Campaign 2020

Open Thread

Mark Noonan93 Comments

Harris was picked because of her skin color and gender. That’s it. That is all she brings to the table. It is all she’s ever brought to the table. She has no accomplishments; no intellect…nothing except the right amount of melanin, the right internal plumbing and a (D) after her name in California.

In a normal world, President Trump would get a Peace Prize for the dealhe brokered between UAE and Israel…which does seem to be the precursor to the general recognition of Israel by the Arab powers. Only Iran and their proxies will be left out in the cold. Keep in mind: this was done and no one had a clue. In the crucial matters, the Trump Administration does not leak. Keep that in mind the next time an MSMer says “sources” are saying something. They either don’t have a source, or they are being played.

Let’s hope it works out…and now I think I see why Jared Kushner has been targeted of late. He’s been central to Trump’s dealings with the Middle East and someone got wind that something as in the works…someone who doesn’t like Trump and Israel, and so tried to play up an anti-Semitic angle against Trump’s son-in-law.

Sean Ono Lennon is…a bit red-pilled. I’ve been seeing his comments of late on Twitter…he’s, of course, got a deep respect for his father but he also doesn’t seem to have any illusions. He also seems to have a first-rate mind. Credit Yoko with raising a kid who knows how to think.

The thing about ‘Rona testing “errors” is that the error always seems to be an over-count. They are just making stuff up, guys.

A man murders, execution style, a 5 year old child. Rather newsworthy event, don’t you think? But you haven’t heard it, have you? Because the child was white and the man was black. Had it been the other way around, you would have heard about it – endlessly. I bring this up not to shove more horror into your daily life but to once again, and very graphically, illustrate what I’ve been saying: the MSM lies. They lie all the time. They lie about everything. No matter how one looks at this story, it is a major story…it is something for headlines and to lead the national TV reports and for a series of think pieces…but, nothing. Because it doesn’t fit the Narrative. Nothing outside the Narrative will be reported in the MSM…what you are getting in the MSM is a completely false idea of what is actually happening in America. The riots and the ‘Rona and all of that: just an op. The MSM saying what the DNC has ordered them to say because the DNC believes that such will help defeat Trump on November 3rd. And, who knows?, maybe it will: but it still won’t make what the MSM says true. For all we know, Trump is actually poised for a landslide victory: we won’t know until the votes are counted. The MSM will not report a reality which is working well for Trump…if they have to simply make up things out of whole cloth to make things look bad for Trump, that is what they will do.

 

Open Thread

Mark Noonan4 Comments

So, Joe Biden said that black people, unlike Latinos, all sorta think alike.

If we lose to this halfwit, we deserve it.

New York’s DA has decided to make a massive, in-kind donation to Trump 2020 by going after the NRA. Nothing better for Biden than Commie New Yorkers reminding everyone why they fear a Democrat presidency. This DA, of course, ran on the platform of going after Trump…the fact that she’s going after the NRA demonstrates, once again, that whatever else Trump is, he is a law-abiding man. They really got nothing on him.

Young black voters: not big fans of the Democrat party. Don’t get too puffed up about it: its not like they love the GOP, either. But this is the GOP’s chance to start eating into Democrat’s vote share among African-Americans. If we blow it, we’re stupid and deserve to lose.

Democrats are using Coronavirus fears to try to harm Trump. No gatherings! Mask up! Be afraid! And in keeping with this, they are refusing to set up a “knock and drag” ground game. Trump is keeping his. We’ll who was smart.

 

 

Secret Open Thread

Mark Noonan43 Comments

Did I really wait that long to sign in again? Sorry: been real busy with the book! Secrets I plan to release on September 1st. Battles, the third book of the series (which wraps up this particular story line) I hope to have out by December 1st.

Secrets_Cover

Cool cover, huh? It is not absolutely necessary for anyone to buy Mirrors to understand the story in Secrets…but, it’s helpful. So, if you haven’t got Mirrors, go get it. Serious. Secrets is awesome sauce with a cherry on top. With whipped cream. And some of that chocolate stuff you can pour over. And a really good beer afterwards. And then you get to relax by the pool.

