April

"The rest of the world watched in horror as civil servants and police were lined up by pits and shot mercilessly. When their pistols got too hot to hold, or they ran low on ammunition, the troops went back to bayonets and bludgeons. Nobody who depended on the state for their living was spared."

https://www.goodreads.com/series/120391-april

Is the World Economy Toast?

"There's a scene in the film adaptation of Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Shipping News": An old newshound explains to newbie journalist Kevin Spacey how dark clouds on the horizon justify the hyperbolic headline "Imminent Storm Threatens Village."
"But what if no storm comes?" Spacey asks. The veteran replies with a second-day headline: "Village Spared From Deadly Storm." Unfortunately, having survived the storm fanned by subprime mortgages and the credit crisis, the clouds are gathering again over the global village we live in; they are getting darker every day."

The Shipping News Says the World Economy Is Toast

 HT: https://theartsmechanical.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/a-shipping-update/

Pork Steaks

Champagne's grocery had pork steaks for sale at $1.49/lb.  I picked up five of them.  I have never cooked a "pork steak" before.  I decided to cook it as I would a beefsteak.  I salt and peppered it then cooked it up in a black-iron skillet in bacon fat.  It was rather tasty and fairly tender.  Then I read about trichinosis.


After that alarming information, I have just cooked a pork steak for dinner and allowed it to reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit.  First I sprinkled both sides of the steak with salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, dry mustard powder, and ginger powder.  After rubbing that in, I tossed it into very hot coconut oil (near smoke point) in a hot black iron skillet for five minutes per side.


The inside measured at 120F; this was far too cool.  So, I lowered the burner to medium-high and cooked it until it reached 160F, flipping it a couple of times for even cooking.  It has been resting while I write this.  Time to give it a taste.


It is very flavorful and I would not be embarrassed to offer it to someone else.

James Webb Space Telescope

This device will be placed into an L2 halo orbit, which is beyond the moon.  The launch vehicle will be an Ariane Rocket launched from the Guiana Space Center.

Here is a video from NASA showing deployment.



The eighteenth and final beryllium mirror has been installed.

Image from NASA

HT: Ars Technica

The Nature of the Beast

"Some 225 years ago, the “Founding Father” of the United States, Toothless George – and his golem, Alexander Hamilton – marched on rural Pennsylvania to teach the veterans of the American Revolution a lesson about what they’d actually fought for."

Is it a “Good Idea”?

Getting to be Time for a New American Revolution

British may be serving warrants in the United States.  That worked out so well the last time.

UK wants authority to serve warrants in U.S.

Learn a New Language

Here is an interesting web-place.

Duolingo | Learn Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and English for free

Beyond the Pale for Law

"The boy is unnamed in local news reporters, which note that he is under 15 years of age. He allegedly took a nude photo of himself on a girl’s cell phone. That girl sent the picture to another girl, who sent it to another. Preliminary charges are pending for all three—the boy was charged with manufacturing child porn, and the girls with distributing it. A prosecutor is still weighing whether to pursue the charges."

Male Teen Takes Nude Photo of Himself, Charged with Making Child Porn

Indoctrination and Ideaologues

Here is an interesting article I found on Instapundit.

"So, we tell boys as young as 6 that their identity is a disease, we drug them with increasingly more dangerous drugs and let the pharmaceutical industry make a huge profit out of this. This is how most boys in the west start their life. Before they have even figured out who they are, the very essence of their humanity is demonized and erased. Now comes the next stage: They have to be taught that this is a privilege. Some schools go as far as do exercises of separating students by race and gender, and telling them how oppressed they are, or if you have the ‘privilege’ of being a straight white male, how oppressive you are. Maybe we do live in a racist and sexist society after all, just not the way it’s portrayed in the media."

http://honeybadgerbrigade.com/2016/01/13/in-defense-of-straight-men-from-the-perspective-of-an-introverted-fag-draft/

Aviation Exteriors (AvEx)

Here is an interesting business that resides here in Acadiana at Acadiana Regional Airport in New Iberia, LA.

Breakfast

I made a nice breakfast of calf liver, smothered in onions and fresh yogurt with pineapple and honey for dessert.

Google Bias

Who gives a goodbye.  After all, you can use any search engine that you would like.  The following idiocy is a non-starter.

