Don Feder on anti-Trump conservatives: "An Army of Envious Dwarfs". I particularly liked the historical context which reminds us that Barry Goldwater was, in some respects, quite the a$$hole:
Goldwater (never the brightest bulb in the pack) was so envious of Ronald Reagan that he supported the senior Bush – a Republican swamp creature -- over the Gipper for the Republican nomination in 1980. That’s how he repaid the man who gave him the only memorable moment of his otherwise lackluster ’64 campaign – the televised address, “A Time for Choosing.”
Not mentioned in the article is something else worth remembering. Goldwater, largely due to his first wife's influence, was strongly pro-abortion, and was instrumental in assisting Planned Parenthood set up its first clinic in Phoenix (note: I had originally accidentally typed "Panned Parenthood"; maybe not so malaprop as it first appears).
Walmart will take our money, but really would prefer not to be seen with us in public.
Mitch McConnell: another "savvy" politician who's just too smart for dummies like the rest of us to understand.
I think we reached the tipping point of brazen lawlessness among judges a long time ago: "Ted Cruz Weighs In On Stacey Abrams' Sister Abusing Her Judicial Power".
Picture from Stilton's Place - "2020: the Year in Rebuke - Part II".
A timely observation from Scott Adams.
As Mark Steyn points out, Rep. Swallwell might have been describing his own situation in this exchange with (spit!) James Comey.
There are few things I enjoy more than watching Ace, er, gently chide pompous media morons.
Unrelated update A walk down memory lane (I still have the Fisher Price farm!)
H/T to Ace's co-blogger, Misanthropic Humanitarian.
LOL! Instapundit links to an article that discusses the phenomenon of people buying books to serve as a background for their appearances on Zoom and other video media - and not just any books, but books that underscore their desire to be seen as, say, deep-thinking progressives or devotees of modern philosophy.
I've known for a long time that some bookstores specialize in "decorator" books, i.e., using books as an ornamentation in people's homes (I mean, c'mon; who really is going to plow through the collected works of Voltaire - in the original French?) I wasn't aware of this subset of the business, though, until I saw Reynolds' post. So, you can be a Marxist, for example, and look like someone who's schooled in the subject, without ever reading a word the old fanatic wrote.
Curioser and curioser: "Los Angeles Entertainment Executive Tied To Suspected Nashville Bomber".
According to reports, Warner gave Swing a $160,000 house via a quit claim in January 2019 in the Nashville neighborhood of Antioch, located 12 miles from downtown. Then, on November 25, Warner gave Swing another Antioch house worth $249,999 via quit claim.
Quadrant has a transcript of President Trump's speech on Grand Theft, the 2020 Election.
From the sixth movement of Ernesto Lecuona's Suite Andalucia, here is the stirring "Malagueña".
"Americans Bought Approximately 21 Million Guns in 2020, Sales up 73%".
Incidentally, I've had fun playing amateur gunsmith the last few days. I have a Polish Tokarev that was experiencing failure-to-feed issues. It seemed to me that the problem was probably a worn-out magazine spring, so I took a spring from a magazine manufactured for a Russian TT-33, substituted that for the spring in the original Polish magazine, and now the pistol works flawlessly. Now, before you ask, "Um, Paco, why didn't you just stick the TT-33 magazine in the Polish pistol?", I'll point out that the TT-33 mag doesn't fit; it's a tad too wide to go into the mag well of the Polish Tokarev.
I also got some brass punches and adjusted the buckhorn sights on one of my lever-action rifles. The thing was shooting a little to the right, so I just gave a few taps to the leaf that serves as the base for the rear sight and, Voila!, it's now dead-on at fifty yards (Thank you Henry Firearms for your very helpful video on the subject!)
Two intellectual midgets at the Washington Post say that denying Biden's election victory is like denying the Holocaust.
Soooooo...Biden's victory = 6,000,000 murdered Jews? I'm a conservative, and even I wouldn't slander Sleepy Joe like that.
On the other hand, I guess anytime you can get a couple of modern progressives to admit that (a) there was a Holocaust and (b) that it was a very bad thing, that's a move in the right direction.
Lots of money from the "stimulus" bill for other countries and the favored domestic classes, but peanuts for the rest of us? Six hundred bucks wouldn't keep Nancy Pelosi in ice cream for a month.
The explosion in Nashville, Tennessee yesterday has left many unanswered questions. J.E. Dyer at Liberty Unyielding covers what is known (and points out the many things that aren't).
The History Guy on YouTube is a wonderful source of information on many of the obscure corners of the past (as well as some not so obscure). In the following video, he tells the story of George Armstrong Custer's brother Thomas, who was a valiant warrior in his own right (though a far less gaudy specimen than his more famous sibling).
Notorious spy George Blake has died at the age of 98. A total blackguard.
Britain says he exposed the identities of hundreds of Western agents across Eastern Europe in the 1950s, some of whom were executed as a result of his treason.
Epa! Desi Arnaz sings “Cuban Pete”.
