A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by.
He gets into the taxi, and the Cabbie says, 'Perfect timing. You're just like Frank.'
Passenger: 'Who?'
Cabbie: 'Frank Feldman...He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time.'
Passenger : 'There are always a few clouds over everybody.'
Cabbie: 'Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy.'
Passenger: 'Sounds like he was something really special.'
Cabbie: 'There's more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, could do everything right.'
Passenger: 'Wow, some guy then.'
Cabbie: 'He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman.'
Passenger: 'An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?'
Cabbie: 'Well...I never actually met Frank. He died and I married his wife...'
David Johansen on Losing Sylvain Sylvain: ‘I Have a Heavy Weight On My Chest’
“The New York Dolls would have been a crappy band without him,” says the singer about his longtime bandmate
&&&
On this day: 16 Jan 1988
24 years after The Beatles first topped the chart, George Harrison went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Got My Mind Set On You' an old favorite of George's that was originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. In the UK, Harrison's version spent four weeks at No.2. via thisdayinmusic.com
&&&
On this day: 16 Jan 1980
Paul McCartney was jailed for nine days in Tokyo for marijuana possession after being found with 219g on his arrival at Narita Airport in Japan. McCartney said in 2004. “This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I’d take it with me.” via thisdayinmusic.com
ADVERTISEMENT Woman, 32, ‘mailed out 180 nude photos of men she was angry with’ Comment Jimmy McCloskeyFriday 15 Jan 2021 6:37 pm Share this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messenger Sarah Pharis is accused of mailing out 180 nude photos of two different men she was upset with (Picture: Calcasieu Parish Jail) A 28 year-old woman mailed out 180 nude images of two men she was angry with, it is claimed. Sarah Pharis, 32, was first arrested on December 28 after allegedly posting 150 images of an unidentified man to at least 30 people. She is said to have traveled from her home in Sulphur, Louisiana, to Texas to mail them. Pharis was arrested again on Thursday after Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office learned of a second man she is said to have humiliated with revenge porn. A sheriff’s office spokesman said the original batch of letters also contained nudes belonging to the second alleged victim. Pharis faces 180 counts of non-consensual disclosure of a private image, and is currently free on $90,000 bail ahead of her next court appearance. Investigators have not disclosed the relationship between Pharis and the men whose nudes she is said to have shared.
Relationship? I'm sure it was platonic and they engaged in book reviews.
Christmas is over, you’ve taken the ornaments off the tree, but instead of dragging the Christmas tree to the curb, why don’t you … eat it? London’s Julia Georgallis recently released a 30-recipe cookbook called How To Eat Your Christmas Tree.
INSIDE THE MIND OF AN ANGRY DRUNK
Why your buddy Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde after one too many
The night is going smoothly. You’re out at the bar with your friends having a great time. Then, all of a sudden, a fight breaks out. It’s the same friend every time. He’s wildly punching another of your friends. Or the guy standing behind him. Or the waiter. Or the bouncer. Or a lamp post.
***
How do you know you live in an opulent society? Liquid Death.
Right now at my local grocery, a 12-pack of store-brand bottled waters retails for $2.49. But why merely quench your thirst when you could murder it? That's the selling proposition behind Liquid Death, a 3-year-old startup offering the same quantity of spring water, but marketed like a beer and packaged in "tallboy" aluminum cans, for $19.99 on Amazon.
Today in sexist news from around the world, a Flemish psychologist has reportedly given up her license after the Belgian Commission of Psychologists scolded her for being too sexy. After the Commission suspended her license, Kaat Bollen, a Flemish media personality known for sharing and promoting sex-positive content online, simply gave it up instead.
According to Vice, Bollen’s troubles began in early 2020, after an unknown colleague reported her to the Commission, resulting in an official warning. Bollen appealed the decision, and ended up getting her license suspended instead.
In addition to a social media presence deemed “indiscreet,” Bollen also raised eyebrows for directing an erotic film and operating an online sex toy shop — all of which ultimately led to the Commission’s decision to suspend her license. According to Belgian national broadcaster VRT, the Commission’s verdict notes that Bollen “must at all times be aware of her profile and dignity,” and ultimately found that “the dignity of their profession is being affected and their image damaged” by Bollen’s online presence.
***
Ford vs. Chevrolet. Longbows vs. Crossbows. Ginger vs. Mary Ann. Ketchup on hot dogs and now the fight of: Ketchup on eggs?
Ketchup on eggs can be a subject of intense debate. Is this a combination you grew up with, or is the idea completely foreign to you? Based off of casual conversation here at The Takeout, it’s clear that for every enthusiast, there’s a hater who despise the very idea of Heinz on the breakfast table. And as a condiment, people have very strong feelings about ketchup more generally, like whether or not it belongs on hot dogs or, as we’ve discussed amongst ourselves previously, on burgers. So what do you think? Does ketchup belong on eggs?
A U.S. Coast Guard crew from Station Key West have recovered a floating tiki hut bar that was reported stolen near in the Florida Keys
Unsurprisingly, the person aboard showed signs of intoxication and he was taken into custody by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Officials said the vessel was located near Hawk’s Channel.
Local reports say the man was found slumped over the wheel of the charter tiki hut at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, giving you an indication of how rough his night was.
***
I agree with Lewis Black on occasion, this is one of these....NSFW-Language
***
NSFW-Language
***
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Broken New Year's Resolutions.
Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire and AceCorp, LLC. There may or may not be adults at the Headquarters.
Saturday Evening Movie Thread 01-16-2021 [Hosted By: Moviegique]
—Open Blogger
(This is a review of two Kim Ki-Duk films: "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring" and "3-Iron".)
The first Korean film I may have seen, as a wee nearly-29-year-old bairn, was Yongary, Monster from the Deep, the Korean Godzilla, if you like, which was almost as popular in its day as the giant Japanese lizard. Then for nearly 29 years...nothing. And then in 2003, this odd film called Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring actually turned up on some local (not even art-house) screens, and we decided to go see it.
I was actually going to talk about it last time, but that was right after Christmas and Spring is a quintessentially Buddhist film. An old monk living on an island/houseboat has a young boy for a ward. They live a simple life, but the boy sneaks off and torments small animals, and the old monk teaches him a painful lesson. In the Summer section of the film, the boy is now a young adult, and learns about the temptations and pitfalls of sex. He goes out into the world and discovers ever more and more trouble, and his own capacity for evil. The film never leaves the area with the houseboat, but the now-grown man comes back looking for peace and sanctuary against a vengeful society. In Winter, the young man has become old, returning to the house boat after learning that peace and happiness are not necessarily found in pursuit of worldly things, and in the final Spring, a new young boy is delivered to the boat, and the cycle continues.
Beautifully shot and a reminder that Korea is a beautiful place (if you're not fighting a war there), the film is slow paced and poetic, as well as almost passive. That is, it never tries to excite sympathy: We are observers to the vicissitudes of life, but we are outside them. Thus, when the boy (and later man) does things that are wrong, we are not inclined to hate him, or weep for him, or do anything other than hope he is steered on the right path.
Compared to life in, oh, say, America, say, right at this moment, it is the antithesis. It is calm and simple and all about the current moment. It was unlike any movie I had seen up to that point.
Some days you tie a rock around the frog and some days, well, the frog ties a rock around you.
Because I had found this film so moving, I endeavored to see the director's next film, 3 Iron in the theater. But as often happens with foreign features, it played for a week at most (if it played at all), and I ended up seeing it on cable. I was similarly blown away by the story of Tae-suk, a strange outsider who has what is the most demeaning job in Korea (next to cleaning saunas): Posting flyers on people's doors. But what Tae-suk does is go back to the neighborhood where he posted his flyers and see which ones weren't removed or discarded—and then he breaks into the house or apartment and crashes there for the night.
While he's there he does things like use their cookware, food and even toothbrushes, but he also fixes up the place, especially any broken devices. He's never been caught at this, as far as we can tell. But one night he does it to a very nice house which turns out not to be empty: A woman, Sun-hwa is there hiding from her abusive husband, and things shake out that Tae-Suk basically beats the tar out of the husband (when he comes home) by launching golf balls at the guy using his own 3 iron (which he then steals).
Not the worst basis for a relationship I've ever seen.
Tae-suk and Sun-hwa go on their own road adventure, posting flyers and breaking into houses until the vengeful husband comes to track them down. While Spring has elements of what you might call magical realism—as Spring goes along, we begin to wonder how the old monk ends up in such perfect vantage points to view things when the boy has taken the boat which is the only means to get off the island—3 Iron takes its metaphorical conceit, a young man figuratively invisible to society, and turns it literal.
It's not magical realism in the western sense—where a momentary non-flashy, even dubiously legitimate suspension of the physics provides a plot resolution or advancement. This isn't "the magic was inside you all along" get-out-of-jail-free card-type bromide. Tae-suk, while likable, isn't a particularly heroic figure except somewhat in his defense of Sun-hwa, who herself is more tragic than heroic (we piece together that she's married the wealthy man because he supports her parents). Their relationship is interesting, and the resolution of the films is downright spooky.
Does this bother you? I' m not touching you!
There's not a lot of talking in either of these films. In 3 Iron, the lead characters don't talk at all for the first half-hour or more. And they are very measured in pacing, with the (never formally trained) director eschewing any temptation to sentimentalize or sensationalize. But to me, they represent an amazing and relatively rare use of cinema.
Kim Ki-duk directed over two dozen films in his 20 year career without ever really approaching this level again, as far as I know. He was #metoo'ed a couple of years ago and fled to Latvia when his prospects in Korea dried up. (I have no comment on the veracity of the claims made against him, but he was an indie in his country and I have no doubt protection extends to some more than others, as it is everywhere. I would also point out that he himself plays the criminal adult pursued by the law in Spring.) Kim died last month, a couple of weeks before his 60th birthday, apparently of the coronavirus, out-living his namesake by only a few years.
His directing namesake—Kim Ki-duk, no relation—died a few weeks before his 83rd birthday in 2017. This Kim, however, directed cheesy soapers and, most famously, the giant monster movie Yongary.
Moviegique will be along later with the movie thread. As always, the chess/dress pr0n thread is an open thread, so there is no such thing as an off-topic comment.
Beginner Problem - White To Play (1281)
Goal: White can force mate in 3 moves
Hint: Reposition the bishop
1939 evening dress made up of lamé and black silk lace, appliquéd with black velvet ribbons, worn by Mona Bismarck, a socialite known during her third marriage as one of the most well-dressed women in America. Designed by the wonderful Madeleine Vionnet. @metmuseumpic.twitter.com/XtrFlbEBRk
This repositions the bishop onto a more advantageous square.
1...Kh4
2.Bf6#
The other options are no better:
1...Kh6 2. Bf4#
or
1...h6 2. Bf6#
Intermediate Problem - White To Play
q7/8/8/8/5R2/4k3/7R/4K3 w - - 0 1
White's rooks are keeping the Black king fenced in pretty good.
1.Ra4! Qc8
The threat is now 2Rh3#. Black can't take the rook: 1...Qxa4 2.Rh3+ Kd4 3.Rh4+ Kc5 4. Rxa4. Similar is 1...Qf3 2.Rh3 Qxh3 3.Ra3+ Kf4 4.Rxh3
2.Rh3+ Qxh3
3.Ra3+ Kf4
4.Rxh3
There's no defense Black can make where his queen won't end up getting skewered.
