DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Archive for December, 2017

Did the US Spend $300K to Fund a Clown School in Argentina?

25th December 2017

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Republican Sen. Rand Paul claimed Saturday that the U.S. has spent around $300,000 to fund a clown school in Argentina.

“They spent $324,015 to pay for a clown school in Argentina,” Paul, from Kentucky, tweeted as part of his annual “Airing of Grievances” to highlight what he considers wasteful government spending.

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Thought for the Day

25th December 2017

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The Model Book of Calligraphy (1561–1596)

25th December 2017

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Pages from a remarkable book entitled Mira calligraphiae monumenta (The Model Book of Calligraphy), the result of a collaboration across many decades between a master scribe, the Croatian-born Georg Bocskay, and Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel. In the early 1560s, while secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, Bocksay produced his Model Book of Calligraphy, showing off the wonderful range of writing style in his repertoire. Some 30 years later (and 15 years after the death of Bocskay), Ferdinand’s grandson, who had inherited the book, commissioned Hoefnagel to add his delightful illustrations of flowers, fruits, and insects.

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The Perfect Pen

25th December 2017

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Fountain pens have always served as the quintessential combination of beauty, tradition, and dexterity. But did you know they’re also tools of environmental consciousness? Join our tour of the fountain pen’s history, infinite varieties, and remarkable powers. With tips for shopping and maintenance.

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This Map Shows the US Really Has 11 Separate ‘Nations’ With Entirely Different Cultures

25th December 2017

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Ho Ho Ho

25th December 2017

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New York’s Vanishing Shops and Storefronts: ‘It’s Not Amazon, It’s Rent’

24th December 2017

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Coming to a San Franciso near you.

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Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome

24th December 2017

PolitiFact Slams Trump with ‘Lie of the Year,’ Just Like They Whacked Him All Year

Obama-Era Ethics Chief Calls Trump A ‘Wannabe’ Dictator For Sharing Anti-CNN Tweet Well, that certainly tells you all you need to know about Obama-era ethics.

Trump ‘tells wealthy friends after passing tax bill’: ‘You all just got a lot richer’  The fact that most of them are Democrats is somehow not worthy of mention. For the record, I don’t have a problem with the fact that some people have more money than I do. I don’t even have a problem with the government stealing less of their money, so long as it steals less of my money too.

Gift-wrapped horse manure left for Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin  Progs are basically people who refuse to grow up.

University Professors: Trump Uses Christmas To Promote White Nationalism  You can’t make this stuff up.

NYT’s Cohen: ‘Terrorized Toadies’ Genuflect to Trump, ‘Mussolini’s Understudy’

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As a Driver, I Would Support Pay-Per-Mile Road Pricing

24th December 2017

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This is a good example of the perennial proglodyte meme ‘As an X, I am therefore entitled to speak for everybody in group X.’ They do this because they think it has some intellectual weight — which it does, for them, but not for Real People.

As a driver, I support making the author of this article pay for my pay-per-mile road pricing along with his own.

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Cryptocurrency Explained

24th December 2017

Money has value because people want it: gold, silver, cows, etc.

Fiat money has value because a government can force people to take it.

Bitcoin and other ‘cryptocurrencies’ have value because the people who brought you the Dot-Com Tech Bust say so.

Take whatever action you deem appropriate.

Morgan Stanley says the true price of Bitcoin might be zero  I rather suspect that Morgan Stanley knows more about this than you or me.

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REMINDER: Kwanzaa Was Concocted by a Deranged Felon Who Tortured Naked Women With a Karate Baton and a Toaster

24th December 2017

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Not really news, but a useful reminder.

Find the African-American in this picture:

Shutterstock/Gal Amar, YouTube screenshot/brittney Barber

For reference, here is a genuine African-American:

N.C. police officer charged in fatal shooting of unarmed ...

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Tax $ at Work: NEH Gives $50,000 to Professor Who Warns ‘Liberals Shouldn’t Watch Fox News’

24th December 2017

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Liz Harrington at the Washington Free Beacon finds interesting line items in the budgets at the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Even under a Trump appointee, the NEH is still funding liberal researchers.

Eric Mandelbaum, a philosophy professor at the City University of New York, will receive a $50,000 grant for “Propaganda and Belief in the Modern World,”  a book-length study on the “psychology of belief formation.”

