An Interlude About Music (Sort Of)

Mark Noonan20 Comments

Yesterday I watched a bit of a documentary called 1971: the Year That Music Changed Everything. And there’s a bit of Boomer pretentiousness, right? Changed everything! For crying out loud, Won’t Get Fooled Again, What’s Going On? and Ohio were pretty good tunes but they changed precisely nothing. And, anyways, if you want a song with refrain of “what’s going on?” the 1993 song What’s Up? is actually superior (though I may be biased as the songwriter/singer is a contemporary and so the song speaks more to me than Boomer political slop even though it is more overtly Left in tone than Marvin Gaye’s song).

But what caught my eye is that it opens with Chrissie Hynde talking and until I watched I didn’t know she had been present at Kent State during the riots there (her work with the band The Pretenders not starting until 1978). Hynde is, of course, a life-long far Left person – but she’s also one of the few intelligent people on the Left and so when cancel culture got started she condemned that because how can you arrive at truth if people aren’t allowed to be offended? Anyways, she’s talking about Kent State very matter of factly – no high emotion just saying they had burned down the ROTC building because they felt that the Army shouldn’t be on “their” campus…and you could tell in the talking that she was looking back on it all and wondering just how they came to believe the Army was the problem and that the campus on a taxpayer-funded college belongs to the kids? And then as she finishes talking the video cuts to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young singing their very famous song about it, Ohio. You know it:

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Apparently, Young wrote this in a flash of anger after hearing the news of Kent State. It was released in 1971 (so, of course, included in a documentary about 1971) even though the events happened the year before and…it did just ok. Peaking at number 14 on the charts…which makes you wonder just how much of everything the song could have changed?

I don’t know if the documentary producers meant it, but the juxtaposition of Hynde’s reasonable reminisces and Young’s shouting contemporary screed is very interesting. She was there. She knew what happened and what they had been up to. Young wasn’t. He saw the TV news reports about it. The song wasn’t about the events at Kent State but about how Cronkite and other news-actors presented it to Young. One recalls another Young song called Southern Man which made out that white Southerners were just racists who didn’t want white women having sex with black guys…and this was ripped to shreds by Ronnie Van Zant in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song Sweet Home Alabama which has the line:

Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow

To Young’s credit he did later admit that he richly earned that slam and it is one of the best lines ever written in a pop song (the best line in a pop song is “Many dreams come true And some have silver linings” in the Led Zepplin song Over the Hills and Far Away – I will not be taking questions about this assertion). And perhaps if Young had actually found out a bit about Kent State – or even just thought about it a bit, the song Ohio would have been different? Probably. But that is kinda the problem, isn’t it? People just reacting – especially reacting to dramatic video presented in a way designed to elicit a conditioned response. After all, Hynde one day decided to write a song about Ohio and called it My City Was Gone (you remember it as the opening music for Rush Limbaugh’s show).

I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no down-town

South Howard had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces

Ay, oh, way to go, Ohio

No mention of Kent State which must have been a formative and very shocking event in her life…because, of course, it was in the end, nothing. A tragedy in four deaths but a farce about why they happened. For heaven’s sake, the Army wasn’t the problem. No matter how much you hated the war in Vietnam, hated Nixon, even hated America…the Army is not in charge of deciding things. And the kids burning down the ROTC building were exact contemporaries of the kids in the Army at the time. Were they evil? The Left would have people believe so…and worked up events to convince people it was, but it was all stupid and any really thinking person looking back on it would be appalled by their participation in a stupid riot that ended up getting four people killed. And so the thinking person’s song is about urban sprawl.

On and on it has gone over the decades…provoked action, manipulated media reporting, emotional reaction. And it goes into the Book of Liberal Lore as canon…never a modification or a bit of reflection…it was Nixon who killed those kids at Kent State just like Brown had his hands up and was saying don’t shoot. When its all a very long time past, someone will make a documentary about it and will just rehash it all…just wait: in 2034 there will be “20 years after” documentaries about the Ferguson riots…and the 2045 documentaries about the anti-ICE riots will be a thing to behold! If, that is, the Left is still around to spin the Narrative. I’m starting to think they won’t be.

I think it is rather played out now – and with the money being cut off, the sinews of propaganda will weaken. And I think we’re all rather tired of it…this pretend world where those who set fires are heroes and the firefighters are the bad guys. Just perhaps by 2045 we’ll have a new version of Hynde singing an interesting song…rather than regurgitated slop about Fighting the Man? Hope so. It’ll be like being liberated.

Democrats Go Full Commie

Mark Noonan13 Comments

Why was Mamdani chosen as Democrat nominee for Mayor of New York City?

Because he’s foreign born.

Because he’s Muslim.

Because he’s a Communist.

Because he hates America.

Because he’s an anti-Semite.

Don’t overthink this – he’s a quite ignorant person (though like all such upper class ignoramuses, very certain about everything) who hates everything the United States stands for. And he’s like this simply because he was told to be like this. His entire education was at elite schools – meaning schools for the social elite, not elite as education. He was told from preschool that the USA is inherently racist and evil, that white people are inherently racist and evil, that Christianity is malevolent, that “national liberation movements” are always the good guys. On and on like that – and given his social group, absolutely no one to dissent from the Leftist orthodoxy. He’s probably never had anything like a serious conversation with someone who disagree with him. And he wouldn’t know what to do if it ever happened – he’d just mindlessly retreat to Leftist slogans. The anti-Semitism probably came in late, unless he learned it at home. It was only about the time he was in college that it became Leftist dogma that Israel is an Apartheid State. But however he came by it, he just took it in stride – never thought about it. The Party said so – and everyone he knows agrees.

