Author: Mark Noonan

Justice Thomas Tells the Truth About Abortion

Mark Noonan9 Comments

Clarence Thomas, apparently upset that the Court decided to dodge the abortion issue this week, has some words to say on the matter – noting the real basis of abortion:

Like many elites of her day, Sanger accepted that eugenics was “the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.” Sanger, The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda, Birth Control Rev., Oct. 1921, p. 5 (Propaganda). She agreed with eugenicists that “the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit’” was “the greatest present menace to civilization.” Ibid. Particularly “in a democracy like that of the United States,” where “[e]quality of political power has . . . been bestowed upon the lowest elements of our population,” Sanger worried that “reckless spawning carries with it the seeds of destruction.” Pivot of Civilization 177–178.

Back in Sanger’s day, many African-Americans understood that “unfit” was another word for “black”. These days, thanks largely to very effective lies, this understanding is muted, and we actually have black people carrying on Sanger’s work of eliminating black people. Make no mistake about it: birth control isn’t remotely the control of birth. It is the prevention of birth. As Chesterton pointed out – only very slightly tongue-in-cheek – real birth control would be all babies being born, and then we killed those we don’t like. Birth control, as such, is probably doing more to prevent the fit than the unfit from being born – but abortion: that allows you to get right at the problem. You just put your abortion clinics in poor and/or heavily minority neighborhoods, and you’re right on your way to eliminating the “unfit”.

OTOH, there is grounds for hope:

The last abortion clinic in the state of Missouri may shut down this week and its closing may have nothing to do with the new pro-life law the state legislature passed to ban abortions.

Currently the only abortion facility doing abortions on unborn babies in the state of Missouri is located in St Louis and run by the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Planned Parenthood officials said Tuesday that the abortion center may have to close down because the state Health Department may refuse to issue a new license for the abortion business.

HT: Don Surber

Open Thread

Mark Noonan81 Comments

Listening to Democrats, I can only assume that they are really going to impeach the President. They can’t possibly believe they have 67 votes in the Senate to convict…but the way Democrats talk, it seems clear to me that they believe a majority wants Trump impeached. We’ll see how it comes out – but I suspect that Trump will come out the winner in that fight.

Meanwhile, the RNC is still blowing the doors off the DNC in fundraising – and most remarkably in the “small donor” segment. I keep hearing that everyone hates Trump, but I’ve yet to see that translate into practical reality.

We here in Nevada handed the State over to the Democrats in 2018 and, true to their paymasters in California, Nevada Democrats have passed national popular vote legislation, thus impounding our electoral votes to Democrat ballot-box stuffers in Los Angeles and San Francisco. This happens because Nevada Democrats – like all State-level Democrats – don’t give a damn about their States, but only dictatorial, national power.

Ace has an article about how frightening China’s “social credit” system is becoming, and points out that this is be beta test for its use in the United States. Don’t doubt Ace on that – the left very much wants such a system in order to punish anyone who does’t behave correctly: ie, behave in a manner approved of by the most recent and kook-left part of the global elite. Remember, while jail/torture/execution is a large tool in the tyrant’s tool kit, the Soviets learned long ago that the real way to control people is to make it impossible for them to simply live unless they are approved by the government. Give the liberals power long enough, and you won’t even be able to ride a bus without their permission.

Don Surber points out that vis a vis Iran, all Trump was ever doing was saber rattling to get Iran to back down a bit. We’ll see how it ultimately comes out, but I’ve always doubted that Trump would instigate a war. He’s a businessman who has the businessman’s natural abhorrence of war: it’s bad for business (unless you’re a defense contractor, which Trump isn’t). Trump is actually turning out to be quite effective in foreign policy – mostly because he eschews globalist theories. Iran – or another enemy – could do an overt act which makes war a reality, but in such a case it wouldn’t be Trump leading us to war, but taking charge of a war someone else started.

RSM looks at Alabama’s attitude towards abortion: bottom line, not a lot of Alabama women have abortions. Vastly smaller proportion than in, say, New York City. And that is the crux of the matter: there are several States, like Alabama, which simply don’t want abortion. It is all tied to culture and religion, of course: but in a pluralist Republic, we should be able to accommodate divergence. But liberals won’t allow that – they’re sitting there in their tiny, urban apartments feeding the cat and furious that some woman out there has such a satisfying sex life with her husband that she’s had three kids. They want to put a stop to that.

