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]
But the question I have now for our little blue, upper left corner of the U.S. is what are we going to do about the other half of the country that does not see the world the way we do? Are we going to wish them away, or curse them or berate them into acquiescence? Have any of those strategies worked in the past?
Naomi Ishisaka
Seattle Times columnist
Dear Seattle: You can dismiss Trumpism. But how’s that working for you?
November 15, 2020
[Via email from Chet.
I find it very telling that she considers people who voted for Trump to be a problem in need of a solution. It never seems to cross her mind that perhaps they have a point or two worthy of consideration as to why the progressive agenda is something to be avoided.
Condescension, dismissal, insults, and violence are yielding counterproductive results. Yet, I don’t think they will alter their behavior in a way that will improve their appeal to those who voted against them.
She advocates for “deep, structural changes … to our electoral system, to the control of the media and in many other arenas“. That will not go over well and I think she knows it. I have a nagging feeling she is foreshadowing a “final solution” but doesn’t want to openly say it — yet.
We live in interesting times.—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.
This is about a principle. Donald Trump is the elected head of state, and he is being denied a platform to address the people he represents by the faceless servants of corporate media oligarchs.
This is a terrible, terrifyingly awful precedent to set.
The owners of Comcast or Warner Bros or Disney or Facebook or Twitter are not elected officials. They have no legal authority, and thus no accountability. Yet they are claiming the right to determine what elected officials can and cannot say to the people who elected them.
There is a strain of thought that this kind of censorship is justified. “Spreading disinformation puts lives at risk”, they say. “If the media stopped people lying we wouldn’t be in this mess” or “the news should only broadcast the truth!”.
The argument goes that “allowing Donald Trump to “publicly undermine our democratic institutions will erode the public trust and could lead to violence.”
But I would argue that empowering billionaires to hold a monopoly on “the truth” is far more dangerous to democracy than anything Trump could ever say.
To people inclined to disagree, I leave these five questions. Answer them, if you can:
Kit Knightly
November 8, 2020
Censoring Donald Trump is more “dangerous to democracy” than anything he could ever say
[The main stream media and social media platforms don’t seem to have a problem publishing things about gun ownership that’s fractally wrong. Hence, this isn’t about truth or falsity. This is about deliberate suppression of political opposition.—Joe]
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]
Via a Tweet from Chuck Petras:
Also from Chuck on the same topic:
And reassurance that it is, at least mostly, true from CNN:
Supreme Court is about to have 3 Bush v. Gore alumni sitting on the bench
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, once confirmed, will be one of three current Supreme Court justices who assisted the legal team of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the Florida ballot-recount battle that came down to a single vote at the Supreme Court.
The court’s December 12, 2000, decision cutting off Florida recounts tore apart the justices and the nation, and the case hovers in the air today as America approaches the November 3 presidential election.
We live in interesting times.
A full-blown all-out civil war to extinction between ideologies is the last thing I want.
But it’s STILL on the list.
Aesop
November 5, 2020
Comment to No matter who wins this year’s election, we can’t go on living together like this
[We live in interesting times.—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.
I have a couple of cubic yards of ammo, but I’d feel more comfortable with four.
Jim Harris
November 8, 2020
Comment to How’s everybody doing for ammunition? And what’s the full loadout for Pak36? Asking for a friend…
[Unless your stockpiling for your neighborhood, I think the money and time would be better spent on training and practice.
But, still, I rather like what he said.—Joe]
There has been a massive and coordinated effort to steal this election from We The People of the United States of America to delegitimize and destroy votes for Donald Trump. To manufacture votes for Joe Biden. They’ve done it in every way imaginable, from having dead people vote in record numbers, to absolutely fraudulently creating ballots that exist only for voting for Biden. We’ve identified over 450,000 ballots that miraculously only have a vote for Joe Biden on them and no other candidate.
Sidney Powell
November 8, 2020
We’ve Identified 450,000 Ballots that Miraculously ONLY have a Vote for Joe Biden” – Sidney Powell Drops a BOMB on Sunday Morning Futures (Video)
[We live in interesting times.—Joe]
I have to wonder what happened to the active FBI investigation over Biden money laundering.
One would think that at least Kamala Harris would be interesting in seeing that case brought to fruition.
Benford’s Law seems sort of magical but it was first observed in 1881 and is frequently used by statisticians/accountants to detect anomalies.
As it applies to our current situation is explained here and reposted here.
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.
From Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays:
To believe Biden will be sworn in as president in January, one must believe at least one unlikely thing:
1. Despite being brainwashed to believe Trump is Hitler, Democrats in key cities did NOT attempt a large-scale voter fraud to save the country.
or. . .
2. Democrats did commit major voting fraud to remove “Hitler” but for some strange reason all the geniuses looking for indications of it can’t find any confirmed evidence and there are no whistleblowers.
or. . .
3. Democrats WANTED to commit major fraud to get rid of “Hitler” but there is no practical way to do such a thing and hope to get away with it.
or. . .
4. Democrats didn’t REALLY think Trump was so bad that it was worth cheating to remove him.
Remember, it’s still #2020.
I see one more unlikely possibility:
5. Fraud did occur and was discovered but no one with standing is interested in and/or willing to pursue it in court.
Via Matthew Bracken @Matt_Bracken:
[Deleted]
I’ve deleted this meme. It was overstating things more than what I think is acceptable.
Yes, it is an acknowledged fact that Kamala Harris was dating Willy Brown in 1994 and 1995 and that he gave her political appointments at or about that time. This probably should have been investigated as nepotism.
But the meme strongly implies her selection as a U.S. V.P. candidate was because of her sleeping with “powerfully connected men”. This is a big stretch with the currently available evidence. Where there relationships with other men which also contributed to her success? I’ve not heard of any. And I’m nearly certain there have been a lot of people looking for that sort of dirt and would have reported it if they had found it.
Certainly the case can be made that her appointments 25 years put her on a path to her current position. But the path is far too long to reasonably say the Willy Brown relationship was a dominate factor in her successful traversal of that path.
The two sides in American politics today lack almost all middle ground. There can be no “meeting of the minds” if the minds are so diametrically opposed to each other. This election has not solved that problem, and no election will. Nevertheless, we’d better try to find a solution . . . because if we don’t, the next Battle of Fort Sumter may be all too ready to erupt. We may be seeing its first skirmishes on our streets as I write these words.
Peter Grant
November 5, 2020
No matter who wins this year’s election, we can’t go on living together like this
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Bill Whittle is more passionate than I have ever seen him before. As Matthew Bracken said:
Start watching at 3 minutes 50 seconds. Don’t miss it. You can explain this easily to even your dimmest democrat relative or neighbor.