It Ain't Over

Silverfiddle Rant!

Mueller Time! has come and gone, and its unsatisfying quaffs have left deranged Democrats with a skull-splitting headache and a wicked case of flatulent diarrhea.

Exoneration Schmoneration…

Investigators, prosecutors and their investigations don't "exonerate" people other than those wrongly imprisoned.  Our justice system doesn't work like that.  Progressive demands of "Prove your innocence!" are out of Stalin's Soviet Union.  In the United States, the government must make the case of a person's guilt within the judicial system. If they cannot, the person is guilty of nothing.

Mueller found no collusion and no obstruction (make no mistake--had he found prosecutable obstruction of justice he would have recommended prosecution in his theatrical report.)  

Obstruction??? President Trump cooperated completely with the investigation:

The president could have shut down the investigation at any time, but he didn’t. He could have asserted executive privilege to deny the special counsel access to key White House witnesses, such as McGahn. To the contrary, numerous witnesses were made available voluntarily (there was no need to try to subpoena them to the grand jury), and well over a million documents were disclosed, including voluminous notes of meetings between the president and his White House counsel. (Andrew McCarthy - NY Post)

It's not over, folks. With Democrats, its never over. They're still steaming and bawling over Merrick Garland's "stolen" seat. They're still fuming over Bush 2000, forgetting the Supreme Court decision to stop the Gore shenanigans was 7-2, not 5-4.

The Democrat conspiracy to trap the President has failed.  All Democrats have left is lies and smears.

Shred the Clean Bill of Health

Fat Jerry is demanding to see everything: The unredacted report, all the evidence, every page of grand jury testimony...  and the beauty of it is, he's entitled to none of it. Not one shred, but he will continue to beat that drum, because Democrats cannot abide this clean bill of health Robert Mueller issued to President Trump.

Fat Jerry, Gasoline Maxine and the rest of the bug-eyed unhinged nutballs in the Democrat congressional delegation will persist in demanding tax returns, bank statements, personal papers, stool samples and anything else they can dream up. It's an un-American propaganda game know as, "What do you have to hide?" and its great for fundraising.

The outrageous Democrat requests will be tied up in the courts through Election 2020, with President Trump gloating at massive rallies and Democrats fuming and raising money from the softheads.

Discredit the Attorney General

More damaging to our nation is the Democrat campaign--carried out with their co-conspirators in the Infotainment Media Complex--to demean, dehumanize and discredit Attorney General William Barr. Ad Hominem is the left's favored tactic.  Put the object of rage and hatred beyond the pale, smear him, drum up hatred and scorn against him.  That's the Democrat way.

Why?  Because Attorney General Barr will get to the bottom of the Clinton Crime Syndicate dirty tricks that sparked this historical travesty that sucked various alphabet agencies into the worst abuse of power in our nation's history.  His final report won't be pretty. The only Democrat defense is to use their Infotainment Media Complex toadies to preemptively mud up William Barr, smear him and discredit him in the eyes of the American people.

Pelosi knows they are scaring the normals, but she can't stop this circus train...


See Also:
Robert Mueller Obliterated the Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theories
Mueller’s Despicable Parthian Shot
Top 10 things the media got wrong about ‘collusion’ and ‘obstruction’

Music For Resurrection Day

(For politics, please scroll down)

The promise we have, from this epistle from St. Paul:

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. - 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

"Wele'n Sefyll Rhwng y Mwrtwydd" ("Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"), a hymn which is an affirmation of the Christian resurrection faith:


Lyrics in Welsh:

Wele'n sefyll rhwng y myrtwydd
Wrthrych teilwng o fy mryd;
Er mai o ran, yr wy'n adnabod
Ei_fod uwchlaw gwrthrychau'r byd:
Henffych fore, henffych fore,
Y caf ei weled fel y mae.

Rhosyn Saron yw ei enw,
Gwyn a gwridog, teg o bryd;
Ar ddeng mil y mae'n rhagori
O wrthrychau penna'r byd:
Ffrind pechadur, ffrind pechadur,
Dyma_ei beilat ar y môr.

Beth sy imi mwy a wnelwyf
Ag eilunod gwael y llawr?
Tystio'r wyf nad yw eu cwmni
I'w cystadlu â Iesu mawr:
O! am aros, o am aros
Yn ei gariad ddyddiau f'oes.

Parsing and translation of the Welsh words:

A Sad Metaphor?

Silverfiddle Rant!

