...is Trump really the guy to solve our real problems going forward, or is he a bomb dropped on a mostly empty target?From "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Donald:"
Monday, January 25, 2016
KLEM TV
Overheard at Lem's:
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Robert Spencer on 5 ways Muslims contributed to building fabric of America
Noticed in the sidebar of PJMedia sites, it is not complimentary and it is short but spread over five pages, clicking through each mini essay of a single paragraph, maybe two, is impressive if the presentation is entirely one sided. Going backwards countdown style, reversed they are basically:
1. the existence of TSA, thank you very much
2. vastly weakened economy, 9-11 was literally a $1 to $1M payoff
3. the existence of the U.S. Marines
4. the business of American slavery
5. conquering Constantinople leading to Columbus
All good points and well explained but not what one expects by its title. Recommended, if only for sharpened polemics.
1. the existence of TSA, thank you very much
2. vastly weakened economy, 9-11 was literally a $1 to $1M payoff
3. the existence of the U.S. Marines
4. the business of American slavery
5. conquering Constantinople leading to Columbus
All good points and well explained but not what one expects by its title. Recommended, if only for sharpened polemics.
Policeman in Gainesville behaves perfectly normally, video goes viral with 9 million views
Twitchy reports the NBC version has the high number of views. This version is from YouTube with less views than that.
Color me underwhelmed. The guy take a few shots and tells them to hold it down. There is no good reason for this video to be viral, but there you go. How odd, a police officer behaving as a normal human being.
When the kids see the policeman shoot they come out of the woodwork. It's cute. Adorable, actually. The original complaint was about all those kids making noise but we see only two, then boom, the whole area is full of them. They split when the cops came and watched, then came out when they saw it was safe.
So odd, so remarkable that Shaq O'Neil visits the place to congratulate the officer and relive this extraordinary moment with himself in it. How inspiring.
What the heck, he's got al day and his own plane, just go there and play, make it a celebrity healing thing for the whole nation, a healing of racial disunity.
Eleven YouTube videos on this subject with search [gainesville, police, basketball] That's the extraordinary part, not the policeman interacting normally.
Thinking Twice: The pro-Trump and anti-Trump perspectives
First the Pro-Trump thoughts...
Against The Establishment
It's a pretty sad day when Joy Reid of MSNBC makes more sense to me than National Review.
Check out her diagnosis (which mostly comes from moderate Republican turned liberalish independent Bruce Bartlett) at 6:45.
It's accurate -- the establishment/elite has been selling lies to everyone outside the donor class for years. They use their power to enact their own priorities into law, while telling the rest of us "it's too hard" or "it will scare the moderates."
And for years we went along with this.
Well, as she notes, the issue of immigration has caused this bargain -- the elites get their actual agenda, everyone else gets lies and empty promises -- to break down, probably forever.
You know, for years, I felt it was my duty to sell these shit sandwiches to readers for the Greater Good of winning elections.
I didn't like doing it, but I thought that, for example, the War on Terror was too important to risk a rupture over other questions.
Although I've come to hate politics and I just despise reading the news now, the one good thing is that I'm liberated from splashing some ketchup on Sandwiches Made of Actual Shit and trying to sell them to people as tasty and healthful.
I feel liberated. I serve no "Greater Good," as I don't know that there's a Greater Good to be served anymore. So I can just say exactly what I think.
And what I think is that the establishment has to be destroyed.
We will not be ignored, we will not be condescended to, we will no longer accept broken promises and lies as our payment for our service to the GOP.
And if it requires destroying the GOP and electing a Democrat to teach the establishment this lesson, to chastise them and to humble them, then we shall do just that, and do so happily.
You will either come to terms, or you will be destroyed.Anti-Trump... maybe
After a lot of thought and, ultimately, resignation, I have decided to support Donald J. Trump in 2016.
I imagine this will bother those of you who still have faith in humanity, you beacons of hope in this vast, unforgiving universe.
“Why?” you might ask, if you still, somehow, haven’t become a shell of a human being. “Why would you support Trump?”
You want to know why, person who hasn’t yet become a despondent shadow of his former self?
Because my spirit is broken.
