Colorado Trail-Runner Attacked From Behind by Mountain Lion;
Kills It With His Bare Hands, Strangling It

—Ace of Spades

The story's been out since February 4, but the guy finally sat down for a interview and told his story.

Audio at the link. Here's some of the story.

He's officially 0% soy.

The 31-year-old -- at 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 150 pounds -- skipped the earbuds on this run, opting instead for the sound of his own footsteps. A quarter-mile into his descent from Towers, he heard pine needles rustling on the trail behind him.

"I stopped and turned," he said. "And it's one of those situations where sometimes I turn, sometimes I don't. But in the back of my mind I always wonder if it's something dangerous like a bear or a bobcat or a mountain lion, and in this case it was in fact a mountain lion.

"So I remember seeing that and just having my gut feel the full impact of the situation."

The approximately 80-pound juvenile cougar barreled toward him. Kauffman put up his arms and screamed in an attempt to scare the cat away.

"Unfortunately, it kept running," he said.

The cat leapt at Kauffman's face. He raised his arms in a defensive motion to blunt the initial attack. Its mouth locked around his wrist. One tooth sunk into the meaty part of his thumb, another dug into the top of his wrist.

The mountain lion hugged Kauffman's body, digging its front claws into his back. Its back legs thrashed at his thighs. He tried to throw it off. But with its mouth clamped around his wrist, the two ended up tumbling more than 20 feet off the trail into a gully.

"But during that fall, the cat ended up on its back and it still had my wrist this whole time in its mouth," Kauffman said.

With the leverage of being on top of the cougar, Kauffman used one of his legs to pin the animal's hindquarters to the ground, and then searched for a way to fight back. He grabbed sticks, but they were rotted, and crumbled when he tried to use them against the cat. With his free hand, he found a rock and began hitting its head. The angle was awkward and Kauffman let the cat's legs slip out from under him.

...

He was able to repin the mountain lion's legs with his left leg and swung the other around to the cat's throat.

"I got my right foot onto its neck," he said. "And then I was able to get some weight onto its windpipe and that's what eventually suffocated it."

Only when the cat was dead did it release Kauffman's wrist from its mouth.

The whole battle lasted about ten minutes.

There's a little more to this story, as a Twitter source reports:

Two Suspects Under Arrest in Jessie Smollet Case
Claim: One of the Suspects Filmed Using the Gym in Jussie Smollet's Apartment Building

—Ace of Spades

Update: Dang, I just saw this.

Chicago Police say the two men being questioned in the attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett are considered suspects.

Department spokesman Anthony Guglielimi said Friday that the men are in custody and have been arrested based on probable cause that they may have been involved in a crime. But he says they have not been charged in the Jan. 29 attack.

Police have identified the men only as two Nigerian brothers. Police have been questioning them since they were picked up by officers at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday after returning to the city from Nigeria. On Thursday, police served a search warrant at their home.

Update: Is this actually one of the suspects?

If so, why did he have access to Jussie Smollet's apartment building?

Was he a guest? If so, a guest of whom?

See below for more about this pair.

That neighborhood watch blog has more tips and rumors from police.

Two Chicago brothers who attended Lakeview High School are "potential persons of interest" in the purported hate crime attack against Empire TV star Jussie Smollett in Streeterville early on Jan. 29. The two were detained by Chicago police at O’Hare airport on Wednesday evening as they returned from a trip to Nigeria, according to police department sources. CWBChicago is not identifying the men because they have not been charged with any crime.

Here is the latest:

* At least one of the men has appeared as an extra on Smollett’s show, Empire, which airs on Fox. That man has a YouTube channel featuring three audition reels.

...

* Police on Wednesday executed a search warrant at a North Side home, seizing electronics, bleach, a red hat, clothing, and more. The search warrant receipt states that police retrieved proof that both men live in the raided apartment....

* The brother who appeared on Empire has no adult arrests in Chicago since 2014, but the Chicago Tribune reports that he was charged with attempted murder in Cook County in 2011 but later pleaded guilty to aggravated battery....

* The brothers flew to Nigeria several hours after Smollett reported being attacked, according to reporting by CBS2Chicago. They were arrested as they returned via O’Hare last night. Their attorney told the station that they have no idea why they are considered to be of interest in the matter.

A police source denied to them the previously-reported claim that Smollet arranged the attack because he was being written out of the show.

Well... not yet he's not.

The denial of the written-out-of-the-show claim could explain why police previously said that media reports were not "accurate," while not completely denying everything. If anything reported is inaccurate, you can generally say "reports are not accurate." Lying politicians do this, and it seems wise for police handling a sensitive case to take a broad view of what "accurate" might or might not mean.

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"So, it's looking more and more like the 'MAGA attack' on Jussie Smollett is going to turn out to be a publicity stunt staged by Jussie Smollett. How about that? Whoever could have figured that? Well, as a matter of fact, practically every normal person who isn't an anti-Trump woke retard, that's who. It wasn't that hard. Anyone with a lick of sense could smell the BS on this story from the get-go. But the MSM immediately went all in on the 'racist homophobic mugging' narrative. and the usual Dem politicians piled on and now it's going to be fun watching them walk it back. Which, actually, most of them won't do. They'll just delete their tweets and move on to the next phony outrage."

"Love Trumps Hate", Part CLXII:

Remember when Beto said walls cause violence and death?

This was Beto’s anti-wall rally:

pic.twitter.com/JzrIEDzdWp

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 13, 2019

Video of the Day: Cuban American senator Marco Rubio discovers his roots https://t.co/r3gxlRS3T8 pic.twitter.com/U0SSMoNJCD

— Babalu Blog (@BabaluBloggers) February 15, 2019

So, according to the data, Sen. Marco Rubio has more claim to be Native American than Elizabeth Warren, and more claim to be black than Shaun King.

Mis. Hum. Gets A Twitter Timeout:

Seizing and Pouncing Update:

Remember kids, the main problem with Omar's open anti-Semitism is merely that it benefits the wrong side.

By Request:

(click for enlargement)

For the 'Ettes:

Wednesday's celebrities: Charo (cuchi chuchi!) and Clark Gable.

Friday Shoe Pr0n:

Today's Edition Of The Morning Rant Is Brought To You By Cougar Cheese In a Can:

Notes:
1. This is not a joke or novelty item, it's an actual product
2. I've never had it, but I've heard it's actually pretty good
3. There are several flavors available, but their most popular item is Cougar Gold®, a white cheddar
4. It's sold by the Washington State University Creamery
5. The "cougar" in the name is not because it's a product that has aged well, but because that's the WSU mascot (Go Cougs!)

Close it up

Trump About to Sign Bill That Drastically Limits His Ability to Build a Wall and Deport Illegals

—Ace of Spades

He'll also declare a national emergency, but this bill itself restricts his ability to move money around to build the wall.

Fox live viewer here.

You know, a long time ago, I knew a guy who was a senior legislative staffer for a Republican congressman.

He told me that Democrats routinely build traps and poison pills into bills. Sometimes, for example, they'll pretend to concede a legal point to Republicans, but then they'll deliberately write the law in such an aggressive way that they know a liberal interest group will challenge it as unconstitutional and easily win, because it was written to be unconstitutional.

And thus, the "concession" granted by the Democrats disappears like morning mist, but the concessions granted by Republicans -- usually about money -- remain.

The Democrats win it all.

But you probably knew that. And that's not the point I'm making.

Here's the point I'm making:

I asked him why Republicans don't take this crap out of bills -- are they incompetent?

"No," he told me. "They know they're in there. They want them there. They want the credit for having gotten what appears to be a conservative victory, but they're actually liberal-leaning (or at least they fear a liberal backlash at home) and they want Democrats to 'steal' their victory away."

So anyway, this guy was always trying to take this garbage out of bills, and his Republican colleagues were fighting to keep this shit in.

He told me this like 12, 13 years ago. He is who he says he is (his resume is genuine) and he never gave me reason to think he wasn't generally honest.

Failure Theater.

And now I fear that Trump has been enlisted as a Lead in this latest performance of Failure Theater, scripted by "Republicans" who pretend to be conservative but ho are actually very much aligned with the urban cosmopolitan liberals.

Krikorian points out the Democrat traps, which were almost certainly agreed to by McConnell and Co.

[T]he news that the Dems agreed to $1.375 billion for the construction of "primary pedestrian fencing" (i.e., high barriers, not the low ones intended simply to stop vehicles, in places where there’s none now) seemed like a win.

It's not. That’s because the bill allows the fencing to be built only in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in South Texas. It's surely needed there, but real barriers are also needed elsewhere, such as the parts of the Arizona or New Mexico borders where there’s only vehicle fencing.

But the Democrats had a reason for this limitation. The bill states:

[paraphrase: Fencing can only be built with the permission of local mayors]

In other words, local governments would have an effective veto over whether barriers would be constructed. And which party controls all local government in South Texas? Go ahead, look it up, I'll wait. Rio Grande City is the least Democratic community in the area, and even there voters supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 by more than three to one.

So the border itself is in Democrat hands, and you need the support of Democrat local leaders to build the wall.

This means, of course, that no walls may be built.

Furthermore, this scotches Trump's (claimed) plan to do this by Emergency order, because legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by the President would supersede the vague general powers the President would claim under the various statutes concerning national emergencies.

The specific trumps the general. The general powers conferred by statute for emergency authorization would be limited by the quite-specific limitations in the very spending bill Trump is signing.

Trump would sign a piece of paper forbidding him to do that which he claims he will next do on his own authority.

Krikorian continues... and it gets even worse.

Basically, Trump would give up any ability to deport most illegal aliens.

The second poison pill is even worse. Section 224 states:

None of the funds provided by this act...may be used by the Secretary of Homeland Security to place in detention, remove, refer for a decision whether to initiate removal proceedings, or initiate removal proceedings against a sponsor, potential sponsor, or member of a household of a sponsor or potential sponsor of an unaccompanied alien child.

In other words, this would mean that ICE cannot detain or remove anyone who has effectively any relationship with an "unaccompanied" minor -- either because they’re sponsors, in the same household as sponsors, or even just "potential sponsors" (or in the household of potential sponsors!) of such a child.

There are already a huge number of Unaccompanied Alien Children in the US. Each is now a human shield protecting anyone in who could even potentially be a sponsor in the future from deportation.

And of course this makes UACs, who have already been Golden Tickets into the US, that much more valuable, and they will therefore become Standard Traveling Gear for all illegal aliens.

Trump must refuse to sign this bill, demand Congress pass a one-week funding CR, demand Congress strip this bullshit out of the bill and then resubmit it.

Or else he's selling us out. And he can't pretend he doesn't know -- he knows.

We've seen Failure Theater performed enough times. We don't need to see it again.

And let me say this about that cocksucker McConnell: this rat bastard and saboteur is many things, but he is not stupid and he is not uninformed about legislation.

He knows this stuff is in the bill.

He helped put it there, and he's a key part of the sales effort to lie to the rubes once again and tell them it's not in there.

Until we pass it, and then, oops! Tricked again! Those darned Democrats got us, but if you send us money and vote extra hard for us, we promise, next time we'll get 'em....

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Sweet Dreams
John William Godward

The Morning Report - 2/15/19

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Friday and the weekend is upon us as is perhaps one of the most if not the most pivotal moments in the Trump presidency. We've got a variety of analyses and opinions on both the granular details pertaining to the issue of border security, the border wall and immigration/amnesty as well as the political ramifications going forward should the President sign or veto and let the government shut down yet again.

The best analysis comes from John C. Wohlstetter at American Spectator linked here and below. I was going to try and break out some pull quotes but there are so many moving parts to this thing that it would be impossible. Do read it and then compare and contrast with your own thoughts as well as whatever else that's out there.

Along with links citing the alarm bells on some of the more egregious poison pills that have been discovered, we also have Joel Pollak at Breitbart who think that this deal along with the supposed $8 billion that has been cannibalized from other sources represents a win for the President. I am not so sanguine about that. I will say this. With the exception of the courts and the passage of the tax bill, everything this President has achieved over his first two years has been in spite of the GOP. The fact that they did all that they could to stonewall and outright sabotage the agenda while they controlled both chambers speaks for itself. Look at the Obamacare repeal fiasco for example. But just look at what is in this "bipartisan" insult. With one hand it gives the President money (less than the first go-round) but then essentially prohibits him from spending it. The entire GOP should have walked out en masse when all of these things were proposed. But, no; we can't shutdown the government because ZOMFG!! we might actually win a political fight!

The other really insulting thing is yet again, an 1,100+ page monstrosity is somehow cobbled together in record time and the President only has, what, 36 hours to read it? Total bullshit. If I were Trump, I would publicly announce my indignation over this, tell Congress that I'm going to take my time to read the bill page by page and cross out everything in it that I do not like and then send it back to the originator. Use your veto power, Mr. President. If the Dems and GOP the vote to override your veto, which is in fact the will of the people, then that will send a message to all of us about how DC is completely out of touch and out of control.

