This is not a time for pessimism, this is a time for optimism. Fear and doubt is not a good process...to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow we must reject the perennial profits of doom and their warnings about the apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday's foolish fortune tellers...they want to see us do badly, but we won't let that happen. They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the 70s and the end of oil in the 1990s. These alarmists always demand the same thing - absolute power to dominate transform and control every aspect of our lives. We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country or eradicate our liberty. America will always be the proud, strong and unyielding bastion of freedom.
That must have ruffled some feathers
The President's non-impeachment speech yesterday to the Davoisie:
Cowboy Poetics
Colorado's having a Cowboy Poetry festival. The one older lady is singing a tune that was ironic even when Georgia native Johnny Mercer wrote it in the 1930s. It's all about how he's 'an old cowhand' in a world in which that's lost at least its original meaning: a cowboy who never saw a cow, who learned his cowboy songs from the radio, where the old Bar-X is a barbecue.
Roy Rogers made it famous, though, while rescuing all that for the next generation. It was huge in the 1950s, and still going in the 1970s. Time may come again.
Warning Order: Time to Prepare for Burns Night
It's the 25th, which is Saturday.
If you'd like that in less accented English, try this one.
My favorite of his works is, of course, Scots Wha Hae.
It's a terrible movie in so many ways. It knows nothing about the customs or costumes, tactics or weapons; the Battle of Stirling Bridge lacks a bridge, and the Battle of Bannockburn lacks the Bannockburn. They got everything wrong, except the one thing that matters most.
If you'd like that in less accented English, try this one.
My favorite of his works is, of course, Scots Wha Hae.
'Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled,This is the moment that ends Braveheart, with Robert the Bruce giving an appeal to a poem not yet written.
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome tae yer gory bed,
Or tae victorie.
'Now's the day, an now's the hour:
See the front o battle lour,
See approach proud Edward's power –
Chains and Slaverie.
'Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha will fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn an flee.
'Wha, for Scotland's king and law,
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or Freeman fa,
Let him on wi me.
'By Oppression's woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free.
'Lay the proud usurpers low,
Tyrants fall in every foe,
Liberty's in every blow! –
Let us do or dee.
It's a terrible movie in so many ways. It knows nothing about the customs or costumes, tactics or weapons; the Battle of Stirling Bridge lacks a bridge, and the Battle of Bannockburn lacks the Bannockburn. They got everything wrong, except the one thing that matters most.
“Criminal-Like Behavior”?
Don’t give them any ideas, Dershowitz.
I don’t find the argument strong. Treason and bribery aren’t “criminal-like,” they are crimes. The law is too complex and all-entwining as it is. If they’d been patient and careful, they would have found some crime. As their own manager admitted today, however, they were worried it wouldn’t happen before the election.
Congress makes the law. If they didn’t get around to making a law against whatever it is they don’t like, that’s on them. Goodness knows they have made enough other frivolous laws, in addition to the perfectly good ones we inherited.
UPDATE: The Devil you say!
I don’t find the argument strong. Treason and bribery aren’t “criminal-like,” they are crimes. The law is too complex and all-entwining as it is. If they’d been patient and careful, they would have found some crime. As their own manager admitted today, however, they were worried it wouldn’t happen before the election.
Congress makes the law. If they didn’t get around to making a law against whatever it is they don’t like, that’s on them. Goodness knows they have made enough other frivolous laws, in addition to the perfectly good ones we inherited.
UPDATE: The Devil you say!
If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure not to leave anything in your car. "Inside Edition" journalists left bait on back seats with surveillance devices:
The “Inside Edition” crew used its tracker to find the thieves. They confronted the duo as they entered a train station.
* * *
Eventually, the man abandoned the [tracking] speaker. “Inside Edition” then tracked the stolen purse to a garbage can.
But while all of this was going on, thieves broke into the crew’s car and stole the camera equipment. As a result, five million people won’t see either theft, and “Inside Edition” is out thousands of dollars worth of equipment.
San Francisco has a new prosecutor, Chesa Boudin. His parents are murderers and he was raised by the notorious radicals (and criminals) Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.
Price Controls: Good or Bad?
Bernie Sanders was just today renewing his call for 'nationwide rent control,' but for some reason it was a negative for Mayor Pete.
Pressed by Times editorial board member Binyamin Appelbaum about his work for a Canadian grocery chain that was fixing bread prices, Buttigieg was defensive in a way he hasn’t been for much of the campaign, uttering a swear (“bullshit”). Appelbaum’s dead-voiced rejoinder—“You worked for a company that was fixing bread prices”—forced Buttigieg to make the distinction that he merely consulted for the company and never, you know, actually fixed the prices.I understand why I think it's a bad idea to fix the prices of bread, exceptis excipiendis, but what's the issue for the New York Times? The price was fixed too high? Above zero?
Good Job, Virginia
Today's "Lobby Day" rally by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, joined by at least ten thousand others, was peaceful and patriotic.
Hopefully the message was received.
UPDATE: BB: Tragedy when no violence in occurs at rally.
Hopefully the message was received.
UPDATE: BB: Tragedy when no violence in occurs at rally.
I hope they've got food-tasters
The Bee is getting a little too close for comfort.
