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February 28, 2017
Democrats Replace Rebuttal Speech With Lunesta Sleeping Aid Commercial…
Contact your Doctor if you experience burning or tingling in the hands, arms, feet, or legs, changes in appetite, constipation, diarrhea, difficulty keeping balance, dizziness, daytime drowsiness, dry mouth or throat, gas, headaches, heartburn, mental slowing or problems with attention or memory, stomach pain or tenderness, or any uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body… | The Last Refuge
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:58 PM | Your Say (13)
When I woke up today I have only one nerve left and now you're on it!
A giant neuron has been found wrapped around the entire circumference of the brain - ScienceAlertThis recently discovered neuron is one of three that have been detected for the first time in a mammal's brain, and the new imaging technique could help us figure out if similar structures have gone undetected in our own brains for centuries.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:44 PM | Your Say (0)
The never-ending quest to build a hotel in space
Moreover, the guests of the Lunar Hilton will “not dine on vitamin or nutrient capsules,” but will instead “eat just as they eat at home.” This would involve shipping dehydrated, freeze-dried steaks from Earth, which would then be reconstituted in a “nuclear-reactor kitchen.” Here, machines would do most of the cooking — a chef would “push several buttons [and] the machines will automatically remove the contents from packages, rehydrate, and heat, if necessary.” -- The Outline
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:49 AM | Your Say (1)
'Authentic' Food Is Not What You Think It Is
If those authentic old foods were so great, how come our ancestors were so eager to switch to processed foods?
The culprit most often identified is the power-mad food scientists of yesteryear, who convinced the housewives of previous generations to give up the good stuff in favor of tasteless packaged foods. The people who write these theories have apparently not spent much time observing today’s food scientists in their tireless quest to get people to stop eating the junk they like to eat now. If they had, they might have asked why yesterday’s food scientists had so much more power to alter dietary habits. And after they asked that question, they might have come to the conclusion that our ancestors switched because they liked the new foods better than whatever they were eating before. - - Bloomberg View
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:45 AM | Your Say (0)
The Battle of Los Angeles
Thereafter the information center was flooded with reports of “enemy planes, ” even though the mysterious object tracked in from sea seems to have vanished. At 0243, planes were reported near Long Beach, and a few minutes later a coast artillery colonel spotted “about 25 planes at 12,000 feet” over Los Angeles. At 0306 a balloon carrying a red flare was seen over Santa Monica and four batteries of anti-aircraft artillery opened fire, whereupon “the air over Los Angeles erupted like a volcano.” From this point on reports were hopelessly at variance. 25th February 1942:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:20 AM | Your Say (0)
Inside, the meat department is a barren landscape. "There's just unplugged display cases, flies and a bad odor."
The Nightmare Of Grocery Shopping In VenezuelaIn Venezuela, government supermarkets sell price-controlled food, making them far cheaper than private stores. But Valero explains that people are allowed in state-run supermarkets just two days per week, based on their ID card numbers. The system is designed to prevent shoppers from buying more than they need and then reselling goods on the black market at a huge markup.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:16 AM | Your Say (2)
War? Really?
If it were war, you'd have been dead in wholesale lots, and the Right would have been grinning from ear to ear from their sniper perches hundreds of yards away, and would have laughed out loud as designated mop-up teams waded in and shot your wounded in the face. That's how WAR is played. You could look it up. This was an infantile tantrum where you shit your own crib. -A.) Raconteur Report: Reasonable Questions File
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:17 AM | Your Say (1)
Amazing Opportunities for Female Writers of Creative Nonfiction for Whom Traditional Employment is Anathema
Live rent-free in our garage apartment overlooking a steely bay in exchange for light domestic duties.
Looking for a woman who looks fetching in overalls to provide one or two beatific weekday hours encouraging my husband’s guitar ambitions without eye-rolling and taking jaunts to the downtown farmer’s market wearing my one-year-old like a baby kangaroo. Buy hard-neck garlic and branches of cherry blossoms and return home for baths and snuggly skin-on-skin time! Think symbiotic relationship of mutual fantasy: While you idealize my family life, I will drip coffee onto my blazer sleeve and watch with regret and longing as you write and look out at the moody bay. Maybe one person can’t “have it all” but together two people can! - - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:56 AM | Your Say (1)
Movement Conservatism is a zombie movement, shuffling along until someone has the decency to put it out of its misery.
I spotted this on the legacy website PJ Media.I expected to be a recitation of the hate thinkers they think they have "purged" from their thing. PJ Media is not as bad as many others, but it is still firmly locked into the old mindset of the "respectable Right", which is to say they are not in business to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy. They worry more about the trouble makers to their Right than they do the supposed enemies on the Left, because they never want to get in trouble with the Left.... It’s not just PJ Media. National Review, noticing the collapse of their traffic, has decided they better figure out a way to get in on the action. They have been holding a mock debate among themselves about the role of nationalism, even giving the Tribe the needle a little over the issue of Israel and borders. Rich Lowry is clearly trying to figure out how to get the magazine back in front of the people they pretend to be leading. He has even warmed to Trump, saying nice things about his C-PAC speech. It's Good To Be Bad | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:06 AM | Your Say (4)
Schooling Bill Nye, the "Science" Guy
When your self-image and ego get annihilated on live television, you can’t simply admit you have been ridiculous all along. Your brain can’t let you do that to yourself. So instead, it concocts weird hallucinations to force-glue your observations into some sort of semi-coherent movie in which you are not totally and thoroughly wrong. That semi-coherent movie will look like a form of insanity to observers.Tucker Carlson Induces Cognitive Dissonance in... | Scott Adams' Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:45 AM | Your Say (3)
Do you believe in Magic?
The 21st century is turning out to be mix of incompetence and brilliance,high technology and primitivism, fastidiousness and brutality all coexisting side by side. Nowhere is this incongruity more evident than on the Syrian battlefield. Here Mad Max vehicles piled high with garish blankets, Russian heavy machine guns and grill armor cages fight against an foe sworn to return the world to the 8th century while fighting with cell phones, radio controlled bombs and modified consumer drones. The video below shows how ISIS is using drones to drop grenades on Iraqi troops in Mosul. They might well do the same in Paris. Sword and sorcery future
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:24 AM | Your Say (0)
February 27, 2017
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's highly anticipated album debuts at #1 on hip hop, classical, and jazz charts
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:40 PM | Your Say (0)
God confesses he's a Hillary supporter in latest revelation
This just in from President Hillary Rodham ClintonGod blamed, Lucifer, FBI Director James Comey, Russian President and Vladimir Putin for attempting to meddle in the election and said he intends to punish them. "There's a special place in hell for people who try to steal elections from my favorite daughter, Hillary Clinton," God said.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:20 PM | Your Say (4)
Awwwww......
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:16 AM | Your Say (3)
Another way to reduce the size of government.
Kim Jong-un Guns Down Officials With Anti-Aircraft Gun | The Daily Caller The five officials reportedly killed by the regime worked in Kim’s office and were executed for providing inaccurate reports.Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:07 AM | Your Say (3)
Math for the Social Justice Major
Mathematics was devised by old white men who sought to oppress the uneducated masses. In this course we will explore a more empathetic approach to the subject. The course will explore questions such as:- How does the number 6 make you feel?
- If John has 6 marbles and Sue has 2, isn’t that unfair?
- How can there be any “incorrect” answers?
- Isn’t identifying a number as “positive” or negative” stereotyping?
- If you identify with 5 more than 4, why shouldn’t that be a solution to 2+2=?
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:39 AM | Your Say (4)
Airbnb Confirmation: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
My wife and I lived in NY for our entire lives but recently decided to move to this stunning, OLD, gorgeous, stunning home in a neighborhood that’s GOOD and old.Then we decided to move BACK to NY for most of the time. Our vacation home is a BEAUTIFUL golf course/steakhouse in Florida and it’s BETTER than this one. And our real home is still in New York because that one’s TALLER and BETTER than this old one and the bed is NEWER there. I work out of this Washington property TWO maybe THREE weeks out of each month. (Most of my work can be done remotely). - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:25 AM | Your Say (0)
Well, that was the best Oscars ever
Let’s just say the last time we were all this surprised, Hillary Clinton was biting the top off a bottle of the hard stuff. Millions must have gone to bed already: The Oscars were over except for a few thank-yous. Or so it seemed. | New York Postneo-neocon on The Oscars: gaseous glamour and gigantic gaffes
Jimmy Kimmel was remarkably unfunny, and almost every "joke" he made was political. But he was hardly alone. I expected a lot of liberal self-congratulatory politics from the presenters and from the award recipients. But apparently I underestimated the capacity of Hollywood celebrities to keep up an incessant, repetitive drumbeat of praise for themselves and their devotion to diversity, love of immigration, reverence for freedom, and all those things they have been told that Trump and the right are dead set against. And all of this was delivered as though they were courageously standing up to tanks in Tianamen Square.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:30 AM | Your Say (2)
February 26, 2017
Surprised her book is titled "In Full Color" when she could have gone with "White Like Me."
Her friend reportedly helped her pay two months worth of rent and she said she expects to be homeless. Dolezal said she has applied for more than 100 jobs, including a position at the university where she used to teach, but no one will hire her. The only work she has been offered is reality TV, and porn." - - Rachel Dolezal still insists she did nothing wrong
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:38 PM | Your Say (13)
Movies are blockbuster schlock.
Nothing is quotable, because who cares about a joke, since Hollywood relies on the overseas box office now for profits. Nothing Hollywood makes has any lasting effect. Even its biggest blockbusters are rarely discussed after the initial week of release. The Left's Unstable Coalition Is Ceding Culture Creation To The Right - Social MatterPosted by gerardvanderleun at 3:27 PM | Your Say (2)
Trump Isn’t Sounding Like a Russian Mole
He might limit U.S. fracking, helping to prop up Putin’s oil price. He might seek to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles in ways that give Russia badly needed economic relief from an arms burden that daily pressures the country more, and that accepts a permanent parity between the US and Russian nuclear arsenals, leaving America perpetually hostage to a nuclear balance of terror with a much weaker Russia. He might slash military spending and procurement; rather than steadily building the gap between Russian and American military capabilities, he might slow down and allow the Russians and others to dream of catching up. In other words, if President Trump really is a Putin pawn, his foreign policy will start looking much more like Barack Obama’s. - The American Interest
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:55 AM | Your Say (0)
Just who is really driving that "self-driving" car?
