Bookworm Room

Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.

To those fearing impeachment, snap out of it! Not going to happen.

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Impeachment is a Progressive, GOP, #NeverTrump pipe dream. On known facts, there’s no basis, so here’s a slap in the face to snap you out of your fear.

Slap in Face Impeachment fear snap out of itI see it all over my Facebook feed: triumphant Leftists, certain that we’re on the verge of impeaching Trump and weak-kneed conservatives, egged on by ever-hostile #NeverTrumpers, certain that the Progressives are correct and that it’s all over now. Well it’s not all over.

The only reason Progressives think they’re in the catbird seat is that Trump voters are allowing the media to live in their heads. As for #NeverTrumpers, I suspect that they imagine a halcyon future in which a dignified, refined President Pence presides over a dignified, refined Republican golden age. As if!

I don’t care how wonderful Pence is (and I think he’s awesome). The reality is that, if the Democrats can bring Trump down, no Republican will ever again be allowed to occupy the White House. If Trump goes on the shoddy, fake grounds currently asserted, so goes our republic.

Russia? So what if people, including Trump people, talked to Russia? Russia may be a geopolitical foe in the larger sense, something that’s theoretically true for every nation in the world, but during the entire Obama administration, Russia was not the enemy. Remember this? [Read more…]

Bookworm Beat 3/29/17 — web design and teaching an old dog new tricks

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I have been a bit remiss in blogging the past few days, but that’s because I’ve been caught up in web design and lose track of time.

Web design NYC Tech ClubI’m creating the web as a companion piece to my app project. Learning web design provides me with fun and frustration in equal measure.

If you’re thinking of designing your own blog, I highly recommend the DIY videos from NYC Tech Club. The videos clearly walk you through each step for building a website, from getting a domain, to finding a server, to designing a WordPress site.

This is my second site build — I did the first for our local Navy League chapter — and there’s been a huge leap in website design in just the last couple of years. This means that I’m starting at square one.  As an old dog, learning these tricks can be time-consuming. I also lose track of time. If the dogs didn’t bark me off when it’s time to feed or walk them, I’d never look up from the computer.

Still, I always do sneak in some reading and I’ve got posts I want to share with you. In no particular order:

Stop panicking about politics. The Left is in perpetual panic/aggression mode since the election, but conservatives are doing a good job of panicking as well following the first attempt at healthcare and the endless claims that Trump committed treason with the Russians.

Regarding health care, Scott Adams says, “Don’t worry. Trump is a systems guy and the systems are working just fine.”

And on the subject of Russia, Charlie Martin, one of the most intelligent thinkers and analysts, has this to say:

Folks, doing business with Russia isn’t illegal.

Being a lobbyist who lobbied for Russia in the past isn’t illegal. For Democrat NeverTrumpers: You don’t want to push this, since John Podesta did quite a lot of lobbying with Russians, and the Clinton Foundation did a lot of business with the Russians. It’s not illegal to talk to Julian Assange. It’s not illegal, it’s not even cooperation, to say: “Hey Russia, why don’t you release Hillary’s emails?” And frankly, it would take a complete nincompoop to think that Trump was illicitly coordinating with the Russians by saying something in a press conference.

 

Judges are morons. To any of my readers who are judges or have are associated with judges, I’m sorry for saying this, but it has to be said. Judges — at least if they’re Progressive — are morons. Evil too.

The latest example of how dreadful Progressive judges are comes from the Supreme Court of the State of California. In a move that actually impresses me in a bizarre way, a Republican governor managed to put into place a Chief Justice who is more stupid and harder Left even than the infamous Rose Bird.

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Bookworm Beat 3/6/17 — the Obama wiretap edition and open thread

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There are lots of theories about the verity of Trump’s wiretap accusations. This round-up offers what may be the most credible one. Check it out.

