COLLECTIVE MADNESS
“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
There is a little Vietnamese restaurant that I prefer when in the mood for Pho.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite server is a sweet pretty young women from Da Nang. She tells me about her home, recommending that I go for a visit. Little does she know.
I lack the courage to tell her I've been. It pains me to contemplate what our politicians did to them and us at the time.
And what YOU did to them. It also speaks to your politics. You actively campaign and vote for people like Dubya only to realize your folly much later. The same will occur with YOUR man Trump.
DeleteDon't ride quite so high in the saddle on your high horse, Ash.
DeleteIt was YOUR man O'bozo that allowed the rise of ISIS.
It was YOUR lady Hillary that fucked up Libya.
And it was all of them that handed off the North Korean quandary to The Donald.
It's an odd thing, but I was reading that Vietnam is the most pro-American country in the area today.
ReplyDeleteLooking to the north one can see why - China.
They have fought Chinese for hundreds of years.
They may be inviting our warships to their ports and planes to their airfields one of these days.
They are still a disgusting totalitarian government, persecuting Christians and others with great glee.
We should knock off any trade until they reform their behavior in this regard, IMHO.
Some years back a young Vietnamese fellow came to our door in Lewiston wanting to trade something or other from a church in exchange for a small donation for his college schooling here. His English was very poor. I donated.
I was at the University of Washington during much of it, then when the draft lottery came around I got a high number.
ReplyDeleteI have only known two people in my life who wanted to go to Vietnam. One was my brother, who was a doctor in the US Army in Germany and wanted to go because he said he was 'losing his skills' there as everyone was in excellent health. Having nothing much to do on an Army base in Germany, he got a pilot's license while there.
The other was a gung-ho psychotic from Walla Walla who missed his 'kill' during his first tour, and re-upped so he could get his 'kill' on his second tour. He succeeded. He shot some fellow working peacefully in a rice paddy in the back during his last patrol of his tour. We asked him how he knew this fellow was a VietCong and he said they all are.....and went into a psychotic gung ho rant. His father had been a sergeant in the Army during WWII. That is where his 'gung ho' came from.
Lots of blowing up of farmhouses in that video.
DeleteThat's an easy way to piss the farmers off.
Hearts and Minds
Delete“We must be ready to fight in Vietnam, but the ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and the minds of the people who actually live out there.”
DeleteLyndon Baines Johnson
China is achieving all their goals without going to war with anyone. We have no demonstrable moral superiority in our institutions that can withstand scrutiny by anyone with a brain and a knowledge of history. The need for reform is much closer than Asia and the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteWhich US media or entertainment entity holds the cultural or moral high ground? Which US political institution should be the model for other societies? Is the product of our public education system a source of envy? Which of our wars since Korea was worth the cost?
We should base trade on mutual benefit. We tried the morality trade play and got our ass handed to us.
Reform is needed on this side of the water before we export our moral superiority.
Veteran's Day is tomorrow. It is a day to remember.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns.
Kurt Vonnegut
These are the 37 major deals US firms signed with Chinese entities during Trump's visit
ReplyDeleteThe Commerce Department has revealed the 37 major deals signed between U.S. and Chinese companies during President Donald Trump's trip through Asia, totaling more than $250 billion.
The deals coincide with President Donald Trump's visit to China, where he was accompanied by a delegation of nearly 30 CEOs from major American companies.
"Deals can provide a solid foundation for a stronger relationship that is more free, fair, and reciprocal between the U.S. and China," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Lori Ann LaRocco | @loriannlarocco
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/09/exclusive-these-are-the-37-major-deals-us-firms-signed-with-chinese-entities-during-trumps-visit.html
I am calling for an International Bolt Accord Convention. It goes like this:
ReplyDeleteAll legislatures and World leaders, to demonstrate their solidarity with their military, to justify the righteousness of their cause in engaging their military in war, should have one finger removed with a bolt cutter. Preferably on the hand that signs the order for war.
We would all know, in advance, that the war is just and the sacrifice shared by those that lead.
It should be celebrated on the same day everywhere. Give Them The Finger Day.
Who owns the radioactive cloud ? No one seems to want to fess up -
ReplyDeleteNovember 10, 2017
Radioactive cloud that moved across Europe likely came from Russia or Kazakhstan
By Rick Moran
A radioactive cloud termed "harmless" by French nuclear authorities that moved across Europe in late September and October likely originated in Russia or Kazakhstan.
