More Truth About Texas

Caught at Sipsey

The Tahoe is also Texas' version of the 3/4T, distinct from the Suburban, which is the Texas Deuce-and-a-half.

Legal, Yes. Questionable Judgment, Yes

Here's the story:

A Wisconsin appellate court tossed out the loitering conviction against a man who was cited during a stroll he took in 2013, which happened to be near a school while carrying an AR-15 on his shoulder and a gun on his hip....

Under Wisconsin law, one may legally open-carry if there is no evidence of criminal or malicious intent.

We think that the fellow is utterly lacking in judgment.

Welfare-Taker Takes $20 Million Out of US?

Seems that a few Somalians living in the US have taken up to $20 million--in cash--out of the US and to Somalia, which happens to have a lot of ISIS-types.

The transporters are welfare recipients, which raises a question....right?

But ObozoJustice is too busy prosecuting cake-makers and tranny-tossers, or lying to Federal judges in Oklahoma,  to give a damn.

Tranny-Tosser Under Arrest

A security guard at a D.C. grocery was arrested for tossing a tranny from the ladies' room.  Prolly going to be a hate-crime prosecution.  Tranny claims to be "emotionally traumatized."

That's nothing compared to the trauma some of us would inflict if he had trotted into a ladies' room behind one of our grand-daughters.

EPA to Ruin More Engines

Appears that the Corn-a-Holers have dumped more dollars into the Obozo/(D) accounts.

The Environmental Protection Agency wants to increase the amount of renewable fuel in the nation's gasoline supply by about 700 million gallons in 2017....

...The agency proposed adding 18.8 billion gallons of renewable fuel to gasoline in 2017 in the newest Renewable Fuel Standard announced Wednesday afternoon. That would cause renewable fuel to make up 10.44 percent of the nation's gasoline supply in 2017...

Note that the percentage of corn liquor per gallon rises ONLY because EPA wants to jam an extra 18.8B gallons of liquor into the supply.

Corn-a-Hole interests just can't stand a real market.  They want guaranteed income.

Meantime, millions are starving for lack of corn.

The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear

While we're on the topic of trenchant commentary (see below), take 10 minutes to read Neal Boortz's never-heard commencement speech.  Boortz is a libertarian, so use caution; but you'll get the idea.

You'll also know why he was never invited to give the speech.

(Also courtesy AOSHQ.)

Gotta Love Mencken!

H L Mencken was a newsman back in the day when that did not mean "press-release-reader."  While he had some serious flaws, he was clairvoyant on a few matters.

Here's one:

“The most erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else.”  --quoted at AOSHQ

Particularly delicious is his use of the word 'mountebank' in reference to politicians and pedagogues.  Graduates of publikscrewels may have to look up the word, of course.

Insurer Sues ObozoCare for $223 Million

Remember, the health insurance industry lobbied hard for ObozoCare.  Now they got it.  Good and hard.

...Highmark is suing the government demanding payment of almost $223 million, the full amount to which the health insurer says it is legally entitled for 2014 under an Obamacare program designed to limit the business risk of selling plans...

That's the "risk corridor" program.

Lie down with dogs, get up with fleeced fleas.

Really. A Bubble-Blowing "Gun"

Read it and weep.

A 5-year-old kindergarten student at Southeast Elementary in Brighton, CO was suspended from school after she brought a *gun onto school grounds.

*a clear, plastic princess bubble-blowing gun

Seriously.

The salvation of Colorado will occur when the schools are run by people who are actually sane.

Sykes' False Premise

About 95% of the time, I agree with Charlie Sykes' vision of politics.   On the occasions when we differ, I've made it clear--not that it makes any difference to Charlie.

Anyhow.

Sykes writes that Priebus' latter-day conversion to Trumpism is debasing to the (R) Party and Priebus.  But I fear that Charlie's essay is based on a false premise:  that the (R) Party is 'conservative.'  It is not--and Charlie has made that point a million times on his show.

I warned my fellow conservatives what life would be like if they embraced Donald Trump: They would spent the next six months having to defend, rationalize, or evade every slur, every insult, every falsehood, every outrage. They would be held hostage to every tweet, every outburst. 

 

Unfortunately, Reince Priebus now seems determined to illustrate that point...

After a few grafs of What's Wrong With Trump (just a highlight reel), Charlie gets to this:

....Your job is not to carry water for The Orange Duce, it is to somehow salvage the GOP. You need somehow to separate the fate of the GOP from Trumpism, or risk redefining your party for a generation. ...

The premise is that the (R) Party of, say, 1992-present, is actually conservative.  This is false.

It is true that the (R) label has a Conservative component which is significant.  But the (R) Party, at least since GWBush, has actually been the 'Less-Statist, Less-Unhinged Party' and--worse--it has been the Enabling Party for the worst President in history, a 'man' so utterly anti-Right Order that he has spit upon and smashed every single moral and ethical constraint known to man.  And done so with glee and full knowledge of his actions.

Sorry, Charlie:  there's no "there" there in Priebus' party any more--at least, not enough to make a difference.  We're still on the same side on 95% of the issues, but the (R) Party?  It's been AWOL for a long, long, time. 

TownHall Writer: BUY MORE AMMO!!

A nice young fellow at TownHall takes up the mantra.

I have never, ever had anyone tell me that he had too much ammunition.  Not in a combat zone, not in a civil disaster, not even in peacetime.  Never....Buying ammo is a no-lose proposition.  Look, the worst thing that happens if you buy more ammo is that you have more ammo.

He's an Army veteran, acquainted with the word "necessary."

Lots of other wisdom there; read the whole thing.

Little Sisters of the Poor Defeat Obozo!

SCOTUS decides in favor of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

Obozo retreats to the nearest ladies' room to pout.

Some Piggies Cry a Lot. Right, Tom Barrett?

Headline in today's fishwrap/propaganda sheet tells us that Milwaukee's apparent Mayor, Tom Barrett, is whining and crying that 'Milwaukee won't get its share of lead-pipe abatement funds' from the eeeeeeeeeeeevil Walker regime.

'S OK, Tommy boy.  Milwaukee's been stealing money from the suburbs for THIRTY YEARS in the form of MMSD taxes and fees.  And then sending raw sewage into Lake Michigan, to boot.

We'll send a few bricks of Government cheese for your whine.

NYTimes Just Can't Write "Communist"

Here's a mid-length article about Venezuela's agony--which was brought on by the Communists Hugo Chavez and his successor Maduro.  Read the whole thing; it's worth knowing what actually happens when the SHTF.

...This nation has the largest oil reserves in the world, yet the government saved little money for hard times when oil prices were high. Now that prices have collapsed — they are around a third what they were in 2014 — the consequences are casting a destructive shadow across the country. Lines for food, long a feature of life in Venezuela, now erupt into looting. The bolívar, the country’s currency, is nearly worthless.

The crisis is aggravated by a political feud between Venezuela’s leftists, who control the presidency, and their rivals in congress. ...

Well, yes, Communists are "leftists."  But which of the two terms is a better descriptor?  Hubert Humphrey and LBJ were 'leftists.'  But they did not bring the US to ruin.  Obama, another Communist, won't either--but not for lack of trying.

HT:  Zippers

Who Started It? Her Name Is Charlotte

Here's a point that the press-release-readers (national and local) do not make.  Ever.

...North Carolina’s Governor and state legislature did not just decide to convene a special session of the legislature and start a fight over bathrooms. They were responding to overreach by the city of Charlotte, NC, which has thus far escaped all blame and is never mentioned in Tobin’s piece.