I’ve Written a Novel Open Thread

Mark Noonan10 Comments

Well, I’m finally going to get on publishing the novel – still a few tweaks to be made to it, so I project July 1st as my self publish date. But, we’ve got a book cover, at least!

 Book_Cover

I hope someone likes it. I do. Its been very fun to write. I don’t know how many of you are interested in what is called sci-fi/fantasy these days, but that is what it is. Though I prefer the more old-fashioned “fairy tale”. I wrote it because I wanted to tell a story. I’ve had them rolling around in my head, of various types, since I was a kid. This story, though, was inspired by another I was reading. And, also, by what I perceive as the sorry state of fairy tale writing these days. The heroes all seem to be conflicted these days and the stories seem rather dark and depressing. I wanted to get back to the way it should be: the heroes are just ordinary people thrust into astonishing circumstances and they have to find it within themselves to do the right thing. Anyways, it’ll be out soon, and I hope you will take a look.

Yes, There is a War on the Church

Mark Noonan5 Comments

Just amazing:

SB 360, a piece of proposed legislation currently making its way through the California state senate, should alarm not only every Catholic in the country, but indeed the adepts of any religion.

In California, as in almost every other state, clergy members (along with a variety of other professionals, including physicians, social workers, teachers, and therapists) are mandated reporters—which is to say, they are legally required to report any case of suspected child abuse or neglect to law enforcement. However, California clergy who come by this knowledge in the context of “penitential communication” are currently exempted from the requirement.

SB 360 would remove the exemption. Senator Jerry Hill, the bill’s sponsor, characterized the scope and purpose of his legislation as follows: “The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes—with no exceptions, period. The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk.”

This is not about protecting kids – this is about eliminating Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. As the piece goes on to note, if this becomes law, people will go to confession with the specific goal of confessing something a priest has to report, and then having the priest arrested when no report is made. The law will put priests in the impossible position: failure to comply means arrest, compliance means excommunication. And who will want to go to confession if they believe that the priest is an agent of the State? This is the war on religion, writ large.

To be sure, the Supreme Court would likely rule the law unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds…but this action by the left in California shows where they will take us if they get the power to do so.

Things Happening Fast Open Thread

Mark Noonan51 Comments

Legal Insurrection wonders: who will be the first to cut a deal? Thing is, until just now, there has never been that worry among the Left/Ruling Class. They don’t have to cut deals because they’ve already got them: if you have the right friends, nothing will happen to you no matter what you did wrong…and even in the rare instance where you have to face some jail time, it won’t be much and your friends will see you come out all right on the other end. But, now, we might have some people in power who won’t allow the powerful to skate…and, if so, then eventually, one of the people involved in the attempted coup will spill it.

Related: Democrats start to realize they are facing a debacle in 2020.

Also related: don’t get cocky, kids. Long way to go.

The national debt: it is still a problem. Trump won’t deal with it unless forced to by circumstances, and if he’s re-elected, that might happen. But, basically, no one really wants to deal with it in advance. It is not a problem of immediate concern in Americans’ day to day lives, and the pain of dealing with it would be politically unpopular. But, that which can’t be repaid, won’t be: we’ll have to do something about this, and maybe sooner than we think. OTOH, if Trump really can engineer consistent 3% growth, we might get out of this fairly easy.

Alabama has effectively banned elective abortion. Naturally, the left and the FredoCons are up in arms over this. As we wait for the inevitable lawsuit and injunction, I’d just like to restate my views. Elective abortion is always wrong – it is a grave evil which puts anyone involved at risk of their immortal soul. Outside that, it is also entirely unjust – there is no rational circumstance in which one can justify the deliberate taking of an innocent human life. Even the rape exception is wrong: because dad was a beast doesn’t justify killing the kid. I fully understand the pain that some go through over this – but you can’t fix pain by doing a wrong thing.

Bill DeBlasio, mayor of the increasingly anti-Semitic New York City is blaming Trump for all the Julius Streicher wanna-bees he’s got in his town. This is because he’s a liberal and thus full of sh** (Hat Tip: Ace).

