There was a reason the British formed a Protectorate over what we call the United Arab Emirates. Same reason they grabbed Gibraltar and Malta. Singapore, too. Not to be overlords. It was just to have control over vital trade routes. Strategic points on the globe which the safety of Britain’s trade required. Because that was what the British Empire was actually about: trade. To be sure, the British eventually lost the plot. Pitt the Elder and Younger envisioned a commercial Empire where Britain ruled the waves and thus controlled global trade…this to both make Britain rich and to ensure Britain’s independence (an island nation controlling the seas is safe). As time went on a lot of factors combined to get the British into the game of massive land holdings until they ruled a quarter of the world’s land area…that was the real death knell of the British Empire because Britain was simply too small to both rule the waves and the land (they’d have needed a population many times larger than they had).
Basically, the UK got infected by Liberalism – the economic Liberalism which held that trade should be 100% “free” and the social Liberalism which held that you had to both extend the franchise and save people from themselves. A program of controlling global trade became Britain paying a premium to keep global trade free for economic and political rivals. The extension of the franchise brought into British politics people far more interested in getting welfare than defending Britain’s far-flung territories…while “saving” the people under their rule worked out to half-educating a bunch of rebels who undermined British rule. And we can see the end result – the half-educated rebels are now overrunning Britain while the welfare bums are only angry about the former colonial subjects dipping their fingers into the welfare pot. All around, a bad move – but the basic idea was correct. Had it been followed, Britain would to this day be a major player in the world. That, I think, is what Trump is basically after – control of global trade. A commercial empire designed to enrich us and ensure nobody can effectively attack the United States.
This is why we pressured Panama to get the ChiComs out of our Canal. Why we’ve entered into agreements with both Singapore and Malaya to control passage through the Straits of Malacca. Why we’re working with Morocco to essentially make our on Gibraltar in the Western Med. We’re essentially taking over the global movement of oil and natural gas. We’re building up our Navy and working on the means of reviving the American merchant marine. We don’t want anything but the trade – the ability to trade anywhere we want while being able with the snap of our fingers to bar a rival from the global trading system (China’s revived silk road through Asia will never do the trick – you just can’t beat moving goods by sea in terms of speed and cost per ton-mile). Iran is getting hit like it is because it was simply in the way of a larger plan – they don’t fully realize how unimportant they actually are. Neither does the rest of the world…because the rest of the world has been used to the USA standing in for Britain – keeping the sea lanes open for everyone else.
We will keep them open. As long as you cooperate. It is a very new day in global affairs.
How is Trump feeling about the midterms?
Could it be bluster? Well, everything about the future has some bluster attached to it – because we don’t know what will happen. But I’ve never been less worried about the outcome of an election. Partially this is just me getting old – the closer you get to the end the less you worry about how things are going here on Earth. Got bigger fish to fry, long term. But most of it is that the only metric looking good for Democrats is polling – and even in that, there are a few polls out there given zero play in the MSM/Social Media which show the GOP poised to do well. We will see how it comes out. High gas prices are a persistent negative…but employment is up, wages are up, crime is down, deportations are proceeding quickly…we’re doing well. And I doubt the people are ready to toss that all aside because some upper class white women still haven’t got over 2016.
Jaguar is set to lay off thousands while Nike is being delisted from the S&P 100…both companies went completely woke. You might recall the Nike ads showing morbidly obese people and that bizarre Jaguar ad of a bunch of useless freaks telling us to be different. That kind of nonsense. Jaguar cars have a market – upper class men who want to impress the kind of chicks who are impressed by a Jag. Nike has a market – gym bros. Making your main pitch to people who don’t use your product – and likely despise the people who do – turns out to not be a good idea. Who knew?
Been thinking we need to allow people to start taking their SS at 62 without any tax penalty. Right now, if you do that and keep working, they tax most of it away. But, thing is, any person at 62 can start collecting SS – and if they do, the monthly payment never rises. That’s fine – but I don’t think we should penalize the 62 year old if he or she is willing to keep working.
This has nothing to do with the fact that I’ll soon be 62.*
*I might be fibbing here.
The RNC mid term convention starts today and I for one am looking forward to it. I don’t think there is any chance in hell Democrats win. They really have crossed the rubicon and we have to stop pretending they are simply our political opponents with small policy differences. They want us dead. Democrats have become an existential threat to us and our way of life. Vote like it.
I don’t think there is any chance in hell Democrats win.
Logic tells you that. If you stack up all the metrics that affect the way people vote, they’re 90-10 against Democrats.
