It’s an Independence Day Week here at Right Angle as we record this on the Fourth of July. Lots of stories about The Glorious Fourth; Bill explains to the Supreme Court of Yesteryear how to get things right; flag laws and customs, and more ALBERT EINSTEIN than you can shake a stick at (relatively speaking)… all this on so much less on this edition of Right Angle: Backstage.
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19 replies on “Right Angle: Backstage 07/04/23”
I think the continual attempt to “be fair to”, to “not impugn motives to”, to generally allow the benefit of the doubt to those we oppose is wearing thin. We can see the outcomes from the policies of ever more left-wing Democrats, surely they can see those outcomes too. The fact that they persist and redouble their efforts to continue those policies argues they are either very, very stupid, or they have motives we can only define as malign.
English teachers across the country are celebrating!
“Tell me about the bunnies, George…” Great reference. Thanks
The root failure of our republic is the Supreme Court. Our founding fathers expected that politicians in the other two branches would overstep their authority. When the Supreme Court reinterprets the meaning of the Constitution, which stood for more than 100 years, to allow politicians to continue to violate our rights, they are the point of failure in our Republic.
Bill, the reason that only incompetent Republicans run for office in CA is that all of the competent Republican politicians left a long time ago.
Larry Elder was not incompetent. As you pointed out, Gov. French Laundry drove out all of the competent voters
How to insult your associates without coming right out and insulting your associates. THAT was one helluva lesson there…..
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Seems to be a trend?
At the very end when Scott comments that those Pinkerton boys are nicer than they seem reminds me of a story.
First some context. My maternal grandfather fled Italy less than 2 years after Benito became Prime Minister. He realized young that one could never really become successful in a Socialist country. So he went to NYC.
There he started working in the garment district and started learning the trade. Eventually he opened his own dress manufacturing plant in a loft building in Hell’s Kitchen. Making clothing for some high end lines.
The background is important to the anecdote.
Many years later, not long before he died, I had gone for a visit (he was living with my mom and dad by now) and we were watching Goodfellas on HBO or Cinemax. At one point during a scene of very salty language, he grimaced. Worrying that he was in pain, I asked urgently what was wrong.
He simply shook his head and said – they didn’t talk like that. They were always gentlemen to me. Very polite. Yes, I paid them to protect me, but where my shop was located, I was never robbed. But they never said a bad word to me or used that type of language in front of me.
The 40s and 50s and 60s were definitely a different era.
I find it very frustrating that the American Flag can be desecrated with impunity under the 1st Amendment while a mean look at the pride flag is vigorously prosecuted as a hate crime. I find this infuriating.
Begs the question; exactly how do these people continue to win elections?
It’s gonna last.
I moved out of the ATL for the mountain lakes of Northeast Georgia. It wasn’t just my idea, as a whole lot of successful former city dwellers came with me. A bunch of us joined the local Rotary Club. Rotary begins with a prayer and a pledge of allegiance. It ends with a reciting of a code of behavior reminding us of service. God, patriotism, and service win. We are making a difference.
There is no doubt that nefarious purposes were behind the bending of the meaning of the commerce clause. I wonder if something long-term can be done to clarify the plain English meaning of the words. Amendment? Addendum? Spraying it with Windex? (obtuse reference to “My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding.”)
It’s the Asians that brought the Affirmative Action suit, like Bill said. If I’m remembering correctly, Cal Tech actually came out and said that if they used standardized test scores and grades for admission they would have almost exclusively Asians as a student body. My response is “So what?” If I’m Asian and my child works her butt off and is excluded from your school because she’s Asian and they need another minority to be represented who had worse grades and scores, …, well, …, I’d go ballistic. I’ve always felt that if black children had these Asian “Tiger Moms” they would be the ones excluded with high grades.
When I first started my hobby of bird photography, I was at High Island, Texas during the migration. Next to me was a tall, broad-shouldered man with binoculars. His was the dominant demographic at the site. I was shocked. We met because I had mis-named a warbler pointing it out to my wife. He gently corrected me, saying “That’s a juvenile Cerulean Warbler.” I talked to him and found out he had just retired as a millionaire oil magnate to pursue his true passion. He tried to become a park ranger/game warden, but IT WAS TOO HARD TO GET IN!!!! It turns out that lots of very smart, very successful capitalists are frustrated birders and naturalists. So don’t underestimate your park rangers.
There were lots of really smart people in Europe when Einstein sat on that park bench and came up with his postulates. Neils Bohr, for instance. That environment helped, but I cannot rap my head around him imagining riding a beam of light and changing the perception of time.
First, Windex for the win, Keith. Well played.
Second, I put in 7 years with my local Lions International Club. Did a lot of good in the community. I loved the volunteer work. Became a local club president twice, secretary, district level member, but the reason I joined was my dad was a Lion for 35 years when I joined. I did it to do things with him. Best time I have ever had. But with his death, I resigned. Heart wasn’t in it anymore. Meetings were same as you say with Rotary, Pledge of Allegiance, Patriotic Song, and a short prayer. I always wondered how the other service clubs operated. Now that 7 years have passed and I’m nearing retirement, thinking of volunteering again. Wondering if Rotary is similar or different from Lions. Maybe someday you can give more info in the general forum in a topic like Volunteering.
Third, Affirmative Action : it’s not just race, but attitudes. My daughter wanted to teach elementary school kids, and took the academic track from JC to Cal State Monterey Bay. The woke indoctrination just to be a teacher in California was so harsh, so strong, and so steeped into every class, every subject, that while she graduated with honors, she hated what she’d have to become just to get a teaching job. She’s on to other ventures, and happier that she didn’t have to pretend to be wokity-woke just to get a paycheck.
First. My favorite line of the movie is still “You don’t eat meat? We’ll have lamb.”
Second. I’d be a fraud to speak on service when I’m a newbie to Rotary. Our club has the good fortune to have a bunch of folks with deep pockets and generous hearts. In two years we’ve given over $750K in free dental care using retired dentists and volunteer staff. We cover the 40% of county kids who cannot afford their school lunches. And that’s just a couple things. We raise money from parties and silent auctions.
I read a lot of Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, and, believe it or not Malcolm X regarding affirmative action. It defines Blacks as “less than”. Now we have to pretend that a combination of bad parenting, bad communities, few fathers around, few role models worth emulating, and no desire to study are the white man’s fault. Come to think of it, they may be white liberals/leftists fault (to a degree.)
The simplest explanation for California is incompetence. The elected officials and the appointed ones just don’t understand what their job is or how to do it.
I wonder if another factor related to that is that California elected officials think their job is to get elected and then remain in office as long as possible. Rather than serve the public that elected them.
In which case the issue is more one of low character than incompetence.
There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of low character when it comes to politicians and California certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on sleazy politicos. Though it certainly seems that California has more than the usual portion of such.
You’re right, there is definitely gross incompetence in California politics but I’m not willing to let them all off that easy. A good deal of the incompetence is due to the most vile pursuits of self-interest.
At least once a day something reminds me to give thanks that I don’t live there anymore.
I think you are right about staying in power.
How do they stay? By promising what polls well and what they think they can get away with. Also have to give some of what they promised, and blame the rest on:
Not enough money (raise taxes!), things beyond their control and them. Mainly the bad Republicans/white supremicists/MAGA crowd/ conservatives. You need an enemy to blame when socialism fails, and it always does.
Well, even the R politicians I have met have given me low character vibes. Certainly most of them give off low IQ vibes.
I actually read the biography of Einstein.
The only gun control possible is in the finger holding the trigger.