Open Thread

I Beg Your Pardon Open Thread

Mark Noonan17 Comments

The funniest thing about Biden pardoning Hunter is the pretend-shock among the Left and Never Trumpers…those who aren’t immediately getting on board with the pardon (which is most of them) are all “well, I never! Who could have thought that Joe Biden would lie to us???”. Just another reminder that Trump’s most important act to date was taking out the trash on the Right.

It is a ten year pardon – going back to just before Hunter was placed on the board of Bursima. Which means that he’s now skating on everything he did during that time and Joe is betting that Trump’s DOJ won’t indict him on his part of it (Hunter can’t refuse to testify now – his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination doesn’t apply…he can’t be prosecuted for these things). This is probably a good bet – and might have already been discussed between Biden and Trump. Biden isn’t going to live much longer anyway…and even if indicted, his lawyers could very easily get a declaration that he’s not competent to stand trial. What was extra funny is that given the wording of it, there was a several hour period where Hunter could have robbed a bank yesterday and there would have been nothing anyone could do about it…Biden pardoned Hunter for everything done to December 1st.

There was, of course, zero chance that Hunter wasn’t going to skate…there was no way Biden was going to die while his only living son was locked up. This is over and above the Biden Crime Family aspect of it…it just wasn’t going to happen. All those firm statements that he wouldn’t were just lies…and everyone knew they were lies when stated. But what is odd is that usually these are done right out the door…in the last week in office, some times on the last day. Makes me (and others) wonder about the health status of Joe right now? Someone was in a hurry to get this done.

Trump posted on Truth right after tying this to the J6 defendants and so the expectation is that they walk sometime in the afternoon of January 20th. There is still some debate about how widespread the pardons should be – some arguing that only non-violent people should be pardoned. Nope: in my view, its gotta be everyone. And then compensation for them. We must “insult to injury” here. We have to let the Democrats now that it is over – their whole lawfare scheme is done and now the real law is about to be turned on them.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan24 Comments

So, how did that Thanksgiving feel? I mean, sure, the Macy’s parade was still pretty woke but that seemed like an ancient relic, didn’t it? The football was back to being pretty football-y (except you still can’t defend against the pass these days), having Thanksgiving dinner with the family felt more Thanksgiving-y. It felt like America again…like the last four years was just a nightmare we’ve all woken up from. And of course Donald Trump tweeted out Thanksgiving greetings even to the haters and losers. It was just a great day yesterday.

But, still, the Left is there!

Jack Smith is apparently going to give a hit-piece “report” about Trump to Garland who will, of course, release it to the press. I’m pretty confident this is actually illegal…and if it isn’t, it should be made so. What’s happening here is that after the prosecutor gave up on the case, he’s throwing into the public square what he couldn’t prove in court and/or under oath. Its mere slandering. The accused has no effective means of refuting the charges. Just a final garbage act from some really garbage people.

Its been weeks and people are still dunking on the Experts who called the election wrong. I know this because something I said on August 24th has been re-engaged on X: “Trump by 5 on 11/5 and you know it”. This in response to an Expert who was asserting that Harris would win by 8. I was wrong, of course: Trump is up by 3 (with almost all of it counted…but still above 50%!)…but my 2 point miss wasn’t an 11 point miss like an Expert can do.

That does bring to mind our missing friend, Casper. I figure he’s in the midst of one of two things:

  1. Finally realizing that if they were lying about the election that badly, maybe they’re lying about everything else.
  2. Going ever deeper into Resist conspiracy theories to explain it away (latest I’ve seen is an assertion that Putin ordered Musk to use Starlink to change Harris votes to Trump).

I lean towards 2 as the most likely outcome…admitting error is the hardest thing any human being can do…and for the Left, the admission of error comes along with admitting that you supported (actively or passively) things that are downright immoral.