I’m so tired. I’ve read countless editorials, opinion columns and investigative pieces that simply, honestly and accurately explain why Trump should not be the leader of the free world, why it might be a bad idea for him to hold a position of authority in our government, why he might be a hypersensitive, raving, narcissistic child with no real idea of how to fix the myriad problems facing our country. I’ve flipped through hundreds of pages documenting his many lawsuits, poor business decisions and general idiocy, pages and pages and pages of evidence that he should never be taken seriously or trusted with heavy responsibility. And yet, his popularity grows; his fans become ever more rabid; and my soul shrivels into a small black hole, engulfing my ability to resist and my will to carry on.
At first, I’ll admit, I didn’t get it. He’s not intelligent, charismatic, charming or attractive. If you close your eyes while he’s talking, it sounds like you’re playing a halfhearted game of Chubby Bunny with a racist 5th-grader. But I get it now.
I finally understand that to support Trump, you don’t have to agree with his politics or believe he’ll save America; you just have to stop caring, give into sweet release, and let the wave of dejected acquiescence wash over you like the incoming tide.
A Trump presidency will probably be unbearable for you unwavering angels of light who still believe that the voters will eventually choose someone else, someone who doesn’t sound like a drunk college freshman winging a social studies presentation the Monday after Christmas break.
Can you imagine seeing Trump’s face, tanned into an uncomfortable shade of blonde, every time you turn on the news for the next four years? Can you imagine hearing his voice, spewing incoherent, uninformed nonsense at you, over and over and over again for roughly 1,460 days?
I used to imagine it and cringe, when I still had a life force.
I used to find the idea of President Trump unendurable, horrifying. Now, I just take two sleeping pills and curl into a fetal position under my desk until all emotion and conscious thought pass.
Are you afraid of what might happen to America, not to mention the Republican party, if an entitled, tantrum-throwing cretin become its leader?
I was, too, when I could feel fear. Now I’m Frodo, exhausted, beaten down, desolate, lying on the side of Mount Doom; just drag me up the side of the mountain and throw me into the all-consuming fire of a future in which Donald Trump can make major decisions that affect my life. I have surrendered to wretched defeatism.
I used to get into arguments with people who like him because he’s “anti-PC” and “outspoken” and “arguably not a pandering, easily corruptible misogynist.” But then I realized that everything is pointless. I used to say things like “we don’t want this man representing America” and “he is not prepared or equipped for this kind of responsibility,” but now when confronted by a Trump supporter, I just lie down on the ground and play dead until they leave or the floor gets cold.
I have been worn down. I have abandoned all hope.
So carry on, America. Do what you want. Willingly march yourself into four years of a president who regularly gets into fights with strangers on Twitter. I will join you, like a salmon swimming upriver to its death.
I will spend 2016 wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, quietly lying in the dark, waiting for the rapture.
#Trump2016
Saturday, January 23, 2016
"Charlotte Rampling walks back Oscar comments"
Hours after actress Charlotte Rampling told an interviewer that the blowback against this year's all-white acting nominees was itself "racist," she is walking back her comments.
On Friday evening, the British actress, who is nominated for a best actress for her work in the film45 Years, gave a statement to CBS News, which read, "I regret that my comments could have been misinterpreted. I simply meant to say that in an ideal world every performance will be given equal opportunities for consideration."
The multilingual Rampling had given a Friday radio interview to a French journalist in which she said of the lack of any nominees of color, "We can never know if it was really the case, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to be in the final straight."
When her interviewer asked about the possibility of quotas, she responded, “Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted ... People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’ ... someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ (this or that) ... But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?”
By Friday evening, she was on board: “Diversity in our industry is an important issue that needs to be addressed,” her statement continued. “I am highly encouraged by the changes announced today by the academy to diversify its membership.”
KLEM FM: My Favorite Dylan Covers
Compiled from my iTunes according to my "played" metric which spans a number of years. Number 10 is least played; number 1 has the most plays:
10. Mama, You've Been On My Mind by Rod Stewart from his 1972 LP "Never A Dull Moment."
9. The Mighty Quinn (The Eskimo) by Manfred Mann and his Earth Band (1968).
8. All I Really Want To Do by The Byrds (1965). I have three Byrds songs in my top ten so there is something special about them. I suppose it's their sound. They really did invent a new sound as I described here.
