Saturday, December 20. 2014
The Washington Post editorial, "President Obama's 'betrayal" of Cuban democrats", obliterates the ignorant comparisons of establishing relations with Vietnam compared to doing so with Cuba.
The negative response from the people whom Mr. Obama portrays as the beneficiaries of his initiative is one reason to question his contention that Cuba should be treated like China and Vietnam, two Communist nations with which the United States normalized diplomatic and economic relations decades ago. The United States was not able to join with opposition movements in those countries in demanding democratic reforms as part of a normalization process because, at the time, such movements barely existed in either place. In Cuba’s case, the opportunity was there.
Engagement with China and Vietnam also offered huge economic and geopolitical benefits that don’t exist in the case of Cuba, an impoverished island whose main interest to the United States is the freedom and prosperity of its 11 million people....
The Washington Post describes the human rights results in China and Vietnam, after their rulers and lackeys profit from US trade:
But in the past decade, political freedom in China has declined — there is less freedom of speech, of the press, of cultural expression. More political prisoners have been locked up and tortured. Tens of thousands of censors keep tight control over the Internet. The same is true in Vietnam: more foreign investment, less political and religious freedom, more bloggers in prison. And these are not anomalies: In the years that Mr. Obama has been in office, freedom has receded across the globe — without much protest or response from his administration.
Instead, the Washington Post supports the human rights demands from those brave enough to speak out within Cuba:
In Cuba’s case, that means listening to the brave freedom fighters Mr. Obama spurned. Mr. Obama’s prescription was not the only alternative to what he saw as the failed policy of the past half-century. Opposition leaders from throughout the island have agreed on four immediate demands to put before the government: the release of political prisoners; the end of repression against human rights and pro-democracy groups; the ratification of international covenants on human rights; and the recognition of Cuban civil society groups.
Friday, December 19. 2014
I do not hate lefties, liberals, progressives at all. In fact, I am always interested in their views and their reasons for them. I often find that they have a hatred of those with differing views which is difficult for me to understand. So much hate and anger that you can hardly have a civil chat or a civil debate.
No problem with hate, because many things and people deserve it but I sure don't.
Why Liberals Really, Really Hate
Thursday, December 18. 2014
 I heard a pair of Great Horned Owls hooting to each other around 4:30 this morning. A mating pair for sure. They lay their eggs in January.
Roman concrete used 'secret' ingredient to stand the test of time - and now engineers want to copy it
Why people are NOT leaving your church
Smotherers of Invention - Patent trolls, universities, and big companies are exploiting a broken system.
Ancient rock adds evidence of King David’s existence
Sex with your professor is great if you initiate it … or want revenge
Sen. Sanders blamed speculators for the
$7.50/barrel increase in oil prices from Jan-June; Do they now get
credit for the $43/barrel drop in oil prices since July?
The Egalitarian Madness Gripping Madison
Campus hate crime hoaxes: A best-of list
Economic freedom by state
When Journalists Are The Story - Saying a sad goodbye to some NYT stalwarts, and The New Republic.
Warmist Naomi Klein Links #BlackLivesMatter To “Climate Change”
Rape is Plummeting in Frequency, But Campus Rape Hysteria Won’t Go Away
No Truer Words: Gross Calls Himself ‘A Trusting Fool’ Do-gooder comes a cropper
The Last Communist City - A visit to the dystopian Havana that tourists never see
Limiting Free Interchange with Authoritarian Regimes Only Benefits Their Leaders
Shep Smith wonders: Is America about to “ruin” Cuba?
Obama hands Cuba's Castros a major victory, but Congress can still stop it
Castro, Cuba, Obama—and Iran
Sony Cancels Theatrical Release for ‘The Interview’ on Christmas
Mich Feminists Harass Muslim Who Wrote Political Correctness Satire
While Country Crumbles, Democrats Address the Needs of Transgender Illegal Alien Children
Anyone But Jeb Bush? Pretty Much
Hillary Clinton Sells (Very Few) Magazines
Rush Limbaugh: THE PERFECT 2016 Ticket – Clinton-Bush
If you only read American media, you would never know that most of Europe is boiling with anti-immigration sentiment.
