As you've already surmised, we're taking a "Bah, humbug!" approach to the day's news. Seriously, the guy in the diving helmet might have the right idea when it comes to blocking out the media crapfest.
And because we have so little to say, we're going to fill some additional space with yet another cartoon drawn by our Dad some decades ago.
Oddly, we like making our brand new "Earwigs" cartoons look old and yellowed, but the original cartoons by our father really are old and yellowed - so we put considerable effort into making them look new again.
It seems enough like a circular system designed by government bureaucrats that we're amazed we're not receiving an NEA grant.
BONUS: A GLASS HALF FULL
And in this case, we're referring to our 4th glass of scotch, which is prompting us to write a little something political today even though we said we wouldn't.
Specifically, we're talking about the tragic case of Otto Warmbier and the costly but valuable lesson that his miserable death might teach the radical "antifa" Leftists and other noisemakers.
Warmbier made the fatal mistake of believing that North Korea was, at some level, like the United States - and a little innocent mischief didn't present much personal risk. He was dead wrong.
Meanwhile, the Leftist loons on college campuses (happily smashing windows and setting things on fire) seem to believe that under Donald Trump, the United States is the true totalitarian regime, stripping people of their rights and freedoms (concepts that aren't even dreamed of in North Korea) and threatening their very existence.
These pampered, self-absorbed dilettantes would do well to spend a little time thinking about their plush and privileged lives in comparison to the hell on Earth that Warmbier surely experienced for the slightest of political infractions.
This is called "perspective," and unless the young Leftists develop some, Warmbier's horrifying death will have been in vain.
29 comments:
I'm betting on "in vain", myself, alas.
Earwig: "Chauncey's final mistake was using a cartoon bomb fuse instead of an air hose."
-MMM-
Relatives dress up to watch me eat during the "Kimchee Fest"
Dressed to clean out "the back of the fridge".
Not saying the VA uses old technology but this is the C-PAP they just upgraded me to. (lots better than sleeping in the iron lung they gave me last time though)
Otto's death and college students--somehow Trump is to blame, this is the results of the loss of obumercare so blame republicans- ----The NORKs are an anti imperialist, anti-capitalist, leftist country so this could not have happened........
Rational thought will never ever enter the equation.....
"Where is the next antifa demonstration?"
Jesus said, "Whatsoever you do unto the least of these my brethren, you do it also unto me."
Matt 25:40
One day Jesus and Otto will stand and watch those miscreants who killed Otto being cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord."
Deuteronomy 32:35New King James Version (NKJV)
35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’
Let's have a contest open only to antifa members. The winners, perhaps 20 or so, will receive an all expense paid trip to North Korea. I'll even donate $37.43 toward it.
Warmbier is being treated somewhat similar to what happens after a mass shooting. If the shooter is left leaning - it's the fault of guns, if the shooter is right leaning, it's KKK/Tea Party/Alt Right that's at fault.
In this case, Warmbier died because of his white privilege. You can bing that, if you doubt me.
That being said, I can't see why anyone would want to visit such a place. Sure, pot's legal there,but can you even buy a twinkie?
I vote for Milford Dettweiler. No contest, at least that is my view from down here.
Regarding travel to North Korea, a couple of years ago I worked with a young geologist fresh out of grad school who had just come back from a tour of North Korea. I suppose I get the thrill and bragging rights, but you couldn't pay me to go to that hell hole, even with guaranteed safe return. Why financially support such a regime, and why voluntarily go to one of the deeper circles of Hades?
American tourists abroad seem to think they have a "U.S.A" bubble around them.
They are wrong.
If/when the Left finally takes over, the "useful idiots" will be among the first to cower and grovel before the firing squads. They'll have served their foul purpose, and since none of them know how to actually WORK, they'll be eliminated like the stinking fecal matter they've shown themselves to be.
Sadly, I'm with AmyH on this one. I feel bad for the Warmbier family, and actually have some sympathy for Otto as well (RIP, you poor, dumb kid), but that sympathy is outweighed by what his foolish antics have and will cost us as a nation, on so many levels: domestically, internationally, and perhaps militarily. I feel bad for Otto in the same way I'd feel bad for a person who, say, deliberately stopped his car on the tracks in front of an oncoming train, then jumped out to do a Chinese fire drill* and got crushed as he was climbing back into his car. ("Missed it by that much!") Sure the poor bastard's dead, but so many other people are adversely affected by his completely unnecessary and foolish actions.
