Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Today should have been the annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Worcester. This is one of the 5 largest St Patty's parades in the country but because of Covid we can't have nice things... Reminder - we knew exactly who President Obama picked in his NCAA pool but we never learned where he was the night our Embassy in Benghazi was attacked... Cancel culture may have started with lawn darts. First they came for Jarts and I said nothing... The Quest for Good Explanations would be a good name for a blog... Happy 88th birthday to Michael Caine. Remember if you say "my cocaine" you are also saying Michael Caine's name in his own voice... 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- How can you not like Steve Buscemi?

- Interesting thread on the clash on the India and China border.

- Analysis - True!

- "The last time I checked Illinois citizens are also Americans and Americans don't get ruled." Amen!

- VDH "Obama's policies are in tatters, and the worst scandals of his White House are coming to light." I've long said that history would not be kind to the Obama Administration.

A Modest Proposal

I would propose that President Trump should offer former President Obama and VP Joe Biden full Obamagate Presidential pardons on the condition that they fully confess their illegal abuses of power. Anything they confess to (short of murder) they will be forgiven for.

President Trump could say that even though he was the true victim and intended target of these abuses that in the best interest of the country he is willing to move forward and past these transgressions.

However, if former President Obama and VP Biden do not take up this offer of peace and forgiveness then of course they would be subject to the full force and weight of criminal investigations. You know that Obama and Biden won't take Trump up on his offer of Presidential pardons so Trump gets to make this offer and look like the good guy. Anything that happens after the Presidential pardons are refused is out of his hands.

And if the offer is accepted but crimes are uncovered that weren't confessed to - then those crimes would be liable for prosecution. And if one accepted the pardons - Obama or Biden - while the other did not. Oh get out the popcorn for that!

Just saying.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So if I understand the news - Apple is looking to decouple from China while Tesla is looking to decouple from California... I don't think history will be kind to President Obama... With all these revelations coming out that were clear for anyone with eyes to see in the first place - it makes me extra pissed off at Mitt Romney for supporting the Impeachment fiasco (and I was a huge Romney fan at one point)... Got an email yesterday about "Closing the Tech Conference Gender Gap." Talk about clueless. First off do you think anyone cares about gender gaps at this specific moment in time? Secondly in-person conferences are now DEAD. And if any industry could do things remotely and not in-person it's the friggin' tech industry!... It's funny because it's true!... It's going to be so cute in 15-years as young Elon takes blossoming Khaleesi to the prom... PSA - if you are alone in your own car there's no need to wear a mask. No reason... "The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature." - Joseph Campbell...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Keep seeing that Elizabeth Warren came in third in her "home state." Let's be clear - Warren is not from Massachusetts. She's a carpetbagging Harvard professor... If science showed that one of the side effects of the corona virus was penis enlargement - what percentage of men do you think would be willing to purposefully risk infection?... I think a one-man show of Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea starring Erik Estrada would be so bad its good in a Springtime for Hitler type way... "In America, the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience." Oscar Wilde in 1887 explaining Bernie Sanders popularity with the American youth of 2020... Just a reminder - we know exactly who President Obama picked each year in his NCAA March Madness pools we still don't know where he was the night our embassy in Benghazi was attacked...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If South Korea has reported a large jump in coronavirus cases can you imagine the number of people who have died of the disease in North Korea without any being reported? Remember that China is North Korea's largest (by far) trade partner and the two countries share a border... "There is nothing more horrifying than stupidity in action." - Adlai Stevenson... I laughed too hard at this... To make things easier I propose that any hit song from the 70's that vaguely sounds like a white guy is singing and where you can't 100% identify who the artist is to be automatically credited to Dan Fogelberg. Same rule applies to female singers but with those songs being credited to Crystal Gayle... If you factor in holidays and weekends then President Obama basically averaged one Presidential pardon/ commutation for every day he was in the Oval Office. Meanwhile President Trump has had just 26 such pardons / commutations... I was going to do a post on The Seven Deadly Sins of Iron Man but decided against it. Mainly because of the the ending to Avengers Endgame...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Not for nothing but here's a semi-regular reminder that Al Gore is 7-years younger than both Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg and 6-years younger than Joe Biden. And if the Democrats continue to make climate change a top issue then Gore has better credentials then anyone currently running... Author Charles Portis best known for his novel True Grit has passed away. I added his book The Dog of the South to my Amazon wish list based solely on this remembrance of Portis. True Grit is a vastly underrated book... .. Did not watch the Democratic Debate last night in Las Vegas but this morning I awoke with a sadness of wishing Charles Krauthammer were still alive to critique it in writing... A reminder that President Obama signed 1,927 Presidential pardons/commutations while President Trump has just signed 26. So let's take a step back from any faux outrage... Tremendous Angst would be a good name for a grundge era cover band... "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." - Confucius...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Out of curiosity - will the Democrats be asking families to talk about healthcare at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year?... And speaking of Thanksgiving - an oral history of the infamous WKRP turkey drop episode... Even with all my success - I'm still just Chris from the Hood...  FootballReference.com has one of Tom Brady's nicknames as "The Pharaoh". Nobody calls him that. I think someone on the site's staff just randomly adds a ridiculous nickname to see if anyone notices... You have to think that the reason President Obama did not give Joe Biden his endorsement was because he knew his buddy Deval Patrick was going to run. Now it seems like Obama's endorsement will be going to waste... The Monarch butterfly egg more beautiful than a Faberge Egg...  Instead of saying "You're welcome" I'm going to try saying "Epstein didn't kill himself" instead. Will be interesting to see if I get any reactions...

