Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. 

Guess which ones came from Politico?

'Repair Kit' for heart offers hope to millions ...

Divided Republicans look to Trump to lead on tax reform

Oscars: Dozen-plus celebs bash Trump

Sean Spicer targets staff in leaks crack down

Palestinian official: 'I pray to Allah that Iran will produce 1,000 nuclear bombs'

Schumer puts GOP Intel [Committee] Chairman on notice

Revolutionary Guard Commander admits [Iran] terror cells ready to strike in America

Lawyer: Justice Dept. to no longer contest Texas voter ID law

Trump to governors: We're giving power back to the states ...

Democrats invite undocumented immigrants to Trump's speech [to Congress]

Kim Jong Un guns down five senior officials with anti-aircraft gun

Former store owner jailed for $2.8 million food stamp fraud

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Trump cancels back-channel talks with NKorea ...

Iran holds naval war games amid rising tensions with USA ...

Iran requests 950 tons of uranium from Kazakhstan

Campaigners want Barack Obama to run for President -- of France!

ISIS launches puppy bomber -- with suicide belt ...

Shock claim: Half of all species could be extinct by end of century

Pelosi dismisses Trump's first month, saying he has 'done nothing'

Perez dismisses Trump's claim that DNC race was rigged

Update: Mysterious radioactive cloud moves toward UK ...

Great whites stalk Orange County [CA] beaches ...

Lawyer: Racist note given to black waitress in Virginia is a fake

Father of dead Navy Seal refused to meet president at ceremony

The Oscars

The Oscars were once a celebration of artistry and acting achievement. No more. This gala has morphed into an exposition of egomania. When the host, in this case the unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, can call our president (ironically, one of them) old and fat, this celebration has abandoned all semblance of representing American values. Almost without their realizing it, the symbiotic relationship that Hollywood once had enjoyed with movie goers has become parasitic. We, the unwashed, the unhip, the unwise, have elected as our president someone whom these glitterati just can't accept. They are bigger and better than us ... just look at their mansions, their clothes, their awards, their private jets, their adoring fans.

All these accoutrements must mean that they are right and we, who voted for Trump, are wrong. They want our previous president back ... because he was with them and they were with him. They can't dare to think that his policies were bad for America. After all the echo chamber that is most of our media fell all over themselves saying this in many clever and concocted ways. The fact that these outlets are losing readership and viewership is disturbing only in that it presages our country drifting into a undemocratic dictatorship ... full of irredeemable deplorable people. (Of course, forgetting that these are the paying audience for their increasingly political and derivative pap.)

Of course these zombies have not lost their acting abilities ... and so they can fake sincerity with the best of the politicians ... or perhaps the other way round? They prance and pose on the red carpet (an appropriate color). They regurgitate the latest memorized mainstream media memes, not really understanding the implications. They now hate Russia but love communism. They hate borders but love their high compound fences. They hate guns but have body guards. They eschew violence but use it extensively in their movies. They hate Israel but embrace Islam while violating most of its tenets ... tenets which would call for their death or maiming. I think the term for these character discrepancies is hypocrisy.

And so these celebrated low-lives assemble at the Oscars to reinforce their delusions that they are righteous and caring. They embrace all and every "good" thing while looking down their noses at those of us who may have concerns about their Utopian visions. They will whisk up their golden statues and six figure swag bags, retire to posh pandering parties with other cocaine-sniffing celebrities ... comforted that they are righteous and we, their uninformed audiences, are stupid and wrong.

Kindanagrams

I've just invented a new form of anagram, kindanagram, wherein one can use the same letter multiple times. Here are my offerings for tonight's circle-yank ceremonies:

OSCARS  --  ORCA'S ASS

STREEP  -- PEE REST

CLOONEY  --  ONCE ONLY

GIBSON  --  BIG BONGS

AFFLECK  --  FECKLE FLACK  (look it up)

PORTMAN  --  TAMPON PORN

HOLLYWOOD  --  WHY WOO DOLLY

[Michael] MOORE. --  MOO MORE

DAMON  -- DAMN NOMAD

KIMMEL  ---  ME MILK ELK

This is fun!

reddit Pics CDVI

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Japaneses Spider Crab

MoneyLisa

From LaBrea Tar Pits

Jellybeans

Masked Venetian Carnival Goers.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. 

