Soul Train

This is the hardest thing I did all day, picking out a Soul Train video. They're all great. You can end up watching them all day. Comments to them make the videos even better. Comments to these video make me happy because people love this era.  It's not just nostalgia. Young people remark they wish they lived during this time. They love this style, this freedom of expression. Not just this video, they all have yearning type of comments attached to them. Reading them is half the pleasure.

AprilApple asks:

When will synchronized dancing phase out? Take all that energy and talent and funnel it into a new dance craze that excludes the synchronization. Oh the possibilities for something fresh.

I do not know the answer to this puzzling question, but I know it can be otherwise. It already has been. It's a phase with its development shown right here on these later Soul Train videos. I see its extreme in the K-Pop videos and I love their militaristic precision combined with their individual expression. I suppose all that will intensify. Extreme routines of high number of precision moves so that entire dance troops move as shoaling fish and all that look natural. (Psy, "Daddy" dance practice)

Here's another. Cornelius dances with Mary Wilson.

Random YouTube comments:

* cherri williams7 months ago
Don was one smooth brotha. Not all that wiggling and stuff. The man didn't even break a sweat!

* Ender Skies5 months ago
I think Don Cornelius just impregnated me through my eyeballs. And Im a man.

Dat swagger is on a whole nother level. Incomprehensible.

* winterlandboy9 months ago
Mary Wilson was and still is a good looking woman.Always hot as hell

* magurofan5 months ago
Ni**a was slick. Puttin moves on Mary, even without her knowing. Doing some sick-ass Jedi mind trick, getting her to ask him to dance with her. Dayyum!

* Ender Skies5 months ago
+magurofan The Pimp is strong with this one.

* Kevin Varga9 months ago
When asked to make a wish while guesting on SOUL TRAIN many moons ago, former Supreme Mary Wilson made a magical request: do the Soul Train Line with Mr. Don Cornelius himself!! Strap yourselves in for a tingling thrill ride down the tracks!

* Nadine Velasco1 month ago
omg....I'm sure I was too small to watch this one...Wow..Don Cornelius  in the  Soul  Train  Line...how special  is it to see that...RIP. LOVE.PEACE AND SOUUUULLLL!!

They're all like this.

Here is another favorite. It's a dance off to Love Train. The team members say their names then the names are displayed. Commenters are fast to say their favorite pair throughout the string of comments.  It's fun so many viewers choose the same pair as their favorite and it's like 30 to 45 years later.

KLEM FM

From 1981:

linky

The music for the song was recorded a decade earlier, intended to be part of "Goats Head Soup." But the song lacked something then (lyrics, according to Jagger) and was only finished for 1981's "Tattoo You."  The sax solo was added then too.

BTW, That's not Keith Richards playing guitar on "Waiting For A Friend;" it's Mick Taylor -- the forgotten Stone -- the one who just happened to be along during the band's peak (he replaced Brian Jones but quit in 1974). Taylor was not credited for "Waiting On A Friend" and ended up suing the Glimmer Twins and winning.

Other related trivia: In the beginning of the video, Mick Jagger is waiting for Keith Richards in a doorway. The building is the same one made famous earlier on the cover of Led Zeppelin's album "Physical Graffiti:"

I remember when that video first came out and was played to death on MTV.  Rewatching it, I had the exact same reaction I had then: look how ashen Keith Richards' complexion is.

That man will outlive us all.

WKRLEM: What Melania should do to Paul Ryan!

To continue our Cher Political Theater Saturday.

WLRLEM: GET THE DATES RIGHT ASS EYES!

For some reason I am taken back to the days of my youte! WABC Cousin Brucie!

If you had to choose one...

Appalachian Trail, Virginia (Link to original size)

Beauvert Lake in Jasper, Alberta (Link to original size)

WKRLEM: Alternative Take...Liz Warren loves her people

Better red than.....well she is red in one sense of the word. So lets give her a break.

WKRLEM: Liz Warren Announces She is Running!

She is red skinned, rested and ready. Warren 2016!

You heard her campaign song here first!

Syttende Mai

So... a long time ago on the 17th of May, Norway managed to tell the King of Sweden what he could do with himself.  I present to America... Syttende Mai.  If Cinco de Mayo gets a person in trouble here is a wonderful opportunity to inappropriately appropriate a culture, get drunk, and eat meatballs in honor of the Swedish King's disappointment, all while dressed up like a bad Viking.  A paper mache hat with horns beats a sombrero any day.

Meatballs might not beat a taco bowl but we're Norse, we don't like to enjoy our food.

So, 10 days to plan the party.  Start on your Viking outfit now.

All the videos of the Norwegian National Anthem made the Lutheran hymns I grew up with sound like races to the finish but this little video of kids was sort of cute so I have posted it instead.  (As a relative once declared in amazement: "In Norway, even the *children* speak Norwegian.")   Better yet, you will hear the pronunciation of "Seventeen May" in Norwegian .... something like Soooten-de Mai... pretend to be the Swedish chef and you'll be close... but in Sweden.  And who'd want to be there?

