Quote of the Day

"This would be a great world to dance in if we didn't have to pay the fiddler."--Will Rogers

Trump: The First 100 Days

From Politico:

Standing before Chief Justice John Roberts, he raises his right hand and places his left on the Bible. 

“I, Donald Trump, do solemnly swear…”

After he takes the oath of office, he kisses his wife, Melania. His children hug him excitedly. Former President Barack Obama, a bewildered look on his face, shakes his hand. A few rows back Howard Stern gives the new president a thumbs up. Behind him Dennis Rodman mutters something incomprehensible. And then Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, turns to the lectern to offer an inaugural address that for the first time in history is being delivered without any text or, as much as anyone can tell, without any preparation whatsoever. 

This is usually the point when Mitch McConnell wakes up screaming, his face drenched in cold sweat.

This is just the start of this hilarious editorial about the first 100 days of a Donald Trump presidency. Read the entire Matt Latimer article.

The worst part about the article is that it sounds about right. This could explain why I had a dream last night about Trump dying from a heart attack, and I felt relieved.

Weekend Review

"I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member."--Groucho Marx

I was reminded of the above quote when the whole controversy about this year's Academy Awards started. For those of you who missed it, the Academy Awards show last night lacked melanin in the skin of the award nominees. Because of this, many melanin-blessed people became upset at the Academy. Fortunately, since the Academy made melanin-blessed comedian Chris Rock the host of the show, everyone was able to overlook the injustice of it all, and seemingly had a good time.

But what I don't understand is why the melanin-blessed folks even care? The Academy Awards is the worst awards show ever! Frankly, I am still holding a grudge against them for picking Woody Allen's Annie Hall over Star Wars. Do you really want an award from people that stupid? Heck, they did it again this year: Star Wars: The Force Awakens was only nominated 5 times, and in none of the major categories. Naturally, Star Wars: The Force Awakens walked away with a big goose egg of wins.

So if your skin is darker than the majority of people around you, don't feel bad about being ignored by the Academy Awards. Even the best movies get ignored by them.

In other news...

The Telegraph reports "Dementia cure may be just five years away, says world expert". Unfortunately, after the press conference, the dementia expert couldn't find his car in the parking lot...

Yes, I know that last line was insensitive to people with dementia. But it isn't like they will remember it 5 minutes from now, is it?

Weekend Open Thread

Normally, I prefer using upbeat or unusual songs for the weekend open thread. But this one just deserves some love: Kelly Clarkson's Piece by Piece.



Have a great weekend folks.

Best Reason to Vote for Trump

From the Washington Examiner:

Rev. Al Sharpton told attendees at a Center for American Progress Action Fund event Thursday he would flee the country if Donald Trump won the election, in order to avoid being deported by Trump. 

..."If Donald Trump is the nominee, I'm open to support anyone [else], while I'm also reserving my ticket to get out of here if he wins, only because he'd probably have me deported anyway," Sharpton told attendees, who responded in laughter.

Excuse me while I prepare a "Trump 2016" sign for my front lawn...

Quote of the Day

From presidential candidate Ben Carson, during last night's GOP debate:

I never had an audit until I spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. And then all of the sudden they came in and said, “We just want to look at your real estate dealings.” And then they didn’t find anything. And then they took a look at the whole year. And they didn’t find anything. And then they looked at the next year and they didn’t find anything. And they won’t find anything… The fact is the IRS is not honest and we [need] to get rid of them.

It has been 43 years since Nixon was president. In all that time, we haven't learned that IRS audits are being used as political tools to punish the president's enemies?

But the quote above isn't the quote of the day. The following from H.L. Mencken is:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. 

Amazingly, the guys running who want to get rid of the IRS aren't being supported by a majority of the voters. Mencken was right.

Worst Grounding EVER!

Talk about poor parenting! 

I feel bad for 46 year-old actor Christian Slater, who is being sued by his father for $20 million.

I can see the conversation that led into this: "Bad boy! Not only are you grounded for life, but I expect YOU to pay ME an allowance!"

Seriously though, here is the story from Fox News:

Christian Slater is facing a $20 million lawsuit filed by his father who claims his son "ruined" his career by alleging that he suffered from mental health issues. 

In legal documents obtained by ET, Thomas Knight Slater -- who goes by the name Michael Hawkins -- cited an interview where Slater "described his father as suffering from manic-depressive schizophrenia."

It doesn't seem that Hawkins is denying what Slater said, which means Hawkins is suing Slater for being honest.

Let's face it: What parent hasn't run into the problem of their kids being too honest with strangers? Or as Art Linkletter would have said, "Kids say the darndest things!"

Istanbul, we have a problem

It seems that Russia's treaty with Armenia wasn't innocent. According to Forbes:

Two days before Christmas,...Russia quietly signed a sweeping air defense agreement with Armenia, accelerating a growing Russian military buildup that has unfolded largely under the radar. It was the most tangible sign yet that Putin is creating a new satellite state on NATO’s border and threatening an indispensable U.S. ally. 

The buildup in Armenia has been glossed over in Washington, despite being a key piece of Vladimir Putin’s plan to dominate the region — along with its proxy Syria and growing military ties with Iran. Most importantly, Armenia shares an approximately 165 mile border with Turkey, a NATO member and the alliance’s southern flank. 

