Open Thread

Mark Noonan86 Comments

Trump has agreed to debate Harris on September 4th – Fox News venue but this time with an audience. Other rules apparently like those during the Pudding Brain debate.

Officially Harris is favored to do well at the debate – and she certainly can’t do worse than Biden. But she’s not a very bright person, she does not do her homework and seems to have a lackadaisical attitude about staying on message. I think Trump may be able to flummox her – and an upset Harris with her whiny, nasal voice won’t come across very well.

Outside optics, all policy advantages are on Trump’s side. Harris is busily distancing herself from…well, just about everything she’s ever said before. She has, as I’ve mentioned before, 100% signed on to each bit of Leftist idiocy as it has come up. No holding back! But now she has to convince people who aren’t Leftist idiots to vote for her…and this will be the very first time she’s ever tried that. Remember: she did Deep Blue California politics and then flopped on entering the national stage…only to be plucked from failure by Joe Biden. What I’m saying is that she’s barely ever been challenged – and certainly never challenged by someone like Donald Trump. It’ll be a new experience for her and I doubt she’ll be ready for it. She might think herself a tough cookie, but she’s never had to be tough before.

There is now a plethora of polling showing Harris doing well – that is, vastly better than Joe was doing. The plus and minus of it all still indicates a Trump win…though without the assurance of a popular vote win that Trump was going to get had Joe stayed in. Harris will be incandescently popular in California and that will drive up her total votes. But that doesn’t matter – what matters is 270 and right now, the worst look for Trump is 268 Electoral Votes…with him having to flip just one of Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania and Harris having to draw an inside straight to just eke out 270. Some of this polling result is because even though Gallup detects and R+6 environment and most number crunchers expect it to be R+2, the polls are coming in D+5 to D+9. But lets just leave that aside: polls are polls and we learned in 2016 that you can’t live and die by them. The best analysts have dug deep into the numbers and found that what is making Harris look as good as she does is Democrats just being relieved that Joe was given the boot – they were looking at a sure loss and now have flipped to believing that Harris means a sure win. This euphoria will fade…but it will be kept going through the Convention as Democrats and the MSM (BIRM) are determined to give no opening for anyone to challenge her from the floor.

At the end of the day, people still have to buy groceries and gas. The economy still continues to shed jobs for American citizens. Housing prices are still unsustainable. Autos are too expensive. Crime is on the rise (in spite of bogus numbers from the FBI saying it is going down). The border is still a mess. Hearing of an illegal committing a rape or murder is still a common occurrence. In other words, the fundamentals of America which had Trump winning before the debate continue. Harris has to fight against this headwind and hope that she can convince people that she can fix what she and Joe broke. This is a nearly impossible task even with the MSM in the tank for her. The MSM was just as much in the tank for Joe Biden and we see how that worked out. You can’t get around what people live through – you can’t talk them into calling themselves liars.

They say it is Shapiro who will be the VP pick – I guess someone leaked a proposed Harris/Shapiro ad. OTOH, this “leak” might have been intentional…a means to get Harris to not do it. Anti-Semitism of the most vicious sort is common among Democrats these days…especially among their most activist people. You know: the people who riot and burn things when they don’t get their way. But even if they end up going with Shapiro, I’m not too worried. Yes, he will complicate Pennsylvania for us, but nobody votes for a VP…and he’ll be carrying around the barnacles of Harris’ idiotic policy statements over the past four years. Plus, now that I’ve got a look at him he seems a typical Democrat – an ignorant, arrogant, elitist ass. Vance will destroy him in debate.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more serene about the result of an election. In think I’ve reached a sort of Mistrust Nirvana – that is, I am so disconnected from consuming the MSM propaganda that I now assume the truth is 180 from what they’re saying. They’re telling me that Trump is doing terrible and Harris is this super genius. Sorry, no. I know that Trump isn’t doing terrible. He never led in polling in 2016 and 2020 (aside from temporary leads in one or two outliers). Trump has been consistently tied or ahead since March. He’s already mostly locked down Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona. He’s got huge cash on hand. He forced a sitting President to quit. Maybe I’m stupid. Maybe I’m biased. But I just feel that Trump is on the path to win this thing – and by a substantial margin after its all said and done.

