Sunday, April 30, 2017

Slime? Nope. It's The Press--and the FBI

Didn't see this when it came out. 

...from recent books by Jeff Himmelman about Ben Bradlee, Max Holland about Mark Felt, a.k.a. "Deep Throat," and Geoff Shepard's "The Real Watergate Scandal: Collusion, Conspiracy, and the Plot That Brought Nixon Down," out today, the truth is otherwise.

Woodward and Bernstein deceived us about not breaching the grand jury.

They had. The source identified in their book as "Z," a "woman ... in a position to have considerable knowledge of the secret activities of the White House and CRP [Committee to Re-Elect the President]" was a grand juror. 

Notes of Bernstein's conversation with this woman were found by Himmelman in Bradlee's files. Post editor Barry Sussman also told Alan Pakula, who made the movie starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, that Carl had breached the grand jury....

They've been lying, and living that lie, for 40 years.  And they're proud of it.

But it's not "fake."  It's merely slimy.

Read the rest of the column to find out why the Deep State should be deep-sixed, by the way.  Curious how the Feebs always seem to be complicit with crookedness, ain'a??

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Racism Hits UW-Madison

Perhaps you thought that the Madistan campus of UW, the very flagship of P.C. in the State of Wisconsin, would be totes free of racial/gender bias.

Wrong.

Here's a report gleaned from The College Fix via Moonbattery:

There was a white female student that kept making glares at me and another student. She would glare at both of us and then continue to proceed on her phone. This proceeded for 2 hours. Both me and the [other] victim were Asian American women. I don’t know if race plays a part in it. Though this event was small and seemingly insignificant, it made me and the other victim feel unsafe, uncomfortable and paranoid....

Another round of re-education should take care of that, eh?

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Worker Shortage? Another Look

I've had a couple of conversations with management-level folks in the last two weeks.  They were complaining that they 'couldn't find people' for open jobs.

But the truth of the matter is that they could not find dope-free people for open jobs.

This is a big chunk of the reason that the workforce is graying; the over-40 crowd is not a bunch of dope-smokers.  The under-30 crowd is.

This is a problem because of liability issues, especially in workplaces with machinery--but not only there; hospitals cannot hire dope-smokers, either.

Hmmmmm.

"End Of My Career....." *Snif*

Poor li'l Pubbie....

Many vulnerable Republicans are running scared. One moderate Republican was overheard in a House cafeteria this week telling an aide: “If I vote for this healthcare bill, it will be the end of my career.”  --The Hill, quoted at HotAir

Because his career is a LOT more important than the fiscal health of the US, right?

So Is NAFTA a Success?

Tonelson has a very interesting statistic here.

...in 1993, the year before NAFTA went into effect, North America’s share of global goods exports was 17.9 percent. By 2015, it had shrunk to 14.4 percent. The U.S. share during this period fell from 12.6 percent to 9.4 percent, and the Canadian share decreased even faster – from 3.9 percent to 2.6 percent (no doubt, however, largely due to falling prices for the oil it exports so abundantly). 
 
Mexico’s share of global exports did increase – from 1.4 percent to 2.4 percent. But surely that improvement stemmed mainly from selling to the United States, not to any non-North American customers.

The North American share of world merchandise imports did decrease during this period as well. But the decline was much smaller, and one quick look at the U.S. trend makes clear that the lion’s share of this improvement has resulted from the recent, dramatic turnaround in American energy trade patterns – which have nothing to do with NAFTA or any other supply chains....

Boy, oh, boy, that was really, really, really a BIG help to the US economy, eh?

Nothingburger Gets Another Award

Apparently knowing how to dress oneself is now sufficient for collecting Lefty-Establishment Awards.

Maybe that's why Bernie never gets one, eh?

Libertarians? Just Another Pox on This House

The rest of this essay is worth the read, but here's the money quote:

....The willingness of libertarians to stab the Right in the back over culture issues just so they can score some rhetorical points over economics makes them more dangerous than the Left. Every war is a culture war, even the shooting kind. It is one group aiming to prove that their gods, their ways, their culture is superior, by imposing it on others, by any means necessary.

It’s why Buckley Conservatives are a failed movement now. They embraced the transactionalism of the libertarians, over the traditionalism of the Old Right. They have spent countless hours fussing over how best to move commas around the tax code, while the Left is marching from victory to victory in the culture war. The corruption is so thorough that they can no longer muster a reason to oppose guys like Dusty Wunderlich, ravaging the economy like locusts.

Indeed.  As to the rest of that post, it involves leasing a dog (!!!)  Told you it's worth the read.

It's the matter of 'unwritten law,' or the Common Code of morality, or what we call the Judaeo-Christian culture.  And it's bad enough that the Mohammedans and quasi-Commies are trying to eradicate that social compact without the fake conservatives (like libertarians) putting their snouts into the trough.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Say WHAAAAT, Bishop Stowe??

Assuming this is accurately reported, Catholic Bp. Stowe of Lexington, KY., has a bit of 'splaining to do.