In response to Trump’s border and trade proposals, the Left has settled upon telling us our guacamole will get more expensive and we’ll have to do our own household chores. No line of thought has more fully shown the difference between the Left and the Right. First off, not a big guac fan and Americanized Mexican food is better than Mexican food (just as Americanized Italian, Japanese, etc food is better than its source material). Secondly, I look after my own house. I guess the Lefties really are pretty rich – or maybe they like to pretend to be rich by hiring illegal servants they can underpay? I don’t know – but I look after my own house. No, not perhaps as well as a professional landscaping company…but my yards are tidy and while it was a two day operation to trim the Phoenix canariensis (the pineapple-looking palms to you who live in frozen areas) I did get it done…and when an old sprinkler riser broke I went to Lowe’s all by myself to get a replacement. For interior cleaning as well. Full disclosure: we have hired a cleaning service a couple times but they don’t really clean what we’d like them to clean…the more tedious things that you don’t need cleaned but once or twice per year (like blinds and such). I can mop my own floor…so I’ll probably never go much into having my house cleaned by others unless physical debility requires it.

They really do live in their own world, don’t they? To be sure, some on the Right do as well – still getting pushback from Right Free Traders which I understand but, goodness, it is just a plain, historic fact that we were under Protection when we armed the whole free world in WWII. Free Trade only came to the USA post-WWII where it was felt necessary both to prevent a resumption of the Depression and to aid the rest of the world getting back on its feet. These are debatable issues but this concept that Protection = Poverty is just nonsense. Protection only becomes a problem if you’re protecting failure…but if its designed to make sure that cheap labor can’t undercut your market, then its just common sense. Remember, we’re not being out-competed by China in manufacturing…they are using slave and near-slave labor combined with low quality to simply drive out of the market all competition. This is not Trade…this is predatory and only a fool would let them continue it.

Trump, by the way, has all of his major proposed cabinet positions filled and its still nearly two months before he takes office. Just like Team Trump on the campaign trail, these people are running a very tight ship. I do think they really will hit the ground running.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan66 Comments

Trump’s cabinet is starting to shape up and it is already more solid than his first – naturally, some people already have objections to this or that pick on varied grounds but, hey, its much better we’re complaining about Trump picks than watching in dismay as Harris picks one corrupt lunatic after another. Rubio at State surprised me but I think he’ll be fine. Noem at DHS is also a bit of a surprise but also fine. On and on like that.

Trump is also laying out some agenda items and his education reform proposals – to force colleges to actually teach rather than be mere indoctrination centers – are key to the long-term survival of the United States. I’ve said for decades that we have an American Left because it is taxpayer subsidized. There are massive numbers of people who are perfectly useless being paid big money ultimately from taxpayers to advance Leftist causes in spite of popular disapproval. Just forcing colleges to cut their bloated administrative staff will be a huge victory for sanity. Deportations of illegals by the million is definitely on the agenda and I hope Democrats try to stop it – the more they are perceived as defending illegals, the better for us long term. Nobody other than corrupt fools wants illegals in country…getting them out was one of the main issues decided by this election and the people want them out. Preliminary moves are being made to bring the Ukraine war to an end (shaping up as de-facto recognition of Russian territorial gains; the cost of trying to expel the Russians being just too high for such a marginal issue – most of the people who live in Russian-occupied territory are ethnic Russians; its basically returning Ukraine’s eastern border to where it had been under the Czars).

Our House majority is terribly narrow – and it is the result of Democrats getting a lot of really good gerrymandering…some of it forced by judicial decisions. Basically if we got this House vote in 2016 it would have been 250 GOPers…now it is, at best, going to be 222. The Red States were also screwed in the census redistricting…there are 8-10 House seats sitting in Blue States which should have been assigned to Red States after 2020. This does make it crucial that we win in 2028…we must control the head count in 2030 and ensure a legal distribution of House seats (and, of course, Electoral Votes…Trump could have won without WI/MI/PA if House seats and resultant EV’s had been legally distributed). We will naturally have some House RINOs try to screw us…but we do have the power of victory. Trump won, and decisively – even the most RINO GOPer is going to be terrified of crossing Trump, at least early on…and that is when most of the work has to be done.