Yes, Nancy Palsi has made threats about some future Dem president (never again, G-d forbid) using a national emergency as a pretext to say abolish the second amendment. Look, they're going to go pedal to the metal to finish what Obama started and what Hillary was prevented from doing anyway the next chance they get. We face the predicament where one political party will use and abuse their power to overthrow the nation as founded while our side relies on the rule of law and previous norms of political comportment and protocol to try and stop them. The fly in the ointment is that the latter are corrupt and the former flagrantly disregards them anyway since they can get away with it.

So from the political standpoint, the president might very well do some damage to his base if he signs on to this knowing what we know is in it and rightly fearing what we don't know is in it. And the instant he declares a national emergency Judge Buch M. Danno will be there to stop him and no doubt the Dems will scream bloody murder to "impeach literally Hitler." Again, if I had my druthers I'd ignore the court and declare any stay null and void. I'd also ramp up the enforcement of our immigration laws already on the books to apprehend and deport any illegal aliens already in country. Their presence, no matter how long they have been here, constitutes a part of the national emergency and so should be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly. No hearings, no nothing. Pack your bags and get the hell out. Yeah, I know. Who am I kidding.

I stand by the President 100%. He's in a horrendous situation with one party that wants to destroy us from the front and his own party from his rear. I don't think he should play by their rules which would make him lose face and perhaps political clout with the electorate - exactly what they want. What he an do is force them all to own this, and that is by exposing the bill via the veto pen. Am I missing something here? I don't know. Anyway, the headlines are self-explanatory so see them for other angles and details I didn't rant about.

To politics we go where the officially sanctioned anti-Semitism of the Democrat Party takes center stage. In this instance we continue with the with and wisdom of Ilhan "Bro-Fo" Omar who that great example of Yiddishkeit Bernie Sanders stands by 100%. Along with a look at the Left's Joo-hatred problem from such luminaries as Jeffrey Lord and Daniel Greenfield, you'll be surprised, I'm sure, to learn that there is an Iran connection to the tightly-wrapped fraudster. And with all of this, California Dem bigwig Tony Cardenas is getting the stink-eye over his molestation of a co-ed. Meh, fake a photo of him in blackface from 80s, blame Trump and he's home free.

Elsewhere, Dominican kiddie-diddler Bob Menendez seems to have missed the announcement about there being zero collusion between Russia and Trump, "Blotto" O'Rourke wants to knock down the existing border wall, "Klown Kar" Klobuchar will have to explain to her base of crooks and thieves why she was a tough DA, "Drunken-Stupor" Hickenlooper travels to New Hampshire for some stupid reason, for a joker, smoker and midnight-toker Kamala-Toe sure locked up a lot of her fellow stoners when she was California AG while Fidel-loving leftist Barbara Lee has hitched her ass to that shit wagon.

Abortion: Tennessee's women fight back against the infanticide, voters in general are massively against the Dem baby-killing movement and a look at why abortion supporters refuse to renounce the latest barbarity.

First Amendment and Fake News: Pimping the hypothetical as fact and now that the Russia hoax has been exposed, watch the MFM say "Collusion? We never said there was collusion!"

Mueller Inquisition: Speaking of the aforementioned, disgraced traitor Andrew McCabe admits that they tried overthrowing the election, several good essays on the hoax as well as he destruction to our country left in its wake and creepy porn shyster Avenatti relinquishes control of his firm after his ex-partner says he bilked it out of millions. Hey, Democrats, he's now available to be your frontrunner for 2020!

Guns: A New Mexico county declares sanctuary status for 2-A supporters.

Foreign Desk: "Bro-Fo" Omar spews lies about cold war policy to obfuscate the abject failure of socialism in Venezuela while the Russkies are accusing us of using foreign aid to shield military intervention there, VP Pence blasts the Euro-Peons for trying to go around Iran sanctions, Mike Pompeo slams Farsi FM Javad Zarif for his accusations about US bombing IRGC thugs and Brexit is for boobs - literally.

We-All-Slam-For-I-Slam: One look at Bro-Fo and T-Labia and sharia just got real and the Salman Rushdie fatwa 30 years on.

Domestic News: What other multi-billion dollar garbage is in the CR aside from open borders insecurity, a couple of essays on the nixing of the Amazon NYC headquarters (I can argue both sides of the issue here but sine everyone came out looking like jerks, then that's fine with me) and IBD on a potential gigantic Dem tax hike.

Crime Blotter: Violent man gets prison for having homemade AR-15 and political hit list and San Francisco and the damage done.

Education: Harvard students seek to mau-mau a professor who defended Harvey the Ficus-Ficker.

Red Greens: I'm convinced Cuck Schemer has gag writers owing to his wooden, affected, fake delivery of utterly stupid non-spontaneous drivel and several good pieces on the Ludditism of Donkey Chompers Cortez and her fellow regressive time travelers.

And finally, a genius shrink has cracked the code; we love Trump because, homo.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in some links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue. Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

BORDER WALL, MIGRANT INVASION, AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY
• "Kids Will Die": Immigration Hawks Sound the Alarm on Congressional Border Deal
• Spending Bill Allows Mexican Cartel-Connected Texas Counties to Stop Border Wall
• The Hidden Amnesty Provision in the So-Called "Border Security Deal"
• House Freedom Caucus Tries to Buy Time for Trump Because "Deal" is Worse Than You Thought
• Border Battle: After Trump's State of the Union and the Omnibus Deal (an excellent analysis of the situation - jjs_
• Freshman Democrats Announce Opposition to Bipartisan Spending Bill: It Gives More Money to "Abusive Agencies" (can they foul up Palsi Pelosi or is this just for show? - jjs)
• Trump Frees Up $8 Billion to Build the Wall
• Palsi Pelosi on Border Emergency Declaration: Dems Can Declare Policy Emergencies, Too
• 5 Reasons Trump Should Not Sign Massively Flawed Omnibus Bill
• Sign the Border Deal and Take the Issue to 2020
• Pollak: The Border Wall Deal - With the National Emergency - Is a Win for Trump
• Fact Checking the Fact-Checkers On Illegal Aliens

  COONMAN & POONMAN VIRGINIA DEMOCRAT SCANDALS

  Surprise! The scandals are over!

  OFFICIALLY-SANCTIONED DEMOCRAT PARTY ANTI-SEMITISM
  

• All About the Benjamins: "Bro-Fo" Omar Advances Interests of Iranian Donors (anti-Semite, criminal and a foreign agent - jjs)
  
• Bernardo Sandersnista Offers "Personal Support" to "Bro-Fo" Omar (a kapo in every gulag! - jjs)
  
• Lord: The Left's Anti-Semitism Problem
  
• Greenfield: "Bro-Fo" Omar's Anti-Semitism is Just CAIR's Anti-Semitism

  OTHER DEMOCRAT-LEFTIST SCANDALS, CRIMES, CHUTZ-POCRISY, MESHUGAS
  

• Rep Tony Cardenas: The Democrats' West Coast #MeToo Problem

  POLITICS
  

• Corrupt Pervert Bob Menendez Spews Trump Could Be "An Agent of the Russian Federation"
  
• "Agarn" O'Rourke Wants to Knock Down Existing Border Wall
  
• "Klown Kar" Klobuchar's "Tough-on-Crime" Prosecutor Past Could Sting During Primaries (what does that say about their base? - jjs)
  
• Self-Styled Moderate "Drunken-Stupor" Hickenlooper Hits Progressive Notes in New Hampshire (just what the Dems need; another candidate - jjs)
  
• Reminder: As California AG, Kamala-Toe Harris Packed California Prisons With Pot Peddlers
  
• Castro-Loving Barbara Lee Signs On as California Co-Chair for Kamala-Toe Harris
  
• 3 Democrat Policies that Must Die for America to Survive

  ABORTION
  

• Tennessee Women Lawmakers Move to Restore Full Legal Protections for Unborn
  
• Voters Oppose Democrats' Stance on Abortion
  
• The Silent Scream and the Lies of Roe v Wade
  
• Why Infanticide Isn't a Bridge Too Far For Many Abortion Supporters

  FIRST AMENDMENT, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS
  

• What's Worse Than Fake News? Welcome to Today's Hypothetical News
  
• As the Russia Hoax Unravels, the Gaslighting Begins

  SECOND AMENDMENT
  

• New Mexico County Makes Itself a "Second Amendment Sanctuary" For Gun Owners

  SPYGATE, MUELLER WITCH HUNT, DEEP STATE, COUP
  

• Treasonous Fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe Claims DoJ Discussed a Coup Against Trump
  
• The Russia Collusion Thud Heard 'Round the World
  
• The Ruling Class' Interference in Our Democracy
  
• After the Coup is Gone (cue Earth, Wind & Fire... - jjs)
  
• Creepy Porn Shyster Avenatti Gives Up Control of Law Firm After Former Partner Claimed He Hid Millions

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
  

• VP Pence "Rips Europe a New One" for Helping Iran Skirt US Sanctions
  
• Pompeo Blasts "Moderate" Zarif After Iranian FM Implicitly Links US to Bombing of IRGC Personnel (one of Kerry's BFFs - jjs)
  
• Of Brexit and Boobs
  
• Russkies Claim US Using Humanitarian Convoy As Pretext for Military Intervention in Venezuela
  
• "Bro-Fo" Omar Criticizes Cold War Policy to Distract From Socialism's Atrocities In Venezuela

  ISLAM, TERRORISM, SHARIA, DHIMMITUDE
  

• "The Road to Shariadom" in America
  
• The Salman Rushdie Fatwa 30 Years Later

  DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE BUREAUCRACY, WASTE, FRAUD, CORRUPTION
  

• Here's What Else the Thousand-Plus Page Disaster Funds Aside from Not Funding Border Security

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID
  

• The United States of Amazon
  
• Sabotage in Queens
  
• The Amazon-Slayers Are Only Getting Started
  
• Attention Working Americans: Democrats Want to Hike Your Taxes By $1.5 Trillion

  CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
  

• Man With Violent Past Gets 8 Years After Being Found With Loaded Homemade AR-15, List of Lawmakers
  
• The City By the Bay Has Embraced a New Religion: Drug Normalization

  EDUCATION, INDOCTRINATION
  

• Harvard Students Call for Firing of Law Professor for Representing Harvey Weinstein

  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE, LYSENKOISM
  

• Cuck Schemer Says America's Worst Enemies Are Better on the Climate Than Trump
  
• Donkey Chompers Ocasio-Cortez: Only the Latest in a Long Line of "You're Gonna Die" Con Men
  
• Donkey Chompers Cortez and Her Fellow Travelers Travel Backwards to "Year Zero"

  CULTURE WARS, HITHER & YON
  

• Sex Therapist Claims Trump Supporters Have a "Homoerotic Attraction" to the President

Tonight's ONT is Under the Weather

—WeirdDave

Well, I am, anyway, somewhere between a sinus cold and the flu.

Some people are surprised that I made homemade soup when I'm sick, but it wasn't really that much work. Not to step on CBD's food thread toes, but I just used a pressure cooker (Like an Instant Pot, but not that brand). I had a chicken carcass left over from last night's dinner, threw it in the cooker with carrots, celery, onions celery and parsley, filled it with water, cooked it for an hour and Bang! Stock. Strained it, picked the chicken, added fresh carrots and onion along with spices, simmered for an hour, tossed in the noodles and Bob's your uncle. Seriously, it took maybe 15 minutes total of work, mostly just chopping veggies. I was talking to CBD about pressure cookers at the NoVa MoMe last week. I love mine, use it all the time. Anyone else out there use one?

If Normal Rockwell Made Videos*

This. We need more of this. pic.twitter.com/MwzpVrdTM1

— Mia Chamberlain (@missmiafaith) February 14, 2019

*I didn't come up with that, credit to @kthnry on Twitter for that one

Cat's in the Cradle. And the Laundry Room, and the Abandoned House...

California man finds huge mountain lion hiding behind washing machine

Tiger found by pot smoker in abandoned Houston home

An anonymous tipster reported seeing the animal about a week ago, according to BARC. The tipster said they were at the house to smoke marijuana and thought they were hallucinating when they first saw the tiger, according to police.

Hallucinating a tiger? Geeze, just how strong is pot these days? Turns out, very. Back in that day pot was about 2% THC. Now it's about 20-25%. This may not be as benign a drug as its proponents claim. Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence

Feel Good Story

I can't link this because he took it down (no idea why, but I'd guess that maybe he was embarrassed by the attention), but a mechanic from Kentucky posted a story earlier this week on Twitter that made a lot of people smile. Seems a struggling single mother brought her car into his shop for work. She was quite proud that she had saved up $600 over 8 months to get repairs done, and burst into tears when he told her that it was totally unsafe and would need $4000 worth of repairs. She told him to fix what she had brought it in for and that she would “just park it” until she could save up to have all the work done. He told her that he would have to “special order” a tire, she could pick it up Thursday. He used the time to do all of the work so that the car was “100% safe and reliable”. “My shop, my rules” he said. I'm not going to post his Twitter handle because he deleted the tweets, but I'm sure everybody here will join me in saying “Well done, sir. Well done.”

Out for a Ride

“Where ya been Sven?”