Over the last six months — as Russia’s war in Syria and pressure on Turkey has intensified — the flow of its arms and personnel into Armenia has escalated to include advanced Navodchik-2 and Takhion UAV drone aircrafts, Mi-24 helicopter gunships and Iskander-M ballistic missiles. Last July, Putin ordered snap combat readiness checks in Armenia to test the ability of his forces to react to threats to Russia’s interests abroad. Earlier this month on orders of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, Russia began a massive military exercise in its “southwestern strategic direction,” which includes Armenia. The total strength of the regional operation included approximately 8,500 troops, 900 ground artillery pieces, 200 warplanes and 50 warships.

Admittedly, 8,500 troops isn't exactly a "preparing to invade" force. Good luck taking over a country of nearly 79 million people with only 8 thousand or so troops. Those kind of odds would make even the Zulus blush:

If you are conservative, read this...

...editorial, "I’ll Take Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump". Tom Nichols nails the argument against Donald "Joe Millionaire" Trump with this:

A few years ago, The Federalist’s publisher, Ben Domenech, suggested that conservatives consider dumping the “Buckley Rule,” the late William F. Buckley’s admonition always to choose the most conservative candidate who can win. As Ben pointed out, things have changed since Buckley first issued this advice, including that the elite determination of “who can win” is often flawed. The Buckley Rule, for example, might have led to supporting Charlie Crist—you may shudder at will—instead of Marco Rubio in the 2010 Florida Senate race.

In its place, Ben raised the possibility of a “Hamilton Rule,” named after Alexander Hamilton. Although both were Federalists, Hamilton despised John Adams and his coterie among his own party to the point where he was willing to lose the election of 1800. “If we must have an enemy at the head of government,” Hamilton said in exasperation, “let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible.” 

Read the entire editorial.

And now for the counter-point: Didn't conservatives do this 8 years ago (and ever since) with Obama? They have been obstructing him at every turn, and they have managed a few victories, but the presidency has been morphing into a brutal dictatorship, where Obama can rule by executive fiat. Frankly, we don't have much time until the president becomes an emperor. How long before we have a president appointing a horse to the senate?

Mind you, I am not proposing that Trump is a solution. Actually, I would say the problem is much more serious: If Trump wins the nomination, you may as well call the conservative movement dead.

 (hat tip to imgflip for the pic)

Old Milwaukee

There are so many things to say about this CNN story:

The 388-foot, 3,400-ton [USS Milwaukee, one of the U.S. Navy's newest littoral combat ships] broke down in the Atlantic Ocean on December 10, less than a month after it was commissioned. The ship had to be towed 40 miles to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia. 

The Navy said at the time that metallic debris was found in filter systems in the ship, causing a loss of pressure in lubricant to gears that transfer power from the ship's diesel and gas turbine engines to its water jet propulsion system. 

...The Milwaukee "is designed to operate with gas turbine and diesel engines, which can operate in tandem or independently," Navy Lt. Rebecca Haggard said. "In the case of Milwaukee, when switching from one system to the other, a clutch failed to disengage as designed. Instead, the clutch remained spinning and some of the clutch gears were damaged."

So now that this story is in the news, I can proudly say "it's the clutch that made Milwaukee famous".

Pun intended.

 

The Abe Fortas Dilemma OR The Lame Duck Test

I always love when a publication has a headline which is disproved within the body of the article. Somewhere between the editor and the writer, the facts seemed to have been misplaced.

Take this New York Magazine article, "No, the Senate’s Supreme Court Blockade Has Never Happened in American History". Some background:

Senate Republicans announced today that they would refuse to consider any candidate nominated by President Obama for the Supreme Court. The Constitution gives the Senate the right to offer advice and consent on Court nominees. The two bodies have frequently quarreled over just how much power each is entitled over a nomination. Sometimes, senators have granted presidents wide latitude. At other times, they have insisted on forcing the president to nominate a jurist with mainstream views. But never before in American history has the Senate simply refused to let the president nominate anybody at all simply because it was an election year.

That first paragraph is pretty straightforward. Never happened. End of story. May as well end the article here.

Except for this little tidbit later in the same article:

Republicans formulated their no-nomination position in real time, literally within moments of Scalia’s death, and hastily backfilled in justifications only afterward. The first defense, offered up on the fly by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio at the Republican presidential debate that happened to take place that night, relied on “80 years of precedent” of presidents abstaining from nominating anybody to the Court in an election year. This precedent has turned out to be a complete fiction. Presidents have nominated, and Senates have confirmed, numerous justices to the Court, as law professor Amy Howe pointed out. The Senate did reject Abe Fortas’s elevation to chief justice in 1968, but it did so out of opposition to Fortas’s allegedly improper ties to the administration, not out of a principled rejection of President Johnson’s right to alter the Court in an election year. [Bold added by me] 

Oops. So it HAS happened in an election year.

Naturally, the excuse will be, "But that isn't why the Senate is saying they will do it now!" Agreed, but that isn't what the headline says, now is it? Allow me to reiterate: "NEVER HAPPENED IN AMERICAN HISTORY". That is definitive, leaving no room for exceptions of any kind.

Once we get past the biased wording of the headline, we are left with the real truth, which is the reason behind the Senate blockade of President Obama's nominations. Consider:

1. We don't have a nomination. Until Obama actually nominates someone, this entire discussion is moot.

2. What if Obama nominates a conservative?  Does anyone honestly think the Senate won't rush an approval for a conservative judge? That will be the best crow they ever ate!

