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.

Trump is Rolling

Mark Noonan17 Comments

I do believe our Democrats have learned absolutely nothing from 2024.

Until about ten days ago there was story after story and claim after claim that Democrats and Never Trumpers were hearing from MAGA – and we were soooo disappointed in Trump! I mean, we didn’t want Harris but we didn’t vote for this! All these deportations of poor illegals without due process, all this cutting government with a butcher knife…it was all too much! Trump is out of control! What have we done?!?!?!?

And then after a period of that, a whole raft of polls comes out – Trump’s approval is cratering to lows no President has ever seen at this point in his term! It was a cascading political collapse. And, hey, (went other stories and claims) the Dems are on to something here…standing up for Maryland Man and fighting against DOGE is their way back to power! You see, the Democrats were showing themselves to be the reasonable, responsible people who are capable of governing.

And then…

All the polls showing Trump’s support in free fall were the same polls that showed Harris’ Bratty Joy was dominating the election. Do keep in mind that Harris’ pollster has stated that at no time during the campaign did her internal polls show her with a lead. The polls that showed Harris ahead – or even in position to win – were utter nonsense. And so, too, are the polls showing Trump’s support dropping. Sure, there is statistical noise…the good polls show Trump bouncing around from 48% to 51% approval…basically where we was on Election Day. This is actually pretty astonishing…I really expected a genuine drop as Trump put MAGA on steroids. But, no: ain’t happening. It seems everyone is pleased as punch about what he’s doing and if there’s a complaint its that he’s not doing more and faster.

But do keep in mind that the Democrats tried here – to create out of whole cloth a Narrative of Trump collapse, MAGA disenchantment and Democrat resurgence. None of it was true – there wasn’t a single fact to back up the claim. It was a lie from start to finish and they couldn’t sell it.

This is a watershed moment, my friends. The social power of the Democrats has been broken. They can no longer win just by lies pushed in the MSM. People are on to the con and Team Trump has become masterful at dominating the message. For instance, this past Sunday was May the 4th and that is a big day for Star Wars nerds – “May the fourth” = “May the Fourth be With You” (get it?). So, what did Trump do? The White House account put out an AI picture of Trump as a Jedi…with a red lightsaber because that ensured it would go exceptionally viral (red lightsabers are for Siths, not Jedis). As of this moment, it has 56 million views and 31,000 comments. Meanwhile, on that same Sunday, how many people do you suppose watched the DNC propaganda on the Sunday talk shows? I bet it wasn’t even a tenth of that number combined. The Democrats look at this and can only shriek in impotent rage. They don’t understand how Trump is doing this and why they can’t just tell people what to think.

Lied a little too often there, guys. Lies do work, I’ve pointed that out endlessly. But you have to keep your lies reasonable. When you told us we couldn’t have a funeral for grandma but George Floyd could have three, that was a bit unreasonable. Everyone could see not only that it was a lie, but that it was a ridiculous and insulting lie. It got people to hate you, Democrats. They didn’t used to. Now they do. And while people will often listen to liars, they never listen to people they hate…and this is even when the people hated speak the truth. Democrats are in some deep doo doo here.

We’ll see how this turns out – the economy will be key in 2026. I happen to believe that Trump’s policies will get things booming within the first 12 months of his term…but be that as it may, we might find that the Democrats are so toxic that they can’t win even in a poor situation for the GOP. Trump is rolling – and the Democrats are in panic.

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.

A Little Courage, Please

Mark Noonan9 Comments

My Dad didn’t survive World War Two. He won it. Might not seem like much of a distinction but I think it important – survivors are people who merely endured…victors are people who did something. I think that we in the West have gotten into the habit of thinking of veterans as “survivors” because it suits the overall Left worldview that we should do so…the concept that war is always bad and never solves anything has been deeply embedded into the Western mind, and I do believe deliberately…to get Westerners out of the habit of defending the West.

