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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Musical Interlude For Halloween

(For politics, please scroll down)

Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns (1938-1921):


About Danse Macabre:
<--more>
The composition is based upon a poem by Henri Cazalis, on an old French superstition:

Zig, zig, zig, Death in a cadence,
Striking with his heel a tomb,
Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,
Zig, zig, zig, on his violin.
The winter wind blows and the night is dark;
Moans are heard in the linden trees.
Through the gloom, white skeletons pass,
Running and leaping in their shrouds.
Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking,
The bones of the dancers are heard to crack—
But hist! of a sudden they quit the round,
They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.
According to the ancient superstition, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death has the power to call forth the dead from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle (represented by a solo violin with its E-string tuned to an E-flat in an example of scordatura tuning). His skeletons dance for him until the first break of dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year.
Musical Musings cautions:
The Danse Macabre (French for Dance Of Death) became a cultural symbol in late Medieval Europe. Artists painted scenes of the dead escorting the living to the grave with a final dance of death. The reality of a sudden and painful death were all too vivid after the horrors of the bubonic plague, the 'Black Death' epidemics of the 14th century. It is estimated that 40 to 50 percent of the total population of Europe perished in a four-year period.

The notion that death was the fate of all, as stated in the Latin motto that accompanied many of the artworks depicting the Dance of Death, Momento Mori (remember you will die) expresses the sentiment that no matter a person's position in society or station in life, our fate is the same. While the notion of death has been romanticized to a certain degree over the years and even trivialized in cartoons and videos, the Dance of Death was very real to people of earlier times.

Monday, October 30, 2017

President Trump Being "Presidential"

Please watch this complete video recording of President Donald Trump's October 25, 2017 interview with Lou Dobbs on October 25, 2017:


President Donald J. Trump should show this side of his personality more often!

Meanwhile, we have this (short video of 39 seconds):


Their candidate for the office of President of the United States lost. Pathetic.  These tantrum throwers suffer from arrested development and need to get over themselves!

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Enjoy these images and the pop standard "Autumn Leaves" as performed by Pianist to the Presidents Roger Williams and orchestra, first recorded by Williams in 1955. "Autumn Leaves" stands as the greatest selling piano recording of all time, with more than 2 million sold.


The home page for Roger Williams.

About the above piece and pianist Roger Williams (1924-2011):
In 1955 Williams recorded "Autumn Leaves", the only piano instrumental to reach #1 on Billboard's popular music chart. It sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It was the fourth #1 song of the "rock era," which unofficially began with the ascension of "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets into the top spot.  In 1966 he had another Top Ten hit with the song "Born Free" from the motion picture soundtrack. His other hits include "Near You", "Till", "The Impossible Dream", "Yellow Bird", "Maria", and "The Theme from Somewhere in Time". Billboard magazine ranks him as the top selling piano recording artist in history with 18 gold and platinum albums to his credit. Williams was known as the "Pianist to the Presidents", having played for nine US Presidential administrations, beginning with Harry S. Truman.  His last White House performance was in November 2008 for a luncheon hosted by First Lady Laura Bush.

On his 75th birthday, Williams performed his first 12-hour piano marathon. He performed the marathon at Steinway Hall in New York City and the Nixon, Carter and Reagan Presidential Libraries. His Steinway & Sons "Gold Steinway" grand piano was on tour for public display and entertainment during 2007–2008. In 2010, Roger Williams was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Read the rest HERE.

Lyrics below the fold.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

FBI Informant To Speak To Congress On Alleged Clinton Uranium One Corruption

With a hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance:
Money quote: "[Trump] says wacky things from time to time, as we all know. But nothing is as wacky as the truth....Everyone is colluding with Russia except Trump."

And, then, there's this, about the Fusion GPS dossier: Congress Probes Whether Obama DOJ Used The ‘Trump Dossier’ Before Surveillance Court (dated October 18, 2017).

Washington isn't a swamp. It's a cesspool!

