Ace of Spades Pet Thread

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Kick your pets out of the corned beef and cabbage and enjoy the world of animals.

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A Little of This. A Little of That.

Quite the bond. A dog waits for owner outside of hospital.

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So, does this dog have a future as an arborist?

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Scardey cat.

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Ouch. Cat uses one of its nine lives.

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Dogs prefer when you talk to them like babies. Although the people around you don't.

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Meet The PetMorons

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The Pet Thread is indeed special! So many different pets play an important part in folks lives.

The 3 cats are my sweetie's pride and joy (to quote Texas' own SRV!) Lady Roosta is the solo pic with a shaved belly. She will be 17 in August and is dealing with thyroid issues and GI tract cancer which is in remission. We live about 10 miles from Texas A&M; University vet clinic, which is doing a splendid job caring for her. Sweetie got her as a kitten and named "him" Rooster. Vet said, "hold on...it's a female!" Hence, Lady Roosta.

The other two fellas are males (definitely!) . R.D. (top) was found and brought into our home and is the "bad boy" of the group! Our squirt bottle is used primarily on him! Gimpy (bottom) was a rescue cat who was abused by a former owner and has a useless right front paw...nerve damage. He is a really sweet cat and is the youngest at about 1.5 years old.

Bro. Bill

Bro Bill and Sherry thanks for the submission. It appears those cats have a life of leisure!

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Greetings,

Long-time lurker, rare commenter Darth Chipmunk, here. I thought I’d share a couple photos (or four) of our furry morons from Nor Cal. I hope the Horde approves.

Bear is a German Shepherd / Chow mix who adopted us. He’d been abandoned in a local park and was a very fearful stray who would run away if anyone tried to even get near him. People had been feeding him (everything from puppy chow to McDonalds Hamburgers) and trying to catch him to foster and/or adopt him. Animal Control Officers were after him for taking hens from a local chicken coop. But none of them had any luck catching him. And this was going on for two or three months. One week we had some particularly wet, cold storms roll through and when we got to the park he was closer to the entrance than we’d ever seen him. It was pouring. He was drenched, shivering and obviously miserable, trying to shelter himself under the kids slide. The wife decided to just sit near him on the swing and try to gain his trust. I went on into the park. He let her get close enough to pet him. But after an hour and a half, he wasn’t ready to follow her, much less come to the vehicle. So we headed home. Of course, that wasn’t enough for the wife. She took the truck back to the park to try again. And sure enough, more than an hour later she called me announcing that the dog had followed her, jumped into the truck, and was now on his way home with her. He was so tangled and matted, it took us three days to determine that he was a him. The photo is from his third day, after all the brushing was done. That was January 2010 and he’s been with us ever since. He is the nicest, friendliest dog I have ever known.

So, Bear seemed a bit sedentary and we realized that we needed to get him a buddy. We rescued Rocket the long-haired Chihuahua from the pound in 2012. He was a puppy. And let’s face it, he’s a poor fit for Bear. My wife was not a fan. But he was cute as hell and I was powerless to resist as soon as they set him on the floor and he started running around me in circles. Thankfully, he is not a yappy Chihuahua and is a serious cuddler, which my wife loves. His favorite activity is to run… as fast as he can. If you chase him, that’s even better. He loves grass. But something about the sand at the beach makes him go bonkers. Even though there’s a big size difference, he and Bear have managed to become good buddies.

And finally there’s our cat Tripp. He’s mostly black, except for a dozen or so white hairs on his chest. He’s a very recent addition, having adopted us during a storm in December. We’d been out for dinner with friends and were back home and inside by the fire when we heard a kitten meowing on the back porch. Our nearest neighbors are a few hundred yards away, so we assume he was dumped. He was a bit skinny and had a severe flea problem. But both were easily remedied. We put flyers around the neighborhood and talked to the closest neighbors. But we didn’t hear from anyone claiming him. We were kind of glad about that, as *of course*we’d bonded with him after a couple weeks. We call him Tripp because he is constantly underfoot. We’re still getting to know him. But he loves to play fetch, to knock items off any elevated surface, and … he’s discovered that he can chase Rocket… and Rocket likes it. SMH

Thanks so much for the weekly pet thread!

You're welcome Darth Chipmunk. What a wonderful story about your pets.

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Saw the attached image on somebody's computer desktop background ... and now it is on mine.

- ShainS

Hope the Statute of Limitations has expired ShainS.

:)

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Hi petmorons. I’m a long-time reader/lurker and occasional commenter. This is Dexter, also known as The Creamsicle. We work from home, and when our Labrador died, the house was very very empty, so I went to the cat rescue and this guy was just it. He was only 6 months old and had been homed once and it didn't work out. Well, he’s been with us for 5 years. During the summer months, he loves to sleep in this pot on the front deck. To be fair, I’ve sent you a Dex picture before, which you published. I just love this one though. --Exliberal

Hey, no problem running his photo again. It's a cute photo. Thank you for sharing his photo with us.

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Wanted to submit this in memory of my father who passed on February 10th. This is his 5 year old English bulldog Murphy, whom I cared for every winter for the last five years when he and my mother would live in Florida from January to mid-April. As my father’s deteriorating health prevented him from taking this deceptively strong (and very stubborn) dog out for walks, I would take him to a nearby field where most folks let their dogs off-leash to play every weekend. Murphy is a first class wrestler as you can see from the video I made of him for his first birthday (it starts off slow but picks up). He’s a great pooch and makes good company for my mother, now alone in that home. Rest in peace, dad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp_WNdUFdYs

Moron Chris From Maryland

We are sorry to hear of your loss Chris. Not quite sure what to say other than that we hope your Mom and Murphy are coping well.

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I comment under George LeS. I'm finally getting around to sending you this, our favorite picture of our late and much missed Sally. When we got her, though not technically a rescue, she was 15 pounds underweight, and was so filthy it took 3 baths to clean off the smell of dogsh**. She'd been tied up outdoors and neglected so long she didn't really know what people were like. So she simply needed to be spoiled rotten.It took several years for her to get over a fear of snow, but when she did, realizing that she could come back indoors anytime, she played in it constantly.

Her goal in life was to rid Virginia of every last rabbit. Squirrels and bird she chased for fun, but rabbits were business. She actually got one once, pulling me to the ground as I held the leash. And perhaps her all time highlight was the Christmas she got one end of a tenderloin off the counter. How she managed, I don't know. But she did. Another of her tricks was, when we had people to dinner, jumping up and down next to the dining room table. If you were next to her, it was amazing how high she could get of those little legs. From the other side, you'd see the head come up, and as it went down, the last thing was the ears, now standing up.

Something about raw beef and dogs. Dogs are relentless. Thanks for the photo George.

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These are pecans we picked and washed, spread out to dry. Our ginger cat was batting them from underneath, over and over, for the longest time, absolutely
thrilled with the rattling sound they made as they banged together. In other
words. Tigre is nuts about nuts. They seem to make great cat toys!- Safewrite

Thanks Safewrite for the submission. Quite the entertainer!

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Thank you folks for the pet photos this week. What a fine bunch of animals!!!

Do you have a pet who wants to be a PetMoron? Do you have a pet story you would like to share? Is there an animal story or video you wish to share? Well you can submit those to us at: petmorons at gmail dot com.

Hope to hear from you soon. Have a great week!!!!

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Saturday Gardening Thread: St. Patrick's Day Already? [KT]

—Open Blogger

Hello, Horde! You eating Irish food today? Don't know if Savoy Cabbage is the most "Irish" kind, but I like it. Above, Wild Thing appears to be checking for a Leprechaun. Don't know what he would have done if he had found one. The family legend of a friend of mine is that Leprechauns followed her grandparents over from County Cork.

Potatoes are, of course, a traditional Irish food. They are often planted in cold soil, but St. Patrick's Day may be too soon to plant potatoes in Missouri. Interesting comparison of the history of the potato in Ireland and the USA at the link. Fourteen pounds is a lot of potatoes for one person to eat in a day.

Our Heritage

Of course, the Irish Potato Famine changed US history. There was another migration that changed history here in the San Joaquin Valley, the "Okie" migration. We received this recently:

Attached is a photo of some cotton pickers in Oklahoma in 1935. Includes some from my family. Might fit in a gardening thread sometime.

Javems

I had never heard that Oklahoma was a cotton state. But he checked. And his Mom's inscription on the photo checked out.

The good old days, right?

We have some interesting heritage photos waiting to be shared. We will take more.

Great Horned Owl Update

When we posted last week, there was live egg-hatching activity noted in the comments. Now two babies have hatched! CaliGirl has sent in a video of Luna with captured prey and some glimpses of one of her babies. Thanks to CBD for reformatting the video for AoSHQ. Luna is not only raising babies, she is earning her keep at the ranch.

Vines

Cumberland Astro sent the following impressive photo:

The beautiful photo today of Flame Vine reminded me of the arbor I installed back in Texas to create some privacy between our backyard pool and the house next door. I planted Crossvine at the base of the arbor and weaved it through the lattice as it grew. Every spring we got to enjoy a wall of red flowers. The rest of the summer we still had a pretty green wall to give us privacy.

Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata) can grow to 60 to 80 feet if the soil is ideal and holds to surfaces with little holdfast disks. There are cultivars in various colors from yellow to red, including 'Dragon Lady', Jekyll', and 'Tangerine Beauty'. In nature, brownish tones are also found in some flowers.

Cross vine and common trumpet creeper are both native to the USA. They are both attractive to hummingbirds. The Trumpet Creeper is hardier to cold than the Cross Vine. Growing tips, photo credit and more photos at the link.

Trumpet Creeper

A lot of other vines used to be classified as "Bignonia", and the invasive Trumpet Creepers, which send out root runners far and wide, are sometimes still sold as 'Bignonia'. These include the native Campsis radicans (Common Trumpet Creeper), Campsis grandiflora (Chinese Trumpet Creeper) and hybrids between the two species. You can buy cultivars in various colors. They can be spectacular in bloom. Best where their roots can be confined. Watch that they don't climb utility wires. I guess a Cross Vine could do that, too.

Since Cumberland Astro brought up last week's Flame Vine, here is a totally unrelated Mexican Flame Vine in Austin, with a Swallowtail Butterfly. Nice plant and butterfly close-ups at the link.

