I understand that Washington, D.C., is completely shut down. I bet Obama is blaming the Republicans. And Mitch McConnell is calling on members of his party to compromise.
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Archive for January, 2016
Snowmageddon
Posted by Richard on January 23, 2016
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: gop, obama, politics, weather | Leave a Comment »
Glenn Frey, R.I.P.
Posted by Richard on January 18, 2016
One of the sad aspects of growing old is that the people whose music was an important part of my youth keep dying. In the past year or so, we’ve lost too many. B.B. King and Alan Toussaint. Yes founder Chris Squire (Rick, I’m sorry I never posted that tribute you wanted). Billy Joe Royal. The Easybeats’ Stevie Wright. Three Dog Night’s Cory Wells and Jimmy Greenspoon. Just recently, David Bowie.
And today, the Eagles’ Glenn Frey. Don Henley released a wonderful tribute to his friend and bandmate:
“He was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction. But, the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved. We were two young men who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles with the same dream: to make our mark in the music industry — and with perseverance, a deep love of music, our alliance with other great musicians and our manager, Irving Azoff, we built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed. But, Glenn was the one who started it all. He was the spark plug, the man with the plan. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and a work ethic that wouldn’t quit. He was funny, bullheaded, mercurial, generous, deeply talented and driven. He loved is wife and kids more than anything. We are all in a state of shock, disbelief and profound sorrow. We brought our two-year ‘History of the Eagles Tour’ to a triumphant close at the end of July and now he is gone. I’m not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of other people all over the planet. It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it. But, I will be grateful, every day, that he was in my life. Rest in peace, my brother. You did what you set out to do, and then some.”
A lot of people have forgotten (or are too young to know) that the Eagles began as the backup band for Linda Ronstadt.
One of the best concerts I ever saw was the Eagles playing in a great big field on a farm in East Tennessee somewhere, with a “quadrophonic” sound setup: four giant speaker towers at the four corners of the audience area. IIRC, that was in the summer of 1974, because the playlist was mostly from Desperado and On the Border (my two favorite Eagles albums). The opening act was Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, which sounds inappropriate genre-wise, but it actually worked quite well.
Goodbye, Glenn. You’ll be missed. But you’ve left us with a marvelous legacy.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: eagles, glenn frey, music, rock | 1 Comment »
Article V convention: savior or disaster?
Posted by Richard on January 10, 2016
Article V of the Constitution provides for two means of amending the Constitution: Congress can propose amendments (two-thirds of each house concurring), the process with which we’re all familiar, or a convention of the states can propose amendments (two-thirds of the states concurring). In both cases, the approved amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or by conventions in three-fourths of the states.
The convention of states idea has been kicking around for some time among people concerned about the inability to constrain an out-of-control, overreaching federal government. It seems to have picked up steam after the 2013 publication of Mark Levin’s The Liberty Amendments. A number of different groups are working toward some kind of Article V convention; some want to limit it to a single amendment (e.g., balanced budget or term limits), while others, like Levin, want multiple amendments around a single subject (limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government). Texas Governor Greg Abbott made news this past week by jumping aboard. His proposal seems at first glance to mirror Levin’s proposals and the Convention of States Project (which Levin has endorsed).
One of the most influential supporters is Rob Natelson, a senior fellow at Denver’s wonderful Independence Institute, which hosts the Article V Information Center, an invaluable resource on the subject.
For an overview of the key players and an assessment of the movement as of November 2015, see David Guldenschuh’s Heartland Institute policy brief (PDF, 40 pages).
The Article V idea has drawn opposition from a number of people and groups on the right who claim that Congress would have too much power to define the rules and control the process, and that there would be no way to limit the scope of such a convention to what the proponents want. They worry that the Second Amendment could be rewritten and other grievous harm to what’s left of our freedoms could be done. Chief among them are Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum and the John Birch Society.
Also opposed is Colorado’s Dudley Brown, who is rallying opposition through his two gun-rights organizations, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) and the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR). (Interestingly, the Guldenschuh PDF I linked to above is on the NAGR website, even though Guldenschuh is an Article V proponent.)
One leftist group is pushing for an Article V convention specifically to prohibit corporate campaign contributions, overturning Citizens United. But contrary to the claims of some Article V opponents, George Soros is not supporting the Article V movement, and in fact, Soros-funded groups (including Common Cause) have denounced the idea.
