Thursday, November 30, 2017

Justice denied

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate found "not guilty" in shooting death of Kate Steinle.

The gun apparently just crawled into his hands and fired itself.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Drool, Britannia

A lorry-full of stupid in this decision: "The century-old Girls Guides (the U.K.’s Girl Scouts) have officially instructed their leadership to allow members who are biologically male but identify as female to have access to girls’ changing rooms, bathroom facilities (including showers), and sleeping quarters for overnight trips. Plus, this rule applies to all members, ages five to 25."

An avalanche of scandals

Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor, and now Teddy Davis, senior producer of Shaky Jake Tapper's "State of the Union" program.

Our self-styled betters are turning out to be our worsers.

Update: Join David Burge (alias Iowahawk) for an exciting game of Dirt Bag Bingo!

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Trump wins this tussle

Like a struggle between two competing popes in 14th century Europe, Trump's nominee to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Mick Mulvaney) and a holdover from the Obama administration (Leandra English) have been vying for the office of Director of this heretofore completely unaccountable agency. A federal court sided with President Trump today.

C'mon, they can't find this dude?

Tip for professional criminals: if you plan on breaking out of jail someday, don't be this guy...

Monday, November 27, 2017

The next time your life hits a bump in the road...

...just reflect on what it must be like to draw nutrition from eating lice: "Defector Reveals How Orphaned North Koreans Survived The Great Famine".

Elective office isn't the only thing politicians are stalking

The Daily Wire notes 24 recent sex scandals that news outlets like CNN are not covering.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Sunday funnies

Inopportune arrival of bus (H/T: The Daily Wire):



Small bathroom? No problem...



Probably looking for a drink (H/T: Mrs. Paco): "Camel escapes from Ohio yard, wanders through town".

Taking the common spitball fight nuclear...



The day before Thanksgiving. Time to get out of town and lie low.

I've heard of having eyes in the back of your head, but, um...



Prayers answered (H/T: Mrs. Paco): "15 pounds of ham crashed onto a Florida roof".

Friday, November 24, 2017

Happy Feet Friday (late night edition)

Blues pianist Little Johnny Jones, backed by Elmore James on guitar, performs "Chicago Blues".

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving!



Everybody have a great day, and if you're traveling, be careful out there.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Fact: No bearded dragon has ever attended college

And now, thanks to you wanton carbon dioxide producers, polluters and denialists, it's unlikely that one ever will: "Climate Change May Be Making Bearded Dragons Less Intelligent".

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Mugabe steps down in Zimbabwe in order to, er, spend more time with his family

Mugabe is out, but he obviously has some interesting second-career prospects as a fashion designer.

Sunday funnies

Via friend and commenter Rebecca, funny airport pickup signs. Here's one of my favorites (click to enlarge):



"We're not running out of gas today, Tommy."



"But, officer, I only had one drink!"



Will the real Superman step forward? (H/T: Common Cents).



The latest in the adventures of Florida Man (H/T: Mrs. Paco)

A new tactic for suspects during interrogations: "A police interrogation of a Kansas City man charged with drug and gun offenses ended prematurely when an investigator was driven from the room by the suspect's excessive flatulence." (also, H/T: Mrs. Paco)

A list of interesting jobs from that wild man of the web, TimT at Will Type for Food.

Investigators are looking into why this is such a dangerous intersection (H/T: Powerline's "The Week in Pictures"):

Friday, November 17, 2017

John Heinrichs (1956 - 2017)

It is with a heavy heart that I report the death of long-time reader, friend and commenter John Heinrichs. I received an email from his nephew, Nolan, this evening who wrote that John passed away peacefully in his sleep today.

John was a prime source of material, from serious discussions of international politics to comical news articles. I will miss him terribly.

God bless his soul and comfort his family.

Happy Feet Friday

It's cold outside, so time to dream of a warm place. Here's Sarah Vaughan singing "Moon Over Miami".

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Hold off, Democrats

No need to impeach Trump. North Korea has already sentenced him to death.
“The worst crime for which he can never be pardoned is that he dared malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK,” an editorial by North Korea’s state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun read. “Trump, who is no more than an old slave of money, dared point an accusing finger at the sun. He should know that he is just a hideous criminal sentenced to death by the Korean people.”
North Korea is a festering sore on humanity, but it's still hard not to laugh at its government's pretensions.

At least this kind of thing doesn't end like a card game in the old west

If you catch a Scrabble player cheating, you don't pull out a Derringer and shoot him; you get him banned.

Good old Moe Berg

You remember Moe Berg, don't you? Third-string catcher for a number of major league teams in the 1930s? Well, it's no surprise if you don't, because Moe was pretty meh as a baseball player. But it turns out, he was an excellent spy.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Home again

Mrs. Paco and I drove down to North Carolina this weekend to visit my father, Old Paco, who is 89 and ailing. It was a good visit, and O.P., though very frail, was perfectly lucid and communicative. His biggest debility, in his opinion (and I tend to agree), is his blindness, which has been total for around five years. A pity in any circumstances, but doubly so, given the beautiful view from the front of his house:





Sunday funnies (late edition)

Why isn't this an Olympic sport? "This Windsor runner can chug beer and complete a mile faster than anyone else in the world" (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Poor getaway planning: "A man accused of stealing a motorized shopping cart from an Alaska grocery store didn't get very far or go very fast before his low-speed getaway attempt was foiled by police. The battery-operated cart with a basket mounted behind the handlebars has a top speed of 1.9 mph." (H/T: Mrs. Paco)

As Thanksgiving approaches, the turkeys are fighting back (H/T: ditto)

Things really are closer than they appear in the sideview mirror:



From Powerline's "The Week in Pictures":



Friday, November 10, 2017

So long, troll boy

Regular readers may have noticed that we've had a troll in our midst. I'm fine with people who disagree with the content of my posts, or who want to debate with commenters, as long as they conduct themselves in a respectful manner and actually have something intelligent to say. I'm not fine with social justice chimps who just want to fling feces through the bars of their cage. So, yes, JC, I will continue to spam, delete and otherwise eliminate your childish drivel until you are capable of rising above the level of merely screaming "F**k you!" at your betters.

