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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

A top director at the Secret Service urged use of confidential personnel files against a Member of Congress?

Communist Traitors Julius and Ethel Rosenberg honored by New York City Democrats for "great bravery"

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is wrong: Criticizing someone's beliefs is not a hate crime (especially when there is good reason to do so)


I like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  He was a great basketball player and I take what he says seriously, even if I don't always agree with him: But this latest from him is just complete nonsense.

What Ben Carson said was not a hate crime. You can disagree with Carson's take (obviously Charles Krauthammer did), but spare me the clap trap that Muslims lives become more unsafe when you criticize them. As demonstrated by events in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Nigeria (just to name a few) Muslims lives are mostly put at risk by other Muslims. But we can't let Muslims feel threatened by Ben Carson's rhetoric. Let's abolish all criticism of everyone because bad things could theoretically happen. What could go wrong with that?

As Ray Bradbury noted:

We can't have people's feelings getting hurt by books and ideas that offend them...
HE SAYS THE CULPRIT in Fahrenheit 451 is not the state — it is the people. Unlike Orwell’s 1984, in which the government uses television screens to indoctrinate citizens, Bradbury envisioned television as an opiate. In the book, Bradbury refers to televisions as “walls” and its actors as “family,” a truth evident to anyone who has heard a recap of network shows in which a fan refers to the characters by first name, as if they were relatives or friends.
The book’s story centers on Guy Montag, a California fireman who begins to question why he burns books for a living. Montag eventually rejects his authoritarian culture to join a community of individuals who memorize entire books so they will endure until society once again is willing to read.
Bradbury imagined a democratic society whose diverse population turns against books: Whites rejectUncle Tom’s Cabin and blacks disapprove of Little Black Sambo. He imagined not just political correctness, but a society so diverse that all groups were “minorities.” He wrote that at first they condensed the books, stripping out more and more offending passages until ultimately all that remained were footnotes, which hardly anyone read. Only after people stopped reading did the state employ firemen to burn books.

With all due respect to Kareem Abdul Jabbar, what ISIS does to women, people who disagree with it, homosexuals, and to cultural treasures are hate crimes. Boko Haram kidnapping little girls is a hate crime. Murdering people and threatening people with death for making cartoons you disagree with are hate crimes. Rather than criticizing Ben Carson's comments, why isn't there more support for reforming extremist elements of Islam?  Ben Carson is not the problem that Islam is facing: Islam itself has the problem and had to start reforming itself.


Mark Steyn: Steer Clear of SteynWild Seadogs of the ØresundMohammed and the MoviesLast Laughs in Europe, and Two Faces of Facebook

Instapundit: ISIS plans a nuclear holocaust, the Islamic threat in the USA, Mark Steyn

EBL: 10th Anniversary of Mohammed Cartoon Crisis in Denmark, Charles Krauthammer is wrong, and Syrian and German Crises

Camp of the Saints: Meet the New Holocaust, Same as the Old Holocaust and Twisting The Revolution Away

Ben Carson Warns: Hitler Could Happen Here
AmPowerBlog: Larry Flynt calls out lamestream media

The Mystery of Hillary's Missing Millions...

Guess Who Stands With Planned Parenthood?

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Washington Times: Huma Abedin getting paid for staging private events for Bill Clinton while still working for the State Department?

The Battle of Tours and Charles Martel: What was happening in Europe in October back 1283 years ago...

Charles de Steuben's Bataille de Poitiers en octobre 732 (1835)


Victor Davis Hanson: Carnage and Culture

The native born STEM worker shortage is a lie: Native STEM professionals laid off, while tech companies petition for foreign replacements...


Companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google want foreign workers because they contribute to the bottom line, work for less, and are completely under company control 


Monday, September 28, 2015

Howie Kurtz calls out Washington Post's Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee


Update: Mark Steyn: Jersey Sure


Howie Kurtz link here

Note it was Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Kessler's Assistant, who slimed Carly Fiorina

And fuck apologizing to Kessler, Michelle Ye Hee Lee works for him and Kessler's about as biased and partisan as they come. I have no problem with that, but spare us the pious hypocrisy of declaring himself a "fact checker" because one thing I know is the smell of bullshit.
Twitchy: Glenn Kessler keeps digging
EBL: Is the Race Trump's To Lose?

