Sunday, December 31, 2017

Berlin

New Year's Eve party in Berlin to have 'safe zone' for women
Excerpt: The new security measures planned for the Brandenburg Gate party come amid concerns about sexual assaults. A large number of assaults and robberies targeting women at Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations two years ago horrified Germany. Hundreds of women reported being attacked by gangs of men with migrant backgrounds.

Iran

Iran: After cops murder protesters, protesters set fire to police and security offices

Heather Mac Donald: How Much More Delusional Can University Students Get?

Heather Mac Donald: How Much More Delusional Can University Students Get?

The inextinguishable allure of Communism

One Hundred Years of Evil by DOUGLAS Murray
The inextinguishable allure of Communism
A recent poll at some college had something like 20% of the graduating students saying that communism could be a valid alternative system of goverment. (I don't know which college, sure wish I did, but I have encountered young Communists myself in recent years, who, when asked about its historical failures, answered "they made some mistakes, but NEXT TIME we'll get it right"- how scary is that?) The writer does a very nice job on this, and for me the bottom line is simple. Naive idealists look at the theoretical outcome of a classless, prosperous society with total social justice and think "that's ABSOLUTELY the way to go!". And then they stop looking at the realities of human nature and all the past experiences, and decide they are going to live on that planet where this ideal is readily obtainable, and yeah, sure, you have to break a few eggs now and then, but hey, we know the ends justify the means. Heaven help us...Del

Friday, December 29, 2017

News of Over-Regulation Reaches the New York Times

News of Over-Regulation Reaches the New York Times
Excerpt: It may not be exactly the coming of the Messiah, but seeing a front-page story in the New York Times about over-regulation certainly feels like a breakthrough of note. Titled “One Apple Orchard and 5,000 Government Rules,” the story focuses on the Indian Ladder Farms apple orchard in Altamont, N.Y. A small, family-run business owned by Peter Ten Eyck, the farm does the bulk of its business in the fall (naturally). Their busy season includes sales to supermarkets, direct sales to consumers, visits from busloads of schoolchildren, and “pick your own” days. That’s also the time, or it was last October, when government inspectors showed up demanding to see reams of paperwork to ensure that the farm was in compliance with immigration rules, OSHA guidelines, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and other laws and regulations.

How Desert Storm Destroyed the US Military

How Desert Storm Destroyed the US Military
Ray Starmann has never held back and he doesn't here either. But he makes one hell of a point. Personally, I think that while a lot of what he points out is valid, there were also other factors that contributed to the deterioration of our military. (BHO high on the list.) But it is true that we are in a hole that was dug over time, and trying to return to a real military psychology and matchless lethal equipment is one huge challenge. --Del

No attempt to stop

Police: Greeley man behind wheel of truck in 8-vehicle crash that killed 4
Excerpt: Police spokesman Calvin Dye Jr. says 53-year-old Mohamed Yussuf Jama of Greeley was driving the tractor-trailer when it crashed into vehicles that had slowed or stopped in a construction zone near Hamel on Nov. 21. ... Jama's 2016 Freightliner Cascadia slammed into cars on Interstate 55 with "no attempt to stop," Dye said. The cars were slowed or stopped in traffic, ahead of the truck. The semi ran over some vehicles.

Suicide Bombing

41 Killed In Deadly Kabul Suicide Bombing
Muslims killing Muslims for Allah. ~Bob

Women should marry at 15 or their value drops

Preacher lambasted for saying girls should get married at 15
Excerpt: In a Harakah Daily reader question-and-answer section, Azhar answered a query about the boundaries between men and women by saying that women are marriageable at 15 after they have reached puberty. He said, however, girls are getting married at a later age due to education, adding that they are about 28 years old by the time they are finished with university. "But at 28 years old, no one would want to marry them and even if there were, the woman's value has dropped," he said in the article published on Monday (Dec 25).He added that women are "only worth RM15 or RM16" at the age of 28.

Compassion for the poor?


