Mid-Morning Art Thread

Soria Moria Slott
Theodor Severin Kittelsen

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (506) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 12/19/23

Good morning, kids. Again, we have a story that with everything else going on will get lost in the sauce, but it's nevertheless yet another indicator of our national decline. Japan's Nippon Steel is going to buy US Steel for $14.1 Billion, pending stock holder approval.

For those of a certain age, the name US Steel and what it represents, and in sad truth once represented, was iconic. When Hyman Roth crowed to Michael Corleone "We're bigger than US Steel!" that meant something. The irony in the sale is that US Steel was arguably among, if not the single most important industry that beat Japan, along with Germany and Italy in the Second World War. It supplied the raw materials to produce every kind of weapon imaginable not only for our armed forces but for the British, the Soviets and every other ally.

Today? What does America produce? Mostly self-hating, braindead "graduates" with multi-colored hair, tattoos, piercings and worthless degrees in worthless subjects, ready to inflict perversion, Marxism and Marxist perversion on us while serving up our heads to the Religion of Peace peaceniks and their rusty hacksaws. In any case, as the degenerates in Congress who run the show are hot and horny to rush us into World War 3 in Ukraine, the Chi-Coms take one look at Joey Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants and the tin-pot Claudine Gays posing as the Joint Chiefs of Staff and are itching to pull the trigger on Taiwan. Hell, they've already launched a serious cyber attack on us with impunity.

Meh, they've been doing that for years with zero response from us, along with things like TikTok, the Confucius Institutes, bribery and graft of not just Yum-Yum Swalwell but dozens of others up to and including the Bidens, and total asymmetric warfare on all fronts with the intent of destroying us from within.

Even if we wanted to respond to the Chinese, how are we going to do it without an industrial base – an industrial base that was shipped overseas, mostly to China? I saw an article (wish I copied the link) that stated it would now take us well over 100 years, if not longer, to achieve the same industrial output we achieved between 1941 and 1945, in order to produce enough weapons and ammunition to meet a ChiCom attack.

Aside from being bereft of heavy industrial capacity, we lack the skilled tradesmen, machinists and workers as well as the brain power to even begin to pull off the beginnings of a rebirth of what once was. Remember, the Rust Belt's been the Rust Belt for nearly 40 years if not not longer. When the Japanese signed the surrender document on the deck of the USS Missouri, Detroit was the third most prosperous city in the entire world. What does the name "Detroit" conjure up today? Ditto US Steel? Mega-ditto USA?

I suppose it's a small consolation that the company now is owned by an ally and not like everything else the ChiComs. Of all people, John Fetterman was up in arms over the deal, mostly from the union angle, but of course he represents Pennsylvania which still is home to whatever steelworker constituency remains in the country (as an aside, you wonder how many people get what the logo of Pittsburgh's NFL franchise means). Yesterday, in the Stacey Matthews/Legal Insurrection link about Fetterman, there was this observation:

Fetterman’s stances have had some conservative influencers suggesting he has more or less turned into one himself. I don’t really see it that way. Though maybe not a hardcore woke progressive, he’s still a staunch Democrat. He’s pro-abortion, pro-Big Labor, pro-“tax the rich,” pro gun rights restrictions, and is soft on crime. But the fact that Fetterman’s been more right than left on Menendez, illegal immigration, and Israel as of late is certainly welcome all the same.

A commenter on one of the threads noted that maybe Fetterman is on to something. Just to clarify, I am not a Fetterman booster, but merely pointing out salient facts about his stances on the issues, irrespective of what's going on in his mind and/or lump. These days "tax the rich" is not necessarily a Leftist-Progressive stance, insofar as given what the corporatists and their fascist leaders in government have done to the middle class over the past several years. Ironic that "Occupy Wall Street" has come full circle in that the wealthiest among us are the biggest supporters of the Democrats and the destruction they have wrought.

The 10 most expensive zip codes by median home value, which accounted for just 0.02% of the population in 2020, were responsible for 7.6% of this year’s donations to the Biden campaign and the Biden Victory Fund, which are the primary committees used by the president’s reelection effort, according to data from the United States Census Bureau and the FEC. The roughly 81,000 people living in those zip codes donated 311 times more to Biden than would be proportionate to their share of the population.

The residents of America’s 10 most expensive zip codes donated a total of $7,519,474 to the Biden campaign and the Biden Victory Fund this year, or roughly $930 per person, according to FEC and Census Bureau records. Median home prices in these zip codes range from $4.25 million in Rancho Santa Fe, California, on the low end, and up to $7.95 million in Atherton, California, on the high end, according to the Times. The median price of a house in the United States was $412,000 as of September, according to Forbes.

Democrats have been bleeding working-class voters since 2016, though have made up their losses by appealing to higher-income voters and college graduates, according to Axios. Working-class congressional districts have begun electing more Republicans to represent them, while Democrats have started picking up wealthier districts, Axios reported. Democrats represented nine of the 10 wealthiest congressional districts as of 2022.

