Open Thread

Open Thread

Mark Noonan11 Comments

We’re supposed to be upset about the arson attack on the Pennsylvania’s governor’s mansion and…I just can’t work up anger. I mean, sure, the guy who did it should have the book thrown at him but ’round about the time Democrats were saying that Antifa/BLM just “needed space to destroy” I kinda lost my sympathy for Democrats under attack. Of course, the primary way to end political violence in the USA is to cut off the funding for it – and we’re already finding that the termination of USAID is a massive hit to Leftwing funding.

A lot of people on the Right are just now realizing that the invasion of illegals was largely funded by the American taxpayer via NGO’s. To me, it was obvious all along that the invasion was being paid for and quite a lot of the money was ours. What happened under Biden was a fast-track of what happened in the EU over a 20 year period – demographic replacement in order to secure the power of a dying Ruling Class. Bottom line is that if it weren’t for the recent immigrants in Europe, the governments of France and Britain would be different right now – both are sustained by the overwhelming votes of the recently arrived. The Democrats could see the writing on the wall – the political shifts in Florida and Pennsylvania have been going on for years and if not countered will just continue. Democrats could counter it by jettisoning the far Left but that was also risky as if the far Left formed a Party commanding 10% of the nationwide vote, Democrats would fall to permanent minority status…and, so, the choice was made: bring in people who would vote Dem no matter what (even if by only filling out a voter registration form which would result in bogus absentee ballot).

The funds for it are now cut off and the passage of people north has dropped to nearly nothing. Seems there isn’t this actual wave of people who want to uproot themselves from kith and kin to move north. Someone had to pay for it – and now I go on to the next part of this: none of the movement of people during the past 4 years would be allowed to happen without Cartel cooperation. Thing about criminal Cartels is they aren’t made up of nice people…they fleece everyone to the maximum amount possible and they don’t care how harmful it is to the victims. The passage of millions of people north was not a target which would be passed up. In fact, with all that NGO money floating around to get people north, it would be easy for the Cartels to realize that the more people moved, the more money they could steal from the process. I’m pretty confident if we look into it we’ll find quite a lot of people who had to come north with their family remaining at home under threat if they didn’t.

And all of this would mean that the NGO’s involved moving people north – and the government officials in the USA who facilitated the money for the NGO’s – had to work with the Cartels to get those people north. This, by the way, would be illegal. Like very, very illegal. Like 20 years in a federal penitentiary for each person moved north. That is what I think Team Trump should look into.

Some MAGA influencer types are starting to pitch a fit that 10,000 Democrats haven’t already been arrested. First off, we need to stop falling for click-bait. Social media accounts with hundreds of thousands or millions of followers are money-makers for their owners…and they need a continual stream of clicks to keep making money. Last year just by being pro-Trump and anti-Democrat they got all the clicks they could want…here in 2025 with Democrats out of power this isn’t enough to generate lots of clicks. Saying that Trump is doing well and complaining about powerless Democrats just isn’t all that click-baity. So, on to why hasn’t Trump perp-walked Schiff and “did you know this person in the Trump Administration is a neo-con Globalist spy?!?!?” Best way to answer this sort of thing is to point out it hasn’t even been 90 days yet. Sure, it seems like a lot longer but we’re not even 3 months in. Huge amounts have been done but, also, a lot of what has been done is still very preliminary work…you can’t just arrest 10,000 Democrats. You first have to get your key people in. Then weed out the clearly partisan hacks. Then start the investigation with a mind to it all might wind up in front of a Democrat judge so better make sure it is air tight. On and on like that – it will not happen overnight.

Arizona has begun the process of cleaning up their voter rolls – it naturally took and extended lawsuit to get this done because Democrats can’t survive with clean voter rolls. Estimates are that 50,000 or more bogus voters could be removed…which, curiously, is pretty much the Democrats routine margin of victory in Statewide races. Funny, huh?

Trump has authorized the US military to take control of a strip of land along the US/Mexico border – heavy emphasis on New Mexico, Arizona and California. This is necessary because the Democrat governors of those States aren’t exactly helpful in this matter and, also, there is likely some percentage of our border security people who are in Cartel pay. The mass flood of people has stopped, but that doesn’t mean the drugs and other contraband has.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan20 Comments

I think that quite a few Americans don’t realize how large the United States is. I’ve seen MSMers and some regular folks on X wondering where we will get lumber if we place a tariff on Canadian lumber? I get that we Americans are an insular folk but, my goodness, do people in the cities ever get out into the country? I did look it up and from what I can tell, in our national forests there are a trillion square feet of lumber. This doesn’t count all possible lumber sources in the USA. We don’t lack wood, people. Like not even a little bit. Maybe its all the decades of Environmentalist lies? People think we’re down to our last tree or something? There is more forested land in the USA than when Columbus arrived in the Americas. We’ve got lumber coming out of our ears…we just don’t harvest it. Until now: Team Trump is reviving logging.

