Education is a vast sea of lies, waste, corruption, crackpot theorizing, and careerist log-rolling.
John Derbyshire
All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
If anyone needs to see proof that the Establishment Republicans are a total failure, he needs look no further than Mitt Romney. Here is a man that was the 2012 standard bearer for the party running for President and selecting Paul Ryan as his running mate. A wealthy man that belongs to one of the most socially conservative religious groups in the country. The son of a famous political figure and himself the past governor of one of the country’s most liberal states and the present United States Senator from one of the country’s most conservative states. A man that made his fortune buying companies and selling off their assets. It’s a good way to get rich but leaves a lot of Americans out of work.
Why is he a leader in the Republican party? Because he is smart, energetic, rich and he wants to do good. Why is he a failure? Because he doesn’t have a clue as to what it means to be a conservative. Everything he says is conditional on who he is talking to and what he is trying to accomplish. When he was running for Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts, he was pro-choice. When he was running for President, he was pro-life and “extremely conservative.” When he needed President Trump’s endorsement for the Senate, he was deferential and polite. Once installed he has been a constant critic of the President and a reliable source of anti-Trump quotes for the media.
And because he doesn’t know what conservatism is, he can’t lead conservatives. They’ll know that when push comes to shove, he’ll sell them out to try and please his liberal friends or to avoid being called a racist, sexist, transphobe, xenophobe, whatever.
This is very much the same syndrome observed with the Bush family. A wealthy patrician family with a history of political service who mistake their elite sensibilities with conservatism. In reality the only thing they know how to conserve is their family fortunes.
But I contend that Romney is a special case. His years in Massachusetts as Whipping Boy for the Democrat establishment, mocked and blamed for everything that was already wrong in the Bay State, has made him so pliable that he no longer even has to be shamed into caving into whatever progressive lunacy of the day is on exhibit. He’s begun to adopt them on his own. In this he’s reminiscent of John McCain. Here’s a man who struggled from his sick bed, dying from brain cancer to vote to save Obamacare, something he had fought tooth and nail to prevent from coming into existence just a few years before. Basically, these men live by the issue polls they sponsor and the donors who pay for their Senate votes. They acquiesce to whatever the fad of the day is and they spin like a weather vane wherever the political winds blow.
This is leadership?
Some of it’s our own fault. We need to know what’s bad for us and regardless of how many smart people tell us that something can’t be changed for the better we need to find men who believe what we believe and are willing to fight to preserve or restore these good things. We need strategies that move things in the direction we want. We need men smart enough to counteract the progressive tactics and willing to fight fire with fire. We need to support those people and institutions that reflect what we believe in. We need to live up to the values we think are important. Things like loyalty to family, loyalty to friends and community, some sense of decorum in the way we live and interact with each other.
President Trump has proven categorically that all the things they say can’t be done, can be done. Granted, you have to have skin as thick as an elephant’s and brass cajones to withstand the mental and political assault by the Deep State and the Media. But it can and must be done. Otherwise we might as well look for a new place to live.
But back to the original thesis. We can’t keep voting for the McCains and the Bushes and the Paul Ryans of this party. And we damn well can’t listen to anything Mitt Romney ever says about anything. In fact, a safe policy would be to do exactly the opposite of whatever he proposes to do. Personally, I wish him all the health and success in the world for him and his family. Politically I wish Utah had a recall law that would allow the voters to correct the mistake they made in 2018.
Wednesday the last Twilight Zone episode review will be posted. I finished it last night. One hundred fifty six posts, that’s quite a milestone! As I’ve mentioned I’ll follow up with some full series analysis and commentary but before that I’m going to do some new stuff. I’ll review the Star Trek Original Series pilot soon. That should be fun. In the weeks ahead, mocking Shatner, Nimoy and all the rest should be like a rejuvenating serum for me. That should be fun. I’ll have to come up with terminology to categorize the various acting devices that Shatner uses to ply his magical trade. “O, brave new world that has such people in’t!”
And I want to do some more of the Heinlein Juveniles reviews and finally, Halloween is sneaking up and I have to do some classic horror posts. I reviewed the Universal Classic Monster movies in the past. I may repost some of them or write some new stuff and link the old posts in.