(hat tip to Meme Generator for the pic)

3. What if Obama nominates another progressive tool for SCOTUS? Considering Obama's two appointments were nothing more than progressive tools on the court (Sotomayor and Kagan), this does seem likely. However, if he does, the Republicans will be sending Obama a fruitcake for Christmas, thanking him for making them look like precognitive geniuses.

In the political calculus, that means Obama's only choices are numbers 1 & 2. However, this is where it gets complicated, because he is a lame duck president. He will take door number 3, because he is more concerned with his legacy. He will pick a progressive tool, and then cry into his post-presidential memoirs about how the evil racist Republicans obstructed him because he was black.

 (hat tip to Watching America for the cartoon)

So remember the duck test: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is Barack.

Trump Takes Vegas!

More specifically, Donald "Joe Millionaire" Trump won the Nevada Republican caucuses.

It is beginning to look more and more like this November's election will be a choice between the Republican fascist and the Democratic progressive/socialist (Clinton or Sanders). Decisions, decisions...

Wait a second...This means I will have to live in one of those two countries?

The Trump Phenomena

CNN has a fascinating article about a potential achilles heel for Donald "Joe Millionaire" Trump: Google.

For example:

Google is really helpful is in tracking down comments from years ago, even before the Internet. This means that searches that once would have had reporters spending hours in a library looking at microfiche can now be done in minutes. 

For example, if you simply type the words "Trump" and "women" into a Google search, the very first article Google delivers is titled, "18 Real Things Donald Trump Has Actually Said About Women." 

As you would imagine, Trump was not explaining the importance of women getting paid the same as men. No, this list includes Trumpisms like this one from 1991: "You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."

Dean Obeidallah, the writer of the article, makes one crucial error about Trump: Dean thinks political correctness is important. In previous elections, I would agree. But part of Trump's "charm" (for lack of a better word) is his un-pc nature. In Trump's defense, he even comes out against political correctness on the "issues" page of his campaign:




Unfortunately, if you bring up all the un-pc stuff Trump has ever said, you make his point for him. While you're talking about what a sexist, racist troglodyte Trump is and was, you are playing his game. While you are pointing out what he said 25 years ago, he is talking about problems today. Suddenly, he sounds serious, and you sound like some pedantic nun from the pc police. The average person might not be a brain surgeon, but they can see that we live in a troubled world on the brink of collapse. The average person can tell we have more serious issues than sexism or racism (or pick your -ism of the day). The average person sees the problems, and then sees the politicians running against Trump, all of them being wonderfully pc EXCEPT for Trump, who is doing his best Chicken Little impersonation. He says, "Screw being pc! We have huge problems folks!"

Trump knows how to stand out in a crowd. H.L. Mencken described the Trump phenomena best:

When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

We always knew Trump was devious. But by showing his un-pc nature, which is more common in society than most progressive Media types would like to admit, the Media are actually turning him into the mediocre candidate he needs to be to win the White House.

1992 Biden versus 2016 Biden

1992:

"Once the political season is underway and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over."--Joe Biden

2016:

"Darn those Republicans for quoting me out of context! I was talking about um...uh...nominating restaurants for our lunch break! Yeah, that's the ticket!"--Joe Biden

Ok, I might have taken a few liberties with the last quote, but you get the idea.

Trump to Audit the Fed?

I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this Infowars article, "TRUMP CALLS FOR AUDITING THE FED":

The GOP frontrunner [Donald Trump] said it was important to audit the Fed and even called out his rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, for skipping a vote on Sen. Rand Paul’s “Audit the Fed” proposal back in Jan.

“It is so important to audit the Federal Reserve, and yet Ted Cruz missed the vote on the bill that would allow this to be done,” Trump tweeted out.

Read the rest of that article, because this is arguably one of the single most important proposals of this campaign. Presidential candidates make a lot of economic promises, but the overwhelming majority of proposals made, and even enacted, are "nibbles around the edges", which really don't have much economic impact at all.

What the Federal Reserve does has tremendous impact on our economy every single day. Yet few people in any positions of power in Washington really know what the Fed is doing, because they don't disclose their activities publicly. The entity which controls the amount of liquidity (that's cash to you and me) in the economy answers to no one. The chairman of the Fed will testify before Congress occasionally, but he/she really doesn't usually reveal much in their testimony.

Even though presidents will take credit, or get the blame, for the economy, the Fed is where the economy lives and dies. If Trump is serious about auditing the Fed, then I have to call him a serious candidate. Few politicians have the guts to touch the Fed, mainly because the Fed is in bed with the banking system, especially the "too big to fail"(TBTF) banks. Those TBTF banks are huge political contributors (ask Hillary Goldman Clinton), so politicians will not bite the hand that feeds them.

But that is the question: Is Trump serious about auditing the Fed? I don't know, but I can honestly say none of the others is (aside from Rand Paul, who is sadly unelectable). So if you believe in auditing the Fed, that leaves you with a choice between the shark tank and the active volcano. Normally, you might look for the third option, but remember: Voting for a third party is "wasting your vote".

Of course, there is always the "George Carlin option":

Fuzzy New York Times Math

And the New York Times was doing so good...

Now they print an article with a very biased view, and I am not talking Leftist either. "Delegate Count Leaving Bernie Sanders With Steep Climb" would have you thinking Bernie Sanders is ready for the fork treatment (as in, "stick one in him, he's done"):

Senator Bernie Sanders vowed on Sunday to fight on after losing the Nevada caucuses, predicting that he would pull off a historic political upset by this summer’s party convention. 

