So I’ll be hanging out with the family today and tomorrow. If I see anything interesting I’ll put it up for discussion. In the meantime enjoy Easter or Druid Human Sacrifice Day if you’re a “Henger.”
Month: March 2018
31MAR2018 – Quote of the Day
The Holy Bible King James Version
The Gospel According to Saint Matthew
Matthew 27
27:1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and
elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
27:2 And when they had bound him, they led him away,
and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple,
and departed, and went and hanged himself.
27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said,
It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
27:7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
27:8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,
saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him
that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
27:10 And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.
27:11 And Jesus stood before the governor:
and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
27:12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
27:13 Then said Pilate unto him,
Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
27:14 And he answered him to never a word;
insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
27:15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
27:16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
27:17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them,
Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
27:18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
27:19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying,
Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have
suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
27:20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude
that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
27:21 The governor answered and said unto them,
Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?
They said, Barabbas.
27:22 Pilate saith unto them,
What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?
They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
27:23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done?
But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made,
he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying,
I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
27:25 Then answered all the people, and said,
His blood be on us, and on our children.
27:26 Then released he Barabbas unto them:
and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall,
and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
27:28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
27:29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head,
and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him,
saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
27:30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
27:31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him,
and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
27:32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene,
Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
27:33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
27:34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall:
and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
27:35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
27:36 And sitting down they watched him there;
27:37 And set up over his head his accusation written,
THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
27:38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him,
one on the right hand, and another on the left.
27:39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
27:40 And saying,
Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
27:41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
27:42 He saved others; himself he cannot save.
If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
27:43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him:
for he said, I am the Son of God.
27:44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
27:47 Some of them that stood there,
when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
27:48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge,
and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
27:49 The rest said,
Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection,
and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
27:54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him,
watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done,
they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
27:55 And many women were there beholding afar off,
which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
27:56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses,
and the mother of Zebedees children.
27:57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph,
who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:
27:58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
27:59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
27:60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock:
and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
27:61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
27:62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation,
the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
27:63 Saying,
Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
27:64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day,
lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people,
He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
27:65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
27:66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
Roseanne is a Trumpite? Well, What Does that Mean?
I was never a Roseanne watcher. Whenever I did see a little bit of the show she was always berating some man for being a man and spouting some kind of blue collar feminism. So I’d switch the channel. Here we are twenty plus years later and Roseanne is rebooting the show to chronicle the later lives of the fictional blue-collar Conners family. And I hear Roseanne is a Trump voter and supporter. And they say her show has attracted eighteen million viewers.
Well, all the entertainment pundits are saying the networks will roll out a bunch of blue collar right-wing Trump loving family shows. Yeah, right. Let’s be real. About a year ago the only slightly positively portrayed right-wing character on television was Tim Allen’s Mike Baxter on Last Man Standing. It was a reasonably popular show. And because Trump was elected the show was cancelled. Do I believe somehow they’ve discovered the error of their ways? No. Whatever Hollywood imagines right-wing blue-collar values are will basically be Hollyweird wearing a ballcap or a cowboy hat. I don’t believe Roseanne Barr is any closer to my beliefs now than she was twenty years ago. The only difference is she has been left behind by the precipitous lurch toward insanity that the left’s leading edge has performed in the last ten years. So Hollywood will churn out shows based on benchmarking “Modern Family” as the new Ozzie and Harriet and “playfully” experiment with the exciting idea that Trump voters are unconsciously ready to embrace trans-bathrooms and indoctrinating small children into sexual perversions.
I look at this breathless discovery of Roseanne’s popularity as the usual two steps forward, one slightly slower step forward that is the default reaction of progressives to right-wing resistance. So if there is any good news in the Roseanne story I guess it’s that they at least still try to make believe they care what we think or what we want to see on TV. Hurray for Hollywood?
