Friday, June 30, 2017

Headlines


The following headlines have all come from Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Trump tweets about Mika 'bleeding badly from a face lift'

Republicans condemn Trump for crude Tweets about 'Morning Joe' host

Gallup: 61% support big tax cuts ...

Bolton: Venezuelan instability could spread throughout the region

Philadelphia DA sent to jail after admitting to accepting bribes

Manhattan skyscraper owned by Iran can be seized by US gov't

 [Sen.]  Grassley goes after acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe

[Valerie] Jarrett: Obamacare process 'was all very transparent,' 'open and honest'

Death threats after universal health care shelved in California

Pentagon: 'Rookie' ISIS fighters are accidentally blowing themselves up in Mosul

Trump to meet Putin on sidelines of G-20 gathering next week

EU rattled by Trump's visit to right wing, anti-migrant Poland

Proportionality


I absolutely had to watch Morning Joe this AM after President Trump's tweetings yesterday hitting back at Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough for their daily doses of vicious vitriol directed towards him ... see: NY Times Article.Without trying to defend Trump's puerile behavior that is not befitting a president, I was expecting and did watch a conga line of outrage by the invited guests on this show. If there is a stronger word for outrage then I would use it, but I can't think of one now.

However, I was also struck by the contrast between these highly emotional reactions and the almost matter-of-fact reactions by these same players to the baseball field shooting of a Republican Congressman, Steve Scalise, last month. Not that there wasn't condemnation, but I don't recall the foaming mouths and the shallow breathing like I saw this morning on MSNBC. What we are basically comparing here is an infantile insult of two rabid Trump haters versus the attempted mass murder of Republican Congressmen.

I guess, very simply, what I am looking for (and not finding) is a sense of proportionality in our media. And it is this lack of proportionality that permits Trump to keep up this compulsive behavior (which most of us would prefer him not doing.)

Afterward: What Morning Joe and the NYT focused on was that Trump's tweets were a sexist attack on Mika. Not quite true ... he also called Joe "Psycho". Now to see why this might be apt, Google "Why Joe Scarborough left Congress" ...

After Afterward: I find it curious that the media never seems to label attacks on conservative women (Ann Coulter, Kelluanne Conway, Sarah Palin) as "sexist" ...

Headlines


All these headlines are from Internet news sites. Guess which ones come from Politico?

Grassley, Graham want the FBI's Russian surveillance warrants

Sen. Durbin's office won't release emails with GOP baseball shooter

Susan Rice suggests 'sexism', 'racism' in unmasking probe

CNN has 17 million fake Twitter followers

Trump accepts invitation for Bastille Day visit to France

Undercover video reveals CNN's Van Jones calling Russian story a 'nothing burger'

CA's Sierra region rattled by more than a dozen earthquakes ...

Report: Google generates as much ad revenue as the rest of the world print ad revenue

Trump on healthcare: Schumer doesn't seem like a 'serious person'

Bob Woodward chides NYT, mainstream media 'fair mindedness is important'

Boston streets overrun with bunnies ...

Joy Behar feels 'sorry' that Melania had to sleep with Donald

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Taxing Times


Democrats never seem to see a new tax or a tax hike that they don't like. Take a quick gander at the tax mine field that President Obama laid down for Americans during his reign (mostly tied to Obamacare) ... see: Americans for Tax Reform Listing. Many of these 21 new taxes actually hit the middle class ... violating a pledge that Obama made before he was first elected.

Now, as to be expected, there are also taxes in the Obamacare mishmash that are graduated ... progressive if you will ... meaning that wealthy people will be understandably harder hit. And now comes the expected Democrat demagoguery (note the same first letters) surrounding the Republicans in the Senate's effort to scuttle Obamacare. The Dems are pounding the table saying that this Obamacare repeal will give huge tax breaks to the wealthy. And Warren Buffet, on cue, echoes this refrain ... see: Fortune Magazine Story.

Duh! Do I need to point out the obvious? If Obamacare is eliminated ... along with its repertoire of taxes ... then those taxes meant to soak the rich also go away ... so Upchuck Schumer is technically right ... but still is a big fat demagogue in the process. Are Republican healthcare reformers expected to keep these vestigial taxes as memorials to the disaster that was Obamacare? This would be like the smile that persists after the Cheshire cat has disappeared.

If Warren Buffet wants to pay more taxes, then I am sure that this can be arranged during the next big Republican government overhaul ... the coming tax reform process.

Headlines


The following headlines all come from Internet news sites. Guess which ones were found on Politico?

Senate GOP seethes at Trump impulsiveness

Sarah Palin suing New York Times for defamation

Opioids could kill 650,000 in USA over next decade ...

Mark Zuckerberg compares Facebook to going to church

Gingrich: Congress should call upon Obama to testify

Ransomware virus hits computer servers across globe ...

Rand Paul says he believes Senate can pass Obamacare repeal bill before August recess

Rep. [Chris] Collins loses $17 million in biotech stock

Chinese foreign minister: Refugees should return to their homelands

Cable news wars: Hannity dominate[s] ...