“Out. Riding my bike”

Pulling No Punches

My Sister Kate

Interview with Mallory Millett, whose sister Kate was one of the driving forces behind first-wave feminism, and she is absolutely brutal in her assessment of the movement and her sister. It's a stinging indictment of “progressivism” and a full throated defense of traditional Western values.

I would say that raising several ill-prepared fatherless generations of slackers, meth and opioid users, porn dogs, disheveled rockers, and illiterates speaks poorly of any degree of empowerment in parenting. Most parenting is done by absent single women since two-thirds of mothers are raising their youngsters outside of marriage. So, we have the filthy clothes, ten o’clock shadows on guys, shocking grammar, plethora of tattoos, sullen misfits in torn filthy clothing listening to violent hate-filled so-called music; entitled attitudes and non-existent manners say it all. Empowerment? Why, the facts scream that feminists are two generations of the worst-ever educators of America’s children. In what manner does this speak of empowerment? Woman, by your fruits are you known! And those fruits didn’t come out of your briefcases.

She also has as a theme something that I've believed for a long time: Under traditional Western mores, women are the superior sex.

When women ran society, power emanated from the home. Men labored to keep their families sheltered, warm, clad and fed while women mostly stayed in the home to run the children and the community. Mother oversaw the household and carefully watched the children’s behavior. Most of the neighborhood women knew each other and had informal meetings in their living rooms and kitchens, called “coffee klatches.”

It was here that the community developed ground rules on how to manage children and husbands. Any mother was free to chastise anyone else’s child should they misbehave. It was pretty unheard of for someone to say, “How dare you correct my child!” They would agree amongst themselves what was desired behavior. Good manners were required and trained. Neighbors backed each other up. It was expected.

The essential rules that Moms formed in their infants and homes radiated outwardly into streets, schools, offices, boardrooms, departments, factories and agencies to form the framework of Western ethics. The communities, churches and schools all echoed the same values because most people went to Church or Temple and so, the foundation of our mores being Judeo/Christian, Mom’s rules were designed by the Ten Commandments. Many towns didn’t lock their doors, even at night.

So, after fifty years of the almighty “consciousness-raising” experiment to empower women, and during the recent Harvey Weinstein [sexual assaults] scandal, what we are hearing from the little girlish voices of the victims is, “I froze, I was paralyzed. I gave in because I didn’t know what to do. I was terrified!” Hey, that’s some weird kind of empowerment. When I was a girl we did what our moms instructed: we yelled “NO,” slapped his face, and left the room or called a cop.

Feminists love to quote Ephesians 5 22-24 as proof of the “oppressive” nature of Christianity:

22 Wives, obey your husbands as you obey the Lord. 23 The husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church people. The church is his body and he saved it. 24 Wives should obey their husbands in everything, just as the church people obey Christ.

I notice, however, that they never quote the companion verse 25:

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church people. He gave his life for the church.

So if women are expected to obey their husbands, but husbands are expected to die for their wives....tell me, which is the more important sex in that situation?

Anyhow, read the whole thing, it's wicked good.

Life

When I was born my parents were told I was 'not viable.' Here's what's happened

The doctors asked his parents if they should just “let him go”. They decided that going was an excellent idea, and 35 years later he still is.

Tonight's ONT brought to you by Chinese food:

The Yahoo Group wants lasagna.

Close it up

Sources: Police Suspect Jussie Smollet Staged The Attack With His Friends Because His Character Was Being Written Off His Show "Empire"

—Ace of Spades

UPDATE: And that, as they say, is that.

Update: Caution flag: Chicago detectives are not confirming media reports that this is a hoax and claim their sources are "inaccurate."

Media reports anout the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives. Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate.

Update: Smollet says he answered "routine" police questions today, rebutting the claim he was a no-show at a police interview.

Fox and Fox Television say Smollet wasn't being written out of the show.

But...: "TOP SOURCE: “We [investigators] believe the non-cooperating 2 witnesses are co-conspirators in a potentially staged attack” vs. Jussie Smollett. ⁦@cbschicago⁩"

The New Normal: Los Angeles City Council Passes Blatantly Unconstitutional Law Requiring Anyone Seeking City Contracts to Disclose "Any" Associations with the NRA

—Ace of Spades

Can we do that with Planned Parenthood, too? How about CAIR?

The NRA plans to sue, citing First Amendment grounds -- clear intent to intimidate people from joining political organizations in order to secure contracts necessary for their regular course of trade.

You know what you can't ask someone about in Los Angeles, or California as a whole?

Their criminal history.

That's sacrosanct, private information.

WAR: ANDREW CUOMO RIPS ALEXANDRIA DONKEY-CHOMPERS FOR WRECKING AMAZON DEAL

—Ace of Spades

Well, he doesn't rip her by name. He actually rips the New York State Senate -- but no one knows who they are.

We all know who the most high-profile national figure opposing the Amazon move was/is:

'Queens is not for sale': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York activists celebrate Amazon's decision to cancel HQ2 in Long Island City

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and progressive activists celebrated Amazon's Thursday announcement that it will not move forward with it planned second headquarters, known as HQ2, in Queens, New York.

Ocasio-Cortez called retreat a win for "everyday New Yorkers" in the fight against "corporate greed ... worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," referring to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Local activists, including the Democratic Socialists of America, spent the last few months aggressively mobilizing grassroots opposition to the deal, which would have brought 25,000 jobs to the city.

But recent polling has found that the majority of Queens residents supported Amazon's HQ2 plans.

And now Cuomo writes:

"However, a small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above the community[,] the state's economic future, and the best interests of the people of this state.

Hopefully this ignites a fight between the Smash the State socialists and Crony Capitalists who want to give government money to corporations to bribe them for their support.

Tip From Cops, Via Chicago Neighborhood Watch Account: Police Have Identified "Attackers," One of Whom Is a Friend and Fellow Actor of Jussie Smolett's?

—Ace of Spades

I don't understand this tip -- are they saying these guys actually attacked Smollet, or that they participated in a staged attack they arranged with Smollet earlier?

I'm baffled. I don't know what this means. We also don't know any of this is true; this account says it's just an unconfirmed tip. The neighborhood watch account says police have given them a no-comment on this tip.

McConnell: Trump Will Sign Spending Bill, But Then Declare Emergency to Build the Wall

—Ace of Spades

I don't think he should sign it, not yet at least. No one knows what is in this thing -- it could have a dozen poison pills forbidding Trump from declaring an emergency, or empowering liberal officials to block the wall, empowering the EPA to block the wall, limiting detention bed space, empowering local officials to create sanctuary jurisdictions without consequence, etc., etc., etc.

Artisinal 'ette brings up one such trap:

As @JessicaV_CIS notes, there is a serious amnesty/sanctuary provision snuck into the spending bill.

Section 224(a) would make it so ICE cannot detain or remove anyone who has effectively any kind of relationship (even just as a "potential sponsor") with any unaccompanied minor:

And another one:

Here's a gem from the spending bill. Section 224 (a) says that ICE may not remove any sponsor or *potential sponsor* or *member of a household* of a UAC [Unaccompanies Alien Child]. That's de facto sanctuary for anyone near a UAC.

Ridiculous. 30-40% of MS-13 arrests have been UACs.

And more:

The budget also provides $30 million to hire pro-migration groups that will guide migrants towards winning asylum:

CBD says that Rush Limbaugh is saying the spending bill actually forbids Trump to move money around via the National Emergency process.

Take the time to read this thing, for crying out loud.

And don't count on Republican congressmen to have stripped the poison pills out -- they probably schemed with the Democrats to put them in.

I can forgive Trump failing, given that he's up against so much opposition, but if he signs this thing knowing in advance it is another exercise in Failure Theater, then I'm all done here.

If Trump's also going to be an actor in DC's long-running production of Failure Theater, then what is the use of him?

What would you say you do here, Mr. President?

It is one thing to fail, though you earnestly tried; it is another thing entirely to engage in the disgustingly dishonest game of Failure Theater, where you deliberately engineer your own failure.

DO NOT SIGN THIS BILL.

AND IF YOU DO SIGN IT: DO NOT COME CRYING TO US THAT YOU WERE "FOOLED," PRESIDENT WITH A VERY BIG BRAIN WHO WENT TO WHARTON.

McConnell, however, is now saying he will support, rather than oppose, the declaration of a national emergency.

Seems like some negotiation happened, at least on that front. But if McConnell is agreeing to "support" a national emergency in order to get Trump to sign a bill he knows has a poison pill that prevents it -- what kind of victory is that?

President Donald Trump is ready to sign compromise spending legislation that would avert another government shutdown and will declare a national emergency to get additional funds for a border wall, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

McConnell said the Senate will vote on the plan at 3:30 Washington time Thursday. The House is set to vote later in the evening.

The president "has indicated he’s prepared to sign the bill," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "He also will be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. I indicated to him I'm going to support the national emergency declaration."

The Freedom Caucus wants to just pass a one-week spending bill at current levels to give them time to read this monster bill and strip out all of its poison pills.

If McConnell refuses this -- this means McConnell is refusing precisely because he doesn't want those poison pills stripped out.

Local Diocese's Investigation Finds Covington Kids Did Nothing Wrong;
Lawyer Confirms They'll Be Suing Nathan Philips

—Ace of Spades

The Diocese's report is here. After interviews with all the kids and school and parent chaperones, and a review of 50 hours of video footage, the Diocese finds the kids did absolutely nothing wrong.

Neither Nathan Philiips nor his daughter responded to any of the Diocese's requests for an interview.

Regarding the other videos showing some boys who may or may not be Covington students saying rude things, in one case, the diocese finds they weren't even Covington students at all, and in other, they can't determine if they're Covington students at all. But that doesn't matter, because you can't even tell what the students say. (Though the left immediately jumped to the claim that if you can't determine what they said, it must have been Racist or Rapey.)

This article digests the findings.

In a letter to CovCath parents, Bishop Roger Foys wrote that the investigation "has demonstrated that our students did not instigate the incident that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial."

"I am pleased to inform you that my hope and expectation ... that the results of our inquiry ... would 'exonerate our students so that they can move forward with their lives' has been realized," Foys wrote.

Despite the initiation perception by many people online, the students actually "were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening," Foys wrote. "Their reaction to the situation was, given the circumstances, expected and one might even say laudatory."

Meanwhile, Nathan Philips may not have a choice as to whether or not he'll answer questions at his next court-mandated interview.

L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta-based attorney who specializes in aggressive defamation suits against the media, told LifeSiteNews on Friday that Nathan Phillips' "lies and false accusations" against Sandmann and the other Covington students are "well documented" and he will be sued. He confirmed to PJ Media on Twitter Wednesday that he intends to sue Phillips.

Wood explained in a tweet last week that a sworn deposition from Phillips would "prove invaluable in obtaining justice" for his client.

Lin Wood's actually pretty feisty about suing a lot of cocksuckers who need some suing:

Fairfax Accuser Brings Sexual Assault Complaint to Boston D.A.

—Ace of Spades

The media is going to find it harder and harder to downplay this, and to justify downplaying it when they eagerly hyped up Blasey's allegations.

Blasey never specified a date or place or even a year.

And she certainly never went to the DA. She went to... her "beach friends."

A woman who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexually assaulting her in Boston nearly 15 years ago will meet with prosecutors to discuss her allegations, her attorney said Wednesday.

Vanessa Tyson will meet with members of the Suffolk County district attorney’s office to detail her accusations against Fairfax, attorney Debra Katz said in a statement. It came days after District Attorney Rachael Rollins sent a letter to Tyson's legal team to inform them that her office is prepared to investigate should Tyson file a criminal complaint.

"Usually in sexual assault cases we are not public in any way, but this individual chose to self-report and issued a statement and has a law firm and I felt compelled quite frankly to make sure that her firm knew that we stand ready, willing and able to assist in any way possible," Rollins, a Democrat who took office last month, said in an interview Wednesday.

I'm not sure what this alleged crime would be categorized as. Per this site, the Massachusetts statute of limitations for rape or assault with the intent of committing rape is 15 years, so she would just barely get her complaint in before the statute of limitations tolled.

But that's for rape. Other crimes have statutes of limitations of six years.

Per this site, Tyson's allegation could certainly be categorized as "rape" within the Massachusetts criminal code's definition.

In Massachusetts, rape means the penetration of any bodily orifice by any part of the body, or by an object, Performed against the victim's will, without consent, and with the threat of or actual use of force.

Now, the problem is with "the threat of or actual use of force." Now she does allege he "forced" her head down, so arguably that brings it within the definition. At least as far as what she alleges.

Thanks to Duke Lowell.

LOL: Amazon, in a "Stunning Reversal," Will Not Build Its Major New Headquarters In NYC

—Ace of Spades

Womp womp.

Alexandria Donkey-Chompers wins.

And it's too bad, because I hear there are a lot of low-skilled hipsters in Brooklyn who need work lately.

Learn to code, bitches.

Amazon will not build a new headquarters in New York City, a stunning reversal to an ambitious plan that would have brought an estimated 25,000 jobs to the city.

The online retailer faced fierce opposition from some New York politicians who were unhappy with the nearly $3 billion in tax incentives Amazon was promised. Along with thousands of jobs, the Seattle company had planned spend $2.5 billion building its new offices.

