Tom Hagen:Well, I say yes. There is more money potential in narcotics than anything else we’re looking at now. If we don’t get into it, somebody else will, maybe one of the Five Families, maybe all of them. And with the money they earn they’ll be able to buy more police and political power. Then they come after us. Right now we have the unions and we have the gambling and those are the best things to have. But narcotics is a thing of the future. If we don’t get a piece of that action we risk everything we have. Not now, but ten years from now.
The Godfather 1972 Emphasis Mine
Boston Common 2018 leftist “anti-racists” mob a guy wearing an Israeli flag
There is an interesting piece at Hotair concerning Pittsburgh and change in (almost all) Democrats concerning the aftermath of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting titled: Is Pittsburgh still stronger than Hate? by Salena Zito. She talked about the unity against the slaughter of Jews and the Pittsburgh stronger than hate campaign which isn’t what it once was:
…seemingly everywhere you went, the Pittsburgh Stronger Than Hate logo, which cleverly had the Steelers’ distinctive mineral elements as part of the design, was on T-shirts, kippahs, lawn signs, hoodies and more.
Recently, however, Pittsburgh became the site not of strength and unity but of hatred and division. A group of over 300 far-left activists established a Gaza solidarity encampment on the private property of the University of Pittsburgh, and the community has not been the same since.
You see the Ghastly Tom Hagen Math has caught up with Pittsburgh and math being math it’s unrelenting:
Right now the left has the Gays and the Transgenders and the Hollywood elites & media in which they are overrepresented and they figure that’s the best things to have, but in America Islam is a thing of the future. In 20 years the children of Muslims now being raised on the tenets of Sharia law in America will be old enough to vote and Democrats going to make sure they get those votes when the time come, not now but 10-20 years from now.
And if that means more LGBT Americans have to live in fear during those two decades, well it’s small price to pay for power.
Given the rise of “Queers for Palestine” It seems the LGBT community has seen the tiger charging and decided their immediate goal is to run faster than the Jews in order to be eaten last.
Meanwhile Democrats with power can also do the math and with new math comes new priorities:
Both the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County leadership were noticeably mute in the first 30 hours, with both Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Chief Executive Sara Innamorato, the latter having her early political success as a member of the Pittsburgh Democratic Socialists, saying absolutely nothing for over a day.
When Gainey finally did offer a statement, it was through the Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson who wrote that the “encampment/sit-in at the University of Pittsburgh is strictly taking place on private campus property.”
As one elected Democrat who asked not to be identified said to me in a fit of frustration, “If the KKK had been doing this at Pitt, private property or not private property, I can guarantee you Gainey would be there in a heartbeat.”
Jewish progressive Democrats don’t seem to get it:
“The swiftness of it when you think of it is head-turning,” DePasquale said. He said no matter what happens on social media, he will always stand up for what is right when it comes to any religious group.
“I am all for standing up for the First Amendment,” he said, adding that calling for the end of Jewish groups or intifada is beyond a bridge too far.
Pennsylvania state Rep. Abigail Salisbury, a Democrat, Jew and proud progressive, who Gainey, Innamorato and Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) recently unsuccessfully tried to oust in a Democratic primary, (emphasis mine) said on Facebook, “It seems that many people expect Jews to sit quietly with our hands folded and allow others to tell us what is antisemitic. We won’t.”
They don’t see the math behind all of this both those Democrats who denounced hate all those years ago who now wanted the pesky Jew defeated see Muslims who want Jews dead as the future of their party:
For every Frankel, Heisler, Salisbury and DePasquale, there were the posts or retweets by Lee, county Councilwoman Bethany Hallam and city Councilwoman Barb Warwick that cut to the heart of Salisbury’s post.
Warwick, who tried but failed to introduce a Pittsburgh City Council ceasefire resolution and represents Squirrel Hill, issued a statement that said in part that the words “intifada” and “from the river to the sea” hold different meanings to different groups.
Could you imagine Democrats supporting someone who defended the Confederate battle flag saying it meant different things to different people?
