Headlines

Sanders: Trump wants socialism for corporations and rich people

China’s loans to other countries are causing ‘hidden’ debt. That may be a problem

Stock market nears all-time high ... But Wall Street ‘Fear gauge’ sounding alarm ...

Qu Poll: Biden leads Trump by 13 points in 2020 presidential race, POTUS gains with Hispanic, black voters

Tech elites dismiss breakup threats from Washington

Police threaten ‘force’ as Hong Kong protesters besiege legislature

Private border wall group ordered to keep gate open ...

AP: Ilhan Omar won’t release tax returns, bit demanded Trump’s

Trump touts ‘beautiful letter’ from Kim Jong Un

Huawei is scrapping laptop launch because of US blacklisting

San Fran shatters record high amid record heatwave ... Hotter than Vegas ...

Fitton: FBI notes on Clinton emails go missing

New Yorker Gaffe

“It’s written with invisible ink”

Does this look like an empty piece of paper?

An obviously deranged New Yorker magazine contributor Kuper needs to do his homework before he starts drawing his Trump fake-news cartoons ... see: Philadelphia Inquirer Story for details.

reddit Pic

Lava dome off of Hawaii ...

Hong Kong

Yearning to stay free ...

Hating Trump (another list)

Why do many Democrats and just about all of their candidates for president hate Donald Trump with a passion? Let me count the ways. (Dear reader, if you agree with entries on this list, ask yourself if they are of policy or personality? And which of the two is more important?) Here are many of the hating Trump points:

- He exaggerates (lies) in many of his tweets and pressers

- He often brags on himself

- He fights back ... insulting people and the media who attack him

- His has created too strong an economy

- He thinks that some who honor or hate Robert E. Lee are “fine people”

- He has reversed many Obama “changes” ... like war on coal and pipelines

- His nationalism has caused our allies to stop using us as a doormat

- He has called shithole countries “shitholes”

- He is very patriotic

- He has buttered up many tinhorn dictators (except in Iran)

- He apparently has grabbed females by their pussies (is this another lie?)

- He has embarrassed many NATO members into meeting their financial and troop commitments

- He is trying, against fierce Democrat opposition, to control immigration into the US

- He hasn’t released many years of his tax returns

- He is un-apologetically pro-Israel

- He didn’t conspire with Russia to win the last election

- He was angry with (obstructed?) Mueller for his baseless investigation

- He has put China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela and Syria in boxes

- He wants to keep Democrats from getting back their political power and pelf

- His hair is orange and his ties are too long

Headlines

Biden’s slow rollout rankles Iowa Dems

As US-China relationships sour, Taiwan’s value as a ‘chess piece’ may rise

Hundreds from Ebola-ridden Congo dumped in Texas ...

Donald Trump: Mexico doing more to stop migrant crisis than Democrats

Republicans pray Trump holsters his tariffs

One dead after helicopter crash-lands on roof of midtown Manhattan building

NKorea leader’s slain half-brother was CIA informant ...

[George] Will: U.S. needs ‘as much immigration as economy can take’

Dems yank bill to raise congressional pay after backlash

More China tariffs could push US into ‘Trump recession,’ CEO says

Poll: Angelenos most stressed in USA ...

Poll: Socialism views gaining ground, particularly among women

Juxtaposition

Quotable Quote

“Morality no longer drives politics ... it is now politics that drives morality.” - a quote from my very first post on this blog (Oct. 11, 2006)

Headlines

Jiuliani likens Pelosi to Sen. Joseph McCarthy

China says its May trade surplus was $41.65 billion, significantly more than expected

Wash Post Page One Monday: NRA money flowed to board members ...

Billionaire Kochs to financially back Democrats pushing amnesty, free trade

Latino leaders sound alarms over Trump re-election in 2020

Inflation trends suggest Treasury yields will surprise the Street and won’t bottom for months

TSA lets illegals skip airport security lines ahead of citizens?