30MAR2018 – Quote of the Day
I have a story for this quote source. In the summer of 1972 I was attending summer session at my high school. Being a hopeless nerd, I wanted to skip a grade in math so I was taking Geometry in the summer to allow me to go on to Trigonometry and Analysis in September. This was an all-boys Catholic High School and it was even worse than it sounds. But in summer school they had some girls from the local “sister schools” and so things were actually a little better than during the regular year. There was a girl in the class who liked theater and she proposed a trip to Manhattan to see Shakespeare in the Park (Central Park). Now she probably had no romantic intentions but I was a high school boy so I was willing to take the chance. Anyway, Shakespeare in the Park involved waiting in line on the Great Lawn (which was a shambles back then and hardly a lawn in anything but a geographic sense) for hours while eating a picnic lunch and talking to a rather pretty girl. What’s not to like? The park was overrun with aging dirty hippies selling incense and drug paraphernalia which even to my younger, less-conservative self felt creepy. But it seemed like a fun day at the time. When the show began after sunset I learned that the play was King Lear and the name of the actor playing the title role was James Earl Jones. The name was vaguely familiar (possibly from Dr. Strangelove) and I was interested to see how this spectacle would turn out. Jones did not disappoint. He threw everything but the kitchen sink into his Lear. He stuttered, roared and hissed at his tormentors and cried and moaned through his torment. And during the storm scene the weather proved cooperative. There were several very real cracks of thunder and even a few lightning flashes. Very cool indeed. And after the show we enjoyed the extra thrill of leaving Central Park late at night while somehow avoiding the very real threat of being robbed or worse. Of course, nothing ever panned out with the girl but nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say. And that’s the only time I’ve ever seen or read the play King Lear. But it did leave an impression.
Shakespeare, King Lear Act 5 Scene 3
Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Captain, and others following
KING LEAR
Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I’ld use them so
That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She’s dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
…
KING LEAR
A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
I might have saved her; now she’s gone for ever!
Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
What is’t thou say’st? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
I kill’d the slave that was a-hanging thee.
Captain
‘Tis true, my lords, he did.
KING LEAR
Did I not, fellow?
I have seen the day, with my good biting falchion
I would have made them skip: I am old now,
And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?
Mine eyes are not o’ the best: I’ll tell you straight.
…
KING LEAR
And my poor fool is hang’d! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!
Dies
EDGAR
He faints! My lord, my lord!
KENT
Break, heart; I prithee, break!
EDGAR
Look up, my lord.
KENT
Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him much
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.
EDGAR
He is gone, indeed.
KENT
The wonder is, he hath endured so long:
He but usurp’d his life.
ALBANY
Bear them from hence. Our present business
Is general woe.
To KENT and EDGAR
Friends of my soul, you twain
Rule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.
KENT
I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;
My master calls me, I must not say no.
ALBANY
The weight of this sad time we must obey;
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
Exeunt, with a dead march
Trump vs the Hell Storm (Part 3)
Trump vs the Hell Storm (Part 2)
Dramatis Personae: President Trump – (PT), Vice President Pence – (VPP), Melania Trump – (MT), Jay Leno – (JL)
Scene 1 – Air Force One – Midway between Washington and Los Angeles. President Trump and Vice President Pence. Thursday 2pm EDT.
PT – Mike, it’s go time. The First Lady has left the White House and the Secret Service says she’s going to see a divorce attorney and a really good one too.
VPP – Mr. President, I don’t see what you can do now. You’ll just have to let events take their course.
PT – No mike, no. I must win her back. It would be a crushing blow for the country if I was humiliated in this way.
VPP – Really! That’s what you’re worried about?
PT – Of course, my oath of office is a sacred duty. Surely you understand this.
VPP – Ahhh. Okay sure. Look Mr. President, my advice doesn’t seem to be working for you.
PT – That’s true Mike. So far, you’re batting zero. But you’re very holy and I think you can pull something out of the air for me. What do you know about holy forgiveness stuff.
VPP – Well, I remember from theology class that in the Middle Ages Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV knelt in the snow for three days to get forgiveness from Pope Gregory VII.
PT – Did it work.
VPP – Yes, it did.
PT – But Melania’s not the Pope. She’s a million times hotter looking than the Pope. And that’s not a homophobic thing either, it’s just obvious. So, I don’t think the snow thing is the right angle. But I can work with this. That’s it. I’ll do an Emperor Henry a la Trump.
VPP – I’m sort of afraid to ask how that would look.
PT – Don’t worry. I’ve got this whole thing scoped out. What I need you to do is get the Secret Service to locate these individuals and bring them to Las Vegas.
VPP – Wouldn’t that be kidnapping.
PT – Nonsense they’re all patriotic Americans and will do anything they can to save the country from crippling depression.
