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Thursday, November 9. 2017

Some of The Most Awesome Airport Pickup Signs Ever

Spanish Conquistadors Led By Hernan Cortés Entered The Aztecs Capital Tenochtitlán – On Nov 8, 1519

What Is in Movie Theater Popcorn Butter?

I have come to even hate the smell of that stuff

"... labeling electric cars as "zero emission" is one of the biggest consumer scams going."

Dr John Crichton, the new chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, wants the sale of pointed kitchen knives to be banned to help reduce the number of fatal stabbings.

Next, we ban golf clubs. After that, how to deal with fists – boxing gloves? If killing is already illegal, does making the instrumentality thereof also illegal have any relevance

Feel-good story: Fort Worth Homeowner Shoots, Kills Intruder

IS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM RACIST?

Of course it is

Harvard hosts annual ‘Anal Sex 101’ class

Arrest of 3 UCLA basketball players in China could complicate Trump’s deal-making

Idiots to break laws in foreign countries

Z-man: The old Conservatives are dinosaurs

Coyote on tax reform:

Eliminate all deductions in the individual income tax code except for a single personal deduction
Eliminate the corporate income tax.
Tax capital gains and dividends as regular income.
Eliminate the death tax as well as the write-up of asset values at death

How Brazile’s book exposes liberal media’s Hillary health coverup

Chris Christie: From Landslide Victory To Object Lesson

No surprise here: Ed Gillespie got Trump-like numbers for a Trump-like campaign

Is Virginia Now a Blue State?

Playing the Trump Card in Vietnam

Vietnam Vets Group Demands PBS Documentary Correct 'Inaccuracies'

The Saudis: It's Been A Rough Week In The Middle East

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:45 | Comments (23) | Trackbacks (0)

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Banning kitchen knives: Dont forget to outlaw sticks and rocks too

#1 bgarrett on 2017-11-09 08:57 (Reply)

I am not surprised that the NAACP wants to ban the national anthem. For one, the NAACP has been going full anti-American for years now. Second, the far left wing of the Democrats have been going full anti-American for years now. Yes! That is what this is really about. You know it isn't about the words all you need to do to understand that is listen to rap music and the language of the people who are offended by the national anthem. If it is right and just to ban the anthem because it is offensive then it is even more right and just to ban all rap music and offensive language by sports, SJW and Hollywood figures as well.

#2 GoneWithTheWind on 2017-11-09 10:00 (Reply)

As a foreigner, I've often wondered whether the NAACP has simply found itself at a bit of a loose end in the wake of the Obama presidency.

At one time, it could have made a legitimate case about African Americans being shut out of the top end of the American political establishment.

But now that an African American has been elected to the Oval Office - the highest political office possible in your country - for not one but two terms, it strikes me as somewhat lame now to imply African Americans still have no opportunities to advance due to some sort of colour bar.

#2.1 JJM on 2017-11-09 10:17 (Reply)

Between about 1960 to sometime in the 1980's there was a awakening among Americans of all races and backgrounds and racism was pretty much eliminated. What followed as naturally as night follows day is a crusade to force reparations, not the well known and as yet unsuccessful effort for a cash payout to every African American for payment of the sin of slavery but a series of benefits, special treatment, affirmative action, welfare and all sorts of "free stuff" for people of color. This became an end in itself, kind of a race based socialism that NEEDED racism to continue. Because most racism was simply a thing of the past it required made up racism and hyper sensitivity racism and the NAACP like every race hustler began creating racism for fun and profit. They are literally hooked on this much as a drug user is hooked on drugs. They find racism in everyday life events, every slight, every failure, every success by someone not of their race. It is the biggest growth industry in this country. The worst part of this is that it has destroyed black families and taken away the desire to become successful and self supporting. It will only end when the fun and profit ends.

There is a parallel to this story that is raising it's ugly head lately. That is anonymous and questionable accusations of sexual misconduct by men. Certainly some of these stories are true but just as certainly some are not. A funny thing happened with this though. It seemed to be directed at the rich and famous on the right but the left lost control and now it is being weaponized against almost everyone and anyone.

#2.1.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2017-11-09 18:00 (Reply)

Spanish Conquistadors Led By Hernan Cortés Entered The Aztecs Capital Tenochtitlán – On Nov 8, 1519
Time flies- soon that will make 500 years. Just think if Cortés had entered Tenochtitlán on one of the days of Allhallowtide, such as All Saint's Eve[October 31], All Saints' Day [November 1], or All Souls' Day [November 2]. In Mexico, those holy days morphed into Day of the Dead.

