Open Thread

Open Thread

Mark Noonan11 Comments

Jussie Smollett might be in a great deal of trouble – if it proves that he did send a hate letter to himself, he may be looking at a heavy federal penalty. Pretty much all of us figured the story was fishy from the start…there is just so little chance that Trump supporters would (a) know who Smollett is and (b) seek him out on a freezing cold Chicago night. Naturally, we already have Fredocons willing to let bygones be bygones…because, all Smollett did was accuse 60 million Americans of being violent racists and tie up Chicago PD resources investigating a fake crime. Nothing to worry our little heads over, you see?

Marc Theissen is figuring that the GOPers in Congress should stand up to Trump and stop him from his emergency declaration on the border. Leaving aside, for a moment, the actual case, let’s look at Theissen: the son of two Manhattan doctors, went to an elite prep school and Vassar and the Naval War College…the author of a book asserting the CIA is great. Can you get a more Establishment guy? I don’t think so.

You can see where he’s really coming from – his whole life; his success, his reason for being, is tied up in the post-WWII liberal Establishment. To a guy like this, it is unthinkable that there might be something valid outside the Establishment which gave him every advantage and retains him in a position of wealth and privilege. To the Establishment, there is nothing wrong with people coming across the border, however they come across. For a variety of reasons, they think it good and don’t care – likely because they are unaware – what affect this has on people who are not insulated by wealth and privilege. So, naturally, Theissen is mounting an attack on Trump. He claims it is a matter of principle and, in a sense, it is: but the principle is defense of the Establishment and it’s desires. It isn’t an adherence to eternal principles. He’s just looking after his own.

We’ve suddenly had a few ISIS Brides attempting to return home – here and in the UK. The American ISIS Bride Hoda Muthana has been denied permission to return to the US. Apparently with a revocation of her US citizenship. She’s now just a foreigner who can apply for immigration to the United States, and her case will be judged in line with the rules for foreign immigrants. There is sympathy in my heart and a desire for mercy – on the other hand, she adhered to inhuman savages and betrayed not just her country, but human decency.

Seven Labour MP’s have quit the party over Labour’s increasing anti-Semitism. As I said, Labour made the calculation that there is more money and votes in Islamism than in Judaism…the Democrat party here is making the same calculation.

California: the State so stupid they can’t even sell dope to stoners. They have placed so many taxes and regulations on marijuana that the black market is still thriving…solution? Well, obviously: step up law enforcement. Don’t even think about cutting the taxes and regulations. California will get the wonderful situation of sending people to jail for dealing in a legal substance.

Mueller probe to end next week? We’ll see.

To Wall or Not to Wall?

Mark Noonan118 Comments

Trump says he’ll sign the budget bill, even though it has a lot in it his base despises. This is clearly a deal worked out between Democrats and Chamber of Commerce GOPers. Remember, at least half the GOP Congressional membership is as much open borders as the Democrats are.

So, what does it mean? The end of MAGA? I don’t think so. Trump says he’ll just go on and build the wall, anyway (and I would if I were him – and I’d calmly ignore any judicial injunction against it, using Andy Jackson’s old mot, “the Court has ruled; now, let the Court enforce”). We really need to re-work the GOP. A lot of real progress has been made getting rid of the Flakes and Ryans, but plenty remain. And even solid people, if they stay there long enough, will get captured by the system. At the end of the day, Trump is working hard to carry out his promises, and I’m with him through 2020.

Former FBI director McCabe said he pondered carrying out a coup d’etat against Trump after Comey was fired. He doesn’t use those words, but that is what he ultimately was on about. Now, a lot of people are very angry over this – I’m less so. I’m sure he would have liked to do it, but I don’t think it ever amounted to much: just some fools having a bull session (possibly following a good cry after Hillary lost).

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-North Mexico) wants to shovel $25 million of California taxpayer’s money at the illegal immigrants.

Someone do the math: CA taxpayers are exiting the State at X rate, illegals are arriving at Y rate. When does CA run out of money to shell out to the illegals?

Legal Insurrection notes that Newsom is clearly gearing up for a Presidential run. Not clear of which country at the moment.

Rumors abound at this time regarding the Jussie Smollet case. Some are saying that Chicago PD figures it was a hoax, but I’ve also read statements from Chicago PD denying this. What seems clear to me is that we don’t have what was originally told: racist, Trumpster white guys attacking a man because he was gay/black. Bottom line: treat all race- and gender-based attack stories as false until proven otherwise.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan42 Comments

I came across this article on the state of public education and I’d like to say it was shocking and a real eye-opener, but as I read it my whole attitude was “yeah, naturally”. I do strongly recommend reading it, but that we’ve got an insider’s story about how absolutely out of control and effectively worthless public education is – especially at the high school level – is about the least surprising thing you can read.

