Avengers Assemble.....wait.....you old white guys.....not so much.

I am too old for comic books. As I am sure you guys are as well. The thing is I notice that there is really a case of arrested development in the younger crowd. Guys into their 30's are still buying and reading comic books. I mean I gave that up when I got hair on  my balls. Now I do love me a good Superhero movie since they are recreating the origin stories from the Jack Kirby/Stan Lee era of Marvel.

Now I hear that they have become strictly Social Justice Warriors. They made Thor into a girl! I mean really. They have Spider-man agonizing over beating up a criminal because he was a minority!

Vox Day has an interesting post about this. In it he talks about the foolishness of diversity in comics. He has substantial quotes from another blogger who is also very interesting. Jon Del Arroz writes the following:

"Marvel has a diversity problem.  

In that they have none in terms of diversity of thought. They are a pure social justice propaganda arm. This is dangerous when it comes to creating art, as if you have everyone thinking in lockstep, unable to get outside the box, you’ll have creative stagnation. More than that, when you turn children’s adventure fiction into adult message browbeating, you lose any semblance of fun that a product formerly had. It’s no wonder that sales have dropped by about half, when they have an entire writing core of every single one of their monthly writers hell-bent on a crusade of alienating half of the country in some social engineering through comics.  I don’t exaggerate my numbers either, and I did some leg work for you all so you might better make educated purchases, or lack thereof, of Marvel Comics.

"Why Michael Flynn Asking for Immunity is Actually Good for Trump"

Via Sissy Willis Tweet:  Some news outlets suggest Donald Trump’s deposed former national security advisor Michael Flynn is reported to be volunteering testimony in exchange for full immunity. The believers in the Ruskie conspiracy left will assuredly see this as a prescient indicator of future impeachment. It ain’t. As a long-time criminal defense lawyer, this is more likely a good sign for team Trump. Guilty people don’t publicly ask for immunity; innocent people wary of false charges do. (This is the difference between Flynn here and his comments about Hillary aides who received immunity; Hillary aides all did it privately, not publicly, a very big difference, as you will see below).

First, it is useful to know the law. There are two kinds of immunity: “transactional” immunity and “testimonial” immunity (the latter often called “use-and-fruits immunity”). Transactional immunity can prohibit any charges for anything criminal a person may have done. Testimonial immunity only prohibits the government from using anything you tell them against you in court. Neither covers future perjury. If the stories are correct, Flynn is likely requesting “transactional” immunity. Why? Ask Hillary aide Cheryl Mills. Mills reportedly obtained a broad immunity related to the emails, and yet neither she, nor anyone else, was prosecuted.

Second, it is good to map out the strategic choices involved in requesting immunity. If your client is actually guilty, or has or can obtain evidence of the guilt of others, then you always negotiate confidentially, not publicly. Why? Two paramount reasons: first, you are more useful to a prosecutor if they can use you as an undercover witness who can record future conversations; second, you are more useful to a prosecutor as a surprise witness whose role no one else knows while the investigation moves forward. Neither is possible with a public immunity proposal. You only go public when you believe you are innocent and fear false prosecution for political purposes. A note; none of Hillary aids ever publicly requested immunity; their deals were confidential and private, until released post-investigation to Congress.

(Link to the rest of the article) 

WKRLEM: Patrice O'Neal vs. Asian People (NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

"Not that any of it is real to me. I've never experienced a human look from an Oriental. And I return the favor."

Damned if you do and damned if you don't

Instapundit:  Feminists wage war on men, then blame men for the results:  Olga Khazan: The vice president—and other powerful men—regularly avoid one-on-one meetings with women in the name of protecting their families. In the end, what suffers is women’s progress.

So you drastically expand the definition of “sexual harassment,” and then promote an ethic that says that all accusations must be believed, and then you’re shocked that workplace men don’t want to hang out with women? How stupid are you?

Stupid enough to listen to the likes of Catharine Mackinnon, I guess.

(This post created quite a stir over at Insta)

KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's:

Trooper York said...
I hope President Trump does what he thinks best for the American People. Let the chips fall where they may. Not be stopped by labels or ideology. Just do what he sees as the right thing. I think he has pretty good instincts. He has been pretty much on the ball. He has been stopped by activist judges. By craven Republican Congressman. He should not take counsel of their fears and instead do what is right for America.
If that means bombing NYC and San Fransisco and Chicago then go for it.
Just me a heads up so I can move to Florida. Thank you.
March 28, 2017 at 10:54 PM

"Well, I been movin' down Florida Way,
And I'm gonna build me the atomic bomb"

link

In order to save the republic we had to undermine it... or something

💥🚨Ruh Oh Raggy🚨💥
Looks like Obama puts Watergate to shame. People better lawyer up! #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/CXo6ncmJwv

— 💥MAGS4Trump Lives💥 (@DJTJohnMiller) March 31, 2017

"Perhaps Before We Know It"

Via Instapundit:  Perhaps one reason for the current revolt against giant institutions like the EU, the UN and the Federal government is a subconscious realization among Western voters that technological and social change has gotten inside the loop of bureaucratic response; that whatever is pounding on the door will prove too fast for the sclerotic central planning bureaucracies to handle. There is no longer much confidence in the capacity of legacy institutions to identify problems at long range and to intercept them before it's too late. Perhaps the most frightening thing about the Obama years was how he laughed at "Governor Romney" for warning Russia might be a problem.

They couldn't see it coming. They couldn't seem to see anything coming. Consequently the voters have decided to downsize, not necessarily in the interests of quality leadership but to optimize for reaction time; to appoint someone who will actually act -- even in error -- before it is too late.

(Link to the whole article)

James Mattis: North Korea ‘Has Got to Be Stopped’

Via Drudge:  After years of North Korea thumbing its nose at the international community, on Friday Defense Secretary James Mattis appeared to signal enough was enough.

"Right now, [North Korea] appears to be going in a very reckless manner … and that has got to be stopped," Mattis said at a press conference in London.

He didn't give any details about how the administration of President Donald Trump plans to deal with the reclusive nation, which, under Kim Jong Un, has drastically increased its missile and nuclear-testing program.

(Link to story)

Cats

This is the best internet video I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/RooSpAMGhH

— Dorsey Shaw (@dorseyshaw) March 30, 2017

KLEM FM

I'm enjoying what's left of my birthday tonight. This helps:

The beer is called "Effective Dreams." It's made locally and is all the rage -- part of the "haze craze." You can't even it buy it in stores -- online only.

