There is lots of contention in NC about a state law negating Charlotte’s law permitting men to use ladies rest rooms. A long front page article in today’s Times-News discusses the impact.
Bottom line, though they don’t say it this way:
“Nothing changes”. We already don’t allow men to use ladies rest rooms.
But the ramifications of this could be serious.
We know Starbucks doesn’t like it.
Chas- I see that PayPal decided not to locate one of its centers in NC because of the law. Makes me wonder if I should cancel my account. But then, I only use it once or twice a year.
PayPal are the worst kind of hypocrites. Apple as well. They threaten NC over their new laws, yet continue to do business with countries that imprison, stone, and kill the same people they claim to be defending in NC. And as always, the disorder riddled left give them a pass.
“PayPal drew a line in the sand when North Carolina enacted a law prohibiting people from using the restrooms of the opposite sex, but critics say that line got washed away on the shores of Malaysia, a nation that consistently ranks among the least LGBT-friendly in the world.
The company canceled its plan to build a global operations center in Charlotte after the passage of HB2, which CEO Daniel Schulman called discrimination against the transgendered. He noted that the move would cost North Carolina 400 well-paying jobs.
But Malaysia’s Penal Code 187 — which punishes homosexual conduct with whippings and up to 20 years in prison — did not stop PayPal from opening in 2011 a global operations center there that it estimated would employ 500 workers by 2013.”
“Whether it’s Apple opening stores in Saudi Arabia or American Airlines looking to dominate the Cuban travel market, many of the companies that have threatened to cut business ties to North Carolina over its bathroom bill are eager to do business in countries with regimes far more repressive of gays (and everyone else).”
“The U.S. Justice Department says it has turned over to Congress a cache of additional documents related to the botched gun-smuggling operation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
The Obama administration had for the last four years refused to provide the documents to House Republicans, invoking a claim of executive privilege.
But a federal judge on January 19 turned aside that argument, saying the agency had already disclosed through other channels much of the information it was seeking to withhold.”
“State Department officials on Friday handed over 1,100 pages of documents demanded by the the House Select Committee on Benghazi, two years after congressional investigators requested them.
“It is deplorable that it took over a year for these records to be produced to our committee, and that our Democrat colleagues never lifted a finger to help us get them,” committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said Friday evening. “Shame on them and everyone else who has demanded this committee to give up before gathering all of the facts.”
The disclosures include emails from Hillary Clinton’s inner circle at the State Department, including confidante Huma Abedin, then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan, one of her top foreign policy advisers, and Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy.”
It always ends badly when inexperienced and clueless micro-managers think they can run the military better than well trained and experienced leaders equipped for the job.
“The U.S. military has been hindered by an overbearing and inexperienced White House under President Barack Obama, according to each of his three former defense secretaries, causing the Pentagon to struggle to carry out operations and make decisions.
“It was the operational micromanagement that drove me nuts, of White House and [National Security Council] staffers calling senior commanders out in the field and asking them questions, of second-guessing commanders,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Bret Baier in a new Fox News special called “Rising Threats, Shrinking Military.”
“Gates was a holdover from the George W. Bush administration, and Obama kept him on as Pentagon chief. He described how, when he served in the White House, he would have “had [his] head handed to [him], probably personally by the president,” if he tried to call a field commander while circumventing senior Pentagon officials.
“I told the combatant commanders and field commanders … if you get a call from some White House or National Security Council staffer, you tell them to call me instead, and then tell them, oh, by the way, go to hell,” Gates said, smiling. “And that’s directly from the secretary of defense.”
Gates’ successor, Leon Panetta, took office in July 2011 and told Baier he had similar concerns with the Obama administration, despite being a long-time Democrat who served as a California congressman for many years and as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff.
Panetta complained that the president’s national security council staff had gotten so large and overbearing in recent years, creating massive inefficiency with creating foreign and defense policy.
“What that does is it undermines the very process that a president needs in order to get the best discussion and information possible to be able to make the right decisions,” Panetta explained.”