...Bishop John Stowe of the Diocese of Lexington is scheduled to speak at New Ways Ministry's 2017 conference, titled "Justice and Mercy Shall Kiss: LGBT Catholics in the Age of Pope Francis." He's defended his decision to do so, saying "Pope Francis has signaled that we need to take another look at those things."

Defending his scheduled talk for the gay advocacy group, Stowe said Church teaching on homosexuality "was not Jesus’ approach." Catholic doctrine on the issue isn't "immune from ever changing," he said. ....

Well, then, let's get specific, Bish.  Exactly how does Church doctrine on homosexuality differ from "Jesus' approach"?  And what would 'change'?

Hmmmmm??

Same Stuff, Different Face (DeVos)

This DeVos woman is trouble.  Like all Fed Ed people, she apparently thinks that only the FedGov can "help" educate your children.

Which means that the Fed Ed Department is not going away until there's a more significant revolution.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Catholic "Fake News", Too!

The indispensable Prof. Ed Peters writes on Catholic "Fake News."

Fr. James Keenan writing in Crux this week makes his own a question raised (last July, it seems) by Rocco Buttiglione in L’Osservatore Romano: “Is there any contradiction between the popes who excommunicated divorced and remarried persons and Saint John Paul II who lifted that excommunication?” That’s fake canon law. John Paul II never lifted any excommunication against divorced and remarried Catholics because, quite simply, there was no excommunication against divorced and remarried Catholics for him to lift....

Umnhhh...yah.  The rest of the item is enlightening and, yes, Peters does mention the US-only 'excom' which was in effect for about 60 years--ended by Paul VI, not JPII.  But that's incidental, not significant.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Wut? EPA Lying? Oh, Come Now!!

Whatever it takes to keep tax dollars flowing into your own pockets.....

...Wallace and company say in their release that “there is no published, peer reviewed, statistically valid proof that past increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations have caused the officially reported rising, even claimed record setting temperatures.”

“And, EPA’s climate models fail to meet this test,” the authors say.

*Shocked face* ....

You mean that EPA dweeb-pustules lied?

Scientific Consensus!!!!

We're told that we must abide by the "scientific consensus" on man-made Globaloney.

OK....so how about the March-Around-the-Block chowderheads agree with THIS consensus?

There Are Only Two Genders

Hmmmmm???

See Paul. See Paul Spend, Spend, Spend!!

The usual ululation is emitted by the usual womenfolk in the press:  "Gummint Shutdown!!  Run for Your Lives!!  Chilluns Will DIE!!  Grandma TOO!!!  Run, Run!!"

Same noise is made by all the rest of Washington, D.C.  Sounds just like womenfolk noise--but it's being made by "men".

And---as usual--Paul Ryan's party will spend more money.  Anything to stop the crying that they will be doing in Congress.

See Paul Run!   See Paul Spend!!  Spend, Paul, Spend!!

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Stayed at a Holiday Inn Last Year? You May Be a Victim!

Got a lawyer-worded letter the other day advising that a bunch of Holiday Inns all around the country had compromised software--so my credit card may have been compromised, too.

Uh-huh.  God a message from my bank about 60 days ago asking if I'd purchased a load of power tools at Home Depot in Illinois.

Uh.  No.

So.  If you were a guest of Holiday Inn between October and December of last year, pay attention.  You might be smarter, but your bank account may also be lighter!

Words Are Important

From a blog called The Last Refuge we get this:

...Marine Le Pen represents nationalistic socialism and carries a platform to close the borders, halt the refugee influx and she supports exiting the EU.  Emmanuel Macron represents the option for globalist socialism: open borders, more refugees, and more EU influence....

Those who are familiar with the history of Germany from, say, 1930 through 1945, might wince at the term "nationalistic socialism."

(D) Party NOT Small Enough, In Perez' View

In the mind of the DNC Chairman, there are too damn many Democrat Party members.

So he's inviting a bunch of them to leave.

Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez became the first head of the party to demand ideological purity on abortion rights, promising Friday to support only Democratic candidates who back a woman’s right to choose.

“Every Democrat, like every American, should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health,” Perez said in a statement. “That is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.”...HuffPo quoted at HotAir

Granted, there may have been 10 or 12 of them in the Party nationally, many in old-age homes where they could only vote 5 or 6 times....but still.

For "Science"? Who Are You Kidding?

As PowerLine observes, the March-Around-and-Chant crowd is simply wearing a new hat:  "For Science."  Shortly it will be March for Cinco de Mayo, just after Comrade's March for May Day.

It's downright embarrassing to be "For Hillary" these days.  And as some folks learned the hard way in Berkeley, being "Antifa" can hurt one's precious little noggin.

So "Science"!!!!


Saturday, April 22, 2017

So, Paul Ryan: What's This All About?

That fresh-faced kid from Wisconsin thing?  Maybe it's not very fresh at all.

Corruption on Capitol Hill is “worse than you think,” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., insists.

“When you first get here, you think that you are in some sort of fairy-tale novel,” Buck said. “They wine and dine you and they show you just exactly what it’s like if you play the game. It’s a wonderful life.” 