I like the groovy art work. It's very trippy and goes somewhere back to the 1960's.

linky

Hanging Lake, Colorado

Link to picture source

Don Surber: "Folks, this is fun. I am having the time of my life"

Via Instapundit: Reports of Obamacare's life are premature.
Liberals gloated last week when President Trump realized the Freedom Caucus was an immovable object, threw up his hands, and told the House to vote on Ryancare.

Up or down. He no longer cared.

However, I realized it was a negotiating ploy to get a better deal. Not only that, but I realized by calling for the vote, President Trump had usurped House Speaker Paul Ryan's power.

I called it:

Trump's Reykjavík

But people in Washington are so mesmerized by themselves that they think they are superior than the rest of us, and are no match for a rube TV celebrity.

(Read the whole thing)

Which "double-standard" irritates you the most?

Reddit top voted comments...

Work over 12-15 hour day to get your project in by deadline is fine, but don't you dare show up 5 minutes late the next day.

I work for a small business (8 employees). Smokers (4 of the 8 of us) are allowed "smoke breaks" whenever they feel like it (we aren't given regular coffee breaks or lunch) during which they aren't required to punch out or put anything other than, and I quote management here, "a reasonable time-limit on". I don't smoke, but I do like a bit of fresh air every now and then so I go outside for 3-5 minutes and check my email or read the news on my phone. This is completely unacceptable to my boss, because, and let me quote her directly again, "phones are an addiction that waste company time". I asked her why smokers aren't held to this standard and I was told "smokers need to smoke, you don't need to read the news".

A double standard imposed on me by my mother-in-law...
Mother-in-law: If I ever catch you cheating on your wife, I'll cut you with a machete.
Me: (Silent)
Neighbor: But, Mother Lily, your sons are horndogs and have different children from different mothers. Are you gonna cut them, too?
Mother-in-law: Now, why would I cut my own sons?
PS. I don't cheat on my wife.

When contrarians claim they're open-minded, and yet are completely unwilling listen to sound counterarguments.

Acknowledging the existence of children trying to interact with me (I'm a guy). Example; was a cashier and this kid with some mental disorder (downs I think) always loved to talk to me when his parents were going through cash. (his dad said he always remembered me). Long story short, got hauled into the office by my boss and I was told my behavior was inappropriate. For talking to a kid. About food.

Dancing.
"I don't like to go dancing because I don't understand what you are suppose to do."
"You just dance, do whatever feels right."
-Does dance-
"No... no, not like that."

"Family Offended After Stranger Addresses Mourners At Quincy Funeral"

Via Drudge:  A Quincy family was stunned when a stranger suddenly got up at their mother’s funeral and started making comments which they feel were racially insensitive to the Asian community.

On March 18th, Adrian Wong delivered the eulogy to his mother who passed away from lung cancer.

“She was not a smoker. Not exposed to secondhand smoke. Never worked with chemicals. She was simply unlucky,” he told a room full of mourners.

Adrian was supposed to be the only speaker, but when he finished, a man named David Small, who the family didn’t know, got up, uninvited, and started addressing mourners.

Small speculated that it was “smoke in Asian churches” that led to Carol Tan Wong’s death.

“I’m not affected by this but I see that the smoke in the church in the Asian churches is so prevalent that I gag when I go inside,” Small said, adding when a funeral director asked him to step aside, “I hope what I’ve told you about the smoke in the church is not taken in offense. I mean it’s your culture.”

The Wong family was offended and posted a video of Small’s comments on YouTube.

Adrian Wong demanded an apology from Small because he believed the comments to be a broad misperception about the Asian community.

(Link to story)

KLEM FM

link

Loretta looks and sounds great!

Whose that girl?

She is the Congresswoman who is worried that Putin is invading Korea. She is one of the dumbest members of the Congressional Black Caucus and that is quite an accomplishment. She is calling for President Trumps Impeachment and wants to install Hillary Clinton because she won the popular vote.

On the other hand she is good friends with Bill O'Reilly.

Whose that girl?

What irrational fear did you hold as a child?

Reddit top voted comments...

I thought a meteorite was going to crash through my ceiling and hit me while sleeping. For this I blame my dad, who was once talking to my uncle about a woman in Alabama who'd been hit by one while sleeping. I overheard and asked "but that won't happen to me tonight, will it?" My dad responded with "you never know, it might!"

That if my parents got fired from their job that they'd actually be set on fire.

There was a book on Reading Rainbow where a volcano suddenly appeared in a farmer's field. I spent the next month or so terrified whenever I'd find a "hot spot" in my house or backyard, because there would obviously be a volcano in that spot soon. And dammit, no one believed me about how much danger we were in.

I had a VERY realistic dream my brother got eaten by our 1989 era VCR. I was pretty scared to put tapes in for a while. It flattened him in my dream :(

Mascots. They terrified me. Especially the Chuck E. Cheese mouse.

I had an irrational fear of being mentally disabled and just feeling normal in my head. And that my parents and peers were just being nice and trying to include me like a normal child. Probably because my cousin was and I always thought "Maybe he sees it all normally in his head."

"Felony charges for 2 who secretly filmed Planned Parenthood"

Via AP:  California prosecutors on Tuesday charged two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood with 15 felonies, saying they invaded the privacy of medical providers by filming without consent.

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the charges against David Daleiden of Davis, California, and Sandra Merritt of San Jose. The two operate the Irvine-based Center for Medical Progress.

The allegations say the pair filmed 14 people without permission between October 2013 and July 2015 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Dorado counties. One felony count was filed for each person. The 15th was for criminal conspiracy to invade privacy.

Becerra says they used a fictitious bioresearch company to meet with women's health care providers and covertly record them.

Daleiden, in an email to The Associated Press, said the "bogus" charges are coming from "Planned Parenthood's political cronies."

"The public knows the real criminals are Planned Parenthood and their business partners," Daleiden said.

(Link to the rest of the story)

"Obama's rule changes opened door for NSA intercepts of Americans to reach political hands"

Via Drudge:  As his presidency drew to a close, Barack Obama’s top aides routinely reviewed intelligence reports gleaned from the National Security Agency’s incidental intercepts of Americans abroad, taking advantage of rules their boss relaxed starting in 2011 to help the government better fight terrorism, espionage by foreign enemies and hacking threats, Circa has learned.

