Sunday, May 31, 2015

Lock and load (assortment)

Obama and the Democrats will never stop trying to disarm us, so it's important that we pay attention.

I'm not sure how practical a gas-injected knife really is, but it does have a kind of James Bond vibe about it.

Smith & Wesson is joining Ruger in ending most of its semi-automatic pistol sales in California.

One of my favorite gun video guys, Hickok45, demonstrates a replica of a S&W top-break Schofield revolver (I have two models, myself, and they are a lot of fun to shoot).

Sunday funnies

Apparently the holes in Swiss cheese are disappearing.

I thought it was too good to be true: "I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss" (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Sounds like a pretty good deal: "Kenyan Lawyer Offers 50 Cows, 70 Sheep And 30 Goats For Barack Obama’s 16-Year-Old Daughter Malia" (another H/T to the Captain).

I'm amazed that some marriages ever survive the wedding ceremony.

That's not on the menu, buddy.

Lost in translation.

New this summer from Monsieur Paqeau's Menswear.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Bernie Sanders: fiscal socialist...

...and social, er, I'm not sure exactly. Emily Zanotti at The American Spectator ponders Crazy Bernie's ruminations on human sexuality: "Bernie Sanders is a 'Rape Culture' All On His Own".

Happy Feet Friday

Harry James and the boys heat up the joint with Two O'Clock Jump.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Know the candidates

Scott Ott is writing a series of posts - "Seven Reasons Why [fill in the blank] Should Get the Republican Nomination for President". In explanation, he offers the following note:
"The presidential primary process doesn't help us to decide who's qualified to bear the party standard, and to serve as chief executive. It's just our way of crushing the hopes and dreams of anyone who dares poke head from hole. Because you already know all of the reasons why every candidate, and potential candidate, has no right to expect the nomination, I'm going to write an utterly one-sided series on why each one should get it.
He has just published an article on Scott Walker (and has also previously written posts on Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio).

It's an informative series, and no matter who you like - or even if you don't like any of them - it's becoming clear that the Republicans have a deep bench this cycle. Whereas the Democrats have, I dunno, the equivalent of Babe Ruth in his last dismal season with the 1935 Boston Braves (not by any means an adequate analogy; Ruth at least had a long series of accomplishments in his earlier years).

Kicked upstairs

Marie Harf, one of the administration's most inept official pieholes, continues her climb up the bureaucratic career ladder, the rungs of which are wrought from the debris of her credibility:
We have followed the performance of Marie Harf as a spokesman for the Obama administration foreign policy at the State Department. Harf gives the catastrophic foreign policy of the Obama administration a lighter than air, Valley Girl kind of feel. She is a walking self-parody. As such, she presents a novel use of expressive form.

Now comes word that Harf is being promoted to Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications to Secretary of State John Kerry. Like a helium filled balloon, Harf ascends. In her new position Harf will focus on negotiations between the U.S. and Iran on nuclear weapons.
Is that a little frisson of reassurance I feel running down my spine? I believe not.

Might want to upgrade to allow for hourly updates

The Day-by-Day Clinton Scandal Tracker.

President draws wrong conclusion (again)

King Canute famously ordered the sea to recede, in an effort to demonstrate the limits of royal (and human) power. Obama, on the other hand, sees the assertion of executive authority over all our waterways as just another day at the office.
President Obama’s administration on Wednesday claimed dominion over all of America’s streams, creeks, rills, ditches, brooks, rivulets, burns, tributaries, criks, wetlands — perhaps even puddles — in a sweeping move to assert unilateral federal authority.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The state slowly raises the temperature on the pot of water...

...hoping that we citizen frogs will not notice until it's too late. Yet another example of the fascistic tendencies of government leeching into our everyday lives is provided in the strange story of Aaron Heuser and his nightmarish trip aboard Amtrak.

I guess I was misinformed

I always thought Memorial Day was about honoring our fallen heroes. But apparently it's just a day on which we celebrate the president's fondness for ice cream.