This plant (Senecio confusus) is less hardy than the Cross Vine and blooms in winter or early spring in the mildest parts of the coastal South, coastal California, the low desert and Hawaii. A light frost will kill it, but it will grow back quickly from the roots and bloom the same year.

Here's one in Baja California with a Queen Butterfly. Kind of a nice little story, with plant photos. Queen butterflies are related to Monarchs and lay eggs on milkweed relatives. They don't migrate nearly to the extent that Monarchs do, and are pretty much found in the South, like the Mexican Flame Vine. I have never seen one of these vines in the San Joaquin Valley. Too cold in winter here.

From the Marketplace

Here is a relative of the flower above that prefers cooler climes, say, San Francisco. It's the Florist's Cineraria. Usually grown as an annual even there. This one is a local Flower of Walmart. When flowers like these show up, it's time to look for smaller plants to bed out. Plants that haven't flowered yet. Check out the local nursery.

Senecio is an interesting genus. It also includes some Dusty Millers and some succulents.

Gardens of The Horde

I got caught a little short on time preparing for a weekend event, and didn't get everything posted that I wanted to post. And I won't be around until later today.

But I haven't given up on Mumbe's camellia. I'm thinking maybe air layering or tip cuttings. Anybody out there ever started a camellia plant?

Haven't forgotten about the edible orchid question. Haven't found much.

Weasel's latest adventures will have to wait another week.

No one identified Island Girl's flower last week. It was a single Gardenia. There is a dwarf single called Kleim's Hardy. Looks quite a bit like that one. Not that she needs a hardy Gardenia in Hawaii. There is also a Tahitian Gardenia that grows to tree size. The flowers are used in leis.

If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden
at g mail dot com

Include your nic unless you want to be a lurker.

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Thread before the Gardening Thread: First week of Daylight Savings Time [KT]

—Open Blogger

Well, it's been almost a week. Have you suffered any ill effects or mishaps due to the start of daylight savings time? Noticed any events that could be related?

There are some statistical correlations between the start of daylight savings time and car crashes, heart attacks, length of legal sentences and a bunch of other things. The link is courtesy of Maggie's Farm, where this didn't get noted until Thursday after the time change. Maybe it DOES slow everybody down.

When did you remember that today is St. Patrick's Day, for example?

Weird News Dump

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

EMT 03/17/18

—krakatoa

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Home-brined brisket starts baking in an hour.

Sessions Fires McCabe; McCabe Claims It's All a Conspiracy To Damage Him as a Witness

—Ace

Fired.

"Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department's senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately," Sessions said in a statement.

McCabe's crying conspiracy:

I'm sure our cuck friends will be rallying to McCabe's defense soon enough.

(Posted above the ONT for a while; I thought this was big enough for a late post. Once it's up for a while, I'll put it below the ONT.)

Update: The Neo-Menschian cucks are swarming.

Friday Overnight Open Thread (3/16/ 18)

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

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Man. Always trying for immortality!!!

A US startup is promising to upload customers’ brains to the cloud using a pioneering technique it has trialled on rabbits.

The only catch, according to the company’s cofounder? The process is “100% fatal”.

Nectome, founded in 2016 by a pair of MIT AI researchers, hopes to offer a commercial application of a novel process for preserving brains, called “aldehyde-stabilised cryopreservation”. The process, which results in the brain being “vitrifixed” – the startup’s self-named term for essentially turning it into glass – is promising enough that it has won two prizes from the Brain Preservation Foundation, for preserving a rabbit’s brain in 2016 and a pig’s brain in 2018.

Influential startup accelerator Y Combinator has taken Nectome in, with the organisation’s chief executive, Sam Altman, becoming one of the 25 people to pay a $10,000 deposit to join its waiting list. “I assume my brain will be uploaded to the cloud,” Altman told MIT Technology Review

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You know The ONT we are always looking out for you! Twenty one fast food employees provide some needed information.

1. If you see something on the menu and can’t find at least one or two other items that the ingredients could be used in, don’t order it. For example, my restaurant has a pulled pork sandwich. We don’t use the pork for anything else. Since it’s not ordered too frequently, it’s not fresh and the product you’re eating might be days or weeks old. It’s not going to get you sick, but it definitely won’t be as fresh as the other things on the menu.

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As a teenager, I couldn't wait to get my driver's license and first car. My. How times have changed. Millennial Snowflake can't wait for driverless cars.

Yet, on the other hand, driving is often the first sense of adult-like freedom that most people get. Anyone with a license to drive remembers the first time they got into a car by themselves and pulled onto the open road. It’s hard to imagine a world where we can’t hop into our car, turn the radio up, and cruise our woes away. But it’s necessary.

Anyone who has ever been addicted to tobacco remembers the first time they smoked a cigarette. As an adult over the age of 18 it’s your right to choose to smoke cigarettes, but there’s a reason why (in the US, at least) you’re no longer allowed to do so publicly in most places.

Piss off.

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Not so fast Special Snowflakes. The internal combustion engine and cars with drivers aren't dead yet.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD—A Wednesday morning panel at the ARPA-E summit provocatively asked if the auto industry is about to see ”The End of the Road for the Internal Combustion Engine?”

Though all the panel members agreed that gas- and diesel-based systems are on a path to losing market share, none would admit that the internal combustion engine (ICE) would be completely replaced by the electric vehicle (EV). At least before 2050. So what do industry leaders think will happen or should happen to the evolution of drivetrains in the future?

Does a lower “total cost of ownership” boost electric car sales?
Perhaps the most interesting perspective came from Amitai Bin-Nun, a vice president in charge of autonomous vehicle innovation for the nonprofit Securing America’s Future Energy, or SAFE. Bin-Nun argued that, without a transition to autonomous vehicles, EVs would not see the mass-market adoption that boosters have been hoping for

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The ONT Musical Interlude

Get your motor running, not hop on mass transit.

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So what is it with states on the coast and their propensity to be complete financial basket cases? New Jersey tax, tax, tax. Spend. Spend. Spend.

Unfortunately, being the not so proud owner of the most distressed and underfunded public pension fund in the US is just the start of New Jersey's monetary woes, and as Bloomberg reports, New Jersey's fiscal situation is so dire that new Governor Phil Murphy has proposed taxing online-room booking, ride-sharing, marijuana, e-cigarettes and Internet transactions along with raising taxes on millionaires and retail sales to fund a record $37.4 billion budget that would boost spending on schools, pensions and mass transit.

The proposal which is 4.2% higher than the current fiscal year’s, relies on a tax for the wealthiest that is so unpopular it not only has yet to be approved, but also lacks support from key Democrats in the legislature, let alone Republicans. It also reverses pledges from Murphy’s predecessor, Republican Chris Christie, to lower taxes in a state where living costs are already among the nation’s highest.

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For better or for worse. She started early with a little of each. Genius Award Winner.

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Scientists are hoping to help senior citizens. Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

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Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Contemplation.

Notice: Posted with permission by AceCorp, LLC. The ONT it's just not an adventure.

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Porsche Sales Chief: Why Sure, We Might Create Flying Porches That Will Serve as Flying Robotic Taxis

—Ace

You had my attention, now you've got my interest.

Volkswagen's sports car maker Porsche could develop a flying passenger vehicle to compete with rivals in a possible market for urban air taxis and ride-sharing services, Porsche sales chief Detlev von Platen told a German magazine. ...

Porsche would join a raft of companies working on designs for flying cars in anticipation of a shift in the transport market away from conventional cars to self-driving vehicles shared via ride-hailing apps.

Volkswagen's auto designer Italdesign and Airbus at last year's Geneva auto show presented a two-seater flying car, called Pop.Up, designed to avoid gridlock on city roads.

Is the future finally coming?

Porsche's guy said that passengers would have "some" control over the vehicle, despite not having a pilot's licence, because most (that is, all) of the flying would be done by computers. I assume this just means paying extra to speed up or fly higher, or changing destination mid-route. Stuff you can just do with your phone through an Uber-type app.

The Real Collusion Story: How Hillary, the DNC, Brennan, Clapper and Obama Conspired to Frame Trump for a Crime That Never Even Happened

—Ace

This is a long piece. 14,000 words.

You should read it. Bookmark it if you don't have time to read it. It'll make for some good weekend reading.

By the way, this is from National Review. A lot of commenters keep saying that NR, as a whole, is part of the NeverTrump conspiracy-theory mass delusion. That's only partly true. Some there are obviously of that stripe, but others aren't.

This is the real story, the one that Washington Consensus doesn't know.

Or do they actually know it, but just won't tell it, as they long ago knew there was no Trump/Russia collusion?

Who's to say.

But read it. I promise, it's worth it.

Here's just part of it:

Consider, again, the coy Brennan. When questioners push him to explain what in the Steele dossier he finds compelling, he habitually takes shelter behind secret sources -- evidence hidden behind a classified screen, where only he, the chief intelligence professional, was permitted to see it. "I was aware of intelligence . . . about contacts between Russian officials and U.S. persons that raised concerns in my mind about whether . . . those individuals were cooperating with the Russians . . . and it served as the basis for the FBI investigation to determine whether such collusion [or] cooperation occurred."

John Brennan sees things that we cannot see. If he indeed has access to secrets that transform stories from Marvel Comics into the stuff of everyday reality, then he has done a very poor job of explaining what they are. Moreover, no disinterested intelligence professional has supported him.

Another part of the article talks about Brennan's long campaign to try to create a climate-change like "consensus" about RUSSIA-Trump Collusion Conspiracy theory, but even Clapper and Comey balked at his over-the-top claims.

Brennan's somber and self-righteous appeal to hidden secrets is the oldest con in the book. Just replace his top-secret computer monitor with a crystal ball or dried chicken bones, and his scam is the same one that Gypsy fortunetellers ran on superstitious peasants in early-modern Europe, or that soothsayers were operating in Homer’s Greece.

With respect to the framing of Trump, however, the second-sight scam required elaborate orchestration, the work of many hands. The key was the double-tracking of the dossier. Hillary Clinton's enablers channeled it simultaneously into the press and into the government. They then recruited people inside government to verify to the outsiders that it was a serious document, a guide to the intelligence that reporters were not allowed to see. Without this double-tracking and official or quasi-official authentication, journalists would never have believed that they were catching a glimpse of what Brennan and the FBI saw in their crystal balls -- pardon me, their top-secret monitors. And without leaks about investigations, journalists would have had no dossier-related news to report. Official statements that the dossier "was being looked into" transformed it into a legitimate topic for reputable news outlets.