"College students punished after claiming racial attack"

CBS News:  Two black New York college students who claimed they were victims of a racially charged assault on a public bus in January have reportedly been expelled.

University at Albany President Robert Jones said in an email to the university community that Ariel Agudio and Asha Burwell were dismissed, The Albany Times Union reported Friday.

A third woman, Alexis Briggs, was suspended for two years, the newspaper reported.

All three have been charged with fighting with passengers aboard the bus and lying about what happened, CBS Albany affiliate WRGB-TV reports.

In court, prosecutors introduced video statements into evidence they intend to use in the case, WRGB-TV reports.

"We don't feel safe because people think we're lying," Burwell told Albany police officers in a Feb. 2 interview.

"We feel like we're being treated like we're not victims in this whole thing," she said.

In the videos, investigators show the women surveillance tape that authorities claim shows a story contrary to what the women told police.

The Most Hated Candidate For President Usually Wins... and Other Data Points

Via Instapundit:  Since 1984, the candidate with the higher strong unfavorable rating has won. Ronald Reagan was more strongly disliked than Walter Mondale; George H. W. Bush was more strongly disliked than Michael Dukakis; Bill Clinton was more strongly disliked than Bob Dole; George W. Bush was more strongly disliked than John Kerry; Barack Obama was more strongly disliked than John McCain and Mitt Romney.

There have only been two occasions where the more disliked person lost: In 1992 and 2000. George H. W. Bush had higher strong unfavorable ratings but lost to Bill Clinton and Al Gore had higher strong unfavorable than George W. Bush but lost.

1290 WJNO: In the advent of the polling age (1930's), there hasn't been a full-term President succeeded by a President in their party without an approval rating of at least 54% . Also in the advent of the polling age, there hasn't been a full-term President that has been succeeded by a President in their own party unless at least half of voters viewed the country as being on the right track.

    

H.A. Goodman, Guccifer just gave Bernie Sanders the nomination.

I do not know this person. I found him difficult to watch and harder to listen to so I turned him off very early and went down to comments instead. I notice everyone there seems to be liberal. His followers seem to be Bernie supporters. I look up his name and see he writes for Huffington post. He says nothing new here. Nothing at all. We've discussed all this already and at length. I am showing this video only for two reasons. Three. I liked the comments, although I disagree with their political views, here they are all sincere. And that caused to bear with the rest of H.A. Goodman. Everything he says is rational and agreeable. (Near the end he characterizes Trump a buffoon, I think he's mistaken there.)

It's interesting to me for it showing sincere liberals dealing with this.

Here are the two reasons I'm showing this video. I'm mesmerized by this guy's mouth. His teeth are preternaturally white. More white than his white shirt. These are known as American teeth. Imagine drawing his lips, three distinct loops like swag curtains. 

The picture in the back. This bugs the living p-i-double slalom trails out of me. It interrupts throughout the whole thing creating tension from beginning to end. The painting is reversed. This video is reversed. Flipped. And the oil painting reproduction is flipped with it. The woman is walking the other direction. The sun is on the right side, not the left. This is Monet, and it's flipped in this video. And worse, none of the nearly 200 commenters noticed. Nobody complained. It didn't bug anyone. Except me. This same thing happened with Armand Hammer oil exhibition decades ago. It was promoted in the paper with a double spread of thumbnail oils. Many are famous like this one. I noticed one reversed and mentioned it, then another and another and another. I told this to Toni who insists I am nuts. That I'm making it all up.  So I took the promotional spread with me folded in my pocket when we went and pointed out to her the real paintings that were carelessly flipped in printing. Now respect mah authoritah. But she didn't. 

KLEM FM

linky

All is looking up in poli-world for Republicans. There are a few stragglers -- men in island caves who haven't yet heard that the war is over and that a new one has begun -- the fools at NRO and Simon and St. Croix over at TOP come to mind. But they too shall pass. 

The best Science Fiction Show on TV

There aren't a lot to choose from these days. Unless you are talking about zombies or the undead or crapola like that. I don't care for that crap so I want to recommend "Orphan Black"  on BBC America.

I don't know if I have already done a post on this show but I am catching up with the new season and want to recommend that you give it a try.

It stars one of the best actresses I have seen in a long time. Tatiana Maslany plays a clone so she has about ten different characters that she has to keep track of. From a tough criminal type girl to a cop to a lesbian scientist to a soccer mom. Every year they add new clones and new characters to make it dizzying. My favorite it the Ukrainian assassin with the bad table manners. Plus Maria Doyle Kennedy for a rockin' Irish rock babe from out of my past.

There is a long involved story but luckily it is on Amazon Prime and On Demand so you can start from the beginning. The science fiction part is weird enough. This season they are featuring bio-alteration which seems like a sly commentary on trans-gender politics. 

There is a real lack of decent Science Fiction these days so I really enjoy this show. Highly recommended. 

