So far, so good

Celebrating one whole month of corrected vision without losing or breaking her spectacles.

HAW!!!!

Joe Biden's "Buy a shotgun" speech, set to music.



Update Looks like Sleepy Joe's not out of the running, yet, having scored a victory in the South Carolina primary. Nervous establishment Democrats responded thusly:

The lineup

Know your Democratic presidential candidates!

Crime and punishment

The strange story of Alex Friedman (who, for the moment, is back where he belongs).

Happy Feet Friday

Fats Waller exults that there's honey on the moon, tonight.

Sweet!

It's kind of like watching the Anarcho-syndicalists fighting with the Communists as the Second Spanish Republic collapsed in the last year of the Civil War: "Cops repeatedly called on Bernie backers".

I love it when you can root for both sides! (Or against, for that matter).

Is voter fraud real?

Short answer: Hell, yes!

Update And talking about frauds: Kurt Schlichter gives the horselaugh to Bill Kristol's "National Summit on Principled Conservatism".

You do have to hand it to the organizers of the “National Summit on Principled Conservatism” for managing to stuff four lies into a five-word phrase. It’s not “national,” or a “summit,” or “principled,” and it certainly has nothing to do with “conservatism.” What it is is one final carnival before the lights totally go out on this tragic punchline of a movement. In the era of Bernie Sanders being the alternative to Trump, the Never Trump rump faction has managed to do what we all thought was impossible – become even less relevant to the debate. There’s no point to them anymore.

Talk about living the dream

"Dave Ayres, a 42-year-old Zamboni driver-turned-hockey legend".

H/T: Friend and commenter JeffS.

P.S. I wonder if they have these emergency players for hot dog eating contests.

The scene: the Eastern North Carolina Hot Dog Eating Championship

Contest Judge: Ok, we're about to start. Where's Chew-Chew Johnson?

Assistant: I just learned that he's been scratched, sir; a bad case of constipation.

Contest judge [looking around desperately, spotting me in the front row]: Hey, you!

Me: Who, me?

Contest judge: Yeah, you. From the way that bench you're sitting on is sagging, I'd say you've had some relevant experience. How'd you like to compete in today's contest?

Me: Boy, would I!

Contest judge: Alright, then. Suit up!

Um, that train left the station a long time ago, Margaret

"Washington Post Columnist Demands Journalists Abandon Neutrality In Trump Coverage".

Tough decision

Should I buy the abandoned missile site I blogged about last week, or this really neat condo in Ramona, California? Just can't make up my mind.

This strikes me as very Australian

"Baboon escapes vasectomy op at testing lab and flees with two female monkeys".

H/T: Instapundit

Biden: And my first act as president will be to set up a summit meeting with Ming the Merciless in order to establish peace between the U.S. and the planet Mongo

Just can't keep up with the gaffes anymore.

Update And I'm falling farther behind all the time.

Castro's government always sucked, period

Hans Bader sets the record straight on Fidel Castro's so called "achievements".

But Castro did not give Cubans literacy. Cuba already had one of the highest highest literacy rates in Latin America by 1950, nearly a decade before Castro took power, according to United Nations data (statistics from UNESCO). In 2016, The Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler debunked a politician’s claim that Castro’s rule significantly improved Cuban healthcare and education.

In today’s Cuba, children are taught by poorly paid teachers in dilapidated schools. Cuba has made less educational progress than most Latin American countries over the last 60 years.

And now, a word from our sponsor

Biden feeling left out

"Biden Wishes Some Country, Any Country, Would Try To Influence Election For Him".

"Seriously, anyone! Prussia! Czechoslovakia! The Holy Roman Empire! They're still around, right?" he said at a campaign speech he thought was in Nevada but was actually in California. "If anyone out there is listening, you spy people from the U.S.S.R. or whatever, I'll willingly accept any help I can get."

Britain's PM a very mixed bag

Yeah, yay for Brexit, but what's with the climate change b.s., Boris? "Eco-Loon Boris’s £3 Trillion Net-Zero Scheme Will Bankrupt Britain, Reports Warn".

