Thursday, November 2, 2017

The Never Ending Gobstopper

That's what Monica thought Bill was, anyway. You remember it - Willy Wonka's sucker that you could enjoy forever and it would never get any smaller?  But that was just the appetizer.  Hillary continues to provide the never ending treat.

There was never any "Russian hack" into the DNC server.  Any actually honest organization who thought for longer than a millisecond that "Russians" had really hacked into their computer system would have SCREAMED for the FBI to examine it.  The DNC?  Not a chance.  And now we know why!

The DNC embraced Obozo.  Unfortunately for them, it was like embracing a leper.  He took everything they had but had nothing to give in return.  His coattails didn't exist.  As a result the dummycrats have effectively lost control of most local, state and national legislative seats.  The donations have dried up. The bench of prospective candidates doesn't exist. There are none but the usual aged, decrepit shrill harpies slinging their old, tired harangues. That of course didn't stop the DNC from spending money, after all that's what they do.  But they ran out of other people's money.  Unlike the dummycrats in Congress, the DNC couldn't just pass another spending bill to pass on to other people's grand kids. They were as destitute in dollars as they were in intelligence or ideas.  They needed a white knight to save them.

What they got instead was Hillary.  Ever the consummate technical attorney, HRC had an actual contract signed turning the DNC over to her.  The silly concept of a primary race was just another inconvenient fact.  She covered the DNC's debts and then owned the party.  Poor Bernie....He didn't even get a weekend.

 All that evidence was right there on the DNC server. FBI?  WTF? Are you smoking something? NO, give it to some lame buyable IT firm.  Gin up some excuse that could be blamed on DJT.  ANYTHING! Just lie like hell.

Hillary displayed her technical knowledge in requiring a contract, but any experienced defense attorney would have told her - NEVER SIGN EVIDENCE!  Okay, probably not her signature on the document, but it was her money.  Under election law that is close enough.  It didn't matter that she and the rest of the party screwed poor ole socialist Bernie.  He didn't count and once her coronation was over no one would find out.  Then came November 8, 2016.  We just keep finding out reasons for why Hillary wanted to slit her wrists that night.  Or someone's throat.  The problem is that it turns out that there are too many throats.  Unlike her hero Che, she doesn't have access to a police force to round up her enemies...or friends....or other witnesses and remove them from the living.  Clintonitis is pretty selective, though she has a large selection now to apply it to.

With Hillary now an apparent has been (was ever?) who is toxic to the rest of the party but just won't GO THE FUCK AWAY, anyone with a secret and who remembers what a bitch she was to be around has decided that it's time to reveal those awful truths.  Whether it's Donna Brazile or the next in line to dish the dirt d'jour on HRC, we can only hope that she will eventually get the memo - just GO THE FUCK AWAY!

I just hope that she exhibits her "perseverance" that she has bragged about and wait just a little longer to read that memo.  Like Obozo's toxicity, she keeps reminding voters of all that she is.  The dummycrat party tries to avoid and evade her like she was a walker, but to no avail.  The eternal Hildabeast.

For those of us with some sense and a conscience, she remains the Never Ending Gobstopper.

I can hardly wait for the next shoe to drop.  It appears to be a closet full.

ciao,

the Snark

Where to start?

The rabbit holes keep opening up.  They're larger, deeper and everywhere.  It's getting scary to even go outside. I always carry heavy; now I'm considering carrying double.

Another member of the "peaceful" cult of pIslam decided to go for a quiet drive in NYC.  Except for the screams of "Allahu Akbar" and the screams of the people in the bicycle lane he was driving in, it would have been a normal afternoon.  After murdering eight people and crashing into a special transport bus he was shot (only wounded, dammit) while carrying a paintball gun.  He currently resides in a NYC hospital, gleefully describing his great afternoon.  Other than the getting shot thing, it was great, for him. 

DeBlaiso, Schumer, Cuomo and the rest of the lunatics in charge of that asylum applauded the great immigration system the dummycrats instituted and decried the possibility of a backlash.  They have never noticed that NO backlash occurs after one of Allah's vermin kill actual people. 

One meme I have noticed says "If 1 billion moslems wanted us dead, we'd be dead by now" (have you noticed that they are trying?)  Typical progressive stupidity.  For one thing, only around 700 million moslems (I spell it that way because they hate it) actually want us dead.  For another thing, those particular moslems can't get here to kill us, they can only send their money to do so (and they do.)  Far more the most important point is that we have the US Marine Corps. A particularly effective organization that was originally created specifically to address the moslem menace.  It works, too. 

Our vigilant police departments also do what they can, although too many are disrupted by liberal politicians who somehow think(?) that by coddling such semi-human debris that somehow the violent attacks will stop.  Besides, those polls have protection to prevent such from happening to them.  Which is why I carry.  I can't afford to pay someone else for protection.  When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.  A .40 S&W responds at 1050 fps.

One particular response that tends to just piss me off is the "moral equivalence" reply that so many light brained individuals offer up.  "One terrorist doesn't represent all moslems".  But "the Westboro Baptist Church is typical of all Christians"... or "all conservatives"....or all "white Christians".  First of all, no, not all terrorists are moslem.  Only about 99.8%.  The remaining are simple sociopaths, rather than cultist sociopaths. Second, specify the number of people murdered by members of the Westboro Baptist Church.  Yes, they are obnoxious.  Yes, they should be at least ignored, or my favorite, have a large contingent of bikers intervene in their protests.  Being a biker myself, I feel sure that such a group can provide sufficient deterrent to the WBC participants that things won't get out of hand.  But while a pain in the ass, the WBC aren't murdering thugs.  Furthermore, name the number of Christians that have established murder as their method of demonstrating dominance. 

Here's the catch - while many might name Paddock, McVeigh or even Manson as examples, the actual fact is that NONE of these are/were Christian in either their described faith or rationale of action.  "Allahu Akbar" is pretty much a dead give away.  What the three offered up as "Christian" examples actually represent is  - WHITE MALES.  So the typical hypocrisy/discrimination/bigotry of the progressives are displayed once again. 

