Austrian Government Falls as Right-Wing Partner Caught Offering to Fix Contracts In Undercover Sting

—Ace of Spades

There'a RUSSIAN COLLUSION angle here -- or at least a pretended one.

The right-wing party was not the majority party, but its votes were necessary to prop up its larger partner and give it a large enough coalition to govern.

Austria raced on Saturday toward a snap election as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pulled the plug on his coalition with the far right after its leader was caught on video offering to fix state contracts with a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece.

The far-right Freedom Party's Heinz-Christian Strache resigned as vice chancellor and party leader after the video was released by two German news organizations. He acknowledged that the video was "catastrophic" but denied breaking the law.

So, it's not that hard to catch someone making deals with (presumed) Russians if the targets are actually inclined to do so.

And yet Muller and Kristol and Glenn Simpson and all the coupists and conspirators have bubkis on Trump.

Seems to me to be circumstantial evidence that there was no Russian collusion, and there never was.

Judicial Watch Wins Legal Fees From Antifa Middle-School Teacher Yvette Falarca for Her Frivolous Lawsuit

—Ace of Spades

lol get fvcked.

Judicial Watch announced that a U.S. District Judge in California awarded Judicial Watch $22,000 in legal fees in a case filed by an Antifa organizer in an effort to block Judicial Watch from obtaining information about her activities.

Yvette Felarca, a middle school teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), and two co-plaintiffs were ordered to pay Judicial Watch $22,000 in attorney’s fees and $4,000 in litigation costs. Felarca had sued the BUSD in federal court to keep the school district from fulfilling its legal obligation to provide Judicial Watch with records of their communications mentioning: Felarca, Antifa, and/or BAMN. Judicial Watch also asked for Felarca’s personnel file.

Felarca is a prominent figure in By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a group founded by the Marxist Revolutionary Workers League that protests conservative speaking engagements. In 2016, Felarca and two of her allies were arrested and charged with several crimes, including felony assault, for inciting a riot in Sacramento. Earlier this year, Felarca was ordered to stand trial for assault.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, Northern District of California, who had previously ruled that Felarca's lawsuit was "entirely frivolous," wrote in his ruling awarding legal fees to Judicial Watch that Felarca and her co-plaintiffs' First Amendment claims were "premised on the obviously baseless assumption" that the First Amendment condemns the speech of some while condoning the ideological missions of others.

What could have given her that idea? The mere fact that the media, the tech monopolies, and the Ruling Class acts as if that is what the First Amendment says, and is rapidly transforming it into that before our very eyes?

Mueller: I Don't Want to Testify Before Jerry Nadler and His Enormous Man-gunt

—Ace of Spades

The conspiracy theorists who've been suggesting that AG Barr was blocking Mueller from testifying are wrong, yet again.

Manu Raju works at CNN -- or, let's agree, draws a paycheck from CNN -- to type up the Democrats' and Mueller team's (but I repeat myself) leaks:

Manu Raju

@mkraju

NEWS: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team has expressed reticence to him testifying publicly in front of the House Judiciary Committee, according to sources familiar with the matter. His team has expressed that he does not want to appear political....

One option is to have him testify behind closed doors, but sources caution numerous options are being considered in the negotiations between the committee and the special counsel’s team. Nadler has called for public testimony

A twitter user commenting on this made a halfway decent speculation: Mueller may be essentially asking to be subpoenaed, so he can claim he resisted being "political" to the utmost. Then, having been subpoenaed, he can go in there and be suuuuuper political -- but hey, he was forced to, right?

If Nadler doesn't subpoena him, that's going to look pretty strange, given his threats and bluster -- and subpeona! -- to Don McGahn.

Meanwhile...

The Justice Department warned House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff if the panel moves forward with a contempt vote or other punishment against Attorney General William Barr, it will no longer work together on a deal that would allow members to view a less-redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Schiff, D-Calif., from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, the Justice Department proposed a meeting this week with the House Intelligence panel’s senior staff to continue to search for a compromise in response to 12 requests made by the committee.

But that meeting won’t happen if the panel decides to punish Barr for failing to turn over the unredacted report, Boyd warned.

Breitbart: FaceBook Has a List of Conservative Speakers They Deem to be "Hate Agents" Who Are Pre-scheduled for Banning

—Ace of Spades

But #MuhPrivateMonopolies.

Hey, monopolies are always more efficient, right?

They certainly are very efficient at limiting political speech before a major election.

Let's devote another fifty years to servicing them, both legislatively and sexually.

Facebook maintains a list of "hate agents" for monitoring and potential termination, according to a source inside the company. Among the names reportedly on the "hate agent" list? Star pundit and black conservative activist Candace Owens.

According to the source, a Facebook employee who spoke exclusively to Breitbart News, the spreadsheet of "hate agents" that includes Owens was posted to an internal employee discussion group initially founded by Brian Amerige, the former Facebook engineer who quit the company over concerns about political intolerance.

The source claimed that the spreadsheet includes the names of prominent right-wing and alternative media figures who were recently banned from the platform.

Candace Owens is also included in the spreadsheet, in a separate category marked "extra credit."

A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed to Breitbart News that the list exists, and did not deny that Owens' name appears on it, but believes that there has not yet been an investigation into her.

The list is "related to" the purge that took Paul Joseph Watson and others on May 2nd.

So how long for Candace Owens and the others on the list?

Well, apparently for Candace Owens, the time came last week.

Breitbart just revealed another name on the "hate agents" list -- Brigitte Gabriel -- and more details about their process of "investigating" conservatives until they can amass enough pretext to ban them.

The signals are divided into Level One (signals that occurred in the past year), Level Two (two years) and Level Three (three years). Signals include hate speech, support for a "designated hate entity" or "designated hateful ideology," calls for violence, the promotion of ethnostates, acts of violence from supporters, and possession of "hate paraphernalia."

The spreadsheet also includes a "recommendations" field next to each individual name. In this field, Facebook employees can advise whether the individual should be categorized as a "Hate Agent” or not, and if they should be removed from the platform.

...

Brigitte Gabriel, founder of the Islamic extremism watchdog ACT! For America, was added to the spreadsheet in the main category.

Meanwhile, FaceBook doubles down on its decision to block a Trump 2020 advisory board member.

Her post made a simple and true point: That the left simultaneously pushes a theory of gender essentialism -- that women are inherently superior, that only women who can become pregnant should have input into the abortion laws, etc. -- as well as the completely contradictory theory that gender is all a social construct invented by (and here's another weird contradiction) The Patriarchy.

