WFB: Supercut of All the Times Obama Blamed His Failures Only His Inability to "Communicate" to the Public His Policy and Successes

—Ace

Messaging.

Btw, in an "ANALYSIS," the WFB has determined that Bill Clinton now looks like an old woman.

Speaking of having an old woman for a consort, Vanity Fair reports that some State Department officials suspected that it was the very close relationship between Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton that forced poor neglected Anthony Weiner into his 2011 sexting scandal.

Truest Sentence You'll Read All Day

—Ace

First of all, North Korea says they've exploded a hydrogen bomb, the most powerful, destructive manmade force ever known.

We don't know if that's necessarily true. That's not what I'm referencing in the headline.

This line, and this whole brief piece by Noemie Emerie, is nothing but truth.

Where Bush was asked every day if he regretted invading Iraq, Obama is never asked if he thinks leaving Iraq had something to do with the chaos engulfing the region, or the vulnerability of citizens here and in Europe to Islamic State-inspired attacks.

And while Bush was held responsible for every last casualty that occurred anywhere while he held office, Obama is absolved from responsibility for the massacres, rapes and enslavement of innocents that have followed his numerous foreign policy blunders -- given a pass as the victim of forces he did not enable and disasters he didn't create.

"Be very glad we don't have a Republican president," Walter Russell Mead told us in May of last year, warning that if such were so we would be enduring a "merciless media pounding" on the series of "failures, mistakes, and false starts" that have been our lot since Obama took office. Instead, we have a Democrat who is allowed by the press to fail quietly, discreetly, and off center stage.

She then goes on to recount some of the media's headlines about Obama's failures, which, in their telling, read more like triumphs of Obama's reserve and patience.

The "off center stage" is an important thing. Bush, obviously, did not want the press to highlight the number of casualties in the Iraq War, but the press did not oblige his wishes, and reported each day's "Grim Milestone."

Obama also does not want his bodycount to dominate the news -- but, get this, the press is is more than willing to pretend these stories away. All Obama need do is toss them some stray voltage -- which they know is stray voltage at this point; they're not smart, but they're not that stupid, either -- and the stray voltage partisan pig fight du jour will lead the day.

Take North Korea's claimed detonation of a hydrogen bomb. Some are skeptical they managed it, but they detonated some nuclear device.

Obama doesn't want this to be a story, though, as it could, possibly, cast some doubt on his plan to do for Iran what he's already done for North Korea.

So it won't be. The American public could be "panicked" by the news, so they must be gently insulated it from it, with yards and yards of padding for Obama and silly-string of whatever domestic drama Obama's Storytellers have cooked up for us today.

Wednesday Morning News Dump

—BenK

• An Unmentionable Refuge Question
• The Hidden Message Behind Obama's Gun Control Proposals
• If Marco Rubio Is The 'Establishment', Then 'Establishment' Has Lost All Meaning
• "Fact Checkers" Malfunctions On Weepy Obama's Gun Lies
• Cologne Mayor: You Had It Coming Ladies
• 'Making A Murderer' Subject Steven Avery Is Guilty As Hell
• While Obama Was Busy Crying, The Norks Tested A Hydrogen Bomb
• Minnesota's Sunday Game Will Be Very, Very Cold
• Mot Americans Are One Paycheck Away From The Street
• Apple Falls Over Production Cut Report

Morning Thread (1-6-2016)

—Andy

"Do you think they bought it?" ~ Barack Obama, shortly after yesterday's speech. Probably.

Overnight Open Thread (1-5-2016)

—Maetenloch

Quote of the Day I

"Fans the flames of radicalization" - can we please stop blaming ourselves for Muslims' decision to radicalize? Can we please top believing that somehow we drive them into embracing a philosophy of mass murder? This is not our fault. This is not Donald Trump's fault. This is the fault of the people who believe that the best way they can practice their faith is to run around killing non-Muslims. Stop letting them off the hook, and claiming that they were somehow forced to commit these atrocities because of something we said or did.

This is classic "empathize with our enemies" thinking.

-- Jim Geraghty

Quote of the Day II

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future."

-- George S. Patton Jr.

The Big Divide in Europe

Note that the divide in this map more or less reflects the Hajnal line which divides the Western European marriage pattern (late marriage, equal-aged spouses, separate homes) from the other parts of Europe with more traditional marriage patterns.

Patterico: What Are The Bundy's Protesting in Oregon and Why

A pretty good round-up of the actual facts of the situation based on court records. The case of the Hammonds really does seem to be an instance of prosecutorial over-charging and miscarriage of justice. Note that the Hammonds apparently did not want the Bundys to help in their case.

And this is the larger issue to these cases: in the West there's no escaping federal jurisdiction and federal heavy-handedness since the Feds own most of the land.

Welcome to 2016: Mama June Gets a Lap Dance From a Little Stripper

Two thoughts: 1. SMOD/NORK-HBOM is a tease. 2. I may want to make an addition to the bucket list.

They've Got The Bomb, Okay?

—BenK

It would appear North Korea has tested a functioning H-Bomb according to their own reports.

#BREAKING: North Korea says conducted 'successful' hydrogen bomb test

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 6, 2016

Look, I know you might have some doubts, but this lady told me and she wouldn't lie to me, would she?

#DPRK TV announcer: Under Kim Jong Un’s guidance a miniaturized H-bomb test was a complete success. pic.twitter.com/HvE3ulasin

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 6, 2016

Well, Of Course: Trump Cautions Voters On Ted Cruz's Canadian Birth

—Ace

Do you want a president tied up in court for two years with that hanging over his head?

Of course you don't.

Vote Trump Steaks.

Still an open thread.

Open Thread

—Ace

I'm looking for stuff.

Will post if I find something.

Until then, this is a thread.

BTW: Did you guys watch Sherlock?

Uhhh... First hour, great episode, very creepy.

Half hour resolution -- horrible, typical Moffat-throw-everything-at-the-screen-when-you-have-no-ending-nonsense.

I was also disappointed to find out that the Moriarity resolution I expected is in fact the actual Moriarity resolution. Although it's the only real solution, I was hoping they would just make up some bs to paper over the other solution. Like, even though the other solutions are stupid, I would have accepted that stupidity.

No Words: 60 or More Women Suffer Assault, Sexually Assault, and Even Rape from Gangs of 1000 Men of Apparent Muslim Descent in Cologne, Germany, And Police Refuse to Confirm What The Public Knows for Days

—Ace

Suppressed, because, I guess, sometimes facts can be racist.

The trouble is, "racists" aren't making this stuff up. This really happened, and the government response seems to have been to deny it for as long as possible.

Just as happened in Rotherham.

Which is why we've stopped believing the government and media altogether. They so feed our hypothetical overreaction that they will simply lie to us and call themselves heroes for doing so.

They will, however, now tell you how to defend yourself against sexual assault:

I suppose we should thank them for that little much.

More: At PJ Media, the details are very reminiscent of Lara Logan's rape in the "celebrations" in Egypt after the fall of Mubarak.

Obama Squirts a Few and Then Lies About Not Wanting to Take Your Guns Away

—Ace

Twitchy is merciless on Obama's crying, and how what was a Boehner punchline is somehow a sign of Obama's nobility.

The media gushing even sounds even more maudlin en francais:

Les Larmes d'Obama, une film par Weeps McMoistbottom

Obama reassures the nation that he doesn't want to take all your guns away, despite previously praising Australia's common-sense gun-control measure of taking all your guns away.

The Volokh Conspiracy's Jonathan Adler says Obama's new gun control measures are legally meaningless -- just restatements of the current law. And if they were more than that, they'd be unconstitutional.

He notes that today's actions were not executive orders, but executive actions, specifically "guidances" on current rules, not new rule-makings. The rule-making would be a lengthy process (requiring public notice, and going through the bureacracy, I suppose) which Adler doubts Obama could even finish before his term was up.

So the executive action does not disturb current law; it simply either restates it or clarifies it.

Adler thinks two possible reasons for doing this are to "chill" what he calls "marginal" gun sales (sales by people who are in a nether real between "dealer" and "hobbyist," signalling maybe to them they should err on the side of caution) and as a strictly political show that he's "doing something" for his base.

I guess if his base will be satisfied with this, we should count ourselves fortunate.

(By the way, I'm going to stay live in the music thread below, too.)

Blow Off Thread: Songs That Were Huge, And Then Forgotten

—Ace

I posted Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush" in the sidebar. For about a year, this was my jam.

But I haven't heard this song in 20 years, nor even thought of it. And, listening to it again, I'm wondering what I found so great about it.

What songs are like that -- they were huge on the charts, or huge in your personal Top 40, and then just completely disappeared without any trace?

I hated Bush (the band) at the time, and can't tell you how happy I was when everyone finally got on the same page as me and memory-holed them forever.

I'll put up some real news in a few minutes, but it's mostly about Obama crying. I'll do an Obama crybaby thread next.

Well!

—Ace

The "babypod" allows you to play music for a growing fetus. I guess this takes the idea of stimulating babies with music to an earlier phase.

One catch: The speaker goes up your yiyi.