As to fools and young fools in particular, I recall getting sucked into a conversation between some (white, American, progressive) late 20-somethings about staging protests in China (PRC that is). When I pointed out that this might not be a great idea from a personal safety perspective, one of them replied, with surprise and disdain, "Well, we have our First Amendment rights, you know! What can they do to us?" I had no idea how to respond to that (in anything resembling a civil manner).
*Chinese fire drill: unlikely anyone will get worked up about it here, but for the record, I am Chinese, at least genetically speaking. I believe the progs would call it "reclaiming" the term or whatever. Me, I ain't reclaiming nothin': frankly I think it is a stupid expression, but it conveys succinctly what I was trying to describe.
Tracey Evans - agreed, what good is getting stoned when there's nothing to eat? OTOH if it makes bark and grass soup palatable...
AmyH - the relations b/n Nazis and Islam is WELL documented..
https://www.amazon.com/Islam-Nazi-Germanys-David-Motadel/dp/0674724607
I agree it's a tragedy, but think on it- if we imposed death penalty for petty theft and vandalism, we'd soon see an end of it!(one way, or the other..)
Emmentaller, from Monday - not that I think you're that low, just that you're the only other one I know is "local"...
Mike_C - Sadly, I can see their logic. Taught that our constitution applies to foreigners in foreign countries, it's completely reasonable to believe it would apply to THEM in foreign countries. That 'USA bubble' rickn8or mentioned above. One might recall to them a famous protest in China that "tanked"...
Failing that, offer to sponsor them if they get their visas approved. Hell, I'd kick in $10. At some point stupidity needs to be fatal, and clearly we need to add some chlorine to the gene pool.
On the topic of NK and the PRC, saw a tweet yesterday, kinda hope it was fake. Apparently, Trump said, to the effect of 'Well, China tried to help w/ North Korea, but no effect. Thanks for the effort'
Which kinda sounds like he's about to take thing into his own hands.
I don't know what his plan is (assuming he has one) but we REALLY don't want to get involved in (another) land war in Asia. People living in / around Seoul CERTAINLY don't want us stirring the excrement.
I fear we are cursed to be living in interesting times.
@M. Mitchell Marmel- I predict the same. After all, these are the kids who want "safe spaces" MORE safe than liberal college campuses. They're clueless.
@REM1875- I've heard that some on the Left are blaming Warmbier's "white privilege" for his cavalier attitude about other cultures. Morons.
@Judi King- I'm guessing "not North Korea."
@chef621- I just hope that the North Koreans don't treat anyone else to a nuclear "lake of fire" in the interim.
@Fred Ciampi- I'll chip in on that trip!
@Tracy Evans- I have no idea what the purpose of Warmbier's trip was (although one could argue that such "tourism" might be useful for showing young people the horrors of such a system). I think the U.S. is overdue in establishing a travel ban to North Korea.
@TrickyRicky- I'm with you; I'd never go there under any circumstances. Even if you're super-cautious about obeying all the rules, you don't actually have to be guilty of a crime to be accused.
@AmyH- I feel sympathy for Otto because at his age I was a pretty typical idiot. He made a stupid choice, but not one that deserved the death sentence. Still, my sympathy is somewhat moderated by the fact that one doesn't voluntarily visit Hell without the expectation of getting burned.
And like your son, I'm curtailing any plans of "seeing the world" before I kick the bucket - perhaps because I don't want to kick it any sooner than necessary.
@rickn8or- Excellently put.
@Jim Lane- The Lefties can't quite understand that if REAL socialism is enacted, they won't get to sit on their asses while "the Evil Rich" pay all the bills. Our entire social welfare system is funded by the overage of wealth from capitalism.
@Mike_C- Well put, especially in pointing out all the collateral damage this death with cause. And bonus points for reclaiming the term "Chinese fire drill" (which I'm pretty sure was invented the day after the Chinese invented fireworks).
As for the notion that our First Amendment rights are respected internationally, those kids deserved a better education.
@Pete (Detroit)- Good comments across the board!
Usually I might have a snappy Earwig for the hard-hat diving set up; but today I just can't muster one up. Yesterday one best dive buddy dropped out of a dive trip due to serious health concern (hopefully will be OK but needs attention NOW); and another older gentleman who was my primary diving mentor & a best buddy passed on. Just learned of that this morning. No regrets; just a sad day recalling good times. He was very good man who did much for so many of us on many fronts. He made it to 89 years+ and was still diving in his early 80's. I logged many dives and some 90 minute night dives with him; he could find little marine critters (gently) which I could hardly see even when he was pointing them out.
