Rebane's Ruminations

Sandbox – 11nov18

[CA fires continue to kill, destroy thousands of homes, and cost billions to contain. In the meantime prescription burns to reduce fuel loads are proscribed because of the potential of litigation costs from accidental or claimed damages from such burns. And police point out that mass shootings invariably occur in ‘gun-free zones’ where legal guns that could prevent/reduce deaths are banned. And the state’s housing shortage and high cost continue to be maintained by regulations and codes that cater to liberal governance dominated by the ecology epidemic. Insanity running rampant and on the rise. gjr]

Sandbox - 2nov18

[In the last sandbox Bro Gregory cites a WaPo story that brings up the notion that large, violent caravans heading north for the US border might become the norm.  My strong belief is that they will indeed become the norm if President Trump is not able to either get Mexico to disperse them before reaching the border, or that our border security fails (due to political pressures from our anti-American Left) and thousands of illegal new migrants suddenly find themselves successfully on American soil.  gjr]

Sandbox - 28oct18

[Apologies for the last sandbox getting a little rancid there.  We just returned from travel and I let things get away from me.  Well, now with all the additional stuff that's happened, there is a lot of catching up to do.  This morning NPR did a couple of hit pieces on President Trump, nimbly circling their innuendo wagons to blame him and the Republicans for all the current tragedies - happened and impending - while wondering why the other side doesn't stop "their hateful rhetoric" that is causing all this.  Of course, constantly pointing this out, their hands somehow remain clean.  gjr]

Sandbox - 19oct18

[WASHINGTON—President Trump is elevating the issue of immigration, which drove his 2016 campaign, with the aim of animating Republican voters in a midterm election that threatens to derail his agenda if Democrats retake the House.  Mr. Trump’s latest comments came Thursday as he warned about an “onslaught” of migrants reaching the southern U.S. border with Mexico and threatened to deploy the military if the caravan isn’t stopped.]

Sandbox - 11oct18

[The markets are finally correcting, as they do from time to time, and all the progressives are happy dancing in the streets.  Finally, since Mueller continues his sound of silence, they something to point at before the election that doesn't cause more Dems to reregister as Repubs. gjr]

Sandbox - 5oct18

[Is anyone still interested in the Mueller investigation now that the Judge Kavanaugh conflagration is passing from the ridiculous to the sublime?  gjr]

Sandbox - 29sep18

[The Kavanaugh cauldron continues to boil, and it ain't over 'til it's over.  gjr]

Sandbox - 23sep18

[A reader alerted me to another gem of the FUE's logic.  He takes to task those who criticize the People's Republic of Kalifornia, and still (gasp!) take their leisure at the state's awesomely scenic locales.  The man's brain cannot separate terribly gone wrong social policies from the state's natural beauty, as if eschewing one requires rejecting everything that is still good about the state, and that mainly because the progressives have yet to eliminate the last vestiges of such enjoyments (e.g. denying/limiting public access to TBD 'wildlands').  This thinking by local lefties is replicated in Sacramento, because those are the idiots that the gimmes all over the state have now voted into power.  And that California now has achieved the nation's highest poverty rate gives additional depth to the ignorance of these leftwing loonies.  gjr]

Sandbox - 17sep18

[No one, including Donald Trump, needs to attack Ms. Ford. She believes what she believes. This is not he said-she said. This is a case of an alleged teenage encounter, partially recalled 30 years later without corroboration, and brought forward to ruin Mr. Kavanaugh’s reputation for partisan purposes. ... Letting an accusation that is this old, this unsubstantiated and this procedurally irregular defeat Mr. Kavanaugh would also mean weaponizing every sexual assault allegation no matter the evidence. It will tarnish the #MeToo cause with the smear of partisanship, and it will unleash even greater polarizing furies.  17sep18 WSJ]

Sandbox - 11sep18

[On 11 September 2001 radical Islam carried out its most devastating attack on those they identify as infidels and kafirs, their name for the rest of us on this globe.  On this day of remembrance it is incumbent on us in the west to reflect on the state of Islam, and especially its quiet ongoing conquest of Europe, whose belated recognition of and opposition to what's happening is deemed racist by the Left.  Lest we forget, Europe is just the warm-up, with the battle cry 'Death to America!', an Islamic America is their main objective.  gjr]

Sandbox - 7sep18

[It's clear that our liberal readers have a wildly different conception of 'witch hunt' than the rest of us.  The WH effort to discover the self-declared anonymous leaker and resister who wrote the NYT op-ed is an existential and legitimate target of an internal investigation to ferret out someone who promises to make shambles of presidential executive privilege.  There is nothing here to compare with what Mueller is doing in his investigation of Trump which is based on allegations and no evidence of 'Russian collusion' after an 18+ month probe into the affairs of Team Trump.  There was no culpable evidence to launch the investigation, and its interminable continuation is also based on nothing but the hope of perhaps finding something in future.  Now that is a witch hunt.  gjr]