The Convention of States website has a ton of information countering the critics and their concerns about a “runaway convention,” etc., which I’ve only begun to explore.
Based on what I know now, I’m cautiously inclined to support an Article V convention of the states, either for a single amendment (as a test of the process) or for a carefully crafted single subject as proposed by the Convention of States Project. The arguments for it seem more persuasive than the arguments against it. And I’m much more inclined to believe the folks at the Independence Institute than Schlafly and the Birchers. How about you?
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: article v, constitution, convention of states | 4 Comments »
Diminishing returns
Posted by Richard on January 9, 2016
Charles Hugh Smith has an interesting post about how the world-wide orgy of “stimulus” spending, with money created by expanding debt, is working (emphases in original):
We can summarize the official “solution” to the Global Financial Meltdown of 2008 in one line: borrow and blow trillions–of yen, yuan, dollars, euros, reals, you name it.The goal of borrowing and blowing trillions was to re-invigorate “growth”— any kind of “growth,” no matter how wasteful, unproductive or even counter-productive it might be: wars, nation-building, ghost cities, needless MRIs, useless college diplomas, bridge to nowhere–anything the borrowed money was squandered on counts as “growth” in the Keynesian status quo.Unsurprisingly, this strategy yields diminishing returns as the negative returns on all this debt-fueled spending piles up. While the yield on the “investment” is either negative or only fleetingly positive, the interest due on the debt is forever. That’s the source of diminishing returns in a nutshell.
Here’s one of the graphs illustrating the point, but go read the whole thing.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: debt, diminishing returns, economics, economy, finance, spending, stimulus | Leave a Comment »
Denial is a mayor in Philly
Posted by Richard on January 8, 2016
Another instance of sudden jihad syndrome: A Philadelphia police officer, Jessie Hartnett, is lucky to be alive after being shot at 13 times as he sat in his patrol car at an intersection. The assailant, Edward Archer, is in custody and has confessed. Archer said he did it in the name of Islam and has pledged loyalty to ISIS. Archer’s brother told a local reporter that Archer had made the hajj.
Brother: Suspect had made pilgrimage to Mecca, was upset over police treatment of African-American men. @FOX29philly 10p
— Sabina Kuriakose (@SabinaKuriakose) January 9, 2016
Philadelphia’s mayor, however, wanted to make something clear:
After police confirmed that the suspect who attempted to “execute” a Philadelphia police officer on Thursday night claimed to have done so in the name of Islam, Mayor Jim Kenney told reporters on Friday that the attack is not connected to Islam in any way.
“In no way, shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teachings of Islam have anything to do with what you’ve seen on that screen,” Kenney said. “That is abhorrent. It’s just terrible, and it does not represent the religion in any way, shape or form or any of its teachings.”
“This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers,” he added. “[It] has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith.”
Mayor Kenney claimed instead that it has something to do with “too many guns on the street.” Turns out the gun was a police officer’s, stolen from his home two years earlier. Not from a gun show or the internet. Oops.
Archer fired 13 shots at Officer Hartnett at point-blank range and only hit him three times. I guess Hartnett is lucky that Archer spent a lot more time reading the Koran than practicing his marksmanship.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: denial, jihad, philly, police, terrorism | Leave a Comment »
“By the way, Raoul, do you think you could give us back our missile?”
Posted by Richard on January 8, 2016
An inert U.S. Hellfire missile sent to Europe for a NATO training exercise in 2014 was mistakenly shipped to Cuba and has been there ever since.
Though the missile does not contain any explosives, The Wall Street Journal reports U.S. officials are concerned that Cuban authorites may share the missile’s sensors and targeting technology with countries like Russia, China and North Korea.
May? It’s been there a year and a half. The targeting technology is probably already in the hands of every unsavory regime from the DPRK to Iran and may well be for sale on the darknet.
Several people familiar with the case told the Journal that the incident is the worst example of sensitive military technology falling into the hands of a nation under U.S. sanctions that they can recall.
According to the Journal report, the missile was properly shipped to Spain, where it was used in the exercise. It was then supposed to be taken on a roundabout journey back to the U.S. via Germany. Instead, the Journal reported the missile was loaded onto an Air France truck that took the cargo to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, where it was put on a flight to Havana.
The Journal reported that federal investigators were working to determine whether the shipment was the result of a major error, or the work of international criminals or spies.
