The Russian Collusion story seems to have wound up here:

Sources with knowledge of the ads tell CNN that they ranged from posts promoting gun rights and the Second Amendment to posts warning about what they said was the threat undocumented immigrants posed to American democracy.

Some ads promoted Black Lives Matter while others decried it, as the Washington Post reported Monday.

The apparent goal of the ads, the sources who spoke with CNN said, was to amplify political discord and fuel an atmosphere of incivility and chaos around the 2016 presidential campaign, not necessarily to promote one candidate or cause over another.

So, what we’ve got here is a foreign power seeking to sow division in the United States. Pardon me while I get my shocked face on. We all know that the whole Trump/Russia thing was bogus from start to finish – ginned up post-election likely to cover up the Obama Administration’s spying on Team Trump during the campaign.

The Democrats and the MSM (but I repeat myself) are still trying to gin up the hurricane damage in Puerto Rico as Trump’s Katrina – but, it won’t work. There is simply too much federal aid flowing to Puerto Rico.

Some reporting on the Equifax hack. My view: credit reports should be banned. To concentrate that much personal information in one place invites hacking. Using a person’s social security number as their main identifier is not just a security risk, it is a very stupid security risk. Ban them. Let banks actually get back to underwriting their loans. In 2017, just assume that everyone who wants your personal financial information has it – and just carefully monitor your credit activity for anything suspicious.

The Pen and Phone cuts both ways: Trump to issue executive order allowing insurance sales across State lines.

Steelers owner says he’s trying to stay out of politics. Too late. You had your chance when the first player knelt: you could have suspended or fired that guy and thus put the word out that politics has no place in Football. You tolerated it, and how it has blown up in your face. As an aside: I think our Progressives were expecting Trump to lose this fight because of a theory that we hick morons would choose Football over country. They really don’t understand us, at all.

Past 41,000 words, now. But I’m kind of at an impasse as to where, precisely, the narrative goes. So, how about a blog post? Let’s start off with a quote:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”

This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street. Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease. But the truth is that nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, or that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion. – G K Chesterton

A huge amount of our problem is that for about the last 250 years, large numbers of people have insisted upon reforms when they are almost entirely ignorant of just how the current situation arose. I’d pay more attention, for instance, to their complaints about Capitalism if they knew what it was, and why it is here. I, too, have many complaints about the Capitalist system…but these are based upon understanding both the flaws and strengths of the system. Most people complaining about it have merely been told it is unfair and have never examined the assertion…meanwhile, they eagerly swallow the idea that Socialism is superior because they simply don’t know what has happened in Socialist nations.

Yet another Federal judge has decided that a judge should set immigration policy. I think all such moves will eventually be struck down by the Supreme Court. It is just absurd to think that a city or State can defy federal law on immigration matters. I’m a huge fan of local control – but immigration is not a local issue.

Reporter runs into some thugs during a protest and gets frightened. Meanwhile, not one TEA Party or Trumpster has ever done something like that. Odd that MSMers still go with the line that TEA Party and Trumpsters are a threat.

In case you missed the great boobs controversy on Social Media, Don Surber has a run-down on it. Mostly it was a cause of very, very funny jokes for hours yesterday. Naturally, as a Conservative I refused to join in who am I kidding? I Tweeted out joke after joke.

Sixteen Years have passed – incredible that it has been that long, already. I can still remember it very vividly. Here’s the kicker, there are more and more adult Americans who can’t remember that day, or only remember it vaguely. We’ve fooled around with this issue, especially since 2009. This is a war that should have been over by 2006, at the latest. But because we’ve been dictated to by political cowards, we’re still at it. The fighting and the dying continue. Meanwhile, the real threat of Iran and China continues to grow. I hope that we finally obtain the courage to deal squarely with Islamist terrorism and finish the war.