A Few Confirmation Questions for Obama's SecDef Nominee
The Chavez Revolution Is Over
Canada: Convening of Fourth Geneva Convention meeting unfairly singles out Israel
Hamas Senior Officials At Movement's 27th Anniversary Celebrations: We Will Not Recognize Zionist Entity Or Be Satisfied With A Palestinian State Within 1967 Borders; We Thank Iran For Supplying Us With Weapons, Missiles
Wednesday, December 17. 2014
A fellow in my office likes to surprise us with Chick-fil-A breakfast biscuits every now and then. It's a pleasant way to start the day and he'll show up with 100 or so, first-come first-served. I usually pass on it, but make my way to his office for the socializing.
Today I had to discuss business with him at a designated time and arrived as the last biscuit was handed out.
A group of people entered just after me, and were told the last one had be served. One fellow responded "Well, good, because I was conflicted."
"Conflicted about what?" I asked.
"I hate that company and everything it stands for. So I wasn't sure I wanted a biscuit. I'm glad they are gone so I don't have any moral qualms."
I started laughing and said "They make a damn good chicken sandwich, and that's all I care about. I can't stand many Hollywood actors and their politics, but I'll still see their movies because I want to be entertained."
He replied, "Well, that's not an issue for me. I like most Hollywood actors."
I could hear my point whistling past his ears.
There aren't many purchases I make while considering the politics of those things. If I did, I probably wouldn't spend much money. I'd have a hard time buying clothes, food, and putting gas in my tank. I'm a fan of Pink Floyd, went to see Roger Waters perform in concert, with all his political nonsense, and simply told my boys "Enjoy the show and the music, pay no attention to the political diatribes and imagery. We didn't ask for that, he's just decided to force it on his fans, many of whom don't think for themselves, anyway. We are here for the art and the entertainment."
I loves me my Chick-fil-A. I don't agree with their stance on homosexuality. But I'm not convinced my not enjoying chicken will alter their stance. To be honest, I'm not sure what one has to do with the other.
 A Dylan performance for an audience of one
The Rising Cost of Felony Creep - Over-criminalization takes its toll.
1 in 5 Millennials Live in Poverty, Census Bureau Says
World-first ‘Bionic Bra’ inches closer to reality
London in Shakespeare's time
What Is a Suburb, Anyway?
Nothing Succeeds Like Liberal Secession: Blue America Without Red America Would Be A Basket Case
Sarah Palin hunts feral hogs. World ends.
Tim Scott: Why Marriage Matters for Fighting Poverty
NIH Has Spent $100.2 Million on Mindfulness Meditation
Mindless
Harvard Law Review Editor on exam delay request: Our Weakness is Our Strength
Dear Harvard College students...
Good grief
Oberlin College Students Demand Black Students Be Exempt From Failing Because of Ferguson And Garner Protests – Update: School Denies Request, Moonbats Outraged…
When Reporters Value ‘Justice’ Over Accuracy, Journalism Loses
NY Post: 2014, The Year Of The Liberal Lie
How Much Does the NYT Hate America?
Government Job Security
A Winning Alternative to Obamacare
Feds force patients onto Medicaid
Bye, Bye “Bailout”: CROmnibus Takes a Small but Important Bite out of Obamacare
A Winning Alternative to Obamacare
Why Do Climate Change Claims Consistently Get a Fact-Checker Pass?
