Saturday, December 30, 2017

“DO THE LETTERS F.O. MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?” That's a pretty good response, but I still prefer mine: "You mistake me for someone who gives a sh*t."

Another one I'm leaning toward using is "Go to your safe space, little person. Don't come out until you've grown up."

Sunday, December 24, 2017

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE: The incredible lesson we should learn from the Christmas donkey.

Merry Christmas, all.
WOKE CONSERVATIVES and the awesome power of not caring.
JUST ANOTHER OBAMA SCANDAL: Hezbollah's drug mule.
IS THE DEEP STATE attempting a coup? I don't think so; I think they're panicking because their 8 year long coup attempt is failing.

More here. And follow the link.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

WORLD ENDS; Ivy League hardest hit.

Stop laughing....
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS MANKIND'S LAST GREAT HOPE: I Have Seen London’s Future and It Is Caracas.
GOP TAX BILL causes Nancy Pelosi to lose remaining fragment of her mind.

The arrogance, vanity, hypocrisy, and pomposity pushed it out....
HEH: The Geico gecko gets it.


From PowerLine's Week in Pictures Happy Tax Cut Edition this week. There are many more, including Sarah Sanders and Nikki Haley for the (real) feminists.

And Hillary Clinton for the 'feministas'.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE OTHER SIDE:


Sorry, jihadis; Hefner got here first....

Sunday, December 10, 2017

MORE ACADEMIC IDIOCY: Professors refer to conservative criticism as 'violence'.

Question: How do you do 'violence' to a snowflake?
I'M BACK after nearly 40 hours without power from Georgia's snowstorm. Pine trees are remarkably fragile when it rains, snows, or the wind blows. They are also remarkably efficient at taking down power lines and blocking roads.

Friday, December 08, 2017

"THERE IS A GOD." Leftist Neera Tanden gleeful that Rupert Murdoch's house burnt down.

I wonder if there will be a God when something catastrophic happens to her?
HEH: The New York Times won today's Foolitzer Prize.
RANDOM THOUGHT: After watching the Trump rally in Pensacola tonight, I think I can confidently predict that the liberals and mainstream media (but I repeat myself) will go absolutely berserk tomorrow.
CIA DIRECTOR MIKE POMPEO: Trump's tweeting actually helped us. Our 'ruling class' (both sides) simply cannot accept that they may be wrong.

Read it all - especially the last paragraph.
JEFF JACOBY: The blessings of climate change.

Thursday, December 07, 2017

SAD: Today is the 76th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and this is the only story I could (not so) easily find. But there was plenty of room for the Mueller investigation and assorted Congressional sex allegations.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: "History began on August 4, 1961 when B. Hussein Obama was born in a manger in Kenya...no, Hawaii...and the indigenous people brought gifts of pineapples, surfboards and 'choom'..."

From the comment section of this post.
DON'T CALL US SNOWFLAKES - it damages our mental health.

First you have to have some mental before you can have mental health....
THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY: Yes, let's really muck up tax reform.

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

TAKE A KNEE... MY ASS!



From my email.
1984 HAS ARRIVED at Westfield [Massachusetts] State University.
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary. By a 62-37 majority. Did the Democrats blink?
SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS: Rudolph (the red-nosed reindeer) is racist, sexist, and homophobic.

Just another example of progressive insanity.
OBAMA’S SWIPE AT TRUMP over Paris Agreement is an ironic backfire.
Obama is to be thanked for pointing out that the federal government doesn’t need to be involved in the Paris Agreement or any of its accompanying funding and regulating. If Obama’s idea of an “absence of leadership” is not wasting taxpayer money on shams designed to line the pockets of bureaucrats pushing an eco fauxpocalypse, then I’ll take it.
Question: Where is the Logan Act when you really need it?
ISHMAEL JONES revisits the infamous “Trump Dossier.”
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION says about cakes and compelled speech. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission yesterday. We'll know its answer in June 2018 or thereabouts.
PEDIATRICIAN: Revealing your baby’s sex might traumatize him, because trans.

OPPOSING VIEW: 6,500 reasons to say ‘It’s a girl’ (or ‘It’s a boy’).

The Social Justice Warriorship is getting tiresome.
DON SURBER: Why the left hates 401K. [Hint: it's about power and control.]
There is a fellow I know, let's call him Ron Rurber.

He worked for a company for 30 years. After 20 years there, liberals bought it out.

Within four years the liberals stopped paying into the pension plan -- and has since enjoyed the corporate welfare of the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation, a federal government entity that takes over failed pension plans. The PBGC took over the pension plan, allowing the liberals who bought the company to be off the hook.

But his 401-k accumulated enough money. Each month, he now pulls down twice what his pension is without touching that nest egg. His 401-k payments are larger than his Social Security.

Isolated case?
Not at all. My 401K required minimum distribution (RMD) is 40% larger than my Social Security and pension income combined. And the 401K balance is still growing.

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

THEY NEVER LEARN: California wildfires burn 56,000 acres.

Every year southern California burns, and every year the state does nothing to prevent future fires because clearing the flammable brush out might harm endangered wildlife.

So tell me, how does being fried in the annual fires protect endangered wildlife? (Not to mention the lives of the people whose homes were burned down.)
LIVE FIRE EXERCISE from the USS Nimitz. The photo was taken December 1st, I assume off the coast of North Korea as part of the joint military exercises.
OH, BOY! Portland, Maine(!) has a new school transgender policy.

