I know it's too much to hope for...

...but the next time I see this guy's name, I wish it would be on a tombstone (and I'm not talking about the late John Lewis): "Former president Barack Obama fanned the flames of racial resentment in his politicized eulogy for the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) at his funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday afternoon, comparing law enforcement officers and President Trump to racist Democrats Bull Connor and George Wallace."

Is inciting a riot still a crime? How about calling for widespread anarchic violence, can you prosecute that? Maybe these things can't, or won't, be prosecuted, but they can be defended against, and agitators like Barack Obama are definitely going to wind up with blood on their hands for encouraging their hordes of neurotic, immature, half-baked revolutionary followers into harm's way.

Made in China

.@DianneFeinstein says #China is

"A country growing into a respectable nation"

1M Uighurs in concentration camps
A COVID pandemic gift to the world
Crushing Hong Kong

Totally respectable
What do they have on her? pic.twitter.com/BFNBape7N7

— Jim Hanson 🇺🇸 (@JimHansonDC) July 31, 2020

Happy Feet Friday

Trumpet man Jonah Jones steps out with “Broadway Holdover”. Band members in addition to Jones: Tyree Glenn (trombone), Al Gibson (clarinet), Dave Rivera (piano), Milt Hinton (bass), J.C. Heard (guitar). From 1945.

Use your own money, you monumental affront to freedom

"Supreme Court Hands Defeat To George Soros And His Overseas Groups".

RIP, Herman Cain

Businessman, candidate for the Republican nomination for president, and overall voice of reason Herman Cain has died at age 74.

Good old grandma

"Antifa Tinkerpot Gets Outed On Internet By Grandma Who Bought Him A Protest Vest".

Contrary to the assertions of Illinois (and, especially, Chicago) politicians...

...most of the guns recovered in Illinois come from Illinois.

The guy's more patient than I would be

"The Top Ten Epic Moments During the House Judiciary Committee Hearing With AG Barr".

My contempt for congressmen (and senators, for that matter) who utter slanderous comments from the safety of their hearing rooms, and who use hearings as a propaganda tool knows no bounds. I don't doubt for a minute that vile trolls like Jerry "Nadless" Nadler would gladly serve as executioners under the revolutionary government they think they want (but which would probably liquidate them first). Bring on the revolution, I say. We'll see how brave these swine are outside of their government buildings.

Update

My brief thoughts on Nadler et al (inspired by Veeshir, in the comments)...

Working-with-your-hands-Wednesday

Here's a unique rifle build (from Merrie England, of all places!): "Belt-Fed Bullpup Lever-Action Rifle Chambered in .44 Magnum". There's a video embedded in the article (H/T: friend and commenter JeffS).

Bonus video! Here's another working-with-your-hands-Wednesday rifle build - although I think the guy who did it used his feet. While wearing shoes. Sitting in the dark.

Some police departments have definitely had enough

"Wisconsin police departments pulling out of DNC convention".

The power behind the rocking chair

It's obvious to all that Joe Biden is not mentally fit to be president, so, who will really be running the country? Read on, if you dare.


Time to get rid of that crazy Orange Man, right guys?

How...interesting

Mrs. Paco frequently reads news articles on Yahoo!, and she got in the habit of automatically checking the comments (originally, this was because Yahoo! stories often are poorly written, and sometimes commenters provide useful clarification). Another thing she noticed (and I did, too) was that the comments tend to come from readers who are right-of-center.

Well, today, Yahoo! decided to terminate the regular comments section that appears at the end of its articles, and replace it with a "survey" that seeks to gather info about readers, and to discover, among other things, whether readers actually want a comments section. I think the company is dismayed by how many non-woke commenters there are out there, and is trying to find a way to deplatform them.

I guess we better get on the stick and do like the plump philosophes of Conservative, Inc. have suggested: come up with a billion dollars somewhere to start our own news
and social media companies. If only all the billionaires weren't leftists...

Again, 10th District New Yorkers, I've got to ask

If you absolutely must elect a mentally defective liberal a$$hole to be your representative, can you not at least elect one who doesn't look like the main character in Kafka's "Metamorphosis" (after the transformation)?

Related Heck of a job, there, de Blasio! "NYC Shootings Up 220 Percent From a Year Ago".

And now, a word from our sponsor

(Ah, 1990, when communism was collapsing in Russia and Eastern Europe. Good times, good times...)

Two out of three ain't bad

One company bows to wokeness, but two other outfits double down on their right to call 'em like they see 'em.

Infuriating

How did the CEO of the Washington Post ever become head of the Reagan Foundation? The other board members are no prize, either; mostly Bush loyalists and random NeverTrumpers.

And what unmitigated gall that the Foundation should ask that the Trump campaign not use Reagan's image and name in fundraising! Here's the polite response from Andrea Widburg, the author of the linked article:

Here’s a final thought: Reagan was the president of the United States of America, not of a foundation or a library. The Foundation may hold his documents and be the guardian of his image, but that does not give it the right to withhold any part of his public life or image from the American people -- or from an America president who wants to remind the people that, just as Reagan stood against worldwide communism, President Trump is making a last, desperate stand against domestic communism.

