Ace of Spades HQ

March 19, 2019

Supreme Court Sides With Trump Administration, 5-4, on Detention of Immigrants Convicted of Crimes

—Ace of Spades

They reversed a ruling from the, get this, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that you can't arrest an immigrant for deportation over a crime he's been convicted of unless you're Johnny On the Spot and arrest him right after he gets out of prison.

With sanctuary jurisdictions refusing to report immigrants to INS, that's tricky. But the leftists are willing to claim anything to keep the maximum number of criminal aliens in the US.

The Supreme Court disagreed, but all the liberals (except Roberts) voted to Make America Lawless Again.

he Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of the Trump administration by deciding federal officials can detain immigrants at any time for possible deportation after they have served their time in the U.S. for other crimes.
The 5-4 decision reversed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said officials have to detain these immigrants immediately or they are exempt from ever being detained.

...

At the center of the case are immigrants Mony Preap and Bassam Yusuf Khoury, who are in the U.S. as lawful permanent residents. Both were convicted of crimes and served their sentences but were not detained by immigration authorities for removal proceedings until years after they were released from criminal custody.

The dispute focused on a federal law that says the Department of Homeland Security can detain immigrants convicted of certain crimes "when the alien is released" from criminal custody.

The 9th Circuit and the liberals on the court read the word "when" as "conveying immediacy," and claimed it means "very soon after." So if a criminal immigrant isn't detained for deportation within some undefined but short period of time after release from prison, he (get this) gets to stay in the US despite what the law says.

The majority said that "when" just means "in the case that" or "after."

The Washington Examiner is a trash cuck outfit. That article I linked makes sure it quotes the liberal dissenters to sell you on their interpretation, but fails to quote anything from the conservative majority so you can compare the arguments' strengths.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 12:59 PM Comments

Jewish Voters Nervous About Democrats' Shift to Become the Home of Antisemites

—Ace of Spades

Looking back wistfully at the super-pro-Jewish Democrat President Obama.

Jewish voters furious at Democrats’ defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar say they’re done with the party that has held their support for generations.
"We felt we had a home there," said Mark Schwartz, the Democratic deputy mayor of solidly blue Teaneck, NJ. "And now we feel like we have to check our passports."

Jordan Manor of Manhattan, who calls himself a "gay Jewish Israeli-American," laments, "The party I thought cared about me seems to disregard me when it comes to my Jewish identity."

Mark Dunec, a consultant in Livingston, NJ who ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2014, says, "I'm physically afraid for myself and for my family," adding, "I see my own party contributing to the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States."

The Democrat Party has no permanent allies, only a permanent interest in furthering socialism, gathering whatever mix of client groups is needed to achieve that goal.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 11:57 AM Comments

The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

—CBD

Stop shoving Islam into our faces as if it is some fait accompli. I am tired of hijabs on wonderful tolerant Muslim characters on TV; I am tired of the relentless whitewashing of every Muslim atrocity in the world; I am tired of Iran being placed on a pedestal by the UN as some paragon of enlightenment.

Nike condemned for putting hijab on Iranian mathematician who chose not to wear one

Nike has been condemned for depicting a celebrated mathematician in a hijab, despite the fact she chose not wear the garment while she was alive.

Maryam Mirzakhani, who died of breast cancer in 2017, was the only woman to date to have won the Fields Medal, one of the highest awards in the field of mathematics.

She left Iran after graduating university in 1999 and moved to the US, where she chose not cover her hair.

But screenshots of an internal Nike newsletter sent to staff in its Ascend employee network were shared by a number of social media users.

They display a drawing of the mathematician wearing a white hijab, which some on Twitter suggested was based on an image first doctored by Iranian officials for propaganda purposes.

Iran is a savage, backward country that has a ruling elite of Shia clerics who happily gorge on the advantages of Western culture while decrying it at every opportunity to keep their hold on power. The Iranian people may or may not have the fortitude and strength to topple them, but embracing the vile behavior of the mullahs is certainly not the way to help the cause of freedom in the world. But that isn't the goal of these people...it is quite the opposite.

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom - go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!

-- Samuel Adams

Posted by CBD at 11:00 AM Comments

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Rye
Fyodor Vasilyev

Posted by CBD at 09:30 AM Comments

The Morning Report - 3/19/19

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Topping things this morning is the continued fallout in the wake of the New Zealand mosque shootings. Cross-categorized links include the predictable reaction of that country's government calling for even stricter gun control, despite the fact that yet again, a potential target of the shooter was able to stop the massacre by returning fire and chasing him away. We also have the equally predictable blame game by the Left to smear an entire class of people as violent, fascist, racist, white supremacist, Islamophobic Christian gun-nuts as the root cause of all the world's evils. As I said yesterday, and repeat today, that I condemn any and all forms of violence and intimidation to silence my political opponents (while naturally reserving the right to use it to defend myself from physical harm), while the Axis of Evil, to wit the Left and Islam, use them as their chief tactics to achieve the same end and are given a pass by the media and so-called responsible political leaders on that side.

On a more granular level, given what we know of the backgrounds of the perpetrators and that some very contradictory facts are emerging as to their alleged beliefs are, it's becoming less cut and dry as to the motive of the attack. In fact, it's a fair bet that if as some have postulated this may have been a crime perpetrated by actual leftists in order to touch off a civil war either there or here, watch that get memory-holed at light speed. But the propaganda will of course remain.

In any case, and to underscore it all, what they did was reprehensible and to be condemned in no uncertain terms. But again, given the lack of reaction or even excusing away by the media to the continuing decades-long bloodbath perpetrated by both the Left and Islam against the free civilized world in their shared goal of global conquest, my give-a-shit-ometer is registering in the "hardly any" range.

Moving on, a couple of links, as we have almost every day to prove the national crisis of unchecked and intentionally encouraged mass migration.

Democrat Jew-Hatred: the slag who confronted Chelsea is now pissed at "Bro-Fo" Omar for mouthing support for a two-state solution. Meh, "two-state" to her means dead after the gassing and cremated in the oven afterwards, but it seems her constituents are not happy about her big mouth. Meanwhile, at some sort of Democrat sensitivity training seminar about anti-semitism, the progressives yucked it up after hearing the punchline "because the air is free."

Also on the Dem scandal sheet, Nevada is a hotbed of Democrat corruption, Kamala-Toe has it both ways when it comes to non-whites and crime, dragon-lady Klobuchar thinks Coonman Northam got plenty o'nuthin', and black conservatives rip the NAACP for giving an award to Jussie Galore Smollett. To politics in general where Daniel Greenfield dissects "Blotto" O'Rourke and a look at what his mad hacking skills could mean for his 2020 chances, CNN is gobsmacked as a Muslim doctor says the Muslim/Arab world loves Trump and the GOP, PDT beats Donkey Chompers' approval even in NYC, more and more candidates are supporting the court-packing proposal while the attempt to combat the electoral college overthrow will have to wait a while longer according to some legal eagles, DeBolshevik is packing them in in New Hampshire - mostly in a phone booth, Jeb! wants someone to primary Trump and Rabbi Fischer having some schadenfreude about the media and the Dem 2020 field.

Mueller Inquisition and Continuing Congressional Coup: Judicial Watch goes after Schiff-for-Brains and John McStain really was a stain.

Abortion: Roswell, NM loves ETs and babies.

First Amendment and Fake News Fakery: SCOTUS fails to uphold religious freedom, Facebook muzzles the White House, more on the media's role in what happened in Christchurch, R.S. McCain on how disagreement became hate speech, Hamas beats up reporters in Gaza and the media cares fuck-all, and Jeannine Pirro's horrible crime was merely stating the facts about the hijab.

Foreign Affairs: Terrorist who shot and killed 3 on a Dutch tram is apprehended and - surprise! - was well known by the authorities, French government bans Yellow Vest protests after this past weekend's car-b-cue, Guaido allies take over Venezuelan consular offices in the US, the Farsis build 2 new nuke plants and SoS Pompeo reams the International Criminal Court.

We-All-Slam-For-I-Slam: New Mexico jihadis (remember them?) are hit with terror and kidnapping charges (how many more like them are in country right now?), and the Religion of Peace Peacenik Paleostinians butcher a father of 12 and a teenager. Sarsour and Tliban passing out Hershey bars in Congress.

Economic News: The scrap aluminum market hits the skids, Foxconn deal is a go, and the FBI should go after itself instead of the college tuition bribers.

Healthcare: Democrats paint themselves into a political corner in dealing with healthcare.

Education: This #RedforEd Commie group is now sabotaging Tennessee schools and another look at the tuition bribery scandal.

Actual Science: DeBolshevik actually has a sound idea in landfill as storm surge protector for NYC.

Feminazism and Transgender Psychosis: Virginia schools expose kindergarteners to transexual freakazoid propaganda without parental consent, Warner Bros exec and big Dem donor in deep doo doo over harassment steps down, and a child sex offender in drag is the perfect person to read stories to your kids.

Hither and Yon: Shakespeare gets politicized, Christian Toto on Sons of Anarchy star being persecuted for liking Jordan Peterson and what the tuition scandal says about our moribund meritocracy, such as it is.

Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in some links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.

BORDER WALL, MIGRANT INVASION, AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

Posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:44 AM Comments

Monday Overnight Open Thread (3/18/19)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Shoe thread. A wonderful shoe with multiple color choices. Life is grand, isn't it?

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:00 PM Comments

Fun With CNN Chyrons

—Ace of Spades

Sargon's going through old CNN clips and changing their chyrons to accurately reflect the propgandistic message CNN is pushing.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 08:13 PM Comments

Rep. Devin Nunes Suing Twitter and Accounts He Claims Are Defamatory for a Total of $250 Million

—Ace of Spades

I don't know if his suit against Twitter will go anywhere, as Twitter has the immunity granted to a "platform" when it obviously is actually a publisher scarcely different from the New York Times' staff choosing what letters to the editor to publish.

And Congress will not repeal that -- the Democrats are pro-censorship of conservatives and the Republicans are bribed by the industry to be cool with censorship of conservatives.

I don't know about the lawsuits against the individuals. Given how hard it is for a public figure to win on a defamation claim, they'll probably be fine too.

California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes filed a major lawsuit seeking $250 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages against Twitter and a handful of its users on Monday, accusing the social media site of "shadow-banning conservatives" including himself to influence the 2018 elections, systematically censoring opposing viewpoints and totally "ignoring" lawful complaints of repeated abusive behavior.
In a complaint filed in Virginia state court on Monday, obtained by Fox News, Nunes said Twitter was guilty of "knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory -- providing both a voice and financial incentive to the defamers -- thereby facilitating defamation on its platform."