Charlotte, NC passed an ordinance that not only required businesses to allow men to use the women’s restroom, but specifically refused to exempt churches and religious organizations. Charlotte decided to impose that burden on conscientious objectors in the culture war who object because the claims made by transgender advocates violate both the laws of science and the tenets of every major religion....

So yah, the news-readers just spew the queer propaganda.  What--you thought otherwise?

The Real "Gender" War

Propagandists have known for centuries that in order to control the argument, one must first control the language.  Thus, the propagandists-of-queer adopted "gender".  You see, "gender" has nothing to do with essence, and everything to do with accident.

Here's Webster on "gender":

1 a : a subclass within a grammatical class (as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms b : membership of a word or a grammatical form in such a subclass c : an inflectional form showing membership in such a subclass
 
2 a : sex b : the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex...

It's the secondary definition which is of interest.  Notice (b):  'behavioral, ...psychological traits...'?  That's the usage of the queer propagandists.  "Behavioral, cultural, psychological" attributes are, in fact, accidents, not essence.

Notice that the MSM (among others) parrots the term?  It's in their scripts.  They will never use the term "sex" as in "The baby is of the male sex."  That's because "sex" connotes essence (albeit secondary; the principal essence is "human" or "bird" or "fish.")

For the artful liar, "gender" as in #2 above is a gift which will keep on giving.  Utilizing the term allows re-defining humans.  We saw a glimpse of this redefinition process in Kennedy's infamous 'whatever you want to be' language at SCOTUS and that hairball has simply grown since then.  Like all hairballs, it's a sticky, ugly, mess, the composition of which you really don't want to know.

So when you hear that term "gender" it is foolhardy to engage an argument.  You will lose unless you are actually dealing with a 'behavioral, cultural, psychological' discussion.  Force your interlocutor to admit to essence:  sex.

UPDATE:  See also this post from Grim.

THE Analysis of "Pluralism"

Historian James Hitchcock, 1979:

“The media’s alleged commitment to pluralism,” says Hitchcock, “is at base a kind of hoax. The banner of pluralism is raised in order to win toleration for new ideas as yet unacceptable to the majority. Once toleration has been achieved, public opinion is systematically manipulated first to enforce a status of equality between the old and the new, then to assert the superiority of the new over the old. A final stage is often the total discrediting, even sometimes the banning, of what had previously been orthodox.” Hitchcock quotes T.S. Eliot, who put the matter most bluntly: “Paganism holds all the most valuable advertising space.” --quoted by Esolen at Crisis

It's helpful to know the dictionary-definition of "tolerate," of course.  Then you'll understand why it's true that we 'tolerate' Obozo.

Venezuela & Brazil: Latest Communist Failures

Both Venezuela and Brazil are "led" by Communists--who are called 'socialists' by the running-dog US press.

Venezuela is now subject to food riots.

And Brazil's Olympic Games venue will not be complete--nor even close to sanitary.

Obozo took a helluva run at bringing the US into the same situation.  So far, he's not quite successful.

Texas Leads. Where's Wisconsin?

Here's a notable statement from the Lieutenant Governor of Texas.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) told school administrators they should "not enact" the policy mandated by the Obama administration that students be allowed access to restrooms and locker rooms according to their "gender identity" rather than their biological sex....

He's right, of course.

So.  Where is the corresponding statement from anyone in the Walker Administration?

It's here:

Gov. Scott Walker is also weighing in.

"I think the bottom line is issues like that need to be addressed at the local level. That's what we elect school boards for. It's not an issue the federal government should be involved in, nor for that matter the state. Really it should be left up to the local school districts," he said.

Not exactly a thunderous response, but clearly in line with the 10th Amendment.

RoJo, the Big Spender (!)

Seems that Ron Johnson is now a Certified Member of the Establishment.

The U.S. Senate’s first spending bill of 2016 allocates $261 million more than President Barack Obama requested and lacks significant conservative amendments, but it still sailed to passage Thursday in the Republican-led chamber.

Only 8 Senators voted against this pig. 

RoJo was NOT one of them.  So "the Reformer" has folded like a cheap suit.

Draft Your Own Daughter, RoJo!

Yup.  RoJo voted for drafting women into Obozo's armed forces.

McCain and Musk for Massive Fail!!

Seems that Senator McCain has a love affair with Elon Musk.  That may create a problem.

...“Two Republican powerhouses (Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain [Ariz.] and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy [Calif.]) teamed up Wednesday to introduce a bill that would stop U.S. military reliance on Russian-made rocket engines (RD-180) for its national security space launches.”...

OK.  Screw the dirty Russkis!!  Dethrone Putin, The Enemy!!  Right??

Umhhhnnnmmm.....

...you can’t actually end our reliance on Russian rockets – unless you have a viable alternative ready to go. The United States does not....

Enter Elon Musk, the father of the self-immolating Tesla; the Tesla whose gull-wing doors don't work well, if at all; the Tesla whose battery-power is great, except in the frozen North during winter....and who thinks that by sleeping on his factory floor, he can solve all the problems. 

The Musk whose solar electric empire derives almost all of its revenues from sucking the life out of taxpayers....

Yah, that Musk.  He also owns a private space-rocket business!

...“Sen. McCain pushed these restrictions in close coordination with SpaceX, which stands much to gain by eliminating competition. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was recently certified for some of these launches by the Air Force, albeit under intense political pressure from the Obama administration….SpaceX has…suffered numerous delays and anomalies....

"Delays and anomalies"--just like the Tesla!!

...Shortly after the Air Force’s certification of the Falcon 9, a catastrophic failure in June led to the complete loss of both the vehicle and all of its taxpayer-funded cargo, thus grounding the vehicle. The company was already over two years late developing the Falcon 9 and now has a substantial backlog of its current launch schedule, which raises the question of what the launch priorities will be if it does resume flights.”...

We're all for private enterprise.  But we're not all for failures. 

The ObozoCare Agony for Consumers

Below we mentioned a few pain-points for employers dealing with ObozoCare.

Now it's the consumers' turn!!

...in Virginia, Anthem Inc and Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield are proposing 15.8% and 25% increases respectively. In Oregon, the increases are stunning to say the least. Providence Health Plan, currently the largest insurer for people buying coverage through the Oregon health exchange, is seeking an average increase of 29.6%. Not to be outdone, Moda Health Plan Inc, another large insurer for the state, is proposing a premium increase of 32.3% - this is after a 25% hike last year. For some context as to how out of control premium increases will be for those enrolled in Oregon, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest is asking for an increase of 14.5%, the second lowest percentage increase in the state. Insurers seeking double digit rate increases are citing higher than expected medical costs...

Ron Johnson will explain it all to you, of course.

ObozoCare: The Next Agony

Courtesy Schenck CPA's we learn that ObozoCare 2016 will be even more of a pain for employers.  That's always a good way to reduce both profits and motivation, of course--which seems to be the REAL objective of the program.

Sample:

...a large employer is one that employed at least 50 full-time and full-time equivalents, with full time being 30 hours a week or more.

To determine this, you must look at each calendar month of 2015 and determine the number of full-time employees. Then take the remaining employees (the part-time employees) and divide their total number of hours for the month by 120 hours to determine the full-time equivalents. Do this for each month and average the 12 months, rounding down. If you have 50 or more, you are a large employer for 2016 and have a Form 1095C reporting requirement. You may also be subject to an employer mandate penalty if you fail to offer insurance or if you fail to offer affordable insurance....

And that's the simple part.  Wait!!  There's more!!

