Open Thread

Open Thread

Mark Noonan17 Comments

The judicial orders against Trump are getting ever more absurd – to the point now there Judges are maliciously ignoring the written law and Supreme Court orders. Why are they doing this? Are they just insane?

No.

Well, ok, fine; they are insane. But there is also a plan here. It seems pretty obvious to me that they are now hoping they make rulings so absurd that Trump is force to openly defy them. Their theory then goes that the American people will reject this defiance and turn against Trump, thus ensuring he’s hamstrung for the next two years as Democrats hope to take back the House in 2026 whereupon the Trump agenda dies. Could they be right? That is, would the American people choose the judges over Trump? It is a possibility. I don’t think it would come out that way, but it is something that might happen. It is basically a hail Mary move – there is absolutely nothing else in the Democrats’ arsenal to stop or even slow down Trump. And Trump II is a much graver threat than Trump I…the new Trump is determined to fix the problems. Trouble for Democrats is that they made the problems on purpose to sustain their power and wealth. Fixing them means the effective end of the Democrat party.

So, there’s this long shot – and the longer shot of, well, a shot. Trump’s people better keep their heads on a swivel.

The latest effort to keep the immigration spigot open has been pushed by the Libertarians: their objections are that we can’t allow the government to decide who a college admits or an employer hires. Also, Trump is deporting Albert Einstein when he kicks a Palestinian activist out. Hey, they are Libertarians: they are by nature pretty dumb. Keeping in mind that most Libertarians are just Leftists who want low taxes and gun rights.

But, nobody is buying it. We know who’s being kicked out – totally useless people when not actually wicked. And here’s my challenge – if these people are so great then ten years from now they’ll have made their homelands a paradise for Americans to envy. So I say to the Libertarians, let this happen so you can tell me “I told you so”. So far, none have taken me up on my offer…almost like they know we’re not deporting great people.

Actually useful polling shows Trump about where he was on Election Day. Anecdotal evidence – that is, me talking to people in real life – indicates that his support is growing. Non-anecdotal is that the GOP continues to win the voter registration battle. Been a little blip of late in PA as the Democrats have a hotly contested primary but even that wasn’t much…and the overall trend still favors the GOP. Even in deep Blue bastions like California the GOP is winning the registration battle (though CA is so Blue that it’ll take a decade or more to make the State competitive). People are, by and large, liking what they see. And, guys, the Democrats know this. Nobody told Harris but her own pollsters showed her a sure loser from Day One to Election Day (rumor has it that until about 11pm Eastern on Election Day she thought she was going to win…this is why the calls on the Battlegrounds came in so slow…once again, the MSM will not call a race until the Democrats give them permission to do so…had Harris been told she was a sure loser, they would have called the race as soon as California closed). Democrats have their own polls and they are likely showing Trump as popular…and this once again gets us back to their desperate judicial attempts to slow it down.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan5 Comments

Over in the UK a mother of a 12 year old was sentence to 31 months for a social media post. Meanwhile, the government is starting a new campaign called “Let’s be blunt”…lauding the use of blunt-tipped knives.

Just what the heck are we allied with Britain for? They don’t share our values. They aren’t a free people. They are cowardly in the face of foreign invasion. What are we defending Over There these days? Because what is happening in Britain is pretty much what’s happening all over Europe…more controls of speech, more and more disarming the population, more and more sheep-like acceptance of tyranny by the people. A Russian conquest of Europe at this point would make it freer (Putin doesn’t care if you’ve got a pointy knife or put up a harsh post on X – as long as its not about him, of course).

I mean, we know why the British and other European governments are doing this – they see what happened over here with actual free speech among an armed population: Trump. All over Europe there are parties committed to saving their respective countries and the European Ruling Class is determined to stamp them out. I believe they will be successful at this – the being disarmed thing is the worst position for European patriots to be in. They all agreed to give up their arms because lunatics might use some other weapons to kill…the very stupidest thing a person can do, but they did it. Now that they’re facing tyranny and invasion they’ve got nothing…all the complaints in the world won’t change a thing. The European Ruling Class has the guns and so no ultimate fear. But the question remains: what are we doing allied with such people?

