Saturday, November 30, 2019

Why Are College Students So Afraid of Me?

Why Are College Students So Afraid of Me? Because adults at places like Bucknell and Holy Cross have convinced them they are oppressed. By Heather Mac Donald
So here is my old college, in the pages of the Wall St Journal, as an example of the eagerness of students to shut down any speech they don't like. Not exactly the tradition of the classic Liberalism that we alumni were exposed to so very long ago. I've listened to various presentations MacDonald has made over some years, and she's not remotely racist, sexist, homophobic, or any of the currently ever popular epithets people are prone to instantly throw at anyone they have decided they don't like. Yes, she's by today's standards a conservative, although JFK would have found her someone to like. We've had a decade or more now of everyone in a minority of any sort being told they are victims of endemic oppression, they are under threats of all sorts, including to their very lives, and that they need to stand up aggressively in their own defense. Very aggressively. Aggessivily to the point that it not only doesn't really do anyone any good, it has far more downsides in polarization than any good sides.OK, do we have perfect "social justice" in this country? Of course not, no one ever has, anywhere at any time. Do minority people have a right to at least be conscious of the worst parts of our past, and be aware they may still find incidents in which they may be treated less than fairly? Absolutely. Take it all the way out, every woman in our society needs to remain aware that there are some not so nice men out there they need to watch out for. But that doesn't mean staying anxious and simmering every moment about every man they encounter and be totally convinced their life is less than it should be only because of male domination of society. The biggest danger to the lives of young Black Americans is other young Black Americans, and the level of racism actually in practice that affects various minorities has dropped to quite low levels. We see interracial couples, gay couples, trans characters in films and TV shows all the time, and in advertisements for everything from aspirin to zoom lenses. We are so much better than we have ever been, but somehow that we are not perfect (by standards that are really hard to figure out) has become the tail that wags the dog in society now. I don't know what to do about any of this, but I wish to heaven we had professors and school administrators that would find ways to dial this thinking back, not promote it. It's very bad for the nation, bad for all of us. Seeing it in action at HC is one more thing that keeps me praying every night for some kind of divine intervention to get us back towards the ideals of tolerance, understanding, mutual respect, and serious appreciation of what we have. --Del

Thanksgiving for Dummies...Sorry, I Mean College Professors

Thanksgiving for Dummies...Sorry, I Mean College Professors
Excerpt: Consider this description of the Pilgrims' treatment of the Indigenous Peoples: "They were the worst of conquerors. Inordinate pride, the lust of blood and dominion, were the mainsprings of their warfare; and their victories were strained with every excess of savage passion." You've probably guessed -- unless you are an American college student -- that that's not a description of the Pilgrims' treatment of Indigenous Peoples at all. It is a description of some Indigenous Peoples' treatment of other Indigenous Peoples, provided by Francis Parkman, the world's foremost Indian scholar.

Hong Kong Protesters Thankful for Trump and the U.S. This Thanksgiving

Hong Kong Protesters Thankful for Trump and the U.S. This Thanksgiving

Socialism becomes the anti-Semitism of the enlightened

Socialism becomes the anti-Semitism of the enlightened. By Jonathan Tobin | http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1119/tobin111319.php3






Friday, November 29, 2019

How Republicans Won Phase One Of Impeachment

How Republicans Won Phase One Of Impeachment
Excerpt: Schiff had run the Democrats’ efforts in the Russia collusion conspiracy they peddled for several years. During that time, his team leaked like sieves to compliant media outlets such as CNN and falsely claimed for years to have secret knowledge of Trump being a traitor who had colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. With compliant media outlets, again, he tore down Republican members on his committee and their efforts to get at the bottom of the Russia collusion theory. When it came time for impeachment, he followed the same pattern, leaking to the compliant media selected excerpts of transcripts to paint a false narrative. But this time, it didn’t work nearly so well. For one thing, the complexity that he weaponized so successfully in the Russia hoax didn’t work with the public. The public had been willing to at least consider an elaborate tale of Trump being a traitor who had colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. But when it turned out that Schiff, other Democrats, and the media had been completely wrong about their elaborate theory, it had consequences. (...) The lack of daylight between Democrats and many in the media was difficult to ignore. They seemed to march in lockstep with the day’s messaging from Schiff, as well as the overall legitimacy of the proceedings. Here, too, the media seemed to underestimate the significant toll their participation in the Russia hoax had on their credibility. Where the public previously may have been willing to trust them when they claimed they had done their homework before claiming some evidence of wrongdoing by Trump, that trust no longer exists. Each day, Schiff’s team would leak out the messaging for the day along with the prepared testimony of the morning witness. “Wow,” the corporate media would all say in unison as they repeated the message. The problem is that none of their bombshells exploded, as the Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen noted. The supposed “bombshells” rarely made sense, were frequently contradictory, were never based on first-hand information, and mostly just supported the claim that many bureaucrats wish they ran foreign policy instead of the president. [Mollie Hemingway is a great journalist; she’s done a great job with this story. It appears support for impeachment and removal has gone DOWN during the hearings that were both boring and repetitive, and almost entirely 2nd or 3rd hand hearsay or merely the personal opinion of the “witnesses,” none of whom were elected to any office. Few can agree what crime, if any, might have been committed. There may still be a majority in the House who will vote to impeach, but there is little chance of it being sustained in the Senate.  Orange Man Bad might be true, but it isn’t an impeachable crime. Ron P.]