So which is it? Is a uterus a real thing which imbues its carrier with the wisdom of all saints or is a uterus just a fiction made up to keep you down by The Man?

FaceBook decided this was hateful speech and blocked her account.

And she didn't even post that, really. She just quoted Matt Walsh's tweet making that point.

On Wednesday, Facebook blocked Trump 2020 advisory board member Jenna Ellis Rives over a pro-life post. She appealed the decision. On Sunday, Facebook finally got back to her, and doubled down, claiming the post violated its "community standards" on "hate speech."

Rives posted a photo of a tweet from blogger Matt Walsh, pointing out how transgender activism undermines key pro-choice arguments. "Gender is a social construct but I am woman hear me roar but anyone can be a woman but no uterus no opinion but transwomen are women but I demand women's rights but men are women but men are scum but drag queens are beautiful but appropriation is evil," Walsh tweeted.

...

After the original block, the Trump advisory board member told PJ Media that "Facebook's 'community standards' simply mean they are... censoring conservative thought."

"Facebook continues to suppress conservatives critiquing the progressive left and calling out their hypocrisy," Rives said. "We never see this kind of suppression when it's actual hatred from the left, for instance, attacks against Mike Pence for his Christian beliefs."

But #MuhHolyMonopolies.

Ah-Doyyy: ESPN President Realizes That a Sports Network Probably Shouldn't Be Interjecting Politics Into Every Other Segment

—Ace of Spades

Woke-Broke: The Legendary Journeys.

Jim Geraghty quotes from an LA Times piece on ESPN's president:

"Without question our data tells us our fans do not want us to cover politics," Pitaro said. "My job is to provide clarity. I really believe that some of our 'talent' [ironic quotes added by me] was confused on what was expected of them. If you fast-forward to today, I don't believe they are confused."

I believe these jocksniffers still are confused, but maybe more about their barely-suppressed homoerotic achings for athletes' puds than about their need to provide leftwing color commentary after every fly ball.

Geraghty notes that "some of the most politically-active sports commentators have moved on to other things."

Lesser things. Heard from Keith Olbermann lately?

29 How will the world survive without guys in loud suits sitting at space desks yelling at each other?

Posted by: brak

18 Nice how the upper management that pushed this is now suddenly blaming it on rouge employees.

Sorry asshole--that is who you are
Posted by: RoyalOil, Vicroy Canadian Territories

27 18 Nice how the upper management that pushed this is now suddenly blaming it on rouge employees.

It was a few bad apples in the Cincinnati office!
Posted by: pep

Note: Keith Olbermann is back at ESPN. Of course.

100 Remember, this back in March?

http://tinyurl.com/y2zxuasp

Keith Olbermann received a talking to from ESPN, his employer, after demanding Mississippi Clarion-Ledger journalist Brian Broom be fired and encouraging an Internet mob to harass a 22-year-old hunter Broom wrote about for the outlet.

posted by: Christopher R. Taylor

In an Ultrafast Decision, An Obama Judge Immediately Rules That Trump May Not Block Congressional Harassment Efforts to Dig Into His Taxpayer Records

—Ace of Spades

Congress has no authority -- none-- to conduct a criminal investigation.

That's an Executive branch function.

But even assuming that Congress may exercise its pretend "oversight" function and it needs Trump's tax records to do that -- how the hell can it demand his private taxpayer records when he was a private individual with no connection to the US government?

That's what they did -- they demanded his last eight years of tax records.

He's only been a president for two, and he was only running for president since June of 2015 or so.

So now the Congressional Democrats can just demand private citizen tax records when they want to conduct a lawless vigilante invasion of privacy?

Indeed, says another Obama appointee -- in record time, as Mark Levin pointed out.

A federal judge on Monday upheld a congressional subpoena seeking President Donald Trump’s financial records from an accounting firm, arguing that Congress is well within its rights to investigate potential illegal behavior by a president -- even without launching a formal impeachment inquiry.

U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta's ruling delivers a striking blow to the president's efforts to resist Democratic investigations, and is certain to give Democrats further legal basis to investigate Trump, his finances, and his presidential campaign.

In addition to upholding the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena to accounting firm Mazars USA for eight years of Trump's financial records, Mehta took the extra step of denying the president's request for a stay pending appeal.

In other words, he took the decision out of the hands of the Appeals Court by saying that the firm must turn over the records before the appeals court has had a chance to check his ruling.

Jay Sekulow, one of the president's personal attorneys, said: "We will be filing a timely notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals."

But unless the Circuit Court issues its own emergency stay, then this appeal will be moot -- this Obama judge has rigged the game to get the records to Democrats before the appeal.

Meanwhile, Trump has directed his former WH counsel Don McGahn to ignore the Democrat congressional subpeona.

"The Department of Justice has provided a legal opinion stating that, based on long-standing, bipartisan, and Constitutional precedent, the former Counsel to the President cannot be forced to give such testimony, and Mr. McGahn has been directed to act accordingly," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement sent to reporters.

The White House letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler was signed by Pat Cipollone, the current counsel to the president, citing the Justice Department’s advice based on executive privilege.

The DOJ's own Office of Legal Counsel wrote a memo declaring this to be their understanding of constitutional law.

In an opinion released Monday, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel ruled that former White House counsel Donald McGahn is "not legally required" to testify to Congress on matters related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

"The immunity of the President’s immediate advisors from compelled congressional testimony on matters related to their official responsibilities has long been recognized and arises from the fundamental workings of the separation of powers," the opinion stated.

Released Documents: Loretta Lynch Essentially Called James Comey a Liar, Claimed She Never Told Him to Refer to Clinton Email Investigation as Merely a "Matter"

—Ace of Spades

Put them both under oath and make them testify again.

First prize is, you get to walk away.

Second prize is prison for perjury.

The Washington Examiner:

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch denied to congressional investigators last year that she ever instructed former FBI Director James Comey to minimize the Hillary Clinton email investigation by urging him to call it a "matter" instead of an "investigation."

"I did not. I have never instructed a witness as to what to say specifically. Never have, never will," Lynch told a joint task force of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees.

The transcript of the Dec. 19 interview, released Monday evening by House Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., clashes with what Comey testified under oath.

Comey testified that that she did instruct him to only call it a "matter."

The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

—CBD

"The rule of law," "the appearance of impropriety," "an impartial judiciary." These and other phrases have become meaningless pablum to be tossed around to conceal the inarguable fact that we are no longer a nation of laws, but have descended into a third-world miasma of connections and favors and partisanship that is no longer hidden from the people because they will do nothing about it.