Trump, the Democrats, Syria and Iran

Interesting article that claims that President Trump may have prevented a war with Iran by withdrawing our troops from Syria. This paragraph really got my attention (and my blood pressure up):

"People should remember that in the height of the Nixon Watergate Impeachment tumult during late 1973/early 1974 culminating in Nixon's resignation in August 1974, the North Vietnamese reneged on the Nixon Paris Peace Accords, and Saigon fell soon thereafter, in April 1975. G-d only knows what will happen because of Democrats' paralyzing of an American President while the world is in flames."

Now I hesitate to draw any comparisons between Trump and Nixon and I would also hesitate to use the description that "the world is in flames" but there's a special place in hell for those of either political party who claim to be acting on behalf of world peace or downtrodden folks in foreign lands when they are only acting in the interests of their own domestic political agenda. A special place in hell!

Do you remember the plight of the "boat people"?

Remember how eager the press was to hear from General Mattis prior to his recent book tour when they thought he was going to speak badly about President Trump? Remember how quickly they dropped any interest in him when they learned it was President Obama who was slammed in the new book?

Remember the 24/7 news cycle about how "Trump was abandoning the Kurds" and the predicted horrors that awaited those poor people? Can you remember any of those horrors coming to pass? And you know if they did come to pass it would have been an orgy of coverage. Instead we got fake news footage from a  Kentucky shooting range. 

Remember how Libya is now a failed nation-state because of the actions of President Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Slavery is now an accepted practice in what used to be Libya! Talk about horrors (horrors you won't learn about on the MSM).

I remember! And I hope you do too! A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The Ontario government lost $42 million selling weed last year. How is that possible? I've also seen reports that black market weed selling for half the cost of "legal" pot in Canada.

- BangBros porn site bids $10 million for naming rights to new home of the Miami Heat. My sense of humor says "Please let this happen" while my decorum wonders "What the hell has happened to our society?"

- Heh Heh

- Are Generation IV nuclear reactors the answer to green energy? Nice look at the pros and cons (the cost) of Gen IV nuclear reactors.

- The Far Side may be making a comeback online. Doesn't sound like any new comic strips though.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So what disappointed more people - Season 8 of Game of Thrones or Robert Mueller's testifying before Congress?... Interesting - ESPN's market research shows that 74% of fans don't want to hear about politics on ESPN. That includes avid fans (85%), Republicans (84%), and Democrats (69%). The idea of Go Woke - Go Broke seems to have finally sunk in with upper management...  "To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week's newspapers." - Nassim Taleb... This may be old news to many but I had no idea that Paul Simon is "the world's biggest prick" and song thief. Probably going to throw out my Graceland CD over this... Wailing Monkey Climbing Tree would be a good name for a heavy metal Barbara Streisand cover band... Democrats may seize upon the idea that President Trump may not be prosecuted for obstruction while in office which may be even more incentive for some to vote him out in 2020. But that logic also means that former President Obama can be prosecuted NOW that he's out of office if he was complicit in illegally spying on the Trump 2016 campaign. You can't have it both ways...

Let's Talk Some Politics

Today's political post is brought to you by the words "Long Memory" and "Values".

1. When it comes to "Long Memory" the Media may have covered for Democrats in both the past and present but other Democrats have a long memory. Bill Clinton is basically radioactive at this point because of his philandering (#MeToo).

Even Barack Obama is not safe with Rep Ilhan Omar going after the 44th President saying he was responsible for the "caging of kids" at the border and who was guilty of drone murder but who got away with it because he was more "polished" than Trump. How long before Obama is heckled on the campaign trail by this new Left? My guess is just once will be enough for him to withdraw into his own world. His supporters will be offended by the way he will be treated and many probably will stay at home on election day 2020.