Thursday, December 28, 2017

Explosive Texts Point To FBI, Not Russian, Meddling In 2016 Election

Explosive Texts Point To FBI, Not Russian, Meddling In 2016 Election
Remember Hillary talking the "vast Right Wing conspiracy"? Well, there's a hell of a lot more evidence for a vast network of Leftist agents in the media, academia, and a whole bunch of federal offices. To find that FBI agents were talking and acting like this is shocking, saddening, frustrating, and downright infuriating. Yes, every American has a right to their opinion, which they can work out in how they vote, who they send money to, who they talk about outside the office. But there is no more critical place for the banishment of personal partisanship than in the Dept of Justice. These agents should be fired forthwith, and a hunt for any others who've acted similarly. That would include anyone who did stuff against Hillary too, nonpartisan means totally nonpartisan. What a sad mess this is. --Del

School Reform?

When School-Discipline ‘Reform’ Makes Schools Less Safe
Excerpt: When School-Discipline ‘Reform’ Makes Schools Less Safe (Photo: Chad Mcdermott/Dreamstime) SHARE ARTICLE ON FACEBOOKSHARE TWEET ARTICLETWEET PLUS ONE ARTICLE ON GOOGLE PLUS+1 PRINT ARTICLE ADJUST FONT SIZEAA by FREDERICK M. HESS & MAX C. EDEN December 15, 2017 4:00 AM Progressive education experts don’t seem to care that the policies they advocate are hurting the students who need the most help. Last week, a new analysis of Philadelphia public schools found that the district’s move to reform school discipline by embracing “restorative justice” had led to a raft of unfortunate results. The decision to eliminate suspensions for classroom “conduct” led to skyrocketing truancy, serious misbehavior, and declining achievement. Truancy had been steadily declining, but increased sharply after the new policy was adopted. Compared with other Pennsylvania school districts and after controlling for demographics, the district’s math and reading achievement declined substantially after the adoption of the new policy. And, ironically, students were actually suspended more often, because even as suspensions for minor offenses fell, suspensions for major offenses rose. The progressive education wonks who championed Philadelphia’s school-discipline reforms were remarkably unbothered by these alarming results.

An Arab Muslim in the Israeli Army

An Arab Muslim in the Israeli Army

Merry Christmas from the ROP.

A suicide bombing and a separate explosion from a roadside mine combined to kill at least 25 and left at least 32 wounded in Kabul, Afghan police said. No one immediately took responsibility for the attack.

Progressives?


Junk Science

'Junk science'? Studies behind Obama regulations under fire
It's a nightmare at the EPA for the fanatic environmentalists who took sway there under Obama. Hey, I'm a devoted environmentalist, but I want only very solid science to be used in evaluating what is really risky to humans and the enviroment, and not continue to make the kind of over-the-top mistakes made in the past decade. The problem with some people is they are so sure that any kind of chemistry must be bad, maybe super bad, that they end up doing limited studies that on confirm what they suspected in the first place. Meanwhile, a bunch of government scientists have just claimed not just that the planet is warming (which it probably is) but that the only reason for it is the use of fossil fuels. Which neglects utterly the fantastic complexity of planetary weather and its changes and various details like the periods in the past when CO2 was much higher than today and the planet didn't warm up. Apparently the belief in CO2 as planetary poison has infected even those with science degrees. I guess this is going to go on until we are all shivering in the winters and sweating in the summers and not driving very far very often because the use of all fossil fuels will be curtailed. Won't that be nice? --Del i'm looking forward to Vineyards in Greenland again, as they were when the Danes settled it. ~Bob

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

'Hitler was good, because he killed Jews'?

'Hitler was good, because he killed Jews'. German-Arab students praise Hitler to Jewish classmate who spoke against Palestinian state.

Segregation today! Segregation Tomorrow! Segregation Forever!




ADHD?

ADHD, or Childhood Narcissism? Ten times as many children are diagnosed with ADHD today as were in the 1970s. What if their behavior—consistently distracted, hyperactive, impulsive—really indicates something else?

France

France allows Muslim street prayers but bans Christmas movie as “too Christian”

Congress passed 97 bills into law.