In another America, this judge would have recused himself immediately or faced impeachment. Now? He prances about, feeling oh-so-smug about his decision, and will surely become the toast of that incestuous bog called Washington DC.

Judge Who Ruled on Trump's Finances is an Obama Donor.

Amit Mehta, a U.S. federal judge, thrust himself into the public spotlight with an opinion earlier this month calling for President Trump’s accounting firm to turn over the president’s financial records.

Coincidentally, Mehta also appears to be an Obama-Biden donor—a detail conveniently missed by most of the establishment media, if not all the fluff pieces covering his history as a lawmaker.

How this will play out is anyone's guess. I assume that it will go to the Supreme Court, where the moribund carcass of American jurisprudence lays in state. Will it be revived by President Trump's picks...both current and future, or will the inexorable shift to the left continue?

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Sympathy
Briton Riviere

The Morning Report - 5/21/19

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Tuesday's here so here we go. Continuing on from yesterday, we have now what has devolved into a two-headed beast, where the Democrat-Left-Media Complex continues its coup/smear campaign to take down President Trump while covering up the crimes of the plotters that the other Siamese twin is attempting to fully expose to the American people. The President has instructed former White House counsel Don McGahn to ignore a House subpoena while an Obama-appointed hack-in-black has decreed that the President must turn over his financial records so that the Democrats can sift through them to manufacture evidence for an impeachment proceeding.

In the real world, two essays ask two key questions as to the origins of the Steele Dossier as well as why did Obama allow Comey to brief Trump about the Russky prostitute fable? The short answers are that a) considering the key players involved were all from or associated with the British intel community, it appears that John Brennan intentionally skirted American proscriptions on CIA spying of citizens by hiring the Brits to do the spying for him and that b) Comey briefed Trump as a pretext for giving the dossier a veneer of legitimacy for the press to run with, since by itself, even they were dubious/skeptical of its veracity. But read the links as you'll want to get every last drop of information. Lastly, Justin Amash's brazen hatred and stupidity got him more than he bargained for; the love and admiration of his fellow "Palestinian" from Dearbornistan and a primary challenger. At this point, I don't care if it's the illegitimate love child of Todd Akin and Christine O'Donnell - whoever it is gets my full-throated endorsement.

To the border where Trump's new pick to head ICE said some rather disparaging things about the President early on in 2017, and yet he is seemingly fully on board as of now with the President's immigration agenda and the border wall. Elsewhere, a legitimate asylum-seeker backs Trump's policies 100%, the LA Times is reporting that pregnant illegals are being turned back, presumably as a way to smear him and us as cruel, heartless, racists raping the Emma Lazarus Poem what doubles as proof of open borders, and lastly, despite what the national Leftist leadership and candidates will tell you, the reality of releasing hordes of border jumpers into the interior of the nation is not appreciated by either side of the divide. All politics indeed is local.

Dem Scandal Sheet and Joo-Hatred: A headline likely to be buried in the media, Rancida Tliban's Holocaust comments as propaganda and a Dem Virginia lawmaker has ties to anti-Semitic groups. Along with the Democrat Party itself. And moving on to Civil War 2.0, PA Democrat thug, the bearded clam known as Brian Sims apologizes... for not ripping the arms off the old lady and beating the two teenybopper pro-life kids to death with them.

Politics: President Trump held another rip-roaring rally yesterday, this time in PA where a few people passed out from the heat while enjoying the President boosting America and ripping the Dems, PDT slams Bernie's candidacy and record, Dem 2020 hopefuls turn to John Brennan of all people for Iran advice, Fauxca-Has-Been is now Ruthless Westheimer, Ed Markey faces a primary challenger, and a few good essays on Trump winning on race, the Dems' descent into madness and Daniel Greenfield on the Left running on nothing but conspiracies.

First Amendment and Fake News Fakery: Twitter silences critics of Al Jazeera's Holocaust deniers, coordinated anti-Trump campaign uncovered at Instagram, Josh Hawley looks to cut off Big Brother Tech's information gathering on all of us, Chris Wallace let Mayor Buttplug smear his own network and colleagues and said nothing, and fat fool Brian Stetler attempts to rip Mark Levin's latest work and winds up proving the very premise of the book. Nice work, lumpy.

Abortion: Joe Bidet was for the Hyde Amendment before he was against it, Mittelschmerz Romney openly blasts Alabama baby protection law; funny, I don't recall hearing a peep out of him when NY and VA gave standing ovations to their infanticide laws, and G0d bless Alabama indeed. Hey, you think this is not smart politically or it will enrage the mythical independents/undecideds? What about the aforementioned baby-killers? Sorry. They started it, and we will finish it. It's a winning issue.

Foreign Affairs: Farsicle Farsi opens pie-hole and demands respect or something, US intel warning on Iran surprise attacks in the Gulf (considering the legacy of Clapper and Brennan, as well as the run-up to Gulf War 2, I am wary), despite Trump's bluster, his words about our military-industrial complex indicate a more cautious approach, Huawei exec under house arrest, or mansion arrest, two more essays on the Aussie election win for conservatives, Switzerland goes to grab guns and will live to regret it, Italy's PM Salvini is dead right, and Qatar affirms its status as a terrorist lover.

Speaking of terrorism, sad trombone for Hezbollah as Trump's cutting their money sources off has forced them to make cutbacks (M-80s < Semtex), and a French shrink confirms the myth of the mentally ill jihadist.

Domestic News: Elderly, disabled USGS employee harassed at work for supporting the President, that California housing edict that would ban zoning for single family homes is now on hold until after 2020 (must be polling horribly, even there), on New York's own insane zoning laws and the shit-holes they engender, and NY State's madness on energy policy.

The Economy: Three on the China-US Trade Battle where Huawei is hit with export controls (long overdue we stop giving away our high tech secrets to an imperialist enemy), economist is dead right on Trump reordering the globalist madness and making America predominant again, and the Chi-Coms are threatening an embargo of rare earth metals, which would redound badly on them. Also, Philly's crazy tax on soda goes totally flat and Kamala-Toe seeks to punish corporations over the myth of a gender pay gap. All the evidence shows it's virtually non-existent but never let a talking point go to waste.

Healthcare: Nightmare situation at Houston hospital, measles is breaking out all over and Gavin Newsom's healthcare for illegal aliens as legal citizens suffer.

Education: LA Mayor Garcetti spews some sort of open borders drivel at a graduation ceremony.

Red Greens: Candidate with no shot in hell Michael Bennett thinks topping out the Green New Luddite Plunge at $10 Trillion will make him electable.