Dozens of times in 2016, those intelligence reports identified Americans who were directly intercepted talking to foreign sources or were the subject of conversations between two or more monitored foreign figures. Sometimes the Americans’ names were officially unmasked; other times they were so specifically described in the reports that their identities were readily discernible. Among those cleared to request and consume unmasked NSA-based intelligence reports about U.S. citizens were Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice, his CIA Director John Brennan and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Some intercepted communications from November to January involved Trump transition figures or foreign figures' perceptions of the incoming president and his administration. Intercepts involving congressional figures also have been unmasked occasionally for some time.

The NSA is expected to turn over logs as early as this week to congressional committees detailing who consumed reports with unmasked Americans' identities from their intercepts since the summer of 2016.

This information is likely to become a primary focus of the Russia counterintelligence probe of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

Circa confirmed the unmasking procedures through interviews with intelligence professionals and by reviewing previously classified documents it obtained that described the loosening of privacy requirements.

To intelligence professionals, the public revelations affirm an undeniable reality.

Over the last decade, the assumption of civil liberty and privacy protections for Americans incidentally intercepted by the NSA overseas has been eroded in the name of national security.

(Link to the rest of the story)

"United’s Leggings Fiasco: The False Narrative Needs To Stop"

Via Instapundit:  If you’ve been on a plane or under a rock, you might have missed the story of the two young women who were denied boarding a United flight from Denver to Minneapolis yesterday. I get that manufactured outrage and hot takes are a way of life in 2017. I don’t love it.

The news cycle is driven by these stories, and outlets often have no choice but to participate in the frenzy or be left behind. I mean, I really would rather be spending my day writing my overdue report on Swiss First (sneak peek: it was amazing, and they had fondue onboard), but even here at OMAAT we’re being inundated with questions about this story.

Which wouldn’t even be a story, if folks could acknowledge that they might not have had all the facts initially, and would stop perpetuating a false narrative and witch hunt. Just as United apologized for their initial tweets, Shannon Watts and others should retract theirs, or at the very least recognize that they didn’t have their facts straight.

And as so often happens, the more attention this story gets, the murkier the facts become, and the details are obscured by sensationalism.

Sadly, the facts of the matter aren’t even that complicated, and it seems that certain individuals are avoiding the facts in order to further their own narrative.

I can’t believe we as a nation are still talking about leggings, but this story seems to be picking up steam rather than going away. If you’re over this story please skip this post — I certainly won’t be offended. If you’re surprised to hear that there were two young women denied boarding, not three, and that they were on employee tickets, not paid tickets, and that the rules are thus different… well — this post is for you.

What actually happened?

(click on this Link to the rest of the article)

KLEM FM

linky

Jagger was the principle lyricist, so it's plausible that the song was -- at least in part -- about Marianne Faithfull. Other inspiration(s) remain murky. I've never read a Jagger autobiography (is there one?), so who knows. The song's meaning is universal.

I never realized that Keith Richard was a "down-pointer."  I refer to where he points the neck of his guitar. Bill Wyman was a notorious guitar neck-hugger -- to the point of nearly looking like he was playing an upright bass -- but not in this video.

There is another very famous guitar neck down-pointer. Can you guess to whom I'm referring?

Full lyrics after the jump

You go to war with the army you got......

There is a timely and astute analysis of where we are by Professor William Jacobson the proprietor of Legal Insurrection. He discuss the fact that the Freedom Caucus might have blown their opportunity to govern with President Trump. He posits the notion that Trump is not a conservative. Which is very true. But he is willing to govern with conservative ideas. That he does not automatically dismiss them and is open to operating from a conservative perspective. As he did with his Supreme Court nomination. As he did with his cabinet selections. As he did with deregulation.

In the article he quotes a Bush era cuckmeister who none the less says something interesting. Marc Thiessen Bush Cuck speech writer said:"For weeks, as President Trump courted the group, members of the caucus used their leverage to make the bill better. They asked for language capping the maximum income to receive the tax credit — and got it. They asked to allow states to choose between a traditional block grant and a per capita block grant — and got it. They asked to allow states to impose work requirements on able-bodied Medicaid recipients — and got it. They asked for language preventing non-Medicaid-expansion states from becoming expansion states — and got it. They asked for flexibility for states to change “essential health benefits” — and got it.

But each time they got a concession, and were asked to support the bill, they instead came up with new sets of demands that made the legislation increasingly unpassable. Eventually it became clear to Trump that the Freedom Caucus would never take yes for an answer. So he cut them off ….

Freedom Caucus members had a chance to repeal the individual mandate and the employer mandate, transform Medicaid, end $1 trillion in Obamacare taxes, expand health savings accounts and defund Planned Parenthood. Instead, they chose to keep Obamacare intact."

Now Jacobson says you can just as easily say that the Freedom Caucus stood up for principle and would not bow to keeping the government in healthcare. That it should be a total free market and if people can't afford it well that's just tough titty.

School budget cuts due to high white student percentage

Via Drudge: The Los Angeles Unified School District provides more funding for schools where the white population is below 30 percent.

In a letter to parents, the district noted the highly regarded middle school had been above the percentage for the past couple years.

The racial formula was a condition imposed by court decisions dealing with desegregation in the 1970s.

Parents, however, remain frustrated with what the cuts might mean for their children.

"When your class sizes are getting larger and you're taking resources away from students, I mean ss parents, you do want your kid to go out to college," one parent, Rosemary Estrada, said.

What isn't as bad as you thought it would be?

Reddit top voted comments...

Colonoscopy. People make jokes about it and it sounds crazy and uncomfortable to have a tube with a camera going several feet up your ass but the reality is that you get great IV drugs that knock you out and you wake up half an hour later or so and never experienced any of the actual procedure....

Turning 40. I'm actually really digging my 40s (almost halfway through!)....

Giving up soda. I needed to lose weight, and this was the easiest way to do it. I cut out everything but water and milk for two weeks....

Being old. I'm 76.

Having a Vasectomy, both procedure and recovery were nowhere near as bad as I had heard.

Asking a guy out. Even when the answer's "no," it's better than just letting a crush stew.

Cooking and baking. If you can follow simple directions, you can cook.

"Homeowner's son shoots, kills three would-be burglars"

Via Instapundit:  Three would-be robbers were shot and killed Monday when an Oklahoma homeowner's son opened fire on them with an AR-15, authorities said.

Wagoner County sheriff's deputies were called to the home in Broken Arrow, southeast of Tulsa at around 12:30 p.m. local time. When they arrived, they found the three dead suspects and two uninjured residents.

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Nick Mahoney said the suspects enetered the home through a glass back door with the intent to burglarize it. It was not immediately clear why they picked that home.

