The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

In The Mailbox: 08.20.24

Posted on | August 20, 2024 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 08.20.24

— compiled by Wombat-socho

If I had any sense at all, I would just unpack all my stuff and go to bed, because it’s been a long couple of days in Las Vegas and the Nevada National Security Site, f/k/a Nevada Test Site. But here I am mongling links.
Speaking of which, if you’re an independent author of conservative or libertarian tendencies, there’s another Based Books Sale coming up in time for Based Con. 
Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Exercising Your 2A Rights Doesn’t Mean You Forfeit Your 4A Rights
EBL: Summer Rental, The Great Outdoors, and Phil Donahue, RIP | Milton Friedman as guest
Twitchy: MD Governor Talks At A Chicago Bar With “Little Gretch”, Jewish Groups Forced To Meet In Private & Are STILL Harassed At DNC, and Newsweek Says Kamala’s Poll Numbers Are Growing & Will Only Get Better
Louder With Crowder: Cringe Queen Kamala returns in glorious fashion, shows why they try to hide her from humans, also, “I’ll only accept those pronouns:” Creepy dude seems confused school board doesn’t know its gender
Vox Popoli: Of Course it Gets Worse, The Marketeer, ASOS on Amazon, A Not-Cure Worse Than the Disease, Empire of Lies = Not the Good Guys, and Stalking the Stacks
Stoic Observations: Stoic Bites #9 – Global Inequality
L’Ombre de L’Olivier: Four Key Russian Rail Junctions
Upstream Reviews: Queen of the Martian Catacombs, 
Draw & Talk Comics: You Want To Read This Quick Update!
Postcards From Barsoom: What Happens When The Regime Steals The 2024 Election?
Gab: Doomerism – The Pernicious Force Defining Our Age
Peter Brimelow: Why We’ve Suspended VDare & Why I’ve Resigned After 25 Years

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
CDR Salamander: Third Anniversary Review – This Is What A Whole Of Government Epistemic Failure Looks Like, Ten Months Of Lessons From The Red Sea With Bryan McGrath – On Midrats, and Searching For The Military Laffer Curve, 
Don Surber: How to tell Kamala isn’t polling well
Michele Catalano: the week in joy
Protein Wisdom Reborn: The New Holy Wars
STUMP: Chicago Is My Kind Of Town To Beat Up On (2018 Edition), (2019 Edition), and (The COVID Era) 

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Queen of the Martian Catacombs
A Sea of Skulls
Today’s Deals
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New Releases



 

Category: Linkagery

DNC Debacle on Opening Night: Biden Pushed Out of Prime Time as Disorganized Convention Schedule Runs Overtime

Posted on | August 20, 2024 | Comments Off on DNC Debacle on Opening Night: Biden Pushed Out of Prime Time as Disorganized Convention Schedule Runs Overtime

What a disaster! Democrats crammed their prime-time convention schedule with a bunch of nobodies — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, among others — so that Joe Biden didn’t take the stage until nearly 11:30 p.m. ET.

By the way, Chris Coons, who was chairman of Biden’s reelection campaign before the Dems shoved Biden off the ticket, accidentally made news in a Fox News interview where he bitterly blamed the news media for destroying Biden’s chances for a second term:

“After the debate, there was a relentless media focus on whether or not President Biden was as sharp as he had been in his 70s,” he said. “And day after day, week after week, we could not change the subject.” . . .
Fox News anchor John Roberts pressed for clarification — after Coons added that Biden stepping aside was “his decision” — on the complaint about the media focusing on the president’s mental condition.
“Let me just add one quick question, just to put a button on this: So you’re saying the reason why he’s not the nominee anymore is because of the media?” Roberts asked.
“I’m saying that after what was an admittedly a very bad debate performance,” Coons said, “he was sick, he had travelled too much, he did not perform well — that he reevaluated his path forward as a candidate.”
“Over the next three weeks,” Coons added, as Biden “gave interview after interview, speech after speech, rally after rally, the media wouldn’t let him move on.”
“And the polls began to reflect that folks did not have the confidence that he could serve four years as our next president,” he continued.
“Ultimately, it was the opinion of the American people and the opinion of those closest to him that mattered. I think he’s made the right decision,” Coons said.



