Or as Prager put it, "Whatever the left touches it ruins".
Colbert said on live network non-cable TV of the president of a once-great nation that; "The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c***holster.” This from the part of the political spectrum that expects what men say to each other in ostensively private conversation is to be judged harshly. Really? By what standard? We live in a failed state where Colbert and much worse is the standard ... that is what "the left" has brought us. As I've covered before, "left and right" are nothing less than "Satan vs God". Jesus sits on the right hand of God the Father. There are many people that follow the left that would even consider themselves to be Christians, but it is the definite home of the atheist, the communist, the abortionist and the immature of all ages.
And, of course, it is inconceivable that he would have used the language Colbert used. Kids could watch The Tonight Show, because he — and we — lived in a pre-Left age, when grown-ups thought that they had a responsibility to be good models to young people, in other words, to be adults. But the Left has never been comfortable with growing up.
I was privliged to grow up in that Great America ... maturity, standards, CLASS, decency, patriotism, respect ... all "Gone With the Wind". Replaced by BOistan ... meaningless destruction, the mark of Satan, the mark of our age.
Not very hard to guess -- if it isn't in the headline, you know ... have to read a long way in this one before they tell you. For some reason, those that are all excited about "helping" tend to more often than not find a way to "help themselves"!
The end of America and the entrance to BOistan was a painful time, however we have lived in a "joke of a stan" for at least 3 years now. If one can't enjoy dark political humor, there is really none left.
I found the BO years to be the "Wizard of Oz" presidency, perhaps "Spinal Tap" is the metaphor for this one. For those of you unaware, just watch it, a little refresher ...
The video in the linked article is a worthy watch for perspective -- or really for an introduction to lack thereof. If the "stupid party" (R) has learned anything since Watergate (and that is always doubtful) it ought to be that "The Party" (TP-D) assumes it is the RULING PARTY at all times, because if nothing else it owns the "Deep State" -- all the alphabet soup of agencies including DOJ, FBI, NSA, CIA, etc, and naturally, they are at WAR with Trump. If the R's don't stay solid, TP wins again.
McCain will blather -- he loves the sound of his own voice a little bit more when there is a microphone in front of him, and apparently his true genius is fratricide, but if the party has a LICK of sense, this will be a complete yawn -- go on with some boring "investigations", let the D's continue to stew in their own juices.
As soon as an R is elected, there ought to be a ticker running on the news stations all the time "Democrats seek Special Prosecutor" ... does the "reason" really matter?
Hey, at least we know "this is it", this is as dark as it gets ... "worse than Watergate", the previous darkest of all -- the sun actually came up here in Rochester this AM. I'm certain that DC looks like Mordor, I wish they would put out some video of the big eye on top of the Washington Monument, that would be COOL!
I find that Scott Adams has an interesting view as always here ...
Now we have a bizarre situation in which both sides (Demcrats and Republicans) wanted Comey fired, but they had different reasons for wanting it. Democrats were upset that he might have torpedoed Hillary Clinton’s campaign by talking about the Weiner laptop discovery of additional Clinton emails close to Election Day. And Republicans hated Comey for not pursuing a criminal case against Clinton for her email server misdeeds. That’s the perfect set-up for cognitive dissonance. I’ll explain:
Democrats and the Opposition Media reflexively oppose almost everything President Trump does. This time he gave them something they wanted, badly, but not for the reason they wanted. That’s a trigger. It forces anti-Trumpers to act angry in public that he did the thing they wanted him to do. And they are.
I wonder along with I think everyone (Trump himself?) if he truly has an agenda beyond "stirring the pot and getting a lot of attention". I agree he is a "master persuader" as Adams points out, the question is what is the persuasion about vs "hey, look at me!".
What Trump does every day is hold the mirror of our own national tribalism up to our faces as I covered here.
The sheep have no mind of their own ... they follow their master. Which is GREAT if their master is Christ, but pitiful when their master is Steve Colbert, MSNBC, Fox, or NPR.
I'd argue that even though the media claims there to be many mindless Trump followers, there are few. The MSM has made quite sure that anyone that is not their abject follower has a mind of their own -- it is harder to make someone with a mind of their own become convinced that they oght to bleat however their shepherd asks. Christ is of course the GOOD SHEPHERD ... bleating to his call is a joy. Steven Colbert? Well ...
The news of James Comey’s political demise had broken less than 10 minutes before Stephen Colbert began his late-show taping on Tuesday evening. And when he informed his live audience, trapped in a dead-zone soundstage — “the FBI director has just been fired by Donald Trump” — they initially reacted by breaking into cheers.