Trump is pausing the tariffs on everyone but China – where he’s jacking them up even higher. This is good. The official word is that with everyone but China coming to the table, its time to make nice (except to China)…the quite rumor is that it is this plus some GOPers in the Senate were wetting their panties over the stock market. This is probably true. I’m hoping that Trump is trying to completely decouple us from China…but if we must have relations with them, then I want some hard-nosed deals. Like this:

China is still building coal-fired power plants like there’s no tomorrow. China doesn’t have much coal in their ground and what they do have is about the worst in the world…doesn’t burn very hot and it pollutes horribly. Meanwhile, we’ve got some of the largest coal reserves in the world and our coal is among the best: burns nice and hot and very clean even before you put devices on the chimneys to cut down on pollution even more. If I were in charge, any trade deal I made with China would include China exclusively using our coal. I don’t want to screw them over – I’d sell it to them at the market rate, but only our coal…ten year deal. Ten percent of the estimated price up front. The Chinese are using 5 billion metric tons per year; $102 per ton times 5 billion is $510 billion per year.

This is the kind of deals we have to make with predatory powers like China. If we are to buy from them, they must also buy from us. I’m sure China imports lumber. We know they import oil and natural gas. Feeding China’s population requires massive imports. All from us until the value we buy from them is met…and if it can’t be met by Chinese purchases of our goods, then we cut back on imports from China until the exports/imports come into rough balance. No more free ride – and do keep in mind that China needs that free ride. It is how the PRC sustains itself; taking in US dollars and using that money to essentially bribe sufficient amounts of China’s population to remain in control. If they have fair trade with us that will be disastrous for the PRC’s future – but that is their problem, not ours.

I saw a report that in the UK more British people attend Catholic Mass each Sunday than any other Christian service…that’s the good news. The bad news is that from what I can tell, probably not a tenth of Britain’s population is actually Christian. That sort of thing is doom for Britain – with the Muslim population rapidly rising and Muslims not being shy about asserting dominance once they reach that 20 percent or so of the population. What will happen is unknown – I’m doubtful of good outcome…but no matter how you slice it, the Britain which emerged from the Reformation is dead and it will not come back…the UK will become Catholic/Evangelical (which is also rising fast in the UK) or Muslim…the Church of England pretend-Christianity is gone and with it will soon go its trappings…the Monarchy, the nobility…the whole system. This, by the way, was fated to happen the moment Henry VIII broke with Rome…he thought he could keep Catholicism without the Pope (he was actually very deeply Catholic in his core dogmas)…he was wrong. I mean, it had a good run and the world will always have a place in its heart for people like the Duke of Wellington and Churchill…but the system that made them has died.

Speaking of Brits the world owes a debt to – and this is entirely off any topic – I was thinking not too long ago about Montgomery. We Americans have inherited Patton’s disdain for the man – his preening self confidence irritates and he’s rated as the poorer commander to Patton. But I happened to notice that in 1940 when the British were trying to get their army to Dunkirk to evacuate, Monty (then a major general) kept his Third Division intact during a fighting retreat – and that division was the only one to arrive back in Britain ready to fight. Anyone with knowledge of military affairs will tell you that any fool can attack…the real genius of command is shown when you have to retreat. How did Monty do this while everything was disintegrating around him? Simple: he saw it coming and vigorously trained his division in both attack and retreat so that everyone knew their job and all he had to do when the guns went off was calmly give the orders. That’s first rate generalship, guys. And it casts in my mind new light about how magnificent El Alamein really was and, furthermore, shows that Monty really screwed the Germans hard in Normandy – pinning them to useless positions around Caen while Patton got all the glory breaking through weak German defenses to the west.

And, once again: we all need to think carefully about what we think we know. Maybe it is true – but maybe its just a story we’ve been told?

Open Thread

Mark Noonan6 Comments

Democrats are lauding themselves because Cory Booker talked for 24 hours in the Senate and they held on to a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. I guess they need to feel they can win.

Booker talked, I guess, about how bad it is we’re deporting people. Not quite sure where the Democrats want to go with this nationally but Booker and others are prepping for 2028 and know they need Far Left Extremist votes in the early primary States. The Left Extremists are pleased as punch with Booker over this. So, too, are they happy with those still putting trans stuff front and center. On the other hand, deporting people is an 80/20 issue for the GOP. The guy they’re highlighting at the moment – the “Maryland father” – is probably just the least-threatening person in the batches deported. But, he’s MS-13…and even if he wasn’t, he’s an illegal and now a foreigner in a foreign land so no further concern of ours…and Democrat calls to bring him back simply do not comprehend the basic American desire here – if you’re illegal, out you go.

Now, let’s not get all wine and roses here – the reason we lost in Wisconsin last night is because GOP-leaning Independents stayed home. They came out in droves for Trump…but they are so-far not coming out for the GOP. And this, IMO, is because the GOP is so-far not giving them any reason to turn out. The people who put Trump into the White House want deep, radical change…the Congressional GOP is still only taking baby-steps towards change…likely hoping they can just do the bare minimum and wait until the Trump years are over and then go back to being the losers in the Democrats political script. Ain’t gonna happen.

