Rumor mill says McConnell is about to call it quits: I guess that fall he took a little while back was much worse than originally advertised. The good news is that the Kentucky GOP rather miraculously engaged in foresight and in 2021 enacted – over the Democrat governor’s veto – a new provision for replacing a Senator: the governor must select between 3 different candidates put forward by the Party which won the previous Senate election. So, Mitch gets replaced by another GOPer. I do pray that McConnell recovers but I’m also happy he’s moving on…he did a lot of good things for us, but he’s too old and too old fashioned. He’s not the sort of leader we need in the Senate right now.
Update: In a Tweet, McConnell says he’ll return to the Senate on Monday, scotching that rumor, at least for now.
The IRS is now going to force 1099’s on anyone who receives $600.00 or more via Venmo or other electronic means. This is what Pudding Brain meant when he said he was going to make those billionaires pay their fair share: it was always about going after low paid people not letting Uncle Sam get his cut. As I’ve said again and again: the richest 1% doesn’t have any money. Not in relation to what Uncle Sam needs. In 2022 Uncle Sam spent $6.2 trillion. All the rich people in America, if we confiscated it, probably wouldn’t cover 80% of that. And even if it covered a year, that’s it. All done. No more rich people. You can only confiscate once. The real money in America – by a vast amount – is held by working people. Those who go to work every day and earn taxable wages. Each of us only has a small amount but there are 166.7 million of us. Collectively, we make vastly more than the super rich and the pool of taxable money replaces itself every year. Any “tax the rich” scheme by the Democrats will always work out to “soak the poor”. It simply can’t be any other way.
Netflix is going with a black Cleopatra. This is what she looked like from contemporary sources:
She was Greek. She might not have even known how to speak the Egyptian language. She was the tail end of a Greek Ruling Class which set itself up in Alexandria in the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s demise and simply milked Egypt for all it was worth. But even if she was the product of some intermarriage with native Egyptians, this is what Egyptians looked like:
Were Egyptians Swedes? No. But they also weren’t black Africans. They were fairly typical Mediterranean peoples – skin darker than northern Europeans but not as dark as Africans. Easily could have been admixture into them from both sub-Sahara and northern Europe (the more we study the ancients the more we’re finding that people really moved around a lot).
So, why are they doing this? Two reasons:
- To eliminate white people from any positive aspect of history. White people are the devil in modern thinking and so cannot be connected to anyone who ever did a good deed, or even did anything interesting. This is cultural erasure and it is spreading: black people are being credited with innovations of Europeans and rely on it, eventually black people will be credited with all technology, art, literature and architecture.
- The Left feels a need to create a pro-Black myth to replace the older, pro-White myth. They can’t go around and simply say that the old racism was wrong and we shouldn’t do it anymore. Because just saying that means you’re still sitting around wondering just why black Africans were so technologically backwards as late as the 19th century. Even in the Americas there were some impressive civilizations. The highest sub-Saharan cultures barely rose to the heights of the neolithic era. Only the Australians were more primitive. I mean, there are very obvious reasons for the lack of development…almost entirely stemming from the peculiar geography of Africa. But your basic Marxist “studies” professor probably can’t read a map and never learned about how trade developed. So, they just make up things.
The Ruling Class is really angry that someone leaked intel showing that the Ukrainian military is weak. They are leaving no stone unturned to find the miscreant. Which is kinda weird: after all, even if you support Ukraine, you still need to know the true situation so you can assess the needs and respond. Unless, of course, the whole thing is a money laundering grift and so you need to hide it all to keep it rolling until just before Russian tanks arrive in Kiev.
Blogs For Victory 
Your rules: it was cool to leak all over the place when Trump was in.
But even leaving aside partisan tit for tat, I also adjust with the times – had you actually been reading what I write rather than just sticking to talking points, you’d know that my views on government secrecy have radically altered and that this change of view started back when Obama was in office.
Government secrets are, in my view, unacceptable in a Republic. Outside of planned or ongoing US military operations or the specifications for new military hardware, there is no justification for secrets – and we’ve learned (well, I have; maybe you haven’t) that secrecy is really just the means whereby the government hides its incompetence and corruption from us.