Mahoney said the suspects encountered the homeowner's 19-year-old son, who opened fire after an exchange of words. Two of the suspects died in the home's kitchen while a third was found in the driveway.

(Link to story)

"Italy Could Soon Offer Women Paid ‘Menstrual Leave’"

Via Drudge:  The proposed law is currently being debated in the country’s parliament. If passed, it would mandate that companies enforce a “menstrual leave” policy and offer three paid days off each month to working women who experience painful periods.

Health experts and local media outlets have praised the proposal, saying it was a step in the right direction and would shed light on the silent plight of women suffering from debilitating cramps that can sometimes affect their ability to work.

But the bill also has critics, including women who fear this sort of measure could backfire and end up stigmatizing them.

Writing in Donna Moderna, another women’s magazine, Lorenza Pleuteri argued that if women were granted extra paid leave, employers would be even more reluctant to hire women, in a country where women already struggle to integrate the workforce.

In fact, due to enduring cultural stereotypes, Italy has one of the lowest rates of female labor participation in the workforce , with a staggering one in four women getting fired just before or after getting pregnant, according to the Italian National Institute for Statistics.

Miriam Goi, a feminist writer, made a similar point in Vice Italy. She fears that rather than breaking taboos about women’s menstrual cycle, the measure could end up perpetuating the idea that women are more emotional than men and require special treatment.

(Link to the rest of the article)

Paths of Glory Two

Newspaper reporter: [speaking of Col. Thursday] But what of the men who died with him? What of Collingworth and...

Captain Yorke: Collingwood.

Newspaper reporter: Oh, of course, Collingwood.

Reporter: That's the ironic part of it. We always remember the Thursdays, but the others are forgotten.

Captain Yorke: You're wrong there. They aren't forgotten because they haven't died. They're living - right out there.

[points out the window]

Captain Yorke: Collingwood and the rest. And they'll keep on living as long as the regiment lives. The pay is thirteen dollars a month; their diet: beans and hay. Maybe horsemeat before this campaign is over. Fight over cards or rotgut whiskey, but share the last drop in their canteens. The faces may change... the names... but they're there: they're the regiment... the regular army... now and fifty years from now. They're better men than they used to be. Thursday did that. He made it a command to be proud of.

Whither?

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.”  George Washington

"I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office." Andrew Jackson

"A President's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right." Lyndon B. Johnson

"Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist." Richard M. Nixon

"The President of the United States should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves his country best." Rutherford B Hayes

‘Paths of Glory’: Stanley Kubrick’s First Step Towards Cinema Immortality

Via Instapundit:  There’s a picture that will always be good, years from now, the great Kirk Douglas told Roger Ebert back in 1969. “I don’t have to wait fifty years to know that; I know it now.” The film he was referring to was Stanley Kubrick’s touching First World War drama Paths of Glory, in which the master tells the story of a group of French soldiers court-martialed for cowardice during the trench war with the Germans, and their moral commander who decides to defend them in court. Paths of Glory came out in 1957, was released exactly on Christmas, and managed to cover the cost of its production, but not achieve any significant financial gain. This comes to no surprise given the themes it chose to explore and the obstacles it faced in its initial run. The film’s obvious anti-military subtext was met with criticism and even censorship: the French government pressured United Artists not to release it in France, it was withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival in Germany’s attempt not to irritate France, thanks to Francisco Franco’s government Paths of Glory was shown in Spain as late as in 1986, American bases in Europe refused to show it for a long time, and even the Swiss thought it was too provocative, keeping it censored until 1970. Today, Paths of Glory is considered one of Kubrick’s legitimate masterpieces, demonstrating the technique and style which Kubrick would show in his later works, a brave, poignant work of art set in the trenches, where mood and blood tend to obscure the humanity and reason. Led by Kirk Douglas, without whom the film probably wouldn’t have even seen the light of day, Paths of Glory is Kubrick’s first crucial step on his very own path to glory, a thoughtful, intelligent piece of filmmaking that illuminates the absurdity of war and the tragedy of the human condition. Having directed the critically praised The Killing in 1956, Kubrick was looking for a project to follow it up, deciding to work on The Burning Secret, a film based on Stefan Zweig’s short story. After Dore Schary, the head of production at MGM, left the studio, Kubrick gave up on the project and remembered Humphrey Cobb’s ‘Paths of Glory’ he had admired since his early days. He acquired the rights to this fictional account inspired by the events that had really happened in France in 1915 for mere ten thousand dollars from Cobb’s widow, most likely surprised at his interest in a book that had been out-of-print for a long time. Douglas, the owner of Bryna Productions, was intrigued and used his influence to get the film’s production started. Even though he thought no money could be possibly made from a film like this, he also felt such a film needed to be made. United Artists agreed and Kubrick was given the green light. Paths of Glory was shot in Bavaria, at the Geiselgasteig Studios and Schleissheim Palace near Munich.

(Link to the whole article)

What industry is the biggest scam?

Reddit top voted comments...

Trains in the UK; pay nationalised taxes for nationalised rails so private train companies can charge private rates, its like we took the most expensive part of each option and combined them \o/

Rent to own furniture.

For-profit colleges, especially ITT Technical Institute. Tuition for a 2-year, non-transferable degree is nearly $50,000.

Printers... especially inkjet.. you have to refill/buy a new cartridge every time one of them gets low.. even if you don't even need the colour.

Scientology.

Funerals... I'm all for showing respect for the dead but the costs are really intense.

College textbooks.

Trump vs. Obama, by Daniel Greenfield

Daniel Greenfield runs a site called the Sultan of Knish. Greenfield writes everything over there at Sultan of Knish. This article, Trump vs Obama, is the third article down from the top presently. If you search "Trump vs Obama" you'll see the article cited all over the place. So it's a well-circulated piece, while from my point of view Sultan of Knish is what happens when you rifle the blog rolls of sites that you got from rifling previous blog rolls. I forget how I got there, it's a couple of blog rolls removed from the original blog roll rifling.

Greenfield begins his essay, "Obama is a coward."

Bang! Right off the bat we're given the thesis. It's the kind of opening that occurs at the end, after the whole thing is written, and you go, "Okay, what do I have here?"

But even with that strong a signal, a shot sent off immediately, there's still a chance the writer is disinterested and apolitical. It could happen.