California may move it’s primary to March – thus likely providing a boost to Kamala Harris’ Presidential ambitions (a lot of Democrats see her as Obama II: there is the similarity that both of them are all Narrative, but the harsh reality is that Narrative simply won’t go far any more: hard to catch lightening in a bottle twice). On the other hand, it could just be lobbing an expensive hand grenade into the Democrat primary system. Think about it: if Favorite Daughter Harris wins (as would be expected) then all the other candidates would say, “ignore it, Harris had a built-in advantage”. Meanwhile, if Jerry Brown jumps in (and his ego might make him do it), then you could have a bruising primary battle where no one emerges a clear winner. The bottom line for Democrats, in my view, is that their coalition is massively strained and likely to burst asunder. The MSM and Experts keep yammering on about GOP divisions (and they are deep and real – but the divisions are not among the GOP base, but among the fading GOP leadership), but the reality is that the Democrat base is in a state of flux…there are elements in it who very much insist upon the most extreme leftwing positions and won’t accept any watering down of them: that is not the worst of it. The worst of it is that each of these positions is political poison outside of the deep blue areas of the country and the adoption of all or some of them by whomever the Democrats nominate will make it next to impossible to appeal to an electoral college majority.

Antifa is willing to break bones and invade homes – I am very certain they won’t try this in the deep red areas of the country. I do believe, however, that antifa radicalism will turn off a lot of moderates who would normally never go for Trump…but if faced in 2020 with a choice between Trump and a Democrat who is in any way tied to antifa, such moderates will either go Trump, or stay home.

Story is that Hillary was so confident of victory that she purchased a second home in New York to accommodate White House staff. The circle of humiliation is complete…

Franco Harris suggests that Mean Joe Greene would have had a way of managing Kaepernick’s disrespectful behavior.

Millenial is upset that she keeps hooking up with Trump supporters. Please indulge your sense of humor freely.

Robert Stacy McCain with an obituary for a recently deceased feminist icon.

Trump makes a deal with Pelosi and Schumer and everyone is upset – I was, too, when I first saw it. The deal is to extend the debt and spending to December in return for hurricane relief right away. Some are saying that Trump got rolled – that come December, it’ll just be as it is, now, and in order to get spending and the debt over with, again, Trump will just have to knuckle under and go with the Democrats. It could be that way – but after pondering it, I don’t see what else Trump could do. You see, the GOP wanted an 18 month extension on the debt…in other words, to get the issue past the 2018 mid-terms, but far enough in front of 2020 that their vote on extending it, again, for no Conservative return would be acceptable. In other words, the GOPe was going to screw over it’s voters, again. Now, we still might get screwed over on this, but what will now hit in December is DACA, Debt and Wall. Trump wants all three. Democrats want two of the three. GOPe wants the same two of the three. But if Trump plays his cards right, the GOPe won’t get it’s two, nor the Democrats their two, unless Trump gets his three. We’ll see if Trump can do it – if he’s really learning the ropes of doing business in DC and is now going to use Democrat and GOPe foolishness in order to undo both sides of the Uniparty.

The left is going full blast against Columbus – part of their desire to go full blast against all things American, in the end. Remember, the left hates this country – they honestly believe (because they get their history from books which simply lie about America) that this nation was evil from the get-go and only a complete renunciation of the past coupled with the imposition of a Progressive ideology can make our nation worthy. We have to fight them on this – and I’ll start the ball rolling by saying that the concept of Columbus as a bad man is false from start to finish. He wasn’t a slaver. He wasn’t trying to kill and destroy. He was trying to explore so that trade could expand and the world be made, ultimately, a better place. He was incredibly brave and was one heck of a seaman. He was heroic in the largest sense of the word and we can do no better than trying to emulate him.

Putin nixes an oil embargo on North Korea. At the end of the day, both Russia and China – very stupidly, in my view – think there is a value in the North Korean regime remaining a strategic thorn in our side. I think we will be pressed to carry out some military action to teach the North Korean regime that there is a limit and they can’t cross it.

A HuffPo writer put out a call for any DACA recipient who voted for Trump to get in touch – probably so he could write a story about how such people have now turned on Trump. Problem is: DACA recipients can’t vote. Don’t know if the writer was ignorant of this, or forgot that the MSM holds to the line that non-citizens don’t vote in our election.