Mitt Romney is doing his best John McCain impression. I hereby un-cast my vote for Romney in 2012.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan8 Comments

Democrats are just doubling down on defending anti-Semitism – their latest gambit is to claim that our side is deliberately misconstruing statements, but that is just a dodge. The Democrats are caught in quite a bind: they can’t reject anti-Semitism because a substantial number of their supporters are overt anti-Semites (I’d guess it is around 20% of their base), but they also can’t openly embrace it. They are trying to thread the needle: how long can they? Eventually they’ll have to flop one way or the other.

Democrats are also becoming more vigorous in claiming that they’ve lost elections due to voter fraud. Projection much? I think that this sort of thing is more battle space prep in case the Trump Administration exposes the level of Democrat voter fraud.

The trade war, so-called, is heating up again: I think Trump is right when he says the Chinese are hoping they can wait it out until a GOPe squish or Democrat gets into office. We’re getting the usual shrieks of horror from the TruCons that we hear whenever their Corporate Donor Class is threatened. But, really, a brief look at history shows that the United States rose from agricultural backwater to global economic dominance under Protection. Free Trade is a great theory – but human nature denies the theory. People will cheat – and the more tyrannical the regime, the more likely there will be cheating. I think US policy should be to lower tariffs as much as possible – but that access to our economy is a privilege, not a right; and if you don’t play fair with us, you can’t sell here.

Joe Biden has a China problem. I was listening to a little bit of Rush while I was driving around and one of his callers suggested that Trump-Russia was a bit of deflection to keep us from looking closely at the connections between various American politicians and China. It is a reasonable idea: the Chinese dispense vast amounts of money in various ways, and our Ruling Class would have to be holy to refuse the bribes (and it ain’t holy).

Tim Conway died:

Is Trump About to Drain the Swamp?

Mark Noonan

This could be the biggest news in politics for the past 50 years:

Attorney General William Barr has reportedly tapped the U.S. attorney for Connecticut to investigate the origins of the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.

John Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut, will examine the FBI’s decision to open a counterintelligence investigation into the 2016 presidential election and its probe of possible links between the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere in the election and members of President Donald Trump’s campaign team.

Its not just investigating the coup attempt which is important – it is where such an investigation will lead, if the guy in charge of it has no fear and is seeking no favor. And Durham may be that guy – he’s been used by politicians of both parties to look into things and so has a bi-partisan reputation as a good guy and he’s clearly not ambitious – he’s at the tail end of his career and he never seems to have sought top jobs in DC (or, he was denied them because DC didn’t want an honest man). If we have an AG who is willing to let corruption investigations go forward no matter where they lead, then what we might be witnessing is the beginning of the end for our corrupt Ruling Class.

We’ll see what happens – but I’m encouraged.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan40 Comments

Remember Valerie Plame? Well, after her 15 minutes were up, she seems to have gone down the road of anti-Semitism…which may now make her a prime Democrat House candidate.

People are making fun of AOC’s latest brainstorm: a non-profit banking system run through the US postal service. Don’t make fun of it. You must view AOC as a junior-league Lenin. A Stalin-wannabe. She’s a tyrant in the making. Given this, of course she’d want to get banking into government hands…and then make the dispensing of loans based upon political rather than financial calculations. The perfect Leftist system is where everything you do is controlled by government and you can only do things (ie, live) if you are approved by the government.

I’m kinda hoping the Cubs go another 108 years without a championship.

Bio-pic about Tolkien’s early life – looks pretty good; understandable complaint about them excising Tolkien’s vigorous Catholic faith…but, that’s just Hollywood playing to a mostly non-Catholic audience.

Don Surber points out that China is likely thinking at the moment they can outlast Trump…just wait until another Democrat or GOP squish gets in there. I think the Chinese will find they miscalculated.

Thinking About Ships

Mark Noonan6 Comments

The Trump Administration has forced a Chinese company to sell its ownership stake in the Port of Long Beach. This is good, but it got me thinking for a bit about the sad state of America’s merchant marine. Not counting nations like Panama because lots of ships are registered there for tax purposes, the bottom still is that our merchant marine is pathetically small. There are both national security and economic issues at stake here. We need a large merchant fleet because during wartime we’ll instantly need a large number of experienced mariners, as well as a large sea transport capacity. We also need a large merchant fleet because having such gives us the benefit of our control of the seas (right now we keep the sea lanes open for everyone else), maintains a large shipbuilding industry vital for war and, of course, provides a large market for American-made products which go to make up ships.