My own response is not printable in a family-oriented blog such as this one.

Update I contacted President Reagan via the Ouija board, and this was his message for President Trump:

I don't think the word "peaceful" means what the mainstream media thinks it means

Gateway Pundit has an interesting photo essay, consisting of pictures sent in by readers of the various riot zones around the country.

Sometimes a country genuinely goes mad, and the reasons are often obscure (or rather, obscured by information gatekeepers who are on the side of the smashers). This definitely seems like one of those times.

As the Good Witch says...

Classical corner

Claude Debussy's lush symphonic poem, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, was composed and first performed in 1894. It is a strikingly dream-like piece that had a profound impact on the future development of classical music.

Sounds good to me

C'mon, dude, what's one of the first rules of shooting?

You need to be alert to what's behind your target: "Colorado BLM ‘protester’ marching on highway shoots at car trying to pass, hits fellow comrade".

You know, actually, maybe they're not: "BLM Protester Fatally Shot in Austin: ‘People Who Hate Us’ Are ‘Too Big of P-ssies to Actually Do Anything About It’".

Sunday funnies

(Courtesy of Savage Chickens).

"Problem solved" (H/T: David Thompson).

"Gang war at the pet shop" (H/T: ditto).

Sometimes, I think the difference between being brave and being completely petrified is very small (H/T: ditto, again).

"Chick-Fil-A Changes Name To Gender-Neutral 'They-Fil-A'".


During WWII, Warner Bros made a series of animated instructional films starring Private Snafu as a sort of Every GI. Here, Pvt Snafu is targeted by Malaria Mike.



Ace has linked several hilarious recordings of comedian Paul Tompkins doing send-ups of director/actor Werner Herzog providing Yelp reviews. Anyone familiar with Herzog's ponderous speaking style and somewhat world-weary view of humanity will find the following bit by Tompkins difficult to distinguish from the original.



From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".

You know what they are, don't you?

Triffids. "Mysterious Seed Packets From China Sent to People in Utah, Washington and Virginia".

That pretty much explains it

I used to be baffled by Matt Drudge's political yawing. Now I get it: Matt Drudge is the only cause Matt Drudge is interested in.

The evidence that Drudge’s content direction is based more on money and influence than ideology is something that Lysiak’s book is flowing with. For example, when Andrew Breitbart was working for Drudge as the morning editor, he became convinced that the news aggregator was working to get then-Senator Barack Obama elected.

“In 2008, he became absolutely convinced that Matt was working very hard to have then-Senator Barack Obama elected to the presidency. He was pulling his hair out over this. Andrew would post a story about Rev. Jeremiah Wright and from whatever undisclosed location Drudge was working at on his computer, he would go and replace those stories with something favorable about Obama.”

“Eventually, Andrew Breitbart got up the courage to ask him ‘what gives?’ and Matt told him that while yes, an Obama presidency might be absolutely terrible for the country, it would be great for the website.”

I can relate

Kind of. I've never been a "city" person, although I've lived in the city from time to time (including Detroit before it started to look like Dresden circa 1945). When I worked in Washington, DC, I commuted from Fairfax, VA, so I wasn't a resident, but, although I couldn't see myself living in the capital, I understood why it appealed to other people.

I understand how it could have appealed to Daniel Turner, for example. And I can also understand why he's calling it quits: "Goodbye, Washington DC."

Bring it on

"Antifa splinter cells are planning a day of terrorism across the country in retaliation for the feds doing the job that Portland police won’t do after they took control of the rioting mobs. Tomorrow, Saturday, July 25th, is being dubbed J25, and actions are planned in several cities."


"I'm looking forward to a lively debate".

Update Related? "Prominent Black Trump Supporter Murdered in Milwaukee".

Do Black Lives Matter? I guess the answer is nuanced.

Sports Illustrated got on the fast track to irrelevance when the magazine started using "plus" sized models for the swimwear edition

Now, they're wallowing in pointlessness, as Dan Garland singles out a baseball player for not kneeling before a game, accusing him of "hiding" behind religion.

Don’t do groupthink? Sports Illustrated’s Dan Gartland will judge you. He’ll even lecture you about your Christianity.

Gartland tells readers, “Every player and staff member from four MLB teams took a knee before last night’s opening slate of games to make a statement about inequality. Every single one of them—except Giants reliever Sam Coonrod.”

This is unacceptable to Gartland. They were all kneeling for a “a recorded, uncontroversial message from Morgan Freeman.” It was a “carefully constructed display coordinated and approved by Major League Baseball.”

In other words, it was at best a shallow gesture, a nod to the current zeitgeist. But political theater is sacred these days. We’re all supposed to pretend that we’re hopelessly divided by white racism before we make a show of having accepted the lie and doing our penance for “unity.” It’s the wise way to go if you don’t want to stand out “like a sore thumb,” as Gartland says Coonrod did.

