So, every month or two the world becomes even a lot weirder and I need to do an evaluation to allow for course correction. And it’s definitely one of those times again. The events of the last week have pushed us still deeper into the uncharted territory of American Guerilla War. The prospect of Antifa battling it out with Nationalists has become reality. And right on script establishment republicans have backed Antifa. The press has become almost apoplectic and President Trump is still managing to defy the powers that be. Wow.
The upshot. Social media and much of corporate America have joined lock-step with the narrative that right-wing = Nazism. Even relatively moderate bloggers are being deplatformed by social media and even their internet service providers. Moderates are panicking and swearing allegiance to anyone on the left who will accept their confessions. Many on the right are angry and confused. Some are blaming the Alt-Right for making all this happen.
What do I think? I think that those who foretold a growing separation between left and right in America and the beginning of a schism of the American public were right. I think it may be starting to happen. Now, I don’t think this will be some civil war (either cold or hot). I think there will be more clashes in the streets and more and more animosity and hate. And I think it will harden opinions on both sides and it will move things further along toward a separation of us and them. Alternative platforms and companies and agencies will begin to form that will allow people to disengage from the irritants that exist in the present condition. A way for people to avoid Twitter, Facebook, PayPal, Patreon and Google and the other myriad institutions that despise the right and everything it believes in. And then people on the right are going to start using boycotts to put pressure on Walmart and Target and the other big businesses to stop caving into the pressure from the left and just sell their crap to us without the social justice virtue signaling attached. And they are going to have to start looking for alternative places for their kids to go to school. That will be the toughest choice of all.
But I think all of these things are starting to become more real. The left becomes ever more hateful and irrational. It becomes ever more strident and its demands become more and more intolerable. I believe people on the right will have to build networks and relationships that allow mutual support and even economic relationships. Hire the people you trust and the people you like. Buy from people who don’t despise you. Shun the businesses and the individuals who openly hate everything you stand for and believe in.
It’s not a pretty picture. A year-ago I would have said it sounded silly and melodramatic. I don’t think so anymore. I think it’s the direction we’re going. I’ve begun the first little steps myself. I will no longer click on a news link from any of the left-wing media. Never. I avoid all arts and entertainment sites that control the message and only allow leftist dogma. That is one of the reasons I include photography and science fiction on this website. I wanted a place where people on the right who enjoyed these things weren’t second class citizens. I am looking for alternative companies for products that are produced by flagrantly leftist companies. I don’t use Twitter, Wikipedia or Facebook. I limit what I use Google for and avoid their browser. I support alternatives like Gab, Infogalactic and Brave. I’m waiting to see what alternative crowd-funding and other funding choices become available.
Of course, these are tiny steps. For many of the daily actions no good alternatives exist yet. But start somewhere. Patronize those who agree with you. Shun those who are your sworn enemies. Make a start.
Category: Current Events
Trump’s Statement on Charlottesville and What it Says About Him
In what kind of bizarro alternate reality does Donald Trump end up as the only man brave enough to speak truth to power? While all the republican politicians and the alleged right-wing pundits groveled and cowered away from the charges of racism and Nazism being hurled by the Fake News, Donald Trump stood there and dared to proclaim that both sides of the riot at Charlottesville came prepared to spill blood. This he did clearly, strenuously and repeatedly. He didn’t cower or equivocate or back-pedal. He stood his ground. He used effective logic to show how today’s statue of Robert E Lee would be tomorrow’s Washington Monument or Jefferson Memorial. Watching him fight the good fight should fill the rest of the right wing with shame and feelings of inadequacy. How is it possible that a real estate builder whose biggest claim to fame was a tv show that showed him firing make believe employees is basically the only republican in the country with an intact backbone? How did we get here?
I’ll confess I don’t know the answer. And I don’t know if Trump can continue to stand up to every power structure in the whole world attacking from every angle. But I will tell you that as long as he continues to show the courage and stamina to hold his ground, I’ll support him 100%. If he needs me to send letters to my congress critters I’ll do it. If he wants to draft me into some kind of geriatric right-wing literary goon squad whose job it is to send nasty letters to Rosie O’Donnell and Nancy Pelosi, I’ll volunteer. If he needs cash for his defense fund once he’s retired from the White House I’ll send him cash. Hell, if he needs a getaway car to make a break for the border I’ll drive it. The man delivers. He’s fearless and he’s obviously talented. Damn, I wish he’d been president during 9-11. We wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now.