I have a personal preference of how to dispose of the current jihadi awaiting trial.  Put a set of leg irons on him and set him on a NYC street corner.  Next to him place a 5 gallon bucket full of lard which also contains 20 pieces of 3 foot long #4 rebar.  Announce to New Yorkers that if he can make it two blocks that he will be granted a free ride back to the hell hole he came from.  The populace is free to "motivate" his progress with the rebar.

All I ask for is pay-for -view rights.  I have no inclination whatsoever to actually watch.  But I'll cash the checks.

Me, pissed?   Naaaah.

ciao

the Snark


Saturday, October 28, 2017

How thin can he slice it?

The louder the wails, screams and caterwauling becomes; the more the lamestream media, the Dummycrats and the snowflakes denounce; the more outrageous the insults become, the more DJT is proven correct.

He did miss one thing early on, but corrected it shortly before the fan got slathered.  At first he said there was no collusion whatsoever with the Russians in trying to sway the election.  He corrected himself to say that there was collusion and that the HRC campaign did it.  Oh, the travesty of such a claim!  He is surely now completely deranged!  The HORROR!  The HORROR!

 Except....he was correct again.

Dirty tricks are not unusual in politics.  "Tricky" Dick Nixon had a crew of pranksters that did just that.  However Nixon's crew - as all of the Republican attempts have been - were rank amateurs compared to the Dummycrats.  From the local scene to the national, vote buying, voter fraud, ballot tampering have all been part and parcel of the Dummycrat modus operandi.

But the campaign, first the primary race but then the final race of the 2016 Dummycrat Party is absolutely the most blatant example of corruption, distraction and felonious obfuscation in the history of US politics.  The most glorious culmination of it all is that Robert Mueller, FBI Director during the Obozo reign, was chosen as the investigator of the "collusion".  The most delicious part of it is that he was up to his neck in so much of the shenanigans!

He was picked, not to discover where the bodies where buried, but because he KNEW where they were buried and knew where NOT to search.  But Hillary didn't win.  WHOOPS!
HRC had many reasons to be apoplectic the night of the election.  But while she thinks she's the smartest one in the world, she is only half right.  The smarter thing for her to do was to slink quietly away, back to Chappaqua, and STFU.  But NOOOO!  She and her comrades had to keep screaming about the election and how it was stolen - STOLEN - by DJT and those dirty RUSSIANS!  The noise and obfuscation was a desperate attempt to do something - ANYTHING - to keep DJT off balance and perhaps create enough diversion that the people would reject him.  Sorry, Hillary, it didn't work.

So now the cat is out of the bag, or at least the witness is allowed to talk.  He should be veeery careful.  Clintonitis is frequently fatal and he is very subject to being exposed.  Mueller, Comey, Holder and even Obozo himself however are exposed in another way.  Many (though not all) of their misdeeds are being brought to light.

Mueller now has a specific problem.  He was part of the dirty deeds.  He has been revealed as not being as pure as the driven snow.  He has to work around a very bright spotlight while keeping so many things hidden.  He has to at least make a pretense of fairness while shoveling as much crap out through the leak sources as he can.  His quandary is that what  he is supposed to looking for has turned out to be a unicorn. He has a pile of baloney and knows it.  But baloney is a large sausage with many ingredients, many of them unknown, or at least unidentified.  This baloney contains (among others) all the previously named conspirators. Granted, they didn't necessarily conspire together, though they could have.  Regardless, all of them conspired towards the same goal - President Hillary.  Mueller now has to slice this baloney to resemble prime rib.  The problem is that he is in this sausage and has to slice it thin without slicing himself.  Reveal the ingredients without revealing his own part in it.  He likely will try to protect his buddy Comey.  But regardless of whom he might try to pin it on - Paul Manafort, John Podesta - he can't predict what the newly revealed witness may present.  That has to have his sphincter cranked up tighter than Dick's hatband.  If he isn't careful he too, might contract Clintonitis. 

Stranger things have happened.

ciao.

Keep hunting.

the Snark

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Report from Lost Wages

Greetings from the Mojave desert!

In that paean to ostentatiousness, greed and distaste - LAS VEGAS!  There have been changes in the few years since I last visited Vegas, unsurprisingly.   It is somewhat eerie making this trip, since I had driven through Orlando a few days after the Pulse Nightclub terrorist shooting.  The reactions are similar in LV as in Orlando.  Signage in Vegas is much more prominent than Orlando, especially the high resolution programmable variety.  #VEGAS STRONG is prevalent in all the signs, more so in the daytime than at night.  Can't let anything interfere with the whole purpose of the city.  Got to draw the people to the shows and gambling.  Sometimes the signs include skylines, some times a heart.  Local news is as scarce as the national reportage.  The LV Sheriff's department isn't saying much to anyone.

I drive past the Mandalay Bay and the festival site, still taped off and police attended at least once a day since I am staying close by.  The windows were replaced quickly but the investigation continues.

The iconic "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign is in it's own little park in the widened median in S. Las Vegas blvd.  Memorials in tribute to the victims, along with other items - teddy bears, etc., fill the park.  At one passing (at night, looking from a tour coach) it looked like an anarchists' symbol was displayed.  It wasn't there the next morning, so even LV couldn't stomach that insult to humanity.

Security is increased, one news report showed interviews with casino security people about adding magnetometers and sure enough, everyone was screened at the Elton John show.  Sir Elton and I have both picked up a few pounds since I had seen him perform, but he still provides a terrific show.

One of the noticeable changes is in the signs themselves.  Very high resolution video displays - like watching a 4K TV - except being 20, 30, 40 feet tall.  Elton has a video screen at least 80X30 in uhd.  Incredible.

