November 2017 - Orion's Cold Fire

Trump vs Justice Kennedy

November 30, 2017November 30, 2017 photog Current Events, Humor, Trump Humor, Justice Kennedy, SCOTUS, Trump

Scene 1: White House, West Wing

President Trump (PT) – Mike, Mike! Where the hell are you Pence?

Vice President Pence (VPP) – I’m right here (under his breath) as always.

PT – Good. Look Mike I need to talk to Kennedy.

VPP – Supreme Court Justice Kennedy?

PT – Well obviously I don’t mean dead Teddy. Yeah, Justice Kennedy. I need to advance my agenda and since Congress is hopeless, a new SCOTUS appointment feels like the right thing. Summon him to my office and make it snappy.

VPP – Mr. President, you can’t summon a supreme court justice, no one can.

PT – Well then ask him to lunch at the White House.

VPP – Certainly, when would you like to meet with him?

PT – Today.

VPP – But suppose he’s already scheduled for a meeting or a case?

PT – Pence, come on man! Show me something here. I’m starting to think I should have replaced you with Lying Ted. Alright, have it your way. Ask him when he can come.

VPP – What should I tell him is the subject of the meeting?

PT – Pastrami and corned beef.

VPP – What?

PT – We will be discussing the finer points of New York Deli sandwiches. That should get him.

VPP – Yes Mr. President.

Scene 2: Two Weeks Later, White House Dining Room

PT – Well Tony, do you want anymore sauerkraut on that plate or maybe the potato salad.

Justice Kennedy (JK) – No thank you Mr. President. I couldn’t eat another thing.

PT – Please Tony call me Don. All my friends do. Well, except the ones I don’t like.

JK – Okay Donnie.

PT – Just Don. Let’s keep things friendly here.

JK – Sure Don, sure.

PT – Okay. So, you’re probably wondering why I called you in for this meeting. I mean in addition to the salted cured meats.

JK – Can I guess it has something to do with my retirement?

PT – Bingo. See you’re a smart guy. You know what’s what.

JK – Well Don, I hope you’re not going to try to convince me to retire before I’m ready.

PT – Nonsense, I would never try to force anyone to do anything he wasn’t ready to.

JK – Good Don, because it would just spoil our friendship.

PT – Right, right, sure. Say I was just wondering do you do much golfing?

JK – No Don, I don’t. I’m more of a yoga kind of guy.

PT – Oh yoga, sure, sure of course, very, um, interesting.

JK – I like that and modern expressionistic dance.

PT – …, hmm … dance you say.

JK – Yes it’s one of my great passions.

PT – You a married man, Tony?

JK – Don, I’ve been married to the same wonderful woman for more than fifty years.

PT – So, Tony does your wife share your … passion for dance.

JK – Oh, far from it. She thinks it’s a silly thing for a man to do. She’s very old fashioned that way. Not a free spirit like me, Don.

PT – Yeah, I’m starting to get the picture. So, Tony, I was wondering if you know that Trump Resorts for Retirees includes several very prestigious locales that you might find … interesting.

JK – Where for instance?

PT – Well, South Beach, Provincetown, Fire Island.

JK – Those are all gay havens.

PT – Are they? I didn’t know.

JK – Of course you do. What are you implying?

PT – I’m not implying anything.

JK – You think I’m gay! Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

PT – Of course not, it’s nobody’s business whether you’re gay or bi.

JK – I’m not bi!

PT – Tony, calm down. No one’s saying you’re gay or bi or anything for that matter. I’m just wondering.

JK – Well, stop wondering. I’m 100% straight. Not that there would be anything wrong if I weren’t.

PT – Of course not. Well I’m glad we got that straightened out.

JK – Right.

PT – So, Tony, you may not be aware but several of Trump Resorts properties have clothing optional sunbathing.

JK – Really? That seems very strange. Which ones?

PT – Oh, let me check this brochure. Well, by a strange coincidence, South Beach, Provincetown and Fire Island.

JK – Okay, I’m outta here.

PT – But Tony, I wasn’t implying anything.

JK – And that’s another thing stop calling me Tony, Mr President.

PT – If you insist Tony.

JK – And for your information I intend to serve on the bench until I’m one hundred and eleven! Good day! (leaves in a huff).