Advanced Problem - Black To Play
4R3/3q4/8/4n1r1/8/4k2Q/7K/8 b - - 0 1
1...Kf2
Threatening Rh5#
2.Rf8+
There isn't anything better. If 2.Rh8 then 2...Rg3+ 3.Kh4 Nf3+ 4.Kh5 Rh3+ and the rook is skewered.
2...Nf3
3.Rg8
"It's a trap!" Rxg8 is stalemate.
3...Ng1+
4.Kh4 Rxg8 winning the skewer and the game.
Hope to see you all next week!
___________
Note: that cryptic line of letters and numbers you see underneath each board diagram is a representation of the position in what is known as "Forsyth-Edwards Notation", or F.E.N. It's actually readable by humans. Most computer applications nowadays can read FEN, so those of you who may want to study the position, you can copy the line of FEN and paste into your chess app and it should automatically recreate the position on its display board. Or, Windows users can just "triple click" on it and the entire line will be highlighted so you can copy and paste it into your chess app.
___________
So that about wraps it up for this week. Chess thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to my yahoo address: OregonMuse little-a-in-a-circle yahoo dott com.
This is my daugther's GSP puppy, Mel. The best mannered puppy I've ever met! Which is really just a reflection of her owner.
Yawrate
Or the shock collar. Hey just kidding. Lovely puppy. We hope that Mel has a long and prosperous doggeh life. Thanks for sharing today.
***
Long time lurker, love the site and the pet thread. Both the daily content and these pictures help me go through some days. Luna is the white shepherd and the alpha of the two, even though the other girl Athena has 20 pounds on her. They have been great dogs, smart, loyal and protective. They give back so much more than I ever give them Thanks for this very welcome Saturday respite from politics. (They both eventually end up on the sofa. It is specifically theirs. They’re not spoiled or anything.) No name provided
No need to thank me. It's folks like you with their pet photos and stories that make this place. Lovely dogs. Jeez what a surprise they love the couch. Thanks for your contribution today.
***
&&&
greetings miss hum!
love the pet thread. here are frankie (the beautiful boy with the gorgeous blue eyes) and peekaboo (who looks like fudge ripple ice cream). they are brother and sister and we got them from a shelter in california. they’re the best kittehs ever and we are so thankful they decided to adopt us. they make life worth living.
keep up the good work and thanks so much for all you do!
m and b
Don't you folks have big hearts, rescuing a handsome pair of kittehes. So happy to hear they are in such a fine home. Thanks for taking the time to submit their photos and story.
***
Hello Mis. Hum
This is my 4 year old pug Lanie. Tragedy struck the week of Christmas she was taken ill and passed unexpectedly while in the vets care. My wife and I are broken hearted and shed many tears and still do. I saw the nice memorial cat wall in this weeks pet thread and thought I send some pics for your consideration. My wife is retired and Lanie was her companion while I work at night. She was such a sweet little dog and loved everyone she met. She was the heart and life of our house.
Thank you,
Floomaster
Long time lurker
Just so sorry to hear that your sweetie was taken away so young. I think we all know the emptiness you are feeling now. Thanks for sharing and may you find another big sweetie.
***
The In-box was pretty sparse this week. But for those who submitted pet photos and stories, Thank You!
If you have something to share you can reach us at petmorons at gmail dot com.
Until next week, watch out where the Huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow. Have a great week.
Saturday Gardening and Puttering Thread, January 16 [KT]
—Open Blogger
Hi! It's cold and wintry in most of the country, but we still have some gardening, puttering and dreaming going on amongst The Horde. We are a determined bunch. The photo above is from Keena.
I am not sure if I sent you a picture of my sweet potato boxes that I made with my step-dad last year on his visit. We always try to build and weld something while he is here. This year it was potato boxes. They are quite large, about 3 feet square and I have lined them with straw to keep in moisture and then put some dirt in and planted the potatoes and covered the top with more straw. These are sweet potatoes but the boxes will do fine for regular potatoes as well. The theory is that when the potatoes are ready I can open the door on the side, move away the straw and harvest the potatoes at the roots when I need them. We shall see. I was growing my sweet potatoes in a chicken wire hoop with straw on the inside but my garden dog helper thought it was great fun to tip it over and dig in the dirt so this idea was born. You can eat sweet potato leaves so I have been harvesting a few leaves every day and putting them in my morning smoothie. I haven't sauteed them yet but supposedly that is good too.
UPDATE:
Harvested the sweet potatoes from the box. They grew too much in the center so had to dig them out the old fashioned way so no good pictures. Thought of another recipe for you for sweet potatoes.
Roasted Curried Sweet Potatoes
4 Tbl. butter
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
3 lbs. sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small saucepan melt butter, stir in curry powder.
On a large baking sheet, toss potatoes with butter mixture, season with salt and pepper and roast in oven, turning with spatula occasionally until golden and tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Hope you like it.
Wee Kreek Farm Girl
Sounds Great! Different from the usual.
Anybody have any input for Cumberland Astro on raspberries from last week? His comment was the first time I had heard of the Nantahala raspberry, a late primocane variety. First release in 50 years from North Carolina State University.
Any other varieties you can recommend for a longer season?
Catalogs
I got the John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds catalog in the mail. Their main business is bulbs, and if you order bulbs from them, you will probably get one of these catalogs, too. It is one of those fancy, understated catalogs with good descriptions and line drawings instead of photos, except on the cover. Not too big a catalog, their personal favorites, so probably geared to the Northeast. Fun to read. A little pricey.
Their flowers are alphabetical in the catalog now, but can be accessed online by category - edible, cutting, drying, fragrant, etc.
Exotic Love Vine
Assorted Tomatoes
Sweet Potatoes 'Beauregard' - direct from grower
Have you gotten any catalogs lately? Ordered anything?
Landscaping Tip
If you buy a new tree, Larro has a special plea:
Do not plant trees within FEETS of house! Trees must not touch the house, anywhere!
Sooner or later, they must be removed, as in case of 10 year old Magnolias and a Holly tree.
This is a crime against nature!
Roots can undermine foundations.
Tragic losses
Termites also love to use trees as ladders.
Gardens of The Horde
Anything going on in your garden? Doing anything interesting outdoors?
It's the season for Miner's Lettuce here, but we don't have any. We do have chickweed. Have to watch out for the annual nettle.
If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden
at that g mail dot com place
Include the nic by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ,
unless you want to remain a lurker.
Thread before the Gardening Thread, January 16 [KT]
—Open Blogger
Serving your mid-day open thread needs
Some poor, phoneless fool is probably sitting next to a waterfall somewhere
totally unaware of how angry and scared he's supposed to be
Tina Donn
How much information these days is intended to agitate and manipulate?
There are more things, Lucilius, that frighten us than injure us,
and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.
Seneca: Epistulae ad Lucilium
Speaking of "phoneless", I was called upon yesterday to take my neighbor in to the hospital (the emergency room is closed). I had to sit outdoors (no visitors in the hospital), and the sun interfered with reading on my phone. So I just sat in the sun near the ambulance staging area (real people doing real things) and watched the little birds. Sparrows, mostly, but a hummingbird also approached me. Can't say that it wasn't nice.
Maybe I have been in information overload lately.
I think Muldoon said this in the comments to a previous thread:
So when FDR said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", he wasn't saying 'be brave', he was saying 'WE will provide and protect'.
When the word 'freedom' no longer means individual liberty to live life, but rather 'freedom from fear and want' you get socialism.
Victor Davis Hanson wrote a farewell at the end of 2020 to a regular column for National Review which was edited by National Review. Can't locate it right now. Maybe it's in their "Plus" content, which I don't deliberately access. They are still putting up content from him, but apparently not edited by National Review. They are still posting VDH podcasts. Saw a note that they set him up by dropping a bunch of anti-Trump statements in his lap after the Capitol Hill incident.
Anyway, here he is talking with someone who is not on staff at National Review. As the video begins, we hear more evidence that Rick Wilson is absolutely crackers. Not that we didn't already know that.
VDH manages to maintain a calm tone in the face of the insanity. He seems to recommend facing the challenges rather than ignoring them. Is some kind of balance appropriate?
For many years...the calls to control and chill online content have grown louder. We have monitored those calls, and taken proactive and incremental steps to safeguard our various channels. Today the environment for free and open communication--a hallmark of liberal societies--is in deep trouble. At this point the debate over 'private companies' and deplatforming is almost moot. What's needed is action, direction, and innovation by people of goodwill, regardless of political stripe.
Steps they have taken are described.
How much of the current craziness are you letting pass you by? Taking any actions to deal with some of it?
Good morning Morons. Opine, bloviate, sing the blues in this open thread. Be kind to the 'ettes, they make us sammiches. No running with sharp objects and observe the golden rule. Besides that chat among yourselves and have a great weekend.
I am currently testing the axiom "you have to spend money to make money".
Contractors are a predictable complication to the ability to make money at this point.
I'm in a race to make enough money to pay off my debts before my avenues to make money is deemed *ist or *phobic, and must be necessarily transferred to a more deserving entity.
I can't say I have much hope, but for some perversely masochistic reason, I can't stop trying.
For those of you who read the disclosures that John Weaver of the Lincoln Project sexually harassed young men online and said, "I bet he plays the Jim McGreevey/Kevin Spacey card and declares he will Live His Truth as a gay American," collect your winnings.
Caveat: The winnings are immeasurably tiny. Because this shit was obvo.
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz... made it clear that while the riot at the Capitol was wrong, the Democrats were literally cheering on months of destruction and violence during the Black Lives Matter riots.
And the Democrats really didn;t like hearing about it.
During his time, Gaetz made it clear that rioting in any form is wrong, including the riots at the Capitol, but he had a message for Democrats.
"But make no mistake, the left in America has incited far more political violence than the right," said Gaetz. "For months our cities burned, police stations burned, our businesses were shattered, and they said nothing!"
"Or, they cheerlead for it, and they fundraised for it, and they allowed it to happen in the greatest country in the world," he continued.
At this point, you could hear a commotion rising in the background as Democrats began to yell at Gaetz.
"Some have cited the metaphor that the President lit the flame," said Gaetz, his voice rising to drown out the shouting.
"They lit actual flames!" he shouted. "Actual fires and we had to put them out!"
As Fox News' Ratings Fall Below Those of Disney's "Pedophile Picnic" and Bravo's "AIDS Roadshow," It Leaks Word That It Might Fire Its CEO
—Ace
I don't think this is real.
Oh, they might fire her.
But I feel Fox creating a narrative that this one person was the Big Problem, so that they can avoid getting rid of Paul Ryan, Bill Sammon, Chris Wallace, Sandra Smith, Neil Cavuto, and Chris Stirewalt.
To name just a few of the diehard Democrats and Democrat-allied corporatists that need to go.
By the way: Don't overlook Bill Sammon, just because he's not on the air. He controls -- and censors -- Fox News hosts and reporters. He's head of Fox News' DC "news" bureau, I think, and therefore is the Censorship Czar for all political stories.
He's the tumor you don't see, but which is killing the body.
Still, it's a pretty good LOL that they had to put this story out, huh?
Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott's Job Is in Jeopardy, Insiders Say
Amid sagging ratings, Rupert Murdoch has taken a more hands-on role at Fox, perhaps portending the end of the road for the network's CEO since 2018.
