Foot-to-the-floorboards Nazism.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
STRATEGY
Amazing what winning one house of the US Congress will do for your confidence. It looks like the Democrats have determined their 2020 election strategy. They've already got the anti-Semitism down. Now they're pushing all-in.
Foot-to-the-floorboards Nazism.
Foot-to-the-floorboards Nazism.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
NEO-LENINISM
Kammi gets her dictatorial freak on.
In what CNN called the first major prime time event of the 2020 presidential election, Senator Kamala Harris swung for the fences and consistently pulled the ball to left field. While others are testing the waters, Harris jumped into the deep end of the pool with a town hall in Iowa moderated by Jake Tapper. What became clear almost instantly is that Harris is planting her flag on the Democratic Party’s left wing, in a position where, at least from that side, she cannot be outflanked.
Yeah, that'll play in, like, nowhere that matters.
Recently, one of Harris’s likely opponents, Bernie Sanders, noted that the Democrats have moved farther to the left in the last two years than he could have imagined or hoped for. This was on full display in the a la carte menu of progressive goodies Harris promised in Iowa last night.
If you like your doctor, you won't be able to keep your doctor.
Old and busted for example is keeping your health insurance plan if you like it. The new hotness is Medicare for all. She told Tapper, “Who among us has not had that situation? Where you got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, ‘Well I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this.’ Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.” Apparently moving on means a single-payer system that even a few years ago would have been a bridge too far for most Democrats.
Or anything else.
But the queen of the ban was just getting starting. Along with banning private health insurance, Harris also wants to ban for-profit colleges, assault weapons, fossil fuels, personal cars, and presumably members of the Knights of Columbus serving as federal judges. It’s quite a list, and a sign of the times in the party of Jefferson and Jackson.
Run with that, Dems. It'll sell in Flyover Country. Trust me.
In what CNN called the first major prime time event of the 2020 presidential election, Senator Kamala Harris swung for the fences and consistently pulled the ball to left field. While others are testing the waters, Harris jumped into the deep end of the pool with a town hall in Iowa moderated by Jake Tapper. What became clear almost instantly is that Harris is planting her flag on the Democratic Party’s left wing, in a position where, at least from that side, she cannot be outflanked.
Yeah, that'll play in, like, nowhere that matters.
Recently, one of Harris’s likely opponents, Bernie Sanders, noted that the Democrats have moved farther to the left in the last two years than he could have imagined or hoped for. This was on full display in the a la carte menu of progressive goodies Harris promised in Iowa last night.
If you like your doctor, you won't be able to keep your doctor.
Old and busted for example is keeping your health insurance plan if you like it. The new hotness is Medicare for all. She told Tapper, “Who among us has not had that situation? Where you got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, ‘Well I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this.’ Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.” Apparently moving on means a single-payer system that even a few years ago would have been a bridge too far for most Democrats.
Or anything else.
But the queen of the ban was just getting starting. Along with banning private health insurance, Harris also wants to ban for-profit colleges, assault weapons, fossil fuels, personal cars, and presumably members of the Knights of Columbus serving as federal judges. It’s quite a list, and a sign of the times in the party of Jefferson and Jackson.
Run with that, Dems. It'll sell in Flyover Country. Trust me.
ROME?
If you won't excommunicate this turd, then I no longer have any reason to take you seriously.
UPDATE: Cardinal Dolan says excommunication is off the table. If not now, when, Tim? When New York amends its law to say that it's okay to kill them five days after they're born?
UPDATE: Because, Eminence, they know it's not going to cost them anything.
UPDATE: Cardinal Dolan says excommunication is off the table. If not now, when, Tim? When New York amends its law to say that it's okay to kill them five days after they're born?
UPDATE: Because, Eminence, they know it's not going to cost them anything.
Monday, January 28, 2019
THE COVINGTON DEBACLE IV
Capes? Going out of your way to find offense where none was intended or even suggested is the easiest possible thing in the world.
So much has been said and tweeted about “the smirk,” Nick Sandmann’s countenance as Nathan Phillips beat a drum in his face on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18. The ensuing controversy that brought the Covington Catholic high school teen from Kentucky and the Omaha Nation elder from Nebraska together is now the latest addition in America’s thick book of Rorschach tests on race and difference. And “the smirk” is its indelible image.
Getting me to give a crap is infinitely harder.
So much has been said and tweeted about “the smirk,” Nick Sandmann’s countenance as Nathan Phillips beat a drum in his face on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18. The ensuing controversy that brought the Covington Catholic high school teen from Kentucky and the Omaha Nation elder from Nebraska together is now the latest addition in America’s thick book of Rorschach tests on race and difference. And “the smirk” is its indelible image.
Getting me to give a crap is infinitely harder.
IT'S NOT A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY WHEN WE DO IT
Doing medical research? Does your Kamala Harris fundraiser need finger food? Try Amalgamated Baby Parts, LLC.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
JUMPING THE GUN
It was definitely too soon to write off National Review. Charles Cooke riffs on the Democratic Party Steno Pool American news media. He starts out like this.
Our national press is a national joke. Vain, languid, excitable, morbid, duplicitous, cheap, insular, mawkish, and possessed of a chronic self-obsession that would have made Dorian Gray blush, it rambles around the United States in neon pants, demanding congratulation for its travails. Not since Florence Foster Jenkins have Americans been treated to such an excruciating example of self-delusion. The most vocal among the press corps’ ranks cast themselves openly as “firefighters” when, at worst, they are pyromaniacs and, at best, they are obsequious asbestos salesmen. “You never get it right, do you?” Sybil Fawlty told Basil in Fawlty Towers. “You’re either crawling all over them licking their boots or spitting poison at them like some Benzedrine puff adder.” There is a great deal of space between apologist and bête noire. In the newsrooms of America, that space is empty.
It’s getting worse. Despite presenting an opportunity for sobriety and excellence, the election of President Donald Trump has been an unmitigated disaster for the political media, which have never reckoned with their role in Trump’s elevation and eventual selection, and which have subsequently treated his presidency as a rolling opportunity for high-octane drama, smug self-aggrandizement, and habitual sloth. I did not go to journalism school, but I find it hard to believe that even the least prestigious among those institutions teaches that the correct way to respond to explosive, unsourced reports that just happen to match your political priors is to shout “Boom” or “Bombshell” or “Big if true” and then to set about spreading those reports around the world without so much as a cursory investigation into the details. And yet, in the Trump era, this has become the modus operandi of all but the hardest-nosed scribblers.
And then Cooke gets even better. Enjoy.
Our national press is a national joke. Vain, languid, excitable, morbid, duplicitous, cheap, insular, mawkish, and possessed of a chronic self-obsession that would have made Dorian Gray blush, it rambles around the United States in neon pants, demanding congratulation for its travails. Not since Florence Foster Jenkins have Americans been treated to such an excruciating example of self-delusion. The most vocal among the press corps’ ranks cast themselves openly as “firefighters” when, at worst, they are pyromaniacs and, at best, they are obsequious asbestos salesmen. “You never get it right, do you?” Sybil Fawlty told Basil in Fawlty Towers. “You’re either crawling all over them licking their boots or spitting poison at them like some Benzedrine puff adder.” There is a great deal of space between apologist and bête noire. In the newsrooms of America, that space is empty.
