Banning Forks

From Mostly Cajun blog

Aggression

Aggression is a positive force. If you disagree, think about how much you enjoy having your kneecaps -- Anon.

Mismatch

Musing about why there is such media discomfort with President Trump, I've come up with another cockamamie theory -- Trump's tolerance for cognitive dissonance is a lot higher than much of the media's. And, since the general public is unaware of much of the conflicting forces at work moving things forward, they are suffering much less angst than the media and its hangers-on.

In other words, Trump's tolerance for confusion and conflict is much greater than the purveyors of our news. This character trait on Trump's part must have come as a result of his many years in constructing Manhattan skyscrapers ... where the complexities are enormous and fatal problems present themselves daily ... so that only one who can keep the end product clearly in mind can keep his sanity and forge ahead.

America's committed liberals, having been used to the more simplistic vision and management style of Obama, are having great difficulty adjusting to this newer Trump methodology which permits, nay relishes lots of counter currents. And so they descend into vicious ad hominids and craven coup conspiracies.

Meanwhile Trump is going about the business of triangulating through this flak much better than Bill Clinton ever could. He has his "hand on the throttle and his eye on the rail" ... engineering  his country through the debris left to him by "the one" who was mot a builder ... but merely a smooth talker.

Obama was a razer (his notion of "change") while Trump is a builder. Quite a mismatch.

Headlines

Congress loses key immigration deal ingredient: A deadline

Cash for all: Support mounts for universal basic income program

Amazon made $5,6 billion in profits last year, paid ZERO in federal taxes?

Report: in private Trump favors executing major drug traffickers

Gun control legislation bogs down quickly in Senate

Rising mortgage rates hit new home sales hard, an ominious sign for builders

Parkland first responder: I was told to stand down ...

Supreme Court refuses to weigh into DACA fight -- for now

Holder group sues Walker for mot holding elections in Wisconsin

Georgia lieutenant governor says he will 'kill' Delta tax break unless airline reinstates NRA deal

Catholic Church considers married priests to ease clergy shortage ...

FedEx stands with NRA

Timidity

I an not sure that I can define what being timid entails -- Anon.

Question?

My recollection of other side-of-the-world TV interviews was that there was always a few second delay between the question and the answer ... mainly because of the distance these communications needed to travel. Now, at the recent Olympics, this delay has vanished. The participants appear to be in the same room. My question is why no delay? Has satellite communication gotten that good ... or is there some time-editing trick being performed?

Any informed thoughts?

Thanks!

Sweet Irony

The Democrats have been waging an obvious strategy of throwing open our border to pack this country with legal and illegal immigrants with the expectation that these appreciative newcomers would counter a growing national conservative trend toward Republicans.

A great many of these immigrants, particularly in the southwest and far west US, are Hispanic ... and, as Diane Feinstein is learning, they may not maintain a loyalty to those who opened the doors to them. Senator Feinstein wanted to run for reelection in California and has just been shocked to lose her party's backing to ... drum roll please ... a Latino. What's that old chestnut, "hoisted on her own petard."

Twenty or thirty years from now, if current trends persist, there will likely not be a single elected politician in America's southwest and far west who is not of Hispanic origin. And to increase the treacle tone of this irony, since this ethnic group is naturally conservative, they may even identify then as Republicans.

Anyone, who doesn't find lip-smacking justice in how this Democrat voter-packing strategy is beginning to backfire, is not paying attention.

Headlines

California Democrats decline to endorse Feinstein

INCOMPETENCE -- 74 lawmakers call on Florida Gov, to 'immediently' suspend Broward County sheriff

Record crowd flocks to FL gun show

Dan Rather: 'Dilusional' Trump is like a 'fertilizer spreader in a windstorm'

Dem governors band together to thwart Trump's policies

Michelle Obama announces memoir about accomplishments

Xi moves to stay [president of China] forever ...

Police: Man brutally stabs woman to death on MA public library

Supreme Court could cripple public unions in run-up to 2018 mid-terms

North Korea 'willing to have talks with US, Seoul

Team USA falls short of [Olympic] expectations ...