——————————-
Barry’s not a real CoC, he just plays one on TV. He’s more the emperor with no clothes type.
Deep down I know that Hillary would destroy Trump. Still there is a small part of me that would like to see Trump win in November just to see how closely a Trump administration would resemble the White House as portrayed in the movie “Idiocracy”.
Someone told me not a single veteran works at the White House . . . and how many in Congress have served or have children who have served? How can you possibly have any concept of what it’s like to go into harm’s way on behalf of your country, much less watch that spouse go, if you have no experience?
Michelle, It is very sad that the last two Democrat administrations have been so distant from and hostile to our military and our veterans. The military is the last of our great national institutions to be subverted although it is currently under great attack.
Anonymous @9:21, Perhaps Organized Perversion and its allies are not hypocritical. Consider that Organized Perversion is simply an anti-Christian cult inspired by Satan. Would Satan or an anti-Christian cult have any interest in attacking Muslims, Malaysia, Cuba or China? No. They aren’t anti-Muslim or anti-Communist. They are anti-Christian. They want to attack Christian institutions, beliefs and practices.
Re: the NC restroom law – I don’t remember where I read it, but somewhere I read something that said the law allows only people who have been surgically “changed” to use the opposite sex restrooms. Is that accurate?
Bathroom politics would be amusing if it wasn’t taken so seriously. The initial Charlotte measure seems to have been nothing more than an attempt to be nice and inclusive. Let’s face it, most people use the washroom which suits their appearance and genitalia (unless its a night club with a long line at the ladies room). The reaction of the state legislature seems to be an overkill in gov’t intervention. By asking people to use the bathroom that matches their birth certificate, they’ve essentially accomplished what the Charlotte measure sought to avoid — people using a bathroom that doesn’t match their present appearance or genitalia. The answer to government intervention isn’t more gov’t intervention — something I thought conservatives understood. Do restaurants have to hire bathroom monitors? And if a lady uses the men’s room because the line is too long at the ladies’ room is she a sex offender? (don’t laugh this actually happened)
Paypal is hypocritical as is most US corporations but they don’t act in the interest of social justice rather what they see as their corporate interest. In the US, they want an inclusive environment for their employees and they want to appear socially responsible to the majority of Americans. Outside of the US, their corporate interests are different.
I never understood the idea that the military can only be overseen by people with military experience. A key part of civil democracy is gov’t civilian oversight of the military. Civilian oversight is necessary to keep the military in check.
If we apply the same logic to other departments — farmers only at the Dept of Agriculture, union leaders at the Dept of Labour, etc — and it gets silly very quickly.
As for Democratic vs Republican respect and understanding for the military’s, I hardly think the party of Bush Jr, Cheney and Rumsfeld have any advantage over the party of Clinton and Obama.
Chas, It would be interesting to know what percentage of the millions of people on food stamps have the same attitude.
For some time my wife and I have speculated: What will come first? National bankruptcy or the firestorm from heaven that destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah and Berlin.
HRW, I would do away with the Agriculture and Labor Departments, as well as Energy, Education, Commerce, Homeland Security, Housing and the one that Rick Perry forgot.
One advantage of having veterans in charge of military matters is that they actually understand what soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines actually have to do in combat. This serves as a check on both:
A. Democrat social engineering such as force feeding women into Marine combat units; and
B. Reckless adventurism as advocated by Cheney and his ilk.
You’re correct, HRW, about not having military in total charge, but something seems dangerously amiss when there is NO ONE who has ever served. Members of my own family were completely hostile to the military until they actually had a family member (my husband–brother to some of them) serving.
Then they understood better and were not so nasty. One even used it for political heyday, “I have a family member in the Navy.”
