Somebody please tell The Nation that Hillary won Middlesex County MA with 65% of the vote

It's May and the top two issues remain healthcare and immigration

Here, but Obamacare is still the law of the land, and not one mile of The Wall has been built.

Robert Tracinski skewers some libertarians for the socialism in their heads, but still misses why it's there

Here, chalking it all up to "unexamined collectivist assumptions" and mistakenly allowing "a little dominion of socialism over their thinking" and the left "trying to preserve that territory they own in your head" through various schemes like the estate tax.

In other words, they're insufficiently indoctrinated. You know, like all those intractable Russians who were sent to the Gulag for nothing more than mistakenly expressing incorrect thoughts.

It never dawns on Tracinski that ideology is a coin with socialism on the one side and libertarianism on the other.

The article is amusing because the "conservatives" he skewers for being insufficiently libertarian are or were aligned with the left and leftism: Charles Murray (former labor unionist, six years in the Peace Corps, "rebel"), Ronald Reagan ("I didn't leave the Democratic Party . . ."), Stuart Butler of health mandate infamy (Brookings), Milton Friedman (FDR functionary) and Megan McArdle (self-described former "ultraliberal").

With the example of McArdle on the estate tax before him, one might have hoped that Tracinski had stumbled into the origin of the socialism in our heads, but no, "there is no such collective entity as 'society.'"

The man wishing to leave his estate to that little society called his family might have begged to differ.

Grassley wants to end the EB-5 visa program altogether, but Cornyn wants to end the EB-5 cap

Grassley would end the issuance of these "buy-your-way-in" visas, but the Texas Senator would open up the program to thousands more.

Story here.

Libertarianism is adolescence dressed up as a political philosophy

No surprise that it was cooked up by Baby Boomers.

And as we all should know by now, there's no arguing with adolescents, not even after they've wrecked the family car.

What P. J. O'Rourke doesn't get is that free individuals would never make babies without hormones

And they'd never make war, either. So O'Rourke's ideal libertarian world of individual freedom would die out first, from failure to reproduce, and then from war. Compulsion is inevitable. You know, like death.

Looks like we're well on our way.

Here:

And what defines a mob? Mobsters. That Cosa Nostra with its code of omertà at the Clinton Foundation. Those "Make America Great Again" Crips and Bloods wearing their colors on their baseball caps with brims bumped to the right.

We should be learning the value of individual liberty from the failure of the elites and the fiasco of their vast political power. Good things are made by free individuals in free association with other individuals. Notice that that's how we make babies.

Individual freedom is about bringing things together.

Politics is about dividing things up.

Elites would have us make babies by putting the woman on this side of the room and the man on that side of the room while the elites stand in the middle taxing sperm and eggs.

The Grauniad complains P. J. O'Rourke's new book is "rural" and "lazy"

One David Runciman, here, who evidently does not know that the old boy has slowed down since he became sick with cancer:

[O'Rourke] operates more in the mould of HL Mencken, one of his heroes, who rarely felt the need to leave his beloved Baltimore in order to lambast the idiocy of his fellow Americans. O’Rourke lives, as it says on the dust jacket, “in rural New England, as far away from the things he writes about as he can get”. This is American politics as viewed from the back room in front of the TV, feet up on the recliner chair. ... O’Rourke forfeits the reader’s patience and simply comes across as lazy.

Dilbert thinks James Comey took one for the American team

Scott Adams, here, who covers all the bases.

Senate Intelligence Committee aide anonymously tries to smear Trump with money laundering

Probably a Democrat aide. Democrats on the committee include Diane Feinstein, Ron Wyden, Martin Heinrich, Angus King (I), Joe Manchin, Kamala Harris and Mark Warner.

Here:

The Senate Intelligence Committee wants to see any information relevant to its Russia investigation the Treasury agency has gathered, including evidence that might include possible money laundering, according to a committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. Also at issue: to what extent, if at all, people close to Vladimir Putin have invested in Trump's real estate empire.

Trump showed patience in waiting to fire Comey and Krauthammer finds it inexplicable

Here.