Bonus video! Probably more than you ever wanted to know about “The Girl from Ipanema” (I studied rudimentary music theory when I was in high school, so I found this kind of interesting, if a little over my head at times).
Bing Crosby, with an assist from Marjorie Reynolds, performs "White Christmas" (from Holiday Inn).
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.). And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Looks like Dr. Fauci wasn't being exactly truthful - again: "Did Fauci Just Admit He Lied About Herd Immunity To Trick Americans Into Vaccine?"
Say, you know who Fauci resembles? Trofim Lysenko.
"We are two wild and crazy scientists!"
Cashiers of the world, welcome to the gulag!
The dictatorship of the imbecilariat is going to be awesome.
Louis Armstrong gets into the Christmas spirit with“'Zat You, Santa Claus?”
A Florida Christmas tree.
John Perrazo at FrontPage provides one of the most detailed lists of voting irregularities that I've seen yet.
Interesting - tragically so - how it turns out that Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union (perhaps even Communist China) were never the existential threats to our freedom that our own aggressive leftwingers and pusillanimous GOP are turning out to be. Just think of the speed at which our institutions have deteriorated since the Obama regime, and how fast things have continued to fall apart, even in spite of Trump, the sworn enemy of the evil which besets us.
And this statement by Michael Walsh, written almost a dozen years ago, is proving to be ever more profoundly true: the Democrats are "a criminal organization masquerading as a political party".
If you're a cog in Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer's police state machine, pretty low, indeed.
Preying upon people's sympathy and charity - during the Christmas season - to entrap them. What can one say?
The photo I saw today, embedded in a Yahoo! news story, of Nancy Pelosi smiling and bumping elbows with Mitch McConnell to celebrate the orgy of pork known as the most recent stimulus bill nearly made me physically ill.
The upside to fully grasping that you are surrounded on all sides by the grave diggers of liberty is that you have a 360-degree field of fire. A target-rich environment, so to speak.
Elsewhere, one-trick phony has another metaphor meltdown.
Very special update Friend and commenter Veeshir doesn't post at his blog very often, but when he does, it's a must read.
The saga of Richard "Little Dick" West.
I bet he fumed every time he saw his wanted poster.
Former NJ governor Chris Christie - the man who makes Sydney Greenstreet look positively svelte - is considering running for president.
Of the U.S., presumably. He does know, doesn't he, that the victor isn't decided based on who wins a hot dog eating contest? Although, come to think of it, that process would be a damned sight more transparent and fair than what we've seen in the very recent past.
Update They probably figured that if the entire Democrat Party can do it, why can't they? "West Point accuses more than 70 cadets of cheating in worst academic scandal in nearly 45 years".
There's an interesting video at FrontPage that provides a good quick overview of the election "anomalies", along with an explanation of China's likely role.
Meanwhile, William Barr, head of the Department of Just Us, defaults to Complacent Bureaucrat Mode, refusing to name a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, and, more importantly, declining to take any action on seizing voting machines. Why? Because "although there was likely some fraud in the election, he had not seen evidence of enough to change its outcome."
Oh. Just a little fraud is ok, then. I'd like to know, in depth, what kind of investigating the DOJ has attempted in connection with the more common types of fraud, as well as with the technological manipulation that seems pretty evident. I do not find it credible that Barr's people have done any kind of serious investigation - precisely because they do not take the allegations seriously (or they do, but decline to act on them for reasons as yet to be determined). Have investigators even talked to some of the hundreds of people who have testified as to what they saw election night? How do you go about determining whether the ballots pulled from under tables in Georgia and counted after ballot watchers were sent home were legal? Do investigators know how many such ballots there were? What about poll watchers in Detroit who were prevented from watching what was going on inside the building where ballots were being counted? Has anybody in the DOJ deposed them? How does one explain the sudden halt to the counting of ballots in several states simultaneously - states where Trump had been significantly ahead, but where he fell behind once the counting resumed the next day? How about the mail-in ballots that were "mailed" but had no creases in the paper? How about the counties where more mail-in ballots were received than were ever sent out? And on and on.
Barr says he sees no evidence of massive fraud; I say, I see no indication that Barr has done anything but oversee the most cursory glance at the evidence. Barr owes us a more detailed explanation of what he and his people have actually done in investigating this disaster. We are far beyond the point where I am taking anybody's mere word for anything.
Winter is coming...
She walks in grace and beauty...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
True stories from the world of medicine
A man comes into the ER and yells . . .'My wife's going to have her baby in the cab.'
I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady's dress and began to take off her underwear.
Suddenly
I noticed that there were several cabs - - -
and I was in the
wrong one.
Submitted
by Dr. Mark MacDonald,
San Francisco
While
acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked,
'How long
have you been bedridden?'
After
a look of complete confusion she answered,
' Why, not for about
twenty years - when my husband was alive.'
Submitted
by Dr. Steven Swanson,
Corvallis, OR
A
nurse was on duty in the Emergency Room when a young woman with
purple hair styled into a punk rocker Mohawk, sporting a variety of
tattoos,
and wearing strange clothing, entered. It was quickly
determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was
scheduled for immediate surgery.
