Rebane's Ruminations
January 2018
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[Checking back to my 1jan17 post below, I can’t help but smile as I reprise that posting and again advise RR readers to prepare for a 2018 that will both entertain and astonish those of us who take a keen interest in the world’s stage on which the play of comedy and farce –  i.e. of politics and politicians – will quicken its pace.  Without an unforeseen intervention by the Almighty, the Dems will rue the day that they offered to the American electorate replays of the Trump Derangement Syndrome as their only public policy of record.  Happy 2018!  gjr]

***

[Again a Happy New Year to all RR readers and its diligent band of commenters of all political shades who do their dharma battles on these pages.  This year promises to be even more exciting than 2016 – who knew that Trump would win? – if one can conceive that possibility.  Last New Year’s day (1jan16) I opened a new sandbox with these words.

Happy New Year! to all RR readers.  This year will turn out more exciting and surprising than any of us can anticipate.  From the socialists' perspective, they are at the cusp of a victory from which they can deal a deathblow to American capitalism and institute their new economic order as part of the country's fundamental transformation that Obama promised and has already launched.  We conservatarians also see this as a cusp year, but given the disarray of the Republicans, it will be one from which a 2016 Democrat defeat will deliver little besides delaying the day of reckoning between collectivism and open markets capitalism.  So I thought it would be appropriate to start the year with a fresh sandbox.  gjr]

Posted in

193 responses to “Sandbox – 1jan2018”

  1. Generalissimo Covfefe Avatar
    Generalissimo Covfefe

    Time to spark up some tasty recreational buds and get the new year off to a mellow start!!!
    Get ready for a greenhouse near you and the sweet smell of skunk drifting across your backyard!!!

    Like

  2. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    G.C. – Happy now? See – life under Trump is pretty swell!

    Like

  3. Walt Avatar

    Well Dougy,, your skunk stink drifts across the property line, when the wind blows the other direction, some Roundup can make the same trip.

    Like

  4. Walt Avatar

    Time Square looked more like the documentary “march of the penguins”
    All huddled up in large numbers, looking to stay warm.

    Like

  5. George Rebane Avatar

    In California, the stupid state, Republicans don’t have much for which to look forward this year. The state brings together all the factors promoting socialist autocracy within one jurisdiction. Read ’em and weep.
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-poses-problem-for-gop-as-2018-dawns-1514819328
    Administrivia – for those anxious few waiting to see how the recent ‘little puzzle’ is solved, two solutions are posted for your entertainment and/or edification. Fun stuff.
    http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2017/12/a-little-puzzle.html

    Like

  6. Russ Steele Avatar

    How Do You Vote? Google Street View Calls It
    https://medium.com/the-new-york-times/how-do-you-vote-google-street-view-calls-it-744867166d73
    This is most interesting, particularly when it can be use to target voters. Clever use of AI.
    What vehicle is most strongly associated with Republican voting districts? Extended-cab pickup trucks. For Democratic districts? Sedans.
    Check your drive way? What do you drive? Want to guess who drives a sedan and comments on these pages, and who drives a pickup and comments here.
    Extended Cab GMC Heavy Duty in my driveway.

    Like

  7. George Rebane Avatar

    RussS 116am – mine too! 😉

    Like

  8. Walt Avatar

    Well Russ,, as for LIBs,, it’s a Prius or a Subaru, covered in dust and bumper stickers.

    Like

  9. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    The benefits of a progressive, enlightened democrat administration for decades-
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/baltimore-breaks-city-record-killings-per-capita-2017-160045125.html
    Do the wounded get participation trophies? 😉

    Like

  10. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    IIRC Pelline has a big extended cab pickup that he uses to distribute the glossy pennysaver he gives away and to drive to Trader Joe’s every month to pick up some cases of 2 Buck Chuck white zinfandel… it’s not just for breakfast anymore.
    It also has the load capacity to haul his ass wherever he wants to go.
    So, there might be some holes in that theory of automobiles being an indicator of politics.

    Like

  11. Russ Avatar

    Gregory @03:37 PM Yes, it is not a perfect method, only an indicator. I thought about the Glossy Pennysaver delivery vehicle and several others in our neighborhood that does not match the theory. I also have a Republican friend who drives a Prius and our primary vehicle is a Volvo. However, no virtue signaling bumper stickers on the Volvo or the Prius.

