Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Monday, June 29, 2020
IN THE NEWS
My hometown seems to have become a thing. I have no idea who those people are but this would appear to be as good a place as any to remind people that Missouri's state motto, Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto, is Latin for "What the hell are you looking at, punk?"
UPDATE: Meggie's in.
UPDATE: Shows you how clueless I am. I thought the Central West End was basically Liberal Central in this town.
UPDATE: Kimmie's in. Have fun with it.
UPDATE: Back on off, EuroTrash.
UPDATE: "St. Louis man" bitchslaps Fredo a little.
UPDATE: Seriously, CNN? You honestly don't get what a joke Fredo's turned into?
UPDATE: Meggie's in.
UPDATE: Shows you how clueless I am. I thought the Central West End was basically Liberal Central in this town.
UPDATE: Kimmie's in. Have fun with it.
UPDATE: Back on off, EuroTrash.
UPDATE: "St. Louis man" bitchslaps Fredo a little.
UPDATE: Seriously, CNN? You honestly don't get what a joke Fredo's turned into?
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Saturday, June 27, 2020
VIRTUAL VIRTUE
"Should I tell them?"
"No, leave them alone. Posturing white people are really funny."
BET Founder Robert Johnson mocked the cancel culture mob for taking down statues, getting television shows removed, and have professors fired, thinking that’s what African Americans want.
People who are knocking down statues "have the mistaken assumption that black people are sitting around cheering for them saying 'Oh, my God, look at these white people. They're doing something so important to us. They're taking down the statue of a Civil War general who fought for the South," Johnson told Fox News. "You know, black people, in my opinion, black people laugh at white people who do this the same way we laugh at white people who say we got to take off the TV shows."
Referring to these people as “borderline anarchists,” Johnson said their actions will do nothing to “give a kid whose parents can't afford college money to go to college. It's not going to close the labor gap between what white workers are paid and what black workers are paid. And it's not going to take people off welfare or food stamps.”
He also mocked white celebrities for what he described as apologizing for their race in emotional social media speeches.
"You know, that to me is the silliest expression of white privilege that exists in this country. The notion that a celebrity could get on a Twitter feed and say, 'oh, my God, I am so sorry that I am white.’ I don't find any black people getting on Twitter and saying, 'Oh, I'm so sorry I'm black.' And we got the worst problems. ... My thing is: embrace being white and do the right thing."
UPDATE: Case in point. Trinity-Wall Street has more money than some entire countries do. Seems to me that they could do quite a bit more good with it than this pretentious crap.
Trinity Church Wall Street has awarded nearly $7 million in grants to 57 organizations dedicated to ending systemic racism in New York City, and offering alternative models for a new vision of how New Yorkers can reach their potential and thrive.
The 57 grants, approved by Trinity’s Vestry, and announced today range from $50,000 to $300,000 and total $6.86 million, and is Trinity’s largest grant cycle ever. The grantees are working on a range of projects, including ending the school-to-prison pipeline, fighting to end the racist practice of cash bail, re-imagining the city’s approach to affordable housing and lowering the number of households experiencing housing insecurity.
Like what, Johnson? Like, I don't know, putting a few black kids through college? Oh, and $7 million, Trinity? Generous of you. You found that in your sofa cushions, didn't you?
"No, leave them alone. Posturing white people are really funny."
BET Founder Robert Johnson mocked the cancel culture mob for taking down statues, getting television shows removed, and have professors fired, thinking that’s what African Americans want.
People who are knocking down statues "have the mistaken assumption that black people are sitting around cheering for them saying 'Oh, my God, look at these white people. They're doing something so important to us. They're taking down the statue of a Civil War general who fought for the South," Johnson told Fox News. "You know, black people, in my opinion, black people laugh at white people who do this the same way we laugh at white people who say we got to take off the TV shows."
Referring to these people as “borderline anarchists,” Johnson said their actions will do nothing to “give a kid whose parents can't afford college money to go to college. It's not going to close the labor gap between what white workers are paid and what black workers are paid. And it's not going to take people off welfare or food stamps.”
He also mocked white celebrities for what he described as apologizing for their race in emotional social media speeches.
"You know, that to me is the silliest expression of white privilege that exists in this country. The notion that a celebrity could get on a Twitter feed and say, 'oh, my God, I am so sorry that I am white.’ I don't find any black people getting on Twitter and saying, 'Oh, I'm so sorry I'm black.' And we got the worst problems. ... My thing is: embrace being white and do the right thing."
UPDATE: Case in point. Trinity-Wall Street has more money than some entire countries do. Seems to me that they could do quite a bit more good with it than this pretentious crap.
Trinity Church Wall Street has awarded nearly $7 million in grants to 57 organizations dedicated to ending systemic racism in New York City, and offering alternative models for a new vision of how New Yorkers can reach their potential and thrive.
The 57 grants, approved by Trinity’s Vestry, and announced today range from $50,000 to $300,000 and total $6.86 million, and is Trinity’s largest grant cycle ever. The grantees are working on a range of projects, including ending the school-to-prison pipeline, fighting to end the racist practice of cash bail, re-imagining the city’s approach to affordable housing and lowering the number of households experiencing housing insecurity.
Like what, Johnson? Like, I don't know, putting a few black kids through college? Oh, and $7 million, Trinity? Generous of you. You found that in your sofa cushions, didn't you?
Friday, June 26, 2020
OZYMANDIAS
Don't worry. When American "journalism" finally falls to the ground, smashes into dust and blows away (I've got a week from next Sunday in the pool), we'll all have plenty of fine replacements.
Like this guy.
UPDATE: Professional journalism. Phil Bump at the Washington Post sends along this delightful exploding soufflé.
Like this guy.
UPDATE: Professional journalism. Phil Bump at the Washington Post sends along this delightful exploding soufflé.
DEAD ON ARRIVAL
"I'll take THINGS THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN for $800, Alex."
The House approved a bill Friday to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, saying Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to ensure that the city's 700,000 residents are allowed full voting rights, no longer subject to "taxation without representation.'' Lawmakers approved the bill, 232-180, largely along party lines, marking the first time either chamber of Congress has passed a DC statehood bill, the AP reports. The legislation now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it faces insurmountable opposition from GOP leaders. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's non-voting representative in Congress, sponsored the bill. It would create a new state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, in honor of the Maryland-born Frederick Douglass, and shrink the US district to federal buildings.
Where to begin? First of all, this abomination will die in the Senate. Even if it didn't, the Constitution would have to be amended if you want this to have even a shred of legality. That will take a couple of years at least and it won't work anyway. Let's just say that I would have a better chance of trying out with and making the St. Louis Cardinals than that amendment would have of ever seeing the light of day.
"Shrink the US district to federal buildings?" Not happening. Do these people seriously think that the rest of us are going to put up with a pitiful little entity having that much control over our federal government? The federal district will have to be moved which kills DC tourism deader than Judas Iscariot, Artur Schopenhauer or the XFL.
Which would be a shame since the only thing Washington produces is "governance" and it sucks at that. It's got no industry, no farmland. It can't produce anything anybody wants. Which means that the rest of us are going to be supporting this "state" pretty much until Christ returns.
On the plus side, at least the new state's motto has been picked out.
The Welfare State.
Don't get me started on how high the tax bills of DC residents will be raised. The District will be paying federal and state taxes now and those will be through the roof. After all, the tourists won't be coming in anymore and we've got to get money from somewhere.
The House approved a bill Friday to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, saying Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to ensure that the city's 700,000 residents are allowed full voting rights, no longer subject to "taxation without representation.'' Lawmakers approved the bill, 232-180, largely along party lines, marking the first time either chamber of Congress has passed a DC statehood bill, the AP reports. The legislation now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it faces insurmountable opposition from GOP leaders. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's non-voting representative in Congress, sponsored the bill. It would create a new state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, in honor of the Maryland-born Frederick Douglass, and shrink the US district to federal buildings.
