We’ve Been Cursed To Live In Interesting Times

So, I guess Hillary won South Carolina resoundingly:

With all the grace and felicity of a falling piano, Hillary Clinton flattened Bernie Sanders in South Carolina.

It wasn't even close. Clinton demolished Sanders, obliterating him by nearly 50 points, 73.5 percent to 26 percent. This was far and away the most dominating primary or caucus victory for any candidate of either party in this 2016 race. – The Week

So the Democratic machine seems to be operating at peak efficiency again, capable of ramming their designated hitter down the throats of the loyal electorate.

The establishment in the other camp continues to experience problems promoting their favorite pony-of-the-day,

and they blame you:

Star-struck, low-information celebrity cultists will vote for Trump under any circumstances because they do not know any better and do not care. For them, Trump is whatever they want him to be, and they will never change their minds. – The Federalist

Sounds to me like “somebody” still doesn’t “get it.” Which explains the rumors “they” are floating of Romney coming out of the shadows to tilt at more windmills. Are they really that desperate? Apparently so:

The rest of us, however, have a much more difficult choice to make. Will we really oppose Trump to the point of accepting any alternative, including Hillary Clinton?…

Hillary Clinton Is Despicable, But Trump Is Worse.

My hands almost could not type those words, because I think Hillary Clinton is one of the worst human beings in American politics. She has few principles that I can discern, other than her firm conviction that she deserves the Oval Office for enabling and then defending her sexually neurotic husband. She lies as easily as the rest of us breathe. She has compromised national security through sheer laziness at best, and corrupt intent at worst. If elected, she will enrich Wall Street and raid the public coffers while preaching hateful doctrines of identity politics to distract America’s poor and working classes. - The Federalist

Oh well, sure. That should fix everything.

We’ve been condemned to live in interesting times, probably forevermore. I blame Obama. And Apple.

Linked By: Clarice’s Pieces @ American Thinker, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

The Lion In Winter Trumps the Sleepers

“I've given up the looking glass; quicksilver has no sense of tact.” - James Goldman, The Lion in Winter

For reasons beyond the obvious, Janice the Elder’s parody of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” from yesterday’s thread made me think of another great movie that I should have added to our list of “great old movies” to watch in lieu of the debates: The Lion In Winter (1968 version not the 2003 remake). It is a tale of Machiavellian political intrigue and chicanery set in the 12th century:

Christmas 1183--an aging and conniving King Henry II plans a reunion where he hopes to name his successor. He summons the following people for the holiday: his scheming but imprisoned wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine; his mistress, Princess Alais, whom he wishes to marry; his three sons (Richard, Geoffrey, and John), all of whom desire the throne; and the young but crafty King Philip of France (who is also Alais' brother). With the fate of Henry's empire at stake, everybody engages in their own brand of deception and treachery to stake their claim. – IMBD

Not unlike this year’s Republican presidential primary season.

Think of the GOPe leadership as the Plantagenet King Henry: after his heir apparent was killed, he organizes a gathering of his clan in an attempt to choose a successor among his 3 remaining sons, none of whom he likes all that much and one of whom he despises.

The remaining potential heirs are a bunch of plotting, double-crossing, lying, family members vying for the crown. As the holiday winds on the power shifts back and forth numerous times. In the end however everything is exactly as it was when they began: King Henry decides to throw all the bums out and start over, Eleanor is sent back to prison, the three princes are still squabbling over who shall be king, Princess Alais, Henry’s mistress, is still caught in the middle, and Henry still has no clear successor.

The movie dialog is delicious. I found myself recycling some of it for the benefit of today’s race for the crown. 

  Trump: Henry II: Oh God, but I do love being king!

 

 Kasich, channeling Prince John:

Prince John: Poor John. Who says poor John? Don't everybody sob at once! My God, if I went up in flames there's not a living soul who'd pee on me to put the fire out!

 

Trump to Jeb!:

Henry II: Now hear me, boy... Philip II: I am a king - I am no man's "boy"! Henry II: A king? Because you put your ass on purple cushions?

