Category Archives: Energy

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Take a look at this.  Key excerpt:

John Kerry speaks at Davos.

Speaking of that, there was also Biden’s special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry, who during a Friday interview with Yahoo News insulted the intelligence of every American by not only cheerleading forthcoming new climate mandates from Biden, but also by proclaiming that it was okay for global warming fanatics to be wildly hypocritical because not only do they allegedly do the “carbon offset” thing but also because “they are working harder than most people I know to be able to try to effect this transition…”

And:

This prompted a response by media critic Joe Concha, who hit the nail on the head.

“They can still work harder and get to Davos by flying the middle seat in coach on Aer Lingus,” Concha tweeted. “The elitism is utterly breathtaking…”

Breathtaking, if anything, is a gross understatement.  Seriously, fuck these Davos assholes, and fuck John “Lurch” Kerry (who, by the way, served in Vietnam, as he constantly reminds us) and while we’re at it, fuck all the horses they all rode in on – and by horses, I mean gas-guzzling private jets.

And so with that off my chest…

On To the Links!

“Organic” agriculture is bullshit.  If you’da asked me, I could’a told you.

The SMOD may be closer than we think.

Second Amendment advocates go on the offensive.

It doesn’t matter whether a wealth tax would “work” or not – it’s illegal.  Why are we still talking about this?

And Putin gives not even one single fuck.

I love a happy ending.

Ahead, Troll Factor Eight!

Democrats v. parents.

Insane reparations math in Californey.  I mean, the whole idea is nucking futz.

You fucked up!  You trusted us!

I love a happy ending.

Neandertals may have collected cool animal skulls.

Ron DeSantis isn’t tired of winning  yet.

Get woke, go broke.

Nothing will come of this.  Equal treatment under the law is a dead letter in this nation.

Holy crap!  Hint:  Don’t buy aftermarket reverse-offset wheels for your vehicle.  Really hard on bearings and axles.

There may be a lot of water on the Moon.

This Week’s Idiots:

We have a bumper crop this week!

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.  And it’s a twofer this week!

The LA Times’ Jackie Calmes is an idiot.

The Massachusetts DMV is apparently staffed with idiots.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Shamann Walton is an idiot.  San Francisco voters are getting the government they wanted, good and hard.

Cori Bush is an idiot.

Sheila Jackson Lee is an idiot.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Caroline Light is an idiot.

Juan Williams is an idiot.

Vox’s Li Zhou is an idiot.

Stacy Abrams doesn’t know her ass from her face about energy, so…

Dr. Charles Darwin, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

In 1978 or so, I went to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with a couple of buddies.  We were there to see the main act, Foghat, and what a great show that was!

But that’s not who we’re going to present here today.

Before Foghat came on stage, the opening act came out.  I remember one of my buddies looking at me and asking, “Eddie Money?  Who the hell is Eddie Money?”

“Isn’t he that Two Tickets to Paradise guy?”  I replied.

“Oh, yeah.”

Eddie went on to have a pretty decent career after that, before his untimely passing in 2019.  One of my favorites of his tunes was from his 1982 album No Control, the song being Shakin’.  I remember listening to it quite a bit while wearing Uncle Sam’s colors, and I still give it a listen from time to time now.  Here, then, is the official video (the smoking-hot Latina gal doesn’t hurt any, either) – enjoy.

Rule Five Once-Golden State Friday

In a recent special edition of City Journal, Californian Michael Shellenberger – who I’ve quoted here before – had quite a treatise on the state of California and how best to fix it.  A couple of excerpts, with my comments, follow.

Now the state has become America’s shadow self. True, it is more prosperous than ever, surpassing Germany last year to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. But Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and smaller cities are today overrun by homeless encampments, which European researchers more accurately describe as “open drug scenes.” Crime has become so rampant that many have simply stopped reporting it, with nearly half of San Franciscans telling pollsters that they were a victim of theft in the last five years and a shocking one-quarter saying that they had been assaulted or threatened with assault.