It’s getting worse. Despite presenting an opportunity for sobriety and excellence, the election of President Donald Trump has been an unmitigated disaster for the political media, which have never reckoned with their role in Trump’s elevation and eventual selection, and which have subsequently treated his presidency as a rolling opportunity for high-octane drama, smug self-aggrandizement, and habitual sloth. I did not go to journalism school, but I find it hard to believe that even the least prestigious among those institutions teaches that the correct way to respond to explosive, unsourced reports that just happen to match your political priors is to shout “Boom” or “Bombshell” or “Big if true” and then to set about spreading those reports around the world without so much as a cursory investigation into the details. And yet, in the Trump era, this has become the modus operandi of all but the hardest-nosed scribblers.
And then Cooke gets even better. Enjoy.
Friday, January 25, 2019
PICK A SIDE, ROSS
And to the angel of the church of the Douthaticeans write: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Stop overthinking this, big dog.
Stop overthinking this, big dog.
THE COVINGTON DEBACLE III
I was going to post something about how horrible it was that so many staffers at a publication as important as National Review came so enthusiastically to the conclusion that a bunch of Catholic high school kids from Kentucky were slimebags, how National Review "apologized" only for its journalistic mistakes and not for the fact that they libeled kids and how National Review doesn't matter anymore. But then I read this Kevin Williamson column.
Let me be direct about this: You people are a bunch of hysterical ninnies, and it is time for you to grow the hell up.
You know who you are.
The Covington fiasco has proved to be a clarifying moment. And here is what has been made clear: Much of the American media is no longer engaged in journalism. It is engaged in opposition research and in what is sometimes known among political operatives as “black p.r.”—the sinister twin of ordinary public relations. As Joy Behar, as profoundly dim and tedious a person as American public life has to offer, forthrightly confessed: The hysteria and outright dishonesty surrounding the Covington students had nothing to do with them. It has to do with narrowly partisan, selfish, deeply stupid, entirely unpatriotic, childish, foot-stamping, fingers-in-the-ears, weeping, cooties-loathing, teary-eyed, tremulous, quavering, pansified, gormless, deceitful, dishonorable, and cynical politics of the lowest kind — the politics of Us and Them.
To be honest, I can't remember the last time I personally had any gorm but Kevin gets better.
And the fact that a couple of children in MAGA hats engaged in boorish behavior — which isn’t even a fact, as it turns out, but a lie constructed and wholesaled with malice aforethought — wouldn’t have told us one damn thing about Donald J. Trump, his administration, or his political supporters at large. The fact that we had a momentary national moral crisis over the (as is turns out, fictitious) actions of a couple of nobody teenagers is all the evidence anybody needs of the fundamentally hysterical and unserious times in which we live. In a sane world, nobody cares about whether a 16-year-old boy somewhere . . . smirked.
WAY better.
Everybody who has pretended like that smirk tells us something serious about the state of the world is a liar and a fraud. I don’t mean the people who were legitimately taken in by the deceit — especially those who have had the honor and self-respect to admit their errors and correct them — but those who willfully persist in the lie. I’m talking about you, Ruth Graham of Slate, still trying to justify by whatever pathetic means are available what everybody with any sense knows to have been an exercise in pure horses***. I’m talking about you, editors of the New York Times. You sorry specimens are poor excuses for journalists, which, of course, we already knew. What’s more relevant here is that you are bad citizens. Trafficking in lies and distortions because you think the guy in the White House is kind of gross is unworthy of adults with responsible positions in a free society that depends on honest and functional institutions.
Of course Alyssa Milano is an idiot for insisting that those stupid red hats are “the new white hood.” You know who is even more idiotic than Alyssa Milano? Anybody who gives the furry crack of a rat’s patootie what Alyssa Milano thinks about anything. She’s a moron at 500 yards and a lunatic at a thousand. You know it. If she happens to be a moron and a lunatic who is on your side, that doesn’t make her any less of a moron and a lunatic. And making common cause with morons and lunatics can backfire: Ask a conservative about Ted Nugent.
Read the whole thing.
Let me be direct about this: You people are a bunch of hysterical ninnies, and it is time for you to grow the hell up.
You know who you are.
The Covington fiasco has proved to be a clarifying moment. And here is what has been made clear: Much of the American media is no longer engaged in journalism. It is engaged in opposition research and in what is sometimes known among political operatives as “black p.r.”—the sinister twin of ordinary public relations. As Joy Behar, as profoundly dim and tedious a person as American public life has to offer, forthrightly confessed: The hysteria and outright dishonesty surrounding the Covington students had nothing to do with them. It has to do with narrowly partisan, selfish, deeply stupid, entirely unpatriotic, childish, foot-stamping, fingers-in-the-ears, weeping, cooties-loathing, teary-eyed, tremulous, quavering, pansified, gormless, deceitful, dishonorable, and cynical politics of the lowest kind — the politics of Us and Them.
To be honest, I can't remember the last time I personally had any gorm but Kevin gets better.
And the fact that a couple of children in MAGA hats engaged in boorish behavior — which isn’t even a fact, as it turns out, but a lie constructed and wholesaled with malice aforethought — wouldn’t have told us one damn thing about Donald J. Trump, his administration, or his political supporters at large. The fact that we had a momentary national moral crisis over the (as is turns out, fictitious) actions of a couple of nobody teenagers is all the evidence anybody needs of the fundamentally hysterical and unserious times in which we live. In a sane world, nobody cares about whether a 16-year-old boy somewhere . . . smirked.
WAY better.
Everybody who has pretended like that smirk tells us something serious about the state of the world is a liar and a fraud. I don’t mean the people who were legitimately taken in by the deceit — especially those who have had the honor and self-respect to admit their errors and correct them — but those who willfully persist in the lie. I’m talking about you, Ruth Graham of Slate, still trying to justify by whatever pathetic means are available what everybody with any sense knows to have been an exercise in pure horses***. I’m talking about you, editors of the New York Times. You sorry specimens are poor excuses for journalists, which, of course, we already knew. What’s more relevant here is that you are bad citizens. Trafficking in lies and distortions because you think the guy in the White House is kind of gross is unworthy of adults with responsible positions in a free society that depends on honest and functional institutions.
Of course Alyssa Milano is an idiot for insisting that those stupid red hats are “the new white hood.” You know who is even more idiotic than Alyssa Milano? Anybody who gives the furry crack of a rat’s patootie what Alyssa Milano thinks about anything. She’s a moron at 500 yards and a lunatic at a thousand. You know it. If she happens to be a moron and a lunatic who is on your side, that doesn’t make her any less of a moron and a lunatic. And making common cause with morons and lunatics can backfire: Ask a conservative about Ted Nugent.
Read the whole thing.
THE COVINGTON DEBACLE II
What lesson should we take from Covington? That the Democratic Party Steno Pool American news media is an increasingly sad and sick joke should be obvious to any truly objective person. You can't botch a story any worse than the DPSPANM botched this one and their repeated attempts to deflect and their refusal to admit any failure on their part only drives the point home.