I’ve talked about this a bit and it stems from World War One…which the Western elite started to talk about in terms of it being useless slaughter about ten years after the war ended. It really got going with things like the play Journey’s End in 1928…which, being written by a veteran of the trenches, can’t be totally condemned…but the whole depressing aspect of it with everyone miserable and doomed to die doesn’t cover all the ground. The play is set in the front lines in March of 1918 and the men there are, in a bit of a sense, doomed…it isn’t spoken of in the play but the characters are directly in the path of the most massive offensive ever conducted in war: Operation Michael. This was where the Germans sent the very best 72 divisions of their army against 29 British divisions in line…and it started with a 4 hour barrage where 3,500,000 shells were fired. The grim reality is that those British units in the front line were going to lose a lot – some were totally destroyed over a couple days fighting. It was quite horrific.

But it was also an amazing British victory. No operation of the war was more creditable to the British soldier than his response to Michael. The very best of Germany came at Tommy in overwhelming numbers and the British soldier stopped him cold…Michael was a total failure and that failure ensured Germany’s ultimate defeat in the war (the German plan was for Michael to knock the British army out of the war and then turn the whole German army against the weakened French and unready American armies). And remember, it was just regular British units…filled with average British men from all over the UK and the Empire. The German forces were picked men…units specially crafted and trained for this exact offensive. The best of Germany met the average of the British Empire…and got it’s Kraut ass kicked.

But the public mind on all of it is of a useless welter of slaughter deciding nothing. And it is like that for all great and brave efforts. Even our movies and stories about victories in World War Two have this element of the hopeless in it…that it was all bad. For post-WWII military efforts it just gets even worse…the hopelessness of useless effort and death often combined with a subtext that the West is a criminal enterprise. This, I think, is why we see all over the West a simple refusal to defend itself. We’ve all seen videos of “migrants” on busses and trains in Europe verbally and physically abusing women and a bunch of Western men stand around pretending their don’t notice it. Sure, if they did try to do anything they’d probably get arrested while the “migrant” skated…but the fact that they’ve allowed such a thing to be betrays complete cowardice…and I don’t think humans are by nature cowards. This is an imparted reality…something made. On purpose.

We do need to get a collective backbone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Audie Murphy. I’ve never faced combat. I have no idea how I’d behave in a life-threatening crisis. I hope I’d behave well…the lessons imparted to me by my combat-veteran father tell me that in a crisis I’m to swallow fear and do what needs to be done. I believe I’d give a good account of myself…that is, if I were on a bus and I saw a woman being abused, I would intervene. I wouldn’t care that I might get hurt or the authorities might arrest me afterwards…I would intervene because that is the right thing to do, consequences be damned. And we do see that in the USA when its totally absent elsewhere in the West…but we also know that it isn’t universal in the USA because we do get the stories where everyone did just stand around and let it happen.

Growing a spine is going to take a cultural shift – and that means a pop-cultural shift. We’re going to have to start retelling tales of heroism. More movies like The Alamo of 1960, less like Saving Private Ryan of 1998 – and, yes, I recognize the high quality in both films…but one is a tale of triumph in defeat the other a tale of defeat in triumph (after all, the key scene is a defense of a bridge against odds…and while most of the men died, the bridge was held…the evil Nazis were thwarted. A good outcome was obtained…but the movie ends it with it all being quite useless effort). It is a huge difference. And we need to get it back.

Oh, Canada…FFS and LOL!

Mark Noonan29 Comments

Canadian Conservatives are furious with Donald Trump. He ruined it for them, see? His talk of Governor Trudeau and a 51st State saved the Liberals! If Trump had just kept his big, fat mouth shut Poilievre and the Conservatives would have won!

Yeah, maybe. Actually, there does seem to be some exit polling to support this – especially Boomer Canadians seemed to cast their ballot based on the assumption that Carney will Resist Donald Trump. But that just makes it even more funny.

Hey, I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for Canada. America’s hat is filled with some nice people – and not just NHL draft picks! But it is also filled with some not so nice people. To be fair, their bad people are just like America’s bad people – insane Leftists who hate everything Canada stands for and want to totally destroy the country. The trouble for Canada isn’t that Trump called Trudeau a governor…it is that even the so-called Conservatives of Canada have bought the Left’s version of Canada.

