The Oasis for
Rational Conservatives

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Member Menu

The Amazon's Pantanal

Serengeti Birthing Safari

Wheeler Expeditions

Member Discussions

Article Archives

Archives

L i k e U s ! ! !

WHO KNEW TRUMP IS A FOREIGN POLICY GENIUS?

Ntrump-and-kim-agreementobody knew.  None of us saw it.  Among his biggest supporters, maybe a handful suspected it.

Many of us expected the economic renewal of the U.S. to happen.  Many of us foresaw a significant roll back of Saint Barack's horrid, destructive agenda.   A lot of us hoped for a major push back on the Left.

All of which we have gotten.

None of us expected Donald Trump to be a giant in foreign policy.  No one expected him to reshape the world.  Yet Donald Trump, in a short time, is doing so.  We have not seen a better, more fruitful, and more capable foreign policy than this administration since the great Ronald Reagan.

Here are some of President Trump’s accomplishments – less than half way into his first term.  They are simply astounding – to America’s great benefit, to the great dismay of the Left.

Read more...

OBAMA’S SILENCING OF INSPECTOR GENERALS

not-a-smidgen-of-corruptionDepartment of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, an Obama Administration appointee, is scheduled to deliver a report this afternoon (6/14) on DOJ and FBI abuses during the 2016 campaign cycle.

Remember: His last investigation of FBI misconduct advised a criminal referral for fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who allegedly lied to federal investigators.

McCabe and at least a half-dozen other FBI employees quit, retired, were fired, or were reassigned as a result of fallout from the politicization of the FBI.

Yet, as Barack Obama left office, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, strangely boasted that the Obama Administration “has been historically free of scandal.” Obama himself recently concluded of his eight-year tenure, “I didn’t have scandals.”

That’s because the Obama Administration succeeded in covering up its non-stop scandals by waging a veritable war against the watchdog inspectors general of various federal agencies.  Here’s the record.

Read more...

THE AGEING OF THE DAWN OF AQUARIUS IN EUROPE

aquarius When every last Trudeau eyebrow has been scraped off the floor of the Manoir Richelieu, it's worth remembering that the divisions in the G7 are not quite as straightforward as the media would have us believe. For one thing, it's not G6 vs. Trump, for there's another disrupter in town:

trump-tweet-060918 And how about this for getting it right?  For the first time since the "humanitarian crisis" began five years ago, the Italian government has closed its ports to a migrant vessel: The MV Aquarius, operated by SOS Mediterranée and Médecins Sans Frontières, was refused permission to dock in Sicily, and told to push off and find somewhere else.

As the London Economist sniffed (6/12):  Italy Refuses to Let a Boat Full of Migrants Land. After all, what could be more heartwarming than an NGO rescue ship named after a song from Hair?

Read more...

ARE US ENVIRONMENTALISTS BEING BRIBED BY CHINA AND RUSSIA TO SUPPORT THEIR POLLUTION?

the-dealTwo of the world’s biggest polluters are China and Russia.

You would think that U.S. environmental groups would be major critics of these countries; yet, the reality is some take money from entities controlled by these governments and disseminate their propaganda.

Over the last several years, many articles have been written (including mine on TTP here, here, and here) documenting how Russian groups funneled money into U.S. environmental organizations, which, in turn, was used to oppose fracking in the U.S. and the construction of new pipelines.

The environmental groups used the Russian monies to lobby against U.S. consumers and support their Democrat allies.

This past week (6/05), the Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations wrote a six-page letter to the president of a major environmental group — the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) — asking for information regarding its relationship with the Chinese government.

It looks like the Chinese are copying the Russians with bribes to environmentalists to support their pollution.

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 06/08/18

Welcome to the Hahahahahah! HFR.  I cannot recall a week that has brought me so many belly-laughs as this one.  I think you’ll agree.

Let’s, however, pull some heartstrings first.  On Wednesday (6/06), President Trump commuted the life sentence with no parole for Alice Marie Johnson, who was in her 21st year of federal prison.  Here she is greeted by her family upon her release:

 

She expresses nothing but thankfulness and gratitude, looking at the television cameras to say “God bless America.”  In an interview with the Associated Press, she said:
"I'd like to say, President Trump, thank you for having mercy upon me. Thank you for taking the time to look at my case, and feel like I deserve a second chance in life. I promise I will not let you down."
Okay, ready to laugh your head off?  Here we go…

Read more...

WHERE’S THE LEFT’S HORSE?

It’s one of the most terrifyingly memorable scenes in all motion pictures.  If you’ve ever seen The Godfather, the 1970 original, you’ve never forgotten it.

The Godfather’s consigliore goes to see a famous movie producer about a movie role for his godson.  This is what happens:

 

In a subsequent scene, it’s casually mentioned in passing that the godson got the role.

I was prompted to recall this by the events of the last several days.  You can prod and prod and prod someone until they finally snap and can’t take it anymore.  Everyone has their limit and I have reached mine.  I want to know where the Left’s horse is.

Read more...