The Senate battle right now is over Majority Leader – I would prefer Scott but that will very much be decided by the internal dynamics of the GOP Senate. I’m looking on it calmly because even if we get ultra-RINO Cormyn, the bottom line is that common sense dictates cooperation with Trump. In 2017, McConnell didn’t go that route because he and the rest of the GOPe were convinced that Trump was a flash in the pan and a mistake…nobody looking at election results can say that now. Trump represents a huge electoral constituency which the GOP will need to retain if they want to win going forward. Failure to back Trump at least on the crucial votes would be catastrophic for the GOP.

Just keep in mind that we’re only past the first step here – we won. But the task of reviving America is going to be a long and difficult one. It won’t be remotely completed during Trump’s term. All we’re really doing here is stopping the bleeding and laying the groundwork for the future. Keep faith, keep smiling and keep praying.

Election Day Open Thread

Mark Noonan45 Comments

I fell asleep on the family room chair last night at about 9 pm – just been doing a lot of running around of late and got a bit worn out. Normally, I can never fall asleep any place outside a bed. But I woke up at near midnight and got myself into bed and then slept soundly until 5:30 am. I woke up. Brushed my teeth. Put on some coffee. Opened up X…and then saw this:

He goes on to note that every metric of the election is more favorable to Trump than in either 2016 (when he narrowly won) or 2020 (when he narrowly lost). Which is pretty much what we’ve been saying here. Still not a done deal, of course; it is just the start of election day and maybe a Blue Tsunami suddenly shows up here to alter this…but I have my doubts such a thing will happen.

Not much to say, now. Go vote if you haven’t! Drag a friend with you! Unless its a liberal friend.

UPDATE: LOL at Selzer and her Harris +3 Iowa poll.

UPDATE II: I think Casper’s prediction of 350 EV’s for Harris will fall a little short.

WE DID IT!!!!

WE WON!!!

Open Thread

Mark Noonan87 Comments

The Republican Statewide early voting lead in Nevada ended up last night at 44,500. That is a lot. That is unprecedented. In 2020 Democrats had an 87,000 vote lead going in and Biden ended up winning the State by 33,000. Today is the last day for early voting in Nevada and if the Democrats don’t have a massive turnout then Trump is going to win this State and its 50/50 on Brown beating Rosen.

Republicans lead in North Carolina early voting.

Democrats aren’t allowed to look at Florida early voting totals because it will make them cry.

Jobs report came in at 12,000+…and you know that will be revised down to show job losses. Inflation also remained high. Employment and income are rather important election-drivers. Perhaps even more than the desire of a blue haired middle aged lady to get an abortion.

Via manipulated data, the Administration has tried to make out they’ve been an economic success and we, sadly, know that this propaganda line works to a certain extent – but only with people who are not having a hard time. And people are hurting out there. My bet is that we’ve had no real economic growth at all since COVID. And it will be reality that will ultimately drive this election result – you can hide this in this stats month by month, but it is real:

If you attend to social media, do keep in mind that there will be Dooming. It is infectious and we GOPers have been conditioned to accept it. None of us are immune to the propaganda no matter how wise we are…and deep in our hearts has been set the notion that we just can’t win. Doomers – most of whom are paid by Dems – play to that. To discourage…to, if nothing else, save a couple marginal seats downballot for the Democrats. Don’t fall for it! Bolt a smile on your face, say your prayers, vote and lets see what happens.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan24 Comments

The election news is so positive for the GOP that you seriously start to wonder if its all too good to be true. All I can say right now is: get out and vote. Bring a friend. But not that blue-haired maiden aunt; leave her at home.

The Democrats have tried their October surprise – a claim that Trump praised Hitler. The story is entirely unsourced and even some MSM outfits are treating it as the garbage that it is. I doubt it’ll get any traction – Democrats have been calling Trump Hitler since 2015. You can only do that so long before everyone who’s not a Democrat fanatic just tunes it out. But I doubt this is the last of if – if things are as going as well for us as we think, then the Democrats will just get more desperate as we approach election day. There is no lie they won’t utter – no dirty trick they won’t engage in. Yes, they will cheat if they can – but they can only cheat if its close in crucial areas as it was in 2020. I suspect this won’t be close.

