Listicle

Long story short, something stupid about this clichéd NRO item started here, but when curiosity led us to Molly Wharton's short but sweet NRO c.v. that crap was by the damn wayside waving its thumb at truckers.

Ladies & germs, I give you William F. Buckley's heritage of intellect & reason, today's Conservative Id, as distilled by Ms. Wharton in her first six wks. typing hard at NRO:

• Article: Strike Date Nears for LIRR 7/11/14
• The Corner: Australian Judge Says Incest Is No Longer Taboo 7/11/14
• Article: The Soda Tax: The Final Showdown? 7/11/14
• The Corner: De Blasio's New York: Mayor to Enjoy a Ten-Day Getaway 7/11/14
• The Corner: L'Oréal Terminates Contract with Belgian Supporter after Hunting Photos Emerge 7/11/14
• The Corner: Va. Democrat Offers Reward for Nude Shots of Texas Co-Ed 7/10/14
• The Corner: Hunting Photos Glorify Violence, but 'Kill Kendall Jones' Facebook Page Apparently Doesn't 7/9/14
• The Corner: De Blasio's New York Sees 8 Percent Increase in Shootings 7/9/14
• The Corner: Florida Awarded $7 Million for Wasting Just $47 Million in Food-Stamp Funds 7/9/14
• The Corner: McCain Criticizes Rules Barring Communication with Border Staff and Detainees 7/9/14
• The Corner: WH Official Defends Obama's Decision Not to Visit Border 7/9/14
• The Corner: VA Whistleblower Says He Was Harrassed after Voicing Concerns to White House 7/9/14
• The Corner: VA Surgeon: There Is a 'Cancer Within Leadership' of VA 7/9/14
• The Corner: Gohmert Is Tired of Dems Claiming to Be 'Compassionate' Party 7/9/14
• The Corner: Senate Democrats Will Introduce Bill to Reverse Hobby Lobby 7/8/14
• The Corner: Cornyn: Obama Should Come See Border Crisis for Himself 7/8/14
• The Corner: State Dept: Hamas Does Not Have Role in Palestinian Government 7/7/14
• The Corner: CNN Columnist: 'Illegal' is Today's N-Word 7/7/14
• The Corner: De Blasio's New York: Twelve People Shot in Five Hours over 4th of July Weekend 7/7/14
• The Corner: The Huffington Post's Finest Meets Hugh Hewitt, Does Not Go Well forHuffPo 7/7/14
• The Corner: ASU Gives Female Students Extra Credit for Not Shaving Armpits 7/7/14
• Article: De Blasio Wants to Downgrade High-School Admissions 7/3/14
• The Corner: New Berkeley Law Will Require Free Weed for Low-Income, Homeless Patients 7/3/14
• The Corner: China Bans Ramadan Fast in Muslim Region 7/2/14
• Article: Activists Want Texas Cheerleader Off Facebook 7/2/14
• The Corner: Clinton: Hobby Lobby Ruling a Step Toward What You See in 'Undemocratic,' Extremist Countries 7/1/14
• The Corner: Bodies of Three Kidnapped Israeli Teens Found 6/30/14
• The Corner: WH Press Secretary: Hobby Lobby Ruling 'Jeopardizes' Women's Health6/30/14
• The Corner: Wasserman Schultz: Hobby Lobby Ruling 'Totally Unacceptable' 6/30/14
• The Corner: Hobby Lobby Sparks Twitter Outrage on the Left 6/30/14
• Article: Texas Eyes Major Deregulation 6/27/14
• The Corner: NYT Public Editor: Yes, the Paper's Been 'Somewhat Late' in Covering the IRS 6/27/14
• The Corner: Stephanopoulos to Obama: Isn't Your Foreign Policy Failing by Your Own Standards? 6/27/14
• The Corner: Obama: Federal Workers Do Sometimes Do 'Boneheaded' Things 6/27/14
• The Corner: After Supporting War, Bill Clinton Now Blames Bush for Iraq 6/27/14
• The Corner: Cruz on Senate Floor: IRS Investigation Needs Special Prosecutor 6/26/14
• The Corner: Employees Behind Cover Oregon's Failed Website to Be Rewarded with Bonuses 6/26/14
• Article: The Flawed Fossil-Free Campaign 6/25/14
• Article: VA Falls Short on Care for Female Vets 6/25/14
• The Corner: De Rugy: Taxpayers Are the 'Unseen Victims' of Ex-Im 6/25/14
• The Corner: Boehner Confirms Potential Lawsuit Against Obama over Executive Overreach 6/25/14
• The Corner: Minnesota Renames 'Asian Carp' Because the Name Is Offensive 6/25/14
• The Corner: ISIS Merchandise Now for Sale Online 6/24/14
• The Corner: Republican Congressman: Lerner Should Have Known She Was Obliged by Law to Preserve Her E-mails 6/24/14
• The Corner: U.S. Archivist Says IRS 'Did Not Follow the Law' 6/24/14
• The Corner: O'Donnell Praises Koch Brothers in Return to MSNBC 6/24/14
• The Corner: White House Lawyer Won't Answer Rep. Jordan's Questions about Missing IRS E-Mails 6/24/14
• Article: Students Pay for College's Obamacare Implementation 6/24/14
• The Corner: Scarborough Says NYT's Burying of IRS Story Is a 'Scam' 6/24/14
• The Corner: Issa to IRS Commissioner: 'You Have a Problem Maintaining Credibility'6/24/14
• The Corner: FIFA Will Investigate Offensive Chant by Mexican Fans 6/23/14