Real Science: India and China are serious about mooning a man on the land.

Hither and Yon: Confirmed - Donald Trump has made America less racist, a gaming journalist goes SJW, Christian Toto calls for a new Invasion of the Body Snatchers for the "woke" generation, and finally the tongue-in-cheek confessions of a former white supremacist.

Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in some links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.

CONGRESSIONAL COUP, SPYGATE, DEEP STATE, THE MUELLER DECEPTION
• President Trump Directs Former Counsel Don McGahn to Ignore Subpoena
• Justin Amash Gets Primary Challenger After Impeachment Stand
• Obama Hack-in-Black Judge Backs Congressional Subpoena of Trump's Financial Records
• Was the Steele Dossier a Crown Operation?
• Why Did Obama Allow Comey to Brief Trump on the Russian Prostitute Story?

  BORDER WALL, MIGRANT INVASION, AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY
  

• "Heartless": That's What Trump's Pick To Head ICE Reportedly Called His Administration Early On (supposedly now a big border wall booster - jjs)
  
• It Turns Out Keepng Waves of Illegal Aliens Out of Our Communities Is a Bipartisan Goal
  
• I'm a Legitimate Asylum-Seeker, And I Support Trump's Border Wall
  
• Alien Smugglers Exploit Infants
  
• LA Times: Border Agencies Return Pregnant Migrants to Mexico

  DEMOCRAT-LEFTIST SCANDALS, CRIMES, CHUTZ-POCRISY, MESHUGAS
  

• Former Democrat Congressional Staffer Charged with Patronizing a Prostitute

  OFFICIALLY-SANCTIONED DEMOCRAT PARTY ANTI-SEMITISM
  

• Why Ranciad Tliban's Holocaust Comments Were Propaganda
  
• Virginia Lawmaker Connected to Anti-Semitic Groups

  CIVILWAR 2.0
  

• "Angry" Bearded Clam Brian Sims Apologizes... to Abortion Supporters

  POLITICS
  

• Ohio Democrats Fear Trump Will Dominate Working Class Vote... Again
  
• Trump Tosses Bernie's Campaign Into the Trash Bin of History
  
• Trump Repeatedly Interrupted by Fainting Fans at Campaign Rally
  
• House Dems Seek Brennan's Malignant Advice on Iran Even as His Legal Problems Intensify
  
• Fauxca-Has-Been Offers Woman "Love Life" Advice on Social Media
  
• High Profile Labor Attorney to Primary Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey
  
• The Democrat Party's Choice: Normalcy, Ambition, Or Aspiration
  
• President Trump Can Win on Race
  
• Greenfield: A Movement of Conspiracy Theories

  FIRST AMENDMENT, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, BIG TECH BROTHER
  

• Al Jazeera Gets Twitter To Silence Critics Of Its Video Questioning the Holocaust
  
• Study Uncovers Coordinated Anti-Trump Disinformation Campaign on Instagram
  
• Hawley to Propose "Do Not Call" List for Internet Tracking
  
• Chris Wallace Sat There Like Potted Plant as Mayor Buttplug Ripped Into Fox News Primetime Hosts
  
• Shambling Lipid Mass Brian Stelter's Attack on Mark Levin's New Book Proves Author's Argument in Just One Paragraph

  ABORTION
  

• Joe Bidet Flips, Now Supports Repealing Hyde Amendment
  
• Mittelschmerz Romney: "I Don't Support the Alabama Law"
  
• Yes, Banning Abortion Reduces Abortion Rates
  
• G0d Bless Alabama

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
  

• Iranian Officials Bluster That Trump's "Crazy" and Should Show Them "Respect" (shut up and fetch the Halvah, sahib - jjs)
  
• US Intel Warns Iran Plotting "Tactical Surprise" Attacks in Gulf
  
• Trump: "You Do Have a Military-Industrial Complex; They Do Like War"
  
• President Trump Can Still Avert a Catastrophe With Iran, and He Should
  
• Huawei Exec Under House Arrest In Canada Holed Up In $10 Million Mansion
  
• Australian Election Losers: Climate Change Cult, Socialism, Identity Politics, Political Correctness
  
• Australian Politics, Upside-Down
  
• Switzerland Welcomes Gun Control, Future Terrorism Wave
  
• Three Cheers for Nigel Farage
  
• Italian PM Salvini: "Extremists" Are Those Who've Governed Europe in the Name of Finance, Multi-Nationalism, Mass Migration
  
• Qatari Envoy Reaffirms Gulf Country's "Special Relationship" With Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas

  ISLAM, TERRORISM, SHARIA, DHIMMITUDE
  

• Hezbollah Forced To Make "Draconian Cuts" Due to Trump's Sanctions
  
• The Myth of the Mentally Ill Jihadist

  DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE BUREAUCRACY, WASTE, FRAUD, CORRUPTION
  

• Elderly, Disabled USGS Employee Reported Harassment, Then Was Investigated For Hanging Official Photos of President Trump
  
• CA Housing Bill That Would Eliminate Most Single-Family Only Zoning On Hold Until 2020
  
• Somewhat Related: Legislating Shabbiness
  
• New York's Energy Policy Depends on an Impossible Fantasy

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID
  

• Trump Hits Huawei With Export Controls
  
• "Reagan-esque": Economist Tells CNBC Trump Could Shift Global Order In China Trade War
  
• China Foolishly Threatens Rare Earth Elements Ban
  
• Philadelphia Implemented Soda Tax Didn't Go As Planned
  
• Kamala-Toe Harris Proposes Penalizing Corporate Profits to Eliminate Gender Pay Gap

  HEALTHCARE
  

• Inspectors Find Hospital Left Items In Patients After Surgery, Let Sewage Back Up In Kitchen (if you like your sepsis, you can keep your sepsis - jjs)
  
• Measles on the Move: Outbreak Spreads Beyond New York
  
• Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratories of Democracy

  EDUCATION, INDOCTRINATION
  

• LA Mayor Urges Graduates to "Cross Borders" In Pro-Globalization Commencement Speech (no other country will let them in, genius - jjs)

  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, LYSENKOISM
  

• 2020 Dem Bennett Ups the Ante, Unveils $10 Trillion Climate Change Agenda

  ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
  

• India and China Dominating New Moon Race

  CULTURE WARS, HITHER & YON
  

• Academic Study Shows Donald Trump Has Made America Less Racist
  
• Gamer Journo Pans Title Because Rage 2 Mutants Are Disablist
  
• Toto: We Need a New Body Snatchers For Our "Woke" Age
  
• Confessions of a Recovering White Supremacist

Monday Overnight Open Thread (5/20/19)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Quote I

