Dear Maga: 20190305 Open Topic

Folks, I thought I’d commemorate “Beastly Banned Wagon Day” with this Very Open daily thread.
It has been Six Hundred Sixty Six days since I was banned from SunDirge’s Eeyore Tree, also known as Can’t Tolerate Heterodoxy, and Banhammer Central.

(Not that I’m counting, mind you.)

Hey, sometimes 666 is just a number. Something has to fill the gap between 665 and 667.

More on the positive side apparently this Thursday is day 777 of the Trump Presidency. That’s Eeyore Tree, ordinal counting where inauguration day is day 1, which is not at all the way I’d count…if I were to count, which (mind you) I don’t.

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0 (2) — (This license plate is not mine. But it does have a cool ending to it.)

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OK, on to the usual boilerplate:
It’s Very Open here, so you can comment on that, or anything else…and the way things have been hopping lately, there will be plenty else to talk about. Of course Q is at the top of the list, until the top blows off the pressure cooker.
But the point is, you can say pretty much what you want provided it’s civil.
But there is an exception: Don’t give the internet censors an opening to take this place out (see the September 1 Daily Thread for what I’m talking about).
And of course the other rules:

No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.

And need I say, if you should happen to see any nuclear warheads (though I can neither confirm or deny any of them are around), do not molest them. Especially don’t put any hypothetical bullet holes in the hypothetical warheads. We may or may not have plans for them.

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Things certainly seem to be coming to a boil…there’s a tension building. But we don’t really know what, exactly, and we certainly don’t know what the Opposition is going to do. Nor what our side will have to do to counter it. I know some people have even put out videos warning that martial law (!) will be coming, but they reassure us it will be Our Side doing it, so just go along with it! Of course, in the end, it’s all speculation. But it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared.
Of course (I’m going to be a pessimist for one paragraph) it’s still possible the Opposition will strike first attempting to take out our President (and I must repeat: OUR President) before he can do it to them.
Well, they can try.
Whatever it is, however it goes down…we must stick with POTUS. Even if it looks like he’s down and on the way out at some time during the chaos, we must stick with him. Sometimes that’s all it takes to defeat a coup; the people behind it generally rely on there being enough people accepting that they’re in charge now that a sense of “accompli” sets in. So don’t accept it.
But the most likely outcome, I think, is that we’ll come through this and “they” won’t. I don’t know if my fantasy of heads on pikes down the Washington Mall will come to pass, but “they” won’t make it.
Maybe it will even start today, who knows? Wouldn’t it be just lovely if Beastly Day 666 of the Banned Wagon turned out to be a really bad day for them!

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OK, it’s trivia time!
US Highway 666, whose shields are shown in the topic banner, was nominally a side branch off of US 66–three digit numbers (except 101) were for loops and spurs. But between 1942 and 1992 it was quite a side branch, extending from 66 south to the Mexican border just inside the eastern edge of Arizona, and from 66 north from just inside the western edge of New Mexico, up into Colorado then turning west and ending barely inside of Utah. The 30 mile stretch of 66, which crossed the Arizona-New Mexico border, between the two turnoffs was co-signed as 666.
But that part of 66 became I-40, and in 1985 the US 66 designation was simply dropped.
US 666 became known as the Devil’s Highway, and many people either believed it was cursed, or worried that their businesses would suffer because many people believed it. In 1992, the south branch in Arizona was changed into an extension of US 191. In 2003, the rest of the highway got renumbered as 491.
Another reason for the change is that the signs got stolen so often that they became a noticeable drain on the highway department budget. In fact, within five days after the renumbering to 491 was announced–every single 666 sign was stolen, in some cases the entire sign assembly, signpost and all, was simply cut off with a chainsaw.
A lot of residents along the highway took a sort of pride in the number, and proudly used the name Devil’s Highway, sort of like how we use “Deplorables” with pride. Even many who take the 666-Devil connection seriously didn’t want to make the change. But change, it did.

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License plates: Colorado until 1981 used numbers of the format AB-1234, then switched to ABC-123. The ABC-123 numbers were coded by county (plates starting with K and L were for El Paso County, which contains Colorado Springs and a lot of Deplorables, for instance). At least some counties ran out of their allotment, so we went to ABC1234 in 1992. Cops found those hard to read, so we went from green mountains/white sky to white mountains/green sky in 2000, and switched numbers and letter groups, 123-ABC. We ran out of those (even after adding Q (!) to the allowable letters) in 2015, so we switched back to ABC-123, using any plate number that had never been issued (including all possible combinations with Q). For about two years here, every new license plate issued had a Q in it! In mid 2018, apparently (though I didn’t notice until Monday night), we went to ABC-D12 format, and it’s gone all the way up to BEX-C99 as of January 20.
Not that I’m counting, mind you. I got this info from Wikipedia.

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And of course no post of mine would be complete without a coin. Here’s a silver dollar from the very first year that America issued them. Today, it’s known as the “Flowing Hair” type to distinguish it from the later types where Liberty’s hair was bound in some way, with a ribbon or cap. The design was used into 1795 (when they went to a new portrait on the obverse); the 1794s are considerably rarer than the 1795s.

flowing-hair-silver-dollar — 1794 silver dollar, first year of issue of a United States Dollar.

Producing coinage was seen then, as it is now, as a sign of sovereignty. Getting the mint up and running (it produced cents and half cents the year before) was a big piece of that; imagine holding a dime in your hand in the mid 1790s. (Dimes were a totally new denomination–although dollars existed before the US did, no one had divided them into tenths before.) You turn it over and see UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on it and an eagle, and you look back over the previous 30 years ago, and remember the runup to the the American Revolution and the War of Independence that, several times, had us on the brink of defeat…and now, after all that, finally you get to see the name of your new country on a silver coin.
What will people see, twenty or thirty years from now, when they look back the late 2010s?

What is a "Right," Anyway?

This post won’t be on news of the day, but it will be on a political matter, one that perennially pops up.
Every once in a while it’s good to discuss/review some of the foundational issues; it keeps one politically “centered.”
It’s especially important to review/discuss the sorts of things that the Opposition wants to obfuscate or hijack. They do that to try to destroy the concept; it’s very hard to think clearly about something without the appropriate concepts in place, and they love to muddy thought processes, because clear thinking lets one see through their crap.
(Clear thinking is our ally, which is one reason I fight against muddy thinking by people on my side. It’s not the usual “we’re better than this” argument that needs to be ditched because we’re now at war, it’s the fact that we’re laying down our best weapon by engaging in the behavior that they do, and fighting on the turf they chose.)
So today, let’s pick up the question of what a “right” is. I’m going to be talking about the basic rights, not the procedural rights that come into play when someone sues you or the government prosecutes you. Those, of course largely depend on the procedure, whereas the basic rights, we tend to regard as absolutes, inherent in the human condition regardless of how our courts work.
We all know that the Left thinks there is a right to healthcare, a right to child care, a right to an education, and even a right to a basic living income. We disagree, of course. But why? It’s important to know why this is wrong.
The other day I saw a comment on the daily thread, and it implied, I believe, the <em>wrong answer</em>. I wrote a response to it, which apparently no one noticed. (No one “liked” it, and no one took me to task for it either, which means no one hated it. 😀 )
Here’s the original comment I responded to (at https://wqth.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/dear-maga-20190228-open-topic/comment-page-1/#comment-85981)

no, not inconvenient–it’s a RIGHT (according to Lizzy) to have government provide childcare–what could go wrong?
hmmm…which number is that in the Bill of Rights Liz?