Guess which ones came from Politico?

Hollywood melts down over Trump

Trump will skip White House Correspondences' Dinner ...

Woodward tells media: Stop whining ...

Top Democrat has 'grave concerns' about Trump-Russia investigation

Sources: U.S. considers quitting UN Human Rights Council

Electric car makers on battery alert ... as hedge funds stockpile cobalt ...

NASA tests supersonic jet ... 1,354 MPH ...

Van Jones at University of Chicago: Safe spaces are a 'terrible idea'

GWB daughter, Barbara to keynote Planned Parenthood fundraiser

Trump wages war on Chicago

German police shoot fleeing driver who mowed down three

Exclusive: Leaked GOP Obamacare replacement shrinks subsidies, Medicaid expansion

Battle of the Titans

From Powerline

Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett was on Fox and Friends this morning talking about the war between President Trump and much of the media. Clearly this media is in full-throated revolt against our president and, as per Bennett, one reason for the intensity of this combat, is that Trump doesn't seem to give a tinker's damn. Of course, the other reason is that Trump fights back calling some of them "fake news." How dare he!? It is these people who are the arbiters of what is important in the halls of government ... and any usurpation of this position of power, even more powerful than the government itself, is an attack on the Constitution ... as reported by those who often treat the Constitution as a doormat.

Who will win this battle of the Titans? Can Trump prevail against those who buy their ink by the barrel? Clearly the tactics of the more outrageous of the media outlets are getting more and more underhanded ... hopefully not escaping the notice of the American people. Trump is playing a very dangerous game here ... but, if he prevails, the media might just slink back into the role of greater journalistic purity.

Wouldn't that be special?

Headlines

Note the Trump picture selected ...

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

University of Washington declares proper English usage is racist

Google sues Uber over driverless tech ...

Police: nerve agent [VX] found on Kim Jong Un's dead brother

White House selectively blocks news outlets from Spicer briefings

Trump falsely claims that Obamacare covers 'very few people'

State senator wants to strip Clinton name from Little Rock airport

Trump Tower opens in Vancouver, mayor wants to take off name

Witches unite to cast 'binding spell' on Trump and followers

Bolton: Use of nerve gas proves North Korea is crazy, irrational, and dangerous

Netherlands holds inquiry on whether it could ditch Euro ...

Trans wrestler wins in first round of girls tournament ...

Starbucks brand crashes after announcement of plan to hire 10,000 Muslim 'refugees'

Color Me Skeptical

There is quite a bit of excitement about the possibility of autonomous autos. If in 20 years or so "driverless" are the only cars, buses and trucks on the roads (as breathlessly predicted), then the following diverse conveyances will have become automous. Color me skeptical at least because of these:

- The Indianapolis 500

- Street sweepers

- Emergency vehicles

- Road graders/pavers

- Parade floats

- Mail-route mini-trucks

- Gear-shift vehicles

- Dump trucks

- Funeral processions

- UPS trucks

- Off-road and all-terrain vehicles

- Low riders

- Pavement marking vehicles

- Drive-thru windows

- Car chases

- Garbage trucks

- Snow plows

- Monster truck shows

- Antique autos

- School buses

- Tandem trailer trucks

- High school senior-day honk-a-thons

- Parking space searches

- Clown cars

- Specialized recyclables pick-up trucks


Do I make my point?

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

NKorea mocks China ...

[UMich] Food cart serving free meals only for 'black people' ...

Broadcaster Alan Colmes dead ...

Chicagoland: 7 killed in deadliest day this year ...

Social Security Admin. gave $1 billion to those without SSN #s

Cuomo won't endorse any candidate for DNC

Economist: 41% of white working class men are not working

Paglia: Grandeur of Hollywood Oscars is gone ...

Ted Cruz predicts Supreme Court seat will open up this summer

Standing ovations for Bannon at CPAC

Swedish politician proposes paid sex breaks for workers

Trickle of refugees fleeing to Canada could become a deluge

Full Circle

I guess if you live long enough, you will see most everything. After the civil war racists found ways to substitute segregation for slavery ... separate schools, separate drinking fountains, even "Colored only" waiting rooms. It took over a hundred years to roll back these Jim Crow laws. Can we all sigh in relief that this discrimination has been mostly driven out of our town square and school rooms?