Should we call it ‘Polar Vortex baby?’ It was a long, cold winter in Wisconsin and I have a cute husband,” “What can I do?” Rachel-Campos Duffy

Quote II

I understand the problems in incarcerating large numbers of people. I understand the politics and how easy it is to make a social issue out of this if we hold them. But what I don't understand is why the laws apply to citizens but non-citizens especially illegal aliens don't have to face consequences of breaking our laws. I don't understand why it is I have to fill out an I-9 to get a job and only certain state or federal ID is satisfactory and illegals have zero requirements in fact the government goes out of their way to make it easier for them. I don't understand why the TSA can make me take my clothes off and feel me and my family up at the airport but 100,000 non-citizens from god knows where can cross our border freely, get a hot meal, an airplane ride to U.S. cities and a briefing on how to apply for welfare and housing. WTF is wrong with my government??? Commenter from Maggiesfarm

Quote III

It’s to a point where it’s almost embarrassing. But I love the PGA, and I’m a past champion. There’s no way I could walk it. But I feel like I belong to play since I’m a past champion, and I just feel obligated. I really want to play. Trust me, if I could walk, I would walk,” John Daly

Quote IV

“Sports betting without question has provided a major boost to the local economy, and we believe this excitement will translate into increased revenue and tourism throughout the summer,” Caesars Entertainment regional president Kevin Ortzman

Quote V

I'm a definite, determined, and devoted pro-choice fundamental Baptist! I believe that a woman has a right, responsibility, and requirement to choose: a choice to keep her knees together or rear a child. That personal, practical, and profound choice would solve most of the abortion problems. Don Boys

***

We should have picked our own cotton rayon.

Oh, my word! Angry and offended about the racial undertones of a teacher planting cotton?!?

I grew up in Northwest Florida, the Panhandle. The area where I lived and went to school had quite a few cotton farms. In fact, many of my ancestors on my dad's side were sharecroppers in lower Alabama, picking cotton in the fields for a subsistent wage. While I knew that slaves had picked cotton, I never thought of picking cotton as an activity exclusively (or even mostly) associated with slavery. Neither did my teachers.

So that dude Mike selling the Giza cotton sheets is a racist?

***

Sexual Politics? I'm so glad I'm 29, when men were men and women were women.

OK, let’s talk about “no trans” dating preferences, a recent fixation in sexual politics that often ends up in transphobic and abusive conversations.

Take, for example, a recent video by LGBTQ commentators Arielle Scarcella and Blaire White, which argued that lesbians are not transphobic if they are only attracted to cisgender women.

Trans feminists and YouTube personalities, such as Riley J. Dennis and Contrapoints, have been arguing for some time that a lack of sexual attraction to trans folks is, to some degree, shaped by societal prejudices and stereotypes. As a PhD student in sociology and a trans feminist, I am concerned about how the debate has misrepresented trans critics and led to attacks on trans feminists and activists.

***

Why would we like to advance voting in elections via the internet?

The US Department of Justice claims that Mr Golestan "fraudulently" won control of the net addresses by using many different shell companies. It alleges that he created websites for fake companies and invented the names of the people who purportedly ran them as part of his scheme. Mr [Amir] Golestan was charged with 20 counts of wire fraud in a US court this week. He has yet to respond to a BBC request for comment. The net addresses were handed over to Mr Golestan by the American Registry of Internet Numbers (Arin) - one of several regional administrators that dole out the few remaining addresses. It is claimed they were then resold allowing him to cash in.

***

Thinking about getting a new tattoo? You may want to think twice about that.

Sorry tattoo lovers, it looks like you might want to wait a few months before getting a new tattoo! The Food and Drug Administration has announced the recall of six types of tattoo inks, that are said to be contaminated with dangerous bacteria. The tattoo inks, made by different manufacturers, are contaminated with microorganisms that can lead to serious injuries and can increase the risk of infection. This since the skin barrier is broken during any procedure.

***

Being a practicing Lutheran, I've been to many a potluck but have never seen a Jello salad like this.

***

The DNA results reveal what we thought all along. Illegal immigrant kids are being used as pawns in the game of illegal immigration.

A DHS pilot program using rapid DNA testing at the border has found that nearly a third of Adults bringing kids across the border weren’t biologically related to the children in their custody. We’re not talking about step-parents, adoptive parents, etc., it is all about kids being used as a tool to get across the border.

Per the Washington Examiner, an ICE official told them, “There’s been some concern about, ‘Are they stepfathers or adopted fathers?'” the official said. “Those were not the case. In these cases, they are misrepresented as family members.”

***

Amazon continues with its goal for one day delivery.

Amazon Quietly Did Something Extraordinary To Speed Up Deliveries. It's Both Brilliant and Very Sad
It takes a certain sort of mind to conjure something like this.

***

The ONT Musical Interlude

Born on this day: 20 May 1946
Cherilyn Sarkasian, (Cher), American singer and actress, one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher who had the 1965 UK & US No.1 single 'I Got You Babe'. She became a television personality in the 1970s with her shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run. Solo hits include the 1991 UK No.1 single 'The Shoop Shoop Song', 1998 UK No.1 & 1999 US No.1 single 'Believe', plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles. via thisdayinmusic.com

&&&

***

Even our neighbors to the north have Genius Award Winners.

Jessie Dean Kowalchuk has been transported back to Kamloops from Edmonton to face a judge for three charges of breach of probation stemming from three separate files in 2015.

Last December, Kowalchuk saw his photo being circulated by Kamloops media outlet CFJC Today as part of a weekly Most Wanted segment, said Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jodi Shelkie.

He then sent a direct message on Facebook to CFJC Today.

"News flash morons: I'm in Edmonton and not coming back," said Kowalchuk in part of his message, which was given to CBC by the RCMP.

***

Back the blue. Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety posted the story on their Facebook page.

This is what they wrote:

"On Monday evening, several of our officers responded to a medical call at a residence in Sunnyvale.

After treating the patient, the officers discovered that his wheelchair ramp was in need of some major repairs."

***

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Needle Point.

Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire and AceCorp, LLC. Loose change, drink tokens, burner phones and ONT tips to petmorons at gmail dot com.

Close it up

John Wick 3 Opens to $57 Million Domestic/$92 Million World, Dethrones Avengers as Country's Biggest Movie
Also, Open Thread

—Ace of Spades

Sorry for all the entertainment crap today.

