Quotable Quote

“Breed ravens and they will pluck out your eyes” — Old Spanish Saying (via Diplomad 2.0)

Correction

A while back I made a foray into the COVID-19 death statistics in the United States and suggested that they were being fudged to imply a surge in our deaths to match our surge in new cases ... see: Fake Stats.

Well, if you return to that Washington Post “Covid Deaths” graph of deaths in that link, you will now see why this “spike” in these numbers occurred. It seems that, in a footnote, WaPo now indicates that on June 25th over 1,800 deaths were added to this daily total by New Jersey ... and it looks like Delaware also slipped some extras in too. Anyway, this spike was obviously an outlier and only briefly interrupted the visible downward path of US COvID deaths.

However, we are not out of the woods yet as new virus deaths are supposed to lag new cases by two or three weeks ... so we still have a little time to wait to see if the opening of our economy might need to be slowed or reversed. I say this because a new case surge without a new death surge is not a huge problem ... something like the common cold ... not worthy of a new shutdown.

Sometime next week we should know for sure.

Remarkable Lawyer

Just came across a very informative interview with General Michael Flynn’s new lawyer, Sydney Powell. She has done a remarkable  and courageous job of extracting the General from the setup that the government entrapped him in ... with the apparent help of his first lawyers, a firm including Eric Holder ... surprise, surprise!

Anyhow, please watch with an open mind: Conservative Treehouse Entry. I think there is much more to come out of this insidious conspiracy.

Today’s Poser

Gov. Andrew Cuomo

What do you do when two “scientists” offer diametrically opposing advice on things like wearing coronavirus masks, “social distancing” or re-opening our economy?

My take: Listen to your inner voice (if you are wrong, it is on you) ... and tell those petty tyrants, who might be telling you differently, to go have intercourse with themselves.

The Scallion

Chief Justice John Roberts just voted with the other four liberals on the Supreme Court that it was legal to use a coat hanger to perform abortions ... and back-alley venues were OK with him too.

Headlines

Pence attributes coronavirus spike to young Americans ‘disregarding’ Covid guidance

Starbucks is the latest company to pause advertising across social media

Trump administration asks SCOTUS to dismantle Obamacare

Poll: Trump losing ground with whites, not gaining with minorities

Andrew Cuomo: Trump is ‘in denial’ about coronavirus

Coronavirus cases worldwide top 10 million, with nearly half a million deaths —- and 25% are in the US

Breaking: Minneapolis unanimously approves of abolishing police force

Rolling Stones threaten to sue Trump for using their songs

Pelosi on Trump: ‘With him, all roads lead to Putin’

Florida reports second consecutive day of record coronavirus cases

Senate confirms Trump’s 200th judge

BLM protesters storm Beverly Hills neighborhood: ‘Eat the rich!’

New Campaign Slogan

Note the mixed messages

I have an idea for Trump’s campaign slogan going into the November election:

Stand Up For America

Quotable Quote

“Real men wear masks.” — Nancy Pelosi

Mass Suicide

Jonestown

At least three cities, Seattle, Minneapolis and New York City, appear to be committing suicide (citycide?) in puckish defiance of Trump and the safety of their citizens. These are Democrat-controlled cities in Democrat-controlled states whose elected officials are either too weak or too stupid to pull themselves out of the death spirals they are obviously in.

President Trump has this rather unique effect on his opponents ... pushing them to commit hari kari as proof of their hatred of him. These city mayors and state governors are not alone in their political suicide ritual ... Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and much of the Democrat national establishment are also following the polls by denying Trump any hint of victory before the November election ... all in the hope that voters will not wake up to this deception and throw their sorry asses out of office.

So far, they seem to be right. Trump looks weak by his forced inaction and is slumping in the polls ... this is because coronavirus is making a comeback, the economy is still on life-support, the iconoclasts control many of our streets, and Congress is sitting on their hands. The Orangeman seems to sense that those three cities mentioned are booby-trapped if he were to try to fix things ... so he is without a good solution until public opinion has had enough of this lefty lunacy.

Will the US electorate awakening happen before Biden sweeps up and invites Xi to occupy the White House? The answer, dear liberal readers, is within yourselves. Are you willing to believe that Trump, if given half a chance, can Make America Great Again? Are Trump’s petty annoyances tolerable for another four years? It’s either that or we surely will become another Venezuela ... or, worse yet, Jonestown.