Although federal law ordinarily exempts services like Twitter from defamation liability, Nunes' suit said the platform has taken such an active role in curating and banning content that it should face liability like any other organization that defames.

I like the argument, but unlike David French and other liberals, I don't allow my liking of an argument to influence my evaluation of its strength. The Communication Decency Act gives publishers like Twitter the designation of "platform" and says they can't be held liable for a third party's defamations, and that's pretty much the end of that discussion.

Congress could modify that at some point but they won't; Democrats want to restrict conservatives' free speech, and too many Republicans are frankly on the take. And also frequently consider conservatives' free speech to be a bother they would rather not suffer themselves.

...
In large part because of Twitter's actions, Nunes "endured an orchestrated defamation campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life" in the past year, according to the complaint.

The complaint also named specific Twitter accounts that spread allegedly defamatory material about Nunes. One defendant, identified as "Liz" Mair, purportedly published tweets that "implied that Nunes colluded with prostitutes and cocaine addicts, that Nunes does cocaine, and that Nunes was involved in a 'Russian money laundering front,'" according to Nunes' lawyers.

The complaint quoted a June 22, 2018 tweet from Mair that implied Nunes invested in a winery that "allegedly used underage hookers to solicit investment."

Mair did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.

To be fair, I think the @fresnobee writing up your investment in a winery that allegedly used underage hookers to solicit investment-- an allegation you've known about for years, during which you've stayed invested in it, I might add-- did surprise you. https://t.co/acMlAXjPP8
— BrandValue$4B (@LizMair) June 23, 2018

I don't know if that's defamatory, as it's loaded with "allegedlies" which will probably protect it.

Update: Maybe not. Nunes alleges that Mair is working "with" these fake-name attack accounts.

And a friend who just read the lawsuit itself tells me that Mair's LinkedIn profile says she's paid to "anonymously smear people on the Internet."

That's probably enough to allow a suit to go forward to determine if those anonymous accounts are in fact managed by or supported by Mair. (Assuming they push actual defamation which could serve as the basis for liability. If they don't push actual defamation, a court will reject attempts to probe who runs these accounts.*)

A lot of people have suspicions that these various attack accounts are in fact dummy accounts of people/groups funded by NeverTrump's deep-pocketed backers. I'd sure like to see some discovery on that point.

The complaint also charged that Twitter "shadow-banned" Nunes in 2018 "in order to restrict his free speech and to amplify the abusive and hateful content published and republished by Mair, Devin Nunes' Mom [an attack account pretending to be his mother]" and other accounts.

"The shadow-banning was intentional," the complaint continued. "It was calculated to interfere with and influence the federal election and interfere with Nunes’ ongoing investigation as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Twitter’s actions affected the election results. The combination of the shadow-ban and Twitter’s refusal to enforce its Terms and Rules in the face of clear and present abuse and hateful conduct caused Nunes to lose support amongst voters."

Eh. I wish this case were stronger, or that Nunes would hold off on his suit so that a stronger suit can be first to market.

Then again, this wouldn't be the first lawsuit. But this would be the one the media talks about a lot, and not in a good way.

Meghan Murphy, who runs FeministCurrent, Canada’s leading feminist website, is suing Twitter for banning her for her personal beliefs.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, says she was banned because her beliefs don’t align with the company’s politics.

She sued twitter for banning her for stating a truth, that a man born as a man is a man. Twitter, while claiming to be nonpartisan, is enforcing the sexual left's fringiest positions, including the claim that it is a hate crime and Actual Violence to "misgender" someone by correctly stating their gender.

You gotta click on that to see the picture of the guy she's saying is a guy. He identifies as a "lesbian transwoman," which means he's attracted to women, and that he's actually a guy who is claiming to be a woman.

Here's the thing: He has a full luxurious mustache and beard.

It's like this is a baiting performance-act joke.

* Though I should say that in my own case, the Obama-appointed judge was extremely unwilling to protect my anonymity.

But in general, if you're not a conservative in front of an Obama-appointed judge, courts are supposed to honor the tradition of anonymous speech as part of one's free speech rights.

Is This a Theory That Works?

91 Social media makes money off of data collection of the user. Shadow banning would be fraud. They collect data and profits while denying you their service while claiming that they are.
Posted by: literally serious

If they're taking what they want from you (data, eyes for its sponsored posts) and not giving you what they've promised in return (publicly communicating with the world) -- that is either fraud or breach of contract or both.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 07:01 PM Comments

Masked "Protesters" Illegally Occupy the El Paso Border Patrol Museum, Then Deface Memorial to Fallen Agent

—Ace of Spades

Wait, you're telling me they illegally trespassed on lands that weren't theirs, made a mess, and refused lawful commands to self-deport?

You're going to have to give me a minute to process this. This sounds all too fantastical to be real.

La Reconquista continues, Deb Heine tells us... Update: Dang, PJMedia recommended this article and it turns out it's a month old. Don't worry, I'll just keep it up for a bit then put up something else.

Dozens of protesters reportedly "occupied and reclaimed" the privately owned U.S. Border Patrol Museum near El Paso, Texas, over the weekend, harassing employees and visitors and defacing the museum's fallen agent memorial.
Museum director David Ham told the Washington Examiner that his staff and guests worried for their safety when "about 50 rowdy protesters entered the facility, defaced property, and refused to leave the grounds."

...

"We have a right to be here and share our own stories," the woman said before handing the bullhorn over to another activist. Later, the woman said, "A lot of these Border Patrol agents are murderers. That's what they are."

As they were leaving the facility, the agitators chanted, "Say it loud, say it clear, Border Patrol kills!" and "f*ck your walls, f*ck your borders, we won't take your f*cking orders!"

Posted by Ace of Spades at 06:33 PM Comments

Reuters Admits Their Reporter Had Confirmed That Robert Francis "Blotto" O'Rourke Was a Member of a Notorious Hacker Gang Two Years Ago -- But Sat on the Story So As Not to Damage His Senate Bid

—Ace of Spades

Seems like this guy runs for office primarily to keep the media from reporting on his past lawbreaking.

I wonder what charge he's looking to run out the statute of limitations on now.

Reuters reported late on Friday night that their reporter who broke the story about Democrat Beto O'Rourke belonging to a hacker group had the story for two years and agreed to sit on it until after O'Rourke's Senate race against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

The report, published early on Friday, documented O'Rourke's involvement in a hacker group named "Cult of the Dead Cow," and included multiple past writings from O'Rourke, some of which were described as "disturbing."

"After more than a year of reporting, [Joseph] Menn persuaded O'Rourke to talk on the record," Reuters reported. "In an interview in late 2017, O'Rourke acknowledged that he was a member of the group, on the understanding that the information would not be made public until after his Senate race against Ted Cruz in November 2018."

Yeah whatever.

They also kept this suppressed: Blotto's disturbing fantasies about murdering children.

He wrote this in a "t-file," which I guess is an entry on a site called "TacoLand."

From Reuters:

Another t-file from O'Rourke, written when he was 15, is a short and disturbing piece of fiction. "One day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street. They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles…. This happiness was mine by right. I had earned it in my dreams.
"As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two. I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head."

This is a guy who drove completely drunk, almost killed someone by driving on the wrong side of the highway, and then engaged in felony flight from police when they tried to arrest him.

Did that have to be covered up until he'd had his shot at Ted Cruz, too?

I like to think of running for public office as a kind of college admissions process, with all Democrats subscribing to a cheater "side-door" service called the United States leftwing media, filled with false claims about accomplishments that were never accomplished and even photoshops.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 05:42 PM Comments

Don't Call Joe Biden a Hero

—Ace of Spades

Joe Biden says that he stopped his driver on the way to tonight's state Democratic dinner to give a homeless woman "whatever was in my pocket" — stops sparking applause by saying "no, no, no, it's not about me."
— Alex Thomas (@AlexThomasDC) March 16, 2019

The other day I threw myself in the path of an out-of-control schoolbus and used my own body to cushion the impact with a concrete median divider.

Wait -- no, no, no -- stop applauding me. This isn't about me. This is about that bus. And the children I saved. No no -- not "I" saved, the children that were saved, by Almighty God, who used me as his Divinely Chosen Instrument of Salvation, because I'm awesome.

But this isn't about me. It's about God needing a favor, and me just lending the Big Guy a hand.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 04:43 PM Comments

AP Pushes New Leftwing Conspiracy Theory: "Puzzling" Number of Activists Connected to Ferguson are Dying (Usually by Suicide or Drug Overdose), And That Suggests They're Being Secretly Murdered by an Unidentified But Obviously White Cabal

—Ace of Spades

The left pushes no conspiracy theories, according to the left and their kissing, under-the-shirt-but-over-the-bra cousins the NeverTrumpers.

Before getting into this article, let me just postulate that perhaps the "activists" tend to be people living on the fringes of society, able to get time off their "jobs" to go to a city to "protest" at a moment's notice, and therefore might be poor and have the generally poor health of the poor -- including mental health.

Marginal employment and chronic unemployment correlate with bad health outcomes and increased mortality.

And they might maybe indulge in the drugs a bit.

Let me also suggest that people willing to throw molotov cocktails at police also generally live lives which occasionally intersect with violence and may die early for reasons having less to do with conspiracy than with statistical inevitability.

That said, let's see what your leftwing media is cooking up to replace their Russiagate conspiracy theory.

Two young men were found dead inside torched cars. Three others died of apparent suicides. Another collapsed on a bus, his death ruled an overdose.
Six deaths, all involving men with connections to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, drew attention on social media and speculation in the activist community that something sinister was at play.

...

[S]ome activists say their concerns about a possible connection arise out of a culture of fear that persists in Ferguson 4 1/2 years after Brown's death, citing threats -- mostly anonymous -- that protest leaders continue to receive.

"Everybody is on pins and needles," Gray said of his fellow activists.

You know who might have really been on the needle? That guy who collapsed on a bus due to a drug overdose.

...
Four others also died, three of them ruled suicides.

-- MarShawn McCarrel of Columbus, Ohio, shot himself in February 2016 outside the front door of the Ohio Statehouse, police said. He had been active in Ferguson.

He shot himself outside the front door of the Ohio Statehouse? I'm guessing that there was no Secret Second Shooter here. Seems to me like there'd be witnesses and surveillance footage of a Second Shooter.

-- Edward Crawford Jr., 27, fatally shot himself in May 2017 after telling acquaintances he had been distraught over personal issues, police said.