Monday, May 25, 2015

In remembrance of those who gave their all

Stumbled across this by blessed accident. The body of USMC corporal – and member of the Lakota tribe – Brett Lundstrom, who was killed in Iraq in 2006, is returned home for burial. The photo of the body, with the eagle feather, really got to me. Hauntingly beautiful.

There walked a warrior.


Monday movie

The famous motorcycle scene from The Great Escape, featuring Steve McQueen.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Sunday funnies

This guy has a real rear for music.

Dog figures out a problem in stick logistics.

Ewww, bugs!

Police are looking for a burglar named Bob.

Inter-service rivalry within the military is a fertile source of humor. Here is a good explanation of the differences between the branches...

One reason the Services have trouble operating jointly is that they don't speak the same language.

For example, if you told Navy personnel to "secure a building," they would turn off the lights and lock the doors.

Army personnel would occupy the building so no one could enter.

Marines would assault the building, capture it, and defend it with suppressive fire and close combat.

The Air Force, on the other hand, would take out a three-year lease with an option to buy.


Friday, May 22, 2015

Happy Feet Friday

Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five stomp off with Jack, You're Dead.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

"Functionally indifferent"

That's one of the best descriptions I've seen yet of Obama's attitude toward the chaos in the Middle East.

I believe him

Mr. Bingley puts our minds at ease: "Despite rumors to the contrary, this was NOT me."

B-a-a-a-d manners

Tim Blair takes a look at the latest Australian crisis: speaking rudely to sheep.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Really?

White House spokes-parrot Josh Earnest - who, like any Obama minion, will say absolutely anything in the losing battle to deflect criticism of his boss - has once again said absolutely anything; specifically, that Barry's strategy against ISIS has been successful "overall".

In Obama's economy, Americans may need to look abroad for work

Hmmm. Here's something interesting: "Saudi Arabia advertised vacancies for eight executioners Tuesday after beheading nearly as many people since the start of the year as it did in the whole of 2014."

I'm not sure, from the perspective of the condemned, that I would find this particularly comforting: "The civil service ministry said that no qualifications were necessary and that applicants would be exempted from the usual entrance exams."

Chip off the old block (Part II)

Like mother like daughter.

Happy birthday!



Granddaughter Maggie got through her terrible twos without being terrible at all, and today is Big 3. Can't wait until she's old enough to start interning at one of the subsidiaries of the vast Paco Enterprises business empire.

Nothing but layer upon layer of corruption

Hillary's reliance on Sid Blumenthal for intelligence on Libya may have had - I know, I'm as shocked as you are - a pecuniary angle.

The mainstream media

Nothing if not utterly predictable.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Monday movie

Bob Mitchum and Deborah Kerr in this touching farewell scene from Heaven Knows Mr. Allison.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Chip off the old block

Al Sharpton's daughter, Dominique, sues NYC for $5 million, after falling and spraining her ankle. I particularly like this part:
Currently on vacation in Bali [emphasis mine - P.], the membership director for her gadfly dad’s National Action Network claims she “still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries,” according to the suit filed against the city departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection.
Well, I guess that vacation ain't gonna pay for itself.

Update: Photographic evidence seems to undermine her claim.

Sunday funnies

Sure, Floyd Mayweather won against Manny Pacquiao. But I know one person who could stomp Floyd into the canvas...




Could it be?
I went to the supermarket yesterday and parked near a blue car. At first glance, there didn't appear to be anything particularly distinctive about it.



But then I noticed something intriguing on the back window: a decal that read "Police Public Call Box".



Finally, the dead give-away.



I looked for Wronwright inside the store, but I suppose he was wearing his ninja attire; the only evidence I could find that he had been there was an empty space on a shelf containing four-packs of Yoo Hoo.


Steve at the Pub discovers the anti-bureaucratic magic of the humble org chart.

Kind of like Salvador Dali, but with pizzas.