China demands USA retract NKorea sanctions

Gun Control

Governor Rick Scott of Florida and President Trump both have proposed raising the age requirement to buy "assault weapons," like the AR-15, to 21. (Governor Scott would include all guns.) This age would match the current age limit for the use of alcohol and pot ... but  not for drivers' licenses (16), voting (18) or serving in the military (18).

Now, I think this AR-15 stricture may be a good idea ... and I also think that the three other lower age limits should be re-examined:

- Nobody should bee allowed to vote before 21 ... and they should also be able to name all three branches of our government.

- No one should be able to drive before 21 .... unless of course they are driving Teslas.

- The age for military service can stay at18 as long as such recruits are limited to using broomsticks as weapons until they are 21.

Headlines

House Intel Panel releases Democrat memo rebutting GOP claims on FBI spying

Delta and United scrap airline discounts for NRA members

Worst rated Olympics ever .... NBC's $12 billion boondoggle

NRA responds to corporate boycotts: A 'shameful display of political and civic cowardice

How Texas is a model for Trump's gun-toting teachers

'Black Panther' blows past $500 million at the global box office after one week in US theaters

FBI tipster warned Cruz 'going to explode' ... sheriff got 18 calls ...

Nunes on Dem memo drop: Proves Dems, Hillary colluded with Russians

Lawyer for Susan Rice: Obama administration 'justifiably concerned' with sharing intel with Trump team

House Republicans release rebuttal to Democrat Intel memo

Apple to store sensitive encryption keys in China ...

CPAC straw poll finds 93 percent support for Donald Trump

[Un]San[itary] Francisco

America's shithole ...

Crap Map

Sheriff Israel Speaks ...

Addapted from Mostly Cajun blog

"I'm not a law enforcement officer. I'm a law monitoring officer."

Imagine

John Lennon wrote a hymn to a perfect world where peace prevailed  and there were no borders defining countries ... see: Imagine lyrics. Clearly, Lennon's vision of utopia must have had some influence on world politics in the years that followed ... particularly in the European Union.

Fast forward some fifty years to the presidential election of 2016 and let's do some more imagining. Can we picture what our country would be like if Hillary Rodham Clinton had been elected? Who would likely be the primary players in her administration? Ben Rhodes? Susan Rice? Jonathan Gruber? James Comey? Sidney Blumenthal? John Brennan? John Kerry? Donna Brazile? John Podesta? James Clapper, Cheryl Mills? Maybe even Bill Clinton himself?

Imagine what the Supreme Court would look like? The FBI? The Department of Justice? The IRS? The EPA? The State Department? The Defense Department? Our representative to the UN? The regulation environment? Even the Clinton Foundation and all its tentacles might still exist ... as might the ISIS caliphate?

We would still be bending over for the environmentalists in the Paris Accord ... or maybe going even further. There would be no tax cuts or a rollback of the Obamacare individual mandate. We would still be in the TPP (no matter what Hillary said during her campaign). We would be even further along toward true open borders and unlimited immigration from third world countries. Jerusalem would not be recognized as the capital of Israel. Economic growth would still be anemic along with the stock market.

There would have been no exposure of all the (illegal?) Democrat shenanigans that took place during the presidential campaign. We would likely have a Democrat Senate and maybe even the House. North Korea and China would still have us kowtowed. Companies would not be bringing their factories back onshore. And many more positive developments would not have occurred.

We would be living in even more of a dystopia than Barack Obama saddled us with. Maybe Ted Nugent should pen a new version of "Imagine?"

Headlines

Democrats fear California crack-up

Not one, but four Broward deputies hid outside during Stoneman Douglas shooting

China unveils hypersonic jet -- ANYWHERE in 3 hours ...

More big corps sever ties with the NRA

Trump directs Pentagon to schedule military parade for Veterans Day

Public employees challenge mandatory union fees at Supreme Court

[Justin] Trudeau's India trip disaster ...

Mueller probe: Bates pleads guilty to process crime

U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem to open in May, state Department announces

NRA slams Sheriff Israel for failing to stop school shooter

Oscars producers: Tone down politics! Viewers fleeing ...

Princeton professor: 'Toxic masculinity' at heart of the gun culture

Varierty

Variety keeps life Imteresting -- Anon.

