Monday, February 29, 2016

On the Fact that There Are Far More Black Members of the Nation of Islam (in the 20 to 50,000 Range) than There Are White Members of the Modern-Day KKK (in the 5 to 8,000 Range)

Yeah, and when you factor in the population disparity, the odds are even more pronounced (50 to 1, potentially). So who are the racists again?

The Most Influential American Rock Band Ever?

You'd be hard pressed to argue against these fellows I think.

On the Fact that No Asian-American Has Ever Been Nominated for a Best Actor or Best Actress Oscar and the Last Two Times that One Was Nominated for a Supporting Role Were 2003 and 2006 (Kenneth Watanabe and Rinko Kikuchi, Respectively)

And yet they don't wine (incessantly) about it (probably too busy earning engineering and math degrees). Go figure, huh?

On the Fact that Temperatures Rose Markedly in the 1920s and '30s While the CO2 Curve Was Essentially Flat

Yet another dagger into the heart of this absurd and moronic theory (and, yes, when you couple this with the fact that as CO2 levels have shot up markedly over the past 20 years while temperatures have flat-lined, it's even more of a deathblow).

Sunday, February 28, 2016

On the NAACP Image Awards Honoring Such Rank Minstrel Shows as "Empire" and "Blackish"

Not seeing a lot of "advancement" there. Sorry.

On Donald Trump and Marco Rubio Acting Not Appreciably Different from Rational Nation and Radical Redneck the Other Night at the Debate

I really think that we need to start carding these assholes to make sure that they're old enough. I mean, have you ever seen such immaturity among supposedly responsible folks? I certainly haven't.

On Keith Richards Recently Chiding Gram Parsons (Who Died of a Drug Overdose 43 Years Ago) for "Not Taking Better Care of Himself"


Not a plethora of mirrors in the Richards mansion evidently. Pot, kettle, black, steroids.

Friday, February 26, 2016

On the Fact that (According to Samuel Horst's "Mennonites in the Confederacy") a Large Portion of the Refugees from General Sheridan's Scorched-Earth Policy In Virginia's Shenandoah Valley Were Pacifists and Members of Sects Such as the Mennonites and Dunkers

I guess that you have to break a few pacifist eggs (along with their women, children, and elderly) to make a crush the bloody bastards omelet.......Seriously, though, can you imagine if W had done something like this? We at the very minimum wouldn't have put his kisser on the currency.

On the Fact that Lindsay Graham and John McCain Are Too Fucking Stupid to Realize that if We Got Rid Of Assad in Syria the Likelihood of the bin Ladenites and Beheaders Taking Over Is Pretty Damn Near Absolute

Not surprising in that these are the same caliber of morons who thought that getting rid of Saddam in Iraq was a boffo notion; a policy that has simultaneously strengthened Iran and created a radical Jihadi element where it previously didn't exist.......Consider the source is what I'm basically saying.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

On Physicians Who Refer to Doctoral Level Nurse Practitioners as "Nurses Who've Taken a Few Extra Courses"

Yeah, this one makes me mad on several levels. a) Nurse practitioners aren't the same as nurses in that even those without a doctorate have more education and training than RNs and LPNs. b) To get a doctorate in nursing (which could either be a PhD or a DNP), it isn't just a few extra courses that you need to take but rather a rigorous program consisting of between 30 and 45 credits. And c) I have personally worked with nurse practitioners and I can tell you for a fact that a large percentage of them are every bit as competent as physicians (especially for routine stuff). Yes, there exists a difference between an MD (or a DO) and a DNP but that doesn't necessarily mean that one is superior in all cases and being that the system is going to need ALL practitioners (nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, OTs, PTs, MSWs, etc.) moving forward (coverage expanding, a possible doctor shortage, etc.), it's probably best that these doctors lose the attitude.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

On Donald Trump Threatening to Sue Ted Cruz (Who I Am Not an Apologist for, Trust Me) Because Cruz Had the Audacity to Run an Ad Which Featured Trump in His Own Words

I guess that if you favor frivolous lawsuits, you've found your candidate.....................................................................................................P.S. And, yes, Angela Merkel and David Cameron had better lawyer up just in case.

On Donald Trump's New "Idea" to Carpet-Bomb ISIS (an Act that Could Quite Conceivably Kill and Mame Thousands of Civilians)

Every time that I think that maybe, just maybe, he isn't that bad, the fellow says something like this (in this instance conjuring up the ghost of Mad-Bomber Harris; the war-criminal who blew to smithereens hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians during WW2) and I end up with omelet on my face. One of us has to learn and it looks as if it's gonna have to be me.

