Clipfile - May 27, 2015

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Saying what, ‘‘Bend over’’?

It Doesn’t Matter WHO You Vote For  Dept

‘‘Republican’’ Leader Mitch McConnell:

A lot of folks like to joke about the odd couple that was Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch... but I think Mitch McConnell and Barack Obama may have them outdone...  I’m even getting handwritten notes from the president these days.

Why, Mitch! Bless your lil’ ol’ heart!

Elsewhere:
Related (And You Too, Jeb!  Dept):

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Clipfile - May 11, 2015

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On the U.K. Election

What the election has fundamentally exposed is the existence of Two Britains. No, not a Labour Britain vs a Tory Britain — that old divide has been flagging for years.  Not poshos vs workers, as Labourite commentators like to fantasise.  And it’s not even England vs Scotland...  [It] is, on one side, the Britain of the moral clerisy, which is pro-EU, multicultural, anti-tabloid, politically correct and devoted to welfarism and paternalism as the main means through which to govern the masses; and, on the other side, the Britain of the rest of the us, of the masses, of those people increasingly viewed by the cultural elite as inscrutable, incomprehensible, and in need of nudging, social re-engineering and behaviour modification.  Those people whose votes, whose temerity in rejecting Labour, made so little sense to the observing classes. This is the true story of the shifting map, the geographical shrinking of Labour, and the shocked response of opinion-makers to the results.

And of course, the more Labour comes to be occupied by influential but unrepresentative middle-class professionals, the more contemptuous it becomes of the Other Britain, the lesser Britain, the stupid Britain that won’t obediently vote Labour even though Labour only wants to care for it and nudge it towards health and decency... - Brendan O’Neill, Spiked

Via:  David Thompson

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Clipfile - April 30, 2015

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The Washington Twenty

National Review:

On Thursday morning, top Republican strategist Karl Rove proclaimed, ‘‘The dysfunctional Congress finally appears to be working again as the Founders intended.’’

Why does it seem that any story that starts with a quote from Karl Rove turns out to be bad news for liberty?

Just hours later, the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed as attorney general — i.e., as the chief federal law-enforcement officer of the United States — a lawyer who quite openly supports the systematic non-enforcement of federal law...

[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell...

And why does it always seem that any story beginning with ‘‘Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’’ turns out to be good news for the Democrats?

But I repeat myself. Ahem...

[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell... joined nine others on the roster of Republican senators who took an oath to uphold the Constitution then supported an attorney general who had vowed to undermine the Constitution:

• Jeff Flake (Ariz.)
• Mark Kirk (Ill.)
• Susan Collins (Maine)
• Thad Cochran (Miss.)
• Kelly Ayotte (N.H.)
• Rob Portman (Ohio)
• Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
• Orrin Hatch (Utah)
• and Ron Johnson (Wis.).

...In addition to the aforementioned ten Republicans who said ‘‘aye’’ on the final vote... there are ten others who conspired in the GOP’s now routine parliamentary deception: Vote in favor of ending debate, knowing that this will give Democrats ultimate victory, but cast a meaningless vote against the Democrats in the final tally in order to pose as staunch Obama opponents when schmoozing the saps back home.  These ten:

• Cory Gardner (Col.)
• Pat Roberts (Kan.)
• Richard Burr (N.C.)
• Thom Tillis (N.C.)
• Mike Rounds (S.D.)
• John Thune (S.D.)
• Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)
• Bob Corker (Tenn.)
• John Cornyn (Texas)
• and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.)

are just as willfully complicit in Lynch’s confirmation and her imminent execution of Obama’s lawlessness.

[Note:  Names rearranged to state order, for your blacklisting convenience. - O.G.]

(And yes, the Hollywood Ten were guilty, too.)

Recently:

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Hoping the crocodile will eat you last, eh, Ed?

Breitbart:

[British Labour Party Leader] Ed Miliband has pledged to make Islamophobia a criminal offence in the UK if he becomes Prime Minister.

In an interview with the Muslim News website, Miliband said a Labour government would make Islamophobia an ‘‘aggravated crime’’.

‘‘We are going to make sure it is marked on people’s records with the police to make sure they root out Islamophobia as a hate crime,’’ he said, adding: ‘‘We are going to change the law on this so we make it absolutely clear of our abhorrence of hate crime and Islamophobia.  It will be the first time that the police will record Islamophobic attacks right across the country.’’

Outlaw ‘‘Islamophobia,’’ huh?  Yeah, and that’s sure to prevent more stuff like Rotherham, innit?

Seems to me theyd be better off ‘‘outlawing’’ those phobic Islamists.

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Clipfile - April 25, 2015

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Tell me again how Republicans are different from Democrats

The Washington Post:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell...

Why does it always seem that any story beginning with ‘‘Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’’ turns out to be bad news for liberty?

...introduced a bill Tuesday night to extend through 2020 a controversial surveillance authority under the Patriot Act.

The move comes as a bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers is preparing legislation to scale back the government’s spying powers under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Mitch: ‘‘Well, we cant have that!’’

It puts McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the bill’s co-sponsor, squarely on the side of advocates of the National Security Agency’s continued ability to collect millions of Americans’ phone records each day in the hunt for clues of terrorist activity.

I’ll believe that Republicans are a party of small, unintrusive government when they start acting like a party of small, unintrusive government.

RELATED:

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Gunpowder NOT Required

The Telegraph:

Hundreds of tourists have been evacuated from Warwick Castle after a burning cannonball fired from the world’s largest working siege machine destroyed a medieval boathouse by fire.

Sparks from the cannonball which was fired from the wooden trebuchet ignited the roof of the ancient boathouse causing a blaze on Friday night.
...
The Trebuchet Fireball Spectacular is one of the Castle’s main attractions.

[The trebuchet] was built in 2005, stands 60ft high, weighs 22 tonnes and has been fired at least 6,500 times.

Turns out the boathouse was actually a 19^th-century reproduction, but still a sad loss.  And siegery, even when only for show, remains a serious business.  (22 Tonnes.  Wow!)

Via:  Peter Grant

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