HAW!

Trump's going to India, and Gateway Pundit has a link to a great video someone (Solmemes) has put together about how it might go (scroll down for the original video, "USA and India United!").

Update: The Tweet war between Trump and Bloomberg is becoming hilarious:



H/T: Instapundit


Update II Yes, we live in bizarre times, indeed. Have you seen the Epstein Didn't Kill himself float that made it into this year's Mardi Gras parade?

Complete the sentence, your honor

Here's how Judge Judy's comment ought to read (Pacofill in bold): I’ll fight your socialist revolution to the death, by supporting an autocratic plutocracy.

I don't think you deserve a lot of extra points for supporting Bloomberg over Sanders.

Update If Sanders were to win the nomination and then the general election, imagine how interesting the inauguration ceremony would be, with lots of special guests!




Update II "Boy, that's a suprise", said absolutely nobody: "Nicaragua’s murderous socialist dictator endorses Bernie Sanders". I didn't even know this pond scum was still alive, let alone still in charge in Nicaragua.

Sunday funnies

Test answer:




Arrrrrgh! I thought I was safe!


"Disheveled And Covered In $100 Bills, Bernie Sanders Claims He Was Attacked By A Group Of Billionaires".





From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".

I suppose it's merely of clinical interest at this point...

...but does Biden actually believe the whoppers he keeps telling in public? "Pathological Liar Biden Now Claims He Was Arrested In South Africa".

The view from Biden's campaign is getting increasingly ominous...

Feelin' lucky, punk?

Well, then, go ahead and endorse Mike Bloomberg. If he gets in, I hope your guns are the first ones he confiscates. "Libertarian Clint Eastwood endorses anti-gun-stop-and-frisk-sugar-cop Mike Bloomberg".

Truth to tell, though, as endorsements go, that one seems pretty perfunctory.

Update: Dick Van Dyke has endorsed Bernie Sanders. Frankly, I wrote off Dick Van Dyke decades ago after I saw the movie Mary Poppins; I have never heard a more atrocious attempt at a Cockney accent in my life.

Assortment (non-political)

Brrrr! Pretty cold in Virginia Beach today!



Time to go inside.



You don't have to be a gun nut to appreciate the skill employed in restoring this rusty old Winchester '73 lever action rifle.




I love old videos of street scenes taken back in the day. Here's one which consists of (mostly original color) scenes from New York City in the late 1930s (period-correct music has been used to make a soundtrack). It's fairly long, so I found that the best thing is to just browse.




Here's an "upgrade" of a short sequence that was originally filmed in 1895.


Update: Here's a video of Perth in 1907 (H/T: Gregory):




Irish people taste test Texan food.




You know, I don't think I'd do that.


Well I have been toying with the idea of buying a second home in Arizona.


Love it! A wireless candlestick phone.

Happy Feet Friday

The lovely and very talented Lena Horne, with an able assist from the Berry Brothers, performs “The Sping” (from the 1942 film, Panama Hattie).

Amusing

Babylon Bee: "Pigeon Wearing MAGA Hat Attacked By Pigeon Antifa".


NOT the Babylon Bee: "Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Has Employees Blow-Dry His Sweaty Armpits". [Question: so, is that like a dedicated job slot, or is there an employee rotation?]

So, how did Bloomberg do in the debate tonight?

Hmmm. That bad, eh?

via GIPHY

Good luck!

Friend and commenter Deborah is having a cardiac procedure done tomorrow, so we offer up our prayers and best wishes for her quick recovery.

Trollin', trollin', trollin', keep those memes a-rollin'...

"Pigeons in MAGA hats set loose in Las Vegas ahead of Democratic debate".

When plutocrats collide

"George Soros Calls for Removal of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for ‘Helping Trump Get Re-Elected’".

How are the elites going to govern us if they keep fighting among themselves?

Update I think prospective members of our elite need to pass some tests before they're accepted as certified. For example, can they do this? Or how about this?

Um, I'm sorry, but we should listen to your advice on how to comport oneself as president because, why, exactly?