S Las Vegas blvd has long ago supplanted Fremont St. as the center of attraction, Fremont not having near enough space to accommodate the likes of Bellagio, NYC, Venetian, Mirage, Wynn, Encore and the dozens of other opulent casino/hotel/theaters/restaurant/fashion stores, and The Strip is outside of Las Vegas' property taxing authority.  So rather than simply demolishing Fremont St, they have turned it into the "Fremont Street Experience."  Five blocks are now a covered pedestrian mall.  Covered with - what else - a programmable video screen. It arches over the length of the mall, complete with a two level multi-zip line, one set of four running the whole length of the mall, the riders flying in a superman position.

The FSE is complete with buskers, mendicants, casinos, bars, kiosks and the assortment of locals and tourists that only Vegas seems able to produce.  Performance(?) artists included Batman, Spidey, Deadpool, half of KISS, a guitar player who wore only a fuzzy jockstrap with suspenders, a variety of almost naked women (painted pasties and thongs) and one guy who simply held a sign stating "Need $$$ for penis enlargement. 'I'm a little short'". He didn't state whether he was short on funds or penile length; fortunately he didn't offer proof of either.  It was a bit distracting to watch a nearly naked female conversing with two cops while people streamed around them.  As well as watching one of the throng walk by smoking a joint.

Recreational pot is now legal in Nevada.  Signs of the conventional billboard type advertising dispensaries are frequent and curiously among the most sedate of all.  I doubt that that will last, those will go the way of the liquor advertising soon enough. Money, after all, is the fuel of Vegas, alcohol the lubricant.  Pot will soon move along side the booze.

Construction is booming; houses, casinos, hotels, restaurants, all of the usual Vegas attractions still multiplying.

Back in the day - pre-Luxor - gambling was the star, carrying the freight for everything.  Cheap hotel rooms, buffets, and other near freebies simply greased the way to bring in the suckers.  Then they discovered that by adding shows and other family attractions that the suckers would bring their families along as well.  Now the hotel rooms and meals anywhere near the strip are expensive and the prices off the strip have followed suit.  The list of performers is simply everyone in show business other than actors.  Even Mike Tyson is doing a stage act.  WTF?   There are a few bargains, but you have to look for them, or ask a knowledgeable local.  The advertising of the sex business has moved away from the thousands of cards thrust at every passing pedestrian.  The internet is cheaper and cleaner....okay, less litter to clean up.

But the biggest change is in the casinos themselves.  Just a few years ago the casinos rang with the sound of coins hitting the trays, bells and whistles going off, buckets of coins and chips being rattled around.  But no more.  Now bills are still acceptable in the slots, but the preference is for a gambling card backed up either with cash or credit card presented at the cashier's window.  The whole scene is more sedate, less frantic, less invigorating.  I don't gamble, other than flying, but enjoy watching the people - feeding the coins while a cigarette burned down to the knuckles, scrambling to pick up coins from the floor before they rolled under the machines,  eyes glazed by the whirling lights as they fed their entertainment habit.  It just isn't the same.  Oh, they still feed the machines, but they aren't nearly as interesting as they used to be.  This is progress for the house with greater security and less labor moving hundreds of pounds of money.  Just less fun to watch.

Las Vegas is a fun visit, plenty to do and see without gambling.  Only now it costs everyone rather than just the gamblers.  Everyone is a sheep for shearing.  And everyone gets fleeced.

ciao from the desert,

the Snark

Monday, October 9, 2017

Fixing things

Ron White famously said "You can't fix stupid".  And he is right.  As I have mentioned previously, ignorance is correctable, stupid is forever.  You can't fix psychosis, either. Sometimes - and only sometimes - psychosis can be sufficiently medicated to moderate it.  Or perhaps it can be isolated in a facility.  Unfortunately too often it is undetected until it manifests itself in tragic fashion.

Thus psychosis was revealed in Las Vegas.  I don't use the word "crazy", that is too flippant, too undefined.  Steve Martin is known as being a "wild and crazy guy" yet he hasn't yet shot into a crowd of festival goers. Paddock was psychotic. Period.  The latest revelation is that he hired a hooker for $6K per night to indulge in violent, kinky sex. And his fantasies included murder and mayhem.  But, hey, it was Las Vegas.  What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right?  Not exactly.  The problem is that such behavior, might not seem so extreme for 6 grand a pop.  Some hookers specialize in "unique" behaviors.  B&D, S&M, water sports, dress fetishes are all part of some john's preferences, catered to by specialists.  But what is the difference between "kinky" and "murder"?  There is a fine line between "different" and "psychotic".  But the line is still there.

Immediately the dimocrats came unglued.  Hillary, trying to make herself relevant, chimed in that had he been using a suppressor then the people wouldn't have known they were being shot at.  Please.  As has been stated many times, "it is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."  As if anyone had any doubt about that crone.  Of course her similarly lobotomized parrot and former limping mate, Tim Kaine repeated this drivel before he took the time to read a few replies pointing out the simple facts of physics that belied such ignorance.  Even the senate's western simpleton admitted that there was nothing within the law that could have prevented this tragedy.   That doesn't mean that Feinstein won't run next year on a gun control platform. (Note - she is 84.  One of the many youthful dimocrat leaders.)  After all, promoting a failed concept over and over and expecting different results is what they do. 

As I have mentioned previously, the study of history as well as the awareness of failed theories is but one of the liberals' fatal refuges.  As the usual response, liberals are screaming for the confiscation of firearms.  "DO SOMETHING"!  Is their cry.  The same ones who have branded DJT the next Hitler wants to take away the people's power of resistance.  Perhaps they should research the "Prague Spring" or "Tianamen Square" for a comparison.  They haven't stopped to realize that if you take away the people's guns, only the government will have any....

Except the government won't have the only firearms.  Perhaps the only legal ones, but illegal ones work too.  Go to Chicago and find out.  Or Baltimore.  Or Mexico.