For some reason, Trump’s FBI is fighting Congress over the release of information on the infamous Trump Dossier. It is, of course, Deep State people in the FBI trying to gum up the works, but one wonders why Sessions and Trump are laying the law down on this.

Senator Flake is in trouble for his re-election bid next year – it is a good analysis, but I think Flake is likely doomed simply because he’s taken too hard a stance against President Trump. Its not a matter of disagreeing with him (lots of people in that corner) but that Flake comes off as a Never Trumper who simply cannot conceded that Trump is, indeed, the President of the United States. The Trumpster vote in AZ will desert him in the primary…now, whether or not the GOPer who gets the nomination can beat the eventual Democrat in a State slowly trending blue remains to be seen. I think that it can happen – mostly because I think that a very large number of Democrats are completely switching to the GOP as Trump changes the party from a Think-Tank Conservative party to a Populist Conservative party. Time will tell if I’m reading this right.

It appears that Comey was prepared to let Hillary off the hook before the investigation was completed. Of course, we all knew that, already – but it is nice to have some confirmation on it. Why do we have Trump? Well, lots of reasons – but one of them is that those who are powerful get special deals.

What this ultimately means to me is that it is past time for President Trump to shut down Mueller…essentially, the whole Trump/Russia thing came out of the Obama Administration and this revelation about Comey indicates that the FBI and Justice were corrupted by political influence under the Obama Administration (but, once again, you already knew that). Given that Obama Administration fingerprints are all over the Trump/Russia issue, there is no way that any investigation based upon anything that happened prior to 1/20/17 will be seen as legitimate. So, end it. If someone comes up with some solid information which was never seen or heard by anyone in the Obama Administration, then we can start it up again. But, for now, we should have done with it – especially as Mueller is trying to get the New York AG to go after Trump people…because he’s got nothing he can charge in federal court (likely) and, additionally, Trump can’t pardon on State crimes. End it. It is a farce.

Rumor is that Trump will end – or severely curtail – DACA tomorrow. We’ll see. It would set liberal heads exploding across the fruited plain. But it is also the right thing to do. As I’ve said, I’m in favor of amnesty – but not via Executive fiat. I do understand the problem of kids brought in illegally by their parents…but what we are ultimately to do about them has to be done according to law, not Presidential whim.

A Memphis theater is cancelling a showing of Gone With the Wind. They are cancelling it because Progressive snowflakes are complaining. I’d rather they cancelled it because it is just a silly movie with an entirely un-historical plot. Personally, I can’t watch the movie – it is too degrading a mindset, in my view.

Hollywood: stuck in the past – V the K at Gay Patriot:

…here we are, 44 years later, and Hollywood is still churning out overpopulation movies. Even though current demographic trends in the Western world point to population decline, not overpopulation. And if we could get Africans to use birth control, then we pretty much would have global population decline.

So, why is Hollywood still beating this old drum? Well, for one thing, liberal (in the leftist, not classical sense) culture has ossified around the concerns of the hippie baby-boomers who defined the modern left. If it was a big deal in 1972, then to them it’s a big deal in 2017; which is why we’re stuck with all this ridiculous race obsession, and why Hollywood makes stupid movies about overpopulation. But I think another part of it is that overpopulation provides a rationale for abortion, and we all know how much Hollywood loves abortion.

The most common charge leveled against witches in the Middle Ages was that they prevented the birth of children. Oddly enough, have found out that one of the social leaders of the Progressive set is, in fact, into witchcraft and such.

Rhambo says Chicago will tackle climate change – which is actually easier than tackling a skyrocketing murder rate, I guess.

Allegedly violent leftist looking at a long prison sentence claims he’s the victim.