The automobile was for decades a symbol of an individual’s independence.In his car, a man could drive wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, for whatever reason he wanted, and for as long as he wanted — all without anyone but himself being any the wiser. Now, under the guise of “autonomy”, this freedom is going to be taken away from us. (At this point, George Orwell is laughing his ass off. “Freedom is Slavery”, remember?) I once said that if I could choose the way I die, it would either be in my wife’s arms or on the barricades. Well, that first option has been taken from me, which means that if I die, it will be in a pitched gun battle with government agents who are trying to take away my old car and forcing me to use Government Autonomous Vehicle Mk. VII — and if you think I’m joking, I’m not. Fuck this bullshit. - - Kim DuToit No. Just… NO. – Splendid Isolation
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:20 AM | Your Say (4)
Our Lady of Strays
It seems impossible to get there, and yet eventually you do, zigzagging through the provincial capital of Alajuela’s maze of avenues and alleys, winding your way up into the mountains through a puzzle of villages and coffee plantations, frowning at your cell phone as its Waze app tells you to turn on routes that bear no markings. Somewhere ahead is the town of Carrizal, and beyond that the Poás volcano, and in between, the dogs. | Outside Online
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:18 AM | Your Say (1)
For the Beauty of the Earth
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:56 AM | Your Say (1)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:33 AM | Your Say (2)
Trumpocalypse: the messy flatulence of the Resistance |
Third thing, who are the young, idealistic, exciting stars coming up the DNC ladder in Obama’s wake? They seem to not exist.Or if they do exist, they are exciting only to the Leftist choir already wailing about gender warfare, racial angst, homophobia, transphobia, victim classifications, and an insistence that the only thing wrong with America, is that the white middle didn’t disappear the way the white middle was told to disappear, during the Obama Presidency. This tells me that without a major wake-up call, the DNC is going to double down in 2020. They will almost surely run a woman — because “women were denied” in 2016. That woman stands a good chance of being non-white, or at least non-straight; to tie in with the identitarian nature of our fractured political discourse. And she will excoriate the “deplorable” half of the country with even more severe rhetoric than either Hillary or Barrack deployed. Because if the riots and marches tell us anything, it’s that the way to “take back” the country, is to call people names twice as hard as they were being called names before. Brad R. Torgersen
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:57 AM | Your Say (4)
February 25, 2017
The Bug That Had the World Seeing Red
The tiny creature—a parasitic scale insect known as cochineal—was transformed into a precious commodity. Breeders in Mexico’s southern highlands began cultivating cochineal, selecting for both quality and color over many generations. The results were spectacular. The carminic acid in female cochineals could be used to create a dazzling spectrum of reds, from soft rose to gleaming scarlet to deepest burgundy. Though it took as many as 70,000 dried insects to make a pound of dye, they surpassed all other alternatives in potency and versatility. - Nexus - Zócalo Public Square
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:34 PM | Your Say (4)
Self-Righteous Devils: What Ozark Vigilantes of the 1880s Reveal About Modern America
who quickly posted bond before returning to the store with Tubal and a friend, shooting and wounding the storekeeper and his wife. The Taylor brothers surrendered to the local sheriff, confident they would be released after a brief jail stay. But that night, a Bald Knobber posse rode their horses into Forsyth, broke into the jail, and took the Taylors. The next day, the brothers were found dead, hanged from an oak tree outside of town, with a sign affixed to Tubal’s shirt that said, “Beware! These are the first victims of the wrath of outraged citizens. More will follow. The Bald Knobbers.” | Collectors Weekly
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:07 PM | Your Say (3)
CALEXIT? Who says there can't be a LOT of good news about that
Half the Pacific Fleet is homeported in Alameda, Long Beach, and San Diego.So, when President Trump declares the entire state in rebellion to the union, and orders the crews of any numbers of those ships to launch cruise missiles into the state capitol building, the governor's mansion, etc., and knowing that their families are hostage to the whims of the leftists attempting secession, and knowing how radical and contrary and out-and-out leftist the members of the US military are(n't), how many sailors are going to say "No, Mr. President." (Or should the question be better phrased as "How long before they carpet bomb every city's government centers with cruise missiles and cluster bombs, and napalm most of the UC campuses, movie studios, television and radio stations "just to be safe"?)One third of the Marine Corps - the First Marine Division, the First Marine Air Wing, etc. - is located at Camp Pendleton, Miramar MCAS, and MCB Twentynine Palms.
When SecDef Mattis tells them to seize and defend San Diego, the greater Los Angeles area as far north as Santa Barbara, and secure the US border with Mexico, do you figure they're going to take a pass? And how many people do you think they'll have to kill outright, vs. how many will they round up and hold in their underpants in stockades in the desert at 29 Palms, for sedition and treason trials in batches? Raconteur Report: Califucktardation
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:43 PM | Your Say (1)
It Begins
Because people are calling saying, 'hey I see a stray' by the time we get there, it's gone, it slips under the fence, and we can't find it. " Gable said. "Do that, because it's helping us come out and get the dogs."
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:39 AM | Your Say (2)
Saving the World, One Meaningless Buzzword at a Time
Every year you watch people lean into those little microphones and say the same thing: It is getting better out there.Multinational corporations declare their support for human rights. They adopt policies on climate change and fair pay and women’s empowerment, and coin acronyms like CSR. (That's "corporate social responsibility.") They hire NGOs to carry out impact assessments. They speak with communities before digging into the minerals below their land. Speech after speech, you hear that companies are better now, that you, the human rights advocate and your little armband, are winning. So why doesn’t it feel that way?| Foreign Policy
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:50 AM | Your Say (0)
[Bumped] There are four tasks to be accomplished, maybe better said, four firebreaks to hold, to keep more of our cities from turning into Detroit:
Anyone seen carrying incendiaries will be shot to kill or maim. No specific additional warning will be given. Anyone dressed in a mask that prevents identification, in the vicinity of an incipient or ongoing riot, will be presumed to intend felonious activity. They will be shot to kill or maim. No specific additional warning will be given. Anyone seen wielding a weapon, including, but not limited to, firearms, clubs, machetes, knives, swords, or spears, will be presumed to intend the use of that weapon to commit or aid in the commission of a felony. They will be shot to kill or maim. No specific, additional warning will be given. Anyone engaged in arson will be shot to kill or maim. Anyone engaged in looting or encouraging looting by the breaking of safeguards will be shot to kill or maim. Riot Control: How to Stop a Riot Before It Gets Out of Hand
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:33 AM | Your Say (16)
N.B.: "Tolerance" is not the same as "Approval."
By contrast, you do have the right to live however you please, so long as it’s within the confines of the law.
If you want to cross-dress, smoke marijuana, drink lots of alcohol, have lots of sex, and, yes, even go to school for gender studies, then by all means, go for it. Government should not be allowed to legislate people’s behavior as long as it doesn’t infringe upon someone else’s rights, but that doesn’t mean society isn’t allowed to have an opinion. You don’t have the right to demand people keep their opinions about your lifestyle to themselves, especially if you’re open and public about it. I have as much of a right to comment on the way you live your life as you do to actually live it. Your feelings are not a protected right, but my speech is 78 Seconds Of Farage "Red-Pilling" | Zero Hedge
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:31 AM | Your Say (0)
February 24, 2017
Officials said he was looking for his dog.
Man found hanging naked, upside down from Mississippi treePosted by gerardvanderleun at 7:56 PM | Your Say (4)
The Japanese.... on the other hand.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:55 PM | Your Say (4)
"Vibrant"
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:06 PM | Your Say (4)
Giant Magellan Telescope
The first way to get clear pictures of faint objects, of course, is to increase the size of the telescope, and the aperture of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be a gargantuan 24.5 meters in diameter, accounting for a collecting area 80 times that of Hubble and about 15 times that of James Webb. Each of the GMT's seven mirrors will weigh a colossal 15 tons. Currently under construction in the high Atacama Desert of Chile, the Giant Magellan Telescope is expected to be completed by 2025, though operations could begin sooner with only four of the seven mirrors. Like Hubble, it will take observations in visible light. A Look At the Telescopes of the Future, and What We Will See Through Them
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:54 PM | Your Say (1)
Mugshot Meta: A Mug Shot of the Inventor of the Mug Shot (1912)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:31 PM | Your Say (0)
Vietnam's Low-tech Food System Takes Advantage of Decay
As we talk, several customers come by, eager to scoop some brine and cabbage into a plastic bag. Worried that we’re discouraging her customers, she shoos us away. She isn’t lacking business. Take mắm tôm, a purplish paste made of fermented pureed shrimp. Cracking open a jar will result in a distinct smell of ‘there’s something wrong here’ with hints of marmite to whelm through the whole room. You have chao, a stinky fermented tofu, which was so rank that the smallest bite shot up my nose and incinerated my taste buds for an hour (‘Clears the palate!’ said the waiter encouragingly). - LOW-TECH MAGAZINE
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:03 AM | Your Say (6)
Every 200 years California suffers storms of biblical proportions. Get ready.
The most recent was a series of storms that lasted for a near-biblical 43 days between 1861 and 1862, creating a vast lake where California’s Central Valley had been. Floodwaters drowned thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of cattle, and forced the state’s government to move from Sacramento to San Francisco.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:10 AM | Your Say (1)
Politics in the soup
Politics dividing friendships and families.Politics on the front pages of the newspapers. Politics all over Facebook and Twitter. Politics in the soup and the wedding cakes and the topless coffee shops; preached from the speeches of artistic award ceremonies and from sports luminaries and from the seats of the highest churches in the land. Lumped into sides, our ‘leaders’ telling us who the enemy is and who to hate; spinning us up and pointing us in the direction of a strange-hatted march or a Jewish cemetery or a family-friendly bakery and off we go. This is not a recipe for peace and prosperity – it is a recipe for revolution. -- The Recipe for Revolution | Joel D. Hirst
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:24 AM | Your Say (0)
“America is not only for the whites, but it is for all.