On the Fact that JFK Once Referred to the Soviet Union as a "Ruthless, Godless, Tyranny"

Yep, the same Soviet Union that Bernie Sanders went to on his honeymoon....Talk about the Democratic party shifting.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

On the August 25th, 1863 Forced Expulsion of Over 20,000 People from Jackson, Cass, and Bates Counties Missouri, the Theft of All Their Possessions by Union Militia Members, and the Burning of Their Homes to the Ground

This affected an area of nearly 3,000 square miles and the 20,000 homeless refugees figure was actually greater than the infamous "Trail of Tears" atrocity of the 1830s. Yet we never hear about it because as we've been told from the moment of birth, the Civil War was one of the good wars and Abe Lincoln was our greatest President.......and heaven forbid that we question it.

On the Fact that No High Profile Elected Democrat (Save for Possibly Dennis Kucinich) Has Ever Gone as Far as Trump Has in His Full-Throated Condemnation of George W. Bush (Calling Him a Liar, etc.)

Say what you want about Donald. He does have cajones and on this particular example, I say, amen.

On the Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton Claim that Wall Street Caused the 2008 Recession

What a couple of bald-faced simpletons. Yes, there were some bad actors amongst the big banks (none of whom have been indicted by the Obama Justice Department, but I digress) but it wasn't Wall Street folks that a) kept interest rates artificially low (which in turn created an artificial demand for housing), b) flooded the economy with ludicrous levels of fiat currency, c) fostered a bailout culture (they actually called Greenspan, Mr. Bailout!!!!!), d) significantly reduced lending standards, e) created a three agency monopoly for ratings, and f) gobbled up over 3/4ths of the sub-prime loans. The fact of the matter is that government (Democrats and Republicans) had its grubby digits all over the 2008 recession and for Clinton and Sanders to think that it was a failure of the market and that only they, our prudent overlords, can be trusted in the future is as nauseating as it is comical.

Monday, February 22, 2016

On the Fact that Bernie Sanders Never Had a Steady Paycheck Until He Was 40 (and, Yes, that First One Was Courtesy of the Taxpayer), Has Rung Up as Much as $65,000 in Credit Card Debt, and Once Wrote Some Psychotic and Embarrassing Essay About Female Rape Fantasy

And Hillary can't put this guy (a guy who hasn't even been able to manage his own life, for Christ) away? How utterly embarrassing is that?

On the Fact that Janet Leigh Is the Only Actress to Have Starred in 3 of the Top 100 Films (According to Entertainment Weekly) of All Time; "Psycho", "Touch of Evil", "The Manchurian Candidate"

What an amazing piece of movie trivia (the fact that it isn't Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, etc. and instead Janet Leigh). Three great films, too (especially "Touch of Evil").

On the Fact that (According to Ira Stoll's Recent Book on JFK) Al Gore Sr. Once Referred to Kennedy's Tax Cuts as a "Bonanza for the Fat-Cats"

Yeah, the politics of envy and class warfare have been on the scene for quite a while indeed, Gore's daddy being just an example..

On a 56 Year-Old Vera Miles Donning a Golden Bikini in "Psycho 2"

No complaints from my peepers, folks. Not then. Not now.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

On the Fact that Lincoln Deep-Sixed the 1806 Articles of War (the South Having Adapted Them, Curiously) and Replaced Them with the Much More Lax Lieber Code (General Order Number 100)

 Yeah, you could have driven a Conestoga wagon through that thing, with some of the articles (15, 17, 18, 21, and 29 being the worst of them) even going as far as to endorse a "hard war". Everyone (me included) criticizes Bush for water-boarding and other things but nobody save for a few revisionists criticizes Lincoln (who objectively was much worse). Why is that, folks?

On the Fact that (According to Researcher and Nutritionist, Jeffrey Masson) Only About 100 Folks per Year Are Killed by Sharks

In a world with 7,000,000 people that makes the odds about as close to zilch as you can get. Of course the much more alarming stat is the fact that WE kill about 100,000,000 of them every year (and for the most part gruesomely; cutting off the fin and having them bleed to death). Which leaves me to ponder......who the real beasts are.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

On the Prospect of a Sanders Presidency

Yeah, that about sizes it up for me.

Robert E. Lee on Why He Refused to Respond in Kind to Union War Atrocities

"The commanding general considers that no greater disgrace could befall the army, and through it our whole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon the unarmed and defenseless and the wanton destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the enemy in our own country.............It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemies, and offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose favor and support our efforts must all prove in vain."......Boy, does Lincoln ever look like an asshole now, eh, folks?