Things quickly change, however, if “you don’t play the game.” 

“If you don’t play the game  …  it becomes a much less conformable existence here,” Buck said.  

Among other things, if you want a committee seat, you have to fork up Big Money--like $200K-$500K/year payable to the Pubbie Party.  (Uh, yah, it's prolly the same for the Democrats.)

I'm sure that the Speaker prefers that committee seats be assigned based on capability, right?

Right??

The Tears of Abele Over "Sanctuary"

The Milwaukee County Executive, parking-scofflaw Chris Abele, was whining all over the teevee last night that the mean ol' Attorney General sent a nasty letter demanding that Abele's County abide by the law.

(The slimeball D.A. was next to him pretending that the 1st Amendment is still operative in Wisconsin.  That would be the Amendment which he attempted to strangle in its bed.  What a laugh that turkey really is.)

Anyhow.

This is the language which Crying Abele doesn't like:

...Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal, State, or local law, a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual....

 All Abele has to do is certify that Milwaukee County abides by that Federal law.  Is it that hard, Chris?  Was it that hard to pay all your parking tickets, Chris???

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Equal Stupid, Opposite Ends

OregonMuse contemplates stupid while awaiting extraction-of-bank-account.

....it's tuned to the Disney channel which is running some show that appears to be about teenagers, geared to a teenaged audience. I wasn't much paying attention until I noticed a basketball game going on. It appeared to be some kind of a one-on-one grudge match between two protagonists, one of which was some guy that looked like he was supposed to be an arrogant douchebag, and his opponent was a girl.

Naturally, the girl won.

The game consisted of a rapid-fire series of cuts that showed the girl making jump shots over the top of the douchebag, getting around him for an easy layup, smacking the ball out of his hands while he was dribbling, and making nothing-but-net 3-pointers. And then after the game, she trash talks him and stalks off the court in triumph, leaving him abject and humiliated.....

And then recalls a similarly-idiotic '50's thing....

 We laugh at those old 50s TV shows that showed married couples sleeping in separate beds. Ho ho ho, we laugh. They're trying to pretend sex doesn't exist. How puritanical. How silly.

Yah.  Just as stupid, with only the ends differing.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

What Trump Did on H-1B: Not Much At All

There will be lots of chatter from the under-informed today about how Trump 'ordered a repair of H-1B' so that US citizens would get more STEM jobs.

Sorry.  That's not really the case, although it is possible--later--maybe.

The best-informed and most useful blogger on the H-1B issue is Norm Matloff, a professor of Computer Science and Stats at the U of California.  Norm has been an active critic of H-1B for several years, has published peer-reviewed analyses of the effects, ....yada.

Here's a bit of his post on the Trump announcement:

...OPT is an extension of the F-1 student visa. Though it was intended to give foreign students a chance to work in one-year internships after earning their American degrees, it became an unofficial supplement to H-1B. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both extended it much beyond one year, and it now serves in essence as a backdoor way to expand the yearly cap on new H-1B visas. There is no cap on OPT.

So OPT is a major issue. However, it is not mentioned in the executive order. Why not? Once again, this is an “Intels Good, Infosyses Bad” issue. As always, by “Infosyses” I mean the outsourcing firms that “rent” H-1B programmers to U.S. firms, with the “Intels” meaning the companies that hire H-1Bs directly. I strongly disagree with this view, which has been vigorously promoted by the Intels, basically a scapegoating tactic to deflect attention away from themselves....

Think of "the Intels" as the NML/Disney/FP&L bunch who directly hire foreign programmers while shunning (or firing) American programmers.  OK?  Got it??

Trump's order gives "the Intels" a lot of running room and--as usual--it's in the fine print:

 ...(b) In order to promote the proper functioning of the H-1B visa program, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, as soon as practicable, suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries....

The little-bitty two-letter word:  OR....that's the key to continuing abuse of H-1B, continuing give-away of US jobs to non-US citizens and the erosion of US S.T.E.M. superiority in the next two decades.

Other than that, it was a nice day, eh?

The Actual Results of GA-6

The Fake News outfits will be telling you that 'Trump nearly lost' a primary in Georgia's 6th Congressional district.

Umnnhhhh.....no.

Vote totals97,937 Republican, 93,911 Democrat.

The runoff will be held soon.  Maybe Paul Ryan can bestir himself to campaign on behalf of Ms. Handel. 

(On the other hand, maybe Paul Ryan's presence will not be very helpful.)

JSOnline's Fake News

Why, yes, the Milwaukee J-S runs fake news! 

Yesterday's online edition carried the headline about a "DACA" student who was deported.  The JS snatched that story from its parent company's USA Today.

(No, I did not screen-grab it.  Take my word for it.)

Anyhow....

...a Department of Homeland Security spokesman told The Daily Caller that this story is false because Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez did not receive amnesty and was caught climbing over a border fence when he was detained....

Further, the guy has a criminal conviction AND his DACA "pass" expired in 2015.