When we go to America we will become Americans and there is no a race or nationalism called America and the Americans are those Africans, Indians, Chinese, and Europeans and whoever goes to America will become American…American is for all of us and the whole world had made and created America. All the people all over the world had made America and it shall accordingly be for all of us. I will never feel ashamed when I claim for my right in America and it will not be strange when I raise my voice in America.” - - Col Muammar Gaddafi, 2005
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:08 AM | Your Say (1)
Sippican: Watching the Congress of Vienna Sausage Get Made
A block away from me, a Lebanese dad pulled his Ford into his carport,waved to a French-Canadian family on one side, a Portuguese guy on the other, and a neighbor with a name out of Charles Dickens across the street. The Lebanese family had a girl that broke several thousand hearts, no doubt, besides mine, without uttering a sound. She had eyes like dishes of used motor oil, skin like two days at the beach, and a head of hair like a mink. My school was topped off with Armenians, with a couple of Jewish kids thrown in. They seemed about as exotic as a pothole. - - Sippican Cottage
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:54 AM | Your Say (1)
If a biological attack killing hundreds of thousands ever happens people will demand a wall.
Instead of an ever more borderless planet marching steadily under the rainbow arc of justice unhindered by anything more than a nuisance Jayvee Team of rogue Islamic rebels, we may instead have a world of strict borders, quarantine controls, universal surveillance, in which vast megacities ravaged by drug and religious wars are sustained by autonomous vehicles with goods from automated factories. Battlefield MegacityPosted by gerardvanderleun at 7:38 AM | Your Say (0)
February 23, 2017
"I just felt it was time," he told reporters.
Anthony Weiner switches to rotary phone The news was met with cheers, elation, and champagne by Democrats across the country, who have long urged the disgraced former politician to "cut off all contact with the rest of the world" and "live under a rock," according to Democratic media strategist David Brock.Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:48 AM | Your Say (2)
God's Got Game
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:23 AM | Your Say (0)
The little black-clad Bitch Posse feels brave
They will, by contrast, squirt their shorts full the first time they start catching facefuls of .30 caliber incoming, in a manner that will trigger the activation of their organ donation cards, and all their chicken-shit posturing has done is get a sizable cross-section of the right to salivating on the prospect of the smackdown we're inching closer to, with each one of these infantile street tantrums.
The pendulum swinging their way is a wrecking ball, with spikes on it. And even money, after the first casualties, some generous souls will then go after the fallen agitators' families, just to make a point. (In this case, the point being that the outcome of the Third Punic War is considered a reasonable victory line upon which the Right will settle.) That isn't over-confidence, bluster, or braggadocio talking. It's the cold, hard, bloody truth, calling out down through the ages: Beware the wrath of patient men. Raconteur Report: Reasonable Questions File
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:03 AM | Your Say (5)
California governor Jerry Brown in August 2015,
responding to calls from GOP presidential candidates to build new dams and renovate old ones:"I’ve never heard of such utter ignorance. Building a dam won’t do a damn thing about fires or climate change or the absence of moisture in the air and ground of California. If they want to run for president, they had better do eighth grade science before they made such utterances." Ghost Inside Your Haunted Head
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:42 AM | Your Say (2)
Making the rounds today is this anonymous remark:
"Clearly we must do what the world did after it recognized the horror of the Holocaust: come together in support of the founding of a Mexican homeland. A place where Mexicans can live free of the threat of deportation. A Mexican state, if you will, located in the ancestral homeland of the Mexican people."Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:07 AM | Your Say (3)
The Plight of the Parasites
It is not just the government end of the managerial state that will come under extreme pressure from the changes wrought by technology.Look at the media. CNN draws an average 2 million viewers for its top shows. They get a little over a buck per month from every cable household, even though 99% do not watch CNN. Cord cutting is blowing up this model, which means technology is threatening 95% of CNN’s revenue base. This is the crisis facing every cable TV channel. When the damn breaks and those revenues disappear, it means jobs for media people disappear with them. | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:04 AM | Your Say (2)
February 22, 2017
'I'm too high to read the menu, can you read it out to me?'
"I winked and nodded -- it was only 5pm, so it was not too busy, plus he was really nice about it, so why not?As I proceeded to read out our seven-item menu, he 'oohed' and 'aahed' as if I were juggling knives. When I finished, I asked what he'd like, and he responded with the most contented smile, saying, 'Everything sounds delicious! I'll have it all!' Restaurant Customers Who Were Straight-Up Garbage Disposals - Off the Menu - Thrillist
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:48 PM | Your Say (0)
MSNBC Anchor: "Our Job" Is To "Control Exactly What People Think"
BRZEZINSKI: "Well, I think that the dangerous, you know, edges here are that he is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job." - - | Zero HedgePosted by gerardvanderleun at 1:03 PM | Your Say (9)
The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.
but the only way to really comprehend this, as humans, is to break matters down into a series of steps, starting with our visceral understanding of the size of the Earth. A non-stop flight from Dubai to San Francisco covers a distance of about 8,000 miles – roughly equal to the diameter of the Earth. The Sun is much bigger; its diameter is just over 100 times Earth’s. And the distance between the Earth and the Sun is about 100 times larger than that, close to 100 million miles. This distance, the radius of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, is a fundamental measure in astronomy; the Astronomical Unit, or AU. The spacecraft Voyager 1, for example, launched in 1977 and, travelling at 11 miles per second, is now 137 AU from the Sun. But the stars are far more distant than this. The nearest, Proxima Centauri, is about 270,000 AU, or 4.25 light years away. You would have to line up 30 million Suns to span the gap between the Sun and Proxima Centauri.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:50 AM | Your Say (4)
Silent Twins: The Haunting Case of June and Jennifer Gibbons
Known for its tranquility, the town and the twins had but one thing in common: Quiet. Amazingly, the two had never spoken to anyone else their entire lives. Instead, they communicated with each other in a strange, birdlike language only they could understand.... “We have become fatal enemies in each other’s eyes. We feel the irritating deadly rays come out of our bodies, stinging each other’s skin. I say to myself, can I get rid of my own shadow, impossible or not possible? Without my shadow, would I die? Without my shadow, would I gain life, be free or left to die? Without my shadow, which I identify with a face of misery, deception, murder.” | The Lineup
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:30 AM | Your Say (4)
Through the first half of the Cold War, the Middle East remained a sideshow.
In 1979, however, all that changed radically.First, rising protests against the brutal police state of the American-backed Shah of Iran led to regime collapse, the return of dissident ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the declaration of an Islamic Republic. Then Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding 52 hostages for more than 400 days. Of course, by then few Americans remembered the CIA-instigated coup of 1953 that had toppled a democratically elected Iranian prime minister, preserved Western oil interests in that country, and started both lands on this path (though Iranians clearly hadn’t forgotten). The shock and duration of the hostage crisis undoubtedly ensured that Jimmy Carter would be a one-term president and—to make matters worse—Soviet troops intervened in Afghanistan to shore up a communist government there. It was quite a year. How We Got Here | The American Conservative
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:01 AM | Your Say (3)
The warning lights have been flashing, and the klaxons sounding, for more than a decade and a half.
But our pundits and prognosticators and professors and policymakers,ensconced as they generally are deep within the bubble, were for the most part too distant from the distress of the general population to see or hear it. (So much for the vaunted “information era” and “big-data revolution.”) Now that those signals are no longer possible to ignore, it is high time for experts and intellectuals to reacquaint themselves with the country in which they live and to begin the task of describing what has befallen the country in which we have lived since the dawn of the new century. Our Miserable 21st Century | commentary
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:55 AM | Your Say (0)
'Mismatch' between the way our senses evolved and modern world is making us ill, experts warn
Professor Kara Hoover, of Alaska University, said humans’ noses appeared to be
“in a state of mismatch” with the modern world. “Our sense of smell evolved in very odour-rich landscapes in which we were interacting regularly with the environment,” she said. “Now today we’re not interacting with the environment and we’re in very polluted places. | The Independent
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:51 AM | Your Say (3)
And now "the absurd"
The elites lost their mojo by becoming absurd. It happened on the road between cultural appropriation and transgender bathrooms.
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) February 17, 2017
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:44 AM | Your Say (1)
America’s unfortunate record over the past couple of decades,
whether in economics, in politics, or in foreign policy, doesn't suggest that the "meritocracy" is overflowing with, you know, actual merit.In the United States, the result has been Trump. In Britain, the result was Brexit. In both cases, the allegedly elite — who are supposed to be cool, considered, and above the vulgar passions of the masses — went more or less crazy. From conspiracy theories (it was the Russians!) to bizarre escape fantasies (A Brexit vote redo! A military coup to oust Trump!) the cognitive elite suddenly didn’t seem especially elite, or for that matter particularly cognitive. Trump and the crisis of the meritocracy: Glenn Reynolds
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:42 AM | Your Say (3)
Progressivism, the civic religion of the North, has degraded into a lunatic cult and marginalized itself.
Donald Trump is supposed to be the 12th invisible Hitler, returning to impose a dictatorship on America.The trouble is, Trump sounds like a Jewish guy from Queens and his kids converted to Judaism when they got married. So far, his most enthusiastic supporter among world leaders is the Prime Minister of Israel. They ain’t making Hitlers like they used to. This comes after the nation twice elected a black guy president. The unhinged hatred of white people that has carried the Left for generations has descended into madness. The Confluence | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:36 AM | Your Say (0)
It’s not just the lack of companionship following a spouse’s death.
It’s that a large part of living involves being there for someone, to help them, care for them and (if you’re a man) protect them or (if a woman) feed them.(I speak here of a traditional couple, where roles are clearly defined and assumed with willingness and even joy. I have no idea how “modern” couples function, nor do I wish to follow that tangent here.) Once that part of the relationship has ended, what’s left is… not much. In my case, I can cook for myself, clothe myself, defend myself and generally look after myself and my needs. But so what? I’ve always been able to do all that. What a relationship means is that you can do all that, not just for yourself but for someone close to you — and it’s not a duty or obligation; it’s a pleasure to do it, to share it, and to give all that to someone you love. A Reason To Live – Splendid Isolation
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:29 AM | Your Say (2)
February 21, 2017
Okay, everybody remember where we parked.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:18 PM | Your Say (7)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:18 PM | Your Say (1)
Exit Interview: I Spent 20 Years Behind the Wheel of a Big Rig
I'd haul diesel fuel to diamond mines over frozen lakes for six to 10 weeks in the winter. I did a fair bit of hauling fertilizer throughout Saskatchewan for a few weeks after that, in the springtime. I just did a year and half of driving road trains in Australia -- double and triple trailers out of Perth to communities in the North-West. They're 53 and half meters [175.5 feet] long, and can weigh basically the weight of three and a half semis at once. | Atlas Obscura
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:02 PM | Your Say (1)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:18 PM | Your Say (2)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:17 PM | Your Say (1)
Riot Control Training and Riot Suppression Tips
Ah, but what if the rioters don’t run, but hundreds (and hundreds) of them decide to stand and fight?