And who has propelled him forward? Upper class white people. You can see it in the heat maps of the vote in NYC – the poorer the area, the more votes for Cuomo. And I mean by a lot. Black Americans, Latinos, working class people – can’t stand this upper class twit. And he knew who was going to get him a win: those upper class white people. Everything he said as pitched at them…and they eagerly jumped in because of his biography and, of course, because it is a way to Resisting Trump. Nope, not kidding about that – a big reason for their vote was the perception that Mamdani will fight Trump. That Mamdani will be a city mayor – not even a State governor – and will have zero ability to fight Trump doesn’t matter. The people who voted for him don’t even know this…they are as credentialed and ignorant as Mamdani, after all. They’re just sure about it all – after all, MSNBC tells them that Trump is horribly unpopular and is falling apart by the day (not kidding, this is what they’re fed) and that the Leftist Resistance – all that fighting for illegals and Hamas – has been the ticket to beating Trump (who, by the way, wasn’t actually elected – Kamala was not less popular, it was just that Musk manipulated the vote to give Trump the win).

So, don’t get yourself too wrapped up in one particular aspect here – it doesn’t really matter that he’s Muslim or Communist or foreign born…it is all of it together which tells us our problem. Even 20 years ago this guy would have got 5% of the vote in a vanity run for the Democrat nomination. Yesterday, this clown got 44% of the vote. He’ll run against a worn out Eric Adams running as an Indy and Curtis Sliwa as the totally pointless Republican candidate. And it won’t take much for Mamdani to win – while more than three million people voted in NYC in 2024, this year it’ll probably be around a million…and those upper class people in Manhattan are slavering at the prospect of voting Mamdani. Perhaps Sliwa backing out and endorsing Adams could help, but probably not. NYC is about to go Full Commie…and that is the future the Left wants for us…for America to be ruled by people who hate her with a passion and who will dismantle the whole thing. Waiting in the wings on the national stage are AOC and Crockett…just waiting for their chance to get into senior positions, maybe even the White House one day.

The good news is we elected Trump last year. The defunding of the Left proceeds as does the deportations. America is being rescued as the Democrats go Full Communist…and in Mamdani is the perfect poster boy. The GOP is already lining up to make him the face of the Democrat party. And plenty of other far-Left kooks are looking to primary sitting Democrats (Schumer’s immediate endorsement of Mamdani was an attempt to keep AOC from primarying him). The Democrats will see in Mamdani the path to victory in 2026 and 2028. They will quadruple down on insane Leftism. If we’re even remotely competent (in know, we’re still the GOP!) we’re going to smack these idiots down hard.

Side note: Looking into the nitwit’s biography I found that his grandfather was a member of the Indian Civil Service during the late stages of the British Raj – much like Kamala’s grandfather. Making me wonder how many British Empire-educated people moved into the West after the end of British rule and decided to take revenge on the West via their children and grandchildren?

Iran

Mark Noonan16 Comments

Did I vote for this?

You mean for Trump’s oft-stated determination that Iran would not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon? You mean his confirmation of official and bi-partisan US policy for the past quarter century? Yeah, I voted for that. In fact, I voted to make sure it would happen – because no other person in office would have done it.

Sure, I would have preferred the Mullahs had bowed to the inevitable. I thought – and Trump probably thought – that the vaporization of Soleimani would convince the Mullahs that Trump’s intentions were serious. I guess it didn’t. They probably thought they could just drag things out and wait for non-Trump to be in office. There is a good chance, after all, that Iranian intel people monitor the American MSM and figure they’re getting an accurate picture of the American political scene. Anyone who takes the American MSM seriously is going to have a massively warped sense of what is going on over here…and if the Mullahs believed that Trump was in trouble over deporting illegals, then that might have convinced them they could dig in their heels and wait him out.

Wrong answer!

Some people – including some who have been allegedly MAGA – are now lighting their hair on fire over the prospect of Trump sending in the Army. I am convinced this is paid for by the Iranian government…its just too stupid for words. We just showed we don’t need to send in the Army. We can destroy any target we wish in Iran with impunity. Sure, the Mullahs might send their absurd little Navy on a suicide run, but that will be quickly disposed of by the US Navy (sorry, 60 year old frigates and aged Russian Kilo-class subs are going to be sunk before they even know we’re there). They might try a proxy attack using terrorist groups – but Trump has already said that any Iranian retaliation will result in further US attacks…and I doubt that Trump is going to be too concerned about proving Iran was behind any attack…we’ll just assume they were behind it. And if they aren’t behind it, too bad, so sad – when you fund lunatic terrorist groups you takes your chances. Should have thought about blowback a long time ago. Trump did suggest that regime change would be useful but there was nothing in his statement indicating he wants us to forcibly change the regime…and he’s not dumb enough to come before the American people and say he wants to send 250,000 of our sons and daughters to Tehran. Just won’t happen.