Notre Dame is a warning to Europe: don’t take what you value for granted 

From Gilles Gressani, writing in the Guardian...

The sorrow becomes even deeper when you realise that the catastrophe of Notre Dame represents so perfectly the condition of contemporary Europeans: people condemned to live among wonders, taking them for granted, ignorant of the fact that they may disappear– then suddenly finding themselves in a situation they’d never envisioned.

I can take that sorrow at least three levels deeper than the superficial sorrow caused by a smoldering landmark. Can you?

Today marks the anniversary of Our Lord's last supper. This happened the next day:

27 A large number of people followed Jesus. Some were women whose hearts were filled with sorrow. They cried loudly because of him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them,

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 The time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the women who can’t have children! Blessed are those who never gave birth or nursed babies!’ 30 It is written, 

“ ‘The people will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
They’ll say to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ (Hosea 10:8) 

31 People do these things when trees are green. So what will happen when trees are dry?”  - Luke 23:27-30

The Gold Cross Remains

The golden cross and the Pietà sculpture of Mary holding the crucified Jesus at the base of the cross survived. A powerful symbol in Holy Week:

And the rose windows are saved:

Related: The hero who saved the Crown of Thorns: Fire brigade chaplain entered flaming Notre Dame to recover holy relic - three years after he bravely helped Bataclan terror victims.

Julian Assange: Hero or Criminal?

Silverfiddle Rant!

Barack Obama got in one more jab at the nation on his way out the door when he granted clemency to traitor Chelsea Manning, the Army Private who gave classified information to Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Manning is back in jail after refusing to cooperate with a grand jury looking into Julian Assange:

Manning, convicted in 2013 of leaking classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, was jailed in early March as a recalcitrant witness after refusing to answer the grand jury’s questions. (Gizmodo)

The US charges against Assange have nothing to do with "journalism:"

Assange allegedly aided her in attempting to crack a password that would provide access to Defense Department network used to store classified documents and communications. While Manning already had access to the network, known as SIPRNet, the password would have enabled her to download additional material under a username that was not her own. (Gizmodo)

Assange was just the conduit.  That in itself was not a crime.  If it were, our prisons would be filled with writers from the New York Times, Washington Post and many other media outlets who gleefully publish classified information.  This new information--that Assange attempted to crack a US military network--now puts him in the criminal category.  It looks like Manning may again be in legal jeopardy if new information is discovered that contradicts her earlier sworn testimony.

The most interesting aspect of this is the confusing scrum of different ideological camps attacking or defending Assange.  The battle lines do not break down neatly, with all left/Democrats on one side and all right/Republicans on the other. I will spare you explanations of this lunacy.

Julian Assange is no hero. He published stolen classified information that chilled secret nation-to-nation diplomatic efforts, many of which were humanitarian. His dispatches also damaged the United States. I wish we could prosecute him for this, but it is probably not possible.  I do support prosecuting him for his role in Manning's traitorous espionage.  I hope they both end up in federal prison.

What say you?

See Also: Why Isn’t Assange Charged with ‘Collusion with Russia’?

Kudos To The New York Post

For this, when so many others would not take Rep. Ilhan Omar to task:

The mainstream media and AOC denounced the New York Post for the above truth-telling.

Oh, and by the way, contrary to what Ilhan Omar said, CAIR was not founded post-9/11.  CAIR was founded in 1994.

Related: Ilhan Omar complains about outrage over her 9/11 comments.

Personal Update

(For politics, please scroll down.  There was a post yesterday, April 10, 2019, a post about reparations)

Arthroscopic surgery today, to trim the meniscus in my right knee. I'm hoping for no complications! The good news based on x-rays and the MRI: no arthritis, therefore no knee replacement needed.

Also on the good-news front: my pre-op blood work was perfect. For the first time in nearly four years, my kidney-function values were normal. So, the kidney surgery I had back in November of 2016 worked. YEEHAW!

Reparations

By Sam Huntington

The United Nations Working group of Experts on People of African Descent* have determined that the United States owes reparations to African Americans.  Why? Because, they say, compensation is necessary to combat the disadvantages caused by 245 years of legally allowing the sale of people based on the color of their skin and because the US has never confronted its legacy of “racial terrorism.”  I’m not sure, but this could be the reason why the United Nations has no credibility among thinking people.

The argument is that people who never owned slaves (everyone alive today) should pay reparations to people who never were slaves.  It is an irrational argument, and yet dozens of leftists are supporting it.  