It must be kept in mind that education is the last thing public education is for. In fact, if it actually educated, it would be undercutting the primary purpose of public education, which is to provide fat sinecures for unionized employees who, in turn, back Democrat politicians who get to use their funding of public schools to show how much they care. An actually educated populace would see through the scam right away – but even to this day, I’d bet that polling would show north of 65% still believe that public education is crucial to our nation. It isn’t, and never was.

It is time to bite the bullet and start working for the abolition of public schools. I don’t at all mind giving money to poor parents to send their kids to school, but I don’t want a single, government official within 10 miles of a school. I don’t want them in charge of curriculum. Of discipline. Of class size. I don’t even want them there for health and safety inspections. Be better if there was a law making it a felony for a government official to come within 100 yards of a school. Leave government out of it. Yes, this means some kids won’t get any formal education – but all those who really want it, will. And as for a kid turning 18 with no schooling, how is that really inferior to a kid getting a high school diploma at 18 when he can’t even read? The 18 year old with no schooling might have at least picked up some life skills along the way.

Concaine Mitch (R-Increasingly MAGA America) is going to bring the Green New Deal up for a vote – so, Democrats can either make themselves politically toxic by voting in favor, or infuriate their base by voting against. I like Cocaine Mitch.

Governor Newsom (D-People’s Republic of California) is putting the high speed rail boondoggle on the back burner. Hey, at least those most juiced in got a big payday for a while.

Rep. Omar (D-West Somalia) has got herself into hot water over her anti-Semitic remarks. The MSM is furious – with us, for noticing. She’s what the Democrats get when they decided that downplaying radical Islam in a play for Muslim votes was the thing to do. Radical Islam is shot through with anti-Semitism. Anyone who subscribes in any way, shape or form to radical Islam is going to be anti-Semitic. It’s as natural as their being anti-American. Our Democrats have made Labour’s choice – there’s more votes and money in Islam than in Judaism…but, it comes with a price.

Governor Cuomo (D-Will the Last Person in NY Please Turn out the Lights) is upset over rich New Yorker’s bailing out and heading to Florida. He’s thinking that Florida is stealing New York’s people…I’d suggest that all the taxes and the lousy climate plays a role, but that would probably be a hate crime.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan73 Comments

It appears that about 49 million Americans tuned into the SOTU and 76% of those who watched liked what they saw. It will be hard for Democrats to gain leverage for their absurd plans – be it the insane Green New Deal or their continuing conviction that somehow, some way, Trump-Russia is the way to get Trump.

As for that Green New Deal – I agree with those who say that our best tactic is to reject the premise. Don’t argue the stupid details. Reject the very notion that we need a Green New Deal. The premise is that human action is causing environmental change which will certainly be catastrophic to life on Earth. That is a stupid notion: the idea of an idiot or of a person who is running a con to grab power and wealth no one would otherwise give to them. The footsoldiers of the Green New Deal are the idiots – the people pushing it from the top are the con artists. Neither should be allowed so much as the time of day. their entire idea is baseless, corrupt, stupid and cruel.

Senator Rand Paul is calling for hearings into the selective prosecution of Trump officials. In my view, McConnell should empanel a select committee on this. Democrats want to keep up the investigations in the House? Fine: we can’t stop them…but we can bury them under a mountain of investigation, as well. Fire with fire: and as our investigation stands a massively better chance of uncovering criminal actions, the Democrats should fear such a tit for tat operation.

There have been Conservative voices – and not just Never Trump “Conservatives” – saying we should lay off Joy Behar over her use of black face in the past. Such people are fools. The Democrats made the determination 50 years ago that they would fight with any means necessary. So be it: now, we just have to turn it against them. We’ve been playing by rules which were discarded with Johnson was still President. Behar used black face: any Republican who did such a thing would be fired and hounded out of public life. So, Behar must be fired and hounded out of public life – by the Democrat’s definition, she’s a racist and she has to go. And while we do it, just keep telling them: “if you quit, we’ll quit”.

In light of this: a Colorado school teacher who tweeted out threats against the Convington Catholic boys may be fired. There should be no “may” in it. She has to be fired: these people on the left must be instructed that they are no longer permitted to slander us.