This is, of course, news to precisely no one who has been conscious the last decade or so.  I’ve often related how my Old Man would talk about visiting San Francisco not long after VJ-Day in 1945, and his impressions on what a beautiful, prosperous city it was, and how bemused and disappointed he was when he lived long enough to see the rot really take hold.  And the rot has some easily identifiable sources:

These pathologies are just the most visible manifestations of a deeper rot. Less than half of California’s public school students are proficient in reading, and just one-third are proficient in math (with a stunning 9 percent of African-Americans and 12 percent of Latinos in L.A. public schools proficient in eighth-grade math). Education achievement declined precipitously in California in 2021, as the state kept children studying at home well after kids in other states had returned to the classroom. Californians pay the most income tax, gasoline tax, and sales tax in the United States, yet suffer from electricity blackouts and abysmal public services. Residential electricity prices grew three times faster in 2021 than they did in the rest of the United States. And the state government, dependent on income taxes, faces a projected $23 billion budget deficit that will only grow if the nation’s economy enters a recession. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given these trends, California’s population stopped expanding in 2014 and has slightly declined since, resulting in the loss of a congressional seat after the 2020 Census.

All of these things – every damn one of them – can be laid at the feet of California’s Democrat party politicians.  They have managed to twiddle the election system in the once and former Golden State to ensure them a super-majority; every bit of policy in California was put in place by them.  There is no escaping this conclusion:  The Democrats screwed this state up, and now they are going to have to fucking own it.

Here’s my concern, and it’s where I part ways with Shellenberger:  Can California be saved?  Color me skeptical.  Shellenberger writes:

It is thus understandable why so many have given up on California and treat it simply as an example of what not to do. But change in the U.S. often starts in California and moves east. And neither party has set forth a compelling alternative to the California model. Anti-woke liberals and conservatives alike who have chosen to stay in California should take the opportunity to build a new political movement based on a clear-eyed assessment of the situation, an expansive vision, and first principles. A political coalition that differentiated itself from the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, while retaining support from moderate Democrats, could command immense political support by focusing on two issues alone—homelessness and schools. Add public order, nuclear energy, water desalination, and sensible housing policies, and such a movement could be of generational importance.

While the author is right to point out that neither party (in California, at least) has set out a comprehensive reform program, I would counter that as long as California’s jungle primary system guarantees one-party rule of that state, the California GOP has very little reason to bother.  As I pointed out earlier, the Dems have a solid supermajority, as long as the jungle primary system is in place they will likely continue to hold that supermajority, and as long as activists can cash in on all of the many and varied “crises” in this state – homelessness, crime, education, rolling brownouts and so forth – the legislature has no compelling reason to change anything.

Of course, Herb Stein’s law applies here:  What can’t continue, won’t continue.  But the “fix” isn’t going to be neat, clean or easy.  It’s going to be messy, likely violent at times, and it may end up with California going through quite a catharsis before any semblance of sanity is restored.  I may be wrong on that – I hope I am – but I’m afraid I’m not.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!
Alaska’s state flower – the Forget-Me-Not.

As of Monday, spring is here!  Not just in the Great Land, mind you, but all over the Northern Hemisphere.  Fishing plans for this year include some river and lake fishing for trout and (when the runs start) salmon, and hopefully some ocean fishing for halibut and maybe rockfish and ling cod.  Fish is good for you!

I have friends who live in places like Florida and Arizona, and that’s great – every cat its own rat.  But I’ve always preferred living where there are seasons.  I think they define the year.  Granted here in Alaska, we joke that the four seasons are “Ice Out, Mosquito, Road Work and Winter” but we still love it here.  And, I will admit, we look forward to the return of the sun.

Now then…

On To the Links!

This will be good for Alaska.

Yeah, clubs were probably a weapon of choice.

Forget the ‘norm.’  Bailouts shouldn’t be a thing, period.

Fuck off, slavers!

Who funded the BLM riots?

Are there any good options for dealing with Bidenflation?

Their lips were moving?

Nothing will come of this.  Nothing.

At light speed, nothing makes sense.  I once saw a great documentary about the young life of Albert Einstein; here’s a relevant clip.

The return of the wealth tax debate.  There really isn’t any debate; without an amendment to the Constitution, a wealth tax is illegal.  End of debate.

Stolen Valor woman sentenced.  Once in a while, some asshole gets what’s coming to them.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Banana republic status confirmed.

Some people are nucking futz.

The Biden(‘s handlers) Administration is full of incompetents, item #1,283,928.

I love a happy ending.

This Week’s Idiots:

Liawatha Warren is an idiot.