7. Don't Think Twice by Mike Ness (1999)
6. All Along The Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)
5. My Back Pages by The Byrds (1967)
4. It's All Over Now Baby Blue by Them (that's Van Morrison in disguise, 1966). I probably under-counted this version and it should be ranked higher. But the song only recently became available on iTunes.
3. Mr. Tambourine Man, The Byrds (1965)
2. Changing Of The Guards Patti Smith (2007)
1. I Believe In You Cat Power (2008). The original is from Dylan's "Slow Train Coming," the LP some Dylan fans still love to forget. But the song works well at a non-religious level too, in my opinion.
_________________________
So what did I leave out? What would you add or subtract?
10. Mama, You've Been On My Mind by Rod Stewart from his 1972 LP "Never A Dull Moment."
9. The Mighty Quinn (The Eskimo) by Manfred Mann and his Earth Band (1968).
8. All I Really Want To Do by The Byrds (1965). I have three Byrds songs in my top ten so there is something special about them. I suppose it's their sound. They really did invent a new sound as I described here.
7. Don't Think Twice by Mike Ness (1999)
6. All Along The Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)
5. My Back Pages by The Byrds (1967)
4. It's All Over Now Baby Blue by Them (that's Van Morrison in disguise, 1966). I probably under-counted this version and it should be ranked higher. But the song only recently became available on iTunes.
3. Mr. Tambourine Man, The Byrds (1965)
2. Changing Of The Guards Patti Smith (2007)
1. I Believe In You Cat Power (2008). The original is from Dylan's "Slow Train Coming," the LP some Dylan fans still love to forget. But the song works well at a non-religious level too, in my opinion.
_________________________
So what did I leave out? What would you add or subtract?
Judged By The Color On His Skin
Arkansas teen turned away from joining the Marines when he revealed he had a Confederate flag tattoo
It's a safe bet that the new rules were imposed by men who never volunteered as teens.
It's a safe bet that the new rules were imposed by men who never volunteered as teens.
"Clinton emails so secret some lawmakers can't read them"
Fox News: The emails in question, as Fox News first reported earlier this week, contained intelligence classified at a level beyond “top secret.” Because of this designation, not all the lawmakers on key committees reviewing the case have high enough clearances.
A source with knowledge of the intelligence review told Fox News that senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, despite having high-level clearances, are among those not authorized to read the intelligence from so-called “special access programs” without taking additional security steps -- like signing new non-disclosure agreements.
Fox News is told that the reviewers who handled the SAP intelligence identified in Clinton’s emails had to sign additional non-disclosure agreements even though they already have the highest level of clearance -- known as TS/SCI or Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented information. This detail was first reported by NBC News.
This alone seems to undercut the former secretary of state’s and other officials’ claims that the material is "innocuous."
In an interview with NPR, Clinton claimed the latest IG finding doesn’t change anything and suggested it was politically motivated. (the Inspector General is an Obama appointee)
“This seems to me to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign, it's another leak,” she said. “I'm just going to leave it up to the professionals at the Justice Department because nothing that this says changes the fact that I never sent or received material marked classified.”
Despite Clinton's claims, it is the content that is classified; the markings on the documents do not affect that.
A source with knowledge of the intelligence review told Fox News that senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, despite having high-level clearances, are among those not authorized to read the intelligence from so-called “special access programs” without taking additional security steps -- like signing new non-disclosure agreements.
Fox News is told that the reviewers who handled the SAP intelligence identified in Clinton’s emails had to sign additional non-disclosure agreements even though they already have the highest level of clearance -- known as TS/SCI or Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented information. This detail was first reported by NBC News.
This alone seems to undercut the former secretary of state’s and other officials’ claims that the material is "innocuous."
In an interview with NPR, Clinton claimed the latest IG finding doesn’t change anything and suggested it was politically motivated. (the Inspector General is an Obama appointee)
“This seems to me to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign, it's another leak,” she said. “I'm just going to leave it up to the professionals at the Justice Department because nothing that this says changes the fact that I never sent or received material marked classified.”
Despite Clinton's claims, it is the content that is classified; the markings on the documents do not affect that.
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