liberal japonicus

The unwanted guests

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by liberal japonicus There’s so much shit happening, it is hard to keep track. We’ve not talked about it here, but the migrant caravan is a pretty amazing example of when one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong. The fact that a caravan like that, timed perfectly to encourage the Republican/Clickbait base when the elections … Read more

Identity, inside or out: A post for National Coming Out Day

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by liberal japonicus

There was a bit of a back and forth in the comments that started out with musings about changing citizenship and moved into the idea of this post, which, by a bit of synchronicity, goes out shortly after National Coming Out Day (11 Oct), though nothing in the post is specifically about that.

I don’t mean to pile on here, but as someone who is going thru the process that was offhandedly mentioned, it really isn’t as easy as some might think. You might say because I’ve chosen Japan, I’ve made it hard on myself and maybe it would be a lot easier for some other country. That may be true, I’ve not considered taking citizenship in any other country. However, I’ve always thought that the retort to libertarians about going to Somalia had its power not because libertarian principles in Somalia are writ large there but because the apparently simple process of picking up stakes and moving to that libertarian paradise would require so much work that it might wake up the libertarian to how intertwined everything is to our system of laws and government. The easier it is for someone to move to Somalia, the less likely they are to enjoy the privileges afforded by rules and regulations.

more below the fold

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A shitshow for the ages

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by liberal japonicus From this https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-turks-have-tapes The Post is reporting that Turkish officials have told their US counterparts that they have audio and video recordings that prove Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It appears that the claimed video evidence is more circumstantial. The audio evidence would appear to be from … Read more

Sometimes the shit comes down so heavy I feel like I should wear a hat. (a Brexit thread)

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by liberal japonicus From the Guardian A group of remain-backing Tory MPs are plotting to form a rival movement to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s highly effective Eurosceptics, with the aim of voting down Theresa May’s Brexit deal amid concerns that it would wreck the economy. On my distant understanding of this, Rees-Mogg looks to me like the … Read more

Gaming Out Court Packing

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–By Sebastian Justice Kennedy resigning is a horrible blow.  As a gay man I wouldn't say that he always had our back, but he was an ally (in the sense of having very different priorities, yet still working together with us) nonetheless.  If we are going to get through all this we probably need to … Read more

Personal Fears Semi-Open Post

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–Sebastian In this time of Trump, it seems almost indulgent to worry about personal fears of unverifiable things, but we can't let Trump be our only source of misery now can we?  My paternal grandmother had a particularly nasty descent into Alzheimer's disease about 10 years before her death.  The signs started earlier, but she … Read more

Las Vegas shooting victims

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by liberal japonicus [ed. the first two names which were left off and have been added] With the Count's comment here, all of the people killed in the Las Vegas shooting have been listed. I have found no lists of all the wounded, just stories like this Caster, 41, plans to leave Sunrise Hospital and … Read more

Wherein I reveal too much about myself

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by liberal japonicus

For the briefest of milliseconds, I thought of making the title of this post ‘Sexual Harassment is NOT the problem’. There must be some sort of ‘clickbait anon’ group that can deal with this. However, that title is related to the topic, which is below the fold and which I hope doesn’t step on Doc Science’s post.

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AI and the killer joke

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by liberal japonicus A bit of a frivolous post, but there was a Month Python sketch about the killer joke, a joke that was so funny that when people heard it, they would die. While this didn’t reach those heights, it seems that Kiwi AI researchers have inherited that outlook. I look forward to the … Read more

Two choices

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by liberal japonicus Something new that doesn't have math in it. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new book, We were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy is reviewed here by Kevin Young, the Poetry editor of the New Yorker and a poet of great power himself.  Young makes an observation that I find interesting, which is If there’s anything to … Read more

Your proactive cooperator thread

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by liberal japonicus From this link The young Trump campaign aide has been described as a “proactive cooperator” by investigators, a sign he’s being used by Mueller’s team to form a case against other aides — including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was indicted on Monday.  Don't know why, but 'proactive cooperator' struck … Read more

Halfway

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by liberal japonicus We've just passed the halfway point for Las Vegas shooting victims.  Lisa Romero Denise Salmon Burditus Rhonda LeRocque Victor Link Charleston Hartfield Chris Hazencomb Calla Medig Thomas Day, Jr. Jack Beaton Keri Galvan Rocio Guillen Cameron Robinson Jennifer Irvine Candice Bowers Kelsey Breanne Meadows, 28 Stacee Ann Etcheber, 50 Carrie Rae Barnette, … Read more

Robots, get yer robots!