A Program of Reform

Mark Noonan22 Comments

The Democrats are making their idiotic push to place term limits on the Supreme Court. This won’t work (at least right now) and it has nothing to do with fixing anything: they just don’t like a Court that doesn’t rule in their favor. But a clever GOP (don’t laugh) would latch on to this and broaden it into a general reform effort.

I do think the American people are getting into the mood where, per Jefferson, they are willing to alter or to abolish their form of government. Part of this sentiment does stem from ignorance – the nimrods who don’t like the Electoral College, eg. But the main thing is that a broad majority perceives, however imperfectly, that things just aren’t working. That the government is actually hostile to the people. In light of this, I’ve got some suggestions on how we should go here.

Term Limits

Yes, indeed, let’s have some. Of course on the Supreme Court – but also on the House and Senate. Eight years is more than enough for a person to be President. Probably twenty is good for a Justice (and that is all federal judges, not just the Supreme Court). But the House should be a ten year max (5 terms) and the Senate eighteen (3 terms). But we don’t stop there! Oh, heck no!

One of the objections to term limits on Congress is that it in theory turns all power from transient office holders to permanent staff and bureaucracy. And this is a genuine danger. The solution is simple: nobody is allowed to be a federal employee for more than twenty years. There should be a fairly rapid turnover of all government personnel – both to bring fresh ideas in and to periodically clear out people who have burrowed in, set up a corrupt system and now just reap the benefits. A wrinkle I’d like to add to term limits: if you are in one elected office, you can’t seek another. So, you’re a Representative who wants to run for Senate? Resign your office first. Senator who wants to be President? Resign your office first. You ran for a term and you are obligated to serve that term dedicating 100% of your time to that office…if you are seeking another office, you busted that deal. Out you go.

Power Corrupts

It isn’t just that they are in there too long, it is also what they do when they’re in there. Most of our Congresspeople are dimwitted pyschos who merely follow orders so they can stay at the trough. Replacing them on a rapid basis will help cure this but it can’t cure human nature – and anyone who actually seeks power is to some degree insane. So, we need some controls on them.

First off: nobody elected or employed by government can make more than 200% of the median American income. We’re just not going to pay them very much. This might seem counterintuitive in that a low paid bureaucrat is theoretically easier to bribe (and that risk is real) but what I’ve seen in history is that low paid bureaucrats tend to be dedicated people…in other words, they wouldn’t take the job in the first place based on money as there simply isn’t any. Low paid bureaucrats tend to be dedicated, hard working people who do it as a calling. Oh: no pensions except for retired military. Everyone else gets a 401k. Electeds get nothing.

Second: Upon leaving office, every person who was paid by the Treasury endures a full financial audit from an outside auditor. Every last thing is looked into – where every penny came from, where it went to. Save those receipts guys: you have to account for every cent. If you can’t, then lots of jail time is on the horizon depending on how many cents are unaccounted for. This is the backstop – the sure knowledge that once you’re out of power, someone is going to check and see if you were on the take while in power.

A large problem is friends and family. As we have seen with Hunter, family and friends latch on to the elected family member and milk the connection for all it is worth. So: if you have a family member in elected office you may not be employed by any government agency, government contractor or non-profit organization. Nor can you be employed by any entity that receives more than ten percent of its funding from the government. Essentially, once you’ve got a family member in office (family: parent, sibling, grandparent, uncle/aunt, child, first cousin), you can only work in 100% private sector enterprises. Persons identified as close friends of an elected are audited every five years. Another aspect of this: once an elected or bureaucrat leaves office they can never be employed by an agency of government, a non-profit or an education entity that receives government funds. Need to stop the nest-feathering.

Best and Brightest

As we have seen of late, the people running our government are very stupid when not actually malevolent. This is because the government has used the same feeder system of schools to obtain their staff and those schools have collapsed into a morass of Marxist indoctrination. The bright, young New Dealer of 1933 actually had a substantive education often far in advance of the overwhelming majority of the American people. He might have got it wrong, but he got it wrong after thinking it over. Today’s Ivy League graduate has barely a sixth grade education from 100 years ago and is infused with some of the most stupid, illogical and anti-human ideas ever created. We need a new way to find our bureaucrats.

