Category Archives: History

Fearing Fart, Barf & Itch

Much as I like to mock the bastards, they still have considerable control over all our lives (but particularly the little people) and seldom fail to use it. The IG’s report provides solid evidence of that. They work in support of the party of government, i.e. the Dems.

“If you worked on Trump’s campaign even peripherally and without pay, shop at Walmart, or are among the 63 million smelly voters who voted for Donald Trump then you better make sure you never come to the attention of this bunch or that you learn every federal law on the books and never, ever make a mistake or cross an ethical line.

“If you do, or can somehow be accused of having done so by anyone in the ‘correct class,’ then you can expect trouble. Perhaps you will awaken to a door breaking down at the crack of dawn with armed agents, or to the news that agents have looted the offices of your attorney to find something, anything against you, or throw you in jail without bail on unrelated charges until you agree to cooperate with them.”

The KGB, in other words. The Gestapo. They spare no one but the elite.

Via American Greatness

Fauda, Season 2

Fauda the second time around is better than ever. Through episode six anyhow. Now blending the IDF elite force against Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and ISIS. With sometimes help from the PA which doesn’t want the competition. Nor, at times, does Hamas. So they fight each other.

“What distinguishes the series from a run of the mill tale of Good & Evil, is its ambivalence and its ever-changing perspective as the narrative switches back and forth between Israelis and Palestinians. That is its claim to originality and excellence…

“To begin, the protagonists look, walk, dress and speak the same, with Palestinians and Israeli switching smoothly from Hebrew to Arabic, and vice versa…It doesn’t require a subtle mind to get the subtext: Look how alike we are.”

Indeed, it’s easy, at times, to forget who the bad guys are. Well, for one on the outside looking in. One knows it’s not so simple on the inside.

Via Tablet Magazine

The Texas-Mexico border: Safe and sound

“Our southern border is safe and sound. That’s what I found tracing it by bicycle. The one thing I didn’t find on the border that I expected to find everywhere, growing like scrub brush in the desert, was anger. I assumed Mexicans would be angry with Americans, intruders like me. I assumed Texans would be angry with Mexicans. I was wrong on both counts. These are generous people with centuries of a shared culture.”

A good read.

Via The Weekly Standard

The Baby Bust

The WSJ’s Best of The Web argues for more legal immigration based on an historically-low birth rate for American women:

“American women are having children at the lowest rate on record, with the number of babies born in the U.S. last year dropping to a 30-year low, federal figures [show]…

“The general fertility rate for women age 15 to 44 was 60.2 births per 1,000 women—the lowest rate since the government began tracking it more than a century ago…”

With European women likewise giving birth at historically low rates, the West’s declining (and simultaneously aging) population should be grounds for statistical worries, yes, but more immigration? When unemployment among blacks and legal Hispanics is at an all-time low? Maybe not.

Via WSJ

Protecting the presidency

At some point in the swirling accusations and counter-accusations about Trump versus Mueller, who has kept quiet even as Trump comments on Twitter but probably is commenting by leak, there has to be concern for the office of the presidency. Andrew McCarthy at National Review:

“Unless Mueller can demonstrate that a serious crime has been committed, that Trump was complicit in it, and that Trump is in possession of evidence that is essential to the prosecution, [deputy AG] Rosenstein should bar him from seeking an interview, let alone issuing a subpoena demanding grand-jury testimony. This is not merely about protecting Trump; it is about protecting the office of the presidency.”

Only three presidential subpoenas have been issued: Clinton’s subpoena was withdrawn when he agreed to testify voluntarily in a civil case. Nixon’s criminal subpoena went away when he resigned. Only Jefferson stood up for the presidency when he declined to comply in a criminal case against his vice president.

Hopefully Trump will follow Jefferson’s lead and simply refuse to comply. Then let the House impeach him if they will and the Senate convict if they can. Impeachment has precedent. Mueller’s dangerous grandstanding does not.

UPDATE:  Reagan-appointed Virginia federal judge questioned Mueller’s indictment of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on 13-year-old fraud charges: ““I don’t see what relation this indictment has with what the special counsel is authorized to investigate,” Ellis said to prosecutors. “You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud. … What you really care about is what information Mr. Manafort could give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment.”

Mark Twain’s adage

“…there is no discernible class of criminals in America with the notable exception of Congress.”—commenter John Butler at WSJ.

Souls on board

There are many reasons given for why passengers and crew of airlines and ships are referred to collectively as “souls on board.”

But one that’s not mentioned is the fact that the 19th century age of the steamship, when the practice seems to have originated, was much more religious than now.

People believed in souls then as they pretty much do not now. At least not officially or in the news media. So it was likely more than convenience sake in radio procedure to refer to passengers and crew as souls on board.