If I lived in Portland, I'd immediately pull my child out of public school and plan my exit from the Insane State at the earliest possible instant.
THE THREE LAWS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS:
Always lie.
Always double down.
Always project.
Here's an example.
TOWNHALL.COM: Democratic tax nonsense.
NATIONAL REVIEW The criminalization of politics.

National Review suggests Trump appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigage Obama's Iran deal. And I'd recommend another for Hillary Clinton and Uranium One....
GOOD RIDDANCE: John Conyers resigns (but wants son to succeed him).

Congress is a 'family business' in Detroit?

Heh.

Monday, December 04, 2017

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Who polices the police?
FIRST HE HAD TO REMOVE IT: Geraldo Rivera opens mouth, inserts foot.
ANALYSIS, TRUE: The Left doesn’t care about morals; it cares about power.
JOURNALISTS NOTE small crowd at Trump's Christmas tree lighting.

What would you expect in the middle of a Democrat stronghold swamp?

Sunday, December 03, 2017

FROM POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures, my favorite:


Now go see the rest.
ERR ... about that mountain of debt?
DON'T BELIEVE these myths about the Senate's tax reform bill.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA: replacing a toilet seat in the White House is racist.
YEAH, RIGHT: NBC News boss vows 'most severe' punishment for those who kept silent about Matt Lauer.

'Most severe' means "Hold out your hand so I can slap your wrist."
SARAH HOYT: The moving finger fingers our 'moral betters'.

Shoot the abusers, and don't give the victims enablers a pass.

Saturday, December 02, 2017

FAKE NEWS - AGAIN: ABC Issues major correction after botched Flynn report.

More here.

[UPDATE] Brian Ross canned (but only for 4 weeks).
GOD BLESS US, every lousy one.
TODAY'S CITIES are playgrounds for the elites.

That's enough to ensure I'll never move back.
TROLL MASTER: Trump critics love chasing the laser dot.
THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES of the Steinle decision.
MICHAEL RAMERIZ on the Kate Steinle verdict. Given that the bullet that killed Steinle was a ricochet, the verdict may have been correct. Nevertheless, Rameriz is absolutely correct; the city of San Francisco is guilty as hell.
EIGHT YEARS AGO TODAY: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except now the Democrats are worried the President does have a strategy.
GOP SCORES MAJOR TAX REFORM VICTORY after Democrats said they had no time to read the 500-page, ‘scribbled’ small print.

Heh. Heh, heh, heh.
WHEN THEY PRY THE STEERING WHEEL FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS: When will they outlaw pickup trucks?
JEFF JACOBY: Scrap the ObamaCare mandate. The Senate just did. Now it's time for the House to follow.

Friday, December 01, 2017

MALLARD FILLMORE defines 'progressive'.
THEY HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO? Media attack Melania Trump's Christmas decorations.
“IF THIS IS WRONG, I’d like to see the New York Times refute it.”

I've done the math - as the Republicans have suggested - and found that (a) my taxes will go down some, and (b), more important to me, I won't have to fill out Schedule A (Itemized Deductions) any more.
YES, AND I'M NOT SURPRISED: Are conservative families more stable than liberal families?
NEW FOR COLLEGE CAMPUSES: the 'whiteness protection program'.

You don't even have to be white to join....
WHERE IN THE WORLD is Matt Lauer?
ON FLYING the Have Blue and Tacit Blue experimental stealth aircraft.

Follow the links; there are a number of interesting articles to be found on stealth aircraft development.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

TRUMP TROLLS 'Pocahontas' and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
HOW AGING HIPPIES’ ATTACKS ON FAMILIES created entitled younger generations.
PUNCHING BACK: One conservative has had enough and has filed a lawsuit against a leader in the Antifa movement.

He should have sued for more - far more.
IF TAX REFORM ISN'T PASSED, the future looks bleak.

But it looks like it's going to pass....
KURT SCHLICTER: Dating tips for prominent Democrats. It's clearly marked as satire, but only if you're not a Democrat.
GLENN REYNOLDS: We survived infectious diseases, we can survive social media.
HOLLYWOOD, DC, AND THE MEDIA: Never our betters, and often much worse.
LENA DUNHAM embodies the myth of white liberal 'tolerance'.

It's been my experience that the ones who cry 'racist' (and 'sexist' and 'homophobic') are the ones most likely to be the ones they decry.
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Debt, taxes, and perdition.
"GERONIMO!", Pocahontas.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

WHAT IF Roy Moore wins in Alabama?
USA TODAY: CNN announces it will boycott White House Christmas party.

Sarah Sanders responded:
Sarah Sanders
@PressSec

Christmas comes early! Finally, good news from @CNN. …
7:05 PM - Nov 28, 2017
Heh.
CLIMATE CHANGE: It's capitalism that is at fault.

So the solution is ... what?
DEMOCRATS had second thoughts about sexual harrassment ... and then came Matt Lauer, John Conyers, Garrison Keillor, Charlie Rose,....
APPLE’S NEW [DIVERSITY] SLOGAN appears to be: Think the Same™ And don’t forget to keep your Virtue Signal turned up to 11.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT is a ... female thing?
'SMARTEST THINKERS' demand union: Vox employees hope to follow Gawker (RIP), DNAInfo (RIP) into the Writers Guild oblivion.
IMPRIMIS: the problem of identity politics. The solution is both obvious and nearly impossible in the near term.
NORTH KOREA is in no shape to fight a war.