It’s really good.

Anyways…

The stupid is getting worse:

In Michigan, Greg and Kjersten Offbecker have removed the Norwegian flag flying outside of their bed and breakfast, the Nordic Pineapple. The couple purchased the historic mansion two years ago and converted it to a bed and breakfast. They’ve flown the Norwegian flag along with the American flag out front.

Unfortunately, (and because our public education system is mostly hot, stinky garbage), the Offbecker’s have removed the Norwegian flag as far too many people have confused it with the Confederate Battle Flag…

Unsolicited Chinese seeds are showing up in people’s mail boxes. I would burn any such that arrived.

It sorta looks like Kamala will be Joe’s VP pick – though some are still fighting against it. I don’t think anyone on Team Biden really wants here – or anyone who rises above complete non-entity. Everyone expects Biden to kick the bucket long before 2024…and probably most of Joe’s closest aides figure it is baked in, as well. But they’ll want to hold on to power as long as possible, and that means picking a VP that no one wants…so that until Biden’s carcass is carried out of the Oval Office, no moves will be made to replace him.

Don Surber takes note of a video clip I saw: a nurse hand-holding Joe out to the car. And then pulling him away from reporters before he could talk about Corn Pop, again. The man isn’t well.

Trump is doomed! But while he’s doomed, the GOP is far outpacing the Democrats in registering new voters in Pennsylvania. Kinda funny, huh? Do keep in mind that it was voter registration shifts in PA which first clued me in that Trump could win in 2016. It is certainly better to follow such things than polls…but I also noted on Twitter that Nate Silver is already hedging his bets for November 3rd.

 

 

Open Thread

Mark Noonan137 Comments

The Democrats/MSM/Never Trump are running a con: and the con is the assertion that a 77 year old, addle-brained career politician will solve the problems. It is a stupid assertion. Only an idiot would believe it. But it is the assertion they are making…and with all their powers of opinion-generation, they’re going to see if they can get an electoral majority to be stupid enough to believe it.

Personally, I don’t think they can – and I also happen to think that they also know they can’t do it. So, in reality, what they’re doing right now is battle space prep for 2021. With Trump re-elected (perhaps quite resoundingly) and maybe back in full control of Congress (and this time with far more pro-Trump people in the mix), Democrats know they will be in for a rough time. So, if Trump does win – as I think they expect – they need to make certain that their side remains both white hot against Trump and certain that Trump is illegitimate. So, put out that D+10 poll showing Biden up 12. When the event comes out, the only way Trump could have won is by cheating, right?

It is also good to remember that there is an army of consultants, pollsters and talking heads who will simply be out of work if polling started to consistently show Trump heading for victory. Who the heck is doing to donate to your Democrat Pac and buy your polling data if there’s no point to it? So, there are a lot of vested interests in keeping up the appearance that Trump is doomed…and while Trump will Tweet out from time about fake news and fake polls, I don’t think he actually minds this stuff. The less the Democrats see reality, the better for Trump.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Police Organizations which endorsed Obama/Biden in 2008 and 2012 and didn’t endorse at all in 2016…has endorsed Trump. Just how many cops or family members of cops do you think are going to vote Democrat this year? One percent? Maybe two percent if Biden gets lucky? If they thought it sure that Biden would win – that if real data showed Biden up 10 or 12 points – they wouldn’t endorse Trump. They might not endorse Biden, but they wouldn’t endorse Trump. At worst, they’d keep their powder dry and hope for the best. Someone at NAPO is sure Trump will win.

The vandals of Antifa are showing themselves to be overtly anti-Christian. Plenty of statues of the Blessed Virgin have been defaced. This tells me of the essentially evil nature of Antifa even if nothing else did: everyone who hates Our Lady is heading down a pretty dark path.

