What medical professionals will tell you about extreme diets is…

Well, they’re extreme.

Now if you have a paleo view of diets you primarily think of them as a way to control your weight and while an All Grapefruit diet can peel off the pounds and Grapefruits are not unhealthy (unless you’re taking one of the vast array of medications they interfere with) it lacks both variety and certain nutrients (though I can’t complain about the taste, I like Grapefruit).

Not every diet is as obviously fashionable as a Grapefruit diet but if you’re inclined to follow the fad you can be making some pretty unhealthy choices, take Gluten Free for example. Unless you have a very specific medical condition it provides no benefit at all (well, maybe it makes you feel virtuous) and deprives you of some things that are difficult to duplicate from other food sources.

Or in my particular case, periodically my Doctors and Nutritionists tell me to go Low Sodium. Not that I use a lot of salt, but I like my pasta seasoned and I eat in places where the amount of Sodium is not in my control fairly frequently. Sure I salt fried food but I don’t eat it that often and I almost never add it to anything else because I feel it’s kind of an insult tho the Chef, like ordering Beef Well Done and then slathering it in Ketchup so you can choke it down.

Also, I have in the past conformed religiously to their advice for periods of time long enough to have an effect and, in addition to making my food bland and tasteless, it sent my blood Sodium levels dangerously low. So now I just listen intently, nod my head, and ignore them. Since I have adopted this practice my levels have stayed steadily in the low normal range.

But I like food and have an appreciation for how it tastes and no particular allergies (though there are foods I don’t like) except to Bell Peppers (finally met a Nurse who has the same thing, so it’s real) and since every Chef in the world thinks their presentation enhanced with a garnish of colorful Bell Peppers I walk around with a brace of EpiPens (yeah, that bad and I don’t have to eat them, proximity is sufficient- they’re like Kryptonite to me).

Still, I wouldn’t say I’m a picky eater or not open to the exotic. If you didn’t tell me they were Sheep’s Eyeballs I’d probably think they were delicious. On the other hand there are things I’m not interested in- deep fried butter? Someone was bored and said- what’s the most ludicrous thing we can put in the Fry-a-lator.

My problem with Soy is that I think it rather tasteless and the consistency like Jello. This is good and bad in that it picks up the flavor of whatever you’re cooking it with so it makes a great extender. Taken alone it’s not much. Now there are methods of preparation and products other than Tofu that solve the texture problem, Soy Sauce is made with fermented Soy (not as icky as it sounds) and is an essential and strong Asian flavor, but I can’t say my diet is loaded with all things Soy. If you choose to practice Vegetarianism or one of it’s variations the added protein boost is highly desirable (though all Beans are like that).

Some Vegetarians, like some Atheists (but not me), tend to be uhh… evangelical about it’s benefits. Personally I don’t think a meal needs meat to be complete but I love me some Bacon and those dried up salty and artificially flavored Soy bits are not anything like smoked and cured Pork Belly.

Of course to real ‘Murikans it’s just Meat and Potatoes. Now Potatoes are great, loaded with Potassium and other vitamins and minerals (especially if you eat the skins which are so delicious that they’re served separately sometimes) and surprisingly low in calories if you bake them or roast them and don’t load them up too much with fat, but there are other Vegetables.

To some though it’s like Rolling Coal (taking your 7 MPG Pickup and De-Tuning it so it spews out even larger amounts of Air Pollution). Anything other than their gut and artery clogging diet is an emasculating trigger (Evangelical Vegetarians don’t help) and a sign of “Librul Political Correctness” (look, it’s just not ok to be a bigoted asshole in public).

Soy contains some trace quantities of Estrogen (which chromosome damaged Humans also produce naturally only not as much) and one of the older Right Wing Consipracy Theories is that it is “Feminising” men.

Folks, I have been to Comet Ping Pong. There is no basement.

Inside the “soy boy” conspiracy theory: It combines misogyny and the warped world of pseudosciece
by Alex Henderson, Alternet
November 15, 2018

Nutritionists have had many debates about the health benefits of soy products; some are very pro-soy, others are critical of it. Their debates are scientific in nature, but on the alt-right, soy is being discussed in stridently political terms—and one of the leading alt-right conspiracy theories is the “soy boy” conspiracy, which claims that soy products are a vast left-wing conspiracy designed to emasculate men and turn their bodies estrogenic.