It is almost impossible for a normal citizen to legally possess a firearm in Mexico, especially a handgun.  In rural areas it is slightly easier to possess a .22 or shotgun.  Look up "Zeta murders" and "Sinaloa Cartel killings" to see how peaceful Mexico is today.  The books "The Power of The Dog" and "The Cartel" by Don Winslow provide an excellent review of the history of the Mexican/US drug condition.  Guns are very strictly controlled in Mexico, just like Chicago, DC and Baltimore.  So are drugs, just like in Chicago, DC and Baltimore.  HEY!  Here is a thought for the liberals - make guns, drugs and murder illegal. Problem solved!  Uh....what?  Oh.....never mind. 

Scott Adams (Dilbert) has a relevant position on such laws - since laws don't actually prevent crime, they simply discourage it so they don't work for the truly determined.  Sort of like taking away cars from those who don't drive drunk.  Do you have any idea how many repeat offenders of drunk driving there are?  How many of them drive without a license?

There is a reason for the Second Amendment.  It was for the people to have as close to the same power of resistance that a rogue government might have to impose tyranny.  The founders realize that even with all the restrictions they built into the Constitutions there might come a time when a charismatic leader might wrest control from the observing populace.  And then it would be necessary to repeat 1776.  Again, this is where a study of history is relevant.  Madison referred to a "well regulated militia".  Actually, he got that from George Washington.  At that time a "well regulated militia" described a condition where every capable male was expected to own at least one firearm (usually a rifle,) to also posses powder and ball (bullets) and to be able to operate all proficiently.  Thus they could respond to the call of the governor (NOT a federal government) to form a militia (the notion of a standing army at this time was abhorrent to them) in order to resist invasion or civil unrest.  There were, after all, some Tory sympathizers yet wishing for the British to return.  (See the War of 1812 for the rest of that story.) 

The Second Amendment protects ALL of the other amendments.  There has already been a call to eliminate the Second.  Well, while you're at it, why not the Fourth?  Or Fifth?  Oblama tried to eliminate most of the First.  Who needs the Constitution anyway?  Let's become a real Democracy rather than a republic.  You know, like Greece? Or like Venezuela used to be. Or any of the countless other failed democracies through history. 

The United States has produced the greatest source of freedom, support, opportunity, protection and equality for the greatest number of people around the world than any other country in history.  Before recommending that we screw that up, study some history.

The US Constitution isn't broken.  It doesn't need to be fixed.

ciao

the Snark

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Introspection

September 25 was the anniversary of my younger brother's birth in 1953.  Tomorrow is the anniversary of his death in 1975.  I still miss him, of course.  This time of year and this time of my life my thoughts occasionally dwell upon him.  He was everything I wasn't for his age.  Tall, dark, too handsome for his own good.  Smooth with the girls - many of them - and able to buy liquor easier than I could AFTER I was legal.   (Back then beer was legal at 18, hard liquor at 21.)  He was probably the most spontaneous individual I ever met.  That is not always a good thing...

He was also one of the funniest people I have ever met.  He got that honestly; our father was also a very funny man, though I didn't realize just how funny he was until he was in hospice.  It is like a fish in water - he has little appreciation of it until it is removed.

Part of his spontaneity may have been due to his metal state.  None of us - including our father - knew our grandfather very well.  Apparently though our grandfather was prone to erratic behavior, including sudden fits of rage, addictive behavior, extreme mood swings and a very social individual, until he wasn't.

My brother fit that description, at least for a while.  He was certainly troubled.  He self medicated.  In the late '60s and early '70s that was a simple thing to do.  Alcohol, marijuana, MDA, LSD, later heroin.  He wasn't actually addicted to any single drug, it was more that he was addicted to searching for something that would provide relief.  No one could understand what he was needing relief from.  In those days recreational drugs wasn't an unusual activity.  So his participation didn't stand out.  Over years his personality became more erratic, more extreme.  He was straining -extremely hard - to be successful, to impress other people, especially our father, that he was able to be a man.  Unfortunately he tried too many shortcuts to achieve that, and besides, it is really, really hard to impress people when you are stoned a lot.  He became erratically violent, yet could be incredibly tender and gentle.  He loved animals and acquired a Doberman puppy, one of the most beautiful Dobes I've ever seen.  He was almost a canine equivalent - larger than life, smarter than a dog has any right to be, ferocious to strangers yet enjoyed babies crawling over top of him.  He was the perfect image of Borong the Warlock.  Look him up.  They are identical.

He wasn't easy to understand.  Long after his death, family issues revealed a familial trait for Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder.  Either or both could be identified by his behavior today.  Back then BP was known as manic-depressive and BDP hadn't been identified at all. They do have genetic tendencies. While both conditions can start at an early age, the manifestations are rarely caught unless the symptoms are extreme.  For a very active male at that time, no one had a clue.  Typically the symptoms rear up in the late teens to early twenties.  Hormones seem to trigger the onset, though there is little definitive knowledge.

Combine early hormone onset, a predilection for BP/BPD, easy access to mind altering drugs and a great desire to find mental peace or distraction and you have a catastrophe searching for a location.

Recent information reveals that he died, syringe in his arm, and was moved to his place of discovery -in a van behind a popular bar.  One I had frequented many, many times.  Not that night, thankfully.  It was only after his death that we discovered the tattoo of a bleeding rose on his shoulder.

It was his Sportster, a blue Ironhead, that ignited my desire for one.  He totaled his, crashing it into a stone wall.  Alcohol, at least, was involved.  He survived that one, after several weeks in hospital.  There are so many, many tales about him, some tragic, some hilarious.

Maybe I'll relate some.  Someday.

The brightest stars burn out soonest.

RIP MSV.

ciao,

the Snark

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Old stuff

I went to my 50th high school reunion a few weeks ago (yes, I'm that old.  My birth stone is coal...)   It was interesting to see people I hadn't seen in 30 years (I went to the 20th,) some I hadn't seen in 50.  I wasn't the fattest, nor the most bald.  With all my health issues, some had some far worse than mine.  A few looked astoundingly close to the same as they looked 50 years ago, albeit more mature.  We all acted more mature.