...For 2016, to avoid the failure to offer insurance penalty of $2,160 per employee, an employer must offer insurance to 95% of its full-time employees. Therefore, the room for error is only 5% of the full-time employees (or 5 employees, whichever is higher). Should an employer fail to hit 95% (by even 1%), the failure to offer insurance penalty will kick in, even though the employer did offer and pay for insurance for 94% of its full time employees. Contrast this with 2015 in that employers only had to hit 70% of its full-time employees to avoid the penalty....

And EVEN MORE (which is too complex to explain)!!!!

...the determination of which employees are full-time is a very complicated process. The IRS created two methods for determining full-time employees: the monthly measurement method and the lookback measurement method. The IRS regulations contain the specifics of each of these methods. The methods are fairly complicated to apply. For some employers, it is relatively easy to determine full-time employees; for others,  it is not. Not doing this correctly could spell disaster....

We will quibble.  ObozoCare spelled "disaster" a long time ago.  Now it's merely a matter of degree.

Is "Pro-Nehlen" Identical With "Pro-Trump"?

This year's political picture is so confusing that it is near-Byzantine.  So the last thing a responsible columnist should do is to insinuate that "Anti-Ryan" is identical to "Pro-Trump."

When one reads Paul Nehlen's platform, one doesn't find too much "Trumpism" there.  It's always possible that Nehlen will become more a Trumpkin as time goes on--in which case, evaluations can change.

Meantime, Nehlen's positions on immigration, visa abuse, budget matters, trade, and accountability are quite sensible.

And it's about time that Paul Ryan actually IS held accountable for his time in office, ain'a???

Nehlen Shoots and Scores!

Frankly, I don't think that Paul Nehlen needs Sarah Palin if his advertising remains this good.

Paul Ryan may look like a very secure Congressman, but Ryan has a lot of baggage.  He enables Obozo's spend/debt schemes, is an open-borders True Believer, and has been less than honest (to put it mildly) about his responsibility for the continuation of ObozoCare--which has cost the US military a lot, by the way.

Being The Boehner's designated successor won't help him either.

Here's Nehlen's opening salvo (at his website):

Like many people in this district, I’ve had the opportunity to meet Paul Ryan personally. He’s shaken my hand. He’s looked me in the eye. He’s made promises to me and many others about policies he would and would not support on behalf of this district. We’ve all watched as he’s broken every single one of those promises.

Get the popcorn.  This will be fun to watch.

Rediscovering Tonelson

We had followed Alan Tonelson's writings a number of years ago, but lost track of him.  Tonelson has concentrated on "real-world" economic indicators--pocketbook stuff--for around 30 years, and is the leading counter-voice to the Establishment's "free-trade" blather.

Thanks to Norm Matloff, we found him again.  And just as before, Tonelson has a few things to say about free trade.

The government’s first estimate of first quarter, 2016 gross domestic product (GDP) showed that the real trade deficit hit its highest level ($566.6 billion) since the first quarter of 2008. As a result, trade cut weak inflation-adjusted first quarter growth of 0.54 percent annualized by 0.34 percentage points – the biggest drag after the drop in gross private fixed investment (0.60 percentage points).

That's something you don't hear from the usual RadioMouths, eh?

...The new first quarter numbers mean that trade has now slowed cumulative growth during this already sluggish U.S. recovery by 9.37 percent – despite the dramatic drop in the country’s oil trade shortfall. The quarter’s real trade deficit was driven mainly by falling real exports. Real goods exports worsened for the third straight quarter,....

...which explains the mass layoffs at Caterpillar and Joy (Harnischfeger)...

...and real services imports rose for the sixth straight quarter and hit their sixth consecutive quarterly record ($486.2 billion)....

...which includes the "data services" and "customer services" work that used to be performed by US workers.  Think Disney and Abbott Labs, e.g.

And then there's his take on TPP, which demonstrates that Obozo is a lawyer (he lies whenever his lips are moving).

...Maybe President Obama believes that repeating even the most laughably off-base contentions endlessly will make them true? Or convincing? It’s hard to look at his new Washington Post op-ed urging passage of his Pacific Rim trade deal and conclude anything else. The article makes clearer than ever that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) makes sense for the United States only if Americans ignore everything known about the agreement itself, about U.S. trade with the eleven other signatories, and about the region’s economics and commerce....

Like it or not, Tonelson's essays illuminate one of the reasons that Trump-ism is regnant:  the "free trade" boys are just as wrong now as when PJBuchanan blew George Bush I out of the water years ago.  Either the FedGov exists to promote the welfare of US citizens, or it exists to promote the welfare of the world's citizens.

Lots of folks think the former is the priority.  The GOPe?  Not so much.

Claire Wolfe's Sagacity

The Captain resigns from politics.  He understands the OT injunction:  "Put not your trust in princes."

Along the way, he quotes Claire Wolfe:

...Yeah, it hurts. But it hurts like growing up and learning that Santa didn’t really put those presents under the tree....

Yup.

Open-Borders Ryan Stamping His Feet

Saw the presser on CNN.

Paul Ryan doesn't give a fig for fiscal conservatism.  He MAY give a fig for the 10th Amendment.  But all he wants Trump to do is to tear down that wall and let un-vetted "refugees" from the Middle East into the country.

K?  Yah, we know that, Paul.

The Donald Goes GoldmanSachs

Yah, he's an "outsider," so he picks a Goldie guy as finance director.  Who happens to be another big-time (D) donor, too.

#NEVERTrump

The Convention Looms Larger

Caught by Grim:

...the best solution for rolling back the extraordinary growth, power, and increasing corruption of the federal government is the convention of states, the Article V remedy for a runaway president and an out-of-control Congress. If two-thirds of states submit an application for a convention to propose constitutional amendments, then any proposed amendments can be ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures — circumventing the federal government entirely....quoting David French

No matter who wins the Presidency, Article V will capture a lot more favorable attention in the next couple of years.

Forecasting Trump. Really?

Scott Walker (and many, many others) are going Vichy.  The most common excuse is voiced here:

...Walker said Trump would be superior to Clinton on Supreme Court nominations, taxes, regulation and the size of government.....

Really?  And how do you know this, Gov'nor?

What we DO know, pertinent to "size of government," is what Trump said:  that the main functions of the Federal Government are "security, housing, education, and healthcare."

That pretty much KO's 'regulation' and 'size of government' chatter, no?

We also know that Trump's knowledge of the Constitution appears to have been formed by watching Disney movies; it certainly doesn't come from having actually read the document.  Therefore, it is whistling past a graveyard to presume that The Donald will make a "good" appointment to SCOTUS.  For all we know, it could be someone picked from the cast of "Survivor."

Gun-Sales Warning to Stupid Folks

There is good news.

This April saw the most gun-related background checks of any April on record, making it the 12th month in a row to achieve a high water mark for gun sales....Thus far 2016 is on pace to pass 2015 as the best year on record for gun-related background checks....

Go ahead.  Make our day!!

RoJo Goes Careerist Politician

Just like "Cassius" Fitzgerald, good ol' RoJo is playing for the career in politics.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says he won’t hesitate supporting the reality TV star and real estate mogul.
“I am going to certainly endorse the Republican nominee, and obviously it looks like that will be Mr. Trump,” Johnson, R-Wis., said Wednesday in Eau Claire....

Good, Ron.  You'll get what you deserve.

Scott Fitzgerald Pees His Pants

Sen. Fitzgerald of Jefferson (who is as ambitious as Cassius) has commanded (R) voters to vote for Trump.

The funny part?  Fitzgerald noted that Trump is a 'populist'.