South Korea could probably win any future war by simply supplying donuts and coffee at the border....
HE JUST WON'T GO AWAY: Obama Set to Meet With World Leaders in China & India.

Obama (and Hillary) seem intent on forming a shadow government.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

AUTUMN LEAVES, November 26:

This is the final view of 2017. Winter is here, at least as far as Noture is concerned. The deck view is the same as last week, only the morning haze has gone.


The driveway view is also unchanged, just a little sharper without the haze.


The pond view was taken from much higher up the stairway (lazy me) but shows the same - no leaves left and a much sharper view without the morning fog that's pretty regular this time of year.
insert pond
Next up: Spring Leaves, starting sometime in April....

Saturday, November 25, 2017

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is online. Not as good as usual this week -- too much Frankenshit. My favorite, though it is an insult to Moe, Larry, and Curly:


I'd suggest they be called 'The Three Boobs' in honor of Al Franken.
AND HE WASN'T EVEN PRESIDENT*: New study shows Donald Trump ruined Thanksgiving.

Methinks conversation around the dinner table was cut short when the adults sent the snowflakes to the children's table.

*the study was conducted 2015/2016, not 2016/2017.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

NEWSWEEK: How to have a 'woke' Thanksgiving. Be sure to count the number of bounces as you're thrown out the door.

And for the rest of us: how to deal (politely) with the 'woken' turkeys.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

OFF A SHORT PIER: Sen. Franken should take a long walk.
THANK YOU. NOW PLEASE STAY HOME: Liberals prepare themselves for another Thanksgiving family dinner.
If you will notice, there are no conservatives writing how-to-lecture-a-captive-audience stor[ies].

That's because the conservatives are too busy buying turkeys and trimmings. Cleaning up the house. Getting out the folding chairs.

These family dinners tend to be hosted by conservatives because we took out mortgages, not student loans.
Heh.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

OH, MY: Tweet of the Day.

It can't get any better than this...
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE:


From my emaill

Sunday, November 19, 2017

MORE PROOF that liberal colleges and universities are the 21st century's insane asylums: access to the outdoors is now a form of white supremacy.
'TRANSPARENCY': The Democracy Alliance updates it's #Resistance playbook in the dark.
A MOVIE TO WATCH: 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot'.
AUTUMN LEAVES, November 19:

Here's this weeks view of the onset of winter. From the deck, the only difference from last week is more haze and more leaves on the ground.


From the driveway, there is a bit more leaf clutter post last week's cleaning, and a few more down from the trees.


The same lack of change is evident in the pond view as well, even though the vantage point is a bit further down the stair. There simply are no more leaves to drop.


Finally, here's a view of our home from across the pond.


I cleared (by hand!) all the property to the right of the stair this year. Next year I think I'll let the property to the left of the stair alone....
UNLIKELY, BUT INTRIGUING: How Robert Mueller & President Trump are pulling the biggest sting in history.
ANOTHER PROGRESSIVE IDIOT self-identifies.
HEH: "The media’s ability to pivot on a dime in the same week from throwing a dissipated Bill Clinton overboard and attacking Roy Moore to granting Franken a very ‘90s-era one free grope rule is amazing to watch."

The definition of 'spin'.
DEMOCRATS: It's not fair when you play our gutter politics against us! Democrats are accusing Republicans of 'white identity' victimization group politics.

Is it real, or is it projection? My vote is for projection, an example of which is the Democrats' 360-degree spin-about on the Roy Moore/Bill Clinton/Al Franken sexcapade accusations. Herewith my favorite quote:
So it was a cheap display of virtue without consequences. Which, come to think of it, is virtually the definition of leftism in a nutshell.
Read the whole thing.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

IMPRIMIS: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) on immigration reform. Read it all.
FAKE NEWS: A mysterious robocall in Alabama out there from someone claiming to be a reporter from the Washington Post, seeking 'damaging' info on Roy Moore for money.

Almost certainly fake ... except that there is a Washington Post reporter named Lenny Bernstein. Washington Post journalists are both stupid and biased, but that stupid and biased?
POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is expansive this week. Here's my favorite:


It did end WWII.

And this one leaves me scratching my head. If they're so against work, have they thought about quitting and going on the dole?


Apparently it's an anarchist-communist group (another head scratcher) in England.

Now go and see the rest.
THE 'PRIMAL SCREAM' of our (self-appointed) elites on finding out that they are merely ordinary.
FACTS DON'T MATTER; 'DIVERSITY' DOES: Portland City Club Quashes Addiction Report Because 'Every Member of the Committee Was White'.
YOU MAKE THE REST OF US LOOK BAD: Whites must stop becoming teachers.

We still have insane asylums; we just call them universities....
RIGHT IDEA. Wrong network.

Friday, November 17, 2017

BUT FREE SPEECH: Texas sheriff questions legality of profane anti-Trump sticker.

Democrats should be pleased, but I wonder how they would react if Hillary had been elected....
THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION jumps the shark.