• The Corner: Biden Says He's 'The Poorest Man in Congress,' Has No Savings Acount6/23/14
• The Corner: Obama: No Military Solution to Crisis in Iraq 6/23/14
• The Corner: Student Vet Not Allowed to Recite Pledge of Allegiance at Meetings 6/20/14
• The Corner: Ryan Shuts Down IRS Commissioner: 'I Don't Believe You' 6/20/14
• The Corner: Steve Scalise Elected New Majority Whip 6/19/14
• The Corner: Obama Sends 300 Advisers to Iraq 6/19/14
• The Corner: Cantor Sets Off Brian Schweitzer's 'Gaydar' 6/19/14
• The Corner: Cheney: Obama Adminstration Has 'Refused to Recognize' War on Terror6/19/14
• The Corner: Israeli-Arab Teen Receives Threats from Own Family for Calling for Return of Kidnapped Teens 6/18/14
• Article: Anti-Semites Rock Colleges 6/18/14
• The Corner: Cotton to Anonymous Critics of Bergdahl's Platoon: Show Yourself, or 'Shut Up' 6/18/14
• The Corner: Hillary Makes Sure Everyone Knows She's Made a Lot of Hard Choices6/18/14
• The Corner: Another Church's Cross Removed in China's Crackdown on Religion6/18/14
• The Corner: Cruz Responds to Hillary on Benghazi: The Truth 'Is Not Partisan' 6/18/14
• The Corner: Clinton: Investigation into IRS 'Needs to Continue' 6/18/14
• The Corner: Clinton: Pro-Gun-Rights Position 'Terrorizes' Majority of People 6/17/14
• The Corner: Clinton: 'Still Looking for Answers' about Benghazi 6/17/14
• Article: Founding Fathers Win In South Carolina College Battle 6/17/14
• Article: #EndFathersDay Tweets Seek to Stop Misogynistic Celebration 6/13/14
• The Corner: Miss USA Stands by Statement that Self-Defense Can Help Prevent Sexual Assault 6/13/14
• The Corner: Hillary Clinton Snaps at NPR Host 6/12/14
• The Corner: ABC's Jonathan Karl Casts Doubt on Obama's Supposed Top Foreign-Policy Achievements 6/12/14
• The Corner: Western Washington University Passes First Anti-BDS Resolution 6/12/14
• The Corner: Anti-Uber Protests in Europe Backfire, Uber Sign-Ups Surge 6/12/14
• The Corner: Former President George H. W. Bush Celebrates 90th Birthday with Parachute Jump 6/12/14
• The Corner: McCain: Obama Needs a New National-Security Team 6/12/14
• Article: Colleges Use 'Anti-Discrimination' Rules Against Christians 6/11/14
• The Corner: Dem. Rep.: WH 'Has Not Been Very Good' at Working with Congress 6/11/14
• The Corner: Teachers' Unions Blast Calif. Tenure Court Decision, Promise to Appeal6/11/14
• The Corner: Coney Island Principal Bans Patriotic Song from Pre-K Graduation 6/11/14
• The Corner: Dem Rep: 'Not Necessarily Accurate' to Call Taliban Terrorists, They're Just 'Part of the Fabric of Afghanistan' 6/10/14
• The Corner: VA Suspended Turn-Around Visits to Underperforming Hospitals 6/10/14
• The Corner: Obama Nominates Bundler as Ambassador to France 6/9/14
• The Corner: White House Invited Bergdahl's Parents into Top-Level Video Conferences6/9/14
• The Corner: Report: Released Taliban Commander Says He'll Continue to Fight Against America 6/6/14
• The Corner: Six Former Platoon Mates Discuss Bergdahl's Alleged Desertion 6/6/14
• The Corner: China Says It's the U.S. Showing 'Total Disregard of Fact' about Tiananmen Square 6/5/14
• The Corner: The Americans Left Behind after Bergdahl Exchange 6/5/14
• The Corner: What Do Israeli Prisoner Exchanges Tell Us about the Bergdahl Swap?6/5/14
• The Corner: NBC Correspondent Slams White House's Lack of Transparency on Bergdahl (Again) 6/5/14
• The Corner: Taliban Commander Tells Time Bergdahl Swap Will Encourage More Kidnappings 6/5/14
• The Corner: New York City Council Asks Walmart to Stop Donating to NYC Charities6/4/14
• The Corner: Former Navy SEAL: Bergdahl Swap Latest Example of 'Amateur Hour' in the Obama Admin 6/4/14
• The Corner: NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent: The Taliban Has Been More Transparent than the White House 6/4/14
• Article: Bergdahl Accused by at Least a Dozen Soldiers and Bereaved Family Members6/4/14
• The Corner: The State Department's Wasteful, Dangerous Plan for More Beautiful, More Energy-Efficient Embassies 6/4/14
• The Corner: State Department Spokeswoman on Bergdahl: There Are a 'Ton of Conflicting Reports' 6/4/14
• The Corner: Jane Fonda Invited to Speak at UCLA, Vietnam Vets Outraged 6/3/14
• The Corner: Seattle Passes $15 Minimum Wage 6/3/14
• The Corner: Sergeant Who Served with Bergdahl: 'Very Frustrating' to See Him Being Celebrated 6/2/14
• The Corner: House Armed Services Chairman Will Hold Hearing on Bergdahl Exchange6/2/14
• The Corner: Stalled Second Term Finally Frees Obama to Enjoy More Celebrity Dinners, Golf Outings 6/2/14

