Proud to be an American, Where at Least I Know I’m…Free? Really?

Mark Noonan44 Comments

I’m afraid I got a little triggered this Glorious Fourth – and not by a Lefty saying something stupid about America. Nope, Matthew Van Dyke, the founder of Sons of Liberty International set me off. With this:

The story of humanity would be dismal if America hadn’t set the example of rebellion against tyranny nearly 250 years ago.

Let’s keep up the fight against #Russia, #Iran, #NorthKorea, and any other authoritarian regimes that still haven’t gotten the message.

Happy 4th of July.

So, you’re asking yourself (go ahead; ask yourself!), just what in that would trigger Mark?

The fact that it simply isn’t true.

Don’t get me wrong – America is the land that I love. The Founders were glorious. Or Declaration, sublime. The amount of liberty it ushered in was unique in history. But to say that our rebellion against tyranny set some sort of example is…just not supported by the facts. The very next rebellion against tyranny was in France and within 3 years of the start they were executing people for what we today would call “wrongthink”. For heavens sake, the French Revolutionaries judicially murdered Louis XVI’s attorney simply because he had been Louis XVI’s attorney. And when we take one fight after another ostensibly for liberty from 1776 to today all we really see is a litany of crimes.

What the American Revolution showed is that brave and wise people can be very free – but the follow-up both at home and abroad shows that brave and wise people are rare in the course of human events. 248 years on and we’ve got people who think voting is freedom and that welfare isn’t slavery. Who think there’s such a thing as a “hate crime” and that “hate speech” exists. The descendants of those who fought at Lexington and Concord have not been unanimous in favor of freedom.

So, what am I saying? Toss it all in the ash heap of history? Nope. Not that. But it is time for us, as Americans, to start to have some serious thought and discussion about the ways and means that liberty is to be preserved. We are in a very precarious position right now where a significant portion of our fellow citizens are more than eager to see us enslaved to get their policy proposals enacted. They have power based not upon knowledge and superior argument, but because they promise the stupid to take care of them – and “the stupid” run from a cheeto-munching welfare bum to a tenured professor at a public university.

As per our sublime Declaration, governments are instituted among people to secure their rights, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. This is dogma. This is America. This is what we must subscribe to if we want to remain American. It is important to note that Jefferson put “secure their rights” in front of “consent of the governed”. Rights are more important than anything, for the free person. If I don’t have my rights, then I’ve got nothing…and that’s no matter how much I get to vote. Like this: if my rights aren’t secured first, then there is no way to obtain my consent to be governed. If I can’t live, if I can’t do as I wish, if I can’t pursue what I believe is my happiness…then I have no rights and thus cannot provide my consent to be governed.

What we have lost sight of in America – and I think all around the world – is this fact: rights, then consent. We’re all about “get that consent and then you can freely violate rights”. No person can vote away their rights – that they might do so out of ignorance, greed or fear doesn’t change the fact that what God gave the human person cannot be justly taken away, even with consent (however obtained). What I believe will have to be done to secure our rights is to make certain going forward that people have less and less opportunity to be prey to ignorance, greed and fear. That if we really want to sustain and fulfill the promise of 1776, we’re going to need to radically understand it was, at best, a third who signed on to it…and they vigorously fought not just the foreign tyrant, but the fellow citizen who did not want to be free. To remain free in 2024 and later, we are going to have to once again battle fellow citizens who yearn to be slaves. To take away the ability of the ignorant, greedy and cowardly to enslave us.

So, Happy Fourth of July! God bless America!

But get ready for the battle – it never really ended.

This Post Grants You Immunity

Mark Noonan39 Comments

I literally missed the Biden statement this evening…I wasn’t really interested in watching but I figured I’d tune in but by the time I did, he was a couple minutes gone. I don’t know the exact time but it was less than five minutes and he took no questions. I did see the video of him shuffling off afterwards and that is just the symbol of his Administration now…a hollow wreck of a man shuffling off to oblivion. Also: who the heck put the orange makeup on? They must have used a trowel. Our Orange Man may be Bad but at least he isn’t senile.

Now, as to the Court decision, itself: precisely what I expected from the start. The non-lunatic justices know enough history to know that if you start prosecuting former Presidents you’ll shortly have no former Presidents. Caesar crossed the Rubicon because his opponents proposed to prosecute him after his term as Governor of Gaul ended. It was kill them or be killed. That is the choice the Democrats want us to face in the future. The Supreme Court at least temporarily spared us that choice. The legal eagles will analyze it but my quick reading of it is that if you can accuse the President of a crime which is no related to official actions, knock yourself out. So, the President taking a bribe or some such. But, very broadly defined, if the President is just carrying out the powers of the office, you’ve got no case…and you can’t even use such actions as a predicate for a case (so, if the President were essentially to bribe a foreign leader to swing over to the US side in a conflict). The case is remanded and Judge and Prosecutor are going to have to figure out if any of the charges meet the Court’s definition. That pushes any trial beyond November…and some have written that it might take until 2026 to bring this to trial because there will be back and forth as the two sides argue details, possibly requiring one or more trips to the Supreme Court to sort it out.