Hold on there Pilgrim! It appears that millennial snowflakes are trying to roll back the clock! University of Michigan students are now trying to get their administration to establish black-only enclaves at their school where people of color are protected from the exigencies of our "white  privilege" society ... see: The College Fix Story.

How is this any different from "Colored Only" waiting rooms?

Sure Bet

When President Trump speaks to a joint session of Congress this coming Tuesday, someone will shout "You lie," some member(s) will walk out, and/or there will be other Democrat histrionics.

Five bucks?

Town Hall-itosis

One of the latest fake news memes is that Republicans are in full revolt as seen in some town halls full of shouting protesters. Now, President Trump is suggesting that some of these uprisings have been packed with (Soros?) lefties ... see: Politico Story.

Is Trump right? I think maybe he is. Yes, there is some distress that is coming from the right ... particularly about the slow pace of remaking Obamacare, tax reform, and regulation rollbacks. However, when I heard that these town hall protesters are shouting at their Congress persons to resist Trump's immigration and transgender policies (as some have been doing), then I think Trump is onto something. There even is a town-hall protest "Training Manual" put out by  Obama's "Organizing for Action" ... see: NY Post Article.

So, dear reader, may I suggest that you carefully listen to what questions are asked and look at the placards that these "constituents" are using at these town meetings. If these meetings are full of insidious histrionics, then this does not sound like conservatives. After all, it has been only a little over a month since Trump was inaugurated ... and the Democrats have declared the "honeymoon" was over before it even started ... a good reason for some delays.

Loyal Republicans would likely be a little more understanding and patient, IMHO. This Town Hall-itosis reportage just doesn't smell right.

Afterward: See also: Powerline Blog.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Women getting freckles tattooed on faces ...

Poll: 80% oppose sanctuary cities

Americans buy homes at fastest pace in decade ...

China slams U.S. deployment of aircraft carrier to the South China Sea

'Do your job,' Republican-friendly crowd demands of McConnell

Sen. Gillibrand: Predcts Gorsuch will be confirmed [for Supreme Court]

Mika slips: Controlling what people think 'is our job' ...

George Will: Conservatives will turn on Trump 'by mid summer'

Iran to give USA 'slap in face'

Snap: Maxine Waters, Trump's cabinet: 'bunch of scumbags' ...

Oscars poll: 60% can't name one Best Picture nominee ...

Trump lifts trans bathroom rules ...

Thought for Today

Life surely exists and has existed elsewhere in the Universe, but our connecting with it is a monument to hope over logic.

For you doubters, see: Sapient Window (Update).

Swag Bags

The plutocratic glitterati attending the Oscar ceremonies this weekend are given gratis a bunch of goodies, a swag bag, mostly for promotional reasons. Can we call this "gilding the lily?" The monetary value of these gifts can exceed six figures ... certainly to most of us not so blessed with big screen abilities ... a green-eyed monster temptation, The details of what is in these swag bags comes from: A CNBC Story. And here is a sampling of the contents:

An Oomi "intelligent home" starter kit - $599

A CPR Anytime kit - $38.50

Three nights at the Lost Coast Ranch in California – price on application

A customized set of Crayola crayons - $24.99

A limited edition Elvie pelvic floor exercise tracker - $199

A wooden Positive Cube box, filled with cards of positive quotes - $40

A jar of pecans from the National Pecan Shellers Association – prices vary

A solid gold and diamond-encrusted OM bracelet from Yoga Jewelz - $375

A pack of 10 sweat-absorbing Dandi Patches - $7.99

A week at the Golden Door spa - around $8,850

Five nights at the Kōloa Landing in Hawaii  - around $5,750

Three nights at the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria in Sorrento - $2,100

Three nights at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lago Como - around $4,200

If I had to do it over when I was starting out, I think I would have tried out as the fourth Stooge.

"Them that has, gets!"