Trump and his team aren’t going to let it happen – while we lost last night, this was the first time the national GOP did any heavy lifting in one of these off-year State elections. It wasn’t soon enough (Democrats were blowing through Soros money on it long before it even showed on our radar), but it did happen. It was a learning experience for us. Huge strides were taken even in defeat – the GOP candidate getting more votes for a WI Supreme Court seat than any GOPer in the past (and voter ID is now enshrined in Wisconsin’s Constitution – which means we might see fewer deep Blue districts having 99% turnout with 99% for the Democrat, as we did last night; of course they stuffed ballot boxes…Democrats always do, as much as they can; but in this case, we probably would have lost even a totally honest election). Very much under the radar what is also happening is GOP voter registrations gains…at this pace, some time in early 2026 Pennsylvania will flip red…and in New Jersey the GOP gains continue to mount (and NJ is actually our best prospect this November…the Dems still have an advantage but said advantage is in low-propensity Democrat voters…a good candidate and campaign and the GOP could pull this one off). What I’m saying is that we’re still winning- and Team Trump knows the stakes: if we lose the House in 2026, the Democrats will immediately impeach. It doesn’t matter why – they’ll do it (and, of course, won’t allow a single legislative victory to us). The House for 2026 is still very much up in the air…it could go either way. Trump is going to fight for it.

Bondi is seeking 20 year sentences for people who burn Teslas…and, hey presto, Tesla burnings stop. The reason the Left always resorts to violence is because since Kent State, we’ve let the Left get away with violence. The tin soldiers and Nixon were the last time someone shot a Lefty for being a typically violent Leftist. But it isn’t right that we allow it to happen – and Team Trump is not going to allow it to happen. This is very important – the twin pillars of the Left are government subsidy and violence. Trump is attacking both…they will soon lack the money to pay for violence and even if someone writes a check for a fiery but peaceful protest, nobody will show up at the stack of pre-positioned bricks because they won’t want to do 20 years over it.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan14 Comments

It is said – by known liars – that one of the people deported to the El Salvadoran prison was a Venezuelan man who had nothing to do with the gangs. He’s just this homosexual hair dresser never harmed a fly and was in the USA legally attempting to obtain asylum status because he’s gay and participated in an anti-Maduro protest. We’re supposed to feel angry that Trump deported this guy and demand that he be returned to the USA. To which I answer: no.

Suppose the liars in this instance aren’t lying – that he really is just a gay hairdresser with no gang affiliations and opposition to his government: so? He’s still a foreigner. He still has no right to be in the USA. And if he was fleeing for his life from Venezuelan government oppression of homosexuals and anti-Maduro activists, then Columbia is right next door. So, too, Brazil, Guyana and Trinidad. He didn’t need to come thousands of miles to save himself from anti-gay violence.

Asylum is for true emergencies – we have to get you out of your home country or you will be killed…because of your skin color or religion or orientation of what have you. Not because you’ll be poor. Not because it is a bit oppressive down there: because if you don’t flee, you die. This all stems from the St Louis in 1939 – a passenger liner from Germany filled with Jewish refugees which was refused entry in port after port, including American ports. The Jews eventually had to return to German control where a very large number of them ended up dead in the Holocaust. This is what we, as decent human beings, never want to happen again. That is what asylum is for. It isn’t because your homeland is poor and your government is corrupt and tyrannical. And asylum is to be obtained in the next country over – remember, it is lives that are at stake. Once you get to a place where they won’t kill you, then you’re safe…and, sure, from there you can go to the closest US consulate and apply for an immigrant visa to the USA but that’s it. You’re now regular process – you won’t die if you wait in line.

America isn’t the dumping ground for the world’s problems. Poverty is not a justification for refugee status. Neither is political oppression. Stay home and build your own economy. Conduct a revolution to overthrow your oppressive government. People do bear responsibility, even under tyranny. Part of what angers me about foreign aid is the endless nature of it…”the poor people of Africa/Asia/South America need our help to build up their lives”…this is something that made sense in 1960…its 2025. Sixty five years have passed. Singapore went from filthy-poor backwater of the dying British Empire to one of the richest countries in the world in less than half that time. With hardly any land and no natural resources. They just got to work – and now they’re reaping the rewards of their hard work. Why isn’t Ghana or Myanmar? Singapore has a per capita GDP of 89 grand – Ghana is less than 200 bucks a month. Sure, oppressive and corrupt governments…so, why haven’t their own people killed the corrupt tyrants and tried something else? Enough of this. Fix your own country. Only come knocking here if you’ll die otherwise (if the man in question has been a gay Iranian I’d never send him back, eg – he’d be killed if I did).

Trump has fired a shot across the bow of the weak kneed – essentially telling the world in this post that he won’t back down and it is those who keep fighting who will reap the glory. There will be no retreat and no surrender. Anyone looking for Trump to moderate his stance or give his opposition anything will be disappointed. It is full speed ahead.