Ukraine is not an American ally. We have no treaty obligations to them. We have no mutual defense pact. Huge amounts of American money are being poured into Ukraine and I have an absolute right – a moral obligation – to know how it is being spent and whether or not it is being effective in its purpose. I shouldn’t have to count on a leaker: I should be getting regular updates from official sources which are then checked for accuracy by an MSM unafraid to tell the truth.
What the leaks allege is that the Ukrainian military is far weaker than official pronouncements – that means that our government has been lying to us in order to sustain public support for aid to Ukraine. That is a crime against the people. We also learn that there may be US troops in Ukraine outside of any Congressional authorization. That is not only a crime against the people, it is an act of war against Russia.
We need to know.
“Your rules: it was cool to leak all over the place when Trump was in.”
Actually, those weren’t my rules. If your truly think so, feel free to point out where I said so.
“Had you actually been reading what I write rather than just sticking to talking points, you’d know that my views on government secrecy have radically altered and that this change of view started back when Obama was in office.”
Oh, I do know that. You have a lot of views that are rather unorthodox even for conservatives, including your views on national security, distributionism, and monarchism. I’m better read than you think, evidently. You once declared that you would not be able to retire and would have to work well into your eighties. How’s that going for you? You also once declared that there was no way of knowing whether the Beatles actually played their instruments, despite the Beatles being perhaps the most documented band in history (and seeing them play their instruments during a recent eight-hour documentary).
But I wasn’t addressing you particularly. It’s the flip-flop of garden variety Republicans that is quite impressive. It’s similar to the flip-flop you all had regarding personal morality when Donald Trump was elected.
Anyway, I look forward to the views of our resident Naval intelligence officer.
YOU’VE OBVIOUSLY KEPT METICULOUS RECORDS OF CONVERSATIONS ON THIS BLOG FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS, VISITING HERE UNDER A NUMBER OF SCREEN NAMES. (KIND OF CREEPY IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT) PLEASE REFER BACK TO YOUR COMMENTS DURING THE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS IN 2019 REGARDING “YOUR RULES.”//MODERATOR
Mark is something you are not.
Coherent.
Corporately: your rules. You’re of the Left. As you lump all Right together, so we will lump all Left together. Your side LOVES leaks when it harms a GOPer. So, all leaks are good, all the time. I’d prefer a system where only nefarious leaks are bad…but that is not the rules your side lives by and I insist upon using the same rules you do.
I don’t recall saying I’ll have to work until 80, at least not in any large sense…I’ve been looking towards 67 for a while now. Might have said something like that but it certainly isn’t central to my views.
As for personal morality: who is more immoral – the man who rumor says slept with a porn star, or the man who has never worked a day in his life but now owns a mansion after a 50 years in “public service”? By what stretch of the imagination can a moral man become a millionaire living off the taxpayer? You have an odd idea of what is moral: mine is very consistent and what is right and wrong never changes at all.
But what does change is the practical application of life. We do have to adjust how we carry out what is right and what is wrong. If I were to hold to the old standards of conduct, all I’d do is lose to people who adhere to no standards at all. Without lying or stealing, I will apply to policy the standards geared towards victory…and if that means I have to lump all of you together and hold you collectively guilty, as you do me, then I will.
I remember the day when Democrats applauded whistle blowers, and it wasn’t that long ago. Now, they want to punish anyone who shines a light on what our government is doing. Why? Because they are in charge. If Trump were still POTUS, and this leak came out, the whistle blower would be hailed as a patriot. And you know that to be true. So Forty, please stop. You embarrass yourself with every post. Are you still thinking AZ gets most it’s power from the Glenn Canyon Dam??
Anyway, I look forward to the views of our resident Naval intelligence officer.
You’re going to have a long wait.
I will never understand why Mark treats forty’s droppings as something worthy of response. It’s perfectly clear to the rest of us that s/he only comes here to bleat incessantly about how awful everyone on the Right is and how superior you feel to all of us but I guess if Mark wants to give him a platform it’s up to him.
I think s/he is so transparently just addicted to bickering and desperate to find someone, anyone, to engage, it doesn’t make sense to play along.
Welcome to the club.