 

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Category: Democrats, Joe Biden

Is Chicago Burning Yet?

Posted on | August 19, 2024 | Comments Off on Is Chicago Burning Yet?

Got to be honest, the pro-Hamas “resistance” in Chicago so far has been rather disappointing. If they can’t work up some violent chaos in the streets for the Democratic National Convention, what good are they, huh?

Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters breached the first layer of fencing outside the Democratic National Convention, with some later apprehended by Chicago police and others pushed back by officers behind to restore the secure perimeter.
The protesters had gathered at Union Park earlier Monday and marched over to Park 578 — just a few hundred feet away from the United Center — where President Biden and others will deliver speeches to as many as 4,000 Democratic delegates.
A double-fenced perimeter around the convention forum separated them from the Israel-hating demonstrators, as tensions mounted in the early evening.
Several protesters had crept up to the fence and began shaking it before slipping through. An entourage of law enforcement officers then arrived to reinforce the lines.
Some activists were also heard instructing their comrades not to enter the DNC grounds and to instead head west — but that instruction went mostly unheeded.
“No, we’re going in there,” one protester said.
Before the fencing was struck down, the crowd was heard chanting, “Just like 1968! There’s nothing here to celebrate!”
Others bore signs declaring, “Globalize the Intifada!” and “End all US military aid to Israel.”
Cops eventually pushed many of the protesters back, though some were arrested, one officer told The Post.
Top anti-Israel protest organizers had predicted a monster turnout of between 30,000 and 40,000 activists ahead of the Democratic National Convention, but on Monday afternoon before beginning their march, they appeared poised to fall dramatically short of that.

Pathetic. Couldn’t they at least loot Macy’s? Smash some windows, tear down a few statues, cover the convention center in “Intifada” graffiti? America wants to see some riotous mayhem, but these left-wing punks — who claim Democrats are complicit in genocide — don’t seem very serious about shutting down the convention.



 

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Category: Chicago, Democrats

Rule 5 Sunday: Welcome, Indiana!

Posted on | August 18, 2024 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: Welcome, Indiana!

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Started playing Azur Lane again after a lengthy break, and lo and behold – the current event introduces another fast battleship to feed my urges, the South Dakota-class battlewagon Indiana. Ain’t she cute?
Another reason for the 2D girl this week is that I wound up in Twitmo until Saturday for suggesting a UK judge should get the tar & feather treatment. Weak!
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

“Cause you’ve heard she’s pretty fast/And you’re thinking she might give you some tonight…”

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five Ammo Machine Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon

EBL: Saturday Night Girls With Guns, Helen Mirren, The Change, MAGA Anna Paulina Luna, Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters, Gena Rowlands RIP, Cybill Shepherd, Borderlands – Boring, Unfunny, & Unwatchable, Cornelia Sharpe, Masai Russell Wins Gold, and USA Women Win Gold In Soccer

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: ?zech out Anet Ml?áková, Kamala Konsiders Kost Kontrols, Walz DUI Drawing Attention, Fish Pic Friday – Marina Gibson, Tattoo Thursday, MDDNR Discovers If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It, The Wednesday Wetness, Tuesday Tanlines, Tarpon in Maryland?, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Gone Fishing, and Palm Sunday

FLAPPR: T.I.T.S. for August 16th

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

Hurricane-Force Media Hype

Posted on | August 18, 2024 | Comments Off on Hurricane-Force Media Hype

CNN (I watch, so you don’t have to) is still hyping polls that show Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and, if all you knew about the election is what you get from the “mainstream” media, you would believe she’s cruising to certain victory. Dig this feature in the U.K. Guardian:

