Month: January 2022

A Rabid Leftist Admits His Side Went Nuts When They Closed the Schools

photog Current Events ,

Jonathan Chait is a certified leftist loon, as bad as they come.  But even this dishonest cretin knows when his side has gone off the reservation

“…the Democratic Party’s internal debate on school closings was making room at the table for some truly unhinged ideas. The head of the largest state’s most powerful teachers union insisted on the record “there is no such thing as learning loss” and described plans to reopen schools as “a recipe for propagating structural racism.”

“Parents who advocated for school reopening were repeatedly demonized on social media as racist and mischaracterized as Trump supporters. Members of the parent group I helped lead were consistently attacked on Twitter and Facebook by two Oakland moms with ties to the teachers union. They labeled advocates’ calls for schools reopening “white supremacy,” called us “Karens,” and even bizarrely claimed we had allied ourselves with Marjorie Taylor Greene’s transphobic agenda.”

Obviously the Democrats are in the pocket of the teachers’ unions.  They sacrificed our children’s well being to placate the teachers.  And it’s going to be one of the things that cost them seats in Congress this fall.  Too bad it couldn’t see them prosecuted too.

The 47 Ronin (1941) A Movie Review

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This film was made in Japan during World War II and was a form of propaganda meant to showcase loyalty, courage and the martial spirit of the Japanese people.  It is a true story that occurred in the early 1700’s during the shogunate of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.  It was a time when a formerly prosperous people were slipping into poverty through governmental mismanagement.  And cultural and social norms were unravelling.  The samurai class was finding itself relegated to a diminished role in the feudal system of the Edo period.  But the samurai code still tied them to their patron, the daimyo or lord.

Plot

This story is about a case of revenge.  Lord Asano was a daimyo who was insulted by one of the shogun’s officials named Lord Kira.  Flying into a rage Asano attacked Kira with a knife inside the shogun’s residence which was a capitol offense.  The shogun decreed that Asano would have to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) and his lands would be confiscated.  No penalty was decreed against Kira for his insults.

The leader of Lord Asano’s samurai, Ōishi Yoshio, decided that he would organize all the willing samurai under him to revenge their lord against Kira.  He recruited forty-six other samurai including his own fifteen-year-old son and then waited for over a year until Lord Kira’s suspicions were allayed.  To this end Ōishi patronized brothels and became a disgrace, exhibiting public drunkenness until Kira’s spies became convinced that he was a dissolute man.  Ōishi even divorced his wife.  But it is thought he did this to protect his wife and remaining children from retribution by the authorities.

Then when all was prepared Ōishi led his men against Kira’s castle and using swords and bows they stormed both gates of the castle and killed Kira’s men and rushed his private rooms.  Only his wife and children were found.  But when they checked Kira’s bed, they found it was still warm.  So, they ransacked his rooms until they found the entrance to a hidden courtyard where Kira and a few guards were hidden.  They overpowered the guards.  Then Ōishi respectfully offered Kira the chance to commit seppuku but the man was too terrified even to answer.  Kira’s head was cut off and ceremoniously washed and prepared and taken to Lord Asano’s grave where it was bestowed with the appropriate prayers.  Afterward Ōishi and his men gave themselves up to the shogun’s authorities.  Although the shogun had forbidden revenge against Kira, he decided that because the revenge was so popular among the populace, the ronin would not be treated as criminals but instead allowed to commit seppuku.  And so, about a year after the attack the ronin each committed ritual suicide and were given honored burial next to the grave of Lord Asano.

Discussion

This is a very strange movie for Americans to sit through.  First off, it’s almost four hours long.  Four hours of subtitles is hard to endure no matter how good the movie is.  Secondly, the oddness of the action and manners of both the era being portrayed and Japanese cinema in general presents a considerable barrier to an American audience immersing itself in the story.  And thirdly, the majority of the movie is static and is portrayed by conversations between the characters.  Even the storming of the castle occurs off screen and is read to the audience by one of the characters, Lord Asano’s widow.

I found the three problems I mention above, as too extreme to allow the movie to be thought of as entertainment.  It’s more of an historical experience.  I would not recommend this to anyone who isn’t interested in Japanese history and culture for their own sake.

Gangsters in Chicago Let Illinois Governor Know Who’s in Charge

photog Current Events ,

You can’t make this stuff up.  Even Al Capone couldn’t run amok like this.

“A crime spree unfolded recently in Chicago that evoked a scene from “The Godfather.” In one of the more memorable moments in movie history, the Corleone family leaves a severed horse’s head in the bed of the fictitious movie mogul Jack Woltz as a sign of their power. Earlier this month in the Windy City, thieves broke into two northside stores and stole cash registers. They emptied the contents and then dumped the empty registers on the front lawn of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s private home in Chicago’s swankiest neighborhood.”

And:

“Consider, for example, that Chicago saw six children shot this past Tuesday in just a matter of hours. The violence commenced with the afternoon murder of a 15-year-old high school freshman, Caleb Westbrook, who was killed in broad daylight as he walked home from school on Chicago’s west side. The ages of the victims shocked even a city very accustomed to war-like street violence. Chicago “won” the dubious title of America’s deadliest city in 2021, with almost 800 total murders, the most in over 25 years. The death toll could have been higher but for expert emergency room skills in Chicago hospitals, because over 3,500 people were shot in Chicago in 2021. Local health care workers have become so proficient at treating gunshot wounds that the U.S. military sent  medical staffers to Second City hospitals to train before deployment to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

I’m glad to hear that Chicago is reaching Mogadishu level so quickly.  As I’ve often said it will take rampant cannibalism to finally force the inhabitants to admit they’re wrong about police and crime.  Bring it on, bring it on, bring it on.