...

It was a serious blow to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who lobbied intensely to land the campus within city limits.

I actually have no idea if I support such lavish giveaways to attract a business. These don't seem fair to businesses already located in the city. If you just keep offering tax deals to a certain number of favored companies, doesn't the tax burden shift to those who aren't being given sweetheart deals?

But I'm going to LOL anyway.

Confirmed: When Trump Fired Comey, Deep State Began Plotting to Remove Him From Office

—Ace of Spades

Trump had the right to remove Comey -- but Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein, etc., did not have the right to remove Trump.

And yet -- the media and Ruling Class are pretending it was illegal to fire Comey and yet legally required of the Deep State to violate its oaths to remove a president they didn't vote for.

McCabe's new book repeats his claim (denied by Rosenstein) that Rosenstein offered to wear a wire in his meetings with Trump. All to gather evidence for a 25th Amendment removal.

Because firing James Comey was apparently proof of mental incompetency.

Meetings were held at the Department of Justice on whether President Donald Trump should be removed from office with the 25th Amendment after the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe writes in a new book.

"There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment," CBS News' Scott Pelley said Thursday in a preview of his forthcoming interview with McCabe.

Pelley noted that these meetings were part of an extraordinary 8-day period after Comey's firing in which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also suggested to senior FBI officials that he should wear a secret recording device in his meetings with Trump.

...

The 25th Amendment allows for the removal of the president of the United States if a majority of his Senate-confirmed cabinet believe he is no longer capable of discharging his duties while in office. Rosenstein reportedly speculated that he could convince at least two cabinet officials to sign on to a plan to oust Trump from office.

These people should be in jailed, if not being stretched at the lower end of a rope.

The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

—CBD

This is perfect! Hollywood is known for its virtue-signalling support for the "little man," and every redistributionist and socialist cause under the sun and under every rock in Bel Air, but the reality is that the Left in America, ably represented by the out-of-touch dancing monkeys and mimics of Hollywood just love to be elite and be a part of their cozy little caste system. And why should they breathe the same air as lowly technicians, when they, and only they are the creative life-spark of their glorious world?

Scorsese, Tarantino, Other Filmmakers Call Academy's Oscar Plan "An Insult"

A lengthy list of leading filmmakers are blasting the Academy's plan to present four awards categories at the upcoming 91st Oscars during commercial breaks as "nothing less than an insult to those of us who have devoted our lives and passions to our chosen profession." They are calling for the Academy to reverse its decision.

******
He took bribes and probably raped little girls in the Dominican Republic during his jaunts there with his crooked buddy, and still got reelected in NJ, so trust me when I say nothing will happen.
Menendez threatens to call police on reporter asking about Green New Deal

"Don't keep harassing me anymore or I'll race to the Capitol Police," the New Jersey Democrat threatened.

But weren't the Democrats up in arms last year when the White House pushed back against a "journalist?" I assume then that Menendez will get a stern talking-to from the Senate leadership...
******
It's from a law professor at Columbia University, so of course it's a blathering bunch of illogical and under-informed bullshit, but it goes farther than anything I have read in its condemnation of modern society, free will, and the American way of life.
The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental Policy Looks Like

What do these goals have to do with stabilizing atmospheric carbon levels before climate change makes large parts of the world uninhabitable? What has taken liberal critics aback is that the Green New Deal strays so far from the traditional environmental emphasis on controlling pollution, which the carbon tax aims to do, and tries to solve the problems of economic inequality, poverty and even corporate concentration (there’s an antimonopoly clause).

But this everything-and-the-carbon-sink strategy is actually a feature of the approach, not a bug, and not only for reasons of ideological branding. In the 21st century, environmental policy is economic policy. Keeping the two separate isn’t a feat of intellectual discipline. It’s an anachronism.

It's essentially Stalin's plan for the Ukranians around 1932-1933, only made pretty by modern language.
******

******
My Twitter Feed

Close it up

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Caucasian Canyon
Lev Lagorio

The Morning Report - 2/14/19

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. It's Valentine's day so be sure to send Justice Sotomayor the 5 pound Whizzo Quality Assortment. Before we get into it, thanks to CBD for filling in on the fly. My WiFi access got knocked out Tuesday and I took a tumble on an icy street but all is back to semi-normalcy so here we go.

First up, once again Border Security and Immigration top the news as with yet another government shutdown looming for tomorrow, the President is mulling the latest deal. My gut is telling me that while this is still a complete insult vis a vis the rounding error that funds the Border Wall, the President is correct in stating that construction has already begun since money allocated during both the Obama and Bush administrations is already being used for that purpose. Plus, there is nothing, aside from political backlash on both sides of the aisle as well as the guaranteed instantaneous court orders from Buch M. Danno and Tyne E. Bubbles stopping the President from declaring a national emergency and drawing on funding from elsewhere (DoD primarily) to get this thing ramped up, all the while avoiding the kabuki theatre of a government shutdown. It should be noted that while the sum he would be getting is even less than the insult offered the last time around, both Cuck Schemer and Palsi Pelosi were adamant that the President would never get a penny for what they decried as "immoral." Naturally the media will not report the truth of their caving. I say, sign the deal, take the money and declare the emergency. Some think, and rightly so, that this sets an incredibly dangerous precedent since a future Democrat president (and sadly that is bound to happen one of these days) will use that as a precedent to declare a national emergency over "climate change" or gun violence or you name it as a pretext to grab power and subvert the Constitution like never before. The cold hard truth is that since Obama and perhaps even earlier, we live in a land where one political party no longer believes in the legitimacy of the political and governmental system that in theory is supposed to bind us together and in fact the legitimacy of the nation itself. Whether Trump declares an emergency - as is within his legal right to do so - is irrelevant. The Democrats are going to do their worst no matter what, so I dread the coming of the next Obama or Hillary like death itself because it's inevitable. And at that point, all bets will be off.

On the granular level, Breitbart is fretting about the President's seeming openness to expand legal immigration despite the negative effects to American born labor, and IBD speculates on whether the money from California's high speed rail fiasco can be diverted to fund the wall.

Also, Although Virginia's Governor Coonman is probably going to skate over blackface he wore 30 years ago as well as his enthusiasm for the Josef Mengele method of obstetrics, AG Mark Herring's adolescent Eddie Cantor tribute hasn't dinged him in the slightest, Lt. Governor Fairfax is not in the clear by a long stretch. Blame Trumpian racism, of course.

Other Democrat Scandals include the continuing eruption of Democrat Party Jew Hatred in the form of freshman Congressconcubine Ilhan "Bro-Fo" Omar. In response to the emanations from her filthy sewer, the House GOP succeeded in unanimously passing a rare motion-to-commit amendment condemning anti-Semitism. Also, fresh on the heels of her tirade against AIPAC and Sheldon Adelson, the incest aficionado and immigration fraudster smeared Eliot Abrams during a Venezuela hearing then jetted off to LA for a fundraiser... with the terrorism-linked front group CAIR. And yet fellow traveler Andre Carson assures us that the Jewish community is totes cool with her. Feh. Not only should Omar be immediately removed from the Foreign Relations Committee and have any and all security clearances revoked, she should be removed office and really deported back to Somalia since she defrauded the immigration system vis a vis her brother/husband/keeper.

In the midst of this, there's other meshugas to report, such as why has the FEC yet to investigate the $84 million money laundering scam of the Clinton Foundation, dweeb Jamie Raskin was all high and mighty with Matthew Whitaker about internet gambling which is funny because he took campaign donations from that industry, Palsi Pelosi oddly silent about that "speedy" investigation into California Democrat and co-ed molester Tony Cardenas and freshman California Congressgoniff T.J. Cox has some shady financial dealings coming to light.

Civil War 2.0: The Covington MAGA hat Catholic students have been completely cleared of any wrongdoing at the March for Life rally.

Politics: Kamala-Toe Harris gets slammed for misleading statements about taxes, baby-killer "Cui-Bono" Cuomo met with the President to discuss tax policy, specifically how the killing of the SaLT deduction is causing blue state taxpayers to flee to red states. Funny how what he considers as hurtful to blue states which he has the gall to call "redistributionist" is in fact real economic justice. Being able to deduct Federal taxes from state returns effectively means forcing the rest of the nation to pay for Blue State profligacy and other madness. Here's a hint, Cuomo; cut taxes in state, as well as bureaucratic red tape that stifles business creation and growth by slashing the spending and social programs. Also, Victor Davis Hanson dissects the long and sordid career of Joey Bidet, Daniel Greenfield puts Kamala-Toe under the microscope, Kevin McCarthy is a phony Cuck-Shed stooge, champion of the poor Ocasio-TacoRosado just moved into very swanky DC Navy Yard digs and remains silent about whether or not Palsi Pelosi should reveal her tax returns, and several good philosophical essays on the Trump-induced self-destruction of the Democrat-Left including one that likens Trump's SOTU as the perfect rebuttal to FDR's from 1944. Worth a read.

Abortion: A Kansas OB-GYN calls New York's infanticide law dangerous to the life of the mother.

First Amendment, Fake News Fakery, Censorship: "Bro-Fo" Omar goes off on, of all people, a CNN reporter who dared question her about her Heeb heebie-jeebies, Twitter is being less than honest about it's "learn to code" policy, LA City Council practices discrimination against those who support the second amendment, political/speech discrimination lawsuit by an ex-Southwest flight attendant agains the airline will go forward, Daniel Greenfield on the hypocrisy of Bezos, and Indonesia forces Instagram to axe a homosexual Muslim cartoon.

Guns: Fresh off blackface, infanticide, income confiscation and mass ludditism, the Democrats are going to push a national gun database as the 2020 deal-clincher, and on the one year anniversary of the Parkland mass shooting, teachers at the school mull being armed.

Mueller Inquisition News: Obama hack-in-black Amy Berman Jackson revokes Paul Manafort deal because she claims he lied as pimp-spawn Maizie Hirohito gloats, and get set for the Democrat-Left-Media complex to hammer away at Mueller when he either releases nothing or a nothing-burger of a report the debunks the Colluzhnikov myth.

Foreign Desk: First up, and most alarmingly, is the news that a former US counterintelligence agent is on the lam, presumably in Iran, and is wanted for spying on us for that nation. No wonder; she turned traitor after converting to Islam. Also, the President is going pedal to the metal to cripple Iranian oil exports as a means to bring the regime down. Elsewhere, Trump slams Maduro for blocking humanitarian aid to the people he is trying to suppress, and Bibi Netanyahu reports having an excellent meeting with the foreign minister of Oman.

We-All-Slam-For-Islam: More on Dearbornistan's whitewashing of Islamic intolerance and the GOP governor of Massachusetts is not immune to siren song of Taqqiya Sunrise.

Domestic News: The President wants the billions back from California after Governor Gaping Nuisance killed he project, to which he replied by giving the President the rhetorical middle finger, Amazon doubles its profits and paid zero in taxes for the second year in a row... with this one neat trick (cronyism)! That said, Texas set an all-time oil production high in 2018, the middle class revival is real, Panera Bread dabbles in socialism and fails miserably, and record tax collection does nothing to ease the rising debt.

Crime Blotter: A man is caught for a food poisoning/tampering spree and why community policing works, which is why De Bolshevik et al want to kill it.

Healthcare: Two essays on how to improve and reform healthcare and insurance.

Education: Senate GOP education effort gets an "F," and NYC's schools are a glittering jewel of socialist madness.

Red Greens: Utah Rep Rob Bishop hammers Patagonia for their sham environmentalism stance, and the Luddites love New York, mostly for the courts.

Feminazism, Transgender Pyschosis: Gay mafia activists want judges to kidnap children from parents who refuse to mutilate them, and yes there is a homosexual mafia but you best not call them, er, out on it.

Hither and Yon: SJWs go nuts when Esquire features a white kid during Black Histrionics Month, Christian Toto on Adam Carolla not caving to the blackface blackguards, Humberto Fontova slams Debbie Harry for being a political ignoramus, the Left-Islamic hatred of St. Valentine's day and finally, the Mars rover finally fails after 15 years. Amazing since it was not expected to last more than several months.

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

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

BORDER WALL, MIGRANT INVASION, AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY
• An Incomplete Compromise Border Deal: Will President Trump Accept and Fill In the Gaps On His Own?
• Trump's Hint to Increase Legal Immigration, Automation Dooms American Workers
• Trump Should Take Democrats' Wall Deal and Run With It
• Could California's Doomed Bullet Train Fund Trump's Border Wall?

  COONMAN & POONMAN VIRGINIA DEMOCRAT SCANDALS
  

• Boston's Top Prosecutor Ready to Investigate Sexual Assault Allegations Against Fairfax

  OTHER DEMOCRAT-LEFTIST SCANDALS, CRIMES, CHUTZ-POCRISY, MESHUGAS
  

• FEC Still Refuses To Investigate Alleged $84 Million Clinton Campaign Money Laundering
  
• Republicans Unanimously Move Amendment Against Anti-Semitism Thru House
  
• Money In Politics? "Bro-Fo" Omar Will Fly to LA for Fundraiser... With Terror-Tied CAIR
  
• US Envoy Eliot Abrams Accuses "Bro-Fo" Omar of Personal Attacks During Venezuela Hearing
  
• Muslim Rep Andre Carson: "Bro-Fo" Omar Not Anti-Semitic: "She Has Strong Support from the Jewish Community" (mostly from its cemeteries - jjs)
  
• Dem Who Grilled Whitaker on Gambling Backed by Lobbyists Tied to Internet Gambling
  
• So Where Is Palsi Pelosi's "Speedy" Teen-Molestation Investigation of Rep Tony Cardenas?
  