There is no difference – Vindman was just leaking to his coreligionists in the MSM to get at Trump who was threatening to upset the corruption applecart in Ukraine.
Forty, just give it up: you’re not going to convince us that the fat tub of sh** is a hero while the idiot gamer is a traitor. We see what’s happened. We lived it. We remember it. We don’t watch the MSM so we are immune to the Propaganda about it.
A Target customer gets punched in the face after aggressively demanding the store pay her $1,000 in reparations.
This is a huge can of worms just waiting to spill. Those pushing / demanding reparations will cause a lot more damage than they imagine. It’s obvious, the left couldn’t care less about righting a wrong. They are intent on stirring the pot of anger / animosity, anything that will give them a reason to step in and force their will on the populace. I suspect this “leaked” sensitive data is also another ploy to demand government run surveillance on the American people, especially their social media accounts.
The Democrats have weaponized their voters, and now America suffers. That’s what’s happening.
18K Cows Killed in Texas Dairy Farm Explosion
Another major food source destroyed. Of course, it’s all coincidence.
Demoncrats have been pushing to urbanize our populations for some time now. In reality, the trend is quite different. Many of the leftist controlled cities and states have actually seen declining populations. There are scores of reasons for this including, lower birth rates which can be attributed to both abortion and lack of desire of the younger generation to raise families, unaffordable housing for the average person, a 40 year high inflation making the cost of living difficult for many, covid coupled with technology instigated changes pushing greater remote working options, skyrocketed increase in crime attributed to things like 1.) No bail, 2.) Unpunished criminal activity or reduced charges & sentencing, 3.) Decreased LEO protection…, insane legislation turning hard working, law abiding citizens into criminals for wanting to protect their lives and property, … the list goes on. Covid deaths didn’t help any either but my guess is the real covid related catastrophe is yet to come when there’s an explosion of deaths due to the jab, which is already causing historically higher death rates. About the only demographics adding population growth for these places comes in the form of homeless encampments and illegal immigrants.
Office occupancy has declined dramatically in many of the bigger cities like New York, and San Francisco where office vacancy has nearly quadrupled since the start of the pandemic. Vacant offices directly affects construction both new building and renovations, pushing jobs out of the area. On top of that, many major retailers have already or are planning to leave the troubled inner cities, adding to the loss of jobs. For example, Walmart just announced it will close 4 stores in Chicago. Target already closed 2 stores in the area. Many Walgreens & CVS stores closing in CA are from the bay area. Whole Foods grocery stores are also exiting several troubled leftist big cities.
Add to that the atrocious primary and secondary education system in these places, where high percentages of children cannot even pass grade appropriate standardized reading and math. In Baltimore, not one student was proficient in math in 23 schools and an additional 20 schools had no more than 2 students that tested proficient, for 2022. English didn’t fare much better. Yet, even with these reprehensible pass / fail rates, students are still advanced to the next class level. When considering the staggering amount of money taxpayers spend to educated the nation’s children, it can clearly be seen as a total waste for these areas. And this does not take into account the dangers many of these kids face with rampant drug, violence and indoctrination exposures. Just yesterday I heard of a 3 year old boy questioned on his first visit to the dentist office by the hygienist, do you identify as a boy, a girl or non-binary. How would you even react to such a question if you were his parent?
This deterioration in quality of life pales in comparison to the staggering corruption our government fosters upon its own people. The elites are working are breakneck pace to styme our voice, our freedoms and basic rights. Who would have thought this kind of activity would become commonplace in the US, 20 or more years ago? It gets exponentially worse on a daily basis while those in charge make absurd statements like; “I wasn’t aware” or “I wasn’t involved”, when the general public know full well, they are lying.
The last thing I wish to do is trigger emotional anger among sound minded people who then feel the need to declare some form of rhetoric easily spouted on the internet like. But the question remains – what will you do? Aside from voting for saner political and school board candidates, what form of action will you take that could make a difference in the tsunami we are currently facing? I could actually see small pockets of people attempting assassinations of the worst players. But that is rife with problems as it would seem difficult to garner enough “trusted” people to mount such activity, and even then, the effect would be minimal. There’s lots of talk about who has all the guns and the current restraint of using them, but I find it difficult to envision the kind of scenario where the actual perpetrators of this evil would be faced with an armed mob who demand accountability, especially when dealing with a corrupt justice system.