Hillary Clinton has a bad Sunday Morning on Meet The Press


A lot of the video links at Twitchy have been blocked by NBC News over copywrite. But let's just say this was not a Sunday morning with hot cinnamon rolls and coffee for Hillary.

Meet The Press has the whole interview available.



About 3/4 of the way in Chuck Todd does a video of Hillary Flip Flops

Hot Air: Madeleine Albright also throws Hillary Clinton under the bus

Michelle Malkin: Bill Clinton says FBI part of Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Twitchy: Hillary Clinton supporters all spout the same talking points (could they be coordinated)

Frank Sinatra: I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' with Sammy Davis Jr. and Chita Rivera

The 1934 opera Porgy and Bess was the George Gershwin's masterwork and personal obsession. Gershwin wrote it mostly on location in South Carolina. It was based off the book and play Porgy by DuBose Heyward.  Heyward and Ira Gershwin both contributed to the lyrics and book of Porgy and Bess. 
Porgy and Bess: George, DuBose and Ira

It may not be summer time right now, but Mark covered Porgy and Bess' Summertime. Mark's review She Likes A Gershwin Tune of Martha Bayles' Hole in Our Soul remains as just as relevant today. These pieces gives some excellent background on George Gershwin's work on Porgy and Bess.


Frank recorded this version on the Nelson Riddle arranged album A Swinging' Affair in 1957.

Sammy Davis Jr. does a great job with his take of the song from 1957 album Boy Meets Girl. This album was arranged by Buddy Bergman (who was Jule Styne's nephew).

Pope Francis and Chita Rivera

Not the best vocals on this one below, but Chita Rivera does a sizzling dance rendition on the Judy Garland Show, and for the time period the camera work is especially good (this was probably 1964):




Bob completed his top 100 Sinatra songs and his top selections are top notch. Bob is not stopping, listing the top 10 Sinatra albums up through Frank's birthday, starting with this one at #10.


Fitting for all the lunar talk this weekend, Mark has Moonlight In Vermont (a wonderfully lovely song which Pundette, Bob, and myself all had too). Mark also has It's All Right With Me and Autumn Leaves (Mark does a wonderful job explaining and contrasting Mercer's lyrics to the original French version). Mark also talks about Mohammed and the Movies (wow). That is a must read (you will never look at Halloween the same way again) and After the Balls.


I had the jazz standard Indian Summer with bonus Michele Carey. Given Mark's post a Cole Porter Indian Summer classic It's All Right With Me I posted the Can Can film clip of that performance along with the lovely Juliet Prowse. I added Sinatra and Day singing a terrific version of Take Me Out To The Ball Game in remembrance of Yogi Berra's passing.  And I think I collected links to most of the autumn themed Sinatra songs I previously posted in recognition of the autumn equinox. I also had Frank and the Kessler Twins for Oktoberfest. And the bittersweet The Shadow of Your Smile.

Nadia Menaz RIP

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Sun Prairie Wisconsin Sweet Corn Festival




Corn!


 Get Some Butter

h/t to Nick Spinelli and Trooper York

Rule 5 and FMJRA

The Clintons are getting desperate...

American Thinker: Quiet Panic
Make no mistake, Hillary Clinton detests having to turn to he philandering husband for a rescue. And she realizes that it would be far better to save him for much later in the campaign, when he could be more of a novelty and provide the momentum needed toward the end.
But matters are spinning out of control, with Bernie Sanders as many as 16 points ahead of her in New Hampshire, and Joe Biden’s people sending signals he is likely to enter the race and steal even more support. Even comforting words from Huma (who has her own problems) are not enough to soothe away the growing panic. So all to early, it became time to bring in Bubba, and have him deliver some balm, to denigrate critics and minimize the significance of the scandal.
This email scandal is way more than mere politics.  If anything it is politics that have saved Hillary so far from being charged criminally.  And if the Democrats have a more viable alternative, such as Joe Biden, well they might exercise a right to choose on Hillary Clinton's continued viability.

it could be the end of a dream (or a nightmare)...