He told his friends he was distraught, then he killed himself. I guess he was in on the conspiracy himself, as he provided the conspirators with the Perfect Cover Story.

...
-- In October, 24-year-old Danye Jones was found hanging from a tree in the yard of his north St. Louis County home. His mother, Melissa McKinnies, was active in Ferguson and posted on Facebook after her son's death, "They lynched my baby." But the death was ruled a suicide.

So a woman that jumps on a propaganda conspiracy effort in Michael Brown's case immediately starts a new propaganda conspiracy effort about her son -- who, by the way, did not himself have anything to do with Ferguson protests.

-- Bassem Masri, a 31-year-old Palestinian American who frequently livestreamed video of Ferguson demonstrations, was found unresponsive on a bus in November and couldn't be revived. Toxicology results released in February showed he died of an overdose of fentanyl.

Oh, okay -- not the needle then. An all-too-common drug casualty of the pill form of heroin.

So what we have is the same group that straight-up invented one fake execution of a black man now inventing further executions of protesters.

Say, AP, if we're going to give credence to this obvious crankery --

how about we look into the Clinton Murder List, too? I mean, people are asking questions about that, too.

Coming Soon: "Activists" argue that the very fact that activists are spreading propagandistic conspiracy theories about activists being murdered is strong evidence that there is a White Cabal doing something to raise suspicions.

Isn't that how it goes with the #HoaxHateCrimes? The very fact someone "felt compelled" to fake a hate crime just proves how genuine the hate crime epidemic is.

Think About It:

FACT: There are no suspicious deaths in Wisconsin.

FACT: Hillary Clinton never visited Wisconsin.

CONCLUSION: ???

Posted by Ace of Spades at 03:35 PM Comments

Speaker of the House of Parliament Tells Teresa May, Stop Sending Us The Same Shit Brexit Deal

—Ace of Spades

The third time will not be the charm.

The speaker of Britain's House of Commons dealt a potentially fatal blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's ailing Brexit deal on Monday, saying the government couldn’t keep asking lawmakers to vote on the same deal they have already rejected twice.
The government intended to try a third time to get lawmakers to back the deal, ideally before May joins EU leaders Thursday at a Brussels summit where she is set to ask the bloc to postpone Britain's departure. May has warned opponents that a failure to approve her Brexit divorce deal would mean a long, and possibly indefinite, delay to Britain's departure from the EU.

Speaker John Bercow scuttled May’s plan, saying that centuries-old parliamentary rules prevent "the same proposition or substantially the same proposition" from being brought back repeatedly for votes in a session of Parliament.

Apparently leaving Brexit with no deal at all now commands a plurality of support in the UK -- 44% back the no-plan plan.

Video of the speaker's statement here.

I've gotta admit, I don't know the details of the "deal" the EU is forcing on May (and which May seems to be complacently accepting), but the details sound terrible. May had previously taken the position that she would rather have no deal than a bad deal, but when the EU proposed a bad deal, she meekly said, "Okay."

This anonymous article from a UK civil servant says the "Brexit deal" is actually a backdoor effort to keep the UK in the EU forever -- but without any voting rights in that organization.

Voters may believe we need [this deal] in order to leave the EU. We do not. They could be fooled by the Prime Minister’s repeated claims that there might be "no Brexit" unless it is passed -- when of course Brexit will happen by default without it under the terms of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act. Voters might also be forgiven for believing that the Withdrawal Agreement settles our future trade relationship with the EU. Not in the slightest. Future trade talks remain just that -- in the future -- while May's "deal" keeps the UK legally shackled to a moribund EU economy which it must attempt to revive with vast sums of British taxpayers' money for an indeterminate number of years.
...

But credit where it's due: EU officials (ably abetted by their British allies) have produced a devilishly clever draft treaty which, if passed, would end Brexit and get Britain ready to board the express train to a United States of Europe.

The political takeover of the UK represented by the Withdrawal Agreement is an audacious attempt to reverse a damning popular vote of discontent with the European Project and provide fresh impetus for the federal superstate that is the EU’s raison d'etre. The EU's triple lock guarantee is so constructed that never again will Brussels be troubled by an explosion of democracy in the United Kingdom. Parliament has one last chance to escape total eclipse -- and it is now, by rejecting the Withdrawal Agreement in its entirety.

Read that article's explanation of the "three locks" shackling the UK as a vassal state of Europe forever. It's hair-raising. This does indeed seem to be a viciously underhanded con by the UK establishment and May to put the UK back into the EU through the backdoor -- and as a vassal state, to boot!

But, at some point, the UK will realize that being a vassal state is even worse than their previous position and ask to be let back into the EU as a full member. But then the EU will demand more fees and also demand that the UK accept all EU laws.

This seems to be the real goal here.

The EU says it won't even continue negotiation for a couple of months -- unless the UK agrees to pay the EU one billion dollars per month of extended negotiations.

Below, Roger Daltrey is baited by a reporter about Brexit, and shuts him the eff down.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 02:28 PM Comments

Poll: In Midwestern States, Trump Leads a Generic Democrat Candidate 46% to 40%

—Ace of Spades

The number doesn't reflect his standing in any one particular state, but in the region overall.

Decent numbers, though.

There's a reason why President Trump is becoming more popular in important Midwestern battleground states like Pennsylvania: Voters don't want to lose the ongoing economic renaissance that is transforming their lives.
According to a recent opinion survey from The Wall Street Journal, the president "cumulatively leads a generic Democratic opponent, 46 percent to 40 percent," in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The survey's findings are not surprising, and it’' no small coincidence that those states are all thriving under the president's pro-growth economic policies.

Indeed, Trump’s economic agenda has had a profound effect on Pennsylvania: The state's 4.0 percent unemployment rate is now the lowest it’s been in nearly two decades, and the economy continues to add new jobs at a dizzying pace.

From @julie_Kelly2's twitter timeline, first put on twitter by Frank Luntz.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 01:28 PM Comments

Gunman Being Hunted in Netherlands After Shooting Three on Utrecht Tram

—Ace of Spades

The New Zealand shooter intended for the media to turn his terrorism into a political line of attack and thereby increase violence around the world.

Are the media the terrorist's eager accomplices here?

Police are looking for a 37-year-old Turkish man named as Gokmen Tanis and have warned people not to approach him.

If Trump inspired the New Zealand shooter, as the media alleges, did the media inspire this guy? How about Ilhan Omar? Or is Trump the only person on earth with the charisma to inspire people?

If you didn't see it, Media Buzz compiled clips of the leftwing media joining the New Zealand terrorist's propaganda blitz.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 12:27 PM Comments

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"So I was arguing about gun control with this baboon in the next enclosure and he says to me, he says, they should only allow people to buy guns with some kind of fingerprint-enabled locking device on them so another person couldn't steal it and shoot someone because his fingerprints don't match. Real deep thinker, he is. So I says, so what if a bad guy steals a gun and cuts off one of the owner's fingers so he could disable the lock. And he says, oh, that'd be super easy, barely an inconvenience. In that case, the locks would be hooked up to the wireless network so they could be disabled by the police from afar. I says to him, OK, so you're saying that there's going to be some giant database somewhere containing all of the who-owns-what-gun info? Who would be in charge of that? And he says, it would have to be the federal government. Then I says to him, so what would stop the federal government from locking all of the guns in the database at the same time if they wanted to do something really bad and didn't want anyone to be able to stop them? And he says, that's just a wild conspiracy theory, they would never do anything like that. So I said, are you telling me that freezing up all of the guns is an order that Donald Trump would never, ever give? He didn't say anything, so I said, look, the 2nd Amendment is for everybody, not just for one group. Look, all kinds of minorities complain all the time about being oppressed. Well then, our constitution provides a remedy for that. They need to buy some weapons, get some basic training in their use, and then they won't have to worry about being oppressed. The fact that none of these groups are doing this leads me to believe that they're only whining about oppression to get favors and handouts from the government. That's when he called me a fascist. And took a dump in my food trough."

Posted by OregonMuse at 11:15 AM Comments

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Jupiter and Thetis
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Posted by CBD at 09:30 AM Comments

The Morning Report - 3/18/19

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Start of a new week so off we go. In the wake of the horrific mass shooting at the New Zealand mosques, the politicization by the Left via demonization of Trump, guns, Judeo-Christianity, America and free market capitalism continues apace along with the concomitant obfuscation of the 1,500-year-old gorilla in the room: Radical Islam (pardon the redundancy). Though doubtless there are truly innocent victims in Christchurch, it pains me to say that all things considered I am finding it very difficult to really care all that much. When one considers the rivers of blood shed by innocent people in the name of - and as instructed by - the faithful in the practicing of this "religion" (many of whom are fellow devotees, incidentally), which is either ignored or excused by the enemies of their enemies on the Left, sad to say it's just a local crime story more than 10 miles away.

And please spare me the complete myth of "there are extremists on both sides" bromide. In the grand scheme of things, the pure unvarnished truth is that Islam, and its fellow travelers on the Left, have as its/their avowed policy the subjugation of humanity by every means at its disposal including violence as a political/military weapon. There is no equivalent organized "right-wing," Judeo-Christian movement that practices this on anything even remotely resembling the frequent, regular basis as Islam. The body count speaks for itself, just as the motives of the perpetrators.

Speaking of which, the real motivations and political mindset of the perpetrators don't really fall neatly into the official media narrative of white nationalist right wing Nazi Trump supporter. From what has escaped the media embargo is the fact that the ring leader is some sort of socialist, radical environmentalist and was in fact hoping that the massacre would somehow be the spark that sets off a hot civil war in the USA. Helter Skelter + 50 years. But all of this aside, it cannot be emphasized enough that if there is any racial/religious/political violence that needs to be addressed, it is that that has been and continues to be inflicted upon civilization and freedom-loving people everywhere by the twin demons of Islam and Leftism. Period. Full stop.

In Immigration and Amnesty, the top stories include the President vetoing the Senate resolution against his invocation of a national emergency to deal with the border crisis. He went further by ordering ordering the use of biometric IDS as well as shredding 466,000 Obama-issued green cards.