In fact, the proposition is about as illogical as a human being can get.  What about the Africans who took other Africans prisoners during tribal warfare and sold them to Europeans and Moslems?  Should they pay reparations, too?  What about white skinned people who were enslaved over the past 500 years? Should they also receive reparations, or is this just a black thing?

And what disadvantages are these people talking about?  Look, if black people want to get ahead in life, there are only three things they have to do to avoid being poor: (1) Finish high school; (2) Don’t have children before they are 20-years of age; and (3) get married before having children. Voila!  Problem solved.

As for the claim that the US has never confronted its legacy of “racial terrorism,” what in the hell do they think the Civil War was about?  I’d say the cost in blood more than paid the price for ridding our nation of slavery.  Ordinarily, I would shake my head and wonder how anyone could be this stupid, but then with a bit more thought, lifting a few layers, we’ll find other facts: no one on earth has been more cruel to blacks than other blacks.  The murder rate in Chicago bears this out.  Dig down a bit further, and we’ll discover the highly-successful leftist policy of racial discrimination toward blacks through the imposition of low-expectations.  Remove another layer and we’ll find that an overwhelming number of people who feed from the public trough reman there permanently.  This is the foundation of "black policy" in the Democratic Party.  

Final questions: Kamala Harris is one of many Democrats who support reparations for blacks.  Her ancestors were slave traders.  Does Harris write a check, or receive one?  Barack Obama’s mother’s ancestors were slave owners and traders.  Does he write a check, or receive one?  Since no one is able to control who their ancestors were, how would reparations payments off-set the (manufactured) “trauma” of knowing that someone’s fourth great-grandparents were slaves?

*No one should have a title that won’t fit on a calling card.

Guilty White Liberals: A Clear and Present Danger

Silverfiddle Rant!

White liberals are cracked, and if they have their way, they will destroy the nation, wreck our democratic republican form of government, and splinter out society into a turd-world toilet of battling tribes.



From Matthew Yglesias at Vox, of all places...

"...on key measures of racial attitudes, white liberals’ opinion has moved to the left of where black and Latino opinions are. White liberals are now less likely than African Americans to say that black people should be able to get ahead without any special help."

"White liberals also have warmer feelings about immigrants than Hispanics do."

"And, critically, white liberals are much more enthusiastic about the idea that diversity makes the United States a better place to live than are blacks or Latinos. Non-liberal whites are least enthusiastic of all, which is not enormously surprising, but Latino views of this are closer to those of non-liberal whites than to white liberals." 

Question from ANES 2018 Pilot Survey:

On balance, do you think having an increasing number of people of many different races, ethnic groups, and nationalities in the US makes this country a better place to live, a worse place to live, or does it make no difference?

Answers by Demographic:

Non-Liberal White  Better: 42.3%,  Worse: 26.8%
Hispanic           Better: 45.9%,  Worse: 16.4%
Black              Better: 54.2,   Worse: 11.4
White Liberal      Better: 87.1%   Worse: infinitesimal

It is clear. White liberals are a kook fringe 15%, a Berned-Out statistical outlier, but still a very dangerous demographic that thanks to the Infotainment Media Complex, always manages to punch above its weight.  

Face it.  White liberals are guilty, pathetic and suffer feelings of inadequacy, so they seek approval for being woke, unlike those red state hillbillies.  White liberals, stewing in their own low self-esteem and bile, decide they want to redecorate the place because they've grown to hate this nation and at least half of the population, because Trump, or their own failure, or whatevs.

To quote the Great Winston Churchill, we must defend our nation and our culture, "we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

Related Links:

Gallup:  U.S. Still Leans Conservative, but Liberals Keep Recent Gains
Gallup:  Party Affiliation

Welcome, Spring!

(For politics, please scroll down)

Enjoy!

[hat tip to Bunkerville, 2018, for the above video]

Impeach?

Silverfiddle Rant!

Robert Mueller has concluded there is not enough evidence to charge president Trump with Russian collusion. He also did not have enough information to charge the president with obstruction of justice, or he would have flat out said so in the report.

What he did do was leave the question open:

"The Special Counsel therefore did not draw a conclusion one way or the other as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction."

and...

"while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

Robert Mueller intentionally dangled impeachment bait for the Democrats. This is now a political matter, as it should be according to our Constitution.  Mueller could not establish that the actions he documented amounted to criminal activity, but the bar is much lower for impeachment.