Bernie Sanders says FBI investigation of his wife is politically motivated

Supreme Court takes case on what qualifies as obstruction

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Hradlines


All these headlines have been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

... 'If there was something really good, it would have leaked' -- [CNN producer]

Napolitano: [Former AG] Lynch could face 5-10 years in prison...

CBO Report: Senate healthcare bill drops number of insured by 22 million

Patients with mental disorders get half of all opioid prescriptions ...

Exclusive: McCain Institute refuses to disclose big doners

EU slaps Google with record $2.7 billion fine

Castile's family gets $3 million payout after cop aquittal

Secret FBI memos suggest Russia-Flynn probe was political payback ...

Republicans offer billions in side deals to win Obamacare repeal votes

Who has Trump's ear? Often rich white Republican men ...

House Dems hired a fired McDonald's worker as their IT guy

TSA finds 20 pound live lobster in bag ...

A Double Limerick


CNN reporter from Spring Lake

Filed a story t'was clearly a fake

To cover his tushy

For sources so squishy

He called The Dodald a snake


Trump then riposted a tweet

That this libel was very effete

So Jeff Zucker couldn't keep

 A reporter who seemed such a sheep

  His insult was merely a bleat


Afterward: I actually had a different limerick in mind, but couldn't think of a rhyme for Zucker.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Fake News


President Trump has tagged much of the media ... and in particular CNN ... as "fake news." And, as often happens to the chagrin of liberals, our much maligned president is being proven correct. First, CNN had to retract and apologize for a fake CNN story about a Trump associate being investigated by the Senate for suspicious ties to a major Russian financier ... see: NY Times Story. Three CNN employees have resigned (or been fired) as a result of this embarrassment.

Now, as icing on this fake-news manure cake, James O'Keefe has just released a secretly-recorded tape of a conversation with a CNN producer admitting that the whole Russian narrative being pushed by his network (and many others) for lo these many months was and is "bullshit"! See: Project Veritas. Dispite this grift, it persisted because of the rating bump that this narrative was reaping for Jeff Zucker & Co.

I guess I am not too surprised at these double-barreled revelations about the network that, for years, has been cynically called the Clinton News Network. But the fact that CNN has an exclusive and privileged position in most public venues around the world, suggests to me a far bigger problem. Perhaps, our FCC might find a suitable punishment for CNN's disregard of the truth and the trust that its audience has placed in it? Maybe it could be forced to broadcast with no sound or even subtitles?


Afterward: Perhaps CNN's motto should be changed to "The most trussed name in news"?

Headlines


All these headlines were found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Supremes lift lower courts' block of Trump travel ban

Ivanka Trump: I try to stay out of politics

I want out says Harry the reluctant Prince ...

Kellyanne Conway: Trumpcare does not cur Medicaid funding

Sheriff Joe heads to trial over immigration enforcement ...

Asylum seekers in Canada who fled Trump now in legal limbo

Bankers warn global crash could come 'with a  vengeance'

Bernie, Jane  Sanders lawyer up as FBI probes financial scandal

Trump eager for one-to-one meeting with Purim; some advisers wary

Second Dem made 'queasy' about Lynch interference in Clinton email investigation

Bezos bots to run Whole Foods ...

Panicked Democrats to party leaders: Americans care about economy, not Russia

Prof calls for wealthy white frats to be banned

Monday, June 26, 2017

Words to Live By


There is such a thing as too much civilization ...

There is such a thing as too much diversity ...

There is such a thing as too much sustainability ...

There is such a thing as too much money ...

There is such a thing as too much good food ...

There is such a thing as too much plastic surgery ...

There is such a thing as too much sunshine ...

There is such a thing as too much rap music ...

There is such a thing as too much hooking up ...

There is such a thing as too much inclusion ...

There is such a thing as too much Hillary ...

Headlines


All these headlines have been found on Internet news sites. guess which ones cane from Politico.

Schiff criticizes Obama's handling of Russia

Drag queens to visit schools to end intolerance

Woman totally loses her mind over Confederate flag adorned Dukes of Hazard car

Trump in tweet: Clinton colluded to beat Sanders

Ex-president kicks off tropical holiday in Indonesia

CIA Director: Iran still top sponsor of international terrorism

Gowdy: Oversight panel won't pursue Russia, obstruction probes

Rahm Emmanuel: Trump is misreading his base

Female driver plows through crowd of Muslims in UK

White House shows no signs of reopening Paris talks

Republicans agree, Obamacare taxes must disappear

Maxine Waters bars Trump supporters from town hall

Quote of the Day


Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference -- Winston Churchill


Sunday, June 25, 2017

Headlines


All the following headlines have come from Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

The weakest defense in Washington? Saying 'I don't recall'

Supreme Court limits rights of property owners

Dems behind 'Russian' dossier?

More winning: Black unemployment at lowest level in 17 years

UK Parliment hit by cyberattack

North Carolina colleges rated most free speech friendly

Koch chief says healthcare bill insufficiently conservative ...

