Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Paul Ryan, Lying

It seems that Speaker Ryan has a truth-deficit problem.

He will NEVER repeal and replace Obamacare.  He will ALWAYS fund Planned Parenthood--no matter what he says to the pro-life marchers.

Too bad.  He seems like a nice young fellow.

Not only will Ryan do that--but he'll construct a Ponzi scheme to do it.  It takes a lot of work to be a really good liar, you know.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Katherine B. Forrest: Mental Disease or Insurrectionist?

Greenfield's theory that it is really a 'shadow government' is given weight by this "judge".


"Deep State" or "Shadow Government"?

Greenfield has an interesting take on the situation of Trump v. Jackwads, currently playing on the National Stage.

And "Shadow Government" may well be the better term.  I'd like to see evidence that the Deep State is not congruent with the "Shadow...." but hey! 

There's another old saying that applies:  BUY MORE AMMO.

HT:  RenMan

"Follow the Money"

That's a maxim which is far too important to be forgotten, especially if you're trying to puzzle out why someone did something that doesn't make too much sense.

Well, then.  Follow The Money is not the title of this book.  But it could be the sub-title.

Monday, January 29, 2018

All the Little Nietzsches--Where Do They All Come From?

Actually, all those "will to power" critters came from the Enlightenment.  You can read the rest of the essay (and you should) but here's the graf that is most disturbing.

...The triumph of the will, of individual autonomy over truth and reason, is the most prominent fruit of the Enlightenment. We were to be freed from tradition, and religion, so we might instead follow reason, but reason itself, along with human nature, has been found by many to be too much of an obstacle to freedom. Reality itself has become such an obstacle. The choice between reason and Christianity was always understood to be a false choice, at least by anyone who had read the Church Fathers, but the Enlightenment was never really about enlightenment at all. It was, at root, about liberating man from God. One become “enlightened” by accepting the lie that man didn’t need God, that he could save himself from whatever ailed him.   This is the philosophy under which many in the West now live. Whether God exists or not is beside the point; God is simply unnecessary, or so it is said. The problem for these rebels, increasingly in power, is what to do with anyone who dares to disagree. It is increasingly a problem, too, for those who disagree....

Yes, "those who disagree" are a problem.  Especially if they have large quantities of ammo. 

Moonbeam Brown Defines It Down

Jerry Brown, who studied to be a Jesuit, shows you how to "define it down" in the criminal arena.

In his state of the state address yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown boasted that last year the number of reported felonies was actually lower than in 1970.

He must [have] forgotten that in 2014, Proposition 47, which he supported, converted all theft, fraud, and receiving stolen property felonies of less than $950 and most drug possession crimes to misdemeanors. That’s thousands [of] crimes per year that are no longer felonies. Of course reported felonies are down.

What he did not tell us is that, under his inmate release and rehabilitation policies violent crime in California has increased for three years in a row. This is the first time that has happened since 1992. This includes murder, robbery, rape and aggravated assault
....

If California declared independence, would the Deplorables miss it?

HT:  RenMan

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Well, Actually, It's the Russian Jooooooos!!!

Apparently the MSM has been partially correct.

...it is increasingly obvious that Simpson is a conspiracy nutter of the first order and his work product was seized upon by deep state players as a pretext for their conduct....

Here's the London Tablet:

In April 2017, Politico published “The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin.” How are they connected? Well, Putin is close to several Chabad supporters, as well as Chabad rabbi Berel Lazar, Russia’s chief rabbi. Trump worked with some Russian emigres who are active in Chabad, including a convicted felon, Felix Sater. In Florida, Trump hosted the wedding of the daughter of a Chabad supporter he knows to an associate of one of the Chabad supporters who is close to Putin.

What does all this tell us about the alleged relationship between Trump and Putin?

“Their respective ambitions led the two men,” writes Politico, “to build a set of close, overlapping relationships in a small world that intersects on Chabad, an international Hasidic movement most people have never heard of.”

You see -- they’re furtive. Almost no one has heard of them. The only people who appear to understand Chabad’s role in the secret Trump-Putin collusion conspiracy are the author of the story and Glenn Simpson
,...

Well. NOW I understand!  They're not merely "Russian."  They are Jooooooooos!!

How does one spell "bot" in Hebrew?

Can't Mitt Just Stay Home?

Mitt Romney is a very nice guy who has this .....umnnhhhh.........TIC about being President of the US.  Or maybe it's an un-scratchable itch.  So he shows up and blathers.

Ninety percent of all new cars Americans purchase will be electric in the not too distant future, said former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney....

Oh?

Well.  Tesla has certainly made an impression with the ...what?...5,000 cars they actually produced--the ones that have not self-ignited or driven themselves into fire trucks.  GM and Ford are spending umpty-$$$billions on electric cars with the idea that Romney is right, too.

Meanwhile, the second-largest auto company on Earth, Toyota, is going with hydrogen fuel-cell cars.  Wonder why?

Simple.  There ain't enough electric capacity.

...The trouble arises when electric car owners install dedicated electric vehicle charging circuits. In most parts of California, charging an electric car at one of those is the equivalent of adding one house to the grid, which can be a significant additional burden, since a typical neighborhood circuit has only five to 10 houses. In San Francisco, where the weather is cool and air conditioning is rarely used, the peak demand of a house is much lower than in the hotter parts of California. As a result, the local grid is sized for a much smaller load. A house in San Francisco might only draw two kilowatts of power at times of peak demand, according to Pacific Gas & Electric. In comparison, a new electric vehicle on a dedicated circuit could draw 6.6 kilowatts—and up to 20 kilowatts in the case of an optional home fast charger for a Tesla Model S....

Yah, blowing up the neighborhood substation will not make you popular with the ladies.  Or anyone else.  There are other problems, too, such as the limited range--which is OK in the city, but not for the country--and the utter dearth of plug-stations for re-charging.

Meantime, hydrogen is plentiful.  You might have noticed that every time you take a drink of water, or breathe.

Ol' Mitt should stick to the Olympics.  The USOC, having covered itself in doo-doo lately, needs a nice-guy face.  Send your resume, Mitt.

On the "Strong Dollar"

As usual, Tonelson brings perspective to the hysteria and silliness.

A while back, Trump's T-Sec Mnuchin suggested that the US dollar should be weaker.  An outcry arose--some of which came from people who know, and others who should know better.

...You can have too much and too little of a good thing. An overly weak dollar would cause major problems for the U.S. economy. So would an overly strong dollar. Therefore, the key is not to assume either extreme (especially in the absence of any evidence that they’re around the corner) but to figure out a dollar level that achieves the best combination of benefits....

OK, that makes sense.  Chocolate for dessert, good.  Chocolate as the entire meal, bad.

Here's Tonelson's second point, and it IS important.

...The second [point] has been much less much widely recognized even in calmer periods, but it’s closely related to my longstanding point about the importance of the quality of American growth. As I’ve written frequently, growth based largely on production and the growing incomes it generates place the economy on the soundest foundation. This approach may not always produce the fastest growth, but it fosters the growth that tends to last longest, and that’s least likely to inflate bubbles that then collapse into economic and financial crises). 

Such disasters, as we should have learned, stem from growth largely based on borrowing and consuming – i.e., on shopping sprees that eventually can’t be paid for responsibly, and can only continue by racking up enormous debts. And other than legitimate (though clearly overblown nowadays) concerns about inflation, that’s a main reason why folks in finance – and everyone on their payroll in the U.S. government and the rest of Washington – like the strongest possible dollar. ...

