[St. Louis Post Dispatch] What a classy looking rig ‐ "dressed to the nines" as they would have said back in the day! I bet the owner turned plenty of heads as he carefully backed that 16-foot, Lone Star runabout down the launch ramp at the river or lake!
That red hue was named Signal Red, one of 19 hues on the generous Mercury palette for 1960. And what better color to accent a bright red than a snow white. Mercury marketers didn’t give a thought to creatively naming the white for 1960, calling it simply "white" as is often done with car color names.
The Monterey, being the entry-level model in 1960, had a standard overhead valve V-8 of 312 cubic-inch displacement and producing 205 horsepower fed by a Holley 2300, 2-barrel carburetor. Adequate, but if the buyer was so inclined, he or she could have chosen one of two larger V-8 engines.
It would be hard to argue that the 1960 Mercury was not a handsome car with pleasing lines. A page out of the 1960 sales brochure stated, “You’ll be glad you bought a Mercury every time you look at it”, which I’m sure was on this owner’s mind as he aimed his Kodak Brownie Starmite at his rig for this photo.
#4
As much as we enjoy the memories of how much pleasure we may have had driving these boats if we drove one today our reaction would be "what is POS,"
[PJ] he attack on the mosques, like Anders Breivik's murderous rampage in idyllic Norway, happened in New Zealand, ironically rated in 2017 the safest country in the world after Iceland. It's a sad reminder that no place is exempt from ethnic conflict. Et in Arcadia ego sum, whether Arcadia is Africa, Burma, or Western China. Wherever populations mix under pressure there's the potential for volatility. As a New York Times article reminded its readers in 2014, the Rwandan massacre had its roots in the population policies of European governments.
In 1884, 130 years ago, European powers gathered in Berlin for a conference under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck that historians depict as setting the rules for the scramble for Africa among outside powers that soon fractured it into a jigsaw of new nations.
... the impact of this colonial cartography lingers in profound sensitivities at the legacy of the outsiders’ incursions into a continent that did not invite them to define its frontiers or impose their definitions of nationhood.
If tribal patchworks were the legacy of 19th-century European imperialism, then multicultural populations are the consequence of the global world. Economic advantage demands them but there are dangers lurking in those arrangements.
For example, the inclusion of the Muslim parts of Mindanao into the predominantly Christian Philippines under the Treaty of Paris caused mischief beginning with the U.S. vs Moro Wars that continues to this day. After the Muslim insurrection in the early 1970s, the mayhem became chronic, with gangs shooting up mosques, rebels kidnapping school children, and warlords killing journalists en masse. The latest chapter, the Battle of Marawi, had hardly ended before the NYT was warning that Mindanao may be the next stronghold of ISIS. It's now a conflict whose end no one knows.
#2
After a massacre of Muslims committed by non-Muslims:
Politicians publicly declare their solidarity with Islam and Muslims. This solidarity is also extended to Muslim organizations who are promoting totalitarian theocracy.
Mosques get police protection.
Political and social concessions to Muslims are made. Critics of Islam are pressured to shut up.
If guns were involved there are calls for increased gun control.
After a massacre of non-Muslims committed by Muslims:
Politicians publicly declare their solidarity with Islam and Muslims. This solidarity is also extended to Muslim organizations who are promoting totalitarian theocracy.
Mosques get police protection.
Political and social concessions to Muslims are made. Critics of Islam are pressured to shut up.
If guns were involved there are calls for increased gun control.
[American Thinker] With the press largely focused on the college cheating scandal and cooking up new ways to Blame Trump for the mosque massacre in New Zealand, some real news is going largely unnoticed: "US Job Opening[s] Soar To All Time High: 1.3 Million More Than Unemployed Workers."
Imagine a jobs report like that coming out during the Obama years. Imagine such a report coming out during a hypothetical Hillary Clinton administration...
Imagine it coming under the administration of one of the 15 lockstep socialists running for president on the Democratic Party ticket.
It just wouldn't happen if, God forbid, one of them should win.
The job creation is so high under President Trump's tax cut and deregulatory regimen that there are more jobs than workers to fill them. The quitting rate is higher, too, and that means workers are finding higher-paid jobs, not just the one they have now, which means it's a worker's market now. President Trump took some flak for advising would-be illegal migrants to come here legally on the grounds that Americans should get first dibs on jobs, but given this labor shortage, it was obvious this was the reality out there. And yes, illegal immigration is surging. Many are coming here for jobs.
