Ace of Spades HQ

December 11, 2018

Trump: Let's Debate the Wall in Public, Now
Pelosi and Schumer: No Let's Hide the Debate and Stage-Manage It
Leftwing Media and Cucks: This is Terrible, Why Won't Trump Agree to Stage-Manage the Democratic Process?

—Ace of Spades

Worth the watch.

"Let's debate in private": President Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi just sparred in the Oval Office on live TV about border security and funding Trump's wall https://t.co/uiiZgARky5 pic.twitter.com/EJBynT3NkR
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 11, 2018

The leftwing media and their cuck cocktail party plus ones are beside themselves over this.

Doesn't Trump know that Democracy is supposed to be stage-managed? How can you have a successful Failure Theater production without a script?

DOESN'T TRUMP KNOW WHAT HE'S DONE?!

THE PLEBIANS AND DEPLORABLES GOT TO SEE ACTUAL DISSENT. THIS MAY CAUSE THEM TO NOT HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THEIR LEADERSHIP STRUCTURES!!!!!

You can't know how ebola is really transmitted because that might cause a lack of confidence in the NIH.

You can't know how the FISA was obtained because that might cause a lack of confidence in the IC and FBI.

The people need to be Made Confident in their betters or else the whole system falls apart!!!!

Guys -- our Betters really cannot bear too much direct scrutiny. If the Deplorables and the Garbage People see the low quality of the alleged Betters we might have a Yellow Jackets situation on our hands.

All hands -- GET THIS UNDER CONTROL.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 12:50 PM Comments

LOL: The Oscars Academy Is "Considering" Having No Host at All

—Ace of Spades

They're probably "considering" this because, due to #WokeStasi political purges, No one in their g****** right mind would put himself through the Struggle Session Gauntlet of just going on TV and telling terrible, terrible jokes.

This will be a spectacular televised demonstration of The Great Disappearing -- an Oscars with no host, because they #Purged the last one and no further volunteers for the bloody altar of Political Correctness are volunteering.

I'd love it.

And we'd have an Oscars with no audience and no host.

Kevin Hart's abrupt departure as Oscars host has left the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences scrambling to find someone to take the gig. As of now, the situation remains fluid as the group's leadership explores options, including going host-less, individuals familiar with the situation told Variety.
The Academy was blindsided by Hart's announced departure Thursday night, according to two insiders. The Board of Governors will convene on Tuesday night at a previously-scheduled meeting where the matter will inevitably be discussed.

"They're freaking out," said a top comedy agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity. There were no contingency plans in place by the Academy or broadcaster ABC, according to another insider. The show's producers are back to square one.

Late night hosts might seem an obvious choice, given their national profiles and history with the show (think Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart and David Letterman). But the Academy is now said to be gun shy about going with someone anyone who might be too edgy, noted an industry source. Then again, going too safe could be fatal for the show’s record-low ratings -- the telecast was watched by 25.6 million people in March, a 19 percent drop from the previous year.

Another option being tossed around is not having any host at all, but rather "a bunch of huge celebs, something 'SNL' style, and buzzy people" to keep the show moving, the insiders said. A stunt like a group monologue was floated, one source added.

Yes, let's see a group of people we can hang from the fucking lampposts for our Ritual Mortification Amusement.

I like Kevin Hart. I don't love him, but I like him.

But if this guy winds up putting The Great Disappearing on live TV, because he dared to do three things --

1, saying "Fuck you, I'm not apologizing again, I didn't even mean the first fucking apology you made me make and I'm a lot richer now than I was then so go fuck yourself" and then

2, saying, "You know what? I just called my accountant and he says I'm richer than I thought I was. So I don't need to do the fucking Oscars. Go fuck yourselves and good luck getting a host ready by showtime" and then

3, not saying "Nah it's cool, we're fine" when other black people start accusing the #OscarsSoWhite of racism--

then I think I will love him.

They set the fires. Let the motherfuckers burn.

Verses 2 through 5: From Victor29.

2 And I saw a strong Tweeter proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the envelope, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in hollywood, nor in the comedy circuit, was able to open the envelope, neither to look thereon.

4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the envelope, neither to look thereon.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 11:55 AM Comments

The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

—CBD

When Rick Perry spoke of his desire to make the Federal government a much less important part of Americans' lives, this is exactly the stuff he was thinking about. The French government chose to degrade the quality of life of its average citizens to such an extent that the apolitical...the quiet and politically disinterested...were moved to demonstrate and march and riot to be be heard. Crushing the working class with onerous, politically-driven taxes is just the tip of the iceberg in France. That the people have risen to protest is a testament to their lack of choice, and even worse, their despair.

Professional protesters chanting their canned pap is one thing, but when the people -- the real people -- feel strongly enough about something to uproot themselves and act, then we all must pay attention.

Riots in Paris: The police underestimated the madness of the crowd.

They couldn’t have seemed less disposed to violence, nor more apolitical. They were respectful of the police, and vice-versa. As cops drove by, relaxed, the Gilets Jaunes smiled at them, like kids excited about their first trip to the big city, waved at the officers, and gave them the thumbs-up. The cops reciprocated. The sentiment was fraternal. “We’re all weary, overtaxed working men,” they were saying to each other. “We’re on the same side.”

I concluded they were just what they were advertised to be: family men and women who couldn’t make ends meet and who were tired of Macron’s attitude. Why this protest, why now, I asked? The fuel tax was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, they said; it made the difference between “able to make ends meet, barely,” and “not able to make ends meet.” It had just been getting steadily worse every year since the economic crisis began. They had run out of hope.

France is a strange place, with strange political traditions, some of which are quite passive and conciliatory (Vichy anyone?), and some of which are quite violent (Jacobins anyone?). I am trying to draw parallels with the United States, and while some of the feelings are similar, we simply don't have enough in common for any significant similarities.

That is not to say we can't respond to government intrusion...I just don't think we would do it the way the French are acting. I wonder how America would respond if a Democrat administration crushed the middle and working class with similar taxes? Would we riot? No, I think not, but we would punish them at the polls.

So what is the proverbial American straw?

Posted by CBD at 11:05 AM Comments

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Blue Segment
Wassily Kandinsky

Posted by CBD at 09:30 AM Comments

The Morning Report - 12/11/18

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Lots of things jumping this Tuesday so here we go. As the year draws to a close and the Democrats are set to take over the House in the coming weeks (feh), there seems to be this sense of the President stalling, committing unforced errors, going overboard with Twitter etc. etc. and a concomitant perception that he's losing the one and only thing that he can't: the support of the base. Anecdotally, I've read commenters here as well as elsewhere and callers into the national talk shows getting all wobbly and eeyorish and I can understand the temptation. The border wall is unfunded, we were stabbed in the face by the GOP-e with the Obamacare repeal fiasco, Planned Parenthood remains essentially fully funded courtesy of the same GOP-e that should have cut them off as well as pushed for a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility with no more continuing resolutions during the two years it controlled the purse strings. But no.

And now Mueller is set to release his "findings" which will find not a shred of evidence to even hint that the President conspired/colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election, but which will no doubt smear him as borderline crooked, incompetent and sleazy which is all the Democrat-Media Complex will need to move ahead with impeachment. Circling back to our own media, when Tucker Carlson and other staunch supporters starts to get all wobbly on Trump, it's no doubt that many of us will start having our own doubts about things. And this is exactly what the Left wants with all of this crap; to sew the seeds of doubt in your mind so that the President loses the kevlar/teflon coating of high 40s to low 50s approval numbers and drive it down to a level that makes it politically acceptable for Republicans in the House to join the Dems and call for his impeachment and even resignation.

STOP RIGHT THERE. Whatever failures there were in the implementation of the key agenda items, the fault lies with the GOP leadership and NeverTrumper underlings in Congress and elsewhere that did all they could to sabotage him with every bit as much zeal as those on the Left. And when you consider what has been happening both at the border, in the economy, in foreign policy, and in completely exposing the frauds and hacks in the media and showing those on our side in Congress who are willing to listen how to fight back and win, the first two years of this Presidency have been wildly successful. And much of it was achieved almost entirely singlehanded by this President. Now more than ever, he needs and deserves our support.

And this leads us to the news links and to immigration and amnesty where, in spite of everything the President has done - or perhaps out of desperation because of everything he has done - illegal immigration has spiked to the highest number in a decade. Meanwhile, the Left is freaking out over the President's insistence on a no freeloader rule for those seeking citizenship legally. Also, echoing my sentiments at the outset Lindsey the Graham-inator is encouraging the President to not give in on border wall funding, an honest judge actually ruled in favor of Trump ending an Obama asylum program, the invasion caravan is looking like it's failed and is petering out, and a would-be invader displayed the Pelosi spark of humanity by dumping her toddler here and vamoosing south.

To the Democrat corruption files or embargoed news items from the Agitprop Media, lawyers are desperate to seal all documents related to the FBI raid on the Clinton Crime Family Foundation whistleblower, thousands of Chicagoans commit voter fraud at the behest of the Democrat ward healers to keep an insurgent reformer off the ballot (guess the party), and Lacy Clay is a goniffing momzer of the first order, paying his sister a cool $200-Gs from campaign funds. But, but, but Stormy Daniels!!!!

And speaking of which, as impeachment talk ramps up, in Mueller witch hunt news, James Comey continues to put his foot in his mouth, seemingly with no repercussions at all, the Michael Cohen plea deals is blood in the water to the insurrectionists and Rand Paul with a friendly reminder about the true nature of special prosecutors.

In politics in general, the big news is who will Trump pick to replace outgoing chief of staff John Kelly? A dark horse yet a welcome name is that of conservative stalwart Mark Meadows. A couple of good essays analyzing the situation as well as putting it in context to my opening paragraph. Elsewhere, the DNC is ordering the staff to be completely impartial for the 2020 primary (comedy gold), perhaps Nancy Palsi isn't the shoe-in for Speaker as Andrew Cui-Bono is putting the screws to a recalcitrant Congresscritter on Long Island, with all the bullshit about Trump politicizing the new AG pick, lest we forget who ran the DoJ under Obama, how to fight back the Dems' dirty pool and a good piece using Loopy Ocasio-Fiasco's fascistic reaction to being criticized as an indicator of fascistic proclivities of the Left.

To First Amendment and Fake News Fakery, a yuuuge victory for James O'Keefe/Project Veritas and the first amendment, Google stands accused of attempting to sabotage Breitbart's ad revenue while at the same time helping Pakistani head-choppers and clit-clippers keeeeel you, the aforementioned Media Trump derangement is really deranged and did you hear about the Neo-Nazi jailed for threatening Jews who is likely a Leftist? Me neither... as intended.

On the international scene, Theresa May's career hangs in the balance after totally cocking up Brexit, to the extent that she had to cancel a vote on the issue because the legislation is a hot mess that leaves Brussels in control of the process. And there was a wild scene in Parliament debating the issue. Across the Channel, several good analyses of the rioting in France and Macron's apparent surrender. Is it about Global Warming, Socialist Failure, Taxation or all of the above? See the links and discuss amongst yourselves. Elsewhere, the administration is taking a tough line on Iran, Michael Ledeen on Iran at war, the Euro-peons enabling the Farsis to get nuked up, Jared Kushner is a boob for falling into the peace process process crime, and the administration calls out several top NorKs including Whoa, Fat's! #2.

