Scandal Fatigue

Americans have developed calluses on our psyches due to the daily barrage of scandals surfacing around our politicians. And these calluses, unfortunately, cause us to be skeptical of many of these outrages. However, the sheer volume of these misdeeds suggests that at least some of them are true or near true. And this tells me that our government is a festering sore of evil self-dealing and immorality.

How many of us remember when accepting a vicuna coat as a gift (during Eisenhower's tenure as president) caused a national front-page scandal that resulted in the ouster of a key administration aide, Sherman Adams? Now, such a misstep would be laughed off as being penny-ante foolishness.

And so we are greeted today with another news bagatelle ... Julian Assange of Wikileaks is suggesting that Seth Rich, the recently murdered Democrat staffer, was the source of the leaked DNC e-mails that cost Debbie Wasserman Schultz and two others their jobs ... see: The Gateway Pundit Story. This, of course, can't be true ... our overtaxed synapses will not permit such accusations to enter our conscious brain ... despite the fact that such lethal innuendo has swirled around the Clintons since Arkansas days. How could these two upright states-persons be involved in such skulduggery?

And so our inquiring minds are turned to the Olympics or to America's Got Talent or to the latest Kim Kardashian's bum shots ... we can't be bothered to tax our grey cells any further with these obviously Trump-ed up scandals. They are just diversions from the more important things in life.

Headlines

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

Kaine: Being picked for VP feels like being 'kidnapped'

BOOM: Billionaire population reaches 2,473 ...

Scientist predicts 'little ice age' ahead ... colleagues try to suppress her work

Federal civilian workforce soars to 2.79 million

Opponent of capitalism [Bernie Sanders] buys $600,000 summer vacation home

Islamic State flashes captured American equipment

Thousands of New Yorkers on verge of double digit Obamacare increases

Family of 'Clock Boy' Ahmed Mohamed sues Texas school officials

Will Anthony Weiner live at the White House?

Terrorism fears ups the stakes for Europe tourism as travel falls off a cliff

Young man killed playing Pokemon

Report: Saudi judo player forfeits Olympics match to avoid Israeli

On Purpose?

The father of the Orlando Pulse gay nightclub jihadi shooter ... who himself is a suspected terrorist sympathizer was sitting right behind Hellary Clinton as she spoke yesterday at a rally in Florida. Was this an oversight on the part of her crack security team ... or was she trying to send a message?

With Both Barrels

There has been a dramatic change in the tenor of media coverage of this presidential race ... presumably because the "establishment" media now sees that Donald Trump has a shot at winning. Before, he was entertainment ... now things are for keeps.  I don't recall ever seeing a more evocative turn-around on television like has occurred on Morning Joe since the Republican convention. When Trump was fighting 16 other hopefuls for the Republican nomination, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were all sweetness and light toward Trump. They honey-talked him almost every morning ... mostly by phone  ... and clearly were playing him for higher ratings.

Now I almost can't watch these two harpies anymore ... who find the most trivial  things to excoriate Trump with. Of course Trump knows the game that they are playing and won't appear on their show anymore ... which causes white spittle to form on their lips as they continually try to let him have it with both barrels. Can't they see the change in their own behavior ... and how hypocritical they appear? I guess that this is of no concern to them as their ambition overtakes any comity.

And of course, these two media mavens are not alone in trying to take Trump down. Even such Op-Ed  stalwarts as Maureen Dowd has taken fingers to keyboard to paint a grotesque hypothetical word picture of Trump after the election ... see: NY Times Op Ed. I can understand Ms. Dowd's displeasure ... but I can't fathom her vitriol ... nor that of many others.

Why is there such a uprising against Trump ... which, of course, means support for an even more distasteful and dangerous Hellary Clinton? I can only surmise that it is because Hellary still, with all her warts, represents the status quo. She is not going to give, like Trump, a voice to the voiceless in America. Trump, even more than Bernie Sanders, has come to champion the downtrodden middle class in this country. And this is a clear and present danger to the Washington elites. Too much could and probably would change ... not good. So the establishment is fighting back ...