But the often overlooked delegate count in the Democratic primary shows Mr. Sanders slipping significantly behind Hillary Clinton in the race for the nomination, and the odds of his overtaking her growing increasingly remote. 

Mrs. Clinton has 502 delegates to Mr. Sanders’s 70; 2,383 are needed to win the nomination. These numbers include delegates won in state contests and superdelegates, who can support any candidate. 

Wow Bernie. Time to mail it in, right?

Except for this problem: The "official" delegate count, those committed by the primaries and caucuses so far, and will most likely remain unchanged, stands at 51-51, according to the Times' own graphic, when you remove the superdelegates.

Why do I remove the superdelegates? Because some of these are Democratic Party bigwigs, no doubt looking for some sweet appointments in the administration of the winner. They assume that will be Hillary at this point. Now imagine Bernie ends up winning a majority of all of the primary and caucus delegates. We're going into the Democratic convention. Do you really think the party wants to use the superdelegates to overrule what the primaries and caucuses voted for? Can you say "President Trump"?

But seriously, if you need any proof the Clintons own the New York Times, here you have it.

The One-Party American System

In case you ever needed some proof that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, consider this news story, from Yahoo Finance: 

Sam Palmisano is undoubtedly a technology expert. As CEO of IBM (IBM) from 2003 to 2011, he presided over a tech giant during the formative years of the digital revolution. That makes him a logical choice to be vice chairman of a new White House panel on cybersecurity, an appointment President Obama announced this week. 

Palmisano is also a Republican who gave $100,000 last March to Jeb Bush’s super PAC, Right to Rise. That puts him in the rarified stratum of people making six-, seven- or eight-figure donations to help a chosen candidate win. 

So when you hear the Republicrats and the Democans complaining about each other, remember that big money supports both sides. He who pays the piper, calls the tune.

In a nation of whores, money is the one-party American political system. This is why voting for a third party is considered a wasted vote: The rich people paying get no return on their investment, and the poor whores don't make any money either. Why vote for a political party that isn't making anyone any money?

Weekend Review

Fox News reports:

FBI Director James Comey said late Sunday that the agency owed the victims of last December's San Bernardino terror attack a "thorough and professional investigation", in an effort to explain why law enforcement officials are trying to compel Apple to help them gain access to a cellphone owned by one of the gunmen. 

In a post on the Lawfare blog, Comey wrote that the FBI "can't look the survivors in the eye, or ourselves in the mirror, if we don't follow this lead."

Yes, because we need to toss out our civil rights in order for law enforcement to properly cover their rears for shooting the perps.

Sadly, even Donald "Joe Millionaire" Trump has jumped on the bandwagon. According to CNN:

Donald Trump on Friday called for a boycott against Apple until the technology giant helps the FBI break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. 

"Boycott Apple until such time as they give that information," Trump told a crowded room of supporters during a town hall-style event here just one day before the South Carolina GOP primary.

Getting Trump's support is a checkbox in favor of "this is a REALLY bad idea"...

In other news, there is a fascinating analysis of the Republican presidential race by Nicholas Confessore and Sarah Cohen in the New York Times:

A seven-month, $220 million surge of spending on behalf of mainstream Republican candidates has yielded a primary battle dominated by Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, two candidates reviled by most of the party’s leading donors. 

...The outcome is a rebuke to the party’s traditional donor class, which poured record-breaking amounts of money into the race last spring and summer in the hope of grooming a nominee with broad national appeal and a chance at winning over more Hispanic and other nonwhite voters. Instead, the candidates backed most lavishly by wealthy establishment-leaning Republican donors burned through much of the cash they accumulated last year, beginning the month deeply depleted. Those remaining in the race on Sunday, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, had less than $7 million in cash between them. 

But here is the funny part:

...Much of the donor class’s money was spent on a shootout among its favored candidates. Groups backing Mr. Bush, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Kasich and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey devoted almost three-quarters of the money they spent on negative advertising to attacking those other candidates rather than Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz, according to the commission’s data. 

In other words, the establishment candidates spent most of their money attacking each other, while the anti-establishment candidates took the lead. This is analogous to the U.S., Russia, and China going to war, and Monaco taking over the world.

Speaking of irony, the Washington Examiner reports a study that shows Hillary Clinton makes more in one speech than the average CEO:

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's charge that corporate CEOs earn 300 times more than their workers isn't just wrong. It hides another very real wage gap: She earns more in just one speech than the average American CEO in a year. 

Mark J. Perry, a University of Michigan professor and author of the American Enterprise Institute's popular Carpe Diem blog, did the fact-checking of Clinton's numbers and came up with that result.

The average CEO, using Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, makes $216,100. Clinton's speaking agent, the Harry Walker Agency Inc., charged about $275,000 a speech and packaged three for Wall Street's Goldman Sachs at $675,000.

 I am sure Hillary would justify this with a Babe Ruth-like response that she had a better year.

Weekend Open Thread

Welcome to this weekend's open thread, where you can discuss anything you like.

For my part, I offer this hilarious review of the movie Deadpool:




For this week's musical selection, I offer another song from a band recommended by my daughter. She's 18, so naturally she is far cooler than I will ever be.

The song is The Only Exception by Paramore:



Enjoy your weekend folks!

Replying to the headlines

Fox News: Trump endorsed Iraq invasion in 2002 radio interview:
But he was between marriages then. That's his excuse, and he's sticking to it!