Over to the wonderful world of Islam where the Feds charge an Ohio man for planning an ISIS-style synagogue slaughter, CAIR loves David Duke and will the Feds be charging the New Mexico compound jihadists with terrorism? Stay tuned...

Domestically, Chief Justice ~~John~~ Julia Crockovich Roberts teamed up with Brett Kavanaugh in rejecting two cases that would have stopped federal funding to Planned Parenthood, to which the conservative justices reacted with a strong rebuke to the duo. We know Roberts is the new Kennedy. Let's hope this is a one-off for Kavanaugh. Then again, Terry Jeffrey reminds us that Kavanaugh ruled that it was totes kosher for an illegal caught at the border to get an abortion in the US.

Elsewhere, some very good economic news about food stamp usage (down), factory job openings (up), and Trump perhaps holding the upper hand for ratification of the USMCA. I thought this was a done thing. Oh well. In health news, big CPAP is listening, and euthanasia pimps pimp starvation for the terminally ill.

In Indoctrination Inc., Massachusetts schools lead the way - mostly in Jew-baiting, teachers withhold grades to protest Confederate monuments, and students demand "safe spaces" before allowing comedians to come take the stage. No, they're not afraid of their words, per se. They're afraid that their words will ring true and thus challenge their rule.

In FemiNazism, the first time two of the top "Women's March" leaders met they had an anti-semitic Joo-hate fest that was so hideous, evidently it was covered up until now. Shocking, right? And from hither and yon, Francis the Talking Pope is changing the lyrics to "The Lord's Prayer," the Baby It's Cold Outside madness, an interesting take on the welfare state through the lens of life in Mumbai and lastly, a lengthy piece from our friends at City Journal about the ills of modern life, government and control. Quite good.

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

MIGRANT INVASION AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION

Posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:38 AM Comments

Monday Overnight Open Thread (12/10/18 )

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

***

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

"There is no better or more appropriate veteran to name the Manhattan VA after than Margaret Corbin," Kristen Rouse

Quote II

To the extent that PETA does any of these things, it does none of them well, opting for only the most ham-fisted Banksy-type shit in an attempt to shame individual people into becoming vegans. And this strategy hasn’t just failed—it’s made a mockery of the animal rights movement at a time when strong, well-organized advocacy could do a lot of good for everyone, regardless of whether they choose to eat meat or not.

Fix your shit, PETA, or fuck off. Paul Blest

Ahh, the left "eating" the left.

Quote III

Today’s Mrs. Grundys — let’s call them Mx. Grundys to be up to the moment — are progressive bullies intent on shutting everyone the hell up lest anyone fail to conform to their narrow sense of what is and is not acceptable. The humorless scolds have decided they are in charge, and for complicated reasons the rest of the culture is going along.

And they are driving us all crazy. John Podhoertz

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:00 PM Comments

For Those of You Who Hate Will Ferrell and Have Been Asking the Career Fairy to Take His Career Away, Your Wish May be Granted

—Ace of Spades

No one is talking much about the Holmes & Watson parody and there's not much advertising for it.

I think this may be a one-cheek sneak release.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 08:05 PM Comments

Married "Transgender Men" Will Not Impose a Gender on Their Child Until "It" Tells Them What It Is

—Ace of Spades

This is child abuse.

Transgenders are less than one tenth of one percent of the population.

But they're raising a child, who is 99.9% likely to have a conventional gender, as if it were a transgender.

These are the same sort of people who scream that it's monstrous to make gay kids "act straight" or pretend to be straight.

Is it better to take a normal-gender kid and put it through a transgender childhood to see if it takes or not?

Don't tell me the answer; of course the answer is "yes, it's so much better."

Posted by Ace of Spades at 07:00 PM Comments

Sharyl Atkisson Digests Comey's Testimony For You

—Ace of Spades

A lot of unremembering, a lot of dissembling, and a lot of incompetency.

Read the whole thread at twitchy.

Or read Atkisson's full article at Epoch Times.

But here's a couple of important points:

Comey confirmed that controversial FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page served both on the team investigating Hillary Clinton’s email practices and the team investigating Trump-Russia connections (p. 18).

...

Comey says he would not have allowed Strzok and Page to serve on the Hillary email investigation if he had known about their private communications (p. 18).

Analysis: This appears to be an acknowledgment that the FBI investigation was tainted, or has the appearance of being tainted, by bias.

...

Comey said he doesn't remember if the FBI asked State Department employee Bryan Pagliano who instructed him to set up Clinton's unusual private server. Comey says he doesn’t remember who Paul Combetta is (pp. 199-201).

Note: Combetta was involved in maintaining at least one of Clinton’s private servers. He destroyed subpoenaed email evidence, then is said to have lied to the FBI about doing so.

Context: The FBI granted Pagliano, Combetta and other Clinton associates immunity from prosecution. Typically, immunity is granted in return for information to prosecute others, but no such information was obtained from the immunized officials in the Clinton email probe.

Comey says he doesn't remember why the FBI granted Pagliano immunity (pp. 199-201).

Comey says he doesn't know if the FBI interviewed State Department official Patrick Kennedy (p. 204).

Comey acknowledged that FBI general counsel James Baker originally believed it was appropriate to charge Hillary Clinton with violating various laws regarding the mishandling of classified information (p. 230).

Note: Baker later changed his mind.

Comey says he sees no further reason to investigate Hillary Clinton's handling of classified email and claims "There's no serious person who thinks there's a prosecutable case there"(p. 84).

It is a tic of the liberal establishment and their controlled-opposition "conservative" enablers to deride anyone holding opinions in conflict with their own as not "serious." Only the liberal establishment -- the left-liberal establishment and the center-liberal controlled opposition/fake conservative establishment -- is "serious" about any issue of consequence.

...
Comey says he doesn't know who drafted the FBI document initiating the Russia probe (p. 24).

Note: It was Peter Strzok who drafted the document.

Comey says he doesn't think he ever read the FBI document launching the probe and doesn't remember the FBI’s stated "predicate" for it (pp. 24, 26-27, 30).

Note: A "predicate" is the justification or basis. The FBI is prohibited from starting up investigation on hunches or suspicions and must follow strict procedures.

Analysis: As FBI Director, Comey is saying he didn't read the documents that opened what arguably became one of the FBI's most important investigations ever, and he didn't what the justification for opening it was.

It's all damning, but in this section, James Comey agrees he didn't follow the Woods Protocols for obtaining a FISA -- but it's not really even an admission, because he doesn't even seem aware that there are protocols that the DOJ and FBI are required to follow in the first place.

Comey says he's not sure how Steele’s dossier got to the FBI. Comey says he doesn’t know what steps the FBI took to verify Steele's information before or after the FBI presented it to the FISA court. He says the FBI was still "evaluating" the information months after using it in court. Comey says the FBI made efforts to identify Steele’s sources, but he doesn’t remember if they were able to (p. 115, 118).
Comey says he reviewed and signed the Oct. 21, 2016, FBI wiretap application against Carter Page. Comey says he didn't know details, he simply signed off procedurally. He doesn't remember if the paperwork was entitled "verified application." Comey remembers the FBI alleged Page was working for or with the Russian government, but Comey doesn't recall if the application mentioned "probable cause" (pp. 113, 121, 123).

Analysis: The issue of "verification" of the dossier is crucial. Intel sources say presenting a single unverified fact to the FISA court violates the FBI's strict Woods Procedures installed to prevent the FBI from obtaining wiretaps based on false or questionable information. There seems to be no recognition by Comey or anyone else of these important FBI rules or how the FBI apparently violated them. Comey appears to have taken a surprisingly hands-off approach in terms of oversight when it came to the controversial wiretapping of a political campaign associate in an election year.

When Comey signed off the wiretap, he says the FBI’s corroboration of Steele's information was "in its infancy" or only "minimally corroborated.”"Comey acknowledges he signed off on the wiretap as "verified" even though the information was unverified. He said he did so because the information came from "a reliable source" with "a good track record" (p. 126).

Note: Steele is a former British intelligence agent.

Trust your IC and counter-intelligence officials -- they're obviously the Best of the Best.

Close it up

Posted by Ace of Spades at 05:59 PM Comments

Trump: It was Great Being at the Army-Navy Game in the Presence of HEROES
Bill Kristol: How DARE You Call Them HEROES YOU MONSTER!!!

—Ace of Spades

Is it time we... did something with grampa?

Posted by Ace of Spades at 05:02 PM Comments

Victor Davis Hanson: In Order to Justify His Deviation from the Law, Robert Mueller Has Also Embraced Unequal Justice

—Ace of Spades

Mueller probably knew there was no "collusion" from early days, but, to justify his mandate and appease the leftwing media culture which is demanding he reverse the 2016 election, he has gone after a series of process crimes, crimes that did not precede the investigation, but occurred during the investigation -- claiming Flynn "lied" to investigators, for example. (Despite the fact that the investigators Flynn "lied" to say he didn't lie at all.)

Mueller has gone after peripheral figure racking up pleas for process crimes not associated even remotely with his actual ambit, which is Russian collusion.

Well then, Victor Davis Hanson asks -- if you've gone beyond your brief to prosecute peripheral process crimes, why are you ignoring a rather large number of crimes committed by Hillary's Minions to set this all up?

Mueller has already weaponized politics, making a crime out of the tawdry business of opposition research -- but only sort of, since his interests in doing so are highly selective. And so his chief legacy will have little to do with whatever he finds on Donald Trump. He has already established the precedent that there is now no real equality under the law, at least as Americans once understood fair play and blind justice.
Once Mueller deviated from his prime directive of determining whether Donald Trump colluded -- sought help from the Russian to win the 2016 election in exchange for the promise of later benefits -- and turned to indicting political operatives for supposedly giving false testimonies about political shenanigans and engaging in illegal business practices, lobbying, and tax avoidance, he either knowingly or unknowingly established a precedent that the serial misdeeds of 2016 would be treated unequally under the law.

Yet Christopher Steele, a British subject and de facto unregistered foreign agent, is eminently indictable and extraditable. He was paid through two firewalls (Fusion GPS and Perkins Coie) by Hillary Clinton to tap Russian sources to compile a smear dossier on her opponent, with the intent of warping the U.S. election -- a classic example of foreign-agent interference in an American campaign. If we were to take away that one purchased document, then the FISA court warrants, the informants, and all the CIA, FBI, and DOJ machinations would likely have disappeared or never arisen.

Obama-administration officials Bruce Ohr (whose wife worked on the dossier) at Justice, James Comey at the FBI, and John Brennan at the CIA all in some manner colluded with Steele, either directly or indirectly, to monitor the Trump campaign and then to seed the dossier among government agencies and courts, both to ensure its leakage and to brand it with a stamp of official seriousness, warranting investigations and media sensationalism.

....

