The sun is up over Tampa as is the Goodyear Blimp.

As seen from the Davidoff parking lot. If you’re in town for the big game, please stop by the shop!

09 Monday Jan 2017
Posted in Other Columns
08 Sunday Jan 2017
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
Tags
Thank God for conservatives. Or not.
WASHINGTON
Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have been adamant – the federal debt is way too high and has got to be tamed fast.
Cruz, a Republican from Texas, helped lead the 2013 fight against raising the debt limit, a fight that resulted in a partial government shutdown. Rubio, a Republican from Florida, in announcing his plans for this year, said Tuesday that “one major thing that will cost us jobs and hamstring our economy is our rising debt.”
So why did they and 49 other Senate Republicans vote this week to consider a measure that says the “appropriate levels of the public debt” would rise from the current $20 trillion to $29.1 trillion in 10 years? And predict deficits of $1 trillion by the end of that period?
Because, they said, it’s the first procedural step in repealing Obamacare. And they insisted the number is meaningless.
The Concurrent Resolution of doom.

I agree the number is meaningless. It’s far too rosy. In 10 years the debt will likely be $45 – 50 Trillion (on books, that is). Still, these Republicans are meaningless and useless too.
One hopes Mr. Trump knows that “veto” is the “you’re fired” of legislation.
08 Sunday Jan 2017
Posted in News and Notes
≈ Comments Off on Long Haul Terrorism: Jerusalem Truck Attack
Turkey, Florida, and now Jerusalem. You’ll notice the JPost, unlike the American media, doesn’t mince words nor foolishly speculate about motives:
Four IDF soldiers were killed and 13 wounded after an industrial truck driven by a terrorist, rammed into a group of people adjacent to the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon.
Among the fatalities were three female soldiers and one male in their 20s. The terrorist was shot dead by security personnel at the scene.
Trucks are the new weapon of choice, both because of their easy accessibility and their cruise missile on land effect. Again, this is getting beyond old…

Marc Israel Sellem / Jerusalem Post.
07 Saturday Jan 2017
Posted in News and Notes, Uncategorized
The Fort Lauderdale shooter left five dead and wounded another six (some counts still say eight). He is in custody.
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The suspected gunman in a deadly attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport “lost his mind” after coming back home from a one-year tour in Iraq, family members told the media.
Investigators are now looking into what may have set off 26-year-old Esteban Santiago-Ruiz into a shooting rampage that left five dead and six others wounded.
“Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn’t feeling too good,” his uncle, Hernan Rivera, told the Bergen Record newspaper, as reported by The Associated Press.
Perhaps this was a case of cultural contamination mixed with PTSD. However, there is a strong suggestion of terrorism. Especially considering that Santiago-Ruiz walked into the FBI office in Alaska recently and told them he was working for ISIS. At some point it might pay off to start believing these people.
ISIS has yet to claim responsibility – something they’re prone to do in cases like this. They have a track record of associating mentally disturbed people into their operations. It could be a combination of factors.
Still, one thing is sure. Calls for gun control can’t be far behind. There’s already idiotic chatter about extending airport security to the front doors. Next it will be the parking lot entrance. Creeping incrementalism, none of which will stop ISIS or harden criminals.
Hopefully, given the nature of the incoming administration and Congress, these pleas for communism will ring in vain.
If it all adds up right, this story could be the perfect illustration of the stupidity of American foreign and terrorism policies. A soldier, dispatched to “fight” Islamists in Iraq comes back bat crazy as a result. Then, under the influence of the Islamists, he brings the terror home.
There are reasonably simple solutions to these disorders.