It all started with the Official Languages Act of 1969 – enacted, it should be noted, by Pierre Elliott Trudeau…officially recorded as Justin’s dad but everyone has already noted Justin’s resemblance to Fidel Castro. Strong assumption that while Pierre was in Havana lauding the glories of the Communist Revolution, Mrs Trudeau was getting a detailed tour of Fidel’s bedroom. But, hey, Commies don’t care about that – giving it up for the leaders of the Revolution is a long held tradition amongst Commies and I’m sure if it did happen, Pierre felt it was an honor. OTOH, looking at Justin I can’t help but feel that Fidel is looking up from his eternal residence and is rather disappointed in his progeny…whatever else you want to say about Fidel, he was a manly man…Justin…isn’t even all that feminine a woman. But, anyways: the Official Languages Act: people think it just made French and English official languages in Canada and that was how it was sold – but the details made Canada officially Multicultural…and while the public mind probably thought it meant that French and English cultures would coexist, it really meant that any race-baiter with gripe could latch on to it and get government subsidy and veto power over policy. And that is pretty much what happened. It was the downfall of Canada – it essentially said that Canada was a mistake, that Canadians by making Canada had done wrong and that everyone who hated Canada now had an unlimited claim on Canadians.

And the elder Trudeau did this because he hated Canada. No, seriously; despised the whole thing. When WWII started he was 20 years old and felt that the war had nothing to do with him…just a useless fight between Great Powers. He later claimed regret about not volunteering to fight Nazism but that was merely post-facto drivel to retain political viability. He was Left – the Left doesn’t care about the country. Any country. He might have felt a need to support Communists against Nazis, but he’d never feel it was important to defend Canada against Germany. He entered politics just so he could dismantle the entity called Canada and replace it with something else – something Left. Keep in mind that though French Canadian, he also wanted nothing to do with Quebec nationalists…because he hated Quebec as much as he hated Canada. The last thing the Left wants is to replace one home of patriots with two homes for patriots. He wanted Quebec to remain in Canada so he could destroy both places at the same time.

And as we see in human history, what you pay for is what you get – Canada stopped paying to make patriotic Canadians and started paying for people who hated Canada. Year by year since 1969 the number of people latching on to hating Canada has grown while the number of Canadian patriots declined…to the point now that patriots are a distinct minority in their own country and even the so-called Conservative Party accepts horrors like MAID (that is Medical Assistance In Dying…a quite Orwellian acronym which stands for killing anyone who is old, or sick or is just feeling a bit sad as a means of relieving the health budget). Heck, I checked the Conservative platform and their policy on immigration is simply that they’ll import foreigners more efficiently than the Liberals. Naturally, the Conservatives ran huge numbers of either foreign-born or children of immigrants for office…all clearly showing that being Canadian wasn’t a priority for them. And of course it didn’t work – Liberal Lite vs Liberal is always going to have one outcome.

And that is what doomed the Conservatives…not Trump trolling Justin. Oh, sure, it might have given an extra excuse for Canadians to vote Liberal, but the Liberal rot of Canada is deep and wide. Reminder: the Canadians returned Trudeau to office at the height of the Covid insanity. Having your own government lock you in at home wasn’t sufficient cause to toss the Liberals out…so, Trump quiet or Trump loud wasn’t really going to make a difference.

All around the West we see this – a country officially adopting some multicultural mechanism and then year by year hating itself more and more…to the point where being a patriot is a political liability. And any reaction from the people, when it comes, is too little, too late. I’ve seen protests in Ireland and Britain about the invasions of their country but its all really rather sad. Pathetic. They are disarmed and their Ruling Class has already ensured that they’ll be outvoted every election…and, truth be told, the people who are protesting against the destruction of their own countries still want that “free” government cheese…still want socialized medicine, massive vacation time, generous unemployment benefits, paid maternity/paternity leave, “free” education…on and on and on…and both Left and Right parties give it to them and anyone who takes even the slightest exception to it all is cast out of society. When even Right Brits, Canadians and French talk about preserving their values they aren’t talking about preserving their Christian heritage, their patriotic love of country, their willingness to die for what they believe…they’re talking about preserving the Welfare State for themselves. They just don’t like foreigners getting a check and moving into their neighborhoods. I can’t see any path to recovery for them.