Linked from Instapundit.
INDEED: History is bunk. Only when the Left rewrites it....
ON ROY MOORE: “'Where there’s smoke, there’s fire' only ensures a vigorous trade in smudge-pots."
AMMO GRRRLL writes on dying in the streets from hitting the glass ceiling on the plantation!

Her final words are worth repeating: "When you hear any of these inane phrases, call bullcrap."

Thursday, November 16, 2017

BECAUSE THEY WERE INCOMPETENT? "Why couldn't the Obama era intelligence community detect Russian meddling?"

Hell, the whole damned administration was incompetent. From the top down.
DON SURBER on government environmental policy:
Carbon dioxide is a nutrient, not a pollutant. It is good for the planet.

I cannot say the same for the federal government.

Heh.
I READ THE NEW YORK TIMES and learned to hate.
LET'S PUT WARNING LABELS ON ENVIRONMENTALISTS FIRST: Arnold Schwarzenegger wants warning labels on fossil fuels.

He's a Californian. That explains it all.
THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT wants to burn down the village to save it. For itself.

To be fair, so does the Democrat establishment.

The D.C. swamp badly needs draining, but it will only occur when voters on both sides of the aisle start cleaning their respective houses. I'm not hopeful.
MSNBC HOST has perfectly logical reason for not covering Menendez trial: It might hurt Democrats.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

THE 26TH VICTIM of the Texas church massacre the media doesn't want to talk about.

Monday, November 13, 2017

A SAFE SPACE FOR DEMOCRATS? Anti-Trump hotel for liberals coming to D.C.
FORGET HOMICIDES: Chicago to focus on the menace of crosswalk texters.
BEARING ARMS: "[N]ever let a gun control advocate say that they, as a group, don’t want all the guns. Of course they do, and the Boston Globe pretty much admitted it."
WHY INCOMPETENT PEOPLE THINK THEY'RE AMAZING:



Remember this incompetent?
I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.
I do.
GUN CONTROL and liberals' magical thinking.
DNC CHAIR TOM PEREZ AND SENATE DEMOCRATS won’t say if Robert Menendez should leave Senate if convicted in corruption case.

But they will demand that Judge Roy Moore be denied the Republican nomination for election to the Senate in the Alabama election to replace Jeff Sessions on the basis of 30-year-old allegations of sexual misconduct.

Hypocrites.
IS THERE NOTHING the Republicans can't screw up?
Republicans are likely to continue their legislative losing streak because they’re afraid to govern on the principles they were elected on out of fear of losing their offices. If they continue to fail to do so, voters will relieve them of that burden.
It will continue long as they remain e(stablishment)-Republicans. We must change that.
HEH: Local bakers sue Oberlin College for libel and slander.

Punching back twice as hard.
DEMOCRATS’ NRA/GOP-BASHING NARRATIVE collapses under weight of reality. But they continue because "demagoguing opponents with different views is the one-trick political pony on which they ride, and nothing’s going to make them dismount."
BECAUSE BOOBS: Men with cardiac arrest more likely than women to receive CPR in public.
WHAT HAPPENED while the mainstream media was out chasing squirrels.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS for anti-gun freaks grieving over the death of their narrative.
SURPRISED? Screaming helplessly at the sky fails to remove President Trump from office.

Now they can go back to their safe spaces, crayons, Play-Do, and fluffy toy animals....
POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is especially good this week. Here's my favorite:


Now you know why unicorns are extinct.

Go see the rest - and be sure to vote on your choice for America's first female President.
USA TODAY confirms why media and gun tutorials are a toxic mix.
IT'LL BE A LONG HARD SLOG: Undoing the dis-education of millennials.

It's not 'education'; it's indoctrination.
AUTUMN LEAVES, November 12:

Well, it looks like leaf-fall is complete. I'll keep going for another week or two, but what's left today is mostly evergreens, emply branches, and lots of future mulch. Here's the deck view this week:


It's cool and overcast today, so rather drab, and the winds and rain over the last week have pretty well cleared the trees of leaves. Now the driveway view:


It's much the same as last week, only more drab. The driveway was completely covered in leaves until I blew them off yesterday.

The pond view is slightly different from last week, taken higher up the hill because the stairs are pretty slippery with wet leaves.


There has been little change in color, and the leaves are much thicker on the ground than last week. Next week should be about the same, hopefully sunnier, though.
HEH: Are liberals making a case for mandatory church attendance?

I agree that it would probably be more effective than gun control.
RANDOM THOUGHT: America is still a 2-party political system. It's just that the parties are now Socialist (formerly Democrat) and Democrat (formerly Republican). There is no longer a conservative political party.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

I'M OLD ENOUGH to remember when journalism thought Veteran's Day was important enough to cover. Today I tried to tune into the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which always occurs at 11:11 am on Nov. 11 every year.

This year I could find only Fox News and CSPAN (both cable channels) covering the event, from wreath-laying ceremony through Vice President Pence's speech afterward. Only CSPAN had continuous coverage. CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC? Absent.

To reuse President Trump's most pithy comment: sad.
A VETERANS DAY PHOTO PORTFOLIO. Here's my favorite:


Now go see the rest.
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY BAND honors the millitary on Veterans Day:

Friday, November 10, 2017

DON SURBER: Trump's trip vs. Obama's trip to China. The last two sentences say it all.
AMMO GRRRLL: Diversity vs. 'diversity'.
SHARYL ATTKISSON on why no one trusts the media:


Thursday, November 09, 2017

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

THOUGHT PROVOKING: Why haven't you left school? Very long, but relevant for those not seeking a STEM (science/technology/engineering/mathematics) education.

