SHOCK VIDEO: CHICAGO INMATES APPLAUD AS COP KILLER WALKS BY.
Archive for 2018
February 17, 2018
POPULAR MECHANICS: The Twelve Best Multitools.
I like my Leatherman Skeletool, though in an earlier post a reader made a strong case for the Leatherman Juice, on the ground that it includes a corkscrew. Hard to argue! And for the more traditionally minded, there’s always this.
OPEN THREAD: Continue with the rarefied discussion for which InstaPundit comments are known.
WELL, DRASTIC COST REDUCTIONS WILL DO THAT: Elon Musk and SpaceX are ‘adding energy to the space market,’ Boeing CEO says.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: 5 Practical Uses for Elon Musk’s Impractical Flamethrower.
AT AMAZON, deals in Hunting & Fishing.
ANDREW KLAVAN: The Left Is Reaping the Whirlwind of the Culture They Made.
I am a First Amendment purist and don’t want to see expression censored in any way. And I don’t argue that there’s a straight line between any specific cultural creation and bad acts. But surely, a culture in which those in authority approve of and argue for things like gangsta rap and GTA — and indeed for the use of violence to silence speech that offends them — well, such a culture becomes a machine for transforming madness into murder.
It reminds me of some wisdom from another two sheriffs, the fictional sheriffs from the Coen Brothers movie of Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men discussing the mindless violence that has taken over society.
“Once you stop hearing ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ the rest is soon to follow,” says one.
“It’s the tide, the dismal tide,” says the other. “It’s not the one thing.”The left wants to defend gangstas and “transgressive” art and antifa thugs — but when the shooting starts, they blame the guns.
The left wants to get rid of feminine modesty and masculine protectiveness and social restrictions on sex — but when the abuse and rape and harassment rise to the surface, they start whining about toxic manhood. Perhaps they should have listened to the Catholic apologist G.K. Chesterton, who wrote about the difference between reforming society and deforming it — a passage that was neatly paraphrased by John F. Kennedy: “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.”
At a more amusing level, they can’t figure out why they can’t get traction against Trump with scandals that would have worked three decades ago. Whatever could have happened in the interim?
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER MCMASTER CALLS FOR “CYBER DIALOGUE WHEN RUSSIA IS SINCERE” ABOUT CURTAILING CYBER ESPIONAGE: When I first heard McMaster’s comments mentioned on the radio I thought “when Russia is sincere” had to be the punch line to a joke.
In responding to a question from a Russian politician about the U.S. and Russia potentially working together on cyber security, McMaster seemed to dismiss the notion.
“I’m surprised there are any Russian cyber experts available, based on how active most of them have been in undermining our democracies in the West,” he said to chuckles from the audience. He added, “we would love to have a cyber dialogue when Russia is sincere about curtailing its sophisticated form of espionage.”
Well, it was almost a punch line.
LINK: Fixed.
PLEASE DO THIS: Why You Must Stay Home When You Have The Flu. Judging by the long wait times on the billboards for a couple of local emergency rooms, the epidemic is still in full swing.
FASTER, PLEASE: NASA’s ‘Quiet Supersonic’ Plane Could Change Airports Forever.
MICHAEL WALSH: With DACA, Put the Federal Judiciary Back In Its Constitutional Box.
Read the whole thing.
AN ENGINEERING TRIUMPH: Solar-powered rover approaching 5,000th Martian dawn.
INSERT HILLARY CHARDONNAY JOKE HERE: This Alzheimer’s Drug Repairs Alcohol-Induced Brain Damage in Rats.
AT AMAZON, Affordable Home Decor.
HURRAY FOR GREENHOUSE-FRIENDLY POWER! India approves construction of 12 more nuclear reactors.
THINGS YOU RUN ACROSS DOING RESEARCH: I’m working on a few essays (more about that soon) and wanted to pull together a list of US efforts to influence or “meddle” (the non-legal legal word du jour) in foreign elections. Of course, anyone with a sense of 20th Century history ought to know this, but obviously our intellectual betters discussing the Mueller indictments seem to conveniently forget this episode of American history.
That said, I thought I would share this little nugget from 2016 — long before Trump allegedly “colluded” with anyone but a porn star: “In unearthed 2006 audio, Clinton appears to suggest rigging the Palestine election.” According to The Week, the Most Qualified Candidate Ever said, regarding Palestinian elections:
“And if we were going to push for an election,” Clinton went on, “then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.”
I suppose it always depends on whose Gore is being oxed.
IN THE MAIL: Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power.
Plus, fresh Gold Box and Lightning Deals.
TRUMP COULD MAKE MEXICO PAY FOR THE WALL WITH A MODEST — SAY, 5% — TAX ON REMITTANCES: Mexican-Americans Sent Home Record $28.1 Billion in 2017. “Perhaps comically, remittances were actually Mexico’s biggest source of foreign income after auto exports, far surpassing the $20 billion that Mexico earned from oil exports and the $19 billion from tourism in 2017.”
…refers to something nonsensical or to someone who isn’t making any sense. Comes from the sound emitted by a “secure communications terminal” that isn’t synchronized with other secure terminals.
Read the whole thing at EMBRACE THE SUCK.
FIRST, THAT THEY’RE STILL GOING ON: What to know about the hijab protests happening in Iran.