Where to begin? First of all, this abomination will die in the Senate. Even if it didn't, the Constitution would have to be amended if you want this to have even a shred of legality. That will take a couple of years at least and it won't work anyway. Let's just say that I would have a better chance of trying out with and making the St. Louis Cardinals than that amendment would have of ever seeing the light of day.
"Shrink the US district to federal buildings?" Not happening. Do these people seriously think that the rest of us are going to put up with a pitiful little entity having that much control over our federal government? The federal district will have to be moved which kills DC tourism deader than Judas Iscariot, Artur Schopenhauer or the XFL.
Which would be a shame since the only thing Washington produces is "governance" and it sucks at that. It's got no industry, no farmland. It can't produce anything anybody wants. Which means that the rest of us are going to be supporting this "state" pretty much until Christ returns.
On the plus side, at least the new state's motto has been picked out.
The Welfare State.
Don't get me started on how high the tax bills of DC residents will be raised. The District will be paying federal and state taxes now and those will be through the roof. After all, the tourists won't be coming in anymore and we've got to get money from somewhere.
HMMMMM
I guess I'm going to have to start thinking hard about this. Word is, they give you a lot more room to write which would be all kinds of wonderful for a blowhard like me.
Thursday, June 25, 2020
JOURNALISMING
New York has had something on the order of ten times more Chinese Flu deaths than Florida has had and Florida has far more people. Yet CNN thinks this is reporting.
TARGET-RICH
Know what? The left may be pushing all-in. Deep down, I think they realize that the Doddering Old Fool isn't going to beat Trump and that their chance is gone and might not come back for generations. Why else would they propose an idea this mind-blowingly idiotic?
“The 53-year-old in me says, we can’t change things that have existed forever. But then there are these young people who say that America needs to live up to its real creed,” Walker told Yahoo! Entertainment. “And so, I do side with the people who say that we should rethink this as the national anthem because this is about the deep-seated legacy of slavery and white supremacy in America, where we do things over and over and over again that are a slap in the face of people of color and women. We do it first because we knew what we were doing and we wanted to be sexist and racist. And now we do it under the guise of ‘legacy.’”
Next up: Santa Claus is "racist." I mean, he's always a fat, white guy.
Activist and journalist Kevin Powell agrees. “‘The Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key, who was literally born into a wealthy, slave-holding family in Maryland,” he explained.
A sinner, in other words. Like me and you, Kevvy.
“He was a very well-to-do lawyer in Washington, D.C., and eventually became very close to President Andrew Jackson, who was the Donald Trump of his time, which means that there was a lot of hate and violence and division.”
Great. Another historical illiterate. Know what else Jackson was, Kevvy, with his personal slaveholding, his Indian Removal Act, his ethnic cleansing and the Trail of Tears?
THE FIRST DEMOCRAT.
So what should replace the anthem? This is how I know this will never happen. You can't possibly suggest something this stupid and seriously believe that you'll succeed.
So what do they suggest? Walker says whatever it is, it must go through a vetting process to ensure the new anthem “doesn’t have a terrible past.” But Powell already has a song in mind: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” which Powell says is “the most beautiful, unifying, all-people, all-backgrounds-together kind of song you could have.”
Unless you believe in God.
Moron. Have you ever actually read its lyrics?
“The 53-year-old in me says, we can’t change things that have existed forever. But then there are these young people who say that America needs to live up to its real creed,” Walker told Yahoo! Entertainment. “And so, I do side with the people who say that we should rethink this as the national anthem because this is about the deep-seated legacy of slavery and white supremacy in America, where we do things over and over and over again that are a slap in the face of people of color and women. We do it first because we knew what we were doing and we wanted to be sexist and racist. And now we do it under the guise of ‘legacy.’”
Next up: Santa Claus is "racist." I mean, he's always a fat, white guy.
Activist and journalist Kevin Powell agrees. “‘The Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key, who was literally born into a wealthy, slave-holding family in Maryland,” he explained.
A sinner, in other words. Like me and you, Kevvy.
“He was a very well-to-do lawyer in Washington, D.C., and eventually became very close to President Andrew Jackson, who was the Donald Trump of his time, which means that there was a lot of hate and violence and division.”
Great. Another historical illiterate. Know what else Jackson was, Kevvy, with his personal slaveholding, his Indian Removal Act, his ethnic cleansing and the Trail of Tears?
THE FIRST DEMOCRAT.
So what should replace the anthem? This is how I know this will never happen. You can't possibly suggest something this stupid and seriously believe that you'll succeed.
So what do they suggest? Walker says whatever it is, it must go through a vetting process to ensure the new anthem “doesn’t have a terrible past.” But Powell already has a song in mind: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” which Powell says is “the most beautiful, unifying, all-people, all-backgrounds-together kind of song you could have.”
Unless you believe in God.
Moron. Have you ever actually read its lyrics?
RULE CHANGE
coughBRETTKAVANAUGHcough
Yash, your side wrote those rules a long time ago. Don't bitch at us when we apply your own rules to you. But if you want to change them back to their original civilized decency, fine. Mind you, we're not going to take your word for it. Lots of "Missourians" over here now.
Yash, your side wrote those rules a long time ago. Don't bitch at us when we apply your own rules to you. But if you want to change them back to their original civilized decency, fine. Mind you, we're not going to take your word for it. Lots of "Missourians" over here now.
REGULAR FEATURE
I guess this crap is going to occur again and again in American life from now on. Ladies? Ostentatious public piety is a horrible look.
As protests calling for an end to systemic racism continue to rock the nation, two white actresses pledged Wednesday to stop voicing biracial cartoon characters, NBC News reports. Jenny Slate was first, posting on Instagram that she would no longer voice Missy on Netflix's Big Mouth. She says her reasoning for accepting the role in the first place was that the character's mother is Jewish and white, like Slate. "But ‘Missy’ is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people,” she wrote. “I acknowledge how my original reasoning is flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing ‘Missy,’ I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people."
Who sez? This Guy.
Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
UPDATE: Oh for the love of...
As protests calling for an end to systemic racism continue to rock the nation, two white actresses pledged Wednesday to stop voicing biracial cartoon characters, NBC News reports. Jenny Slate was first, posting on Instagram that she would no longer voice Missy on Netflix's Big Mouth. She says her reasoning for accepting the role in the first place was that the character's mother is Jewish and white, like Slate. "But ‘Missy’ is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people,” she wrote. “I acknowledge how my original reasoning is flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing ‘Missy,’ I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people."
Who sez? This Guy.
Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
UPDATE: Oh for the love of...
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
RIGHT ON SCHEDULE
White-as-the-newly-fallen-snow lefty activist Talcum X comes in.
Accused fraudster Shaun King, who most recently came under fire for his shady media company, drew both ridicule and threats online Tuesday for demanding statues showing a light-skinned Jesus be pulled down.
“Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been,” King, 40, had tweeted Monday over the movement to topple monuments.
King then extended his demands to include “all murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends.”
“They are a gross form [of] white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down,” he insisted.
Right now, the early betting line is that at the next Episcopal Organization GenCon, the Episcopalians will get all iconoclastic and stuff.
UPDATE: Then there's this.
Accused fraudster Shaun King, who most recently came under fire for his shady media company, drew both ridicule and threats online Tuesday for demanding statues showing a light-skinned Jesus be pulled down.
“Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been,” King, 40, had tweeted Monday over the movement to topple monuments.
King then extended his demands to include “all murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends.”
“They are a gross form [of] white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down,” he insisted.
Right now, the early betting line is that at the next Episcopal Organization GenCon, the Episcopalians will get all iconoclastic and stuff.
UPDATE: Then there's this.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
MR. PRESIDENT?
You can stop spending American money on these idiots any time you care to.