Tens of thousands of Democrats are expected to descend on Chicago this week for their party’s convention, bubbling with a feeling few had anticipated: pure, unconfined joy.
At the end of their four-day fete, when the red, white and blue balloons tumble from the rafters of the United Center, Kamala Harris will have become the first woman of color to accept a major party’s presidential nomination in American history. The moment will cap a frenzied few weeks for Democrats, following the vice-president’s sudden ascent to the top of the ticket in a development that has transformed the race for the White House and galvanized a party once resigned to a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
“It’s a remarkable turn of events,” said Howard Dean, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and former Vermont governor. “The Democrats have now been resurrected.”
In less than a month since Biden’s monumental decision to abandon his re-election bid, Harris has united most Democrats and restored the party’s dominance among young voters and people of color. While the race remains nail-bitingly close, analysts recently adjusted their outlook in a trio of Sun belt states that had appeared to be slipping away from Democrats, possibly opening an alternative path to victory.
Harris’s crowds have been large and electric — a development that appears to irk her rival, still struggling to find a mocking nickname. Fundraising has poured in at a record clip. Celebrities, artists and fashion designers are eager to help. Online, young people continue to churn out memes and flattering content.
Party officials say the Harris-inspired vibe shift is trickling down ballot and translating into on-the-ground organizing.
“You can see the giant crowd packing the rallies,” said Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic party. “But what you can’t see in those images is the fact that thousands of the people who go to those rallies are signing up for volunteer shifts and then going out and knocking on the doors of potential swing voters who may not know much about Vice-President Harris or Governor Walz.” . . .

You can read the rest of that, if you’re not already sick to your stomach from such nausea-inducing treacle. One thing the “mainstream” media carefully avoid reporting are the facts about Chicago, a Democrat-controlled hellhole where 25 people have already been murdered this month. The Chicago homicide total so far this year is already 386, and another 1,634 people have been shot but survived their wounds.

Meanwhile, more than 74 million Americans voted for Trump in 2020 and an even larger number will vote for Trump again this year, and what about them? What about their opinions? What do those many millions of American voters think of the way Democrats switched candidates in mid-campaign? You’re never going to see questions like that asked on CNN, nor will they ever remind their audience of why Kamala Harris quit the Democratic primary campaign in December 2019 before a single vote was cast. The woman is an unlikeable airhead, and the only reason she became vice president is because that was the price James Clyburn demanded from Biden in return for delivering the South Carolina primary, at a time when Joe was desperate to stop Bernie Sanders.

If you’re one of those 74 million Trump voters, my advice is: Relax.

Do not let yourself become discouraged by the intensity of the pro-Harris hype coming from the media. Ultimately, this make-believe game cannot succeed, and the American people will see through the media-generated mirage of “joy” around the Harris-Walz ticket. We’re now 79 days away from November 5. You can survive the hurricane of hype that long.



 

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Category: Kamala Harris, Media Bias

Mac Jones Nails Down QB2 Job in Jax

Posted on | August 18, 2024 | Comments Off on Mac Jones Nails Down QB2 Job in Jax

You don’t care about football and, at a certain level, neither do I, but the NFL saga of quarterback Mac Jones has fascinated me ever since he was a first-round draft pick for the New England Patriots in 2021. That followed Mac’s undefeated, record-setting National Championship season at Alabama and, in retrospect, can we all agree that season was the pinnacle of Nick Saban’s tenure as head coach in Tuscaloosa? During the 2020 season, Mac completed more than 77% of his passes for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. What happened to Mac in New England is a long, sad story of a legendary franchise in disarray (see “‘The Patriot Way’ Has Turned Toxic,” December 7, 2023). That’s why I was overjoyed in March when Mac was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars — the situation in New England was irretrievable, and Jacksonville is Mac’s hometown.

Jones is now a rehabilitation project, frankly, and he could not have asked for a better place to do it. Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson is himself a former quarterback, who spent most of his 12-year NFL career as a backup, so he has a high degree of empathy for a player in Mac’s situation. Furthermore — and this is crucial — there is no doubt who QB1 is in Jacksonville. Trevor Lawrence was the No. 1 draft pick in 2021, the same year the Patriots got Jones at No. 15 overall and, despite Lawrence’s woeful rookie season (during Urban Meyer’s disastrous tenure as Jaguars head coach), he has flourished the past two seasons under Pederson.

