Reading this article was a guilty pleasure. Brandon Weichert’s thesis is that as bleak as the fight often seems, the battle is worth the fight and winning is possible. And going down swinging is the way to go. He even quotes Horatius at the Bridge. I mean, that’s catnip for me. Read it if you need a shot in the arm.
Category: Trump
05DEC2018 – Grab-Bag of Interesting News Items
Plenty of interesting things are going on in the world. Apparently Never-Trumping isn’t as popular or lucrative as some might have thought. The Weekly Standard, led by Bill Kristol and sticking to his NeverTrump platform seems to be going out of business. Well, it’s hard to generate any sympathy for them. I used to read their magazine about fifteen years ago but they never seemed interested in forwarding the goals of the conservative movement they claimed to represent. Farewell Bill.
The Trump haters are starting to whine that Mueller’s investigation doesn’t seem to have much to show for all the blather that’s been done over the last couple of years. It’s still too soon to tell but I’ll take it as a good sign if the true believers are feeling short-changed.
And word from France is that the yellow vest movement is getting bigger than just a revolt against the idiotic carbon tax on fuel. It sounds like a full-fledged populist revolt is imminent.
These three news items are relatively unrelated. But what they share is a pain for the Left. The items about the Weekly Standard and the Yellow Vest revolt shows everyday people unwilling to support the leftist narrative. Most conservatives aren’t going to pay to read Bill Kristol trash President Trump. And the working and middle class French aren’t going to pay through the nose to support climate-change propaganda.
And the angst about the Mueller investigation shows that those in the know, know that there’s no there there. (See what I did there?)
I’m still waiting to see if any swamp draining gets done this week. I guess, to be fair, I can give them a week to make up for the GHWB funeral circus to end. But if nothing comes of it I’ll be sorely disappointed in the President over what I’ll take to be a bluffing Tweet.
03DEC2018 – American Greatness – Post of the Day
VDH delves into history to find examples of leaders restoring greatness to a declining civilization. The primary example he picks is Eastern Roman emperor Justinian the Great turning around the military, cultural and religious decay of sixth century Byzantium and thereby providing the foundation for a civilization that saved Eastern and possibly all Europe from Islam. Interesting read.
Sundance over at CTH Links to a Hannity Clip that Claims Monday May be a Big Swamp Draining Day
Hannity, Solomon and Carter Preview the Penultimate Tick-Tock…
And POTUS tweeted to have folks check it out. Does he ever fool us about this stuff? I’m not on Twitter so I don’t know.
28NOV2018 – My Take on Things
Here’s a quick review of where everything stands. The President comes out of the mid-terms losing the possibility of getting things easily through the Congress because of the Democrat capture of the House. But he gains a reliable Senate majority for appointments to the Supreme Court Bench and the Cabinet. Having disposed of Jeff Sessions and seeing the Mueller investigation blind-sided by a Manafort defection on his plea bargain it looks like the President is maneuvering to a place where he can deal with Mueller. His temporary appointment of Matthew Whitaker as Attorney General is angering the Progressives so it must be a good move. The strong stand the President is taking at the southern border is the right move and I hope he holds firm on that front. It will win him support and help make clear that a wall at the border is a necessity. It might even force the Democrats in the House to support funding out of fear of losing re-election in 2020.
The economy continues to move forward and unless you have all your money in the stock market (which is finally seeing a long overdue correction) this will be a very Merry Christmas.
The bad publicity and federal investigations examining anti-conservative deplatforming in the social media and on-line circles hasn’t materially helped our side very much yet. But the comments by the President and other government leaders have had some effect on Silicon Valley and if there is more than just threat associated with this talk maybe we can see some pushback. It would be nice if paypal and the other fund transfer vendors are slapped down and forced to play nice.
And finally, the continuing awakening of Americans to the reality of the assault on their way of life and even their identity is moving apace and is having a powerful effect on attitudes and actions. Many people have gone from mindlessly following the proclamations of the left-wing media to seeing for themselves who is on their side and who is selling them out to the progressives. This doesn’t involve the Millenials unfortunately, they are pretty much hopelessly in thrall to the Narrative and will continue to be the most loyal proponents of the Progressive path. But I think it’s apparent that older folk will have to help steer the next generation (Gen Z?) into a better mode of thinking. That is something I have thinking about myself. Hopefully other are too.
