It will be this way from now till the election, and probably beyond
Some time during the Obama administration it occurred to the left that its time had finally come and its patience was about to be fully rewarded. Between the Gramscian march, the “fundamental transformation” Obama was working on, the coming-of-age of generations steeped in leftist education (including legal education), the mainstreaming of identity and grievance politics – and, most importantly of all, the full cooperation of the MSM and its heartfelt embrace of ends-justify-means lies – the left felt itself to be on the threshold of total dominance of American politics for the foreseeable future. In fact, it knew itself to be there.
It was in the bag.
The results of the 2016 election were a seismic shock of large magnitude. But recovery involved a complete dedication to the undoing of that event. I don’t need to go into all the ways in which the left tried to accomplish this, but they were many and they were vicious. They came one after the other with no respite, and still Trump and the right seemed to bounce back, although much of the country seems oblivious to the outrage of something such as Russiagate/Obamagate, for example, with many people persisting in the idea that Trump is Putin’s puppet and Michael Flynn a traitor.
Propaganda works. But it hasn’t yet clinched the deal.
So more recently, the left has changed gear somewhat. The country is no longer allowed to be prosperous if it would help Trump. COVID was turned into an excuse to gravely wound the economy. And now that the COVID episode was beginning to calm down, and there might not even be a lethal enough second wave to deal a fatal blow to Trump, we have the revival of the 60s civil unrest and racial riots, one of the most terrible aspects of that decade.
But there’s a difference, and it’s the leftism of a much larger segment of the American public, the willingness of virtually the entire MSM to voluntarily become Pravda, the courts’ desire to play along as well, the amount of money supporting the movement, and what I see as the increasing sophistication of the violent forces such as Antifa who are ready to exploit any and every incident that lends itself to it.
The 60s radicals were relative amateurs. These people, less so, at least in terms of organization. And we have not yet seen the worst of it, of that I am convinced.
I hope I’m wrong. But it’s something like a fireworks display. At first, there are pauses between the explosions, and some are smaller and some larger. But towards the finale, they come fast and furious and the reverberations are huge.
And we’re still more than five months from that finale. Did I say “finale”? If somehow Trump manages to get elected, I believe that the left’s resultant fury will be even greater and the fireworks will be greater, as well.
[NOTE: Sorry to be so pessimistic. I don’t mind if you try to talk me out of it. I think the left counts on this feeling of weariness.]
[NOTE II: Please read this. And also this from Lileks, who lives in Minneapolis.]
The worst thing is, you’re right.
I guess it must be a character defect, but I’m just not very interested in these riots. Who can care about a bunch of spoiled young white fools and angry black men, looking for free stuff? They’re obviously being manipulated by Antifa and BLM, but that’s not really anything new.
Sure, there are enthusiastic supporters of the rioters, but they’re mostly self-indulgent fantasists, yearning for a time that they’re too young to have known. No, re-running the street violence of the sixties won’t make anybody cool, won’t make empty lives mean something.
Anyway, it all seems stale to me. I tried to take it seriously many years ago, but couldn’t help but find it all repulsive. All these years later, I haven’t one drop of sympathy more than I ever did. If the rioters won’t go home, they should be sent to jail. They have no excuse, and they deserve no mercy.
I said, not long before Covid hit, “It’s a long time until the election. Something might happen no one can imagine yet.”
I was right. Twice.
Damn.
The acronym, BLM, now stands for something else:
Black Looters Matter
Hate never sleeps but as it has evolved so have all of us. There will always be weak-willed dummies who want to be led about and not think too much but a lot of people see that the killing of George Floyd was wrong AND that the rioting/looting is instigated and only very tenuously related to the crime against George Floyd. Back in the 60s, 70s, 80s, even the 90s, people would have been bowled over by this. Not so much now. The TV hype has worn thin.
I am writing from a deep blue area – SF Bay Area. People are rolling their eyes (and boarding their stores) in response to calls to participate in a BLM March. Disgusted and disenchanted.
miklos – please don’t make any other predictions!!!
Amartel — “what if they gave a protest march and nobody came” — sort of thing??
I sincerely hope the “non-rioting” majority support Trump. Especially in voting, but even in polls.
I’m wondering when Trump starts complaining more about Dirty Cops.
Dirty Cops killed George Floyd.
Dirty Cops were prosecuting Flynn, and persecuting Trump.
Those against Dirty Cops should favor Trump.
I miss the 80s.
And Madness.
One Step Beyond:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJSM46nWwo&list=RDxyh76HeAGVE&index=27
Ska was about music integration (reggae & punk). Worked for a few great groups.
The Dems don’t want integration. They want
racism in the past,
racism today,
racism forever.
Minneapolis.
“where all is permitted and nothing is judged” – Lileks
California.
https://townhall.com/columnists/larryoconnor/2020/06/02/decades-of-california-democrats-ignoring-laws-has-led-to-this-n2569906
Are they connected?
Pump the brakes. There are no masterminds. There is no guiding hand. People are not that smart.
If you look, you can find examples of African-Americans standing up against the Antifa garbage out there. You can find stories of the African-Americans and other minorities being hurt by this violent indulgence. And remember the riots of the 1960s did not herald the arrival of some socialist, racialist regime.
I’m not saying the “forces of darkness” might not grab a few sort-term victories. But have a little faith in your fellow citizens.
Mike
I said many months ago that if Trump is reelected al hell will break loose, so you’re not alone in your pessimism, Neo.