(“Lizzy” is Elizabeth “Spreading Bull” Warren a/k/a Fauxcahontas.)
I find this line of thinking–that it’s not a right if it’s not listed in the Bill of Rights–very dangerous for two reasons.
1–What if the writers of the BOR didn’t think of everything? The list of rights could be overly narrowly construed because of that. For instance, if there’s a right to privacy (and I’ve seen good arguments both ways, but let’s assume for the sake of argument that there is), it’s not in the Bill of Rights, and someone could try to deny that it’s a right on that basis.
(Note: Someone might say it’s not a constitutional right, and they’d be correct. But then the question still remains: Does that “someone” believe it’s therefore not a right at all?)
2–Ironically, the writers of the BOR did realize they hadn’t listed everything. So they wrote the Ninth Amendment. Here it is:

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

In other words, the Bill of Rights itself explicitly states that something might be a right even though it doesn’t have a number in the Bill of Rights. So there you have it: It would be a mistake to assume that only rights specifically named in the Constitution are rights.
The Ninth Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to counter an argument that many made against having a Bill of Rights: That listing some rights might be taken as an implication that the government could violate any rights it wanted as long as it didn’t violate those specific rights. Meaning it could run rampant everywhere else.
And you’ve got to admit, they did have a point–it does seem as if the government overreaches with impunity everywhere else; it’s certainly not actually limited to the powers expressly delegated to it in Article I, Section 8 or anywhere else in the Constitution. That’s largely because the SCOTUS generally hasn’t yanked back on the leash unless there was a BOR-listed-rights violation.
The Ninth was an attempt to address this argument, and it is a sleeping giant of constitutional law. If the SCOTUS ever decides to pay attention to it, well–it will be interesting to see what they come up with. One would hope they use it as a meat cleaver, getting rid of a lot of the crap the government does to us, putting it back inside the bounds of the expressly delegated powers.
But the Ninth has its hazards, too: it leaves the door open to inventing bogus rights, then claiming that there’s no argument against them, because of the 9th amendment. I’m sure everyone can think of a favorite example of a bogus right that could be brought in this way. This is very likely the sort of thing that was on the mind of the person who wrote the comment I quoted.
To sum up: It’s clear that the Founders recognized there were more rights than in the Bill of Rights, but since they didn’t specify them, the door is wide open to invent bogus rights. We shouldn’t rely on the BOR “list” to be complete, but we don’t want to let people tack things onto it willy-nilly, either.
How to resolve this?
This is why it’s very important to remain grounded on the true definition of what a “right” is. The Left would love people to lose track of it precisely so they can invent new pseudo-rights, and also to deny the ones that really exist.
But even if we come up with a good definition of a “right,” one that allows for freedom of conscience (speech, religion), freedom to have firearms, etc., but does NOT include “right to health care,” the Left has a counter-argument. To them “rights” are “social constructs,” arbitrary decisions by society which society can decide to countermand whenever it feels like. To the Left, there’s no objective definition of what a “right” is, because rights don’t really exist, so the concept can mean whatever you want it to mean.
So it’s important to be able to defend (even if only in your own mind) against this, to know that your definition of a “right” is objectively correct, not just some arbitrary preference on your part. If you buy into the social construct theory, then your only defense is to make sure they don’t have the power to make the decisions for the rest of us, because once they get that power then you have no choice but to agree that the list they come up with is the correct one, at least this decade.
I’m not going to go into justifying the definition this time around, mainly because I strongly suspect everyone here would disagree with my justification. I’m going to take the definition as a given. (Of course, there’s a potential problem here: because our justifications are different, our definitions might be subtly different too.)
So here it is, my favorite definition of a right.

A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a person’s freedom of action in a social context.

Let’s note a few key things.
A) It says a man. A right applies to an individual, not to any group.
B) It covers freedom of action. Let’s unpack this a bit more. A right concerns a potential action to be taken by an individual. What that means is, if someone has a right to take an action, they can take it, without compulsion or interference by others. The basis of this is that the basic right is to life, but one must take action to sustain their own life; thus the right to action is a derivative of the right to life.
But note, this is only a right to act on one’s own judgment; it does not impose any obligation on others to take positive action, it only requires them to not interfere.
This is why there is no “right to health care.” Because if there were, you’d have a right to force someone to act to provide you with that health care. Any proposed right that requires someone to take positive action on your behalf, or provide resources to you, cannot be a real right. If there were such a right, it would absolutely interfere with people’s real rights to enjoy the fruits of their own labor, it would turn everyone into a slave.
This is why the Left is not just trying to invent bogus rights, but trying to get rid of real ones as well–those real rights conflict with their bogus ones.
Even actual rights are not immune to attempts to contaminate them. To take an example that irritates me still, “Free Speech” is about being able to speak your mind, it is not about someone having to provide you with a microphone, or an internet site, or a printing press, or even a soapbox, to do so. “Freedom of Religion,” similarly; you can practice your religion; you cannot legitimately force me to pay it either lip service or monetary support.
Of course a right has limits beyond just “don’t force someone else to pay for it,” but those limits are usually pretty obvious, direct damage to others, interfering with their rights, and so on. Your right generally ends when you start violating the rights of others, or cause them physical harm, or intrude on their property. I can speak freely, but I cannot commit libel. I can bear arms, but I can’t go around shooting people or threatening to do so, even if, by my judgment, it might make sense to rob a bank to go buy a Mercedes.
So now you can use this definition as a litmus test for a right covered by the Ninth. Is hiking on my own property a right? It surely is; it’s an action I am undertaking, it’s not requiring anything out of anyone else (other than that they keep off my property and let me walk), and it doesn’t harm anyone else. It’s not specifically listed in the Bill of Rights, but it is a real right, and the Ninth Amendment legitimately covers it.
But if any Leftist schmuck tries to tell you health care is a right, you can call bullshit; and if he tries to slide it in under the Ninth Amendment, you can, for the same reason, call bullshit.

Green New Deal 2.0 = PICK UP YOUR DAMN TRASH!

Remember this guy? The crying Indian? His name was Iron Eyes Cody. He died in 1999 and has a star in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. He was part of the Keep America Beautiful Campaign, and he influenced an entire generation.