Not sure if you saw any of the DSA convention held this last week in Chicago but my God, what a freak show. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how far gone the Democrat Party is … but this is a direct result of our horrible education system. In other words, the Democrat chickens have come home to roost, and they are eating their own.
But we shall see! I feel good. Of course, usual caveat: I might be an idiot! But, also, what is to worry about, really? We know we win it all, in the End. Trump seems to be the Happy Warrior, and so should we.
RIP Charlie Kirk. One year ago today, we all witnessed the depravity the American Left is capable of. We all witnessed how they celebrated killing a prominent conservative and Christian and that day forever changed my resolve to defeat evil, the Democrat Party, and everyone who supports them. I thought what they did during Covid would be my Turning Point, but in an irony of all ironies, it was the assassination of the Turning Point leader that fully opened my eyes.
The other day, justsomeguy or whatever name he used, mentioned my desire to see all Democrats dead as a sign of violence on the Right, completely ignoring and dismissing the actual violence on the Left. In the last 6 years, unvaccinated Christians and conservatives like myself have been labeled extremists, dangers to democracy, white supremacists, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, transphobes, and essentially the biggest threat this country faces. We witnessed the largest and most destructive riots in the inner cities that burnt down large portions of Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, we witnessed the unchecked invasion of our border, we witnessed the brutal killings of many young women, we witnessed attacks on the Supreme Court, we have witnessed the attempted assassination of SC Justice Brett Kavanaugh, we witnessed the 4 assassination attempts on President Trump, and we all witnessed the actual assassination of Charlie Kirk. So my response is YES, who would not want these people dead? I don’t want to live around people like this. And I do not want people like this governing the society my grandchildren will grow up in so yes, I am resolved to do whatever is needed to eliminate this threat on America. And Democrats are a real and present danger.
And it continues ….
A year after Charlie Kirk was killed, the conservative influencers who defended him loudest are facing growing threats from leftwing agitators.
Popular conservative voices Benny Johnson, Laura Loomer, and Robby Starbuck have all had threats on their lives since Kirk was gunned down in front of a student crowd at Utah Valley University last September.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16118147/Chilling-assassination-threats-outspoken-political-influencers-grow-Charlie-Kirks-murder.html
One of the big differences between the parties is not that one is evil and the other not. There are evil Republicans too, but evil is clearly more welcome in the Democrat Party. The difference is that those of us who repudiate evil denounce those of our party who are less than honorable. The vast majority of Democrats are either afraid or unwilling to denounce evil in their own party, either because they fear repercussions or are privately in agreement with it. I used to think an Armageddon scale fight for the soul of America was inevitable. I’m not so sure any more. I think it’s more likely that that fight will be amongst those in the Jackass Party. I don’t think the agenda media is coming even remotely close to publicizing the division and chaos on the Left.
I don’t think the agenda media is coming even remotely close to publicizing the division and chaos on the Left.
I agree with that. The intolerant Democrats have begun the purity purge and are starting to eat their own, all of which will be covered up by the MSM, who are simply the Democrat communication wing. This being said, Fox is not entirely on the side of MAGA. By firing Maria Bartiromo for having the audacity of wanting to do a segment on China’s manipulation of voter rolls, they showed us who they were.
Trump seemed in a great mood last night – and clearly hasn’t lost a bit of energy!
The 5k stimulus is causing TruCon heartaches…my attitude: the money is going to get spent. It gets spent on us or on illegals. Pick!
I’ve long said we had to essentially redirect the funding from pro-Democrat to pro-Us programs. There simply isn’t a political coalition in favor of spending cuts and entitlement reform. There should be, but there ain’t. And Conservative Inc had their chance when W had a trifecta in 2005…they couldn’t even defund NPR.
Spend the money. Buy the votes. Get the power. Reform the country.
So my response is YES, who would not want these people dead? I don’t want to live around people like this.
Right. I was just pointing out what you say every day. Own it, pal.
Meanwhile, last weekend a Republican attacked Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, Amy Acton. He was armed with two pistols and a taser. According to your logic, he represents all of you. Especially you, Cluster.
I do own it sweetie, hence the capitalized YES. Unlike you who cowardly ignores actual leftist violence. And the Amy Acton story is just another one of your cartoonish victim based outrages. It’s legal to carry in Ohio and the man simply shoved himself into the tent knocking a few people over. That’s the end of the story, but not to you. You break out in full victimhood and lash out. You’re a cartoon.
Meanwhile, in Dallas at the Republican convention people in the audience shout “He should be shot” when Mamdani’s name comes up. You own it, pal.
