH urine! GAG Personally, I’d a whole lot rather just change the little battery from time to time.
As for the dog in the hospital bed… the muzzle on the dog is probably a minimum precaution, but I’ve got to tell you that I suspect most nurses would decline to go into that room anyway. And the infection control people in that hospital must be mainlining valium, at the least.
The guy actually looks like he’s doing fine. Maybe they should send him home. No problem with the dog on his bed there. 🙂
“Big data” has come a long way from cold calling, hasn’t it? Companies used to do their own footwork, then came telemarketing – now they – along with government – TAKE the information without permission.
…..
I was not impressed with the firearms instructor yelling, and his general attitude. When he learned the guy was unknowledgeable about guns, he should have kicked him out and directed him to a learning class.
This guy did know the difference between learning and licencing, and knew he wasn’t qualified. (He said: “For the debate, I wanted to be able to ask questions about the licensing system. To prepare, I decided to go through the licensing process, even though, technically speaking, I should have had weapons training before I applied. Knowing nothing about guns, I was supposed to fail. But I passed on the first try.”)
I imagine he had a lot to tell his debating class.
…..
In the video on obesity from CNN, the monetary figures didn’t prove a thing. I’d be willing to bet the “obesity-related” problems were articulated as “This patient has such-and-such, and he/she is obese (by some arbitrary standard), therefore the money spent on this medical problem is obesity-related.” Not a good – or fair – conclusion.
I enjoyed the “How to Troll” thread. If you like that sort of humor I’d recommend David Thorne’s blog. http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html
Good to see that there are at least some Muslims addressing the radicalism/terrorism issue. We’ll have to wait to see whether it gains any traction.
Ah yes… Mr. Stone in Texas. As with so many people, he totally missed the idea that he was responsible – all by himself – to seek actual novice training for handguns (any guns) BEFORE seeking the idiot “license” in Texas. Just exactly as one has to make the effort to learn to drive BEFORE one takes a vehicle out onto the roads, it was his responsibility to learn how to operate a gun before he thought of starting to carry one. And the defensive uses training he mentions comes after that.
Of course, his whole purpose was to mock the process. He only manage to make himself look like a complete fool. But no, I wouldn’t care if he sat next to me anywhere… as long as he kept his gun in his pants. And if he wanted to show off or start trouble, I suspect I’d manage to show him the error of his ways. Probably without shooting him.
And yes, Bear, the instructor should have evaluated his readiness to take that qualification test… and tossed his butt out immediately when he could not recite the Cooper’s rules and demonstrate safe and knowledgeable handling of the gun. I’m afraid that Texas has some serious problems – if this is any indication of how they do things.
I have neice in UK who cant believe people here buy even more guns & ammo everytime gun bans get proposed by pols. I just laff. When she says “[D]ont they realise they’ll just have turn it all in if/when the ban comes?”, I laff even harder. Our English cousins have no idea. None. ????
I note that Lippman’s book is available free via Kindle. (Yes, I’m still trying to talk myself into it – it’s starting to have that “inevitable” feel to it.)
I’ve been saying for years that one of the biggest issues we face is that the progressive agenda has been getting reinforced generationally in this country, going back to the time of Woodrow Wilson. I’ve also pointed out the parallel decline in critical thinking. Well, I’m wrong on the last point, for some segments of the population, as the process described requires agents who are quite skilled in pursuing exactly those methods. And, of course, there are those of us who haven’t been taken in by them.
I’m not so sanguine on the “How to Escape” aspect of it.
How well is that working? On an individual basis, sure we can “Go Galt” to various extents. But I might ask the various people who are actively practicing that (free association and communiction), how well it’s working on a systemic basis. Yes, in the area of gun rights, I see things generally improving, even more so than I would’ve thought possible. But otherwise, it seems the almighty state continues its leviathan growth.
Somewhat tangentially, this gets me thinking along other lines of ponderance, such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and the Nam-Shub of Enki.