On a more plus side of that, you might recall that there was an Antifa/BLM push against Saint Louis IX…threats to destroy the statue of the Saint-King in St Louis. I’ve been following for many days now the Catholics who have been holding daily prayer vigils around the statue. They get abuse hurled at them (and sometimes physical violence, as well) but they are standing firm. They pray the Rosary and other prayers and even did a Eucharistic procession around the statue. I’m mighty impressed with the courage of these Christians.

The National Museum of African American History & Culture says that things like being married and working hard and respecting authority are “White” things. Which is curious because the racists of the KKK used to say exactly the same thing. When I first saw the thing, I thought it was a joke – someone trolling. But it turns out it is real…and I bet the authors of it simply do not know what actual racism against blacks was like. It does not surprise me that they work at a museum: I figure that anyone allowed to be in charge of anything designed to propagate facts has long been taken over by ignoramouses who hate facts.

This Open Thread is Awesome

Mark Noonan85 Comments

OK, false advertising. But it is kinda nice.

Anyways, I finished Secrets, the sequel to Mirrors and I’m actually working on the third book. By that, I mean I finally had to put a lid on Secrets at about 110,000 words and I’m 30,000 into the third book, already. Being locked down does have its benefits! It is a smashing story of love, magic, war and friendship.

Trump’s Executive Order on hiring could be crucial…but only in a 2nd Trump term. If Biden wins, he’ll undo it immediately (and Roberts won’t say “boo” about it). But if Trump is re-elected then he’s basically allowing himself to hire whomever he wants…and that means as people leave government, he can staff it up with Civil Service-protected hires who are on our side. Especially if we can also win in 2024, this will be Trump’s most important legacy…having people like us actually in there, irremovable, affecting policy for decades to come.

And “our side” is what matters, folks. Our victories are always partial and short lived because after we struggle for ages and finally get our little win, their side is always in there to slowly whittle away what we did. We need people on our side in there, making sure that what we win stays won.

Now, if you’ve been watching the news and social media: first, get the psychological and spiritual help you need. After that: ignore everything you saw. I was getting a little down, as well. But then I heard something about the primary turnout for Trump and…I looked it up. It is astonishing. We’re talking massively more people are turning out for Trump in 2020 than turned out for Obama in 2012. I’m serious: it isn’t just a little increase, it is massive. In some cases, orders of magnitude larger. And it isn’t just in Red States: Blue and Purple States have seen it, as well. What does this mean? After all, in both cases it is meaningless: the nominee is already set. And that’s just it: someone on Team Trump is getting these people to show up. We’ve been told that Team Trump has built a ground game like none has ever seen before…and now it is being tested out in the primaries. My bet: large numbers are former Dems and/or rare voters…ie, people who will not show up in polling, especially if they are doing a likely voter screen.

Now, click on this. This was just Trump driving by. Look at the crowd.

‘Rona panic is again the order of the day: the spike in cases, if it is even real and not merely the result of testing, is clearly 100% caused by the protests…but the Left doesn’t care. They want their panic back because they are afraid of Trump rallies and want an excuse to keep Biden in the basement. This is not the action of a party which thinks it is about to win in a landslide.

This is funny:

Hat Tip: Ace of Spades

Democrats realize they are running a scam.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan31 Comments

Our basic response to all further Leftwing demands:

Whatever hill they are attacking – that is the hill to die on. Give them nothing. Make them fight for every inch of ground. And once they have advanced, immediately counter attack. Its time we started treating them like they treat us.

OTOH, once we do defeat the Left, I’ve got some ideas about replacements for the Confederate statues:

Douglas MacArthur
Joseph McCarthy
Augusto Pinochet
Vaclav Havel
Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
August graf von Galen
St John Paul II
St Maxilian Kolbe
Emiliano Zapata
Thomas Sowell
Ronald Reagan
Harriet Tubman
George Thomas

I’ve always admired Zapata: he really did fight a corrupt Ruling Class to actually give land to the people. Naturally, the Mexican Ruling Class murdered him.

