James Comey: Defender of Cafeteria Ethics

Newt Gingrich came right out and said what a lot of people think: James Comey - former U.S. attorney, deputy attorney general, corporate attorney, hedge-funder and FBI director - wrote a self-serving book filled with lies and half truths and may well be a “pathological liar.”

“I’m saying he taught himself a early age a series of self-serving emotions, which he uses … if you watch him for a couple of hours of this stuff, he uses it over and over,” Gingrich concluded. “This guy is almost a pathological liar.” Daily Caller

Worth a view:

Pathological liars may lie to gain sympathy…In order to keep up appearances, they may spin larger and more complicated lies. 

We all know somebody like this: they get a pained look on their face when they’re lying to you about whatever has gone awry not really being their fault but yours.

And like Comey, when you ask them a question they artfully deflect it and give you the carefully rehearsed answer to the question they wanted you to ask.

 Observe whether the person dodges questions. When confronted, a pathological liar may find a way to avoid answering a question. Pathological liars are manipulative by nature, so you may think they've answered something when they really have failed to do so.

Come to think of it that describes most Democrats. Not that Comey thinks of himself as a Democrat. No, he’s bigger than any political party.

(Comey) portrays himself as the defender of truth, the paragon of integrity, the embodiment of ethical values and principles and as someone guided by a steady moral compass…he even gives himself moral credit for not cutting in line at the FBI cafeteria! If there’s a Nobel Prize for restaurant manners, he should claim it.  Politico

When Trump-haters like Politico’s Jack Schafer say things like “When your 304-page book and marathon interviews produce sympathy for Donald Trump—even a dollop of sympathy—you’re doing it wrong,” trust me, he’s doing it wrong. But I’m sure he’ll get it all worked out in his head before he begins  teaching his course on ethical leadership at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

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The Incredible Lightness of ‘Smart Diplomacy’

Note to Barack Hussein Obama: This is what ‘smart diplomacy’ looks like:

‘How could a dangerous idiot like Donald Trump get little Kimmie to drop his guns when the brilliant Barry Obama (with his secret diplomatic weapon, Dennis Rodman) was unable to do so?

Could it be PDJT, using America’s strength as a trade partner, got…(Gasp!) China to exert force on our behalf? CNN certainly didn’t seem to think so earlier this month:

(CNN) A surprise visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to China may indicate Pyongyang's need for support from its closest ally ahead of upcoming summits with South Korea and the US.

Rather, I find it far more likely that Kimmie was summoned to Beijing at the behest of President Donald J. Trump, in order to ‘discuss’ the terms under which China was willing to remain North Korea’s primary trading partner and only military ally.

Translation: “Let me put it this way Little Rocket Man…I’m going to let you go home this time …”

But I suppose meeting without any preconditions could work too:

“Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?”… Mr. Obama: I would. - 2008

I will note however that the nuclear “deal” that Obama brokered with Iran did include preconditions – although it was Iran, not us, setting them – to the tune of billions of dollars.

Pallets of cash headed to Tehran – this is NOT what ‘smart diplomacy’ looks like

I guess Obama’s mom never taught him that if you have to buy your friends they’re not really your friends.

I leave it to you to decide what’s more dangerous, the appeasement rhetoric of President Obama (2009 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize!) or the nuclear curtailment rhetoric of VSGPDT. I bet I know Mr. and Mrs. Warmbier’s answer to that question.

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#FLOTUSFRIDAY: PTSD-by-Proxy

People wonder why Melania has been shunned by magazine editors around the world. It is curious, it would seem she is a natural having graced covers for most of her life.

And in Michelle Obama-ese, she can “totally rock” a shirtwaist like nobody.

But alas, we are experiencing the effects of PTSD (President Trump Stress Disorder) by-proxy syndrome. Hatin’ on Trump is not enough, the vitriol must be transferred to everything and anything associated with the President. And in Liberal-Land that includes the President’s wife and children - unless of course the President is a Democrat and then such behavior evokes feelings of outrage.

So forget the type of effusive praise heaped upon our previous FLOTUS (did you know she was black?). Today’s FLOTUS standard is more like: “Why Can’t Melania Trump Wear A Coat Properly?”