No, I don’t buy in to NLP, but some of the ideas there, that language, terminology, and the formulation and presentation of ideas in particular ways, can be operative (cf. “Newspeak”). This ties in to the success of the advancement of the progressive agenda. In that way, language is, in fact, a virus. And, simultaneously, a transmission vector.
And I can’t go there, without referencing Laurie Anderson.
The funniest thing about Obama having carried the prize as America’s #1 Gun Salesman for so many years is how not only he but also his staff seems unaware of it.
And thank you, Laird, for sending me to 27b/6. I had, of course, seen the spider story. The other stuff is at least equally amusing.
Meanwhile, in Austin, TX…
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, 99.7 percent of applicants in 2014 received their license.
It’s an adult education class attended by people who are motivated to learn. In 20 years, I’ve failed two students. The legal qualifications are also spelled out, so there aren’t many people who are wondering if they qualify.
The Texas License to Carry class (new title, now that we’re getting licensed open carry) is 4 to 6 hours of instruction, plus written test and practical. Most of it has to be Texas law concerning use of firearms and justification of use of force. We used to have a pretty good section on non-violent conflict resolution, but most of it went away when the class got shortened from 10 hours.
The firearm safety rules we use follow the NRA rules, which in my humble opinion are better, particularly for beginning shooters, than the Colonel’s set anyway. YMMV
We now have to add a bit about retention holsters, thanks to open carry.
My comment to Mr. Stone is that if he’s arrived at college without learning personal responsibility, my class isn’t near long enough to turn him around. I would also point out that he was quite capable of learning enough about shooting to successfully fire the gun and hit the target. Along the lines of, “There isn’t a handgun made that’s near as complex as a TV remote, and you handle those, right?” (And yes, he needs more training, but not nearly as much as he probably thinks I do.)
I wasn’t there, but I do wonder whether the instructor was “yelling” at Mr. Stone, or speaking loud enough to be heard despite hearing protection and gunfire. I would not have “kicked him out.” I would have pulled him off the shooting line, finished the class, then had some one-on-one.
Meanwhile, I’m wondering if the blokes who invented the socks read Dune. (Not that a Fremen stillsuit would really work.)
The White House knows exactly why gun sales are through the roof. And it isn’t really a Big Lie. “I dunno” is actually the bet answer they can give. Their problem is that any more truthful answer to the question starts with, “Because we’ve really screwed up on the gun control issue, and…”
I do so admire MamaLiberty and her many years background in visiting nurse work. A true ‘traveling angel’. However, it would be my desire to eliminate hospitals altogether except for very very very brief post-emergency surgical events….the rest, visiting nurses at homes like MamLiberty did. Hospitals, are more dangerous all by themselves than any dog could inflict upon a patient. And while we’re at it….give me an old fashioned, REAL nurse any day over the kind of ‘administrative, pill-pushing’ MDs of today. Oh, IMHO…
Yes indeed, Lyn… home is the best place for people to recover, even after complex surgery. Most of the monitoring, and the machines and so forth that provide the technical advantages of modern medicine, could very easily be used at home as well. The big problem with that is so few people are willing to do that. The average family is neither willing nor able to provide skilled (or teachable) caregivers, and there will never be enough nurses to provide it – even if families could afford it.
The real answer is for people to take personal responsibility for their lives and health, and stay OUT of hospitals – and out of the doctor’s office. Every time someone sees a doctor, they set themselves up for likely unneeded tests, procedures and drugs.
I don’t have any chronic medical conditions and take no “medicine” except healthy food. I’m resolved to stay away from all “health care” unless I spring a bad leak or break something. Even then, I’m not apt to go along with much that they want to do to me. Plug the leak and put a cast on the break… then I’m “outa there!”
“I would not have “kicked him out.” I would have pulled him off the shooting line, finished the class, then had some one-on-one.”
Larry, I would do the same if he’d demonstrated any real desire to learn. Reading the article, I seriously doubt that was the case.