Quote of the Day

Unfortunately, war is a manifest part of our human existence. It is to societies as natural selection is to species -- Anon.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

'Radiation spike' sparks fears Putin tested nuke in Arctic ...

Le Pen cancels meet with Lebanon grand mufti over headscarf [requirement] ...

Marine Le Pen pledges to abolish same sex marriage ...

Trump: Anti-Semitism is 'horrible' and 'has to stop'

Exclusive: Lawmakers to request probe $418 million arms sale to Kenya on Obama's last day

Sweden incident: Riots, looting, cars torched, police attacked in migrant suburb

Milo resigns from Breitbart

Border tax hits political reality, only Trump can save it

Supremes to decide Constitutional rights of immigrants

Gorsuch's charm offensive may be working

[Kellyanne] Conway: Recess appointments 'on the table'

Nearly 1M immigrants ordered deported still free

A Dark Cloud

Billionaire liberal Jeff Bezos not only runs Amazon, personally owns the Washington Post, but, since 2013, also has had a $600 million contract with the CIA to run a huge server farm (also known as the "cloud") for it ... see: The Nation Article. Can we call this a "dark cloud"?

Bezos has an instinct for the levers of power ... the dominant Internet retailer threatening the entire brick-and-mortar retail world, running the major inside-the-beltway media outlet, and a cyber connection to our intelligence community. President Trump also has an instinctual understanding of this potential threat not just to him ... but to our country. Basically, Bezos is as great a tyrannical threat from the left as the left imagines that Trump is from the right.

There is another epic battle of the ideological Titans brewing here which, I predict, will break out before Trump leaves office.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Study rates Los Angeles world's most clogged city ...

Radioactive particles detected across Europe ...

Trump's immigration orders could drive crime up, say experts

ICE raids shrivel the supply of day laborers at Home Depots

British territory [Gibraltar] seizes Russian billionaire's yacht

Democrats invoke 25th Amendment, question Trump's mental health

Rex Tillerson is already cleaning out State Department

Milo Yiannapolous disinvited from CPAC slot over tape controversy

Simon & Schuster cancels Milo Yiannapolous' book

[Milo disappears from Brietbart news site headlines]

Hollywood studios in turmoil after spate of executive firings

Police say newly freed gang member kills California officer

The Caracas Diet

Who said that socialism is such a bad thing? This ideology has discovered for its people a sure-fire way of losing weight without pills, exercise or operations ... just stop eating so much. Move to Venezuela and lose on average 19 pounds a year ... whether you want to or not ... see: Fox News Story.

And before you starve to death, you might even learn to grow uyour own food.

Halcyon Days

Gone are the halcyon days of our youth ... "gee that old LaSalle ran great." Remember when we as children used to frolic in the snow and build a snowman with a pipe and carrot nose? No more. My twin granddaughters yesterday built a "snowperson" ... see above. Actually it was more of a "snow woman" with long hair and all ... but they couldn't yet quite call it that. Maybe it was a snowtran?

(That's my good silk scarf wrapped around the snowperson's neck!)

Media Filters

It is not just the US media ... the problem is mostly global. The media by its name and nature has enjoyed an unique place in between our government and its public. As the filter of what is said and done, it has long enjoyed leverage on public opinion ... not always unbiased purchase. In fact, since our country's inception, the media has had increasing and often unfortunate influence on the path and pace of history.

Enter new media technologies. FDR realized the ability of the radio to cut through this media filter and go directly to the American people with his Fireside Chats. Ditto JFK in his use of television and his live press conferences. Enter the social media which Donald Trump has used as a candidate and is now using as president to take his message directly to the American people and they generally love it.

Who doesn't love it? Why the main-stream media of course. This media, the print media, radio and television, have learned how to re-insert themselves between government and the voters with various "traditions" ... such as how interviews and news conferences are held. To his credit, Trump even refuses to bend to these protocols and, consequentially, has these media filters in hysterics. And remember "fake news" was an invention of the left ... much to its regret.

How is the media fighting back ... desperate to reclaim the high ground? For one, they are scouring their Roget's Thesauri for pejoratives to smear Trump and his way of communication. They also claim that he is trying to kill the First Amendment. Also, as Trump is unfiltered, he does make mistakes and, being an egomaniac, tends toward hyperbole. Thus, the media constantly tries to keep him off balance with oft-justified criticism clapping these flubs as LIES. But Trump has even an answer to these brickbats ... by ignoring them or twittering them away.

