I'm Trying to be Charitable, Dammit

FreeThinke and I like to sit on the front porch and have long, rambling conversations about Brahms, contemporary social issues, the Circle of Fifths and blogging. He's said to me more than once that he just can't help liking Jersey McJones, and lately I've come to agree with him. Jersey is an entertainer, a thinking man's provocateur, and he taps into the age-old tradition of keeping controversy and lively argumentation alive by opposing anything and everything you say. It keeps the fires stoked.

I also feel the same way about Ducky. We have tangled for years here in Right Blogistan, but I enjoy his insight and biting sarcasm. It shocked me when he seemed to take genuine offense when I called Bernie Sanders, "Boob Bait for Bolsheviks."

So, let me back up and explain...

I tried adopting a new attitude sometime last year, and really, I've been evolving over the years. I started out as a flag-waving rightwing Christian conservative and die-hard Freeper, but I'm now a jaded libertarian Libertarian who still clings to his guns, guitars, and Bible, but realizes its all in God's hands.

People may not have noticed my efforts to be more charitable, because I will bring out the nuclear powered blowtorch when called for, especially when me and my buddies have been spending some time with ol' Jack and I decide to look in on the blogs before staggering off to bed...

I have tried. Perhaps it doesn't come across, but I value and respect the opinions of Dave Miller, Ducky and Jersey. I greatly admire our British Laborite friend Jez. Ronald Ward is welcome here also, but his points often get lost in his prolixity... and that attitude. He comes off like a pathetic and huffy fire drill coordinator in a windstorm, toupee flapping, red cheeks puffy because no one is listening to his forty pages of instructions.  Then he pulls the bad parody of a snooty professor, demanding essays from everyone on every hairbrained opinion he spouts.  It's tedious.  But I try.

But I write today to clear up some old business. I called Bernie Sanders "Boob Bait for Bolsheviks," and I meant no insult by it.  It's shorthand, and it's funny. This is blogging, not the Harvard debating society.  When I argue with you, please don't take it personally.  We all use these little short-hands, and usually they're amusing.  Below are a few from me.

Neologisms  

Boob Bait for Bolsheviks: 1) Bernie Sanders as Clinton tool. 

2) Allows liberals who vote for Hillary in the general election (and we know they all will...) to salve their consciences by being able to say they voted for socialist Sanders in the primary. As a bonus, they can keep the Bernie! bumper sticker on their car. 

3) A riff off of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's comment that Bill Clinton's welfare reform was "boob bait for bubbas." 

Prog:  Short for Progressive, or proglodyte, depending on how upset the user of the word is.

D-Bagger:  Leftwing true believer.  Everything the sneering lefties think of the tea partiers? We hold D-Baggers in the same contempt.

DemonCrap Party: Who can argue that the once-great party of Give 'em Hell Harry and JFK has devolved into the devil's excrement?

In the interest of comity and parity, here's a neologism from Kook and Criers:

BOOBS: Billionaires and Oligarchs Opposing Bernie Sanders

Got any neologisms?  Put 'em out there in the comments.

Friday Music: New Old Stuff

The internet does occasionally rise above it's dubious status as Time-Waster Central and The World's Most Efficient Porn Distribution Network....

It has allowed regional bands and creative genre-shattering mashups to build small but global fandoms, and it has also resurrected obscure music from the past to be appreciated and enjoyed by new generations.

I have two selections for us going into the weekend...

Kyuss - Space Cadet

Before Queens of the Stone Age, Frontman/guitarist Josh Homme and drummer Alfredo Hernandez were cranking out excellent Stoner Rock/Alternative Metal. This song has some Tool-like echoes, but Kyuss came first. Listening to the vocals, I also wonder if Days of the New were influenced by them...

Excellent soundscape music accompanied by an equally-excellent and hypnotic video.  Enjoy!

From 1994, Kyuss's masterpiece, Space Cadet...



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence  

Finn brought us two versions of The Sound of Silence last week, and when he featured the original, it was the true original.  I apologize for chewing old cabbage, but I had planned a blog post on this song, but Finn got the jump on me.

I accidentally stumbled across the un-remastered original that just happened to be on a CD I purchased.  The CD is stashed away somewhere, but the liner notes said this original version was featured on their debut album, Wednesday Morning.  The album flopped, and Simon and Garfunkel parted ways.  But the song's producer remixed it and layered in more instruments, re-released it, and it became a hit. That is the song we are all familiar with, so when I heard this un-remastered version for the first time it knocked me over.  The sparseness of it, the very folkie strumming acoustic guitar and their voices sound much more folkie in this bare-bones arrangement.