Harvard poll: Two-thirds say Russian investigation 'hurting America'

'Trump is what happens when a political party abandons ideas'

With ominous tweet, Comey pal suggests major bombshell story is soon to drop

NASA about to announce 'evidence of alien life' ...

SCOTUS: Immigrants who lie to Feds to become citizens may lose citizenship

Upchuck Schumer


I have callouses on my political expectations after eight years of Obama and over five months of Chuck Schumer leading the Democrats in the Senate. Yet, after former FBI Director Comey testified that he had told the Gang of Eight in Congress (including Schumer) months ago that Trump was not a subject of the Russian collusion investigation. Schumer continued to insist publically the exact opposite ... see: Trump's Lies.

Now, as reported by Paul Mirengoff in the Powerline Blog, Senator Grassley has pointed out this same Schumer demagoguery ... unfortunately without calling Schumer what he often is ... a liar ... see: Powerline Blog.

There are a lot of despicable politicians, but Upchuck Schumer is right up there near the top of the list.

Ebb Tide


The tide is running out on what to charge President Trump with:

Treason? ... No? ... How about ...

High crimes and misdemeanors? ... No? ... How about ...

Collusion with Russia? ... No? ... How about ...

Obstruction of justice? ... No? ... How about ...

Witness intimidation? ... No? ... How about ...

Tweeting out of season? ...

Headlines


These headlines all came from Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Is State Dept. going easy on Russian diplomats?

Hillary Clinton calls GOP the 'death party'

Refugees to US cut in half

Military chiefs want transgender enlistments put on hold

Grassley, Feinstein want answers from Lynch

Federal court upholds law allowing refusal of service to LGBT couples

Georgia seeing huge decrease in food stamp use ...

Legacy on line: Obama return to campaign trail to save Democrats

Macron's EU charm offensive stops at Eastern Europe

Time Magazine falsely claims Planned Parenthood funding used for mammograms

Universal health care bill stalls in California ... 'The plan is dead' ...

Turkey claims U.S. promised to confiscate weapons from Kurds

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Picture of the Week

From Powerline Blog


Headlines



The following ads have all been found on Internet new sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Trump loses patience with his White House counsel

Baltimore police union blasts city leaders among crime surge

Johnny Depp jokes about Trump assassination ...

Study: Nearly 6 million noncitizens may have voted illegally in elections

The anti-innovation presidency

MSNBC analyst compares Trump to suicide bomber

Freighter was on autopilot when it hit U.S. destroyer ...

California attacks Texas with travel ban over LGBT discrimination

Trump calls Mueller-Comey relationship 'very troubling'

Senate bill says so long to Planned Parenthood funding

AMAZON drone beehive in every city ...

Hannity offers to pay for Joe, Mika therapy

Friday, June 23, 2017

Was MacArthur Right?


                              "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away ..."

Back in 1950 after North Korea had invaded South Korea ... and the ROK/UN forces with the considerable help of the United  States under General Douglas MacArthur had, within the year,  pushed the Norks back to the Yalu river, the Chinese Communists entered the war with massive hoards of soldiers ... some not even armed. MacArthur felt that this aggression required that the U.S. respond with tactical nuclear weapons against these massive Chinese armies. For his outspokenness on this issue, he was fired by President Harry Truman.

The question now poses itself ... was MacArthur right? The real decision point was whether MacArthur's action would have started a world-wide nuclear conflagration? I think that this is a difficult question. But my best guess is no ... because the U.S. was so far ahead of every other country that China and Russia would not dared to respond in kind. China was 14 years away from having an atomic weapon and Russia only had had them for four years ... and was three years away from the H-bomb.

So, what might have been the result if Truman had given MacArthur his leash? One, we would now have a unified Korean peninsula with no Kim Jong Un and his atomic madness. Number two, China might well feel more reticent to challenge the West militarily. And three, China might even have followed Japan's path toward demilitarizing as a result of the trauma it experienced at the Yalu river.

Yes, there were risks involved under MacArthur's strategy ... but were they any larger than what we face today?

Healthcare Tell


In poker there is something called a "tell" ... a twitch or tick that lets your opponent know you have a good hand. The stock market is often a tell for what is going on in Washington. When Obamacare became law, the healthcare insurance stocks rose. Now with the "repeal" of Obamacare these stocks have gone up again ... see: CNBC Story.

What does this tell us about this attempt to fix things? Are these middlemen going to be squeezed by this new law? Or perhaps they have helped write this Obamacare replacement?

Obama Boulevard


Los Amgeles is contemplating renaming a boulevard there after our previous president ... see: Daily Caller . Article. This proposal suggests to me the following descriptions of this memorial:

- Although a toll road, free transponders will be given to all dreamers

- Only electric cars are allowed on this boulevard

- The road is paved with good intention

- This boulevard goes from L.A. to you  know where

- The major cross streets are Saul Alinsky Drive and Kenya Place

 - At the Slauson Cutoff, you should stop and cut off your slauson

- The numerical designation of this highway is U.S. -1

- Although  it's an eight-lane road ...  seven go left (west), only one right

Headlines


These headlines have all come from Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Health bill could show limits of Trump's Senate sway

Musk: We'll create city on Mars with a million inhabitants!

