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December 31, 2016
And that's a wrap....
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:53 PM | Your Say (1)
Bucket
Readily available, cheap, and almost indestructible. Not only can they be used to carry stuff – wet or dry – from place to place. But they can be re-purposed and up-cycled in an astonishing array of alternate uses. When you add human imagination and ingenuity to a 5 gallon bucket, the possibilities are infinite. Here are just some of the possibilities.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:36 AM | Your Say (10)
Why We Sing "Auld Lang Syne" on New Year's Eve
Their performance that night was being broadcast on the radio, before midnight Eastern-time on CBS, then after on NBC radio. At midnight, as a transition between the broadcasts, the song they chose to play was an old Scottish folk song Lombardo had first heard from Scottish immigrants in Ontario. The song was Auld Lang Syne.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:58 AM | Your Say (3)
In the future, Americans — assuming there are any left — will look back at 2016 and remark: “What the HELL?”
As Election Day approaches, a consensus forms among the experts in the media/political complex, based on a vast array of demographic and scientific polling data evaluated with sophisticated analytical tools.These experts, who have made lucrative careers out of going on TV and explaining America to Americans, overwhelmingly agree that Hillary Clinton will win, possibly in a landslide, and this could very well mean the end of the Republican Party. The Explainers are very sure of this, nodding in unison while smiling in bemusement at the pathetic delusions of the Trump people. Unfortunately, it turns out that a large sector of the American public has not been brought up to speed on all this expert analysis. Dave Barry's 2016 Year in Review | Miami Herald
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:57 AM | Your Say (9)
One Year Ago Today
David French (later to become, briefly, the #NeverTrump candidate) begins his year of deep beclownment with New Year 2016 — Predictions
America will follow its first black president with its first Latino president, and the media will be anguished. When Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz wins a convincing election-night victory, don’t expect the media to gush about a new era in American politics or the next great milestone in American inclusiveness. Instead, expect rending of garments and gnashing of teeth — with much hand-wringing that America is “going backward” into a “new era of intolerance.” Progressive politics trumps identity every time.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:25 AM | Your Say (4)
December 30, 2016
What do you get when you cross the year of the rooster with the year of Trump?
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:23 PM | Your Say (3)
Many people treat technology like magic even in the West.
How does a cell phone work? Dunno. Where does it come from? The store. Civilization depends on the knowledge of a small fraction of the world's 7.5 billion population. The know-how to make pharmaceuticals, complex devices, aircraft, computers, industrial chemicals from scratch is probably confined to a few million people concentrated in North America, Europe, Russia and North Asia. The rest of us are end users. Knowledge from the storePosted by gerardvanderleun at 5:16 PM | Your Say (12)
Cue Venezuela’s Ration Cards
China, Cuba, Nicaragua, the Soviet Union, Angola and Mozambique. I could go on, but it’s too depressing. Oh sure, Venezuela under Chavez pretended that this was not their end goal. They liked to call it first the ‘Third Way’, then ‘Participatory and Protagonist Democracy’, then ‘Democratic Socialism’, to eventually land on just plain old ‘Socialism’. 19 years of stupidity. It’s all the same. After all the money has been stolen from bank accounts and companies nationalized to be redistributed to idiots; malinvested into grandiose schemes of national pride that remain half-finished and crumbling into the Caribbean storms; dumped in to purchase weapons that sputter away their utility for lack of maintenance and purpose; or simply frittered away on propaganda or whatever else the Politburos come up with that morning in the shower (they, at least, still have water), we arrive at the ration card. Stability. This is what the communist regimes say it’s about. Food stability. | Joel D. Hirst's Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:43 AM | Your Say (4)
Can't "Build the Wall"? Wanna bet?
Since Turkish troops entered Syria in August the Turks have carried out some key tasks that get little media attention.The most obvious of these is increased border security with Syria and Iraq. Since August Turkey has built 89 new military outposts along the Syrian and Iraqi border. Most of those new outposts (and all of the 157 new ones in 2017) were along the 900 kilometers long Syrian frontier. At the same time the Turks are building a concrete wall along 91 percent of the Syrian border and that is about 40 percent done.Syria: Iran And Russia Count Their Winnings
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:07 AM | Your Say (4)
The Japanese.... ?
"The reason why Otonamaki was invented was because some people were worried about babies struggling or feeling claustrophobic while being wrapped up," says Orie Matsuo of Kyoko Proportion, one of several companies that offer Otonamaki to its customers. "We thought if adults were rolled up like them, they could experience how good it feels."
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:10 AM | Your Say (3)
Why We Drop the Ball
Rhinestones, strobe lights, and a computerized lighting system were added in 1995, signifying the age of ubiquitous computers. The new millennium brought a new ball outfitted with 504 Waterford Crystals, 168 halogen bulbs, and spinning mirrors. The weight of the ball jumped from two hundred pounds to over 1,070 pounds. Today, the ball is twelve feet in diameter, more than double its original 1907 size. The new ball weighs in at over five metric tons and features LEDs and computerized lighting patterns. It sits on top of One Times Square year-round for tourists and locals alike to marvel at, but it's only on one day a year the we actually see the ball drop. - - TIFO
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:49 AM | Your Say (6)
December 29, 2016
Dan Rather INSPIRED By Election
Dan Rather is of the belief that we need ‘journalistic integrity’ and Mr. Completely-Made-Shit-Up-To-Make-Bush-Look-Bad is going to teach it! Wait! Wait! There’s more! It’s called ‘Journalism & Finding the Truth in the News’. ⋆ #ClashDailyPosted by gerardvanderleun at 9:50 PM | Your Say (1)
Diversity Is Over, Amerika -
The upheaval of 2016 showed us a clear pattern:the ideals of the past seven decades, finally put into practice, ended in such disaster that people have thrown out those ideas entirely. Globalism is dead. Political correctness is dead. And the vanguard of both, diversity, is also over. 2017 will be a time of great upheaval as the many who are riding the inertia of the past slowly come to realize that they are backing the wrong horse. The sea change has occurred, and we are just negotiating its terms now.Woodpile Report
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:02 PM | Your Say (6)
Icons Now Freely Available
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:53 AM | Your Say (0)
Be the Sorest of Sore Losers: Or should I say, sore winners,
since Hillary obviously crushed Trump in the popular vote election we didn’t have.
Keep being angry! Talk nonstop about how Trump is illegitimate – we’ve already totally forgotten that whole thing about how not promising to recognize the validity of the election results is un-American. And oppose everything Trump does – everything! After all, people don’t want change. The last eight years have been terrific for everyone who matters – just ask Obama! Look, you hit a few unexpected bumps in the road in 2016 – I mean, who could have foreseen that nominating someone under FBI investigation might turn out badly? But there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing – the problem isn’t you. It’s everyone else, especially those stupid, racist, gun nut Jesus people who aren’t bright enough to understand that you are entitled to rule over them. So don’t ever change. Stay the course. Oh gosh, please, please, please, by all means, stay the course. Some New Year’s Resolutions for Our Progressive Pals - Kurt Schlichter HT: Morgan
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:50 AM | Your Say (2)
December 28, 2016
Repeat after me: "Everything you know is wrong".
Once you say that, know that it's an overstatement that's just easier to say than "in all probability, some of the things you know that you hold most dear are wrong". Always keep an open mind. Realize you've probably been misled or lied to about some things, and never stop questioning. Always ask yourself, "how do I know what I think I know?" -- A Good Rule of Thumb for Old Graybeards and Young ShaversPosted by gerardvanderleun at 10:18 AM | Your Say (2)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:11 AM | Your Say (7)
Donald, Melania Trump set to shake up old-line D.C. society
“While he doesn’t drink, he’s quite fond of a good party or a solid black-tie [event] with people he feels are at his level. Other than state dinners, President and Mrs. Obama never really ventured into social Washington.” Ann Hand, a notable Washington jewelry designer and fixture on the social circuit who has been making inaugural pins for the last 20 years, predicts that it is “going to be interesting to watch this incredibly different family.” Her $75 Made in America Trump pin is on back order. “The factory is rushing to do as many as they can.” - - Washington Times
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:49 AM | Your Say (2)
December 27, 2016
Enochian: The Mysterious Lost Language of Angels
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:40 AM | Your Say (3)
Who Says There's No Good News?
