Republican Healthcare Shambles, Go Fishing

Well done, Republicans. One of the reasons people voted you into power was to repeal Obamacare and you've failed to do that. How many other election promises will you break? Some, all, most? Who knows, and rather than reflect on this unsettling question I went fishing.

It was tranquil as the sun set behind the limestone bluffs overlooking Lake Whitney and I cast off from the solitude of the bank, enjoying the peaceful sound of the line as it played out across the sun-reflecting water.  Very peaceful, unless you're a fierce voracious fish.

Within minutes, an underwater predator plowed into my worm, diving and pulling against the line, a Drum. Next up, a decent little Bass took the bait, thrashing and leaping, big fun. But imagine what those fish would be like if they were large; deadly.

Then the action slowed down, with more fish sneakily eating the bait off the hook than striking. Still, I reeled in a couple of Bluegill and so what if they're small, they put up a fight. And that was that, an uplifting couple of hours in the clean lakeside air of an early Texan spring evening.

What a good result unlike, say, the useless, dismal, failing performance of the Republican Party, who can't live up to one of their most basic election promises. Our corrupt, lying, hypocritical, elitist, smug, mendacious and venal mainstream media will doubtless run and run with this story. But hey, maybe it's all part of the art of the deal.

Fish on,

LSP

The Russians Did it! Or Would That be Crowdstrike?

It seems that the desperate, hysterical, faked up attempt by the Democrats to blame Hillary's catastrophic defeat on the Russians is unraveling yet further into a threadbare tale of skulduggery and malfeasance.

Apparently the corrupt as you like  honest as the day's long Dems, and the FBI, and the lying, mendacious, corrupt, venal mainstream media based their Red Menace narrative on the findings of one firm, Crowdstrike.

Crowdstrike's integrity has been called into question, not least for misrepresenting data from the conflict in the Ukraine. Here's Zerohedge:

This is nuts. Are all U.S. government agencies simply listening to what Crowdstike said in coming to their “independent” conclusions that Russia hacked the DNC? If so, that’s a huge problem. Particularly considering what Voice of America published yesterday in a piece titled, Cyber Firm at Center of Russian Hacking Charges Misread Data:

"An influential British think tank and Ukraine’s military are disputing a report that the U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has used to buttress its claims of Russian hacking in the presidential election.

"The CrowdStrike report, released in December, asserted that Russians hacked into a Ukrainian artillery app, resulting in heavy losses of howitzers in Ukraine’s war with Russian-backed separatists.

"But the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told VOA that CrowdStrike erroneously used IISS data as proof of the intrusion. IISS disavowed any connection to the CrowdStrike report. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense also has claimed combat losses and hacking never happened.

"The challenges to CrowdStrike’s credibility are significant because the firm was the first to link last year’s hacks of Democratic Party computers to Russian actors, and because CrowdStrike co-founder Dimiti Alperovitch has trumpeted its Ukraine report as more evidence of Russian election tampering."

How is this not the biggest story in America right now?

Good question. Perhaps because truth might get in the way of making excuses for the Democratic Party's epic failure? You can read the whole thing here.

Cheers,

LSP

London Jihad Update -- Four Dead Amber Rudd Talks Tolerance

As more people are reported killed, photos have emerged of the London Jihad terrorist and already, right out of the gate, the UK government is talking about "tolerance."

"The British people," stated Home Secretary Amber Rudd, "will be united in working together to defeat those who would harm our shared values. Values of democracy, tolerance and the rule of law."

Amber Rudd

But that's just it, those values aren't shared by thoroughgoing adherents of Islam, by true, faithful, Mohammed emulating Muslims.

ISIS Laughs

The death toll from today's Islamic terror attack in London has risen to four, with many more wounded. How many more will it take before Islam is realized for what it is, a violent, death-dealing ideology of conquest and enslavement. Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands?

Shared Value

In the meanwhile, stay tuned for peace vigils on Westminster Bridge.

ISIS laughs.

LSP

London Jihad

A man has just rammed his SUV into an unsuspecting crowd on Westminster Bridge, London, before running into Parliament with a knife, where he was shot and killed by police after killing a woman and wounding at least 13 others.

