Where Do Old Bumper Cars Go?

Hat tip to Gail Downie; Nehalem, OR. for this great article.
 

Futurity Arts West
" Remember driving the bumper cars at the Fun Zone, amusement parks, or a fair don't you? They were so much fun! Well, now what do you do with old bumper cars? (Check out the license plates!)"

...

"Yes, you read that right; these little beasties are street legal.

"They run on either Kawasaki or Honda motorcycle engines, and co-opt vintage bumper car bodies into the most awesome form of mini-car we've seen in a long time. There are seven of these little monsters floating around California, and they're all the creation of one man, Tom Wright, a builder in the outskirts of San Diego, who figured the leftovers of the Long Beach Pike amusement park needed a more dignified end than the trash heap.

"They were originally powered by two cylinder Harley-Davidson motorcycle engines, but they rattled because of the two cylinder vibration, and Tom replaced them with four cylinder Honda or Kawasaki 750's. A couple have been measured as capable of 160 MPH, which is terrifyingly fast in machines with such a short wheelbase. By the way, they are almost indestructible in accidents!"  More photos here.

If Only President Obama Weren’t Black (Got your attention, didn't we?)

RedState

 “If only President Obama weren’t black, maybe he would realize that people don’t dislike him because he is black, they dislike him because he is a self-absorbed ass.”

. . . " But there was a President of the United States willing to make jokes about the “F-word” and an Imperial Court to worship him.

"Byron York notes that much of President Obama’s speech to the White House Correspondents Dinner centered around “black anger.” In other words, President Obama let loose over the weekend that he has concluded all the opposition to him is because he is black.

"It must be comfortable and convenient for President Obama to assume the opposition to him is because of his race. He can negotiate a bad deal with Iran and conclude the public hates it because he is black. He can tell people they can keep their doctors then take their doctors away from them and console himself that the anger of the public is just racist. He can see a solid position in Iraq and Afghanistan squandered as ISIS overruns us and, when people point it out, conclude it’s just because of his skin color. People can drop out of the workforce because they can’t find jobs and when their stomachs rumble and their mouths grumble, President Obama can look himself in the mirror and think it’d all be different if he were not a black man.
"If only President Obama weren’t black, maybe he would realize that people don’t dislike him because he is black, they dislike him because he is a self-absorbed ass." . . .

Emphasis mine, TD

As another US city burns with rage, is Obama going to be the President who did less for black Americans than a white one did?. . . "Barack Obama was elected President on a tidal wave of hope, optimism and genuine belief from tens of millions of African-Americans that he would finally get them true justice and equality.

"What’s the point being the first black president if you CAN’T do that?

"But he’s failed.

"Many black Americans feel even more marginalized than they did before he came to power. They feel even less ‘equal’, even more exposed to injustice. Most are just as poor and badly educated as they were before Obama got to the White House.

. . .

 

"The President needs to do more than just utter yet more platitudes from the Oval Office.

He should be down in Baltimore today, talking directly to the people who feel he has betrayed them.

"HIS people, with HIS skin colour, who voted for HIM because they thought HE would change the system.

"Less talk, more action, Mr President.

"Or you will go down in history as the guy who did less for blacks in America than Lyndon Johnson – a white man."

Alan Caruba Predicts Israel Will Attack Iran Soon

Warning Signs

 

Netanyahu told Congress this year: "Once Iran produces atomic bombs, all the charm and all the smiles will suddenly disappear. They’ll just vanish. It’s then that the ayatollahs will show their true face and unleash their aggressive fanaticism on the entire world.” He offered a comparable message to a joint meeting of Congress in March of this year.

"Is anyone listening? Not President Obama. On April 25, writing in The Wall Street Journal, Mortimer Zuckerman, the chairman and editor in chief of the U.S. News and World Report, said “President Obama has been chasing a rainbow in his negotiations with Iran. He has forsaken decades of pledges to the civilized world from presidents of both parties. He has misled the American people in repeatedly affirming that the U.S. would never allow revolutionary Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.”

It’s bad enough when you can’t trust your nation’s enemies, but when you cannot trust your own President you have a very big problem because Iran is not just a threat to America and Israel, but to the entire world." . . .