The interns/newest hires at NRO must have to shovel the rawest of red meat to the rubes, & several times a day. Welcome to wing-nut welfare, Ms. Wharton.

The Best & The Brightest

Saddle up for 2016, Republican mofos!

All fringed chaps, no cattle.

Sweet Blood of Jesus, is there a potential Republican candidate on or near the horizon who can possibly get the vote of anyone not in the lunatic 27%? Half of those whose names are bandied about were unable to achieve nomination in 2008 &/or 2012, & ambitious newcomers like Sens. Cruz & Paul, w/o previous or current accomplishments, are stuck being Ted Cruz & Rand Paul. (Good luck w/ the egomania & the daddy issues, fellas.) If Iowa elects hog-castratin' wannabe President-impeacher nutjob Joni Ernst perhaps she can be whipped into shape to run as a real ball-cutting woman, unlike that poseur Hillary R. Clinton.

Uh oh. Thought I was just going to be making fun here. (As if I ever intend to type a "think piece.") But semi-seriously, might the rat bastard Republicans, given the sorry state of the gelded horseflesh in their field, place a woman at the top of the ticket? At least if Mme. Clinton is the (inevitable, y'know) nominee of the other party, & remembering it's still a smidge under two yrs. real time before the Party of Two Bushes convenes in Cleveland to choose the lamb for the slaughter & that anything can & will happen in two yrs. Further thought suggests an older male to balance the ticket. Maybe (disgraced but not enough) former two-term Republican Vice-President Richard B. Cheney could run a selection committee sort of thing to find a suitably mature candidate.

Merely having the third female vice-presidential candidate of a major party will be next to worthless against the H.R.C. steamroller. Go big or go home, as the sports cliché goes, & running someone (anyone) who isn't an aging scold/rapacious businessman/both w/ colored hair in an expensive suit could be a big move. We were onto Sarah Palin before most of you; you may just have read it here first.

Not that we have binders of Republican women in the WEB OF EVIL bunker. It's been noted that prominent women, office holders or not, are, for whatever reasons, few & far between in the Republican paddock.

Superstar lady Senators? Damning w/ faint praise, Kelly Ayotte hasn't said anything remarkably idiotic that I can remember. Actually, all I remember of her is that picture w/ John McCain & Lindsey Graham while war somewhere was being cheered, which just proves she may be bloody-minded enough to be a viable hegemonic candidate.

Murkowski of Alaska? Let's see her finish at least one term before anyone gets any ideas, if you know what I mean. Not to paint any individual or region w/ a broad brush, of course.

Perhaps one of 2010's dynamic lady Republican duo of Electra Woman and Dyna GirlMeg Whitman & Carly Fiorina? (Still schadenfreuding their defeats, four yrs. later.)

O.K. then. Sounded good paragraphs above, but I may be completely wrong; the grass doesn't really seem greener where the Republican fillies are.

