July 29, 2016

Poll Dancing

O.K., this is all ripped off of Breitbart and I do not doubt for one minute the veracity of any facts contained therein. But it is an interesting tea dance that these assholes (the pollsters, NOT Breitbart) are engaged in.

Several days ago, Reuters reported a 17-point swing for Donald Trump Now today, they report that Clinton was Clinton edging Trump LARGELY BECAUSE OF A CHANGED METHODOLGY USED BY THEIR POLLING COMPANY. (Here is a link to the Reuters explanation for purists.)


Not to masticate this too overlong, it's plain to see what's going on:

(1) To create drama or because their original heuristic uncovered the real truth regarding the so-called "monster vote", Trump experienced the 17-point swing.

(2) The Reuters people went with it because they thought that the post-DNC bump would result in a magnificent lead for Clintoon.

(3) After that four-day crapfest called the DNC, the lead did not materialize and these clowns put out this "neither/other" bull shit so they could show a bounce for Clintoon.

The War Planner's immutable truth: polls are garbage. They are designed to stampede the mind-numbed, mirror-fogging proles (who they think we are) into the cattle pens for Hillary.

The real truth is being polled and reported to the candidates themselves and they are called the "internal polls". This can be discerned from such tells as the number of the times Bubble-Butt in the white virginal pantsuit clears her throat or does those 30-second petit mol double takes. Or by looking at what her campaign is doing versus what it should be doing if she is in a position of strength. And so on.

Clear?

I thought not.

Aloha Snackbar LXII

Another "feel good" story of the day from Weasel Zippers:



Man, life's good, innit?

July 28, 2016

Shit Storm's A-coming!

..just sayin'.


Told ya:


Now anyone out there think about The End Times, Revelations, the Anti-Christ, and The Whore of Babylon?

I tell ya, it's getting creepy.

Hurt Locker: General Bernie and the "GimmeDat" snowflake army sellout..

Marshaling resources and "scouring the bowels of the internet", I came across this marvelous piece on Beritbart trashing Bernie Sanders as being a life-long loser by Charles Hurt. Here are some excerpts but the entire piece screams to be read:
If you are going to start a revolution, you probably want to finish it. Either win or die trying. That is why revolutions are always so bloody. Whatever you do, if you start a real movement and then try to sell it away, don’t be surprised if you lose control. The problem with Bernie Sanders is that he has been a loser his entire political life. Sure, he has won a few elections. But in terms of vision and ideas, he has always been a failure.

During his quarter-century in Congress, Mr. Sanders has been viewed as something of a gadfly with Tourette’s syndrome. Always dressed like a homeless person shambling along the hallways, Democrats felt sorry for him and let him into their meetings. He looked like he needed a cup of coffee and free danishes.
While I reveled in the chaos being wreaked by this seeming rebellion, it was merely an analog for my "Exploding Heads" philosophy. That is, I first signed onto the trump Train as a device to lob the biggest, smelliest, most putrid stink bomb imaginable into D.C. and make those elected tyrants deal with it. However, as the campaign wore on and Mr Trump gained steam, I was curious to see what all the fuss was about.

Imagine my surprise when I got infected.

You see, Donald Trump - for all his billions - is one of us. He is a common man who is seemingly willing to sit down and have a beer with you and, if there is sufficient compelling reason for him to do so, either become interest and sympathetic to your lot in life or, alternatively, fire your ass but add a long lecture in so doing that, if adhered to, will make you a better person for the lesson learned. This was his M.O. on The Intern as he patiently explained to the person he was letting go the reasons for the firing. Anyone willing to take his advice to heart would profit from the experience.

The other side of the coin - becoming interested in the person, party, or group he is conversing with - he has demonstrated continually since he started his campaign. As he plainly explains in his press conference yesterday, he's got all the money he needs and is comfortably set for life but chooses to run for the presidency because he wants to give back and make this country great again. And he is clearly listening to the common folk on this one.