Crows

Stunning Photos Of The Crow Tribe Taken Just Before Their Culture Was All But Stamped Out

Pardon Their Hypocrisy, Pardon My Disgust.

Pardon Their Hypocrisy, Pardon My Disgust. By Joe Connor
The mainstream media and political elites continue their hypocritical attack on President Trump’s pardoning of Army Lt. Clint Lorance, Green Beret Maj. Matt Golsteyn and Navy Seal Chief Eddie Gallager; three men who dedicated their lives to the protection of America. Little mention has been made that in August 1999 the Clintons offered executive clemency (commuting sentences) to sixteen members of the infamous Marxist Puerto Rican terrorist groups Los Macheteros and Armed Forces for National Liberation (together “FALN”). There was no mention that in his last days in office, President Obama handed a second clemency to FALN leader Oscar Lopez Rivera, who was so dedicated to his cause and his comrades that he refused the 1999 Clinton grant and chose to stay in prison. (The contrast here is so stark, so dramatic, that it shines like a supernova in the black of space. Pardons for unrepentant murderers was not only OK, it was a great thing? And those terrorists and killers are still honored widely. But pardons for men who offered their lives in defense of this country are somehow awful, objectionable, and bring down bitter criticism of the President? We should all be grateful to this son of a murdered father for shining a spotlight on this travesty. --Del)

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Understanding the Roots of the War on History. By Richard Winders

Understanding the Roots of the War on History. By Richard Winders
Excerpt: "Our first contribution is one of omission. The time-honored stories of exploration and the biographies of heroes are left out." Charles A. and Mary Beard, The History of the United States (1921)
I am a historian by trade. One of the most important moments I experienced in my graduate training was when a professor explained that her doctorate was in the “philosophy of history,” not history itself. It is an important distinction because people equate history with mastering historical trivia. The possibility that there is a philosophy of or a way to think about history is rarely raised. Actually, there are several different philosophies of history—often at odds with each other—not just one universal philosophy. During the early years of the American republic, history helped create a national identity and instill positive virtues in the public. Parson Mason Locke Weems turned to George Washington’s famous cherry tree-chopping incident to invent a memorable fable to teach children honesty. Other contemporaries agreed with this approach. Early feminist educator Emma Willard wrote in The History of the United States, Or, American Republic that “The most important advantage of the study of history, is improvement in individual and national virtue . . . [especially in] the history of the American Republic.” These authors presented the Founding Fathers and military heroes as role models. The fact that white males dominated the nation’s early historical narrative reflected society as it existed at that time. Nevertheless, the pursuit of republican ideology, conveyed by words like liberty and freedom, was believed to be the engine that drove the United States toward a new enlightened age. (The writer makes a point, that people have always tended to teach history in particular ways to inculcate particular ideas in the minds of their students.  The same history can be taught from different points of view, with different emphases, and different use of facts, or different uses of manipulation, to support the agenda of the person doing the writing. The example we know best is that people can teach about the American involvement in Viet Nam from one extreme of the USA as the champion of liberty for others, fighting only too carefully and considerately to avoid unnecessary destruction and loss of life, to the USA as a neocolonialist power fighting stupidly and extremely brutally to impose its will on an unwilling people. I guess I am an idealist, because I believe it's possible to try to study history and write about it from an at least reasonably objective point of view.  That an intelligent person can do research carefully without major preconceptions about what will be found and personal feelings about what they want to find, and after accumulating a lot of information, then and then only thinking about what conclusions the information leads to.  A true historian is not a propagandist, but a searcher for truth. Sadly, it is most certainly true that propaganda is a good deal of what we can find today in supposedly objective news reporting as well as in historical publications.  My unfavorite example is Nick Turse, who decided to write about a predetermined conclusion that American troops in Viet Nam were pretty much a horrible collection of gleeful war criminals.  That's an extreme example, the Burns/Novick "documentary" is a much more subtle example of slanted history. I wonder what they teach History majors in the big colleges these days.  I'd hope for a pounding about objectivity, careful, painstaking research, etc, but these days that is probably quite optimistic. --Del