Absolute fucking lunacy.  I’ve paraded some real nitwits in this section, but the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has to be the biggest collection of drooling morons to date.

The Biden(‘s handlers) Administration once again doubles down on stupid.

The Center for American Progress (towards socialism)’s Jenny Rowland-Shea is an idiot.

Rich Lowry is an idiot.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

Donna Brazile (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

The Atlantic’s Thomas Chatterton Williams is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

One of America’s most lasting and iconic rock & roll bands is Fleetwood Mac, having had a long and varied career as a group until the sad passing of Christine McVie a while back.  They got an awful lot of radio play back in the Seventies and Eighties when I was a young fellow, and their 1977 album Rumours is still one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Gypsy as a pup.

In 1982 they released the studio album Mirage, which took a generally softer tone than their previous album, 1979’s Tusk.  Also in 1982, I went looking for a hunting dog, and ended up buying a beautiful little tricolor English Springer Spaniel pup who would be my closest hunting companion for almost eighteen years; a better dog never lived.  Due to the pup’s tricolored coat and feathered ears and legs, I named her after a song from Mirage that was popular at the time; both song and puppy were Gypsy.  I’m still of the opinion that this song (among others) really cemented the notion that Stevie Nicks, while an accomplished performer, was primarily a gifted songwriter.

Fleetwood Mac released an official music video for that song that I always thought was well-done.  See for yourselves:

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

This should come as no surprise.  Excerpt:

As Democrat-run cities across America continue to descend into criminal chaos, the nation’s largest city is hemorrhaging police officers.

In an exclusive story last week, The New York Post published data that shows New York City (NYC) police officers are resigning from their duties at a shocking rate. Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch called it a “staffing emergency” that is “approaching the point of no return.”

The statistics show a 117% increase in retiring officers since 2021.

New York is returning to the 1970s-style shitholery.  Chicago is now a free-fire zone.  Los Angeles and San Francisco are not only allowing, but encouraging bums to shoot up, sleep and poop on the public walkways.  It’s no wonder the constabulary are heading for greener pastures.  And I think we all know how this is likely to end.

And so…

On To the Links!

Wrongthink is now illegal in Britain.

Trump on playing the Dem’s game.  It’s not the worst idea he’s ever had.

National treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson on the consequences of eliminating consequences.  Also, March Madness.  Read ’em both!

Why are Chinese billionaires disappearing?

They should give this guy a flying lesson.  If he learns to fly before he hits the ground, great.

Yeah, he’s running.

President Biden(‘s handlers) declare war on business.  Nothing new there, really.

Ook ook!

Duck!

Duck!

Goose!

Seriously, as long as there are local streams full of salmon and trout,  moose in the woods and grouse in the spruce stands, I’m not eating any lab-grown meat.

Eww.  Eww.

Hennepin County, MN actually steals from grandmothers.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Unconstitutional taxes are unconstitutional.

The correct answer is “who gives a shit?”

This Week’s Idiots:

Salon’s Amanda Marcotte (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Vox’s Andrew Prokop is an idiot.

The Nation’s John Nichols (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

The Nation’s Chris Lehmann is an idiot.  Sensing yet another pattern.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.  And this week Krugman doubles down on stupid.

The Guardian’s Margaret Sullivan is an idiot.

What an ungrateful prick.  Seriously, fuck that guy.

The New York Times’ Zeynep Tufekci is an idiot.  Seriously, just give it up with the masks already.  I’ll bet this asshole wears a mask while driving alone in his own car.

MSNBC’s Sarah Posner is an idiot.

The Hill’s Bob Lord is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Stairway to Heaven is a great rock & roll tune.  It’s not the best Led Zeppelin tune; personally I think Kashmir and The Immigrant Song are better.  But Stairway to Heaven is nevertheless a great tune, an immortal piece of rock & roll, and it will certainly outlive all of the original members of Led Zeppelin.

But one of the things that makes Stairway so much fun is the number of bands that have covered it, and the great variety in those covers.  My favorite – which will probably surprise none of you who have been reading these virtual pages – was Frank Zappa’s treatment from the 1991 live album The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life.  Here, then, is that cover; enjoy!

