Open Thread

Open Thread

Mark Noonan8 Comments

Democrats are just doubling down on defending anti-Semitism – their latest gambit is to claim that our side is deliberately misconstruing statements, but that is just a dodge. The Democrats are caught in quite a bind: they can’t reject anti-Semitism because a substantial number of their supporters are overt anti-Semites (I’d guess it is around 20% of their base), but they also can’t openly embrace it. They are trying to thread the needle: how long can they? Eventually they’ll have to flop one way or the other.

Democrats are also becoming more vigorous in claiming that they’ve lost elections due to voter fraud. Projection much? I think that this sort of thing is more battle space prep in case the Trump Administration exposes the level of Democrat voter fraud.

The trade war, so-called, is heating up again: I think Trump is right when he says the Chinese are hoping they can wait it out until a GOPe squish or Democrat gets into office. We’re getting the usual shrieks of horror from the TruCons that we hear whenever their Corporate Donor Class is threatened. But, really, a brief look at history shows that the United States rose from agricultural backwater to global economic dominance under Protection. Free Trade is a great theory – but human nature denies the theory. People will cheat – and the more tyrannical the regime, the more likely there will be cheating. I think US policy should be to lower tariffs as much as possible – but that access to our economy is a privilege, not a right; and if you don’t play fair with us, you can’t sell here.

Joe Biden has a China problem. I was listening to a little bit of Rush while I was driving around and one of his callers suggested that Trump-Russia was a bit of deflection to keep us from looking closely at the connections between various American politicians and China. It is a reasonable idea: the Chinese dispense vast amounts of money in various ways, and our Ruling Class would have to be holy to refuse the bribes (and it ain’t holy).

Tim Conway died:

Open Thread

Mark Noonan40 Comments

Remember Valerie Plame? Well, after her 15 minutes were up, she seems to have gone down the road of anti-Semitism…which may now make her a prime Democrat House candidate.

People are making fun of AOC’s latest brainstorm: a non-profit banking system run through the US postal service. Don’t make fun of it. You must view AOC as a junior-league Lenin. A Stalin-wannabe. She’s a tyrant in the making. Given this, of course she’d want to get banking into government hands…and then make the dispensing of loans based upon political rather than financial calculations. The perfect Leftist system is where everything you do is controlled by government and you can only do things (ie, live) if you are approved by the government.

I’m kinda hoping the Cubs go another 108 years without a championship.

Bio-pic about Tolkien’s early life – looks pretty good; understandable complaint about them excising Tolkien’s vigorous Catholic faith…but, that’s just Hollywood playing to a mostly non-Catholic audience.

Don Surber points out that China is likely thinking at the moment they can outlast Trump…just wait until another Democrat or GOP squish gets in there. I think the Chinese will find they miscalculated.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan38 Comments

Not one Democrat Presidential candidate has condemned the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. Only two Democrat Senators have condemned the attacks (Rosen D-NV and Sinema D-AZ: and tip of the hat to both of them). The Democrats have made the choice that joining up with Islamists is a better future than defending Jews.

Side note: this conflict goes on until one side wins, and the other loses. The Palestinian leadership – which makes its money off of war and suffering – will not quit until forced to quit. Only the massive application of firepower upon the Palestinians until they all come out, hands in the air, will end this.

Feminists and Conservatives are joining forces against the misbegotten “Equality Act”:

The Equality Act just passed the House Judiciary Committee last week, and it threatens to erase protections for women — protections that benefit women and society as a whole. Legislative and policy “reforms” proposed in this dangerous bill will lead to blatant violations of our safety, privacy, and dignity.

Under this bill, men and boys will take away women’s small business grants and hard-won spots on sports teams; they will be allowed to live in women’s domestic violence shelters and use our locker rooms. And united as women, we are just not going to stand for it.

