Democrats hate deeply and assume that Republicans hate as deeply as they do. Psychological projection is real. Joe Biden doesn’t trust the Secret Service. “The Secret Service is full of white ex-cops from the South who tend to be deeply conservative.”
“Musk has apparently swung to the far right — banning journalists from Twitter while reinstating neo-Nazis— I’m horrified to be associated with his brand whenever I drive anywhere.”
” If there’s one demographic that is unlikely to buy a Tesla, it’s the climate change deniers and anti-science voices he’s been cozying up to.”
“Musk has turned Twitter into an unsupervised playground for neo-Nazis and other random hatemongers and wackadoodle QAnon followers, embraced everything Trumpian and responded tepidly to Kanye West’s outrageous flirtation with Hitler.”
That this dishonest, morally damaged jerk was given an opinion piece in the LA Times says a lot about our news media.
Should anyone go to prison for the lies and scare tactics used against Ivermectin? Government lied and people died.
Should Fauci be tried for crimes against humanity? He knowingly funded a bioweapon that killed millions. And lied about it to Congress.
huxley,
I just read your comment from yesterday’s open thread about “Atlas Shrugged.” Your opinion tracks with mine. I get that it’s not the greatest novel, from a pure prose standpoint, but it is very effective in conveying the themes it outlines. Like you, I am often reminded of the plot when witnessing politicians and the affects of their policies in the past, several decades. Hillary Clinton especially seems like a character straight from its pages, come to life.
Conservatives so often malign that Conservatives don’t do enough to impact the culture; which influences how people think and vote. Yet so many of those same Conservatives revel in looking down at one of the great, cultural touchstones conveying Conservative ideals in popular media. “Atlas Shrugged” has been an extremely impactful work of art.
I don’t watch “South Park” often. Stone and Parker use crudity more often than I prefer. But I recognize their brilliance and creativity. “South Park” has probably moved more young people away from the Democrat party than all the issues of “National Review” combined.
“ASTONISHING”
Indeed!
“Biden White House Takes Offensive Against GOP Oversight Demands”— https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/biden-administration-white-house-jim-jordan/2022/12/29/id/1102305/
Opening graf:
“The Biden White House is taking the offensive against incoming House Republicans and their plans to launch oversight actions once the next session of Congress starts, sending letters through a special counsel informing Reps. James Comer, R-Ky., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that the administration has no plans at this time to respond to the records requests they have been making….”
It’s very revealing to read how many leftists are virulently opposed to free speech. Musk will allow “reasoned debate” on a public medium. The horror!
I used to travel by plane a great deal and flew Southwest more than any other carrier. They weren’t always the most convenient but they earned my business through outstanding customer service and good fares. For several years now I often choose other carriers based on fares. Southwest’s rates do not seem overly competitive. And this debacle over the past week seems so contrary to the company I used to know, where every employee at every level was empowered to make decisions in real time. Also, there computer system and on-line systems were ahead of their time.
Herb Kelleher was such a unique, American individual. He was such a big part of that company and what made it great. Perhaps his death has damaged them more than I anticipated?
Southwest sure made a huge mistake. When I was flying everything was eventually computerized, but we still had a Plan B because the computers didn’t always work as advertised. We still knew how to get our own weather briefings, fill out a paper flight plan, and get our clearances. And there were still people manning the crew desks. Experienced people who knew how to rejigger schedules, change crew assignments, get reserves into the system and keep things moving. None of the other airlines seems to have been so affected. It’s pretty clear that Southwest’s computer system failed them at a very bad time.
There are some pundits who are saying that Southwest knew the system needed updating. If so, they’re going to have to get moving. They have lost millions of dollars as well as passenger trust that’s hard to redeem.
Southwest has been one of the better success stories since airline deregulation began. It’s a shame their management wasn’t on top of this issue. But it’s a tragedy that so many people have been stranded, lost their bags, and missed Christmas with their families. Unfortunately, it’s kind of a metaphor for the way this country has been working since Biden took over.
Re: Ayn Rand
Rufus T. Firefly:
Thanks for the response. I sometimes wonder where Rand stands with today’s conservatives. There was big noticeable bump in “Atlas” sales after Obama was elected. I wasn’t the only one then who noticed her prophecies were being fulfilled.