(And, yes, you can cynical all you want. But ask yourself honestly what does he have to gain? Would he put up with all the media bullshit and the crap that will be hurled at him by the Clintoons just because he's on an ego trip? Naw, mate, he's gone long past the time where this would cease to be amusing.)

Anyway, back to the Hurt article by Hurt:
And then, last year, after 25 years being part of the problem in Washington, D.C., lightning struck again. Bernie Sanders found himself in charge of a movement that would not stop building and spreading. It thrust him further and further into a powerful political position he had no business holding.

But, in the end, the system was rigged and then came defeat.

So there he stood, on the arena stage Monday night inside Wells Fargo Center, beside Lincoln Financial Field, across from Citizens Bank Park, addressing the Democratic Party and telling his followers to quit their carping and get in line behind the lying, cheating, self-dealing, big bank-loving, Goldman Sachs-speechifying establishment candidate.
So basically and all along, this craven old stookie was a stalking horse for the DNC establishment or a 42-buck-lateral misdirection play, or something and Ol' Bern didn't have the stones for the long haul. Now he's left the Democrat party and become an independent back in Vermont, gumming his Zwieback and drinking his warm milk contemplating his 15 minutes of fame and pondering what's left of his lonely, dank existence.

Hurt sums this up nicely:
He is like the guy they let out of prison who then realizes that he cannot handle the world outside. So he takes himself to the nicest restaurant in town, orders the biggest, most expensive meal and then refuses to pay the bill so they will come back after him and throw him back into jail. Where at least he knows he will always have a cot to sleep on and free meals three times a day.
His leaderless rabble army, however, soldiers on like so many out-of-work Ronin.

They are pissed and want to deal out some hurt to Clintoon and her contempt for them and for this country. The braver (and saner) among them will pull the lever for Trump realizing that this is the most effective way to put the stake through the old witch's heart. The rest of them will protest in less effective ways from not voting to casting a ballot for some unknown "noble" candidate but the net effect will be the same: it will be as futile as was their first love affair with some worthless, do-nothing old man with a limp dick and no money.

Hey, snowflakes, reality's a bitch.

Thick as a Brick

Sometimes, I get stuck in traffic and am forced to bide my time (when no one is on the CLARA amateur radio two meter repeater) listening to the drive-time political commentariat. In the Southern California area, this means either KRLA 830 Khz, KFI 640 Khz, or KABC 790 Khz if one wants to hear anything close to objective opinions.

Still in all, it is woeful -- and by that, I mean the talk show hosts have to be just too hip for words and are careful to expand their audiences by not alienating either the left or the right. And, in threading this needle, their cynicism leaks over into smug #NeverTrumper commentary with the obligatory bashing of trump (and, by extension) his supporters as mouth-breathing, right-wing proles.

Of course, all one has to do is listen to some of the callers and one can see where they are coming from. Also, I realize this is their paycheck and it behooves them to keep their ratings up.

Yada-yada-yada..

So, this post will not be a n in-depth compendium of the SoCal talk radio scene. It's just my usual gratuitous bag job kvetch on a few of the more annoying talk show people.


We start out at the lower end of the dial at KFI (we have to start somewhere) where they have some screaming Jew named Bill Handle holding forth, replete with histrionics and a rant a mile wide and an inch deep. He is a bread-and-circuses-for-the-masses types who revels in eviscerating the mirror-foggers that call in. The commercial load on KFI is onerous so I rarely hear more than a few syllables from this guy. But I respect him because he's got to make a living and he is certainly good at promoting his sideline businesses while on air. (And, lest you think I am anti-semitic, I am a staunch fan of Israel and have the obligatory scads of Jewish friends, etc. As one of them told me a while ago: there are Jews and their are kikes and kike is another word for schmuck.)

Handel is NOT a kike or schmuck and is likeable. As I said, I just had to start somewhere and his legal advice show on Saturday mornings is entertaining. I am just in a bad mood. read on..