Comey email exonerated Hillary two months before her FBI interview

Senators make bipartisan push to halt arm sales to Saudi Arabia

Former Red Sox star David Ortiz shot in Dominican Republic, said to be in stable condition

News industry joins calls for increased scrutiny of Big Tech ...

The U.S. created just 75,000 jobs in May

Pets

Some of the joy that pets bring us throughout their lives is called back by the concentrated sorrow that befalls us when we must let them go. — Anon.

Seems Right

Raytheon and United Technologies announced today their intentions to merge to form a $100 billion aerospace behemoth. How might the stock market value of what will be a critical piece of the U.S. defense shield compare with say Facebook, a bit of Internet fluff?

Well, Facebook has a market value over four times bigger than this Raytheon-United Tech combination. Seems right to me ...

Headlines

Tony Rodham, youngest brother of Hillary Clinton, dies

Trump  is ‘perfectly happy’ to hit China with new tariffs if Xi meeting doesn’t go well, Mnuchin says

SoCal quake swarm takes unexpected turn; Reason to worry ...

Google can’t dodge viewpoint discrimination lawsuit, court says

Iowa poll: Biden stretches lead over Sanders

Steven Mnuchin: Trump could renew tariff threat if Mexico doesn’t deliver on immigration

Age of ‘apocalypse anxiety’; Never stop worrying about doomsday ...

Nolte: More lies of omission found in Robert Mueller’s report

The looming physician shortage: How Americans will be affected

China reportedly summoned tech giants to warn against cooperating with Trump’s sales ban

Caravan funding coming from America ...

Pelosi opposes Mexico’s promise to keep migrant

reddit Pic

Portofino, Italy

Showdown

From Powerline

Avenati and Kavanaugh ...

Gasp!

Global warming ... aka climate change ... aka extreme weather. We are doomed to the exigencies of carbon dioxide. More hurricanes ... rising sea levels ... more childhood asthma ... polar bears dying off ... more illegal immigration ... shrinking glaciers ... all sorts of plagues and pestilence caused by our naive use of fossil fuels.

Hold on Pilgrim. Recently we learned that Greenland’s glaciers are growing again (see: Greenland Glaciers) ... and, gasp! we are also now informed the the glaciers at Glacier National Park in Montana are not disappearing on schedule ... but, in fact, are once again expanding ... see: Daily Caller Story.

These ice-forming anomalies must also be being caused by global warming, aka climate change, aka extreme weather! No?

Afterward: I just looked up info about the Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau, Alaska and got the following official word about its shrinking ... see next. The obvious question presents itself ... was CO2 spiking back in the mid 1700s?

Is the glacier retreating?

A neo-glaciation period began 3,000 years ago and ended in the mid-1700s. At this time, Mendenhall Glacier reached its point on maximum advance, and its terminus rested almost 2.5 miles down valley from its present position. Mendenhall Glacier started retreating in the mid-1700s because its annual rate of melt began to exceed its annual total accumulation. The icefield's snowfall perpetually creates new glacial ice for Mendenhall Glacier and this ice takes 200-250 years to travel from the Juneau Icefield to Mendenhall Lake. Water depth at the glacier's terminus is 220 feet. At this rate, the glacier would take several centuries to completely disappear. For Mendenhall Glacier to advance, the icefield's snowfall needs to increase, the glacier's rate of melt needs to decrease, or both.

Headlines

It’s open season on Joe Biden

Trump says US has ‘indefinitely suspended’ planned tariffs against Mexico after reaching a deal

Tariffs already wiped out tax savings for average Americans ...

Trump deal with Mexico likely ends catch-and-release, defund cartels

White House tried to block Kris Kobach from testifying about census

‘We’re at an impass’ with China, says Canadian Finance Minister Morneau

Space Station open for tourists!  $50 million trip

Blue state blues: Trump has improved relations with every U.S. ally

Administration officials pushing to strip convicted terrorists of citizenship

Xi calls Trump his friend and says US won’t disconnect with China

Big tech unfazed by antitrust threat ...