Cortés couldn't have conquered the Aztecs without his numerous Indian allies, who had no love of their Aztec overlords.

#3 Gringo on 2017-11-09 10:17 (Reply)

"Cortés couldn't have conquered the Aztecs without his numerous Indian allies, who had no love of their Aztec overlords."

Tsk, tsk. Don't you know you're not supposed to say anything that might reveal the native peoples were just as venal as the European interlopers.

#3.1 JJM on 2017-11-09 10:22 (Reply)

Quite so. Let us not point out that native peoples were, well, human, just like the Europeans.

#3.1.1 JK Brown on 2017-11-09 10:48 (Reply)

I toned it down by not mentioning the Aztec practice of human sacrifice.

#3.1.2 Gringo on 2017-11-09 13:01 (Reply)

"... labeling electric cars as "zero emission" is one of the biggest consumer scams going."

Ranks right up there with the continued belief that modern autos are polluters when many are now partial-zero emissions.

QUOTE:

Most people who aren’t car people probably don’t know that the EPA itself awards the designation, Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV), to internal combustion engines powering numerous currently-in-production cars. These are not electric cars or even hybrid cars. They are simply cars with internal combustion engines that emit so little in the way of harmful effluents that the regulatory Grand Inquisitor itself — the EPA — classifies them officially as Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles.

#4 JK Brown on 2017-11-09 10:51 (Reply)

"Harvard hosts annual ‘Anal Sex 101’ class"

Kind of makes you wonder about these "elite" students, the "best of the best". Apparently, they can't find their ass using both hands.

"School helplessness" is expanding beyond traditional school subjects.

QUOTE:

In spite of the fact that schools exist for the sake of education, there is many a school whose pupils show a peculiar "school helplessness"; that is, they are capable of less initiative in connection with their school tasks than they commonly exhibit in the accomplishment of other tasks.

How to Study and Teaching How to Study (1909) by F. M. McMurry, Professor of Elementary Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

#5 JK Brown on 2017-11-09 10:54 (Reply)

They only do it because they can't get subsidized birth control!

#5.1 mudbug on 2017-11-09 15:09 (Reply)

Burns' "Vietnam": Anyone surprised by this?

Brazile on Hillary: The media, as Iowahawk says, covers the bad news with a pillow, until it's dead.

#6 Sam L. on 2017-11-09 11:35 (Reply)

This podcast with Vietnam veteran/historian on the Burns' documentary at The Federalist is very good.

QUOTE:

“I came to believe that Burns didn’t much care for American and that came through in the documentary,” Sorley said. “He’s saying in effect, ‘This is an unwinnable war.'”

#6.1 JK Brown on 2017-11-09 12:39 (Reply)

RE: UCLA players arrested in China

Whose idea was it to send 20 year old jocks to a totalitarian country to begin with? Seems like a risky proposition on its face, and there is no pressing need for them to be there.

The cult of international travel is getting a bit out of hand. Travel is not inherently good anymore than diversity is. It can be good, it can be bad, shouldn't be a cavalier undertaking. If you don't need to go to a totalitarian or dangerous country, don't go. If you choose to go anyway, it's at your own risk.

#7 forest on 2017-11-09 12:50 (Reply)

As others have already pointed out, UCLA was probably negligent in not giving an adequate "Know Before You Go" info-lecture to those going to China. I very much doubt that the shoplifters had been informed of the draconian nature of Chinese law enforcement, etc. etc.

Before I went to Colombia, I had heard second-hand accounts of what could happen to those who got involved with illegal drugs there. I acted accordingly.

Lori Berenson is a textbook example of an American getting in trouble abroad by virtue of not knowing the country she was visiting. She spent 20 years in prison or parole inside Peru for having assisted MRTA, a leftist revolutionary/terrorist group. She co-signed the lease for a safe house that was found out to be loaded with weapons and explosive.

She was arrested in 1995. Peru had been dealing with a leftist revolutionary/terrorist groups such as MRTA or Sendero Luminoso since 1980. Sendero's power was greatly reduced in 1992 by the capture of "Comandante Gonzalo," its leader. By 1995, Peru was much calmer. By 1995, very few Peruvians had a positive view of those groups. Yet Lori Berenson was apparently unaware of that. She had the assumption that her US passport gave her carte blanche to act as she saw fit. She found out differently. Oh well.