Aside from the twenty year limit on having them around, I also say that nobody over the age of 25 can start government employment – civil or military. The oldest government employee will now be 45. We don’t need old barnacles like Fauci hanging around for decades. The low pay will stop attracting people who are primarily motivated by money and that is a big help right there – but to make sure we’re not just replicating the corrupt and stupid bureaucracy generation after generation, I want competitive testing for entry and these tests to be conducted by randomly chosen outside testing companies. Basically, nobody in government gets to decide who will be employed by government. The old boy network comes to an end. We’ll still get idiots and thieves, but I think this would vastly reduce their number.

These are just some of my ideas: I’m sure others can come up with refinements, improvements and things I haven’t even thought of. But I do think that we on the Right have to start pushing a general program of reform – that will require major Constitutional changes – because we have found that our current Constitution insufficient to secure our rights and the orderly and honest conduct of government.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan30 Comments

Harris is at the peak of her MSM-created glow…and according to the polling averages…she’s still losing.

We also know this, even without looking at polls, because she’s putting the word out that she won’t ban fracking, doesn’t support a mandatory gun “buy back” and no longer supports Medicare for All…at least, that is what aides are telling MSMers. To get Harris to actually state this publicly is probably an impossible task…it would infuriate the Democrat base. This is just done so the MSM can slander Trump for making “baseless” attacks.

Here in Nevada the only thing I’m seeing from Democrats on the regular is their abortion-all-the-time ads. These specifically trying to make Sam Brown politically toxic against Rosen in the Senate race. Will it work? We’ll see; the issue saved Democrat bacon here in Nevada in 2022…but that was because the GOP never refuted the ads. The apparent strategy was to ignore the issue and hope it went away. That didn’t work. Brown has put out some counter ads explaining his position…but I think to defeat the issue (that is, make it neutral) he’ll have to take on the pro-abortion referendum on the Nevada ballot. This was designed to drive up Democrat voting for November – it is totally un-necessary as abortion is secured in the Nevada Constitution up to six months. But the referendum the Democrats cooked up is extreme – it legalizes abortion to birth, allows non-doctors to perform abortions and doesn’t require parental notification if a minor seeks an abortion…so, you know, its the “Let’s Protect Degenerates Act of 2024”. It is being marketed as just “protecting reproductive freedom” but if Brown and the GOP can come up with a good program it can be exposed as the extremist bit of legislation that it is…and thus essentially take abortion off the table for 2024.

But the lack of ads attacking Trump or lauding Harris indicates that Team Harris is still getting its act together – they haven’t worked out their message and haven’t put together a strategy for the Fall. Do keep that very much in mind: Harris is nothing more than a stop-gap. A desperate ploy to get rid of Biden who was ushering in a down ballot meltdown for Democrats. So far, Harris is doing what she was supposed to do – stabilize the field. Going from there to 270 is a very tall order, though. Harris is still Harris; someone so bad that she didn’t even make it to Iowa in 2020 and who some were trying to boot from the VP slot earlier this year. And as Harris gets out there – and as the anti-Harris ads from Team Trump get repeated on a loop – we might find that Harris is as toxic as Biden.

Team Harris’ first bit of genius was to work up “White Women for Harris”…where a bunch of looney-tunes Karens talked up how white chicks gotta defer to black women…but also vote for Harris to make up for their support for racism. Not sure how well that will play with people outside the wine mom demographic. Their next step is the upcoming “White Dudes for Harris” which will apparently be headlined by David Hogg, Adam Schiff and Pete Buttigieg. Errr…not sure how this expands Harris’ support. This aside from the fact of the racial segregation. As a joke Trump should have a “Rednecks for Trump” Zoom call…in fact, maybe not as a joke. Heck, I’ll get into overalls and rent a hound dog for that. Team Harris is touting that 80,000 “dudes” have signed up for the event…”Rednecks” would get a million participants, easy.

Bottom line is that I don’t think Team Harris knows what to do here – or, worse for them, they think they do know and what they’re doing is playing Woke Team Intersectionality while asserting that Trump and Vance are the weirdos.

Meanwhile, Venezuela had an election. Why? Because the “deal” Team Pudding Brain made with Maduro was for us to lift sanctions on Maduro’s thug regime in return for an election. Maduro kept his word – he had an election. And after forcing his primary opponent off the ballot and using every manner of fraud in the book…he still lost. But then just announced he had won. He can do this because he has all the guns. It was a box checked off some years ago: confiscate all civilian firearms.

