However the sunshine returned this morning and temperatures are headed back into the 70's and 80's over the next few days or so.
That works for me.
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Sarah Hoyt delves into Robert A. Heinlein, showing us that even all these years after his passing he still has a lot to teach us about the world and the humans living on it.
I started reading Heinlein as a teenager as the world around me fell into dual madness, because more and more of my teachers were boomers full of the ideas of the late sixties early seventies, and the country itself was spiraling further and further into Marxist insanity.That's something the Bernie Bros and those like them still have to learn. Someone somewhere has to pay for all the 'free stuff' that would be handed out. (Need a quick lesson how the 'free stuff' doesn't work? Then look to Venezuela. Once they used up every dime of “other people's money”, the 'free stuff' gravy train screeched to a halt...and then the wheels fell off.)
Heinlein’s books were a refuge, where logic made sense, things worked, and I often found that he could explain things I couldn’t. Or not explain exactly, but get beneath the level of indoctrination and slogans, to make people understand the other point of view.
--snip--
And all through it, the idea of TAANSTAFL (There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch) first made my mind explode, and then made sense of the world for me, for once and all.
When I was offered “free” goodies by leftist candidates; when people told me they were entitled to others’ money or time; when parasites of various kinds reared their ugly bloated heads, I thought TAANSTAFL, because that’s the ultimate truth of the universe. There is never something for nothing.
Sarah goes on to explain how much of what Heinlein wrote opened her eyes and those of many others to what was and not what others thought they should be. As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.
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What is “white privilege”? People seem to know what it means, but the question is do they actually know what it is as compared to what many of the racist 'non-racists' tell what it is?
The answer, unfortunately, is no.
Maybe this will help stem their confusion.
I'd grant that there exists something akin to "white privilege" in the USA, as in all of the western world. It happens to be more like "cultural privilege" than anything to do with skin tone. I am talking about individual qualities which are most in demand and most effective in western cultures.One of those things that “white privilege” promotes is a work ethic, something else that has come to be called racist.
The markings of cultural privilege are most easily internalized by upbringing, and secondarily by good examples (eg coaches, relatives) and formal education. Good socialization. Wealth is only incidentally associated, not causal, because lots of rich kids are complete a-holes. The western world (except for England) has no caste system, but it has an informal cultural caste system and everybody is aware of it. It has nothing to do with IQ or where you grew up or went to college, but it has to do with how you comport yourself, how properly and grammatically you speak and write, manners and grace, dress, good humor, level of sophistication, being a good dinner companion, playing sports, staying out of trouble with the law, being able to discuss books, and other sorts of things that some people sum up as "presentable."
Just when I thought they couldn't get any stupider.
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Despite the bleating of San Juan's Democrat mayor, Donald Trump has not been ignoring the catastrophe in Puerto Rico, nor has he botched the response.
A number of other Puerto Rican politicians have pointed out that the mayor's view on what's been happening (or not happening, according to her claims) do not match reality. Angel Perez, the mayor of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, criticized Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz's remarks, stating “She's not participating in any meetings.” Perez hasn't seen any evidence of the lack of help, and has not seen Cruz meeting with any of the FEMA nor communicating with them.
That changes the picture of what's going on, doesn't it?
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That everyone is slamming the New York Times for their idiocy in regards to Trump's tax reform plan is not a surprise. The Newspaper of Record has lost its editorial mind, complaining that “the plan would not benefit lower income households that do not pay federal income taxes.”
Uh, yeah.
Many of them receive an Earned Income Tax Credit, meaning even though they didn't pay taxes, they get a 'refund'. Why would anyone think these same folks should receive even more than they do now when it's all of the rest of us who do pay income taxes that make it possible for them to receive the benefits they presently receive? It's always easy for folks like those at the NYT to offer our money rather freely to those who cannot (or worst, will not) work for a living. It's easy when it isn't their money they're giving away.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer weather is returning, the summerfolk aren't and the leaf peepers will make their presence known any time now.