To be fair, the only free nation in the world is the United States. Since 1787 this has been so because only our governing document secures our arms and our speech while also saying “Congress shall make no law”. As I’ve mentioned before, no other nation has this – every enumerated right, every restriction on government power has a “but” in it somewhere. Every right can be suspended and every power exercised and on the say-so of the mere parliamentary majority leader. Its not even a King robed in history making the call…just some half-wit politician who managed to climb to the top of the greased pole. But at least in times past Europe made a play at being free…there was a time when you could say what you wanted, you could be armed (even with restrictions) and the Europeans had some guts. Those days are long past and I’ve no interest in defending Europe. A foreign conqueror is welcome to the place as far as I’m concerned.

As we’ve noted many times, polls are a weak reed but yesterday a fairly respectable pollster came out with a Trump 55% approval poll. A lot of people discounted it and it is the outlier…on the other hand, the polls showing him at 42% are clearly bogus. So, backing them out and keeping the polls which actually got 2024 reasonably correct and Trump’s approval sits around 50%…so, while 55% is still an outlier, it ain’t much of one. And what I’ve found talking to people is that they are warming up to Trump fast. They see what he’s trying to do – and they can see his opposition is merely upset that their game is being messed with. Shouts of “he’s killing kids in Africa!” are a mask for “I’m not getting my kickback from USAID!”; nobody doubts this. And it is how it was.

There is also the sheer fun of it all. A judge, mayor and Congresscritter getting arrested is a delight. It is funny. And about time. Arrest more of them! Including a lot of Republicans! Trump being able to off-the-cuff spend an hour in front of the MSM – and making them look like fools – is another fun thing to watch. And we can see the prices of food and gasoline coming down. There is a real chance that 55% is correct.

Cancer-gate is going to have more legs than some suspect. Especially now after Trump posted yesterday that he’s not blaming Joe for what happened…stating that Joe would never have gone along with open borders and such and so it was traitors taking advantage of a senile man. That is a shot across the bow – and the entry point right now for exposing the whole thing is the alleged cancer. Is it real? Was Biden really not checked for it at Walter Reed? And in all this, what was his cognitive ability? Do remember that a couple months ago Trump posted that he considered the pardons null and void. Not much happened after that but by that time Trump had listened to the Hur tapes I’m sure…plus had conversations with the White House staff (I’m talking maids and butlers and such – these are rock-solid American patriots and the most discrete people in the world…but Trump is a guy who can talk to such people and get them to open up about things). He knows now as well as anyone outside of it can what was going on during Biden’s term…and he’s laying the groundwork for basically annulling the last part of Biden’s actions.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan9 Comments

Leo XIV reaffirmed that marriage is between one man and one woman and that the unborn are humans with rights.

This is going to make a lot of Lefties and Progressive Catholics upset.

But, fret not! I’m sure he’ll also deplore the continuing war in Gaza before too long … OTOH he also spoke up for the persecuted Christian minority in the Arab world so maybe even that won’t be forthcoming in a manner pleasing to the Left.

Oh, well: Catholics gonna Catholic. And the Pope is Catholic.

The Trump Administration, by highlighting the increasing racism of the South African government, is clearly trying to force that government to climb down. I hope it works; because only death and poverty result on the current trajectory.