Be still my heart. Oh, joy; oh happy-happy-joy-joy. These assholes know how to posture, but fight as a group, by which I mean a collective and mutually supportive action, not just a lot of people fighting at the same time? It is to laugh. If they try to stand, you don’t send a few to the hospital. You send them all to the hospital…or the morgue; whatever the market will bear. Rubber bullets, you know, fired from point blank range, are not necessarily non-lethal. -- EveryJoe
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:52 PM | Your Say (5)
(Speech and Press): Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell
It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more compleatly deprive the nation of it's benefits, than is done by it's abandoned prostitution to falsehood.Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time; whereas the accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history of any other period of the world as of the present, except that the real names of the day are affixed to their fables. General facts may indeed be collected from them, such as that Europe is now at war, that Bonaparte has been a successful warrior, that he has subjected a great portion of Europe to his will, &c., &c.; but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false. - - Amendment I
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:55 AM | Your Say (5)
Publishers are hiring 'sensitivity readers' to flag potentially offensive content
These days, though, a book may get an additional check from an unusual source:a sensitivity reader, a person who, for a nominal fee, will scan the book for racist, sexist or otherwise offensive content. These readers give feedback based on self-ascribed areas of expertise such as "dealing with terminal illness," "racial dynamics in Muslim communities within families" or "transgender issues." - Chicago Tribune
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:48 AM | Your Say (2)
Science!
You're different at 14 and 77 says personality study | Daily Mail OnlinePosted by gerardvanderleun at 9:27 AM | Your Say (1)
It is important to no-platform the people in charge.
It would glorious if all Trump voters dropped their cable sub this month, but that’s not happening.
People like their entertainments. What you can do is build your own media platforms by relentlessly supporting the new ones coming on-line now. Gab is becoming a useful platform that is beyond the control of the Cloud People. Vox Day is starting a news service designed to curate news stories in a way that undermines the media model. .My Advice to the Alt-Right | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:14 AM | Your Say (1)
February 20, 2017
The Question of the Age is Islam: Why the Lie?
Angela Merkel says Europe must take MORE refugees and Islam 'isn't source of terror'Why the lie?
Pope Francis: 'Muslim Terrorism Does Not Exist'Why the lie?
Monday morning links - Maggie's Farm
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:31 PM | Your Say (6)
How to move a painting the size of football field
His cavalry charge to reinforce the Union lines was a featured scene in the cyclorama. Believe it or not, this massive painting more than 370 feet wide and just shy of 50 feet high was designed to be moved. After it was shown in Detroit, vast swaths of the canvas were draped on wooden frames and taken on the road where it was shown in Minneapolis and Indianapolis. The Cyclorama opened in Indianapolis in May of 1888 and by then Wehnerâs company was in trouble. He sold The Battle of Atlanta to a local exhibitor. In 1890, that company sold it to promoter Paul Atkinson of Madison, Georgia. The History Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:15 PM | Your Say (0)
So they hate Trump but what are these protestors and their media enablers for?
They are for children but also for killing unborn ones with no restriction, no apology, and no need for a fee.They are for LBGT and women's "rights," but ally themselves with Muslims who practice FGM, oppose abortion, treat women like cattle, and promote and engage in honor killings, and advocate death for LBGT people. They are for women's rights, but want men who think they are women to use women's washrooms. They are for free speech, but shut down anybody who disagrees with them, and, of course, ally themselves with Muslims who oppose freedom of speech and thought as part of their core dogma. They are against racism but try to stir up old racial animosities and conflicts that had long been resolved, buried, and forgotten. The DiploMad 2.0: Madness and Chaos: the Left in the Time of Trump
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:52 PM | Your Say (4)
Loving the Call of Their Murderers
Hushed reverence amongst leftists as they heed "Allahu Akbar" call to prayer at anti-Trump march. https://t.co/hmBxnn6TTe pic.twitter.com/DqJMUiFEq0
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) February 20, 2017
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:26 AM | Your Say (1)
The modern American Left is obsessed with removing things.
I don’t know how or why it came to this, but it has.They want to take away your single-occupancy vehicle. They want to take away your ability to operate your private business according to your religious convictions — except Muslims, who will get a pass. They want to take away your right to choose where your kids are schooled, and how. They want to take away your furnace, and your air conditioner — global warming, cough, climate change, cough, reasons, cough. They want to take away your options at restaurants, and also at the grocery store — you will no longer be allowed to have “bad” things in “bad” quantities. They want to take away your right to own firearms and defend yourself, your family, and your property — because only the police should have guns. Even though the same mouths claims the police are out of control and kill black people for sport. How the ctrl-Left drove me away from American liberalism | Brad R. Torgersen
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:14 AM | Your Say (1)
"Interesting"
Although he had a human mother, it was the Vulcan half that was firmly in control. If he said that something was interesting, as I understood it, then he was describing an expected, objective fact. That notion is embedded deeply in today’s popular culture: cable news segments, websites and Facebook posts compete for our attention with surprising but allegedly genuine – interesting – truths. Whatever you do, don’t call this an ‘interesting’ idea | Aeon Ideas
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:58 AM | Your Say (1)
L.A.: "We're number one!"
Traffic study ranks Los Angeles as world's most clogged city
When it comes to getting stuck in traffic on the way to and from work, Los Angeles leads the world. Drivers in the car-crazy California metropolis spent 104 hours each driving in congestion during peak travel periods last year. That topped second-place Moscow at 91 hours and third-place New York at 89, according to a traffic scorecard compiled by Inrix, a transportation analytics firm.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:26 AM | Your Say (2)
February 19, 2017
In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Eppersonfrom San Francisco, California, accidentally invented the Popsicle.
He mixed soda powder and water with a wooden stirring stick but somehow forgot about his drink and left it on the porch. When he woke up the next morning andreturned to the porch his drink was frozen with the wooden stir stick stuck in the frozen liquid. He ran the glass under hot water and licked the frozen treat off the wooden stir stick. He had invented a new treat and named it Epsicle. - - Vintage News
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:28 PM | Your Say (2)
Thoughts While Shaving
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:57 AM | Your Say (7)
I didn't choose thug life....
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:01 AM | Your Say (8)
February 18, 2017
The demographic most opposed to President Trump is not a racial minority, but a cultural elite.
It was a war between Davos, Conde Nast, GQ, Soros, MSNBC, Hollywood, Facebook and America. And America won. The "resistance" is a collection of elites, from actors at award shows to fashion magazines to tech billionaires, decrying a popular revolt against their rule. They are not the resistance. They are dictators in exile. They had their chance to impose their vision on the people. And they lost. The revolution will not be brought to you by BMW, by a Davos conference, by $100 cologne that smells like nothing or by Facebook lobbying. It will be brought to you by the comeback of America. Sultan Knish: The Elites are Revolting
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:53 PM | Your Say (8)
Ivanka Trump brand tops Amazon Best Sellers list
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:46 AM | Your Say (5)
Be engaged in the political process.
While the "big" elections tend to get the most attention, we can be engaged in local politics, too.This does not mean you should run for office, though that is certainly an option for some. Even if you cannot serve in an elected capacity, your local officials need to know who you are and what you stand for. In my local town, we had a county commissioner running for reelection this past year. He had not done a good job, but is well known in the community and seemed to have the inside track on getting his seat back. So what did we do? We found a guy who offered a better choice, we supported him, and we got him elected. If he doesnât follow through, then we will get rid of him next time. This is something we can all do. Whether it is a mayor, sheriff, or any other local office, get good people in there. Use that same principle for state representatives, state senators, and on up to national office. Moving Into Meatspace -- Men Of The West
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:46 AM | Your Say (4)
February 17, 2017
Regarding the Much Missed Happy Acres
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:08 PM | Your Say (7)
The Japanese: Nuked Too Much or Not Enough?
To many Japanese feline lovers, cat paws smell like nice things (right from caramel crepes, to wheat and sunflowers) and their soft, smooth texture is considered mysteriously soothing. Cat paws are so popular that a couple of years ago, a company came out with a hand-cream that not only left the users' hands as smooth to the touch as a cat's paw, but also made their skin smell like it too. But now, the organizers of the 2017 Japan Pet Fair, are taking this obsession one step further with two unique ice creams designed to have the texture and flavor of cat and dog paws.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:22 PM | Your Say (4)
These are the days of miracles and wonders
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:14 PM | Your Say (12)
Develop a new Civil Defense Organization.
* The organization can be created by any private or public institution from a small church or informal neighborhood group all the way up to the Federal Government, with a heavy emphasis on local involvement.
* Ideally, the organizations will be physically centered around local fire halls, schools, and churches, due to their central location and existing infrastructure (e.g., parking for vehicles, communications, sanitation, and bulk cooking facilities. Concepts For A New Civil Defense Organization: Part I – Overview | Western Rifle Shooters Association
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 1:54 PM | Your Say (3)
My liberal friends are gleefully scouring the semi-fake news and sending me articles that show Trump is “incompetent.”
That’s the new narrative on the left. The Hitler illusion is starting to fade because Trump refuses to build concentration camps as his critics hallucinated he would.
And Israel likes Trump, which is making the Hitler illusion harder to maintain. So the critics are evolving their main line of attack from Hitler to “incompetent,” with a dash of “chaos.” You’ll see those two words all over the Opposition Media’s coverage. It isn’t a coincidence. How to Evaluate a President | Scott Adams' Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:36 PM | Your Say (2)
At that Trump presser, the press didn’t know what hit them.
I’ll send them a little message, except I don’t think many of them read me, but here it is:
Trump isn’t dumb. He’s pretty canny, and he knows how to mock people, in case you hadn’t noticed. Like him or hate him, he’s a good comedian as well, and at least half the country already likes and trusts him. That’s more people than like and trust you, and that fact is not because of anything Trump has said about you, it’s about your behavior for several decades and beyond. And the more sanctimonious you act about yourselves, the more you will be hated. neo-neocon Trump's presser: beauty in the eye of the beholder
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:28 PM | Your Say (2)
Imaginary News
In this case, the trigger is clear. Trump’s unexpected win forced the Huffington Post to rewrite their mental movies from one in which they were extra-clever writers to one in which they were the dumbest political observers in the entire solar system.You might recall that the Huffington Post made a big deal of refusing to cover Trump on their political pages when he first announced his candidacy. They only carried him on their entertainment pages because they were so smart they knew he could not win.