To illustrate their case, they note the story of a man who identifies as a woman being seen naked in the women’s sauna (by teenaged girls): when the incident was reported the power of the State was brought forth to force everyone to apologize to the guy exposing himself to little girls. It is good that there can be a united fight against pure insanity – but Feminists should think a bit deeper into this. It is the tearing down of societal norms – including the norms which say that certain tasks are for men, others for women – which lead us here. As far as allowing anyone – of any condition – to do whatever their talents allow, no one can have any complaint. But thinking that a woman can be a successful infantryman is just as absurd as thinking a man who identifies as a woman should be allowed to parade around the girls locker room. Men and women are different; they bring in many cases entirely different things to the table; it is the cooperation of the feminine and the masculine, as distinct things, which makes humanity human.

The Daily Caller has a story about how the money (about $100 million) provided to Flint, MI to remediate it’s water issue is being relentlessly misused – the most egregious thing, in my view, is the awarding of high priced contracts to a company with no experience in the work, while more experienced companies were denied contracts. It is a grift: the people who run Flint – ie, the criminally negligent people who created the water crisis – don’t give a damn about the people, and are merely using the bonanza of government dollars to line their own pockets. All of these are Democrats – and all of them will be “re-elected” or, at least, replaced with people who are just like they are. We need to start thinking about what to do – consistent with our federal values – about States and cities which are so badly misgoverned that we can’t rely on sane policy being pursued.

Trump’s counsel has sent a letter to AG Barr ripping the Mueller report pretty hard – on the grounds that Mueller didn’t follow the special counsel rules in writing his final report. I had noted that Mueller would make his report as lurid as he could, and he did. What Democrats are latching on to right now is Mueller’s statement that he couldn’t conclusively prove that Trump didn’t break the law. But Mueller’s job wasn’t to say one way or the other about that – his job was to see if there was a crime, and if there was, then to prosecute it. As he’s not prosecuting Trump or any Trump associate for collusion or obstruction of justice related to the 2016 campaign, Trump has been exonerated. Mueller deliberately muddied that fact.

A pro-baby killing Pennsylvania Democrat is proving himself to be just about as much an a**hole as you’d think.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan38 Comments

The New York Times is worried that the revelation that the Obama Administration spied on Trump will lend credence to Trump’s claim that the Obama Administration spied on him.

The MSM – all at once and all together – decided that Louis Farrakhan is a far right person. It was when Farrakhan got banned by Facebook along with some other people, some of whom were actually of the right. You might recall the time the MSM labelled George Wallace a Republican. So, like that; but, also, different. A very large number of major MSM outfits called Farrakhan far right…almost as if there was a memo that went out and the MSM just transcribed it as news.

A ten month old child died when the raft she was crossing the Rio Grande on tipped over. This is 100% of the fault of American liberals who encourage people to make these dangerous journeys.

1938 video of Civil War veterans.

We’re going to need a bigger Navy. A lot bigger. I think Trump instinctively understands this, but I don’t see any admiral out there ringing the alarm bell and really pushing a naval buildup. We need a Jacky Fisher.

California High School is thinking about removing a picture of George Washington because it is too traumatic for some students. The name of the school? George Washington High School.

Yeah, our government is still spying on you.

President Trump proposes to give the Border Patrol power to decide asylum cases on their own. Makes sense: make a fast judgement on their asylum status. If they’ve got a good case, let them stay…if not, back home they go.

Trump’s magic wand at work again as US Steel gets ready to invest a billion dollars in a new Pittsburgh steel plant.

Liberal Democrat justifies abortion by suggesting if we don’t kill them in the womb, we’ll just have to kill them when they are adults.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan25 Comments

While everything in our history has been disparaged, the fight against Nazism has been, so far, spared by the left. This is now being “corrected”, with the Washington Post noting that while the Allied leaders were anti-Nazi, they weren’t anti-racist. The left will erase every last bit of our history if we give them the chance.

Related: Professor says that whiteness is terrorism.

A radicalized Methodist plotted a terrorist attack in California. Oh wait: scratch that – it was a radicalized Muslim.

On this day in history, Saigon fell to the Communists. Never has any nation betrayed another as badly as we betrayed the Republic of Vietnam.