It’s good to do some of the fun stuff. As much as I want to cover all the gory details of the President Trump’s battle royale with the Deep State I need to think about fun, interesting things too. Even trying to think of ways to flourish in this cock-eyed globalist fever dream is less depressing than contemplating the fact that James Comey, John Brennan, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden aren’t behind bars.
Fall has taken hold here in New England and if I get the chance I’ll try to get some foliage photos. But I still have a lot of summer photos to upload so it will be a while before they show up on the site. I do want to do some more photo gear reviews and I plan to rent the Sony A 9 II when it comes available. Honestly I certainly don’t need it but I’m curious just how capable the “state of the art” moving object autofocus is. Plus I still need to rent the Sony 200mm – 600mm lens.
I’m tempted to go see the Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie that’s out. But it actually looks like an autobiography of one of those nuts who shoots up a movie theater showing the Joker, so I’m not sure I’ll enjoy it all that much. We’ll see.
Stay tuned, plenty will be going on in the wide wonderful world to thrill and apall us.
Charlotte Scott is a New York City fashion designer hiding out in the back country recovering from a nervous breakdown. State Trooper Robert Franklin shows up at the door of her out of the way but opulently appointed cabin to follow up on a report from some townspeople that Miss Scott had said she had seen strange lights in the sky.
While being questioned by the officer Charlotte displays all the phrases and behaviors expected from a city snob when denigrating the country folk, she despises. Robert calls her out on this rudeness and is about to leave when suddenly a blinding light appears outside the cabin and forces him to leave her in the cabin while he investigates. When he returns, she apologizes for her rudeness and claims she is masking insecurity associated with her fear of the unknown after seeing the mysterious lights earlier. Robert accepts her apology and tells her he’s pretty scared himself. He tells her he thinks that the lights are associated with a UFO.
They discuss how to determine what is going on when suddenly Robert’s car drives by with no one at the wheel. It ends up on its side and Robert determines that the car radio is dead. Now they retreat back into the cabin with the aim of holing up until morning when it will seem safe to leave. Charlotte hears noise on the roof but when Robert goes outside and climbs up, he doesn’t see anything. But he discovers that his patrol car is back in its original position but with a set of fingerprints visible on the surface showing that the car had been moved back into position by being lifted by a giant’s hand. Robert tells Charlotte that there was nothing on the roof but if it had wanted to it could have crushed the house flat. He approximates the giant as being about 500 feet tall.
They sleep the rest of the night but in the morning, they decide to walk back to town. They come upon a foot print of gigantic proportions. While talking about the danger they face Charlotte panics and bolts down the path. When she reaches the clearing suddenly, she sees a one-eyed alien about 500 feet tall. She screams and Robert comes running up. He tells her to run away and he’ll attempt to stop the alien with his service revolver. She refuses and says she’ll stay with him. He fires several shots at the monster and suddenly the two humans are practically blown off their feet by a powerful wind. Eventually we see that the monster was actually a balloon and the wind was caused by the bullets puncturing and deflating the balloon.
Charlotte is confused about how all this happened but Robert sees a small flying saucer on the ground nearby. Inside they see and hear the tiny space men radioing their home base for permission to flee the Earth before they are attacked by the giant humans. They report that their plan to frighten the humans with the phony giant alien and tricks with the car have failed because the humans are fearless. The space ship flies away. And Robert expresses sympathy for the aliens and hopes on the next world they land that they are the giants instead of Lilliputians. Charlotte worries about what will happen if the next aliens she encounters are real giants. Robert proudly tells her that he believes she’ll spit in their eyes.
This is a pretty silly episode but the characters are likable and the story moves right along. I think what I like about the story is that it reflects the conventional but very appealing scenario of the maiden in distress and the knight in shining armor willing to fight the dragon to protect her. And as opposed to the modern upended trope of the independent woman Charlotte is grateful to Robert for his valor and protection. Based on all that, this is a solid B episode. And Hazel Court who plays Charlotte is actually quite attractive, so, that’s got to be worth at least half a point. B+.
As much as it pains me, I think I’ll have to accept that we’re going to lose Creepy Uncle Joe. As my regular readers are aware of, I opined that Biden would be the candidate. And I waxed poetic on the glories of a Biden filled debate experience, the gaffes, the non-sequiturs, possibly even lewd hand gestures. But it was not meant to be.