The Fiscal Times: Yes, Trump Can Win in November – And Here’s How:
Easy: Trump gets enough votes in the Electoral College.

Fox News: Drunk, knife-wielding monkey reportedly attacks bar patrons:
Definitely a unique twist on the "dog bites man" story.

CNN:  Russia wants to modify Cold War missiles to destroy asteroids:
Putin tells asteroids: "Ve vill crush you!"

AP: POPE SUGGESTS CONTRACEPTION CAN BE CONDONED IN ZIKA CRISIS:
I guess Zika wouldn't sleep with him otherwise?

TRUTH Review: Deadpool

I went to see the movie Deadpool yesterday: It is the funniest movie I have seen in more years than I like to admit.

There isn't much this movie doesn't make fun of: Ikea, superheroes, superhero movies, blind people, teenage girls, and plenty more. It even makes fun of violence (of which there is plenty, so don't see it if that bothers you).

Ryan Reynolds, the lead actor, has found his calling. Once in awhile an actor defines a role as their own. Heath Ledger's Joker comes to mind. In this case, Reynolds owns Deadpool. Few actors could translate the Deadpool character from the comic books to the big screen with the perfect blend of the character's various qualities: irreverence, as well as humor derived from the character's own pathos, all while still being able to portray a villain who is trying to be a hero (and failing miserably at it). One could make an argument that Deadpool is one of the deepest characters in comedic history. To be able to pull that off convincingly is a credit to anyone's acting skills, but to own the role is something special in the acting universe. Is it too early to recommend Reynolds for next year's "best actor" Academy Award?

The other actors were acceptable. Morena Baccarin (Is she in everything nowadays?) is splendid as Deadpool's girlfriend Vanessa. Ed Skrein as Ajax, aka "Francis", has a good turn as the villain, especially with his smug smile, which only makes his evil deeds more despicable. But the cast is mostly there to play foils to Reynolds' Deadpool, and they do that admirably.

I have to give special kudos to Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, who was my favorite character in the comics, and she has translated the character perfectly. Every scene she was in was a guaranteed laugh.

When I told my daughter about it, apparently there is a big deal about, as she put it, "a 5 minute sex scene" in the movie. The scene she mentioned wasn't a single sex scene, but rather a combination of sex scenes strung together for a joke. The joke works, but I didn't consider the sex lurid. However, there is ever-so-brief nudity, so if that stuff bothers you, be warned.

If you can turn off your inhibitions to just watch a movie, you will have a lot of fun watching Deadpool. I would rate it 3.5 out of 4 stars. It isn't a classic, but it is a lot of fun. If Ryan Reynolds will follow me on Twitter, I will consider giving him that last half star...

P.S. Make sure to sit through the credits. There is a fantastic little post-credits scene.

History rhymes

"History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it just screams, 'Why don't you listen to me?' and lets fly with a big stick."--John W. Campbell, Jr.

This quote sums up perfectly the following historical rhyme I just discovered.

For your consideration, I offer John Lennon's quote about the Beetles, from 1966: "We're more popular than Jesus now".

And now, Kanye West, 50 years later: "Are they f—–g crazy? Whoa by 50 percent [I am more influential than] Stanley Kubrick, Picasso, Apostle Paul, f—–g Picasso and [drug runner Pablo] Escobar. By 50 percent more influential than any other human being. Don’t f–k with me. Don’t f–k with me. Don’t f–k with me. By 50 percent dead or alive, by 50 percent for the next 1,000 years. Stanley Kubrick, ‘Ye.'"

Which leaves me wondering what Kanye thinks about Jesus?

Replying to the Headlines

I thought I would try a new feature today, which I call "Replying to the Headlines". So here we go...

'Star Wars: Episode VIII' starts filming; Laura Dern, Benicio Del Toro part of cast:

Returning to the film will be Harrison Ford, doing a ghostly sounding voice of Han Solo telling the heroes, "Don't get cocky!"

Kentucky bill requires spouse consent to husband's Viagra use:

You have to ask?

Florida teen arrested after posing as doctor, opening medical practice:

But does he take my insurance?

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck go on family vacation with Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen:

I was going to go, but then got busy. Maybe next year...

U.S. missile inadvertently shipped to Cuba has been returned:

Unfortunately, we have to wait for the Disney cruise ship carrying it to return...

Is Trump unstoppable?

Check out this headline: "Q poll: ‘Freight train’ Trump had 2-1 lead". Or the Drudge Report headline: "POLL: TRUMP HITS HIGHEST".

Wow. I guess all the other Republicans may as well just quit, because Trump is running away with it.

Except the Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump's support at 39%. Granted, second place goes to Marco Rubio with 19%, but 39% is NOT a majority. Batting .390 in baseball is wonderful, but not in politics. If the Republican candidate gets 39% in the general election, the Media will be declaring the Democratic presidency before Maine is finished voting.

Also, Trump has been higher than this in other polls:

January 26th: CNN/ORC poll reports Trump at 41%.
December 14th: Monmouth University poll reports Trump at 41%.

Sorry folks. While Joe Millionaire is doing well, it is too soon to hand him the World Series win.

Thomas Sowell versus Socialism

Economist Thomas Sowell takes on the socialists in this editorial, which I highly recommend. Here are some quotes from it:

Many people of mature years are amazed at how many young people have voted for Senator Bernie Sanders, and are enthusiastic about the socialism he preaches. 