Bloomberg has pledged $50 million to get rid of coal, slow natural gas production

Doormat

United States (pre-Trump): Seemed happy to be the doormat to the world!

Headlines

Biden reverses abortion funding stand

If you want to know what a US tech crackdown would look like, check out what Europe did

Top US commander: Iran ‘threat imminent’ ...

House Democrats angling to give themselves a pay raise

White House pledges to barrel ahead with Mexico tariffs

India has to create more jobs. Modi may need some help from state governments

1,072,000 illegals [so far] this year ...

Ilhan Omar hit with campaign finance violations

DOJ, Commerce reject Dem subpoenas for census docs

China wants to pressure the US economy, but the finance sector is probably safe from Beijing

Venezuela now top source of asylum claims ...

Ted Cruz: Tariffs are ‘the wrong solution to the crisis’

reddit Pic

Blue-glowing coconut octopus ...

Powerline Pic

Headlines

Pelosi tells Dems she wants to see Trump ‘in prison’

US-Mexico negotiators fail to reach deal on tariffs and immigration, talks to continue

Iran ‘six months away from atomic bomb’ ...

Goldman: Biden either ‘bribed, blackmailed or stupid’ to dismiss China threat ...

Biden sets off storm by supporting abortion funding ban

China’s President Xi meets with Putin in three-day visit to Russia

Biden +4 in Texas ...

Poll: Building border wall, cutting all immigration to U.S. top priority for GOP voters

McConnell: Senate will ‘probably not’ vote on Dreamers bill

In double whammy Fitch downgrades Mexico and Moody’s lowers outlook

Mexico blocks new caravan of Central American migrants ...

Sanders: Walmart pays employees ‘starvation’ wages, CEO gets $20 million

House Training

I don’t know if it is still acceptable ... but the way that one used to cure a dog from befouling one’s house was to rub its nose in its “business.” This seems to be the Democrat’s approach to paying for abortions. There is something called the Hyde amendment that forbids public money being used to fund abortions ... the theory being that there is a substantial proportion of US citizenry who resent their tax dollars being used for infanticide.

Now, this is the apparently just symbolism, not the reality. Planned Parenthood, the primary supplier of abortions in America, gets substantial government funds to supply women’s healthcare, like mammograms (which they don’t perform). So, in fact, taxpayers’ money is being used for abortions in another instance of government legerdemain ... a bit of Democrats’ rubbing the religious right’s nose in this mess.

Enter stage left, Joe Biden who has now had to reverse his position supporting the Hyde amendment. In other words, Biden now favors forcing all taxpayers to pay for abortions despite what their moral objections may be. The radical progressives have won another major skirmish ... no matter what the cost during the next election. Planned Parenthood should be able to continue performing their grisly trade on the public dime.

One last thought ... all the gnashing of teeth over the Hyde amendment support or non-support neglects one key point: Planned Parenthood is a charitable organization. If, for some strange reason, the Hyde amendment was actually enforced ... there would be plenty of room for liberal billionaires (like Bloomberg) and millionaires (like Bernie) to step up and donate to it to perform its dark medical arts. But this would be too obvious ... and it doesn’t involve any nose rubbing.

Lament

Why are we so surprised at the next one ... when we know that there may never have been a single politician not tainted by corruption?

Emission Credits

Yes, our world often gets sillier every day ... but here is a doozy:

The US EPA has set overall emission gasses objectives for car manufactures’ fleets ... in order to reduce greenhouse gasses and reduce global warming. And apparently manufacturers who do better than their emissions objectives can sell their excesses (credits) to other auto makers so that they can meet theirs. Enter Tesla ... whose electric cars obviously have zero emissions ... so it has oodles of emission credits to peddle. Chrysler builds lots of big SUVs ... therefore has trouble meeting is fleet emission goals ... so it is spending hundreds of million dollars to buy them from Tesla, see: Buying Emissions Credits.

