There is hope so long as there is one man left living on earth. There is hope, but it will not be saved automatically. It depends on the free will and choice of every man who is able to think. Those who don’t want to think don’t matter in this issue. They’re merely social ballast.
Ayn Rand
1982 public lecture
[It seems we have a lot of social ballast these days.—Joe]
There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump was appointed by God to clean up all the corruption that we have endured throughout the United States of America for the past 40 to 50 years. President Trump offers hope for us all, so we, our children and grandchildren will live better lives once the corruption is cleaned up. We will then endure a more peaceful, loving and kind world.
Sherry Bodin
November 16, 2020
Comment to:
[Video link via brother Doug.
I have a strong interest in psychology. I took a bunch of psych classes in college and I think I got straight A’s on them. I find the whole Trump as president thing extremely interesting. We have such an extreme division in this country about his character. From “racist, fascist, criminal, and all supporters and enablers must be ‘dealt with’ so our country can heal” to “appointed by God”.
How can two sets of people, all working with access to the same dataset, arrive at such different conclusions? Some, perhaps even most, are living in an alternate universes.
Reality is really, really tough. I get that. But still, it’s such a wide range of reactions that I find it difficult to imagine that I could intentionally create a data set such that some group of people could examine the data and divide into such an extreme range of opinions on what the data means.
If it weren’t for the deadly seriousness of our situation I would stock up on popcorn. Then, every night I would sit down with a full bowl and have myself a good laugh at the absurdity of human nature.—Joe]
The Establishment blew off Donald John Trump only to watch with jaw agape as he was sworn into office on January 20, 2017.
Let’s not blow off Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. You may not see her appeal, but millions of Democrats do. She is the soul of the soulless Democrat Party.
AOC’s danger is that unlike Obama, Manchin, and the rest of the 50 and older crowd in the Democrat Party, she does not seek power. She seeks a revolution.
…
She is playing with racist fire. Her message is clear. Black and brown people are superior to white people.
This is not the Democrat Party’s worst nightmare. Democrats believe this rhetoric and the ideas it stands for will propel them to power.
No, this is America’s worst nightmare.
Wake the heck up.
Don Surber
December 23, 2020
Don’t blow off AOC
[He makes some interesting points. Particularly interesting to me is that the long time democrats who are despicable in their politics like Schumer (69), Feinstein (80), Biden (77), Durbin (75) are moderate by comparison with AOC. And most importantly they are old and won’t long have a “moderating” effect on the party. AOC and the squad want a revolution and they have serious potential to pull it off even with crazy ideas like defunding the police. Calls to defunding the police shouldn’t elicit derision. It should be a call to immediate action. This is the path Lenin took.
Look at other socialist/communist revolutions. Most (all?) of those started with someone who was disregarded and “blown off” as crazy, irrelevant, etc. in their first years.—Joe]
From someone on Facebook:
In response to this, my first thought is what Henry David Thoreau had to say about this sort of thing:
If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.
The second thought is:
You won’t be judged by your intentions. You will be judged by your actions.
Your intentions will only be considered during the penalty phase of your trial.
You can’t heal or reform the GOP who are now an extremist party. They have to be broken, burned down and rebuilt. When Biden is in power treat them like the active threats to democracy they are. If those who committed crimes aren’t punished then they will be more emboldened.
Wajahat “Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic” Ali @WajahatAli
Tweeted on November 9, 2020
[This isn’t some random troll. This is a “@nytimes Contributing Oped Writer” with a blue checkmark on Twitter.
This is what they think of you. This is what you need to prepare for.—Joe]
I think it was Glenn Reynolds who said, paraphrasing, “We have Trump for president because they wouldn’t listen to us. If they don’t listen to us now they will like what comes next even less.”
Here’s a hint of what comes next:
A banded group of brothers and sisters to show America who runs the country
The Facebook group now has over 44K members.
I you don’t want to join the Facebook group you can find out more about the group here. The bottom line is:
President Trump has worked diligently for four long years to protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans, and very importantly the blue-collar workers of this country. The blue-collar workers are literally the ones that make the wheels turn! Without truck drivers this country could not survive for long.
