Sunday, October 15, 2017

25th Anniversary Trip to Castle Lacrosse

Bonnie and I decided to give ourselves a getaway to a great bed and breakfast in Lacrosse as a present for our anniversary on September 5th. We weren't able to get away or book a room at this popular spot until October 12-15. Yes, it rained all four days, though it stopped Sunday morning for the drive home. We had a wonderful time anyway. It's about 150 miles from us by the back roads we prefer.

https://www.castlelacrossebnb.com/

It's the grandest house we have ever stayed in. The hosts are delightful, full of conversation and stories. The chef was training in a French cooling school in Texas! It was built in 1891 by a timber baron who died before he could move in. His widow lived there until she sold it to the church, which used it for clergy for 50 years. We were in the Bishop's Bedroom. it opened as a B&B in May.



The house if full of antiques, decorative woodwork and decorated in exquisite taste, which even a plebeian like me could figure out.






Thursday and Friday nights we had dinner at the Waterfront Tavern and Restaurant (an anniversary gift from a friend). We sat outside on the Mississippi the first night--there were heaters. The food was excellent.

On Friday, we took a river cruise on the Lacrosse Queen, a paddle wheeler.



We saw three bald Eagles.


Saturday we went to the Historic Downtown Day, fun despite the rain. There was a chili cooikoff--no lunch needed. There was a great book shop and we enjoyed the Pearl Street Banjo Band.


And there was a lovely garden on the riverfront.


We were so full of chili we just snacked Saturday night. color was not quite peak, as they have had so much rain, but was nice both there and on the drives book ways.



We couldn't recommend the Castle Lacrosse more. we will go back.

~Bob & Bonnie

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Kneeling player cut

Gyree Durante Cut by Albright College After Kneeling During National Anthem
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2738139-gyree-durante-cut-by-albright-college-after-kneeling-during-national-anthem
OK, so the college football team does a big internal debate, and decide to kneel during the coin toss as an expression of concern, but stand during the anthem. One guy decides that he's just too special, too dedicated, too socially aware/upset, and kneels during the anthem anyhow. So the school cuts him from the team. BRAVO!!! About damn time somebody said enough is enough, and this young man was incredibly arrogant and stupid. I hope this really messes up things for him in lots of ways, and maybe he figures out it wasn't a smart move. And at least others figure out that there's limits on the crap they can pull. --Del

Texas

Texas State University Looking to Hire Math Education Professors Committed to 'Social Justice'
Because, you know, the numbers have to give them the social justice answer they want, regardless. Like funding single payer...~Bob

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Mass Murder


Hillary

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday broke her silence on the sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood producer and Democratic donor Harvey Weinstein, saying such behavior "cannot be tolerated.”
Excepr from Bill. ~Bob

Monday, October 9, 2017

ESPN

ESPN suspends anti-Trump anchor for attacking president, Dallas Cowboys

Remember 732

Battle of Tours 732

Saturday, October 10, is the anniversary of the Battle of Tours (or Poitiers) in 732, in which Charles Martel (The Hammer and supposedly an ancestor) and his brave, outnumbe5ed Frankish warriors turned back the first Muslim crusade to conquer Europe and eliminate Christendom.
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/tours.html
Excerpt: The Battle of Tours (often called the Battle of Poitiers, but not to be confused with the Battle of Poitiers, 1356) was fought on October 10, 732 between forces under the Frankish leader Charles Martel and a massive invading Islamic army led by Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi Abd al Rahman, near the city of Tours, France. During the battle, the Franks defeated the Islamic army and Emir Abd er Rahman was killed. This battle stopped the northward advance of Islam from the Iberian peninsula, and is considered by most historians to be of macrohistorical importance, in that it halted the Islamic conquests, and preserved Christianity as the controlling faith in Europe, during a period in which Islam was overrunning the remains of the old Roman and Persian Empires.