You go, girl!

Too good to check: Hillary Clinton may be running staggering for president, again.

Happy Feet Friday

Bessie Dudley and Florence Hill do some lively steppin' to a hot jazz tune laid down by Duke Ellington and his orchestra.

We liberals feel for the homeless

We just don't want them stinking up our neighborhoods: "Authorities in California ask church to stop feeding the homeless".

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

A tragic anniversary

A quick primer on communism's legacy.

Bummer

Democrat Ralph Northan beat out Republican Ed Gillespie for governor in Virginia.

I'm glad that I'll soon be returning to my homeland (North Carolina).

Monday, November 6, 2017

Carnage

We offer our prayers for those people killed and wounded at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas by yet another maniac (in this case, a man who had been dishonorably discharged from the Air Force).

Real ghost?

Or masterful prank? Beats me, but this film of strange doings in an old Irish school gives me the creeps (background available in this news article):

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Sunday funnies

The latest team sport: grave digging.

Typical Canadian traffic sign:



(Both of the above items courtesy of Captain Heinrichs).

Does your bottled water taste funny?



They were from the same litter, but they followed very different paths...



"Hey, honey, come see the new neighbors".



Yep...



Welcome to a new little monster (H/T: Mrs. Paco)

972 people with far too much time on their hands: "YSU sets world record as 972 people dress up as penguins" (another H/T to Mrs. Paco).

Today's Chuck Norris fact: Chuck Norris invented a language that incorporates karate and roundhouse kicks. So next time Chuck Norris is kicking your ass, don’t be offended or hurt, he may be just trying to tell you he likes your hat.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Imagine my surprise...

...when I saw an image of a painting put up by CBD, one of the co-bloggers at Ace of Spades, the original of which used to hang over the fireplace in the den of the house owned by my late father- and mother-in-law.



The name of the painting is Vuelta de la Pesca and the artist is José Mongrell. Mrs. Paco recently settled her late father's estate, and the painting was sold through Sotheby's.

CBD asks, "Does this scene evoke anything odd and puzzling in anyone?" It does, for me. The painting always puts me in mind of John Steinbeck's tragic novel, The Pearl, about a Mexican pearl diver who finds a pearl of unusually great value, but who is plagued by envious neighbors and a chiseling buyer. He decides to set off with his wife and child for the capital to sell the pearl, but he is tracked by three men, whom he eventually kills. The climactic scene is one of shocking horror, so, if you decide to read the book, be prepared.

It would be great if they truly were the last of a certain type of Republican

"Both former President Bushes had choice words for current President Donald Trump in a new book scheduled to be published later this month, with the elder Bush reportedly calling the billionaire commander-in-chief a 'blowhard' and flatly stating he does not 'like' him.

Presidents George Bush and George W. Bush, the 41st and 43rd top executives respectively, spoke to author Mark K. Updegrove for the book 'The Last Republicans.' It detailed the relationship between the father-and-son presidents and how they were fretful of what Trump had done to the Republican Party.

Furthermore, both ex-presidents admitted they did not vote for Trump. The elder Bush pulled the lever for Democrat Hillary Clinton while the younger told Updegrove he voted for 'none of the above.'”

More proof that the guiding "principles" of the ruling class, whether Democrat or Republican, boil down to a fondness for the warm, cozy smell of the inside-the-beltway corral, an abiding sense of comfort in the predictable machinations of professional politicians.

I hope there's a genuine and lasting reason for both of these RINOs to be "fretful" about what Trump has done to the Republican Party, because, from where I'm sitting, it looks like the Trump shake-up may lead to the final destruction of the complacent, ineffectual and voter-oblivious party that the Bushes did so much to sustain. Time to face a bitter truth, H.W. and W.: Trump is your legacy.

Friday, November 3, 2017

By popular demand

Well, friend and commenter Deborah asked about it, anyway. Here's Maggie on Halloween, dressed as Owlette (some kind of cartoon character).

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Happy Feet Friday

Camille Howard joins Roy Milton and his Solid Senders on "Groovy Blues".

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Assortment

I don't want to hear another damned word from nevertrumpers about what a smart, upright, straight-shooter Robert Mueller is: "Mueller Partnered with Radical Islamist Groups to Purge Anti-Terrorism Training Manuals".

Mark Steyn continues to do solid work in pointing out the insanity of the "diversity lottery" immigration program.

It may be the day after Halloween, but it's never too late to trigger (H/T: Ace of Spades):



Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt, one of Obama's favorite crony capitalists, could always be relied on to spout the party line on climate change, but, as is the case with most such people, he was a massive hypocrite.

So, Mr. Obama, how's that thaw with Iran working out?

I dunno, Gov. Cuomo, maybe what we need is truck control.

Yeah, that sounds like a good civics lesson: let's get rid of all the memorials to Washington and Jefferson and a host of Confederate generals and replace them with statues of real heroes like Marion "Bitch Set Me Up" Barry.