Why did they fail so miserably? Easy. To Caitlin Flanagan, there's one story that drives theDPSPANM these days and only one. Trump.
I am prompted to issue my own ethics reminders for The New York Times. Here they are: You were partly responsible for the election of Trump because you are the most influential newspaper in the country, and you are not fair or impartial. Millions of Americans believe you hate them and that you will causally harm them. Two years ago, they fought back against you, and they won. If Trump wins again, you will once again have played a small but important role in that victory.
But I've got one more.
Eighteen years ago after the death of my father, my sisters, my brother and I were sitting around pondering the fact that we were the old people now, retelling a family story or two and otherwise talking about this and that, as tends to happen on occasions like this When the political stuff came out and since my siblings are all good leftists, I stood out like a sore thumb.
"Are you a Republican?" my oldest sister asked me at one point.
"No, I'm a conservative," I told her. "Those terms are not interchangeable." My sister nodded as if the idea had never occurred to her before.
Granted, I'd voted Republican ever since I started voting. Kind of the only way you can go if you think abortion is as evil as slavery and you take the Christian religion seriously. But to me, the GOP and Major League ConservatismTM were basically the same thing.
Fast forward to 2008. The GOP presidential candidate that year was John McCain while the Democrats ran that jug-eared Chicagoan who eventually ended up winning.
Fast forward four more years. The GOP presidential candidate was former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who used to participate in gay pride parades and who used to call himself pro-choice. But Major League ConservatismTM assured us that Willard was now a genuine, honest-to-God, no-fooling Certified Conservative.
Trust us.
The jug-eared Chicagoan won a second term.
I'm not stupid. I know that Major League ConservatismTM never made any serious effort whatsoever to move on abortion or any other issue important to people like me. Oh, they said they supported us 567,998% but talk was all they ever did.
Fast forward four more years where there's suddenly a Republican primary candidate that Major League ConservatismTM didn't control. Couldn't control. A candidate who sounded, for all the world, like he intended to get conservative things done.
Major League ConservatismTM was horrified at the prospect of his election. National Review made that clear from the start while people like George Will, Bill Kristol, Erick Erickson and several conservative bloggers threw away whatever conservative bona fides they once had in their revulsion at the ickyness of Donald J. Trump.
Who won.
Come to find out that Donald J. Trump has, in fact, gotten conservative things done. Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Does anyone seriously think that President McCain or President Romney would have moved the embassy or stood by Brett Kavanaugh as long as President Trump did?
Or stood by him at all? Or even nominated him?
That's why Trump won. But there's more...
Why did they fail so miserably? Easy. To Caitlin Flanagan, there's one story that drives the
I am prompted to issue my own ethics reminders for The New York Times. Here they are: You were partly responsible for the election of Trump because you are the most influential newspaper in the country, and you are not fair or impartial. Millions of Americans believe you hate them and that you will causally harm them. Two years ago, they fought back against you, and they won. If Trump wins again, you will once again have played a small but important role in that victory.
But I've got one more.
Eighteen years ago after the death of my father, my sisters, my brother and I were sitting around pondering the fact that we were the old people now, retelling a family story or two and otherwise talking about this and that, as tends to happen on occasions like this When the political stuff came out and since my siblings are all good leftists, I stood out like a sore thumb.
"Are you a Republican?" my oldest sister asked me at one point.
"No, I'm a conservative," I told her. "Those terms are not interchangeable." My sister nodded as if the idea had never occurred to her before.
Granted, I'd voted Republican ever since I started voting. Kind of the only way you can go if you think abortion is as evil as slavery and you take the Christian religion seriously. But to me, the GOP and Major League ConservatismTM were basically the same thing.
Fast forward to 2008. The GOP presidential candidate that year was John McCain while the Democrats ran that jug-eared Chicagoan who eventually ended up winning.
Fast forward four more years. The GOP presidential candidate was former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who used to participate in gay pride parades and who used to call himself pro-choice. But Major League ConservatismTM assured us that Willard was now a genuine, honest-to-God, no-fooling Certified Conservative.
Trust us.
The jug-eared Chicagoan won a second term.
I'm not stupid. I know that Major League ConservatismTM never made any serious effort whatsoever to move on abortion or any other issue important to people like me. Oh, they said they supported us 567,998% but talk was all they ever did.
Fast forward four more years where there's suddenly a Republican primary candidate that Major League ConservatismTM didn't control. Couldn't control. A candidate who sounded, for all the world, like he intended to get conservative things done.
Major League ConservatismTM was horrified at the prospect of his election. National Review made that clear from the start while people like George Will, Bill Kristol, Erick Erickson and several conservative bloggers threw away whatever conservative bona fides they once had in their revulsion at the ickyness of Donald J. Trump.
Who won.
Come to find out that Donald J. Trump has, in fact, gotten conservative things done. Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Does anyone seriously think that President McCain or President Romney would have moved the embassy or stood by Brett Kavanaugh as long as President Trump did?
Or stood by him at all? Or even nominated him?
That's why Trump won. But there's more...
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
THE COVINGTON DEBACLE I
That Covington exposed the Democratic Party Steno Pool American news media as the partisan hacks that they've been for at least a few generations shouldn't have surprised anyone who has been paying attention and who is honest. What should shock people, notes Julie Kelly, is the alacrity with which Major League ConservatismTM joined the fun.
When I first started writing for National Review in 2015, Nick Frankovich was my editor. He always was kind and professional, offering advice on how I could develop my nascent writing style. Although we never met in person, he appeared to be cautious and reserved. I know he is a man of deep faith and very devoted to the magazine William F. Buckley, Jr. founded in 1955.
So it seemed way out of character for Frankovich to author an angry post about the Covington Catholic High School incident just as the details were emerging. His article—”The Covington Students Might As Well Have Just Spit on the Cross”—went online in the middle of the night on National Review’s portal for short posts by contributors. Frankovich harshly condemned the students, referred to their actions as evil and sadistic, and questioned their Christianity.
“They mock a serious, frail-looking older man and gloat in their momentary role as Roman soldiers to his Christ. Bullying is a worn-out word and doesn’t convey the full extent of the evil on display here,” the deputy online editor wrote. He included accusations that had not yet been confirmed.
On Sunday afternoon, as the media’s narrative fell apart and the reality of the situation came into view, National Review quietly removed Frankovich’s article from its website. Rich Lowry, the outlet’s editor, explained in a very brief post that he and Frankovich had been duped by a “hoax” and that Frankovich’s “strongly worded post” had been taken down. Lowry also deleted a few of his own tweets that inaccurately portrayed the incident.
That was it. Rather than acknowledge that the editor and deputy editor for a once reliable and thoughtful conservative magazine were complicit in mob-shaming teenage boys attending a pro-life rally, they quickly excused their behavior as nothing more than gullibility. There was no apology, save for this quasi mea culpa. There was no “calling out” other conservatives who also had participated in the viral assault on innocent young boys.