There is widespread unrest in Venezuela because the steal was so brazen but the bottom line is that if the people don’t have guns, they can’t win. There are some rumors that some army units are joining the people and if that is so, there is a chance…but no guns, no revolution. It is that simple: guns = liberty. In truth, there is only one free nation on Earth: the United States with our Second Amendment. Maybe Switzerland a bit but even there I doubt they secure a right to bear arms…it is more that you’re part of the militia and the government provides a weapon, revocable at will.

UPDATE:

“JD Vance and Trump are weird!” – Democrats

Also Democrats:

Man, am I Tired Open Thread

Mark Noonan12 Comments

We left Del Mar yesterday at 12:15 pm. We arrived home at 3:44 am. Why?

Well, because we have enviro-idiots demanding we go green, we are shipping truckloads of lithium batteries around the country and, in the nature of lithium batteries, one truckload of these exploded into flames on I-15 northbound…forcing the closure of the entire road for about 18 hours. This caused all traffic northbound on I-15 to be rerouted the roundabout way to Vegas – I-40 to Needles (just north of there, actually) and then US-95 into Vegas. Trouble is that I-40 is a much smaller road and it went down to just one lane each way due to construction. It took us 8 hours to go 77 miles! So, very tired this fine morning! And wondering if there is a PhD with the skills to calculate the carbon footprint of a truckload of burning lithium batteries combined with thousands of cars and trucks crawling along I-40 at less than 10 mph.

Also mildly curious about what we’re going to do if there’s a terrorist attack on our infrastructure – there are those two ways between LA and Vegas – I-15 and I-40. Shut both of them down via just a couple well placed bombs and just what happens to our economy? We’ve spent trillions on infrastructure and it is soft as butter. And I guess none of the geniuses in our National Security State ever thought that between major roads there should be first-rate lateral communication just in case something goes wrong. But I’m sure our DEI checklists are all filled out.

Anyways, wasn’t able to pay full attention to politics this last week because things like beach, food and beer commanded a great deal of attention. But I did see the cowardly, bet-wetting panic all over Right social media about Harris. As if she was this super-genius the Democrats had been hiding for decades, just to spring on us at the last moment.

No. She’s an idiot. She’s a commie. She’s taken every stupid position the Left has demanded since she entered public life. She’s a desperate stop-gap the Democrats were forced to turn to after Biden imploded and DEI requirements prevented anyone better from getting the slot. Meanwhile, our guy just forced out a sitting President after surviving an assassination attempt. Seriously, guys: grow a pair.

Now, can Harris win? Of course she can. The commie cancer is deeply embedded in the United States. At bare minimum 40% of the American people nod like morons when someone says “AmeriKKKa is a racist nation”. There’s no way around that in the short term. To get Harris to 270 they need to convince another 10% that another round of welfare spending is the way to go – and/or convince them that Trump is a hairy ogre out to get them. This can be done – especially with the MSM entirely in the tank for her. And as I’ve said all along this election cycle: if we lose, then we never had a chance anyway…the cancer will prove too strong to cure.

But I do not think we will lose. Harris is getting a glow based on MSM slobbering all over her. They are naturally producing polls with a Democrat-favorable results. But, here’s the thing: even the polls showing Harris ahead show her losing. Just like Biden, she has to be, at minimum, +3 in the RCP averages on Election Day to have a chance at getting to 270. A chance, guys; Biden “won” in 2020 based on 40k or so votes across 4 States in a D+5 environment. Harris’ path to victory starts out narrow – and Team Trump is already working to narrow it via a series of devastating ads which merely restate what Harris has said. How is it going? Harris’ people are already lying and saying that Harris will not ban fracking…this proves conclusively that at this moment her own polling shows her losing Pennsylvania. Team Trump is focused, disciplined and quite ruthless – they even had a memo out shortly after Pudding Brain dropped out telling us precisely what would happen…MSM orgasm, polls good for Harris…and then they’ll set to work correcting this.

In the end, we place our trust in God; we know how this comes out. And we have a little bit of faith in the man Trump, who has been through hell for us and is still standing. We don’t doom-monger. We don’t get overconfident but we remain confident.