"The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels"
Study: Your all-electric car may not be so green
Gluttony and Global Warming: We’re Eating Ourselves to a Warmer Planet
Scott Walker to EPA: Take Your Clean Power Plan and Keep Walking
Sony Exec Reaches Out to Al Sharpton – Will Hook Up This Week for Race Conference in NYC
Taxpayer-Funded Immigrant Advocacy Group Blasts Republicans - Helps those seeking deportation relief, tells them to vote against GOP
Sydney: For Whatshisname, the Dustbin of History
Sydney: One ‘Irritation’ Too Many
Sen. Rand Paul on ISIS, the Middle East, and when America should go to war
Tehreek-e-Taliban Takes Credit for School Attack That Left 131 Children Dead: “We Want Them to Feel Pain”
Sept. 11 detainees in Guantanamo get copies of CIA torture report
The True Victims of Torture - The Democrats, suddenly shocked by the CIA’s tactics, dishonor the people who died on 9/11.
Prediction: Russia Is Gonna Do Some Crazy Shit Soon
Sorry, Putin. Russia’s economy is doomed
Newly Released NSA Documents Show That China Captured American Soldiers During The Vietnam War
Tuesday, December 16. 2014
 Disgusting greedy capitalist pigs: Highest earning musicians of 2014
Office work is dangerous
Highest earning musicians of 2014
Why the Abortion Rate Is the Lowest It’s Been Since 1973
How Much White Privilege Do You Have?
Black newspaper takes on black-on-black violence
The mob is alive and well in the unions
Which Costly Family Most Deserves to Enter the Moocher Hall of Fame?
NYC: Majority of city’s trainee teachers flunked literacy tests
How ignorant jerks are going to treat good cops now; ‘I’m scared for my life . . .he’s trying to Mike Brown me
Social conservatism, marriage, and class:
We may have a culture in which the working class is encouraged to imitate what are sold as key upper-class values — sexual permissiveness and self-fashioning, spirituality and emotivism — when really the upper class is also held together by a kind of secret traditionalism, without whose binding power family life ends up coming apart even faster.
Media swoon: Elizabeth Warren, unlike Ted Cruz, hailed as a principled crusader
The Democrats Double Down - Will Republicans seize the opportunity?
VDH: Epitaph for Hope and Change - Obama has fundamentally transformed America, all right — but not as he intended.
The Rise and Fall of German-American Bund
“If you make jokes about people who are going to kill you, there is a sort of tendency to hold back a little.”
‘He Must Have Loved Ones, Too’ - Pathological altruism in Sydney.
German Leader Denounces Anti-Immigrant Surge
Last week the news arrived that the most popular name given to boys in the UK in 2014 was "Mohammed." The reactions and non-reactions to this story betrayed the deep unease and denial that are now part of the debate around Islam in modern Britain.
How Iraq Became a Proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
At its 27th birthday parade, Hamas vows to destroy Israel
Monday, December 15. 2014
From How the Common Core Went Wrong:
Critics have tagged the Common Core with the pejorative "ObamaCore." The gibe is more instructive than many realize. The Affordable Care Act and the Common Core both involve ambitious efforts to change whole swaths of American life, though the practical impact of each was intentionally shrouded in uncertainty. Both would have benefited from more scrutiny early on but are now increasingly entrenched. In health care, critics have found it a losing strategy to talk about simply repealing the ACA without talking about what should replace it. They need to offer plausible alternatives to have a shot at policy or political success. Meanwhile, the ACA has started to change American medicine. The same is true of the Common Core. Five years on, it has started to change instruction, textbooks, and curriculum.
 What Is Fatigue?
It's complicated
The Cheapest Generation - Why Millennials aren’t buying cars or houses, and what that means for the economy
Study proves high heels do have power over men
Pope Francis Confirms Cats Still Going To Hell
Declare CO2 a nutrient
“Rape Culture,” Debunked
Police: Armored Military Vehicles Needed for ‘Constitutionalists’ with Firearms
Greenfield: Life in Post-Truth America
Al Sharpton Leads March in DC as NYC Protesters Chant: 'What Do We Want? Dead Cops!'