The man was described by witnesses as "Asian," a UK euphemism for Muslim. How long before candlelit peace vigils in central London as the lying, corrupt, venal, hypocritical mainstream media warns against Islamophobia and searches in vain for a "motive."

The motive's simple, jackasses. Islam and Jihad. 

Wake up and get ready to go Martel. Or embrace the unicorn. 

Your call.

LSP

Bishop Bruno's Shadow Caught in Space?

Remarkable camera footage from the International Space Station (ISS) shows what appears to be a dark shadow cast into the icy void of deep space, which some believe comes from the outsized Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

"Some call him [Bruno] a compassionate champion of social justice. Others see him as a cunning bully. Many Episcopal hierarchs around the United States have similarly bifurcated reputations," stated one pundit, "It's no wonder he cast a dark shadow in space."

The ISS spacecam shows the dark shadow thrown by Bishop Jon Bruno gradually fading as a small blurred object moves into view. 

Bruno has announced his intention to retire after this year's diocesan convention. He will be replaced by Rev John Taylor, a former Chief of Staff to Richard Nixon.

Now fading, Bruno is famous in church circles for selling church property to developers, suing congregations and appointing lesbians to positions of power. 

Ad Astra,

LSP

Shoot! It's Spring

The day didn't start off well; I wasn't happy about the marketing stunt Walmart had pulled on its T shirts. These have been rebranded as "Extreme Sports Temp," in the hope that no one notices that once good T shirts are now flimsy rubbish. Way to go, Marketeers. So, to put things straight I put some guns in the rig and headed out to the range to celebrate the first day of spring.

As always, it was great to get out in the country with the guns, in this case an AR15, a Glock 21 and a Ruger American .22. Nothing too adventurous, just some relaxing target practice in the sunny Texan spring. And some pest control.

That's right, a unicorn had sneaked into the range and had to be dealt with. They're a menace, I tell you. Just look at their horns, they'll gore you, given half the chance.

So I didn't waste any time dealing with the threat. Will 5.56 and .45 take down a unicorn? Yes, they will and the Glock 21 proved especially effective at neutralizing the deceptively fluffy enemy at close range. Take that, unicorn.

Herd control over, I finished off with some gentle plinking against the range's steel plates. Remember to breathe, was my note to self.

Shoot over, it was time to head back to the Compound, mission accomplished and a good day had by all, except the unicorn. You can watch aspects of this curious adventure here.

Gun rights,

LSP

Monasteries of the Mind

Here's some excellence from Victor Davis Hanson, writing for the National Review and commenting on the culture in Monasteries of the Mind:

The Oscar awards? It too has become cultural Newspeak, with limited themes and scripted vocabulary. Watching hours of multimillionaires gushing about their own psychodramas was always trying, but in the age of Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, and Maureen O’Hara, the stars at least showed some dignity and authentic eccentricity. Now entertainment awards ceremonies are mostly predictable rants, as if career success required speaking “truth” to power in a collective Two Minutes Hate exercise condemning the president, who serves as our new Emmanuel Goldstein. How odd that liberalism became elites’ groupthink about equality — or perhaps not so odd at all, given Orwell’s observation that “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Hanson suggests a parallel with the Roman Empire. As it became increasingly globalized, frenetic and devoid of surety and meaning, people opted out; to Stoicism, for example, and later on to the monastic life. Likewise today, in the face cultural inanity people are switching off. 

When everything is politicized, everything is monotonous; nothing is interesting. There are only so many ways one can express existential hatred for Trump, turn the Aztecs into the Founding Fathers, or show disrespect for the National Anthem (Kneeling? Or clenched fist held high? Or just sitting? Or turning one’s back? Or talking over the music?). So millions tune out and retreat to reading what was written before 1980, or to watching movies of a past age or seeking their own tribal ties of the mind.

Hanson concludes his quick stroll through the progressive left's garden of the inanities by describing the newly erected Aztec totem in his hometown.

I went into what once was our sleepy hometown the other day. An Aztec totem devoted to Coatlicue, the earth-mother goddess, portrayed as a paean to noble farm workers, sits in the old park. The huge monolith is sculpted quite well and by a talented former colleague at CSU Fresno. Its dedication was widely reported; no one was so rude as to mention that Coatlicue was a fierce mother goddess to whom captives were sacrificed each year. (She wore a necklace of human hearts and hands and a cloak of skin.) But identity-politics art is never free from overt propaganda: The modern epigraph atop our Coatlicue reads “Viva la Raza” (“Long live the Race”). I don’t recall anyone in the city’s supposed illiberal past ever suggesting that “Long live the race” would have been an acceptable epigraph on any city art.