• Audit Raises Tough Questions for Freshman California Democrat T.J. Cox
  
• "Donkey Chompers" Cortez Living in Luxury Navy Yard Apartment Building

  CIVIL WAR 2.0
  

• Investigation Clears Covington Catholic School Students, "No Evidence of Offensive or Racist Statements"

  POLITICS
  

• Fact-Checker Slams Kamala-Toe Harris for "Nonsensical and Misleading" Tax Claim
  
• Baby-Killer Cuomo Meets Trump, Argues Against "Redistribution on Steroids" Hurting Blue States (it's reimbursement, you schifozza - jjs)
  
• V.D. Hanson: The Mythologies of "Joe Being Joe" Biden
  
• Greenfield: Kamala-Toe Harris' Political Blackface Routine
  
• Kevin "Charlie" McCarthy Feeds GOP Donors Horse Manure About 2018 Losses; Blames Conservatives
  
• Ocasio-TacoRosado Won't Say Whether Palsi Pelosi Should Be Required to Release Her Tax Returns
  
• Reject the Democrats' High Taxes
  
• The Democrats' Dangerous Gong Show
  
• Our Moderates, Their Leninists: The Useful Idiocy of "Cautious Conservatives"
  
• Leftism Is Like the Cult of Cthulhu
  
• The Left Has Ensured That This Will Never Be a Socialist Country
  
• A State of the Union 75 Years in the Making: Trump Answers FDR

  ABORTION
  

• Kansas OB-GYN on Dangers of NYC Late-Term Abortion Law: "Moms Are Going to Die From This Procedure"

  FIRST AMENDMENT, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS
  

• "Bro-Fo" Omar Explodes At CNN Reporter: "What Is Wrong With You?"
  
• Twitter's Statements About "Learn To Code" Don't Line Up With Its Actions
  
• LA City Council: If You Have a Contract With Us, Tell Us Your Ties to the NRA
  
• Court Denies Bid to Toss Southwest Discrimination Suit; Ex-Flight Attendant Claims She Was Fired for Criticizing Union, Airline's Abortion Stance
  
• Greenfield: The Incredible Hypocrisy of Jeff Bezos
  
• Instagram Deletes Gay Muslim Comic Strip After Indonesia Protests

  SECOND AMENDMENT
  

• Dems Express Openness to Federal Gun Registry (actual Americans, not so much - jjs)
  
• Blame It on the NRA
  
• One Year After Parkland Shooting, School's Educators Weigh In on Armed Teachers

  SPYGATE, MUELLER WITCH HUNT, DEEP STATE, COUP
  

• Manafort Plea Deal Out the Window After Judge Rules He Lied to FBI, Mueller, Grand Jury
  
• Maizie Hirohito: "Grifter" Manafort "Must Have Something Very Major to Hide" (says the spawn of a whorehouse madam - jjs)
  
• Robert Mueller Scheduled For Democrats' "2 Minutes Of Hate"

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
  

• Trump Warns Maduro to Stop Blocking Humanitarian Aid
  
• Trump Administration Vows to Cripple Iranian Oil Industry (marg bar Farsi schmaltz - jjs)
  
• Netanyahu Praises "Excellent Meeting" With Omani Foreign Minister

  DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
  

• Former US Counterintelligence Agent Indicted on Charges of Spying for Iran
  
• Former Air Force Intelligence Officer Accused of Defecting to Iran, Says She Wanted to Do "Like Snowden"

  ISLAM, TERRORISM, SHARIA, DHIMMITUDE
  

• Dearborn-istan Beats Its Breast Over Henry Ford's Anti-Semitism, Ignores Islam
  
• GOP Governor Embraces Radical Muslim Cleric Who Somehow Makes Westboro Baptist Look Acceptable

  DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE BUREAUCRACY, WASTE, FRAUD, CORRUPTION
  

• Trump Demands Gavin Newsom Return $3.5 Billion for Canceled Bullet Train; Newsom: It's "California's Money" Now
  
• If High-Speed Rail Can't Make It in California, It Can't Make It Anywhere

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID
  

• Manufacturing Wage Growth Hits Highest Level in Over a Decade
  
• Amazon Will Pay $0 In Federal Income Taxes For 2nd Year in a Row With Profits Doubled
  
• Texas Set An All-Time High For Oil Production In 2018
  
• Someone Just Noticed The Middle-Class Revival Going On Under Trump
  
• Panera Bread's Socialist "Pay What You Want" Experiment Fails Miserably
  
• $1,665,484,000,000: Feds Collect Record Individual Income Taxes in Calendar 2018... as Debt Climbed $1,481,349,159,596.80

  CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
  

• Man Accused of Multi-State Spree Contaminating Grocery Items
  
• Community Policing, Rightly Understood

  HEALTHCARE
  

• Innovative Treatments May Require Equally Innovative Health Care Payment Models
  
• How the Trump Administration can Improve Health Care Coverage

  EDUCATION, INDOCTRINATION
  

• Senate GOP's Higher Ed Agenda Leaves Much to Be Desired
  
• Diversity First - Education, Whenever

  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE, LYSENKOISM
  

• GOP Rep Rob Bishop Calls Out Patagonia For "Crony Capitalism"; Says It Is a "Play-Actor" For Environmentalism
  
• An Amendment to Turn the State Into "Sue" York

  ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
  

• Mars Rover's "Little Robot Heart" Stops Beating as She Bids Farewell to Earthlings

  FEMINAZISM, TRANSGERDERISM, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY
  

• LGBT Activists Teaching Judges to Yank Kids From Parents Who Won't Transgender Them
  
• The Homosexual Mafia Strikes Again

  CULTURE WARS, HITHER & YON
  

• Social Media Mob: How Dare Esquire Feature a White Teen Boy During Black History Month
  
• Toto: Carolla Stands Up to "Woke" Blackface Bullies"
  
• Fontova: Blondie's Debbie Harry Calls President Trump "An Idiot" But Swoons Over Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
  
• Why Islamists and the Radical Left Hate Valentine's Day

Wednesday Overnight Open Thread (2/13/19)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Quote I

The price of a new home “far exceeds what buyers paid years ago, even adjusting for inflation. This disappearance of affordable new homes is not due to a change in buyer or builder preferences, but to homebuilders simply being unable to build at a price that many buyers in the region can afford.”David Siegel,Housing First Minnesota

Quote II

"The truth of the matter is weapons like the AR-15 have an effective range of over 1,500 meters. If you're using a weapon with an effective range of over 1,500 meters, you are not defending yourself. You are hunting a human being." David Hogg

Quote III

“I removed Capt. Kotnik from her position as the commander of the Viper Demo team [Monday], because I lost confidence in her ability to lead the team. I know that loss of confidence is a common response from the Air Force, whenever someone is removed from a command position, and I think it’s important to understand why we take this approach.” Col. Derek O’Malley, the 20th Fighter Wing commander at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina

Quote IV

Globalization is making people richer — and that absolutely includes the American middle class. The economic insecurities most relevant to the interests of middle-income Americans have to do with defective markets that are, not coincidentally, those most shielded from the effects of globalization: health care and health insurance, higher education, and housing. Most of those defective markets are dominated by state-created cartels and semi-cartels; the exception is housing, which federal, state, and local governments have intentionally made more expensive as a matter of public policy.Kevin D. Williamson

***

Riding the storm out, and no, we aren't talking REO Speedwagon.

If you ever find yourself stranded in a storm — whether it’s a hurricane, blizzard, or tornado — there’s not much you can do besides wait it out. Until someone invents a machine that controls the weather, we only have so much power over Mother Nature.

But that doesn’t mean a good sense of humor doesn’t help. These creative individuals poked fun at the crazy weather around them and, against all odds, seemed to be having the time of their lives!

***

'Veterinarians Face Disproportionately High Suicide Rates, Study Says'

More than three decades of data shows that veterinarians are up to 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than members of the general population, according to new a study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Death records for more than 11,600 veterinarians filed between 1979 and 2015 showed that almost 400 veterinarians died by suicide during this time period. Consistent with general population trends, more male than female veterinarians died by suicide (326 versus 72) during the study. From 2000 to 2015, roughly 10% of deaths among female veterinarians could be attributed to suicide.

***

He calls himself, The Rick Wilson. I call him "Old Scrotum Head"

Rick Wilson has some explaining to do. He's not only a NeverTrumper but is he also an AmericaHater?

Prominent NeverTrump publications are shuttering, while pseudo-conservative commentators are struggling to find funds from wealthy backers for their influence campaigns. With the reality setting in that domestic dollars are becoming harder and harder to find, it appears that the NeverTrump movement may be pivoting overseas.

“GOP media guy” Rick Wilson, who has made a name for himself on liberal networks as a Trump-obsessed media pundit, attended the Doha Forum in Qatar this weekend alongside other establishment Republican voices and a delegation of congressional Democrats.

Wilson had nothing but great things to say about the annual Qatari conference, which was populated by a who’s who of extremist voices and representatives from terrorist states.

Qatar is not our friend.

The emirate of Qatar on the coastline of the Persian Gulf has benefited greatly from the limited attention span of Americans, who think that the only threats in that region emanate from Iran, ISIS terrorists or Saudi Arabia. But given Qatar’s determination to spend a lot of its oil wealth on spreading Islamism and funding terror, even while this Gulf state enjoys the status of U.S. ally, it’s high time that the West started paying more attention to the insidious nature of its activities.

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But the same madrassas and mosques that were being influenced by the Saudis are now getting money from Qatar. That wouldn’t be a bad thing if Qatar was pushing a moderate curriculum, but it’s doing just the opposite. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the exiled Egyptian cleric who is the chief ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood, is orchestrating all of Qatar’s efforts in spreading Islam. The Brotherhood is one of the chief sources of radical Islam in the region and was responsible for Egypt’s brief period of radical Islamic rule after the fall of the Mubarak regime, as well as serves as the spiritual godfather of the Hamas terrorist movement. Qaradawi is also deeply involved in the Qatar Foundation, an institution supported and sustained by members of the Qatari ruling family that has spread radicalism around the world while masquerading as a charitable group.

***

NSFW You get what you pay for.

The average cost of breast augmentation in Australia is $13,000 [£7,000], so Jacqueline was thrilled to find a discounted price of $6,000 (£4,500).

But she now regrets choosing the knock-down rate as she will have to spend the same amount on corrective surgery.

She added: “It was a lot more affordable than what I had previously been quoted for breast augmentations, which range around $13,000.

***

The New Green Deal. It will not work.

Achieving the Green New Deal’s objectives in ten years—or in 20 or 40—is clearly impossible. Even if hundreds of thousands of windmills, tens of millions of solar panels, and hundreds of millions of car batteries could be fabricated, the grid cannot operate on 100% intermittent and variable power—or even 50%.

One aspect of covering the landscape with hundreds of thousands of square miles of windmills and solar panels is that to do so would require suspending federal, state, and local environmental statutes, permitting procedures, and land use plans. Forget about the Endangered Species Act’s habitat protections and prohibitions on killing endangered birds and bats. The Clean Water Act’s wetlands protections will have to be overlooked. Environmental impact statements that now take years to prepare, years to move through the permitting process, and more years to litigate, are out the window. Wind and solar projects will have to be permitted in days.

***

Our country is wussifying at an alarming rate.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Classes in Wisconsin's largest school district have been canceled because of the bitter cold.

Nearly 78,000 students in Milwaukee Public Schools are off Friday when high temperatures for the day could reach just 2 degrees. The wind chill factor is of even more concern because frostbite can occur within minutes.

The Racine Unified School District as well as dozens of other schools have also canceled classes Friday. Others have a delayed start.

Finland maybe nuts with their Universal Basic Income. But at least they aren't weather pansies.

Kids In Finland Continue To Ride Bicycles To School In -17°C (1.4°F) Weather And It’s A Lesson In Commuting

***

Twitter is f*cked up, #LearnToCode @jack

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, whose platform has become synonymous with yelling, trolling, and a less-than-stable president who uses it for incoherent rants and threats of nuclear annihilation, is in a tough spot: Many if not most of the criticisms of his site are accurate, and Dorsey’s tactic of choice when responding to them is usually sputtering out a bunch of five-dollar words about how he needs to make unspecified changes.

On Tuesday, Dorsey went through with a planned Q&A with Recode co-founder and New York Times contributor Kara Swisher. Unfortunately, this all played out in Twitter replies—a format that is ideal for conveying quick thoughts à la carte, but very hard to track in real-time. Just as unfortunately, Dorsey’s interview strategy has not changed. About the only thing he conceded was that he has not been handling his role as CEO well and that major issues plague the entire platform.