California

California: No Longer A Felony To Knowingly Expose Others To HIV. California Democrats don't want to treat people with HIV "as criminals."
Every time I think they've done everything crazy possible, the CA politicians do another "you can't make this crap up" thing. So... knowingly exposing others to a deadly disease and contributing contaminated blood that might infect total innocents is now a misdemeanor? Which means nothing remotely bad can really happen to you, maybe a warning or a fine at most. Telling people with a deadly infectious condition that they must tell others about it before doing anything that could pass on the infection is not just reasonable, it's insanely unreasonable for the potential victims of such irresponsible and terribly dangerous behavior. That's not treating the infected person like a criminal, it's treating them as the danger they can be. Human beings have practiced quarantine for millenia, to protect others, and that's not about being nasty to the infected people, it's about being considerate of those not infected. I really, really wonder how long California can go on being nuttier by the month before there's some very serious consequences. --Del "Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity." -- Frank Leahy

Turkey

US and Turkey suspend bilateral non-immigrant visa services
TURKEY: Officials have suspended issuing visas to U.S. citizens traveling to Turkey. The drastic action occurred after the United States suspended consular services at its Ankara embassy following the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee, who is charged with aiding terrorists—the same charges leveled at American pastor Andrew Brunson and thousands of others under emergency law in effect since last year. The action could affect not only travel to Turkey and tourism, but refugee resettlement and relief work in all parts of the Middle East, with Istanbul a major air transit hub. With so significant a rupture between NATO members, and Turkey last month signing an arms deal with Russia, the silence from the NATO alliance is deafening. -Mindy Belz, Globe Trot (This free e-newsletter is well worth reading. ~Bob)

Good Tee Shirt


Scary

Scary: Ignorant Americans congratulate N. Korea on bomb

Bangladesh

Exclusive: 22 Rohingyas posing as refugees arrested in Bangladesh for alleged role in massacre of Rohingya Hindus

Canada

B.C. mosque removes link to anti-Semitic website following questions

NFL Sponsors phone numbers--call them


Grammar Nazis

In California: Use the wrong pronoun, go to jail
Excerpt: In the state of California, calling someone a Grammar Nazi is now closer to being a statement of fact. Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last Thursday which makes it a crime for you to “willfully and repeatedly” use the wrong pronoun, possibly resulting in a $1,000 fine or a year in prison. Currently, the law only applies to nursing homes and long-term care facilities, but, as is always the case with laws, this is only the beginning.

the NFL

The NFL: Miami Dolphins offensive line coach Chris Foerster resigned Monday after video surfaced Sunday night appearing to show him snorting cocaine.

yup, she said it


Drugs--not verified


Guns

Yes, the Bubbas Can Beat Uncle Sam
Excerpt: Sometimes people put Schermer’s argument more baldly. They ask something like this: “Do you really think Bubba in camo gear hiding in the forest is going to take on the U.S. military? The U.S. military has nuclear weapons!” Who exactly do you think has stymied the U.S. in Afghanistan for 16 years? The Taliban is made up of Afghan Bubbas. The Taliban doesn’t need to defeat nuclear weapons, though they are humiliating a nuclear power for the second time in history. They use a mix of Kalashnikovs and WWII-era bolt-action rifles. Determined insurgencies are really difficult to fight, even if they are only armed with Enfield rifles and you can target them with a TOW missiles system that can spot a cat in the dark from two miles away. In Iraq, expensive tanks were destroyed with simple improvised explosives.

ISIS giving up?

ISIS Fighters, Having Pledged to Fight or Die, Surrender en Masse
Mass surrenders now, and of course they were all cooks,clerks, never killed anyone. Personally, I'd say that the safest course of action is to execute every one of them. Heartless? No, just unwilling to give an atom of belief in anything they say or their promise to have given up on fanatic Islam. OK, don't kill them? Then they each lose one hand, to mark them permanently. In that part of the world, mercy is weakness and bites you in the butt every time. --Del. yup. ~Bob

Sunday, October 8, 2017

France

FRENCH GIRL HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING CLASSMATES’ ANTISEMITIC ATTACK
Excerpt: A 10-year-old girl was assaulted by her classmates and the home of a family was daubed with racist graffiti in two Paris-area incidents deemed antisemitic. The alleged assault was reported to France’s ministry of education by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism, or BNVCA, the watchdog group wrote in a statement on its website Tuesday. Separately, the same group reported that unidentified individuals on Wednesday wrote antisemitic slogans on the side of a home belonging to Jewish family in the eastern suburb of Noisy le Grand.

