DNC after-thought

Last week, retired Marine General John Allen appeared before the Democratic National Convention to endorse Hillary Clinton.

Kinda weird the DNC had to pick a general with his own past email scandal.

And Democrats say Trump's reckless?

Selective coverage

National media this morning headlines shootings in Austin, Texas where someone was killed, four others were wounded overnight. National media ignores Chicago, where two were killed, 21 others wounded in shootings since yesterday afternoon.

Weapons stolen from U.S. military base

Officials are mum on details, but Stars and Stripes reports guns and possibly other weapons have been stolen from a U.S. military base in Germany.

No additional bear sightings in the last 24 hours...

But a good looking buck welcomed me home after a run to the store last night.

Today's "Don and Doug" available for replay

Good webcast today with Don as we assessed his earlier predictions regarding the now completed Democratic Party's national convention. Thanks to those who listened live, and to those who participated via chatroom and phone calls.

Morning visitor

Just had a visitor. Didn't have my camera on me when he was closest, but a handsome young black bear just strolled through the cabin's back yard. (And yes, he may be a she for all I know).

Appears the local cub is now on his own. This guy didn't make a sound as he passed, I just happened to walk out on the deck at the right time to see him.

If he heard or saw me, he didn't panic. He just kept strolling along.

The reactionary wave

"Trump isn't running a campaign, he's running an open source insurgency (see my earlier article on this) that makes him nearly immune to personal attack, and it is working.  He has secured a whopping 7 points (47 to 40) lead over Clinton in a recent national poll by the LA Times/USC -- despite the fact that nearly EVERYONE in the media, academic, government, and political establishment is working against him.  This loss of control has infuriated the establishment, leading to increasing levels of paranoia, hyperbole, and anger (particularly in the media).  In short, the establishment is starting to act increasingly like Trump does -- exaggerating and amplifying everything." - John Robb, writing at Global Guerillas

Morning coffee making got complicated

Bought whole bean coffee by accident. For morning coffee, I could either go to the store for a grinder, or return to the grocery and buy ground coffee...

Or come up with some alternative to crush enough beans to brew a pot...

Time consuming, but pliers worked reasonably well. One must adjust coffee levels, however. Cracked beans brew weaker than ground coffee.

I continue to be amazed...

Via Twitter:

Crowd chanting "USA! USA!" Delegate in front of me stands up and yells, "Stop that! That's a Trump chant!" #DNCinPHL

— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) July 28, 2016

Conflicted and contradictory, at best

Four quotes that the Wall Street Journal lifted from two other papers:

Two Papers in One!—I 

“Two decades after the end of the cold war, Mitt Romney still considers Russia to be America’s ‘No. 1 geopolitical foe.’ His comments display either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics. Either way, they are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender.”—editorial, New York Times, March 29, 2012 

“Regardless of whether Mr. Putin is out to help Mr. Trump, voters would be right to question the judgment of a candidate who has shown so much admiration for such a dangerous adversary.”—editorial, New York Times, July 27, 2016

Two Papers in One!—II 

“And [Romney’s] unscripted moments have not inspired confidence: calling Russia America’s greatest foe, for example.”—editorial, Washington Post, Oct. 25, 2012 

“This pro-Kremlin tilt is unprecedented in the Republican Party and would represent a radical and dangerous shift in U.S. policy.”—editorial, Washington Post, July 26, 2016

I guess the bottom line: Whatever position is taken by Republicans, there are those in major media who feel compelled to denounce it.

Perhaps it's done more out of habit than anything else.

Was it really so "dark"?

Was Trump's speech last week really so "dark", or did it just clash with a Democrat agenda that media wants you to swallow without question?

Via  Rob Morse's Slow Facts

H/T: David Codrea on Facebook

Cargo shorts for concealed carry

For concealed carry, I especially like the cut of these Croft and Barlow cargo shorts available at Kohl's.

Note that the outer front pocket is placed directly over the larger inner front pocket. When carrying a small pistol in the inner pocket, the outer pocket helps to break up or conceal the gun's printing. And if you do get get some printing, it's easy to slide a piece of cardboard or some other object into the front pocket to further obscure any pistol print.

No, these pockets won't work for large or many medium frame handguns. But for summer carry of something like a Kel-Tec P-32 or maybe a Ruger LCP, carried in a Desantis Nemesis pocket holster, I I think these particular cargo shorts are hard to beat.

I've typically bought shorts like these "on sale" at Kohl's for around 15 bucks.

CNN's post RNC poll

Heck of a pop for Trump in the latest CNN polling. Especially among independent voters in this post-RNC/pre-DNC time frame.

From CNN:

Trump's new edge rests largely on increased support among independents, 43% of whom said that Trump's convention in Cleveland left them more likely to back him, while 41% were dissuaded. Pre-convention, independents split 34% Clinton to 31% Trump, with sizable numbers behind Johnson (22%) and Stein (10%). Now, 46% say they back Trump, 28% Clinton, 15% Johnson and 4% Stein.