This con failed in its primary goal of preventing the election of Trump, but it was nevertheless a partial success. It instilled in a significant portion of the American public the conviction that Trump indeed conspired with Putin. This conviction is especially prevalent among the lofty-minded -- a class of people that includes Republicans as well as Democrats.

The bipartisan character of the delusion was the greatest factor that legitimated the appointment of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel leading the investigation into Trump’s alleged relations with Russia. The lofty-minded have greeted every indictment that Mueller has handed down as confirmation of their collusion delusion. In reality, those indictments only prove that a phalanx of crack investigators armed with nearly unlimited resources, a grand jury, and an expansive mandate can draw blood almost at will. If a similar phalanx were to target Hillary Clinton and the shenanigans surrounding the Clinton Foundation, how much blood would flow? In other words, Mueller’s indictments are just the latest form of the non-verification verification.

Regardless of Mueller’s intentions, his probe serves as precisely the kind of "insurance policy" that Strzok seems to have been discussing with his lover, Lisa Page, in August 2016. Trump cannot shut down the Mueller probe and excise the rot in the DOJ and the FBI without appearing to obstruct justice. In practical terms, then, the Mueller probe is the cover-up.

Of course, the lofty-minded refuse to see it this way. The political damage that Mueller’s team is inflicting on Trump helps explain why a surprising number of people mount passionate and sincere defenses of the dossier and the super spy who compiled it. The logic of partisan politics will always lead a significant percentage of people to insist, with varying degrees of true belief, that a sow's ear really is a silk purse. But partisanship is not by any means the only factor at work here. Even people with well-deserved reputations for intellectual seriousness passionately defend the integrity of Christopher Steele, a man whom the New York Times insists on calling, despite all contrary evidence, "a whistleblower."

For a complete understanding of the dossier’s tenacious hold on lofty minds, one must supplement conventional political analysis with psychology. What we are witnessing is nothing less than a textbook case of denial and projection -- the most perfect case imaginable.

Like I said: good weekend reading.

Police Arrest Male American Bridge Operative for Assaulting Female Department of the Interior Official

—Ace

Antifa tactics.

U.S. Capitol Police have arrested a male Democratic operative for assaulting a female Interior Department communications official following a House budget hearing Thursday.

The assault happened after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke finished testifying on the department's 2019 budget proposal before the House Committee on Natural Resources. The suspect identified himself as a reporter with American Bridge and pushed a female Interior Department communications official to the floor, chasing after Zinke, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned.

Interior communications director Laura Rigas was "greatly alarmed and extremely irate that a female senior member of my DOI Communications team was physically assaulted today by a Democrat staffer from the PAC American Bridge," she told Politico.

A lot of these "people" think they're morally and intellectually superior. This delusion has now extended to the physical realm.

I expect a lot of pain for these "people" in the future as citizens start meeting force with force.

Major Correction on Gina Haspel Story: She Took Over the Black Site After The Waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah

—Ace

Zubaydah was notoriously waterboarded 83 times in a single month -- but despite ProPublica's previous claims (with many in the media aping their reports), Haspel arrived at the site after that and had nothing to do with that episode.

If I'm reading this right, she was Chief of Base of the black site for the waterboarding of one other terrorist, but that guy was only waterboarded three times.

Report: Hillary Clinton Fractures Wrist After Slipping in Bathtub

—Ace

Via PJ Media, this seems too perfect to be true, but she does seem accident-prone.

I'm pretty late to this story. But there is what I hope is an update for you.

Hillary Clinton's visit to India suffered another setback this week as the former secretary of state fractured her wrist after slipping in the bathtub at the five-star resort where she was staying, according to a report by DNA India.

The website reported that Clinton was taken to a hospital in the city of Jodphur at around 5 a.m. local time Wednesday. Clinton underwent an X-ray and a CT scan that confirmed a hairline fracture of her right wrist.

The Times of India reported that Clinton had been given a plaster bandage and advised to go for another checkup in three days.

I still wouldn't have believed this if not for a picture which does seem to show Hillary Clinton hiding her wrist under the sleeve of an unfortunate, voluminous garment.

The wrap, called a kurta, is called by this site "customized" to hide her wrist injury.

Hillary was seen in Jaipur on Thursday where she appeared to be adopting an out-of-sight and out-of-mind approach to her recent injury by wearing a kurta that had been customized to make one sleeve longer than other.

You need either the heart of a saint or a heart of stone not to laugh.

Cherokee Genealogist: Elizabeth Warren's Claims of Indian Ancestry are "Ludicrous"

—Ace

Fauxcahantas.

A Cherokee genealogist on Wednesday dismissed Sen. Elizabeth Warren's claims of Indian ancestry as "ludicrous," arguing that the Massachusetts Democrat "has no respect for true Native Americans."

Twila Barnes, who has done extensive research into Ms. Warren’s family tree, added that the high-profile progressive leader has angered some Native Americans by appearing to leverage her dubious heritage to advance her career.

...

The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle, which endorsed her in 2012, called on her last week to take a DNA test to resolve the issue once and for all, while independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai has sent her two DNA kits, both of which were returned.

Previously, Elizabeth Warren refused to say she would take a DNA test, claiming that she knew in her heart who she is.

The thing is, lady, "who you are" changed depending on if you were seeking a promotion or had just received one. You were Indian while job hunting and non-Indian once you'd gulled a diversity hiring director to give you a job.

"Fox News Sunday" host John Roberts brought up an editorial last week from the Massachusetts newspaper The Berkshire Eagle, which wrote Warren needed to resolve the debate over her heritage.

"We call upon our senior senator to screw up her courage and take the spit test," the newspaper said, referring to the DNA-heritage tracking labs that advertise on television.

"Would you be willing to take a DNA test to put this issue to rest?" Roberts asked.

Warren didn't answer on that front. Instead, she responded by telling the story of her parents, who she said met as teenagers in Oklahoma. Her father's family, Warren said, was opposed to his marrying Warren's mother because she was part Native American, and the couple went on to make it through "hard times" and raise her and her three brothers.

"I know who I am because of what my mother and my father told me, what my grandmother and my grandfather told me, what all my aunts and uncles told me and my brothers. It's a part of who I am, and no one's ever going to take that away," Warren said.

This just in: The alleged Party of Science reject science, says "lore" and "feelings" trump facts.

By this illogic, isn't Warren saying that Danny Williams is in fact Bill Clinton's unacknowledged illegitimate son, because his mom told him he was and he believes it?

Ohio High School Student Suspended for Refusing to Take Part in Anti-Gun Walkout

—Ace

So now our teachers and administrators are not just leading our children on political crusades, but punishing them if they refuse to join in.

A high school student in Hilliard, Ohio, didn't want to pick sides in the contentious gun debate surrounding Wednesday’s "National Walkout," so he stayed in class instead of joining the largely anti-gun protest or an alternative "study hall."

Hilliard Davidson High School senior Jacob Shoemaker was then reportedly slapped with a suspension.

The Federalist: Judge Who Presided Over Michael Flynn's Guilty Plea, And Then Mysteriously Recused Himself, Was Friends With Peter Strzok; Strzok and Page Conspired to Arrange Dinner Parties Where They Could Talk to Judge Without Alerting Others to Their

—Ace

We're gonna need a bigger special counsel.

And these emails were hidden and never disclosed to Congress. Hmmm. I wonder why.

How the Federalist got them I don't know, but it might have something to do with the IG investigation.

Newly discovered text messages obtained by The Federalist reveal two key federal law enforcement officials conspired to meet with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) judge who presided over the federal case against Michael Flynn. The judge, Rudolph Contreras, was recused from handling the case just days after accepting the guilty plea of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser who was charged with making false statements to federal investigators.

The text messages about Contreras between controversial Department of Justice lawyer Lisa Page and Peter Strzok... were deliberately hidden from Congress, multiple congressional investigators told The Federalist.

...

The pair even schemed about how to set up a cocktail or dinner party just so Contreras, Strzok, and Page could speak without arousing suspicion that they were colluding. Strzok expressed concern that a one-on-one meeting between the two men might require Contreras' recusal from matters in which Strzok was involved.

"[REDACTED] suggested a social setting with others would probably be better than a one on one meeting," Strzok told Page. "I'm sorry, I'm just going to have to invite you to that cocktail party."

"Have to come up with some other work people cover for action," Strzok added.

"Why more?" Page responded. "Six is a perfectly fine dinner party."

See the Federalist for more. For some reason, when these emails were turned over to Congress, all the information about Contreras and the dinner-party cover story were redacted.

I wonder if a high-level official at the FBI or DOJ was responsible for this deliberate withholding of information from Congress.

More from Sara A. Carter, including longer text exchanges between Strzok and Page.

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"I've got a message for all of the 'brave' high school students who are walking out of school for gun control: Where are you when that weird-looking nerd in your class gets picked on and bullied by the cool kids? Why aren't you, the supposedly 'woke' protestors, standing up for him and against the malevolent alpha clique? Because that's your injustice right there, staring at you in the face, and you pretend not to see it. Because going up against the pecking order is dangerous, and it's a lot more fun to cut class and run your fool mouths about things you don't know anything about than to actually do something, however small, to make your school a better place. You're not virtuous, you're just virtue-signaling. So get back to class and STFU, you sanctimonious little shits."

(h/t Brent Cochran)

And this is why they should STFU and go back to school:

The Problem With Parody Accounts:

They look real. Waters could really be this dumb. Remember that elected official who was afraid of Guam tipping over?

He's Probably Sleeping On the Couch Tonight:

Ha! Didn't Think About That Now, Did You?

Close it up

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Summer Evening at Skagen
Peder Severin Krøyer

The Morning Report 3/16/18

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Friday and not too soon. I'm under the weather with a wicked head cold so this will be really brief and not just Sefton-brief.

In the Mueller sham investigation, now that it has all but fallen apart, Mueller is now crossing a red line by digging into the President's business dealings as far back as 20 or more years ago in an effort to ruin him financially and thus force him from office. At least Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds Grassley, Graham Cornyn and Tillis are calling for a special counsel to investigate the investigation. I think it's time for PDT to shut this down, before it gets any closer to the midterms.