***

The ONT Musical Interlude

Dedication To One's Craft

***

When planning a heist, you must take into consideration your footing. Genius Award Winner.

WATERVILLE, Maine —
A man accused of robbing a bank Tuesday morning in Waterville, Maine, was arrested after slipping on ice, police said.

Waterville police said Jason Mackenrodt robbed the Bangor Savings Bank on Upper Main Street just after 10 a.m.

Advertisement
Police said he showed a handgun, which was later determined to be a BB gun, and demanded cash.

Police said Mackenrodt got some money but slipped on ice in a parking, spilling the cash and the gun.

H/T that ibguy

***

Stranger helps out struggling student. Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

Dan Laguardia was trading in his Scion at Auto City in El Cajon for a new BMW and overheard Kayla Cooper pleading with a salesman to help her finance a car.

Seoul Fields, an employee at Auto City, shared the story on his Facebook page:

***

Public Service Announcement time. Just a reminder guys, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I'll let you know how this mug works out.

***

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Comfort.

Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire and AceCorp, LLC. Accept no substitutes or reasonable facsimiles.

Close it up

CNN's Manu Raju Is a Straight Up Fake News Propagandist

—Ace of Spades

Nice clickbait -- which he provided, by the way, for a competing news organization.

He wasn't even doing lying clickbait for his employer.

Let's go past his clickbait post and see what Manu Raju -- who you should completely trust, even though he's been caught straight-up lying to you before -- omitted:

1. This particular system is new -- but the White House has had a room-sized golf simulator for a while. Barack Obama had one installed too, and Manu Raju didn't complain then.

From the Washington Post -- second paragraph. They didn't even try to hide it; Manu Raju provided that service himself.

That system replaced an older, less sophisticated simulator that had been installed under President Barack Obama, according to two people with knowledge of the previous system.

2. Manu Raju said Trump "installed" the system, leaving open the possibility that this is a taxpayer-funded thing. (As it probably was under Obama.) Manu Raju could have used the shorter word "bought," because Trump did in fact buy it with his own money. But Manu Raju chose a longer, less informative word. Why?

Again, from the Washington Post:

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the president's private residence, said that Trump had paid for the new system and the installation personally.

Did Obama pay for his system? Or did the taxpayers?

Manu Raju has previously been caught pushing Fake News lies about Trump, Jr. getting, supposedly, advanced word of a Wikipedia link.

In fact he didn't -- but this "journalist" didn't bother checking the dates to confirm this was in fact advanced word.

CNN on Friday corrected an erroneous report that Donald Trump Jr. had received advance notice from the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks about a trove of hacked documents that it planned to release during last year’s presidential campaign.

In fact, the email to Mr. Trump was sent a day after the documents, stolen from the Democratic National Committee, were made available to the general public. The correction undercut the main thrust of CNN’s story, which had been seized on by critics of President Trump as evidence of coordination between WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign.

It was also yet another prominent reporting error at a time when news organizations are confronting a skeptical public, and a president who delights in attacking the media as "fake news."

...

CNN’s erroneous scoop, about the email to Donald Trump Jr., rocketed around cable news and social media on Friday morning. But it fell apart after The Washington Post reported that the email --which included a decryption key to access hacked documents -- was dated Sept. 14, not Sept. 4, as CNN initially reported. WikiLeaks publicized links to the documents in question on Sept. 13.

The liar Manu Raju didn't correct his story to admit it was now completely false and now contained nothing newsworthy, unless you think a rando telling Trump, Jr. on the 14th that a Wikileaks file openly published on the thirteenth is big news.

That's as newsworthy as a prophet in 1971 predicting that man would walk on the moon in 1969.

Instead, CNN just "corrected the dates" without conceding that the dates were the entirety of the story, and that there was no story at all if Trump Jr. did not get an email about the Wikileaks file before it was published to every single person in the whole wide world.

Correction: This story has been corrected to say the date of the email was September 14, 2016, not September 4, 2016. The story also changed the headline and removed a tweet from Donald Trump Jr., who posted a message about WikiLeaks on September 4, 2016.

In other words, you changed the key operative facts the story was based on, you changed the headline which all but screamed PROOF OF COLLUSION, and you deleted a Donald Trump, Jr. tweet which you erroneously connected with the later Wikileaks file in question.

Other than that -- the story is solid, Manu!

Hey, at least you didn't try.

CNN declined to take disciplinary action against Manu Raju, finding that even though he had pushed very fake news out to the public, he had followed CNN's protocols in pushing out false propaganda.

So, well done. "Avoided disciplinary action" is something every CNN reporter strives for these days.

Circle up, everybody, great job. Make sure you all tickle each other in the asshole and grab a gift-bag on the way out.

Meanwhile, CNN is making up more Fake News -- or rather, Nancy Pelosi's making things up out of whole cloth to distract from their Little Antisemite Who Could, and CNN is passing these lies on uncritically, apparently without doing any fact-checking:

"Veep" Writer: We Based Some of the Awful Behavior of Our Show's Unpleasant Main Character On Rumors We Heard About Amy Klobuchar

—Ace of Spades

One rumor they heard a "million times" -- that Amy Klobuchar actually made her staffers shave her legs for her.

They tried to work that into the show, but it was too absurd.

Is it true? Well, let me apply the same standard to Amy Klobuchar as she applied to Brett Kavanaugh: If someone said it, fuck yeah it's true!

But apparently the terrible, terrible character "Selina Meyers" was partly based on Amy Klobuchar.

Such a nasty woman.

Below, Barstool Sports has discovered video of Amy Klobuchar on the Metro.

Justice4Jussie Update: "Hate Crime Victim" Hires Harvey Weinstein's Public Relations Firm, For Some Reason

—Ace of Spades

Interesting!

AP: Republicans Pounce... By Scheduling a Vote for the Green New Dream (or Whatever) Legislation Democrats Claim to Want to Pass Into Law...?

—Ace of Spades

The Democrats say they want to pass the "Green New Dream (or whatever)" into law. Every Democrat Senator running for President has said so -- or at least said they'd vote for it.

So, given that legislation is not just supposed to be a campaign stunt but an actual practical code you intend to make into actual law, Mitch McConnell has announced he will schedule a vote on the "Green New Dream (or whatever)" bill and give Democrats the chance to express their support as actual legislators rather than as mere MSNBC/CNN bloviators.

I mean, yes, it's a nonbinding resolution, but do they want this resolution resolved, or not?

The reaction from Democrats has been vehement.

The only people more outraged by this underhanded stratagem of calling for a vote on a proposed resolution are... the neutral and objective fact-finders of the media.

This is a real AP headline, fam:

McConnell wields Green New Deal as bludgeon against Dems

When pouncing and seizing aren't expressive enough -- turn to "bludgeon" as your loaded term of choice.

Meanwhile, Congressman Ed Markey, the same Democrat who co-sponsored and jointly announced the "New Green Dream (or whatever)" with Alexandria Donkey-Chompers, now claims that scheduling a vote on it is a "Republican trick" which will "sabotage" the effort to have a "national conversation."

Um: You know what's usually a great time for a national conversation, Dummy? When Congress is preparing to vote on a piece of transformative socialist legislation.

Or did you not actually want that at all?

Highest Economic Optimism in 16 Years; 50% Report They're Better Off Under Trump

—Ace of Spades

That's 50% who are willing to admit they're better off under Trump. In fact, 100% are.

Public optimism in their personal economy has hit a 16-year high under President Trump, according to a new survey.

Some 69 percent told Gallup that they expect their personal finances to be even better next year, just shy of the record 71 percent when the internet boom was raging under former President Bill Clinton.

What's more, the survey company said that 50 percent believe they are "better off" than just a year ago when the current economic surge was kicking in and when the White House coined the phrase "MAGAnomics."

Gallup said that is the first time the level has reach 50 percent since 2007.

But Gorsuch.

Tucker Carlson Rips Democrats, Media, and Deep State "Resistance" on Russia "Collusion" Hoax: It Was Fake. It Was Always Fake and They Knew It Was Fake.

—Ace of Spades

He doesn't mention NeverTrump by name, but they should be included.

He's hot as a two-dollar pistol and it's very satisfying to watch. (Or, if you can't watch at work, there's a transcript.)

We have news for you, breaking news, that for whatever reason is being downplayed or ignored by other media outlets, but we think you want to know about it. Five simple words describe it, there was no Russian collusion. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Trump campaign conspired in any way with the government of Vladimir Putin during the last presidential election.

That is apparently the conclusion of the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee. That Committee spent two years investigating this question. Of course, hundreds of interviews, reams of classified documents, untold millions in taxpayer dollars. No collusion at all. That is what we are hearing on Tuesday evening that they have found.

Now, if you've been following the story at all, and of course you have been, you will not be surprised by this. No Russian collusion is a lot like the moon landing actually happened or the abominable snowman was probably a long-haired mountain goat. You knew that already because you are not an idiot, but if so, compare your mental acuity to that of prominent political figures here in Washington.

The next time you feel dumb, remember what these Democrats said:

ADAM SCHIFF: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, CALIFORNIA: I think there is plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy in plain sight.

MAXINE WATERS, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, CALIFORNIA, DEMOCRAT: Trump has the Kremlin clan surrounding him. There is more to be learned about it. I believe there has been collusion.

JOHN PODESTA, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: It is starting to smell more and more like collusion.

NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We saw cold, hard evidence of the Trump campaign and, indeed, the Trump family eagerly intending to collude, possibly with Russia.

"Smells like collusion...." "Plenty of evidence of collusion...." "Hard evidence of collusion...."

In the end, it was all fake. And they knew that, they knew it wasn't real. They were lying from the very first day. Only their remarkable aggression, their willingness to say literally anything no matter how outrageous or slanderous or vile, kept the rest of us from catching on to what they were doing.

If the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is willing to call someone a traitor to this country, there’s gotta be some truth to it, right?

Actually, no, there wasn't. It was always a hoax.

Adam Schiff is an unscrupulous charlatan -- that is the real lesson here. Don't expect people like Schiff to apologize though or correct the record, much less repair the lives of the people they have destroyed.

Video of MSNBC's Fusion Ken having to report the sad news, and Trump trolling them:

Alexandria Donkey-Chompers' Policy Adviser Declares That The New Socialist Utopia Won't Be Paying for Reconstructive Surgery for the Elderly, Then Deletes It

—Ace of Spades

Socialism costs a lot of money, and you're going to have to save costs somewhere.

How about euthanizing the very young and the very old?! The former can't vote and the latter won't vote for you. They'll make perfect sacrifices to Moloch!

Dear Leftists And Fake Conservatives (But I Repeat Myself), Do You Really Not Get The Joke About RBG?
We Really Don't Believe She Is Dead...

—CBD

...But we do believe that she is infirm and incapable of performing her duties as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. The joke is simply an exaggeration of her current condition, and isn't meant to be taken literally, unless you are so profoundly stupid that you can't appreciate basic human discourse. In which case, the suggestion that you #LearnToCode is actually a bit too advanced for you. Perhaps #LearnToEspresso is more your speed.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was seen in public Monday. Conspiracy theorists still insist she’s dead.

A falsehood has been spreading in dark corners of the Internet that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is dead — and in the hours after he published his report, conspiracy theorists pelted Barnes with their doubt-mongering. Photos were not allowed at the event, so one of the doubters emailed Barnes 21 questions about Ginsburg’s appearance — the size of her security detail, what gender they were, for example — telling Barnes that if he did not answer every single one of them, it would be a sign his article was not to be believed.

See? Get the joke now?

No...probably not, because as self-appointed members of the elite, you believe that there is some immutable entitlement to these positions of great power, and we prols must respect that while RBG can't possibly do her job, she does not have to give up her crown until she chooses. Of course if you knew anything about American history, you would realize that we fought a war because we simply did not want to be ruled from afar by hereditary, unaccountable noblemen.

Do you see any connection here? Again...probably not, and that is why we got Trump, and will probably get more Trump!

By the way...sure...you can trot out a few lunatics who truly believe she is dead and being held in a reanimation chamber in Area 51. But FIRE DOESN'T MELT STEEL! See? Two can play at that game.

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"Now, it hardly needs to be said that we shouldn't go around punching guys we don't like in the face. So I am not advocating that. I want to make that clear. But if I were to lose it and start going around punching guys I don't like in the face, one of the first guys I'd punch in the face would be Bill Nye. There are many reasons for this. The first is because he's a smug, condescending d*ck. The second is that he has no formal science education or experience beyond an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. And this was back in the 1970s. Nye's claim to be a "science" guy is about as valid as Shaun's King claim to be a "black" guy. Both are shameless frauds. Both should be laughed out of public life. I mean, come on, a prop comic with a kids show is not how you do science. But since he can always be counted on to spout whatever progressive dogma is au courant, he'll always have a platform. Oh, and I hope you all can see the tweet down below; because I can't. After I posted a few disparaging remarks about Nye's qualifications in her thread, she blocked me. What a snowflake."

