Monday.

Here are five stories in politics to have on your radar this week.

Politico has a profile on Club for Growth.

Obama is, reportedly, pivoting to the economy. Again.

The new Godzilla trailer actually makes me want to see the film. Also, I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier over the weekend and it was good.

Don't forget to get the podcast if you haven't already. David Freddoso was our guest and we talked Mozilla, McCutcheon, and GM. Oh, and we got a lot of great Ask the Blog questions. Keep them coming.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:47 AM | Comments (243)
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Well today life maintenance intervened and all of my small engine-based devices decided to stop running. So a whole lot of carburetor-related activity ensued. ONT-related work not so much.

We Don't Have a "Gay Mafia," We Have a "Gay Soviet"

We already know that organized ideological thuggery took Eich down, but I'd like to focus on the mentality that drove the anti-heretic hunt.  CNET, which covers the tech world, has apost about the Eich resignation.  What struck me about the CNET article was a comment from the man who started it all - a man who said that, if only Eich had announced that the re-education had been successful and then kept his mouth shut, then everything would have been okay (emphasis mine):

"We never expected this to get as big as it has, and we never expected that Brendan wouldn't make a simple statement. I met with Brendan and asked him to just apologize for the discrimination under the law that we faced. He can still keep his personal beliefs, but I wanted him to recognize that we faced real issues with immigration and say that he never intended to cause people problems," Catlin said in a blog post Thursday. "It's heartbreaking to us that he was unwilling to say even that."

Once, we were a country that used its government to advance the notion that "that every person is entitled to a private life and deserves respect as a human being, irrespective of the extent of his political loyalty or contribution to the state."  Now, we're a Soviet nation, in which private citizens are told that they must publicly recant their heresies or be destroyed.

So, while Maher's on the right track, he picked the wrong organization.  Yes, there's thuggery involved, which is a mafia tactic.  But unlike the mafia, which was just in it for the money, the new Soviet is in it to subordinate the individual and his beliefs entirely to the will of the Leftist state.

It's not business - it's personal. Because now the personal is political.

A Future of Fear: The Lesson of Mozilla is That You Are Never Safe From the Mob

Mozilla Blowback: Bursting the PC Bubble?

Mozilla Clams Up

Gay Rights Fascists - You Could Have Fooled Society Forever But...

Monday Should Be "Call Mozilla Monday"

Quote of the Day

When I first had the idea and was writing [Idiocracy], I was at Disneyland. My daughters were young and I was at the teacups ride with them. And this woman had had an altercation with another woman before, I guess, and they were right behind me. And this other woman passes by and they just started [going after each other] . and they're just cussing in front of their kids. And I'm there with my daughters thinking, 'I don't think this is how Walt Disney imagined it'

  -- Mike Judge

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:49 PM | Comments (452)
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Dear anonymous woman,

While I appreciate your effort in penning this lovely missive, and I really enjoyed your interesting syntax, I am puzzled that you refer to yourself as a "lady."

Ladies don't use words like "dick" and "douchy," and they certainly don't wander into bars expecting to sit down immediately, when others have been waiting patiently and politely.

And as long as we are on the subject, ladies don't go to bars without their husbands and get hammered. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:00 PM | Comments (179)
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For all of your venting, ranting, stewing, and simply off-topic needs, including a perfect illustration of twitter fighting. more...

Posted by: CAC at 04:41 PM | Comments (156)
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Posted by: rdbrewer at 07:41 AM | Comments (421)
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In case you missed it and, if you are like me and rarely watch Bill O'Reilly, you probably did. I caught this while driving and couldn't wait to see the video.

Dennis Miller and Bill O'Reilly are discussing Tesla Motors with BOR arguing that government funding of the company is in reality a national security expense, Dennis is having none of it. Then, at around the 3:45 mark Miller sets him up so beautifully that I just roared with laughter.

The "No Spin Zone" my ass.

Skip to the 1:56 mark for the relevant discussion.

And, of course, open thread.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:11 PM | Comments (144)
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We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic.

It's simple to find good food in major metropolitan areas. Getting a great meal in New York or Chicago or San Francisco or Miami or, my personal favorite Charleston (suck it NYC!), is an issue only of money if you have no time, or a little time for research if you have no money. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 01:00 PM | Comments (157)
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Home defense weapon: AC-130 gunship or Model 1911?

Discuss.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:59 PM | Comments (92)
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Good afternoon and welcome to the NASCAR thread.

Today's race is brought to us by the fine folks at Duck Commander (God Bless their furry little selves.) and will be run at Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5 mile track.

Last week was a doozy in Martinsville with, IIRC, a total of 14 caution flags on the track and a lot of bumping taking place in a very tight pit row.

Speaking of pit row, here's what Kenseth's 180 looked like from inside the pit:

more...

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Shock! Chicago Safer After Gun Control Laws Loosened

Repeating the experience of, literally, everywhere else that has loosened gun laws, Chicago's murder rate has declined to levels not seen in 50 years.

On Tuesday, the Chicago Police Department announced that the city experienced its lowest murder rate since 1958 in the first quarter of 2014. There were 6 fewer murders than the same timeframe in 2013 — a 9 percent drop — and 55 fewer murders than 2012, police said.

Now, it's a short time period and correlation isn't causation, but you can bet that if the stats were going the other way the gun grabbers would be shouting it from the mountaintops.

With any luck, maybe Massachusetts will come around soon.

Bill Maher: Still An Unfunny Douchebag

You shotgun pumpin', cousin humpin', toothless inbreds sure do love yore guns too much.

“Of course, I think the Republicans are insane about guns,” Maher told Ramos, “because they love guns, which is a sick position to have in the first place, to love something like a gun? I don’t love my gun, I have it the way I have, maybe, you know, antibiotics. It’s not something I love, it’s something in case of an emergency that I might have to use.”

Gun Of The Week

(answer below) more...

Posted by: andy at 07:48 AM | Comments (182)
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