There are a surprising number of documentaries on Rand out there. However, it’s clear she remains a cult figure, lacking mainstream support from the left, right and center.
I once read a biography of Rand. After she completed “Atlas” she was worn out, wrung out and done. She had said what she needed to say, finally, and in her way she shrugged.
She spent the next year doing nothing except playing solitaire.
“It’s pretty clear that Southwest’s computer system failed them at a very bad time.”
I would say it was the s***heads that made bank on the “rot in place” IT strategy.
Must be nice to fly around on private jets on the taxpayers’ dime all the time and deal with transportation crises back home by phoning it in from Europe:
OTOH, he doesn’t have to worry about Sam Brinton pilfering his suitcases.
My favorite headline on the Southwest Airlines mess, from James Freeman, WSJ “Best of the Web Today”: “Southwest Airlines Suddenly Reduces Emissions; Not flying saves fuel, but there’s a downside.”
If the Titanic hadn’t sank, would we remember it at all today?
Would it have just ended up as scrap melted down to make something else?
Abraxas:
Ocean liner buffs would remember. And it was especially big and luxurious, so it would have been at least somewhat of a standout for those who are interested in such things.
I’m still obsessing on French Ye-ye music — at the moment Francoise Hardy’s first great hit:
At Christmas Day dinner I was talking Ye-ye with a French-American woman who’d grown up Martinique. She asked me if I knew Hardy, but she pronounced the name, “ar-DEE,” which I should have recognized, but the room was loud and I am an American barbarian.
We straightened it out. I know Hardy, but mostly skipped over her for France Gall. Now I’m catching up and Hardy is amazing. (I also realize my dinner friend may have modeled her look on Francoise Hardy.)
I’ve been here before — in love with a French song and longing to understand the words. I want to learn French, again. It’s late in the day, but what the heck.
Have you learned a foreign language as an adult?
What worked? What didn’t?
There are quite a lot of resources for learning languages on the web.
I had used the Michael Thomas course for Spanish and liked his format, but although I am one-quarter Mexican and I live in New Mexico, I can muster no enthusiasm for learning Spanish. I feel guilty, but there it is.
Michael Thomas has a course for French, but some Amazon reviewers say he has an odd accent and I know I’m going to have enough trouble getting the accent right.
So I’m looking at Language Transfer’s French, which is similar to MT’s approach, but has a better accent. Plus the price is right — free!
Turns out there is a global subculture of people who enjoy learning languages outside school with lots to say about the process.
Huxley,
I had two years of high school Spanish and feel exactly like you about it – guiltily unenthusiastic – and two years of French in college. Never progressed beyond that with either. Also like you, I would like to be proficient in French.
However, when it came time to start a language when home schooling, I chose Spanish as my husband can actually communicate at a basic level in that language. All those Baja surf trips, ha ha!
Anyway, the Calvert program we used was the easiest language study I’ve ever experienced. Possibly because it was geared to elementary age kids or just a clever approach, it was similar to baby talk. Not googoo, gaga baby talk, but the very simple language we use when talking to children beginning to speak. The verbs were all the action/basic life words we first teach/learn. Eat, drink, give, come, sit, stand, STOP!, etc. And the nouns were things small children would have experience of or handle. My Spanish vocabulary expanded so fast I decided to switch to French the next year and finally advance in it. Alas, they changed to another program – not nearly as good. If you come across a program like the one I’ve described please share!
Molly Brown:
It’s great you are homeschooling! The Calvert site looks interesting, though it’s a catalog of resources for Christians and not a specific language learning program, so I understand what happened with your course.
I like the idea of learning language in a manner similar to children. I’m not above reading children’s books to get the lay of the land when learning something new. Did the Spanish course you liked have a name I could look up?
I was once intrigued by a book called LAMP, “Language Acquisition Made Practical,” which was oriented to Christian missionaries getting up to speed in their new communities, particularly without textbooks. There seems to be a backlash to that approach:
I think people can learn just about anything if they stick with it. Maintaining motivation is the key. Which is why I’m going for French now. I’m a good self-learner. I can tell I’ve got the passion cued up and that makes all the difference.