Sandbox – 1sep18

[Good-hearted Darrell Berkheimer, one of our Union’s several progressive columnists, is truly an exemplar of ideological low hanging fruit.  His most recent 1sep18 column is standard leftwing pap and a collection of its staple feel-good talking points, with no consideration of how any of such socialist goals can be achieved, either with living breathing human beings or available monies.  His solution for the latter is to defund the military, which to him and his is the ever-present and unnecessary burden that maintains an America which keeps globalism at bay.  If it weren’t for his effect on the even less-well-read of our community, Mr Berkheimer’s ignorance of history and economics could be gently dismissed as the simple outpourings of a concerned and kindly old gentleman.  gjr]

Sandbox – 27aug18

[I voted for John McCain in 2008, even though I considered him a weak entry by the Republicans.  But he was a man who had fought the good fight for America, and was a military hero in the true (old) sense of the word.  While not agreeing with all of his politics – especially that climate change should be a national security issue for the US – but he did hew sufficiently to the conservative views on property, security (e.g. US as world's white hat hegemon), and liberty.  His parting shot at President Trump will assure that his funerary plaudits will make political history.  Thank you for your service, and RIP Senator McCain. gjr]

Sandbox - 22aug18

[Well, as testimony to the exciting times in which we live, the old sandbox filled in a day or so.  Please use the last Scattershots to ensconce your comments about the implications of Cohen's attempt to incriminate his former boss of illegal campaign spending.  gjr]

Sandbox - 20aug18

[OK boys and girls, it's time to do exercises that "help our mental health the most" - and heaven knows we need a lot of help there these days.  I won't give away the punchline, but you can read all about it here.  gjr] 

Sandbox - 13aug18

[Would you attend a demonstration for something you support if you knew ahead of time that you would be outnumbered and confronted by thousands of counter-demonstrators with a history of fomenting violence and dedicated to silencing your viewpoint?  gjr]

Sandbox - 8aug18

[Here is the latest on the real 2016 collusion AND conspiracy with foreigners (British and Russians) that was designed, bought, and paid for by Hillary and the DNC to derail the Trump campaign.  Since there is no evidence of the obverse, why are not Hillary and the DNC being investigated?  gjr]

Sandbox - 3aug18

[A reader sent me a link that reminds us that the contention that a large fraction of Democrat voters are developmentally challenged is actually a fundamental truth that the Democratic leadership and liberal elites jealously believe in and fight/oppose public policies that will expose its fallacy.  Yes, it is the Dem leadership and elites who believe that their constituents are simply too dumb to figure out how to get voter IDs (more here).  gjr]

Sandbox - 29jul18

[Well, psychiatrists are beginning to report running into more and more patients with Trump Anxiety Disorder (TAD).  TAD seems to be particularly prevalent among those lefties who have suffered from TDS.  The Hill reports on it here.  I guess the human noggin' can stand only so much hate and discontent before it succumbs to a clinical condition.  Should TAD sufferers still be allowed to vote?  gjr]

Sandbox - 23jul18

[Ideology - n. A structured and communicable belief system that in its best expression is composed of tenets defendable by and malleable to reason. Ideologue – a person who is willing to communicate his ideology.  A more dubious definition of an ideologue is “a person who zealously advocates an ideology”.  The adverb 'zealously' denotes doing something in an "ardent, devoted, or diligent manner".  Hence, I confess again that I am an ideologue.  But then what does one call a person who advocates an ideology in a non-zealous manner?  gjr]

Sandbox - 18jul18

[Agreed, that last sandbox was getting a little ripe.  Question - will Dems be able to keep the 'would/wouldn't' dust devil alive until November?  gjr]

Sandbox - 11jul18

[President Trump's trip - is he doing it well, or is his direct and undiplomatic manner going to make things worse for the US when he returns.  And it looks like the Ugly Fat Kid needs another nudge.  gjr]

Sandbox - 5jul18

["Immigrants separated from their children after being arrested for illegally entering the U.S. at the Mexican border are being asked to choose between being deported alone or with their children."  Why in the world would we not deport the children with the adults who brought them in?  Is it because the kiddie importers may not be the kids' parents after all?  Then where is today's insane hew and cry about separating kids from arrested parents - a long practiced process for both American and illegals taken into custody?  Or are we now done with this topic?  gjr]

Sandbox - 29jun18

[OK boys and girls, it's time for SCOTUS roulette.  Make known your odds that one of your favorite candidates will get the presidential nod.  gjr]

Sandbox - 25jun18

[Here's the next batch of fresh sand.  I find it interesting how the intersection of what interests me and RR's commenters goes up and down.  It appears that the interests of our most voluble readers pretty much track the news cycle, often leaving unattended more fundamental and systemic events/trends that impact our lives and country.  Because I have always walked a path less tread, for me this variance is noteworthy but not a consternation, since RR has always been a record of my observations and interpretations from the last great century of Man.  In sum, I think of my weblog as a letter to my family and the future which, of course, includes the contents of its comment streams.  gjr]