All in all, we go into December in a better place than we were last year and with a clear path to improving things on all fronts. It still remains for President Trump to resolve the Mueller situation. But he seems much better suited than I to decide how that should be done. And he needs to get his Justice Department working on bringing relief to all of us suffering at the hands of Progressive tech barons and lower court judges who attack conservatives whenever they can. And I think he will. So, paint me optimistic and here we are at the quick sprint to Christmas and New Year. Ho, ho, ho.
The Last Shot of the 2018 Senate Battle
The Republicans staggered out of the 2018 Senate Mid-Terms with a final tally of 53 seats to the Democrats 47. They’ve netted two seats but lost Arizona and Nevada through poor decisions and poor messaging. The good news is that 53 seats means Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, those two northern RINO dames won’t have a veto over who gets into the Supreme Court and the President’s Cabinet. Hallelujah. The bad news is that 53 is the best they could do in the best Senate election the Republicans are likely to get in a long time.
But I’m a glass half-full kinda guy so let’s call this one a definite win. We can look forward to a potential one or two more Supreme Court appointments and just as importantly, a competent Attorney General and FBI Director. And that’s just in time. With Manafort reneging on his Mueller plea-bargain and details of Manafort’s apparent role in providing the Trump administration intel on Mueller, it looks like that pot is about to boil over. So this Senate gain is important but just one more step in the never-ending war. In the immortal words of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends.”
Is Twitter Getting the Jitters?
Jesse Kelly is a contributor to The Federalist. He has been very critical of the way social media sites have been silencing conservatives. So, it probably wasn’t shocking when Twitter permanently shut down his account. Apparently, something made them change their minds and reinstate him.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/27/without-explanation-twitter-reinstate-jesse-kelly/
The incoming freshman senator for Missouri has said he wants Twitter investigated for the way they single out conservatives for silencing without any explanation or recourse. And a senate committee is interested in doing just that. Could this be why Kelly was reinstated? Too soon to tell but if other conservatives also get reinstated it’ll be a trend that bears watching. Maybe President Trump is starting to worry Silicon Valley and that would suit me to a tee.
The Legacy of the Alt-Right
Much digital ink has been spent burying the spectre of the Alt-Right. Probably most of this is butt-covering going on trying to assure the powers that be that the individual in question is NOT of the Alt-Right and therefore not deserving of de-platforming.
Along with this interment is the surprising fact that most people (including myself) are not entirely sure what the definition and origins of the Alt-Right precisely are. I know that depending on the exact capitalization and hyphenation of the name it can be the Richard Spencer coined term for the white identitarian group that he belongs to. Other versions of this and similar expressions like Dissident Right have different emphases and appeal to different points of view.
But whatever names and whatever divisions these groups make between each other (and they certainly do that), one thing is undeniable. These were the groups that identified the real problems afflicting the United States and they were the ones who backed Donald Trump before anyone else even thought he was serious. Whatever else they are wrong about they were right about those things. To deny that is to deny the truth.
And the other thing that needs to be said and that is the central point of this post is that they along with President Trump are responsible for moving the Overton Window to the point where even the normies like me have heard the details of what the Alt-Right knew and have incorporated it into our world view. No one bothers to even dispute the platitudes of the Establishment GOP when they’re mouthed. We might give a sarcastic snort and then close the link and go to some useful website where actual thinking is going on. The Alt-Right and Donald Trump truly revealed why the right always lost. It was because our supposed leaders didn’t want to win. They just wanted the job of losing.
Now, all of this is old hat. We all know all of this. But it was hammered home to me when I was perusing an article in American Greatness by Christopher Roach entitled “The Radicalism of Conservatism, Inc.” Now it’s a very good article and it delves into the history of how the establishment right became so wrong on how to win. But reading the description of how Trump deconstructed the “illegal immigration is an act of love,” and describing establishment conservatives by saying, “that they function chiefly as the palace guard for yesterday’s liberalism” could have come directly out of a ZMan post from a year ago. What that tells me is the knowledge that the Alt-Right pioneered has been successfully dispersed into the bloodstream of the conservative body politic (if I may mangle a metaphor that far).
