This and That #11

I think I have written before about "intersectionality", the new paradigm (a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated) of the left.

Thanks to Steven Hayward  we are treated to the result of the intersection of fantasy and fact.


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I love soup. I eat it, in one flavor or another, just about every morning and have done for years. In an effort to improve my health and reduce the amount of sludge I ingest I switched from conventional condensed soups to Dr. McDougall's soups some time ago. After having tried several offerings I settled on "Hot and Spicy Clear Noodle". I recommend it highly.

Recently I noticed a new flavor on a store shelf. Labelled as a "Chicken flavored vegan noodle soup", I decided to give it a try. It is, in my opinion, awful. Not really a surprise given that of the other 6 or so McDougall offerings I have tried, "Hot and Spicy" is the only one I really like.

I read the rest of the print on the "Chicken flavored vegan noodle soup" container to take my mind off the soup as I ate it, and was struck by the appearance of a version of the Hippocratic Oath.

"No chickens were harmed in the production of this soup". Well, thank goodness.

On the other hand, it seems Dr. McDougall has failed to explore his ethics to their logical conclusion.

If we do not eat chicken eggs and we do not "harm" chickens in the production of human food there will, in short order, be no chickens. After all, they serve only one purpose, sustaining human life.

Is Dr. McDougall really advocating the extinction of chickens? Better call PETA!

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You have probably heard of the new Democratic Socialist Party sensation Alexandria  Ocasio-Cortez who recently defeated a 20 year incumbent in the New York Democratic Party Primary for a House seat. Given the district she won in there is a 100% chance she will be elected to Congress in November.

As you might reasonably conclude given her politics, she is not very well informed. 

For example, when questioned about our historically low unemployment rate she informed her interlocutor that the reason for this is that everyone is working two or three jobs and "can hardly feed their families". 

Apparently this economics graduate of Boston University (about $70,000 per year tuition, board and books) thinks that the unemployment rate is derived from a formula that somehow includes how many jobs are open at any given time. It is not.




I know. How is it possible to have graduated from a major American University and be so hopelessly wrong regarding significant aspects of your Major?

I suppose that a clue might be her profession since graduation; Bartender.

Of course the clueless need like minded followers and she has no shortage of them.

"Democrats are less likely to know what socialism is compared to other voters but have a much more favorable opinion of it." Emphasis added.

Makes sense to me.



        
                                           

Fascism, American Style

It is great to live in America. We have plenty of problems, of course. We always have and we always will.

On the other hand, one of most violent left wing political creeds has been neutered here. Fascism is now defanged!

Since long before his election President Trump (like Reagan, Bush, and Bush two) has been likened to Hitler and declared a Fascist.

Unlike the Fascist governments that preceded our American version, Franco's Spain, Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, opponents of the American Fascist government constantly point out its flaws and, alas, remain alive and free to continue to do so.

A thoroughly welcome advancement.

You see, Franco's Spain had its Gaurdia Civil, happy to arrest and imprison critics at their whim. Hitler, of course, had his Brownshirts and Gestapo. Criticizing the government or any member of it was a death sentence quickly and brutally delivered. I don't know enough about Mussolini's infrastructure to tell you who murdered his critics.

The American version is, apparently, so much more benign that it closely resembles a constitutional democracy.

American Fascist Cabinet member Scott Pruitt is confronted and lectured at in a public restaurant.

American Fascist Cabinet member Kierstjen Neilsen confronted and jeered at in a public restaurant.

American Fascist spokesperson Sarah Sanders is asked to leave a public restaurant. Rather than call in armed ICE agents to arrest and murder the restaurant owner she...gets up and leaves.

Consequences for the poor behavior of the complaining citizens? None.

I am reasonably sure that the victims of previous non-American Fascist regimes would prefer the American version's outcomes.

Of course, pretty much the whole world prefers American version outcomes. That is why our culture is popular everywhere ( ok, the Iranian government doesn't like us much and then there are the jihadists, but still, most people like us) and people from all over the world risk their lives to emigrate here.

There is a curious irony in all the Fascism talk. A significant number of those insisting our government is run by Fascists are the only ones who actually look and act like Fascists.



Want to double the irony dose? Antifa stands for "anti-facist".