The Crying Indian campaign to stop littering was enormously successful and changed our society. These were PSA’s or Public Service Announcements, done by the Ad Council. They were not political. It was common sense, “don’t be trashy”, pick up after yourself, be responsible, we’re ALL Americans, and we’re all individually culpable for the environment. We can all pitch in to make the country “prettier” and someone who DID litter was fined and shamed. The culture shifted, and yes, it was a positive change.
Recently, I watched an old episode of “Mad Men”, which is a series based in the 60’s. The main characters took their children to the park for a picnic and left their trash. The father threw a can at a tree. My eyes went wide. No American, raised in the 70’s-80’s-90’s would do such a thing. Right? Well, while we successfully altered our behavior, the rest of the world didn’t get the message.
Dad traveled to South America and Europe during the 70’s and remarked about the trash, everywhere. I remember it and even though I was a kid, I thought, “Why would they not care?”. A generation later, when I traveled on business to South America, I was astonished by the level of unorganized garbage collection. Asia is even worse. It’s true, China alone, is responsible for 30% of the plastic found in our oceans. Don’t even think about going to a public beach in China. Here is Sanya Beach, where the city employees remove 28 metric tons of garbage from the beaches EVERY DAY.
Sanya Beach in China
Currently, the USA has about 25% of our population who are foreign born AND it’s been 40 years since the Crying Indian ads. Might be time for more Crying Indian ads, eh? Have you been to a beach lately in the USA? I have. People leave diapers and Wal-Mart sacks. It’s disgusting. It’s laziness. Sloth. Inexcusable.
We don’t need a Green New Deal, which is estimated to cost 93 trillion dollars, if we can’t get our own citizens to get up, and walk their trash to the garbage can. AND if environmentalists want to make the world a more beautiful place, they should probably start by protesting the Chinese Embassy. Better yet, rather than protesting and complaining, talk the Chinese into running their own version of the Crying Indian ads. It might work. It might accomplish the stated goal of environmentalists.
Look deeper. If I can easily figure out how to solve half of China’s ocean pollution, thus 15% of the ocean’s plastic, from my desktop, why hasn’t it been done already? Perhaps the goal is not a clean planet. Perhaps the goal is really more about control of the people who would be potential polluters…… which brings us to the Green New Deal.
David Harsanyi from The Federalist has an interesting article about the 10 Most Insane Requirements of the Green New Deal. It is, by no measure, a cumulative list – just the highlights of the proposal and includes such items as:
Ban Affordable Energy, even though the USA is now the #1 producer in the world.
Ban Nuclear Energy, but nuclear is the cleanest of all energy sources
Eliminate 99% of cars, more control, to force us into cities.
Gut and Rebuild everything in the USA, mandate to make us move, shift locale
Ban Air Travel, except for those making the decisions? Will Bernie keep his plane?
A Gov’t Guaranteed Job, how does THAT save the environment???? Or is it really about control???
Free Education for life, again, more control, which has nothing to do with environmentalism and everything to do with socialism
A Salubrious Diet, control what we eat? But her Chief of Staff, the guy who wrote the plan, still eats his burgers?
A “Safe and Affordable” House, control where we live = Communism to Marxism
Free Money, for those unwilling to work. Again, STOP with the SLOTH and laziness.
Ban Meat, because……., cow farts. Vegans are militants, ya’ know.
498
Yeah, it’s fairly clear. The Green New Deal has little to do with a prettier and cleaner world and far more to do with a zealous need for control over the citizens by the chosen few via Socialism/Communism/Marxism. No thank you.
Green Deal
How about we do more PSA’s? Shame people more for littering? Make individuals responsible for their little corner of the world. Very small investment would be required and frankly, a pleasant break from pharmaceutical ads. How about our own families and kids? I almost crashed my car, one time, when a friend of my son’s threw a coke can out of my car window. I went to the exit ramp, made the trip around again, and made him pick it up. It took us 20 minutes to find it. Bet that kid will never litter again!
Wait……. I have a better story. You’re going to love this one.
We live about 45 minutes from a major metro and we were in town, shopping, for a big event. We were coming home with a minivan full of supplies. I was 7-8 months pregnant and driving. With me were my stepson, about age 11-12, and a staff guy, about 16yrs old. We were almost home and singing to the radio.
Less than a mile from my exit, I merged in behind an old Chevette with Missouri plates, $hit brown in color, with three young black men in the car. All of a sudden, the guy in the back seat rolled down the window and threw out a big Burger King bag! Not the small individual bags from Burger King, the BIG bag, that you get when you order burgers for an entire classroom, like, a 30-40 burger bag. Then, he did it AGAIN! And tissue paper wrappers! He was littering!
On MY HIGHWAY!
I lost it. I came undone. Must have been the hormones or at least that’s my excuse in retrospect. I started honking at him and pulled closer to his car. I was flashing my lights. The driver was oblivious. Finally, the guy in the back — shot me the bird. Ohhhh, it was Game ON.
The “dumb as it comes” driver decided to peel off the interstate at MY exit. I blared my horn at him the whole way down the ramp. He wasn’t stopping! He made the first right into a local truck stop, and hopped out to gas up. I pulled right in behind him, looked at the boys and told them to, “STAY HERE!” My staff guy rolled down the window immediately, he wouldn’t miss this for the world. My stepson was hanging over the seat, I heard, “Get ’em, Miss Daughn”, but I was already out the car door.
I was temporarily insane. I was railing at the men for littering. “From Missouri, no less! You want to litter, go home to your own damn state and litter!”, I was screaming, “Don’t come to my state and spread your nasty trash.”, “Less than a damn mile from an exit with a trash can right here!” and “Ohhh but no, you just HAD to throw it out on MY HIGHWAY!”, and “lazy, rotten, no good, POS…..”, I was just getting started….
About that time, a bunch of work trucks pulled up to the other side of the gas pumps. In the side of my eye, I saw people get out, but I was WAY to busy screaming and yelling at these three young black men. They were little, too. Biggest one probably only weighed 130lbs. I could have taken them, and I was thinking about it. I was spitting fire.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I almost took their arm off. It was Leroy, the 6’8″ block layer. Leroy is an enormous black man, whom I love all the way down to my toenails. In his deep baritone voice, he said, “Is there a problem, Miss D?” Well, then I had to explain the problem to Leroy…., which made me MOAR angry. I was yelling and pointing wildly. One by one, his men, all black men, all men I knew well, all HUGE men, got out of their trucks and moved to stand around Leroy. He looked at the little men and said, “Did you REALLY litter on Miss D’s highway?” I almost laughed, but I was too mad, “Yes they did”, I looked at Leroy and said, “Make them pick it up!!!!” The men behind Leroy were all nodding in agreement. Leroy moved towards the men and they got scared.
The driver was a jerk and believe it or not, seemed to want to fight. He poked Leroy in the chest and said, “Well aren’t you just Johnny Q. Citizen – the good boy, doing what you’re told by the white lady.” Oh dear, he just insulted Leroy and Leroy was mad.
Now, the truck stop has an extraordinary diner, with world class comfort food served daily. The tables and chairs for patrons are lined up against large plate glass windows, which overlook the gas pumps and a small park between the truckstop and the exit ramp. You know, where your dog goes to do his business. Inside the diner, Steve’s men, all farm hands, had finished their dinner and were watching the scene unfold outside. Steve was my husband’s best friend and sort of, my “other” husband. There I was, the lily white lady, in the midst of a dozen black men, and I was wild and gesticulating. Out the door came all the farm hands, 12-15 of them. I heard Steve’s voice, “Is there a problem here, gentlemen?”
Steve’s men did not really know Leroy’s men, and vice versa. I knew everyone except the three scrawny guys from Missouri. I had to stop and re-explain why I was so furious to Steve’s men, which I did, only louder this time! There were 20+ guys on my side and 3 guys from Missouri on their side. I was mad and ready to pull them limb from limb!
Two State Highway Patrol Cars rolled in. It was Eddie “X” and his buddies. Our sons were in school/played soccer together. I was happy to see him because he could FINE THEM! Better yet, he could MAKE THEM PICK UP their trash on OUR highway! Eddie started to question the men, “What did you throw out of you car? License, registration…..” but I wouldn’t let the men answer, “All kinds of Burger King wrappers, bags, littering the whole way!” I pointed north, “It’s all there, take them back and make them clean it up!”
City police showed up, SIX police cars, including the Chief! There’s not much that happens in our town. “Arrest them”, I railed! Understand, Al, the Police Chief, used to toilet-paper my house for Halloween…. as retribution for the time the girls and I toilet-papered the police station. He had never seen me mad, ever. I don’t usually get mad. The three little men had a bad attitude and were mouthing off. I would NOT keep still. I wanted them to pick up their garbage from the highway and then I wanted them arrested AND fined! For added measure, I said, “And don’t EVER come back to our state again!”
The Chief knew Steve’s farmhands and Leroy’s men extremely well. With the Chief’s back to the Missouri pissants (and me), he addressed my defenders. The Chief was very calm, slow, and deliberate. With a wink, he said, “Wellllllll…., we could take them out to “XYZ” field and you guys could bury them there.” All the men on my side nodded, folded arms, shifted weight, set their jaws. “Yeah”, said one reaching into his truck, “We’ve got the shovels.” Another one piped up and said, “Hell no, we’ll dig with a backhoe, it’s too hot to be digging graves……” The Missouri twerps, for a moment, thought they might be serious and so did I. “Well, you can’t kill them”, I said. “Nononoonno,”I said. “Well”, said the Chief turning towards me, “short of killing them, Miss D, what do you want me to do them?” I reiterated my demands, STERNLY!
Steve and Leroy’s men made friends. The police sorted out the charges and I was satisfied. It was about 3:00pm. I drove home, unloaded groceries, staff guy went home, stepson played in his room, one last vacuum, checked in some guests, I was making dinner, waiting on more guests to arrive.
About 5:30pm, husband breezed through the back door. It was a hot summer day and he had been to the beer store, the next town south (about 10 miles, we were a dry county at the time). He kissed me on the cheek, “Have a good day, dear?” A slight lilt in his voice but I didn’t catch the inference. I told him what we were having for dinner and who was checking in. I gave him messages, and we began a conversation about specific projects. “Anything else happen today?”, he inquired. I was puzzled, at first, and had completely moved on from the incident at the truckstop. He reminded me.
I told you, not much happens here. Apparently, by the time he arrived at the beer store, talk of my trukstop scene was all the rage. My own husband had the gall to chastise me for being involved because, “You don’t know what they would have done to you” and “besides that, you’re pregnant” In a flash, I was angry again, and spewing crime statistics at him, defending my actions and the cleanliness of my town and highways. “Besides”, I said, “the were little, stupid, scrawny, puny, men, (every adj. I could think of) and I could have taken them.” Fire was coming out of my eyes. “Babe”, he said placing his hand carefully on my shoulder, “I believe you might have hurt those poor young men……” I growled, low, in my throat. I actually growled.
Don’t mess with my town. The incident made me a mini-legend for a couple of months, especially with the guy-guys. When anything had to be settled, they threatened to “send” me. I love those guys. They had my back, literally, when it counted. And the poor police, I apologized profusely for bothering them, but the mouthy little men were charged and fined. Message went out, as you can imagine, whatever you do, don’t pull over the crazy lady. It was embarrassing, sure, but I was effective.
PICK UP YOUR TRASH!