Horrid afterthought, & a certain sign of the apocalypse were it to happen: FOXNews on-air personalities? Gretchen Carlson or Megyn Kelly 2016?

Fruit Of The Day

Orange dressed as onion.

Today In Censorship

Bored? (Who isn't? Fuck, how can you stand it?) This should distract you for a few seconds: Go to Wonkette, type the word "AdBlock" into a comment box & hit submit.

Ha ha, funny huh? And to think I was offering a solution to the ingrates there bitching about the fucking adverts.

I'd love to see the Wonkette list of banned words they program their Nazi robot "administrator" (Robot Nazi admin.?) to toss down the memory hole.

By the way, WEB OF EVIL allows virtually anything in its mostly deserted comments section, while absolving itself (a limited liability corporation) of any responsibility for what jerks type there. So leave your comments here, where the deleting's done by humans, as Gawd intended, not by Nazi book-burning robots.

P.S.: Before I'd even finished this mess Intense Debate Notifications notified:

REDACTED replied to your comment on Hi! How About All Y'all Stop Yelling At Me About The Ads? A Message From Your Editrix/Wonkette:
Probably. And if it disappeared the moment you hit post it was automated. You simply used one of the verboten magic words

Uh huh. Intense Debate notified the in-box but it's yet to appear at Wonkette. Also, four hrs. ago "AdBlock Plus" appeared. Twice. Mmmm. They work fast.

Sharing T.M.I.

What a wk.!

All a blur ... Sunday Monday sometime decided I should wash some clothes, realized I'd not gotten a roll o' quarters when purchasing the rent money order, made it to the supermarket Tues. but they had none, Weds. at last got a roll (& while returning to the bunker hoped to encounter someone who deserved being beaten w/ a roll of quarters; no takers though, people are just too damn nice) today sorted & dragged a load to the laundry room to find it closed "temporarily," w/ no indication when it will be open, or why it's not.

This followed the iNternet going out as I was sending a cranky e-mail somewhere. After resetting & then cold-booting the modem to no avail a fucking 'phone call to a non-humanoid robot at TimeWarnerCable was required before service was restored. A call made on the WEB OF EVIL mobile 'phone, I might note, as the fucking TimeWarner 'phone doesn't work when the modem dies for no apparent reason.

How much more can one individual be made to suffer? How many more nails must be driven into this wretched old body before the rat bastards are sure I'm firmly attached to this cross? (Which appears to be a cross of gold, I should note.)

Today In G.O.P. Politics & Policies

On the outside chance there hasn't yet been enough evidence, legal & otherwise, that mere attempts at voting these fascist bastards out are almost guaranteed to fail & so won't be nearly enough to preserve the pseudo-democracy Americans get so excited about for no discernable reason, we quote from today's Tampa Bay Times:

TALLAHASSEE — In a ruling released late Thursday, Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis blasted the Republican establishment that created Florida's congressional map, saying they "made a mockery" of transparency, allowed for "improper partisan intent" and he ordered that two of the state's 27 districts drawn in 2012 violate the Fair District standards.

[...]

Lewis blasted the role of the political consultants saying "they made a mockery of the Legislature's transparent and open process of redistricting" while "going to great lengths to conceal from the public their plan and their participation in it.

"They were successful in their efforts to influence the redistricting process and the congressional plan under review here," he wrote. "And they might have successfully concealed their scheme and their actions from the public had it not been for the Plaintiffs determined efforts to uncover it in this case."

He concluded, however, that the circumstantial evidence proved that the political operatives "managed to find other avenues ... to infiltrate and influence the Legislature." He drew no conclusions that legislative leaders were aware of the scheme, but he noted that legislative leaders destroyed almost all of their emails and other documents related to redistricting, as did the political operatives.

"There is no legal duty on the part of the Legislature to preserve these records, but you have to wonder why they didn't,'' he wrote. "Litigation over their plans was 'a moral certainty' as their lawyers put it earlier in the case, and intent would be a key issue in any challenge."

[...]

Lewis also concluded that the trail of emails and secret documents, which GOP operatives fought to keep out of the record, proved that "Republican political consultants or operatives did in fact conspire to manipulate and influence the redistricting process.

"They accomplished this by writing scripts for and organizing groups of people to attend the public hearings to advocate for adoption of certain components or characteristics in the maps, and by submitting maps and partial maps through the public process, all with the intention of obtaining enacted maps for the State House and Senate and for Congress that would favor the Republican Party."

Damnit, where the hell was Judge Lewis when the Republicans were stealing the 2000 presidential election?

D'esperate D'ipshit

Pled-guilty convicted liar & future Federal Prison bitch (fingers crossed) Dinesh D'Souza showed his shameless face on telebision today, then worsened it by opening his peculiar looking mouth & emitting mostly disconnected words therefrom.