CATHOLIC AID DIVERTED FROM PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TO MUSLIMS

CATHOLIC AID DIVERTED FROM PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS TO MUSLIMS

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Female bodybuilder, 82, fights home intruder: 'He picked the wrong house'

Female bodybuilder, 82, fights home intruder: 'He picked the wrong house'
Good thing this wasn’t Portland OR, or she’d be in a whole heap of trouble. -GS

Thieves steal ‘priceless’ jewel sets from Dresden museum

Thieves steal ‘priceless’ jewel sets from Dresden museum
Excerpt: Thieves broke into Dresden’s Green Vault, one of the world’s oldest museums, early Monday morning, making off with three “priceless” sets of 18th century jewelry that German officials said would be impossible to sell on the open market. The treasury of Augustus the Strong of Saxony was established in 1723 and today contains around 4,000 objects of gold, precious stones and other materials on display in Dresden’s Royal Palace. Authorities said it appeared the thieves had broken open only one glass case containing three sets of Baroque jewelry made up of dozens of gems each.

Bloomberg Launches Ambitious Plan to Purchase Democratic Nomination

Bloomberg Launches Ambitious Plan to Purchase Democratic Nomination
Excerpt: He bought elections by spending $183 per vote and pushed through the repeal of term limits, turned away food from the needy because he deemed it insufficiently nutritious, and referred to the New York Police Department as his “own army.” Bloomberg’s approach to critics was as combative as his recommended approach to young African-American men in high-crime neighborhoods, “throw them up against the wall and frisk them.” Bloomberg is the former pot-smoker who cracked down on marijuana users as mayor. By the way, even on the healthy eating, Bloomberg’s an epic hypocrite: “He dumps salt on almost everything, even saltine crackers. He devours burnt bacon and peanut butter sandwiches. He has a weakness for hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and fried chicken, washing them down with a glass of merlot.”

Documents reveal massive 'dark-money' group boosted Democrats in 2018

Documents reveal massive 'dark-money' group boosted Democrats in 2018
Money in politics is bad. Except....~Bob

RBG, Steve Jobs, Cancer, and the Public’s Right to Know

RBG, Steve Jobs, Cancer, and the Public’s Right to Know
Excerpt: In the absence of facts, or anything in the way of investigative reporting to bring us facts, sometimes a little conjecture is called for. As we watch Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on her long decline, I'm reminded of another American figure of immense power with similar public-yet-barely-acknowledged health issues: Apple's late co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs. Jobs passed away in 2011 after a series of health problems, starting in 2004 with pancreatic cancer -- the same cancer with struck RBG in 2009. Jobs admitted he'd had surgery to remove the tumor, but neglected to mention that he'd wasted months of valuable time on non-traditional remedies. Executive Vice President Tim Cook temporarily took the reins as acting CEO, an action which Apple failed to immediately disclose. Jobs appeared to be healthy in the his public appearances for the next few years, but in 2008 he began to lose weight at an alarming pace. Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer called Jobs's health "a private matter," and tried to leave things at that. {Vodkapundit is writing what I’d been thinking since I saw notice yesterday that RBG was again in the hospital. I suspect this is far more serious than the public has been told. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened. Ron P.]

Victim uses battle axe to fend off home invader

Victim uses battle axe to fend off home invader
Excerpt: OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — A man is alive and well after he used an axe to fend off a convicted criminal who broke into his Oshtemo Township apartment late Wednesday night.  Ben Ball, 36, used a replica battle axe to keep the intruder at bay. The 33-year-old suspect, Alex Lavell Rawls, is now in jail facing a charge of first-degree home invasion, which could put him in prison for a maximum of 20 years. [Not the usual armed home defense, but this guy gets protected by the 2nd Amendment, too. Ron P.]

