**300** priests accused of sexual assault in Pennsylvania.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pa-supreme-court-orders-release-of-redacted-grand-jury-report-20208

People doubt that a civil war is coming yet WATCH: A massive fight broke out at Trump’s Hollywood star late Thursday night when a man wearing a Trump jersey was confronted.

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1022918958708654080

How Silicon Valley Became a Den of Spies

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/27/silicon-valley-spies-china-russia-219071

Much truth here—

European free-riding isn’t a bug, as many Americans now seem to feel—it is the central feature of our postwar security strategy.

Yet, before Trump was elected, you agreed with him -

"As Crid has pointed out, Europeans and others save big on military costs because they know they can count on us. Enough of that, thanks.

P.S. Something tells me medical care in Europe will go up substantially if they aren't saving big by having the US subsidizing their defense and safety."

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2015/03/eek-commies-how.html

European free-riding isn’t a bug, as many Americans now seem to feel—it is the central feature of our postwar security strategy. ~ posted by Crid at July 28, 2018 6:21 AM

One of FDR's main goals for WWII was to redesign Europe, and disarm it - not just Germany, but all of Europe. The US had been dragged into too many European wars and they were getting bloodier and more destructive each time. That goal was carried on by George Marshall, Harry Truman, and FDR's successors.

The US's protective umbrella was designed to discourage Europe from arming itself again and plunging the world into another conflagration. Uniting Europe economically would eliminate the main causes of both World Wars in this view.

The US then had the economic might to carry the load. A spastic chimpanzee could have run a successful US company in the '50s and '60s. Overseas competition was minimal. Shipping costs meant there was no cost advantage in sending manufacturing operations overseas for the cheaper labor. Everything was done in the US at union wages. Prosperity reigned in the US with high wages, socio-economic mobility, and anti-communism minimizing the differences between political parties.

The world has changed, however. The global economy became truly global as former enemies and dependents became economic powerhouses, shipping costs became minimal with container freight, and computers broke down barriers, both internationally and operationally.

Today, your American cell phone was likely built in China; or you have a South Korean phone. Your American car was probably built in Mexico or Canada; or you drive a Japanese, Korean, Swedish, German, or Indian-British car. Airlines freely choose between products from Boeing and Airbus.

The NATO of past presidents was a NATO with a common culture, religious viewpoint, and history; and a common enemy. That NATO was made up of countries economically dependent upon the US market. Today's NATO is comprised of economic competitors. It no longer has a common bonding agent, being made up of Christian and Muslim nations, quasi-socialist and capitalist nations, and nations with little or no cultural commonalities. It no longer has a common enemy as countries rush to do business with countries of the former Soviet bloc, some of whom are now in NATO.

NATO was intended as a protective umbrella to foster social democracy and capitalism in Western Europe and blunt the expansion of communism. That's been done. NATO must find another purpose - and the countries in it must help pay the freight for that purpose.

Trump's not wrong on this. He's vulgar about it (he's vulgar about everything), but he's not wrong.

> Yet, [....]

As if Amy's citations were my own words.

Needy little man, you're so eager for your childlike adoration of that asshole to fill your heart that you can't imagine any nuance, context or perspective to be tolerable. Your mind has no texture, your text has no insights. It's plainly apparent that you're as simple-minded, ego-depleted, and cravenly fearful as any of the liberal of Democratic figures you portentously despise. You demand a world that's flat and superficial and brightly colored, made of things you'll comprehend as you see them at first glance, with no history or study or reflection. ("Fake news! Fake news!") And there are people who're going to give you that world, just as they gave it to the Venezuelans and the Russians and all the rest.

No tears, okay, Muffin? Don't come cryin'.

> No tears, okay, Muffin? Don't come cryin'.

I'm praying for you, and want you to stop hurting inside.

Heh.

https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/1023011580718587904

Berlinski needs to learn that things have changed.

The question I have for her is, since the successful American strategy she references was pre EU, and many of the member countries are now liberal democracies in name only, shouldn’t we be renegotiating the whole thing?

The fact that they seem to be willing to make themselves captives of Russia via the gas pipeline should be deeply concerning to American interests.

There no such thing as bad publicity?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rtHmSfYDbs

Yikes.

https://twitter.com/Nonsensicole/status/1022899067137941504

Ah, Paris!

Bon chance, mon ami

> Ah, Paris! Bon chance, mon ami

Great article.

We all know who is doing this, and why it is happening, and we aren't allowed to say it. We all live by lies.

Re: Bon chance, mon ami
Thank you Snoopy, without your comment I would never have clicked on that blind link. Excellent article.

> praying for you

Aw c'mon, little Bunnyboy, you never prayed to anyone who didn't have an orange combover and at least two erratic ex-wives. He's the spring in your step, he's the tang in your food, he's the glint in your eye, and you can't even insult someone without making presumptuous comparisons to your dear darling Donald... We all know the song you've been practicing for the hour when you can finally touch the hem of his garment. The devotion of teenage teevee fandom is sooo much easier than crafting a meaningful set of political beliefs....

"Aw c'mon, little Bunnyboy, you never prayed to anyone who didn't have an orange combover and at least two erratic ex-wives."

So, so bitter that you assume you'd fail to impress either of those women (at least), and so dismiss them.

Meanwhile, we have Internet access, so we know these people!

-----

I am glad you have managed to distract yourself from the awesome failure that is the American political scene, in that a pathological liar was not only the only alternative to the combover you... um... admire, said liar was considered "adult" by someone.

"Liars," right? We hate 'em! Not on our own behalf, of course, because we're too smart to be distracted by things like nuance and complexity. But fake news?? That's *entirely* because "liars"!!!

Yeah, adulthood is just too challenging, so we're going to demand the world conform to and perform at our simpledon's level of appreciation.

> the awesome failure that is the
> American political scene

You aren't smart enough to speak that way of the most ennobling, enriching, refined, fecund and decent social scheme. You've haven't done the reading, you've not done the traveling, and you don't know the alternatives. Your pretense of wizened cynicism is merely teenage bitchwhining. You're demanding that the country present you with a set of policies that flatter you in the shallowest contexts imaginable.

And just as with the political fellows you despise most, despotic and conniving players are quite happy, and now empowered, to answer your transparent neediness.

"You've haven't done the reading, you've not done the traveling, and you don't know the alternatives."

Teeheehee, and you have!

That's why you must use "orange combover", AND take the position that the process is fine!

@ninjaphil re: "that blind link"

Hover your pointer over the 'blind link' and the address will show up at the bottom of your browser window.

Works for me in Chrome, anyway.

> AND take the position that
> the process is fine!

I can't imagine what you're talking about and find it telling that you want to gloss over it with capitalization instead of offering specifics.

Butthurt and hero worship seems always to be in your heart, so they're more convenient than composing a system of beliefs.

Hi Raddy!