Chas, they begin with hormones – suppressing the naturally occurring hormones and giving the hormones of the gender which the person wants to transition to. This will produce some changes – like some breast development in a man (those who transition fully generally have breast enhancements) or increased hair growth in a woman. Then if the person wants to go further, they use plastic surgery to deconstruct and then reconstruct the outer genitalia, working with the existing structures. Much of the change is purely cosmetic and the new genitalia usually doesn’t quite function the way it should. The internal sex organs are generally removed as it is the testicles and ovaries which stimulate the natural sex hormones; however, they have not yet developed a way for a man who wants to be a woman to have a uterus and ovaries; or a woman who wants to be a man to have testicles. Doing so would not only be extremely difficult, but it would also increase the danger. It is dangerous enough fooling around with the hormones like that [Testosterone and estrogen are already associated with cancer when they are taken by the gender in which they naturally occur: estrogen replacement therapy is associated with increased risk of breast cancer; and the use of performance enhancing steroids – which mimic testosterone – also increases one’s cancer risk]. Even the most beneficial of surgeries is brutal and hard on the human body; so doing a surgery where the harm outweighs the benefit violates the first medical principle of Non-maleficence – “First do no harm.”
I heard somewhere that his signature song “Born In The U. S. A.” isn’t really a patriotic piece. So I checked out the lyrics. Whoever told me was right. Here they are:
Born down in a dead mans town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that’s been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Got in a little hometown cream
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said “son if it was up to me”
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said “son, don’t you understand”
I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They’re still there, he’s all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I’m a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I’m a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A.
Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the south-land
I miss ‘ole’ ‘bamy once again
And I think it’s a sin
Well I heard Mister Young sing about her
Well I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don’t need him around any how
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
In Birmingham they love the Gov’nor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I’m feeling blue
Now how bout you?
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
I can tell you than Ronnie Van Zant would still sing in North Carolina if only his plane hadn’t run out of fuel over Mississippi 40 years ago.
Remember when Springsteen held a concert in early 2008 — and then virtually led an organized caravan to a place so everyone could register to vote (for Obama, of course)?
Couldn’t sleep at some point last night so got all caught up on the political scene via RealClear, Politico, etc.
A someone said, it’s always been clear that Hollywood was trying to drive the culture leftward — but who knew they actually had meetings with real, written-out agendas??
_____________________________
Some of the biggest donors on the left are huddling behind closed doors with liberal politicians including Nancy Pelosi to strategize about electing Democrats and confirming Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, but they’ll also discuss ways to use Hollywood to advance their causes.
The occasion is the annual spring investment conference of the Democracy Alliance liberal donor club, which officially kicks off Sunday at the tony Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica, California.
An agenda obtained by POLITICO shows that the four-day gathering, which is closed to the press, features at least two sessions focused partly on harnessing the power of Hollywood and the entertainment industry as a tool in the culture wars. …
… As a rule, I generally try to simply ignore the political views and rants of entertainers I enjoy, partly because it’s their right to hold any beliefs they wish. But it’s also due to the fact that if I refused to watch any movie or show, listen to any music or laugh at any jokes by people who are flaming liberals, entertainment options would probably come down to a choice between Ron White or watching paint dry. (Yes, I know there are other exceptions, but you get my point.)
Of course, there are cases where it’s shoved in your face so often that you can’t ignore it and simply give up in despair. (Chris Hardwick is a hilarious stand-up comedian who also has a great podcast, but his show @Midnight has pretty much devolved from funny observations on internet culture to a half hour of insulting conservatives every night, which is sad.) But plenty of other entertainment options are out there which don’t veer into the political very often, if at all.
The one redeeming point about all of this is that I don’t have to take advice on social, economic or foreign policy from actors, singers or comedians. I’ll leave that to our friends on the Left. If Springsteen doesn’t want to do business in North Carolina so be it. He simply opens up a market opportunity for others to fill the void.
________________________________
Didn’t you learn your lesson after the first question Chas? There are just some things you don’t need/want to know.
Springsteen is yet another aging 70 year old “rock star” who’s just trying, and failing, to be relevant with today’s kids. He’s a leftist tool, seriously lacking in talent.
If you wanted a nutshell description of the past 2000 years of Western history, you could put it this way: Out of paganism Christianity emerged and won the day, establishing civilisation and civility. But as Christianity waned, civilisation began to crumble and a new paganism has emerged.