Well, Senator, if the (R) Party poohbahs--such as yourself--failed to discern the populism which began with the TEA Party rally IN MADISON (you idiot), why in Hell should anyone follow your pathetic whining pleadings now?

Further:  Fitzgerald states that "Republicans" made Trump the nominee.  He's wrong.  Trump voters are Democrat Party members who--for some reason--dislike the TraitorQueen and the gadfly.  Or--as is more likely--they are as racist and misogynist and un-informed as is Trump.

Or both.

Did the NYTimes Get One Right?

Noticed by Vox Populi:

...Republican leaders have for years failed to think about much of anything beyond winning the next election. Year after year, the party’s candidates promised help for middle-class people who lost their homes, jobs and savings to recession, who lost limbs and well-being to war, and then did next to nothing. That Mr. Trump was able to enthrall voters by promising simply to “Make America Great Again” — but offering only xenophobic, isolationist or fantastical ideas — is testimony to how thoroughly they reject the politicians who betrayed them....NYT at Vox

We don't see much to argue with there.  The Ruling Class Republicans have done their damndest to kill off actual Conservatism and are now suffering from "Glock Leg."

Smooth move!

(Oh, RoJo:  remember all those promises to 'do whatever I can to stop ObozoCare'?  Remember those?  Yah, I thought so.)

Reince's Turd

Priebus bleating:

...we all need to unite...

"Unite" behind a racist misogynist pathological liar?

Imagine...

...that you are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and you will have either Hillary or the CarnyBarker as the C-in-C.

LBGQT (Etc.) Music?

Madness is more fully upon us.  A state music-educators' association has declared that grade-school music instruction must now be LBGQT-friendly.

The implication is that "music"--or art of any sort--can no longer be transcendental.  Well, that is logical; it follows the derogation of God which has been in process since the Progressive Idea began the slow drawing-down of blinds in the West.

Shall we hold our breath until Obama's favorite siren-song, that of the Muslim call to worship, goes LBGQT??

The Massachusetts Music Educators Association has published an article warning school music teachers across the state that they must provide “LGBTQ-friendly” classrooms or else risk having a “hostile” climate that impairs students’ academic success and mental health. - See more at: http://moonbattery.com/#sthash.tFf3zPsa.dpuf

The Massachusetts Music Educators Association has published an article warning school music teachers across the state that they must provide “LGBTQ-friendly” classrooms or else risk having a “hostile” climate that impairs students’ academic success and mental health. - See more at: http://moonbattery.com/#sthash.T3UvdhZ0.dpuf

The Massachusetts Music Educators Association has published an article warning school music teachers across the state that they must provide “LGBTQ-friendly” classrooms or else risk having a “hostile” climate that impairs students’ academic success and mental health. - See more at: http://moonbattery.com/#sthash.T3UvdhZ0.dpuf

Trump Smashed by Hillary Vote

Fuggedabout Donald's bullshit braggadocio; Hillary has FAR more votes than he does.

12 million HRC, 10 million Trump.

Face it, Donald:  you're a loser.

The Donald, Summed Up

Can't add anything to this summary:

...He gets his foreign policy ideas from Michael Moore and Code Pink (or worse yet, from Vladimir Putin); his abortion views are grounded in his sympathy with Planned Parenthood; he supports socialized medicine in the form of single-payer healthcare, higher taxes, more government spending, and Herbert Hoover’s trade policy.  He’s never met a bailout or a crony-capitalist deal he didn’t like, or a Democrat he wouldn’t donate to.  He’s astonishingly ignorant, emotionally unstable, and wholly incapable of saying no to Democrats.  Trump is a spoiled, entitled rich kid who shows not the slightest understanding of the American way of up-by-the booststraps striving to better yourself; in Trump’s world, the rich get richer by having the right friends, and everybody else is a serf who needs the government to protect them from foreign competition....

Why #NeverTrump is the only position to hold.

"Racist, Sexist, Liberal": The Donald We Know

Apparently there's some Leninist across the pond who has The Donald's number.

...Read Trump closely – it is difficult to do, I know – and if you extract his total racist and sexist stupidities, you will see that here and there, where he makes a complete proposal, they’re usually not so bad,” said Žižek. “He said he will not totally dismantle universal healthcare, raise the minimum wage, and so on.” “Trump is a paradox: he is really a centrist liberal, and maybe even in his economic policies closer to the Democrats, and he desperately tries to mask this....

Caught by PowerLine, quoting The Guardian

Why Target's Stock Is Bombing

Appears that Starbucks is going to follow Target's lead.  Fits right in.

HT:  Warrior

A Shiny Object From RoJo

Look!!  Over there!!!  November's Coming!!!!

RoJo finds himself in another campaign.  So he has a shiny object to distract you.

...Hoping to continue the legacy of former budget hawk Tom Coburn, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson this week introduced an ambitious government reform package aimed at greater accountability, security and transparency.

The suite of bills aims to “strengthen inspectors general, curb improper payments and improve anti-fraud controls,” according to a statement by Johnson, R-Oshkosh. The reform package also would “expedite the disposal of unneeded federal property, improve government transparency, and enhance whistleblower protections.”...

Six years ago it was "I'll stop ObamaCare."  Now--after six years of nothing--RoJo suddenly has ideas.

We've heard that this year may be the last for the national (R) Party.  Huh.

Say WHAT, Gov'nor?

Sykes & Co. report this:

...Speaking to a statewide audience of educators in January, Walker said, "One of the things we're looking to do is put additional resources into public education over the next two years of this budget, in a variety of ways.”...

The litter-box-liner clerks have been pushing teacher-union and superintendent-guild stories about teachers "fleeing" Milwaukee Public Schools in the last few weeks.  Educationists are pushing huge spending referendums which often are admissions that the schools have NOT performed due-diligence maintenance on their buildings.

So, of course, Walker says he will shove more money into the money-pit.

WHAT?

Read the linked essay.  Be informed, not propagandized.  Then contact Walker's office and suggest that he 'may have mis-spoken.'

Wisconsin Leads the Way

It is reported that eight percent of Wisconsin adults hold a concealed-carry permit.

Naturally, the bedwetters.......ahhh........wet their beds.

...University of Wisconsin journalism and mass communication professor Michael Wagner said concealed carry impacts almost every Wisconsinite. He said 8 percent is a large enough percentage to enter into almost every social situation.

“If you’re in a room of 30 people, somewhere between two or three are probably armed,” Wagner said. “That’s just something that might give people pause when they’re out in the community.”
Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, said she believes the number of permits that have been issued is significant and “alarming.”...HotAir quoting Badger Herald

Happily for both of us, Ms. Taylor is not a member of my family.  Our rate is about 40%.

Boehner Endorses Cruz!!

Coming from the most miserable son-of-a-bitch traitor who has ever served his country himself (aside from his predecessor, the boy-raper Hastert), this constitutes a VERY solid endorsement.

Thanks, John!!  Now go suck on the taxpayer's teat for your pension and STFU.

The former Speaker of the House called Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh” and swore that he would not vote for Ted Cruz should he become the Republican nominee.
“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life
- See more at: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/04/boehner-lets-his-nevercruz-flag-fly#sthash.vNzbdIo0.dpuf

The former Speaker of the House called Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh” and swore that he would not vote for Ted Cruz should he become the Republican nominee.
“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life,” said Boehner,
- See more at: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/04/boehner-lets-his-nevercruz-flag-fly#sthash.tDh41NId.dpuf

Paul Ryan Voices Common Sense

We've been very tough on Ryan.  So we'll be fair; on this topic, he's (mostly) right.