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Yesterday was the day for my quinquennial exhaust port inspection, which I attend to pretty scrupulously on that five-year schedule.  Why?  Because I have a pretty troubling family history of cancer.  Both my father and brother were treated for colon cancer, both my maternal uncles had cancer, and one of my sisters died of breast cancer that developed into everything cancer.  It’s a hell of a thing, but if I was to offer any of you True Believers some advice – and I suspect a fair number of you, like me, are males (in the traditional sense) in middle age or older, then see to getting screened at your doctor’s advice.

Just as attending to your required maintenance can help you get a half-million miles out of your car or truck, attending to your body’s required maintenance can increase the mileage you see before finally shuffling off this mortal coil.

But boy howdy, is the prep unpleasant.  Worth the trouble – but unpleasant.  Today is recovery day, and I’m taking it easy.  Other than cranking out the usual content for all you True Believers, of course.

Now then…

On To the Links!

Yeah, he’s running, Exhibit 204.

John Stossel points out yet another stupid law.

Good.  Now, if we could just get rid of ranked-choice voting here in Alaska.

Chicago’s probably beyond saving.

And let’s be honest – Chicago really doesn’t have any good choices for mayor.

Yeah, and Congressional Democrats are still trying to shit all over the First (and Second, and Fourth, and Tenth) Amendment.

Hopefully he learns something from it.

I love a happy ending.

When everything is racist, nothing is racist.

Never.  Apologize.

Yes, these people are utter fools.

This won’t end well.  Real-estate prices are unreasonable, but there are ways around it if you’re a bit flexible.  Two of our four kids live in a small town in eastern Iowa for this reason – they can afford to buy houses there.  Our other two live in a suburb of Denver and can barely afford an apartment.  Not everyone can pick up and just move, though.

The influence of Alaskan otters.

There’s always, eventually, some push-back.

The true lessons of mask mandates.

Taxation is theft!

Food fight!

This is going to be fun to watch.  Also:  More on that.

This Week’s Idiots:

MSNBC’s Zeeshan Aleem is an idiot.

CNN’s Jill Filipovic is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Chris Geidner is an idiot.

The Atlantic’s David Graham is an idiot.

Most of the west coast is obviously run by idiots.

A nut announces for President.

The Nation’s John Nichols (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Kookoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Americans kidnapped by Mexican drug cartel were in Mexico seeking a “tummy tuck” surgery.  I don’t like to sound heartless, but this is surely a case for Dr. Darwin.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) is still a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:
An actual Scottish Capercallie.

In 1984, two Scots named Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson met in Argyle and founded Capercallie, a band named after the great Scottish grouse and dedicated to traditional Gaelic tunes as well as some more modern stuff.

Most of their stuff is in the latter (sort of) genre, and one tune of theirs in particular I like is from their 1995 album To the Moon.  That tune, in the traditional Gaelic, is Fear-Allabain (which translates, more or less, into “Scottish Man.”  Here it is – enjoy!

Rule Five Lithium Friday

Take a look at this: Latin America Looks To Capitalize On Soaring Lithium Demand.  Excerpt:

With the success of the energy transition closely tied to the ability to store solar and wind power, battery manufacturers are zeroing in on Latin America’s so-called lithium triangle of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

These three countries alone contain 52m, or 53%, of the 98m tonnes of global lithium reserves, according to the US Geological Survey.

In late January Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Argentina and Chile to secure lithium supply for carmakers Mercedes-Benz Group and Volkswagen to produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Germany reached a memorandum of understanding with Argentina for increased supply and plans to offer Chile a deal that is reportedly more favourable than its current arrangement with China.

Days before Chancellor Scholz’s trip, Chinese firms Contemporary Amperex Technology, its subsidiary Brunp Recycling and the mining company CMOC signed a $1bn agreement with Bolivia’s state-owned mining company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos to explore for lithium in the country, which has the largest identified lithium reserves in the world, at 21m tonnes.

Argentina has 20m tonnes and Chile 11m tonnes, while Mexico has 1.7m tonnes and Brazil 730,000 tonnes, giving Latin America a 55.5% share of global reserves as of 98m tonnes.

By 2040 the International Energy Agency expects demand for lithium could grow some 40-fold.