Well, they pay Krauthammer to say something.

Susan Collins proves the old adage that even a broken clock is right twice a day

Here.

When the liberal Republican FBI director loses the support of a Susan Collins, he'd better believe he's had it.

Laugh of the Day: Trump fires Comey to distract from making no progress on border wall

Ann Coulter, here.

Why we love him still

The firing of James Comey presents the opportunity of a lifetime

Seen here.

Trump fires Comey from FBI, let's hope he fires Turkey from NATO next

Erdogan, our supposed ally, calls on Muslims to occupy Jerusalem.

The Dems say if they hadn't been caught lying they would be running the country right now

Seen here.

Ann Coulter gets it: Americans are paying higher taxes through their health insurance premiums

Here. How come nobody else talks this way?

War is the father of everything

Tea Party darling Sen. Ron Johnson of WI introduces massive guest worker/amnesty: 500k annually

The Tea Party was one half open-borders-libertarian from the beginning. That's why it went no farther than it did.

And Wisconsin narrowly reelected Johnson in 2016 why? It was the price we paid for the very narrow Trump victory there.

Story here.

Joe Klein says thanks to Trump we currently live in Pat Buchanan's world

Here in The New York Times.

He hopes it's only for a moment.

Emmanuel Macron doesn't know how to speak of France, only of Europe and its citizens

Emmanuel Macron, the new president of France, quoted in the story here:

"I know the anger, the anxiety, the doubts that very many of you have also expressed. It's my responsibility to hear them," he said. "I will work to recreate the link between Europe and its peoples, between Europe and citizens." ...

[Marine Le Pen's] tally was almost double the score that her father Jean-Marie, the last far-right candidate to make the presidential runoff, achieved in 2002, when he was trounced by the conservative Jacques Chirac. ...

[A]ny idea of a brave new political dawn will be tempered by an abstention rate on Sunday of around 25 percent, the highest this century, and by the blank or spoiled ballots submitted by 12 percent of those who did vote.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, climate update for April 2017

Mean average temperature was 51.9 degrees F in April 2017 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The mean for April back to 1896 is 46.5.

The lowest minimum temperature was 27. The mean for April is 22.

The highest maximum temperature was 81. The mean for April is 79.

Precipitation was 6.27 inches. The mean for April is 3.3. Sixth wettest April on record.

April snowfall was 0.4 inches. The mean for April is 2.3.

Heating degree days came to 391. The mean for April is 553. The total through April from July 2016 comes to 5366 vs. mean to date of 6404.

The heating season to date has been about 16% warmer than normal.

Obama's SECDEF said nukes were an option against North Korea

From the story here:

Last month, former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said about an attack on North Korea, “We’ve always had all options on the table… I wouldn’t take any off.”  Were North Korea to commence a massive artillery barrage on Seoul, and especially if they used chemical or biological weapons, one potential U.S. response could be nuclear retaliation against Pyongyang and/or their artillery at the border. (Perhaps dialing down the “variable yield” of our B-61 nuclear bombs to reduce radioactive fallout and civilian casualties). As outlandish as this response may seem right now, some U.S. war planners do not think so; it could be considered “proportional” and therefore within the laws of armed conflict. If a nuclear bombing were ordered under Obama–who was widely perceived as thoughtful and hesitant to use force—the world may have been largely willing to listen to his logic. Unfortunately, because much of the international community views President Trump as reactive, even unstable, any such U.S.-initiated action would likely be met by ferocious global condemnation. This perception of our President may be a tactical consideration for our war planners led by the very talented head of Pacific Command, Adm. Harry Harris.

Just 18 Republicans in the US Senate voted against the $1.1 trillion spending bill

The roll call is here. So-called conservatives Rubio and Johnson notably voted for it.

Laugh of the Day: Mark Levin calls caller employed as an electrician without health insurance a parasite

Just now.

They don't call Levin "the great one" for nothing.

Noted cardiologist predicts Republican healthcare reform will fail and lead to single payer

Here.