Side note: Nixon is vindicated. It can be argued that his orders to staff to cover up Watergate were part of official actions. Bottom line, this wasn’t tested in 1974 because Ford pardoned Nixon.

I don’t know who’s idea it was to have Biden give a statement – he looked, as noted, terrible. Taking no questions was a bad idea, as well. Not that he could answer them but to have him trot out, slander the Court and then just wander off is very bad optics. I can only assume that the political professionals are being frozen out and this is now the Jill and Hunter show. They apparently believe they can animate this corpse sufficiently to prevail in November.

I doubt that will work – we’ve now got post-debate polling showing Trump ahead in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire and down just two in New Mexico(!). Nationally, the RCP average shows Trump up about two. There are rumors that Democrat donors are nervous, that plenty of operatives are in a funk – and a continuing rumor that Obama wants Biden out but Jill isn’t allowing him any access. That story is that Obama is willing to roll the dice with an open convention (probably on the theory that he can control such a thing and get his favored person the nomination – he’s probably right about this). Meanwhile, other rumors have Whitmer in Michigan convinced that Biden can’t win – and perhaps willing to make prophecy into reality because her best path to a 2028 nomination is a defeated Biden in 2024, thus taking Kamala pretty much out of the nomination picture.

I do lend some credence to the theory that Obama does want Joe gone – because at least part of the MSM is still attacking Biden. This indicates to me that at least some of the Democrat power structure is pressing for a Biden exit and that part of the MSM most favorable to Obama is falling in line. Keep an eye on Hillary – if she starts showing up in the media a lot then we might have a plot afoot to scratch Biden at the Convention if not before. Hillary would naturally be angling for the slot but I’m confident that Team Obama will thwart that. Main thing is that until all the Democrat leadership is on board, you’re going to see elements of the Democrat coalition pushing and pulling in different directions. And these fractures might continue right up to election day.

Joe-Pocalypse

Mark Noonan54 Comments

And this is a Data for Progress poll – they are a pretty good polling outfit but the name gives it away: they are a Leftwing outfit. They always put out the most rosy picture for the Left. In this poll one in five Democrats are more worried about Biden’s senility. One in five! If half of that number just stays home in November it’ll be a political meltdown.

Team Pudding Brain got him to shout semi-coherently in North Carolina for a few minutes the day after the debate and they are presenting this as proof that Biden can, at times, be lucid. They’re seriously running with this: he’s not a complete wreck! The other half of this effort is to sell people on the idea that they aren’t voting for a man but for an Administration – it is “Dr” Jill and Kamala and the Whole Team who have done such wonderful things…we don’t really need Joe to be there all the time.

I have my doubts that this is going to work – voters don’t vote for a team. And the actual crucial consideration here is that in an emergency there is one person vested with Executive authority in the United States and if he’s gaga at the moment, no legitimate, legal order can be issued…but some order would emerge from a shadowy group which does not bear the legal power to issue an order. Honestly, Biden should resign.

But, he ain’t going anywhere. It is my view that the Democrat Powers That Be did press for him to step aside after the debate – it was catastrophically bad, after all. But my guess is that Team Pudding Brain flatly rejected it. And without their active cooperation, there’s no really effective means to force Biden out. Sure, Kamala could try to 25th him but the Cabinet is Joe’s, not hers…very doubtful she can get a majority of them to sign on. And even if she did, Pudding Brain’s people retain under the Constitution the means to fight back against such a 25th action. Unless he dies, he’s their guy. Of course, the thing about Biden’s condition is that it will only get worse – each day that passes brings us closer to the inevitable complete mental breakdown, shortly thereafter followed by death. Think of it like this: if today there is a 5% chance Biden finally loses it, then tomorrow there is a 5.1% chance…and so on. Depending on how far along he already is, we might be pretty close to the absolute certainty that he’s gone. Sure, people like this can have temporary bounce backs: my mother in law came back to us for a couple weeks shortly before she died. We treasure that time and the memories we got out of it before she finally went. But here we’re talking about the guy with his hand on the button. Bit of a different set of concerns.