The CHAZ in Seattle is partially ridiculous and partially for real: its ridiculous to think clowns who can’t even change a tire can run a Soviet. Its for real in that some of them will learn how to run a Soviet…and they will try again. For this one, I figure Trump should wait until the garbage is hip deep and people are being killed over the scraps before he moves the Guard in. Let them fester for a bit.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are claiming it would be illegal for Trump to put down the rebellion. U.S. Grant could not be reached for comment. The reality: they know this sh**-show, along with “Defund the Police” is poison and they want both to go away as quickly and quietly as possible…before Trump hangs it around their necks like a millstone (spoiler: Trump will hang it round their necks like a millstone).

Democrat House Candidate approves of burning things to the ground. What really caught my eye: she’s a former Air Force colonel. Do not, for a second, think that America’s military officers are on your side: 16 of the 24 years pre-Trump were Democrat Administrations and 8 years were a GOP Admin uninterested in fighting the culture war. Admission and promotion within the officer corps was based on loyalty to the Democrats. Rely on it: if they are ever ordered by a Democrat President to open fire on the people, they will give the orders. I think that most of the troops will refuse to obey, but it won’t be for lack of the officer’s trying. Trump could do us all a favor by cashiering everyone above the rank of colonel.

Trump is doomed – but in the Georgia primary, he got 140,000 more votes than Biden. Surprising for Newsweek, it is a fairly straightforward report, which notes that Trump has driven GOP primary turnout very high time and again this year. We’ll see how this translates in November.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan21 Comments

I finished the first draft of “Secrets” and I think it is really good. And then I immediately went into the third book of the series, tentatively titled “Battles”; partially because I’m just on a roll for writing at the moment but, also, because I want the two books to be very integrated and I’m already modify “Secrets” a little bit as things happen in “Battles”. It is a lot more fun dealing with my fictional characters than real life: though I did have a weird dream the other day where Bryce and Rossalyn were arguing with me about how a particular passage in the book should go. I don’t know if any other authors have conversations with their characters…

But, real life goes on!

The official, official, we really mean it totally Expert and this time our polls are right opinion is that Trump is doomed. He’s isolated. Walls are closing in. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Maybe he is? I don’t really know: no one really does. You can’t rely on anything in the MSM because, as I said a while back, everything they do is designed for the sole purpose of defeating Trump. If they are ever telling the truth in these matters it is only because what is true coincides with what they want. But one smart person I know who follows these things notes that Team Trump is pouring it on in New Mexico. New Mexico went for Hillary by 8 in 2016. Either they’re insane, or they know something…meanwhile, the Democrats are boosting the idea of turning Texas Blue because of this, that or the other reason…but for all the talk of Trump performing badly there in 2016, he did win the State by 9. Can you think of one thing Trump has done which would make the people of Texas who voted for him in 2016 decide that Joe Biden is now the better choice?

And then I saw this video of Trump’s visit to Maine the other day…the streets were lined with cheering crowds of Trump supporters; flags waving, Trump signs everywhere. And it was apparently spontaneous. Let’s see what happens when Trump gets back to rallies.

The Left has gone completely Maoist now – Struggle Sessions included. Don’t know if you’ve seen the video of the Mayor of Minneapolis being forced to leave a BLM rally because he wouldn’t agree to defund the police. And I really love the MSM talking point of this morning that “defund the police” doesn’t mean that they’ll cut funding to the police. Someone at the DNC must have got some poll results! It was laughable on a lot of levels but the really crucial one is that no Democrat will ever agree to cut the pay or benefits of a government worker: that would open up a can of worms they want firmly closed. The Deputy Assistant Director of Diversity Affairs wouldn’t like that one little bit.

All I can say is that my emotions about all this veer from disgust to boredom. That an American would kneel to anything but God is an outrage to the depths of my soul. Meanwhile the rote self-denunciations for being white are just irritating at this point. I’m not typical: in fact, as you know, I’m a little “out there” in my opinions…but I am hopeful that only a small minority of Americans is actually like that. If a majority is, then the nation has been doomed for some time anyway and my hope is for peaceful separation of the parts. And the Left is so deadly dull: they all dress alike, hold the exact same opinions and are impossible to talk to. If we do still have a majority – and November will tell – then we really have to go about defunding the Left…take away their college and corporate sinecures and force them to go get real jobs; that’ll put an end to this as fast as a mandatory 30 day jail sentence would forever end the threat of riots.