Which, by the way, is called “shrobing” (shoulder robing) and considered chic when Prince Harry’s Hollywood tart does it:

The Daily Mail suggests that Meghan Markle has perfected the art of shrobing when she was seen stepping out with her blazer draped over her shoulder. This fashion technique is called “shoulder-robing” which is now dubbed “shrobing.”

Not to mention that other fashion icons such as Anna Wintour and Diana Vreeland have been sporting the look for decades, as did Princess Diana. But none of them were married to Donald Trump.

It appears that the fashion world has moved on from ignoring Melania to open criticism such as Francesca Specter’s Express report on Melania’s “strange pink and yellow outfit” at the Opioid Memorial:

I think the fashion world, like the political world just needs to get a grip on reality. The Comey memos just turned over to Congress seem to clearly indicate that President Trump did not, repeat NOT collude with the Russians, all reportage to the contrary. And if you want to talk about truly strange pink and yellow outfits…well, I think you’re looking at the wrong FLOTUS.

It’s interesting to note that the fashion world has regained it’s snarkiness – a quality they seemed to have  completely lost during the Obama Occupation. Reclaimed for the Trump years:

Specter goes on to describe how Melania “topped off her bonkers getup” with yellow suede pumps from So Kate 120 Christian Louboutin. She finishes off her critique by saying that Melania Trump’s choice of attire was “so off-beat” that she “might as well have been dressing badly on purpose.”

I’m sorry Francis, but Lady M is the Grand Mistress Emeritus of that somewhat dubious honor.

The layered Cinco de Mayo tunic with the Checkered Cab Lucite belt paired with the double lavender/yellow mini-me sweater over your basic black trousers might just take the cake in the “dressing badly on purpose” category.

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#ThrowbackThursday: Life Was Better When We Drank Either Coke or Pepsi

Here are the facts: Two black real estate agents walk into a Starbucks…trigger warning! Racism ahead!

They are waiting to meet a (white) real estate developer – isn’t it just like a white guy to disrespect a couple of black men by being late – and they aren’t going to order anything until he arrived to pick up the tab.

They were planning to eff with the barista by ordering a couple of Flat Whites

One of the (black) men asked for the key to the restroom while waiting and was denied because a) company policy states restrooms are “for customers only” and b) they haven’t purchased anything. I don’t blame them; Starbucks is well known for serving overpriced sugar bombs with a shot of burnt coffee bean espresso. Still, you know: “no shirt, no shoes, no service.” That of course was before the enlightened age of Obama when anybody, anywhere, at any time can be accused, prosecuted and convicted of being a racist faster than you can say “Rainbow Coalition.” Now days you better think twice before denying anyone anything. 

So when the men were asked to leave because a) they still hadn’t purchased anything and b) they were taking up a table that paying customers might want to occupy they refused and you know the rest of the drill: police were called, arrests ensued, racism charged, tempers flare, CEOs apologize. And now the entire chain will close down for a half day in May in order that 175, 000 employees can be re-educated on the assumed inherent, implicit, unconscious racism that is latent in their hearts.

The mandatory “training” will be conducted by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and a contingent of luminaries from the Equal Justice Initiative, NAACP and Anti-Defamation League –all of whom will remain on retainer following the re-education camp in order to “review and monitor the effectiveness of the measures” Starbucks will put in place.  I assume those  measures will include, as they always did with Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, generous donations to the above agencies which fight so hard to ensure that other businesses also implement measures to ensure racial and social justice in their communities.

Starbucks is a slow learner however. Remember the last time this same Philadelphia Starbucks store had a story about refusing restroom access to a non-paying customer? In that incident the person denied was a uniformed police officer - presumably white as no massive retraining program to educate staff on their inherent police bias was rolled out. That was way back in 2015; the exact date was  9/11 – which you would think would have been a bad day to “dis” first responders. 

For the record, in the current Starbuck’s incident Philadelphia's police commissioner Richard Ross (black, not that it matters unless you’re keeping track) said that his officers did absolutely nothing wrong in making the arrests. That did not dissuade Starbuck’s from apologizing and launching the company wide racial sensitivity retraining initiative.