What will you do? I contemplate this question more often, trying to mentally play out options that are both timely and impactful. There’s often talk of a “line in the sand” but in reality, I rather doubt it is as clear as we might think. But before anyone can make ideal decisions, they must first have good information. With major control in the flow of information in the hands of leftist, people face even more difficulty in deciding what is true and what’s propaganda. Having blogs like this and certain new outlets or podcasters is crucial. I thank God and the good people who provide their time and honest thought on all of what we face, especially the primary contributors here.
If anyone has thoughts on more tangible actions to help change the direction of the mess we face, I’m all ears. It seems we will be faced with making sacrifices much like our founding fathers, different in context but every bit as dangerous. One thing I can say with confidence, we won’t get anywhere in this battle without God by our side. And for that to happen we must humbly pray. I know He has a plan, but that doesn’t mean we should sit and wait. Nor does it mean would should act in mindless haste. We must do our part to prepared. I’m just trying to figure out what that might be and the optimum use of our resources.
JDGE, you’ve asked a lot of good questions. I used to be the primary individual here who thought we would eventually win because we have all the guns and we would win the inevitable civil war. I’ve kind of moderated that view in recent months. I’m still glad we have all the guns as a last ditch fail-safe, but I think, at least in the short term, the winning strategy is to learn to play on the same field with the same rules as Democrats. If we can equalize that portion of the equation we’ll win, because we have better ideas. But, as has been discussed here recently, we’ve ceded a lot of ground to the Left in the last 100 years, and absent a violent political upheaval, we’re going to have to just start with the basics (like school boards, city and county councils, planning commissions, etc.) and work our way back to relevance.
Coffee & Covid has great post today, with lots of examples of grass-roots level push-back against Leftist policies.
It’s frustrating, and scary, to see how far down the rabbit hole we have gone. But I think we need to remember that while the death spiral has accelerated since Biden took office this deterioration of our country has actually been a long slow incremental process.
A great deal of its success has been its dumbing down of its base, its ability to train people to feel rather than think. I believe that most on the Right can explain at least to some extent, why they are on the Right—that is, to explain a belief that as a nation we must govern according to our Constitution. And I find that on the Left, this element is completely missing. Ask a Democrat why he is a Democrat and the answer is some version of TRUMP!!! So I think that our first step, aside from those you mentioned (retaking control of local government, etc.) is to figure out what it will take to blast these Identity “Politics” people out of their conviction that their emotional biases constitute political thought.
I look at what we know and think it possible that, if this were made more widely available to the public it might make a difference. Things like the Hunter Biden piggybacking on the name and status of his father to engage in abuse of power and corruption, enriching the entire Biden family. The problem with the Hunter Biden connection, or the Afghan debacle, just to name two important elements, is that they are a little complex and also already covered (as in ‘covered up’) by the Complicit Agenda Media. Explaining why they are important would be an uphill battle.
But there is one area that I think would be, to engage in some cultural appropriation of Leftist meme, a “bombshell”—and that is the sordid and appalling history of the Covid disaster, starting with the media/government collusion to discourage and then ban certain proven therapeutics purely to avoid the political problem (to them) of Trump being publicly right about how to deal with the problem and going through the Fauci corruption, the CDC involvement, the economic shutdown, the blatant corruption of the “vaxx” mandates along with the government funding of the drugs, etc. This is the kind of thing that, if fully and carefully explained, would upset tens of millions of people who right now believe that the Biden administration was acting in their best interest. (And remember, to shift the next presidential election we don’t need to shift eighty-one million. Shifting ten percent of the alleged Biden vote would mean a huge victory, especially if we could decide to enforce actual rules regarding certification, which is another of my soapboxes.)
The problem is, (1) it’s complicated and would call for a very carefully and coherently presented timeline, and on the Right our efforts to communicate are far from coherent, and (2) the issue of how to present this to the public. Even if we could put together a committee capable of compiling an easily understood narrative, getting it out there would mean having to deal with a hostile opposing force of the Agenda Media
The latter would take MONEY. Lots and lots of money. I think it could be done, but it would involve buying large amounts of prime time television time, mass mailings, social media campaigns, billboards and so on. Which takes us back to the herding-cats aspect of the GOP. The Left is rigidly organized, with the same narrative running through every Dem campaign all the way through every vote in either house of Congress. On the Right, the mantras are “You can’t tell ME what to do!” and “You’re not the boss of me!”