Is that a catch or a feature? I don't know.

Exit question: What songs have you always dreamed of playing in your snooch and/or dickhole?

If I know young women -- and believe me, I know young women -- this will be the first song on all of their genital playlists.

Barack Obama's Executive Order on Guns Is Partly Defensible, Partly Alarming, and Partly... Helpful?

—Ace

The strangest part first: Bob Owens has looked at the order and finds, as regards firearms purchased under the terms of the National Firearms Act, which covers "any other weapon" besides the standard ones (sawed off shotguns and machine guns, usually), Obama's EO features both a harassment and an actual reform to the law.

The harassment part comes with a fingerprint requirement for weapons purchased through a trust -- apparently trusts and groups buy these weapons, and trusts and groups have no fingerprint of their own, so that is a harassment.

The reform part comes in that the new order strikes the requirement of getting a community local law-enforcement officer to sign off on any purchase of such a weapon. Anti-gun local cops had routinely refused to sign off on such purchases, even if the purchases were sought by otherwise qualified and law-abiding people. The new EO gets rid of that requirement, for reasons I can only imagine are pure incompetence on Obama's part (that is, he couldn't possibly intend to harass gun-owners less).

Two parts of his EO are common sense, increasing the number of FBI staff on the background-check detail, and a request to increase funds for mental health, to the tune of $500 million. Both of those measures are responsive to conservative cries of why don't you actually do a better job utilizing the law and authority you already have? and why don't you do a better job trying to keep dangerous people away from guns?

The last part is the touchy one. One could say that, on its surface, it appears unobjectionable. The law says that anyone "engaged in the business" of selling firearms must conduct background checks and get a federal firearms licence. The new "guidance" offered by Obama states that it doesn't matter in what venue you conduct such a business, be it a brick-and-mortar storefront or online, or from the back of a van I suppose, but if you are indeed "engaged in the business" of selling firearms in whatever mode, you're engaged in the business, and subject to the law's requirements of background checks and licensing.

On paper, this seems like an okey-dokey makes-sense sort of thing; but the thing with Obama is, he's a sneaky, obvious, incompetent liar, whose favorite mode of political travel is a poorly-disguised Trojan Horse.

Remember, if you like your plan you can keep your plan. And I suppose: If you like your right to sell guns occasionally as a hobbyist, you can keep your right to sell guns occasionally as a hobbyist.

So we'll see on that one. As stated, I imagine that provision will be upheld as legitimate by the courts; but if he begins using it as a pretext to start imposing, once again, Obama Martial Law, then the courts might have a problem with the order as actually applied.

But overall, I'd say, at least for the moment, for the first time of the Obama presidency, things aren't as bad as they might have been.

The typical pattern of the Obama years is that everything is always worse than you thought they would be. So I guess this is atypical.

Tuesday Morning News Dump

—BenK

• Cause Of Gold King Mine Disaster May Never Be Known Thanks To The EPA
• This Seems Like A Bad Idea
• Why Our Allies Won't Help Fight ISIS
• North Korea Conducts Successful Submarine Missile Test
• Obama's Legacy Will Be Executive Abuse
• Confessions Of A Columnist
• Do Political TV Ads Even Matter Anymore
• Will Rubio's Trash Talk Hurt Cruz
• Trump's Nomination Would Represent A Paradigm Shift
• Sally Kohn Is Not That Bright

Morning Thread (1-5-2016)

—Andy

President pen and phone strikes again.

Overnight Open Thread (1-4-2016)

—Maetenloch

Comment of the Day

16 I think 2015 is the year we finally stopped pretending that Kwanzaa was a real thing.

Posted by: Lauren at January 03, 2016 11:13 PM (GZ6Pf)

Moe Lane on How to Write Modern Poetry

1. Open up your word processor.
2. Decide how long your poem needs to be.
3. Type out about two paragraphs worth of stuff.  It doesn't really matter what, as long as it's vaguely coherent. Banal is good. Perfect, even.
4. Go to the first word. Control-Right Arrow your way through the text; at semi-random intervals stop, and hit the Enter key.  The length of the intervals depends on how long you want your poem to be; but don't be consistent.
5. When you have reached the end, look to see: is your poem the right length of lines? If so, hit save.  If not, go back up to the text and create/remove lines as necessary.
6. Pick a title. Pick something vague, pretentious, and at least vaguely related to the text.

So something like this:

The amount of detergent to use depends on the water hardness. Water hardness is measured in grains per gallon. Using too little detergent can result in poor cleaning and hard water filming or spotting. Using too much detergent in soft water can cause a permanent film called etching.

Becomes this work of modern poesy:

The Right Amount

The amount of detergent to use

Depends

on the water hardness

water hardness is

measured in grains per gallon

using too little detergent

Can

result in poor cleaning and

HARD water

filming or spotting

using too much

detergent in soft water can

Cause

a permanent film called

etching

Reminder: Bill Clinton was fined $90,000 and forced to surrender his law license for lying under oath and obstruction of justice during Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against him. He eventually paid her $850,000 to settle the lawsuit.

End of the Line For Schengen?

Europe's passport-free Schengen zone is facing the biggest test of its two-decade existence after Sweden  re-imposed controls on visitors crossing from Denmark across what had been one of most open borders in the world.

Hours after the measures came into effect, Denmark announced it would slap new controls on its own border with Germany, while Berlin warned that the 26-nation zone of passport-free travel was now "in danger".

Six Schengen countries - Austria, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark and non-EU member Norway - have now reintroduced border checks as Europe struggles to cope with an unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants from conflict zones including Syria and Afghanistan.

Jay Nordlinger on White Privilege

If you're white in America, your life is supposed to be nothing but cotton candy, pretty prom dates, glowing health, and riches. A cloud never crosses your sky. In recent weeks, the cries of "White privilege!" have grown louder.

True, it's easier to belong to a racial majority than to a racial minority - or at least it is in most cases. Black people have coped with any number of obstacles and slights in this country, well after Jim Crow (to say nothing of slavery).

But lives are lived individually, aren't they? Rather than in groups?

Years ago, I worked briefly for a man who seemed to be a classic one-percenter. He was employed in a prestigious law firm and had been to the best schools: Princeton, Oxford, and Harvard, I believe, and in that order. One day, I asked him about his earlier life. And my eyes widened as he talked. He was from West Virginia. His family didn't have running water, as I remember. He himself didn't have proper shoes until he was 14. He didn't have any books, either. But a prominent man in town - I think it was a banker - let him use his private library. And that helped this kid, Michael, a lot.

Later, when the world looked at him, I'm sure they saw nothing but "white privilege." But they knew nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Campus zealots hound student out of lectures and bars with shouts of 'rapist' after he dared to question the effectiveness of rape 'consent workshops'

Daring to dissent in a time of group-think fanaticism is a dangerous choice.

Second-year George Lawlor, 19, fears for his future at Warwick University after being ostracised and bullied for challenging a student union drive to hold rape awareness sessions.

Writing in a blog, he argued that the overwhelming majority of people 'don't have to be taught to not be a rapist' - and that men inclined to commit the crime would be unlikely to attend such a workshop.

He added that he found his invitation to one of the sessions 'incredibly hurtful'.

But in the latest example of politically correct intolerance in universities, the student faced a fierce backlash from radical feminists. He was attacked on Twitter and Facebook by student activists branding him a 'rapist' and 'misogynist'.

...Mr Lawlor added: 'There was one guy messaging me on Facebook for over a week, calling me names like racist, rapist . I've stopped going to lectures and seminars because of the perceived threat.'

He said he was driven out of a bar in Leamington after some students overheard his friend mention his name. 'These six guys just crowded round me and started shouting at me . calling me a rapist, a misogynist, and threatening me . I had to get out of there,' he said.

Someone Tried to Assassinate Nigel Farage

Bill Clinton Received $8 Million From Groups With Business Before Hillary's State Department

I'm old enough to remember when even the appearance of a conflict of interest was enough to give people the vapors. Now it's graft right in front of everyone's faces and no one says boo.

Why are Cuban refugees trying to get into Nicaragua?

Most Americans Cannot Join the Military

The Army estimates that of those in the serving age range fewer than 27% could meet the eligibility requirements for enlistment. Mainly because of obesity and mental health-related issues.

144 Years of Marriage and Divorce in the US

Note that the divorce rate has fallen to only slightly higher than what it was in the 50s and 60s. The big difference though is that the marriage rate has plummeted to a historic low.

Prager University: The Three Types of Forgiveness

The world can use more forbearance.

Woman Realizes That She's Been Accidentally Abusing Her Husband This Whole Time...

My "Aha Moment" happened because of a package of hamburger meat. I asked my husband to stop by the store to pick up a few things for dinner, and when he got home, he plopped the bag on the counter. I started pulling things out of the bag, and realized he'd gotten the 70/30 hamburger meat - which means it's 70% lean and 30% fat.

...That's how it started. I launched into him. I berated him for not being smarter. Why would he not get the more healthy option? Did he even read the labels? Why can't I trust him? Do I need to spell out every little thing for him in minute detail so he gets it right? Also, and the thing I was probably most offended by, why wasn't he more observant? How could he not have noticed over the years what I always get? Does he not pay attention to anything I do?

