Open Thread

Mark Noonan36 Comments

Tucker Carlson pointed out that, for instance, a pregnant soldier is not combat-ready and the entire military Establishment dropped on him like a ton of bricks – demonstrating that the senior officers and enlisted of the United States Armed Forces are heavily politicized and they are on the side of the Left. This is just terrible – but not surprising.

There was no chance the Left was going to leave the military alone – and we’ve seen over the years as the military has lowered standards and spent time on woke training rather than combat readiness that the Left has deeply infected the military. As far as it goes, it is lost to us. I’m confident that most of the lower ranks are with us, but they are largely commanded by people who have made the conscious choice that pleasing the Establishment is the way to go for promotions. Over the years, this has merely meant that we’ve had a gigantic negative-feedback loop where those officers who are the worst – ie, most willing to bow to whatever is fashionable on the Left – have risen the highest.

First off, it means we can’t win a war. Anyone who wants to fight us now can do so with certainty that our military leadership lacks any ability to fight for victory. They don’t know how – they don’t even know what it is. They didn’t rise because of their expertise in military affairs but because they knew how to say the right things. Secondly, it means that if we get power back, we have to purge the military brass. A lot. They can’t be trusted. Also, and this is something I’ve said before: we should reduce the size of the Army. Make it 100,000 troops and then revive the State militias. No more large bodies of troops for forever wars and, also, no body of troops large enough to control the United States.

Related: they’re gonna dump gender neutral fitness tests. Because the only way to have women in combat units is to lower physical standards.

Meanwhile, Democrats continue to push HR1, which would totally destroy the American political system. We’ll see if the GOP has the guts to really fight it.

Cuomo continues to be hammered – not on his killing of people, but on his sexual harassment. Make no mistake about it: he won’t be forced out and he’ll likely be re-elected next year. All of this is just keeping him out of the 2024 contest which is being gift wrapped for Kamala.

Be the Opposition

Mark Noonan38 Comments

It still astonishes me the number of people I come across in the pundit class who simply refuse to see what is in front of them. Today I saw yet another – it was a bit of a rant blaming Trump for the fact that Xavier Becerra will be confirmed as HHS Secretary. Now, to be sure, there might have been things Trump could have done or not done to secure a better electoral result both on November 3rd and January 5th, but Becerra doesn’t matter. These pundits are all hair on fire over the sort of person Becerra is and how he’ll do all sorts of horrible things at HHS. Yeah. No kidding. But so would any other person selected by Biden’s handlers. Liberals are liberals are liberals – there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between any of them. They are all egregious liars and hopelessly corrupt. And every last one of them will enact the same policies as any others because policy isn’t decided by the guys we see on TV, but by the people behind the scenes who are juiced into the activist groups which control the funding for campaigns.

The only thing about the implementation of the latest, most insane proposals on the left is whether they’ll be imposed now, or a little later. There is no one on the left who will stand against the left. Maybe Becerra will actively push the most lunatic things imaginable, maybe he’ll back burner the most crazy stuff. But it is all coming, if the left remains in power. If you want to see what will be dogma for the Democrats in a couple years, just check out whatever lunacy is most current on college campuses today. The only way to prevent it from happening is to ensure no one on the left has any say in policy, at all.

And that brings me to the other thing which I’m still finding irritating. Seventy Senators voted to confirm Garland as AG. Why? Why in heck would you do that? The Democrats will not return the favor. Not ever. I mean, it’s one thing if you’re a Susan Collins and you have to some times register that vote in favor of the Democrats to keep electoral viability. Totally cool with that. But for most of ours, there’s no reason. It won’t help them politically and the Democrats will never reciprocate. Absolute opposition is the only way to go here.

But, they still haven’t learned; though I do believe that there is a learning curve and it is far better than it used to be. Meanwhile, Trump is setting up a 2022 where he’s going to try to get rid of as many RINOs as he can. Part of this would be payback (which is a necessity in politics), part of it is testing his own popularity which will go a long way towards deciding Trump on 2024, but the biggest part of it is Trump’s understanding that if there isn’t a GOP as committed to itself as the Democrats are to themselves, then it is all for nothing. America is at the point of choosing: are we going to be a Social Democracy, or a Republic? For the moment, the GOP is still not offering a choice save a slower path to Social Democracy. Trump wants the people to have a real choice – likely because he believes they’ll choose a Republic (I do, too).