On the inevitability of Trump:

Henry II: The day those stout hearts band together is the day that pigs get wings. Eleanor: There'll be pork in the treetops come morning.

 

On Rubio, the Robot:

Henry II: Geoffrey: There's a masterpiece. He isn't flesh: he's a device. He's wheels and gears.

 

Cruz to Trump: 

Prince Richard: So! The royal corkscrew finds ME twisted?

 

Regarding Christie:

Eleanor: Well, that's the way deals are made. We've got him if we want him. He'll sell us all, you know... but only if he thinks we think he won't.

In summary: A tale of betrayal, treachery, and a knife fight: just another day on the trail leading up to the coronation of the Republican  presidential nominee. I leave you with perhaps the best line from the entire movie, from Princess Alais. It perhaps best reflects the country’s prevailing sentiment and mood right now:

Princess Alais: Kings, queens, knights everywhere you look and I'm the only pawn. I haven't got a thing to lose - that makes me dangerous.

And that my friends is why The Donald is probably the inevitable nominee.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Oy Canada! Warning: Trump Might Win!

The Debate, summarized in one tweet:

I really have nothing to add.

Meanwhile, it appears there will once again be a parade of celebrities leaving the country if Trump wins. This time the émigrés will include Whoopie Goldberg and Al Sharpton. I fail to see the downside. Here’s my favorite “declaration” – from Raven-Symonè, who I guess is another of The View’s co-hosts:

“My confession for this election is if any Republican gets nominated I’m gonna move to Canada with my entire family.” – Town Hall

Wow, she doesn’t even require it be Trump, nor that he actually get elected. Congratulations Canada! She’s all yours!

I’m sure Canada appreciates the caliber of personalities headed their way, butt with the recent influx of uneducated, unskilled refugees from the Middle East I doubt they really need any more help lowering the national I.Q several points – you know, to “level the playing field.”

Maybe the three of the most recent batch of Nuevo Canadians can start their own television talk show on the CBC: The View from North-of-the-Border, eh?  Hard to say if that would technically meet the Canadian content rule. Besides, I suspect it would be hard to determine which one of these highly trained broadcast specialists would be top banana.

Butt it can’t be the Rev, that would be sexist.

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Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Holey Mole!

The opening paragraph of Jonah Goldberg’s column (h/t: Larwyn’s Linx) this week pretty much says everything that needs to said about the GOPe:

As things stand, Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee. That’s awful news, and depressing to contemplate. But terrible possibilities don’t become less terrible if we refuse to contemplate them. Rather, they become more likely.

“But terrible possibilities don’t become less terrible if we refuse to contemplate them?” Too bad Jonah doesn’t feel that way about the invasion of illegal aliens. He still doesn’t get it.

The morals of this story so far should be familiar. First, you can’t count on politicians to look beyond their immediate tactical self-interest. Second, rumors of the so-called establishment’s power — or even existence — are greatly exaggerated. Waiting for “the establishment” to save the party from Trump’s hostile takeover is like waiting for Godot to bring the beer to the party.

Well, we all agree that “waiting for the establishment” to save the party is useless.

Butt Jonah believes that The Donald’s rise is is due solely to the candidates reluctance to use negative ads against him:

Nearly everyone, including yours truly, believed that Trump’s candidacy would exhaust itself on its own terms. There are many reasons why that hasn’t happened. Chief among them: Too many people thought it was someone else’s job to bell the Trumpian cat. No better evidence for this can be found than the fact that of the $215 million spent by super PACs so far this cycle, only 4 percent was spent attacking Trump, according to the Washington Post.

Again, a shame he didn’t realize the benefit of negative ads during the McCain and Romney campaigns against Obama. We might not be here talking about this had that happened.