That is the broad brush outline. A somewhat more detailed account is found in a letter from Lord Macaulay to an American friend, dated May 23, 1857:
The average age of the world’s greatest democratic nations has been 200 years. Each has been through the following sequence:
• From bondage to spiritual faith.
• From faith to great courage.
• From courage to liberty.
• From liberty to abundance.
• From abundance to complacency.
• From complacency to selfishness.
• From selfishness to apathy.
• From apathy to dependency.
• And from dependency back again into bondage.
You certainly find a cycle like this in the history of ancient Israel, especially as found in the book of Judges. But it well describes the West as well. And if you want an even simpler and shorter spin on all this, the line attributed to Chesterton (but never actually verified) is worth offering here: “When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything.”
My point is this: the once great West, home of freedom, democracy, rule of law, and other vital social goods, came about because of the Judeo-Christian worldview. As Westerners increasingly reject that essential foundation, the whole structure is beginning to break apart and collapse.
As the West becomes more and more secularised, and less and less Christian – indeed, as it becomes increasingly anti-Christian – the days of the West are now being numbered. As well, into the vacuum left by Christianity are various contenders. What we are witnessing right now is a return of paganism ….
_______________________________________________
Chas, The guy was never good enough to be the opening act for Anita Carter. If he wants to go to the bathroom with little girls, he needs to confine his concerts to the Northeast and the Left Coast.
As someone who grew up in NJ I once spent 75 bucks to see Springsteen in the 80’s at the Byrne Arena in NJ, I can safely say that no, he wasn’t that good in the eighties. 🙂
But alas, young men are known for doing stupid things in order to be in the good graces of a young lady. I told her on the way home that if things didn’t work out, I wanted my 75 bucks back. It seemed only fair. I was not impressed. Neither was she, and she loved Bruce.
Thanx Aj. Seriously, I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Springsteen. I knew he was a singer.
And Ricky is correct. He couldn’t be on the stage with Anita.
Ok, just in the ’70s then. 🙂 some friends and I tried to get tickets to see him at a club in Hollywood, when he was first creating a national buzz, but when we arrived on the morning to buy the tickets, the line was blocks long (and it was clearly going to sell out, it was a fairly small venue on Sunset — maybe the Roxy?). We all had jobs to get to in the afternoon, no time to stand in a hours-long line (only to probably NOT get tickets), so we didn’t even get out of the car.
Growing up in a small suburban town in Texas in the early 70s, my friends and I were hostile to “rock stars” and people who went to rock concerts. We considered them all to be only one step removed from The Manson Family.
Soon after Texas Stadium was built in Irving some rock group performed there, and the newspaper reported that marijuana smoke was everywhere in the semi-sacred stadium where Bob Lilly and Roger Staubach played football. My best friend suggested that they should have locked the gates, turned the place into a prison and let the Cowboys go back to playing in the Cotton Bowl.
Wandering Views 
There is lots of contention in NC about a state law negating Charlotte’s law permitting men to use ladies rest rooms. A long front page article in today’s Times-News discusses the impact.
Bottom line, though they don’t say it this way:
“Nothing changes”. We already don’t allow men to use ladies rest rooms.
But the ramifications of this could be serious.
We know Starbucks doesn’t like it.
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Chas- I see that PayPal decided not to locate one of its centers in NC because of the law. Makes me wonder if I should cancel my account. But then, I only use it once or twice a year.
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Peter,
PayPal are the worst kind of hypocrites. Apple as well. They threaten NC over their new laws, yet continue to do business with countries that imprison, stone, and kill the same people they claim to be defending in NC. And as always, the disorder riddled left give them a pass.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/7/paypal-apple-lecture-north-carolina-do-business-in/
“PayPal drew a line in the sand when North Carolina enacted a law prohibiting people from using the restrooms of the opposite sex, but critics say that line got washed away on the shores of Malaysia, a nation that consistently ranks among the least LGBT-friendly in the world.