And how it is going? Well, we’ve got some MSM polls (ROFL – but bear with me) saying that Trump’s support is declining…plus report after report claiming that Trumpsters are regretting their votes…”we didn’t vote for this” goes the claim…well, whatever. The reality: GOP voter registration gains continue. They didn’t stop after the election…Pennsylvania is now less than 100,000 active voters from flipping Red. The Democrats had like an 800,000 voter advantage there 10 years ago. New Jersey voter registration is trending Red (fast). Even California has shown more GOP registrations and Democrat – by a lot (we’re so far behind there, though, that it won’t matter for years). That is what is happening – people saw Biden and registered to vote GOP to get Trump back in…now that they’re seeing Trump, they’re registering GOP to keep Trump policies going. The political realignment to the Right spoken of since Reagan’s 1980 win is happening for real.

Oh, and Democrats – with the expected Electoral College adjustments following the 2030 census, a GOP Presidential candidate will be able to get past 270 even if losing WI/MI/PA. So, if we get Vance or DeSantis in for 2028…you’re super screwed for a long time. Enjoy!

Opening Day Open Thread

Mark Noonan31 Comments

That time of year again – when hope is strong…

As a Padres fan, I know that pain is coming my way. Ah, well! Its Opening Day…for now, its all good.

With all the woke garbage, baseball is still American. Of course, some bits of legend are fading – I was at a minor league game with the grandsons last Spring and after a guy whiffed I commented “Mighty Casey has struck out” and got blank stares from the boys. I was shocked: they had never read Casey at the Bat…but, then again, I don’t think the kids are reading much of anything these days. Anyways, they’ve heard of it now…and they both like to play a bit of Little League ball. It goes on.

One thing that is still amazing me is how so many on the Right still go along with the Left Narrative. The Signal thing is just that – another Left Narrative. We know the Left doesn’t even give a darn about national security. Heck, they hate the USA with a white-hot passion. But they got their little report (provided to us by a known and quite notorious liar who has routinely lied about Trump since the get-go) and they’re running with it…and the Usual Suspect Right voices are “well, this is bad, we should do something, there should be investigations and resignations!”. Which, of course, is the point of the exercise.

Back in 2017 the resignation of Michael Flynn and the start of the “Trump-Russia” special counsel investigation was really the beginning of the end for that Trump term. Very much good was still accomplished but so much time was lost and as people were forced to resign, they were invariably replaced by Establishment hacks who undermined Trump at every turn. I get us falling for it a bit in 2017 but in 2025? Come on – only a moron would go along with this.

And there they go – going along with it. So, morons.

The good news is that Trump is not allowing himself to be stampeded here – he’s holding firm and so are his people, and if you think the AG is going to recuse herself and appoint a special counsel, you’re nuts.

Meanwhile, the lawfare against Trump continues – with the judicial rulings getting ever more absurd…which, in the end, will play right into Trump’s hands. Keep in mind that Trump does not want to defy these rulings. As I’ve said for a while, Trump is the most law-abiding President we’ve had in ages. He wants to work within the system…but the system does include his ability to deport any foreigner he wants (no reason required) and to hire and fire at will in the Executive Branch (Executive power is vested in the President per Article II…this power is 100% Trump’s, not the judges – it can’t be taken away in any form save by Constitutional amendment). Our hope – and likely, Trump’s – is that the Supreme Court calls the District courts off…tells them to stop doing this. If they don’t…then on the matter of deporting criminal illegal aliens, Trump will openly defy and the American people will back him on it.

Don’t want it to be this way – I want us to retain judicial review (which is not, by the way, written into the Constitution…it isn’t even really implied in the document; the independent Judiciary was created so that the Executive wouldn’t have the power to jail people…it wasn’t set up to play referee on political matters) but we can’t let judges decide the course of the country. That is for the people via their elected leadership to decide. The Courts should only intervene if there is a really egregious violation of the obvious requirements of the Constitution. No penumbras here, guys. And if the Courts don’t curb themselves, then they’re going to find that they have no mechanism to enforce their rulings. The Judiciary has no army or police…and even if they want to hold in contempt and issue fines, the President can just pardon his people. I hope that Roberts can see the writing on the wall and reverse course.

A Brutally American Open Thread

Mark Noonan60 Comments

The Left is floating a new line of attack against Trump and his supporters: we’re now the Brutal Americans. We’re just so mean. So cruel. We don’t understand the subtle relationships of the world.

You know: that’s where we pretend that credentialed morons know what they’re talking about and that cowards who are letting Islamists assault their women are the brave guys.

Our failure to hold up our end here has “shattered” European illusions about the USA. Well, I guess we’re supposed to feel bad about that. Of course, once upon a time, Brutal Americans were more appreciated…like back when Easy Company was drinking Goering’s booze on Hitler’s patio:

Those were some pretty Brutal guys, I guess. But, times change.