And with Hillary, Schumer, and Pelosi all winking at the violence and destruction, we know it’s only going to get worse. And maybe soon, as Fox reports Antifa planning on heading to the suburbs. If they do, then the CW II will start in earnest. Lots to be depressed about in the last week.
It’s not a zero-sum situation Neo.
The internet has developed a very strong and connected Right with a truly rich and varied constituency.
Antifa vs the US military and police forces ? No contest. Nihilists can’t build anything – they can only destroy (they are temporarily in their glory).
Time to throw some thumb-tacks on the path of the Gramscian March.
I’m really more focused on the fight between Sanity and Emmett Sullivan.
I have been previously discouraged and am now very pessimistic.
The nominally sensible people like Sen, Sasse (R) of Nebraska, a former college president, who feels it important to chastise Trump for the mere action of walking to the desecrated St. John’s church with a bible in his hand, shows it is all but over.
There is no leadership beyond Trump and his Cabinet. McConnell, yes, on judicial nominations but not much else that I can see. And Cotton and Cruz, but so few, so few.
If our resistance against collectivist tyranny is soft, if we dare not think the N-word even as we see race riots with arson, looting, and violence–tossing Molotov cocktails, for Pete’s sake–it is over. Vulgarity, thuggishness and moral decay are everywhere obvious. “Hands up, don’t shoot” is the front line screen; the bricks and Molotovs come from well behind them, like artillery fire.
Spontaneous? Get outta here.
Riots in 75 US cities do not occur “spontaneously” and nearly simultaneously because one black man died in police custody in a remote city.
The virus masks are a wonderful thing for the lawbreakers.
If I were Trump, I’d declare martial law. Some people need to get shot, just as after Katrina.
But it is over, between the economic disaster given to us by China, and the triumph of the Left in the US.
Vaya con Dios.
None dare call it conspiracy.
We’ve had the major centers hit. Ok. If you believe what’s going around on the internet, they are planning to hit the suburbs next. They tried near Chicago, and were minimally successful. What happens when this escalates to smaller towns–either people set up vigilante type groups, or certainly families to protect themselves and their property, or there is widespread failure in the belief of our government system.
This is the Fourth Turning in action. The left has been politically dominant in the US since circa 1933 and now its era is ending.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t need to burn and riot to get what they want, they’d just write into law, using the government they have oft controlled, completely.
Their problem is that what they really want is in no way popular with the electorate as a whole, so they must lie and deceive. But the lying and deception still hasn’t been enough, so now comes the violence.
Any want to argue that looting and burning is popular with the swarming masses?
I won’t- and I suspect that quite a few left-leaning people are losing their love of antifa and blm, as they watch the fires burn.
That matters, I think. The ceaseless idiocy from CNN and Fox, etc, matters much less.
MBunge:
That’s not the point.
Of course I have faith that a lot of people – black, white, or purple – will defend their property against marauding looting mobs. Or at least try to. And also be angry at those mobs.
But who will those same defenders be voting for come November? For a great many of them, I think most likely Democrats. And how may Democrats, safe outside the perimeter of the mayhem, excuse the violence and/or blame it on Trump?
That’s the real point and the real question. If the MSM has anything to say about it, it will be a majority of voters.
I hope that common sense will prevail, I just haven’t seen it happening right now.
“…the fight between Sanity and Emmett Sullivan.”
It would appear that Sanity has just pleaded “nolo contendere”:
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/02/judge-sullivan-finally-responds-to-mandamus-petition-in-flynn-case-proving-why-it-was-necessary/
Oh, and just to remind ourselves…. (No, no, not about our holiday shopping in Dec. 2018):
https://thefederalist.com/2018/12/13/federal-judge-overseeing-michael-flynns-sentencing-just-dropped-major-bombshell/
I’m sorry but I think you are right. I believe that while Covid is deadly it is not any worse than a bad flu season. Too many unknowns to just shut everything down, but the world did it anyway. Now with this rioting, the bricks just magically showing up for throwing. There is a lot of money on the left and with Soros backing groups like move-on and black lives matter, I think it’s naive to think they are not involved. Face it we have raised a generation of highly educated people who can’t think for themselves, and thrown social media in to quell any kind of dissent using bully tactics. I do honestly believe that this is all about regaining control, face it as long as things were going well with the economy etc, people would put up with Trump, but now if it all goes to hell in a hand basket, well the government exists to protect us, right? Please note I live in Michigan and am experiencing tyranny up close and personal!
Lileks is a Never Trumper who said he “just couldn’t” bring himself to vote for Trump. Never heard whom he did vote for. Wonder whom he will vote for this time.
It appears this entire event was planned out, folks trained to stir things up and then all it needed was an ‘outrage spark’ and that white cop in Minneapolis an very left leaning city was a good enough spark, actually with the visual and the poor man dying on the street it was an excellent spark. And then all of the top Democrats elected and out of office jumped right in pushing the outrage up over the top instead of trying to keep people calm, now the body count of the demonstrations is over a half dozen, down towns in major cities are in shambles and Minneapolis still has the same leadership in charge, not much change happening there.
What I fear might be the next level of outrage is if they do get a large crowd of protestors to take it to the suburbs, just to get justice, and the homeowners say, “No, not today, not here.” and then the homeowners shoot a lot of the outraged as they try to loot, pillage and plunder neighborhoods. That will be a terrible day in the history of this nation if that happens because I fear we will be broken and the repair and healing might take years and years.
Crap, I grew up in the South in the 1940’s and 50’s and I know what segregation and racism looks like and Trump is not a racist nor have Republicans been the party of racism and the Democrats along with all the social justice players appear to be willing to crash us into the rocks to keep the conservatives from winning once more this year.