...
Amid ongoing ratings struggles, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace are fighting for their jobs as their boss Rupert Murdoch has swooped in to take a more hands-on role at the network in recent days, multiple network insiders told The Daily Beast.
In fact, according to six people familiar with the situation, Scott's days at Fox News may shortly be coming to an end, following a tumultuous few months in which the conservative cable news giant’s ratings have sagged following the November election....
In response to a request for comment for this story, a Fox Corporation spokesperson said, "Your premise is wrong. It is wishful thinking by our competitors." But when pressed for a statement of support for Scott from Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, none was forthcoming.
Yeah, so here's who they're thinking of making the new CEO: David Rhodes of CBS and Bloomberg, brother of Obama "mind-meld" buttboy Ben Rhodes.
They claim he's "libertarian" and "more conservative" than his gonzo-progressive lunatic brother. Well, thank God for small favors, huh?
Heckuva job, Lachey.
So you know, Fox is suuuuuuuper serious you guys about repairing its reputation with conservatives.
You guys seriously they're so serious about winning you back you don't even know how serious they are you guys.
You guys?
You guys?
Notice is Hereby Served to the GOP
Think we'll just keep eating the endless series of Shit Sandwiches you serve up for us?
Look at Fox.
Last warning. BEYOND the Last warning. We will eat your Shit sandwiches no more. We are not just ready to walk, but eager to walk.
Now that the CCP's pet gerbil has been placed into the U.S. Presidency, and with the possibility of Bob Iger being appointed as ambassador to China, the propagandist possibilities are endless.
James Waugh, VP of Franchise Content & Strategy for Lucasfilm, says that the author of this story will bring very specific Chinese perspectives to the world building. Though it’s likely that James conflates the perspective of the Chinese people with the perspective of the CCP, which are entirely different and separate.
Chen Yang, the Vice President & Chief Editor of China Literature, claims that this effort will show online literature's "inclusiveness." Amusingly however, we already know that this "inclusive" story will feature an exclusively Chinese sector of the galaxy.
Below, Kathleen Kennedy proudly introducing her new Chinese Communist Propaganda Merchandizing Opportunity, plus some of the propaganda they're already pumping out.
Lucasfilm's new project with China Literature that takes place in certain part of the Star Wars galaxy where only a certain type of people are found that will NOT be translated to English... Thanks @ItchyBacca & @JarJarAbramss for the info! pic.twitter.com/8dlnAhTWCT
That Star Wars Girl gets the object of the Chinese Communist critique wrong. She reads it as a critique of the Communist Party ruling class.
But that's not it. It's how they depict the West:
Reading the fan translation of the Chinese Star Wars story. I’m actually genuinely shocked the author was allowed to get away with these horror s that actually reflect the darker side of Chinese society..😳 https://t.co/GiKZdWuDQspic.twitter.com/phVT4HqAXp
Sad: Frank Luntz and His Ridiculous Hairpiece Are Both Unhappy to Note that 91% of Trump Supporters Would Vote for Trump Again
—Ace
So like 91% of the 95% of the Republicans who voted for Trump.
So about 85%.
Another member of the permanent DC insider class, supposedly on the "Republican" side, who is as hard-progressive as AOC's left nipple on a crisp February morn.
The article rambles about the Silicon Valley drive to make everything "flat" -- basically, all the same, without place or purpose, because that's the Silicon Valley ideal.
We're no longer rooted in any particular place or culture. Such things are too complicated for FaceBook profiles. The real world has been made to conform with the limitations of the fake digital world -- by removing people's individuality.
It has made them flat, because Google's algorithms cannot try to sell shit to three-dimensional people.
It then turns to the consequences of turning everyone flat:
Once we accepted it, we turned from willful individuals into parts of a mass that could move, or be moved, anywhere. Once people accepted the idea of an app, you could get them to pay for dozens of them--if not more. You could get people to send thousands of dollars to strangers in other countries to stay in homes they'd never seen in cities they’d never visited. You could train them to order in food--most of their food, even all of their food--from restaurants that they'd never been to, based on recommendations from people they'd never met. You could get them to understand their social world not as consisting of people whose families and faces one knew, which was literally the definition of social life for hundreds of thousands of years, but rather as composed of people who belonged to categories -- "also followed by," "friends in common," "BIPOC" -- that didn’t even exist 15 years ago. You could create a culture in which it was normal to have sex with someone whose two-dimensional picture you saw on a phone, once.
You could, seemingly overnight, transform people's views about anything--even everything.
The Obama administration could swiftly overturn the decision-making space in which Capitol Hill staff and newspaper reporters functioned so that Iran, a country that had killed thousands of Americans and consistently announces itself to be America's greatest enemy, is now to be seen as inherently as trustworthy and desirable an ally as France or Germany. Flatness, frictionlessness.
The biological difference between the sexes, which had been a foundational assumption of medicine as well as of the feminist movement, was almost instantaneously replaced not only by the idea that there are numerous genders but that reference in medicine, law or popular culture to the existence of a gender binary is actually bigoted and abusive. Flatness.
Facebook's longtime motto was, famously, "Move fast and break shit," which is exactly what Silicon Valley enabled others to do.
The internet tycoons used the ideology of flatness to hoover up the value from local businesses, national retailers, the whole newspaper industry, etc.--and no one seemed to care. This heist--by which a small group of people, using the wiring of flatness, could transfer to themselves enormous assets without any political, legal or social pushback--enabled progressive activists and their oligarchic funders to pull off a heist of their own, using the same wiring. They seized on the fact that the entire world was already adapting to a life of practical flatness in order to push their ideology of political flatness--what they call social justice, but which has historically meant the transfer of enormous amounts of power and wealth to a select few.
Because this cohort insists on sameness and purity, they have turned the once-independent parts of the American cultural complex into a mutually validating pipeline for conformists with approved viewpoints--who then credential, promote and marry each other. A young Ivy League student gets A's by parroting intersectional gospel, which in turn means that he is recommended by his professors for an entry-level job at a Washington think tank or publication that is also devoted to these ideas. His ability to widely promote those viewpoints on social media is likely to attract the approval of his next possible boss or the reader of his graduate school application or future mates. His success in clearing those bars will in turn open future opportunities for love and employment. Doing the opposite has an inverse effect, which is nearly impossible to avoid given how tightly this system is now woven. A person who is determined to forgo such worldly enticements--because they are especially smart, or rich, or stubborn--will see only examples of even more talented and accomplished people who have seen their careers crushed and reputations destroyed for daring to stick a toe over the ever multiplying maze of red lines.
So, instead of reflecting the diversity of a large country, these institutions have now been repurposed as instruments to instill and enforce the narrow and rigid agenda of one cohort of people, forbidding exploration or deviation--a regime that has ironically left homeless many, if not most, of the country's best thinkers and creators.
I think people are waking up to this "heist" of all culture, thought, commerce, individuality, and humanity by a small group of Woke Plutocrat Tyrants and lunatic religious zealots, but, alas: It might be too late to do a damn thing to stop them.
Oh well, at least Rich Lowry knows that his funding will be guaranteed for fifty years.
Surprise! Leftwing Cities, Which Kept Their Populations Hostage During the Election Year, Suddenly Press for Speedy Reopening Now That Political Goal Has Been Achieved
—Ace
@KatiePavlich
Wow, amazing how the mayors of America's largest cities are advocating for reopening the week before the Biden administration takes hold.
I guess the "Dark Winter" Biden promised before the election -- to presumably occur under Trump -- has been cancelled?
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday said Chicago restaurants and bars need to be allowed to reopen "as quickly as possible" not just to help those businesses survive, but also to cut down on instances of private parties where people don't take proper precautions against COVID-19.
Under the state's virus mitigation plan, Chicago's restaurants and bars were forced to halt indoor service in late October. While Gov. JB Pritzker has said some regions of the state can begin rolling back some COVID-19 restrictions starting Friday if they meet certain virus thresholds, reopening of indoor dining wouldn’t happen until each region moves back at least three more phases, and Chicago is not yet on track to begin easing restrictions.
Thursday morning, Lightfoot said she plans to have a conversation with Gov. JB Pritzker about how to begin rolling back virus mitigation efforts ASAP.
"I want to get our restaurants and bars reopened as quickly as possible," she said.
Alfonso Jose Castillo, owner of Americanos, said his business will not survive if things continue as they are.
Don't worry, Alfonso: The pandemic is going to be magicked away within a week.
Make sure you congratulate the Covid Karens on the pseudoright who, as very much usual, believed every word their progressive pals (or progressive handlers) told them to believe on Twitter, and once again played their assigned roles in another criminal leftwing political operation.
The Antifa/BLM Insurrectionist Who Stormed the Capitol Has Been Arrested. And, Guess What? He's a Cherished Guest of... You Guessed It, CNN
—Ace
There was a violent Marxist BLM activist at the Capitol incident. He urged protesters to charge the Capitol, and kept repeating, "We're gonna burn it down!"
He used his BLM smooth-talk to get cops to stand down and let the protesters into the Capitol. I imagine he used threats of some kind -- either "Let us in or there will be a physical confrontation you won't walk away from," or "Let us in or I'll scream 'Racism!'"
Here's some of his previous work, inciting a crowd to attack the White House and physically, violently drag Trump out of it:
Am I understanding this correctly? One of the rioters at the Capitol was actually a Black Lives Matter activist who previously was promoted on CNN by Anderson Cooper?
More of this Domestic Terrorist's work (apart from flirting with Anderson Cooper):
The Utah man told 2 News he was there to document the protests. He is seen in the video moments after a woman was shot and killed trying to break through a window in the U.S. Capitol. You can hear from him tonight at 10. pic.twitter.com/WRwtupKZ3y
John Sullivan known on the Utah protest scene was inside the U.S. Capitol. He got in through a broken window. He says he was there to document the protest. No matter what he watched a woman die and could now face charges. https://t.co/x3bm77w3dq
You can also find John Sullivan (who broke into the Capitol 1/6) here. It appears he records video inside protests and then sells it to news stations. He is known as an instigator at protest in Utah and other states. https://t.co/upjkBg4WpH
The FBI -- a corrupt organization which covers for domestic terrorists like Antifa, and they'll be coming to arrest all normal Americans eventually-- claims, even in the face of this evidence, that there was no Antifa presence at the Capitol.
FBI “At this time we have no credible intelligence suggesting ANTIFA involvement in Wednesday’s criminal activity. However, the investigation is ongoing and we are aggressively working to identify all individuals involved, no matter their association.”
Police said the "group of individuals, who were intent on damaging property and injuring Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, began engaging in riotous behavior at Black Lives Matter Plaza and throughout the city," WUSA 9 reported.
This was the night of creepy "protests" where they shone flashlights into people's homes late at night demanding they give up their White Privilege and join their riots.
Does anyone think that Corporate America is going to purge/deplatform Black Lives Matter for this, or nah?