The United Nations tweeted in support of Antifa on Friday—the anti-government, radical leftist organization that has incited and perpetuated violence and widespread rioting following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department.
The UN Geneva Twitter account tweeted: "UN #HumanRights experts express profound concern over a recent statement by the US Attorney-General describing #Antifa and other anti-fascist activists as domestic terrorists, saying it undermines the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly in the country."
GFY. I'm pretty sure you can figure out what that means.
Friday, June 19, 2020
AND NOW...IDIOTS
ATTENTION: we have officially passed the stupidity event horizon.
A petition has been made with hopes of changing the city's name in St. Louis and taking down a statue of its namesake, Saint Louis IX in Forest Park. The creators say the city's name is "outright disrespect" to Jewish and Muslim residents and they're asking for support.
How's this? Kiss off.
For those unfamiliar with King Louis IX he was a rabid anti-semite who spearheaded many persecutions against the Jewish people. Centuries later Nazi Germany gained inspiration and ideas from Louis IX as they embarked on a campaign of murderous genocide against the Jewish people.
That's exactly where Hitler got his ideas. Dumbass.
Louis IX was also vehemently Islamophobic and led a murderous crusade against Muslims which ultimately cost him his life,” the petition states.
Whatever.
These are the fans of King Louis IX. Here when he says blasphemers he is referring to Jews. This is the man whose bloody sword sits atop Art Hill in Forest Park and our city is named after. Take the statue down. Change the name of the city.
The only thing I know about that statue is that people used to climb up there and steal that sword all the time. Lord knows how many of those things are sitting in St. Louis garages. But what should the city's name be changed to? Some ideas have been floated.
Anyhoo, the advocates of this change have suggested alternative names for the Gateway City: “Confluence” or “Scott” (as in Dred Scott — because this was the site of his (in)famous trial.) So…would our teams become the “Scott Cardinals”? The “Confluence Blues”? Would East St. Louis (Illinois) go along for the ride and become “East Scott”?
Confluence Cardinals? Yeah, I can see it. Basically destroying whatever interest I had left in major league baseball.
UPDATE: Now that I think about it, I guess "Cardinals" will have to go too. The Roman Catholic influence; no point in pissing off potential Protestant ticket-buyers. This town was originally Pierre Laclede's attempt at a business so Confluence Huguenots might work.
Confluence Calvinists, maybe? Not sure what the team logo would be but...
A petition has been made with hopes of changing the city's name in St. Louis and taking down a statue of its namesake, Saint Louis IX in Forest Park. The creators say the city's name is "outright disrespect" to Jewish and Muslim residents and they're asking for support.
How's this? Kiss off.
For those unfamiliar with King Louis IX he was a rabid anti-semite who spearheaded many persecutions against the Jewish people. Centuries later Nazi Germany gained inspiration and ideas from Louis IX as they embarked on a campaign of murderous genocide against the Jewish people.
That's exactly where Hitler got his ideas. Dumbass.
Louis IX was also vehemently Islamophobic and led a murderous crusade against Muslims which ultimately cost him his life,” the petition states.
Whatever.
These are the fans of King Louis IX. Here when he says blasphemers he is referring to Jews. This is the man whose bloody sword sits atop Art Hill in Forest Park and our city is named after. Take the statue down. Change the name of the city.
The only thing I know about that statue is that people used to climb up there and steal that sword all the time. Lord knows how many of those things are sitting in St. Louis garages. But what should the city's name be changed to? Some ideas have been floated.
Anyhoo, the advocates of this change have suggested alternative names for the Gateway City: “Confluence” or “Scott” (as in Dred Scott — because this was the site of his (in)famous trial.) So…would our teams become the “Scott Cardinals”? The “Confluence Blues”? Would East St. Louis (Illinois) go along for the ride and become “East Scott”?
Confluence Cardinals? Yeah, I can see it. Basically destroying whatever interest I had left in major league baseball.
UPDATE: Now that I think about it, I guess "Cardinals" will have to go too. The Roman Catholic influence; no point in pissing off potential Protestant ticket-buyers. This town was originally Pierre Laclede's attempt at a business so Confluence Huguenots might work.
Confluence Calvinists, maybe? Not sure what the team logo would be but...
Thursday, June 18, 2020
SKY'S THE LIMIT
Break free from communism and I guess anything's possible.
Romania has passed a law banning gender studies and educational institutions from promoting gender identities divorced from biological sex, joining the ranks of Central European countries Hungary and Poland to require a more traditional approach to gender theory.
Possible downside: where is Bucharest supposed to get its Starbucks baristas and McDonald's drive-through window people?
Romania has passed a law banning gender studies and educational institutions from promoting gender identities divorced from biological sex, joining the ranks of Central European countries Hungary and Poland to require a more traditional approach to gender theory.
Possible downside: where is Bucharest supposed to get its Starbucks baristas and McDonald's drive-through window people?
OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE
When first we go absolutely batcrap insane over the fact that DONALD J. TRUMP WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DEFEATING HILLARY CLINTON.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
WHILE THE IRON IS HOT
United States Senate terms are six years. Although I don't see anyone among Missouri Democrats plausibly taking him on, Josh Hawley figures that there's no guarantee that he'll win a second term so he might as well make the best possible use of the one he has.
In a ringing 13-minute denunciation of the Supreme Court’s Bostock sex discrimination decision, the youngest man in the U.S. Senate urged America’s religious conservatives to demand a new “bargain” from Republican leaders as a condition for their future support.
“If this case makes anything clear, it is that the bargain that has been offered to religious conservatives for years now is a bad one, it’s time to reject it,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) declared on the Senate floor June 16.
If the current bargain is bad, what makes Hawley think that a new one would be any better?
“The bargain has never been explicitly articulated, but religious conservatives know what it is,” Hawley said. “The bargain is you go along with the party establishment, you support their policies and priorities, or just keep your mouth shut about it, and in return, the establishment will put some judges on the bench who supposedly will protect your constitutional rights to freedom of worship, to freedom of exercise.
True.
“That’s what we’ve been told for years now, and we were told that we’re supposed to shut up while the party establishment focuses more on cutting taxes and handing out favors for corporations, multinational corporations who don’t share our values, who will not stand up for American principles, who are only too happy to ship American jobs overseas,” he continued.
“But we’re supposed to say nothing about that, we’re supposed to keep our mouths shut, because maybe, we’ll get a judge out of the deal,” he said.
There's nothing arguable about any of that. But if the Trump presidency has taught us anything, it is that the era of "bargains" and "deals" is over. Not to go all Missourian on you or anything but don't waste my time telling me about what you claim is your "bedrock principle."
Show me. Or shut the hell up.
In a ringing 13-minute denunciation of the Supreme Court’s Bostock sex discrimination decision, the youngest man in the U.S. Senate urged America’s religious conservatives to demand a new “bargain” from Republican leaders as a condition for their future support.
“If this case makes anything clear, it is that the bargain that has been offered to religious conservatives for years now is a bad one, it’s time to reject it,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) declared on the Senate floor June 16.
If the current bargain is bad, what makes Hawley think that a new one would be any better?
“The bargain has never been explicitly articulated, but religious conservatives know what it is,” Hawley said. “The bargain is you go along with the party establishment, you support their policies and priorities, or just keep your mouth shut about it, and in return, the establishment will put some judges on the bench who supposedly will protect your constitutional rights to freedom of worship, to freedom of exercise.
True.
“That’s what we’ve been told for years now, and we were told that we’re supposed to shut up while the party establishment focuses more on cutting taxes and handing out favors for corporations, multinational corporations who don’t share our values, who will not stand up for American principles, who are only too happy to ship American jobs overseas,” he continued.
“But we’re supposed to say nothing about that, we’re supposed to keep our mouths shut, because maybe, we’ll get a judge out of the deal,” he said.