We're certain that this is not the only Fake News the J-S carried, and there will be more.  That's why the only stuff I read there is the obits.  And I fact-check some of those, too.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Little Ed Morrissey and the Big-Boy Syndrome

This guy Morrissey is letting his HotAir get to his ...ahhh...brain.

Not only does he misquote the LATimes for click-bait, now he's baiting Ted Cruz.  For doing what Ted Cruz should have done!

Welcome back to the Someone Left the Irony On Department in national politics. Congress faces a hard budget deadline at the end of next week,   ....One Senator warns that radical activists on the Left have pushed Democrats into complete “across the board obstruction” that will precipitate a government shutdown...And Ted Cruz, of all people, should know it:...

OK, so Cruz thought--correctly--that someone had to do the job and it wouldn't be the  somewhat slippery McConnell. 

But Eddie, waving his National Columnist Stick even harder, goes for the throat!!

...Even with a sympathetic media behind them, budget obstructionism is not sustainable for long, and will eventually infuriate voters who expect Congress to do their jobs rather than stamp their feet and threaten to take their ball home.

You can ask Ted Cruz about that, too, especially after his loss in the 2016 primaries.

Eddie!  Psst!! Cruz out-lasted about 13 roll-over-and-die compromiser Republicans, in case you don't remember.  And while we're on the topic, weren't you also a NeverTrumper?  Hmmmm??? 

The Donald, Law-Breaker

Perhaps a one-off smack-on-the-kisser in Syria was not technically "lawbreaking," although it comes very damn close, indeed.

But there's no question that The Donald is furthering Obozo's law-breaking with this ObozoCare scheme.

President Trump has an opportunity to unilaterally halt an unconstitutional corporate welfare scheme, deal Obamacare a mortal blow, and save the taxpayers more than $100 billion. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled last year that the Obama administration had unconstitutionally dispensed subsidies to insurers, holding that it had flouted the Appropriations Clause by doling out “cost sharing reduction” (CSR) payments that hadn’t been authorized by Congress....

... Instead of doing so, however, Trump is attempting to use these bribes as a bargaining chip in a futile attempt to get the Democrats to deal in good faith on a viable replacement for Obamacare. This, to coin a phrase, is worse than a crime — it’s a mistake. He has no more right than did his predecessor to spend these funds without congressional approval...

Since the health insurance firms actively campaigned for ObozoCare, the health insurance firms should be hung on that petard.  Tough cookies.

The Donald seems to think that being elected President means that he can be a benevolent dictator.  He's wrong, and it's not "a mistake."

It's a perversion.

Wherein 'Hot Air' Asks the Wrong Question

Morrissey at Hot Air paraphrases an LATimes article:

Conservative Catholics going schismatic over Pope Francis?

Not quite, Ed.  When you read the actual article (follow the link here) you find that--in fact--two German Cardinals are walking the road to schism, not "Conservative Catholics."

A priest-friend of mine spent a lot of years in Germany and, back in the 1990's, told me that Kasper and Lehmann were Very Suspicious Characters.  (That's the sanitized version of what he actually said.)

So, Ed:  fix your headline.

Monday, April 17, 2017

Good Questions for "Law-Abiding, Honest" Comey

We've all heard the slobbering ass-kissing from various politicians about how wonderful, integrity-filled, and 'honest' the FBI's Comey is.

Yah, well, maybe.

Meantime, Sheryl Attkisson has a few questions for His Honest-ness.

December 2012:
Two intelligence-connected sources separately suggest to Attkisson that she’s likely under government surveillance due to her reporting. One source tells her the government has pushed the envelope like never before and that public would be shocked to “learn the extent that the government is conducting surveillance of private citizens.”

As Attkisson arranges a forensic exam of her computer, evidence later shows the intruders then attempted to cover their tracks and to erase evidence of their intrusion. However, the erasures leave additional forensic evidence....

This link goes to Attkisson's thorough time-line coverage of the Obozo Spying Machine, run by Comey, Brennan, and the Lying Liar "The Clap" Clapper.

Now her questions:

Why withhold my entire @FBI file with no explanation (as required by law)? What on earth is in there? — Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) April 17, 2017
 
Where’s my @FBI file and why withhold it?— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) April 17, 2017

Why, yes, Director!  Show us your Integrity!!  Or is the law only for some animals who are more equal than other ones?

Sunday, April 16, 2017

He Ir Risen, Indeed!!

Bach's realization of Easter, for your listening.

St John Chrysostom's realization:

Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!

 jesus is risen photo: risen 1265143239s4QLNy.jpg


Saturday, April 15, 2017

The Television Presidency: Shallow, Deceitful

While Kennedy was the first to benefit from the reality of television (he looked a helluvalot better on the tube than Nixon did), Trump may be the first President to use television to its fullest propaganda-maximizing capacity.

Then he went completely illegal and un-Constitutional. 

But the show he put on for Joe Sixpack here was just a commercial compared to the full-bore Barnum/Bailey he put on on Syria.  Here he showed pictures of children who (we are told) were bombed by Assad.  For Tehran, Istanbul, and Pyongyang (not to mention Moscow, Peking, and Riyadh) he had other pictures:  a semi-destroyed airbase and a REALLY destroyed tunnel-and-cave system in Afghanistan.