They had a tour of the high school.  It is more like a university now.  It is the largest high school in the state (2951 students,) plus it draws from a very diverse group of public, magnet and private schools. Only two classroom buildings and the gym remain from the original construction.  Those classroom buildings will be replaced next year.  The gym will get a new floor and is newly air conditioned.  Very few things to reminisce about - so much is new.  Change is inevitable, I certainly wouldn't want improvements to stop for our education system.  I don't consider the indoctrination being forced onto our students today to be an improvement.  I don't begrudge change...but it doesn't help my mood to compare what I am now to what I was just a few years ago.  They say getting old beats the alternative.  I don't know since I haven't have the opportunity to make a comparison.  I don't know anyone who has.

Speaking of getting old, the NFL debacle is waaaay beyond that.  Kaepernick started it with a false narrative about the BLM thugs.  He wanted to go free agent, so they set him free.  The catch was that he was toxic and no one wants him.  Too bad.  He also wasn't nearly as good at quarterback as he thought. This is NOT a first amendment discussion.  All of these displays are being performed in a private venue.  The government hasn't been involved.  DJT has made a comment, but contrary to the uninformed liberals, he isn't the government, hasn't passed any legislation (he can't; neither can the republicans, apparently) and although some people don't like it, he doesn't care.  Neither do I.

These demonstrations are a violation of NFL rules. Said rules specify that the players stand and face the flag, holding their helmet in their left hand while the anthem plays.

 So are "exuberant displays in the end zone".  Tim Tebow's kneeling to pray was considered an "exuberant display".  Darryl Beckham's lifting his leg as if he was pissing on the goalpost was not.  Hypocrisy much?  The players (making millions) are employees of the team owners who could stop it in a minute.  They have decided they would rather permit disgraceful displays than to say a word.  I watch very little pro football. I've never been to an NFL game.) I watch very little college football.  I do watch college basketball, but I'm not a true fanatic.)  So the NFL won't miss the little bit of viewership that I will no longer contribute.  I did watch the Superbowl; like many, more for the commercial spots than the game. The last one turned into an interesting game for a change.  There a lot of true NFL fans who feel the same way I do.  As far as I can tell most of the people who have come out in support for these poor, oppressed multimillionaires generally don't watch and are unlikely to watch any more now.  Since the ratings have fallen into the basement, the next round of contract negotiations might be revealing.  Some players are now proclaiming that these actions are not "demonstrations against the country or the flag".  Really?  So why do it during the anthem?  Why not do it at the kickoff?  Or at the coin flip?  The anthem is played to demonstrate unity of fans and players and to honor the flag and musical symbol of our country.  The anthem is not a symbol of the police; for that matter it is not a symbol of the government, but of freedom and the people of this country.  They stick a middle finger into the air towards the people.  They can do so in an empty stadium and to a blank TV screen.

I am a strong proponent of capitalism and the free market.  The players have been able to extract what many (myself included) consider to be exorbitant salaries for tossing a ball around and doing what would be considered assault outside the stadium.  Does their contribution to society exceed that of public school teachers?  Hardly.  However, public school teachers are supported by taxes extracted by government; players are private employees.  This might be an opportunity for the public to wake up and see that those $300 Sunday ticket subscriptions might be better spent subsidizing the schools. Or donated to any number of needing agencies.  Money talks.  Tell the schools what you think with your dollars.  School boards and administrators might also respond.

I started writing this blog as a cathartic release.  Sometimes it is.  Other times not so much.  There are few viewers (thank you to those who do read it) so I don't know if it would be noticed - much less missed - if I were to stop.  Jerry Pournelle stopped his the other day.  Jerry was the inventor of the "blog" though he hated the term.  His was the first daily journal on the internet.  He was a true pioneer of computing, of science and libertarian thought, of many, many things.  He only stopped because he passed away.  I certainly miss him.

Maybe I'll return.

till then, I'll be hunting.

ciao

the Snark


Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Leftist...or liberal?

Dennis Prager's September 12 column elucidates the difference between Leftists and liberals.  You can read it here:  https://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2017/09/12/leftism-is-not-liberalism-n2380044.

I'll wait.

It is an interesting and revealing column.  Prager, you remember, is the California conservative (there actually are conservatives in the People's Republic of Kommiefornia, once you leave the big cities) who was castigated for an unbelievably heinous act, one that threatened to disrupt both the state and the society sufficiently to cleave the coastal section along the San Andreas fault and heave it into the Pacific (which resulted in conservatives everywhere grabbing bowls of popcorn and beverages in anticipation.)  That inconceivable dastardly act was to conduct a symphony orchestra - The Los Angeles Philharmonic - in the WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL!  OH, the humanity! As if someone's political philosophy would cause miscarriages and disruption by waving a small stick in front of a few musicians. 

Thus is the mental and emotional frailty of leftist coasters. 

I must confess that I too conflated the acts of the Leftists with those of liberals.  I have long been aware of the difference between classical liberals and the more modern variety, but relegated the difference to the evolution (mutation?) of liberals.  It does, however, make more sense to regard the difference as a deliberate confiscation of the concept of "liberalism" by anarchists/communists who will appropriate any vehicle to further the destruction of  the USA and any other developed society.  By using emotional issues - usually fabricated - associating with other anti-societal groups and utilizing the Alinksy/Goebbels methods of propaganda, many liberals have become "useful idiots" for the Leftists. 

Certainly there are former liberals who actively support the Leftists and believe that they are still holding on to their liberal philosophies.  They have also been subverted, as is the intent of the Leftists.  Some will deny their positions by claiming that some of the Leftists' activities have gone "too far".  Or perhaps support the violent actions but would never think of participating in such themselves.  Just like "moderate" moslems who will donate to their mosque that funds terrorists but would never strap on a bomb vest themselves. 

The critical issue is that they never bothered to learn actual history.  Too much history is "learned" from inaccurate sources.  Even history texts used by both grade and college teachers are frequently twisted to support a political viewpoint. 