We went from “stay indoors to save grandma” to “don’t even talk to grandma until she becomes BLM” rather quickly.

Biden says 10-15% of us are just Deplorable.

Antifa goon beats up an 82 year old man for holding a Trump sign. Do not forget that these people hate you.

Why are we having riots? Because there are some indications that black people are warming up to Trump. Also: the youngsters think this whole riot thing is the hip and cool thing to do…Democrats are now going to try to convince them that the really cool thing to do after a riot is vote Biden. I don’t think that will work.

Day 15 of Lockdown

Mark Noonan72 Comments

Plague. Earthquakes. And, now, a comet. Whomever is opening up the seals of the apocalypse really needs to cut it out.

OTOH, if it isn’t the End, that comet might be quite the light show in the sky – no danger to Earth as its closest approach will be 72 million miles…but if high estimates prove correct, you’re going to see it very bright in the night sky with the naked eye.

The Kennedy Center – basically, a welfare program for the rich – got $25 million from the Stimulus and then canned the workers. Rep Scalise wants to rescind the grant. That’s fine, but we really aren’t getting anywhere unless the directors of the Center are flogged.

More talk of Democrats dumping Joe for Cuomo. Can’t see it as other than a disaster for the Democrats – the only alternative to Joe is Sanders. Cuomo hasn’t even entered the race…the DNC works some crooked deal to put Cuomo on the ticket and the Bernie Bros will revolt. I doubt it would happen, anyway – and not because Biden would be opposed. He likely doesn’t even know where he is most of the time: but his handlers are licking their chops at the amount of patronage they’ll be able to dispense in Biden’s name and they won’t want Cuomo to barge in and mess up the program.

New York City is being hammered while Las Vegas, so far, is getting off lightly…perhaps gambling and whoring isn’t as much an affront to God as being largely in favor of infanticide, as New Yokers – by their votes – seem to be? Just a thought.

The Great Facemask Debate goes on. As for me: from what I’ve learned, most transmission is via being in close contact with the infected for a significant period of time or literally touching the virus (on a person or surface) and then touching your face. This is why hand washing and social distancing are so important: from what I can gather, if you do the washing and distancing, your chances of catching the disease fall remarkably. But, for anyone who does have to go around people…wearing a mask seems to be an effective way of not touching your face, which would help.

China simply rebroadcast MSMers and American Democrats as part of their propaganda effort. Seriously, that’s all they did: the MSM and the Democrat Party are broadcasting Chinese Communist propaganda. I only hope they got paid for it – I don’t want to think some of my fellow Americans are stupid enough to do that for free. We woke up one fine morning to discover that a pandemic exposed how much of America China has purchased.

Related: backlash against China grows. China really screwed the pooch on this one – I’m with those who theorize that China knew what sort of problem they had back in December and made the conscious choice to ensure the whole world got the same problem.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan40 Comments

So, had my first work from home day.

Plus: when I suddenly wanted a hot dog, I went and got one. Getting up half an hour later and immediately being home after work.

Minus: Dull.

Still don’t know anyone who has caught Coronavirus – and I’ve lots of friends and family in hot zones. Also rather surprised at how relatively lightly we’ve got off in Las Vegas. It can change, of course, but we went into lockdown 9 days ago and we’re at 350 cases and 10 deaths so far. The number of Chinese and other foreigners who come through this town is very large, so I really expected us to be hammered by it. I mean, look at New York! But, also, we didn’t have our leaders and health people telling us to get out there and hug a Chinese because Orange Man Bad. That might be the difference.

There is a theory that warm weather will abate the virus – we’ll find out in about a week as we’re supposed to get up into the 80’s with dry weather.

