There she goes, my beautiful world
It’s unclear why anyone is surprised by Bernie Sanders’ tax return. The outrage appears entirely manufactured built on distortions and an assumption that no one will check facts.1
Senator Sanders’s tax filing is simple, easy to read, and contains no surprises at all. His income is close to exactly what one would expect2 and his deductions are all common, or should be.3
Yet still we see posts like this:
… Read the restSanders claims $8,946 in Unreimbursed
Pop quiz for self-described Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, and Classic Liberals.1 What is your first thought when you see this headline from an article in today’s Wall Street Journal?
PayPal Cancels Plan for Facility in North Carolina, Citing Transgender Law
Choose the one option which most closely corresponds to your belief:
Dear FBI—
I understand that sometimes government is slow to get technology right. And I fully sympathize; it’s hard to keep up with all the trends and new gadgets and accessories. Everything changes so quickly these days.
But this news is disappointing. It’s just wasteful. Those iPhones are expensive. I know; I have one. What with this being an election year, all the candidates are promising to cut waste. It might not be too long before you can’t even get a … Read the rest
I hate it when politicians lie. I hate it when everyone else lies, too, but politicians are a special case. Lies usurp power by channeling people’s actions in the wrong direction. Some kinds of misinformation are more dangerous than others, but none are more frightening to me than those used to manipulate people into giving over political power. Abusing power to gain power simply can’t end well.
This is why I love the fact-checking websites. As with any other sources of … Read the rest
Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign just ended.
Hopefully I won’t have to eat those words; it’s the risk one takes when making predictions, and there are plenty of ways I could be misconstruing the results of last night’s Iowa Caucus. I’m not a political expert, nor am I immune to the lure of thinking something to be so because I want it to be so. It would be irrational to count him out, but in considering a candidate so anti-rational as Trump, … Read the rest
I took the course that gives me access to 3D printers at TechShop. See my post at Positronic Works!… Read the rest
The shocker headline, A US town has rejected a proposal for a solar farm following public concerns that solar panels ‘suck up all the energy from the sun’ is such a good illustration that the word following is a journalistic weasel word that it has been added to the list of ways which so-called journalists (as well as real ones) mislead us here on Monochromatic Outlook. The headline from the primary source reads, Woodland rejects solar farm. The … Read the rest
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s comments during oral arguments1 in Fisher v University of Texas at Austin generated controversy both in news and social media. Some are suggesting that Scalia is revealing himself to be a bigot
Scalia has had these sorts of accusations pointed at him several times, and I’ve found it instructive to seek out the court opinions or arguments from which the comments come. For the most part, the accusations have been completely groundless. For example, he … Read the rest
Fox News is telling us there is a war on police.
First, it is galling that Sheriff Lewis can sit there with a straight face and say that the people lack accountability. Coming from a uniformed law enforcement professional, that’s rich. He could shoot a handcuffed, sleeping person in the head with a crowd of reporters watching and cameras rolling and the worst that might happen to him is losing his pension. Unless the person he executed was also … Read the rest
It’s sad and dangerous how easy it is (for everyone) to misunderstand a slogan and react defensively. When a belief is condensed to a few words, it necessarily assumes a whole set of contexts, contexts a reader of that slogan may misunderstand. There are examples of brilliant writing where tremendous nuance has been conveyed in only three words; they are exceedingly rare.
Three-word slogans put into hashtags seem to clarify and encapsulate meaning to their authors, and to the people who … Read the rest