Makes for great TV.  Even better than boardroom-ringmaster stuff.  And it gives "You're Fired" a whole new meaning!

Too bad that the "gas attack" was not Sarin, eh?  Too bad that 60% of the Tomahawks never made it to Syria, eh?  All that counts was that Joe Sixpack believed the big lie(s) and that the others saw what Trump will do, Constitutional or not.




Christ Lag in Tobesbanden

Once again, JSBach; the cantata on the chorale Christ Lag in Tobesbanden.  And once again, Karl Richter conducts.


Friday, April 14, 2017

Trump Thinks He's a Dictator?

We just got rid of a narcissist.  Now we get this?

...“You want to make a great deal? Solve the problem in North Korea,” Trump recalled saying to Xi during their meeting last week. “That’s worth having deficits. And that’s worth having not as good a trade deal as I would normally be able to make.”...

Well, sorta, mostly, kinda...

...Trump stressed that he told Xi he would not allow the United States to continue running “hundreds of billions of dollars a year” in trade deficits with China, even if he sweetened the deal to secure Beijing’s cooperation on the North Korean crisis....

Xi may want to think hard about taking The Donald's word for anything; the US electorate did, and now is seeing the real Donald:  a real-estate developer with New York values.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

The Donald: No Balls

Yes, that's what I said, and I meant it.

It's clear--now--that his Administration will not prosecute Hillary Clinton for her clear-cut violations of the Espionage Act.

This is called slobbery-kissery, but The Donald is not ashamed of himself.  He has decided that HE will be the judge and jury.

Or more likely:  HRC has a barrel full of dirt on The Donald and she will let fly.  So like I said:  no balls.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

EPA, Mengele, Same Difference?

Well, well, well.  It appears that the EPA conducted "experiments" on people which violated every ethical and moral protocol known to man.  Then EPA commissioned a whitewash!

Upon investigation, we find that it is not true that a picture of Jos. Mengele hangs in the living room of Gina McCarthy.  It is also not in the bedroom of Lisa Jackson.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Watson's Solution?

Watson provides treatment suggestions for cancer patients.  Watson will be choosing investments for people--soon.  Watson this, Watson that.

So was THIS "Watson"??

...Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m. Monday. Passengers were allowed to board the flight, Bridges said, and once the flight was filled those on the plane were told that four people needed to give up their seats to stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight. Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer was increased to $800, but no one volunteered.

Then, she said, a manager came aboard the plane and said a computer would select four people to be taken off the flight.

 A couple was selected; they left.  Another man was selected, and he refused to leave.  That guy was an MD who had patients to see in a hospital.  He was DRAGGED OFF the flight.



S'pose Watson will pay the damage award?


 

Sunday, April 09, 2017

Holy Week Begins

What better way to begin Holy Week than with a chorale from Bach's St John Passion??

O Grosse Lieb, Karl Richter and the Munich Bach Choir




UW-Mad Student Likes Babel-Towering

A Bernie-Sanders-supporting undergrad at UW-Mad thinks Babel is a role model.

It fits with the UW-Madison model.


Friday, April 07, 2017

Hello? Remember "The Constitution"?

Granted, The Donald doesn't know much about this "constitution" stuff--what with 'judges writing laws' and all....

But The Donald has gone to war with Syria and did not bother with Congressional approval.

The end, dear Donald, does NOT justify the means.

Globaloney Rising

It appears that The Donald is going to screw over his voters with Globaloney (or, if you prefer, Goldie* Rules!!)

Money talks, and buys things like governments.

*Goldman, Sachs.  That includes Blankfein, Cohn, Mnuchin,.....and on and on and on.  All of them Too Smart To Fail, ya'know.

Thursday, April 06, 2017

Slapping Obozo Subtly

Gotta hand it to this guy.

Only three of 58 Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) would be available to respond to an enemy attack if one hypothetically happened tonight, according to the vice chief of staff of the Army.

“Of the BCTs that are ready, only three could be called upon to fight tonight in the event of a crisis,” Gen. Daniel Allyn told the House Committee on Armed Services during a hearing Wednesday...--Zippers quoting Daily Caller

That's the setup.  Here's the punchline:

“Hope is not a method,” the general warned.

Awww.  Not even The Audacity of Hope, General??


Ivanka The EXTREMELY Naive

HotAir suggests that Ivanka was 'naive' in thinking that she could successfully open a back-channel to Planned Parenthood, which has been attacking Ivanka ever since.  Ivanka actually thought that PP could be 'moderate.'

She is not 'naive.'  Ivanka is EXTREMELY naive, to be kind.

Any outfit whose entire revenue-stream is derived from KILLING BABIES is guaran-damn-teed not to have a 'moderate' bone anyplace.  Period.

7th Circuit Goes Nuts: "Sex" = "Orientation"

The Seventh Circuit now imitates the 9th.  Plain English has been defeated, 8-3.  And this is a  very, very, very big decision.