...“I just can’t understate how concerned people are about national security — how concerned people are about the fact that the borders are not being secured. This is about heroin and opioid. This is about ISIS. This is not about a demographic. It’s not about Latinos. It’s not at all about that,” said Ryan during a millennial town hall at Georgetown University. “It is about the rule of law. It is about this country knowing who is coming and who is going and then getting these laws right so they work.”...

...“We don’t know who is coming and going in this country, and in a day of heroin and ISIS and drug cartels it’s a real threat to our national security,” he said. “We’re in the middle of writing all this opioid legislation because of this problem coming from our borders. And if we can fix the root cause of fixing our immigration laws, and I’m a person who believes the undocumented – we have to come up with a solution that doesn’t involve mass deportation, that involves giving people the ability to get right with the law, to come and earn a legal status while we fix the rest of legal immigration.”...quoted at PJMedia

Yah, he voids his own "rule of law" flapjaw with the underlined smoke-and-mirror stuff.  But he gets what Trump (!) has brought to the table:  a nation without borders is NOT a nation.

On another topic, he displayed even more common sense:

...A Georgetown University graduate student asked Ryan what the GOP plans to do about student loan debt....

...“I would be [wary] of empty promises that aren’t paid for, just saying,” Ryan responded.
Ryan pointed to inflation and the rising cost of tuition.

“What we have found is when the government pumps more money in the system then the college winds up cranking up the price and sticking you with the debt,” he said....

We would add that a lot of college graduates are incapable of constructing sentences, linear thought, and using simple math.  So beyond "sticking you with the debt", a lot of colleges are also guilty of fraud.

On Gunfights

Word:

HT:  Grim

Tales From the Loony-Bin/Huffpo Division

Caught by AOSHQ:

...The main problem with the notion of self-defense is it imposes on justice, for everyone has the right for a fair trial. Therefore, using a firearm to defend oneself is not legal because if the attacker is killed, he or she is devoid of his or her rights. ...

-- Justin Cormi in the Huffington Post

Where to begin?

OK, I'll take the easy one.  The twerp confuses "legal" for "constitutional."  That's a Trumpian error, but not significant in this case. 

And don't be downhearted if you have to read the quote twice.  It's impossible to believe someone actually wrote it the first time around.

A Wisconsin "Conservative" Opines

A well-known Milwaukee-area Republican activist who puts his money where his mouth is, has given up and declared Trump the nominee.  Well, that's his privilege, but ...

That may be a reality check, but the rest of his newsletter is really a sad testimony for someone who declares themselves to be 'conservative.

He carries on about the wonderfulness of Tommy Thompson who--for the record--perfected the "Bond-It-and-Spend-It" method of aggrandizing State gummint while (temporarily) lowering taxes.

He then tells us how wunnerful Ron Johnson is because Ron Johnson is concerned with National Security.  But only a few years ago this 'conservative' was telling us to elect Ron to get rid of ObozoCare.  Apparently he has a very short memory, as did Ron, who forgot all about his campaign promises within 12 months of arriving in D.C.  (But Ron has a new shiny object for you to see.)

This 'conservative' also loves Kasich.  'Nuff said there.  And he says that Paul Ryan 'saved' Congress.  Yah, but Paul Ryan has yet to "save" a taxpayer dollar in, say, the last 3 budget cycles.

Our 'conservative' also likes ROADS!!  and having the State "fix" the K-12 education system, which used to be a local governance issue.  But maybe he doesn't remember how well that actually worked.

Hard to digest this 'conservatism,' but that's what we have today, eh?

Fed Sentence "Reform": You're Going to be a Victim

If you REALLY think that Federal sentence-reform (S2123) is about letting a one-toke college kid out of the graybar hotel, you are an idiot.

Hint:  a couple of posts down, I mentioned that the FedGov and politicians generally are liars.  Nothing changed since then.

Should "Trumpism" Prevail? What Cruz Must Do

Let's forget all the noise about the NY and I-95 Trump wins.  Everyone expected them, including Trump's opponents--and the fat lady hasn't begun to warm up, much less sing.

Let's instead look at a very cool and careful dissection of Trumpism.  Cutting to the chase:

...Opponents of Trump’s views on immigration, trade, and a ban on Muslims’ entering the United States often use individual-based arguments to justify their views. Immigration is needed because individual employers need to contract with individual workers. Free trade is good for individual companies and consumers, and for the (often foreign) individuals with whom they trade. The rights of individual Muslims in America outweigh the concerns of native-born Americans about their safety. The implicit understanding conveyed by many in the “never Trump” movement is that the country is little more than a land mass containing individuals rather than an entity with obligations to, and capable of imposing obligations on, those who belong to it.

Trump voters disagree with this view. The America they want to “make great again” is not a land mass, a large, rules-based network that lets individuals coordinate with minimal transaction costs. It is instead a place, a people, a nation. Trump voters believe that they have upheld their side of the American social contract, while others — businessmen, politicians, journalists, professors — have violated it....

Yes.  (The quoted essay has other valuable insights; you should read it.)

My "yes" does not change my #NeverTrump stand.  His laughable, and often utterly ridiculous statements on the place of the FedGov demonstrate beyond question that the man has never read such things as "the Constitution."  To him, that's a foreign language that he won't bother to learn.

But understanding the essence of Trumpism as described above IS important to Ted Cruz.  And I suggest that Ted must begin to reflect that in his final primary-campaign moments.  Properly done, that will put the silver cross through the Hildebeeste's heart.

Yes, Indeed: The Government Lies.

Yah, I know:  you're shocked--shocked, right?

This vignette has to do with Waco:

....The House Committee on Government Reform hired Carlos to examine the tapes. Unfortunately, he died from a heart attack (a weakness that ran in his family). The Committee thereupon issued statements that he'd never given them a report, that they were about to fire him, and essentially disavowing everything to do with him.

There was one problem with that story. Carlos had faxed me the report right after he gave it to the committee and briefed its staff. He found there were indeed gunshots....

 So not only did the FBI lie like Hell--so did the House Committee.

Remember that the next time some Congressman or Senator opens their pie-hole.  Remember what the scorpion said to the frog:  "It's what I do."

Trump Ain't Gonna Make It

Hewitt knows from the 'ground game,' having been in several of them.

...Hewitt said he went state-by-state and gave Trump very generous amounts of delegates in his projection, including 51 of 59 of Indiana’s slate. Trump needs 392 delegates to clinch the nomination. Hewitt said Trump probably wouldn’t get any delegates in Nebraska, South Dakota, or Montana, which means in 14 out of the 15 contests left, the billionaire would only get 273–and it’s doubtful he will do well in California, in which he would need to win 119 of the 172 delegates in that contest. He added that it’s doubtful that Trump would get any more than 100 by the time Cruz, Trump, and Kasich duke it out in The Golden State, unless a “political asteroid” occurs....

Trump promised to disappear from public life if he doesn't get the nomination on the first ballot.  That's probably as good as his 'promises to pay' preceding his four bankruptcies...but it's enough to give us hope, anyway.

That will leave Coulter, Hannity, and Limbaugh exactly where they should be:  in bed, alone, when the one-night-stand specialist takes a powder.

"Absolute Power Corrupts...." at Waco

Let's remember that Hillary was a big part of the massacre at Waco.  So when we examine the records, consider yourself warned.

The only mystery is "Why hasn't Obama tried this?"

Hey, Paul Ryan!! Notice Austria's Results??

Paul Ryan, who is as close to a "no borders" kinda guy as a nominally-(R) politician can get, has probably noticed the Austrian election picture.