To politics where Joe Lieberman rips Palsi and the Dems for mainstreaming Joo-hate, Rancid Tliban is rancid, Sarsour, the Hamas Louse gets "triggered" by criticism of "Bro-Fo" Omar, who should be a wake up call for every real American. Meanwhile, Beto "Paddy" O'Rourke is "mortified" by his writings as a youth that fantasized about mowing little children down. Funny how we never heard about this until now; funny meaning Reuters and the rest of the Democrat-Media Complex knew about it and kept it dark until after the 2018 midterms. This guy wrote some pretty disturbing shit. Meh, so did Bernie Sanders and his rape fantasies. Also, Colorado's Polis signs into law the first attempt to torpedo the electoral college and disenfranchise the state's voters while Washington State passes what has got to be a wildly illegal edict keeping Trump off the 2020 ballot unless he releases his tax returns. Over to you, Judge Buch M. Danno for the seal of approval. Elsewhere, Donkey Chompers is thin-skinned, Kamala-Toe thinks treason is a civil right, blondie Gillibrand declares she's in, and several good links on socialism.

Abortion: House GOP leaders trying to hold the Dems' feet to the fire on infanticide and New Mexico's Marxist governor goes apeshit when her own party torpedoes a baby-killer bill.

First Amendment and Fake News Fakery: Building on the wake of New Zealand, Fox muzzles Jeanine Pirro, Robert Spence expects to be muzzled, Fake Jake Fapper-Tapper tries getting Scott Brown in a gotcha moment, Google whips out the Stalin airbrush and erases the climate-fraud-debunking founder of Greenpeace, and a look at Michigan's anti-free speech AG.

Foreign Desk: Rent-a-mob gets activated to rally for Maduro, who supposedly is "reorganizing" his government (mostly with rubber hoses), American Airlines suspends all flights there, Germany feels the heat and gives the boot to terrorist Rasmea Odeh, Sec State Pompeo heads to Weather-Control-Central for a confab before the big election, the Jordanians are still hosting the 2001 Sbarro Pizzeria bomber and the Christchurch massacre can happen anywhere.

Domestic News: Nebraska hit with record flooding, Legal Insurrection's William Jacobson is pumped about Cocaine Mitch and the Grahaminator ramming through judicial confirmations, an essay against paid family leave, a Deep State Obama holdover has tough going (good) and will the Oroville Dam fail again?

The Economy: Good numbers on jobs, Trump threatens a Government Motors plant to open or else and government union sez "Janus schmanus; fuck you pay me" to workers.

Crime and Punishment: Man falsely accused of sexual assault awarded $1.8 million, but where does he go to get his reputation back?

Healthcare: Medicare Part B fix fixes nothing, per the author.

Education: The college entrance bribery scandal spotlight shines on the Obamas... unexpectedly, Dennis Prager on how to deprogram your college kid, City Journal boosts vocational training as the alternative to college and the arguments against charter schools make the case for the dire need for more of them.

Red Greens: The case of a sick, criminal eco-fraudster and how children are used as zombies to pimp the lies, and a takedown of Chiquita Khruschev's climate hypocrisy.

Hither and Yon: National Geographic takes back Neil deGrabasse Tyson despite the sexual harassment allegations, Apollo 11 and Woodstock examined 50 years on, shut up and get back to work, a rather critical look at the judicial philosophy of the late Robert Bork and finally legendary guitarist Dick Dale who pioneered the surf guitar sound has passed away at 81. RIP.

Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in some links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.

BORDER WALL, MIGRANT INVASION, AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

Posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:09 AM Comments

Sunday Overnight Open Thread (3/17/19)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

(Amen!)

***

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

“My ham-handed attempt to try to highlight the fact that Amy has the lion’s share of the burden in our family — that she actually works but is the primary parent in our family, especially when I served in Congress, especially when I was on the campaign trail — should have also been a moment for me to acknowledge that that is far too often the case, not just in politics, but just in life in general,” Presidential candidate Robert Francis O'Rourke

Quote II

If Beto had an R after his name instead of a D, you’d hear he was boarding-school-attending judge’s son who dodged serious charges for the DUI & burglary, used eminent domain to gentrify poor Latino neighborhoods & married into a billionaire’s family. Jim Geraghty

Quote III

“I explicitly denounced violence. And I criticized the establishment for pandering to Islamic fundamentalism. So Australia banned me again.” Milo Yiannopoulos

***

St. Patrick's Day Joke

One foine winters evening, the door into Murphy's Irish Bar in South Boston bursts open and a big red-haired Mick walks in. He goes up to the bar and and says "Bartender, O'Shaughnessy’s here for a drink, and when O'Shaughnessy drinks, everybody drinks, and I'll have a Guinness!"

Everyone in the bar cheers and crowds around the bar, ordering whatever they've been drinking.

O'Shaughnessy throws down his Guinness and says "Bartender, O'Shaughnessy's here for a drink, and when O'Shaughnessy drinks, everybody drinks, and I'll have another Guinness!"

Everyone in the bar cheers and crowds around the bar again, ordering whatever they've been drinking and they even go out into the street and invite passersby in for a drink.

O'Shaughnessy throws down his Guinness and says "Bartender, O'Shaughnessy's here for a drink, and when O'Shaughnessy drinks, everybody drinks!"

Everyone in the bar cheers again and crowds around the bar, ordering whatever they've been drinking and they even go out into the street and invite passersby in for a drink, even the cop on the beat comes in for a drink!.

Then, O'Shaughnessy throws down his Guinness and says "Barkeep, when O'Shaughnessy pays, everybody pays!"
Listener supported ONT............H/T Hrothgar

***

Everything you ever wanted to know about St. Patrick's Day and Corned Beef and cabbage dinner but were afraid to ask.

Just wanted to set the record straight on the historical facts. Even worse, his name wasn't Patrick.

He was an England-born slave of Irish raiders. Since England was still Roman in 400, he really was a colonial Roman.

Some moar historical stuff for you.

***

***

We have all seen him one time or another, but most of us didn't know his name. RIP character actor Richard Erdman.

***

You had one fucking job to do. Houston drag queen with child assault conviction is hired read to the children.

- Houston Public Library is apologizing after a man charged for sexually assaulting a child was allowed to entertain children at Drag Queen storytime.

The library said Friday that a review revealed the volunteer never completed a background check before he was allowed to participate in the program.

Albert Alfonso Garza, 32, was last seen reading to children at the Montrose Library in September 2018.

Sometimes "Sorry" doesn't f*cking cut it. Damn right it should never happen again someone should lose their job.

***

Space travel. What could go wrong beside the obvious? How about your herpes reappearing?

The herpes viruses was reactivated in more than half of the crew aboard Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) missions.

"NASA astronauts endure weeks or even months exposed to microgravity and cosmic radiation - not to mention the extreme G forces of take-off and re-entry," said senior author Dr. Satish K. Mehta of KBR Wyle at the Johnson Space Center.

"This physical challenge is compounded by more familiar stressors like social separation, confinement and an altered sleep-wake cycle."

Mehta and colleagues monitor the physiological impact of spaceflight by analyzing saliva, blood and urine samples from the astronauts. What they found was problematic.

***

The ONT Musical Interlude - Irish Style
Ten best Irish bands of all time? They left off Thin Lizzy, so I call Bullshit.

&&&

Born on 17 Mar 1951
American guitarist and songwriter Scott Gorham Thin Lizzy, who had the 1976 hit single 'The Boys Are Back In Town' and the UK No.2 album Live and Dangerous. Gorham joined the band at a time when their future was in doubt after the departures of original guitarist Eric Bell and his brief replacement Gary Moore. via thisdayinmusic.com

***

There is no 1st Amendment in New Zealand.

***

"This is clearly a foolish act by one of our meter readers and is in no way representative of meter reading colleagues across E.ON, all of whom will be feeling let down by this behaviour. Genius Award Winner.

***

Seeking input tonight. Does this story qualify for Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day or Genius Award Winner.

When Indiana homeowner George Hollingsworth noticed some damage Tuesday to the door frame on his garage, he suspected a break-in, the Marion Police Department wrote in a statement.

On Wednesday, Hollingsworth began cleaning out his cluttered garage to determine if anything had been stolen, police reported. That’s when he found the body of a suspected burglar crushed beneath a 900-pound antique floor safe that had apparently toppled onto the stranger, police wrote.

“My mind couldn’t comprehend it,” Hollingsworth said, WXIN reported. “This can’t be real. It’s like some strange tale.”

Police were called to the scene at 8:20 p.m., officers wrote.

Police wrote in their statement that the safe, which had been held up by a floor jack, appeared to have fallen over onto the intruder as he rummaged through the tightly packed garage.

***

Overcoming a major physical disability and Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

***

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Bowling For Expulsion.

Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire, AceCorp, LLC and Bowling For Furniture, Inc. Rental shoes optional.

Weekly commenter stats for week of 3-17-2019

Top 10 commenters:
1 [626 comments] 'Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo' [87.87 posts/day]
2 [399 comments] 'mikeyG'
3 [369 comments] 'willow'
4 [335 comments] 't-bird'
5 [333 comments] 'Christopher R Taylor'
6 [333 comments] 'TheJamesMadison, Read Some Movie Thoughts'
7 [317 comments] 'rickb223'
8 [308 comments] 'Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)'
9 [306 comments] 'Jane D'oh'
10 [300 comments] 'garrett'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [176 names] 'Miklos, just Miklos' [24.70 unique names/day]
2 [42 names] 'Hands'
3 [42 names] 'Count de Monet'
4 [36 names] 'Meade Lux Lewis'
5 [34 names] 'Yudhishthira's Dice'
6 [32 names] 'Axeman'
7 [30 names] 'LeftCoast Dawg'
8 [30 names] 'Cuthbert the Witless'
9 [30 names] 'Cicero (@cicero)'
10 [28 names] 'Mike Hammer, etc., etc.'

Close it up

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:40 PM Comments

Gun Thread: Count 'Em! Ten Reasons! [Weasel]

—Open Blogger

It dawned on me that after all these weeks we haven't yet had a look at what I consider to be my first choice home defense weapon. Let's take care of that now, shall we?

Posted by Open Blogger at 07:00 PM Comments

Food Thread: An Unexamined Food Is Not Worth Eating*

—CBD

I make hummus all of the time, because it's really easy, tastes great, and is a great appetizer to plop down on the table with drinks. But for the longest time I made the baseless assumption that it needed lots of olive oil to taste good. Now, adding fat to a dish is rarely a bad thing, but olive oil is a strong-flavored fat, and there is a fair amount of variation in it, especially the extra-virgin varieties. So making hummus was always an exercise in tasting and adding and wondering what it needed.

But one day, long past the time that one would have expected me to have figured this out, I thought, "Hmmm...Dildo...maybe use much less olive oil and see what happens." My first fear was that it would be too thin, because the olive oil emulsifies wonderfully with the other stuff. But then I realized that tahini (sesame paste) has lots of fat, and off I went!