I’m basically memorizing the Hardy song now plus its English translation. I don’t get grammar this way, but it works for vocabulary and accent and getting my brain wired for French. I enjoy it, so it doesn’t feel like something I “should” do.
Of course, I will need more than this to learn French, but songs will provide a reservoir of material which I can connect up as I learn more structure.
According to wiki, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame was the session guitarist on “Tous les garçons et les filles.”
One last thing…
I’m switching between listening to the song while reading the lyrics on paper and watching the YouTube with subtitles.
The French don’t bother to pronounce a fair number of syllables and letters, so it’s tricky to connect the oral and the written.
The music video contains sections with Hardy’s face in full close-up. Suddenly, it’s so much easier to put her voice with the written word!
Then I think of all the Covid masking, how for two years we went without seeing facial expressions.
I knew that was a bad idea, especially, especially for children.
HUxley,
Sorry, I was not clear. The kids finished Calvert (it went through the 8th grade) years ago. Since then, this wonderful program was bought by a venture capital firm and radically changed. And not for the better. I’m glad I saved all their work and most of the materials to use as a template if the grandkids go the homeschool route. Unfortunately, I lost the Spanish program materials. I’ll have to do an Ebay search for them. You can find the old materials there sometimes – I hear they are in demand and I’m not surprised. What happened to Calvert is a case study in how Corporatism and liberalism ruin everything, but it’s too long a story to go into here.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/28/book-joe-biden-doesnt-trust-his-secret-service-fears-maga-sympathizers-in-ranks/
Democrats hate deeply and assume that Republicans hate as deeply as they do. Psychological projection is real. Joe Biden doesn’t trust the Secret Service. “The Secret Service is full of white ex-cops from the South who tend to be deeply conservative.”
More hate.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/op-ed-i-bought-a-tesla-to-help-the-environment-now-i-m-embarrassed-to-drive-it/ar-AA15Jxpo?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=110a7a316813402db1ea5c8b43c0132d
“Musk has apparently swung to the far right — banning journalists from Twitter while reinstating neo-Nazis— I’m horrified to be associated with his brand whenever I drive anywhere.”
” If there’s one demographic that is unlikely to buy a Tesla, it’s the climate change deniers and anti-science voices he’s been cozying up to.”
“Musk has turned Twitter into an unsupervised playground for neo-Nazis and other random hatemongers and wackadoodle QAnon followers, embraced everything Trumpian and responded tepidly to Kanye West’s outrageous flirtation with Hitler.”
That this dishonest, morally damaged jerk was given an opinion piece in the LA Times says a lot about our news media.
Should anyone go to prison for the lies and scare tactics used against Ivermectin? Government lied and people died.
Should Fauci be tried for crimes against humanity? He knowingly funded a bioweapon that killed millions. And lied about it to Congress.
huxley,
I just read your comment from yesterday’s open thread about “Atlas Shrugged.” Your opinion tracks with mine. I get that it’s not the greatest novel, from a pure prose standpoint, but it is very effective in conveying the themes it outlines. Like you, I am often reminded of the plot when witnessing politicians and the affects of their policies in the past, several decades. Hillary Clinton especially seems like a character straight from its pages, come to life.
Conservatives so often malign that Conservatives don’t do enough to impact the culture; which influences how people think and vote. Yet so many of those same Conservatives revel in looking down at one of the great, cultural touchstones conveying Conservative ideals in popular media. “Atlas Shrugged” has been an extremely impactful work of art.
I don’t watch “South Park” often. Stone and Parker use crudity more often than I prefer. But I recognize their brilliance and creativity. “South Park” has probably moved more young people away from the Democrat party than all the issues of “National Review” combined.
“ASTONISHING”
Indeed!
“Biden White House Takes Offensive Against GOP Oversight Demands”—
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/biden-administration-white-house-jim-jordan/2022/12/29/id/1102305/
Opening graf:
“The Biden White House is taking the offensive against incoming House Republicans and their plans to launch oversight actions once the next session of Congress starts, sending letters through a special counsel informing Reps. James Comer, R-Ky., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that the administration has no plans at this time to respond to the records requests they have been making….”