I have no doubt that the media will eventually find ways to stifle Trump's megaphones with a new ways of filtering him ... perhaps with some new social-media technologies which limit his stentorian reach. Watch for it.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Iran top General to US: Stop making threats you can't back up

Obama Presidential Library may need $1.5 billion ...

Refugees will cost taxpayers an estimated $4.1 billion in FY2017

Chris Wallace to Priebus: 'You don't get to tell us what to do'

Democrats seek to quell Trump impeachment talk

Anti-terror police guard Alpine ski resorts ... Fear of terror-triggered avalanches

LGBT anti-Trump protest in DC fizzles bigly

China steps on NKorea, bans coal imports

Four Russian military dead in Syrian IED blast

Left attacks Melania for saying prayer

Update: 76 year old Boston woman fined for not shoveling snow

Mattis: No plan to seize Iraqi oil

As Good as it Gets

Like a heart on its way out, the Left is fibrillating over Trump's presidency ... trying any and all analogies to express its dismay over what is happening to our country. Conservatives were equally morose when Obama was elected ... but I don't recall this same apocalyptic ranting. Anyhow, the Left's weaver of word tapestries, David Brooks of the New York Times, has just put forward his vision of how our world is to crumble under Trump's "unhinged" guidance. Rather than settling for pedestrian appraisals of what we are in for, may I suggest the following premier tale-telling: What a Failed Trump Administration Looks Like.

Here is a particularly nasty passage:

The first conclusion is obvious. This administration is more like a medieval monarchy than a modern nation-state. It’s more “The Madness of King George” than “The Missiles of October.” The key currency is not power, it’s flattery.

The corollary is that Trump is ripe to be played. Give the boy a lollipop and he won’t notice if you steal his lunch. The Japanese gave Trump a new jobs announcement he could take to the Midwest, and in return they got presidential attention and coddling that other governments would have died for.

If you want to roll the Trump administration, you’ve got to get in line. The Israelis got a possible one-state solution. The Chinese got Trump to flip-flop on the “One China” policy. The Europeans got him to do a 180 on undoing the Iran nuclear deal.

Vladimir Putin was born for a moment such as this. He is always pushing the envelope. After gifting Team Trump with a little campaign help, the Russian state media has suddenly turned on Trump and Russian planes are buzzing U.S. ships. The bear is going to grab what it can.

This is as good as it gets in trying to eviscerate the Donald. Are you swayed?

Is This You?

H. Lewis Amselem, in the  Diplomad 2.0 Blog, thinks liberals are nuts. (He calls them lefties or progs.)  To back up this charge he has penned a gem of a paragraph explaining himself;

As far as I can tell they are for children but also for killing unborn ones with no restriction, no apology, and no need for a fee. They are for LBGT and women's "rights," but ally themselves with Muslims who practice FGM, oppose abortion, treat women like cattle, and promote and engage in honor killings, and advocate death for LBGT people. They are for women's rights, but want men who think they are women to use women's washrooms. They are for free speech, but shut down anybody who disagrees with them, and, of course, ally themselves with Muslims who oppose freedom of speech and thought as part of their core dogma. They are against racism but try to stir up old racial animosities and conflicts that had long been resolved, buried, and forgotten. They are for poor working people, but oppose the tax and the regulatory structures that create jobs. They are for poor working people but favor unrestricted immigration that drives down wages, crowds out jobs, and absorbs the funds of public welfare schemes. They want free education for all, but oppose letting poor and middle class people have the right to choose their schools, unlike the rich people who do. They shout "Love Trumps Hate!" as they bash opponents with bricks and poles. They have spent decades denouncing the military, the CIA, the NSA, and the FBI as oppressors of the people, but now want those agencies to sabotage an elected president. The wealthy ones denounce gun ownership and walls but live behind protective shields of men with guns and walls around their exclusive properties. Hollywood stars who made millions living in the land of make-believe denounce non-existent Trumpian "brownshirts" and bravely proclaim their resistance! They are for the environment and prove it by flying to environmental rallies in their private jets. They, well . . . you can go on with this sad litany.