One thing we’ve seen on the Left since Thursday is the “hey, Joe is a good man but its time for him to go”. This is infuriating a lot of people because Joe is not a good man. Since he entered public life during the Nixon Administration (!) he’s been a liar, a grifter and a bully. He’s never once done a thing which was for the United States or the people – it has all been a continual calculation about how it could advance Biden and his vile family in power and wealth. Do remember that “Scranton Joe” didn’t try to become a Senator from Pennsylvania – a purple State where holding State-wide office requires widespread appeal and a vigorous fight each time around. Nope: Joe shook the dust of Scranton from his feet and went to Delaware – because in Delaware you only need about 225k votes in a Democrat-heavy State while in Pennsylvania you need 2.7 million votes in a purple State now trending GOP in voter registration. It was pure cynicism – it is easier to obtain and retain office in Delaware than just about anywhere else. And then he used this seat just to advance his power and wealth.

The Democrats are gonna try. Biden in his lucid moments will lie. The MSM will continue to be in the bag. But right now, at this moment, if the election were held today, Trump would win – and both popular and electoral votes. The Democrats are the desperate, thrashing people right now. Anything can happen! Keeping in mind that “anything” includes the geezer keeling over (something I rate about 50/50). But I’ve never been more confident about the result…a thoroughly bad man in his dotage is the Democrat flag bearer for 2024 against an increasingly united and enthusiastic GOP. Let the games begin!

UPDATE: Rumors abound this Saturday evening that Biden and team will confab at Camp David tomorrow about the future of the campaign.

First take: he won’t quit. He has too much pride and First Lady Macbeth wouldn’t let him anyway.

Second take: It has been repeated in lots of news outfits.

Third take: At least part of Team Pudding Brain is denying it.

Fourth take: there is now a crescendo of MSM editorials calling on Biden to quit.

So, what’s happening? I’m still in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” camp…but there is clearly an internal war among Democrats right now. There was a DNC call earlier today and we’re getting different reads on it: some Democrats saying it was excruciating and others saying it was all rah-rah for Biden. They’re being pulled every which way. This, by the way, is proof positive that Biden isn’t in charge – if he was, the rumors never would have emerged and if they did they’d be immediately squashed and those responsible for floating the rumors sent into political exile. Can you imagine what Obama or Clinton would have done to any staffers who floated something like this? Democrats have not at this moment decided what to do but there is clearly pressure being exerted on Team Pudding Brain to bow out.

My bet is that its the Money which wants him out – the chances that Biden wins are low and falling. But even if he wins, there’s very little chance he lives deep into a second term. Money buys influence, not a nice thank you letter. The people who provide the cash want someone they can call for favors…and Biden isn’t that guy any longer or, at best, he won’t be very soon regardless of how November comes out. But for the Electeds it is a whole different ball of wax…jump ship on Biden too soon and he takes revenge. Wait too long and the New Guy snubs you. And who is the New Guy? Harris? She’s despised. But she’s also black and female. Newsom? He’s white and male. They likely haven’t the foggiest notion of who it would be if Biden goes. This means that various factions in the Democrat party will be saying this, that and the other thing, often flat contradictory.

So, in other words, this will be a lot of fun.

Debate Night Open Thread

Mark Noonan69 Comments

I admit to having a sense of dread about the debate. Been gnawing at me all week. After thinking it over, I realized why: the concept of seeing and hearing Biden for 90 minutes utterly disgusts me. He is such a thoroughly bad man and such an egregious liar. The thought that he was installed into office is an outrage against all decency.

Like many, I do think it was a mistake for Trump to agree to a debate on such unfriendly grounds. Rely on it, both Biden and CNN will be working from a script they’ve both had for the past week. The questions are known. The signals for where the moderators should jump in to help. Plans already in place to cut away from Biden if he glitches out. If they need Trump’s microphone to “malfunction” it is all set up. The questions will be dishonest and all designed to work against Trump no matter what direction he goes. It is a mistake because it allows liars a platform to lie to the American people.

But, it is what it is. Trump wanted this. Presumably he’s got a plan here. Hope it works!

I doubt, though, that the debate will move the needle much either way. Don’t get me wrong, the MSM already had instant and other polls ready to show a Biden bounce. Regardless of how Biden does, they will straight face announce that all questions of his physical and mental capacity has been answered by his vigorous and scrappy debate performance (and I mean this literally: Biden could pee himself on stage and these pre-set talking points will be used). Meanwhile, Trump will be Trump: the good and the bad. He’s not a very good debater. Biden allegedly is but that is only because the MSM lies for him – he’s actually a quite stupid man who tells the most fabulous lies. But it is up to Trump to make some lemonade here – to place a garnish on the poop sandwich. We’ll see if he’s able to do it.

Whatever the talking points and polling shows, observe the iron-clad Ten Day Rule when dealing with Trump. If in ten days polling is roughly where it is now, then the debate did nothing. My bet is that it’ll be roughly where it is now. And this is especially true if Trump does very well – the better he does, in fact, the more the MSM will cook the polling books to show otherwise. The very last thing the DNC will let the MSM do is show Trump pulling away. As I’ve mentioned before, if in October the reality is Trump heading for a Reaganesque win, the stats will still show it close – perhaps even a Biden lead. This election will be decided by the voters…and it all hangs on whether or not Trump can, as he has before, bring to the polls people who don’t normally show up. If he does, he wins. It is as simple as that. What the Establishment will be doing is trying to drive down turnout…to make it appear as if Biden has this in the bag so don’t bother.