On the Fact that in 1861 (According to Historian, Jonathan Noyalas, and the Official Virginia County Vote) Winchester Virginia Voted 81% in Favor of Seceding from the Union

The most telling statistic of all is that nearly half of the black population there was free. I wonder how those folks voted........................................................................................................P.S. And, yes, I do have an anecdote here. According to Roger Delauter's book, "Winchester in the Civil War", an African-American women wearing a black crepe rosette badge in honor of Stonewall Jackson (who had recently died) was ordered by Union Forces to remove the badge and when she refused was banished from the town. People (whether they be Iraqis, Filipinos, or folks from the South) don't like being occupied apparently.

Friday, February 19, 2016

On the Fact that (According to Many Studies) Poultry Workers Seem to Be at an Increased Risk for Several Cancers (Lung, Pancreas, Prostate, etc.)

How utterly unsurprising (the constant exposure to fecal matter, the reckless use of antibiotics, the high prevalence of C-Diff, etc.). So glad that I'm a vegetarian.

On the Claim that Judge Scalia Was Offed

Alex Jones is all over it. No need to worry, folks.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

On the Fact that 1964 Was the Last Year that the Government Made 90% Silver Coins

Yeah, how dare they give the American public something of actual value. What in the hell were they thinking for those 175 years?

The Fed, in a Nutshell

Yeah, I'm gonna go with, "a magical money making machine that has a) financed a perpetual welfare and warfare state, b) created one God damned bubble after another, and c) established an apparently endless bailout culture replete with cronyism and epic malinvestment." The root of all evil, in other words. 

On the Guys Who Claimed to Prefer Mary Ann to Ginger


Yeah, I feel a lie-detector test coming on.

On the Notion that WASP Societies Are Inherently Racist and Discriminatory

And so why is it that Ashkenazi Jews and East-Asians actually do better on pretty much every indicator (educationally, economically, on IQ tests, etc.) than the WASPs do in the WASPs own damned countries? We can't be all that horrible.....................................................................................................P.S. And, yes, even blacks from Africa and the Caribbean who emigrate here do exceedingly well (this despite the fact that they're darker than most African-Americans) and so a lot of it has to be cultural. It has to be.

So, You Think that You're Protected from Tyranny?


Sometimes you bring it on yourself.

On the Fact that Jeb is Currently Polling in at 1% in Nevada

Could somebody (his family, perhaps) please pull this poor schmuck off the stage before he embarrasses himself (and us) anymore? I mean, if THIS isn't critical mass.......

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

On the Fact that in a Prior Era, Pagans and Barbarians Used to Sacrifice Not Just Animals but Human Beings in a Superstitious Attempt to Pacify a Bunch of Thin-Skinned, Capricious, and Mean-Spirited Deities

While today we demand a reduction in carbon (and, yes, he who controls it controls life) emissions to the din of fascist dullards like RFK Jr. (a perfect example of how familial intelligence regresses towards the mean) wanting to put his intellectual superiors (Roy Spencer, Piers Corbyn, Richard Lindzen, Judith Curry, etc.) in jail simply for fulfilling their scientific responsibly to be skeptical. Yep, that's progress, alright.

On Mitch McConnell's Threat to Block Any Potential Obama Supreme Court Appointment

It's unfortunate but being that Chuck Schumer said essentially the same thing at the end of W's second term it's hard to be surprised by it. Welcome to D.C. in the 21st Century, folks.

On the Fact that (According to Historians, Chester Hearn, John Winters, Walter Cisco, and James Parton) General Benjamin Butler Netted as Much as $3 Million During His Military Reign of New Orleans During the Civil War

 Some of it came directly from stealing but the vast majority of it was shakedown money (in exchange for a fee the Union soldiers wouldn't confiscate your property - the money of course having to be "right") that he got from working with his brother, Andrew (the latter having operated a fleet of nine riverboats that engaged in "trade" with Confederates behind their lines). Yep, war is extremely profitable......for some.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

On Pete Hegseth (One of Fox News's Resident Neocon Bobbleheads) Claiming that the Bush Surge in Iraq "Won" the War

I gotta go, bullshit, on this one, folks. Yes, the surge amped down the violence quite a bit (something that frequently happens when you a) institute additional checkpoints and b) cut deals with unsavory individuals) but that's not the same as winning. Winning would have been a permanent and stable political outcome and one that would have far outlasted any external military presence. I mean, I understand that guys like Petey want to blame Obama for the current situation over there and all but on this one the end-result (short of the U.S. keeping its finger in the dike forever) was inevitable.