Heck, I only barely see one for us – we’re always a little behind developments in the West. Our Constitution makes change slow…gives us a chance to call a halt. The Democrats have been working diligently to short-circuit our Constitution and ensure we go the way of Canada but they weren’t quite able to get it done and so we got Trump II. We hope that this will put us back on a path to sanity…but nothing is guaranteed. And if the Democrats come back in before the Trump policies become entrenched, then we’ll never get another shot at it…Democrats will simply dispense with the Constitution (likely by packing the Courts and getting whatever rulings they need to impose their views) and that will be that. But we at least have a path out – for the rest of the West, not much hope. Some for Poland and Hungary…but we see that in Romania the EU managed to annul the election of the “wrong” candidate and they got Meloni in Italy to toe the migrant line…once again, “free” government cheese being the motivator here…vote the wrong way, and the welfare checks will stop.

In my opinion, the USA is going to stand alone in the world – we might be able to keep some semi-allies (Japan, India) but only for specific purposes (in their cases, defending against China) but if we restore sanity in America, we’ll mostly be a pariah State. The world will hate us because we’ll be free, sane and patriotic. A standing condemnation of them – and people don’t like to be condemned. We should start working towards a time when we’ll accept Christian and Jewish refugees from Western nations…people who are, say, getting harassed, jailed or killed because they don’t want to be Left. On the firm condition, of course, that they renounce their former allegiance! But these sorts of people will strengthen us long term. We should also start thinking of Europe in terms of any parts of it we want to control – their birth rates are collapsing and they’re being replaced…they will cease to be European but there might be some strategic points we want to seize for our own security interests (Trump isn’t actually joking about taking over Greenland and taking back the Panama Canal…strategically, we have to start thinking about what we need to be secure in the world). We’ll have to build ourselves an unbeatable fleet and restore as much domestic mining, manufacturing and farming as we can…because anything we depend on the world for will soon be at the mercy of people who hate us and want us dead.

And those who want us dead will reside in Ottawa as much as in Paris and Berlin. I hate to think in terms like that – it is such a wrench from the past. But things are as they are – the peoples of the West have made their choice. It is to die – and we are choosing to live. These are irreconcilable world views – absolutely hostile to each other. One or the other must eventually be destroyed so the other may exist. And in that, I’m going to choose my nation – my people – over everyone else.

The Weakest Link

Mark Noonan13 Comments

There’s a video out there of Governor Pritzker (D-IL) where he says Republicans “cannot know a moment of peace” and asserting that all our pictures will eventually be in a museum of tyranny. What Pritzker is doing, between gasps for breath as he tries to keep his morbidly obese body alive, is trying to work up another Butler. He knows we’re not evil – in fact, Democrats know better than we how good we are and how bad Democrats are – but he’s going with this because he needs someone to try to stop us, mostly by stopping Trump. Democrats know full well that Trump is the key man – not just because he’s President, but because he’s got the will to win. We think Vance might have it but we don’t know unless and until he’s in office…for the moment, only Trump has a proven track record of getting it done. And it is terrifying Democrats.

It got a bit of notice but with so much going on, not a lot of notice: Team Trump is looking into ActBlue. This is the primary fundraising arm of the Democrat party. And as I’ve been saying about it for many years: it is dirty. It was so easy to figure it out: donation after donation in odd amounts. You know, like $27.35…Americans don’t donate like that. We give a twenty or a hundred but not odd amounts. That sort of donation is clearly a foreign currency donation laundered through some American cut-out and converted into dollars (and my bet is that a lot of the money originates as USAID grants to foreign NGOs). I am quite confident that any investigation of ActBlue will reveal not just a few bad actors, but that the whole thing was set up from the get-go to get around campaign finance laws…and because actual Democrat donors were getting rarer and rarer. Reminder: Dems love to say that X number of their donors are small amounts via ActBlue…giving the idea that there’s just millions of Little People out there supporting Democrats. There ain’t. Its all a fraud. And Trump might uncover it. And just consider for a moment the fate of the Democrats if ActBlue money dries up?