Interesting article on the Christian origins of Islam. Of course, people who know have always seen Islam as a Christian heresy. Mohammed apparently spent a lot of time in then-Christian Syria and he would have been surrounded there by a Christian society which hotly disputed just about every aspect of Christianity. No surprise that he picked up a version of it which allowed him to place himself at the head of the enterprise – he just had to deny the divinity of Christ and he was off to the races.

Hoaxers falsely accused Peter Buttigieg of sexual assault. Thing is, there was as much evidence against Buttigieg as there was against Kavanaugh. Now, note the difference: Kavanaugh was slandered by the national media in an orgy of hatred, none of which has been retracted or apologized for (indeed, they are giving Kavanaugh’s lying accuser awards), while it took just a few hours for the same national media to debunk the accusations against Buttigieg.

Brazil moves decidedly away from the left. This is a good thing. Brazil (population 208 million, 3.2 million square miles of territory) should be a Great Power nearly on par with the United States. If Brazil really can navigate away from the authortarian leftism which has plauged Latin America for a century, it would be great for Brazil and the world.

Its Hard to Write on One Topic Open Thread

Mark Noonan17 Comments

I honestly keep trying to find a subject to write at length about, but I usually find ten. So, lots of open threads. And today is no different:

A judge cut loose an illegal immigrant, preventing that illegal from being arrested by ICE. The judge has now been indicted:

This is huge — a lunatic hack state judge is indicted and charged with cutting loose a twice-deported Dominican illegal immigrant arrested with drugs after throwing an ICE agent out of her courtroom so that the criminal could escape.

For what appears to be the first time, someone in a “sanctuary” jurisdiction has to answer for the coddling of these illegal immigrants who are perpetrating a massive tidal wave of crime on the law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of the United States

We need more of this – if the Democrats want to go all neo-Confederate about federal laws, then we’ll have to become increasingly Shermanesque in dealing with them.

Joe Biden announced for President – third time will not be the charm. Naturally, he started out by repeating the “fine people on both sides” lie the Democrats have peddled about the Charlottsville incident. Don’t think any liberal will complain about the lie: they believe it. I’ve got a friend who is convinced he heard Trump, live, say that the “fine people” included the neo-Nazis. A cursory reading of the transcript shows he didn’t…but once the Democrats decide on a lie, they’ll never move away from it. In the end, Trump won’t beat Biden because there’s no way the Democrats will permit an old, straight white man to be their nominee in 2020.

We found Biden’s campaign song.

A German parenting magazine opines that blonde, happy families are evil incarnate. You know, I’ve run across the “blood and soil” neo-Nazi nitwits on a regular basis on social media: this is exactly the red meat they need to convince people to join them. If you want to convince such people that there isn’t a war on white people then just maybe you shouldn’t have a war on white people. Just spitballin’ here.

We’re used to this – but here’s how the MSM took the Trump Administration’s efforts to protect women in war zones and turned it into a “Trump wants women raped” story. They do this all the time – take a story and simply make up an anti-Trump angle, no matter how divorced from reality. This is why I say that any story in the MSM about politics must be presumed to be a lie until confirmed by a non-MSM source. (HT: Ace)

From RSM: Guy gets arrested for assaulting his wife. SJW do-gooder group bails guy out. Guy goes home and murders his wife. To be fair, I do understand the desire to be merciful: it is crucial to a functioning society that we have a gigantic amount of mercy towards those who transgress. Partially because mercy, as such, is good but, also, because the authorities do make mistakes. But, everyone makes mistakes. And if a guy is in jail under serious charges, its probably not wise to rush in and spring him from jail. The job of criminal justice reformers is not to get people out of jail, but to ensure that the accused receive justice – if we are doing justice, then there’s no reason for anyone to complain.

Powerline on how the left is using teaching history to, well, ensure that the kids learn no history, at all.

Spring Day, Will be in the Pool Open Thread

Mark Noonan19 Comments

Got in the pool yesterday, actually: a little chilly, but not bad. Its going above 90 out here today, so expect and increasingly tan Mark in the coming days.

Cher gets a little red-pilled over the Bernie plan to allow imprisoned felons to vote. Perhaps there is a level of stupid so bad that even the most dyed-in-the-wool liberals will wake up? I think 2020 will test this theory.