On the Fact that (According to Research Uncovered by Dr. John McDougall) Even Neanderthals Apparently Ate Grains

Yeah, this demonization of starch really needs to stop. The fact of the matter is that grains, potatoes (both white and sweet), and legumes have been the major foods of every civilization (the Native-Americans with corn, the Chinese with rice, the Africans with millet, the Middle-Easterners with pita, etc.) in human history. And who in his right mind would even consider that bacon (for example) is a) preferable to wheat and barley and b) a prototype of what our ancient ancestors consumed? This (low carbohydrate paleo diet) is all about telling people what they want to here, in my estimation.

Monday, February 15, 2016

On the Fact that Donald Trump Is the Only Republican Candidate Who's Had the Cajones to Bitch-Slap George W. Bush for His Ham-Handed and Ultimately Tragic Iraq War Policy

I'm not a big Trump supporter but I, unlike your average partisan stooge blogger whose entire existence is one mindless and gratuitous anti-Trump post after another, am willing to give credit where credit is due. And, yes, on this particular issue, Trump deserves some credit (not just for being right but for standing up to his own party and withstanding the boos - and, yes, there were many). Boom, done.

On Al Sharpton

 I would call Sharpton a tool but that would be an insult to my Phillips screwdriver and circular saw.

A Few Things for Paleo Dieters to Consider

 a) There was no ONE paleo diet. It all depended on climate and location (those closer to the Arctic ate more meat while those closer to the equator ate more plant-based foods). b) The true paleo diet in no way resembles the paleo diet of today in that the meat eaten by our ancestors was predominantly small game and much leaner while the plant-based foods were much higher in fiber. c) Most nutritional anthropologists now say that the average diet of humans during the paleo period (save for the Eskimos) was probably about 75% plant-based by volume and about 2/3rd plant-based by calories and so NOT predominantly meat-based. d) These same researchers are also saying that the true paleo diet was actually closer in terms of nutrients to the modern vegan diet than it was to the modern paleo diet (especially in regards to fiber) AND that our paleo ancestors DID consume grains and legumes. e) Most of the current research now points to meat, eggs, and dairy being the cause of inflammation and not grains. f) The vast majority of people on the planet can handle gluten and, being that whole grain wheat, barley, and rye have so many positive nutrients, should likely be eating more and not less of it. g) The caloric engines of human civilization over the last 4,000 years have been barley, corn, legumes, millet, oats, potatoes, sorghum, sweet potatoes, rice, rye, and wheat and, so, yes, it would probably be a major mistake to completely eliminate these foods. h) Plant-based diets are better for the environment (and if you don't believe just take a ride through North Carolina pig country - just don't drink the water). And i) human anatomy and physiology strongly suggest that man is much more of a forager than a hunter (the fact that we aren't torpedo-shaped, have much smaller stomachs than carnivores, have teeth that are much better suited for grinding than killing and shredding, don't walk on our tip-toes, have legs that aren't permanently flexed, etc.) and it has only been via technological advances that meat has ascended in our dietary hierarchy................................................................................................................................Bottom-line here. Yes, you can lose some weight on a paleo diet but it isn't a healthy lifestyle long-term. For more information I suggest the writings and lectures of dietitians Brenda Davis and Christina Warinner and doctors John McDougall, Robert Rosati, Francis Neelon, Walter Kempner, Milton Mills, and Caldwell Esselstyn.

On Donald Trump Making a Big Deal Over the Fact that Megyn Kelly Once Posed Provocatively for a Magazine Story on Smokingly Hot Newswomen

The dude's wife was a fucking beauty pageant contestant, for Christ. Yet again, the hypocrisy.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

On the Fact that Literally Every Legal Organization (the ACLU, the National Association of Defense Lawyers, the American Bar Association, etc.) in the Country Supported Senator Murkowski's "Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act" and Yet it Has Never Come to a Vote in the Senate

Pressure from prosecutors in the Department of Justice is the only logical explanation in that who other than them benefits? Certainly not Senator Menendez.

On the Fact that Ted Cruz Claims to Be Some Sort of Evangelical Christian and Yet He a) Gave Less than 1% of His Income to Tithing and b) Lied About it to CBN's David Brody (Giving Him Some Bogus Excuse)

I'd like to say that I'm surprised by this but I'm SOOOOOOO not (a realization that all politicians are phony deep down).

