What a Contested Convention Looks Like

Ramirez gets it right. Yet again.

Never Felt Safer

I got this from a friend. I'm not sure it's really a joke.

Never felt safer in my life!

I took down my Rebel flag (which you can't buy on ebay any more) tossed the "Don't Tread on Me" flag and peeled the NRA sticker off the front door. I gave the pit bull to my mother in law and stored my A K. 47.

I disconnected my home alarm system and quit the candy-ass Neighborhood Watch.

I bought two Pakistani flags and put them in my front yard.

I purchased the black flag of ISIS (which you CAN buy on ebay) and ran it up the flag pole

Now, the local police, sheriff, FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, Secret Service and other agencies are all watching my house 24/7. I've NEVER felt safer and I'm saving $69.95 a month that ADT used to charge me.

Plus, I bought burkas for my family. when we shop or travel everyone moves out of the way and security can't pat us down.

Safe at last — Is America getting greater every day or what?

A Dose of Reality About Socialism

We have been hearing A LOT about Socialism — and praise of Socialism — in the current political campaign. A lot has been from Hillary Clinton, and a lot more from Bernie Sanders, and their supporters. A significant amount of the discussion has been lecturing by our Moral Betters of the Younger Generation, who mostly support Sanders.

This has produced a response on Facebook from former chess champion and current freedom activist Garry Kasparov, which has been repeated by Thomas Lifson:

I'm enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism. Income inequality is a huge problem, absolutely. But the idea that the solution is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd.

Lifson goes on to note that

Socialism rewards laggards and penalizes strivers, so naturally you get more of the former and fewer of the latter. It isn’t terribly complicated.

Young people, full of energy, idealistic, and inexperienced in human nature, are seduced by the vision of an egalitarian paradise with less suffering. What they don’t see is the decline in wealth, and the focus on gaming the system and winning political approval (instead of actually producing wealth) that inevitably produce decline and corruption.

How has this happened to so many of our young people? I think, as Lifson suggests, that it's because

The virtually complete takeover of public and higher education by the left has resulted in a vast cohort of the American public completely ignorant of the failure of socialism everywhere it has been applied. Thus we have public opjnion polls indicating that younger voters are not averse to socialism and younger Democrats supporting Sanders.

To me, the most important truism in all of this is one short line:"Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism." That's a line from Kasparov's original Facebook post, speaking from experience.

Socialism kills, in all its forms from Democratic Socialism to Fascism and Communism. It's just that some forms of Socialism kill more quickly and efficiently than others.

The $50 Lesson

Recently, while I was working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog.

During our friendly conversation, I asked their little girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be President someday.

Both of her parents, Democratic Party members, were standing there so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?" She replied... "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people."

Her parents beamed with pride! "Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said..."But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that!" "What do you mean?" she replied.

So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?"

I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore.

"The truth is like a lion.
You don't have to defend it.
Let it loose. It will defend itself."

Happy Easter!

Wishing all a Very Happy Easter!

But remember also what made it possible.

If you don't believe it, or are on the fence, there are a few historical facts you must account for. To help you, consider this.

Hillary on Libya

p>Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is claiming the U.S. "didn't lose a single person" in Libya during her time in office. Of course, it's true she didn't lose a single person in Libya — she lost four. Or maybe she means it the way cartoonist Michael Ramirez interprets her statement.

UPDATE: See this as well.

End update.

It's hard to know if Hillary is so divorced from reality that she actually believes no one was lost in Libya or if she's continuing to lie about this for her personal benefit. Either option would make her unfit to hold any position of trust in the U.S. government.

Phoenix Aurora

The Astronomy Picture of the Day site has an absolutely spectacular picture today. It's an aurora in the shape of the mythical phoenix, captured digitally over Iceland. It's so spectacular I had to share it.

This NASA site changes its picture each day. After today you can find this image, with identified constellations and a description, here. And the picture on the NASA site is bigger and in higher resolution. Superb.

A Lesson on Motivation — and Irony

This makes sense to the bureaucrats. It's part of the reason the voters are so angry this year, explaining the success of both Trump and Sanders. And for that, see this.

Michelle Makes an Endorsement

Michelle Obama has decided to make an endorsement in the race for the Republican presidential nomination — expressed, as usual, in a hashtag.

There's also a much more detailed statement from Michelle, explaining her endorsement.

OK, they're obviously both photoshopped. But I still like them, especially because there is now so much mess to clean up.

Our National Problem -- 1

“Europe, the soil on which Fascism took root, is watching the rise of Donald Trump with dismay. Contempt for the excesses of America is a European reflex, but when the United States seems tempted by a latter-day Mussolini, smugness in London, Paris and Berlin gives way to alarm. . . . It’s not just that [Donald Trump] could become Silvio Berlusconi with nukes. . . . America’s Weimar-lite democratic dysfunction is plain to see.”

Wall Street Journal, Best of the Web
quoting Roger Cohen, New York Times, March 1

Our National Problem -- 2

There's been a lot running around about our problems if Donald Trump is either nominated or elected to the presidency. And all that is true. But there's another side to this problem, and it is shown in the bumper sticker below.