Next, you can flush Doug McIntyre on KABC 790 down the crapper almost immediately. He comes off as a too-hip guy from the East who made his bones on a stand-in gig during the Bush-Gore 30-day war back in November 2000 when he took George Bush's side and adroitly dissected the crap the left and the Dems were attempting to pull off. Ratings went through the roof and he got an overnight slot doing what he called "Red Eye Radio". (I am not going to explain it; you look it up.) Well, he was promoted to the morning drive slot, demoted, and then promoted again, currently being in that role today.

But he is apparently turned off by Trump and his antics and prepared to vote third-party or for his wife's Chihuahua or something. You know the type: smug, principled, just a hair's breadth away from Big-L Libertarian and pandering to our Dem and liberal betters out here in Kalifornia. He does not realize that we are sinking in a river of sewage and, although his favorite crusade is illegal immigration, he apparently cannot make the connection between Trump's metaphoric wall, the fate of the common American citizen, and the perils of allowing that bubble-assed lying bitch in the $13,000 house coat a shot at the presidency.

He gets about a minute or two of my time; the scan button gets hit as soon as he begins one of those smug trump-is-a-buffoon routines. We are currently taking up a collection for McIntire to have a plate glass window installed near his belly button so he can see the world because is seems his head is perpetually shoved up his own ass and all that.

And this brings us to my favorites of the lot. Two guys who are the leftovers up at Huge Hewittless's KRLA 830. My morning "favorite" is this reedy, whiny little dickhead, Ben Shapiro, whose hatred of Donald Trump is the stuff of legends. He is basically one of these principled conservative pricks who will not vote for trump ever. Below is an excerpt from his anti-trump screed. The logic and reasoning extant in this drivel makes me doubt the guy ever went to Harvard but probably got his degree from some mail-in college on the plains of Manitoba or operating out of some back-room in Milpitas, California.

Truly lame, "shoot yourself in the foot" strategic thinking:
I will never vote for Donald Trump.

Ever.

I will never vote for Donald Trump because I stand with certain principles. I stand with small government and free markets and religious freedom and personal responsibility. Donald Trump stands against all of these things. He stands for Planned Parenthood and trade restrictions and targeting of political enemies and an anti-morality foreign policy and government domination of religion and nastiness toward women and tacit appeals to racism and unbounded personal power. I stand with the Constitution of the United States, and its embedded protection of my God-given rights through governmental checks and balances. Donald Trump does not. I stand with conservatism. Donald Trump stands against it.

I stand with #NeverTrump.

The counterargument to the #NeverTrump movement comes down to two words: Hillary Clinton. Trump will supposedly close the borders (a lie); Hillary will not. Trump will appoint conservative Supreme Court justices (unlikely); Hillary will not. No matter how bad Trump is, the argument goes, conservatives have a duty to back the anti-Hillary.

I think Trump will get blown out in a general election. But let’s assume that these critics of #NeverTrump are right. Let’s assume that but for we #NeverTrump voters sitting out the election, Trump would become president, and Hillary would go down in flaming defeat. And let’s assume that Hillary Clinton will appoint terrible justices, destroy the military, and usher in the apocalypse. Why in the world would conservatives live with President Hillary Clinton on their consciences?

Because first, it’s not on our consciences. It’s on the consciences of the people who went along with this nomination. We did not select Trump. We will not vote for him.

And if we are going to save the country, it will not rest on one or two justices on the Supreme Court. It will rest on the will of the people to resist tyranny. That will start at the state and local level. It will start with the people.

It will start with conservatives willing to say “no.”

Because if we never say “no,” we will never have the opportunity to say “yes.”
So he is saying that he is not a team player. You know, like one of those pin dicks who would have said we needed to avoid "entanglements" in Europe (to stop Hitler) and in the Pacific (to stop Tojo).

And this is type of classic dogma that ensures he and his ilk will be out of power for the rest of his natural life. So, Ben, get used to saying "no"; it'll become an annoying habit, kind of like that nervous tic you will develop when attain a ripe age and become a sclerotic old codger, sitting on the front porch of your Kibbutz, whittling on a stick, wondering why life passed you by.