On the Fact that a Recent Gallop Poll in Which the Respondents Were Asked to List Their Most Pressing Concerns, Global Warming Didn't Even Make the Damned List (in Previous Years it Was Last or Next to Last)

More embarrassing (for these warmaholics) still is the fact that, even among the environmental issues, global warming finished DEAD LAST!!!!!......Yeah, the public is dumb but they're not that dumb (the fact that they can see through this hysteria).

On the Fact that (According to Congressional Testimony) Geologist, David Deming, Received an E-Mail from Another Climate Scientist Which Read, "We Have to Get Rid of the Medieval Warm Period" and Two Years Later Michael Mann Did Exactly that (He Ditched the Little Ice-Age, too) with His Comical Hockey-Stick Graph

Yet another Festivus miracle?

On the Fact that Every Single Republican Presidential Candidate (Except for Trump, Surprisingly) Has Purchased Hook, Line, and Sinker the Standard Narrative that Russia is 100% Wrong in its Burgeoning Conflict with Ukraine

Yeah, we've heard this story before; the North versus the South in the Civil War, Spain versus the U.S.A. in the Spanish-American War, Germany versus England in WW1, Germany versus Poland in WW2, the North Vietnamese versus the South Vietnamese, Iran versus Kuwait in the first Gulf War, etc., etc., etc..You want to know why I'm not a Republican (or a Democrat for that matter in that they've consumed the Kool-Aid, too)? Consider this exhibit A.

On U.N. Climate Chief, Christina Figueres, Ultimately Seeing "a Centralized Transformation that Is Going to Make the Life of Everyone on the Planet Very Different"

Nah, no fascism there.......Though, yes, if we're going to depopulate the planet, the best place to start would probably be with this fucking psycho.

Friday, February 12, 2016

On Jon Stewart's Claim that Lincoln Didn't Emancipate the Slaves in the Border States Because He Didn't Want to Alienate the Inhabitants of Those States

What an ignoramus. As anybody who knows anything about the Civil War will inform you, the Union occupations of Missouri, Tennessee, and Maryland were characterized by some of the most virulent cruelty and worst human rights violations in the country's history; forced expulsions, arrests and imprisonments with zero charges, murders, theft and plunder on a enormous scale, homes and churches burnt to the ground, free-speech and freedom of the press all but outlawed (numerous newspapers in the border states were either closed or taken over by Unionists), etc.. To even hypothesize that this one extra "deprivation" (which if the North was truly motivated by racial justice should have been the first "property" taken) would have tipped the scales that had already been forced apart as far as possible is just plain ludicrous. Yeah, this Stewart fellow really needs to stick to pratfalls.   

So, What Do You Get When You Merge the Incomparable Genius of Mark Shaw with Incomparable Beauty of Eva Marie Saint?




This, Circa 1954.......And, yes, enjoy.

Brigadier General, Grenville M. Dodge (Yep, the Railroad Crony), on the Union Occupation and "Foraging", of Tennessee During the American Civil War

"I propose to eat all the surplus, and perhaps the entire crops of the country.......These people are proud, arrogant rebels and must be made to understand that all they possess belongs legitimately to the U.S. Government."......So, the Bernie Sanders of his generation, in other words?

Thursday, February 11, 2016

On the Likelihood that JFK, Al Smith, and the First Mayor Daley Would Be Proud of the Present-Day Democratic Party

Yeah, I'm gonna go with, somewhere between zero and the odds of a gorilla parachuting down to earth with the key to Fort Knox in one paw and the key to Olivia Wilde's dressing-room in the other.......Extremely unlikely, in other words.

On the Claim that Women Never Lie About Rape

Tell that to Brian Banks. This poor bastard spent five years in prison for a rape that the accuser ultimately admitted was an absolute fabrication. And he is hardly just an exception in that the Innocence Project has cleared numerous men who've been falsely accused and convicted. Yes, we need to take rape seriously (ironic in that a lot of leftists DON'T take it seriously when the perpetrators are Muslim) but we also need to remember that everybody is innocent until proven guilty and that there are women out there who will and have made bogus accusations.

On the Fact that We Can Criticize the Ideas of Mormonism and Scientology but Not those of Islam

Yeah, that's because the Mormons and Scientologists are predominantly white while the Muslims are largely North-African, Sub-Saharan African, Middle-Eastern, South-Asian, East-Asian, Indonesian, etc.. And how fucking racist (not to mention, patronizing) is that?