Soccer

From Powerline blog

Headlines

Judge: U.S. must free migrant children from family detention

Credit card industry reins in balance transfer offers as banks from JPMorgan to Amex fear defaults

Anti-police Minneapolis City Council now spending $2.5k/day on private security

FN.c’s Wallace: ‘Just isn’t a history of fraud with mail-in voting’

Appeals court: Trump wrongly directed $2.5 billion for border wall

Nasdaq trades NYSE listings even better than NYSE

Robert Stone ordered to report to prison July 14

Soros group vows to turn out 6m Hispanic voters to defeat Trump

Florida shutters bars as coronavirus cases hit new record

Scorching heat and coronavirus endanger people without AC this summer

Seattle mayor gives CHAZ/CHOP Sunday deadline to remove barriers

Nike reports surprising $790 million loss, 46% plunge in North America

reddit Pic

Seawater croc...

An Apt Comparison

Like clockwork, the New York Times has reported that Russia had bribed Afghans to kill American soldiers ... and President Trump ignored this intelligence and still wanted to invite Putin to the G-7 meeting this week ... all to compound the Orangeman’s recent poll slippage.

Like most Times stories, we don’t and probably can’t know if this reportage is true.

But, this sniper attack invites a partisan comparison ... OK? Now it was well verified that many of the IEDs that were used in Iraq to kill and maim thousands of American soldiers were made in Iran and supplied to the Iraqi insurgents. Sooo, how did the Obama regime respond to this Iranian evil? Well, as far as I remember, they negotiated a sham nuclear pact that gave Iran $150 billion in bank transfers ... and $1.8 billion in hard cash ... a bit more than a meeting invitation.

Did the Gray Lady draw a similar tut-tut back when Iran was killing Americans?

You know the answer.

Privilege

There might be such a thing as unearned white privilege ... but life contains many other privileges that are far more subtle and insidious ... and don’t relate to the color of one’s skin. How about celebrities? Once, in coach on an airplane I found myself sitting next to Dick Clark. The flight attendant quickly upgraded him gratis to first class. Is this not a “privilege” of being a celebrity? Every day one sees people famous only because they are famous spouting off in the most inane ways just to keep their names in the news. (Kathy Griffen and Rob Reiner come to mind.)

There are other ways of attracting privilege ... what I call Poobah privileges ... such as low-number or special license plates ... or using limousines to arrive at an event ... or wearing designer dresses or British-tailored suits ... or wearing expensive jewlery or Rolex watches. These are all ways to establish oneself as deserving of better treatment by one’s lesser ... in other words “privilege.”

In the old Soviet Union one would see military men with so many medals on their chests you wondered how they stood straight ... thus deserving privilege. What about the ever-growing number of TV award shows? Is this not a way of celebrities buffing their stars even brighter ... in order to get reservations and turn heads at the best restaurants?

The English are addicted to privilege differentiators ... Earl of this or Duke of that ... see: Edwardian Promenade. Royalty also bestows status and privilege on a few with knighthoods ... Sir Richard Branson for heavens sake! Is this not melanin-independent privilege?

Congressional privileges ... executive privileges ... faculty privileges ... doctor privileges ... looter privileges ... the list goes on and on. People like to see themselves as rising above their peers while at the same time professing “inclusion.”

Such bullshit!

Imagined Truth

No white driver has ever been ticketed by a white policeman for a minor traffic violation ... no, never. (Idea stolen from the Dave Chappelle comedy skit where he is made up as a white man and finds out about the imagined special benefits of white privilege.)

Headlines

Headlines

‘There’s no discipline to his strategy’: Trump is undermining his own campaign

Amazon to buy self-driving technology company Zoox

Biden campaign won’t say if he supports removing statues of Washington, Grant, Roosevelt and Jesus

Glasgow: Stabbing rampage at asylum seeker hostel ...  Report: 3 dead, police wounded, suspect dead

Trump says push for less coronavirus testing was sarcasm

Texas rolls back it’s reopening a day after pausing plans, as coronavirus cases rise

CBP chief says 95% of illegals being returned rather than detained

Biden vows to force Americans to wear masks in public

John Bolton: Boris Johnson ‘playing Trump like a fiddle‘

Coronavirus updates: Housing and jobs markets show signs of slowing recovery

Trump says BLM leader’s threat to ‘burn down this system,’ is ‘treason, sedition, insurrection’

Veepstakes: Kamala all in on defunding police

Celibacy and Lotharios

There are two polar extremes on the sexual-activity spectrum ... Jeffery Epstein whose daily existence revolved around orgasms ... and (truly) celibate priests and monks who deny their hormones for a higher good. (I don’t mean to cast this comparison as only a male one ... there are obviously female equivalents.)