On the Immigration front, the vermin who murdered Kate Steinle is suing the Feds for, get this, "vindictive" prosecution. Between this animal, the mayor of Oakland, the illegal alien that was appointed to a state job in Sacramento and all the rest, it's getting to the point where a physical response by the President is required to preserve the union and the rule of law. In very related news, a Honduran illegal alien has plead guilty to aiding and abetting ISIS by plotting to blow up a shopping mall. Michael Ledeen is correct; it really is a war, and on multiple fronts. And so far we're not fighting it.

That's it for me. Back to bed. Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

MUELLER INVESTIGATION, DOSSIER, COLLUSION

• Grassley, Graham, Cornyn, Tillis Request Second Special Counsel to Investigate DoJ/FBI Actions in Trump-Russia Probe
  
• Mueller Probe Loses Political Punch Even as it Moves Closer to Trump
  
• Rush: Robert Mueller Isn't Mr. Integrity - He's Out to Destroy Trump
  
• The Clapper News Network
  
• Little Known Tweak to FISA Rules in 2015 Has Big Implications for the Carter Page Warrant
  
• Devin Nunes: "I Don't Read the New York Times"
  
  POLITICS, 2018 MIDTERMS
  
• Nancy Palsi Crowns Herself "Master Legislator," Sez She's Staying on Top of House Democrats
  
• Good Roger Simon: GOP Woes - It's the Candidates, Stupid!
  
• Democrats Win by Running as Trump, Not Clinton
  
• So, When Will Democrats Start Brutally Attacking Gun-Loving Conor Lamb?
  
  INTERNATIONAL, FOREIGN POLICY
  
• US Sanctions Russian Intelligence Services
  
• Aussie Official to Consider Fast-Track Immigration Process for White South Africans
  
• Europe Running Out of Time to Save Iran Nuke Deal Sellout
  
  IMMIGRATION, AMNESTY
  
• Rage-Stroke Warning: Illegal Alien Who Murdered Kate Steinle Accuses Government of "Vindictive" Prosecution
  
• CNN Equates ICE Enforcement to the Holocaust
  
  FLORIDA SHOOTING, SECOND AMENDMENT
  
• California History Teacher Placed on Leave for Questioning Gun Control Walkout
  
• Broward Cop Training Manual Clearly States "First Officer" on Scene "to Immediately Go to Confront the Shooter"
  
  DOMESTIC POLICY
  WaPo Pimps Story Claiming McMustard Next to Be Fired, White House Disputes
  
• Turns Out CIA Nominee Gina Haspel Did Not Oversee Waterboarding in Thailand
  
• Larry Kudlow is a Big Upgrade for the White House
  
• Betsy DeVos-tates DoE Union; New Contracts Includes Optional Membership, Cuts Taxpayer-Funded Perks
  
• Meanwhile, DoE Clings to Disastrous Obama-era "Dear Colleague" Discipline Directive
  
• Report: PDT's Opioid Plan Includes Death Penalty for Drug Dealers
  
• Trump Goes Silent on National Debt While Racking Up $1 Trillion in 14 Months
  
• Ryan Zinke Pulls a James Watt
  
  ISLAM, TERRORISM, SHARIA
  
• Illegal Honduran Living in Miami Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Support ISIS - by Bombing a Shopping Mall
  
• We're At War, But We're Not Waging It
  
  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE, ETC.
  
• Arizona Bill Pushes Back Against Tom Steyer-Led Green Energy Ballot Initiative
  
  FIU BRIDGE COLLAPSE
  
• FIU Statement: Bridge That Collapsed Was Built in Just "a Few Hours"
  
• Construction Firms Behind Doomed Bridge Accused of "Shoddy" Work
  
  CULTURE WARS, HITHER and YON
  
• Not Again?! United Sends Kansas-Bound German Shepard to Tokyo Instead, No Comment from Ryan Zinke
  
• Professor Boots Student from Class for Saying There Are Only Two Genders
  
• The Left and Distraction: Pulling it All Apart

Thursday Overnight Open Thread (3/15/18 )

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Quote I

"[She's] so bitter, you could make an Old-Fashioned out of her tears," Greg Gutfeld

Quote II

In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is...in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.” Anthony Malcolm Daniels (Theodore Dalrymple)

Quote III

“Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy." John Derbyshire

*****

The evolution of Bill Burr NFSW-Language

*****

We talk about how bad television is. What is worse 1989 or 2018? You Morons decide.

*****

The Winter Olympics recently wrapped up. Curling was a big hit. Curling "outside of the box"

*****

There is no truth that Hillary Clinton or John Podesta ever worked for a power company. U.S. power company fined $2.7 million for security flaws.

An American power company has reached a settlement to pay an unprecedented $2.7 million penalty over significant security oversights that could have allowed hackers to gain remote access to the power provider’s systems.

According to an electronic filing, power regulators reached a settlement with an unidentified power company after a security researcher discovered more than 30,000 company records online unprotected by even a password. Regulators did not disclose the name of the company, which neither admitted nor denied the violations.

*****

First his soul is burning in hell. Now his corpse is going to burn.

I wouldn't feed Charles Manson's corpse to my dog, let alone fight over it. Not everyone's of the same mind: after a whole lotta legal jibba-jabba, the courts have finally decided on who gets possession of his remains. According to Jezebel, Manson's grandson, Jason Freeman, has won the dead cult-leader lottery, having been awarded the right to take possession of his murderous progenitor's remains:

Manson died on November 19th after more than 40 years behind bars, but in all that time it was never agreed upon who would win the rights to his corpse once he finally kicked the bucket. If you thought he’d be quietly cremated and deposited in a dumpster behind a seafood restaurant like he probably deserved, well, you were wrong. It turns out an entire gaggle of people were after the cult leader’s ice-packed remains, including Freeman, longtime pen pal Michael Channels, a musician named Matt Lentz who claims to be his son, and another dude named Michael Brunner who also claims to be his son.

*****

Tom Barrett, former democratic U.S. House of Representative, failed WI gubernatorial candidate and Mayor of Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee. Outstanding public leadership. Clap the disease that made Milwaukee famous.

MILWAUKEE -- City leaders on Tuesday, March 13 held a news conference to respond to the recent discovery of an HIV and STD cluster in Milwaukee. It is believed at least 125 people have contracted HIV and syphilis, and they're connected in some way. Additionally, Milwaukee leads the nation, with more than 4,000 cases of gonorrhea in 2017. There are now plans to reach out to young people on social media, and put more funding into testing and treatment.

*****

The ONT Musical Interlude

March 15, 1972, DJ Robert W. Morgan played the Donny Osmond version of 'Puppy Love' for 90 minutes on the radio station KHJ in Los Angeles. LAPD mistakenly raided the station studios after receiving numerous calls from listeners, confused, the officers left without making any arrests. via thisdayinmusic.com

Talk about Swatting.

***

March 15, 1941, Born on this day, Mike Love, American singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded The Beach Boys. Love collaborated with Brian Wilson and was a lyricist on singles including 'Fun, Fun, Fun' (1964), 'California Girls' (1965), and 'Good Vibrations. (1966). The Beach Boys released the 1966 classic album Pet Sounds. via thisdayinmusic.com

***

March 15, 1947, Born on this day, Ry Cooder, guitarist, member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, worked with Gordon Lightfoot, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Randy Newman, John Lee Hooker. Solo, 1979 album 'Bop Till You Drop', and 1985 film soundtrack album 'Paris Texas'. Cooder produced the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997), which became a worldwide hit. via thisdayinmusic.com

*****

They aren't in the lead for Parents of The Year Award. But they are for Genius Award Winners.

CRESTVIEW — Deputies with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office found a man and woman passed out in a truck at a gas pump in Crestview Monday night, while a 3-year-old child had syringes, methamphetamine, and oxycodone within easy reach.

According to a press release from OCSO, a member of the OCSO Street Crimes Unit was on patrol in the Crestview area when they spotted a white pickup truck with Mississippi tags that had been the subject of an earlier “Attempt to Identify” bulletin in reference to a theft around 10:30 p.m.

*****

Some parents have done a good job. A 6 year old is Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

An Indiana boy who raised nearly $7,000 for fallen Deputy Jacob Pickett’s family was captured in a touching photo saluting the officer’s memorial on Sunday.

Malachi Fronczak, 6, of Kokomo, spent Friday and Saturday selling hot cocoa and lemonade to help the family of Pickett, who was shot and killed in early March while attempting to apprehend a suspect. Pickett was the first officer killed in the line of duty from the Boone County Sheriff's Office since 1935.

*****

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Back Yard Entertainment.

Notice: Posted with permission by AceCorp, LLC. As long as there are no shelving jokes consumption of Valu-Rite is allowed.

Close it up

Sara A. Carter: Sources Say McCabe Will Likely Be Fired Before He's Eligible for His Pension

—Ace

Carter reports that her sources tell her McCabe will be fired -- they'd be "surprised" if he weren't -- and criminal charges are being considered.

Hannity also reporting that McCabe has been "begging" his superiors to not fire him before he can retire with benefits on Sunday. It sounds like if he's fired he won't get those benefits.

Hannity also says he's hearing there's a "high probability" that Sessions will appoint a second special counsel to investigate the FBI's and DOJ's behavior during and after the election, with Grassley and Graham vowing to apply as much pressure as possible to make it happen.

Will Sessions Fire McCabe's Ass?

—Ace

As the Washington Consensus gets ready to ignore the Inspector General's report, speculation increases that Sessions will actually fire McCabe.

The Department of Justice’s inspector general could soon release his expected explosive report detailing a more than yearlong review of the FBI and DOJ's Hillary Clinton investigation -- an effort that has already put top FBI official Andrew McCabe and his pension in jeopardy.

Over the last year, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been reviewing the FBI and DOJ’s actions related to its investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

Horowitz has told lawmakers he is aiming to release the report in the "March, April time period."

On Wednesday, fresh evidence emerged that Horowitz may be winding down his efforts. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is considering firing McCabe over the findings in Horowitz’s review, sources said.

California Appoints Illegal Alien, Ineligible to Work (or Even Reside) in US, to Statewide Political Job

—Ace

Swell.

The Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday appointed the first undocumented resident to a statewide post, according to Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon's office.

Lizbeth Mateo, a 33-year-old attorney and immigrant rights activist, will serve on the California Student Opportunity and Access Program Project Grant Advisory Committee. The committee advises the California Student Aid Commission on efforts to increase college access for California students from low-income or underserved communities.

The article doesn't say if this is a paying job or just some kind of volunteer posting. If it's a paying gig, the federal government could, I'd imagine, bring action against the entire government of California for being an illegal employer of ineligible workers.

I feel like we've been holding California back, and it's time to give them their freedom to seek their own destiny.

Great: One Third of the Women in STEM Studies Now Leaving Those Fields to Pursue Courses in... Social Justice Warrioring

—Ace

Apparently not content with merely being cartoonish, extremist feminists now want to make the infamous cartoon about them real AF.

I'm sure these women's choices to leave the high-paying fields of engineering and science for softer studies in gender equality is all the fault of The Patriarchy.

A study found that one third of the women in STEM fields tracked changed majors to either a "helping field" or one about social justice.

I don't mind the helping fields at all -- they're critical. But I would point out that when people explain that the reason there are more men in engineering and more women in nursing is that men are more interesting in things and women are more interested in people, the intersectional feminists claim that's the Patriarchal Nazis saying that, and it's a White Man's Lie.

And yet... here we are.

The other women who dropped out of STEM went into the garbage fields of wasting Daddy's money to show Daddy that you don't want any part of him or his Patriarchy, except the part about being supported with no expectation of ever being able to pay back the loans he co-guaranteed.

Led by Colorado School of Mines professor Greg Rulifson, the study tracked 34 freshmen engineering majors over the course of four years to explore what makes students, especially women, abandon engineering in lieu of other fields.

Of the 21 female students interviewed, fully one-third left engineering by their junior year. Rulifson and his co-author Angela Bielefeldt identified one factor common to all female students who left: the desire to "help society/other people," or "social responsibility."

The "social responsibility" definition includes "care for the marginalized and disadvantaged," "environmental conservation," and "empathy," the professors noted.

Empathy is a real Growth Field. Women working in that field can make upwards of 79 cents on each dollar that Male Empathy Workers make.

Of the 21 female students, 14 expressed a strong dedication to social responsibility. Half of those students eventually switched majors upon realizing they wanted to pursue fields they felt had more to do with helping people.

United Airlines: We're Anti-NRA and Pro-Killing-Your-Dog

—Ace

Criminal charges being considered.

A criminal probe has been launched into a puppy’s death aboard a United Airlines plane after a flight attendant ordered its owners to stow their pet carrier in an overhead bin.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Texas said late Wednesday it is working with the county’s animal cruelty task force to investigate 10-month-old Kokito’s death.

Prosecutors won’t decide if criminal charges are warranted until the probe is completed, officials said in a statement.

United's story has been that the stewardress making this odd demand didn't know there was a dog in the dog carrier, despite the family telling them this clearly, when they objected to putting a puppy into a small enclosed space where air could, possibly, run out.

But this seems to be a lie:

Sophia told NBC News that her mom told the flight attendant, "'It’' a dog! It's a dog!' and (the flight attendant) said we have to put it up there."

"In the end, she says she didn’t know it was a dog, but she actually touched the bag and felt him there. She's basically lying to us now," the distraught girl told ABC News.

Other passengers backed up the family's account on Twitter and Facebook.

United acknowledged Wednesday that the family said there was a dog in the carrier.

"However, our flight attendant did not hear or understand her, and did not knowingly place the dog in the overhead bin," the airline said in a statement.

She didn't knowingly know that when a distraught girl exclaimed that there was, in fact, a dog in the dog carrier, that the dog carrier contained a dog?

I hope there are a lot of NRA members on the jury for the inevitable lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress, and they extend to United the same courtesy that United has extended to them.

Speaking of, Jordan Peterson said this about virtue-signalling corporations who kowtow to the radical Marxists who want to (eventually) slit their throats.

"People who are doing this at the corporate level will rapidly get their comeuppance... If you're operating within a capitalist environment like let's say the executives and management of Qantas, who are being paid disproportionately well, you don't also get to be a social radical. And you don’t get to salve your conscience for receiving a pay cheque that's 300 times the pay cheque of the average worker by pretending you're a social revolutionary. It's an appalling sleight of hand.

"In addition, you don't get to invite the radical leftists into your corporate utopia without opening the door to a major fifth column. If you are naive enough to think that the demand of the radicals for the transformation of your company is going to end with a few requests for language transformation then you're a complete bloody fool.

"It's staggering to me to watch the corporate elite types kowtow to the radical Marxists. They do it to virtue signal or because they’re feeling guilty or maybe because they're facing genuine pressure and don't want to stand up against it. But they're playing a game that will punish them intensely."

Well, we can only hope.

This is why I'm increasingly anti-corporation. If they want to get into bed with the hard left, that's their choice -- but don't expect any further favors from the right.

If corporate-types have some BDSM kink where they get off on political pressure or even outright political persecution -- well, I'm willing to do that for ya too, Sally.

I think it's time to begin telling these corporate enforces of leftwing cultural control:

Now You will be made to care.

Obama Directed FBI to Purge NICS (Gun Background Check Database) of Names of 500,000 Fugitives

—Ace

Fugitives can't buy guns, at least as long as they're fugitives.

For some reason, the generally anti-gun Obama chose to define "fugitive" in a narrow way, and thus struck the names of 500,000 fugitives -- now no longer defined as fugitives -- from the NICS database.

he Justice Department under Barack Obama directed the FBI to drop more than 500,000 names of fugitives with outstanding arrest warrants from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, acting FBI deputy director David Bowdich testified Wednesday.

Fugitives from justice are barred from buying a firearm under federal law. But what is a fugitive from justice? That definition has been under debate by the FBI and the ATF.

According to The Washington Post, the FBI considered any person with an outstanding arrest warrant to be a fugitive. On the other hand, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives defined a fugitive as someone who has an outstanding arrest warrant and has crossed state lines.

That disagreement was settled at the end of Obama's second term, when the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel sided with the ATF's interpretation.

I don't see this as nefarious, and it's possible the legislative context here supports the more restrictive definition better than the more expansive one.

However, it does seem that someone with an outstanding arrest warrant shouldn't be able to buy a gun until his status is cleared. He might show up for a hearing and merely get a fine, or plead to a misdemeanor, or have charges dismissed. Or, he could be arraigned and tried on criminal charges.

But that does seem like the sort of thing that should keep you from getting a gun at least until you show up in court to contest the warrant.

Add this to the "Promise" program, where Obama bullied schools into agreeing to not call the cops on dangerous students, to keep them free of the arrest record they probably earned (and, consequently -- free to buy guns), and what you have is a NICS background check system that should work very well in theory, but is kept from working properly by Obama's decisions.

Which is then used as an argument as to why we need to Ban All The Guns.

Well, maybe if you weren't sabotaging the system already in place, we'd keep guns out of the hands of more criminals, Guys.

Gary Johnson: As a Candidate With Little Funding, I Couldn't Recover from "Goffs" The Way Hillary and Trump Could

—Ace

Easy for him to say.

Lamb Victory Shows Democrats In a "Commanding Position" to Take House in 2018

—Ace

Seems true -- it's not just bad luck that Republicans keep losing these off-year contests.

The Democrats are unified and energized, and Republicans are bitterly divided, with one faction actively assisting the Democrats.

Suburban women in particular are anti-Trump -- which is a major problem. The GOP once depended on at least splitting suburban women with Democrats to keep Democrats from winning women as a whole something better than 80-20.

Not only does the GOP's agenda traditionally appeal more to men, and less to women, but I think Trump is a big problem for women who consider themselves upscale and college-educated, too. (Consider themselves.) If Hillary Clinton reminded men of their first ex-wife, then Trump tends to remind women of their first ex-husband.

Mattis' Pentagon Goes Rogue, Backs Iran Deal, Opposes Trump

—Ace

As some people I know complain: It's amazing how a couple of cute nick-names ("Mad Dog," "Warrior Monk") and some memes will insulate someone against a realistic assessment of their agenda.

So here's the Mad Dog in action.

On the heels of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's firing, due to his defiance of President Trump in support of the Iran nuclear deal, rogue Pentagon officials under Secretary of Defense James Mattis are waging their own campaign to keep the deal with the terrorist regime in Tehran.

In amazing testimony before the Senate, Gen. Joseph Votel, who serves as the leader of U.S. Central Command, told stunned senators that he, Defense Secretary Mattis, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Joe Dunford all support the nuclear deal.

"From my perspective, the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] addresses one of the principal threats that we deal with from Iran," Votel said, adding, "So, if the JCPOA goes away, then we will have to have another way to deal with the nuclear weapons program."

The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

—CBD

College Republicans president resigns rather than apologize for free speech wall that triggered peers

Some students became so upset by the free speech wall they accused the College Republicans of “hate speech” and “inciting violence” during a heated February campus meeting over it. But even after a parade of his peers took to the mic and accused Eike and other GOP students of hatred, the international student stood his ground.

“I don’t feel like stepping back on free speech is the way to go,” Eike, 21, told The College Fix in a telephone interview.

Eike left the meeting before it ended, and later other members of the St. Cloud State College Republicans apologized for not vetting the wall more carefully, and subsequently took it down.

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

A Fisherman's Bedroom
Christen Dalsgaard

The Morning Report 3/15/18

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Lots of things to cover this Thursday so let us commence. First up, Andy McCarthy just smacked me upside the head with a report that says not only did Sooper-Secret Sleeper AG Lemmon 714 unnecessarily recuse himself by citing the wrong law, he did so on the advice of Obama holder-overs. If McCarthy's analysis is correct, and considering his legal pedigree I have no reason to question it, you can only conclude that a) ignorance of this law was inexcusable for someone of Sessions' caliber or b) he knew full well what he was doing and just used it as a fig leaf to start this 15-month shit-show. All that said, I am rather surprised it took this long for this to be revealed. Meh, not so surprising given all the players involved. For me, it is the last straw. Sessions must go. This nation desperately needs an attorney general who understands the level of corruption within the DoJ and do what it takes to work around it while simultaneously rooting it out. And on top of that, he or she can start going after everyone within the Deep State who attempted and are still attempting to suborn an election and overthrow the President, and the high crimes and misdemeanors of the eight year "Reign of Error" that was Barack Obama. Before statutes of limitation expire as with James Clapper. I have extolled the virtues of one person in particular who I think would be ideal, and as an added bonus, he'd make Eric Holder's head explode. Enough.