Many of those older people have lived long enough to have seen socialism fail, time and again, in countries around the world. Venezuela, with all its rich oil resources, is currently on the verge of economic collapse, after its heady fling with socialism. 

But, most of the young have missed all that, and their dumbed-down education is far more likely to present the inspiring rhetoric of socialism than to present its dismal track record.

I admire Thomas Sowell, but he starts off sounding a lot like this:



But Sowell continues, getting to the meat of his argument:

Socialism is in fact a wonderful vision -- a world of the imagination far better than any place anywhere in the real world, at any time over the thousands of years of recorded history. Even many conservatives would probably prefer to live in such a world, if they thought it was possible. 

Who would not want to live in a world where college was free, along with many other things, and where government protected us from the shocks of life and guaranteed our happiness? It would be Disneyland for adults!

This is what got me to thinking, if we are going to design a system of government where we make stuff free, and protected us from the "shocks of life" and guaranteed happiness, why should we make college free?

So here is the TRUTH's new government system, to blow socialism out of the water:

1. First, we provide the basic necessities of life: Food, clothing and shelter. All the free government cheese, moo moos, and project housing you need to live!

2. Everyone is always screaming for free healthcare, so we will provide that. There is one glitch, and that is our healthcare will be provided by robots. This could be your next trip to the doctor:



Just imagine: A doctor who cuts himself open, instead of you!

3. Two words: Soylent Green.

4. Early retirement. No, I don't mean 65, 60, or even 50. How about as soon as you get out of high school? This also has the virtue of making college education unnecessary. Why should the government have to pay for meaningless college educations? Of course, with the quality of our public school system, we may just skip the entire education thing. Retirement at birth!

5. The best part of all: Free high speed internet!

Top this, Bernie Sanders!

Disney likes me!

While I am a newbie to Twitter, does anyone else notice strange "likes" to their tweets?

I got this message today:

Of course, "It's Mouse Time" is the Disney Twitter account.

They were replying to my tweet about this post, which included this:

But seriously, here is better news from CNN: 

A Disney cruise ship stopped on its way to the Cayman Islands to pick up 12 suspected migrants southeast of Cuba, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday.

Let's see: They get to go to the tax-free Cayman Islands on a Disney cruise ship for free? How do I get in on this deal? 

The migrants were brought aboard the boat, which boasts "11 decks overflowing with restaurants, pools, recreation and more." 

Now Disney can add Cubans to that list...

Who knew Cubans were a popular cruise luxury?

2 year backlog in Gulfstreams not as meaningful as it seems

From Bloomberg:

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. says it’s unable to keep up with demand from the rich. 

Pay $65 million for the G650 or G650ER personal jets, and your wait to board them could be as long as two years, Scott Neal, Gulfstream’s senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, said in a Bloomberg TV interview Tuesday at the Singapore Air Show. 

The G650ER "has taken market share at the top end of the market. It’s really created a new market to itself," Neal said. "The next available delivery for a new G650 or G650ER is a little over two years from now."

...Gulfstream delivered about 150 planes last year and is expanding its maintenance support network, he said. 

That's really great, until you consider those 150 planes includes G450, G550, and G280. None of those is a $65 million aircraft. Granted, these are all luxury aircraft, but that isn't what the headline says, now is it?

But you also need to consider another news story. From Reuters:

The 737 MAX, the latest generation of Boeing's best-selling 737 aircraft, is a major cash generator for the company. It had 3,072 firm orders at the end of 2015, more than half of Boeing's 5,795-plane backlog.

The whole point of this is that aerospace manufacturers like to have backlogs. It shows stockholders, "See? We have so much demand we can't keep up with it!" If their backlog dropped to one aircraft, they would cut their staff to one guy building the airplane. He should be finished with it in a few years!

Barking at Politicians

From CNN:

"Republicans) actually, with a straight face, say that the great recession was caused by too much regulation on Wall Street. They actually say that," [presidential candidate Hilary] Clinton said. 

..."One of my favorite political ads of all time was a radio ad in rural Arkansas where the announcer said, 'Wouldn't it be great if somebody running for office said something, we could have an immediate reaction to whether it was true or not. Well, we have trained this dog. Well, the dog, if it is not true, he is going to bark,'" Clinton said. "And the dog was barking on the radio and so people were barking at each other for days after that." 

"I want to figure out how we can do that with Republicans. We need to get that dog and follow them around and every time they say these things like, 'Oh, the Great Recession was caused by too much regulation,' arh, arh, arh, arh," Clinton said, letting out a barking noise that caused the audience to laugh and some people to mimic her. 

"I think," Clinton concluded, "we could cut right through a lot of their claims."

I think Hillary is onto something there. If we could train a dog to spot lies and bark each time, just imagine how history would be different?

Take this example:




ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF!

Weekend Review

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is still dead. Agree or disagree with him, his impact on the U.S. legal system will be felt for a long time.

In bigger news, 150,000 penguins perished after a giant iceberg trapped the colony in Antarctica:

About 150,000 penguins have died since being stranded by a vast iceberg that became lodged off the coast of Antarctica six years ago, according to the journal Antarctic Science. 

Combined with expanding ice, the B09B iceberg, which at 1,120 square miles is almost the size of Rhode Island, has cut off the Adelie penguins' food supply and changed the landscape of their home, according to a February report in the peer-reviewed journal published by Cambridge University Press.

To my more progressive friends out there, this is what you call the result of global COOLING. So the next time you want to bring up some picture of a polar bear drowning, just think of this:

...The iceberg essentially has landlocked the penguins, forcing the animals to trek across a desolate stretch of nearly 40 miles to find food. 