I checked online and am pretty sure you were never president, Jeb. And, just to be clear, we're in the middle of a cultural civil war, which is far more important than a civility war.

I've seen some idiotic ad campaigns in my life...

...but not anything this stupid, at least not lately: "A moldy Whopper? Burger King launches campaign to highlight removal of artificial preservatives".

Assortment

Looks like it's open season on American citizens: "Justice Still Denied for Kate Steinle".

It won't matter: Democrats will sell their souls at a discount to get rid of Trump. "Michael Bloomberg Is Satan—Discuss". Related: "Michael Bloomberg: Like Penny Loafers At A Rodeo".





So, how's that Red flag Law working out in Florida? About how you would expect.

Joe who? "Obama: 'I Have No Memory Of Anyone Named Joe Biden'".


This is why we need to consider euthanasia rather than surgery for the DOJ: "Hell Yes, Barack Obama Fundamentally Transformed the United States of America".


The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend: "Hating Trump Can’t Unite the Democrats".

LOL! In a survey of Germans, a plurality of respondents found Donald Trump to be a greater threat to world peace than Kim Jong Un, Ali Khamenei, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, combined.

As presidential timber goes, this guy's just stunted, secondary growth

Update Haw! "So God Made a Bloomberg".

And now, a word from our sponsor

Amen, brother

Kurt Schlichter: "Burn Down the DOJ and Start Over".

The scumbag Democrat donors remaining in the Mueller lynch mob decided that Roger Stone, an absolutely harmless gadfly whose real crime was being aligned with Donald Trump and therefore with you, should be sent away for seven to nine years for “crimes” that the Department of Injustice promptly gave a pass on to the loathsome Andrew McCabe. This is the same institution that also gave a pass to Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit, Comey the Looming Doofus, and those fugly FBI sexting twins.

You would not get a pass.

Watching Donald Trump's success in outfoxing his political foes in government and the media...

...puts me in mind of a great line from Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in an episode from Justified: "Wonderful things can happen when you sow seeds of distrust in a garden of a$$holes."

Sad

"A Florida man is speaking out after his dialysis center banned him from bringing a highly unorthodox guest into his treatments.

Nelson Gibson, who has been receiving dialysis treatments from Fresenius Kidney Care in Port St. Lucie, says he will now have to find a new clinic, the Miami Herald reports. That’s because the 59-year-old was told he could not come into the center with his “emotional support” companion — a life-sized cut-out of President Donald Trump."

H/T: Mrs. Paco

Virginia "assault rifle" ban fails

Republicans and some Democrats who would like to be reelected next term voted down Gov. Ralph "Coonman" Northam's attempt to ban so-called assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.

So, there's some hope for the Old Dominion, yet.

Some common sense required

I know it's not unusual for people to wear masks when they are out and about, particularly when there are well-publicized stories of airborne diseases, but you might want to consider something a little more...clinical.

For example, I personally prefer a medieval plague mask...

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas

Carson City, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter: "A topless woman protested Bernie’s support of the dairy industry at a rally in Carson City, NV".

Classy guy!

The Wit & Wisdom [sic] of Michael Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Little Mike apparently decided that he prefers to die peacefully in bed from natural causes: "Bloomberg Campaign Shuts Down Report He’s Considering Hillary Clinton As Running Mate".

Sunday funnies

Popcorn's done!










Here's how to retrieve that helium-filled balloon that gets away from you indoors.

We interrupt this program... (H/T: David Thompson).


I want one (H/T: Ditto).


"Struggling Biden Campaign Now Offering One Month Of Free AOL For Rally Attendance".





From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".

Are you kidding?

Mike Bloomberg is apparently considering Hillary Clinton as his VP.

Actually, I think this is just an attempt to gin up more chatter about his campaign - because here's my true man-on-the-street opinion: this would be a suicidal move by Bloomberg. And by suicidal, I don't mean in a figurative sense.

Update

via GIPHY

I'm just sayin'...

Happy Valentine's Day from Donald Trump!

"Donald Trump’s Campaign Creates Valentine’s Day Cards Mocking 2020 Democrats".