I’ve only had to ask two students to leave the class in all the years I’ve been an instructor. In one case, the man was simply unsafe and was not responding at all to instructions or cautions. He was 71 years old, had been shooting all his life and never had learned the safety rules… so he had a lot of terrible habits.
I offered to teach him one to one at a later date of his choice, but I could not endanger the rest of the class. He chose to leave and never made another appointment for the one on one. He simply could or would not accept the fact that his actions were dangerous.
The second person was an elderly lady who simply needed a whole different approach than the general basic pistol class. She did come back a few days later, and she is now both willing and able to shoot if she ever needs to do so. Big difference.
Wow. Several that I wanted to opine about. Get ready…
* the culture of mass deception piece explains a lot I didn’t quite grasp about recent ‘political discourse’, if it can still be called that. Also has a good ‘reading list’ buried in the story line.
* Pot makes you thin, in spite of the munchies? But how do I get rid of these huge moobs? They aren’t getting any smaller?
* Big data? Like corporations are more capable of handling TMI than the fedgov NSA? I think not – and NSA is already choking on it’s own spying files. You’d think a titan of commerce would be able to learn from the mistake – unless his intent is just to collect all he can and get rich feeding the monster.
*Piss-ocks? Do they have them at EMS yet? I can’t wait until I see my first metro-man in his pissocks and Berkies! I wonder if the commercial version will come with a catheter so you can fill refuel them ‘on the go’? (see what I did there? HA!) Reminds me of Up in Smoke…. Sgt. Studenko
*Buying too many guns? No such thing. Maybe BO’s masters should have studied the culture a little more before planting him in the white house. Makes me wonder if there is any such thing as a progressive Secret Service agent…. BO retires in a little over a year.
*Agree with ‘this’ is what moderate Muslims should do. Less impressed with the other piece. He ignores Trump’s ‘…until we can get them sorted out…’ or whatever his Until statement was. Also seems to want it all done by others, not by the non-fundie muslim community – which is part of the problem Trump was trying to solve. If they aren’t with us, how do we know they aren’t against us? And no, I’m not an islamophobe, as that would be an unrealistic fear. I don’t fear them, but I do know that there are a certain number who claim to be muslim, and have vowed to destroy this nation and kill Christians and Jews. Resisting a declared enemy is NOT a phobia. But at this point I still don’t know how to tell which are dangerous and which aren’t, unless they are acting AGAINST our declared enemy.
*The left will do anything they can think of – legal or not – to preserve Obamacare. And that desperation makes me wonder what kind of fascist goodies are still hiding in all those pages? I may actually need to read the damned thing….
* I thought I’d learn something interesting about trolling. All I learned is that a guy who can spell correctly has no life, and gets his jollies picking on someone not really equipped to fight him. Bullying the disabled, sort of. What a dick.
* I imagine Spc. Brown and his dog pal are both healing better and faster as a result of being together. I know I’d do that if I were Brown.
I wonder if marijuana use decreases obesity because it regularizes thyroid function. Hemp oil apparently cures almost everything, though I’m just taking Rick Simpson’s word for that. Haven’t tried it myself.
Hash oil used to be pretty darned good too Bill. Or so I’ve heard.
He was 71 years old…
Yeah, I know “that guy.” Mine wasn’t 71, but he learned everything he needed to know in Army Basic, circa 1940. Only student I ever had who fired the practical with full-house .357 Mags. He knew how to load a revolver the “right” way (hold the grip in his right hand, load cartridges with his left) and it wasn’t his fault that he dropped two cartridges and loaded slower than the students who followed my instructions to hold the cylinder with the weak hand and load with the shooting hand.
He failed the final. (You don’t need to know the details of the law, common sense is enough.) The only other student I ever had do that was literally mentally slow enough that DPS would probably have disqualified him on competency.
But the vast majority of my students are learn-something-every-day types.