Report: Walmart orders vendors not to use Amazon Web Server

Going Green: Trump officially suggests building the US border wall with solar panels

Texas nurse could have killed up to 60 children

Anthem Blue Cross withdraws from Obamacare in IN, WI

Gowdy: Maybe the DNC didn't cooperate with DHS because there was something else on that server

McCabe: FBI has great number of folks working for Trump-Russia Special Prosecutor

Feds: More than a quarter of illegal immigrant minors in our care are gang members

Two Cosby holdouts prevented guilty verdict ...

Democrat finger pointing intensifies after Georgia loss

Michael Moore: Dems have 'no message, no plan, no leaders' ...

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Allahu Akbar?


A Canadian man stabbed a policeman in the neck at the Flint, Michigan airport yesterday ... see: Daily Mail Story. And he was supposedly heard by bystanders shouting in Arabic, "Allahu Akbar!" This shout frequently accompanies violent Muslim terrorist attacks. However, this time such a supposition was wrong ... because this attacker was Hawaiian and apparently was upset because he had just discovered that the airport's Polynesian pub had been shut down due to Flint's water problems. As a result he couldn't get his beloved Mai Tai. He therefore was belligerently bellowing: "aloha tiki bar!" and was misunderstood.

Headlines



The following headlines have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Trump spikes the ball after Georgia election win

Graduate students have some ideas on who may have killed Seth Rich

SKorea says crashed NKorea drone 'grave provocatation'

Next up: Special Counsel to probe Team Obama obstruction

Poll: Opposition to GOP health bill is on the rise

Eric Holder considering 2020 presidential run

Here's why the President of Ukraine just compares Trump to Ronald Reagan

Democrats block witnesses from testifying in House Trump-Russia probe

Shock poll: Muslim ban gains popularity

Senate bipartisan Russia sanction bill delayed in House

NYT columnist calls it 'striking how little evidence' there is for Trump, Russia collusion

Paglia blames Dems for destroying journalism ... going to take decades to recover ...

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Headlines


The following headlines have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico.

Sources: Senate GOP prepares for Obamacare repeal vote next week

Sanders: My Republican colleagues are 'cowardly'

Judge narrows injunction on Trump travel ban

Leon Panetta: 'We have a dysfunctional presidency' at this moment in time

Gingrich on Russian investigation: 'The fix is in'

Christain school told they can't teach 'offensive' scripture

Mag: Time to break up Amazon?

Limbaugh: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi wrote 'script' for Scalise shooting

Otto Warmbler dies days after being released by North Korea

Exclusive: McCain Institute is funded by George Soros

Update: Yellowstone supervolcano hit by 400 quakes in week

Fleeing burglar fires back into home, kills accomplice running behind him

Style vs. Substance


OK folks, here goes another Obama versus Trump compare and contrast. We have seen enough of both men to begin to understand the effects that they cause on us, their humble subjects. My conclusion is that Obama was a victory of style over substance and Trump is exactly the opposite.

Barack Obama was Mr. Smooth. His TelePrompTer presentations were mellow and folksy. He always had that David Brooks razor-like crease in his trousers. Every time he descended a flight of stairs he did it with a graceful aplomb ... paws cocked in front (no handrails for this cool dude) and almost a Fred Astaire light touch on his feet. His presence commanded the present.

However, Obama's policies seemed secondary. Somehow, it wasn't so important what he said ... but that he said it with grace. Yes, his politics were ultra-liberal. But somehow it felt that his policies were not paramount. He was dancing with the Saul Alinsky partner that brought him. And as long as it was consistent and appealing, he was ready to push it ... independent of the ultimate result. Yes, he and Valarie Jarrett do have a sympathetic ear for Shiite Muslims and Socialism ... but those seemed their only burning issues.

On the other hand, Trump has the style of a pinkie-ring casino floor manager. His hair looks like a dead orange animal. I know that Trump thinks that he is smooth. But last year's campaign revealed that he has lots of rough edges ... even though his pants are always pressed. His insults were often and raw. His compliments are usually overdone and sound insincere. He often contradicts himself without realizing it. He is an archetypal blowhard. His style is the exact obverse of Obama.

However, what Trump lacks in style, he clearly makes up in substance. He leads not from behind but from in front. One by one he is trying to remedy all of Obama's failings ... and they are many ... see: Fixin' Things. Despite the ugly often violent "resistance" on the left, Trump is making things right. He seems to know just what needs to be done and then sets about doing it. As, one by one, Obama's screw-ups are remedied, the right is cheering and the left is melting down.

Many more Americans are now realizing how a smooth style didn't and doesn't compensate for a lack of substance. So, although we don't have, like Reagan, a comic-book hero as a fixer, at least we have a fixer.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Headlines


The following headlines have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

79 now believed to have died in London high-rise fire

Ossoff, Handel battle for Georgia special election win

Update: Illinois finances in 'massive crisis mode' ...

Macron seizes smaller legislative majority than expected

Obama-era FCC caught red-handed giving preferential treatment to liberal groups

Cosby knew he would get a hung jury all along ...