Yes.  The smiling man who wants to lend you umpty-dollars does that because HE profits NOW, and the disaster will be eaten by his successors--or the taxpayers (see, e.g., BofA, Citi, JPMorgan, and M&I Bank.)

Let the Banks scream and weaken the USD.  We can use some solid growth, with only a little dollop of chocolate.


Saturday, January 27, 2018

RoJo Was Right: The "Secret Club" Exists

Not only did the "secret club" of seditionists exist, it had a President.

Obama.

That was not a joke.  If anything, it was half-humorous, because it was not a "club" or "society."  It was an opposition party dedicated to subversion and sedition or sedition and subversion.

Some advocate prison.  I think exile is a better choice.  We won't have to provide their meals.

The Actualities: Trump Sold Out His Base

Score one (and only one) point for the NeverTrumpers:  Trump lied about immigration policy.

(The rest of them--except Cruz--did not lie about immigration.  They would have increased it by several thousand percent and/or abandoned national borders altogether.  Trump's lying got him elected, so now we know he's really a politician!!)

Krikorian is cited at AOSHQ.

...But going beyond DACA beneficiaries to those who could have applied but didn't is a different thing. It's not just a difference in degree, but in kind. A whole new process will have to be set up for the 1 million additional people who would be expected to apply. The other work of USCIS would grind to a halt,...

...The outline says that no new applications for the visa lottery and the chain-migration categories would be accepted, limiting family immigration to spouses and minor children. Great! But it also provides for the continuation of those categories (and reallocation of the lottery visas) until the admission of all 4 million people on the current chain-migration waiting lists. This is the same gimmick that was in the Hagel-Martinez amnesty bill in 2007 -- and the estimate at the time was that it would take 17 years before all those people got their green cards...

Yah.  The CheapLabor Lobby which likes $5.00/hour housecleaners, landscapers, roofers, and meat-cutters, not to mention software engineers, has put a helluvalotta money on the table purchasing Congress.

Don't tell me you seriously thought Trump would hold to his promises.  You'd look as stupid as I did.



Friday, January 26, 2018

NOT on the Journal-Sentinel Site: Impeach Chisholm

This is news to everyone on Earth except the editors of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

In a surprising move – in a government abuse saga with plenty of twists and turns – the Democrat who chairs the bipartisan state Ethics Commission on Thursday called for Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s impeachment...

IMPEACHMENT!

...It was Chisholm and his assistant DAs and investigators who launched two extremely political John Doe investigations into conservative groups and former aides and associates of Walker. His office partnered with the “nonpartisan” GAB in the ever-expanding John Doe II probe.

“I’ve spent the past several years trying to find a way to get justice for the people whose houses were raided, for the children who were dragged out of their beds at gunpoint and told they had to be quiet (about the raids or face going to jail),” Halbrooks said. “And I’ve spent every day on this commission trying to put right some of the things that occurred at the GAB that were just wrong.”...

IMPEACHMENT!! 

We're not done!!
 
...The commissioner says the Ethics Commission can help the state Department of Justice in its broadened investigation into the John Doe. Last month, Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican, released a bombshell report on illegal leaks of court-sealed John Doe documents. The leaks, Schimel said, likely came from the GAB, and he recommended the John Doe judge initiate contempt of court proceedings against nine John Doe agents from the agency and the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.

Curiously, Halbrooks said, John Chisholm was not among said agents – a glaring omission that needs to be corrected. He said Walker, who has the authority to do so, should begin impeachment proceedings against the man who presided over what was commonly referred to around the Milwaukee County DA’s office as the “Walker John Doe.” ...

IMPEACHMENT!!

Trump Goes Off the Rails

Looks very much like The Donald has gone all Schumer on his first promise:  immigration.

Beyond the 1.8 million illegals he wants to make into citizens (which is something like 300% of this last Monday's number) there's another very significant change.

“The White House proposal gets rid of the visa lottery, [but] what they’ve done is, they eliminated the lottery but they reallocated the visas to reduce the family-based backlog [of four million persons], so, those are going to be applied to the family-based backlog and the high-skilled employment backlog, so we’re bringing in more people to compete for American jobs,” said Wilcox.

Trump caved to the West Coast Tech Mafia, too.  So all those suckers who did the STEM coursework in college can just drop dead while poseurs from Calcutta flock in here at a large discount.

Smooth move, Donald.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Three Strains of Current Political Thought

The essay has to do with the relationship of politics to metaphysics.  We posted the first graf of the essay below because it ought to make you think a bit.  The rest is worth your time.

A few scraps:

...Contemporary secular progressivists seem to fit [Cdl.] Newman’s description in that they are animated by a creed that is both anti-Christian and absolutist, and they stridently promote it. However, the secularism of our time is rife with sectarianism and marked by ideological disagreement and heterogeneity, which doesn’t tally with Newman’s version of liberalism as a “catholic” movement with a unified doctrine. The intellectual turmoil is evident when one considers the three metaphysical visions of reality that secularists promulgate, each one incompatible with Christianity and with one another....

One of these views derives from classical liberalism—Locke, Kant, and Rawls. It emphasizes the metaphysical primacy of freedom of choice in the individual subject. Its battle cry is autonomy, and its fruits are the ethics of authenticity. Each person has the right to define the meaning of his life, his sexuality, his way of participating in civic space, and his consumer opportunities. From this metaphysics we get the culture of rights talk, and the notion that sincerity of conviction serves as a moral warrant for the views that one holds.

In case you don't recognize it, that's Kennedy's yapflap in Casey.

Alongside this, there is the rival vision of the postmodern theorists who follow Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and Foucault in outlining the ways that deep currents in human culture inform our mentality, structure our pre-reflective interpretation of experience, and privilege or disempower us in ways we fail to see. The metaphysics of Nietzsche are about power, not rights or the individual autonomy of each citizen. When one overturns social conventions that are arbitrary and oppressive, one makes room for artistic creativity and Dionysian freedom in a world marked by bourgeois convention and aesthetic mediocrity. From this strand of thinking we get the discourse of prophetic denunciation, militant calls for radical cultural transformation, and the politics of identity....

Well, I wouldn't necessarily say "rival."  There's a significant overlap between the politics-of-identity crowd and the define-your-own-world crowd.  Both of them are at home in the (D) miasma.

And here we get the thread which has a great deal of currency in (R) circles:

Finally, there are the scientistic materialists, who think that the great philosophical and religious visions of the past must be discarded after the modern scientific revolution. Their battle cry is progress. Modern science lays bare the illusion of our religious past and makes room for a better society and a more rational world. The twin motors of progress are scientific knowledge and better technology. Real humanism is material: better medicine and food, the fight to prolong life and fend off death. Typically, these advocates of democratic liberalism follow the New Atheism and favor a political internationalism that advances universal education in the sciences and the use of life-enhancing technologies....

A number of (R) folks will LOUDLY object that they are 'religious' folk, not consarned ATHEISTS!!  That ignores the possibility of being a 'practical' atheist--one who shows up at church but doesn't believe a word that's said there--or, more common, showing up at a church which doesn't hold or teach any convictions about Last Things.  Which, of course, obviates First Things, too (no pun intended.)

Walker's Big Gummint Pander

Suddenly, Scott Walker has become Santa Walker, dispensing all sorts of taxpayer money to all sorts of people. 

Must be an election coming, eh?  Or maybe Scott is "woke" from the "wake-up call" in Senate 10--the election for which damn near nobody showed up to vote and the candidate with Trump-ish themes won.  Oh yah--that winner was a (D).

So now Scott goes (D) for a while?