Concluding that “Marco Rubio is now the only plausible alternative to Trump” and that “if the two factions — which make up the overwhelming majority of Republican voters — could be unified, it might be enough to stop Trump” as long as it was a Rubio-Cruz ticket:

Cruz won’t work at the top of the ticket for the simple reason that too many GOP quislings [ed. including Mr. Goldberg, GOPe member in good standing] fear Cruz more than Trump. But a unity ticket — a la Reagan–Bush in 1980 — in the form of Los Hermanos Cubanos might just do the trick.

Holey Mole! That recipe smells more like desperation than school spirit.

GOPe idea of school spirit: WE OWN YOU!

And it looks like the GOPe failed to check the clock in the “Chopped” competition kitchen until their time was nearly up so now they’re looking for a mole shortcut:

Kool! Teen Spirit in a box!

Because a winning real deal would take way too long to cook up now:

 

In summary, the GOPe hates Trump and fears Cruz butt is willing to accept Cruz as #2 in order to drag their last, best Los Hermanos Cubanos hope across the finish line. They still don’t get it. America is tired of the ersatz, they want the real deal.

I should note that the GOPe isn’t the only group afraid of Trump. Apparently you can add China to that list:

China warned the United States on Wednesday not to adopt punitive currency policies that could disrupt U.S.-China relations after Donald Trump’s win in the Nevada caucus. - Free Beacon

Hee hee. All I can say to the GOPe is you keep doing it your way -

and The Donald will keep doing it the old fashioned way. We’ll see who gets to China first.

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Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Suicide Is Painless.

When I finished reading this – “Muslims Outnumber Christians in Capital Of The European Union” – I immediately thought this might make an appropriate requiem for the continent:

The story behind this song, Johnny Mandel’s biggest hit, is interesting. It was commissioned by Robert Altman for his movie adaption of M.A.S.H.. He mandated two terms: that the song’s title be “Suicide Is Painless” and that the lyrics be “really stupid.” Mandel was unable to produce appropriately stupid lyrics so Altman tasked his 14 year old son with the assignment and the rest, as they say is history. Just like Europe.

Some people just never seem to learn.

The Fall of Constantinople; and the end of the Byzantine Empire

And still, people can’t figure out Donald Trump’s appeal.

Through early morning fog I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see…

In his farewell address Ronald Reagan said "Don't be afraid to see what you see." We would be well advised to heed his advice.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and

BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Einstein: He Really Was All That

It must grow tedious being right all the time – no not Barry - Albert Einstein.

Cosmic breakthrough: Physicists detect gravitational waves from violent black-hole merger. To quote one of our country’s great prognosticators, “This is a big f***ing deal!”

At last, scientists have validated a key part of Einstein's general theory of relativity. The National Science Foundation, Caltech and MIT have confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, or ripples in spacetime. Their two LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) detectors measured atomic-scale differences on September 14th, 2015 that point to the collision of black holes (also a new discovery) 1.3 billion years ago, triggering gravity ripples that only just reached Earth. There have long been hints of these waves, but hard evidence has proven elusive until now. – engadget

By demonstrating the existence of gravitation waves the LIGO team essentially checked the last proof required in Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

Of course in science “proof” doesn’t mean what you think it means. Proofs exist only in mathematics and logic, where you can reach final and binary answers. Theorems once proved will always be true.

Science on the other hand is empirical and deals in the realm of evidence, not proof. Scientific theories are simply the best explanation available at a given time, considering all of the evidence that has been presented to date. There is never a final answer because science can never prove anything is true, it can only prove if something is not true.

Science is a perpetual search for truth. Or at least it was until the emergence of Post Normal Science (politicized science). Up till then scientists were always biased towards theories for which there was more and better evidence rather than theories for which there is less and worse. Hence, in the past, as new evidence emerged disproving a theory, real scientists moved on to a better theory.

That’s how you can tell that Anthropogenic Global Warming is a political construct, not science. Every year new evidence emerges disproving the validity of the theories Warmers have developed with their models, so every year they either tweak the data or manufacture evidence from whole cloth to fit their models rather than tweaking their hypothesis to fit the data. That’s not how it’s done, that’s not how any science is done.