Keep in mind what happened in South Africa: after the end of Apartheid and the assumption of black majority rule, it was supposed to operate like magic in making everything peachy for the black population. Not kidding: the only thing that made life bad for blacks was Apartheid. This is what was asserted and firmly believed…especially in the larger West. Of course it didn’t work that way. It couldn’t work that way. While white South Africans were much better off than black South Africans, their per capita income would work out to pretty impoverished for Americans. Around the time Apartheid ended, South Africa’s per capita GDP was less than four grand a year. Sure, whites got more than that…but we’re still talking sub-Alabama money. There wasn’t enough money for everyone in South Africa to even be working class, let alone middle or upper. The only way South Africa was going to get rich – under any system – was via decades of hard work and frugal living. Apartheid actually held back South African wealth creation…once it was gone, if everyone got to work – especially given the massive foreign investment which would eagerly jump into a free and rule-of-law South Africa – then within 40 to 50 years, South Africa could easily have been on par with Europe in income.

But what happened was that the magic didn’t happen, nobody insisted that everyone get to work and it all became an increasingly strident blaming of white people while what money there was got looted and transferred to the bank accounts of the new, politically-connected black elite (and some of the old white elites who ran apartheid…don’t forget that; they cut their deal with the new leadership to keep rich and privileged…and do note that it is “kill the Boer, kill the farmer ” the race-baiters shout…not “kill the rich, white jerks who work with the ANC”). There have been increasing attacks on whites with little or no police response, political rhetoric designed to incite violence (and, man, I bet they want whites to respond; it would be all the excuse they need) while poverty and disease spread and South Africa’s infrastructure collapses towards Third World status. There would have been eventual massacres of whites. There still might be. Trump is trying to nip that in the bud.

All of this ties into the basic assumption that white people are inherently evil. We’re not native to any land. We are nothing but thieves and oppressors. Our lives mean nothing and nobody is to be upset if a white person is robbed, beaten, raped or murdered. This isn’t something we can allow to continue – not in any nation. A whole series of lies has been ingrained into the Western mind and we must cut it out – racism is wrong no matter how its done. Whites are not to blame for non-white poverty. The only way out and forward is for everyone to obey the laws and get to work. Together. As one humanity. Whatever happened in the past can’t be fixed and so it should just be moved on from.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan18 Comments

As a Catholic, the moment I got my first look at Pope Leo XIV my heart was filled joy – such as I haven’t felt since John Paul II was elected. There were some who immediately tried to say he was on the Left side of the Church as Francis had been but his use of Papal vestments was a clear indicator that he’s not going to be put into a box. At all events, the Church is supranational and transcends politics. It never has been, is not nor ever will be on “your side” politically. Sure, Leo has condemned Trump admin immigration policy – that is nearly rote for the Catholic Church which has always been open borders (an organization charged by God with spreading the Gospel to the ends of the Earth cannot support border lockdowns; but the Church does recognize the necessity for the State to control its borders). But for every bit of Left that has been found there are also such for the Right. Looks like Leo doesn’t mind the traditional Latin Mass, for instance. I don’t think Leo’s going to be what anyone expected. And I advise everyone to read Rerum Novarum, which was promulgated by Leo XIII in 1891 (Pope’s do select their reign name on purpose – I can’t imagine Leo didn’t want to bring forward the spirit of his predecessor). It is the bedrock of Catholic social teaching and it hits hard at both Socialism and that brand of Capitalism which holds that as long as you’re maximizing profits there are no other considerations. And we’ll let it slide that he’s a Sox fan…

The Democrats invading the ICE facility were likely doing it on the theory that their arrest would outrage normal people and turn them against Trump. Do note that huge numbers of Democrats – including quite senior people – were immediately on X deploring the arrests and demanding immediate release. As if the whole country was instantly outraged by the arrest of some Democrat commie mayor. Its yet another op – and its an op based on the theory that “nobody voted for this”. That is, on immigration, the American people only want the worst of the worst deported, not the overall tens of millions.

I have no idea where Democrats got this idea. Trump campaigned on a program of deporting every last illegal alien in country. He was thumpingly elected President because of this. We’re not sympathetic to people who came in illegally. This is because the American people are, for the most part, fair – they want things to be fair and square. It simply isn’t fair that some people jumped the line and now want to stay in place of people who are still waiting in line. And this is before the criminality – that a large number of the illegals are committing quite horrific crimes just adds to the sense of unfairness…some Americans have to be killed or otherwise abused because the government allowed foreigners to jump the line. When Democrats try to gin up sympathy with stunts like the ICE facility or by pointing out some girl was brought here illegally at the age of 5 our attitude just hardens. If any of us had continually broken the law for a decade or more we know we wouldn’t be let off because we didn’t break other laws at the same time. The illegals have to go. All of them.