Two dead after suspected jihadists attack Mali tourist resort

Gingrich: Trump's combative style isn't always the best

Adam Schiff admits the is no proof of Trump-Russia collusion

Dens fume over 'secret' Republican healthcare bull

Angus King suggests Russia probe just 20 percent done

Colorado considers a ban on preteens owning cellphones

Monday, June 19, 2017

Morning Joe


I have watched the MSNBC show "Morning Joe" for enough time now that I think I can reproduce the typical banter between its two co-hosts ... viz:

Joe Scarborough: Trump has tweeted out this morning that he is under investigation by the Special Counsel Mueller ...

Mika Brzezinski: We've known Trump for a long time.  I'm just saying ...you can't trust anything he says because he is a liar ...

Joe Scarborough: But his lawyer said yesterday that he was not under investigation!

Mika Brzezinski: Sigh! Both Trump and his lawyer are liars ... Trump lies about lying ...

Joe Scarborough: If I were still in Congress, I would look my red-neck constituents in the eyes and tell them the truth ... like I always did and that's why they elected me ...

Mika Brzezinski: You told the truth, Trump lies ...

Joe Scarborough: My voters could always tell when I tried anything funny or political ... My voters loved my honesty ...

Mika Brzezinski: Sigh! That's what I love about you Joe ... and Elizabeth Warren ... not like Trump's constant prevarication

Joe Scarborough: And that's what I love about you Mika ... among some other things ...

Mika Brzezinski: Sigh, I mean ... I really can't fathom why Trump keeps lying all the time ... even in his tweets ... especially ... he constantly lies in his tweets ...

Joe Scarborough: You look so sexy this morning. Let's throw the show to Mike Barnicle ...

Mika Brzezinski: You look very hunky too Joe ... OK, I'm game. Did I mention that Trump is a liar? ...

[Fade to a Planned Parenthood commercial] ...

Headlines


The following headlines all came from Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico.

St. Louis Cardinals stand their ground against LGBT protesters

[Sen.] Murkowski 'committed' to funding Planned Parenthood

Texas school teacher in largest cocaine bust since 2010

Workers pilfer $300,00 worth of avocados ...

Democrats to step up attacks on GOP's Obamacare repeal effort

Seven U.S. soldiers wounded in apparent Afghan insider attack

ISIS claims fatal stabbing of Israel policewoman

Swedish police attacked by masked migrant youths

Early vote turnout soars in Georgia special election

Macron party on course for landslide ...

The View: Calling a woman 'hysterical' is sexist

Blimp crash, E. coli contamination, spectator death at U.S. Open

Sunday, June 18, 2017

May Day


The death toll in the Grenfell Tower inferno in London has now reached 58. People there were tossing children and babies out of windows to try to save their lives. Clearly there had been serious fire safety oversight failings that led to this tragedy. Yet, as logical as the British can sometimes be, here is another instance of their loopiness.

The angry blame for these deaths seems to be directed toward the British PM Theresa May ... see: Daily Mail Article. This woman, IMHO, has many more fish and chips to fry than to worrying about how fire codes are enforced in London.

However, what about London's Lord Mayor, Sadiq Khan? One would think that such things are directly in his preview. Oh, I forgot ... he has been busying himself stopping terrorist attacks?

Father's Day


Very Ancient Greece was a matriarchal society ... primarily because women were thought alone to be the progenitors of  society. This was due to an ignorance regarding the male role in reproduction. Sex was viewed as a simple pleasure without the connection to procreation. In fact, queens then would take lovers for a year and then, much like the praying mantis, decapitate them and move on to their next studley.

Obviously this society had no notion of Father's Day.  And now we have almost come full circle with sperm donors, egg donors, test-tube babies, three-parent babies, etc. And, it is predicted, that someday  soon the male role in reproduction will become totally obsolete. Medical science will then be able to cause the female egg to form a new human without the introduction of the male wriggler.

Then Father's Day will again disappear ... as eventually males themselves might vanish. We will have finally arrived at the Age of Aquarius ... only females ... when wars will vanish, the Earth will be healed and the only crime will be wearing a pants suit.

Headlines


All these headlines were found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Trump reports assets of at least $1.4 billion in financial disclosure

AmazonWholeFoods rivals lose $40B [in stock market value] ...

Trumpists disrupt play depicting Trump assassination

Report: Dem staffers boo Trump at Unity baseball game

Schumer asks for all 100 senators to meet on healthcare

Report: Not even the black jurors thought the officer in the Philando Castile case was guilty

[Dennis] Rodman returns from NKorea without meeting 'friend for life' Kim

Six pregnant Texas women test positive for Zika

Indian lawmakers demand that Trump reverse H-1B crackdown

DACA still under review, Trump administration says

Canada criminalizes wrong use of gender pronoun ...

Swimming superstar Michael Phelps to race great white shark

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Cartoon of the Day


From Powerline Blog

A Cybersecurity Security


Full disclosure: I recently bought some Cisco Systems common stock.