And there was much rejoicing at Chez Dildo, because the hummus was great! And easier, because I didn't have to drain the chick peas and carefully dole out the liquid to arrive at the correct consistency. I just dumped the whole can in and the rest of the ingredients, then drizzled a bit of olive oil in for flavor.

The moral of the story is that preconceived notions can be tough to change, or never get involved in a land war in Asia. Maybe both.

Anyway, it is possible to teach old dogs new tricks in the kitchen.

*With apologies to Plato

Posted by CBD at 04:00 PM Comments

Brexit Is An Obsession With The British Media The Way Trump Derangement Syndrome Is With The American Media

—CBD

The dysfunction in the UK political system is unbelievable. I think they took a look at the U.S. Congress and thought, "Hold my beer!"

Had they simply obeyed the will of the people after the referendum in June of 2016, the current ridiculous mess would never have happened. Sure, there would have been a few months of bureaucrats frantically proclaiming the end of the world because milk carton labeling was non-standard and salt shakers had different sized holes, but the UK and the EU would have figured it out.

What the elites in Parliament don't understand (and our "elites" are no different) is that the purpose of Brexit was an expression of dissatisfaction with being ruled from afar. It had very little to do with finance and business dealings and streamlined customs procedures. Those are trivial in comparison to the desire of the people of the United Kingdom to shake off the yoke of EU control, and return to an independent country.

But the media in the UK is all in on gutting Brexit, and that means obstructing the will of the people. They can't let anyone express pro-Brexit sentiments, and criticism of the EU is simply unacceptable, even from one of the grand old men of England!

Take a look at Roger Daltry below the fold...

Posted by CBD at 02:15 PM Comments

Green, Carbon-Neutral, Eco-Friendly? My Ass!

—CBD

I like the idea of going on the offense! Attack these neo-Luddites at every opportunity. Point out how incredibly destructive their so-called green energy projects are! They waste fuel, kill birds, destroy America's grand vistas, take up huge amounts of land (who wants a solar panel array in their backyards?), and decrease our access to the marvels of a free-market economy and Western technology.

[Hat Tip: XBradTC]

Personally, as I have ranted in the past, the perfect energy plan is to build about 100 standardized nuclear power plants while technology advances in battery development and other market-based answers to future energy challenges.

The good news is that we are flush with clean-burning natural gas, thanks to the wonders of fracking, so we have plenty of time to perfect other energy sources. Hell, oil is damned clean too! There are many more cars in America today than compared to my youth in the 19-mumble-mumble-mumble, and they are better, faster, safer and more comfortable, all while polluting at a mere fraction of their predecessors. In fact. America is much, much cleaner and less polluted than it was just a generation or two ago, and I fully expect that trend to continue!

The free market can do anything when it is allowed to....so our job as conservatives is to unleash that power and reap the benefits!

And drink good whiskey. And eat rare steaks. And hit the X when we shoot.

Posted by CBD at 12:15 PM Comments

Sunday Morning Book Thread 03-17-2019

—OregonMuse

Nakajima Library, Akita International University, Japan
(click for larger version)

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, and everybody who's holding your beer. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, writing, and publishing by escaped oafs who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, which look like they've been used for a very bad art project. Or they an artist's whose cat knocked over all of his paints.

(h/t lurker Scottst for the pants link)

Pic Note

It not only looks good, it also smells good:

Once you step into Nakajima library, you’ll be greeted with the faint scent of cedar wood, which is what the library’s furniture is made of. Not only does it give the library its scent, the Japanese cedar is also native to the university’s prefecture, Akita.

The scent definitely makes the library a relaxing place, but Nakajima library has one more reader friendly trait — its unique Colosseum design. Behind those circular bookshelves are actual work-spaces where you can do some serious reading without being bothered.

As of April 2015, Nakajima library holds more than 75,000 books and over 3,000 CDs and DVDs. If your can’t read a shred of Japanese, don’t worry! More than 60 percent of the books are written in English. That’s more 45,000 books to choose from.

I thought today's photo is a good example of a modern library that is esthetically pleasing rather than some brutalist nightmare. And of course you'll want to click on it to see the larger version. I don't know how this is going to be visible for you morons who are reading this on your phones, though. I don't think Pixy's software has been optimized for mobile viewing.

Reminder

As announced in last week's book thread, The AoSHQ Sunday Morning Book Thread International De-Lurk Day is next Sunday. I hope all you lurkers are busy preparing book reviews to share with the rest of us. Interestingly enough, last week after I made the announcement, a couple of "sooners" de-lurked early and posted some good reviews. NTTAWWT. In fact, it's great. Unlike the historical "sooners", you won't be reviled as a bunch of cheaters.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

A WHIPMEGMORUM is a noisy quarrel about politics.

Usage: Only a masochist would want to descend into the whipmegmorum of Twitter.

Faith and Begorrah!

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I'll list a book about the man himself. Saint Patrick Retold: The Legend and History of Ireland's Patron Saint by Roy Flechner is serious history:

Saint Patrick was, by his own admission, a controversial figure. Convicted in a trial by his elders in Britain and hounded by rumors that he settled in Ireland for financial gain, the man who was to become Ireland’s patron saint battled against great odds before succeeding as a missionary. Saint Patrick Retold draws on recent research to offer a fresh assessment of Patrick’s travails and achievements. This is the first biography in nearly fifty years to explore Patrick’s career against the background of historical events in late antique Britain and Ireland.

You can read a comprehensive review of this book here. Patrick really did have a worldwide impact.

Few national saints have the global reach of Patrick: it has been calculated that church bells ring out in 800 worldwide locations to celebrate the feast day of this Roman Briton who brought Christianity to Ireland in the early 5th century. Jewish bakeries in New York sell green bagels and horses run at Cheltenham in his honor.

Fortunately, this is not one of those biographies which aim it is to denigrate and humiliate its subject:

Flechner’s authorial aim is both academic and popular: his biography is certainly filled with densely sourced information about the Roman world, and early and middle medieval Christianity. Yet Patrick does come across as a genuinely interesting personality. He suffered many hardships, he was sincerely holy and he was very knowledgeable about Scripture. His understanding of the Hebrew Bible was such that one scholarly document has suggested he was Jewish — so maybe those green bagels are justified.

From what I've read in other sources, Patrick really was a remarkable man. Or rather, I think it's more accurate to say he became a remarkable man. I wish I had known him.

Moron Recommendations

On the reading front, finally got the chance to start Uncharted by Anderson and Hoyt. Looks like a fun and truly original adventure (and who could not love a dragon-fighting Ben Franklin?)

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at March 03, 2019 11:17 AM (IIV8c)

I agree, Uncharted (Arcane America Book 1) does look like a rollicking good time:

After Halley’s Comet was destroyed in a magical battle in 1759, the backlash separated the entire New World from the Old in an event known as The Sundering. Now isolated from the rest of the globe, America has become a very different place, where magic works and history has been changed forever.

It is 1803—a new 1803. Young Meriwether Lewis, footloose and intrigued, goes to hear a lecture in St. Louis by the venerated old wizard Benjamin Franklin...[who] tells the young man that he knows of a great, growing evil that lurks in the uncharted Arcane Territories west of the Mississippi.

Using his own vast fortune, Franklin commissions Lewis and his own talented partner William Clark to embark on a remarkable voyage of exploration...

Accompanied by the brilliant shape-shifting sorceress Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark set off on an unparalleled adventure across a landscape that no European has ever seen.

You can also buy it from the Baen Books site, but you'll be paying a couple of bucks more.

___________

Lurker 'crisis du jour' is one of those unfortunately morons who is not a lurker by choice:

I can't seem to post at all at Ace these days, for reasons I can't figure out. CBD told me my username at Ace has no restrictions on it for past misbehavior, but even so: when I try to post anything from any of my devices, all that happens is that I get back a stream of red italic code-babble that basically tells me to go play in traffic. So I'm not able to de-lurk, much as I might like to do so.

I wish I could help him, but even as a cob, I have no idea why he can't comment. The 'stream of red italic code-babble' is something I've never seen before. You usually get informed that your IP address has been banned, or your comment simply doesn't show up. The ways of Pixy are indeed mysterious. Sigh. But he did send along a book recommendation:

Were I able to post on the 24th, I'd strongly recommend that the entire Moronosphere read Arthur Koestler's novel Darkness At Noon. The plot revolves around a Mr. Rubashov, a former communist revolutionary and exporter of revolution who, when he stepped just this far -->||<-- away from a constantly-shifting party orthodoxy, was imprisoned, tried, and eventually executed. The novel never mentions the Soviet Union or Stalin by name, but that is clearly the setting and the time during which the events of the novel take place. For us in the U.S. 80 years later, the likeness, at least in spirit, between Rubashov's tormentors and our intolerant, almost messianic progressive wannabe-overlords is striking. Unsettling reading, but highly recommended.

You know who might be willing to read this novel now? Alyssa Milano:

1. I learned it doesn’t matter how pure your intentions are, or your 30 yrs of advocacy work & activism, if you use well established poetic license & nuance the very people you passionately fight for will be uspset because you didn’t say it the literal way they’d prefer. https://t.co/zzhPOPvGLn
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) March 12, 2019

Good heavens, the woman has got nothing between her ears but vacuum. I have no idea what she said that set off the howling mob, but what are the odds that she'll learn that no matter how woke you are, you can always get out-woked by the super-woke. When we're all in the camps, It will be amusing to watch her firing off letters to Comrade Commissar Ocasio-Cortez proclaiming the purity of her wokeness.

___________

155 I'm reading "Touched By Fire" about the land war in the South Pacific, particularly (where I am in the text) the fighting in Guadalcanal and New Guinea. Eric Bergerud doesn't conceal his great admiration for the Marines and the Aussies who were hustled back from North Africa to meet the shockingly sudden shock of the Japanese moving south. Besotted with success--later woefully becoming known in Tokyo as Victory Disease--the Japs thought they couldn't be beaten because of their unquenchable spirit and racial superiority. They might have taken New Guinea or Guadalcanal if they had concentrated on one or the other. Muddled thinking and the hatred the army had for the navy--a feeling that was reciprocated with knobs--brought the beginning of their doom. The Marines of that day were farm boys, factory mechanics and other can-do sorts who were thrown into the war with a minimum of training and weapons that had been used against Kaiser Bill. Yet they and the Aussies fought the seasoned Japanese troops, fresh from wins in China and the Malay Peninsula, to a standstill in the worst battle conditions in the history of warfare. Mother Nature was the pitiless enemy of both sides. Each side suffered from supply shortages, most crucially food and medicine. The valiant Japanese--Bergerud is unstinting in their praise, which makes his admiration of the Marines and Aussies all the more impressive--got within view of search lights at Port Moresby before the emerging defeat at Guadalcanal made them turn back, a retreat that turned into a rout. A ripping good read by an author who knows his stuff.