When was the last time workers can ever remember having not just a job, but their choice of jobs?
#1
Got a friend who runs a bar/restaurant says he has never had so much trouble hiring in the entire 19 years he has owned his place. Has people turning down $20 / hr to pour drinks.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/17/2019 9:00 Comments ||
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#2
See, that's what's wrong with Trump - he's taking away peoples' excuses for not working; that's the same thing as slavery!
#3
Wages rises can only last as long as migration is countered or jobs are moved abroad to places with lower land values...
Some jobs are not exportable so they will see the most benefit from stopping the subsidisation of migration.
[The Independent] Numerous polls suggest Mr Trump's decision was popular among his Republican base. But his decision to use executive authority to fund a wall along the southern border is opposed by a clear majority of the public.
That is reflected in seven polls taken from early January to early March. By roughly a 2-to-1 margin, Americans oppose Mr Trump's decision to use emergency powers to build a border wall. That is a wider margin than the Senate resolution to overturn Mr Trump's declaration of national emergency, which was passed by a 59-to-41 vote margin.
The most recent poll on the issue comes from Monmouth University and was in the field between 1-4 March.
Monmouth found 65 per cent of Americans disapproved of Mr Trump "declaring a national emergency in order to use funding designated for the US military to build a wall along the Mexican border."
#3
Polling is hard to start with, but now it's become Yet Another Partisan Tool.
One of my favorite tricks is asking "In regard to Subject X, do you think the country is on the right track?"
Results:
1/3 Too much X. Stop it!
1/3 We're cool!
1/3 We need more X!
This gets reported as 2/3 of the country says were are on the wrong track. Fake but Accurate.
#7
Regarding #5 I think it is even more fundamental than that. I never accept polling calls or questionnaires. What percentage of the public is non responsive and what do you think their political views are. Ever meet a silent, reticent lefty who doesn’t share opinion when asked?
#8
Well, if you overdose on heroin and/or fentanyl from Mexico you are likely to end up either in the morgue or the emergency room. If you go to the emergency room, that's an emergency. Multiply that by several thousand a year. Further, if you are killed and/or wounded by a violent illegal alien you are likely to end up either in the morgue or the emergency room. Multiply that by several thousand a year. Finally, if your two-party democracy is turned into a one-party socialist hell-hole by illegal aliens who illegally vote, that's an emergency. If your Democrat/RINO representative in Congress doesn't understand these facts or is bribed to deny them, it's an emergency.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/17/2019 14:37 Comments ||
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#9
Those polls worked so well in the last presidential election
Posted by: Chris ||
03/17/2019 18:24 Comments ||
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#10
A Pollster once admitted to keep in business they had too find out what the people paying them for the poll really wanted to hear. If you told them the truth of the situation they would hire someone else. The best tactic was to weasel word the poll so it could be interpreted many ways.
#11
The polls said Hildabeest was going to win in 2016 with near certainty. Many people on the left were butt-hurt election night. It still goes on. Little honesty in the MSM and their polls.
[Babylon Bee] BURLINGTON, VT‐In an attempt to get into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders camped out in the woods near one of his homes to try to catch a leprechaun.
Espying a greedy little fellow hoarding a pot of gold near the end of a rainbow late in the morning, Sanders leaped out of a tree and grabbed the frightened mythological man by the collar, immediately beginning to rant about how the leprechaun is harming society by keeping the gold to himself. The leprechaun quickly teleported a few feet away and began cackling at the elderly senator, who shook his fist and waved his cane in the little guy's direction.
"You give that pot of gold to ol' Bernie here for redistribution right away, you little weasel!" Sanders was heard shouting as he pursued the small man clothed in green across a field. "And I don't want any of your tricks---every last gold coin must be surrendered to me for the greater good!"
Finally, the leprechaun grew tired of hearing Sanders rant about the means of production and the plight of the proletariat, and so handed over the pot of gold just to shut him up.
At publishing time, sources had confirmed that Sanders would, of course, be skimming a little off the top for himself as compensation for his selfless redistribution services.