To digress for a moment here: the Democrats and the overall Left don’t even know why Hitler was bad. Even if Hitler had never carried out the Holocaust he still would have been someone who all decent people had to oppose. Hitler was bad because he thought that God didn’t exist and that the State stood supreme over all human considerations. In other words, the basics of Hitler’s evil was the same as the evil of Communism and Fascism…and, of course, the godless modern Left who want total control of our lives.

Harris took the day off yesterday and is mostly taking today off – just a bit of prep work for an interview. And yet her team is calling Trump exhausted. It is very strange how her campaign is being run – and some people are pointing out that Harris has pulled together some pretty bad people to run it. Like they just don’t know what to do. Sending Harris to campaign in Texas is just bizarre. Having her take days off with two weeks left to go is malpractice. If (when) Harris loses, the knives will come out – she will be chopped to pieces as everyone runs for cover and disavows any responsibility.

Anyways, I just hope this proves true: I’m tired of Nevada voting for the idiot every election.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan36 Comments

It does feel like a misprint. Mail is working a little better for Democrats…but not nearly enough. Even TDS-Ralston is conceding that the Clark County firewall isn’t nearly big enough for Democrats. Don’t bet the ranch on this…but, let’s face it, this sort of data is happening all around the country. You’d much rather be a Republican candidate right now than a Democrat.

In 2020 the Conservative Party in British Columbia – pretty much moribund at the time – got 36,000 votes. So far this year, they are just a hair under 888,000. The bad news? So far they are also just a hair under a majority of the seats (and, naturally, the commie ruling party – the NDP – is saying it may take a while to get final results…especially in the seat where they lead by 23 votes). The Conservative Party leader has already pledged to provoke an early election if NDP gets back in. Basically, after many years of British Columbia varying between Commie and Super Commie governments, it looks like people have had enough. Lets hope that translates here south of the border.

Elon Musk is pouring it on for Trump and the GOP. Do keep in mind that a lot of Elon’s basic views are Liberal. Globalist. Free Trade. All that stuff. But he sees, because he’s trying to build rocket ships, that government has become poison to effort. And he knows the only way out is to get Trump and the GOP in – not because they are totally in line with him, but because they aren’t insane against effort. This is the first time we’ve had someone like him really do this – the cool, tech billionaire guy on the GOP side. And it is driving the Democrats nuts! This is a beautiful thing.

Ireland continues to show that sending condolences over Hitler killing himself (they really did it!) wasn’t a one-off thing – Ireland will now impose a trade embargo on Israel. This is more than just now having Muslims in Ireland…this is a deep-seated bit of anti-Semitism that I really didn’t know existed in Ireland until lately. They just don’t like Jews.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan39 Comments

The Virginia Project notes that someone placed 6,063 non-citizens on Virginia’s voter rolls. This is probably an underestimate of the total but it is what is known for sure: and then asks the relevant question: who did this? You don’t accidentally register non-citizens. I mean, sure, maybe a couple can get in there…lets be generous and say maybe even a couple hundred could slip through a system which is supposed to guard against illegal votes. Six thousand? That’s intentional. That’s a crime.

Of course we know, in general, who: Democrats. But we do want to drill down and find out exactly who – and who they’re connected to. And, most important, who they’re paid by.

Mark Robinson (R-NC) has simply shaken off the allegations and kept rolling along – he’s still expected by all Experts to lose (and he had an uphill battle even under optimal circumstances) but I’m curious to see how he does. If he does pull this off it means the late hit-piece on GOPers becomes a dead in the water thing…because it will show that GOPers and GOP-leaners just don’t care what a pack of liars say. That’s the key metric: if enough people know that the MSM is lying – and they always are, about everything – then they can lie until they’re blue in the face: it won’t work. There is a new poll which shows Trump +5 in North Carolina but I’m taking that with a grain of salt – the State is still so disturbed from Helene that I’m doubtful that really good polling can be done…OTOH, the people most likely to be displaced are GOPers…so, maybe I’m just being a Nattering Nabob of Negativism here? If Trump is up by 5, then Robinson has a shot.

