Monday, April 30, 2018

Thanks, Barry

For all your foreign policy savvy, particularly with respect to Iran.

Three unfunny stooges



Via The Last Refuge.

Left over from the presidential election

A melancholy reminder of the Lost Cause (seen along SR 211, a couple of miles from home).

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Sunday funnies

Ok, golf's out.

This poor planet never seems to catch a break: "It's Official: Uranus Smells Like Farts" (H/T: American Digest).

All about carrots (some of it's even true):



Take that, Michelangelo! H/T for this link and the previous one to David Thompson.

The perfect Granny Smith apple (H/T: Powerline's "The Week in Pictures"):



Multitasking!



The story of "Lucky" Dylan McWilliams.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Happy Feet Friday

The toe-tapping rhythm of eight-to-the-bar intersects with that George Shearing magic in "Blue Boogie".

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Out and about in Brunswick County

Mrs. Paco and I did some shopping today, but first I drove out to the little bridge over Lockwood Folly River to take a photo (I had driven across it last week and had wanted to get a picture). Lovely place (check here for background on the intriguing name):




Later, having worked up an appetite, we stopped at Fat Andy's burger joint, where the, er, elite meet to eat:




As you can see, they maintain a rigorous schedule:



Bit of a shack, but good burgers and delicious homemade fries.

Somebody, I think one of the employees, parked this cream-puff Chevy Impala out front. Sweet!





Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Word to the wise

If you ever take a .41 Magnum revolver to the range, you might want to (a) wear gloves or (b) leave the 230 gr cartridges at home and substitute 180 gr.

Just sayin'.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Democrat archetype

Here's another contender for donk president we'd better get to know: Kamala Harris.

Update: Victor Davis Hanson on the intolerance of the Anti-Trumpers and the signs of revolution. A sample:
Insidiously and incrementally, we are in the process of normalizing violence against the elected president of the United States. If all this fails to delegitimize Trump, fails to destroy his health, or fails to lead to a 2018 midterm Democratic sweep and subsequent impeachment, expect even greater threats of violence. The Resistance and rabid anti-Trumpers have lost confidence in the constitutional framework of elections, and they’ve flouted the tradition by which the opposition allows the in-power party to present its case to the court of public opinion.

Ruger under pressure

One of Ruger's banks, Amalgated (based in New York), is leaning on the company to support some of the standard left-wing gun-control measures.

I think Ruger needs to follow in the path of other manufacturers of firearms and firearm accessories (Beretta and MagPul, come to mind) and start looking for a new home in a friendlier environment (Ruger is headquartered in Connecticut, although it has manufacturing facilities in New Hampshire, Arizona and North Carolina).

Eternal vigilance. Looks like it might be a good to time to boost my collection...



Too bad. This one was slightly beyond my budget: Walker Colt goes at auction for $1.6 million.

Monday, April 23, 2018

Positive ID

I am not what you might call an avid bird-watcher, so spare yourselves the effort of picturing yours truly prowling about the pine forests, attired in khaki shirt, cargo pants and solar topee, with a pair of binoculars hanging around my neck, a pencil behind my ear, and my hands, sweaty with the excitement of the chase, clasping a spiral notebook. I am not that man.

Still, I do possess a modicum of interest in our feathered friends, and have always been somewhat keen on trying to identify birds by their song (or calls or hoots, as the case may be). A few nights this past week, when I took Daisy, the official dog of Paco Enterprises, into the front yard for her evening constitutional, I heard a couple of birds calling to one another from a stand of pines on the other side of a field that faces our house. At first, I imagined that they were whippoorwills, but then, quickly recollecting that I wasn't, in fact, sure I had ever heard a whippoorwill, I went to the internet and discovered, after a few minutes on YouTube among audios of whippoorwill recordings, that I was on the wrong track. I feared that I was at the beginning of a long journey of discovery, but, after about 15 minutes, finally got the bird...that is to say, I uncovered the identity of the mystery bird.