Let's face it, Gartland: you dislike Coonrod's gesture because he's not kowtowing to your religion, a belief in the cosmic truth of left-wing, racist nonsense.

Truth in marketing

It would be difficult to say, categorically, who the dumbest big-city mayor in America is right now because the pool of candidates is so large, but I can safely say that Lori Lightfoot is way up near the top.

Baseball is veddy, veddy dead to me

"All Yankees and Nationals Players and Coaches Take a Knee Before National Anthem Opening Night".

No, thanks, Larry

Any kind of "Republican" that could get elected as governor of a Democrat stronghold like Maryland is not a Republican we need in the White House.

Oh, BTW, tell me again how General James Mattis was a selfless, ascetic warrior monk. If this was ever true at all, it sure didn't take long for him to transform himself into yet another D.C. courtier on the make looking for a plush lobbying gig with an anti-Trump "consulting group".

Happy Feet Friday

Connie Boswell, joined by Bing Crosby and backed by Victor Young and his orchestra, performs a rollicking version of “Alexander's Ragtime Band”.

Frontier gal

We took Maggie to a local horse farm today where, in addition to the horses, the owners had a mock western town for the kids. Maggie jumped right into her role; here she is with a friend.



Incidentally, I was arrested briefly by the sheriff there and put in the lock-up; however, when he realized what my feed bill was likely to be, he let me go.

Pusillanimous in Portland

"Mayor Booed by Protesters, Told to Resign, Tear-Gassed During Riot".

If the hard Left ever does take over, weasels like Ted Wheeler will be the first ones stood up against the wall.

LOL!

I ordered a few boxes of ammo from Ammo Supply Warehouse, and they arrived in one big package with this label on the outside...



And they did, too!

Our favorite guest

Maggie, the official granddaughter of Paco Enterprises, is spending a couple of weeks with us. Her first stop was Oak Island Beach; she and her grandma went splashing around in the surf, while grandpa did the hard work of holding down a folding chair (an important job, because it was only my substantial dimensions that kept our little tent from blowing away in the wind).

This local had the right spirit.



Here's Maggie, drying out after swimming.



And she capped tonight off my baking a cake (with an assist from grandma).

Coming to a playground near you

This monster, courtesy of California's insane release program: "‘Mr. Rape, Torture, Kill’ Sex Offender Freed from Mental Hospital".

I'm sure it'll be fine. He's probably cured by now, right?

The stench of Soros

"The district attorney in Philadelphia is charging a SWAT officer for pepper spraying protesters to get them off the interstate."

Of course he is! Larry Krasner is another of George Soros's creatures. Soros continues to subvert the cause of law and order nationwide, in his quest (as near as I can figure out) to destroy anything resembling popular democracy - which also seems to be the goal of Democrats, the current crop of street thugs and Vichy conservatives.

Update This same commie DA has threatened to arrest federal agents if President Trump sends them to Philadelphia to restore order, as he is now doing with other cities.

The work-around

Quite a posse, there.

Culpeper County, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins has vowed to name thousands of of Virginia residents “reserve deputies” in order to ensure that a potential gun, magazine, and suppressor ban from Gov. Ralph Northam won’t turn them into criminals for keeping their lawfully possessed arms. Now the sheriff is taking the first steps towards implementing that plan by asking for current and retired law enforcement officers to serve as “voluntary background investigators” to help process what Jenkins believes will be thousands of applications from gun owners.

Working-with-your-hands Wednesday

Bonus video!

Interesting change of heart

"Why a Legendary Civil Rights Lawyer just Defected to Trump".

Meanwhile, I hear that John Kasich, one of the dumber NeverTrumpets (Update: but not the absolute dumbest), is not only going to support Biden, but is going to speak at the Democrat convention. Republicans who support Biden are supporting the leftist takeover of this country, and they know it. Which just goes to show you that the modern GOP is built on a foundation of fraud. They - the GOP establishment - do not trust the people or popular democracy, and their careers, which have consisted of making conservative noises while eschewing conservative governance and policy making, have become seriously jeopardized by the existence of a unique, outside-the-beltway president who successfully connected with the base in a way the grifters never could - mainly, by implementing, or seriously attempting to implement, the broadest range of conservative policy options since Reagan.


"Ah, but I have seen, with my own eyes, Monsieur Trump use an oyster fork to eat a slice of German chocolate cake! We Republicans cannot afford to tolerate such barbarism!"

Must be the taco seasoning

I dreamt last night that I was pulling clothes from a laundry basket and folding them, and that they consisted exclusively of t-shirts belonging to Hedy Lamarr.

What on earth...?

Assortment

"Mysterious 'ghost attack' fires and explosions continue to plague Iran". Paco World News Daily (PWND) managed to acquire a photo of a potential suspect...