The Empire Strikes Back.....Jeb takes his ball and goes home.

Jeb Bush has announced what he will do this election in his typical low energy way in a post on facebook:

Jeb Bush1 hr · 

I congratulate Donald Trump on securing his place as the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee. There is no doubt that he successfully tapped into the deep sense of anger and frustration so many Americans around the country rightfully feel today.

The tremendous anger of the current U.S. electorate – whether Republican, Democrat or independent – is a result of people fearful about the future, concerned with the direction of our country and tremendously frustrated by the abject failure and inability of leaders in Washington, D.C. to make anything better.

American voters have made it clear that Washington is broken, but I’m not optimistic that either of the leading candidates for President will put us on a better course.

The American Presidency is an office that goes beyond just politics. It requires of its occupant great fortitude and humility and the temperament and strong character to deal with the unexpected challenges that will inevitably impact our nation in the next four years.

Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy.

Hillary Clinton has proven to be an untrustworthy liberal politician who, if elected, would present a third term of the disastrous foreign and economic policy agenda of Barack Obama.

In November, I will not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but I will support principled conservatives at the state and federal levels, just as I have done my entire life. For Republicans, there is no greater priority than ensuring we keep control of both chambers of Congress. I look forward to working hard for great conservatives in the Senate and House in the coming months.

WKRLEM: The cuckservatives lift up their skirts

We always knew what they were. We are just haggling about the price.

The Sorry Story At Lem's

Check this out on Chirbit linky

USAF NCOs pilfer blankets in South Korea and save a family from fire.

First Sgt. Melanie Scott and Master Sgt Michael Henry with 35th Air Defense in Sontan were out for dinner and noticed smoke. Wondering what they might do they decided on grabbing blankets from a nearby shop and coaxing onlookers to help in stretching the blankets so that mother can drop her three babies one at a time as smoke engulfs their  squat ramshackle four story building.

If you care to see it I suggest turning off sound.

That's gripping. Bravo. 

I was wondering while watching all the way through, again, this confounds me, I don't think that I ever will understand this, why the screaming? What evolutionary advantage does screaming have when everyone is already assembled. A siren is not helpful. Woman to woman, how is this helpful, woman on the street screaming to the woman who must decide to drop her children, how does screaming help that? Scream to the men who must catch them. Scream to the smoke to stop. Scream to the babies to loosen up and don't bite their tongue and mind not slamming their funny bones. Scream to focus group energy to perform something outstanding. What? I see this anxious screaming that adds to anxiety in videos, women screaming for nothing. For nothing. The noise just comes out of their bodies automatically. Somebody please explain this to me 

Peggy Noonan: Trump Was a Spark, Not the Fire

Excerpts from the Wall Street Journal...

But the media did not make Donald Trump’s allure, his allure made for big ratings. Mr. Trump was a draw from the beginning. If anyone had wanted to listen to Jeb Bush, cable networks would have been happy to show his rallies, too.

When Mr. Trump was on, ratings jumped, but it wasn’t only ratings, it was something else. It was the freak show at its zenith, it was great TV—you didn’t know what he was going to say next! He didn’t know! It was better than everyone else’s boring, prefabricated, airless, weightless, relentless word-saying—better than Ted Cruz, who seemed like someone who practiced sincere hand gestures in the mirror at night, better than Marco the moist robot, better than Hillary’s grim and horrifying attempts to chuckle like a person who chuckles.

And it was something else. TV producers were all sure he’d die on their show. They weren’t for Mr. Trump. By showing him they were revealing him: Look at this fatuous dope, see through him! They knew he’d quickly enough say something unforgivable, and if he said it on their air he died on their show! They took him down with the question! It was only after a solid six months of his not dying that they came to have qualms. They now understood they were helping him. Nothing he says is unforgivable to his supporters! Or, another way to put it, his fans would forgive anything so long as he promised to be what they want him to be, a human bomb that will explode by timer under a bench in Lafayette Park and take out all the people but leave the monuments standing....

The Trump phenomenon itself would normally be big enough for any political cycle, but another story of equal size isn’t being sufficiently noticed and deserves mention. The Democratic base has become more liberal—we all know this part—but in a way the Republican base has, too. Or rather it is certainly busy updating what conservative means. The past few months, in state after state, one thing kept jumping out at me in primary exit polls. Democrats consistently characterize themselves as more liberal than in 2008, a big liberal year. This week in Indiana, 68% of Democratic voters called themselves liberal or very liberal. In 2008 that number was 39%. That’s a huge increase.

In South Carolina this year, 53% of Democrats called themselves very or somewhat liberal. Eight years ago that number was 44%—again, a significant jump. In Pennsylvania, 66% of respondents called themselves very or somewhat liberal. That number eight years ago was 50%.

The dynamic is repeated in other states. The Democratic Party is going left.