If you didn't give it a good listen last week, please put on some headphones, close your eyes and listen to it. If you haven't heard it before, and even if you are tired of the radio version, you will find this original recording haunting.

I like the original better, but I've been in rebellion lately against over-produced music; one of the factors that killed country music for me.  I apologize if I'm telling you something you already know. I discovered Simon and Garfunkle among my dad's collection of musty old LPs, and although not an avid devotee, I appreciate their artistry, and I have their Greatest Hits CD.

From 1964... Simon and Garfunkel's un-remastered The Sound of Silence...



Have a great weekend!

An Email Server to Die For

By Hugh Farnham

HUMINT, or human intelligence, is one of the most closely held secrets possessed by our government.  The reason is quite clear:  release of this information puts our hard-won informant's lives at risk.

One of the greatest fears for a CIA agent is the identities of his assets will get out into the open.  This usually happens either by a mole or inadvertently by the intelligence community itself.  Each recruited spy represents many months of effort in research and finesse.  

Somehow, thousands of classified emails ended up on Hillary Clinton's private server.  These emails had information classified as Top Secret and above, including Special Access Programs and HCS-O, or HUMINT.  Deadly data to be hosting on a server touching the Internet.

These emails began their life on systems like JWICS, which is a Top Secret level network.  It has no connection to the Internet.  There was no way to get the data from JWICS into Hillary's private server unless very conscious criminal steps were taken.  Conscious actions by several people.  Huma Wiener?  Sidney Blumenthal?  The late Tyler Drumheller?

It is likely that a smart phone was used, snapping photos of documents, then OCR'd and stripped of their security markings before sending to the Hildabeast.

Robert Gates recently said "the odds were pretty high" other countries got access to this server.  She was, in the parlance of hackers, a "whale" - a Moby Dick.  The highest priority for intelligence services.

I believe it was extremely likely nation state actors had full access to this server, and were stumbling over each other getting data out of it.  I'm talking about Russia, China, Britain, and Israel.

I'm waiting for the next shoe to drop.  Did she use this classified information to feather her own nest, that in the Clinton Crime Foundation?  Offer inside knowledge for contributions?  I know this was the modus operandi for the Clinton White House - donations made to the DNC or Bill's campaign in exchange for a pass from regulatory agencies.

Only time will tell how many of our loyal intelligence assets were executed because of this corrupt woman. 

So what is the real difference between John Walker, who sold our secrets for cash, and Hillary Clinton?    

Hillary's body count.

   

Hillary's emails contained classified information from HUMAN SPYING

The real email question: Did Hillary Clinton sell US secrets?

Photoshop credit:  INK361

Related Western Hero Articles:

Hillary Rotten Clinton's e-mail non-Scandal

Why Hillary's E-Mails Matter

Seriously, this is just plain wrong

Two Texas lunch ladies are fired after taking home leftovers from the school cafeteria.

Federal Law requires that workers throw away food that isn't consumed by students.

DFW CBS

In another Texas incident, this time in Killeen, a 15 year old middle school student was suspended for leaving the classroom.  The circumstance?  A girl in the class was having an asthma attack and the teacher had emailed the nurse and was awaiting a reply.  When the girl fell out of her seat and onto the floor the student said "F--- This", picked her up, and carried her to the nurses office.

USA Today 

 What the heck ever happened to common sense in this country?

McConnell's Blank Check

 By Hugh Farnham

Mitch McConnell quietly slipped in a fast-track bill  for the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, against ISIL.  Even Senate Whip John Cornyn was unaware McConnell had made this move.

On the face of it, who could argue against a de facto declaration of war on these savages?  But like all bills, the devil is in the details.  

The method of fast-tracking the bill, called Rule 14, means McConnell can call for a vote at any time - even in the midst of a winter storm.  This could work out like the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, on Christmas Eve when many Congressmen had left D.C. 

This AUMF grants historic and unconstitutional power to Obama, namely:

- Unlimited war not bound by any geographic location (perhaps even within the US)

- War not bound by any time-frame or metrics of success

Currently the 2001 AUMF is the authority for military operations against ISIL, but this is questionable since the original AUMF was against the organizations that perpetrated 9/11.  The danger behind these Authorizations is that the war effort can spill outside the bounds of the original declaration.  

While I rarely quote Democrats, Senator Chris Murphy does hit it right:

"This resolution is a total rewrite of the War Powers Clause in the U.S. Constitution," Murphy said. "It is essentially a declaration of international martial law, a sweeping transfer of military power to the president that will allow him or her to send U.S. troops almost anywhere in the world, for almost any reason, with absolutely no limitations."