And this, of course, is the only morally just thing to do. Merciful, too. The laws must be enforced. A lot of people simply refuse to understand that each time we allow an illegal in, it means yet another person being abused. Sometimes unto death. The only way to stop the abuse is to stop the process. To make it fundamentally impossible to live in the USA illegally. That you can’t get a job. Can’t get a residence. Can’t get anything unless you are legal. Keep in mind that Trump is not anti-immigration. I am, Trump isn’t. I want at least a twenty year moratorium on all immigration to allow assimilation to catch up. But that isn’t Trump’s view; he might even go for increased legal immigration levels…he’s just identified the actual problem as illegal immigration and is determined to stop it.

Meanwhile, the Democrats continue to Resist on the legal front – finding judge after judge to hold that there’s a Trump Exception to Article II. The judges keep doing this because Roberts won’t call off the dogs. He’s still trying to triangulate his way through this – and clearly does want at least some Trump Exceptions to Article II. But we can’t have a system where Democrats can do things Republicans can’t. If Biden can stroke of the pen allow half a million illegals in, then Trump stroke of the pen must be able to send them back…can’t force Trump to do the half a million one at a time. And the Democrats will not like where this ends up – the termination of judicial review, as such. Trump clearly does not want to go there. I think he’s been fully justified for more than a month in openly defying court orders. He’s looking at it differently and maybe he’s right about it and I’m wrong. Not my call to make. But Trump will not allow Democrats in judicial robes to annul the 2024 election.

Keep in mind that down there at the federal district judge level you’re dealing almost exclusively with partisan, political appointees. Basically its a reward for services rendered…and even if a judge is a GOP appointee, if the judge resides in a deep blue State then it was really a Democrat appointment. They are nothing but partisan hacks – been decades since Democrats allowed anyone but partisan hacks into positions they control. These people are not fighting for Democracy or the Rule of Law – they are doing what they’re told to do by Democrats who seem convinced that the American people will swing around to supporting illegal immigration, boys playing in girls sports and keeping government corruption. And that is also something to remember: everything the Democrats do is running off a focus-group tested Narrative which is supposed to swing power into the Democrats hands. MSM, DNC, individual pols, talking heads on TV, judges, lawyers…all working off the same script.

The good news: it really seems to be a very stupid script.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan16 Comments

Germany’s internal intelligence agency – allegedly to protect Democracy – has ruled that Alternative for Germany (AfD) is an extremist party. This sets it on the path to being banned – and a ban on any of its adherents being employed by the German government.

Currently AfD holds 152 out of 630 seats in the Bundestag and is the official opposition to the ruling CDU/CSU/SPD coalition. That right there tells you what the problem is: the CDU/CSU is the nominal Conservative party in Germany while the SPD are the Socialists…but there they are in coalition. Why? Because they are all Establishment. So, too, are Greens and the Left – two pretty much outright Communist parties. Essentially, what you have is the entire German establishment determined to keep AfD out of power. And they thought after the election this past February that this was accomplished…AfD was held to a distinct minority of seats and everything could calmly go on as the Establishment imported Germany’s replacement population. But the most recent polling shows AfD tied with or slightly ahead of the CDU/CSU…and in the old east Germany, the AfD is starting to run away with it. The next election isn’t until 2029…but with AfD rising there is always a risk that the German government could lose a vote of confidence in the Bundestag and that would trigger an election…and as the SPD starts to drop down to political insignificance (after being one of Germany’s two major parties since WWII), they might decide it is better to roll the dice in a new election (polling in eastern Germany – you know, former Communist Germany – has them as low as 10%).