And he posted that because he knows – even if his idiotic critics don’t – that the end of the Mullah regime means peace. They are the only people keeping the Islamist nonsense alive. Muslims might very well hate me, hate Jews, hate the USA, hate the west…but from the hate to the suicide vest are lots of steps. Takes lots of money for propaganda, for materials and training…take away that money and the hate might fester but it will fester in a void. Some jackanapes in Cairo ranting about stupid Americans as if we care. It is wise for Trump to put that prospect out there…it gets the Mullahs looking over their shoulders and realizing that, come what may, the oil sales must go on or they’ll run out of money to pay their bully boys – and no bully boys means mobs outside the palace calling for your blood.

As for what the Iranian people want – I couldn’t care less. I’ve seen some people write up how the Mullahs betrayed the Iranian revolution and it sounds like something wise to say and I’ve pretty much accepted it but then it kinda struck me – going back to ancient times, the people of Iran haven’t known a minute of political freedom. They were under absolute monarchy until the 1930’s and then a sort of bogus parliament was created as a fig leaf for absolute monarchy. And even in that absolute monarchy, it was really just a series of competing interest groups trying to be the power behind the throne…mostly in order to steal the money, especially the oil money once that came rolling in. Sure, the Shah was oppressive and by the mid-1970s he was unpopular, but did the mobs demonstrating against him even know what they wanted? Have any conception of what it means to be free? They had never lived it – and going back to their earliest civilized ancestors, they had no experience of it. Very likely they were just being manipulated by the Ayatollah’s people and they eventually got rid of the Shah for him and he just stepped into the role of absolute monarch under a different mask. Basically, it is all nonsense…and in a very real sense, not even a fully real country…just people who happen to speak mostly the same language and hold the same religious beliefs crammed into the borders Russia and Britain drew for them in the 19th century. I mean, for goodness sake, the Shah was trying to take the mantle of Cyrus the Great – the Shah was the son of a usurper placed on the throne by British machinations and here this nitwit was trying to claim he was somehow connected to the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. That isn’t God’s anointed…that is a guy play acting and hoping nobody bothers to check behind the curtain.

I just don’t care what they do. I’m only interested in Iran insofar as they cause my country any trouble. And shouting “death to America” while trying to build a nuke is the definition of trouble. If they had never done anything else to offend us, I’d still want them zapped over that. Call me silly, but when someone says they want to kill me and they’re trying to obtain the means to do so, I’m going to take them seriously and respond accordingly. And it isn’t The Jews making me do this – if Israel didn’t exist it wouldn’t change my view. And, no, I in no way feel morally responsible for their plight…I don’t care about the 1953 coup or anything else the Iranians use as an excuse to hate me. You see, I don’t care if they hate me – and I can’t fix what happened in the past. I only care if they want to kill me. And they have told us again and again they want to kill us. They could stop that at any time and we’d all be cool and happy. Their choice. Not mine.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan29 Comments

I get Trump’s reticence in relation to military action against Iran. War is always incalculable in results. Once the guns go off, you never quite know how it will come out. Clearly, the Mullahs should never possess a nuclear weapon. The chances they’ll actually use one are low given Israel’s almost certain already existing nuclear deterrent, but the world can’t rely on Mullah reasonableness. Additionally, I have held since 1979 that the Iranian regime is a pestilence. And since the fall of the USSR, they have been the primary promoter of Islamist terrorism (good to remember that prior to the fall of the USSR, most Muslim terrorists officially adhered to some sort of Socialist program downplaying the Islamic element…but the only pay for it post 1991 has been Tehran, so the Socialism is muted and the Islamism emphasized). Bottom line, if the Mullah regime goes, the most likely outcome in the Middle East is a general peace settlement as there will be no one to pay for Islamist programs (another good thing to remember is that outside Iran and its proxies, Islamist propaganda these days is heavily suppressed in Muslim nations…sure, they’ll let you publish endless copies of Mein Kampf and anti-Semitism if the order of the day…but this “river to the sea” nonsense is kept under control). In my view, we should – if necessary – launch attacks to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is crippled (there is some doubt that Israel has a weapon – outside a nuke – which can reach the deepest buried elements).

But I’m going to trust Trump’s judgement on this. He does have access to a lot of information we don’t have and, very important, he has earned our trust. The man took a bullet for us. He’s reliable – even if he gets it wrong, the motivation will still be to do what is best for the USA. If he orders an attack, I support that – if he decides to hold off, I’ll support that.

Someone posted a video on X claiming to show an empty Los Angeles emergency room – with the narration claiming it is a horror as “our people” aren’t getting life-saving care. If true, what it means is that illegals aren’t using the ER as their primary care facility…which they routinely do, clogging up the system and costing everyone untold sums of money. If they’re refusing to do this out of fear of ICE, then that is what I voted for – illegals should be afraid to show their faces. They should live furtive lives in the shadows – impossible to rent a house, buy a car, get health care…because they aren’t supposed to be here. They can go back home and not have these problems.

We’re also getting more tear-jerker bits of propaganda about some of the deported – “she’s a grandma who has been here 30 years and she loves being in America”. Yeah, if she had the least bit of respect for America and Americans, she wouldn’t have come here illegally. We really need to get that across – illegally crossing our border is an insult. It is done by people with total contempt for the United States and our people.