So, just how deep is the Deep State?

What the hell: "DOJ Will Not Charge Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe". Sure, he got fired and he lost his pension, but the guy broke the law. Trump's people are going to jail for what McCabe did.

You know, Trump caught some grief from his AG for Tweeting so much about on-going trials and other matters, and I kind of saw where Barr was coming from. On the other hand, this person makes a great point: "You know what would stop Trump tweeting about the DOJ? Throw someone in [f***ing] prison already. We can see you Deep State [a$$holes]." (H/T: Instpundit).

It's unlikely, but if I ever get compelled to serve on a federal jury, it's going to be jury nullification all the way, baby. And if I ever find myself in a situation where I'm a defendant on a federal matter, I'm going to ground. You bastards will find me just as soon as you find D.B. Cooper.

On the other hand, AG Barr has done this: "AG Barr Appoints Prosecutor to Audit Criminal Case Against Trump Former Adviser Michael Flynn". Sounds promising, but we'll have to see if it's just window dressing.

For now, I'm just saying that my faith in Barr is strongly qualified.

Nepotism: a game the whole family can play!

"Peter Schweizer Reveals How Bernie Sanders Enriches His Family with Campaign Funds".

As is typical of the high muckety-mucks of socialism, that political system is viewed as applying to everybody else.

Happy Feet Friday

Boy, does this bring back memories! Old Paco and me, tooling around Raleigh in the late spring, sometime in the early 60's, windows of the Pontiac rolled down, him puffing on a Dutch Masters cigar, and Chuck Berry on the radio. Just basking in the sunshine, probably headed out to a burger joint (all of our old favorites places are gone, now, unfortunately), and then to the news stand to get me some comic books. Happy, happy days.

Yeah, I guess you can come in, but go around to the back door and take your shoes off first

Haw! "Never Trump Runs Headlong Into the Reality That Democrats Don’t Care What They Think and It’s Hilarious".

I think you could put all the NeverTrump fake conservatives in one room and maybe have enough for two or three tables of Mah Jongg. Probably the U.S. Pirate Party - which seems to stand, primarily, for freedom of expression, reform of copyright laws and selling mugs and t-shirts - has more influence with the general public.

Update Here's a virtual Who's Who Who Cares of anti-Trump "Republican strategists" who will be totally unemployable when a Democrat gets back into the White House.

Seems like a nice gesture

"In Appreciation For Primary Win, Bernie Promises To Make New Hampshire The Site Of His Very First Re-Education Camp".

Another charitable trust devolves into a piggy bank for bad causes

"The Tolkien Trust Uses Lord of the Rings Income to Fund Muslim Migrants and Terrorists".

A funny thing happened to the Biden Express on the way to the Democratic presidential nomination

Wow! Looks like Joe really stunk up New Hampshire, coming in fifth, losing to the Red, Bootygig, Amy Klo-Fubar, and Fauxcahantas.

via GIPHY

I think this is too idiotic NOT to be true

Apparently, much of Bernie Sanders' animus against capitalism is due to the Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to LA.

Sweet!

I think I'll buy a raccoon.



Update Thanks to a timely tip from friend and commenter JeffS, I decided to get something cooler than a raccoon.

Problem solved!

"Climate Crisis Solved By New Jet That Runs On Liberal Hypocrisy".

A step in the right direction

The DOJ brass, confronted with the " extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate" sentencing recommendations of its own prosecutors in the matter of Roger Stone, are going to be walking back the original recommendation.

The DOJ, along with the FBI, is one of those agencies where Trump ought to be applying the career shears vigorously.

Update Deep-staters now self-liquidating. And John Cardillo is absolutely right about Andrew Weissmann, the guy I consider Public Enemy #1.

And now, a word from our sponsor

You know what would be an interesting conversation?

A chat between Joaquin Phoenix and Joe Biden. Specialists in deconstructionism could have a field day.

Bernie Sanders has NOT approved this message

Great minds, etc.

Kurt Schlichter and I are on the save wavelength about FBI Director Christopher Wray - fire his a$$. This is from his latest column.