Between now and Election Day 2020, I expect to see...

Democrats fighting each other over whether to impeach or not, with the pro-impeachment faction getting all the radio and TV airtime.

Congressional committees will be going full steam, billowing bald-faced propaganda and blaring sanctimonious accusations against the president.  This is not "guilty until proven innocent" territory.  This is the political and constitutional arena where the House of Representatives decides whether the president's actions rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Wiser heads in the Democrat party will stave off impeachment while allowing the wilder elements to stoke the flames and keep the controversy alive as a campaign issue.

Craven Congresspeople will leak classified and confidential material from the Mueller report to disparage the president and bolster their case for impeachment.

The Justice Department will issue a report on how this Trump-Russia hysteria got started, detailing the "missteps" and "failure to follow department guidelines," sometimes naming names, but nobody's going to jail*, so I encourage my non-Democrat friends to do what Democrats cannot:  Let. It. Go.

We live in a world of Iron Laws. The rich and powerful rule the world, governments are fertile soil for corruption, and all bureaucracies put self-preservation above all else.

* - VDH disagrees. Read his Rogue’s Gallery of Liars and Leakers

Lesson Learned?

(Note: this is not an April Fool's prank)

Funny how an idea changes when it becomes personal — and connected to something to which budding socialists can relate.

From Campus Reform (March 29, 2019):

More young people than ever before now say they prefer socialism over capitalism. But students at Florida International University weren't so open to socialism if it were to apply to their GPA.

Please watch the short video below:


Read the full article HERE.

Recommended Reading: Racism Everywhere!

See Even Air Is Racist Now by Jim Treacher (March 12, 2019).

Brief excerpt:

...It's "pollution inequity." White people have a "pollution advantage" because we breathe less pollution than we generate. Every time we go pretty much anywhere or do pretty much anything, we're widening the atmosphere gap. We're creating air disparity. Presumably we owe some sort of oxygen reparations....

Read the rest HERE.

At what point does the very term racism become such a nuisance and so ludicrous that the term no longer has any meaning?

Elected Public Servants?

Snippet from the March 11, 2019 Seattle City Council Meeting:


A sad window on the attitude of the ruling class — even at the local level.

Quotation Of The Day (Video Addendum)

[cross-posted to Infidel Bloggers Alliance]

A comment found on blog rounds the morning after the Mueller Investigation was concluded and a comment which sums up my own thoughts....

Commenter LL's evaluation as stated at Lone Star Parson:

Mueller, in the end, after making his retirement money (for himself and his cronies), and lacking ANY evidence, finally folded his tent and the aspirations of the Deep State and the Corrupt Media are weeping (more) bitter tears. The Russia collusion narrative is dead even though pawns like Adam Schiff (D-CA) will continue to beat the drum because it's the only drum they have.

Russia, military in decline, reduced to a regional power with a nuclear arsenal, is doing its best to follow a Russia First agenda, and why shouldn't they? China is having some money problems but it's still promoting its belt road agenda, and the US is energy and food independent, steel industry back in business.

President Trump has revealed disastrous trade deals with China, Japan, Korea and Europe is re-mapping how business is to be done and the Deep State trembles. All that money in bribes stopped. All those plans to weaken the US have been put on hold. Such a pity -- all that plotting, waiting and hoping that somebody like Beto or the fake Indian will capture the imagination of the voters. Somebody who can read the message of his/her handlers from a teleprompter the way that Barack did.

Last year, one of my clients, a dyed-in-the-wool member of the Democrat Party, said to me, with feigned sorrow, "I'm sorry. But Trump is going to be removed from office."  You see, she really believed the drumbeat she heard every day on MSNBC and The View.

And there are millions more like my former client.

I wonder....How long before more screaming at the sky commences?

Let the nervous breakdowns begin!

Related reading, from Lone Star Parson's follow-up post Satan Does Not Tolerate Failure. Worth your time.

Addendum:

In light of Trump’s slam dunk victory yesterday, please watch this Cavalcade of Clowns burping up the same #Democrat talking points ad nauseum. Now tell me the liberal press isn’t a stockyard of mooing, biased cattle! pic.twitter.com/RcBcx7IB9F

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) March 24, 2019

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Take a step back in time, to a gentler time:

The tunes on the above video:

Dancing In The Dark
Cheek To Cheek
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
Stars Fell On Alabama
The Waltz You Saved For Me
Johnson Rag
Paper Doll
You'll Never Know
Taking A Chance On Love

Trump Omitted From The 2020 Ballot?