…
We will STOP ALL TIRES for 24 hours on Veterans Day 11/11/20. If this is not effective and our leaders do not respect that blue-collar truck drivers are having to face domestic terrorism, primarily in democrat run cities all over the United States, and that we do not support the banning of fracking in any way, then we will have our second STOP OF TIRES for FOUR full days 11/26/20-11/29/20.
We are calling for all patriots to share this all over the country. We may not last long on Facebook, but please do not be deterred, and continue to share this on any social media or other outlets, that you have available to you.
I”m not sure how they will determine if they are effective in the reversal of the stated policy to ban fracking two months before a Biden/Harris administration takes office. Regardless, I support their sentiment and wish them success.
H/T to Chet for the email.
Via James O’Keefe @JamesOKeefeIII:
BREAKING: Here is the signed affidavit from Erie, Pennsylvania
Whistleblower Richard Hopkins that is now in the hands of Sen. Lindsey Graham and the Senate Judiciary Committee. #ExposeUSPS
I find it very odd that this supposedly happened in Pennsylvania but the affidavit was signed in Texas. I was notarized online via audio-video communication, but still.
I noted that this revolution’s logic leads to no logical end. That is because “the logic that drives each turn of our revolutionary spiral is Progressive Americans’ inherently insatiable desire to exercise their superiority over those they deem inferior.” Its force, I observed, “comes not from the substance of the Progressives’ demands,” but rather “from that which moves, changes, and multiplies their demands without end. That is the Progressives’ affirmation of superior worth, to be pursued by exercising dominance: superior identity affirmed via the inferior’s humiliation.” Affirmation of one’s own superiority by punishing inferiors is an addictive pleasure. It requires ever stronger, purer doses of infliction, and is inherently beyond satisfaction.
Angelo Codevilla
September 23, 2020
Revolution 2020
[Via Kevin.
As Codevilla pointed out this is a Stalinist revolution because of the top down nature of it. And as he points out here, “Affirmation of one’s own superiority by punishing inferiors is an addictive pleasure.” There is a deadly psychology here which I have described before.—Joe]
for the first time in my life i voted for a republican for president, congress, and senate leftist identitarianism and critical theory was the catalyst for me the democrats have refused to put an end to it in fact they’ve embraced it
TimcastFeed @TimcastFeed
Tooted on October 25, 2020
[We live in interesting times.—Joe]
Money doesn’t vote – people vote.
Richard Feldman
May 14, 2016
Revered or reviled, NRA’s power is at the polls
[Note the date. The year Donald Trump surprised most of the country.
Make your intentions clear. Vote.—Joe]
Via email from Karl B.:
Seattle City Council mulls law that could result in dismissal of many misdemeanor crimes
The Seattle City Council is considering new legislation that would create a legal loophole that would make substance addiction, mental illness or poverty a valid legal defense for nearly all misdemeanor crimes committed in the city.
…
The legislation was proposed by Seattle City Councilwoman Lisa Herbold last Wednesday.
The proposal would allow for the dismissal of crimes of poverty and it would do so by revising the definition of duress as a defense against prosecution.
…
If approved, the ordinance would excuse and dismiss — essentially legalizing — almost all misdemeanor crimes committed in Seattle by offenders who could show either:
- Symptoms of addiction without being required to provide a medical diagnosis;
- Symptoms of a mental disorder; or
- Poverty and the crime was committed to meet an “immediate and basic need.” For example, if a defendant argued they stole merchandise to sell for cash in order to purchase food, clothes or was trying to scrape together enough money for rent. The accused could not be convicted.
It’s like during the Russian revolution. The criminals were considered allies of the revolutionaries because they stole from people with private property.
Who would attempt to have a shop in Seattle with a law like this? Or even have a home in Seattle?
One has to conclude the City Council members who vote for this are deliberately trying to destroy the city and/or are out of touch with reality.
Louder With Crowder has the TOP 5 LIBERAL MELTDOWNS OVER AMY CONEY BARRETT’S CONFIRMATION TO THE SUPREME COURT
I particularly like this one:
‘..everyone except white men’ pic.twitter.com/GNdy8AHDHB
— EnterYourName (@tr00puRR) October 27, 2020
When I see liberals breaking down over their fear of being more free I have two reactions.
Liberals Tears is now also available as bacon scented gun oil, hand sanitizer and coffee.
* If you don’t care for this technically incorrect use of the word ‘liberal’ please replace it with ‘progressive’, ‘socialist’, ‘communist’, or other more accurate word describing these pathetic people.