Monday, October 23, 2017

Corruption — On Steroids, Part 2

Lifted verbatim from Pastorius's October 22, 2017 post at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:
HUD Audit Finds Unheard of $500 Billion in Accounting Errors

Ben Carson is the Secretary General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

I told you Donald Trump was focused on cutting corruption in Government. I have been writing here that the reason for the overwhelming bi-partisan hatred of Trump is precisely because he is focused on destroying the moneystreams our leaders have set up for themselves under the guise of "Government".

From HUD [click to enlarge]:


HUD reissued its fiscal years 2016 and 2015 (restated) consolidated financial statements due to pervasive material errors that we identified.

The total amounts of errors corrected in HUD’s notes and consolidated financial statements were $516.4 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively.

There were several other unresolved audit matters, which restricted our ability to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to express an opinion.

These unresolved audit matters relate to (1) the Office of General Counsel’s refusal to sign the management representation letter, (2) HUD’s improper use of cumulative and first-in, first-out budgetary accounting methods of disbursing community planning and development program funds, (3) the $4.2 billion in nonpooled loan assets from Ginnie Mae’s stand-alone financial statements that we could not audit due to inadequate support, (4) the improper accounting for certain HUD assets and liabilities, and (5) material differences between HUD’s subledger and general ledger accounts. This audit report contains 11 material weaknesses, 7 significant deficiencies, and 5 instances of noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations.
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I ask the same question that my father always asked: "Who's getting the rake-off?"

Others might flatly state: "Welcome to the United States of America Banana Republic."

Flashback to 2013:


Additional YouTube results for "obama not banana republic."

Frankly, when I heard BHO say the above time and time again in his scolding, preachy, moral-high-horse way, I said: "America, then, must already be a banana republic — or well on her way to becoming one!"

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Now For Something Completely Different...

(For politics, please scroll down)

NAME THE KITTEN!

At one-week old.

At one-month old.

Need-to-know information....I paid my first visit to the kitten we're planning to adopt and will be visiting her again next weekend.

She is the biggest female in the litter and obviously the alpha. In fact, she hissed at me and arched her back! None of the other kittens did so.  In fact, they did the opposite and crawled all over me.  She sat back and observed — and finally warmed up to me.  On her terms.

We haven't "officially" named her yet — although Mr. AOW and I are leaning toward Minxy — based on the definition of minx, of course. But we're open to other suggestions.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Who Rules You?



How many ways do we muzzle ourselves so as not to offend someone else and in ways that go far beyond one-on-one interactions, guidance for which is found in the words [A]s ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Luke 6:31)?

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Enjoy Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor - First Movement, performed by the incomparable violinist Julia Fischer:

Friday, October 13, 2017

Calexit?

photo credit

Apparently, the secession of California from the United States remains a serious proposal — well, as serious a proposal as is possible from the California fringe. I thought that the idea Calexit was over and done with upon the departure of the Yes California leader, who went to Russia to live.

Now we read that the idea of Calexit continues.

From California secessionists think their path to independence is easier than Catalonia’s (dated October 12, 2017):

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Mental Infirmity?

With a hat tip to Rick Well's post Pelosi Brain Drained – Freezes Up, Can’t Babble, Words Just Won’t Come Out for this video:


Read Rick Wells's entire post HERE.

Some have spoken of the need for San Fran Nan to go. See Call for Pelosi to ‘pass the torch’ — from fellow Democratic congresswoman.

In fact, suggestions to that effect have been ongoing since at least June.

The Democratic Party may be stuck, however, in that none of the fresher-faced candidates who are obviously angling for White House loom particularly large. Furthermore, Barack Hussein Obama and Joe Biden do not seem ready to step aside — particularly in the minds of members of the Cult of Obama.  As for Elizabeth Warren:
Another problem is that early efforts to gather momentum for new candidates, may already be losing steam. The right has begun investing in damaging storylines around Elizabeth Warren, for instance, attacks that closely resemble portrayals of Clinton as, for instance, hypocritical and untrustworthy.
On top of the above, we read in the October 6, 2017 edition of the Washington Post: Trump is on track to win reelection. For those who do not have a subscription to the Washington Post, the entire article is copied and pasted below the fold and worth your time (emphases mine).