So I believe that if the GOP could/would act in a true leadership role, instead of just being an identifier of the party that is not the Dems, it could put together an national campaign which every candidate would represent in his or her race, coordinating messaging and publicity, and use the bankroll of the party more effectively in buying air time and figuring out other ways to get the messaging across.
One of the things we have to do—HAVE to do—is get away from identity Politics. Of course we have to address the shortcomings of our opponents, but we have to start doing so in the context of governance not just of personality. Going after Joe Biden as a corrupt and senile old man would have to be linked to a truly POLITICAL message—“and this would not be possible in a country where the people voted for the system they want to govern by instead of the persons they like or dislike, because the system he represents is one that is…..” We need to stop using shortcuts, stopping at saying something is, for example, “socialism” because that lets the Agenda Media jump in and sanitize the word so it no longer means anything. That means using sentences, phrases, such as Central Authority instead of government by the people and for the people, etc.
That also means the Right campaigning on terms of governance, not people. This would be especially important when our candidate is so polarizing. So millions of people are eager to vote for TRUMP!!!. Great. But we need to convince millions more that even if they can’t stand Trump The Man they need to look at the political system he represents and compare it to the one that is that of the Left. And no, I do not mean ISSUES. Referring to issues is important, but issues are at heart emotionally based and emotionally important and trying to change the way people FEEL is an uphill and futile battle. Why bother? So you don’t focus on the ISSUE but on the decision of whether it should be resolved through Constitutional means or by Central Authority edict. You make the point that in a presidential race, ISSUES other than that core decision about which structure of government you choose are really not that important, as if the choice is the Constitutional structure then these issues will and should be fought out at the state or local level and if you choose the Left then the elites will decide for you.
As long as the Left controls the narrative the Left controls the country. We are starting to realize that, finally, but we still have no idea how to reverse this. Fortunately, the Left is starting to help us with that, as its own narratives are starting to step on each other. The “feminist” narrative, for example, is now bumping heads with the reality that the “trans” narrative is actually diminishing and even erasing womanhood. The strategy of undermining our society by putting people in office who refuse to prosecute violent criminals is running into opposition, and is likely to result in states legislating to give governors the power to fire these “prosecutors”, as DeSantis did in Florida. The once-powerful word “racism” is becoming hollow and meaningless when it is used to describe mathematics, for example. States giddy with Leftist power are becoming laughingstocks as their people live in increasing misery and those who can leave are leaving. When the Left stumbles close to the edge of a cliff through its own messaging, we need to be organized enough to be ready to give it a little nudge to help it along.
Here’s a good example of the shit that Democrats and people like Forty have heaped upon this country …
Mom slams California school for transitioning her daughter to a boy ‘behind her back’ as district votes to KEEP parental secrecy policy
And then Forty questioned conservatives morals for voting for Trump. YCMTSU. They are severely brain damaged people and we need to put them down. Also, just look at the pictures of the two speakers. One is a beautiful concerned Mom, the other is a freak wearing make up who doesn’t want parents to know anything. Guess which one is the Democrat.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11971741/District-votes-parental-secrecy-policy-regarding-gender.html
The supporter for encouraging children to lie to their parents and hide important information from them: “….trans activist Squeaky Saint Francis, who is polyamorous, said school can often be the only place for children to discover their gender identity.
‘I will speak loud for those who cannot speak, I’m a proud he, she, they, them, whatever I am a boyfriend to a beautiful woman, I am a girlfriend to a handsome transman, and I am also a girlfriend to an incredibly beautiful woman,’ they said.”
Yeah, we really need to entrust our children to people like this. And then what a wonderful world it would be. //sarc off
I love watching Trump appear, confront, and contest the many witch hunts leveled against him. WE WIN IN THE END
Trump reverses his decision to plead the Fifth and answers questions for SEVEN HOURS and ‘boasts about extraordinary business success’ in $250M business fraud deposition brought by NY AG Letitia James
So I guess solar and wind power doesn’t fuel a war?? Who knew??
