Yeah, About That

So Iranian protestors are burning down mosques?  Why?  Well, here’s the reason:

These mosques are not places of worship, they serve as operation bases for the regime’s militias in residential neighborhoods. Mosques house armories for the Basij militias. They function as headquarters for repression and temporary detention centers for protesters.

Sounds like an excellent reason to set fire to the things and destroy them, then.  Then there’s this:

In Iran, for decades, mosques served as recruitment and indoctrination centers for the regime. The regime uses them to radicalize vulnerable people and transform them into hate filled killing machines against their own society.

If that sounds familiar, then it should, because we have similar institutions right here in the U.S.

Now I’m not going to suggest doing the same to American Ivy League universities, even though they’re doing pretty much the same thing (and not just with radical Islam, but with radical Marxism as well).  But the above link does help us focus our thinking, does it not?

And for the faint-hearted, I’m suggesting that we shut the damn things down and not burn them to the ground.  (College campuses could be used for so many good things, e.g. art galleries, shopping malls and shooting ranges;  it’d be a waste just to level them.)

Propositions

Also in last Tuesday’s Republican ballots were a series of “propositions” — basically, a way for the Texas Republican Party to gauge the feelings of their supporters for ideas that should be considered for inclusion as planks in their party platform in future elections.  They make for interesting reading (with my vote + reasons):

Proposition 1:
Texas property taxes should be assessed at the purchase price and phased out entirely over the next six years through spending reductions. — Yes (government should get only one bite at the cherry, not an annual one;  if they need more money, let them beg for it at election time, or sell bonds)

Proposition 2:
Texas should require any local government budget that raises property taxes to be approved by voters at a November general election. — Yes (one of my buddies recently moved to a “growing” area, and was presented with a 40% increase in his property tax for next year;  municipalities should never think they have an open checkbook)

Proposition 3:
Texas should prohibit denial of healthcare or any medical service based solely on the patient’s vaccination status. — Yes (screw those Covid-type excrescences)

Proposition 4:
Texas should require its public schools to teach that life begins at fertilization. — Yes (although I have some reservations about this, I can see why it’s been suggested)

Proposition 5:
Texas should ban gender, sexuality, and reproductive clinics and services in K-12 schools. — Yes (if the kids feel they need any of those, they can do it with their parents, outside school)

Proposition 6:
Texas should enact term limits on all elected officials. — Yes (although I sometimes like it when we get a good ‘un, I don’t like any politician to get too comfortable in a sinecure)

Proposition 7:
Texas should ban the large-scale export or sale of our groundwater and surface water to any single private or public entity. — Yes (we don’t have a lot of water in the Lone Star State, and we need to guard it jealously)

Proposition 8:
The Texas Legislature should reduce the burden of illegal immigration on taxpayers by ending public services for illegal aliens. — Yes (especially education, which has stuck in my craw for decades)

Proposition 9:
The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature should stop awarding leadership positions, including committee and subcommittee chairmanships and vice chairmanships, to Democrats. — Yes (because Democrats are not to be trusted with any levers of power)

Proposition 10:
Texas should prohibit Sharia Law. — Yes (to address any First Amendment qualms on this issue, see what’s happened in Britishland)

I’ll be interested to see how this all plays out.

Thursday Landscape

Finsbury, London 2000

My favorite Greek restaurant in the whole world, and one of the best dining experiences ever.  I went back there late in 2017 with Mr. and Mrs. TrueBrit, and enjoyed it even more.

Sadly, Kolossi is no more (no doubt since nuked by Covidiocy, like so many were);  it’s been renamed “attica” [sic] and it might still be Greek, but it doesn’t look anything like the old place.  I mean, there’s now even room to walk between the tables, FFS.

Raw, unadulterated suckage.

Primary Colors

Went early to vote in the Republican primary elections yesterday.  The place looked like an AARP/VFW convention, no doubt because Republican youngins in my district have things like jobs.  Anyway, my local choice for the U.S. House did okay:


…but that wasn’t unexpected.  Come November, I expect him to win again against whomever the Democrats place on the altar.

In other local news:


…damn, I thought Pax had it in the can, but Cornyn’s got huge support from the RINO element, and he outspent Paxton by something like 10:1.  Oh well… it’s going to be a close-run thing even with most of Wesley Hunt’s voters (Hunt is more conservative than either of the two, so his support will likely go to Paxton and not to the RINO).

The TexGov primary was predictable:


…which means a reelection in November seems likely.  (I know that many Texas Republicans don’t think too highly of Abbot, and I can see why.  But I agree with his actions about 80% of the time, and I’m not going to let perfection be the enemy of the good.)


Ditto the vote for Dan Patrick.  (The position of Lt. Governor is an important one in Texas, unlike in many other states.  For one thing, the Lt.Gov sets the agenda for the Texas legislature, which is highly influential.  Patrick’s done well in the job, so he’s justifiably popular.)

But Wait!  There’s More!

In national news, there’s a Good Thing What Happened in the U.S. House race, over in the Evil Party:


Bye bye Jasmine (who is predictably saying her voters were excluded or “suppressed”, the lying bitch).  I have no idea who Talarico is, but he can only be an improvement — assuming, that is, that he wins in November against his Republican opponent, whether Paxton or Cornyn.

Glad to have done my bit.

Last Call

Yes, it’s time for me to end the suspense and announce the winner of the Parker-Hale / Widow Irish thing.

I’m going to be pulling the winning ticket from the hat* over the weekend, witnessed for its veracity by New Wife and anyone else who happens to be in the house at the time.

So if you haven’t got yourself a ticket but still want the chance, get it done by Saturday midnight (03/07/2026) so that you can be included in Sunday’s drawing.

One quick favor:  a number of you did not include your email addy with your entry, and I may have missed a couple as well;  so please could all participants send those to kim – at – kimdutoit.com, along with your full name so I can link the names/emails with the tickets.  It’ll just make notification all the easier for me.  (Yeah I know, I’m an idiot;  but it’s been a long time since I last did something like this #OldFartMemoryIssues.)

Good luck, everyone.


*that’s not quite true, there’s no hat involved:  each ticket entry is given a number, and then I run an @RAND(x,y) function on the spreadsheet to pick the winner.