[source]

From Trump could be left off some states’ ballots in 2020 if these bills become law (Washington Post, March 20, 2019, emphases mine):

In refusing to release his tax returns, President Trump bucked decades of tradition and set off a Democrat hunt to obtain them. Now several statehouses are looking at making their release a condition of the 2020 presidential election: Show us your tax returns, or you can’t be on the ballot.

Eighteen states have considered legislation this year that would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to post their tax returns to appear on the ballot during a primary or general election, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Proponents of the bills, such as the one passed by the Washington state Senate this week, say they are aimed at increasing transparency and returning to the “norm” of candidates releasing their financial records. But Democratic lawmakers behind the some of the legislation have admitted they are also very much about Trump, which raises legal and political questions about how far states can — or should — go in regulating who appears on their ballot, especially in a hyperpartisan climate.

In addition to Washington, several other states, including California, Hawaii and New Jersey are considering similar bills....

[...]

...[N]ot all politicians think this kind of legislation is a good idea. In 2017, then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed one bill that made it to his desk, calling it “politics at its worst.” Former California governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, did the same when California’s legislature passed similar measure.

“First, it may not be constitutional,” Brown wrote in his decision. “Second, it sets a ‘slippery slope’ precedent. Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate? High school report cards? And will these requirements vary depending on which political party is in power?”...

Read the rest HERE.

The phrase by hook or by crook comes to mind. So does the word unhinged.

Related? Elizabeth Warren wants to kill the electoral college.

I Alone

Silverfiddle Rant!

U.S. deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide hit highest level since record-keeping began

Is the US experiencing an Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation?

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I?" -- Rabbi Hillel

In Everyman's Talmud, Abraham Cohen sums up the role of the individual in society:

  

"Man was not intended to live alone but as a member of society. He is a unit in the body of humanity, and that fact creates many duties for him with respect to his relationship with his fellow-men. His life is not his own to do with as he pleases. His conduct affects his neighbours as their conduct affects him."

Communism, socialism and all forms of coerced collectivism are a grotesque extremist mockery of this timeless wisdom. 

"Rugged Individualism" stands at the other extreme, routinely espoused by bloviators living in a house serviced by public utilities, who enjoy the freedom to relieve themselves in sanitary conditions that whisk away their excreta, who drive down public roads and who can get their packaged foods offered by grocery stores thanks to all the others around them who form a collective market for the safe delivery and economic purveyance of such goods.

Cult of Me

A non-ideological variant of Rugged Individualism is the virulent Cult of Self propagated through social media and stoked by popular culture.  We're all stars now, living the lifestyles of the rich and beautiful. This is a façade that hides insecurity, existential despair and a sense of disconnected emptiness.  

We live in a cartoon world, so I will avoid cartoon solutions.  Ancient wisdom says cohesive families and communities, bound by shared tradition and mores is the healthiest model, and I agree with that.  But I also left home at seventeen and have returned only to visit.

Individualism Ascendant

Ours is a mobile society that moves and adjusts based on the economy, jobs, boom and bust...  We move away from our communities and families, so old people are left to die in isolation, no opportunity to convey their wisdom to their children and grandchildren, who are instead condemned to get their "wisdom" from society's disordered artists, minstrels, and twisted storytellers.

What's wrong with kids today?  Answer: Parents.  Parenting is the most important job on the planet, but we get no training, and by the time we are experts, our children are grown.  But it has always been so.  What's different for us now, is that dislocated parents have lost their coaches.  The grandparents live in another state.  Strength and energy belong to youth; the old are the keepers of wisdom an knowledge.  A healthy family and society benefits from cross-generational cooperation to advance themselves and teach the children while they're at it.

It really does take a village to raise a child, but the disintegration of our communities is well-documented, and again, I blame our mobile society.  It's hard to form a community of diverse people who are all from somewhere else.  Human beings just aren't wired that way.

Pharma may ease the pain temporarily, but we are social creatures not meant to suffer in isolation.  Having a robust family and community around you centers you in something larger than yourself that yet does not overwhelm you, and a good support structure buffers you against the inevitable vagaries of life and also enhances celebration of the good things.

I don't have a pretty bow to tie up the loose ends of this ramble. This is a complex, multi-faceted topic. Sometimes even family and community cannot assuage one's "boredom and a sense of uselessness and inadequacy." 