Back in Saigon: The Senate Intelligence Committee Report
Gaza Is Almost Totally Cut Off From The World, And It's Getting Ugly
Sunday, December 14. 2014
Saturday, December 13. 2014
 Lots of good Yale photos. Scroll down
Rat problem worsens at One World Trade Center offices of Conde Nast
Hahaha.
78-year-old Iowa legislator is prosecuted for having sex with his wife, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s
I doubt she was suffering. It's real clear reality that causes suffering.
The Joy of Old Age
Dogs in Heaven? Pope Francis Leaves Pearly Gates Open
Whew, that's a relief. But what about rats, mosquitoes, and snakes?
Colleges are run by morons
Laughing gas found helpful as treatment for severe depression
Hahahahahahaha.
Glenn, my friend, you are nuts
Will reviews plague 'Exodus'?
‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’: Differences Between the Movie & the Bible
SHOULD CHILDREN MAKE UP THEIR OWN MINDS ABOUT RELIGION?
Courtship today: Atheist Coffee and Feminist Envy
How Much White Privilege Do You Have?
I worry about this constantly
What Jonathan Gruber Got Right
Democrats Prep Media for 2016 Anti-GOP Onslaught
What if Obama had been honest?
A.B. Stoddard: Dems sick of ObamaCare
iAl Sharpton at the White House - It sometimes seems as if he spends more time there than anywhere else. Why?
"Sometimes I wish I could just passively accept what my government monarchs and their mainstream media mouthpieces feed me on a daily basis. Why do I have to question everything I’m told? "
Life would be much simpler and I could concentrate on more important things like the size of Kim Kardashian’s ass, why the Honey Boo Boo show was canceled, the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, whether I’ll get a better deal on Chinese slave labor produced crap on Black Thanksgiving, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, fantasy football league standings, the latest NFL player to knockout their woman and get reinstated, Obama’s latest racial healing plan, which Clinton or Bush will be our next figurehead president, or the latest fake rape story from Rolling Stone. The willfully ignorant masses, dumbed down by government education, lured into obesity by corporate toxic packaged sludge disguised as food products, manipulated, controlled and molded by an unseen governing class of rich men, and kept docile through never ending corporate media propaganda, are nothing but pawns to the arrogant sociopathic pricks pulling the wires in this corporate fascist empire of debt.
The whole thing is a splendiferous rant
The ‘Cycle of Violence’ Fantasy in the Middle East
Sultan: Leftist lynch mobs
Sweden: "We feel that we have lost our country forever to Islamists."
Yup. Asked for it. Enjoy!
The torture report as the ultimate harvest of media bias
"The report is nothing more than a death rattle from the “blame America” crowd within the liberal Democratic majority."
I would torture anybody to save a family member. Who wouldn't?
Fury as Mention of Israel is Banned from Forthcoming Holocaust Memorial Day in Ireland
Friday, December 12. 2014
 19 Secrets of UPS Drivers
Insurers in New York Must Cover Gender Reassignment Surgery, Cuomo Says
"One mother called a personal-injury lawyer about forcing the city to remove the rocks. Another suggested that something be done to 'soften' them. 'I am actually dreading the summer because of those rocks,' still another complained.""
Never let kids play outdoors. Too dangerous.
The euro is heading for disaster - what luck for David Cameron!
Why Does Hillary Want To Be President, Anyway?
Public overwhelmingly disapproves of Obama’s handling of immigration, healthcare
Record Global Temperature—Conflicting Reports, Contrasting Implications
CIA Director Brennan Admits Info From Enhanced Interrogations Led US to Osama Bin Laden
Congress’ Only Navy SEAL: Torture Report Threatens Lives
ISIS Publish Pamphlet On How to Treat Female Slaves
Nuclear Vigor: Russia, China and Iran
The Land of Magical Thinking: Inside Putin’s Russia
A friend emailed me a pic of his DU raffle winning. I said that was just fine, but what impressed me most was the tidiness of his garage.
Good grief. That looks like a German garage.