The truth is that this is all about timing. It’s likely true that Mayor Gainey would have acted if the KKK was behind the camps today, but I suspect if the KKK ran such a camp in say 1920-1950 when the KKK was a political powerhouse within the Democrat party then I suspect Mayor Gainey would have acted much as he did now. And it goes without saying if Gainey was mayor of a city in the deep south during that period he might have joined the encampment itself.
You see the Democrat party needs to explain to Jewish Democrats like Frankel and Salisbury the real mathematical and demographic principle that’s in play here and nationally among Democrats. This principle can best be expressed by rephrasing Lincoln famous speech concerning his priority being not abolition but union. It would go something like this:
Our Paramount goal is to elect democrats and is not to prevent or enable the slaughter and/or oppression Jews in Israel or America
If we can elect democrats by protecting Israel and Jews in America from slaughter or oppression we will do it
If we can elect democrats by enabling the slaughter or oppression of Jews in Israel and America we will do it.
and if we can elect democrats by enabling the slaughter and/or oppression of Jews in some places while protecting Jews from slaughter and/or oppression in others we will do that too.
Now there was a time when such a manifesto might have been unacceptable to Democrats and to some like Senator John Fetterman who was Lt. Gov of Pennsylvania at the time of the Tree of Life Synagogue slaughter such a position still is but to those more “pragmatic” democrats in a party that his largely secularized such position doesn’t pay any percentages. Islam is a thing of the future and the Democrats want those young voters from large families who are now calling for the slaughter of Jews in their camp.
I’m sure that someone can be sent privately to Frankel, Heisler, Salisbury and DePasquale that none of it is personal, it’s strictly political business.
Closing thought #1: The real irony here is that many of these progressive Jewish democrats fought hard to secularize the nation and the laws to push Christian faith out of the public square and out of their party. In retrospect that might have been a bad idea.
Closing thought #2 One of the most interesting things about this development is how it crystalizes the Democrat’s war on the past. They were against anti-Semitic hate when it didn’t cost anything politically but now demur when it does. It’s very telling.
If you want to figure out which democrats would have stood against the KKK when it was electorally dangerous to do so (1920-1950) look at the ones who have stood against the anti-Semitic encampments all over blue states & universities and if you want to figure out which Democrats will be making excuses for those who who will be lynching Jews and throwing gays off the roofs of tall buildings in blue America in twenty years look at those who are not.
Closing thought 3: I personally saw all of this coming in Boston 6 years ago when organizers of an “anti-nazi” protest had to hold their people back from beating a person wearing an Israeli flag.
Now they don’t feel they need to so do anymore.
UPDATE: Here is an article title that nobody born in 1963 ever expected to read:
And today’s is a good day to get a jump start on great songs about dad. Some of these will be familiar to you, others not, and it’s that last category that will make things interesting, I hope.
Most popular music songs are about relationships. You know, boy meets girl or girl loses boy. XTC, well, not so much. But they recorded some such tunes. XTC’s principal songwriter, Andy Partridge, had a troubled relationship with his mother, but less so with his father. Still, there also was conflict between the male Partridges. He sings here, “This civil war, why are we in it?” Musically, “Hold Me My Daddy” is also a successful leap out of XTC’s comfort zone, it incorporates an Afro Pop style.
The Man is Black’s relationship with his father, Ray, was portrayed in a harsh light in the movie Walk the Line. But the truth between the two is murky. For his Live at San Quentin album, Johnny Cash crooned of a dysfunctional father meeting his son in the Shel Silverstein-penned song, “A Boy Named Sue.”
Often sons–and daughters–seek out their mothers when they need guidance. But automobiles are a dad thing, which is why Chuck Berry speaks to his father about getting a new car. Released in 1965, “Dear Dad” was Berry’s last charting American single until the immature and silly “My Ding-a-Ling,” a number one hit for the legend, seven years later.
Because he has a nasty history of car accidents, Billy Joel is not the type of dad to ask for advice on automobiles, unless, of course, it involves filing an insurance claim. “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” was written for his daughter, Alexa Ray, for his 1993 album, River of Dreams, his last collection of new material in the pop music genre.
The best parents make the most out of a challenging situation. Loretta Lynn tells the story about her dad here. And of course, this song was the title of the Hollywood movie about her storied life.