The box office has a new king and his name is John Wick. The third installment of the hyper-violent Keanu Reeves franchise has taken the top spot at the North American box office and ended the three-week reign of "Avengers: Endgame."

Studios on Sunday say "John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum" has grossed an estimated $57 million in its opening weekend. Not only did it far exceed expectations, it's a franchise-best that nearly doubled the opening of the second film, which itself doubled the opening of the first film from 2014.

Is it any good, though?

Overall audiences gave the film a rare A+ CinemaScore, indicating that word-of-mouth will be strong in subsequent weekends.

Imma see this soon.

Engame is still making money, of course, pulling in $2.62 billion globally. Box office watchers had wondered if it could dethrone any of the top three (not adjusted for inflation) money makers, Titanic, Avatar, and The Force Awakens. It beat Titanic and beat Avatar domestically, but not globally.

It needs $173 million more in global box office take to pass Avatar, which Forbes says it probably won't do (though it may come close).

It probably has no chance at all of beating The Force Awakens. I think I'm surprised by that. Though the Star Wars brand was a lot bigger in 2015 than it is now.

Chick-Fil-A Becomes Nation's Third-Biggest Restaurant Chain

—Ace of Spades

Plucky!

Actually, it's really the second biggest restaurant chain, among actual restaurants -- the #2 restaurant chain is Starbucks, and, you know, I mean, a biscotti and a Nina Simone compilation CD do not a restaurant make.

Wouldn't 7/11 be one of the biggest restaurants if we're counting pastry and coffee?

Anyway, the only legit restaurant ahead of Chick-Fil-A is the mighty McDonald's.

So, here's what Burger King is doing to claw back into relevance.

Over in Europe, leftists are "milkshaking" conservative people, or anyone they disagree with. "Milkshaking" is just throwing a milkshake at an unsuspecting person.

It's not the worst form of assault, but it is assault.

It's getting so common that police have asked restaurants not to sell milkshakes during political events:

So anyway, here's Burger King: Playfully endorsing leftist attacks on normal people.

Then they backtracked from their endorsement of political violence by the hard left:

Then what did you mean, assholes?

I got the context of Burger King's tweet -- following the picture of the store window announcing that police had asked them not to sell milkshakes -- from Tim Pool.

Game of Boners: Over 1 Million Sign Petition Asking HBO to Remake Final Season So That It "Makes Sense"
And Also: Open Thread

—Ace of Spades

Sometimes brevity isn't the soul of wit.

Sometimes brevity is just being lazy and slapdash.

As of Saturday evening, 1.02 million people had signed a Change.org petition saying the hit HBO series "deserves a final season that makes sense."

Dylan D., who started the petition to HBO, criticized series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, accusing them of being "woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on."

Apparently more signatures could be coming too, after Dylan posted an urgent plea saying: "Let's get to 1,500,000!"

I mentioned before that I don't have a problem with most of the actual story beats (except for what people are calling "Deus Ex Arya") except for the fact that they were very, very rushed, to the point where they just had no real impact because they were clearly writers' contrivances for the sake of being done with the series and not character evolutions that felt organic and earned.

If you're going to turn a character who has been a Big Damn Hero for seven years into a straight-up homicidal maniac villain, you need to show that descent into madness over the course of an entire season. Not three minutes here and there over the course of two episodes.

I don't hate that plotline on the merits; a lot of people have long suspected that was where the show was heading.

People suspected it because they know that George R.R. Martin says that he doesn't like conventional hero vs. villain stories. He prefers conflicts between people who are partly hero, partly villain. Or between heroes who just have a disagreement.

But is that what the producers of the show actually gave us? No. They did not give us a conflict between two admirable people who each had some flaws. Instead, they turned one of the two into Westerosi Hitler, and I guess want to defend this choice on grounds that it's "realistic."

But it's not. People don't turn into Hitler overnight.

A "realistic" ending would have involved two people, each with incompatible goals -- one to claim a birthright and establish a better world, one who just wants his own land to be free from rule by foreign despot -- but both essentially good. Just unable to compromise.

Turning one of the two into Dragon Fuhrer goes against whatever "gritty, realistic" point George R.R. Martin thinks he was making. It's just a final conflict between Good and Evil, just with the "evil" side being represented by someone who just executed the world's fastest personality change.

Damn, I've seen pro wrestlers foreshadow their impending heel-turn longer than these jokers did in this supposedly "prestige," "realistic" drama.

Nerdrotic, I think, mentioned that Dany had gone from hero to villain faster than Annikin Skywalker. "I will save people from everything, including death" to "brb, out murderin' all the younglings" in about 40 minutes.

Call her Daennykin.

Also: Jon Snow got jealous of Bran Stark getting all the attention for not doing anything at all and decided he would do even more nothing at all.

I mean, except for wearing the Sad and Confused Jon Stark face. Also known more simply as "the Jon Stark Face."

So you're the Prince Who Was Promised?

Promised what? A wedgie?

The Onion comes in for some snark.

'Game Of Thrones' Showrunners Disappointed With How Quality Of Fans Has Dropped Off Over Past Couple Seasons

LOS ANGELES-- Saying their once-beloved viewers have lost much of their luster in recent years, Game Of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff acknowledged Friday they have been frustrated with the way fans of the HBO series have declined in quality over the past few seasons.

...

"Nothing [the fans] do makes any sense anymore, and it just seems like they want the show to be over with as quickly as possible. It's pretty sad, to be honest."

Well, having split the fan base with a divisive and poorly thought out epic, what Benioff and Weiss need now is a property with a fully united fan base which won't give them any grief for screwing up a different once-beloved intellectual property.

So on to Star Wars, then!

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss moving to 'Star Wars': In an announcement that hopes to bring together fans of the biggest fantasy series of all time with the biggest sci-fi franchise, the showrunners for "Game of Thrones" will transition to a galaxy far, far away once Disney gets back to releasing new "Star Wars" movies. Assuming the world doesn’t end before the first arrives in 2022, Benioff and Weiss have shown gifts for compression and spectacle in adapting George R.R. Martin’s sprawling novels, but the past few seasons have revealed some big holes in their storytelling game. Maybe there’s a "Star Wars" book someone can write first?

I've got a baaad feeling about this...

and/or:

Here we go again!

What did you guys think? Like the show's producers, I'm just glad it's over so I can move on to more interesting material.

Oh, btw: We Are Real News, Mr. President.

#CNNPride

David Frenchie says, give me some of that sweet action:

David Frenchie really relates to the floppy weiners.