"U.S. antitrust officials should consider revisiting their closed investigation into Google’s search practices in light of claims by the European Union that the company manipulates results, said Utah’s attorney general."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-02/google-search-bias-probe-by-u-s-should-get-new-look-utah-says

Harold Dupre

You silly old white man.  How can you expect anyone to appreciate such nonsense.

Miriam

I enjoyed bringing my sister, Miriam, to and from her apartment in New Orleans.  There was never a dull moment in the journey or the pickup.  For the most part, I drove my Nissan 240SX and carried a 9mm Colt All American 2000 in a shoulder holster.

I would find a place to park and then walk to her apartment on Dauphine, across from Matassa's Market.  I always open carried arms and never came to grief for it.  I only ever got lip once from a man seeing me walking with a rifle, in the French Quarter, on the way from Miriam's to my car.  He asked me who I was looking to shoot.  Well, there were other interesting moments but I will relate them at another time.

Simply Slinky

Good Times

Ted Cruz Fake

A woman, and perhaps a voter, told me that in her view, Ted Cruz was fake.  Maybe this will not change her mind.

Trump Stumped

http://drudgereport.com/

Fire and Rain

You never know when it will be the last time that you see someone.

Space Shuttle Columbia Lost on Re-Entry

Indeed

From the gospel of Matthew:

"19:13. Then were little children presented to him, that he should impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.
19:14. But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such.
19:15. And when he had imposed hands upon them, he departed from thence."

From Sarah Hoyt:

DISABILITY DOESN’T MEAN LACK OF WORTH: Toddler with Down Syndrome Recites His ABCs, Reminds World what Joy Looks Like.

0

HT: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/225434/ 

Landslide

I am entirely self centered.  I do treasure my friends and my loves, past present and future.  I do like this song,

Marco Rubio

This is funny.

Marco Rubio and the Football of Vengeance.

David Allen Coe

This man is a song writing legend.  He will make you feel uncomfortable.  A biker chick friend of mine (Banditos) disowns him as a bad representative. Love him or hate him, he has made his mark and will be indelible in our music.

The influences that be current(2016), try to push his negro hating ways to the forefront.  Being that he is an outspoken and talented man, the songs from his mind has lifted many to fame.


Here are three examples.  The first, most will embrace.  The second, not as many.  The third, be my guest.

Who Do You Think

"Every time a Muslim engages in a terrorist attack, we get a lecture on the crusades which ended in 1291. Alternately, we hear how often these diehard Christians have attacked abortion clinics. Setting aside the fact that those killers are universally condemned by Christians, more people were killed in the San Bernardino terrorist attacks than were killed in every abortion clinic attack since Roe v. Wade(emphasis mine). We’ve even gotten to the point where liberal gay couples are seeking out Christian florists, photographers and bakers so they can pretend to be hurt when they refuse to cater their weddings."

"Let me also add, there is no “rape culture” in America. If you want to see a “rape culture,” go to Egypt or the parts of Germany that are overrun with Syrian migrants. There’s also no patriarchy and the idea that women are paid less than men for doing the same work has been so thoroughly disproven that only an idiot would believe it.  (...)  While we’re at it, if you get all upset about a man being polite enough to pull out a chair or open a door for you, there’s something wrong with you as a human being. Try saying thank you once in a while and more people will like you."

Christians, Conservatives, Men, and White People Are Not Responsible For Your Problems

 HT: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/224800/

LSU and Administrative Idiocy

"FIRE predicted that universities would silence and punish faculty by using the Department of Education's unconstitutional definition of sexual harassment — and that's exactly what happened at LSU," FIRE's Director of Litigation Catherine Sevcenko said. "Under this broad definition of sexual harassment, professors risk punishment for teaching or discussing sex-related material, be it Nabokov's Lolita or the latest episode of The Bachelor. Now Teresa is fighting back to protect her rights and the rights of her colleagues."

Fired professor sues, citing freedom speech

HT: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/224713/

Quick Test For some Adulterants In Food- Instruction Manual

"Very often food is adulterated by merchants and traders who are unscrupulous and want to make a quick profit.  But shortages and increasing prices, consumer demands for variety in foods, a lack of awareness, negligence, indifference and lethargy among consumers and inadequate enforcement of food laws and food safety measures also lead to food adulteration."