It’s important to note that the “clean energy” issue is being pushed largely for environmental reasons, and lithium mining is devastating to local environments.  And it’s  not just lithium.  PJMedia recently had a piece on the environmental destruction of Indonesia’s “tainted city” as a result of mining for nickel, another metal needed for batteries.

It’s also important to note that Latin America is famous, rightly, for corruption in government.  These mines will be worked by poorly trained, poorly paid peasants and the profits will go into government grifters and a tiny cadre of oligarchs.  As the article here states:

Lithium mining and processing has faced backlash from local communities worried about the environmentally damaging aspects of the practice and poor labour standards. Chile’s President Gabriel Boric has taken up the issue in his first year in office, which makes a partnership with Germany timely, as Chancellor Scholz underscored Germany’s own environmental and labour standards during his trip.

Similar concerns surround China’s deal with Bolivia. Though the partnership aims to build two plants capable of producing 25,000 tonnes each – which would make Bolivia the largest producer on the continent – local political and community opposition has derailed past projects in recent decades, and the opposition party voiced its objections in the wake of the deal’s announcement.

And the intention of all this, the elimination of fossil fuel extraction and use, is simply not possible.  As a recent Forbes article states:

With demand “set to explode,” petrochemicals are pervasive in our world: over 6,000 everyday products have oil as an integral component.

And, oh by the way, this includes the production and transport of renewables and electric cars themselves (the purported “dual panacea” technologies to fight climate change).

And:

Just ask the dangerously unrealistic Europeans how their “dual panacea” has worked out under Putin’s thumb: “Germany goes back to burning coal as its energy crisis deepens.”

Physics (e.g., gasoline has 100 times the energy density of a lithium-ion battery) and higher than rosily modeled costs will eventually force our emerging European-like climate-energy goals to be pulled back here in the U.S. (e.g., only EV sales in California after 2035).

Electric cars, for instance, require six times the minerals that conventional oil-based cars require – nowhere near as “clean” as advertised.

We should all be shocked that environmental groups are so supportive of that amount of extraction and potential land destruction, not to mention the child labor inherent in the EV industry.

Those three articles are all worth reading, so do so, if you have not already.  But to summarize?  This is another example of the Western elites’ not giving even one single fuck about the third world people who will be living with the poor work conditions and environmental degradation involved in producing these batteries, which won’t even make the emissions changes they are looking to realize.  The entire EV movement is mostly a virtue-signal; a few Third World dictators will be grossly enriched so a few coastal wine moms can feel better about themselves, while continuing to use fossil-fuel dependent processes and products in almost every aspect of their daily lives.

It’s well to the left of ridiculous, and it’s getting to the point that it’s not even funny any more.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

March 1st already?

We’ve had a fair amount of snow over the last week or so.  But the days are getting longer, the sun is up later into the evening (soon to be amplified by the imposition of the retarded Daylight Savings Time crap) and soon, all the snow will start to melt, the rivers and creeks will open up, and then – it’s time for fishing!

We love the winters up here.  The snow stays a lovely, pristine white all winter, and the stillness and peace of a winter day is just wondrous.  But by March, every year, I’m ready for spring.

Now then…

On To the Links!

Only in Alaska.

I hope she sues this freak-show into the next solar system.

China’s Mars rover is busted.  Sort of like their demographic profile.

Yeah, let’s just keep pouring billions in taxpayer dollars into Ukraine.

Inflation continues to make life harder.

Canadian Super Pigs.  Yes, really.

Most gun control laws don’t work.  If you’da asked me, I coulda told ya.

This is a sad “wildlife encounter” from Florida.

Trump doing what Trump does best.

Haw haw haw!

There aren’t enough of the rich to pay for everything the Left wants. 

Yes, biology is real.  It’s nice to see some push-back.

Yeah, he’s running.

File this under “We are so fucked.”  This is how the rest of the free world looks at the current administration:

Tired of having your intelligence insulted?

Inflation is rearing its ugly head again.

This Week’s Idiots:

MSNBC’s Ja’han Jones (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

WaPo’s Eugene Robinson is delusional, and an idiot.

Rolling Stone’s Ernest Owens is an idiot.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

Robert Reich (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a sawed-off little runt, and an idiot.

Salon’s Jeff Cohen is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Zeeshan Aleem is an idiot.