Trump was condemned for daring to state that there were "good people" on both sides at Charlottesville.  The fact that among the original marchers were members of a group that simply wanted to protest the destruction of the statue AND NOTHING ELSE, and that there were some peaceful marchers being lead and deceived by AntiFa in order to violently attack the other side was both ignored and denied.  Again, Alinksy/Goebbels tactics, both by the AntiFa and their apologists in the media.

The Leftists deliberately try to conflate conservatives with white supremacists, neo Nazis and the KKK.  Granted the neo-Nazis contributed to this themselves.  They were too stupid to realize that Nazis were National Socialists.  They are also ignorant of history, not knowing that Lincoln was a Republican, that the first black members of congress were Republican and that all of the relevant civil rights legislation had greater Republican support than Democrat.  It's that "failure to learn from history" gotcha.  Apparently the Leftists are using the liberal's lack of historical knowledge to purport an association of conservatives with the KKK.  As someone who grew up in the South during the 1950's and '60's, I saw for myself the Democrat Party's reliance on the KKK to subdue both black and Republican efforts to wrest political control from the Donkey Party.  Don't believe it? Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898. This is far from an isolated event.

And apparently a "white supremacist" is to them, anyone who thinks "equality for all people" means what it says. And certainly white lives (especially white male lives) don't matter.

The intentions of the Leftists are as simple as they are clear: divide society through demagoguery, destroy as much as possible and enjoy the carnage.

Liberals should be educated.

Leftists should be annihilated.

ciao,

the Snark



Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The Deep State....Power corrupts.

Power corrupts.  Absolute power isn't required.  There really aren't that many people who have aspired to absolute power.  Most have been Leftists.  Note, that isn't the same as Liberals. But most liberals support the concept of a singular tyrant.  Granted, perhaps many wish for a benevolent tyrant, or at least a benevolent controlling government, but that is a fatuitous wish. With power comes corruption.

Currently we see the evidence of a "Deep State", that is a shadow government within the elected government.  As long as the elected president was accepted by both the major parties AND the entrenched bureaucracy, the DS stayed hidden.  However, when Donald Trump was elected he was declared an enemy by all of the aforementioned parties.  The DS doesn't have a spokesperson to make such a declaration but that wasn't necessary.  The resistance to his office began on November 9, 2016.  The ground work began over a year prior to that, but it wasn't fully consolidated until the election was over.

DJT campaigned on "draining the swamp".  The problem with that is that the swamp is inhabited by entrenched denizens who have accumulated power and perks over decades.  They prefer to hide within the departments, running their fiefdoms, maintaining relationships with other department heads and congresscritters from both houses and both parties.  Furthermore, the congresscritters also benefit from these relationships.  Add to that the money from K street fertilizing the mix and the resistance is fierce indeed.

Telephone calls from the Trump Tower campaign office were disseminated.  Whether the calls were recorded through a classic "wiretap" or by other means, the effect was the same.  Private conversations were illegally revealed.  This continued through the inauguration, perhaps still being done to this day.  Phone calls to foreign heads of state were released.  Leaks of confidential conversations were published.  Individuals who disagreed with the results of the election acted either on their own in or concert to diminish the effectiveness of the president.

Employees of the White House, as well as employees of the rest of the Executive Branch are SUPPOSED to support the efforts of the President.  But when they perceive that their security might be threatened, loyalty is tossed aside.  Trump asked Comey for his loyalty.  Comey refused to give it.  Why?  Because he was one of the swamp creatures.  He was contributing to the leaks.  Trump wanted Comey to do what he had actually already sworn to do - defend the Constitution.  To be loyal to the President and support him.  Trump wasn't trying to build a personal power base to subvert the constitution, he was trying to defend it!

The late Jerry Pournelle pronounced his "Iron Law of Bureaucracy" - 'In every organization  there are two groups: those who work to advance the purpose of the organization, and those who work to advance the power of the organization itself.  The second group will always prevail'.

This is The Swamp in it's essence.  The EPA made great strides early in it's existence.  But once those problems were solved the EPA went looking for greater opportunities to gather power and control the country and the economy.  The IRS decided to select whom could be tax exempt based upon political affiliation.  The DOJ decided to run guns to Mexican drug gangs to subvert the 2nd Amendment.  The State Department took down governments and ran arms to alternative players. The list is long and disgusting.  This is not restricted to only Democrat administrations, but it certainly has stronger roots there.

This contrast is due to a simple difference of philosophy:  Conservatives (Bush 41 and 43 were NOT conservatives) tend toward smaller governments and more personal freedom and responsibility.  Liberals support a greater control of the populace by government. (After all, they are smarter than everyone else and are supposed to tell everyone else what to do.)  Republicans are supposed to be conservatives.  Unfortunately, most of the ones in Congress aren't conservative.  So the size and scope of the government grows unchecked, the Dems professing their "help" for the people by increasing the bureaucracy and the RINO's giving lip service to stopping it while in actuality doing nothing.

Then comes Trump.  An Outsider.  He has tons of money and can't be bought.  He has no further aspirations in politics - what could they be?  He wasn't elected with the help of the Party - far from it.  He detests the size and scope of the government and is elected to reverse the course.  He doesn't roll over and whine when he is attacked, he hits back harder. The only way he could be more dangerous would be for him to be black. I wish he were.  He is a master at keeping the opposition (which is everyone) off balance.  An opponent can't be effective if he is off balance. So Trump keeps them all guessing, screaming and off balance.  They all hate him; what does he have to lose?

Government employment laws - Civil Service regulations (Simple Servants working for the Simple Circus) prevent mass firings based upon a change of administration.  A few can be fired, certainly.  Department heads submit their resignations expecting replacement.  But the bulk of the employees have to be shuffled for other reasons.  Guess who established a method of preserving a bulky, growing bureaucracy put into place by typically Dimocrat administrations?  Trump's transition team began early, determining what agencies and positions were established by law and purpose and those that were added by fiat.  The ones that do not have statute basis can be defunded.  "Gee, sorry about that.  We can't fire you...but there isn't any money to pay you.  If you want to work for free...."  Or if the department has a responsibility to perform and that performance hasn't been reported or supported, then that department is in violation of their charter.  Ooops....