Secondary schools and colleges/universities should take note -- their curricula are alienating them from those who pay the bills.
D[I]MOCRATS: Never letting a massacre go to waste.
‘NOW DO ISLAM.’ Sally Kohn swings and misses with this list-swipe at gun owners.
HEH: "Only California could legalize pot and still make black markets more attractive than ever."

Trust Jerry Brown and his Democrat allies to shoot the Golden Goose....

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DEMOCRAT: Jesse Jackson accused of sexual harassment by journalist.

Now they're eating their own....
BILL WHITTLE: Guns, CNN, and Sutherland Springs.


DO AS I SAY because shut up.

This woman would be perfect for the faculty in a university in, say, Tehran.
HOPES DASHED: Democrat Northam projected to win Virginia governor’s race. On the bright side, I'm no longer a Virginian.
IT'S JAIL TIME: a "massive violation of federal law" that "triggers criminal penalties".
WHAT DOES THE LEFT have to offer?
HOLLYWOOD, ESPN AND OTHER DEBACLES: Why can't our ruling class do its job?
SHOWDOWN IN VIRGINIA: Can Gillespie pull off the upset?

Here's hoping.
HOW LEFTISM MAKES US STUPID: And how we end up with a press corps full of idiots.

I will disagree with Klavan on one small point: I believe stupidity is the predecessor, not the product, of leftism.
CONGRATULATIONS, DEMOCRATS. You’re the Stupider and Crazier Party.

Read it all; then go vote if you live in Virginia.
ANSWERING THE DEMOCRATS CALL FOR GUN CONTROL:


Linked from here.
MY SYMPATHY METER IS PEGGED AT ZERO: Journalists retell their election night horror stories.
You take your kids to school, you go to the store, you go to the post office, you're looking around, and you're thinking, "These people hate me."
What narcissism. Do they really believe that they're important enough for us normals to waste as much as a femtosecond hating them?
I'M ALMOST READY TO SECOND THE MOTION: "Time for the meteor to hit and give another species a chance."

These are indeed Heinlein's "crazy years."
LET THEM VIRTUE-SIGNAL ON THEIR OWN DIME: Congress’ plan to kill the electric car tax credit could kill electric cars.
“DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN TOM PEREZ further complicated Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam’s chances of winning the statewide election on Tuesday [today] by refusing to unequivocally tell NBC’s Chuck Todd that people who drive pickup trucks aren’t racist.”

I'd suggest a brain transplant for Mr. Perez, but you'd have to use a jackhammer to get the current one out.

Monday, November 06, 2017

IT'S NOT A BUG, IT'S A FEATURE: Does the Republican tax plan "screw Democratic voters"?

Actually it "screws the rich" in both red and blue states since they're the ones most likely to be able to take advantage of itemized deductions vice the standard deduction. Which is interesting, since the Republicans are generally considered to be the party of the rich.
MIKE ADAMS: Letter to an aging Communist.

They never learn....
ANOTHER REASON for abandoning the NFL.

It's Monday night. I've always watched at least some Monday Night Football. Tonight I won't.
EXPLAINING THE LIBERAL CESSPOOL: "Maybe the left complains about 'objectifying women' because it is routine behavior for leftists."

Maybe?
TRUMP TWEETS are "... the laser dots that the puppies in the media chase."
THE WEEKLY STANDARD: The Primal Scream of Identity Politics. Longish, and there's a simpler explanation: they're nuts.
REPUBLICAN STUDENTS identify alleged vandal, UNCW investigates.

Does anyone want to bet that this 'investigation' isn't swept under the rug?
TWO HEROIC LOCALS who shot Texas gunman outside the church, chased him in their truck at 95mph and ran him off the road as he bled out.

Please explain to me why I have to go to a British newspaper to get reasonably accurate U.S. news....
TWO LETHAL LANDMINES in the tax reform bill. I can't comment on the small business pass-through provision, but I would hardly use the term 'middle class' for anyone who can afford a $500,000 mortgage.
IS DONNA BRAZILE signaling the Clinton era is over?

No, it was over before Donna Brazile crawled out from under the bus wreckage.

Sunday, November 05, 2017

SPORTSCASTER VIN SCULLY: "I will never watch another NFL game."

ALSO: I noticed Papa John's is now advertising its pizza on college football game broadcasts....
HOW TO DESTROY AMERICAN CULTURE in six easy steps.

Luckily for us, most of American culture lives outside these liberal twits' bubble.
AMMO GRRRLL lends a helping hand understanding the American Muslim response to terrorism.
THAT DAMN PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM AGAIN: geometry perpetuates white privilege. If only those damn Greeks had been Muslims ... or Native Americans.

I wonder if she has a clue as to how much 'mathematics' there is in her mobile phone....
ONLY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.: For the bureaucrat, it makes perfect sense.
MOSTLY PEACEFUL: afterpolice relieve antifa protesters of baseball bats and axe handles.
NEVER A DULL MOMENT: On a scale of 1 to 10, the Democrats' outrage meter is locked at 11. Or 12. Or 13....
AUTUMN LEAVES, November 5:

What a difference a cold snap makes. Here are this week's pictures. As usual, we begin with the view from our deck and this week it's all reds, golds, and bare.