But look at the Republican side. However they characterize themselves, a majority of GOP voters now are supporting the candidate who has been to the left of the party’s established thinking on a host of issues—entitlement spending, trade, foreign policy. Mr. Trump’s colorfully emphatic stands on immigration have been portrayed as so wackily rightist that the nonrightist nature of his other, equally consequential positions has been obscured.

In my observation it is a mistake to think Mr. Trump’s supporters are so thick they don’t know his stands. They do.

It does not show an understanding of the moment to say Donald Trump by himself has changed the Republican Party. It is closer to the mark to say the base of the party is changing and Mr. Trump’s electric arrival on the scene made obvious what was already happening.

For this reason among others, I do not understand the impulse of the NeverTrump people to anathametize and shun those Republicans who will not vow to oppose Mr. Trump and commit to defeating him. They have been warned that if they don’t do these things they will not be allowed to help rebuild the party after Mr. Trump destroys it. Conservatives love to throw conservatives out of conservatism; it’s like an ancestral tic. But great political movements should not be run like private clubs. And have the anathemitizers noticed they aren’t in charge anymore? That in the great antiestablishment disruption of 2016 they have been upended, too?....

Finally, can Mr. Trump win? Of course. Uphill but possible. If this year has taught us anything it is what Harrison Salisbury said he’d learned from a lifetime in journalism: “Expect the unexpected.”

Illegal immigration is booming

The Hill:  The numbers, compiled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), reveal that child migration is on par with 2014 levels, when a wave of kids — thousands of them unaccompanied — arrived at the southern border. 

The surge of illegal immigration quickly swamped border authorities, immigration courts and health and humanitarian workers, while sparking a political battle on Capitol Hill over the cause and proper response to the crisis. 

The new figures raise the specter of another increase this summer. That would almost certainly inflame another political showdown in a volatile presidential year in which the issues of race, immigration and border security have been pronounced — particularly due to the hard-line enforcement approach adopted by the presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

They did it again, SpaceX lands a rocket on an ocean bound vessel

At night, this time...

Hopefully they didn't leave anything behind... Is that too critical?

Trump Tower taco bowl

It's an elegant serving dish. At first I thought it was cardboard and that would be really slumming it. 

accident forgiveness

Charley and Meyer

Giuseppe Morello limped into his parlor floor apartment on Pleasant Avenue. It had been a hard day. In a long string of hard days. He hung his old fashioned hat on the coat rack and his worn jacket as well. He did not dress in the style of the new style Mafiosi. They were all flash. Expensive pin striped suits. Loud ties. Big white fedoras. They looked more like pimps than men of respect. But then they were a different generation. Sons are expected to reject their fathers. Unless sense was beaten into them. You could do that back home in Sicily. Not so much here in this Golden Land. That was the root of so much of their problems.

Giuseppe sat in his favorite overstuffed chair. He rearranged the doily that he had disturbed with his withered limb. His wife Lena came in with a large cold glass of water and his pills. She set them on a coaster on the side table and looked at her husband. They had been married for fifty five years.  She had been his one true partner.

He picked up the water and gulped down his pills. The helped with the pain. A least a little. It was all he had since he would never get any better. His wife stood next to him. That was unusual. He looked up at her. “What is it?” “I am sorry to bother you but Ciro is here. He is in the kitchen. Can he come in and speak to you.” “Of course, of course he is my brother after all. Tell him to come in. Make some espresso. We will talk.”

Nehlen for Congress - Truth Resurrection

This is Paul Ryan's primary opponent. I think I will be contributing to his campaign.

He reminds me of Michael Haz.

What is it completely impossible to look cool doing?

Reddit top votes...

Taking photos using an IPad.

Having a group of people sing "Happy Birthday" to you.

Having a wheeling backpack.

Chasing a ping pong ball.

Turning around in a hallway because you forgot something.

Picking up dog shit.

Using your other hand to throw something...

Unless you are a trained ambidextrous...

"The Time Bobby Kennedy Watched the Smallest Nuclear Explosion Ever."

There was nothing funny about the XM-388, though. The device had an explosive yield the equivalent of 10 to 20 tons of TNT. This was far, far less than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, which had a yield of about 16,000 tons, but Davy Crockett had a different purpose. It was designed to be used against enemy armored forces at bottlenecks such as valleys or mountain passes, where wrecked enemy armor and lingering, lethal radiation would create impassable areas. 

The XM-388 projectile was launched from the XM-28 recoilless rifle. A small, man-portable recoilless rifle, the XM-28 had a range of just 1.24 miles. An improved launcher, the XM-29, had a range of 2.5 miles. Both were operated by a three-man crew and an a M151 jeep could carry the entire system.

From Blogger EBL

#CincoDeMayo pic.twitter.com/pENn2hVD7f

— Evi L. Bloggerlady (@MsEBL) May 5, 2016

"hacker Guccifer: I breached Clinton server, 'it was easy'"

Fox News:  "For me, it was easy ... easy for me, for everybody," Marcel Lehel Lazar, who goes by the moniker "Guccifer," told Fox News from a Virginia jail where he is being held.