Bruce Ohr filed a false federal disclosure affidavit, in that he did not reveal, as required, that his wife was employed by Fusion GPS to work on the Steele dossier. Nor did he disclose that after the election he had been in contact with Steele, offering his help in the effort to find proof of collusion.

James Comey, along with Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein, and Sally Yates, at various times submitted requests to a FISA court that deliberately never disclosed that their chief evidence for such surveillance was 1) paid for by Hillary Clinton (instead, the applications claimed vaguely that it was a product of generic opposition research, likely and by design confusing its Republican-primary origins with its maturity under Clinton auspices), 2) used as a circular source for news accounts produced in turn to establish its fides, 3) unsubstantiated and either not fact-checked or found to be impossible to verify, 4) compiled by an author already dismissed by the FBI as a unreliable asset.

Either Andrew McCabe or James Comey has likely perjured himself; or both may have. Their conflicting testimonies about leaking information to the media, and the relative importance of the Steele dossier for FISA court warrants, cannot be reconciled.

And so on.

Read the whole thing. Jonah Goldberg won't, so maybe cook up a juicy Hot Twitter Headline for him, would you?

Posted by Ace of Spades at 04:00 PM Comments

Families of Hostages Held by Iran: "We Will Remain Quiet No Longer"

—Ace of Spades

Weird, I keep hearing about this Jamal Kashoggi fellow but I never heard much about the Americans still held hostage by Iran when Obama was delivering them $150 billion.

I'm sure there are reasons for that.

Families of hostages held by Iran, including Americans, declared in an open letter this week to world leaders, media outlets and human-rights organizations that they "shall remain quiet no longer."
"We come from many countries, with different backgrounds and different perspectives, but we have banded together now to come to you as one voice," they wrote, noting that in September, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, "several of our families gathered together for the first time to share stories and struggles about getting our loved ones released."

"We met again a few weeks ago, this time to share our testimonies with the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran," they added. "The similarities between our loved ones’ cases is striking. Each story is not just a case of arbitrary detention, but deliberate and tactical moves by the Iranian authorities to secure bargaining chips."

The coalition includes the family of hostage Baquer Namazi, 82, who was arrested in Tehran in February 2016 after trying to secure the release of his son, Siamak Namazi, a U.S. citizen and businessman who was arrested in October 2015 while visiting a friend in Tehran.

Read the whole thing and then ask yourself why the media only seems to care about the information op being run on us by the Turkey-Iran-Qatar access.

It might have something to do with the media relying on the liberal Brookings Institution to tell them what foreign news is important and worth covering, and which isn't.

And it might have to do with Qatar paying huge money to the Brookings Institution.

From Wikipedia:

An investigation by The New York Times, reported on September 6, 2014, found the Brookings Institution to be among more than a dozen Washington research groups to have received payments from foreign governments while encouraging U.S. officials to encourage support for policies aligned with those foreign governments' agenda.[108]
The New York Times published documents showing that Brookings Institution accepted grants from Norway with specific policy requests and helped the country gain access to U.S. government officials, as well as other "deliverables".[109][110] In June 2014, Norway agreed to make an additional $4 million donation to Brookings.[108] Several legal specialists who examined the documents told the paper that the language of the transactions "appeared to necessitate Brookings filing as a foreign agent" under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.[110]

The Qatari government was named by The New York Times as "the single biggest foreign donor to Brookings", having reportedly made a $14.8 million, four-year contribution in 2013. A former visiting fellow at a Brookings affiliate in Qatar reportedly said that "he had been told during his job interview that he could not take positions critical of the Qatar government in papers".[108] Brookings officials denied any connection between the views of their funders and their scholars' work, citing reports that questioned the Qatari government's education reform efforts and criticized its support of militants in Syria. However, Brookings officials reportedly acknowledged that they meet with Qatari government officials regularly.[108]

Of course, Brookings is just one of Qatar's smaller investments.

Qatar expected to transfer $15 million to Hamas on Thursday https://t.co/GTEcnQC5as
— Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) December 6, 2018

Posted by Ace of Spades at 03:00 PM Comments

Environmental Sissies Celebrate: Yay! Shipping Giant Maersk Says It Will End Its Use of Fossil Fuels by... Um... 2050

—Ace of Spades

See this limp sap squeeing about it.

Here's the article, but I'm sure you can already predict the future: Maersk collects up Coupons for Free Hugs from enviromental sissies for 30 years, then, in 2048, writes its first press release stating that "Man, this vow to stop fueling our ships with, you know, fuel, we might have gotten a bit ahead of ourselves with that," then in 2049 writes another press release stating "Where the fuck are the fusion reactors? We were told we would have fusion reactors by now. It's those pointy-headed limp-dicked scientists' fault, not ours!"

Then, in 2050, they write: "We intend to be fossil fuel free by the year 2090."

And the sissies start squeeing again.

Anyway, here's part of the article:

Maersk's target, although distant, is one of the most ambitious from a global industrial group promising to end carbon emissions altogether.

Newsflash: It's not ambitious to promise a thousand hamburgers on a Tuesday 32 years off.

The further off the completion date of the promise, the less ambitious it is.

I vow that I personally will use only renewable, clean fuels by 2050 myself.

Caveat: 1, I'll probably be dead, and will be providing fuel rather than using it, and 2, pretty much my promise relies on fusion being perfected.

In other words: I have the same plan as Global Warming Hero Maersk.

...
Maersk is not pushing one technology -- ideas such as biofuels, hydrogen, electricity or even wind or solar power have been mooted -- but is stressing the urgency as most vessels have a life of 20-25 years, meaning that viable solutions need to be found soon.

In other words: We're waiting for someone else to fix this for us.

Which is weird, because that's my plan.

"To reach the target by 2050, in the next 10 years we need some big breakthroughs," Mr Toft said.

Soooo... Fusion then?

We read each other so well, Maersk. It's like fusion-powered kismet.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 02:00 PM Comments

The Telegraph: This Christmas, Why Not Give Your Wife the Gift of Cuckery?

—Ace of Spades

Why men should give their wives permission for infidelity this Christmas https://t.co/n2kAVRfj89
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 7, 2018

I just got an email from Max Boot: "THIS +1000."

When I told my husband I was interviewing a writer who thinks men should give their wives a 'cheat pass' this Christmas, he understandably had some questions. "How would the wife find someone suitable for the occasion?" he wondered.

I think by asking "How would the wife find someone suitable for the occasion?" he just gave her, implicitly, a cheat pass, for being such a homo.

(We were talking in the abstract, of course...

Of course you were, darling.

...and I deemed it safer to treat this as rhetorical.)

Safer to treat it as rhetorical. Which implies it could be treated another way.

I assured him that yes, it was all very unfeasible, and concluded he'll more likely gift me jewellery.

In other words, it's feasible.

But Wednesday Martin, whose latest book Untrue explores "why nearly everything we believe about women and lust and infidelity" is wrong, is not being flippant. "We now know long-term relationships are harder on female desire than they are on male desire," she says.

Wednesday Martin is the freak who just called for women to go on a "sex strike" unless Democrats won the midterms.

She also argues that it's not men who crave sexual novelty, but women:

They have learned that the overfamiliarity with a spouse and the institutionalization of the relationship that accompany companionate domesticity actually dampen female desire in ways they don't male desire -- suggesting long-term, monogamous relationships may actually be harder for women than for men. Anthropologist Meredith Small has noted that the single most documented preference across species of female primates is ... a taste for sexual novelty. Canadian researchers found that straight women's bodies respond to a greater range of sexual stimuli than heterosexual men's, calling into question the easy presumption that it is men who have wide and varied sexual menus. Other research and experts like Esther Perel tell us of female study participants and patients who find the security and comfort of their marriages -- the very things we are taught women crave -- to be anaphrodisiacs that blunt their lust.
It is women, not just men, and women perhaps even more than men, who pine for sexual adventure. Without it, many of us find our libidos wither. And then we may resign ourselves to serving what we think others deserve, rather than feeling entitled to get ours and get off.

Crazy in the head, also crazy in print

More from The Telegraph's article at this website, Stuff.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 01:00 PM Comments

Nonpartisan Unbiased Lifelong Republican Reverend Jim Comey: We Have Use "Every Breath We Have" To Push Trump Out of Office

—Ace of Spades

There are only two ways to explain this:

Either he was already incredibly biased against Trump at the start of of his "investigation" and therefore should have recused himself, or started unbiased but became outraged, radicalized, and insane because Trump decided he wasn't doing a good job and fired him.

Neither is very reassuring about this "investigation," the FBI, or the permanent Derp State of bureaucratic Washington.

Former FBI Director James Comey asked American voters Sunday night to end Donald Trump's presidency with a "landslide" victory for his opponent in 2020.
"All of us should use every breath we have to make sure the lies stop on January 20, 2021," Comey told an audience at the 92nd Street Y on New York City's Upper East Side. He all but begged Democrats to set aside their ideological differences and nominate the person best suited to defeating Trump in an election.

"I understand the Democrats have important debates now over who their candidate should be," Comey told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, "but they have to win. They have to win."

...

"Leakin' James Comey must have set a record for who lied the most to Congress in one day. His Friday testimony was so untruthful!," Trump wrote, adding in a second post: "On 245 occasions, former FBI Director James Comey told House investigators he didn't know, didn't recall, or couldn't remember things when asked."

Comey laughed at the idea Trump had even looked over the actual testimony, joking to Wallace before she could read the tweets, "He's finished reading the 253 pages?"
After hearing the words out loud, he turned serious.

"My reaction to it is actually disturbing to me, which is kind of, 'Eh, there he goes again.' I thought I was 'Lyin' James Comey' now I'm 'Leakin' James Comey'. But I kind of shrug and sometimes smile and laugh about it and then I have a secondary reaction, which is to be horrified at my own numb reaction," Comey said. "We have to remind ourselves the President of the United States of America is publicly announcing that people are committing crimes, that they should be in jail."

Comey used the power of the state to put Trump in jail just because he wanted Hillary Clinton to be president, but it's dangerous for Trump to tweet at him.

And note that CNN claims that Trump is claiming without evidence -- the media's new favorite phrase -- that Comey is not telling the truth when he claims so much failure of memory. But as the next article points out, there is evidence of this -- at least of Comey claiming a suspicious amount of early-onset dementia.

On Friday, Comey admitted to congresssional questioners that he never even bothered to verify the claims made in the "dossier" he used to secure a FISA against Trump and people in his orbit, and made the further astonishing claim that he doesn't think it's his job to do so.

Republican lawmakers were aghast at his sudden lack of recollection of key events.
He didn't seem to know that his own FBI was using No. 4 Justice Department official Bruce Ohr as a conduit to keep collecting intelligence from Christopher Steele after the British intel operative was fired by the bureau for leaking and lying. In fact, Comey didn't seem to remember knowing that Steele had been terminated, according to sources in the room.

"His memory was so bad I feared he might not remember how to get out of the room after the interview," one lawmaker quipped. Lamented another: "It was like he suddenly developed dementia or Alzheimer's, after conveniently remembering enough facts to sell his book."