Less noticed is the ongoing collapse of the Conventional Right into irrelevancy as it copes with the sudden realization that no one cares what they think.National Review, for example, has seen its traffic collapse since they went NeverTrump. The ridiculous person they have running the joint these days is out begging for money to redesign the site again. The implication is that bad technology is the reason no one reads National Review. The fact that they publish nonsense like this gets no mention at staff meetings, I bet.The Company Men | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:09 AM | Your Say (5)
The Cave-Dwelling Hermitess of Colonial America
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:49 AM | Your Say (0)
It's Probably Nothing:
Iran conducts ‘war-game’ exercises, threatening to shoot down trespassing aircraft • The Foreign DeskPosted by gerardvanderleun at 8:29 AM | Your Say (2)
December 26, 2016
Obama and the UN vote on Israel:
To give you an idea of how appalling this resolution is, it declares that any Jew who lives in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem, the Jewish quarter, inhabited for 1,000 years, is illegal, breaking international law, essentially an outlaw, can be hauled into the international criminal court and international courts in Europe, which is one of the consequences.
The Jewish quarter has been populated by Jews for 1,000 years. In the war of Independence in 1948, the Arabs invaded Israel to wipe it out. They did not succeed, but the Arab Legion succeeded in conquering the Jewish quarter. They expelled all the Jews. They destroyed all the synagogues and all the homes. For 19 years, no Jew could go there. The Israelis got it back in the Six-Day War. Now it’s declared that this is not Jewish territory. - - neo-neocon
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:12 AM | Your Say (4)
Who Says There's No Good News?
Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans to reshape judiciary - The Washington PostPosted by gerardvanderleun at 10:07 AM | Your Say (1)
The Delightful Mysteries of ‘The Voynich Manuscript’
It’s probably the most persuasive theory, as everything in the book conveniently falls under the umbrella of “total nonsense.” While the European Middle Ages are often perceived as an austere and circumscribed culture, the Voynich Manuscript was conceived by a liberated imagination. There’s a genuine joy communicated through the details, like a monk doodling racy cartoons in the margins of a scholastic text. It could very well have been composed as an elaborate lampoon of medieval knowledge, and it’s amusing to imagine that we’re still falling for the trick. -- Paris Review
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:40 AM | Your Say (0)
Like a Candle In Berlin
The reason (I surmise) that so many people claim to be spiritual rather than religious is that being spiritual imposes no discipline upon them, at least none that they do not choose themselves.Being religious, on the other hand, implies an obligation to observe rules and rituals that may interfere awkwardly with daily life. Being spiritual-but-not-religious gives you that warm, inner feeling, a bit like whiskey on a cold day, and reassures you that there is more to life—or, at least, to your life—than meets the eye, without actually having to interrupt the flux of everyday existence. It is the gratification of religion without the inconvenience of religion. Unfortunately, like many highly diluted solutions, it has no taste. - - | City Journal
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:51 AM | Your Say (9)
December 25, 2016
Christmas Day
and unmarked by that boisterous jollity and exuberance of animal spirits which distinguished it in the time of our ancestors, is, nevertheless, still the holiday in which of all others throughout the year, all classes of English society most generally participate. Partaking of a religious character, the forenoon of the day is usually passed in church, and in the evening the re-united members of the family assemble round the joyous Christmas-board. Separated as many of these are during the rest of the year, they all make an effort to meet together round the Christmas-hearth. The hallowed feelings of domestic love and attachment, the pleasing remembrance of the past, and the joyous anticipation of the future, all cluster round these family-gatherings, and in the sacred associations with which they are intertwined, and the active deeds of kindness and benevolence which they tend to call forth, a realization may almost be found of the angelic message to the shepherds of Bethlehem—’Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.’Never Yet Melted »
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:34 AM | Your Say (1)
December 23, 2016
In America, if it is worth doing it is worth overdoing.
This eatery decks their halls with 15,000 Christmas ornaments, 10,000 lights, 800 dolls, and thousands of icicles. The bar, tables, and customers are surrounded by shiny baubles and rolling greenery, as well as Victorian-style decorations. But despite the potential overload on extravagance, these adornments are tasteful. They bathethe space with beautiful splendor.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:02 PM | Your Say (3)
I don't know about you, but I've already got what I wanted to Christmas.
"They don’t want to use the word ‘Christmas’ anymore at department stores. There’s always lawsuits and unfortunately a lot of those lawsuits are won by the other side ... I want to see Merry Christmas. Remember the expression Merry Christmas? You don’t see it anymore! You’re going to see it if I get elected, I can tell you right now."
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:31 PM | Your Say (13)
Why is Christmas December 25?
But why did they decide that the Jews had anything to do with it? All three conjunctions took place within the backdrop of the constellation Leo, the lion. The lion is the symbol of the Jewish tribe of Judah, which takes it name from a son of Jacob named Judah. In Genesis chapter 49, Jacob gives his son, Judah, the lion as his symbol and then dictates that only Judah’s descendants shall provide the rulers for subsequent generations. - - Sensing @ Sense of Events
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:41 AM | Your Say (1)
The World’s Smallest Snowman Stands at Just Under Three Microns Tall
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:03 AM | Your Say (1)
December 22, 2016
Who Says There's No Good News?
Colorado Animal Shelter Finds Homes for All of its DogsFor the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, a Colorado shelter, this year has been extra special. For two consecutive days, they managed to find forever homes for all of their adoptable dogs. From December 18 through the end of the month, the shelter promises to waive all adoption fees for cats and dogs over 5 years of age as a part of their âHome for the Holidaysâ promotion. While the special event is not even halfway over, it has already proven tremendously successful, as they have seen entirely empty dog kennels for two straight days.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:29 PM | Your Say (11)
"Dickey Christmas tree, 1915."
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:04 PM | Your Say (3)
Christmas Tinner
There are treats we associate with the holiday, but America is a rich country overflowing with treats. The unique foods at Christmas are things like god-awful casseroles and stuffings that taste like ass. As a kid, I was often forced to taste oyster stuffing even though I hated it with the intensity of a thousands suns. No one liked it, which is why it was always left over and then thrown away. The same is true of the casseroles. Bad cooking is not improved by dumping cheese and mushroom soup. Green bean casserole is a crime against nature and should be outlawed. When I’m ruler of these lands, casseroles will be banned. | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:20 AM | Your Say (9)
In the Narrows
The Narrows is just 16 miles long, but it’s one of the most beautiful hikes on the planet.
It takes you down the Virgin River at the base of Zion Canyon in Zion National Park, Utah. Much of the hike is actually spent walking in the shallow water of the river—refreshing in the heat of the Utah summer—in a sandstone canyon that is sometimes just 20 feet wide, with beautifully sculpted, terra-cotta-hued sandstone walls stretching straight up as high as 2,000 feet above you. You can do the walk in one day, but it’s best to take your time and camp in one of the 12 designated campgrounds provided. From World-Class Walks - Neatorama
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:03 AM | Your Say (6)
John Swinton, Chief editorial writer of the New York Times from 1860 to 1870:
“There is no such thing as a free press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who would dare to write his honest opinions. The business of the journalist is to destroy truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell himself, his country, and his race, for his daily bread. We are tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are jumping jacks; they pull the strings, we dance; our talents, our possibilities, and our lives are the property of these men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”Leaked Footage Exposes CNN Producing Fake News During First Gulf War
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:31 AM | Your Say (4)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:30 AM | Your Say (3)
December 21, 2016
Snopes, Which Will Be Fact-Checking For Facebook, Employs Leftists Almost Exclusively
This attempt to suppress so-called Fake News is nothing other than a criminal, self-serving conspiracy to discredit anything other than the approved version of events using the "global warming" template: dissent will be ridiculed, defunded and delegitimized by authorities on retainer. It too will fail and, as always, they'll be the last to know why. Woodpile Report
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:24 AM | Your Say (10)
December 20, 2016
"One is struck by the politicized incompetence of the authorities."