Mali

Mali Church leader voices alarm as Islamists attack parishes
Excerpt: Catholic leaders in Mali have warned that parishes face a growing assault by Islamic militants despite attempts to enforce a peace deal in the north African country. “Our churches and chapels are now being targeted by extremists, who’ve told Christians not to gather to pray,” said Mgr Edmond Dembele, secretary-general of the Malian bishops’ conference.

Too late

The former 49ers quarterback said on Sunday he will stand during the national anthem if he can play football in the NFL again.
I sent my Patriots shirt back to them this week, but used a magic marker to cross out "Patriots" and scrawl "USA" and "USMC" so no one there would wear it. ~Bob

The Red Pill

Liberals sick of the alt-left are taking 'the red pill.' By Elizabeth Ames
Excerpt: The mainstream media failed to see the rise of Donald Trump in 2016. Now it’s overlooking another grassroots movement that may soon be of equal significance— the growing number of liberals “taking the red pill.” People of all ages and ethnicities are posting YouTube videos describing “red pill moments”—personal awakenings that have caused them to reject leftist narratives imbibed since childhood from friends, teachers, and the news and entertainment media. You might say that those who take the red pill have been “triggered.” But instead of seeking out “safe spaces,” they’re doing the opposite, posting monologues throwing off the shackles of political correctness. Their videos can feature the kind of subversiveness that was once a hallmark of the left—before the movement lost its sense of humor. (I have been hoping and waiting for this for a long time now. I kept thinking the only good thing about extreme PC crap and vitriolic, really stupid acts by the Far Left was that eventually it would have to start causing those with operating brains and real ideals to react against it. Apparently it's happening, and we can only hope it spreads. --Del)

Cassie Jaye: Why I Stopped Being a Feminist

Cassie Jaye: Why I Stopped Being a Feminist
A truly impressive and admirable young woman, who really grasps the concept of working at objectivity, honesty, reality (as close as we can get to it.). She's been attacked now by the hyperfeminists for being a gender traitor, or something like it. --Del

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Vietnam

​
FedEx and The Vietnam War 
http://www.soft-vision.com/steve 

Great graduation speach

The Most Inspiring Speech: The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout Will Change Your Life - Rick Rigsby

Stop the Leftist Hate!


Causes of Death


Friday, October 6, 2017

Country Music

CNN Reporter: Country Music Fans Are Likely Trump Supporters [VIDEO]

France

France: Paris imam chants verse encouraging attacks on Christians
Excerpt: In France, an imam leading Friday prayers for several hundred Muslims on the street in front of a town hall at Clichy, in Paris, chanted the words from the Quran (9:36) urging jihad against non-Muslims: "Fight the infidels without exception, as they fight you without exception, and know that Allah is with the pious."

BLM vs. liberalism

BLM Shuts Down ACLU Free Speech Rally Because 'Liberalism Is White Supremacy'
You can use the link if you want the whole story. Which is simple, a bunch of BLM kids totally disrupted the presentation on the First Amendment by an ACLU lawyer. The magnificent irony of this is a record breaker. Simply because the speaker, who was a female Hispanic, not White, is a member of the ACLU, which has defended on occasion KKK and Nazi freedom of speech, was enough to bring on the wonderfully arrogant intolerance of a bunch of kids who don't understand that the only reason they can do any of this is because of the First Amendment. And people wonder why the BLM movement is not gaining a lot of support from middle class people of any color. If they keep this up they will become like the KKK they hate, a minority bunch that no one wants to hear from anymore. --Del

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Here are some "fun" NFL facts

Here are some "fun" NFL facts 

In 2012 the NFL had an issue with Tim Tebow kneeling for each game to pray, they also had an issue with Tebow wearing John 3:16 as part of his blackout to avoid glare and made him take it off. 
In 2013 the NFL fined Brandon Marshall for wearing green cleats to raise awareness for people with mental health disorders. 
In 2014 Robert Griffin III (RG3) entered a post-game press conference wearing a shirt that said "Know Jesus Know Peace" but was forced to turn it inside out by an NFL uniform inspector before speaking at the podium. 
In 2015 DeAngelo Williams was fined for wearing "Find the Cure" eye black for breast cancer awareness. In 2015 William Gay was fined for wearing purple cleats to raise awareness for domestic violence. (not that the NFL has a domestic violence problem…) 
In 2016 the NFL prevented the Dallas Cowboys from wearing a decal on their helmet in honor of 5 Dallas Police officers killed in the line of duty. 
In 2016 the NFL threatened to fine players who wanted to wear cleats to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11. 