DEMOCRATS’ IT SCANDAL SET TO EXPLODE

trump-tweet-060718 No wonder the President was so upset he tweeted this earlier today (6/07).  He was reminded how bad this scandal is when he saw Luke Rosiak’s latest report on it in The Daily Caller Wednesday (6/05):  Wasserman Schultz Screamed At House Officials To Kill Hacking Probe.

The woman is terrified and for good reason.

The curious case of Imran Awan, which sounds like an international spy thriller, is entering its third act. Awan was a congressional IT aide to Florida Dem Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and he was finally fired just after he was arrested trying to fly to Pakistan last summer.

Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, were charged last summer with bank fraud. They now appear poised to strike a plea deal with the Department of Justice. A plea agreement hearing is set for July 3 before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington, Fox News reported Wednesday.

Theft of congressional equipment, massive data breaches of Congress members’ emails, massive espionage and more are all wrapped up in this case that involves data from 40 or more Democrat members of Congress.  After endless delays, we may have explosive traction.

Read more...

BYE BYE MISS AMERICA

Sandra Bullock is Miss Congeniality

New York Times headline yesterday (6/05), “Miss America Ends Swimsuit Competition.”

Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the now-swimsuit-free Miss America, would very much like you to know that she isn’t just a pretty face. She also has a degree from Stanford and spent a year studying Virginia Woolf at Oxford.

Even so, let’s pause and ponder for a moment which  elements on her CV got the studio executives most excited when considering her for her jobs on TV.  Choose a) or b).

Read more...

EUROPE’S VANISHING CALM

vanishing-calmAvignon, France—The Rhone River Valley in southern France is a storybook marriage of high technology, traditional vineyards, and ancestral villages. High-speed trains and well-designed toll roads crisscross majestic cathedrals, castles, and chateaus.

Traveling in a Europe at peace these days evokes both historical and literary allusions. As with the infrastructure and engineering of the late Roman Empire right before its erosion, the Continent rests at its pinnacle of technological achievement.

There is a Roman Empire-like sameness throughout Europe in fashion, popular culture and government protocol—a welcome change from the deadly fault lines of 1914 and 1939.

Yet, as in the waning days of Rome, there is a growing uncertainty beneath the European calm.

The present generation has inherited the physical architecture and art of a once-great West—cathedrals, theaters, and museums. But it seems to lack the confidence that it could ever create the conditions to match, much less exceed, such achievement.

Read more...

THE RICE BUNNY THREAT TO CHINA’S COMMUNISTS

one-in-three-women On Sunday, June 3, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a press statement regarding the 29th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre by the Chinese Communist Government on June 4, 1989.   In part it read:

“We join others in the international community in urging the Chinese government to make a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing; to release those who have been jailed for striving to keep the memory of Tiananmen Square alive; and to end the continued harassment of demonstration participants and their families.”
While this was seriously displeasing to China’s rulers, they are in fact more worried about what is happening in their country right now. It’s being called the “Rice Bunny” movement for women’s rights in Communist China.  The characters for “rice bunny,” you see, are pronounced “me-too.”

Read more...

IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY MONEY

monopoly-moneyThe problems with the existing government monopoly monetary systems are well known to most economists and financial markets experts; hence, the quest for alternatives to government monies in the search for stable money substitutes.

Cryptocurrencies, using tools like blockchains, appear to many to hold the greatest promise. The noted economist F.A. Hayek crisply explained why nongovernment money, such as those backed by a basket of privately held commodities, is likely to be superior in his landmark book, “Denationalization of Money,” published in 1976.

Mr. Hayek wrote long before the Internet, blockchains and highly secure, easy-to-use encryption. With the new technologies, his arguments have increasingly become a practical reality.

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 06/01/18

Welcome to the Bogart In The White House HFR.

 Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon with Mary Astor and Peter Lorre

POTUS in Nashville, Tuesday May 29

Then we have the Trump Lesson of the Week – perhaps of the entire Trump Presidency, all 8 years of it.  It takes Nicky Parsons in The Bourne Supremacy a few seconds to describe Donald Trump to a T… That’s just for openers.  Here we go with one amazing week.

Read more...

THE DEMOCRAT DREAM – WHERE ORWELL’S 1984 IS REAL

korea-on-mapAs of today (May 31), it looks like the Trump-Kim Summit will still take place in Singapore on June 12.  Peace between North and South Korea would be an astounding achievement, previously deemed utterly impossible.  That it may be possible we will see, this December 10 in Norway’s Oslo City Hall, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un awarded the Nobel Peace Prize boggles the mind.

I have been to North Korea three times, 2010-2012.  Now might be a good time to tell you about it.

As you may know, I’ve been to every country in the world (198 counting 193 UN member states, 2 UN observer states, and 3 sovereign countries blocked from UN membership: Taiwan, Kosovo, and Somaliland), as well as over another 100 separate political jurisdictions.

So it is with some authority I can say North Korea is far – far – away the weirdest place on the planet.  It is George Orwell’s 1984 made real.  Thus it is not easy to describe something so off-the-wall bizarre, so totally over the top that there’s nothing to compare it to.

Let’s start with the unexpected.  For example, North Korea is an environmentalist’s paradise.

Read more...