One thing: they might hop Biden up on drugs so much he gets all shouty. That would be a catastrophe for him. Worse than him glitching out for a minute or two. Nobody likes to see old men shouting. It is cringe.

UPDATE: Good, lord that was terrible! I knew Biden was senile and physically decayed but I didn’t realize how badly until tonight! Is this guy even going to be alive in November?

Trump kept pretty solidly to message discipline – the muting of the microphone may have unintentionally helped in here. He was still able to get his Trumpist digs in but he wasn’t able to fly off on weird tangents as he’s prone to do at times. He landed several very telling blows on Biden’s record. As for Biden? His few coherent statements were just lies.

Stout Hearts and Into the Battle

Mark Noonan60 Comments

Staring to see a lot of Rightwing dooming and glooming regarding the 2024 election on social media. It is lead by some big follower accounts but it is being picked up heavily by Never Trump. To hear them say it, now that the 538 aggregate has Biden up 0.2 it is all over! Finished. Done!

Let’s leave aside that 538 is the Democrat Hopium aggregate while all other averages and market predictors show a Trump win – is there, indeed, reason to give up hope? Are we finished? Will the Democrats just muscle the old geezer back into office against a hapless Trump who hasn’t opened up enough field offices in Pennsylvania?

Hey, anything is possible. Heck, on Thursday Pudding Brain’s drug cocktail might be so powerful he comes out and tap dances for us. But, absent a miracle, what have we got?

First off, keep in mind that even the good aggregators have it Florida, Texas and Ohio as “likely GOP”. Guys, the Democrats aren’t even going to contest those States. They’re as “solid GOP” as California is “solid Democrat”. But the aggregates don’t reflect this. These aggregates also have NV, AZ and GA as “tossups”. They aren’t. All three States plus NC are “leans GOP”. In fact, in my view, Biden hasn’t got a chance of winning any of those four States…polling has consistently showed him down three to five in all of them for months – ie, people have made up their minds. To be sure, he will battle for them…but Team Pudding Brain knows that this election really comes down to Biden holding PA, MI and WI. Any one of those three go Trump and it is over (with NV, AZ, GA and NC added to Trump’s 2020 we get Trump at 268 electoral votes). What I’m really saying here is that the polling is not reflecting the reality on the ground. Keeping in mind that Biden has to have an aggregate lead of at least 3 (really 4, but lets tamp down our views) to be within range of 270. Even in the most rosy polling, he’s tied. But in my view even the best for Trump polling is underestimating him.

Now, why would I think that? They recently released a Maryland poll and, as you expected, it shows Biden winning the State in a blowout. The RCP average of polls shows Biden up by 23.5. Neither campaign will spend a dime in the State. It will be called for Biden as soon as the polls close; and they’ll make that call without even doing any exit polling. So, what am I up to here? What makes me think that the Maryland polling is good for Trump? Because Biden won the State by 32.9 points in 2020. See where I’m going? In deep Blue Maryland where the primary source of wealth is federal government employment…Biden is bleeding support. Not enough to cost him the State, but a lot. Now, how do you think that is translating into purple States? If the States won by Biden in 2020 just have a 3 point shift to Trump then NV, AZ, GA, PA, MI and WI flip and Trump is at 311. Just do the math in your head for what happens if the national shift is 5 points. Or 7 points. Or, like Maryland, 9.

Now, as a mental exercise, pretend you had never heard of either Biden or Trump but someone told you the relative positions each man was in less than five months before the vote: who do you think would seem in the better position? What I’m getting at here is there is no reason for doom and gloom. Sure, you can have your doubts. You can worry (if you think that will help). But to consider it all over but the shouting? Based on what? Nothing. There is no reason to be filled with a sense of doom. There’s certainly enough good news out there to make you want to get out and fight.

Unless, of course, you’re paid by the Democrats to be a Debbie Downer for the GOP in a psy-op to depress GOP turnout. Because, after all, even the Experts will tell you that the lower the turnout, the better for Biden. This is a reversal from the past when high turnout favored the Democrats.

The real lesson here is to remember that the lying liars who lie aren’t going to suddenly stop. They’ll keep up the lies about everything all the time. They will not give an accurate assessment of the race. They will not allow it to become known that Biden is in trouble. They will not report Trump strengths. If Trump is heading towards a Reagan-style landslide they simply won’t tell us. They can’t. The DNC won’t let them. Even if the Democrats admit to themselves (and more and more of them are) that its over, they’ll still want to keep the money flowing and to salvage whatever they can down ballot. Here you’re just going to have to think for yourself – and painful process for Never Trump and next to impossible for Liberals. But if you want to keep grounded – and even grounded if things turn south for us in the Fall – then there will have to be some mental activity. Some thought about how things are and a heck of a lot of sifting what is being said.