Mandelbaum coauthored a paper in 2015 entitled, “Believing Without Reason, or: Why Liberals Shouldn’t Watch Fox News.” In his beginning section, “Believing Badly,” Mandelbaum expressed shock that about half of Americans believe in ghosts, and believing in God is another example that “people believe very odd things.”

Actually, that’s good advice. Their heads might explode. As Scott Adams says, ‘Context is the enemy of idiots everywhere.’

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Thought for the Day

24th December 2017

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Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome

23rd December 2017

Nativity Scene Features Zombie Trump With Battle Axe-Wielding Skeleton

Normalizing impeachment

MSNBC’s Joy Reid: Trump Has ‘Unembarrassed’ Embrace Of A ‘White Supremacist Attitude’  Uh, no. Apparently White Supremacist = White Person + Disagrees With Whatever a Black Person Believes

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 1 Comment »

What Blue Wave?

23rd December 2017

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Are the Democrat spinmeisters or the mainstream media (pardon the redundancy) correct in believing that Roy Moore’s loss in Alabama means that 2018 will see a “Blue Wave”, in which Democrats retake one or both houses of Congress? Wasn’t Moore’s loss a continuation of the Dems’ “stunning” sweep of statewide offices in Virginia? Doesn’t all of that portend a repudiation of Trump in 2020?

The answers are “no”, “no”, and “no”. Moore’s loss was a one-off event that had everything to do with Roy Moore and nothing to do with the political leanings of Alabamans. It is ludicrous to believe that Alabama has suddenly become a Purple State when Trump’s 64-percent share of the two-party vote surpassed the share received by any GOP candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972.

It is similarly ludicrous to believe anything about the elections in Virginia other than their consistency with that State’s burgeoning blueness. Bush II, for example, took 54 percent of Virginia’s two-party vote in 2000 and 2004, but McCain, Romney, and Trump won only 47-48 percent in 2008-2016. The Old Dominion is increasingly dominated by the rapidly growing cities and counties of Northern Virginia that are political appendages to Washington DC. (The same is true of Maryland and its rapidly growing appendages to DC.)

The 2018 elections will hinge manly on how voters feel about what the GOP-controlled Congress has done for them. And by election day 2018, most of them will be feeling a lot better because the government is taking a lot less from their paychecks. Continued revival of the economy will also help to buoy voters’ spirits. Unless something very bad happens between now and election day, a pro-incumbent mood will sweep most of the land. There will be exceptions, of course, as this or that Representative or Senator is exposed as a philanderer, swindler, or something unseemly. But those exceptions tend to affect Democrats just as much as Republicans.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on What Blue Wave?

Gov’t Website Claims Santa Will Move to the South Pole to Escape Global Warming

23rd December 2017

Canada steps out in a big way.

I doubt Santa would want to be caught on one of those disappearing ice shelves we keep hearing about.

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How to Write a Tech-Panic Manifesto

23rd December 2017

Adam Thierer shows you how.

If you want to sell a book about tech policy these days, there’s an easy formula to follow.

First you need a villain. Google and Facebook should suffice, but if you can throw in Apple, Amazon, or Twitter, that’s even better. Paint their CEOs as either James Bond baddies bent on world domination or naive do-gooders obsessed with the quixotic promise of innovation.

Then you repackage some old chestnuts about commercialism or false consciousness. Add a dash of pop psychology and behavioral economics. Be sure to include a litany of woes about cognitive overload and social isolation.

Finally, come up with a juicy Chicken Little title. Maybe something like World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech.

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Thought for the Day

23rd December 2017

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Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome

22nd December 2017

Matthews: Tax Celebration Was ‘Like a North Korean Parade’ Led by Ethiopian Dictator  And besides I bet the grapes were sour.

Donald Trump shows ‘qualities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful autocrats’, says former CIA Director  Scott Adams calls this the ‘psychic psychiatrist illusion’.

This Year’s Most Outrageously Biased Moments on ABC’s ‘The View’

Triggered! Not ‘Cool’ to Mock PC Culture Now Trump’s in Office, ‘Literal Nazis in Street’

Joe Scarborough Attacks ‘The Stench of Trump’s Self-Dealing’ Tax Cut in WashPost  Forget that it helped millions of people, if it helps Trump in any way it’s despicable.