To be fair, the German laws which allow political parties to be banned stem from the reaction to the Nazi era – and we must note that the old Communist Party of Germany was banned in 1956, as have many small parties heavily influenced by Nazi ideology. The claim is made that because the AfD doesn’t like mass immigration they are striking at the heart of Democracy…which is drivel because Democracy doesn’t have anything to do with immigration. They are two entirely separate species of issues. But by casting up the shadow of Hitler they want to turn public opinion against AfD. I’ve mentioned the AfD platform before and it hasn’t anything remotely Nazi in it – in fact, if it is anything compared to the USA, it is a Libertarian ideology (though with generous welfare structures because Germany). They want a decentralized government made up of citizen-legislators and bureaucrats who don’t remain forever entrenched in the realms of power. This is very un-Nazi. Heck, its pretty much un-anything. No nation puts any real restraints on those who grasp for political and economic power. They’re not even anti-immigration – they just want it controlled, an end to bogus asylum claims and the full integration of the immigrants into German society…that is, make them Germans. If anyone can spot Nazism in here then I’m all ears.

Secretary of State Rubio and Vice President Vance issued strong condemnations of the move against AfD – seeing it for what it is: a desperate attempt by a dying political order to remove its opposition. In my view, if Germany goes forward with this ban, then we should not only withdraw from NATO, we should break off diplomatic relations with Germany. The United States cannot afford to be allied with tyrannical regimes.

Trump posted an AI picture of himself dressed up like the Pope and this has caused a lot of outrage…all of it bogus. And I include here some of the official Catholic outrage. After all, the Bishops fussing about this haven’t gotten around to addressing the public scandal of pro-abortion Catholic politicians. A joke picture by Team Trump is hardly something to get all upset about. Sure, it was in poor taste…but not exactly the most important thing going on at the moment, both in secular and religious matters.

I guess some white girl on social media used the N word and then some go fund me type thing raked her in half a million dollars. This has also generated a lot of outrage. But one smart guy I follow on X has noted that if we have different sets of rules for different ethnic groups then there will be a reaction to this. Nobody likes unfair things. If the N word is wrong, then it is wrong. It can’t be wrong for one sort of person to say it but right for another sort. I personally hold to the view that it is a vulgar and insulting term and its best left in the past. But as the word is routinely used by some, I’m not going to call out its use by others.

One set of rules, guys. Pick the rule you want and then everyone has to adhere to it. No special breaks.

Another story that crossed the time line is the arrest of an alleged 5 year old (who is clearly not 5) who was accused of stealing – when arrested, the shouts of racism came fast and furious (the accused being black, the victim being white). This has caused a bit of a social media kerfuffle. There is the real chance that the whole thing was a set-up: that is, some Left pressure group wanted to get a race story and so got one kid to steal from another and had a person handy there to video the interaction. But outside that, people are chiming in with stories of feral youngsters prowling around neighborhoods and businesses just looking for things to steal – and shouting racism when caught. This, I’m confident, is organized crime. It is like the people who go into stores and steal things…this isn’t random. These places are clearly cased in advance and the people doing the stealing pretty much know what they’re looking for (ie, high value, easy resale items). This is the long-term effect of the destruction of societal norms…most notably that theft is bad.

Keep in mind Leftist ideology here: all crime is the result of our unjust system. They sincerely believe this – and, so, their response to crime has been to systemically reduce penalties. This has taught people that they can easily get away from it – theft is a low risk/high reward occupation. Assault or killing is still a no-no (for now), but the Leftist judicial system will look benevolently upon your thievery. But what is forgotten here is that the police don’t exist to protect the honest – they are there to protect the thieves. To ensure they get a fair trial rather than a back-alley whipping or, in more extreme cases, hanging from the most convenient spot. Our Leftist urbanites will put up with a lot…and they’re rich enough to barely be inconvenienced when, say, their car is broken into. But working class and middle class people will only endure it for so long…and after they’ve been robbed a hundred times and the police continue to do nothing, they will take matters into their own hands. There will be curbside tribunals which will dispense rough and ready justice.