This was a man, after all, that Colbert’s liberal-leaning viewership had viewed as a bad guy. He raised Hillary Clinton’s email scandal from the dead; he might have cost her the election.
“Wow, wow,” Colbert said, appearing taken aback by the applause. “Huge, huge Donald Trump fans here tonight.”
The poor sheeple hadn't been told what to think yet, and they have no minds of their own. Their leadership had told them Comey was a BAD MAN ... he was one of those evil people that had cost St Hildebreast the office they had been assured she richly deserved and was guarenteed to get! Many TP leaders had called for Comey's ouster -- certainly the ouster happening must be GOOD NEWS!
Much like retailiation for the use of chemical weapons by Syria -- why the great BO had drawn a "Red Line"!! which would normally seem quite warlike if someone with testicles was saying it.
But wait, this was TRUMP -- and the Russians were UNHAPPY, but how can THAT be? Didn't TP and BO tell us that the now evil Russians formerly of "the 1980's called and wanted their foreign policy back", but now morphed into evil even though they keep us in space -- were the GOOD guys in Syria? Why BO and John Kerry assured us those same Russians had removed ALL the chemical weapons from Syria!
Why, it is as if TP and it's media arm are themselves confused -- certain, but certainly wrong -- and thus the masses sitting in the stands for "Bread and Circuses" become confused. Who do they cheer, and who do they boo? They certainly no longer can figure it out for themselves, they must be TOLD!
Before Trump was elected, I covered the fact that he would be strongly opposed from BOTH SIDES ... Democrats and Republicans have been in power in DC for a LONG time, and they BOTH like power. They also like to use that power to improve the lives of themselves and their friends, so lots of cushy appointed positions have been added to our behemoth federal ship of state.
If you want your mind numbed, read through the linked column of some of the "missing":
At the State Department, Rex Tillerson is operating with 110 fewer presidential appointees than he should be. He’s missing a deputy secretary, a chief financial officer, an undersecretary for management, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs, an assistant secretary for intelligence, a coordinator for counter-terrorism, a representative to the European Union, and a special envoy for North Korea. There are no ambassadors to Germany, Canada, France, the Holy See, India, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or South Korea, and there is no permanent representative to NATO.
I'm not sure I can complete my day knowing that we are missing an ambassador to the Holy See!
This particular article is from National Review -- it is mildly suspicious of Trump's competence relative to this ... many of those on the left are SCATHING! Total confirmation that Trump is massively incompetent!
Usually, in order to judge something like this we need to ask the Henny Youngman question "How's your wife?" .... "Compared to what?". Due to the wonder of the internet, it is very easy to find such comparative material. Here is some from the NY Times, May 2nd 2013, a similar time into the SECOND term of BO.
Hmm, so we have media writing articles about something that looks to be an issue in at least all recent administrations, and we are to be concerned? So what do we glean from this?
Our government is so huge it is beyond human comprehension. EVERYONE is lost ... the media, the population, the government bureaucrats themselves, etc.
Media primarily sells words and they have to keep churning them out all the time -- left, right, etc, it is words, words, words, and any level of PERSPECTIVE, let alone "wisdom" is completely lacking.
So here we are, left on our own to try to figure it out ... therefore, NEVER trust the media, ANY media!
Understanding the liberal mind is one of my passions. The key is nearly always "consistency is NOT an issue" ... in fact, it is typically seen as something to be avoided from the left. It estabilishes truth as being contextual and fungible and therefore allows many times failed collectivist doctrines to be seen as "new and untried".
Consistency is a basic human problem/challenge -- the two logical ways to handle it are to attempt to achieve it, or deny that it is possible, and by extension to "feel good", not desireable.
In this case, nearly anyone that has scratched the surface of American HIstory, in which the Civil War looms large, has wondered "Why here?" ... slavery died around the world with increasing moral outrage and application of technology to slave tasks. Yet here it meant war.
The left TYPICALLTY finds war to be justifiably abhorrent -- nearly any level of negoitaion / bargaining / even capitulation is considered superior to the application of violence.
I DO understand the current level of left wing emotional hatred of Trump, and in this instance, that seems clearly operative. Trump said it, we hate Trump, ergo ...
I'm a follower of NPR as part of my balanced media diet. I commend them as to not being willing to abandon all intellectual honesty and even stand by quietly. because they know better.
The "dumbing down" of America since the 1950s has led us on a direct path to where we are today. The courage of those on both sides to do what NPR did in this case is probably the only way out without the current "Cold Civil War" turning unfortunately "hot". I pray that eventually we follow such wisdom.