This is how Mrs. Muse described our morning out on Thursday. We had received word of a local restaurant's defiance of the lockdown edits issued by our despot governor that ban indoor dining (although outdoor dining in cordoned-off tents where you sit at tables moved from the indoor section and warmed with propane heaters so the temperature is pretty much the same as indoors is allowed). So we immediately thought, hey, this is a business we need to support, so we got up early and showed up for breakfast. We really liked it: the food was good, portions were generous, and the prices were reasonable. The wait staff were very friendly and down-to-earth. They wore masks, but most of the customers did not, and Mrs. Muse and I didn't even bother bringing ours in with us. They didn't care. It was kind of like a hole-in-the-wall eatery in eastern Oregon we stopped for lunch at on our way back from Colorado back in September that posted a sign that said "the government says you have to wear a mask, but not those with medical exemptions, so if we see you without a mask, we will assume it's for a medical reason." In other words, screw the government and their stupid rules.
This place didn't have a sign like that, but, as I said, they didn't care. Also, ehile we were eating, we noticed a woman walk in who was open carrying. So we felt very much that yeah, this is definitely our kind of place.
We both of us enjoyed a nice slice of normal. Too bad we couldn't make it a "to go" order.
But I have to say that part of me hated feeling like this, exulting in *my* kind of place and *my* kind of people, and knowing that there are fellow Americans who I don't feel this way about. I don't like the tribalism that I feel has been forced upon me, just because I voted for a guy.
And that's another one of my political pet peeves. The "Trump cult" thing is by far the most stupid insult I've ever heard from Democrats, even moreso than the "Trump is a dictator" line. I just don't get it. They attack everything Trump ever thinks says, or does, so loudly and so obviously, it's like it's some sort of conditioned reflex, and *we're* the ones in a cult? Do they pay any attention *at all* to what we say about him? We know he can be a blustering blowhard. We know he's not a poster boy for marital fidelity. I don't think anybody on this blog wanted Trump when he first announced his candidacy. We knew he made a bunch of conservative promises during the campaign, but since there was little or no evidence he actually was a conservative. I figured we were seeing the "let's fool the rubes" playbook being run again, as happens with every election
So the only reason we voted for Trump in Nov. 2016 was that the alternative was too ghastly to even think about. The choice was like, what would you rather have live in your house with you, a loud barking dog that poops on all of the furniture, or a giant, poisonous, fanged spider that never sleeps?
And then the barking dog started doing the stuff that he said he'd do: stem the incoming tide at the southern border. Bringing jobs back to America. Reconfiguring bad trade deals. Drastically curtailing our military involvement overseas. Appointing conservative judges. And the Mideast peace treaties he brokered were an added bonus.
Also, remember that he accomplished all of this while facing non-stop opposition from the Democrats and disgruntled status-quo GOPe-ers.
I remember feeling like it was a breath of fresh air. I mean, a politician who actually kept the promises made during his campaign? Whoever heard of such a thing?
So, because we liked what we saw, and wanted to see more of it, and also believed that foreign policy is set by the President, not by Lt. Col. Stay-Puft or any other functionary of the State Dept., suddenly we're in a "cult" that worships Trump.
You want to see cult-like behavior? This is cult-like behavior. So is this.
Also, I know that there are grandees in the GOPe right now who are watching Trump's flame-out and thinking, "Our base must want more Jeb. Because Trump flaming out means that our base must want more Jeb."
Wednesday Who Dis: Some of you morons like the husky, "cigarette" voice of actresses like Suzanne Pleshette and some of you are turned off by it. I'm kind of 'meh' on it myself. She starred in the trashtacular movie A Rage to Live, about what happens when society allows horny women to run around loose. Her co-star was Bradford Dillman, a character actor who also worked in his later years as a talent scout for the San Francisco 49ers.
Today's Edition Of The Morning Rant Is Brought To You By Apple Cake:
Good morning, kids. Friday and while the top story may be the news that broke last night announcing President Trump's declassifying of Obamagate documents concerning the Hillary Clinton bought-and-paid-for Steele Dossier, the most significant story I think is the Enemy's vote to impeach the President with just scant days remaining in his term. Aside from mere foaming at the mouth rabid hatred of this man, arguably one of the greatest natural leaders and patriots the nation formerly known as America ever produced, there is a rationale behind it: to break the back of the American revival/anti-globalist groundswell that carried him to victory in 2016 AND 2020.
Beyond it's uselessness in practical terms of removing the President prior to noon this coming Wednesday, I think it is a colossal political blunder. If stealing the national election and quite possibly both chambers of Congress wasn't enough, blood-libeling the President and by extension all of us as violent, racist insurrectionists for a "riot" in the Capitol that was caused by agents of the Democrats, and then impeaching him is an absolute outrage. And for key figures in the GOP and far too many backbenchers to willingly go along with this just underscores the futility of conventional party politics, if not explodes it as the myth that it is.
But the premeditated murder of the greatest nation on earth cannot go unanswered. It must not go unanswered. Somehow, some way, some day, there must be some righteous retribution where this nation is restored, the wicked are punished, the corrupt system they ran dismantled and destroyed, and safeguards introduced that prevent this cancer from ever infecting us again. Call it "fundamental transformation," if you will. Sadly, I do not think I will live long enough to see it happen, but we have no choice but to fight.
Until that time, we and our children will face a domestic feral Leviathan that will use its power to control and coerce every aspect of our lives in order to maintain absolute power while lining the pockets of those in charge, as well as a cultural and academic system that played perhaps the central role in putting us in this position. As bad as that is, there's also the totalitarian regime in the Orient hell bent on global hegemony via bribery, espionage and perhaps overt military action, which we will be powerless to stop even if we wanted, considering an alarming number of our political leaders have been in their pocket for years.
Oswald Spengler's The Decline of The West, published 1918-1922, laid out the trajectory of the enfeeblement and decay that awaited us, developing a theme that went as far back as the Greek historian Polybius, but that, in the wake of a war that wiped out a generation, seemed less a "theme" than an historically imminent reality. The greatest poet of the modern age, William Butler Yeats, felt it in his bones, working out a visionary schematism in his prose volume A Vision and reflecting on the inevitable in his timeless poem "The Second Coming," written one year after the end of the Great War: "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last/Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?" Robert Bork's must-read Slouching Towards Gomorrah hammers out Yeats's vision in lurid contemporary detail, pointing toward a "syndrome" of collectivist attitudes dominating the culture, the debilitation of the family structure, and a "left-liberal moral consensus" diluting the text of the U.S. Constitution...
...In the course of time, cowards and parasites -- let us call it the Iscariot function -- will prevail over Great Men and Women. Nation-saviors like Churchill and Thatcher will be cast aside, heroes like Trump will be betrayed by friends and colleagues and openly cheated of re-election. The historical template is Themistocles, the philosophical, Socrates, and the literary, Shakespeare's >. They cannot forestall the vector of decline and will be derided and punished for having tried to do so. As Adams wrote in an April 22, 1776 letter to James Warren, "But I fear, that in every assembly, Members will obtain an Influence, by Noise not sense. By Meanness, not Greatness. By Ignorance not Learning. By contracted Hearts not large souls. I fear too, that it will be impossible to convince and perswade People to establish wise Regulations." And thus do nations and ultimately the civilizations of which they form part subside and vanish as a result of inward rot, the great baulks of timber that hold them up gnawed and crumbling in a myriad of different places.
History, so to speak, can happen here. It has been happening for some considerable time, culminating in the most recent of a long sequence of hammer blows: the fraudulent election of Joe Biden thanks to widespread electoral malfeasance, the advent of rigorous and pervasive censorship protocols, and the ongoing purge of constitutional freedoms. Indeed, it is happening throughout the Western world. Nonetheless, for those of us who still care and recognize the precious muniment we have been given, let the coup de grace happen later instead of sooner. The fight continues on myriad fronts.
Not exactly "happy and peppy and bursting with love" today, am I? And yet, nothing is inevitable. There is still at a minimum a clear (if not vast) majority of people in this country who are not "down for the struggle." 80 million of them, or more, voted to stop the insanity by supporting Trump and the MAGA/America first agenda. This is no longer about party politics. Party politics is dead. This is about good versus evil.
I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. Come and get me.
"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made a terrible mistake Tuesday night when he released word that he was in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump." McConnell's Impeachment Blunder
Victor Davis Hanson: "What is this latest impeachment gambit really about? Of course, it was a Parthian shot to discredit President Trump's supporters." An Impeachment Incitement
* * * * *
"The deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol bore the markings of an organized operation planned well in advance of the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress." I Saw Provocateurs at the Capitol Riot on Jan. 6
"It's interesting to watch the Democrats constantly making historical analogies to Naziism because, at every attempt, they display their astounding ignorance of history." Joe Biden's Weird Version of Goebbels' Big Lie
"What we are really doing, whether we know it or not, is buying time. Western civilization and its constituent nations are too far gone to be retrofitted; our internal enemies have seen to that." Are the End Times Near?
CIVIL WAR 2.0: LEFTIST REIGN OF TERROR, WAR ON POLICE, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
"Previously, Mayorkas served as deputy secretary at DHS under the Obama administration, where the Inspector General (IG) at the time unveiled that he had improperly helped secure EB-5 visas for well-connected wealthy foreign nationals." Zhou Bai-Din's DHS Pick Oversaw Corporate Merger, Leaving Thousands Laid Off
"Gallup polling reveals that President Trump remains more popular than the same institutions that have unrelentingly attacked him since he descended the escalator in Trump Tower and declared his run for President of the United States five years ago." President Trump is STILL More Popular Than Congress AND the Media
Julie Kelly: "The conflict between neoconservatives and the Trump base sets up a major battle for which faction will control the Republican Party in the post-Trump era." Revenge of the Neocons
In one of her patented meandering Instagram posts, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-OLT) claimed that "southern states are not red states." They are, according to the Congresswoman, "suppressed states," for which the "only" solution is "liberation... from economic, social, and racial oppression." Titty Caca AOC's Call to "Liberate" Southern States Shows How Coastal Elites Actually Think
"Why can't Republicans be as smart as this caller, J.C., on Rush Limbaugh's program on Thursday? Want to solve the problem of reaching the black community, Republicans? Then find this man and put him in charge of the whole darn party." Systematic Racism Is Real and Democrats Are the Ones Engineering It
"The president's supporters will only help the Democrats if they leave the Republican Party." (another clueless pundit who doesn't comprehend the reality of the situation - jjs) Why Trump Supporters and the GOP Shouldn't Break Up
"California was the first state in March to issue a state wide stay-at-home order and since then restaurants have had to adjust to some of the strictest [Chinese] COVID-19 restrictions in the country." Takeout Only: How California Elites Crushed LA's Local Restaurants
"Evidence uncovered so far, including weapons and tactics seen on surveillance video, suggests a level of planning that has led investigators to believe the attack on the US Capitol was not just a protest that spiraled out of control, a federal law enforcement official says." This completely undermines the entire case Democrats made for impeaching Trump. Did XiNN Accidentally Prove That Trump Did NOT Call for Violence at the Capitol?