Get firing.

This includes names you have heard, like Christopher Wray, the hapless FBI head who thinks the best way to address the FISA crimes is to vector in some deep state cleaners to whitewash the mess. He has no interest in reforming that ruined organization. So, can him and get someone Barr recommends who will put cops in charge instead of political paper-pushers.

Oh, and he has a few choice word for Pierre Delecto Delicto, too.

Speaking of the Senator for The Great State of Wherever He Thought He Could Get Elected (R?-?), who is just probably noticing that after a week his usefulness has passed and no one is calling from CNNMSNBC anymore, he needs to be dealt with. This idea of a recall is not a thing – Utah is stuck with their over-coiffed mistake and his kids Tagg, Torrp, Fipp, Sneep, Spume, and Nurvis, for another four years and so are we. But Romney needs some discipline, and not the kinky kind he enjoys by being publicly humiliated by the likes of Candy Crowley on-stage before the American people. Romney needs to be out of the club – he’s already been warned not to pack for CPAC – and denied the gravitas he so desires.

Update Maybe we really are looking at a Night of the Long Knives (I certainly hope so).

Assortment

James "Snakehead" Carville recently opined on some of the crucial problems facing the Democratic Party. One thing he doesn't point out is that he's one of the problems.

Heap big fake chief promises bad medicine for gun owners: "Warren Says She’ll Nuke Senate Filibuster To Get Gun Control".

Even for Joe Biden, this is a bizarre response to a question from the audience: "Biden Lashes Out at Female New Hampshire Voter Asking About His Poor Performance in Iowa, ‘You’re a Lying Dog-Faced Pony Soldier’".

Pete Buttigieg: bullsh***ing his way to the presidency.

Michael Walsh's definition of the Democrats - "a criminal organization masquerading as a political party" - gets updated.

Yes, but the big question is, will they? "Rep. Scalise: ‘People Ought to Go to Jail".

Haw! "The #Clintons are like nuclear cockroaches. They can survive anything." James Woods on the possibility of Hillary III.

Michael Mann keeps getting pummeled by people who know what they're talking about.

We need to ban plastic bags so that, um, there will be more room in the landfills for wind turbine blades.

Maybe it was one of those "all you can eat" affairs, in which case this makes perfect sense: "Socialist filmmaker Michael Moore said he was blocked from the New Hampshire Democrat Shaheen Dinner on Saturday night where he was invited as a guest by Bernie Sanders."




May it please God...

Sunday funnies

New, from Pottery Art Collection Online! HIERONYMUS BOSCH FIGURINES!! (H/T: David Thompson)


I guess they're easier to stack that way (H/T: Ditto)


Hey, dummy, my water bowl's empty!


No, Rex, over here...





From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures":

Amusing

Menshevik Chris Matthews is suddenly concerned that Bernie Sanders might actually be a Bolshevik.

MSNBC Headquarters



Secretary: "Mr. Matthews, Mr. Sanders and his friends are here to see you."

Orson Bean, RIP

"Actor-comedian Orson Bean, 91, hit and killed by car in LA."

Bean was an interesting fellow. He ran afoul of the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s, but discovered soon enough, and publicly opined, that the real threat is from the left.

I was surprised to learn that he was the late Andrew Breitbart's father-in-law.

Tell you what, boys, we'll give you a hundred yard start

The Vindman brothers have, at long last, definitely worn out their welcome: "Alex Vindman and His Twin Brother Escorted Off White House Grounds Friday Afternoon, Dismissed From NSC Jobs" (H/T: friend and commenter, Bruce).

I was kind of hoping these two clowns would be stood in a hollow square and have their buttons snipped off (alternatively, they could have each been fed just one more donut, and the buttons would probably have popped off on their own).

I see that Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland has been roundfiled, too.

Now if we can only get rid of, say, FBI Director Chris Wray...

Haw!

Used, but still good to go

My dear friend (whom I love as I do myself) has recently made some nice purchases of military and law enforcement surplus pistols (click photo to enlarge).