Maybe it is as simple as this: The further we get from the soil, the further away we are from God and one another.

What say you?

Links:
Yuval Levin - The American Context of Civil Society
Can We Rebuild Community in an Age of Individualism
The Fallacy in the Culture Wars
Have We Reached the Limit of Individualism?

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Composed by the master himself, Johann Sebastian Bach (hat tip to Grouchy Old Cripple):


According to the YouTube blurb (embedded links added):

"The End of Recycling"

Silverfiddle Rant!

When I was stationed in Germany, recycling there was mandatory and the rules were strict.  Paper went in the large bin that was almost the size of a normal American trash bin, metals and plastics in a smaller bin about the size of a kitchen trash can, and Restmüll (non-recyclable scraps) went to a bin about the size of a bathroom wastebasket.  You had to wash and sort everything.  If you mixed in trash or if a recycle bin contained dirty or stinky recycling, you would be fined, or if you were lucky, the garbage men would simply teach you a lesson by dumping the offending material on your doorstep.

My German friends in the small farming village where I lived would remind me, conspiratorially, that the government wasn't really recycling all that stuff.

When we returned to the states, we voluntarily paid our garbage service more money for a recycling bin, but we were shocked at how loose the rules were.  On a few occasions, to our horror, our kids had thrown garbage into the bins, but nobody at the garbage company even batted an eye.

My wife and I have long suspected US recycling was a scam, but then the free market solution came to me: We were paying other countries to take our dirty, garbage-laden and improperly sorted recycling (those bill envelopes with the plastic window? You are supposed to remove that window before putting the envelope in the paper recycling), and those nations taking our recycling paid slave laborers nickels a day to clean it, and then they sold it on the global market.

China's Not Taking our Crap Anymore

The Guardian calls it a Moment of Reckoning.  China will no longer take our dirty recycling, and most of our recycling other than metals and heavy plastics, are unmarketable, making them no better than garbage.  One municipality was selling recycling for $6 a ton, but now must pay $68 to $125 to get rid of it, and its the same all over.

It will be interesting to see how we deal with this challenge. What do you think?

Links:
Is this the End of Recycling?
'Moment of reckoning': US cities burn recyclables after China bans imports

Recommended Reading

See Why Renewables Can’t Save the Planet by Michael Shellenberger, Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment,” and president of Environmental Progress, an independent research and policy organization, and published in Quilette (February 27, 2019). two paragraph of the essay:

...[W]hen it comes to generating power for billions of people, it turns out that producing solar and wind collectors, and spreading them over large areas, has vastly worse impacts on humans and wildlife alike.

[...]

...I think it’s natural that those of us who became active on climate change gravitated toward renewables. They seemed like a way to harmonize human society with the natural world. Collectively, we have been suffering from an appeal-to-nature fallacy no different from the one that leads us to buy products at the supermarket labeled “all natural.” But it’s high time that those of us who appointed ourselves Earth’s guardians should take a second look at the science, and start questioning the impacts of our actions....

Read the entire essay HERE.

Time For Beauty

(For politics, please scroll down)

One of my Facebook finds:

Roman mosaic, Garden scene, fountain wall (detail), 1st century BCE. Pompeii, Italy. Massa Lubrense. National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy.

The Boss?

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, that is.

Was she the boss of her Political Action Committee (PAC), too (hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance?


Related reading: AOC’s chief of staff ran $1M slush fund by diverting campaign cash to his own companies.

The Ultimate Undoing Of Governance?

[source]

It's easy and apropos to blame politicians, the media, academia, what have you. But is something else behind all this constant conflict?

Please  consider the analysis presented in "The Rise of the Ungovernables" (from Quillette, March 1, 2018, emphases mine):

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Enjoy:

[about composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), about guitarist Julian Bream (1933-present)]

Recommended Reading

Now that the dust here in the Old Dominion appears to have settled, please consider this essay by Larry Elder: The Virginia Blackface Follies, which points out the following:

...Nearly 70 percent of black kids are born to unwed mothers. The dropout rate in some urban high schools approaches 50 percent. Of those who do graduate, many cannot read or do math at a 12th-grade level.

The No. 1 cause of preventable death for young white men is accidents, such as car accidents. The No. 1 cause of preventable death for young black men is homicide, almost always committed by other young black men....According to a 2017 report by the Centers for Disease Control, a black child is almost 10 times more likely to be a victim of a gun-related homicide than a white child.

But let's talk about 35-year-old blackface pictures.