Biden has portrayed himself as a champion for the working class, leaning into his purported blue-collar roots and juxtaposing himself with former President Donald Trump. “I view this as a campaign between Scranton and Park Avenue,” Biden said during a CNN town hall leading up to the 2020 election. “All that President Trump could see from Park Avenue is Wall Street. All he thinks about is the stock market,” he continued. “How many of you all own stock in Scranton? Not a whole lot of people own stock.”

Biden campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg said the president raised more than $15 million during a weekend of fundraising earlier this month in wealthy Los Angeles neighborhoods that was focused on courting high-dollar donors and members of Hollywood’s social elite, Deadline reported. . .

. . . Just 10 select wealthy zip codes were responsible for 11.7% of donations to Biden’s reelection effort this year. These zip codes spanned wealthy Californian communities like Beverly Hills, Atherton, Los Altos, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, San Francisco and Palo Alto. They also included zip codes in New York City and Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Scranton's not on that list. Nor is Pittsburgh (though Pittsburgh "donated" 110% of its ballots to Biden in 2020 and no doubt will repeat that next year). Nor Gary, IN where what's left of US Steel's massive blast furnaces stand, nor Detroit nor any other place where the American blue collar worker once reigned supreme. Ditto Main Street with its now virtually extinct mom-and-pop shops.

And as we consider the question of what does the name and logo of US Steel conjure up, the same can also be said of Harvard University.

“I don’t mean to laugh about it, but this is insane. You have somebody who’s a complete failure, who embarrassed the university, who cost them a billion dollars, who gets caught plagiarizing, and they’re going stand with her…. Maybe they think their brand can’t be permanently tarnished because it’s Harvard. Well, you know what? The people who branded Bud Light thought the same thing, and they found out differently.”

Nothing lasts forever. But things that we expected to last for a very long time have been intentionally sabotaged, hollowed out from within and ultimately destroyed. Like the United States of America.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• "The rise of public masking and the persistence of [Fauci-ChiCom] Covid fanatics on social media is disconcerting."
  Covid Redux
  
• "Has the plague of illiberal ideologies become terminal?"
  The American University, RIP

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:46 AM | Comments (485) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 19 December 2023

Top Story

• Possibly the most Icelandish story ever. (New York Times) (archive site)

  A volcano in southwestern Iceland began erupting Monday with lava fountains reaching up to 330 feet and the glow visible miles away in the center of the capital, Reykjavik.
  
  The location of the fissure poses a risk to the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant and to the town of Grindavík, which was evacuated last month because of heightened seismic activity.
  
  "We are looking at a worst-case scenario," said Thorvaldur Thordarson, a volcanologist in Iceland. "The eruption appears big, and only about two kilometers from major infrastructure."

  Have they tried smashing it with a hammer?
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (233) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Monday Overnight Open Thread (12/18/23)

***

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

“Our assessment so far is that this appears to be a lunatic, because a sensible person would not jump into the den, Zaheer Anwar, Bahawalpur Deputy Commissioner

Quote II

“BlackRock has agreed to use all of the assets in their portfolio to push the net-zero agenda. If you have a dollar invested in BlackRock, you’re invested in an ESG fund.” Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research

Quote III

"Progress in our understanding of how brains compute using neurons is hampered by our inability to simulate brain like networks at scale," ICNS director and Western Sydney professor André van Schaik

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:00 PM | Comments (400) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Someone's Got a Bad Case of the Mondays Cafe

Sedona, Arizona
Looks beautiful, but everytime I hear about Sedona
it's something flakey and dumb, usually involving
crystals or chakras

Nose meld.

The skill shown here in doing something I didn't realize was a skill is very high. I guess. I've never tried it. Maybe it's easy as shit.

Happy dog strut.

This stray dog is given a dog bone treat and he is soooo happy!

That's some real amateur pouncing there, bucko.

Reenactment of A Bridge Too Far but with sheep. It's an all-star sheep cast but I hear it's a bit of snoozer.

There's so much hate in the world, sometimes it's good to just grab a friend by the hips and bring him in for surprise anal. Wait, what?

This little guy is too cute to ever be bacon! If he puts on weight, though...

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:26 PM | Comments (322) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Quick Hits

Brief run-down tonight. Slow news days are long days, man.

There was an unconfirmed report from a Secret Service source months ago that they had determined who snuck Hunter Biden's cocaine into the White House. The leaker said it wasn't Hunter Biden, but "someone in the Biden Family orbit."

That tidbit led some to speculate that it was Ashley Biden, who herself had drug addiction problems. (She was in recovery when she left her diary behind.)

Well, turns out, she's like her older scumbag brother daring to violate their globally-enforced speech codes.

The European Union has formally announced it suspects X, previously known as Twitter, of breaching its rules in areas including countering illegal content and disinformation.

Digital commissioner Thierry Breton set out the alleged infringements in a post on the social media platform.

He said X, which is owned by Elon Musk, was also suspected of breaching its obligations on transparency.

A major law firm just announced it will no longer recruit graduates of Harvard Law School.