Guccifer’s potential role in the Clinton email investigation was first reported byFox News last month. The hacker subsequently claimed he was able to access the server – and provided extensive details about how he did it and what he found – over the course of a half-hour jailhouse interview and a series of recorded phone calls with Fox News.

Fox News could not independently confirm Lazar’s claims.

In response to Lazar’s claims, the Clinton campaign issued a statement  Wednesday night saying, "There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell. In addition to the fact he offers no proof to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton's server are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims.”

I'll never retire etrade tire commercial

Link

Nate Silver Predicts If Women Vote for Hillary

Exclusive @FiveThirtyEight projection on what the Electoral College would look like if women refuse to vote Trump. pic.twitter.com/kmjxmjnY1l

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 24, 2016

There is at least one woman, however, who seems to be supporting Trump... I'll let you be the judge. Just press play.

Link to source

H/t MH

Former Mexico President Fox Apologizes, Invites Trump to Mexico

Breitbart:  During an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, former Mexican President Vicente Fox apologized Wednesday for the vulgar language he has used regarding GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the southern border and invited the likely Republican nominee to Mexico to see the border from the other side.

Earlier this year, Fox said that he would not pay for Trump’s “f*cking wall,” and called Trump ““Ignorant … crazy … egocentric … nasty … [a] false prophet.” Trump then called on Fox to apologize

On Wednesday, he did so — in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News — and added that he wanted Trump to come to Mexico to see the border from the other side.

“I apologize. Forgiveness is one of the greatest qualities that human beings have, is the quality of a compassionate leader. You have to be humble. You have to be compassionate. You have to love thy neighbor,” Fox explained to Breitbart News while sitting in the hotel of the J.W. Marriott in Santa Monica, California on Wednesday afternoon.

“Love your nation. Love the world,” he added. “Yes, I’m humble enough as leadership be, [a] compassionate leader. If I offended you, I’m sorry. But what about the other way around?”

The True Blue Conservative Club-Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York

“I say Will old man I believe we have a problem” huffed David Brooks as he sipped from his sherry. He was sitting in the book lined study of his club. The True Blue Conservative Club of the Upper East Side. Founded by the original Henry Cabot Lodge and John Jacob Astor at the dawn of the Republic it is the epicenter of the Conservative movement in the United States. “I fear we might have fallen out of touch.”

“Not all of us. I know that Denny Hastert is in touch. In fact he got convicted of touching. What exactly do mean Brooks?” George Will adjusted his bow tie. It was his trademark. He first wore it when he was a young whipper snapper on the McLaughlin Group when he was hired to condescend to Carl Rowan without seeming to be racist. It is an art. “Not this damnable Trump fellow.”

“I fear that we must take into account what the hoi polli think my dear fellow. We cannot simple pish and tosh at them. He did in fact win the nomination.”

“We need not listen to them. Peasants. They are revolting.” George rearranged his copy of the Economist and his collected works of Edmund Burke. He had not read the book since college but it was a very serviceable coaster.

“I know that they are somewhat odious but still revolting is a little strong. If you soak your cravat in a strong toilet water you will not have to endure their odor of hot dogs, beer and nationalism. I know it works for me.” Brooks shifted in his chair. His legs have always bothered him since he first glimpsed the perfect creased pant leg of Barack Obama. He could never really sit still since that fateful day.

“I will not submit to the whims of the mob. I agree with young Ben Sasse. He is young but quite sound in his views. It is more important that we stay true to our principles than that we win an election. Most importantly that only the right sort get power. Not a short armed vulgarian reality television star. Never.”

It's that time again

My least favorite thing. It isn't necessary when you buy a new car all the time.

I don't drive very much. Now, don't tell anyone this, it is top secret *whispers* I cannot feel the pedals so rely on feedback. I don't do all that poorly but I do scare myself. The old dude that steps on the gas instead of the brake and floors it into the Platte. Floors it into the truck in front of them. Floors it into the farmer's market. That's me. That's my fear.

But it turned out not so bad. Maybe I can reshape my attitude. It was a pleasant drive in the morning and no wait to speak of.

I met three pleasant and talkative Colorado earth babes. And no dudes. The only thing that fat dude did was sit in the truck. 

Last time they told me no photos allowed. But I have the worst time remembering proscriptions precisely. That last time was about a camera. 

"Did it pass?" 

"I don't know yet. It's processing. That's $23.00" 

"Really? I thought it would be $75.00" 

"Ha ha. It passed."

I get in the truck and sit down vastly relieved. There'll be nothing more to it. No fixing something then going back. 

"Thank you, Dad. Again" 

This is his truck. It's been ten years. Among many things, this might be the best thing he gave me.

You know there is an election when...

Bill Clinton came to the hood in Louisville and LITERALLY served fried chicken to Black people pic.twitter.com/6DoJVAPSB7

— Sat. Morn. Solutions (@SMSS4) May 3, 2016

And, they love him for it.