Posted by: Jerry Jay Carroll at March 10, 2019 10:12 AM (SYCeT)

There is no e-book edition of Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific by Eric Bergerud, but there are cheaper used copies available, both hardcover and paperback, on the Amazon page.

___________

Here's a book review from a "sooner":

Yes, I'm a lurker, but since you requested a book review, here goes. I'm recommending "Bellows Falls" by Archer Mayor. Mr. Mayor has written many novels set in and around South Eastern Vermont. This one is named after and set in the actual village in that area that I grew up in. It's a police detective procedural and what I like about it is (of course) that I recognize many of the places and types of people that the novel is set in. The story itself is interesting as well. Vermont for all its natural organic marketing has a very seedy underbelly...

Posted by: Rodent at March 10, 2019 11:17 AM (2Xlz2)

Bellows Falls is the 8th novel in the Joe Gunther Mysteries series:

Joe Gunther is seconded to the neighboring town of Bellows Falls to investigate harassment allegations against a fellow officer. What begins as a seemingly open-and-shut case comes to look more and more like a frame job as Gunther doggedly pursues the truth, and soon he finds himself feeling around the edges of a statewide drug distribution network. As always, Vermont itself is a major character in Mayor's writing, with Bellows Falls standing in for any number of slowly decaying once-proud mill towns.

The Kindle edition is $6.99. Not bad.

I thought the name 'Bellows Falls' sounded familiar, and sure enough, I posted a pic of their public library a few months ago.

___________

Books By Morons

'Ette author right wing yankee has a new novel out, which she describes as a space opera written in a regency-esque style:

Hartington Abroad is the second book in the Hartington series, which follows the adventures of three siblings as they deal with the fallout of their father's death and the loss of their fortune.

“Jeriah Hartington is far from home. Born into a wealthy family, he is now reduced to poverty. In desperation, he signs on to a ship headed for the planet XKF-36. Their mission? To search for colonists who’ve been lost nearly as long as Jeriah has been alive.

Jeriah fully anticipates an adventure as they travel into the unknown wilderness. He never expected to find living people, eager to tell the tale of their sufferings. But their hair-raising account could be the downfall of everyone on the planet, even their rescuers. For a villain lurks within the ship’s crew, and no one can say who he might be.”

Hartington Abroad is the second book in the Hartington series, following three siblings as they deal with the fallout of their father's death and the loss of their fortune.

It's $2.99 to buy, or free with Kindle Unlimited.

But you should probably first read the first book in the series, The Hartington Inheritance. Then you'll be caught up.

___________

Moron author Hans Schantz e-mails to say that his Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance 2018 Book of the Year Finalist, A Rambling Wreck, is on sale:

There's no partial credit on a question of life and death!

Off to Georgia Tech for the education he'll need to defeat the guardians of the hidden truth, Peter discovers the battle for the future is being fought right on campus. Now he has to infiltrate a conspiracy, find new allies, and thwart a takeover of the school. Peter's most challenging final exam has only one question:

Can a Rambling Wreck stop the Cabal?
And a failing grade will be his last.

I recommend this series. It reads like some characters from a Heinlein juvenile novel are thrust into the modern era. Lots of action, adventure, and danger.

A Rambling Wreck, the sequel to The Hidden Truth, is on sale for 99 cents this week.

___________

Don't forget the AoSHQ reading group on Goodreads. It's meant to support horde writers and to talk about the great books that come up on the book thread. It's called AoSHQ Moron Horde and the link to it is here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175335-aoshq-moron-horde.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Close it up

Posted by OregonMuse at 09:00 AM Comments

EMT 03/17/19

—krakatoa

Birthday parties for 5 year olds should never start at 6:30 p.m. That's just got cruel and unusual written all over it.

Posted by krakatoa at 06:00 AM Comments

Saturday Overnight Open Thread (3/16/19)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

***

The Saturday Night Joke

Two men grow up together, but after college one moves to Maryland and the other to Texas. They agree to meet every ten years in Florida to play golf and catch up with each other.

At age 32 they meet, finish their round of golf and head for lunch.

“Where you wanna go?”

“Hooters.”

“Why Hooters?”

“They have those servers with the beautiful bosoms, the tight shorts, and the gorgeous legs.”

“You’re on.”

At age 42, they meet and play golf again.

“Where you wanna go for lunch?”

“Hooters.”

“Again? Why?”

“They have cold beer, big screen TVs, and side action on the games.”

“OK.”

At age 52 they meet and play again. “So where you wanna go for lunch?”

“Hooters.

“Why?”

“The food is pretty good and there’s plenty of parking.”

“OK.”

At age 62 they meet again.

After a round of golf, one says, “Where you wanna go?”

“Hooters.”

“Why?”

“Wings are half price and the food isn’t too spicy.”

“Good choice”

At age 72 they meet again.

Once again, after a round of golf, one says, “Where shall we go for lunch?”

“Hooters.”

“Why?”

“They have six handicapped parking spaces right by the door and they have senior discounts.”

“Great choice.”

At age 82 they meet and play again. “Where should we go for lunch?”

“Hooters.”

“Why?”

“Because we’ve never been there before.”

“Okay.”

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:44 PM Comments

A Black and White Occasional Fishing Thread [Bandersnatch]

—CBD

Welcome Piscators and Piscatrettes! (That’s an Izaak Walton reference. You people disappointed me last time by not asking). This is an occasional fishing thread which appears like clockwork every three weeks. Occasionally. All fishing content is on topic, the musings here are just prompts.

Oh, that drawing above was supposed to be in the Deplorable Gourmet. *glares at people*

So, this week’s jumping off point is the concept of the fishing partner. That’s a much deeper commitment than the fishing buddy. A fishing buddy is someone you’ll fish with, you talk about fishing, it’s a buddy. A fishing partner is someone you can count on to meet you at the Secret Spot at 05:00. He’ll share his spots with you and vice versa. And you get to a point where you trust each other enough to follow the other’s lead but only after it’s been talked through thoroughly. The wind sucks today, where can we find a good spot in the lee? (Cape Cod is on four bodies of water, so there is always something to try).

I met mine thanks to a site not unlike this one. It had a message board that was already archaic by 1995 standards. There was copious ball busting. Sock puppeting was enabled. Now, back then there were maybe a hundred or two people in New England who fly fished in salt water and knew what the internet was, so we eventually all met each other. Like this place the board had its own lingo.

There’s a floating dock on an estuary where there’s a chance to catch fish and enough room to make a backcast and you don’t have to put on waders so you can sneak it in on the way home to lying to the wife. I was there one evening and another guy was doing the same and we got to talking about where we’d fished and how we’d done and he said something about “Poppy”. That meant Popponesset Spit as surely as “dip my balls in pudding” means the 2016 election. So we gave the secret handshake and he’s been a reliable fishing partner ever since. I call him Lassie because he claims he can smell fish.

There’s a trout writer out in Colorado, John Gierach, who has made a cottage industry of going fishing with his partner and writing about what happens. The partner, A.K. Best, has got a couple of books and sold a ton of flies out of that. Do you have a fishing partner?

One day, this guy showed up at that bulletin board:

Tony Stetzko and "Bertha"

That’s not a photoshop. It’s 1981. That was, I thought, the world record striped bass but it was only the Massachusetts record. Missed a guy from Jersey named Frank Church’s record by a little. Still, the guy is a legend, and one day he showed up on the board. I thought it was a sockpuppet. It would be like Andrew Breitbart showing up in the comments here.

I got to know him pretty well. We were not close personal friends but he treated me like one. Sometimes he was down and out and sleeping under the counter of his copy shop, sometimes he was married to a girl with a big farm and shooting coyotes off the porch at night. He was always the same in either case, and also a damn fine watercolorist.

So when I decided to go with the Black & White motif for this thread I went looking for a Hemingway picture and fell into a rabbit hole. That’s some Italian girl photographer.

He was a legitimate innovator in offshore fishing. He was living in Havana, had the boat Pilar built, and sought out the world’s leading expert on marlin fishing. The world’s leading expert had caught about seven of them. Within a year Hemingway caught seventy in a season.

And to tie all the threads together we have the book thread, the fishing thread, the drinking thread, the gun safety thread, and the child-rearing thread all in one picture. I assume that’s a Thompson but await correction. He did write entertainingly in Esquire about actually shooting himself in the leg with that gun, presumably drunk.

Now, for the next Occasion, some people have submitted fishing brag pics. I think we’ll do fishing brag pics of Morons and Lurkers, sort of like the pet thread. So if you have any fishing brag pics send them to aoshqfish at gmail dot com

Close it up

Posted by CBD at 07:35 PM Comments

Saturday Afternoon Chess Thread 03-16-2019

—OregonMuse

Romantic Chess

Pic Note:

Isn't Romantic chess wonderful? Bet he's not the first man to throw a game, hoping to get some favors from milady.

As always, the chess/dress pr0n thread is an open thread, so there is no such thing as an off-topic comment.

Easier Problem - White To Play (938 )

This position is from Reti-Tartakower, Vienna 1923.

Goal: White can force mate in 3 moves
Hint: Set up a deadly double check

rnb1kb1r/pp3ppp/2p5/4q3/4n3/3Q4/PPPB1PPP/2KR1BNR w kq - 0 1

More Challenging Problem - White To Play (855)

This is not a study or a made-up position. According to the information in my chess database, this position is from Zuckertort-Englisch, 1883. I would never be able to find the correct solution to a problem like this OTB, but it's fun to move the pieces around and expore the various lines.

Goal: White can force advantage exchanges, leaving Black with almost nothing
Hint: lots of tactics in this one, multiple deflections and a knight fork, but no underpromoting

4k3/p1P3p1/2q1np1p/3N4/8/1Q3PP1/6KP/8 w - - 0 1

Dress Pr0n For The 'Ettes:

The sixteenth dress in my advent calendar is this beautiful festive red silk gown from around 1837. pic.twitter.com/LtNfi7Kk3Q
— Mélanie Dangereuse Clegane ???? (@MmeGuillotine) December 16, 2018

Click on the dress pic for a fuller view. There are four photos.

(No, I don't think it's her. Kind of looks like her, though.)

