Saturday, October 14, 2017

Weekend: Letting the World Go By

This weekend I will watch no TV, listen to no football and read no news. Instead I’ll watch the chlorophyll challenged trees transitioning to their winter state,

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rocks migrating out to sea,

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and rivers flowing slowly but inevitably into Lake Michigan. 

IMG_20141013_144643_359

Maybe I’ll photograph some of the famous barns of Grand Traverse county.

Barn near Traverse City

Mostly I’ll just let the world go about it’s business without my participation.

lake michigan beach

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend too.

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Friday, October 13, 2017

FLOTUS Friday: Special Anniversary Edition

I know many of you hated this look:

Melania-Trump-with-Justin-Trudeau-

You thought the slacks needed hemming, and wished Melania would wear dresses for these head of state events. I agree with the slacks needing hemming but given the head of state was Justin Trudeau I rather like the subliminal message: In America, even the First Lady wears pants.

And speaking of first ladies, did you see the firestorm Ivana started with her book-promotion comment about being first lady?

Ivana Trump boasted to ABC’s “Good Morning America" on Monday that she has a “direct number” to the White House, and talks to her ex-husband about once every two weeks.

“I don’t really want to call him there, because Melania is there,” she said. “I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that, because I'm basically first Trump wife. OK? I'm first lady. - NY Daily News

I actually thought it was a rather funny remark, demonstrating what Ivana and Donald had in common other than their 3 children. Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of tension between the President’s “first woman” and his #3 woman, as Melania’s spokesman issued this rather terse response:

“Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington, DC, and is honored by her role as first lady of the United States,” Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s communications director, said in a statement.

“She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books.”

Goodness, it was just a little joke - the least you could allow a wise woman who was replaced by a younger model, literally. I’m afraid I’ve got to come down on Ivana’s side on this one. Maybe it’s because today is our anniversary and I very much doubt I would have been the least bit gracious had a younger model replaced me somewhere along the way.

Anyway, we’re in Traverse City Michigan these weekend, where we honeymooned 45 years ago. Looks like it’s going to rain every day. Just like it did the year we were married. Aside from that nearly everything else about this spot has changed dramatically in the intervening years. Growth in this formerly sleepy little town whose motto used to be “a cut in pay for a view of the bay” has been explosive. Traffic has grown congested and condos have popped up in areas that once housed warehouses and modest homes. This now thriving wine region had no operating wineries in 1972, and only one (Boskydel) had even been planted.

We first visited Boskydel in the mid-seventies when the owner, with several young boys running about, sold his wine out of his garage. It wasn’t great but it was cheap, and the idea that wine could be grown in Michigan was an exotic concept.

The winery is closing this year. Some of those little boys have grandchildren now and wish to move on, as happens. But the region owes much to Boskydel founder Bernie Rink, a librarian at Northwestern Michigan College. He had read a book about growing grapes and determined that the Leelanau peninsula, resting along the 24th parallel and protected by air tempered by Lake Michigan, would be a perfect environment. Today the entire Grand Traverse area has thousands of acres dedicated to wine grapes and dozens of commercial wineries.

iStock_000008000025MediumFall vineyards on the Leelanau

So we’ll enjoy our soggy weekend. It’s still warm for this time of year so we’ll wonder the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore,

silver lake dunes at lake michigan lunch on perch in Fishtown, enjoy the fall colors

benches in autumn

and toast our long and wonderful life together. And wonder how the last 45 years went by so quickly.

milky way over night lake

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Thursday, October 12, 2017

Donald Trump: Is He Ever Wrong?

After reading through yesterday’s comments, and paying special attention to those concerning Meryl I-had-no-idea-Harvey-was-such-a-creep Streep…

meryl surpriseMeryl was shocked – shocked I tell you - to find out there was sleeze going on in Hollywood.

