Guard Dog

The Washington Post did a piece a few weeks ago on The Joy of Cooking and how it has been one of the most popular titles in US history. It has been in constant print since the 1930's and is second only to the King James bible in number of books sold over that whole time. I have a copy but can't say I've ever gotten much use of it. What cooking I do is usually very simple.

Now reading: It's been way too long since I went bluewater fishing. Last March I went to Cedar Key but the gulf does not compare to the Atlantic. Time to start planning a spring trip to South Florida. I wish I had a boat.

As if I needed another reason to turn by back on the Republican Party: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/politics/deal-in-principle-on-2020-spending-bills-reached/index.html

Best not to overthink it. Trying to follow that logic will hurt your brain.

I know some people who were genuinely worried about this with Obama. The funny thing I don't think anyone was happier when his term ended than Barack Obama himself. The sad thing is those people who were afraid Obama would not leave office would likely be overjoyed if Trump did take power for life. The former is every bit as bad as the latter.

Apparently this happened: Assuming this was not a joke I am surprised. I always thought Civil War 2.0 would be instigated by power mad progressive Democrats. After the last four years I'd say it's a toss up.

Why? She has less than nothing to do with it. The monarch and royal family are sort of like the Union Jack. Just a symbol of the country not an actual governing entity. It would be like us blaming the Statue of Liberty if Texas seceded.

It seems so unlikely the UK would break up just ten years ago. Now it it looking more and more likely. Scotland and the rest of the UK are not that politically divergent except over the EU. The deal with Northern Ireland and the rest or Ireland seems like it will keep the status quo on the west side of the Irish Sea with NI operating under EU rules with respect to trade and travel to Ireland. But that can't last long term. If Scotland bolts at sometime in the near future I'd bet NI will too. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/uk-election-result-what-the-tory-win-means-for-brexit-and-ireland-1.4114269

What happens then?

Can't think of a one. In the club of scoundrels he is in a class all by himself. But that "it's not wrong when democrats do it" was a tongue-in-cheek statement. Just meant for a chuckle. But there is a grain of truth in it based on the attitudes of some folks and the "media". I'm sure you will recall all the women's groups defending Clinton from the women he had harassed over the years when they should have been taking their part against him.

Zor is correct for the most part. But, buy getting Yeltsin to allow Tyson to sell chickens to Russia Clinton was ensuring Tyson will have money to give him for his own re-election bid. Just another way to look at it. A bit more nebulous than what Trump did but still dirty pool. I just find it deliciously ironic that Trump and Co are castigated (rightfully) for wanting to go after the whistle blower and getting down on the media but in the Great Chicken Caper of 1996 the FBI went after the media and the whistle blower. But, Clinton was a Democrat and, as everyone knows, it's not wrong when a Democrat does it. Rats are gonna rat.

I finished Skyrim today. It only took eight years but I finally finished it! Now I can try Fallout 4

That is correct. James Wilson, William Patterson, Roger Sherman, and James Madison were all very important players at the Convention and all were anti-slavery. Jefferson hated slavery and his family owned the majority of slaves in VA. He wanted to free his but it was illegal to do so believe it or not. Ironically the 3/5 rule that is used to point out how terrible the founders were was proposed by one of the biggest anti-slavery delegates, James Wilson. Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina wanted unrestricted slavery and slave trade with Portugal, Spain, etc. A majority of other delegates either wanted it eliminated or at the very least severely limited. In fact John Rutledge and Abraham Baldwin promised to walk out of the convention and union without it. The US might have been formed without Georgia or the Carolinas. They also wanted full representation for their slaves. Now THAT is rich. They can't vote, earn money, pay taxes, and have no rights whatsoever, but they are fully represented in Congress. Of course what this really was about is a ploy to expand the political power of the slave states. More slaves = more power in Congress. The 3/5 Compromise allowed slavery, allowed higher representation than the slave states should have had, and led the agreement to ban slave trading nationwide. I am seriously condensing a lot of details here but there is a succession of events. It's just a historical irony that the notion that a slave is 3/5 of a human being (modern interpretation) was actually proposed by someone who wanted to abolish slavery.

A 25 year old story is making the rounds again. In 1996 President Clinton offered to help Boris Yeltsin get re-elected if (and only if) Yeltsin agreed to lift restrictions on US poultry imports. The main exporter of poultry in the US back in those days was Tyson Foods in Arkansas. CEO Don Tyson was a big donor and supporter of Bill Clinton who had his own re-election fight against Bob Dole. So, Clinton offers a head of state to have the US interfere in the election process of another country, it that head of state will do a favor for a friend and financial backer of Clinton. Not quite the same thing but definitely in the same neighborhood. As you might guess a lot of hooplah was kicked up by this. But not at Bill Clinton. As far as everyone was concerned he did nothing wrong. The Washington Times was the bad guy for breaking the story to begin with. In fact the FBI was going after them pretty hard for it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/03/28/white-house-asks-for-probe-in-leak-of-clinton-yeltsin-talk-memo/b71bcbc2-ff15-403e-a8ea-c4ae353546ad/ One last comment. This quote by Clinton white House Press Secretary Michael McMurray is just too good not to share: No. He can't. Not then, not now. Rats. Rats to the left, rats to the right, rats before and behind.