"In the lawsuit filed by Parler against Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), the company claimed that Amazon specifically de-platformed Parler as an act of political silencing, noting that Twitter was known to have equally violent content on its site." Parler CEO: Site May "Never" Return
Victor Davis Hanson: "So the values of the 19th-century rail and oil monopolies are back. But now they are married to the 20th-century leftist totalitarianism of George Orwell's 1984. And they are further powered by the 21st-century instant reach of the internet. This time around there will be no progressive trustbusters or muckrakers. They are in league with, or bought off by, the new electronic octopus." Assault on the Capitol Has Let Loose the Electronic Octopus
"As part of their investments, the Rockefellers fund numerous environmental groups in the region that are linked to Chinese Communist Party members or bolster multibillion-dollar government initiatives that critics say are trapping countries in debt spirals." Rockefellers Bankroll China-Based Nonprofits with Ties to Communist Government
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE BUREAUCRACY, WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE
"Biden will outline more of the plan later on Thursday, but Senate Democrats are also talking seriously about merging pandemic relief with a completely unrelated infrastructure bill. It's likely the total cost for both measures together will exceed $3 trillion." (Just Cloward-Piven this mother down already - jjs) Zhou Bai-Din Will Introduce $2 Trillion Stimulus Bill With $2,000 Individual Checks
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.
ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.
Weird week. I'm used to writing these in the evening, but I have appointments all evening so I'm writing this in the middle of the afternoon. Also, I don't have as much material as usual. I have been staying far away from social media lately. It's just toxic, toxic to mind, body and spirit, and frankly I don't need that right now.
One thing I will comment on is the camera on my new iPhone 12. I'm not one who rushes out to buy the latest technology, but my old iPhone 8 was giving up the ghost recently so I got a new phone. The camera on this thing is amazing.
This was taken from the dock, at 11 PM, in a snowstorm. The only light is from the propane lantern in the sun room (power is out). Still snowing, no moon or stars out.
I know CBD is going to want to be all over this gastronomical delight in the food thread, but I'm getting the jump on him and posting it now. Nyah-nyah.
Now let us take a moment to drop to our knees and thank our superiors for this gift of insect protein. We truly are blessed to have such kind and benevolent overlords so concerned for our well being. I'm sure that cricket tartare will soon be on the menu at Versailles and Buckingham Palace, aren't you?
Somehow, I doubt the veracity of this story. Not that the thing is sitting in the woods outside Pripyat, I'm sure that it's there, but exactly how deadly it is. The fact that the “radiation expert” quoted looks like he's just spent the night unsuccessfully trying to blow a security guard to get backstage at a Phish concert has nothing to do with it, really. Well, OK, it has a little to do with it, along with the fact that I've seen pictures of people just standing around the claw without radiation suits, including in the article itself. But maybe I'm wrong, any 'rons or 'ettes with a background in nukes care to opine?
There are 12 teams in the 4 major sports leagues in North America named for birds. Here is the story behind each of them, including the surprising fact that a couple of teams named after birds weren't named after birds at all.
Musical Interlude
Personally, I think this ought to be called a Trumpollo
Warning: This is a Zero Hedge link, as always the rule over there is don't read the comments. Really nothing more to say that Ace hasn't been pounding on for the past week. People saw a need, created a company to meet that need, built it up to 12 million users and now, poof! It's gone because the tech overlords can't stand wrongthink. I hope it makes it back. Gab is still around, they own their own servers, but their traffic is up over 800% and the service is wonky right now.
Of course, none of this would be necessary if people would just passively sit back and do as they're told, think as they're told to think. Big Education is working hard to make that happen. When Schoolbooks Go Full Woke. I'm sure you've noticed, whenever the left says they are “anti-something”, it's a sure sign that that thing is exactly what they are. One of the things that completely baffles me is that more people don't see it, it's so bloody obvious. “Anti-Fascist” Antifa is following the fascist playbook to the letter, down to having their own brownshirts and now they have their Reichstag fire moment. I guarantee that if you took the book in the above link titled “Antiracist Baby” and did nothing more than flip the races that it would be widely and rightly decried as a racist screed. (Full disclosure: I have not read the text, nor do I intend to, but I am willing to bet a considerable sum, sight unseen, that I'm right).
I don't know Carano's politics, but I've seen the Tweets in question. What she's doing is nothing more than refusing to bow to the mob. I suspect that they are right of center, but I don't know (nor should I, she's an actress and MMA fighter, not a political figure). Before you go thinking that this means The Mandalorian is a media property you should support (Full Disclosure: I've watched and enjoyed the first two seasons), rest assured that Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal thinks you're a Nazi. Nice to know that Hollywood is still Hollywood.
That means that this has, as you probably expected, nothing to do with "safety" or trying to forestall "violence" at the Usurper's Ball.
That means that this is just part of a pre-planned, programmatic purge that they had ready to go. Turnkey fascism. They were just waiting for an all-leftwing government to be installed to escape any political-legal consequences.
Meanwhile:
BREAKING:
@jsolomonReports that Pres. Trump has ordered the declassification of intelligence docs from Obamagate, including Christopher Steele's debriefings and FBI asset Stefan Halper's instructions. Expected to be released tomorrow or Monday. #MAGA #AmericaFirst #Dobbs
@themarketswork
John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) says he expects Stefan Halper "Tasking Documents" -- and much more -- to be released in next few days:
"They (FBI) were spying on the Trump Campaign. This FBI document will show that for sure."
@EamonJavers
A former sr administration official tells me President Trump has slew of pardons ready to go, as well as executive orders, plans to declassify Ukraine info and appoint special counsels on Hunter Biden and possibly Dominion voting machines as well. Unclear which he will do.
Is Trump still allowed to exercise presidential authority? The media claims -- or speculates -- that Pence has essentially declared a soft-coup version of the 25th Amendment, whereby any serious action by the president needs -- unconstitutionally -- the vice president's okay.
As I said, that's unconstitutional.
But the "Defenders of Democracy" have been running a coup for over four years.
Update: as I post this, John Solomon is saying on Newsmax that Trump has now given the declassification order.
But, as a commenter asked earlier: will his insubordinate bureaucracy actually execute his order?
Portland mayor @tedwheeler is offended when KATU reporter @GenevieveReaume asks the obvious: Did Portland's tolerance of months of riots help provide a new normal that political violence against government property is okay? #antifapic.twitter.com/mC23qPS47P
I'm grimly curious about how long Fox News' unwarranted ego and Woke Karen ideology will keep telling it "We can win this bitter war we're waging on our only possible audience."
Meanwhile, CNN will no longer have a monopoly on airport tvs as of March 31st. Thanks to clutch cargo for that.
Bottom line? They are in need of a reevaluation of themselves. But you can see their opinion hosts such as Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson are still strong and holding them up, which tells you the problem is in becoming like other news media. Why would Fox viewers want to hear regurgitated CNN news?
He includes a tweet from former Fox host Eric Bolling, who puts a siren on this post:
FoxNews (Again)-
LAST PLACE in all ratings categories:
Daytime:
25-54 demo- last
Total audience- last
Primetime:
25-54 demo- last
Total audience- lasthttps://t.co/rW2VjkenzS
Rumors of management changes soon.
-- 🇺🇸ERIC BOLLING🇺🇸 (@ericbolling) January 13, 2021
We, their audience, have been warning Fox News that we objected to their mad rush to the left for years. Probably for four years.
They didn't listen. They had all the market research in the world, for free. Their actual customers saying, "If you keep this up, we're out."
November's election revealed that the class realignment of our two parties is solidifying. Democrats have increasingly emerged as the party of upscale suburbs, of Silicon Valley and Hollywood and Wall Street, of the owners of capital and the professionals who service them. The GOP, meanwhile, is trending toward a multiracial working-class party, preferred by those who generally make their living by toil.
So why are conservatives fretting about corporate America cutting off the GOP, a process merely accelerated by last week's (disgraceful) mob assault on the Capitol? Did they think building a working-class party was going to be painless? That they could mouth pro-worker rhetoric while continuing to ignore workers' concerns on issues like immigration and wages? A country-club party with blue-collar decor?
That jig was going to be up at some point. The sooner, the better -- for an underrepresented American working class and for Republicans who take the realignment seriously.
Megacorporations using their money to strip the rights from citizens are begging citizens to strip them of their money.
Progressive corporate tax rates, for example, would be a major equalizer.
Social media is swooning over images of Barbie buddying up to a doll of an iconic fashion designer and LGBTQ ally Aimee Song. The pics first surfaced in 2017 as part of a campaign to raise LGBTQ awareness, but went viral recently with Twitter rooting for the same-sex pairing.
Barbie creator Mattel had originally devised the collaboration as a way to promote Song’s ubiquitous "Love Wins" shirts, which raise funds to help LGBTQ youth in crisis. As such, the photos show Barbie and a plastic facsimile of Song sitting together on a bed, and other relationship-like activities, while sporting her signature couture.
cOrPorAtIonZ arE OuR FreNz, part 2: The Cadbury Cream Egg company is your frenz.
The company, which makes a candy most associated with the most important Christian holiday, and which is mainly marketed to children (as all store-bought candies are), will launch an ad campaign featuring (content warning) gay men french kissing with a Cadbury egg between their tongues.
Order them in time for Easter, yo! Let Christ know that H8 has no home here!!!
cOrPorAtIonZ arE OuR FreNz, part 3: Disney and Lucasfilm are your frenz. Disney and Lucasfilm are super-proud to have insinuated even more trans propaganda into your children's Star Wars books.
He has a non-binary black character whose pronouns are "they/them," to indoctrinate your children:
"I wanted them to be able to say their own pronouns and not have other people gender them and decide their gender from the outside. I wanted them to be clearly a human and not an alien ’cause in this particular case that was important," he said.
He concluded, "And I wanted to show canonically Han and Lando respecting the they/them pronouns without missing a beat because they’re heroes. And real heroes respect people's pronouns."
These people obviously have too much money, because they're spending billions to indoctrinate children -- a goal far outside their corporate charter -- and taking stockholder's money and setting it on fire as a tithe to their Strange New Gods of Wokeism.
Progressive corporate tax rates and a slashing of tax concessions and business expenses for media companies should help them refocus on the business of business.
And:
338 Cernovich has a good idea. Trump should issue an Executive order banning products derived from slave labor. Make Biden rescind that ban so his buddies at Walmart, Apple, etc can make those dollar dollar bills, y'all.
Fake Doctor Who Is "Quitting" the Soon-To-Be-Cancelled Show
—Ace
Yes I know: Not only is this about a frivolous topic -- a tv sci-fi show -- but it's about a tv sci-fi show that everyone stopped watching two years ago.
Still, let us note again the Iron Law: Get Woke, Go Broke.
Doctor Who is now hitting its all time lowest ratings. They just had a "Festive Special."
They used to have a Christmas special, but now it's on New Years Day, not Christmas, so they call it a Festive Special.
The BBC has failed Doctor Who, and Jodie Whittaker – no wonder she's quitting
Flat, worthy and woke, the unlucky 13th Doctor's adventures have been a criminal waste of this talented actress – and caused a ratings slide
...
The 13th Doctor’s adventures were often flat, worthy and woke - often starting promisingly but soon disappearing up their own time-space continuum. In the midst of mediocre writing, Whittaker was unable to carve out a strong identity. She was neither frightening, fierce nor funny like previous incumbents. Yes, she had warmth and fizzing energy but that wasn’t enough to fully flesh her out.
Instead she was made slightly socially awkward and needy, forever talking about friendship, trying to make her "fam" catch on, cracking corny jokes and straining to be down with the kids. It’s like a lack of confidence in the character becoming female found its way into the uneven writing. She was made tomboyish and surrounded by men so her femininity didn't scare the horses. Unfortunately, all this achieved was to drain her of originality and dilute Whittaker's undoubted charisma.
I doubt her charisma. In fact, I flatly deny it.