And when it happens, I didn’t see a darned thing. Sorry, sun got in my eyes.

There is a way out of this, of course. Start severely punishing petty crime. It actually does the thieves a favor as it will convince a large percentage of them to find something else to do for a living.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan16 Comments

I’ve read some articles which assert that Democrats believe they have a winner in the Maryland Man issue – they figure they can move off from defending the man but garner support by pointing out the procedural error which got him back to El Salvador.

No. Serious! They seem to really think this. That the American people will rise up in outrage over deportations because the forms weren’t filled out correctly.

At first glance we just laugh – but then it dawns on us: the Left are the people who run the bureaucracy, public and private. All they’ve ever done in their life is check off boxes and make certain forms are filled out. They consider this an accomplishment and the height of intellectual achievement. Think about every issue: the Experts says it is so and so and with this report from the Experts there is nothing further to discuss. Just check off that box and move on! And heaven help you if you don’t…because they love to find the clerical or spelling error…makes them feel smart.

We are, as I’ve said, dealing with some very stupid people. And we really should have figured this out a long while ago – we thought the Green stuff was Secret Communism…and it is but it is also very, very stupid…anyone can see that if your goal is to reduce CO2 you’ll build nuclear plants by the dozen. Nope: place mirrors in the desert that don’t work! Student loans – how often do you hear anyone suggest making them dischargable in bankruptcy? Hardly ever, if at all – and it is the simplest solution. If the grad simply isn’t making enough money post-college to carry the freight, file for bankruptcy and be done with it. But they don’t want that – they want to annul the debt. After the forms are filled out, of course. This is the dumbest way to go about it. But the Left is wedded to it (to be sure, this could also stem from a lot of well-off grads just not wanting to pay the bill…if the solution is bankruptcy but you make too much money for that, then where’s the advantage for you?).

I’ve seen a lot of Doomers on X – people who are saying it is all over, Trump has failed, the GOP is finished…and it all would have been better if Trump had done Y instead of Z. We are on Day 92. Just past three months. The Doomers are getting irritating. Sure, maybe the whole Trump experiment fails…but it’ll take a couple years for it to happen. And even if we get whacked in 2026 that doesn’t mean Trump has failed…Reagan got whacked in 1982, after all. Keep in mind as we go forward that there is money to be had in clicks…and hate clicks pay as much as love clicks. Some people will just say things to get clicks. As for me, when I see a Doomer on X or other social media, I hit the mute button. Won’t engage. Not going to give them money for poisoning the well.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard appears to be wary of engaging in military action against Iran. This, and her unwillingness to go to war over Ukraine, is upsetting a lot of hawks. Anyone who has hung around the blog knows that I want no war with Russia but have long figured we should go to war with Iran. These are my opinions informed by my understanding of the facts. Others can come to different conclusions. That’s ok. It is possible for honest people to look at the same set of facts and conclude differently. Nothing doing with some people – because Gabbard doesn’t want war with Russia she is now a Putin stooge and because she’s wary of an attack on Iran she’s also a Mullah stooge.

Stop it, people. Gabbard may be right or she may be wrong – but she’s not a traitor. She’s an honest, patriotic American citizen. She also doesn’t call the shots – Trump does. She gets to say what she thinks and then Trump decides. And only fool would want Trump to only receive one point of view on policy matters. Lets hear every honest opinion and try to sift through them to the best result – understanding that there might not be an actual good choice in a situation…some times it is just picking the least bad option.

