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Thursday, March 31, 2016

@AlisonRapp fired from Nintendo

Ed Morrissey asks: Is Wisconsin a Waterloo for Trump... or the GOP?

Is Donald Trump hiding those fingers because 
they are unnaturally short?


With the polls going in Cruz's favor in Wisconsin, the chances of Donald Trump going into the convention with 1237 delegates got a lot narrower. Trump's campaign seems intent on making errors to ensure this turns out to be the case. Yes of course New York and California still favor Trump, but without the 1237, delegates can start bleeding from the Trump Train after it pulls into Cleveland this summer.  

Things are definitely getting interesting.  







American Power Blog: Piers Morgan defends Donald Trump on Michelle Fields. Is this the same Piers Morgan who bragged that child molester Jimmy Saville thought he was brilliant? (then later denied ever meeting Saville).  Or the same Piers Morgan who got punched in the face by Jeremy Clarkson?  Or the Piers Morgan who got owned by Ben Shapiro over gun control?  

Regular Right Guy: Isn't it really about Michelle Fields? (actually, no, its really about an unforced error by Corey Lewandowski and the Trump campaign doubling down on stupid)



Cleveland will be a bit of a cat fight:


Rule 5 and FMJRA

Wombat: American Thinker: Trump and the Death of Reason

Separated By Seduction

Donald Trump and Salah Abdeslam have something in common

Donald Trump is definitely NOT the same as Salah Abdeslam. I find the Hitler comparisons of Trump over the top and insulting (and also counter productive if you are trying to win over his supporters). Virginia Hume's article is a tad too alarmist, although the mechanics of what she describes Trump does in winning followers are spot on.  


Trump for all his crassness is not that, but Trump and ISIS leaders like Abdeslam are are trying to draw in followers.  To that extent these two share something. Trump and ISIS play on feeling of anger and disenfranchisement in the groups they are seeking to seduce.  And it works. 

It is not just Trump and ISIS doing this.  Barack Obama seduced a lot of people when he ran for office (how did that mostly turn out--certainly not as promised).  Hillary wishes she could do it.  Bernie Sanders manages to do it with Democrats, just not as much as Obama did and Bernie has been unable to do so with black voters.  The Trump phenomenon is he has managed to win a sizable percentage of Republicans and a smaller chuck of dissatisfied Democrats, enough to give him a plurality with the GOP.  That may not hold (Wisconsin looks like it may go to Cruz) but it is enough to make him the likely favorite to get the nomination.  

ISIS has far limited success (it recruitment numbers are far more limited), but who they recruit are either dedicated hard core jihadis or sympathizers giving them cover to operate.  It is enough to allow them to cause mayhem. 

Trump supporters are not ISIS or terrorists. Not even close. But they are angry (for mostly good reason) and Trump is playing into that.  These voters feel like they have been (mostly economically) abandoned by the Republican and Democrat parties (and that much is absolutely true).  Trump  to them is the alternative (and they recognize his flaws). The unknown part is what Trump is offering as an alternative. Trump is not particularly strong  and certainly not clear on what policy or economic theory he will pursue--other than being mostly against illegal immigration. We are not even sure he will do that.   

Chances are Trump (if he won) would be an American Berlusconi or like that other Austrian. That would probably not be as bad as some think, but that would definitely not be a good thing.  Democrats winning the White House is not good either. Media pundits and some of our politicians say they can't tell what prompts terrorism (or some try to blame poverty or even more incredulously climate change). This is complete nonsense and the left engaging in its own form of cravenness

Which is why the left will come down hard on any person who has the temerity not to bake a pizza or sell flowers to a gay wedding on religious grounds (or even threaten a state), or completely lose their minds over transgendered bathrooms, but look the other way when homosexuals are murdered openly overseas. Democrats appease Iran while Iran continues to do what they do

Meanwhile, ISIS continues its efforts to seduce in Europe (and here too).  