With both barrels ...

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

This country has not amended its Constitution for 14 years ... the last being a rather trivial one ... the 27th amendment that kept Congressional self-voted pay raises from taking effect until their next term. Being that this is a "living, breathing document" I think that it does need some updating due to current events. Here are my suggestions for more significant amendments for when the Republicans might control the White House and both houses of Congress:

28th Amendment -- Forces our Federal government to balance its budget every year ... no special  overrides or exceptions ... unless Congress has passed a declaration of war.

29th Amendment -- Requires all entitlements' future cost to be discounted to current value at the current inflation rate ... and to be included in the current federal budget process.

30th Amendment -- Requires Congress and the entire government complex to live under all the laws that are passed for the population in general.

31st Amendment -- Permits the summary removal from office WITHOUT the impeachment process for any president who will not enforce any duly-enacted Congressional laws ... unless he/she has petitioned Congress first and received permission.

32nd Amendment  -- Establishes a nepotistic prohibition for any direct blood or marital relatives of any president from taking any other elected or appointed federal office ... such as Attorney General, Secretary of State or Senator.

33rd Amendment -- Prohibits any alternative legal system, such as Sharia law, from getting supremacy anywhere in the United States or its territories over our Constitutional legal system.

34th Amendment -- Replaces the current pension system for appointed or elected government employees with a system equivalent to what is available in the private sector -- 401Ks, IRAs, etc.

35th Amendment -- Limits the annual presidential personal travel and entertainment budget to five times his/her annual salary. Any overage must be paid for by the president out of private funds. This obviously does not include any state functions.

36th Amendment -- Prohibits any government funds from being used for presidential libraries until twenty years after departing office.

Capitalism

Yesterday at a block party, I was talking to the parents of a neighbor. They told me that they had just returned from a short trip to Colorado. In kidding, I asked them if they had "indulged" in a Rocky Mountain high while they were there? They relayed two interesting facts about Denver doobies ... 1) A single marijuana cigarette there costs $15 ... Wow! and, 2) When they were in the airport leaving Colorado ... by the check-in gate was a big trash bin with a sign saying, "Don't even think about it!"

I am encouraged ... apparently capitalism and the free market is still at work ...

Truth

"Truth is beauty, and beauty truth ..." -- Keats

Truth today is an endangered species. It has been driven to the hinterlands by the poaching politicians and the medacious media. Lying has become a performance art ... to be practiced and admired on national television and in the press. The more difficult the position to lie one's way out of ... the higher the judges' score. We are now experiencing an Olympics of lying ... with specializations evolving ... sprinters, heavy lifters, long-distance liars ... people who even are lying about lying.

Lying is so pervasive that, when a talking head or a politician tells the truth, it is like a bolt from the blue. And truth is often held hostage in our ivory towers. We are so unused to the truth that it often seems like a lie. "This truth cannot be true! Why it even reeks of common sense ... and wasn't common sense banished by presidential decree seven years ago?" Truth is so shining bright that it hurts one's eyes ... and we can't have our people becoming blind. Lies are much darker and easier to view and understand. Therefore, lies are good and the truth is bad!

You all know where this is heading ...

reddit Gallery CCCLXXVI

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

Triplets 

Tom and Jerry

Raw Blue Opal

WWII Crater in France

Best Friends

The Underside of the Olympics

from reddit

The Economy Stupid

Dana Perino, former White House Press Secretary and generally an astute political observer, commented last night on The Five on the Fox News Network that Donald Trump's strategy over the next few months should be to hammer on the poor economy ... as James Carville said back in 1994, "It's the economy stupid."

There is one problem with this strategy and that is that the Obummer administration controls the reporting of the economic results ... and, as we have repeatedly seen, they have a huge barbecue pit out behind the White House where they can cook these numbers to whatever degree of doneness that is necessary ... as they have already repeatedly exhibited with unemployment figures ... see: Culture of Corruption (follow the thread).