Is this you?

Afterward: Just read a poignant comment on this same blog entry -- "Trump's election did not create the Left's hatred, it revealed it."

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Rand Paul: We're very lucky that McCain's not in charge ...

McCain drives into the ditch

Paper: Google future depends on Trump FTC pick ...

Trump: Gulf states will pay for safe zones in Syria

U.S. deploys aircraft carrier th South China Sea

World Trade Center mastermind, the 'Blind Sheikh' DEAD

Merkel: Europe must take more migrants, Islam is not the cause of terrorism

Washington state trooper in trouble for helping ICE find criminal alien

Texas students skip school to protest arrest of violent criminals

FBI: No charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn

Panetta warns Trump's National Security Council is 'disfunctional'

Ryan struggles to sell tax reform plan to fellow Congressmen

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

McCain bashes Trump to global elites ...

Ted Nugent vs. Kid Rock in Senate race?

Pope: 'Muslim terrorism does not exist' ...

Report: Milo Yiannopoulos tapped to keynote CPAC [Conservative PAC]

McCain: Trump's attacks on the press are how dictators get started

Mexicans form human chain along border

Pelosi: 'I believe that natural gas is a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels'

Germany will take its own time to bolster its defense: Merkel tells Pence

Pence: Trump administration will 'never' allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons

Ivanka Trump's brand soars to #1 on Amazon Best Seller list

Fran Lebowitz: If beauty was [from] within, there'd be no models

White House dismisses NSC aide after harsh criticism of Trump

Proto-Hitler

Most educated people are well aware that, if we forget history, we are bound to repeat it. And so, when President Trump holds these huge rallies, like he did yesterday in Florida and whips up popular nationalism, it congers up thoughts of brown shirts and all the  horrors of Nazi Germany. These flashbacks occur to many ... mostly liberals for some reason. In fact, this could easily be the delineating characteristic of a liberal ... those who envision themselves in the vanguard of the resistance, those uniquely recognizing this threat and warning us all to fight back. They are our saviors from that proto-Hitler, Trump. One cannot doubt this as both oblique and direct accusations of this new Fuhrer fear fill the media.

Why is Trump a proto-Hitler? Because he and those he surrounds himself with are anti-Semitic ... they must be ... which anyone who is awake will realize they are not. President Trump and the Trumpers are ardent friends of Israel which somehow liberals, including many Jewish liberals, are not. This is the paradox of paradoxes. Why do many liberal Jews hate, and I really mean dispise, Israel? And therefore why does anyone who supports this oasis of democracy in the midst of Muslim hostility and horrors ... why are they the anti-Semites?

Because they are stirring up U.S. nationalism ... just like Hitler did in the 1930s in Germany ... and we all know where that led ... to the world in flames and the holocaust. And Trump said that the holocaust included millions more than just the Jews ... a sure sign of his anti-Semitism. That he is a crypto-Nazi. That he is a proto-Hitler.

He just needs now to grow that moustache ...

Distinctions

Much of our world's problems arise due to our inability or unwillingness to make distinctions ... often due to lazy thinking combined with purposeful misdirection. For instance note the following items that are often conflated ... quite often on purpose:

Illegal vs. legal immigration

What people say vs. do

Religious fervor vs. zealotry

Hyperbole vs. lying

Rap vs. music

Free speech vs. sedition

Satire vs. mockery

Economic self interest vs. greed

Refinement vs. preciousness

Mental illness vs. mental retardation

Compassion vs. grandstanding

Just war vs. aggression

Pro choice vs. pro abortion

Colonialism vs. outreach

News reporting vs. advocacy


Can you see where we go wrong with just these few?

reddit Gallery CDV -- Wheels

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

From the Dark Side

Bugatti Royale 'Esders' Roadster, 1932

One wheeled motorcycle 1931

1967 Dodge Deora II custom

Steam-powered Motorbike

Picture of the Week

From Powerline Blog

Straw-Poll-Berry

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Judicial Watch planning to sue FBI, NSA, CIA for Flynn records

Probe into Flynn leaks zeroes in on Justice Dept ...