Clearly, the human imperative is to procreate ... but most humans have crossed this reproductive threshold into the realm of pure physical pleasure without the bothersome result of conception. As far as I know, no other animal species has achieved this level of civilization.

It has long been asserted that celibacy channels humans’ coital energies into other creative outlets. Maybe so ... although lothario Harvey Weinstein made some pretty good movies ... and that coxswain Bill Cosby was quite entertaining as a performer.

But Bubba Clinton does support the notion that Casanovas are generally worthless.

We all know that the #MeToo movement was our nation’s convulsive reaction to this run-away male sexual aggression. But this movement has now met its end when it finally crossed another threshold by fingering Joe Biden’s sexual antics.

Quotable Quote

“Now came multitudes of men of the lowest class from the south of Italy, and men of the meaner sort out of Hungary and Poland, men out of the ranks, where there was neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence, and they came in numbers which increased from year to year, as if the countries of the south of Europe were disburdening themselves of the more sordid and hapless elements of their population.” — Woodrow Wilson

Afterward: Princeton erases the Woodrow Wilson (D) legacy ... see: Politico Story

Privilege Types

Celebrity privilege

Powerline Pic

Today’s Poser

Does white bread have privilege?

Whew!

I can’t say how relieved I am that the 600-pound racist weather vane has been removed from Baker Library at Dartmouth College. May I humbly suggest that it be replaced with a Big Green square ... crossed by a wide yellow stripe.

Headlines

Florina signals she’ll vote for Biden over Trump

Warren demands answers from private equity on coronavirus lobbying

BLM leader Hawk Newsome: If change doesn’t happen, then ‘we will burn down this system’

Weekly jobless claims remain stubbornly high at 1.48 million

New York City reports no protest-related upticks in COVID-19

New York Gov. Cuomo to other states: ‘You played politics with this virus and you lost’

New FBI notes confirm Obama directed anti-Flynn operation

Appeals court orders Flynn case to be dismissed

Polls show Biden climbing past Trump in Wisconsin, Ohio

Total of those receiving unemployment benefits falls below 20 million

SCOTUS sides with Trump in case regarding deportation powers

Brazil: Federal court orders Bolsonaro to wear mask in public

Dog Tracks

Too bad all the dog tracks are gone ...

Makes Sense

From Mostly Cajun blog

Fake Stats

Many observers, including your humble poster, have felt that the most revealing statistic to use for tracking the coronavirus specter is COVID deaths. After all, that is the ultimate impact. And one key source for this data has been The Washington Post ... see: COVID deaths and click on “Deaths.”

Looking at this WaPo graph, one sees a very dramatic increase in deaths ... basically a 4x jump in one day. Wow! Is this real? Or is this more fake news ... or rather fake stats? This site offers no specific reason for this spike ... might this be another attempt by the media swamp to undermine Trump’s reopening of the U.S. economy ... in order to hamper his re-election chances?

Fortunately, we can check WaPo’s data against other sources. Please go to: World Meters and scroll down to Daily New Deaths graph. See the difference? Yes, no spike in these numbers! Can we then conclude that the numbers person(s) at WaPo has been corrupted by politics?

I conclude so.i

Afterward: See also: Powerline Entry

Nostalgia

From daily timewaster

Headlines

Only 4 in 10 voters say Trump, Biden are in good health

Coronavirus updates: NYC Marathon cancelled as more states see rising case totals

NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace doubles down following FBI ‘noose’ investigation

Cuomo: Nursing home order ‘wasn’t a mistake’

House Democrats tack to center with election year health care bill

IMF slashes its forecast for the global economy and warns of soaring debt levels

Mnuchin says next stimulus will be ‘jobs focused’

Sharpton continues pushing Taladega ‘noose’ story

DOJ, states eye potential antitrust probe of Apple

Appeals Court orders dismissal of case against ex-Trump advisor Michael Flynn

Bolton says he would consider testifying against AG Barr

Feds bust L.A. City Councilman Jose Hulzar for corruption

Virtuoso Demagoguery

When one side in a political dispute can lie and abandon all bipartisan comity ...  calling the other side “murderers” ... knowing that a biased media will back them ... while the opposing party tries to engage in a reasonable dialog ... to no avail ... one sees politics at its very raw worst ... being played with virtuoso demagoguery. 