And then, in the end: fight. Hey, if we’re going to lose then we might as well go down swinging. And if there’s a chance – even a one in a million chance – that we can win, fighting is what will bring us the victory…and the more we fight, the larger the victory if we obtain one. It certainly beats sitting around whining about it.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan18 Comments

It isn’t important so much as a thing, but it is showing how things are done via the MSM in the modern era:

Justin Timberlake – who I didn’t realize until just now was part of the boy band NSYNC and who’s songs I couldn’t for the life of me identify, but who has been a pop icon for 20 years – was arrested for DWI in Sag Harbor. This is one of those Long Island communities where rich people soak up the local atmosphere…meaning, the actual purpose of the place is long gone and the whole thing is like a Disney-park, in this case the community pretends it still has some connection to its nautical, whaling past. So, you know: a place where the rich are privileged. Timberlake is, of course, rich. And the rich people of Sag Harbor and such places are not about to put up with impertinence from the cops.

There is this article in the MSM and many others attacking the cop. He has, as the story says, been “unmasked” as a rookie cop who didn’t recognize Timberlake. The horror! There are also stories circulating claiming that other locals don’t like this particular cop. This is all intimidation: not just of this particular officer, but the entire police force and law enforcement apparatus of the area. It is a PR blitz to let everyone know that you damned well better recognize Timberlake – and any other rich/famous people – and do what you have to do to make sure the rich/famous don’t face significant consequences for actions. And the MSM is playing along with it – just as they do with the overall Ruling Class, which includes Democrats and kept Republicans. The particulars of the cop are, of course, irrelevant unless there is a charge that the officer violated the law – that he’s a rookie or didn’t recognize Timberlake is unimportant. The only thing we, the people, need to know is if the arrest was legit – that’s all we ever need to know about the cops: did they act within the law? Whether or not Timberlake is guilty is a matter for the courts. But if you want to put a shot across the legal system’s bow, you do it like this – letting everyone know that big wheels are not pleased and so maybe make this all go away.

In the UK the Tories are going to get wiped out in the July 4th election. Some polling indicates the Tories may drop from their current 344 seats down into the low 50s. The Tories have completely earned this destruction. My actual hope is that the party dissolves shortly afterwards. They have been the worst of the worst “RINO” type of party. You think Romney is bad? He’s a conservative stalwart compared to PM Sunak and his cronies. There is nothing that Labour wants that the Tories don’t go along with – from open borders to pronoun policies, the Tory government has been Labour for all intents and purposes. Don’t get me wrong – an actual Labour government (which the UK will get, and with an unassailable majority) is going to be worse. You know how Leftists are – once they do get power, they kick in the afterburners and go for it. And like always, this new Labour government will rest secure in the knowledge that once they screw everything up and get the boot, a new Tory government will just tap the brakes and keep on with Labour policies. But, will it?

Nigel Farage, famed leader of the Brexit movement, has come out of retirement to lead Reform UK into the election. Reform will not win. In fact, best polling has them winning less than 10 seats; this is because of the way things are done in British elections. Reform is polling just a little below Tory but it is first past the post in the UK (as it is in our Congressional elections) and with the Right vote split between Tory and Reform, it’ll be Labour (barely polling above 40%) that takes as many at 470 out of 650 seats (that is 40% getting 72% of the seats – and 100% of the power because there is no actual check on the power of the House of Commons). But while Reform will enter the next Parliament as a tiny party – and with perhaps the absurd Liberal-Democrats as the official Opposition to His Majesty’s Government – they are, perhaps, a harbinger. All across the world, the Ruling Class is threatened by a rising tide of discontent. This discontent is going to result in a Labour government in the UK (which is monumentally stupid, but change does take time) but everywhere the Establishment is besieged by a populace running out of patience. Labour will ruin Britain. It is what Leftists do. And at the next election, Reform might come into its own.

In addition to the “you want expensive tomatoes?” arguments in favor of illegal immigration, the Ruling Class is trotting out the, “you think only illegals commit crimes?” excuse. I’m not sure this one will work any better than the other given that the crime rate for illegals should be zero as there should be no illegals in country to commit crimes. In addition to this, I don’t put any stock in the Libertarian and Left studies claiming that illegals commit less crimes than Americans. That is just a stupid assertion given that illegals are people and are prone to crime as any other random group of people. Of course they commit, on average, at least as much crime per 100,000 as anyone else. And that is the baseline – now add in this:

“Hey, you’re an illegal…transport this meth to Arizona or we’ll tip off immigration.”