    Like

  12. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    LOL! Jeffie is “thousands of miles away” but just 12 minutes after I posted the tell-all of his 2buck chuck habit at 3:37, he had responded on his blog denying his use of that truck to buy cheap wine down the hill, insisting he buys all his cheap wine locally, in Nevada County.
    Of course you do, Jeff. wink wink.

    Like

  13. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    January 1, 2018 at 3:49 pm
    I’m thousands of miles from home, and these creeps are still obsessed with me on George Rebane’s blog, on New Year’s no less. What must their families think?

    And jeff is with his family, thousands of miles away… checking RR to see if anyone is posting something about him. The hypocrisy… it burns!

    Like

  14. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Oh, and a message from Steven Frisch of the wretchedly misnamed Sierra Business Council…

    Steven Frisch says:
    December 31, 2017 at 8:01 am
    Just could not help myself…this one is for all the American nationalists out there on the right side of the blogosphere….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Mg6Gfh9Co

    Steven seems to be saying the future belongs to him and his kind… or at least all his fellow National Socialist progressives who bothered to procreate. When they had a chance.
    Eugenics at work, I suppose.

    Like

  15. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    By the middle of the Youtube clip Frisch was standing and singing along, with tears running down his face.
    Those socialist folk songs always get to him.

    Like

  16. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    The lefties will suffer with kids who are conservative deplorables @457!
    A late Christmas present-
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/21/robby-mook-wont-rule-hillary-clinton-running-2020/
    OH BOY, promise! 😉

    Like

  17. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Wow… DB, is that a picture of Gunga Dan Rather at the linked page, the formerly famous disgraced journalist who pulled a Pelline, running with false information that he represented as truth?

    Like

  18. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    Frisch was singing loud. I heard him here. And his right arm was raised stiffly in a salute.

    Like

  19. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Trouble in mullah city-
    “Religious leaders and the leadership must come to the scene as soon as possible and prevent the situation (from) deteriorating further.” It continued, “God help us, this is a very complex situation and is different from previous occasions.”
    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/01/leaked-meeting-notes-show-how-panicked-iranian-regime-considered-stopping-deadly-protests-god-help-us.html
    😉

    Like

  20. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Oh Don 7:09 pm.
    Where have you been? Global Warning will wipe out Mullah City first, making this all a mute point. No worries. It’s all be taken care of. Ok, if not by fire, then by ice.
    https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/975275785955977/?type=3&theater
    That Trump is something else: Holy Molley, he lied again! Somebody stop him
    https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/975286195954936/?type=3&theater
    Holy Toledo! Run for the hills. Trump is about to to it again. I can’t believe my eyeballs. Run. Don’t think about it, just run. Drop everything and run!
    https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1230777817056253/?type=3&theater

    Like

  21. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Cause and effect, liberal style….living the dream….in the bubble.
    “In an interview with NPR, Scott claims only the progressive activists wanted cops to be eliminated:
    No. That represented our progressives, our activists, our liberal journalists, our politicians, but it did not represent the overall community. Because we know for a fact that around the time Freddie Gray was killed, we start to see homicides increase. We had five homicides in that neighborhood while we were protesting.”
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/01/01/blm-protests-baltimore-residents-blaming-murder-increase-lack-police/

    Like

  22. George Rebane Avatar

    BillT 751am – Mr Tozer, your comment clearly demonstrates that Breitbart is a racist media outlet, since the report you link strongly asserts that idiocy is a common characteristic among blacks.

    Like

  23. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Oh, our Tweeter in Chief is back to his mischievous ways. He tweeted something about Debbie Whatzhername Shultz which at first reflex I found odd. Then I thought, “oh yeah, Debbie and her Pakistain pack mule.. What ever happen to them? Thanks, Mr. President for the heads up. Does that man ever sleep?
    How easily some choose to forget. As they old song goes, “Some drink to remember, some drink to forget”.
    Another glass of Chardonnay, My Gal? New Years Eve celebrations and watching the ball drop was ok, but nobody drops the ball like My Gal, or her 2nd BFF Debbie, nor the #1 BFF, Huma.
    https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/975282505955305/?type=3&theater
    https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/975797815903774/?type=3&theater
    Ok, I conceded some do just fine without even using Twitter. Resist!
    https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1228829023917799/?type=3&theater

    Like

  24. Scenes from the Apocalypse Avatar
    Scenes from the Apocalypse

    re: BT@12:10PM
    Thanks for the Disney thing, too funny.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwjOe5TK0BM
    It looks like the PellineEmery axis took a field trip.