Fractured Definition

From Mostly Cajun blog

Why Trump Won

- He is genuine in thought and action

- He is a patriot and loves his country

- He identified many issues* that were being ignored by our betters

- He promised to fix them ... and the voters believed him

- He said he would make America great again

- He knew that Washington was corrupt to the core

- And promised to “drain this swamp”

- He identified our fake media ... something that many suspected

- He wasn’t Hillary

* uncontrolled immigration, unfair trading pacts, anemic economic growth, Chinese hegemony, pointless international nation building, tolerance of terrorism at home and abroad, NATO slackers, climate change hoax, Obamacare disaster, liberal courts, insane Iran nuclear deal, North Korea nuclear and missile problems

reddit Pic

Kinda neat ... kinda ...

Headlines

Trump’s 2020 strategy: A never-ending war with the states

Google, Apple, Amazon and Tesla slam Trump’s immigration crackdown

President heads to Arizona, an emerging presidential battleground ...

Trump: 10-year prison for people attacking statues

‘I don’t kid’: Trump says he wasn’t joking about slowing coronavirus testing

Coronavirus update: Tennis great Novak Djokovic tests positive, U. of Michigan won’t host presidential debate

7.4 mag quake Mexico ...

Whistleblower: Claims Chinese Communists pay Vatican $2 billion in bribes

Miami mayor says presidential debate might not have audience

BET founder Robert Johnson urges Black Lives Matter to form own independent political party

Declining dollar could happen at warp speed ...

Nolte: Mount Rushmore doomed to 1619 riots

Obvious Truth

White or black, never trust anyone who carries the moniker “Bubba.”

More on Voter Fraud

Lawyer John Hinderaker points out how the Democrats collude with the courts to steal elections ... this time in Minnesota ... see: Powerline Post.

I can just see them professing their innocence, “Who us?”

Fractured Definition

Tipping point — usually about the time one is paying the restaurant bill

Headlines

WHO: Sunday was a record day for coronavirus infections

All 8 Ivy League schools won’t require standardized testing next year

President Trump to rally in Arizona and Wisconsin next week

Joni Ernst proposes to disclose lawmakers’ PPP loans

Supreme Court gives Trump a win on his steel tariffs

There’s nearly $5 trillion parked in money markets as many investors  are still afraid of stocks

Sarah Sanders says Bolton was drunk on power

Kudlow: ‘There is no second wave coming’

Trump ways he’ll only meet with Maduro to discuss him stepping down

Coronavirus updates: Hospitalization rise in some states, Gottlieb says Northeast states unlikely to see spikes

Black Lives Matter founders describe themselves as Marxists

At least 100 shot on Father’s Day weekend in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago

Fluffy

From daily timewaster

Shouldn’t have done its business!

Virtue Signaling

I hesitate to point this out, in the midst of our current racial hysteria, that the “noose” that was found on the only black NASCAR driver, Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at the Taladega Speedway over last weekend was nothing more than a garage door pull-down rope ... the same as was found on all the other garage stalls for the white drivers ... see: Conservative Treehouse Entry.

The unanimous hand-wringing response to this obvious overblown normality seems like nothing more than a opportunity to virtue signal by the other NASCAR drivers ... since they must all realize the actuality of this event.

In other words, to have pointed out the truth, like above, would have labeled one a “racist” by much of our manic media. So what does one do?

Understandably, just go along to get along. Kinda like the passive crowd standing around, watching the Salem witches being burned at the stake.

Afterward: Pity the poor maintenance person who put up that particular garage door pull-down ... maybe even years ago.

The Truth

Your initial reaction to a news story is that which the reporters and editors wanted you to have ... and is probably misdirected. Good reason to seek out multiple sources before you can uncover the truth ... something that the internet allows you to do ... a happy plus to this technological cesspool.