Mental Illness On Display: Democrat Bob Brady, pro abortion but also likes drinking Pope Francis and Barack Obama's backwash...


It is bad enough Bob Brady did it with Pope Francis' water, but Brady did the same thing with Barack Obama's water (maybe Brady should drink from Barack Obama's river)!  

Red State notes the hypocrisy of calling this lunatic "devotely Catholic" given his pro abortion voting record

Talking about lunatics: Rev. Wright is still out there

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Why are Republican Campaign Consultants So Disloyal?

Rick Wiley: "It's [I'm] a f____ing bitch, man."
Here are three examples

Instapundit: Now that Walker is down, is Fiorina in Trouble? Only if she hires scumbags like the three above, we need imagination and guts on our side, face the truth, and The View is failing because it sucks (and it hired and fired a loser like Nicole Wallace).  

And the payoff for their disloyalty is high paying gigs in the opposition media (even if ABC dumped Wallace, she and her nipple headed partner are still working for MSNBC).

Mark Steyn: After The Balls and Bob has more

The Dems get way better gigs than the Republicans, but hey, crumbs to the serfs...

Charles Krauthammer is wrong about Ben Carson and Islam...


Charles Krauthammer is not being honest with himself:
The latest example is Ben Carson, the mild-mannered, highly personable neurosurgeon and one of two highest-polling GOP candidates. He said on Sunday that a Muslim should not be president of the United States. 
His reason is that Islam is incompatible with the Constitution. On the contrary. Carson is incompatible with a Constitution that explicitly commands that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

Ever. And it is no defense of Carson to say that he was not calling for legal disqualification of Muslims, just advocating that one should not vote for them. That defense misses the point: The Constitution is not just a legal document. It is a didactic one. It doesn’t just set limits to power; it expresses a national ethos. It doesn’t just tell you what you’re not allowed to do; it also suggests what you shouldn’t want to do. For example, the First Amendment allows you to express whatever opinion you want — even, say, advocating the suppression of free speech in others. But a major purpose of the Constitution is to discourage and delegitimize such authoritarian thinking.
Andrew McCarthy also thinks you are wrong Charles.

The Constitution is a legal document. It is not the Bible or the Koran. Its purpose is to allow for orderly limited representational government with peaceful transfers of power. It is far from perfect, has been corrupted over the last hundred years, but compared to other forms of government around the world it has been most successful.

The prohibition against a religious test for higher office means exactly what it says.  Anyone (who meets age and citizenship requirements) can run for higher office. No one is saying Muslims are not qualified to run for office (certainly not Ben Carson). Just because someone qualifies as a candidate does not mean you as a voter are compelled to vote for them. People make their own subjective choices about candidates and religion often a big part of that decision. That always has been the case.

Most religions are compatible with the Constitution and the duties of the president.  But some are not.

As Andrew Breitbart was apt to retort: So what?  So what if Ben Carson had the temerity to express he would not support a Muslim being President?

Honestly, would Charles Krauthammer vote for a Muslim for president?  Let's assume for purpose of argument Charles would: how observant a Muslim could they be before Charles wouldn't vote for that candidate?  It is not such an easy question. While in theory Charles would suggest he would keep an open mind (fair enough), in reality Charles would probably never vote for a Muslim (unless of course that Muslim was running against Donald Trump--then perhaps).

If someone said they would not vote for a candidate due to their race, many would condemn that.  But the truth is you can vote on that basis and there is nothing prohibiting you from doing so (obviously the vast majority of Black Americans voted for Barack Obama based on his race...just like a vast majority of Irish Americans earlier voted for John Kennedy because he was Irish American). I think such simplistic identity politics are personally wrong (Barack Obama has been objectively bad for Black Americans)--but I recognize that such identity politics exist.

When you have a significant portion of Muslims in the United States saying they would prefer Sharia over the Constitution, that should give us all a bit of pause. It wasn't Jefferson who first thought up separation of church and state, it was Jesus. That is not true in Islam, which demands state and faith be combined.