Also, Shapiro, if you don't get your people elected, you don't get to make the rules. Sometimes it is necessary to work with others to realize your goals. After all, we worked for John McCain on 20078 and Mutt Rumbley in 2012. But when it comes to pulling an oar for the working stiff's choice this year, Butt-wipe Ben doesn't want to soil his hands.

But the piece de resistance comes from Shapiro's station-mate who does afternoon drive on the same station, the so-called Great One: Mark Levin.

This guy is a piece of work who has increasingly annoyed me over the years with his principled stances. But what tore it for me was listening to him on the heels of trump's press conference in Doral, Florida today.

Basically, in his typical free-form fashion, Trump owned that the minimum wage would have to be raised to $10 in some states (and more or less in others) and went on to explain how that would not matter because his aim was to make the economy rebound.

Here's a quiz for youse: anyone know what the minimum wage is in North Dakota? (Hint: it's $7.25 per hour.) Anyone remember when the rest of the economy was sucking swamp water how much you could get paid for a job flipping burgers in North Dakota? Hint:


Trump also owned that college graduates shouldered an onerous burden with their education loans and are now facing a grim economy and staggering debt.

So, Mr Principled gets on the airwaves, delivers a condescending lecture on why a minimum wage causes job losses and why the minimum wage was meant to be an entry level stipend and not meant to provide subsistence for a family. Anyone who supposedly can slog through Levin's daily fare should have the requisite intellect and experience to already know these facts. But he droned on.

Then it hit me: here is some self-anointed prick who lectures his audience and -- by extension -- is lecturing a billionaire in the contracting/building industry on the effects of the minimum wage? Really? You think Trump is not already aware of this? This is practically his daily fare and certainly one of the underpinnings of his business model.

But what is even more alarming is that Levin did not see this in the context of the recent days' events, he was that myopic. Bernie Sanders raised this army of "gimmedats" who practically took the coronation of Bubble-Ass off at the knees. His army, once Sanders sold them out, continued on its own steam by staging an open revolt and walk-out of the DNC. Interview after You Tube video of these precious little snowflakes reveals that handouts for the common folk are what's on their mind and they are prepared to go to the mat for free stuff.

So, in this press conference Trump threw them a bone. He basically said to them that he was not as terrible as the Democrat leadership and Hillary shills have been pointing out and that they ought to give him a second look. He hoped to peel off a few more to add to the 20% who said they would already throw over Clintoon for Trump.

But this apparently did not sink in with "Mr Principled" as he does not want to pander.

So, like Shapiro, McIntyre, and the rest, Levin will be sitting out there in the wilderness, preaching to his narrow segment of "principled conservatives"..smugly. Sure hope their ratings don't dwindle too much.

But, actually, I could care less. They can all die and go to hell with a hard-on. Sometimes it's better to turn off the fucking radio and just drive home in relative silence.

July 27, 2016

Dem Job Opportunities!

Seems like the DNC is creating some serious jobs programs already. first some background:


So, right in the middle of Clintoon's roll call for the nomination when the Bernie Sanders' people realize their man just got flushed (mainly because the hag gave him a 60-grit sandpaper hand job), there's the biggest exodus since all the R. O. P. goat humpers started pouring into Merkel-land leaving the Verizon Arena with a big empty. How to avoid the embarrassing camera shots? Well, here's what the geniuses came up with, I shit you not!


So there it is. You get $50 for about five to six hours' work and no dinner break. Those of you out there with your calculators or slide rules should see that this is around $10 per hour -- or less.

Exit question: what ever happened to the $15 minimum wage?

Party on, Garth!
Party on, Wayne!

July 26, 2016

Shit Pile

July 25, 2016

Schadenfreude Lowlights

I am [currently] a working stiff but avidly following the absolutely delicious events at the DNC. And, believe me, they're coming hot and heavy and it's frustrating not to be able to add mu thoughts on these events but I will catch up this week. I just have to make some observations as to the bouncing of that mayo-headed cunt, Debbie Downer-Washes-her-man's-shortz, out of the DNC chair and right into the loving arms of Hildabeast Rodram Clintoon.