Interesting. When I was reading the story, a video popped up on CNN.com with what struck me as a decidedly anti-Trump story with clips from Hillary Clinton campaign ad. Clinton lectures that Trump's a "bad role model for children."

Did CNN deliberately place a video story to counter the message of its polling story?

Does the Hillary Clinton campaign have the audacity to claim its candidate is a better role model?

Idiocracy in action

Still think we haven't entered into a an era of full Idiocracy?

Only thing missing here is President Camacho restoring order with a full-auto burst.


H/T: Sipsey Street

Who watched the Republican convention?

I've read news reports, and seen some clips, but I've watched none of the live coverage of the Republican convention. First time I've completely skipped watching at least some since... well, I don't exactly remember if I watched in 1960 since I was three at the time. But I've watched at least some live coverage every election cycle since until now.

Fact is, if the Republican can blow a great opportunity, they will.

The petty egos of those in the party establishment refuse to make amends with the people.

The nation is unraveling under the Obama agenda to fundamentally change  America.  The saddest part is, for nearly seven years, the Republican Party has been in a position to either stop or slow the orchestrated unraveling but was too cowardly or otherwise unwilling to do so.

I'm not expecting miracles at this point.

I fully expect more dire times lay ahead.

Opening up

Finally to the point that there's enough clear space and enough direct sunlight that I get a tan while working on the grounds outside cabin.

Unity? Lefties don't want no stinkin' unity.

"Did Obama try unity? Of course not – he divided Americans into the good ones who agree with him and us bad ones who refuse to kneel and bow. Leftists don’t want unity and they don’t want peace. Community organizers succeed when they divide; they need discord and hate to survive. Understand that all this discord and hate is not a bug. To them, it is a feature." - Kurt Schlichter, writing at Townhall.com

It's a good article.

But let me add my own postscript:

Frikkin' GOP leadership still seems stuck on the idea they can surrender their way out of what's unfolding, either failing to see, or failing to acknowledge their appeasement is as much responsible for bringing us to to the brink as the actions of those who intended it to happen.

They blew him up

"If that's not enough the shooter in Dallas was cornered -- "treed" if you will, isolated in a parking garage from which he could not escape.  Rather than wait him out and arrest him, then go through this entire pesky "due process" thing including a trial and sentence even though he was not presently shooting at anyone the police instead mounted a bomb on a robot and blew him up.  You got that folks?  Yeah, he was obviously guilty as hell but if you catch someone having just killed your daughter and he's cornered in your shed, either out of ammo or choosing not to shoot at that time, you cannot blow the shed up rather than arrest him!  Due process of law?  What's that?" - Karl Denninger, writing at Market Ticker.


If bomb laden robots are now okay, what other new weaponry might police next consider adding to their inventory?

Remember the good old days of America, perhaps less than a generation ago, when police deemed a five or six round revolver, and maybe a shotgun, as sufficient armament to meet most any threat?

Weekend in the mountains

Moving on to cutting bigger trees near the cabin, so the tree count may not be so impressive.

What's important is I'm getting a clearing buffer that's acceptable. And the view is getting better.

That said, time online, and other outside contact is limited. Limited posting as well.

I have added a budget Roku-equipped smart-TV. Seems to work well (beyond my expectations, anyway) with DSL Internet.

Tonight's entertainment after a day of tree cutting and chopping?

"Flight of the Intruder", streaming on Netflix.

Windows are open. Hard to hear TV dialog over the crickets outside. Very much as I remember summers at grandma's in the hills of Kentucky.

Tomorrow's plan of action?

More trees to down and shred. Maybe rounding up a couple pickup loads of gravel for the driveway.

Thought worth contemplation

"It's easy to see the events in Dallas through a racial prism.  It is harder to see them as the consequences of a political system which relies on keeping people in dependency, in which black Americans are the furthest advanced and therefore the most afflicted. As Mark Blyth, a professor of Political Economy at Brown University put it, the problem is global.  In Europe the Romanians, Spaniards and the Greeks are given the part African Americans must play. Blyth points out that after one creates a class of dependents, the next and inevitable step is to control them." - Richard Fernandez at Pajamas Media

Chopping and chipping

Been splitting my time between home and a cabin we purchased a week ago.

Looked like this when we closed...

Now, six days in...

At least several years (neighbors say closer to six years) worth of underbrush had crept into being. We've cut and chipped a perhaps a hundred small pines, maples and oaks (some with trunk bases of 2 inches or more) to get to where we are now. Probably another hundred or so to go before being done, but those are mostly in the rear.

Still have to walk down the road to get a cell phone signal, but as of today, Internet's up and running at typical DSL speeds.