The make up of the cloud suggests it was not from a nuclear power plant accident.
Independent:
The potential nuclear accident that launched the cloud most likely took place between the Volga river and the Ural Mountains in the last week of September, IRSN said.
Ruthenium-106 particles were detected by several countries in concentrations not harmful to human health, according to the agency, but disappeared from France in mid-October.
Jean-Marc Peres, IRSN’s director, told Reuters: “Russian authorities have said they are not aware of an accident on their territory,” adding that his team had not yet contacted Kazakh authorities.
Germany’s Federal Office for Radiation Protection said an accident at a nuclear power plant could be “ruled out” due to the type of particle detected.
It said: “Ruthenium-106 is used as a radiation source in cancer therapy for the treatment of ocular tumours. Ruthenium can also occur during the reprocessing of nuclear fuel elements.”
It's a serious violation of international agreements if any country refused to report the release of any nuclear material into the atmosphere. That the nation responsible has remained silent suggests that the accident might have occurred at a military facility. It could also be a cover up by the operators of the facility who don't want the blame.
Whoever is at fault is acting irresponsibly. While the radioactive cloud is said to pose no immediate threat to human health, those in close proximity to the accident would have been evacuated:
The release of nuclear material was of a scale that, had it occurred in France, would have required the evacuation of or sheltering of people within “several kilometres” of the origin point, IRSN said.
So it wasn't "harmless" for those in the immediate vicinity of the accident. It rasies the question; if the country at fault isn't telling the international community about the accident, did they inform local authorities and evacuate their own citizens to keep them safe?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/11/radioactive_cloud_that_moved_across_europe_likely_came_from_russia_or_kazakhstan.html#ixzz4y2KdHKMl
Ruthenium 106 is one of my favorite radioactive materials.
DeleteRuthenium-106 is used as a radiation source in cancer therapy
It may have saved my ass.
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ReplyDelete"Deals can provide a solid foundation for a stronger relationship that is more free, fair, and reciprocal between the U.S. and China," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
Wilbur, recently of Paradise Papers fame, should know of which he speaks. But while deals 'can' provide that, if history is any guide, the deals will once more be the vehicle for another massive technology transfer to China.
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We should trade far more with India, far less with China, IMHO.
DeleteDemocrats stoop to new low -
ReplyDeleteNovember 10, 2017
Tucker Carlson: The Democrats Have Debased American Politics
By Peter Barry Chowka
A brilliant and hard-hitting analysis and commentary that went deep into the subject of what’s happening politically in this country in the wake of Tuesday’s election results was offered by Tucker Carlson halfway into his Fox News program (8 P.M. E.T.) Wednesday evening.
The takeaway from the three major contests in Tuesday’s state and local elections was variously interpreted depending on the ideology of the analyst. It was either the beginning of the end for President Trump and the Republicans – a predictor of a coming “blue wave” Republican rout in 2018 according to Donna Brazile – or a potential anomaly that does not reflect the true mood of the larger anti-establishment electorate that resulted in President Trump’s victory one year ago.
The fact is that the Democrats enjoyed significant built in advantages in the governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey and the New York City mayoral contest that pretty much assured their victories by overwhelming margins. In Carlson’s opinion, the Dems were also aided in Virginia by stooping to an ominous new low point.
Tucker Carlson delivers his analysis, Fox News Nov. 8, 2017
Courtesy of Fox News, here is an internal transcript of Carlson’s commentary. A video of the 3½ minute segment, titled “Dems embraced dark side of politics to win Virginia,” can be watched here.....VIDEO
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/11/tucker_carlson_the_democrats_have_debased_american_politics.html#ixzz4y2MfXTdn
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/tucker-carlson-tonight/index.html#/v/5640395555001
DeleteThe Quiet American by Graham Greene is a good book that takes place in Vietnam before the full American involvement and the final commie takeover.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_American
All the 'Draft Dodger" knows of Vietnam ...
DeleteComes from fiction.