But the fact that editors for National Review also bought into the various lies escaped mention. This also included senior editor Jay Nordlinger, who deleted a January 19 tweet that read, “the images of those red-hat kids surrounding and mocking that old Indian are unbearable. Absolutely unbearable. An American disgrace.” Jonah Goldberg hand-waved away Frankovich’s vicious post as just “different people reaching different conclusions or having different opinions.”
So, what motivated a seemingly measured man like Frankovich to pen a midnight hit piece on teenagers? What compelled Lowry and Nordlinger to join the outrage mob, and Goldberg to defend their choice? Why do NeverTrump (or even SometimesTrump) “conservatives” like Lowry more often than not side with the Left’s mercenaries in the media who are hellbent on destroying this presidency and the people who support it? After all, these are the same folks who warn us on a daily basis that the president cannot be trusted, that he’s a dishonest purveyor of the truth, and that his cult-like followers have no ability to distinguish fact from fiction.
The Sole Arbiter Of What Is And What Is Not Proper And Decent American Conservatism issued an "apology." Of sorts.
For an overheated few minutes, the world (meaning the world of people engaged in producing and consuming nanosecond-by-nanosecond commentary on the Internet) was rapt with revulsion at the sight of a group of smirking high-school boys — Catholic-school students, some in red “Make America Great Again” caps — menacing an older Native American man beating a drum as part of a protest in Washington, where the students were visiting as part of the annual March for Life. The condemnations were vitriolic, including here at National Review.
A word on the Nick Frankovich Corner post. As longtime readers know, the Corner is our group blog that encourages real-time, unfiltered reactions by our individual writers (it was basically Twitter before the advent of Twitter). There is always a peril in that. Occasionally, we’ll get something hastily and spectacularly wrong. Nick was operating off the best version of events he had on Saturday night, and writing as a faithful Catholic and pro-lifer who has the highest expectations of his compatriots, not as a social-justice activist. As soon as better evidence emerged, we deleted the post.
In this business, all we can do is own up to mistakes when they happen. We apologize to our readers and especially to the Covington students, who didn’t need us piling on.
You didn't "pile on," The Editors. You defamed a bunch of high school kids. So don't publicly apologize for your professional mistakes or for what you got wrong (although you got everything wrong). Apologize directly to the people you libeled and to them alone because that's where the sin is. Only then will I believe that you're sincere.
As the First Baptist put it, "Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance."
What does all this mean? I'll get to that in a bit.
When I first started writing for National Review in 2015, Nick Frankovich was my editor. He always was kind and professional, offering advice on how I could develop my nascent writing style. Although we never met in person, he appeared to be cautious and reserved. I know he is a man of deep faith and very devoted to the magazine William F. Buckley, Jr. founded in 1955.
So it seemed way out of character for Frankovich to author an angry post about the Covington Catholic High School incident just as the details were emerging. His article—”The Covington Students Might As Well Have Just Spit on the Cross”—went online in the middle of the night on National Review’s portal for short posts by contributors. Frankovich harshly condemned the students, referred to their actions as evil and sadistic, and questioned their Christianity.
“They mock a serious, frail-looking older man and gloat in their momentary role as Roman soldiers to his Christ. Bullying is a worn-out word and doesn’t convey the full extent of the evil on display here,” the deputy online editor wrote. He included accusations that had not yet been confirmed.
On Sunday afternoon, as the media’s narrative fell apart and the reality of the situation came into view, National Review quietly removed Frankovich’s article from its website. Rich Lowry, the outlet’s editor, explained in a very brief post that he and Frankovich had been duped by a “hoax” and that Frankovich’s “strongly worded post” had been taken down. Lowry also deleted a few of his own tweets that inaccurately portrayed the incident.
That was it. Rather than acknowledge that the editor and deputy editor for a once reliable and thoughtful conservative magazine were complicit in mob-shaming teenage boys attending a pro-life rally, they quickly excused their behavior as nothing more than gullibility. There was no apology, save for this quasi mea culpa. There was no “calling out” other conservatives who also had participated in the viral assault on innocent young boys.
But the fact that editors for National Review also bought into the various lies escaped mention. This also included senior editor Jay Nordlinger, who deleted a January 19 tweet that read, “the images of those red-hat kids surrounding and mocking that old Indian are unbearable. Absolutely unbearable. An American disgrace.” Jonah Goldberg hand-waved away Frankovich’s vicious post as just “different people reaching different conclusions or having different opinions.”
So, what motivated a seemingly measured man like Frankovich to pen a midnight hit piece on teenagers? What compelled Lowry and Nordlinger to join the outrage mob, and Goldberg to defend their choice? Why do NeverTrump (or even SometimesTrump) “conservatives” like Lowry more often than not side with the Left’s mercenaries in the media who are hellbent on destroying this presidency and the people who support it? After all, these are the same folks who warn us on a daily basis that the president cannot be trusted, that he’s a dishonest purveyor of the truth, and that his cult-like followers have no ability to distinguish fact from fiction.
The Sole Arbiter Of What Is And What Is Not Proper And Decent American Conservatism issued an "apology." Of sorts.
For an overheated few minutes, the world (meaning the world of people engaged in producing and consuming nanosecond-by-nanosecond commentary on the Internet) was rapt with revulsion at the sight of a group of smirking high-school boys — Catholic-school students, some in red “Make America Great Again” caps — menacing an older Native American man beating a drum as part of a protest in Washington, where the students were visiting as part of the annual March for Life. The condemnations were vitriolic, including here at National Review.
A word on the Nick Frankovich Corner post. As longtime readers know, the Corner is our group blog that encourages real-time, unfiltered reactions by our individual writers (it was basically Twitter before the advent of Twitter). There is always a peril in that. Occasionally, we’ll get something hastily and spectacularly wrong. Nick was operating off the best version of events he had on Saturday night, and writing as a faithful Catholic and pro-lifer who has the highest expectations of his compatriots, not as a social-justice activist. As soon as better evidence emerged, we deleted the post.
In this business, all we can do is own up to mistakes when they happen. We apologize to our readers and especially to the Covington students, who didn’t need us piling on.
You didn't "pile on," The Editors. You defamed a bunch of high school kids. So don't publicly apologize for your professional mistakes or for what you got wrong (although you got everything wrong). Apologize directly to the people you libeled and to them alone because that's where the sin is. Only then will I believe that you're sincere.
As the First Baptist put it, "Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance."
What does all this mean? I'll get to that in a bit.
SHOW-ME...SOMETHING OR OTHER
Well, well, well. Inside St. Louis baseball.
The prosecutor who brought down former Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens has found her office under investigation for possible perjury over the same case.
Kim Gardner, the St. Louis circuit attorney who led the charge in the Greitens case, was accused of suborning perjury by the former governor’s defense team. A state grand jury is now considering evidence pursuant to a police investigation that began in May of 2018, according to a Tuesday morning report from local St. Louis radio station KMOX.
Kim's a Democratic apparatchick. Nothing more.
Gardner made news when she announced in August of 2018 that her office would not hear evidence or bring any charges in cases presented by certain city police officers — and she provided an “exclusion list” of 28 officers to the St. Louis Police Department.