There's nothing arguable about any of that. But if the Trump presidency has taught us anything, it is that the era of "bargains" and "deals" is over. Not to go all Missourian on you or anything but don't waste my time telling me about what you claim is your "bedrock principle."
Show me. Or shut the hell up.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
OUTKICKING THE COVERAGE
The Other Reason Why HILLARY CLINTON LOST TO DONALD J. TRUMP tries a smidge too hard.
Tim Kaine (D-Va.) gave a puzzling speech on the floor of Congress today where he claimed that Americans had invented slavery. “The United States didn’t inherit slavery from anybody. We created it,” he said, completely seriously.
Timmy? Lassie suggests that next time, go with the one about how nobody anywhere ever fought a war about anything until the United States invented warfare.
It'd be a little more plausible.
Tim Kaine (D-Va.) gave a puzzling speech on the floor of Congress today where he claimed that Americans had invented slavery. “The United States didn’t inherit slavery from anybody. We created it,” he said, completely seriously.
Timmy? Lassie suggests that next time, go with the one about how nobody anywhere ever fought a war about anything until the United States invented warfare.
It'd be a little more plausible.
Monday, June 15, 2020
WHAT GOES AROUND...
Karma's a bitch, ain't it, Guardian?
The Guardian is facing calls to “shut down” for hypocrisy after backing BLM protests when it branded Abraham Lincoln “abhorrent” in the US Civil War.
Originally called the Manchester Guardian, the paper was founded in 1821 by John Edward Taylor using profits from a cotton plantation that used slaves.
After his death in 1844, the paper is said to have then demanded Manchester’s cotton workers be forced back into work.
Now with a growing backlash against statues linked to slavery and racism, hundreds have signed a petition taking aim at the Guardian's history.
This petition to shut the paper down has been organised by novelist Tony Parsons, who tweeted: “Shameful links to slave-owning Confederate south. Built on the profits of cotton fields. Shut down The Guardian Newspaper.”
During the US Civil War the paper had sided with the southern Confederates against President Lincoln who wanted to abolish slavery.
UPDATE: It just hit me. Foreign newspaper finds Republican US president repulsive and sides with America's enemies. Insert Santayana quip here.
The Guardian is facing calls to “shut down” for hypocrisy after backing BLM protests when it branded Abraham Lincoln “abhorrent” in the US Civil War.
Originally called the Manchester Guardian, the paper was founded in 1821 by John Edward Taylor using profits from a cotton plantation that used slaves.
After his death in 1844, the paper is said to have then demanded Manchester’s cotton workers be forced back into work.
Now with a growing backlash against statues linked to slavery and racism, hundreds have signed a petition taking aim at the Guardian's history.
This petition to shut the paper down has been organised by novelist Tony Parsons, who tweeted: “Shameful links to slave-owning Confederate south. Built on the profits of cotton fields. Shut down The Guardian Newspaper.”
UPDATE: It just hit me. Foreign newspaper finds Republican US president repulsive and sides with America's enemies. Insert Santayana quip here.
EIN VOLK, EIN REICH, EIN MAYOR
The Gauleiter isn't even pretending anymore.
Let’s focus on New York and, in particular, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, New York City. For months, state and city public health officials berated anyone seen to be flouting emergency public health guidelines, especially young people. It was only when anti-police violence protests erupted around the country that elected officials and public health experts alike softened their views on the essential nature of mass gatherings. That is, unless you were a business owner or service provider. For those poor souls, the force of law around state-mandated closures still pertains. Those who violate social-distancing guidelines or open a business in violation of the terms of the lockdown, for example, were and remain subject to prosecution. Protesters who violated disorderly-conduct statutes or emergency-curfew provisions over the last several weeks are exposed to no such penalties.
This is not to say that the city has done a total about-face when it comes to punishing protesters. Over the weekend, the New York City Parks Department was targeted by hundreds of young Jewish children who gathered in defiance of social-distancing guidelines and called on Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio to “end the madness” and “immediately reopen our playgrounds.” They had in mind one park in particular—a commons in Williamsburg, just a few miles from the site of this weekend’s mass gathering at the Brooklyn Museum. But the mayor has insisted that all parks should remain shut out of “an abundance of caution,” as though that caution hadn’t been entirely dispensed with for the better part of the last three weeks. The city’s response to this demonstration was swift: On Monday morning, Parks Department officials welded the park’s doors shut.
UPDATE: Seems that some NYC Jews took DP's advice.
UPDATE: Which, mind you, the Gauleiter isn't taking lying down.
Let’s focus on New York and, in particular, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, New York City. For months, state and city public health officials berated anyone seen to be flouting emergency public health guidelines, especially young people. It was only when anti-police violence protests erupted around the country that elected officials and public health experts alike softened their views on the essential nature of mass gatherings. That is, unless you were a business owner or service provider. For those poor souls, the force of law around state-mandated closures still pertains. Those who violate social-distancing guidelines or open a business in violation of the terms of the lockdown, for example, were and remain subject to prosecution. Protesters who violated disorderly-conduct statutes or emergency-curfew provisions over the last several weeks are exposed to no such penalties.
This is not to say that the city has done a total about-face when it comes to punishing protesters. Over the weekend, the New York City Parks Department was targeted by hundreds of young Jewish children who gathered in defiance of social-distancing guidelines and called on Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio to “end the madness” and “immediately reopen our playgrounds.” They had in mind one park in particular—a commons in Williamsburg, just a few miles from the site of this weekend’s mass gathering at the Brooklyn Museum. But the mayor has insisted that all parks should remain shut out of “an abundance of caution,” as though that caution hadn’t been entirely dispensed with for the better part of the last three weeks. The city’s response to this demonstration was swift: On Monday morning, Parks Department officials welded the park’s doors shut.
UPDATE: Seems that some NYC Jews took DP's advice.
UPDATE: Which, mind you, the Gauleiter isn't taking lying down.
STELTER THEATRE
Somebody tells Bri-Bri the truth; he doesn't much care for it.
You're not a journalist, Brian. You're an activist. That's the problem. You have an agenda, and your agenda is anti-Trump. The American people see through that, and they and they are very grateful. This president is finally holding the fake news media accountable because you're activists. You're not reporting fact and truth. You won't even say that as a journalist that a factually false statement shouldn't ever appear in a media outlet.
You're not a journalist, Brian. You're an activist. That's the problem. You have an agenda, and your agenda is anti-Trump. The American people see through that, and they and they are very grateful. This president is finally holding the fake news media accountable because you're activists. You're not reporting fact and truth. You won't even say that as a journalist that a factually false statement shouldn't ever appear in a media outlet.
DEATH THROES
Raise your hand if you thought this was still a thing. I certainly didn't; I figured that the Episcopal Organization would have capped this guy ten years ago.
The dispute over Albany Bishop William Love’s prohibition of same-sex marriage in his diocese took a major step forward at a hearing on June 12, when The Episcopal Church laid out its charges of canonical violations against Love, whose counsel defended his actions as not conflicting with existing church canon law.
In this case, the church argued that, by prohibiting clergy in his diocese from using the same-sex marriage rites approved for church-wide use by General Convention, Love broke the vows he took when he was ordained a bishop to “conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church.”
coughJOHNSHELBYSPONGcough
Cooney argued that, by directing his clergy to continue complying with a diocesan canon prohibiting participation in same-sex marriages, Love had violated General Convention Resolution B012, which stipulates that “provision will be made for all couples desiring to use these [same-sex] marriage liturgies in their local congregation.”
Cooney also noted that B012 contains a provision for bishops who are theologically opposed to same-sex marriage to have other bishops provide pastoral support to the couple and celebrant, if needed, and that Love also refused to do this.
So there basically is only one right answer and there always was. Thanks for confirming it.
Knisely said that it may take several weeks for the panel to reach a decision in Love’s case. The panel can either dismiss the matter or issue an order, which could include suspending or deposing Love – essentially stripping him of his spiritual authority.