The irony is that you’re more likely to be killed by someone from your own party that by someone like Cluster or me.
Much more likely, great point. And I love the victim based drama. Typical leftist.
That was almost certainly a set-up by the Democrats, themselves.
The irony is that you’re more likely to be killed by someone from your own party that by someone like Cluster or me.
That was almost certainly a set-up by the Democrats, themselves.
Always an excuse. Always a rationalization.
You’re always a victim of your own manufactured drama …. It’s hilarious
Democrats are offering $10,000, a free pony and free ice cream or yogurt for life. Sounds like a better deal to me.
They offer a hell of a lot more than that every time they promise to forgive student loans and offer free healthcare. Try and keep up.
Glad to see you guys embrace socialism.
The fact that you don’t know what socialism is as a former educator, is not surprising at all.
I do know what socialism is. I also know that there is more than one version of it, some which I would support and others I wouldn’t. I also understand the difference between socialism and communism, something most MAGA doesn’t.
There is no difference.
In the 1945 campaign, Churchill – running against Socialist Labour – warned that the imposition of Labour’s program would eventually necessitate a Gestapo-like apparatus. He was laughed off the stage over that…but now we see the Brits arresting people for social media posts. Harassing people who complain about government immigration policy. Trying to impose a Party Line for all public debates. In other words, Britain now has that Gestapo-like apparatus…that it is enforced by a blue haired lesbian cop makes no difference. The Nazis just had snappier uniforms – other than that, no difference between Gestapo-Muller and the head of Britain’s Metropolitan police.
The reality is that the Left is anti-human to the core – it cannot exist alongside freedom. Heck, it can’t exist alongside basic logic. It can only exist, in the long or short term, by tyranny. It cannot allow dissent. It must impose conformity…or it ends.
There absolutely are differences between the various versions of socialism and the various forms of communism. There are also a number of versions of capitalism. The world isn’t black and white.
There is no “version” of Capitalism – it isn’t an ideology. It is a description of financial activity. There’s nobody out there forming Democratic Capitalists of America. FFS.
There are no versions of socialism. It is all of a piece – Lenin is Mussolini is Blum is Mao is Hitler is Stalin is Che is Mamdani. There might be shadings among Leftists, but the program is the same…utterly destroy every last decent impulse in human life.
I wonder if Cluster knows how many companies the government has taken an ownership stake in since Trump took office.
So Mark, are you saying that the way capitalism is practiced in China, the US, Denmark, Singapore, Jamaica, and India are all the same?
The pragmatic facts of life is that Capitalism doesn’t really exist. Never has, never will. The use of the word was just Marx’ way of fixing hatred on a class of people. A rhetorical sleight of hand because Marx was of the rich and didn’t want himself and his like included in the ranks of the class enemy.
If Capitalism is anything it is just the shorthand for the normal functioning of an economy. Adam Smith never used the word – because it is really rather meaningless. But Marx needed it because he needed someone to hate – someone to blame for all the social ills. As if there was some organized group conspiring to keep poverty going…as if anyone who actually thought about it wanted poor people for customers. You can’t sell to poor people, ya know?
What Marx described – and claimed was a universal truth – was the mere transition period between a feudal and a free market economy…but while Marx was writing it was very much caught between both worlds and it was a mess. Traditional craftsmen were being displaced by machines, traditional agriculture by the Agricultural Revolution. The feudal system – already in tatters by 1800 – simply could not adapt and the people were adrift not sure what the heck was happening…they only knew that it hadn’t been like this before and it was bad and here comes Marx to blame the Capitalists…followed by those who blamed Jews and Capitalists. Nobody was to blame…it was simply a time of change. Nobody could have foreseen it coming, nobody had a solution because there wasn’t one…it just had to be worked out. You’ll note it never took hold here in the USA (though the shift from farm to city did play a big role in bringing on the Civil War). It couldn’t take hold here because the American system allowed anyone to give it a go…Europe simply didn’t have that flexibility.
I’m almost sad for Casper and Justanidiot …. There are no “versions” of Socialism or Communism. Socialism (State control of industry and production) is just the step child to Communism (State control of everything) and you two are walking blindly into it.
Secondly, the US Govt is an investor in handful of successful companies which will bring returns on those investments and further fund the government. The government has no control whatsoever of those companies. Now regulations are a form of State control and we all know how Democrats love to regulate business, and that’s what has you confused … does that explain it for you moron?
Cluster, I am sorry for you and the other members here. You really have no idea how the various forms of economic and government work.