The company canceled its plan to build a global operations center in Charlotte after the passage of HB2, which CEO Daniel Schulman called discrimination against the transgendered. He noted that the move would cost North Carolina 400 well-paying jobs.
But Malaysia’s Penal Code 187 — which punishes homosexual conduct with whippings and up to 20 years in prison — did not stop PayPal from opening in 2011 a global operations center there that it estimated would employ 500 workers by 2013.”
“Whether it’s Apple opening stores in Saudi Arabia or American Airlines looking to dominate the Cuban travel market, many of the companies that have threatened to cut business ties to North Carolina over its bathroom bill are eager to do business in countries with regimes far more repressive of gays (and everyone else).”
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Some goodies in this week’s Friday news dump.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3530846/Justice-Dept-gives-Congress-documents-Fast-Furious.html
“The U.S. Justice Department says it has turned over to Congress a cache of additional documents related to the botched gun-smuggling operation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
The Obama administration had for the last four years refused to provide the documents to House Republicans, invoking a claim of executive privilege.
But a federal judge on January 19 turned aside that argument, saying the agency had already disclosed through other channels much of the information it was seeking to withhold.”
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And this.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/state-dept.-releases-personal-emails-from-clintons-inner-circle/article/2588066?custom_click=rss
“State Department officials on Friday handed over 1,100 pages of documents demanded by the the House Select Committee on Benghazi, two years after congressional investigators requested them.
“It is deplorable that it took over a year for these records to be produced to our committee, and that our Democrat colleagues never lifted a finger to help us get them,” committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said Friday evening. “Shame on them and everyone else who has demanded this committee to give up before gathering all of the facts.”
The disclosures include emails from Hillary Clinton’s inner circle at the State Department, including confidante Huma Abedin, then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan, one of her top foreign policy advisers, and Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy.”
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It always ends badly when inexperienced and clueless micro-managers think they can run the military better than well trained and experienced leaders equipped for the job.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obamas-pentagon-chiefs-military-suffered-overbearing-white-house/
“The U.S. military has been hindered by an overbearing and inexperienced White House under President Barack Obama, according to each of his three former defense secretaries, causing the Pentagon to struggle to carry out operations and make decisions.
“It was the operational micromanagement that drove me nuts, of White House and [National Security Council] staffers calling senior commanders out in the field and asking them questions, of second-guessing commanders,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Bret Baier in a new Fox News special called “Rising Threats, Shrinking Military.”
“Gates was a holdover from the George W. Bush administration, and Obama kept him on as Pentagon chief. He described how, when he served in the White House, he would have “had [his] head handed to [him], probably personally by the president,” if he tried to call a field commander while circumventing senior Pentagon officials.
“I told the combatant commanders and field commanders … if you get a call from some White House or National Security Council staffer, you tell them to call me instead, and then tell them, oh, by the way, go to hell,” Gates said, smiling. “And that’s directly from the secretary of defense.”
Gates’ successor, Leon Panetta, took office in July 2011 and told Baier he had similar concerns with the Obama administration, despite being a long-time Democrat who served as a California congressman for many years and as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff.
Panetta complained that the president’s national security council staff had gotten so large and overbearing in recent years, creating massive inefficiency with creating foreign and defense policy.
“What that does is it undermines the very process that a president needs in order to get the best discussion and information possible to be able to make the right decisions,” Panetta explained.”
——————————-
Barry’s not a real CoC, he just plays one on TV. He’s more the emperor with no clothes type.
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The monster is not dead. He is only wounded. Still, it is fun to read about the ineptitude of the Trump campaign.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/colorado-loss-reveals-chaotic-overwhelmed-trump-campaign-n552781
Deep down I know that Hillary would destroy Trump. Still there is a small part of me that would like to see Trump win in November just to see how closely a Trump administration would resemble the White House as portrayed in the movie “Idiocracy”.
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Someone told me not a single veteran works at the White House . . . and how many in Congress have served or have children who have served? How can you possibly have any concept of what it’s like to go into harm’s way on behalf of your country, much less watch that spouse go, if you have no experience?
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Bruce Springsteen cancelled his NC concert.