Surprise Attack on Iran: Can Israel Do It?  " According to a report in March by the Israeli daily Haaretz, Israel continues to prepare for a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Quoting anonymous members of the Knesset who were present during hearings on the military budget, officials in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) have allegedly received instructions to continue preparing for a strike and a special budget has been allocating for that purpose." . . .

Iran says powerful air defense system to be ready in 2015  ..."The Russian version of the missile shield can trace around 100 flying targets simultaneously and destroy a number of them, while the Iranian adaptation is said to possess a higher targeting capability, among a number of optimized features.

"Iran has also upgraded the S-200 missile defense system, improving its mobility and a narrower ready-for-operation time."

Kristallnacht in America

Kristallnacht – The Night of Broken Glass 

 

 ... “ 'What happened in Germany was a consequence of racism, hate, and prejudice. Every new generation must be aware that the cancer of hate and prejudice is also with us today. There is no way anyone can walk away from messages that contain racism, prejudice, and name-calling. You must always stand up against racism and prejudice, even if you are not being directly persecuted.”
-Survivor of the Holocaust, Werner Coppel, now living in Cincinnati, OH   

And what led to this frightful, violent night? This: 
. . . "Initially denied entry into their native Poland, Grynszpan's parents and the other expelled Polish Jews found themselves stranded in a refugee camp near the town of Zbaszyn in the border region between Poland and Germany. Already living illegally in Paris himself, a desperate Grynszpan apparently sought revenge for his family's precarious circumstances by appearing at the German embassy and shooting the diplomatic official assigned to assist him.
. . . "The Nazi Party leadership, assembled in Munich for the commemoration, chose to use the occasion as a pretext to launch a night of antisemitic excesses. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, a chief instigator of the pogrom, intimated to the convened Nazi 'Old Guard' that 'World Jewry' had conspired to commit the assassination and announced that, "the Führer has decided that … demonstrations should not be prepared or organized by the Party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered."

"It was vom Rath’s murder which sparked the “spontaneous” outburst of violence against the Jews, or so the Nazis said. .  .  The Nazis’ actions in 1938, however, suggest that they were preparing their most ruthless anti-Jewish operation yet - and vom Rath’s assassination was a convenient catalyst for such a strike." . . .

Baltimore Mayor gives rioters 'space to destroy'
. . . " in effect, that the rioters had permission to have at it. They did so with a will in a day long orgy of looting, burning, and mayhem that made the city resemble a war zone that local police seemed helpless and unwilling to prevent."

And loot they did: 

 

What is happening in the streets of Baltimore and Ferguson is sheer, unpolluted racism.    

 Horrific video shows Baltimore store owner hauled from his premises, sucker punched and kicked as he lay in the street

Will Hillary Use the "Two for the Price of One" Argument in Her Campaign?

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Voice of Lillpop ..."Back in 1991, when Bill Clinton was trying to unseat George H. Bush for the US Presidency, Clinton pitched the intelligence and managerial experience of his spouse, Hillary Rodham, as a benefit that would accrue to America in the event he was elected.

“ 'Two for the price of one,” was how Bill Clinton phrased it, referring to Hillary’s strengths, but, oddly enough, nary a word about her defects, which, we have learned over the past 24 years, are numerous and grave.

"Very grave!

"Now that Hillary is a declared candidate for the presidency on her own, it’s worth remembering that she brings one hell of a lot of “baggage” with her.

"In addition to her well-deserved reputation as a ruthless, congenital liar willing to do anything to secure power and wealth, Hillary remains manacled to Slick Willie, the sex-addicted perjurer who defiled the presidency with unspeakable acts of sexual harassment against unwary(and some not so unwary) females who traversed the halls of the White House, or who were lured into that infamous little back room off the Oval Office.

"Slick Willie’s extra-marital sexual proclivities were particularly robust when president # 2, Hillary, was away.

"Because Slick Willie lied under oath in federal court, he was impeached by the House of Representatives, but because of gutless, immoral Democrats in the Senate, was not removed from office. Clinton was, however, disbarred from the US Supreme Court.