I know that some of MAGA – including Trump – are urging Europe to live up to their NATO commitments but I’m more and more wondering what we’re even defending over there? Turkey has slid into anti-Israel Islamism, in Germany you can get arrested for being upset about Islamist violence and in Britain I understand you need an ID to buy a knife. I’m supposed to send some 18 year old kid from Kansas to die for that?

The most recent European entry into my bloodline arrived in the USA in 1849 – that is 176 years ago. I ain’t European. I’m American. I’m Native. I know that some people will get upset at that but I figure after a while the Settler is Settled. My rule of thumb is that if you own a couple great-great-grandparents born in the land, then you are Native to it. I own a lot of them. My earliest American ancestor got here some time before 1640. We’re just a stone’s throw from 400 years in the area. I have no connection to any other land than America. What I’m saying is that if I’m to care about Europe they have to give me a reason to care…just because I look like some of the people in Cork, Ireland doesn’t mean I give a darn about them. Don’t know them. Never met them. Have no intention of ever going there. So, tell me why I’m suppose to care what happens to them?

Oh, sure, in the general, Christian sense I do care…if they suddenly were struck by catastrophe I’d be willing to help them out of the jam…but if someone decides their idiotic population which keeps electing people who hate Ireland should now be governed by a Russian proconsul, I don’t see how this matters to me. Might suck for them but it won’t suck any worse than what they have now. Anyways, the way the Irish are going they will soon impose upon themselves Sharia law. And, hey, if that’s what they want – and they seem to want it – then who am I to complain? People get to choose their own path. But what would I be sending American soldiers to defend over there? Nothing that is of our interest, as far as I can see.

It is said that RFK Jr has plans to ban pharmaceutical advertisements on TV. We older folks remember a time when you never saw such ads…but there were court cases in which it was argued that a ban on such ads was a violation of the First Amendment…but I also understand that even in these rulings there is wiggle room to restrict “direct to consumer” ads of such things as drugs. We’ll see how this plays out – but as I have said again and again, the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact. I am dead certain that people are taking way more medicine than they have to for a host of maladies because the TV told them to. A prescription medication should only be taken fairly rarely. I’m 60 and I take none of them – and I do suffer from chronic pain and, like all human beings, I’m sometimes sad or anxious. I don’t go the medicine route for two reasons:

  1. I have my doubts that these drugs – especially the newer ones – are the result of a first-rate scientific method development.
  2. Human bodies learn to tolerate what they ingest. Not 1 for 1 but it happens…and we see it happening with the overuse of antibiotics…we’re developing Attila the Germ because we’re taking antibiotics when just a clean bandage would do the trick. If you take a med for something on the regular, your body is going to try to make that med ineffective because it isn’t what your body is naturally producing. The more you take it, the more your body will get used to it. Take medicines rarely (yes, I understand for some people a chronic condition requires daily, weekly, monthly dosing or they die…but some people are popping pills for things they don’t really need pills for).

My view on the ads is that the weak-minded person who believes the TV sees the ad and goes “you know, I have that ache, too!” and they’re off to the doctors who may not be totally on the level in their prescriptions. Especially if the customer calls the company for advice and they refer the customer to a doctor who might really be no more than a pusher of the drug. Take the ads off the air. It will get us back towards more of a system of a person feeling really bad, going to the doctor and then getting prescribed something the person never heard of before.

The new Snow White has flopped. It isn’t because Snow White isn’t White – it is because it is hot garbage. The apparent re-telling of the tale bears little relation to the original story. To review; Snow White is born of a Queen’s wish to have the most beautiful daughter. This comes true but the Queen dies. Later, Snow White’s father marries the Evil Queen who becomes obsessed with jealousy over Snow White’s beauty. She tries one strategy after another to kill Snow White and fails in all of them…but the last one seems to work and so Snow White is buried in a glass casket, which is discovered by a Prince out in the woods for a hunt. He rescues Snow White and they get married – the Evil Queen discovers that Snow White is alive and tries again to kill her, but is thwarted and executed. Just a fine fairy tale with the obvious moral that jealousy and pride are sins and you’ll get punished eventually for them. Meanwhile, if you are brave and good you’ll live happily ever after. Disney appears to have loused this up – I understand there really isn’t even a Prince character in this. Which kinda kills the whole story because it is the fortunate arrival of the Prince that changes defeat into victory for Snow White (always in fairy tales the actual victory must be of a miraculous nature…the destruction of the Ring in the Lord of the Rings only happens because Gollum trips and falls into Mount Doom’s flames). And in addition to butchering the actual story, the reviews indicate that it is badly written, badly acted and visually atrocious.