VPP – Actually I think these two are Britons.
PT – Close enough.
Scene 2 – Same Day 8pm PDT – Las Vegas, Nevada – Main concert hall of the Trump Casino. The stage is filled with television camera equipment and set up as a bad imitation of the old Jay Leno Tonight Show stage. Sitting in his usual position is Jay Leno (noticeably dressed for auto maintenance) and opposite him on the couch is President Trump in a late 1970s powder blue disco outfit with platform heels and a very large orange afro wig.
JL – And we’re back? Mr. President, I seem to have been kidnapped by the Secret Service. Could you please fill me in on why exactly that is?
PT – Jay, that is completely fake news. You have been enlisted in a very important cause. We live in a very polarized country and only you Jay Leno have the moral authority necessary to broker an honest deal for me.
JL – Well that’s extremely flattering Mr. President but I’m just a comedian. I wouldn’t know how to bring the American and North Korean peoples together on the road to peace. That’s for ambassadors and statesmen.
PT – What are you talking about? I need you to help me apologize to Mrs. Trump for the porn sex thing.
JL – Oh, sure, sure. I’ve been in Hollywood and Las Vegas for decades. That stuff is old hat.
PT – Don’t fool yourself Jay. At heart Melania is an old-fashioned girl. She’s gonna need something special to be won back. I’m pulling out all the stops and I’ll need you on your A-Game.
JL – You can depend on me Mr. President. True love is the greatest force in the world, I think. Either that or nitro afterburners. They’re powerful too.
PT – Focus Jay. I’m about to perform a miracle not seen since the 11th century, an Emperor Henry. Just read the cue cards I’ve provided and I’ll do the rest.
JL – And welcome back to this special broadcast of the Jay Leno show coming live to you from beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. Apparently, I’m your host tonight Jay Leno and we’ll be talking to President Trump about some pretty important but personal matters.
PT – That’s right Jay. I, your President, am able to handle any number of impossible tasks flawlessly and simultaneously all while battling the fake news networks and the treasonous actions of the Deep State and the evil Democrats. But even a man as amazing and wonderful as me sometimes makes a small error. Now I won’t go into details because they are only important to one person, the First Lady, but because I need this message to reach her wherever she is I’ve activated the Emergency Broadcast Service to pre-empt all other television and reach out to her.
JL – That’s truly frightening Mr. President.
PT – Shut up Jay and read your cards.
JL – Sorry. So, Mr. President, is there any significance to your outfit?
PT – Yes Jay. This outfit represents the garb we wore back in 1977. That is the time when the top song in the country was “Baby Come Back” by Player. And I’ve assembled the surviving band members and reunited them here to play their classic hit for Mrs. Trump. And I know once she hears the lyrics and sees my Emperor Henry she’ll realize how important for the country her forgiveness is.
JL – You know, that almost makes sense.
PT – Shut up Jay and introduce the band.
JL – Sorry. And now coming to you direct from a triumphal comeback tour of Princess Cruise Lines Caribbean Delight Program, here they are “Player.”
(several fairly geriatric musicians begin to play a subdued version of Baby Come Back while President Trump adds his own stylings and some disco moves).
Spending all my nights
All my money going out on the town
PT – And that’s a lot of money all right.
Doing anything just to get you off of my mind
But when the morning comes
I’m right back where I started again
Trying to forget you is just a waste of time
Baby come back, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me
PT – That’s right Schmoopey, you can blame it all on me. I’m strong and can take it.
I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you
All day long, wearing a mask of false bravado
Trying to keep up the smile that hides a tear
But as the sun goes down
I get that empty feeling again
How I wish to God that you were here
PT – That’s right God wants us back together and he knows best.
Baby come back, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me
I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you
Now that I put it all together
Give me the chance to make you see
Have you used up all the love in your heart
Nothing left for me
Ain’t there nothing left for me
PT – Very, very little left for me.
Baby come back, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, listen, you can blame it all on me
I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you
I was wrong, and I just can’t live
PT – Wrong, very wrong, just can’t live without you Schmoopey.
(President Trump returns to the couch as the song ends)
JL – Well I’ll have to say Mr. President, I’ve never seen or heard anything like that in my life.
PT – Yes Jay, love conquers all.
(the phone rings and the First Lady’s voice is heard over a speaker).