Sanity takes a break, (AKA “Inside Emmet Sullivan’s Head”)
WARNING: NOT for the faint of heart (at the very least, to be read while sitting, preferably strapped in):
https://twitter.com/JohnWHuber/status/1267550012818493443
Oliver T.:
Not voting for Trump in 2016 does NOT make a person a NeverTrumper. NeverTrumpers are people who have not changed their minds over the last few years, and in most cases who have actively joined the left and declare they will not vote Trump in 2020. Most of them are also prepared not only to not vote for Trump in 2020, but to vote for whatever warm body the Democrats decide to nominate.
Pump the brakes. There are no masterminds. There is no guiding hand. People are not that smart.
Sorry, you are wrong. This was planned and was just waiting for the spark. The people dropping off pallets of bricks are doing part of it. The black looters are the foot soldiers. They are not the leaders. Maybe that 20 year old Antifa type that surrendered is in the loop. It was amusing to see his parents, both wearing the symbolic masks, trooping into the police station to surrender their privileged brat.
I see recognizable faces on the videos. I sure hope the US Marshall’s Service (the FBI cannot be trusted) is looking for them plus surveillance camera pics of the bricks toters.
…oh, and PUT DOWN any cup of coffee (or other liquid) you may be drinking.
(Never a good idea in any case, while at the keyboard).
Cannot fault anything you say Neo.
Cornflour, you may not care about the rioters; but, you should certainly care about the breakdown of governance; and the wholesale abandonment of law.
It goes beyond the rioting, looting, and physical attacks. There is no pretense of respect for law and the rights of ordinary citizens. In California, it is now considered legitimate, and characterized as peaceful protest, when hundreds of people block major urban freeways during rush hour. Meanwhile, an impressive cadre of police stand aside on orders of their superiors and political leaders. Of course, peaceful protest is an oxymoron. Somehow, embedded in these peaceful events, news cameras are able to get video of peaceful protestors trying to smash the windows of stalled motorists; but, police take no notice.
I should think that any cognizant American would be alarmed at the scale of societal decay on display.
(When I was a child before, during, and after WWII I spent several summers on my Aunt and Uncle’s farm in Suwanee County, Fl. Since there were no telephones, no electricity, no paved rural roads, there was no pretense of police protection. People knew that they were “on their own”. Every household had a gun, and sometimes needed it. We are now assured that we have evolved as a society–and are protected by laws, so that the implements of self protection are unnecessary, and legitimately restricted by government. Lies.)
Amartel — “what if they gave a protest march and nobody came” — sort of thing??
YES! It’s rather astonishing. I see this in individual people and on NextDoor (neighborhood community app dominated by karenish w(h)inemoms and their male cohort) but there’s definitely a new attitude out there. The whiplash between EVERYONE STAY HOME and EVERYONE GET OUT AND PROTEST is a bit too obvious even for this band of sillies. Also, after spending months agonizing over every little noise they hear on their street, every menacing non-mask person, every vehicle going over 20 mph, these busybodies are now faced with the threat of rioters messing up the carefully curated neighborhoods.
Don’t get me wrong: They don’t like Trump. But they also harbor the conceit that they’re better and smarter and would hate to think they’re being used and it’s getting overwhelmingly obvious that they’re stupid, deplorable patsies.
Everything that the Leftist Dems and Leftist media have thrown at Trump has failed and in many cases backfired. The economy was going through the roof in spite of everything. Impeachment was blemishing the impeachers. They had to do something. Covid was another swine flu. Remember the swine flu? Thousands of small children were dying painful deaths. Healthy young and old people were complaining that they were sicker than they had ever been in their lives for weeks on end. Obama waited months to declare it a national pandemic and only after tens of thousands had died and over a million had been sick.
.
What’s that? You don’t remember? It wasn’t 1918, it was 2010. The only difference is that The One Who Can Do No Wrong in the eyes of the Leftist media was president.
.
The two million body bags with Trump’s finger prints on them is turning out to be a fraction of that and the guy, Trump, who kept a level head has once again prevailed.
.
Suddenly the Media was left with yet another problem. The stock market is on a trajectory to reach new heights by election day. Trump is looking at taking credit for putting 25 million people back to work in two months and getting credit for the fastest recovery in history.
.
In addition, Obama’s henchmen are being exposed which will leave countless Democrats and media hacks trying to paper over their lies and deceptions they proffered and pedaled over the last three-plus years.
.
It seems a little more than convenient that riots are now the latest tactic. Let’s throw the cops under the Trump train now. We’ll see where it goes but the inconvenient truth is that the “racists” are all in places controlled by solid blue leadership and Trump is scolding them for messing things up. Look for another Trump win.
.
That’ll leave only one thing – Labeling Trump as the only president to ever be impeached twice. Good luck with that.
AMartel, love your descriptions 🙂 😉 I live down in Silicon Valley and it’s like that here too.
Parts of the rioting seem planned, of course. But I think there’s also an element of electoral desperation. With Biden at the top of the ticket, what could possibly work? Massive voter fraud? Huge racial issue to get out the unmotivated POC vote? A pandemic? All out 24×7 media hate fests?
Along with everything else, a part of this is just Dems throwing everything possible at the wall to see if something sticks
I look through all of the videos of the George Floyd Memorial mayhem and see mostly young people. I wonder how many of them are planning to vote; I would bet, not too many. I bet all of the shop owners vote, though – and many of the people that have been racking in unemployment instead of paychecks, too. You can’t vote against COVID, but one can vote against this particular form of economic displacement. And I don’t think there’s much argument when agreeing the political alignment of inciters and rioters. Republicans don’t riot.