But then again, a broken clock is right twice a day. 

Senate Leader Surprises Lawmakers with New ISIS War Powers Request

Mitch McConnel Ready to give President Unlimited War Powers

Photochop Credit to FederalObserver

America is like a bowl of Chili

Photo: FiveRings

We have a cafeteria in the building that I work in, with a kitchen open to the dining area.  The other day at lunch I saw that they had chili on the menu, and it is usually pretty good so I bought a bowl.  Sitting down to eat, I dug into my chili with a spoon... it tasted like spaghetti sauce with red kidney beans in it.

As I said before the layout was an open kitchen and I'm on friendly terms with the cook so I asked him what the deal with the chili was.  It seems that a couple of people complained that the chili was too hot (it wasn't) so they had to tone it down.  Now mind you, a couple of people out of a couple of hundred complained that the chili was too hot, one item out of probably two or more dozen choices on the menu.  They usually offer two soups, one of which is most often some type of chili, sandwiches, a full grill, a pizza oven, salad bar, and a daily special.  So out of all these choices a couple of people chose the chili, customarily a spicy dish, and complained it was too hot. 

There's a lesson here:

If you accommodate everyone you satisfy no one.  

 

Another Day, Another Humanitarian Crisis in the Good 'ol US of A

Flint, Michigan:  Health Crisis and Human-Caused Disaster

We're getting a lot of emotive, overheated rhetoric on the Flint water disaster, and it's choking out the facts.  This is a tragedy, a health crisis, and a horrible failure of government at all levels to carry out the elementary task of providing people safe drinking water.

This is the best unbiased summary I have read:  The Real Tragedy in Flint

Here is what I have gleaned from the New York Times and other news outlets:

* The number of children with elevated lead levels is in the low 100's, but citizen expectation is--rightly--zero.   Also, sadly, this number will certainly rise.

* Governor Snyder relied upon Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to provide him information.  His major sin so far seems to be he believed a government bureaucracy over eye-witness testimony (which had no scientific basis, until a university and a doctor got involved and provided scientific evidence of what had happened).

* DEQ most likely did not supervise Flint Water Department's program adequately, and may have helped them cover up the problem.

* The Flint Water Department, having not treated drinking water in over 40 years, probably did not know what it was doing.

* The EPA was involved, but so far, it looks like simple negligence on their part.  That river was already a back-up source of water, and it was not an untreatable polluted cesspool, but questions remain if levels of iron and other substances were too high due to lack of monitoring and treatment.

* The Snyder-appointed manager, along with the Democratic Mayor and Democratic city council devised and implemented the money-saving plan.

The Democrat State Treasurer made the official decision to throw the switch.

It's a sad state of affairs when this gets turned into a Hollywood anti-GOP propaganda piece, complete with (no kidding) the real Erin Brockovich and a heroic and telegenic doctor whose movie is already destined to be the next Hollywood environmental and racial tocsin.

Please go read this: The Real Tragedy in Flint

The author explains the technical details of how improperly treated water will leach lead from old lead pipes and water mains, and he also describes the chain of events that led to the fateful decision, which, if carried out competently, would not have poisoned anyone.

* - Muchas gracias to Ed Bonderenka for sending me the link to the article.

Disturbed

Someone I work with turned me on to this cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic, The Sound of Silence.

It might not be to everyone's taste, and in comparison here's the original:

Sanders v. Trump

Could Election 2016 be shaping up as the Socialist against the Capitalist?

We won't know for awhile, but our first solid indication will come after Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.  First, let's look at the Democrat situation, and then see how the GOP is shaping up...

Is Hillary Inevitable?

Hillary is slapping on a false smile and grimly marching on, motivated by her craven lust for power and over-inflated sense of entitlement to the office.  But hanging out there are various pendula that will decide her fate, whether she likes it or not.

Hillary's first obstacle is the Democrat voter.  She could end up being the Democrat's Jeb Bush, hoping to drive a corporate cash-powered steamroller to victory, but end up run off the road by a revolt of the revolted and resentful. Senator Sanders' fiery leftwing extremism is closer to the Democrat masses than Hillary's consultant-larded, Wall Street-approved corporatism dressed up in high heels and a forced grandma smile.

Secondly, there's that FBI investigation of her alleged mishandling of classified information. FBI recommending charges, and Justice refusing to file them could still damage her irreparably. Her campaign deathstar is already issuing preemptory "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" accusations.

Finally, her health. Pundits left and right have speculated that Team Clinton has been hiding some serious health issues.