Trump's single mistake so far is in not being aggressive enough in trimming or at least isolating the permanent White House staff and making clear to his cabinet that their priority is working themselves out of a job by reducing their departments.  Perhaps the foundation for that is being done quietly.  Two simple things can (and should) be done to disrupt the balance of his enemies:  Cut off the Oblamacare subsidies for Congresscritters and staff (they hardly fit the description of being a "small business" that was used to subvert the law) and to disband the public employee unions.  Public employee unions were permitted under an executive order signed by JFK.  Maybe he is waiting for the day after his re-inauguration.

The screaming would still be deafening after Pence's inauguration in 2024!

Until later....I'm still hunting.

ciao

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Various things and tennis as a life metaphor

With enough experience, one (who is observant and not comatose) tends to recognize when not to debate.  Or argue. 

My father loved to argue.  He wasn't angry, nor accusatory.  He didn't raise his voice nor become actually combative...he just liked to argue.  I don't like to argue, especially with someone I care for.  Since I cared very much for him and wanted to converse with him this led to a quandary.  It was worse when he drank.  He didn't have to drink much for this to happen and he wasn't an alcoholic. (Aside - he stopped drinking totally for a year to prove to himself that he wasn't an alcoholic.  He proved that, then resumed moderate drinking.)  It took me a few years to figure out how much he liked to argue.  Before I did, I took his bait and argued back.  He loved it.  I hated it.  I finally learned to change the subject.  After a few subject changes, he figured it out and quit arguing.  It made a much better relationship.

These days there seem to be plenty of opportunities for argument.  I actually do enjoy a debate or perhaps a discussion of different ideas.  The requirement here, though is for both sides to actually know and understand what they are talking about, and to be both civil and intelligent.  I've lived long enough to have experienced many things first hand.  Then I encounter someone (usually a bit younger...okay... a lot younger) who speaks from ignorance with the firm conviction of knowledge.  So....do I correct their obvious ignorance and risk an argument - or simply smile and change the subject?  Having said experience, I decide based upon the circumstance.  I have seen far too many people just jump in with both feet, whereupon the fight commences.

Why is it that so many people these days insist on fighting over everything?  There are some groups who fight simply because they like to fight.  They fight from a position of ignorance or perhaps stupidity.  Some hold to antiquated and illogical beliefs.  Neo-nazis and white separatists come to mind.  Others fight simply to spread anarchy.  Antifa/Occupy/whothefuckknows fills this criteria.  Then there is BLM.  A group lead by racists, who "oppose" racism and expect respect for their disrespect for others.  They wanted dead cops.  When they got that they couldn't understand why other people were upset.  Especially when the dead cops were protecting the protestors.  The next time they need help, let them call a thug.

What is worse is when people won't let you ignore them.  Mike Rowe ran into that this week and did a SPECTACULAR job of demonstrating his heckler was an idiot.  Sometimes I try to avoid those who insist on pressing an unwelcome point.  Some people just won't take "Don't go there" as an answer.  It is never a good result.

Hurricane Harvey drowns Houston.  And a sociology professor posts a statement that it was "karma" for Texas voting for Trump.  Fortunately he was fired.  In Kalifornia he would have been made chancellor. 

Nancy Pelosi proves that the botox injections went too deep:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92sXx-s-qkg

Hey, San Fran Nan - go home.  You're senile.

How life is like tennis:  A line from an old Spanky and Our Gang song....
                     "Love, in tennis...means nothing."   

Keep on hunting.

ciao.



Thursday, August 17, 2017

Hate speech and Liberal Logic

Hate speech is the new boogeyman.  It is not protected by the First amendment, according to ignorant liberals. (Yes, I know that is redundant.)  Actually unless it is a specific threat against a person - and believe it or not the current president IS a human - or unless the speech incites a riot or panic - the famous "shouting fire in a theater" exclusion- unpopular speech is exactly what is protected.  In the case of the president the Secret Service is particularly sensitive about threats.  They really don't have any sense of humor about that type of thing.

In the case of our previous president, any criticism of the Dear Leader would result in howls and screams of "racism"; as if being being half black is a free ride to commit any sort of unconstitutional, tyrannical, socialist assault upon our country.  Apparently it is. Barack Obama - protector of Black Panther thugs, gun runner extraordinaire, major funder of moslem terrorism, friend of socialists world wide; a man who never met a tax bill large enough but knew when someone else had made too much money - was defended by the left regardless.  He could do no wrong.  After all, sometimes you have to destroy a country in order to save it.

During the later days of his reign the concept of "hate speech" was presented as a means of silencing anyone who disagreed with the leftists.  It didn't matter if the words did in fact state truth or facts.  If they didn't further the efforts of leftists, then it wasn't to be permitted.  The curious thing is that under laws of libel, truth is the ultimate and absolute defense.  One can refer to the Dear Leader as specified in the previous paragraph with absolute certainty that it would be upheld in a court of law.  Okay, it might take getting past some of the west coast courts to find one where legal decisions are determined by actual legal precedent, but it will be upheld in a real court.  The Dear Leader wrote multiple executive orders ruled unconstitutional, all in the effort to further restrict and regulate the American citizenry.  Unfortunately he wrote many, many others in the same vein that were never challenged.  Still the left hailed him as their hero.

Fast forward to the present.  Donald Trump is called "Hitler", a "Nazi Sympathizer" a dictator, a Fascist.  This is not regarded by the left as "hate speech".  It is regarded as "speaking truth to power".  Let us contrast and compare...