On Hannity with Mark Simone, Stephen Moore just said we still have 94 million Americans "of working age" still out of work

There's a statement which is utterly false, and should end Steve Moore's credibility as an economist forever, but it won't.

The metric measures everyone aged 16 and older who is not in the labor force, the vast majority of which are not in the labor force for very good reasons.

For one example, young people in high school, college and graduate school are included in this number. In 2017 they number about 37 million people.

For another, in March 2017 another 45.7 million were over 65 and getting Social Security. In other words, retired.

Together that's nearly 88% of the current 94.4 million "not working".

That leaves 11.7 million "not working", some of whom are disabled receiving Social Security but some disabled are still working, trying to lead productive lives despite their handicaps.

Typically the rest are homemakers, who are trying to make sure their kids aren't rotten like yours.

George Mason University should take away Steve Moore's MA in economics, if you ask me.

And even if you don't.

Total employment lags 2008 by at least 2.4 million while Drudge plays Trump propagandist

In April 2008 total employed, not seasonally adjusted, hit 145.9 million, which was 48.1% of the US population of 303.38 million.

In April 2017 we're at 153.3 million, 47.4% of the US population of 323.58 million.

If we had employment at the 2008 rate, there would be at least 2.4 million more employed today than there are.

But no, Trump is making America great again, you see.

American Health Care Act of 2017 passes US House 217-213

The roll call is here.

20 Republicans and 193 Democrats (which is all of them) voted against it.

It's a Rube Goldberg fix to the Rube Goldberg machine known as Obamacare.

Remember all those Trump rallies where the crowds shouted "Repair 40 miles of fence!"?

Yeah, me neither.

[Spicer] said about a fifth of the funding allotted to the Department of Homeland Security in the spending bill moving through Congress this week will be used to erect a barrier 20 feet high to replace some 40 miles of the current 700-mile border fence along the 1,900-mile border. That 40-mile replacement alone will cost $341.2 million.

Republican $1.1 trillion spending bill includes $18 million to combat misogyny in the Marine Corps

Now Republicans take a whack at turning the Marine Corps into the Marine Corpse.

Story here.

France's Emmanuel Macron is with her

Frau Merkel is "more attractive than you think"

Marine Le Pen rocks the vote: France will be led by a woman, either me or Frau Merkel

Yeah baby.

See it all, here.

The vehicle for the obscene $1.1 trillion House omnibus spending bill was the HIRE Vets Act

They can't even tell the truth about the name of the bill.

The $1.1 trillion bill passed with support from both parties in a 309-118 vote. Fifteen Democrats and 103 Republicans voted against it. ... House Democrats have repeatedly been needed to help pass spending bills since Republicans took over the majority in 2011.

The roll call vote is here.

131 Republicans united with 178 Democrats to pass the bill, which once again defies regular order for appropriations.

Spineless Michigan Republicans Upton, Trott, Bergman, Walberg, Mike Bishop, Huizenga, Moolenaar and Mitchell all voted for the included Christmas tree of goodies for Democrats in order to get the increased defense spending in the bill.

Only Justin Amash of the Michigan Republican US House caucus voted against the damn thing.

Hillary: I was on the way to winning . . . until I came under sniper fire in Bosnia

The only three things Trump needs to do: Build The Wall, don't start a war, and golf

Hillary supporter Gersh Kuntzman says Hillary got what she deserved, and since she won't apologize she should just shut up and go home

Very entertaining.

Here.

Also entertaining is his litany of her lies, here. He voted for her anyway.

Just remember that when feeling blue about our boy Donald.

Over and over again, Donald Trump promised he would build a Big Beautiful Military

You just didn't hear him right.

Here's a compilation.

Ya'll misunderstood . . . He said he's going to build The Big Beautiful Military

The person destined for political oblivion now is Mike Pence

"Rush, let me be real clear. The number one priority of President Trump is to rebuild our military, to restore the arsenal of democracy."

Mark Levin lies again, says Obamacare was passed under reconciliation when it wasn't

As if it's germane anyway. Levin is just trying to appear to respect the tradition of the Senate.