What Trump has demonstrated is that if you stand up to the Press and push back you look good and they look stupid and dishonest. If you speak plainly and avoid the weasel words you can get people to understand that the Left isn’t the good guys. Sometimes they are the villains and we are the good guys, or at least we’re the lesser of two evils.
I’ve said it before jokingly but now I’m saying it completely seriously. Trump is the best American President in my lifetime. And that includes Reagan. Reagan was a great president and a good man. But Trump has been plopped down in the greatest meltdown in American history and every day he’s wrestling with the most dysfunctional array of fake newscasters, politicians, special interest groups and corporate thugs ever assembled. And despite that he’s getting done what can be done through the power of the executive branch. And even there he’s being harassed and sabotaged by deep state bureaucrats and operatives at every turn. Reading the news, I wonder how long a man his age can stand up to the pounding. But I’ll offer up a fervent prayer that he does survive.
So here’s to you President Trump. As I’ve said before, you’re a crazy son of a bitch. But you’re our crazy son of a bitch and the only one who just may save this country from collectivist oblivion.
Charlottesville (or Black Lives Matter Without the Good Press and Government Support)
The sides are beginning to square off. Very hard to predict how things will go. Apparently, the genie is starting to get out of the bottle. Maybe it’s my imagination but it seems a little hushed right now. The calm before the storm? Well you cannot blather on about flashpoints. It’s a waste of space. You have to watch them in real time. Critical mass? Hard to say. Watch and see.
James Damore
Probably so much has been written about this young man that anything I write is bound to be at least somewhat repetitive. So, instead I’ll tell you what bothers me about this situation. This is a pretty idealistic good-hearted kid who just got railroaded by the richest company in the world and then pilloried by the press. Can you imagine how his parents feel? Can you imagine how he feels? I listened to him answering the charges trumped up by the media. They did everything they could to twist his statements into misogynistic and somehow even racist sentiments. His answers were measured and well expressed and very much to the point. His facts were accurate and his whole approach was reasonable and genuine. He struck me as a very intelligent and very young man. Naïve is also how I’d describe him. I think he was genuinely surprised that he would be punished the way he was for opinions that were moderate and reasonable. I think his sin is believing the words that his employer told him. James Damore believed Google when they said that those with different opinions could speak openly at Google and have no reason to fear. That was the lie. Someone of my generation knows that is the leftist lie. It is a recasting of the basis of the story “Animal Farm.” Basically, it is a way of saying, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
Well, he’s just learned that lesson. Chances are he’ll be just fine. Anyone who goes to multiple Ivy League schools probably won’t be out on the streets anytime soon. And I’m sure that his family connections will allow him to bounce back from this setback. So maybe this will make him a wiser man. But he’s just learned a hard truth. Because he’s a normal white male, he’s a second-class citizen and nobody is going to come to his defense at Google or any other Fortune 500 company if he tells the emperor that he has no clothes. He’ll be cast into the outer darkness where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Anyone over the age of thirty knows how the corporate diversity speak works. We’re all told how important it is and to what lengths we must go to make it work. And if you want to hold onto your job you’ll keep quiet and go along at least to the extent of keeping your opinions to yourself. That’s what James Damore will do from now on.
But the most important thing that comes out of this whole circus is that more and more people are finding out just how pathetically twisted the whole diversity sham has become. It’s become a religion from which no dissent is tolerated or allowed to survive. Possibly this will re-open the debate about the whole government affirmative action racket. Maybe something finally will be done by the Supreme Court.
I wish the best for James in the future. I hope he goes on to great success as a software programmer or whatever tech specialization he possesses. Maybe someday he’ll own a company of his own and then he can treat people the way he says he thinks they should be treated. But I just hope he fires the first person who tells him he has to hire more women. That would seem to be poetic justice.
So good luck James and welcome to the real world. It ain’t pretty.