PLEASE do this. It'll make the ACNA transition so much easier.
The dispute over Albany Bishop William Love’s prohibition of same-sex marriage in his diocese took a major step forward at a hearing on June 12, when The Episcopal Church laid out its charges of canonical violations against Love, whose counsel defended his actions as not conflicting with existing church canon law.
In this case, the church argued that, by prohibiting clergy in his diocese from using the same-sex marriage rites approved for church-wide use by General Convention, Love broke the vows he took when he was ordained a bishop to “conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church.”
coughJOHNSHELBYSPONGcough
Cooney argued that, by directing his clergy to continue complying with a diocesan canon prohibiting participation in same-sex marriages, Love had violated General Convention Resolution B012, which stipulates that “provision will be made for all couples desiring to use these [same-sex] marriage liturgies in their local congregation.”
Cooney also noted that B012 contains a provision for bishops who are theologically opposed to same-sex marriage to have other bishops provide pastoral support to the couple and celebrant, if needed, and that Love also refused to do this.
So there basically is only one right answer and there always was. Thanks for confirming it.
Knisely said that it may take several weeks for the panel to reach a decision in Love’s case. The panel can either dismiss the matter or issue an order, which could include suspending or deposing Love – essentially stripping him of his spiritual authority.
PLEASE do this. It'll make the ACNA transition so much easier.
Saturday, June 13, 2020
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
The following thought is not mine and I really wish I could remember where I first saw it. But someone recently made a profound observation about the police. Police officers actually have two jobs. Their first job is to enforce the law, to protect me from criminals.
Their second job is to protect criminals from me.
Let's say I had a beautiful, intelligent, vivacious young daughter that some demonic person decided to rape, torture and then murder. Normally, the way these things work in this country is that my daughter's murderer would be apprehended, tried, hopefully convicted and given the most serious sentence the law allows, up to and including death.
Know what will happen if you take the whole system of "law enforcement" out of the equation and then let me get hold of this person? My beloved daughter took three hours to die? He'll take thirty. And this individual can rest assured that "never seeing the light of day again" won't be just an expression whether or not I decide to let him live.
Do you think that it would have been exciting or something to live in the American West in the 1800's? Many of the people who would have disagreed with you the strongest would have been the people who actually lived there during that time.
Think of it.
EVERYBODY (with a brain in their heads anyway), every single person you came in contact with, would be packing. Every one. If there's no settled law, you could be quickly dispatched to your heavenly reward simply for looking at someone "funny." And you may have died like Judas died if anyone merely suspected you of a crime.
Small wonder then that the very first thing any Western town that wanted to survive for very long did was to get some kind of law enforcement apparatus going. Who the hell wants to live in a damned shooting gallery?
Their second job is to protect criminals from me.
Let's say I had a beautiful, intelligent, vivacious young daughter that some demonic person decided to rape, torture and then murder. Normally, the way these things work in this country is that my daughter's murderer would be apprehended, tried, hopefully convicted and given the most serious sentence the law allows, up to and including death.
Know what will happen if you take the whole system of "law enforcement" out of the equation and then let me get hold of this person? My beloved daughter took three hours to die? He'll take thirty. And this individual can rest assured that "never seeing the light of day again" won't be just an expression whether or not I decide to let him live.
Do you think that it would have been exciting or something to live in the American West in the 1800's? Many of the people who would have disagreed with you the strongest would have been the people who actually lived there during that time.
Think of it.
EVERYBODY (with a brain in their heads anyway), every single person you came in contact with, would be packing. Every one. If there's no settled law, you could be quickly dispatched to your heavenly reward simply for looking at someone "funny." And you may have died like Judas died if anyone merely suspected you of a crime.
Small wonder then that the very first thing any Western town that wanted to survive for very long did was to get some kind of law enforcement apparatus going. Who the hell wants to live in a damned shooting gallery?
Friday, June 12, 2020
Thursday, June 11, 2020
THERE IS NO NEW THING UNDER THE SUN
Been there, done that, China. They're called Anglicans.
As the Chinese coronavirus distracts the world, the Chinese Communist Party has ratcheted up its crackdown on religious freedom, and sources say President Xi Jinping is working on rewriting the Bible itself to “create a new version of Christianity shorn of its transcendent visions and values.”
Xi Lian, a professor at Duke University Divinity School, told The Wall Street Journal‘s Matthew Taylor King that Beijing doesn’t just want to repress religion — the Chinese Communist Party wants to transform it.
Lian said Beijing wants to “drain Christianity of its spirit.” China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported last year that Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Yang had presided over a meeting of so-called scholars and “religious people from the grassroots level” to discuss “making accurate and authoritative interpretations of classical doctrines to keep pace with the times.”
You can see how well that turned out. I'm sure that Dr. Williams, Justin Welby, Mrs. Schori, Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Organization or any number of other individuals or groups would be easily available if you need consulting work about how to suck the life out of Christianity.
As the Chinese coronavirus distracts the world, the Chinese Communist Party has ratcheted up its crackdown on religious freedom, and sources say President Xi Jinping is working on rewriting the Bible itself to “create a new version of Christianity shorn of its transcendent visions and values.”
Lian said Beijing wants to “drain Christianity of its spirit.” China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported last year that Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Yang had presided over a meeting of so-called scholars and “religious people from the grassroots level” to discuss “making accurate and authoritative interpretations of classical doctrines to keep pace with the times.”
You can see how well that turned out. I'm sure that Dr. Williams, Justin Welby, Mrs. Schori, Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Organization or any number of other individuals or groups would be easily available if you need consulting work about how to suck the life out of Christianity.
REGULARLY THANKING GOD THAT YOU ARE NOT AS OTHER MEN ARE
It does a body good.
Scripture reference here.
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Scripture reference here.
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
REGRETS, JENNIFER RUBIN'S HAD A FEW
Know how Donald Trump might never have happened? If Mitch McConnell had thrown his hat in the ring back in 2016.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) mocked the editors of The New York Times for capitulating to liberal employees who demanded the paper pull an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).
"One of our nation's most storied newspapers just had its intellectual independence challenged by an angry mob, and they folded like a house of cards," McConnell said Wednesday on the Senate floor. "A jury of people on Twitter indicted them as accessories to a thought crime, and instead of telling them to go take a hike, the paper pleaded guilty and begged for mercy."
Jen, Rick "Dick" Wilson, Charming Billy? I'm surprised that you haven't figured this out by now (actually, I'm not even remotely surprised; more on that down the road) but here, in a few short words, is Why You Got Trump. Conservative voters prefer conservative candidates who don't merely claim to uphold conservative principles but who actually do and will uphold them.
Two words. Mitt Romney.
UPDATE: Four more words. American embassy in Israel.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) mocked the editors of The New York Times for capitulating to liberal employees who demanded the paper pull an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).
"One of our nation's most storied newspapers just had its intellectual independence challenged by an angry mob, and they folded like a house of cards," McConnell said Wednesday on the Senate floor. "A jury of people on Twitter indicted them as accessories to a thought crime, and instead of telling them to go take a hike, the paper pleaded guilty and begged for mercy."
Jen, Rick "Dick" Wilson, Charming Billy? I'm surprised that you haven't figured this out by now (actually, I'm not even remotely surprised; more on that down the road) but here, in a few short words, is Why You Got Trump. Conservative voters prefer conservative candidates who don't merely claim to uphold conservative principles but who actually do and will uphold them.
Two words. Mitt Romney.
UPDATE: Four more words. American embassy in Israel.
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
PROFILES IN SPINELESSNESS
What's cute is that Kentucky's Democratic douchebag governor Andy Beshear thinks that blatant racism is a moral approach.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced Monday plans to correct inequalities in healthcare coverage in the state.
WAVE reported that, during his COVID-19 updates, Beshear has revealed the racial makeup of Kentucky's coronavirus cases. Cases involving black patients have outpaced the state's black population.