It turns out to be something called a chuck-will's-widow. It is, like the whippoorwill, a member of the nightjar family, and has a distinctive call...



Case closed. Call your next case.

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Sunday funnies

Victor Borge, probably the greatest of musical comics, provides an example of his piano whimsy.



Raccoon imagines how a cat would act.

You know the rules, dude: you've got to play it where it lies (this and the previous link courtesy of the excellent David Thompson).

Good dog!



A little mean, I suppose, but still kinda funny...



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



Good Pelosi joke (via Misanthropic Humanitarian at Ace of Spades)...

Last Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C. an aide to Nancy Pelosi visited the Bishop of the Catholic Cathedral in D.C. He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day's Mass, and asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words that would include calling Pelosi a saint.

The Cardinal replied, "No. I don't really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over some of Pelosi's views." Pelosi's aide then said, "Look, I'll write a check here and now for a donation of $100,000 to you if you'll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a saint."

The Cardinal thought about it and said, "Well, the Church can use the money, so I'll work your request into tomorrow's sermon." As Pelosi's aide promised, Nancy Pelosi appeared for the Sunday worship and seated herself prominently at the forward left side of the center aisle. As promised, at the start of his sermon, the Cardinal pointed out that Ms. Pelosi was present.

The Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation, "While Ms. Pelosi's presence is probably an honor to some, the woman is not numbered among my personal favorite personages. Some of her most egregious views are contrary to tenets of the Church, and she tends to flip-flop on many other issues. Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker, and a nit-wit. Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief. I must say, Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed. She married for money and is using her wealth to lie to the American people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington and in California . The woman is simply not to be trusted."

The Cardinal concluded. “But, when compared with Hillary Clinton, Ms. Pelosi is a saint."



Oh, and Happy Earth Day from George Carlin...

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Good point

Via Western Rifle Shooters Association...

Of course she did

It's called "journalism", these days: "NYT Reporter Amy Chozick Covered Up for Sexist Men in Hillary’s Campaign".

Hey, but it was all for the greater good, right?

Cuba not so libre

Ah, for the good old days of journalism, when reporters were objective, transparent and fastidious about presenting the facts.

Or, meh, maybe not so much: "ABC News reporter is revealed to have been intimate with Fidel Castro while also serving as a secret intermediary between the Cuban leader and the US government". I love this part: "[W]e did get to bed and he made love to me quite expertly and it was, of course, thrilling and ecstatic - as much as anything I have ever experienced." Who knew that a brillo-pad beard, cigar breath and smelly fatigues could be such a turn-on? I bet that, instead of thinking about baseball in order to prolong the, er, presentation of arms, he summoned up images of firing squads.

And on the subject of Cuba, Humberto Fontova reminds us of another Kennedy scandal: the Bay of Pigs fiasco, that occurred 57 years ago.

Truth in labeling

Finally! A Democratic candidate for office who admits that he's a far-left socialist.

Elsewhere, the former head of the Dept. of Just Us, Eric Holder, is stirring the rumor pot of a 2020 presidential bid.


"I'm so smart, I only pick my own brain."

Friday, April 20, 2018

Happy Feet Friday

Here's the always delightful Ella Mae Morse with her Boogie Four performing "Pine Top Schwartz".

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Will anything come of it?

Maybe not, but we can hope: "Lawmakers Make Criminal Referral on Clinton, Comey, Lynch to DOJ on Steele Dossier".

Meanwhile, James Comey seems to be oblivious to how he and his book are coming across. He sees himself as Batman, everybody else pretty much sees him like this...



(Via 90 Miles From Tyranny).

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Assortment

"The invisible victims of gun control".

Current FBI employees unimpressed by James Comey's interview with George Stefanscrofulous.

Is James Comey a slimeball? Yes, next question.

Kurt Schlichter, as usual, hits the nail on the head: "Republicans, get it together. Defy our expectations. Get smart and fight."