Bounced..you know..as in booed off the podium and escorted from the convention by a security contingent. Seems she got her short-and-curlies entangles in the great WikiLeaks outwash last Saturday.

As Hillary will tell you, Debbie, e-mails are a bitch!

All this after this slut taunted Reince Priebus, asking him if he needed help running an orderly convention.

The shit storm gong on tin the city of Brotherly Love is sure a calm, peaceful interlude and a welcome change form the solid three minutes of booing of Ted "It's all about me" Cruzifiction after his twenty minute suicide note last Wednesday. (Hope the fuckign asshole dies and goes to hell with a hard-on.)

But the truly delicious morsel is that all of the #NeverTrump folks are melting down as the DNC melts down, basically seeing their vision of an "I told you so" Clintoon victory over Trump.

One of the more delectable tidbits is Bill KristolMeth's puerile pissy little tweets:


To which I wittily reply, "Fuck you and the ass you rode in on, you festering pile of shit."


Clear enough?

I thought not.

July 23, 2016

Some random thoughts..

.. while waiting for the Southern California heat to break. I posted this over at Hot Gas and wanted to save it for posterity here. Much over the Clinton pick of Citizen Kaine for her running mate.

..o.k., just stopped by to pick up the empties, clean out the ash trays, and take out the trash. (Also, I need to see if you folks left any beer in the fridge.)

But I had a few thoughts.

Firstly, and I'll probably work this into a blog post, but how can one characterize as "dark" a speech about returning a once-proud nation to its former glory by enforcing its laws, making its legislators and judiciary (and citizens) take the principles enunciated on its Constitution seriously, fight for the poor, weak, downtrodden, and restore its prestige among other nations?

Secondly, if Hillary Clinton is so f**king thrilled about her choice as a running mate, why did she treat the announcement like a Friday night document dump?

Thirdly, who else thinks this choice is indicative of Hillary Clinton purposely tanking the race because she just wants the pardon?

Fourthly, what does this sluggo bring to the ticket EXCEPT Virginia?

..and lastly, given the eeyore-ishness and anti-Trump banality of the posts by Poppin' Fresh [Ed Morrissey] and AllahPhallus [anonymous Dead Air blogger], wouldn't they be wise to PAY ATTENTION to those work-from-home-and-earn-thirteen-large-per-month spam comments? I mean, the way that blog is going, they might need alternative sources of income.

Alrighty then! I see that there's a cold bottle of Dos Equis in the back behind the milk and OJ; I'll just help myself and be on my way.

Stay thirsty my friends; I got a train I must parallel park.

July 18, 2016

Aloha Snack Bar! More Weasel Zippers War Porn!

This time from the originating end, here's state-of-the-art cannoneering from a U.S. artillery unit (peace be upon them) delivering a cludburst of steel rain unto a gaggle of Rag Head Goat-Humping R.O.P. practitioners.


..aspirin extra.

Tangential

There have been a shit-pot full of earth-moving events this past fortnight and -- as any sane and conscientious member of society who values the thin blue line that protects us from the hordes of Visigoths at the gates -- I weep when society's guardians die at the hands of domestic enemies.

Similarly, I chafe at the moral sewage that spews from the media and our elected officials. Latest case in point is this precious piece of hypocrisy from our asshole Lawn Jockey POTUS:


Personally, I cannot wait until this fool wanders off into the pages of history -- hopefully to be forgotten -- and ends up in some back alley off of Hotel Street in Honolulu with a hot shot in his arm and dresses in a feather boa, spangled, split-crotch panties, and 6-inch sequined platform heels.

In the mean time, just go play golf and have a steaming mug of Shut The Fuck Up!


July 14, 2016

"Hah there, ah's yo new neighbor" -- The Schadenfreude Edition

Once said to be the seven most feared words in Newport Beach, California (or any other walled-off rich white person refuge), it can certainly apply to that hapless, fawning, piece of crap libtard, George Clooney, (hereinafter, cLooney) and his lib lawyer wife.