“We are gonna begin an effort to cover 100 percent of our individuals in our black and African-American communities,” the governor said. “We’re gonna be putting dollars behind it.”
BALLGAME
Thanks for playing.
Our polarized political culture has reflexively approached the pandemic as just another culture-war drama of this sort — demanding that we each prove our loyalty to our team and express exasperated outrage at the other. This has left us clinging to various strategies rooted in provisional hypotheses (about re-opening the economy, for instance, or enforcing lockdowns, or using hydroxychloroquine), insisting that evidence against our view does not exist, and unwilling to change our minds when new facts emerge.
Worse yet, the very communities of experts we rely on to assess provisional knowledge and provide us their best judgment have failed the test of professional restraint in key moments, giving in to political tribalism themselves. The latest example has involved the protests (and at times riots) that have broken out across the country after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Their cause is just, and when they remain peaceful these protests are surely a force for good. But even acknowledging the evidence that outdoor transmission is uncommon with normal activities, there is simply no doubt that hundreds or thousands of people marching in close proximity and yelling increases the risk of spreading the virus. Yet after months of their supporting lockdowns, scolding those who violate social-distancing rules, and even demanding that some elections be postponed, we now find not only progressive political leaders but even public health experts downplaying the risks.
This politicized hypocrisy was especially evident in an open letter published by more than a thousand public-health academics and practitioners this week. As noted in an excellent piece by Conor Friedersdorf, the group simply asserted its willingness to put political considerations above professional obligations.
Tell you what. If there's a resurgence of the Chinese Flu and people start dropping dead in the streets or something, the resurgence is ALL going to be on the "experts" and the (mostly Democratic) politicians who claimed to be listening to them. If tens of thousands of people gathered together in one place is perfectly okay but 5 or 6 more Christians or Jews than we said was acceptable is a crime, then you have nothing left to say to me that I need to listen to.
About anything at all.
Regardless of how "journalists" spin it.
Lie to my face once, shame on you, lie to my face twice...
Something's going to kill you someday. Deal with it.
Our polarized political culture has reflexively approached the pandemic as just another culture-war drama of this sort — demanding that we each prove our loyalty to our team and express exasperated outrage at the other. This has left us clinging to various strategies rooted in provisional hypotheses (about re-opening the economy, for instance, or enforcing lockdowns, or using hydroxychloroquine), insisting that evidence against our view does not exist, and unwilling to change our minds when new facts emerge.
Worse yet, the very communities of experts we rely on to assess provisional knowledge and provide us their best judgment have failed the test of professional restraint in key moments, giving in to political tribalism themselves. The latest example has involved the protests (and at times riots) that have broken out across the country after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Their cause is just, and when they remain peaceful these protests are surely a force for good. But even acknowledging the evidence that outdoor transmission is uncommon with normal activities, there is simply no doubt that hundreds or thousands of people marching in close proximity and yelling increases the risk of spreading the virus. Yet after months of their supporting lockdowns, scolding those who violate social-distancing rules, and even demanding that some elections be postponed, we now find not only progressive political leaders but even public health experts downplaying the risks.
This politicized hypocrisy was especially evident in an open letter published by more than a thousand public-health academics and practitioners this week. As noted in an excellent piece by Conor Friedersdorf, the group simply asserted its willingness to put political considerations above professional obligations.
Tell you what. If there's a resurgence of the Chinese Flu and people start dropping dead in the streets or something, the resurgence is ALL going to be on the "experts" and the (mostly Democratic) politicians who claimed to be listening to them. If tens of thousands of people gathered together in one place is perfectly okay but 5 or 6 more Christians or Jews than we said was acceptable is a crime, then you have nothing left to say to me that I need to listen to.
About anything at all.
Regardless of how "journalists" spin it.
Lie to my face once, shame on you, lie to my face twice...
Something's going to kill you someday. Deal with it.
HERE'S WHERE WE ARE
Sad thing is that this actually surprises me.
Authorities announced they have arrested and charged Stephan Cannon, 24, for the murder of retired St. Louis police captain David Dorn.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said Cannon faces charges of first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, felon in possession of a firearm, and three counts of armed criminal action.
Dorn died after Cannon allegedly shot him while looting Lee’s Pawn & Jewelry on June 2. Riots broke out in St. Louis and around the nation in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Dorn was friends with the owner and checked in when the alarms went off, even in his retirement.
Dorn’s wife St. Louise police Sgt. Ann Marie Dorn still works for the department.
I actually didn't think Kimmy would take that step but I guess if the guy who was murdered is a well-beloved retired African-American St. Louis police captain, she kind of has to.
Authorities announced they have arrested and charged Stephan Cannon, 24, for the murder of retired St. Louis police captain David Dorn.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said Cannon faces charges of first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, felon in possession of a firearm, and three counts of armed criminal action.
Dorn died after Cannon allegedly shot him while looting Lee’s Pawn & Jewelry on June 2. Riots broke out in St. Louis and around the nation in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Dorn was friends with the owner and checked in when the alarms went off, even in his retirement.
Dorn’s wife St. Louise police Sgt. Ann Marie Dorn still works for the department.
I actually didn't think Kimmy would take that step but I guess if the guy who was murdered is a well-beloved retired African-American St. Louis police captain, she kind of has to.
Saturday, June 6, 2020
JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT
The Anglicans pull me back in. Everyone's favorite broccoli-shaped clergyman comes in on the American situation.
[Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan] Williams, who currently serves as Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University, joins scores of religious leaders who have condemned the reported use of tear gas and rubber bullets to clear clergy and protesters from the area around St. John’s Episcopal Church, across the street from the White House, so Trump could use it for an unauthorized photo op.
Which never happened.
“Quite literally, God alone knows what was going on in the head of the President of the United States as he stood outside a church this week brandishing a Bible, having walked to the church with his path cleared by tear gas and rubber bullets, posturing before a nation more tragically divided than it has been for decades, wounded at so many levels,” Williams wrote in a June 4 newsletter to the members of St. Clement’s Church, Cambridge.
Maybe the Creator of the universe alone knows what was going in the head of the President of the United States" but you'll be happy to fill the rest of us in since you're an Anglican and stuff and you apparently have a direct line to the thinking of the Creator of us all.
“In a context where racial privilege itself has long been an idolatry,
Whatever. Keep churning out those bumper stickers. Nobody's going to think that this crap is profound or anything but it's basically all you've got at this point.
where long-unchallenged institutional violence has been a routine means for the self-defense of that privilege
Because it's never been challenged in this country before and this sort of thing happens here all the time. Last I checked, the people responsible for this murder were going to face justice.
the image of the President clinging to the Scriptures as if to an amulet is bizarre even by the standards of recent years.”
No more bizarre than you fixing the 2008 Lambeth Conference in order to not even begin to address the Elephant In The Room and quite happily presiding over the death of whatever's left of the Anglican Tradition. But you do you, my gracious lord of Canterbury.
God knows, nobody cares anymore.
[Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan] Williams, who currently serves as Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University, joins scores of religious leaders who have condemned the reported use of tear gas and rubber bullets to clear clergy and protesters from the area around St. John’s Episcopal Church, across the street from the White House, so Trump could use it for an unauthorized photo op.
Which never happened.
“Quite literally, God alone knows what was going on in the head of the President of the United States as he stood outside a church this week brandishing a Bible, having walked to the church with his path cleared by tear gas and rubber bullets, posturing before a nation more tragically divided than it has been for decades, wounded at so many levels,” Williams wrote in a June 4 newsletter to the members of St. Clement’s Church, Cambridge.
Maybe the Creator of the universe alone knows what was going in the head of the President of the United States" but you'll be happy to fill the rest of us in since you're an Anglican and stuff and you apparently have a direct line to the thinking of the Creator of us all.