The big factor in her favor is the Democrat establishment and their outsize cohort of special delegates that can be used to thwart the will of the Democrat primary voters.

Could Trump Win?

He's getting working class Democrat crossover and supposedly pulling more black and Hispanic support than any other GOP candidate. He's not just the middle finger of America's right hand, as Norman Lear suggested. He is the middle finger of disgusted and disaffected Americans of all stripes, and he is flipping the bird to the entire Democrat-Republican-Fox News-MSNBC-Washington Post-DC Establishment.

Yes... He. Could. Go.  All. The. Way.

Trump & Sanders:  A Substantive Debate

A Sanders-Trump contest would provide our nation the first substantive presidential debate in decades. With all the Clinton scandals broomed away like so much circus animal dung, the two candidates who eschew sterile politispeak could get down to brass tacks. Finally, finally! we could have a substantive debate focused on the welfare of our nation and We The People.

Capitalism v. Socialism: Let's have the debate! I want to hear these men debate jobs, global economy, society, what's good for America.

What say you?

"Every ideology has a use-by date and you're long past yours"

David P. Goldman defends Ted Cruz's attacks on neocons, but he also shows us how Obama's foreign policy debacles stem from following in Bush's failed footsteps...

No-one wants to hear your claim that we really won in Iraq in 2008 and lost it all because Obama wouldn't leave a few divisions there. And when the "Arab Spring" came along, you mistook the oncoming express for the light at the end of the tunnel. You and the Obama crowd played "Dumb and Dumber." You both bought into the idea that Muslim democracy would arise from Islamist opposition to the old dictatorships.

I like Trump's assessment:

"Hillary calls me 'dangerous'? She's killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity."

She burned down Libya and opened the North African gates for the Million Muslim Man March into Europe.

But back here in the Barackulous State of Amreeka...

Just when I thought Trump might be making a serious attempt at being a serious candidate who seriously wants to win, he invites in the half-term governor of one of America's least-inhabited states...

I am jaded--I know it--especially when it comes to politics, so help me out here...

How does this help Trump's campaign?  Is he trying to steal the kook fringe vote from Cruz?

Will this turn off the supposed 20% of Democrats and the formerly-disinterested independents who are crossing over to Trump?

What does this mean for the GOP?

Will the Trump campaign stage collapse under the weight of two gigantic camera-hogging egos?

We are living through strange times.  Forget normal.  Forget the new normal.  We are in uncharted territory, but the people in charge are holding outdated maps and clinging to failed doxies...

Ensign O'Bumble's Navy

Obama's stenographer stooges in the infotainment media quickly swept aside the most embarrassing incident of his administration, but thinking people are still scratching their heads over the US Navy crew surrendering to Iranian hostage-takers...

I wasn't in the Navy, but I have traveled by humvee in hostile territory in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I even had to arm up just for a simple trip to Kuwait City in a civilian vehicle.  The rules were simple.  You get attacked or blown up, you shoot back.  I'd be curious what the ROE was for those sailors.

Also, they were in open water; you can see people coming.  Were they not being vigilant?

When you are deployed in or near hostile territory, you gotta have your game face on every day.  It's easy to get complacent, especially when you're at the end of your tour, as these sailors were. Were their minds back home already?

Here are the questions...

How did they fall into the clutches of the America-hating hostage takers?

Were they joyriding?  Heading towards Iran is not taking a short-cut, as some have suggested.

Did the turds in turbans do a GPS spoof?  Possible, but the US sailors' normal route should never have taken them far from the friendly shoreline. Landmark navigation would keep them from wandering into enemy territory.

Did the Iranians seize them in friendly territory?

Did the boats break down, or did they stray into Iranian waters?  Can the government get its story straight, please?

Why did they allow the Iranians to approach and board?  Did they take up arms?

Why didn't the crew radio for support?

Why did the officer in charge apologize?

Did the skipper of that boat talk to the State Department first?  Did State tell him to apologize?

Will the skipper face an Article 32 hearing?  Will the crew be punished?  Or in O'Bumble's upside-down world, will they be hailed as heroes and decorated?

The Iranians, who are supposed to be so sophisticated, showed themselves to be the insecure, paranoid turds they really are.  A nation of true world stature and not run by hostage-taking apes would simply assist the sailors in distress and send them on their way.  Instead, the 7th Century Islamic dictators used it as a propaganda stunt, complete with an Iranian General Burkhalter asking them canned questions in a comically-thick, stereotypical accent.

What does this mean for US-Iranian relations?

I'd say it means they're the pitcher and we're the catcher.

I expect more incidents like this in 2016, and I also look for the Hezbos to get back to murdering and terrorizing now that Iran got that huge cash infusion.