John Hiatt is yet another one of those artists who hasn’t gotten the support he deserves. “The Rest of the Dream” covers fatherhood, childhood, marriage, and fatherhood again. It’s a multi-generational epic that clocks in under five minutes.
Arguably, this is a Mother’s Day song, because “And When I Die” was written by a woman, Laura Nyro. But the best-known version is by Blood, Sweat & Tears. David Clayton-Thomas sings lead here, and the western-movie style instrumentation puts this song on high on my list. Yee-hah! Coincidentally, in 1963, Johnny Cash released an album titled Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
Steve Goodman, best known for his “City of New Orleans,” wrote many other memorable songs. Obviously, “My Old Man” is about his father, a World War II veteran, who died at 58. Sadly, Goodman passed away at a much younger age–he was 36 when cancer claimed him.
Take a peek at these moving lyrics:
I miss my old man tonight And I wish he was here with me With his corny jokes and his cheap cigars He could look you in the eye and sell you a car That’s not an easy thing to do But no one ever knew a more charming creature On this earth than my old man.
Three months ago, here at Da Tech Guy I compiled another musical collection, 13 Great Songs about Getting Old. Cat Stevens, who decades ago changed his name to Yusuf Islam, wrote and sings the only tune that made both of my lists, “Father and Son.” Sometimes the ultimate show of love for a parent is to let a child go.
Cat’s in the Cradle: Harry Chapin.
From Cat Stevens to another Cat. One of music’s all-time great storytellers, Harry Chapin sings about the typical father of the Baby Boom era. A great provider, yes, but many dads then were too busy for their children. Tragically, Chapin never found out if his son would have “grown up just like me,” that is, not having time for him years later. Chapin, like Goodman, died young, at 38, in an automobile accident.
Did I miss a favorite of yours? Probably. Let me know in the comments.
Greta:He knocked over another ATM. This time at knifepoint. He needs your legal advice.
Fletcher Reede: [taking the phone and shouting into it] STOP BREAKING THE LAW ASSHOLE!
Liar Liar 1997
There was an old Batman comic story in Detective Comics 168 (1951) where Batman is invited as a guest instructor at State University to teach a course in criminology. The primary lesson that he teaches is the value of Observation and Deduction.
Well Stanford University deals in law rather than criminology and doesn’t have any masked Superheroes on faculty these days but has apparently discovered the value of Observation and Deduction.
OBSERVATION: High profile schools have allowed pro-hamas students to run wild at colleges at the cost of reputation, grants and enrollments and quality students who decide to go somewhere else where they can actually learn in safety.
DEDUCTION: When a group of Stamford student decided to occupy the President’s office, barricade themselves in and issue demands they decided the best move is to give said students a lesson in the application of law.
Rather than negotiate with them, the administration called the police. Police had to break through a door but then went inside and arrested all 13 students who were present. The administration also announced that seniors in the group would not graduate and everyone who was a current student would be suspended. But it turns out that was just the start. The Stanford Daily reports those students have now been charged with felonies.
The far left is already begging for money for their legal defense however I suspect even with a conviction they won’t do as well as Donald Trump did.
This move, along with the restoration of the SAT for incoming students shows that even colleges in blue states can, through observation and deduction, figure out that any short term cost in terms of leftists angry at this move will pay long term dividends in terms of the lesson it will teach potential student troublemakers:
OBSERVATION: The students who occupied the President’s office are facing suspension, expulsion & Felony chargers that could hinder the chances of getting a job or even a degree
DEDUCTION: It’s a good idea to steer clear of these protests and protesters concentrate on studies and or parties instead if I want a job after college
and of course it’s not just the current students who are getting this lesson in observation and deduction.
There are parents
OBSERVATION: Stamford is not putting up with this pro-hamas nonsense.
DEDUCTION: My $62K a year won’t be wasted and my kid will be safe and educated with a degree won’t be a red flag to employers.
Potential donors:
OBSERVATION: Stamford is not putting up with this pro-hamas nonsense.
DEDUCTION: My money won’t be wasted on folks who want to kill Jews or Destroy buildings
And of course potential employers:
OBSERVATION: Stamford is not putting up with this pro-hamas nonsense.