Robert Stacy McCain takes note of a guy named Anand Giridharadas. A man who is part of our Elite (attended the same school Chelsea Clinton did, eg). A man who is a pinko as you can get without dressing up like Lenin. But a man who also, it seems, is disgusted by the liberal elites on top of our society. Give it a read – and I’ll be keeping an eye on Anand going forward, because I’m starting to see some on the left who are as fed up with things as we are. They will never agree with us on policy, but that’s fine. We don’t expect everyone to agree with us. Nor do we ever expect to get 100% of what we want to the exclusion of ideas we disagree with. But we all do need to work to destroy our current Ruling Class. It has to go.

SOTU Open Thread

Mark Noonan29 Comments

I’ll be watching tonight: wouldn’t miss it for the world.

We’re going to need a lot of popcorn: the lady who is accusing the Virginia Lt Governor of sexual assault has retained Ford’s law firm. This will get more and more fun for a while, it would seem.

Meanwhile, Northam got $2 million in campaign funds from Planned Parenthood. He was very firmly bought.

We need to find out how much Planned Parenthood spent to buy Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) because she just blocked a bill which would have provided protection for children born alive after an abortion attempt. The abortion lobby has it’s requirement: once that kid is slated for death, death it must be.

Jim Geraghty points out that the VA GOP is in no rush to get Northam out – their State legislative elections are in November and the GOP would be totally ok with this albatross hanging around the Democrats’ neck at the time.

Super Bowl Open Thread

Mark Noonan14 Comments

Super Bowl is a bit “meh”. We all know that Brady and the Patriots are going to win…and we don’t really like the Rams, either. But, I’ll watch…

Legal Insurrection has a positive review of “First Man”. A movie I really wanted to see, until I found out they cut the flag raising bit. What really irritated me is that I know the real reason they did: the Chinese market. Mark my words on this: the world would very much like to erase the fact that not only were Americans first to the Moon, but the Americans who did it were AMERICAN to their finger tips. And I mean from Astronauts down to the guys who cleaned up after hours. The world grits their teeth on it…and they are hoping that the next human to the Moon is non-American so they can completely emphasize that and try to make Armstrong into a footnote. This is why I want us back there before anyone else…and to Mars before anyone else.

Word is that Trump’s SOTU will be about “Choosing Greatness”. Good theme. It’ll irritate the liberals…and it’ll be funny to watch them claim that “Choosing Greatness” doesn’t mean things like Moon shots, but providing free college.

Why was Northam’s picture not used? Well:

During the 1992 campaign, I was a military aide to an assistant secretary in one of the cabinet departments and all of my counterparts were Bush Schedule C appointees. Through them, I became acquainted with some senior people on the Bush campaign team. There was tons of oppo on Bill Clinton and his horndogging and the fights between Bill and Hillary on the campaign trail and some really salacious stuff on Hillary’s extra-curricular activities but the Bush campaign elected not to use it in large part because Bush was still stinging from the Willie Horton ad. So finding a GOP campaign acting against its own interests for the sake of being a noble loser isn’t new. I would submit the 2008 McCain campaign had as its objective to be a gracious loser to the first viable black presidential candidate. I’ve never really been convinced Mitt Romney wanted anything more than to lose cleanly in 2012.

I find this to be entirely believable. I’m quite certain that the reason the Left has rolled from one triumph to another since 1968 in spite of being insanely out of step with the American majority is because the GOP simply refused to fight. It is why so many people hate Trump – he is fighting. And, by fighting, winning. And, now: what don’t we know about all the senior Democrats of the past 40 years? I’ll bet its a lot – there are probably whole file cabinets of dirt that GOPers have, but never used.

Some military leaders in Venezuela are starting to break with the Communist dictatorship. I hope it is true: a nice revolution overthrowing the left is always a good thing.

Misanthropic Humanitarian over at Ace goes over the way the left is going after Mrs. Pence. This is battle space prep, in my view: they still hope to get Trump out, and so wish to pre-smear the Pence’s…and even if they can’t get Trump out, smearing them works long-term because it is highly likely that Pence will run in 2024 and, also, as the Pence’s are deeply Christian, such a campaign works towards the Left’s general desire to demonize Christians out of public life.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan16 Comments

So, Ralph Northam (D-In Deep Doo Doo) is, so far, refusing to quit after a photo was found of him either in blackface or a Klan outfit (it still isn’t clear just which of the two he was). Though rumors fly that he will quit. Some Democrats are calling for him to step down, others are standing by him…and the MSM is just furious. At us; for noticing. Banner week for the Democrats: infanticide, closet racism and Pelosi’s approval rating dropping like a rock. Best joke so far: we’re keeping Northam comfortable while we discuss whether his governorship is viable.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are starting to line up against Trump for 2020. Latest entrant: Cory Booker. T Bone could not be reached for comment.