Inane? Of course! Ridiculous? Sure! Sony’s televisions also emit no greenhouse gasses, so why isn’t Sony also able to sell emission credits to car manufacturers? Or Hershey with zero emissions from its candy bars? Whoever wrote that EPA rule had to have been a blooming idiot!

Chicken Little

Liz Warren, Hillary or AOC?

Variations in weather do not validate this notion of “climate change” ... unless, or course, our Chicken Littles profess that they do ...

Headlines

Republicans threaten revolt, may block Trump’s Mexico tariffs

The Fed is ‘indicating that a rate cut is coming,’ says former central banker

ISIS terror in Ebola zone ...

Joe Biden lied in 1987 with claim he marched in civil rights movement

Manafort will get no special treatment at Rikers Island, de Blasio says

Trade tensions have had a significant impact on China, IMF says

‘Straight Pride’ parade in Boston?

Border agency buying 2.2 million diapers to help migrants

Former Parkland school deputy arrested on 11 charges tied to school shooting

Japan’s Abe may walk a tightrope between Trump and Tehran

Homelessness jumps 16% in LA; officials stunned ... 59,000 live on streets ...

At least four dead in Darwin, Australia, mass shooting

Sand in the Gears

Unreliable reporting (Fake News) can no longer be used for governmental policy making ... every news item now must be independently verified ... which throws sand into the gears of governance.

Freedom

Freedom is a butterfly in a windstorm of tyranny. If this frail aspirant lives through this trauma, it morphs into a fierce bald eagle. — Anon.

Fractured Definition

Concatenate — opposed to felines having dinner at home.

D-Day Repost

Five years ago I published the following blog post. To remember this day I think you, kind reader, might use this repost to help understand the drama surrounding today (please read the hyperlink too):

First some background … my wife is of Polish heritage although her mother was born in the U.S.A. of a Polish mother and Polish father (here to work in the Pennsylvania coal mines). Her mother’s mother died giving birth to her younger brother and so the father took my wife’s mother, the younger brother and an older brother and sister back to Poland to marry his wife’s sister. When World War II eventually loomed the father sent my wife’s mother (a U.S. citizen and now a young woman) back to the States to escape the war … eventually to be followed by the younger two siblings (also American citizens … the brother eventually was killed as a soldier in Italy.) However, the oldest sister was not born in the U.S. so she tried to escape the war by moving to France … where she eventually married a Frenchman … but didn’t sidestep the war.

Fast forward about thirty-five years … my wife and our two young children were visiting France where we went to stay a few days with this older aunt in a small village west of Arras, France. (She was a fabulous cook.) On our last day there, a few neighbors came by to this modest home to meet us … one was an Englishman and his French wife … he acted as a translator for our backs and forths. Since it was early June and since this village was near to where the D-Day invasion took place, this became one subject of our conversation. One French neighbor woman then broke down in tears telling us that her son had been killed by the bombardment on that fateful day. She added, between sobs, that she held no grudge against Americans since we were just doing what we had to do to liberate France.

However, re-reading my previous blog post on the details of the Omaha beach invasion (see: A D-Day Recollection), I noticed that U.S. bombers could not see the details of their coastal targets because of clouds and mist so, fearing hitting their own men, they dropped their ordinance a number of miles inland. 

Now, I can’t help but wonder if this overcast weather is why this French neighbor’s son lost his life?

Headlines

Even some Trump allies want Kushner to ice his peace plan

China is ramping up its own chip industry amid brewing trade wars. That could hurt US firms

Clarance Thomas scoffs at retirement rumors ...

Klein: ‘Biden has a lot to be concerned about’ over Russian hoax

Judge shoots down House’s attempt to block Trump’s border wall emergency

Fed’s Bulllard says rate cut may be ‘warranted soon’

Amazon offered job to government official involved with $10 billion contract it sought ...