Cybersecurity is becoming a very important national defense issue ... and I believe that the attempts to defeat these attacks on end-user and infrastructure sites (such as utilities) are a suboptimal solution. Cyber criminals seem always to be able to circumvent the latest end-user firewall or other security methods with, viruses, spear phishing, etc. ... because of one glaring weakness ... the sheer number of end-user sites and the logistics problems of keeping them all up to date security-wise.

Here is, I think, a better strategy. Companies like Cisco Systems who manufactures many routers, or the nodes in Internet communications, now could and should, because of much faster electronic technology and advances in AI, identify, intercept and destroy many of these malicious bit streams before they ever reach end users. Certainly "denial of service" attacks should be easy to spot and stop. And all sorts of other viruses, malware, and even ransomware might be quickly identified and squelched at these communications nodes through pattern recognition techniques.

Thwarting all this evil software from ever entering end-user computers would be an enormous revenue generating engine for the likes of Cisco Systems and its Internet brethren.

Please don't sue me if I am wrong ... I will have lost also.

Another Wall St. thought: Amazon's just announced its intended purchase of Whole Foods. IMHO this merger has a good chance of attracting an anti-trust reaction ... particularly since CEO Jeff Bezos' personal ownership of Trump's nemesis, the Washington Post.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Headlines

,
These headlines have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico.

Senate likely to miss Obamacare repeal deadline

Trump world trains its sights on Mueller

Pentagon to send almost 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan

Trump approval hits 50%

Swedish Islamophobia expert joins ISIS, calls for attack on Sweden

Russia claims it has killed Islamic State leader al Bagdadi

ESPN host says NFL is playing politics 'by playing national anthem'

Shopping: Amazon buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion

Feinstein wants Comey back on the Hill, and will back a subpoena if necessary

Truce over: Pelosi attacks grieving Republicans

London's Muslim mayor Khan slammed for not banning anti-Jew march

Shots fired at truck flying 'Make America Great Again' flag

Cabal?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Headlines


The following headlines were all found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico.

House GOP fear politically motivated shooting

Bernie disavows campaign volunteer who shot up GOP baseball practice

Summer of Stink: NYPD backs off pee, booze in street

Republicans consider keeping Obamacare taxes

Another global warming trip canceled because of unprecedented ice

ISIS drone swarm targets U.S. troops in Syria

... President [Terry] McAuliff: 'We lose 93 million Americans a day to gun violence'

Tyson lobbyist in critical condition after being shot in chest at practice

Pelosi: 'I pray for Donald Trump, that his presidency will be successfully and his family will be safe'

Women's spa allegedly refuses to allow trans woman to enter

Hillary Clinton compares herself to Wonder Woman

[Janet] Yellen signals more [rate hikes] this year ...

Thursday, June 15, 2017

A Perplexing Question



How can there be a coverup if there is no crime?

Afterward: It would seem logical for Robert Mueller to first nail down any crime(s) before he pursues the possibility of obstruction of justice. But what do I know?

Hodgkinson Diseased


James T. Hodgkinson traveled all the way from Illinois to shoot up a baseball practice field early on Wednesday ... wounding a congressman, a congressional aide, a lobbyist and a Capitol Hill policewoman. Hodgkinson was killed with the return fire.

Echoing Ft. Hood, former Obama AG Eric Holder opined that this incident was nothing more than "baseball practice field violence".

Headlines


The following headlines are real and have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones come from Politico?

London inferno ... 'Hell on Earth'.... Tower may collapse

Gunman opens fire on [Republican] Congressional baseball practice

Sessions calls suggestion he colluded with Russians a !detestable lie'

White House confirms Trump interviewed Mueller for FBI job

Danger: Megyn [Kelly] audience drops 42%

Venezuela: Protesters burn down Supreme Court building

Trump expected to change certifications for apprenticeships

Travel dramatically drops from six Muslim countries in Trump travel ban

Time Inc. cuts 300 jobs in light of falling circulation

Sessions says multiple leak investigations are underway

ICE chief says illegal immigrants should be looking over their shouldersf

Dems vow to push Russia through election

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Brutally Honest


I doubt if anyone cannot see that President Trump has a compulsive personality. He himself confessed that he is a germophobe as a counter to the "golden shower" fake dossier that was being peddled by his detractors  earlier this year. Another manifestation of his OCD is that he is honest ... compulsively honest ... brutally honest. Recently he had second thoughts about the House-passed version of Obamacare replacement and he said, after having previously endorsed it, that it was too "mean" ... see: ABC News Story. This turn-around clearly doesn't endear him to those Republicans who voted for this bill.

Trump's brutal honesty has occurred over and over again ... often revealing truths that few politicians would touch. And I believe that this has recommended him to Middle Americans who are full to the gills with our many politically-correct fictions.  He even keeps insisting that his executive order against the 6 failed Muslim countries is a travel ban ... against his lawyers' advice. And how does he communicate these bon mots? Why over Twitter of course.