"John Kasich Drops Out of Presidential Race"

NYT:  Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, a moderate voice who tried to portray himself as the adult in the Republican primary field but failed to win any state but his own, is ending his long-shot quest for the presidency on Wednesday, according to two people briefed on his decision.

Mr. Kasich’s departure, a day after Donald J. Trump’s victory in the Indiana primary, leaves Mr. Trump as the only candidate remaining in the Republican race. His closest challenger, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, dropped out Tuesday night.

A conventional candidate in an unconventional race, Mr. Kasich outlasted the other governors in the Republican field. But his longevity was largely a testament to his unbending refusal to drop out long after it became clear that voters were not flocking to his campaign.

Police: Stop calling drug dealer’s phone, we’re trying to search it

Police in Alliance (Ohio) would like prospective drug purchasers to stop calling a suspected drug dealer’s phone so that they can search the device without being interrupted.

Police arrested Steve Notman Tuesday night after they say he was seen on video selling methamphetamine.

Police are trying to search through texts and contacts, but they say that the constant stream of calls and texts is “really annoying.” (video story at the link)

Lawyers of Reddit recount most outrageous cases they've been asked to take

Reddit top voted answers...

A year out of law school I once had a potential client who wanted me to sue Canada. Apparently he could not get into the country due to his felony record. I tried to reason with him, that it was up to the sovereign nation to set its own rules regarding entry to the country but he insisted that we could make a lot of money suing Canada. I didn't take the case but I told him I might be able to get him a letter that said "sorry" -from Canada

I'm not a lawyer but as a child I was taken into foster care and then returned to my father's custody so he had custody of me from ages 4-16. When I was 22 he tried to sue me for the costs involved in caring for me for that time, saying that he had no obligation to take custody of me and had only done so to "save" me from foster care. It was obviously dismissed and I don't talk to him any more.

While working at a plaintiffs employment firm, two memorable consults came in

1. Guy gets fired for being late too much, wants to sue for discrimination because he has a sugar addiction and needs to stop and 7-11 for a big gulp before shift begins, and he usually ends up missing the bus.
2. A woman comes in, she was a bus driver& was terminated during her probationary period, she had three accidents in 6 weeks. She wants to sue for discrimination because she has anxiety & a therapy rabbit. All the while sitting at the conference room table petting the therapy bunny.

An older retired man came to me because his condo association claimed he owed $300 in condo fees. He had refused to pay because he believed they provided no value - apparently they put the money towards BBQ events rather than snow clearing or upgrades to the building.

It was a matter of principle for him despite the fact my bill would go beyond $300 very quickly. So I wrote letters to the condo association demanding an accounting of their funds (which he was entitled to under their bylaws). Eventually they hired a lawyer who I had fun dealing with, explaining to him he would just have to sue him to recover the $300 because it was a matter of principle for my client and we went back and forth on it for awhile. I knew the condo association would never go forward with it because they would have to pay their lawyer way more than $300 to recover. It ended up just being a big game of chicken.

He must have spent a couple grand defending it, but he didn't care at all. He just wanted to stick it to his condo association.

Donald Trump wins

NY Post: Trump still needs about 200 delegates to formally secure the nomination, but Cruz’s decision to end his campaign removed his last major obstacle.

“Ted Cruz — I don’t know if he likes me or he doesn’t like me — but he is one hell of a competitor,” Trump said of his last fierce competitor whom he had dubbed “lyin’ Ted.” Trump, in a victory speech that was much lower-key than usual, promised victory in November, vowing anew to put “America first.”

“I know that the Clinton campaign thinks this campaign is over. They’re wrong,” Sanders said defiantly in an interview Tuesday night. But Clinton already has turned her attention to the general election.

She and Trump now plunge into a six- month battle for the presidency, with the future of America’s immigration laws, health care system and military posture around the world at stake. While Clinton heads into the general election with significant advantages with minority voters and women, Democrats have vowed to not underestimate Trump as his Republican rivals did for too long.

WKRLEM-FM : Wrap it up - Fabulous thunderbirds

I miss the eighties.

Those babes! Oh my!

The Good Witch is just spooky!

I love Hallmark Movies and the Hallmark original series that they produce for the family market. It gives me a window into life outside of Brooklyn. I call those places "Hallmark Town." It's where everyone is nice and looks out for each other. People are polite and help each other out. And nobody pays for anything. It is all free. I almost never see anyone pay for coffee or cake or whatever they are purchasing in service of their story. So I was shocked when the Good Witch actually paid for her freaking sandwiches and they told us the price.

You see the Good Witch owns a small business just like me. But unlike me she can give the store away. She always seems to be giving people something that her witchy powers tells her will change their life. In this episode she gives this dude an expensive scarf that reminded him of his dead wife. Seriously? How can you run a business that way.

