Bolsheviks now crowding out Mensheviks in Democrat Party

Bernie Sanders, Bill de Blasio and now the latest addition to the constellation of red stars, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.


Uncle Joe would have been so proud!

Speaking of inflammatory rhetoric...

...Democrat megadonor Tom Steyer sets new standard for Trump derangement syndrome: "Maybe we can have, like, a nuclear war and then we get a real course correction."

Or maybe we can impose confiscatory taxation on left-wing billionaires, how about that, Tom?

Horrendous shooting

38-year-old Jarrod Ramos shot up the Capital Gazette's offices in Annapolis, MD, yesterday, killing 5 people in what press accounts have described as a personal vendetta. We offer our prayers for the dead, the injured and their families.

And as sure as night follows day, various talking heads attempt to blame this on Trump.

Update: NBC firearms expert explains that a shotgun is "sort of like a backwards funnel".

You mean like this?

Miscellaneous

Friend and commenter Bruce was wondering where the Marlon Brando movie The Wild One was filmed, and, according to our buddy the internet, it was filmed on the backlot of Columbia Studios at its San Fernando Valley ranch. This topic came up in some comment back-and-forth in a recent post as a result of my moon photo, pretty trees, etc.

Friend and commenter Mike_W said the moon picture "reminds me of a painting I loved as a kid, showing a deer stag with its antlers silhouetted against a full moon." Interestingly enough, the setting reminded me of something similar. For my sixth birthday, my mother gave me a book about prehistoric animals which had beautiful color plates based on the paintings of the great Zdenek Burian (I still have the book; had it bound in leather). Here's the plate that came instantly to mind when I was looking at the moon the other night (it's an Irish Elk, now sadly extinct, being chased by dire wolves - also extinct):

Happy Feet Friday

George Shearing performs what is probably his best known song -"Lullaby of Birdland"- with Peggy Lee on vocals.

Alone, again

Yesterday we had to drive to Virginia to deliver Maggie to her Dad, but not before she baked me some chocolate-chip cookies (which were excellent, incidentally)...



I think Maggie's favorite thing to do was to go to the swimming pool. I don't think I had been in a swimming pool in 20 years, and I felt a little self-conscious at first, but it turned out alright. I wasn't in any worse shape than most of the other old duffers; with six or seven of us in the pool, it looked like the manatee exhibit at Sea World.

Frankly, I think we moved out of Virginia just in time: "Giant Hogweed, a plant that can cause burns and blindness, found in Virginia".

Moon over Brunswick County. Very North Carolina...



Ha! It ain't me. I didn't go to the beach today: "Mysterious sonar 'anomaly' off NC could be shipwreck, rock formation — 'or otherwise'".

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announces his resignation

Or, as the Democrats would say, "It's Chaos and Old Night! Auuuughhh!!!!"

Based on the immediate and widespread leftist meltdown, I'd say we can expect one of the nastiest confirmation fights in the history of the Supreme Court. My advice?

A break from the political

Spanish police dog pup does CPR.

A NeverNeverTrumper

"Conservative" pundit George Will has been writing political columns for decades, so I guess it was inevitable that the judgement valve on his bloviator would eventually blow a gasket. He thinks it would be great if the Republicans lost the House this November, because that would put Trump and his supporters in their place.

Maxine on the scene

Lest we forget, "extraordinarily low IQ" congress-critter Maxine Waters was a vocal apologist for the LA rioters in 1992.

Waters might have forgotten that not everybody rolled over for the looters in 1992...



Something to think about as the left keeps pushing the envelope on acceptable behavior.


Photographic negative of Klansman.

Some things never change

The library

The Art of Manliness has an interesting post (with photos) about the libraries and studies of famous writers. Well worth a look.

Stepping down a few notches, here are some photos of a lesser-known author's library, where yours truly sometimes sits and thinks deep thoughts (Beach or pool tomorrow? Hamburgers or Tacos for dinner tonight? Is that picture crooked?)









Now, if I were as rich as old J.P. Paco III, I'd like to having something more on the scale of the library of the Escorial Palace...

Obscene Maxine

In the wake of Trump administration personnel being subjected to increasingly frequent displays of public incivility, Rep. Maxine Waters, the stupidest and most vicious member of congress, calls for more of the same, because "God is on our side".


God: "I've told you before, Maxine, leave me out of your mindless rants!"

And let us take heed of the warning recently issued by Scott Adams. The Democrats aren't just going to be satisfied with going after Trump and the people in his administration; they're coming for you.