Monday, October 9, 2017

Goodbye, Mysti (June 20,1999-October 9, 2017)

(For politics, please scroll down)

Mysti in her prime

Mr. AOW and I will miss our beloved Mysti, whose mother disappeared when the litter was one day old. All the kittens in the litter were found by an animal rescue group and had to be bottle fed.

But Mysti's rough start didn't end there.  A few days after she arrived here as a young kitten in September 1997, she had a terrible case of coccidiosis, which stunted her growh and left her with digestive difficulties.  Several veterinarians didn't expect her to live past the age of ten.  Mysti had other plans and fooled us all!

Until aging interfered, Mysti, a dilute tortie, was our mighty huntress. She was probably proudest of one particular accomplishment: catching and killing a juvenile black rat snake in our basement back in November 2011.  Of course, she brought her catch upstairs to display what she had snagged.

Mysti had been coping with chronic renal failure for over two years and, although frail, was holding her own until the last few days, when she started refusing food.  She even refused tuna!  It wasn't the kidney disease that sealed Mysti's fate, however — it was oral cancer, the same affliction that stole our beloved Cameo from us on Easter Sunday 2017, less than six months ago.

Mr. AOW and I consulted the veterinarian today and decided to do the kind thing — the last thing that we could do for Mysti.

Mysti as a senior citizen (March 17, 2016)

Mysti on my teacup pillowcase, January 27, 2016

Two photos from 1997, when Mysti was a kitten, below the fold.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Conversations — Ad Nauseam

Image credit

"We need to have a conversation about..."

"We need to open a dialog about..."

Or any one of the numerous variations on the above.

I've come to despise this meme, now a cliché.

The latest "conversation we need to have" is that about gun control, specifically, banning bump stocks — in reaction, of course, to the horrific slaughter perpetrated by Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017.

I admit that I haven't been reading or watching the news much the past few weeks.  But I have managed to to devote some time to keeping up with current events.  My reaction:


The above said, here is a point about which I haven't noticed much coverage in the ceaseless droning and screeching of the 24/7/365 news cycle (aka the Curse of Cable News), with a hat tip to Zero Hedge, via Bunkerville:


What is your opinion regarding banning bump stocks, which, in effect and if I understand correctly, convert a one-pull-one-round rifle into a rapid-fire machine gun?

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Keep your eye on Senator Grassley

** Silverfiddle Dispatch **

Senator Grassley, in partnership with Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein, has been doggedly attempting to get to the bottom of the Russian Dossier and the Obama Administration's surveillance of Candidate Donald Trump's campaign. Byron York has been following the story.

The allegations of official malfeasance are not far-fetched. Remember when the criminal bunglers in the CIA were caught spying on congress a few years back?

What in the world is a US Ambassador to the UN doing unmasking people and consuming raw intelligence?

Why was Obama's National Security Advisor wading through raw intelligence? She has whole armies of intelligence analysts at her service.

The whole thing stinks, and it may be slowly unraveling, albeit slow enough for the Obamaites to control the narrative, with willing aid and abetting from The Establishment and the Infotainment Media Complex.

Lawsuits swirling around the golden shower prostitutes Russian Dossier are also peeling back the layers and endangering the anti-Trump narrative.

The Justice Department and FBI have been stonewalling Grassley and Feinstein's Judicial Committee's request for documents and testimony. They have just issued another subpoena., and Justice continues their slow roll.