He was great … in the 1970s. 😉
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Michelle, It is very sad that the last two Democrat administrations have been so distant from and hostile to our military and our veterans. The military is the last of our great national institutions to be subverted although it is currently under great attack.
Anonymous @9:21, Perhaps Organized Perversion and its allies are not hypocritical. Consider that Organized Perversion is simply an anti-Christian cult inspired by Satan. Would Satan or an anti-Christian cult have any interest in attacking Muslims, Malaysia, Cuba or China? No. They aren’t anti-Muslim or anti-Communist. They are anti-Christian. They want to attack Christian institutions, beliefs and practices.
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Re: the NC restroom law – I don’t remember where I read it, but somewhere I read something that said the law allows only people who have been surgically “changed” to use the opposite sex restrooms. Is that accurate?
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Serious question.
How do you surgically alter a woman to become a man?
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Trust me Chas, you don’t want to know the gory details. 😯
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Bathroom politics would be amusing if it wasn’t taken so seriously. The initial Charlotte measure seems to have been nothing more than an attempt to be nice and inclusive. Let’s face it, most people use the washroom which suits their appearance and genitalia (unless its a night club with a long line at the ladies room). The reaction of the state legislature seems to be an overkill in gov’t intervention. By asking people to use the bathroom that matches their birth certificate, they’ve essentially accomplished what the Charlotte measure sought to avoid — people using a bathroom that doesn’t match their present appearance or genitalia. The answer to government intervention isn’t more gov’t intervention — something I thought conservatives understood. Do restaurants have to hire bathroom monitors? And if a lady uses the men’s room because the line is too long at the ladies’ room is she a sex offender? (don’t laugh this actually happened)
Paypal is hypocritical as is most US corporations but they don’t act in the interest of social justice rather what they see as their corporate interest. In the US, they want an inclusive environment for their employees and they want to appear socially responsible to the majority of Americans. Outside of the US, their corporate interests are different.
Chas — google is your friend.
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This takes less than a minute, you ought to see it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=RBqjZ0KZCa0%3Fshowinfo%3D0%26rel%3D0%26hd%3D
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I never understood the idea that the military can only be overseen by people with military experience. A key part of civil democracy is gov’t civilian oversight of the military. Civilian oversight is necessary to keep the military in check.
If we apply the same logic to other departments — farmers only at the Dept of Agriculture, union leaders at the Dept of Labour, etc — and it gets silly very quickly.
As for Democratic vs Republican respect and understanding for the military’s, I hardly think the party of Bush Jr, Cheney and Rumsfeld have any advantage over the party of Clinton and Obama.
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Chas, It would be interesting to know what percentage of the millions of people on food stamps have the same attitude.
For some time my wife and I have speculated: What will come first? National bankruptcy or the firestorm from heaven that destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah and Berlin.
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HRW, I would do away with the Agriculture and Labor Departments, as well as Energy, Education, Commerce, Homeland Security, Housing and the one that Rick Perry forgot.
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One advantage of having veterans in charge of military matters is that they actually understand what soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines actually have to do in combat. This serves as a check on both:
A. Democrat social engineering such as force feeding women into Marine combat units; and
B. Reckless adventurism as advocated by Cheney and his ilk.
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You’re correct, HRW, about not having military in total charge, but something seems dangerously amiss when there is NO ONE who has ever served. Members of my own family were completely hostile to the military until they actually had a family member (my husband–brother to some of them) serving.
Then they understood better and were not so nasty. One even used it for political heyday, “I have a family member in the Navy.”
We just shook our heads.