Mother of the Year - "George Stephanopoulos’ Wife: I’d Watch Porn With My Teenage Daughters". Our fine betters, as friend and commenter Veeshir calls them, continue to lead the way.


Kurt Schlichter: "Brace for the Backlash".


If Biden wins, Victor Davis Hanson says things are going to get indescribably ugly...which brings me to an important point:


Remember, folks, we're on our own. The Kerenskies in charge of the Republican Party will fail to keep the People's Democratic Party from turning the rest of us into kulaks.


You know what, Joe? I wish you'd soak your hair plugs in smart juice mixed with tincture of coherence: "‘I Wish’ Schools Taught More About ‘Islamic Faith’". I'm pretty sure he means the bogus interpretation of Islam that holds it up as a religion of peace - like Buddhism, only milder.

Remember the recent story by social justice preener Derecka Purnell, who claimed she once saw a cop shoot a boy in the arm just for skipping the basketball sign-in sheet? Yeah, that story turns out to be a twisted version of a real incident that didn't involve a policeman at all; yet, somehow the original yarn passed muster with the Atlantic's layers of fact checkers.

Confederates in the (New York Times') attic

"The family that owns the New York Times were slaveholders".

And now, a word from our sponsor

Definitely in the running for a Goebbels Award

Two women who have been speaking out vigorously against the move to defund the police are not, according to the New York Daily News, protestors, but "right-wing gadflies". You know how the Daily News knows this? Because the women "were identified Sunday as attention-seeking anti-abortion protesters who have pulled similar stunts before".

So, BLM and Antifa protestors (and rioters) are not "left-wing gadflies" for some reason, and, I guess, wearing pink pussy hats is not some kind of attention-seeking stunt that automatically invalidates the authenticity of Street Yowlers for Infanticide.

Assuming the New York Daily News still comes out in a paper edition, it is hard to imagine a fish with even low self-esteem willing to be wrapped in it.

Update Btw, New York Daily News, is Maxine Waters what you might call a hyper-partisan, race-obsessed gadfly? "Maxine Waters ‘Yells At’ Deputies After She Intervenes In Traffic Stop Of Black Man".

“They stopped a brother, so I stopped to see what they were doing,” the California Democrat tells a person who recorded the Friday incident on South Vermont Avenue...

If it had been a white man who got stopped, would Maxine have intervened? Is a "brother" just a black man who, because of his skin color, has platinum constituent status in Maxine's district?

The question still stands

Why is Christopher Wray still head of the FBI?

FBI Director Christopher Wray Promoted Head of FISA Group Jennifer Boone Who Approved Steele Dossier.

Your call

Is it real or is it satire?

Classical corner

The very lively 3rd movement of Brahms' Symphony No. 4.

The first time I heard the 3rd movement, it was not an orchestral recording, but an arrangement recorded by keyboardist Rick Wakeman of Yes (for the Fragile album). I liked it so much, I went out and bought a record featuring a performance of the original (I don't remember the orchestra or the conductor).

Even more Illinois corruption!

Why, it's enough to give me the vapors: "FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS DIGGING DEEPER INTO PRITZKER’S $331K PROPERTY TAX BREAK".

In April 2019, it was revealed [Governor] Pritzker and his wife, M.K., were under federal investigation for the tax breaks. M.K. Pritzker had directed workers to remove the toilets from the home during renovations so the mansion would be deemed uninhabitable, resulting in a property tax break. After an inspection was complete, she had them reinstall one toilet in J.B.’s “hangout/meeting area.” J.B. Pritzker said he would pay the taxes when the tax dodge was revealed during his campaign for governor, but that has not cooled the interest of investigators.

Boss Tweed: "Now that's just plain hoggish, governor!"

Evil AND stupid

Nancy Pelosi is truly one of the most toxic specimens of destructive partisanship ever to wash up on the shores of the Potomac. Her latest outrage is to libel federal law enforcement personnel who are trying to protect government property in the willingly-misgoverned city of Portland, Oregon: "Ted Cruz, Dan Crenshaw and Other Conservatives Rip Pelosi for Spreading Hoax Against Fed Officers, Defending Antifa".

Yes, I know Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is an idiot

But the squeals of leftist billionaires who object to her tax policy strangely fail to move me.

Michael Novogratz, a Democrat who made his fortune in hedge funds, also warned that the tax-driven approach will be counterproductive.

“Wealthy people are willing to pay more tax, though it has to be fair,” said Novogratz, who now invests in digital currencies and in recent weeks has been a vocal supporter of Black Lives Matter [emphasis mine - P.]

Sunday funnies

(Gratefully lifted from friend and commenter Gregory's fine blog, The Mind is an Unexplored Country).


Asleep at the wheel...




"Far-Right Extremist Suggests Treating People Of All Races Equally".


Will it or won't it? (H/T: David Thompson).





From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".

Tragic

"French cathedral burns in suspected arson fire".



Restore the Order of Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon!