So, when foes and even friends keep telling him to stop tweeting, they are, in essence, saying, "stop being so brutally honest!" But, again, this is not who Trump is. He is compelled to say what is now on his mind even if it is inconsistent with what he said last month. And clearly, in his current position, new information is constantly causing him to see new truths ... which he is then compelled to disclose.Your standard politician would either not change his/her mind under such circumstances, or confound the media with doublespeak. But not Trump.

The result of Trump's OCD? He is quite good at getting good things done. But he makes lots of enemies. He is accused of lying. He is accused of being mentally unbalanced. (In the DC swamp, telling the truth is crazy.) He has hosts of equally unbalanced (mostly liberal) elites wishing him dead ... or impeached ... or neutralized in some way. (Kinda like a group OCD, no?)

Why? Perhaps it is because politicians and the media are not used to dealing with brutal truth tellers?

Emolument Clause


What is this controversial emoluments clause of the Constitution? Here is the verbatim text:

"No Tittle of Nobility shall be granted by the United States. And no person holding office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the consent of Congress, accept any present, Emolument, Office or Title of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State"

And what is an emolument? The best definition I can find is "a payment for work provided" or, let's be frank ... a payoff in excess of value provided. Now Trump is not doing any work for foreign governments, but some of his hotels, run by his sons, might be so doing. (If the Trump holdings were forced to sell its properties, it would lose billions of dollars.) And Trump has pledged that any profits gained by foreign dignitaries staying at his DC hotel will be turned over to our treasury. I believe that these safeguards are enough to pass Constitutional muster.

However, the Attorneys General of Maryland and DC are now suing President Trump for violating this emoluments clause of the Constitution ... see:Washington Post Article. This seems a waste of taxpayer monies by these partisan pols.

And does anyone believe that all the past donations to the Clinton Foundation ... for which they received nothing in return ... in anticipation of her being elected president were not only emoluments, but were freely-accepted bribes?

One last analogy -- if George Washington, during his term as president, had sold some wheat from his Mount Vernon estate to France, would he have violated this Constitutional stricture? I think not!

Headlines


The following headlines have all come from Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Trump and the religious right: A match made in heaven

Rolling Stone to pay $1.65 million to defamed UVA frat ...

Another Dem pushing impeachment article for Trump

British pols secretly plotting 'soft Brexit' ....

Pence: Obamacare death spiral, one of the most pressing issues for Americans today

Georgia voters see presidential-level stakes in special election

No letup in European migrant influx ...

Republican Congressman refuses to say he believes President Trump

Clinton Foundation hacker gets 18  months

Mueller stocks staff with Dem donors ...

Swamp fights back: Mueller hires Clinton Foundation lawyer

Michigan Vietnam vet is Trump's 1st Medal of Honor winner

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Silly Season


President Trump has said and tweeted some things that rub many people the wrong way. In fact I strongly suspect that Trump secretly relishes tweaking his detractors. And this tactic very often works. Liberals, progressives, much of the media, even many squishes in the establishment ,,, and their fellow travelers ... are tying themselves in granny knots to show their contempt for our newly elected president. It does seem that one is not allowed to go half-way in exhibiting one's "resistance" to Trump.

So we have a D-list comedian, Kathy Griffen, pretending to cut off Trump's bloody head, late-night TV and SNL sapping the imaginations of their writers trying to smear with innuendo and even slander Trump. We are even taken aback by Stephen Colbert saying that Trump is Putin's cock holster (implying fellatio). The list goes on and on exhaustively. Now we see the New York City Public Theater putting on Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in which Caesar is dressed as Trump and is stabbed to the cheers of the partisan crowd (described in the above paragraph) ... see: Daily Wire Story

This Trump "resistance" has become so commonplace, sophomoric, banal and even sinister that we are clearly entering a silly season. Liberals are straining at the yoke to find new ways of insulting Trump ... made even more frustratingly inane by the fact that these intended insults seem to roll right off of our president's back. As a result of this overdoing of this Trump Derangement Syndrome, those on the left are in danger of becoming parodies of themselves ... kinda like a skit out of Monty Python ... if they haven't crossed this threshold already.


Headlines


The following headlines were all found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Populists suffer setbacks in Italy's local elections

12 injured as Molotov cocktail explodes in Paris restaurant

Trump accuses 'cowardly' Comey of more leaks

Puerto Rico votes in favor of statehood ...

Rubio defends his questioning of Comey

Bill O'Reilly: I may be back on television soon

Gingrich says Mueller isn't neutral, calls on Congress to abolish Special Counsel

Israel court: journalists to pay Netanyaho damages for libel ...