I think about this all the time when Chip regales us with his adventures at various restaurants in his town. I mean I don't think he lives in Hallmark Town but it ain't Brooklyn either. In this episode the Good Witch picks up two sandwiches and two large coffees and pays $15. Is that right? In Brooklyn we are talking about $20 or $25 or so. Unless you are talking Subway. Now I personally love Subway and Blimpies and other low end shops. But it is just not what a deli sandwich costs. The pork store sandwiches are $10 each on half a hero loaf. Coffees go for $1.50.

Anyway I had to shout at the TV. Ok the prices freaked me out. But at least she paid for them. Progress.

America needs to realize we have to start paying the bill. There is no free lunch.

Charley and Meyer

Owney Madden got out of the big Packard sedan in front of a nondescript gin mill on the corner of 46^th and 9^th.  He shot his cuffs and adjusted his tie. He liked to look just right. It was a legacy of his days as a poor kid in Hell’s Kitchen. He always dressed to the nines and affected the look of the WASPs that controlled the city. The real racket guys.

The door to the pub opened and Big Bill Dwyer beckoned him inside. “God bless ya Owney, thanks for coming. Let’s sit and talk over a dram. We have some things to discuss.” “Sure thing Bill. Lead the way.”

They walked into the pub which was typical of the gin mills of the time. A few decorations such as a buffalo head and an autographed photo of John L Sullivan in a cracked glass picture frame. This place was famous for being one of his haunts back when he was touring the country threatening to beat up anyone in the joint. Of course he would never have done that to Owney. You see he earned his nickname at a very early age. They called him “The Killer.”

As they approached the back booth Owney hesitated for just a second. There was an Italian fella sitting with his back against the wall. Owney though he recognized him. His name was Castiglia or something like that there. Of course he tried to pass himself off as an Irishman so he went by the moniker of Frank Costello.

"USS Cole commander blasts transfer of Al Qaeda Gitmo detainees to Saudi Arabia"

Fox News:  Kirk Lippold, who was commanding officer of the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer when suicide bombers aboard a small fishing boat blew a hole in the side of the ship, told FoxNews.com Mashur Abdallah Ahmed al Sabri's release was a mistake.

"I would have liked to have seen him receive a military commission where he was tried, convicted and sentenced and then his suitability for release determined under the laws of armed conflict," Lippold said.

"From the perspective of the American people and my crew, he’s never been held accountable," Lippold added.

In addition to those killed, 39 service members were wounded in the Oct. 12, 2000 attack, which came as the Cole refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden, nearly a year before Al Qaeda would register its signature attack, on 9/11.

Religious war may have come to the streets of NYC

There was a massive fire in a beautiful old church in Manhattan's Flat Iron District yesterday. The Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava was burned to the ground on Orthodox Easter Sunday along with two churches in Australia and Russia that were torched on the same day. It appears that it might have something to do with the continuing death spiral between Serbia and Croatia.

I went to a wedding at this Cathedral once. It was beautiful as old churches so often are. Ornate and quite different than a Catholic Church. The artwork was fascinating. I spent an hour just looking at the religious artifacts. It is a tremendous loss  to people of faith everywhere.

What was the biggest fuck up in history?

Reddit top voted answers...

• When Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake in Apple for $800. That would be worth $35 billion today.

• In 2003, a lost hunter lit a signal flare near San Diego. The flare started a fire that would later spread to become the biggest one in the history of California. The fire destroyed an estimated 300,000 acres, 2,322 homes, and killed 14 people.

• 1666 great fire of London.Started by a baker who left a pie in the oven too long. Perhaps the bigger fuck up was that most of the buildings were made of wood and built very close together

• Mao ordering the mass killing of birds because he thought they would eat the corn off the farms and compromise the harvest. In the end the lack of birds lead to a explosive growth in parasite populations that destroyed the harvest completely in some areas. What followed was a massive famine killing millions.

• In terms of the entertainment industry: Blockbuster turning down an offer to buy Netflix.

• ___ invading Russia

• That grad student who killed the world's oldest tree trying to measure its age.

• Not accepting Hitler to art school.

• The beginning of the universe. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

What social situation happens only in movies?

Reddit top voted answers....

Making plans for a date without specifying location or swapping contact details."Pick you up at 8?"

Everybody always speaks so clearly that nobody ever has to say "Pardon me"? "What was that"? "Say that again?"

How easily people can access rooftops.

Guy is too busy unloading a truck/ doing other manual labor to stop and answer detectives' questions regarding the murder he witnessed. Bonus points if it's a bartender endlessly dry-scrubbing an empty tumbler glass or wiping down a clean bar with a dry rag.

One guy vs 10 dudes in a fight scene where the other guys just wait their turn to fight him.

"Softball team loses championship on walk-off after premature celebration"

Wylie (TX) believes they've won the district softball championship and begin to celebrate, not realizing they have only recorded two outs and McKinney North (TX) takes advantage by scoring three runs to steal the title. Link to story

We're praying for you

It should embiggen if you click it. This is Kurt Schlichter retweeting something he likes, presumably. It is little pictures of people praying like mad for Ted Cruz. It agrees with his previous tweets and his writing on Town Hall. It's been like this on Twitter all night. Sensible people and religious people praying for Ted Cruz to win in Indiana on Tuesday, today.