The once 160,000-strong colony has now dwindled to 10,000 penguins.

In MUCH happier news, I have a hangnail. Not really, but you have to admit, that would be happier than how I started this post.

But seriously, here is better news from CNN:

A Disney cruise ship stopped on its way to the Cayman Islands to pick up 12 suspected migrants southeast of Cuba, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday.

Let's see: They get to go to the tax-free Cayman Islands on a Disney cruise ship for free? How do I get in on this deal?

The migrants were brought aboard the boat, which boasts "11 decks overflowing with restaurants, pools, recreation and more." 

Now Disney can add Cubans to that list...

Weekend Open Thread

On my old blog, I used to post an open thread blog right before I closed up blogging for the weekend. This is basically where anyone can talk about any topic they like in the comments.

For the open thread posts, I would usually post a piece of music which I discovered or rediscovered.

Today, I offer a song from a band which my daughter introduced me to, the Arctic Monkeys. I know, weird name, but the band is pretty good. They show a good sense of rhythm, and their lyrics are worth reading. Here is their song Teddy Picker:




Interesting facts about this song/video:

1. A teddy picker (according to Urban Dictionary) "is a machine found at carnivals and fun-fairs, where one moves a robotic arm to pick up toys or in this case, a teddy bear".

2. The video was directed by Roman Coppola. If that name is familiar, it is because he is the son of Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather).

Enjoy your weekend folks, and we will return next week for some more...whatever it is we do around here!

Why Does Trump Terrify People?

Scott Adams of Dilbert fame asks, Why Does Trump Terrify People?

Here are the top 3 reasons I offer in answer to that question:

3. He accuses Ted Cruz of being a liar. Ivana Trump has two words for him: Marla Maples.

2. Trump uses the same toupee which Lee Majors used in the 1970's.

1. The hockey mask.

Ironic Quote of the Day

In last night's Democratic Party debate, the following exchange was reported by potential presidential candidate Fox News:

“Let’s not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren’t dumb,” [presidential candidate Bernie] Sanders said. “Why in God’s name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it.” 

They sparred on the issue as Sanders touted the fact he’s “the only candidate up here” who has no super PAC supporting him. A super PAC backing [presidential candidate Hillary] Clinton, he said, recently raised $15 million from Wall Street. 

Clinton countered by noting that Obama took Wall Street donations too, but “when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street.”

And after the trillions of dollars Wall Street got from both the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury*, I am certain Wall Street has learned it's lesson!


*Before anyone brings up TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) was signed into law by President Bush in October 2008, both Senators Obama and Clinton voted for it, whereas Senator Sanders did not. It seems President Obama never really "stood up and took on Wall Street", and it doesn't seem likely Hillary Clinton will. 

And then there were six...

...Republican presidential candidates.

It looks like Carly Fiorina is dropping out, leaving Marco Rubio as the closest thing the Republicans have to a girl in the race.

This makes the remaining candidates (in polling order, according to RealClearPolitics):

1. Donald "Joe Millionaire" Trump: He may be leading now, but wait until Bob Barker enters the race!
2. Ted "Dudley Do-right" Cruz: Won't we all be laughing if the courts throw out his campaign cause he's Canadian?
3. Marco "Obama knows what he's doing" Rubio: Rubio is likable, even if he is too young (44) for the job.
4. Ben "Heeeeeere's Benny!" Carson: He still has my vote, which means he's doomed.
5. Jeb "The boring brother" Bush: America first suffered "Bush fatigue" back during the Reagan years, and I think we have reached plague levels now.
6. John Kasich: I can't even give this guy a nickname. When a candidate comes out of nowhere to get second place in New Hampshire, normally the Media would be all over him. Instead, he is getting the Nipper reaction from them:

(pic from Wikipedia)

Fox News Declares Candidacy

Fox News has finally declared it is running for the Republican nomination for president.

In a New York Magazine article, Fox News Settles in for a Long Campaign With Donald Trump, a Candidate Who Proves the Network Has Lost Its Power:

With his decisive win in New Hampshire, Donald Trump dashed the GOP Establishment’s hope that skipping last month’s Fox News debate would sink his campaign. By claiming more than a third of the New Hampshire vote, Trump not only exceeded expectations and more than doubled the vote tally of any of his rivals — but also demonstrated that disregarding Fox News doesn’t spell political ruin for a Republican. The grip that Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, and Co. have held on the GOP for nearly a generation got a little looser Tuesday night.

So naturally the next step is for Fox News to run for president.

While it is unclear how the news network would run the country. My guess is it would be run by whomever happens to be on the air at any given moment. I would expect their guest bookings to become bloated for all their shows. Of course, we would all watch to see what the new President Fox News would do. The ratings would be sky high!

Sorry Donald Trump, you're fired!

New Spokeswoman for the Entire Black Race

Today, The Nation's writer Michelle Alexander declared herself the spokeswoman for the entire black race in an editorial entitled Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote. And she provides a lot of sound reasons for her thesis.

However, I have one question for her: WHICH black vote?

Republicans voting in droves, Democrats not so much

According to the Washington Times, 

Republicans set a new turnout record Tuesday in New Hampshire’s primary, attracting more than a quarter of a million voters to the polls and offering evidence that most of the energy in the 2016 presidential race continues to be on the GOP side. 