I believe it is a whole new ball game….
David Hardy
October 27, 2020
Thinking Justice Barrett over….
[Yup.
And it’s GAME ON!—Joe]
Race (and sex, etc.) is yet another set of excuses for transferring power to the ruling class. The oligarchy is no more concerned about race than it is about education, or environmentalism, or sex, or anything else. It is about yet more discretionary power in the hands of its members, for whom not all blacks (or women, or whatevers) are to be advantaged—only the ones who serve ruling class purposes. In education, employment, and personnel management, co-opting compatible, non-threatening colleagues is the objective. As Joseph Biden put it succinctly: if you don’t vote for him, “you ain’t black.” A ruling class of ever-decreasing quality is a result.
Angelo Codevilla
September 23, 2020
Revolution 2020
[Via Kevin.—Joe]
The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was, in every meaningful sense, a Marxist revolution. A parallel state based on participatory workers’ organizations was led by a self-consciously revolutionary party to topple the existing state and erect a new one in its place. Indeed, Lenin acted on clear definitions from Marx about what constituted “the state”: “armed bodies of men,” that is to say, police, courts, prisons and the military. The Bolsheviks did not simply take the existing “armed bodies of men” and use them for their own purposes. Nor did the Communists of Eastern Europe. They destroyed existing institutions and replaced them with their own.
Sam Jacobs
October 2020
Cultural Marxism’s Origins: How the Disciples of an Obscure Italian Linguist Subverted America.
[“They destroyed existing institutions and replaced them with their own.”
Nazi Germany also developed their parallel “armed bodies of men”, the SS. The SS had several components:
The defunding of the police doesn’t look so incredibly stupid now, does it?
Respond appropriately.—Joe]
Even after we flush Trump, we have a difficult job to cleanse society of their diseased thinking.
Greg Banks
Island Country (Washington) prosecutor
Posted on Facebook September 30, 2020
[He has turned off his Facebook account, as he has several times in the past. At some time it probably will be turned back on.
More context is here.
Can you imagine being a Trump supporter in his county and your legally concealed firearm is briefly visible while reaching for an item on the top shelf at the grocery store and a Karen spots it?
I shudder to think about it. This is how we get reeducation camps and gulags.
And I was in his county for a few hours last Saturday.
Prepare appropriately.—Joe]
Last night I received a message from Barron:
Janelle and I just got permanently banned on FB. No possible appeal, no idea why.
…
And I mean at the same time. It was working for both of us this morning and then the traffic of me being gone started on the side channel. Janelle went to look and she was logged out and they said her account was disabled.
This is weird. It’s not like Barron and Janelle had followings which could change election outcomes. Nor were they advocating terrorist activities (although they do have three small boys which might be considered terrorists if you were sleep deprived and they were being particularly active).
So, what could be the motivation for their simultaneous banishment? I have to think it was some sort of political issue. But without additional data it’s tough to test that hypothesis.
Gotta feeling history will repeat itself
Evil Eye Of Seth Rollins @ThePunk1019
Tweeted on October 16, 2020
[If you replace “British” with one or more appropriate U.S. government organizations then it’s a plausible hypothesis.—Joe]
When this nightmare is over, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It would erase Trump’s lies, comfort those who have been harmed by his hatefulness, and name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe.
Robert Reich @RBReich
Tweeted on October 17, 2020
[This is where our country sits. It is on the precipice of a Stalinist and/or 1984 dystopia.
Reich is not some random troll or bot. This is a Berkeley professor (no surprise), who served in the administrations of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. He is a former Secretary of Labor and was a member of President Obama’s economic transition advisory board. He has a million Twitter followers.
Via Adam Baldwin who gives us these as the “chaser”:
Coincidently, Windy Wilson has relevant commentary on our present situation as well.
Prepare appropriately.—Joe]
… the vast majority of the American liberals quickly reverted to their prior anti2a positions and cheered on the proposed confiscation plans and helped ram anti2a legislation through every state they could as fast as they could.
They failed to realize that there were over 500 million firearms in the US and those they wished to disarm were those who were the most willing to have molon labe be their last words on this planet.
Piper Smith
Posted on Facebook October 17, 2020
[Interesting introduction to a short story or novel.—Joe]