MT – Schmoopey, I saw your song and dance. I know it was from your heart. Nothing else could explain it. I feel my love returning.
PT – Schmoopey, I am so happy. Is all forgiven?
MT – It will be when you send me the Hope Diamond and a picture of the ‘ho with two black eyes.
PT – Done and done. I’ll have my jeweler and the Secret Service get to work on both those items within the hour.
(the phone call and the television broadcast both finish)
JL – Well Mr. President, that was actually quite impressive. I guess there isn’t anything that the power of the US government can’t do.
PT – Not really. I was originally trying to get Elton John to sing “Sorry Seems to Be the Saddest Word,” but he refused. He was still mad about a crack I made about his hair.
JL – You made a joke about his hair?
PT – Shut up Jay.
29MAR2018 – American Greatness – Article of the Day – Victor Davis Hanson’s The Distortions of Our Unelected Officials
VDH lists the various members of the Deep State who not only lie under oath but then project their own mendacity onto the Trump Administration. It makes me shake my head and wonder why no action has been taken.
29MAR2018 – Quote of the Day
Of late I’ve been looking forward to watching Mel Gibson’s Hamlet. I remember watching Branagh’s version in the theater and thinking it sterile. My plan is to watch them both on the same weekend and compare them. Maybe I’ll even throw in Olivier’s version for good measure.
Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2
HAMLET
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust?
American Greatness – Article of the Day – Presence of Malice by Lloyd Billingsley
The author compares the Russia investigation to the movie Absence of Malice. Amusing and convincing. Recommended.
Back to the Future (Make That Back to Heinlein’s Future History)
Back in the nineteen-forties and –fifties Robert A Heinlein was writing his “Future History” stories about the time period that currently is the recent past. And on his very impressive chart somewhere between the beginning of space flight and the beginning of a theocratic dictatorship in the United States was a period around the nineteen sixties that he called the “Crazy Years.” You get a flavor for what he meant in a story called “The Year of the Jackpot.” In this story social mores were unravelling. Women would spontaneously strip naked in public without knowing why they were doing it and transvestite men and women would challenge the authorities with prosecution for daring to notice that they were queer. Whether Heinlein was truly prescient or whether he just detected the beginnings of the curve and extrapolated it to its outlandish extreme is unknown to me. But obviously he was being cautious. No kidding, the current events that greet each of us as we survey the contents of our daily purveyor of fake news is well beyond what would have passed for science fiction or parody a few decades ago. States are suing the federal government to prevent it from ascertaining if a census form is being filled out by an illegal alien. A “woman” who used to be a man is marrying “man” who used to be a woman and we are supposed to believe that somehow now a man will be giving birth to the child. A porn actor is suing the President’s lawyer for defamation of character. Does a porn actor even have a character that can be defamed? We’ve been laughing at these insanities for decades but none of it has gone away or even slowed the march to the brink of insanity. Heinlein’s theocratic dictatorship is looking less and less like a nightmare scenario and more and more like a really good idea. I’m really starting to wonder how much worse Sharia Law would be than the current politically correct straight jacket we currently endure. At least under it there are easily recognizable roles for the traditional individuals most of us remember as normal.
Heinlein later in his career wrote a sort of spy novel with a female replicant heroine called “Friday.” In that universe the United States and Canada had balkanized into a number of smaller states. Some of the states mentioned are Brit-Can, Quebec, the Alaska Free State, the California Confederacy, the Republic of Texas, the Vegas Free State and the Chicago Imperium. This later novel is significantly less optimistic than his earlier works. I definitely don’t claim that Robert Heinlein was particularly more skilled as a prognosticator than any other seers around but I begin to see a rationale for separating from behavior that keeps trending not only farther and farther from normalcy but even begins closing in on suicidal. I still hope that the path forward is the majority of Americans rejecting the progressivist nightmare that is currently unfolding and at the least restore the conditions needed to allow a functional society. But I have to admit I’m starting to worry that the Alt-Right may not be just making up their apocalypse. I better get my passport stamped for the Republic of Texas, or should that be the Vegas Free State?
28MAR2018 – Quote of the Day
I must be in a grim mood.
Shakespeare
Macbeth. Act 5, Scene 5
SEYTON
The queen, my lord, is dead.
MACBETH
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.