I believe this is an example of the expression "hoisted by your own petard" https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-condemn-fbis-use-of-surveillance-powers-they-long-supported-11576105389 Also does anyone vomit a little in the back of their mouths when they hear Pelosi and the Democrats profess loyalty and respect to the Constitution and the founders? Especially considering they have called it a deeply flawed document written by dead white slave owners? They hate it like poison when it's protecting us from their predation but it's "hooray for the red white and blue" when it gives them the power to do what they want.

Actually the inevitability of where we are today is because, as Mencken predicted in the 1930's we elected a fool to the office. There is more to respond to here but time is short. I have business in Nashville today so I'll come back to this later.

And THAT is why every other time impeachment comes up for BS is a problem. Because THIS time it matters. THIS time is for real and the fact that every other one, including Johnson's was politics, sewer rats f-----g each other, give the Republicans the exact amount of cover NOT to remove him. Because they are not going to. He IS going to get away with soliciting a foreign government to interfere in our election because every other time impeachment gets brought up with the exception of Clinton it was just sewer rat business. It IS serious but no one takes it serious because every other time in recent history it wasn't. Hell they were talking about impeaching him weeks before the inauguration. That is the point I have been trying, and failing, to make. We finally have the government we deserve. hooray for us.

This impeachment hasn't even been voted on yet and already they are planning the next: https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/louie-gohmert-threatens-to-impeach-joe-biden-in-hearing-meltdown-weve-already-got-the-forms/ The new normal. After intervening in Libya and covering up the attack on the embassy a bipartisan group made up of John Kyl, Dennis Kucinich, James Inhofe, Jason Chaffetz tried to get the ball rolling to impeach Obama. Apparently incompetence was a high crime or misdemeanor to them. Kucinich and Wexler actually drafted 35 Articles of Impeachment against GWB. 35! Trump is only getting 2! It was referred to the Judiciary Committee where it died from absurdity. Clinton actually WAS impeached. But he actually did commit perjury. People do go to jail for that. After he left office he was disbarred, Rep Henry Gonzalez drafted articles of impeachment against George HW Bush in 1991. John Conyers and Jessie Jackson were trying to impeach Reagan in May of 1981. He had only been in office for three months! He hadn't even done anything yet. Then there was Iran-Contra which might have been something but as it turns out Reagan was pretty out of it by then and didn't know what was going on. Jimmy Carter.... you know I searched for 20 min and couldn't find any attempt to impeach Carter. Well.... what do you know. Gerald Ford.... hmmm no one wanted to impeach him either. Richard Nixon; they had this guy cold. Even his own party turned on him. Well, it seems politicians actually HAD integrity back in those days. Johnson, Kennedy, Truman, nothing. So, s--t went wrong with Jessie Jackson and John Conyers and has gotten worse since. Fun fact: John Conyers got into ethics trouble for forcing his staff to do domestic work for him and his wife like house cleaning, babysitting, and chauffeuring. He also sent them to work on other campaigns while in his employ. His wife was convicted of bribery for influencing the city of Detroit to hire a foreign contractor. She took a plea to protect him but it was clear he was in neck deep. Then it came out he had been accused, sued, and paid off multiple former female employees for sexual harassment. But here is the good part... he paid them with tax payer money! I guess they spent all the money Synagro used to bribe them. At first the Democrats, led by Pelosi covered it all up. Because they don't eat their own. but eventually it became too much even for them to hide and he resigned. Edit: Gromnir thinks I'm cynical. I say if you are not cynical you are not paying attention.

I am a little concerned the recent resurgence of Jameis Winston might keep the Buc's from doing what must be done this off season. Namely showing him the door. I mean it's great they beat Indy but he threw three f-----g picks in that game. He has 23 interceptions this season. Almost twice Baker Mayfield in second place. He is also leading the league in Interceptions Returned for touchdown by 7. 7! Most QBs don't even throw 7 in a season! He has seven more than Philip Rivers. I mean if you look at his TD/INT ratio it's OK, OBR is 84.9, that isn't bad. But those interceptions... they are game losers.

I was just trying to be humorous pointing out that chicken little was at it again proclaiming "the sky is falling".

It is. I've failed at marriage twice and have no appetite for a third bite. But neither was for a lack of love. I still love them both. But I wasn't compatible with #1 and can't trust #2. Thank God no kids to complicate things.

You know how to be a positive male role model. It's easy. Work hard and take care of your family Love your wife/spouse unconditionally Love your son unconditionally Treat everyone with respect and insist on the same in return and show him how to do that. See? Not hard. Just be yourself.

One thought on Brexit. When GB leaves (if it ever does) will that screw up the arrangement with Northern Ireland and the IR?

AFAIK that is a first. At least the first openly admitted. I'm sure it's happened at least once or twice through the years only no one knew

Finland's new PM Sanna Marin is quite fetching. She seems middle of the road politically speaking. At least by Finlands standards and pretty well accomplished for 34 years old. Better keep Trump away from her though. That has "international incident" written all over it.