Whatever agreements or disagreements we may have with either the tactics or the substance of what the Alt-Right believes we have to acknowledge that they have red-pilled a significant part of the normie right. And that is without a doubt an enormous achievement. Without them maybe Clinton beats Trump and with a solid liberal majority on the Supreme Court we might now be watching as the First and Second Amendments were being effectively chloroformed.
Trump vs the Acostafication of Press Corps Nation
Dramatis Personae: President Trump – (PT); Jim Acosta, CNN – (JA); Major Garrett, CBS News – (MG); Hallie Jackson, NBC News – (HJ); Cecilia Vega, ABC News – (CV); Al Drago, New York Times – (AD)
White House Press Corps Briefing Room; Wednesday 3pm
(President Trump is at the podium and is flanked by Secret Service Agents holding cardboard boxes.)
PT – Good afternoon Fake News Corps and welcome to the first White House news briefing since I’ve instituted the new rules. I will now walk you through them.
First, each of you will be issued your own personalized microphone. This microphone is only active when you hold it and the President or the Press Secretary has authorized your turn to question. Your biometric information has been programmed into the unit. It will only act as a microphone if you yourself are holding it. Utilizing sound isolation software it will only broadcast your voice. Also, if anyone else attempts to use your microphone within this room or if you attempt to use it out of turn, it will administer a significant electric shock to the holder. Each subsequent attempt at unauthorized use will increase the voltage significantly until it reaches the legal limit. After that point you probably will drop into a fetal position and call for your mommy.
Bob and Mitch will hand out the microphones and we’ll get started.
(Secret Service hands out the microphones and return to the dais)
PT – Okay let’s see who’s first. How about you Major?
MG – Sir, Major Garrett, CBS News.
PT – Yeah, I know Major, I said your name. What’s your question?
MG – Mr. President, don’t you think this demeans the dignity of the White House Press Corps?
PT – You can’t demean that which does not exist. You next Hallie.
MG – As a foll… (suddenly screeching and swearing) YEEEAAAHHHH, son of a bitch!
PT – Major you weren’t next. Bet that stings though. Hallie, you’re next.
HJ – Uhhh, no questions at this time Mr. President.
PT – Oh, okay, how about you Cecilia?
CV – Mr. President, aren’t you afraid that this will send the wrong message to the American people?
PT – No Cecilia, I’m generally not afraid. Al Drago, any question?
AD – Mr. President, why are you resorting to these draconian measures? Don’t you trust the fourth estate to maintain decorum?
PT – Those are two questions but just this once I will answer them both but in reverse order. First, hah! Second, I have resorted to the use of dog training equipment because Jim Acosta has shown that he has the manners and the intellect of a fairly dull-witted chihuahua. You have a question Jim?
JA – I protest such a vile characterization of myself.
PT – That’s not a question. Major you’re next.
JA – How dare youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!
PT – That was a question Jim, but it wasn’t your turn.
MG – Can I give my question to Jim.
PT – No, but that was a question so Hallie we’re back to you.
HJ – Still no question sir.
PT – Cecilia?
CV – Uhhh, how are you enjoying the fall?
PT – Excellent, I’ve taken a couple of strokes off my golf game. And that brings us back to you Jim. Care to take another crack at it? But please try to follow the protocol, we just got the rug steam cleaned.
(Acosta looking nervously around and holding the microphone in his left hand)
JA – Which reporter do you consider the enemy of the American people?
PT – Certainly not you anymore Jim. You’re such a good boy! Catch the treat!
Supreme Court Will Decide if the Census Can Ask You if You Are a Citizen
Here is the clearest indication of how bad things are. It takes the Supreme Court to say it’s alright for the U. S. Census to not count fraudulent census data. The census is constitutionally necessary function of the federal government, needed to measure the representation a state get in the House of Representatives and the regional Federal Courts are fighting the Trump Administration over getting an accurate count. The other advantage of this is it allows ICE to pick up anyone falsely claiming to be citizens. Falsifying census info is a federal felony. And it will probably put a damper on illegal aliens answering census information. That will hurt sanctuary states like California when it comes to federal funds. And that is good for the rest of us.