There's going to be a lot of digging through people's past words and actions. And the "guilty" will be held accountable - because the other candidates (and Russian bots) are going to make sure of that! Elizabeth Warren is toast because this. She just hasn't realized it. When Joe Biden announces look for a long trip down memory lane for Creepy Uncle Joe sponsored by Democrats who remember. This will serve to both tatter the reputations of the current candidates but also the MSM. "Wait that allegation is true - how come this was never reported?"

2. The Democrats don't know what they stand for anymore and some are now going after what used to be core constituents of the Democratic Party. Namely the Jewish and Catholic vote.

The Democrats have had an ant-Israel and anti-Jewish bias for a while but now it's official. President Obama was the most anti-Israel President of my lifetime (even worse than Jimmy Carter). Rep Omar openly makes vile anti-Semetic and anti-Israel comments and the Democratic leaders are powerless to do anything. Their response was literally a joke. And more fodder for President Trump.

The Democrats also showed their true colors towards Catholics during the Kavanaugh conformation hearings. The Knights of Columbus are already under attack. There are 1.7 million Catholics in Wisconsin - almost one-third the total population of the State. Wisconsin was a key to Trump winning the 2016 election. And the Democrats have recognized the importance of the State by announcing it will the the site of their convention. But how will that go over when most of the candidates go on record as both anti-Jew and anti-Catholic? Doesn't sound like a winning strategy to me.

I just can't wait to see what happens when people like Rep Omar go after late-term abortion because the Koran is against it.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Part of me wants Zion Williamson to land with the New York Knicks because then many New Yorkers would be confused by some of these Democrats claiming to not be anti-Semites but anti-Zionists instead... I truly do want a copy of this painting... With March here I would still like to know why if the day after Christmas can be known as Boxing Day - why can't the day after St. Patrick's Day be known as Hangover Day?... Kill Bill - The Ballet?... Just a reminder - each March we knew exactly who President Obama picked in his NCAA pool but we still don't know where he was the night our embassy in Benghazi was attacked... If Zion Williamson does get signed by the Knicks - I hope he gets invited to AIPAC... Quietly the Boston Bruins have become perhaps the hottest team in the NHL. Go Bruins!...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

When you hear the MSM criticize President Trump for his relationship with Saudi Arabia just keep in mind that President Obama attended the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah but skipped the funeral of Britain's Margaret Thatcher and the MSM never said a peep... Very cool!... I've always had an issue with the Fleetwood Mac song You Make Loving Fun - as opposed to what? You Make Loving Feel Like Working in a Coal Mine?... ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that Hue Jackson is the front-runner for 11 out of 12 head coaching positions... Good to know... Speaking of NFL head coaching jobs - how many interviews do you think Condoleezza Rice has lined up?... I think the simple solution to the Oscars host issue would be to have Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally co-host. Problem solved...

The Iran Deal

President Trump did absolutely the right thing in killing the perverse "Iran Deal". Senator Ben Sasse had the situation 100% correct. Obama had no more ability to bind the US to a fatally bad deal than he had the ability to raise or lower the sea levels.

Saudi Arabia "supports and welcomes" the move by President Trump and the United Arab Emirates also supports the US withdrawal from the Iran Deal. And Israel? I'll bet they're ecstatic to once again not have a US President that supports Iran a country whose leaders chant "death to America" and who want to wipe Israel off the map. What's the chances do you think that Obama ever visits the US Embassy in Jerusalem?

In my opinion John Kerry should either officially register as a foreign agent or face charges under the Logan Act.

And as far as President Obama's lasting legacy? This might end up being the only thing that survives the Trump Tornado.

Barbara Bush

George and Barbara Bush's wedding photo in 1945.

- Statement from President George W Bush on the passing of his mother.

- Statement from President and Mrs. Obama on the passing of Barbara Bush.

- A reminder on the type of person Barbara Bush was.

- General Chuck Yeager has a couple of anecdotes on how fine a person and how down to earth Barbara Bush was.

- Five years ago George HW Bush shaved his head in support of the son of a secret service agent. It should be remembered that George and Barbara lost their first daughter Robin to childhood leukemia. Now after 73-years of marriage George has lost the love of his life. Reportedly he was holding her hand as she passed.

My prayers are with George HW Bush and the rest of the Bush family.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

As a Boston fan I'm getting restless. It has been months since our last championship... Funny because it's true... Just a reminder - we know exactly who President Obama picked each year in his NCAA March Madness pools but we still don't know where he was the night our Embassy in Benghazi was attacked... Very cool... Georgetown's colors of blue and gray were chosen back in 1876 to support "unity between the Northern and Southern boys of the college"... Marcus Smart Ninja. How many middle age white guys will throw out their backs today trying to pull off this move?... If the day after Christmas can be known as Boxing Day why can't the day after St. Patrick's Day be known as Hangover Day?...