New from Paco Enterprises' healthcare division: the diet fork (via Odd Stuff Magazine).

Friday, May 15, 2015

Does your Nigerian hamburger taste funny?

Note to self: if you ever travel to Nigeria, take a suitcase full of peanut butter crackers - just in case.

B.B. King, RIP

One of the most influential bluesmen of all time has died at the age of 89. Happy landing, sir, on the other side.

Happy Feet Friday

Well, this is a unique group: Bing Crosby, Louis Prima, the Sons of the Pioneers, and Martha Raye collaborate on I'm an Old Cowhand.



Assortment

Jim Treacher has a hilarious caption contest underway over at The Daily Caller featuring George Stephanopoulos and his idol.

Lyndon McLellan calls IRS's bluff, IRS caves. Here are words that should make your blood boil: "U.S. Attorney Steve West threatened McLellan that going public would only make things worse for him. He told McLellan it 'just ratchets up feelings in the agency. My offer is to return 50% of the money.'" McLellan stuck to his guns and got his whole hundred grand back, plus interest.

In some school districts, it seems that the stars and stripes are the new stars and bars.

Bob Belvedere takes a hard look at Pope Francis. I share Bob's concerns. The Pope has made the rookie theological mistake of confusing Our Lord's call for charity on the part of the individual with demands for coercive (and inherently arbitrary, inefficient and corrupt) schemes for redistribution by governments. And he's made the rookie economics mistake of viewing wealth as a pie of fixed dimensions that has to be doled out as if it were simply handed down from heaven with instructions for an even distribution of slices. For God's sake, the man spent much of his life in Argen-freakin'-tina; how can he not have observed the link between heavy-handed government and poverty?

More on George Stepandfetchitopoulos from Ed Driscoll, Ace and Ed Morrissey.

Remember those nasty old earmarks? They're baaaaaack!

ISIS leader just can't stick to Obama's program.

C'mon, man, what would some old dead white dude know about the law?

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Dear FLOTUS

Just shut up, for cryin’ out loud! I’m sick of hearing you bellyache about all of those (conveniently unprovable) “micro-aggressions” you and your husband allegedly suffered in earlier days. Look around you. You’re living in the White House , the taxpayers have funded God knows how many millions of dollars of fancy vacations for you and your family, you’ve got more underlings at your beck and call than any Gilded Age Robber Baron ever had, and you get to party with what passes for the cream of our society. IF THIS IS VICTIMIZATION, WHERE DO I APPLY?

Michelle Malkin would also be grateful if you’d stick a sock in it:
I don’t care what color you are: This arrogant exercise of first lady privilege — invoking false stories to stoke racial hostility and score political points — is patently offensive. There’s enough demagoguery in the public square. The Aspen ski-vacationing, haute couture-wearing, Hollywood elite-chumming first lady’s delusional discrimination fables are fuel on a raging fire her husband has failed to alleviate with billions of dollars of government “investments,” programs, summits and photo-ops.
And another thing: why don’t you stop nagging Barry about his smoking? I bet nicotine withdrawal is responsible for at least a quarter of his bad policy decisions.

One last item: butt out of school lunches. The choices and portions you advocate would cause even a member of the Donner party to grimace with disdain, easily opting for leg of Uncle Horace over your recommendation of soggy lawn clippings and a couple of spindly roots (comestibles which, interestingly, you spare yourself the consumption of).

Eternal vigilance

It's definitely the price we have to pay to preserve our Second Amendment rights.

Good hunting

Actor Michael Enright has volunteered to serve with a Kurdish combat unit in the fight against ISIS.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Meanwhile, in North Korea

"North Korea executed its defense chief by putting him in front of an anti-aircraft gun at a firing range."

His offense? "Hyon Yong Chol, who headed the isolated nuclear-capable country's military, was charged with treason, including disobeying Kim and falling asleep during an event at which North Korea's young leader was present."