Faintness of memory is a common symptom for witnesses under the intense spotlight. But lawmakers were relieved when Comey could remember one fact that is essential to understanding if his FBI acted appropriately in the investigation of Donald Trump and Russia.

The towering ex-FBI boss confessed that the FBI had not corroborated much of the Steele dossier before it was submitted as evidence to a secret court to support a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the final weeks of the election.

And Comey admitted much of the dossier remained uncorroborated more than six months later when he was fired by President Trump.

...

Comey now has confirmed what Republican lawmakers like Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have warned about for months -- that the FBI used an unverified dossier, paid for by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party as political opposition research, to justify spying on the duly nominated GOP candidate for president just weeks before Election Day.

John Solomon's whole article is good.

Note that the media uses the phrase "without evidence" to describe the statements of Republicans who are first-hand witnesses to events. In other words: They don't count.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 11:59 AM Comments

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"I'm watching the 6-part documentary 'The Clinton Affair' on A&E, and you know what chaps my buns? They write off the exposure of the Clintons' crimes as just smear campaigns by political operatives such as 'The American Spectator' magazine, and Rush Limbaugh. But then they need to show someone who tells us these things, who sort of tells us the way things really are, a straight-shooter whom the audience can trust, and do you know who they pick? David Effing Brock. They don't bother to mention Media Matters or American Bridge 21st Century or any of the other organizations Brock has put together to smear conservatives, boost Hillary Clinton. The audience is never told any of these things, and one of the most rabidly partisan attack dogs in national politics is presented as a more or less neutral, unbiased observer. Oh, and attack politics was completely unknown in Washington until it was invented by Newt Gingrich. I'll bet you morons didn't know that, either. But 'The Clinton Affair' isn't all bad, it does do a pretty good job showing how Bill Clinton was such a complete sleazebag. Unlike Trump's past sexual adventures, Bill was carrying his on while he was on the job, as President, in a little room adjacent to the Oval Office. One of his secretaries obviously knew what was going on and ran interference for him. And some of the women who are now hollering '#MeToo' were among his most ardent defenders. So when Trump's critics bring up Stormy Daniels, they only response they deserve is a loud, braying horse laugh."

Fine Art:

Posted by OregonMuse at 11:33 AM Comments

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Water Lillies And Japanese Bridge
Claude Monet

Posted by CBD at 09:30 AM Comments

The Morning Report - 12/10/18

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Monday again and we have lots of linkages so here we go. The Mueller witch hunt and ongoing soft-ish coup against President Trump and We The People (E-Pleb-Neesta for any Yangs or Komes out there) takes the top slot for the first time in quite a while as the long-anticipated report from Torque-your-mudder Mueller is expected to be released. There will naturally be absolutely nothing of any substance or even remotely resembling this thing we call "the truth" insofar as the claims that the President conspired, collaborated, colluded or in any other way stole the 2016 election with the aid and assistance of Vladimir Putin. With regards to James Comey, the apple-robbing crooked cop who willingly allowed himself and the FBI to be used as a weapon to try and sabotage candidate and then President Trump, Daniel Sobieski over at American Thinker says it best: "Comey lied." His full essay on the subject is worthy of your time as is the usual outing from Victor Davis Hanson who unpacks the whole horrid thing. But the Democrats sure as night follows day will not allow a minor detail like the truth get in the way of using this mountain of nothingness to attempt to impeach the President once they officially preside over the House come late January. More on that later.

To the immigration and amnesty front we go where although things have seemingly quieted down on our southern border vis a vis the bought-and-paid for swarm of invading Central American peasantry intent on invading our country and claiming their right to citizenship (and our wallets), we have a Mexican national sentenced to 8 years for helping Bob Menendez with his love life, the US is adamantly opposed to the UN's effort to destroy our and the west's national sovereignty, more on that hack-in-black and thug DA who shielded an illegal alien criminal from ICE, and Humberto Fontova on the real refugees fleeing real tyranny that the media is strangely silent about.

To politics we go where the Sacramento Bee is having none of Kamala "Toe" Harris' Sergeant Schultz defense of her top aide's sexual harassment suit, John Kelly is set to ankle as chief of staff and Luap the Lesser is not happy with Trump's choice of ~~Bob~~ William Barr to replace him, Jerry Nadler, who wouldn't float if he was tied to the Hindenburg is seriously floating the idea of impeachment while, of all people, Maine Senator Angus King is warning of the implications if the Dems pull the trigger (which no doubt they will), Pew Research has an enlightening poll showing what happened after 8 years of Obama and SJW madness, Loopy Ocasio-Fiasco is mum about her support of Joo-haters, Schemer and Palsi are playing hardball over a potential government shutdown while the lame duck GOP is fighting hard to waste even more taxpayer dollars and line their pockets before time runs out, a look at the 2020 field from the Never-Trumper perspective, Tucker Carlson is wrong about blaming the President for the lack of a wall and Obamacare repeal, New York's lawmakers stink on ice and a very interesting case out of Massachusetts could have big implications if/when it reaches SCOTUS.

In First Amendment and Fake News Fakery news, the Media are total hypocrites when it comes to Heather Nauert's nomination to be UN Ambassador, Daniel Greenfield unpacks what the Leftist antipathy to Facebook is really all about, Loopy Ocasio-Fiasco lets her inner tyrant flag fly in response to Trump Jr., and more on that New York scheme to take away guns for wrong-think.

And segueing perfectly into the 2-A category, now that Jersey has effectively banned 10-round magazines, how are they going to enforce that law? And pint-sized putrid pre-pubescent punk Little Shitler Camera Hogg blasts Rubio and the Word of G-d, as well as a look at deconstructing the anti-gun cult.

At the foreign desk, I love Paris when it sizzles and evidently so does Belgium and the Netherlands, Canadians might torch Ottawa if Justin Trudeau pulls a carbon tax in Canuckistan, several essays on this Huawei incident including speculation from Spengler that the Deep State had the CFO arrested in order to torpedo Trump's trade deal with the Chi-Coms. Meanwhile, Deutchers go uber ballistic for guns, while Putin continues to make maneuvers around the globe including sending nuclear capable bombers to Venezuela to bolster Maduro, which also no doubt sends a message to Trump vis a vis Ukraine and the US Navy's maneuvering through disputed waters off of Japan. In related national defense category, the President taps General Mark Milley to head the JCoS and General McChrystal is putzing around in Afghanistan which begs the question, what the fuck are we doing there? And in the wake of the UN not condemning Hamas, the dark age pedophiles/bestiality enthusiasts celebrated by shooting up a pregnant Israeli woman. Meanwhile, an Irish professor in Paris had a little bit of an oopsie; he showed a drawing of Mohammed in his class and was stabbed to death.

Back over here, the US murder rate is taking a dive, a private prison operator in Illinois is pissing off the right/wrong people by actually reducing recidivism, a case involving the recouping of forced union dues is heading to SCOTUS, two essays on the US oil boom (thanks Obama, NOT), break up the Fed before they break us up, and a really interesting piece on Ron Wyden's wife getting mugged by reality here in the rotten apple. Also, a look at the fantasy of "free" healthcare, more on the Church sex abuse scandal, a Virginia high school teacher is fired for refusing to knuckle under to the transgender madness, and a good companion piece on the utter shambles (as intended by the Left) of American education.

In Red-Green enviro-Communism news, sea level rising is a hoax, Loopy Ocasio-Fiasco's plan to fight so-called "climate change" is an impossible and impossibly expensive shit-show, and California will now mandate expensive solar panels on all new houses. Hmm, what if I started a company to sell fake-but-accurate looking solar panels to the trade? Charge full price and give a 97% rebate - winning!

From hither and yon, two pieces on the Twitter shaming of Kevin Hart and the guy who just won the Heisman Trophy, the Left wants us to knuckle under and crawl and a look back at Alexander Solzhenitsyn on the centennial of his birth. Amazing how his words ring true today and serve as a warning to us. Hope we heed them.

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

SPYGATE, MUELLER WITCH HUNT, DEEP STATE, COUP

Posted by J.J. Sefton at 07:45 AM Comments

Overnight Open Thread (12-09-2018 )

—CBD

[Hat Tip: Curmudgeon]

"We're human beings and the sun is the sun -- how can it be bad for you? I don't think anything that's natural can be bad for you."

-- Gwyneth Paltrow

Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, "Thank God, I'm still alive." But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again.

-- Barbara Boxer

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

-- Alexander Pope

Is Paris burning?

-- Adolf Hitler

I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry Martini

-- Robert Benchley

All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced upon them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.

-- Henry Louis Mencken

Posted by CBD at 10:15 PM Comments

Gun Thread: All I Want for Christmas Pt. 2 [Weasel]

—Open Blogger

And who doesn't want Christmas to last a lifetime? Hmmmm? Commies and Liberals, that's who!

Last weekend we had some fun talking about BB guns, something many of us started out with as kids, and which several of you mentioned still having to this day. This week let's take a look at the next step on the gun ownership ladder which for many was a .22 caliber rifle. This is the time when the good lessons you learned in the backyard shooting BBs begin to pay off!

Santa delivering Guns!

At some point you probably put down your Daisy Red Ryder and started looking for something a little more powerful. Maybe a rifle to hunt squirrels or to shoot cans off or a fence rail. There are many possibilities with this great cartridge.

Pop some caps in asses for Christmas!

The 22LR cartridge was introduced by the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company in 1887, as a hybrid of the 22 Long and 22 Extra Long cartridges, falling between the two at 1.0" overall length. Bullet weights vary from 20gr to 40gr with a wide range of velocities from subsonic to nearly 2,000fps, and with a maximum effective range of about 150 yards. The rimfire 22LR cartridge is extremely economical to produce and for this reason has become a favorite of shooters around the world. The same cartridge used in rifles is also wildly popular for handgun shooters. It's often the introductory choice for new shooters due the negligible recoil and is used for plinking, hunting, pest control, marksmanship training and competition at all levels. It is a truly versatile round, and is a great option for the young and old alike.

Savage 19 NRA Match c. 1920's

Here's an interesting rifle - the Savage Model 19 NRA Match. Designed to satisfy the demand from shooters trained on military bolt action rifles, the Model 19 was one of the first to capitalize on the civilian competitive shooting market. It's barrel and receiver are cut from a single block of steel and the apeture style rear sight is fully adjustable for windage and elevation. It's truly a competition rifle and is a lot of fun to shoot!! I have spent many an enjoyable afternoon plinking at a steel plate from 75 or 100 yards with this rifle and not worrying a bit about scores or group size or anything other than simply having a good time. It's also a great training rifle and some reports indicate several thousand were purchased by the military for basic marksmanship training purposes. In my opinion, these rifles are under appreciated in the collector's market and can sometimes be found for as little as a few hundered dollars.

remington ad 2 scaled.jpg

One for Dad, too!!

But what's a good choice today? If you're buying for a little Moron, something a little more in the "general purpose" category might make sense. Fortunately, many options exist and today's buyer will find offerings from nearly every major manufacturer; including Savage, Remingtom, Browning, Ruger and others. In fact, so many choices exist with regard to design and function, it probably helps to have a good idea of the most likely application before heading to the gun store.