Here's ABC News...




Links:
CNN - Act Happy
Glenn Greenwald - US Radically Changes its Story
Lipscomb - The Most Plausible Explanation

White Privilege, Racism, and Complacency

Here are some interesting articles for you to ponder on Martin Luther King Day.

America the land of Opportunity for Black Immigrants - Quartz

Black immigrants outpace native blacks and whites in selective college enrollment - Diverse

Black immigrants narrow black-white achievement gaps - University of Chicago - Rauh

Should black immigrants benefit from affirmative action - Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

What Drives Success - New York Times 

This Land is Your Land...

Oregon Live

Hugh Farnham returned this past week, and his blog post on gun confiscation sparked a rousing and wide-ranging conversation.

Oregon Standoff Continues
Ducky wrote a free-wheeling and substantive comment about the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom's armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon. (which was sparked, btw, by Federal prosecutorial lawfare and vindictive abuse of federal power). His comment got stuck in the potty-mouth filter, so I freed it and responded, but by then the thread was dead, so I carry the conversation forward...

Ducky said...

Interesting that you bring up cattle ranchers since they have a significant link to our current gun culture.  Go back to the Johnson County Wars and the "regulators" hired by the large ranchers in order to enforce what was largely a feudal system. 

Our friend from Boston has nailed it: This is a Jungian clash of iconic images: metrosexual v. marlboro man; city dwellers against those who make their home out on the range; the gulf between professional progressives and the rarely-seen rough men and women who produce our food, mine our energy and do the gritty work of keeping the nation's infrastructure going.

Face it:  We are all pissed off and we hate each other. Lefties are having a giggling good time...

"Welfare queens", "domestic terrorists", "they didn't bring enough snacks", "middle-aged male sleepover", "bravely invaded a wildlife refuge"...

Ducky Said...

Throw in the central management to avoid overgrazing and land deterioration and you wonder what those welfare queens are trying to accomplish.

My Response...

First off, overgrazing is not an issue now like it was 150 years ago. Back then, the mentality was different, tragedy of the commons, people just acted like the land went on forever, because, in a way, it did.

Today, that's not the case. Ranchers have a vested interest in the land because they cannot just move on once they've wrecked everything.  If you're concerned about such slash-and-burn, go tax and regulate the third-world rubber-tappers, inefficient ranchers and farmers and sell-outs to global corporations.  Remember the rain forest?

Ducky Said...

Silverfiddle has stated here that he doesn't think the Bundy boys should have to pay any range fees. Never mind that the cost of maintaining grazing land is not covered by their subsidized fees. Scrape away all the bullshit arguments about the Bundy hoser boys having their land stolen (an argument they don't even make, they accept STATE sovereignty) and you get down to what they are ... a bunch of welfare queens.

Have you ever been out here and seen these lands? The government does nothing to maintain them because there is nothing to maintain. That land isn't costing the taxpayer anything. It's the ranchers who lease it who do the improvement, upgrades, access roads, drainage, fences, etc.

There really were range wars out here back in the 1800s, cattlemen fighting sheep grazers fighting farmers, and it usually centered more around water than land.  Local or regional authorities ended up stepping in and enforcing agreements on resource sharing. Many families, like your hated Bundy's had ancestors back in those times. They and everyone else have been operating based upon those agreements, and too often, the feds come in and imperiously bust it up because of an endangered naked mole rat, or because Harry Reed wants to give a big chunk of land to Silicon Valley green energy welfare queens.

National parks?  Sure.  But there is no reason for the federal government to own large tracts of land. Turn it over to the states, where the government is closer to the people, making recourse and debate easier and focused on the people who live there.

It is absurd and arrogant to say people out here would destroy it all without the federal government mommying them.  Wyoming and Colorado are known for their natural beauty, but natural resource mining competes with tourism for the states' money-making activities, and yes, the states can balance it all on their own, at least until a federally-owned forest starts burning, or the EPA rolls in and poisons one of our rivers...

Just as Bible-thumping hicks from Alabama should have no say in how Bostonians conduct their affairs in that historic city that is one of the crown jewels of our national patrimony, effete east coast metrosexuals have no business telling western ranchers how to run their businesses.

Links:
Oregon and the Injustice of Mandatory Minimum Sentences
Five Reasons you should side with the Hammonds

DAVID BOWIE

I started this post with a highlight of David Bowie songs over the years from Ziggy Stardust to the present, when I stopped I had six songs posted and felt there was no way to do justice to his prolific body of work, so instead I offer this:

This past Friday saw the release of David Bowie's latest album Blackstar with this video for the song Lazarus, ominous and prophetic.