Greetings From Malta

___________

Solutions Update

Easier Problem - White To Play

rnb1kb1r/pp3ppp/2p5/4q3/4n3/3Q4/PPPB1PPP/2KR1BNR w kq - 0 1

1.Qd8+ Kxd8
2.Bg5+ Kc7

If 2...Ke8 then 3.Rd8#

3.Bd8#

More Challenging Problem - White To Play

4k3/p1P3p1/2q1np1p/3N4/8/1Q3PP1/6KP/8 w - - 0 1

1. Qb5 Qxb5

The only move. 1...Qd7 2.c8Q+ is disastrous for Black.

2. c8Q+ Kf7
3. Qxe6+ Kxe6

Taking the queen is not Black's only response. There are a couple of other lines, but the end result is pretty much the same. We'll look at them after the main line:

4.Nc7+ Kd6
5.Nxb5+ and wins

Instead of 3...Kxe6, Black can try running away. After all, he still has his queen. But his hopes will be dashed:

Line #1: 3...Kg6 4.Ne7+ Kh7 (4...Kh5 5.Qg4#) 5.Qg8#
Line #2: 3...Kf8 4. e8+ Kxe8 5.Nc7+ winning

Hope to see you all next week!

___________

Note: that cryptic line of letters and numbers you see underneath each board diagram is a representation of the position in what is known as "Forsyth-Edwards Notation", or F.E.N. It's actually readable by humans. Most computer applications nowadays can read FEN, so those of you who may want to study the position, you can copy the line of FEN and paste into your chess app and it should automatically recreate the position on its display board. Or, Windows users can just "triple click" on it and the entire line will be highlighted so you can copy and paste it into your chess app.

___________

So that about wraps it up for this week. Chess thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to my yahoo address: OregonMuse little-a-in-a-circle yahoo dott com.

Close it up

Posted by OregonMuse at 05:18 PM Comments

Ace of Spades Pet Thread

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

***

Good afternoon. Welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Kick back, relax and enjoy the world of animals.

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 03:00 PM Comments

Saturday Gardening Thread, March 16 [KT]

—Open Blogger

Hello, gardeners and garden observers. Wow. We still have some weather in the USA. But although the Sierra snowpack is very, very high in places, in other places people are reporting the start of the "Super Bloom" of wildflowers due to the increased precipitation this winter. One of those places is Anza Borrego, which my cousin and his wife visited a few weeks ago. The photo above and the ones below are from the badlands, not from the areas which now have sheets of bloom. Maybe you would like to try identifying the flowers.

You can also check out flowering cover crops in wineries'' if you prefer wineries to wilderness.

Stuck at home in the snow?

Here's our approximately annual pick-up of a piece about re-growing veggies from the store or garden. Some of these seem more worthwhile than others. Ever tried this?

Gardening Legal Liabilities

If the neighbor's tree falls in your yard, who pays for clean-up? You do.

Hmmm.

Critters

Jake Holenhead sent in the following:

While visiting my mom in Spokane, WA I took these of the bird feeding area in her garden. The first one was in January and it was a busy day for birds. There are four feeders; two for sunflower seeds, a birdseed feeder, and suet cake holder. This day besides the normal songbirds, quail, doves, northern flickers, a pair of downy headed woodpeckers, and a tree rat (squirrel) in the right side feeder, there were several dozen redwing blackbirds and robins (six are at the birdbath gossiping) feeding on mountain ash berries.

Every few years when there's a lot of snow, such as now (it snowed 30" in February), turkeys and pheasants will show up. The turkeys will fly up into her crab apple trees if they're really hungry. Occasionally a falcon or hawk will fly through hoping to get a snack, and sometimes they do.

This brings us to a couple of hawks that By-Tor photographed on his trip to Utah recently:

A Sharp Shinned Hawk with Prey

and a Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk

Gardens of The Horde

Summer Snowflakes and a plant I.D.

Le Vieux Garde send in a photo of some Summer Snowflakes, from Alabama, where they evidently bloom before summer.

Leucojum aestivum is a member of the Amaryllis family. They are tolerant of heavy, clay soils, even when damp, and are a good choice near ponds or streams. They are deer tolerant and can be planted near black walnut.

After flowering, the fruits develop flotation chambers but remain attached to the stem. In England, it has been recorded that flooding causes the stems to break and the fruits to be carried downstream and stranded in river debris or on flood-plains. The bulbs can also be transported during heavy floods and deposited on river banks.

Here is a photo of a Hairy-footed Flower Bee approaching some of the flowers.

There are also Spring Snowflakes. They bloom at about the same time as Snowdrops. They also tolerate damp soil.

Ran across this cool chart of flower bloom times while looking up these plants.

By the way, these also bloomed earlier in Le Vieux Garde's neighbor's yard. Care to identify them?

Peaches, Nectarines, Rosemary, Bees and a Cat

Back on February 8, when there were threats of frost in the low desert, Wee Kreek Farm Girl wrote this about her peach tree:

My peach tree is already starting to bloom. This tree is four years in the ground. It produces a ton of peaches every year. I do have to pick them before they are quite ripe or the birds get them, however they do ripen nicely inside. I included a picture of just some of last years haul. I end up having to freeze them for smoothies because they all tend to ripen at the same time.

Any chance of keeping the tree short enough (summer pruning) that you could cover it with one of your chicken wire shelters to protect it from birds? Throw something over the top to protect from late frost, too.

Later update:

My Peach is in full bloom, I will take some pictures and send. February was one of the rainiest months we have had, we had almost 4 inches which for us is a lot. Many of the yards here appear to have grass growing but no it is just weeds and some of them are over a foot and a half high. It will make for a very brown and ugly summer when they all dry up but for now it is pretty.

Oops.

So I didn't realize in the freak winter storm we had on February 23rd when we got over 2 inches of rain on Thursday and then Friday morning the 23rd we woke up to snow.

Snow in the low desert! Unusual.

My neighbor took a close up picture of my lovely peach blossoms in the snow.

I thought they had done alright as they looked okay for the next week and paid no more attention to it. When I went to inspect this morning the damage became clear. I am not sure if you can tell from my pictures but most of the blossoms are drying up and falling off. There are a few healthy ones on there but VERY few. I am hoping it will try to push out a few more blooms otherwise my peach harvest this year will be extremely sad.

Gardening is full of risks. In this case, I don't know if the problem was the snow or brown rot blossom blight, which is a big deal for stone fruits around here. Precipitation during bloom makes it worse. Often treated with a copper spray, more dilute than during dormant spraying. At least in Calidornia home gardens.

Some of her other fruit trees fared better. More on those later.

My Arctic Star nectarine bloomed about the same time as Wee Kreek Farm Girl's peach tree. It is an early variety, recommended also for some desert climates. Moderately low chill. One of the Zaiger high-sugar, low-acid nectarines. This variety is earlier, with a lower chill requirement. If you live where frosts are common, you would probably want a higher-chill, later blooming one.

Nectarines are susceptible to more pests that peaches, partly because the fuzz on peaches protects against some insects. The climate range for nectarines tends to be more limited than that for peaches, too. A lot of them are grown here in the hot-summer San Joaquin Valley.

Jack of Spades, a favorite Gardening Thread Garden Kitty, helped me take the photo. It rained quite a bit soon after this photo, which was probably not good for the blossoms.

Our rosemary blooms at the same time as our early nectarine, pluots, apricot and aprium, attracting bees for pollination. It was one of the first things we planted when we moved to the edge of town, because gophers don't eat it. Some of the plants are pretty big now.

A while ago, Gordon sent in a story about Fresno as the capital of Russian beehive thieves. Big heists. The almond blossoms are mostly fallen for this year.

The last time I remember a story about Russian agricultural thieves, it was trucks full of walnuts. Don't know why Russians would be particularly attracted to this line of crime.

Crocuses

Diogenes has sent in another photo of his crocus. Did that first brave one back in February see its shadow?

After a month of snow and freezing temps...the crocus are really getting into the spirit of almost Spring.

Thanks for the beautiful photo, Diogenes. It may give hope to some who are currently facing weather similar to the weather you faced recently. Still wondering if that brave first crocus last month was one of the "snow crocuses". These look like Dutch hybrids to me.

Weeds

There were some great comments about weeks in last week's thread. I am personally in the weeds. I will be working on foxtails and annual nettle this week. How about you? If you have any week expertise, please share it in the comments.

We will be looking for answers.

If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden
at g mail dot com

Include your nic unless you want to remain a lurker.

Close it up

Posted by Open Blogger at 12:37 PM Comments

The architecture of Charleston, SC (An Open Thread) [KT]

—Open Blogger

Morris Island

Kind of interesting that a promo photo for a law school features a lighthouse off an island. Law School Life.

Good Morning! I don't remember the last time I saw an architecture/open thread here at AoSHQ. Not up to anything deeper today. This idea came to me earlier this week when Bookworm put up an engaging post about a visit to Charleston, South Carolina. It includes a lot of great photos of historic buildings with some notes on architecture. Includes a home where George Washington partied after the Revolutionary War was over. Plus a nice, concise history of the city, flower photos (including a Lady Banks rose in a cemetery - cemeteries are a thing there) and harbor photos.

I just returned from my first visit to Charleston, South Carolina, and I have to say that I'm in love. I have traveled through most of Europe, whether western, northern, southern or central; wandered around the Baltic and the North Sea; dipped into North Africa; traversed the British Isles; spent time in Israel; and visited sizable parts of Southeast Asia; and even spent time traveling around here in the U.S., but I have to say that I've never seen a more beautiful city than Charleston. Whether the buildings are from the 18th century, the 19th century, or the early 20th century, they are just breathtaking. The erupting spring foliage is breathtaking. The harbor is breathtaking. And of course the history is fascinating.

And there's some Revolutionary War history, too:

Part of the Charleston trip included a visit to Cowpens National Battlefield. This was one of the most pivotal battles in the Revolutionary War. Not only was it a turning point in the war, but it also revealed Daniel Morgan's skill as a military tactician.

That battlefield is now graced with blooming daffodils.

This post is really worth a visit. And it reminds us that The Charleston came from Charleston, South Carolina (though the video there features Ginger Rogers):

I have a niece who lives in South Carolina now, and last year she and her husband visited Charleston with a friend, who is black. They went to the Old Slave Mart Museum, among other places. Didn't get too philosophical about that visit, because, you know Facebook.

Anyway, one of the things that impressed them was what was under some of the historic buildings. Including the Provost Dungeon. Don't see much architecture like that these days. Have you ever explored underground architecture in Charleston or in another city?