Well, Harry Reid did away with that by going nuclear on appointments.

And Mitch McConnell went nuclear on Gorsuch.

Two blows to tradition right there.

Like tits, if you've seen one you might as well see the other.

So, Mitch just needs to keep going nuclear.

The Republican Senate should simply jettison the filibuster rule, and pass repeal with the clean Republican majority.

Trump's instincts on this are correct on spending, which means on Obamacare as well, and on every bill which might come the Senate's way.

Then we can focus our attention on Paul Ryan, who hides behind the Senate's filibuster rule like a little boy hides behind his mommy's skirts to restrain what he does in the House.

Talk radio and Republicans are trying to defend this latest indefensible continuing spending resolution

When Democrats took control of the Congress under Obama in 2009, they promptly added about $700 billion to Bush's outlays in the middle of his last fiscal year, and successfully made the new level of spending the baseline for the rest of Obama's two terms. This was done in the name of rescuing the country from the financial/housing crisis.

They sold it as an $800 billion stimulus, but it was in reality the most outrageous expansion of federal spending ever: $5.6 trillion over 8 years. The sum is $1.28 trillion in excess of Obama's entire dollar GDP increase for his presidency. It means we spent $1.30 for every $1 of Obama's GDP.

But you have heard nothing about it because Republicans are co-dependents in government spending.

Spending soared overnight from $2.8 trillion to $3.5 trillion, and stayed at that level right through the final days of the Obama administration, despite Republicans taking the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014.

Now that the tables are turned, Republicans are claiming "the rules" mean they have to compromise with Democrats and continue spending on Democrat items under the Christmas Tree, like Planned Parenthood, sanctuary cities, border security without The Wall, and a variety of non-defense spending items, in order to get what they want in the $1.1 trillion continuing spending resolution, which basically boils down to a big increase in defense spending, but not much for what Trump advocated and promised the people.

Disappointed doesn't begin to describe our displeasure with this disgraceful pack of spendthrift bastards occupying The Swamp.

And they appear to have eaten Donald Trump.

Delusional Hillary today blames "Russian" Wikileaks and Comey for her loss

Everybody and everything but herself.

Here.

VP Pence in the spin zone on The Rush Limbaugh Show: Trump's number one priority is defense spending

Oh, well, that clarifies things.

Here I thought Trump's campaign for president was all about stopping illegal immigration, restoring law and order, and repealing Obamacare.

Silly me. I must have misunderstood Donald Trump.

First quarter GDP has fallen from an average of 2.95% under Truman to 0.53% under Obama

Truman: 2.95%

IKE: 1.05%

JFK/LBJ: 2.97%

Nixon/Ford: 2.52%

Carter: 2.77%

Reagan: 1.70%

Bush I: 1.27%

Clinton: 1.10%

Bush II: 0.95%

Obama: 0.53%

Michael Moore to star in one-man Broadway show because there's no room on stage for anyone else

Somebody please tell The Steve Gruber Show that it's not The Stop Female Genital Mutilation Show

Gruber is fixated on the issue. Everyday he talks about it lately.

Male genitals have been mutilated from time immemorial, Steve. But I don't want to hear about that everyday either.

Especially with my morning coffee.

France to be ruled by perverts: It turns out Emmanuel Macron of France fell in love at 16 with his 39 year old married teacher, a mother of three

And they've been together just about ever since. And he's about to defeat Marine Le Pen for the presidency of France. Unbelievable.

They change partners over there like pants, but still.

Story here.

Video of Tanana River Ice Out in Nenana AK today at noon

Here. And here.

The siren goes off at about 16 seconds in at the first link. The second link is not video but patched together shots from the Tripod cam.

Another Chinese forced laborer writes a plea for help and sequesters it in a purse purchased at Walmart

And Trump expects the Chinese authorities to do something about North Korea.

Yeah right.

From the story here:

“Inmates in the Yingshan Prison in Guangxi, China are working 14 hours daily with no break/rest at noon, continue working overtime until 12 midnight, and whoever doesn't finish his work will be beaten. Their meals are without oil and salt. . . .."