And, guys, it has been a long time since the immigrant was a self-selected, hard-working person who wanted to build a better life. The floodgates were opened under Obama (and, really, even before that) and the word went out that the suckers in the USA would let you stay illegally and provide you housing, medical care, food and education…never asking you to contribute or develop any love for America. The people who flooded in – especially when Biden was in office – are leeches looking to live off the American people. They’re precisely the people who keep their home countries as dumps…voting for any conman who offers a free ride and cheering loudly each tin pot dictator in turn…and, of course, considering it a point of honor to help and protect criminal gangs. They all have to go.

ICE is reporting a 500% increase in assaults on their officers – all of this encouraged and orchestrated by the Democrats. They are all-in on illegals – this is insane but, really, they can’t do otherwise…an end to illegal immigration and the huge amounts of graft it begets is a death knell for the Democrat party. Already the DNC is being starved of funds…the more Trump does the less money the Democrats will have. And that’s just one of a score of problems here – each 750,000 illegals deported means one less Blue State House seat, even if the SC refuses to allow Trump to only count citizens in the census. They must fight like this and hope that some even turns the American people against Trump’s policies. I don’t see that happening – they probably don’t, either – but they’ll keep at it because they have no choice.

I’m on Vacation Open Thread

Mark Noonan5 Comments

The thing is, I’m here right now:

That is Torrey Pines State Beach in California – far, far away from the anti-ICE riots, carefully guarded so the upper class Commies who reside nearby never have to suffer the consequences of their actions. But, as you can see, one heck of a nice beach. You can see that little inlet there with the bridge going over it…first time I was there was Spring of 1972. Mom brought me there. You used to be able to go inland on from that inlet and it was quite spectacular but the Commies decided it was a Wetland and HAD TO BE PRESERVED FOR ALL TIME and they closed it off to human activity…which will be funny as heck when erosion destroys that little inlet. Those cliffs you see were quite a bit further out back in 1972!

But as I’m there and not here (I’d normally be plunking myself downright by that closest lifeguard tower but with the Mrs still recovering from the broken hip, we’ll probably be over by the furthest one as its an easier path – if you happen to be in the area, say hi!) I decided to schedule this one so that everyone can keep a fresh post to talk up the issues of the day…which I’m confident will be different from the issues of today (Sunday). Things move very fast during Trump II! Remember the Elon/Trump fight? Seems like twenty years ago, doesn’t it?

I’ll be back late Thursday – so, if the world doesn’t blow up by then, we’ll chat some more!

Open Thread

Mark Noonan11 Comments

There is still some debate about whether or not Hitler actually hated the Jews or if this was all just part of a program to amass power. Keeping in mind that Hitler was the creator of the Big Lie – the concept that if you brazenly repeat the most absurd lies, they’ll be believed. In addition to this, the doctor who unsuccessfully treated Hitler’s mother for cancer was allowed to slip out of Austria unscathed after the Anschluss. So, there are some indications that it was all drivel. Of course, massively more indications that it was sincere hatred. But in the end, it didn’t matter if it was real or feigned…what matters is what happened.

I bring this up because the Army 250 parade really showed the divisions in our country. While our side was quite delighted with the parade and enjoyed a nice, patriotic afternoon honoring the Army, the Democrats were out at their No Kings marches around the country…and shouting incoherently the whole time. It was like trying to eat your dinner when there’s a couple three tables over having a shrieking fight. I pointed out on X – on a couple different threads – that the protests are over nothing. There is no fascist threat of tyranny. There is nothing unjust going on. Everything is actually pretty nice in the USA right now and getting better. But there the Democrats were…out there getting all shouty. And quite proud of themselves! They really think they stopped fascism cold!

Let’s go over some of the things the Left believes:

  1. Trump is a Russian agent.
  2. George Floyd is a hero.
  3. Luigi Mangione is a dreamboat hero.
  4. The Butler Assassination Attempt was faked.
  5. There is a due process for deportations.
  6. The Judicial is superior to the Executive.
  7. Homo sapiens can be born in the wrong body.
  8. America was built by slaves.
  9. America is stolen land.
  10. Los Angeles is actually part of Mexico.
  11. The 2024 election was stolen by Elon Musk for Trump.
  12. Cloth masks can stop a virus.
  13. Banning gas powered leaf blowers will save the environment.
  14. There is no physical strength difference between male and female.
  15. Trump is a Nazi.
  16. MAGA is all racist all the time.
  17. A violent protest can be “mostly peaceful”.
  18. The Founders were less educated than a purple haired 2025 college grad.
  19. There’s a genocide in Gaza.

You could probably add another 50 to the list – and the common run is not just that its all wrong, it is that it is all laughably, stupidly false. They’re pointing at the sky and saying it is green…and shouting at us when we say, “uh, you know its blue, right?”. Do they really believe all this drivel? I don’t know – I’ll bet that at least some of them (especially in the leadership) don’t believe a word of it. But like with ol’ Adolph, it doesn’t matter if it is sincere or not – it is what is done as a consequence. And among the many things the Democrats would like to happen now is for ICE agents to be cornered by a violent mob so they have to shoot their way out of it…thus making a new George Floyd for them (this is why Newsom filed his absurd suit to remove Trump from command of the CA Guard – the Guard has been protecting ICE as it goes about its raids – which haven’t stopped for a minute – thus preventing the bloody confrontation Newsom and the rest of the CA Democrats were trying to orchestrate from the start). And keep in mind that there’s a violent mob to go after ICE because people believe the nonsense lie that there’s something wrong with enforcing immigration laws…that somehow picking up a drug trafficker illegal in Compton is the same as loading Jews up on the train for Auschwitz. The lies used to gin up the mobs are that stupid…and there’s the mob, at least acting like they believe it.