Free Speech in Abeyance

Free Speech in Abeyance 
Excerpt: At stake in this case are nothing less than two of the core guarantees that undergird American life. The first is the promise that all people may engage in robust political debate without fear of retribution from the sensitive and the malicious. The second is the promise that when legal disputes do arise, they will be resolved in a timely manner — before, not after, the targeted party has been bled of precious time and resources. Thus far in National Review Inc. v. Michael E. Mann, neither of these guarantees has been upheld. We are now seven years into this saga, and there remains no end in sight. On the case rolls — a Jarndyce and Jarndyce for the 21st century. Justice Alito notes that “in recent years, the Court has made a point of vigilantly enforcing the Free Speech Clause even when the speech at issue made no great contribution to public debate.” And so it should. But one would expect that a Court that takes the time to superintend the marginal cases would have time for the foundational cases, too. And make no mistake: This is a foundational case. Aware of what is at risk here, a host of media organizations from across the entire political spectrum have filed amicus curiae briefs in support of National Review. We may not agree with the Washington Post, Time Inc., the ACLU, and the Cato Institute on everything — or, often, on much — but on this we all speak as one. [I added emphasis. I started paying attention to the Climate Change Hysteria back in the late 1990s. We all watched as the Mann Hockey Stick graph was finally analyzed and demolished by multiple expert climate-related scientists. We all watched as the “Climate-gate emails” were published. And, we all saw that few minds were open to consider the objective facts. To this day, Dr. Mann refuses to let anyone see the source materials he bases his work on, claiming they are his “trade secrets.” Just as a reminder, real science isn’t done that way. If no one can duplicate your results, you HAVEN’T PROVEN ANYTHING, you’ve only asserted it. By allowing Mann to sue for damages to his reputation–that HE CAUSED by failing to provide that basic information is a travesty. Please read the whole editorial at National Review; it isn’t very long. I’m about as broke as any other old fart, but I will be sending them $5 or $10 to help pay for their on-going legal expenses. I urge you to do the same. Ron P.]

I Left England Because of Socialized Medicine. My Life Depended on It.

I Left England Because of Socialized Medicine. My Life Depended on It.

To Combat Racism, College Kids Demand…Segregation

To Combat Racism, College Kids Demand…Segregation

Behind Eddie Gallagher's Court Martial Is a Much Larger Issue: The 2008 No-Prisoners Policy

Behind Eddie Gallagher's Court Martial Is a Much Larger Issue: The 2008 No-Prisoners Policy
I had not been aware of this enormous change in the self-imposed rules of warfare. And I have to say it boggles my mind, we could not have fought in any war ever in our past with this kind of situation imposed on the military. OK, can there be abuses of prisoners taken in war? That's another "Duhh" moment, no s***, Sherlock, what else is new? Let's just refer to the systemic mistreatment and torture of our men in Hanoi for starters. Can that happen even with our own military? Sure, we know very well that it has at times. We also know that our own police occasionally deviate from the purity of the ideals in our laws. Newsflash- anything involving human beings in any number will inevitably bring on some abuses. But to hamstring the military with this kind of ruling does in fact make it simple. No prisoners. And that's a really bad practice in more ways than one. --Del

Trump signs bill supporting Hong Kong protesters despite strong opposition from China

Trump signs bill supporting Hong Kong protesters despite strong opposition from China

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Climate Scientists Reduced to Hiding from Climate Thuggery in Germany. By James Taylor: Nov 22, 2019

Climate Scientists Reduced to Hiding from Climate Thuggery in Germany. By James Taylor: Nov 22, 2019
https://townhall.com/columnists/jamestaylor/2019/11/22/climate-scientists-reduced-to-hiding-from-climate-thuggery-in-germany-n2556941

Chinese Spy Defects to Australia, Provides Unprecedented Account of Beijing’s Influence Operations Overseas

Chinese Spy Defects to Australia, Provides Unprecedented Account of Beijing’s Influence Operations Overseas
This story is from Australia, but it's Chinese strategy throughout the world. It certainly goes on here in the USA, and I am certain in assorted other nations. It's all about the long term plan to make China the most powerful and dominant nation in the world. Eventually they'd like to have something like the Roman Empire was, where China rules or essentially dominates all the nations of Asia, and has a lot of power outside of Asia, in Africa for instance. Since I posted the story about one of the Chinese in this country caught stealing technology, and mentioned my own experience with such activities, others have written me and sent me more articles about such incidents. US corporations are tempted to hire brilliant young Chinese who have studied here and done well in universities, but they need to stop doing that, far too many of these people are influenced by one way or another by China's government to act as spies and thieves of technology. US colleges like to have Chinese students come here, since they are well financed and pay the full tuition, but again, it's time to cut back on that. China has been at war with us for nearly 40 years, a sneaky war and they've done very, very well at it. They are smart and super devious, and use their young people as tools once they are here, and we need to face up to that fact. It's time to get very serious about protecting ourselves from Chinese influence and spying. --Del

How Republicans Won Phase One Of Impeachment

How Republicans Won Phase One Of Impeachment
Excerpt: Schiff had run the Democrats’ efforts in the Russia collusion conspiracy they peddled for several years. During that time, his team leaked like sieves to compliant media outlets such as CNN and falsely claimed for years to have secret knowledge of Trump being a traitor who had colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. With compliant media outlets, again, he tore down Republican members on his committee and their efforts to get at the bottom of the Russia collusion theory. When it came time for impeachment, he followed the same pattern, leaking to the compliant media selected excerpts of transcripts to paint a false narrative. But this time, it didn’t work nearly so well. For one thing, the complexity that he weaponized so successfully in the Russia hoax didn’t work with the public. The public had been willing to at least consider an elaborate tale of Trump being a traitor who had colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. But when it turned out that Schiff, other Democrats, and the media had been completely wrong about their elaborate theory, it had consequences. (...) The lack of daylight between Democrats and many in the media was difficult to ignore. They seemed to march in lockstep with the day’s messaging from Schiff, as well as the overall legitimacy of the proceedings. Here, too, the media seemed to underestimate the significant toll their participation in the Russia hoax had on their credibility. Where the public previously may have been willing to trust them when they claimed they had done their homework before claiming some evidence of wrongdoing by Trump, that trust no longer exists. Each day, Schiff’s team would leak out the messaging for the day along with the prepared testimony of the morning witness. “Wow,” the corporate media would all say in unison as they repeated the message. The problem is that none of their bombshells exploded, as the Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen noted. The supposed “bombshells” rarely made sense, were frequently contradictory, were never based on first-hand information, and mostly just supported the claim that many bureaucrats wish they ran foreign policy instead of the president. [Mollie Hemingway is a great journalist; she’s done a great job with this story. It appears support for impeachment and removal has gone DOWN during the hearings that were both boring and repetitive, and almost entirely 2nd or 3rd hand hearsay or merely the personal opinion of the “witnesses,” none of whom were elected to any office. Few can agree what crime, if any, might have been committed. There may still be a majority in the House who will vote to impeach, but there is little chance of it being sustained in the Senate.  Orange Man Bad might be true, but it isn’t an impeachable crime. Ron P.]

Friday, November 22, 2019

The Road That Brought Conservatives and Republicans to This Point

The Road That Brought Conservatives and Republicans to This Point
Excerpt: ...(A)t least you had your allies. Throughout the Bush and Obama years, you found writers who make strong arguments, who jabbed at the opposition forcefully, who called out their hypocrisies, who made you laugh, and who, metaphorically, are right there in the trenches with you, fighting the good fight. (...) No matter how bad it got, you always had them to read, lifting your spirits and reassuring you. And then one day in 2015, this outlandish celebrity came along who seems to agree with you most of the time. He’s a bit of a jerk, but you kind of like that; he treats everybody who disagrees with him with contempt, the same way the other side treats you with contempt. As time goes by, you realize he’s perhaps more than a bit of a jerk, he’s a raging narcissist and maybe a maniac, but you still like the way he responds to everyone you don’t like — the mainstream media, Democratic politicians — with this constantly erupting volcano of scorn. You feel like you’ve been mistreated for decades; now turnabout is fair play. But much to your shock, a bunch of your favorite writers don’t like him at all. They see him as almost as bad as the opposition.[I don’t now about anyone else, but this is pretty much the same way I felt at election time in 2016. I ended up voting for Johnson-Weld, knowing they weren’t top tier candidates. To give Trump his due, I love his judicial nominees and his pardons. As for the 2020 race, the only Democrats running that I would consider voting for are Gabbard and Buttageig (they’re both veterans and both are centrists). If things stay as they are now, I’ll probably hold my nose and vote for Trump. Ron P.] 