H/T:

  

Think Winter is Over? Game of Thrones Returns April 24













Rule 5 and FMJRA

Instapundit: The New York Times is doing what?

Rush Limbaugh: The Wisconsin Wall of Cheese (we are the watchers on the wall, and given it is made out of cheese, it is also delicious)

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

We Are Relying On Feminist Witches To Save Us: What could go wrong?

Wombat: The Political Hat: Feminists Will Save Society With The Power of Witchcraft?



Feminism is just the tip of the ice berg.  There is something very bad going on in society and I do not think things will turn out well. 








Post Masculine Men and The Fall of Western Civilization


Smitty: Talking about post masculine (supposedly) conservative men: Ross Douthat and David Brooks

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Patty Duke RIP




Hollywood Reporter: She was Helen Keller in the Miracle Worker







Patty Duke with Sharon Tate in Valley of the Dolls

Wisconsin GOP Primary: Scott Walker Endorses Ted Cruz and (updated) Lewandowski Charged

Legal Insurrection: Scott Walker All In For Cruz

Every state is critical for Ted Cruz, but Wisconsin in particular is critical right now.  The primary is April 5. It is delegate rich and mostly winner take all.  

The math for Ted to win on the first ballot at the GOP convention is difficult, but Ted needs to make sure Donald Trump is not in that position.  A Wisconsin win would go a long way to doing that.  


Instapundit: Lewandowski arrestedHands on FieldsMark Levin: Anti establishment is a crock, I want a constitutional conservative! We need a candidate who will Restore our Republic, Preserve our Liberty



RCP Polling: Latest polls favoring Cruz


RedState: Moe Lane: Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski arrested (that will leave a mark--it is crazy they let this get so far), streiff: Major announcement planned for Walker (it is here), Tommy Thompson goes full Kasich (never go full Kasich)

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Easter Parade



A bit of Astaire, Berlin, and Garland to celebrate Easter!












Bernie Is Risen

Saving the critically endangered black rhinoceros by hunting It


This is a very interesting show. I very much recommend it. Big Game Hunter Corey Knowlton on a request from a friend offered to put the minimum bid to help drive up the price of a special conservation hunt of a black rhinoceros in Namibia.  The money is going to a good cause. Knowlton was not really wanting to win, but his $350,000 bid ended up winning the auction.  No good deed goes unpunished.  


Black Rhinoceros are cantankerous creatures and old bulls have a habit of killing other rhinoceros. So wild life officials will offer hunting them for a premium price via auctions, to help fund conservation efforts to save the remaining members of this species (currently around 5,000).  

Wooly Rhinoceros from Chauvet Cave, France

Not only did Corey Knowlton get death threats, but people threatening his wife and children with rape, dismemberment and murder.  Charming huh?  



The interview on Radiolab of Corey Knowlton is very revealing. Knowlton cares deeply about saving the species. Listen to the whole thing. How little people recognize what it takes to save mega fauna like the black rhino.  Knowlton notes, who want to live next to a psychotic creature like a rhinoceros?  They are incredible dangerous and violent creatures. Which is the point so called animals lovers miss about creatures such as Cecil the Lion and the rhinoceros above. The only way you would do so, if the animal has some value to you.  


Teddy Roosevelt, Conservationist and Hunter


Whooping Cranes and Subdivisions: Ms. Gibbs says no to taking down her bird feeders

Richard Leakey is a complex figure who has done a lot of interesting things (who speaks in the RadioLab story above towards the end), but he is wrong about the hunting ban in Kenya. I do not have any desire to shoot an elephant or rhino, but I recognize in an increasingly crowed world interactions with humans and wildlife generally does not work out for the wildlife. Without a market value for maintaining wildlife, people won't do it. If you can do it all through wild life viewing, great, but hunting has its place too. Hunting works for those transitional zones between game parks and preserves. Banning it has reduced habitat for wildlife, especially mega fauna and predators.