Ruger 10/22

Here's a great choice - the semi-automatic Ruger 10/22. Available with an array of features, prices for this superb little rifle generally start around $250. This is a rifle that anyone would be happy to see under the tree! The examples I have seen are well made and are good shooters.

Do you have a .22 and do you shoot it often? How many of you have kept the rifle you had growing up? When was the last time you went shooting just for the fun of it? How about ammo? Do you have a favorite, what is it and why?

Here's a cool video from a couple of weeks ago on the manufacture of 22LR ammunition. Check it out! Cool Video: 22 Manufacturing Process

*******

Link-O-Rama
Shooting Sports USA Article: History of the Savage 19
Guns America Likes the Browning BL22
Guns America - Rimfires for Christmas
Article: Rifle for Christmas Tradition
CMP Bullseye Matches
NRA National Smallbore Championship
CMP Bullseye Pistol Matches
NRA Smallbore F-Class

*******

Reloading Bench

Can you reload 22LR ammunition? Why, yes - yes you can! Although it seems like a complete pain in the ass, it apparantly can be done if you're really out of other options or just have some time to kill.

*******

This Old Gun

Neon Madman bitch slaps us with knowledge!

This week's old gun is once again comes to us from our ol pal Neon Madman, after having read last week's BB gun thread, thought he'd share from his collection. Neon madman tells us:

This is my Daisy VL .22 caseless cartridge rifle, the first production rifle that used a caseless cartridge . Daisy manufactured it in 1968 and 1969, making about 23,000 units in three models. The cartridge is a .22 bullet with a chunk of solid propellant on the back, and is ignited by a jet of compressed hot air. It was an ingenious system, but between the gun control efforts in 1968 and the fact that Daisy wasn't licensed to produce firearms, the company dropped it. I purchased this from the hardware store where I worked at the time (1978) for $39.95, and later found a brick of 1000 rounds of ammunition. It has been fired three times, and in the safe since then.

Now how cool is that? I'd never even heard of this type of gun. Thanks Neon Madman!!

***This Old Cookbook***

Greatest Cookbook Ever

OK you clowns - buy a copy of the cookbook. If you already have one for your own bad self, then give one as a gift this season. Remember; it's only pennies per day, all proceeds go to charity, and if you don't buy a copy then bluebell will be sad.

And you wouldn't like bluebell when she's sad.

Yes! I want to be a WeaselWarrior and prevent sadness in bluebell!!

*************

Please note the new and improved gmail account MoronGunThread for sending in stories and pictures. Again, that's morongunthread at gmail dot com. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, send it in and we'll give your puny curiosity consideration. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are welcome!

That's it for this week - have you been to the range?

Close it up

Posted by Open Blogger at 07:13 PM Comments

Food Thread: Set Aside Your Childish Ways And Come To The Savory Side (It's In The Bible!)

—CBD

Why...yes! That is a stuffing waffle. And a damned good one too. As I may have related to you a few weeks ago, I made a lot of stuffing. Maybe three times what we needed, so I froze a lot and made this waffle with a bit.

Nothing much to it, although I thought it through a little and mixed the stuffing with egg, flour and some baking powder. It took more than 10 minutes to cook, but it ended up quite nice and moist, with a crisp exterior and some loft from the baking powder. The stuffing was savory and rich (yup...sausage!) and the waffle was an excellent accompaniment to some roast chicken. It didn't rise as much as a plain waffle, so be warned, you'll have to load up the waffle iron with lots and lots of the stuffing mixture.

I know that some of you deeply deluded and, frankly, wrong-headed people like bread and eggs with sugar, but it is time to leave your childish tastes behind and become adults. So put down the syrup and pick up the salt and butter and pepper and all of those marvelous grown-up flavors that separate the men from the boys.

Seriously, this worked out really well and was easy to make, so give it a shot. You'll thank me. Well, no, you won't, but still, try it anyway.

Posted by CBD at 04:00 PM Comments

Should We Take Occasional-Cortex Seriously?
This Guy Says, "Yes."

—CBD

The woman is a national treasure; everything she says is a wonder of stupidity and ignorance and vacuousness and best of all, cluelessness. She really does think so highly of herself that she doesn't bother to stop a bit and learn something about the topics she discusses. We are all luckier for her existence, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, her presence in the next Congress is meaningless; her voting record will be exactly what her predeccesser's was.

But is she a threat? Is her rank stupidity simply not enough to prevent her insane ideas from going more mainstream? This guy thinks so.

Why The Right Should Start Taking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Seriously

Yes, the tweet was incorrect. Yes, it would be nice if the people in our government had some actual knowledge about the things they talk about. Still, it is critical for folks on the right to avoid the mistakes made by the left. We must learn from how they treated (and treat) President Trump and endeavor not to make the same mistakes.

Do not underestimate this woman, and do not think your savage mockery of her stupidity will be an effective tool to stop her. It won’t. It will instead be personalized by her supporters, creating an army that will lay down and die for her (or at least vote for her), just like the army Trump has. You should be afraid of Ocasio-Cortez. Be much more afraid than you are.

I think his comparison to Trump is interesting but ultimately incorrect. There is a core of truth and undeniable utility in most of Trump's pronouncements as a candidate. Many of them were twisted beyond recognition by the media or simply truncated without the ability to appreciate his context.

Ocasio-Cortez is different. She really is stupid, and she is probably a bit nuts too. But that might not be enough...

Posted by CBD at 02:30 PM Comments

You Will Be Forced To Celebrate!

—CBD

Remember back in the day, those simpler times when the professional homosexual pressure groups (a subset of the far left) swore up and down that all they wanted was acceptance?

Christian Teacher Fired for Refusing to Use Transgender Student's New Pronouns

Vlaming, 47, was charged with discrimination after failing to use male pronouns to address a biologically female student. Vlaming did not intentionally misgender the student, but avoided using any pronouns to address or talk about the student in order to accord with his Christian faith, the Times-Dispatch reported.

This is a travesty of biblical (no pun intended) proportions. Simple recognition of biology is no longer enough to navigate the world. We must now acquiesce to, and actively participate in the destruction of 2,500 years of Western thought and ignore a moral code that has seen us through unimaginable brutality and created the foundations for the glory that Man has achieved.

No, we must now revel in the profound psychosis that is transgenderism, and we must lift our hands and pray to the new God...the God of self absorption and id and selfishness and narcissism.

I am sure it will all work out well.

Posted by CBD at 12:15 PM Comments

Sunday Morning Book Thread 12-09-2018

—OregonMuse

Thomas Mann Archive, Zurich

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, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, 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 do have one virtue in that at least match the rest of the suit.

WARNING: The Sunday Morning Book Thread May Be Hazardous To Your Wallet, Bank Account, Or Credit Rating.

Pic Note

Thomas Mann was an author, and social critic. Born and raised in Germany, he beat feet for Switzerland in 1933 when ~~Donald Drumpf~~ Adolf Hitler rose to power. His best known novel is probably his first one, Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family, which is considered a modern classic. It also earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

The use of a male pseudonym by a female writer is called PSEUDANDRY.

Usage: MSNBC's pseudandrous fussypants Don Lemon collapsed yesterday from an estrogen overdose.

The Joys of Reading

(click for larger version)
(h/t hogmartin)

Stocking Stuffers

In one of ths morning threads earlier this week, we were discussion bad Christmas music. MP⁴ offered:

There's a great book, I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard, which puts "The Christmas Shoes" right up there in the category of awfulness.

https://tinyurl.com/y7g3c3zw

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 04, 2018 11:43 AM (kqsXK)

So, in the context of the title, I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You’ve Ever Heard

Funny thing about this book is that, in the intro which you can read in the Kindle sample, the author describes the music that his parents played on the stereo that he, naturally, also had to listen to. And it is almost exactly the music my own parents listened to. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Mantovani. Ray Coniff. Mitch Miller. I guess if you lived in the suburbs in the 60s, this was the stuff your parents listened to. I can still see the vinyl albums in the metal rack in the closet with the stereo that no-one except my dad was allowed to touch.

Lists like this are pretty subjective. My reactions while I waa going through the list were "that's bad","oh yeah, that one is really bad","why is this on the list?", "why did ever get air time?" and "oh gods, I had forgotten all about that one, why did you have to remind me?"

The same author has another compilation, Touch Me, I'm Sick: The 52 Creepiest Love Songs You've Ever Heard.

The Kindle edition of both books goes for $4.99. From the samples, they look like amusing reads for an afternoon when you've got nothing else to do.

___________

Of course you know that Ramen noodles are a favorite among college students, but did you know that they're a highly sought after by the criminal population doing time? According to the "unique and edgy" cookbook, Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars,

Instant ramen is a ubiquitous food, beloved by anyone looking for a cheap, tasty bite—including prisoners, who buy it at the commissary and use it as the building block for all sorts of meals. Think of this as a unique cookbook of ramen hacks. Here’s Ramen Goulash. Black Bean Ramen. Onion Tortilla Ramen Soup. The Jailhouse Hole Burrito. Orange Porkies—chili ramen plus white rice plus ½ bag of pork skins plus orange-flavored punch. Ramen Nuggets. Slash’s J-Walking Ramen (with scallions, Sriracha hot sauce, and minced pork)

This cookbook contains

...more than 65 ramen recipes and stories of prison life from the inmate/cooks who devised them, including celebrities like Slash from Guns n’ Roses and the actor Shia LaBeouf.

Shia LaBeouf is in prison? Right.

There's a forward by Samuel L. Jackson, but it isn't much.

The Kindle edition goes for $7.78. For the incarceration-challenged individuals in your life.

I liked this bit about the authors:

Coauthors Gustavo “Goose” Alvarez and Clifton Collins Jr. are childhood friends—one an ex-con, now free and living in Mexico...

Heh. This suggests that he checked himself out of the prison early.

Moron Recommendations

271 Thank you to the Moron who recommended Richard Feynman's the Pleasure of Finding Things Out.

Feynman was the father of nanotechnology and was a member of the research team for the Manhattan Project, among other accomplishments...like winning the Nobel Prize in Physics and investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

The book was a fun, quick read of a collection of his speeches and interviews over the years. He had an interesting take on science and scientists...going so far as to say things like, 'there is quite a considerable amount of intellectual tyranny in the name of science'. He didn't like honors, despite winning the Nobel; He was an original thinker.

I highly recommend this book.

Posted by: squeakywheel at October 28, 2018 11:56 AM (0vKHu)

The Amazon blurb for The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short works of Richard P. Feynman—from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles. A sweeping, wide-ranging collection, it presents an intimate and fascinating view of a life in science-a life like no other. From his ruminations on science in our culture to his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, this book will fascinate anyone interested in the world of ideas.

Feynman is an old-school scientist who says embarassing old-school sciencey things such as:

First you guess...Then you compute the consequences. Compare the consequences to experience. If it disagrees with experience, the guess is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your guess is or how smart you are or what your name is. If it disagrees with experience, it’s wrong.

Pretty sure that's WhiteSupremacy™.