We must look to socialism, where wealth isn't created just to be distributed unevenly, but rather isn't created at all.
Bad Day for Warren
NYT endorses her... and also fourth-tier Klobuchar.
UPDATE: New Republic says it's a 'charade' that was 'undermined' by the dual endorsement. Don't you make things better if you undermine a charade? Apparently not.
UPDATE: New Republic says it's a 'charade' that was 'undermined' by the dual endorsement. Don't you make things better if you undermine a charade? Apparently not.
Tasks for the next generation of biologists
I wish I'd had this guy for a college professor.
I often tout his books, and wish he'd write more of them. He's a very talented popularizer.
I often tout his books, and wish he'd write more of them. He's a very talented popularizer.
Economic raving
Everything would be great if only the government could take over the economy and make it rational:
Last year, the S+P 500 rose by 29%, the NASDAQ by 35%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 22%. Middle-class Americans are increasingly reliant on their 401(k)s and pensions to live comfortably during retirement. Millions of other Americans depend on college-savings funds to help pay for their kids' educations. And even those without a stock portfolio benefit from a vibrant market, which generates profits that are invested in hiring, innovation and salaries while helping move money from unprofitable sectors to more profitable ones.
This chaotic churning of money turns off technocrats. Rather than taking the view that the growing economy is a messy but neutral marketplace where ingenuity and opportunity can create comfort and wealth, they see it as a giant pile of money that should be "invested" in massive, state-mandated social engineering projects. As far as I can tell, both Sanders and Warren are interested in effectively nationalizing large chunks of the health care and energy sectors.
And yet the media continue to cover the Democratic primary debates where such ideas are the currency of the realm as if they were completely normal.
Ouch
Stings:
Northam reminded everyone that Virginia is his state, his choice, and that it's not a state full of American citizens with God-given rights unless he declares it to be so.
He was frightened, however, to learn that Virginians own guns and can defend themselves if threatened by callous governments, unlike unborn babies.
Impersonal warfare
From Daniel McCarthy at the Spectator:
The outrage was hypocritical: drone strikes aerosolize wedding parties full of innocent people on a semi-regular basis, but the minute one takes out a general who had masterminded insurgency operations against US troops in a war zone, Congress suddenly has an attack of conscience. Like impeachment, this reveals more about the real character of the institution than a wise legislator would want known. Killing Soleimani, a man who deserved to die, was more controversial than ‘collateral damage’ in the form of civilian lives lost because Congress does not have the courage to question the underlying morality of the wars and prolonged occupations that are now a permanent feature of American foreign policy. What made Soleimani’s death so objectionable was that it was so unusual — so personal — when our political class likes to believe that war is now a science, to be conducted only as approved by the experts.
Impeachment all the way down
Matthew Continetti thinks this will be the first president to be impeached multiple times, a constant background noise.
Maybe Nancy Pelosi waited to send impeachment to the Senate because she was waiting for her pens to arrive....“Nothing says seriousness and sobriety like handing out souvenirs,” said Mitch McConnell.
Your Vote is Unconstitutional
Originally I posted this as an update to something below, but it's really worthy of its own post. From NBC News, an argument that Trump voters are violating the law and voting for Trump is probably unconstitutional.
Steppe-in Up
Here's about 40 minutes of traditional Mongolian music from the Altai Band. I enjoy this more than The Hu, although "Wolf Totem" and "Yuve Yuve Yu" are on my regular playlist now.
Dalia al-Aqidi
This is quite a video.
She's running against Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is in the Democrat +26 5th District of Minnesota. You might think her appeal to patriotism as herself also a Muslim female refugee might be wise, as Omar is frequently criticized for her open disdain for the culture and nation that took her in and raised her to power. However, you probably wouldn't expect her to tie herself so visibly to the American military, nor to repeatedly praise "my President."
It's an interesting strategy given the terrain. We'll see if it pays off for her. In any case, you should learn her name. My guess is she'll be around.
She's running against Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is in the Democrat +26 5th District of Minnesota. You might think her appeal to patriotism as herself also a Muslim female refugee might be wise, as Omar is frequently criticized for her open disdain for the culture and nation that took her in and raised her to power. However, you probably wouldn't expect her to tie herself so visibly to the American military, nor to repeatedly praise "my President."
It's an interesting strategy given the terrain. We'll see if it pays off for her. In any case, you should learn her name. My guess is she'll be around.
Medieval Metal
So, listening to The Hu on YouTube brings a lot of interesting recommendations. Apocalypse Orchestra was one of them. Not sure what I think, but it seemed appropriate to share here.
Getting It Wrong
Apparently we've been mistaken about the name of a building for thousands of years.
Dutch scholars claim that the name “Parthenon” – popularised in the Roman period - originally belonged to an entirely different building, not the vast stone temple that looms over Athens and attracts millions of tourists a year.It's hard to correct an error that old.
The real Parthenon was in fact an ancient Greek treasury which contained offerings to the goddess Athena, according to the research by Utrecht University.
Today known as the Erechtheion, it is located about 100 yards from the main temple on the Acropolis, the massive rocky escarpment that rises from central Athens.
Rather than being known as the Parthenon, the big temple should be known by its original ancient Greek name, the tongue-twisting Hekatompedon.
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