Then he won.
When reality violates your ego that rudely, you either have to rewrite the movie in your head to recast yourself as an idiot, or you rewrite the movie to make yourself the hero who could see what others missed. Apparently the Huffington Post chose to rewrite their movie so Trump is a deranged monster, just like they warned us. That’s what they see. This isn’t an example of so-called “fake” news as we generally understand it. This is literally imaginary news. Imaginary News | Scott Adams' Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:20 AM | Your Say (7)
February 16, 2017
I’m a gay New Yorker — and I’m coming out as a conservative
It can seem like liberals are actually against free speech if it fails to conform with the way they think.And I don’t want to be a part of that club anymore. It used to be that if you were a gay, educated atheist living in New York, you had no choice but to be liberal. But as I met more Trump supporters with whom I was able to have engaging, civil discussions about issues that impact us all, I realized that I like these people — even if I have some issues with Trump himself. For example, I don’t like his travel ban or the cabinet choices he’s made. But I finally had to admit to myself that I am closer to the right than where the left is today. And, yes, just three months ago, I voted for Hillary Clinton. - - NY Post[HT: NeoNeoCon]
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:33 PM | Your Say (5)
BOOM: Why Leftist California Has Only Itself to Blame for Current Woes
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:37 AM | Your Say (10)
Why are gays no longer the darlings of the left?
Part of the reason is the mainstreaming of intersection:if you're a gay white male, yes, you're gay, all right, but you're also the two worst things you can be in the eyes of the left: white and male. Which means that on balance you're more privileged than you are oppressed. Across Europe, gays have been deserting the left in growing numbers for the so-called “far-right” parties that are standing up to Islam – and they're making that move because they've seen enough of Islam to know that it represents a threat to their very lives. Woodpile Report
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:09 AM | Your Say (5)
This seems like a reasonable request
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:06 AM | Your Say (1)
February 15, 2017
“If you want to make a bit of good red paint, take an ox … ”
symbolically “negative” reds — those coloring the fires of hell, the face of the Devil, the coat or feathers of infernal creatures, and all impure blood of one kind or another—were often painted with the same pigment: sandarac, a resin lacquer more commonly called “cinnabar of the Indies” or “dragon’s blood.” Various legends circulated in workshops regarding this pigment, a relatively expensive one because it had to be imported from far away. It was believed to come not from a plant resin but from the blood of a dragon, gored by its mortal enemy, the elephant. According to medieval bestiaries, which followed Pliny and the ancient authors here, the inside of the dragon’s body was filled with blood and fire; after a fierce struggle, when the elephant had punctured the dragon’s belly with its tusks, out flowed a thick, foul, red liquid, from which was made a pigment used to paint all the shades of red considered evil. A Brief History of Red: How Artists Made the Elusive Color
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:38 PM | Your Say (2)
Dam It All
Super-soaker: Atmospheric River taking aim on beleaguered #OrovilleDam | Watts Up With That?The long-term forecast has rainfall totals within the watershed that are showing the exact spot where Lake Oroville watershed is located will get 11.62 inches of rain over the next 10 days, the most accumulated rainfall in the entire western USA:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:47 PM | Your Say (6)
Desirable It Is That You Luxuriate in the Octopoid Embrace of These Legal Postulations
in which a judge who agrees with the result writes separately because he or she feels there is something more to be said. Or, as Judge Roy puts it (in passive voice), “A few disquieting thoughts that have lingered and languished in distressed silence in mentation demand expression at the parting with a pulpit touch. Hence, this supplement.” | Lowering the Bar
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:16 PM | Your Say (3)
Okay, Oroville, everybody remember where we parked the kangarooo.
Found: An Albino Kangaroo Abandoned in a Dam EvacuationWhen residents were ordered to evacuate on Sunday, many left in haste, including some, in Sutton County, California who left behind a few of their pets, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. And not just any pets: an albino kangaroo, a red kangaroo, and a muntjac, a type of small deer -- named Kenzie, Dottie, and Mary, respectively. The animals were found safe == if perhaps a little traumatized -- by the California Highway Patrol, officials said Tuesday, and, for now, are staying with a California family that has cared for abandoned animals in the past. The animals' owners were not named, but, hopefully, they'll be reunited soon. Their temporary caretakers said that Kenzie, in particular, was used to sleeping in bed with her owner.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:13 PM | Your Say (2)
"If I can come up with this off the cuff, so can five hundred thousand other people. Some already have. Bet your ass on that."
The rounds might kill, maim, or just leave a painful but survivable wound, but in less than half a minute, they were all on their way. Inside the vans, the rounds tick-tick-ticked off, and the brass went into catch-pouches. The mob was careening around the intersection now. Panic set in with a vengeance as people started to go down. The herd started to stampede back the way they'd come when the first vehicle's gas tank went up with a "Whoompph!", and sent them in new directions. - - Raconteur Report: Tomorrow
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:52 AM | Your Say (8)
Mattis Tells NATO Members: Pay Your Fair Share Or We Will “Alter” Our Relationship
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:36 AM | Your Say (5)
Food of the Socialist Gods
While flamingo hunting is both illegal and uncommon in the South American nation, investigators from Zulia University in the northwestern Venezuelan city of Maracaibo have noted at least 20 cases of bird carcasses being discovered with their breasts and torsos removed. And flamingos aren't the only unusual animal to become a victim of Venezuela's worsening food crisis. Remains of everything from dogs and cats to donkeys and even giant anteaters have been found in garbage bags at city dumps around the country. "Sometimes we only find the animal's heads, guts and legs. We used to see this very little in the past, but this practice is now out of control and on the rise," Robert Linares, a Maracaibo waste disposal worker, told the Miami Herald. Linares added he recently found on the street the remains of a dog that had been skinned and dismembered.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:31 AM | Your Say (10)
Rather than trying to be a “moderate,” be an extremist.
This is no time for moderation. As Barry Goldwater stated: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” We have no patience for moderates. We want wholesale change and will work to make it happen. – Men Of The WestPosted by gerardvanderleun at 7:48 AM | Your Say (0)
Crisis and Crackdown
When the people in charge feel threatened, they will do whatever it takes to dispose of the threat.We’re seeing that today with the coordinated attacks on the trouble makers by the media companies. Twitter and Facebook are banning anyone that they think is in in the resistance. Even comedy posts can be deemed blasphemous. Yesterday some guy named PewDiePie was erased from the media for impure thoughts. The level of coordination is astonishing. Google and Disney team up to erase the guy and then the mainstream press is out reporting within minutes that he was eliminated due to heresy. It could be a coincidence that all of the big media players were on this at the same time, but it could also suggest a high degree of cooperation. The people in charge are pulling out all the stops to crack down on dissidents. They consider the threat posed by errant comedians on YouTube so serious, any means necessary will be used to end it. What’s important here is not that some comedian lost his livelihood. That’s part of the message being sent. The more important part is the coordination. | The Z Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:38 AM | Your Say (0)
February 14, 2017
I've been updating my "get me home bag".
Could take weeks, could take minutes. There will be a warning, there always is. But consider this. Perhaps we've already been warned and it'll be obvious in retrospect. Pompeii, for example, prosperous and pleasant except for the annoying tremors. -- From the New Woodpile Report HERE
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:15 PM | Your Say (0)
How to Express Your Feelings, 1689
Madam, Let the showers of your pity mitigate the fires of my fancy.
Madam, There's a civil assault within me, by which I feel a certain restraint of my own liberty and affections.
Madam, You have no more beauty than will serve to excuse you from being extreamly ugly.
Madam, Your hair negligently dishevell'd, and careless attire, grace forth your beauty; which shines in the midst of so many obstacles, as the Sun in a winter day.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:49 AM | Your Say (2)
North to Alaska!
I keep thinking about how important it is to have a weather station in the most northerly and cold latitudes of Alaska to monitor the polar air for signs of Dangerous Global Warming.
I think many of Obama's national security personnel and DoJ personnel can be usefully assigned to thisgulagcritical science headquarters, especially given that many of them believe that global warming is both the most important national security issue of our time, and also a threat to Environmental Justice. - - Ace of Spades
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:46 AM | Your Say (1)
Everybody Must Be Stoned
I read as much of “Ulysses” as I thought I was obligated to do, then recognized that I was no longer willing to give Joyce the satisfaction of my attention.
There’s the sense, at least, that Joyce put his back into it a little bit. The painter just sought the easy path – the Pollock and the Rothko – and found it cleared of obstacles by a public who was tired of things being important. The public could form no bond with the important, and so they asked for, and received, something that looked as messy and meaningless as they felt. “We are not permanent. Please do not speak to us of permanent things.” But they’re up against it from the start. If you’re a modernist, or a post-modernist, or doing anything which rests its meaning in negation, then it’s only useful once. By 1920 it was pretty much spent, and after that it was all just one kind of pooping in cans or another. Beauty is permanent. Reaction decays. - – New West Havens
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:35 AM | Your Say (5)
“Snow makes crime scene investigation much easier....”
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:01 AM | Your Say (3)
A marine on the state of the Corps
We allow ourselves to look at our impressive defense budget and expensive systems and throw around hyperbole about the United States having the greatest military in the world.How, then, have we been bested by malnourished and undereducated men with antiquated and improvised weaponry whilst spending trillions of dollars in national treasure and costing the lives of thousands of servicemen and hundreds of thousands of civilians? - - Innovation | Marine Corps Association
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:39 AM | Your Say (1)
February 13, 2017
The Nightmare That Was “His & Her” Fashions
Catalogs and fashion magazines were littered with guys and girls in identical attire looking just as cheesy as you can imagine. Granted, the styles themselves weren’t always horrible – it’s the mere fact that dressing alike was ever a “thing” is what gives us cringe decades later. - - - Flashbak
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:15 PM | Your Say (15)
Bad Boy, Bad Boy, What you gonna do?What you gonna do when Death comes for you?
including an ex wife, relatives, friends, neighbors, doctors, nurses and random strangers.His death came at an age that was '29 years longer than expected and much longer than he deserved.' 'At a young age, Leslie quickly became a model example of bad parenting combined with mental illness and a complete commitment to drinking, drugs, womanizing and being generally offensive.'
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:45 AM | Your Say (10)
If We Don't Let in Muslims to America, They'll Kill Us
“Let us in or we’ll kill you” is the least compelling immigration argument ever.