...Walker said he is investing much of an estimated half-billion dollar budget surplus, introducing Wednesday a $122 million child tax credit which would give families $100 per child, affecting an estimated 671,000 families....

First of all, any time ANY pol uses the term "invest", grab your wallet.  They don't "invest."  They SPEND.  Here he's talking about a REFUNDABLE credit, not a deduction.  So if you don't owe any State tax but have a kid, you get $100.00!!!  Maybe Walker never heard of AFDC, or even charities which help families w/chilluns?

...The Walker administration also announced a $50 million rural economic development program, providing grant money to “stimulate private investment, improve productivity, and to fill open jobs in rural communities.”...

What we need here, folks, is MORE PAVEMENT!!  

...Walker also boasted about increased spending on K-12 education. Democratic critics have called it a cynical election year move that comes after previous cuts to education under the Walker administration.....

He proposes to dump another $200.00/student into every school.  Curious:  he didn't mention state-wide application of School Choice.  Maybe he just forgot about that sort of people, figuring that like pro-lifers, they're going to vote for him anyway.   Oh, really, Scott??

...Walker also discussed a recently-introduced plan to stabilize the healthcare system in Wisconsin with a plan that guarantees coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and assistance paying for premiums for people who don’t get their insurance through an employer or through Medicaid.
“Our healthcare stability plan will help keep premiums at a reasonable level here in Wisconsin,” Walker said, “This is a market-driven approach to bring stability to healthcare in Wisconsin.”...

Whenever a government puts its hands into something, it is NOT "market-driven."  But we'll see what he actually thinks he means, I suppose.

Scott Walker has always been a Government Employee (save a few short years early on.)  Therefore, Government Solutions are in his bloodstream.  Scott needs to be reminded that Government Solutions soak up the free cash which should be available to Private Sector Solutions.

That would be REAL progress.

"Justice" Department Pantsed

Seems that the US DoJ doesn't want to be pantsed.

Well, pansies, you brought this on yourselves.  You think it's NOT FAIR?

Talk to Mr. Bundy about NOT FAIR, jackwads.  Remember what your ex-employee, Francis Schmitz, did to Wisconsin Republicans?  Yah.  Roll in it for a while.

The Problem With (American) Politics

You don't have to go too far into this essay to find what the author wants to say.  This is the first graf:

Liberalism began as a political project that sought to curtail the role of religion in public life. Religious impulses haven’t proven easy to expel, however, even in secular societies. Contemporary secular liberalism aspires to be a universal project that supplants traditional religion and relegates it to the private sphere. Paradoxically, this process frustrates the spiritual desires of many modern secular people, who are unsatisfied with thin consumerism and wish to participate in something greater than themselves. Their mounting rejection of the liberal project has precipitated a crisis, one felt most acutely in the political realm. It has taken the form of a resurgent nationalism, an inchoate response to the suppression of faith that is inadequate and perhaps dangerous....

Umnnhhhhhh.....yup.  The secular project we live in is, perhaps, epitomized by Faceborg and its "mission" statement, to  “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.

The problem, of course, is this:  neither liberal democracy, nor Faceborg, nor any other secular project, will 'bring the world closer together,' and whatever 'community' they build will not succeed in the long term--and perhaps not in the short term, either.  That's because of that "spiritual" stuff mentioned above.

It's Augustine, friends, whose heart is restless until it rests in the Lord.

You may ponder awhile on how Donald Trump was the electoral beneficiary of Augustine's saying, and I'll get back to the essay later.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Wait, Wait! Now It's Really "OBSTRUCTION!!"

It seems that the ex-Feeb can't find any RUSSIAN BOTS in Trump's pants.

So he's going to find OBSTRUCTION BOTS instead. 

(Please keep your eyes on Mueller, because if you look any other direction, you'll see criminal Feebs, hiding things, screwing Feeb lawyers, going to Secret Society meetings to plan sedition  bridge tournaments, and the like.  Mueller may look like a serious guy with several rooms full of Hillary-licking hard-Left goons lawyers, but he's not really serious.  Look at the work he did on the anthrax bomber case, for example.

Oh, well.  It's OBSTRUCTION now!!


SImple T/F on "Shutdown"

Stolen directly from The Captain:

Proud To Be a "Russian Bot"!!

It seems that the Rabid Left (yes, I repeat myself) has determined that all who approve of Trump's policies and initiatives are "Russian Bots."  Ace of Spades has taken note, as you can see by observing the right-hand column on the main page.

There's even an expert on the matter!!

RUSSIAN BOT expert Allahpundit

He can be found at HotAir, pushing a great deal of hot air into the warming atmosphere....

Anyhow, I'm in!  

This One Is NOT a "Housecat", Eh?

DNR believes some evidence, doesn't believe other evidence.

The one in Ixonia/Oconomowoc?  That was a "housecat."  Yah, it may have weighed 160 lbs., but it was a housecat.  Shut up, dammit.

This one, well.......it's the housecat's sister, I suppose.

Suddenly, Tammy Ditches DACA

Must be an election coming, eh?

Little Tammy went full-reverse and decided that the US Government should be funded and that DACA folks can go to the back of the line.

Not that there are any principles at stake, eh, Tammy?

If nothing else, this proves that in a binary world, Tammy could make the right choice.

"Bad for Workers," Yael? Wrong!

A nice young fellow named Yael Ossowski doesn't like tariffs.  He calls them "bad for workers."

Perhaps Mr. Ossowski never heard of Galesburg, IL, where there used to be a lot of "workers" in a now-closed appliance plant.  In fact, it was a company town, so virtually the entire town is history.  He should visit there someday.

How about Amana, IA.?  Greenville, MI.?  Ever look at the old Magic Chef plant in Cleveland, TN., Yael?

Someday, Yael, read history.  Learn something about US workers--the blood-and-guts ones, not the keyboard-tappers or "think"-tank twits.  US workers could afford US products very well, thanks--until there were no more US workers.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

A "Compromise", Senator Schitmer?

The sleaze from New York:

..."The majority, however, has forgotten the lessons of the Founding Fathers. They have shown that they do not know how to compromise,” Schumer said....

What part of "compromise" is found in a revolutionary war, Scum-mer?

What If Trump Lost?

Yah, I know, Hillary would be President.

So would the Deep State continue merrily along, finding enemies OTHER than Trump...and disposing of them if needs be?

Do you really think that Ron Johnson would have asked the Feebs' IG for any, ah.....unusual reports?  Do you think that other Congressional oversight committees would have been poking around in Fusion GS, or which crooked lawyer was paying them?

Hmmmm????

Would Russia be a friend?  Hmmmmm??


Clarke Jury Confirms: "You're a Snowflake"

The more you hear and read of the trial testimony, the more you understand that this guy's Mommy didn't raise no man.

*Shock* Another CPA Firm Is Dirty

Well, well.  Seems that Fed regulators are not all that different from Fed investigators or Fed prosecutors.  They can be bought pretty easily.  Here, KPMG (formerly Peat, Marwick) was the purchaser.

...The government filed charges against six accountants, including three former partners at KPMG and three former employees of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), with conspiring to defraud securities regulators and steal confidential auditing information.

Executives at KPMG recruited employees from the PCAOB, the regulator erected by Congress in 2002 after earlier accounting scandals to clean up the accounting business, to join the accounting firm, according to a criminal indictment unsealed Monday. Those recruits allegedly stole confidential information about the PCAOB’s plans to audit the firm and shared them with the KPMG partners....

That ought to be the end of KPMG, too, just as Arthur Anderson's criminal-assistance pact with Enron was their final act.