Mexico says its holding back 250K migrants amid tariff threats

House Dems set contempt vote against Barr and McGahn

The government is threatening big tech — and the market just took notice

Did govt test Internet kill switch?

Queen Elizabeth hosts glamorous state dinner for the Trumps

Orange Jump Suits

The temptation is, since the Trump witch hunt seems to have resulted in his exoneration, for AG Barr and company to go easy in the investigation of the investigation. My opinion is that, to keep justice fair and balanced, that this follow-on probe should be no more harsh  than the original FBI/Mueller effort. And since their’s was about as mean-spirited as can be imagined, that Barr’s follow-on should be as consequential as possible ... even vindictive where necessary. Otherwise no real lessons will be learned by those whose loyalty is only to the Deep State.

I personally would like to see the whole lot of them, as far up as that sordid coup conspiracy went, in orange jump suits.

Play It Southward

If the United States was responsible for boosting  its southern neighbor, Mexico, economically ... why isn’t Mexico then not obligated to stabilize Central America’s economies?

Headlines

Trump ‘deadly serious’ about Mexico tariffs, Mulvaney says

China vows to defend ‘islands and rocks’ in the South China Sea

Wire: Big tech should be afraid. Very afraid ...

Veterans skip meeting with AOC after she bashes Trump’s foreign policy

Trump tempers optimism on Middle East peace plan

Goldman Sachs is predicting an escalation of the global trade wars

Trump hits back at London mayor on arrival in UK ...

Poll: Majority of Americans oppose Donald impeachment

Trump backs no-deal Brexit

5 injured in Venice as cruise ship slams into tourist boat

Palestinians say U.S. ‘deal of the century’ will finish off their state ...

Virginia Beach police chief: No gun law would have prevented attack

Obvious Truth #42

Brevity is good.

Headlines

Labor anger over Green New Deal greets 2020 contenders in California

China releases critical document that blames America for the trade war

Amazon primed for antitrust

James Comey accuses AG Barr of ‘echoing conspiracy theories’

Trump’s tariff war leaves allies fretting about the economy

Mexican President hints at migration concessions to avoid Trump tariffs

India heatwave temperatures pass 123 degrees!

Warren: ‘America that elected’ Trump has ‘serious peoblems’

Trump backs Johnson, takes pop at Macron ahead of European trip

Beijing targets Fedex for ‘damaging rights of Chinese clients amid Huawei dispute

Mayor of Londonstan calls Trump ‘fascist’ ...

Bernie: Slash military spending and move ‘toward global community’

Too Clever ...

Seventeen liberal states have passed laws stating that they will cast all their Electoral College votes for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote. I have no idea if this perversion will pass Constitutional muster, but it clearly is a reaction to Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton when he did not win the popular vote.

However, what would happen if Trump were to win the popular vote in 2020? Given the sizes of his rally crowds and the fractured nature of the Democrat primary field ... and a possible third-party candidate like Howard Schultz ... this possibility is not zero. OK, assume this does come about ... then Trump would sweep back into office with an almost unanimous Electoral College vote count ... even though he may have lost big Democrat states like New York and California ... he still would get their electoral votes.

The liberal screaming then would likely last until 2024 ... by which time most of those states that the Democrat candidate had carried but whose Electoral College votes went to Trump ... would have reversed these silly laws. No?

What’s the expression ... too clever by a half?

The New Environmentalists

Los Angeles sprawling tent city

Living among recycled drug needles and pet vermin, composting garbage and human feces in the gutter ... but NO plastic straws!

More Ramirez

While Congress slept ...

Living Life

One should pay zero attention to any protester who has to use a megaphone to push a fringe position. — Anon.

Normalcy

A primary reason that Joe Biden is leading in the Democrat polls ... and a possible reason he might be elected is that he offers “a return to normalcy.” This supposedly means that all the lunacy and chaos that America has supposedly experienced over the last three years will supposedly disappear and the country’s anxiety level will be substantially reduced.