And that is just one of many fronts Team Trump is working on…some GOPers are already worried about 2026. Naturally, the MSM has worked up a series of recent polls showing Trump’s support cratering. I’ll only note here that GOP registration gains are continuing…if there is a drop in support for Trump it isn’t showing up in the real world. Only in MSM polls…which we know are bogus (these days I’m seriously starting to think they just make up the numbers – that they don’t even do an actual poll). I’m not worried – sure, the nature of things still says we have to be prepared for an uphill climb in 2026 but with Democrats picking the 20 in the 80/20 issues of immigration, girls sports and government spending…I think we’ve got a good shot at doing well. And then you add in things like arresting activist judges and cutting at the heart of Democrat finances via terminating USAID and investigating ActBlue…Democrats might go into 2026 with…feeble ability to campaign.

And that is why Pritzker said what he said – and Democrat after Democrat is out there saying Trump is a dictator-in-making and must be stopped by any means necessary. They want some lunatic to kill him. They failed in Butler by what can only be the grace of God…they failed at Mar a Lago by sheer happenstance. They know that in both instances they came very close to ending their problem. So, keep saying the words and see what happens. After all, in their minds they will have done nothing wrong…and if it gets them the result they want, all is well. They know it is now a little more tricky because they don’t have Team Biden making sure Trump’s security detail is less than 100% effective…but get enough shots headed downrange and one of them is bound to work, right?

There is a passage in The Lord of the Rings where Aragorn says words to the effect of: there’s a fat man in Bree who would be killed if it wasn’t for me and the Rangers, but I’m happy to do it because if I can protect the simple people, and leave them free to be simple, then I’ve done my duty. What Tolkien was doing there was showing what true nobility is. Aragorn is descended from the noblest of humanity…the blood of scores of kings runs in his veins. Yet he is scorned by those he protects because he looks rough on the outside…but he’s entirely ok with that, because the noble man does what is right no matter what anyone thinks. The huge problem of the modern world is that there is nobody around trying to protect the simple – allowing them to be freely simple. And I don’t mean simple as in stupid…but simple as in taking care of the day to day in peace (raising families, working their businesses…keeping up civilization). And, in fact, not only are the simple not protected, they are being maliciously twisted by the clever into doing evil…like when Pritzker (who knows precisely what he’s doing) tries to sucker some fool into taking a shot at Trump.

To be sure, most people are immune…that is, most people no matter how hard you try simply won’t turn to insane violence. But in any population there will be a percentage who will fall for it. And this could be from a host of reasons – mental defect, anger over some perceived slight, etc. The main thing is with 340 million people in America, if even one hundredth of one percent can be swayed to violence by Leftist rhetoric about Trump then there are 34,000 people out there just waiting for their chance to strike. And, guys, it is more than one hundredth of one percent. Reminder: we’ve already had two for certain and probably more (serious threats are dealt with by the Secret Service and they don’t always tell us about all of them in any serious way). Every society has it’s weakest links….people who for whatever reason are most apt to go very wrong. Democrats are hoping that the weakest link breaks the whole Trump chain.

We’re on a tightrope, my friends! The Democrats will not go quietly. They just failed to turn the USA into another Canada or UK…where immigrant votes plus voter fraud ensure Ruling Class dominance forever. Another four years of Team Biden and they likely would have done it. Democrats know that if Trump is able to succeed – and even worse, if Vance follows Trump – then they’re cooked. I’m not saying there won’t be a Left or a Democrat Party…what I’m saying is that those in charge will lose their money and power. That is what scares them…and all of their hangers-on (which includes journalists, college administrators, entertainment industry leaders…its the whole class which has been sustained by government money doled out by Democrat politicians)…they are terrified of losing mastery. There isn’t a stone they won’t leave unturned to get at Trump.

Buckle up for a wild ride!

Terminate Foreign Aid

Mark Noonan1 Comment

Over on X I saw one of the Lefty accounts post the assertion that Trump’s termination of USAID had denied this particular little African boy (adorable picture included in post) the 12 cents a day he needs for his AIDS medicine. What a rat Trump is!

Let’s see…12 cents a day times 365 is $43.80 per year, $43.92 in a leap year…looked up the country in question and its been independent since 1960…and in 65 years of independence they can’t come up with less than fifty bucks a year for one of their own children.

Do you see the actual problem?