Now we have the very clear specter of Red city mayors and Red state governors expressing direct sympathy for looters – not just protestors, looters. And in the process, they are dragging their feet on calling in the available resources to keep order and protect infrastructure. We even have a police chief in NC announcing that her department is not in the business of protecting the property of the citizens.
So: Sure, let it carry on. I’m giving it another week. The voters won’t forget between now and November who let them down and who didn’t. And between now and November the same Democratic party will come up with its next chapter of Trumpophagia – and it will also fail to convince anyone new, just like impeachment, just like Russia, just like Article 25, etc. The light is shining on them now, and it ain’t pretty. Trump won’t retire gracefully like a Republican gentleman in a dirty fight. He’s got them by the short hairs and is getting his thumb in their eye. And I wouldn’t blame him a bit if he doesn’t let up even when they holler.
gina and Mike K are entirely correct.
I’ve been reading lots of incident reports and LEO intelligence reports, aside from the videos I’ve seen on the internet, regarding Antifa and the astounding level of organization behind the riots.
-Staged pallets of bricks.
-medical and hydration stations.
-radio based communications/organizers with no smartphones/cellphones (Good OpSec).
-actual supply chains of bleach and industrial acids for use in children’s squirt guns.
-A massive online presence dedicated to nothing but gaslighting their very existence: “Antifa isn’t an organization”, “Anti-Fascism is an ideal, you can’t arrest it.”, “There is no Antifa, only law-abiding protesters against fascism.” Many, many variations on this tactic.
In my opinion, this is far more serious than Covid. Some guys I know in the NYPD (some members of the JTTF) are comparing the funding and organization to ISIS and their rise in the middle east. The riots were genuine at first and quickly, like lightning, co-opted as a smokescreen. This operation was waiting for this, or something like it.
Take this stuff very, very seriously.
“Social justice” presents itself as an extension of MLKs movement but is not. “Social justice” is the devil in disguise, that keeps people constantly looking at the color of their skin and those around them. It promotes group rights, not individual rights. MLK talked about judging a man by the content of his character but social justice demands everybody access their place as “privileged” or “victim” based on skin color. “Social Justice” actually has white kids going into black neighborhoods to destroy black owned businesses for supposed “ change.” “Social justice” has kids committing acts of arson , looting, attacking cars and innocent people with feelings of righteous indignation for the supposed cause.
AMartel on June 2, 2020 at 6:10 pm said:
(roughly edited) “All the Karens are learning they have been Patsies.”
Brilliant.
Aggie – “George Floyd Memorial mayhem”
Not brilliant, but still pretty good.
JimNorCal – “Dems throwing everything possible at the wall to see if something sticks”
Yes, but they knocked down all the walls!
MBunge – ” And remember the riots of the 1960s did not herald the arrival of some socialist, racialist regime.”
Um, the name “Barack Obama” ring a bell?
Fractal – “(some members of the JTTF)”
??
But I am taking what you say VERY seriously, which is why it is a big deal that Trump and Barr unitedly named Antifa a terrorist organization (should have been done sooner, but politically you have to wait for the fruit to ripen).
Miklos, on “Something might happen no one can imagine yet.”
To me, it was outright obvious, that the Left would spare no effort to stop DJT from winning, or destroy the US if he does.
If Durham can’t bring big enough busts of the D.S., to get the moderate Blues to grow up, then our best shot at avoiding civil war is, if DJT would build a wall, to block AntiFa, BLM etc. from infiltrating into “red” parts of the country.
If this leads blue America to secede from the Heartland, so be it.
I’ve posted here and there, the idea of a move to quarantine the bulk of the urban Northeast, and the Left Coast, from the rest of the U.S.
I propose a wall, splitting the Peoples Republic of the New England/ NYC etc. corridor, from the U.S. heartland.
It could run in the middle of the Blue Ridge range, eventually getting to the Hudson, then N. along it to Lake Champlain.
A similar wall could quarantine the Left Coast, running, say, in the middle of the Rockies, down to along the Rio Grande to the Mex. border (by El Paso).
A border mostly w/in the middle of mountain ranges, gives each new country decently defensible frontiers, such that they would have major disincentive to attack each other.
Of course, such a split would involve major population exchanges, akin to those in the partitions of India & the USSR.
Thus, Lefties from the Peoples Republic of Madison, the ChicagoLand lake shore area, the Minneapolis & Detroit areas, etc., would be deported to the Left Coast, or to the Peoples Republic of the New England/ NYC etc. corridor.
Likewise, righties in Orange County, CA, and Mesa, AZ, and Orthodox Jews in NYC, should flee for their lives to the new “red” country, before they are purged by La Rasa, AntiFa, or Sharpton/ BLM.
If the Blues demand the Canal, for easy passage from the Left Coast to the Northeastern Peoples Republic, I’d consider letting them have it, esp. if the “reds” could make a deal with Canada, for overland access to Alaska.
In any case, this House is likely far too Divided to be able to Stand.
It’s far too easy to destroy, but very hard to create and build, and any idiotic, hate-filled, and malevolent fool can—in a few minutes—steal, vandalize, or destroy the results of generations worth of honest, hard, and patient work.
Through close to four centuries of tremendous effort, this country was built up from the raw wilderness through the often lonely, dangerous, and arduous work of many generations of our citizens and, similarly, today’s individual businesses were built up through the thrift, planning, hard-work, and tenacity of citizens and their family members in this generation, and often their past generations as well.