The alt-right has an abundance of vocabulary that one doesn’t find in more traditional conservatism. In 2018, the term “soy boy” is as common on the alt-right as “cuckservative” (right-wingers who aren’t right-wing enough) and “snowflake” (a hypersensitive liberal or progressive). “Soy boy” isn’t a term that one typically encounters in more traditional conservative outlets like the National Review and the Weekly Standard, but alt-right outlets — from Alex Jones’ Infowars to the misogynist Return of Kings website—have been a frequent source of anti-soy conspiracy theories.

Jones has long been promoting conspiracy theories involving government operatives and “The New World Order” using products to turn male bodies estrogenic. In 2013, Jones argued that juice boxes were feminizing male children, declaring, “After you’re done drinking your little juices, you’re ready to go out and have a baby. You’re ready to put makeup on. You’re ready to wear a short skirt….You’re ready to put lipstick on.”

Jones has asserted that left-wing male commentators are often “latte addicts” and “soy addicts” who lack masculinity—and earlier this year, Jones’ colleague, Paul Joseph Watson posted an eight-minute video describing the alleged attributes of a “soy boy.”

Watson asked, “What is it about soy that turns men into such spineless wimps? Soybeans contain high amounts of phytoestrogens: organic compounds that mimic the female hormone estrogen in the human body. This reduces testosterone and lowers male sperm count.”

Watson elaborated, “Men with high estrogen take on feminine traits. They find it harder to handle stress. They become less assertive. They become low-energy. Their voices get higher, their genitals shrink.”

According to Watson’s video, “environmental estrogens” are causing males to develop female-like breasts—and one of the most prominent “environmental estrogens” is soy. The use of soy baby formulas, Watson said, suggests that “rather than people with already preexisting left-wing beliefs being attracted to vegan-style tofu soy diets, we’re actually creating an army of soy boys from birth.”

Alt-right blogger Mike Cernovich is not only a leading proponent of the bizarre Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which in 2016, claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring in a Washington, DC pizzeria—he is also a strident critic of soy products, arguing that there is a correlation between liberal and progressive beliefs and use of soy products. And “soy boy” is one of his favorite insults.
…
In one on his anti-soy videos, Watson focused on “soy face” exclusively—arguing that because “soy boys” have lower testosterone, it shows in their facial expressions. Watson declared, “Look a little closer and see what soy face truly represents: weakness and fear….The globalist chemical warfare program to make men effeminate so they vote more like women and generally vote for left-wing policies and big government is still in full swing. But now that the testosterone-decimating effects of soy and plastics are being exposed, the reign of the soy boys is coming to an end.”

Health-related websites will continue to debate the merits of soy products, doing so in a non-political way. But to the alt-right’s conspiracy buffs, the use of soy is very much a political issue—and nothing says “giant left-wing conspiracy” like the abundance of mythical “soy boys.”

Sorry. Man boobs are a sign you’re getting old and out of shape, not that you’re eating too much Soy.

You know, I started Cody Johnston in Cartnoon because he used to be funny. Don’t believe me? Watch-

Fuller House

I mean it. Have you ever seen Fuller House? It is was always this bad (c’mon the theme song celebrates the fact that’s it’s utterly predictable in that three camera sitcom kind of way). The only break through character is Kimmy Gibbler (as memorable as Steve Urkle) and Dave Coulier totally disrespected my gal Alanis Morrisette in ways that are best settled at dawn- with pistols.

The best thing I can say about it is one of the Olsen Twins grew up to become The Scarlet Witch.

Tell me this isn’t funny-

Not any more. I’m going to start treating him like John Oliver and Samantha Bee.

Some News

Cody Johnston

Lügenpresse- Fake News in Nazi.

‘Press of lies’ is a pejorative political term used largely by German political movements for the printed press and the mass media at large, when it is believed not to have the quest for truth at the heart of its coverage. It can be considered synonymous with the term fake news.