Obvious mental problems (The colonized person's version of Stockholm Syndrome, for one.) but he really just seems bizarrely stupid & pathetically desperate to say anything bad he can fabricate about decent human beings. And Hillary Ratbag Clinton. (Wasn't she a Goldwater Girl in high school? How'd she get so involved w/ the mysterious SAUL ALINSKY?!?)Is D'Ouche in Las Vegas looking for more skanky women half his age? Or just straight up looking for hookers?

And, confusing argument:

On MSNBC's "The Ed Show," Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson asked D'Souza whether he thought liberals unfairly criticize wealthy Americans.

D'Souza responded with a confusing argument about how he thinks progressives have attacked immigrants.
"I think the progressive attack always pretends to be against the 1 percent, and it's against the immigrants because when you look at this critique, you stole the country from the Indians," he said. "You stole half of Mexico in the Mexican war. Wait a minute, that wasn't the top 1 percent. And they were living in handsome mansions and cottages, and it's poor settlers who went out West and they defeated the Indians and the Mexican war."

How is this fuck anything resembling an intellectual?

Why Bother?

No False Choices: To Preserve A Livable Climate, We Need To Slash Both CO2 And Methane ASAP

Why in hell should we "preserve a livable climate?" Are you all masochists? A "livable" climate just means more mutant humanoid morons. No thank you.

The Future of B-B-Q

Spicy? Could be.

A discussion of local barbecue spots leads to this conclusion:

And if you live in this area and you crave hot 'n' spicy, don't listen to me at all. The fellow who owns Porky's told me a few years ago that he felt the whole culture of barbecue was heading in that direction and the Big Mister who runs Bigmista's seconded that opinion. If they're right, I probably won't be eating a lot of BBQ in the future. If you feel as I do, maybe we'd better enjoy it while we can.

I'm not opposed to hot & spicy stuff, but there's a limit. Relax, thrill seekers.

In nostalgia, author Evanier mentions Dr. Hogly-Wogly's Tyler Texas Barbeque. ("But the business changed hands or suppliers or something and … well, my last three visits there were a crapshoot.") Never visited (It's in the Valley somewhere. C'mon.)  but I do miss their cheesy only-on-Channel 13 commercials ('70s through the '80s sometime?) w/ the guy w/ the ridiculously deep voice. Too bad they don't have any of the adverts on their page.

Flamin Groovies

☜ From the "underground."
More selected highlights at
The Golden Age.

(Golden Age? How the hell'd I miss that?)

H.N.I.C.

"Business leaders" (English: Putrid scum.) have a we're-running-low-on-indentured-servants-so-pass-some-immigration-reform press event in some place called Waukesha, in the Cannibal State*.

But things got kinda of [sic] weird when a local developer named Dagoberto Ibarra got up to make an impassioned speech which ended with him saying "I'm not seeing anybody doing anything. This is the most useless Congress in the last eight years, because a nigger is in charge."

No "niggers" in charge of Congress, you fucking ignorant Spanish-surnamed moron. Someone check his papers. Schnell!!

The local fish-wrapper of record quotes organizers of the event:

"Orville (Seymer, of the conservative group Citizens for Responsible Government) asked him to help assist us by being part of the backdrop for the visual," said George Klaetsch, a member of the Partnership for a New Economy, an immigration reform group founded by former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg

Klaetsch and Seymer, who both spoke at the news conference, had appeared nervous when Ibarra approached the microphone.

"The first four minutes of his speech were genuine, but his comments at the end were unplanned and unnecessary," Klaetsch said after the news conference.

Dollars to dough-nuts "nigger nigger nigger" was the most genuine thing Dagoberto said all day, protestations to the contrary.

---

*Two names, four words: Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer. (Not bad for a state of less than six million.)

Two+ Hrs. Later

What the hell do they call that, a "shoot-out?' A "kick-off?" Added bonus: Suddenly, explosions in the neighborhood.

Nationalize It!

Tuesday's excellent idea:

Let’s nationalize Amazon and Google:
Publicly funded technology built Big Tech

They're huge and ruthless and define our lives. They're close to monopolies.
Let's make them public utilities.

Right there in the Constitution too:

Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers "To establish Post Offices and post Roads".

Not even a bullshit originalist could dispute the Founders' obvious intention that the gov't., not the profiteers of the private sector, should insure the movement of information, & as cheaply as possible.

Plus which, degenerate tech executives:

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A woman police describe as a high-end prostitute has been arrested on suspicion of murder after allegedly injecting heroin into a tech executive on his yacht in Santa Cruz and leaving him to die when he overdosed. According to the Santa Cruz County jail log, the suspect’s occupation has been listed as a model.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported Tuesday that surveillance video from the boat shows 51-year-old Forrest Timothy Hayes losing consciousness.