I'd say this is absolutely the best bumper sticker of this election cycle. And I think it is highly unlikely to be improved upon.

The Science Is Settled

Argentina — A History Lesson

This link was received by e-mail. The video it links to is worth watching and thinking about.

        Don't Cry for Me Argentina America

This echoes some of the concerns I (and others I know) have had for a long time. I'd seen some of these figures and comparisons before, but this is a more striking and elegant presentation.

A friend I forwarded the e-mail to agreed with me and said this:

Simply an elegant presentation. I've been screaming in the wilderness about the propensities of governments to over-promise benefits for three decades. As far as I can tell, my screaming has done absolutely no good, because politicians are still mortgaging our future beyond any ability to every pay off the debt. Argentina conveys the message, but much more elegantly than I ever did.

I have forwarded to many friends. Regrettably, all of my friends are in the same camp. Those people who most need to get this message are those who are the least likely to watch the video (much less heed its conclusions).

There is still time for us to avoid sliding into Argentina's fate, I think. But this country is a very large ship and slow to turn — as Argentina once was. It will take a lot of effort to get us back onto a positive slope. But we must try.

Battling Bastards of Benghazi

Received by e-mail. Worth passing on.

A short poem you won't forget

Do you recall the President referring to the Benghazi incident as "a bump in the road?" Today I heard an ex-Navy Seal being interviewed on Fox News regarding a book he has written about how to handle crisis situations in our lives. At the end of the interview he asked if he could make a comment on Benghazi and, of course, the anchor said "yes."

He then thanked Fox News for keeping the Benghazi story in the news, since other news organizations are not. He said the Seals who died deserve the public knowing the truth about the whole affair. He read a short poem he said was written by an anonymous Marine Corps officer:

THE BATTLING BOYS OF BENGHAZI

We're the battling boys of Benghazi,
No fame, no glory, no paparazzi.
Just a fiery death in a blazing hell,
Defending our country we loved so well.

It wasn't our job, but we answered the call,
Fought to the Consulate and scaled the wall.
We pulled twenty countrymen from the jaws of fate
Led them to safety and stood at the gate.

Just the two of us and foes by the score,
But we stood fast to bar the door.
Three calls for reinforcement, but all were denied,
So we fought and we fought and we fought 'til we died.

We gave our all for our Uncle Sam,
But Barack and Hillary didn't give a damn.
Just two dead Seals who carried the load
No thanks to us . . . we were just
      "Bumps In The Road".

So, will this reach every American with a computer? Or do we act like the press and give a pass to the people who literally sat there in the White House and watched the Seals' execution on live streaming video and did absolutely nothing?

"What difference does it make?"

And she wants to be the next President!

No further comment is necessary.

How Stupid Are We?

This was received by e-mail. The comment with it suggests it should be hung in every public place so people can read it and just maybe the danger we face will sink in. This war is ongoing, and will continue as long as Muslims continue to follow what the Quran commands.

---

Ask any person not your child between the ages of 18 and 25 if they ever heard of the Nuremberg Trials. Most answer "never heard of them". Or consider that 1 in 13 will not be able to tell you the name of the Vice President.

Unfortunately, 84% of those who receive this will not read it completely, or at all. 10% will but will also chose not to forward it. The remaining 6% will forward it. But the truth is re-emphasized as..... Stupid is as stupid does...

Ohhhhh YES!! The war started in the 7th century and lasted through the 17th century. I would contend it never stopped but historically the facts below are correct.

This is why I choke when I hear someone say we will defeat or contain these Islamic terrorists in a few years or even 30 years as recently stated by Leon Panetta. If the latest batch of murders, beheadings, and killing of innocent Christians has shocked you, maybe you should read this compilation of historical facts about the hatred of Muslims.

WE, THE STUPID: This is factually (and historically) correct - and verifiable:
In 732 A.D. the Muslim Army, which was moving on Paris , was defeated and turned back at Tours, France, by Charles Martell.
In 1571 A.D. the Muslim Army/Navy was defeated by the Italians and Austrians as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to attack southernEurope in the Battle of Lepanto.
In 1683 A.D. the Turkish Muslim Army, attacking Eastern Europe, was finally defeated in the Battle of Vienna by German and Polish ChristianArmies.

This crap has been going on for 1,400 years and half of the politicians don't even know it.

If these battles had not been won, we might be speaking Arabic and Christianity could be non-existent; Judaism certainly would not exist.

Reflecting: A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine that America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves. Pause a moment and reflect back.

These events are actual events from history. They really happened! Do you remember? 47 years since 1968 and this just keeps going on and on.

1. In 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male.
2. In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, Israeli athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim males.
3. In 1972, a Pan Am 747 was hijacked and eventually diverted to Cairo where a fuse was lit on final approach. Shortly after landing it was blown up by Muslim males.
4. In 1973, a Pan Am 707 was destroyed in Rome , with 33 people killed, when it was attacked with grenades by Muslim males.
5. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim males.
6. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim males.
7. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by Muslim males.
8. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70-year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim males.
9. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens , and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim males.
10. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim males.
11. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim males.
12. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim males.
13. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim males.
14. In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim males.
15. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by - you guessed it - a Muslim male. (Plus two other American journalists who were just recently beheaded).
16. In 2013, the Boston Marathon Bombing resulted in 4 Innocent people, (including a child) being killed and 264 people injured by Muslim males.