    Like

  25. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    BAM! Dow opens the year up 104 to 24,823! Triple record closes in spite of the Iranian unrest.
    If they have to scrounge for food how will they be able to actually fight?
    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/02/hungry-north-korean-soldiers-are-being-given-leave-to-find-food-report-says.html
    😉

    Like

  26. George Boardman Avatar

    What? Mitt Romney, a Republican with principles, may run for the Senate? No wonder Trump wanted Hatch to run for another term.
    But don’t worry, boys. Michele Bachmann is asking God if she should run for Al Franken’s seat.

    Like

  27. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Well, Mr. Boardman, the Democrats did say that a woman should fill Stuart Smiley’s vacant seat.
    Whether they meant “born woman” or not, they did not say. Ah, gender and race are just social contructs anyway.
    Those Dems are hilarious. They “suddenly” are so concerned about sexual harassment against women….are the same group that cheers wildly because they are the champions of forcing females women to accept men into their restrooms.
    https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/975795445904011/?type=3&theater
    That’s them same group that marched around wearing hijabs declaring they are a symbol of freedom. Go figure.
    https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1231098870357481/?type=3&theater
    Romney has principles? Mr. Boardman, are you nuts?? Romney strapped his dog to the top of the family station wagon and murdered, yes, murdered a factory worker’s wife on purpose! He is a friggin murdering animal abuser. Principles? I beg to differ, sir. Did you hear what that heartless capitalistic porky pig Romney said about the tax cuts??
    https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/975787425904813/?type=3&theater
    And you call Mitt principled?

    Like

  28. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    A quarter billion here, a quarter billion there and soon you have the wall!
    https://apnews.com/014efbb86511429d9c09c818a76f58e0/Trump-threatens-to-cut-off-US-aid-to-Palestinian-Authority
    Better spent on the wall than on terrorists payrolls! 😉

    Like

  29. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Here is a pool of money for the wall, Mexico’s largest source of income-
    http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2018/01/02/cash-remittances-mexico-set-26b-record-2017-says-central-bank/
    😉

    Like

  30. Bill Tozer Avatar

    The bigger picture is not NAFTA, making NATO pay as previously agreed upon, trimming back our money showered on the UN, Pakistan, and now the Palenstine Authority, or any one of a bunch of nations and groups long overdue for a haircut. It’s renegotiating these one sided relationships. Too one sided. Sure, there may be a few one sided relationships we deem critical and necessary for our national interests. Our national interests, not theirs. America First means fair, not getting screwed. Guess that makes me a Nationalist, a half white nationalist. 🙂
    Money talks, BS walks. If you want to play, your are going to pay…your fair share. We already pay our fair share as well as a big hunk of their fair share. Ain’t asking for The World, just fairness. Think they have a infinitive to come to the table. Self interest is a powerful motivator.
    A quarter billion here, and quarter billion there. Heard Trump has been studying footage of the last Summer Olympics and, specially, the Mexican pole vaulters. Gotta know how high to build the wall.

    Like

  31. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Mitt as being principled is a howler… who can forget his plea to tell him what they want in a President and he’ll be that President. A GOP friend told me to not vote for Mitt was unAmerican, and it didn’t matter that a vote for Mitt in California was going to be wasted at the Elector level.
    Mitt did look Presidential in a suit. Cleaned up real good.
    Hmm, let’s look at what Crabbman is saying behind his moat and drawbridge:

    The Republicans base is unlikely to falter in their support of Trump, and why should they? After all, he is the first Republican president to actually do the things that the far right has been harping on since the Reagan years. He’s slashed regulations, put a reliably right wing ideologue on the Supreme Court, crippled the Affordable Care Act, told the Iranians and North Koreans to go fuck themselves, told the United Nations that they can either support us or shut up if they want any funding from Washington, and he personally challenges the news media 24/7.