Harvard's quickly deleting, deleting all the evidence, assuredly in anticipation of further Congressional hearings which may result in an end to, or more likely a steep discount in, taxpayer subsidies to this "university."

They're hiding the evidence that their page on "affinity groups," which allows some but not all races to have their own segregated graduation ceremonies, excluded Jews from this dubious privilege.

Harvard University hosted graduation celebrations for certain identity groups in 2023 but excluded Jews.

The now-deleted "Affinity Celebrations for Graduates" page on Harvard's website boasts events for "Graduates with Disabilities," "Indigenous Graduates," "Latinx Graduates," "LGBTQ+ Graduates," "Arab Graduates," "Black Graduates," and more.

"Affinity celebrations are student-led, staff supported events that recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of graduates from historically marginalized communities," the web page stated. "These University-wide celebrations provide an opportunity for graduates to honor those who have helped them achieve their milestone while centering their cultural traditions and values."

According to the website, the celebrations "are made possible by the collaboration of the Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging; the DIB Leadership Council; the Council of Deans of Students; the Commencement Office; and students."

The now-deleted "Affinity Celebrations for Graduates" page on Harvard's website boasts events for "Graduates with Disabilities," "Indigenous Graduates," "Latinix Graduates," "LGBTQ+ Graduates," "Arab Graduates," "Black Graduates," and more. (Harvard)

The web page was last accessible on June 26, according to an archived version of the site, and was deleted at some point afterward.

It's unclear if Harvard deleted the web page amid controversy over its president's testimony to Congress on antisemitism.

No, it's very clear, they're cleaning up the record.

Harvard also seems to be hiding its webpage on forced fake pronoun use. They might be doing this because dictating what a student may say, claiming that using the wrong pronoun would be "violence" against that student, of course directly repudiates Harvard's Plagiarist Claudia Gay's claim that she can't ban calls for uprisings against Jews because of her devotion to the First Amendment.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:25 PM | Comments (184) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Disney Marvel's Big Rising Star, Their Next "Thanos-Level Threat," Was Just Convicted of Harassing and Assulting His Girlfriend
Disney Planning a Woke Reboot of the X-Files

Whoops!

Whoopsie!

They jury acquitted him of two counts.

Before getting into all this, let me say that I usually would not do two entertainment posts in a row. On a different day, I would put this one into and save it for tomorrow.

BUT THERE IS NO NEWS TODAY, and so I'm not going to keep hunting for news when I have this perfectly-decent post ready. I know it's not ideal to have two back-to-back entertainment posts but seriously, it's a slow news day.

On to the story, and to more Disney Disaster:

A Manhattan jury found Jonathan Majors guilty on Monday of two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault, but acquitted him on two other counts.

In the domestic assault trial, the Marvel actor was found not guilty on one count of of intentional assault in the third degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree against his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. Majors, wearing a dark gray suit and seated with his attorneys and current girlfriend Meagan Goode, did not display a reaction when the verdict was read.

Judge Michael Gaffey set a sentencing date of Feb. 6. Majors faces up to a year in jail, but he could also be sentenced to probation.

The two-week-long trial resumed in a lower Manhattan courtroom as the six-person jury requested to hear the definition of harassment in the second degree, which is when a person is guilty of "intent to harass, annoy or alarm" another person -- "he or she strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects such other person to physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do the same."

The texts in the case were damning. Majors attempted to claim that he had not hit his girlfriend (causing her a head injury), but in texts between them, it is clear that both agree that he hit her, and that she needs to go to the hospital due to the injury she suffered, and that they both plan on lying to cover up the reason for the injury.

I mean, the girlfriend even promises to lie.

Update: Disney fired him, says The Hollywood Reporter.

You notice, they waited for an actual court resolution.

OTOH, they fired Johnny Depp on Amber Turd's say so where she didn't even say so. (She just strongly hinted.)

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:14 PM | Comments (319) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Is This... Inciting?

Hollywood really wants a civil war.

Okay.

One civil war porn movie warning of a Xtinist Fascist takeover of the country, and one race-baiting piece of racist agitprop about how unsafe black people are due to the violent predations of the White Devil.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:09 PM | Comments (359) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Barack Obama: Yeah, Joe Biden Might Lose in 2024 and My Third Term Might End

Via Karen Townsend.

This doesn't necessarily mean anything. Even when Democrats thought they had the "fortified" election of 2020 in hand, they worried that overconfidence would lead to complacency would lead to their voters not showing up to vote. (As if the Democrat Party depends on voters actually voting!)

And so they scared their voters with claims that Trump was closing in in some states, were he wasn't.

Still, given that there is a major debate in the party right now about whether it's time for Sunset Joe to gallop off into, um, Hell, this can also be taken as the First Gay President signalling that it's time for Sunset Joe to get to fixin' to mosey.

Those with concerns include former President Barack Obama, who "knows this is going to be a close race" and "feels that Democrats very well could lose" the 2024 election, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Obama worries that "the alternative is pretty dangerous for democracy," the person said.