It has to be hit home that there is no longer – if there ever really was – a shared vision of America between us and our political opponents. This situation may well devolve into secession and/or civil war. It isn’t that the Democrats and Republicans want different means to the same ends: they want different ends. What the Democrats consider good is considered vile by us and vice versa. And one side or the other will triumph. We hope by peaceful means. If the American people decide to become Social Democrats, then that is what they shall be. But for those of us who don’t want this – and Trump is one of them – the thing to do now is to starkly contrast the visions and offer no cooperation to the Democrats in any way, shape or form. Absolute opposition to whatever they want and then ruthlessly doing whatever we can if we are restored to power. There are no rules or norms – there is only power and the will to exercise it. They will exercise power to destroy us…and so we’d better exercise it to destroy them. It is a bit better for us – because if we do win and exercise the power, we won’t disturb the Democrats in their personal lives…they will, on the other hand, hound us all endlessly to force us to lie in their favor. But it is in the winning where it will be decided, not in the compromising and “working across the aisle”. All of that is over – and it won’t return until “working across the aisle” means that everyone agrees on the basics.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan20 Comments

Manchin is going soft on whether or not he’ll vote to end the filibuster – but, we all knew he would do that. He’s an egregious liar and political hack. There’s still a chance that Sinema would vote to keep it. The bottom line is that ending it right now would be pretty disastrous for us – it would mean statehood for DC and Puerto Rico and Court packing, just for starters. Side note on that: Democrats are convinced that Puerto Rico would be a lock for them and, on balance, it is likely to at least start out as Democrat-friendly territory…but I’ll bet we’ve got at least even money at taking one of the Senate seats if it comes to that. DC, of course, would be two Democrat Senators forever. The kicker, though, is that PR would get at least four House seats..and they ain’t coming out of the Red States.

But it doesn’t mean the end of the world. It would make it harder for us to win – but not impossible and if we do, we’re no longer hamstrung by the filibuster and will be able to do lots of things which we couldn’t before. The key to victory will lie in doing ever more to get non-traditional GOP voters on board. Especially Latino voters – who are primed, I think, to go steadily 45% for us. This is especially true given that the Democrat party is enthralled to upper class, white liberals who simply have nothing to say to anyone who works for a living. Most Latinos, being relative newcomers to the USA, haven’t got out of the habit of working…like the guy who came here today, on a Sunday, to take floor measurements. How many crackers are willing to do that? How hard do you think it’ll be for us to get him to vote our way?

But, for now, let’s hope we don’t get to that point – much better if we can keep the Democrats tied up until next year when it will become increasingly difficult for them to get Red and Purple Democrats to walk the plank. And then if we can win the House and/or the Senate in 2022, the Democrats have no way to move their legislative agenda forward.

Related: Democrats having a hard time appealing to Latino men.

Our Matt notes that Rush Limbaugh’s death certificate lists him as the greatest radio host of all time – which has the benefit of being absolutely true.

Cuomo is up to five credible accusers of sexual harassment. Doesn’t matter. He’s a Democrat. “Me Too” was only a tool to hammer Republicans with. That it managed to get Al Franken was just bizarre – and something Democrats remain angry about it. Rely on it – Cuomo will be overwhelmingly re-elected next year, because for the most part the people of New York aren’t even hearing about this, nor about the nursing home deaths. They’re still being told that Cuomo is great. The hits on him are to keep him out of the 2024 election – Democrats are expecting Joe to be dead or incapable of running by then, and they want the field cleared for Kamala. I’d love to be wrong about this – that Cuomo would be forced out and a measure of justice done. But I won’t hold my breath.

Democrats have found more Enemies for us to destroy: Pepe Le Pew and Speedy Gonzalez.