Here are last weeks pictures for comparison.

The driveway view isn't as dramatic, but still we're seeing quite a bit of change over the week with the browns and golds (and a bit of red) take center stage.


It was warm enough that I ventured down to the pond again Here's the pond view, and for comparison, a similar view from two weeks ago. Another dramatic change -- the green is almost entirely gone, replaced with reddish browns. Note, too, that the pond surface is covered with a surface scum left from all the fallen leaves.


Here's another pond view taken, as the one from two weeks ago, about midway up the 126 steps from house to pond.


As a bonus this week, here's a picture looking back from Seminole Way, an overgrown 'road' that serves as a back entrance to the pond.


Its narrowness, combined with the overhanging branches, make it seem more like a tunnel than a roadway.
IT'S NOT TOO MUCH to ask demand our GOP hacks show some loyalty to their voters.
FEUDING WITH DONALD TRUMP is a bad idea.
MALLARD FILLMORE explains Hollywood culture.

Saturday, November 04, 2017

THIS WEEK'S EDITION of PowerLine's Week in Pictures has posted. It's an omnibus mockery edition, but this 'Hillary-o-ween' cartoon can't be beat.


Now click on over and see the rest.
FROM MY EMAIL: Is it time to remove sound suppressors (i.e. mufflers) from all rental trucks so we can hear them coming?

Democrats should approve. After all, they're the ones insisting on keeping 'silencers' (technically, suppressors) on guns illegal, so (as they appear to believe) that the victims can duck before the bullets hit....
ON TRUMP'S LACK OF DECORUM, DIGNITY, AND STATESMANSHIP:
My Leftist friends (as well as many ardent #NeverTrumpers) constantly ask me if I’m not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum. They ask if I don’t think his tweets are “beneath the dignity of the office.” Here’s my answer:

We Right-thinking people have tried dignity. There could not have been a man of more quiet dignity than George W. Bush as he suffered the outrageous lies and politically motivated hatreds that undermined his presidency.

We tried statesmanship. Could there be another human being on this earth who so desperately prized “collegiality” as John McCain?

We tried propriety – has there been a nicer human being ever than Mitt Romney?

And the results were always the same. This is because, while we were playing by the rules of dignity, collegiality and propriety, the Left has been, for the past 60 years, engaged in a knife fight where the only rules are those of Saul Alinsky and the Chicago mob.

I don’t find anything “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper” about Barack Obama’s lying about what went down on the streets of Ferguson in order to ramp up racial hatreds because racial hatreds serve the Democratic Party. I don’t see anything “dignified” in lying about the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi and imprisoning an innocent filmmaker to cover your tracks. I don’t see anything “statesman-like” in weaponizing the IRS to be used to destroy your political opponents and any dissent. Yes, Obama was “articulate” and “polished” but in no way was he in the least bit “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper.”

The Left has been engaged in a war against America since the rise of the Children of the ‘60s. To them, it has been an all-out war where nothing is held sacred and nothing is seen as beyond the pale. It has been a war they’ve fought with violence, the threat of violence, demagoguery and lies from day one – the violent take-over of the universities – till today. The problem is that, through these years, the Left has been the only side fighting this war. While the Left has been taking a knife to anyone who stands in their way, the Right has continued to act with dignity, collegiality and propriety. With Donald Trump, this all has come to an end. Donald Trump is America ’s first wartime president in the Culture War.

During wartime, things like “dignity” and “collegiality” simply aren’t the most essential qualities one looks for in their warriors. Ulysses Grant was a drunk whose behavior in peacetime might well have seen him drummed out of the Army for conduct unbecoming. Had Abraham Lincoln applied the peacetime rules of propriety and booted Grant, the Democrats might well still be holding their slaves today. Lincoln rightly recognized that, “I cannot spare this man. He fights.”

General George Patton was a vulgar-talking, son-of-a-bitch. In peacetime, this might have seen him stripped of rank. But, had Franklin Roosevelt applied the normal rules of decorum then, Hitler and the Socialists would barely be five decades into their thousand-year Reich.

Trump is fighting. And what’s particularly delicious is that, like Patton standing over the battlefield as his tanks obliterated Rommel’s, he’s shouting, “You magnificent bastards, I read your book!”

That is just the icing on the cake, but it’s wonderful to see that not only is Trump fighting, he’s defeating the Left using their own tactics. That book is Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals – a book so essential to the Liberals’ war against America that it is and was the playbook for the entire Obama administration and the subject of Hillary Clinton’s senior thesis. It is a book of such pure evil, that, just as the rest of us would dedicate our book to those we most love or those to whom we are most indebted, Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer.

Trump’s tweets may seem rash and unconsidered but, in reality, he is doing exactly what Alinsky suggested his followers do. First, instead of going after “the fake media” — and they are so fake that they have literally gotten every single significant story of the past 60 years not just wrong, but diametrically opposed to the truth, from the Tet Offensive to Benghazi, to what really happened on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri — Trump isolated CNN. He made it personal.

Then, just as Alinsky suggests, he employs ridicule which Alinsky described as “the most powerful weapon of all.” ... Most importantly, Trump’s tweets have put CNN in an untenable and unwinnable position. ... They need to respond. This leaves them with only two choices. They can either “go high” (as Hillary would disingenuously declare of herself and the fake news would disingenuously report as the truth) and begin to honestly and accurately report the news or they can double-down on their usual tactics and hope to defeat Trump with twice their usual hysteria and demagoguery. The problem for CNN (et al.) with the former is that, if they were to start honestly reporting the news, that would be the end of the Democratic Party they serve.