A U.S. official told the Associated Press that manufacturer Lockheed Martin was authorized to export the dummy missile for the training exercise. The official attributed the shipping error to Lockheed’s freight forwarders, and said the U.S. was working with Lockheed to get the device back.
I try always to remember Hanlon’s Razor. But in this case, William of Ockham has assured me that “major error” is nowhere near the simplest explanation. A much simpler explanation is that someone(s) perpetrated something similar to the FedEx shipping theft scheme unearthed last year.
And “working with Lockheed to get the device back”? Does Lockheed have some in with the Castro regime that I’m not aware of?
U.S. officials have been urging the Cuban government to return the missile, the Journal said, adding that officials don’t suspect that Cuba will try to develop similar weapons technology on its own. The U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in July 2015 after more than 50 years of hostility.
Obama is willing to do whatever it takes (constitutional or not) to deprive Social Security recipients and veterans who need help with their finances of their Second Amendment rights. But he wouldn’t make restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba contingent on the return of that Hellfire? Has there ever been another instance of the leader of a country so clearly being an enemy of that country?
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: cuba, hellfire missile, national security, obama | Leave a Comment »
Socialist, Democrat – “What difference does it make now, anyway?”
Posted by Richard on January 8, 2016
Shot:
Video: Matthews discovers that Hillary can’t tell the difference between Democrats and socialists, either
By this time, Chris Matthews must be panicked. When he asked DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to explain the difference between Democrats and socialists, the MSNBC host expressed considerable angst that the party’s leading officer couldn’t do so. “I used to think there was a big difference,” Matthews lamented at the time.
Fast forward five months. Matthews posed the question to the party’s leading candidate for its presidential nomination, and … Hillary Clinton couldn’t explain it either. Who else can Matthews ask? Joe Manchin, please pick up the red courtesy phone:
…
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: clinton, democrats, hillary, socialism | Leave a Comment »
Look, mom, that woman has a pee-pee!
Posted by Richard on January 8, 2016
Leon Wolf reports at Red State (emphases in original):
The Washington State Human Rights Commission, a regulatory agency, has been empowered by the Washington State legislature to draft legally binding rules for businesses to prevent “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender expression[.]” The commission has released its final rule, and boy is it a doozy.
Among other things, the rule makes it illegal to ask “unwelcome personal questions about an individual’s sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity, or transgender status.” In other words, not only can women not prevent a person with full male equipment from entering their restroom or locker room, they can’t even ask what he is doing there.
Given that the rule applies to schools as well as businesses, your child can now run afoul of this law if they encounter one of the increasing number of prepubescent kids who are victims of the particular species of child abuse where parents tell their 8 year old kid they are transgendered.
As to what constitutes an “unwelcome” personal question about a person’s gender expression, the rule does not say; presumably, the person who is being questioned has sole discretion over whether to make someone into a lawbreaker or not.
The rule also makes it illegal for a business (including a school) to deliberately misuse the pronoun any person would prefer, thus meaning that Washington State has joined the city of New York in fining people who call human males “he” if they decide they want to be called “she.”
…
Our society has collectively lost its damn mind. It’s difficult to imagine a society so full of rot that it would allow a rule like this to be promulgated in a major political subdivision can expect to last for very long.
It is to laugh. Or to cry. Or maybe to engage in guerilla theater. What do you say, guys? Go to Seattle, join a gym, strut into the women’s locker room, and declare yourself a lesbian trapped in a man’s body!
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: culture, insanity, political correctness, regulation, washington | Leave a Comment »
Must read: the back story behind the situation in Oregon
Posted by Richard on January 3, 2016
As you probably know by now, a militia group, including members of the Bundy family, have occupied a closed headquarters building in Oregon’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge. They are there to protest the latest in a decades-long series of persecutions of the Hammond family by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management. The Last Refuge has the full back story; it’s a long read, but highly recommended. You’ll learn many things that will never be reported in the MSM (where this occupation is being called terrorism by the same people who called the rioting and looting in Ferguson and Baltimore “peaceful protests” and defended them as justified).
Stories like this one and the Bundy family’s are not unique, just more noticed (thanks to those militia protests) than the many other similar ones. It’s quite clear that the FWS and BLM (among other agencies) have been run by anti-capitalist, anti-private-property watermelons for decades, and that they’ll stop at nothing to wrest land, water, and grazing rights away from their rightful owners. There’s no point in posting an excerpt; you simply must read the whole thing.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: hammond family, militia, oregon, property rights | Leave a Comment »