Right on the money and you can read the whole thing here, but be warned. The author appears to have a fondness for the disturbing and possibly repellent Joan Baez. Coatlicue is a kind of female snake demon.

God bless,

LSP

Melania Mondays!

A lot of people don't like Monday, it's a bad day for them as they return to the daily grind of commuting to the cubicle, but here at the Compound we're trying to change that, to make life better by bringing you Melania Mondays! What's happening in the life of America's popular First Lady?

Quite apart from settling lawsuits, caring for children, standing up for women on Twitter and hosting the wives of foreign dignitaries, Melania's planning to move into the White House in June. What a welcome addition that'll be!

And, of course, she's looking good and doing her not inconsiderable part to make America great again. Some people don't like this, they prefer Hillary and Michelle. That would be a culpably ignorant, foolish, wrongheaded mistake.

Loser

Imagine, if you can, how the corrupt, smug, aggressive, condescending, venal, elitist, out of touch, rude, hypocritical mainstream media would be fawning over Melania if she were a Democrat. Instead, they keep a surly, critical, distasteful distance and the country holds them yet further in scorn and derision.

Perhaps they will see the error of their ways. In the meanwhile, well done, Melania!

MAGA,

LSP

                                              

Hillary Comes Out of The Woods!

Have you heard the news? The story of one power crazed crook's woman's heroic struggle to climb back into the spotlight and save this great nation? Yes, Hillary's ready, at last, to come out of the closet, sorry Oko, woods.

The Old Crone Comeback (OCC) has had mixed results on social media, to put it mildly. 

But enough of this nonsense, I'm going fishing.

God bless,

LSP

Woman At The Well

In tomorrow's Gospel we hear the remarkable story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Consider the narrative's apocalyptic aspect.

At the sixth hour Christ meets the Harlot at the well and confronts her infidelity with truth. Likewise, at the sixth hour, Pilate condemns Christ, and the followers of the False Prophet Caiaphas write the mark of the Beast on their foreheads saying, "We have no king but Caesar!" Again, at the sixth hour, darkness fell over the land as Jesus was crucified and Antichrist triumphs, for a time.

The woman at the well, curiously, is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Church and is believed to have witnessed before Nero, a type of the Antichrist, before her eventual martyrdom. 

God bless,

LSP

Fish Soldier's Bluff

Well. I didn't follow my own advice and watch Leprechaun, awesome though it is, and I didn't drink any Guinness, annoyingly. But I did go to Soldier's Bluff after Evening Prayer in search of fish.

It was a bust at first and I thought it'd stay that way. Then, as the bright sun started to go down, the fish started nibbling and then biting. Out came 5 Blue Gill and one small Bass in short order. Good result.

Apart from the excitement of catching the small but feisty fish, it was simply good to get out in the open air and enjoy the view of the lake from the bank. 

I gave my left over worms to some kids, I hope they caught something, and you can view excerpts from the adventure at, ahem, Incredible Video!

Fish on,

LSP

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Here at the Compound we wish you all the best for a great St. Patrick's Day. Get yourself a pint of Guinness and watch Leprechaun or President Trump and Angela Merkel and ask yourself who's more frightening, Merkel or the demonic leprechaun?

Or do none of these things, it's up to you, there's no "rule." But on a serious note, what happens to Merkel's Germany and the rest of Europe when Erdogan's Turks and associated Muslims outbreed everyone else?

Of course feminists would like that because then they'd be forced to wear Burkas and Hijabs, be beaten by their husbands and stoned for adultery; if they were lucky they might even be allowed to drive. And here's a thought, for what it's worth.

Nature abhors a vacuum, spiritual as well as physical. Given the de facto capitulation of the Western Churches to pietized secularism, where will people turn? To the Crescent? Perhaps they won't have much of a choice when they're in a minority. Then again, to quote GKC, history has a way of cheating the prophet(s).

Cheers,

LSP