Thursday, December 11. 2014
Americans should be pleased to know that the incidence of sexual assault (except in prisons) has been steadily in decline for many years. There is no epidemic and there is no rape culture in the US - indeed there is a strong Judeo-Christian anti-rape culture - but there are some individual sexual predators and rapists around, and there always will be. Here's a real rape culture:
Consider a genuine phenomenon of “rape culture:” the widespread practice of Pakistani pimps “grooming” underage English girls to be raped en masse by themselves and their clients.
and this one: Raping and Beheading the Faithful
Also interesting is that the incidence of violent sexual assault on campuses appears to be about half of that which occurs out in the real world. That is remarkable in some ways, considering that the campus today jams frequently-alcohol- or drug-intoxicated adolescent boys and girls too-close together in a generally sexually-disinhibited and hypersexualized atmosphere.
My view has always been this: if assaulted, sexually or otherwise, call the cops. It's a civic duty really, because odds are that the perp will strike again with someone else.
Best, most reasonable and comprehensive piece I've seen on the topic: The College Rape Overcorrection - Sexual assault on campus is a serious problem. But efforts to protect women from a putative epidemic of violence have led to misguided policies that infringe on the civil rights of men.
I am not sure why campus sexual assault is so often the focus of the media when sexual assault and violence of all sorts is far more frequent off campuses.
Related, Lena Dunham's Assault on Humanity
Also,
New DOJ Data On Sexual Assaults: College Students Are Less Likely To Be Victimized
UVA Refuses to Reinstate Fraternity Activities
Rolling Stone's UVA Rape Story Just Took Another Massive Hit
Colleges Now Buying Special Insurance to Cover Campus Rape Scandals
 Assume that all Santas are perverts
How Victoria’s Secret and its fashion show went primetime — after its founder killed himself
McDonald's Menu Is Completely Out Of Control
Lena and Grace Dunham: Life in the Shame-Free Zone
Treasury Department Seeking Survival Kits For Bank Employees - Emergency masks, solar blankets to be delivered to every major bank in the U.S.
Whatever Happened to California Republicans? How California has become almost completely blue.
NY Times Reports on Columbia Exam Postponement
Berkeley Prof Offers Students Extension on Homework If They Are Injured at Riots
BERKELEY PROTEST RULES: Let Blacks Beat Non-Blacks, Don’t Photograph Rioting Blacks
University of Iowa Pulls Anti-Racism Display for Being 'Deeply Offensive'; Head of Journalism School Cheers:
David Ryfe, director of UI's School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UI, has different ideas, however. "If it was up to me, and me alone," he told The Daily Iowan, "I would follow the lead of every European nation and ban this type of speech."
College President Criticized for Saying All Lives Matter
Did you know that the topic of cotton is racist?
George Will:
The scandal of mass incarceration is partly produced by the frivolity of the political class, which uses the multiplication of criminal offenses as a form of moral exhibitionism. This, like Eric Garner’s death, is a pebble in the mountain of evidence that American government is increasingly characterized by an ugly and sometimes lethal irresponsibility.
“You’re Bosnian,” one of the suspects allegedly said. “I should just kill you now.”
He remembers the word "mokita"
For the warmists, a Diesel Powered Gaia
Hinderaker:
I don’t know what the Agency did to get on the wrong side of Dianne Feinstein, but the report is, seemingly, an act of revenge. I suspect that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed himself would render a more sympathetic account of the CIA’s interrogation program than we got from Senate Democrats.
Palestinian Rights Activist Exposes U.N. Duplicity At Relief and Works Agency
Gathering Evangelical support for Israel
Wednesday, December 10. 2014
 The Ugly Christmas Sweater: Still Ugly, but No Longer Ironic
Bank of America sees $50 oil as Opec dies
Feathered Fossils Give Scaly Dinosaurs a Makeover - Plumage may have adorned even the earliest dinosaurs, long before flight.
