Saturday, November 14, 2015

Irony, Thy Name Is Islam

Was I not just talking about irony yesterday? Yes I believe I was, isn’t that ironic?

Just like it was ironic that BHO found it appropriate to take a victory lap against ISIS yesterday, just 2 weeks after ISIS claimed to blow up a Russian plane, 

“I don’t think they’re gaining strength,” he said. “From the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq, and in Syria they’ll come in, they’ll leave. But you don’t see this systemic march by ISIL across the terrain.” - Daily Caller

and mere hours before last evening’s events in the City of Light.  If it wasn’t so ironic, one might think that ISIS decided to award Barry the “Irony of the Week” award.

irony

Coincidentally, I also mentioned “je suis Charlie” in yesterday’s post. Today it’s clear that it’s no longer just an expression of solidarity; it is unfortunately a fact of life. We ARE all Charlie Hebdo now, which is to say, sitting ducks. 

european gun laws

Ostensibly, Americans are a bit less so because of our 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, although increasingly that right has been infringed by gun free zones.

Taking a cue from the campus snowflakes I would like to suggest a solution to this pesky on-going problem of Islamic fascism: we need more safe spaces. All around the world.

suicide-bomber-free-zone

Welcome to your safe space sweetie; Islamic fascism of any sort will absolutely, positively not be tolerated here. Okay?

Slightly O/T: those concerned about The Donald’s tacky attack on Ben Carson in Iowa Thursday, I suspect that now the only quote anyone will be repeating from that stump speech is this: Trump:  “I Would Bomb The Sh** Out Of' ISIS.” - H/T Larwyn’s Links

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Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Friday, November 13, 2015

Paraphrase of the Week

And this week’s award goes to…Mona Charen:

There was a much-beloved quote circulated among leftists, often attributed to Sinclair Lewis, that “when fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” In light of recent episodes of mob action on American campuses, the quote needs updating: When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in “diversity” and demanding “safe spaces.” - H/T Doug Ross

Mona continues on to imply that making a mockery of higher education by offering courses on Martha Stewart’s “whiteness” and Fifty Shades of Gray might contribute to students lack of knowledge of even the basic principles of rational thought. Which might come in handy when it comes to hurt feelings, “marginalization,” intolerance (yes Virginia, irony is dead) and totalitarian behavior.

Behold, a college professor, exercising her freedom of speech – without a whiff of irony:

communications professpr“You need to get out of here!” Hey who wants to help me get this reporter out of here!”

Brendan O’Neill at Spiked nails it: these delicate little snowflakes demanding “safe spaces” from the hostile environment are the logical outcome of the older generation’s proclivity for undermining the foundations of free speech:

The New Statesman (claims) that today’s intolerant yoof are ‘rebelling against their parents’ generation and its liberal deification of free speech’. Excuse me? What liberal deification of free speech? The older generation – including some of (the) very people going pop-eyed over the Yale snowflakes – has been chipping away at free speech for decades. And in the process they nurtured the world we now inhabit, in which words and images are seen as dangerous and our sense of self-worth is viewed as so fragile that we must squash anything, or idea, that threatens it.

House-Falling-Off-Cliff2Umm, what did you expect would happen to a house without a foundation?

But what’s even more pathetic is the ridicule of the snowflakes by the very generation who created this world in which words are seen as wounding, judgement is considered harmful, and everyone is treated as fragile. Having claimed for 30 years that offensive discussion, or porn or racist newspapers, create a ‘hostile environment’, can the older generation really be surprised   that students are now setting up Safe Spaces? The Safe Space is the logical solution to the notion that words and images cultivate a ‘hostile environment’.

And then there is Milo Yiannopoulos observations on the only possible outcome given the trajectory the progressive left put us on:

You’ll forgive me if I lack sympathy. Conservatives have warned for decades that the proliferation of women’s studies, colonial studies, gay studies, and an assortment of other oppression-studies courses would end in tears. We also warned you that campus speech codes were a bad idea.

And when conservatives and critics of Islam started being banned on campuses up and down the country, we warned you that a tidal wave of zealotry, intolerance, and even totalitarianism was coming. Now it’s here. As a famous internet meme goes, you only had to listen. Now it’s too late.

listen 2

Do the words “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” mean anything to you? Jonathan Rauch suggests an easy fix, the only “trigger warning” that should be necessary on campuses across the country:

“Warning: Although this university values and encourages civil expression and respectful personal behavior, you may at any moment, and without further notice, encounter ideas, expressions and images that are mistaken, upsetting, dangerous, prejudiced, insulting or deeply offensive. We call this education.” – Powerline

So let the buyer beware: you pay your money and you take your chances. Sorry snowflakes, no refunds, even if the whole earth warms up and you meltdown.

 honk if you want to go to johns hopkins

How many students can complete this safe space thought?

Sticks and stones can break my bones, butt…

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Thursday, November 12, 2015

“We fight for the users!”

Let’s take a little break from poop swastikas and other campus micro/macro aggressions to examine a real conflict from abroad. France has finally found something in the clash of cultures to take a stand on…wine.