The “new normal” at the American airport.
The terror resumed immediately in 2017, in Turkey. And it didn’t take long to start again here. This was getting old last year.
07 Saturday Jan 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Victim count remains 5 dead, 8 additional wounded by gunshots. (Via ABC News) […] “We have not ruled out terrorism,” FBI Special Agent in Charge George Piro said in an evening press conference. Law enforcement officials say the suspect, Esteban Santiago, was carrying military identification. He was apprehended and placed in federal custody. He is […]
via Update: Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting – “Terrorism Not Ruled Out”… — The Last Refuge
06 Friday Jan 2017
Posted in News and Notes
≈ Comments Off on Fred on Trump, Men, and Women
Tags
Simply classic Fred Reed.
I love it. Of all the things about Trump that our silly-ass Aunt Polly media might have considered–policy toward China, relations with Iran, reform of taxes–they seemed most agitated about…his sex life. Yes. Sure, he is a misogynist, homophobe, Islamophobe, fascist, Nazi, anti-Semite, and probably kicks his dog. Maybe a cannibal. But the truly horrid discovery was…that he thinks dirty thoughts about girls (as we all do–unless we are girls, and think dirty thoughts about boys) Shocking. Shocking. Clearly he hates women.
…
Feminists complain–I could stop the sentence there- that men regard women as sex objects. I see. And what, prithee, are we supposed to regard as sex objects? Doorknobs? Porpoises? Doughnuts? Vacuum cleaner attachments? We are men, for God’s sake. Cocker spaniels just don’t do it for us.
I said something similar when the “Grab ’em” tape emerged. But nobody says it like Fred.
05 Thursday Jan 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on Find the Right Cigar Shop
Updated, today, from the Tampa Humidor. Britt’s day off but Mike and Co. are doing a fine job! 7X70 time!
This is a pet subject of mine. I’ve written about it before several times. In my older article, Proper Cigar Etiquette I offered a brief glimpse of what helps make a great cigar shop great. Several chapters of the Happy Little Cigar Book are so dedicated and I even offer a short list of recommended shops.
America is a large place and, thankfully, filled with many, many decent to excellent tobacco houses and bars. The only way to really cover them all would be with a Fordor’s-style travel guide. That would take a while to put together though I am open to the idea. If I solicit you as part of a crowd-funding effort, please contribute. Hmmm… I might have to do a volume about shops in Europe too…
Anyway, for now, here are some generic ideas for picking the right shop. For starters, let’s examine some of the…
View original post 1,318 more words
05 Thursday Jan 2017
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
≈ Comments Off on Rigging Election Rigging
Tags
Evidence mounts that the “Russian” hacking of the DNC before November’s election was an inside (non-Russian) job.
These things are nearly always inside jobs. This has “disgruntled employee” written all over it. Every whistleblower deal does. Of course, the Democrats would want to bury this one deep because it would also imply that one of their own “did the right thing” and came forward. Which would, obviously, discredit the entire campaign and candidate, to say nothing of the party itself. WikiLeaks isn’t going to say one way or the other because of confidentiality and protecting their source if they even know. Every journalist worthy of the name protects his source. But they’re not going to sit by and watch Russia get blamed wrongly, either.
It also serves the purpose of trying to hamstring Trump as he comes into office. The Democrats have shown they’re willing to start the Second Cold War in order to do this. But the primary motive is self-preservation because if the American people found out this was an inside job, they’re going to see corruption in the Democratic Party pretty much confirmed by them. Not to mention the corruption of the cover-up and then blaming a nuclear-armed nation to do so. People are then going to wonder what else they’re not being told.
Now I can’t prove this was an inside job. But I say history shows that, in both the public and private sector, whistleblowing comes from the inside nearly ten times out of ten. This wasn’t “hacking”, this was whistleblowing. Because “hacking” would have involved disabling their computers and destroying valuable documents. Not revealing things that they DID SAY which would mortally damage their campaign if made public. Let’s compare apples to apples here, not apples to grapefruit. When the United States hacked into Iran’s computers, they inserted a “worm” which wreaked havoc on their systems and destroyed large parts of it. Ok, so why was this not the case with the Democrats’ computers? No, what happened is embarrassing FACTS were revealed. That’s not “hacking”, that’s whistleblowing.
Never mind the absence of evidence of Russian involvement (no idea what the Senate is listening to as I type this). The whistleblower angle is sufficient. And the fact that the cover-uppers are more than willing to risk a war we can’t win speaks perfectly of their character (or lack thereof).
Three things should happen here:

The Federalist Papers.
04 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
**Note** Just as Vox Day noted the other day that the Islamic terror violence in Europe won’t be so one-sided this year, so it will be with polar bear hunting in America. Anyone interested in peace should beware. Disturbing content below.
Chicago police have arrested four people in a gruesome attack after they video themselves torturing a white male victim. The bound and gagged kidnap victim is repeatedly kicked and hit while forced to denounce white people and President-elect Donald Trump. FOX 32 NEWS – Investigators are looking into a Facebook Live video showing a group […]
04 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in Legal/Political Columns
≈ Comments Off on New Year, New War? Dangerous Aggressions
So, at the end of last year, the U.S. moved to expel Russian diplomats on the basis of some spurious allegations of election rigging. Again, the evidence and the specifics are mighty slim on that allegation. And, again, sources closet to the action say it was not Russia.
The whole thing smells funny. Almost it has the aroma of a false flag operation.
But the odor isn’t nearly as bad as what could be brewing in the Baltic region. Putin has allegedly moved increased military strength into western Russia, close to the Lithuanian and Polish borders. This matches similar recent moves by NATO.
The ever-deranged of D.C. are not happy nor content with tit for tat. They decided to escalate:
PRESIDENT Obama has deployed US special forces troops along Lithuania’s border with “aggressive” Russia.
Tensions between Washington and the Kremlin have reached Cold War levels amid reports Vladimir Putin is deploying nuke-ready missiles in the Russian province of Kaliningrad – which borders Poland, Belarus and Lithuania.
And Lithuanian Defence Ministry spokeswoman Asta Galdikaite confirmed America has offered additional military support following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
She said: “The United States was the first to offer additional safety assurance measures to the Baltic countries following the deterioration of the security situation in the region after the annexation of the Crimea.”
She added: “US Special Operations Forces presence in Lithuania is one of the deterrents” against military threats by Putin’s aggressive regime, reports the Express.
This is somewhat akin to playing “chicken” with two powerful trains on the same track. I wonder if this was the same President Obama who once (somehow) won a peace prize. I also rather hope the new administration will ratchet back the tensions in the Baltic, Ukraine, and in Syria. Prize or not, peace would be a good thing.

I seem to recall Obama and Co. once referring to another president as a “cowboy”. Pot? Kettle? AP.
You must be logged in to post a comment.