Yes, this is ridiculous. But the purpose here is to, step by step, erase the past. The weakness in Orwell’s 1984 was that Winston Smith had memories of times before the Party. What the Left wants is no memories. Every book, song, statue, painting, building or whatnot which can indicate a different mode of living will be destroyed – and a hundred years from now, only Party approved things will exist.

We’re starting to get some pictures from Mars Perseverance and they care cool. I do have one question: don’t those tracks kinda look like they’re made in wet ground?

Open Thread

Mark Noonan13 Comments

The GOP is slow rolling some of Biden’s nominees. Managed to collect the scalp of one of them. Biden is being forced back on minimum wage, amnesty for illegals and election reform. In other words: going as you’d expect when the President is a senile, 78 year old and the Democrats only have 50 Senators and a razor-thin majority in the House.

I did check out Trump’s CPAC speech – still not sure if he’ll try again in 2024, but the bottom line is that at least for the moment, if he runs, he’s got it. Lots can change between now and, say, June of 2023, but it is Trump’s for the asking. We’ll see if he asks. If he doesn’t get in, I’m warming to Ron DeSantis as a lot of people are, though I’m still completely open on whom I’ll actually back.

Lockdowns are being ended in Texas and that’s good – hopefully this will spread, but I’m still thinking the Democrat governors want to keep them going. In fact, I think the overall Democrat desire is to keep them going right through 2024. They seem to have calculated it out that the fear-mongering about Covid benefits them. And, maybe it does? It may well have added a couple million real votes to their total in 2020. There is a big split and a huge number of Americans are simply scared to death of the virus – I can only assume these are the people who still both consume and believe the MSM. Keep in mind that as the States reopen, there will be an economic boost and that will at least temporarily boost Biden.

I hope to goodness we don’t get into a major war these next four years: the military is going entirely SJW. I’ve heard they are even screening social media posts of recruits to see if there is any wrongthink out there. How the heck they plan on staffing the armed forces when they are excluding patriots, I have no idea. I highly recommend against any young people joining the military – and that is a sad thing for a veteran to say. But I don’t think they’ll allow you to be a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine these days. You have to check off the Intersectionality boxes, instead. Not worth the trouble – or the risk that you’ll be sent into battle and your CO got his or her job based on a SJW quota rather than battle worthiness.

Cancel Culture has come for Doctor Seuss and I find it enormously funny. Thy guy was a Commie’s Commie – but he wasn’t woke enough for modern times. Anyone want to tell the SJWs that Che killed homosexuals?

I’m still writing! A lot. Second draft of Shadow Army is now complete and I plan on dropping it in June, with the sequel to that, Kings and Queen, coming maybe in November or December. And I just finished the first draft of Book 6, which had a title but the Mrs hates the title so I’ve probably got to think up a new one.

America’s Future is Trump or Bolshevism

Mark Noonan9 Comments

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types — the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution. – G K Chesterton

I saw earlier today a bit of a Blue Check Never Trump True Conservative discussion, the gist of which was a division between those True Cons who say they want to keep fighting in the realm of practical politics and those who are throwing up their hands and will just observe from the outside, as it were. To be clear, this is different from those True Conservatives who have now become mere Democrats (Bill Kristol, Jennifer Rubin, etc). These people still argue in favor of at least some conservative ideals (though I’ve noticed in all of them a softening on issues such as gun rights and abortion) but they simply hate Donald Trump and they despise his legions of supporters. Some, like Jonah Goldberg, have now given up – they’ve written us off, you see? We’re not just Deplorable, but Irredeemable. Others, like Dan MClaughlin haven’t quite given up on us, but they still hate Trump and figure their job – their duty! – is to ween us away from Trump so that a pure, clean Conservatism can revive and… and…

Do what? I mean, what really?