They all seem like ill-educated clowns, to me: but, then again, maybe I’m not the right guy to judge. I’d like to think that none of them have a chance, but each of them is running because they are sure that if they get the Democrat nomination, the entirety of the global Establishment will move heaven and earth to get them elected. Against all that, we’ll have Trump and us. Who will prove the stronger? Time will tell.

I’m betting on Trump and us.

Apparently there is a lot of discounting for prescription drugs but you and I don’t get to see it: Trump wants to make it so we do. Outside the limelight, Trump and his Administration just keep working away to make things better for regular folks. He should be re-elected with 60% of the vote. If we had an honest media, he would.

Trump is also rebuilding our Navy: we just let out a contract two build two Ford Class carriers at once. The carriers are good. Saving money by building two at once is great. Best of all is the maintenance of a large, experienced workforce for such things. We get into a shooting war with a major power, we might have to replace sunk and damaged carriers in a hurry, and we’ll need the skilled people to do it.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan38 Comments

RBG, where are you?

NATO will increase defense spending by $100 billion. Amazing what you can get when you have a President who asks.

The former Starbucks CEO (some rich dude; could care less who he really is) is rumored to be planning an Independent, moderate liberal campaign for President. And this, naturally, scares the bejabbers out of the Democrats. Can you imagine their tears if Trump wins New Jersey with 43% of the vote? Anyways, typical for modern liberal fascism, they are trying to intimidate him into not running.

Meanwhile, to make liberals even happier: rumors persist that Hillary may yet run again.

Don Surber gives you some idea about what a loss to journalism the death of Buzzfeed would be.

RSM goes over a recent murder case: poor, little girl is killed in a drive by. She’s black and, in the initial confusion, her family says the suspect is a white man. Cue the MSM to scream “hate crime” all over the place. The case quietly dropped out of the news when two black men were arrested for the crime. The family appears mortified by what happened – and, I would be, too. Not only the unbearable pain of losing a family member, but also being made the focus of a false MSM Narrative. This sort of thing is getting out of hand – liberals (and Never Trump, but I repeat myself) are ginning up hatred and division for mere partisan advantage…but when you feed hate, hate is what you’ll get.

Victor Davis Hanson goes over this sort of thing in relation to the Covington boys. What must be kept in mind is that racism – real racism – is almost non-existent in America in 2019. So, too, with homophobia and sexism. This is why the left insists there are “dog whistles” and “white privilege”. You can’t find anything remotely approaching Bull Connor, so you have to make up things to fill the role. And part of making up things is to make up racial incidents. And, so, they make them up – the more I hear about the Convington case, the more convinced I am that people went there to do it…and merely looked around until they found targets they thought they could frame (with the help of an MSM which would accept the Narrative and try to suppress the facts). The problem is that if you treat people like dirt – and the Convington boys were treated like dirt – then eventually the people you spit on are going to strike back. Hard.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan63 Comments

Act Blue is supposedly a small-donor organization allowing Democrats to give small amounts which are then passed out to various causes and candidates. In my view, the actuality is that it is a money-laundering operation taking in big donor cash in small increments and then passing it out to various causes and candidates. Be that as it may, it is a powerful fundraising tool for the Democrats, as we saw in 2018. The GOP seeks to counter it with an organization which will genuinely take in small donor cash. It is important to counter the Democrats – not that the money is all too important, but donations to such groups are considered a barometer of political health with the grassroots.

Nathan Phillips, the leftist Native American activist who caused the ruckus with the Catholic boys is not a Vietnam Vet – and if a DD-214 I saw earlier is correct, he’s a former USMC reservist with only a little more than two years active service and a lot of AWOL in there. In short, he’s just like all leftwing activists: a dishonest grifter.

Related: Covington kids are going to the White House.

Ace has been on fire about the Covington case – if you’re not a regular reader of the blog, you’re missing out. Come on: go over there and become the Moron you were always meant to be (look it up: you’ll find out in the archives why you’re a Moron). Anyways, he’s had a lot of choice words of late:

…maybe donate to American Greatness. Or to the American Mind. Or to The Federalist — so when FusionGPS’ paid ops sh** out the twitter hashtag #WhoFundsTheFederalist?, you can say, “I fund them, motherf***er.”

Or donate to this here blog.

Should we continue funding failure? What do we expect will come out of our continuing investment in failure?

We asked them to take our concerns to the establishment, to act as our tribunes to the actual decision-makers, so that our concerns would be addressed.

They mostly refused, and mostly delivered the establishment’s concerns to us.

We asked them to take our side against the media’s constant attacks.

They mostly refused. People like David French have a nice little cottage industry going of calling conservatives racists in The Atlantic.