That thing that isn’t happening – Venezuelan gangs taking over apartment complexes – is, of course, happening. Vance nailed the MSM on this – he was asked a couple days ago why he’s so concerned when its only a “handful” of apartment complexes. He crushed the MSMer by essentially asking back, “its ok because its not everywhere?”. That is the way to handle this – to push back and ask the relevant question: in this case: just how much death is acceptable to you?

Open Thread

Mark Noonan26 Comments

Harris is moving radio ad money out of Wisconsin and putting into rap/hip hop stations in Philadelphia. This is the Democrat woman-of-color candidate who figures she needs to shore up her support among African-American voters in Philly. Make of that what you will. I say it is triage. I think her campaign has now settled on MI, PA and NC as her one and only path. Any one of those 3 goes to Trump, and it is over, presuming that Trump is ok in WI (which he must be if Harris is conceding the State) as well as AZ, NV, GA. If so and she gets all 3 she’s at 276. This is what is known in the betting world as “a long shot”.

But I really view this as an attempt to save downballot. Democrats might have thought a month ago they had a chance to get Harris past 270 but that’s fading and so her campaign is now in default mode – a mode she’s probably not even aware of: she was brought in to save the House and Senate (with the Senate looking forlorn so now its really about trying to get a House majority or at least a narrow enough minority that the Dems can essentially call the House shots).

Side note: something to consider is that her campaign says she’s raised a billion dollars since she got in. Where’s the money? If she raised that much she’s got enough for both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. There wouldn’t be a need to shift resources.

Unless that number was fake…and/or people who pledged big bucks are now looking at internals and pulling the plug.

All in all, it looks good for Trump. If this works – that is, the Trump campaign strategy, it’ll rewrite the book on how the GOP wins nationally. If it doesn’t work then the nation will collapse. So, no pressure, guys!

Open Thread

Mark Noonan34 Comments

You’re only as old as you feel!

Which is why we feel like extras in a Walking Dead scene!

But, seriously: earlier today and last week I was doing cannon balls into my pool. Its heading to 99 here in Vegas and the pool temp is 80…but I didn’t just get in to cool off. I decided to do some cannon balls. You remember those, right? I do. And I remembered how to do them…though I suspect I made a bigger splash than I did as a kid. Don’t know why I decided that a cannonball was the thing to do; just did.

They are just as fun as they were when I was 12.

And it got me thinking that the world really is a magical place – I just think that as we age, we lose our awe of it. If you’ve read any of the Mirrors series, that attitude probably comes through…the feeling on the part of the Lontarians that our modern marvels are magical even if we say they’re not. I’m flip-siding that a little bit in the soon-to-be-released Home World where Hadwin notes that there’s something technological in the magic, as well. And, to me, there is.

I think it is important that we never get “too old”. I mean, sure: there are practical considerations. Someone not too long ago posted a meme saying, “remember when we used to jump out of the swing and just land ok? Them knees were fresh out of the box!”. I do not recommend anyone in geezerdom to actually jump from any height. But I think that in our spirit, we should still try to see the magic. That it is a miracle – even if we can explain it – that we’re able to communicate instantly across vast distances. But that its also a miracle when a raindrop falls or a cloud drifts by. Of course, maybe I’m just weird…but I do feel inside like I always have. I’m nearly 60 and I just don’t feel the slightest bit different from when I was 16. Sure, my knees hurt all the time and I have to get a magnifying glass out to read a label..but I’ve never lost that fascination with the world; and I feel very young.

Latest polls are mixed – and I mean, completely mixed. Depending on which polls you look at, both candidates are winning. This is not possible. Any honest polling of the same population would show roughly the same thing. Sure, you might get Poll A saying Candidate X is at 47.2, Candidate Y at 46.8 while Poll B shows X at 46.9 and Y at 47.3. That is normal statistical variation. But when Poll A says X at 52 and Poll B says Y at 51…well, they simply both can’t have majority support. They both can’t be winning. At least one of the polls is then lying – could be both, but definitely is one.