It is nothing but the incessant use of fake news (read: propaganda) that keeps the Left alive. Imagine, for example, if CNN had honestly and accurately reported then-candidate Barack Obama’s close ties to foreign terrorists (Rashid Khalidi), domestic terrorists (William Ayers), the mafia (Tony Rezko) or the true evils of his spiritual mentor, Jeremiah Wright’s church.. Imagine if they had honestly and accurately conveyed the evils of the Obama administration’s weaponizing of the IRS to be used against their political opponents or his running of guns to the Mexican cartels or the truth about the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the Obama administration’s cover-up.

So, to my friends on the Left — and the #NeverTrumpers as well — do I wish we lived in a time when our president could be “collegial” and “dignified” and “proper”? Of course I do. These aren’t those times. This is war. And it’s a war that the Left has been fighting without opposition for the past 50 years. So, say anything you want about this president - I get it - he can be vulgar, he can be crude, he can be undignified at times. I don’t care. I can’t spare this man. He fights for America!
This came in my email. Whoever wrote it, he or she brilliantly captured the zeitgeist of 'Trumpism'.

He fights. He fights for me.
HOPELESS: Saving Obama's legacy.
[UPDATED] AFTER TERROR ATTACK, let’s ban cars in cities.


I have a better idea -- let's ban cities. After all, the terror attacks almost always occur in cities.

Wednesday, November 01, 2017

AS IF WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH OF OUR OWN: Uzbek NYC terror suspect entered U.S. under diversity visa program.

Brought to you by New York's very own Chuck Schumer....

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

ROGER KIMBALL: a 'nothing burger' with wheeze.
OOPS! Tunnel collapses at North Korean nuclear test site.

If only Kim Jong-un had been in the tunnel at the time....
NOT YET, BUT IT WILL: Has the Republican Party "surrendered" to Trump?

Read it all, and then the comments. A good balance, pro and con.
HAS THE TITLE ENGINEER become meaningless?

Of course not.

Merriam-Webster, among other dictionaries, defines engineering as "the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people." Nowhere in that definition do I see any indication that 'the application of science and mathematics ...' requires a certificate or government imprimatur.

In my nearly 50 years of professional experience, I've found that the only ones who want to restrict the title under the rubric of 'make it meaningful' are the wannabe guildmasters and others who can't make it in the competitive marketplace.

Monday, October 30, 2017

THE ONLY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER to kneel during the national anthem this season has been arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct.

Virtue-signaling is not (yet) a 'get-out-of-jail' card.
BLOCKCHAINS: How they work and why they'll change the world.

Question: for better or worse?

I'm convinced I still don't understand fully how blockchains work, but of one thing I am absolutely certain: someone, somewhere, sometime (probably sooner than later) will figure out how to corrupt them.
ONE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE has developed a unique response to the "culture" of star athletes like Colin Kaepernick refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance — a mandatory class on patriotism.

It used to be called Civics -- and taught in high school.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE settles IRS targeting lawsuits filed during totally scandal-free Obama administration.

Heh.
POWERLINE: investigating the 'Trump Dossier'.
DEREK HUNTER: Despicable People.
I never wanted to believe liberals were actually evil, just obstinately wrongheaded and misguided in their belief that the policies they advocate only failed everywhere they’ve been tried because they weren’t the ones implementing them.
The gap between 'liberal' and 'evil' is narrowing....
A 'FREEPORT QUESTION' FOR OUR TIME: "How many genders are there?"

The answer is here.
PAY FOR IT ON YOUR OWN NICKEL and don't waste my time virtue-signaling: Pretentions millennials who romanticize living in vans.
BEST COMMENT EVER:
Trump plays 3D Chess on a galactic scale while his more sophistacted [sic] opponents in the Deep State play Checkers. Meanwhile, his less sophisticated avbersaries [sic], like Hillary & most Dems, struggle to learn the rules for Tic-Tac-Toe and Hangman.
From this post on the Trump/Russia/DNC/Hillary/Obama investigation.
OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: How churches die. See also this post.
IF IT WAS AN ALIEN, it left in a hurry.
MORE REASON TO ROLL BACK GOVERNMENT REGULATION: City of Denver Won't Allow Single Mom to Sell Her Home for What It's Worth.

Hell, it's yet another reason to roll back government in toto. As "I'm mad, too" Eddie Chiles said back in 70's Texas, “The government should deliver the mail and stay the hell out of my business.”
'FRONT-ROW KIDS' AND THEIR VALUES have taken over our courts.
America is split between the “Front Row Kids” — who did well in school; moved to managerial, financial or political jobs; and see themselves as the natural rulers of their fellow citizens — and the “Back Row Kids,” who placed less emphasis on school; and who resent the pretensions and bossiness of the Front Row Kids.

While teaching constitutional law after the election, it occurred to me that though the Back Row Kids can elect whomever they want as president, senators or representatives, there is one branch of the federal government (and all state governments) that is, more or less by its nature, limited to Front Row Kids: the judiciary.

To paraphrase former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, "They don't know what they don't know."