That is the basis of his alledged 'acumen' ... fictikn
No truths need apply
You be the judge -
ReplyDeleteIs the GOP establishment behind the Roy Moore hit? - 11/10/17
Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and the other usual suspects are jumping on the "guilty" bandwagon against Alabama's Republican Senate candidate. More
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/11/is_the_gop_establishment_behind_the_roy_moore_hit.html
Not a big Roy Moore fan here at all, in fact I think he's kind of a jackass, but the timing is truly suspicious.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRoy needs the services of Hillary Clinton.
DeleteShe was truly great at dealing with bimbo eruptions.
She'd often simply threaten the bimbo with death.
Simple, elegant, effective.
Bill Clinton Accuser: Hillary 'Scared Me to Death'
DeleteSeveral of the women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault and rape joined Sean Hannity tonight to discuss their allegations against the former president and Hillary Clinton.
Juanita Broaddrick, an Arkansas woman who accused Bill Clinton of raping her 1978, said that Hillary Clinton "personally threatened" her after she came forward with the original accusations.
Broaddrick told Hannity that about three weeks after the incident, she went to a Bill Clinton fundraiser - he was running for Arkansas governor - to turn in several items and give her notice that she would no longer be with the campaign.
That's when Hillary approached her.
"She comes straight to me and says to me, big smile, very pleasant voice, says to me, 'I’m Hillary Clinton. It’s so nice to meet you. I just want to thank you for everything that you do for Bill’s campaign,'" Broaddrick recounted. "And I was just going to turn and leave. I nodded and was going to leave. And I feel somebody grabbing my arm and I thought it was somebody behind me. And it was her."
She said that Clinton pulled her in close and in a "very angry," "very low" voice asked her, "Do you understand everything you do?"
"And that just scared me to death," Broaddrick said. "That woman looking straight into my eyes, very angrily saying that to me. I felt like at that moment, she knew everything and was saying, 'You better keep quiet.'"....
http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/10/13/bill-clinton-accuser-juanita-broaddrick-how-hillary-personally-threatened-her
7 Times Hillary Clinton Threatened, Smeared and Targeted Women ...
Deletewww.dailywire.com/.../9-times-hillary-clinton-threatened-smeared-or-amanda-prestigi...
Sep 29, 2016 - 7 Times Hillary Clinton Threatened, Smeared and Targeted Women ... to the numerous women her husband was involved with as “bimbos.".
Ciao
ReplyDeleteHave a great day -
Mississippi fast food worker turns herself in after being accused of smearing menstrual blood on customer's burger
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjpxfj18LTXAhVL0FQKHTSTCh4QFgg6MAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nydailynews.com%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Ffast-food-worker-accused-smearing-menstrual-blood-burger-article-1.2956209&usg=AOvVaw2Yx04ADZ9ZAq8WxstAMsDU
Ketchup for the fries.
DeleteAn escort was arrested on accusations she shot a Washington state man in the head because she thought he was bad at oral sex - and she wasn't sure how to tell him.
ReplyDeleteMarissa Wallen, 21, allegedly admitted to shooting her 36-year-old client at his North Everett home last month. Police say she then stole the victim's wallet, left him for dead and went on a $12,000 shopping spree.
According to My Everett News, Wallen told a detective that the man was "performing oral sex wrong and she did not know how to tell him that" so she grabbed a gun and shot him.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/escort-shot-client-head-bad-oral-sex-police-article-1.3621657
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DeletePulling a gun seems a bit excessive.
Couldn't have just faked it?
.
Faking it would be dishonest.
DeleteHow would you like it if you'd been faked ?
Not that there is any chance of that, what with your index/ring finger ratio.
Delete.
DeleteHonestly, I think I'd prefer it to being shot. But that's just me.
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It's not just you.
DeleteI join you in that preference.
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ReplyDeleteTrump Justice
WASHINGTON - Brett J. Talley, President Donald Trump's nominee to be a federal judge in Alabama, has never tried a case, was unanimously rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association's judicial rating committee, has practiced law for only three years and, as a blogger last year, displayed a degree of partisanship unusual for a judicial nominee, denouncing "Hillary Rotten Clinton" and pledging support for the National Rifle Association.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee, on a party-line vote, approved him for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.
Talley, 36, is part of what Trump has called the "untold story" of his success in filling the courts with young conservatives...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-judge-nominee-36-who-has-never-tried-a-case-wins-approval-of-senate-panel/ar-BBEOWih?li=BBnb7Kz
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"Hillary Rotten Clinton", and pro NRA ?
DeleteRated unqualified by the shysters association ?
