Monthly Archives: August 2016
Last weekend my wife and I took a first aid certification class because you never know when a situation might come up when first aid is needed. We were introduced to all the techniques you would think we’d be introduced to: CPR, bandaging wounds, treating shock, helping choking victims, etc. At the end of the class, we were told we were now “first aid trained” and the “certification” would last for two years.
All well and good, but I don’t feel particularly trained, or not trained enough to qualify as someone who in an emergency can say “I’m trained in first aid, let me handle this.” I’m hopeful that I could rise to the occasion if one presents itself. I hope even more that occasion never comes.
The best peanut butter is:
— Will Truman (@trumwill) August 27, 2016
He stuck the landing. #SCtop10 (via @WFLAPaul) pic.twitter.com/ReG0t9q0AD
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 27, 2016
It’s interesting how sometimes you have a political passing observation about something, consider it true but probably not that important, but that becomes incredibly important. Think of it like “Those tires are looking kind of thin” thirty minutes before they blow open on the Interstate. A few years ago I thought to myself, “You know, first past the post isn’t a good way to hold primary votes.” I was thinking more for things like senate races, but that actually became very important. In early 2015, I thought “I think people are overestimating the ease with which Jeb Bush will win the nomination. This might be the year the establishment loses” This struck me as potentially important, but I thought at the time it might mean that Scott Walker or, worst case, Ted Cruz. And here we are.
Perhaps the most important of these things was about immigration. After running some numbers, it became apparent that the “Campaign Autopsy” as it related to the Hispanic vote and Comprehensive Immigration Reform simply wasn’t true. There were a lot of things responsible for the GOP’s loss, but the Hispanic vote wasn’t really among them. They didn’t put that in there as an analysis of what the party needed to do in some irrefutable need, but what its leaders wanted to do. With that, it became obvious that even after the failure to pass anything in 2013, the party really was going to screw the immigration restrictionists as soon as it could. Since I am uncommitted on the issue, this realization made me neither elated nor angry. It was mostly just an observation. One that would become very important. (more…)
Nigel Farage To Tell ‘Brexit Story’ At Trump Rally In Mississippi
He said that just as Brexiteers mobilised a “people’s army”, so too can Mr Trump in the United States.
Mr Farage told the show: “I’m telling a story about Brexit, and it’s a story that if the grassroots Republicans pick up, and if they understand that what they’ve got to do is not just sit in their armchairs, they’ve got to get out, put their walking boots on, deliver leaflets, go out and meet these people in the communities.
“In a sense what I’m saying is that we mobilised a people’s army in the United Kingdom that went out and spoke to everybody and got them down the polls, the same thing can happen here.”
1) Trump shouldn’t be in Mississippi.
2) Foreign politicians should not campaign in American elections. Even if no “endorsement” per se.
3) Presidential nominees should not invite foreign secessionists into Confederate States. Ever.Photo by Gage Skidmore 
A lot of Republicans – including Rudy Giuliani – are trying to make an issue of Hillary Clinton’s health. With the exception of a photo here and there that looks less than flattering, this is mostly a product of her age. Some have argued sexism, but other than a general belief in sexism and female age, there’s just not much reason to believe that’s especially true. It’s not as though we haven’t been here before.
The media’s dismissal has lead to some accusations of media bias, because of Bob Dole above and John McCain in 2008. Hillary Clinton will be 69 before election day, Dole and McCain were 72. One could argue that 70 is the cut-off, but there’s no special reason it might be. More likely it’s that while there are allegations that Hillary Clinton has health problems, Dole and McCain both had actual infirmities going back to their war experience.
Now, surely, it seems cruddy to penalize those two men for serving their country. It’s not especially fair. But it is what it is. Bob Dole had to shake with his left hand, and John McCain can’t raise his arms and had skin cancer to boot. Sucks, but there you go. Also, both McCain and Dole were running against young Democrats, putting the age issue in play. It’s possible that if Rubio or maybe even Cruz (though he looks older than his years) had won the Republican nomination, we’d be having a different conversation. Or maybe not. (more…)
I was rather excited when my cousin and/or his wife (it was a dual account) added me as a friend on Facebook. I am not especially close to them, as we’re ten years apart in age and I’m square in between him and his son, but family is family and I was not not-close to them either, as far as cousins in that branch go.
Then I started getting the messages from them.
Evidently, my cousin and/or his wife has latched on to what appears to me to be a pyramid scheme of sorts. Well, if not a pyramid scheme, then a multi-level marketing program with a flimsy pretext. I like to think that I’m a relatively smart guy and even I had some difficulty with understanding what was being purchased and sold. It seemed like game credits of some sort. Everything about it, including my failure to understand it, was a red flag.
I ignored it, which worked for less than a day before I started getting more and more messages about how great this is. Including a link to some assistant football coach who was talking about it. I learned in subsequent messages that it was my cousin’s wife trying to sell me up, which made sense. It seems much more like the sort of thing that she would get into. My cousin is friendly enough, but not the most social person in the world. She’s very social and while not dumb a little bit on the gullible side sometimes. She forwards emails with some rather crazy (political) theories.
I didn’t watch the video, but I knew that I was going to have to say something. I told them while I appreciate the thought I was not interested. I haven’t heard from them since.
Facebook has become less pleasant as time goes by. I used to like it as a bit of an escape from the Will Truman part of my life, but weirdly enough Will Truman has taken it over. Which is to say that its algorithms so deeply favor my Ordinary Times friends that it feels like I never left. I’m not kidding. Though I only have about 10 OT-related friends on Facebook (out of 150 or so total), nine of the first ten items on my feed are from OT people, and twenty of the first thirty are. I just checked.
And weirdly enough, those that aren’t are people I rarely respond to for the most part. I simply don’t understand where it’s coming from on this. I don’t want to block my OT people because I am interested in what’s going on with them. I’m just not interested solely in them.
{Disregard the tweet its attached to}
Tfw people starting arguing in your mentions and you have no escape pic.twitter.com/GYGuolC7lm
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) August 24, 2016