People & things like this make the other crap in the news look even sillier; a waste of good time opportunity. I wonder how they keep getting elected. By idiots, that's how. Thank you Stilt et al for converting much of it to humor.
Stilton,
Was your Dad published in the New Yorker?
Perdicaris weeps.
Maybe some Wil get that.
But wow, just wow. This group is far too wiling to take at face value what the FREAKING NORTH KOREANS claim this kid did. Ever occur that those vile, inhuman vermin may have LIED? Or do we all believe that Beer Feeder's pops actually hit 11 hole in one's in a single round?
His roomate during the trip unequivocally denies Otto had any intention of, or plan to take this piece of paper.
Nuke the Raisuli. Buy 100 years of Pax Americana.
Here's a really radical idea, why don't these Libiot (Liberal + Idiot)Spoiled & Brainwashed (If they had a brain) students(?) study for exams instead of destroying the institutions of "Higher learning" their parents have spent big bucks upon in order to get rid of...err..in order for them to receive a "quality" education.
Stilton,
Scissorfish... HARF!
So you're busy making old things look new and new things look old? Please don't take this wrong, but have you ever considered a career with the Federal Government?!
You Dad's cartoon was very nicely done, and I'd say we can add Gary Larson to the names of Thurber and Addams.
I am saddened by the brutal murder of Otto Warmbier. Yes, he was apparently one of millions of misguided youth who fancy that "any form of government MUST be better than ours." I was hopeful he would recover and let his peers know just how peachy things aren't in NK, but alas, now we won't even know what killed him other than speculation. His parents have denied an autopsy. Still, I'd bet my next paycheck they beat and tortured him daily until he didn't wake up anymore, then kept him alive long enough for his wounds to heal.
What will Trump do in retaliation? My vote is to park a ship loaded with massive firepower about 20 miles off the coast, and shoot down every last one of their stupid ballistic missile tests. Maybe even lob a few bombs in to knock our their launch sites. Then send a message to the little toad, after we have shown him what we can do, that his fat head will be the next target if he shoots off anything bigger than a BB gun.
AmyH pointed out something that I actually like about North Korea. They probably don't have lawyers! I mean, why would they?
"It was the only place Elliott could find solace from all the political ads"
If Elliott lives in Georgia's 6th District, he can probably take his helmet off now. After the most expensive House race in history, (over $50-million overall) the Democrats failed to turn a historically red district blue in what they had hoped would be a referendum on Trump. Alas, just like in Montana last month, they failed. So it looks like California will not be getting their 54th representative in Congress.
So once again, Democrats prove that money can't buy elections. After losing with the clueless guitar-strumming hippie in Montana and spending over $30-million on the supposedly "centerist" carpetbagger man-child in Georgia, you think the Democrats will conclude that they need better candidates and messages? Or will they double-down again on stupid, still unable to shake their snobbery that the only reason they keep losing is because the rest of America is just too stupid?
Otto Warmbier: Sad, on so many levels. Since I know relatively little about this kid, it's really not possible to say what his mindset was when he went to North Korea, but obviously he didn't take it as seriously as he should have.
@Stilton is right that the loons that seemingly run the asylum now known as "higher education" haven't a clue as to what living under a "totalitarian regime" really is. The big hint should be that they're free to run lose as they are to begin with. You certainly won't see the kind of behavior one sees on campuses in America happening in North Korea. These are people who look at the regime that took Cuba from being one of the most affluent countries in the Caribbean to one of the poorest, and think it's superior because they've got free education and health care. For an even starker comparison, there's actually a physical line drawn between North and South Korea that demonstrates the difference between a socialist ideal, and messy capitalism. Which side would most people prefer living on?
So many of these kids have been brainwashed that these differences are not so stark, and that the conditions people actually live under in Cuba or North Korea are largely just propaganda promulgated by the Koch brothers and their ilk to keep the naive slaves of capitalism in line. It may have been this conceit that ultimately cost Otto Warmbier his life. If fellow students were actually students, they might learn something from that.
But as with the Democrats, who have now lost two high profile, high dollar "referendum" elections, I doubt they will.
Regarding the student's statement about having First Amendment rights in PRC, didn't the American kid that got "caned" in Singapore (?) for vandalism say he was going to sue that country? He should get a refund for his education (?).
@Tracy Evans said "Warmbier died because of his white privilege. You can bing that, if you doubt me."
I didn't have to as I say Progressives promoting that insanity. Shaking my head on that one. And just how did his "white privilege" work out for Otto? Not well at all. It turns out that "white privilege" is easily trumped by thugs.