I have to say, it appears that Trump has been proved right yet again:

trump streep

Meryl has made a career of histrionic acting, convincing people that she’s something she is not - like that time she appeared before Congress and acted like she actually knew something about alar and apples ("When are we going to stop killing our children!"). She was so convincing in that role that she nearly killed the entire apple industry.

alar apple scare

“I think the reason we have all been invited here, as I look around the room and I see so many experts, is we have been invited for what we do not know, which probably will fill the room. But actually, I do not mind representing the constituency of the great mass of uninformed, because I think what we do not know about this issue is the most alarming, and that is coming up over and over in what I have been hearing. What we don’t know is a frightening chasm.” Meryl Streep, creating fake news at the Senate Alar hearings, 1989

You know what Meryl, I don’t mind you “representing the constituency of the great mass of uninformed” either. I’d be much more upset if you tried to represent the constituency of the much smaller mass of us who are informed. Despite the fact you are one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses, I’m pretty sure you couldn’t pull that off.

FFN_IMAGE_51967684|FFN_SET_70003019What you don’t know really is a frightening chasm

And while I know that you think Donald Trump is an idiot, and you are so much smarter, I’d advise you not to offer to compare I.Q.’s.

P.S. And let’s see you try to get a tax cut passed.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2017

End of the Line

For years Michael Savage has ranted on and on about the “sewer pipe” of Hollywood pumping our culture full of whores, pimps, thieves and perverts. The Harvey Weinstein story sure has proven him correct on that score, with every day revealing more and more about the sordid life of one of tinsel town’s largest purveyor of filth.

The good news is there’s a liberal cure for Harvey’s problem; the bad news is he needs to go to Europe to receive it:

sean_spicier_weinstein_obamacare_10-10-17-1

And speaking of the Obamas, WTF were they thinking, sending their 18 year old daughter off to “intern” for the perv that “everyone” (except, apparently, Meryl Streep)  knew about?

                                      malia off to workmalia all the grace of a stoned gazelle

No wonder she always looked so happy on her way to work.

Oh well, now that Harvey is radioactive and of no further monetary value to the party, the Dem’s titular head has spoken up:

"Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein. Any man who demeans and degrades women in such a fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status." – Barack Obama, yesterday

Which sounds similar to the statement Hillary also issued 5 days following the bombshell story:

“I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior.” 

Yeah, it’s like the people who knew about this sort of behavior should have come forward to condemn it, like, what? 30 years ago, right?

No wonder Washington has turned into a swamp, it’s at the terminal end of Hollywood’s sewer line.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Goodbye Columbus Day

Just a couple of last thoughts on the Left’s attempt to deep-six Columbus Day because he was a white imperialist pig whose sole intent in taking to the high seas was to find some poor indigenous peoples to oppress. Because that’s just what white guys do.

columbus day_thumb[1]

As I mentioned yesterday, the Salt Lake City Council unanimously decided to join the trendy observance of Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday of October, the same day as Columbus Day. Don’t worry, it won’t replace Columbus Day, which is a federal holiday, although they would if they could. Instead it will be a “parallel” holiday celebrated on the same day. That way you can you decide whether you want to be one of the enlightened, tolerant, sensitive, cognoscenti celebrating the First Peoples – or a brain dead cretin celebrating a genocidal white supremacist.

The Salt Lake City Council decided to take action because a bill  proposed in the State legislature last year by Sen. Jim Dabakis was defeated. At the time, Dabakis said he was crafting the legislation to honor the people who were in Utah before the pioneers, rather than Christopher Columbus.

“It’s kind of an old, haggering idea that Christopher Columbus did something,” Dabakis said. “He was the first white guy to arrive, he didn’t know where he was going, he ended up in a place he thought he wasn’t. He really has contributed nothing to civilization.”

Frankly, that sounds more like a Democrat to me - not the least bit original and completely wrong.

And I’m still confused: does the Left believe in open borders or not?

christopher columbus arrives_thumb[1]

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Monday, October 9, 2017

Common Sense Gun Control from The Rabbit Hole

Nancy, Nancy, Nancy - you’ve got to get those senior moments under control. You know, those times you let  your guard down and accidentally tell the truth: “They’re going to say, ‘You give them bump stock, it’s going to be a slippery slope.’ I certainly hope so.” It’s the oldest trick in the book and still, the disloyal opposition falls for it every. single. time.