“In a context where racial privilege itself has long been an idolatry,
Whatever. Keep churning out those bumper stickers. Nobody's going to think that this crap is profound or anything but it's basically all you've got at this point.
where long-unchallenged institutional violence has been a routine means for the self-defense of that privilege
Because it's never been challenged in this country before and this sort of thing happens here all the time. Last I checked, the people responsible for this murder were going to face justice.
the image of the President clinging to the Scriptures as if to an amulet is bizarre even by the standards of recent years.”
No more bizarre than you fixing the 2008 Lambeth Conference in order to not even begin to address the Elephant In The Room and quite happily presiding over the death of whatever's left of the Anglican Tradition. But you do you, my gracious lord of Canterbury.
God knows, nobody cares anymore.
SELFIES
You've probably already heard of the self-own, when someone goes on the Internet and makes what he or she thinks is a profound point only to make a complete jackass of themselves. But here's where we've come to. Put your hands together for the self-hack.
The New York Times is officially reversing course. After Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican, published an op-ed in the paper Wednesday that was met with outrage, the NYT on Thursday said Cotton's column—which advocated for the federal government using the military to suppress protests over the deaths of black people at the hands of police—did not actually meet the newspaper's standards for publication. James Bennet, the editor who oversees the paper's opinion section (and who initially defended the op-ed's publication), told staff members that he hadn't read Cotton's essay before it was published. Shortly after that meeting, the Times issued a statement that CNN refers to as a "stunning reversal." A spokesperson said a review "made clear that a rushed editorial process led to the publication of an Op-Ed that did not meet our standards."
But it got in anyway. Right.
Candy-asses.
I'd have given the Times props for that op-ed. Lord knows, it's rare when a conservative or a conservative opinion is taken seriously at all, never mind published. But no longer. Whatever vestigial respect I had left for that ridiculous publication has dried up and blown away.
The New York Times is officially reversing course. After Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican, published an op-ed in the paper Wednesday that was met with outrage, the NYT on Thursday said Cotton's column—which advocated for the federal government using the military to suppress protests over the deaths of black people at the hands of police—did not actually meet the newspaper's standards for publication. James Bennet, the editor who oversees the paper's opinion section (and who initially defended the op-ed's publication), told staff members that he hadn't read Cotton's essay before it was published. Shortly after that meeting, the Times issued a statement that CNN refers to as a "stunning reversal." A spokesperson said a review "made clear that a rushed editorial process led to the publication of an Op-Ed that did not meet our standards."
But it got in anyway. Right.
Candy-asses.
I'd have given the Times props for that op-ed. Lord knows, it's rare when a conservative or a conservative opinion is taken seriously at all, never mind published. But no longer. Whatever vestigial respect I had left for that ridiculous publication has dried up and blown away.
Friday, June 5, 2020
DAMN, GAULEITER
Mix in a Christian or two now and then. Or idiots like me are going to start throwing around terms like Kristallnacht. And you wouldn't want that.
I suppose.
I suppose.
YOU NEVER KNOW
Donald Trump might actually be the Antichrist.
U.S. employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, the largest monthly increase in recorded history, as coronavirus lockdowns across the country were lifted. The unemployment rate dropped to 13.3 percent last month, down from 14.7 percent in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
CNBC reported that the May gain of 2.5 million jobs “was by far the biggest one-month jobs gain in U.S. history since at least 1939.”
U.S. employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, the largest monthly increase in recorded history, as coronavirus lockdowns across the country were lifted. The unemployment rate dropped to 13.3 percent last month, down from 14.7 percent in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
ADVENTURES IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
This week's episode: PLEASE rebuild that business we just let leftists torch.
Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot said she’s hopeful major retailers will reopen the Chicago stores that were looted or otherwise damaged during protests surrounding George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. But, she’s unsure of one of the biggest.
Mayor Lightfoot said she was on a conference call with Walmart and other major retailers that had stores looted or heavily damaged during the unrest in Chicago. She said she pleaded with them to not abandon Chicago.
What's sad is that they'll probably do it.
Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot said she’s hopeful major retailers will reopen the Chicago stores that were looted or otherwise damaged during protests surrounding George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. But, she’s unsure of one of the biggest.
Mayor Lightfoot said she was on a conference call with Walmart and other major retailers that had stores looted or heavily damaged during the unrest in Chicago. She said she pleaded with them to not abandon Chicago.
What's sad is that they'll probably do it.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS
The Chinese Flu is officially dead.
For months, public health experts have urged Americans to take every precaution to stop the spread of Covid-19—stay at home, steer clear of friends and extended family, and absolutely avoid large gatherings.
For months, public health experts have urged Americans to take every precaution to stop the spread of Covid-19—stay at home, steer clear of friends and extended family, and absolutely avoid large gatherings.
Now some of those experts are broadcasting a new message: It’s time to get out of the house and join the mass protests against racism.
“We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted on Tuesday. “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.”
“The injustice that’s evident to everyone right now needs to be addressed,” Abraar Karan, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital physician who’s exhorted coronavirus experts to use their platforms to encourage the protests, told me.
It’s a message echoed by media outlets and some of the most prominent public health experts in America, like former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Tom Frieden, who loudly warned against efforts to rush reopening but is now supportive of mass protests. Their claim: If we don’t address racial inequality, it’ll be that much harder to fight Covid-19.
But their messages are also confounding to many who spent the spring strictly isolated on the advice of health officials, only to hear that the need might not be so absolute after all. It’s particularly nettlesome to conservative skeptics of the all-or-nothing approach to lockdown, who point out that many of those same public health experts—a group that tends to skew liberal—widely criticized activists who held largely outdoor protests against lockdowns in April and May, accusing demonstrators of posing a public health danger. Conservatives, who felt their own concerns about long-term economic damage or even mental health costs of lockdown were brushed aside just days or weeks ago, are increasingly asking whether these public health experts are letting their politics sway their health care recommendations.
ANNALS OF ANGLICAN USELESSNESS
Things must be going fantastic in Scotland if the Scots Piskies can come in on something that didn't actually happen but, you know, the importance of the narrative and stuff.
We then witnessed the blatant misuse of both a church building and holy scripture in the pursuit of political gain – in circumstances where the President of the USA had only managed to stand in front of the church because his officers had cleared a pathway through peaceful protesters by the use of tear gas and rubber bullets.
The message of the Church and the Bible is about love and equality and all sharing in the bounty of a generous God. Nothing we witnessed last night by the President represented that.
As Jesus said, the whole law is summed up in Leviticus. Orange Man Bad.
You're "official" Anglicans. I've said it before and I'll probably say it many, many, many times again. Shriners have a better claim on being Islamic than you do on being Christian.
We then witnessed the blatant misuse of both a church building and holy scripture in the pursuit of political gain – in circumstances where the President of the USA had only managed to stand in front of the church because his officers had cleared a pathway through peaceful protesters by the use of tear gas and rubber bullets.
The message of the Church and the Bible is about love and equality and all sharing in the bounty of a generous God. Nothing we witnessed last night by the President represented that.
As Jesus said, the whole law is summed up in Leviticus. Orange Man Bad.
You're "official" Anglicans. I've said it before and I'll probably say it many, many, many times again. Shriners have a better claim on being Islamic than you do on being Christian.
THROWING IN THE TOWEL
David Horowitz asks a vitally-important question. Have the Democrats given up?
The Democrat party is at war with America. That is the clear message of the Democrats’ responses to the crises that have engulfed our nation over the last six months, made our streets war zones, and destroyed the small business communities that are the lifeblood of our system. When the country was attacked by a deadly virus from China in January, the Democrats attacked the president’s efforts to stop it at the border, then blamed him for the 100,000 deaths that followed. Yet Democrat governors controlled the health systems of every major center of the covid19 devastation and were 100% responsible for any policies that failed.
