Scattershooting while wondering why Jason Garrett could be retained as Cowboys coach after this season, when it’s so clear he has either zero, or negative, influence on performance…
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“BLACK FRIDAY” MATERIALISM: Here we go yet again with more pathetic stories of “Black Friday” violence and mayhem. I’ve already spoken my piece about this festering sore on the face of society. Instead I’ll add a thought on the root phenomenon: materialism. Materialism necessarily occurs at the expense of spirituality. This idolatry of the tangible possession is but a small symptom, among many, of a far greater neglect manifest on both individual and collective levels in society, and in every case, the common denominator is the supremacy of self.
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GREG SCHIANO and ONLINE LYNCH MOBS: This is a pointed essay on how the “virtue signaling” mob mentality of emotion-driven, reactionary and vindictive social-media hordes, with no more basis than unsubstantiated hearsay, undermined someone’s career and changed the future of U. Tennessee and college football in mere hours. I’m not a fan of Schiano, for other reasons involving his coaching itself. Only time will tell if they hire a good coach and go on to success, or not. Both points are really beside the point. The issue at hand is about mob justice, a phenomenon rooted in emotion and not reason. As the author noted: “This is no better (in some ways it is worse) than what they did during the Salem Witch Trials.” It really is the very worst of the thoughtless herd mentality, as Clarence Thomas once infamously put it well before today’s time, a “high-tech lynching”. We see it so much across social media, this ten-second attention-span, mindless mob justice. Unjust idiocy!
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ALGEBRA = “WHITE PRIVELEGE”:
As a texter might say: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! That premise is so preposterous and irrational as to be deranged. Algebra began in Babylonia and was refined geometrically in the dark-skinned Middle East (back when Middle Eastern Islamic culture as a whole was advanced, instead of backward). The word “algebra” is Arabic, for crying out loud. Did she read any math history at all? Does she pay any attention to anyone but herself? Many east-Asian and east-Indian people occupy top positions in mathematics and are math faculty nationwide. Many outstanding mathematicians and physical scientists exist of all skin colors. Yet the latest entry in my nutty-professor files claims it’s a symbol of “whiteness”. What a crock of unadulterated horseshit! Math is the language of science, so…by extension, this whack job is necessarily saying science is “white privelege”. Some of these academics have become so detached from history and the real world as to be delusional. Sadly, plenty of gullible students may buy into her racist rubbish.
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TRUMP’S JUDICIAL IMPACT: Readers of this BLOG know I have been (and remain) no fan of Trump’s imprudent and undignified behavior as President, his long history of rank dishonesty and personal immorality, and his general lack of bonafide conservatism. Regardless, when someone does something right, give him just due. Trump already has filled 13 vacancies in the Federal judiciary, the most for a first-year President since Reagan. This is a wonderful and fantastic gift that will keep giving for decades, because not only are so many of them conservative, but also relatively young. For once, the administration and Congress are correctly playing the long game, and right where it matters most. Aside from isolated, unrepresentative examples of seemingly low qualifications for the sake of leftist argumentative convenience, the bulk of the judicial appointees are qualified, rock-solid conservative jurists, and ready to go. Justice Gorsuch is a fine and most meaningful example. I find this great cause for hope for what is left of this nation, in the face of (and counterbalancing) a toxic blast wave of radical-left judges planted by Clinton and Obama, who overstep their bounds and legislate ghoulish social agendas from the bench. Trump obviously is being advised very well on the judicial front, and lo and behold, he appears to be listening, for once. I hope he continues to follow the Federalists and the Heritage Foundation very closely here. And for those on the left who don’t like this state of affairs, please blame fellow liberal Harry Reid for killing the judicial filibuster in 2013. It’s about the only thing I can think to thank him for.
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SELF-DRIVING CARS vs. ETHICS: Self-driving cars and trucks are coming, and in the net, likely will be for the better. When grandma, who can’t see well enough to drive anymore, wants to go get groceries and her hair done, she’ll be able. When the paralyzed veteran needs to get his medical work done, the robocar will take him. When I am old as dirt but still want to be on the dryline outside Shamrock by initiation time…set its target lat/lon and make sure to leave soon enough. [But can it handle quick turnarounds to unknown destinations on-the-fly, 75-mph RFD winds and rapid changes in road conditions?] However, as so often has been the case in history, technology outpaces ethics. Ethics matter! Who gets to live and die if a collision is inevitable? Who decides this: the driver who is in the situation, a car programmer in a Michigan laboratory, or a one-size-fits-all suit-and-tie government bureaucrat in DC? What about unique situations for which programming is not realistic (like tornadic inflow with other vehicles around)? Lots of thought and discussion need to occur to resolve this, before our tendency towards “latest is greatest” recency fallacy kicks in and we rush into this realm.