Remember, Obama's campaign manager/Astroturf engineer David Axelrod has been very vocal about how things look "very, very dark" for Dark Brandon.

Former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod commented on a recent Wall Street Journal poll that puts President Biden's approval figures at a record low, saying it is "very, very dark" for his re-election campaign.

Axelrod made the comments Saturday during the "Hacks on Tap" podcast alongside political consultant Mike Murphy and former Obama White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

The Wall Street Journal poll Axelrod was discussing has former President Donald Trump leading Biden 47% to 43% in a hypothetical with two people on the ballot. Trump leads 37% to 31% in a hypothetical ballot with five independent candidates also listed.

Biden's job approval only hit 37%, a new record low for the WSJ poll, and 61% of those who responded see the president's overall image in a negative light.

"Job approval down, ratings generally down, most of the comparatives with Trump not good," Axelrod said on the podcast. "What I worry about, you guys, from a Biden standpoint, is these are the kinds of things you get when people are starting to rationalize their votes."

"And they just put out another photo op with the 'Bidenomics' sign next to him...it's just unbelievable to me," he added.

On most issues such as the economy, border security and inflation, respondents to the poll sided with Trump. Only on the issue of abortion did Biden beat Trump.

So Obama very could be signalling that he endorses his onetime "Senior Advisor's" handicapping of the race.

Or he could just be playing Captain Bullshit in between faculty lounge discussions with "Interesting Italians." Who knows.

And who knows how to read the portents in this? The crash you hear is a driver smashing into the "Presidential" motorcade.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:52 PM | Comments (312) | Trackbacks (Suck)

MrFAFO Is Dead -- Long Live MrFAFO!

Before getting to that, check out this piece of Pallywood Propaganda.

If you haven't seen many AI-produced illustrations, AI is brilliant... except it has no idea how many fingers human beings have, and guesses they have anywhere from 4-8 fingers.

More absurd Pallywood propaganda at Twitchy.

This one looks real, just staged. They just plopped down a baby on some rubble, and added the obligatory prop teddy bear.

They Just Want Peace (TM).

Remember the Pallywood actor who was caught on successive days lying on his deathbed in a hospital, and then dancing in the streets celebrating the war against Israel, no doubt healed completely by famously-advanced Palestinian Science?

He's become a meme -- the internet dubs him "#MrFAFO."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:55 PM | Comments (304) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gay Pornster Who Got an Insurrection In the Senate: Don't Shame Me For Who I Love Or Where I Love Him

You probably all know this, because I know you all subscribe to Pink News*, but the Hero who made a gay pornographic film of him railing another dude up the Freedom Trail and then posted it in a public forum for discussing gay men in politics (and politicos inside gay men) was canned.

Well we already saw that he had been canned, the new news is that he was subsequently fired.

A US Senate staffer allegedly caught filming himself having sex in a Judiciary Committee hearing room no longer has his job, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) said on X.

"Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate. We will have no further comment on this personnel matter," a Cardin spokeswoman told The Post.

Maese-Czeropski, a 24-year-old legislative aide, was accused of posting a video of himself in flagrante delicto with another man on a public X account. His face appeared to be clearly visible, according to The Spectator, which first broke the story Friday.

The roughly eight seconds of intercourse allegedly took place in the same room where nominees to the Supreme Court are grilled by senators and where former FBI boss James Comey once testified about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Graphic video of the moment was published by The Daily Caller Friday evening.

...

Maese-Czeropski previously was featured in an ad for President Biden -- earning a shoutout from his mother's now deleted X account.

Of course.

If you're not grossed out enough yet, this next quote should about do it:

...

The same year, he apparently wrote on the payment platform Venmo, "I want Joe Biden to spit in my mouth."

You probably also know this, and even if you didn't know it you would have guessed it, but he immediately hissed that he was being discriminated against because of "who I love."

"This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda," he wrote. "I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace."

What were you doing, then? Christening the room with your nasty effluvia?

People have gone to prison for "violating the sanctity of the Congress" by sitting in the Speaker's chair.

Do you think he'll be prosecuted?

The Post reported:

The United States Capitol Police launched a probe into potential criminal violations after the video began circulating.

They have to say that but I very much doubt it. Gay sex became sacred around Year 5 of the First Gay President, Barack Hussein Obama.

Jonathan Turley says there's a basis for prosecution, but I have sneaky suspicion a Specific Intent element will be read into the criminal statutes to protect this Hero of Love.

Staffers have access into such rooms, but the question is whether this unofficial use would constitute trespass. It also uses an official area for personal purposes, though it is not clear if there were any commercial benefits garnered from the video found on various sites.

One obvious criminal provision under the D.C. code is Section 22-1312 for lewd, indecent, or obscene acts:

"It is unlawful for a person, in public, to make an obscene or indecent exposure of his or her genitalia or anus, to engage in masturbation, or to engage in a sexual act as defined in sec. 22-3001(. It is unlawful for a person to make an obscene or indecent sexual proposal to a minor. A person who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than the amount set forth in sec. 22-3571.01, imprisoned for not more than 90 days, or both." The question is whether this is "in public" in a locked committee room -- any more than sex in a congressional office after hours would be viewed as "in public."