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Michelle, your plaint reminded me of this. Some things never change:
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Chas, they begin with hormones – suppressing the naturally occurring hormones and giving the hormones of the gender which the person wants to transition to. This will produce some changes – like some breast development in a man (those who transition fully generally have breast enhancements) or increased hair growth in a woman. Then if the person wants to go further, they use plastic surgery to deconstruct and then reconstruct the outer genitalia, working with the existing structures. Much of the change is purely cosmetic and the new genitalia usually doesn’t quite function the way it should. The internal sex organs are generally removed as it is the testicles and ovaries which stimulate the natural sex hormones; however, they have not yet developed a way for a man who wants to be a woman to have a uterus and ovaries; or a woman who wants to be a man to have testicles. Doing so would not only be extremely difficult, but it would also increase the danger. It is dangerous enough fooling around with the hormones like that [Testosterone and estrogen are already associated with cancer when they are taken by the gender in which they naturally occur: estrogen replacement therapy is associated with increased risk of breast cancer; and the use of performance enhancing steroids – which mimic testosterone – also increases one’s cancer risk]. Even the most beneficial of surgeries is brutal and hard on the human body; so doing a surgery where the harm outweighs the benefit violates the first medical principle of Non-maleficence – “First do no harm.”
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Re: Bruce Springsteen
I heard somewhere that his signature song “Born In The U. S. A.” isn’t really a patriotic piece. So I checked out the lyrics. Whoever told me was right. Here they are:
Yep. Just another Vietnam era protest song.
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A Yankee ’70s song requires a Southern ’70s song:
Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the south-land
I miss ‘ole’ ‘bamy once again
And I think it’s a sin
Well I heard Mister Young sing about her
Well I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don’t need him around any how
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
In Birmingham they love the Gov’nor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I’m feeling blue
Now how bout you?
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
I can tell you than Ronnie Van Zant would still sing in North Carolina if only his plane hadn’t run out of fuel over Mississippi 40 years ago.
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Many of us are following Sweet Meteor of Death on Twitter and/or Facebook. He (it) just posted this:
BREAKING: States rush to pass transgender bathroom laws in a last-ditch effort to protect their residents from Bruce Springsteen’s music.
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Remember when Springsteen held a concert in early 2008 — and then virtually led an organized caravan to a place so everyone could register to vote (for Obama, of course)?
Couldn’t sleep at some point last night so got all caught up on the political scene via RealClear, Politico, etc.
Now I’m really tired …
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Actually, maybe it was in the fall general election he did that.
anyway, among the things I read overnight:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/democratic-donors-hollywood-conference-221764
A someone said, it’s always been clear that Hollywood was trying to drive the culture leftward — but who knew they actually had meetings with real, written-out agendas??
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Some of the biggest donors on the left are huddling behind closed doors with liberal politicians including Nancy Pelosi to strategize about electing Democrats and confirming Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, but they’ll also discuss ways to use Hollywood to advance their causes.
The occasion is the annual spring investment conference of the Democracy Alliance liberal donor club, which officially kicks off Sunday at the tony Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica, California.
An agenda obtained by POLITICO shows that the four-day gathering, which is closed to the press, features at least two sessions focused partly on harnessing the power of Hollywood and the entertainment industry as a tool in the culture wars. …
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Related:
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/04/09/bruce-springsteen-and-the-north-carolina-bathroom-privacy-law/
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… As a rule, I generally try to simply ignore the political views and rants of entertainers I enjoy, partly because it’s their right to hold any beliefs they wish. But it’s also due to the fact that if I refused to watch any movie or show, listen to any music or laugh at any jokes by people who are flaming liberals, entertainment options would probably come down to a choice between Ron White or watching paint dry. (Yes, I know there are other exceptions, but you get my point.)
Of course, there are cases where it’s shoved in your face so often that you can’t ignore it and simply give up in despair. (Chris Hardwick is a hilarious stand-up comedian who also has a great podcast, but his show @Midnight has pretty much devolved from funny observations on internet culture to a half hour of insulting conservatives every night, which is sad.) But plenty of other entertainment options are out there which don’t veer into the political very often, if at all.
The one redeeming point about all of this is that I don’t have to take advice on social, economic or foreign policy from actors, singers or comedians. I’ll leave that to our friends on the Left. If Springsteen doesn’t want to do business in North Carolina so be it. He simply opens up a market opportunity for others to fill the void.
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Who is this Springsteen person anyhow?