Reading of the latest “Allahu Akhbar!” attacks, so far this week, in Germany, Turkey, Jordan, Libya, and Switzerland, one is struck by the politicized incompetence of the authorities.This is true both West and East. News reports carry information that even I know they should not be carrying, about police suspicions. We learn that — at the usual frightful expense — additional security measures are in place at e.g. Christmas markets in several hundred cities, including a couple of miles away in this one. The idea is to put the general public back to sleep, as quickly as possible.
Apart from the enemy, however, I do not know who can benefit from such information. Too, unnecessary “editorial advice” is provided to the news agencies, not only to keep their language ideologically hygienic, but more systematically to slant and select what is presented. In particular: doubt must be cast on the motives of the perpetrators, and Muslim celebrations of the attacks must be ignored. Recovery : Essays in Idleness
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:44 PM | Your Say (9)
"The Wages of Lefty Media Hate" -- Insty
ITHACA, N.Y. -- An Ithaca man accused of killing a UPS driver from Candor said in court Monday afternoon that not only did he believe he shot and killed Donald Trump, but that no evidence could be presented to him to suggest otherwise. Justin R. Barkley, 38, said during his arraignment and subsequent attempt to plead guilty, "I shot and killed Donald Trump purposely, intentionally and very proudly." He told the court that he knew where president elect Donald Trump would be on Dec. 8 and waited in the Ithaca Walmart parking lot kill him. "I went there to purposely shoot and kill him and put him down," Barkley said.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:43 PM | Your Say (7)
Europe is very, very, ill, a victim of a weak but highly opportunistic pathogen,
and if it cannot soon mount a robust immune response it will die.Even if it can manage such a response, at this late hour it will be a close-run thing — and we have already passed the point, I think, where it can recover without some very serious “unpleasantness”. But the choice is now very plain: awaken or die. Most likely it will die, I think. (Already there are calls to close down the traditional Christmas-markets for the sake of security. This is what late-stage cultural immunodeficiency looks like.) When a nation forgets her skill in war, when her religion becomes a mockery, when the whole nation becomes a nation of money-grabbers, then the wild tribes, the barbarians drive in. – John Howard Europe: To Be, Or Not? – waka waka waka
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:14 PM | Your Say (1)
Daisy, Daisy, Give Your BBs Do! / I'm Half Crazy. All for the Love of You.
It still functions perfectly after probably 10,000 BB's shot through it. It's the old skool version, circa 1962, where you twist the end of the barrel revealing the hole on the side. If you try to pour the BB's in they go all over the place. So the best way to load it is to fill your mouth with the BB's then put your mouth on the hole and blow em in there. I was a skinny brat at 7 and lacked the arm strength to cock the thing so my dad showed me how to skrunch my toes up in my shoe, put the end of the barrel on the end of the shoe and use my hand to leverage the lever down to cock it. What my dad DIDN'T tell me, and I learned the hard way was, that you can't fire the Daisy with the lever in the down position like a 'sheen gun. I did and almost broke all the fingers in my right hand as the lever came back up HARD. Yeah, I cried like a gurl baby. Comment Posted by ghostsniper
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:10 PM | Your Say (15)
Western society is super-saturated with leftist propaganda.
Every news broadcast. Every movie. Every lesson in every classroom.Every social signifier in public. Every poll. Every TV show. Every tribal shibboleth. In ways large and small, overt and covert, subtle and blatant, the society around us is infused with progressive ideals and agendas, whether you realize it or not. And it’s not just the entire preschool-through-PhD educational system, the entire media/entertainment complex, and most interpersonal environments; increasingly, under Obama especially, the federal government itself has become an inescapable agent of coercive progressive propaganda imposed on us with the full force of the state. But what is the purpose of all this propaganda?- - zomblog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:11 AM | Your Say (8)
December 19, 2016
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:13 PM | Your Say (4)
Done.Deal.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:13 PM | Your Say (7)
You never see pictures of armed males in eastern Aleppo, just beautifully composed photographs of handsome young unarmed men lifting wounded children from the rubble, with the light just right.
In the past few days we have been bombarded with colourful reports of events in eastern Aleppo, written or transmitted by people in Beirut (180 miles away and in another country), or even London (2,105 miles away and in another world).There have, we are told, been massacres of women and children, people have been burned alive. The sources for these reports are so-called ‘activists’. Who are they? As far as I know, there was not one single staff reporter for any Western news organisation in eastern Aleppo last week. Not one. THIS is for the very good reason that they would have been kidnapped and probably murdered. The zone was ruled without mercy by heavily armed Osama Bin Laden sympathizers, who were bombarding the west of the city with powerful artillery (they frequently killed innocent civilians and struck hospitals, since you ask). PETER HITCHENS: Amid the bombs of Aleppo, all you can hear are the lies
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:50 AM | Your Say (3)
A Whiter Shade of Pale Hypocrites
Preaching the Gospel of Diversity, but Not Following It - The New York Times ONLY two of the 20-plus reporters who covered the presidential campaign for The New York Times were black. None were Latino or Asian. That’s less diversity than you’ll find in Donald Trump’s cabinet thus far. Of The Times’s newly named White House team, all six are white, as is most everyone in the Washington bureau.Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:04 AM | Your Say (4)
The [Bumped] No matter how dumb and fat you are this moron will make you feel smart and slim
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:51 AM | Your Say (14)
Kids by Parcel Post
As a result, a handful of parents, spotting a bargain, began mailing their children. The first known case of this was the child of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Beauge of Ohio only a few weeks after the launch of Parcel Post. They sent their son to his grandmother’s house for a fee of just 15 cents (about $3.72 today). On January 27, 1913, Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Savis of Pennsylvania mailed their daughter to relatives for a fee of 45 cents. More famously, 5 year old May Pierstorff of Idaho was mailed on February 19, 1914 73 miles to her grandmother’s house at a cost of just 53 cents (about $13.13 today). This was significantly cheaper than sending her on a passenger train, with the train ticket in question costing $1.55 according to the book, Mailing May. May’s case helped push forward an inquiry on the matter of mailing children and ultimately led to Postmaster General Albert Burleson declaring that, from that point forward, it was against the rules to mail human beings. Despite this, the practice continued for about two more years, finally stopping after an investigation into why three year old Maud Smith of Missouri was allowed to be mailed to her grandparents’ house in Kentucky. While you might have visions of children being put in boxes with holes in the side for air, this was not how the children were mailed. The appropriate number of stamps were simply affixed to their clothing along with the address they were to be sent. From there, they accompanied postal workers on the trains along with normal packages and then were escorted to their destinations. Weekly Wrap Volume 128
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:41 AM | Your Say (0)
December 18, 2016
In the open seas, the only way to hide is to disguise yourself as water.
“The first time we looked at what we had caught, there were a whole bunch of animals in the bucket, and I was looking at all these black, scary-looking fish,” she says. “I stuck my hand in the bucket to try to reach in and grab something else, and instead I hit something that was hard, but I couldn't even see it. I pulled my hand out of the bucket and it looked like a glass animal.”
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:10 PM | Your Say (1)
John Adams to James Sullivan: Society can be governed only by general Rules. Government cannot accommodate itself to every particular Case
Depend upon it, sir, it is dangerous to open So fruitfull a Source of Controversy and Altercation, as would be opened by attempting to alter the Qualifications of Voters.There will be no End of it. New Claims will arise. Women will demand a Vote. Lads from 12 to 21 will think their Rights not enough attended to, and every Man, who has not a Farthing, will demand an equal Voice with any other in all Acts of State. It tends to confound and destroy all Distinctions, and prostrate all Ranks, to one common Levell. - - Representation:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:49 PM | Your Say (1)
And they find her living in a van down by the river with a mound of empty soldiers and 27 cats.
WOMEN GO INTO WOODS LOOKING FOR HILLARY...Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:05 PM | Your Say (7)
It took decades to blight Detroit and they worked really hard at it.