Sunday, October 29, 2017

MIKE ADAMS on grizzly bigotry at the University of Montana.

Just another 'university' welcoming diversity of everything but thought.
LIZ WHEELER: When NFL players disrespect the flag, they disrespect my family.


ON THE DEATH PENALTY, Pope Francis is going where no pope has gone before.
FORMER NPR CEO learns about liberal media bias. He actually went to red America and ...
I found an America far different from the one depicted in the press and imagined by presidents (“cling to guns or religion”) and presidential candidates (“basket of deplorables”) alike.
It's longish, but read the whole article.
BARNEY & CLYDE: I've noticed this, too.
KILONOVA: What happens when neutron stars collide. The pictures are stunning.
IN VIRGINIA GOVERNOR'S RACE, Republican Ed Gillespie focuses on crime and consequences. And he's right:
The crime rate appears to be rising in Virginia. For example, the state recorded 383 murders/non-negligent manslaughters in 2015. In 2016, it recorded 484. The Washington Post itself reported that in Prince William County, a little south of Washington, D.C. and its close-in suburbs, the murder rate more than doubled in 2016.
After watching the trends in northern Virginia, I voted with my feet in 2016 and left. But Barbara Comstock kept Prince William County in the Republican column in 2016, and my sense is that Ed Gillespie, also a northern Virginia resident, will win the governorship this year.
DNC CHAIR TOM PEREZ: "The Electoral College is not a creation of the Constitution. It doesn't have to be there."

Article II, Section 1 of of the Constitution:
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
Any questions, Tom?
AUTUMN LEAVES, October 29:

Well, it's winter; unoffically if not officially -- it started snowing this morning about 8 am and is still going, lightly but steadily for over 2 hours. Here's today's deck view:


Over the last week the leaves went from green to gold to brown to gone. The change was pretty dramatic when the cold air started to pour in about midweek. Here's the driveway view:


Since it's mostly evergreens on both sides the change hasn't been as striking, but more browns are in evidence across the road.

No pond picture this week; it's cold (just above freezing), snowing, and I'm not about to go down -- and up -- a 120-step flight of stairs for a pond picture. So instead here's a picture from the road looking back toward the house.


For the most part what you're seeing is evergreens and 'sticks' -- the deciduous trees have all lost their leaves. And finally a view from the loft:


These are about the only trees left on our property that have both leaves -- and color.
KURT SCHLICTER: culturally appropriate this, you social justice jerks.
When they [SJWs] demand that I conform to their dictates, I’ve got a counter-offer.

How about I do exactly what I want and you stand there and suck it up?

Read the whole thing.
BECAUSE HE'S NOT ONE: Progressive 'male' thinks 'man' is a dirty word.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

PROGRESSIVE, “FAIR WAGE” PIZZA SHOP is closing its doors.

Economics strikes again.
POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures has been posted. I have two favorites this week.

This first one is about 'cultural appropriation' ... from the party of 'inclusion':


Should real native Americans be insulted?

My second favorite is just plain funny:


Happy Halloween. Now go and see the rest.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

LIBERALS try to connect with normal Americans.

The 'trigger warning' is a nice touch....
THE FACE of true patriotism.
NATIONAL REVIEW Give university trustees a role in faculty hiring.

An excellent idea - every lawn needs weed control.
JEFF JACOBY: Liberate government workers from forced union fees.

Government workers should never have been allowed to unionize in the first place.
EPA HEAD SCOTT PRUITT: 'sue-and-settle' is gone. That's a good beginning, but the environment will be better served by getting the government completely out of the protection racket.

(Note: the Regional Haze rule referred to is here.)
FOUR GOP SENATORS standing in the way of progress. Actually six, with the addition of Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Bob Corker (R-TN) joining the 'Never Trump' legion.

On the bright side, though, it does appear that the Republican establishment (the GOPe) is beginning to get the message from the voters that 'go along to get along' is outside the bounds of Trump's new Republican party.

The swamp will be drained.
POWERLINE: Is the Left cracking up with this 'we can achieve diversity by all thinking alike' nonsense?

From the comments:
This is not unique to Apple or even Silicon valley. These people populate the human resources department of every corporation large and small, and they have foisted this stuff on all workers, who have learned to "keep your mouth shut or else." We used to call it the Personnel department, which assumed that employment was about people who were persons with personalities. We've reduced them the human resources ... like a bin of scrap wood or nails. Just another basket of inanimate objects. The HR department of your company is the political commisar of the left. All those Republican establishment types who occupy the boardroom have allowed the left to make their companies into communist "re-education" camps. Hopefully you guys will begin to catch a clue and understand Trump's appeal. I'll be throwing my support behind Steve Bannon in the upcoming election.
I saw this coming when Personnel departments started becoming Human Resources departments. Still, the sheer depth of this lunacy is astounding.
WELL, THERE ARE LOTS OF THEM OUT THERE: I see stupid people.
EVERYONE CAN WIN ON IMMIGRATION if we stop playing politics.

Which won't happen....
TRUMP TO REPUBLICANS: leave our 401Ks alone!
Don Surber: "I paid far more into Social Security than I did my 401k plan. Now retired, I draw down more from my 401k (even as it grows) than I do Social Security."
Similarly here: my wife's and my 401K required minimum distributions (RMDs) are 193% of our combined Social Security income.

Here's how it works.