Another thing I saw was clips from this documentary being made about the Chinese doing a construction project in Congo. The parts shown dealt mostly with the Chinese needing to get two truck loads of gravel delivered so that they could repair the road and thus actually get on with the main project (don’t recall what that is – and its not important for this). The road had been built in 1950 by the Belgians when they were the colonial rulers of Congo. Through the clips what you find is that the Chinese are frustrated that the Congolese never spent a cent maintaining the road after the Belgians built it, that there is so much theft of material that they have to check inventory over and over again (like checking the gas tanks on trucks after driving between point A and point B because the Congolese were stopping along the way and having gas siphoned out), that the Congolese would pretty much stop working as soon as someone wasn’t directly watching them work…and that the contractor for the gravel kept on lying about his ability to deliver the goods.

First off: welcome to colonial overlordship, China! Enjoy. The Brits and French had to deal with this way back when.

Now, why is this failing? Why, ultimately, did the Chinese need to go through a whole dog and pony show to get gravel to repair a road which had been built 75 years previously by the Belgians?

Because neither the Belgian road nor the new Chinese construction project means anything to the Congolese people. Nothing organic, that is. As a means of robbing the Chinese blind, the construction project is awesome for the Congolese…and I’m sure they robbed the Belgians blind when the road was built. You can do that, you see? When you have complete outsiders butting into your little area of the world they are fair game…that is how it goes all across Africa and Asia. That is the rule and always has been…Out East your primary problem is going to be the locals seeing you as an ATM. But as a road or construction project, what the heck do the Congolese care about it? They didn’t need either before the Europeans or Chinese showed up and they aren’t going to make the ultimate profit out of whatever it is the Chinese or Europeans are trying to do.

And this is where I think the world went wrong in the post-colonial world: it is still colonial. Just without the responsibility.

Do note that the Brits pretty much gave up on Africa at the first hint of local resistance but they fought for 12 years in Malaysia to get an exit satisfactory to them. Why? Because there was really no money to be made in Africa at the time but Malaysian rubber was (and remains) an exceptionally valuable global commodity (side note, the rubber of Malaysia was created by the Brits starting in 1877). The colonial powers tried to make their colonies pay but most of them never did – they were economic and strategic liabilities for the most part. I mean, sure, India had been exceptionally valuable to the British but by the 1930’s it was just a drain on the treasury. Trying to insert yourself into someone else’s life is enormously difficult. In the world of settler-colonialism, only the settler society works long term – like the Europeans come to America or the Boers to South Africa. The bottom line is that post-WWII, the world tried to maintain a colonial control of the Third World – and here we are; the Chinese repairing the road the Belgians built.

To be sure, just like in the older colonial period, there is some money to be made – and, in fact, probably more money. If you’re not responsible for the colony but can still extract the valuable materials, ka-ching! But it isn’t actually helping the Third Worlders…except those who are juiced in and able to transfer the bribes to a Western bank.

I’m not sure what exactly to say about Africans, themselves. They, being Africans, are not Americans and so I’m unfamiliar with their actual views except what crosses the TL of Life (as it were), and that might be just bits and pieces served up to the Western audience by Africans who have their own agenda. Why haven’t they gotten rich? The people of Singapore did. I realize it is a small country but it also has a large population and no natural resources…they do show that if people apply themselves diligently they will get ahead. The most successful mainland African country – Botswana – is about as rich per capita as Mexico. But most of them exist in quite grinding poverty with people just working to get their next meal. Sure, the ruthless exploitation of Africa by outsiders causes great harm (and the French have been the worst offenders here)…but, hey, it is still on them. Why not build rule-of-law societies and let people get to work? They don’t. I don’t know why.

And, in the end, I don’t really care. Sounds cruel, but it is just another step into the Real World. It is not my concern if Africans are poor or rich, free or slave. It is their concern. And I figure they can eventually sort it all out. Or not. Doesn’t matter. But what does matter is that my country pouring in aid clearly isn’t helping. If foreign aid made people rich then after nearly 80 years of it there shouldn’t be a nation in Africa that can’t pony up 12 cents a day for a kid’s AIDS medicine. I do want the kid to have his medicine…but it is the responsibility of his people to get it for him, not mine. I’m all-in on emergency aid – some country gets whacked by an earthquake or tsunami, I want us to be Johnny-on-the-spot…but this idea that I can send untold billions of dollars into the treasuries of African nations and it will magically turn Lagos into a copy of San Diego? Not happening. Apparently can’t happen, no matter how hard we try. I will be delighted if the people of Lagos eventually live like the people of San Diego…but if it is to happen then the people of Lagos will have to decide to make it happen…and if they do decide, they won’t need my help doing it. After all, the people of San Diego didn’t need foreign aid to make San Diego like San Diego.