Sunday funnies

More exciting than being a greeter at Walmart...




I'm sure they meant well, but...




I'm pretty sure this is in the Bible




Ever since Wronwright lost possession of the Tardis, he's been looking for a replacement (via David Thompson).


From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures"...

Man with Wizard of Oz head continues to make hollow threats against POTUS, for some reason

Former CIA Director (!) John Brennan apparently is under the impression that he can distract from his well-earned reputation as a skulking, mendacious weasel by launching somber pronunciamentos at President Trump.

He'd employ his time more efficiently by assembling false identity papers and compiling a list of countries that do not have extradition treaties with the U.S. While, in truth, Brennan may never face any kind of criminal charges, that's still a much likelier possibility than that Donald Trump will ever be driven out of office by anything Brennan has said or done.


"Sigh...Smoke and mirrors sure don't work like they used to..."

I recommend the fresh hubris, with a side of chutzpa

The Little Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, apparently really is owned by a little red hen; the owner asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her party to leave, because Trump.

Rick Moran has it right: "Do these people know how utterly ridiculous they look to normal people?" What would be funny as hell would be if a busload of people showed up, ordered, and then, once their orders have been served, break out the MAGA hats.

This new liberal strategy - "Let's starve the Trump administration out of office!" - is likely to be even less successful than all the left's other plots.

As Kurt Schlichter has written somewhere, tribalism isn't the best basis for a civil society, but if the left insists on it, our tribe wins, theirs loses. No other option is acceptable.

Happy Feet Friday

Metronome was a music magazine that was published for 80 years before closing down in 1961. From the 1930s onward, the magazine focused on jazz, and in the 1940s and 1950s assembled all-star bands based on reader polls which recorded many classic jazz pieces. Here is a recording of "Bugle Call Rag" performed by a band that included, among others, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Goodman,Harry James, Cootie Williams, and one of my favorite trombone players, J.C. Higginbotham.

The beginning of the end for Peter Strzok?

Peter Strzok loses his security clearance.

Charles Krauthammer, RIP

One of the sanest commenters on the American political scene has died from cancer. God rest his soul and comfort his family.

Here's Dr. Krauthammer taking President Obama to task for one of his (many) unconstitutional decisions, on the highly pertinent issue of immigration.

Feel free to fill out form with a crayon

From the great American Digest blog:

Durham's shame

North Carolina may be one of the least psychopathic states, but we have pockets, to be sure. The City of Durham, for example, recently decided to dabble in anti-Semitism.

Assortment

Hillary's Mamluks.

Peter Strzok has been booted from FBI HQ. Permanently, would be nice.

Don't go away mad, just go away...




Something new! Medicare Part G.


Liberalism ruins everything - take San Francisco. Please.


Funny how the media never noticed the policy of segregating children from their illegal immigrant parents until Obama was safely out of the White House (actually, I believe the policy goes back to, at least, George W. Bush) .

Hungary takes on George Soros and the EU's insane immigration policy.


About time: the U.S. is withdrawing from the UN "Human Rights" Council.

Today's fantasy

If only...

Fun day

Yesterday we took Maggie on the Ft. Fisher ferryboat for a return trip to the aquarium. I have a sneaking suspicion that she is at least as interested in cajoling grandma and grandpa into buying her another plush toy at the gift shop as she is at looking at the coastal and marine specimens at the park (which we did, of course).

Good to get out of the car and catch the breeze off the Cape Fear River...




It was still pretty hot, so we spent most of our time on the boat in the air-conditioned lounge...




I love these little guys...




I don't love these little guys, though they're pretty to look at (poisonous tree frogs)...




Imagining what it must have been like to wind up as a Megalodon's breakfast...




This feathered horror is an animated model of a Utahraptor, although it looks like the result of an experiment gone horribly wrong down on one of Tyson Chicken's farms...




As I say, it was very hot and humid, but one difference I note between here and Northern Virginia is that, when the sun goes down along the coast, thanks to the constant breezes blowing in off the ocean, the evenings are extraordinarily pleasant - whereas in N. VA, the nights can continue to be sticky hot.

Break out the holy water

Or maybe bring back the stake.

The NRA's newest foe? Witchcraft.

Update: History - learn from it or repeat it.

That's a relief

Following up on my earlier post on Washington: Psychopath Capital of the United States, here's more information on the country as a whole. Note that North Carolina is the fourth least psychopathic state (in anticipation of Steve Skubinna's likely question, no, I'm not aware that the state has slipped a notch since I moved here).