And once again it all comes back to lies: and the lies are killing people. Some day everyone will admit that I am right – until we start to punish liars, we don’t really get out of this.

Trump caused some tremors among MAGA when he announced a pause on ICE raids for agricultural and hospitality industry workers. From what I’ve learned, this is a bit of window dressing to get a few GOP wets on board with the Big Beautiful Bill. Don’t know for certain if this is the case, but it does make the most sense. Though I also offer the possibility that ICE is overwhelmed with the scale of the task and so this is merely prioritization of resources…while we want all illegals out, there are illegals we should get out, first…and as agribusiness is a generally GOP-friendly constituency why not give them a break? At least some time to readjust their labor pool…and perhaps revamp the guest-worker program? Bottom line is that Trump will not go soft on illegal immigration – but also good to keep in mind that Trump has never been anti-immigration. And he doesn’t want to be mean here – certainly not to some poor guy who is really just trying to make a few bucks working the fields in the USA…but the invasion of illegals is a crisis that must be addressed, very firmly. Until the border is totally secure and millions deported, it is a crisis we can’t let up on.

The Mullahs: They Still Have to Go

Mark Noonan11 Comments

Gotta tip the hat to the Israelis – that must have taken months to set up. They did it without anyone figuring it out and it clearly caught the Iranians totally by surprise.

There are Right voices being raised against Israel – rather stupid Right voices, but they are there. It isn’t just for the Left that some people think history started last week. Also, things like the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Marine Corps Barracks bombing are very much ancient history – the young don’t even know they happened. It is, perhaps, a little hard for me to realize that one of the central events of my formative years is ancient but so it is…in fact, as ancient to the youth of today as World War One was to me when I was their age. But at least I knew about World War One! The kids today don’t know much – and a healthy skepticism about foreign adventures is being twisted by malevolent actors into sheer stupidity.

There are good and bad nations in the world. Good and bad governments. For the most part, it is a matter of perfect indifference to an American what another nation is like – if they are bad, we can just stay away from them and that’s fine. But some nations aren’t just bad, they are malicious. Iran is one of the malicious nations. Their government, actually. It isn’t that they chant “Death to America” that is the problem…it is that they try to carry out the chant. That they are mostly incompetent at it is neither here nor there. It is that they try to strike my nation any way they can which matters. Essentially, since the fall of the USSR and the termination of Soviet funding for terrorism, Iran has been the prime mover in the terrorist world. They fund it. Train it. Supply it. Facilitate it at every turn. They take the money of the people of Iran – the part they don’t steal and hide away in Western banks – and use it to fund people who enjoy killing. You know, like the Hamas cretins who attacked Israel on October 7th. They live for the day when they might pull off something like that in the USA. I’ve been saying since 1979 that the Mullah regime in Tehran has to go – and everything that has happened since 1979 has simply confirmed this view as correct. But if you’re talking to a kid born in 2002 you won’t get through to them…they don’t remember it. They don’t even remember 9/11. All they see is the aftermath of our failed War on Terrorism and they were fed a story about how it all happened…The Jews and so forth made it happen and, hey, you know they lied about that Hitler fellow, too!

Good place to point out that Iran funds a lot of the Holocaust revisionism. Muslim nations have generally done this since WWII in an attempt to undercut Israel’s moral legitimacy…but the Mullahs put it all on steroids. Another reason they are malevolent. And what is malevolent has to go. The cancer has to be cut out…because if you don’t, it’ll eventually kill you.

To be fair, there are plenty of nations with governments that are evil – they rob their own people, oppress, kill, etc. But I have no concern about it because they aren’t trying to kill me. This is a key distinction, guys! The pragmatic facts of life are that peace cannot come to the Middle East until the Mullahs are removed from power. As long as they are in power, they will continue to stir the pot and fund terrorism in a program to seek maximum advantage in service of their sick and twisted goal of destroying Israel and the United States. It doesn’t matter that they never will have this power – it is that they will keep trying to achieve their goal. Get rid of them and there will be peace. Their dream is stupid but they won’t give it up – so it will have to be taken away from them.

What Israel is doing won’t do the job. Oh, there’s a slight chance that the temporary weakening of the regime will allow for popular revolt in Iran, but that is a very slight chance. The Mullahs make sure their security goons are well paid – and that means they’ll continue to obey orders to kill anyone who steps out of line. More than likely, the Mullahs will ride this out – and will remain the problem. Even if Israel destroys their nuclear program – literally sets it back to square one – it won’t solve the problem. Still good for Israel and the world, but not a resolution. A resolution only comes when the Mullahs are gone.

I’ve favored for years the most logical way to get the Mullahs out – as they remain in power because they can pay for goons, take away their money. Complete freeze on all assets, total blockade – land, sea and air. Nobody and nothing gets in or out. Within a few months the money is gone and shortages are spreading and though the Mullahs will lash out they can’t actually break the blockade…and hungry people facing off with unpaid goons is only going to go one way. Any military element here (other than the actual blockading forces) will be to degrade the means Iran has of striking out – mostly wiping out their small Navy and destroying their missile production facilities. It wouldn’t take much. It wouldn’t take long. It just takes the will to do it.