The term Lügenpresse has been used intermittently since the 19th century in political polemics in Germany, by a wide range of groups and movements in a variety of debates and conflicts. Isolated uses can be traced back as far as the Vormärz period. The term gained traction in the March 1848 Revolution when Catholic circles employed it to attack the rising, hostile liberal press. In the Franco-German War (1870–71) and particularly World War I (1914–18) German intellectuals and journalists used the term to denounce what they believed was enemy war propaganda. The Evangelischer Pressedienst made its mission the fight against the “lying press” which it considered to be the “strongest weapon of the enemy”. After the war, German-speaking Marxists such as Karl Radek and Alexander Parvus vilified “the bourgeois lying press” as part of their class struggle rhetoric. The Nazis adopted the term for their propaganda against the Jewish, communist, and later the foreign press. During the protests of 1968, left-wing students disparaged the liberal-conservative Axel Springer publishing house, notably its flagship daily Bild, as a “lying press”.

Remind you of anything?

As always I don’t argue from authority. Replicate my results.

I want to make this crystal clear- I am probably on the record somewhere as saying I like and admire Michael Avenatti and if I had the resources he’d be my 4th choice for my personal attorney (Ok. The first one is a Republican and the most complete and total asshole it’s ever been my misfortune to meet. The second one I used to work for in my Club and his only problem is he thinks he’s the best lawyer in the world and he isn’t because he thinks he’s the best lawyer in the world. The third one I also know from my Club and the thing about him is while he’s not that good personally he knows every lawyer there is and doesn’t mind doing referrals.).

This is still the case. I regret nothing. The good. The bad. It’s all the same.

On the other hand if allegations about domestic violence are true I’d drop him quicker than Stephanie Clifford because I believe women when they report their experiences of abuse.

Only, in this instance, we have an acute absence of even a single woman. Avenatti’s ex and soon to be ex (c’mon, it’s California dude) both have publicly denied any irregularities in their relationships other than the normal ones that lead people to dissolve their marital contract (he leaves the seat up constantly and deliberately, she messes with the stuff in my man cave).

Does this remind you of another recent case of baseless accusation without a shred of evidence or even a victim?

Bob Mueller! Of course!

Then it won’t surprise you that Michael Avenatti believes the same pair of lying scam artists and con men behind that farrago of falsehood are also the source of the allegations agains him- Jacob Wohl, the 21 year old (born December 12, 1997) Alt-Right troll running a fake detective agency, Surefire Intelligence, out of his Mama’s basement, and Jack Burkman, the poor man’s Roger Stone wannabe.

Now the LAPD has arrested Avenatti on suspicion and one would hope they have a little more evidence than some Internet Rando’s Twit, then again this is the LAPD we’re talking about and other than the fictional Joe Friday and his partner Bill Gannon they don’t exactly have a sterling reputation for competence.

It remains to be seen how this works out but the Institutional Democrats celebrating Avenatti’s removal from the 2020 Primary field are not only premature, they should understand what draws people like me to consider supporting him.

He fights. You don’t.

Avenatti blames pro-Trump conspiracy theorist for arrest
By NATASHA KORECKI and DARREN SAMUELSOHN, Politico
11/15/2018

A day after he was arrested on domestic violence allegations, Stormy Daniels attorney and 2020 aspirant Michael Avenatti suggested on social media that pro-Trump activist Jacob Wohl was behind his legal ordeal.

“First Mueller and now me. When we are fully exonerated I am coming for you Jacob Wohl aka Surefire,” Avenatti tweeted.
…
Wohl, a former hedge fund manager and right-wing blogger, is a central figure in a widely dismissed plot accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct. At a recent Northern Virginia news conference where he made the claims against Mueller, Wohl acknowledged his connection to a firm called Surefire Intelligence. That private intelligence firm’s Twitter account on Thursday tweeted a link to Avenatti’s arrest then declared: “Surefire Intelligence strikes again.”

Reached Thursday, a Wohl associate who partnered with him on the Mueller allegations, Jack Burkman, said he knew nothing of Avenatti’s allegation against Wohl and said he knew nothing of Avenatti’s arrest until he received media calls. “Must be a West Coast thing,” Burkman said.

Wohl could not be reached for comment.

Over Twitter, Wohl denied any involvement in Avenatti’s situation and said he considered Avenatti’s “I’m coming for you” language a threat and reported it to law enforcement.