Old-French-Wine-Bottles-Wallpaper

Ahead of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s landmark European trip kicking off this weekend, French officials reportedly nixed plans for a formal meal in Paris with President François Hollande following a dispute over the menu. The Iranians, according to France’s RTL Radio, insisted on a wine-free meal with halal meat — a request based on Islamic codes that amounted to culinary sacrilege in France, a nation that puts the secular ideals of the Republic above all else. - Independent UK

Good to know: even the cheese eating surrender monkeys can be pushed to far. Rapes, honor killings, crucifixions of Christians, head choppings of infidels and tossing gays off the top of buildings weren’t adequately offensive.  Butt mess with their food and wine and Sacré Bleu!

But France is also in the grips of a domestic culture war, with its right wing raising alarms over “Islamification” that has spilled into its deep national relationship with food. The far-right National Front, for instance, has railed against the rise of kebab stands in the country of quiche.

And with good reason, as my research clearly demonstrates:

26BCE68900000578-2999106-image-a-38_1426608238027 Islamic State commander Abu Wahib's jihad garb has been compared to a giant kebab – which I presume is to help him blend into the Paris landscape.

So everyone can take a deep breath, the French are here to save the day. Never, ever, never underestimate the French, especially if someone tries to get between them and their cheese and wine. They are quite capable of taking  care of business when pressed to the wall.

french_army_knife_tile_coasterje_suis_charlie_wine_charms-r10022f95be114a08920d068211c9e657_zfyhp_324France: “We fight for the users!”

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Recap of the 4th Republican Debate: Why We Keep Fighting

I missed the kiddie debate which by all accounts was better than the featured film. The big kids debate played like the 4th sequel to a not-so-popular-to-begin-with movie.

Dumb-and-Dumber-2-bannerOne sequel too many?

My random thoughts:

Kasich lectured us on why “law abiding” illegal aliens can’t be sent home and said he would decide who got to keep their money and who would have to sacrifice it in the event of a bank failure. Hey John, GO AWAY! We don’t need any more imperial presidents.

Fiorina was very good at inserting all her best campaign talking points so they seemed almost organic. Zero-based budgeting for government is still her best idea.

Rubio: ditto. Anyone who can fit his whole stump speech into a debate is really good at articulating. And the last two times around that was good enough to win, so who knows. He’s still got to work on his triangulation theory of amnesty however.

Trump seemed constrained, as he’s obviously making efforts to come across as more diplomatic. Hint: picking on the girl (Why does she get to keep butting in?) isn’t very diplomatic.

Jeb! – receives the award for most improved; butt his best is still, clearly, not good enough.

Carson was low key to the point of vanishing. May not really be ready for prime time until he gets a better grasp on macroeconomics and foreign affairs.

vanishing

Paul – well at least he finally got an opportunity to talk to us. Too bad he thinks we don’t need to strengthen our military. Advice: Rand, stop talking to your Dad. Also not ready for prime time.

WhyWeFightRecommended binge watching for Rand

Cruz: Damn, he’s smart! Alfa, great answers, good problem solver, like his tax plan, especially the part about eliminating the IRS.  I know he makes some people nervous butt he could use that to our advantage. I just wish he had a deeper voice so he could impress the superficial faction of the public (LoFos of all ilk, Democrats, and the GOPe).

ted_cruz_churchill_3-16-14-2“You have enemies? Good. It means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”          

- Sir Winston Churchill

And I’d like to take this opportunity on this Veteran’s Day to thank each and every one of our veterans for their service to our great country.

fight The price of greatness is responsibility. – Sir Winston Churchill

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Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Civil Rights 50 Years On and “Um…the kids want their own water fountains.”

Ah the 1960’s: the decade of America’s counter-cultural revolution.  Youthful revolutionaries circa 1960 found fault with America’s materialism and sought to improve society’s inequities tied to race, class, and gender. Campus unrest was rampant, civil discourse was not-so-civil, and everyone, everywhere seemed consumed by racial tension fueled by charges of discrimination. Had we done a better job, perhaps we wouldn’t still be litigating the same grievances 50 years hence.

At the half century mark all we’ve effectively done is impose mandatory politically correct speech, create campus “safe spaces” and raise children who grow more hyper-sensitive to real and/or perceived micro-aggressions with each subsequent generation.

All of which helps explain this little kitten’s expletive-filled meltdown over the Yale Halloween Hullabaloo: 

yale

This one began when a Yale dean circulated an e-mail warning against “culturally insensitive” Halloween costumes. One Yale professor, Erika Christakis, replied with a reasonably worded e-mail that basically asked everyone to relax and stop being so uptight and condescending. It reads, in part:

“Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious…a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive? American universities were once a safe space not only for maturation but also for a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience; increasingly, it seems, they have become places of censure and prohibition.”

It’s interesting to note how much this is an expression of the old liberal pieties about freedom of expression that the contemporary left has thoroughly rejected. So you all know what’s coming next.