Republicans refuse to back Trump's attack on Comey

Trump shows up uninvited to random couple's wedding

Delta, Bank of America dump NY.c public theater over play depicting Trump assassination

Michael Jordan sneakers fetch a record $190,000

Monday, June 12, 2017

It's My Fault


That a woman may not keep getting $1,000 a dose medications to control her opioid addiction

That polar bears are gonna die and the "Earth has a fever!" because I "don't believe in science"

That MS-13 gang members are being deported back to Central America

That Israel is occupying territory that it won after it was attacked in 1967

That Kim Jong Un is a Korean fruitcake

That ISIS is recruiting soldiers because of my use of the term "Muslim extremists"

That the First Amendment is under attack because of my use of the term "fake news"

That women are second-class citizens because I voted for Trump

That people are losing their food stamps because of reinstituted  work requirements

That young  black men are being shot because I support law enforcement primacy

That all American women may not be getting free birth control

That the United States is unwilling to accept any and all migrants from around the world

That James Comey was fired as FBI Direct without sufficient cause

That our nation is spending itself into penury

That Iran is well on its way to having nuclear weapons


Headlines


The following headlines have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Democrats turn on DHS chief [Kelly]

ICE agents round up 113 criminal aliens in New Jersey sweep

In 'crisis' mode, Qatar hires Bush Attorney General to lead lobbying effort

Pressure on May to step aside ...

Top OMB nominee 'burned' at stake for his Christian faith

Romney reveals that Clinton nudged him to consider Trump's Secretary of State overture

Professor equates white marble statues with white supremacy

Biden's niece pleads guilty to stealing $100,000

Many Puerto Ricans crave statehood, but the timing could not be worse

Congressman: Trump fired Comey, now IRS Commissioner Koskinen needs to be removed

Conservatives near revolt on Senate healthcare reform

Iran finalizes deal to buy 60 Boeing planes ...

Sunday, June 11, 2017

The Real James Comey


A little history on our fired formers head of the FBI:

James Comey and Marc Rich -- Marc Rich and his wife gave $550,000 to Clinton honey pots before he got a presidential pardon from Slick Willie ...  but Comey (the US Attorney in charge) could find no quid pro quo.

James Comey and Sandy Berger -- Comey broomed the case against Sandy Berger with a misdemeanor for his stealing and distroying secret documents from the National Archives that the Clintons wanted to disappear. Berger never went to jail.

James Comey and Valarie Plame/Scooter Libby --  Comey was instrumental in appointing  the Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald in this trumped up case. Scooter Libby eventually went to jail for lying to the FBI about the Valarie Plame CIA outing which Richard Armitage had actually done ... and was known in advance by Fitzgerald.

James Comey and "torture" -- Comey legally endorsed the Bush-era memo that OKed enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding.

James Comey and the Clinton Foundation -- Comey's brother is deeply involved in the Clinton Foundation finances. Any investigation of the Clinton Foundation would involve Comey's brother.

James Comey and Martha Stewart -- Under Comey's watch Martha Stewart was convicted of lying to the FBI and spend about a year in prison.

James Comey and Hillary Clinton -- Comey gave Hillarry and her henchpersons a bizarre pass on their multitude of crimes while she was SecState.

James Comey and HSBC  -- Comey got a $6.5 million wet kiss when he left the board of this sullied British bank. They had been accused of money laundering.

James Comey and Donald Trump -- You all know this one.

Headlines


The following headlines have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

History on Comey's side as Trump brands him a 'leaker'

Suffolk University completes mandatory microaggression training

2 U.S. soldiers killed, 2 wounded in Afghan insider attack

Marches against Sharia law nationwide ... Denounced by civil rights groups

U.K. Prime Minister May's top advisers quit

The original Batman Adam West dead at 88

Merkel sides with Mexico over NAFTA

Vanity Fair: Hillary, please go away ...

Jeb Bush: Trump didn't obstruct justice, but who cares what I think?

Pelosi: When Republicans voted for Trump it was like 'any mammal will do'

Biden encourages Romney to run for Senate

Ms. Magazine: When will Wonder Woman be a fat, femme, woman of color?

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Trump's Lies


Former FBI Director James Comey has unhesitatingly called President Trump a liar. This is not such a shocking  accusation since America's media has been forwarding this image of Trump for many months. Is he a liar? Well, he is a politician and anyone who is breathing knows that politicians often color the facts in their favor, Clearly, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama took this political penchant to extreme levels. But this is still no excuse ... so I Googled "Trump's lies" and found the following list of lies that Trump has supposedly told. Politifact, like most such sites is blatantly liberal and is run by the Tampa Bay Times ... which is what I wanted, since it should have most all of the whoppers Trump has supposedly told. See: Politifact List.

Take some time and peruse this list. I found them pretty thin gruel. Yes, there is Trump puffery. There is some fuzzy interpretation of older facts. There is also Trump's ego on display. There might even have been forgetfulness. I also found many statements I believe to be at least half true (half lies if you are a lib). But I didn't find anything that I believe to be malicious mendacity that was meant to benefit Trump to the detriment of America ... like I have often seen Democrats proffering. For example, Comey testified that the senior Congressional leadership (the "Gang of Eight") has known for months that Trump was not suspected of colluding with the Russians. Yet, over this same period, the Democrat Minority Leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, has repeatedly said the exact opposite. Now this is a clear example of an ultra-partisan bald-faced lie. Find one of this seriousness, if you can, in the above Politifact list.

Afterward: Did I mention all the former administration's e-mail server, Iran nuclear deal, IRS, Fast and Furious,  Obamacare and Behghazi lies?

After afterward: If the FBI didn't know for sure whether Trump was taping his conversations with Comey, then this agency has gone down a notch in my estimation.