I am horrified to see the work of these generations–our generations–being stolen, defaced, and destroyed, and our ordinary citizens being attacked, maimed, and killed while most of the State and local authorities (joined by various supposed political and religious “leaders,” Academics, “Entertainers,” and others)—people who have the power to influence or to stop the violence, destruction, arson, and looting–stand idly by.
Or—even worse–express sympathy for and solidarity with the members of a violent Leftist crew which is pretty obviously making a very calculated attempt to destroy our once relatively secure and peaceful country, and to get a general insurrection going.
It has often been said that an “overreaction” is just what this Leftist crew wants.
But, it seems to me that the way things have been going–with all of these feckless and cowardly officials failing to do their duty, or to protect the citizens and property in their states and localities that they have sworn to protect, failing to protect and defend our society–a strong military reaction by the Federal government i.e. President Trump–is what is going to be needed to put down what these violent rioters, vandals, and looters, are obviously trying to build into a general Insurrection.
P.S. I would also make it a key Federal priority to identify, arrest, and to vigorously prosecute those individuals, groups, and organizations which are funding, directing, and coordinating these acts of violence and insurrection.
Cicero, Senator Sasse is another soy-boy who is convinced being a Stockholm victim makes one a wise Oracle, instead a twisted creep.
Courage is the rarest virtue, and entirely lacking from this breed of traitor. But whine and bellyache? They’ve got the market covered.
Tom Grey: “The Dems don’t want integration. They want
racism in the past,
racism today,
racism forever.”
Yeah, I’ve long wanted that T-shirt.
I guess I’ll have to make it myself.
AesopFan,
JTTF stands for Joint Terrorism Task Force. Back before 9/11, the DOJ and FBI established the JTTF to work jointly with the police agencies of major American cities to prevent and respond to terror attacks. I’m not sure but I think they were created in response to the first WTC attack in 93.
I’m told by people who were there before 9/11, that they were the underfunded red-headed stepchild of departments. But after, as you can imagine, they became a pretty big deal.
Cicero – “There is no leadership beyond Trump and his Cabinet. McConnell, yes, on judicial nominations but not much else that I can see. And Cotton and Cruz, but so few, so few.
If our resistance against collectivist tyranny is soft…” where is there any hope?
Too true. Worse, our so-called opposition party cannot organise against a coup to overthrow the People, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law. Even as proof stares them in their collective face.
Since this is true, organising for justice means armed struggle. What else is there?
I see faint hopes in Don, Jr, Tucker Carlson. But the grotesque denial by Republocrats smells of the worst Treason of all.
Gaming out the scenarios, do we circulate a Defence for The People’s Hit List? Who must go first, to the top, to achieve genuine Justice!
Debate that on our PGP Emails.
Sure, we’re at the point of grim. But there’s always a deeper circle of Hell to spiral down towards.
But on the up side, the many Founders did this little knowing what the other side looked like.
Therefore, shouldn’t we, too, go Boldly? Knowing that even through real violence, the powers of vengeance and justice administered with great seriousness, resolve, and dispatch can reopen horizons for an eventual, more optimistic future? And if not for us, then our children’s children.
If they could do this, aren’t we callow to believe we cannot do likewise?
Fractal Rabbit:
It would seem applicable for NSA (or other No Such Agencies) to be paying particular attention to interception of the communications of these hard left Antifa organizations and use of electronics countermeasures (jamming, traffic analysis, rf direction finding?). Domestic terrorists, I would expect they getting assistance from foreign adversaries as well.
om,
I’m sure the NSA is on it (I’ve heard the NSA is one of the few agencies still loyal to their duty and, by extension, the POTUS. I hope its true).
But that’s one of the reasons they’ve been using radios (there are actual screenshots of video where you can see the ear pieces and antennae of good old fashioned radios and not smartphones/cellphones on the Antifa people. It’s not impossible to track that sort of thing (RF stuff, like you mentioned) but its not really where all the SigInt stuff is geared right now. And they make sure they don’t have any phone on their person at all.
They also use various games on XBox and Playstation and some PCs to communicate outside of phones. Many games, especially MMORPGS (Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games) have chat and communication functions within the game that are exceedingly difficult to find, let alone track, unless people know exactly what they are looking for, and where to look.
Example: members of the cell (Antifa uses the cell structure too) set up a game or ‘raid’ on say World of Warcraft. While playing the game, all communication is done in there, in the game’s server. And all the channels that enable NSA and other reconnaissance to track phone and texts with ease aren’t in place.
Fractal Rabbit:
Sounds like some high level nerd-dome is needed, to bust into that communication method.
OT
The insurrection/protest/riots have killed that virus problem we’ve been dealing with.
https://www.redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2020/06/02/pharmacist-unleashes-hell-on-wuhan-virus-social-distancing-hypocrites-so-riots-are-just-cool-now/
Our King Jay hasn’t said a peep about the crowds of “protestors” that have graced Seattle etc. Nor has Kate Brown of OR; don’t know if she’s the Queen or the Domainatricix of Salem. Antifa is quite strong in Portland, “The Rose City.”
I’ll make a prediction! Trump wins about 40 states including MN, MI, WI and PA.
The November election was won in May.
Neo! Mark this down!
My wife and I were talking about all of the disruption and destruction going on in metro cities this week and it occurred to me that this will be a hell of a jobs program rebuilding all of those fine stores that have been damaged, work for everybody who wants a job. Renovation all over the whole damn USA. Thank You Democrats for destroying stuff that will need to be cleaned up and rebuilt by non-college educated people, just frick’n work’n folks.