This rather insane column is a solid insight into how the leftist mind works.
1. Hillary Clinton sets up an illegal private server in her basement that is thinly defeneded from hacking.
2. She uses the server during her time at the State Department to hide her illegal foundation activities in the "Clinton Fund" ... funds, for Clintons, as well as storing / transmitting multiple documents classified "Top Secret' ... an eat off a tin tray felony.
3. She repeatedly lies about was on the server "personal yoga schedules", NOTHING classified in any way, etc, etc.
4. So she gets investigated ... and any other American would go to prison. HOWEVER
The specific reason he cited: Bill Clinton’s decision to board Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s plane in late June, when their planes were both on a tarmac in Phoenix. “The capper was — and I’m not picking on Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who I like very much — but her meeting with President Clinton on that airplane was the capper for me,” Comey said. Comey decided to “step away” and announce, without consulting the Justice Department, that Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be charged.
Ergo ... "Hillary losing was Bill Clinton's fault"!!!!
Let's rewind -- first of all, I'm no fan of Slick Willie.
Second, even in the "proximate causes" area, are we expected to believe that the Attorney General of the US has no ability to decline a private meeting with the well-known husband of a target of an investigation by her own agency? Clearly Comey thought there was DEFINITE meaning in her decision ... My boss is willing to break protocol and publicly meet with the husband of an investigation target, ergo, we are NOT going to prosecute this particular target ...
But seriously folks. WHO is it that set up the server in the first place and willfully broke a ton of laws in the process? HILLARY CLINTON!!!!
In the lefty universe, there is no truth, so there can be no causality. It's "the Russians fault", "Comey's fault", etc, etc. Even someone running for the highest office in the US from the left does not bear responsibiliuty for their own behavior nor the operation of their campaign. In the lefty world, they are NEVER responsible!
My personal guess is that "Deploreables" cost her enough votes to lose ... along with fainting in public, lying repeatedly, rigging the primaries and getting caught, etc, etc. She has to be the most unlikeable person to ever run for the presidency and that is saying a lot!
The AMAZING thing is that even with all that, she still only lost by an electoral landslide -- which in my book is more indicitive of the level of vote fraud in the country than anything else. A lefty can be a complete charlatan, run as such, and because the "dead, imaginary and undocumneted democrat" vote still goes 100% for them, they still win the popular vote!
You have to love the media -- story after story about how "Trump can't stop talking/thinking about 2016" ... and they are certain that it is going to HURT him bigtime (you know how the MSM is always concerned about what is best for Trump!).
Here is the NY Times with BO in Missouri in July of 2010, a full year and 1/2 after his narrow loss in Missouri while taking the presidency in 2008. Strangely, the Times seems to be very OK with BO thinking about 2008 in 2010, and even making extensive trips to Missouri based on the 2008 results.
I suppose one conclusion could be that the media loves Trump and hated BO, so they are trying to help Trump now by pointing out the error of his ways, while back in 2010, they hated BO, so they faked like it was a good idea to waste time on Missouri based on 2008 results.
Or it might be the reverse -- which I believe.
Further evidence for either my view or the thought that the liberal press is of AT LEAST two minds is this artiicle headlined "Democrats Say They Know Exactly Why Hillary Lost". Hint, it's not Russians, it is low black turnout and BO voters that crossed over to Trump, possibly by way of Sanders.` I could SWEAR I've read more than a few retrospecitves of the 2016 election from the left. If they can't give up thinking about it is it REALLY any surprise that Trunp hasn't?
How many presidents quit thinking and talking about their great victories before they die? I'd say NONE. Obviously, the MSM will continue remembering BO's victories as they remember Slick Willie's victories very fondly for a very long time. Reagan's victories, W's victories, and now Trump's victory are naturally hated.
Jonah gets into my topic a little bit in the linked column. We all understand that the term "denier" is intended to bring up the image of a HOLOCAUST "denier" and thus mentally put those whose opinions on climate change differ from those who see it as an immediate existential threat in the most horrid light imaginable.
The word "denier" ties people labeled with it to those who would deny the closest thing to metaphysical evil recognized in the post-modern, post-truth materialist west. It is the medieval equivalent of labelling someone "demonic or satanic" ... it is "beyond the pale", and any remotely decent modern person should be willing to do ANYTHING to avoid that label from the POV of the priesthood of the left.
But does it work?