 

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UN Jerusalem Vote: Donald Trump’s Threat to Cut Foreign Aid Akin to ‘Diplomatic Prostitution’

22nd December 2017

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The official says the US is telling the world: ‘Unless you vote with us, we’re not going to give you money’

I’m good with that.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | 1 Comment »

Charles Barkley on Tax Cuts: ‘Thank You, Republicans. Sorry, Poor People’

22nd December 2017

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During TNT’s NBA coverage Thursday night, Barkley scoffed at how he’ll use the tax cut he’ll get under the new Republican tax reform law.

Speaking of trickle-down economics, Barkley said he was “gonna trickle my fat ass down to the jewelry store to get me a new Rolex.” He ended his comments saying “Sorry, poor people.”

So he really doesn’t care about poor people at all. That’s just an excuse. Glad we cleared that up.

Hey, rich guy — you see a poor person, you give him some money, you’re so concerned about poor people.

That’s what you want to do with MY money — why not do that with YOUR money?

Put your money where your mouth is … and you better be really rich, because that’s a whole lotta mouth you got there.

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First White Farmer Gets Land Back Under Zimbabwe’s New Leader

22nd December 2017

Watch it.

Notice that all those people hugging him are black.

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How Trump Changed the Courts in 2017

22nd December 2017

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While the crowning achievement of the year was clearly the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, it is worth celebrating the fact that the Senate confirmed 12 Circuit Court judges this year —  the largest number of  appellate judges confirmed during the first year of any president in history (beating out John Kennedy and Richard Nixon by one).

Moreover, while Trump has now set the record for circuit court confirmations during a president’s first year in office, with only 19 total judges confirmed during his first year, he lags far behind other presidents  — including George W. Bush (28), Bill Clinton (28, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Ronald Reagan (41, including Sandra Day O’Connor), Jimmy Carter (31), and Richard Nixon (25)  —  in terms of the total number of judges confirmed.

But of course you have to remember that Trump has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in his first year in office.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | 1 Comment »

Thought for the Day

22nd December 2017

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Himmelfarb on Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism

22nd December 2017

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Intellectuals have uncommon tastes and with them comes an inclination to put down the ordinary person, who has ordinary tastes. But instead of feeling happy at being different, intellectuals feel unduly isolated, neglected, and unrecognised in their endeavours and their passions. They thus equate a better society with a society in which common people are somehow forced to acquire such “superior” tastes, too. But such a society is difficult to build, if decision making is not centralised. A decentralised system–in which consumers decide what books and movies they want to consume, and producers decide what books and movies they want to publish and broadcast–may allow small niches for the intellectuals’ superior tastes, but would tend to spend many resources to give people action movies and comic books. So, it becomes almost inevitable to blame the system–which is more comforting than blaming the people.

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5 Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Someone: Backed by Research

22nd December 2017

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If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

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ISLAMOCOPIA FRIDAY: What’s New in the Religion of Peace

22nd December 2017

Islam’s Three Worst Doctrines

Islamo-Stalinism

Countering Christmas Jihad

Why “Refugees” Are One of the Most Dangerous and Criminal Groups of People in the World

Jerusalem: Palestinians won’t accept any US peace plan, says Mahmoud Abbas  So? They never have.

hristian Monk in Egypt: “I Think it’s Time for the Islamic Empire”

UN Jerusalem vote: Mahmoud Abbas hails result as ‘victory for Palestine’  A ‘victory’ where the winner gets nothing.

Vehicular Jihad in Melbourne

Jerusalem in the Islamic Imagination

Muslim woman becomes first Miss Maine contestant to wear a hijab

Indonesian Islamist militants threaten to raid businesses where Muslims forced to wear Santa hats for Christmas

European Countries Foil Islamist Christmas Attacks

A Disappointing, Muted Response to Imams Calling for Violence

Trump Returns “Jihad” to Intelligence

Turkey Wants To Jail NBA Star For Speaking Out Against President Erdogan

Mohammed Awan: Brother of British Isis suicide bomber jailed for 10 years for plotting UK terror attack

Culture-Enricher Tries to Drown German Girl; Almost Drowns Himself Instead

Protests Rage In Sweden After Cops Tell Women To ‘Stay inside’ To Avoid Gang Rapes

Silicon Valley Philanthropists Are Embracing Daffy Muslim Hate Preachers Now

No Memorials Permitted for the Victims of the Berlin Christmas Market Truck Jihad

Israeli Politicians Demand Obama Forfeit Nobel Peace Prize After Hezbollah Report  Taking a leaf out of the Left’s playbook.