    Earl is back to his mantra of being in the middle and it’s the responsibility for others to figure out how to compromise to get to where he’s standing. First, Gorsuch isn’t “a reliably right-wing ideologue”. From a Boston Globe article published soon after his nomination,

    Now, many are comparing Gorsuch to the justice he may replace, the late Antonin Scalia, known for his unbending conservatism, outsize personality, and cutting opinions.
    But Bob Kroll, a fellow member of the Lincoln’s Inn Society, described Gorsuch as less irascible and more low-key — more like that other famous member of the class of 1991.
    “He had such a thoughtful manner, and he would weigh the issues in a way I found so insightful and so impressive,” Kroll said. “I kind of felt that way about Barack Obama, too.”

    What he apparently most closely resembles is a Jeffersonian textualist…
    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/a-jeffersonian-on-the-supreme-court/515319/
    When one thinks of Scalia as a Hamiltonian textualist, it’s hard not to note that Hamilton, who knew how to win friends and make enemies with his cutting words, was shot dead in a duel by Burr (who was Jefferson’s vice president at the time) who was demanding satisfaction for a recent libel or two.
    I also take exception to Crabb’s misstatement of the UN situation. It wasn’t a case of ‘support us’ if you want our money, it was a ‘stay out of our sovereign business’ if you want our money. It’s not up to a vote of the General Assembly where we put an embassy… it is up to us and the country where the embassy will be. Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for some time and our embassy has been slated to go there for decades.
    The General Assembly will get over it, as will the Palestinians and their supporters in the matter.

    Like

  32. Walt Avatar

    Did Paul broadcast a PSA to remind all street MJ dealers to collect that sales tax? The “main man” demands his cut.
    Remember Paul? taxation was a big selling point. Time to pay up.

    Like

  33. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Liar!, Liar! Opps. Guess lying to the FBI is really no big deal. Nothing to see here, move on.
    “His admission of false statements came one day after the Comey statement was already being drafted, investigators told The Hill.
    The computer employee originally told the FBI in a February 2016 interview that he did not recall making any deletions from Clinton’s server in March 2015, FBI records show.
    But then on May 3, 2016, the same employee in a subsequent FBI interview told agents he had an “oh shit moment” and in late March 2015 deleted Clinton’s email archive from the server, according to FBI documents reviewed by The Hill.
    Lying to the FBI is a federal felony, a crime that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn recently pleaded guilty to. But the FBI decided not to pursue criminal charges against the witness, and instead gave the technician an immunity deal so he could correct his story, congressional investigators said.”
    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/367141-congressional-investigators-find-irregularities-in-fbis-handling-of
    To be perfectly clear, I do not want one person procesuted for purely political reasons. No one, be it a lefty, righty, independen, Libertarian, Greenie, or other. I do, however, feel folks should be prosecuted if evidence points to breaking the law Gross violations of the law should be litigated in a court of law since we are a nation of laws, not of men. And I ain’t talking about jaywalking or sneaking a cig behind Mc Gees.

    Like

  34. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Its a popular move, who will be next in line to help pay for the wall?
    http://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/01/02/rand-paul-decries-funding-pakistan-incarcerate-christians-burn-flag/
    😉

    Like

  35. Bill Tozer Avatar

    CNN and it’s on air reporters taking a pull off the bong on New Year’s Evil:
    Nearly all the comments on various sites about CNN reporters getting stoned or passing the joint around on TV misses the point. Many came from upset parents decrying smoking dope in front of the children. “There’s children watching! Lighting up and putting it out there in our faces.” The whole family was gathered around to watch the Ball drop. The smoking gas mask was flaunted right in front of our children. Shame! What the heck was CNN thinking?!?!…
    Hmmmm.
    Well, that consternation was misplaced, IMHO. The real question to parents across the land is, “What the hell are you parents doing allowing your children to watch CNN?” Sure, they blast CNN in every airport bar, but that is only because children are not allowed in airport bars. What were your parents thinking? You allowed CNN to be watched right in front of children, for pete’s sake. Shame on you.