Investigators say the suspect, Alix Catherine Tichelman, makes no effort to help him and instead gathers her belongings and even gulps a glass of wine before leaving. Hayes’ body was discovered the next day.

The 26-year-old from Georgia was taken into custody last week after being lured back to Santa Cruz County in a prostitution sting.

She faces charges including second-degree murder.

Police say Tichelman provided heroin for Hayes, a Google executive, while they were aboard the 50-foot yacht.

Return the means of communication to the people. Don't let your money finance heroin & prostitution.

Go Teams!

The whole world is watching. The whole world is watching. The whole world is watching. The whole world is watching.

Robot Of The Day

Four-Nil?

Noisy fucking neighbors reminded us there's a game on.My. Now five-nil & E.S.P.N.'s (Limey) announcers have essentially given up on Brasil although the "match" is but a third over.

Extra Time Again

It's the world's game.

When The Two Sevens Clash

Good version.

Not the only possibilities, either. [Added at 1556PDT.]

A Warm Place To Shit

New infamy for Norfolk, Nebraska, previously best known as the birthplace of Johnny Carson.

WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE

A float with an outhouse and the words “Obama Presidential Library” on it, in the Fourth of July
parade in downtown Norfolk on Friday morning. A member of the parade committee said the float,
which received criticism from a city councilman and the Nebraska Democratic Party, among others,
was the most popular one in the parade.

Long Dull Wknd. Over At Last

America: Eat it or shove it!

What's Worse Than N.A.S.C.A.R.?

N.A.S.C.A.R. during a rain delay. Cheeses. Shut up, you crackers.

Price & Participation May Vary. 20 Oz. Drink.

Thinking JACK IN THE BOX INC.'s ad agency has reached the point of no return w/ the "Late Night" schtick.

Today In Punk-Ass Pigs

Police forces in the Los Angeles area have among the worst records in the country. The Department of Justice concluded last year that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department was systematically and illegally targeting blacks and Latinos, while the Los Angeles Police Department only just ended a decade of close federal monitoring for the same reason. Officers killed an unarmed mentally ill man last year. Yet cops who brutalize rarely face consequences. One month later, cops in nearby Fullerton, CA, were fully acquitted of murder after video caught them beating another mentally ill man, Kelly Thomas, to death.

One of these days the people American society has declared mentally ill will throw off the medications w/ which we've been chained, get together & riot in the fucking streets after another of us has been killed by you allegedly chemically balanced but nonetheless blood-thirsty fucking murderers.

Just last night/wk. I took a ride:

SHERMAN OAKS (CBSLA.com) — A Mercedes Benz driver who the CHP said attempted to ram them on Coldwater Canyon Avenue was shot at Friday evening but not hit.

The officer-involved shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. at Coldwater and Riverside Drive, the CHP said.

Meanwhile, L.A. County's Sheriff's Dep't. is home to six more criminals.

The six Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were convicted today for their part in trying to obstruct a federal grand jury investigation into civil rights abuses and corruption in the jails by then-Sheriff Lee Baca. The grand jury probe remains open as no higher-ups have yet been charged in the conspiracy to hide a jail inmate from federal investigators. Sheriff candidate Paul Tanaka is a subject of the investigation, dating from when he was a top official of the department.

Potential indictee/jailbird Tanaka came in second in last month's primary election. Fortunately the leading candidate had 49%. Like to know when the hell resigned-in-disgrace ex-Sheriff Baca will face some charges. More of the same.

One may always trip down Memory Lane w/ another of our excellent local sheriffs, O. County's Richard Carona.

Back to the L.A.P.D., in the last days of May (Takes a while for this sort of thing to receive any notice at all, of course.):

Carlos Ocana, 54, a transient whose friends said he had mental health problems, climbed up a billboard atop the roof of a one-story at 5th and San Pedro streets on May 24, the L.A. Times reports. When LAPD officers and a SWAT team were unable to get him to come down after he had gone down and then back up a ladder, officers shot him with a Taser. According to the officers, they tried to grab him, but he fell to his death and didn't make it onto the airbag they set up for him.

One of these days.

Sidewalk Something

Human male in black w/ tie & gloves (no hat, however) spreading & celebrating at the six points* in humid 90-ish°F temperature, Independence Day 2014.

---

*Bonus local color:

How could you leave out the worst intersection the whole city: the infamous Sunset–Hollywood–Virgil–Hillhurst [And Sunset Drive, dipstick. — M.B.] megillah in Los Feliz/Silverlake. No signage, lots of pedestrians, and absolutely no one knows when it’s their time to make a left hand turn.