I don’t know how long Disney and the rest of Hollywood can go on losing money like this – I haven’t been to a theater in ages and it is hard to find a major studio production over the last 20 years that is even watchable. I do find some foreign and Indy stuff that is good – that is, actually has a story with some good writing and some interesting cinematography but even that is getting rarer. It is like everyone has been forbidden to tell tales and must, instead, either produce insipid drivel offending nobody or go on a Woke Fest which makes the story ridiculous (I’ve been watching the Walking Dead series – still sticking with it even though it went pretty woke after a while because the Daryl and Negan characters are intriguing and very well acted…they have various spinoffs going right now and in one of them a 5’7″ female character goes toe to toe in a fight with a 6’4″ males character…sure, they did have her ultimately lose the fight but the reality is there wouldn’t have been a fight…but Super Chick must always show up these days; it isn’t the worst thing, but it is irritating). There are stories to tell. Heck, I know this guy who has 9 books in a series which would make an awesome Netflix adaptation. But Hollywood can’t tell them…until they go broke, I guess.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan21 Comments

To get back at it, Home World was released on March 15th! It is Book IX and the penultimate book of the series (with the possibility of some one-off books in the future). Book X (currently untitled) will come out later this year to wrap it up. As the title suggests, our heroes are back here! As the jacket blurb notes, just a quick trip back home to wrap up all affairs…but things go wrong.

Its a fun one, guys! You’ll especially enjoy the time frame it happens and some side comments about America and the world. I thoroughly enjoyed putting part of the action in Arizona; with a character met there being based on an X friend who’s a rancher and author out in that State, though as with all characters, also a mash up of two or more people.

The JFK docs were released – no, we’re not going to find the plan by the CIA to kill him. That was never going to be in there. But this doesn’t mean we’re not finding things. Steve Portnoy did some reading:

So, the CIA noted that Oswald met with Cubans and Russians two months before Dallas. And then failed to note this little fact to the Secret Service/FBI when they knew Oswald was in Dallas when Kennedy was scheduled to be there. This is very much shades of Butler, PA. Had the CIA advised the Secret Service that a Dallas resident (and had been since June of 1962) has serious Commie connections, then it would have been natural for the Secret Service (and/or FBI) to keep tabs on him during JFK’s visit. Like maybe figuring out that he worked at a place which had a field of fire into the path the President would be taking through Dallas. And then for 60 years the CIA demanded that this be kept secret.

Pro tip: if you don’t want people to believe conspiracy theories, the first rule is to not lie by omission.

Do keep in mind that you don’t have to do something to cause an event…you can often cause the event by not doing things. You know, like not having an officer on the roof with a clear line of sight to the Presidential podium.

Malicious or incompetent? That is the unknown thing – and likely can’t be known at this point as nearly everyone involved in dead; and likely didn’t write it down…or destroyed ages ago the documents which would give us an answer. And the jokester gives us the best word on it:

I do apologize for the vulgar language…but its appropriate here. The fundamental problem here, as I’ve been noting for a while, is government secrecy. That somehow the government has got the idea that they are allowed to hide things from the people…as if we are serfs and they are masters. It isn’t supposed to work like that. What started as operational security concerns (Grant being furious at newspapers for basically writing his battle plans into the newspapers) has morphed into the government carefully doling out information which doesn’t tell us what the government actually did. If Oswald was just a lone nut then we, the people, did need to know how this lone nut was able to get into position to fire three rounds at the most powerful man in the world. The government hid that from us. Quite diligently. Because a lot of them would have been hung out to dry whether it was conspiracy or incompetence.

Trump is still holding back on a showdown with the Judiciary. The deportations to El Salvador are called “too late, judge”; implying that if the judge had ruled prior to the planes leaving our airspace, the deportations wouldn’t have happened. Roberts rose to the defense of his judges and that made them go totally insane…now basically ruling that Trump can’t be President without their permission. It is absurd…and it isn’t actually stopping anything. And Trump is just giving them enough rope to hang themselves.

In any battle between the elected and the un-elected, the elected is going to win. Simple as: the people will always favor those who they voted for. Trump is likely just waiting for his best moment to strike…when it all piles up as idiotically (and it is; high and deep!) that he can be the reasonable one defending Constitutional norms.

It must be kept in mind that the Judiciary has no method of enforcing its rulings. In that, only the Executive can enforce. The unwritten rule since Marbury is Executive acquiescence – though Biden’s refusal to obey the Court on student loans ended that precedent (to no Leftwing complaints, of course). And on the whole the Marbury precedent has been good – healthy. But it isn’t so much any longer. This is mostly because the Courts are intervening in areas which have no Federal or Constitutional scope. It has happened before, of course. Dred Scott was an egregious example of the Court getting involved in something it shouldn’t have – at that time, the legality of slavery was up to the States but the Court decided without any Constitutional authority to decree that Missouri’s slavery laws were valid in Wisconsin. It was an absurdity. But for the most part, the Court remained reticent and only acted when it was something crucial.