...The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which handles cases in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, decided 8-3 that discrimination on the basis of "sex" also means discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation."  ...

Umnnhhh, no, it does not.  Not only that, but this bunch of wack-jobs admits that now the Courts make the law, not Congress (!!!)

....The court admitted that its decision was based not on the intent of the 1964 Civil Rights Act but on recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

"In this case, we have been asked to take a fresh look at our position in light of developments at the Supreme Court extending over two decades,"....

Inmates.  Asylum.  Kennedy.  Dope-smoker.

Diane Sykes pointedly and forcefully disagrees:

 ..."What justification is offered for this radical change in a well-established, uniform interpretation of an important — indeed, transformational — statute?" Judge Sykes asked. "My colleagues take note of the Supreme Court's 'absence from the debate.'"

"What debate? There is no debate," Justice Sykes pointed out. "Our long-standing interpretation of Title VII is not an outlier. From the statute's inception to the present day, the appellate courts have unanimously and repeatedly read the statute the same way, as my colleagues must and do acknowledge."...

Sorry, Justice Sykes:  common sense and plain English have nothing to do with 'the law' any more--and that WILL be a problem because revolutions have been fought over less.

Thanks!! (To RoJo)

We've been pretty hard on Sen. Ron Johnson for his years-long vanishing act on ObozoCare repeal.

So fair is fair:  RoJo gets a big ATTABOY for signing a letter asking The Donald to live up to his campaign promises vis-a-vis religious freedom.

On Monday (April 3), eighteen U.S. Senators penned a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to sign an executive order that would require agencies of the federal government to respect religious freedom.

RoJo could re-introduce FADA, of course--right, Senator???

Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Trump Train To Smack Wisconsin Taxpayers

Not only does The Donald intend to spend a $Zillion or so buying public-works stuff.

The House Pubbies intend to slam Wisconsin taxpayers into the ground.

House Republicans are moving ahead with a plan to eliminate deductions for state and local taxes in the new federal tax code...Kevin Brady (R-Texas), said Tuesday that he’s working closely with the White House on a plan that to create three federal tax brackets — 12, 25 and 33 percent....

Whatever Federal yadayada.  Wisconsin has a problem.  Wisconsin likes to take LOTS of income- and property-taxes from its residents.

There is a solution, of course:

...The odds are pretty good that those living in tax-and-spend states such as New York, California, etc. would be very, very unhappy to experience the full magnitude of those states' punitive taxes.  They'd probably launch loud, vociferous campaigns to change their politicians' habits - or change their politicians altogether....

 IIRC, Gov. Walker has proposed a "Christmas Tree" spend-a-bunch-of-money budget.  Maybe the Leggies should start with a meat-axe, eh?

O'Reilly Problems Don't Surprise Me

O'Reilly has been a blowhard twit forever, and his problems with women don't come as a surprise to me--all you had to do to know about that was to watch his show for a couple of weeks.

Which I did.  And haven't been back. 

National Survival Question

An AOSHQ headline contributor, J.J.Sefton, poses a question.

...If (and it's still a big if) there is actual evidence that can be corroborated and presented before a judge, what would the ramifications be of prosecuting Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Evelyn Farkas [Hillary Clinton*], and perhaps Barack Obama himself? The nation is a red nether hair's breadth away from tearing itself apart, if it has not done so already. PDT would be well justified in throwing the book at them. But it would no doubt be spun as political persecution/repression and a pretext for the Left to escalate an already tepid civil war. But our nation cannot heal itself and survive if its leaders are seen to be free to commit high crimes and misdemeanors....

*I added this criminal for the obvious reasons.

I think a case could be made that the reason Trump was elected had precisely to do with the fact that the White House had become a political sewer through which "justice for SOME" flowed.  It was not equal justice, and it was not justice for all.  The swing in the popular-vote-polls happened after the FBI ran away from prosecuting Hillary for her violations of the Espionage Act, remember?

The "resist" crowd will be pissed--but there are damn few of them that are real True Believers, especially if it came down to ....ahhh.....force.

Z-Man contemplates the same situation today.

 ...There’s also the problem of letting what Team Obama did go unpunished. It sanctions this sort of activity and exactly no one wants the executive having that sort of power. Imagine if a soulless sociopath like Clinton had won the election and had the power to unleash the intelligence agencies on her enemies....Investigating the former staff of the former president for the crime of domestic espionage and perhaps conspiring to undermine the election is no small thing....

Discuss among yourselves.

Can The Donald Bankrupt the USA?

Can he take the USA into BK court?

He sure as Hell is going to try!!  A $$Trillion on "infrastructure" and then a tax cut, too.

Obozo brought the national debt to $20Trillion or so.  The Donald apparently wants to do even more than Obozo.

That's simply wrong.

Tuesday, April 04, 2017

Hell, Yes--They Made It Up!

Susan Rice, a maladroit but pernicious and persistent liar, should be in deep s*&^--and eventually, prison, for her actions last year.

RenMan excerpted some commentary from Diplomad on the situation:

...furthermore, that my initial impression that the Democrats made up the story proves the best explanation. This Russia story provided the excuse to conduct surveillance of Trump and his campaign and transition....