“Michael Avenatti seems to believe that I am responsible for him raising his hand to a woman. I am not. Will he release the pictures of his battered victim?”

Avenatti was arrested Wednesday afternoon on the 10000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard and police say he was booked on suspicion of domestic violence.

Prosecutors will ultimately determine whether formal charges will be filed against Avenatti but they have not yet received his case for review, a Los Angeles District Attorney’s office spokesman said Thursday. Avenatti is due in court on Dec. 5, police said.

After his arrest, Avenatti’s ex-wife and his second wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, with whom he is in the midst of a divorce, released statements defending Avenatti, saying he had never demonstrated evidence of violence. Upon his release from jail, Avenatti told reporters he had never struck a woman and welcomed a full investigation, which he predicted would clear him.

Also Thursday, Avenatti’s most prominent client, Stephanie Clifford — better known by her porn name Stormy Daniels — released a statement saying that if the allegations against Avenatti were true she would seek other representation. But she urged that “we should all reserve judgment” until an investigation is completed.

Well Stephanie, I’d settle for a credible allegation but we don’t even have that yet.

There is a common term for this type of disinformation that TMC doesn’t like me to use on the Front Page because it’s not safe for work. I am loath to self censor but you can probably fill in the gaps if I tell you it rhymes with “Trucking” and starts with an ‘R’ like “Republican”. A more Internetty term is “SWATing” which designates the practice of making spurious complaints to the Police in order to generate raids and arrests of people you find disagreeable, the more violent, public, destructive, and embarrassing the better.

The Jury is still out.

Look, there is definitely a Left case to make against the European Union- it’s Institutions are Anti-Democratic, it’s regulatory bodies are Industry Captured and in a way that prevents local initiatives to mitigate negative effects (affects is pretending), it’s Financial Institutions are biased toward Hayekian Austerity. These are all very good points which might have led me to vote “Leave” in 2015.

Ad Hominem. Ex uno disce omnes. People are quick to label it a fallacy but in many real life situations if you examine a person’s motivations and history you can discover their arguments are entirely specious and self serving. A trivial illustration- if you recommend the insights of Charles Murray (The Bell Curve) not only am I going to question your taste, I’m going to closely examine your future and past statements for other signs you’re a stone cold bigot.

Thus it is with Brexit, the fever dream of the farthest right Conservatives in England (though Steve Bannon makes them all look like Commies). Their reasons are not good reasons (Xenophobia and Racism mostly) and the ease with which they contended the transition could take place is demonstrably false.

That said I can understand Jeremy Corbyn’s reluctant support for “Remain”. Not only does “Leave” honestly represent his sentiments of 40 years or so (as I say, there is a strong Left case) it also reflects the views of almost 50% of Labour voters, some of whom are his most reliable core base.

What is clear now that wasn’t in 2015 (yes, I expect the hoots and jeers of the prescient crystal ball crowd) is that the Tories are utterly incapable of pulling it off. Their Party is riven between greed heads who want to stay and ultra-nationalists who are hell bent on closing the borders (sound familiar? Bueller? Buelller?).

This along with the inherent difficulties of extracting the British Economy from 60 years of European involvement and the general incompetence of Conservatives to do anything but make the lives of the poor and disenfranchised miserable (Ok. WW II. They didn’t screw that up bad enough to lose, though they lost their Empire in the process) means it’s impossible for Theresa May to negotiate a Brexit deal that satisfies her Parliament members.

The proximate problem is that there is no way to negotiate a satisfactory Customs Border between Northern Ireland and The Republic Of. The coalition partners she depends on to maintain her working majority, the Democratic Unionist Party, insist that there can be no border between Northern Ireland and Britain. The Republic of Ireland insists there can be no border between Ireland and the North.

Oh, and they’re going to stay in the EU thank you very much.

These positions are irreconcilable because the Republic of Ireland has veto power through the EU over any agreement and May’s Government can not survive without the DUP, not to mention half her caucus thinks she is insufficiently ardent in her defense of slavery Brexit because she initially opposed it.