Monday, January 22, 2018

"Enemy of the State" Is Playing....FBI/DOJ Are the Stars!

Just a co-incidence, of course, that "Enemy of the State" is playing on AMC right now...

...On April 26, 2017, an unsealed FISA Court Ruling unveiled a number of criminal activities that Barack Obama’s FBI and DOJ participated in during his time in office.  The report to date received little attention.  Now interest is brewing due to the recent actions of Congress and the report that is expected to be released in the upcoming weeks.

The FISA Court Ruling shows widespread abuse of the FISA mandate. According to the report, Obama’s FBI and DOJ performed searches on Americans that were against their 4th Amendment rights. This went on for years. One paragraph in the report states that 85% of the Section 704 and 705(b) FISA searches made during this time were non-compliant with applicable laws and therefore criminal. ...

85%.  Huh.  Did Obama watch the movie to get his ideas?

Too Cynical??

Ace saw this and it's juuuuuusssst believable enough to re-post.

Discussing the FBI's "loss" of text messages between horn-dog and his bitch, which covered a most interesting period of time from 2016-2017, Steve Green answers the following question:

Does anyone really believe that the FBI “lost” texts from a senior FBI counterintelligence agent that were sent over an FBI device?  

Response:

The thing is, you're not supposed to believe it. No one is -- not in any meaningful sense.
Maybe I'm just getting paranoid, but today's limp excuse is so lame that it almost seems as though there must be something more sinister going on here than simply failing to comply with a congressional investigation.

What the FBI is doing is demonstrating its political power -- baring its fangs, if you will -- by showing in the most obviously unbelievable way that it will do what it please. The FBI wants the people who count to understand that the Bureau cannot and will not be held accountable.

IOW, it's the Feebs' version of "fuck you" money.

Based on what Fran Schmitz, John Chisholm, and their rat-pack ADA/GAB sub-capos pulled off without any punishment, I'd say the FBI has very good odds of getting an increase in their budget next year, too.

This Essay Is Not Entirely About Churchmen

Fr. Rutler is a treasure.  Here he asks 'Where are the churchmen with chests?'--and of course, he means that specifically.  But buried in the middle of the essay is this:

...When Churchill published a biography of his father six years later, Teddy’s assessment written to Senator Henry Cabot lodge, might have been a sketch of himself: “Still, I feel that, while the biographer and his subject possess some real farsightedness … both possess or possessed such levity, lack of sobriety, lack of permanent principle, and an inordinate thirst for that cheap form of admiration which is given to notoriety, as to make them poor public servants.” Similar words are spoken sniffingly today by the media, superior clerics, and preening intellectuals about a president they think is “heinously unsuitable” and a “connoisseur of low culture” and generally not up to snuff....

When one reads Fr. Rutler, one must have very sensitive antennae.  Let those with ears, hear.  In that passage, context matters, therefore, note VERY well that Teddy Roosevelt was disparaging Winston Churchill.

See?

On Releasing the Memo and Peace in the Kingdom

A couple of pundits have argued that "The Memo" will not be released because it is simply too explosive.  Here's the gist:

...The narrative that explains all of this is that high ranking people in the FBI, maybe even Director Comey, were working with the Justice Department to help Hillary Clinton in the election. That has seemed clear for a while now. What’s becoming clear now is Fusion GPS, the political dirty tricks operation, functioned as a cutout for the FBI and the Clinton campaign. The FBI shared secret intel with Fusion, who then sold it to the Clinton campaign or distributed to the media at the direction of the campaign.

There’s a word for all of this and it is called treason. It’s one thing for a career intelligence officer to go bad and start selling intelligence to a foreign government. That just a part of the life of a nation state. It is an entirely different thing when senior members of the political class are working to undermine the fundamentals of the political system. It is the sort of thing that results in hangings or civil wars. It’s why the infamous memo has not been released, despite the fact it could be leaked or declassified by the White House....

It may have been Limbaugh or Levin who argued similarly, using the analogy of an imminent SMOD landing on CONUS.  What's the point? they ask.

OK, here's the point:  the catharsis is a necessary, albeit horrible, evil.  And it will lead to re-formation (yup, "reform"), which is clearly necessary.  Effectively licensing this behavior will beg for more of the same.

Is that what you want?  More of the same??

One does not have to imprison Obama, the ringleader.  Lynch, Comey, Brennan, and that fat old jackwad-perjurer Clapper will be sufficient, along with a dozen minor cast members such as Strzok and his bitch.

There may be some minor downstream activism against Obama-ites, but it can be contained and the perps can be put away, too.

Then comes the Period of Peace following the Chastisement--a good thing for all.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

The Stench of "St James" Shithole Comey

Comey, who is still living very well on a taxpayer-financed pension and benefits plan, now looks more like a shithole than Haiti.

...The text exchanges also indicate the FBI substituted, and then omitted, damaging language in FBI Director Comey’s July 5, 2016 statement that recommended Clinton not be charged. The original draft noted that Clinton had improperly used personal email to contact President Obama while abroad in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. According to the text exchange, an FBI official then removed President Obama’s name and stated that Clinton had simply emailed “another senior government official.” In the final statement as delivered by Comey on July 5, both references were omitted entirely....

That was Comey who omitted the language.  It was also Comey who, long before he even pretended to interview Hillary-the-Espionage-Act-Violator-in-Chief, had determined (with the even more corrupt Lynch) that HRC would go free.

Yes, that S.702 license given to the Feebs, CIA, and NSA looks better every day, doesn't it?

Thanks, RoJo!!

The Independent Duchy: NSA

Apparently the NSA has decided to become a law unto itself, not subject to POTUS nor Congress, nor SCOTUS and its subsidiaries.

...Nowhere is that "independence" of the 'state within a state' more evident than in the blatant and egregious news this week that The National Security Agency destroyed surveillance data it pledged to preserve in connection with pending lawsuits and apparently never took some of the steps it told a federal court it had taken to make sure the information wasn’t destroyed, according to recent court filings....

But the Agency apologized.  Doesn't that count for something?

Need we say once again.....

...Word of the NSA’s foul-up is emerging just as Congress has extended for six years the legal authority the agency uses for much of its surveillance work conducted through U.S. internet providers and tech firms....

...a practice fully enabled by Sen. Ron Johnson just last week.

Horrific Stats from CARA

CARA is "Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate,"  a Georgetown U. polling and research outfit.  It's considered to be the most reliable benchmarker of Catholics in the US.

So this is truly horrific.

...The survey found that while 98 percent of American Catholic women say they believe in God in some way, only about one-third (35%) attend mass even fairly regularly, and just under one-third (30%) say they attend confession once a year, which is a significant repudiation of the bedrock obligations of Catholicism by women who call themselves Catholic....

For women born since 1970 or so, that 35% number becomes only about 20%.

Egads. 

Since a lot of folks have said (rightly or not) that the US Church has become 'feminized' since Vatican II, one now wonders where are the femmes in that Church?

If these women claim, but do not practice, Catholicism, what of their children?  Well, maybe that cradle-rocking didn't overcome the Holy Spirit!!

....Women of the Baby Boom generation showed the most support for women deacons, with 65% registering approval, while Millennials showed the lowest levels of support, at 53%. And just over 50% of women who attend mass weekly support women deacons.

In another sign that Millennial Catholic women may be trending more conservative then their mothers and grandmothers—possibly because so many more progressive-leaning women have left the church—one-quarter (26%) report using natural family planning as a method of contraception, which is the second-highest rate following women born before the availability of modern contraceptives....