"Given Bill Clinton’s sordid history, the “Two for the Price of One” argument he used in 1991 should be turned around and used against Hillary in 2016!

"The theme “Addition by Subtraction” would apply in this case, meaning that by not voting for Hillary, the Slick Willie  burden would be removed, and the American people would be adding to the integrity and purity of the Democratic electoral process."

about.com

The Fall of the House of Clinton

 A Colorado Springs man was cited for shooting his malfunctioning computer on Thursday. The guy unplugged the computer, took it outside, and fired eight bullets into it, destroying the screen, the keyboard and the hard drive. Today he's the communications director for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Comedian Argus Hamilton

 Also known as "there is no evidence"....

Victor Davis Hanson  (Cartoons added by TD)   "Hillary Clinton will probably survive her latest ethical disaster. James Carville — of “if you drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find” fame — is back again to pronounce the Clinton Foundation scandal as “diddly-squat.”  He may be right in the political sense. After all, we know the standard Clinton rescue plan from the past: her aging point-men like Carville, Lanny Davis, and Paul Begala flood the airways, yelling “prove it!” at their television hosts and declaring:

1. That the accusations are “old news.”
2. That the accusers are funded by right-wing conspiracists.
3. That everyone does what the Clintons did.
4. That the media pick on the Clintons.
5. That there is no hard evidence (because they have destroyed documents) that would ever lead to a criminal case. And:
6. That they are moving on, to work on behalf of the folks.

"Such obfuscation worked well with Troopergate, Travelgate, Whitewater, the cattle futures scam, Monicagate, the pardons, and  Bill's serial and sometimes coercive sexual conquests.
The scorched-earth protocol has already largely dispensed with the “what difference does it make” and “we came, we saw, he died” Libya/Benghazi scandals. That the ex-president of the United States often flew on a private jet with  registered sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, known for supplying underage women to his guests, is, as the Clintons say, “old news.” Hillary Clinton’s serial lies about her email accounts and the Clinton Foundation shakedowns will likewise fade — despite the national-security implications of both transgressions for the United States.

"So by “Fall of the House of Clinton” I don’t suggest that a special prosecutor will be appointed to indict Hillary and Bill for crimes that would likely make the accusations that were once leveled against Sen. Robert Menendez, Gov. Bob McDonnell, Scooter Libby, Conrad Black or Dinesh D’Souza look like child’s play in comparison." . . .

Proof Hillary isn't fit to be president   "It became well-known during the Clinton years that while the president was a "certified" sleaze ball, the most evil partner of this Bonnie-and-Clyde duo was Hillary. She came to be seen as the "consigliore" of the couple, the one who had executed (pun intended) their dastardly plans and deeds."  . . .   

Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, is known for his strong public interest advocacy in furtherance of ethics in government and individual freedoms and liberties... (more)

UH-OH Watch Out Baltimore: Here Comes Al Sharpton

The Lid  via Jeffrey Dunetz  at  Conservative Bloggers on Facebook

 

"If there was unrest in Baltimore, you ain't seen nothing yet..because here comes the race card version of an ambulance chaser, the faux reverend Al Sharpton

"According to the NY Daily News, Sharpton the supposed preacher who has never heard about the commandment about bearing false witness. will schedule a march from that city to Washington to bring to the doorstep of newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch the deaths of Gray and other black men killed in police custody. Well he has been out of the headlines for a few days...Al gets ill if someone else gets attention

Sharpton said Monday – the day Lynch was to be sworn in and the day of the funeral for Gray, 25 – that activists and faith leaders had urged him to visit the city after the April 19 death of the young black man. Sharpton said he resisted until he learned that a police report, scheduled to be released Friday, would be delayed.

"Hey Al are you sure they said go to Baltimore? Listen closely they may have only been saying "get the hell out of town."

 

Baltimore police did not immediately confirm that the report, ordered by Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, would not be released on the scheduled day. The investigation will eventually be forwarded to the state attorney’s office, which will decide whether the arresting officers should be charged for their roles in the death of Gray, who suffered serious spinal injuries.

“It is concerning to me that a deadline that the police themselves had set and announced they have now conveniently changed,” Sharpton said in a statement.
"Conveniently? Or they wanted to make sure they did a good job and needed more time.