There are also provisions concerning the misuse or damaging of government property such as Section 1361, which protects "any property" of the United States from willful depredation or attempted depredation. "Depredation" is defined as the act of plundering, robbing, pillaging or laying waste. However, mere possession of such property is not viewed as depredation. United States v. Jenkins, 554 F.2d 783, 786 (6th Cir. 1977).

All very interesting but we know that the "legal imagination" is only deployed to think of exciting new ways to prosecute Republicans or pro-life protesters or just some parents who don't like that their children are being encouraged to transition.

There was also a hoo-hah over the weekend about a staffer yelling "Free Palestine!" at Rep. Max Miller. Turns out, that was also this Love Is Love #Winner.

Now, I thought that the controversy about that was complete bullshit. We cannot become SJWs on this issue. People are allowed to express views to Jews that Jews don't like. I don't agree with "Free Palestine!" as a motto, of course, but this degenerate has a right to say it, and yes, he even has a right to say it to a Jewish person. Especially given that the Jewish person in question is a United States Congressman with not-insignificant influence over the policies of the US. People are allowed to petition their representatives, or any representatives, even those who do not directly represent their district.

Signing up for the proposition that Jews should be protected from any speech they don't like signs us up for the entirety of the speech code system.

I guess he realized he had ended his career (for about two years, which is the most a leftwinger is ever punished for) and decided to really explore the studio space.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:27 PM | Comments (563) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT – America’s National Interests and the Situation in Mexico

A post of mine last week (“America First” Was the Polite Request; “America Only” Is the Less-Polite Follow-up Offer) generated many comments and emails about the seemingly forgotten concept of “America’s national interests” as we engage (or don’t engage) with the rest of the world.

In that post I stated my belief that the Israel-Hamas conflict affects the long-term security of the United States, unlike Ukraine-Russia. Today I’d like to discuss the other country that concerns me the most as to how it affects our long-term national security – Mexico.

First, I’ll confess that I do have an affinity for Mexico, its people, and its culture, especially the northern Mexican border states that share an overlapping culture with South Texas. But forgetting my personal affection, the United States shares a 2,000 mile border with our southern neighbor, and governance of northern Mexico has effectively been conquered by organized crime cartels which are trafficking drugs and people, with a corresponding humanitarian crisis having broken out along the entirety of the border.

It's bad. But it can still get much worse.

As awful as the situation is, Mexico is not Cuba or Venezuela. At least not yet. The slow-motion civil war in Mexico between the official government and the ruling crime syndicates has not fully played out, but the crime syndicates are already effectively allied with China in the fentanyl crisis, and they are engaged in unconventional warfare against the United States.

“Authorities arrest armed Mexican cartel members who came across US border with rifles” [Fox News – 08/14/2023]

Law enforcement in Texas have arrested two Mexican nationals with cartel ties who were seen coming across the U.S. southern border armed with rifles and armor-piercing rounds.

“Multiple IEDs Discovered at the US-Mexican Border After Threat Levels Heightened” [MSN – 12/15/2023]

The United States-Mexico border has become the scene of violence normally associated with countries such as Iraq and Syria. The Mexican military has recovered no fewer than 10 improvised explosive devices at the international frontier this week, according to Fox Business.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is urging Border Patrol agents to be wary in the area in light of the use of IEDs.

“Drone video shows Mexican drug cartels throwing explosives along Texas southern border” [Fox News – 10/25/2023]

Mexican drug cartel operatives continue to engage in violent acts along the southern border of Texas near the Rio Grande, as new video shows them throwing explosives as an intimidation tactic, authorities say.

How is it not considered treason that Joe Biden and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, are committed to leaving the border unsecured so that those weapons and IEDs can be brought to American cities by hostile foreign crime syndicates?

But the greatest act of war being engaged against the US is not with weapons, instead it’s with drugs. According to some studies, fentanyl is the leading cause of death for adult Americans under the age of 45. Strangely enough, while the US (and Canada) are dealing with a fentanyl crisis, Europe is virtually untouched by it.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (409) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Deeds of Christian Charity
Pieter Aertsen

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (396) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 12/18/23

Good morning, kids. Incitatus, the horse that Caligula made a Roman Senator, just whinnied from the great beyond to say "Whoa!" I think the fact that I'm not necessarily surprised nor shocked that an aide to Democrat Senator Ben (now Ben-Dover) Cardin was caught in a Senate hearing room filming himself getting rogered up the sigmoid by some hirsute gorilla. For this, he was fired. For also last week threatening and hurling pro-"Palestinian" slogans at Rep Max Miller, he wasn't.

The shocking thing in all this I suppose is my reaction. With all the abject corruption, depravity and criminality that has driven our society to the brink of destruction, I find myself nonplussed by the filming of "A Queer and Pleasant Stranger" in a Senate chamber. The Senate itself and virtually everyone who belongs to what was once known as "the greatest deliberative body in the world" is part and parcel of the aforementioned corruption and has transformed it into in essence a multi-trillion dollar Augean stable of a whorehouse.