Bill Nye on life beginning at conception:

“It’s a reflection of a deep scientific lack of understanding. You apparently, literally don’t know what you’re talking about.”pic.twitter.com/37PkpEey0H

— Ally Maynard (@missmayn) January 19, 2019

Bill Nye Starts His Day:

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others:

Why We Really Need A Rectification of the Names:

Get One While They Last:

The Guitar Is Not Just A Prop:

(click for bigger cuchi-cuchi)

When Men Were Men:

Clark Gable, Major US Army Air Corps 1942-44 WW II. Although beyond draft age, he enlisted as a private. Assigned to OCS he excelled and received a commission. He flew five combat mission as an observer/gunner in a B-17 earning a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal. On hi pic.twitter.com/rPiYZn1ofP

— History Lovers Club (@historylvrsclub) January 31, 2019

Monday's celebrities: In the top photo, from left to right, Sophia Loren, Silvana Pampanini, and Lea Massari. The second photo, from 1975, is Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu. Somebody noticed an Italian theme in Monday's rant material, but that was sheer happenstance. I didn't even think about it until it was pointed out.

AoSHQ Weekly Prayer List

For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact FenelonSpoke, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at

fenelon direction 18 circle 'a' gmail dot com

(All one word, no spaces)

If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to her.

Answered prayer:

2/7-Tony from Tampa sends word that his grandmother (age 90) is out of rehab weeks earlier than expected - discharged February 8th. Will continue occupational therapy for some time and well receive limited supervision and assistance. Family hopes for full recovery, but are pleased at her remarkable progress. Tony and his family wish to thank everyone at ASHQ for their prayers.

Job Needs:

Kallisto has part-time job. She thanks everybody for prayers. Please continue to pray as she needs a full-time job.

Prayers for comfort after death:

-Prayers for Jim New Sunk Dawn and his family, His dear step mom just died

Continuing requests:

-Prayers for RickL tumor has grown and has second one in lung. Prayers for complete healing

-Cheribebe asks for “extra prayer boost from horde.” Insurance dragging heels about new chemo treatment and bills are rolling in and finances are snug. Prayers for healing and that situations and insurance may be worked for her benefit.

-Calm Mentor is going through a very difficult time right now. He is at his last bit of money. Please pray that he gets a job.

-Prayers for Slapweasel, Parents have moved in with him. Mom had stroke in June. Dad has demenita and doesn’t know where he is sometimes, Slap is caring for them so he needs prayer as well He also needs a donor for a liver transplant.

-JTB’s cousin has a malignant tumor on pancreas. Needs healing

-BuckIV need prayer for family of his sister whose husband just died after 5 week battle with cancer.
Buck’s sister also has breast cancer which has metastasized to bones. Also, Buck himself asked for prayers that bladder cancer not progress to worse type.

-Renningantx asked for prayers for his uncle Jimmy who had been cancer free for 12 years but aggressive cancer has returned and he has a doctors apt this week. Prayers for complete healing.

-LadyL asked for prayers for healing for a dear friend, Jean, who has had a recurrence of Mantle Cell Lymphoma, which is an aggressive cancer and hard to treat

-JQ’s father has advanced prostrate cancer and has been having a lot of pain, JQ works full time and so needs to find a place where dad can be cared for.

1/1-Cfo mom asked for prayers for complete healing for “Jim-her daughter-in-laws father and grandson’s Papa. Jim had hip replacement (Thanks for prayers, everyone), but recently femur fractured horribly and he had a 10 hour surgery with pins and cables. Jim’s father died from complications from surgery replacement surgery so everyone is concerned.

1/1-Captain Josepha Sabin asked for prayers for their non biological daughter. She is just ten years old and is going to have surgery soon for a brain tumor. Prayers for complete healing and skill for surgeon.

1/3-MWR and her husband are starting second IVF cycle as they try to conceive a child. Would like prayers for patience, trust and hope and for doctors and team as they graciously give of their time and expertise.

1/9-Antisocialists dear friend had a kidney transplant, Prayers for a successful recovery

1/9-Troyrisers mother, Judy has inoperable lung cancer. Please pray for a peaceful passage

1/9- Red asked for prayers for his friend Rita V. whose father died in Fall and has a son who has entered inpatient drug rehab the day after Christmas . Prayers for recovery for son and strength for mom.

1/9-Nickrp has stage-4 lymphoma. Battling to stay in remission has taken a toll on him financially, emotionally, and physically. Wife is disabled. Prayers for health and financial stability.

1/11-bensdad00 had combination pacemaker and defibrillator put in. Needs success for healing so he can get back to work.

1/14-PaleRider asked for prayer for her brother who had surgery for intestinal issues. Please continue to keep him in prayer for healing

1/14-Molly K asked for prayers for her daughter, 18 or so weeks pregnant. Baby is expected to pass in 2 weeks or at birth. Lymphatic and circulatory systems didn’t hook up right and baby is filling up with fluid. Daughter has decided to not have an abortion. Please pray for entire family for strength and comfort

1/16-NorthernLurker needs job or business, sense of direction, and vision and ambition in terms of future occupation.

Updates:

1/29 Mrs. Empire1 thanks everybody for prayers for Mr. Empire who is now in rehab for about 11 days and is bored. He might be able to come home soon. Mrs. Empire asked for prayers that Mr. Empire continue on road for complete recovery.

1/29-PookysGrl report that Pooky started EMDR therapy to rewire his brain to alleviate his flashbacks
It’s tough because session are weekly and they’re uncovering more landmines. Prayers for successful treatment and also for strength. PG who is trying to be a support but isn’t trained in EMDR

1/26-chrjp-Recovering slowly from neurosurgery but very tired and sometimes sitting up is all he can do. Clinical trial through NIH was not successful as tumor is growing too rapidly. Trying to find another treatment option that offers some hope for which he may be eligible. This week he asks for God’s help in choosing a path forward to get treatment and he and wife can find hope for future

1/30-Backwards Gal is back home (has been for a two weeks or so) after scary blood pressure drop and transfusion , B Guy thanks everyone for their prayers, He didn’t ask for this prayer but I am. He’s having financial issues because of gigs being cancelled. Please pray for that situation as well. Thanks.

New requests:

1/17- TonyPete asked for prayers for his granddaughters and daughter caught in bad family situation that has no immediate relief. Prayers for them and that daughter might gain wisdom to do good and not harm.

1/23 TroyRiser's mother, Judy has inoperable lung cancer. Please pray that she has a peaceful passage from this life to God

1/23-Prayers for Uncle Palpatine who was in a serious car accident a while back and needs continued healing and strengthening.

1/29 1/17-Mrs. Vic had surgery but it did not close hole in throat. Will need more surgery probably to be scheduled in March, Please keep she and Vic in prayer.

1/28-Tony “Locknar” in Tampa reports that his 90 year old grandmother had bad stroke about two weeks ago. She is now in aggressive rehab and he asked for prayers that she be able to be at home unassisted if that is her wish.

1/28 BCochran has fluid in shoulder and can’t raise hand or arm above shoulder high. He was getting it drained and another injection but please pray for healing for him

1/30-Fenelon asks for prayers for D, a member of her congregation, who has had major problems since the summer, has no job and needs money. He didn’t get the job he interviewed for and is really depressed.

2/1-Lin-Duh suffered a miscarriage after an unexpected pregnancy. Please continue to keep her in prayer for God’s strength and comfort

2/1-LadyL asked for prayers for daughter of a friend. After giving birth several weeks ago she had a stroke. She is conscious and has had breathing tube removed ,but has no sensation on one side of her body. Prayers for complete healing

2/8-Tonypete asks for payers for his friend Michele. Michele's daughter eldest daughter died as the result of injuries suffered from a fall on 2/5 during a hiking accident. Daughter had four children aged 9-15, Also his friend's youngest daughter was diagnosed with cancer on the same day that the eldest daughter died. Prayers for healing for daughter and strength for Michele and family

2/11-Poster Red sent along a concern for Model_1066 who went to their friend's house and found him dead. Friend was an alcoholic. Prayers of comfort and strength for Model_1066 and this other person's friends and family members.

2/12-Votermom asked for prayers of healing and help for her friend myiq (who has the Crawfisher blog) and is not getting good care from VA Also asked for prayers for friend Mothy's sister who has 4th stage lung cancer.

2/12-Lin-duh is having another sonogram today regarding a pregnancy. Hoping and asking for prayers for whatever God feels that the best outcome would be.

2/12-Anonymous horde member asked for prayers for his community in NH. They had two boys die within 2 weeks. One 12 year old drowned after crossing frozen river on his way home from school. Another boy. age 14, committed suicide within two weeks of death of first boy. Families and friends and community are in shock and hurting. Horde member asked for prayer that the Lord God would send down Holy Spirit and bring comfort and healing

2/12-SMH reports that his daughter is "travelling down a dark part and taking children with her." SMH asks that her daughter's heart of stone be turned to flesh and that she receive conversion to accept Jesus as Lord

2/12-Fenelon asks for prayers that she be able to find a good PT job to help pay for son's tuition to college. Also she thanks people for prayers for "D". The job he wanted didn't come through and he will have to live on unemployment starting next week and possibly be evicted because he can't pay bills (has no money-long story)so prayers for a job would be appreciated. Thanks very much

2/11-OlddoginMO has asked for prayers for his wife who has pancreatic and liver cancer. A medical test which which she was supposed to have was cancelled. Prayers for healing and strength and hope are appreciated.

Please remember the Prayer of St. Francis:

http://www.prayerguide.org.uk/stfrancis.htm

*Due to space constraints prayer requests will be removed after 5 weeks, unless updated. Please let me know. Please copy list and pray for earlier requests. Contact Fenelon at Fenelondirection18 at gmail dot com.

Today's Edition Of The Morning Rant Is Brought To You By Caramel Doughnut Cones With Salted Caramel Syringes:

(h/t, as usual, to Food Porn on Twitter)

Close it up

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Portrait Of An Oriental Philosopher
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

The Seftonless Morning Report: (2/13/19)

—CBD

Sorry, but While I am an insomniac (not the Florida variety) I'm not getting up at half past way too damned early to give you your usual dose of Sefton brilliance. So you can take this and smile...or not...either way I am going back to sleep.

But before I do, I will freely admit that I have no idea at all what President Trump's end game is with respect to the border wall. Is he trying to draw it out so that the Democrats fracture? Is he caving? Is he going to fund it administratively via the various methods that have been discussed ad nauseam?

That little game that some people have figured out with airline tickets is...I guess...against the rules. But I see airline pricing the same way I used to see the recording industry; I know it's stealing to download MP3s or copy other people's music or whatever. But I just didn't care.

Anyway, enjoy the abbreviated Morning Report and try not to make too much of a mess of the place. Sefton made me promise to keep it neat!

• Iran Trembles As Venezuela Starts To Teeter
  Oooh! Dominoes! I love dominoes!
  
• Trump reacts to border deal
  Is anyone thrilled? But who knows what the end result will be.
  
• Trump Tweets $23 billion for border security!
  From his mouth to God's ear.
  
• MI6 spies 'smuggled a defecting Iranian nuclear scientist into the UK on a dinghy by using Channel migrant crisis as cover'
  Well that's pretty damned cool!
  
• Study Reveals Extensive Links Between BDS and Terrorist Organizations
  I know, I know; you are as shocked as I am!
  
• We may finally know what causes Alzheimer's -- and how to stop it
  Don't hold your breath, because we have heard this before...
  
• My Sister Kate
  One of the icons of the feminist movement was actually a psychopath...
  
• Man accused of ejaculating in his boss’ coffee everyday for 4 years
  I just don't...But...It's too....I give up.
  
• In the Middle East, You Win with Fear
  Kick 'em when they're down, and they won't get up.
  
• At Long Last...A Photo of Ace!
  
• Lufthansa Is Suing a Passenger for Missing a Flight
  When you need a law degree to understand the rules, maybe it's just payback!

Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (2/12/19)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Quote I

t’s called “Alinsky Rule No. 4,” pals. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” Cue the sad trombone. Somewhere, Brett Kavanaugh is laughing into his Budweiser.

I know I am, except it’s Dos Equis.

But this hilarity does bring up something serious we need to consider on the conservative side. We need to prepare for the next time some Republican gets besieged by SJW witch-burners, and be ready with our response to their unwarranted demands for his/her/xir’s head.

Our response should be, “Go pound sand.” Kurt Schlichter

Quote II

"For too long the big tech companies have been telling you, don't worry, we've got your back," she said. "While your identities, in fact, are being stolen and your data is being mined. Our laws need to be as sophisticated as the people who are breaking them. We must revamp our nation's cybersecurity and guarantee net neutrality for all. And we need to end the digital divide by pledging to connect every household to the internet by 2022, and that means you, rural America." Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Quote III

"They didn't go that far. Some suggested eliminating ICE as an organization. I was not for that. The speaker was not for that clearly," Hoyer said. "We're going to have immigrants. We're going to have customs. We need enforcement." House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D., Md.)

***

Happy 45th Anniversary! Thank God it was made then. Because it wouldn't be made now.