This guy has all the makings of a great Judge.
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DeleteBob, while trying to be nice, I can only say that is one of your dumbest comments ever.
The GOP whine about their judicial nominees being held up. Even if that was true, with partisan dolts like this guy being put up for lifetime sinecure can anyone blame them? However, it's been the GOP that has been holding up Dem nominations for years.
Only a true nitwit would try to argue this decision made any sense.
I notice this guy was put up by Strange, the guy Moore defeated in the primary. How poetically appropriate is that?
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DeleteThe three stooges, Strange, Moore, and old what's his name.
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Moron.
DeleteYou read sincerity while I was writing farce.
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DeleteBob, I always assume farce whenever reading any of your comments.
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Grrr...it's tough out there in the business world.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is trying to make a killing off everyone else.
My lesson of the day....
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DeleteSomeone stiff you on a tip down at Larry's Burgers and Booze?
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Much worse.
DeleteSomeone put menstrual blood on my burger.
A man rammed a vehicle into three Chinese students near the French city of Toulouse on Friday, leaving one of them in a serious condition, police sources told AFP.
ReplyDeleteThe driver, who was arrested immediately afterwards in the city's Blagnac suburb, acted "deliberately" but was not on a list of known extremists, one source said, asking not to be named.
France has been victim of a series of vehicle attacks by extremists inspired by the Islamic State group, but there was no immediate confirmation of the driver's identity or motive.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/10/three-hurt-car-deliberately-rams-people-southern-france/
I want a name.
DeleteFrom that we can, most probably, deduce a motive.
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DeletePaddock.
Motive?
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Trump Admin Official: Trump Will Revoke Scientology’s IRS Exemption
ReplyDeleteED MORRISSEYPosted at 12:01 pm on November 10, 2017
https://hotair.com/archives/2017/11/10/trump-admin-official-trump-will-revoke-scientologys-irs-exemption/
To a secular mind is Scientology more absurd than the claims of the Catholic Church, or the muzzies ?
Just askin'.
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DeleteCan Trump do that without being sued?
I wouldn't think so.
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The President is not supposed to have his Presidential nose in it at all.
DeleteIt's a matter for the IRS.
Not that the Democrats paid any attention to that either.
Nothing new about Harvey -
ReplyDeleteNovember 10, 2017
Harvey and the Hypocrites
By James Lewis
....I realize this will be a shock to anybody raised since...oh, 1980.
In fact, the Harvey Weinstein syndrome was a hot topic for:
The Chinese philosopher Confucius.
The Greek philosopher Plato, who wrote a famous dialogue called The Symposium (or Drinking Party) that covers the Harvey Syndrome in detail. (Hint: That's why Plato called it The Drinking Party, and that's why Socrates, Hippocrates, and Plato himself thought being a drunk is totally self-destructive, and that Alcibiades suffered from self-destructive sex addiction.)
The Jewish rabbis of the Talmud, who lived during Greco-Roman times, when living it up was widely practiced by people willing to destroy their own lives along with other people.
The early Christians, who spent a lot of time talking to the Roman Stoics (who hated the Harvey lifestyle) and the Jewish rabbis (likewise).
Augustine of Hippo (in North Africa), later known as Saint Augustine, who started as a sex addict and drunk until he mended his ways.
William Shakespeare, who also spent a lot of time in the London pubs drinking good stout and wrote "Henry VIII, Part I" based on that experience, as well as having an intimate acquaintance with the Court of Queen Elizabeth, who also knew about sex addiction and didn't think it was funny. She sent the worst cases to the Tower, where they could be conveniently decapitated if they didn't shape up.
America in the Roaring Twenties (look it up, kids).
Hollywood since the silent flicks.
The U.S. media since they went national. Today, they are owned by transnational corps, which owe no loyalty to any nation, religion, or creed. Or moral code, come to think of it.
Oh, yes, and multiple periods of Muslim wealth and power throughout history, like the Ottoman Turks, until Ataturk purged them from power. This is not to mention the Saudi "princes" – previously considered the sons of roving desert sheikhs – who lived the high life in London, which is why the United Kingdom is still suffering from massive corruption, high-level pedophile rings, and the usual rotten rot.
Oh, and the Persians during the wealthy times under both Farsi and Muslim rulers.
Inner-city Chicago today.