Read the entire essay HERE.

Influencing Public Opinion

By Sam Huntington

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” is an axiom with several connotations, an apophenia if you prefer, leading us in different directions while remaining remarkably human.  Humans tend to seek out patterns, which sometimes leads us to false positives. What we may perceive as significant isn’t, and what we think may not matter, does.  Humans are naturally nostalgic; we relate things in the present to experiences of the past.  The above phrase could be voiced to signal our resignation to life’s many cycles.  We may hope for social progress, but the greater our optimism, the more likely we are to be disappointed in social progression. Changes in our lives without foundational consistency would, I suspect, produce a very disordered society; it would be like the sound of one hand clapping.

Lasting social progress takes time.  So much time, in fact, that unless we are paying careful attention, we may not even recognize social changes, whether positive or negative.  As an example, someone growing to maturity in the past twenty or thirty years, who did not experience the violent racism of the Democratic Party in the years before their birth, may not recognize the progress we’ve made since 1950 (which, in my opinion, was largely undone by the presidency of Barack Obama). A young person’s point of reference is confined to what think they know, and that may be entirely predicated on what they’ve been told by leftist educationalists (and parents) pursuing their own peculiar agenda.  Should anyone think that I am speaking now about the leftist brainwashing that is prevalent in our public schools, they’d be correct.

Our Alpha Cat Minxy

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For Caturday — and the rest of the weekend...

Like Cameo, Minxy (b. 9-8-2017) is not camera shy:

January 23, 2019

Minxy is a troublemaker. One of her recent escapades, at 5:45 A.M., was knocking off the bowl of dried beans which had been soaking overnight in preparation for ham and bean soup.

The Server-gate Deep State?

Astounding, really. Please watch and listen:

This should be retweeted everywhere.

The scope of the Hillary Clinton email investigation was so private, the OIG didn't have the security clearances needed to view the emails.

And, the emails couldn't be given to Congress.

Just wow.

Listen.pic.twitter.com/Wwb2hisnUH

— Mike (@FuctupMike) February 12, 2019

Political Humor

Hat tip to Bocopro:

One of my recent Facebook finds:

And one more:

The Jussie Smollett Case

[source]

Two links about the jumping onto the bandwagon of racism and homophobia (Celebrity Jussie Smollett is both black and gay):

1) Montage: Watch the Media Uncritically Accept Another Outlandish ‘Hate Crime’

2) Pelosi Deletes Sympathetic Tweet For Jussie Smollett

From Here Are All The Politicians Who Rushed To Judgment On The Smollett ‘Hate Crime’:

Those Democrats included Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, and Reps. Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others.

Waters blamed the attack on President Donald Trump....

Read the rest HERE.

Oh, the hysteria to jump in and support politically-correct protected groups!

Below the fold, the interview in which actor Jussie Smollett lashed out against those who doubted his story:

The Wisdom Of Mark Twain

One of the eternal truths about growing up (Click directly on the graphic to enlarge it):

One of the eternal truths about stupid people (Click directly on the graphic to enlarge it):

Your personal experiences with or personal observations about either or both of the above nuggets of wisdom?

The Genius Of AOC (With Video Addendum)

For various reasons, Amazon axed its plans to open a NYC headquarters.

AOC jumped in to take credit for Amazon's change of mind — and both the loss of jobs and tax revenue (Ego much?):

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world. https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019

From Powerline Blog's "How Dumb Is Ocasio-Cortez?":

... This is where Ocasio-Cortez went off the rails and took a deep dive into stupidity:

You know, I think it’s really important that we understand that we need to invest in our economy, but we need to invest in our people, and to give away $3 billion to a company that has a history of worker exploitation that’s paying below what the cost of New York City is not acceptable for us.

Of course, New York wasn’t going to “give” Amazon anything, let alone $3 billion. The $3 billion is an estimate of forego ne tax revenues. In other words, money that Amazon won’t pay New York, not money that New York will pay Amazon. This is childishly simple, but apparently too much for AOC....

Read the rest HERE.

Also see The Week in Pictures: Green Nude Eel Edition at Powerline Blog. Some good laughs there, along with pointed political satire. First graphic at that link:

More humor HERE.

ADDENDUM (hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance):

Our Congress Critters

The days shaded in blue are our Congress critters' workdays.  They get a 218-day vacation (click on the graphic to enlarge it):

So, why are we paying them so much?