Moving to the political front, several excellent links dissect the apparent win (recounts notwithstanding, although somehow those always seem to go Democrat /sarc) for Conor Lamb in PA-18. For me the takeaway is this; Not only did Lamb not run as a Democrat, he ran on the Trump platform, specifically pro-gun, pro-business and anti-abortion. For the irritating hemorrhoid trolls who insist that this special election, like every other one over the past year or so was a referendum on Trump, the inescapable truth is that this election had two candidates who ran on a pro-Trump platform. It's just that Lamb was more passionate about it. Although I rather suspect if he is seated he will turn into a Joe's Man-Chin, looking to see if Nancy Palsi gives him permission to sit or stand. The big takeaway from PA-18 et al: if the GOP wants to really win big in November, they have to be even more vocally pro-Trump than the Democrats are today. How ironic is that? Can they fake their sincerity better than the Democrats? Stay tuned.

In gun news, brainwashed students across the country staged their walkout to protest gun violence as ordered by their handlers/overlords at the NEA and Planned Vivisection. Turns out Obama's lab coat squad was issuing Epstein's Mother's notes to the kids to excuse their absence. But at least one group of parents, in of all places, gun-grabbing Connecticut were not amused, and I suspect that that sentiment was reflected in a very wide swathe of the nation as well.

On the international front, in the wake of what can only be described as a terroristic assassination by the Russian government using a highly toxic nerve agent, Prime Minister May has announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from the UK and the cancelling of high-level contracts. Nikki Haley has also strongly rebuked the Russians and warned of the potential of attacks by them on our own soil. Now that Rexxon is gone and Pompeo is on the way in, look for a much firmer, robust foreign policy vis a vis our global adversaries, and more importantly in lockstep with that of the President.

Domestically, the hideous Dodd-Frank bill was seriously crippled yesterday in the Senate with the passage of major reforms that will ease the insane regulatory burdens on banks. Fauxcahontas went on the warpath as, incredibly, 13 Democrats actually crossed the aisle to vote with the GOP. That is significant, with obvious ramifications for this coming November. On the downside, the GOP is hot and horny to preserve Obamacare. Can someone please tell Lamar Alexander to STFU, STFD and GTFO?

Lastly, some very good links about the war on masculinity, Clock-Boy's frivolous lawsuit was thrown out and best wishes to Ruth "Baader-Meinhoff" Bader-Ginsburg on her 85th birthday. May you be delivered a nice, big, fluffy My Pillow exactly like Antonin Scalia (PBUH) got.

Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

UPDATE: Fauxcahontas link fixed.

IN THE LEAD
• RUFKM?! Sessionszzz' Recusal Was Completely Unnecessary; Cited the Wrong Law When He Stepped Aside and, Get This, Was Advised by Obama Lawyers POLITICS, 2018 MIDTERMS
• GOP Cites Numerous Issues at Polling Places Ahead of Likely PA-18 Recont
• McDaniel Abandons Wicker Challenge, Will Run for Cochran Seat in Special Election
• Rush: Democrats Have to Pretend to Be Like Trump to Win
• Related: After PA-18, Squeaker Democrats Face a Choice
• Clinton Donor and Obama Entrepreneurship Ambassador (say what?) Charged with Massive Fraud
• Dem Caucus Chair Confirms Winning GOP Strategy: "Sexist" to Make Pelosi a Campaign Issue INTERNATIONAL, FOREIGN POLICY
• PM May Expelling 23 Russian Diplomats, Cancelling High-Level Contracts
• Citing UK Poisoning, Ambassador Haley Warns of Potential Russian Attack on US
• Trump Must React Forcefully to Russian Nerve Agent Attack in the UK
• Let Our Stale Foreign Policy Dogma Leave with Tillerson IMMIGRATION, AMNESTY
• Whistleblower Says Illegal Aliens Have "Taken Over Every Trade" in CA Construction, Driven Down US Wages
• Reported Talks on Simplified Immigration Deal May Save DACA, Start Wall MUELLER INVESTIGATION, DOSSIER, COLLUSION
• Just Yes or No, Senator Warner, Did You See Any Collusion Proof?
• Here's How the Democrats Plan to Impeach Trump
• Did Obama Tutor Hillary in Electoral Conspiracy 101? FLORIDA SHOOTING, SECOND AMENDMENT
• Conor Lamb Exposes Dem Duplicity on Gun Control; Are Student Protestors Paying Attention?
• Broward County Accepts Islamist "Blood Money" for School Shooting
• Coulter: Secret Debate Tip for the GOP
• Rebranded "Doctors For Obama" Group Pushes Doctors' Notes "Excusing" Kids for Gun Walkout
• Backlash Begins: Parents Argue CT School District's Decision to Allow Student Walkout Breaks the Law
• Students Injured When Reserve Police Officer's Gun Accidentally Discharges in Classroom
• Did David "Camera" Hogg Just Call for Increased Gun Sales? DOMESTIC POLICY
• Senate Takes a Hatchet to Dodd-Frank, 13 Dems Join GOP to Gut Obama Regulatory Legacy
• Fauxcahontas Red-Faced with Anger Over Colleagues Crossing the Aisle in Dodd-Frank Vote
• Obamacare Bailout: Dumb Policy, Dumber Politics
• Luap the Lesser Utters "N" Word: Pompeo, Haspel "Want to Manipulate the President Into the Sphere of the Neocons"
• Storm Surge
• Comedy Gold: Cuck Schemer Tells GOP "Read the Constitution! Read the Federalist Papers!" ISLAM, SHARIA
• Jurors Hear Gut-Wrenching Testimony in Trial of Pulse Nightclub Shooter's Widow RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE, ETC.
• Sheldon Whorehouse Sez Opponents of Climate Change Regulations Guilty of Grave Sins, or Something CULTURE WARS, HITHER and YON
• Nelson Muntz Laugh: Clock-Boy's Lawsuit Thrown Out
• Can California Legally Force Pro-Lifers to Point Pregnant Women to Abortion Centers?
• Kale Fail: Ruth Baader-Meinhoff Turns 85, With No Sign She'll Retire
• K-12: The War on Boys and Men
• Related: No Boys Allowed

Wednesday Overnight Open Thread (3/14/18 )

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Quote I

“This is no cease-fire. This is the Assad regime, Iran and Russia continuing to wage war against their political opponents.”

“If we can’t save families that haven’t seen the sun for weeks because they have been hiding underground to escape barrel bombs, then the Security Council is as impotent as its worst critics say it is.” Nikki Haley U.S. Ambassador to the UN

Quote II

Stupidity is always amazing, no matter how often one encounters it. Jean Cocteau

Quote III

"All of a sudden white women, who were going to vote for me and frankly standing up to the men in their lives and the men in their workplaces, were being told, ‘She's going to jail. You don't want to vote for her. It's terrible, you can't vote for that.' So, it just stopped my momentum and it decreased my vote enough because I was ahead. I was winning, and I thought I had fought my way back in the ten days from that letter until the election. I fell a little bit short," Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Clinton will never be POTUS.

*****

Katy Perry lives by a different set of values. Not everyone lives by Hollywood values.

The 20-year-old “American Idol” contestant revealed during his audition that he hadn’t yet experienced his first kiss, so judge Katy Perry surprised him with a peck on the lips. Unfortunately, he didn’t want it.

“I was a tad bit uncomfortable,” Glaze told the New York Times.

“I wanted to save it for my first relationship,” he said. “I wanted it to be special.”

What happened to #Metoo?

*****

How psychopaths see the world.

It’s a rare person who goes out of their way to spend time with psychopaths, and a rarer one still who repeatedly calls a prison to do so. But after more than a year of meetings and negotiation, Arielle Baskin-Sommers from Yale University finally persuaded a maximum-security prison in Connecticut to let her work with their inmates, and to study those with psychopathic tendencies.

Psychopaths, by definition, have problems understanding the emotions of other people, which partly explains why they are so selfish, why they so callously disregard the welfare of others, and why they commit violent crimes at up to three times the rate of other people.

But curiously, they seem to have no difficulty in understanding what other people think, want, or believe—the skill variously known as perspective-taking, mentalizing, or theory of mind. “Their behavior seems to suggest that they don’t consider the thoughts of others,” says Baskin-Sommers, but their performance on experiments suggests otherwise. When they hear a story and are asked to explicitly say what a character is thinking, they can.

*****

The ONT cherishes the brilliance of Professor Jordan Peterson. Prof. Peterson discusses science and mankind. An enjoyable seventeen minutes.

*****

For every action there is a reaction. The law of unintended consequences. There is a surge in make your own AR-15 rifles.

A gun-technology pioneer says he's seeing a “huge explosion” in sales of a machine that allows people to make their own untraceable AR-15-style rifles in response to the national debate on gun control.

Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, maker of the Ghost Gunner auto-milling machine, says sales doubled in February after the Valentine’s Day massacre at a Florida high school, where 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz stands accused of murdering 17 people with an AR-15.

During the first five days of March, sales took another leap after President Trump endorsed tighter background checks and a higher national age limit for gun purchases. From March 1-5, the open-source nonprofit sold as many machines, nearly 200, as it usually does in a month.

“This is a machine that allows you to make a ton of ARs, and people actually do it. I’m shocked. It’s like an obsession for some people,” said Wilson, a 30-year-old self-described free market anarchist whose organization’s previous rate of sales would bring in a few million dollars a year.

*****

San Francisco

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some sanitizer in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some filthy people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a shit hole there
In the streets of San Francisco
Filthy people with needles in their hair

(lyrics modified by your ONT Cob)

*****

Baltimore, a large dangerous city with large dangerous problems. Will a large surveillance system make it safer?

Supporters of more government surveillance often say that a little liberty needs to be given up for security. Try explaining that to the people of Baltimore. Maryland’s largest city already has a vast surveillance apparatus that watches its citizens from the sky and the ground. That regime has only continued to expand—but residents aren’t any safer.