Today's Chuckle

Mendacity

Lies are good.  They add texture to the drab truth -- Anon.

Headlines

Facing jeers and boos, Rubio shifts on guns during tense forum

Disabled transgender sues GOOGLE for discrimination

Anti-bacterial wipes are pointless; bugs grow back in 20 minutes ...

CNN, Jake Tapper face growing criticism for staging 'abusive' anti-gun 'show trial'

Trump borrows NRA talking points on school safety

Feds slap huge fine on company for faking inspection of nuclear plant

Deems want gun control, but worry it might cost them midterms ...

'Gun-free' schools are magnets for 'bad people': Trump

CNN draws raves for emotional town hall

Student claims CNN scripted questions ...

Pelosi calls for lawn mowers as border wall alternative ...

[Trump] ... Threatens to pull ICE out of California

Terseness

A few short words best frame a simple idea -- Anon.

Olympic Medals

In the recent  South Korean Winter Olympics, North Korea won zero God Medals, zero Silver Medals and zero Bronze Medals. However, they did take down first place for the longest tapeworm. When all these Nork athletes return home, the owner of this champion parasite is the only one who will not be given a bus ticket to oblivion.

Now It's Clear!

Yesterday it was revealed that one of Sheriff Israel's well-armed deputies, Scott Peterson, was stationed outside the Parkland, Florida high school as nutjob Nikolas Cruz spent 8 minutes killing 17 students and wounding 15 ... see: NY Times Article. This deputy did nor enter the school to confront Cruz and stop this mayhem. People are asking why not? I think I have discovered the answer ...

This deputy must have been waiting for stronger gun control laws to be enacted! This may also be the reason for the lack of preventative action by Sheriff Israel, the FBI and the many layers of local Broward County authorities.

Now, it's clear!

Ambiguity

Ambiguity is as much a function of human discourse as are snow geese. -- Anon.

Brevity

Be concise -- Anon.

Verbosity

The easy, yet all-too-human natural propensity for well-meaning human scribes to puff-up their purposeful prose communications with unnecessary and clearly incidental words and overly-flowery phrases and clauses is ofttimes off-putting and exceedingly annoying to the casual albeit roped-in reader of this exercise in inane verbosity -- Anon.

Headlines

Trump floats expanded 'concealed carry' on school campuses

Liberals rage at Obama because he wouldn't dance on Billy Graham's grave

Billy Graham dead [at 99] ...

Poll of Republican voters: Reducing immigration more important than killing Obamacare, destroying ISIS

Bernie blames Hillary for allowing Russian interference

Rising bond yields stomps out stock rally after Fed report confuses market

Border wall construction begins ...

President Trump pushes armed teachers to end school violence

Dem Sen [Stolen Valor] Blumenthal: Trump's suggestion to arm teachers 'absolutely abhorrant'

Trump: 'Ask Jeff Sessions' why isn't the Obama administration under investigation for Russian meddling?

South Korea spent more than $220,000 on Kim Jong Un's sister at Olympics visit

Sheriff Clarke: Students' gun control push ha Soros' fingerprints all over it ...

Quotes about Guns

"... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked  has been guaranteed through the ages by common law" -- Martin Luther King

"But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you ... it is reasonable to shoot back with your own gun" -- Dali Lama

"A woman who wants more gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders" -- Larry Elders

Today's Quote

If you are not in favor of armed security guards protecting our children, then you are not in favor of protecting our children. -- Anon.

Headlines

Trump IRS seeks millions in Obamacare fines even though law is 'dead'

Lindsey Vonn returns to the podium in final Olympic downhill race

[George] Clooney 2020 [presidential] vision?
E
WH: 'We haven't closed doors' on assault weapons ban

State Dept.: No coordination with Trump Jr. on speech in India

[Stock] Market sell-offs tend to happen in three waves and the last one is coming

LIVE FOREVER: Bezos reveals massive 10,000-year clock being built inside mountain

Rush: Democrats focused on politicalization of attacks, not school safety

White House: Trump supports stronger background checks for gun buys

Olympics filled with athletes who aren't that good ...