Reading from top to bottom, we have: (1) a Polish Tokarev pistol made in 1952; (2) an FN FNS9 Compact, a striker-fired pistol; and, (3) a Walther P99 AS ("anti-stress"), also a striker-fired pistol, but with a decocker.

The Polish pistol is chambered in 7.62x25, a small but extremely high velocity cartridge. The magazine only holds eight rounds, but, man!, it's solid steel and feels so substantial in the hand. The weight helps absorb the recoil. Unfortunately, it only came with one mag, and it's almost impossible to find Polish-compatible mags (I have a couple of TT-33 mags made for the original Soviet model, but they won't fit the mag well). Still, it's a good little shooter.

The FN FNS9 Compact is chambered in 9mm and is just about as light a gun as you could want. It came with two 12-round magazines, and one 17-round magazine (with a grip extension). This may well be the most accurate semi-auto my, er, friend owns, and it performs flawlessly (he tells me).

The WaltherP99 AS (9mm) has a decocker that allows you to set the striker without firing the gun. With the striker set, the first shot is a long, rather heavy pull, which is intended to be a safety mechanism. Subsequent shots are light, single-action shots; the trigger has an incredibly short reset making for very quick shooting. I also like the subtle finger indentations on the grip, and the triangular-shaped slide is a great cool factor. Also an extremely accurate firearm, with significant capacity (15-round magazine).

These were acquired from Classic Firearms, an online-only seller of firearms, ammo and related items. I am informed that these were terrific deals, and it appears to be the case: the FNS FN9 and the Walther P99 were, respectively, about a hundred and a hundred fifty dollars off the price of new guns, and they're in excellent condition, both cosmetically and functionally.

Happy Feet Friday

Two jazz greats - Jack Teagarden and Louis Armstrong – team up on “Basin Street Blues”, in a scene from the 1951 movie, The Strip.

But of course!

Super-genius Sheila Jackson Lee thinks that the Ruskis did it: "Texas Congresswoman suggests Russia responsible for Iowa caucus voting issues".

She may be on to something. Paco World News Daily (PWND) captured this photo of "construction workers" repairing the roof of the courthouse in Des Moines:



Also, here's a photo of "caucus managers" in Dubuque taking a break:




Finally, there is this clandestinely recorded video of one "John Smith" attempting to woo undecided voters at the caucus in St. Clair to Bernie Sanders' banner:

You know how it is

You see something online, then it leads you to read about something else, and that leads to another thing, and then, if you're lucky, you stumble across a datum that makes it all worthwhile.

I saw something that led me to read about Hieronymous Bosch's weird paintings (you'll understand when you read the next Sunday funnies post), and I came across the name of an German Austrian art historian who specialized in the works of Bosch. His name is Ludwig von Baldass. That nugget was definitely worth all the idle digging.

Odd bird

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., provides some inside skinny on the mind and temperament of Mitt Romney. A sample:

Then there was a final meeting I had with him after the dinners and after featuring him on our cover. It was at the spring White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and I was standing in the National Review hospitality room. Romney came in and made a beeline for me. We exchanged pleasantries, and after a 10-minute chat he bid me adieu. I shall never forget his goodbye. The would-be presidential candidate said, “Goodbye, Bill.” All I can imagine is that I had employed an obscure polysyllabic word during our conversation, and the senator deduced that he had been talking to Bill Buckley. It makes sense, no? Except that Bill had passed away in February, but who reads obits these days?

Jake who?

LOL!

"Just weeks after the smart folks on 'Jeopardy' could not identify Trump-impeachment manager Adam Schiff, the contestants on the popular TV game show were completely clueless when they were shown a photograph of CNN's Jake Tapper."

Conclusion: smart people don't watch CNN.

Congratulations on your acquittal, Mr. President!

Mr. President, I give you joy of your escape from that foul nest of vipers known as the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, and the Democratic minority (plus Mitt Romney) in the Senate. I think it would be a nice gesture if you took the articles of impeachment and tore them up in Nancy Pelosi's face.

Kirk Douglas, RIP

Movie great Kirk Douglas is dead at the age of 103.