When the president attempted to re-open the economy in May, Democrat governors and mayors issued draconian orders to arrest individuals violating their “social distancing” injunctions by strolling in parks, lounging on beaches and – worst of all - attempting to revive their barbershops and salons. As a direct consequence of these imposed shutdowns forty million Americans lost their jobs. To many of us, the Democrats’ purpose was clear: to depress the economy and blame the consequences on the president. This became the incessant theme of their political utterances and ads.
It's hard not to come to that conclusion. I mean, who in the world is ever going to get excited by Joe Biden? In 2012, Mitt Romney had the same kind of vibe for the GOP. This man is a genuine, pedal-to-the-metal, foot-to-the-floorboards, rock-ribbed conservative?
Seriously? Do you really think we're that stupid?
After 2012, Donald Trump was the most inevitable person in the world and any "conservatives" who still claim not to understand that need to get out of public life and stay out of it forever. So let's just face facts, shall we?
The Democrats have thrown away whatever "moderation" they had left and kicked in with, well, basically, communism. Put 40,000,000 people out of work and burn down the rest of it. Joe can make all the leftist policy claims he cares to but nobody believes he actually means any of it.
The last thing in the world the left wants is for Joe Biden to win in the fall. Because if you win, you have to produce results. And the left can't do that and it knows it can't do that.
Ever.
Better to destroy everything and try to recreate something from the ashes.
With any kind of luck.
It's hard not to come to that conclusion. I mean, who in the world is ever going to get excited by Joe Biden? In 2012, Mitt Romney had the same kind of vibe for the GOP. This man is a genuine, pedal-to-the-metal, foot-to-the-floorboards, rock-ribbed conservative?
Seriously? Do you really think we're that stupid?
After 2012, Donald Trump was the most inevitable person in the world and any "conservatives" who still claim not to understand that need to get out of public life and stay out of it forever. So let's just face facts, shall we?
The Democrats have thrown away whatever "moderation" they had left and kicked in with, well, basically, communism. Put 40,000,000 people out of work and burn down the rest of it. Joe can make all the leftist policy claims he cares to but nobody believes he actually means any of it.
The last thing in the world the left wants is for Joe Biden to win in the fall. Because if you win, you have to produce results. And the left can't do that and it knows it can't do that.
Ever.
Better to destroy everything and try to recreate something from the ashes.
With any kind of luck.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
AMERICAN REVOLUTION II?
Could be. Maybe not the one the Democrats hope for.
Let’s be frank: The notion that the actions of four cops in Minnesota on Memorial Day in any way justifies the continued fracturing of New York City’s social order 10 days later is nonsense on its face.
And the willingness of Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo to tolerate what has been happening in New York since last Friday — violence is rampant upstate as well — is scandalous beyond words.
For the two of them, it’s always been better to do nothing than to alienate an interest group — but effectively accelerating municipal mayhem through studied inaction is something altogether new.
UPDATE: Yeah, pretty much.
As the blue cities burn, as the blue mayors of those cities tell their police to stand down in the face of violent mobs, and blue city police, realizing that their blue supervisors and blue elected officials do not have their backs and that they may lose their jobs if they so much as move one micro millimeter beyond what some ex post facto internal affairs investigation will determine is correct, decide to not stick around to be sacrificed on some grandstanding blue politician's altar.
And once the anarchists figure out (which they will, quickly) that the police aren't going to do anything, it's party time. Which will result in a certain percentage of business owners closing down permanently and moving elsewhere. This is what happened after the Watts Riots in 1965 and the 1992 'Rodney King' Los Angeles Riots. The 1967 Detroit Riots resulted in 43 killed, 1,000 injured, 2,000 buildings destroyed, and 400 families left homeless. In each case, the neighborhoods became more impoverished and never did fully recover.
UPDATE: Thinking of coming to St. Louis, Missouri any time soon? You might want to...oh, I don't know...not. St. Louis City and St. Louis County are two totally different legal entities so that's still working for you. But while I own knives, I am seriously considering buying a gun.
First time in my life.
UPDATE: Maybe I'll buy one with the stim check. Assuming I get one; haven't seen it yet. But at least Charming Billy will be happy. :-)
CONFIRMED: Kimmy's bought and paid for.
UPDATE: Notes from a failed northeastern US state.
Then there will be more looting, more burning, more victims — and an ever-escalating sense that the city is incapable of preserving the public peace and that it lacks the courage even to try.
And the willingness of Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo to tolerate what has been happening in New York since last Friday — violence is rampant upstate as well — is scandalous beyond words.
For the two of them, it’s always been better to do nothing than to alienate an interest group — but effectively accelerating municipal mayhem through studied inaction is something altogether new.
UPDATE: Yeah, pretty much.
As the blue cities burn, as the blue mayors of those cities tell their police to stand down in the face of violent mobs, and blue city police, realizing that their blue supervisors and blue elected officials do not have their backs and that they may lose their jobs if they so much as move one micro millimeter beyond what some ex post facto internal affairs investigation will determine is correct, decide to not stick around to be sacrificed on some grandstanding blue politician's altar.
And once the anarchists figure out (which they will, quickly) that the police aren't going to do anything, it's party time. Which will result in a certain percentage of business owners closing down permanently and moving elsewhere. This is what happened after the Watts Riots in 1965 and the 1992 'Rodney King' Los Angeles Riots. The 1967 Detroit Riots resulted in 43 killed, 1,000 injured, 2,000 buildings destroyed, and 400 families left homeless. In each case, the neighborhoods became more impoverished and never did fully recover.
UPDATE: Thinking of coming to St. Louis, Missouri any time soon? You might want to...oh, I don't know...not. St. Louis City and St. Louis County are two totally different legal entities so that's still working for you. But while I own knives, I am seriously considering buying a gun.
First time in my life.
UPDATE: Maybe I'll buy one with the stim check. Assuming I get one; haven't seen it yet. But at least Charming Billy will be happy. :-)
CONFIRMED: Kimmy's bought and paid for.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
AND NOW...IDIOTS
Episcopalianity is in.
The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington condemned President Donald Trump
Of course she did. The house pointy hat of The Washington Post could do no less. What do you think she's on retainer for?
on Monday for his visit to St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House after law enforcement officers used tear gas to clear protesters from the area.
Maybe those "law enforcement officers" felt they had to. Security and stuff.
The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington condemned President Donald Trump
Of course she did. The house pointy hat of The Washington Post could do no less. What do you think she's on retainer for?
on Monday for his visit to St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House after law enforcement officers used tear gas to clear protesters from the area.
Maybe those "law enforcement officers" felt they had to. Security and stuff.
"Let me be clear:
For a change. You're a Piskie, we already know what you're going to say.
The president just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition,
Some old book we have to feign respect for every so often.
and one of the churches of my diocese without permission as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our churches stand for," Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde told CNN.
And you would know about the "teachings of Jesus" because? You're an Episcopalian, lady. As far as you're concerned, "Jesus" is nothing more than meaningless professional jargon.
"And to do so... he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard. I am outraged," Budde said.
Of course you are. The fact that quite a number of poor people all over the country are going to lose their jobs or their outlets for, you know, buying food and stuff is apparently not that big of a deal. Makes you no never mind as long as they leave Whole Foods alone.
High-Church Unitarianism is on record. All we have to do now is find out what actual Christians are thinking about all this.
UPDATE: Confirming my long-held belief that Episcopal bishops are the single most worthless and useless group of people currently assembled anywhere for any reason, the PrezBish haz thotz. You already know what they are so clicking on that link is up to you.
UPDATE: Every so often, the Babylon Bee is scary good.
UPDATE: Confirming my long-held belief that Episcopal bishops are the single most worthless and useless group of people currently assembled anywhere for any reason, the PrezBish haz thotz. You already know what they are so clicking on that link is up to you.
UPDATE: Every so often, the Babylon Bee is scary good.
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