Tell it, brother!

Kurt Schlichter has a few choice words for fascists of all stripes, whether they be jihadis or progressives.

Sweet

I love it when Democrats start hurling their own propaganda tropes at each other: "SENATOR BLAMES SEXISM ON OBAMA’S OPPOSITION TO SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN".

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The spoils of revolution

The Cuban revolution was actually quite successful - for Fidel Castro: "Inside Fidel Castro’s luxurious life on his secret island getaway" (kind of sucked for most everybody else, though).

Monday, May 11, 2015

Work day up in smoke

I climbed aboard an Orange Line Washington Metro train this morning and wound up sitting on the damned thing for over an hour (I was deeply engrossed in a book) before calling Mrs. Paco to let her know what was going on. She told me that she had checked the web site and there were a couple of tunnel fires, and that the Orange Line service had been cancelled. I suppose that must have been the message the motorman was giving us over the intercom, but unfortunately, the intercom system on this train (as on so many of them) is so fouled up that all I heard was "Attention...shssssst...trains at....shsssst...due to...pop...whizzzz...and...shsssst...your patience." I finally just had Mrs. Paco come pick me up at the station.

Even though it means I'll be that much closer to handing in my dinner pail, I can't wait for the next three years to be over. Then I can escape from Washington and the bureaucracy and the deteriorating subway service and the sheer miasma of the region's infernal politics and head for healthier climes.

Mark Helprin catches much-deserved flak

Talking air head Mark Halperin conducted an interview with Sen. Ted Cruz recently that set a new standard for hypocritical liberal bigotry (Ed Driscoll has the details). In short, Halperin asked Cruz a bunch of sophomoric questions about his ethnicity (Cruz is of Cuban origin), leading columnist Reuben Navarette to opine, "I kept waiting for Halperin to ask Cruz to play the conga drums like Desi Arnaz while dancing salsa and sipping cafe con leche — all to prove the Republican is really Cuban."

SooperMexican has collected some hilarious Tweets on Halperin's absurd and insulting interview here.

Update: Haw! Glenn Reynolds: "The most damning part for Halperin, though, is that basically nobody actually watched the show."

Kudos to this biker organization

BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) offers protection and support to our most defenseless citizens.

H/T: Friend and commenter, Rebecca.

Prayers requested for Deborah

Friend and commenter Deborah Leigh is in the hospital with a severe respiratory ailment. We wish her a speedy recovery.

Monday movie

The climactic showdown from High Noon.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Sunday funnies

The creative sleeping habits of dogs.

"In Putin's Russia, seals club you."

What happens when you accidentally stumble into a meeting of Ninjas Anonymous...





Beware those who say the science is settled.

Happy Mother's Day!



Thanks to you moms for all you do!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

This is what happens when you have open borders

Noted ear-wax miner and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has moved to the United States.

Alright. Drug dealers, human traffickers, Salvadoran gang members, uneducated laborers - fine, fine. But I absolutely draw the line at Rudd. As honorary Australian consul for central Fairfax County, I'm going to do something about this. I'll take the matter up directly with the Secretary of State. Now, let's see, where's my honorary consul suit...



"Mr. Secretary, there's a Mr. Paco here to see you."

State Dept. backs down

Sister Diana Momeka, the Iraqi Catholic nun whose visa application had previously (and inexplicably) been blocked by the State Dept., is now going to be permitted to enter the U.S., apparently due to protests by religious freedom advocates.

A small victory, perhaps, but these days I'm grateful for any at all.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Cameron wins in UK

The Tories managed to turn back challenges on several fronts to win handily.

Since the Conservative Party in Britain is pretty much like the RINO wing of the Republican Party in the U.S - only more so - I am having no trouble containing my enthusiasm.

Update: One indisputable plus from the election is that the execrable George Galloway – Islamist fellow-traveler and left-wing ideological stink-bomb – was tossed out in favor of a Labour candidate who has actually suffered under the culture of the Religion of “Peace”.