Democrats saw a strong turnout, but their two-person race couldn’t recapture the magic of the 2008 battle between Hillary Clinton and then-candidate Barack Obama — a race that presaged Mr. Obama’s eventual cruise to victory in November.

This is easy to explain. With 11 Republican candidates to only 2 Democrats, there were far more relatives for candidates on the GOP side. Also, the Illinois primary won't be until March 15th, so we won't see a lot of the Democratic Party's dead voters coming out until then...

Tweet of the Day

"Anyone notice a guy who probably didn't use to be a R & a guy who isn't really a D won their respective primaries?"--David Corn (DC Editor of Mother Jones) 

Happy Ash Wednesday!

While I predicted the New Hampshire primary results correctly (Trump and Sanders won), the results left a few campaigns in ashes today:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, though, is...returning to his home state after a disappointing sixth-place finish with a mere 8 percent of the vote. He told supporters he planned to make a decision Wednesday on the way forward with the viability of his campaign now in serious doubt.  

I don't suppose the Fort Lee lane closure scandal (aka Bridgegate) had anything to do with it? Using traffic to perform an act of revenge on another politician, at the expense of your state's drivers, isn't really popular with the American people.

No, they would much rather vote for a billionaire who's best known for saying "You're fired!".

As Marco Rubio's campaign, here is what happened:



Rubio pulled a big 0 on the delegate count, even losing out to the boring Bush brother, Jeb, who got 2.

On the bright side for Rubio, at least Christ Christie won't be there to point out Rubio's debate mistakes any more...

New Hampshire Primary Prediction

Today is the New Hampshire presidential primary, so here are my dire warnings...um, predictions.

On the Democratic side, I predict socialist Bernie Sanders will squeak by unconvicted criminal Hillary Goldman Clinton, as the Democratic Party moves ever more leftward towards the "Obamaphone wing" of the party:



For the Republicans, I see Joe Millionaire, aka Donald Trump, continuing the Republican Party's rejection of anything remotely resembling sanity.

For the Libertarians, Gary Johnson announced last month that he will be running for the Libertarian Party again this year. You didn't notice Johnson's presidential run in 2012? Neither did the voters. If he doubles his vote count from 2012, he still won't get an electoral vote, unless all his votes come in a really small state.

Finally, if none of those candidates excite you, there is hope: Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he is considering throwing lots of money away on a run for president as an independent candidate, because that always works so well.

Fake Quote of the Day

"Yay Democrats! Boo Republicans!"--New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, any day of the week, including Sundays.

Hispanic Authority Says Cruz and Rubio "running from their heritage"

Who could be more of an authority on being Hispanic than a Democratic politician?

From Politico:

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are "running from their heritage," says Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), a top-ranking Hispanic lawmaker and the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. 

In an interview with South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison out Monday, Becerra responded to a question about his feelings on how the Republican candidates, particularly the two of Latino heritage, "who have family with immigrants but yet the rhetoric that's coming from them, and their party, what are your thoughts -- again, from the Latino experience -- what are your thoughts, and how do you feel about that type of rhetoric and what's going on on that side?"

So the guy asking the question was a state Democratic Party chairman? Can you say "softball"?

Here comes the swing and hit out of the park:

"Here's the real problem I have with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio: It feels like they're running from their heritage in my book," said Becerra, who led the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the late 1990s.

Cruz and Rubio, he continued, "don't want to say who they are."

Becerra's reasoning for his accusation is that he "feels like they're running from their heritage in my book". Let me guess: His book is Racism for Dummies.

Archie, come get your son!

From The Smoking Gun:

An Alabama man dressed as a clown was arrested last night for drunk driving, according to cops who noted that the suspect “gave no explanation” for his odd attire.

I am sure it was all in "jest".

But seriously, I bet it was just Peyton Manning. He said he was going to celebrate with a few Budweisers after the Super Bowl, right? The next thing you know, he ends up in a clown suit in Alabama. Wait, that never happened to you?

Only in New York...

...can a city council raise of 32% occur, AND be justified!

Sounds ridiculous right? It isn't as crazy as it seems.

Consider that only brings their salary to $148,000. Sure, that is plenty of money for you and me, but that's barely twice the pay a Goldman Sachs intern makes for a year  (average $66k/year, high $76k/year). Politicians have standards, ya know...

But let's be realistic about this: New York City is the most expensive city in North America, and the 4th most expensive by real estate prices. Think about it: The annual rental cost for 900 square feet in New York is about $33k. That's for "normal", and we all know New York politicians aren't "normal", right? All you need to know: It takes a majority of New York voters to elect them.

So how did New York get to be so expensive?

Certainly having a lot of people in a small area helps, although it takes more than that. If that was all that counted, the most expensive cities would all be in China.

No, it takes big government to create big cost of living. Regulations and taxes aren't cheap, ya know? Your politicians work hard to make things more expensive for you, and nobody works harder than politicians in New York, both city and state.

To my friends in New York City, I say: Please be understanding. Your politicians are earning their pay. So when you look at your cost of living and your taxes, just remember to send a thank you note to your local politician for all his/her hard work...

BONUS: New Yorker proves drone users aren't as smart as their own tech.

Welcome to Truth

"Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth
But has trouble enough of its own"--Ella Wheeler Wilcox

My goal for this blog is simple: laughter. We live in "interesting times", and yet there is not much we can do about it. However, we can laugh, and hopefully learn something about ourselves and others, learn some truth, along the way.

 Here is some George Carlin to get you started: