Check Out These Reactions To The 2014 SOTU

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

This morning, a client told me about this video, and I stumbled upon it during blog rounds just now (hat tip to Capitalist Preservation):

This Week On The Gathering Storm

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, hosted by WC and me.

The show broadcasts live for 30 minutes every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time (3:00 P.M., EST).

The call-in number is 646-915-9870. Callers welcome!

Our scheduled guest this week is Mr. Ducky.

Listen to the January 31, 2014 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:

The Core Curriculum: A Warning

Corrigendum

Please CLICK HERE for Video

Is Islam A Form Of Paganism?

Consider THIS:

Tales From The Classroom

("Tales from the Classroom" is a feature posted occasionally here at this blog.  All tales are true and present matters about which I have personal knowledge.  The following tale relates the story of something that happened when I was teaching sixth grade in 1993.  If you must have politics, please scroll down; yesterday, I posted about the recent shootings at Columbia Mall in Maryland)

David, the director's favorite grandson, was a brilliant student.  He wasn't a troublemaker and, therefore, often had his assigned seat in the final row of desks.

David did have one bad habit, however: when he was concentrating on something, he liked to sit on his knees while in his student desk.  He had received many warnings about the precariousness of such posture, but often continued sitting on his knees.

One day, his bad habit was forever reformed.

The Shootings At Columbia Mall

Columbia Mall is located in Howard County, Maryland and is an upscale mall.

 On Saturday, January 26, 2014, Darion Marcus Aguilar, age 19 and an individual with no known criminal record or other red flags, entered the Zumiez store and starting firing away. By the time the police arrived, he had killed two people and wounded others, then had turned the gun on himself.  The mall was closed, of course.  More interesting, none of the evacuated shoppers were allowed to drive their vehicles home; school buses and other buses were brought in to take the shoppers home.

Backpacks with primitive IED's were found inside the mall.  In fact, for many hours the police did not approach the shooter's body out of concerns that the body might be booby trapped. 

Who is Darion Marcus Aguilar? This photo, supposedly from James Hubert Blake High School's yearbook, has surfaced:

Contrary to reports, Zumiez is more than a "skate store."  Rrecently, the store's main display has been one of snowboarding, perhaps in advance of the Sochi Olympics.

An eyewitness interviewed by CNN the afternoon of the murders stated, "The guy looked either Hispanic or Arab." I heard that interview myself when I was tuned into CNN so as to follow the events at Columbia Mall.  CNN never replayed that interview, but continued to replay multiple times any interviews blaming the gun.

Over and over again, despite the police statements to the contrary, various news media kept labeling the slayings as "workplace violence" or "a relationship crime."

Was Darion Marcus Aguilar a jihadist?  Maybe, maybe not.  But it seems to me that the mainstream media were doing all that they could to spin the story into something it appears that it was not, i.e., "a relationship killing."

Personal Update

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Until January 13, when I last saw my retinal surgeon some three months after surgery, I didn't know how much in peril my eyesight was because of a retinal detachment.

The detachment that I had affected the macula! Often, detachments involving the macula can be improved only to a 30% restoration of sight.

I was lucky — “very lucky” according to my ophthalmologist.

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post.   For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

Fallujah falls to Al-Qaeda, does anyone care??

News Networks Spend Twice as Much Time on Michelle Obama’s Birthday Bash Than Benghazi

Who Read 1,582-Page $1.1T Spending Bill? Congressman: 'Nobody Did'

The Benghazi Transcripts: Top Defense officials briefed Obama on ‘attack,’ not video or protest

More People Without Health Insurance Than Before Obamacare: Number Cancelled 6,286,357

‘Blow Torch Rapist’ Strikes Again In Detroit

America's True Legacy

by Sam Huntington

In 1775, the Americans began a concerted effort to publicly discredit their king, George III of England. They did not do this because George III of England was the cause of difficulties between the English colonies and the motherland —he was not. In fact, the man was already well en route to a state of mentally deficiency. However, as King of England, George III was the singular symbol of British authority in the American colonies. If the American revolutionaries wanted to dishonor England, they had to humiliate the monarch.

No, the colonists' real problem was not the King of England —it was the British Parliament. Thus in 1775, it became necessary for the American people to throw off the yoke of legislative tyranny. Today, we seem to have returned to that sad state of affairs —but there are important differences. In 1775, one-third of our people had the courage to stand up for individual liberty; we have far fewer than that now who are willing to stand up for something they believe in —other than right of decadence.