The quote above tells you what: this clean, pure Conservatism will merely ratify what the Progressives did a few years ago. It is all Conservatism has ever done ever since it first arose in response to the enormities of the French Revolution. What the Goldbergs and McLaughlins are aiming at, if anything, is their idealized version of Conservatism circa 1977. If you recall (and some of us are just old enough to remember) it was going to dismantle the New Deal and restore the old American ideal of rugged self reliance. It was going to restore order in the streets, discipline in the classroom and the rule of law in the country. It was led by some very high intellects and, of course, in Ronald Reagan it had a leader who could articulate the ideology in a way that regular folks responded to. And, of course, for all the things that had happened from, say, 1967 to 1977, we were still living in the America our grandfathers would recognize. The seeds of social disintegration were firmly planted and being vigorously cultivated in popular culture, but it hadn’t fully taken hold. Most people were still living in families and there hadn’t been a divorce. Most wives still stayed at home. Most jobs included a nice pension to retire on. We still were a manufacturing powerhouse.

This old Conservatism swept very famously into power in 1980 and here was the big chance – we had the White House, the Senate and a shell-shocked Democrat House majority which still contained a fairly large number of center-right Democrats. We had our matchless Ronald Reagan to lead the charge. And what did we get? Tax cuts and a defense build up.

That’s it. We didn’t even get rid of the Department of Education which had only been created the year before Reagan came in. We couldn’t even dispense with that boondoggle for the teacher’s unions. There was no push back against the social disintegration and no effort was made, even on the smallest level, to stop the hard left’s march through our institutions. But this is still what the Never Trump True Conservatives want us to go back to – to something that ultimately failed.

I’m sorry, guys, but you had your chance. The True Conservatives of 40 years ago messed up. They lost. They conserved nothing. Now its 2021 and there are no rules or norms or even an agreement on basic things such as what is right and wrong. We’ve got a Democrat party enthralled to whomever is the most woke at the moment on the Left. They are pushing programs which will disenfranchise us and force us underground. They are striving to set up an electoral system where no matter what, we lose. Led by whomever is most lunatic at the moment, the Democrat party is leading us, step by step, into a Bolshevik future. It doesn’t matter if Pelosi or Biden don’t mean to lead us there – it is where we’re shoved because inside the Democrat party are hard-left, anti-American, hate-filled lunatics who ultimately set the agenda. At best, the most insane proposals get pushed to the back of the line for a while – but they never get rejected and a few years down the road, they are brought back up to be implemented as if it were common knowledge that they had to be implemented.

We won’t ever go back to the Old America. It is done. Finished. Kaput. A nice memory of days gone by, never to return. What sort of America we will have is what the argument is about – and we are here deciding if it will be a Bolshevik America, or a non-Bolshevik America. It doesn’t matter that you don’t like Trump. It doesn’t matter that you don’t like his most ardent supporters. It is either Trump and his people, or some purple-haired radical activist getting you fired because you didn’t say the correct words fast enough. I mean, seriously: take your pick. Whatever Trump and his Trumpsters are up to, they aren’t going to force you to say things you know are untrue. The left will. They’ll make it a condition for you to be able to hold a job, carry out financial transactions, own a home. You can try to fool yourself – but I don’t believe you can, really – that they won’t go for the most radical of the current proposals, but you’re stupid if you do. You know they will. What was insane on the left a mere five years ago is dogmatic Party Line today.

Anyone who wants to be free has to get in line here. I don’t like a lot of things. But there is only one side which wants to force me to say things I know aren’t true in order to live. I already can’t say a hundred things I know are true – as in indisputable, scientific facts – because if I say them I risk social destruction. The next step is to force me to say lies. I don’t want to go there. I just want to live my life free of coercion. I’m not asking for much. But I can only get that – I can only possibly get that – by signing on to Donald Trump and his supporters. Only they have the chance of stopping the imposition of totalitarian dictatorship in the United States. It isn’t what I would have preferred. I can think of lots of better possibilities. But the only thing I got his him and them so, I’m in. Because I’m not stupid.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan24 Comments

Did you know that Amazon got a $600 million contract from the CIA in 2013? Looks like they got another juicy one in 2020, as well. There’s nothing wrong with getting government contracts, of course – but when a monster company like Amazon is getting them, it makes you wonder just what happened to get that contract? Who talked to whom? We’ve got this multi-trillion dollar government spending money like mad and contracts like $600 million to Amazon barely create a ripple. This is the first I heard of it. It just illustrates, in my view, that we’ve created a monster and nobody really knows what it is doing.