It has an effect. As Orwell covered so well in "Animal Farm" and "1984", language control by the powerful has a HUGE effect on the human psyche. The level of indoctrination of the youth is certainly the reason we see riots at Berkley over the very IDEA that they would be "exposed" to the horrors of speech from people identified as being as close to metaphysical spiritual evil as our insane modern world can imagine.
So they riot. Their actions are similar to burning Joan of Arc or witches in the past. They see the horror of what has been conjured to be "the ultimate evil" as simply beyond their capacity to resist -- it must be STAMPED OUT! Like Odysseus having his ears plugged with wax and being tied to the mast so he would be saved from the siren's song, they do their modern version so they can resist the horror of Ann Coulter. What if some heard her siren wail? It is too horrible to even contemplate.
The insanity of this world however is that on one hand, post-modernism would tell us that words are only meaningful in terms of power. There is no "truth" ... not philosophical, not scientific and certainly not transcendent / theological. The only "truth" **IS** POWER, thus the riots.
Is the descent into violent physical power being the only coin of the realm being carried out by intellectuals that understand all of this, or is it merely an accident of leaving the world of transcendent meaning behind?
Since I refuse to look at my opponents on the left as idiots, I'm forced to pretty much assume malevolence on their part -- unless they can read, understand, and refute "Ideas Have Consequences".
BO brought home the bacon to DC. As the article linked at the top points out:
Not only are America’s 2.2 million civilian federal employees making more than their counterparts in the private market; the compensation gap is widening between the feds and the taxpaying public they allegedly serve. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office released this week finds that “the federal government paid 17 percent more in total compensation than it would have if average compensation had been comparable with that in the private sector.”
Will Trump be able to pop this balloon? As we can see, opposition from BOTH parties will be EXTREME! One might think that since 95+% of government workers vote for the D party, the R's might be more willing to trim the DC pork a bit, but that does not seem to be the case. When your pig gets as big as the DC pig is, it is just plain scary to reuduce it's rations!
I got to hear Mayo's top guy, Dr John Noseworthy, talk at a luncheon this past week -- looks like a CEO from Hollywood casting. Tall, thin, full head of just perfectly grey flecked hair, angular leading man good looks, and oh so smooth as a speaker!
He led off with a little story of silent Cal Coolidge. Cal goes to church, reporter asks him coming out what the sermon was about. Cal says "sin", reporter inquires further on what the minister had to say on that topic. Cal responds "he was against it".
Noseworthy's topic was a "Strong Diverse Connected Community" ... he was for it. Very effective speaking device. I hope John is a great CEO ... I have a house I want to sell here in the next year or two!
The link is to a Slate article strongly defending BO taking $400K for a speaking fee -- well deserved, W only gets $100K (tsk, tsk). BO's first book post presidency deal is $65 million, that is also a good thing according to Slate. No surprise here ... if it were not for double standards, we know that humans sans religion would have no standards at all. Most everyone loves their own team.
Here is BO on the income topic ... His supporters would no doubt point out that he was indicating limits on what OTHERS should be satisfied with in earnings. As "The One", he is naturally exempt from limits .... being on "the right side of history" has it's privileges.
I got in a little chat with a guy on FB today about some cartoonist in IA supposedly being fired because he complained about CEO pay. I went out and took a look, and the CEO of John Deere makes $16 million a year ... Joe Mauer of Twins fame, $23 million a year, Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers pitcher) is the high in MLB, average salary is $4.5 million. Noseworthy makes $3.8 million ... less than the average MLB player. Turns out it was last years news ... too old to even be fake.
I can understand plain old envy -- people just not liking what others make, how good looking they are, their talents, their blessings, their oxen, manservants, maidservants, etc. Covetousness is an old problem ... the answer is to repent, focus on your own blessings and move on.
Who is being "hurt" by CEO or MLB salaries? For the MLB, it is fans buying tickets and possibly consumers buying products that are advertised when games are televised. For CEOs, it is the SHAREHOLDERS, not the employees -- they are not going to receive more salary because the business KNOWS pretty much what they contribute to the bottom line. Here is an article on this if you don't already understand it.
Even if we assume that CEOs are all overpaid, the pay is not money taken unfairly from other workers. Rather, the undeserved pay is being taken from shareholders. When corporate boards overpay a CEO, it is shareholders who lose because profits that could have become either shareholder dividends or capital gains are instead going into the pocket of the CEO.
Do the fans and the shareholders feel hurt? Not as long as their highly paid star is performing.