Lori Berenson was much older and better educated than the UCLA basketball player. But just as ignorant of the foreign country she was visiting.

#7.1 Gringo on 2017-11-09 13:31 (Reply)

Mainland China is actually more relaxed than most Asian countries about law enforcement. Police presence is pretty lax, and most of them are just standing around not doing much. The most obvious example is on city streets, where you are on your own and it is chaos because no one follows any traffic rules. Even if there is a traffic cop, they are usually just standing around looking useless.

If China wants to let you know the law is being enforced (such as in tourist areas like the Bund in Shanghai or the Forbidden City in Beijing), it dispatches details of nicely dressed PLA soldiers (mostly tall and good looking, there is a PR aspect involved) to do things like traffic control, marching around in squads, and patrolling to stop crime.

Two problems here: (1) the UCLA players did something stupid; and (2) they were black. The privileged place that blacks have in America does not fly in Asia, most Asians have a very low opinion of black people and are not constrained by political correctness to think or act otherwise. So these players, especially with their in-your-face appearance as shown in the photos, would have been viewed very suspiciously to start with. And if they got caught on CCTV stealing they are going to have the book thrown at them. In Asia you are presumed guilty unless you can show otherwise, and if they got caught on CCTV, trying to deny anything is just going to exacerbate their sentences. I'm not particularly sympathetic if they committed the crime.

#7.2 Jim on 2017-11-09 13:41 (Reply)

Thanks for the update on China.

The privileged place that blacks have in America does not fly in Asia, most Asians have a very low opinion of black people and are not constrained by political correctness to think or act otherwise.

I found that out in working the counter at a greasy spoon that Chinese brothers owned. The brothers were born and raised in the US. Years later my contact at university with students from the PRC gave additional evidence of that.

Which brings forth an amusing story about alleged racism.
There was a restaurant near campus that hired wives of Chinese grad students as dishwashers. The restaurant paid them below minimum wage. Mexicans- most likely illegal aliens- got paid minimum wage for washing dishes. My Chinese roommate told me, "Yellow people are discriminated against."
True enough. But the owner of the restaurant was from Taiwan. He paid what he figured he could get away with.

#7.2.1 Gringo on 2017-11-09 16:07 (Reply)

Examples of PLA maintaining public order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlRqY7ew51I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMFduocqoI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMQzCIlRjQM&t=15s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKULlEvccjs

This is when it's crowded, other times in tourist areas they may just have single sentries at corners watching to protect pedestrians from traffic. They will march out into the intersection when the light changes to indicate that, yes, now you must follow the traffic laws.

#7.2.2 Jim on 2017-11-09 17:14 (Reply)

Interesting information. Being presumed guilty upon arrest is enough for me to rule out ever visiting.

One way I sympathize with the players is that they were there with the team. They couldn't say no to the trip and expect to stay in good standing with the coach and teammates. The school was downright negligent is not preparing them (and I think it was a fundamentally bad idea to begin with). Ultimately though, it is their fault if they were stealing.

#7.2.3 forest on 2017-11-10 09:54 (Reply)

Some more on UCLA players arrested in China.
As the old saying goes, every day is an intelligence test. Here you have some 7 ft tall black basketball players in china. They are not going to blend in and be ignored. People will be staring at them everywhere. Who had the bright idea that they could shoplift and nobody would notice? I live outside Wash. DC and you can buy those knock off sunglasses from street vendors in DC for 5-10 dollars. In China they probably go for $1.00. Why do you want to risk jail and a diplomatic incident for a dollar?

#8 Ray on 2017-11-09 14:10 (Reply)

Plus the fact that it is, you know, just wrong.

#8.1 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2017-11-09 15:56 (Reply)

One wonders why they didn't know it was wrong.

#8.1.1 Sam L. on 2017-11-09 19:01 (Reply)

I understand that California has raised the dollar amount that can be shoplifted before it is deemed a felony to $999. According to police shop lifters now even carry calculators with them so they can keep their thefts below the amount that would require jail time. Sounds like a win/win. But apparently China hasn't seen the light on this yet.

#8.1.1.1 OneGuy on 2017-11-09 19:53 (Reply)

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Thursday, November 9. 2017

Thursday morning links