Trump and the People vs Them

Mark Noonan57 Comments

Still out! On a bit of a vacation. I’m probably on the beach. So, can’t be topical on this one! Though I’m confident that the Democrats are still doing badly and Trump/GOP is doing well. But as I can’t be topical, I thought I’d point out that the Uniparty isn’t a new innovation.

In his What’s Wrong With the World?, Chesterton wrote The History of Hudge and Gudge to illustrate the way arguments between Right and Left go – and this was written in 1910 – but towards the end of the book he has this further to say about Hudge and Gudge:

And now, as this book is drawing to a close, I will whisper in the reader’s ear a horrible suspicion that has sometimes haunted me: the suspicion that Hudge and Gudge are secretly in partnership. That the quarrel they keep up in public is very much of a put-up job, and that the way in which they perpetually play into each other’s hands is not an everlasting coincidence. Gudge, the plutocrat, wants an anarchic industrialism; Hudge, the idealist, provides him with lyric praises of anarchy. Gudge wants women-workers because they are cheaper; Hudge calls the woman’s work “freedom to live her own life.” Gudge wants steady and obedient workmen, Hudge preaches teetotalism—to workmen, not to Gudge—Gudge wants a tame and timid population who will never take arms against tyranny; Hudge proves from Tolstoi that nobody must take arms against anything. Gudge is naturally a healthy and well-washed gentleman; Hudge earnestly preaches the perfection of Gudge’s washing to people who can’t practice it. Above all, Gudge rules by a coarse and cruel system of sacking and sweating and bi-sexual toil which is totally inconsistent with the free family and which is bound to destroy it; therefore Hudge, stretching out his arms to the universe with a prophetic smile, tells us that the family is something that we shall soon gloriously outgrow.

I do not know whether the partnership of Hudge and Gudge is conscious or unconscious. I only know that between them they still keep the common man homeless. I only know I still meet Jones walking the streets in the gray twilight, looking sadly at the poles and barriers and low red goblin lanterns which still guard the house which is none the less his because he has never been in it.

Politics has been called a game and it does have some game-like aspects, but for far too long – more than a century – those engaged in politics have treated it as just a game. They almost admire the other side for scoring a goal on them. But the thing is that politics is supposed to provide a government which secures the rights of the people. That is all its for. But our Ruling Class sees it differently. In the end, we find that neither Hudge nor Gudge really believe in anything but their own power and wealth. This is why Obama produced Obamacare which has made medical care more expensive and less accessible – and why McCain, after campaigning specifically on getting rid of Obamacare, voted to keep it. McCain has gone to his reward – but his family is still rich and prominent. It is dead certain that Obama, relaxing with the rich and powerful in carefully guarded enclaves, never even thinks about the poor SOB trying to find a doctor in network.

This is why Trump – and I think that now more than ever, Trump understands what he’s for. He is going to DC for us. To give us a voice at the councils of the powerful. To remind them that there are real people out there…and they’ve had enough.

Democrats Learn That Lies are Bad

Mark Noonan50 Comments

I’m noticing that more and more people are starting to see what I’ve been harping on for years: the basic problem we have is the lies. They are so entirely pervasive that they entirely wreck our ability to construct a policy on any issue. We first have to contend with the lies – and by the time we finally beat one lie back, we only find that the liars have come up with three more.

For 2024, though, we do see something both good and fun happening: the Democrat meltdown.

I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon for a Tuesday posting because over Monday I won’t be available to post. Biden is out. Harris is (sorta) in. Everyone – every last person – who crosses Trump winds up destroyed. This isn’t (necessarily) divine protection for Trump. It has a different source.

JD Vance, like many others, has pointed out that if Biden is unfit to run for office then he’s unfit to hold the office. Now that he’s stepped aside from the campaign, then it must follow that he should resign his office. Keep in mind that everyone from Harris on down was just a few weeks ago asserting that Biden is sharp as a tack. Heck, earlier Sunday Harris put out another post lauding Biden’s ability. Now that Biden is out, they are going to have to contend with numerous and loud calls for Biden to resign – and if you think getting him to agree to step aside was hard, imagine how hard it would be to convince him to become the second American President to resign from office!

And this whole thing – this entire crisis ripping the Democrats to shreds right now – is because they lied. They lied in 2020 when they said Joe was ok. They lied continuously since 2020…they lied and lied about Joe until he got up in front of 50 million Americans and demonstrated conclusively that he’s unfit. And here’s the kicker: Democrats only forced him out because he’s became a drag down ballot! Absent that – if swing district Dems were still doing ok – they’d blithely keep lying that Biden is fine. They are caught in a vise they can’t escape – there is no way out. Pushing Biden aside is a mere ploy they hope will change the dynamic.