Might want to replace that sword, though, with an AR-style rifle.

The Rooftop Koreans

An article from last year by Kurt Schlichter reveals the importance of communities taking responsibility for their own security.

And, from Sam Jacobs, here's more detailed background information on the events that eventually led to Koreans banding together to protect their lives and property during one of L.A.'s periodic riots.

Question

Things in New York City are going from bad to worse - the latest outrage was yet another attack on police this week - and I think it's obvious to even the meanest intelligence that Mayor De Blasio is not only a destructive leftist ideologue but an utter incompetent.

So, I get that New Yorkers are hopelessly left-wing. But are we to conclude there isn't any kind of halfway centrist person who has smarter, or, at least, less idiotic notions on how to run a city? Are there any challengers on the horizon who aren't outright socialists and morons?

Oh, man, seriously?

Who knew? Illinois actually reeks of corruption.

When the U.S. Department of Justice dropped that federal hammer on Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan on Friday, I thought of the shock waves spreading out to Democratic bosses across the country, and the sound of Illinois political rats scurrying for cover they won’t find.

But mostly I thought of Boss Madigan’s eyes, blue stones made flat and cold from 50 years as the political boss of the most politically corrupt state in the country.

Donald Trump, gangbuster

"Trump Task Force to Dismantle MS-13 Takes Down Gang’s Key Leaders".

Give in once, you'll be giving in forever

"Texas Rangers Face Pressure To Change Team Name Due To The Police Force’s Alleged ‘Cruel, Racist’ History".

Update The soft bigotry of low expectations.

Come and get' em, Joe!

What a surprise.

Biden is pushing numerous gun controls, one of which would require owners of “assault weapons” to register those firearms with the government, while paying a $200 tax on each.

The tax that would be administered is the outworking of the National Firearms Act (1934). That Act currently governs the sale of machine guns, suppressors, short barrel rifles, and other Class III weapons only.

The $200 tax was put in place in hopes of making sales of firearms and accessories cost prohibitive. It will apply to AR-15s, AK-47s, Ruger Mini 14s, and other wildly popular semiautomatic firearms if Biden gets his way.

I'd be glad to register my "assault" rifles, Joe, but, you see, I took them all out in my boat on the Cape Fear River for an airing, and the darnedest thing happened...

Happy Feet Friday

Have no fear, Big Joe is here! Big Joe Turner and the Blues Kings from 1954 with “Well, All Right”.

By the beard of the Prophet!

National Review can't even get Islam right.

This guy makes so much sense...

...that's it's only a matter of time before he's canceled.



Update As Larry Elder says, history is complicated.

Virtue signaling ad nauseam

"The city council of Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday unanimously approved a commission to develop proposals for reparations to black community members and issued a formal apology for the city’s role in black inequality."

Of course, this doesn't mean money going directly into the pockets of the alleged "victims".

The resolution, signed by Mayor Esther Manheimer, directs the city to create a “Community Reparations Commission” made up of advocacy groups, businesses and community leaders that will issue recommendations on how eventual compensation may be distributed to black residents, according to ABC News.

The steps taken by the city council and mayor did not include language to make immediate payments to black Americans, according to the text of the resolution. Rather, the commission would make recommendations for possible reparations strategies that would have to be approved by the city before taking effect, the resolution stated.

Interesting that the vote by the city council was unanimous. Hope you taxpayers are happy. In all fairness, though, to the Normals who live there, Asheville is a college town, and therefore possessing a population teeming with what Rush Limbaugh calls young skulls full of mush (and their professors, a/k/a older skulls full of mush). No doubt, their malign influence is felt at election time.

Update More city council insanity: "Columbus Wants to Boot Police With Ties to 'Hate Groups,' Relying on the SPLC".

Biden's chart topping hit, "The Thing"

H/T: Ace of Spades

B-b-but I thought Trump was supposed to be a Russian agent

If so, what's this about James Weaver, co-founder of the vitriolic anti-Trump outfit known as the Lincoln Project, registering as a foreign agent of Russia last year?

Another co-founder of the Lincoln Project (and a big fan of carbohydrates), George Conway, had this to say in response to the disclosure:

Working-with-your-hands Wednesday

I think it would be cool to have a great big tool box filled with restored tools.

You learn something new every day

But you don't always learn something weird and absurdly amusing every day, as I have within the last half hour.

Stacy McCain tackles the wild comments of Nick Cannon, a racial fantasist and anti-Semite who was, until recently, host of America's Got Talent (he was fired by CBS today). Stacy touches upon, among other things, the obscure history of Wallace Fard, founder of the Nation of Islam who, as Stacy and Wikipedia point out, was very likely a white man.

I think that's hilarious. That awful sect has given us dangerous black racist fanatics such as Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan, and has pushed an agenda of black separatism for decades, and yet the founder of the outfit seems to have been some white dude who did time in San Quentin.

It's as if Kwanzaa had turned out to have been created by Robert Byrd.