Trump will call someone a name while Obama will anonymously source a smear through three levels of staffers, political allies and reporters. Trump called CNN “Fake News” on camera. Obama sourced Operation Rushbo, targeting Rush Limbaugh, through a variety of White House people and left-wing allies. Trump will boot reporters he doesn’t like. Obama authorized secretly hacking the emails of a FOX News reporter. Trump had an openly hostile conversation with the Prime Minister of Australia. When Obama wanted to call Netanyahu “chickens__t”, he did it by having one of his people anonymously plant it with a reliable media sycophant, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, before later having a spokesman disavow it.

Greenfield says that Obama launches dirty attacks carful not to get his hands dirty. Instead Obama prefers using the bureaucracy and that allows him to protect his popularity. His team considers their dishonesty to be their superpower.  They even brag about it as Ben Rhodes did. Obama pretends decency while preparing to undermine Trump however possible legally and illegally. Greenfield says that Trump's killer instinct lies in understanding hypocrisy conceals weakness and his instinct is to grapple directly with a target. This is a source of his popularity. While Obama's popularity is hollow. Likable only because he is too cowardly to say what he really thinks.

When Trump is attacked his response is to go directly for the attacker. That's what he did by calling out Obama's eavesdropping. Obama situated layers of insulation between himself and involvement in the attack, the media, the staffers who gave information to media and government loyalists who provided information to staffers. Trump made a mockery of Obama's bravado.

There's much more to like and to agree with in the article.  Greenfield insists that Obama is obsessed with being liked while Trump doesn't care, preferring instead to grapple directly with opponents, rivals, and enemies. Trump won the election by forcing opponent after opponent to either fight him on his own terms or back away. Including all media. The Obama machine, a massive propaganda matrix that alternates between lying and gaslighting, is not built to handle Trump. And Obama isn't built to handle Trump either.

As Greenfield continues describing Trump's style and Obama's traps and chaos creation and fake scandal creation, and the administrative disruptions intended to have Trump lunging from scandal to scandal, and Obama's use of proxies while avoiding direct conflict with Trump, and as Greenfield cites Mike Tyson, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" and then says flatly that Obama had a plan and Trump punched him in the mouth, I found myself thinking, yes, we know that already. We know all that already, along with torrents of other straight knowns that we accept as facts. But we didn't isolate them and collect them together like this for these specific conclusions and for this stark comparison in personal styles, to say at the beginning what is concluded throughout, Obama is a coward and comparison with Trump is stark.

Greenfield concludes, "The battle for America has only just begun."

Who is this guy, Greenfield, who says all these things that we think?

Greenfield's "About Me" page.

Finally my writing philosophy can be gathered from the following quote:

"We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." George Orwell

Well, there you go. Read the whole thing, you'll enjoy it.

Trump resurrects long-neglected 'Medal of Honor Day'

Via Drudge:  President Trump hosted the nation's most decorated war heroes at the White House Friday as part of a recognition of the rarely celebrated Medal of Honor Day.

"Each of you has risen above and beyond the call of duty in defense of our country, our people, and our flag. You have poured out your hearts, your sweat, and your tears like few others, and your blood — most importantly your blood — for the United States of America," Trump told about 25 Medal of Honor recipients in the Oval Office.

"You are the soul of our nation, and a grateful republic salutes you," he said.

(Video at the Link)

WKRLEM: What should President Trump do about Obamacare?

Chuckie Schumer is coming in his pants. Paul Ryan screwed the pooch when he couldn't deliver on the "repeal of Obamacare." He had seven years to prepare his response. Seven years to prepare his bill. To have an alternative that his caucus could support. That would pass muster in the Senate.

Now even the most die hard hater of Obama (of which I count myself as one) would concede that there are a couple of aspects of the plan that were good. The fact that you could not be denied because of a pre-existing condition. The fact that slacker millennials can be continued on their parents insurance. There might be one or two other things that were good. But there were a ton that sucked.

Lack of competition which would have been corrected by allowing people to buy from other states. The end of the mandate so people could decide not to buy if they didn't want to buy. The end of a one size fits all plan that forced you to buy coverage you didn't need. So nuns didn't have to pay for abortions or you didn't have to pay for mental health coverage if you were happy to be crazy. The tax penalty if you didn't have insurance should be gone.

All of that stuff should have been in the repeal act. They should have set it up in a two page bill and campaigned on it. Got the President to pump it out on the hustings. Force everyone to and up and down vote. Nuke the filibuster in the Senate. Get everyone on the record on a common sense bill that most Americans can be behind.

Joe Biden “regrets” not being president

Via Twitter:  Former Vice President Joe Biden late Friday night voiced regret about his decision not to run for president, predicting if he had secured the Democratic nomination he could have won against Donald Trump.

“I had planned on running for president and although it would have been a very difficult primary, I think I could have won,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe not. But I thought I could have won.”

“I had a lot of data and I was fairly confident that if I were the Democratic Party’s nominee, I had a better than even chance of being president,” Biden continued.

Link

"Maybe Trump was just half wrong, witch makes him half right, witch amoung politicians makes him a genious"

Watch @greggutfeld's monologue!! Do it! #Gutfeld pic.twitter.com/R1OgBeYVS2

— Greg Gutfeld Show (@GregGutfeldShow) March 26, 2017

"These are moves of power, not of reason"

"Around the county college students are silencing speakers in the name of safe spaces. Filmmaker Rob Montz visits his alma mater of Brown University to find out what happened to free speech and debate on campus in We the Internet's first mini documentary."

Link

"In 2015, video of Yale's "shrieking girl" screaming at professor Nicholas Christakis over a Halloween costume email went viral. A year later, Dr. Christakis and his wife Erika had both left their positions. In this mini-documentary We the Internet TV filmmaker Rob Montz heads to that university to investigate what Yale has become."

Silence U Part 2: What Has Yale Become?

Link

How Can I Hide Boogers?

[continued-in-part from here]

That is the exposed woodwork I wrote about in the earlier linked post linked. I'm not yet ready to apply a finish. Look closely, and you'll see some residual white paint in the nail holes -- boogers. Of course I'd like to make these less visible, but how? An amateur thinks: carefully remove the paint without enlarging the hole; apply "wood putty" to match the wood. Thing is, I've never been impressed with wood putty. It always shows lighter or darker in the finish.

The first question a professional might ask is: What kind of finish are you going to apply? Answer: A transparent one -- not even a stain. I want a finish that shows the DF grain. It will be a finish though, probably oil or acrylic, to match the rail which will be handled and will be highly trafficked. The final, desired finish will be a "wet" look with a satin finish. My question for a professional is what kind of transparent finish can best hide blemishes?

Here's another thought: Is it possible to make a paste or putty from the sawdust itself -- mixed with a binder?  That should get the color right but perhaps not the texture.