That aligns with observations of the attendees at Extraordinary Form Masses; there is a very large percentage of people under the age of 40 (with lots of chilluns!!!) at those Masses.

Overall, this survey does not surprise us.  We have met plenty of the Baby Boom demi-apostates; I recall a raucous parents' meeting at our parochial school where three very socially prominent dames were loudly chanting "We Want Sex!!" in the back of the room.  (They were advocating sex-ed, not asking for extramarital stress-relief.  At least, that's what I thought at the time.)  More recently, we ran across an old bat who was given responsibility for approving the wedding plans at the local parish.  She loudly complained about the 'conservatives' she had to deal with, meaning my daughter and wife.  We did exactly what we wanted to do regardless--but knew this was enemy territory.

The Gates of Hell shall not prevail.  But you can see them from here in America....  

Saturday, January 20, 2018

RoJo of Gov't Affairs: How About JUSTICE??

Senator Ron Johnson, who happens to approve of massive US Government spying on its own citizens, seems to have forgotten all about this.

...Clapper appeared before the Senate to discuss surveillance programs in the midst of a controversy over warrantless surveillance of the American public. He was asked directly, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions, or hundreds of millions of Americans?” There was no ambiguity or confusion and Clapper responded, “No, sir. … Not wittingly.” That was a lie and Clapper knew it when he said it....

Lying under oath to the Senate--if you're a Deep State honcho--is just fine.  In 60 days, Clapper will have passed the Statute of Limitations stale-date for his crime.

RoJo, a member of the Senate Governmental Affairs committee, don't give a shit.  Maybe that's because Ron doesn't really care too much about the Fourth Amendment, either??

Who Cares?

This is funny.

A huge majority of Republicans less than 25 years old want the president to face a primary challenge.

It's well-known that under-25's don't vote in meaningful numbers.

So who cares?

Congress' Gym-Towel Shortage!! CRISIS!!!!

Yah, it's so damn hard to be in Congress.

While SchumerShitdown continues, the Armed Forces do not get paid.  At all.  No groceries for you!!

And widdle babykins Congress-slime cry that they don't have enough towels in their taxpayer-financed gym.

Life is a bitch, eh?

Still a Never-Trumper? (Christian, This Means You...)

We saw--and laughed at--Schneider's "Never Trump, Dammit!!" bleating in the local rag.  His outburst was occasioned by the electoral loss of a not-too-good (R) candidate to a (D) who picked up Trumpian themes and won with them.

Got that?  The (D) ran on anti-Madison (read:  anti-Establishment) and "good jobs" themes while the (R) voted against FoxConn and mumbled about regulatory obscurities. 

So it's Trump's fault that the (R) lost.  Uh-huh.

There's another way to look at this, of course.

...Establishment Republicans insist that our president is poisonous to discourse, yet they offer nothing more than spittle-flecked denunciations of the man personally while failing to recognize the invaluable work he is doing to thwart the steady degeneration of our form of government. 

Mind you, this work has been long avoided by those same Republicans who now strike at the president's knees as he takes up the cause of national restoration, harassing him for putting bold action behind the very principles these neglectful Republicans have themselves espoused in countless campaigns but apparently never actually believed.

Conservatives and other constitutionally respectful constituencies have spent the better part of a century following the advice of such Republicans and have achieved nothing beyond bare survival.  

Under their leadership, we now have a world where our children know precious little about the form of government intended for them by our framers and are consequently eager to trade their inherent liberty for trinkets of socialist Utopiana. 

Our Republican leaders talk of conservative principles yet govern from an agenda essentially homogenous to that of the Democrats – only slower, at lower cost.

Let me help you understand this, Chris.  Trump was right then, and although he won partially due to the utter reprehensibility of the opponent, he has done damn near everything right since election.

Pubbies who--like Schneider, Jeb, and Romney--still don't get it, will continue to lose.  Walker is right:  the wake-up call has been sounded.  Republicans with no cojones, and their camp-follower pundits, are going to lose.   That's why Flake and Hatch are quitting.  

Both Sides of Paul Ryan's Mouth

OK, so the Speaker of the House spoke at the March for Life.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told attendees Friday at the 45th Annual March for Life that House Republicans are striving to make their time in Congress a March for Life itself.

He listed a number of pro-life legislative achievements, including the passage of the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act just minutes before the march began on Friday.   ..."We’re making a lot of progress. In the House, we passed legislation to defund Planned Parenthood,” Ryan said.


Well, yah, except for the CR you passed which DOES FUND Planned Parenthood, Paul.

The continuing resolution that the House of Representatives passed last night and sent to the Senate extends government funding—set to expire today—until February 16, while also extending the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years.

But it does nothing to follow-up on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to defund Planned Parenthood so long as Planned Parenthood performs abortions.

“It makes no changes to that program,” a spokesperson for the House Appropriations Committee told CNSNews.com when asked if the bill would defund Planned Parenthood in any way....

Such a nice-looking young man for being a bold-faced liar, eh?


Maybe Tammy Will Pay Your Tax Refund?

Little Tammy has decided that illegal immigrants are more important to her than are US soldiers and sailors--who will not get paid--and citizens who are owed tax refunds.

Since Little Tammy has lots of campaign dollars, she really should write checks to cover those refunds and pay US military who are protecting her sorry ass, no?

I didn't think so.

Fuel Tax and Net Neutrality

We are told that 22 states are suing to reverse the Federal 'net neutrality' ruling.

In effect, the ruling means that the more you use the 'net, the more you pay.

So those 22 states are also repealing their per-gallon fuel taxes??   After all, those taxes mean that the more you use, the more you pay, just like the internet now.

Hmmmmmm???

Friday, January 19, 2018

RoJo Renews Gov't Spying. Same Day Gov't Spying Goes Nuclear

Why, sure, the Gummint should have the right to spy on US citizens without warrants, except the warrants issued by FISA.

That's RoJo's stand, and he's not going to apologize.  (He has yet to apologize for his failure to repeal ObozoCare, too.)

On the same day RoJo voted for this abomination, a 3-page memo was circulated showing EXACTLY WHY Section 702 should have been buried.  See, 702 was used to spy on Trump and all of his friends and acquaintances--authorized by FISA after Comey, Obama, and Lynch lied like Hell.

RoJo must think that no more bad guys will ever get elected.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

The New Look of the AR-15

Some journalist-ette in Ohio saw this AR inflicting fatal wounds on a watermelon.

She forgot to mention that the AR is prolly raciss.

Go ahead, watch.  It's only 7 seconds.  Just don't be sipping your coffee while you watch......

The Russkis Took Over the NRA!!!

Well, sure.

The story is actually funny, and a great example of the way Pure Bullshit is "news."

The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.

OK, let's have the story!!

...The extent to which the FBI has evidence of money flowing from Torshin to the NRA, or of the NRA’s participation in the transfer of funds, could not be learned....

Oh.  So there is zero?  Some?  A lot?  Conclusive?  OK, prolly zero.  But let's keep playing!!

...NRA reported spending a record $55 million on the 2016 elections, including $30 million to support Trump – triple what the group devoted to backing Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race....

Well, THAT'S an indictment just waiting for a ham sandwich, or something.  NRA saw Trump as a better spend than Mitt, the Wishy-Washy LOSER.  This is not hard--except for McClatchy ditzes. 

This gets better!!

...Two people with close connections to the powerful gun lobby said its total election spending actually approached or exceeded $70 million. The reporting gap could be explained by the fact that independent groups are not required to reveal how much they spend on Internet ads or field operations, including get-out-the-vote efforts....