Larry Correia Shows How Mocking Biden is Really Done

photog Current Events ,

Larry gives a master class in wiping the floor with Dementia Joe’s stupid face.  It’s a humbling experience to see a master of the art apply a verbal smackdown on my favorite victim.

Bravo Larry Bravo.

This is a good bit:

“Biden has accomplished exactly one thing. And that’s demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt to all reasonable, thinking Americans that democrats are total shit at governing. They talk a big game, but it’s all just platitudes, wishful thinking, and magic unicorns farting free shit. Their claimed philosophy is childlike and disintegrates when it touches reality, exposing their actual philosophy, which is draconian control freaks who are compelled to meddle in everything. And the less they understand something, the more they feel the need to fuck with it.”

Guest Contributor – TomD – 21JAN2022 – Photo

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Tom | Flickr

DSC00338.jpg
DSC00338.jpg

 

The photo above is the Commanding Officer’s quarters at Ft. Pickens, a coastal defense facility on the Gulf of Mexico in continuous operation from 1833 until 1946. It is now a Federal park.

Below is a shot of the latest gun emplacements. This gun is from WWII and defended the coast and harbor from German U Boats but there are also emplacements dating from before and during the Civil War.

 

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DSC2881.jpg

Meatloaf May be Dead, But He Still Owes Me Thirteen Bucks

photog Current Events, photog's Corner

Back in 1978 when Camera Girl and I were still newlyweds and music concerts were still a very important part of the youth culture, I bought two $6.50 tickets to see Meatloaf perform the Bat Out of Hell songs on a local college stage but just days before that concert, the big fat  dopey bastard falls off a concert stage and breaks his leg and we never got the chance to see him again.

But never let it be said that I can’t hold a grudge beyond the grave.  I still have the tickets and a bargain’s a bargain.

Meatloaf, you big fat dopey bastard, you still owe me one Bat Out of Hell concert.  You’re gonna have to perform it even if it is at the gates of hell.  See you there.

Biden’s Jan 19th Press Conference – A Study in Incoherent Mumbling Lies

photog Current Events ,

I took another crack at Dementia Joe’s press conference.  I felt I owed it to the readers to try and watch this thing.  Putting aside mendacity and just concentrating on the cognitive abilities of Biden, I was interested to see just how hard it was for him to answer questions.  And what it comes down to is verbal deterioration.  In most cases he couldn’t remember a relatively simple word and therefore had to string together one syllable words to approximate the meaning.  For instance, at one point Bozo is talking about inflation in meat prices and he was trying to say that three or four dominant producers had formed a cartel and that increasing competition was necessary to avoid price fixing.  But he just couldn’t think of the word “competition.”  The consequence of this kind of cognitive decline is that he talked for almost two and a half hours but barely got out enough information for a normal one-hour press conference.  It’s painful to have to listen to.  And probably convinced anyone under the age of eighty that Biden is senile.

With respect to accuracy, most of the introductory remarks were Joe claiming that he had accomplished so much already that the voters must be trying to catch their breath in astonishment at his achievements.  Apparently the bi-partisan infrastructure and COVID welfare payments were not only incredibly expensive but also critical for the national happiness.  What he can’t explain is why, if all that is true, his approval rating is tanking harder than the Titanic.  So then some of the less sycophantic reporters started asking him about some of those things.  Inflation.  Well, Joe let us know that inflation was just the supply chain problem.  Computer chips in China not available for Ford and Chevy.  No problem!  Joe’s already taking care of that.  Well, no, not yet, but there’s a bill in the House that talks about somehow rebuilding the extremely expensive and very long lead processing pants that build computer chips right here in the United States.  And just talking about it or even enacting legislation will get those plants financed and designed and built in, what?  Five years?

As for gas prices, why, he’s all over that.  He tapped the strategic reserve and brought down the price by a dime for about three weeks.  Who could ask for more than that?  After all, these things are hard!  Hard!  But he is looking for a way to send more natural gas to Europe so that makes us feel better, right?

And the price of food.  Well, we know it’s those lousy meat merchants of death gouging the consumer.  I mean just because their energy costs for refrigeration have also gone through the roof and transportation costs have doubled how could it not be their fault?  Joe will threaten them and who knows it might do something.  Probably force them out of business but, hey, beef’s bad for you anyway.  Just like gasoline and heating oil.  So, stop complaining, you’re just lucky to have good old Joe looking out for your interests and making this economy hum!

Man, that was embarrassing.  Even the most in-the-tank reporters for the Dems were squirming trying to be polite about sinking poll numbers and his string of disasters.  Well, watching a lot of this thing was strangely familiar.  It was like listening to those stem-winders that the geriatric leaders of the Soviet Union or Cuba used to give to their starving people.  All about how the glorious leader was achieving unparalleled success and the people were happy and prosperous.  Hopefully I won’t have to watch another one.

Joe’s in a footrace between his sinking poll numbers and his fading cerebral cortex.  It’s anyone’s guess which will fail first.