This administration has shamelessly shown that there is no boundary to their political ambitions ... and there is no lever of government that they will not pull to get their way. So, Dana, good idea ... but dangerous with these bozos.

reddit Gallery CCCLXXV

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

Abandoned Dream

Golden Tiger

Lantern Festival in Thailand

Moby Dick

Arizona Erosion

Headlines

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

BOOM: French villa valued at $330 million

POPE: Transgenderism 'annihilation' of mankind ...

Iowa parade [float] showcases [Hillary] Clinton in prison

Chart: NY Times [nonfiction] bestseller list all anti-Clinton books

PANIC: Khizr Khan deletes law firm website that specializes with Muslim immgration

N[ew] Z[ealand] coldest in a century

Federal judge: IRS still targeting Tea Party with classic 'Catch 22'

98% of head lice now resistant to treatment

Mexico calls for greater integration with USA

Obama sent $400 million cash to Iran as Amerucan prisoners freed

6 foot gator caught -- in MA

Iran displays ransom cash ... 'expensive price' to free hostages

Smell Test

Prior to leaving on his last summer vacation to Martha's Vineyard, President Obummer held a press conference in which he handled reporters' questions ... some of which focused on America's $400 million cash payment to Iran on the same day this past January in which four American hostages were flown out of Iran. He patiently explained that this was not ransom ... but the reason we gave Iran pallets full of hard foreign currency (rather than dollars) was that the United States had no banking relations with Iran ... see: NTK Video.

Since the White House reporters have no desire to follow up on such presidential obfuscation (taqiyya?), I would like to have  asked the following question, "Mr. President, we must have wire transfer banking relationships with other countries which have wire transfer relationship with Iran. Could we not have transferred this money by wire through one of these countries?"

Also, it has also been disclosed on Fox Business channel on Thursday by one of these four hostages that they were delayed in a plane on a runway in Tehran for over two hours until, as he was told, such time as "another plane landed." Was this other plane the one with the cash? Most likely it was ... which surely suggest that this was a tribute payment.

Furthermore, I would have asked another question, "Mr. President, was this payment the equivalent of $400 million or $1.7 billion?" It seems that there is some purposeful confusion about the actual amount of this ransom ... and pallets full of cash suggests to me that it was more money than $400 million.

It would have been nice to know the real facts in this matter and not get the typical administration runaround ... that doesn't pass the smell test.

Afterward: See also: Powerline Blog.

Khan Artist

The Democrats' attack dog at their recent convention, Khizr Khan, has proven himself to be a Muslim grifter ... notwithstanding the sacrifice that his Army captain son made in 2004 in Iraq. Nothing like besmirching the memory of your hero son by using his death for your own political purposes ... primarily the forwarding of  Islamic Sharia law in the United States ... all with the help of Hellary's fifth column. He even has espoused in writing that Sharia law should subordinate the U.S. Constitution ... that document he waved in front of cheering Democrats and with which he challenged Donald Trump to read ... see: Breitbart Revelations. This Pakistani-born man also has close ties to the Clinton Foundation, Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood ... obviously not someone who has no vengeful ax to grind.

For those of you who do not quite understand the threat that Sharia law poses to the legal system in America, I below quote a listing of its major tenets from the following source: Sharia Law Tenets.

• Theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand 

• Criticizing or denying any part of the Quran is punishable by death.

• Criticizing Muhammad or denying that he is a prophet is punishable by death.

• Criticizing or denying Allah, the god of Islam is punishable by death. 

• A Muslim who becomes a non-Muslim is punishable by death. 

• A non-Muslim who leads a Muslim away from Islam is punishable by death. 

• A non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman is punishable by death. 

• A man can marry an infant girl and consummate the marriage when she is 9 years old. 

• Girls' clitoris should be cut (Muhammad's words, Book 41, Kitab Al-Adab, Hadith 5251). 

• A woman can have 1 husband, who can have up to 4 wives; Muhammad can have more. 