Our Libertarian friends are going to hate this, but if building up and maintaining a large merchant marine requires protectionism, then that is what we’ll have to do. I’d make it that imports into the USA are taxed at a 25% lower rate if they are carried in American-flagged vessels. 50% lower rate if they are American-built, American-flagged US ships. 75% lower rate if 50% of the crew of that American-built, American-flagged ship is American citizens. I’d make it that all trade ships entering US ports must pass American inspections both as to seaworthiness and the training of the crews (I’m especially interested in the cruise trade here…how many times do we see cruise ships going dead in the water?).

I also believe that if we wanted to, we could build ships of higher quality than any other nation on Earth. Ships that will move faster, be more seaworthy and be cheaper to operate. We are Americans: we can do whatever we want. All we have to do is set our mind to it.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan38 Comments

Not one Democrat Presidential candidate has condemned the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. Only two Democrat Senators have condemned the attacks (Rosen D-NV and Sinema D-AZ: and tip of the hat to both of them). The Democrats have made the choice that joining up with Islamists is a better future than defending Jews.

Side note: this conflict goes on until one side wins, and the other loses. The Palestinian leadership – which makes its money off of war and suffering – will not quit until forced to quit. Only the massive application of firepower upon the Palestinians until they all come out, hands in the air, will end this.

Feminists and Conservatives are joining forces against the misbegotten “Equality Act”:

The Equality Act just passed the House Judiciary Committee last week, and it threatens to erase protections for women — protections that benefit women and society as a whole. Legislative and policy “reforms” proposed in this dangerous bill will lead to blatant violations of our safety, privacy, and dignity.

Under this bill, men and boys will take away women’s small business grants and hard-won spots on sports teams; they will be allowed to live in women’s domestic violence shelters and use our locker rooms. And united as women, we are just not going to stand for it.

To illustrate their case, they note the story of a man who identifies as a woman being seen naked in the women’s sauna (by teenaged girls): when the incident was reported the power of the State was brought forth to force everyone to apologize to the guy exposing himself to little girls. It is good that there can be a united fight against pure insanity – but Feminists should think a bit deeper into this. It is the tearing down of societal norms – including the norms which say that certain tasks are for men, others for women – which lead us here. As far as allowing anyone – of any condition – to do whatever their talents allow, no one can have any complaint. But thinking that a woman can be a successful infantryman is just as absurd as thinking a man who identifies as a woman should be allowed to parade around the girls locker room. Men and women are different; they bring in many cases entirely different things to the table; it is the cooperation of the feminine and the masculine, as distinct things, which makes humanity human.

The Daily Caller has a story about how the money (about $100 million) provided to Flint, MI to remediate it’s water issue is being relentlessly misused – the most egregious thing, in my view, is the awarding of high priced contracts to a company with no experience in the work, while more experienced companies were denied contracts. It is a grift: the people who run Flint – ie, the criminally negligent people who created the water crisis – don’t give a damn about the people, and are merely using the bonanza of government dollars to line their own pockets. All of these are Democrats – and all of them will be “re-elected” or, at least, replaced with people who are just like they are. We need to start thinking about what to do – consistent with our federal values – about States and cities which are so badly misgoverned that we can’t rely on sane policy being pursued.

Trump’s counsel has sent a letter to AG Barr ripping the Mueller report pretty hard – on the grounds that Mueller didn’t follow the special counsel rules in writing his final report. I had noted that Mueller would make his report as lurid as he could, and he did. What Democrats are latching on to right now is Mueller’s statement that he couldn’t conclusively prove that Trump didn’t break the law. But Mueller’s job wasn’t to say one way or the other about that – his job was to see if there was a crime, and if there was, then to prosecute it. As he’s not prosecuting Trump or any Trump associate for collusion or obstruction of justice related to the 2016 campaign, Trump has been exonerated. Mueller deliberately muddied that fact.

A pro-baby killing Pennsylvania Democrat is proving himself to be just about as much an a**hole as you’d think.