Oh the BBC, and the producer, and the writers, all contributed mightily to this pile of woke failure.
But so did Jodie Whitaker. Not only does she not have a speck of intelligence in her eyes and no gravitas in her personality, but she decided to introduce herself to the Doctor Who fandom by announcing that all previous Doctor Who was sexist.
She's a vapid, moderately-attractive dope trying to play a swaggering immortal adventurer.
Of course, you can't blame an actress for being completely unsuited for a part. You blame the idiot who hired her.
In this case, it was worthless failure beta male showrunner Chris Chibnall who not only hired her but insisted the BBC hire her.
And the BBC is threatening that they're keeping him on for next season.
However, the truth is:
1, they're not keeping him on. They just don't want to admit the enormity of their failure all in one go. So they're claiming that Jodie Whitaker is quitting by her own decision now, but that Chibnall's staying on, because he's so great and has produced such good television. And then, in a couple of months, whoops, he's "moving on" too.
2, they're not keeping anyone on, because the show is such a calamity that they'll have to cancel it for a decade until the filthy stink of the Chibnall/Whitaker era dissipates.
Meanwhile, the Star Trek franchise has likely been killed for an entire generation thanks to the Cult of Wokeism, and Star Wars is mostly dead (only partly alive due to the intervention of Toxcially Masculine director Jon Favreau).
Social media giants Facebook and Twitter have collectively seen $51.2 billion in combined market value wiped out over the last two trading sessions since they banned President Donald Trump from their platforms following the U.S. Capitol breach.
Large tech firms and a number Democratic political figures have claimed Trump incited violence at the U.S. Capitol last week. The incident disrupted debates in both the House and Senate as lawmakers were forced to shelter in place while police and security attempted to seize back control.
And right now, lawyers are scanning prior declarations by Dorsey and Zuckerberg about their censorship policies, and planning shareholder suits due to big losses in stock price based on false claims made by Dorsey and Zuckerberg.
Any stockholders who lost money, arguably due to reliance on their false representations, can sue the companies.
I'd really like to hear from those self-identified "conservatives" in Conservative, Inc. who still think that corporations are our frenz.
Or are they still claiming to be conservatives? Are they nearly ready to admit what they are, pro-monopoly social liberals and staunch defenders of the political elite's right to rule?
"Corporations, which are now more powerful than they have ever been, are colluding with one another and with the political class to silence any opposition not to some ideal, they don't have those, but to their rule." pic.twitter.com/pVXDfJzabd
Boy, it's almost as if the public's wishes were ignored -- somehow -- in the previous " " " election " " ".
@MZHemingway
Congressional approval at 15% according to Gallup. 60% in another poll say impeachment is a waste of $/time. 77% wish Congress were working on Coronavirus, not impeachment. And 80% of GOP voters in battleground states say they'd be less likely to vote GOP who support impeachment.
Purge: transitive verb
1 : to clear of guilt
2 : to free from moral or ceremonial defilement
3 : to cause evacuation from (purge the bowels)
All three definitions apply to our current situation, but the third one is particularly apt, because the country's bowels are filled with people like Rick Scott, who may mean well, but is fantastically out of touch with what is going on. His "business as usual" tone is maddening and, quite frankly, offensive.
“I would have rather won these two Georgia seats, but I think we’re going to see a clear choice,” he said. “Over the next two years, the Democrats are going to try to do a whole bunch of things the public doesn’t want. They don’t want packing the Supreme Court. They don’t want higher taxes and more regulation. They don’t want the police defunded.”
“I think the Democrats now have the ability to go do some things. I think it’s going to help define them and I think it’s going to help us have a big win in 2022,” he added
Looking forward, Scott said he is already working hard to recruit good candidates.
He goes on to dribble more platitudes out of his mouth, with a tepid invitation to President Trump.
But if the Republican party wants to survive, they need to have a full-throated, unified roar at the malfeasance of the Democrat party and the Deep StateTM pulling the strings. And they need to act with the same intensity. That will start with a public casting-out of the traitors in the House and Senate. They can't be recalled, but they can be relegated to back offices with no staff, and tossed off every important committee. Then their reelection funding can be cut to zero. And then the minority leaders should stand up in front of the media and explain that disloyalty to the President and the party has consequences.
Of course this will never happen. Which is why Senator Scott's fantasy is a silly joke. Because we will remember. My original optimistic hope was that the Republican party would retake the House in 2022 with younger, more energetic and more Trump-like candidates. But the last week has shown me that the cowardice, venality and disloyalty in the party overwhelms love of country. They are on a sinking ship and are scrambling to sit in the first-class lounge.
Well, good luck with your plans Senator Scott. I am curious how you are going to convince me to vote for a Republican candidate who doesn't reject your brand of politics-as-usual. Will you bribe me with vacuous bromides about challenging the Democrat agenda? Will you promise some meaningless votes against the Democrat majority? Will you beg for money to retake the Senate?
Because there are some things you can do. I just named a few, but the biggest one of all is a sea change. Embrace Trumpism, because it is ascendant among American conservatives, and your brand of squishy pseudo-conservatism has been discredited. Accommodation is a thing of the past. Bipartisanship is a dirty word. Either fight for conservative principles or piss off. Unless you are even stupider than you sound, you must know that the system is broken, and either you work to repair the damage or you will be discarded by the voters whose clear, unambiguous desires you have ignored.
Good morning, kids. Thursday and of course the complete and utter sham of a second impeachment of perhaps one of the greatest Presidents in history - and quite possibly the last - tops the news. I'd say our government is a joke but for the fact that yesterday's Roman farce merely confirms that it's dead. The pretext for the Enemy to seize absolute power underscores one of the greatest political aphorisms of our time, from the mind of none other than Ace himself:
Our speech is violence, their violence is speech.
And of course, when there is no violence, the Enemy will plop on a MAGA hat, wrap themselves in a Gadsden flag, initiate some, then blame it on us, as was the case on Black Wednesday. For me to get all worked up about corrupt degenerates on the left and pseudo-right in DC, in the propaganda organs or in show biz and everywhere in between strutting, preening and foaming at the mouth with their sub-literate drivel is a waste of time. What I am worked up about is that rigging an election and overthrowing the country merely to seize power is not the end game. It's just the opening gambit. Forget about what's in store in terms of laws and edicts handed down from the rogue's gallery of hardcore Marxist freaks, geeks and thugs that now control the Legislative and Executive branches with little to fear from an at best neutered Judiciary.
During a live stream on her Instagram page, Ocasio-Cortez was asked by a viewer if, to help with national healing, there were congressional plans to institute any "truth and reconciliation or media literacy initiatives."
The socialist congresswoman replied that, yes, indeed, she and some of her colleagues have been exploring media literacy initiatives to help "rein in" the press and combat misinformation after last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol.
"It's one thing to have differentiating opinions but it's another thing entirely to just say things that are false," Ocasio-Cortez added. "So that's something that we're looking into."
Oh, are they?
Now, perhaps in the political systems favored by AOC citizens are impelled to look to government for ultimate truth, but that's not the case in the United States. At least, not yet. Here, the Constitution "reins in" Congress from intruding on the speech of citizens, journalists, or any private institutions, not the other way around.
We need only point to our media "factcheckers," journalists with political and ideological biases who have regularly, and arbitrarily, labeled completely debatable contentions as falsehoods, while either ignoring or justifying scores of other unsettled contentions. Are these the arbiters of facts who will be manning the government commission appointed by those storied truth-tellers in congress?...
... For those unaware, the "truth and reconciliation commission" the AOC fan asked about was most famously used in South Africa after the fall of apartheid as means of "restorative justice." The insinuation by those who use this phrase is that 74 million Americans who voted for the Republican presidential candidate are racist thugs in need for similar programs. It's a disgusting smear, and speaks to the dangerous and illiberal inclination of progressives.
I brought up the subject of what's going to happen after we take over the government: we become responsible then for administrating 250 million people. And there was no answers. No one had given any thought to economics, how you're going to clothe and feed these people.
The only thing that I could get was that they expected that the Cubans and the North Vietnamese and the Chinese and the Russians would all want to occupy different portions of the United States.
They also believed that their immediate responsibility would be to protect against what they called the counter revolution and they felt that this counter revolution could best be guarded against by creating and establishing reeducation centers in the Southwest where would take all the people who needed to be reeducated into the new way of thinking and teach them how things were going to be.
I asked, well, what is going to happen to those people that we can't reeducate that are diehard capitalists and the reply was that they'd have to be eliminated. And when I pursued this further they estimated that they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers. And when I say eliminate I mean kill -- 25 million people.
I want you to imagine sitting in a room with 25 people most of which have graduate degrees from Columbia and other well known educational centers and hear them figuring out the logistics for the elimination of 25 million people and they were dead serious."
One chilling idea WUO leaders entertained was working enemies of the revolution to death in labor camps, something many so-called progressives today would no doubt favor doing to Tea Party supporters.
And here we are in 2021. The heirs of Ayers, BLM and Antifa, have bombed, napalmed and lain waste to at least a dozen cities across the nation, only this time with the approval of, and quite probably at the behest of the Democrat Party, with the same goal: the overthrow and destruction of the United States. And once again, Ivy League eggheads with doctorates are talking about re-education camps. And Bill Ayers is still tied at the hip to Barack Hussein Obama. And Barack Hussein Obama orchestrated the coup that wound up not only sabotaging President Trump, but finally overthrowing a nation, society and a people that he despises.
When Titty Caca AOC blathers on about "truth and reconciliation" commissions, and Robert Reich as well as other incompetent little Eichmanns of his ilk parroting Ayers and foaming at the mouth in orgasmic anticipation of "re-education camps," to laugh at this - especially in light of what we have seen with our own eyes this past year - is to be dangerously out of touch. As sick and twisted as these people are, they have captured the government and all its instrumentalities of law enforcement. There are no more firewalls. The only thing that can sate a will to power is absolute power.
"If government buildings are indeed temples, they were first desecrated long before last Wednesday -- by the actions of our elected representatives." The Capitol Riot and 'Sacred Temples to Democracy
Daniel Greenfield: "The establishment would like to talk about anything and everything except its own power." The Language of the Unheard
CIVIL WAR 2.0: LEFTIST REIGN OF TERROR, WAR ON POLICE, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
"Astonishing photos show the moment an FBI vehicle rolled down a quiet Queens street to take a suspected Proud Boy into custody after he allegedly threatened to send an armed caravan to the US Capitol." (should've done a Manafort at 3:00AM with a XiNN crew rolling videotape - jjs) Stunning Photos Show Moment FBI Tank Rolls Down Quiet Queens, NY Street
"This legislation is less about securing Americans from domestic terrorism, and more about propagandizing a dangerous narrative and enforcing a political bias in our counterterrorism efforts." A Domestic Terrorism Bill Only Antifa Could Love
Fix the Court, a nonpartisan watchdog, wrote in a letter Wednesday that the lawmakers engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer of the Court by "baselessly objecting to the certification of the Electoral College results." (that entire sentence is comedy gold, and yet utterly horrific- jjs) Oversight Group Presses Justices to Remove Cruz, Hawley from Supreme Court Bar
"Millions of Republican activists in every state in the country are asking themselves, what can we do now? All of our political lives we put our faith in our elections." Our Leaders Have Betrayed Us
"The anger and frustration that the Republican base is feeling right now has been years in the making by the Democrats ongoing manipulation of voting laws and regulations culminating in the highly suspect 2020 election." Why the Right will Neither Forgive nor Forget
"Bipartisanship is now a country-club Republican illusion, although one that Democrats periodically trot out when they want the Romneys, Murakowskis, Toomeys, etc. to vote with them." The Unwanted Ghost of Trump?