What also is unknown is that Zelensky has been buying the fuel from Russia, the country with which it, and Washington, are at war, and the Ukrainian president and many in his entourage have been skimming untold millions from the American dollars earmarked for diesel fuel payments.
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/trading-with-the-enemy
It was bound to happen — someone made a chart:
And then there is this:
And this:
She’s in the House, he wants Feinstein’s seat in the Senate, and they both seem pretty much like most of California’s Congress members.
The Biden 10-Step Plan for Global Chaos
As usual, VDH nails it.
Very good, and very sobering article from VDH
If you are an adult age 18-21 and up, and you think you are the opposite gender, you have a mental illness.
If you are a child age 5 and you think you are the opposite gender, you have mentally ill parents.
I think most don’t believe they ARE the opposite gender, but just want to be, because of some perceived advantage.
Spoiler Alert … they don’t blame the gun
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11966161/After-Louisville-gun-massacre-mass-shootings-rising-America.html
We have people in leadership in this country, that absolutely DO NOT BELONG in leadership. And there’s only one reason why most of them are in leadership …. think skin color
The funniest thing about this is the poor woman (Monica?) next to the mayor, who keeps grabbing his arm and trying to get him to calm down or at least sit down. Evidently this is not his first temper tantrum.
re: the comment. He was clearly not elected to lead. He was elected to check a box for race.
The illegitimate Gov. Of AZ has vetoed over 130 bi partisan bills in AZ, including this one.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) on Tuesday vetoed SB1027, which would have established “knowingly manufacturing carfentanil, fentanyl or fentanyl memetic substances under any circumstance that causes physical injury to a minor who is under 15 years of age as a class 2 felony offense punishable as a dangerous crime against children” and made changes to existing sentencing provisions for certain narcotic drug offenses.
Cartel Katie is governing against the wishes of Arizonans and is rarely seen in public. Is there any better example of what happens when Democrats cheat and steal elections?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/katie-hobbs-vetoes-bill-to-protect-children-from-fentanyl-poisoning/
OK, time for a feel-good moment:
Love that
Truth be told, I think the vast majority of Americans are still patriotic individuals. We used to have a regular FedEx driver who, I’m sure, would straighten a flag and salute it if given the chance. He always carried treats for our dog and was just an exceptionally nice young man (can I still say “man”?). Sadly, FedEx delivers so much stuff for Amazon that they contract out most, if not all deliveries, or at least that’s the way it seems. We rarely get the same person twice in a row.
I misspoke – most Amazon deliveries come in Amazon’s own trucks.
I got back to Colorado and found two Amazon boxes on my porch, addressed to a guy at a totally different address. The driver had to turn off the correct road onto a clearly marked street with a totally different name and then dump the boxes at a house with a totally different number, in spite of a neighbor’s effort to head this kind of thing off by putting up a sign at the entry to the street saying there are only two addresses on the street and it’s a dead end. Amazon is usually pretty good about deliveries, so this was a surprise. Amazon and FedEx drivers have been friendly and careful about my chickens, which I appreciated.
UPS, on the other hand, is a hot mess where I live. They don’t even try to deliver to the house, just dump the packages at a storefront where I have to go pick them up. And I have lost a pair of very expensive sunglasses which I think a driver stole (joke’s on him—the prescription was so strong he couldn’t use them) and two boxes of ammunition, one with a badly forged scribble that was supposed to be a signature and one just taken because the shipper had not specified signature required.
Hey Democrats, any chance you can keep your mentally retarded men away from the children??
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/14/tennessee-drag-show-laws-00091459
“This is what the world needs more of,” said Jennifer Iverson, explaining why she brought her young daughter to the show Sunday. “Everybody is so nice, and people are so friendly, and I can’t see anything wrong with it all, in any way, shape or form.”
Translation: “I think the world needs more focus on superficial aspects of womanhood such as boobs and big hair and exaggerated mannerisms, to teach girls that being a woman is really nothing more than superficial appearance. I want my daughter to learn that mocking women is just good clean fun by super-friendly people.”