It is almost an existential certainty that illegals commit more crimes than citizens.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan67 Comments

Just a quick hit showing up here because I’m out until late Friday.

Missouri’s AG has been suing Planned Parenthood over the allegation that they’ve helped traffic minors out of State for abortions – if so, obviously to dispose of evidence of crimes. PP is a vile organization from top to bottom and it is things like this which will destroy it – and the good news here is that the judge denied PP’s motion to have the case dismissed. The chances that an organization dedicated to killing is clean are very small.

This is the model. All Red State AG’s should be suing these Leftist groups – they are the backbone. They are how money and influence get peddled. It is groups like PP – hundreds of them, all around the country – that have made sure that even in the Reddest States, Liberalism rules the roost. But only because nobody in the Red States has gone after them. The old, let’s-be-nice GOP never wanted to get down in the mud and fight these people. Now we’re getting some who do – and we can start to step-by-step dismantle the money if the Left.

Democrats and the MSM (BIRM) are pushing “the videos are fakes” regarding the live videos of Biden malfunctioning in public. The word went out and everyone ran with it. I guess we’ll see if MSM lies really carry water these days. I doubt it, though. Even more ridiculous in this is Democrat/MSM attempts to paint Trump as the mentally impaired candidate. Forget that you just watched him do a 90 minute live rally – we have sources telling us he’s gaga behind closed doors. I don’t think it’ll work.

The Buffalo Bills will be sponsoring a gay flag football league. Just go ahead and get all the jokes out of your system.

Done?

Good.

Now, isn’t that discrimination? I mean, if the league only allows gay players, doesn’t this discriminate against straight people?

There were rumors that Noam Chomsky had become a good commie but then this was later denied so, pro tempore, he remains a bad commie. But we know how this turns out in the end.

Someone in Democrat-land decided that it was a good idea to make a thing about the 12th anniversary of Obama’s unconstitutional DACA order. They were all over social media with it – asking us, in effect, to be proud of them for breaking the law and allowing a flood of illegals into the country. With, of course, the usual drivel about these people being hard working, law abiding people. Except for that whole breaking the law to get in here thing…fortunately, the comments on these Democrat posts were filled with links to articles about recent murders done by illegals. I think the people are kinda fed up with the illegal immigration thing. For goodness sake, if you really are a refugee you just have to present yourself at the border and meet some very minimal requirements to get in…the flood of millions is just contempt for America.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan27 Comments

Rumors abound of Democrat groups prepping for Trump II – getting their legal affairs in order, getting ready for IRS audits. The sort of things you do if you’re spent years breaking the law to get a guy and that guy is about to obtain the power to get you. The thing about a Lawfare battle is that if we engage in it, the Democrats routinely commit crimes. They’re out there breaking the law all the live long day. Any Liberal reading this will get all huffy and say there’s been investigations and they’ve been cleared. Not so: there was a phony investigation by Liberals of Liberals and the Liberals decided that the Liberals did nothing wrong. Gonna be a bit different if there’s a MAGA prosecutor.

Let’s go back a moment in history – to Joe McCarthy. He was politically destroyed on the notion that he falsely accused patriotic Americans of being Communists. He made his list – with supposedly endlessly changing numbers of people on it – and after a while the decent people of the Ruling Class smacked him down by having people investigated and they were all cleared! Well, not quite like that.

The list, of course, wasn’t made by McCarthy. There were several of them and all made by Democrats. McCarthy just brought attention to the work of others. As for the investigations, they were done by people who wanted it all buried and so they deliberately sabotaged their own grand juries to ensure against indictments so that the Commies could walk out claiming vindication and McCarthy would look bad. That basic model has been used ever since – when something bad does happen, make sure a Liberal in in charge of the investigation. First to make it go away entirely, secondly if there must be an indictment, make it of a small fry who doesn’t lead to anyone big. We’re so used to this happening that we hardly notice it any longer. It will change if Trump gets in. Any person selected for AG and FBI Director will be someone with no interest in protecting the system – the only question will be how aggressively Justice goes after the system. My hope is that Trump appoints wrecking balls to both positions.

They are dirty, dirty, dirty. All of them: the entire uniparty. People keep forgetting that Congress has paid out millions to settle sexual harassment claims and continues to do so. There are so many perverts and thieves in government that we’ll be years getting after the all…if we have someone willing to get after them. It’ll be like pulling a string on a sweater…once we get a few, the whole thing unravels and low level people run for cover by becoming cooperating witnesses. It’ll be glorious.