And all because of lies. If they had just told the truth, none of this would happen.

Of course, if they just told the truth then Trump would be finishing his second term and we’d be discussing the DeSantis vs Shapiro race.

As for me, just pass the popcorn! I don’t care how it comes out. The longer they fight the better for us. An energized GOP is ready to take it to them. And Trump, himself, has changed a bit. No surprise: he found out that every day really is a gift. He’ll never stop being Trump but there is a softer curve to him right now – a willingness to laugh at himself and see the better in others. I think this will start to connect with the American people.

Harris (Maybe)/Whoever the Heck, ’24

Mark Noonan52 Comments

I honestly did not expect this to happen – I figured the old bastard would stick forever.

But, man, does this look rushed – the announcement just popped up on X with no advance warning. No prep for a televised address (which is how you’d normally do such a thing)…and the initial post “forgot” to endorse Harris. This was taken care of a few minutes later when they realized they forgot that detail.

I can only figure that someone got to Biden’s people on Sunday morning and said words to the effect of “He’s out. He’s out right now. If he refuses then a whole bunch of really horrible things will be exposed.”

In the end, the mechanics of it, aside from Biden being senile, is that the money had run out – he’s still got about $200 million but he burned through $50 million in June and no more was coming in. That’s not enough for a Fall campaign which just gets more expensive day by day. Harris gets to use that money – and my bet is that she’ll get the nod. Pretty confident that Team Obama (which probably presented the hemlock to Biden) is already working the phones lining up first-ballot delegates for Harris. If nobody big jumps in, it’ll just be hers by default. But there is always that chance that the far Left will want to make some noise and so will find a stalking horse to deny her a first ballot majority – and then it all just gets more fun from there!

Who’s the Veep? Shapiro would be best and would actually cause some trouble for Trump in Pennsylvania but he’s only been governor for two years and he’s got his own ambitions…and those ambitions might not be helped by joining a losing effort. I doubt they’ll go with a woman – so, look for a term-limited Democrat governor or a Senator who isn’t going anywhere.

Right now, the race remains Lean-R; it was about to tip Likely-R but this does throw the race into a bit of chaos. And Harris will now benefit from some glowing MSM coverage – she might get a boost in the polls.

I don’t think Trump should debate her – why give the Democrats any air?

Trump’s PAC already has an ad out condemning Harris for her part in the cover-up of Biden’s condition and the failed border. This is good – and I’m sure Team Trump has already made lots of prep to face her. Democrats, lacking the least sense of shame, are already attacking Trump as the old guy…and this, my friends, is why Trump did that 90 minute acceptance speech. He could already see what might happened and he needed to prove after the attempt that he’s physically and mentally up to it, regardless of who he winds up against.

Main thing for the GOP is that until the DNC, the Democrats don’t even really have a candidate and they are still in disarray…a lot of people are going to be burned up about this and Biden people will be…unhelpful.

UPDATE: I read that wrong! So far, the Clinton’s have endorsed Harris but Obama didn’t – his post on it talks of having an open nominating process. That surprises me. My bet: they’ll come together on this but there is now a non-zero chance that the Obama and Clinton camps get into a pissing match over the nominee.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan21 Comments

This past week lasted a couple years, didn’t it? As I write it is still not quite a week since Trump was shot. Just amazing all that happened.

As for the shooter: we don’t know what happened because the authorities are hiding it. But what has emerged tells me that the shooter had knowledge of how to do this – that is, how to be a sniper. Did he learn it on his own? Was he trained by someone? I’m leaning towards “trained by someone”…that this was someone’s op. Do keep in mind that the Iranians have said they will take revenge on Trump for turning Soleimani into an Ikea kit. And there are plenty in the USA who would volunteer to help – people who have been told the endless lies about Trump and the USA.