Sadly, those two people are not named "Vlad" and "Ivan."  So McClatchy doesn't have a smoking gun.  Yet. 

But we do know this:  the AFL-CIO also does not report GOTV, internet, or "walking-around money."  And that is usually around $100 million/election.  Then there's the Steelworkers, the IAMAW, the Electricals, the AFSCME, and the NEA.....but who's counting??  Not McClatchy.

Then there's the tall-tale telling part, where we assemble a 150-story skyscraper from only 100 Lego parts!!

...Investigators for three congressional committees probing Russia’s 2016 operations also have shown interest in Torshin, a lifetime NRA member who has attended several of its annual conventions. At the group’s meeting in Kentucky in May 2016, Torshin spoke to Donald Trump Jr. during a gala event at the group’s national gathering in Kentucky in May 2016, when his father won an earlier-than-usual NRA presidential endorsement.....

What ARE we WAITING FOR??  JAIL THIS TRAITOR TRUMP!!!  JAIL TORSHIN, who is OBVIOUSLY a Putin plant.  Ham-sandwich-ize all the NRA OFFICERS!!!!  Prepare their rooms at LEAVENWORTH!!  Torshin SPOKE to Don, Jr!!  WE HAVE NO FURTHER NEED OF PROOF!!!!

My rifle has been speaking to me in a low, gutteral, voice.  Polyooska Polyii!!  Eta Russki Armii, Polyii!!  The rifle had an NRA sticker on the box it came in.   ARREST THE RIFLE!!

Ah, yes.  The free Press.  Nobody said anything about Truth, did they? 

Maybe Jarchow Was a Lousy Candidate, Eh?

Something that strikes me as common sense about the 10 Senate/Wisconsin:

Her campaign focused not on attacking Trump but fighting the opioid crisis, improving access to health care[,] and bringing good-paying jobs to the region. --WaPo

"Schachtner also ran on resentment toward Madison and MKE, " he tweeted.  "From her campaign announcement: 'Whether it's roads, schools or jobs, Madison politicians take money away from us and give it to Milwaukee.'"--Mike Gousha

Both quoted at Thinker.

So the Republican was talking about property rights and deregulation in the campaign, while the Democrat was talking about solving the opiate crisis, alleviating the nightmare of Obamacare and getting good-paying jobs to the district?

Instead of asking whom you think voters would choose with that contrasting pair of platforms, the more useful question is, which platform would President Trump have taken had he been the candidate in that election?...

Yah.  Jarchow is kinda tone-deaf.  Maybe the "Wake-Up Call" is this:  Pubbies should actually give a fig about their constituency's concerns.  

Worked for the orange-haired guy, ya'know.

 

Deficit Reduction, Trump-Style

I suppose that the (R) Congress could take credit for this.  In fact, they probably WILL take credit for it.

..."Apple, already the largest US taxpayer, anticipates repatriation tax payments of approximately $38 billion as required by recent changes to the tax law....--quoted at VoxPop

It would be nice if the Pubbies could write and pass a budget which reduces stupid-ass Fed spending by 10X that amount.  But that won't happen, will it?

DACA Defined

Apparently Paul Ryan doesn't pay much attention to the signs of the times like this one:

...You remember DACA? It’s an acronym that stands for “That Thing Democrats Want To Use To Fill The Voter Rolls With Foreigners And GOP Donors Want To Use To Get More Serfs To Work For Peanuts While Actual Americans Get Shafted And Called ‘Racist’ If They Dare Complain.” The Democrats desperately want DACA because you Normal people have let them down and voted for your own interests rather than in the way Nancy Pelosi instructed you. Bad, bad electorate! You definitely need to be replaced.....The GOP wants it because its big money donors want it because you actual Americans demand to be treated with respect by your employers and, well, paying Americans what they’re worth is bad for business. And the Senate GOP Sissy Caucus of sanctimonious twits wants it because it gives them a chance to pose and preen and pretend to have the moral high ground over those wicked evil bad bad bad Republicans who want to do what actual Republican voters want done instead of being guided by the eccentric moral compass that Jeff Flake keeps inside himself right next to his head....

Paul's a fortunate boy, indeed.  He has a crazy wacko trying to primary him, and a turncoat "Labor" guy--who would drain the blood from his union brothers to get more Illegals to be Legal--running on the (D) ticket.

Luck can run out, Paul.

The Bump on a Log Moves!!

Baldwin actually DID something.

Must be an election coming up or something.....

Bannon "Credibility Issue" From GOWDY??

Yah, good old "pull-my-punch" Gowdy thinks Bannon has a 'cred issue.'

Maybe so, maybe not.

But this is certain:  Bannon is not going to play patsy for your televised ego-trip, Mr. Gowdy. 

Maybe you could concentrate on real criminals (hint:  they worked for Wasserman-Schultz and are Paki types.)  Or would that be too much to ask?

Clinton/Obama Flunky Decries "Liar" and "Moral Rot"

This jackwad--Begala--facilitated Bill and Hillary Clinton's extraordinary lying, not to mention their extraordinary greed (and lust.)

THEN he moved on to helping the Communist Obama to destroy the USA.

And he yaps about "liar" and "moral rot."

Paul, we can smell the moral rot from here--and YOU are up-wind.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Can USCC Defend This?

Various USCC bureaucrats, Bishops, Archbishops, and Cardinals have been emitting yappa-flappa about 'opening the borders' to immigrants as a matter of moral imperative.

The fact that it is NOT a 'moral imperative' doesn't cross their minds, of course.  But that's another story.  Here's the real story:

...12,513 Afghans became permanent residents in ’16.  ...Around 1,000 of the Afghans we took in have jobs. 8,190 don’t have jobs.  3,158 are marked as unknown. That’s an 8% employment rate....

...In ’16, we took in 23,449 Salvadorans. Around 3,000 have jobs. The other 20,000 don’t seem to....

...23,584 Haitians became permanent residents in ’16. Haiti is a permanent disaster. So are its immigrants. Only 2,691 or 11% are employed....--quoted at ColdFury

Put it this way:  there's no doubt that practicing charity IS a moral imperative.  We can do that by sending a check to benefit Afghans, Salvadorans, and Haitians in their own home countries.  There is apparently no good reason to bring them here.

The USCC won't talk about that, of course.

The Russians Bought 10th Senate Election!!

Some describe the 10th Senate (D) victory as a "stunning loss" for Republicans.

Mark Thomsen knows better.  He predicted that the Russians would be influencing elections--and clearly, they have.

So with apologies to our friend Wiggy, it is NOT a "Republican loss."

It is a Russian VICTORY!!  Break out the VODKA!!!!

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

On the Immigration Question

I think Z has this pretty well.  The essay begins on a not-really-related topic, but he gets around to the Immigration Question and says a mouthful.

....No one would oppose a small, limited amnesty for some illegal invaders, who have been here for a long time. As long as it comes with tough measures to limit further invasions and protections against future backsliding on the issue. Trump’s wall creates a permanent lobby in Washington in favor of border protection. Programs like e-Verify alter the hiring culture to prevent labor abuse.

The package of proposals from the White House is reasonable and sensible. It is a practical response to a public policy problem. If the the compromise includes legalizing a few hundred thousand invaders, a civilized people can accept it. But the people in charge are incapable of moderation, which is why they blew up the talks and are demanding a blanket amnesty with no conditions. Again, the hive minded can only understand the world in binary terms. It is those inside the walls versus those outside the walls.