You see, they have this POSH £7.5 million hovel up on the fashionable shores of Lake Como in Italy. They spend about four months a year there and they spend 12 months a year running their mouths about how we should all take in more and more goat-humper refugees from the land of baked enamel camels. Here Paul Joseph Watson unloads on this sanctimonious prick in one of his best rants:



Well, now it seems that the Daily Mail is reporting that the pigeons have come home to roost, as it were.

George Clooney's wealthy neighbours in the Alpine beauty spot of Lake Como say their Italian idyll is being ruined by the influx of hundreds of migrants to a makeshift camp on their doorstep.

The picturesque area is best known as a hide-away for Clooney and a multitude of other Hollywood A-listers includ Brad Pitt, wife Angelina Jolie, and pop superstar Madonna.

But a clamp-down by Switzerland on illegal immigrants entering the country from Italy threatens to turn this chic resort into a frontier town overrun by the homeless and desperate.

Now, I am just grinning from ear to ear as I shovel a huge slice of schadenfreude down my yawning gullet. To say that these rich bastages and their rich bitches and bitchettes are taking a huge bite of crap sandwich over the swarm of locusts that threaten to blight their idyllic mountain hideouts is the understatement of the year.

But ya gotta have pictures to really appreciate how the A-Rabs and camel drivers are driving down the property values.

Some of the lads hanging out, waiting for lawn mowing jobs?

Willie and the Poor Boys of CCC fame?

That shit sure does pile up, don't it?

Now here's the hard one. Is this a Lake Como denizen or a refugee?

cLooney's palatial  digs on the water

..and some of his neighbors getting ready for an enchanting evening.

..and the neighborhood is going to the dogs. 

From the Daily Mail: "Hopes: Ossas, 39, from Nigeria, said: ‘We want a new life in Italy but we have to move on because Italy often does not accept us as refugees. ‘We have all claimed asylum here in Italy but 90 per cent of claims are refused."
..looks like cLooney's and other homes will be on the market pretty soon. Betcha you can pick up a bargain for well below the prevailing rate but I would caution haste because Switzerland might re-open their borders soon.

July 11, 2016

Aloha Snackbar XVIII..


Best viewed setting the speed to 0.25 by using the gear thingy. A day without WZ War Porn is like a day without sunshine!

And here's another:

Recant and Decant..

Firstly, this bit of click bait agitprop from a slavering left-wing/liberal psuedo-blog. You Google/Bing it; I don't want to give them the traffic:
"BLACK LIVES KILL."

Those were the three words that blared across the Drudge Report early Friday morning after five Dallas police officers were killed in a horrific ambush attack.

And immediately upon seeing the race-baiting headline, conservatives rebelled against a once reliable ally who has become more and more divisive to them over the course of the 2016 campaign.

“In moments like these, we should do the opposite of what Drudge is doing,” Commentary Magazine Editor Noah Rothman wrote on Twitter.

“Responsible reporting as always,” sarcastically tweeted Jeff Blehar, from the popular Ace of Spades blog.

Others piled on.

Allahpundit, an influential anonymous conservative blogger, skewered the site for a subsequent banner headline claiming a “black power group” had claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Dallas chief says suspect told them before he died that he wasn’t part of a group,” the blogger wrote.

And David French, the National Review writer who flirted with a third-party presidential run, went as far as to say that he had deleted the Drudge Report app from his phone.
Those of us who are "DeadAir" (née Hot Air) expatriates will recognize the Murderer's Row of writers and bloggers this rag has listed. They are almost all GOPe kneepad wearing #NeverTrumpers whose "conservative" credentials run to such staunch values as open borders, bending over the middle class and giving them the "Big Umbie" (see note 1 below) over bad trade deals and visas to immigrants who take bone fide jobs from Americans because the former will work for a fraction of what the latter will work for. And they universally decry Trump as a viable candidate and are actively (if not militantly working to get Hilliary Clinton to either protect their own comfy job situations and zit-covered posteriors while simultaneously trying to build up the "I told you so" mantra should Donald Trump loses to the serial felon.