Here's a piece on eight styles of architecture, exemplified by 8 historic buildings in Charleston. One was:

Classical Revival, also known as Neo-Classical, emerged during a time when the US was establishing itself as a new nation. Before the Civil War, Charleston prospered and expanded, with many plantation owners building elaborate homes to show off their wealth - Classical Revival, with its large columns, high arches, and triangular roofs, is meant to emanate 'social prominence.' Although The Fireproof Building, now the non-profit South Carolina Historical Society, was built with minimal ornamentation, it is one of Charleston's best examples of Classical Revival. Built in 1827, the Fireproof Building held public safety records and, thus, was the most fire-protected building of its time. It was designed by Robert Mills, the first American-born architect, who worked with other important early American architects like Thomas Jefferson, and was responsible for the Washington Monument.

Which style do you like best?

And here's a piece about how the history of Charleston affected the evolution of architecture there. One interesting development was The Charleston Single House:

As Charleston's native high society became both more sure-footed and more pragmatic in addressing the heat and humidity of their climate, the Charleston single house style--one of Charleston's greatest contributions to American architecture--came about. This style is defined by its layout of rooms, with a street-fronting narrow facade boasting a gabled end but with an elongated side tracing often the length of the lot back from the street. This form allowed for positioning on narrow lots plus the use of open piazzas (porches) that provided for good air flow, as such was most welcome prior to air conditioning.

Something to keep in mind when AOC gets around to re-doing all the buildings in America and shutting off the air conditioning in Washington D.C.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Yes, this is the Thread before the Gardening Thread. You can continue to post comments here after the Gardening Thread and Pet Thread go up.

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

Close it up

Posted by Open Blogger at 11:17 AM Comments

Saturday Morning Coffee Break

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:45 AM Comments

EMT 03/15/19 Media Enforced Apathy Edition

—krakatoa

Based on the lessons the media has drummed into me, I'm having a hard time figuring out why I should particularly care about a mosque shooting in NZ.

Hasn't the media signaled to us that religious targets of violence are non-news, by way of its utter blackout of countless Christian church massacres around the world; its disinterest in the massacres of Christians and Jews at the hands of Muslims; its "boys will be boys" approach to Muslim on Muslim violence?

At the very least, isn't it just a local news story?

No, at long last the media got their white whale, and they are going to peel every last bit of meat off that carcass they can.

Posted by krakatoa at 06:00 AM Comments

Dumpish ONT, Now With Commentary!

—WeirdDave

Y'all need some solid dick.

Posted by WeirdDave at 10:00 PM Comments

What about your LOSSSSSSSEZZZZ, Brah?

—OregonMuse

So I went to my doctor for a physical recently, and I was shocked when I weighed in at 199 lbs. For years, I've been 188-190 lbs., which is overweight, but stable, so I wasn't inclined to do anything about it. I ate what I wanted to, and didn't think too much about it. But after my shoulder injury, I was flat on my back for a month, and although I don't remember much, I was most likely eating lots of that high-carb hospital food, and I'm think this is what caused the weight gain. So when my doctor asked me if I had any concerns about my health, I told him, yeah, I'm a gross fat pig and I need to do lose some weight.

So he recommended the Mediterranean Diet.

I did not like the Meditteranean Diet.

Some diets are low fat. Some are low carb. Many are low sugar, or low salt. The Mediterranean Diet appears to be low everything. Oh, but you can drink a glass of wine a day on the Mediterranean Diet. I'm not a big drinker. You can eat lots of nuts on the Mediterranean Diet. Yeah, well, who cares? I think my doc recommended it because I have a history of heart disease and it's a very "heart healthy" diet.

I'm not knocking the Mediterranean diet, I know it works for a lot of people, but it just seemed overly restrictive to me, such that I'd be too tempted to cheat. I didn't want to fail.

Also, Mrs. Muse and I discussed it and she'd have to revamp pretty much her entire cooking repertoire. She suggested the Weight Watchers diet plan, which she has used in the past and since she is familiar with it, we could both do it together.

The way WW works is that each different type of food is assigned a point value based on a complex formula, and you are alloted a certain number of points per day based on age, gender, height, weight, and the amount of exercise you get. So every time you eat something you need to deduct its points from your daily total, and when you get to 0, that's it, you're done for the day.

There's a WW "bible" available that is simply a big dictionary of foods and their respective point values. Mrs. Muse also has a WW calculator that has a built-in function that determines point values from the ingredients. High carb and high sugar foods are very expensive, i.e. their point counts are high. A slice of pizza is worth 7 points. All fresh fruit is worth 0 points. Vegetables are low, like 1 or 0 points. My height and weight are such that I get 26 points per day. There aren't any "forbidden" foods, just foods that are very expensive in points, so you'll use up your points really fast if you eat them.

We started the new diet in the first week in January. Mrs. Muse keeps track of her points in a little diary, but I thought this is a perfect job for a spreadsheet, so I fired up Excel, entered a few subtraction formulas, and hey presto, my daily food diary was good to go.

Oh, and the other thing I did was to change soft drinks. Pepai is one of my bad habits. I love the stuff; I drink a can a day. I really didn't want to give that up, but it's a bunch of empty calories and sugar and each 12-oz. can is 4 WW points, points which can be better used elsewhere. So I had Mrs. Muse start buying 'Pepsi 0' instead, which has 0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 carbs, and, most importantly, 0 WW points. And it doesn't taste too awfully different than the regular Pepsi I was drinking before. So this is something I can live with.

So, how'm I doing?

Posted by OregonMuse at 08:35 PM Comments

Open Thread

—Ace of Spades

I've phoned it in today, and now I'm phoning it out.

Night!

Posted by Ace of Spades at 07:12 PM Comments

Surprise! Chief Justice Roberts Is an Increasingly Reliable Member of the Court's Liberal Bloc

—Ace of Spades

But Roberts.

Chief Justice John Roberts has made common cause with the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc as late, breaking with his conservative colleagues on cases relating to abortion, the death penalty and President Donald Trump’s revised rules for asylum seekers.
Whether Roberts's recent maneuvers reflect a substantive change in his approach to cases remains to be seen. In isolation, it's difficult to know what to make of the chief's votes.

So obviously we should have elected Hillary Clinton, as some Moral Paragons Who Are Also Unrivaled Geniuses argued ~~so eloquently~~ on Twitter.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 05:55 PM Comments

CNN's Ratings: This Is a Rotten Banana That No One Watches Except Emotional Support Animals Trapped In Airport Lounges

—Ace of Spades

Looks like the All Trump All The Time sugar high is wearing off.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 04:36 PM Comments

Derek Hunter: It's Time for Conservatives To Either Fight Back Against The Left's Smears or Surrender to Them

—Ace of Spades

I know how some pretend-conservatives have already chosen.

The best characteristic of President Donald Trump is his willingness to fight. Actually, he doesn't really fight, he fights back. If someone goes after him, he goes back at them twice as hard. He doesn't let decorum or politeness get in his way, he gives people a dose of their own medicine. He may not win every battle, but damn it, he fights and wins more than he loses. Republicans need to learn this lesson or just give up now so they can be replaced by people who will.
...

Unfortunately, Republicans, and specifically conservatives, tend to go in the opposite direction. They don't respond in kind the way Trump does. They have a history of trying to "make nice" with people attacking them, or ignore the attacks completely.

There's something to be said for not punching down, far too many people respond to every criticism against them on social media like it's an affront to their very lives. They make themselves look smaller in the process, though most aren't all that bright to begin with. You have to pick your battles. But conservatives have a history of not picking any battles, of taking hits and walking away. That can't continue to happen.

Derek compares this to Tucker Carlson's admirable effort to fight back against the leftwing mob -- a mob which has been sicced on conservative after conservative, and Conservatism, Inc. permits them to do so every time.

Each time they are unleashed, damage is done. But no price is extracted for that damage. Conservatives never return the favor of dragging old quotes or actions into the light, they almost uniformly refuse to call for boycotts. They prefer to "take the high road." What good is the high road if it leads to defeat? Moral victories are just a polite way to justify losing.

There's another word for "moral victory." That word is "loss."

Liberals collect scalps, conservatives collect moral victories. This isn't a battle for local dog catcher, it's a fight for the future of the country; it's time for the right to fight back the way they're being attacked. Mutually assured destruction is the only way to stop these fascists in their tracks.

Then he gets into a specific plan of attack, which is not a diffuse boycott of CNN (no one watches CNN anyway, he observes), but picking One target, one object lesson, one person to make an example of.

By the way, Derek's daily podcast is really good.

But if I had one criticism: Not enough babybabble about superhero movies and funtime hobbies to pursue while your wife is entertaining a Gentleman F***er on her elbows and knees. But then, there are plenty of those. Every cuck has decided he's an electrifying enough presence to justify a podcast.

And by the way: All these cucks do is appear on each other's podcasts. Literally. Hey, did you hear who Charlie Sykes has on this week? David French and Noah Rothman!!! And say, who was on David French's podcast last week? Why, Charlie Sykes and Noah Rothman!

What the f*** do these sad, fat losers have remaining to say to one another? It's like two merry-go-rounds side by side but spinning in opposite directions where one cuck says "Did you hear, Orangemanbad?" as he passes another and the other responds, "Oh yes, Orangemanbad. Also, Virtue Good." And then the next guy says, "Virtue Good, I is Virtue," and the next guy agrees, "Virtue Good, Me Have Virtue, Praise Me for Virtue."

And the next guy goes, "My wife is sleeping with her entire Wine Tasting Club and I've lost the will to live." And the next guy just cries and says, "Me Also. But also, Orangemanbad."

Posted by Ace of Spades at 03:33 PM Comments

LOL: Mueller's Pit Bull Leaving Office, and Yet Trump Remains Unindicted

—Ace of Spades

The flow of Democrat attack dogs out of Mueller's office suggests a prosecution tidying up and winding down.

Genius intelligence analyst John Brennan, who did such a great job on 9/11, predicted that Mueller would announce indictments this past week (March 8).

Another Brennan Triumph!

March 8 came and went without new Mueller indictments, or at least new public indictments. And now comes news that Mueller's top deputy, Andrew Weissmann -- also known as the special counsel's "legal pit bull" -- will leave the office within the next few days.

Also, the FBI recently announced that Mueller's top investigator, David Archey, has left Mueller to take a top job with the bureau in Richmond, Va.

The departure of not one but two of Mueller's key staff -- along with other aides who have moved on in recent weeks -- fueled speculation that the special counsel is wrapping up his investigation.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 02:36 PM Comments