On Bakers Who Refuse to Cater Gay Weddings

I don't respect businesses that act that way and would personally refuse to frequent them (I might even throw in some negative advertising). But as bad as that is, what would infinitely be worse in my estimation would be for the government to hold a gun to the head of these small businesses and force them to cater these weddings, in that that would be major fascism.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

On Ted Cruz Thinking that He's Going to Get a Lot of Libertarian Votes

Oh, yeah, we libertarians are always looking for that next unstable war-mongering militaristic bastard to throw our support behind and enthusiastically vote for.......NOT!!

Fascistic Jeopardy

Katie Eyre of "Oregon Catalyst" asks a superb question; "When have any of us heard of a time when someone has served the sentence they were handed by a judge, been released, have no parole violations, but then get sent back to jail years later for additional time??"......And, no, I can't think of a single example. Can you?............................................................................................................P.S. And, yes, this act against the Hammonds was an absolute and despicable piece of bald-faced tyranny. The fact of the matter is that a) the first fire was an approved controlled burn that, while, yes, it did do damage to adjacent public land, the damage was insignificant and, if anything, the fire improved the land (this, according to a BLM Range Conservation Specialist named Dave Ward - compare this many of the BLM fires that burn down houses, cause millions of dollars in damages, and murder cattle via torture) and b) the second fire was set to stop a lightning fire that was headed straight to their ranch and only damaged ONE acre of public land. Yeah, maybe they should have served several months (and did) but when you have federal assholes negligently burning down hundreds of houses and literally torturing animals to death and not even getting shit-canned, I'm not even sure about that. 

On the Fact that (According to the Huffington Post, Weekly Standard, Breitbart, and Others) Jeb Bush Dished Out Approximately $2,800 per Vote in Iowa (Many Multiples of His Opponents)

I would have soooooooooooo packed it in by this point (though, yes, he "only" dished out about $1,200 per vote in New Hampshire - an improvement).

On Jeb Trotting Out His 90 Year-Old Mother as a Ramrod to Salvage His Flailing Campaign

More desperate he could not be.

The Real Terrorist Thugs

Can you see why people are pissed off now?

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

On the Fact that the BLM (in Addition to Throwing Them Back in Prison) Placed a $400,000 Fine on the Hammonds (an Amount that They Knew Was Unaffordable) and Gave Themselves the Right of First Refusal to Purchase the Land in Lieu of Nonpayment

How in the hell is this (which reads like a Kafka novel and a Scorsese film) different from organized crime? It doesn't seem much different to me (the shakedown part of it, especially).

On Noam Chomsky's Fan-Base

Clapping seals meet the herd.

On the Las Vegas Temperature Increases

Yes, the average temperature in Las Vegas has gone up. But what these loathsome alarmists never reveal is that the increases have almost exclusively been obtained at night (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/06/24/why-would-climate-skeptics-hold-a-conference-in-hot-las-vegas/), MEANING that the increase is almost guaranteed to be a product of urbanization (Las Vegas being one of the faster growing cities in the country) and NOT CO2. HELLO!!!

On the Fact that that Lion Getting Shot in Zimbabwe Has Gotten a Lot More Coverage in the Western Media than the 3,000-Plus Afrikaner Farmers Who've Been Murdered (Most of Them in a Gruesome Way) by Marauding Gangs of Black Hooligans

The latter simply doesn't fit the narrative (i.e., that only white Europeans can be the oppressors) and so the left-leaning media ignores it. Surprised? You shouldn't be.

On the Concept of Drunken or Regretted Sexual Interchanges Constituting Felony Rape

Yeah, this is the type of bullshit that they teach in gender studies classes and it has unfortunately permeated the larger university settings. And I ask you again, are we really going to prosecute people (even if it is just to expel somebody) for drunken sex (and what if the woman gets the dude cocked?) or for sex that a woman has second thoughts about when the booze wears off? I sure as hell hope not 'cause that is full-bore fascism, people.

Monday, February 8, 2016

On the Fact that They Now Call Windmills "Wind Turbines"

They can call 'em wind baby Jesuses and make 'em taller than the Empire State Building. They're still a) 14th Century technology and b) a monumental waste of taxpayer money. And who in his or her right mind thinks that the law of thermodynamics can be altered simply by changing what you call something (that whole lipstick on a pig metaphor)? That's nuts and, yes, to answer my own question here; politicians, that's who!