"You Mean….., You're a Woman?"

Why are we talking about women all the time?
It was a day kind of like today. Temps were in the low 60’s, partly cloudy skies, early spring, and swollen buds on my Japanese Magnolias. Spring had arrived. After breakfast guests, I hurried through tidying up the rooms. Like a hibernating bear, I desperately wanted to be out in the sun. I grabbed a portable radio and there I was, dancing away and digging a ditch.
Physical work is immensely gratifying and beads of perspiration popped on my forehead. The robins were following my every move. They would perch, on the top of a dirt clod, waiting for me to turn over the next shovel full. Yes, I was digging a drainage ditch. Our house has a basement, and we are always conscious of water standing near the foundation. My mission was really twofold, spring maintenance for the basement and to lay out an herb garden. The grass was still brown, but I had a vision.
I was wrestling with a French drain, when a pickup truck whizzed into my neighbor’s driveway and stopped about 15′ from where I was working. It was our Mayor and our State Senator, who was also State Chair of Ways and Means. The Mayor spoke first, “What the hell are you doing, Daughn?”. I recognized his voice.
Still stooped over and self-conscious that my butt was facing him, I turned the radio down and swung to pitch an elbow on the end of my shovel. I was caught, busted, and tried to look as presentable as possible. “I’m digging a ditch…..”, I went on to explain. Mayor said, “Why isn’t (husband) digging?”, and I made some excuse. Seizing the opportunity to make a deal for my garden, I approached his truck, explained about the herb garden, and asked him for some ‘rip-rat’ to edge my garden. Rip rat are the large stones placed near a new exit ramp by DOT to control erosion. “How much do ya’ need?”, he replied. I pointed to the length needed and asked for a little more. “Okay, I can see it happening for you.”, I was smiling, that was easy.
“We need to talk to you about something important.”, said the Mayor. State Senator nodded in agreement. I braced myself on the edge of my shovel, “What does he want me to do now….”, I thought. I was ready, here it came, “You have to be the next Mayor”, he proclaimed. I reacted physically, reeling, but there was no chair to sit in. “Huh?”, I was stammering. He blindsided me.
Background #1: The Mayor and I were good friends. He was one of my husband’s best friends. Both of them had construction companies and knew each other for decades before I moved home. He was the best of Mayors for our little town. He was decisive, fearless, a man’s man, ruggedly handsome, and a champ when it came to negotiating. He was 6′ 3″ and imposing, wealthy, naturally intuitive, and also well educated. His experience in municipal bonds was limited, and because of my experience, I helped him. I was also shrewd, steeped in contract law, and provided added benefit. The two of us played good cop/bad cop and ‘danced’ together in a negotiation like we could read each other’s mind. We worked on the hospital, the schools, Christmas parades, federal agencies, and natural disasters. He never called or rang my front doorbell when he needed me, he just walked in the back door. Most of all, my family was deeply experienced in recruiting corp’s to our area. Together, we worked on many, many deals, successfully landing 4 Fortune 500 companies in our town, which improved employment, tax base, school system, etc. Beyond that, I liked the guy.
Background #2: Our State Senator was also a friend. He was recently divorced when he brought a lovely woman to an event at our house. It was their first date. He proposed to her at our house, and they were married at our house. She became a girlfriend to me. He was an incredibly adept politician who “got things done”. He listened constantly, never missed a word, and rarely spoke. He was a powerful man who was about 20yrs my elder. At the time, I had just turned 34.
Our State Senator broke the awkward silence and explained the Mayor was ‘moving up’. Because of his local success, the Mayor was appointed to head the State Dept of Econ Development. Because of a surreal performance during a natural disaster, our fire chief was also moving up to head Emergency Management for the State. That left a leadership problem at the local level. As he described, “the funnel of new business we had established was important and stability was paramount”. I was the natural choice to fill in. The decision had been made. I was the chosen one.
“But I can’t”, I shook my head. They were dumbfounded I would turn down such a gift. Yet, I knew something they did not, something I could not reveal. I offered an excuse, “I just started my business. I have 23 people working out of my house, a mortgage to pay.” “Don’t worry about the money”, was his cool reply. Curious answer. “B-b-b-ut the salary for a Mayor was a pittance, and I’m not naturally wealthy!”, the Mayor knew my personal finances well. I had a 5 year plan and a 10 year plan. The pay cut would have been about 80%. Again, “Don’t worry about the money”, said the State Senator. They explained, they had already spoken to my husband (to see if I might be interested) and he was “on board”. I was flattered and honored. It could only be me, the opposition would be a pompous, dangerous, and inept man.
I reluctantly objected again. “I was no politician.”, which they countered. “I was only 34yrs old.”, which they countered. The town’s Mayors were always older men, born and bred in the town, deacons of their churches, past Presidents of Rotary. I was from the town, baptized and married in a local church, but I spent my whole life….. away. I was a newbie, sort of. “Who in the hell would vote for me?”, I was puzzled. The Mayor sighed. Our prominent black alderman had proposed me to be the new Mayor and had also met with my husband (to see if I might be interested). I was assured the vote because as our Black Alderman said, “Of all people, I was tough but fair”. I smiled slightly, always liked that particular alderman, he was also ‘tough but fair’.
I was looking at the ground, thinking, running out of excuses and kept resisting. The Mayor sensed something was wrong and he asked, “What the hell, Daughn, I’ll help you campaign!” and “It will be fun!”. Finally and more sternly, he demanded, “What’s the damn problem?”.
I rose my head slowly, and narrowed my eyes. Deep breath.
“I’m pregnant”, I blurted. “My due date is October 21st and the election would be the beginning of November”, silence…….., “How’s that going to work?”, I said, “How can I campaign?” Plus, “What if the baby, God forbid, is not okay?”
The shock washed over them in a less than a second. The Mayor put his head on the steering wheel, then he threw it back against the headrest, staring at the grey velour on the ceiling of the pickup. In the passenger seat, the State Senator put both arms against the glove compartment to brace himself. The Mayor let out a breath, turned to me and said, “You mean…… you’re a woman?”.
Almost immediately, the Mayor said, “I ……..just……never……. thought of you as being a woman”. I chuckled. His reaction was overwhelming and sincere. Can’t be faked. Here was a man, an accomplished and experienced man, who LOVED and ADMIRED every inch of women, ALL women, especially his wife. Yet, he perceived me differently than other women. I was his buddy with a numbers brain. I was 110% female, no mistake, and definitely a “babe” at the time, but I was one of the guys. How cool for me? I landed the secret keys to the guy kingdom.
Best compliment, ever.
I shook my finger at him and swore the both of them to secrecy. I had not told my husband I was pregnant. They were the first to know.
When women enter the workforce or become involved in their community, they enter as people who contribute to a group effort. I never beat my chest or asked for special dispensation because I was a woman. We all know the rules. There isn’t another set of rules for women – or is there…. now? Have we lowered the standards for women? Doesn’t that naturally lead to lower performance for the whole group effort? I chose to over-perform and not be a token hire. It’s the ONLY way to earn the respect of the entire group and ever be considered “worthy”. To hell with being “equal”.
Furthermore, we all know people who seek to denigrate others to elevate themselves. It’s not healthy psychological behavior. It’s wrong but fairly common in social media, today. The women in this photo, the new and flashy women of the Congress, seek to degrade all men, and others of various religions or races, to elevate themselves. It’s wrong and destructive behavior.
I submit, if AOC were a man, she would have already been admonished and cast aside for her flighty and irrational statements. Imagine the response to the “Green Deal” if presented by a 29yr old white male, freshman Congressman. Would ANY news outlet have covered HIS idea? On a regular basis, she condemns men, only because they are men, and immediately defers to victim status, demanding special treatment because she is a woman. She will never earn respect in this way and can only be a token hire. She seeks another set of rules, for her.
This kind of self-absorbed behavior leads to resentment on behalf of those who do the actual work. Resentment of this nature is bad for any organization, yet we would be hard pressed to find a company, today, where it does not exist. Are women or ‘skin colors’ promoted for the sake of diversity? Yeah. AOC’s behavior harms all women in this way. Deserving women are constantly tested to prove and reprove themselves as worthy and NOT the token hire.
Other women on the cover also seek a different set of rules, to win based on “feelings” or “their truth”, which is usually not actual rational truth. Why is the DNC seeking a “woman of color” to run for President instead of touting accomplishments of the person?
They seek to be placated, for all others to bow before them, to stop and listen when they speak, NOT because of what they say, but because of their color, religion, or sex. Why? Why would anyone presume to be superior because of skin color, sex, or religion? Who are the real bigots, here?
Pelosi