That will is lacking – even in Trump – because people simply do not understand the nature of the problem. You can’t reason with people who have no reason. We’ve seen it – try arguing with a Liberal. It is impossible. They will not address your points nor your objections but will just endlessly and quite mindlessly repeat their talking points. The Mullahs may or may not be truly insane – but they do know, sane or not, that if they give up the Death to America/Israel dream, then there’s no justification for their continued power. They know that at best a life of impoverished exile awaits them after that…and very likely death at the hands of their own people. There is no upside for them to act rationally – and so they won’t. And they will continue to rely on our unwillingness to see their insanity. See it. Understand it. And then get rid of them – whatever it costs its cheaper than another 50 years of dealing with these lunatics.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan11 Comments

Gotta say, I’m a bit encouraged here. Sure, the Democrats worked up a few Narrative polls to support their contention that Trump is going too far, but nobody believes them while reliable polling shows solid support for deportations.

The Democrats trotted out an attractive DACA recipient who was supposed to make us get all weepy-eyed about deportations and it just didn’t work. Pretty much everyone agrees she has to be sent back to her home country – and almost no hostile comments. Most people are just tired of playing this game where we allow criminal gangs to import millions to make sure the one good one gets to stay. Just not worth it. And I do feel for that lady and those like here – but we can’t make exceptions. Everyone who entered illegally must go back. More than happy to even make an easy process for such like her to come back (that is, brought in as a minor and never got into trouble since arrival) but we must make it absolutely rock-solid you can’t cross illegally without consequence.

And, sure, I understand that they were encouraged to come by the Uniparty. I get that. But everyone has a moral obligation to obey the laws…and you aren’t excused because those charged with enforcing them are being slack. Her parents should have had enough respect for the USA to say, “no; even though corrupt American officials are letting it happen, I still won’t cross illegally: I respect America and the Americans so I will get permission to enter their country”. Go back home, ask to return. It is hard, but it is a sacrifice any patriot would be willing to make for their country…as well as a sacrifice which will literally save lives because if we allow illegal crossing, people will die because we do.

I’m also encouraged by people instinctively not falling for the “it used to be Mexico” Narrative. Outside of idiots, everyone who hears that is thinking it over. It is a pity that history isn’t taught in US schools but the post I made on X briefly describing the sovereignty over Los Angeles is up to 31,100 views in less than 24 hours. And 2,700 have liked it. This indicates to me a hunger for knowledge – and it is up to us who do know to impart it. Remember, some person shouting Los Angeles is Mexican is a stupid liar – when Mexico declared independence it wasn’t like the USA where everyone involved sent valid delegates to a Congress which debated and then enacted the measure. It was a mere clique of self-selected people who arrogantly presumed to speak for all of New Spain. Naturally, this writ only ran as far as they could force its acceptance and huge tracts of New Spain broke away as fast as possible. While the Spanish government surrendered its claim to rule New Spain in 1836 this is no way amounted to a consent for all of New Spain to be ruled from Mexico City…especially those parts of New Spain which didn’t even have theoretical representation in Mexico City (like, for instance, Alta California). Once again, useful to remind everyone that a lot of what is “known” today is a carefully curated Narrative about what happened all designed to support the claim of the Global Ruling Class to power. It isn’t that the history books directly lie (but some of them do) but that the information has been selected and presented in a manner designed to elicit certain conclusions on the part of the reader. These days, you have to dig deep to find the truth (anyone interested in this particular subject would do well to read The Diplomacy of Annexation: Texas, Oregon and the Mexican War. It is from 1973 so before Wokeness took over academia and it is a fair and accurate portrayal of the various political factors in Mexico, the USA and Europe which ended up with America annexing half of Mexico).

Inflation is coming in “lower than expected”…by the Experts. Like, am I the only person on Earth who understands that inflation only happens because of currency devaluation? Keep in mind, there can always be price fluctuations. A temporary break in supply or some such can cause a spike. But inflation – the steady rise of prices against goods and services – is only caused by money printing. Its been going on since money was first invented – governments always seek to repay good money with bad. In the olden days they had to be more honest about it – continually lowering the gold or silver content of the coins. These days, much easier – you don’t even have to print up paper currency. All you have to do is tell you central bank to add another zero to the ledger. But it is always monetary devaluation that leads to inflation. If governments and central banks were simply honest about how much money there is (or isn’t) then inflation would never happen. You might get a host of other economic problems, but you won’t get your wealth eroded by inflation.

For our purposes here, they were expecting the tariffs to increase inflation and are shocked that it isn’t…this is because the market reacts and the first reaction might be a price spike, but the second reaction is to lower costs. In the case of tariffs, it means finding a supplier not covered by the tariff. You know: domestic or at least from a country not being hammered like China is. Prices are actually pretty stable over time – that is, the actual value of things doesn’t really increase except in rarities (like the Mona Lisa continually increased in value until it became priceless – because Da Vinci can’t paint another one and so there is no way to increase the supply of Mona Lisa’s on the market). It wasn’t prices in France that rose over the centuries…it was the continual debasement of Constantine’s gold Solidus into the lowly French sou (it was originally made of 4.5 grams of gold…the last sou minted in France was 5 centime bronze coin; 4.5 grams of gold would still buy what a Solidus did). Price spikes because of shortages or tariffs are met with new or improved supplies from elsewhere leading to price stability. It is just they way things work. Once again, we’re dealing with people who don’t know much – and they have advanced degrees.