Obama wiretapWhen it comes to Trump’s explosive charge that Obama put a wiretap on Trump’s phone, most of me is waiting for evidence. Mark Levin’s indictment is great, but it’s still based on hearsay. Having said that, my instinct is to trust that Trump is crazy like a fox, as opposed to just plain crazy. He made his accusations because he knows something. Indeed, Dan Bongino, a former secret service agent who presumably has contacts, says that the other shoe will drop imminently.

I know, and you know, that Obama has two habits: First, except in 2008 when he was elected based upon the historic aspects of his candidacy, Obama has always cheated to win, whether it’s getting someone’s sealed divorce records released or lying about Benghazi. Second, Obama bugs people, and I don’t mean that he merely irritates them. He’s bugged the media, he’s bugged foreign leaders, and he’s bugged Congress, and that’s just the bugs we know about. Past behavior can be a predictor of future conduct.

The only thing that might militate against Obama having acted against Trump in June and October is that everyone thought Hillary would win. Why would Obama do this? Perhaps it was a belts and suspenders thing — or, perhaps, J.E. Dyer at Liberty Unyielding has the answer. With that opening, let me get to my round-up.

Did Obama issue orders allowing his minions to destroy Trump using previously gathered information? Before I get to J.E. Dyer’s inspired theory, let me give a little background. Three-and-a-half years ago, Mary Theroux, the brilliant founder of the important Independent Institute, gave a luncheon talk that I attended. I wrote about it afterwards, so I’ll quote myself here:

The government gets so much data, it’s useless for the stated purpose of crime and terrorism prevention. As it comes in, it’s simply so much white noise. It certainly didn’t stop 9/11 or the Boston bombing. In this regard, think of England, which has more CCTVs per capita than any other country in the 1st world, and maybe in any world. Nevertheless, these cameras do nothing to prevent crime. As the number of cameras has increased, so has the crime rate. The data is useful only after the fact, to help (sometimes) apprehend the criminal.

Well, one can argue that ex post facto apprehension is a good thing — but it’s a good thing only if there’s been a clear violation of a pretty well known law (e.g., don’t beat people to death or don’t rob a jewelry store). We’re looking at something much more sinister here. Think of the volume of law in America and, worse, think of the staggering volumes of rules interpreting those laws.

As Theroux noted, Stalin’s chief of police famously said (and I’m paraphrasing) give me the man and I can find the crime. We Americans have a government that’s sitting on data that can be used to criminalize us after the fact the current government (Republican or Democrat or Third Party) doesn’t like us. It’s like a landmine under every American.

With that information in mind, it’s time to think about the equally brilliant J.E. Dyer’s understanding of what probably happened. First, she describes the same process that Mary warned about, which is the government’s ability to collect everything without discrimination and then to store it until it needs or wants it:

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Bookworm Beat 12/21/16 — the “election that never ends” edition

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Donald Trump Election 2017Yes, the Electoral College has spoken on the election, but the Progressives’ weeping, wailing, beating of breasts, and rending of garments continues unabated. That’s why you’ll find these articles pertinent, interesting, amusing and, sometimes, frightening.

Don’t attack people from whom you want something. Hillary wanted votes from Americans but she couldn’t help herself. Speaking to a sympathetic audience, she had to attack vast swaths of America’s citizens as a “basket of deplorables,” guilty of a variety of moral sins. She may have graduated from Yale Law but she apparently never learned there the first rule of making your case to a jury: “Don’t attack people from whom you want something.”

Hillary’s most ardent followers haven’t learned that lesson either. They’re so busy pointing at Comey (never mind that he got on the case because Hillary broke the law), Russians (never mind that the DNC and Podesta practically gave their information away), and anyone or anything else that attracts their angry, short attention span, that they’re missing the main lesson: You don’t win by hating voters.

Over at the San Francisco Chronicle, columnist Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez looked at the numbers after the election and decided that an entire section of the City is irredeemable — and darn if he isn’t calling them out on it:

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