Ms. Rice is best known for "making up stories," including the spectacularly un-successful fantasy story about a video causing the Benghazi massacre of Americans.

Hell, yes, they made it up.  Now, then:  what ELSE did they make up that we haven't caught up with?  That's the scary part....

Lock Her THEM Up!!

So Hillary will have a cell-mate!!

(Except that The Donald does not have the balls to prosecute Hillary, nor Rice--nor Rice's master.)

We Should Have One at the House

Nice, understated, peaceful green-and-white.






Stolen from AOSHQ.

Ryan Out of ObozoCare Fix?

The Ryan plan to 'fix' ObozoCare was a complicated hot mess--that is, a typical top-down D.C. Fed-centered plan.  And it did NOT repeal ObozoCare.

It was pulled because Conservatives saw it for what it was and refused to support it.

We note that the White House is still trying to dump ObozoCare.  We also note that the name "Paul Ryan" is not found in this story.


Monday, April 03, 2017

Criminal Unmasking: At Obozo's Orders??

Cernovich reports that it was Susan Rice who (criminally) un-masked various innocent Trump folks due to White House-ordered 24X7 surveillance of Trump.

And yes, it was political, not "national security" related.

So the question:  will she admit that she was told to do so by Obozo? 

We have ways of persuading her!!  Once again, with feeling:

LOCK HER UP!!

Trump-Voter Factoid, Demise of Christianity

Interesting factoid about Trump (primary) voters--and young black voters, too.

...During the campaign, commentators had a hard time reconciling Trump’s apparent ignorance of Christianity and his history of pro-choice and pro-gay-rights statements with his support from evangelicals. But as Notre Dame’s Geoffrey Layman noted, “Trump does best among evangelicals with one key trait: They don’t really go to church.” A Pew Research Center poll last March found that Trump trailed Ted Cruz by 15 points among Republicans who attended religious services every week. But he led Cruz by a whopping 27 points among those who did not....--Beinart in The Atlantic quoted at LifeSite

The balance of the essay deals with the "Alt-Right," which seems to be replacing the old 'Christian Coalition' bunch in electoral politics.  And it makes a fool of "Creased-Pants" Brooks, by the way.

Speaking of "by the way" developments:  seems like the under-30 black demo is also notably less Christian--and more prone to violent revolt (as are the Alt-Right.)

...African Americans under the age of 30 are three times as likely to eschew a religious affiliation as African Americans over 50. This shift is crucial to understanding Black Lives Matter, a Millennial-led protest movement whose activists often take a jaundiced view of established African American religious leaders....

There is a major difference:  Black Lives Matter says that destroying the nuclear family is one of its objectives.  The "alt-right" has not gone there.

This ain't good news.

Want a (Good) Music School? You Can Buy One

Huh.

Westminster choir college is for sale

There is at least one Milwaukee-area alumnus who made good in the choral music scene, by the way.

Is EPA's Pruitt Just Another Blowhard Politician?

Delingpole is justifiably worried that Pruitt--a lawyer/politician--is totes lost when it comes to EPA.

Too bad.  The Donald appointed him to run EPA.

So which of the two is the dumb-er??

Sunday, April 02, 2017

More on Music in the Liturgy

From an essay on Rorate.

...sacred music is an essential component to liturgy. As Benedict explains, “The profound connection between beauty and the liturgy should make us attentive to every work of art placed at the service of the celebration…Everything related to the Eucharist should be marked by beauty” (Sacramentum Caritatis, art. 41). This – in particular – means the sacred music that accompanies the liturgy: “Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another” (Sacramentum Caritatis, art. 42). As such, we must pay special attention to the music that is played and sung within the sacred liturgy, because it is intrinsically connected to the beauty of the liturgy. The music of the liturgy gives form to the liturgy....

Then follows this quote from The Ratzinger Report:

A Church which only makes use of ‘utility music’ has fallen for what is, in fact, useless and becomes useless herself. For her mission is a far higher one…The Church must not settle down with what is merely comfortable and serviceable at the parish level; she must arouse the voice of the cosmos and by glorifying the Creator, elicit the glory of the cosmos itself, making it too glorious, beautiful, habitable, and beloved...

It is impossible to overstate the number of times we have encountered exactly that "utility music" in the parishes.  Often it is a result of the "four-hymn sandwich" still enshrined as de rigeur by "liturgy committees"--but just as often it is the church 'musician' stuffing random piano or organ solos into every nook and cranny available--the very essence of "utility" rather than "liturgy."

One thinks of the flogging of Christ in Gibson's Passion every time.

Thinking About a New Car?

If you're thinking about a new car, this year is probably a good time to get one.  ZeroHedge ran an item describing incentives from automakers in February and March--and the numbers are enticing.

April incentives?  Check with your dealer.  It seems that GM's incentives are up, again.  


CIA or NSC Dirtball Is....?

(Below we inquire about an FBI dirtball.  Here we inquire about another dirtball--an Obama-appointed dirtball, by the way.)