• A man can beat his wife for insubordination. 

• A man can unilaterally divorce his wife; a woman needs her husband's consent to divorce. 

• A divorced wife loses custody of all children over 6 years of age or when they exceed it. 

• Testimonies of four male witnesses are required to prove rape against a woman. 

• A woman who has been raped cannot testify in court against her rapist(s). 

• A woman's testimony in court, allowed in property cases, carries ½ the weight of a man's. 

• A female heir inherits half of what a male heir inherits. 

• A woman cannot drive a car, as it leads to fitnah (upheaval). 

• A woman cannot speak alone to a man who is not her husband or relative. 

• Meat to eat must come from animals that have been sacrificed to Allah - i.e., be "Halal". 

• Muslims should engage in Taqiyya and lie to non-Muslims to advance Islam.

Now, did Donald Trump have reason to question this man's ulterior motives ... and did the Democrats try to pull a sneaky, cynical fast one again?

We report ... you decide.

Afterward: See his interview with Andersen Cooper: There is no such thing as Sharia law.

What if?

What if Donald Trump won in November? The Hollywood Reporter's Michael Wolf drew a very sharp and interesting contrast on Morning Joe this AM between the backers of Clinton versus Trump ... their iconic standard bearers being respectively Lena Dunham versus the Duck Dynasty. This election is basically a contest between the inside versus the outside ... the two coasts versus fly-over country ... the transgenderites versus the Tea Party ... the globalists versus the nationalists ... hyphenated America versus Wheel of Fortune America. These two sides of this nation's cultural coin do not understand each other nor do they like each other. Actually this is not quite true. The outsiders have been living in the insiders' world for a good 25 years and they understand this milieu quite well. The opposite is not true. And, interestingly enough, the outsiders, I believe, are the vast majority of Americans. But the insiders have controlled things because of the historic apathy of the outsiders and through bias in the media, higher education and the entertainment industry.

Basically Donald Trump has based his campaign on appealing to the outsiders almost exclusively. When he eschews the insiders, like he did this past weekend, they go nuts. Insider (Mark Cuban) after insider (Meg Whitman) jumped ship and denounced Trump to the delight of the Clinton campaign and Barbara Streisand (just about the ultimate insider.) So Trump is telling those insider Republicans to pound sand ... he doesn't need them. Wow! That is a pretty gutsy move! This means that Trump believes that he can win without the cavalry ... the Republican establishment. Now most Democrats are gleefully predicting that this is suicidal ... as are many Republicans (not so gleefully). But Trump is undaunted ... and, since he has been ahead in the polls before, I think he believes that he can come back and take the prize.

Now back to my question ... what if he does win? Maybe a 40-60 shot. Obviously the insiders would be apoplectic. They would see their power eroding and their gravy train being derailed ... see: The Voice of the People. Trump may even slake some vengeance on some of his more vocal opponents. The Republican insiders in Congress would likely fight him at every turn ... depending on the size of his victory ... small margin, with vociferousness ... large margin, behind the scenes. But, being opportunists, I can imagine some Sander's Democrats actually supporting some of his populist agenda. Most of the media, of course, would slander him at every turn until, that is  until they went belly up. The business community ... at least the large business community ... would work at cross purposes with him. I suspect the small and medium businesses might actually support him. But, after his first conservative supreme court appointment, things might begin to calm down on the right.

I truly hope that most of the bleeding because of the Obummer agenda would be stopped. If Trump was able to surround himself with enough open-minded insiders who knew how to grease the wheels of government, then he might accomplish some real improvements to the tax system, immigration, regulations, entitlements, our military preparedness, etc. But he also might reveal his natural liberal sympathies and not do everything that his electors expect of him. For instance, in reforming Obamacare, he might well move us closer to a single-payer system. And I am sure he would do other things to piss off his voters. Internationally, other world leaders would not know how to deal with him ... so they would likely be gun shy. Relations with Russia, Egypt, Israel, Great Britain and Poland would warm. They would cool with China, Iran, France and North Korea. And I don't think he would win the Nobel Peace prize.