What the Riots Reveal About California

Mark Noonan15 Comments

…what they do create is anarchy; and the difference between these is not a question of violence, but a question of fruitfulness and finality. Revolution of its nature produces government; anarchy only produces more anarchy. Men may have what opinions they please about the beheading of King Charles or King Louis, but they cannot deny that Bradshaw and Cromwell ruled, that Carnot and Napoleon governed. Someone conquered; something occurred. You can only knock off the King’s head once. But you can knock off the King’s hat any number of times. Destruction is finite, obstruction is infinite: so long as rebellion takes the form of mere disorder (instead of an attempt to enforce a new order) there is no logical end to it; it can feed on itself and renew itself forever. If Napoleon had not wanted to be a Consul, but only wanted to be a nuisance, he could, possibly, have prevented any government arising successfully out of the Revolution. But such a proceeding would not have deserved the dignified name of rebellion….

War is a dreadful thing; but it does prove two points sharply and unanswerably—numbers, and an unnatural valor. One does discover the two urgent matters; how many rebels there are alive, and how many are ready to be dead. But a tiny minority, even an interested minority, may maintain mere disorder forever… – G K Chesterton, What’s Wrong With the World?

In that passage Chesterton was discussing what was called at the time the “militant suffragettes” – and his complaint, as can be seen, is that they weren’t really militant. They were just causing disorder on a continual basis in order to irritate the political system into giving women the vote. Trouble is that disorder is mere disorder…and while the positive thing did happen (votes for women) the precedent of irritation was adopted in the broadest sense by the overall political Left in the Western world. But you can’t do it that way – or, at least, you shouldn’t do it that way. And the votes for women finally occurred not because militant suffragettes knocked off the King’s hat, but because non-militant suffragettes simply set to work with peaceful political lobbying – both of government and the public – until the female vote was secured.

You might recall in the past that I’ve had a kind word or two to say about a riot. As Chesterton noted, it isn’t necessarily about violence, but about finality. Violence is to be avoided, of course. We should compose our differences via reasoned debate according to law. All rioters – like all revolutionaries – are doing something which risks the ultimate penalty being imposed by the other side. Don’t do it. If you do, know what you’re getting into. And, also, if you are doing it, have a resolution in mind. Like this:

Julius Jacob von Haynau was an Austrian army officer who was instrumental in suppressing the Hungarian rebellion in 1848. A man of notably bad temper, he was quite brutal in dealing with rebels who came into his hands. After it was over, he had the thanks of the Austrian government and the opprobrium of just about everyone else. A few years later he was visiting England and was recognized by some British workers who promptly got up a riot against him and basically chased him away covered in filth. Total violation of the law. Violence that was dangerous and could get someone hurt. But it was violence with a specific end in mind: letting a foreign brute know that he wasn’t welcome in a land of free men. The cockney’s who threw dung at him broke the law, but they did a right thing. They weren’t trying to merely create disorder…they had a goal in mind and achieved it. Violence is wrong; but if there is to be violence, there has to be a specific end to it.

If I had to say what is wrong with the Left – other than, you know, the fact that they are Left – I would say that they’re Leninists without a Lenin. When Lenin said to loot the looters he wasn’t trying to make a society of looters but working to obtain a certain thing: power for himself. By having the poor loot the rich he knew that the poor would remain poor, but very importantly the rich would become poor…and poor people have a very hard time fighting back. The modern Left does assert that the looters should be looted, but none of them have that single minded determination to seize all power and impose a new order. This is good, in a sense, because Lenin was evil to the core but it is bad that we don’t get a resolution…just continual disorder.

When the current LA riots started someone posted a picture of burning police cars and Gavin Newsom – the alleged governor of California – noted that the picture was from 2020. He was quite triumphant in noting this fact…not at all understanding that it merely indicates he’s let California burn routinely under his watch. Newsom is an evil man. He’s a liar and a crook. He likes being governor because it allows him to lie and steal on a grand scale and he’d like to be President so he can lie and steal even more. But there is no hard center to him – nor in any of the Democrat leaders. They just like to lie and steal and so they need a system which allows them to lie and steal – and a system that allows this is a system which retreats from rioters because you can’t lie or steal about riots and, anyways, any lives lost or property destroyed won’t be theirs so no worry. The main thing is that they don’t want this to end – because a system which suppresses riots is a system which won’t allow them to lie and steal. The disorder must go on forever.

But there is a risk. Somewhere in that mass of masked anti-American rioters there are people who do have a specific goal in mind. There are lots of Lenins out there. None has emerged into leadership. Keep in mind that Lenin got involved in the Marxist revolutionary circles as early as 1887 but it wasn’t until 1903 that he split the Marxist movements and created his Bolsheviks so he could have a movement entirely under his control and dedicated to taking power by any means necessary. So, we might still be a while out before an American Lenin arises…but once one does, that person will ruthlessly suppress dissent on the Left and move on a united front not to just create disorder so corrupt people can steal, but in order to provoke a revolutionary crisis to be taken advantage of.