'BLACK PANTHER' packed with action, diversity -- but no gays ...

Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov condemns Iran for calling for Israel's destruction

Founding Fathers' Wisdom

Our founding fathers realized that allowing children to set public policy was quite unwise. That is why, when writing our Constitution, they set the age requirement for our president at 35, senators at 30 and representatives at 25. It seems to me that this latter stricture should also be applied to voters. All the sophomoric nonsense now being championed at our universities does nothing but reinforce this notion. As does the fact that now social media has revealed how shallow and self-absorbed many of our current younger generation of snowflakes either are or will become.

Maturity doesn't always come with age ... but it helps.

Symbol of Democracy

"That rifle on the wall of the labor's cottage or the working-class flat is the symbol of democracy. It's our job to see that it stays there." -- George Orwell

Fishing Expedition

From Mostly Cajun blog

Disruption

According to the recent Mueller indictment the purpose of Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election was to disrupt and disorient (disAsia?) both party's candidates. Whatever monies Russia spent on this endeavor produced little return except, perhaps, for the anti-Trump demonstration in front of the Trump Tower shortly after the election.  (Touted by CNN and MSNBC ... and attended by Michael Moore and a large group of lefty moombats.)

Now the following idea is not original to me, but it is rather obvious -- the media, the deep state and Hillary's posse are doing much more than the Ruskies could ever have hoped to disrupt the American political system. The pure irony of this situation is that Mueller is more effective than Putin ever could to throw sand in the smooth functioning of our current government. (OK, OK .... Trump helps things along a little.)

Headlines

Clapper predicts 'other shoes to drop' in Mueller probe

Media isn't so sure Trump colluded with Russia anymore

More than 80% of adults owe somebody else money ...

Report: Mueller zeroing in on Kushner

Trump mocks Oprah Winfrey

CNN, MSNBC glowingly promoted Russian-organized anti-Trump rally

Wild, weird weather everywhere ...

LA Times: Banning AR-15s would end mass shootings

Trump comes in last in expert presidential ranking survey

Donald Trump surprises by endorsing Mitt Romney for Senate run

Privacy advocates cry foul on bracelets to monitor AMAZON workers ...

Mayor cites JFK assassination, demands NRA cancel upcoming convention in Dallas

Meddling

There is a light-weight, even comical element to the recent Mueller indictment of 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies for "meddling" in the 2016 presidential election. This indictment's wording suggests that gossiping or kibitzing are now criminal offenses. It even has the smell of desperation or possible purposeful misdirection to it ... keeping this investigation alive until bigger game can be bagged.

Despite the narrow range of this indictment, there are other possible issues emanating out of Mueller's modest accusal:

- Much of the information and even some of the text of this indictment came from a Russian business journal story that was published last fall ... see: NY Times article

- Steve Robnson of the Howie Carr Show has asked about a very interesting omission from this indictment, namely where are the accusations about Russian hacking into the DNC computer and the stealing of John Podesta's emails and putting them on Wikileaks? This would seem a natural inclusion since we have been told that "17 of our intelligence agencies" agree with this obvious crime.

- The Mueller indictment claims that the Russians were spending upwards of a million dollars a month on Facebook fake news and ads ... whereas Facebook itself testified to Congress recently that the sum total of all this meddling was at most $100,000.

All in all this indictment, since it comes close to exonerating Trump from the original reason for Mueller's appointent ... Russian collusion ... seems a fart in a windstorm.

Headlines

#MeToo movement lawmaker faces new sexual misconduct allegations

US and China reportedly scuffled over nuclear 'football' during Trump's Beijing visit

Hungary's Oban calls for global anti-migrant alliance ...

Schiff: 'Russians are very big fans of out 2nd Amendment

Schiff: Trump 'claims vindication anytime someone sneezes'

Mike Bloomberg offers to 'match every donation' to fight gun violence

America becomes No.1 enemy at World Government Summit ...

Dunk Contest: Ingraham invites LeBron on TV for debate ...

Podesta: Trump a 'draft dodger" in war for democracy

Former Trump aide Rick Gates will plead guilty to Mueller probe charge: Report

Couple who took in Cruz: 'We had this monster living under our roof' ...