If an Iranian op why don’t the Authorities just say so? Because in addition to exposing their own gross incompetence in the actual event, such a thing is an act of war – and it is American Left policy to foster the rise of Iranian power…and, no, they don’t really expect this to bring peace to the Middle East. They say they do but it is really reparations for the US role in removing Mosaddegh from power in 1953. No, I’m not kidding. They are that stupid. They feel all the problems of the Middle East stem from that action…and by reversing it via an overtly anti-American and powerful Iran, the stage and be reset. That and, of course, a lot of them receive Iranian money to betray the USA. If they found Iran responsible then we’d have to attack – that is, American Democrats who love the Mullahs and hate Trump would have to attack their beloved in defense of the man they hate. Ain’t happening! So, the cover up continues.

Pushing out Pudding Brain: I still say they won’t be able to do it but it is clear that the entire Democrat Establishment wants Joe out. Not because he’s going to lose the White House, but because he’s going to cost them big down ballot. They trouble is that they’re dealing with a Pride-filled man – who is also senile. And there is also no incentive for Biden to bow out. The minute he agrees to go, his power is gone…even if he were to try to engineer his chosen candidate to replace him, any promises made to him wouldn’t be worth anything…and Joe knows that: Democrat promises are only designed to get the victim to commit seppuku. Democrats never intend to keep a promise. As I’ve said from the start, only threats against the liberty of Hunter would do it…but, OTOH, the guy with a half century in Democrat politics also knows where a lot of bodies are buried. Jill and Hunter may have been told many interesting things that Democrats would prefer remain quiet.

As for me: I don’t care! Let them fight! I hope they keep going at each other all the way to the convention and beyond. And then still wind up stuck with Joe! Part of the reason Joe wants to stay is because he’s convinced he, and he alone, can beat Trump. He thinks what he did in 2020 was some sort of genius…not cheating in weird circumstances. Of course, the fly in the ointment is that he can barely string a coherent sentence together. Even if he was a genius in 2020…he ain’t in 2024. He’s a senile, old man. So, fight it out Democrats – and then send Joe out to malfunction increasingly to election day.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan39 Comments

You realize that its only been five days since the shooting?

Doesn’t that seem like a month ago?

Time is like that – and we are living very fast right now. It is something that the late William Manchester noted in his memoir Goodbye, Darkness – During times of great events and stress, time compresses and seems to go a lot faster. Titanic forces are at work in our nation and it is hard at times to keep up with everything.

The USSS failed utterly. The shooter was seen hours before the event and was marked down as suspicious. From there is just got worse and worse until there’s no aspect of the security set up which didn’t fail. Trump is alive by simple miracle – had he not turned his head at the right moment, he’d be dead. No question about that – I’ve seen the time line videos showing the angles. The shooter had Trump dead in his sights.

The USSS and its parent organization DHS are stonewalling the investigation – not even letting Senators ask questions. This is feeding the files of conspiracy theories with dark hints about the Deep State. It probably isn’t that complex – all you have to do is order the troops to do the wrong thing and give every opportunity for the enemy to act. You think about the Alamo holding out as long as it did but if at any time those inside had simply done the wrong thing, it would have fallen quickly. That’s all it takes – for want a nail, right? I suspect that the ROE the USSS operates under for Trump is so deliberately bad that there was little chance, outside someone disobeying direct orders, for Trump’s Secret Service detail to stop it before the shots rang out. And that would be what they’re covering up…busily deleting texts and shredding documents so that those who ordered the total fail don’t have documentary evidence against them.

If I were Trump I’d start relying far more on personally hired security. I’d have at least some number of people I pay just to keep an eye on things. If someone paid by Trump was involved with security, that roof would not have been empty. No person determined to protect Trump would have missed that.

We all thought after the shooting that the push to oust Biden was over – and it made sense to think that. And, I believe, it was like that for a couple days. The Democrats resigned themselves to losing the White House and while they’d go through the motions of rah-rah for Biden, their focus would be on the House and Senate. But starting this morning the push to oust regained steam…with Schiff openly calling for Biden to step down. Schiff is supposed to win by 25 in a State Biden is supposed to win by 25. He shouldn’t have the least worry and so should have no need to step into a party fight which will earn him enemies no matter how it comes out. But he stepped in – and it can only mean that he’s seen internal polling showing Biden dragging Democrats down. And I mean badly down – like a 10-15 point shift to the GOP in some places bad. Schiff still gets his Senate seat…but if this is so, there will be about five fewer Democrats in that Senate with him.