He co-starred in one of my favorite movies, Out of the Past (along with Bob Mitchum, of course). Here's an early scene.

Mitt Romney hits rock bottom, plans to vote to remove Trump from office

He never met a Democrat opponent he was brave enough to truly do battle with, but this contemptible fool has no trouble at all trashing President Trump.

"And really, corrupting an election process in a democratic republic is about as abusive and egregious an act against the Constitution--and one's oath--that I can imagine. It's what autocrats do."

Strange. I wonder why Romney voted against calling witnesses. Is he saying that the Democrats had proved their case without new witnesses?

I think that Romney has allowed himself to be seduced by the NeverTrump cabal into believing that NeverTrumpism, as represented by Bill Kristol, George Conway, Rick Wilson et al is a viable political movement (it isn't) and that the Republican Party is in need of being saved, and Lo! in Romney, the times have produced the man (they haven't). Not surprising, but this kind of treachery, bogus moral preening and ingratitude (Trump supported this clown at least twice in his search for elective office), is becoming very tedious. It is my profound hope that Utah's voters will ultimately come to the same conclusion.

BTW, I heard of Mitt's latest political face plant on the Rush Limbaugh radio program. Today's show was being hosted by Mark Steyn, and he was on fire today. First off, he came up with the hilarious analogy of the Iowa Caucuses being "the Jeffrey Epstein suicide watch of American politics". He also made the insightful observation that the Democrats have a base and Donald Trump has a base, but it's doubtful that the Republican Party has a base to speak of. "Without Trump, the Republican Party is nothing". I can't disagree with that at all.

Yes, these people are idiots

But you need to know your enemy - and, fortunately, the enemy is too vicious, stupid, delusional and desperate to do anything but rave impotently. Diminutive tub-of-slop Patton Oswald, who was the recipient of hundreds, if not thousands, of sympathetic comments after his wife died, was particularly repugnant, in my view, with his venomous snark about the seriously ill Rush Limbaugh.

These people are, for the most part, completely lacking in any kind of effective power, except possibly with respect to certain propaganda efforts (and fundraising, of course, for their favorite commie causes). But we should remember that people outside of the fever swamp of Hollywood (elective office holders, bureaucrats, high-level officers of the court, media bobble heads, academicians) think the same way, and are, or may be someday, in a position to harm us normals. Price of liberty, meet eternal vigilance.

Update: Van Jones may be a commie, but he's not an idiot and far from delusional.

CNN contributor Van Jones warned fellow panelists, and Democrats in general, on Tuesday evening that President Donald Trump was helping African-Americans “in real life” and reaching out to them for their vote in 2020.

Update II: Haw! "Pelosi Defends Ripping Up Trump's Speech, Saying It Was Just A 'Clump Of Cells'".

Dumb and dumber

The UK's dumbest terrorist locked in a cage dumb match with the dumbest justice system. It's a dumbfest for the ages!

SOTU 2020

I only watched the last 45 minutes or so of President Trump's speech, but what I saw and heard, I liked. It was unabashedly a patriotic speech, but it was patriotism in the highest sense, imbued with a genuine love of country. There are some fine observations and hilarious comments in Stephen Green's SOTU drunkblogging exercise. For example, there's this comment in a Tweet by Matthew Betley: "Uh oh. The train inside Nancy’s head is coming off the tracks from all this winning."

I loved the gesture of awarding Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom at this event. Well done, Mr. President (and first Lady Melania Trump, who actually hung the medal on Rush).

Update: Pelosi tearing up Trump's printed speech at the end was probably the only thing that kept her from actually frothing at the mouth and barking at the chandeliers. The White House was quick to respond

“Speaker Pelosi just ripped up:

One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.

The survival of a child born at 21 weeks.

The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller.

A service member’s reunion with his family.”

Update II: Haw! (H/T: Instapundit).

Sui generis

Kurt Schlichter has written a wonderful appreciation of Rush Limbaugh.

When it rains it pours

In addition to the Iowa disaster, the Democrats are apparently not working and playing well together at the DNC (H/T: JeffS).

"Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal Darkness buries All."

That's the closing couplet of Alexander Pope's The Dunciad, and a fitting motto for the Democrats' not so good, bad, terrible election year. And I can't stop smiling!

Update: It was only a matter of time - and not a lot of that - before some donk blamed President Trump for the Iowa implosion.



Update II: The Babylon Bee has the most likely explanation of the mess in Iowa - "Democrats In Chaos After Being Forced To Do Math For First Time".

Life is good

Low 60's, plenty of sunshine, and a vast mural of clouds against a Carolina-blue sky! This is the kind of winter I can go for.

Chaos!

Good take by Tree Hugging Sister at Coalition of the Swilling on the Iowa disaster (H/T: friend and commenter JeffS).

Gateway Pundit has a several posts on the subject (here's one), and a terrific graphic:

via GIPHY

And now, a word from our sponsor

Sad news

Rush Limbaugh has revealed that he has advanced lung cancer.

May God heal him and preserve him.

Update: President Trump and Vice President Pence offer best wishes.

Assortment

I missed it (was at a neighbor's Super Bowl party, hanging out on the porch at the time), but apparently the Super Bowl half-time show was a soft-porn extravaganza.

Kansas City defensive end Frank Clark dressed for success (H/T: friend and commenter Spiny Norman).



Brexit, part of the never-ending battle.

Kurt Schlichter: "Now that the Democrats’ dream of stealing the 2016 election through the power of MSNBCNN-fueled outrage, and through plots by fussy lib bureaucrats, lies in ruins, some people might argue that we should be gracious in our total victory and not mock the stinging pain that accompanied this latest agonizing failure. Some people are sissies. Hoist a stein overflowing with the tears of these losers and chug chug chug away."

You city slickers need to connect the dots: "Why Are Liberal Cities Such a Mess?"

Good for you, Padre! "Rhode Island Priest Bars State Lawmakers from Receiving Communion over Abortion Vote".

Time to start measuring NeverTrump "conservatives" for straitjackets. Here's an idea: why don't the professional NeverTrumpets have their own convention for the purpose of coming up with a unified presidential endorsement? I know just the place for it.

Of course: "Greta Thunberg Nominated For 2020 Nobel Peace Prize". Time to get in on the ground floor of Thunberg memorabilia.

The America she's trying to create is one I wouldn't want to live in

Can't help it; every time I see a true-blue leftist operator like Pelosi holding an American flag, the visual just strikes me as obscene.

HAW!

“'What happened to Mini Mike?' Trump asked, referring to former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. 'Where’s he? He’s not running. He’s skipping four or five states. Mini Mike — I’ve had him up to here.' With that, Trump raised his hand to mid-chest, and the crowd roared again."

He's bad news either way

Bernie's vaunted "consistency" is vastly overrated.

But, still, in your heart, you know he's red.





Update: The donk establishment doesn't want Bernie, even going so far as to smooth the way for the Littlest Billionaire, Michael Bloomberg

Update II: Was Joe Biden just a cat's paw being used by the Deep State?

Congrats to the Kansas City Chiefs

Great game, well done Chiefs on your Super Bowl victory.

I am so stuffed with BBQ pork I feel like I am now mostly pig.

Taking down Trump is only part of the goal

North Carolina Law Professor Michael Gerhardt and others argue that Trump's defense team should face ethics charges.

These totalitarians will not be happy until all Trump supporters have been jailed or cowed into silence.

It can happen here.

Sunday funnies

Update: Incidentally, generations of Pacos have been "back rollers" instead of "front rollers" (it's the outlaw in us).


Somebody needs a remedial course in wheelbarrows.


Via Oregon Muse at Ace of Spades comes this amusing prayer:

Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

Not exactly easy money: "Indonesia offers cash reward for pulling rubber tyre off crocodile's neck".


Mysterious case of "blue legs".


Brian Regan returns:





From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures".

I do like Ted Cruz

Senator Cruz, while hanging around with some of his Republican compadres, imitates the little hand clap that Pelosi gave Trump at the SOTU speech last year.