There will be time to turn the destruction around and start construction.
TJ-
You’re ceding too much territory. Our new Republic needs Pacific access, so let’s keep San Diego and Long Beach! And cram the bastards into tight geographies. Do not surrender the Blue Ridge mountains to them. OK to let them have some of the Rockies, but not Wyoming. Draw the border along I-5 all the way to Canada. Let them have Sacramento, Portland and Seattle.
Old Texan-
South Central Los Angeles was not rebuilt. Neither was Detroit; the RenCen is just for show. Been there? Detroit is a dump.
As to rebuilding, who’s gonna pay? Show me the money!
I know, they seldom rebuild except this time they have hit some prime real estate, down here in my part of Texas around the Alamo and of course up in NYC, but I do know when they tear up their own neighborhood it never comes back no matter how much social justice has been served.
Cornflour: Sure, there are enthusiastic supporters of the rioters, but they’re mostly self-indulgent fantasists
Judging by the liberal/progressives I know, it’s a combination of Selma Envy and Revolution Tourism.
They dream of that feeling of true righteousness that comes from supporting whatever the big civil rights event du jour happens to be, but they know they’ll never match marching with the greats back in the day (mostly because they weren’t born yet), so they have to be extra-loud and extra-righteous to compensate.
Also, they want the frisson of a little danger, a little flipping off The Man, a little defending the barricades, although they know in their hearts that nobody is going to shoot them and other than a whiff of tear gas they’re perfectly safe.
I lost most respect for them the last time we had “protests” in Seattle, but what remained after that is very quickly draining away.
The 60s radicals were relative amateurs. These people, less so, at least in terms of organization. And we have not yet seen the worst of it, of that I am convinced. –neo
Antifa stands on the shoulders of 60s radicals, especially the Weather Underground. The Weatherfolks were young but they stood on the shoulders of the Old Left. There’s a lot of folk wisdom in the leftist tradition.
Hard to say who the amateurs are. I haven’t seen anything from the Antifa Left demonstrating they are as professional as the Weather Underground. I am damn sure Bill Ayers & Co. are coaching Antifa and Black Lives Matter behind the scenes.
Antifa seems to be playing out the Weatherman “Days of Rage” fantasy, only this time they’ve got enough support from the media and liberal police departments to get away with it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Rage
Hard to say who the amateurs are.
This should make you feel better neo.. 🙂
‘You are here profiting off of our f—— pain’: A New York City woman gives a powerful speech to demonstrators looting and destroying neighborhoods during George Floyd protests
https://www.insider.com/nyc-woman-gives-powerful-speech-to-protesters-destroying-neighborhoods-2020-6
her speech on instagram..
boy is she mad… mad of them trashing peoples home and neighborhood
where three homeless people use kiosks to charge their batteries
a methadone clinic nearby..
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CA5vuKHAggA/?utm_source=ig_embed
Neo- Has Lileks changed his mind? I’m not aware of it from his blog, which I read as religiously as I do yours.
I think of Never Trumpers as being the National Review, David French, Kevin Williamson types whose only praise for Trump is grudging, who criticize him for tone, but go easy on the Dems.
I also thought they could vote for Ewan McMillan, or Bill Weld etc. Lileks criticizes Trump’s opponents, but has never praised him as far as I know. Maybe because he doesn’t wear a bow tie and speak with a Bill Buckleyesque drawl?
If you don’t support the leader of your party (Trump) that’s close enough to Never Trump for me.
Lileks has some quirky stuff and humor on his site, but for political commentary nothing for me. The link you gave boils down to “rioting is bad”- quite radical for Minneapolis I suppose. Finally, his not voting for Trump was a de facto vote for HRC- epic fail.
I’m genuinely curious if he will support Trump in this election.
Oliver T.:
By Lileks this past December.
Artfldgr:
Good for her.
And there are plenty of people like her. Unfortunately, none of them are the mayor of NY.
Old Texan:
Sounds to me like the Broken Window Fallacy of Fredrick Bastiat.
https://mises.org/library/broken-window-fallacy
This wanton destruction of property and destruction of resources/infrastructure before they needed to be replaced makes a society poorer.
Sometimes I feel as exasperated as Artfldgr. Read some history, folks! What’s happening now didn’t come out of nowhere. Then I think most of you know some or much of that.
I say today we are seeing the results of a decades-long commitment of the New Left, particularly the Weather Underground.
Here’s an item from a short-lived Evergreen State College blog in 2012. I guess the kids lost interest but they get the history and strategy of the radical left.
“Prarie Fire” was a key document the Weather Underground high command published to explain their latest, most comprehensive strategy.
___________________________________________
In 1974 when “Prairie Fire” was written the Weather Underground had realized the shortcoming of there underground tactics in the previously stated sense. So “Prairie Fire”, called for the creation of both mass and clandestine, or underground, organizations. The clandestine organizations would be in charge of the development and early creation of a people’s militia, as well as carrying out previous underground tactics, and raising consciousness. That mass organization would support and encourage armed action to the mass of the public, in a more legitimized fashion. Under this ideology The Weather Underground could facilitate a far larger mass fallowing, while still advocating for a violent militant revolution. A quote within “Prairie Fire”, states “to leave people unprepared to fight the state is to seriously mislead them about the inevitable nature of what lies ahead.” This quote is in reference to the necessity of militant revolution a later quote states, “never disassociate mass struggle from revolutionary violence to do so was to do the states work”.