"Welcome to Connecticut!"

Oooooo!

General Porky Pig goes full Godwin.



"Trump is just like the nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh...the Fascists!"

Yeah, let me know how that turns out

House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy: "GOP WILL HIT DOJ WITH ‘FULL ARSENAL’ IF THEY IGNORE SUBPOENAS".

Bearing in mind the GOP Congress's track record in bringing Democrats and their sympathizers to justice, let's take a look at that arsenal...







Not overly intimidating.

Sorry to be so cynical, but I've watched with mounting frustration as a long, shuffling, uncoordinated conga line of Republican committee chairmen have proved to be long on talk and short on action when it comes to asserting their oversight responsibilities and getting results. Wake me when they put the cuffs on Strozk, Comey or McCabe.

Happy Father's Day!

A salute to all you dads out there, doing one of the hardest jobs there is.

Matt "Guitar" Murphy

From commenter John Snider comes the sad news of the passing of Matt "Guitar" Murphy.

Here's a video clip of Murphy, Memphis Slim and Bill Stepny performing at the 1963 European Blues Festival.

Sunday funnies

Your basic octopus is not a big fan of "forgive and forget".




Abe to Merkel (via Powerline's "The Week in Pictures")...




Rare driving maneuver (at least, one hopes it's rare)...




Did you ever wonder where fashion designers get their ideas?




Bartender: What'll you have?

Man: Whiskey.

Bartender: What kind?

Man: Give me some of that stuff flavored with beaver secretions.


Special purpose real estate.

Who's surprised? Let's see a show of hands.

"Washington, D.C., harbors the greatest share of psychopaths in the US".

Hope he means it

Update and bumped. Ugh! Guess he didn't: "President Donald Trump Supports Paul Ryan’s Amnesty Bill".

President Trump announced today that he would not sign House Speaker Ryan's immigration bill.

Good. Ryan's bill looks like nothing so much as a gigantic "We're Sorry" card for the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Happy Feet Friday

Cab's boys are holding out for a 15-minute intermission.

Thin layer of whitewash

The Inspector General's report is out, and the facts as spelled out in the document do not support some of the conclusions - the most notorious conclusion being no evidence of political bias on the part of Comey et al. Nonetheless, the facts, in and of themselves, are pretty damning and underscore the need for a thorough reform of the FBI.

Update: Veeshir, in the comments -

My solution still stands. Fire everybody above GS-9 in the Dept. of "Justice" and replace them with Judicial Watch employees. Use Freepers to fill out the numbers if necessary.

Update II: More from Powerline's John Hinderaker. Money quote:

A common theme of the FBI employees’ responses to the IG’s questions is that, yes, they certainly were Hillary Clinton partisans; and yes, they absolutely detested Donald Trump; and, too, they thought Trump voters were beneath contempt and Trump’s election would threaten the survival of the republic. But those were only their private political views, and didn’t affect the judgments they made while investigating Hillary’s obviously illegal server on the one hand, and the Trump campaign’s nonexistent alliance with Russia on the other. Right.

No one can read the vicious, hateful, over-the-top partisan vitriol that FBI employees directed against Donald Trump–Strzok and Page are not the only ones quoted in the IG’s report–and give any credence to that claim. These high-ranking FBI agents were politicized to the core and were determined to do anything they could to secure their candidate’s election. Failing that, they plunged into the faux Russia election story in hopes of discrediting President Trump or even, as they explicitly discussed, bringing about his impeachment.

Happy Flag Day!

Long may it wave over a free America!

"Wake up, Punchy!"

President Trump Tweet-stomps ("Twomps"?) Robert De Niro.

I also note that Trump got off a zinger against Mark Sanford (who wound up losing his primary in South Carolina).

Assortment

Tucker Carlson bitch slaps the increasingly deranged Bill Kristol.

Haw! "Trump used the [G-7] summit basically as a stop to refuel Air Force One on his way to Singapore. He refused to sign their silly communique about carbon dioxide and gender equality."

Probably not: "Can the GOP Establishment Stop Being Idiots Just Once?"

A good start: "Austria announces plans to close several mosques, deport dozens of imams".

Has-been actor and attention junkie contributes his two cents to Donald Trump's reelection campaign (hilariously more from Mark Steyn).

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey commits the ultimate Fascist sacrilege: he eats a Chick-Fil-A sandwich.

Related...



Update - Robert de Niro: man of stature.