Yeah, that's some hard-charging journalism right there

The Guardian stitches together a few quotes from people who (allegedly) supported Donald Trump in 2016, but would now "rather vote for a tuna fish sandwich".

Which, when you think about it, is pretty much the equivalent of voting for Joe Biden.


"Hey, Tuna Fish Sandwich used to be my street name - you know, back when I was facing off against Corn Pop".

Here's the ominous thing about this

Does the existence of a ukulele orchestra imply the existence of (shudder!) an accordion orchestra?

Video courtesy of friend and commenter JeffS.

When you grab a tiger by the tail, just how do you let go?

Liberals are learning the hard way (if, in fact, they're really learning at all): "If Liberals Don’t Take on Identity Politics, They’ll Lose".

Update Whether old school liberals ever figure out the problems inherent in their world view or not, I'm pretty sure outright socialists won't.

But I thought a sharply reduced police presence is what you wanted?

"In Wake Of Continued Gun Violence, Prominent Members Of Black Community Call On NYPD To Bring Back Anti-Crime Unit".

Truth to tell, I think it was primarily white leftists who wanted a reduced police presence - actual law-abiding black people, not so much.

And now, a word from our sponsor

Update: Some interesting Dr. Pepper facts.

Classical corner

The beautiful second movement of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 (the "New World" symphony).

It was bound to happen

Black Lives Matter was inevitably going to morph into Only Black Lives Matter: "Young White Mother Killed By Black Lives Matter Mob for Allegedly Saying ‘All Lives Matter,’ National Media Fully Ignores".

My perennial fantasy...

...is that some future pope will resurrect the Knights of the Temple for the purpose of defending our holy places - a duty which is increasingly looking like a necessity: "Vandals Allegedly Target Statues of the Virgin Mary in Boston, Queens".

God bless their souls...

...and comfort their families: "2 police officers shot and killed in McAllen, Texas".

In the event of actual police defunding, and transfer of responsibility for handling lesser incidents (such as domestic disputes? disturbing the peace?) to social workers...how is this supposed to work, again?

Are you sure, Joe?

"Biden says Elizabeth Warren, labor unions helped craft his economic policy".

I was under the impression that you were getting your economic advice from this guy, but I suppose there's not much to differentiate one from the other when you get right down to it.


"And the taxes go round and round and the spending comes out here! N'yuck, n'yuck, n'yuck!"

Update It's bad enough having a self-appointed, and very privileged, ruling class. What makes the whole thing truly intolerable is that it consists of people who would have to actually struggle to reach a level of mere mediocrity: "Joe Biden’s family racks up arrests for drugs, drunk driving — but no jail time".

Btw, is it just me, or does Hunter Biden look like a creepy photoshop or caricature of his old man?

Sunday funnies

Masterpiece













Well, hey, there's one right there!


Nice shot! (H/T: David Thompson).


So, daddy, how did you and mommy meet? (H/T: Ditto)


Whew! Tough neighborhood.


"Bible Experts Determine Goliath Died Of COVID-19".

"While we didn't test him per se, he exhibited a lot of the symptoms of COVID-19," said one Bible scholar as he carefully worked to unearth some ancient face masks from Bible times. "The wooziness, the falling down, the headache -- it's all pretty clearly indicative of the novel coronavirus." He also stated that the virus ran rampant among the Philistines because they did not social distance, while Israel was relatively safe because King Saul declared a lockdown.

Just the facts, Seinfeld.




From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".

Nice shooter

I was looking for a .38 Special double-action revolver that I could take to the range and shoot from time to time - rather than use either of my two Rugers, which are now considered collectible - and I came across a law enforcement trade-in S&W Model 10-14 offered by Aim Surplus. I ordered it late last week and it came in yesterday.





Aside from some holster wear near the front of the barrel, the finish looks decent, and the mechanics of the gun are great: crisp trigger pull, solid cylinder lock-up, and extraordinarily clean bore and cylinder chambers. As you can see, the gun came with rubber grips, which are fine for now (I may replace them with wooden grips later).

This was an export that was reimported in the recent past. The gun came in its original blue plastic box, and there was a label on the side with the name of the person to whom it was originally issued: Josef Uhlik. This is a Slovak name, so I presume the gun was used by the police or a corrections department or something similar in the Slovak Republic. I did a quick cleaning of the gun (although it didn't seem to need it) and was thinking how sweet a firearm it was, when I was struck by the realization that it was not only sweet in the figurative sense but also in the literal. Turns out that the grips smell like...aftershave. I guess ol' Joe used to splash it on kind of heavy before picking up and holstering the revolver everyday (another reason to consider new grips).

This Model 10-14 is a relatively late issue, having been manufactured in 2002 or later (regular production ended in 2010, although the gun is now manufactured as part of S&W's Classics line). Unfortunately, it has the tiny cylinder lock (known disparagingly in the gun community as the "Hillary Hole"), but I don't intend to use it at all, so it doesn't bother me.