I am right-handed, but left-eye dominant. Sometimes this can affect your shooting. Read about it here.

What is this, a reprise of Lord of the Flies? First, there's young David "Camera" Hogg attempting to set himself up as the chief of the gun control movement, and now we've got young idiots in Florida suing Gov. Rick Scott for his alleged negligence in dealing with climate change?

Jake Tapper, whose previous episodes of journalistic honesty appear, in retrospect, to have been mere spasms of conscience that he has since learned to repress (if he has not, indeed, eradicated them altogether), is still floating the lie that Scooter Libby outed super-secret agent CIA desk jockey Valerie Plame.

Haw! Via J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades...



I'll keep my fingers crossed: ""Not only is Flynn not going to jail, his plea is going to be reversed."

The increasing threat to freedom of speech represented by Silicon Valley's political monocultures.

Via Moonbattery...

Sunday, April 15, 2018

R. Lee Ermey, RIP

Very sad news: Marine D.I., actor and television personality R. Lee Ermey has died at age 74.

I am embedding a video of a hilarious GEICO commercial in which Ermey plays a shrink in D.I. mode.



God rest his soul.

Update: Sorry, the original link to the obit went bad; I have replaced it with another article.

Not so fast

Tough break: "D-Backs lose home run thanks to baserunning blunder and obscure rule".

In other baseball news (I wonder if this is a reference to a submarine pitch)...

Sunday funnies

This is why eyewitness testimony is taken with a grain of salt: New Yorkers mistake raccoon for tiger.

In other news from the animal kingdom, Florida Man seems to have lost his pet African warthog.

Two (involving dogs) from Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".





Mayweather vs. McGregor: bad lip reading (I wonder how far off from the real thing this dialogue was)...



Mom always said there'd be days like this.

Jon Gabriel hilariously spoofs James Comey's book.

Friday, April 13, 2018

James Comey, American Hero (written by and starring James Comey)

What a total prima donna and sanctimonious twit. Not to mention liar.

I think the guy actually sees himself like this (first 29 seconds of the video clip)...



I, on the other hand, rather fancy seeing him this way...

Never mind the alligators

What if one of these things is out there? (H/T: David Thompson)

Like a rotten mackerel in the moonlight....

...Robert Mueller both shines and stinks* : "What did Bob Mueller know about the FBI’s framing of four innocent men for a murder they didn’t commit, and when did he know it?"

*With acknowledgement to John Randolph.

Happy Feet Friday

Roy Rogers and those masters of harmony, the Sons of the Pioneers, sing a tribute to Texas.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Time to split?

Jesse Kelly makes the argument for a national divorce.

I hope it won't be necessary. But, increasingly, the only alternative is starting to look like national suicide.

Small world

We opened an account with a small community bank today, and it turns out that the banker we were dealing with is from Siler City, North Carolina. Fans of the Andy Griffith show will recollect that Siler City was occasionally mentioned on the TV program. Turns out that the actress who played Aunt Bea, Frances Bavier, retired to Siler City and her hairdresser was the mother of our banker.

Maybe next we'll find out that Otis bought his liquor from the local ABC store (although that seems unlikely; Otis liked his booze untaxed).

Mueller's war on democracy continues

And I mean exactly that - Mueller's investigation into so-called Russian collusion very quickly turned into a far-reaching fishing expedition designed to entrap President Trump and members of his staff in legal technicalities for the purpose of destroying or crippling his presidency and reversing the results of the election. The raid on the home of Trump's personal attorney is the latest sortie by the Mueller junta against the administration, the pretext, this time, being that there were campaign donation infractions. Compare and contrast with how a similar matter - far more egregious, by most appearances so far - were treated during the Obama regime.

And, as Rand Paul points out, if they can do this to Trump, they can do this to anybody.