So tell me again how the NFL supports free speech and expression all of a sudden....

Old (black, Marine) veteran owns the NFL!

Old (black, Marine) veteran owns the NFL!

Wife of 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle Just Issued Major Challenge to NFL.

Wife of 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle Just Issued Major Challenge to NFL. (She did this on Facebook, but it's now online as well. Well done, very well done. --Del)

In Interview, Top Indonesian Muslim Scholar Says Stop Pretending That Orthodox Islam and Violence Aren't Linked

In Interview, Top Indonesian Muslim Scholar Says Stop Pretending That Orthodox Islam and Violence Aren't Linked
And here is an excellent discussion of the problem in the Islamic world, by a valid authority. What I would more carefully call ultra-orthodox Islam is in its way just like all other really extremist groups, whether the White Supremacists or the Nazi fanatics. Not just total intolerance for any other group, but deep animosity and readiness to do violence to them, as righteous warriors. They are a minority in all of Islam, but unfortunately not a tiny one, and they have lots of money behind them. And there is a kind of infectious craziness about the idea of being a devoted warrior ready to die in a glorious campaign serving God, we see it take over people like Nidal Hasan and others who were born in and prospered in Western societies. As the scholar says, the problem must be recognized for what it is before there is any chance of making things better. --Del

WI redistricting

Matt Kittle reports on the Wisconsin redistricting case in the Supreme Court: 

how to stop the next mass shooting

How to Stop the Next Mass Shooter by Jim Geraghty
Excerpt: When you look at the more infamous mass shootings in recent years, you see a disturbing pattern. ... We have all heard the slogan, “If you see something, say something.” Lots of people do say something; quite a few of the infamous mass shooters of recent years had already been reported to police for strange, threatening, or troubling behavior. Unfortunately, the police did not see sufficient reason to press charges or have the person placed in a mental institution. What will stop the next mass shooting? The family, loved ones, peers and psychologists of the next shooter taking their disturbing or threatening behavior seriously, reporting it to the police, and the police taking it seriously.

No profile in courage

Ken Burns’s ‘Vietnam War’ is No Profile in Courage by Peter Van Buren
Excerpt: Though Ken Burns’s 10-part PBS documentary The Vietnam War doesn’t try very hard, he can’t be blamed for failing as a filmmaker even if he had. It can’t be done. There are too many Vietnam Wars to accurately portray in a documentary, even one 18 hours long. So fair enough. But Burns’ real failure is not as a documentarian per se, it is one of courage.

Call Bud


NFL Glass House

The Glass House of the NFL by Victor Davis Hanson
The National Football League is a glass house that was cracking well before Donald Trump’s criticism of players who refuse to stand during the national anthem. (Almost anything Hanson writes is worth reading. This is especially so. Link may not be live. Ron P.)

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

US Aid

Why are US aid policies in Iraq helping Iran and hurting Christian and Yazidi minorities?
Excerpt: Iraq’s Christian and Yazidi communities have survived beheadings, sexual slavery and bloody religious genocide by ISIS but they may not endure the grossly unfair and badly managed U.S. aid programs that are now meant to help them following ISIS’ defeat. The ugly possibility is that U.S. assistance policies may finish the terrible work that the fanatics of ISIS started. In fact, as Congress will learn Tuesday at a hearing on this issue, things are like they were in the Obama administration, only worse. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and USAID Director Mark Green continue to channel over $1 billion of aid for Iraqis through various United Nations agencies, which divert the money away from the smallest and most beleaguered minorities, who suffered most grievously under the Islamic State.