Click here:
Quick Test for Some Adulterants in Food

A Story Untold

Roe v. Wade Erased a Decade of Civil Rights Gains, and Violated the True Constitution of a People

HT: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/224694/

The Hardest Battle

I have heard it said that the hardest battles to win are those that you fight with yourself.

I have decided to quit smoking and feel so good about it, two days later, that I want to reward myself with a nice cigarette.

Advertisements: I had no Idea

I have been posting hither and yon but had no clue as to the ads* you see.  Deal with it, I see no advertisements.  Adapt.

Clint Eastwood Movies

The man is a legend.

Clint Eastwood: 60 years in film

Bureaucratic Tyranny

Monosodium Glutamate

"Monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids. Glutamate is found in tomatoes, Roquefort cheese, potatoes, mushrooms, and other vegetables and fruits." Wikipedia


"That MSG isn’t the poison we’ve made it out to be has been well-established. News stories are written regularly about the lack of evidence tying MSG to negative health effects. (Read here and here, for example. Or here, here, here, here and here.) Still, Yelp reviews of Chinese restaurants tell tales of racing hearts, sleepless nights and tingling limbs from dishes “laden with MSG.” Even when the science is clear, it takes a lot to overwrite a stigma, especially when that stigma is about more than just food."

How MSG Got A Bad Rap: Flawed Science And Xenophobia

Freak of Nature

I once found a two-headed snake.  This is even stranger.

Mountain lion with bizarre deformity found in Southeast Idaho

Obama Theatre

"Like most other gun control advocates, President Obama invoked scenes of mass shootings, as if what he is proposing would have prevented those tragedies. But, almost invariably, mass shootings occur in gun-free settings. Yet gun control zealots seem determined to create more gun-free settings."
 

Showman-in-Chief

By Thomas Sowell

January 7, 2016

Obama Care Repeal

"Today the House of Representatives passed a bill that would repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood. This is the same bill that passed the Senate last month on a 52-47, with the Republicans avoiding a filibuster with the same reconciliation process that enabled passage of Obamacare in the first place. The vote in the House was 240-181, nearly along party lines. So for the first time, President Obama will be confronted with legislation that actually would bring Obamacare to an end, and will be forced to veto it."

Congress Passes Obamacare Repeal and Planned Parenthood Defunding: Finally!

VooDoo for Anne

Injustice Out West

"The two started a series of range fires on their private property which eventually spread onto federal land. The federal government prosecuted them in 2012 on an array of charges, from conspiracy to attempting to damage property through fire. They were found guilty on only two arson counts, which covered activities (setting fires) the Hammonds admitted to.

As part of their plea deal, they agreed not to appeal their sentences. 73-year-old Dwight Hammond was sentenced to three months in prison and his 46-year-old son Steven to 11 months, below the mandatory minimum of five years, which the judge, Michael Hogan, called "grossly disproportionate" and said would "shock his conscience."

As per the deal, the Hammonds didn't appeal the sentence. But the Department of Justice did, getting the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Judge Hogan's decision and order the Hammonds to return to jail. They are supposed to do so on Monday."

Armed Protesters in Oregon Occupy Remote Federal Outpost at Wildlife Refuge After Marching Against Sentence of Father and Son Ranchers

HT: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/222995/

It Takes a Thief

Or not.

IRS Employee Whose Job Was Assisting Victims Of Identity Theft Charged In $1 Million Identity Theft Tax Fraud

A federal grand jury earlier this month indicted NAKEISHA HALL, JIMMIE GOODMAN and ABDULLA COLEMAN for their involvement in a 2008 to 2011 scheme operated out of Birmingham that involved stealing personal identity information from the Internal Revenue Service to create fraudulent tax returns and collecting the stolen refunds, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, IRS Criminal Investigation, St. Louis Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Karl A. Stiften, and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Mid-States Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Ruben Florez. The indictment was unsealed with today’s arrests.

HT: http://overlawyered.com/2016/01/great-moments-in-being-from-the-government-and-here-to-help-you/

Hope: Going Into the Fog

HT: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/222923/