It is true that Mr. Washington called for a strong central authority, but I think that what the federal government has become would appall even him. Today’s federal government is very much like the new logo for the National Reconnaissance Office: an octopus extending its tentacles to encircle the world: it could just as easily be the symbol for the neo communist movement.

Once upon a time, we could pridefully say that America’s true legacy was a deeply held belief in the supremacy of human liberty, and in the notion that the American people are the masters of their own destiny. This is no longer true.

Today, America’s federal government undertakes far too much authority over us. It encroaches dangerously upon our rights as citizens, as set forth in the Bill of rights. I feel that among concerned Americans, Mr. Washington’s warning should become our new standard: imperium libertatis minatur. Of course, adopting this new standard forces us to presume that Americans any longer deserve their liberty. Herein lies the problem: today, there are far too many of our citizens who demand that someone pay them for not working, and who expect liberty without possessing the courage to fight for it. Thus, our new legacy must be: obsequium ex imperil voluntaries. God help us, we deserve no better.

Freedom Of Religion?

According to the argument presented, if a monument to the Ten Commandments is permissible on the grounds of the capital city of Oklahoma, so is the following:

Satan: This artist's rendering provided by the Satanic Temple shows a proposed monument that the New York-based Satanic group wants to place at the Oklahoma state Capitol

Please read THIS and THIS before commenting.

Film One-Liner For Our Times

From Mommie Dearest (1981) and applicable to so many situations related to  politics in the 21st Century:

Tales From The Classroom

"Tales from the Classroom" is a feature posted occasionally here at this blog.  Previous tales have presented matters from my own personal knowledge.   The following tale, however, comes from the Washington Post.  

As one who refused to pass the star football player back in 1975 and was thereby forced out of the public schools system, some twenty years later finding that a similar attitude had come to prevail in some private schools as well, I know that the article presents the uncomfortable truth about what passes for education today.

Disney Characters

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

The features of some of Disney's cartoon characters were changed into real-life appearance by artist Karen Graw.

Do you recognize any of them?

Answers below the fold:

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post.   For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

New York,US: Muslim Man Beheads His Landlord in Brooklyn

Survey: Reported Christian "martyr" deaths doubled in 2013

DHS Destroys Musicians 11 Flutes calling them Agricultural Products

Bankruptcies from pension costs ]Desert Hot Springs, California]

Now For Something Completely Different

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Maybe one of the readers of this blog has a clue about the following:

Was Phil Wrong?

by Sam Huntington

The Epistle to the Romans (often shortened to Romans) is the sixth book in the New Testament; it was composed to the Apostle Paul to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans is considered to be the most important theological legacy. After Paul’s prologue, he gets immediately down to business. “18. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress truth by their wickedness.”

What was Phil Robertson doing but exposing the wickedness of people, whose raised voices sought to silence the truth of their own wickedness?

“26. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

So was Phil wrong?

The outraged voices don’t matter. Although most of us are tired of watching sexual deviants strut around and listening to them boast of their lewd behavior, most of us do not care what adults do in the privacy of their own homes. God loves the sinner and wants him or her to forsake wickedness and move closer to Him. We do the sinner no favors by allowing them to silence our objection to immorality. If these lowlifes are offended by Phil Robertson’s point of view —tough.

Caution: Children At Play

The Narcissist Nation

This excerpt from a recent column by Richard Cohen rings true no matter where you are on the political spectrum:

Death by Television

by Sam Huntington

Pseudo-documentary is the description of a film or video production that takes the form and style of a documentary, but which does not portray actual events nor pursue a single remnant of common sense.  Rather, the producers of these kinds of films use scripted and fictional elements to tell a story.  Is not intended as satire.  It often uses fabricated sets, actors, constructed situations, and digital effects to alter scene or scenario.

Sunday Break From Politics

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

The latest from Henri, le Chat Noir:


As sick as I've been with this miserable sinus infection, I understand Henri's attitude of futility!

Sincere thanks to Sam for taking up the slack here at Always On Watch while I've been so ill.