Chris Hinckley, Gardner’s Chief Warrant Officer, explained the move via email, saying, “warrant applications involving officers (sic) as essential witnesses will be refused if their participation is essential to the successful prosecution of the case. Cases previously issued where the above officers are essential witnesses will be reviewed for viability.”
One objection to this story. The only person who "brought down" Eric Greitens was Eric Greitens. Nobody else. This guy could have been a national GOP superstar (had he not wanted to get some on the side, Eric might have been the only GOP candidate I can think of who could have mounted a plausible primary campaign against Donald Trump).
But he threw that chance away forever. And that's on him.
The prosecutor who brought down former Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens has found her office under investigation for possible perjury over the same case.
Kim Gardner, the St. Louis circuit attorney who led the charge in the Greitens case, was accused of suborning perjury by the former governor’s defense team. A state grand jury is now considering evidence pursuant to a police investigation that began in May of 2018, according to a Tuesday morning report from local St. Louis radio station KMOX.
Kim's a Democratic apparatchick. Nothing more.
Gardner made news when she announced in August of 2018 that her office would not hear evidence or bring any charges in cases presented by certain city police officers — and she provided an “exclusion list” of 28 officers to the St. Louis Police Department.
Chris Hinckley, Gardner’s Chief Warrant Officer, explained the move via email, saying, “warrant applications involving officers (sic) as essential witnesses will be refused if their participation is essential to the successful prosecution of the case. Cases previously issued where the above officers are essential witnesses will be reviewed for viability.”
One objection to this story. The only person who "brought down" Eric Greitens was Eric Greitens. Nobody else. This guy could have been a national GOP superstar (had he not wanted to get some on the side, Eric might have been the only GOP candidate I can think of who could have mounted a plausible primary campaign against Donald Trump).
But he threw that chance away forever. And that's on him.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
AND NOW...IDIOTS
Representative Peter Welch (Dumbass-VT).
Didn't this country allow that very thing for a year or two before the Civil War?
The US Congress. America's first group home for the mentally-challenged.
Didn't this country allow that very thing for a year or two before the Civil War?
The US Congress. America's first group home for the mentally-challenged.
ZEN AND THE ART OF THE ANGLICAN APOLOGY
Disney producer Jack Morrisey REALLY wishes no one had seen his tweet.
Film producer Jack Morrissey apologized Monday for a tweet envisioning the Covington Catholic High School students who were involved in a media firestorm over the weekend going into a woodchipper.
“#MAGAkids go screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper,” Mr. Morrissey, whose credits include Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and films in the “Twilight” franchise, tweeted Monday.
Mr. Morrissey, who has since set his Twitter account to private, told The Wrap that he now finds his comments “profoundly stupid.”
“It was something that I did not give any thought to,” he said. “It was just a fast, profoundly stupid tweet. … I would throw my phone into the ocean before doing that again.”
The tweet is, of course, long gone but Sarah Palin screencapped it. WARNING: the gutless son of a bitch posted one of the sickest images I've ever seen so click on that link at your own risk.
This is not an apology; this is nowhere near an apology. How do I know that? Because it has "I'm sorry I offended people" written all over it. And because it was directed to the entire country.
The bastard didn't wish for my gruesome death; he wished for the gruesome deaths of a bunch of high school kids. He didn't say something to the effect that he was horrified that he had ever entertained such evil thoughts and he was going to shut down his Twitter account and think about his life for a very long time.
I'll think Morrisey is sincerely sorry for what he wrote only when he travels to Covington and apologizes to some of these kids to their faces. And if they spit in his face and tell him to go to Hell, he does not reply but silently turns and walks away.
Not before.
Film producer Jack Morrissey apologized Monday for a tweet envisioning the Covington Catholic High School students who were involved in a media firestorm over the weekend going into a woodchipper.
“#MAGAkids go screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper,” Mr. Morrissey, whose credits include Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and films in the “Twilight” franchise, tweeted Monday.
Mr. Morrissey, who has since set his Twitter account to private, told The Wrap that he now finds his comments “profoundly stupid.”
The tweet is, of course, long gone but Sarah Palin screencapped it. WARNING: the gutless son of a bitch posted one of the sickest images I've ever seen so click on that link at your own risk.
This is not an apology; this is nowhere near an apology. How do I know that? Because it has "I'm sorry I offended people" written all over it. And because it was directed to the entire country.
The bastard didn't wish for my gruesome death; he wished for the gruesome deaths of a bunch of high school kids. He didn't say something to the effect that he was horrified that he had ever entertained such evil thoughts and he was going to shut down his Twitter account and think about his life for a very long time.
I'll think Morrisey is sincerely sorry for what he wrote only when he travels to Covington and apologizes to some of these kids to their faces. And if they spit in his face and tell him to go to Hell, he does not reply but silently turns and walks away.
Not before.
Monday, January 21, 2019
BRING ON THE XFL
I never used to like Tom Boswell as a sportswriter. I always thought he was kind of a sanctimonious twit. But he's exactly right here. The Rams have no business playing in the Super Bowl, the official who didn't throw that flag should never be allowed to referee another game and I guess that I marginally prefer that New England wins another ring.
You can't miss a call that badly which is that huge. If Rams win, they were GIVEN the game by a bad officiating call. It should be first down Saints, run down the score, kick chip shot. Win. Does any sport in replay age still allow a SNAFU that awful to happen for such stakes?
I'm still not watching that crap show, though. The NFL is dead to me.
You can't miss a call that badly which is that huge. If Rams win, they were GIVEN the game by a bad officiating call. It should be first down Saints, run down the score, kick chip shot. Win. Does any sport in replay age still allow a SNAFU that awful to happen for such stakes?
I'm still not watching that crap show, though. The NFL is dead to me.
49ERS
California’s legislature has a new style.
Ever seen a doll naked? Well, from now on, that’s how people look, too. At least it is, according to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Hannah-Beth Jackson. The state politician announced Thursday that only “gender neutral” pronouns will be allowed during committee hearings.
So if you’re elected to the Golden State’s senate, suddenly you’ve got the same genitals as a Cabbage Patch Kid.
You doll, you!
Just means that the wall will get a LOT longer.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
WELP
It's going to be the Rams (since it isn't mine, I won't dignify them with the name of the town they play in) versus the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl and around here, we hate both of them with a corrosive hatred. Maybe NBC or Fox will have a soccer or a rugby game on that day.
Or maybe a channel called Buzzr will run a nice line-up of 70's or 80's vintage game shows. Those are always fun because you get to see what used to be considered fashionable and what our parents actually allowed us to go out in public wearing. Tell you what. A family of four could have lived comfortably under one of Gene Rayburn's lapels.
Or maybe a channel called Buzzr will run a nice line-up of 70's or 80's vintage game shows. Those are always fun because you get to see what used to be considered fashionable and what our parents actually allowed us to go out in public wearing. Tell you what. A family of four could have lived comfortably under one of Gene Rayburn's lapels.
BAT BOY
How Buzzfeed became the Weekly World News.
When a BuzzFeed reporter first sought comment on the news outlet’s explosive report that President Trump had directed his lawyer to lie to Congress, the spokesman for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III treated the request as he would almost any other story.