Mexicans, being sensible and civilized people, are going with coal power. I’d prefer we all went with nuclear power, of course – but what we’re finding out is that we can’t rely on solar and wind.

Democrats are moving to censor all non-Left speech. I guess they figure if they don’t, they’re doomed. This is probably true. There are many moves being made in the Battleground States to fix the election vulnerabilities as was done in Florida. My view remains that they went all out to steal it for Biden, knowing that it would be obvious but calculating (correctly) that no one would really try to stop them. This doesn’t mean, however, that the GOP wants to lose forever. Just a few minor changes in election law will make it vastly more difficult to cheat. So, losing that option, Democrats are going to try to suppress our speech so that no one can campaign outside the Party Line.

The Democrats are in full court press against Governor DeSantis – because Governor DeSantis is doing Covid correctly and thus would be a strong candidate in 2024.

The Muppet Show has been labelled offensive content.

Trump will speak at CPAC – note that it is in Florida. Likely because Covid but I doubt it’ll get back to DC any time soon. Let’s face it: DC is enemy territory. He’s refusing to tip his hand on whether he’ll run in 2024 and that is entirely unsurprising. I suspect he won’t run, but it’ll be foolish of him to tip his hand before the 2024 mid-terms.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan10 Comments

Saw an article today out of the New York Times (shudder) but I had to read it because it was about Mike Wallace – the famed 60 Minutes correspondent. The gist of the story is that Wallace was a creep. Now, it is a bit unfair to write such things about him now that he’s 9 years dead and can’t defend himself, but here we are. It’s 2021 and the human decencies are fairly shredded. To hear the story, Wallace was a physically and verbally abusive jerk who was also prey to insecurities on a grand scale. Now, with that in mind, think back to, say, 1978. You’re watching 60 Minutes and you are simply in awe about how great it all is…how honest and trustworthy Mike Wallace was. Just before they filmed that bit, he either knifed a competitor or forced some poor girl to do something for him.

Puts it all in a different light, doesn’t it?

For decades we all followed these people. We thought of them as honest and educated and, normal sins aside, decent. Turns out, they were none of these. At the end of the day, Network had it right all along.

But, as they say, there’s more! Let’s consider for a moment that nearly a decade after Wallace cashed it in, someone who worked closely with him for years decides to write a tell-all about his experience. Wallace can’t defend himself (and, heck, he probably couldn’t if alive: if anything recent events have shown that no matter how creepy the story about a celeb, it’s always much worse the more you dig in). Now, think what garbage that is: for years this guy took abuse and averted his eyes as others were abused and he did nothing about it. He let it go on. Because he would risk his career by calling it out.

We really do live in garbage times. And the people who have latched on to the heights of our society would make Nero blush.

Biden is turning out as bad as we suspected. He’s truckling to China and Iran. Leaving the border wide open. Killing jobs. Restarting the wars in the Middle East. But, it gets even worse from a Democrat perspective – he’s also hoisted the white flag on amnesty, minimum wage increases and his gun control effort is DOA. I’ve seen lots of Progressive social media comments where they are in a blue funk over how this is working out. How it all works out remains to be seen – but the economy wobbles along while President Mask Mandate couldn’t get up from his nap to look at the emergency in Texas. This does not bode well for Democrat chances next year or in 2024. But, we’ll see what happens.

Cuomo is finally some flack for his disastrous Covid response – but, don’t fool yourself: this is just someone in Democrat-land (probably Team Harris) trying to put a veto on him for 2024. Nothing will actually happen to him, any investigation will be a white wash…and New Yorkers will overwhelmingly re-elect him next year.

If you don’t regularly go to Ace of Spades, you should – just for the headlines, if nothing else.

Nancy Pelosi Puts Hyperpartisan Lunatic, Conspiracy Theorist, and Hardcore Racist In Charge of Alleged “Security Review” of Capitol Incident

I wish I could write headlines like that.

If you search for info about climate change on Facebook, you’ll soon only find approved opinions. Big Tech gets more creepy by the minute.