Quail Fail – A Cautionary Tale
About 10 minutes down the road from me is a field that is surrounded by corn fields, dairy farms and suburban neighborhoods. This sizable tract of land is covered by a patchwork of hayfields, grain patches, high grass and brush, small stands of trees, puddles and even a streamlet. The owner stocks this area with game birds. It provides hunters with access to pheasant, quail and partridge. Where I live there is an abundance of turkey and duck that move respectively through wood and pond at will. With respect to other bird life, the air is full of hawks and even bald eagle. At night, a particularly annoying Barred Owl often serenades me and Camera Girl at about 1:45 a.m. from a perch seemingly right outside my bedroom window. Only state firearm ordinances and my inherent laziness has saved this avian jerk from reaping the large caliber comeuppance he so richly deserves. During the day the bird song is much more melodious. Finches, robins, sparrows, titmice, jays, catbirds, cardinals and orioles abound. And for viewing interest there are the fascinating hummingbirds. Basically we’re flush with feathered friends.
So why would I be looking to add to their numbers? The answer is ticks. Connecticut is the Lyme disease capitol of the Universe. Apparently scenic Lyme Connecticut was so inviting that even the lowly spirochete responsible for this malady heard how great it is there and decided to immigrate. Having been blessed once with the honor of sharing my bloodstream with these delightful one celled creatures I have made it a high priority to pass on a second such honor. To this end I have devoted a certain amount of thought to lowering the local tick population. One thing the long-time inhabitants of the area told me was that chickens eat ticks. That pecking action they’re so famous for allows them to systematically ingest enormous numbers of small creatures including ticks. This seemed to me a great idea. Chickens! I mean, I like chicken. Fried, baked, souped, casseroled. I even like them before they are hatched. Why not bring them in and let them solve my problem. I did some research.
- They need a house. Well, okay, why not. I’ll buy them a house.
- They need to be fed and watered. Hmmm, that’s a lot of doing stuff.
- They get up at 4:30 a.m. every morning. On Saturday? What the hell is wrong with them. They sounded a lot like that jerk the Barred Owl.
- Their house has to be cleaned a lot. Okay, that’s enough.
The cure was worse than the disease.
I returned to my research and looked into what else eats ticks. Other birds eat ticks. Yeah, well we’re flush with birds already and they’re not getting the job done. It turns out that some birds are better at it than others. And even if chickens were too much trouble there are birds sort of like chickens that also eat a lot of ticks. I went through the options and the one with the least maintenance was quail. They’re smaller than pheasants and guinea fowl and peacocks and with just a little help from me they might successfully acclimate to my property and be fruitful and multiply. This all sounded really good. Next step get quail. I went out next day intending to stop by the local quail store and pick up a couple of dozen before heading to the town apothecary and pick up my monthly assortment of leeches. One solid month of following up leads and I found a friendly regional quail guy. Negotiations were negotiated and basically, I acceded to all terms. Which unfortunately meant that the quails would arrive on a day that I was at work (Friday). No need for panic. Camera Girl would carry out the transaction and the quails would become part of Orion’s Cold Fire Enterprises with all the rights and responsibilities that entails (eat ticks). When the appointed hour arrived, I sat at work waiting with bated breath to get the victory message. “Houston, the Eagle has landed.”
The actual call went slightly differently. When Camera Girl called up I could tell there had been a hitch. Quail come packed in a plastic box that basically keeps them in a standing room only enclosure. Apparently packing them cheek to jowl keeps them from getting too stirred up. But it also means they are anxious to spread out. When Camera Girl opened the box door the quail flew out in much the way shaken soda escapes from a bottle, rapidly and straight up. After the mass of panicked birds departed into the stratosphere and she had stopped blinking in amazement Camera Girl noticed that one bird had remained. This was the silver lining that was presented to me at the end of the story. Being a glass half empty kind of guy, I speculated that it probably broke a wing during the melee. But, being a fair and even-tempered individual, I thanked her for her help in the event told her I’d be following this lone bird’s future career with great interest. At that point I wrote off the whole thing as a good learning experience, namely that I’d learned that all birds are jerks.
On Saturday morning during our weekly inspection tour of the south forty, Camera Girl was excited to point out that there were now at least two quail skulking around the perimeter of the property. I should explain that part of the preparations for “Operation Shoot a Bunch of Money into the Sky” was the purchase of what is called a quail field base which consists of a device that provides food and water to quails in your field along with a battery powered electronic quail call that summons the quail to the base. Even though we only knew of one quail remaining in the immediate neighborhood of the base I activated the quail call. Every thirty minutes during daylight hours, this call produces a really goofy sounding bird noise which is supposed to lead the quails home to the base.
