AND PUP’S JUST WENT OUT OF BUSINESS OR IT WOULD HAVE MADE THE LIST: Two Knoxville barbecue restaurants chosen as top 100 in nation.
Archive for 2015
May 22, 2015
IN THE OBAMA ERA, RACISM IS EVERYWHERE: Obama is nostalgic for “white” Israel.
GAME OF THRONES “RAPE” SCENE: Feminists are in a tizzy about the supposed rape of Game of Thrones character Sansa Stark. There’s a defense of the storyline and character development by Leslie Loftis in The Federalist today. But even Loftis assumes that the scene involved a rape. I’m a fan of the show, and I saw the scene. But I honestly don’t understand why everyone is assuming this was a “rape.”
During the episode, Sansa was married to character Ramsey Bolton (a creepy, sadistic character, for sure). Immediately after their wedding, Ramsey asks Sansa to undress. She complies, and then one hears her crying, presumably as Ramsey is raping her. But the two are married, and Sansa never once indicates, overtly or even implicitly, that she objects to having sex with him. So if she does not object in any way, would not her husband reasonably assume she consented? If one wanted to shoot a “rape” scene, should not the script writer have at least provided some indication that Sansa articulated a “no”?
I understand that Ramsey is an icky character, that he asked his slave to watch them have sex, and that he would not have taken a “no,” even it if had been uttered or indicated by physical resistance (in which case continuation would clearly have been a rape). But given that the scene offers no manifestation of objection by Sansa, is it even fair to characterize this scene as a “rape”?
OUT: MILFS. In: DILFs.
HOPEY-CHANGEY: ISIS Recruits Muhanad Badawi and Nader Elhuzayel Arrested Near L.A. Charged. “Elhuzayel admitted to agents after his arrest that he had no intention to continue to Israel but planned to ‘travel to the Islamic State, pledge allegiance to ISIL (ISIS), and defend ISIL against attackers,’ according to the complaint.”
NO WORRIES — SMART DIPLOMACYTM WILL DEFUSE ALL THE TENSIONS: Finland tells 900,000 reservists their roles ‘in the event of war’: Amid rising tension with Russia, Finland takes the rare step of sending letters to every military reservist.
AMERICA’S OPPRESSIVE KNIFE LAWS: “We see it all the time, I’ve had all kinds of people being accused of having a dangerous weapon, and you go, ‘What weapon?’ And you look at what was classified as the weapon and you have to laugh.”
THE MIGRATORY INVASION OF EUROPE: David Solway: The Hour Is Later Than We Think. “The migratory invasion of Europe, uncannily but presciently foreseen in Jean Raspail’s much derided 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints, is now taking place with near-irresistible force on the shores of that beleaguered continent.”
It’s not irresistible, unless you lack the will to resist it.
YEAH, I’D PUT THE NUMBER HIGHER THAN THAT, MYSELF: Less Than 4% Chance That Lawyer, Professor Jobs Will Be Replaced By Technology.
AT AMAZON, deals on Travel-Friendly Toys & Games.
MARRIAGE ADVICE FROM THE VICTORIAN ERA: “She may admire and desire a lover before she really learns his deeper qualities, but if she gets one who in the fulness of time manifests marked effeminacy, her love will wane, her admiration will sicken and die, and there will be a shaking in their contract before long.”
WELL, IT BEATS RAYMOND: Everybody Loves Sex.
“AFTER MY ELECTION I’LL HAVE MORE FLEXIBILITY”: These were President Obama’s infamous words to Dmitry Medvedev back in spring 2012. David Adesnik at NRO now asks, “Is the Obama Administration Readying More Concessions to Russia?”
GENERAL MOTORS: That Car You Bought? We’re The Ones Who Really Own It.
Intellectual property has gone too far.
TED NUGENT’S COMMENCEMENT: In today’s Daily Caller, rocker Ted Nugent has a few words of advice for graduates. His first four pearls:
1. Life is not fair. Get used to it.
2. Social justice is a commie scam. Read the drivel of Saul Alinsky and fight it with all you’ve got.
3. Nobody owes you jacksquat. You will either earn your own way, or feel like a helpless leech. There is no middle ground.
4. Economic equality is for sheep. If you really believe we are all equal in our capabilities you will go nowhere.
As Nugent said in his song, “Workin’ Hard, Playin’ Hard”:
Now it’s my turn to show my stuff;
It’s sometimes fun and sometimes rough.
I’m workin’ hard to earn my way;
But, lucky me, my work is play.Workin’ hard, playin’ hard;
Helps me get thru each day and night.
Workin’ hard, playin’ hard;
Makes everything all right.
Exactly.
SPYING: There’s an app for that: How NSA, allies exploit mobile app stores. “In 2011 and 2012, the NSA and the communications intelligence agencies of its ‘Five Eyes’ allies developed and tested a set of add-ons to their shared Internet surveillance capability that could identify and target communications between mobile devices and popular mobile app stores—including those of Google and Samsung. According to an NSA document published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the targeting capability could have been used to launch ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks on mobile app downloads, allowing the NSA and other agencies to install code on targeted devices and gather intelligence on their users.”
UNEMPLOYMENT IN AMERICA ISN’T SO BAD, so long as you’re not American. “Since 2009, when the national unemployment rate peaked, joblessness among foreign-born workers has fallen by 4.1 percentage points. The drop was 2.9 percentage points for the native born.” Obvious solution: Import more foreign workers and see unemployment drop even more!!
YEAH, THAT’S HOW I SEE IT: Los Angeles $15 Per Hour Min Wage Will Spur Robot Development. And the robot development will create new jobs! Too bad they’ll be in Taiwan. . . .
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: New University Of Texas President Rejects ‘Vulgar’ Salary Slurped Up By His Counterparts At Other Colleges.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Brain Implant Lets Tetraplegic Man Drink Beer with a Robot Arm.
THE “GOTCHA!” IRAQ HINDSIGHT HYPOTHETICAL: Charles Krauthammer: You want hypotheticals? Here’s one.
The current collapse was not predetermined in 2003 but in 2011. Isn’t that what should be asked of Hillary Clinton? We know you think the invasion of 2003 was a mistake. But what about the abandonment of 2011? Was that not a mistake? . . .
And the damage was self-inflicted. The current situation in Iraq, says David Petraeus, “is tragic foremost because it didn’t have to turn out this way. The hard-earned progress of the surge was sustained for over three years.”
Do the math. That’s 2009 through 2011, the first three Obama years. And then came the unraveling. When? The last U.S. troops left Iraq on Dec. 18, 2011.
Want to do retrospective hypotheticals? Start there.
All of these retrospective, if-you-were-omniscient hypotheticals are a waste of breath. But at least this one focuses on the role that the current Administration has played in the disintegration of the region, rather than continuing their silly “It was Bush’s fault!” distraction game. What I want to know is: What, Mr. President, do you plan to do now to stop the region from becoming even more dangerous to U.S. interests?
JOSH KRAUSHAAR: “One of the most underappreciated stories in recent years is the deterioration of the Democratic bench under President Obama’s tenure in office. The party has become much more ideologically homogenous, losing most of its moderate wing as a result of the last two disastrous midterm elections. By one new catch-all measure, a party-strength index introduced by RealClearPolitics analysts Sean Trende and David Byler, Democrats are in their worst position since 1928. That dynamic has manifested itself in the Democratic presidential contest, where the bench is so barren that a flawed Hillary Clinton is barreling to an uncontested nomination.”