As he sat there, bearing the brunt of my righteous indignation and muttering responses like, "I never noticed," "I really don't think it's that big of a deal," and "I'll get it right next time," I saw his face gradually take on an expression that I'd seen on him a lot in recent years. It was a combination of resignation and demoralization. He looked eerily like our son does when he gets chastised. That's when it hit me. "Why am I doing this? I'm not his mom."

I suddenly felt terrible. And embarrassed for myself. He was right. It really wasn't anything to get bent out of shape over. And there I was doing just that. Over a silly package of hamburger meat that he dutifully picked up from the grocery store just like I asked. If I had specific requirements, I should have been clearer. I didn't know how to gracefully extract myself from the conversation without coming across like I have some kind of split personality, so I just mumbled something like, "Yeah. I guess we'll make do with this. I'm going to start dinner."

He seemed relieved it was over and he left the kitchen.

Remember that people - especially your spouse - have an empathy budget. And when you're a bitch or a dick to them, their forbearance of your behavior out of love saps that budget until there's none left for any generosity or affection.

The 10 Scariest Theories Known to Man

The Yahoo AoSHQ group - it's got electrolytes and shit.

And my twitter thang.

Tonight's post brought to you by gun safety for children:

1

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to maetenloch at gmail. Otherwise send tips to Ace. Gemini is rising, East Wind is blowing.

Close it up

Reminder: Bill Clinton Believes in UFOs and the JFK Conspiracy, And Hillary Talks to Ghosts

—Ace

But these weird New Age nonsense beliefs -- dopey pseudoreligions taking the place of actual religions -- will be ignored, while the media continues to jeer at people for reading the Bible.

Senator Jack -- a coblogger here, though inactive -- reminded me that Webb Hubbell revealed in his book that Bill Clinton had an important mission for him when they came into power in 1992. Namely, getting to the bottom of the UFO and JFK conspiracies.

From Deborah Orin, writing at the NY Post. (The original article isn't available. Here's a snippet from a UFO site.)

BILL WANTED UFO PROBE: HUBBELL BOOK

By DEBORAH ORIN

President Clinton was intrigued by UFOs and wanted to know if they
really existed, says a new book by his golfing pal, disgraced Justice
Department official Webb Hubbell.

Hubbell says finding out about UFOs was one of the top priorities
Clinton gave him in sending him over to a job as one of Attorney
General Janet Reno's top deputies.

Clinton had said, "if I put you over at Justice I want you to find the
answers to two questions for me," Hubbell recounts.

"One, who killed JFK. And two, are there UFOs."

"Clinton was dead serious. I had looked into both, but wasn't satisfied
with the answers I was getting," Hubbell adds.

He wasn't satisfied with the answers Hubbell was getting.

Meanwhile, Kimberly Kaye reminds people that Hillary Clinton, noted UFOlogist, has also taken part in seances in which she spoke to the ghosts of Eleanor Roosevelt and Gandhi.

The ghosts of Eleanor Roosevelt! And Gandhi! At the White House!

I wonder how much they contributed to the Clintons to get the invite.

So yes let's talk up Donald Trump's goofy belief in the Birth Certificate Conspiracy while never talking about Bill and Hillary's shared belief that the government is covering up the existence of alien visitors to earth (despite their having been co-presidents in charge of the government for eight years) and Hillary's fifth-dimensional astral projections to the outer planes.

American Stocks Fall In Biggest Beginning-of-Year Sell-Off in Ten Years, After China's Shanghai Markets Plunge 7% In One Day

—Ace

China, which already was in a crash, crashed further.

The Shanghai market fell nearly 7% Monday on the first trading day of the year, its worst day since the height of last summer’s market crash. The selloff triggered circuit-breakers on their first day in effect, shutting down the market in the early afternoon.

The most obvious factor behind the selloff was a private index of manufacturing activity in China, which showed that business had slowed for the 10th consecutive month for the country’s steelmakers, shipbuilders and other industries.

After falling 470, the Dow Jones recovered a bit to finish down only 276.

China's apparently continuing to slide into a recession, and that seems to be hurting the global economy.

Which is already weak, despite what Obama and his media bobby-soxers say.

Meanwhile, a new Pew study finds that the middle class is being "hollowed out," -- some are becoming rich, more are becoming poor, and the vital, stabilizing force that is the middle class is shrinking.

In 1971, about 61 percent of adults lived in middle-income households (defined as three-person households with incomes from $41,869 to $125,608 in today’s dollars). By 2014, that share had dropped to 50 percent. Meanwhile, the share of low-income households (households with incomes of $41,868 or less) grew from 25 percent to 29 percent, and the share of upper-income households (incomes above $125,608) increased from 14 percent to 21 percent.

But the study convincingly rebuts the notion that the living standards of most Americans had stagnated for many decades. Pew calculated household incomes, adjusted for inflation, all along the economic spectrum and found that, until the early 2000s, most households reaped slow but steady increases. Growing inequality did not siphon off all gains for those who are not rich...

Maybe not, but middle classes wages have been stuck for a long while, since the "early 2000s."

At least Bush had the 9/11 disaster to explain the economy.

Whatever we do we need to elect Hillary Clinton president, to continue Obama's bang-bang success on the foreign and domestic fronts. That's all I know.

Meanwhile... Obama continues using executive actions to benefit workers -- Foreign workers, that is, at the expense of American ones.

Ann Coulter: The Jeffrey Epstein Case is What the Media Thought the Duke Lacrosse and UVA Frat Cases Were, So Why Aren't They Covering it?

—Ace

Incredible, and infuriating.

Jeffrey Epstein took a plea after being charged with paying underage girls for sex -- statutory rape in Florida. This plea involved the slap on the wrist sentence of 13 months -- and he got to spend his waking hours at his Palm Beach mansion. That is, he only had to check into his "jail" eight hours a day.

Shit -- give me a comfortable bed in such a "jail" and I could serve life in "prison."

Why did he get such a sweetheart deal? Why are the media, always mad for a rape story, not interested?

Why no interest in a case in which federal prosecutors fought to hide the easy-peasy conditions of the sentence from the underage victims?

Well, take a guess. It involves Bill Clinton palling around with Epstein, taking the Lolita Express to Pedophile Island, and local Democrat prosecutors who don't seem as interested in a Democrat mega-donor's statutory rape as they were in Rush Limbaugh's pain pill addiction.

Two Outlets In One: CNN Runs Editorial Calling Oregon Park Takeover "Terrorism," But Has Previously Run Positive Editorials on Occupy Wall Street

—Ace

Gee, I wonder what could account for CNN's wildly-inconsistent editorial views.

The protest is spurred by wildly-inappropriate sentencing by the government -- hey, isn't the left always screaming about that, when it comes to their pet causes and members of their coalition?

PS: "Two Outlets in One," or something like that, is a James Taranto daily item. (Or nearly daily.)

Obama's Plan to Expand the Scope of Background Checks for Private Gun Sales, Of Course In Defiance of Congress

—Ace

The law says this about who must conduct a background check on a gun sale: those who are "engaged in the business" of selling guns must perform background checks, and "engaged in the business" is defined like this:

(21) The term “engaged in the business” means--

...

(C) as applied to a dealer in firearms, as defined in section 921(a)(11)(A), a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms, but such term shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms;

Obama's newest unconstitutional exertion of unlawful power is to redefine what "regular course of trade" is, on his own claimed authority, to achieve by illegal dictate what Congress has already refused.

Stymied by Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama is expected to act alone to take executive action to tighten restrictions on gun sales.

White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, speaking at a vigil last week for victims of the 2012 Newtown, Conn., shooting, confirmed that the president has asked his staff to complete a proposal that would expand background checks on gun sales without congressional approval.

Before Jarrett's public pronouncement, The New York Times and other media have reported the Obama administration's action would broaden the definition of who is considered a high-volume gun dealer, a move that could force background checks for certain sales at gun shows, online, and in other areas that fall outside the law.

He's signaled before that he'll be moving on this in the first couple of weeks of the new year.

Paul Ryan: Obama's Overreach on Presidential Lawmaking Is "Dangerous." Hey, who woke this guy up?

Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, on Monday called President Obama's forthcoming executive action to curb gun violence a "dangerous level of executive overreach."

"While we don't yet know the details of the plan, the president is at minimum subverting the legislative branch, and potentially overturning its will," Ryan said in a statement. "No president should be able to reverse legislative failure by executive fiat, not even incrementally. The American people deserve a president who will respect their constitutional rights - all of them."

Hillary Clinton: Aliens May Have Visited Us Already; Vows to Get to the Bottom of UFOs

—Ace

Jon Podhoretz said, correctly, that if any Republican candidate had said this, it would be screaming news all over every dial and website -- a perfect Otherizing story illustrating the strange, anti-scientific beliefs of Republicans.

You remember how much play Ben Carson's speculations about pyramid granaries got.

But Hillary Clinton says it, so it's just a story about a politician interested in citizen concerns.