While unconfirmed by director Johan Renck, he also left us with this, one possible ending for the life and story of Major Tom which has taken on a life of its own. I'll leave you with the story...

So, you have to ask yourself... is this next video the storyline conclusion of Major Tom's story?

Rest in Peace David

Just a Few Simple Questions...

1. How many times have you had sex (including oral) in the last three months?

2. With how many different people have you had sex (including oral) in the last three months?

3. If you had sex (including oral) in the last three months, how many times had you been drinking alcohol?

4. If you had sex (including oral) in the last three months, how many times had you used a condom?

Find these questions a bit over the top?  These are questions being asked USC students in a mandatory Title IX course, Title IX being the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded educational activity.

5. How many of you think the answer to all these questions should be "none of your effing business"?

Here's a good question based on the article by Campus Reform

6. Given that a drunk person cannot consent to sex, if a drunk man and a drunk woman have sex... who's at fault?  

The interactive training video associated with the course automatically blames the man as being guilty of a sexual assault. 

Welcome to the 21st Century! If you respect your own privacy and think that this entire subject is none of the schools business, well then you're not deserving of an education and will have a registration hold placed on you until you wise up and comply.

7. How many of you think USC is so far out of line that it's not even funny anymore? 

UPDATE: Since I wrote this post 24 hours ago the USC senior vice president for administration has apologized for the questions and has said they will be removed.

Total Gun Confiscation - Impossible!

 Too Many Guns, Too Few Jack-Booted Thugs

By Hugh Farnham

The sheer numbers of guns in America and the small workforce of jack-booted thugs make complete gun confiscation almost impossible. It would take eight months of continuously kicking down doors for Obama's minions to get rid of America's guns - assuming no one resisted.

Here's the Scenario:

300 million guns.  15 billion rounds of ammunition.

150 million guns get turned in voluntarily because of some new Obama-law.   That still leaves 150 million guns in about 30 million homes.

Now comes the tough part

To raid a home you need around 20 thugs and support personnel for about 3 hours per house. Multiply that by 30 million homes.  That's 1.8 billion man-hours of effort or eight months, assuming everything went as planned. Of course it won't, but for the sake of argument let's assume everyone in these 30,000,000 homes bends over and assumes the position.

There's around 1.8 million individuals who could be called upon for this massive operation. That includes police (1.2 m), armed Federales (0.12 m) and military (0.5 m). At any one time only half of those could be available, I would estimate.

Call it 900,000 jack-booted thugs on tap. Assume an 8-hour day, since this operation is going to take a while.

Each invasion of a home costs them 60 man-hours of effort and they can only invade 120,000 houses per day.

You are still with me.  30,000,000 homes / 120,000 per day is 250 days, assuming no days off for federal holidays, spending time with their precious families, or going to church to absolve themselves of violating their Oath to their Creator to defend the Constitution.

250 days to sweep America of guns, if no one resists.

It doesn't stop there.  Imagine the human cost of 30 million homes being invaded.  Assuming just 1% of the homes are shot up by trigger-happy thugs that saw a glint of something behind the curtains, you would be looking at over half a million Americans getting shot or killed - again, assuming no one resists.  Countless domestic dogs will be liquidated as well.

The list of gun owners would be assembled with the competence of Obamacare.  People who never owned a gun, yet on the list would have their homes ransacked.  What do you think the government thugs will do if a person truthfully insists they never owned a gun?  They would be pummeled to an inch of their life, then asked again, "Where are your guns??!"

Meanwhile, a man who always purchased guns privately and was never on their list orders one of these and gets to work on a Ruger knock-off:

http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-x-12-inch-precision-benchtop-lathe-44859.html

And the whole process begins again.  Looks like this clown has more crying to do on TV...

F-Word, N-Word, Europe and America

The German government yesterday secured an agreement from Facebook, Google and Twitter to delete hate speech within 24 hours as it steps up efforts to combat racist sentiments being expressed online in the wake of the European refugee crisis.

However German prosecutors have also launched multiple investigations into Facebook managers over alleged failure to remove racists posts, including an investigation of its Hamburg-based European head which kicked off last month. Facebook has rebutted all these allegations as lacking merit. (TechCrunch)

What is hate speech?  "inciting hatred" and "assaults on the human dignity of others..."

What constitutes a violation?  What do those phrases mean?

Answer:  They mean whatever the pasty-faced East German Communist running Germany says they mean. "Vee are vatching you.  You vill be a goot German, ja?"