Jews Have to Hide — First in France and Sweden, Now Germany

“Islamophobia” Gets the Headlines Despite Trailing Anti-Semitic Violence

Refugees should be sent home even if they have jobs, says Danish immigration official

NY Democrat Calls For Investigation Into Allegation That Linda Sarsour Covered Up Sexual Assault

Iraqi Refugee Sentenced For Trying To Help ISIS

Swedish police retract advice warning women not to go out alone after dark

Daily Caller: Linda Sarsour Enabled Sexual Assault, Has Continued to Hound Victim For Years

Nazi/Islamist Guilty in ISIS Material Support Case

Vandal Beheads Nativity Scene Baby Jesus

RAF Mildenhall: Shots fired as US air base placed on lockdown amid ‘significant incident’

German Mayor stabbed in anti-immigration attack vows to continue helping refugees integrate

US Air Force Base In Britain On Lockdown After Reports Of Car Trying To Ram Gates

Bijan Ebrahimi: Disabled Iranian refugee murdered after being wrongly accused of paedophilia failed by police ‘siding with abusers’

Israel strikes Hamas targets in Gaza after rocket attacks from Palestinian area

Jerusalem Deals in Reality

Linda Sarsour Accused Of Enabling Sexual Assault Against Woman Who Worked For Her

Soldiers of Onan Terrorize Public Transportation in Augsburg

We Want a Government-Sponsored Mosque in Uddevalla!

New York attack: Terror manuals containing instructions for bomb used by Akayed Ullah remain online

Germans Knew Berlin Christmas Market Terrorist Planned To Attack Nearly A Year In Advance

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Deadly Attack On Methodist Church In Pakistan

Rebecca Dykes murder: British diplomat’s body found in Beirut

Abu Hamza has demanded he be returned to a UK jail as his US prison is ‘inhuman and degrading’

Miss Iraq’s family forced to flee country after beauty queen’s selfie with Miss Israel

Who Is Qais al-Khazali, and Why Should You Care?

Turkey Will Open An Embassy In East Jerusalem, Erdogan Says  This is their embassy to ‘Palestine’, not Israel.

US Special Operators Conducted Thousands Of Missions In Afghanistan In Last Six Months

Pakistan church attack: Suicide bombers storm church and detonate explosives as congregation worships

The Italian Village Where Migrants Outnumber the Natives

Ibrahim Abu Thuraya: Disabled Palestinian activist shot dead by Israeli troops in Jerusalem protest

United Nations ‘appalled’ by mass executions in Iraq as it cites flaws in the country’s justice system

Mother ‘poisoned her son to avoid him travelling to Syria’ with her jihadi husband, court hears

Scores of Boko Haram fighters arrested in huge raid by Nigerian armed forces

Pakistan: Three years after 140 died in the Peshawar school massacre, what has changed?

The Cultural Enrichment News From Modern Multicultural Germany

Hindu posts video of himself killing Muslim online in call for anti-Islam campaign funding

Federally Funded U.S. Institute for Peace Hosts Pro-Hamas Tunisian Group

New York Times Column Blames Muslims, Leftists For Anti-Semitism In Sweden [VIDEO]

Israeli Troops Shoot More Than 40 Palestinians In Gaza, West Bank  I guess the ‘Palestinians’ were just out for a stroll.