Hillary Clinton says that aliens may have already visited humanity.

"I think we may have been [visited already]. We don't know for sure," the Democratic presidential front-runner told The Conway Daily Sun during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last week.

Her comment came after being asked about her husband Bill Clinton's comments during an appearance on late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in 2014, when he suggested that extraterrestrial life could exist.

...

Hillary Clinton told a Sun reporter that she would "get to the bottom" of UFOs.

Whether extraterrestrial life exists, and whether extraterrestrial life has visited us, are too very, very different questions.

Based on probabilities -- assuming that no godlike miracle is required for life, and further assuming that even if a godlike miracle is required for life, this miracle didn't occur only on earth -- it is extremely likely, bordering on certain, that extraterrestrial life exists, or has existed.

Based on the fact that there is absolutely no evidence of any visitations to earth by such life, apart from stray sightings of something in the sky (which are more easily explainable as metereological effects), the answer to the question whether the earth has been visited is a "almost certainly not."

Add into that the famous question asked by Fermi -- "If aliens exist: Then where are they?," i.e., why does evidence of them not abound, why are we not picking up radio signals from their past communications (and certainly they would have gone through a radio age, just as we did, even if they then moved on to something more clever) -- and the apparently impossibility of FTL travel and so forth.

Add into that that the only explanation for why we don't know about alien visitations is a massive and vicious government conspiracy to keep us ignorant, which is a strange position to take for someone who was once, in her own telling, co-president of the US.

But you know -- They Love science.

Just ask 'em.

They'll tell you.

NH Lawmaker and Rape Survivor Heckles Hillary Clinton Over Attacking Bill's Victims

—Ace

Notice the hostile tone of the reporter interviewing her after.

"But you're a Republican, right?"

Meanwhile, Paula Jones is back as well.

Speaking to weekend talk radio host Aaron Klein, Jones slammed Hillary as a "two-faced" "liar" who waged a war on women by trying to discredit "predator" Bill’s sexual accusers.

"And how dare her. You know what? She don't care nothing about women. Because if she did she would believe what I had to say. She would believe what the other women had to say."

Jones further accused the media of practicing a double standard by "protecting" the Clintons while deservedly scrutinizing Bill Cosby's alleged sexual assaults.

Yes that's the plan.

It's an interesting confluence of events as the media maintains, correctly, that they should believe Bill Cosby's alleged victims, given that there are many of them, while simultaneously embargoing mention of Bill Clinton's alleged victims.

There are a lot of them, too.

By the way, Bill Cosby's wife Kah-meeele is no longer standing by her man.

So she's one up on Hillary Clinton, eh?

Monday Morning News Dump

—BenK

• Many See IRS Penalties (It's a Tax!) As More Affordable Than Insurance
• Iran Deal Backers Embarrassed By Obama Admins Sanctions Blunder
• Saudi Arabia And Iran Cut Off Diplomatic Ties
• Study Finds College Still More Worthwhile Than Spending 4 Years Chained To A Radiator
• How Liberals Are The New Autocrats
• The Artist Who Helped Invent Space Travel
• Man With Bionic Penis To Finally Lose His Virginity At 43
• Why Are People Staying Out Of The Labor Force?
• SJW's At Oberlin Don't Know Anything About Ethnic Food

Why Is Marco Rubio Working With Democrats To Weaken Due Process On College Campuses?

—DrewM.

Marco Rubio regularly is attacked for his leadership on the Gang of 8 amnesty bill. But that doesn't mean there aren't others where is legislative instincts are troubling.

For example, when Democrats like Claire McCaskil and Kirsten Gillibrand went looking for a Republican co-sponsor for their bill to further erode the due process rights of college students charged with sexual assault, they found wiling partners in...Marco Rubio and Kelly Ayotte.

With key Republicans along for the ride, McCaskill and Gillibrand produced a bill designed to advance the administration’s agenda. Its language presumes the guilt of all students accused of sexual assault by repeatedly calling accusers who have not yet substantiated their claims “victims,” without the critical qualifier “alleged.” CASA would also order colleges to provide a “confidential advisor” for these “victims,” with no comparable help for the accused. And it would require universities to publish data on the outcomes of their campus sexual-assault cases (which only Yale does now), apparently in the hope that doing so will invite Title IX complaints against any college that finds an insufficient number of accused students guilty.

Further, McCaskill has said that CASA, by making adjudication processes uniform for all institutions, is designed to help “remove the underpinning of . . . lawsuits” by accused students who say they were railroaded. No wonder McCaskill believes that “victims” might see themselves as “better off doing the Title IX process” than going through the criminal-justice system.

The Washington Examiner’s Ashe Schow asked each sponsoring senator’s office how CASA would ensure due process for accused students. An Ayotte spokesperson declined to answer Schow’s questions, justifying the senator’s co-sponsorship by repeating the canard that one in five college women is sexually assaulted. A Rubio spokesperson replied, “This bill does not address this issue.” When asked whether college officials or law enforcement would have the most authority to investigate allegations, the spokesperson responded: “The victim will have the most authority.” This reflected (at best) an astonishing misunderstanding both of the need for impartial adjudication of such serious charges and of the fact that at the investigative stage there is no “victim”; there are an accuser and an accused.

Emphasis mine.

That quote from Rubio's spokesperson is incredible. It's the kind of thing you expect to hear from Hillary Clinton or Rubio's new legislative partner Kirsten "I Believe Mattress Girl" Gillibrand.

Read the whole article. It's not just about Rubio but the cowardice of almost every Republican in Congress to stand up to the Obama administration's efforts to strip college students, mostly men, of basic legal protections. It's especially worth reading the exchange between Lamar Alexander (who believe it or not is on the right side of this) with a haughty Obama appointee who thinks she has the power railroad accused students.

And before Rubio supporters claim this is just a political hit, note who the co-authors of the story are and that it appears in the Rubio friendly National Review.

The authors of this article are not partisan critics. One of us is an independent, the other a Democrat who twice voted for Obama and donated to his presidential campaign. But when the president and his party go rogue, it is the duty of the loyal opposition to blow the whistle and fight back.

I'm not sure if he's the independent or the Democrat but one of the two is KC Johnson, the professor who was instrumental in exposing the Duke rape hoax.

I'm not holding my breath waiting for other candidates, like Ted Cruz who speaks so often and eloquently about the Constitution, to stand up to the proponents of star chamber show trials. It doesn't speak well for them but if they do they will no doubt be tarred as "supporting rapists" and engaging in "a war on women". Maybe even by Rubio himself. Let's not deny that it doesn't speak well for any of them if they refuse to take a stand. Personally though, I'll take my chances with candidates that have shown hostility and contempt for Obama's worldview over those who have repeatedly worked with those in Congress who wish to codify it.

Morning Thread (1-4-2016)

—Andy

That was fun, now get back to your desks.

Overnight Open Thread (1-3-2016)

—Maetenloch

Quote of the Day I

When I arrived in Leningrad, Mikhail Gorbachev had just become general secretary, and the Cold War was still very much alive. But almost as soon as I left, things began to change. Any American who made her first trip across the Iron Curtain even three years later, in 1988, would encounter a completely different world and a different vocabulary - glasnost, perestroika, reform - from the one I had found. Which also means that anyone of any nationality who is more than a decade younger than I can't possibly have any adult recollection of either the USSR, or the Cold War, or what we used to call "real existing socialism" at all.

Recently, this has begun to seem significant to me. Not because my own experience was significant, but because it means that the living memory of the USSR is now truly fading and the nature of the USSR - its peculiar awfulness, its criminality, its stupidity - is becoming harder and harder to explain. The sense of being surrounded by lies; the underlying anxiety that someone might be listening or reporting on you; the constant, screaming, inescapable propaganda; the sullenness of the crowds on the Metro; the memories of mass terror just below the surface; the useful idiots and the cynical sycophants who supported the whole thing, both in Russia and abroad; all of that is now absolutely impossible to convey.

-- Anne Applebaum in Russia and the Great Forgetting

Quote of the Day II

It's all about power. And they don't care about the Constitution, or social norms of free speech and academic freedom, or campus talk about civility. Because it's all about power. There is nothing admirable about this, it is not simply overzealous well-meaning people. It is mob violence. Because it's all about power.

-- Glenn Reynolds on the campus SJWs

Quote of the Day III

"But we now live in the age of the fake nerd and I think that's where Star Wars fits best. The people that 'f***ing love science!' and watch Big Bang Theory can't shut up about Star Wars. It's another method to signal their membership in the cult of pseudo-scientism. They may never have made it past geometry in school, but they swear they grew up on comic books and were always a nerd."

-- Thezman on fake nerdery

On the other hand if there's one thing I hate, it's nerdier-than-thou nerd hipsterism.

Swiss General: Europe "On The Verge Of Civil War," Citizens Must Arm Themselves

Lieutenant-General André Blattmann has issued a warning to the Swiss people that society is dangerously close to collapse and advised those not already armed as part of the Swiss Army reserve to take steps to arm themselves. Blattmann has been head of the Armed Forces since, 1 March 2009 and his words carry very significant weight in a country in which several Citizens' Initiative referenda against burqas and mosques have proven enormously popular as concerns grow about immigration and Islamisation.