We have our current wave of terror despite legalizing some 100,000 Muslims a year. If we don’t manage 100,000 this year, they are saying that maybe more of the 100,000 from a few years ago will join ISIS and start killing us. And if we don’t legalize 100,000 five years from now, the 100,000 coming into the country this year will become the terrorists of tomorrow. That’s not an immigration policy. It’s a hostage crisis. Sultan Knish:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:25 AM | Your Say (5)
Don’t Get Your Pink Pantashoes In A Bundle
So you’ve been warned: this season it’s either political pink or good old patriotic red, white and blue.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:58 AM | Your Say (2)
February 12, 2017
There’s more maths in slugs and corals than we can think of.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:10 AM | Your Say (3)
Who Says There's No Good News?
Over 200 Inauguration Day Rioters Indicted | Daily Wire NBC News has reported that 209 people have thus far been indicted over felony rioting charges, meaning they face a fine of up to $25,000 and a maximum of 10 years in prison.Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:04 AM | Your Say (4)
The silly nonsense that has passed for political activism is going to step its lard ass onto a bridge too far.
Moreover, they are going to be shot dead. And a city or two will burn and people are going to stop and think twice about leaving home. In other words, some unforgivable deeds are going to go down. The parades well end. The marches will get more militant. The riots will be real. There will be no head of the snake; there will only be President Donald Trump. What this means is that the Democrat party will implode and find no leadership from which to draw down the anger in the streets. It will be the cops vs the mobs, and the mobs will lose because they will have no political leadership whatsoever. I don't think that those who are lining up to bring their tweets to the streets understand how far out in the cold they will be left. - - The Warning - Cobb
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:38 AM | Your Say (4)
February 11, 2017
Gone Walkabout
A Canadian man who has been missing for five years has been found more than 6,500 miles away in the Amazon jungle. Anton Pilipa trekked across two continents, walking mostly barefoot with just the clothes on his back, after he disappeared from his Vancouver home in 2012. His family spent years desperately searching for the former humanitarian worker, who suffers from suspected schizophrenia, and had almost given up hope when they got a call out of the blue. [HT: NeoNeoCon]
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:38 PM | Your Say (3)
We are already in an actual, not analogous, civil war now,
by which I refer to Clausewitz's dictum that war, to be war, requires two thing:1. Opposing forces that are trained and armed with weapons of war, or between one force so armed and another that is not, and 2. Killing. "Without killing there is no war."Well, we've got both going on now, although thankfully, the killing is very low. For now.
See:"America's low-intensity civil war" "January 20: "Fort Sumter Friday"
Marco Rubio said the other day, "I don't know of a civilization in the history of the world that's been able to solve its problems when half the people in a country absolutely hate the other half of the people in that country."
I have tried to be a serious student of American history, and what I hear and see today seems frighteningly similar to the national polity of the 1850s. That did not end well. And the outlook is dim since secession is breaking out all over. - - - Don Sensing on This is an actual civil war.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:29 PM | Your Say (13)
Mona (Marilyn) Monroe, the $10-an-Hour Pin-Up Model
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:11 PM | Your Say (3)
Africa is the future, did you know that?
Add it all up, but if you’re looking for positive momentum, it’s in Africa.Economic growth, increases in education, increases in social media, growth of a middle class. The increase not only in productivity but also in the sophistication of the markets. All of it. Sure, it’s miserable in so many places; and there are plenty of wars. But in Accra you can feel the energy of the future like a primal force that moves around the currents in a rain-swollen river; it scares you and there’s no certainty or security and you wonder if you should jump in but you also know that if you do it will take you somewhere new and exciting. In Accra you can see why. Accra, and the Future | Joel D. Hirst's Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:46 AM | Your Say (3)
February 10, 2017
The American Climbing the Ranks of ISIS
Drones assassinate his brethren every few days, and there is reason to believe they will kill him too if they get the chance. The U.S. government’s “kill list,” which once included the Yemeni American jihadist Anwar al-Aulaqi, likely now includes John Thomas Georgelas, if his name hasn’t been crossed off already by the time this article reaches readers. - - The Atlantic
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:48 PM | Your Say (2)
Some 40,000 icebergs are created each year.
The paper put together a scare-story on melting ice shelves and it couldn’t find a single genuinely scary example in a sample size of 40,000. There’s a good rule of thumb in sniffing out fake news. When a large newspaper gives a story the Super Bowl Halftime treatment, it’s making up for the fact that there’s no story after all. Iceberg Story, Slim | commentary
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:25 PM | Your Say (0)
One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ draw towards them with magnetic force
every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England.One day this summer I was riding through Letchworth when the bus stopped and two dreadful-looking old men got on to it. They were both about sixty, both very short, pink, and chubby, and both hatless. One of them was obscenely bald, the other had long grey hair bobbed in the Lloyd George style. They were dressed in pistachio-coloured shirts and khaki shorts into which their huge bottoms were crammed so tightly that you could study every dimple. Their appearance created a mild stir of horror on top of the bus. The man next to me, a commercial traveller I should say, glanced at me, at them, and back again at me, and murmured ‘Socialists.’ - - The Road to Wigan Pier, by George Orwell
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:02 PM | Your Say (2)
It was a bitter Tuesday morning in March,…but Snakes & Lattes was warm and bustling.
The espresso machine hissed, and laughter rose up from a dozen tables.By lunchtime, the café, which seats around 120, would steadily fill up, and by six that night, every table would be occupied. At that point, the bustle in here would transform into a deafening tumult: a mix of belly laughs, defeated groans, surprised screams, triumphant shouts, and the click-clack of plastic and wood on cardboard…all set to the soundtrack of classic pop music, which wouldn’t peter out until well past midnight. - - - Pause! We Can Go Back!
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:37 PM | Your Say (1)
The truth about Nazis isn’t funny at all. It’s bloody and horrible and gut churning.
And it involves machine guns and butchery and inhumanity on a scale that takes your breath away.Nobody is really a “soup Nazi” …unless they served it in a concentration camp. The idea of comparing an American president to Hitler is just as absurd …from any angle, in any context. The American system ITSELF pretty much prevents “Hitlers” from showing up. And America ITSELF is anathema to what Hitler was trying to create. An American ANYTHING or ANYONE is hard to fit into the Hitler model. It’s just not apples to apples. THIS HITLER NONSENSE … – Regie's Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 4:41 PM | Your Say (0)
And now it's time for the Queen and MAGBA!
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:17 AM | Your Say (2)
This is an actual civil war, as in a conflict between ideologically-opposed factions within the civilian and political population of a country.
Like real civil wars, it is not going to be pretty.
It’s not going to be armies, in pretty uniforms, fighting pitched, conventional battles. It’s going to be a matter of assassination, sabotage, hit-and-run raids, targeting ideological leadership figures, enemy families, etc. As Matt Bracken pointed out in a recent Facebook post himself, we’re looking at more of a Balkans and/or Argentine “Dirty War” conflict. People just haven’t accepted that, because it doesn’t fit their mental images of what “war,” even “guerrilla war” looks like. - - Reality Isn't Nice. It's a 2×4 to the Teeth.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:37 AM | Your Say (4)
February 9, 2017
This Just In
ISAF Drops Candy To Afghan Children, Collateral Damage Kills 51Approximately 1.4 million M&Ms were to be delivered via Container Delivery System in a single package with a weight of 1500 lbs. Due to a malfunction in the static line, the parachute failed to deploy and the container crashed through the roof of a local school at nearly 100 miles per hour. Upon impact, the force of the rapidly settling candies caused the sides to explode outward, causing what physics professor Dr. Rosella Schwartz described as “essentially a 360 degree anti-personnel mine full of chocolate flechettes.”
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:59 PM | Your Say (3)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:48 AM | Your Say (0)
Or would you like to swing on a star?
Männigo was able to conquer the first swing, which stood about 2.5 meters tall, but when he attempted to swing around the second, which stood slightly taller, at 2.7 meters tall, he couldn’t quite get over. It became clear that the taller the swing got, the more difficult it would be to complete a circuit over the spindle, which meant that there could be competitive accomplishments, and thus, a new sport was born. “We, who are kiikers so to say, like to say that “kiiking” starts when your legs are higher than your head, before that it is just swinging,” says Laansalu. Inside the High-Flying World of Estonian Extreme Swinging
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:25 AM | Your Say (0)
February 8, 2017
It's just too much winning.
Sessions. DeVos. That Warren thing bitch-slapped. Jake Tapper moaning and bitching and whining..... It can always get better but for Tuesday that's a whole lotta winning."You are going to be so proud of your country. Because we’re gonna turn it around, and we’re gonna start winning again! We’re gonna win so much! We’re going to win at every level. We’re going to win economically. We’re going to win with the economy. We’re gonna win with military. We’re gonna win with healthcare and for our veterans. We’re gonna with every single facet. We’re gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning. And you’ll say, “Please, please. It’s too much winning. We can’t take it anymore. Mr. President, it’s too much.” And I’ll say, “No, it isn’t!” We have to keep winning We have to win more! We’re gonna win more. We’re gonna win so much. "
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:51 PM | Your Say (2)
The modern American Left is obsessed with removing things.
They want to take away your single-occupancy vehicle.
They want to take away your ability to operate your private business according to your religious convictions — except Muslims, who will get a pass. They want to take away your right to choose where your kids are schooled, and how. They want to take away your furnace, and your air conditioner — global warming, cough, climate change, cough, reasons, cough. They want to take away your options at restaurants, and also at the grocery store — you will no longer be allowed to have “bad” things in “bad” quantities. They want to take away your right to own firearms and defend yourself, your family, and your property — because only the police should have guns. Even though the same mouths claims the police are out of control and kill black people for sport. How the ctrl-Left drove me away from American liberalism | Brad R. Torgersen
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:53 AM | Your Say (3)
It can't happen here. Can it?
Military troops had to be deployed in the state of Espírito Santo after looting, rape and murders broke out on Saturday amid the industrial action. The chaos has been compared to the 2014 thriller film The Purge, where people take advantage of the absence of law and order to carry out horrific crimes. With officers staging a walk-out over conditions and wages, thugs are running riot, with people running rampant with guns and machetes, shops being robbed, buses set on fire and dead bodies are left lying in the street.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:55 AM | Your Say (5)
Squirrels might fall out of the trees, so we have to put little trampolines under the — you get the idea.