Remembering Rush Limbaugh

Mark Noonan8 Comments

I was just coming back to work from lunch and a colleague was eating at his desk and had the radio going. After saying hello to others there and taking a look at what was on tap for the afternoon, I heard the radio host bring up Michael Dukakis, with the background music being The Beatles “I’m a Loser”.

What the heck is that?, I asked.

“Calls himself Rush. Its great. He shreds hypocrites.”

That was my introduction to Rush Limbaugh. It was, I think, very early 1989, though it might have been very late 1988. At all events, Rush had only recently started his national show and I was immediately a fan. I had never heard anyone argue in the media with the Conventional Wisdom. Rush was challenging and funny and he clearly didn’t care what liberals thought about him. I think a lot of us remember those early days with their various “updates” and things like the bake sale. It was energizing and fun. And, I think, it played a huge role in the GOP recapturing the House in 1994, thus starting the breakdown of Democrat power in the United States.

He was, of course, before blogging. Before Fox News. Before everything except National Review in Conservative thought. And he was the very first Conservative activist. Not that he gave his audience orders, but that he galvanized us by showing, via his gigantic audience, that we weren’t alone. That millions upon millions shared our dismay with the course of the country.

Rush’s influence simply cannot be overstated. Never holding any office. Never directly participating in any political campaign. He yet got the ball rolling for the breakdown of the Establishment’s grip on the public mind. That Donald Trump was able to get nearly 75 million votes in 2020 – after a year of pandemic and economic crash and after four years of relentless MSM lies – is testament to the number of minds freed because back in 1988 Rush went on the air with the intent to say whatever he thought was right. That we haven’t won completely is no detraction from Rush. He was, after all, just one man. That we still may be able to save this country is Rush’s crowning glory.

I did see the intense hatred directed Rush’s way after his death was announced. We all knew it was coming, but there was something extra pathetic about it. None of the people celebrating his death have a tenth the influence that Rush had. And, just as certain, none of them ever listened to his show. Rely on that: the only people who hate Rush are those who don’t listen. If they did listen, they’d find that he had arguments to make. I didn’t always agree with everything Rush said. But when I did find myself thinking differently, I could still see the force of Rush’s argument…and though I never met him, I’m sure he’d see the force of mine. Those who hate him never exposed themselves to those arguments – arguments which no liberal could in any case win, because liberalism is wrong, entirely.

And while we on the right knew that liberalism was wrong, we didn’t have a voice to express it. Rush provided that. He was a master of his art. Don’t fool yourself: talking for three hours a day and keeping it interesting and entertaining is no small feat. Hardly anyone can do it and Rush did it superbly. He won’t be replaced: we’ll just get along as best we can with lesser lights…but while they can’t stand in the shoes of the giant, in their numbers they will make up for it. And it is because Rush happened that there will be scores of people out there, on the air, saying what they want.

I pray for the repose of the soul of our departed brother and that God may comfort his family and friends.

Found this:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?284357-3/rush-limbaugh-1951-2021

Open Thread

Mark Noonan41 Comments

So, now they’ll call witnesses…you know, the people who were supposed to be called when the House was considering whether or not to impeach. Our Ruling Class is total clown show. Ted Cruz opines – and he’s likely correct – that they were ready to wrap this thing up but last night Social Media bots exploded with demands for witnesses and the Blue Checks caught the fever and here we are. Who orchestrated this? That is what I’d like to know – who paid the army of bots to make calling for witnesses trend on social media? Someone had to think it was a good idea.

It could have been the Chinese or other foreign actors who simply want America embroiled in domestic squabbles.

I do wonder if the Democrats have considered that when you accuse the innocent of crimes and hound them mercilessly, they tend to become what you said they were: in other words, treat 74 million Americans like rebels and what you’ll eventually get is 74 million rebels.

The Lincoln Project has completely imploded and, seriously, it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving set of creeps. Except for one thing: these people used to be our leaders. Respected voices! They didn’t just suddenly become garbage: they always were. Someone gave the go-ahead to remove the protection and here we are. But they all had to know. Especially the money bags. You might give $5 to a bum on the street without inquiring closely as to whether food or booze is to be purchased…you give millions and you’re going to find out every last thing about the guy. How many other groups – right and left – are run by garbage people warping our political debates, but they’re currently protected? I have a Twitter friend who is a complete Commie – he and I have had some interesting discussions about what we’d each like to see happen to the bosses of both parties.