Greta Thunberg is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Carol Burnett is one of the greatest comedians of all time.  When I was a little tad one of the very few television shows the Old Man would even look at was The Carol Burnett Show, and during that show was one of the few times I ever heard my notoriously reserved and taciturn father laugh out loud.  Part of her genius was that she worked with equally talented comedians, not least of which was the brilliant Tim Conway.

Here, from a 1979 Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, is a great and little-known presentation not only of Carol Burnett and Tim Conway’s comedy genius, but also the considerable talent and class of Johnny Carson.  Here, then; enjoy!

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Alaska has officially joined the pistol brace lawsuit.

Part of the Mat-Su – about two miles from the Casa de Animal.

This isn’t a surprise.  Alaska is generally rated as one of the top two most gun-friendly states in the Union, the other being Arizona (for now).  The common statement made about the two states is “…if you like target shooting and competition, go to Arizona; if you like to hunt, go to Alaska.”  I can see the thought behind that.  Here in the Great Land, even the hippies have guns, and the most common motivation out here in the hinterlands seems to be keeping the freezer stocked and keeping critters away from your vegetable patch and the chickens.

I don’t really have a good feel for where this is going, though, in part because I haven’t done a lot of reading about it.  The “pistol brace” thing isn’t something I’ve ever looked into, as it just doesn’t effect me, but with this moving forward, I can see I’m going to  have to do some more reading.  All of these things are tied in, of course, to the changing landscape that is the Second Amendment today, and I do know this case has the potential to yank the reins hard on the BATFE – and that’s a good thing.

And so…

On To the Links!

RIP Raquel Welch.  One of the hottest ever.

Nikki Haley tosses her hat in.

Want to buy an armored car?  No, but if I could find a WW2 halftrack in good working order, that would be cool.

New parents:  Read to your babies.

The value added by wearing a mask.  Hint:  None.

Ignorance is something the Biden(‘s handlers) Administration has a lot of.

At what cost?  Why does nobody ever ask that question?

I love a happy ending.

Grifters gonna grift.

An ancient Roman dildo.  Yes, really.

The musical fruit.

Elon Musk schools the Biden(‘s handlers) Administration again.

I love a happy ending Part Deux.

This Week’s Idiots:

Slate’s Nitish Pahwa is an idiot.

Greta Thunberg is certifiably nuts, and an idiot.

MSNBC’s Ja’han Jones is an idiot.

MSBNC’s Wajahat Ali is an idiot.  (See the pattern?)

Idiot Keith Olbermann:  “We need an economic civil war against red states.”  Red states:  “I’m your huckleberry.”

The Hill’s Sheldon Jacobson is an idiot.

The Guardian’s Arwa Mahdawi is an idiot.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

I’m still on my classical music binge, so before I return to my usual old rock & roll cultural edification I’d like to bring one more (for now) bit I really enjoy.  This is a 2016 performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no.1, by the Israel Philharmonic.  This performance features the lovely and truly talented Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili and the immortal conductor Zubin Mehta – on his 80th birthday.  Enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

And not one pocket watch in the bunch.

My Grandpa’s actual by-gosh pocket watch. I still have it.

Seriously, who pays this kind of cash for a watch?  I carry a pocket watch, and I didn’t skimp on my most recent one; the labeled price when I found my current good watch was $1,275, but since the jewelry store where I found it had maintained it in stock for three years, I talked them into letting me have it for $350.  I gather nobody besides me carries a pocket watch any more.

I have a much cheaper watch (around $30) that I carry in my overalls bib pocket when I’m choring, as I reckon the chance of losing or breaking it when working outdoors is a lot higher.

Pocket watches are kind of passé, sure, but I guess I’m a little odd in not liking anything on my hands or wrists.  I don’t wear any rings either, and I’m not even a fan of long sleeve shirts, although here in Alaska they are kind of necessary most of the year.

But seriously – who pays $4-5-6,000 for a watch?  I’d be paranoid beyond words that I’d lose it or break it.  I ask you, True Believers, can any of you explain this?

And so…

On To the Links!

I love a happy ending.

President Biden(‘s handlers) is full of shit on “assault weapons.”

What the Egyptian pyramids originally looked like.

Doesn’t surprise me; Mrs. Animal is the most awe-inspiring person I know.

There are too many deer?  The one solution that’s only hinted at and never discussed:  Let people hunt them!  These locales get deer population reduced, people get healthy, tasty, free-range venison – win-win!