"When Republican leaders constantly countermand the voters of their own party, many voters would rather start from scratch than reward the people who seem to hate them most." The Republican Party Killed Itself
OTHER BIDEN FAMILY HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
Power made at least seven requests between November 30, 2016, and January 11, 2017, two of them on the same day, to unmask Flynn on the reports, though she testified under oath that she had "no recollection" of ever making those unmasking requests. Biden Nominates Flynn Unmasker Samantha Power to Lead USAID
CHINESE CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS, FACTS AND AMERICA IMPRISONED
On January 13th, Bloomberg reported that Kushner "stopped an effort to sign up the president on fringe social media platforms such as Gab and Parler after Twitter suspended his account last week, according to three people familiar with the matter." Jared Kushner Is Blocking Trump From Joining GAB
"A former Trump worker allegedly lost his job simply because a pro sports league refused to work with a company that would employ Trump workers." The Public Sector Purge is Beginning
"The legacy media has spent the last week repeating the lie that Trump supporters travelled to Washington D.C. last week in a coordinated attempt to overthrow the government. It's a lie." The Insurrection Lie
OTHER FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
"Back in 2015, Attorney General Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) demanded that two conservative nonprofit organizations, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), hand over their donor lists. This demand threatened to reveal the identity of donors, potentially subjecting them to threats and harassment for supporting these groups. It also flew in the face of a 1958 Supreme Court decision upholding Americans' right to support causes they believe in without government harassment." Supreme Court May Finally Reverse Kamala Harris' Attack on Free Speech
"Americans should divest themselves from all products, services, and applications that give Big Tech power over our daily lives." How Everyday Americans Can Resist Big Tech
"Opponents to medication-induced abortions argued that facilitating remote access could lead to misuse of the drug without sufficient medical oversight and that the drug could potentially be used to end pregnancies unknowingly. Katie Glenn, a lawyer at Americans United for Life, said the regulation would protect women against coercive abortions." Pro-Life Advocates Cheer Supreme Court Ruling Restricting Access to Abortion Pills
"The CCP has engaged in a systematic and widespread campaign of violence, torture, detention, forced sterilization, and enslavement of the Uighur Muslim people in [China's Xinjiang province]. Its actions reflect an intent to destroy, whether in whole or in part, this population." GOP Leaders Press State Department to Designate China's Treatment of Uighurs as Genocide
DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
"Months after news broke about the massive SolarWinds hacking attack, one still needs to read between the lines to understand what's going on." CISA and the SolarWinds Attack: What Do We Know?
Our intrepid science reporter: "While there are many good reasons to pick Huntsville, I guarantee a major factor was the clout exercised by Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), head of the Senate appropriations committee. He will no longer be in charge of the committee with the new Senate, but in his final act as head he likely used it to get the Space Force to move to his state." Spaceforce Picks Alabama for Its Future Headquarters
"The record $1,376,269,000,000 the federal government spent in the first three months of fiscal 2021 was $197,337,650,000 more than the $1,178,931,350,000 (in constant December 2020 dollars) that the federal government spent in the first three months of fiscal 2020." Federal Spending Sets Record Through December
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
"It's a near certainty that the stock market has been artificially inflated to its current state." The Inflated Stock Market and You
"A Cupertino elementary school forces third-graders to deconstruct their racial identities, then rank themselves according to their 'power and privilege.'" Woke Elementary
Our intrepid science reporter, yet again, concludes: "Every report about this, including today's, waxes eloquently about the terrible threat the iceberg poses to the wildlife on South Georgia Island should it become grounded there, even though ALL past data, let me repeat, ALL past data indicated that it would not hit the island but drift around as it broke up. And, surprise surprise, that is exactly what it has been doing." Giant Iceberg from Antarctica Breaking Up
UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa: "The U.S. played a very important role in getting the Paris Agreement together. So we certainly are hoping that we will see this kind of leadership coming back." U.N. Looks to Biden for "Global Action" on Climate Change
"In the waning days of President Donald Trump's term, his administration took a series of actions that will act as shock absorbers for the economic havoc Biden's climate policies would wreak." Trump's Actions Should Slow Biden's Radical Climate Agenda
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
"It Can't Happen Here was a successful novel by Sinclair Lewis, written as a warning to Americans that their nation could easily follow the path of Weimar Germany." It Can't Happen Here (but it's happening anyway)
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.
ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.
Once I’ve finished with my song and I release it then I don’t mind who makes what interpretation of it. At least, for me, they’re thinking about it. They’re free to think it means this, that or the other. If they ask me what it means I’ll say, “OK, well this is what I think it means but you’re free, feel free to think of it as anything you wish.” Paul McCartney
Quote II
You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give. E. O. Wilson
Quote III
Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. Marianne Williamson
Quote IV
“But for those who voted for Biden, that’s what you’re going to get, and for Republicans, and Christians who voted for Biden, this is on your hands. To be sober, I just want them to realize that.” Focus on the Family (FOTF) President Jim Daly
Quote V
“When I am asked to provide strategic advice to help a company operate in a more responsible and humane manner consistent with U.S. law in spirit and letter, it is an opportunity to make things better while helping protect and create American jobs.” Former Senator Barbara Boxer
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this morning the city will terminate three contracts with the Trump Org in response to the storming of the U.S. Capitol last week.
Per Fox News “The mayor said that City Hall would notify the Trump Organization that it will be canceling agreements to operate the carousel in Central Park, two skating rinks and a golf course. He said the agreements for the carousel and skating rinks will be ended in less than a month, but that the golf course could take longer.”
De Blasio said “In light of this criminal act, the city of New York has determined that it is within our power to terminate all contracts with the Trump organization…So, goodbye to the Trump organization.”
They say that dogs are man’s best friends, and it would make sense to see people do anything for their dogs. But cats? Have you ever heard of someone getting charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, burglary, and weapons charges after allegedly threatening a 23-year-old woman with a loaded assault rifle because he wanted to get his cat? Well if not, meet 44-year-old Tony Wittmann.
Pictures emerged of the Die Hard actor walking through a Rite Aid pharmacy in Los Angeles, California on Sunday without a mask or any kind of covering over his face. He wore a bandana around his neck but Bruce did not use it to cover his mouth and nose. Amid criticism for not adhering to health and safety measures during the coronavirus pandemic, the actor released a brief statement to People which said: ‘It was an error in judgment. Be safe out there everyone and let’s continue to mask up.’ It had been reported by Page Six that Bruce, 65, was asked to leave the store by an employee due to him not wearing a mask. Cases of Covid-19 continue to spike in California, where over 31,000 people have died from the disease. More than 2.8 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the state, which is currently under a stay at home order.
Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Dan Newhouse of Washington
John Katko of New York
Fred Upton of Michigan
Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Peter Meijer of Michigan
Tim Rice of South Carolina
David Valado of California
Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
If you live in their districts seek someone to primary them or work for the Democrat who is running against them in 2022.
The Newspaper of Record is now operating as the CDC.
“Football coaches do it. President-elects do it. Even science-savvy senators do it. As cases of the coronavirus continue to surge on a global scale, some of the nation’s most prominent people have begun to double up on masks — a move that researchers say is increasingly being backed up by data,” the paper writes.
The Times cites Linsey Marr, an expert in virus transmission at Virginia Tech, who said “if you combine multiple layers, you start achieving pretty high efficiencies” of blocking viruses from exiting, and even entering, the nose or mouth.
Of course, there’s a drawback: “We run the risk of making it too hard to breathe.”
On this day: 13 Jan 2005
A report showed that more songs had been written about Elvis Presley than any other artist. It listed over 220 songs including: ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon, ‘A Room At The Heartbreakhotel’ by U2, ‘Calling Elvis’, Dire Straits, ‘Happy Birthday Elvis’, Loudon Wainwright III, ‘There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis’, Kirsty MacColl, ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’, Ray Stevens. ‘Elvis Has Left the Building’ by Frank Zappa and 'My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis' by Ray Herndon. via thisdayinmusic.com
AND
Born on this day: 13 Jan 1962
American singer and actor Trace Adkins who has charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard country music charts. via thisdayinmusic.com
***
Kids want transparency. Teacher gives it to them and becomes our Genius Award Winner.
A lecturer was left red-faced after uploading a video to a shared portal showing herself calling students 'absolute idiots'.
In the video, senior lecturer Dr Helen McCarthy complains to Cardiff University colleagues about a student sharing a petition during her lecture.
She said the student 'p***ed me off' and joked about there being an 'uprising'.
The clip was accidentally recorded and uploaded to the student portal with Bioscience students at Cardiff University discovering it among lecture recordings and sharing it widely.
Aryana Chopra said she wanted to spread a little holiday cheer to those who could not be with their families.
When Aryana's mother, Shachi, saw that her daughter was hard at work designing the cards, she called a local nursing home and asked how many residents lived there.
"They told me the number was 200. I went back to Aryana and asked, 'Will you be able to make 200 cards? She was like, 'Yes, Mommy, I can do that," Shachi recalled.
"For her, at a little age, to be thinking this way, my heart totally melted."
***
Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Niche Shopping.
Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire and AceCorp, LLC. ONT tips, loose change, drink tokens and burner phones to petmorons at gmail dot com. Complaints, pissing, moaning and bitching to someone who cares.
Observers of Jake Tapper have long noted that whenever he says something super partisan, super unprofessional, or super assholish, he attempts to deflect from the mini-scandal, and to gather support from the gaytarded fake conservatives who follow him around like they're in love with the wrinkles of his asshole, by tweeting out empty stuff showing how much he supposedly "cares" for "the vets."
It's been his go-to move for years and years. Even before he had heavy Nixonian jowls.
Sean Davis, I think, has dubbed this maneuver "going to Vetcon One." Like going to Defcon One.
Usually Jake would go to Vetcon One to deflect from his leftist agitation and assholery, but how's he going to go to Vetcon One over questioning the patriotism of a man who gave his life fighting for Tapper's rights?
"Congressman Brian Mast... who lost his legs by the way fighting for democracy abroad, although I don't know -- about his commitment to it here in the United States" pic.twitter.com/GidrZHUzOe
I lost two legs for @jaketapper's right to say whatever the hell he wants, but that free speech also protects the Republicans he is so eager to condemn for asking Constitutional questions about the election. https://t.co/ViNrwz9cbU
EXCLUSIVE: 'S**t's getting weird.' Shocking videos show an 'out of it' Armie Hammer drinking beer behind the wheel and licking white crystals off friend's hand, as sources tell of his downward spiral into drugs and depravity
Armie Hammer is seen in videos obtained by DailyMail.com looking 'out of it', cracking open a beer while driving and licking a substance off his friend's hand
The insider described his downward spiral into drugs and depravity, saying: 'He always liked to drink, do drugs, but never like this'
Hammer's estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers, who he split from in July 2020, is said to be currently 'shocked and sickened' over the recent revelations
"Shocked and sickened," yeah, I bet.