And I can hear shrieks from the Neo-Con Globalists: if we don’t intervene in Africa then the Chinese will! Sure. So? The Chinese are finding out that intervening in Africa isn’t easy. I mean, sure; they will be able to extract resources after they’ve carefully bribed a lot of African officials but unless they continually pour in the money to maintain the infrastructure their resource-extraction will be useless. And, because of how things are, always subject to the next African civil war/coup/revolution as the out party tries to get in so they can get the bribes in return for resource extraction. There isn’t much in Africa that we need. What we do get from there we tend to get because the ruthless exploitation of cheap labor makes things like African uranium cheap…but I don’t see the moral aspect of getting a discount on our uranium that way. Better to pay a little bit more and not be morally responsible for some 12 year old kid working in a uranium mine to enrich Chinese and French businessmen.

I do want us to do business in Africa – but not exploitative business where we perpetuate a corrupt and clearly stupid African Ruling Class just so we can either extract resources or make ourselves feel good by providing running water to some African village…which will not be maintained and so collapse a few years later. If we can obtain something from Africa or if Africans want to obtain something from us, fine. Have at it! But only with honest deals; we buy from them, they buy from us. Cash on the barrel or goods for goods. And just leave the Africans alone to sort themselves out.

Peace Making

Mark Noonan14 Comments

I don’t think people understand peace-making. We understand war. We understand a cease fire, but we don’t understand peace. This is because there hasn’t been much actual peace-making in a long while. I’m thinking about it and there is the Israeli-Egyptian peace of 1979, the Israeli-Jordanian peace of 1994 and that’s about it since World War Two. We don’t count the peace treaties between, say, the USA and Japan post-WWII because that wasn’t a real negotiation to end fighting – the war was long over and it was just to regulate relations between the two powers. Every other conflict ended in a ceasefire or complete subjugation of one side to another. The process of actually sitting around a table and negotiating the permanent end to a war is rather alien these days, we’re not used to it. I suspect we don’t really know how to do it.

Peace making isn’t easy. The really grand peace treaties – Westphalia ending the Thirty Years War, Utrecht-Rastatt ending the War of the Spanish Succession, Aix-la-Chapelle ending the War of the Austrian Succession – could take months or sometimes years to get done. This is because when you make peace, you have to get people to agree to a permanent solution. Even though you know the parties to the treaty might want to try again at a later date, you still have to work on the assumption that this is it – all claims are to be settled in one document that everyone agrees to. And the kicker is that both the victors and the defeated have to take some hits in the process. The defeated for obvious reasons, but the victors daren’t press the matter too far or the defeated will just keep on fighting…part of the reason the War of the Spanish Succession went on so long even after France was effectively defeated in 1709 was because the terms offered for peace were too humiliating for France…so, the French just dug in their heels and kept fighting until they were offered better terms. You have to give to get – and that is another thing people just aren’t used to these days. Everyone wants it all.

Trump is trying to arrange a peace between Russia and Ukraine and he’s pretty much getting no help from anyone. Our “allies” are undermining, the Ukrainians are trying to sabotage and the Russians are trying to extract every ounce of advantage. This is tough, as Trump would say. And it is made doubly so because I don’t think any of the principals involved – except Trump and his team – understand that the goal is peace. You know: peace. End of the war. Armies are demobilized. Troops go home. People get on with their lives. What the world is expecting is another cease fire…which keeps the armies in place taking pot-shots at each other until some time in the future when it all blows up again. Trump doesn’t want that. And the whole world shouldn’t want that…but they simply don’t understand the basic concept of peace…of being done with it all.