Only half?

No shit, Sherlock.

Get woke, go broke.  Tough shit, Mickey.

If it moves, tax it.  If it keeps moving, regulate it.  If it stops moving, subsidize it.

I’m shocked – shocked!

Joe Manchin is pissed.  What he shouldn’t be is surprised that Senate Dems fucked him over.

Governor Youngkin has another good idea.

A global minimum tax is a catastrophically stupid idea, and it should be strangled in the cradle.

I love a happy ending.

No, slaves didn’t “build this country.”

It begins.

This Week’s Idiots:

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

The NY Times’ Michelle Goldberg is an idiot.

MSNBC’s James Downie is an idiot.

HuffPo’s Erin Kaplan is an idiot.

Manish Bapna is an idiot.

Hey, stupid, it doesn’t matter if the Supreme Court is in tune with public opinion or not.  That’s not their job.  Their job is to decide issues against the Constitution.  Seriously, watch some Schoolhouse Rock.

Donna Brazile (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Look up “loser” in the dictionary…

Vox’s Umair Irfan is an idiot.

The Nation’s Jeet Heer (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

The Nation’s John Nichols (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.  I’m sensing a pattern here.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Let’s have something a little different this week.  Anyone who has been following along on my cultural tidbits on Wednesday already knows I’m a fan of classic rock and country music, but I’m also fond of classical music.  One piece I really like (despite not being Catholic) is Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, which I understand is meant to be an operatic presentation of the Catholic funeral mass.

A while back, while on a classical music binge, I found this version by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony.  Take a look at all the amazing talent in this one concert hall; it’s awe-inspiring.  Now, classical music is probably racist or something, even when composed by an Italian guy.  Putting that lie to bed is this great rendition which, at about 36:00, reveals their amazing lead bass, who appears to be Japanese.  Singing in Latin, of course.

This is an hour and a half long, but if you want to hear the best bit, skip to about 9:39 for the movement Dies irae.  Enjoy!

Animal’s Daily State of the Union News

Tuesday night, I understand, some desiccated old geezer gave a speech to Congress.  I didn’t watch it, as we had a late-afternoon appointment in Anchorage and decided to stop for a nice dinner in Wasilla – and I prefer to read these things after the fact anyway, rather than suffer through the kabuki theater that both parties have made of the State of the Union address.

Anyway:  Here, from the Salem Media group (hey, I still love you guys, despite my bitching at you about copy-editing earlier this week) are some interesting fact-checks:

FACT CHECK: Biden Distorts Economic Record During State of the Union.  Well, he could hardly tell the truth about that, even if he knew how to tell the truth; his economic record is awful.  Spiking energy prices, depressed wages, skyrocketing inflation – you’ve read it all before.

FACT CHECK: Joe Biden’s Claims About Inflation During State of the Union.  Speaking of inflation; well, go read it.

FACT CHECK: Biden Repeats Debunked Claims About January 6 During State of the Union.  Well, this is no surprise; every Dem in the Imperial City has been repeating debunked claims about this since, well, January 6, 2021.

As the World Laughs, Joe Biden Claims ‘We’ll Act to Protect Our Country’ if China Threatens Us.  Yeah, he won’t do anything.  We know this, Dems in the Imperial City know this, the GOP knows this, and Xi sure as hell knows this.

Now, a couple of responses are worth checking out; first, the ‘official’ reply by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who I think is an up-and-comer:  Sarah Huckabee Sanders Delivers the GOP Response to SOTU: ‘The Choice Is Between Normal and Crazy’.

And, of course, President Trump couldn’t stay out of the fray, although for once his reply was succinct and mostly cogent:  WATCH: President Trump Responds to Biden’s SOTU Address With the ‘Real State of the Union’.

There’s really not too much more to say.  The State of the Union delivered by President Biden(‘s handlers) was as these things usually are:  An enormous, steaming pile of horseshit.  It would be a far better use of everyone’s time and the taxpayer’s dollars if the Executive Branch just went back to delivering the State of the Union in writing to Congress, instead of taking the stage to shovel out this huge pile of crap.

Anyway.  Just to take away the bad taste of all that, here is some totally gratuitous and yet patriotically appropriate totty from the archives.