Got into an argument on X yesterday. Surprise! Anyways, it started with someone noting a Leftwing account arguing that every Confederate should have been tortured and killed post-war. Naturally, this clickbait was generating a lot of outrage (as was its intent) but I noted that the real problem wasn’t that we didn’t mass murder Confederates, but simply that Johnson pardoned them all. And he did this because he was trying to curry favor with the former Planter Class (whom he despised) for an 1868 Presidential run as a Democrat. It didn’t work – they wouldn’t forgive him for remaining loyal to the Union and being Lincoln’s running mate. But that, really, was the entire post-Civil War failure…it created the whole problem. Which wasn’t the Klan (insane violence is always only a temporary problem) – the problem was we let the Confederates vote themselves back into power and, by outnumbering black Americans in the South, vote black Americans into Jim Crow. If the former Confederates were disenfranchised for good, it never would have happened. The race issue would have resolved itself in a generation or two – by 1920 at the latest.

This, in turn, got me a bunch of “how dare you!” from the Right…the usual blather about how the Confederacy was spotlessly honorable and the men who served her needed to be reintegrated back into civil life. Balderdash – the Confederacy came about because the Planter Class had lost power at the Federal level and wanted to keep stealing the labor of black Americans. There were decades of propaganda built up for it – keeping in mind that the idea of the Confederacy was born under Jackson’s Administration – playing upon racial fears, disdain for Northern tradesmen (greasy mechanics, the South considered them), prospects for conquest south of the Rio Grande and a rather hypocritical view of States Rights (ie, they wanted their States Rights…except in the case of the Fugitive Slave Act which essentially made every State a slave State), the Southern Ruling Class got their war.

And it was a catastrophe. The least justified Civil War in history and then they botched the execution (Washington could have told Lee that his job was to remain in being and free to maneuver; not being tied down to defending one city while the rest of the war was lost out West). A million or so people ended up dead (war, disease, hunger-related illness and so on). They got their arrogant, upper class, Plantation butts handed to them on a platter. Repent? Offer reparation? At least admit it wasn’t such a great idea? Nothing doing – they started working up justifications for themselves, lobbied for pardons and then recaptured the political system they had failed…the worst aspect of it was the fact that the Union was merciful. Nothing is quite so American as Grant’s “let ’em up easy” policy. This should have lead to that repentance (it did in some, most notably James Longstreet, but there were others), but the mercy was spat upon…with a spasm of Klan violence and laws mandating smaller water fountains among other ridiculous indignities.

Look, I get it – great-great-grandpa who served in the Alabama 5th Infantry was a good man who fought for what he thought was right. No, we don’t need to be tearing down statues. There was a greatness in Lee, and the sublime courage Confederate soldiers showed even against hopeless odds still shines across the ages. But lets also not kid ourselves about what happened. Lets keep in mind all those corpses and only say the war was justified if we could go to them and say, “it was good you died for this cause”. It was good for Billy Yank … Johnny Reb? Not so much. He shouldn’t have had to show his sublime courage in a lost cause. Wiser heads should have prevailed. And so it goes with most wars – and that it the primary point I make these days. Sometimes you do have to fight – but only because someone else is doing something so egregiously immoral that there is no other way to stop them.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan20 Comments

I think we’re all a bit amazed – and outraged – at Democrat’s going to bat for “Maryland Man”…you know, the guy who seems increasingly likely to be an MS-13 gangster and human trafficker. The whole concept of it is rather insane: he’s an El Salvadoran who was deported to El Salvador. I get that an order from 2019 – before the gangs were cleaned up in El Salvador – prohibited deportation to El Salvador but the bottom line is the man is back home. Nothing bad was done to him by us. And if he really didn’t want to go back to his home, he could have left the USA voluntarily over the six year period since the final deportation order was issued. In other words, there’s just nothing to be too upset about. So, why all the fuss?

We can’t ignore the possibility of sheer stupidity. As I’ve been saying for a while now, the Left is really stupid. They only manage to hold power by ruthless suppression of dissent in the institutions they have captured and taxpayer subsidy. They are dumb enough to drive over this cliff just because Trump pointed to it. But we must also consider the possibility that it isn’t sheer stupidity – always assume your enemy is smarter than he appears, right? And once I started rolling it around, I came up with an answer: 2026 and 2028.