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post.   For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

Susan Rice: No Successful Attacks on U.S. Homeland Since 9/11

Leftists Pushing HHS to Pay for Sex-Change Operations Under Medicare

Obamacare’s New Year’s Surprise…Billions In Home Health Care Cuts For Millions Of Poor And Sick

EPA overrides Congress, hands over town to Indian tribes

Alive and Well: Class Warfare

by Sam Huntington

by Bob Mack

The American Communist Movement, also known as progressivism, is in full swing (again). This should be no surprise to anyone since John (The Commie) Podesta moved back to the White House staff. You may remember that Commie John created the Center for American Progress —an oxymoron of the first rank. Except for Monica Lewinski, the Center for American Progress has become the who’s who for anyone who ever worked for Billy Clinton. I must admit, however, that Commie John has made the most of George Soros’ money, putting together also the Progress Report (which hardly seems possible), and the other shills such as Climate Progress and Think Progress, which are equally incongruent.

Refuting Aliens

By Sam Huntington

It seems to me that even in spite of the lack of any empirical evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life forms, the Arts and Entertainment Network sure spends a lot of money talking about them. Well, I want to be fair: they spend an equal amount of money on Duck Dynasty and Swamp People, too. Seriously, the evidence suggesting the actual existence of alien life forms is underwhelming and no amount of repeat performances of the so-called Roswell Incident will change my mind about this.

Am I therefore close-minded? No, not really. I just think that if there were such things as aliens, we would have already taxed the bejesus out of them, which would have sent them dashing back to whatever star system they came from. Common sense, actually. Sadly, all the rest of us are stuck here.



PS. Happy birthday, Z.

Reminders About Islam

Inspired in part by the web site Citizen Warrior, the video below covers important details about abrogation of verses in the Koran, shari'a, and taqiyya:


From the mouth of Pavel Pechyonkin, former paramedic and one of the suspects in the recent Volgograd train station bombing in Russia:

Theft, plain and simple

by Sam Huntington

I was doing some reading the other day at The Heritage Foundation.  They put together an article about the booze, pole dancing, and luxurious hotels charged to the American taxpayer during 2013.  You can read the article here.

I’m not saying that any one of these expenditures will bankrupt America.  I’m not even saying that all of them together present a clear danger to the US economy.  I’m certainly not suggesting that expenditures under one administration is more shocking than any other.  I’m only suggesting that the arrogance of the federal bureaucracy is nothing if not jaw dropping.  With millions of Americans out of work, all the rhetoric about rich people not paying their fair share, and all the issues about sequestration … it makes you want to know, “Who in the hell are these people?”

Heritage Foundation’s top ten outrageous government waste includes:

•       An outhouse in Alaska, $98,670.00
•        Heated bus stop in Arlington, Virginia, $1 million
•        Pole dancing grant, $10,000.00
•        Pizza from a printer, $124,996.00 (another NASA project)
•        Female psychology, $335,525.00
•        Booze and whiskey glasses for the State Department, $5.4 million
•        Monitoring psychological depression on Twitter, $82,000.00
•        A new facade for the British Embassy, $1 million
•        New artwork for the VA office, $562,000.00
•        Government employee vacation to St. Croix –we have no idea how much this cost.

I could write for another hour about other things that deserve closer attention, but I know you get it.  Well, most of you do.  Tell me though, how do we get the attention of bureaucrats who don’t really care what we taxpayers think?

Sinus Infection

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

With a low grade fever and general misery.

If I'm not better by tomorrow, I'll go to the doctor.

Until I'm feeling better, blogging may be lighter than usual, and my blog rounds will be curtailed.

Meanwhile, we'll do the best we can.

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post.   For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

Malaysia: Muslim group calls for New Year's celebrations to be canceled because they reflect Jewish culture

FBI investigates [April 16, 2013] military style attack on California power station

ObamaCare Found To Restrict Where You Live And Travel

OBAMASCARE: Huge premium hikes rock employer-insured workers

Majority of Europe's Muslims Favor Sharia Over Democracy: Multiculturalists argue that Muslim citizens will eventually adopt the West's democratic mindset. These findings make that doubtful

Islamic Terrorism In Mogadishu

On New Year's Day:

Tales From The Classroom

("Tales from the Classroom" is a new feature posted occasionally here at this blog.  All tales are true and present matters about which I have personal knowledge.  The following tale relates the story of something that happened in August 2013)

In addition to teaching classes of homeschoolers, I do private tutoring.

Last summer, I tutored two teenaged brothers of Chinese descent, one of the boys a rising seventh grader and the other a rising ninth grader. Both had long been homeschooled and would be entering the honors programs in public school system in September.  Not by any stretch of the imagination were these tutoring sessions remedial in nature. One or both of these superior students had already read several works of literature: Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Jack London's The Call of the Wild, Charles Dickens's David Copperfield, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer — as well as many others.