A personal aside: Hanging in my office is one of my favorite posters, we call "Yuri". I'm a fan of artwork from the WWI, WWII and cold war eras; unashamedly patriotic and promoting political ideals in an effort motivate the masses. "Yuri" is a specimen of the Soviet ideal; white, decorated, proudly standing tall with an assault rifle raised with one arm and holding a flag with the other, wearing a billowing red cape and standing in front of countless fellow soldiers, workers, farms, tanks, guns, planes, etc. It's wonderful agitprop.
"Yuri" came directly from the USSR in the middle of the cold war, a decade before I met Mrs. Econ. The yet-to-be-Mrs. Econ was in the USSR assisting a tour group for a company she worked for at the time. She bought the poster from someone, which was technically illegal. When the news of Otto hit, she mentioned that Otto could have been her.
To which I replied, "Probably not". As evil as the Soviets may have been, they were not insane as the Norks are. (If anything, it would have been the guy who sold it who might have been sent to the gulag) There would have been no political points to be gained by jailing and torturing an American woman for buying a patriotic poster, and had such a thing actually happened, there would have been political repercussions. The Norks are simply crazy; blindly tied to an authoritarian ideology that no one dears let slip.
• The original Islamist SEALS were suicide underwater demolition troops, but the concept had to be shelved until a reliable ignition system could be developed.
• Ernie learned the hard way to keep clear of ships' propellers.
• Harvey modified his steampunk space suit to wear to the fraternity kegger.
Doug M - Steampunk is fun cosplay, relatively low buy in, and many cute ladies in interesting outfits. Highly recommended!
@ Doug M & Stan da Man: Thank you guys. 'Steampunk' will be my word of the week.
I like those kinds of movies, regalia & costumes(on others); and you are correct, some of the ladies' wear is very nice unless they are very large ladies. In that case they just look like old locomotives.
@QuesoGrande: Plus, his name was "Ion". Would have been a great electrical engineer... (Others: "The Wind and the Lion", though they kinda played a bit with the gender of the abductee....)
@Colby: That's a bit like asking your lover if she wouldn't be happier as a prostitute...
@John the Econ: Please, sir: there is no such thing as an assault rifle. There are rifles used in assaults, but that can be any rifle. Or shotgun. Or handgun. Or knife. Or baseball bat. Or pitchfork. Please do not lower yourself to the libtardians' level by using their made-up terms (unless, of course, you're sticking it to them). Thanks.
Cuba became communist, and did little more than let Russia stage some missiles, and there is a travel ban. NK is communist, we've fought a non-war ("police action", they called it...) against them. And no travel ban? Boggles the mind, it do.
And only the backward folk of NK would see such a childish action (if it occurred at all) as punishable by 15 years hard labor, let alone death. Such is the domain of "the religion of peace" and other such backward social tenets...
@ Emmentaler Limburger
while i agree that the term "assault rifle" has been misused to the point of uselessness, such a thing does exist. the first was the Sturmgewehr 44. here is a review of the history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle
@Pete
> Apparently, Trump said, to the effect of 'Well, China tried to help w/ North Korea, but no effect. Thanks for the effort'
Which kinda sounds like he's about to take thing into his own hands.
Maybe, maybe not re direct action, but despite the frantic media spin to make Trump sound deranged and all warmongery on this, the tweet ("While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!") was a slam against the Obama administration. Trump was saying that the PRC did more for an American citizen than Obama did. Otto's fault really. He should have been from a historically-oppressed group and had a lengthy criminal record (with bonus points for being sexually confused) to get support from the prior administration.
@Emmentaler Limburger, I live not too far from Perdicaris place, in Trenton NJ. We USED to be taught about Teddy's robust defense of Americans abroad.
Used to.
@Emmentaler Limburger, I know that, and I actually hesitated before adding "assault" to that post. And as one who usually is very particular about the words chosen to make a point I should have known better. On the other hand, I wanted to make a very distinctive mental image, and that seemed to do the trick move vividly than writing "something resembling a Kalashnikov. I apologize for succumbing to popular media narrative.
@jlw: It's still not a rifle, but a term applied to a rifle by a politician. Interestingly enough: coined by Hitler himself before being adopted by the Libtardians of America 60 years later. Libtardians, by the way, spend a lot of time writing about things on Wikipedia. After all, if you read it on the internet...
@QuesoGrande: I spent a lot of time in Edison, NJ. Blessedly far enough from the liberal cesspool Trenton was at the time so that I only had to hear about them on the radio... Still, compared to today, they were almost conservative.
@John the Econ: I *knew* there had to be a rational explanation!
@REM1875: Exactly!
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