Well I guess it works. At least one and possibly several quails are now roaming around my fields and the surrounding woods. As the kids would say I’m mightily chuffed. So, Saturday as I was taking close up shots of caterpillars and plants I was able to get close enough to one quail ambling around in the brush to take his photo that I’ve attached above. The jury is of course still out but it’s entirely possible that maybe not all birds are jerks.
Trump vs The Time Hag – Episode 5 – Trump Martel
Trump vs The Time Hag – Episode 4 -Augustus Trumpster
Scene1: 10th of October 732 A.D. – Plains surrounding Tours, Gaul
Trump Martel (TM) – Where is my oaf? Oaf, oaf oaf!
Jeb Buisson (JEB!) – Here O Prince!
TM – Didn’t I tell you to polish my armor? I have a 4:30 appointment in Tours defeating Islamic extremists and I want to look my best.
JEB! – I’ve been working as fast as I can but I’m not finished yet.
TM – Oh never mind. You’re too low energy for that. Go and take a nap. That way no actual fighters will end up tripping over your gutted corpse.
JEB! – Thank you sire.
TM – Alright Michel Pencius, assemble my fans, I mean my troops, over there and I’ll address them from this big rock over here.
Michel Pencius (MP) – Yes my lord Trump.
TM – Gather round men. I have a lot to say and not much time to say it in. In a few hours about sixty thousand Islamic extremists are gonna come pouring over those hills and unless we put a whole world of hurt on them you are all gonna be eating shish kebab from now on. That’s right. No more croissants, no more white sauce and definitely no more wine. So definitely put on your big boy breeches and don’t stop until the fat lady sings. And by the way that fat lady is Hilarius Cintoninus. She is a hideous banshee that has lead the Arabs through the Pyrenees and promised them my head if they attacked Tours today.
Now maybe you’re thinking we can’t beat sixty thousand arabs. Maybe you think the odds are too high. Well just relax. The don’t call me Trump Martel, Trump the Hammer because of anatomical reasons, although if you notice my fingers are plenty big, nothing wrong in that department, everything very, very, good and big. They call me the hammer because I will hammer those buggers right into the ground. After this battle, we will be the most powerful force in Europe and we will go on to lay the foundations for the Holy Roman Trumpire which my grandson Trumplemagne will build. And when I say he will build it I’m not kidding. It will be one big beautiful and long-lasting Trumpire. But anyway, if you follow me into battle we will win and keep on winning. We’ll win so much you may get tired of winning. You may say, “Enough, it’s too much winning!”
And in conclusion, every man that follows me today will get ten royal arpents of land around Paris and a dozen sheep. Or if you prefer there is a special package of Trump cufflinks and steak knives available at Le Macy’s down at the mall. Follow me, men, into victory and glory. But don’t tailgate. I hate that.
Troops – Le Trump, Le Trump, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.
TM – Yes, you love me. Of course, you do. How could you not? I am the greatest Frank of all time. Even greater than Sinatra, who was very great.
Recommended Article: Victor Davis Hanson’s “Why is Everyone Suddenly Quoting Thucydides?” in American Greatness
https://amgreatness.com/2017/07/26/everyone-suddenly-quoting-thucydides/
Thucydides is one of the most difficult Greek authors. As I’ve noted elsewhere The Histories of Herodotus are much more fun (both in Greek and English translation). Reading Thucydides is like reading a textbook written by a very pedantic professor. I found it very slow going when I only had to translate a few pages back 40 years ago as a student. The Peloponnesian War is recounted battle by battle, march by march and season by season. Only intermittently is there some nugget of historical interest. But the ones you find are sometimes priceless. Hanson is a Classics Professor and actually can read Thucydides in the original Greek so at least he knows what the text is trying to say. Back in high school (or I guess college nowadays) you were given passages from Thucydides such as the Funeral Oration of Pericles or the Melian Dialog. Well the reason we still read Thucydides is because people keep doing the same stupid things war after war. Whether the US and China are fated to battle for supremacy like Sparta and Athens or Rome and Carthage is an important question. If studying the Peloponnesian War teaches us what has failed in the past maybe we can spare the world another bloody catastrophe. That some of the Trump White House is reading it isn’t bad news. Anyway, an interesting read.