Anyone talking about reducing the size of government is either lying, crazy or terribly uninformed.Reducing the size of the Federal government means reducing the size of the Imperial Capital. Fairfax County, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, has over a million souls. The District is roughly 600,000. Start adding up the populations attached to the capital and you get to five million. Expand out to include the entire Baltimore - Washington area --the two cities are slowly merging into a megalopolis-- you get close to ten million people. That's a lot of people with a reason to keep things as they are and maybe expand on them. Reducing the size of government is like saying we will reduce the size of Los Angeles or Manhattan. This sort of thing can only happen if the city falls on hard times or is sacked by invaders. It took decades to blight Detroit and they worked really hard at it. Their people are low-IQ morons. the Federal government is stocked with smart and clever people who know how to keep the party going. Any and all attempts to reduce the flow of cash into the city will be thwarted. Travelogue: The Imperial Capital
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:11 AM | Your Say (6)
December 16, 2016
On baloney
I love overstated spicy food. But I also love the understated, such as real Wien wieners and mild “ballpark” (Montreal kosher) mustard, sweet green relish, and French processed cheese, in a bun. (I believe this is called a “hot dog.”) I love foods that whisper, as well as foods that shout. But they should whisper affectionately. : Essays in IdlenessPosted by gerardvanderleun at 6:47 PM | Your Say (2)
That Time a Guy Parachuted onto Devils Tower... and then Made National News When No One Could Figure Out How to Get Him Down
This time, it landed atop the tower. Unfortunately, they didn’t bundle the rope properly, so it unfurled while falling and landed in a giant mass of tangled knots that quickly froze when a large blanket of fog and snow rolled in. Frustrated at his inability to untangle the frozen rope, Hopkins threw a note off the end of the tower asking for a bottle of whiskey for “medicinal” purposes, which was later airdropped on his location along with various survival supplies, though for whatever reason they wouldn’t try dropping rope again. -- Today I found Out
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:14 AM | Your Say (8)
Good Night Sweet Prince
He lived 1000 years in the 67 calendar years we had with him because he attacked life; he grabbed it by the lapels, kissed it, and swung it back onto the dance floor. At the age of 26 he planned to circumnavigate the world – instead, he ended up spending 40 hours on a life raft off the coast of Panama. In 1974, he founded the Quincy Rugby Club. In his thirties, he sustained a knife wound after saving a woman from being mugged in New York City. He didn’t slow down: at age 64, he climbed to the base camp of Mount Everest. Throughout his life, he was an accomplished hunter and birth control device tester (with some failures, notably Caitlin Connors, 33; Chris Connors, 11; and Liam Connors, 8).Never Yet Melted » Another Epic Obit
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:17 AM | Your Say (4)
December 15, 2016
The Pizzagates of Hell
I’m far from the first to say that the McMartin case should serve as a cautionary tale regarding Pizzagate fanaticism,so there’s no need to explore that point in greater detail. What I have not seen brought up yet, however, is the fact that Pizzagate reveals the extent to which the “new media” (and for the sake of this piece, I’m including internet troll culture and the Reddit/4chan set in that category) has indeed taken the place of the “establishment” press. In olden days, it was up to The New York Times, ABC, NBC, and CBS to ruin the lives of Americans by whipping up witch hunts based on flimsy and salacious evidence. Not anymore. - - David Cole
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:31 PM | Your Say (7)
I don't write the headlines. I just report them.
Doody Convicts Rectal Smuggler |Back in September, I reported that Justice Peter Doody had taken under advisement the case of a Canadian Mint employee accused of stealing gold and smuggling it out in a rather unusual way. See “Rectal Smuggler Won’t Know Doody’s Position Until November” (Sept. 21, 2016). On November 9, Doody ruled that although the evidence was circumstantial—no one actually saw the defendant do this—it overwhelmingly supported the conclusion that Leston Lawrence had indeed stolen $165,000 in gold from the mint by hiding the golf-ball-sized “pucks” in his personal smuggling compartment and walking carefully out with it.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:30 PM | Your Say (5)
Donald Trump is the only person in history to be elected president of the United States without having held a prominent public office or military command,
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:46 PM | Your Say (13)
December 14, 2016
Kratingdaeng did it
In 2013, a 24-year-old advertising copywriter in Indonesia died after prolonged sleep deprivation,collapsing a few hours after tweeting “30 hours of working and still going strooong.” She went into a coma and died the next morning. A family acquaintance wrote on Facebook, “She died because too much of overtime working, and too much kratingdaeng attacks her heart.” Kratingdaeng is the Thai name for the product known elsewhere as Red Bull. How to Sleep - The Atlantic
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:52 AM | Your Say (2)
How Tiger Woods' life unraveled in the years after father Earl Woods' death
That's the question that will shadow him for the rest of his life. The answer is complicated and layered. He fell victim to many things, some well-known and others deeply private: grief, loneliness, desire, freedom and his fixation with his father's profession, the military. These forces started working in Tiger's life almost as soon as his G-IV landed back in Orange County after he buried his father's ashes. The forces kept working until finally his wife found text messages from Rachel Uchitel on his phone and he ran his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant (that car, incidentally, is owned by a man in rural Arkansas, who bought it used from a local dealer, neither of whom knew its own secret history). -- ESPN
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:29 AM | Your Say (3)
Hidebound: The Grisly Invention of Parchment
As the parchment-making industry matured it acquired the inevitable trade jargon: pelts were tied to drying frames, or “herses,” by wrapping cords around small pebbles called “pippins” pressed into the skin; shaving of the skin was carried out with a curved, moon-shaped knife, or lunellarium, without sharp junctions that might tear the skin; and finished parchment was often “pounced”—polished with powdered pumice, or porous volcanic rock—to improve its color and texture. - - : Longreads
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:16 AM | Your Say (4)
Russia Rigged Election, Killed JFK And Hid Saddam’s WMDs, Confirms CIA
“The Russians are to blame for everything wrong with America today,” Mr. Obama pointed out, reading from a ten page report into the CIA findings,
“We didn’t know until now how much the Russian’s have influenced this whole planet over the last 50 years. Thankfully the CIA have accumulated all this evidence in just a matter of weeks, which is an incredible feat considering how long they took to find Osama Bin Laden, who we now believe was also backed by Russia”. - – Waterford Whispers News
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:11 AM | Your Say (5)
Hamilton Electors: The Left’s misplaced confidence and its potentially deadly consequences
To say many would be displeased is an understatement of rather epic proportions.Let us frame it in a different light. The people you just told to go pound sand on average purchase enough firearms in three months to outfit the Russian and Chinese frontline troops. Every. Three. Months. Those guys who were entrusted to go become experts at fighting insurgents and came home to better quality small arms in the private sector than they were issued, carved an entire market out of teaching what they learned from Uncle Sam to people with the coin and and the desire. - - The Virginia Freeman's Society
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:56 AM | Your Say (2)
December 13, 2016
“One Persona Can’t Do It Alone”
I find it disappointing and often painful to read some of the comments I read about how “angry” or “disappointed” some are and how quick they are to “hold his feet to the fire!” in a puffed-up, self-righteous rant.
One person can’t do it alone, but it must be awfully nice to be in the seat of powerful judgment as we sit back, relax, and watch him blow it as we knew he would, right? It must be satisfying to continually grind on those who have the guts to put their lives, liberty and sacred honor on the line for us. After all, we shifted our butts off the sofa (once every four years) and inconvenienced ourselves so tremendously on election day. — Anonymous – IOTW Report
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:17 PM | Your Say (4)
The Japanese.... ?
i have concluded that this is one of the greatest videos on the internet pic.twitter.com/4uARohKNwp
— Joon Lee (@iamjoonlee) December 12, 2016
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:58 PM | Your Say (8)
Whenever in the Bay I tune to the communist radio station that transmits out of Berkeley.