Most of the CEOs are actually "progressives" as well ... so we have the odd case where "progressives" hate their own because in general they are unaware they are on their side -- like Oprah, BO, or "The Clinton Fund' (funds ... for Clintons). As the Slate article thinly disguises, what is important is for young "progressives" to understand that as long as they follow "progressive" dogma, both wealth and women are on the list of perks!
Christ died for the whole sorry bunch of us. He even dined with tax collectors -- the lowest of the low in those times. Making the money, casting the stones, puffing up our chests in pride because what **WE** make is EARNED ... oh, and JUDGEMENT! We love to judge others!
rhetoric -- sales speech
dialectic -- philosopher discussion speech
facts -- inductively verifiable pieces of data
Bill Nye and Neil "The Gassy" Tyson are Televangelists for the religion of Scientism -- the belief that 2+2=4, ergo "I am become god" (science as religion). Their stock and trade is rhetoric, not facts ... and I doubt if they would know dialectic if it bit them in the posterior.
The article does a good job of covering some of the seaminess of Scientism, I highly recommend it.
Freeman Dyson is an actual scientist, so nobody cares what he thinks ... he states the obvious that anyone with a junior high understanding of climate knows:
The most questionable of these beliefs is the notion that the science of climate change is settled and understood. The biggest of all climate changes have been the ice ages, which have covered half of North America and Europe with kilometer-thick sheets of ice. Ice ages happened repeatedly in the past, and we are about due for another one to start. A new ice age would be a disaster far greater than anything we have to fear from climate warming. There are many theories of ice ages, but no real understanding. So long as we do not understand ice ages, we do not understand climate change.
In order for the left to win, ALL institutions have to be destroyed. If even 20% of the public understood basic philosophy, theology, politics, and junior high science, we would still live in America rather than BOistan.
Alas ... the set of people that have that level of understanding is more like 1% -- so we perish in BOistan ... but as always, the perishing scream and march loudly.
Go off and watch the little video ... the rest of this will make more sense.
Reagan warned us that when we were no longer "One Nation Under God", we would be a nation "gone under". As per usual, he was right.
I could quibble with a lot in the video -- the profanity (although the "F word" is basically just a part of speech today). The statistics are mostly hooey ... take out the REALLY failed black Democrat sub-culture, and most of those clean up.
Infant mortality is a complete crock ... we count ANY baby "born alive" ... most of the countries on the planet just count "babies to term" ... they don't even try to keep many of the ones we do alive, and we do it even with the poor, the black, the fetal alcohol syndrome, crack, etc -- compare "white middle class births within 3-4 weeks of term" and we are #1 ... damned close with life expectancy as well.
Defense? My book bill is pretty huge -- but compared to my income? Nothing of any interest ... same with the US. Compare defense to GDP and we are fourth ... behind Saudi Arabia, Israel and Russia ... India, France, UK and China are right behind us in the same ballpark. The official NATO goal that ALL the NATO countries are supposed to meet is 2%.
The fact remains, BOistan is NOT the greatest nation -- Russia, Israel, Iran and China would all be in the running ... maybe Germany. At least the rest of them have some pride in their own existence.
More education is no use ... knowing everything about nothing is counterproductive at best. WHY?? That is the question. What is it that is supposed to be unique about BOistan? We are the only nation where a majority of the youth have been taught (brainwashed?) to hate their own countries history? What would our goal be? Our people are absolutely the same and have no distinguishing features? We love everyone and believe everyone will love us because we love them? We are the only people that can't figure out if we are men or women -- or what it would even mean to "act like men"?
Perhaps our goal is "We are clueless, pity us" .... Maybe the "natural evolutionary path" of BOistan is to develop into a nation of leeches like the Pacleds from STNG ... "We look for things we need ... things to make us go .."
I'm sure Satan regularly reads the Times, if he didn't write the editorial himself. Inversion is his favorite mode, and this column is a study in it.
First of all, it gives you the impression that the Constitution is against the death penalty, when it specifically allows it in the 8th amendment saying nobody can be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." ... if "due process" can't be handled in 22 years, then we don't have any "due process' at all, and even deprivation of "property" (taxes) is unconstitutional.
Then we have:
In short, the first significant decision by Justice Gorsuch, who was sworn in to office less than two weeks ago, was the most consequential any justice can make — to approve a man’s killing by the state.
Seriously? To affirm what the Constitution clearly says in the 8th Amendment so that a murderer found guilty over 20 years ago can finally receive his sentence is MORE important than Roe V Wade, which declared the death penalty for 60 million of the most innocent life imaginable?
The cackling in Hell at that howler must be deafening!