Two years ago, Trevor led Jacksonville to the AFC South title, and a first-round playoff victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, before losing in the divisional round to the Kansas City Chiefs. Last year, after a strong start, the Jaguars faded down the stretch and missed the playoffs, as Lawrence struggled with injuries. Now fully healthy, Trevor’s status as starting QB is beyond dispute, which means that Mac Jones doesn’t have to deal with anything like the pressure and scrutiny (and, let’s face it, hate) he endured in New England, where the legendary shadow of Tom Brady loomed so large. Still, the job as backup quarterback wasn’t just going to be handed to Jones on a silver platter. For the past three seasons, C.J. Beathard has been QB2 in Jacksonville, and if Jones wanted that job, he would have to beat out Beathard. Mac cinched it Saturday night:

Mac Jones threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns, taking a step toward formally securing Jacksonville’s backup job, and the Jaguars beat Tampa Bay 20-7 in a preseason game featuring few starters Saturday night.
Jones got the nod in place of Trevor Lawrence and completed 16 of 23 passes, including TDs to Parker Washington and Brevin Easton. He also scrambled six times, including a nifty, duck-under move on linebacker Vi Jones in the second quarter to avoid a sack.
“Just got to keep carrying the momentum,” Jones said. “It’s a one-week season; everyone always says that. The preseason, too. You’ve got to stack good games and move on to the next game.”
Jones’ best throws went for scores. He hit Washington in stride on a third-and-17 play for 25 yards and a 7-0 lead that capped a 17-play drive. Washington finished with three receptions for 38 yards a week after returning a kickoff 73 yards against Kansas City.
Jones returned in the fourth quarter after C.J. Beathard (groin) was ruled out and lofted a perfect pass to Easton for a 31-yard score. Jones finished with a QB rating of 127.1. Beathard was 5 of 7 for 40 yards and was sacked three times.
“I thought overall Mac played a solid football game,” coach Doug Pederson said. “He was obviously into it. You saw his intensity out there. Made some great throws. Just led the team like you expected. … He loves playing. He loves playing the game and he did some great things.”

Although the severity of Beathard’s injury was not disclosed, the fact that Jones came back on in the fourth quarter and quickly produced a touchdown — which, hey, isn’t that what a backup QB needs to do? — can be fairly regarded as putting a lock on the job. Besides the unknown status of Beathard due to his injury, Pederson (and Jacksonville GM Trent Baalke) must also consider the potential demand for Mac’s services elsewhere around the league. For example, when the Minnesota Vikings lost first-round rookie QB J.J. McCarthy to a season-ending injury last week, several commentators suggested the Vikings might trade for Jones. And there might be other teams interested in a young veteran quarterback who, now that he’s escaped the gloom of New England, is once again showing the abilities that made him a first-round draft pick three years ago. By August 27, NFL teams have to cut their roster down to 53 players, and it’s generally agreed that the Jags will only keep two QBs on their active roster. The hope would be that they can cut QB3, then resign him to the practice squad after he clears waivers. But what are the chances that Jacksonville can successfully make that maneuver with Mac Jones? Not good, whereas C.J. Beathard almost certainly would.

At this point — with one preseason game remaining against the Falcons — it looks like Mac Jones will be QB2 for the Jaguars, and that’s exactly where he wants to be. Jacksonville’s offensive line seems rather porous, so Mac can watch from the sidelines while Trevor Lawrence gets blitzed and sacked repeatedly. It’s a nice gig, being a backup quarterback, and my hope is that Jacksonville can amass a winning record and Trevor can stay healthy, at least until November 5. That’s the NFL trade deadline, and I wouldn’t want to see Mac’s rehabilitation get interrupted by having the Jags trade him to some other team in need of an experienced QB. No, let Jones stay in Jacksonville, and let the Jaguars stack up a 6-3 or 7-2 record before the trade deadline, but if something happens to Trevor Lawrence after November 5? Well, Mac needs to be ready. Because that’s the name of the game as a backup QB — be ready.



 

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Category: Football

FMJRA 2.0: It Could Have Been Worse

Posted on | August 18, 2024 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: It Could Have Been Worse

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Atlanta may be 76-54, but we swept them in the Launching Pad before coming home and getting whupped by Pete’s Brewers at RFK; we lost Game 1 thanks to the accursed rain gods, but Carl Morton hung on to win his fifth game, 2-1 against George Stone. In Game 3 the Brewers got to Joe Coleman for four runs, but we couldn’t buy a hit off lefty Gary Ryerson, who we should have beaten like a red-headed stepchild. Welp. We’re facing California Tuesday (Monday or Wednesday if I can manage it) and the Daytraders next Friday, so I’m not expecting another 4-2 week. We’ll enjoy the Curly W while it lasts.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

Another good week.

Watching CNN (So You Don’t Have To)
The Daley Gator
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum






Trump Derangement Syndrome and the Media’s ‘Misinformation’ Obsession
The Daley Gator
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: A Sight Not Seen For Quite Some Time
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Rule 5 Sunday: Biker Babe In Bikini
Animal Magnetism
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL

Why Do Republicans Hate ‘Joy’?
The Daley Gator
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.12.24
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.13.24
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.15.24 (Morning Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.16.24
EBL
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum

Thanks to everybody for all the links!

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Category: FMJRA Award

BREAKING NEWS: Washington Post Columnist Understands Economics!

Posted on | August 17, 2024 | Comments Off on BREAKING NEWS: Washington Post Columnist Understands Economics!

The Pulitzer Prize committee hasn’t solicited any suggestions from me, but maybe they should consider Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post for a special award, because I can’t remember the last time anyone at the Post exhibited any real comprehension of how markets work.

In case you missed it — because, really, who cares? — this past week, Kamala Harris rolled out “her” economic policy agenda. The scare-quotes around “her” are necessary because Kamala has never in her life had an original idea, and “her” economic plan is no exception to that rule. Central to this economic plan is an idea stolen from Elizabeth Warren, a federal ban on “price gouging.” Like every other Elizabeth Warren idea, this is a very bad idea, as Matt Margolis explains:

The proposal, of course, is Soviet-style price controls branded as a federal ban on price-gouging. The proposal tries to kill two birds with one stone by simultaneously deflecting blame for inflation onto corporate greed — rather than the economic policies of the Biden-Harris administration — and convincing the public that she has the solution to fix it.

“If you like your bread lines, you can keep your bread lines.”

Rampell’s column in the Post rips Kamala to tatters:

“Price gouging” is the focus of Vice President Kamala Harris’s economic agenda, her presidential campaign says. She’ll crack down on “excessive prices” and “excessive corporate profits,” particularly for groceries.
So what level counts as “excessive,” you might ask? TBD, but Harris will ban it.
That’s the thing about price gouging: As has been said of hardcore pornography, you know it when you see it.
It’s not hard to figure out where this proposal came from. Voters want to blame someone for high grocery bills, and the presidential candidates have apparently decided the choices are either the Biden administration or corporate greed. Harris has chosen the latter.
In a news release Wednesday, her campaign said the first 100 days of her presidency would include the “first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries — setting clear rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries.”
What are these “clear rules of the road” or the thresholds that determine when a price or profit level becomes “excessive”? The memo doesn’t say, and the campaign did not answer questions I sent seeking clarification. . . .
It’s hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is. It is, in all but name, a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Far-off Washington bureaucrats would. The FTC would be able to tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio the acceptable price it can charge for milk.
At best, this would lead to shortages, black markets and hoarding, among other distortions seen previous times countries tried to limit price growth by fiat. (There’s a reason narrower “price gouging” laws that exist in some U.S. states are rarely invoked.) At worst, it might accidentally raise prices. . . .

You can read the rest, and frankly, now I’m worried about Catherine Rampell’s safety. Telling the truth about how bad Democratic policies are? Is that even allowed? Isn’t it racist to say Kamala would wreck the economy worse than it’s been wrecked already? It’s probably just a matter of time before Rampell is the target of an exposé by Taylor Lorenz.



 

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Category: Economics, Kamala Harris
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