Gowdy: FBI Probably Has Exculpatory Evidence About Trump-Russia Collusion, But Didn't Reveal It To the FISA Court When Seeking Warrants

—Ace of Spades

Potentially a "game-changer," he says.

"If the bureau's going to send in an informant in, the informant's going to be wired, and if the bureau is monitoring telephone calls, there's going to be a transcript of that," Gowdy told host Maria Bartiromo.

Gowdy continued:

[T]here is some information in these transcripts that has the potential to be a game-changer if it's ever made public.

Gowdy, who served on the House Intelligence Committee, said he and Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe have seen the potentially exculpatory documents. He said he hopes the public will one day get to review it.

"If you have exculpatory information and you don't share it with the court, that ain't good. I've seen it, Johnny [Ratcliffe] has seen it. I'd love for your viewers to see it," he said.

Straight-shooters. Nonpartisan. Best and brightest.

Update: This thread presents persuasive evidence that Mueller's team -- the team that doesn't leak, supposedly -- leaked highly derogatory information about Trump to the NYT and thereby gifted the Times with a Pulitzer.

Alexandria Donkey-Chompers "Comic Book" Slapped With a Cease-and-Desist Letter by DC Comics, Citing Trademark Infringement

—Ace of Spades

I think this was just a variant cover for the stupid comic book we've already heard about.

So here was one cover:

Okay, that is obviously patterned after Wonder Woman, but they could probably get away with it under the parody exception.

But this is not really parody. This is just infringement:

The publisher issued a cease-and-desist to a small comics company barring it from selling covers of the freshman Democrat in attire resembling that of Wonder Woman, according to comics sites.

Devil's Due Comics is running a comic about AOC called "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force: New Party Who Dis?"

Apparently there were only 250 copies of this variant printed.

This is not a popular comic book. But they're playing to a devoted group of fanatics.

Meanwhile, the few copies that made it to the stands before the cease-and-desist are selling for $300 a pop on auction sites.

Can you feel the socialism?!

Why Are the Leftwing Media's "Fact-Checkers" Giving Stacy Abrams a Complete Free Pass on Her False, Conspiratorial, and Dangerous Claim That She's the Actual Winner of the Georgia Senatorial Election?

—Ace of Spades

Why indeed. Why indeed.

Why, there are certain well-known Social Media Monopolists who routinely ban people from public speech, and certain banks that strip people of their checking accounts, for the sin of spreading false, conspiratorial, and harmful-to-the-very-pillars-of-our-precious democracy claims.

At least -- social media monopolies and banks do that when the propagators of so-called false news are on the right.

And CNN's dedicated Deplatforming Squad of Oliver Darcy, Brian Stelter, and BuzzFeed Andrew are there presenting the case to Social Media Monopolists to ban such people, and running negative stories about those monopolists until they comply with CNN's will and ban market competitors from the market square.

So why the silence now?

Oh right, because she's a leftwing Democrat who is being pushed as a vice presidential prospect.

So -- no rules.

There's no such thing as a lie in the leftwing media's eyes, if that lie advances the leftist agenda.

This absurd declaration is predicated on a cascading series of misleading statements Abrams is making about voter disenfranchisement. A May 15 New York Times op-ed by Abrams, headlined, "We Cannot Resign Ourselves to Dismay and Disenfranchisement,” details more of these disputable and tendentious claims.

This kind of thing began even before the campaign had ended. As if to inoculate herself, Abrams accused her opponent, Brian Kemp, of fostering an"“atmosphere of fear" during a debate two weeks before Election Day. Georgia voters, she proclaimed, "have been purged, they have been suppressed, they have been scared."

With all the attention Abrams is getting as a rising Democratic Party star and a rumored contender for the party’s 2020 vice presidential slot, one would think that her eyebrow-raising claims about the Georgia election would be getting more scrutiny. Specifically, there is a special kind of journalist that exists solely to verify the factual statements made by politicians.

Incredibly, however, not a single major media fact checker has taken Abrams to task for asserting that she "won" the election, a claim that rests on various empirical assumptions. PolitiFact hasn’t done it. FactCheck.org hasn't done it. Snopes? Nope. The paper of record hasn’t gone on record here. Somewhat to its credit, the Washington Post did fact-check some tangentially related falsehoods about voter suppression in Georgia when Hillary Clinton tried to claim she lost 2016 for unfair reasons. But Abrams herself has never been questioned.

Let’s start with her most basic declaration. She did, in fact, lose the election by 50,000 votes. Although that's a close margin in an election where millions of votes were cast, it’s not close enough to seriously dispute who the victor was. So the first response would be that Abrams' claim that she "won" the election is rhetorical.

Mark Hemingway proceeds to note the various "fact-checks" routinely performed on Republicans, especially Trump, when the fact-checkers resort to a pseud-autistic sort of hyperliteralism to spot lies that no one else can see.

And yet on this huge one -- "I won" -- the media just can't be bothered to say anything at all.

Australia Parliamentary Elections: Liberal/National Coalition (The Conservative-Leaning Parties) Score Surprise "Miracle" Win Over Leftwing Labour/Green Coalitions, Despite Polls Predicting a Big Victory

—Ace of Spades

Why does this keep happening?

Oh, right: because the classes with control over the means of communication demonize conservative-leaning people, making them systematically withhold their true voting intentions from pollsters.

Carry on.

The latest results showed that the Conservative Coalition has won 74 seats while labour secured 66. A party needs 76 seats for a simple majority in the 151-member House of Representatives. It was not clear if 51-year-old Morrison will require the support of independent MPs to govern.

...

A Nine-Galaxy poll released shortly before the voting stations closed in the east of the country showed a victory for the Labor party and Liberal Party-led coalition losing its bid for a third three-year term.

The poll showed the Labor winning as many as 82 seats, beating the ruling Coalition.

I couldn't find the pre-election polling averages for Australia -- strange how errors are so quickly buried -- but I did find one single polling company showing a very slight generic ballot advantage for Labour, 51.5% to 48.5%, when all other parties were excluded from the choice.

Biden, supposedly, has an 11 point advantage over Trump, 53-42.

But conservatives aren't demonized as much in Australia; CNBC asked one poll analyst about the surprise win for the conservatives, and she said that there was no pronounced "Shy Tory" effect in Australia as there was in the Brexit vote and the Trump vote. She blamed the failure of the polls to predict the winner on "systematic" errors, other than people feeling pressured to conform to the liberal line.

Who knows, maybe some of that 11 point lead is phantasmal.