Why haven't they monitored and shut-down jihadi hate groups and Islamofascist recruiters and all the terrorism how-to websites? Why haven't they cut ISIS off from the internet? There can't be that many Information Superhighway on- and off-ramps in Raqqa and Mosul.

Isn't it hate speech to convince mush-heads to kill people?

Isn't it illegal to incite hatred and give the haters step-by-step instructions on how to construct bombs and to provide them the tactics to kill as many people as possible?

Isn't it illegal and immoral to radicalize western adolescents and lure them to jihad and terror?

Question #1: Why haven't the Twittershitters, Mark Suckerfaceberg and Googol the All-Knowing used their incredible powers to shut down terrorist communications?

Question #2: How long before the crony corporatists at Google, Facebook and Twitter obey their federal government co-conspirators and pull the same censorship here in the US?

Sure, laugh it off, you progressive payasos... 

We are already a Demican-Republicrat government of the fiat, by the precedent, and for the preservation of those in power. 

They gutted the 4th Amendment like a fish, and there are petty potentates and angry activists slavering to start nibbling away at free speech. All it takes is a few hyped-up provocations to justify the first bite, and after that it's all over.

Make no mistake, the information overlords have the technology to do it. They know who you are. They can track you. To. Your. House.

Speech codes, tin hat tribunals and government threats are what brought Europe to its parlous state. People are waking up now, but it's too late.

Whoever defines Hate Speech controls Speech.

Whoever controls Speech controls Thought.

Whoever controls Thought Rules the World.

Natural Born

There has recently been some kerfuffle over the eligibility of Ted Cruz for the office of the President based on his birth in Canada and whether or not he meets the definition of "natural born" under Article II of the Constitution. Ted Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship on May 14th, 2014.

What do you think the term "natural born" means?

My personal opinion based on current law and precedent, is that if you are a citizen without having to go through the naturalization process, then you are natural born.

To perhaps put it in historical perspective, the Naturalization Act of 1790 stated "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States." The 1795 Naturalization Act did however remove the term "natural born" and simply stated "the children of citizens of the United States, born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, shall be considered as citizens of the United States".

Neo-Nazis

This pisses me off.  Regardless of what you think of Trump or Islam, the gross abuse of the Yellow Badge by these agit-prop, passive-aggressive agitators seeking victim status is over the line.

Where is Abe Foxman and the ADL finger waggers?

Where are the college girl screamers demanding these execrable creatures stop the historical and cultural appropriation?

Six million Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps, and millions more had their lives permanently marred by abuse, displacement and the loss of loved ones.  Hitler shattered their lives. My own grandparents did not wear the yellow star, but as "Untermenschen" Ostarbeiters dragged from their homes and family and hauled in a cattle car to Germany, they did wear the OST patch on their clothing while imprisoned as slave-laborers in Nazi Germany.

The smirking couple's appropriation of that hallowed symbol is an affront to our shared sense of history and a slap in the face to every victim of Nazi Germany.

Special victim status, conferred by cultural kommisars, has emboldened these Muslims to do this, having complete confidence they can get away with it. 

Modern-day Nazi Sympathizers? 

Look in the mirror, Muslims.  Christians in the Middle East are suffering an on-going holocaust at the hands of Muslim butchers.  So are many innocent Muslims as well.

Middle Eastern tyrants and Islamofascists learned from Hitler, admired him, and continue to admire him today.  Those Islamist butchers who are committing genocide and ethnic cleansing are the modern day Hitler and Nazis.

The abuse of the gold star by these CAIR plants is reprehensible, deeply offensive, and pays a grave disrespect to the millions of Jews who were enslaved and died in the holocaust.  Most chilling, it reveals their callous disregard for non-Muslims and all they hold sacred, even as those same Muslims scream at every perceived injustice supposedly directed at them and their fellow Muslims, who live here in more freedom and safety than anywhere else in the world.

Not just Jews should be offended by this grossly-offensive abuse of a hallowed symbol. Not just people whose ancestors were enslaved by Hitler's Reich.  All of us should stand up against this horrible abuse of a historical symbol that reminds us, never again, even as rabid Islamists in the Middle East are raping and murdering religious minorities.

Links:
Al Jazeera
Guardian

Green Goblins & Steam Powered Aereoplanes

With the Paris Accords wrapped up, the world is now safe from "Extreme Weather," Scary Weather, Melting Ice, Ice Ages, being too hot...  Meanwhile, benighted souls squatting around dung fires curse the west for threatening to make their world even colder...

Perhaps even President Obama's promise to make the oceans recede shall come to pass...