Trump started removing the Dear Leader's restrictive executive orders on the first day in office.  Typically a fascist will increase the power of government and restrict freedoms of business and the citizenry.  The classic definition of a fascist government is one that controls and manages the means of production that are owned privately.  This control pervades the entirety of the nation under the direct control of a dictator.  Mussolini and Franco come to mind.  Trump endeavors to reduce the power of government, yet is called a fascist.  Trump wants to reduce the tax burden on the people, in order to let them keep more of what they earned.  According to left, a person who wishes to keep what they have earned is "greedy".  Taking it away from him and giving to someone else isn't. This is Liberal Logic. Thus they call him a fascist.

Trump has made billions of dollars in real estate development.  He started with a loan of a million dollars from his father which he turned into multiple billions.  That is the same increase as taking a thousand dollar loan and turning it into multiple millions.  According to the left he inherited everything.  Above all, Trump is a capitalist.  Not all of his endeavors were winners.  Some lost a lot.  That is the nature of capitalism.  The opportunity is guaranteed, the outcome is not.  Socialism guarantees the outcome because the opportunity is limited.  With capitalism there will be rich, poor and middle class.  With socialism there is the poor and the ruling class.


Now more contrast:

“We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions” – Adolf Hitler, May 1, 1927.

Hmmm.  I fail to see the similarity.  Another contrast:  Trump's daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish.  Ookayyyy...  We all remember how the Nazi's embraced the Jews....

Examine the quote once more.  Hitler specifically identified as a socialist. This is why Hitler signed a peace pact with Stalin.  They were brothers in socialism.  Socialists, however, are greedy.  They won't tolerate competition in assimilating power, money or control.  This world wasn't big enough for the both of them.  So the next phase of WWII began.

History is written by the winners.  Currently with leftists/socialists/democrats in charge of the school systems history is being re-written to fit their agenda. For decades they have used the courts to redefine the constitution.  There are specific methods of changing the constitution - amendments.  But amendments aren't easy to pass - that's by design.  It's far easier to make changes - actually distortions - to the constitution by utilizing a sympathetic court.

 After all, it is the Alinsky way.

Still hunting....

ciao

Catching...up

It's been a while.  Things happen.  Sometimes good, sometimes shit.  Life goes on. 

Since December....some improvements.  Many actually, though some are more visible in retrospect.  I had my knees injected in January '16 with my own stem cells.  Once the borrelia finished snacking on them, I was back where I started.  So I had it done again along with my right wrist and thumb.  Same price - flat rate on all of it.  Insurance wouldn't pay this time.  I guess they wised up.  That's okay.  At least my knees, wrist and thumb work again without constant pain.

I think I turned the corner on my tick infections around February-March.  It was hard to tell due to it being so gradual.  By June I was having at least as many good days as bad.  April and June were hot but I was better able to tolerate the heat and humidity than the previous summer.  I could cool off and restart rather than passing out for most of the rest of the day. 

I started volunteering at a local military museum, primarily restorative maintenance.  It helps to keep me moving, provides some social interaction and challenges the brain.

During the past almost two years the online/ld relationship I had deteriorated.  She kept pushing me further away.  It would get better - slightly - but slip further apart.  And she wouldn't talk about it.  I'm 99% certain she hasn't started another relationship.  What she had done was become politically aware.  A political newbie with all of the answers.  Half of them were wrong and the other half skewed.  I refused to talk politics and even dropped off of my FacistBook page, sneaking back in on occasion to see what she was up to.  That pissed her off.  She wanted to me to have to experience her postings.  Which I had NO interest in.  She would bait me into discussing politics.  I might be slow sometimes...but not stupid.  So she unfriended me.  (That is clue, right there.)

She stopped taking my phone calls except on very rare occasions, and not returning texts for a day, sometimes not responding at all.  It was evident I was being dumped in slow motion.  She had hung up on me, pissed, last February.  And that pissed me off as well.  I didn't call her back.  Nor text.  At all.  She hung up on me, she could damn well call me back. Nothing. I did send her a valentine, which sort of broke the ice.  She did text, saying I had "left".  Hmmmm.....she hangs up on me and never says nor texts a word and I left? 

I could see the writing on that wall.  It was in flaming neon, after all, and I wasn't totally blind.  Close enough to blind that a white cane could be helpful...but I could see that.  Things improved from there.  For that matter simply acknowledging my existence was an improvement.

Three weeks ago I had a big personal improvement.  My cataracts, especially the left one, got so bad that I really was blind in that eye.  So eye surgery was performed.  Left one first, then the right one two weeks later.  The change is ....breathtaking!  Still getting drops six times a day but from 16" to infinity my vision is perfect!  Night time driving is interesting.  Big halos that look like monster sized spider webs surround bright lights.  But at least I can see and READ road signs.  Major improvement.  Things were looking up.  Literally.

Of course that couldn't continue.  After the Charlottesville debacle, my long distance lovely decided that she wouldn't continue being friends with anyone who wouldn't hate Trump.  That included everyone.  Okay, he's a jerk a lot of the time.  He IS doing some things that need to be done.  But I had to HATE him or it was over.  I have been called contrary.   Yeahhh....that's about as nice a way to put it that I know how.  I don't need to be told how to think.  I can do that on my own.  Sometimes it isn't that well done, but I can manage it.  She can hate him all she wants.  What she CAN'T do is tell me who to hate or not, or what to think or not.  Her description was if I "supported" him, she wouldn't stay.  That I had "let her walk away".  Support?  He's a fucking billionaire.  He could support me with pocket change.  I don't work for him, I don't campaign for him, I hate most social media (look how often I keep this page updated.  And it's mine.)  But, yes, I think that he is certainly an improvement over the flaming, radioactive train wreck that was the alternative.  So...she's gone. 

I'll miss her.  I know that.  The two weeks in February were brutal.  The palpitations that the babesiosis/borrellia/RMSF/whothefuckknowselse made me feel like my heart needed a rebuild.  That coupled with the air hunger made life a questionable endeavor.  I don't think (I hope) that it will be as much of an issue this time.  I haven't had either the heart or breathing problems in a couple months.  Sleeping sucks.  Fuck it, sleep is over rated. 

Life goes on.  I just keep hunting.

ciao