The reporter informed Mueller’s spokesman, Peter Carr, that he and a colleague had “a story coming stating that Michael Cohen was directed by President Trump himself to lie to Congress about his negotiations related to the Trump Moscow project,” according to copies of their emails provided by a BuzzFeed spokesman. Importantly, the reporter made no reference to the special counsel’s office specifically or evidence that Mueller’s investigators had uncovered.
The innocuous exchange belied the chaos it would produce. When BuzzFeed published the story hours later, it far exceeded Carr’s initial impression, people familiar with the matter said, in that the reporting alleged that Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and self-described fixer, “told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie,” and that Mueller’s office learned of the directive “through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.”
In the view of the special counsel’s office, that was wrong, two people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. And with Democrats raising the specter of investigation and impeachment, Mueller’s team started discussing a step they had never before taken: publicly disputing reporting on evidence in their ongoing investigation.
Within 24 hours of the story’s publication, the special counsel’s office issued a statement doing just that. Trump, who has called the media the “enemy of the people,” on Saturday pointed to the special counsel’s assertion as evidence of what he sees as journalists’ bias against him.
“I think that the BuzzFeed piece was a disgrace to our country. It was a disgrace to journalism, and I think also that the coverage by the mainstream media was disgraceful, and I think it’s going to take a long time for the mainstream media to recover its credibility,” Trump said Saturday. “It’s lost tremendous credibility. And believe me, that hurts me when I see that.”
Google this or wander around Twitter for a while. The fact of the matter is that nobody is buying this story. I think even CNN's Chris Cuomo thought Buzzfeed had screwed the pooch in a major way. It may be a generation or three before Buzzfeed gets back whatever journalistic reputation it once had.
If it ever does.
UPDATE: Of course it's not like any of the American news media has any credibility left.
UPDATE: Right, Buzzfeed. This will fix everything.
When a BuzzFeed reporter first sought comment on the news outlet’s explosive report that President Trump had directed his lawyer to lie to Congress, the spokesman for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III treated the request as he would almost any other story.
The reporter informed Mueller’s spokesman, Peter Carr, that he and a colleague had “a story coming stating that Michael Cohen was directed by President Trump himself to lie to Congress about his negotiations related to the Trump Moscow project,” according to copies of their emails provided by a BuzzFeed spokesman. Importantly, the reporter made no reference to the special counsel’s office specifically or evidence that Mueller’s investigators had uncovered.
The innocuous exchange belied the chaos it would produce. When BuzzFeed published the story hours later, it far exceeded Carr’s initial impression, people familiar with the matter said, in that the reporting alleged that Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and self-described fixer, “told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie,” and that Mueller’s office learned of the directive “through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.”
In the view of the special counsel’s office, that was wrong, two people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. And with Democrats raising the specter of investigation and impeachment, Mueller’s team started discussing a step they had never before taken: publicly disputing reporting on evidence in their ongoing investigation.
Within 24 hours of the story’s publication, the special counsel’s office issued a statement doing just that. Trump, who has called the media the “enemy of the people,” on Saturday pointed to the special counsel’s assertion as evidence of what he sees as journalists’ bias against him.
“I think that the BuzzFeed piece was a disgrace to our country. It was a disgrace to journalism, and I think also that the coverage by the mainstream media was disgraceful, and I think it’s going to take a long time for the mainstream media to recover its credibility,” Trump said Saturday. “It’s lost tremendous credibility. And believe me, that hurts me when I see that.”
Google this or wander around Twitter for a while. The fact of the matter is that nobody is buying this story. I think even CNN's Chris Cuomo thought Buzzfeed had screwed the pooch in a major way. It may be a generation or three before Buzzfeed gets back whatever journalistic reputation it once had.
If it ever does.
UPDATE: Of course it's not like any of the American news media has any credibility left.
UPDATE: Right, Buzzfeed. This will fix everything.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
BEEN THERE
Jon Gabriel.
Watching my dad slowly die from dementia is really, really, really, really, really horrible.
Same with my mom. Watching Alzheimer's destroy her brilliant mind one day at a time is now and will forever be the worst experience of my life. Fortunately, she only had to endure about two years; pneumonia was what eventually killed her.
I guess the nadir was that lovely spring evening toward the end when my sister Jennifer brought Madeline, her first child, over to the nursing home to meet her grandma. I don't think Maddie was even a year old. Jennifer, Madeline and I remained outside while Dad went in to get Mom.
At that point, I don't know what we were expecting.
If Mom had been right, she would have been over the moon. An actual grandkid in town? Jen and her then-husband could have had free live-in child care for as long as both of them wanted it because Mom would probably have moved in with them (whether they wanted her to or not).
Her actual reaction when Dad brought her out? None. She had no idea what was going on.
So this sort of death is not exactly a motivation to keep a handle on your bad cholesterol count. There are WAY worse ways to die than heart attacks.
Watching my dad slowly die from dementia is really, really, really, really, really horrible.
Same with my mom. Watching Alzheimer's destroy her brilliant mind one day at a time is now and will forever be the worst experience of my life. Fortunately, she only had to endure about two years; pneumonia was what eventually killed her.
I guess the nadir was that lovely spring evening toward the end when my sister Jennifer brought Madeline, her first child, over to the nursing home to meet her grandma. I don't think Maddie was even a year old. Jennifer, Madeline and I remained outside while Dad went in to get Mom.
At that point, I don't know what we were expecting.
If Mom had been right, she would have been over the moon. An actual grandkid in town? Jen and her then-husband could have had free live-in child care for as long as both of them wanted it because Mom would probably have moved in with them (whether they wanted her to or not).
Her actual reaction when Dad brought her out? None. She had no idea what was going on.
So this sort of death is not exactly a motivation to keep a handle on your bad cholesterol count. There are WAY worse ways to die than heart attacks.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
FREAKING RIVER, CRY ME A
As of a month ago, I've gone six years without a regular paycheck and since I'm 63, the chances of my ever getting another one are non-existent. The small inheritance from my father that I live on pays the rent, the bills and buys food along with an extravagance now and then.
So far.
As we slog through the fourth week of the longest government shutdown in history, 10 Cabinet-level agencies and dozens of others remain closed, forcing approximately 800,000 federal workers to make ends meet without pay—indefinitely. This number includes 52,000 employees at the U.S. Coast Guard—which in 2018 had a “nearly fivefold increase in the number of migrants” intercepted off the West Coast. It also includes 51,000 TSA officers, a snub that has prompted shuttered checkpoints and longer security lines at U.S. airports.
Translated, while President Trump touts “a growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border from a mostly fictitious influx of drugs and criminals, agencies on the actual front lines of illegal immigration and terrorism are languishing.
To treat federal workers as categorically non-essential—as this shutdown does—is a huge mistake.
So far.
As we slog through the fourth week of the longest government shutdown in history, 10 Cabinet-level agencies and dozens of others remain closed, forcing approximately 800,000 federal workers to make ends meet without pay—indefinitely. This number includes 52,000 employees at the U.S. Coast Guard—which in 2018 had a “nearly fivefold increase in the number of migrants” intercepted off the West Coast. It also includes 51,000 TSA officers, a snub that has prompted shuttered checkpoints and longer security lines at U.S. airports.