No, Obama, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people.

So, ask yourself "Just how stupid are we???"

Absolutely No Profiling! They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the Obama's security detail, 85-year-old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, BUT........leave Muslim Males alone lest we be guilty of profiling. Ask yourself, "Just how stupid are we?" Have the American people completely lost their minds or just their Power of Reason???

Let 's get this to as many people as we can so that the stupid defense attorneys, along with Federal Justices, that want to thwart common sense, feel ashamed of themselves — if they have any such sense.

As the writer of the award winning story Forrest Gump so aptly put it, "Stupid Is As Stupid Does."

Hillary's Best Accomplishment

A lot of people have been having a lot of trouble trying to think of any accomplishment(s) Hillary Clinton may have had as Secretary of State. But Hillary herself had no such problem. Here's what she said:

My accomplishments as Secretary of State? Well, I'm glad you asked! My proudest accomplishment in which I take the most pride, mostly because of the opposition it faced early on, you know. the remnants of prior situations and mind-sets that were too narrowly focused in a manner whereby they may have overlooked the bigger picture, and we didn't do that, and I'm proud of that. Very proud. I would say that's A major accomplishment.

Now if I can just figure out what she said, . . . . Of course, lots of folks will vote for her anyway.

The Problem for America

That is the problem. We must deal with it or die.

Will the Democrats or Republicans deal with this? Or must we look for another?

Best Political Quote Ever

The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance.
    — Cicero, 55 BC . . .

From London: "So, evidently we've learned sweet bugger all over the past 2,070 years?"

I guess "sweet bugger all" is a pithy Britishism for "absolutely nothing at all".

Truth & Humor

Here's a prime example of Political Correctness run amok.

And now Political Correctness has been connected with the Ideology of Victimhood, like this.

The latest thing is college activists — some others, but primarily students — carrying this ideology to an extreme. In some instances they are demanding "Safe Spaces", including segregated (Blacks Only) spaces where they won't have to deal with anyone who disagrees with them even slightly. Rather than demanding "Safe Spaces", previous generations have left their "Safe Spaces" for worthy causes.

(See also Safe Spaces.)

All of which calls to my mind another Universal Truth.

American Boats, Persian Gulf

A friend forwarded this to me saying "This event seemed absolutely bizarre to me, especially with two boats sailing together." I agree with him entirely.

That is the first thing I thought of when I heard about this. The reason we fly in formations is for “mutual support!” I will send you another article I read that discussed the condition of the sailors, none of them had tans. I was on the deck of the Midway in '73 or '74. They had only been out of port for a month and every deckhand had a farmers tan. These guys had been out of port for months the way I understand their stories. Sounds like another cover up and abuse of power!

This is a former SEAL Officer's take on the recent Iran/U.S. Sailors incident:

I hope none of my FB friends are gullible enough to believe the "strayed into Iranian waters and had mechanic problems" nonsense. I rarely pull out my dusty old trident, but in this case, here goes. I was a Navy SEAL officer in the 1980s, and this kind of operation (transiting small boats in foreign waters) was our bread and butter.

Today, these boats both not only had radar, but multiple GPS devices, including chart plotters that place your boat's icon right on the chart. The claim by Iran that the USN boats "strayed into Iranian waters" is complete bull$h!t.

For an open-water transit between nations, the course is studied and planned in advance by the leaders of the Riverine Squadron, with specific attention given to staying wide and clear of any hostile nation's claimed territorial waters. The boats are given a complete mechanical check before departure, and they have sufficient fuel to accomplish their mission plus extra.

If, for some unexplainable and rare circumstance one boat broke down, the other would tow it, that's why two boats go on these trips and not one! It's called "self-rescue" and it's SOP.

This entire situation is in my area of expertise. I can state with complete confidence that both Iran and our own State Department are lying. The boats did not enter Iranian waters. They were overtaken in international waters by Iranian patrol boats that were so superior in both speed and firepower that it became a "hands up!" situation, with automatic cannons in the 40mm to 76mm range pointed at them point-blank. Surrender, hands up, or be blown out of the water. I assume that the Iranians had an English speaker on a loudspeaker to make the demand. This takedown was no accident or coincidence, it was a planned slap across America's face.

Just watch. The released Sailors will be ordered not to say a word about the incident and the Iranians will have taken every GPS device, chart-plotter etc. off the boats, so that we will not be able to prove exactly where our boats were taken.

The "strayed into Iranian waters" story being put out by Iran and our groveling and appeasing State Dept. is utter and complete BS from one end to the other.

— Matt Bracken

The kind of dereliction of duty implicit in the State Department story seems to be completely at odds with normal military practice. That makes the story being peddled jointly by Iran and the Obama State Department (and the White House) completely unbelievable.