Tonight they're pretty damn excited about a gas pipeline protest, breathless even - the people are rising!An activist finishes rehearsing her Five Year Plan by promising humanity "life of peace and freedom" if only everybody on earth would become a permanent leftwing activist and the lady's voice was so earnest, it spoke from another dimension of space & time. The daughter and I both spontaneously bark out a delighted laugh at the same time. Nothing To Lose But Your Chains - HappyAcresAh yes, that would be KPFA-FM, Berkeley. I worked there for a year or so at the beginning of the 1970s as "Director of Drama and Literature." Moonbat central then and, sadly, has not been burned to the ground with the staff inside and the doors locked since.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:45 AM | Your Say (2)
Immigration Can Kill the Democrat Party
An older left could have made a compelling case for the victimhood of the unemployed coal miner, but no such creature exists in campus politics where there are 63 gender identities, but no white working class.The left has defined victimhood as the alienation experienced by those who are different. There is no room for oppressed majorities, only minorities. An ideology that once defined itself by labor is far more interested in charting the erratic emotions of unstable college kids than in the real problems of working people. It can relate to the former, but not the latter. Sultan Knish:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:04 AM | Your Say (0)
When I’m ruler of these lands, the people responsible for embedded, autoplay video will be torn to pieces and fed to the dogs.
The Unreadable Web | The Z BlogThe truly monstrous thing done by web designers is embedded audio and video. By default, I now turn off my sound so I don’t have to hunt around looking for where the noise is coming from on the web page. I use a flash blocker to get rid of most of it, but some of it still slips past. That means YouTube does not work, so I have two browsers. One is for video and the other for daily browsing. When I’m ruler of these lands, the people responsible for embedded, autoplay video will be torn to pieces and fed to the dogs.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:30 AM | Your Say (3)
" If we can kill what scares you, we can *be* what scares you."
You may not like it, but they *do* make a valid point against the incredibly naive argument of "what do you think the 2nd Amendment will do for you against a government that's got tanks & jet fighters?" And I say this as a veteran of said war.
Nobody lives in a tank or jet fighter forever. They have to get out sometime. If they're my enemy - if they've betrayed their oaths to defend the Constitution & they're gunning for my family - & all I've got are small arms & explosives, *that's* when I'd get those traitors. When they go out on the town to eat. When they're putting gas in their car. When they're knocking back drinks after a long day of hunting for insurgents and their guard is down.
I know this b/c when I & my wife were in the service, those were areas we identified as vulnerable to our troops. Just a couple months ago, at our last stateside duty station, they sacked a domestic terrorist plotter who was sitting in burger joint, writing down names of service-members & times when they'd enter & leave.
It'd be the crowning achievement of terminal stupidity for the government to go after veterans, b/c we just spent the past 15 years fighting it's sand-wars & hunting the monsters that made all the little weasels in D.C. wet their underroos.
If we can kill what scares you, we can *be* what scares you. You don't want that. *We* don't want that. We're all Americans here, we're supposed to all be on the same side. So how about cutting those witch-hunt paranoia funds from the Department of Homeland Stasi & reallocating that $$$ to better healthcare services for vets, eh? That's a good gov. Sit. Stay. -- Comment on 6 Reasons Why A New Civil War Is Possible And Terrifying | Cracked.com
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:10 AM | Your Say (2)
December 12, 2016
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.- - Washington's Farewell Address 1796[HT- Sensing]
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:20 PM | Your Say (4)
The Dragon of Islamic Terrorism
His first major tongue-dart at the West was the death threat -- a fatwa with a bounty issued in 1989 by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini -- on Salman Rushdie, a citizen of Britain citizen, for his novel, The Satanic Verses. What the dragon learned with that initial thrust! The West was so genteel. The United Nations issued condemnations on -- paper! Diplomats wrote scare-letters. Politicians said harrumph. Rushdie, on the other hand, was forced into hiding under armed, protective custody. Khomeini -- who had just shoveled half a million young Iranians into a war with Iraq -- in addition to exterminating thousands of "enemies of the Islamic Revolution" -- also learned a lot about us. The response of the West was phlegmatic. The vast apparatus of publishing and communications zipped itself into a giant mouse suit and decided it looked great (so lifelike). -- Dex Quire
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:21 PM | Your Say (0)
"There is no credible evidence that any “hack” occurred" : Judge's Full Ruling on Stein vs Pennsylvania
Most importantly, there is no credible evidence that any “hack” occurred, and compelling evidence that Pennsylvania’s voting system was not in any way compromised. Moreover, Plaintiffs’ lackof standing, the likely absence of federal jurisdiction, and Plaintiffs’ unexplained, highly prejudicial delay in seeking a recount are all fatal to their claims for immediate relief. Further, Plaintiffs have not met any of the requirements for the issuance of a mandatory emergency injunction. Finally, granting the relief Plaintiffs seek would make it impossible for the Commonwealth to certify its Presidential Electors by December 13 (as required by federal law), thus inexcusably disenfranchising some six million Pennsylvania voters. For all these reasons, I am compelled to refuse Plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief. -- Stein el Al v Pedro A. Cortes
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:31 AM | Your Say (2)
There is no heat but what we can make.
I shoveled the logs into the stove like a man in the belly of some great, dripping, iron ship, while icebergs passed by the portholes in first class.
Nothing you could do could touch twenty below. You could set your house itself on fire and not raise the temperature in the living room ninety degrees. What chance do you and your disassembled birches and beeches have? But one bails a leaky rowboat whether you have a bucket or a teaspoon.Sippican Cottage: Greatest Hits: Show No Enthusiasm; Don't Complain
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:45 AM | Your Say (0)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:27 AM | Your Say (2)
December 11, 2016
Of Mere Being by Wallace Stevens
The palm at the end of the mind,
Beyond the last thought, rises
In the bronze decor,
A gold-feathered bird
Sings in the palm, without human meaning,
Without human feeling, a foreign song.
You know then that it is not the reason
That makes us happy or unhappy.
The bird sings. Its feathers shine.
The palm stands on the edge of space.
The wind moves slowly in the branches.
The bird's fire-fangled feathers dangle down.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:18 PM | Your Say (2)
The Japanese: Nuked Too Much or Not Enough?
Museum in Japan Has a Collection of 1,700 Rocks That Look Like Human Faces
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:25 PM | Your Say (4)
Snowstorm In Chicago Delays Hundreds Of Morning Murders
We apologize to anyone forced to postpone shootings or other killings today and assure concerned murderers that they will be able to resume slayings by the early afternoon.” -- News Source
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:40 AM | Your Say (6)
How to Deport Millions of Illegal Aliens, Without Employing a Single Stormtrooper.
You may think this harsh, but every illegal alien is a serial criminal who makes the conscious decision to violate many of our laws — every — single — day.
Think of the contempt they have for us, our laws, and the value of citizenship. The fact that they are serial criminals is not our fault or responsibility, it is theirs. And shame on the parents that make criminals of their children by bringing them here illegally. That is child abuse and the parents are completely responsible for the fate of their children. “But they just want a better life” says the Left. Everyone wants a better life! Some people start a business, work hard and prosper. Other people rob banks and live off their ill gotten gains. Think of illegal aliens as bank robbers of your account and you have a real metaphor with which to judge. Here is another related policy. Millions of people are drug tested at work, and millions of people are alcohol tested at checkpoints. If that is constitutional, then so is checking for citizenship. Intellectual Conservative «
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:57 AM | Your Say (10)
QOTD: "The Democrats may be effectively locked out of power in all three branches of government for years.