It is now perfectly clear that the Obama Administration was spying on Trump for quite a long time.  It is also perfectly clear that the Obama Administration released the names of a lot of Trump associates in complete and total violation of US criminal law.

It is also perfectly clear that the MFM, after getting off their knees and wiping their chins, published the names--for the benefit of Hillary and her consigliere Obama.

What's also perfectly clear--here at the blog-lo-dyte level?

There will be no prosecutions, no prison terms, and no interruption of Federal paychecks and pensions to any of the parties involved.

The FBI Dirtball Is.....??

Sen. Grassley has a lot of questions for the #2 guy in the FBI.

A LOT of questions.  ('S OK.  I have a question for Grassley, too!)

That FBI guy is named McCabe.  McCabe's wife ran for the US Senate.  McCabe's wife took $700 grand in contributions arranged through Hillary's very, very, very close pal Terry McAuliffe (a super-slimeball himself.)

So when the FBI proposed to pay some Brit ex-spook taxpayer dollars for his completely manufactured bullshit story 'report' on Trump in Russia, Sen. Grassley would like to know how much Mr. McCabe had to say about that.

Speculate with me and we'll get to my question for Grassley.  Let's say that Mr. McCabe directed the whole game with the Brit, paid him a bunch of taxpayer dollars for his fiction, and then made certain that the fiction was leaked to the usual MFM outlets.  And let's say that he was caught on tape in McAuliffe's office talking about the whole scheme while his wife was accepting a $200 grand check  from McAuliffe's hands.

McCabe will "retire," of course.  Now then, Sen. Grassley:  will he retire with full pension and benefits, like the slime-sucker old broad from IRS who f*&*ed over the Tea Party?

Saturday, April 01, 2017

The Donald's Curious Priorities

While it's a lot of fun to watch The Donald kick against The Powers, it is also clear that The Donald has not changed much since he was merely a loudmouthed New York jerk. 

Yah, he's better than Hillary.

Speaking of Hillary, we note that The Donald has not moved to lock her up.  Instead, he's trying to get various Actual Conservatives out of Congress.  (Notice that he has not come after Jim Sensenbrenner, folks??  Huh??)

This is because The Donald has curious priorities.  He's perfectly comfortable letting another New York loudmouth jerk take a pass on Espionage Act violations--but not so comfortable being called out for the idiot that he was on the issue of health care.




Prediction of Nasty Times

Z-Man is looking through a glass darkly.

...this reality denying madness we see going on with Progressives, has a late phase degeneracy vibe to it. Most of this nonsense is happening in well insulated compounds like the college campus. The Progs have total control so all of their worst instincts are free to run riot. It’s not some new phase in the long civil war, but the final burst of maniacal lunacy before there is the knock on the door and reality bursts in.

Yah, it's going to happen.  The only question:  what is meant by "burst in"?

Must ALL U.S. Allies Be Part of NATO?

There's a silly premise behind this:

...Russian President Vladimir Putin will advance until he meets steel. Until this week he met mush in, of all places, the United States government thanks to Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky who used an arcane senate rule to block a vote on the accession of tiny Montenegro -- the former Yugoslav republic on the Adriatic between Albania and Croatia -- from joining NATO....--Michael Totten quoted at AOSHQ

The silly premise is this:  that all US allies in Europe should be part of NATO.  Is there a "right" to NATO membership?  A "right" to demanding US arms and armies for protection? 

Does Mr. Totten argue--just as foolishly--that there is a "right" to immigration to the USA?  What is the difference?  Hmmmmm??


On the Sacred Liturgy's Corruption

Cardinal Sarah recently spoke about the corruption of the Roman liturgy following the Second Vatican Council.  Note well:  this problem is not caused by the Council!  It is caused by serious (and sometimes deliberate) mal-interpretation of the Council's text, which has its roots in Protestant-ism.

...As Benedict XVI often emphasized, at the root of the liturgy is adoration, and therefore God. Hence it is necessary to recognize that the serious, profound crisis that has affected the liturgy and the Church itself since the Council is due to the fact that its CENTER is no longer God and the adoration of Him, but rather men and their alleged ability to “do” something to keep themselves busy during the Eucharistic celebrations. Even today, a significant number of Church leaders underestimate the serious crisis that the Church is going through: relativism in doctrinal, moral and disciplinary teaching, grave abuses, the desacralization and trivialization of the Sacred Liturgy, a merely social and horizontal view of the Church’s mission....

That is a very small excerpt from the Cardinal's address, but it encapsulates a reality which we have all encountered. 

This "busy-ness"--this "do something" stuff--can be traced to the mainstream-Protestant deformation of worship which is, in turn, traceable to the fact that Protestants do not have priests.  Without the priest, who is alter Christus, there is no sacrifice, no transcendence, no sacramental communion--thus, as the cardinal says, the "center is no longer God and adoration of Him...."

Instead, there is noise, bustling, and "busy-ness" which often extends to a "busy-ness" of the music people, not just the herd of 'extraordinary ministers.'  And in the words of that old song, we all ask:  Is That All There Is?