John Sexton of Hot Air sees some possible points of comparison to the 2020 US election:

In essence, the left-leaning party was running on the Green New Deal and Morrison won by pointing out that could damage the economy. It remains to be seen whether those results are transferrable to the United States, but you do have some of the same elements in play. First, almost the entire field of Democrats has endorsed the Green New Deal. Second, the creator of the Green New Deal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, won't even try to explain how much it would cost or how we could pay for it. And third, the economy is doing very well right now. If that continues for another year, it shouldn’t be hard for Trump to make the pitch that it's not worth upsetting the apple cart by voting for someone like Bernie Sanders.

Leftists are taking the loss with their normal display of coolness, calmness, and class:

Cathy Wilcox, a newspaper cartoonist, tweeted: "It seems unfair that the morons outnumber the thinking people at election time." Broadcaster Meshel Laurie concluded that "Australians are dumb, mean-spirited, and greedy. Accept it." Some were ready to write off the whole country. Brigid Delaney, a columnist for the Guardian, wrote, "It's the country that's rotten." She reported from the Labor party's Election Night event. People there had to face "the fact that their vision for Australia’s future was not affirmed," she wrote. That "made them feel estranged and alienated from their own country."

By contrast, Zareh Ghazarian, a political-science lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, was snobbishly restrained: "We have completely expected an opposite thing for two years," he told the Washington Post. "Voters rejected the big picture."

Sounds like the left's reaction in America to 2016.

Next up: DID AUSTRALIA COLLUDE WITH RUSSIANS?

India is also having an election. The Trumpish nationalist Modi is expected to handily win a second term.

Trumpish candidates are winning all over.

Justin Amash Joins with Rashid Tliab to Call for Impeachment, Leftist Rulership of America

—Ace of Spades

From PJMedia's Morning Briefing:

Amash does not offer specifics. Barr's letter summarizing Mueller's conclusion was entirely accurate. Barr said the report concluded there was no collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the RUSSIANS. Barr said that Mueller did not make a decision about whether the president committed obstruction of justice. How is that misleading? Why would Barr lie about the report and then release it? None of these things makes sense. But you know what does make sense? That Amash wants to run for president as a libertarian.

One more thing, J-Am, where are your libertarian principles regarding illegal surveillance on American citizens? On Illegal FISA warrants, national security letters, human intelligence assets being placed around a political campaign by the unelected political bureaucracy? The jack-booted fedgov strong-arming people to plead to process crimes? U cool with that bro, because TRUMP?

He's got new friends. They always get new friends, don't they?

Suck on "this," Fake Libertarian liberal sell-out:

A Michigan state lawmaker on Monday announced he will mount a primary challenge to Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) after the congressman tweeted that he believed President Trump had committed impeachable offenses, according to the Detroit Free Press.

State Rep. Jim Lower (R) said he would challenge Amash in the Republican primary for his western Michigan seat rather than seek a third term in the state legislature.

Lower said he had been planning to run before Amash's remarks but fast-tracked his announcement after the tweets this weekend despite originally planning to make it closer to July 4.

Princeton could use a man like Jim Lower.

Never trust anyone whose method of defining himself, and of showing off his virtue, is by negative comparison to you. That's what libertarians are, that's what the liberal NeverTrumpers are.

People often define themselves by that which they are not. But it's not good to make a political alliance with those who specifically signal that they are good and wise because they are not Deplorable You. Never trust them, never rely on them, because the very heart of their ego and self-regard is spurning you and despising you.

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"Progressives like to claim that the economic disparites between blacks and whites are due to white privilege. Ignoring the fact that Asian immigrants generally do quite well in this country, what can be done to lessen the disparity? Well, it's not like white privilege is any big secret. Anyone can reach out and take some. Here's how you do it: Go to school and study your ass off. Graduate from high school. Obey the law. Avoid recreational drugs and alcohol. Get a job. Consider no job, if it is honest work, to be beneath you. Work your ass off. Go to church. Avoid pre-marital sex and all-night partying. Do not have a child unless you're married and are able to support one. Live beneath your means. Save money for emergencies. Do not hang out with criminals, slackers, or losers. This is white privilege in a nutshell. And what's great about white privilege is, get this, you don't have to be white to get it. These rules will work for anyone, regardless of race or religion or country of origin. All you have to do is follow them and good things will come your way. Usually. The problem is that, due to the unevenness of life, the benefits of white privilege are not evenly distributed, so it's better if you live in a community where everyone practices these rules. In this way, you will maximize your chances of benefitting from white privilege. But you're not done yet. You also must teach these rules to your children, and teach them to teach the rules to their own children. Because the benefits of white privilege accrue like compound interest over generations. And it only takes one generation, maybe two, to break this golden chain and then you're back to square one, back to the misery, starvation, ignorance, and squalor that have been endemic to human societies since time immemorial. White privilege is the only path that has ever lead to prosperity for the many, rather than just for the few. So what this world needs is not less white privilege, but more."

The Crazy Years:

The REAL Game of Thrones:

Self-Own:

Dear Pro-Life friends: what have you *personally* done to support lower income single mothers?

I’ll wait:

— (((TuttleSinger))) سارا تاتل سينجر שרה טאטל-סינגר (@TuttleSinger) May 15, 2019

Read the responses to this lame tweet. It's funny how often I've seen pro-abortion zealots think they're scoring a killer point with this line and have it blow up in their faces. You would think they'd have caught on to this by now.


La Abeja Está En Fuega:

Opinion: You Can't Oppose Killing Puppies Unless You Adopt Every Dog On The Planethttps://t.co/kE9mc3APms

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 18, 2019

Harsh, But Fair:

Blistering Hot Take:

Poland Stands Tall:

Poland isn't apologizing for not being Sweden pic.twitter.com/QRwOCA5HGc

— Ron Coleman (@RonColeman) May 19, 2019

Hooray For, Uh, Yollywood?
This is Turkish actress Gülşen Bubikoğlu. Here's another photo. And one more. I believe the photos are from the 70s, before sharia came along.

For the 'Ettes:

Friday's celebs: Catherine Deneuve and a young lad, Christopher Walken.



Today's Edition Of The Morning Rant Is Brought To You By Red Velvet Cake:

What exactly is red velvet cake, anyway? This is something I've never had. I had no idea, especially when I found out that the 'red' comes from red food coloring. But this NY Times article discusses velvet cakes in general, and where and how the red velvet cake originated. There are a number of recipes for red velvet cake that claim to be the best. Here is one that I thought might be good. Also, this sour cream red velvet cake could be worth looking at.

Close it up