Satire: Impeachment Inquiry Canceled After 5 Episodes Due To Low Ratings

Satire: Impeachment Inquiry Canceled After 5 Episodes Due To Low Ratings

China

Chinese national and Oklahoma resident pleads guilty to theft of trade secrets
This is what they've been doing for decades. Industrial espionage is a major effort for China, I have personally been involved in such cases. At this point I would not let anyone born in China with relatives still there anywhere near technical secrets. No, they're not every single one is a spy, but too many are to take chances. --Del

PayPal, Pornhub, and Financial Inclusion

PayPal, Pornhub, and Financial Inclusion
Excerpt: Basically, PornHub tells its bank, say Wells Fargo, to deposit $500 to SusieX’s bank, Chase. These instructions get batched with millions of other Wells Fargo payment instructions and sent to the Federal Reserve’s Automated Clearinghouse (FedACH). The Federal Reserve nets out all Wells Fargo-Chase payments and then provides a final end-of-day amount that Wells Fargo owes. Actual settlement between the two banks occurs the next day via the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire large value payment system. Chase then proceeds to credit SusieX’s account for $500. Voila, she has been paid. Now it could be that SusieX doesn’t want to use direct deposit. Maybe she is worried that Chase will notice she is being paid for sex work, and will cut her off. These sorts of things have happened before. Or perhaps she doesn’t have a bank account. Fortunately, Pornhub also has access to other payment processors which don’t require the recipient to have a traditional bank account. Content providers can be paid via Paxum, an online wallet. A wallet is a payments account that a non-bank provides to the public. The wallet provider is able to indirectly access vital central bank payments tools like FedACH and Fedwire by using a traditional bank as an intermediary. SusieX can now send $500 from her PornHub account to her Paxum wallet. She can then tell Paxum to send some of the funds to her regular bank account. Alternatively, if she doesn’t have a bank account she can apply for a Paxum prepaid card and link it to her Paxum wallet. SusieX can then spend her earnings as she would a regular bank account-linked debit card. [On 13 Oct 2019, TOJ had an article about pecans and alternative currency in Louisiana prisons. The article above is another good reason why some folks NEED an alternative way to get paid. This sounds like a variation on the method described in the pecan article in October. Ron P.]

Putin: Scientists Killed In "Mystery" Radiological Blast Were Developing "Unparalleled" Weapon

Putin: Scientists Killed In "Mystery" Radiological Blast Were Developing "Unparalleled" Weapon
Excerpt: Russia covered up the deadly nuclear reactor explosion in August during the salvage at sea of one of Vladimir Putin’s new superweapons, a nuclear-powered cruise missile called Skyfall, a senior State Department official disclosed.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

When ‘A Time for Choosing’ Became the Time for Reagan

When ‘A Time for Choosing’ Became the Time for Reagan
Excerpt: What few viewers knew that night in October 1964 was that Reagan was not relying on a script or Teleprompter. At just after 18 minutes into the event, the camera shot over his right shoulder reveals that on the podium, Reagan was using note cards. What we can’t see in the grainy picture is what was probably written on those cards: Reagan’s own shorthand for speeches. Martin Anderson, his White House domestic-policy adviser, later recounted Reagan’s unique note-card method. Reagan would list words, numbers, abbreviations, or even what amounted to hieroglyphics in precise lines, the items separated by dots on a 4-by-6-inch card. Each mark represented a phrase, a sentence or two, or even complete paragraphs. The symbol or word would help Reagan recall a thought, a section of a previous speech, facts and figures supporting his arguments, or a story to personalize an issue. Reagan’s acting years reciting dialogue and his time as GE’s spokesman, talking to different audiences in various circumstances, honed this practice of relying on note cards. However only a facile, well-informed mind could transform those scribbles into a masterful address.[I never saw this speech, being then in Infantry training at Camp Geiger, NC. In the Spring of 1964, prior to enlisting, I had gone door to door urging neighbors to vote for Goldwater, though I wouldn’t personally be old enough to vote until 1968–and I wouldn’t be able to then, either, because I wasn’t registered anywhere and was then located in Vietnam. Though I’d not seen or read this speech, I heard many of the phrases in it quoted in later years. This wonderful essay really tells us a lot about what sort of man Reagan was. Ron P.]