France sent a nuclear attack sub to patrol the South China Sea. This is, interesting. I mean, that France is doing it. China lays claim to the entire South China sea, these claims being disputed by all other nations bordering that sea. Under Trump, we routinely sent ships in to enforce the fact that the South China Sea is international waters. Why France? I can only assume that France, taking note of America’s problems, has decided that if French interests in the area are to be protected, France will have to do it herself. This, long term, is a good thing. I am tired of the American Empire. I also don’t want us to go to war with China without allies having skin in the game. Japan and South Korea are making major increases to their naval power as a deterrent to China and that is also good. The bottom line is that no one is going to invade China – their vast population means they can just throw bodies at you until you’re exhausted. But in any war with China, it will be destroying China’s maritime trade which will be decisive. China requires not just massive exports to fund itself, but massive imports to sustain its internal life. This is why China is building a big navy. Anyone else adding anti-Chinese naval forces to the balance is a welcome thing.

I’ve seen various efforts afoot in Red States to terminate Critical Race Theory. Trump, of course, did this for the Executive branch but Biden has put it back in place. Nothing we can do about that right now – but where we have control, we should exercise that power. Critical Race Theory is a racist, Marxist philosophy which was cooked up as the economic justification for Marxism dried up in the1960’s and 70’s. As the poor and middle class in the capitalist countries became vastly wealthy by historic standards, the appeal of Marxism – that the poor can’t get ahead until they seize the means of production – was shown to be drivel, even if you ignored the manifest failure of the Communist countries to provide a decent standard of living. Latching on to race was the Marxist’s way out of the box: it wasn’t class, but race, which drove the cart. And until the inherent racism of American and Western society was destroyed, justice could not prevail. Anything we can do to get rid of this pernicious doctrine is justified; we cannot tolerate a philosophy which holds that white people are inherently racist and that America is evil. It has to go, or we go.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan71 Comments

They are starting up the Shampeachment – I’m pretty sure Chuck will bury this as quickly as possible. The only question is whether or not the Democrats can get more than 1 or 2 to go along with them in the Senate. Any GOPer who does will not be running for re-election.

One thing useful about being on Social Media is to see what the Bots are saying. These are the fake accounts which are paid to push particular notions. The Blue Checks live and die by these Bot comments. Seriously: if you go to a Blue Checks account and see who is commenting favorably on their drivel, it is often better than 90% Bots. And the Blue Checks simply gotta know that is what’s driving their Social Media clout. But, they just love their likes and retweets. Anyways, what the Bots are saying is what the Ruling Class wants them to say – and what they are saying is that January 6th was the moment America unified against Trump.

No: seriously. Stop laughing! I’m being serious here. That is what they are saying.

Of course, it is all a Narrative. The Insurrection at last exposes Trump and the people unite behind Biden and now we’ll go forward into our Social Democrat future. This is what the Bots are saying. It is entirely divorced from reality, but they are running with it. They are seriously acting like you’re sitting there in your home, traumatized by 1/6 and so grateful that Joe Biden is now in there to save you. So, that is the Narrative for at least the next couple years. The ridiculous Springsteen ad is part of that. Meanwhile, the other thing they’re doing is calling the GOP and bunch of Q-Anon Nazis. I’m not sure this bold strategy of theirs will pay off.

Joe Biden is opening up the border – which is part of his Clever Plan to…I dunno…get the Democrats to lose 60 House seats next year? Gun control and Amnesty: two issues which can unify the disparate parts of the anti-Democrat coalition.

One of the key things to look for after any Democrat political victory is to see whom they make walk the plank when the Democrats do what they promised they wouldn’t do. This year’s winner is Democrats From Oil Producing States. In this case, New Mexico Dems trying to survive Biden’s fracking ban.

Victor Davis Hanson on America’s Animal Farm.