There is no introspection, no guilt, no shame and no contrition. Far from it. There is only radiant chutzpocrisy from the filthy deviant in question who, get this, claims HE is the real victim. Of homophobia.

I have to say, I'm at that Howard Beale mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore point of exploding. The Left has succeeded in dragging us down and perhaps in one respect, it's time to just give it back to them right in the face and twice as hard. Sort of like Vivek Ramaswamy over the weekend.

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suggested Sunday that CNN commentator Van Jones should “just shut the f–k up” in response to Jones labeling the brash Republican a “demagogue” earlier this month. Ramaswamy, who is vying for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, offered the brash suggestion toward the cable news personality after Jones said on-air he was “shaking” during the fourth GOP debate when Ramaswamy spoke because he felt like he was watching “the rise of an American demagogue.”

Jones also called the tech entrepreneur a “very, very despicable person” whose talking points during the debate were “one step away from Nazi propaganda,” the Hill reported. Ramaswamy, during an on-stage appearance at Turning Point USA’s Americafest in Arizona Sunday, didn’t mince words when replying to Jones’ characterization.

“And then you get the mainstream media, you got this character Van Jones on CNN afterwards saying, ‘This is the rise of an American demagogue who’s gonna live 50 years longer than Trump. This is dangerous, I am shaking,’ that’s what he says,” Ramaswamy, 38, said. “Just shut the f–k up.”

“At a certain point, just shut the f–k up,” he said as the crowd cheered and laughed. “We’re done with it.”Ramaswamy is competing with former President Donald Trump, ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie for the chance to face President Joe Biden next year. 

As you all are quite aware, I'm not exactly a choir boy in terms of the language I use. My English teacher of a mother of blessed memory, who was as refined, well-spoken and intellectual as you could imagine would certainly not approve (though in private, and mostly Hungarian, she would let loose like a gangster in a dive bar). But sometimes, you have to do what you have to do. And Ramaswmay flamed him but good. "Just shut the fuck up!" indeed.

And for those who don't know or have forgotten who and what Van Jones is, here's an excerpt from his Discover The Networks rap sheet:

Became a Communist in the aftermath of the 1992 “Rodney King riots” in Los Angeles

Founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in 1996

Was active in the anti-Iraq War demonstrations organized by International ANSWER

Suspected that the Bush administration “may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war”

Served as a board member of the Rainforest Action Network and Free Press

In March 2009, President Barack Obama named Jones to be his so-called “green jobs czar.”

Has been a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress

. . . By the late 1990s, Jones was a committed Marxist-Leninist-Maoist who viewed police officers as the arch-enemies of black people, and who loathed capitalism for allegedly exploiting nonwhite minorities worldwide. He became a leading member of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), a Bay-Area Marxist-Maoist collective that had ties to the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. . .

. . . Around 2002, Jones, who had experience as a record producer, produced (for the Ella Baker Center) an album that starred cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. That album featured lyrics depicting America not only as a place where “terrorists are made,” but also as “a piece of stolen land led by right-wing, war-hungry, oil-thirsty … mother fuckers” who “got people of color playing servant to do that shit for them.” Jones himself performed on the album as well. . .

. . . Also in 2005, Jones co-founded Color of Change (COC), an organization that views the United States as a profoundly racist country, and whose mission is “to make government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans and to bring about positive political and social change for everyone.”

. . . Amid mounting controversy over his radical past, Jones resigned his post as “green jobs czar” on Labor Day weekend 2009, claiming that he had been victimized by “a vicious smear campaign.” Jones was later asked whether President Obama had been aware of Jones’ controversial history before appointing him as green jobs czar. Jones replied: “I was fully candid, I mean, about my past, about the ideas that I explored….”

And on and on and on. Colorful bastard, isn't he? People have forgotten the kerfuffle when his communism torpedoed his working in the Obama White House. Of course, that's why Obama picked him in the first place, for a job the purpose of which was to forcibly convert our economy to a socialist/communist model. Yet when the heat died down, he didn't just disappear. He wound up on television. What a country!

The fact that he's even on a national news network and pimped as some sort of journalist-cum-responsible social commentator is an abomination. Meh, CNN and virtually every other broadcast or cable "news" network and the print media are nothing more than house organs for the dissemination of Leftist propaganda. They should all only "Shut the fuck up!" Forever.

While Vivek Ramaswamy for sure is not going to be the nominee, it is evident now after several interviews and town halls with the aforementioned hostile media that he is in command of his facts and knows how to handle the stooge interviewers insofar as dismantling their typical "Have you stopped beating your wife?" bullshit. If only everyone on our side did it his way.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, something curious is happening. People whom you least expected are standing up and saying the right things.

Though first-term Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is far from a Sinema/Manchin type, he has been giving the woke left fits in recent weeks with his right-leaning stances on illegal immigration, the Sen. Bob Menendez scandal, and, most of all, his staunch support for Israel.