So if we’re going to have to deal with the camel’s nose in the tent approach to gun regulation, allow me to suggest a few pieces of gun legislation that will speed up the long, downward slide on that slippery slope to tyranny.

  • The imposition of speed limits on 1) firing rates and 2) bullet speeds. First, regarding fire rates, the new legislation will make it illegal to shoot faster than 1 shot every 2 seconds regardless of whether you are shooting with the aid of a device (e.g. bump fire stock) or an appendage (i.e. finger).
  • Bullets will henceforth be required to adhere to the new national bullet speed limit of less than 900 feet per second. All new ammo will be required to be manufactured with self braking features once the maximum speed of 900 feet/second is reached. Any existing stock ammo must be retrofitted with an automatic braking mechanism in order to prevent runaway projection.

bulletExisting Bullet Fitted With ATF Speed Control Drag Parachute

  • Legislation establishing a a mandate that requires the Bureau of ATF to contract with Apple to develop an iWatch app that simply stops bullets dead in their track. I smell a comeback for Neo:

So allow me to summarize: why do Americans need guns?

guns rockTell that to Goliath

Unless you have a military style, high velocity, assault slingshot,

slingshot

Which we’re planning to ban as well.

And finally, Nancy’s pièce de résistance in the race to the bottom of the “gun safety”  slippery slope: a new federal law that would make it illegal to use an automatic weapon in the commission of a mass murder. That should do the trick.

See how simple it is? Why can’t we just get on with the implementation of common sense gun control?

gun control

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Sunday, October 8, 2017

Why Do American’s Own So Many Guns?

Finally, something substantive to move us off the Las Vegas shooting incident that nobody knows nuttin’ about: the Harvey Weinstein disgusting pig-man chronicles. I see that Lanny Davis and Lisa Bloom (Gloria Allred's little Eveready Bunny clone) both resigned today as more sordid stories ooze out. And seriously, how scummy do you have to be to have your own brother blow the lid on the story?

Bob Weinstein, the disgruntled co-founder of The Weinstein Company, may have been the mastermind behind an exposé of lurid sex allegations that led to his brother’s humiliating downfall, the sources said.

What a charming family.

timewarner-hobbit_weinsteinThe sleeze is strong in this family

I wouldn’t trust either of them but the one with the little eye definitely looks like a real perv.

Seriously, I’d rather talk about Las Vegas…or guns, specifically. I note that today was the day that Peggy-once-in-a-blue-moon-I-have-a-point-Noonan nailed it: Why do Americans own so many guns? Because they don’t trust the protected elites to protect them.

The establishments and elites that create our political and entertainment culture have no idea how fragile it all is—how fragile it seems to people living normal, less privileged lives. That is because nothing is fragile for them. They’re barricaded behind the things the influential have, from good neighborhoods to security alarms, doormen and gates. They’re not dark in their imagining of the future because history has never been dark for them; it’s been sunshine, which they expect to continue. They sail on, oblivious to the legitimate anxieties of their countrymen who live near the edge.

Those who create our culture feel free to lecture normal Americans—on news shows, on late night comedy shows. Why do they have such a propensity for violence? What is their love for guns? Why do they join the National Rifle Association? The influential grind away with their disdain for their fellow Americans, whom they seem less to want to help than to dominate: Give up your gun, bake my cake, free speech isn’t free if what you’re saying triggers us.

Would it help if we tried less censure and more cultural affiliation? Might it help if we started working on problems that are real? Sure. But why lower the temperature when there’s such easy pleasure to be had in ridiculing your mindless and benighted countrymen?

The article is behind a paywall but don’t worry, the rest of it is pretty much typical Peggy pablum. But when she’s right she’s right. Anyway, in summary: why do Americans own so many guns? Because the Second Amendment is premised on the fact that eventually the know-it-all, better-than-us elitists will grow tired of lecturing us and simply decide to rule by fiat. Because they only want what’s best for us.

charles-barsotti-good-question-yes-we-have-your-best-interests-at-heart-new-yorker-cartoon

At that point they’ll begin to understand why Americans own so many guns.

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