Actually, not so astonishing…
And…Ric Grenell at his very, very best:
“Ric Grenell to Newsmax: They Can ‘Destroy’ Musk, But Only If We Let Them”—
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/elon-musk-free-speech-outsider/2022/12/28/id/1102267/
Would seem that Southwest Airlines is merely(!) a metaphor for the “Biden” Administration (and what it has in store for America)…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/southwest-cancels-thousands-more-flights-operational-meltdown-continues
It’s very revealing to read how many leftists are virulently opposed to free speech. Musk will allow “reasoned debate” on a public medium. The horror!
I used to travel by plane a great deal and flew Southwest more than any other carrier. They weren’t always the most convenient but they earned my business through outstanding customer service and good fares. For several years now I often choose other carriers based on fares. Southwest’s rates do not seem overly competitive. And this debacle over the past week seems so contrary to the company I used to know, where every employee at every level was empowered to make decisions in real time. Also, there computer system and on-line systems were ahead of their time.
Herb Kelleher was such a unique, American individual. He was such a big part of that company and what made it great. Perhaps his death has damaged them more than I anticipated?
Southwest sure made a huge mistake. When I was flying everything was eventually computerized, but we still had a Plan B because the computers didn’t always work as advertised. We still knew how to get our own weather briefings, fill out a paper flight plan, and get our clearances. And there were still people manning the crew desks. Experienced people who knew how to rejigger schedules, change crew assignments, get reserves into the system and keep things moving. None of the other airlines seems to have been so affected. It’s pretty clear that Southwest’s computer system failed them at a very bad time.
There are some pundits who are saying that Southwest knew the system needed updating. If so, they’re going to have to get moving. They have lost millions of dollars as well as passenger trust that’s hard to redeem.
Southwest has been one of the better success stories since airline deregulation began. It’s a shame their management wasn’t on top of this issue. But it’s a tragedy that so many people have been stranded, lost their bags, and missed Christmas with their families. Unfortunately, it’s kind of a metaphor for the way this country has been working since Biden took over.
Re: Ayn Rand
Rufus T. Firefly:
Thanks for the response. I sometimes wonder where Rand stands with today’s conservatives. There was big noticeable bump in “Atlas” sales after Obama was elected. I wasn’t the only one then who noticed her prophecies were being fulfilled.
There are a surprising number of documentaries on Rand out there. However, it’s clear she remains a cult figure, lacking mainstream support from the left, right and center.
I once read a biography of Rand. After she completed “Atlas” she was worn out, wrung out and done. She had said what she needed to say, finally, and in her way she shrugged.
She spent the next year doing nothing except playing solitaire.
“It’s pretty clear that Southwest’s computer system failed them at a very bad time.”
I would say it was the s***heads that made bank on the “rot in place” IT strategy.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11580191/Michelle-Obama-admits-raising-kids-Barack-launched-career-strain-marriage.html
Too Much Information.
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/was-buttigieg-asleep-at-the-switch-for-southwest-airlines-holiday-implosion/
Another item in the Buttigieg Hollow Man file.
Another item in the Buttigieg Hollow Man file.
Must be nice to fly around on private jets on the taxpayers’ dime all the time and deal with transportation crises back home by phoning it in from Europe:
https://news.yahoo.com/transportation-secretary-buttigieg-took-personal-181036746.html
OTOH, he doesn’t have to worry about Sam Brinton pilfering his suitcases.
My favorite headline on the Southwest Airlines mess, from James Freeman, WSJ “Best of the Web Today”: “Southwest Airlines Suddenly Reduces Emissions; Not flying saves fuel, but there’s a downside.”
If the Titanic hadn’t sank, would we remember it at all today?
Would it have just ended up as scrap melted down to make something else?
Abraxas:
Ocean liner buffs would remember. And it was especially big and luxurious, so it would have been at least somewhat of a standout for those who are interested in such things.
I’m still obsessing on French Ye-ye music — at the moment Francoise Hardy’s first great hit:
–Francoise Hardy, “Tous les garcons et les filles — All the Boys and Girls” (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPkBMqehr5k
At Christmas Day dinner I was talking Ye-ye with a French-American woman who’d grown up Martinique. She asked me if I knew Hardy, but she pronounced the name, “ar-DEE,” which I should have recognized, but the room was loud and I am an American barbarian.