The Mughals in India.
And the Quartet of Evil today: Hollywood, the Democrats, the Big Media, and the left, who are just the same folks under different cover names.
See how much Harvey didn't get when he fell asleep in class?
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/11/harvey_and_the_hypocrites.html#ixzz4y4RpRF9H
My BMB - Big Mystery Buyer - turned out to be a muzzie, as I had feared.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, he also turned out to be, as we have now named him - LMB - Little Mystery Buyer.
All talk, no oil.
Some say fereigners ought not be allowed to buy property in the USA.
DeleteIt's a complex topic.
ReplyDeletePerhaps only certain foreigners ought to be allowed to buy property in the USA.
Only those that don't want to kill us might be a guideline.
Who's this Louis C.K. guy ?
ReplyDeleteWhy haven't I ever heard of these people ?
My Magic 3 Ball is saying Roy Moore will be elected Senator from Alabama, maybe by more votes than he would have gotten pre-scandal. Magic 3-Ball say 'people of Alabama ain't dummies'.
It’s Pathetic, But Roy Moore Is Still Probably Going to Be a U.S. Senator
Deleteby John Ziegler | 6:50 am, November 10th, 2017
....This leads me to the Roy Moore situation. Moore, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama’s upcoming special election, was already an embarrassment to his party and his state even before yesterday’s bombshell that he allegedly had inapproriate contact with a 14-year old girl, and three other teenagers, when he was in his early thirties.
In reaction, several big name Republicans in the Senate immediately condemned Moore and called on him to drop out if the story was true. Not long ago, this development meant that Moore would soon do exactly that. However, as Dorothy told her dog Toto, “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Moore has shown absolutely no sign that he is going to withdraw from the race, or even back down an inch. He is even raising money from the controversy by trying to portray the story as the forces of evil out to get a good man who is just trying to save the country.
Amazingly, he is getting lots of public support from the people closest to him who might actually have the influence to force him out. At least two high-profile Alabama Republicans have come out with bizarre defenses of Moore, including one comparing him to the father of Jesus (wait, my Catholic school upbringing taught me that Joseph never came close to touching the Virgin Mary sexually).
Breitbart head Steve Bannon, the man most responsible for Moore winning the GOP primary over an incumbent senator, and the person with possibly the most to lose if Moore goes down in flames, is absurdly blaming the story on the Washington Post. Moore himself has coopted Trump’s “Fake News!” mantra in his attempt to distract from the substance of the damaging stories.
At Fox News, the reaction has been mixed. Sean Hannity of course robotically defended Moore (and then tried to deny it), even shockingly dismissing the allegations because the interactions were supposedly “consensual.” Tucker Carlson at least had the good sense to effectively pretend that the story didn’t even exist (a tactic with which Fox News hosts are getting quite familiar lately). While Jessie Watters seemingly forgot that in the era of Trump there are no longer any set standards or rules, and appeared to get lulled into thinking this was still the 20th century.
Sadly, unless something else happens to change the current course of events, Watters is wrong and Moore very likely will still, somehow, be elected a U.S. Senator. While it is possible he could lose a very tight race to the Democrat, I don’t see him dropping out and, as insane as it sounds, he will remain favored to win.
Let’s face it, the voters of Alabama already knew that Moore was both nuts and corrupt. The majority of them didn’t care....
https://www.mediaite.com/online/its-pathetic-but-roy-moore-is-still-probably-going-to-be-a-u-s-senator/
Alabamans ain't dummies. They know a phony 40 year old charge when they see it, even if it is true.
1. Roy Moore is in an impossible situation.
ReplyDelete2. The charges made at this time, after 40 years are suspect.
3. As to the underlying accusation, there is probably some truth to them.
4. His political career is over, he should step aside.
I think it's a grand farce.
ReplyDelete40 year old - F O R T Y Y E A R S O L D - charges one month before an election ?
Give me a f...ing break.
And released through The Washington Compost, too.
These are 50 year old women making these charges.
DeleteThey are in it for the $$$$$$$$.
I notice our self appointed Angel, Mitt Romney, has piled on.
DeleteWhatever happened to the presumption of innocence, Mitt ?
Dad was right.
DeleteAt least one, just one, piece of evidence should be required in addition to a woman's voice of accusation.
Someone ought to start a Rent An Accusation business.
ReplyDelete