Bonus points for being the longest fucking traffic light in the whole city. You literally have time to stop at the light, leave your car, buy a ticket at the Vista, and get back behind the wheel before there's a chance of the light turning.

Almost not kidding; most of the six streets have a left turn light. I've passed several eternities there on every damn corner futilely punching the "cross" button. (Note impatient skater in the top photo.)

Legal Fireworks?

We spit on legal fireworks in the hap'nin parts of town. It doesn't put them out, though.
Via theeastsiderLA, which has more pix.

I was Silver Lake barbeque-ing, & while I've never been in a war zone it absolutely sounded like non-stop artillery in the distance, except when the guy next to next door shot off two that exploded maybe 35-50 ft. directly above our heads. Then it just sounded like pyrotechnics.

New this yr.: Things that explode & then spin through the sky whistling & screeching like an incoming (movie or telebision) round.

"... the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."

4 July 1939, Old Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York.

Born in the USA!!!!111!!5TWO GREAT ANTI-AMERICAN TUNES FOR YOUR FOURTH OF JULY PARTY*

(If you're having a *Fourth of July Party it may already be too late for you. Check yourself before it's too late.)
The cleverer among the sheep will have a "Losers' Day" celebration & play nothing but Limey music.
They think they're bored? Try living in the heart, belly & colon of the beast, Englishmen.

Pre-Holiday Wknd. Filler

Item composed entirely of iNternet yrs.-old local crap,

Meanwhile, In The "51st State"

Via War in Context, Haaretz columnist Chemi Shalev notes that Israel's Tea Party-equivalents are showing their true colors.

But I am a Jew, and there are scenes of the Holocaust that are indelibly etched in my mind, even though I was not alive at the time. And when I saw the videos and pictures of gangs of right-wing Jewish racists running through the streets of Jerusalem, chanting “Death to the Arabs,” hunting for random Arabs, picking them out by their appearance or by their accents, chasing them in broad daylight, “drooling like hysterical beasts” and then beating them up before the police could arrive – the historical association was automatic. It was the first thing that jumped into my mind. It should have been, I think, the first thing that jumped into any Jew’s mind.

A matter of time before concerned citizens such as our fellow Americans in Murrieta are rousting furriners in the street & lynching I.C.E. detainees, I guess. Nowhere seems immune.

Their inflamed hatred does not exist in a vacuum: it is an ongoing presence, growing by the day, encompassing ever larger segments of Israeli society, nurtured in a public environment of resentment, insularity and victimhood, fostered and fed by politicians and pundits – some cynical, some sincere – who have grown weary of democracy and its foibles and who long for an Israel, not to put too fine a point on it, of one state, one nation and, somewhere down the line, one leader.

Heard of anything like that before? Anywhere?

In the past 24 hours alone, a Facebook Page calling for “revenge” for the killings of the three kidnapped teens has received tens of thousands of “likes,” replete with hundreds of explicit calls to kill Arabs, wherever they are. The one demanding the execution of “extreme leftists” reached almost ten thousand likes within two days. These, and countless other articles on the web and on social media are inundated, today as in most other days, with readers comments spewing out the worst kind of racist bile and calling for death, destruction and genocide.

Today In Inferior Design Today

Phase IV-A

Moving the large shelving unit from the office to the galley allows dishes to pile on the counter instead of the sink, extending time between dishwashing sessions,

& makes the office seem lighter & larger.

Yes cynics, the hinges were reversed; didn't just remove the handles.

Now I have to train myself to reach for the left side, not the right.

Final revision: Decided to restore the bottom handle, mostly for rag-hanging purposes, no matter how aesthetically pleasing the empty white space was. (And will remind me which side to go for.)

Phase IV-B: Final

Waitaminnit; It's Not Over Yet?

Today In Sexual Insecurity

Perry Criticized for Not Wearing Cowboy Boots

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson (R) told the Austin American Stateman that Gov. Rick Perry's (R) decision, based on back pain, to stop wearing cowboy boots was just a "feeble excuse."

Said Patterson: "Tell Rick that boots can be purchased with normal heels. I lament the fact that our governor could now pass for a West Coast metrosexual and has embarrassed us all with his sartorial change of direction."

Two words, cowpoke: Brokeback Mountain.

Little Ricky does like to play dress-up, doesn't he?

(Accidental) Ice Cube Sculpture

Gov. Mucilage* Denies It

We accused, he said he didn't say such thing.[LITERAL TRIGGER WARNING: "Over The Rainbow," per lunatic at (2:23) above. Start at (2:10) for other triggers like "anal rape," "MKUltra," & "Monarch."]