Of course, Galloway may wind up being remembered best (if remembered at all) for a non-political episode:
Millions in Britain also know him for his 2006 appearance on "Celebrity Big Brother," in which he performed interpretive dance and lapped imaginary milk while pretending to be a cat.



“I will now execute a short dance exercise of my own creation: the grand pas anti-zioniste.”



“Thank you, Mistress. Kissing Saddam Hussein’s bum is thirsty work!”

Happy Feet Friday

Those two giants of boogie woogie, Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons, pair up on Sixth Avenue Express.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

My hat is off to you, ma'am

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina pwns late-night TV host Seth Meyers.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

I assume this guy is not considered a model law enforcement officer in Georgia

Or anywhere else, for that matter. Just a taste:
On his first day in office, Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill terminated 27 deputies and put snipers on the office roof—just in case the disgruntled cops acted out. Then he used tax dollars to repaint squad cars with his name and deployed a military tank on drug busts.

As his county's first black sheriff, he proudly dons a shiny gold star on his lapel and has long extolled the virtues of defeating the bad guys. He once requested assault rifles and night-vision goggles in an effort to turn his suburban Atlanta agency into a "paramilitary organization."

In one 2012 campaign commercial, a suited actor rushes into the fictional mayor’s office and says, “We’re in a state of emergency,” before advising, “Victor Hill is the only sheriff that criminals fear.” The mayor pulls out a big red button and quietly commands, “Do it,” and Hill's own version of the Bat-Signal flashes in the sky.
There’s been a slight wrinkle in the Batman narrative, however:
On Sunday evening, the sheriff accidentally shot real estate agent Gwenevere McCord, 43, inside a model home. The incident has attracted national scrutiny as authorities say Hill is trying to dodge their efforts to discern what happened. McCord, who has had two surgeries, is unable to speak, police say, and Hill hasn't fully cooperated, according to police outside his jurisdiction.

Et tu, Alberta?

Ontario has been exporting progressives to other provinces, it seems, with some shocking electoral results (H/T: Small Dead Animals)

Although there’s more to it than that. More here (H/T: Robert of Ottawa).

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Cognitive dissonance

I am trying to imagine the coming American "utopia", where everyone will be compelled to publicly accept the moral neutrality of homosexual acts, traditional Christian teachings on the subject will be excluded from the the marketplace of ideas, but an enormous cultural carve-out will be made for Muslim sensibilities. If Islamist radicals shoot up a gay pride parade, will the incident simply be considered a moral wash, or will gays actually be expected to apologize for provoking their assailants?

Halp me Garrie Trudoe I'm stuk hear in america and cant figyour out all this morul relativizm!

Hi, I'm from the IRS. Let's talk about your political opinions.

Wayne Allyn Root has a story to tell, and it's frightening.
Now come the political and criminal revelations. The IRS is supposed to be totally nonpolitical, as it must be in a free and fair democratic society. Do you know what my IRS tax file says?

“SENSITIVE CASE.”

Do you know the date “SENSITIVE CASE” was written on my tax file? The week Lois Lerner testified in Congress.

The only thing “SENSITIVE” about my case is that I’m a conservative political columnist and commentator often critical of the president. The only context where “sensitive” applies to me is “POLITICALLY SENSITIVE."

Why would a citizen’s tax file be tied to his politics? Why would the IRS know my politics? Why would a normal random audit be classified as "SENSITIVE?'
H/T: Ace of Spades.

Taken all together, that's quite a fleet

Col. Milquetoast is keeping track of submarines out of water.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Brian Moore, RIP

Officer Brian Moore of the NYPD has died as a result of injuries sustained when a thug (who shouldn’t have been on the loose at all) shot him in the face.

We offer our prayers for the repose of his soul, and for the comforting of his family and friends.

Assortment

Andrew Klavan points out a simple truth, but one which we often forget, caught, as we seem to be, in the powerful maelstrom of leftist propaganda: "It doesn't have to be this way".