Parking-lot-challenged Canadian BMW driver has now been watched 4 million times
Sultan: Fat people and class warfare
A Devastating Takedown of America’s Most Overrated Gay Power Couple
The Rustbelt Roars Back From the Dead
From Bill Clinton and From Fat Albert to the Rev. Al: All the enablers
Bill slanders his cops - Mayor de Blasio’s suggestion that NYPD racism killed Eric Garner – and fuels police-community tension – is baseless and odious
A nation with insane leaders: The Gods Have Made Them Mad
Thornton: The End of Feminism
From Why I Left Feminism (Or, How Feminism Left Me) :
1. Current Feminism Lies to Young Women About Sex
Feminists like to tell young women many crazy lies, so it’s hard to cover them all. Most of them, however, surround sex. Here are a few:
Sex is a purely physical act and is completely meaningless.
Casual sex is not only a right, but it is also empowering!
Casual sex will leave you with no emotional or psychological damage.
There’s a “sexual double standard”: Guys get away with rampant casual sex, so why shouldn’t we encourage the same behavior for women?
VDH: Lying for the Cause - If myths do more for social progress than facts — then why worry?
Obama: Ferguson, Garner Protests 'Necessary' to Trigger 'Country's Conscience' with 'Some Inconvenience'
When you interfere with people getting to work, conscience is not triggered
Social Injustice Ate My Homework
The “national crisis” that has been provoked by the cases of Garner and Brown, they argue, has left them with no choice but to “stand for justice rather than sit and prepare for exams.”
What the Numbers Say on Police Use of Force - Two decades of data show police interactions with Americans of all races decreasing in number and improving in quality.
Ex-CIA Directors: Interrogations Saved Lives
Germans protest fascism; liberals complain
Among the stereotypes you are allowed to have is that all German conservatives are Nazis.
Among the stereotypes you are not allowed to have is that all Islamist terrorists are terrorists.
Tuesday, December 9. 2014
Monday, December 8. 2014
 The Spiritual Shape of Political Ideas - How it is that we once again find ourselves rooting out sin, shunning heretics, and heralding the end times
Time To Take The Sippican Cottage Basic Human Decency Test
Can You Ever Exercise Too Much? Some evidence shows that intense endurance workouts can put stress on the heart—but it's probably temporary.
Great Horned Owl Takes Relaxing Swim in Lake Michigan
How stoned is too stoned to drive?
Where to Move If You Want a Job, More Money, or Lots of Single People
What the Fate of The New Republic Reveals
Hiya, Big Spender! For good or ill, Nelson Rockefeller’s legacy lives on.
Explaining Hillary’s ‘Sympathy for the Devil’
The Democrats have been reduced to the party of the rich elite (George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Jonathan Gruber-types, edit al.) and the party of the poor exploited by those elites — a lethal combination that takes society exactly nowhere. In essence, they are the party of racism and sexism — that’s about it.
Eric Holder believes all cops are racists, targets ‘unconscious bias’
Obama: Racism ‘deeply rooted’ in U.S.
Is this right? Here’s Jackie Coakley “Rape Obsessed”
Via Driscoll:
[Erdely was] going from campus to campus auditioning rape victims, contacting advocacy groups and asking for introductions. But the rapes she found at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn didn’t have the right narrative feel. They were just rapes, and she needed a cover-worthy rape. So she kept shopping until she found someone who would tell her a version of the story she had already decided to tell. She needed a big rape — something splashy, something with wild details and a frat house. She needed a rape that would go viral. You can’t do that with just some regular boring rape.
Holy Russia, Holy Everybody Else
Britain Unveils World's "Toughest" Counter-Terrorism Law
Iconic Mideast Photo Is a Fake — and Heartbreaking One at That
Toon via Lucianne
Saturday, December 6. 2014
Federal Judge on NSA: 'Privacy Is Actually Overvalued'
Because of national security, of course. I thought he was a smart guy.
|
Key elements of Rolling Stone’s U
Pic is the 35,000 year-old