Translated, while President Trump touts “a growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border from a mostly fictitious influx of drugs and criminals, agencies on the actual front lines of illegal immigration and terrorism are languishing.
To treat federal workers as categorically non-essential—as this shutdown does—is a huge mistake.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
TRANSFORMATION
Remember when Meggie Mac was considered a joke? I do. But she's somehow turned herself into one of the best and most honest journalists in this country.
NORMALIZATION
Woman who once volunteered to be Bill Clinton's milking machine thinks the JOOOOOOOOOO's are Why You Got Trump.
Monday, January 14, 2019
BREAKING
Anglicanism still found to be joke.
Last week, the Anglican Centre in Rome announced the appointment of the Very Rev. Dr. John Shepherd as temporary director of the Anglican outreach to the Roman Catholic pontiff at the Vatican. This caused a major scandal, since Shepherd has denied the historicity of the gospels and suggested that he does not believe in the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ, a cornerstone of Christian and Anglican doctrine.
"The Resurrection of Jesus ought not to be seen in physical terms, but as a new spiritual reality," Shepherd said in a video message for Easter in 2008. "It is important for Christians to be set free from the idea that the Resurrection was an extraordinary physical event which restored to life Jesus's earthly body."
Shepherd went on to say, "the Gospel accounts are not historical records as we understand them. They are symbolic images of the breaking through of the resurrection spirit into human lives."
Rome? You have enough problems of your own without dealing with this crap. Why in God's name do you still take these people seriously?
DUNKIN DONUTS?
Any chance you could open a place near where I live?
Starbucks is installing boxes for safe disposal of syringes in the bathrooms of certain locations, following workers' reports of discarded needles and sometimes concerning conditions.
The coffee giant is exploring remedies after employees expressed fears about being pricked by uncapped needles and experiencing related health risks. Starbucks is testing solutions, including installing sharps-disposal boxes, using heavier-duty trash bags to prevent needle pokes, and removing trash cans from certain bathrooms.
"These societal issues affect us all and can sometimes place our partners (employees) in scary situations, which is why we have protocols and resources in place to ensure our partners are out of harm's way," Starbucks representative Reggie Borges told Business Insider.
"My coworkers and I had all experienced needles left behind in the bathroom, store, and even in our drive-thru," said one person who signed the petition after working at a Starbucks location in Lynnwood, Washington, for three years. The three Starbucks employees who spoke with Business Insider for this article asked to either remain anonymous or to be referred to by only their first name, in order to speak frankly.
Starbucks is installing boxes for safe disposal of syringes in the bathrooms of certain locations, following workers' reports of discarded needles and sometimes concerning conditions.
The coffee giant is exploring remedies after employees expressed fears about being pricked by uncapped needles and experiencing related health risks. Starbucks is testing solutions, including installing sharps-disposal boxes, using heavier-duty trash bags to prevent needle pokes, and removing trash cans from certain bathrooms.
"These societal issues affect us all and can sometimes place our partners (employees) in scary situations, which is why we have protocols and resources in place to ensure our partners are out of harm's way," Starbucks representative Reggie Borges told Business Insider.
"My coworkers and I had all experienced needles left behind in the bathroom, store, and even in our drive-thru," said one person who signed the petition after working at a Starbucks location in Lynnwood, Washington, for three years. The three Starbucks employees who spoke with Business Insider for this article asked to either remain anonymous or to be referred to by only their first name, in order to speak frankly.
SCARED OF THE DEEP STATE YET?
You'd better be.
In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.
In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.
The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence.
Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him, the people said, in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry, the people said.
Friday, January 11, 2019
GOOD EATIN'
From the looks of things, all I have to do is wander across the street once in a while for some sriracha sauce and maybe some hot dogs and I'll have my menu for the rest of my life.
College students and survivalists rejoice: Costco is selling a 27-pound tub of mac-and-cheese with a shelf life of two decades for $89.99.
Unfortunately it's not available in stores. ("A 27-pound bucket of macaroni and cheese?" said one employee over the phone. "No.") It's also intermittently out of stock on Costco.com. As of mid-afternoon on Friday, it's sold out.
If it remains that way, you can also find it for $149.99 on Amazon, although stock appears limited there, too.
The Chef's Banquet Macaroni & Cheese, listed under Emergency Kits & Supplies, offers 180 servings in separate pouches of elbow pasta and cheddar cheese sauce. That comes out to two servings per dollar.
I am so going to order this. I'll let you know.
College students and survivalists rejoice: Costco is selling a 27-pound tub of mac-and-cheese with a shelf life of two decades for $89.99.
Unfortunately it's not available in stores. ("A 27-pound bucket of macaroni and cheese?" said one employee over the phone. "No.") It's also intermittently out of stock on Costco.com. As of mid-afternoon on Friday, it's sold out.
If it remains that way, you can also find it for $149.99 on Amazon, although stock appears limited there, too.
The Chef's Banquet Macaroni & Cheese, listed under Emergency Kits & Supplies, offers 180 servings in separate pouches of elbow pasta and cheddar cheese sauce. That comes out to two servings per dollar.
I am so going to order this. I'll let you know.
DOUBLE WHAMMY
Good thing I stocked up on booze because my home town's going to be hit hard this weekend. The first major snow of the season is officially underway and that's apparently going to be followed by an attack by Godzilla. So if you're headed toward the STL, you might need to change your travel plans.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
THROWING OUT THE GARBAGE
Florida will rid itself of one particularly useless and incompetent employee.
Newly minted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will soon fire Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel over his mishandling of the police response to the Parkland shooting in February 2018.
DeSantis's office has not confirmed these plans, but people with knowledge of the situation told The Miami Herald that Israel's days were numbered. The sheriff plans to fight the matter in court, and will request a trial before the Florida state senate. Presumably, that body's Republican majority will back DeSantis and give Israel the boot.
The firing would be long overdue. Israel's tenure was marked by incompetence, corruption, and gross mismanagement. While he is not responsible for the actions of Nikolas Cruz, the deranged teenager who killed 17 of his former classmates and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, nor is he directly responsible for his deputies' failure to respond properly, Israel was ultimately the man in charge. His office staff was poorly trained, their equipment malfunctioned, and their security protocols failed, according to the state's 458-page report on the shooting.
One might have expected a sheriff who presided over such a disaster—a disaster very possibly made worse by his office's myriad failures—to come across as apologetic, or at the very least humbled. But Israel has remained defiantly confident. In fact, he called his own leadership "amazing," and gave the following non-response when CNN's Jake Tapper asked him if he would have done anything differently: "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, O.J. Simpson would still be in the record books."
Newly minted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will soon fire Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel over his mishandling of the police response to the Parkland shooting in February 2018.
DeSantis's office has not confirmed these plans, but people with knowledge of the situation told The Miami Herald that Israel's days were numbered. The sheriff plans to fight the matter in court, and will request a trial before the Florida state senate. Presumably, that body's Republican majority will back DeSantis and give Israel the boot.