Sudan is on the verge of famine. There’s been a horrific and cruel civil war going on there for years. Millions of lives are at risk. You’re not hearing about it because Jews aren’t involved and nobody in Sudan passed out 50 grand a month no-show jobs to a politician’s crackhead son. This is a catastrophe in the making – and nobody cares. Keep this in mind: it is so very crucial. The power the MSM still retains is selection on what we’ll care about. If the MSM doesn’t make it front and center in the American conscience, it simply doesn’t get there. This is still a very crucial power for the Left: the ability to decide what we see. It is breaking down more and more – that is why in spite of MSM blackouts, the border is an issue – but for the most part, if it ain’t on the idiot box, the people don’t know or care about it. We really do need to duplicate the entire media complex – radio, TV, movies, books, art – to make sure that what we care about has a shot at being noticed.

Scott Pressler continues to do the work – in 2020, Bucks County, PA had a Dem voter registration advantage of 15,582. As of today, he announced that advantage is down to 720. I’ve been watching Pennsylvania voter registration trends since 2015 and it is remarkable how fast the Democrat registration advantage has melted away – even after the Democrats cooked up a new motor-voter scheme, GOP registration increased. I have been informed by multiple Experts that none of this matters – Pennsylvania remains a purple-to-blue State. And, indeed, the Democrats have done well lately. OTOH, Florida Dems were doing great until it all fell apart over a couple of election cycles. I think Pennsylvania is the next Florida – and this November could be the start of the Democrat collapse there.

Long term: yes, even California will be GOP again. You can’t see it now. But the build starts at the bottom and works its way up. Before I die, California’s electoral votes will go GOP.

As more and more videos emerge of Biden malfunctioning in public – pretty much every public event has a glitch large or small – Democrats have decided that the best way to handle this is to claim that the video is wrong. You didn’t see Biden drop a bomb at Normandy. You didn’t see Obama guide Biden off stage. Biden is a sharp, vigorous Executive. He just has a stiff gait. And a stutter. And we’ve heard that behind closed doors, Trump is glitching out! Forget that you can watch Trump do 90 minutes extemporaneously…we’ve got “‘sources” who say he’s gaga!

This is the same tactic they’re using on inflation: just telling us again and again that it isn’t happening.

I do not think this will work.

The Law Comes for the Democrats

Mark Noonan42 Comments

You might have noticed Democrats going ape about the Supreme Court – I mean, more than usual. There are calls for impeachment of Justices, imposing an ethics policy on them and forcing them to follow precedent. All to save “Our Democracy”, of course.

First, let’s review what Congress can do.

They do have the power of the purse as they do over the Executive branch. So, they can threaten the Court with poverty if it doesn’t comply with an ethics code. They can’t Constitutionally reduce Justice income, but they can defund all other operations of the Court as they see fit. This is some leverage they can bring to bear. But it isn’t much: if they sell off the Supreme Court building than a Court decision issued in Alito’s guest bedroom still has the force of law. The Court budget is also not very large: $161 million for FY 2024. Any significant cuts to the budget would likely be seen as vindictive and even with a Democrat trifecta it might not fly. And, as noted, the Justices keep their pay and don’t absolutely need anything aside from a place to sit to issue their decisions. Imposing an ethics policy – especially one with Congress as the judge of it – probably won’t fly.

They can expand the Court. There is no Constitutionally mandated Court size. We have nine Justices simply via tradition. They can make the Court 101 Justices if they like. But expansion of the Court would have to be something generally desired by the American people and it would have to be seen as a bi-partisan effort to improve justice – if at any time it just seems like an attempt to get a Court that will rule the way you want on political matters, then popular opposition would become strong. Once again, even a Democrat trifecta might not be enough to get this to fly.

Whatever Democrats want, the first requirement is a trifecta with either 60 Senate seats or a final termination of the filibuster in the Senate. No GOP Senator – not even the most RINO in all existence – is going to sign off on increasing the size of the Court just so a Democrat can appoint enough liberals to get his way. Democrats would have to have total dominance of the Legislative and Executive to get it done. There is no indication at the moment that the Democrats can get to this sort of trifecta before the 2028 election, and even that is a bit of a long shot.

Now, why are they doing this?

Simple: because from the 1950’s until the last of Trump’s Justices were seated, the Democrats could usually rely on the Judiciary to go along with whatever was fashionable on the Left at the moment. Think about the Obergefell decision which mandated legal same-sex marriage throughout the land: it was 5-4 with the decisive vote coming from Kennedy who was appointed by Reagan. That was what the Democrats wanted and expected: when the crucial (to them) issues came up, the Court would almost always rule in their favor.