[Jpost] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... ’s continued role in Afrin, a year after military occupation began in March 2018, is under spotlight as US State Department and UN highlight abuses
Military occupation. Stolen olives. Checkpoints. Accusations of theft of property, land confiscation, demographic change and settlers. These are claims usually leveled at Israel’s role in the West Bank, but in the last year Turkey and Syrian groups it backs have been accused of similar violations in northwestern Syria. The area of Afrin, once a mostly Kurdish and peaceful region during many years of Syrian civil war, was plunged into conflict in January 2018 by a Ottoman Turkish military operation and attacks by Syrian rebel groups.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/17/2019 03:05 ||
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[Dawn] WHILE once controlling a vast swathe of land in Iraq and Syria, today the bully boy ’Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... ’ group is left with a mere sliver of territory in Syria near the Iraqi border. That, too, is under bombardment by the US and its Syrian Kurdish allies, as family members of the faceless myrmidons have left the area in the thousands over the past few weeks. Soon after its rise in 2014, the self-styled caliphate sowed terror in the region under the watch of its ’caliph’ His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart... , throwing an arrogant challenge to governments in the Middle East and sending the international community scrambling for a response. At one point, it seemed as if many other regional states could be vulnerable too, as IS ’provinces’ sprang up in ungoverned spaces in and around the Middle East. And while the US-led coalition, including Arab allies, played a key role in pushing IS back, it cannot be denied that Iran’s support to the Syrian and Iraqi dispensations was instrumental in dislodging the ’caliphate’.
Today, as the end of IS looms, some lessons should be learnt. Firstly, it should be acknowledged that Western adventurism in the Middle East ‐ regime change in Iraq and attempted regime change in Syria ‐ played a major role in creating the ungoverned spaces where the IS thrived. While Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Syria under the Assad clan were by no means model democracies, America’s removal of the Iraqi strongman, and its efforts to get rid of Bashir al-Assad created power vacuums which were filled by the IS and their like ‐ a reminder that nation-building exercises in the Arab/ Moslem world should not be indulged in by the West, as what emerges from such experiments can be much worse than the status quo ante. In fact, it is Middle Eastern governments that must lead efforts for organic change by being inclusive of all sects, religions and political orientations. For example, observers have noted that the alleged discriminatory policies of former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki helped create support for the IS in disenfranchised communities. And while the IS may be on the verge of defeat, it should be remembered that its ideology lives on and must be countered not just on the battlefield, but intellectually too. The sectarian, atavistic and anti-modern mindset championed by the IS must be challenged by Learned Elders of Islam, Moslem governments and thinkers to ensure that such a movement does not re-emerge and attract disillusioned souls with its promises of an bully boy utopia.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/17/2019 03:58 ||
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Forty-five minute video interview in English can be watched at the link.
[Rudaw] Hassan Hassa, the director of Nonstate Actors Program at the Center for Global Policy, speaks with Rudaw news hound Roj Eli Zalla during The Washington Perspective on March 15, 2019.
As Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) supported by the US-led international coalition continue to squeeze Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) fighters into their last stronghold in Syria of al-Baghouz, the group has effectively lost its "caliphate" but will return to insurgency tactics.
"Nobody expected this many people to stay until the end in that piece of land between Iraq and Syria," said Hassan Hassan.
He also contributed underestimations of remaining ISIS fighters to a "lack of visibility" among the coalition.
"They thought ISIS is already finished after Raqqa," Hassan said, referring to the international coalition.
He argued even ISIS was unsure whether Baghouz would be the spot of their final battle against the SDF and coalition.
Hassan mentions that ISIS was active on multiple fronts in southern Hasaka and there were even talks of an Iraqi Security Forces offensive across the border.
"I don't think ISIS knew Baghouz would be the last stand, but they prepared for this kind of scenario in different areas. So if wouldn't have been Baghouz, it would have been probably either Hajin or Sousa or Shafa..." he surmised.
Hassan predicts the next phase for ISIS is "insurgency" similar to conditions in 2014.
Shift in Sunni extremism
Hassan argues that jihadism by Sunnis has become more localized, offering examples in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Libya.
"What happened from 2011 until now is we started to see the jihadis and jihadists groups across the region ‐ Sunni groups ‐ being submerged in local struggles, in local conflicts," he said.
"It changed their priorities. Their enemies are local."
He offers the example of the difference in the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... and Abu Bakir al-Baghdadi's forms of jihadism.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/17/2019 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[The Independent] Numerous polls suggest Mr Trump's decision was popular among his Republican base. But his decision to use executive authority to fund a wall along the southern border is opposed by a clear majority of the public.
[Babylon Bee] BURLINGTON, VT‐In an attempt to get into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders camped out in the woods near one of his homes to try to catch a leprechaun.
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