Fetterman, who suffered a debilitating stroke in May 2022 during his Senate run and who spent a considerable amount of time away from the Senate in early 2023 after checking himself into a hospital for severe depression, has even gone so far as to take his case to “The View,” where earlier this month he frustrated the far-left co-hosts by among other things arguing that Menendez needed to go:

But to me, I think the more important picture is that we have a colleague in the Senate that actually did much more sinister and serious kind of things: Senator Menendez. He needs to go. And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate?

And, you know, Santos’s kind of lies were almost funny and, like, he landed on the moon and that kind of stuff. Whereas, you know, I think, you know, Menendez, I think is really a senator for Egypt, not New Jersey. So, I really think he needs to go, and especially it’s kind of strange that if Santos is not allowed to remain in the House, you know, someone like that —

Though Fetterman has also outraged the anti-Israel contingent on the left by doing things like repeatedly calling for the safe release of the hostages held by Hamas and openly trolling agitators during protests, it was a recent interview he did with NBC News that sent some Democrats over the edge:

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is breaking with progressives on hot-button issues with his fiery support for Israel and calls for Democrats to engage on tougher immigration laws, disappointing some on the left as he shows an independent streak. He’s also continually scolding Democrats for not pushing Sen. Bob Menendez out of office after he was indicted on federal charges of taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt, which the New Jersey Democrat denies. […]

“I’m not a progressive,” Fetterman told NBC News. “I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.” . . .

. . . Fetterman’s stances have had some conservative influencers suggesting he has more or less turned into one himself. I don’t really see it that way. Though maybe not a hardcore woke progressive, he’s still a staunch Democrat. He’s pro-abortion, pro-Big Labor, pro-“tax the rich,” pro gun rights restrictions, and is soft on crime. But the fact that Fetterman’s been more right than left on Menendez, illegal immigration, and Israel as of late is certainly welcome all the same.

That last paragraph for sure is right on the money. But, what is it about what's happening in Israel that made him break from the so-called "progressives" that he claimed himself to be when he ran? More to the point, does the situation in Israel present itself as an opportunity to win the hearts and minds of not just Jews and others over only that situation in particular but to highlight the destruction wrought by the Democrat Party and its acolytes (and the GOP-e scum who aid and abet them by playing the Potemkin opposition party) on all of us?

As Stacey Matthews says, we're likely never going to win Fetterman over on all those other issues. But then again, when a window of opportunity like the bloodbath inflicted on Israel by Hamas and the insane support it got from academia, it really is time to pounce. At the very least, it's a chance to bridge a divide that heretofore did not exist.

It won't last forever. After "Just shut the fuck up!" silences the assholes, then maybe real dialogue can begin.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• Robert Spencer: "The seeds of what we’re experiencing now were planted a long, long time ago, when few Americans fully realized what was happening. Allen Drury did. What makes great literature great is that it is enduringly relevant, and continues to illuminate and enlighten far beyond the context of its own setting and the time and place in which it was written."
  We Can’t Say We Weren’t Warned, Or, the More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
  
• "Today’s young people are encouraged to believe that they are traumatized by their personal experiences and the injustices of history."
  The Therapeutic Turn
  
• "The most serious political question is whether we want our nation to survive."
  World War III is Not Possible

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:45 AM | Comments (365) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 18 December 2023

Top Story

• Details have leaked of AMD's upcoming Epyc Turin server CPUs. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  These will have up to 128 full-size Zen 5 cores, or 192 of the slower (by about 20%) Zen 5c cores.
  
  This is not great news for Intel, which only just announced its latest 64 core server chips.
  
  They'll ship next year.
  
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (210) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Thread – 12/17/2023 [Roger Ball]

[Misanthropic Humanitarian is out hunting for the perfect Christmas gift for The Fabulous Mrs. MisHum, so our old pilot friend, Roger Ball, has agreed to crash land his sleigh here tonight. – Buck]

I am honored to answer the call of the HORDE and to provide marginal entertainment via the ONT. It is “the” season for many things to be sure. But I would personally like to give a hat tip to Orville and Wilbur. They started something big on December 17, 1903 That first flight on that breezy day on the Outer Banks barely made it half the wingspan of a Boeing 747, but things picked up from there. The descendants of their rickety Wright Flyer have kept me, and many others, gainfully employed for over half a century. We’ll cover the whole unpleasant patent battles and lawsuits another time. But for now, gentlemen, thank you for your vision and technical skill at getting the aviation industry started in the good old USA.

*****

Keeping with the positive vibes, is this a great country or what?

Ethiopian-born Israeli-American to run for seat of expelled NY Rep. Santos

Nassau County legislator and former IDF paratrooper Mazi Pilip to face off against Democratic former congressman Tom Suozzi in February 13 special election.

Hey demokkkrats, you'd better vote for her. You don't want to be racist do you? Seriously, IDF paratrooper? I would like her on my side.