At the state level, after last month’s elections, they’ll control only 16 governorships and 13 legislatures.This year, punctuated by Hillary Clinton’s loss, exposed the remarkably shallow depth of the Democratic bench. The size of the Republican primary field — for which the GOP was relentlessly mocked — was also a sign of the party’s health up and down the ballot. Democrats simply didn’t have the political talent to put forward 17 candidates (or even seven). That’s partly because there’s been limited opportunity to move up in the leadership ranks. Pelosi (Calif.) and Reps. Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) and James E. Clyburn (S.C) have had a death grip on the party’s top congressional slots for a very long time. It’s also partly because the Democratic farm system is hurting." --Chris Cillizza
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:14 AM | Your Say (2)
December 10, 2016
New Thing Learned Today: Prepare Your Own Food
Some 100 years after her death, researchers concluded that the cause of her death is acute arsenic poisoning. According to reliable sources like CNN, the level of arsenic in her body was 2,000 times higher the normal level.She was buried in the Eastern Qing tombs, 125 km east of Beijing.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:37 PM | Your Say (3)
The Real Story Behind the Myth of Area 51
If you read the details in a 1992 CIA report that was declassified with redactions in 1998 (and subsequently released nearly in full in 2013), it's easy to see why. Many of these sightings were observed by commercial airline pilots who had never seen an aircraft fly at such high altitudes as the U-2. Whereas today's airliners can soar as high as 45,000 feet, in the mid-1950s airlines flew at altitudes between 10,000 and 20,000 feet. Known military aircraft could get to 40,000 feet, and some believed manned flight couldn't go any higher than that. The U-2, flying at altitudes in excess of 60,000 feet, would've looked completely alien. The Real Story Behind the Myth of Area 51
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:20 PM | Your Say (3)
Small Business
The restaurant is called Il Topolino (the Italian name for Mickey Mouse), and the nut store next door is Noix de Vie ('nuts of life'). The restaurant offers a variety cheese and crackers, according to the tiny menu posted outside, and the nut store offers pistachios, almonds, and hazelnuts. Also arranged outside are a tiny bicycle and posters for mouse-related films (including Night of the Were-Rat). - Futility Closet
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:25 AM | Your Say (0)
"I'm just a soul whose intentions are good Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood" [Bumped]
Bitter words from a man whose skin was his entire resume when applying for the job.Obama says I 'absolutely' suffered racism in office
President Barack Obama says the color of his skin has 'absolutely' contributed to white Americans' negative perceptions of his time in office. The president said in a Wednesday special looking back on his legacy, 'I think there's a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states.'
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:13 AM | Your Say (20)
December 9, 2016
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:05 PM | Your Say (3)
Yesterday I learned that order, discipline, and authority are considered “whiteness” even when a black person uses such to supervise his team.
And the push back is LOUD and intractable. Accountability is aggression. Not everyone is like this, mostly just supervisors of any color. They are supervisors by dint of surviving the revolving door of attrition, not out of much merit. At the higher levels of the department's budget and finance processes are people who cannot reason above a 1stgrade level, but they will make you believe you are the idiot because they have a college degree of some sort. And they know how to navigate the sea of bureaucracy. The non-linear thinking bureaucrat | Primordial Slack
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:29 PM | Your Say (2)
It’s as though everyone was keeping a vigil by the deathbed of someone who had been shot and was dying.
That someone was the GOP.They were hearing the death rattle in the throat and were waiting for the final moment, heads bowed. Some had tears streaming down their cheeks. Some were secretly (or maybe not so secretly) happy, because they felt that the person on the bed had wronged them terribly. But all knew it was very near the end.
And then suddenly the person jumped up. Not just jumped up, but started tap dancing and chuckling. neo-neocon Changing places, left and right
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:11 PM | Your Say (0)
Repulsive "progressive"Visual Vileness Alert
Disgusting photos at the link.... Scroll down at your peril. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. And remember, these are the people that say they have nothing but love and respect for minorities and women.Modern Art: PHOTOS of a 2011 fundraising gala at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles exemplify the work of the Serbian “performance artist” Marina Abramovic, now famous for inviting Clinton campaign chair John Podesta to a “spirit cooking” dinner. At the gala, cakes were made to look like dead bodies. They were sliced by Abramovic in a red dress wielding an enormous knife. The female guests were all asked to wear lab coats. The centerpieces were live heads, which were considered a bit “exploitative” by some of the artists in attendance. A total of 750 guests paid $2,500 a piece to attend the dinner. [HT: Thinking Housewife]Maria Occult Gala
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:46 AM | Your Say (13)
December 8, 2016
Stop Obsessing Over the Meaningless Popular Vote
Just for fun, let’s look at the popular vote in detail. Here is the key.*** NO CANDIDATE WON THE POPULAR VOTE!!!” To win the popular vote you have to get over 50%, that is what a majority is. What Hillary Clinton won was a PLURALITY. She got 48.2% of the vote. Donald Trump got 46.5 % of the vote. Not a big difference. Now here is where it gets interesting. Bill Clinton in 1992 only got 42.9% of the popular vote… Which means, Donald Trump won more of the popular vote than Bill Clinton, and no one on the Left said a word about Bill Clinton not being a legitimate President. Bill Clinton won a plurality, just like many presidents before him. It happens all the time. There is nothing unusual about this election. Hillary won a plurality, nothing more, but lost the election. That’s the way it is.Intellectual Conservative « !!!
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:39 PM | Your Say (4)
The King of Thailand's First Name Is....
Vajiralongkorn Borommachakkrayadisonsantatiwong Thewetthamrongsuboriban Aphikhunuprakanmahittaladunladet Phumiphonnaretwarangkun Kittisirisombunsawangkhawat Borommakhattiyaratchakuman (Vaj to his friends). Vajiralongkorn - WikipediaPosted by gerardvanderleun at 7:38 PM | Your Say (6)
I don't write the headlines. I just report them.
City Of Chicago Working Around Clock To Clear 18 Inches Of Bullet Casings From StreetsPosted by gerardvanderleun at 6:31 PM | Your Say (1)
The Circle of Life
It's about 50/50 fields and woods around here. I'm in the woods but the fields are close. A big field down the road, maybe several hundred acres, does corn 1 year and soy the next, over and over. Few years ago lots of heavy equipment installed 8" diameter, what appeared to be, reinforced canvas pipes underground, maybe 40' apart, all over that field. The inlet for the pipes is close to the road with a big turn around area for the tanker trucks that come in the spring and fall. There is a smell of manure in the air at those times. Or something that smells like it. The corn ends up being burned in my vehicles (destroying the mating surfaces and gaskets) and the soy is in the mayo on my chipotle chicken sando (blowing out my linings). Gotta find another way.Posted by: ghostsniper: I Got Your Gluten Right Here, Pal [Bumped]
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:22 PM | Your Say (1)
The Guillotine Next Time
There will be the identity political Left and the hyper violent, lose wars of choice, Right in one party. The Republicans will be the honkies from flyover country. Regardless, progressivism cannot be the core of a majority coalition, at least not in anything resembling a liberal democracy. At best, it can be an influential part of a coalition, but never the dominant part. In the fullness of time, it may be understood that the worst thing to happen to American Progressives wastheir final victory over one of the parties. They may have discredited themselves to the point where their thing is never the same again. Robespierre lost his head learning this lesson so Nancy Pelosi should count her blessings. The Party is Over | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:08 PM | Your Say (2)
I don't write the headlines. I just report them.
Cancer patient sues hospital over flesh-eating bug that 'ate' most of his penisPosted by gerardvanderleun at 12:52 PM | Your Say (0)
Sanctuary House
I’ve filed affidavits at the court house. Now, nothing is illegal here on my property,” he said, lighting up his favorite crack pipe and blowing the blue smoke into the lower troposphere.
“In fact, as soon as I finish raking and burning leaves, I’m going to wash my Escalade in my driveway and let all of the sudsy water run off into the storm drain to commingle with the nation’s water supply.”“My God, E.,” I said, grasping the enormity of the concept. “The EPA can’t do anything to you if you live in a Sanctuary Home.”