...Austria’s government was licking its wounds Monday after a historic debacle that saw the opposition anti-immigrant far-right triumph in a presidential ballot two years before the next scheduled general election.

According to preliminary results, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) came a clear first with 36 percent of the vote, while candidates from the two governing parties failed to even make it into a runoff on May 22…--HotAir quoting Yahoo News

The (current) ruling coalition has been in power for FORTY YEARS.  Now they won't even make Round Two in the Austrian election cycle.

The Donald's Disinformation Campaign

If you're not familiar with the term "disinformation," here's the brief:  it is propaganda not put out directly by the enemy, but by 'legitimate' press (or other) outlets--but the 'information' is fed to them by the enemy.  (Think, e.g., the Russian-inspired 'disinformation' campaign against Pius XII alleging that the Pope was a Nazi sympathizer.)

The Donald knows about disinformation, and perhaps he has a very practiced teacher.

...[Analysis provided to Examiner] revealed that the following pro-Trump propaganda sites sprung up in only the past several months from Macedonia, a nation bordering Greece. Using the website ICANN WHOIS, John Daniels [editor-in-chief of Tavernkeepers.com] was able to determine the registrar, origination date and location of these websites:
Usanewsflash.com
365usanews.com
worldnewspolitics.com
Usapoliticsonline.com
worldpoliticus.com
USAdailypolitics.com

Articles about fake voter fraud in Wisconsin and claims that Ted Cruz will be dropping out of the presidential race (he is not) were posted at all of the above sites. They linked back to other pro-Trump sites such as thepoliticalinsider.com, thegatewaypundit.com and endingthefed.com.

The curious fact that pro-Trump websites are originating from a Russian-leaning Slavic outpost in southeastern Europe raises questions, particularly considering the strange alliance between Donald Trump and pro-Russia conservative outlets such as InfoWars and Michael Savage....

Since Trumpbots believe anything they're told, they may well believe that Ted Cruz was actually a Nazi lieutenant general in command of the gas chambers.

What Part of "NEVER" Do You Not Understand, Reince?

According to Reince, all Republicans must unite behind whoever is nominated.

So the meaning of #NeverTrump is not really clear to Reince.

It will be, if The Donald--who has brought all sorts of (D) folks into his peculiar land of mirrored and bendable-prismatic "positions"--gets 1237.

But then, Reince presided over the (R) debacle during the last few years, so there's a LOT that isn't clear to Reince.

Target Stores and The Donald

Another reason for Dads to carry concealed.

HT:  Moonbattery

Hey, Donald: With YOUR Daughter, Not Mine!

Weathervane Trump thinks it's just fine that men go potty with little girls.

 More Noo Yaaawk Values, I suppose.

Can't wait for the Trumpkin comments and spin on this one....

The Reality of Mohammedanism

There are very few political scientists in the US who 'get it.'  Fr. James Schall is one of them.

Schall does not begin in the 20th or 21st century,  His vision encompasses far more than our 'time' and 'place.'  Thus, he is a realist in the most accurate sense of that word.

...Allah’s mandate to Islam is progressively to subject the world to his will and to the law based on it. Terror will end and true “peace” will result only when all are submissive to Allah and live under Muslim law in all its details. What we outside of Islam call acts of violence are considered within it to be the carrying out of Allah’s will. Gruesome beheadings of Christians, however innocent, are seen as acts of justice. They are acts of “virtue” in this sense. The people who cannot understand this religious charge given to Islam, whether they be themselves Muslim or not, are themselves both unrealistic and dangerous. Their own presuppositions prevent them from recognizing and judging the real issue. They also prevents them from doing anything effective to hinder this expansion of Islam into Europe, Asia, Africa, and America....

To believe otherwise is to be a fool, pace GWBush.   (It would slander Bush to discuss his successor in similar terms, for his successor is a co-conspirator with Allah, so long as one understands "Allah" correctly as "not God."  Bush can be excused because he actually does NOT 'get it.'  Obama is another problem entirely.)

Bush, and most of Western populations, are part of the problem:

...We have lumped all “religions” together as illusions or myths. They are to be defanged and wholly subject to state power. Our political, academic, and cultural leaders cannot comprehend what is going on, either when a whole Western civilization loses its faith and moral standards or when Islam reawakens to the implications of its own faith and its vision of world conquest. The two—the loss of faith and the rise of Islam—are connected. The decline of the birth rate and civil undermining of the family in the West is one thing. Muslim immigration or invasion has engulfed this same area. Muslims, especially young males, did not seek power and prosperity in other adjoining Muslim lands. The expansion of Islam was justified also by its charge of moral decadence against the West....

The ravings of libertarians encourage the Muslims, just as the delusions of more-common materialists.

The "Arab spring" has just begun.   

Curt Schilling, Good Guy

Maybe he wore red socks, but Schilling has a white hat someplace.

Disney (it's always Disney ain'a?) fired him for holding that women's rooms are for women who were born that way.  Disney began to dislike him intensely when he said he contributed to Dr. Carson's campaign, saying that the Hildebeeste belongs in the graybar hotel, and that Islamists are just Nazis with camels.

Ditka/Schilling.  Now THAT is a ticket!!

OMG!! Anti-Ryan Conservative VOTED!

The Dirt is in!!!

Paul Ryan's primary opponent VOTED in FOUR STATES!

(Yah, well---he LIVED in four states, too....)

Meantime, Nehren makes a cogent case.  Ryan is a squish; we all know it.

,....Where the Sun Don't Shine, Mr. President

The dying paroxysm of the Obozo Regime:

The Obama administration is warning states that defunding Planned Parenthood may violate federal law, in a new letter released this morning.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a letter to states on Tuesday saying that, under federal law, Medicaid recipients have the right to receive services from any qualified health care provider, including Planned Parenthood....

Of course, Paul Ryan didn't bother to address this matter, either.

Truly, It's "O Tempora, O Mores" Time

You can read the story here.  Channel 6 buried the lede--that's in the seventh paragraph.  The rest of the story is just the usual stuff.

Sean the Shallow Shill Gets TrumpHuffy

I've heard this guy's radio show and--frankly--he's boring and very shallow.  And when he dumped Comrade Colmes, the TV show went boring, too.

Oh, well.  He's spending his Shallow Shill love on the Demagogue Dink these days, so he's going to crush Cruz!!

....Hannity began the interview by asking, “I think the number one question on the minds of Republicans right now is what is going on with the delegates. For example, if you can explain to people that your campaign, that you have every right, within the rules, to talk to candidates, that are pledged on a first ballot, to candidate A or candidate C, you being candidate B. And that — tell us what that process is.”

Cruz answered that isn’t what people are concerned about, and are instead concerned about policy issues and beating Democratic candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Cruz further stated that “the media loves to obsess about process. This process, and this whining from the Trump campaign is all silly. It’s very, very simple –....

Hannity is serious:  in his alleged mind, the 'number one question' is (R) delegate selection.  Not the national debt, not the 9th & 10th Amendments, not the crisis in armed-forces funding, not Iran,  not the national debt nor deficit spending.....

So after Cruz tries to point Sean the Shallow towards, ya'know, stuff that actually matters, Hannity goes full TrumpHuffy:

...“I’m on social media, with millions of people. I have 550 radio stations. And I have the top-rated cable in my hour, all across the board. And I am telling you, that people are telling me, that they find this whole process confusing.”...

The reason it is so 'confusing' to your audience, Sean?  You can't explain it.  Levin can.  Rush can.  What's YOUR problem?

Fourth Circuit Fools

Hey, why not call them what they are?