American small business workers see historic wage increases

Today's Quote

"Show me the man, I'll show you the crime" -- Lavrentiy Beria (Soviet spy chief under Stalin)

Headlines

Trump lashes out after Mueller indictment, downplays Russian plot

Maxine Waters attended Nation of Islam convention

Trump: Dems could have passed gun control under Obama ...

Laura Ingraham: Time for Mueller to interview Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes and maybe even Barack Obama

Mueller: Russians entered U.S. to plot election meddling

LeBron James: 'I mean too much to society to not share my political views

Democrats struggle with rising popularity of tax cuts ...

... Fmr Mexican president Fox blames shooting on Trump

Mueller levels new claim of bank fraud against Manafort

Trump backs Facebook VP who says Russian meddling aimed at dividing America

Voter registration launched at ['Black Panther'] screenings ...

NY teacher, twin brother charged with paying students to make bombs

An Experiment

Reading The Diplomad 2.0 today got me to thinking about his suggestion and about what we might do to stop the rash of school shootings. I think we should set up an experiment to see which of two approaches might work better to reduce this mayhem:

Experiment #1: Get rid of school (and other) gun-free zones. For the first ten years, permit and encourage any responsible and trained adult to carry a gun in our schools ... open-carry for any uniformed personnel and closed-carry for others -- teachers, coaches, etc.

Experiment #2: For the second ten years, return to a gun-free zone policy in our schools but totally ban anyone from purchasing semi-automatic military-style rifles or their ammunition.

Comparing the results over this 20-year period should tell us which policy to go with long term. I strongly suspect that this second decade test would not be necessary.

Headlines

Mueller charges 13 Russians with 2016 election 'information warfare'

Mueller 'targets' Russia, Trump team 'unwitting'

Sales of bulletproof backpacks soar ...

Merkel says Germany 'deplores' Brexit at meet with [PM] May

FBI failed to follow up on Florida shooting suspect tip in January

NO OBSTRUCTION: Rosenstein holds a presser essentially kills probe into Trump-Russia collusion

Trump cleared? Indictment says Russians worked with 'unwitting' participants ...

Evolution of Joe Scarborough -- from gun nut to gun grabber

Mitt Romney announces run for U.S. Senate in Utah

Keith Ellison in full panic mode after getting caught meeting with Louis Farrakhan

ICE arrests 212 illegals, targets 122 businesses in LA sweep ...

Lee Smith: Everything media accuses Trump of doing with Russia, Obama actually did

Today's Cartoon

From New Yorker magazine

U

Too True, Trudeau

From Powerline blog

Think about it ... it's not about being gay ...

Headlines

White House blames Russia for massive Ukraine cyberattack

Another Trump campaign official[Rick Gates] is about to make a plea deal with Mueller

Senate defeats president's immigration plan ...

Taliban pens letter to American people urging peace talks after sit strikes

De Blasio details terror plot that started in a Harlem charter school

General Flynn should withdraw his guilty plea. His new judge is a government misconduct expert.

OPRAH: God hasn't told me to run ...

Limbaugh mocks FBI: Too busy with Trump, #MeToo investigations to stop FL shooter

Priebus on White House chaos: 'Take everything you've heard and multiply it by 50'

Hannity: If we can secure the Oscars, we can secure our schools

SEC blocks Chinese takeover of Chicago Stock Exchange ...

Report: 52% of non-disabled parents on food stamps do not work

Never Miind ...

Back when Saturday Night Live was funny, Gilda Radner played a reporter named Roseanne Rosanadana who would weave an elaborate animated news story based upon a semantic premise. After it was pointed out by her partner that her semantics were in error, she would pause and, with a flip, say "never mind ..."

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's DOJ boss Rod Rosenstein held a press conference on Friday in which he announced indictments against 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies for engaging in "information warfare" to sew discord in America's election process ... both for and against Trump and other candidates ... likely deep-sixing the whole Trump-Russia collusion allegations ... which were the original basis for this Special Counsel.

Never mind ...

However, Mueller has not closed up shop ... so he may still be working to pin Trump with something, like having extramarital sex with a Playboy bunny ...