Last Friday, Baltimore announced that it will nearly double the number of roadside cameras its police use. Later this month, the city will add 19 new red light cameras, 19 new speeding cameras, and nine new cameras intended to find large trucks on roads they aren’t supposed to be on. This will bring Baltimore’s total roadside camera tally to 100.

*****

The United Kingdom's greatest leader, would no longer be welcomed.

***

The truth about broken Britain. NSFW-Language Paul Joseph Watson.

*****

The ONT Musical Interlude

March 14, 1981, Eric Clapton was hospitalised with bleeding ulcers causing a US tour to be cancelled. He was back in hospital five weeks later after being involved in a car crash. via thisdayinmusic.com

***

March 14, 1933, Born on this day, American record producer, composer and musician Quincy Jones. He is known for his 1962 tune 'Soul Bossa Nova' and later scored the 1978 US No.1 single 'Stuff Like That'. Has a record 79 Grammy Award nominations. Jones was the producer of the three albums by Michael Jackson, Off The Wall, Bad and Thriller which has now sold more than 65 million copies worldwide. via thisdayinmusic.com

*****

DUH, just f*cking DUH

*****

A robot has been designed to assemble the perfect pizza. If it had only been patented to make the best pizza.

Little Caesars was today issued a patent for a robot designed to help assemble pizzas, meaning life’s about to get a lot easier (or a lot harder, depending on your perspective) for hapless human cheese spreaders.

The patent shows a device shaped like a stove top, with stations for different pizza-making tasks. The robot picks up a pan with pizza dough, squishes it, and then distributes sauce, cheese, and pepperoni in the proper proportions.

According to the company’s explanation in the patent, the robot would free Little Caesars from the tedium of repetitive tasks and allow them to “perform other value added tasks.” Presumably that’s the same thinking that gave us Flippy, the burger-flipping robot.

*****

Living up to one's last name. Genius Award Winner.

A university IT technician stole Apple Macs valued at £22,200 and flogged them for £200 a piece at rail pawnbroker Cash Converters to fund his drug habit, a court has heard.

Ironically named Kevin Lawless, who had been working at Southampton Solent University in the south of England, nabbed 24 computers from the campus - according to the Southern Daily Echo.

*****

Quick thinking and fast actions results in Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

A 9-year-old boy has been credited with saving his neighbor's life after a car had fallen off a jack and onto the man's body.

*****

The ONT has been brought to you by Notches.

Notice: Posted with permission by AceCorp, LLC. The ONT, unsafe at any speed.

Close it up

FBI Disciplinary Panel Recommends Firing Andrew McCabe

—Ace

But they're such dedicated, selfless professionals!

McCabe is technically still an employee, though using his vacation days to sit on leave until he becomes eligible for full benefits.

The FBI office that handles employee discipline has recommended firing the bureau's former deputy director over allegations that he authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a reporter and misled investigators when asked about it -- though Justice Department officials are still reviewing the matter and have not come to a final decision, a person familiar with the case said.

...

McCabe was hoping to retire in just days, when he becomes eligible for his full benefits. If he is fired, he could lose his retirement benefits.

Commenters who know the federal system have told us that retirement benefits are calculated pro rata, so even if, hypothetically, McCabe were retroactively fired as of the day of his leave (which he probably could not be), we'd be talking about the difference between 100% of retirement benefits and 99.8% of retirement benefits.

Still, a firing, even after he's retired (is that possible?), would be a symbolic victory.

Larry Kudlow Accepts Trump's Offer to Become His New National Economic Council Director

—Ace

Couple of good things about this:

Kudlow was never a NeverTrumper, as so many of the sort of people who would fill this type of job are. So he won't, like some of Trump's advisers and secretaries, ignore his wishes or force his hand as far as decisions, making Trump completely distrust him.

Unlike Gary Cohn, Kudlow is a conservative Republican.

Kudlow is a free trader, as most conservative economists are. This could be a good thing. If Trump has an adviser who actually listens to him, Trump might listen back; while I imagine Trump to pursue his protectionist policies, Kudlow could advise him of the most defensible/least harmful policies to take (even if Kudlow objects to all such protectionist policies, pretty much, on principle).

There could be a happy medium to be found here. I know it's free trade doctrine that any and all trade restrictions are odious (which is how they ultimately get to being open borders: they consider labor to also be something that shouldn't be limited by mere borders or restrictive, prudish laws about citizenship), but perhaps some targeted version of tariffs could prod some countries to open up their markets more, which would appease Trump enough to not seek tougher medicine.

And oh:

Update: I may have been led astray by a tipster -- no Fox Report that Bolton is the new NSA.

Sorry.

The Twitter "lead" (That didn't turn out to be such a lead) might only refer to this tweet speculating about the possibility of a Bolton-for-McMasters switch:

Again, sorry. As my tipster is now complaining: How could someone get this effed up and say "Fox is reporting this" when they're not?

As I can't see Twitter (unless I go to a specific feed), I get a lot of "twitter news" only through tipsters.

Looks like this one was just a big game of telephone.

Abortionist Wants You to Know That Fetuses Are Incapable of Screaming, At Least When She's Done With Them

—Ace

No, really.

Oh. I... see.

Teen Radicalized By Islam Goes on Stabbing Spree, Murdering One Boy and Wounding Two Others;
Networks Embargo Story Completely

—Ace

The spree attack featured the Wrong Weapon and the Wrong Religion, and did not support the Right Narrative.

So it's a non-story, an unfact.

News broke on March 13 that a Florida teen had been arrested, after stabbing to death his friend and attempting to kill his friend’s mother and another peer at a sleepover. The suspect confessed afterwards that he had recently converted to Islam and his beliefs motivated him to murder.

While the horrific violent act was covered by local news in Jupiter, Florida, and nationally March 14 by Fox News Channel, the big three networks have ignored the story thus far.

...

The reason for the attack? Johnson told police that two of the boys had made comments that offended his Islamic beliefs. His friend’s brother, Dane, had "made fun of" his faith and how he prayed, while Sierra allegedly had called celebrities, "gods," which upset Johnson because it was against his faith to idolize others as a god, he told the police after he was arrested.

The police report noted that this was a premeditated attack. Johnson and his friend Kyle had watched violent jihadist videos that encouraged death to non-believers while Johnson also admitted to reading the Quran before going to the sleepover. He told police that the Quran inspired him and "gave him courage to carry out his intentions."

This son of a bitch was caught making threats to a Catholic school in England. The FBI identified him, but did not arrest him:

In January 2017, local law-enforement agencies and the FBI came together with staff at William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens, where Johnson was a student at the time. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office had received information that Johnson supported the Islamic State (ISIS) and had reached out to the group online, saying he would like to join them, the Palm Beach Post's Hannah Winston reported.

A sheriff's detective interviewed Johnson and said the teen sympathized with terror organizations.

...

After connecting the teen to violent threats against a Catholic school in England, law enforcement monitored his movements and his social media accounts, discovering the image of a swastika as his Facebook profile picture. The FBI did not want to charge Johnson because he was a juvenile, so the agency "believed a redirection approach would be the most beneficial regarding his conduct." The agency got consent to "mirror" his computer activity in March 2017.

The FBI spoke with Johnson, who denied any affiliation with ISIS, and told him "to cease all social media activities related to ISIS and any other terrorist organization." By last summer, however, Johnson had returned to online terror posts and engagements with ISIS, police reported.

Last month, the FBI said it had all the evidence it needed and that an assistant U.S. attorney had probable cause to charge Johnson. On March 5, Jupiter police checked in with the FBI to see where they were with federal charges, which the agency promised would be "coming in the next several weeks."

But the arrest didn't come. At least, not until he'd committed murder.

Could it be that Obama's "Promise Program" -- which instructed local schools not to report dangerous students to police, to keep their records clean (and, consequently, to keep them eligible to buy guns) -- is responsible for further murders?

Yes, I know he used a knife, not a gun. But had he been arrested after making threats to the Catholic school, perhaps he might have been put in jail after subsequently restarting his Islamist social media habits, and an innocent boy would still be alive.

Lawyer Who Served as Christopher Steele's Back-Channel to Senator Mark Warner Reveals His Belief That Steele Was Being Funded by George Soros and Silicon Valley Tech Billionaires

—Ace

Really.

An American lawyer who served as a back channel between dossier author Christopher Steele and Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is opening up about explosive testimony he gave to a Senate committee late last year.

Adam Waldman said that during an appearance before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) on Nov. 3, he relayed information about possible links between billionaire activist George Soros and Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that commissioned the dossier.

Waldman said he received the information in a March 16 meeting he had with Daniel J. Jones, a consultant and former staffer to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Waldman told The Daily Caller News Foundation that Jones asserted that he was working with Fusion GPS and that the research firm was being funded by a "group of Silicon Valley billionaires and George Soros." Jones also described Fusion as "shadow media organization helping the government."

...

Reached by phone, Fusion GPS attorney Josh Levy declined comment on Waldman's testimony about Jones and Soros connections to the firm, saying "I'm not commenting for your story."

Don't expect much comment on this story from the cucks -- they're too busy spinning new conspiracy theories.

Something like this, with an on-the-record source talking about his under-oath Senate testimony? It's not vague and gauzy enough to permit the speculative conspiracy theories the #SmartSet (citation needed) indulges in.

It's Not the Vote That Counts, It's He Who Counts the Vote That Counts

—J.J. Sefton

The results of PA-18 as of the morning after the election show a statistical dead heat (Conor Lamb's proclamation of victory notwithstanding). While we are naturally focused on races for the House, Senate, Governorships and of course the Presidency, there is one office that few are barely aware of, yet comes into sharp focus during elections, especially ones like this. Per Wikipedia:

In most of the individual states of the United States, the Secretary of State is an administrative officer responsible for certain governmental functions. The specific powers and duties of this office depend on the constitution and laws of the particular state, but they often include responsibility for overseeing elections within the state.

In the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, convicted felon and Nazi collaborator George Soros started the Secretary of State Project, a heavily bankrolled long-term effort to capture as many of these positions as possible, especially in swing states. According to Ballotpedia.org, the project has supposedly been cancelled, but that has not stopped Soros and his allies. He is actively engaged in a concerted effort to win local district attorney races that, if successful, will effectively seat the likes of Mike Nifong, Angela Corrie and Marylin Mosby in jurisdictions all over the country.