My biggest fear would be for his safety. Wannabe terrorist on the left and those of the Muslim faith would pose a real danger to Trump. Even famous names in entertainment might be incensed enough to try something foolish. I would hope that this threat could be neutralized ... but then who really knows?

Hell Year -- Month 7

I have written many times before about the hazing that Obummer is putting this country through in his last year in office ... see: Hell Year, Hell Year -- Month 3. and Hell Year -- Month 4. We are now in month seven of this hell year and it has just been revealed that Obummer paid $400 million in ransom this past January to spring five American citizens from Iran prisons ... see: Wall Street journal Article. It is illegal in this country to pay ransom in U.S. currency ... so, what did Obummer and Valerie Jarrett do? Why they transferred 400 million U.S. dollars to Switzerland, had it converted to other currencies, Swiss francs, Euros, etc., loaded it on pallets and shipped it on an unmarked cargo plane, at night, into Teheran ... the same day that these hostage were release. And we are supposed to believe that this was not tribute paid to those malodorous Mullahs?

Pleeease ...

And in a coincidental matter, today our fearless leader has also commuted the sentences of 214 felons ... 67 who were in for life ... all in one fell swoop ... most of whose offenses include the serious trafficking of drugs ... see: ABC News Story. Unlike what was stated in this referenced article, over one third of these convictions involved the illegal possession of firearms ... likely quite a few more were not counted since many of these gun charges were plea-bargained away. Now, I think I haven't heard Obummer talk about guns for a few days ... and I have forgotten his stance on gun laws ... does he think we need any more such laws that won't be enforced or will be forgiven?

Thank you sir! May I have another?

The Template Test

"It's a Barnum and Bailey world, just as phony as it can be" -- E.Y. Harburg and Billy Rose

When the cerebral David Brooks of the New York Times looked over Obummer in 2008, he knew he would make a good president because of "the crease in his pants." Chris Mathews was equally smitten with this candidate because he "sent a tingle up his leg." And Joe Biden was sold on Obummer when he recognized him as a "clean, articulate, bright Aftrican American." (This quip also got him a cushy job for eight years.) These three political decisions were made not on studied judgments ... but on the basis of feelings. Templates were held up to this candidate and he passed their quick profile tests. Unfortunately, these template judgments were wrong. Obummer has been one of the worst presidents in a long unfortunate history of simps, scalawags and scoundrels who have occupied 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Of course, there have also been great men who have been President of the United States. But, using the template test, many of them would not have passed muster. I'm thinking particularly of Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln.

What happens as a result of voters' preference for using templates to pick presidents. Obviously candidates are preened, poked and posed into predetermined templates in the hope of getting elected. A very good example of this is Hellary Clinton. If one compares what this woman was like as Secretary of State ... frumpy, disheveled, detached, almost lazy ... to what she has become today. Clearly her handlers have reshaped her into a slick robotic presidential candidate ... both in appearance, demeanor and rhetoric. This remake is designed to appeal to voters who can't be bothered to look beyond her staged appearance ... her template. To me, this artifice of reforming candidates into templates is so Hollywood, so tinsel town, so Lady Gaga ... that I want to flee to someplace genuine, like a petting zoo.

I think I'll stop here ...

The Voice of the People

Here are just a few recent news items that struck me ... as showing a pattern of the 1% solidly backing Hellary Clinton for president.

- Hedge fund managers give $48.5 million to Clinton's campaign, $19 thousand to Trump's ... see: Wall Street Journal Article.

- Michael Bloomberg speaks at Clinton convention, calls Trump a "dangerous demagogue" ... see: CNN Video.

- Billionaire Mark Cuban endorses Clinton, calls Trump a "jagoff" at Pittsburgh rally ... see: Washington Post Article.

- Warren Buffett at a recent Clinton fundraiser, "A monkey would have generated better returns than you [Trump]" ... see: CNBC Article.