The Hollywood Reporter celebrated the occasion by republishing its original review of Blazing Saddles. Here is an excerpt:

The screenplay by Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor and Alan Uger (from a story by Bergman) is totally irreverent, never passing up a chance to point up a cliche and sparing nothing or no one along the way. The language is definitely R-rated but it never becomes offensive. In fact, the incongruous pairing of the language and the characters accounts for a great deal of the boisterous humor.
Brooks' fast-paced direction is a masterpiece of comedy detail, filled with delightful and perfectly timed sight gags. The predominant style is one of the extremely broad burlesque but the film is also packed with more subtle touches, especially in Morey Hoffman's clever set decoration and in Peter Wooley's production design.

***

Even Democrat doctors are hypocrites. Orangeman doctor's bad. Chocolate Jesus' doctors good.

Ex-Obama Staff Call Trump Doctor Report ‘Joke,’ Forget Obama’s Doc Said Same

***

Everyone is resigning, except for the person that needs to go.

Two of Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax's staffers and two employees of his political action committee have resigned following a Friday report of a second sexual assault allegation against the embattled politician, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

***

The word "Tobacco" should be replaced by the word "Nicotine". 'Tobacco use is soaring among U.S. kids, driven by e-cigarettes'

Public health officials on Monday said there's a growing epidemic of tobacco products currently used by children — 4.9 million high school and middle school kids used tobacco products in 2018 up from 3.6 million in 2017 — mainly due to a growth in e-cigarette usage.

What's new: For the fifth year in a row, e-cigs were the most popular product amongst high school students, but in 2018 it reached unprecedented epidemic levels, with the addition of another 1.5 million kids, said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Background: The Food and Drug Administration defines e-cigarettes as a tobacco product, while traditional cigarettes and cigars are combustible tobacco products. "Current users" are defined as people who've used a tobacco product in past 30 days, while "frequent users" are for those who've used the product for more than 20 out of the past 30 days.

***

***

Most of them aren't paying for their attorneys. So look at the money they are saving on that front.

A report published on Monday by the Prison Policy Initiative highlights the predatory practices of prison technology companies in city- and county-run jails, where inmates and their families continue to pay “astronomical rates” to place phone calls that would cost average consumers virtually nothing.

While the cost of placing a call from a state prison has declined steadily over the last decade, nationwide efforts at reform have done little to curb the outlandish costs in local jails, which are occupied by a profusion of poverty-stricken pretrial defendants—prisoners who’ve not been convicted of the crime for which they’ve been imprisoned, but who are unable to make bail.

Finland's Universal Basic Income (UBI) Survey says: Results incomplete.

Is that it?: Inevitably, the results from Finland raise questions about whether UBI works. However, it’s worth pointing out that the data only covers 2017, the first year of the trial, and it’s questionable whether focusing solely on people who are unemployed can really qualify as a “universal” basic income. We’ve got extra data to work with, but the debate is far from settled.

***

Cheese, baby & dog = Cuteness.

***

Word has it Canadians are nice, even when their gambling winnings are stolen.

Playing Super Bowl squares is supposed to be a harmless distraction, a bonding exercise that livens up life at work for a week or two, may offer a refresher in statistics and math, and leaves a handful of people with modest winnings from their gamble.

In Toronto this year, however, the story of a high-stakes game played by employees at the Toronto Stock Exchange has become a cautionary tale. One unnamed organizer lost $500,000 CAD in cash (US$375,00), the Globe and Mail reports (paywall); apparently he had been robbed.

***

Honor among thieves? Not so much.

A popular information security Facebook group called illmob is splintering after news detailing sexist comments led members to begin reporting one another to their employers.

The closed Facebook group made headlines late last month after some members blamed certain activists and women for the cancellation of hacking conference DerbyCon.

In a statement on the shuttering, the DerbyCon team partially blamed the growing need “to police people’s beliefs, politics, and feelings” as opposed to focusing solely on hacking. Illmob members argued that the statement confirmed their suspicions, although the hacking conference has denied the claim.

***

The ONT Musical Interlude

February 12, 1956, Born on this day, Scottish rock guitarist Brian Robertson, Thin Lizzy, (1973 UK No.6 single 'Whisky In The Jar'). Was also a member of Motorhead and Wild Horses.via thisdayinmusic.com

&&&

February 12, 1956, Dean Martin was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Memories Are Made Of This'. The American actor, comedian, singer and TV hosts biggest hit. Also covered by The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra and The Driffters. via thisdayinmusic.com

***

I remember the milestone birth days, 18, 21, 29, 29, 29.......Will this guy remember his 66th? Genius Award Winner.

An Emery County man was charged Monday with marking his 66th birthday by attempting to hit other vehicles on the road, "mooning" drivers and "flipping off" a police officer.

Dennis Duane Butler, of Moore, is charged in 7th District Court with assault on a peace officer, a second-degree felony; three counts of aggravated assault and failing to stop for police, third-degree felonies; plus lewdness and theft, class B misdemeanors.

On Friday afternoon — which was Butler's 66th birthday, according to court records — he attempted to hit three trucks with his own vehicle on a dirt road just southwest of Moore, according to an Emery County Jail report.

***

Who is your favorite doctor? Of course the one is who is at the right spot at the right time. Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

Street suddenly dropped to the ice after he went into cardiac arrest. He didn't have a pulse for more than five minutes.

But, as luck would have it, a fellow player was an emergency room doctor.

"When I did see the video a couple of days ago, it is difficult to watch yourself go down and lie motionless on the ice. The gratitude comes from how fast this guy responded -- that's the miracle. I'm skating with an emergency room doctor," Street told FOX 46.

***

Regular Morons Shibumi and Bozo Conservative are tying the knot on Friday February 22nd. This upcoming Saturday Overnight Open Thread (2/16) is going to be a special bridal shower and bachelor party for the love struck kids. Hope you can join us, no RSVP or gifts, just commentary and jokes.

***

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Rules.

Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire, AceCorp, LLC and CucksRntUs. Accept no substitutes.

Close it up

You're Not Going to Believe This, But Our Brave (Fake) Firefighters Have Found Something New to Be Outraged About and a New Excuse to Praise Their Lazy, Incompetent Fake News Selves

—Ace of Spades

Now threatening the very foundations of our democracy, according to (ahem) "journalists"?

A novelty t-shirt on sale at Bloomingdales that says "Fake News."

By the way: Who was it again who started the "Fake News" panic in the first place and started pressuring social media companies to brand anything that disagreed with the liberal narrative as "Fake News"?

And now who's whining like petulant babies that the same sneer is thrown back in their faces?

Governor Ralph Northam: Virginians Are Going to Have To Work Very Hard to Make Amends For That Thing I Did That I'm Claiming I Didn't Do At All

—Ace of Spades

He's staying on as governor because Virginia, he says, needs a "healer," and what better healer that a guy who can supernaturally transfer his own corruption into the bodies and minds of others?

In the Post interview, Northam spoke as if the citizens of his state had done something terrible, and needed to make amends:

"It's obvious from what happened this week that we still have a lot of work to do. There are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area of equity," he said. "There are ongoing inequities to access to things like education, health care, mortgages, capital, entre­pre­neur­ship. And so this has been a real, I think, an awakening for Virginia. It has really raised the level of awareness for racial issues in Virginia. And so we're ready to learn from our mistakes."

What’s this "we" stuff?

Seriously -- what the fucking fuck?

Northam added that he would take action to ensure that others would not be as insensitive as he had been: "First of all what I plan to do... is to make sure that we have sensitivity training -- in our Cabinet, in our agencies. I also plan to reach out to our colleges and universities and talk about sensitivity training. Even into the K through 12 age range, that's very important."

Governor, Virginia's kindergarteners are not the problem. You are.

Is this a joke?

You know, after the news of Monica Lewinsky broke, at least Bill Clinton never told me, "You know, we've all gotten a little sloppy about where we're putting our dicks lately, and so we're all gonna have to buckle down and meet twice a week with Jesse Jackson until the nation can trust ourselves again."

Twitter Down 8% as It Continues Losing Millions of Users

—Ace of Spades

On the upside, it posted its first profit ever.

On the downside, millions are abandoning the platform.

Twitter turned its first annual profit in 2018, but the company has a problem it doesn't want to talk about.

The company said Thursday it had 321 million monthly active users in the final three months of last year, down five million from the prior quarter and nine million from the same period a year ago.

That marked the third consecutive quarter of user declines. And soon, the company will stop disclosing the figure entirely.

NeverTrump, which seems to live almost exclusively in their twitter bubble VR fantasy RPG world, hardest hit.

The correlation between "Extremely Online" Twitter MMORP addicts and members of NeverTrump and the Resistance has got to be nearly 1.0. Do you know of any such persons who are not nigh-omnipresent on Twitter?

LOL: Weekly Standard Foe The Claremont Institute Announces Cruise

—Ace of Spades

LOLOLOLOLOL

Maybe a different kind of Cuck Cruise -- as in, Those Who Do the Cucking.

Cucklord? Maybe this is a Cucklord Cruise?

Meanwhile: Womp, womp. (Thanks to Hogmartin.)

Even better, Michael Anton, author of the despised-by-Never-Trumpers The Flight 93 Election, as well as former Trump National Security Council spokesman, will be Cruising With the Uncucked.

The Weekly Standard, which is no longer in business because it was terrible, and its Cuck Associated just can't stop attacking Michael Anton for having pointed out that a presidential election is an important thing and one shouldn't just give it away because someone made fun of you The Twitterz no matter how hurt your butt or sore your p***y.

I wonder if... you know, if anyone's wives will be special guests aboard the Claremont Cruise.

Brutal Poll For the Media: 69% Say the Media Is More Interested In Pushing Its Opinions Than Gathering Facts

—Ace of Spades

Learn to code.

The poll found that more than two-thirds of the public (69%) think the news media "is more concerned with advancing its points of view rather than reporting all the facts." Only 29% of the public disagrees with that statement.

In other words, nearly seven out of 10 adults in the country think the Post ad's blather about "gathering the facts" is bull.

That includes 72% of independents, 95% of Republicans, and -- surprisingly enough -- 43% of Democrats.

There's more. Fifty-nine percent say that the press covers issues in a way "that seeks to delegitimize the views held by President Trump and his supporters."

Sixty percent of independents and 93% of Republicans agree with that.

Also, more than half (53%) say they agree that the media "prematurely declared President Trump guilty of collusion with Russia without sufficient evidence."

Bob Menendez: Illegal Aliens Who Are Merely Arrested for Driving Under the Influence Should Not Be Considered "Criminals," And Trump Is Destroying America By Treating Them as Criminals

—Ace of Spades

Repeat offender DUI drivers. Without insurance. Who are also here illegally.

What's the worst that could happen? I mean, apart from all those dead Americans whose lives don't matter.

Americans are no longer a Democrat constituency.

"Fusion Ken" Dilanian: Neither Republicans Nor Democrats on Senate Intelligence Committee Have Found Any Evidence of Collusion Between Trump and Russia

—Ace of Spades

This must be a hard thing for "Fusion Ken" to report.

After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.

But investigators disagree along party lines when it comes to the implications of a pattern of contacts they have documented between Trump associates and Russians -- contacts that occurred before, during and after Russian intelligence operatives were seeking to help Donald Trump by leaking hacked Democratic emails and attacking his opponent, Hillary Clinton, on social media.

"If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in an interview with CBS News last week.

Burr was careful to note that more facts may yet be uncovered, but he also made clear that the investigation was nearing an end.

Fusion Ken dutifully notes the spin from Democrat investigators, speaking anonymously, who say they never expected to find a contract inked in blood between Putin and Trump. But that's disingenuous -- they've found nothing.

What they've "found" is nonsense that was already public record -- Trump had made preliminary inquiries into building a couple of projects in Russia, then abandoned those projects.

Someone on Twitter had a great bit of snark about this. Something like: "Trump was exploring different ways of getting a building built in Moscow, and grew frustrated. Suddenly he realized a much simpler way of getting it built -- he would just run for president and win and strike a treasonous deal with Vladimir Putin!"

Ah yes -- it's so simple! It's so brilliantly simple!

The ultimate real estate development Gordian Knot-Chop.

Yeah, all of this bullshit would sound self-evidently stupid and false if the Conspiracy Theorists ever said directly what they're accusing Trump of.

It sounds pretty stupid that a man would figure that the easiest way to get a zoning code variance in Moscow is just to run for president and win, doesn't it?

And yet that's what these people think -- but they're never pushed to admit the details of the Conspiracy So Vast they believe in. They're allowed to glide on by with vague allusions and insinuations.

HERE IS A MAN

—Ace of Spades

From Twitter, via Vee on YouTube, here's a story of a Male Feminist Ally on a date.

The Feminist Male Ally is HUGE fan of Gamergate troll and formerly relevant person Anita Sarkesian (@femfreq or Feminist Frequency) -- a nigh-psychotic feminist who rants endlessly about anti-feminist "tropes" in videogames, like female characters being attractive and having breasts.

This guy ruins a date because he can't stop talking about feminist and gay-friendly tropes in TV shows and Anita Sarkesian's entire oeuvre.

Meanwhile the poor woman is like, "OMG, what a sissy drip, he's going to start menstruating any second and then we'll be cycle sisters.*"