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by liberal japonicus Marty, in the comments, points to this interesting article A 45 year old married father of two with a mortgage and a pair of college educations to fund. The remote yet persistent threat of a nuclear war is not what keeps him up at night. In fact, he might almost see it as … Read more

What we have lost

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by liberal japonicus With this comment by the Count, which names Las Vegas shooting victim Michelle Vo, age 32, 19 out of the 58 victims names,or just about one-third, have been posted as comments. Janie and the Count have been doing this, I went back after I realized what they were doing and added links, but … Read more

But he played such a convincing gay guy in Miss Doubtfire

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by liberal japonicus Not meaning to make light of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, but this was funny: On Oct. 5, The New York Times published a disturbing report detailing sexual harassment allegations against film producer and executive Harvey Weinstein, some of which dated back nearly three decades. After news of the allegations broke, the Weinstein Company fired the 65-year-old … Read more

A confession

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by liberal japonicus I’m a fast reader. Too fast sometimes, and when I drop into ObWi, it’s often more to see that people aren’t reenacting Lord of the Flies. So when the Count started to post single names, my eyes went right over them. Janie joined in. I didn’t notice until an offlist email from … Read more

A fairy tale

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by liberal japonicus

This story recently caught my eye

https://www.salon.com/2017/10/03/nypd-cop-who-assaulted-tennis-star-james-blake-is-suing-him-the-city-and-many-many-more/

In "Ways of Grace," Blake details the arrest, using it as a springboard to talk about broader issues of social justice and how law enforcement treats black Americans. Frascatore said that he became "very angry and upset while reading it," telling the Post and that he plans to sue for emotional distress and slander.

The suit, or more specifically, the threat of it, prompted the fairy tale below the fold

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What I did during my summer vacation part 1

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by liberal japonicus

Below the fold, a medical story that may be of interest to:

-men of a certain age (over 50)
-people interested in national health comparisons
-people interested in how Japan may be refracted thru their health care

If you are not interested in hearing details about my health, I encourage you to skip this. Ret's go…

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Your pet(s)

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by liberal japonicus

Regular commenter wonkie posted this and I wanted to lift it to the front page. She wrote:
My dog rescue book has just become available on Amazon. It’s the story of the rescue of the Olympic Animal Sanctuary dogs—the largest dog rescue to be carried out without support of local authorities. It’s is a story of assaults, protests, lawsuits,and small town corruption and abuse of power. I took me two years to write. The text includes the police files released under state law, eye witness accounts, lots of photos, and additional essays by professional dog behaviorists. All proceeds will be donated to the rescues that took in the surviving dogs.

She said that the proceeds will go to
Safe Haven in Nevada (facebook)
Lionel’s Legacy in California
Gentle Giants in New Jersey
Chicagoland Eskie Rescue
AARF in Seattle
and others if there is more money. Buy the book, check out the websites.

I’d also like to point out that wonkie also published a book of short stories, one of which she shared in a post here. You can get that at this link. (she published it under a different name)

Below the fold, stories about my pets and in the comments, you are encouraged to talk about your pets.

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Irma

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by liberal japonicus this from http://grist.org/article/irma-the-strongest-atlantic-hurricane-in-history-keeps-getting-stronger/ via LGM Should the hurricane make landfall in Florida or elsewhere in the Southeast, it will set a regrettable record — the first-ever back-to-back U.S. landfalls of Category 4 or higher storms. Hurricane Harvey’s catastrophic impact in Texas and Louisiana now ranks as the worst natural disaster in U.S. … Read more

Your John McCain open thread

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by liberal japonicus Cracking open a new thread from the recent comments about John McCain's no vote. Some interesting things in the comments about this, which I will let others expand on, but two links from Nigel and wonkie. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/mccain-goes-high/535218/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joe-biden-john-mccain_us_597cb903e4b0da64e8797fa9 Please play the ball, not the man, I have a feeling that the latter … Read more

Posted without comment

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by liberal japonicus Currently working on a paper on metaphor, and in Galinsky & Glucksberg, (2000) Inhibition of the literal: Metaphors and idioms as judgmental primes, the following was used as an experimental prime: Donald spent a great amount of his time in search of what he liked to call excitement. He had already climbed Mount … Read more

Romans and Greek elections

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by liberal japonicus The title comes from Harold McMillan's line about the British being the Greeks to the US Romans. He said it several times, probably to make sure that we understood it, here is a longer version from a letter to Richard Crossman (whose diaries inspired the Yes Minister series) We, my dear Crossman, … Read more

liberal japonicus

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par japonicus liberal I’ve been working on the handbook for a conference and have just finished it, barring any last minute changes, so I’ve not been able to really do anything else. I really don’t want to post over the good Doctor’s fascinating thoughts about alchemy and the Calico project (please check them out below), … Read more

Robert Pirsig

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by liberal japonicus Immediately after I made my previous post, I saw in my FB feed that Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, had passed away. At the risk of having everyone think that we are going to have more regular postings here, I’m posting something I wrote on Facebook … Read more

for your weekend reading

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by liberal japonicus Something to prime the pump for the weekend. All readings of human history have to allow for the possibility of a negative outcome. It haunts us in the zombie movie, the disaster movie, in the post-apocalytic wasteland of films such as The Road or Elysium. But why should we not form a … Read more

We are truly screwed

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by liberal japonicus from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/fate-furious-director-tough-cuba-shoot-movies-hell-yeah-moment-993053 Did you have a personal favorite race sequence? Well, I'll give the filmmaker answer: I loved them all. But I will say that the New York sequence really stands out to me because for Charlize Theron's character to remotely control a thousand vehicles from a billion-dollar jet above Manhattan, weaponize these … Read more

Hillary and feminism

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by liberal japonicus Well, I guess we can't tell jokes all the time. This Guardian excerpt from Susan Bordo's book The Destruction of Hillary Clinton is up. Confession: I think she is spot on. A graf: Sanders’s branding of Hillary as establishment, however, seemed vastly unjust and corrosively divisive to me, especially when delivered to a … Read more