Iran

Protests in Iran against the ruling mullahs have become so wide-spread that the media has no choice but pay attention and report. And unlike the previous administration President Trump seems to believe that Iran is part of (or the actual root) of the problem in the Middle-East. Not part of the solution as President Obama so wanted to believe.

"The Obama administration's lack of support for the Green Revolution [in 2009] was part of a pattern in which it did not hold Iran accountable for any provocation. It would seem it was part of a general approach that began Obama's first week in office in 2009 of wanting to reach a deal with Iran at pretty much any cost."  Obama was "soft" on Iran from the start and wrong on Iran to the finish.

A recent Politico article documented that the Obama Administration was so blinded by a desire for a nuclear deal with Iran that it went so far as to stop the DEA from cracking down on Hezbollah drug-running.

Project Cassandra makes the Iran-Contra affair look like "small potatoes".  But will there be the media outrage and coverage over Project Cassandra and the Obama Administration's shameful and most likely illegal dealing with the Iranian Mullahs? I doubt it. David French does a good job of detailing on how Obama kept giving Iran and inch and they (and Hezbollah) would consistently take a mile.

So what is going to happen to the regime in Iran? Who knows. It is so hard to get any real information from the talking heads. And one should always be aware that most of these talking heads have an agenda. Many of them wish to protect Obama's legacy which as more and more days pass seem like an indefensible position.

How many times can a "news" outlet like the New York Times put forth wrong ideas about Iran and the positions of President Trump and Obama?  It's things like this that make it hard to gauge the signal from the noise.

And what happens if President trump repudiates the Iran Nuclear Deal this month? I don't know but I'm glad that the world seems to be watching.

Top 5 - Thoughts on President-Elect Trump

Holy Shit! Didn't see that coming - did you? Here's my Top 5 initial thoughts on a Trump Presidency.

1. I know many are going to wake this morning with the feeling that they are now living in a Stephen King novel. But in the real world there was no Christopher Walken in The Dead Zone to save the day. "The missiles are flying. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" I know this new reality is scary for many people but in actuality President Trump is most likely going to have to delegate much of the day-to-day responsibilities both because he has no experience and also because I don't think that stuff interests him. Think a more disinterested Jimmy Carter instead of President Greg Stillson.

2. Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House is in position to become the real power for the next four years. Half the country hates Trump and the people who represent those people in Congress will be willing to reach across the aisle to vote for any measures Speaker Ryan puts forth that are viewed as keeping Trump in check. And if Ryan has eyes on a 2020 run for the White House this could be a very interesting dynamic.

3. Can you pardon yourself? I'm all for President Obama pardoning Hillary Clinton for the email business. That damage is done and even though it sends the wrong message that some people are above the law - it is probably best to move forward without long drawn out court proceedings. But will pardoning Clinton embolden President Trump to pardon himself? Can the President do that? Sorry everyone who went Trump University and everyone else suing him. How funny would it be if that was the real reason Trump ran for President in the first place - to pardon himself.

4. Cutting the cord. The biggest losers in last night's results (besides Hillary and the Clinton Foundation) are the MSM (Main Stream Media). They enabled Trump by giving him free air-time. They rooted Trump on because they thought he would be the easiest candidate for Hillary to beat. They have lost all credibility by slowly losing any veneer of being impartial over the years. They say that the two main reasons cable TV stays relevant is because of news and because of live sports. For many people watching the news just proved to be a gigantic waste of time. Those people in the media didn't know dick. And on top of that I'm guessing that Donald Trump will most likely demand being on TV almost full-time as President which will result in many more deciding they can watch their live sports at a local bar. Cutting the cord will be a much bigger thing in the next couple of years and the media having to then shed jobs will be the karma paid for the MSM shilling for Hillary.

5. It bugged me how much President Obama golfed during his Presidency but if President Trump wants to golf every day for the next four years - that's OK by me. It lessens the opportunities for him to do any damage at his now day job.

We have now gone from a man who served as Governor of a major state and had executive experience to a one-term Senator known for voting "Present" to a man who had never previously been elected to anything. I don't likey this trend.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The number 1 overriding reason Boston should not get the Olympics is Logan Airport - the worst major airport in the United States... The Daytona 500 is one of the last major sporting events to use trough urinals. The Masters is the only other one I can think of... Have you seen the "octopus jumps out of the water to eat a crab" video? I know octopus are badass. What I'm curious about is that video has close to 6 million views on YouTube - did the woman who took the video make any money from posting it?... 20 things you might not know about the Miracle on Ice... If President Obama says ISIS is not Islamic shouldn't we just call them SIS?... Heh heh - I would prefer my cause of death be motorboated by Wonder Woman... Non-roster invitee Dana Eveland was given Jon Lester's old number 31...