PT – …hmmm… (speaking into an intercom) Mike summon Justice Booth Gator Beanbag or whatever her name is for lunch tomorrow.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog? I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like. If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below. I think it might be interesting.

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Trump vs the Unemployables

November 29, 2017November 29, 2017 photog Current Events, Humor, Trump #metoo, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Trump, Trump vs

Scene 1: White House Oval Office Wednesday, 10 a.m.

President Trump (PT) – Mike, Mike! Where the hell are you Pence?

Vice President Pence (VPP) – Right here as usual Mr. President (sigh).

PT – Look Mike, Unemployment is at historic lows but there is one demographic that isn’t benefiting from the fantastic Trump economy.

VPP – Gee, Mr. President, I haven’t heard this report. Which demographic are we discussing.

PT – The anti-Trump demographic. You know, Hollywood, the MSM and Washington. I mean look at this list. Matt Lauer, George H.W. Bush, Chris Savino, Roy Price, Mark Halperin, Michael Oreskes, Lockhart Steele, Bret Ratner, Dustin Hoffman, Louis C.K., Woody Allen, Charlie Rose, Al Franken, John Conyers, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, James Toback, Ben Affleck and Glenn Thrush. It’s an endless list of my loser enemies.

VPP – Well sir, is it really a priority to find jobs for such obviously wealthy individuals?

PT – You’re missing the point Mike. These cheap bastards are probably already signed up for food stamps and Obamacare. We can’t let them free-ride on the backs of decent working Americans. I will address this on prime-time television tonight. Get my speech writers in here right away.

VPP – Yes Mr. President.

Scene 2: Same Day, 8pm, White House, Oval Office, President seated behind desk and surrounded by audio-visual equipment.

PT – Good evening my fellow Americans. I know I’ve pre-empted Big Bang Theory or whatever it is you watch now but I need your attention, so put the bong down and try to focus.

I know you are all aware of the almost endless list of #metoo pervs. What you may not be aware of is that almost everyone of them are my personal enemies. Well anyway, I’ve decided that I shouldn’t waste an opportunity. With all these scumbags out of work and fighting enormous lawsuits I have decided to promote a new program FEET. That stands for full employment for the enemies of Trump. You see the “for,” “the” and “of” aren’t included in the acronym. That’s pretty standard.

So how it will work is that in exchange for the federal government paying off their lawsuits and keeping them out of prison they’ll be interned at a work camp in North Dakota for five years. There they’ll spend their days providing power for the oil derricks. I don’t have any real information yet but I’m imagining they’ll be chained to a big wheel like that one that Arnold Schwarzenegger was turning in Conan the Barbarian. That would be kind of cool and the walking around in a circle gives the whole FEET thing a tie-in. And they’ll spend their nights cleaning toilets and spittoons in the shale oil patch saloons and strip joints. And I’ve given the proprietors of those establishments specific instructions if any of our boys gets out of hand with the ladies there. Let’s just say there will be some trans-gendering that won’t have to be paid for by the federal government, if you take my meaning. And finally, as a condition of their service they will have to take 5,000 hours of Trump harassment training. Utilizing the latest advances in high voltage aversion training techniques they will truly learn to love the “Dear Leader” as my short fat North Korean friend would phrase it.

Okay, that’s all, you can light up another bowl of weed now. But for pity’s sake go to work tomorrow. We’re trying to make America great again. Do something! Trump out.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

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An Old Guy Reconsiders Ecclesiastes

November 28, 2017November 29, 2017 photog Current Events eat drink and be merry, Ecclesiastes, hevel, King James Version, Solomon, The Bible, The Old Testament

I’m not an intensely religious man. I ponder the questions of who, what, how and why in much the same way I imagine men always have. But I do read the Bible and I have my favorite passages. In the Old Testament I gravitate to Ecclesiastes 9:7 to 9:10.

The King James Version translates it thus:

7Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

8Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

9Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Now something in verse nine always bothered me. “All the days of the life of thy vanity.” So, Solomon says our lives and our happiness and our loves and our families are in vain?

I dug a little deeper and found that the Hebrew word being translated as vanity is “hevel.” The root meaning of hevel I have read, is “mere breath.” And the connotation is insubstantial, ephemeral. That makes a little more sense. Life is ephemeral. We have a thousand versions of this. “Time flies, “life is short,” “ars longa vita brevis,” etc., etc., etc.