Legal Insurrection has a run-down on the Alabama special election to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate. The Outsider Trump-like candidate Roy Moore is polling in the lead while the Establishment guy, Luther Strange, is coming up second. Winning the GOP primary is to win the Seat – but to win it outright, one of the candidates has to get 50%…if no one does, the top two go to a runoff. Oddly, Trump endorsed McConnell’s guy, Strange (who was appointed by the governor to fill Sessions’ seat) – and that endorsement was right before Trump started ripping into McConnell a bit over the Obamacare failure. Very odd – some are holding this as a mere Trump mistake in endorsing the Establishment guy and that we True Conservatives should push back and help the Outsider win…which would help Trump in the long run. I’m not so sure – mostly because I’m not so sure that Trump has it in for McConnell while I’m getting more and more convinced that Trump’s best friend on Capitol Hill might be McConnell.

McConnell is a realist – he knows that for better or worse, the fortunes of the GOP go with Trump. Trump wins, GOP wins – Trump loses, GOP loses. For someone like McConnell, it doesn’t matter what you think about Trump: all that matters is how to work Trump for the benefit of the GOP. And, of course, someone like McConnell has an extremely thick skin – he’s not about to go into a fuss about some bull-in-the-china-shop stuff from Trump. Furthermore, the “battle” between McConnell and Trump might be rather contrived – designed to allow Trump to continue to burnish his anti-Establishment street cred at no real cost while Trump and McConnell quietly lay the groundwork for legislative victory in the future…and in that, both McConnell and Trump won’t need ideologically committed warriors, but “party men” who will do what the leadership wants…and, so, Strange would be their guy. We’ll see how it comes out.

Serena Williams opined that she was excited about the prospect of being a mother as it would make her feel like “a real woman”. The left reacted to this as you would expect. I’ll have to defer to mothers out there about just how being a mother makes one feel – but I suspect that a gigantic amount of biology hangs upon the fact of being a mother. The basic characteristic of feminism is to deny what is distinctly feminine – as I noted in a very long quote from Chesterton the other day. There is a gigantic level of absurdity out there in feminism which holds that women can only be happy if they do things that men do…as if being a wife, mother and homemaker is somehow less than being a rent-seeking politician, or some such. Hate to break it to everyone, but being a mother is the absolute most important thing anyone can be – because if we don’t have mothers, we don’t have people.

Hillary was recently videotaped being normal- V the K comments:

…I get that except for a few embarrassingly deranged and obsessed dead-enders like Peter Daou and Lena Dunham, most people recognize that Hillary is over. It’s not about sticking another fork in the old bag, it’s… what … psychologically speaking… is her deal? First it was the ‘spontaneous meeting’ in the woods with a ‘neighbor’ who turned out to be a Hillary 2016 campaign worker. And now, it’s this ‘casual stroll’ in New York City carefully documented by a professional videographer.

First of all, what is the source of this psychological need to present herself as a normal person? Real, normal people don’t obsess over being perceived as real normal people. Second, why is the vehicle for her portraying herself as a normal person… carefully choreographed and stage-managed ‘spontaneous events?’ that are professionally documented and provided to the press…

My guess: she’s laying the groundwork for another run in 2020…yet another re-invention of her persona: in this case, the wise Elder Stateswoman who took her loss with grace and will now bless us with the opportunity of correcting our deplorable error in 2016.

The Nation says that the DNC hack was actually an inside job. One crucial bit of information – which does need to be checked, I don’t have anything like the knowledge to opine on it’s validity – is that the amount of data taken was too much to be done via a remote hack: that it would have to have been done by plugging into the computer in question. Anyone savvy on tech issues is free to advise. But I’ve long suspected it was an inside job – perhaps by some disgruntled Bernie supporters. What I’m really looking for is a way to tie all this together – the hack, the absurd Russia collusion story, that bogus dossier used to smear Trump (and perhaps as justification for a FISA warrant on his team), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ bizarre IT guy. We could be sitting on a scandal the likes of which DC has never seen – seriously: make Watergate pale in comparison.

Don Surber notes that last year’s election was the 9/11 of our Progressives – they’ll never get over it. And probably never cease to be rather insane about it.