DEDUCTION: Hiring a Stamford grad means I’d get an employee who is not only educated but doesn’t carry the risk of causing trouble or embarrassment to the firm that a Columbia or Harvard grad might.
Of course as noted the left will try to pressure the university to reverse themselves and given the cost of tuition it’s likely that the parents of those students involved will have the resources to hire some heavy duty lawyers to defend them, but in the end the costs of such litigation and the annoyance of such pressure are miniscule compared to the returns that will come from standing their ground and preserving Stanford’s reputation as a school worth the $62K a year you will pay and these predators will likely move on to easier prey.
The only question is, will other universities in blue states Observe this result and come to the same deduction in time?
This weekend Jonah Goldberg noted that a lot of people on the right were comparing Trump to Christ and weren’t taking into account the idea that he cheated on his wife with a porn star.
Well there are two things I’d like to say to that. While Jonah is of course free do disagree on the merits of either verdict the fact is we compare Trump to Christ because Trump we believe both were found guilty unjustly, not of sleeping around but of a completely made up bookkeeping felony, so like Christ he was unjustly found guilty. Nobody (with the possible exception of Laura Loomer) on the right compares Trump to Christ’s divinity.
Second while I do in fact find it plausible that a really rich guy decided to bang a porn star and tried to keep it quiet (frankly I’d hate to have my performance in bed judged by a professional) folks like me who under the old rules thought such things should be disqualifying were massively outvoted on said rules so until the left decides to go back to said rules we aren’t either.
We’re in the middle of a baseball season where the Redsox have a great crop of young players and at the end of a basketball season where the Celtics are in the finals with a solid shot of winning and least we forget the Pats have a new 1st round QB and an old Brady era vet to mentor him. All these things are strong temptations to have me pony up for one of various sports packages from NESN to MLB to NBA etc etc etc…
…and then June roles around and all the professional teams go out of their way to remind me that they are not on my side in the culture wars and suddenly radio and hitting a local bar/restaurant to watch a game rather then giving these guys my money becomes an attractive alternative.
My thanks to various leagues for helping me appreciate the joy of free sports.
Oh and the annual ritual of business shoving gay pride down our throats in the west while making it a point to avoid the same in the middle east continues as always, with BMW actually admitting what we all know that it’s all about the risk and reward of the mob.
Of course in a new years the Ghastly Tom Hagan math will catch up with the west and when it does the west will drop their pride campaigns faster than the Democrats dropped Israel
Speaking of a lack of principles there are quite a few GOP candidates who had been pushing their pro-life credentials in the past who suddenly find themselves willing to compromise on life to gain higher office.
Now there are no shortage of Democrats who run as republicans in red states or republican who run as dems in blue states to get power nor is there a shortage in either party of people whose primary principle is to advance their political power. And the reality is that given the number of honest men & women in politics you likely can’t get a majority without these sorts.
So when there is no other choice by all means elect them but keep such folks away from the true levers of party power because people willing to sell out their principles or their God will have little trouble selling you.
Finally episode one of the Chosen is available free and those who expected to see the aftermath of the feeding of the 5000 and the calming of the waters which closed last season might have been shocked to see they went back to Luke Chapter 1 to the Visitation as their lead.
Granted they decided to knock off John the Baptist in episode one but if there is one thing you could always be sure of in any protestant movie about Christ skips the 6th chapter of John once it reaches verse 26 the beginning of the bread to life discourses. The only exception being word for word adaptions of Gospel.
Given that The Chosen is a TV series rather than a movie there would have been more than enough time to include them but as Catholic as Jonathan Roumie is, he does not have creative control so the bread of life discourses had to go.
Don’t get me wrong, it was a good episode and I liked the juxtaposition of the Canticle of Zachariah (the Morning Prayer of the Catholic Church) with the scenes of John’s end and the reaction to it but some things never change, and if you were expecting to see The Chosen break that mold you will be mistaken.
Oh and I’d watch it via the youtube live stream because the loading time of the app seems to be very slow likely due to the sheer number of people trying to watch it there.
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