White House dismisses 6 over failed background checks

ICE raids lower under Trump?

NAACP leader balks at idea of Congressional White Caucus

Showdown: Ford not scrapping plans to build factories in Mexico ...

Despite Trump, Lockheed pushes plan to build F-16s in India

Police body cams have real-time face recognition ...

Tony Blair: 'Rise up' against Brexit

Muslim designer uses all-immigrant cast in NY Fashion Week show

Mexican presidential candidate holds anti-Trump rally in L.A.

Trump fumes over leaks from private meeting with Republicans

Presser

I have to confess ... I'm not a slobbering fan of President Trump's style ... like he often displayed in his press conference yesterday  ... just like I never was a fan of reality TV. (And Trump is the personification of reality TV.) But I am a big fan of what Trump is doing ... like what he summarized at beginning of this presser. If you have over an hour, watch: VIDEO: SEE IT ALL In general, with a very few exceptions, Trump is doing courageous combat against the alt-Left, the fake news media, our real enemies abroad, and even his own party's establishment ... in order to tell the difficult truths and correct decades of creeping corrosive chimeras (aka, agenda-driven fantasies).

This presidential news conference made big news not necessarily because of what he said but rather because of Trump's performance. Rush Limbaugh said that it "was one of the most effective press conferences I have ever seen." And, I suspect, that the majority of viewing Americans felt the same way. Yes, he, like always, engaged in hyperbole (LIES to the left), he eviscerated the lefty media (but he did take questions from them), he took most of his shots from the hip (without major flubs but lots of media hysteria), and bragged about his accomplishments (despite his Deep State problems).

So, we have passed through a portal into a new reality ... a reality where many of our old assumption no longer hold. President Trump's world is not as many in the main stream media want it to be. And so they, and many of Obama's acolytes look forward to the next four years like a trip to the dentist. Therefore they resist, at their peril, with brickbats, fake news and disloyalty.

If the progs want to change Trump, they better start by changing vast swaths of America outside of both coasts ... before, that is, Trump changes the coasts.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Politico: The dizzying, mesmerizing Trump show

Rush Limbaugh on Trump: 'This was one of the most effective press conference I have ever seen'

FACEBOOK Live airs four murders in one day!

Coulter: House passed six Obamacare repeals when Obama was president! Now, nothing ...

Mother of four takes sanctuary in Denver church ...

Appeals Court agrees to wait on Trump's revised travel ban order

A lot of Dodd-Frank rules are getting killed before they have a chance to live

China may ban American ships from passing through its waters ...

Wikileaks exposes: CIA involvement in French election ...

Sex at 70: [Susan] Sarandon says orientation 'up for grabs' ...

Zukerberg rebuffs 'America first' ...

Fake News: NYT, NYDN, HuffPo report GOP helping mentally ill to get guns

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites

After likening Trump to Hitler, journalist are upset they are not being called on

WSJ: Spies keeping intelligence from president ...

Top former intel official: Trump has to clean house at the CIA

Fear spreads across Paris as riots in suburbs spread into city ...

Congressman staffer knocked unconscious by anti-Trump protester

CA's Medicaid enrollment jumps 57% ...

FBI releases documents related to Trump's 1973 racial discrimination case

Vigil: The Deep State bumps off General Flynn. Who's the next target?

NYT reporter apologizes for calling Melania Trump 'a hooker'

Report: ESPN losing 10,000 subscribers a day over its political left turn

Ashton Kutcher blows kiss to McCain during hearing

Former NSA analyst claims intel community will go 'nuclear' against Trump

Deep State

In an effort to keep you, dear reader, (and me) current with the rapidly changing political vernacular, I bring to you the term "deep state" ... an ominous description of those Obama holdovers still within the administration and who are actively working against Trump and his agenda ... see: Breitbart/WSJ Story. I have previously referred in a blog to this dangerous development as the "resistance" ... see: The Resistance ... but now this more descriptive pejorative has taken over.