I felt better about that. I retranslated that passage:

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the fleeting days of thy life, which he hath given thee under the sun, all thy fleeting days:

That’s better. So, that’s how I became a biblical scholar. The pay is non-existent but I imagine the big guy up there will appreciate me straightening out the English language version of his book. So, I’ve got that going for me which is nice.

But I was still disturbed by the negative vibe of all this ephemeral talk. Was Solomon trying to bum us out? In fact, the whole book of Ecclesiastes was a giant downer. Here’s a guy who’s got everything in the world. He’s got gold, silver and bronze literally piled up to the sky. He’s got wives and concubines to the extent that he probably was considering a vow of chastity just to save his own life. He’s blessed by God with matchless wisdom and a mighty nation that views his word as law. He should be the happiest man on earth. Why is he griping about everything under the sun?

It’s because he sees the end of the road. He sees his own death on the horizon. In other words, he’s old.

And now I’m old and I understand. You see all the things you should have done or shouldn’t have done and you’re filled with regret and anger at yourself. And since Solomon knows himself to be the wisest man on earth he sees it as his part to tell the rest of us to stop chasing all the meaningless stuff like gold and silver and empires and just eat our bread, drink our wine and love our wives for as long as we’re allowed.

Now I no longer see Ecclesiastes as a depressing work. I see it as a friendly signpost to the rest of us to cut to the chase and take care of the things that have actual meaning. Keeping healthy with food that is good, enjoying the simple pleasures of life and loving your wife and your family. And don’t waste time. Time is short. Use it. So that’s why my articles are short too. I’ve got most of today off and I intend to have some fun. Have a great day.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

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11/26/2017 Update on the Website Political Census

November 26, 2017November 29, 2017 photog Current Events

Well, the census (or poll) continues to inch along at a snail’s pace. I guess I should be more sympathetic to people holding their cards close to the vest but I am curious and it is all for science! Well, maybe really more like my curiosity. But the sample size is at least reaching some semblance of statistical significance. And right along with that the breakdown is becoming more aligned with the political tenor of the site. Conservatives and their kin now are a slight majority of all voters here. Next most numerous are libertarians and their sub-groups. And finally, there are less aligned groups. More left leaning folks. We even have two Bernie Bros. which I found interesting. Here are the results as of now:

Conservative 12
Moderate 4
Liberal 2
Alt-Right 0
Civic Nationalist 0
Traitionalist 1
Progressive 0
Alt-Lite 0
Alt-West 2
Dissident Right 1
Libertarian 5
Reactionary 0
Neo-Reactionary 0
Nationalist 2
Human Biodiversity Adherent 0
Dark Enlightenment Adherent 1
Ayn Randian 1
Ron Paul Follower 1
Bernie Bro 2

Total 34

So that’s the update. I haven’t decided whether I’ll continue to tack it on the bottom of the posts or maybe pin it on the site somewhere easy to find. I’ll make up my mind soon. I found it interesting and a little bit comforting. I mean I don’t mind being among like-minded individuals but a little bit of ideological latitude makes for livelier discussions. I mean, an echo chamber can be a little boring.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

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Woo-Hoo!!! I Is Bona Fide – American Greatness Published My Article

November 25, 2017November 26, 2017 photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews, Trump American Greatness, Angelo Codevilla, OCF, Orion's Cold Fire, Publius Decius Mus, red pill, red-pilled normie

The good folks at American Greatness have gone temporarily insane and published an article by an anonymous troll calling himself “photog.” Said troll claims to run a website called Orion’s Cold Fire and for his theme chose “Defining the Space Between Never-Trump and the Alt-Right.” The article is overheated and borderline psychotic but I’ll leave it to you to judge the merits of the argument, such as it is.

Excuse me. I have the inexplicable desire to shoot off some fireworks in the yard. Life is good.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

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Ryan Bingham’s “Mescalito” – A Very Short Country Music Review

November 25, 2017November 25, 2017 photog Country Music Reviews, Music Reviews, Reviews country music, southwest, springsteen influence

Ryan Bingham is one of these new country singer/songwriters who sing about life and drugs and stuff. There’s a definite southwestern flavor to a number of the songs and one song even features a Spanish lyric or two (Borachio Station). My opinion of the songs varies from very good to meh. For me the standout song is Bread and Water. It’s got a sort of hard driving beat with banjos and guitars telling the story of a trek across the southwest. The other songs vary in style and feeling going from traditional to more modern feels. For me Southside of Heaven and Long Way from Georgia are the best of the rest. Interestingly there’s a definite Springsteen influence detectable on the vocals of some songs. I’m not sure if this is a positive or a negative for me.