WKRLEM: What Trump has to do..

This is based on the famous hit on Larry Gallo by Carmine the Snake and couple of other mooks in the Profaci crew that started the first Gallo war.

Puzo lifted a bunch of historical occurrences to flesh out the Godfather movies. He was well versed in the history of the Mob so he was able to right a great story by fictionalizing the truth.

President Trump needs to take a page out of the Snakes play book. Invite the press over. Then slip the garrote over the neck and choke them out. It's the only way.

WKRLEM: Donald Trump says....don't call me Renee....Shirley!

Like Ike?

Mark Levin who is no big fan of Trump actually said that the God Emperor did the right thing by walking away from the deal. Per Breitbart:

"Friday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Mark Levin made the case that President Donald Trump’s reaction to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s decision not to proceed with the House GOP’s legislative effort to repeal and replace Obamacare was a positive.

Levin called it “actually outstanding” and likened that leadership style to former President Dwight Eisenhower.

I thought the president’s comments today were actually outstanding,” Levin said. “And he showed enormous humility. And this guy doesn’t give up. I mean, he said OK, we’ll fight another day. In essence, he said that events will reach a point where this is going to have to be resolved. And when it reaches that point, I’m. ‘Mark, that’s not leadership.’ But it kind of is, actually. I’m not making a comparison. It is the sort of way that Dwight Eisenhower managed. When things reach a certain point, they’ll be knocking on my door. Then we’ll figure things out.”

The thing is that the art of compromise has been lost. Ike dealt with LBJ as the Senate Majority Leader. There wasn't a bigger prick than LBJ. Nobody more partisan. He makes Schumer  look like the putz he was. Still Ike was able to get things through the Congress. Big things. By making deals. By being willing to walk away from the table and letting the deal come to him.

Trump can do the same thing. Trump needs to do the same thing.

Stamping out 'economic terrorism' or chilling free expression?

Via Instapundit:  Republican lawmakers in at least 18 states have proposed a spate of bills, including ones to make blocking streets a felony in North Carolina, to allow businesses to sue people protesting them in Michigan, and to force Minnesota protesters pay the costs of policing.

After watching protests erupt around the country against police shootings, tougher immigration laws, and the Trump administration, Arizona state Sen. John Kavanagh reportedly came to a conclusion: “This stuff is all planned” by “ideologues” and “anarchists,” he told the Arizona Capitol Times.

In response, Senator Kavanagh sponsored a bill patterned on the kind of racketeering laws usually reserved for the Mafia: Anyone involved in a protest could be guilty of a felony if things get out of control, “whether or not such person knows [the] identity” of the person actually breaking a law.

Senate Republicans in Arizona voted in favor of Kavanagh’s proposal, joining conservative lawmakers in some 18 states in moving forward tough new bills intended to curb what they see as lawlessness during a new age of demonstrations and street mobilization.


For their part, opponents of those bills don’t see efforts to keep the peace – they see police state tactics. Civil rights activists say such bills violate the First Amendment and have more to do with chilling free expression than law and order, given that several of the proposals could open up peaceful protesters to serious criminal liability.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we are seeing [antiprotest bills] filed at a time when more and more Americans are taking to the streets to practice their constitutional right,” says Mike Meno, an American Civil Liberties Union staffer in Raleigh, N.C.

(Link to the whole thing)

Sarah Jessica Parker is 138 years old today!

In horse years.

Just sayn'

WKRLEM: The Don talks to the people discouraged about his agenda

The opposition press and the Democrats are reveling in the withdrawal of the Obamacare repeal by the Republicans in the House. The bill devised by the brainiac Paul Ryan could not get enough Republican support even though they control the House, Senate and the Presidency. They have been caterwauling about Obamacare since it was passed and have claimed they would repeal and replace it. It seems they did not have a viable plan in place so they look stupid. President Trump looks stupid as well. For trusting Paul Ryan.

President Trump has been consistent from the beginning. He wanted to repeal Obamacare on Day One. He wanted to replace it. He outlined what they should do.

He wanted competition within the states. So you can buy from another state. Use the free market to lower costs. Not in Ryan's plan.

He wanted to cover adult children on their parents plans longer the way  it is now on Obamacare.  Not in Ryan's plan.

He didn't want to just throw people on the street. He wanted to find a way for them to be covered even if they have a pre-existing condition. I don't think this is the plan.

The "true conservatives" want a total free market plan. Where the jungle of the marketplace determines if you are covered. The "true liberals" wants the government to cover everything for free.

I think what the American People want is somewhere in between.

We want competition to drive down the price. But we want a pathway for coverage. Even if you have pre-existing conditions. Even if you are old or poor or sick. We don't necessarily want hand outs. But we might want a hand up.

I am a conservative. But I am also a realist. I don't want to see Conservative Cant  destroy a compromise that can insure most of America with free market principles underlying the plan but not leaving people to the mercy of the wolves. Look it will be very hard to thread that needle. President Trump will have to provide a lot of leadership. He should work with Rand Paul and Tom Price and come up with his own plan that embodies his principles. Then go out and sell it. Put pressure on the Congress to sign on. That is the only way to fix this.

Like the Don says. BE A MAN! Don't complain or make excuses. Now is the time to put up or shut up. Money talks and bullshit walks. President Trump is a deal maker. He has to make a deal. Be a man and swallow shit you don't like to get it done. That's how it works.

I hope the faith I placed in him will be justified.

"12 Pieces Of Proof: The MSM Knew Obama Spied On Trump and LIED To Cover It Up"

1. Heat Street - November 7, 2016

EXCLUSIVE: FBI ‘Granted FISA Warrant’ Covering Trump Camp’s Ties To Russia
Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia.

2. The Guardian – January 11, 2017

The Guardian has learned that the FBI applied for a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court over the summer in order to monitor four members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials. The Fisa court turned down the application asking FBI counter-intelligence investigators to narrow its focus. According to one report, the FBI was finally granted a warrant in October, but that has not been confirmed, and it is not clear whether any warrant led to a full investigation.

3. The New York Times – January 12, 2017

In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.
The new rules significantly relax longstanding limits on what the N.S.A. may do with the information gathered by its most powerful surveillance operations, which are largely unregulated by American wiretapping laws. These include collecting satellite transmissions, phone calls and emails that cross network switches abroad, and messages between people abroad that cross domestic network switches.
The change means that far more officials will be searching through raw data. Essentially, the government is reducing the risk that the N.S.A. will fail to recognize that a piece of information would be valuable to another agency, but increasing the risk that officials will see private information about innocent people.