We straightened it out. I know Hardy, but mostly skipped over her for France Gall. Now I’m catching up and Hardy is amazing. (I also realize my dinner friend may have modeled her look on Francoise Hardy.)
I’ve been here before — in love with a French song and longing to understand the words. I want to learn French, again. It’s late in the day, but what the heck.
Have you learned a foreign language as an adult?
What worked? What didn’t?
There are quite a lot of resources for learning languages on the web.
I had used the Michael Thomas course for Spanish and liked his format, but although I am one-quarter Mexican and I live in New Mexico, I can muster no enthusiasm for learning Spanish. I feel guilty, but there it is.
Michael Thomas has a course for French, but some Amazon reviewers say he has an odd accent and I know I’m going to have enough trouble getting the accent right.
So I’m looking at Language Transfer’s French, which is similar to MT’s approach, but has a better accent. Plus the price is right — free!
https://www.languagetransfer.org/
Turns out there is a global subculture of people who enjoy learning languages outside school with lots to say about the process.
Huxley,
I had two years of high school Spanish and feel exactly like you about it – guiltily unenthusiastic – and two years of French in college. Never progressed beyond that with either. Also like you, I would like to be proficient in French.
However, when it came time to start a language when home schooling, I chose Spanish as my husband can actually communicate at a basic level in that language. All those Baja surf trips, ha ha!
Anyway, the Calvert program we used was the easiest language study I’ve ever experienced. Possibly because it was geared to elementary age kids or just a clever approach, it was similar to baby talk. Not googoo, gaga baby talk, but the very simple language we use when talking to children beginning to speak. The verbs were all the action/basic life words we first teach/learn. Eat, drink, give, come, sit, stand, STOP!, etc. And the nouns were things small children would have experience of or handle. My Spanish vocabulary expanded so fast I decided to switch to French the next year and finally advance in it. Alas, they changed to another program – not nearly as good. If you come across a program like the one I’ve described please share!
Molly Brown:
It’s great you are homeschooling! The Calvert site looks interesting, though it’s a catalog of resources for Christians and not a specific language learning program, so I understand what happened with your course.
I like the idea of learning language in a manner similar to children. I’m not above reading children’s books to get the lay of the land when learning something new. Did the Spanish course you liked have a name I could look up?
I was once intrigued by a book called LAMP, “Language Acquisition Made Practical,” which was oriented to Christian missionaries getting up to speed in their new communities, particularly without textbooks. There seems to be a backlash to that approach:
–“Let The LAMP Die: Missionary Language Learning”
https://www.kouya.net/?p=5850
I think people can learn just about anything if they stick with it. Maintaining motivation is the key. Which is why I’m going for French now. I’m a good self-learner. I can tell I’ve got the passion cued up and that makes all the difference.
I’m basically memorizing the Hardy song now plus its English translation. I don’t get grammar this way, but it works for vocabulary and accent and getting my brain wired for French. I enjoy it, so it doesn’t feel like something I “should” do.
Of course, I will need more than this to learn French, but songs will provide a reservoir of material which I can connect up as I learn more structure.
According to wiki, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame was the session guitarist on “Tous les garçons et les filles.”
One last thing…
I’m switching between listening to the song while reading the lyrics on paper and watching the YouTube with subtitles.
–Francoise Hardy, “Tous les garcons et les filles — All the Boys and Girls” (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPkBMqehr5k
The French don’t bother to pronounce a fair number of syllables and letters, so it’s tricky to connect the oral and the written.
The music video contains sections with Hardy’s face in full close-up. Suddenly, it’s so much easier to put her voice with the written word!
Then I think of all the Covid masking, how for two years we went without seeing facial expressions.
I knew that was a bad idea, especially, especially for children.
HUxley,
Sorry, I was not clear. The kids finished Calvert (it went through the 8th grade) years ago. Since then, this wonderful program was bought by a venture capital firm and radically changed. And not for the better. I’m glad I saved all their work and most of the materials to use as a template if the grandkids go the homeschool route. Unfortunately, I lost the Spanish program materials. I’ll have to do an Ebay search for them. You can find the old materials there sometimes – I hear they are in demand and I’m not surprised. What happened to Calvert is a case study in how Corporatism and liberalism ruin everything, but it’s too long a story to go into here.