*****

Checking in with CDR SALAMANDER: “Fullbore Friday”

Poor Poland, Nazis on one side, Communists on the other. The Polish military can hold its head high, it fought as best as it could. The nation that saved Vienna and therefore Europe from the Ottomans went down fighting - and continued fighting throughout the war.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (391) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: Sunday Before Christmas Eve Edition!

photo courtesy Duncanthrax

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be December 17th? It's dang near Christmas! Next time we're together it'll be Christmas Eve! And do you know what happens right after Christmas Eve? Do you know?

Q: Weasel, what happens right after Christmas Eve?
A: Christmas Day! Christmas Day happens right after Christmas Eve!

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by: Weasel at 07:00 PM | Comments (396) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Don't Ham It Up, This Is A Serious Place

That's the sort of thing I think about when I think about ham. But there is a vast world of holiday ham about which I know almost nothing! I am not suggesting that I don't eat a slice of traditional baked ham when offered, but it isn't in the rotation. I remember when the spiral-sliced hams came into vogue...that was fun to eat at Christmas parties, but again; it simply never entered the, "What should we make this week" discussion.

Why do I have ham on the brain? Well, my local supermarket has about 25 feet of refrigerator case filled with hams at a respectably reasonable price. The last time I had a whole ham in my refrigerator was about 30 years ago, and it was from a wild pig, and it was stupendous. I know I won't be getting something that good, but it is tempting...

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (341) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First-World Problems...

How the hell does one clean wax off of something with nooks and crannies?

Sure, I can run hot water over it, and that will soften the wax enough to clean it, but the Hanukkiah has a felt base that will become saturated and probably fall off. I could stick the damned thing in the freezer and hope that the wax will harden enough so I can simply peel it off.

But there is no easy solution, and yes, I have had sleepless nights wrestling with this problem.

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (294) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Intransigence Of The "Palestinian" Arabs Is the Only Thing That Has Prevented Their Own State, And Now It Is Too Late

The concept that the Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza deserve autonomy in their own governance, much less a state of their own, was shown on October 7th to be ridiculous. And even after two months of of pummeling by the Israeli military, support for Hamas and their subhuman brand of terrorism is strong. Hamas brought destruction and death upon the people of Gaza, yet they support it! The leadership of Hamas is safely ensconced in Qatar for now, able to spend their billions of dollars (looted from the people of Gaza and the world that wrote the checks) on luxury...and security, because of course the Israeli intelligence services are going to have a say in how long they draw breath.

Giving these people a state is madness. It is the equivalent of allowing Nazi Germany to reconstitute itself in May of 1945, or returning Hideki Tojo to power in September 1945. The West Bank, ruled by the Palestinian Authority, and Gaza, ruled by Hamas, are birds of a feather. There is no substantive difference, other then the propensity for PA officials to wear ties. Both represent a populace that approves...overwhelmingly...of the destruction of the state of Israel and the Jewish people. They are single-minded in their goals, and they inculcate their children with that message. They are a death cult with one thing in mind...killing Jews.

Here is Melanie Phillips eviscerating the widely held belief that a "two state solution" is rational.

The persistent "two-state" delusion

This week, polling results published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research revealed that no fewer than 82 per cent of Judea and Samaria residents and 72 per cent of Gazans approve of the October 7 pogrom.

If there were an election in the disputed territories, Hamas would win hands down. Support for Hamas in these territories has more than tripled compared to three months ago. In Gaza, such support has also increased. The overwhelming majority in both areas want to see Israel destroyed.

If the Palestinian Arabs are to govern themselves, they must go through the equivalent of the de-Nazification that was carried out in Germany after World War II. That clearly cannot be done by the rejectionist, Jew-hating and despotic PA.

But...in reality it is "de-Islamification," and that is impossible. The attitudes in Gaza and the West Bank did not emerge as a consequence of the re-creation of the state of Israel. An examination of the many pogroms against Jews perpetrated in many Arab states before 1948 suggest that Jew-Hate existed before the "Nakba," as the Arabs call Israeli Independence. And the expansionist goals of Islam, culminating in a global Caliphate are not some myth. Israel and Jews are merely their first target.

So how to cure Gaza and the West Bank of their blood lust? We can't. All we can do is demilitarize the area so there cannot be a repeat of October 7th, and remove the malign influence of UN-sponsored educational systems that actively promote the agenda that led to the savagery of October 7th and before.

Israel is already destroying Hamas and its ability to project terrorism, but the UN and the oh-so-sophisticated 1st world is busily trying to return to the status quo ante bellum; that's what cease fires will lead to.

The "Two State Solution" is dead. The trick is convincing the world that it is better off with a vibrant Israel, complete with world-class technology, liberal democracy, freedom, and most of all respect for human life and humanity.

Because the other side of the coin is a savage 3rd world sh*thole where the law of the jungle prevails, where terrorism in service of a world caliphate is exported, and where tens of billions of dollars from the developed world is stolen to support its despotic rulers.

I know what I would choose.

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (274) | Trackbacks (Suck)