We can pick a case to say this is when the Great Departure happened but I’ll settle on Roe – that horrible poison in our body politic. Abortion was largely unknown (and mostly impractical) at the time the Constitution was adopted. No provision in that document in any way relates to how medical practices are to be regulated, nothing in there defines when a human being is endowed with their rights, no clause says a person has a right to an action which requires the assistance of at least one other person. Given all this, it all fell under the 9th and 10th Amendments…it was a matter for the States or the people to decide. If you wanted to make it a Federal issue, you’d have to amend the Constitution. And, by and large, the people and the States were dealing with it – badly in my view as abortion was legalized in State after State but this is how it works and I could have no complaint about the process much as I dislike the result. Whammo: here comes the Supreme Court to invent out of whole cloth a “right to privacy” which means we can’t regulate abortion at the State level. It wasn’t just a stupid ruling – it was an evil ruling. It cut at the very heart of the American system of government. Until Hobbs, it essentially removed the American people from any say in the matter. Since then, its just been one bad, wicked decision after another and now we have the Courts completely out of control trying to insert a “but, Trump” exception to Article II. It has to stop. It will be stopped. Only question is whether Roberts will call off the dogs or if Trump will start to openly defy the Courts.

Cancel That Pardon Open Thread

Mark Noonan22 Comments

I was going to write up a bit about Home World (Book IX of the Mirrors series) being released but we’ll pause that for this:

Absolutely impossible to see where this winds up. It has never happened before – that is, an Executive saying the previous Executive’s actions are invalid. But, also, we’ve never had such a slew of last-minute pardons from an Executive. Given the number, there is no possible way that mentally deficient Biden spent sufficient time reviewing the pardon documents to arrive at a valid decision. This is why some genuine bad guys were allowed to skate; people Biden would never have let off when his mind was functioning. In addition to that, Trump is saying – and there appears to be solid evidence of this – that an autopen was used to sign the documents. Is that valid? Can at least two or three people affirm under oath that Biden was even in the room when the pardons were signed? Maybe a case can be made that an autopen is a legal way to carry out Executive actions…but I can’t see any possible way to say an Executive action can happen if the Executive isn’t even present.

I guarantee you a thrill of fear just went down a lot of backs when Trump posted that. It is completely unknown territory…and a lot of people who were sure they had skated on multiple serious federal crimes now wonder just how safe they are?

Open Thread

Mark Noonan34 Comments

Stock markets have been sliding and, naturally, the Democrats and Never Trumpers (BIRM) are all, “see??? We told you so!!!”. The reality is that Trump’s actions are deflating the Biden Bubble. The stock market gains of the past 4 years were illusory: fueled by massive inflationary spending and producing, very likely, no real wealth at all…indeed, ten years from now a review of that time frame might reveal we lost real wealth over the 4 years. Reality actually started to set in before Biden was carted out – many months of year-over-year declines in the “win” for Vegas casinos. Always an excellent barometer of economic health…Vegas does well when people have money to blow.

In addition to the printing- and debt-fueled asset bubble, it was also manipulated higher via bogus government stats. This sort of thing started under Obama (with a chance it started under Clinton). It is very easy to manipulate the numbers – especially the top-line inflation and employment numbers which are still, quite ridiculously, accepted as gospel in the financial world. If you think the little bureaucrats in the Bureau of Labor Statistics won’t lie for politics, then you just haven’t been paying attention. Of course they will – and they did. They are probably trying to lie right now, making out that things are worse under Trump than actual. I do hope his Treasury Secretary gets a handle on it. We do need actual economic data, after all. Hard to make valid decisions based on false information.

This will hurt! Economic dislocations always do. It hurt recently in Argentina when Milei took a DOGE-like chainsaw to Argentine government. It is hard to obtain economic news from Argentina as the global MSM is controlled by people who hate Milei as much as they now hate Musk…but they can’t hide the fact that Argentina’s monthly inflation rate has dropped from 300% to just over 2%. When you start to take apart a system based on graft then that system will experience pain. But it is merely draining the poison out of the system…and better for Trump to be doing it now, pretty much on purpose, than just muddling along waiting for another 2008-style financial collapse. A year from now will be the test – and my bet is that inflation will be beaten, interest rates will be much lower and the economy starting to boom just in time for the 2026 midterms.

Meanwhile, how are the Democrats prepping for next year? On a day when they could have been highlighting the market drop (this will temporarily hurt Trump’s approval, no doubt about it) they decided to go with this:

Khalil is one of those piece of trash foreigners who lives in the USA (ie, nowhere near the third world…poop hole he claims he’s proud to be from) and organizes anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and anti-American protests. He’s a green card holder but that has now been revoked and he’s going to be heading back home. Dems are trying to tear-jerk us into a guilt trip by pointing out he’s married to an American woman who is pregnant with his child. My suggestion: she goes with him and finds out what life is like for a woman under Islamist rule. See if she’s still proud of him then. If they let her out of the house ever again.

And how did our man Trump respond to this disgusting effort at emotional blackmail?