The response was an angry mob of student activists demanding the resignation of…her husband, Nicholas Christakis. Because every good progressive knows it’s a husband job to control his little woman, don’t you know. Actually, they went after Nicholas Christakis because as Master of Silliman College, he was slightly higher up the administrative pecking order. And when you’re after power, you want to take down the most important target.

WTF! (That’s “Winning The Future” for those of you with short memories). Not only did the crowd go after Erika’s hapless husband - “can’t you keep ‘yer little woman in line, Nicholas?” -  butt the most vocal  protester was a shrieking female who stomped off in tears when Nicholas wouldn’t give in to her demands.

gloria Somewhere Gloria Steinem is pulling out her gray hair and pouring herself a tumbler of Johnny Walker. 

In case you’re keeping score: Privileged White Males 1, Feminists 0.

u5bsv1tkru

Next we have the case of University of Missouri: here we had several allegedly racial incidents on campus which were not “addressed” quickly enough or passionately enough to satisfy the school’s football team and their hunger-striking mascot. So they demanded – and got – the resignation of the university president.

As The Federalist explained:

Wolfe was targeted, as one protest group put it, because he was “‘not completely’ aware of systemic racism, sexism, and patriarchy on campus.” I love the “not completely.” It reminds me of the old rule about totalitarian revolutions: first, you go after the counter-revolutionaries, then you go after the insufficiently enthusiastic. So Wolfe had to be removed for failing to show immediate and total compliance toward their political agenda.

dilbert lack%20of%20enthusiasm

Score so far: Concerned Students: 1, Insufficiently Enthusiastic, 0

Many are starting to actually question whether these institutions of “higher learning” ought not be put out of their misery. Roger Kimball makes a compelling case:

Colleges have set themselves up as multicultural, sexually and racially exotic hothouses to breed these noxious, neurasthenic but politically correct creatures who are capable of emotional hysteria but not reasoned argument.

Unfortunately college hasn’t been about classic education for a long time. It serves now simply as the last link in the brainwashing pogrom that begins to in pre-school and continues through grad-school. Higher education has become an endless loop of grievances, outrage, and capitulation. Much like the rest of society only with a higher price tag.

Sad, really, that after 50 years of progressive ideas, policies and programs we are right back where we started: campus unrest, “police brutality,” and the subjugation of women. Proof positive that bad ideas never die, they simple get recycled, like garbage.

Which provides me yet another opportunity to post my all-time favorite Doonesbury; apologies for the quality it’s the only image available. Pertinent transcript below.

want own waterfountains_thumb[18]

“I don’t get it, Campbell. The Black students now have separate dorms, fraternities, cafeteria tables, student center, studies program and graduation. After 25 years of intensive, progressive action in pursuit of racial justice at this college, we’ve managed to produce a fully segregated campus. *sigh* What a legacy I’ve created. And to think I marched with Dr. King in Selma.”

“So what is it now?”

 “Um…the kids want their own water fountains.”

segregation-drinking-fountainHow’s that “Hope and Change” working out for you kids?

In other news: University of Missouri president Wolfe confirms the death of the university . . . that was noted by Allan Bloom decades ago in The Closing of the American Mind.

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Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Monday, November 9, 2015

And the Award Goes To…

The Guardian finds it weird that Ben Carson’s house (that he paid for through his honest efforts) contains a room in the basement, next to the pool table, where all of the awards and citations he’s received (by virtue of his God-given skill combined with honest effort) are displayed.

ben carsons basementMy! That’s a lot of awards!

I wonder if they find it equally weird and egotistical that people like Michael Jordan have a trophy room in his home,

aa

Or that Beyoncé and Jay Z might have a room in one of their many homes where they display all their Grammys.

Beyonce-Jay-Z-Backstage-Grammys-2015

Or that Oprah - again, in one of her many homes - might have a display case of all her Emmys and presidential medals.

Screenshot Studio capture #087

And I wonder if the Guardian finds it the least bit weird that when Barack Hussein Obama decided to run for president that his home (paid for by the executive job his wife got due to his community organizing connections and subsequent election to the U.S Senate, combined with a little help from a felon friend) contained virtually no awards, citations or mentions for anything. At all.

Which might lead you to the conclusion that of the two, one of them is a self-made man and the other Won is a made-man.

Butt I guess now they are about even in the medal, citation, and awards department now. Although Dr. Carson still earned through his honest efforts and Barry, well, you know…-----------

framed world readership-CENTAU-WM copy

Related news: 9 False Things Obama Said About His Bio That Didn’t Cause a Media Feeding Frenzy (h/t Instapundit)

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Live From Flyover, It’s Open Thread Sunday

I’d say I’m taking a day of rest except, unfortunately, I’m too busy for that. So open thread day! Just a couple of thoughts in passing:

1. Even The Donald can’t save Saturday Night Live. It still sucks.

trump

2. I wonder what on earth Americans are so mad about? Americans’ Mood Darkened by Widespread Anger, New WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds. Maybe it’s our lying, thieving, hypocritical political class…nah!

proxyPraying for deliverance

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Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network