So, truthfully, they all can separately and collectively:

(1) Suck rucks
(2) Pound sand
(3) Kiss my ass
(4) All of the above.

On to the matters at hand:

You may or may not know that I have no love for Hugh Hewitt, talk show host over at KRLA 870 in Los Angeles and twon Hall commentator. I call him "Huge Hewittless" and/was generally turned off by his smugness and GOPe/DC insider ruminations. Basically, he used to have folks like Lindsay Graham and Paul Ryan on his show and they'd "gluck" away (see note 2 below) about how important responsible conservatism was, all the while entertaining Hewitt's sycophantic callers ("Hugh, you're the greatest; I listen to your show all the time") BUT! BUT! But, I cannot let this expression of common sense by Mr Hewitt go unpunished.
No doubt, I’ve had a few collisions with Trump during this campaign season. But conservatives expect candor about the choice ahead of us, and the prospect of another President Clinton, especially a Clinton who is so mired in scandal, compromised on national security and is the author of so many foreign-policy meltdowns, has a way of concentrating the mind. For the good of the country, Republicans have to be clear about the binary choice in front of us, close ranks around Trump and encourage him to eschew the frivolous and move ahead with a serious message.
So, while I still am not BFF with Mr Hewitt nor do I consider him my homey, I will say that I admire his clarity and sense of purpose; his sentiments serve to provide a stark contrast to those who still have not come to terms with the dichotomy of choice and the serious consequences we face should Clinton be elected.

On the other hand, there is the matter of my former hangout and central blog-of-residence, Hot Air, being run by Ed Morrissey. Now, I like Ed ever since I e-mailed him one afternoon in 2006 and asked if I might be allowed posting privileges on his blog. I received a very nice reply (and the requested privileges) and a nice conversation ensued. I found that he had once been a denizen of nearby Cerritos, California (on the border between Orange and Los Angeles counties) and that he had once held an amateur radio license (which is one of my passions). My feelings for Hot Air were overwhelmingly warm and, as I proceeded to comment, I became enamored of the wit, wisdom, and warmth of my fellow commenters. It is fair to say from that day up until February of this year, there developed a fraternal relationship between all of us. We were brothers and sisters -- family, if you will -- and shared in our joys and sorrows, births, deaths, and life's events.

Then came the great falling out of February 2016.

Ed came on the air and unceremoniously advised us that Hot Air was changing to the Facebook commenting system and out exclusive brotherhood was to be thrown open to the brigands, jackals, and Visigoths at the gate waiting to gain entrance to sack, rape, pillage, and otherwise soil the pristine and hallowed enclave we so enjoyed. While we protested, Ed basically told us that's the way things were and we could pound sand.

Now, in general, he was within his rights to do that. It was his blog (for the most part) and we were just guests. But we felt that we were what drove that blog to the greatness it achieved and he was beholden to us to some degree. At least a little more courtesy could have been observed. But, to make a long story short, that was that and most of us made the trip over to Hot Gas, an instantly-erected and wonderfully efficient haven for us vets. The efforts of Constantine XI, King Jester, Fossten, Doomberg, and others have provided us with a cozy home for our family.

But to say again more clearly: this is not the reason I feel so badly about Hot Air; Ed can do what he wants. However, I lament what it has become: a virtual sewer of #NeverTrumpers, Anti-Trumpers, the aforesaid Visigoths, Eeyores, and general ne'er-do-wells with no pedigree or background that render their meaningless bleatings sans wit and wisdom. Alec Guinness said it best when describing Mos Eisley Space Port, "..a wretched hive of scum and villainy". Moreover, of the three remaining mainstays of that site -- Ed, the hapless Allahpudit, and Jazz Shaw -- only Jazz is worth reading. The other two have lapsed into morose mewlings about the sad state of affairs because Donald Trump is the [presumptive] GOP nominee. Their themes are #NeverTrump 24/7 and their writing (particularly Ed's) are sentimental longings for the good old days of "W" and the GOPe. Ed's former keenness and analytical skills in dissecting the bullshit Obama economic stats and bullshit opinion push polls have now been turned on the now-a-days polls, based on outdated 2012 polling paradigms such as over-weighting Dems by as much as 10-12 points when enthusiasm and turnout seems to indicate otherwise.