Related: Gun sales up in 12 Swiss cantons

This is not 'Nam, Achmed - there are rules for raping

And man does Daesh have a lot of rules about when you can and can not rape your sex slaves.

Among the fatwa's injunctions are bans on a father and son having sex with the same female slave; and the owner of a mother and daughter having sex with both. Joint owners of a female captive are similarly enjoined from intercourse because she is viewed as "part of a joint ownership."

If the owner of a female captive, who has a daughter suitable for intercourse, has sexual relations with the latter, he is not permitted to have intercourse with her mother and she is permanently off limits to him. Should he have intercourse with her mother then he is not permitted to have intercourse with her daughter and she is to be off limits to him.

And they also seem to be anti-abortion as well at least when it comes to rape-pregnancies:

It is not permissible to cause her to abort if she is pregnant

What If The World Is Not a Coca Cola Ad From the 70s: Family that housed 100+ foreign refugees on farm attacked and threatened with murder by their 'guests'

Football Thread: Late Game Edition: Vikings vs. Packers [CBD]

—Open Blogger

What...so there is no content?

Sue me.

And yes...I am a retaaad. Sorry about the delay.

No Packers cheerleaders, so you will have to settle.

Close it up

Food Thread: Animal Rights And Hangover Remedies [CBD]

—Open Blogger

Animal Rights^TM is a topic sure to inflame the SJWs and assorted other progressives. The vitriol and violence heaped on biomedical researchers who use animals is often unbelievable. The chilling effect of the threat of violence (where else have we seen that?) on important, lifesaving research is incalculable. And the other half of the debate -- animals used for food or food production -- is just as contentious.

I doubt I am in the minority when I say that I want very much for the animals used in biomedical research to be treated with the respect that life deserves, that their pain is minimized whenever possible, and that the studies themselves are designed with some sense of the importance of preserving some dignity in the lives and deaths of the animals used. And the same goes for food production. Of course I want the animals I eat to be treated as well as possible, but I most certainly do not want a single human to starve because of some pompous esthetic that only happy animals can be used for food.

And I categorically reject the notion that the use of animals in research is an inherent wrong. Human life is more important than animal life. We are so radically different than animals (well, except for Red Sox fans) in so many ways that any equivalence depends on tortured logical fallacies and equally tortured interpretations of scientific experiments. That Koko can imitate sign language gestures and may be able to use them appropriately sometimes is a tribute to the intelligence and perseverance of its trainers. But language is more than communication of rote learning. When Koko can communicate a bedtime story to its offspring that isn't mere mimicry, get back to me.

My physical anthropology professor spoke of tool use among animals, specifically primates. he projected a photo of a chimp using a stick to probe a termite mound.

His comment? "This isn't tool use."

The next slide was of the space shuttle.

His comment? "THIS is tool use."

******
From commenter "Top.Man" comes an exposition on that which plagues the amateur drinker. Professionals like most of us around here know exactly when to stop....right?

Hair of the Dog: The Magnificent Bastards

Hangovers are a fact of Moron life, if you're doing it right. In a nutshell, you feel bad because your body is trying to get rid of the alcohol still in your system and you happen to be awake while that happens. People have been trying to find cures since day 1, some of which help, most of which don't.

Joe Scialom may have gotten it right. Joe was THE bartender (and much more) at the Long Bar at Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo in 1940, a legendary hotel which also served as the unofficial British Eighth Army HQ during the desert campaigns. The Germans had cut the supply lines to Cairo and the bar ran out of the good stuff, which meant they had to use not-so-good stuff, which meant hangovers for the officers. Joe came up with the following cure:

Suffering Bastard

1 oz. gin
1 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. Rose's lime juice cordial
2 dashes Angostura bitters
4 oz. chilled ginger beer

Shake all EXCEPT the ginger beer with ice cubes. Stir in the ginger beer. Pour into a tall glass, garnish with mint (spank your mint first to release the oils).

There may actually be something beneficial in this recipe, as some studies suggest that ginger is effective in reducing nausea.

Shepheard's was burned by mobs during the 1952 coup that deposed King Farouk. Joe was imprisoned, briefly, on suspicion of being a spy (he wasn't) and then released and exiled. His subsequent journey took him through most of Europe and to various places in the West Indies, ultimately landing at the Marco Polo Club in Manhattan in 1960 where he came up with these variations as alternative hangover cures. The amount of booze is (roughly) the same as in the Suffering Bastard, the differences are the addition of other spirits.

Dying Bastard

1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. bourbon
1/2 oz. Rose's lime juice cordial
2 dashes Angostura bitters
4 oz. chilled ginger beer

Dead Bastard

1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. bourbon
1/2 oz. light Puerto Rican rum (Cruzan or Coruba)
1/2 oz. Rose's lime juice cordial
2 dashes Angostura bitters
4 oz. chilled ginger beer

Same prep and garnish as above.

Hit Ace's Amazon link and order a copy of Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's Potions Of The Caribbean for more about Joe, the origin of the drink and much, much more. This is a must-have book for anyone interested in the history of craft cocktails.

Happy New Year!

******

I love scones, but too often they are dry and crumbly and just not very good. This recipe is more of a cakey style, but it still rocks.

Blueberry Scones

• 2.5 cups unbleached flour
• 1.25 tablespoon baking powder
• 1.25 teaspoon salt
• 3.3 ounces sugar
• 1/4 pound unsalted butter cut into the smallest pieces you can manage.
• 1 cup buttermilk or cream (cream is better, but slightly more fattening)
• 1 egg
• 1 pint fresh blueberries (or currents or raspberries or....) dusted in flour and then frozen. (if using raspberries, cut them in half or thirds before dusting with flour and freezing)

Toss the blueberries with a bit of flour and then freeze them for a few hours. This will prevent them from breaking up when you mix them into the batter, and the end result will be whole berries distributed through the scones rather than blueberry mush in blue scones. If you use raspberries, cut them into smaller pieces before you dust them with flour and freeze them.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the butter pieces to the flour mixture, and using a pastry blender or your hands (stick them under cold water and then dry them carefully), break up the butter until it resembles sand or small crumbs (A food processor will do a great job).

In another bowl, whisk the cream and egg together, and then add to the flour mixture. Add the frozen blueberries and mix just to incorporate, do not overwork the dough.

This is messy, sticky dough. I have found that the best method for portioning is to use a large ice cream scoop. Drop the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet, trying to keep them as tall as possible. This recipe will make eight large scones, but tailor the size to your preference.

Sprinkle granulated sugar on them for a nice color and added crispiness.

Bake for at least 25-30 minutes or so until tinged with brown. If you make smaller scones they will bake more quickly, so adjust the time accordingly.

Close it up

Football Sunday in America! - [Niedermeyer's Dead Horse]

—Open Blogger

My, oh my, how time does fly.

The last week of regular season games is upon us and I can scarcely believe it.

Let's blow it out today!

Chip Kelly: My players mean the world to me.

Several scenarios being tossed about for Kelly's future, including; Tennessee, Cleveland, and Miami.

Another potential replacement is thought to be Adam Gase, the Chicago Bears Offensive Coordinator.

Beast Mode: The entrepreneur edition

Marshawn Lynch gets 'I'm just here so I won't get fined' phrase trademarked https://t.co/xxlIsKDbpY pic.twitter.com/YSIwDxpMzO

— Bleacher Report NFL (@BR_NFL) December 30, 2015

So disappointing for Jags fans.

Major shakeups in the latest NFL Power Rankings https://t.co/nv3tvLidYf pic.twitter.com/VzHgl4slfG

— Bleacher Report NFL (@BR_NFL) December 30, 2015

Ummmm.

Rams DE William Hayes doesn't believe dinosaurs existed, says It's 'crazy' talk https://t.co/7bSCEPc1s4 pic.twitter.com/acqqihyojM

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 30, 2015

Jackass? Loser? Is that the right word?

I guess Pettine's talk didn't really stick.

Johnny Manziel reportedly ID’d gambling at Las Vegas casino before Week 17 https://t.co/74iUv56ILb pic.twitter.com/mSUXQE3in9

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 3, 2016

Worst ad for PEDs evah!

Peyton Manning still leads the NFL in interceptions with 17 despite missing 6 games this season. pic.twitter.com/0M4wL9Perv

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 31, 2015

I was curious and the search returned something quite at odds with today's NFL: Not a scandal to be found. Happy retirement.

Charles Woodson will play his final game today. Legend. pic.twitter.com/0CTWsKEz1M

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) January 3, 2016

In this, the final week of regular season play, we're going to focus on the pretty girls who won't be cheering for the rest of the season.

You have no idea how happy I am to no longer have to search for pics of some of these squads. No. Not all cheerleaders are hot, or even cute.

And for the Moronettes: The Patriots have a smokin' hot QB

Find the schedules and the standings here.

Whew! *wipes brow*

Enjoy the games, folks.