...On Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit Court ruled against a Virginia school district that sought to accommodate a transgender student while also protecting the privacy rights of other students.
The court concluded that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972--which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex--should be interpreted as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity, as a Department of Education letter suggested in 2015. The ruling allows a lawsuit brought by a transgender student to proceed.

The case involves a biological girl who identifies as a boy. The court's majority explains it this way: "G.G.'s birth-assigned sex, or so-called 'biological sex,'" is female, but G.G.'s gender identity is male."...AOSHQ quoting Daily Signal

Yes, it is now a Federal crime to make boys pee in the boys' room.

The revolution cannot come soon enough.

The Rhine/Tiber Sewage Pipe

Following the Second Vatican Council, a book entitled The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber appeared, which was a history of that Council.

The author demonstrated how the German/Austrian/French/Dutch Bishops influenced the Council's work product.  It's fair to say that that "work product" remains controversial to this day, in no small measure due to the articulate and continuing resistance of orthodox prelates and theologians both inside and outside the Curia.  (See, e.g., the "Ottaviani Intervention.")

The Catholic Church, under the current shepherd, Pp. Francis, continues to take its cues from the Rhinelanders--specifically Cdls. Kasper and Marx.

Thus the "Sewage Pipe" moniker.  It's that bad, folks, and it will get worse.

The topic was explored here (and no, I didn't steal the idea; I found this post after doing Google).

...It seems that post war Germany asserted a lot of influence on the Catholic Church over the last several decades, including many Germans holding high ranking positions at the Vatican, and one who even served as pope for eight years. However, the influence of German bishops has been a mixed bag. German clergy apparently only come in two flavours: uber-orthodox and uber-liberal. For example, Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, fits into the uber-orthodox category, as does Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. There are others too, both inside and outside the Vatican. Meanwhile, examples of the uber-liberal faction include Cardinal Walter Kasper and the current head of the German Bishops Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx. Both have a significant following in the Catholic Church in Germany....

Umnnhhhnnnn, yah.  Those names are familiar, eh?

The proposal, Jesuitically circumlocuted by Pp. Francis, is this:  there must be some way for divorced/civilly re-married and/or homosexual couples to be allowed to receive the Eucharist, regardless of their worthiness to do so.   In preparation for this revolution in praxis, the Pope declared a "Year of Mercy" which is in force as we write.

That "mercy" has been carefully and deliberately overlaid with smoke, such as the 'acceptance of refugees' and some tactically-smart babble creating (and then destroying) straw-men such as 'confessors who turn the confessional into a torture chamber' and 'legalistic [jerks] who are actually Pharisees,'or  'the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak”'.

And all along you thought that "mercy" was a good idea and the Christian thing to do, eh?  Suckers.

At a very granular level, the Pope did not change doctrine, nor dogma.  He cannot, and knows it; that's why he did not derogate nor abrogate Canon 915 which governs the question.  But it would be a mistake in judgment to accept that non-change as the Final Word, for that Final Word will be spoken by various Bishops around the world when they instruct their priests on 'penitential practice,' which is "what to do and say in the confessional."

There's a reason for locating that "Final Word" with the various and sundry Bishops, of course.  Just as the US Bishops (and, dutifully, their priests) have managed to completely shut up about artificial birth control, the other 'regional' Bishops (particularly in the majority of Germany) will shut up about "living in sin with NO intention of ceasing extra-marital intercourse."  This variegated moral picture will be defended as 'the fruits of Vatican II's "synods" approach' as though there were no actual truth (or Truth, when you get right down to it.)

Hogwash.  It's sewage, no matter the perfume and lipstick.

Be careful which water you choose to drink.  Find the stuff from the right side of the Temple and stay with it.  Alleluia.

Shaking the West, North, and East Pacific

Getting kinda nasty over in Japan--but also around the entire Pacific semicircle beginning near Australia, then running WNW through Japan, over to Alaska, and down to California.

USGS has a nice comprehensive map.  It ain't pretty.

Marquette U. v. FrancisChurch

Marquette University doesn't seem to "get" the direction of the Church under Pp. Francis.

See, in his latest letter, Pp. Francis implies that 'a firm purpose of amendment' is not a pre-requisite for "mercy" and forgiveness.  In fact, there may not even be a need to say "I'm sorry."

Marquette--in the case of McAdams?  Not so much.

Little Annie Coulter (Needs Friends)

With absolutely no sense of irony, Little Annie Coulter begins with a denigration of the State of Wisconsin.

...can we stop referring to Wisconsin as “Midwestern nice”? That’s all we’ve heard since Ted Cruz beat Donald Trump there: Wisconsinites are just so nice, they couldn’t abide Trump’s rough style.
Does anyone remember the whole taking over the capitol thing? How they nearly recalled a sitting governor a few years ago? Remember the protesters fighting with cops, rounds of arrests in the rotunda, the drum circles and chanting? How about the midnight raids on citizens for supporting the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill”?....

Yes, we remember that, Annie, and Ted Cruz stomped all over Trump precisely because the grownups in Wisconsin rejected the Trump-tactics you describe above.  Whining is for children, Annie.  Grow up.

Reality check:  Little Annie couldn't draw a crowd here a few years back, so her appearance was cancelled.  That has more to do with her histrionics than any election, anyway.

Next, Little Annie appeals to the mob.

...what people mean by THE RULES is that there is no RNC rule specifically prohibiting a state party from giving all the delegates to a single nominee, even if that is demonstrably at odds with the will of the voters....

Little Annie stamped her widdle feets, and contradicts her theory in the next sentence:

...The state parties are given a lot of discretion...

Yup.  That's to keep mobs from running the Party, which is actually a membership organization.

Finally, Annie:  this is no Student Council election.  This is serious business, not a beauty contest.  Those who "think" that the President can order troops to violate their oaths, or who "think" that education and housing are Federal functions, or that "making deals" is what the Presidency is all about need not apply.

Blowhard egomaniacal TV stars have to obey the rules, Annie.  Get over it.

Hiring the "Very Best," Donald??

Maybe The Donald should go back to being a complete twit on his own TV show.

Oh--wait--he's still a complete twit!!  But now it's on everyone else's TV shows!

A Cooler Look at Pp. Francis' "Joy of Love"

The current Pope is inclined to write with maximum un-clarity, except when he puts up straw-men. 

But he hasn't changed a thing with his letter on the joy of love.

Ed Peters, a very good Canon lawyer, starts at the beginning:

Holy Communion is to be withheld from divorced-and-remarried Catholics in virtue of Canon 915 which, as has been explained countless times, does not require Catholic ministers to read the souls of would-be communicants, but rather, directs ministers to withhold holy Communion from those who, as an external and observable matter, “obstinately persevere in manifest grave sin”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2384 describes civil remarriage after divorce as “public and permanent adultery” (something obviously gravely sinful), so, if Francis had wanted to authorize the administration of holy Communion to divorced-and-remarried Catholics (and he did not want to repudiate CCC 2384, 1650, etc.) he would have had to have wrought a change in the law contained in Canon 915....

Pp. Francis did not do so.  Of course, Canon 915 is ignored by most parish priests, Bishops, and (US) Cardinals.  That's their problem--and the problem of those who are in a state of adultery and still receive Communion.

"You Will Be Made to Care..."

Erik Ericson of RedState coined that phrase a few months ago when discussing the ascendant Perversion-Propagandist ploy of forcing bakers to make cakes for gay "weddings," among other similar incidents.