Update: Oops! Robert De Niro's "moral authority" takes another hit:

Six people are charged with the running of an international prostitution ring, whose call-girls entertained the actor Robert de Niro, the former tennis player, Wojtek Fibak, two senior (but unnamed) French politicians and several Gulf princes. The agency specialised in tricking, or trapping, star-struck teenage girls into selling their bodies with the promise of careers as models or actresses.

New listing!

Paco Enterprises' real estate sales subsidiary - Get Real(ty), LLC - is proud to offer for your consideration this wonderful starter home in the countryside near Burgaw, North Carolina. Just bring the family, your furniture, and, er, four walls and a roof and you're good to go. Contact us for a tour!



Update: I took the photo above after completing the pistol qualification portion of my concealed carry training (the property is a few miles up the road from the private range). The ruin is next to a beautiful horse farm. The area really is "out yonder"; lost my GPS signal three times on the way out there.

I've heard of a roving eye...

...but not a roving eyebrow.

Reminds me of a somewhat embarrassing incident that happened to me 10 years or so ago. I was attending my federal agency's annual conference at some swank hotel in D.C., and, partly as a joke, partly in a sincere effort to pull off an incognito appearance so as to avoid the attention of the usual crowd of whiny clients, I wore sunglasses and a fake mustache that a colleague had given me as a gag gift for my birthday (a specimen in the handlebar family) . It seemed to be working, until I took my sunglasses off for a moment to rub my eyes, and was immediately recognized by a loan officer from one of our most active banking partners. She was (and is) a very vivacious lady, originally from Brazil, and she just had to take the opportunity to introduce me to the president of one of Argentina's largest banks. The gentleman - tall, distinguished-looking, immaculately dressed - smiled and extended his hand. I went to shake hands with him and also smiled. It was at this point that the mustache dropped off my face and fell to the floor. Not unlike the Argentinian gentleman's jaw. So, in case you were wondering, there are sound reasons why you never saw me gracing the cover of Forbes magazine, or read of me rising to the highest levels of government or finance.

Sunday funnies

Looks like an appetizing place...



Meet the Invisible Man.

You can't get there from here.

[The two links immediately above courtesy of David Thompson].

It's time for the annual Stella Awards!

Sour grapes: "South Dakota sheriff loses re-election, fires winning deputy".

Guns are back in Australia: water pistols, that is.


From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures"...




The Devoted Wife

A devoted wife had spent her lifetime taking care of her husband. Now he had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she stayed by his bedside every single day. When he came to senses, he motioned for her to come near him.

As she sat by him, he said, "You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times. When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there. When I got shot, you were by my side. When we lost the house, you gave me support. When my health started failing, you were still by my side. You know what?"

"What dear?" she asks gently.

"I think you bring me bad luck."

June sale!

Progressivism is largely a function of inadequate mental capacity. Paco Enterprises, in the spirit of public service, is happy to offer a solution.

So, lefties, come and gitcha some! And I ain't talkin' donuts.



Update: Sorry we were sold out by the time you got there, Bill. But don't lose hope: more brains are on order!

Sad news

Charles Krauthammer has revealed that he only has weeks to live.

I did not always agree with Mr. Krauthammer (although I did, usually), but I always considered him to be an eminently reasonable and even-tempered voice in the major political debates of our time, and his poise, eloquence and dry wit made watching him a must. I pray that God will ease his suffering and comfort him and his family.

The progressive view

The only sensible form of gun control is confiscation. Hey, it worked in the Soviet Union.





See?

(First image via Western Rifle Shooters Association)

Happy Feet Friday

Those wonderful harmonizers, the Ink Spots, make with the Java Jive.

Out and about (click to enlarge)

Monday we traveled to Dinwiddie, Virginia to celebrate young Cal's first birthday at the home of his mother's parents, a lovely place way out in the country. Here's Cal demonstrating the suave and elegant table manners typical of members of the Paco clan.



On the outskirts of Goldsboro, I saw this interesting sign.



I imagine that's the place where the local rough 'n ready crowd gather to drink rotgut and playfully carve each other up between songs on the jukebox. Or used to anyway...



Seems like it may be closed for remodeling.


We picked up Maggie and brought her back to stay with us for a few weeks in Southport. At a rest stop in Warsaw, North Carolina, there's an artillery piece on permanent display. This photo provides an extremely useful illustration of the relative sizes of the average six-year-old girl and a WWII-era 150mm howitzer.



Here, Maggie contemplates the mighty Cape Fear River.




And - sependipity! - I finally stumbled across this a few miles from home. Should greatly facilitate "staying on it".