When
she was completely disrobed on the operating table,
the staff
noticed that her pubic hair had been dyed green
and above it there
was a Tattoo that read . . .' Keep off the grass.'
Once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a short note on the patient's dressing, Which said, 'Sorry . . . Had to mow the lawn.'
Submitted by RN no name
Bing Crosby sabotages Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds in this dance number from Holiday Inn (btw, I really dig those low-down, struttin' blues by the trumpet man at 2:31; that's Bob Crosby's orchestra, incidentally).
An amusing prank gift for the arachnophobe on your list (H/T: David Thompson).
LOL! Tom Cruise's tirade against his film crew for not following COVID-19 procedures to his satisfaction has been mashed up with a scene from the animated classic, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
This is my December passion project pic.twitter.com/M9nfZi3HPI
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) December 17, 2020
From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".
...there are quite a few capitalists competing with one another to sell the commies the rope to hang us with: "Larry Fink’s Blackrock Doubles Down on Woke Capitalism".
In a “stewardship expectations” report released last week, Blackrock essentially doubled-down on its woke capitalism pressure campaign, saying it would increase the pressure it puts on companies on environmental and racial issues. In the report, Blackrock issued the order to U.S. companies to disclose the racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of their employees as well as measures they’re taking to advance “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
If these guys are handling your dough, you're probably going to be better off taking it back and stuffing it in your mattress.
Jimmy Dorsey and his band stomp off with “John Silver” in this musical number from the Abbott and Costello movie, Lost in a Harem (1944).
Some general and very initial, but interesting, thoughts from Christopher Roach on the rapidly accelerating dissolution of America's political system and the pursuit of alternatives: "What Is To Be Done?"
Hey, I'll take one: "Pardon Everyone".
Tulsi Gabbard is retiring from Congress this year, but she's looking increasingly interesting as a political figure to be reckoned with.
Let's see, how can we make California an even bigger hell hole? I know! Let's empty the prisons!
I'll say it again: I would be delighted to have Donald Trump and his family as my secret guests should they find themselves in any kind of jeopardy in the near future.
Update Things that really piss me off (a growing list, to be sure): seeing the incompetent praise junky and camera hog Anthony Fauci described as "the nation's top infectious disease expert" (in an article headlined on the Yahoo page, from Huffpost, which I'm not going to bother to link).
Update II In a previous post, I linked to an article that described Bill Kristol's somewhat desultory attempt to dream up a new political party that would, as near as I could understand his maunderings, combine the "best" of the Democrat and Republican parties. I think I've got the perfect mascot...
When analyzing the election mess, we need to bear in mind the role played by incompetent Republicans: "Why Georgia Should Run Off Brad Raffensperger".
Seriously, when I first started reading about this guy's moves, I thought he was a Democrat.
Update Haw! Hilarious smack-down of Bill Kristol by Brad Slager at RedState: "Maybe Call it ‘The Rake-Stepper Party’ -- Bill Kristol Fails as He Forms a Third Party and Manages to Quit During the Planning".
H/T to Ace of Spades, who has some additional choice comments.
Don't miss the Bulwark's 2021 maiden cruise!
"Disgraced fake newsman Dan Rather gets journalism awards named in his honor".
The "Dan Rather Medals for News and Guts". Seriously, that's what they call this award. Rather should be embarrassed; but of course his total lack of self-awareness will prevent such a thing.
Mark Steyn was filling in for Rush Limbaugh today and he got a very interesting question from a caller, who wondered why the Supreme Court seems to have no trouble legislating law that completely upends thousands of years of cultural norms and flouts the wishes of the people (gay marriage, for example), but freezes up when it is faced with evidentiary situations that may well represent actual crimes under existing law (stealing the presidential election). A fascinating discussion ensued, and if you can catch a recording of the show (this conversation occurred in the first hour) it's well worth listening to.
In a nutshell, and mincing no words, Steyn boiled his conclusions down to (roughly) the following handful:
1) Mass opinions require a mass movement;
2) Judges - even the highest in the land - are as susceptible to threats and intimidation as anyone, and the SCOTUS justices have calculated that there is more to fear from the Left than from the Right (see #1);
3) Judges refusing to do their job, for any reason, are demonstrating cowardice;
4) Any state (which I took to mean not only political sub-units of the U.S., such as Michigan or Pennsylvania, but the nation-state, as well) that cannot ensure a fair election deserves no respect whatsoever.
Dave Morrison of Blue Collar Logic talks about the exodus from California, with specific reference to Texas. He's optimistic. I hope he's right. In any event, he's always worth listening to.
Charlie Parker performs "White Christmas" (1948).
You can unilaterally issue edicts that condemn thousands of old people to death and receive the accolades of the media and Hollywood and even an Emmy, but if you're accused of sexual harassment, you're fair game for the media. Got it.
Now, I'm not saying sexual harassment shouldn't be take seriously, far from it. It's just interesting to note the priorities of Wokeism.