Clearly there is some genius to this strategy ... if the Dems and their media can convince the American voter that this will occur.   But there are some speed bumps to be reckoned with:

One will likely be AG Barr’s investigation into the investigation. If this inquiry turns up substantial wrongdoing on the part of the Obama administration ... as I believe ... then it will become obvious that the previous presidency, although appearing “normal” on the surface, was corrupt underneath. And Biden binding himself to Obama means this might not have been such a good idea.

Also, Donald Trump can make the argument ... as he already has started doing ... that he has been cleaning up the debris from former administrations ... the last of which included Biden as a key player. He has acted as the sanitation department sweeping up the road apples left by, to name one, Obama’s parade.

And lastly, the Republicans can point out that the old normal was constructed on a foundation of globalism ... and that our country’s destiny is now nationalism. Giving up all the progress that Trump has made in this direction will be counterproductive and a loser in the long run. In other words, America cannot throw in the towel in round one of our competition with China for world hegemony.

Yes, Trump has changed the game ... a game in which we now have a chance of prevailing ... where we were sure losers under the old normal.

Headlines

Trump’s tariff war leaves allies fretting about losing strong economy

Justice Department reportedly preparing antitrust probe of Google

13 dead; shooting in VA Beach, disgruntled city employee

Trump celebrates LGBT pride, urges world decriminalize homosexuality

Nunes demands release of Mueller’s ‘backup and source documentation’

Acting US Defense Secretary calls for Asian allies to boost arms spending

Mysterious flashes of light observed on moon ...

Bernie Sanders blasts NRA, calls for gun laws after VA Beach shooting

Judge blocks Missouri from closing lone abortion clinic

Business groups are considering legal action against the White House over Mexican tariffs

Impeachment headcount reaches 51 in House ...

Canadian prime minister deems USMCA ‘win-win-win’

reddit Pic

Huge wolf eel caught off Japan ...

Headlines

Democrats roll out super PAC aimed at swing states

Trump may end up torpedoing the new NAFTA deal after threatening Mexico with costly tariffs

Ron Paul: US/UK trying to kill Assange?

Fact check: No, Trump did not admit that Russia helped get him elected

Construction of privately-funded border wall begins

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reportedly executes official after failed Hanoi summit with US

[Nikki] Haley re-emerging on 2020 campaign trail ...

Nearly 9 in 10 illegals released into U.S. not showing up for court hearings

Third House Republican blocks massive disaster aid package

The yuan is creeping toward 7 against the dollar, and that could be a problem for Chinese firms

Disney threatens to boycott Georgia over abortion laws

Barr: I don’t think people who oversaw Russian probe committed treason

Living Life

Greatness comes not just from the person, but from the circumstances that a person is required to negotiate. Abraham Lincoln may not have left quite the same legacy if he were president during the Roaring Twenties. — Anon.

Rogues Gallery: Sally Yates

Looks like a good person, no?

Once the DOJ acting leader, Sally Yates,

Was a paid-up member of the Deep States.

Chose to thwart Trump’s plan

To cause a terrorsist travel ban.

Don’t think she’ll pass the Pearly Gates.

Powerline Pic

Not Theresa might?

Headlines

Mueller remarks put Barr back in harsh spotlight

The US slipped to third place in a ranking of most competitive countries

Shock: Man sets himself on fire outside White House ...

Alan Dershowitz: ‘Shame on Mueller,’ he ‘revealed his personal bias’

Israel headed into elections again as Netanyahu fails to form government

Portugal becomes first euro zone country to issue dent on China’s market

Poll: Biden 18-point lead on Dem field ...

Limbaugh calls Mueller remarks an ‘abomination of the justice system’

Pelosi calls Facebook a ‘willing enabler’ of Russian election meddling

Corporations were the biggest buyers of stock during the bull market, but now they’re selling

NOT AGAIN! Bernie backers see DNC-media sabotage ...

Schiff: Mueller’s statements don’t move needle on impeachment