Congratulations, Comrade Mueller! You have passed the Beria School of Investigations Basic Correspondence Course with flying colors! We look forward to your pursuit of post-graduate work in Show Trials and Liquidations.

Update: Naturally, just as the Deep State Machine starts to give signs of overheating and coming apart at the seams, along comes the Republican establishment to make sure it keeps on rollin'.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Ominous

These signs are appearing with alarming frequency:



When I saw the words, "To an alligator, if it moves, it's food!", I stood stock still - until some older, slower folks drew near.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Sunday funnies

So, is there a manure shortage in Alabama or what?

Takes more manual dexterity than I've got (H/T: David Thompson for the foregoing two items).

One panda per branch, please.

From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures":



Ok, sport, hand in your dog card:



Crabs have a very strong survival instinct.

Friday, April 6, 2018

Pics

And the lion shall lie down with the ham.



Yesterday, Mrs. Paco, Maggie and I took the ferryboat from Southport across the Cape Fear River over to Pleasure Island, the home of several popular beach towns. The main point of the trip, aside from the boat ride, was to visit the Fort Fisher Aquarium, which I highly recommend. In addition to many and diverse specimens of aquatic life, there is an outstanding exhibit of robotic dinosaurs.

Plus, you don't see one of these every day: an albino alligator.



Today we took a walk down to the neighborhood marina, a nice feature for the nautical types in the area.




And, especially for Bruce and Skeeter, here's a photo of the little channel leading from the marina to the Intracoastal Waterway (gateway to the pleasure of safe sailing!)

Piers Morgan gets pantsed

Piers Morgan, who has probably scored more own-goals than just about any other talking head, thoughtlessly issued this Tweet:

It was really good of America to join WW2 two years late, after millions had died. Many thanks. https://t.co/xRGcQsr34X
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 3, 2018
He might as well have hung a giant "Kick Me" sign on his back.

This is pretty much how socialism always works out

"Flipping burgers in Argentina is preferable to and more profitable than practicing medicine in Venezuela."

While conservatives were watching out for Big Brother...

...Big CEO slipped in to fill the role of Speech Policeman.

The truth will out

Glad to see that the execrable Ted Kennedy and his criminal actions at Chappaquiddick are finally getting the exposure they deserve.

Happy Feet Friday

Some s-m-o-o-t-h blues from Jack Teagarden and his band from 1941.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Running free


Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

At Dutchman Creek Park

Maggie's visiting with us for a week or so, and we took her to a local park today, the kind of pretty, peaceful place in which the Southport area abounds. There were several boats out on the lake (as usual, click to enlarge)...




...but I didn't notice any activity on deck. Later, I saw this...




I hope the alligators didn't get the boaters. I assume I'd have heard something on the news, unless alligator attacks are daily occurrences.


Maggie struck a pose (looks like she's got her curtsy down pat).



Here she is, not worrying overmuch about alligators.




There was also this thing. It is oddly suggestive of a gallows, but I suspect that its purpose is to support a swing (although, if so, where the swing is, I don't know). There is a memorial plaque at the top that reads, "In loving memory - Bubba Tucker - In our hearts forever". I actually found an obit, and he seems to have been a genuine "good old boy", the sort of fellow I'd have taken a liking to. God bless your soul, Bubba.




Happy Easter!



From Clan Paco, a very blessed Easter to you and yours.

Sunday funnies

Lunchroom who-done-it.

Martial arts competition - airborne category (via David Thompson).



Also via David Thompson, the Stealth SUV (the big question: is it invisible to cops?)

Probably should have asked that question a little earlier...



Moses: a man ahead of his time (via Powerline's "The Week in Pictures")...



Excellent gifts for April Fool's Day!

Does Tom Steyer not remember how that turned out?

"Billionaire left-wing environmental activist Tom Steyer has reportedly built what some have described as a 'political death star' through his multi-million dollar campaign to have President Donald Trump impeached — laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run by Steyer himself."

Good luck with that, Tom!