"The company's founding values are based on humanity and inclusion," said executive chairman Howard Schultz, who joined Johnson and other senior Starbucks leaders in Philadelphia to meet with community leaders and Starbucks partners. "We will learn from our mistakes and reaffirm our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming environment for every customer."

Because Howard Schultz has examined his conscience and found the chain he founded to be guilty: guilty of serving coffee while white.

Life was a lot simpler when we had malt shops instead of Starbucks and everybody drank either Pepsi or Coke.

Ironic isn’t it: when the world was black and white we didn’t seem to have all these issues.

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“We’re Going To Need a Bigger Porn Star”

Future historians will look back on the early 21st century and tag the development of the Twitter platform as the final nail in the coffin of civilized speech. It turns out that enabling people to empty their mind at the same speed with which they can empty their digestive tract produces essentially the same product. 

Submitted as evidence, tweets from Randa Jarrar, Trigglypuff Palestinian/American Professor - currently employed by the English department at Fresno State - commenting on the death of Barbara Bush:

Ranna Jaffra, Trigglypuff Professor of Fiction, Fresno State University, in one of signature poses

Oh whoops, apparently Triggly took her twitter account down overnight. But as you know, nothing really disappears from the Internet.  Here’s part of what she had to say yesterday:

She had a LOT more to say, including why she felt free to exercise her First Amendment Right without worrying about consequences.  – this may be the one that explains why all of her tweets are gone today.

There is truly no end to the hate from the left. And as long as I’m talking about the left and tweets, here’s a tweet concerned with the way President Trump is pursuing North Korea denuclearization; apparently they’re concerned now because he’s not doing it right:

I swear, the Liberal Media are going to turn themselves into butter one of these days.

And I’m pretty sure that Black Mumbo will really, really enjoy all that butter churned from the anger of tigers chasing their tails.

Professor Triggly Jarrar: Can we boycott her? 

And just in case - in a triumph of justice Trumping™ tenure - Triggly loses her job, I think I know where she can get a new gig:

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So Cheap You Can’t Afford to Meter It

While the wheels of justice turn slowly (just in: Cohen can review seized docs but judge will decide who vets what investigators can see) the economic engine just keeps rolling along:

Kroger sweetens employee benefits as it moves to ramp up hiring

Kroger announced Monday new investments in employee benefits, education and wages as retailers across the board are spending more on their employees to keep pace in a tighter labor market.

Last week, Kroger said it planned to hire for 11,000 new positions, including 2,000 management roles. At that time, it said would invest $500 million in associate wages and training and development over the next three years.

The grocer has attributed the investments to more funds as result of recent tax law changes.

I know, I know - it’s Kroger: and it’s just crumbs. But it is a darned sight better than the economic news that  emerged routinely during the Obama Occupation. In fact, 8 more years of Obama-era policy and we might be reporting the same kind of news as Venezuela’s:

How Venezuela has resorted to importing oil as its core industry faces collapse

Despite having the greatest oil reserves in the world, Venezuela’s government is being forced to spend millions of dollars a day importing crude to prop up its ailing industry.

“One of the craziest things is that a part of Venezuela’s imports is for the domestic market, but given its price, they practically give gasoline away for free. They are importing barrels that cost $80 to $90 and selling them at $0.”

It’s known as late-stage socialism which, as the Iron Lady said, fails - Every. Single. Time. It’s. Tried.

But surprisingly that never seems to stop people from giving it another try.

Electricity so cheap you can’t afford to meter it!

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The Science Is Settled: Carbs Are Causing Global Warming

Science writer Gary Taubes has a knack for subverting conventional wisdom. Sixteen years ago, he published a groundbreaking feature article in The New York Times Magazine arguing that decades' worth of government-approved nutritional advice was flat-out wrong, ideologically motivated, and contributing to rising rates of obesity and diabetes. Traditional dieting guidance attacking fatty food and praising carbohydrates, he wrote, was based on "a big fat lie." – The Man Who Hated Carbs Before It Was Cool

Of course Dr. Atkins had been saying essentially the same thing for 30 years before Taubes wrote his article for the NYT. But Dr. Atkins was considered an outsider in the AMA community.  But Dr. Robert Atkins had the last laugh; looks like he was right about the ill effects of sugar and carbs all along. But since “good carb” science was settled, and he wasn’t deferential to the rest of the medical community that disagreed with him and because he wasn’t always polite he was ridiculed and viciously attacked personally. His nutrition plan was referred to as a “fad diet” and called “dangerous.”