Very weirdly even some on the right are arguing this guy has rights – to a certain extent, yes. He’s a human being and all human beings are endowed with certain rights. But he’s not a citizen. Our laws are the attempt by the citizens of the USA to secure the rights endowed to them … not some backdoor for a hate-filled foreigner to enter our country and try to tear it down. Guarantee you, no American soldier ever gave his life so that foreigners could shout anti-Semitic slogans on a college campus. If you aren’t a citizen of the USA then you are a guest – and guests are to behave will or be asked to leave. Khalil is free to go back home and be all the Jew-hater he ever wanted to be. He doesn’t get to be here doing that.

At this point it is good to note that what Trump and team are doing is clearing the decks. A lot of people are upset at the pace of this or that action or wishing that something else was being put first and so on. But what Trump is going via DOGE, via firing people, via things like deporting that creep is sort of resetting the system to its factory settings. This is why Trump has signed off on the Continuing Resolution – something we all despise and I’m sure Trump does, too. But with the cuts happening via DOGE and the Democrats about to be starved for funds, the time for the budget battle is in September after Trump has defunded the Left and fired/deported some of the leadership. The fact that the Senate Democrats posted that on X shows that the adults have abandoned the Democrats…probably because the money isn’t coming in any longer. Its the theater kids in charge…and, man oh man, are they stupid! If all goes just moderately well, then Trump will be setting the entire fiscal agenda against Democrats who are shouting incoherently about issues the American people are 80/20 against.

I’ve never felt better about politics than right now – and it just keeps getting better and better! Like I said, we’re in for some pain. There will be rocks in the path. But the course is set – as long as we remain firm and Team Trump’s security has their head on a swivel, we’re just going to roll over the Left.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan7 Comments

Nevada’s Attorney General – a Democrat – decided he wanted Nevada to be a sanctuary State. Nevada’s Governor – a sane person – said not so fast:

Aaron Ford – the aforementioned AG, Democrat and lunatic – is already running for Lombardo’s job in 2026. So you can understand why Ford would want to pick some fights with Lombardo…but, this fight? Seriously? Nobody outside the Leftist loony bins likes sanctuary policies. Even those who favor loose immigration policies don’t like the idea of State and local governments not cooperating with federal law enforcement on removing illegal aliens…and the more stories we see of illegals getting caught, released and then committing absolutely hideous crimes, the less people like the idea of sanctuary.

Nevada is a closely divided State (though registrations are trending GOP of late) but with 2026 being the mid-term year after a GOP win, you’d have to rate Ford’s chances out the gate as “has a solid shot at it”. Lombardo has been an effective and generally popular governor – and Democrats seem to have a really hard time winning the governorship – so it was never going to be an easy fight for Ford…things like this are going to make it impossible for him absent a complete GOP meltdown. But that is the Democrats right now, isn’t it? They are all-in on transing kids, protecting illegals and defending wasteful spending. Trump has picked a series of 70/30 issues, got himself on the side of 70 and has the Democrats digging in behind 30. Just amazing.

Jeff Bezos has decreed that the Washington Post will take a Libertarian line on personal and economic freedom. This did get his the opinion editor to step down – we’ll see if any further resignations occur. Best post on X about it:

We’ll see how this comes out – but if WaPo merely becomes a place where non-Left opinion can exist, that will be an improvement. A vast improvement – not least in getting a lot of the Ruling Class out of their bubble. The reason Democrats are tripling down on trans, illegals and waste is because all signals they receive indicate these as the popular positions. They never hear dissenting views. You will seriously find liberals out there who never even heard of Hunter’s laptop or that Trump-Russia was totally debunked…the MSM never told them.

And that is what Jake Tapper is counting on – he’s got a book coming out in May called Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, its Cover Up and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. I’m not kidding. Look it up. He really wrote a book called that. As if he wasn’t one of the people desperately covering it up! He’s naturally being scorched on X over it but it must be kept in mind that most people who actually pay attention to Tapper never heard about Biden being gaga until the debate. It was just a stutter!

When we ask ourselves how Kamala Harris got 75,017,613 votes, that’s why: these people never heard about her. The MSM hid her inability to string a coherent sentence together. They carefully edited the clips. They told the viewers that what she said was brilliant. Just at they told their viewers that the Orange Man is Bad while Harris is nothing but Joy. And even after Trump put full effort into showing this to be nonsense, more than 75 million people still hadn’t been reached on it. They still bought the MSM lies…and will buy Tapper’s book.

Greenpeace is going on trial in civil court – with the plaintiff asking $300 million. An amount that would effectively bankrupt Greenpeace. At issue was a series of protests orchestrated by Greenpeace against an oil pipeline (now completed). The plaintiff argues that Greenpeace encouraged illegal acts during the protests and then raised funds off the press coverage of the protests. This would be a criminal enterprise designed to enrich the perpetrators. It all came to a head in 2019 so I can see why federal prosecutors didn’t do anything…but I believe they should now on any charges still within the statute of limitations. It is a rather new thing to consider but as I think about it, I kick myself for not thinking it up years ago. I mean, think about the BLM/Antifa people who raked in huge donations…off of riots! That they encouraged and perhaps even directly participated in. RICO – its not just for Mobsters any more!