Trump vs The Time Hag – Episode 4 -Augustus Trumpster
Trump vs The Time Hag – Episode 3 – Trumpxander the Great
Scene 1 – 30 B.C – The Roman Forum (Tuesday)
Emperor Augustus Trumpster (EAT) – Where is Philbertus Macadamius? Phil! Phil! Where in Hades are you?
Philbertus Macadamius (PM) – Right here Great Trumpster! All Hail divine Trumpster. Why, you bestride the whole world like a Colussus!
EAT – Yeah well stop looking up my toga when I do. Remember my hands are plenty big. Nothing to worry about there.
PM – Yes great Trumpster. And how may I be of service?
EAT – Listen Phil, I’m about to make a big speech before the senate and I need someone that I can trust to listen to my tweet, I mean speech.
PM – I would be honored Great Trumpster.
EAT – Sure, sure but listen I’m a little sword-shy after Mike-us Pence-tony, my right hand man, ran off with that Clintonpatra skank and tried to steal the whole eastern empire from me. That really pissed me off. So, I have to know that what I say will go no further than this portico. I have to know you’re loyal.
PM – Rest assured Great Trumpster, that I would never reveal your conversation or blab it to the Times New Roman, er I mean the New Roman Times.
EAT – Yeah, nothing to see here. Oh what the hell. If anything happens I can always feed you to the lions in the Colosseum (when someone gets around to building it that is). Anyway what do you think of this speech?
PM – (reading the scroll) Uh let’s see. Hmmm, zmmmm, hmmm, zmmm. Looks good to me. Cicero himself will rave.
EAT – Yeah except we cut off his head a few years back.
PM – Oh, that’s right. Good times, good times. Anyway, the speech is a peach. Lay it on them Mighty Trumpster.
Scene 2 – Same day, Roman Senate.
EAT – Friends, Romans, Countrymen. Lend me your ears. No, I mean really. I’m having all your ears cut off for those rude remarks you made about the Empress Melania. She’s the best- looking babe this old burg has ever seen and you claim that Clintopatra is more regal? You’re just lucky I won and she wasn’t in charge. She’d have had you guys eunuched within the week and singing soprano in the Palatine Follies before the Ides of March. But relax, I had her boiled in oil and rendered into so much soap that it’ll last the empire for a decade. Unfortunately Slickus Willius escaped into the East. But it’s probably for the better. If that joker got talking he’d have stolen the togas right off your backs. Him and that “that depends on what the definition of id est.” What a crook.
So anyway, here’s the deal. I’m going to turn this republic into an empire. Now I know that’s bad, but you folks are already too corrupt to reform. On the upside the Pax Romana will give you about two hundred years of relative prosperity and peace. The downside is that by the time the Visigoths show up you’ll be a bunch of serfs too poor and dispirited to care about defending your homes.
But look at the bright side. The bread and circuses should last right up until Alaric and the Visigoths sack this place in 410 A.D. (whenever that is). So let’s party like it’s MCMXCIX!!!!
Senators – Toga, toga, toga.
Two Other Interesting Articles
Sharyl Attkisson was an investigative reporter for CBS. But during the Obama administration she realized that CBS wouldn’t allow anything negative about Obama to be published. She resigned and became an independent journalist (an honest reporter!). This interview was very interesting. In it she discusses the MSM’s abandonment of objectivity with respect to Trump. Afterwards she opines that Trump has shown himself immune to the media’s weapons.
Tucker Carlson was part of the conservative establishment press when the Iraq War broke out. He has since reconsidered the wisdom of that war. Here is discussed his recent quarrels with Max Boot and Lt. Col. Ralph Peters.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/tucker-carlson-goes-war-against-the-neocons-21545
Here is a link that includes links to the videos of the quarrels.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/07/13/tucker-carlson-neocon-slayer/
The arguments are very enlightening. I think Carlson gets the better of it but I wish the argument didn’t involve so much shouting over each other. It’s extremely sophomoric.
Chris Buskirk prefers listening to Kid Rock over Morning Schmoe
This is an easy recommendation. American Greatness has become an essential place for me to check for a good political read. I have a feeling my Morning Schmoe and Lycra series will be hearing about Kid Rock pretty soon. I know, I’m shameless. But Scarborough actually singing is pure comedy gold. I’m bound to have Lycra become the new Yoko Ono. Seriously though it wouldn’t hurt Trump to go on tour with Kid Rock as his opener. We could use something more entertaining than Russiagate to listen to. It’s becoming a bore.