Armie Hammer doesn't have too much money from Hollywood, but I bet he's got big stacks from the Armand Hammer fortune.
Rebuttal: Miklosian Recollections LLP says that Armand Hammer was nearly broke when he died. I don't know if that's true.
A close friend exclusively told DailyMail.com: 'Armie had a whole other side to him that she wasn't aware of'
'Whether it was always there and he kept it hidden, or something happened that changed him completely, she doesn't know,' they added
The 34-year-old began to trend on Twitter after a series of sexually graphic Instagram DMs that he allegedly penned to a woman were leaked publicly
The actor is yet to speak publicly on the matter, and multiple requests for comment sent to his representatives have so far gone unanswered
Though the messages are unverified, the user attempted to prove their authenticity by sharing private photos alleged to be from Hammer
The video gets a big meh from me. He does lick a white powder from a man's hand, and from the front of the hand, too (which seems even grosser to me), but the way it's played up, I don't think it's drugs. Like, you don't make a big deal about doing drugs if you're really doing drugs, do you?
He does crack open what looks like a Miller High Life but who knows.
Someone out there is definitely attempting to assassinate him by leak.
Oh, and if you want something more political: I wrote a book in the sidebar.
Former Trump Official: I Had a New Job With a Private Airline. But Then One of Their Biggest Clients, the National Hockey League, Found Out I'd Worked For Trump. The NHL Forced My Employer to Fire Me.
—Ace
1) A couple of hours ago, I tweeted out that this tweet referred to me. Shortly after, I deleted that tweet. After much introspection, and talking with friends and family, I feel obligated to reveal why I deleted it.
Quote Tweet
Mark
@MarkFooterman
Jan 12
A very talented friend of mine, who interned w/ @GOPLeader, and at 20 was one of the highest ranked staffers in the Trump campaign, was just fired from his new job when client found out he worked for Trump. He now can't afford rent. Still think cancel culture isn't that serious?
2) After identifying myself as the subject of the thread, @Fly_PJS reached out to me, threatening to take legal action and publicly defame me if I didn't delete the tweet. Intimidated and nervous, I immediately deleted it.
3) But after thinking about it, and discussing my rights of free speech with advisors, I will not be bullied into silence. I'm now going to raise my voice louder.
4) In early January, PJS hired me to be a concierge for a contract they had with the
@NHL team, @Canes. Having worked with PJS as an operations associate for Trump Campaign HQ, I eagerly accepted the position-excited to join a company I had developed a personal relationship with.
5) After receiving a laptop, establishing a work email, and even purchasing additional work clothes, I prepared to travel to Raleigh, NC today for training. Yesterday evening, around 7 PM, PJS called and fired me without explanation.
6) I was devastated. I had gone from being employed to unemployed in a matter of seconds, and I hadn't done anything wrong.
7) I called the owner of PJS and asked for any explanation, and he told me very bluntly: the @NHL found out I worked for the Trump campaign and threatened to cancel the contract with PJS unless they fired me.
8 ) Instead of standing up for me, instead of explaining to the NHL that I, as a person, am not solely defined by my previous work on the Trump campaign, they fired me for their own company's financial gain.
9) I was upset and disappointed, but I didn't initially blame them for this decision. I wish they had stood up for me...they didn't. I didn't have any animosity towards PJS, until they tried to bully me into silence.
10) So now I'm sharing the story, in its entirety. Even though the owner told me this afternoon that he would deny everything I say if this went any further. But this is the truth, and I feel more empowered and supported if I share it with all of you.
11) I can't begin to thank all of the people who helped me through this, and have reached out to me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and by email to help. Thank you all so much! I look forward to continuing to voice the truth so this never happens to a conservative again.
This will keep happening, forever, until conservatives get serious about boycotting one or two of them into bankruptcy.
If we keep feeing them our money, we're paying for our own persecution.
But I just don't know if anyone will ever give up their TV. I've taken a big half-step myself, but it's still only a half-step.
When I saw the headline for this, I imagined Armie Hammer's claim to want to "eat you," and confession of being "100% a cannibal," was wink-wink stuff. Like Spinal Tap sexual imagery.
I want to wink-wink eat you, baby, because I'm a wink-wink cannibal.
But to work as a metaphor, you have to keep sort of vague. At least vague enough so that your "eat you" stuff can apply to oral sex.
He did not keep it vague.
He made it very specific.
Alarmingly specific.
Here's a print article about it, if you'd rather read about his body-mutilation and cannibal sex-talk.
"You just live to obey and be my slave. I will own you. Would you come and be my property till you die?" Hammer allegedly asked in one message. "If I wanted to cut off one of your toes and keep it with me in my pocket so I always had piece of you in my possession?"
In another, Hammer tells a woman that he wants to "brand you, tattoo you, mark you, shave your head and keep your hair with me, cut a piece of your skin off and make you cook it for me."
The actor then noted that the two would hypothetically win a contest of "'Who's [sic] slave/master relationship is the strongest'" if she followed his commands "to slit your wrists and use the blood as lube for a***."
Hammer also spoke numerous times of his desire to break bones and make his partners bleed during prospective sexual encounters, going so far as to tell one woman that he was "going to c-- thinking of breaking your bones."
"Text me about breaking your bones while raping you," wrote Hammer. "My c--k is in my hand. And I’m thinking of breaking your ribs."
Prince just emailed me to say, "That's not how you do a flirty sexual metaphor. You keep it light. You make it about a red car or a blue beret or something. You don't tell her to slit her wrists so you can use her blood as lube. That's third-date shit."
I know I should take a principled stance against this kind of cyberbullying and invasion of privacy, but fuck these people. They wouldn't say jackshit on behalf of any of us.
We did talk about that with respect to Clinton. But I believe the Constitution says you can hold an impeachment for a federal official. Not a former federal official. Trump will be a private citizen on January 20th. There is no impeachment for private citizens.
But that's what the law says. And we all know, we now live in a post-law, post-constitution regime (though the Serf Class is required to obey the laws that the Ruling Class is immune to).
President Trump's impeachment trial won't be heard in the Senate until after he has already left office and Joe Biden is president, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed Tuesday, delivering a fatal blow to Democrats.
The House of Representatives will vote later Tuesday on an article of impeachment accusing Trump of inciting an insurrection during last week's Capitol riot, but the Senate is not due to reconvene until Jan. 19 -- the day before Biden’s inauguration.
Democrats desperate to have the matter heard in the upper chamber as swiftly as possible lobbied McConnell (R-Ky.) to take up the matter while Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer explored a 2004 rule which would have allowed him to recall the chamber in an emergency.
Who, who, who could have predicted that Team Cheney/Establishment GOP's domestic "regime change" efforts would be about as well thought out and executed as their foreign regime change efforts? https://t.co/e259MGUfPt
Surprise! Disney Lucasfilm's new Chinese Communist Party version of Star Wars is a pungent propaganda fart against running dog capitalism CoRpoRaTIonZ aRE OUr FRenZ, COmradezzz! Ignore the inelegance of the translation. But due check out the political messaging, which Disney Lucasfilm is using Star Wars' IP value to push on behalf of its Communist Chinese business partners.
Now that the CCP's pet gerbil has been placed into the U.S. Presidency, and with the possibility of Bob Iger being appointed as ambassador to China, the propagandist possibilities are endless.
James Waugh, VP of Franchise Content & Strategy for Lucasfilm, says that the author of this story will bring very specific Chinese perspectives to the world building. Though it’s likely that James conflates the perspective of the Chinese people with the perspective of the CCP, which are entirely different and separate.
Chen Yang, the Vice President & Chief Editor of China Literature, claims that this effort will show online literature's "inclusiveness." Amusingly however, we already know that this "inclusive" story will feature an exclusively Chinese sector of the galaxy.
@dockaurG
"Lockdown is a luxury of the rich... luxury of the affluent. Lockdown harms the disadvantaged. We have given up looking after the vulnerable. I cannot understand how ppl cannot be sensitive to these issues. Much of the world does not have that privilege"
-Oxford Prof @SunetraGupta
Someone said: There are only lockdowns for the middle class. For everyone else, it's poor people delivering shit to rich people.
Nikki Haley -- Jeb Bush with a UTI* -- started a presidential PAC today. As expected.
@JesseKellyDC
We’re now 3.5 years away from the DC pundit-class being SHOCKED when Nikki Haley gets 5% of the vote in Iowa.
* Yes, I know, technically speaking, Jeb Bush himself is "Jeb Bush with a UTI."
The Republicans who like to go begging for favor from the mainstream media will always tell you that they're driven by conscience and deep principles.
That, my friends, is a trainload of hooey.
They're pathetic emotional midgets who are desperate for attention. If they became full-time Democrats, they'd just be one in a big crowd. If they remain Republican, they've got an easy, albeit brief, attention fix. Whenever their fellow Republicans need them, all they have to do is slip a shiv in their backs and they get a pure hit of New York Times love for a few days.
There have been a few Republicans running for cover since the riot at the Capitol. And by "running for cover: I mean "saying whatever the Democrats want you to say."
I agree, mostly, though I don't agree that their defections and betrayals are always due to the need for validation by the only people that matter, aka rich progressives in the media and corporate and government worlds.
The thing is: If you crave validation from one particular socio-political group, in fact, you identify as part of that socio-political group, period.
Bill Kristol doesn't just suck progressive dick only because he wants progressives to buy him a drink and some breath mints afterwards. He sucks progressive dick because he's attracted to progressives and their dicks. There are a class of "conservatives" who are always scolding conservatives, always betraying conservatives, always jumping at the chance to "tell conservatives some hard truths." These same "conservatives" also are forever pitching "The Conservative Case for [x] Progressive Policy Position.
The reason they do so is not entirely for career advancement and social blandishments. A lot of it is that, but it's not all that.
A lot of it is and always have been something deeper and strong: Their actual group affiliation and loyalty is to their progressive allies.
Families can squabble, but they're still family. The fake "conservatives" have always been members of the progressive family, just having a family squabble over minor things like what the corporate tax rate should be. That's why they always leap to defend their progressive family members' right to speak -- while gleefully supporting their progressive friends taking your right to speak away from you.
You're just allies of temporary convenience. The left is their actual permanent family.
And blood is thicker than corporate tax rates.
Speaking of Dan "Ben Sasse with an eyepatch" Crenshaw...
Story of a Friend of a Friend:
A guy got sick of FaceBook's bullshit, and posted a preliminary good-bye to his FaceBook "friends." The response was a wall of wailing SJWs claiming that it was only his "White privilege" that allowed him the ability to give up "the struggle against Trump's fascist America" by quitting FaceBook.
Unimpressed by these droning NPC's nonarguments, he nuked the account.
"It's only your White Privilege that lets you leave a Boomer media app that grandparents used to spy on their grandkids (not realizing they're all on IG and Snapchat)." Quitting "the struggle" by quitting FaceBook. Hardy-har-har-har-har. You stupid subliterate NPCs would starve to death if your TVs and phones weren't always blasting your malformed dum-dum brains with fast food commercials.
Trump's first impeachment vote fell almost entirely along partisan lines. This time, however, several House Republicans voted to move forward against the president, including Reps: Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) John Katko (R-N.Y.) Fred Upton (R-Mich.) Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) Tom Rice (R-S.C.) David Valadao (R-Calif.). [CBD]
.jpg)