What Congress actually did in 2017: It wasn't all partisan gridlock: 97 bills made it into law this year. Here's what you might have missed.
Excerpt: 2. Overhauling GI benefits. In the biggest reform of education benefits for veterans in decades, Congress passed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act in August, a 68-page bill that combined 18 separate bills into one, with numerous reforms long sought by veterans’ advocates. Most notably, the law eliminates the 15-year time limit for veterans to use their education benefits—the main reason the bill was nicknamed the “Forever GI Bill.” It also expands education benefits to any service member who receives a Purple Heart—regardless of how long he or she served—and provides extra money for veterans who pursue a degree in science technology, engineering or math, a small incentive to help America’s shortage of STEM workers.

ISIS Defeated

ISIS has lost 98 percent of its territory -- mostly since Trump took office, officials say
President Barack Obama, July 6, 2015, describing U.S. military efforts against ISIS: “This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign. ISIL is opportunistic and it is nimble.” From Morning Jolt by Jim Geraghty

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Steal Baby Jesus?

Topless female activist tries to swipe baby Jesus statue from Vatican Nativity scene
To pope, bare breasted women are the real threat. Muslims, not so much. --GS

gender

I’m a Pediatrician. Here’s What I Did When a Little Boy Patient Said He Was a Girl. By Michelle Cretella
Michelle Cretella, M.D., is president of the American College of Pediatricians, a national organization of pediatricians and other health care professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children.
Excerpt: Biological sex is not assigned. Sex is determined at conception by our DNA and is stamped into every cell of our bodies. Human sexuality is binary. You either have a normal Y chromosome, and develop into a male, or you don’t, and you will develop into a female. There are at least 6,500 genetic differences between men and women. Hormones and surgery cannot change this. An identity is not biological, it is psychological. It has to do with thinking and feeling. Thoughts and feelings are not biologically hardwired. Our thinking and feeling may be factually right or factually wrong. If I walk into my doctor’s office today and say, “Hi, I’m Margaret Thatcher,” my physician will say I am delusional and give me an anti-psychotic. Yet, if instead, I walked in and said, “I’m a man,” he would say, “Congratulations, you’re transgender.” If I were to say, “Doc, I am suicidal because I’m an amputee trapped in a normal body, please cut off my leg,” I will be diagnosed with body identity integrity disorder. But if I walk into that doctor’s office and say, “I am a man, sign me up for a double mastectomy,” my physician will. See, if you want to cut off a leg or an arm you’re mentally ill, but if you want to cut off healthy breasts or a penis, you’re transgender.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Government Spying in Wisconsin

The State Government Agency That Spied on Citizens
Excerpt: A new report on a government spying operation conducted by partisan bureaucrats should outrage and scare Americans everywhere. It shows what can happen when, as the report says, partisans “weaponize” a government agency and use its powers to advance “political goals.” Americans already have seen that when federal bureaucrats such as Lois Lerner or Samantha Power do that with the fearsome power of the IRS and our intelligence agencies, we face a threat to our liberty and the democratic process that is unparalleled in our history. The 88-page report by Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel details the notorious “John Doe” investigations that went after almost every conservative, nonprofit organization in Wisconsin (the state chapter of Club for Growth among them) for supposed violations of campaign finance laws.

Reimagining Prison with Frank Gehry

Reimagining Prison with Frank Gehry
Excerpt: They ignore that we are a non-homogeneous society, as opposed (until recently) Norway and Finland, where even the underclass has an understanding of cleanliness, decency, and place in society. Take your average drug felon in the US...how long until vandalism becomes the order of the day? Pretty short I’d say, so give them a modern and clean facility and take bets on how long until it’s a shithole. Benchmark is any US housing project. --GS

4 killed

4 Killed In Christmas Carol Gun Attack In Kaduna
Guess who? ~Bob

Remove the Cross

Italy: Migrant climbes Christmas tree to remove its cross

New Tax Bill

Click on image if too small to read

CAIR Founder


Sunday, December 24, 2017

Christmas at the Halls

With the grand kids, Britnye & Dale, making Christmas cookies.







A White Christmas

12/23/2017: No snow in weather forecast
12/24/2017: Inch on the ground, still coming down; Merry Christmas.



Bob as the Scottish Santa

In 2000, I was asked to play Santa at a Christmas party at O'Hara's Pub in Gloucester, NJ. I told them I was the Scottish Santa, as the Irish Santa had a wee drop of the creature too much the night before and couldn't make it. Here I am with Bonnie and our granddaughter, Britnye, 4. months. 