Overwhelming majority of women fail new Army combat-fitness test

Overwhelming majority of women fail new Army combat-fitness test
I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you! What, the actual data may indicate that women's bodies are not just like men's in every way? Who'da thunk it? We have data on this up the ying-yang, but the PC push continues, with even the Marine Corps started to give in to the nonsense crap. Yet no one is demanding that the Olympics stop having separate events for men and women. No one is publishing all the data on record physical achievments in running, weight lifting, swimming, Iron Man trialthlons, etc, by gender, where- here's a shocker- all the male numbers are clearly different from and better than female numbers. This was and is a truly idiotic PC fantasy, and it's high time for it to be halted. Before it gets a lot more people hurt and someday killed. --Del

Israel

Israel: World Leader in Technology, Diversity and Human Development

Former Baltimore Mayor Charged with Fraud, Faces up to 20 Years in Prison

Former Baltimore Mayor Charged with Fraud, Faces up to 20 Years in Prison

FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower

FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower
Excerpt: Any investigation by the FBI into the issues raised in the whistleblower complaint has the potential to introduce a new wild card into the debate over whether to impeach the president over his Ukraine dealings. In late September, the Justice Department confirmed that Brian Benczkowski, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division, and an appointee of Trump, had reviewed the whistleblower’s detailed complaint the previous month and determined there was no violation of campaign finance laws by the president when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open up an investigation into the gas company that once paid Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, to serve on its board. As a result, Kerri Kupec, chief of public affairs, said the Justice Department determined that “no further action was warranted.” But that decision, a Justice Department official said, was limited only to the question of potential campaign finance law violations and not to any other issues raised in the whistleblower complaint. “It was a very narrow issue,” the official said.  [Isn’t THIS interesting? The FBI had ALREADY investigated the “whistleblower’s” complaint in August or September and determined there was no violation. Where was the mention of this during the Democrats’ Impeachment hearings? Still to come, no doubt. I wonder if this information had help getting to the news media? I’d bet a lot that it did. I wonder if the FBI will get to "interview" this guy. Ron P.]

Erdogan: “Our God commands us to be violent to the kuffar”

Erdogan: “Our God commands us to be violent to the kuffar”

UK: Christian banned from displaying banner proclaiming his beliefs in Speaker’s Corner row vows to take his challenge to court

UK: Christian banned from displaying banner proclaiming his beliefs in Speaker’s Corner row vows to take his challenge to court

Deval Patrick campaign event canceled at Atlanta college; only 2 people reportedly show up

Deval Patrick campaign event canceled at Atlanta college; only 2 people reportedly show up
Supposed to be the NEXT Obama; had same speech writer. Heaven forefend. --Barb

The Seven Deadly Sins of California’s Political Establishment

The Seven Deadly Sins of California’s Political Establishment
Want to understand what's going on in California? This is what happens when the "woke" Left has all the political power, and PC themes become government policy, against which the citizens have no defense anymore. In a way it's a parallel to why socialist governments all go downhill into elitist corruption and inefficiency. Once an elite takes over that doesn't really have to answer to anyone anymore, their purposes are only two, to hang onto power, and to implement whatever it is they feel like. Exercising the power makes them feel great, super important, in this case, super virtuous. The end results are fearsome, but once they are on a roll, none of that matters. Ten or at most twenty more years of this and the state will be a lesson in regimented misery. The weather will always be great, but life there, for all but the super rich, will be not so great at all. --Del

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Film

No Safe Spaces advocates for the right to safely express ideas so people may become stronger. It launches October 25th; check its availability at nosafespaces.com/theaters/

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Satire: BadFellas

Satire: BadFellas

Resistance or unhinged behavior? Partisan hatred reaches Trump's family

Resistance or unhinged behavior? Partisan hatred reaches Trump's family

Biden

I had only heard a few rumblings about stuff Joe did when younger, mainly some plagiarizing in college. But it turns out there was a good deal more, way more than enough to really get your attention. As the host of the program says, if any GOP politician had this in his or her past, they'd be dead in the water for any job, much less POTUS. Watch the video and see. --Del

UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS RELEASE RECORDS OF 46 PAYMENTS TO HUNTER BIDEN FROM BURISMA HOLDINGS

UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS RELEASE RECORDS OF 46 PAYMENTS TO HUNTER BIDEN FROM BURISMA HOLDINGS,. 38 PAYMENTS WERE FOR $83,333 TOTALING OVER $3.1 MILLION
https://gellerreport.com/2019/11/millions-2biden-ukrainian-payoffs.html/
Gee, if only it was one of Trump's kids or cousins or uncles or drinking buddies who collected over $3MM from a corrupt Ukrainian gas company, there'd be a full battalion of US investigators digging through everything even remotely related to what went on, they'd be using backhoes to dig up old garbage dumps to find the tattered Christmas cards any of these people sent to anyone else.  The NYTimes would have six people there reporting on it, it'd be on TV nightly news constantly, and there'd be huge mobs surrounding the White House for blocks. --Del