Miss Iraq Faces Death Threats For Posing For A Photo With Miss Israel

Miss Iraq Selfie With Miss Israel Reportedly Forces Her To Leave Country

Iraq Mass Hangs 38 ISIS And Al-Qaida Terrorists

BREAKING: Muslim Man Who Beheaded Woman At Food Plant Just Received Harsh, American Justice

Turkish Airlines refuses to check-in passenger with HIV ‘in case he’s infectious’

Doctor accused of killing girlfriend’s unborn baby by spiking her drink with abortion pill

US woman used Bitcoin to move cash to Islamic State, police say

UN Calls For Iraq To Stop Executing Suspected ISIS Members

UK Mom Jailed For Poisoning Son To Avoid Traveling To Syria With Jihadi Husband

Michael Stürzenberger Convicted for Referring to “Asylum Parasitics”

Sweden and the Politics of Denial

Malaysian PM Najib Rizak leads Muslim rally to show solidarity with Palestinians over Donald Trump’s Jerusalem decision

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on ISLAMOCOPIA FRIDAY: What’s New in the Religion of Peace

Fighting to Replace America’s Water Pipes

22nd December 2017

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America is facing a crisis over its crumbling water infrastructure, and fixing it will be a monumental and expensive task.

Two powerful industries, plastic and iron, are locked in a lobbying war over the estimated $300 billion that local governments will spend on water and sewer pipes over the next decade.

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Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome

21st December 2017

The GOP Tax Bill Shows Democratic Hysterics Are Here To Stay

Irony! Matthews Trashes ‘Trumpkins’ Praying to ‘Sun King,’ Calls Tax Reform ‘Greatest Shorting’ Ever  Chris Matthews really needs to take his meds.

No, Kathy Griffin, Donald Trump Is Not An ‘Actual Nazi’

The seven words Trump ‘banned’ a health agency from using were projected onto his hotel  Except that he didn’t, of course; but why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

Alt-Left Insanity: It’s Christmas, So #Resist Trump with Cards, Gifts

New York Times Column Says Trump Is About To Stage A Coup  I’m in.

Jemele Hill: Calling Trump A White Supremacist Is Like Calling Water Wet  More hallucination.

What didn’t happen in 2017  All the bad stuff people said Trump was going to do, didn’t happen.

CNN Anticipates (Hopes?) Trump Firing Mueller  Ain’t gonna happen. They keep hoping he does so, because that would allow some of them to live out their fantasies of being the New Woodward or the New Bernstein. But Trump knows that there’s no there there, so all this investigation is doing is underlining it.

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5-Year-Old Boy Shot for Second Time in Two Years In Chicago

21st December 2017

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Thank God for those strict gun control laws in Chicago, or the place would look like Texas.

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Problematic Women: Taylor Swift Isn’t Allowed to Be Happy

21st December 2017

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According to New York Magazine, Taylor Swift isn’t allowed to be happy having a successful year in 2017—or thank fans for wishing her a happy birthday.

“I love you guys so much,” the pop singer shared on Instagram. “I couldn’t have asked for a better year, all thanks to you. Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Can’t wait to see what 28 will be like. See you on tour.”

But because Swift is “a straight, white, multi-millionaire pop star,” New York Magazine had a problem with her post.

Something about Leftists, they were all born with a grimace on their faces and two pointing fingers, and they never get any better. I cannot imagine the kinds of ulcers they get from being hateful and outraged twenty-four hours of ever day.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 2 Comments »

Christmas Lessons from California

21st December 2017

Victor Davis Hanson points out some inconvenient truth.

Nature this year is predictably not cooperating with California.

Rarely has such a naturally rich and scenic region become so mismanaged by so many creative and well-intentioned people.

In California, Yuletide rush hours are apparently the perfect time for state workers to shut down major freeways to make long-overdue repairs to the ancient pavement. Last week, I saw thousands of cars stuck in a road-construction zone that was juxtaposed with a huge concrete (but only quarter-built) high-speed-rail overpass nearby.

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Trump’s Interior Sec Is Breaking US Dependence on China for Rare Minerals

21st December 2017

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And the hits just keep on comin’.

Trump’s administration is making every previous administration looks like a bunch of slackers.

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Thought for the Day

21st December 2017

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Have Your Cake But Don’t Eat It

21st December 2017

Joe Bob Briggs deals with controversy.

If you’re having a gay wedding, and your cake has been baked by a man who thinks gay marriage is an abomination against God, do not eat the cake.

I’m surprised I have to tell you this.

Good point.