Follow the Money

Many on the left still insist Cheney drove us to war to enrich Halliburton. KBR did make some big money, so who knows?
  

Are Green Goblin Globalists profiteering off Climate Change Hysteria?

We must consider the possibility global elites and multinational corporations are profiteering off of other sectors of government, including Green Energy. We all know how Solyndra's thieves lapped up millions of taxpayer money, then in a Romneyesque maneuver, collapsed the company and absconded with the loot.  And they got away with it.

I'll start listening to the Global elites when they use only wind-powered cars and forswear carbon-spewing jets and begin traveling in green airplanes powered by green batteries. When they renounce air conditioning, shrink their carbon footprint to below that of a small city, and set the example--right now--of living how they want the rest of us to live, then I will begin to listen to them.

Meanwhile, I'd love to escape toxic politics and noisy controversies by joining John Hartford, Tony Rice and Vassar Clements in making a getaway in a steam-powered aereoplane...

2016 Predictions

It's that time of year.  What does your crystal ball say?

Give us five short, simple, easily verifiable predictions for 2016.

In addition, please predict the following:

$ Democrat president/VP candidates
$ GOP president/VP candidates
$ Next US President

Also, throw in some humorous prediction that will not count against your prediction score. Number your five real predictions, 1-5.

Silverfiddle's Predictions:

$ Dem ticket:  Hillary Clinton and one of the Castro brothers
(The ones from Texas, not Cuba, although the latter would be a good fit as well in today Democrat Party).

$ Repub Ticket:  Chris Christie/Susana Martinez

$ Next US President:  Hillary Clinton

* 1 TB, 2 TB and 3 TB solid State computer drives will fall below $200/Terabyte

* Assad regains control of all of Syria, including Raqqa, but violent ISIS remnants continue to ankle-bite his regime, while ISIS keeps a firm hold on parts of Iraq.

* US GDP for 2015 will be below 3%

* Europe and North America will each experience at least one Islamic terror attack with more than 50 casualties each (I will be happy to be wrong about this one)

* GOP House and Senate will approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership and President Obama will sign it.

I Call BS on this one folks.

Of all the theatrical political showboating I've ever seen this really takes the cake...

What was it? Salt? Lemon Juice? Or Tabasco you rubbed on your fingers beforehand?

Talk about blatant logical fallacies, this is easily the clearest case of argumentum ad passiones I've ever seen.  For those of you not familiar with the term this is a logical fallacy in which the manipulation of listener's emotion is used to win an argument often in the absence of factual evidence.  One could also make the case that it is also an argumentum ad misericordiam in which the speaker attempts to elicit pity or sympathy.

Wake up folks... there is nothing here in any way related to facts, logic, or intellect here.  

Now I am not an opponent of mandatory background checks for all gun sales, I live in a state that has that requirement, what I am opposed to is rule by executive fiat directly contrary to the acts of the legislature that the president even cites in defense of his own argument:

He cited in the aftermath of Sandy Hook a "compromise common sense bill that would have required virtually everyone who buys a gun to get a background check" and he cited the failure of the legislature to pass the bill.  They voted on the bill mind you, it simply did not have the votes to pass.  Sorry Mr President, that's democracy in action... what you just did is despotism in action, contrary to the expressed will of the elected representatives of the people. "The bill before congress three years ago met that test. Unfortunately too many Senators failed theirs".

What does he mean "too many Senators failed theirs"?  He means that the elected representatives of the people voted contrary to his desire.  Well Mr. President, THAT IS DEMOCRACY! It is not your job nor within your power to act contrary to the will of the people, it is up to the people to elect different representatives if the actions of the legislature don't represent THEIR will!

As I said, I support mandatory background checks for all guns sales and would support laws similar to the Colorado law. which can be found HERE. Basically it states that all gun transfers except among specific immediate family members require a background check obtained at any licensed gun dealer for a fee not to exceed ten dollars.  The problem, and it is not a Democrat problem or a Republican problem it is an executive problem, is with the abuse of executive power to execute policy contrary to the expressed will of the legislature after due consideration.  These executive actions mirror legislation voted down in congress and our democracy, republic, and individual freedoms are worse for it, not by the actions in this specific case, but by the mere action itself.

Meanwhile, I'm considering purchasing this and naming it after our esteemed President.

Yeah, I know... it's a Taurus, but I do like the design.

The people have voted and continue to vote, respect their wishes.
 

"Rtc" by Jeff Dege - http://www.gun-nuttery.com/rtc.php. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rtc.gif#/media/File:Rtc.gif

 
If the map doesn't work you can go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry_in_the_United_States

Pity this never made it into production: