Thursday, February 28, 2019

Happy Feet Friday

Here's Benny Goodman and the boys with "Peckin'" (1937). The tune was written by Harry James and Ben Pollack when James was with Pollack's orchestra in the mid-30's. The Goodman version is considerably livelier. Nice solos by Goodman and James (of course!)

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Her viciousness is exceeded only by her ignorance

What an execrable piece of work Michigan voters have sent to Washington in Representative Rashida Tlaib.

Update: As Bucky in the comments points out, she doesn't represent all Michigan voters - just those in the 13th District (the western part of Detroit and nearby suburbs). Lucky 13!

I suspect that these proposed gun-control bills will go nowhere

But it's nice to know we've got a backstop: "Trump Vows to Veto Anti-Gun Bills".

Elsewhere: Last Chance Capitalist Rope Sellers, Inc.



Ah, Monsieur Paco, what a pity you do not grasp the subtle nuances of modern conservatism!

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

The shame of it all

Yeah, this bozo is one of my senators. Have to see if we can't primary the bastard.

And now a word from our sponsor

A jury in Australia finds Cardinal Pell guilty of child abuse

But is he? Peter Wales, writing in Quadrant, thinks not.
The verdict revealed today is not an indictment of George Pell and the Catholic Church. It is an indictment of the media, whose vindictive witch hunt led to frenzied demands that someone, anyone, be punished. In this case the designated victim has done more than anyone to eradicate the very abuse for which he was laughably convicted.
An interesting article which underscores the fact that, however heinous the crime, it is vital to get the "justice" part right. It is doubtful that that occurred in this case.

(H/T to friend and commenter, Bruce).

Next time, take the plane

Sounds awful: 183 passengers have been stranded on an Amtrak train since Sunday. Having had some unpleasant experiences with Amtrack delays, I can certainly relate. I hope everybody gets rescued soon.

Puts me in mind of a very good western, Breakheart Pass:

The problem with bureaucrats is not that they're lazy and sit around doing nothing

Quite the contrary. The danger lies in the fact that so many of them are as active as an ant colony, constantly looking for - or, to put it more accurately - creating problems requiring their involvement and "help". Daniel Greenfield offers yet another example of bureaucratic petty tyranny in this article on the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

Monday, February 25, 2019

Conservatives' deadliest enemy?

Complacency, says John Hawkins.

So, Spike Lee shows up at the Oscars looking like the driver of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory courtesy van and disses Trump

But, unlike any other Republican president (or presidential candidate) in the last 20 years, Trump fires back at the bug-eyed little race profiteer.

If you're going to let all the freak flags fly

Don't be surprised when you wind up with this kind of horrific event: "Prosecutors Charge LGBT Activist with Burning Down Own Home with Pets Inside".

Update: Eat me.

Sunday, February 24, 2019

NeverTrumpism on stilts

Remember: this clown was once chairman of the Republican National Committee:
Michael Steele said Trump probably wasn’t happy the FBI stopped a white nationalist from killing liberals & media people.
Pure, ad hominum, spiteful poison from exactly the kind of Republican who manages to enjoy a modicum of success in an overwhelmingly Democratic state (he was Lt. Governor of Maryland).

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Sunday funnies









Wilkins and Wontkins were two early Muppet characters who were used to advertise Wilkins Coffee (and other products, regionally). The marketing approach seems to have been pretty much "drink Wilkins or else". Clearly, some of these gags would be beyond the pale today (more's the pity).





"I've gotta be tree...♪"

"Thank you. Next!"


Nothing like the love that binds family together...







I wonder what days are best for avoiding huge crowds: the National Poo Museum (H/T: David Thompson).


Via Bad Idea T-shirts...

Not all capitalists are conservatives

In fact, it's been evident for some time that many, if not most, of the super-rich are quite left-wing. The same warning label applies to U.S. military leaders: "Former military leaders in a coalition with Gabby Giffords are urging Congress to pass the same gun controls that failed in Illinois and California within past few months." The names include former Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, former Aghanistan Commander Stanley McChrystal, and former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden.

Ah, Michael Hayden. A vociferous NeverTrumper whose background has mostly been in intelligence. What qualifies him, especially, as an expert in the use of small arms, let alone constitutional law? For that matter, why should the opinions of Allen and McChrystal carry any special weight in connection with this issue, either? Because they may have received training in the kinds of weapons that, for the most part, are not even legally available for purchase by civilians? Spare us the name dropping, gun controllers.

Just tryin' to be helpful

Naturally, we won't need this here in Southport, North Carolina - my goodness, the high tomorrow is expected to be 67 degrees, how will we bear it - but for you folks who live in more frigid zones the bicycle snowplow might be something worth looking into (H/T: Ace of Spades).

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Happy Feet Friday

I do love songs about choo-choo trains. Here's Martha Tilton from 1947 with "Chickasaw Limited".

Al Gore finds a racial angle to his Green Grift

"Al Gore: Ralph Northam Can Atone for Blackface-KKK Scandal by Opposing a Gas Pipeline".

Ignorant bastards

"‘Jerk punks’ torched a statue of General Lee. It honors a WWII veteran, not the Confederate leader."
Just outside downtown Dunn, N.C., a historic antebellum-style house honors Maj. Gen. William C. Lee, a hometown hero often described as the father of the U.S. Army’s airborne infantry. The World War II veteran served as the first commanding general for the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the “Screaming Eagles,” and helped plan the Allied forces’ D-Day invasion of Normandy.

He’s a widely respected, if somewhat obscure, military figure — which is why, after anonymous vandals attempted to torch a statue of him last week, museum officials concluded it had been a case of mistaken identity. They suspect that the perpetrators thought they were burning a memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Which, in my opinion, wouldn't have made the deed any more acceptable. It's just that there's an added layer of imbecility in not being able to distinguish between the two.

Assortment

The company she keeps. More evidence of Maxine Waters' vileness.

She's not wrong. Sara Hoyt calls The Babylon Bee "America's paper of record".

And who talked you out of it, Mr. Baker? Wouldn't have been your boss, James Comey, by any chance, now, would it? "FBI’s top lawyer believed Hillary Clinton should face charges, but was talked out of it".

The Left isn't actively devouring itself yet, but it's taking a big bite now and then:



Minnesota "niceness" seems to turn into something else in the shadow of Islam.

Jussie Smollett: "The first American to scam Nigerians".
:


Related: Yes, Don Lemon of CNN, what exactly are you trying to say?

We should be watching Australia's experience with renewable energy very closely.

This article's a little old, but I've recently developed a keen interest in the eight-shot, Ruger Redhawk .357 Magnum revolver, so I thought I'd link it.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Kids say the darnedest things

Democrat senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris admitted she smoked pot in her youth, and suggested that it was a Jamaican thing. Her Jamaican father just gave her a big time-out:
In a statement to Jamaica Global Online, Donald Harris called his daughter’s remarks a “travesty” and accused her of stereotyping.

“My dear departed grandmother … as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” he said.

“Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty."

Yet another hate crime

"Elizabeth Warren Claims Two Men In Colonial Outfits Assaulted Her With Smallpox-Infested Blankets".

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

This looks promising

Tom Hanks is set to star in the upcoming movie, Greyhound, which is based on C.S. Forester's novel, The Good Shepherd, about a convoy of ships making the hazardous trip across the Atlantic in WWII, pursued by German U-Boats (reviewed by yours truly here more than nine years ago - Lord! Has this thing been going on that long?).

Mel Gibson is also working on another film, focusing on the biggest kamikaze attack of WWII (details here).

Comrade Grandpa decides to tag along

Leader of the Menshevik wing of the Democrat party, Bernie Sanders, has tossed his cap into the ring for the 2020 donk presidential nomination.

She is kind of mesmerizing

Monday, February 18, 2019

My only quibble with this essay by Victor Davis Hanson...

...is that I'm not sure that the coup is quite dead yet: "Autopsy of a Dead Coup". Otherwise, spot on, as usual.

Moral of the story? Yes, it can happen here, and almost did: the planning of a bureaucratic, Deep State golpe de estado. The only thing that saved the country this time, IMHO, is that the actors included so many incompetents, from drama king James Comey to the grossly myopic, heavy-handed bad cop, Robert Mueller; not to mention a mainstream news media whose flagrant lack of professionalism and fairness would have embarrassed the worst of the old-time yellow-press moguls.

I think it's time for a dose of old school remedy for those who presume to govern us...



Update: Daniel Flynn at The American Spectator has more on Andrew McCabe's role in this shameful business.

Global warm-mongering seems to be working

"California Officials Warn Skiers to Stay Home, Too Much Snow".

It's starting to dawn on everyone that we might be facing long hard times ahead



(H/T: Ninety Miles From Tyranny)

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Sunday funnies

Ah, I love a good western!



Looks like a great deal!







I guess he wasn't too hard to trail: "A Florida man was arrested after he reportedly stole several laxative pills from a person’s house, believing them to be opioids."



(H/T: Tastefully Offensive).


Paul Joseph Watson's got your modern art fix, right here!




Where was this when I was 16 years old?




Friday, February 15, 2019

Happy Feet Friday

Coleman Hawkins and a small group consisting of Bill Coleman on trumpet, Andy Fitzgerald on clarinet, Ellis Larkins on piano, Al Casey on guitar, Oscar Pettiford on bass and Shelly Manne on drums perform a foot-stomper called "Hawkins' Barrel House" (1943). Good solos all around, but I was particularly knocked out by Al Casey's acoustic guitar.



Bonus tune! Speaking of the guitar, here's a duet featuring Eddie Lang, often referred to as the father of the jazz guitar, and fellow guitarist Carl Kress, performing "Pickin' My Way" (1932).




Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Happy Valentine's Day!



This is the day that is a celebration of love - yes, the love that chocolate manufacturers, jewelers and greeting-card companies have for their bottom line.


To mark the day, here are Little Esther and Mel Walker with Johnny Otis and his band performing "Cupid's Boogie" (mislabeled "Cupid Blues" in the video).

To borrow from Dr. Johnson...

...the knowledge that one is likely to be named as a defendant in a defamation lawsuit concentrates the mind wonderfully: "The Diocese of Covington has exonerated the Covington Catholic students of any wrongdoing in the viral incident following the March for Life in January".

Hmmm

Wouldn't it be ironic if modern American conservatism went out on the same magazine it came in on?

It's debatable, of course, whether it would truly be "conservatism" that's carried away; more like the academy of irrelevant and ineffectual soothsayers, philosophes, and thinly-veiled confidence men who have infested this once-great publication (and other lesser, but still once-respected, publications).

Well, well, something else that you're not supposed to do

It is unfair to take Democrats seriously: "Ed Markey: McConnell Sabotaging Green New Deal by Bringing It to a Vote".

Update: BTW, I love the moniker Ace has bestowed upon AOC: "Alexandria Donkey-Chompers". It so perfectly combines aspects of her ideology and her appearance in one hilarious nickname.

The constant danger of the imbecilocracy

Alexis de Tocqueville was surely one of history's shrewdest observers, as Bruce Thorton points out in this article on the Democratic Gong Show. A taste:
I was surprised to find so much distinguished talent among the citizens and so little among the heads of the government. It is a constant fact that at the present day the ablest men in the United States are rarely placed at the head of affairs.

Jactitation soothed

After an initial violent spasm of PC finger-pointing, knee-jerk condemnations and general tut-tutting by Democrats and their auxiliaries over ancient episodes of blackface tomfoolery by Virginia's governor and Attorney General (and, I would argue, the more genuinely worrisome allegations of sexual violence made against the Lieutenant governor), it seems as if the governor and AG, at least, are probably safe for now; I'm not so sure about Lt. Gov. Fairfax, although he's certainly entitled to due process. In any event, the evil and absurdity of modern times are once again revealed. The governor and the AG can go back to celebrating the rites of Moloch and "humanizing" infanticide with impunity, while revelations of the felonious application of shoeshine to pasty white faces will be buried under the somber injunction for everybody else to learn from this teachable moment. As to Fairfax's fate, we shall see. The political dissonance is intriguing: are we still supposed to "believe all women", or do we wait for all the facts (since this isn't a white Republican male we're talking about)?

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Monday, February 11, 2019

I, for one, welcome our God Emperor, Trump

Via "The Morning Rant" at Ace of Spades.

Update



Maybe we should throw Bill Kristol into a volcano to appease him (actually, Bill Kristol probably should be thrown into a volcano just on general principles).