“Correctamundo,” E. said. “The IRS and the county can’t touch me, either. I no longer pay income or property taxes. I’ve also removed all those tags on our couch pillows that say ‘do not remove under penalty of law.’” | Ricochet
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:27 AM | Your Say (0)
December 7, 2016
Cigar-smokin', whiskey-drinkin', gun-slingin' badass, and at 110 America's oldest WW2 vet: Richard Overton of Austin TX pic.twitter.com/W8FwoLF7F6
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) December 7, 2016
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:48 PM | Your Say (7)
With little resistance, China incrementally annexes the South China Sea
while embarked on a naval buildup inversely proportional to the smallest U.S. fleet since 1916,and further aggravated by China’s ability, once its naval technology matures, to surge production in its 106 major shipyards as opposed to America’s six. More importantly, China is expanding its nuclear forces—to what extent we do not know, because the Chinese program’s infrastructure is hidden within 3,000 miles of tunnels largely opaque to U.S. intelligence. As if China were not a major rival, the Obama Administration, ever infatuated with accords, has made no effort to include Beijing in a nuclear-arms-control regime. Why not? Defense Is Missing in Action
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:10 PM | Your Say (3)
Wounds
American diplomats have urged all manner of cautions and appeasements of the political elites of European nations that have gutted their own militaries.Where’s the sense? They owe us! In several cases they literally owe us their existence! Yet we’ve acted all too frequently as if their willingness to allow us to protect them is somehow a favor to us!
Pure, unadulterated madness. President-elect Donald Trump’s recent chat with the prime minister of Taiwan illustrates this vividly.
The next few years could provide many a great surprise. I certainly hope so; the years immediately behind us have been drearily costly...drearily predictable. It’s imperative to reclaim the clarity with which Americans once reacted to a wound inflicted by an enemy with malice aforethought, whether by word or by deed: - - Porretto @ Liberty's Torch:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:50 PM | Your Say (2)
Fundraising for the Hillary Clinton Legal Defense Fund Is Now Underway
"HELLO SUCKERS!" Hillary Clinton invites millionaire pals including Anna Wintour and Harvey Weinsten to 'thank you' holiday party at Plaza HotelPosted by gerardvanderleun at 11:06 AM | Your Say (3)
December 6, 2016
The Viral Editor as a distributed being of the Internet.
4.3.
The Viral Editor is pure freedom of personal reaction. Otherwise it does not work. Solicited, made-to-order, commissioned reactions are possible, but in the statistical body they are revealed and inevitably destroyed by the prevailing numbers of free reactions.
4.3.1.
Trojan messages in the Viral Editor fade away on their own or are loudly unmasked. The Viral Editor has a built-in self-cleaning tool.
4.3.2.
If a lie is significant, it will circulate until it reaches witnesses and experts who will denounce it, because they know the truth. If a lie is insignificant, no one will denounce it; but it won’t circulate. The Manifesto of the Viral Editor – Human as Media
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:16 AM | Your Say (1)
With regard to fake news : Why? and So what?
If fake news deluded the masses into electing Donald Trump, and sophisticated Russians were responsible for the fake news, then an explanation for 2016 had been found that absolved the news media: a way out of the labyrinth.But such things never happened. To anyone who follows information effects, fake news is a sideshow, a byproduct of our chaotic information landscape. Its impact, while difficult to measure, probably comes close to zero.... If fake news were a salient part of the 2016 elections, they would have been exposed and exploded. If they weren’t exposed, it was because they never crossed the public’s awareness threshold. Politically, they did not matter. It was only after the fact, and out of the trauma of a shattering repudiation, that the news media tried to explain its failures by positing a parallel universe of counterfeit news and Russian manipulation. The news media: Surveying the wreckage | the fifth wave
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:10 AM | Your Say (6)
I Got Your Gluten Right Here, Pal [Bumped]
Gluten is a Latin word meaning “glue” and it’s the substance that makes dough elastic so we can shape it into bread, noodles, grits, tortillas, cakes, soy sauce, pies, beer, pretzels, macaroni, bagels, candy, cereal, croutons, lunch meat, salad dressing, potato chips, soup, and Belgian waffles. You might have noticed something about that particular food group. It’s stuff that tastes good. But because we live in a masochistic bulimic anorexic food-hating universe of nutzoid crusaders who want to sell us colon scrapers and Lake Titicaca Quinoa Seeds, we have to get rid of it precisely because it tastes good. -- Joe Bob Briggs
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:20 AM | Your Say (27)
December 5, 2016
The intersectional house of cards has fallen.
Every maladjusted minoritarian mini-tyrant in the country is freaking the frick out that their ragged, patchwork coalition of misfits is crumbing before their eyes.From coast to coast, every HIV-positive mulatto one-armed transgender lesbian midget is suddenly worried that Trump and his supporters in the heartland will become “normalized.” How the Left Strangled Itself With Identity Politics
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:49 PM | Your Say (2)
Graham's Number: On Beyond Googolplex
and until I learned about Graham’s number, I thought the biggest numbers a human could ever conceive of were things like “A googolplex to the googolplexth power,” which would blow my mind when I thought about it. But when I learned about Graham’s number, I realized that not only had I not scratched the surface of a truly huge number, I had been incapable of doing so—I didn’t have the tools.From 1,000,000 to Graham's Number -
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:40 AM | Your Say (3)
It's Probably Nothing:
Secret Back Door in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to ChinaFor about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours. Security contractors recently discovered preinstalled software in some Android phones that monitors where users go, whom they talk to and what they write in text messages. The American authorities say it is not clear whether this represents secretive data mining for advertising purposes or a Chinese government effort to collect intelligence.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:15 AM | Your Say (6)
The Power of Money: Bill Gates Sewage Sniffing Reported
A few years ago our foundation organized a “smell summit” to discuss ways to address this [smelly pit toilet] problem.Representatives from Firmenich were among the attendees and they thought they might be able to help.With more than a century of experience creating perfumes and flavors, Firmenich has developed sophisticated approaches to analyzing odors and breaking them down to their chemical components. They started their work with the foundation’s sanitation team by asking a basic question: why do toilets smell so bad? The answer may seem obvious. But toilet odors are actually quite complex. A Perfume that Smells Like Poop? | Bill Gates
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:04 AM | Your Say (3)
December 4, 2016
Every sign should read, “I don’t feel good. Make me feel better.”
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:00 AM | Your Say (8)
What happened in my birth year?
Just type in the year in the slot and settle back for the review.Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:54 AM | Your Say (5)
Don't you love the way Russia rigged the election?
because Putin and Trump are business buddies and they both hate NATO. Or something. In fact, they rigged the election so skillfully that Trump won the electoral college vote but Hillary won the popular vote. Now, that is some kind of talented computer hacking there! And Putin, that clever bear, winds up with two of the most talented and knowledgeable opponents of Russian expansionism in the whole United States as the secretary of defense and the CIA director.Sense of Events:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:15 AM | Your Say (2)
We Must Not Get Complacent After The Great Election Victory
I hope that in the next couple of years we will see an era of the Great Forgetting where all the loudmouth feminists, SJWs, and other far left elements slowly lose favor and fade into the background. In the Russian Revolution they were all either shot or sent to far away Siberian camps to do hard labor. Of course in 2016 we can’t do that, but I have hope that market forces will do the next best thing and cause them to keep quiet and actually get a job. -- ROKPosted by gerardvanderleun at 9:05 AM | Your Say (4)
Who Says There's No Good News?
Dramatic decline in dementia seen among older adults in the US It had been thought that the baby boomers’ march toward old age would triple the number of Alzheimer’s patients by 2050.These new numbers not only portend a lesser burden on the health care system (and families) but also suggest that something has changed over the generations — and identifying that change could drive down dementia rates even further.
That’s a significant decline: If the rate of dementia in 2012 had been what it was in 2000, “there would be well more than 1 million additional people with dementia,” said John Haaga, director of the National Institute on Aging’s behavioral and social research, who was not involved in the study. As it is, an estimated 5 million Americans 65 and older are afflicted with Alzheimer’s or other dementia.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:10 AM | Your Say (1)
December 3, 2016
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:19 PM | Your Say (1)
Donald Trump appears to have sent a message to Beijing: the First Island Chain will be held.
Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines will remain the Westernmost bulwark in the Pacific.
The Hill writes: "Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Taiwan President Tsai Ying-wen, a conversation that breaks decades of U.S. protocol and risks a clash with China. ... The phone call will almost certainly infuriate Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province." The First Island Chain, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to a network of peninsulas and archipelagos which mirror the China coast, and whose possession blocks Beijing from direct access to the broad Pacific. Japan considers denying the First Island chain to a foe as essential to her defense. For many years the same string of islanders served as America's strategic frontier in the West. Return To the First Island Chain | PJ Media
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:52 PM | Your Say (3)
Talk about a party on a suicide run.