Link to the rest... via Instapundit

cheese popcorn

It is a recent development on another food-related site for a post here and there and sometimes in series to get picked up somewhere and passed around leading to their stats being all out of whack with surrounding posts. Day by day they go something like 35; 42; 14; 20; 2,400; 24; 30 and so on. And I can never predict which ones that will happen to. As if I have no sense for my audience whatsoever. What a bummer! Honestly, the dumbest posts become popular and the best ones ignored. So far, I think this cheese popcorn is the most extreme, at 2,561, but only by something like 20, Sausage, potatoes, onions and cabbage is close at 2,544.

I've been making this quite a lot lately. I follow the instructions written in this book, On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. 

Chefs keep this book around and use it like a bible. They return to it to look up passages to absorb its wisdom in doses. While just like the bible it can also be read straight through. And that's how I picked up that popcorn should not be cooked on high so that the kernels heat evenly and steadily, and that the lid should be loose-fitting or else steam will soften the popcorn. So I use a screen instead of a lid.

I don't know what the problem was back then when I was a kid and burned so many batches of popcorn. I don't know what the judgement problem was. It's obvious now when to shut off the heat and dump the popcorn. It never burns now. 

After dumping the pot is still hot enough to melt cold butter and to brown it if you want that. There's plenty of time to heat spices. 

With cheese, though, the popcorn is layered in the bowl with cheese and then heated to melt the cheese for additional layer of flavor and to make the cheese stick. It's kind of cool when it clumps. 

But I'm not so sure that Harold McGee is always right. 

I like using high heat because the kernels pop all at once better, and the screen cover does not ensure crispy popcorn. 

Big Star's Third performing "Thirteen" live

Link to video

"Thirteen" is a song by the American rock band Big Star. Rolling Stone describes it "one of rock's most beautiful celebrations of adolescence", and rated it #406 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It was written by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.

Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom writes in his Allmusic review of the song, "There are few songs that capture the aching innocence of adolescence as well" and calls it a "perfect melancholy ballad". The song encompasses folk and pop characteristics with its use of simple lyrics and the acoustic guitar.

The song was originally featured on the 1972 album #1 Record. It was never released as a single by Big Star.

"Public Fornication Leads to Police Altercation"

Via Drudge:  The incident happened behind Fire Station 10, in Rosslyn Highlands Park, according to scanner traffic.

“At approximately 3:32 p.m. on March 22, officers were dispatched to the report of two subjects allegedly engaged in sexual activity in public view,” Arlington County Police said in a crime report. “As officers were conducting the investigation, the female subject charged at the officer and struck him repeatedly.”

“Nicole Faircloth, 42, of No Fixed Address was arrested and charged with assault and battery on police and performing a sexual act in a public place,” the crime report continued. “Petko Ubiparipovic, 42, of No Fixed Address, was arrested and charged with performing a sexual act in a public place. Both were held on bond.”

(Link to story)

WKRLEM: Paul Ryan tells the Don....I'm smart! I can handle things!

FCI Dog Dance World Championship 2016

Never heard of them. This was suggested in the sidebar of YouTube site, unconnected subject-wise to what I was watching, a whole series of videos of Russian soldiers dancing. The dogs aren't really dancing. This woman and her dog won in this free-style competition. I'm showing this because YouTube sure does know what I like. Commenters to the video liked this more than I did. The whole time I was thinking, "Boy, that sure is a sweet little fluffy Belgian Malinois. 

Fake! That grenade didn't even explode.

The woman who won in the heeling category also won the whole competition. I think. I don't know. I'm going by comments to the two videos. Commenters wanted the free-style one to win. They like the first video better than this one. 

I'm struck that the winner is another Belgian sheepdog, Tervuren this time. They're the same dog structurally while their coats vary dramatically. If you choose to watch, you'll notice the dog doesn't so much heel as it herds. In real obedience the dog would be marked down for crowding. The dog shoves with its shoulder, it leans way into its handler in both directions when exaggerated. The dog moves between the handler's legs in figure 8, and it switches sides from left to right of the handler. In its way, it dances. But it doesn't tell a story like the free-style video does so commenters liked it less.

The first woman is from Italy. This woman, below, is from Russia. Their routine is to Édith Piaf. If you stick with it you'll see the dog really does herd the woman this way and that, sideways, forward and backward. Like a dance.

Bob Dylan says Amy Winehouse was last 'individualist'

Via Drudge:  In a lengthy dialogue with writer Bill Flanagan posted on Dylan's website... Dylan described reinterpreting music as integral to creativity, saying that songwriters can have a concept and then take inspiration from a newspaper clipping, billboard or novel.

"There's always some precedent -- most everything is a knockoff of something else," Dylan said.

"Once you get the idea, everything you see, read, taste or smell becomes an allusion to it. It's the art of transforming things.

"You don't really serve art, art serves you and it's only an expression of life anyway; it's not real life," he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Dylan scoffed at his reputation for being unfriendly to other artists who mingle with him at shows.

"Beats me -- why would they want to hang out with me anyway? I hang out with my band on the road," he said.

Asked what he watches on television on his tour bus, Dylan replied, likely sarcastically: "'I Love Lucy,' all the time, non-stop."

(Link to the whole story)

Not the Onion: "Just like her mother, Chelsea Clinton never gets a break"

LA Times Ed:  This week, Variety magazine announced that it would honor former first daughter Chelsea Clinton at its Women in Power luncheon with a “Lifetime achievement award.” The news spread quickly among both Trump supporters and left-leaning Clinton detractors who believe that the family’s tone-deafness cost them the election. Chelsea accepting such an award at the tender age of 37 confirmed the “out-of-touch elite” narrative once and for all.

And then “The Hill,” the D.C. outlet that had broken the news, clarified that Chelsea’s honor was not, as initially reported and gleefully reposted, for achievements over the span of her lifetime. Rather, it was an honor bestowed jointly by Variety and the television network Lifetime for her work promoting better eating habits for children. It’s a Lifetime achievement award, not a lifetime achievement award.

When it comes to accepting prizes for charitable contributions, Chelsea is in no way an outlier. Everyone in her income bracket has a shelf full of honors. Luncheon ceremonies are a way to publicly thank big-name benefactors, get them to show up to the event, and therefore attract other donors and media interest. Ivanka Trump, for example — just picking someone at random here — is no stranger to vanity awards. She has been honored by organizations such as the European School of Economics and the Diamond Empowerment Fund’s GOOD Awards. (Tagline: “Diamonds do good.”)