Trump/Kim Summit 2.0 + Presser. Overnight Thread.

dinner
New Thread. We all needed a shower after Cohen this afternoon. Let’s refocus our energy. Check out this extraordinary letter from Dennis Rodman. It’s a beautiful letter.
rodman letter
From Flep, here is the schedule for President Trump and the whole team.
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SCHEDULE
EST/Local Time
8:25 PM (Wed)/8:25 AM Depart JW Marriott Hanoi en route to the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi – Motorcade
8:45 PM (Wed)/8:45 AM Arrive at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi – Hanoi, Vietnam
9:00 PM (Wed)/9:00 AM Participate in a 1:1 bilateral meeting with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
9:45 PM (Wed)/9:45 AM Participate in an expanded bilateral meeting with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
11:55 PM (Wed)/11:55 AM Participate in a working lunch with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
2:05 AM/2:05 PM Participate in a Joint Agreement Signing Ceremony with the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
2:40 AM/2:40 PM Depart Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi en route to the JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi – Motorcade
3:00 AM/3:00 PM Arrive at the JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi – Hanoi, Vietnam
3:50 AM/3:50 PM Participate in a press conference [Live Stream]
5:15 AM/5:15 PM Depart JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi en route to Noi Bai International Airport – Motorcade
5:55 AM/5:55 PM Arrive at Noi Bai International Airport – Hanoi, Vietnam
6:05 AM/6:05 PM Depart Hanoi, Vietnam, en route to Joint Base Andrews – Air Force One
Friday March 1 – All times EST
1:10 AM Arrive at Joint Base Andrews
1:20 AM Depart Joint Base Andrews en route to The White House – Marine One
1:30 AM Arrive at The White House – South Lawn

Chickens! And MOAR Chickens!