Today at least 5 Cabinet members have resigned over her most recent proposal (the day isn’t over yet) and if she isn’t felled by a No Confidence vote in her own Party, she shall certainly be defeated in Parliament on the issue (Jeremy Corbyn and Labour have pledged unified dissent as has the Scottish National Party). She only has a 2 vote margin. If only the Tories who have already resigned their leadership positions put their money where their mouth is she will be forced to call a snap election that Labour will almost surely win.

So, good news… maybe.

I think it likely Corbyn, once installed as Prime Minister, will call for a confirmation vote and the EU will probably grant him the time to do that and, if it’s still relevant, re-negotiate the Brexit deal.

Then we can go back to the normal level of antagonism.

Britain Could Have No Brexit Deal and a New Prime Minister by the Time This Chaos Ends
By Joshua Keating, Slate
Nov 15, 2018

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May presented a draft agreement to her Cabinet, establishing the terms for Britain’s withdrawal, which is due to take place on March 29. After a contentious five-hour meeting, the Cabinet reluctantly approved the agreement, which still must be approved by Parliament. But today, two Cabinet ministers resigned over the agreement, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and several junior ministers. Current Environment Minister Michael Gove, the most prominent pro-Brexit voice remaining in the Cabinet, is thought to be in line to take Raab’s job, but according to the BBC, he will take it only if he can renegotiate the deal.

Pro-Brexit members of May’s Conservative Party as well as the opposition parties have been trashing the deal in Parliament today. Hard-line Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has called for a vote of no confidence in May, as have up to a dozen other Tories. If 48 Conservative members of Parliament submit letters, it will trigger a vote.

May can then either fall on her sword and resign, or try to win the vote. Even if she survives, the breadth and vehemence of the opposition to her deal from both sides of the aisle today suggests she will have a tough fight getting it approved in Parliament, where her coalition has only a very narrow majority.

The 585-page document, the product of months of negotiations with EU leaders, resolves a number of key issues, including Britain’s financial obligations to the EU and the rights of EU citizens currently living in Britain and British citizens currently living elsewhere in Europe. A final trade agreement between Britain and the bloc would be negotiated during a 21-month transition period.

The most contentious issue in negotiations—surprisingly, given that it was barely discussed in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016—is the status of Northern Ireland. This is the only part of the United Kingdom that has a land border with the EU, meaning that goods crossing it would somehow need to be checked for EU standards and tariffs. Neither side wants to impose a hard border with customs checks, which, it is feared, could imperil the region’s hard-won peace. The EU has insisted on what’s been called a “backstop,” an agreement that will keep Northern Ireland in a single market for goods and customs union with the rest of Europe if the two sides can’t resolve the issue by 2020. Since this would essentially involve creating an economic border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., it is anathema to British conservatives—and even more so to the Democratic Unionist Party, the right-wing Northern Irish party that May has depended on for her parliamentary majority since calling an ill-advised general election last year.

All this has created what’s been called the “trilemma.” Britain wants to leave the EU’s single market, avoid a hard border in Ireland, and keep the country economically united. “You can have two of those things, but you can’t have three of those things,” Amanda Sloat, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe, told me.
…
Even if May survives today’s leadership challenge and then defies the odds by getting her agreement approved by Parliament, the Irish trilemma isn’t going away, and no one seems to have a good idea of how to solve it. There are hopes that technological solutions could be put in place to track goods crossing the border without customs posts, but currently this tech, as one official recently put it, “is either untested or does not exist.” But at the very least, the backstop would buy May’s government some more time to figure out a solution.

If May is forced to resign by her own party now—or if Parliament rejects her deal, which could lead to her resignation and new general elections—then it’s anybody’s guess what happens next. There’s little time left to negotiate a new deal with Brussels, and EU leaders have indicated they have little interest in going back to the table. An emergency session of the 27 EU member states is likely to be held later this month to sign off on the current deal.

The prospect of an economically disastrous “no deal” Brexit is growing steadily. Speaking to Parliament last night, May gave a glimmer of hope to those hoping Brexit might still be avoided altogether, saying, “We can choose to leave with no deal, we can risk no Brexit at all, or we can choose to unite and support the best deal that can be negotiated,” May told the House of Commons.

Testis in uno falsus, in nullo fidem meretur.