Close it up

Sunday Morning Book Thread 01-03-2016: Chick Lit [OregonMuse]

—Open Blogger

Best Sellers

Good morning to all of you morons and moronettes and bartenders everywhere and all the ships at sea. Welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The Sunday Morning Book Thread is the only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. And when I type up the book thread, my pinkies remain elevated the whole time, that's how classy it is. Even Donald Trump thinks the book thread is classy. Also, yuuge.

“Reading requires actual concentration. If you skipped a paragraph, or even an important sentence, you could lose the entire story. With most TV shows, though, you didn't have to concentrate at all. You could space out for a good ten minutes, then come back and still figure out what was going on.”
― Daniel Ehrenhaft

Make Boatloads of Money By Writing This One Weird Book

One of the "downsides" of free speech is that people can say things that you don't approve of.

One of the "downsides" of enabling lots of people to publish books is that lots of books can get published that you don't approve of, or think "whoever would want to read a book like THAT?" Including holiday-themed romance novels involving individual who can turn themselves into animals.

As Dave Barry is wont to say, no, I am not making this up.

One such specimen in this "WTF" category is Bear Mine for Christmas: BBW Holiday Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Christmas Bear Shifter Romance Book 2) by "Ariana Hawkes".

Let's unpack this title a bit.

BBW: "big beautiful woman", i.e. a woman who is overweight. I'm assuming this adjective applies to the main character, who is a woman, rather than the bear. I mean, look at the 6-pack on that guy in the cover art. Is that from a photo, or did some cover artist whip it up from scratch?

So the hunky bear-dude is kind of a "chubby chaser" then.

Holiday: this novel takes place during the Christmas season.

Paranormal: in this context, it means having unusual abilities or attributes beyond the lot of mortal men. Like being able to turn into an animal of some sort, as in this book. Or, in other stories, being a sparkly vampire. I've also seen mystery novels where the detective main character is (a) psychic or (b) can speak with the dead. But I think that would be too much like cheating: "So, Mrs. Detective main character person, who is the malefactor who strangled Mr. Grey with a pair of his own socks?" "I don't know, let me whip out my crystal ball here and contact a dead guy, and we'll find out." Kind of takes the fun out of looking for clues and making logical deductions, doesn't it? It would be like Chesterton having his Father Brown character solve his cases by praying to God and having a giant finger come down from heaven and point out the bad guy, like they did in that Monty Python sketch. Yeah, I know the authors who write those "clairvoyant detective" stories build in limitations to the character's abilities so that quick and easy solutions aren't possible, but I guess I have to suspend waaay too much disbelief for these stories to be work, at least for me. Sorry for this digression, but I've been wanting to get this rant into the book thread for quite awhile.

Bear Shifter: perhaps another name for this would be "werebear", but that word sounds more silly than scary; it simply does not carry the same fear cache as the word "werewolf" does. So "shifter" is a pretty good alternative -- it has a nice, foreboding ambiguity to it. Maybe "shifting" is good. Maybe it's bad. Maybe it's both. You don't know.

Romance: the feeling of being in love with a powerful alpha male, preferably with one with 6-pack abs and no shirt.

So this book, not only is it a romance, not only is it a paranormal romance, not only is it a paranormal romance involving bear shifters, but it's a paranormal romance involving bear shifters during the holiday season pursuing overweight women, and now I've got this image in my mind of a shaggy brown bear chasing a fat chick through the snow.

If you're laughing at this like I am, listen to this, it might sober you up: this novel is listed as a #1 Bestseller on Amazon, and amazingly, as of when I'm writing this, it's ranked #168 overall in the Amazon paid Kindle store. I have no idea how being ranked #168 translates into actual sales, but whatever the figure, I think it's quite an achievement for a book of this type, considering the hundreds of thousands of Kindle books available.

Last week, I wondered aloud why women are attracted to billionaires. And I got some interesting answers. But apparently, having more money than you can spend in a lifetime is not an absolute requirement to make a woman's heart go thump-thump-thump. If a hot guy can turn himself into a bear, that'll work, too.

This is a standalone, short, sweet, and steamy read, perfect for a lunch break, bath time, or a little dose of me-time, wherever you are. HEA and no cliffhanger!

I had to look that last part up. HEA means "happily ever after". This is in contrast to HFN, or "happy for now" endings.

The growth of self-publishing has evidently uncovered a huge, untapped market for books of this type. They must be like crack to women. So, the lesson for all you moron authors is obvious: if you want to make a big pot of money, add a shape-shifting, shirtless bear-man to your novel and watch your sales skyrocket.

Oh, did I say bear? How about reindeer? Buck Me... For New Year's: BBW Paranormal Were-reindeer Shapeshifter Holiday Romance (Frost Brothers' Brides). Currently ranked #477 overall in the paid Kindle store.

Yeah.

Ha! Take THAT, Muldoon!

What Are They Reading In The Army?

So, like other branches of the Armed Forces, the Army maintains its own reading list for both officers and enlisted personnel. The list is divided into four subsections based on rank, so I'll highlight one selection from each.

One of the books they want the enlisteds and the junior NCOs to read is Stephen Crane's classic, The Red Badge of Courage:

A classic of American literature, this Civil War novel depicts a Union soldier's terrifying baptism of fire and his ensuing transformation from coward to hero. Originally published in 1895, its vivid evocation of battle remains unsurpassed.

The amazing part of this classic book is that its amazing realism in its depiction of Civil War battles, even though Crane did not fight in the Civil War (which took place before he was born), nor in any other war.

For company grade officers, The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 by MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray, which

provide[s] a conceptual framework and historical context for understanding the patterns of change, innovation, and adaptation that have marked war in the Western world since the fourteenth century. Case studies and a conceptual overview offer an indispensable introduction to military change for all Army leaders.

Available on Amazon, if you want to spend $25 for the Kindle edition.

It takes some doing to get a raw recruit to point a gun at another human being and pull the trigger. This is why the Army brass wants their senior NCOs and field grade officers to read On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman that examines the psychological and societal costs of training young men to overcome this natural aversion.

Senior leaders above Brigade Level need to read Reid, Michael Reid's The Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul.

The thesis of the book is simple: Latin America is torn between reformers - democrats who support free markets and democracy, and populists - who support neither. Reid argues that although the populists have considerable appeal in the region, the tide has turned against them. Unlike previous eras, the current embrace of democracy and capitalism - augmented with a great deal of redistribution policies - is here to last.

We really dropped the ball on South America. Reagan had the rat bastard commies running for the tall grass back in the 80s, but then we just sort of wandered off, which is why we've had to deal with annoying pests like Hugo Chavez and his Bolivian mini-me, Evo Morales.

Commies are like blackberry bushes. No matter how much you prune them, uproot them, burn them, or poison them, it never seems to be enough; you always have to go back out to your garden and go whack, whack, whack, otherwise, they're grow right back again.

Jump Into the Fire

So I was a given a Kindle Fire 7 as a Christmas gift, and I've been using it for a couple of weeks now. It's an adequate Android device, and by "Android", I mean "FireOS", which is Amazon's in-house version of Android. I thought a 5th generation Fire tablet would be relatively light, but it is surprisingly heavy, as heavy as my 2012 Nexus. It comes with 8GB onboard storage with provision for adding a micro SD card of up to 32GB.

So my first question once I had it set up was, how do I sideload this thing?

Up to now, my "go-to" e-book format has been epub, which has become the de facto standard. I have many e-books stored on my desktop's hard drive as epub files. Of course, the Amazon Kindle world does not do epub. So I went looking in the Amazon store for an epub reader, and there really isn't one I can use. There are library managers, a couple of pdf readera, and one epub reader that does such a poor job, it's pretty much useless. The epub apps I use on the Nexus, Aldiko Reader, FBReafer, Moon+, are not compatible with the Fire.

Several weeks ago, one of you morons helpfully provided a link to this procedure to install the Google suite of apps on a 5th generation Fire tablet, and thank you for doing that, but I don't think I want to go through all of this quite yet. I'm a little reluctant to load a number of apps Google that I have no intention of ever using, such as Google+, Google Play, News, Video, etc. that take up storage space. Actually, the only app I'm really interested in is the Google Read app, which does a good job with ePub books.

But I've come up with an acceptable 'Plan B' solution: the Kindle app may not read epub, but it handles mobi files just fine. So, if I connect the Fire to my Windows 8 PC, I can transfer mobi files to the \Books folder on the Fire (other folders may be usable for this, but I haven't tried any other one) and it will be picked up and displayed for reading by the Kindle app. I have the Calibre e-book manager installed on my Windows PC, and I can use it to convert any epub book I might want to read on the Kindle to mobi.

This should be enough for my needs, at least for now.

The Impossible Dream

Another book I happened upon, Guided By The Beauty Of Their Weapons: Notes on Science Fiction and Culture in the Year of Angry Dogs by Philip Sandifer, is a Sad Puppies commentary from the other side:

This anthology of essays written by acclaimed Marxist occultist critic Philip Sandifer during 2015 starts from the Puppies controversy, presenting an alternative vision of science fiction grounded in progressive politics and the ability of the genre to explore strange and unthinkable ideas - one that holds that its primary value is its ability to do new things, as opposed to being in permanent debt to antiquated ideas and styles.