___________

Think politics are bad now?

20 Just started The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War by Joanne B. Freeman.

It was a violent time, what with westward expansion, Indian uprisings, and the fight over slavery. Politics was also rough. “There was hand-to-hand combat and rioting at polling places. At one memorable occasion in Washington in 1857, three nativist gangs – the Plug Uglies, the Chunkers, and the Rip-Raps—joined forces to terrorize immigrants casting votes, causing a riot.”

Fun fact: “In 1837, when a representative insulted the Speaker during a debate, the Speaker stepped down from his platform, bowie knife in hand, and killed him. Expelled and tried for murder, he was acquitted for excusable homicide and reelected, only to pull his knife on another legislator during debate, although this time the sound of colleagues cocking pistols stopped him cold.”

And of course the most famous incident, the caning of abolitionist senator Charles Sumner in 1856. Did not know: Alaska Republican Don Young threatened John Boehner with a knife right in the House Chamber. Boehner stared him down and they parted, the matter ended (they later became friends). Even better: Young angrily shook the penis bone of a walrus at an Interior Department official who wanted to restrict hunting.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 02, 2018 09:48 AM (kQs4Y)

But, as the Amazon blurb says:

These fights didn’t happen in a vacuum. Freeman’s dramatic accounts of brawls and thrashings tell a larger story of how fisticuffs and journalism, and the powerful emotions they elicited, raised tensions between North and South and led toward war. In the process, she brings the antebellum Congress to life, revealing its rough realities—the feel, sense, and sound of it—as well as its nation-shaping import. Funny, tragic, and rivetingly told, The Field of Blood offers a front-row view of congressional mayhem and sheds new light on the careers of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and other luminaries, as well as introducing a host of lesser-known but no less fascinating men. The result is a fresh understanding of the workings of American democracy and the bonds of Union on the eve of their greatest peril.

The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War advertises itself as the "previously untold story of the violence in Congress that helped spark the Civil War."

Therefore, from history we know that civil wars are proceeded by beatings, knifings, and shootings in the national legislature. Not sure how that's going to work out nowadays when one side doesn't believe in gun ownership. Fortunately for us, it's the other side.

On the other hand, other countries tolerate a considerable level of violence in their legislative bodies You can watch videos on YouTube of bench-clearing brawls in the Taiwanese and SoKo parliaments. They're actually kind of fun to watch.

Books By Morons

Moron author scrood e-mails:

My FIVE Kindle eBooks including “Let’s Hack Diabetes”, "Let's Hack Heart Disease", “Let’s Hack Mental Illness” will be free Sunday, Dec 9th!

EMT 12/09/18

—krakatoa

If it's Sunday it must be EMT.

Posted by krakatoa at 06:00 AM Comments

Saturday Overnight Open Thread (12/8/18)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

***

The Saturday Night Joke
GRANDPA'S ON THE PORCH AGAIN.....

A man came to visit his grandparents, and he noticed his grandfather sitting on the porch, in the rocking chair, wearing only a shirt, with nothing on from the waist down.

"Grandpa, what are you doing? Your weenie is out in the wind for everyone to see!" he exclaimed.

The old man looked off in the distance without answering .

"Grandpa, what are you doing sitting out here with nothing on below the waist?" he asked again.

The old man slowly looked at him and said "Well...last week I sat out here with no shirt on, and I got a stiff neck. This is your grandma's idea."

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:56 PM Comments

Saturday Evening Movie Thread 12-08-2018 [Hosted By: Moviegique]

—OregonMuse

Elf

I approach revisiting most of the comedies made in my lifetime with a degree of trepidation. Much like horror movies, comedies tend to lean on surprise and atmosphere (which I'm just realizing now as I type this), both of which are very ephemeral. Additionally, comedians tend to wear out their welcome rather quickly, and just mentioning their names can be eyeroll inducing. Then, when enough time has passed to forget (or at least forgive) the desperate last gasps of a great comedian, the original stuff is rediscovered and enjoyable in all its original genius.

Some induced eyerolls (and worse) from day 1.

It's been fifteen years since Elf came out, and that is well in the comedic danger zone. Will Ferrell sort of won me over in Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back as well as number of his early performances which, if they didn't make me laugh uproariously, at least felt like, man, this guy is really trying his heart out. (It's an exercise for the reader to determine why or whether Ferrell's efforts are more appealing than similar forgotten and truly desperate comics of the day like Tom Green.) And unlike a lot of comedians, Ferrell proved in many of his later roles that he could seem like a real human and not a stumbling pratfall machine.

But that's not relevant here—or is it? Because the great mystery of Jon Favreau's 2003 tale of a human changeling visiting New York City for the first time, is that it worked at all back in the post-9/11-Bushitler days and actually holds up pretty well today. No small part of that must be attributed to Ferrell's earnest performance. A popular film with all the kids, this was the first time they had seen it in the theater and we all walked away in the Christmas spirit—which is what you want in a Christmas movie. (And probably why Die Hard isn't a Christmas movie, since you just want to blow up terrorists afterwards.)

Although, if Buddy started blowing up terrorists, this movie would be ten times better.

Director Favreau has a way of making more out of movies than is actually there on paper. This is not a great reason to rush out to see The Jungle Book or Cowboys and Aliens, but goes a long way to explain Iron Man (and in part the success of the MCU) as well as this movie. (Though The Boy and I both feel like his best and most personal film is Chef.) Elf is a sincere film, clashing up against an insincere culture, and it shows up the insincerity for the worthlessness that it is—thus it wins.

It's a simple, corny film: Due to a Christmas Eve mix-up, a human mis-named Buddy (Will Ferrell) ends up living with the toymaker elves before discovering that he is a human. He journeys down to NYC to meet his real father (James Caan) that Santa (Ed Asnwer) informs him is on the "naughty list". After about an hour-and-a-half of fish-out-of-water jokes, Buddy's father sees the light and helps to save Christmas. Along the way, Buddy brings a little light into the lives of children, felons, his stepmother (Mary Steenburgen, Time After Time) and half-brother, as well as love to a cynical department store sales clerk (Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer, playing the normal one for a change).

You know this is on a fetish site somewhere.

The cast is nigh perfect, even down to the smallest supporting roles. Bob Newhart as Papa Elf. Faizon Love as the nervous department store manager. Michael Lerner as the Scrooge-ish publisher. Kyle Gass and Andy Richter as Caan's toadying hack writers. Amy Sedaris as Caan's chipper secretary. The great Leon Redbone in the role of the Burl Ives-style snowman (and doing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Deschanel in the closing credits). Hell, 83-year-old stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen is the voice of a stop-motion cub. Peter Dinklage—on the heels of his serious, moody breakout role in The Station Agent—is awesome as the hard-bitten primadonna master of kidlit.

The soundtrack really is perfect. It's cool, with Louis Prima, Eartha Kitt and Ray Charles belting out classics over the comic montages ("Pennies from Heaven", "Santa Baby", "Winter Wonderland", respectively). The score—that is the musical itself by frequent Favreau collaborator John Debney (The Stoning of Soraya M, The Passion of the Christ) has a nice theme and is otherwise competent if a little generic.

A very angry elf indeed.

Even so, the film could be disastrous if the jokes were wrong. There's a small amount of scatalogical humor. Most of the jokes that might be sleazy are defused with Buddy's genuine innocence. The Boy and I felt that the really broad physical violence didn't hold up that well. (I've often pointed out that, if you hate Will Ferrell, Elf is a movie where you can watch him get thrashed by Peter Dinklage.) It's not that it's bad, it just jangles a little bit somehow these days.

Most of the humor, though, is based on this Christmas-fantasy-elf clashing with 21st century society. In many ways, sort of amusingly, it's far less cynical than, e.g., Miracle on 34th Street which is powered entirely by a group of self-interested small-minded people, while Buddy's charm is basically to win people over to his point-of-view because it's right. That sort of feels weird to type but it's also sort of obvious: Spirit, Christmas or otherwise, is created by each of us for ourselves and others, so you really better not pout, cry, etc.

On the flip-side, 34th Street is a classic because it makes its argument very well, and Elf is a little weak in this regard. Caan's transformation isn't as supported as you might want, maybe because the actor himself is more convincing in the crustier role. But even here, the movie is saved by Favreau's light touch: It's not trying to be serious or deep, just genuine.

We all came out in a good mood, humming Christmas tunes. (Sort of like Die Hard, come to think of it.) Check it out—again.

Gimbels went out of business in 1987.

Close it up

Posted by OregonMuse at 07:58 PM Comments

Chess Thread 12-08-2018

—OregonMuse

Leo Tolstoy playing chess with the son of his friend and publisher Vladimir Chertkov who took this picture in 1907. More pictures: https://t.co/m9HrWl69dp pic.twitter.com/CXwtBezk8e
— History Lovers Club (@historylvrsclub) November 20, 2018

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

Easier Problem - Black To Play (844)

Goal: Easy mate in 4
Hint: Get that rook out of there

k4r2/ppB5/8/1P1p2p1/6Qp/1P2P1nP/2PP1qPK/6R1 b - - 0 1

More Challenging Problem - White To Play (817)

A tricky endgame.

Goal: White can actually force a win from this position
Hint: Use queen and knight to force Black to give up his newly-won queen

8/8/8/P7/3K4/1N6/4pk1p/7B w - - 0 1

Dress Pr0n For The 'Ettes:

Art meets fashion - a Jeanne Hallée 1907 evening dress from the @metmuseum. Art Nouveau and chinoiserie motifs are seen in the cloud pattern on the shoulders of this dress, which according to the museum, is stylised in the form of Manchu court dress. A varied blend of influence! pic.twitter.com/sVQTgP09aS
— whatgrandmawore (@whatgrandmawore) October 8, 2018

(click for larger view)

Greetings From Slovakia

(click for larger view)

Of course, in order to find photos of Melania with Argentina's first lady Juliana Awada, you have to go to the British press.

(h/t to publius for the link).

___________

Solutions Update

Easier Problem - Black To Play

k4r2/ppB5/8/1P1p2p1/6Qp/1P2P1nP/2PP1qPK/6R1 b - - 0 1

1...Qxg1+!

That rook needed to be gotten rid of. Now the checkmate can be executed by the rook supported by the knight.

2.Kxg1 Rf1+
3.Kh2 Rh1#

More Challenging Problem - White To Play

8/8/8/P7/3K4/1N6/4pk1p/7B w - - 0 1

1.Nc1

This stops the pawn. If now 1...e1Q?? then 2.Nd3+ wins with the fork.

1...Kg1

2. Nxe2+ Kxh1

And now Black can push his other pawn.

3.a6

The best. Trying to stop Black from queening his pawn is futile: 3.Ke3 Kg2 4.Nf4+ Kf1 5.Ne2 Kg2 6.Nf4+ Kf1 7.Ne2 Kg2, etc.

3...Kg2
4.a7 h1=Q
5.a8=Q+ Kh2

And this is where it gets tricky. White's strategy is to maneuver Black into having to stave off a mating threat by blocking with his queen on a square that is also covered by the knight.