(Of course, Google does like to lead you by the nose to those internet sites that it wants you to see.)

reddit Pic

Josh Cripps photographer

Solar eclipse in Dubai

Headlines

Trump allies see a mounting threat: Biden’s rising evangelical support

U.S. reports 30,000 daily coronavirus cases, highest number since May 1

AOC brags that Trump’s Tulsa turnout was sabotaged by ‘teens on TIKTOK’

Black preacher to BLM: ‘Planned Parenthood #1 killer of blacks’

Schiff hopes ousted U.S. attorney testifies before Congress

Coronavirus cases spike in Alabama: ‘We are extremely concerned about these numbers’

Experts say that judge’s ruling opens the door for Bolton to be sued or prosecuted

Pollak: ‘The 2020 election is now about China’

Former Ukrainian president says Biden never pressed him on Burisma

The demise of American malls could deal a blow to the towns that depend on them

Trump tells Xi and Modi he would act as mediator in China-India border conflict if necessary

One dead, 11 injured in Minneapolis shooting

Today’s Poser

How much more tattered will the fabric of our nation need to become before some more patriotic tailors step forward to mend things?

Rex

From daily timewaster

Get me a coupla sixpacks of Bud ...

Headlines

Broken windows and Molotov cocktail: DOJ finds creative ways into local rioting cases

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Berman refuses to leave after Trump says SEC chief Clayton will replace him

One dead and another wounded from shooting in CHAZ/CHOP

Black Lives Matter co-founder: ‘Our goal is to get Trump out’

Fox News poll: Voters say campaign rallies are a bad idea

The stock market might be pricey, but it is nothing like the genuine market bubbles of the past

Rioters in California tear down statue of Francis Scott Key, composer of The Star Spangled Banner

Poll: 8-in-10 have ‘favorable’ view of people who wear masks

Trump rejects Fauci’s warning about football’s return

Judge denies Trump administration’s attempt to block John Bolton’s book

Iran unsuprisingly found to be engaging in secret nuclear work

Barr: I would have preferred grand jury, completed investigation in Brooks case

Beanbag

“Politics ain’t beanbag.” — Tip O’Neill

Was visiting a friend yesterday and he had some sports channel on the TV. Dunno which one. Guess what sport was being featured?

Beanbag!

Wow! We (and he) are really getting desperate for competitive TV action ... any kind of action amid our COVID-19 shutdowns — vintage SuperBowls, old English Soccer League games ... even contemporary axe-throwing competitions.

Dr. Fauci says we won’t be having any football this Fall. Wanna bet?

COvID Deaths

Social Distancing

Everybody has their favorite measure of what is happening with the progress of COVID-19 in the United States: new cases, percentage testing positive,  new hospitalization, new ICU admissions, new deaths, etc. Since COVID has become a political issue, the measure selected often depends on your political party.

My preferred measure is new deaths ... which it seems should be a lagging indicator ... but, I suspect is now a leading one ... due to the rapid increase in testing, possible mutations in the virus itself or possibly even better therapeutics. Nonetheless, this is my preferred metric ... see: Washington Post Graphic.

These numbers there suggest to me, despite what one reads or sees in the media, the opening up of our economy seems to be moving apace.

We shall see.

Giddy

Trump’s rally in Tulsa on Saturday night did not fill the 19,000 seat arena ... even though there were an estimated million applications for tickets (even if some were fake). His handlers blamed protesters blocking access and national media coronavirus scare tactics for the shortfall of maybe 7,000 attendees.

Anti-Trump forces were giddy about this shortfall even though Trump got a rousing reception. The lesson to the Trump administration is to be careful about overpromising and underdelivering crowd sizes ... especially during a pandemic ... where older adults ... much of his base ... might be more chary about assembling in groups.

And the lesson for the Democrats is to be careful about jumping up and down too much about this shortfall. The real benefit here is the data collected by his re-election committee during the ticket application process. This data will be used during the actual election ... and, I expect here will be more rallies to come ... maybe in smaller venues ... but bigger than Biden’s basement.

Headlines

‘My biggest risk’: Trump says mail-in voting could cost him reelection

Ford, Fiat-Chrysler returning to pre-coronavirus production levels

Amy Klobuchar drops out of Biden VP contention — endorses ‘woman of color’

Portland: George Washington statue torn down, draped in bunting U.S. flag

California enacts November mail-ballot law — with surprising GOP support

U.S. coronavirus cases surge by more than 27,000 in a day

Congress plans to target Big Tech for circulating Chinese propaganda

Anthony Fauci: Americans ‘don’t believe science’ or ‘authority’

Fox News poll: Biden extends lead over Trump amid protests

Trump administration considers executive order to suspend certain work visas

Oklahoma National Guard activates 250 solders for security at Trump Tulsa rally

Abrams pitches for VP: ‘I understand the moment’ I was an activist

Nostalgia

From daily timewaster