Yawn. I get so tired of this self-congratulatory balloon juice from progressives, it's all so boring and predictable, like pony-tailed, over-60 hippies who think they're on the cutting edge of hipness. But I'm not going to waste any time deconstructing this piece of dishonest hackery. Larry Correia would do a much better job. Rather, what I noticed is what it says about the author:

This anthology of essays written by acclaimed Marxist occultist critic Philip Sandifer during 2015...

OK, so what, exactly, is a "Marxist occultist"? I thought the whole idea of the Marxism, and therefore, progressive thought in general, is wrapped around something called "dialectical materialism", where everything is explained in terms of purely natural processes and purely natural phenomena.

Hence religion is looked down upon as "the opiate of the masses."

I know there are progressives who call themselves Christian, but if you're going to go so far as to specifically identify yourself with Marxism, as Sandifer does, that's not something that naturally goes along with being an "occultist", a word which has all kinds of supernatural connotations. It's like claiming to be a "compassionate murderer" or a "smart, knowledgeable MSNBC commentator." It just doesn't make sense.

Perhaps Mr. Sandifer is using a meaning for the word "occultist" that's different than the one I am accustomed to. Regardless, his Zen-like self-appellation "Marxist occultist" reminds me of this bit in CS Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters where the materialist/supernatural conflict is discussed:

We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When the humans disbelieve in our existence we lose all he pleasing results of direct terrorism and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and skeptics. At least, not yet. I have great hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, belief in us, (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The “Life Force”, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis, may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work—the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshiping, what he vaguely calls “Forces” while denying the existence of “spirits”—then the end of the war will be in sight.

Dread Arch-demon Screwtape, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Philip Sandifer, the monstrous culmination of your unholy labors.

What I'm Reading

Mrs. Muse likes to catch the morning showing of the old Perry Mason show with Raymond Burr on the Me-TV channel (that series ran for 9 years). So last week I thought I'd read some of the original source material to find out more about this iconic crime-solver and grabbed The Case of the Velvet Claws, Erle Stanley Gardner's first Perry Mason novel, published in 1933. As I was reading, I kept imagining Raymond Burr as Perry Mason doing the things described in the book, which quickly got weird because the Perry Mason in the book is different than the TV version.

First, he admits to Della Street, his secretary, who complained about all the phonies and liars that they have to contend with, that he isn't a normal lawyer, has never probated a will or done much contract work, but rather, charges a lot of money ("my prices are high, but fair") to phonies and liars to help them get out of jams, and he knows they're phonies and liars. All he cares about, he says, is that they pay him.

This is something I'd expect if AMC was doing a "gritty reboot" of the Perry Mason series. But no, this is how he was originally written.

Also, he chain smokes. He's tailing this particular low life and he's sitting in his car lighting one cigarette from the butt of another and even having to get a new pack to continue his chain smoking.

Lastly, Perry Mason hits people. Early on in the book, some palooka was giving him some lip, impeding his investigation, so he just hauls back and pops him right in the puss. Palooka goes down like a sack of cement and Perry Mason continues on his way. It was a little disconcerting to see him do this, but I've come to see that he is not so much the clean but tough lawyer, but rather a "fixer" who makes his living servicing the intersection between legal and illegal activities. Not that Mason would do anything shady or illegal, but he has figured out that people who do often find themselves in situations where they're going to get hurt, and so he can charge them lots of money to clean up their poop.

So this is not your father's Perry-- wait a minute, actually, this is your father's Perry Mason. But, this is only the first of about 80(!) Perry Mason novels, so I don't know if the character changed over time. Perhaps he did. But even if he did, I must say I kind of like this harder-edged version.

___________

Don't forget the AoSHQ reading group on Goodreads. It's meant to support horde writers and to talk about the great books that come up on the book thread. It's called AoSHQ Moron Horde and the link to it is here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175335-aoshq-moron-horde.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Close it up

EMT 1/3/16 [krakatoa

—Open Blogger

Last day of vacation blues.

Overnight Open Thread (2 Jan 2016)

—CDR M

Sadly, I think Bookworm is right. Things will get worse before it gets better.

Banished Words

Lake Superior State University's 41st AnnualList of Banished Words. Oh I can think of quite a few more to add to this list. Micro-aggression is one.
h/t

Aircraft Carrier Value

Some New Year's thoughts on aircraft carriers.

News Bloopers

GOPe

No shit. Congressional Republicans acted more like democrats in 2015.

24 Days

Reminder, we're only 24 days from Al Gore's '10 years to save the planet' and 'point of no return' planetary emergency deadline.

Gym Wildlife

PTSD

Interesting. PTSD-related study finds a single does of ecstasy helps conditioned fear go extinct.

Tank Video

Here, hold my beer.

Beer Tragedy

Speaking of beer, check out this sad beer story. Man inconsolable sitting outside a shop that just closed after he dropped his beer he just purchased.

Archer

5 real-world covert operations in FX's Archer.

Cat Video

Tonight's ONT brought to you by find the cat:

Top cat pic via.

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to maet or CDR M. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

Close it up

Don't Even Say It! - Niedermeyer's Dead Horse

—Open Blogger

I've spent the last hour or so strolling through memory lane, looking for the optimism that has escaped me lately. Generally, I'm feeling good about my life, but I'm not feeling good about US, collectively.

So, off to You Tube I went and I landed, naturally, at a slew of Reagan videos: Just what I needed to drift back to the days when our countrymen felt safe in the hands of a competent, secure, genuinely confident leader.

The first video I landed on addressed the PATCO strike. In it, President Reagan, Drew Lewis, and William French Smith spoke as a united chorus, and in no uncertain terms, to the illegality of the strike. When asked by a reporter about resorting to "lesser action" against the striking ATCs, Reagan seemed, for a fraction of a second, caught off guard by the notion that the full weight of the law should not be brought to bear.

*Sidenote: Why do Lewis and Smith sound like the cast of Dragnet?

Saturday Gardening Thread: Hippo Gnu Bear [Y-not and KT]

—Open Blogger

Y-not: Greeetings gardeners!

No bear in this story, but here's a hippo and a gnu.

Storms and accompanying floods continue to wreak havoc throughout much of the U.S.

The Aqueduct Global Flood Analyzer maps the susceptibility of regions across the world to flooding:

The map above shows the "flood protection level" within a 10-year window.

Flood protection level describes how well protected any given area is against flood damage. There are different kinds of flood protection systems, including dams, levees, and so on, and each system can have different protection standards or capacities. For example, a 500-year flood protection system protects an area against anything equal to or smaller than a 500-year flood. A 500-year system is more robust, and therefore provides better protection, than a 100-year flood protection system.

Here's the same analysis from a 100-year window:

In case you've forgotten your second-grade geography, this map might help you glean the major contributor to flooding:

River basins dominate the South and Midwest, particularly the Mighty Mississippi. Periodic river flooding can make for fertile soil, but also causes devastating floods. "Generally the larger the river, the longer it takes for the flooding cycle to run its course."

I'm not sure how you protect your community against this:

Flooding in the US midwest typically occurs in the spring as snowmelt swells rivers. Freezing weather in the region has added to the challenges as the waters have slowly started to recede from the St Louis area.

Most of the deaths from the rare winter floods have been caused by people driving into flooded areas after days of downpours.

Let's all say extra prayers tonight for the millions affected by these record floods.

Now, here's KT:

Dang. Tornadoes last week, big time flooding this week. Hope everyone is OK. Makes me think about staying safe and cozy, maybe with a homemade cookie.

Kookie for Cookies?

Although Christmas is over, I have been thinking about how to work cookies into the Saturday Gardening Thread. Maybe I could also include a savory winter dish with garden produce, or some booze in recognition of the Moron Lifestyle. By the way, CBD has posted some enticing content in the Food Thread lately. There have been some great ideas in the comments, too.

THE COOKIE TREE

Did you make a resolution yesterday to give up sweets? Perhaps you could just sniff the fall and winter blossoms of the Daisy Tree, Montanoa grandiflora, when that craving hits. It will grow in the mildest climates in California, Sunset zones 16, 17 and 20 - 24. Its flowers smell like freshly-baked cookies, or like cupcakes, depending on whom you ask. It is native to Southern Mexico and El Salvador and grows 12 feet tall. Some sources do not consider it to be particularly striking when out of bloom. It prefers rich soil and water.

Take a sniff

Four related species are grown in the Mesoamerican Cloud Forest at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. One has flowers that smell like cherries. I do not know if M. grandiflora can take the combined heat and humidity of the southeast coast, but some related species live there. Sometimes people get these species confused. People also confuse the seed heads of some species with flowers - "those white petal-like things are actually the seed heads with white bracts - not petals."

Puffy seed heads. Happy New Year!

M. hibiscifolia has become a noxious weed in Hawaii. Dang. If you are going to have an alien invader, why not the one that smells like cookies?