Had the grand-kids over for the week – so, too busy to post. Completely exhausted, now. Lots of fun!

Anyways…

Google is providing more proof that large corporations are inimical to everything the United States is supposed to stand for. If we Conservatives really want a Conservative America, we’re going to have to wrap our heads around the fact that large corporations are just as baleful (at least) as large government bureaucracies. Of course, large corporations are merely large bureaucracies. You think anyone is really in charge? That there is a fixed plan? No – its all ad hoc. Just a bunch of people rent-seeking and time-serving. The path of least resistance in a large corporate body (government or private) is to just go along with whomever is whining the loudest. As Progressives are professional whiners, all large bureaucracies will eventually become home and haven to Progressives. The worst of it is that, once captured, said bureaucracy becomes a means of enforcing Progressive ideas – regardless of how insane they are in terms of government policy or corporate profitability. All large corporations have to be broken up: make them smaller and make them compete to stay alive: that, right there, will lower the ability of Progressives to rule the roost. I’m not mad at Google – I’m mad there aren’t several other “Googles” out there to take immediate advantage of folly.

The crisis in North Korea is just endless proof of MacArthur’s statement – in war, there is no substitute for victory. This mess isn’t Trump’s – it is a mess 60 years in the making and entirely produced by the political cowardice of American leadership. I don’t know how this comes out, save that absurd fears of a nuclear exchange are just stupid. North Korea’s regime doesn’t want to commit suicide. They just want to saber rattle so they can get some bribes. We’ll see what comes out – but if Trump holds firm, you will see North Korea backing down at some point.

The official word is that Trump is losing his base. If so, then Trump is done for. I don’t see it – haven’t seen Trumpsters jumping ship, that is. We’ll see how things come out in the coming elections – that will be the only way we’ll know. But Trump is, by and large, doing what he said he’d do, or at least trying to…and the fact that the GOPe and the overall Establishment are trying to stop it is far more likely to cement Trump’s base of support than dissipate it.

That’s all for now – how you guys been doing?

I’m seriously thinking that President Trump should clear out every single staffer he inherited from previous Administrations and replace them with people who have either never worked in government, or at least haven’t worked in it for some time. Trump has made some great picks for the commanding heights of the Administration, but down lower we’ve still got a bunch of Obama-bots undermining his policy choices. The President can’t just fire people thanks to various civil service laws, but we can transfer them to the sticks and bring in a whole raft of new people. I offer my services as a foreign and military policy staffer. Sure, I don’t have any credentials…but I’ve read and studied a lot and I certainly couldn’t do any worse than the clowns we’ve got in there. Might do better – and, most importantly, a new set of staffers brought in from outside wouldn’t be leaking and undermining. Additionally, a completely fresh look at the situation from people not wedded to conventional wisdom would likely come up with some good solutions.

If you do a good job as a Venezuelan soldier, you get your reward: toilet paper.

Trump gave a speech to the Boy Scouts and now the Progressives and Never Trump are attacking the Scouts. Trump will be re-elected in a landslide.

Rumors abound of an impending change in the Attorney General’s slot…I doubt it. I think Trump is putting pressure on Sessions, but it is all part of a program to eventually shut this whole Russia nonsense down. We’ll see, of course.

That Minnesota police officer who shot the Australian woman was fast-tracked on to the police force. Official word is he went through the normal hiring process…but if you fast track someone, you are by definition not doing through the normal hiring process. I’d be entirely unsurprised to learn that in an eagerness to obtain “diversity”, corners were cut.

Smug, condescending Progressive advises Progressives to not be so smug and condescending as they lead us benighted bigots into GoodThink.

Feds have seized DWS’s smashed hard drives. A bit of real news which might have some astonishing consequences.