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Governor Northam vows to stay on

Because he has a "moral compass".


What happens when your moral compass is designed by Planned Parenthood.

Sunday funnies




Man's request for a vanity plate denied because his last name could cause offense (reminds me of this old TV commercial).


Those wacky Democrats! "Elizabeth Warren Admits To Wearing Paleface At College Costume Party".


Man, you haven't seen road rage until you've seen Canadian road rage (H/T: David Thompson)


Question on CIA employment application: "Do you suffer from constipation?" (H/T: Ditto).





From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".




I'm not sure whether I posted this before, but you can't go wrong with Mel Blanc.



Friday, February 8, 2019

A problem of biblical proportions

"God Agrees To Spare Virginia If Just 10 Democrats Who Never Wore Blackface Can Be Found" (H/T: Friend and commenter Jeff).

Happy Feet Friday

Lester Robert "Junior" Barnard was an electric-guitar pioneer who was a member of Bob Wills' band in the post-war years. Tragically, he died several months short of his 31st birthday in 1951 as a result of injuries he sustained in an automobile accident. Here he is with Bob Wills and "Fat Boy Rag".




Bonus tune! It's amazing what you stumble across while browsing YouTube.

Ray Anderson was a country/western musician and radio personality who worked in Ohio and West Virginia in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1954, he wrote and recorded a cold war novelty tune called "Stalin Kicked the Bucket". Here it is, in all its raw glory.




Thursday, February 7, 2019

Whoa!

Stay tuned!

What smells so good?

Mmmmm! Must be some of that pan-fried rattlesnake!




And in case you need somethin' to wawrsh it down with...

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Robert Mueller appears to be a slow learner

Robert "Little Beria" Mueller has been in trouble with FBI abuses in connection with the FISA Court before.

The Virginia State Democratic Party leadership convenes for an emergency session and sing-along



Update: Unlikely, but how hilarious if it does happen: "GOP VIRGINIA HOUSE SPEAKER BREAKS SILENCE — HE COULD BE NEXT GOVERNOR"

Assortment

I didn't watch it myself, but President Trump's SOTU speech seems to have been a corker.

Haw!



Pssst! He's Spartacus.



(Courtesy of The American Spectator).


Why don't the leading Democrat office holders in Virginia just resign and start a minstrel show? BTW, why do these people still have jobs?


Wow. Don't want to miss that: ""Universal Orlando Has a New Naked Troll Character That Will Fart Glitter at You".

Julie Adams, RIP.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Hey, let's try to be helpful

It's just downright mean to keep telling all of these out-of-work journalists to learn to code. In the first place, that kind of skill is probably unobtainable by someone working in journalism because of...well, you know, IQ issues. Plus, existing coders already meet most of the current demand.

So, let's be realistic. Coding isn't going to work for most of these people. On the other hand, how hard can swine-breeding be?

True view




Different Castro

Same left-wing extremist b.s.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Not really satire

From the Babylon Bee: "'A Border Wall Is Immoral,' Says Political Party Advocating For Infanticide".

Sunday funnies







Funny responses to reporters...





Life among the yobs.



I can see how this could drive you crazy (this and the previous link courtesy of that curator of the rare and wonderful, David Thompson).


Discretion is the better part of valor (baby rhinoceros edition).




Saturday, February 2, 2019

But not as tasty

Haw! Via Powerline's "The Week in Pictures":

Like something that flickers briefly in one's peripheral vision at twilight

I wasn't sure, for a moment, that I had actually seen it, but, yes, there it was: David Brooks said something that made sense.
I Was ‘More Appalled’ by Northam’s Abortion Comments Than Yearbook Picture.

Friday, February 1, 2019

Give that man a Pulitzer!

Ace of Spades has been on fire all week - for several weeks, actually, inspired by a volcanic rage over the monumental hypocrisy and irrelevance of the NeverTrumpers, and by the increasingly transparent evil of progressivism. Here, here and here he upends a cauldron of boiling oil on Virginia Governor Ralph "Coonman" Northam (and his NeverTrump supporters).

Another hat in the ring



Senator Cory Booker has announced his candidacy for the Democrat presidential nomination.

(Background on the "Spartacus" reference, for those who may have missed the original story).