–http://blogs.evergreen.edu/maymeg14/blog/2012/03/10/prairie-fire/
huxley:
A new Andy McCarthy column on the necessity to restore order during this leftist insurrection.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/dominating-the-streets/
“We are seeing now what happens when the rule of law breaks down. It is frightening, but it is hardly unprecedented, even in modern history. Bryan Burrough’s spellbinding history Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence, which I reviewed for NR about five years ago, reminds us that in 1972 alone, there were 1,900 bombings in the United States, carried out, for the most part, by domestic terrorist groups and enraged individual American citizens. Regrettably, the radical “small-c communists” were not ultimately regarded as the sociopaths that they were. They eroded public support for our war effort in Vietnam, wrote the history in which they were lionized as social-justice icons against racist America, and triumphantly marched into academe, where they have taught and influenced the sociopaths who are making mayhem today.”
McCarthy characterizes the radical underground of the late 60s early 70s as sociopaths, who have infected/indoctrinated a new generation of sociopaths. Higher education in action. At least suicide bombers don’t reproduc. Ayers and Dohrn; they want others to die for their pathologies.
@ Cicero, at 10:48 pm:
It was me, not TJ, who wrote on new borders.
Actually, Our new Republic may be better off w/o Pacific access, given the effect of that access has had on the Republic.
It has tempted us into Asian wars, and into trading with criminal regimes which eventually exported to us a virus, which has quite possibly dealt our economy a fatal blow.
On other aspects, recall I see it as key,
for each new country to have decently defensible frontiers, such that they would have major disincentive to attack each other.
I’d only consider trying to drive the very hard bargain you suggest (with the Blues), if we had a position of overwhelming strength.
I’m aiming to avoid a catastrophic civil war, which would likely result in many tens of millions dead.
McCarthy characterizes the radical underground of the late 60s early 70s as sociopaths, who have infected/indoctrinated a new generation of sociopaths.
om: That’s an interesting thought. Perhaps neo might like to take it on.
In my view some radicals certainly are sociopaths. People who aspire to power often are. However, I think McCarthy is over-generalizing.
I was loosely aligned with the radical left in the 70s and 80s. Most of those people were decent, well-meaning folks who had been persuaded by the moral stances of the radical left. There is a step-by-step progression which can feel quite inevitable. Next thing you know, you are on an FBI list.
The thing about sociopaths in the DSM sense is that they tend to self-destruct because they are dishonest, treat people poorly and take impulsive risks. It catches up with them eventually.
As much as I dislike, say, Bill Ayers and Barack Obama, I don’t see them as sociopaths. They are relatively stable, have stable families and play a long game.
Broken window fallacy, under new management.
https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/05/IMG_3024.jpeg?w=750&ssl=1
“If you don’t support the leader of your party (Trump) that’s close enough to Never Trump for me.” – Oliver T
You guys talking about NeverTrumpers like these?
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/we-need-law-and-order-but-not-necessarily-federal-troops/
By THE EDITORS
June 2, 2020 5:10 PM
[6 paragraphs of the things Trump has done right, and legal justification for calling in federal troops — if the governors will accept them — followed by the NR’s patented brand of petty prattle.]
Which just demonstrates why the NR’s Never Trump issue got just about everything wrong.
If it were not for McCarthy, I wouldn’t read that rag at all any more, and it used to be one of my top sites.
Agree the fireworks show wont stop. All I would say is that the Democrats don’t understand that all their fireworks just demonstrate their own corruption and ends justifies means thinking. Arnold Toynbee said in the 40s that civilisations fall because the internal proletariat loses confidence in the dominant elite and refuses to defend it against the external proletariat. In our time we have seen first militant Islam, and now China have a go. The Internal proletariat increasingly understands this in the US and the UK and elsewhere in the the West. Our civilisation may fall, but either way the US election goes the jig is up because the dominant elite has passed beyond the capacity the see the problem, much less respond to it intelligently as, for example, FDR did at the beginning of the era that is now ending. They have become like the Bourbons of whom Tallyrand said: “They have forgotten nothing and they have learned nothing.” My irrepressible optimist says that the elites may have peaked too early with these riots. Black voices like Larry Elder and Candice Owens may make sense to even more Black voters come November. I’m an American and something in me refuses to accept that is is over.
Completely correct, AesopFan.
Thanks for that link, neo. I’d forgot, however, that Lileks does suffer from a Rubio veneration delusion, exposed to us again in recent days. Little Rubio can’t help but BJ fascist Left media and mouth Globalist anti-American pieties and advance them. Nonetheless, Lileks can keep score on Trump, and that’s persuaded him.
More enthusiastic still is ricochet member Franco who’s probably more up to date in his score keeping:
And the last critical point is what we live with this week. Democrat strongholds will continue to deny troops and taking control and forever indulge the pretence of far Left noble protesters by day, while riot and arson will grow by night, especially as Marxist led BLM and Brownshirt Antifa re-supply and re-position themselves.
Look towards the weekend.
Meanwhile, over at Instapundit, an enormous cache of horrifying media censored violent riot and pillaging videos have been posted and are now circulating.
Will people get fed up and launch a Peoples’ Vigilantes Posse hunt down fascist Antifa criminals and take them out, within a week? we see mooted in comments.
There is always talk. I still see no hero’s organizing themselves, much less taking action. And if a tree falls….who would hear it, these days?