What this means is that we can’t afford to play this game where the Left uses continual disorder to make governance impossible. And think about it for a moment – the schools suck, the roads are crumbling, burned houses aren’t being rebuilt. Why not? I mean, seriously: none of these are difficult tasks for any reasonably intelligent person. But they keep utterly failing at all of them. Why? Because any attempt to really fix this stuff will lead to renewed, petty disorder orchestrated by the people in charge of schools, roads and housing construction…and so the complete failure keeps going while those who deliberately allowed the petty disorder in the past continue to lie and steal. If it was just California screwing itself – or the Blue States, in general – then we might just smile and move on. But we can’t risk that – we can’t afford, that is, the continuation of a corrupt system where thieves and liars use riots as an excuse for maintaining a corrupt system. Eventually this can spill over into our areas…or throw up a tyrant who will rule us all. We must put a stop to this.

We can cite 10,000 examples of total governmental failure in California – from city to county to State. Nothing is working. Nothing is being done correctly. And this is before we get to the riots, themselves. What it all adds up to is that in their desire to steal, the California Ruling Class has abdicated all actual authority. That is, they were vested legally with certain powers to do certain things…and none of those things are being done. The money is getting spent! That’s for sure – and by “spent” I mean “stolen”, of course. But the things directed by law to happen, aren’t. And the people vested with the power to carry out the law, aren’t. Essentially, the mindless riot of the streets is also a mindless riot in the halls of government. Nobody is in charge – save those in charge of passing out the stolen cash. Everything else is a charade…a pretense. Make-believe government…the form absent any content.

The Constitution enjoins the federal government to ensure a republican form of government in the several States. Donald Trump – and the Congress and Judiciary – are duty bound to carry out the provisions of the Constitution. There is no actual government in California. There is a morass of people feeding off taxes and that’s it…nobody there is actually doing any governing. And that means, in my view, that the federal authorities should step in, dissolve the facade of California governance and call for new elections under strict federal supervision to obtain a government of California which will carry out government responsibilities.

It is time, once again, to enter the real world – in the fake world of the past, we pretended that California was just a bit weird. It isn’t. It is entirely dysfunctional…and flooded with illegals who are used by gangsters and government officials as a third-party cut out to steal taxpayer dollars. California in its current condition is a direct challenge to the Constitution and the territorial integrity of the United States. It must be brought under control and given a government with genuine consent of the governed.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan26 Comments

This was done in Los Angeles yesterday:

The riots were pretty bad there – with the Mayor and police chief of Los Angeles positively encouraging violence against ICE, which was executing valid warrants to detain illegal immigrants. As noted in my previous post: I’m supposed to let people who do this vote? People who scrawl that on our buildings? They get to have as much say as I do?

Look, you’re allowed to hate Trump. You’re allowed to hate Trump policies. But if you are violently trying to stop lawful actions by the Trump administration, you’re insane. You are creating a situation where people can get killed. The place for disagreement is politics…that is, you try to change the government in future elections, not try to intimidate people via violence. Insane purveyors of violence should not be allowed to vote.

Team Trump is responding properly to this – these idiots all did this on video. They seem to forget that there are federal charges – very major federal charges – in trying to prevent the execution of a federal warrant. The funny part here is that these laws were first enacted to stop Democrats from denying civil rights to black people…now they’re to be used to stop Democrats from protecting illegal immigration. It seems that from time to time the heavy club of federal law is needed to keep Democrats under control

The Trump-Musk feud has calmed down a bit…and it really does seem that the proximate cause was Trump withdrawing Musk’s preferred man to head up NASA. From what I understand on that, it was Senate opposition that convinced Trump to withdraw the guy…which does sometimes happen. Could there be some level of Deep State machination in this? Sure. But you also pick your battles…and I guess this was a battle Musk wanted Trump to pick. Trump saw it differently and here we are.

It is good to keep in mind that Musk never was 100% on board with the Trump program. Musk is also a strategist…and his strategic interests are high tech plus space exploration. A lot of this matches up with MAGA but its not a 1 for 1 thing. Musk favors solar over nuclear. Favors open immigration in the tech industry. Musk is a free trader who dreams of a massive human investment in making humanity multiplanetary…Trump wants America first, restrictions on immigration and his Department of Energy is already pushing hard for massive nuclear power development. These are issues honest people can have disagreements over…but they are different strategic aims and those pushing for their aims will come into conflict. Two very large figures came into conflict…and Trump emerged as the more reasonable of the two. I suspect that Musk will work out some deal with Team Trump so that at least he can get some of what he wants. Think of Musk as Nimitz and Trump as MacArthur…very different ideas about how to defeat Japan but their conflicting visions, pushed with vigor, actually ensured quicker defeat of Japan than if one of them had got their way entirely.

The Democrats got their “Maryland man” back! With a raft of federal charges. And while he is back in the USA to face those charges, he’s still illegally in country…which means no matter what some federal judge says, he’s not being let out of federal detention per-trial. Looks like their hero is a pretty bad guy…and that the reason he had to flee El Salvador was because of a hit he did on a rival gang. So, he’s going to sit in federal custody, be convicted of a long list of federal charges…and then deported back to El Salvador to face charges there.

And the GOP will be able to make a whole series of campaign ads about this for 2026. Oh, and all that “Death to Amerikka” stuff from yesterday will also make it into the ads. Do keep in mind that our opponents are very stupid – they only managed to hang on to power because their idiocy was covered up by an MSM almost all Americans trusted.

Most Americans no longer trust that MSM.