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Didn’t you learn your lesson after the first question Chas? There are just some things you don’t need/want to know.
Springsteen is yet another aging 70 year old “rock star” who’s just trying, and failing, to be relevant with today’s kids. He’s a leftist tool, seriously lacking in talent.
Well, you asked. 🙂
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As I said, Springsteen was great in the ’70s (and maybe the ’80s). But he’s really gone political which makes him dull and predictable.
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FB post from Nancy Pearcey:
Some interesting points here to at least consider and be aware of for prayer
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How Americans Are Losing Their Liberty
If you wanted a nutshell description of the past 2000 years of Western history, you could put it this way: Out of paganism Christianity emerged and won the day, establishing civilisation and civility. But as Christianity waned, civilisation began to crumble and a new paganism has emerged.
That is the broad brush outline. A somewhat more detailed account is found in a letter from Lord Macaulay to an American friend, dated May 23, 1857:
The average age of the world’s greatest democratic nations has been 200 years. Each has been through the following sequence:
• From bondage to spiritual faith.
• From faith to great courage.
• From courage to liberty.
• From liberty to abundance.
• From abundance to complacency.
• From complacency to selfishness.
• From selfishness to apathy.
• From apathy to dependency.
• And from dependency back again into bondage.
You certainly find a cycle like this in the history of ancient Israel, especially as found in the book of Judges. But it well describes the West as well. And if you want an even simpler and shorter spin on all this, the line attributed to Chesterton (but never actually verified) is worth offering here: “When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything.”
My point is this: the once great West, home of freedom, democracy, rule of law, and other vital social goods, came about because of the Judeo-Christian worldview. As Westerners increasingly reject that essential foundation, the whole structure is beginning to break apart and collapse.
As the West becomes more and more secularised, and less and less Christian – indeed, as it becomes increasingly anti-Christian – the days of the West are now being numbered. As well, into the vacuum left by Christianity are various contenders. What we are witnessing right now is a return of paganism ….
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Chas, The guy was never good enough to be the opening act for Anita Carter. If he wants to go to the bathroom with little girls, he needs to confine his concerts to the Northeast and the Left Coast.
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As someone who grew up in NJ I once spent 75 bucks to see Springsteen in the 80’s at the Byrne Arena in NJ, I can safely say that no, he wasn’t that good in the eighties. 🙂
But alas, young men are known for doing stupid things in order to be in the good graces of a young lady. I told her on the way home that if things didn’t work out, I wanted my 75 bucks back. It seemed only fair. I was not impressed. Neither was she, and she loved Bruce.
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Thanx Aj. Seriously, I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Springsteen. I knew he was a singer.
And Ricky is correct. He couldn’t be on the stage with Anita.
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It’s not that I didn’t go to see those acts. At Wolftrap, we went to see Johnny Cash, Hank Thompson (I almost lost Elvera to that guy 🙂 )and others.
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Ok, just in the ’70s then. 🙂 some friends and I tried to get tickets to see him at a club in Hollywood, when he was first creating a national buzz, but when we arrived on the morning to buy the tickets, the line was blocks long (and it was clearly going to sell out, it was a fairly small venue on Sunset — maybe the Roxy?). We all had jobs to get to in the afternoon, no time to stand in a hours-long line (only to probably NOT get tickets), so we didn’t even get out of the car.
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Yep, looks like it was the Roxy in October 1975 — the concert that never was (for us).
https://brucebase.wikispaces.com/1975-10-16+-+THE+ROXY+THEATRE%2C+WEST+HOLLYWOOD%2C+CA
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Growing up in a small suburban town in Texas in the early 70s, my friends and I were hostile to “rock stars” and people who went to rock concerts. We considered them all to be only one step removed from The Manson Family.
Soon after Texas Stadium was built in Irving some rock group performed there, and the newspaper reported that marijuana smoke was everywhere in the semi-sacred stadium where Bob Lilly and Roger Staubach played football. My best friend suggested that they should have locked the gates, turned the place into a prison and let the Cowboys go back to playing in the Cotton Bowl.
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