I took it to the range this morning and it functioned perfectly. It's an accurate shooter with surprisingly little recoil. The double-action pull isn't excessively heavy, and the single action pull is just short of hair-trigger. The best news is the barrel isn't canted (as was the case with another S&W I purchased about six years ago, brand new).

I'm very pleased to have a .38 spl that I can plink with - even if I have to put up with the aroma of Joe's aftershave.

Update I only found out about this while I was poking around the internet researching some S&W history. Seems like the U.S. Air Force only got around to retiring the last of its revolvers - the S&W M15 Combat Revolver - in 2019. The M15 had been retired decades ago as a regular service sidearm, but was still being used in certain training exercises and programs. Pretty cool-looking handgun.

Good

I don't know all the ins and outs of Roger Stone's problems with the law, but his crime apparently boils down to lying to one of the biggest liars in the House of Representatives, Adam Schiff. Also, I remember the circumstances under which Stone was taken into custody: heavily armed cops from multiple agencies, carrying semiautomatic rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests, and attended by a CNN crew to whom somebody in government leaked the news of the upcoming "raid". It was absurd political theater put together by Trump's enemies, and I am glad his sentence was commuted by the President (a matter that should not be particularly controversial given all the genuinely dangerous criminals and terrorists freed by Obama).

I also hope this serves as a shot across the bow of John Durham, whose investigation has, to date, yielded precisely nothing in the way of justice in the matter of the coup plotters. Trump needs to keep freeing people caught up in the collusion hoax on "process crimes", especially as long as the truly big malefactors continue to skate.

As I say, it's Trump and the Normals against all flags, and the election, and our survival as a free people, will probably turn out to be (to borrow from Wellington) a damned near-run thing.

I guess the big question is, will he be voting twice?

"Dead Cat Receives Voter Registration In Mail".

Biden, the total tool

As the 1948 presidential election approached, someone - I can't remember if it was Westbrook Pegler or H.L. Mencken - said that Harry Truman would come out in favor of cannibalism and provide a free source of missionaries for the pot if he had to in order to win.

The mentally fogbound Joe Biden is similarly willing to do anything, including swallowing the entire progressive program, in order to win in November. George Neumayr reports.

Related "Biden Vows: If Elected, I'll Force Those Catholic Nuns to Violate Their Beliefs on Contraception Again".

Happy Feet Friday

Pete Brown was an alto sax player who possessed a truly unique style. For most of his career he played with small groups, including John Kirby's band, and also worked as a sessions musician, in addition to heading up his own outfit in the mid-40s. Here he is, with Jim “Daddy” Walker on electric guitar, John Levy on bass and Eddie Nicholson on drums, performing a lively number called “Jim's Idea”.

If we lose a revolution to pussies like this, we have only ourselves to blame

Rush Limbaugh covers the story of some dweeb who sent a vile message to a Trump supporter, and the malefactor's already been tracked down.

Turns out he's a teacher's assistant at the University of Texas (San Antonio) named Jonathan Pullen, and he's exactly the kind of leftwing warrior you'd imagine him to be.

But we shouldn't just laugh off the attitude, however absurd any particular specimen appears to be. This is how oppression begins, and it is the first step on the road to political murder and ultimately genocide. Demonize your opponents; treat them, not as people who simply disagree with you, but as evil louts who are beyond reason and must be imprisoned or destroyed (after first being humiliated and tortured).

As I've said before, I regret that this may not be a Christian attitude, but I am no longer just prepared, I am starting to experience an eagerness for festivities to begin.

Don't mean to hurt your feelings, dude...

...but if I were running a death cult, you wouldn't be important enough to make the final cut - "Beto O’Rourke: GOP, Trump Administration Have a ‘Death Cult Mentality’".

“These are the same people who want us to accept that more people, including more children, will die of gun violence this year in America than in any other developed country bar none. It’s just the price of quote-unquote freedom in this country."

You mean the quote-unquote freedom guaranteed by the quote-unquote constitution? Do you ever stop to quote-unquote think before you talk?

More obscure WWII history

From Mark Felton.

Bound to be a doctoral dissertation in here somewhere

"From Fart Gods to Farting Out One’s Soul: The Historic Ritualization of Farts".

(Can't remember where I found this; Ace, maybe?)

As the man says...

...the swamp isn't just in DC: "FBI arrests a third of Toledo city council".

On Tuesday, following a 2-year investigation, the FBI arrested an attorney and four members of the city council of Toledo, Ohio for involvement in a complex bribery and extortion scheme. All politicians arrested are Democrats.

Following the arrests, US Attorney Justin Herdman said on Fox News, “As alleged in the Complaint, four Toledo City Council members and a local attorney have been engaged in a pay-to-play scheme involving bribes for Council votes. Maintaining the public’s trust in its elected officials is one of the Department of Justice’s core responsibilities.”