I say that this is a dangerous development mainly because of its apparent size and scope ... reaching well into our intelligence community. And now that this cabal has taken the scalp of General Flynn, I am confident that they will be even more emboldened. I wish I could identify the players in this intrigue, but my spider senses tell me that former CIA chief, John Brennan's loyalists might be a good part of this Deep State. The new CIA Director, Mike Pompeo certainly has his swamp-clearing work cut out for him. And I expect plenty more subterfuge directed at Trump before all the alligators have been eliminated.

This could get messy ...

Double Standard

It is not yet clear what exactly was discussed with the Russians in the intercepted conversation(s) of General Flynn (and possibly others) before Trump's inauguration. But we do know what Barack Obama communicated to the Iranian mullahs before he was installed as president in 2009. And it clearly was subverting President Bush's nuclear negotiations with this country ... see: Powerline Blog. Ever-alert John Hinderaker has dig into his archives and found this parallel ... which, of course, was scrupulously ignored by the media back then ... except, in a random act of journalism,  by the New York Times. I doubt if it will repeat this mistake today.

Here are the most damning passages in Hinderaker's reverie:

... let’s not forget an infinitely bigger scandal: in 2008, while he was running for the presidency, Barack Obama deliberately undermined American foreign policy by secretly encouraging Iran’s mullahs to hold out until he became president, because he would be easier to deal with than President George Bush.

And:

The Iranians held firm to their position, perhaps because they knew that help was on the way, in the form of a new president. Barack Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3. At some point either before or after that date, but prior to the election, he secretly let the Iranians know that he would be much easier to bargain with than President Bush. 

And:

So Obama secretly told the mullahs not to make a deal until he assumed the presidency, when they would be able to make a better agreement. Which is exactly what happened: Obama abandoned the requirement that Iran stop enriching uranium, so that Iran’s nuclear program has sped ahead over the months and years that negotiations have dragged on. When an interim agreement in the form of a “Joint Plan of Action” was announced in late 2013, Iran’s leaders exulted in the fact that the West had acknowledged its right to continue its uranium enrichment program ...

 And it is now speculated by some in the media that General Flynn was submarined by Obama holdovers, ironically, because of his hard line against Obama's resulting Iranian nuclear deal ... and he might have been trying to get the Russians to back away from its support of this travesty. Of course we won't really know the true nature of his intercepted conversation(s) unless they are released in unredacted form ... which is quite unlikely.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites

Humana to quit Obamacare in 2018 ,,, providing fuel for Trump's 'repeal' efforts

Gluten-free diet healthy? Twice as much arsenic, mercury

Nobody is talking about Chelsea Clinton's new book ... including Chelsea Clinton

Pelosi and Cummings peddle fake news on Gen. Flynn

More calls for violence: CBS 'Late Show' depicts head of Stephen Miller on a spike

BUST: Dam crisis wake-up call for California water system

Georgia school district's students speak 140 languages

Pentagon chief says NATO members must spend more on defense

Big Tech fears Trump's 'America First' visa reforms

Poll: Trump trails generic Democrat but not Warren in 2020

House Intelligence Committee Chair: Leakers of Flynn call 'belong in jail'

NY Post: Christie has lunch with Trump amid job speculation

Remember ...

When the lefty Democrats used to love the Russians???

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Canadian Black Lives Matter leader says white people have 'recessive genetic defects'

Mag: Kremlin starting to worry about Trump ...

Russian spy ship off East Coast ...

Son of Jerry Sandusky arrested on child sex, porn charges

Sarah Silverman mistakes construction markings for swastikas

Trump under fire for lax security practices

[China] Weapons reach 'near parity' with rhe West ...

NY toy maker to sell 'transgender' doll

Chicago horror: 2-year-old killed in gangland hit ...

WH sources: Priebus letting 'sleeper cell' Obama holdovers undermine Trump admin

Students wear white pins to remind them of 'white priveledge'

Inflation sees largest gain in four years ...

Curious George

Germany has been moving its physical gold out of New York and Paris ... and back to Frankfurt. They have been engaged in this process since 2013 and have so far repatriated about one half of its stash ... about 583 tons ... curious? See: CNBC Story. Yes, words have consequences, but actions have even more consequences. Read the speculations in the CNBC story above or conjure up your own guesses ... but whatever the real reason, it surely must be consequential.