The ruling, like Roe and so many others in the past, was specious. The federal government has no warrant in the Constitution on what constitutes a marriage. Silent on the matter, it is an issue thus left to the States or to the people to decide. No federal court should ever have taken a case regarding the matter. If it did wind up at the Supreme Court their only ruling should have been words to the effect of, “this is not a matter properly before this Court: sort it out for yourselves via the political process”. Which process was, of course, ongoing (and generally going very badly at the ballot box for the advocates of SSM). We know why the Liberals ruled as they did – it was an issue where they knew what their decision was supposed to be and they ruled accordingly. Law never has anything to do with it for Liberals in such cases. Kennedy, though, probably just wanted a historic ruling attached to his name. So, he simply made the absurd statement that two men getting hitched is the same thing as a man and a woman and so decreed that equal protection applied.

And that is how Liberals want things to go. Expect them to go. That is, they get their way. Doesn’t matter what the law or the expressed will of the people is, if it is an issue Liberals favor, they get their way. If not by law then by regulation and if not by regulation then by Judicial fiat.

But after a very long and at times bitter political struggle, the GOP managed to create a Court majority only interested in ruling on what the law says. Not what is fashionable. Not what mistakes the Court might have made in the past. What does the law, as written, say? Nothing is ever perfect, of course, and even this Court (in my view) has got a couple things wrong but that is just in the nature of things: in the normal run, though, we can fully expect that any ruling issued in this Court will conform to law. You know, like a Court is supposed to. Uphold. Not make. If you don’t like the law, there are multitudes of political options for you to seek change and if your idea is good, this political process will eventually come out in your favor.

But Democrats hate that. Once they get an idea fixed in their heads, it becomes an absolute imperative and it must be imposed immediately. No debate! Just do it! We’re right! We just thought it up yesterday but now from all time eternal this has been the truth and all of the nation must bow! And while it often took some time to get their way, until just recently they always did. Now, they aren’t. Hobbs was a body blow but also just one in a series that is coming. Pretty much every Court and regulatory decision since the 1970’s is now on the chopping block. The Court is essentially inviting us to revisit every issue and bring the matter before a Court that will rule on the law. Thomas, Alito and Barrett seem especially delighted to just law all over the place. We have impending decisions on Presidential immunity and regulatory overreach which have put the Democrats in a funk – they are terrified that they’ll have to obey rules. Engage in politics. Explain their position.

And that is why they are going ballistic. They are about to be emasculated.

The Lies Are Still the Problem

Mark Noonan13 Comments

Shortly after the IDF mission to rescue the hostages the pro-Hamas propaganda effort settled upon the number of Palestinian dead. It varies a little bit from place to place, but the generally agreed-upon number is 200. Now, there is absolutely no independent verification of this number. It came out within hours of the attack – before anyone could have any idea of the numbers killed (it was, after all, a combat situation). Once that number was fixed, it spread around the world with amazing rapidity with nearly all MSM outfits repeating the entirely unconfirmed – and almost certainly completely made up – number. It was rather astonishing to watch: how rapidly the global propaganda machine operates.

The number was chosen because the pro-Hamas forces (which includes most of the Western media and governments) needed a quite large number which would make the rescue of 4 people seem trivial. Wrong. Not worth the price. And led up to the next part of the propaganda effort: getting everyone talking about how many were killed rather than the fact that “civilians” in Gaza were holding the hostages and treating them quite brutally…as well as using them as slaves (point blank: they were slaves. They were taken in accordance with Islamic law and passed out as rewards for services rendered). Can’t have people talking about that.

And, by and large, it worked: everyone is arguing over the number of dead and whether the dead were worth the benefit. Very clever propaganda effort, indeed. Tip of the hat to the Hamas savages and our Ruling Class: Goebbles would be proud.

I bring it up because what we saw here is precisely what we’ve seen elsewhere. With “climate change”. Covid. And, of course, “election deniers”. A massive, orchestrated system of lies designed to both drown out dissenting voices as well as specifically advance the Ruling Class cause. This is what I mean when I say they lie, they lie all the time, they lie about everything. Even when they have to put some element of truth into a Narrative, they bury it under a mountain of lies. And it is very crude. Not at all sophisticated. It does require absolutely no sense of shame because the lies are so stupid and obviously false. But they are so overwhelming in intensity and extent that people feel overwhelmed by it all. The average Jane and Joe on the streets doesn’t want to concede that they’re all egregious liars: that way lies danger. You can’t let liars go on lying, now can you? So better to pretend they aren’t lying, even though you can often see the truth with your own eyes and in those instances where it isn’t right in front of you, just a little bit of thought exposes the lie.

And that brings me back, once again, to what I’ve been harping on for a while: we must punish liars. Lies are not covered by the First Amendment. We must construct the social and legal mechanisms to make liars pay a massive price for any lie. It is the only way to get it to stop. These people do not fear God – they are alienated from God (and, yes, some of them are priests and pastors). These people enjoy lying. They like to see if they can get away with it – and they very much enjoy the power and wealth they obtain by participating in the lies. They have to lose it all. We must punish them – because if they don’t, they’ll just keep lying until truth-tellers are all destroyed.