'Panic in Progressive Park' -- What If Trump Is Actually Good?Trump seems to be firing on all engines to a degree I have never seen in an American president, before he has even been inaugurated. His transition, once said to be confused, is rocketing along with a palpable sense of excitement that Trump and his team are deliberately sharing with the public, by-passing the media when necessary.
The Democrats, who have been floundering to an extent equally never before seen, are participating in a juvenile and over-priced recount while reelecting the terminally botoxed Nancy Pelosito the House minority leadership even thoughthat same chamber hemorrhaged Democrat members like a hemophilia victim under her rule. Topping that off, they're considering Keith Ellison to helm the DNC, a man who, according to a recent report, "met with a radical Muslim cleric who endorsed killing U.S. soldiers and with the president of a bank used to pay the families of Palestinian suicide bombers" on a trip to Saudi Arabia organized by an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:04 AM | Your Say (7)
Who Says There's No Good News?
Under President Trump, Americans set a car sales record President Trump's election triggered a stock market rally, a record Black Friday, and a surge in car sales. Already discussed the first two. Let's look at the third one. Things are so good, even Volkswagen is selling more cars again.Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:42 AM | Your Say (0)
Firestarter
Internet users began photoshopping Zoe into historic catastrophes, from the sinking of the Titanic to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to 9/11, and sharing their work on viral sites like Fark, Reddit, and eBaum’s World. Buzzfeed aggregated the doctored photos to make a timeline going all the way back to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Somewhere along the way, Zoe became "Disaster Girl." Dave didn’t know about the meme until Zooomr user Ben Dan Hawks sent him a link.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:28 AM | Your Say (3)
December 2, 2016
And now I have a message of my own for these students.
Stabbing a bunch of people for not believing the same things that you do is the very definition of hatred and intolerance, yet you self-absorbed little shits dare project the guilt for this heinous act upon the rest of us?No. Here's the deal. The disgusting piece of trash who attempted this slaughter was here in this country as a guest, funded by taxpayers like me who've been in the workforce for 20 years. We literally rescued him and his family, and this is how he repaid us--by whining about oppression and microaggressions as he plotted a murderous act of terrorism against innocent people.
We will not let you make this about your self-centered agenda. This is not your show. Your callow sloganeering "thoughts" on tolerance, diversity, microaggressions and general butthurtedness are unwelcome at this time, precious snowflakes. Never, ever presume to lecture the rest of us again. Ace of Spades HQ
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:07 PM | Your Say (4)
If you occupied what was considered the ideological / moral centre ground in 1966,
and went to sleep for 50 years and woke up in 2016 you'd find yourself occupying the ideological /moral 'far right'.You didn't have to budge one inch ideologically to find yourself there. The whizzing sound you heard was the ideological / cultural centre ground zooming over to the Cultural Marxist hard left. Everything that was considered mainstream, obvious, common sense, logical and moral in 1966 is now considered by our political, academic and media elite to be bigoted, ignorant, hateful, xenophobic, racist, extremist and some form of moral abnormality. In other words, within the space of 50 years, morality, right, wrong, evil, good, normal, obvious, extreme, sanity, truth, beneficial, dangerous and the instinct for group preservation, has been inverted and stood upside down on its head. Never before in the entire course of human history has an entire culture, race and civilisation decided to hand over its lands, social capital, heritage and identities to competing and intruding alien cultures without a fight, and even worse, to evolve an ideology that morally justifies and glorifies it as proof of their moral supremacy.European man is in a civilisational death dance.What a difference fifty years makes.... | Boards[HT Happy Acres]
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:00 PM | Your Say (6)
"Mom: "We're leaving now, go give Grandma a kiss goodbye."
Child: "No! Stop forcing rape culture on me!"
Grandma: "God, just kill me..."
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:52 AM | Your Say (6)
December 1, 2016
LAS VEGAS — Snowball, a physical device introduced by Amazon last year to quickly move 50 TB of data out of a data center into AWS’s cloud, has proved extremely popular.But now, organizations are seeking a way to move more data. Much more data. In response, Amazon today unveiled AWS Snowmobile, a semi-trailer that will come to your facility and literally pick up an exabyte of data (1 million terabytes).
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:26 PM | Your Say (1)
"Press 1 for English and 2 through 86 for every other language jabbering away in Buffalo, NY
The Insanity Reaches New and Undreamed of Levels: 85 languages spoken in Buffalo schools as 'New Americans' enter classrooms --
The City of Buffalo has taken in thousands of immigrants and refugees in recent years, and it’s reflected in many of its schools. More than 85 different languages are spoken throughout the district, but that number can change by the day....But last year, Buffalo – forced by necessity and new mandates – began making some long overdue changes at central registration intended to address its large customer base of students from foreign lands. Chief among them is a new team of multilingual staffers who can speak to the students in their own language – and thus are able to sign them up for school, test their English, detail their prior education, and discuss with parents what to expect in the classroom.Excuse me, "teachers," but is there a hole here for me to get sick in?
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:15 PM | Your Say (10)
I wonder how much we are willing to spend on "compassion"
... what ever that amount is, I would like for it to be spent on American servicemen/women and their families (and cops actually).
If there is compassion money left over after that, I'd like to see it go towards projects that benefit our country. I think immigrants should be assigned to "people of that particular compassion" who want to help immigrants assimilate in to American norms. Let those folks host immigrates in their homes as one might a foreign exchange student - let them be accountable to their neighbors for what that community thinks is right. I don't want to spend my compassion on soldiers intent on harming this Country. I don't think that is compassion well spent.True North:notes on COMPASSION
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:15 PM | Your Say (3)
They reduce the argument to something like “I love love and I hate hate,” and if you disagree, you love hate. Please share this article by using the link below. When you cut and paste an article, Taki's Magazine misses out on traffic, and our writer
The next thing you know, they’re holding up signs that say, “Love trumps hate,” like anyone would have a problem with that.I know a guy who was arrested on election night and he got the news Trump was the next president while in the Tombs. He said some of the black inmates were convinced they wouldn’t be allowed out now. What kind of logic is that? All black people go to jail? That’s simply not possible. Therefore, your hypothesis is incorrect. Play it through logically. Trump is going to deport legal immigrants? How? He’s going to imprison all his opponents? Who? He’s going to make it illegal to burn the flag? What? He’s going to repeal Roe v. Wade? When? He’s going to start a nuclear war? Where? He’s going to dissolve gay marriages? Why? Your belief system can’t make it past one question? - - Reality Bites
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:15 AM | Your Say (4)
See, This Is Why We Can’t Have White Things
“The most toxic brand in political history.”That’s a damn good line. I’d encourage people on the alt-right to take it to heart, but I know they won’t. Because, regarding the Third Reich, you essentially have two types of “thinkers” on (or around) the alt-right. You have the trolls, who care not about the toxicity of Hitler and the Nazis, because being hip and edgy with things that are taboo is their entire goal. And then you have the true believers, the ones who dismiss the Third Reich’s bad rep because they don’t think Hitler did anything wrong. To them, the toxicity is unfair. Much like how the fast-food chain Wendy’s suffered a torrent of bad press after an indolent mouth-breather faked finding a human finger in a bowl of chili, Hitler is only noxious because other people, other entities, framed him and “hoaxed” the world. - David Cole
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:46 AM | Your Say (2)
Still, it is a good reminder that you can be highly intelligent and also have a head full of nonsense.
The most prominent libertarians live on the adult day care centers we call the college campus.Others live in the satellite version called the think tank. Most of their friends are in the Cult and often quite passionate about it. As a result, the most prominent libertarians spend their days trying to carve out an exception for themselves that does not vex their peers. Going in for the lunacy of NeverTrump was a cheap way to earn piety points with the nut jobs on campus. The Power of Belief | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:49 AM | Your Say (1)