Davis…ultra-liberal, ultra-weird Davis, home of, among other things, the toad tunnel. No, really.There are rumors the TT is, well, a rumor. I used to believe those; they are false, the tunnel is real. Because of the building of the overpass, animal lovers including Julie Partansky worried about toads being smooshed by cars, because before the overpass, a colony of toads hopped from one side of a dirt lot (which the overpass replaced) to the reservoir at the other end. There was a lot of controversy, and the town decided, as part of the $7 million financing for the project, to allocate funds to build a toad tunnel beneath the Pole Line Road overpass. Wikipedia reports that the tunnel cost $14,000, while the book Northern California Curiosities reports $12,000. The book Weird California claims it was $30,000. There are also several tunnels rather than just one. The shortest run is in the street opposite Sudwerk‘s parking lot. It does, however, lack any sort of decoration, so it helps if you visit Toad Hollow to get an idea of what you’re looking for. All the tunnels terminate at a fenced, protected wetland area with foreboding signs implying that if you climb over the fence, you will cause hundreds of species to die and make Gaia weep. House of Eratosthenes
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:54 AM | Your Say (8)
The Left has won far more dirty civil wars and insurgent conflicts than the Right has won.
There are a host of reasons for this, but most notable is the aversion, on the Right, to give up the security of law-and-order.As long as there is a politician telling them, “Now, now, let’s all keep calm. Let the authorities sort this out,” the Right is content to sit at home and bitch about those juvenile delinquents. The Left? They’re all, “FUCK THE MAN! LET’S MAKE IT BURN!” - - Reality Isnât Nice. Itâs a 2×4 to the Teeth. | MountainGuerrilla
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:43 AM | Your Say (3)
February 7, 2017
High and noble virtues, especially those that require moral courage, are mocked
What is valued then?Debauchery, perversion, contempt for your supposedly benighted ancestors, lazy agnosticism, easy and costless pacifism, political maneuvering, and an enforcement of a new orthodoxy that in denying rational analysis seeks to render itself immune to criticism. You sink yourself in debt to discover that your sons and daughters have been severed from their faith, their morals, and their reason. Whorehouses and mental wards would be much cheaper. They might well be healthier, too. Anthony Esolen -- Higher Education’s Crisis
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:29 PM | Your Say (4)
This Week's Woodpile is Racked and Stacked
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:11 PM | Your Say (0)
Age cannot wither nor custom stale her infinite variety....
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:59 PM | Your Say (5)
Three Little Words That Will Put ANY Trump Gaffe In Its Proper Context
President Hillary Clinton.Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:22 AM | Your Say (5)
Why do you think they call it "dope"?
The Youngstown Vindicator reports that on Friday police responded to the 22-year-old man’s home in Austintown around 5:20 p.m., where they could hear the man groaning from a room. That’s when officers found him lying “on the floor in the fetal position” and “surrounded by a plethora of Doritos, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish and Chips Ahoy cookies,” the police report said.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:19 AM | Your Say (4)
The Left Hates You. Act Accordingly.
There are the social justice warriors who have manufactured a bizarre mythology and scripture of oppression, privilege, and intersectionality.
Instead of robes, they dress up as genitals and kill babies as a blasphemous sacrament. Then there are the pagan weather religion oddballs convinced that the end is near and that we must repent by turning in our SUVs. Of course, the “we” is really “us” – high priests of the global warming cult like Leonardo DiCaprio will still jet around the world with supermodels while we do the ritual sacrificing of our modern comforts. - Kurt Schlichter
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:17 AM | Your Say (1)
OK Everybody Remember Where We Parked
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:39 AM | Your Say (4)
Study: Majority Of Humans Happiest When Rest Of Family Still Asleep
78 percent said there was no greater joy than having the house to themselves for an hour or so on a Sunday morning.“Of those who linked their good spirits to being awake while their loved ones slept, roughly half said their happiness chiefly derived from the ability to read a book in peace for once, while approximately another third attributed it to the luxury of enjoying breakfast without having to prepare food for someone else. Those remaining said they were just happy they didn’t have to talk to anyone.” -- Source
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:34 AM | Your Say (2)
Rules for Righties -- a War-Winning Manifesto for 2017
See those scalped corpses, littering the plains?
These are the guys – and it is, invariably, men – who thought that if only they showed contrition for their confected crimes the enemy would leave them alone. Sir Tim Hunt apologised, the guy from Saatchi apologised, the guy on the Rosetta space programme who wore the “sexist” shirt apologised. A fat lot of good it did them. The vengeful liberal-left doesn’t just want humiliation – it wants total annihilation. Giving even an inch of ground to an enemy so implacable and vile is not only futile – but it also badly lets the side down by granting them a power that they do not deserve. The most recent sorry example of this was Steve Martin who actually deleted a tweet praising his late friend Carrie Fisher as a “beautiful creature” because a bunch of feminazis on Twitter complained that this was sexist objectification. - - -DELINGPOLE:
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:29 AM | Your Say (1)
No matter how gay you are...
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:39 AM | Your Say (2)
February 6, 2017
Speaking of Hitler, I’m ending my support of UC Berkeley, where I got my MBA years ago.
I have been a big supporter lately, with both my time and money, but that ends today.I wish them well, but I wouldn’t feel safe or welcome on the campus. A Berkeley professor made that clear to me recently. He seems smart, so I’ll take his word for it. I’ve decided to side with the Jewish gay immigrant who has an African-American boyfriend, not the hypnotized zombie-boys in black masks who were clubbing people who hold different points of view. I feel that’s reasonable, but I know many will disagree, and possibly try to club me to death if I walk on campus.Berkeley and Hitler | Scott Adams' Blog
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:41 PM | Your Say (5)
Matt Drudge: You’ve gotta be dynamic in media.
That’s the only thing that’s gonna work. So, I am left with thinking there’s not a lot of time to be your greatest self, especially online.
Because, I don’t, if it continues to get consolidated to this degree, and then we’re moving into the robots which you’re so profound on, and it’s gonna get really ugly really fast. There’s already automated news sites. Google News, hello anybody? They actually, the idiots reading that crap think there’s actually a human there. There is no human there! You are being programmed to being automated even up to your news. And, Apple News, I don’t know what that’s about. That was also creepy. A same corporate glaze over everything. I don’t see the world that way. I live in a world that’s free, colorful, vibrant, takes chances, bold, stands up to power, umm, and that’s where I’ve had my success. Matt Drudge interview by Alex Jones - Full Transcript
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:49 AM | Your Say (1)
[Bumped] Ultimately, “ordinary American” does not rely solely on race or ethnicity.
It relies on heritage, devotion, and allegiance.It is a matter of the heart and mind, combined with experience. Becoming an American cannot be done overnight. It is a multi-generational thing. To be American, one must be born to American parents (who are born of American parents, and so forth). That does not stretch back to eternity, of course, but that heritage should be far enough back that one’s home is here, not elsewhere. They do not look back to their homeland with longing. They look at this one with pride. They do not advocate for Mexican, Syrian, or Brazilian rights. They push for American rights. If push comes to shove, and they must choose between their ancestral land or this one, then there is no hesitation – America wins. Why? Because THIS is their homeland. Ordinary Americans – Men Of The West
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:27 AM | Your Say (19)
Sinistra delenda est.
A Justification For War In The Political RealmPolitics is war, as Schmitt confirms, and in war the enemy is destroyed or you are. There is neither a leftist way to fight nor a rightist way to fight; there is the way which ends the enemy and the way in which one ends oneself. Until the Right realizes that the Left is the Enemy in the Schmittian sense, it will continue to be the victim of leftist aggression, as they have no problem declaring us as their enemy.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:25 AM | Your Say (2)
The Snake Dancer
Rumors swirled that he participated in a secret cannibalism ceremony — something Curtis mischievously refused to admit or deny. In other ways too, Curtis was an unreliable narrator. At Piegan lodge, he airbrushed out an alarm clock present in a native tent — a technique he practiced on modern clothes and other signs of contemporary life. He staged a Crow war party on horses, even though there had been no Crow war parties for years. Of the Hopi Snake Dance, he wrote, “Dressed in a G-string and snake dance costume and with the regulation-snake in my mouth I went through [the ceremony] while spectators witnessed the dance and did not know that a white man was one of the wild dancers.” The North American Indian, 1907 | Iconic Photos
For a documentary on the Kwakiutl in the Pacific Northwest, who had a reputation as headhunters and cannibals, he participated in the native rituals, bedecking his boat with a human mummy and skulls. Rumors swirled that he participated in a secret cannibalism ceremony â something Curtis mischievously refused to admit or deny.
In other ways too, Curtis was an unreliable narrator. At Piegan lodge, he airbrushed out an alarm clock present in a native tent â a technique he practiced on modern clothes and other signs of contemporary life. He staged a Crow war party on horses, even though there had been no Crow war parties for years. Of the Hopi Snake Dance, he wrote, âDressed in a G-string and snake dance costume and with the regulation-snake in my mouth I went through [the ceremony] while spectators witnessed the dance and did not know that a white man was one of the wild dancers.â
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:51 AM | Your Say (0)
February 5, 2017
@DonaldJTrumpJr Have you ever seen a single picture with SO MUCH WINNING? #MAGA https://t.co/VpWTa069nk pic.twitter.com/RkhxBbu2Rg
— The Will To Win (@TWTWsports) February 6, 2017
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:02 PM | Your Say (1)
This is what I mean by Living In The Yellow.
Condition ambiguous. How we read yellow lights points at a much deeper mind set.
The same signal that means “cool it – be careful” for many people, means “go for it – take a chance” to just as many others.Warning? – or opportunity? – or just uncertainty? Most of the time the signals in life are yellow. Meaning only that the lights are changing – and you have to deal with it. It’s what you do in that time in the traffic of humanity that defines you. - - Living in the Yellow - Author Robert Fulghum
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:20 AM | Your Say (1)
Google Makes So Much Money, It Never Had to Worry About Financial Discipline
Today, the Loon labels have more formal language, and there are phone numbers with a dozen different country codes on each device. The team—more than 100 strong, according to a former employee—works in a laboratory complex that includes an enormous darkroom, where the used bladders are cut up and photographed on a 65-foot light table so inspectors can look for microscopic tears. In another room, air traffic controllers monitor the dozen or so balloons in the air.In a picnic area just outside, X engineers pick at seared tofu, while a few feet away, whirring drones take off and land, and self-driving cars shuttle in and out of a parking garage. Nothing out of the ordinary by Googleplex standards. “If we’re working on a really huge problem,” says Teller, “that motivates people to come here, and it motivates them to stay. That’s very real. That’s not a marketing thing for Google. It’s why this place works.” - Bloomberg
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:38 AM | Your Say (0)
February 4, 2017
Trumpism And The Reforging Of An Imperial America
What Trumpism is then, cannot quite be boxed as just nationalism and populism.Perhaps in any other country it would be, but America remains exceptional, for American “nationalism” is inherently imperial. Trump is not some caudillo wresting control of a province of the international state system and thumbing his nose at the great powers until he is dragged from the palace and shot by partisans. The nerve center of the world’s most powerful civilizational bloc was just taken over. For lack of a better term, this is a big deal. And it is a big deal that the person at the helm knows it is a big deal. He knows something is rotten and that his job is not merely to maintain it and dispense spoils, but to steward it. The seriousness and deliberation with which Trump approaches the concept of restoration and the crucial task of diagnosing and repairing threats to the United States underscores a truly imperial mindset.