Basically, I cannot stand Hot Air because it has become "Eeyoreville" and "The coming apocalypse in November" and "I will have told you so". My few, infrequent visits over there are painful -- particularly when you look at the FB single-digit comment counts for writers who used to routinely garner responses in the hundreds if not thousands.

So there you have it: one person has winnowed his way back in my good graces and a former friend has left them. I am sure neither are losing any sleep over my new regard for them.

But we soldier on, don't we?

Notes
(1) I had a fraternity brother at UCLA named Danny Wexler who, among other gags and goofs, would respond to questions like, "So, Danny, how'd you do in your Poli Sci mid-term?" but saying,. "Agggggh! I took the big umbie!" When asked to explain, he said that it was the academic equivalent of bending over, having the professor jam an unopened umbrella where the sun doesn't shine, and THEN open it up before removing it. Your mileage may vary.

(2) Glucking is generally done at a GOPe soiree where #NeverTrumpers gather -- usually at some posh country club out on the back lawn in the early evening -- and sip Chablis and pound down Brie while mewling and crying that it appears that the absolutely horrid Donald Trump will be the nominee and that he will bring along all of the great unwashed boors amd mouth-breathing proles along with him if elected. You know, like Andrew Jackson did? After a time, they become a little tipsy and they tilt their heads back (cf. Tom Wolfe's description of Felicia Bernstein in is essay, Radical Chic) that their epiglottises fall back into their esophaguses and they all start making this "GLUCK, GLUCK" sound when they talk.

Black Olives Matter


..especially on pizzas, in subs, and salads.

(Sorry, I could not resist.)

July 7, 2016

Too good not to share..


Ripped off from Hot Gas who ripped it off from the artist and his publisher. Sums up the whole situation quite nicely.

July 5, 2016

Very little else to add..

Believe me, this brief post IN NO WAY plumbs the depths of my feelings nor comes within light years of summing up my revulsion for what the government of our country has become but to add my pathetic bleat to the chorus, I am flummoxed at the naked criminality displayed by events of the past six days:

(1) Bill "accidentally" bumps into Loretta Lynch on the tarmac in Phoenix and they board her private aircraft for a casual discussion re his golf game and and grandkids.

(2) Lynch practically admits to tainting the process but does not recuse herself. Instead the THROWS THE WEIGHT OF THE DECISION TO PROSECUTE ONTO COMEY AND THE FBI.

(3) Hillary is "grilled" for three and one-half hours on Saturday by the FBI.

(4) Then, after a Sabbath off and a respite for the 240th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Comey comes forth with this well-tailored explanation as to why they will not be recommending for prosecution AFTER HAVING TACITLY ADMITTING THAT THEY FOUND EVIDENCE OF HER STORING TOP SECRET DOCUMENTS ON HER SERVER.

I want to throw up.

Excuse me while I move to some other country whose government is less dishonest and less like some fucking banana republic -- like Cuba or Venezuela.

Do they think we are stupid?

..well, yes, William, they do.


Perhaps it's time for us to, as Thomas Jefferson once wrote, to water the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

MORE CONTEMPT FOR THE PEOPLE: Breitbart adds this little tidbit I overlooked, namely that Clinton and Obama flew together on Air Force One to campaign (on our dime) in North Carolina THE SAME TIME COMEY ANNOUNCED HIS DECISION. The regard they all have for us is contemptuous and vile. Superseding how King George treated our forefathers by passing the various taxes and acts without representation or due process, this is probably about as close to King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette showed for their subjects. "Let them eat cake," indeed.

And we all know that ended badly.