While we are waiting for more info from the Vietnam Summit and kibitzing about the Cohen testimony, I thought it might be a good time for a distraction…. and a story.
This is a story about two worlds with my feet in both worlds, and being humbled by those who are the very best of Americans = Dogs, self-sufficient country women, and incredibly gracious and masculine men.
Settle in, rest your computer fingers, and unwind with me. Today, we need it. Here we go.
I’ll admit it, I succumbed to the siren song of the big city. I was a suburban girl, and I took my shot at the big league. Manhattan and Miami were a 24/7 blur of activity. As a kid, my parents had a few uber wealthy friends, but the first week I was in Miami, I was on Trump’s yacht and Rod Stewart was performing. Life was good. I worked hard, moved up, made partner, and moved into a penthouse with all the trappings of what I THOUGHT was success. I’ll admit, I like little private planes, cigarette boats and sailing ‘vessels’, fast cars, good restaurants. Good Lord, I even collected wine.
When I cashed out to go to law school, I ended up moving to a small rural town where my grandmother lived. I fell in love with a local (but that’s another story), and bought a B&B instead of becoming a lawyer. Best decision I ever made. Yet, rural life was a constantly humbling experience. In the city, I could control my world but in the country, skill is required to respond to events. I lacked that skill. I was ignorant and devoid of self-sufficiency, traits strongly admired by my neighbors. I was amazed by other women, my same age, who seemed to possess a mental encyclopedia of information on how to fix ANYTHING. They had tips and tricks at their fingertips.
I recall being in a neighbor lady’s kitchen, Sarah, in the first few weeks after moving home. She was a friend of my grandmother, late 60’s, and I had known her all my life. Her son is a federal judge, now, but as kids we played together, naked, in a plastic blue pool. That day, Sarah was processing, “putting up”, 300lbs of plums for jam/jelly, and she needed help. Grandma sent me to help. Me, the ignorant one.
Sarah took in babysitting, and almost the entire day, she had a baby on her hip, organized smaller children, her own grandchildren, answered phones, made lunch, boiled/cut/processed 300lbs of plums……, which looked like fine jewelry by the time she was done. She had a glow around her like she was an angel, completely unphased by the bedlam around her. She could have easily done battle with any dictator I knew, and she would have prevailed. She had powers I didn’t understand. That day, I wisely surrendered, admitted defeat, and knew I had a lot to learn about country life. I took the ‘crash’ course.
A few years later, married, with the B&B renovated, my girlfriends and I were sitting on the side porch. We returned home from a local fair and were surveying our purchased treasures. We were talking about an upcoming birthday, the decorations, and cake. One girlfriend asked me if I used fresh eggs for my cakes – because all county women, who are self-sufficient, know that fresh eggs make a cake rise higher and taste better. Immediately accessing my new mental encyclopedia, I acknowledged fresh eggs were, indeed, better, but because I went through so many eggs on a weekly basis, I hadn’t yet “sourced” my fresh eggs. The girls got kind of quiet and looked at me in a funny way.
Twisting their eyebrows, like only close friends do, she said, “What do you mean you don’t use fresh eggs?” and “What the hell, Daughn, …. SOURCED?”. My vocabulary was still a little bit urban and it slipped out every now and again. One girlfriend, giggled and scrambled down the side porch steps. She cocked her hip for added drama and pointed to the 28 box, dark green, chicken coop, which had been in my backyard for 100 years and said, “What are you doing, Daughn?” I responded and tried to change subjects, “Yeah, yeah, I know…. I’ll work on it”. One girlfriend elbowed the other and whispered. We moved on….
A few weeks later, another friend of a friend knocked on the side door with a “present” for me. It was 6 baby hens and one baby rooster in a cardboard box. I gushed all over the babies, they were so darling. I had only seen baby hens in movies, and I finally got to hold one. I had no idea what was to come. Like a gazelle, my friend hopped up into the back of her pick-up and said, “Didn’t know if you had any fresh hay, so I brought you a couple bales.” She cast them over the side, effortlessly, onto my driveway. She was a strong woman worthy of a title, “Queen of the Country”. I glanced at the hay, perplexed for a moment and thought, “Hay….., it’s dusty……, what’s the hay for……, oh yeah, chickens need a nest……., okay……., I can do this.”
She picked up on my confusion and sat down with me on the bottom step to talk to me…., like I was the unexpectant virginal bride on a wedding night. I asked about eggs and she laughed, “No, they won’t produce until they’re about 6 months old – they’re just babies now.” My brain was screaming, “Six months!!!!!”, but I tried to appear grateful. I asked what to feed them and how to care for them. “You’ll love it” she said, before she departed. She popped her horn a few times and waved goodbye. There I sat, all alone, with my baby chicks.
Over the several days, I tore apart the old chicken coop. Our house was abandoned for 23yrs when we bought it, and I imagined chickens had not lived here for at least 50 years. I did battle with spiders and a salamander. The dust was incredible. Yet, I had a veritable PALACE of chicken coops. It even had a small wooden picket back door so the chickens could go into their “yard”, shaded by a 100yr old pecan tree. It also meant I had to build a little fence. “Ahhhh, that’s why they call it chicken wire”, I thought. My self-sufficient girlfriend shook her head at my naivety.
My first husband laughed but relished my efforts. He ran electric for me and within 24 hours, I had a sink for the garden side of the chicken coop (one side was hen boxes and one side was a garden shed). I built the fence (with help), cleared the brush growing in the chicken yard, swept the concrete floor, dug a ditch for drainage, planted flowers in front, and put up a hand painted sign. Other girlfriends painted pots for me – they could do ANYTHING. I learned so much. By the end of the weekend, I had a chicken coop worthy of Southern Living AND a brand new garden shed. It was beautiful and inviting.
I checked on my chickens several times a day. I named them, of course. My step-son and other kids in the neighborhood fed them. I let them out and they followed me as I dug new gardens, turning over worms and grubs, in the yard. My rooster was beautiful and yes, he crowed loudly at daybreak. Some guests asked if I had a ‘recording’ of a rooster and thought it was a charming effect. Spring melded into summer, then fall. My hens grew and grew until one day, I had an egg.
I called my girlfriends, and they all came to look at the egg. We could only remove it for a little while because it had to stay warm. A few of my girlfriends laughed at me, ready to cook the egg. My eyes went wide, “Murder!”, and “No”, I thought, along with the others, “We have a baby on the way.”
We had more baby chicks for Easter. Within the year, my coop was full and I was doubling up chickens in their boxes. A local farmer was taking my extras before I became a division of Tyson Foods. I still had not cooked one single egg. I couldn’t. I could eat other fresh eggs, but not from my own babies. I curbed my brood to my original 6 hens and rooster. They had become pets, and they bolstered my image as “country woman”.
Our backyard is pretty much enclosed by a brick walled garden, driveway, and the house. The yard extends to a larger field, out back, but the chickens didn’t wander out there and the Rooster herded the hens. I would let them out in the morning and they would peck around the back yard until about noon. The school kids would look out the windows and loved my chickens. The rooster was fairly cooperative until one day, a girlfriend from urban CT tried to ‘pet him’.
One spring day, the neighbor’s lab, Sally, got loose and nabbed my rooster. The scene was pure carnage but Sally had a great lunch that day. I returned Sally, across the street to my neighbor with feathers still in her mouth. BUT, by the weekend, Sally was hungry again, for MOAR chicken. Our neighbor has three full-grown labs.
We had a wedding that weekend. It was a beautiful affair, white wooden chairs set up in the brick garden, satin aisle runner, flowers dripping off the garden gate where the bride and groom would stand, flower beds immaculately groomed. Our staff set up pretty garden tables, and we had about 150 guests sipping various teas, waiting on the ceremony to begin. A violinist strolled through the garden….. idyllic.
Husband was in the den watching sports. I was upstairs with the women of the wedding party, helping the bride, maids, and moms finish dressing. I was in a room with a large bay window. A bridesmaid was bent over a bedroom chair with her butt up in the air, so I could cut the errant threads from her dress, when I saw the flash of a neon orange dog’s collar in the periphery of my vision – but I wasn’t sure. It couldn’t be, but it was.
Earlier and unknown to me, the wife of the CEO of my bank, decided to entertain the children who were in the wedding party. The kids heard some of my hens clucking in the chicken coop and they wanted to see what it was. The wife walked them over to the coop and opened the door to entertain the children. Inside the coop they went. Taking the cue from a prominent wife, other women entered my darling chicken coop as well. The kids were ‘petting’ my hens and all was well – when the three full grown labs arrived, storming the chicken coop.
The next ten minutes were sheer hell. I heard screaming downstairs – from outside. I thought about not going outside, but the screaming got louder. I flew down the stairs as the ladies of the wedding strained to see what was happening from the window. I met my husband at the back door who looked at me disapprovingly. Of course it was all my fault, whatever ‘it’ was. My husband went upstairs to corral the women while I opened the back door and paused to survey the scene.
It was chaos, and I arrived just in time to see three labs carrying off my live chickens, through the midst of my guests. Two of the dogs were proud of their kill and marched right down the satin aisle runner, shaking the chickens, spewing feathers left and right, until they escaped to the open field. People were swing their chairs at the dogs. Men tried to catch them but the labs wanted to play. I was focused on my sinking reputation and the disaster before me when the situation got worse.
One of the highlights: My staff guy, armed with a sterling silver punch ladle, swinging back and forth, chasing the dogs. My grandmother would have never imagined such a use for her punch ladle. I bit my lip.
Obviously, one dog was still in the chicken coop and there was still screaming emanating from the coop. My staff guys, and older men who were guests, were helping 5-6 women plus an equal number of children OUT of the chicken coop, through a very narrow door. One final chocolate lab emerged and squirmed away with my last hen, clenched in his teeth. The children were horrified and crying. The hens they were so gently petting moments before, had been captured and murdered before their eyes.
Lucy Ricardo would have been proud. Several of the women were wearing spring hats, pumps, and brand new linen dresses. Their updos were undone. They looked like they had been through a tornado. Their perfect spring dresses were splattered with dirt, feathers, hay, everything. The children, who were SUPPOSED to be flower girls and ring bearers, dressed in expensive white English linen, were completely destroyed. They looked like they had been rolling in the dirt, hay, and some….., with chicken blood.
The moms of the kids had other clothing, play clothing for the reception, with them. Thank heavens our self-sufficient country women plan in advance. I put them all in one room and they changed and cleaned up. At one point, there were three little kids, standing in a jacuzzi, with one mom hosing them down. Another woman was mending a skirt. Another woman was already soaking the linen outfits with hairspray and club soda to save the English linen. Again, self-suffiency, they all knew what to do. The older women, I placed in another bedroom and bath, mine, so they had access to cosmetics and hair products. The wife of the CEO was apologetic but it was an episode of Murphy’s Law, come to life. The older women, within 20 minutes, looked as if they just stepped from a Parisian salon – perfectly fluffed and they smelled good.
The staff guys and the men who were guests were FABULOUS. They calmed the women down and a small army swept up chicken remnants and feathers. My husband was upstairs and would NOT allow the women of the bridal party to leave their large dressing room until order had been restored.
Within 20 minutes, the violinist was strolling the garden once more, the punch ladle was STERILIZED, and we popped the champagne early. People laughed and giggled. The wedding was spectacular….. but the wedding photos were very interesting.
No MOAR chickens for me.

Infanticide: America's Moment of Moral Crisis

We have reached a critical juncture; this is a defining moment in America’s conscience. There is only one other time in our country’s history when we faced a moral question of such great magnitude – Slavery.
Our entire moral-social fabric is about to be shredded. No society can survive once it starts killing its young. That’s exactly what abortion/infanticide is – the killing of the next generation. Even if we set aside, for the moment, the immorality of the deed, killing millions of the next generation goes against the Laws of Nature, and survival of a species.
Dramatic words? No. A society or culture which condones wanton killing of innocent babies cannot survive physically or morally. Mankind is writing its own death warrant. Charles Darwin would be aghast if he were alive today – seeing progressives disregard the very rules of survival.
We have been on this road for several decades – starting with the Supreme Court’s infamous 1972 decision in Roe v Wade,
From “Infanticide in New York State”

In 1983, following the Tenth Anniversary of Roe v Wade, President Ronald Reagan wrote an essay, “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation.” Read it, it’s an extraordinary and profound statement about what 10 years of Roe v Wade had caused since that infamous ruling. Reagan makes several important points, including the most important one, not only about “when does life begin” but “what value does a human life have?”

“What value does a human life have?” That is the question America will be answering over the next several months as she watches a radical political party enshrine into law the “right” to not only kill viable infants in the womb, but to kill them after their birth.
This is not a new concept. In 2012, “ethicists” Alberto and Francesca Giubilini, and Minerva introduced the idea of after-birth abortion – this is what the Left has been moving toward with each new judicial ruling they managed to extract from friendly Leftist judges. It is also why America went from “safe, legal and rare” to abortion on demand, for any reason, at any time – during, up to, and including delivery.
The latest move is taking the life of a newborn after birth. New York State not only passed this legislation, but they enshrined the law into their State Constitution. BTW, New York had not taken up this bill since 2006 – they had to wait 13 years until they wrested control of the Statehouse from the Republicans. It is a reminder that the radical Left (Democrats) never stop moving or marching toward their “ideal” society.
New York’s move was celebrated by Gov. Cuomo who ordered the World Trade Center spire lights turned pink. Steve McCann, from American Thinker, said this about New York’s bill:

The United States is now the only so-called civilized nation in the world that has codified and legalized infanticide. There is no longer an argument over when life begins rather that this nation is now approaching the same disregard for humanity exhibited by the Third Reich in the 1930’s.

The World Trade center lights should have been red, for the blood of the Innocents past, present, and future.
New York’s radical abortion law started a #MeToo cascade of similar legislation from other states which produces the same outcome: being killed after being born, either actively or through intentional neglect. The wording of the legislation was designed specifically to deny the existence of life (and entitled rights) as a newborn, and that it was to be denied lifesaving medical care.
Virginia made its own attempt at joining New York, but was stopped, for now, by the GOP-controlled legislature. Governor Northam’s support for infanticide was accidentally outed in a radio interview. The bill was tabled; it should have been torn up into little pieces. It will rear its ugly head if the Democrats take control of the Statehouse in the next election cycle – November 2019.
Here are several states who are actively pursuing legislating infanticide besides New York and Virginia: Vermont didn’t want to be outdone by New York – this is their bill. Illinois prefers that they be the abortion capital of America. Rhode Island is going for barbaric, and New Mexico didn’t want to be outdone in their show of progressive ~~depravity~~ solidarity.
Democrats are passing all these laws under the guise of women’s health and women’s reproductive rights. By coding into law the concept that a newborn baby is not a human being – with all the rights and protections of life we afford adults, it effectively sends this country back into the Stone Age era – where understandably “uncivilized” was the norm. There is nothing civilized about killing our unborn children, or committing infanticide.
This killing is being done with painful, inhumane methods. Barbarism cannot be sugarcoated. Vassar Bushmills noted this in his article, “The Abortion Gulag and the Law”:

If you want a 3-minute mind-picture of just what killing babies is like, I offer this testimony of a now-reformed New York abortion doctor, Dr. Lavatino, who describes a second tri-mester abortion in detail.

We euthanize our pets in more humane ways than what is being done to our unborn children. How could we have this so backwards?
At the time President Reagan wrote about the conscience of a nation, this country still had a conscience. America had a moral compass. It was during the 1990’s when the underground efforts of the Left began to emerge. We had a brief respite during George W. Bush’s two terms, but he did not see the danger. Once a radical Democrat, Barack Obama, who as an Illinois State Senator, supported partial-birth abortion and infanticide, was elected to the presidency, the final push brought us to the passage of laws being legislated today.
The Democrats have ended all pretense of morality – this was made clear at their 2012 National Convention – where they dropped the mention of God from their party’s platform. Once the concept of God is removed from the Public Square, it is removed from the Public Consciousness, and then we have the end of the National Conscience. Morality gives us a conscience, without it, we are nothing more than craven beings.
What is a conscience?
“The complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual.”
Societies, cultures, and nations themselves have a shared morality and conscience. Once it is removed from the individual, as has happened in our public schools by removing all learning about Judaic-Christian values, it is an easy step for the group at large – society – to become adrift, without an anchor – this leads to a society/culture acting without moral restraint or constraint.
This is where we are today. We have a Congress made up of more people than not who represent godlessness and depraved indifference to the meaning of life, and in whose minds a human being has no value. It’s an incredible moral bankruptcy that stalks the halls of governance in DC. Congress could not pass the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act – fetal pain bill – to stop abortions when we know that a baby can feel pain, and yesterday, the Democrats refused to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act – this bill would have supported medical care for any infant born alive after an abortion. They’re now allowing states to go forth and essentially kill a live, viable newborn baby.
Think about that – killing without conscience, without remorse.
By these radical, new abortion laws, now encompassing infanticide, Democrats have exposed and proved they are morally bankrupt. The next question to ask:
Is the Nation?
America is beyond facing a moral crisis, it is facing an existential crisis. Its entire moral foundation is about to be dispensed with if the taking of innocent lives is allowed to go forward. We will join the infamous ranks of Hitler’s Third Reich and the Communist dictators who killed millions.
The Supreme Court ajudicates the law based on the Constitution. The Constitution was written as a moral document. For America to survive, the law and morality cannot be separated.
Meanwhile, America’s current count in the genocide of the unborn since the passage of Roe v Wade is 61 million, and counting:
Number of abortions worldwide.
Picture credit: Lifenews.com 24 week unborn baby.

The Anything But Popcorn WQTH Snack Recipe Thread

Happy Friday my fellow Q-Treepers!
It is that time of the week when many of us head to “the store” to stock up on provisions, and this is the perfect time to augment the shopping list with ingredients for snacks that will sustain us during the epic days ahead as the show goes on in the Swamp Theater of Lies, Deception, And Reveal.
We joke about having lots of popcorn to observe the events coming soon, but patriots cannot subsist on popcorn alone.
Plus, with all the cooks here, and with popcorn not being paleo or keto friendly, we need some alternatives. Things like bite sizes quiche muffins, bacon and avocado salad for SteveinCo, and old standards like hot spinach artichoke dip that does not call for commercial mayo.
So, what sorts of snacks are we after:

Munchies other than Chex Mix
NO deep fried Oreos, Twinkies or pickles, please
Spreads with plenty of veggies in them
As little seed oils as possible.

And, just a little caution, recipes that begin with “you start with a brick of cream cheese” will be met with narrowed eyes shot over the rim of the reading glasses.
Recipes like this:
RED DEVILS
1 brick of cream cheese
1 package (pound) of thinly sliced hard salami (Volpi Genovese if you can get it in your area)
1 Jar of ground horseradish

Let the cream cheese soften for a couple hours.
Using a fork, mix in three or four heaping tablespoons of horseradish, not too fresh or your guests may not recover.
Spread thinly on salami slices and roll up.
VIOLA! Serve as is or with toothpicks for a little extra class.

So, ladies and gentlemen of the WQTH, are we ready to watch the rumble as the swamp gets drained? We’re going to need sustenance for this!

Dear MAGA: 20190222 Open Topic

Welcome! The doors are open, come on inside.

This Comfy Q Tree Friday open thread is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Keep it civil. Thanks to our host, Wolfmoon, Free Speech is practiced here.

Our rules began with the civility of the Old Treehouse, later to become the Wolverinian Empire, and one might say that we have RESTORED THE OLD REPUBLIC – the early high-interaction model of the Treehouse – except of course that Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged, and speech is considerably freer in other ways. Please feel free to argue and disagree with the board owner, as nicely as possible.

Imagine that! You can talk about Q here…and unlike the Old Treehouse, you won’t get banned.

Please also consider the Important Guidelines that our host has asked us to observe, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this haven that Wolf has created for us.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:

I AM PRAYING FOR YOU.

Wheatie’s Rules:

No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.

…………………………………………….

For your listening enjoyment, I offer the following music from the talents of TwoStepsFromHell:

https://youtu.be/zGYsq7cbVZA

Titled: Evergreen

…………………………………………………….

For our beloved Zoe…a description of the visuals:

The Tree I chose this time is a magnificent one. It is massive…and growing up out of a deep canyon. The base of the Tree displays an intricate internal structure of several floors of large rooms with arched openings and long windows. A soft light is shining out from them. There are two suspended pathways, leading to the base of the Tree on opposite sides of the canyon.

There are streams of water falling magically off of the huge leafed-out branches of the Tree…cascading down into the canyon below. It’s as though the Tree itself, is the source of the water. The sides of the canyon are covered in lush, verdant tree growth…but none are as massive as the Tree growing up from the canyon.

In the background, the canyon ends and gives rise to a large green clearing that is covered with a stepped series of waterfalls, cascading down into the canyon. This is all surrounded by huge snow-capped mountains, reaching upward to the sun and clouds. The position of the massive Tree eclipses the sun, causing to it to be backlit…but the Tree’s branches are so densely covered in leaves, there is very little light showing through.

………………………………………………………..

Who The Hell's Q?

Here we go. MEDIA focus!

https://twitter.com/JuliansRum/status/1098378470218969089

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: d358db No.5303685
Feb 21 2019 11:27:56 (EST)
https://twitter.com/JuliansRum/status/1098378470218969089
What is the process to enter a SCIF?
What security level must exist in order to gain entry?
Can non-security-level person(s) be invited to participate?
Do logs exist for each designated meeting?
Do logs record time in/time out/who in/who out?
Ability to enter (arrange) w/o paper trail?
:RT Jan 29 2018 – IDEN [not for anons]
IDEN Jan 29 2018 & run back 1-2 [not for anons]
SCIF logs can be ‘very’ revealing.
HUSSEIN’s USSS codename: RENEGADE
Define ‘Renegade’.
noun
1. a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles.
synonyms: traitor, defector, deserter, turncoat, betrayer
Q
Q Post 2844

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: d358db No.5304214
Feb 21 2019 11:55:45 (EST)
Anonymous ID: 74dd6b No.5303949
Feb 21 2019 11:42:28 (EST)
Elizabeth Koh from Tampa Bay Times here. Doing on a balanced story on Q for this Sunday’s paper. Wanted your input on the biggest thing that happened this week. Will be a fair article. Been following this board somewhat, so save the flaming comments and give honest input.
EK

2703.PNG
>>5303949

We are the news now (WW).
Q
Q Post 2845

https://twitter.com/JudahsTrumpets/status/1098604676621189122

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 6b73ac No.5304336
Feb 21 2019 12:02:07 (EST)
Dz8HH2lWwAIQX5K.jpg-large.jpg
https://twitter.com/JudahsTrumpets/status/1098604676621189122
Be ready for the ‘Q’, Anon(s).
Eyes on increasing +each day.
You are the news now.
Handle w/ care.
Q
Q Post 2846

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: ae0cd0 No.5305044
Feb 21 2019 12:35:01 (EST)
DaYa0mBUwAEd2ls.jpg
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/chemicals-vinyl-floors-fire-resistant-couches-kids-health-risk
You have more than you know.
5:5?
Q
Q Post 2847

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 9ec21e No.5308483
Feb 21 2019 15:40:19 (EST)
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article226577419.html
Equal justice under the law or RIGGED SYS?
Being a Clinton donor really pays off!
Q
Q Post 2848

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 9ec21e No.5308748
Feb 21 2019 15:49:46 (EST)
HATE HOAX by [SMOLLETT] [FF designed to pass anti-lynching law] gets wall-to-wall FAKE NEWS coverage?
REAL HATE [REAL VIOLENCE] [& FASCISM] carried out by members of ANTIFA gets ZERO coverage?
Reconcile.
1=1?
When will the FBI conclude their investigation into ANTIFA?
What happens if the phone records of SMOLLETT leak?
Who did he talk to multiple times prior to turning himself in?
Political forces @ work?
ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.
Q
Q Post 2849

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 9ec21e No.5308930
Feb 21 2019 15:55:09 (EST)
Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 9ec21e No.5308748
Feb 21 2019 15:49:46 (EST)
HATE HOAX by [SMOLLETT] [FF designed to pass anti-lynching law] gets wall-to-wall FAKE NEWS coverage?
REAL HATE [REAL VIOLENCE] [& FASCISM] carried out by members of ANTIFA gets ZERO coverage?
Reconcile.
1=1?
When will the FBI conclude their investigation into ANTIFA?
What happens if the phone records of SMOLLETT leak?
Who did he talk to multiple times prior to turning himself in?
Political forces @ work?
ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.
Q

>>5308748

https://www.foxnews.com/us/jussie-smolletts-alleged-hate-crime-hoax-sheds-light-on-similar-phony-accusations
Notice a TREND by LIBERALS + D’s?
FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!
THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO REGAIN POWER.
#WakeUpAmerica
Q
Q Post 2850

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 79f3a1 No.5309085
Feb 21 2019 16:01:33 (EST)
Dz9SWZrX0AE2-3S.jpg-large.jpg
Memes, memes, and more memes!
Why are memes so important?
Q
Q Post 2851

https://twitter.com/cleveburgher8/status/1098694995886911490

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 06bf49 No.5309759
Feb 21 2019 16:26:13 (EST)
https://twitter.com/cleveburgher8/status/1098694995886911490
#Truth
#FactsMatter
Q
Q Post 2852

https://twitter.com/NeverGiveUpWall/status/1098700042565812224

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 06bf49 No.5310417
Feb 21 2019 16:49:47 (EST)
https://twitter.com/NeverGiveUpWall/status/1098700042565812224
#WeStandTogether
#UnitedNotDivided
#WWG1WGA
Q
Q Post 2853

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: db3b81 No.5311089
Feb 21 2019 17:20:27 (EST)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasdelbeccaro/2018/04/19/the-top-four-reasons-california-is-unsustainable/#6570827b3a23
They know what’s best for our Country?
Pelosi > CA rep since 1987
Waters > CA rep since 1991
Schiff > CA rep since 2001
Feinstein > CA rep since 1992
Harris?
Lieu?
………………
Lead by example?
CA estimated $2T in debt?
Homelessness population on the rise?
Highest tax rates in the Country?
Undocumented Immigrants in California vs Nation?
Uncontrollable state gov spending?
If you can’t fix your own home state, what makes you think you can fix the Country?
“If you are living in one of the 49 other states, you should learn from the lesson that is California. If you are living in California, there is always the lesson of how Michigan came to be governed by a more centrist government. Of course, that came after the failure of the prior government. For now, however, for all its concern for sustainable foods and products, California is on a high-speed rail to unsustainability.”
#FactsMatter
Q
Q Post 2854

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: cb3473 No.5311412
Feb 21 2019 17:34:56 (EST)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-north-carolina/north-carolina-elections-board-orders-new-u-s-house-election-idUSKCN1QA1QG
Welcome to the Democrat Party.
THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO REGAIN POWER.
Time to adopt VOTER ID LAW?
Q
Q Post 2855

Wow. A lot to think about!