On the Fact that (According to Esteemed Scholar, Christina Hoff Sommers) the One in Five Women Are Raped Figure Comes from a 2007 Internet Study Which a) Used Vaguely Worded Questions (Some Pertaining to Drunken Sex, for Example), b) Implemented a Non-Representative Sample, and c) Had an Exceedingly Low Response Rate

And yet leftist politicians like President Obama and Senator Gillibrand continue to spew this propaganda as if it was gospel (the real figure according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics being closer to 1 in 50). So frustrating.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

On the Fact that Bernie Sanders Was a Member of the Young People's Socialist League and Actually Honeymooned in the Soviet Union

A lot of young people dabble in shit like this (me, included) BUT THEY FUCKING GROW OUT OF IT!!!! Yes, Trump and Cruz are lunatics but to say that the Democrats are sane when they have an inarticulate, economically illiterate socialist buffoon who's never had a private sector job in his entire life and who thinks that Siberia is romantic is nothing but pure partisan shit. Sorry but yes.

On the Fact that Bernie Sanders Has Apparently Never Had a Private Sector Job

Well that explains a lot (his lack of respect private property, free markets, entrepreneurs, etc.), hey, folks?

On the Enrichment of Human Life Since 1800

It has been staggering in that virtually every indicator of well-being (GDP, per-capita income, life expectancy, infant mortality, the percentage of income spent on sustenance, etc.) has radically improved. And why has this (a skyrocketing improvement in human life after close to 40 millennia of abject misery) happened? I would argue that it has arisen primarily due to economic liberalization (secure property rights, free market capitalism, enforceable contracts, free trade, etc) and the discovery and utilization of cheap, reliable, and plentiful energy sources such as oil, coal, and natural gas. I mean, I understand that this is anathema to the left (a poison pill to their burning desire to control all of life) in that these are the things that they most want to get rid of but reality is sometimes painful and maybe its time for these bed-wetters to grow a pair, for Christ.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

On the Police and F.B.I. Killing of Lavoy Finicum in Oregon

We really need to get the dash-cam videos and audio in that that's only way to know for sure if the first shot came after Finicum reached for his body (which would have made it a righteous killing) or before it (which would have made it a murder; the reaching for the body probably being a reaching for his wound). And, yes, until that critical evidence (along with pictures of the vehicle, the autopsy findings, etc.) is made available, we should all probably keep our powder dry for a while. I am.

On Progressives Who Don't Just Tolerate Regressive Behavior but Defend it on the Grounds that All Religions and Cultures Are Equal

Yeah, I'm gonna go with, two parts racism, one part hypocrisy, 'cause you know for a fact that if the repressors where white Christians they would be condemning it 'til the cows came home (Arabs in their view being ill-equipped to modulate themselves, I guess). Yes siree Bob.

On the Fact that No Industry Has Delivered More Folks Out of Abject Poverty than the Fossil Fuel Industry and Yet There Are Clueless Politicians Like Obama, Sanders, and Clinton Who Want to Not Just Destroy the Industry but Literally Go Ass-Backwards and Use Technology that Was Deemed Inadequate by Our Fucking Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfathers

Again, these folks need to a) take an extensive course on the history of energy and b) put their fucking pencils to the paper and do the fucking math (the fact that we would literally have to pave entire states with wind and solar farms just to get a small fraction of what fossil fuels, nuclear, and hydro can give us). I mean, it doesn't take a genius to figure this out, people!

Friday, February 5, 2016

My New All-Time Favorite Movie Still

Donna Reed and Montgomery Clift in "From Here to Eternity", the eyes telling it all.

On the Sad Fact that a Significant Percentage of Homeless People Are Not W-2 Caliber Employees

Yeah, this is where we have to think outside the box and thank the Lord for organizations like Texas's Mobile Loaves and Fishes who help these folks a) create micro-businesses and b) navigate the frequently draconian regulatory environment (thank you slantheaded and crony politicians from both parties). It's amazing what these folks are doing and if only we could get our elected officials to act like this, maybe, just maybe, we could make a difference.

On the Fact that First Cousin Marriages Account for Over 50% of All Marriages in Some Middle-Eastern Countries - http://www.consang.net/index.php/Global_prevalence

So, anybody wanna tee this sucker up?

On the Fact that Even Leftist Google Engineers Have Now Concluded that Renewables Are Largely Bullshit and in No Way, Shape, or Form Will Be Able to Replace Fossil Fuels - http://watchdog.org/186361/google-renewables-climate/

I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS (as have Vaclav Smil, Robert Bryce, Jesse Ausubel, and Roger Pielke). Between the low power density, high resource intensity, high costs, and low efficiency, these technologies are woefully inadequate and unless you're willing to a) bankrupt your government's treasury, b) destroy your economy, c) devastate large tracks of land, or d) radically depopulate, you really need to get a grip, for Christ. Windmills - come on!!