An otherwise good review of the movie Dunkirk has this bit:

…the fact that there are only a couple of women and no lead actors of color may rub some the wrong way…

And, he’s right about that – it is sure to do so. But only because all too many people haven’t a clue of what happened further back than last week. What is your best guess on the number of Americans who can identify the significance of the word “Dunkirk”? I’m betting it’s less than 1 in 10. Brits would probably have a higher number, but I’ll additionally bet that its somewhat less than a majority of the population. And that gets me thinking – Americans might be vaguely familiar with such WWII battles as Okinawa and the Battle of the Bulge, but I’ll bet not one in a thousand knows of Tarawa or Anzio. We’re just not teaching history – or much of anything else, as this shows:

Algebra is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree — particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads.

It is also the single most failed course in community colleges across the country. So if you’re not a STEM major (science, technology, engineering, math), why even study algebra?

The article goes on to give all sorts of arguments about why algebra isn’t needed – but you know what the real bottom line is: the kids are having trouble with it and it is vastly easier to just excuse them from it than it is to teach them the knowledge. Used to be, getting into college was hard and only the intellectual elite (and those with daddy’s who could buy their way in) got to go. But then colleges figured out that more butts in seats = more money for the college. This is just another method whereby Big Education proposes to keep the diploma mill grinding.

Word is that Trump will terminate aid to the “moderate” Syrian rebels. Some are upset about this – including some on the right. I can’t see why. There is zero chance those rebels will ever get atop Assad as long as Russia is backing him unless we go to war directly with Assad, and thus risk a war with Russia. And even if we decide the risk is worth it, what real assurance do we have that the successor regime to Assad would be any better? Sure, they are called “moderate”, but what does that really mean? Moderate compared to what? For my money, I say we go with the Kurds – help them form an independent nation with territory carved out of, initially, Iraq and Syria. I’ve never heard of Kurds organizing a beheading party, nor stoning people for minor moral failings. As for Assad, we have vastly more rebuild money than Russia or Iran does, so maybe we can wean him away from his allies? Look, it’s a lousy situation in Syria – Obama really screwed up the best US policy options when he was President. We might not be able to get anything good out of there…and keeping up support for rebels who can’t win only means the killing goes on longer. I’m not on board with that.

Mueller apparently is widening his investigation of all things Trump. I really do hope that Trump just fires him. The firestorm would be over in a week or so. There’s nothing to investigate except paranoid, Democrat/NeverTrump delusions. End it.

You might care about whether or not someone is forced to bake the cake, but you will be made to care.

If you want to look into a real political scandal, then the unmasking scandal of the Obama Administration is a good place to start.

We’re going to bury Joe on the 17th – he’ll have the honor guard there to fold the flag. We’ll be placing him with his wife – and hard by where my folks are buried. Can’t say this enough – take the time to talk to your old folks; you may never get another chance. And, also, look after them…there are pitfalls aplenty for a man or woman when they get into advanced years.

The latest Trump-Russia kerfuffle doesn’t remotely impress me. That an agent of Team Trump would meet with someone who claims to have oppo dirt on the other candidate seems pretty much Politics 101. At all events, I’m not about to be lectured on what patriotism and treason are from a side which was ok with Fonda posing on an NVA anti-aircraft gun, and which lionized Ted Kennedy, who actually sought Russian help to defeat Reagan in 1984.

Republicans have an increasingly negative attitude towards higher education – given that we are routinely condemned in the institutions of higher education, this just stands to reason. Also, however, there isn’t much education actually going on in such places. To be sure, a large part of the problem is the Progressive orthodoxy which is prevalent, but the real problem is that most institutions of higher education are loyal to the Almighty Dollar. They dumb down the curriculum and allow the kids to act like jerks because tough curriculum and tight discipline means fewer students, and that means fewer dollars. Cut off federal funds – of all types – from any institution which doesn’t adhere to high standards and keep tight discipline and the problem pretty much solves itself…the kids won’t be allowed to be dumb jerks, and the professors and administrators who allowed such nonsense will be given the boot.

A reporter discovered that gay Jews were excluded from a recent Pride parade…and now that reporter is working the sales desk.

This won’t end well: judge releases a man described as mentally ill, after he was accused of assaulting a police officer.