The firing would be long overdue. Israel's tenure was marked by incompetence, corruption, and gross mismanagement. While he is not responsible for the actions of Nikolas Cruz, the deranged teenager who killed 17 of his former classmates and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, nor is he directly responsible for his deputies' failure to respond properly, Israel was ultimately the man in charge. His office staff was poorly trained, their equipment malfunctioned, and their security protocols failed, according to the state's 458-page report on the shooting.
One might have expected a sheriff who presided over such a disaster—a disaster very possibly made worse by his office's myriad failures—to come across as apologetic, or at the very least humbled. But Israel has remained defiantly confident. In fact, he called his own leadership "amazing," and gave the following non-response when CNN's Jake Tapper asked him if he would have done anything differently: "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, O.J. Simpson would still be in the record books."
49ERS
California Governor Gavin Newsom is picking up right where Jerry Brown left off. Driving California off the cliff. In his inaugural address yesterday, he announced that California will provide sanctuary and healthcare for all…those here illegally that is.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced sweeping proposals to tackle the state’s healthcare needs shortly after taking office on Monday, outlining a dramatic Medi-Cal expansion that would cover young immigrant adults who are in the U.S. illegally, require that all consumers in the state carry health insurance and increase subsidies for middle-class families to help those who need it.
So the United States should start planning for the establishment of camps to house Californians fleeing their new socialist state's tyranny. Got it. Oh, and while we're at it, this country might want to scout locations for all the Callee businesses that will be relocating to this country.
California's business environment has gone from bad to worse, with thousands of businesses pulling up stakes and moving elsewhere. But don't take our word for it. Just ask the 1,800 companies that either relocated or "disinvested" in the formerly Golden State in 2016.
A new report from business-relocation expert Joe Vranich says that the business climate has gotten so bad that, for the first time ever, he is actively telling clients "to leave the business-hostile state because its business climate continues to worsen."
Can't wait.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
MCJ CAPTION CONTEST
Last evening, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP delivered an address on the Mexican border situation. Since I already knew what he was going to say, I didn't waste my time watching it. Since I already knew what they were going to say, I also didn't see the Democrat response from Chuckie Baby and Nanner McBotox (that's Chuckie on the left).
Anyway, I figured that picture cried out for a caption contest. So here goes. Put your entries, as many as you want, in the comments. I can't guarantee that you'll actually win anything other than my approval but if I particularly like something, I may be able to arrange some kind of actual prize or other (employees of MidConJo Enterprises and their families are not eligible).
I'll get you started.
Ruth, that funeral director did a wonderful job with your parents.
Son, this flag obsession of yours has got to stop.
Seriously, Chris? You flunked math?
We seem to recall telling you that you were to be home at midnight.
I'll keep this around for a couple of weeks. Good luck.
UPDATE: Just thought of another one.
American Gothic? Try American Craptastic.
UPDATE: He doesn't know it yet but @exjon comes in with:
Your father and I aren't angry with you, just ... disappointed.
Anyway, I figured that picture cried out for a caption contest. So here goes. Put your entries, as many as you want, in the comments. I can't guarantee that you'll actually win anything other than my approval but if I particularly like something, I may be able to arrange some kind of actual prize or other (employees of MidConJo Enterprises and their families are not eligible).
I'll get you started.
Ruth, that funeral director did a wonderful job with your parents.
Son, this flag obsession of yours has got to stop.
Seriously, Chris? You flunked math?
We seem to recall telling you that you were to be home at midnight.
I'll keep this around for a couple of weeks. Good luck.
UPDATE: Just thought of another one.
American Gothic? Try American Craptastic.
UPDATE: He doesn't know it yet but @exjon comes in with:
Your father and I aren't angry with you, just ... disappointed.
Monday, January 7, 2019
Sunday, January 6, 2019
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD...
SHUT. THE. HELL. UP.
Buying clothes in High Street shops and sitting comfortably in train and plane seats are things some people take for granted.
But not for much longer, as lingerie blogger Cora Harrington says these things mean you probably benefit from “thin privilege”.
"Lingerie blogger," Gracie? Really?
"Lingerie blogger," Gracie? Really?
In a detailed Twitter thread, Cora says, “You don’t have to ‘feel thin’ to have thin privilege". It just means you're not on the receiving end of other people's fatphobia, and you don't find it difficult to do everyday things because of your size.
Cora says she doesn't feel the burden of explaining thin privilege should just be placed on plus-size people.
She tells BBC Three: "I really feel that when we're talking about inequalities in society, it should not always be the responsibility of the person who might be affected to be the one who brings those topics up in conversation. There's this added trauma that comes from, first, being disadvantaged by something, and then, second, having to justify your existence to so many hostile people.
Maxim: if everybody is "privileged," then nobody is. Which is kind of progress, I guess.
Maxim: if everybody is "privileged," then nobody is. Which is kind of progress, I guess.
Friday, January 4, 2019
WHY YOU GOT TRUMP ON TRUMP
Utah's newest senator on the sitting president.
The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December. The departures of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, the appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president’s thoughtless claim that America has long been a “sucker” in world affairs all defined his presidency down.
It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, Kelly and Mattis were encouraging. But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.
To a great degree, a presidency shapes the public character of the nation. A president should unite us and inspire us to follow “our better angels.” A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect. As a nation, we have been blessed with presidents who have called on the greatness of the American spirit. With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.
Uh...not so much, no. Unless you seriously believe that President Romney would have fought hard or at all for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The word you're looking for here, Willard, is "results."
The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December. The departures of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, the appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president’s thoughtless claim that America has long been a “sucker” in world affairs all defined his presidency down.
It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, Kelly and Mattis were encouraging. But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.
To a great degree, a presidency shapes the public character of the nation. A president should unite us and inspire us to follow “our better angels.” A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect. As a nation, we have been blessed with presidents who have called on the greatness of the American spirit. With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.
Uh...not so much, no. Unless you seriously believe that President Romney would have fought hard or at all for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The word you're looking for here, Willard, is "results."
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
COMES THE DAWN
Has Israel finally figured it out?
Israel will officially no longer be a member of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, on Tuesday.
“Israel will not be part of a body that continually rewrites history, including by erasing the Jewish connection to Jerusalem,” Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told JNS. “UNESCO is manipulated by Israel’s enemies and continually singles out the Jewish state for condemnation.”
The UN agency has been subject to criticism of anti-Israel bias and distortion of historical sites, such as Jewish ties to the Western Wall and Temple Mount.
In September, Israel declined to partake in UNESCO’s conference on antisemitism “due to the organization’s persistent and egregious bias against Israel,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel will officially no longer be a member of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, on Tuesday.
“Israel will not be part of a body that continually rewrites history, including by erasing the Jewish connection to Jerusalem,” Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told JNS. “UNESCO is manipulated by Israel’s enemies and continually singles out the Jewish state for condemnation.”
The UN agency has been subject to criticism of anti-Israel bias and distortion of historical sites, such as Jewish ties to the Western Wall and Temple Mount.
In September, Israel declined to partake in UNESCO’s conference on antisemitism “due to the organization’s persistent and egregious bias against Israel,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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