Here is Britnye making Christmas Cookies, Yesterday.


Family Shocked!



Theft?

Dear Democrats, Ownership Isn’t Theft, By david French
Excerpt: ’m starting to think that all too many Democrats believe that private citizens and private corporations don’t actually own their private income or their private property. Otherwise, how can we explain the Democratic insistence, repeated endlessly over the last 24 hours, that Republicans somehow are poised to execute a grand “heist” by cutting corporate and individual tax rates, granting an estimated 80.4 percent of taxpayers an average tax break of $2,140.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Houston, you have a problem

HOUSTON IMAM RAED SALEH AL-ROUSAN: 'GOOD TIDINGS' – MUSLIMS WILL KILL JEWS ON JUDGMENT DAY; 'DO NOT TELL ME THAT PALESTINE IS THE COUNTRY OF THE JEWISH [PEOPLE]'

Navy

US Navy to lower fitness standards as it looks to boost headcount

Gunny Claus


Happy Anniversary to me!

In June of 2006, I was diagnosed with Early Interstitial Fibrosis, the start of Pulmonary Fibrosis. My biological mother died from it in 1995, four months after diagnosis. Probably why I have it. I read up on it and discovered it was considered terminal, with death usually coming 3-5 years after diagnosis.
I was still here and still working in June of 2010, when my lung capacity had declined so much I had to go on oxygen. I pulled an oxygen tank behind me to work for three and a half years, until it got so bad it forced my retirement on October 1, 2013. On December 23, 2013 I had a right lung transplant through the Madison VA hospital. Lung transplants are the riskiest transplant, as the lungs are open to the air, unlike other organs. Th three major killed of transplant recipients are rejection, infection and tumors, as you are immune-suppressed. So today is my forth anniversary. By this time about 40% of lung transplant patients have died. I’m well enough that I work PT as a writer-editor at the Madison VA. I can’t say enough good things about the VA. Thanks to my doctors, nurses, CNAs, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and others, I’m still alive and going strong. I continue to march! Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts and support. ~Bob 

Friday, December 22, 2017

Racism

Teacher Segregation: ‘Staff that identifies as individuals of as individuals of color will meet in Room 226.’

Trump

Trump’s Refusal to Embrace the Norms of Presidential Behavior Will Hurt His Party
Excerpt: As an opponent of Donald Trump during the Republican primary, and as somebody who voted for a third-party candidate in the general election, I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by the policy output of this administration. Trump’s executive appointments have been mostly solid. His administration has taken seriously the task of staffing the judiciary with good conservative judges. Ditto rolling back Obama-era regulations. Obamacare repeal-and-replace failed, but that is as much the fault of congressional Republicans — who never fashioned a viable alternative — as of the Trump administration. Sweeping tax reform is set to be enacted. ISIS has been obliterated. The economy is doing well.

Rise of the Zeta Males

Excerpt: There’s a possibility our species will, in the not-too-distant future, be wiped out. Not by a meteor, but by simply no longer reproducing. Sterility won’t be the culprit, it will be the rise of the zeta males. You doubtlessly have heard of alpha and beta males – alphas being dominant and aggressive, and betas being pajama wearing, vegans with man-buns. While it may seem like those two options represent the bookends of the scale, there is a new, disturbing option emerging that may, and maybe should, mean the end of all human reproduction: the zeta male. The zeta male is so far down the scale from the beta male so as to make them look like the bastard child of a steroid-fueled spawning session between Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, man-bun and all. So, what is a zeta male? They aren’t just “woke” feminists, thought they are certainly that. They are biological men for whom a urinal holds no meaning, they always sit. They get tattoos of Hillary Clinton and attend Brony conventions. (Where is the Marlboro Man when you need him? If you take away the cultural right to fantasize, the movie industry will die. How then would Clooney, Afleck, Streep, Judd, et al. make a living? Yours truly, Larry Greenberg)

NYT: The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too.