A Question that goes to the Crux of the Matter:

Grassley sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday asking if the bureau had given "defensive briefings" or otherwise alerted Trump officials about "potential connections between campaign officials and the Russian government."
"If the FBI did provide a defensive briefing or similar warning to the campaign, then that would raise important questions about how the Trump campaign responded," wrote Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
 If the FBI didn't brief the campaign, Grassley wants to know why not and who was involved in the discussions and if a controversial opposition research dossier — which has been a frequent target of Grassley's — impacted the decision.
This is important. In a world of straight-up responsible government, if official government agencies detect foreign influence or attempted suborning of American citizens who are part of government or conducting a national campaign, the appropriate agency brings in the targets and gives them a secret counter-intelligence "defensive briefing" on what's going on and what the threats are so they can adjust their behavior and be aware of such attempts to compromise them.

Bottom line:
A responsible government treats them like loyal Americans, not criminal suspects. The Obama Administration actions were predicated on the premise that Donald J. Trump and/or members of his campaign were willing traitors, enemy spies working for a foreign government and against the United States.  

This predicate provided legal cover for all the Obama government police state spying directed at Donald Trump and his campaign. Manafort's "Russian connections" were a bonus, even though the Podesta's were actively doing business with Russia during the campaign (which isn't against the law anyway).

Keep your eye on Senator Grassley.

Monday, October 2, 2017

All of Your Internets are belonging to Me!

[Note from AOW: for those who wish to discuss yesterday's mass slaughter in Las Vegas, please see my blog post today at Infidel Bloggers Alliance. At the time of this posting, what happened in Las Vegas does not appear to be Islamic terrorism]

  *** WARNING: Silverfiddle Dispatch ***

In the wake of the latest “New Normal” Islamic terror attack in London, shameless blame-shifter Theresa May issued an ultimatum to social media and blamed them for the spread of Islamic terror. You can go read the article yourself, but I’d like to turn her words back on her and her fellow failed “world leaders” who aided and abetted this crisis by inviting in Islamic extremists, giving them wide latitude, and making apologies for them.

If only We the People could issues such stern threats to the slimy, criminally incompetent fumblers who run our governments...

Western “Leaders,” listen up!

Theresa, Mutti Merkel, Donald, Chuck and Nancy, you have only a month to make progress. If you don’t, the People will sue you and make YOU liable for extremist content on western soil. Delay in eradicating extremists will trigger huge fines that you must personally pay.

We The People call on the Western government “giants” to develop technology to block terrorists before they kill, not arrest them afterwards.

Any extremists detected would have to be imprisoned or removed from Western Civilization within two hours at most.

In the linked article, Mrs May said: ‘We need a fundamental shift in the scale and nature of our response – both from industry and governments – if we are to match the evolving nature of terrorists’ use of the internet.’

Bravo! I agree. 

But blaming the internet is like blaming oxygen for fires... 

Look in the mirror, Theresa old girl. Your feckless, brainless official malfeasance has caused this. Sure, you, Barack, and the other slimeball political operators of your generation didn’t start this fire, but you ignored it and shamed anyone who pointed out the smoke and flames and the Muslims fingering the gas cans and matches.

But anyhoo, back to our statement:

Western “leaders:” This threat is designed to put pressure on the all-powerful governments to use their technological prowess to counter sophisticated efforts by Islamic State and other terror groups to radicalise impressionable youngsters and spread DIY terror.

Your police state spying apparatus can be put in motion to surveille and attempt to destroy a political enemy’s presidential campaign, while exonerating the Establishment candidate. Your brilliant espionage brains can confect kompromat involving chorus lines of urinating hookers, but you cannot protect us and our way of life from invaders attacking us from the inside.

Here is the one statement from Madame Prime Minister we can all agree on:
‘When I think of the hundreds of thousands of victims of terrorism in countries across the world, I think of their friends, their families, their communities, devastated by this evil. And I say enough is enough.’
Yes. Enough is enough, so get off your dead ass, stable your high-horse, call this threat what it really is, roll up your sleeves and start eradicating it from the West.

Kinda Related:
Oops! Russia Didn't Hack our Elections
CNN: Russia Hacked Black Lives Matter
False Facebook Meme: National Anthem & NFL 2009
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