Related reading: GOP senators introduce bill to end pensions for retiring lawmakers.

For All Those Lovers Out There...

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A little Retro music for Valentine's Day 2019...



The version by Carole King, the composer (1942-present):



Two more retro tunes for lovers:

Happy Valentine's Day!

About The Green New Deal

At the University of Miami:

Related reading: GND Undergoes Mysterious Overhaul (February 10, 2018).

Democrat Nightmare Fuel

A commenter at The Hill linked to a twitter account with this video...  The artistry is amazing!

Someone said it was made to criticize President Trump, others said it was tongue in cheek, I don't know...

I agree with the commenter who said President Trump just had to buy that thing, bring it over here and use it for his 2020 reelection campaign.  Progs would be soiling their dainties.

I enjoyed the comments, especially these:

Doc Hollanaise said... Apparently Disney finally did some tweaking on the Hall of Presidents

Matt Thompson said... Is that supposed to be . . . an insult? They know he'll want to pilot that thing for the 2020 campaign, right?

Nick Davis said... That nation: we hate you so much, we're going to build a 20:1 scale highly detailed functional mecha and parade it down our streets!
Trump:

The man down the hall said... I don't care if you like Trump or not or think this is supporting him or mocking him. This is one badass float. Look at that detail on the sword and uniform. They eyes even move. Holy crap, the artists who did this were phenomenal. 

It's only two minutes, enjoy!

About Those Covington Boys (With Addendum)

A must-watch video:

Article "If You Still Think 'MAGA Hat Kid' Nick Sandmann Did Something Wrong, Watch This Video" HERE.

It really does look as if the mainstream media are the enemy of the people in that the mainstream media deliberately spread lies!

Addendum
Covington Catholic Teen's Lawyer: Hundreds in Media Will 'Pay a High Price' for Defamation.

Meanwhile, In Virginia...

Source, with article

The top three Democrats — Governor Northam, Lieutenant Governor Fairfax, and Attorney General Mark Herring — are under fire for either Blackface or sexual assault. Democrats all.

I read Lieutenant Governor Fairfax's accuser's account yesterday, and, in my view, that account rings true. Read Professor Vanessa Tyson's account of what happened between her and Justin Fairfax HERE.

The next in line to take office, should those three be forced out, is a Republican: Virginia Assembly House Speaker Kirk Cox.

Additional reading...Report: VA Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax Lashes Out at Accuser: 'F*** That B****'.

The 2019 SOTU

The House Chamber

The 2019 State of the Union Speech is underway tonight, albeit a few weeks later than usual.

I admit that I'm looking forward to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's facial expressions during the speech.   A sort of "Will she or won't she?"  Heh.

BTW, you might notice a lot of white outfits at the 2019 SOTU:

Twilight of the gods

Silverfiddle Rant!

Imagine fighting a war in a foreign land.  The good guys are there to save the people from the bad men.

The good guys fight the bad men, allow little girls to go to school, build roads, school houses, and basic infrastructure like wells, electrical systems and sanitary facilities.

Here's the crappy thing: The good guys are bunkered in fortified camps to protect themselves from the people, while the bad men live securely in the villages and neighborhoods among the people the good guys are trying to save.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The United States and the Taliban are closing in on a deal to end America's longest war after six days of some of the most serious Afghan peace negotiations to date wrapped up on Saturday. (MSN - NY Times)

As the article states, the devil is in the details. 

The "Experts" in the foreign policy establishment excoriate President Trump as "rushing for the exits" and "surrendering" in Afghanistan. These are the same people who created a flaming arc of tragic conflagrations from Africa to the border of China. These are the people who have gotten absolutely nothing right since the wall fell.

American negotiators want the Taliban to swear they will respect the western-style government and human rights regime we imposed on them.

The US is also extracting a promise from the Taliban that they will not allow foreign terrorists to plot, train and launch attacks from their territory.

It is naïve to believe peace talks will arrive at any agreement that respects anything other than brute force.  This is a managed sham to keep from spooking a massive humanitarian stampede.

We did a horrible thing, and we started it by holding out a promise of hope we had no ability or cultural understanding to fulfil. Until we confront the tragic facts as they stand on the ground, admit we were wrong, catalog and study our manifold mistakes, and blow up the foreign policy wings that supported such hubristic stupidity, we are doomed to create more trillion dollar tragedies that kill people by the tens of thousands.

Musical Interlude

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Enjoy this pristine music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791):

[about Piano Concerto No. 12]