Harris was also a bit on board with Bernie’s “Let the Boston Bomber Vote” program, until, I guess, her aides and pollsters went “are you f***ing nuts!”. She’s backing down a bit from it – but, don’t believe her: the liberals really do believe jailed murderers should vote, because they’ll likely all vote Democrat. Harris is just beating a tactical retreat.

The Citizenship Question will go before the Supreme Court and rumors are the Conservative majority will back Trump – which, to me, is a no-brainer: there’s no valid reason not to have such a question on the census. It is a violation of my rights as a citizen of the United States that some States get more House representation based upon people who aren’t even supposed to be in the country. I’d also like to look into the validity of someone who holds a House seat where the number of citizen voters is significantly smaller than the average number of citizen voters per district. To me, such a person cannot hold a House seat as no proper election occurred given our one man, one vote requirement for such things.

Latinos are doing very well under Trump – by some measures, better than they’ve ever done. How will this play in 2020? Don’t know. But if Trump can crack 40% of the Latino vote, it’ll be a blowout for him.

Rep. Omar (D-West Somalia) back in 2017 essentially called the American soldiers of “Black Hawk Down” fame, terrorists. A veteran of that fight responds. You have to think about this: American blood was shed to save Omar’s life and after this and coming to America and now living a life that no Somali could ever dream of in Somalia, she’s calling the men who made it all possible terrorists. I do doubt the validity of her oath of citizenship.

RSM notes a feminist coffee shop in Australia started charging men 18% more than women…and for some bizarre reason, the place is now going out of business.

John Nolte notes 51 deliberate, malicious lies the MSM told you about Trump-Russia.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan33 Comments

Senator Romney (R, D; MA, UT…whatever and wherever, as long as I get to be in power) took a dump on President Trump as did famed Never Trumper David French. Oddly, their statements are alike in that they both claim the Mueller Report shows a horrible, lying, corrupt Trump (who didn’t do anything illegal) and who must now be opposed. A lot of people go on like that – which shows that it was clearly coordinated. The plan was clearly that Mueller would find something damaging and people like Romney and French were supposed to be part of a cascade of voices moving Trump towards resignation. It didn’t work out because of that pesky, little detail of Trump not doing anything wrong…but I guess once you’re bought, you stay bought: the people who pay for the Romneys and Frenches want this, so they get it.

Some Christian churches in Sri Lanka were blown to pieces on Easter – and just as you expected, no one who waxed eloquent over the attack on a Mosque in New Zealand is pointing out the specific, anti-Christian aspect of the attack. No one is wearing a crucifix in solidarity; no one offering up a Hail Mary. In fact, most of the people on the left saying anything about it stay away from even mentioning a Christian element. Christians are, by far, the most persecuted people in the world – and we pray for those who do evil to us…but even so, be nice if some of these cowards in the global elite would at least acknowledge what is happening.

Along with vicious attacks, the other thing we Christians expect on Easter is opinion pieces from so-called Christians which deny key aspects of the faith. I ran across one of these – you can read it if you like, but if you’ve ever read one of them, you’ve read them all. Each of them is just mindless, sophomoric drivel. But it occurred to me: why bother? I mean, its ok (in the sense that you are free to do so) to not believe that Christ’s death on the cross redeemed the world. It is ok to deny that we are in need of washing in miraculous waters. It is ok to deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Every Muslim, Jew, Hindu and Atheist in the world does just that…but, they also don’t try to pretend to be Christian while doing it. Why do these nitwits do it? Are they still, every so slightly, open to repentance, or are they mere emissaries of the enemy?

Victor Davis Hanson interviewed regarding the anti-Trump coup attempt.

Don Surber: keep fighting. He’s right. We can be magnanimous in victory once we are entirely victorious. Until the left is utterly destroyed, we can’t let up for a moment.

Actress Emma Thompson burns through three tonnes of carbon to save the planet. From you.