The group will schedule a two-day march for sometime in May to urge Lynch to quickly investigate the cases involving Gray, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Eric Harris.

"The U.S. Department of Justice has already announced it will investigate Gray’s death, but they did it without Sharpton first getting some publicity so it doesn't count.  But don't worry Al the mainstream media will cover your latest "get Al publicity" stunt because no one in the media has the guts to call you what you really are--an anti-Semitic racial huckster. 

Rev. Al's contact info

 STATEMENT FROM REV. AL SHARPTON ON THE DEATH OF FREDDIE GRAY AND HIS RESPONSE TO REQUESTS FOR INVOLVEMENT IN THE CASE

libertyalliance.com//

Cartoons added by TD

The Freddie Gray memorial gathering

Baltimore mayor: We 'gave those who wished to destroy space to do that'

Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made a stunning admission Saturday in the aftermath of violent protests over the recent death of Freddie Gray, saying she wanted to give space to those “who wished to destroy.”

And destroy, some did. . . .

Then she thanked Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam for their help

Keep this nonsense in mind when viewing her entire statement, in context:

Freddie Gray mourners:

 

Via Conservative America

Disciples of "Killer Mike"?

Obama Sends Representation To #FreddieGray Funeral 

"Chris Kyle, an American hero, family still waiting. Family of James Foley, beheaded because he was American still waiting… Via The Hill: 

 CNN called all the above "scuffles"

 The Baltimore protests — are they really about the police?   . . . "Baltimore is far from the only American city in a sorry state. Thus, it’s plausible to anticipate that we will see protests and riots throughout the U.S.
"Given the enormous amount of police interaction with African-American lawbreakers, there will always be cases of problematic (or allegedly problematic) police behavior that can ignite protests. As time goes on, however, I wonder whether such cases will be required."

Trey Gowdy To Clinton Lawyer: Here's 136 Unanswered Questions About Hillary's Email

The Lid "You can't use political spin with Trey Gowdy. That's a lesson Hillary Clinton's attorney David Kendal learned on Thursday. Kendal send the House Select Committee Chairman a letter saying that the former Secretary of State had already answered all the questions about her email therefore she didn't need to testify on that subject. 

"Gowdy responded with a letter (embedded below) containing 136 unanswered questions about the email and issued this statement:

. . .  

Hat tip to  Jeffrey Dunetz

William Bennett: The Conservative Case for Common Core; other links to help you decide pro or con

"Federal intrusion and misleading rumors do a disservice to an effort that started in the states."

I have been knee-jerk opposed to CC, largely because of the cons about it, the federal intrusion in it, and those in this administration who support it, such as their efforts mentioned here: Feds Play the Race Card to Crush Parents’ Revolt Against Common Core.

Consider this an honest effort to understand Common Core and I can find no better source with which to do that than Mr. Bennett. At least now I know not to reject any candidate just because of his stand on Common Core. TD

"The same goes for math. Certain abilities—the grasp of fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and the like—should be the common knowledge of all.
That's the fundamental idea behind a core curriculum: preserving and emphasizing what's essential, in fields like literature and math, to a worthwhile education. It is also, by the way, a conservative idea."

William J. Bennett

Wall Street Journal  "As the former Secretary of Education for President Ronald Reagan, I have been following the national debate over Common Core standards. The debate is getting hotter, but not always clearer. It's time to get clarity on some things that have been badly and sometimes mischievously muddled.

"Let's begin with the ideas and principles behind the Common Core. These educational principles have been debated and refined over decades. First, we can all agree that there is a need for common standards of assessment in K-12 education. And we can all agree that there are common and shared truths in English, literature and math. Think of "We hold these truths to be self evident" as emblematic.


"Nearly all Americans agree that to prepare a child for civic responsibility and competition in the modern economy, he or she must be able to read and distill complex sentences, and must be equipped with basic mathematical skills.
 . . . 

. . . "The standards are designed to invite states to take control and to build upon them further. The standards do not prescribe what is taught in our classrooms or how it's taught. That decision should always rest with local school districts and school boards.