Posted in Think about it. | 1 Comment »

That Idiot Trump

20th December 2017

We keep hearing that Trump is an ignoramus, that Trump is a clown, that Trump is a moron, that Trump is an idiot — and yet he keeps winning. Wonder how that happens. When a drunk wanders through a minefield without getting blown up, we mark it down to luck. When he does it a dozen times and still doesn’t get blown up, the whole ‘luck’ thing starts to wear pretty thin. If he offers to bet you $100 he can do it again, which way do you bet?

We now have a ‘Tax Reform’ plan that will soon be law. A prominent left-wing think tank admits that 80% of taxpayers will be paying less. My question is: What do we know about the other 20%?

Democrats keep slagging the plan as ‘tax cuts for the rich’, but we all know that rich people are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans these days. Where do rich people live? Blue states, like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts — and the D.C. Beltway suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.

Where do rich people live specifically? In very expensive houses … in Blue states like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts — and the D.C. Beltway suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.

What is one of the most unusual provisions of the new tax plan? A cap on the amount of state and local taxes and the mortgage interest deduction, which will not hurt middle class people but will clip rich people pretty hard … people like those who live in Blue states like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts — and the D.C. Beltway suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.

Think about that. Most people will be getting a tax cut — except rich people in Blue states, people who hate Trump and would jump off a bridge before voting for him. Trump will be signing into law a tax plan that gives his supporters a tax cut but his enemies a (pretty carefully targeted) tax increase.

That didn’t happen under any previous Republican President — not Nixon, not Ford, not Old Bush, not Young Bush, not even Reagan. None of them thought of such a clever trick. I’m sure Trump is laughing all the way to the bank.

Next time you hear somebody call Trump an idiot, haven him check his wallet; it might be missing.

 

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Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome

20th December 2017

Cher, Patricia Arquette to March Against ‘Pariah’ Trump ‘If Mueller Is Fired’

The Good News About Trump the Liberal Media Won’t Report

Disney unveils Donald Trump robot in ‘Hall of Presidents’, and it really doesn’t look quite right  It looks like Hillary.

Eminem attacks Donald Trump, says President has ‘people brainwashed’  Trump still ignores him.

NYT Eagerly Claims ‘Mounting Backlash,’ ‘Recoil’ vs. Trump Will Turn Red Districts Blue  Uh, no.

Ivanka Trump surprise visit to Connecticut school prompts some parents to pull children from class  OH, NO! TRUMP COOTIES! SAVE THE CHILDREN!

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome

AT&T Is So Excited About Tax Reform It’s Giving Each Employee $1,000 Extra Bonus

20th December 2017

Read it.

That didn’t take long.

Acosta Blasts Tax Cut Passage: GOP Could Suffer ‘Unintended Consequences’ Due to Unpopularity

Yeah, $1000 would be really unpopular with me.

 

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on AT&T Is So Excited About Tax Reform It’s Giving Each Employee $1,000 Extra Bonus

INSTANT JUSTICE: Bystander Knocks Out Would Be Mugger With Vicious Punch to the Head

20th December 2017

Read it. And watch the video.

Sometimes the old ways are best.

Posted in Think about it. | 1 Comment »

Donald Trump Threatens to Cut ‘Billions of Dollars’ Aid to Countries Over UN Jerusalem Vote

20th December 2017

Read it.

Actions have consequences.

You mess with the bull, you get the horns every time.

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The Internet Executioner

20th December 2017

Victor Davis Hanson doesn’t like what he sees.

In the pre-Internet age, newspaper and television reporters would need clearance from their nosy managing editors to investigate a breaking scandal or firing. Additional journalists then would go to work uncovering facts and details. There were, to be sure, feeding frenzies and misinformation in the zeal to get a scoop or ensure an exclusive story. But the pursuit of a scandal was braked by both professional fears about the consequences of shoddy or biased reporting, and the absence of instantaneous electronic messaging and posting.

Suggestions of wrongdoing would be digested, debated, and disseminated for days or weeks within a larger cycle of warring op-ed columns and radio and television debate and commentary. In this often deliberate process, federal or local district attorneys and/or a grand jury, then, could monitor the public story, while conducting preliminary investigations to determine whether a criminal indictment was necessary. A court trial might follow.