On the Fact that There's a Dude on Youtube (or at Least There Used to Be One) Who Actually Thinks that Jennifer Aniston and Duchess Kate Are Trannies

Probably bullshit but can you imagine if they all came out that hot? Youza!!

On the Fact that the Hollywood Left Evidently Thought that They Would Somehow Be Immune from Their Own Poison Pill of Racial Demagoguery (the Fact that They Haven't Nominated a Black Person in Two Years and Are Getting All Indignant in Response to the Criticism)

There isn't a violin tiny enough for this one, folks (the hypocrisy of how they adore affirmative action but just not for them - merit being much more of a consideration seemingly). Not even close.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

On President Obama's Push for Universal Background Checks (Which for All Intents and Purposes Already Exist but I Digress)

Only if they include al Qaeda and the Saudi royal family, Mr. President Sir, and only then (the fact that a shitload of the weapons that we've sent to the Syrian resistance have ended up al Qaeda's hands and the fact that we're selling weapons straight-up to the House of Saud - weapons that have been used to kill countless Yemeni civilians).

On the Fact that Two of the Most Beloved TV Moms Ever Had Prior to that Part of Their Career Won Academy Awards for Playing Hookers (Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity" and Shirley Jones in "Elmer Gantry")


This is my all-time favorite tidbit of movie trivia and, damn, was Donna Reed ever smokin'.

On the Fact that it Is the Job of Federal Prosecutors to Seek Justice, Not Convictions

Yeah, try telling that to a) the family of the late Senator Ted Stevens whose conviction was based on the repression of exculpatory evidence and b) the tens of thousands of Arthur Andersen employees who lost their jobs on the heels of a conviction that was based largely on witness intimidation and the cobbling together of various statutes. I'm sure that they'd love to hear it.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

On the Bernie Sanders "Plan" to Take $5,000 from Middle-Class Taxpayers and Magically Turn it Into $10,000 Worth of Health Insurance Coverage

  It's ludicrous and yet there are low-information voters out there who buy it. And let's be honest here, it was government interference that created this whole mess of out-of-control healthcare costs; the wage-controls of the 1940s which created the incentive for employers to offer health insurance to their employees as a substitute for raises (an act that really got the ball rolling on this whole idiotic third-party payer bullshit), those moronic FDA policies of the 1960s which increased the cost of bringing a drug to market by eight-fold, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid (also in the 1960s - two programs that were initially supposed to be small and modest but which now take up close to a quarter of the federal budget) which subsidized the cost of healthcare even more, etc., and so excuse me if I'm a little skeptical that this inarticulate socialist buffoon thinks that HIS intervention is going to rectify things. Trust me, it won't. 

On Rand Paul Dropping Out of the Presidential Race Yesterday

Alright, we've gone from one non-war-mongering candidate in the Republican field to zero. Isn't that just peachy?

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

On the Fact that the Warriors Are 44-4 so Far this Year

Astonishing. And, yes, if this team breaks the Bulls' record of 72 victories AND wins the NBA title, they will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest teams in the history of professional sports.

On the Fact that Donald Trump Supposedly Said that "Eminent Domain Is Great"

I've tried to be fair with Donald (the fact that I a) don't like being part of a bum's rush, b) find his critics every bit as obnoxious as he is, and c) appreciate the fact that the dude's deviated from the neocons on more than a few occasions). But this is a view that I cannot tolerate. The fact of the matter is that eminent domain is one of the most loathsome and abusive acts that the government engages in (the fact that it isn't being used just for roads and bridges anymore but for private enterprises as well, the fact that there's already an abundance of property that can be used for development, the fact that a lot of the property taken through eminent domain never gets developed, etc.) and if Trump considers it "great" a pox on him.......There, how's that for fair and balanced? 

On the Fact that Government Regulation (and Licensing) Is Strangling to Death (and in Some Cases, Outlawing) Entrepreneurship at its Very Lowest Level (Dumpster Diving, Cabbing, Hauling, Scavenging, Street Vending, etc.) and Because of this Exacerbating Income Inequality

But they let people beg, 'cause that's free speech. How unbelievable is that?............................................................................................P.S. And when is the left ever going to learn that regulations disproportionately harm the little guy and benefit the big guy (Philip Morris, G.E., Wall Street bankers, Google, H&R Block, etc.)? I mean, is it ever gonna happen? 


Monday, February 1, 2016

On the Fact that Rick Santorum Edged Out Jim Gilmore for 11th Place in the Iowa Caucuses Tonight

And to think that he was the bible-thumpers' primo choice just 4 years ago there. Oh how the landscape has altered and the gods grown restless.