Shot in the Dark

Speaking Of Shots In The Dark: Welcome To the New Design!

  • Field Recognition Guide

    When I saw that Democrat protesters – led, inevitably, by paid activist shills – were howling and stomping at Republican town hall meetings, I knew it was a matter of time before our dimbulb media started making comparisons with the Tea Party. And sure enough, they are. So with two “Tea Parties” floating around, how…

  • White Friday

    We’ve fallen a little behind on our World War I series.  Over the next few weeks/months, we’re going to work to get caught-up to the calendar. The men of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Battalion of the Imperial Rifle Regiment Nr.III likely considered themselves fortunate.  Stationed at the summit of Mount Marmolada, the highest peak in the Dolomites section…

  • Note For This Week

    I’m running a round of usability testing this entire week. Which means I’m going to be in a lab, focusing on people doing stuff with software. Which means if your comment goes in the moderation queue, it will be likely late afternoon before I can get around to approving comments. That is, of course, for…

  • Do You Remember…

    …when being against the sitting Administration meant you were either a paranoid whackdoodle or a racist… …rather than a self-styled and media-ordained swashbuckler?

  • Conundrum

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Should the United States military ever be used against United States citizens on American soil, even to restore civil order? We’ve heard for years about plans to occupy cities, black helicopters, urban warfare, the Vigilant Guard 2010 drill, FEMA camps in the desert, and much more.  Say it’s all…

  • I Heard It On The NARN

    Here’s the list of Berg’s Laws. And of course, ♫ today’s music playlist!

  • Behind Blue NARN

    Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network – America’s first grass-roots talk radio show – is on the air! Today on the show: Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad DeVos? Consistency Is So 2015 And finally – ten observations after fifteen years of blogging. Don’t forget – King Banaian is on from 9-11AM on AM1440, and Brad Carlson is normally heard…

  • Juxtaposition

    Islam. For 90-odd percent of its adherents, it may well be a religion of peace. But they seem to have other attitudes that bear some examination. For example: This hatred of early’80’s country-pop star Judy Kay “Juice” Newton… …is perplexing to outsiders.

  • Open Letter To Speaker Pelosi

    To: Rep. Nancy Pelosi From:  Mitch Berg, Irascible Peasant Re:  Tactics Speaker Pelosi, You’re absolutely right.  Don’t change a thing.  Seriously.  Tell the haters to go away. That is all.

  • Challenge Accepted

    Chris “The Ken Doll Of News” Cuomo doesn’t like being called a “fake newsman“: “I see being called ‘fake news’ as the equivalent of the N-word for journalists, the equivalent of calling an Italian any of the ugly words that people have for that ethnicity,” Cuomo said on SiriusXM. “That’s what ‘fake news’ is to…

  • Would You Like To Take Another Pass At That?

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION, ANYTHING-TO-STOP-THE-BLEEDING ISSUE: California’s New Bar Exam Format And ABA’s Proposed 75% Bar Passage Requirement Will Adversely Impact Diversity, Women, And Access To The Legal Profession.  Implied message: women and minorities are not as smart as white men.  When your best argument against…

  • Bill Cooper

    Bill Cooper, former chair of the Minnesota GOP and longtime CEO at TCF Bank, passed away earlier this week  at 73. In addition to leading the MNGOP during the Carlson years, Cooper did two things that made him a hero to me. Nick-Slapped:  Back in 2005, then-Strib columnist Nick Coleman wrote a deeply dumb column wondering how…

  • God Is Here At Chili’s

    At long last, justice happens.

  • Lifeboat

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Trump’s executive Order on immigration and refugees is causing angst, but not analysis.  We need analysis.  For years, I’ve used the lifeboat analogy to discuss immigration.  There’s only so much room in the lifeboat, only so many rations.  There are 7,000,000,000 people in the world who want better lives…

  • Unjustified Self-Esteem

    Conor Friedersdorf in the LATimes writes a piece opposing “Calexit” – the proposed secession of California from the union. Say what you will about the merits or problems with this idea – it’d remove the biggest single glob of “progressives” from the voter roles, and one of the most toxic gobs of unreformed pension debt…

  • How To Get Liberals To Do Your Publicizing For You In One Easy Step

    It’s easier than you think. But then everything is with them – except a logical, rational, non-ad-hominem or strawman argument…: Maybe it was crazy but my thinking was that one of the best ways to get young men to go see a movie was to tell them they should not be allowed to see it.…

  • Tantrum

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: California Democrats threaten to make the entire state a ‘sanctuary state’ by forbidding local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials. Trump, of course, has threatened to withhold federal funds from states that flout federal law.  This could work out really well in the long run.   Start by…

  • Brownshirt Youth

    A group of the Brownshirt Youth (known, locally, in this case as the “Knights of Socialism”) are offering to teach inept milllennial snowflakes how to beat up Republicans. Ayep: The “Knights for Socialism” group at the University of Central Florida (UCF) held a workshop Sunday to teach left-wing students how to “BASH THE FASH” with…

  • The Knockout

    We’ve fallen a little behind on our World War I series.  Over the next few weeks/months, we’re going to work to get caught-up to the calendar. It was 7pm on December 6, 1916, as several of the key members of Britain’s War Cabinet arrived at Buckingham Palace.  For the past 24 hours, Britain had been…

  • Hate Trumps Freedom?

    Berkeley Republicans involved in organizing the Milo Yiannopoulos even that was shut down by Campus Blackshirts last weekend were in legitimate fear for their lives: By the time he got to the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union to begin prepping for the event at 5:30 p.m., a throng of students and other demonstrators flanked the…

  • Credibility

    Demand the expulsion of a “fascist”, and the gunning down of his supporters, by the military. Question for Sarah Silverman and her ilk:  who do you think the military are?  The children of families with two parents with masters degrees in Non-Profit Administration from Saint Olaf, who shop at Whole Foods and drive Subarus and…

  • Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: “A good way to tell whether a pundit or citizen understands the field of risk management well enough to critique Trump’s performance is to ask how they view his history of bankruptcies. If a person thinks those bankruptcies are a sign of poor management, they probably don’t know much…

  • For The Miseducated Liberal In Your Life

    We’re in the opening stages of a mayoral race in Saint Paul. Now, the various stakeholders and activists are doing what they do – thinking big talks, dreaming big dreams via the political system.  As to what I think this city  actually needs from a new mayor?  It’s irrelevant.   We can want whatever we…

  • Happy Reagan’s Birthday

    Today would be Ronald Reagan’s 106th birthday. I’ve been writing about Reagan – who, along with PJ O’Rourke, Solzhenitzyn, Dostoevskii and Paul Johnson is the reason I’m a conservative today – as long as this blog has been in existence.  His eight years were not perfect, and I don’t beatify my presidents, even if they’ve…

  • It Worked For Kirk

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Volkswagen takes over from Toyota as number one carmaker in the world, despite the scandal of being caught cheating on emissions tests.   “Despite” the scandal?  Or because of it?  Emissions tests are idiotic and anyone clever enough and bold enough to beat them probably has other good qualities.…

Got any book recommendations?