Now that ploy, in another venue, goes big-time, as the WSJ reports (relayed by McAdams):

...As the scientific case for a climate-change catastrophe wanes, proponents of big-ticket climate policies are increasingly focused on punishing dissent from an asserted “consensus” view that the only way to address global warming is to restructure society—how it harnesses and uses energy. That we might muddle through a couple degrees’ of global warming over decades or even centuries, without any major disruption, is the new heresy and must be suppressed. ...

...Assuming the mantle of Grand Inquisitor is Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.). Last spring he called on the Justice Department to bring charges against those behind a “coordinated strategy” to spread heterodox views on global warming, including the energy industry, trade associations, “conservative policy institutes” and scientists....

The Attorney General of the US, along with 20 State AG's, have begun "investigations" of those who think (and say) that man-made global warming is bullshit.  More specifically, that the Propagandist Professor's "hockey stick" is fiction.

There are umpty-$billions at stake here, which should be your first clue.  But of course, there's far more than that:  this is the beginning of the Dream of the Aging Fascists come true.

Next, the introduction of re-education camps!  (There's a lot of housing available in North Dakota, ya'know...)

Facebook Blues

Maybe people are learning that when it's "free" the product is YOU.

Or maybe they're just tired of this horsecrap.

Breitbart Totally Mis-Reads "New York Values"

Breitbart, the house-organ for TrumpCult, errs (again.)

...During the January 14 debate, Cruz tried out his “New York values” taunt, seeming to assume that most Republicans would understand what he meant. They didn’t....

Wrong.  We read it loud and clear.  See almost ANY caucus or primary in "flyover country."

Yes, we expect that Cruz will struggle in NY and CA, where "New York values" prevail, just as those values did with Nelson Rockefeller, GHWBush, Dole, and Romney. 

There's a reason that all those campaigns failed:  New York Values.

Race-Baiting Obama Supremacist? Just Another FedJudge

The Ninth Circus, again.

A three-judge panel tramples State sovereignty and--while they're at it--the Constitution.  Arizona is the current victim.

Since when do US Constitutional (14th Amendment) rights apply to illegals?  I'm sure there's some sort of FedJudge ruling to that effect, but I think it remains a very good question.

Among the many stories you won’t read in the mainstream media today is that the Ninth Circuit has just taken judicial amnesty a step further.  It has ratified Obama’s amnesty by forcing Arizona to grant driver’s licenses to recipients of the DACA amnesty – a complete violation of both national and state sovereignty. - See more at: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/04/insufferable-9th-circuit-forces-az-to-grant-drivers-licenses-to-illegal-immigrants#sthash.rz4HnCuY.dpuf

Among the many stories you won’t read in the mainstream media today is that the Ninth Circuit has just taken judicial amnesty a step further.  It has ratified Obama’s amnesty by forcing Arizona to grant driver’s licenses to recipients of the DACA amnesty – a complete violation of both national and state sovereignty. - See more at: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/04/insufferable-9th-circuit-forces-az-to-grant-drivers-licenses-to-illegal-immigrants#sthash.JJZ6yesj.dpuf

(D) Jackboots in California Same as Wisconsin

David Daleiden crossed Planned Parenthood and the California AG raided (yes, RAIDED) his home.

The California AG is a Democrat.

Daleiden was foolish enough to think the First Amendment applies even when a Democrat is in charge.

That ought to sound very familiar to Wisconsinites.  After all, John Chisholm is a Democrat, as is the supercilious, obnoxious twit named Kevin Kennedy.

(Let's not forget that Kennedy is a very close friend of another infamous jackboot-queen named Lois Lerner.  Lerner is also a heavy (D) contributor.)

What About US Jobs? Check Your Currency!

Romano makes a case for paying attention to the US dollar's value.

...Taken alone, there’s only so much tinkering around the edges of tariff reductions via massive trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact can accomplish, when the real tariff on U.S. goods and services is foreign currency devaluation, which naturally is not addressed by the trade agreement.

Consider, starting in about 2001, the U.S. dollar was being devalued but the whole time, China’s yuan was pegged below the dollar. The more we devalued, the cheaper Chinese exports got, and the larger our trade deficit became. By 2008, the dollar had dropped almost 37 percent against major currencies, all to the benefit of exporters that wisely had pegged below the dollar. Our own attempt at currency manipulation had backfired....

That, argues Romano, caused manufacturing to leave the US.  I have argued elsewhere that there are other contributing factors, but they simply amplify the effect of Red China's mercantilism.  (That USD devaluation also raised the price of petroleum, by the way.  There are a few other good reasons that oil has become cheaper lately--but the increase in value of the USD since 2011 is certainly a part.)

Romano has little use for TPP and tariff-tweaking:

...That is why the tariff reductions contemplated under the Trans-Pacific Partnership for example are very much laughable. Whatever reductions are agreed upon may just be offset by exporting nations devaluing their currencies below the dollar once the agreement is in place. What a joke....

It's about time that someone takes this seriously, no?

Longer Range: Gasbag Trump Loses

Well, The Donald got shellacked in Wisconsin.  Gasbaggery failed.

But that's not his biggest problem.

...What possible reason could a billionaire candidate have to slash staff at a moment when he’s desperate for people to help him organize his battle for delegates with Cruz? Even if he had the nomination locked up, why would he want to shed staffers in states like Ohio and Florida for which he’ll have to fight tooth and nail in November? One of the biggest worries among political pros in having Trump as nominee is that Democrats will run rings around him organizationally, given his strategy of trying to beat Cruz’s superior GOTV operations through sheer media muscle. Now here he is stripping his already mediocre organization down further. Why the hell would he do that?...

This guy claims to be the Smartest Man In The World--yet if he actually wins the (R) nomination, he is likely to lose the general.  And if the Politico reports are true, he could lose the general to Barney Fife or Vlad Putin, or None-of-the-Above.

As any war veteran will be happy to tell you:  you cannot win the war without boots on the ground.  Gasbags don't cut it.

Still Arming Up, America!

Shoulda bought Ruger at the IPO, folks.

The FBI performed 2,523,265 firearms-related background checks between March 1 and March 31...

...The March record is the eleventh straight monthly record for background checks. The unprecedented streak, which began in May 2015, has included all-time records for both monthly and yearly sales. With 7,682,141 checks processed through the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System, 2016 is currently on pace to set another all time yearly sales record...

Ammo, while still a challenge, is becoming available.  Time to BUY SOME!

Trump Cannot Get 1237

Here's the reality. 

Cruz is acting like a front-runner for a very simple reason:  Trump cannot get to 1,237 on the first Cleveland ballot.

Wisconsin will be the end for Trump.

Mercer School Perversion Class

Think you've heard it all?

You haven't.

A teacher in the Mercer (WI) school rented "Fifty Shades of Gray" as the in-car entertainment for the Mercer girls' volleyball team on their trip to a tournament.

The sadomasochist perversion is part of the volleyball curriculum?  Common Core? 

Whatever.  It's Mercer, Jake.

Trump In Bed with Journal-Sentinel Editors

It is reported that The Donald called Charlie Sykes a 'lowlife.'

This was a line fed to him by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel executives. 

And no, there is no need for proof of this assertion; I know a lot.  A VERY lot.  A lot about this.  I know yyuuuuuge about this.  And I have very large hands.

Trump, the April Fool

So The Donald thinks that the national debt is a function of trade treaties.

Perhaps that's just an April Fool joke.

The Wharton administration must be near-suicidal by now.

This is "Philosophy"?

Libertarian 'philosophy', cadged from Althouse:

Liberty is the idea that our minds and bodies belong to ourselves.

Umnnnhhh....no.

Liberty, properly defined, is the freedom to do what is right.  The above statement is so reductionist that it begs to be called 'middle-school dorm discussion.'