Col. Milquetoast catches unsuccessful Democratic politician Clay Aiken with his hand in the hypocrisy jar.

Nationalize the police? A bad idea that needs to be strangled in the cradle.

Let them eat arugula. The increasing divide between America’s self-appointed elites and all the rest of us.

In Texas, they take their free speech and their cartoons seriously. As someone pointed out somewhere – sorry, I can’t remember where I saw the comment – the difference between Charlie Hebdo and the Texas event was guns (to be precise, the good guys had some, too).

BTW, there's a pretty obvious reason why Bob Estes chose professional golf over a career in rocket science: "If you feel the need to mock Muhammad in a cartoon, just realize that Muslims may decide to exercise their #2A rights on you".

Justice, Baltimore style.

OMG!!! Scott Walker has credit card debt!!!!!! One wonders if media outlets really find Walker’s credit card debt alarming, or if they’re just displaying their sniffish disdain for a candidate for national office who shops at - gad - Sears.

“I say, Smythe-Pooter” [shoots cuffs and takes a pinch of snuff from gold case extracted from the pocket of an ornate sea green silk waistcoat], “isn’t Sears that establishment where the lower orders purchase tires and hammers and the like?”

“Why, yes, Pendragon” [looking in mirror, surreptitiously adjusts cambric neckcloth to disguise emergence of third chin], “I believe I heard my man discussing the very place with the upstairs maid not long ago. Automobile batteries entered into it, as I recall. It is, indeed, a commercial venue frequented by the many-headed.”

Monday movie

Snappy patter between Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in this scene from China Seas.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Sunday funnies

Only cops should have guns (Part XXXVII).

I think it would be great to return home and find some Wild Turkey (Oh, wait. You mean that kind of wild turkey).

Here's a tip for burglars: eat before you burglarize.

One of the most important countdowns of our age (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Also from the Captain: a joke...

On a crowded train, travelling somewhere in Europe, a U.S. Marine walked the entire length of the train looking for a seat before realising that the only seat available was currently occupied by a well-dressed, middle-aged French woman's poodle.

The weary Marine asked, "Ma'am, may I have that seat?"

The French woman just sniffed, and said to no one in particular, "Americans are so rude. My little Fifi is using that seat."

The Marine walked the entire length of the train again, and discovered that the only seat available was in fact the one currently being occupied by the poodle.
Trudging tiredly back, the marine arrived once more before the French woman and said, "Please Ma'am, may I sit down? I'm very tired?"

She snorted, "Not only are you Americans rude, you are also arrogant. Why should I care if you are tired?"

This time, the Marine didn't say a word, but simply picked up the little dog, tossed it out the train window, then sat down.

The woman shrieked, "Someone, defend my honour! This American needs to be put in his place!"

An English gentleman sitting nearby spoke up, "Sir, you Americans seem to have a penchant for doing the wrong thing. You hold your fork in the wrong hand, and you drive your cars on the wrong side of the road. And now, Sir, you seem to have thrown the wrong bitch out the window."



"The Sexy, Scary World of Craigslist Apartment Listings".

Friday, May 1, 2015

Looks like the Obama administration is not entirely in favor of open borders

The State Department has “distinguished” itself by a number of curious and even tragic (e.g., Benghazi) mistakes over the last few years, but denying an Iraqi nun a visitor’s visa for fear that she might, in spite of her stated intentions to the contrary, transform herself into a permanent illegal alien is an outrage. Emily Zanotti at The American Spectator describes the background of this absurd situation.

Hmm…Maybe if she were to claim to be a Mexican nun…

Dumbass of the month

For my money, it's Republican Senator Bob Corker.

Finally!

Someone (a child) politely lets Obama know that he's a bit of a windbag.

Happy Feet Friday

Lucky Millinder and his orchestra, with Annisteen Allen on vocals, rock the house with Moanin' the Blues.