The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too. Terrorism and civilian massacres were part of the Communists' strategy.
The only bad part of it is that the writer implies moral equivalence between communist atrocities and those committed by the US forces. This is totally nuts, for the communists it was POLICY, for US and RVN forces it was never policy, bad things happened as aberrations. That's a difference of enormous importance. If you go to the NYT site in time, you can add to the comments. --Del


Australia: Muslim deliberately plows car into pedestrians, injuring 19, cops say it’s not terrorism

Australia: Muslim deliberately plows car into pedestrians, injuring 19, cops say it’s not terrorism

Migrant Burned Girlfriend Alive

Migrant Burned Girlfriend Alive
Excerpt: A 17-year-old girl from Pori, Finland, was raped and then burned alive by her boyfriend. The boyfriend, Ramin Azimi, a migrant with Afghan back ground, refused his girlfriend’s wish to break up. According to the court’s statement, Ramin Azimi “first raped the girl in a nightclub in Ulvila. The he transported her to the town of Kokemäki by car, moved her to a wooden house, doused her in gasoline and burned her alive.”

Minneapolis: Muslim migrant stabs woman 14 times, local media ignores incident

Minneapolis: Muslim migrant stabs woman 14 times, local media ignores incident
Excerpt: The Minneapolis papers have ignored this story, and the only identification of the attacker as a Somali Muslim migrant comes toward the end of this video report. The Minneapolis media seems determined to ensure that no one get a negative impression of the Muslim migrants as they continue to flow into the area in large numbers

Got it


Imagine


Armed


Do as I say, not as I do


Orwell predicted today


The War on Women

When States Hike the Minimum Wage, Women Lose Jobs
Excerpt: These minimum-wage increases may appear to be a shortcut to bigger paychecks, but for many they are a straight path to pink slips. The Employment Policies Institute projects that raising the minimum wage to $15 in 2022 will lead to the loss of 398,228 jobs, because employers cannot absorb this increased cost of labor. Job losses will likely be concentrated in two industries with the largest shares of low-wage workers: agriculture, forestry, and fishing, and accommodation and food services. Workers in these industries will say goodbye to nearly 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively, of job opportunities. The effect of the increased minimum wage will be especially pronounced in accommodations and food services, which will shed 123,000 low-wage jobs. Retail-trade workers will also be laid off in masse, losing 77,000 jobs. These are industries that heavily employ women.

Us critics

Critics with questionable records condemn US

Australia worried that businesses will shift operations and investors will refocus upon the United States because of the lower tax laws.

Australia. Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
Meanwhile, down under in Australia, they’re worried that businesses will shift operations and investors will refocus upon the United States because of the lower tax laws. The US company tax rate, however, is critical because as the world’s largest economy, a cut would result in investment and capital flowing back into the country at the expense of nations such as Australia, whose higher tax rates would make it uncompetitive and less attractive as an investment ­option. Scott Morrison told The Australian that the Treasury analysis confirmed the IMF forecasts, which at the beginning of the year had been only hypothetical. The Treasurer said they were now a reality. “The Trump tax cuts are coming. If we fail to respond, they will take Australian jobs, investment and wages with them,” Mr Morrison said.

Armageddon?

Wisconsin: Associated Bank to boost minimum wage to $15, pay one-time bonuses when tax reform is signed
Or Armageddon, as Nancy Pelosi calls it. ~Bob

Opioid crisis linked to two-year drop in US life expectancy

Opioid crisis linked to two-year drop in US life expectancy

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42452733

Democrat Wave?

The Democrats’ Wave Could Turn Into A Flood
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-democrats-wave-could-turn-into-a-flood/
Excerpt: A new CNN survey released this week showed Democrats leading Republicans by an astounding 56 percent to 38 percent on the generic congressional ballot. That’s an 18 percentage point lead among registered voters — a record-breaking result. No other survey taken in November or December in the year before a midterm has found the majority party in the House down by that much since at least the 1938 cycle (as far back as I have data). And while the CNN poll is a bit of an outlier, the Democratic advantage in the FiveThirtyEight generic ballot aggregate is up to about 12 points, 49.6 percent to 37.4 percent. That average, like the CNN poll, also shows Republicans in worse shape right now than any other majority party at this point in the midterm cycle1 since at least the 1938 election. (If this is true, Trump is doing for the Republicans what Obama did for the Democrats. ~Bob)