Butt it is how Communism is Done

If only Albert were alive today to school the “scientists” pursuing the existence of climate change via global warming as if it were a legitimate theory. I imagine he would make them look pretty small even without the benefit of gravitational waves or neutron microscopes.

 

We don’t call him Zero for nuthin’

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Pink Floyd Monday

Apparently things really are spooky on the dark side of the moon.

Apollo astronauts who orbited the moon two months before Neil Armstrong's famous 1969 landing heard mysterious and unexplainable 'music' on its far side, out of the range of Earthly radio transmissions, it has emerged.

Recently unearthed recordings made by NASA of the journey, which took the Apollo 10 capsule around the far side of the moon, show the astronauts reacting with surprise and confusion to an unearthly howling noise in their headsets. – Daily Mail

Interesting, unless you fall in the group of conspiracy theorists who think the  whole NASA moon landing was a Stanley Kubrick production. 

I choose to believe our astronauts, and welcome the story as a change of pace from politics on the campaign trail. As such, I’ll take this opportunity to showcase the music and lyrics from one of the best rock albums ever created:

The cuts on this album showcase conflict, greed, the passage of time, and brain damage – come to think of it, it’s not so much different from politics after all. Oh well, just breathe. Enjoy as much or as little as you like…

Time

 

Breathe

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.

Money

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you're O.K.
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team

Money, get back
I'm all right Jack, but keep your hands off my stack.
Money, it's a hit
But don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet

Money, it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away

Us and Them

 

Us and Them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front ranks died
And the General sat, and the lines on the map
moved from side to side
Black and Blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and Down
And in the end it's only round and round and round
Haven't you heard, it's a battle of words
the poster bearer cried
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside

Brain Damage

 

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

And I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon!

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

A New York Yankee in South Carolina’s Court

It’s true, last night was all about a New York Yankee in South Carolina’s Court, aka “The Year of Living Magically.” The story of The Donald’s rise reminds me of Mark Twain’s  classic, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

Pay special attention to this part of the plot:  

After being made "the Boss", Hank learns about medieval practices and superstitions. Having superior knowledge, he is able to outdo the alleged sorcerers and miracle-working church officials. At one point, soon after the eclipse, people began gathering, hoping to see Hank perform another miracle. Merlin, jealous of Hank having replaced him both as the king's principal adviser and as the most powerful sorcerer of the realm, begins spreading rumors that Hank is a fake and cannot supply another miracle. Hank secretly manufactures gunpowder and a lightning rod, plants explosive charges in Merlin's tower, then places the lightning rod at the top and runs a wire to the explosive charges. He then announces (during a period when storms are frequent) that he will soon call down fire from heaven and destroy Merlin's tower, then challenges Merlin to use his sorcery to prevent it. Of course, Merlin's "incantations" fail utterly to prevent lightning striking the rod, triggering the explosive charges and leveling the tower, further diminishing Merlin's reputation. – Wiki

Not only is “the Boss” fighting political sorcerers (the GOPe and their legion of useless consultants) and church officials (none other than the Pope himself) butt he continues to perform “miracles” like winning the evangelical vote in states like SC. And despite Merlin’s ads claiming that The Donald was a fake who was incapable of performing another miracle,

he pulled off another one last night and managed to explode Merlin’s tower in the process.

And not to belabor this trope, butt I would point out that the prime objective of King Arthur’s court was to smite the Muslim hoard that was threatening to take over Europe, which at the time was the extent of the Western world.

And so the story of the new-age sorcerer practicing his sorcery continues;

“By the way, this is the real scary part. ‘Trump won this week despite coming out for (a) health care mandate, defending planned parenthood, blaming Bush for 9/11, standing by impeachment.’” - Ed Driscoll

reports to the contrary having been greatly exaggerated.

P.S. Meanwhile in Nevada, the old female nag socialist beat the old gray gelding socialist. Either way, they’re still two old horses standing in the field.

2016  - The Revolution Continues

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network