    Like

  36. Bonnie McGuire Avatar

    Journalist Jarrett Stepman’s Daily Signal article about the history of Fake news is wonderful. Many years ago I noticed how important many viewpoints from different angles of experience and observations are. Altogether they do provide a real education to make intelligent decisions….Thanks for our 1st Amendment. Human nature can be annoying, obnoxious and dishonest, but eventually truth and goodness has a chance to shine.
    http://dailysignal.com/2018/01/01/the-history-of-fake-news-in-the-united-states/

    Like

  37. Bill Tozer Avatar

    While reading Bonnie’s link, I could not stop thinking of Cuba for some reason. Anyway, the intetnet has changed the way we communicate, but not the ways Authoritarians, Tyrants, and Control Freaks think or behave.
    1) Good for him:
    “Telegram’s CEO had previously tweeted that Iranian authorities had blocked access to Telegram for “the majority of Iranians” after the company refused to shut down peaceful protesting channels.”
    2) Belly Laugh from the Iranian Theocracy.
    Get this. The Iranian Government has shut down schools and trains because of….drumroll please…because of……of……air pollution. Yes, air pollution.
    They pulled out the Global Warming card and laid it on the table. Restrict travel and communication and close down the schools where the anti-government riff raft congregate in their safe places to plot their treasonous dastardly deeds ….because of air pollution. It’s the ace n the hole. Nothing trumps the Gobal Warning card. Who would ever demonstrate for air pollution, eh? Those Iranians have learned from the best.

    Like

  38. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Well that’s a tax payer support for your citizen kids educational benefit right?
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/01/02/study-nearly-25-percent-of-daca-illegal-aliens-are-functionally-illiterate-in-english/
    😉

    Like

  39. Generalissimo Covfefe Avatar
    Generalissimo Covfefe

    Trumply’s nukey button is bigger than yours!!! Notlibs grocery getters are bigger than your sedan!!! Vintage sandbox!!!

    Like

  40. Generalissimo Covfefe Avatar
    Generalissimo Covfefe

    ‘’’Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!’’’,,,Bigly Trumply
    TNX Trumply!!!

    Like

  41. Generalissimo Covfefe Avatar
    Generalissimo Covfefe

    “Rex tells me you don’t want me to use the military option in Venezuela,” the president told the gathered Latin American leaders, according to an account offered by an attendee soon after the dinner. “Is that right? Are you sure?” Everyone said they were sure. But they were rattled. War with Venezuela, as absurd as that seemed, was clearly still on Trump’s mind.
    “Without fail, they just had wide eyes about the entire engagement,”
    “The word they all used was: ‘This guy is insane.’”
    MAGAMAGAMAGA

    Like

  42. fish Avatar
    fish

    “The word they all used was: ‘This guy is insane.’”

    Yeah Duggy……and he’s president because you proglodyte morons played the “Menopause Card” with the worst corporate shill on the entire planet!
    Suck it losers!
    Bwahahahahahahahahahah!

    Like

  43. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    Listening to a live CSPAN and the speaker is a “adviser” to Hillary from her Senate days. The guy is totally unhinged about Trump. Impeachment and the dems will take the House and Senate just like we did in 2010. Anyway, these people are in a dream world. I see the R’s maintaining the Congress in all the things I read and trust. But still way to early for any of us.

    Like

  44. Robert Cross Avatar
    Robert Cross

    Steve Bannon on whether or not trump knew about the trump tower meeting with the Russians ” “The chance that Don Jr. did not walk these Jumos up to his father’s office of the 26th floor is zero,” How do you spell “collusion”? Not to mention outright lying, of course.
    Bannon also thinks this was treason. “Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately,”
    So who are the real “proglodyte morons” here? You know, those who are so stupid that they believe what Donald the Liar says about anything and everything? #Sad

    Like

  45. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Suddenly they think Steve Bannon is credible. Now they believe anything and everything he says. My, things can turn on a dime.

    Like

  46. fish Avatar
    fish

    So who are the real “proglodyte morons” here? You know, those who are so stupid that they believe what Donald the Liar says about anything and everything? #Sad
    Well bobby the “proglodyte moron” remains you…..as you are a self confessed progressive (mores the pity)! Again….all this unpleasantness could have been avoided if you guys had just run someone electable!

    Like