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*Aging wretch at the keyboard: LePage's Mucilage is gone from the naton's desks.

Tea Party: It's All Mental

The "Tea Party" has always seemed to this reporter to be as much mental as it was an organized thing, a crummy attitude expressed in comments across the iNternet, at pointless easily-mocked demonstrations composed mostly of retirees, & (in non-destination states & gerrymandered Congressional districts where there's a preponderance of aging honkie wretches) at the ballot box, so I was glad to see this agreed w/ me.

The key here is to understand the Tea Party as a mind-set, and not a literal movement. When it first began making noise five years ago, many on the left wanted to dismiss the Tea Party as a cynical exercise in astro-turfing, with moneyed right-wing interests bankrolling sham organizations that created the illusion of a grass roots-fueled movement. But the Tea Party, properly understood, is a term that describes the heart of the modern Republican base – people with similar cultural anxieties and economic grievances and the same deep distrust of Washington and hostility toward entrenched power.

And since 2009 their political energy has been directed both at fighting President Obama and at waging a purity campaign within the Republican Party. That intra-party aspect stems from the Tea Party’s understanding of how what to them is the most traumatic political development in the recent past – Obama’s election in 2008 – came about. For this, they blame George W. Bush and the Republicans who stood with him last decade as he enacted his “compassionate conservative” agenda. To the Tea Party, a direct line can be drawn from Bush’s fiscal profligacy and expansion of government (new prescription drug entitlement, expanded federal role in education, a brand-new Cabinet-level department) to the collapse of the economy and the rise of an anti-Republican mood that lifted Obama to victory in ’08 and handed him massive congressional majorities.

This reading of history is absolutely critical to understanding the Tea Party mind-set. It is driven by a belief that Bush and the GOP establishment betrayed conservative principles and gave Americans the wrong idea of what conservatism is – and that Americans therefore ended up falling prey to the false promises of Obama and the left. By this logic, only by ridding the GOP of establishment-types can the Tea Party restore the good name of conservatism, win back power and prevent another Obama nightmare from ever happening again.

Then, in those last two paragraphs, I actually "got" something I'd been missing these five yrs. of T.P.-ing. (Wotta maroon.)

Not that I pay close attention to anything, but the "If only we'd run a conservative candidate" whine never made sense to me (Don't they read the po — never mind, they're all "skewed!") until Kornacki explicitly connected the "George Bush, not a 'real' conservative" narrative w/ it. I suppose I missed the connection for these five yrs. of reactionary idiocy because the idea that G.W. Bush had somehow given these United Snakes the "wrong" idea about conservatism is one step too far into the Bizarro World even for me.

How delusional are these people? Is self-delusional redundant here?

"BIG" GAME LIVE WEB LOG!!

You've got to be shitting me: Another 30 mins. of this? And who knows how much longer if it's nil-nil then?

Knockout stage? KNOCKOUT GAME! Of course it's all connected.

The United Snakes Mens Nat'l. Team can't even score on Belgium?

Everything here is a question?

Science Gone Too Far

(Almost) Actual Beatlemania Bites Dust

Watched Dick Lester's 1962 Ring-A-Ding Rhythm! on the DVR a few nights ago. Now, a re-issue/re-master/re-release/all-of-the-above of Lester's Hard Day's RutNight. (There are no coincidences.)

The four members of the Beatles hold a press conference
at an undetermined location ca. 1964. (AP Photo) #

Bigger picture (tl;dr, i.e.) musings on it, "A Hard Days Night and Beatlemania: The West's Last Outbreak of Optimism Disease" (a Rushdie-ism) here.

"Disease of Optimism" in-fucking-deed. And perspective for the awful Boomers:

... the phenomenon we know as "The Sixties" was a piddling thing compared to its world-historical granddaddy: The revolutionary tide that swept Europe periodically from 1789 to 1848, which began with the Bastille's fall and ended with Karl Marx's invention of communism ...

Sorry Tom Carson's leaving his American Prospect gig, but everything turns to shit eventually; what else can be said?

If there's a more rhapsodic 20th-century sight than teenage girls ululating their heads off as John, Paul, George and Ringo play, I don't know what it might be. And by way of postscript, there are worse subjects than this one—a movie that helped make it possible for the likes of me to have careers mulling pop culture's wonders—to say goodbye with. "Well, that happened," as Alec Baldwin immortally said in David Mamet's State And Main, and the Prospect and I are going our separate ways.

-30-

Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of Another

Planet continues spinning on axis, rotating around sun; six months pass like nothing ... maybe if there were more seasons than humid/not-as-humid it would feel as if something has happened ...