In my opinion, the most likely liars are the Harris-favorable polls. This is based as I’ve said all along on voter registration info, primary voting patterns, etc. We can add to it now a slight bit of early voting data which is also favorable to Trump. The objective facts that we can see show Trump doing well, not Harris…and so it is far more likely that the pro-Harris polls are nonsense. But, we shall see, shan’t we? It is all up to who shows up – Team Trump is banking on angry, irregular voters to not just tip the election in his favor, but to utterly bury Harris. He’s got a whole plan to appeal to these people and get them to the polls – the segment of the American population that is fed up with the Uniparty. Will it work? We’re going to find out.

NYC Mayor Adams got indicted. Democrats are citing this as proof that the Justice Department is even-handed. We GOPers immediately assumed it was revenge against Adams. There are lots of theories out there as to why they would go after Adams for what amounts to fairly moderate and common corruption (trust me, he ain’t the only one getting airline upgrades) but nobody is really sure. Is it because he dissented from the immigration? Is it a power play by other people in NYC government? There is a chance the power players in NYC are perceiving him a disaster but one who will be re-elected next year…maybe this axe was swung to get him out and get in a radical-left Mayor who will so turn everyone off that a Bloomberg or Guiliani will get elected next year? Who the heck knows…but whatever it is, it isn’t merely going after corruption (they’d have to arrest almost everyone involved in NYC government if they did that).

Zelenskyy showed up to dun us for more money – after doing a campaign swing in Pennsylvania for Harris. Infuriating…but he was probably ordered to do it by Harris. I’ve read that he’ll meet with Trump tomorrow. Naturally the GOP has already signed on to provide more money…and material; even though our own military is saying the cupboard is bare. It’ll take us years to restock our supplies…we simply don’t have the manufacturing capacity we had even 20 years ago. This whole Ukraine thing is a mess. But it did occur to me as Zelenskyy marched though Congress flanked by McConnell and Schumer that there in front of us was the reason why Vietnam lasted 8 years while our involvement in WWII was 3 years, 8 months: a failure of will. Simply cowardice.

Let’s concede for the sake of argument that Ukraine is vital to America’s interests – ok, if that is the case then you gather your forces, send them close by and then issue an ultimatum to Russia to pull back…failure to do so being casus belli. It isn’t an unusual thing. Heck, it happened pretty much right there in 1854. The Russians wanted to take advantage of the Turkish Ottoman Empire – Britain and France didn’t want Russia to do that. So, when the Russians attacked the Anglo-French sent a fleet and army and issued their ultimatum. The Russians didn’t back down and so the Crimean War came. After it was over, Russia was defeated and had to accept Allied terms. Maybe Russia would back down this time? Maybe not. But if its vital, you must take the risks.

And if it isn’t vital? Then what the heck are we even doing here? But it has to be one or the other. It is either vital, or it isn’t.

But they won’t do that – they won’t call it vital but won’t declare it unimportant. They won’t fight and they won’t surrender. Just like Vietnam…fight but never win. Or even try to win. So, we just keep feeding the fires of war and immense monetary cost to us and a huge blood cost to Russia and Ukraine. Anyone around here long enough knows that I’ve always viewed Russia as a potential ally. Heck, even back when it was the USSR I had no real ill feelings for the Russians as people. Keep in mind that Russia provided diplomatic support for us during the Revolution, staunchly refused all efforts by European powers to recognize the Confederacy and, of course, were our allies in the field in both World Wars. We also share a lot of strategic interests. But now that is all burned…I doubt that Russia will want to draw close to us after years of American money buying dead Russians…and this will include the hatred of Russians who are opponents of Putin and/or the war. And now we’re about to give I guess another $8 billion so that Ukrainians can kill Russians and be killed by same with no possibility that Ukraine can force a decision in their favor. Just disgusts me.

On the economy – the official Stats show everything is ok. OTOH, credit card delinquencies are heading into record territory. Lots of stories emerging about rising eviction rates (which does make me suspect that corporate landlords are giving citizens the boot because they can get more renting to governemnt-subsidized illegal immigrants. It is still far too expensive for most youngsters to buy a home (seen a happy/happy, joy/joy ad for a bank showing a happy 20-something living in a studio apartment he’s got a mortgage on…geesh!). Food prices remain ruinous. In other words, what the people are living in is bad…and likely to get a lot worse. I suspect this will play a role in determining who the next President is.