6.Qb8+ Kg2
7.Qb7+ Kh2
8.Qh7+ Kg2
9.Qe4+ Kh2
10.Qh4+ Kg2
11.Nf4+

This is the key move. Black needs to go to g1 to protect hid queen. My chess app, seeing the approaching end, simply gave up: 11...Kf3 12.Qxh1+ Kxf4 13.Qh5 and wins.

But humans want to hold on to the queen:

11...Kg1
12.Qe1+ Kh2
13.Qf2+

And now we're at the critical position. Black's only move is to block.

13...Qg2
14.Qxg2#

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 05:09 PM Comments

Ace of Spades Pet Thread

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Will this end well?

***

Welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spade Pet Thread. Give the pet a treat, grab yourself something and enjoy the world of animals.

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 03:00 PM Comments

Saturday Gardening Thread, Going Bold [KT]

—Open Blogger

Lurker anonymous sent in the fun photo above:

Living in San Diego I look forward to my display of aloes and succulents blooming. They bloom late fall and add so much color to the yard. Sometimes it takes a year or two for them to start producing and in some cases even longer. This one only took a year.
In front is an Aloe cameronii, which I believe is in the red aloe family, and the taller succulent in back is a Pedilanthus bracteatus.

Once you get hooked on aloes you just want more!

PS really look forward to the garden thread and the pet thread each Saturday. Thanks for doing this.

I love how the succulents, artwork and birdhouse go together, don't you? The fence serves as a fine backdrop. I wouldn't be surprised if the succulents attracted some hummingbirds, too. Bet they are easily visible.

We have been discussing hardscaping and garden ornamentation off and on lately. Below, some examples of hardscaping and garden ornamentation from the largest private home in the United States. And a little information about a couple of guys who did some bold designing.

Biltmore Estate

Completed in 1895, George Vanderbilt's 250-room chateau is as impressive today as it was more than a century ago.

My niece was there during the Chihuly exhibit during the summer. The Christmas displays are up now. I thought it might be fun to compare the seasonal displays.

Here are a couple of the outdoor Chihuly sculptures she saw this summer:

Here is an indoor one:

I think the "Indoor Winter Garden" may be in the same space now:

George Washington Vanderbilt was a grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was the youngest of eight children, and reportedly the favorite of his father. His two older brothers managed the family's financial businesses. He was quiet, interested in the arts, travel, books, horticulture and silviculture (forestry). He managed the family's northeastern farm holdings for a while.

He opened his "country home" to guests on Christmas Eve in 1895, with gifts for 300 to 500 guests, including estate workers and their families. He was still a bachelor at the time, and enlisted the help of the wife of a friend as hostess.

Today, they still hold a party for employees at Christmas. But the estate is open to the public (and kind of pricey). You may be greeted by a lion dressed up for Christmas:

Or a fireplace dressed with greenery and ornaments:

The estate includes a three-wing conservatory. Here is a view of one of them in the summer:

And another arrayed for Christmas:

They have a website featuring information to entice visitors. Here's a little piece on how one of their decorators brings the outdoors in at Christmas: with Hygrangea macrophylla.

Southern Living has a more helpful piece on drying hydrangeas.

The Biltmore also has recipes on its website. Here's one for roasted sweet potatoes with dried cranberries and toasted pumpkin seeds. Growing any of those ingredients next year?

They have a nice fall salad recipe, too. Salad greens from the garden, apples from your tree, bacon, blue cheese, caramelized walnuts.

They also hold rose trials at Biltmore Estate. Here are a couple of the 2017 winners. It will be bare root season before you know it:

Anastasia was judged Best Hybrid Tea.

Screaming Neon Red swept four categories: Best in Show, Best Shrub, Most Disease Resistant and Best Growth Habit.

The Father of American Landscape Architecture

The landscape and forest historian, at Biltmore, Bill Alexander, recently retired.

"As a child, I didn't know that Frederick Law Olmsted designed the landscape, but it had me from the start," Bill said. "I loved the wilder areas. It's where I developed my interest in trees and flowers."

Thinking of adding a water feature to your yard? Olmsted's design for the Bass Pond dam and spillway are still functional today.

"After completing a book on the story of George Vanderbilt's Pisgah Forest as the 'cradle of forestry' in this country," said Bill, "I'm focusing on another project regarding documented accounts of the early settlers, farmers, and landowners prior to Vanderbilt's purchase of the acreage that would become part of his private estate."
Through his research, Bill has learned that much of the land encompassed by Biltmore is strongly connected to the early history of Western North Carolina, including an ancient Native American trade route that came through what it is now Biltmore's Lodge Gate on its way to Tennessee and Ohio. In addition, a village existed 1500-1800 years ago adjacent to that long-ago highway.

The landscape design for Biltmore Estate was the last major project of Frederick Law Olmstead, sometimes called the Father of American Landscape Architecture. He is best known for designing Central Park in New York City, but he was involved in some 550 projects during his career, including the design of the landscape for the Capitol Building, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and regional parks.

George Vanderbilt had wanted to plan his entire land holding after the model of the typical English estate, but Olmstead discouraged him, because the ground was not good enough and timber had been over-cut. Olmstead planned much of the land to be managed forest, and Vanderbilt established the first American school of forestry. After his death, Vanderbilt's wife sold much of the land to the US Forest Service, and it became the basis for the Pisgah National Forest.

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 just want to be a lurker.

Got any Christmas decorations up in your yard or garden?

Close it up

Posted by Open Blogger at 12:53 PM Comments

Thread before the Gardening Thread, December 8 [KT]

—Open Blogger

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

Are surprises good for us?
Think Macron considers surprises to be good right now?

Ace and others have been writing here about the Yellow Jacket protests in France this week, which were expected to escalate today. I have seen some interesting information in the AoSHQ comments this morning, too. Skynews reports that tear gas and water cannons have been used. There are several dramatic photos at the link. Weren't we just told that Trump was a war criminal or something for using tear gas? How could this be happening under Macron?

The Wall Street Journal had a headline up reading, "Globtrotting Macron overlooked swelling anger at home". On Facebook, they referred to him as being "Astride the globe". How long do you think THAT will last?

Richard Fernandez made the following observation about this unexpected preference cascade:

Macron, the media -- nobody saw it coming. Nobody really predicts anything. Pearl Harbor, Hitler's invasion of Russia, the fall of the USSR, 9/11, 2008, Brexit or Hillary's loss. The really important info is not what you know but what you've ignored.

Bush the Elder didn't seem to like surprises

Speaking of the fall of the USSR, Michael Walsh wrote this about Bush the Elder:

Cautious, diplomatic, pedantic ("the Helsinki Final Act")--this was classic Bush, a man who prized "stability" over everything else and did all he could to maintain the status quo. Why this should be surprising is unclear. Bush had been Director of Central Intelligence at the end of the Ford Administration and like most DCIs, and the agency in general, had evolved a modus vivendi with the KGB and the other enemy intelligence services. Each side knew where the boundaries were, and nobody actually wanted a "final" victory.
The last thing Bush wanted, or could handle, was the sudden collapse of the postwar bipolar world. His disgraceful "New World Order" speech came on March 6, 1991, even before the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the end of the Soviet Union. With its chilling echoes of Hitler's "New World Order" speech of 1941--which White House functionary approved that phraseology?--it made clear where Bush's sympathies lay.

With order.

Walsh was in Eastern Europe before the Fall of the Wall, and has some interesting observations in addition tho those above.

A surprise from Chicago

I got a little surprise of my own this week. Glenn Reynolds linked a column from the Chicago Tribune about a young condidate who is getting a lesson in the Chicago Way. It is written as a David vs. Goliath story:

The David is David Krupa, 19, a freshman at DePaul University who drives a forklift part time. He's not a political powerhouse. He's just a conservative Southwest Side teenager studying political science and economics who got it in his head to run for alderman in a race that pits him against the most powerful ward organization in Chicago.
The Goliath is the 13th Ward Democratic Organization run by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, aka Boss Madigan, the most powerful politician in the state. Boss Madigan has long hand-picked his aldermen. He likes them loyal and quiet. The current silent alderman of the 13th Ward is Marty Quinn.

Is there something I don't know about the Chicago Tribune? I was surprised by the strong description of "Boss Madigan". And of the corruption in this case, which involves getting people to sign notarized retractions of signatures they never made. This is apparently a felony.

Anyway, is this kind of writing expected from the Chicago Tribune or is this something new?

Music

Papa Haydn enjoyed a little surprise now and then:

Hope you have a great weekend. If you have any surprises, hope they are good ones.

Close it up

Posted by Open Blogger at 11:17 AM Comments

Weird News Dump

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Good morning Horde. The Meme above is to be printed off and hung by your work station, cube, desk, bench, etc. Definitely not meant for you in this open thread.

Let's take a look at a few stories that didn't their fair share of attention here this past week at the AoSHQ.

Posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:31 AM Comments

EMT 12/08/18

—krakatoa

Mmmm. Gubment cheese. I do so miss it. I cannot wait until the Democrats take over and it's all the cheese we could ever want.

Posted by krakatoa at 06:00 AM Comments

Friday Night ONT

—WeirdDave

Here's a neat graphic:

(Right click and "view image" to embiggen)

Posted by WeirdDave at 09:36 PM Comments

Bridezilla Has Bizarre Dress Requirements for Those Attending Her Wedding

—Ace of Spades

Princess likes what she likes.

There's yet another New York Times article about the fad that's sweeping low-T men of both the progressive and RINO variety: Having another man sleep with your wife.

This article, however, opens up whole new vistas of cuckery:

this column ends with her husband literally building a cuckshed in the backyard so his wife's boyfriend can sleep in his bed https://t.co/Bsc8LAYwNh
— J.G. Simonson, CEO, CuckShed Industries (@SaysSimonson) December 7, 2018

"Cuckshed!" That is the ultimate in cuckery. Building yourself an outdoor Shame-Shack you can sleep in while your wife sleeps with her stallion.

Also, this is weird:

Posted by Ace of Spades at 07:17 PM Comments

Senior Kamala Harris Aide Resigns Over Sexual Misconduct Allegation

—Ace of Spades

Kamala Harris claims she had no idea of this major scandal happening right under her poorly-shaped nose.

Quick, let's nominate her for Commander in Chief before she changes her mind.

Advisor Larry Wallace submitted his resignation to the California lawmaker after the Sacramento Bee inquired about a 2017 sexual harassment suit that targeted Wallace. Wallace reportedly settled the matter with a $400,000 payout to an employee who alleged, among other things, that she was told to crawl into some tight locations that would likely reveal more of her skin.
"We were unaware of this issue and take accusations of harassment extremely seriously,”"Harris spokeswoman Lily Adams said, according to the Bee. "This evening, Mr. Wallace offered his resignation to the senator, and she accepted it."

Posted by Ace of Spades at 06:47 PM Comments

Kevin Hart Forced Out as Oscars Host Over Shocking Discovery That He, as a Black Comedian, Has Deployed Jokes Involving the Word "Gay" In the Past

—Ace of Spades

Quick, give me a glass of water so I can spit-take it all out.