This isn’t easy for me to accept. I was sure he’d have staying power and once he unleashed the “Corn Pop” narrative I thought the troops would rally around his standard. But I fear it’s too late. Knowledge of just how crooked Joe and Hunter Biden were has permeated the American consciousness. I fear Uncle Joe is toast. No more sidling up and shoulder clutching or hair sniffing. I fear Joe has fondled his last ambassador’s wife.
Ahh, well.
So, who shall it be? Well things have settled out and the outcome seems clear. Fauxcahantas is neck and neck with Creepy Uncle Joe and his backers are pulling back. Comrade Bernie had a heart attack and appears relatively low energy at this point. His numbers are trailing off and I assume he’ll be out of the race after New Hampshire. No one else besides these three has been able to break single digits since early August. At this point Kamala, Mayor Butt, Spartacus and the rest of that pack of losers are running to see who will be the running mate. Therefore, Granny Clampett will be the Dem nominee.
Now that I’ve reconciled with the loss of Uncle Joe, it’s time to analyze the correct strategy for defeating the Fake Indian. And that is an important thing to do. She will get the same royal treatment that Hillary got when she was running. As soon as she is the presumptive nominee all polls from that point forward will permanently show her ahead of the President by between five and twenty percentage points. Also, she will receive nothing but favorable press and every week will feature a puff piece explaining how a woman president is not only the natural result of evolution but also what is predicted, based on being on the right side of history. And Bill Kristol will declare her the true conservative choice in the race.
I think the important thing to remember is that she will undoubtedly get 100% of the college educated, unmarried, white women’s vote (aka blue-haired cat ladies, present and future). This is her natural constituency, what the Z-Man would call the vinegar drinking scolds. She will also get a large chunk of soccer moms, maybe 45% – 55%. She will get 0% of white working-class men and women. She will get 30% of upper and middle-class white men. She will get 95% of the black vote. She will get 65% of the Hispanic vote.
But here’s the important point, black and Hispanic voters will only come out to vote for her if they are motivated to do so. If their voters aren’t excited about her, they’ll stay home in droves. And aside from her fifth-grade teacher’s-nails on the chalkboard-voice, what would turn off the minority voters? Well how about a fluorescently white woman who used a fake story of minority ancestry to get her a spot on the Faculty of Harvard Law School? Gee, that might raise a little resentment. If you were Mexican or Guatemalan, would you want someone who benefitted obscenely from pretending to have Native American blood getting your vote? I’m guessing not. And even if she’s pushing slavery reparations and has Kamala Harris as her running mate, I’m not sure that the black voters are really going to embrace her. Basically, she’s not exactly Barack Obama.
So how do you highlight her dishonesty? One thing that would work would be to have a tv ad with a Native American spokesman condemning her for the dishonesty and injustice of stealing a spot reserved for someone who truly was a Native American. This could be reinforced with the text released by the Cherokee nation condemning Warren for her dishonesty and for using her DNA test as some kind of feeble defense.
The timing of this campaign is probably best delayed until the run up to the actual election day. The middle of October seems like the right time. Coordinated with this strategy, it would make sense for the President to go after her during the debates on her dishonesty. A sort of relentless drum beat of accusations on her dishonesty and unfairness to Native Americans sounds like a winning strategy to me. And, of course it wouldn’t hurt to showcase some of her other weak points. Her acceptance of the insanely stupid “Green New Deal” that Ocasio-Cortez dreamed up should be especially easy to attack. With a price tag that probably far exceeds estimates of $94 trillion and an agenda that will crash our economy and deprive us of the energy sources that make modern life economically possible any rational voters will reject candidate who has bought into it.
But the most appealing strategy to apply against Liarwatha is to appeal to people’s innate fear of having to listen interminably to her annoying voice. The prospect of being hectored for four years by a shrew like her would make any man and many women recoil in horror. I envision a commercial with a cartoon version of Betty Warren shaking her finger at a crowd of Americans and lecturing them about their responsibilities to the future and reminding them that whatever individual accomplishments they may have achieved that, “you didn’t build that!”
Well, I guess if I have to give up Creepy Uncle Joe, Fauxcahantas won’t be so bad. I estimate there’s at least a 30% chance she’ll stroke out during the debates. And after defeating Hillary and Liarwatha the Dems may give the woman candidate thing a pass in 2024. But then again who knows. We can always hope that Joe comes back as an 82-year-old trans-gender Creepy Grandma Josephine for an even more exciting race in the future. He did say there were at least three genders.