Biden claimed Covid and retreated back to Delaware. Not the White House: he wanted a place where there are no visitor logs. I suspect over the next couple days there will be some conversations. We’ll see how that comes out – they still can’t force Biden out. His people are in charge of the Democrat party, and the delegates are mostly Biden loyalists. If Biden digs in his heels, it is almost impossible to get him out and it would require a massive political fight to even try..leaving the Democrat party divided and in tatters, maybe for years. So, people are going to talk to him (or, more accurately, Jill and Hunter) and see if some deal can be struck that strokes Biden’s ego enough to convince him to step aside.

Nobody has any idea how that will come out – the principle players in it don’t know how it will come out. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Trump-Vance, 2024

Mark Noonan48 Comments

Gotta say, I was a little surprised – I figured it would be Youngkin. But that might have been my bias: I thought he was best for the slot. But the decision has been made; the deed is done. No sense arguing about it any longer. This is our team: time to swing in behind it.

Vance does have an “American dream” story – he was born into abject poverty with a really bad family life. He rose above that. Very high above that. Even though standards have been dropped, getting into Yale Law still ain’t easy. So, the guy has some smarts. But he also seems to impress people…from working class to billionaires, people have come into his orbit and all seem willing to help him along to the next goal. To be sure, the billionaires do put a note of suspicion on him – but on the other hand, this guy from nowhere managed to get billionaires to back his dreams. It’s one thing when the scion of a rich family gets aid – that is just one rich stroking another. Putting money into a nobody is a risk – and you only do that if you think its worth it.

His wife is also “American Dream”: born in America of Indian immigrants (but much higher socio-economically than Vance), Usha Vance also has the Yale Law degree; they met in college. So, she’s also got some brains. Vance turns 40 next month so he is the youth and vigor for the team – and as he and his wife have three young children that will also strike a chord in a large segment of the electorate. Small side note and totally irrelevant: I’ve created a witch named Usha in Ghost Tower (Book X); she’s alluded to in Home World (Book IX). She is a horribly bad person but also kinda cool in that she can kill people via flames shooting out of her hands. I just hope that Mrs Vance doesn’t take offense!

Vance represents “Flyover America”. That is his thing – its what he’s for. His Hillbilly Elegy was all about it. Another side note: If Trump/Vance wins then for the first time we’ll have an Executive team made up of two New York Times Bestsellers (Trump for The Art of the Deal). I suspect that Vance was picked at least in part for his ability to connect with the alienated in the Rust Belt. Not GOPers – they’re already in Trump’s corner. I’m talking disaffected Democrats.

Within minutes of the pick the Left was out with a variety of hit pieces – I don’t think they’ve fully settled on whether he’s Worse Than Hitler or Hitler Lite, but that he’s some sort of Hitler is a given. Naturally they’re calling him racist (though with an Indian wife; weird, huh?), sexist, homophobic, fascist and all the rest. That “lowering the tone” speech Biden gave yesterday had about a 12 hour shelf life. But, we all expected that – hate and fear are all the Democrats have.

There were, naturally, the Nattering Nabobs of Negativism on the Right. People who wanted someone else. People who are just looking for a reason to attack Trump. Cowards who think we can’t win. I mostly ignored them. They are the people we used to lose with. Trump/Vance is the future; and that is where I’m looking. Can they lose? Of course they can. Anything is, always, possible. But I’m pretty confident it is Trump/Vance getting sworn in next January. Keep in mind: Trump was winning before the debate. He was winning comfortably after it. After Saturday, I think he’s well nigh unbeatable…certainly unbeatable by a frail, senile old creep. That will be as it will: as I’ve said all along, if we lose in 2024 then we never had a chance to begin with. Might as well joyfully enter the battle.

And I am joyful. Probably more happy than I’ve been about the future of our nation for a long, long while. I think we might have the people to actually get the reform ball rolling. I mean real reform; where things actually change. Not just window dressing on failure. There is much work to do – and much risk. The attempt on Saturday is revealing so much incompetence in the USSS that it is easy to get the feeling that they were intentionally inept. The Democrats have not stopped the incendiary rhetoric – and that will just increase as time goes on. Make no mistake about it: they do want a successful Saturday to happen. They hope that by continually stoking the fires that someone will make their dream come true. But the miracle of Saturday also gives me confidence that, as it always eventually does, right will triumph.