We asked them to score a political victory for us once in a while.

They completely failed. This may be our fault, for wrongly assuming they had any efficacy or influence to begin with.

Now we’re down to the very most minimal request: Please don’t scalp-hunt our children just because Jezebel and the HuffPo are doing it and you don’t want to feel like a left-out Nazi.

Kurt Schlichter: everyone who takes on Trump gets crushed. It really does seem that way, doesn’t it? I think it is because he’s the first GOPer in a very, very long while who really takes on the left. Reagan did it a bit, but never with the knee-to-groin ruthlessness necessary. I note, with great care, that Trump never starts these fights…but when he punches back, he punches to knock out. And usually does.

Never been a particular fan of Jeanine Pirro – and these days I just don’t watch much TV (its more of a device to watch DVD’s on, now; and I’m wondering why I pay for cable, at all) – but she let rip on Pelosi:

“So let me see if I understand this: An American mother shows a picture of a child murdered by an illegal, and Chuck Schumer and his gang they come out and show pictures of federal employees. Is there a moral equivalency here? Are you folks, schizo?”

“Are you working for Americans or illegals? Or is it that you just don’t give a damn? You vacation in Hawaii. Your buddies vacation in Puerto Rico during a shutdown and you plan a jaunt to Europe while federal employees are trying to save every dollar to buy groceries. Admit it — you don’t give a damn.”

It is an important point – but do keep in mind that our liberals don’t view it like that. I know: I’ve got deep blue friends. They are convinced that Pelosi spends her whole life caring and only wants to help everyone and only us mean, racist, sexist, homophobic Republicans stand in the way. Even back in 2009 when the had the White House and overwhelming Congressional majorities.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan34 Comments

Robert Stacy McCain offers some sage advice for any young men out there seeking female companionship.

I’ll add a small note: I definitely fall into the bottom 15% (read it, you’ll understand), but if there are any youngsters out there reading this, I’ll double down on McCain’s advice about having a self-deprecating sense of humor. It is very useful! When you really do it right, a lady will think you’re charming. That goes a long way.

Seal the deal by learning how to cook.

Democrats are already lining up to run against Trump. Illustrative of how this will go is Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI). She’s as liberal as the day is long but deep in her background was a time when she wasn’t full-blown liberal. Because of these past heresies, she’s being mercilessly savaged in the liberal world. Mark my words: for 2020, the left – which controls who gets the Democrat nomination – will not settle for anything less than an Absolute Not Trump. Their nominee will have to sign off on the very latest iteration of whatever it is the left is hating Trump about, no matter how obscure or silly it is. If someone on the left makes an accusation against Trump, everyone who wants to be the Democrat nominee will have to subscribe to it. It’ll get really interesting.

In re the Wall and Shutdown, Don Surber notes that Trump Hatred has trapped the Democrats – they hate him so much they are fighting over an amount of money that is so small, it works out to a rounding error. Earlier, I happened to overhear someone conversing with another about the mess – the person doing most of the talking was apparently married to a furloughed worker and went on and on and on about what a bad man Trump was, how stupid the wall was, blah, blah, blah. What was remarkable, to me, was that the other party – while clearly having no love for Trump – kept pushing back and insisting that the wall was necessary because the border does have to be controlled. I think we’re seeing that dynamic play out nationwide: the Democrats just keep repeating their talking points, but it is blowing right past non-Democrats because everyone can see the fight is about nearly nothing and, what the heck, why not build the wall? I think Trump will win this – only a craven surrender by the Senate GOP could derail us, and I don’t think Cocaine Mitch is in the mood to surrender.

It’s a poll from a Libertarian outfit (and, so, probably skewed anti-war), but it shows that the American people largely back Trump’s withdrawal from Syria. I’d have to look it up for how long ago I wanted us to withdraw from the Middle East, entirely: but it was a while back ago. Long before Trump. I did, of course, back the war in Iraq but I thought at the time – given Bush’s “axis of evil” bit – that it was a mere precursor to war with the actual source of the Middle East problem: Iran. I would have had it – Iraq, then Syria/Lebanon…and, then, if Iran hadn’t collapse, on to Tehran to finish the job. A swift moving series of military actions, with no fussing about nation building (I’d prefer we just find local strongmen and let them rule the locals, backed by our force), would have rocked the enemy on his heels and, also, prevented an anti-war left from really coalescing. Bush decided to do it differently, likely on the advice of people at State and Defense. I don’t think the American people are anti-war, as such, but they are anti-war-forever. They are anti-no-victory. They are anti-wasting-time-and-lives. If we go to war, we should go all the way. And if we can’t see our way to that, we should just stay home.