Even secular Muslims have admited Ben Carson has a point.

Mark Steyn: After The Balls and Bob has more

Darlene Click/Protein Wisdom

Most Americans agree w Ben

Rev. Wright's still out there

Instapundit: Powerline: The Camp of the Saints comes to Europe

Mark Steyn: Mohammed and the Movies and Last Laughs in EuropeTwo Faces of FacebookWild Colonial Boy

Blogmocracy: Krauthammer wrong again

Never mind a Muslim, can a Catholic be president? And while I liked this article and agreed with it in principal, show me the hypothetical Muslim candidate (or Catholic for that matter) and I will tell you if I can vote yea or not.  

Frank Sinatra: It's All Right With Me and Juliet Prowse

I was going to leave my Indian Summer post as that for the week, but Indian Summer also can be used to describe a late career flourish or period of happiness.

Mark Steyn Song of the Century #69 is Sinatra's version of Cole Porter's  It's All Right With Me (from Can Can) and Mark discusses Porter's Indian Summer with High Society (1956), Silk Stockings (1957), and Can Can (1960) before Porter's final health decline and death in October 1964.

I could not resist posting the Can Can film version of the song with Frank singing to Juliet Prowse:






And why not some additional pictures of Miss Prowse:





 Kermit and Juliet


The temptress in Can Can

Here's Elvis on a bar stool next to Juliet Prowse


Rule 5 and FMJRA


Bob completed his top 100 Sinatra songs and his top selections are top notch.  

Mark has It's All Right With Me and Autumn Leaves (Mark does a wonderful job explaining and contrasting Mercer's lyrics to the original French version).  

I added Sinatra and Day singing a terrific version of Take Me Out To The Ball Game in remembrance of Yogi Berra's passing.  And I think I collected links to most of the autumn themed Sinatra songs I previously posted in recognition of the autumn equinox. I also had Frank and the Kessler Twins for Oktoberfest.

Frank Sinatra: Indian Summer, Dirty Dingus McGee, and Michele Carey Rule 5


Since it is autumn now, we can have an Indian Summer.

Indian Summer was written by Victor Herbert in 1919 and later was adopted as a jazz standard. After that Al Dubin (who also wrote September in the Rain, among other great songs) wrote lyrics for this song. Sinatra sang it during his Tommy Dorsey years, but this recording was made in 1967 and arranged by Billy May.  Update: As Mark notes, that's Duke Ellington's Orchestra backing Frank.

Here is Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan doing Indian Summer at Carnegie Hall in 1981.  



Indian Summer also can be used to describe a late career flourish or period of happiness. Mark Steyn this week wrote about Sinatra's version of Cole Porter's  It's All Right With Me and explores Porter's Indian Summer of High Society (1956), Silk Stockings (1957), and Can Can (1960) before Porter's final health decline and death in October 1964.  

I got inspired to look at some of Frank's other film work too. Frank Sinatra did some great movies.

Dirty Dingus Magee is not one of them.

Michele Carey does look great in it, so why not a Rule 5.

Dirty Dingus Magee was co written by Joseph Heller (yeah that Joseph Heller) and if you accept it as Frank Sinatra in a bad wig, in a 1970s western, with a bunch of Indian girls and typical Western town ladies, and filmed on location in Arizona...well I suppose there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half.

Juliet Prowse with Frank here? (I think Ed is right in comments below)









Cisinjuns vs. Transinjuns? Cissinatra vs. Transinatra?



Rule 5 and FMJRA


Bob completed his top 100 Sinatra songs and his top selections are top notch.  

Mark has It's All Right With Me and Autumn Leaves (Mark does a wonderful job explaining and contrasting Mercer's lyrics to the original French version).  

I added Sinatra and Day singing a terrific version of Take Me Out To The Ball Game in remembrance of Yogi Berra's passing.  And I think I collected links to most of the autumn themed Sinatra songs I previously posted in recognition of the autumn equinox. I also had Frank and the Kessler Twins for Oktoberfest.