Pre-Mueller-Mageddon Open Thread

Mark Noonan39 Comments

Tomorrow is The Day of all Days: the Mueller Report gets released. Whole thing is a waste of time, of course, but that won’t stop Democrats. If they are at a loss, they’ll just bald-faced lie and make up stuff about it. I think, though, that the pivot they’ll revolve around is whatever is redacted – they’ll assure their suckers viewers that in those areas is the proof that Trump is a Russian stooge. What I’m hoping for is that as we ring down the curtain on Mueller, Barr starts to raise the curtain on a general investigation into government corruption.

Robert O’Rourke (D-Never Be Caught Dead in Texas Again After This) says that he doesn’t give to charity because he gives himself to us. Seriously: I’m not kidding. That’s what he’s asserting. And the Democrats claim that Trump is a narcissist.

Jazz Shaw has an interesting bit on the UAW’s continuing efforts to unionize the VW plant in Chattanooga. It’ll probably fall flat: but, I’m starting to wonder if it isn’t time for us on the right to become Unionists? What I mean is that there is a real need for worker unions – trouble is, the worker unions we have these days mostly represent government employees and are the merest tools of the Democrat party. But suppose we started up a union which represents only private sector employees and remains strictly non-partisan while pushing for various worker protections? Think about it: we’re all starting to feel a grip of fear that one unguarded comment on social media could get us fired; might be nice to have union protection against that. So, too, might the cubicle workers (mostly customer service of various types) like some protections against stupidly absurd work schedules (serious, guys: I know whereof I speak…some times they have these poor people working mornings one day, evenings the next and then take their two days off and split them up)? Might also be nice to have unions which work against government regulations which are designed to restrain trade. We should ponder this.

RSM wonders if Soros is funding Democrat anti-Semitism.

Trump son-in-law Kushner is apparently working on a Middle East peace deal to be unveiled later this year – naturally, the Palestinian leadership is opposed before the plan it is even presented. What people won’t admit – because they are cowards – is that the PA is a mafia-like organization and if they made peace, there’d be no place for the current mafia bosses. It doesn’t matter that the Palestinians suffer under poverty and corruption. It certainly doesn’t matter that a few Israelis are killed by the guys in Gaza (matters even less that Palestinians are killed in response). All that matters is that the mafia bosses continue to live well and siphon off foreign aid money to their Swiss bank accounts. Until people confront this fact and kill the Palestinian leaders, there will be no peace.

Gotta love the Poles – they propose to name a new, American military base in Poland, “Fort Trump”. Of all the Europeans, the Poles are about the only ones worth an American’s attention…though the Czech’s and the Balt’s are ok.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan4 Comments

The Notre Dame fire has revealed an intense level of hatred among the global left for the West. We knew it was there, but when you see the some on the left cheering a burning church, you know you’ve got a problem. They hate us and want us gone – and they are allying with the most vicious parts of Jihadist Islam. We’re in for some bad times.

Its pretty much a given that the Obama Administration spied on President Trump – the only question remaining is, who ordered it? Does it go all the way up to Obama? It could: it would take a really gutsy subordinate to order such a thing without the President’s knowledge.

Bill Weld (R But Really D-MA) is going to challenge Trump in the GOP primary. Not a single person on Earth, including Weld, knows why.

Jewish voters are upset with the Democrats defense of anti-Semites. I look at it like this: if you’re in any way a Jew, you’re going to abandon the Democrat party. It is as simple as that – just as all real Catholics are abandoning the Democrat party. The Jews (and Catholics) who retain their Democrat registration are no more than nominally part of their religion. You can’t be in a party which rejects everything you believe in.

Steyn points out a rather large SJW flaw.

Valerie Jarrett wrote a book which sucks so bad she had to manipulate sales to show up on the best seller lists. My view: I bet the manipulation was done with the knowledge of the list makers. No way in heck will the Progressives allow someone like Jarrett to fail – she’s all they want: a mean spirited, anti-American creep. As an aside, Matt and I – still making money off Worst nearly 3 years after it came out – wonder how many sports cars and mansions we’d own if a major publisher had picked it up back in 2016. There’s a huge amount of talent out there which doesn’t go anywhere because the people who decide are slaves to the powerful.