Ambush

A squad of U.S. Special Operations troops have been ambushed in the west African country of Niger, U.S. officials told Fox News Wednesday.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

The Vegas Tragedy & Guns

On Journalism and Speculation after a Tragedy by Jim geraghty
Good column on the Vegas tragedy and guns. ~Bob

No sympathy

OK baby, this young woman, in a very high paying job for a major network, actually went ahead and exposed her deep beliefs. She posted that she has no sympathy for the Las Vegas shooting victims because those stupid country music fans "are often Republicans". For anyone to make so horrible a statement in the face of the slaughter of nearly 60 innocent people by a madman is way beyond shocking, it's absolutely stunning. Even if you were the kind of jerk who felt that
way, only incredible arrogance would allow you to go ahead and publish that widely! Of course CBS management has some remote intelligence and they moved rapidly to bounce her butt out the door. She has now made a full apology, which is what she has to do to try to ever work again in the business. (But I think she's poison now.) This is what unfettered hatred does to people, it leads them right to the cliff of utter mania and then they jump. A terrible thing to see this going on here. -Del
Here come the progressives, with tolerance in their words and hate in their hearts. ~Bob

Monday, October 2, 2017

Las Vegas

Awakening to the News of the Most Deadly Shooting in U.S. History by Jim Geraghty
Excerpt: Notice this detail: “The suspect was known to police in Mesquite and had a criminal history, the sources said. Lombardo said authorities believe they had found a traveling companion of the deceased gunman they were seeking, who Lombardo identified as Marilou Danley, 62. Law enforcement sources tell Milton that Danley was Paddock’s wife.”

Sunday, October 1, 2017

empathy


Artistic License as History

The Documentary “The Vietnam War”: Artistic License as History by W. R. Baker
Excerpt: As time creeps or races by, those who experienced the Vietnam War are fading from the scene and it’s becoming increasingly important to record a history of that war that is truthful. Increasingly, the written word is being tossed aside in favor of film and the “documentary” – both allow for “artistic license” instead of facts. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick took $30 million and ten years and used only 80 interviews that, like some others have said, tell how America was wrong, while the communist bloc with the American protestors and politicians were right all along. Was the American soldier (using this as an all-encompassing term) always right, always moral, always politically correct (especially by today’s standards)? Of course not. Among the many things missing from the documentary were the answers to these same questions of the VC, NVA and the North Vietnamese Government who habitually violated all their agreements, including the Geneva Conventions.

Big Lie

Colin Kaepernick's big lie......by Dinesh D'Souza

NFL protest petitions

NFL Petitions you can sign

Promoting Pologamy

Three-year-olds learn about Islam: "Grandfather has four wives"

Sex Scandal

A Muslim Preacher's Texting Scandal Is Making Some Women Speak Out About Sexism
Excerpt: Last week, the accusations — along with screenshots of text messages and photos allegedly sent to women by Khan — portrayed him as an undercover ladies’ man who violated the rigid moral code he advocates. The claims also raise serious questions about whether he might’ve abused his authority in order to approach young women who attended his lectures or studied at Bayyinah, his religious center near Dallas. Khan, who hasn’t been charged with any crime, said in a Facebook post that the claims are a mix of lies and distortions about “communications” between consenting adults after he divorced his wife. Neither Khan nor Bayyinah could be reached for comment. The scandal is so polarizing it’s almost impossible to discuss any aspect of it without the conversation ending in name-calling. Muslim women who’ve criticized Khan received such vicious and personal retaliations from his supporters that in some cases they’ve deleted posts and gone silent. Their comments on Khan’s official pages are scrubbed by his protectors, and critics who tag Khan on Twitter are immediately blocked.

Disarming Nuclear North Korea

Disarming Nuclear North Korea by DR. PETER VINCENT PRY
The writer has gone to what I think is probably the "worst case" evaluation of N. Korea's capacities. But there's a lot to think about in this piece. Personally, I doubt anyone here, even Trump, has the balls to do any of the recommended actions. Yes, taking out their satellites is a really good idea, but I am afraid no one has the nerve to try anything but talking. Which is why I worry about how this will end someday. --Del

suspected?

Two women killed at Marseille train station in suspected terror attack
Excerpt: Police sources told Sky News the attacker shouted "Allahu Akkbar” as he carried out the attack at Gare St. Charles. (suspected? ya think? ~Bob)