If you want, listen to Bread and Water. If you don’t like that song, then in my opinion don’t bother with the rest. If you do then maybe Bingham might be interesting to you. So that’s my read.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

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Exciting News For Orion’s Cold Fire

November 22, 2017September 26, 2022 photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews American Greatness, Cucks to the left of me Hitler to the right here I am stuck in the middle with who?", OCF, Photog, red-pilled normie

American Greatness is gonna publish a new post of mine on their site. I’m very excited to be in some pretty remarkable company. Michael Anton, Angelo Codevilla and Victor Davis Hanson wrote essays last year that summed up where I felt I was in the political world. I am thrilled that I’ll have the chance to add my own humble words to those of much abler writers. I’ve been told it’ll appear on Friday. * And the byline will of course be “photog.” It’s basically my take on what it’s like to be a “red-pilled normie.” Or as I jokingly paraphrase Gerry Rafferty, “Cucks to the left of me, Hitler to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with who?”

Come by and leave a comment of support (or protest, all publicity is good).

* UPDATE – Oooops I guess something changed. I’ll let you know when I hear from those folks. Maybe they meant next Friday.

And they published it. https://amgreatness.com/2017/11/25/defining-the-space-between-nevertrump-and-the-alt-right/

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

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Tyler Childers’ Purgatory – A Country Music Review

November 22, 2017November 23, 2017 photog Country Music Reviews, Music Reviews, Reviews Appalachia, Colter Wall, country music, Tyler Childers

I heard of Tyler Childers by seeing his name as the accompanying singer on Colter Wall’s song Fraulein. Since I liked the sound of his voice on that song, I looked him up (on Amazon.com of course!) and saw that he had a few albums. I ordered his most recent one (Purgatory) and gave it a listen. It’s really very good.

BEGIN RANT – But what the hell is it with these Millennials and drugs? I mean, almost every song is saturated with dope, cocaine and pills. Understand, I know artists always adopt a bohemian outlook on substance abuse but it seems this guy is continuously stoned. How does he manage to write and practice his music with most of his brain soaked with opioids or worse? And if he isn’t really that much of a stoner why are his songs so filled with them? Is it just required from his generation? I grew up in the seventies and drug use was rampant back then but I don’t know, this seems even more exaggerated. – END RANT

So, putting the whole drug thing aside (dirty hippies), I like this Childers guy’s music. Lots of interesting instrumental stuff, good vocals, good story telling. All of the songs are good but if I have to pick a few favorites I’ll go with :

I Swear to God
Purgatory
Honky Tonk Flame

There seems to be a generation of Country musicians who you don’t hear on the radio but play very original stuff that’s more closely related to traditional country music than most of the commercial country you hear on the radio. I wonder if the drug content in the songs is keeping these guys off the radio? Well, whatever it is they are producing good music. I just won’t be playing it around my grandkids. And get off my lawn!!!

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

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American Greatness Suggestion for Today – Never Mind Trumpism, What is Deplorablism by Victor Davis Hanson

November 20, 2017November 23, 2017 photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews, Reviews american exceptionalism, American Greatness, Trump

Victor Davis Hanson has a very well written analysis of the actual significance of Trump’s agenda vs. what the left and Never-Trumpers and even some Trump followers think it is. As usual give Hanson a few sentences to get around to his point. He likes to paint a picture and this can sometimes make you think he’s going the wrong way. Hanson is a very smart guy but also very grounded. I liked the article a lot.

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves. This is the post the poll came from Who Are We?

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]

November Vegetation in New England

November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 photog Photography Minolta 200mm f\4 macro, mushroom, New England Autumn, November Vegetation, Sony, Sony 35mm f/2.8 lens, Sony A7 cameras, Sony A7S, wild cherry

Here are some photos I took in the last week or two. Already all the more colorful leaves are now completely gone. The hard frost last week took care of that. The days are short and I’m looking forward to the Holidays to distract me until January. Then I can remind myself the days are getting longer, as I shovel that February snow.

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