There is no reasoning with fanatics. As much as many on our side want to believe that practical issues are what’s behind the multicultural madness, the fact is the people pushing it are not reasonable people. They are all or nothing people. That’s why this cannot end well. The people in charge either succeed in pulling the roof down on the rest of us, or the rest of us are forced to do what is necessary to dislodge the lunatics that have seized the high ground of the culture. Moderation is not the answer to fanaticism.

This will not end well.

No matter the whining from Lindsey-Oats or from Ryan's Corporatists, or--for that matter--the somewhat silly Bishops who attempt to make new moral rules where--frankly--they have no business whatsoever, if sensible immigration is not enacted, there will be problems.  Big ones.

Tit for Tat

Jake Tapper, FakeNews CNN Division, threw Stephen Miller off the set last Sunday when Miller would not roll over and play dead to Tapper's bullshit.

OK, then.  Today, Acosta--Chief of Fake, CNN Division, got obstreperous--as usual--and Trump tossed his fat ass out of the Oval Office.

Gotta love The Donald!

Monday, January 15, 2018

Even More Shrill Fauxcahontas

This woman has a mania about collecting personal data.

...Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who conceived the idea of the consumer agency, which critics say has too much and often undefined power, strongly objected to the agency’s temporary halt in data collection just last week.

“CFPB cannot fulfill its core functions without collecting personally identifiable information,” Warren wrote in a Jan. 4 letter to top CFPB officials....

That is true.  However, CFPB's databanks are not secure.

[Acting Director] Mulvaney announced plans to halt personal data collection after an inspector general’s report warned of cybersecurity problems with the agency.

“I think we should find ways to have as rigorous a data security program as possible here before we start expecting that from people who we oversee out in the industry,” Mulvaney told reporters at the time....

Not only does CFPB have data security problems.  It also has a helluvalot of data--and it seems to be collecting such data without good reason.

...a Government Accountability Office report from September 2014 noted serious concerns about the privacy and security of the consumers whose data are being collected by the CFPB.

The GAO found the CFPB was collecting more information than was necessary for its regulatory mission, from 87 percent of the credit card market. It further said the agency’s 12 mass data collections had information on 173 million loans....

The Shrill Senator-ette likes YOUR data to be in HER data bank.  Comfortable with that?

Why Wisconsin Electric Is Sending Workers NOW

There is no such thing as co-incidence.  You have noticed that around 60 skilled linemen from Wisconsin Electric are on their way to Puerto Rico, one of the 5 most corrupt nations in the Caribbean area.

There's a reason for that "now."

...On Saturday, a day after becoming aware of a massive store of rebuilding materials being held by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the U.S. federal government — the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with their security detail — entered a Palo Seco warehouse owned by the public utility to claim and distribute the equipment, according to a spokesperson for the Corps....

...Among the materials recovered so far are “2,875 pieces of critical material to contractors” along with the sleeves of full-tension steel, a component of Puerto Rican electrical infrastructure required to erect new power lines. PREPA did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment, though in a statement to the Associated Press, it rejected allegations that it had failed to distribute the warehouse’s contents. The AP only reported that “officials over the weekend also discovered some needed materials in a previously overlooked warehouse owned by Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority.” How they discovered them and how they were obtained is a story that has not been fully told....

FEMA and the Corps knew they would be re-possessing vast amounts of electrical-power materiel, likely "lost" by the Corrupt-o-crats of Puerto Rico.  By the way, lots of other mainland repair crews have been sitting in hotels waiting for this stuff to materialize.

FYI, Puerto Rico is not a "shithole."  Yet.

Russki Money Funds GreenWackies!!

The Russians are throwing large dollars into the "environmental" protesters.  It makes sense; Russia would like to keep the oil & gas markets tight, and keep the US dependent on outside resources.

Wonder if that (D) wack-job lawyer Thomsen in Madistan is a GreenWonzo, too, eh??  He seems to know a LOT about the Russians, after all.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Durbin/Fake News: They Lied Again

Apparently Trump did not use the word "shithole."  That was Durbin describing his own mouth.

...Republican Sen. David Perdue (Ga.) on Sunday said President Trump did not use the word “shithole” to refer to African nations, Haiti and El Salvador during a White House meeting with lawmakers.

***


I’m telling you he did not use that word, George. And I’m telling you it’s a gross misrepresentation. How many times do you want me to say that?” Perdue said after host George Stephanopoulos pressed him for an answer
....ABCNews quoted at PowerLine

Durbin--a liar from the get-go--spread the story about "shithole," and of course, it was trumpeted endlessly by the Fake News media (which means all the 'news' outlets.')

Surprised?

So.  Durbin says Trump used the word.  Trump (and others) say he did not.  One is a Chicago politician, the other is a real estate developer.  Go ahead.  Bet large on this!

Mr. Manning to Run for Senate

The HotAir headline has this:  "So a Convicted Traitor Would Like to Run for Senate..."

Why not?  Mr. Manning could join with several NOT-convicted traitors therein.

Ticker agrees with this, but he doesn't call other Senators 'traitors.'  He has far more colorful descriptors!

RAISE Act: Screwing American STEM People. Again.

Professor Matloff on the RAISE Act proposal:

...America’s tech workers, already victimized by immigration policy, would be harmed even more by RAISE, as it would redistribute green card allocation from the largely low-skilled to the high-skilled, thus providing even more competition at the latter level. While it might seem desirable to bring in more techies, we have a surplus as it is. And even worse, extra points would be given to younger workers who wish to immigrate, exacerbating the rampant age discrimination in the industry....

Not real surprising.

...the Issa and Durbin-Grassley bills to reform H-1B would have the effect of encouraging Congress to enact some kind of Staple a Green Card to Their Diplomas legislation, under which foreign STEM students at U.S. universities would be granted a fast track green card. This would be truly disastrous, dwarfing any current problem with H-1B etc....

Issa is into this because he represents California, of course.  Grassley because he's not very bright, and Durbin because he's not very bright AND understands how to get more (D) voters.  What a lovely combination.

By the way, these are the bills supported by the anti-third-world-immigration bunch, too.

Utility Music for Mass

My desk at the office is directly under one of the speakers used to broadcast music throughout the entire retail store.  Usually this stuff is '70's and '80's crap, except for the rock-n-roll "Christmas" music which expires on December 26th.

Yes, it's true.  I suffer from abuse by employer.  *snif*

Then I get to suffer from abuse at church!!

...A Church which only makes use of utility music has fallen for what is, in fact, useless. . . . For her mission is a far higher one. As the Old Testament speaks of the Temple, the Church is to be the place of glory, and as such, too, the place where mankind’s cry of distress is brought to the ear of God. 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 also glorious, beautiful, habitable, and beloved...Jos. Ratzinger

Yup.  Different speakers, same stuff, no matter the kinda-holy text of hymns or the actually holy texts of the Mass.  When it's "utility music" it's no different from retail-store space-filler.

Clearly, Purgatory is not the only punishment.....

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Why the "Porn Star Bribe" Story NOW?

Easy.  The Democrats are pointing to a Shiny Object while it becomes crystal clear that Obozo, Comey, and Rosenstein KNEW about Russian bribery BEFORE the Uranium-One deal that Hillary Clinton signed off for.

This is not hard, folks.  Hillary and Bill were taking bribes--in the form of "speaker's fees" and "donations to the Chelsea Marriage Fund"--and the Russians got their nuclear deal.

There's evidence, people.

So the Democrats will be yelling about "shitholes" as loudly as possible, and the MSM, a bought-and-paid-for subsidiary of the Democrat Left, will not mention this news item.

