TRUST ME
“Communism, excuse me, I mean Socialism, will work this time. Trust me. I’m a bartender.”
Congressbartendress Alexandria Occasional-Cortex
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/08/19
MABA – Make Alexandria a Bartender Again.
Miss Occasional-Cortex certainly earned her sobriquet of “3B” this week – the Bug-Eyed Brainless Bolshevik – for the childish lunacy of her “Green New Deal” (the link is to the actual bill she submitted to Congress yesterday 2/07). As one wag observed: “It looks like something a four year-old in Soviet Russia dreamt up.”
Yet with this, you couldn’t have clearer proof that Global Warming – defined in the bill’s first sentence as “human activity is the dominant cause of observed climate change over the past century” – is the Left’s substitution of Marxism as the new ideological rationale for full fascist government control over everyone’s life.
That in fact is why 3B’s crusade is a cause for celebration. So is the whole week.
A BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE
Ralph “Coonman” Northam wearing same Blackface plaid pants
Isn’t this the most beautiful headline you’ve seen in quite a while? Especially because it’s from CNN written by it’s hyper-lib editor Chris Cillizza on Wednesday (2/06): THE COMPLETE AND UTTER COLLAPSE OF VIRGINIA’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
What’s going on in Virginia “is a classic example of the truism that evil always destroys itself, because that is the nature of evil,” thinks Unseen1.
If you haven’t been following events there (thus missing out on delicious schadenfreude), here’s a synopsis of the beautiful nightmare unfolding for the Dems:
DONALD TRUMP’S ANNIHILATION OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY
The nadir of the amoral egotism of what might broadly be called “Me-ism” has been reached by the avant garde of the Democrat Party in their race to the bottom of the electoral depths.
The renunciation of any notions of sacrifice, patriotic pride, the spirituality of life, or the recognition of anything except the smash-and-grab politics of endless atomized grievances and instant gratification of convenience, has reached what must, in its way, be the end of its history.
As the party of infanticide and open borders, they are indulging in a frenzy of primal extremism from which they will not recover.
A BAD NIGHT FOR DEMS
But, as you can see, it wasn’t a good night for Bernie Sanders, Ms. Occasional Cortex, and all the other Dems including Pelosi who grimaced and refused to stand.
A SOTU is a speechwriter’s nightmare. It consists of a laundry list of the president’s (alleged) accomplishments, followed by wish list of the bills the president wants Congress to pass. It’s hard to weave a coherent, uplifting theme into that mishmash.
And SOTUs are too long. They last, typically, an hour or so. One of the first rules of the thumb I learned as a fledgling speechwriter was nobody is interesting after 20 minutes.
There are exceptions to every rule. President Trump spoke for 82 minutes, the longest SOTU since Bill Clinton spoke for 84 minutes in 2000. Clinton’s SOTU that year was excruciating. But, for me, time flew by Tuesday night.
A SOTU TO REMEMBER
There are no adequate words. All there is, is to join the chorus of acclamation that President Trump last night (2/05) delivered to Congress and America the greatest State of the Union address ever in our history.
There are simply too many quotes and moments to mention here. Below you can watch it entire – whether you watched it last night or not, it will blow you away – but first some observations and the best memes.
The domination of the President over the Democrats in the House Chamber was overwhelming. They were headlighted-deer stunned to find they were attending a Trump Rally – and joining in, chanting USA! USA! USA!
There were moments when you cried, when you laughed, when you cheered and shouted with joy – and those when you just shook your head in smiling amazement, as when the entire US Congress, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Presidential Cabinet, and Supreme Court Justices joined in singing “Happy Birthday” to Holocaust survivor Judah Samet, celebrating his 81st birthday after surviving a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue last October.
So here’s a collection of quotes and memes to enjoy.
TRUMP SHOWS HE’S PLAYING TO WIN
There were laughter, tears, raucous cheers and awkward silences. But more than anything else, it was a punch in the gut that President Trump delivered Tuesday night.
Time after time, on issue after issue, he laid down a marker about the remaining two years of his term — and the outlines of his re-election campaign.
Speeches that are too long — as this one was — often smother their key points in windy verbiage. But there was no mistaking Trump’s meaning or his intent to seek a second term on the platform of a strong economy, strong defense and secure borders.
The state of the union is frighteningly divided and hostile, but the state of the president’s aim is sound. For all the talk of chaos and churn in his administration, Donald Trump knows what he’s about. As he always has, he’s playing to win.
WISDOM AND FOOLISHNESS, CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”These are the first words of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. They refer to the era of the French Revolution a little over two centuries ago, but they could equally apply to today.
Times have never been better for most Americans. Incomes are at a record high. Jobs are plentiful. People are living longer and better due to both medical advances and increased prosperity.
Yet despite the better life that the free-market capitalist system has enabled for billions of people, there are increased numbers of political voices and their media allies demanding socialism. Given the centuries of failure and mayhem resulting from socialism, for all to see, the new socialists are treated as if their ideas are sensible, rather than ludicrous.
Why would people choose foolishness over wisdom? Are they stupid, ignorant, mean-spirited, or all three?
THE ROUTE TO KANCHENJUNGA
Kanchenjunga ©2019 Jack Wheeler
Last week in our exploration of the highest summits of the Himalayas, we ended our Route to Everest at the Red Hat Tibetan Tengboche monastery.
Having now been to world’s 6th, 4th, and highest mountain of all – Cho Oyo, Lhotse, and Everest -- this week we continue on to the giants of Makalu – the world’s 5th at 8,485m/27,838ft – and Kanchenjunga – 3rd highest on earth at 8,585m/28,168ft.
Get ready for a photographic extravaganza – many of these pics might take your breath away. Like the one above – the entire ridge line you see is over 8,000 meters, over 26,000 feet. I took it in one of our ultra-high altitude helicopters at 23,000 feet.
DON’T FORGET