The turn of events followed outcry over previous anti-gay tweets, and comments Hart made during stand-up routines nearly 10 years ago. Some of the tweets were feverishly deleted throughout the day on Thursday, leading to an Instagram video from the comedian that only made matters worse for him.
"My team calls me, 'Oh my God, Kevin, everyone’s upset by tweets you did years ago,'" he said in that video. "Guys, I'm nearly 40 years old. If you don't believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I don't know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify the past, do you. I'm the wrong guy, man."

Those words rang as a defiant non-apology for many. Hours later, Hart resurfaced with another video stating that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had given him an ultimatum: Apologize or we'll find a new host.

Forced apologies are what America is all about.

“I chose to pass on the apology,” the 39-year-old actor-comedian said in the video. "The reason why I passed is because I've addressed this several times. This is not the first time this has come up. I've addressed it. I've spoken on it. I've said where the rights and wrongs were. I've said who I am now versus who I was then. I've done it. I'm not going to continue to go back and tap into the days of old when I've moved on and I’m in a completely different place in my life."

That, too, rang hollow for many. Less than two hours later, Hart announced via Twitter that he was removing himself from the gig, and he finally offered the apology everyone was looking for.

Wired is just beside itself and just can't even!!!

The several-years-old missives, filled with homophobic slurs, began circulating almost as soon as Hart was announced as the host of next year's Academy Awards ceremony. The 39-year-old actor and comedian deleted many of the messages, including a 2011 tweet in which he wrote that, were his son to play with his daughter's dollhouse, Hart would "break it over his head & say n my voice 'stop that's gay'." But the internet quickly dug up several more crude and cruel statements from his Twitter feed, some of which included terms like "FAT FAG" and jokes about AIDS.

Kevin Hart's forced apology was made, of course, to try to stop the NPCs from ending his career completely. Which they're going to try to do.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 05:48 PM Comments

Sentencing Memo on Michael Cohen Released; Claims Cohen Did Not Cooperate With Investigators, Recommends a "Substantial" Term of Imprisonment

—Ace of Spades

Meanwhile, James Comey , wearing a lot of clown make-up, was just claiming that he cooperated fully with Congress except for all the times his lawyer ran interference for him. I'll put up a clip of that when it becomes available.

2. Does not start out well for Cohen pic.twitter.com/EFGQTahrbK
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

4. "As set forth in the submission being filed by the SCO in 18 Cr. 850 (WHP), this Office understands that the information provided by Cohen to the SCO was ultimately credible and useful to its ongoing investigation."
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

6. "Cohen only met with the Office about the participation of others in the campaign finance crimes to which Cohen had already pleaded guilty. Cohen specifically declined to be debriefed on other uncharged criminal conduct, if any, in his past."
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

7. SDNY re Cohen: "A Substantial Term of Imprisonment Is Warranted"
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

WOMP WOMP.

Reevaluating: Maybe "WOMP WOMP" isn't the right reaction. It seems prosecutors are looking to squeeze Cohen by threatening him with "substantial" jail time despite cooperation; they're going after him like gangbusters for "cooperation," or maybe just playing along with their narrative.

And I think Cohen's the kind of guy who will eventually read whatever script you put in front of him.

More, now From Mueller: The above stuff was filed by the Southern District of NY's attorney.

Now here's Mueller's filing:

9. Mueller's Office: "The government does not take a position with respect to a particular sentence to be imposed but submits that it is appropriate for any sentence of incarceration to be served concurrently."
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

11. Mueller's office said Cohen lied to them as recently as August 2018 re Moscow project: "...When asked questions about the Moscow Project, Cohen provided false answers in what he later explained was an effort not to contradict his congressional testimony..."
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

12. Cohen told the Special Counsel's Office that he lied about remarks re Moscow being spontaneous...that in fact he consulted with Trump prior to reaching out to the Russian government. pic.twitter.com/BrjiwtSDm3
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

13. The Special Counsel's office reveals (generally) how Cohen has been helpful to their investigation. pic.twitter.com/7AiQwu001X
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 7, 2018

Close it up

Posted by Ace of Spades at 04:55 PM Comments

Nooo! Anti-Israel Extremist Rashida Tlaib Received Stipend from George Soros, But Misrepresented That Monetary Support in Financial Disclosures

—Ace of Spades

It's weird that George Soros funds antisemitism and then cries "Antisemitism!" when he's criticized.

Congresswoman-elect Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) did not disclose the name of the source of funds for a fellowship that was paid by liberal billionaire George Soros—as required by the House ethics committee00and also disclosed a lesser amount than she received, according to a review of tax and financial disclosure forms.
The Washington Free Beacon obtained the most recent copies of tax forms for a number of Soros's organizations, including the Open Society Institute, the legal name for the Open Society Foundations, the entity in which Soros pushes millions in funding to a number of liberal causes and organizations.

BTW, this entire article is antisemitic, because it mentions that the non-Jewish George Soros fund the left, and it became antisemitic to say that the non-Jewish George Soros funds the left the moment he started funding segments of the former right.

An expenditure of $85,307 to Rashida Tlaib in Detroit, Mich., from 2017 is shown on page 97 of the 321-page report to "to increase involvement of disenfranchised urban communities of color with their local governance process by creating a community benefits strategy for equitable development and creating a leadership training for impacted residents focused on negotiation skills and identifying leverage at the local level."
Tlaib did not report any income in the amount of $85,307 on financial disclosure forms submitted as she was running for office, which identified the names of the sources that provided her income in three of four cases.

Any guesses on which name she kept off her financial disclosure?

However, the fourth reported source of earned income is marked as a "Leadership in Government Fellowship," but does not identify who provided the payment.
A press release from 2016 shows that Tlaib was chosen for a "leadership in government" fellowship by Soros's Open Society Foundations along with seven other individuals.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 04:17 PM Comments

Prosecutors Looking Into the Podesta Group?

—Ace of Spades

The Podesta Group had the same foreign clients as Paul Manafort, and likewise did not register, as the law requires, as a foreign agent.

Is Mueller actually looking into them, even if just to "make it look good," or is he trying to find out what they heard about Random Trump Flunkie #8?

Federal prosecutors have recently resumed interviewing witnesses in an investigation of two lobbying firms that worked with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, including one operated by the brother of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
According to The Associated Press, prosecutors in New York have in recent weeks started contacting witnesses and attorneys as part of an investigation into the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs.

The two firms worked with Manafort through 2014 on a consulting project aimed at fluffing the public image of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Prosecutors have also focused on Greg Craig, the former White House general counsel under then-President Barack Obama and a former partner at the firm Skadden Arps. CNN reported in September that prosecutors were weighing charges against Craig, who has since left his firm.

...

According to court filings submitted in Manafort’s case, the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs failed to register as foreign agents of Ukraine despite knowing that they were working on behalf of Yanukovych.

And at Skadden Arps, Craig helped craft a report aimed at smearing one of Yanukovych’s political rivals.

Posted by Ace of Spades at 03:06 PM Comments

Trump: Let's Debate the Wall in Public, NowPelosi and Schumer: No Let's Hide the Debate and Stage-Manage ItLeftwing Media and Cucks: This is Terrible, Why Won't Trump Agree to Stage-Manage the Democratic Process?

—Ace of Spades

LOL: The Oscars Academy Is "Considering" Having No Host at All

—Ace of Spades

The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

—CBD

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

The Morning Report - 12/11/18

—J.J. Sefton

Monday Overnight Open Thread (12/10/18 )

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

For Those of You Who Hate Will Ferrell and Have Been Asking the Career Fairy to Take His Career Away, Your Wish May be Granted

—Ace of Spades

Married "Transgender Men" Will Not Impose a Gender on Their Child Until "It" Tells Them What It Is

—Ace of Spades

Sharyl Atkisson Digests Comey's Testimony For You

—Ace of Spades

Trump: It was Great Being at the Army-Navy Game in the Presence of HEROESBill Kristol: How DARE You Call Them HEROES YOU MONSTER!!!

—Ace of Spades

Victor Davis Hanson: In Order to Justify His Deviation from the Law, Robert Mueller Has Also Embraced Unequal Justice

—Ace of Spades

Families of Hostages Held by Iran: "We Will Remain Quiet No Longer"

—Ace of Spades

Environmental Sissies Celebrate: Yay! Shipping Giant Maersk Says It Will End Its Use of Fossil Fuels by... Um... 2050

—Ace of Spades

The Telegraph: This Christmas, Why Not Give Your Wife the Gift of Cuckery?

—Ace of Spades

Nonpartisan Unbiased Lifelong Republican Reverend Jim Comey: We Have Use "Every Breath We Have" To Push Trump Out of Office

—Ace of Spades

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

The Morning Report - 12/10/18

—J.J. Sefton

Overnight Open Thread (12-09-2018 )

—CBD

Merry Christmas

Gun Thread: All I Want for Christmas Pt. 2 [Weasel]

—Open Blogger

Food Thread: Set Aside Your Childish Ways And Come To The Savory Side (It's In The Bible!)

—CBD

Should We Take Occasional-Cortex Seriously?This Guy Says, "Yes."

—CBD

You Will Be Forced To Celebrate!

—CBD

Sunday Morning Book Thread 12-09-2018

—OregonMuse

EMT 12/09/18

—krakatoa

Saturday Overnight Open Thread (12/8/18)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Saturday Evening Movie Thread 12-08-2018 [Hosted By: Moviegique]

—OregonMuse

Chess Thread 12-08-2018

—OregonMuse

Ace of Spades Pet Thread

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Saturday Gardening Thread, Going Bold [KT]

—Open Blogger

Thread before the Gardening Thread, December 8 [KT]

—Open Blogger

Weird News Dump

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

EMT 12/08/18

—krakatoa

Friday Night ONT

—WeirdDave

Bridezilla Has Bizarre Dress Requirements for Those Attending Her Wedding

—Ace of Spades

Senior Kamala Harris Aide Resigns Over Sexual Misconduct Allegation

—Ace of Spades

Kevin Hart Forced Out as Oscars Host Over Shocking Discovery That He, as a Black Comedian, Has Deployed Jokes Involving the Word "Gay" In the Past

—Ace of Spades

Sentencing Memo on Michael Cohen Released; Claims Cohen Did Not Cooperate With Investigators, Recommends a "Substantial" Term of Imprisonment

—Ace of Spades

Nooo! Anti-Israel Extremist Rashida Tlaib Received Stipend from George Soros, But Misrepresented That Monetary Support in Financial Disclosures

—Ace of Spades

Prosecutors Looking Into the Podesta Group?

Trump: Let's Debate the Wall in Public, Now
Pelosi and Schumer: No Let's Hide the Debate and Stage-Manage It
Leftwing Media and Cucks: This is Terrible, Why Won't Trump Agree to Stage-Manage the Democratic Process?

Trump: It was Great Being at the Army-Navy Game in the Presence of HEROES
Bill Kristol: How DARE You Call Them HEROES YOU MONSTER!!!

Should We Take Occasional-Cortex Seriously?
This Guy Says, "Yes."