84-Year-Old Former Cop and Korean War Vet Has Guns Seized over Comments ‘Taken Out of Context’

84-Year-Old Former Cop and Korean War Vet Has Guns Seized over Comments ‘Taken Out of Context’
Speaking of abuse of the system, here's a fantastic example. The old vet complains about a security guard leaving his post at the school, and somehow that makes the old guy the dangerous one! And the local sheriff has nothing better to do than come to the school, tell him he can't be a crossing guard anymore, then take him home, seize his guns and permit! This is truly nuts, and I am praying a storm of protest falls on the sheriff. And that the idiot waitress who somehow misunderstood what the old man was saying gets the full benefit of everyone's contempt. --Del

3 judges drunkenly fight at an Indiana White Castle, leaving 2 shot. Now, they're suspended

3 judges drunkenly fight at an Indiana White Castle, leaving 2 shot. Now, they're suspended
Excerpt: Three judges involved in a fight at an Indiana White Castle in May, which ended with two of the judges shot, have been suspended without pay after the Indiana Supreme Court determined they committed judicial misconduct. In an opinion issued Tuesday, the court said judges Bradley Jacobs, Andrew Adams and Sabrina Bell "engaged in judicial misconduct by appearing in public in an intoxicated state and behaving in an injudicious manner and by becoming involved in a verbal altercation." Adams' whole blood-alcohol level was approximately 0.157 upon admission to the hospital, and Jacobs' was approximately 0.13, according to the opinion. Bell's blood-alcohol level was not tested, "but she was intoxicated enough that she lacks any memory of the incident," per the opinion. Additionally, Adams and Jacobs "engaged in judicial misconduct by becoming involved in a physical altercation for which Judge Adams was criminally charged and convicted," the court said in its opinion. [Now, we know who watches the watchmen. It’s other judges. The other rascals involved included one who fired at least three shots striking two of the drunken judges. That guy got probation, too. What the hell, Indiana? Ron P.]

Shooting down the 80% lie

Shooting down the 80% lie

Two pastors beheaded as violence against Christians flares in Ethiopia

Two pastors beheaded as violence against Christians flares in Ethiopia

Friday, November 15, 2019

Paul Krugman: Always Wrong, Never in Doubt

Paul Krugman: Always Wrong, Never in Doubt

Trump grants clemency to 2 Army officers accused of war crimes, restores rank to Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher

Trump grants clemency to 2 Army officers accused of war crimes, restores rank to Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher

Satire: Airport Revenues Soar After Allowing Travelers To Pay To Turn Off CNN

Satire: Airport Revenues Soar After Allowing Travelers To Pay To Turn Off CNN

War on Christmas: Amazon Labels Nativity Story as ‘Holiday Fiction’

War on Christmas: Amazon Labels Nativity Story as ‘Holiday Fiction’
Excerpt: ...Unlike A Visit from Saint Nicholas and other “holiday” poems, however, Williams’s book actually tells the Nativity story exactly as recounted in the gospels of Saints Luke and Matthew, without the addition of fictional embellishments.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

10 Reasons I Like Donald Trump, From A Female, Former-Democrat Immigrant.

10 Reasons I Like Donald Trump, From A Female, Former-Democrat Immigrant. Donald Trump is the perfect president to counter the D.C. swamp and the foreign policy blob. By Saritha Prabhu
A foreign born female who used to vote Democrat... interesting. Personally, I find a bit more about Mr. Trump that frustrates me sometimes, upsets me other times, and I really, really believe he'd be better off and so would we all if he'd dial back on some of his zingers of people and his overblown rhetoric. But... he is who and what he is, and we're stuck with the whole package, warts and all. Given how the Democratic Party I used to respect and support has been taken over by assorted radicals, the only choice I see as less damaging for our future is to keep Trump and the GOP in power. (Of course, everyone is super duper free to disagree!) And pray that the downsides of Trump and the GOP are a whole lot less dangerous than the Green New Deal, open borders, reparations, free stuff for everyone, etc, ideas now ascendant on the Left. --Del