ANISE

Has anybody been stuck with just a TV to help time pass because of flooding or other weather events? If so, have you ever wondered what the alien called Anise, from Stargate, would look like with bangs and a bottle of something alcoholic? Here ya go, Morons.

Now on to the garden plant: Anise, featured in many holiday treats from around the world, is rated by Sunset for gardens in all continental western climates in the USA, and for Hawaii. It should do well in much of the East, too. It is a Mediterranean native that grows quickly in warm weather, preferring light soil and regular water.

The plant first produces a clump of basal leaves that look sort of like cilantro leaves. Then feathery leaves and umbrella-shaped flower heads rise above the basal clump. The flowers produce seeds (actually 10-ribbed fruits) after about 4 months of warm weather. You can see the two leaf forms in the drawing below.

Anise is thought by some to protect against the evil eye. I do not think it protects against certain evil-eyed people I can think of. But you never know when you might need some protection from another kind of evil eye. You might want to keep some anise on hand, just in case:

Evil-eyed kitties can appear without warning.

Sunset advises starting anise plants indoors in cold climates, outdoors in early spring in mild-winter climates and in fall for spring harvest in hot-summer areas. "Plants are fairly wispy and look best in groups. They are taprooted and do not transplant easily once they begin to put on size".

Young anise leaves can be used in salads. Outside Pride recommends coriander (cilantro) as a companion plant. Anise leaves might be a surprise in salsa if mistaken for cilantro, however. You can also use anise leaves to make a refreshing, naturally sweet tea, either fresh or dried.

Wind protection is recommended. Other sites recommend a little support for young plants. The picket fence in the photo below is about the right height to offer season-long support.

Anise in a garden

Many Christmas cookies and other bakery treats are made with anise extract or even anisette. But if you grow your own anise, you will probably want to choose a recipe that includes seeds, like Anise Seed Borracho Cookies, from the Rio Grande region of Texas. The seeds are soaked in rum overnight.

Star anise, the spice used in many Asian dishes, is a truly tropical small tree. Its seeds have a flavor almost identical to that of anise. It is not grown in the USA, but some of its relatives are. There are garden cultivars of Florida Anise, a shrub with aromatic foliage. The flowers have a scent that some describe as resembling freshly-caught fish. It is hardier than it sounds. The foliage is toxic and therefore deer-resistant.

Florida Anise

CARAWAY

Caraway is native to Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa. Like anise, the "seeds" we eat are actually fruits, but with 5 ridges instead of 10. It is used in a very wide variety of foods: starchy, savory or sweet.

A guy named Caraway has been in the news lately. Has anybody ever watched him fight?

Bryan "Kid Lightning" Caraway

Speaking of fighters, the Roman Meal Bread Company was built on the legend that Roman soldiers conquered Europe while eating large rations of wheat or rye. Seems out of step with the widespread emphasis on reducing gluten intake these days. But caraway may have played a surprising part in the diet of Roman soldiers, too.

Caraway roots (like parsnips, but smaller) are edible and may have been the base of the Julius Caesar's "Chara". At one point, during the war with Pompey when Pompey thought he had Caesar in a tight spot because his men could not be supplied with food, Caesar had his men mix Caraway root with milk to make a form of bread. Caesar had his men throw loaves at Pompey's men, to show them that instead of starving, they had food to throw away. (In Weinmann, Johann Georg, 1769.)

Anise is an annual, but caraway is a biennial. It can be planted in the fall or in the spring, depending on your climate. Fresh seed sprouts best. If you need to store seed, refrigeration or freezing is probably a good idea. The first year it forms a rosette of leaves 1 or 2 feet tall, resembling a carrot plant. The second year flowering stems shoot up above the plant to form seed heads. " . . easy to work into a border; I have mine growing among Astrantia Major "Roma" and Centaurea montana. When all three are in flower, it gives a lovely appearance of meadow."

Caraway, Perfume Ingredient

The roots are sweet like parsnips with a different flavor. In Norway, where caraway grows wild, work has been done to select caraway for larger roots. The slightly bitter leaves are also eaten in a traditional Norwegian soup and in salads.

Caraway is used in certain alcoholic spirits, traditional at holiday celebrations in some countries. "On the surface, aquavit, a spirit whose dominant flavor is caraway seeds -- the nutty seed in rye bread -- seems a little peculiar. But is a caraway seed-based spirit really all that different from gin, a spirit whose dominant flavor is juniper berries?" You could make your own aquavit with caraway seeds you grow yourself. Kummel includes caraway, cumin and fennel.

Most Americans probably think of caraway as a flavoring for bread, savory dishes or cheese. The only fresh sauerkraut I ever made included some grated carrots and caraway seeds along with the cabbage. I liked it a lot. Here is a recipe for Savoy cabbage with caraway seeds if you would like a hearty winter side dish.

But what if you want an interesting cookie instead? Caraway and similar seeds were used in some of the first "Christmas Cookeys" in America. Yankee magazine features an updated lemon-glazed caraway Christmas cookie.

Caraway folklore often relates to the ability of the seeds to keep animals, people and things from straying - possessions targeted by thieves, for example. That would be one reason to grow caraway yourself. If you try this, I hope the seeds keep your pigeons, your lover or your favorite possessions where you want them.

Have a great New Year!

Y-not: Thanks, KT!

Speaking of Mississippi, how about a (silly) song?

Related extra bonus video below:

What's happening in YOUR gardens this week?

Close it up

Christian Art And Music: Yeah You Win -CBD

—Open Blogger

Whether it is the fantastic wealth of the Roman Catholic Church at its height producing unparalleled masterpieces (Michelangelo AND Raphael? That's not fair), or the composers of the 18th-19th centuries; notably Bach, Mozart and Beethoven...the music and art of Christianity is simply better than any other religious works of Man.

Raphael's Stanza Della Segnatura in the Vatican Palace

Is there other great religious art work? Sure. But just wander through the metropolitan Museum of Art or the National Gallery or the Art Institute of Chicago or a dozen other museums in this country and Western Europe and you will see what I mean.

Michelangelo's Pieta

I had an interesting exchange with excitable Andi (before he went bonkers) about the existence of God, and how he relates to Man, and my contention was that these works are powerful evidence that God exists, and that he guides the hand of Man. I might be wrong, but the combination of breathtaking beauty and incredible emotional and powerful intellectual connections in the greatest of these works makes it a reasonable argument.

And yeah....as a Jew I am very jealous.

[addendum] Anna Puma was kind enough to share this link to her blog, where she discusses a beautiful Annunciation by Botticelli, among others. There is another one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art that is slightly more accessible than the Uffizi Gallery in Italy!

Close it up

EMT 1/2/16 [krakatoa]

—Open Blogger

Meet the New Year.

Same as the old year.

Overnight Open Thread (1 Jan 2016)

—CDR M

Happy New Year morons.

Vajayjay Speaker

Yeah, yeah, they say it's for the baby but c'mon. If the vajayjay speaker has a subwoofer, I'm calling shenanigans on that selling point.

Modern Journalism

This is what happens when you work at CNN. Facts and knowledge are optional. CNN's Alisyn Camerota shocked 14 women could make claims against Bill Clinton. I guess Alisyn left her credibility at Fox News when she left 2 years ago.

Fighter Jet Pron

Find The Panda

Can you find the Panda?

Government At Work

We're in the best of hands. U.S. doesn't know how many foreign visitors overstay visas.

Assault Rifle

Heh. A wannabe 'assault rifle' speaks out .

Self Defense Tip

Here's what you do when you are confronted by someone with a sword on the street and you don't have any weapons on you.

Teaching

And another teacher busted for having sex with a student. Looks like she got outed by the first 'victim' after he found out she was shacking up another student. Still, she's good looking.

Alcohol

Hmmm. I blame our political leadership. On both sides of the aisle. Alcohol-related deaths hit a 35-year high.

Dog Video

Tonight's ONT brought to you by the 2015 DoD Year In Photos:

Top dog image via

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to maet or CDR M. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

Close it up

Hop Aboard the Wayback Machine! - Niedermeyer's Dead Horse

—Open Blogger

It's time for a bitchfest. Let's get it all out of our system.

Kids today suck. Parents are worse. Those hipsters and their damn man-buns!

You call that music?!

There are no real movie stars today.

Oh, but I remember when....

Bogie and Bacall, John Wayne, James Rockford, Elvis, the original Guns N' roses....

Those were the days.

Let's climb aboard the wayback machine and remember all those things that left an indelible mark on our lives. How a certain song can take us back to a particular moment in time or make us long for a lost love.

Then, as we old farts are known to do, let's bitch about how all seems lost and digital music will never sound as good as vinyl.

Here. This should get you started.

There! Have at it!

Former SJW "Stupid White Knight" Explains How He Came to Understand That Feminism and Social Justice Warrioring Were Nothing But

—Ace

He talks about "deconverting" from SJWism, which makes it sound like a cult, which is... accurate.

"Their communities thrive on self-loathing disguised as elitism."

I don't know what that means, exactly, but the rest of it pretty much confirms all of your beliefs about this bitter cult of insecure hysterics.