Are we beginning to see a pattern here? The super-wealthy elites in America are clearly hoping that Hellary Clinton wins in November and continues the policies of Obummer ... and they are backing these desires with lots of money and rhetoric that is often as purple as Trump's. Why we wonder?

Perhaps because they have done quite well, thank you, during the crony capitalism, fire-hose government spending, open-borders to cheap labor, and [un]free-trade policies of the current administration and they are worried that Trump will throw sand on the tracks of their gravy train?

These 1%ers have suffered through the Occupy Wall Street protests ... they dodged a bullet when Bernie Sanders came up short in his bid for the Democrat nomination ... they have invested heavily in the Clinton brand of back scratching through generous speaking fees and "charitable donations" to the Clinton Foundation ... and they want and expect a generous return on this investment.

Has Hellary pledged to eliminate the carried interest generous tax treatment for hedge fund managers? No ... but Trump has. Even though Hellary has vowed to increase taxes for the wealthy, we all know that, without a fundamental overhaul of the tax law, the super wealthy using existing loopholes will still, like Warren Buffett, pay a smaller percentage of their income than their secretaries. Has Hellary pledged to reform the tax system? I haven't heard her say so. have you?

Perhaps, with all of this grease, Hellary will prevail and defeat the populist Trump in November ... but she will at her and the Washington elite's peril (and I include many Republicans, like Paul Ryan, in this mix). For the American people are beginning to understand the game that is being played in DC ... and there is a revolt brewing. Those in the 1% would be smarter in the long run if they listened to the voice of the people.

Afterward: Even the Koch brothers are implicated ... see: Breitbart Story.

Headlines

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

NY Post splashes nude Melania Trump on cover -- two days in a row!

Erdogan cancels 50,000 passports

Exclusive -- NSA Whistleblower: Agency has all of Hillary's deleted e-mails

Trump's Running Mate [Pence]: 'I don't think name calling has any place in public life'

Muslim female [Olympic] athletes compete while covered

Report: [Clinton campaign manager] Podesta company bagged $35 million from Russian gov't

Women fastest growing group of gun owners in U.S.

Little girl throws tea party for cop who saved her life

Fire Marshal shuts doors on Trump again ... huge empty space inside

Hedge Fund Donations: $123M to Hillary, $19K to Trump

Globalists Kochs refuse to run ads against Hillary

Romney now says Trump can win?

Gates of Hell

By Rodin

     
Donald Trump is a sinner ... a maddeningly unrepentant sinner ... often a social embarrassment. He somehow continually takes the Democrat's tainted bait and says and tweets stupid things ... non-political things ... un-PC things ... statements defending his ego against trivial taunts .. like "he hasn't sacrificed for his country." These are, to me, pissing contests amounting to next to nothing and not of lasting consequence. As I have said before, Trump's guttural mutterings are venial sins ... sins that can be forgiven by spending time in media purgatory.

On the other hand Hellary Clinton is much more polished than Trump with her panel-tested rhetoric. She does, of course, frequently lie ... but she does it like a good politician and not a playground bully. But there is a real difference ... these lies deal with much more serious sins ... her sins costing lives ... her sins involving national security breaches ... her sins that exchange our nation's assets for personal gain ... her sins that cover up repugnant malfeasances of family members and associates ... or, to Christendom, definitely mortal sins.

Venial sins are easily forgiven ... mortal sins, not so readily. I would much rather be embarrassed than decapitated ... red faced vs. no faced. Mortal sins swing wide open the Gates of Hell. Venial sins just leave them slightly ajar. So far, I have not seen any mortal sins committed by Donald Trump, He may have some, I just haven't seen them. I hope I don't. Because, if I do, then there will be an absolute moral equivalency between these two candidates. Then I couldn't vote for either of them. As of now, I still will vote for the venial sinner ... not that I am happy about it ... but it is what my Sunday-School-learned morality dictates.

Afterward: I changed "cardinal" to "mortal" and "venal" to "venial."