Tell me, how that prayer goes, "Dear Lord please make Cruz win" or "Dear Lord, your will be done." 

"Dear Lord, please enter into the hearts of these wound up conservative voters and make them do the right thing by voting for the person we smart politicos know best. Please do that." 

I have a anecdote about this that is very long and deeply personal and 100% not cogent because it all occurs under the influence of hospital drugs and hallucination and that is such a bummer because it is more real than anything else and it changed my life and it means the world to me.

KLEM TV

Something I missed out on as a kid:

linky

I never realized until tonight that it was a Red vs. Blue match-up.  My folks only had B&W TV until I was too old to covet this toy from commercials.  I've been accused of seeing the world in B&W terms -- maybe that's why.

If Elected, Would Donald Trump Even Move Into The White House?

Has anyone bothered to ask?

It would certainly be a downgrade in surroundings. The White House's last structural upgrade was during Truman's time. Jackie Kennedy oversaw the last major redecoration. Couldn't Trump better conduct business from Trump Tower while the White House gets a makeover to bring it up to snuff?

KLEM TV

"It's His Rice Bowl"


linky

I'm looking for any earlier reference to the term "rice bowl" in the English language. I presume that the term was in the book which the script relied on, so that doesn't count 

This is the way the #NeverTrumper's think. From Red State via Hotair

Old And Busted: Donald Trump Wins On First Ballot. New Hotness: A Scorched Earth Convention

By: streiff (Diary)  |  April 30th, 2016 at 06:02 PM  |

Tuesday will largely tell us how the GOP convention is going to go. If Ted Cruz wins in Indiana we are almost certainly headed for a contested convention in which Trump has zero chance of getting the nomination. I suspect that if Ted Cruz loses Indiana to Trump that the air is going to go out of the anti-Trump movement in the primaries and Trump will arrive in Cleveland with the requisite 1237 delegates that should assure him a first ballot nomination. But that may not be the case. Because the rules of the convention are both obscure and pliable.

Much of the current thinking is based on the assumption that Trump arriving at the convention with 1,237 bound delegates gives him the nomination and the GOP would either be forced to vote for him (the view of a lot of elected officials) or accept defeat in November in order to stop him, this is the view of the #NeverTrump movement. As I’ve pointed out before, this is sort of a fallacy. Just arriving with the delegates bound doesn’t mean that the delegates will actually vote. And there is growing movement among GOP delegates to say “Not No But Hell No” to the idea of Donald Trump hijacking the GOP for a reality television game plot based when he will have received a minority of GOP votes. This would see the convention transition from the idea of a contested one to one involving acres upon acres of scorched earth.'

Call the Midwife.....tells you the back story

The last episode of “Call the Midwife” was quite enjoyable. It is based as you know on a poor neighborhood in the East End of London where a group of midwives who include both nuns and lay people help the poor give birth in their home. It was just at the beginning of socialized medicine in England so they paint a warm fuzzy glow over the government taking over health care. Nostalgia covers up the cracks that lead to people suffering from government run health care that they want to impose on us today.

Be that as it may the stories are the thing. This week featured Nurse Phyllis Crane who was the subject our last “Whose that Girl.” She is the tough no nonsense older nurse who brooks no nonsense from the younger midwives. At first she was very tough and did not reveal anything of her personal story but as time has gone on she has softened and given us more of a window into her personal life.

Spoilers to follow if you didn't get to see the episode.

WKRLEM TV: They are all falling for Ted.

He is so dreamy. They are falling for the Most Conservative Man in the World. They are just not falling for his bullshit.

The Donald looks like he is going to slaughter him in Indiana.

But Ted is ready. After he loses this primary he is going to announce what paintings he will hang in the Oval Office.

Famous transformative actors

View post on imgur.com

Link to source

Reddit Joke: I was at my bank today and there was just an Asian lady ahead of me...

who was trying to exchange yen for dollars. It was obvious she was a little irritated. She asked the teller, "Why it change? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen. Today I only get hunat eighty? Why it change?" The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fluctuations." The Asian lady says, "Fluc you white people too!!"

"Detroit teacher sick-out closes more than 90 schools"

Former bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who was appointed this year to oversee the district, also said Saturday that DPS would be unable to fund summer school or special education programs after June 30.

On Sunday night, he said in a statement that the union's "choice for a drastic call to action was not necessary" and said that a sickout is "counterproductive and detrimental" to the efforts of those trying to help the school district.

"I understand the frustration and anger that our teachers feel," Rhodes said. "I am, however, confident that the Legislature will support the request that will guarantee that teachers will receive the pay that is owed to them."

Teacher strikes are illegal under Michigan law. Sick-outs earlier this year caused tens of thousands of students to miss class.