AR-15

There was this mean-looking AR-15  see that:

- was a loner on anti-psychotic drugs

- was publicly obsessed with other guns and explosives

- would kill squirrels and rabbits and drink their blood

- would capture neighborhood dogs and cats and hang them from trees

- would shoot out the windows of neighbors' garages, sheds and houses

- threatened to kill multiple high school classmates

- many classmates felt it was quite likely it would be a high-school shooter

- was expelled from high school for carrying ammunition to school in its backpack

- police were called to its house 39 times in one year

- posted on Facebook that it was going to stage a high school massacre "professionally"

- the FBI was twice warned that it, by name, was quite likely to kill multiple classmates at school

-  finally went to its high school and killed 17 and wounded 15 more classmates

Headlines

High school slaughter, 17 dead ... 'Everyone predicted it' ...

Republicans in Congress get embattled Kelly's back

Elon Musk broadband-from-space plan backed by FCC chair ...

Report: Jared Kushner's debt rose by millions during his first year in the White House

Senate immigration deal on life support

Illegal immigrants warmed about Florida travel as arrests soar ...

Ryan blames McCain for tanking Obamacare repeal

Shadowy criminals prowling the seas, putting food supplies in danger

Schiff complains FBI, Justice Department making too many demands on Russian memo

FBI warns: Whole of Chinese society is a threat ... Don't use Chinese-made smartphones ...

GOP takes lead in generic Congressional Ballot, Trump job approval hits 47% ...

Economists rip Trump"s spending plan as 'foolhardy,' 'ludicrous' and 'the dumbest'

Tangled Web

"O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" -- Walter Scott

The Christopher Steele Hillary Clinton Bruce Orr Fusion GPS Nellie Orr Russian dossier FISA court application Susan Rice memo to self James McCabe collusion Peter Strzok Rod Rosenstein Lisa Page FBI James Comey Bill Priestap Sally Yates  James Clapper CIA John Brennan Loretta Lynch Barack Obama tangled web of Deep-State insideous insurance policy was all designed to effect a slow-motion coup of President Trump.

Understand? If not, it will all become clear (hopefully) when the FBI's Inspector General releases his explosive report soon. Then will Mueller back out of this morass?

School Shootings

The rash of school shooting of late and, in particular, the recent slaughter in Florida have everyone searching for a solution to this madness. The knee-jerk answer centers around guns and ammunition control. But this seems impractical given our American culture of guns. However, there is another common element that has been growing since 2007 along with the increase in gun and other forms of mayhem. And that is social media -- Facebook, Twitter,Yahoo chat rooms, Instagram, reddit, etc.

It would seem that if we made everyone get a license to use such social media ... and if there were a nation registry of such users and those who should be barred from using them ... and if there were a 30-day waiting period for new users to join such technologies ... and if we could ban any social media that had a scary name or appearance ... then we might begin to control this scourge of school violence.

Obviously, the above was partially tongue in cheek. But there really should be something we can do. It seems everyone was predicting that this nutjob in Florida might some day snap ... and he did. They knew this threat without even a background check. Why couldn't the authorities have taken action ahead of this slaughter ... as soon as he had threatened others? Confiscate his guns and ammunition? Closely monitor him and his social media postings? Even place him in protective custody? Maybe we should even stop sensationalizing these incidents in the national media to discourage copycats?

We are civilized. Let us find a civilized solution other than repealing the Second Amendment.

Headlines

FBI director puts responsibility for Porter on White House

BOMBSHELL: Comey held secret meeting with Obama before Trump inauguration

Home prices hit record ...

[Israeli] Police recommend Netanyahu indictment, Bibi fights back

Porter blamed ex-wife's black eye on an accident in off-the-record meeting with reporters

Total US household debt soars to record above $13 trillion

Macron threatens to bomb Syria ...

Duerte: Shoot female Communist terrorists in the 'vagina'

Trump proposes [partially] replacing food stamps with food boxes

Barely anyone is paying the taxes they owe on their Bitcoin gains

Piers [Morgan]: Omarosa called me a 'f*cking f*ggot' ...

Democrats' gag order blocks Senate immigration debate

So True ...

Deep Throat vs. Deep Six