This is much less an ideology about pulling power levers to benefit factions and more an embrace of sovereignty over a unitary whole. Unlike the previous president, his agenda is not weaponized multiculturalism, but one of looking after both the ethnic foundation and the empire’s smaller subject peoples. This is someone who conceived of the gravity of his task all along while his seeming effortlessness was mistaken for naiveté. Trump’s proposed governing paradigms for the country are in essence extensions of how he has already ruled over his dynasty and its holdings. The people are to be looked after and their patrimony to be the envy of the world. The paterfamilias is the root of all statecraft and its most stable form.- - Social Matter
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 5:16 PM | Your Say (4)
"Run" Runs On
It’s true indeed that in English most nouns, verbs and modifiers take on multiple meanings. The champion is run. Turns out it’s actually our longest word, in the sense that with 645 — you read that right: 645 — meanings, run takes up more room in our biggest, fattest dictionaries than any other word. -- Richard Lederer's VerbivorePosted by gerardvanderleun at 5:00 PM | Your Say (0)
Blown Together
People were standing in the streets. The barriers had been knocked down.
A lot of people with baby carriages were standing on the sidewalk looking confused. Cottone took the carriages off the sidewalk and put them in the middle of the street because, at the moment, the street seemed safer than the sidewalk. Then, in front of her, she noticed a blonde woman with a terrible leg wound whom Cottone thought had been blown from the sidewalk into the middle of the street. Next to her, holding a belt around her leg, was a tall, dark-haired kid. College kid, probably. What was he doing there? The police officer noticed how white the woman’s teeth were. That, and that her hair was singed, burned around her face. -- RTWT @ Runners World
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:44 PM | Your Say (3)
Dear Ruth Bader Ginsburg: If you need anything — blood, organs — take mine
If you have any need for blood, you can have the eight or so units of A-positive that are right here in my body.There’s also a gently used liver in here, lobes of it just lying around if you need them. I am 32 years old and in good health. I take vitamins and fish oil. In the gym, I recently lifted almost three times your weight with my butt. Do you like platelets? I have excellent platelets. I have had all my shots. If you, personally, ask me to, I will give up cheese. I can do eight push-ups and a 10-minute mile. My kidneys function well. I have two. Either one is yours for the taking. Both, if need be. - The Washington Post
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:50 AM | Your Say (6)
Remember when Sarah Palin talked about the “death panels” and people pointed their fingers and acted as if she was crazy?
The doctor secretly placed a soporific in her coffee to calm her, and then had started to give her a lethal injection. Yet while injecting the woman she woke up, and fought the doctor. The paperwork showed that the only way the doctor could complete the injection was by getting family members to help restrain her. It also revealed that the patient said several times 'I don't want to die' in the days before she was put to death, and that the doctor had not spoken to her about what was planned because she did not want to cause unnecessary extra distress. She also did not tell her about what was in her coffee as it was also likely to cause further disruptions to the planned euthanasia process.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:46 AM | Your Say (8)
February 3, 2017
Still Hanging in There. I'd like to thank all the littler people.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 11:40 PM | Your Say (0)
This is Joy Behar. Today on live television she called Milo Yiannopoulos (flamboyant gay who likes black guys) a racist homophobe.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:10 PM | Your Say (4)
Glick On The Trump way of winning the war
Under Obama, the US also derailed every Israeli attempt to curb the power of EU-funded subversive organizations operating from inside of Israel. Trump’s emerging strategy on Iran and ISIS, together with his refusal to operate in accordance with the standard US playbook on the Palestinians, indicates that the US has abandoned this practice. Under Trump, Israel is free to defeat its enemies. Their most powerful deterrent against Israel – the US – is gone. -- carolinglick |
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:04 PM | Your Say (3)
Soon
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 2:39 PM | Your Say (5)
ESQ: Your characters have become touchstones in the culture, whether it's Reagan invoking "Make my day" or now Trump … I swear he's even practiced your scowl.
Clint Eastwood: Maybe. But he's onto something, because secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up.That's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're really in a pussy generation. Everybody's walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist. And then when I did Gran Torino, even my associate said, "This is a really good script, but it's politically incorrect." And I said, "Good. Let me read it tonight." The next morning, I came in and I threw it on his desk and I said, "We're starting this immediately."Clint and Scott Eastwood: No Holds Barred in Their First Interview Together
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:47 AM | Your Say (2)
Why car designers stick with clay
“Clay is different waxes with some filler in it,” says VandenBrink. “That used to be sulfur, and more recently small glass beads, but it’s mostly waxes. Honestly, it’s hard to know exactly what’s in it, because the formulas are proprietary.” There are half a dozen companies that make plasticine clay suitable for full-scale design modelling (a few car companies make their own blends), and they deliver their product to design shops on flatbed trucks by the pallet-load. In a typical year, Ford goes through about 100 tons of the stuff, formed into hard, extruded cylinders about 3 inches in diameter. When a designer is ready to build, a lump of it is heated to about 66°C (150°F), and applied.BBC - Autos -
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:36 AM | Your Say (1)
"I got your nose!"
In the 20th century some museums changed philosophies and “de-restored” their collections, thinking it better to present each piece in its authentic state. This created a superfluity of noses, and some museums collect these into displays of their own. Charmingly, there’s even a word for this: A collection of noses is a Nasothek. Gesundheit - Futility Closet
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:03 AM | Your Say (0)
"I kept thinking, you know, I could organize a bunch of gays,"
"I could organize the gays, and we would just make a protective circle around her at all times. We could help her get up and down the stairs. We got this."With a rainbow phalanx protecting the justice against potential slips and falls, Hagner would then feel free to turn his attention away from external dangers, and toward microbial pathogens. "At that point," he says, "what I'm mostly concerned about is the cancer. Is she getting her checkups? Do her doctors realize how important it is for her to get her checkups? Do they? The woman is 98 pounds." 'Can she eat more kale?' Hordes of liberals want reassurance RBG's health is good - SFGate
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 8:45 AM | Your Say (3)
The progressives should have paid attention to Gamergate which foreshadowed Brexit and Trump.
The triumphant advance; the same surprise and pell-mell retreat.The leftist shock comes from the seemingly inexplicable rejection of their Gramscian project after the cumulative assent of long years. Neil Munro in a Breitbart article argued that Trump's immigration policies are stunning precisely because they reject what the Left saw a settled fact: "the claim by globalist progressives â including former President Barack Obama â that foreign people" have the right to cross borders and live where they want. Destructive capture
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:54 AM | Your Say (1)
February 2, 2017
Black Chickens Matter
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 3:46 PM | Your Say (7)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 12:35 PM | Your Say (2)
Victorian Era Drones: How Model Trains Transformed From Cutting-Edge to Quaint
Indeed, the novelty of electric power helped propel model trains into their “classic period,” which, according to Souter, began in 1923 and continued into the first few years of World War II. This was the era of the aforementioned Blue Comet, as well as Lionel’s brown-and-yellow M-10000, which was patterned after Union Pacific’s Streamliner, the first locomotive fully powered by a diesel engine and an early masterpiece of Streamline Moderne design. The Streamliner, later renamed City of Salina, debuted on February 12, 1934, at the Chicago World’s Fair, with a simultaneous release in O-gauge by Lionel. | Collectors Weekly
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:46 AM | Your Say (1)
February 1, 2017
While the so-called 'news media' blither about the so-called 'Supreme Court'....
Nation's bacon reserves hit 50-year low as prices risePosted by gerardvanderleun at 6:20 PM | Your Say (5)
The Japanese: Nuked Too Much or Not Enough?
Americans and Europeans love Kit Kats, but not like the Japanese do. The Asian country has a huge variety of flavors of the chocolate candy, as well as entire stores dedicated to it. And this month, to celebrate the opening of a new Kit Kat store in Ginza, Nestle will begin offer Kit Kat sushi for a limited time. Available from February 2 to February 4, the specialty treats are designed to look just like some of the most popular rolls, just with candy on top — and the fishy ingredients have been replaced, too.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 6:03 PM | Your Say (2)
This Just In
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:49 AM | Your Say (8)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:32 AM | Your Say (4)
War In The Streets has for too long been a masturbatory fantasy for both Left and Right,
and I think it's bullshit. It definitely was closer in the latter '60s/early '70s than it is now.The Lefties are once again acting out the age-old Let's You and Him Fight scenario they've embraced since 1789; there are a fresh crop of "college-educated" dumbbells for cannon fodder, but their "rage" is a lot less convincing now that they've all been nurtured in their mommies' basements. The only ones with any apparent testosterone are on the other side and unimpressed with their tantrums. Come to think of it, that's probably why so many of us thought politics was bullshit 50 years ago. While those idiots were attending demonstrations we were busy taking advantage of the Free Love situation - with girls who were fun to be with. One thing that's forgotten is that angry hippie chicks were unattractive then as now - and as always, You Can't Legislate Erections. Comment by Rob De Witt in Days of Rage
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 10:28 AM | Your Say (1)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 9:29 AM | Your Say (0)
Some call it Trump Derangement Syndrome, but that’s too kind.
Things never seen in the modern era are now rapidly becoming common. Impeachment talk already is rumbling in the party’s hothouses, and Trump was met with a lawsuit the minute he took the oath. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, the top Dems in Congress, led a raucous demonstration Monday night, as if they are community organizers. And Obama couldn’t bear the irrelevance after eight days out of office and felt compelled to encourage disruptions. Democrats are becoming the party of secession | New York Post
Posted by gerardvanderleun at 7:41 AM | Your Say (5)