Not now. The Internet and social media have either compressed—or pruned away entirely—such adjudication, which once ensured to the accused some presumption of innocence and constitutional due process. Well-meant and needed efforts—from calling to account sexual harassers to stopping Russian interference in U.S. politics to questioning the commemoration of Confederate-era racist slave-holders—can accelerate quickly out of control to the point where rumor, innuendo, or frenzy replace reason, fact, and fair adjudication. How ironic—or rather predictable—it is that the more rapid the transmission of a story, the more likely it is to be inaccurate or untrue.

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Trump Declares Victory on Tax Reform

20th December 2017

Read it.

But you have to remember that Trump has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING during his first year in office.

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Tax Bill Passes Congress—Are You Dead Yet???

20th December 2017

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f you didn’t die after the U.S. pulled out of the Paris climate accord and you didn’t die after the courts suspended President Trump’s travel ban, or you were bummed about losing the opportunity to die when Republicans couldn’t seal the deal on a healthcare bill, you have one more chance. Some critics of the tax bill that just passed Congress and is expected to be signed into law today say this is the policy that might end your life.

Better call the undertaker now. We’re all gonna die! Or not.

The left-leaning Tax Policy Center estimates that 80 percent of taxpayers will see a cut next year. (The numbers change abruptly in 2027, when much of the tax bill expires.) Hardly tales from the crypt. But that hasn’t stopped the apocalyptic rhetoric.

Bet you didn’t know that 80% of the country was rich. But here’s proof, from an Agency of the Crust.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Tax Bill Passes Congress—Are You Dead Yet???

Trump Tax Bill Will Have Devastating Effect on LGBT Community, Campaigners Say

20th December 2017

Read it.

It appears that this refers to the abolition of the Individual Mandate, the provision of Obamacare that depends on forcing young healthy people to buy insurance that they don’t want and don’t need in order to use that money to subsidize health care prices for people who engage in risky behavior … like the LGBTUVWXYZ community.

That’s not what they say, of course. Telling the truth is not part of the Narrative.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Trump Tax Bill Will Have Devastating Effect on LGBT Community, Campaigners Say

Thought for the Day

20th December 2017

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Festivus: The Alternative Christmas Holiday You Need to Know About

20th December 2017

Read it.

Well, not really. You can park it right next to Kwanzaa in the ‘cheap imitation’ corner.

If you get a Festivus, you can be a hipster, too.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on Festivus: The Alternative Christmas Holiday You Need to Know About

Harry Connolly: The Twisted Path

20th December 2017

Harry Connolly, author of the Twenty Palaces novels, has a new novella out for purchase as an e-book.

Read his announcement.

I cannot recommend his work too highly (he is one of my Recommended Writers, see there on the right). The Twenty Palaces novels (and novellas) are the most creative and interesting approach to what is usually called Urban Fantasy that I’ve ever seen. My requirements for a good story are ‘interesting characters doing interesting things’, and Connolly’s stuff always delivers.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Harry Connolly: The Twisted Path

How to Be Different

20th December 2017

Read it.

Lewontin argued that there is more genetic variation within human populations than between them, so they can’t really be very different. Of course that’s bullshit: humans have the second-largest morphological variation of any mammal, behind only dogs. How do you get significant phenotypic differences between populations when there isn’t much Fst between them?

One way (at the extreme) is to have a single allele, one that does a lot, vary strongly between populations: at the limit, be fixed in one and nonexistent in the other. There are not a lot of alleles like this in humans, but it happens. EDAR 370A is almost fixed in Northeast Asia, almost nonexistent in Europe and Africa: it results in thicker scalp hair, more numerous sweat glands, smaller breasts, funny teeth, and changes in the shape of the ears and chin. Just one allele: it would not show up noticeably in Fst.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on How to Be Different

Black Woman Accuses Charlie Rose of Racism for Not Sexually Harassing Her

20th December 2017

Read it.

You know it had to happen.

UPDATE: Black woman who accused Charlie Rose of racism for not sexually harassing her also helped get a paraplegic fired

Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | Comments Off on Black Woman Accuses Charlie Rose of Racism for Not Sexually Harassing Her

Ta-Nehisi Coates Hara-Kiris Off Twitter

20th December 2017

Steve Sailer passes the popcorn

The sight of two affirmative-action hires going at it about who is the better perceiver of black victimhood is much like watching a train wreck.

Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | Comments Off on Ta-Nehisi Coates Hara-Kiris Off Twitter