Well, I'd say the Department of Justice has a hell of a long way to go to reach that goal, but nice bit of work, nonetheless.

The revolution will be Oprahfied

Bad enough that our society is being rocked by leftwing violence and its abettors in the Democrat party and the media. We're now going to get an injection of cinematic mendacity shot through with the kind of insipid, unthinking, maudlin, emotional glop that only this oppressed billionaire can provide: "Oprah Winfrey, Lionsgate Team to Bring New York Times’ ‘1619 Project’ to TV and Film".

The self-serving ideological blinders and fact-resistant tinfoil hats worn by our "elites" are ultimately going to prove utterly self-destructive. My concern is that all the rest of us risk seeing the destruction of our way of life before this nightmare of spastic infantilism fueled by the money and direction of genuinely evil actors comes to an end.

Assortment

Finally! "Supreme Court rules for Little Sisters of the Poor in long-running dispute over birth control mandate".

Related: "Supreme Court expands protections for religious schools from nondiscrimination laws".

Glad to see that somebody's stepping up to do the job leftist local governments won't do: "DOJ Announces Fresh Round of Indictments for Rioters".

Timon Cline at The American Spectator reports on how BLM is playing out in the UK.

Coca-Cola would like you to know that it vigorously opposes the oppression of minorities in America - in China, though, not so much.

Would it really be such a bad thing if the descendants of wealthy industrialists were occasionally boiled in oil, just as a warning to the rest? "Ford Motors Makes Millions From Police Cruisers While The Ford Foundation Donates Millions To ‘Defund The Police’". Henry “Sonny” Ford is now on the Board of Trustees for the Ford Foundation, and I fear that he is going to turn out to be exactly the sort of privileged social justice twat we are seeing everywhere these days.

2+2=4? Western imperialism! Here, paleface, study up on something objectively true: your inescapable racism.

Courtesy of Stilton's Place:




H/T to friend and commenter JeffS for the following:

Know your history

"10 Firearms That Shaped Our Nation".

Working-with-your-hands Wednesday

Well, that might explain his recent votes

After his fall, I bet he woke up thinking he was Justice William O. Douglas.

Just a joke, Yer Honor! Get well soon!

I suppose that's one way of looking at things

"Atheists Launch No Lives Matter Movement".

The movement quickly fell apart, though, when leaders had trouble convincing followers that the No Lives Matter movement mattered.

How sharper than a serpent's tooth...

...is the thankless immigrant: "Radical Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar Calls For 'Dismantling' of US 'Economy and Political Systems'".

I think we ought to scrap whatever system and/or procedures we have that permitted this execrable little tick to settle in our country in the first place.

Dear progressives

Use a short stick or ruler; you can improve the force of impact.

And now, a word from our sponsor

Wait...I think I've seen this movie before

But I remember it having a male lead: "Epstein Pimp Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Federal Lockup in NYC Ahead of Court Date".

Harry and Meghan speak out on the subject of racism, are quoted in this Yahoo! news article...

...and get totally owned in the comments section. LOL!

Question

Have the so-called anti-Trump "Republicans" who served under President George Bush, and who have come together to form a PAC called 43 Alumni for Biden, just recently turned into class-obsessed, inside-the-beltway establishment quislings with no principles, or were they always practitioners of political douchebaggery?

Against all flags.

The hysteria...

...it never ends: "Virginia college may nix wasp mascot, fearing tie to 'White Anglo-Saxon Protestants'".

Snoop Dog don't like it when black people sass the master (i.e., the Democratic Party)

Noted pothead and rapper - and, interestingly, racial reactionary - Snoop Dog "denigrates black Americans who dare vote Republican". Good video by Larry Elder at the linked article.

It's all consequence-free anarchy and virtue signaling...

...until an 8-year-old child gets killed: "Family of 8-Year-Old Shot in Atlanta: ‘You Killed Your Own'".

Wow, I didn't know Frederick Douglas was a slaveholder

What's that you're saying? Douglas was a former slave and never owned slaves, himself?

Then why tear down his statue? "Frederick Douglass statue vandalized in Rochester park".

The ignorance of our modern barbarians is truly immense.

Classical corner

The Royal Anthem of France is a very old tune, and was originally sung as a celebration of King Henry IV. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky incorporated the music into the ballet, Sleeping Beauty, and here is a recording of the Tchaikovsky orchestration by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn.

Sunday funnies

Updated and bumped Courtesy of DougM at Knowledge is Power/Sondrakistan (H/T to friend and commenter Veeshir):












(Courtesy of Stilton's Place).

Better under than in it (H/T: David Thompson).

Laughing foxes (H/T: Ditto).

At least it opened (H/T: Son of Ditto).

Just to be safe: "FBI Hires Top-Rated Italian Bodyguard Hiluigi Clintonelli To Protect Ghislaine Maxwell".

From that madman of the worldwide web, here's TimT with "The new adventures of Abbott and Costello in Quarantine Land".

Customer service - Al Bundy style.




From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".