"The principles behind the Common Core affirm a great intellectual tradition and inheritance. We should not allow them to be hijacked by the federal government or misguided bureaucrats and politicos."

" Actually, Common Core supporters insist the the Core is a set of standards and not a curriculum."

 RedState sees it this way: Bill Bennett paid to pimp for Common Core

Previous Tunnel Wall posts on this subject:
You Won’t Believe What Common Core Testing Looks Like on Long Island

What are some Pros and Cons of the Common Core Standards?

 

"The full implementation of the Common Core Standards is has arrived. However, the true impact that they have on schools and education as a whole will not be known for several years. One thing that is for sure is this shift to a national set of standards will be revolutionary. They will also be highly debated. As the media continues to evaluate the significance of the Common Core, you can bet the debate will rage on. Here we examine some of the pros and cons of the Common Core Standards that will continue to be debated."  Read the full article here.

 Bill Whittle – Common Core Is Obamacare For Education 

  COMMON CORE: What Does “College and Career Ready” Standards Mean? 

 More sources for your own research here.

 Rich Terrell sees it this way:

 

Where the Left and Islam Intersect

 

 American Thinker..."Curious how the godless left and Islam share a critical aim.  They both wish to subjugate infidels, though how infidel is defined differs.  But who the infidels are isn’t.  We are, of course, the infidels.  We of western virtues and values.  We who hold to Judeo-Christian beliefs.  We’re obstacles to glorious futures for both.  Both want us consigned to dhimmitude.  Yes, dhimmitude.  That’s second class status, with tribute being paid for the privilege. 
Marked differences and tensions exist between the left and Islam, to be sure.  But is the left using Islam for its ends, and Islam -- for the time being -- willingly being used?   

"Wrote Stephen Schwartz for First Things in February of this year: . . . " Read more:

 

George W. Bush Bashes Obama on Middle East

 Bloomberg View

"In a closed-door meeting with Jewish Donors Saturday night, former President George W. Bush delivered his harshest public criticisms to date against his successor on foreign policy, saying that President Barack Obama is being naïve about Iran and the pending nuclear deal and losing the war against the Islamic State.

"One attendee at the Republican Jewish Coalition session, held at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas with owner Sheldon Adelson in attendance, transcribed large portions of Bush’s remarks. The former president, who rarely ever criticizes Obama in public, at first remarked that the idea of re-entering the political arena was something he didn’t want to do. He then proceeded to explain why Obama, in his view, was placing the U.S. in "retreat" around the world. He also said Obama was misreading Iran’s intentions while relaxing sanctions on Tehran too easily.

"According to the attendee's transcription, Bush noted that Iran has a new president, Hassan Rouhani. “He's smooth," Bush said. "And you’ve got to ask yourself, is there a new policy or did they just change the spokesman?”

"Bush said that Obama’s plan to lift sanctions on Iran with a promise that they could snap back in place at any time was not plausible. He also said the deal would be bad for American national security in the long term: “You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren. That’s how Americans should view the deal.”

"Bush then went into a detailed criticism of Obama’s policies in fighting the Islamic State and dealing with the chaos in Iraq. On Obama’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of 2011, he quoted Senator Lindsey Graham calling it a “strategic blunder.” Bush signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to withdraw those troops, but the idea had been to negotiate a new status of forces agreement to keep U.S. forces there past 2011. The Obama administration tried and failed to negotiate such an agreement.

"Bush said he views the rise of the Islamic State as al-Qaeda’s "second act” and that they may have changed the name but that murdering innocents is still the favored tactic. He defended his own administration’s handling of terrorism, noting that the terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed to killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was captured on his watch: “Just remember the guy who slit Danny Pearl’s throat is in Gitmo, and now they're doing it on TV.”

"Obama promised to degrade and destroy Islamic State's forces but then didn’t develop a strategy to complete the mission, Bush said. He said that if you have a military goal and you mean it, “you call in your military and say ‘What’s your plan?’ ” He indirectly touted his own decision to surge troops to Iran in 2007, by saying, “When the plan wasn’t working in Iraq, we changed.”

“ 'In order to be an effective president ... when you say something you have to mean it,” he said. “You gotta kill em.' ” . . . Much more here.