He reminds me of our President.

The Destroy Trump Alliance

But back to Gary Taubes; after Dr. Atkin’s death in 2003 he more or less took over his mantle. He argues that sugar is the root of many health problems. In his book The Case Against Sugar he contends that it got that way thanks to big sugar and big government – the usual suspects, money and politics. As is often the case in these situations science goes by the wayside and facts are what we say facts are. And that brings me around to this week’s Monday Moanin’: the deplorable state of science.

It started when I read an editorial in my local paper on Saturday that laid out this “fact:”

…the debate about whether climate change exists, and whether humans are causing it, has been closed in the scientific community for years — at least 97 percent of scientists say it does exist and we are causing it, according to a 2016 examination of nearly 12,000 research papers.

First of all, debate is NEVER closed in the scientific community. Idiot. Science is an open proposition; things are assumed to be true until they are proven not to be. Scientific inquiry is a continuous process.

Remember, at one time 99% of nutritionists thought this food pyramid was correct.

Until they decided it was upside down. Alas, after a generation of brainwashing it’s hard to convince people to the contrary. Gary Taube, discussing that issue:

In the science in which I was raised—physics and chemistry, the hard sciences—the last thing you want to do is get an assumption accepted into the theory of how things work without rigorously testing it, because then people will build on it and it will grow and infect the whole thought construction.

In a field like nutrition and obesity research, you've now got these enormous institutional dogmas built in that I and others are arguing are simply wrong. How do you get the institutions to change their belief systems?

Nevertheless, the big lie worked so well with nutrition they used the same model for climate “science.” The result is a generation that has been brainwashed by “incontrovertible facts” about global warming that are neither incontrovertible nor facts. And they will go to any lengths to discredit anything that might stand in their way. This is how the sugar industry handled it:

A sugar industry executive (copped) to spending a half-million dollars on research trying to find anything that an artificial sweetener does that's damaging. They would give female rats the equivalent of 60 cans a day of soda and then hope that they would produce rats with birth defects so they could say it was as bad as thalidomide.

All the global warming industry has to do is continue to hide the “data” of its flawed studies while promoting the “results” and continue to claim that 97% of “scientists” agree with their flawed data so the “science” is closed.

When facts are fungible there in no science.

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Rise and Shine

The swiftest hours, observed as they flew—

Towards this afflicted fancy fastly drew;

And, privileg’d by age, desires to know

In brief the grounds and motives of her woe.

— Shakespeare

It’s Sunday again – already? What happened to last week? Based exclusively on the bad weather and relentlessly bad news – I’m already sick of Comey and he hasn’t even officially started his non-apology tour - I’d say good riddance. However, I’m getting a bit too old to be so cavalier about time’s passage so I’ll just note that it wasn’t the best week ever and let Judge Jeannine put Comey in the proper perspective:

I decided to while away some of my precious time yesterday by using up the really, really big box of baby arugula I had unwisely bought. I decided to make arugula pesto. It was ridiculously easy and even more ridiculously good.

Arugula Pesto Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups of packed baby arugula leaves
• 1/4 cup of shelled walnuts, toasted (1-2 minutes in Micro works)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 large garlic clove peeled, rough chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Method

Place garlic, walnuts, arugula, lemon juice and salt in bowl of food processor (mini-processor works best for this quantity) and pulse briefly to chop. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor – you can add more if you want a thinner pesto. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

That’s it! I’m not much of a food blogger so I forgot to take pictures in process. This is a shot after the fact, with my dirty Cuisinart mini and our dinner salad bowl as a prop:

Yes, I’ve still got left over arugula

But trust me it was really, really good – and pretty.

I’m saving it for today as I already had dinner cooking when I decided to be creative with greenery. So what do you think, grilled chicken? Pasta? Shrimp? Steak? I’m open to suggestions.

The sun’s out here today and already melting last week’s snow so if you’re in the path of the late-season blizzard  blowing through today don’t worry, better days are on the way.

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