The stimulus bill is hot garbage, for the most part and they will have to re-work it in the near future. Be that as it may, it will at least provide some help for those dislocated by the virus. Seems there’s a bi-partisan consensus that every corporation and special interest group out there should be showered with cash but regular folks just aren’t smart enough to handle it.

Some Democrat rumblings about scratching Biden and putting Cuomo on the ticket. This is not an indication of a party which likes its chances in November. I’m thinking that absent a real virus meltdown in the USA (increasingly unlikely at this point), Trump will win rather easily, and likely get the House back into the bargain. Huge amount of time until election day, but Trump has done well and the Democrats got nothing.

The biggest problem with the virus is that we don’t know what its all about – the Chinese data has to be discarded as entirely untrustworthy. Italy and Spain are terrifying, but there seems to be local reasons for how bad it is there. Other places are not bad at all. Until we know the real rate of infection and mortality, we’re rather stumbling in the dark. And this is why it is wise to socially distance…but as we get better numbers and learn what the real threat it, it will be time to start reopening the economy.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan22 Comments

Well, I’m officially work from home, now. Got all the stuff I need; so, one less thing to worry about.

The Democrats, in my view, really messed up on the stimulus…not that the GOP plan is all that great, but trying to lard up the program with abortion and green new deal stuff was an act of political idiocy I don’t think we’ve ever seen in human history. But, they did it – and I think it is because they are in a closed-loop: they simply don’t get much information which isn’t a mere variation on Orange Man Bad.

A recent poll showed Trump’s overall support rising and especially giving him high marks on handling the virus and the economy – it was the sort of poll number that would make him invincible if it holds to November. But the odd thing I saw in it was that Trump’s support among GOPers and Independents on the virus was about the same (around 60%) while his support among Democrats was sub 30%. Theoretically, everyone is getting the same sort of news, right? Well, I guess not: Democrats are clearly getting a set of information which is widely at odds with what GOPers and Independents are getting…and I think this is largely a function of GOPers and Independents tuning out the MSM while Democrats still follow every word of it. If you only watched CNN and MSNBC, you would believe that we’re days away from bodies piled up in the streets and 30% unemployment for a decade.

Now, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if, in the event, we don’t have bodies piled up in the streets and the economy makes a brisk recovery through the Summer. How will our Democrats square that with what they watch on the news? If it finally does penetrate, then Trump may win in an epic landslide.

Be that as it may, no one can really predict what is going to happen in November – though that hasn’t stopped our Experts from proclaiming that Trump is doomed. The situation is entirely fluid and while Trump is getting good poll numbers, now, a major change for the worse in a week or two would likely knock him down. Until it all happens, we won’t know what will happen. But I’m suspecting as bad as the virus might get, it won’t be a catastrophe and, also, as bad a hit as the economy is taking, it won’t take us long to get back out of it. And with Biden – who looks like he’s aged ten years the past month – leading the Democrat charge, I’m liking our chances in November.

Parishoners bought their ill priest a respirator. Priest found out someone else needed it and gave it up. The priest has now died. No greater love…

The Dow rose 2,112 points and so we’re back in Obama’s economy again – we’ll be in Trump’s if it drops tomorrow, for those keeping score at home.

The virus is not a flu – and you should familiarize yourself with the symptoms. Still, after all we’ve learned, the prime markers seem to be fever and a very bad cough. But it can also start with other symptoms and you can actually start to feel better before getting very much worse. Stout hearts, though: most people who get it survive and most who die have underlying conditions. If you have underlying health conditions, I really do suggest you barricade yourself at home and ride this out.

Trump wants to re-open the economy as fast as possible and in general I agree: we can’t stay locked down for a very long time. I think it should be a phased re-opening. As we get better numbers on how many are infected and what the real mortality rate is, we’ll be able to assess the actual danger and start letting up on the restrictions. Overall, oldsters should probably be the last to come out – and everyone who is work from home had probably better stay there for at least a couple months.