Waterfront Property in Haiti

Gorgeous waterfront property in Haiti.  Some cleanup required.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Is the Pope Catholic?

Only a few years ago, that was a humorous punchline.  Today......well.....

On January 12, reports began surfacing on Twitter that Lilianne Ploumen, former Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in the Netherlands, was honored by Pope Francis with the title of Commander in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great.  The Lepanto Institute was able to confirm from a December 22, 2017 Dutch radio broadcast that Ploumen indeed received the honor. ...

I happen to know three US KCSG's (all deceased now).   The Pope has just peed on their graves.

...To say that Lilianne Ploumen is “pro-abortion” is an extreme understatement and doesn’t even come close to the scandalous reality of her activism....a few days ago, Ploumen was awarded the Machiavelli Prize “for her campaign for the safe abortion fund SheDecides.”...from 2004-2007, Ploumen was the Director of Programs and on the Board of Directors for CORDAID, the Dutch Catholic aid relief agency that was caught funding Planned Parenthood and dispensing contraception....In February of 2010, Ploumen called on LGBT activists to descend upon and disrupt Mass at St. John the Baptist Cathedral, wearing pink triangles with the words “Jesus excludes no one.” The reason?  She and other pro-LGBT activists were protesting the Church’s moral teaching regarding homosexuality....

It is not news that this Pope has a very tenuous grasp on certain elements of the Faith.  So in answer to the question in my headline, we can say this:  "Well, the Pope is a Jesuit!"

Pray harder.

Take It From the Man Who's Been There....

RenMan has been in Africa--he emigrated from there to the USA--and has a very interesting military and civilian history. 

About S*&^holes:

....allow me to say, I've been in far too many of them for comfort.  They are precisely as described:  s***holes.  They smell of s***.  All too often, the food tastes of s***, and/or is prepared in circumstances so unhygienic I have no doubt whatsoever that it is actually full of s***.  (Ever been in a tribal village where they kill a hog or cow to celebrate your arrival?  I've personally watched as a pig's intestines were taken out of its stomach, stripped of their vile contents by hand into a bucket, without benefit of soap or running water or anything else, and then dumped straight into a cauldron of boiling water to cook.  The instant they were regarded as cooked - not even halfway, I can assure you! - a chunk was hacked off and offered to me.  I had no choice but to eat it, otherwise I would have given enormous offense to those who'd prepared it for me.  Hello, huge prophylactic doses of Ciprofloxacin twice a day for the duration of the trip!)...

The problem is that people from those worlds do NOT integrate well into the US.  

The Church's Civil War, Part XXV

A prominent Prog from Austria:

...[Fr.] Zulehner predicts that there will be approved, in 2019, the ordination of married priests. He also indicates the possibility of female priests....

Yah, well, that's not the take-away, startling as it may be.  HERE'S the take-away:

...Speaking about this method of operation which is based on a more decentralized way of governing the Church, Zulehner adds “It is one of the most important decisions of this pontificate that the pope overcomes centralism.”...

Which means the following re-formulation:  "Not-so-One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic."  The priest is correct:  this is a revolution.

Yes, Virginia, There ARE Shitholes

Our Holier-Than-Thou Betters have lost their minds over the fact that people are fleeing, desperate for better living conditions.  They flee so that their children can live without abject fear of violence, murder, or theft--and that the children may obtain a marginally-better education.

They leave Chicago, New York City, Detroit, and Los Angeles every day, by the hundreds.  Someone called these places "shitholes," and heads exploded.

Too bad.  People leave because the places ARE shitholes.


Goodlatte's Good Law

It's just a proposal at this point.  But the right people like it for the right reasons.

That means it's going to take a beating from all the Enlightened and Better People, of course.

Sensenbrenner Right! Ryan, Grothman WRONG!

On the question of Spying On Americans Because of Feeeeelings, or whatever, not to bother with the silly and antiquated Fourth Amendment........

Jim Sensenbrenner voted correctly.

Paul Ryan, from his gated and walled-off compound, voted to allow it.  So did the ladder-climbing butt-kissing Glenn Grothman, who pretends to be a Conservative whenever he's not voting in the House.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

UPDATE: Ryan Spyin' Again

It seems that the Fourth Amendment is a hindrance to Big Brother.

...the House on Thursday approved legislation to renew government surveillance powers while voting down new limits on how authorities can use the information that is collected....

...Just a few hours before the vote, President Trump roiled the waters by sending out a tweet that appeared to contradict his own administration’s opposition to the changes, which were offered by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.).

That amendment failed by a vote of 183-233....

Amash's amendment would have required the FBI to get a warrant when spying on US citizens.  That's all.  Just a warrant.

(Note to self:  check Sensenbrenner's vote on both these items..... )

Trump flat-out lied or mis-led on the topic, claiming that he 'fixed the procedure.'  He did not, because the law governs, not the reg. 

Deep State wins this round.

Australian "Man" v. Snake

Here are the bare bones basics:

Ted Ogier was traveling on the New South Wales south coast Wednesday when he spotted a black, red-bellied snake slithering alongside his car.

Ogier said the reptile had slithered from the hood of his car and wrapped itself around his side mirror, looking and apparently hissing at him....

So what happens next?

...Olgier said he eventually pulled over and called his coworker, Kai Pearse, who later arrived and removed the snake with a broom.....

Ayyyyy, the bloke can't get out of his own car and whack the snake?

A Moment of Snark

HT: Thinker

Ryan Steps into S.702, Comes Out Smelling Bad

Well, then.  Yesterday morning the House leadership (i.e., Ryan and McCarthy) was all set to renew Section 702, which allows NSA/FEEBS (and anyone else who's interested) to spy on your phones, emails, and text messages for no reason or any reason at all.

This is Your Government, remember? 

Then the President decided that maybe 702 ain't such a great idea. 

Then the President decided that, actually, 702 is a great idea.

Then "Saint Jim" Comey proclaimed that 702 is REALLY GOOD!!! 

(Uhhhhmmmnnnnn...that's like the home-invader proclaiming that a law forbidding door-locks is REALLY GOOD!!  (By the way, F*&^ you, Comey.))

Some Pubbies with more than half a brain have now decided that 702 needs further examination.  Even Palsi thinks so and managed to emit a coherent sentence or two about it.

Let's hope that Paul Ryan gets the message, even within his walled-compound home.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

"Ethics" Commissar to "Investigate" Fitzgerald

This may be fun.  The Kommissar of Ethics--a demented Democrat who is certain that the Russkis will be electing Scott Walker and Paul Ryan--has launched an "ethics" probe according to this report.

Frankly, I don't believe that this probe is really the work of the Kommissar.  There have been no armed, flash-bang aided, forcible home invasions and no children have been scarred for life.

But you never know.  Francis Schmitz is looking for work, and has anyone seen Shane Falk?  Is he still wearing camo and playing with a Mattel looking like an M-16A2?

New Front in Church's Civil War

This is about as surprising as the sun rising in the East.

Responsible parenthood can obligate a married couple to use artificial birth control, a recently appointed member of the Pontifical Academy for Life has argued, basing his theory on Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia.

Italian moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi said at a December 14 public lecture at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome that there are “circumstances — I refer to Amoris Laetitia, Chapter 8 — that precisely for the sake of responsibility, require contraception.”...

Want that boiled down?  OK.  "THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS."

That's what he said, and that's what he means; and he takes his cue and justification from Pp. Francis' increasingly-embattled Amoris Laetitia.

Somehow, and soon, AL will be used to justify queer "marriage."