Can we haz RICO now?!

Report: Tillerson Fired Because He Was Directly Undermining Trump's Efforts to Get Europe to Agree to Tougher Positioning on Iran

—Ace

Trump's position on the Iran Deal is apparently this: If the European states which used to join us in economic sanctions before Obama let them out of it agree to force Iran to agree to actual inspections, performed by people called "Not the Iranian Government itself," of suspected nuclear sites, and agreed to limitations on ballistic missile technology, etc., then Trump would go along with the Iran Deal for a while.

It was Rex Tillerson's job to go out to the European states and sell them on this.

Instead, of course, he walked back from what Trump was demanding and instead made softer offers he was never authorized to make -- to appease Iran.

You know -- gross insubordination of the actual chief foreign policy officer of the United States. And also, appeasement of Iran, in a way that the TruCon Crying Eagle Brigade like to pretend they're opposed to.

The abrupt firing Tuesday of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson follows months of infighting between the State Department and White House over efforts by Tillerson to save the Iran nuclear deal and ignore President Donald Trump's demands that the agreement be fixed or completely scrapped by the United States, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

In the weeks leading up to Tillerson's departure, he had been spearheading efforts to convince European allies to agree to a range of fixes to the nuclear deal that would address Iran's ongoing ballistic missile program and continued nuclear research.

While Trump had prescribed a range of fixes that he viewed as tightening the deal's flaws, Tillerson recently caved to European pressure to walk back these demands and appease Tehran while preserving the deal, according to these sources. The Free Beacon first disclosed this tension last week in a wide-ranging report.

White House allies warned Tillerson's senior staff for weeks that efforts to save the nuclear deal and balk on Trump's key demands regarding the deal could cost Tillerson his job, a warning that became reality Tuesday when Trump fired Tillerson by tweet.

Yesterday, the conspiracy theorists all proposed their newest conspiracy theory (which apparently occurred to them all nearly spontaneously) that Trump had fired Tillerson because Tillerson had endorsed the UK's conclusion that Russia had attempted to assassinate a defector living in Europe, and Trump couldn't have anyone saying anything about Vlad.

Apparently these geniuses did not know about the long-simmering tension about the Iran Deal (though the Free Beacon says they reported on just that last week).

And look at that -- they did report on it last week.

Iran is undertaking a massive buildup of its ballistic missile program, sparking fears of a "second Holocaust" amid sensitive international negotiations that could see the Trump administration legitimize Iranian missiles capable of striking Israel, according to multiple sources familiar with ongoing diplomatic talks.

As the Trump administration and European allies continue discussions aimed at fixing a range of flaws in the landmark Iran nuclear deal, sources familiar with the progression of these talks say the United States is caving to European demands limiting restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program.

While the Trump administration went into the negotiations with a hardline stance on cutting off Iran's ballistic missile program, it appears the United States [that is, Tillerson -- ace] is moving closer in line with European positions that would only regulate a portion of the missiles.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the ongoing talks told the Washington Free Beacon U.S. officials [Tillerson] have been backpedaling on key demands originally proposed by President Trump in order to preserve the agreement and appease European allies who are eager to continue doing business with Tehran.

Senior Trump administration officials recently told the Free Beacon the United States is prepared to abandon the nuclear deal if European allies fail to address what it views as a range of flaws in the nuclear deal that have enabled Iran's missile buildup and allowed it to continue critical nuclear research.

However, it appears the United States is losing ground in the talks, moving closer to the European position, which includes what insiders described as only cosmetic changes to the nuclear deal that fail to adequately address Iran's massive missile buildup.

But the #SmartSet [citation needed] didn't know any of this, and just did their #TwitterHotTakes and claimed Tillerson was fired on Putin's orders.

You know -- like MSNBC and HuffPo bloggers did.

They pose as the #SmartSet, but you'll notice they do not reason -- they seethe. They are motivated, like the shittier class of bloggers tend to be, by little more than emotion, primarily anger and hate.

Oh, and conspiracy theorizing. Lots and lots of uniformed, childish conspiracy theorizing.

Oh, and also, fellas -- Trump endorsed the UK's claims about Russia attempting the assassination, too.

Strike two against your conspiracy theory:

Oh, and one more point -- as Conservative Review points out...

Third, and this is really where the "Putin told Trump to fire Rex" narrative is exposed as utter idiocy, Mike Pompeo is tougher on Russia than Tillerson and has been so for years.

Indeed, the Conspiracy Theorists objected to Tillerson back when he was floated as a nominee precisely because, they claimed, he was too close to Russia.

But now swapping him out for Cold Warrior Mike Pompeo is some kind of favor to Putin!

Strike three.

Read more, tweet less.

Think more, seethe less.

And dial it down on the conspiracy theories. Just because your TwitterPalz agree with your conspiracy theories does not render them into something other than conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories often attract a broad range of emotionally-embittered people who all agree vociferously with the conspiracy theory the group has nuttered itself into believing.

By the way, Adam Schiff has told me to invite you guys to apply to his House investigation staff. He says he likes the cut of your respective jibs and would further like to subscribe to your newsletters.

Oh, and as you make your final official exits from conservative politics, you might want to drop off a resume at Jezebel. I think you'd get on well with them.

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"That wet, soggy thump you just heard is Hillary doubling down on stupid. She used a trip to India to demonstrate to the entire world she still doesn't understand why she lost the election. Well, at least she didn't dress up in one of Justin Trudeau's clown costumes, so there's that. But the longer she runs her mouth, the more she's helping the GOP. They don't have to tell you what it would be like to have that shrieking harridan, unhealthy in mind, body, and spirit, in the White House. Everyone can see for themselves."

Now This I What I Call Win-Win:

The Custom Built Donald Trump 1911 Pistol By Jesse James

(click for yuuuuge version)

More on this classy and luxurious piece here. I know nothing about building firearms, but this does look like a great piece of workmanship.

There Can Be Only One:

This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer accidentally invents a new drink, the Flaming Homer, which gets stolen from him by Moe the bartender who calls it the Flaming Moe, but then it gets stolen by every other bar which turns it into the Flaming Mo, the Blazing Mo, the Flaming Meaux, etc.

AoSHQ Weekly Prayer List

For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Slapweasel, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact him at

home made gravy 71 (all one word) circle-a Yahoo dot com.

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OregonMuse- (03/06/18 ) On Mar 3rd, I lost my balance while trying to stand up and came down hard on my rear end on a hardwood floor. My shoulder was not hurt, but my lower back was so painful, I had to go in to the ER for an X-Ray. Thank God there was no compression fracture (which is what they were thinking it might be), but these soft tissue injuries are quite painful. I can barely walk with crutches. Please pray that this new injury would quickly heal and not be an impediment to my shoulder getting its range of motion back. Thank you.

Northernlurker- (3/7/18 ) Would like continued prayers for help through the grieving process.

Paisley1333- (3/7/18 ) Could you please add prayers for a dear friend who lost her mother in an accident. The family is devastated.

Michael the Texan- (3/7/18 ) Undergoing a difficult divorce from a physically abusive wife. I began the divorce process in December 2015 and am being battled at every step.

ViridianGames- (3/7/18 ) My youngest daughter, who is 13, is going through a hard time. She's having depression and anxiety issues and is having trouble going to school. She's also said that she doesn't want to live any more.

dwaterman1334- (3/7/18 ) I respectfully ask for prayers for my friend Linda who has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is about to undergo a double mastectomy.

ibguy- (3/7/18 ) My Baby Sister Joyce has an inoperable glioblastoma (brain tumor). Doing surprisingly well, physically, but this is a terminal illness. Would appreciate Horde prayers that she continue to do as well as possible physically and cognitively, and that HaShem helps her find a path toward healing.

RKinRoanoke- (3/7/18 ) Asking for prayers for two families struck by suicide. Depression and addiction are real evils.
One gentleman killed himself just days after his daughter's baptism.
Another who was quite a talent at remodeling relapsed into addiction and took his life.
The families need all the prayers they can get.

Farmer- (3/7/18 ) Neighbor Jeni just lost her father. It was unexpected, I feel so bad for them. Her husband just lost his father about a month ago.

Brother Cavil- (3/7/18 ) Well Horde, there's a good chance my quest for new employment will take a jarring turn. It seems I was pretty repeatedly and badly screwing the pooch over the last year or two, and a reckoning is at hand. So pray for me, Horde, that I can find the strength and discernment to figure out a way forward from here. Because I feel like I'm out of road and my "Master Plan" has barely made any progress.

never enough caffiene- (3/10/18 ) Please add my stepdaughter Amy and grandkids Emma and Ryan to the list. They are dealing with the changes in their lives from an impending divorce. Emma has been deeply effected due to ongoing severe anxiety issues.

thathalfrican- (3/10/18 ) Mother's Passing. Prayers for the Family.

Sharkman- (3/11/18 ) Little Danica Jane, my buddy's two-year old niece who is about to have her second brain surgery in the last few months to try to stop an incredibly aggressive brain tumor.
https://tinyurl.com/Heal-Danica-Jane
Poor little thing has had 3 months of chemo and radiation after her first surgery in November of 17.

WitchDoktor- (Left a cryptic note on the Morning Rant) (3/12/18 ) "Hi everyone.
I just wanted to pop in and say goodbye to you all. This community is great and you've really been a bright spot in my life. I hope you all remain blessed and happy.
Good luck.

chavez the hugo- (3/12/18 ) Wife's Cousin was killed on his Harley. Wife's Mother is also slowly going blind.

-----------

Please contact Slap through email, as he cannot be around for many of the posts in threads. Feel free to copy and paste emails to him for Prayer Requests.

If he can post in your "voice", he'd like it better. It personalizes the prayer, instead of his shorthand. Be as specific or as vague as you need. Anonymity is, of course, welcome.

He'd also like to pray for the people who aren't on this list. For those who don't choose to publicize their maladies, we understand. You won't suffer in silence. A candle will be lit in your name.

Through the arguments and the infighting, we all love one-another. Through our faults and occasional vitriol, we have found one-another. The beauty of such an occasion goes beyond words and into the ethereal plane of existence.

Please remember the Prayer of St. Francis:

http://www.prayerguide.org.uk/stfrancis.htm

Let us console others, O Lord.

Close it up