So far a bit quietly, there is a far Left revolt brewing on the Democrat side. The people who are certain that Trump is Hitler II are in deadly – if rather stupid – earnest about it. They really do believe that unless Trump is stopped, all good things will come to an end. This is why we still see sotto voce appeals for lunatics to take another shot at Trump…but another area of battle is the threat of primary fights. The far Left is saying that anyone who doesn’t go flat out to stop Trump is a traitor and will be primaried. We’ll see if they can actually get this rolling…but part of what van Hollen is doing could be to lock down far Left support. “See? I’m out here Resisting! Love me! Don’t primary me!”. And, of course, if he’s got ambitions for 2028, he’d also want to lock down far Left support for the early Democrat primaries…you gotta figure that a straight, white male is going to be at a huge disadvantage in any Democrat Presidential primary…so, be More Commie Than Thou. And this will go for all of them who get that Presidential bug. Keep in mind that Democrats always figure they can tack Right after the primary…they’re foolish to believe this because (a) their base is infuriated by any tack to the Right and (b) they don’t have total domination of information any longer…with X and other platforms out there, you can’t successfully pretend all that Commie stuff didn’t happen. Harris learned this the hard way last November.

But my goodness does this look bad for them – Democrats who wouldn’t dream of meeting with the families of illegal immigrant victims flying all the way down to El Salvador for a chat over coffee. Not a good look. Horrendous look, in fact. The attack ads are already written: “Democrats are for illegal immigrants, we Republicans are for you, the American people.” Do keep in mind that in 1934 things were absolutely horrible in the United States and it was FDR’s first mid-term. This confluence of events should have walloped the Democrats pretty hard – Democrats gained 9 House and 9 Senate seats. This was because in spite of how horrible it all still was in the depths of the Great Depression, the GOP was so toxic that the people remained with the Democrats. And right now the Democrats are making themselves toxic. Fighting Trump on cutting waste, illegal immigration and protecting girls sports isn’t going to play well. Democrats are certainly hoping that the economy is bad come next year…but if they keep playing this game then even if it is bad, I still give the GOP a 50/50 shot at winning…and if the economy is in good shape (and I expect it will be) then, look out! Nobody can really assess how things might turn out.

Varad Mehta over on X (@varadmehta – a definite must-follow) has been talking up MAGA’s disdain for and lack of patience with the Judicial Resistance to Trump II:

It isn’t so much that we don’t want Courts. It isn’t that we don’t want Judicial Review. But we’re not going to endure a system where after great efforts – and our Candidate being shot – we find that a few judges get to stop us. It simply wouldn’t be fair – and it is also not remotely Constitutional. Reminder: the primary purpose of our independent Judiciary is to ensure that the Executive can’t jail us on a whim. The Founders didn’t want a system where a judge is beholden to the King. Nor a system like that in France where the King could use lettres de cachet to imprison anyone who offended him without trial or appeal. The Founders did NOT create a Judiciary to second-guess every issue under the Sun. A republican system of government presupposes that the elected representatives of the people decide what shall be…with the Courts only intervening when one or both of the other branches does something egregiously in violation of the written Constitution. Deporting a guy to El Salvador, firing redundant bureaucrats and cutting off USAID funding are not Constitutional issues. There is no reason to have the Judiciary speak to these matters. Anyone who doesn’t like what the current government is doing here is free to argue against it and try to get to a different election result next time…but only a different government can decide differently, not some district court judge appointed via political favoritism.

And if the Judiciary does not curb itself, then it will be curbed. As Varad has pointed out repeatedly, the Courts have already lost the respect of the Democrats – there is already a movement to simply pack the Courts with sufficient Democrat operatives to ensure all Judicial decisions line up with current Democrat policy. As of this moment, only Republicans still want to preserve an independent Judiciary. But patience is wearing thin. If Roberts and the rest of the Supreme Court want to retain any authority, at all, they’d better quickly smack down the district court judges.

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.