The Russians have won the war – they invaded, took large amounts of territory and absent a NATO army intervening, Ukraine lacks the power to expel them from Ukraine’s territory. But for there to be peace, Russia is going to have to give back a bit of what they stole. And the Ukrainians are going to have to ratify most of the Russian theft. Is this ideal? No. But this is how wars sometimes go…there has been a winner and a loser, but there hasn’t been a total destruction of one side like there was in WWII. This means Ukrainians and Russians have to meet and talk it out until they come to a resolution…and a resolution that neither side is going to be totally happy with (the Ukrainians less happy than the Russians). And once an agreement is struck, sign the treaty – have it ratified by both nations (and anyone else who wished to be a party to it), demobilize the armies, resume normal diplomatic relations and get on with life. If Ukraine won’t accept a deal then it becomes a matter of just how long the West will be willing to sustain their war effort. If Russia won’t offer a deal where they give back at least some of what they gained, then Putin will have to decide how long Russian can sustain it’s war effort. That will be as it will – but the first step to peace is to get the two sides talking. Trump is trying to get that rolling…but I think that the Ukrainian leadership is hoping they can outlast Trump…maybe make it to 2029 still alive and then the no-questions-asked aid will resume…for Putin, his worry would be similar…that once Trump is gone the Western powers will start to stir the pot and encourage a Ukrainian war of revenge.

I hope Trump succeeds. This would be a huge part of his effort to restore norms (all of Trump’s policies are just that – an attempt to get us back to the sane way we used to be). The world isn’t perfect and the arrangements the world makes will also not be perfect. But a bit of good will – and even the least recognition that war involves killing people – and we can get to an agreement which even if not perfect, at least stops the shooting and allows people to live in peace.

And, heck, its got to be better than just grinding ahead. As nobody will ever actually agree to send a NATO army to Ukraine, the hope of the pro-war people is that we can just keep the killing up long enough until Russia suffers and internal collapse. This is not totally insane because Putin’s regime is not totally secure. But Putin has also been in power for quite a long while and the Russians soldiers continue to obey orders so the chances of an internal upheaval defeating Russia as it did in WWI are small…and meanwhile day in and day out, kids are being killed in battle. How many more dead before its ok to talk peace? I think quite enough blood has been shed.

I understand that Ukrainians might feel very different about it…if your house was under Russian occupation you’d much rather keep fighting. I understand the Russians also might feel differently… they’ve expended a lot of blood and maybe figure a much larger slice of Ukraine is their due? I can’t speak directly to that – I’m neither Russian nor Ukrainian. I can only say that I understand it…and I still say that it is better to talk peace. Sure, maybe at some point Putin will tumble from power…and sure, maybe the Russians will finally figure out how to break the Ukrainian line…but, how long? How many dead before either of these events happen? What if they never do?

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God…I’m hopeful that Trump will manage to get them to peace.

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.

Pope Francis, RIP

Mark Noonan16 Comments

And Democrats breath a sigh of relief: nobody will be talking about Maryland Man for a week.

That aside, this passing hits a lot differently from the death of St John Paul II. There is a deep divide over Pope Francis among Catholics – and probably among all those who take religion at all seriously. I’m not at moved as I was by John Paul’s death. This is because Pope Francis never captured the public imagination – but, then again, most Pope’s don’t. A John Paul II is a rare bird – someone universally respected and deeply beloved by the faithful. So, let’s not try to fuss with comparisons here.

The Papacy of Francis was ordained by God. We Catholics cannot believe otherwise. We might not fully see the reason, but there is one and it will all work to fulfill God’s plan. My view remains as it has been since Francis was elected: we did need to break down the barriers to entry into the faith. Too many were starting to look at being Catholic as a checklist…you must do A, B and C or you’re not Catholic. To be sure, there are the unmovable things of the faith – and Pope Francis was vigorous in defending these things. But he was right when he said that the Sacraments were medicine on the battlefield of life, not a reward for perfection.

I have prayed for the repose of his soul and I hope everyone will. From what we can tell, he did live a blameless life and I’m confident he is with God at this time. The Church will now select a new Pope and we will go on…and it should be noted that all around the world, the number of people entering the Church seems to be increasing. That is part of Pope Francis’ legacy and should not be forgotten.