But Chelsea, like her mother, never gets a break — unlike Ivanka and her father.

(It goes on and on, here is a Link to the rest, maybe you can stomach it)

"Amy Schumer Drops Out of ‘Barbie’ Movie" : Trooper hardest hit

“Sadly, I’m no longer able to commit to Barbie due to scheduling conflicts,” the actress said in a statement to Variety. “The film has so much promise, and Sony and Mattel have been great partners. I’m bummed, but look forward to seeing Barbie on the big screen.”

“We respect and support Amy’s decision,” a spokesperson for Sony said in a statement. “We look forward to bringing Barbie to the world and sharing updates on casting and filmmakers soon.”

WKRLEM: Good advice

"The FBI is still struggling to employ hackers because they’re all smoking weed"

Via Instapundit :  A human resources official explained in the 2015 report that while 5000 persons may apply to the FBI's cyber security division, only 2000 will meet the eligibility requirements.
The marijuana problem was highlighted by Motherboard in 2014, when FBI director James Comey (who has since gone on to make bigger and bolder headlines) made remarks that were quoted in the Wall Street Journal.

I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview.

Comey later clarified his beliefs before the US Senate (prompted by then Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama), stating he is ‘absolutely dead-set against using marijuana’.
Nevertheless, the government's stringent 'no drugs' policy is in danger of excluding skilled candidates who just happen to love smoking weed in their spare time.

(Link to the whole bong)

A locker room naked undesired

Via Twitter:  A high school student is suing a Pennsylvania school district after claiming “he was exposed involuntarily” to a transgender student while changing in the school’s locker room...

The student claims he was standing in his underwear about to put his gym clothes on when he noticed a transgender student in the locker room who was undressing.

That student was a girl at birth based on external anatomy, but identifies as a boy.

“It’s an egregious violation for the school to just brush off these students and tell them that their feelings don’t matter and to make it ‘as natural as they possibly can’,” added Wenger.

The group said “Joel Doe” brought a complaint to school officials and was told he needs to “tolerate” the decision.

“Our laws and customs have long recognized that we shouldn’t have to undress in front of persons of the opposite sex,” ADF Legal Counsel Kellie Fiedorek said in a statement. “But now some schools are forcing our children into giving up their privacy rights even though, in this case, Pennsylvania law requires schools to have separate facilities on the basis of sex.”

Link to video

Was Judge Napolitano's report vindicated?

Napolitano made this claim...


Obama denied it and Fox suspended Napolitano...

Now the congress reports this...

Who is telling the truth here?

"Attacker Kills Four Near U.K. Parliament Before Shot Dead"

Via Reddit:  Authorities are working on the assumption the attack was “Islamist-related terrorism,” Mark Rowley, head of counter-terrorism policing, told reporters after 10 p.m. Police think they know the identity of the assailant, he said. No organization has claimed responsibility.

A car crashed into a fence outside Parliament after running down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. A man with a knife then ran through the gate and through security, assaulted an unarmed policeman and was shot. Among the dead were people on the bridge and French school children were among those hurt.

WKRLEM: Sun Records on CMT | Next Week's Sneak Peek feat. Darius Rucker

WKRLEM: Time for some Kung Fu Fighting

KLEM FM

linky

This post was inspired by Dust Bunny Queen, who elsewhere expressed an interest in the mobile life style. So I was going to post the original song, but realized that I'd already done that back here. Listening again, I wished to more clearly hear bassist John Entwhistle. I found this brilliant version with the vocals and guitars factored out. It's just Moon and Entwhistle -- the two on the right in the photo.

Years ago, I remarked that The Who and The Beatles were missing complimentary pieces, meaning that Moon and Entwhistle were sort of like the remaining two Beatles, Paul and Ringo. Ron, the commenter, suggested that the remaining 4 should get together and call themselves The Whotles: Paul, Ringo, Pete, and Roger.

Elmo gets laid off

Link to video

'Elmo, it does me no great joy to inform you that due to recent cuts in government funding to PBS, you are no longer employed by Sesame Street Workshop. Elmo, you're being laid off,' a voice off-camera tells him.

'Just like that?' Elmo replies sadly in his high-pitched voice. 'Elmo's been working at Sesame Street for 32 years!'

Elmo is told that the Trump administration is cutting all arts and education funding.

Via Instapundit.

It has happened to me... it has happened to you

esprit d'escalier (or esprit de l'escalier)

MEANING:

noun: Thinking of a witty remark too late; hindsight wit or afterwit. Also such a remark.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French esprit de l'escalier, from esprit (wit) + escalier (stairs).

NOTES:

We're all witty. It's just that many of us think of our clever remarks a bit too late. The French call it the staircase wit, indicating that one thought of that perfect retort on his or her way out.

USAGE:

"I can think of hard, tough, one-line put-downs, but only after the person concerned has left the room. (NB: this affliction, esprit de l'escalier, is one of the principal reasons why people become writers.)"
Simon Barnes; Glitzy Game Gets Line Not Length All Wrong; The Times (London, UK); Jun 13, 2003.

"'You don't have a television?' The question is invariably accompanied by a baffled expression. ... Even as I'm writing this, my esprit d'escalier kicks in, and I start composing witty comebacks for future use: 'Oh, but those things run on electricity, don't they? We don't use electricity.'"  Eya Donald Greenland; There's Luxury in Life Without TV; Toronto Star (Canada); Mar 17, 2003.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. -English Proverb

(Via Reddit)

"Transgender weightlifter sparks criticism after competition win"

Via Twitter:  A Kiwi weightlifter has made history as the first transgender athlete to represent New Zealand and come away with a win, however the victory has been slammed by other competitors.

Laurel Hubbard, 39, won the women's over 90kg division at the Australian International competition in Melbourne on Sunday, but the win has caused a stir with some believing she had an unfair advantage.

Her combined total of 268kg was nearly 20kg better than Samoan runner-up Iuniarra Sipaia, with another 20kg back to the next lifter in the field.

The performance puts Hubbard in line for selection at the 2017 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

While her eligibility passed the International Olympic Committee's criteria, Hubbard's win was met with criticism from Australian competitors who believe a transgender athlete in the female weightlifting category was not an equal playing field.

Hubbard was born the son of former Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard and has previously competed at a national level in men's weightlifting as Gavin Hubbard.

She transitioned in her mid-30s and recent improvements have lifted her to a lofty women's ranking.

(Link to the story)