Via UndercoverHuber, a tweet thread wherein Leftists project and talk themselves into a lather over facing down Barr/Trump fascism because they see federal officers dressed like troops within the only federal city, DC: https://twitter.com/dfriedman33/status/1267936203522932738
Huh?
Downthread:
Patrick O’Reilly
@yllierop
·
2h
Replying to
@dfriedman33
FYI: These are agents from the Federal Bureau of Prisons part of the riot teams
=======
As previously announced by Trump.
The lying about Donald Trump is now completely out of control In the Left media.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/02/the-lying-about-donald-trump-is-now-completely-out-of-control/
That’s now how I see it, today.
TJ,
I like Franco’s Luftwaffe analogy for the Media. I’ve struggled to come up with one but in my mind I always considered their power something akin to rhetorical air superiority.
As far as Rubio is concerned, any amount of respect I may have had for that guy (and one might have needed a microscope to detect it prior to this week) blew away like a fart in a hurricane yesterday.
If there’s anything I can’t stand more than a leftist it’s a shallow, corrupt conservative waiting on the balls of their feet, ready to side against their own people or culture for a shred of approbation (which will not be substantial even if it we’re forthcoming) from the enemies of Western Civilization.
He’s descended from Cubans. He should know better. What a worthlessness POS he is.
Law itself is broken.
That BLM or ALM crap is out. The new slogan they live by is No Lives Matter.
So… time for some practical advice. Be prepared to help yourself.
First buy a concealable firearm (a revolver in .32 H&R doesn’t kick at all, and will fit in your purse, and is point-and-shoot… Charter Arms makes a reliable one at a budget price). Carry it with you everywhere. The police will not help you (even if they were willing – which is no longer guaranteed – at best they’d be late to the scene).
Next buy a long gun… one that has a large magazine capacity. Make sure it’s one of those scary looking ones the Democrats have railed against for years. In .223 remington or 5.56 nato… you won’t notice the light recoil in the heat of the moment.
Also, keep in mind: the real purpose of handguns is to give you time and cover to make it to your long gun.
Last… stock up with a few thousand rounds of ammo.
… and when they come for you and yours, aim for center mass. None of that bs about shooting warning shots in the air, either. You’ll be dealing with rabid animals who have forfeited their humanity and all right to peace and prosperity as proven by their intent to deprive you of yours.
You got this.
Put ’em down.
It’s war. Be in it to win.
I’m completely out of patience with all these noisome little sh!ts.
Insanity, utter dishonesty, and promoting lawlessness, violence and civil war are current Democratic Party, left-wing and MSCM values.
https://www.city-journal.org/national-media-cover-for-violent-thugs
H/T Powerline blog
How that’s going to be “walked back” is anyone’s guess.
No doubt the “only solution” is a Democratic Party administration elected in November.
Then, everyone can heave a sigh of relief (because insanity, utter dishonesty, and promoting lawlessness, violence and civil war are Democratic Party values)….
Something interesting occurred to me…
The leftist think that they are supporting something that will attack the not left
but it turns out, that the leftists have been prepared to be the victims and targets
the riots and attacks have been in left bastions, against what is mostly left people
against mostly businesses that supported the left..
the not left is not the target, it was never weakened or prepared to be
by far the ones getting put upon, losing jobs, being attacked, being locked down, businesses being destroyed, are in left areas…
they were not prepared to be the force of change, but the weak point link in the chain
they were not set up to be the winners, but to lose, to be the point of action
precisely because, unlike the not left, their responses are maladaptive to win
Neo
I’m with you on “the left counting on feeling of weariness” sentiment. It’s a leftist’s tactic. It works.
That feeling applied by the left is powerful enough to effect desire for change. Change into what? Change into anything that’ll separate one from daily grinder of riots, looting ,burning, chaos towards some measure of calm. Regardless of price one has to pay to get there?. Sleepy Joe over Donny the counter puncher?. Give anarchists what they want so they’ll let us get back to our lives?.
Fractal, Barry, I’m in Complete agreement. We’re in a Cold Civil war gone…from Luke warm to hot. Not yet scalding, though.
While I’m more optimistic for a MAGA Trump win in November, the problem lies in…now what? And what happens next?
Or more precisely, how does any positive leadership develop? The battlefield prep turns on both Organization and legal-politico information space, likely this month, regarding Obamagate.
If no Special Prosecutor emerges this month to investigate Obamunist sedition, or possibly, remotely, later summer, then I will turn long-term pessimistic.
But if it does, then preparation for Patriotic Insurrection will ripen. Because causus bellus consciousness will spread!
Anybody want to share other signals or sign posts to watch out for?
Duty Now and For The Future!
One needful thing is to organise and confront treason on the a Right! They HATE the middle class. They HATE American constitutional liberty.
Yeah, sure, they may be marginal. But not to the Left Marxist moronic media. This message does not get out without pushback!
As neo writes above, “Propaganda works. But it hasn’t yet clinched the deal.”
Rubio and Sasse have been mentioned, Pierre D Romney is perennial. But now the MSM Stockholm poster child has no tossed his treasonous hat into the ring, I see, with George W. “Bush Administration Officials Launch Pro-Biden Group” virtue signaling headlines in Breitbart.
Talk about High Treason! This must be the season for the theme of the evil horror of Treason by all sides!
“We kill Traitors! Shouldn’t we kill Republican Traitors, too?” Is to simply raise this war cry, which is to incite issue investigation by any persuadable soul. And to ridicule their presence and thereby mute their fake claim of “authority!”
To target RepubloCrat Traitors like Bush and Romney, et al, raises how the fact that the Ruling Class has failed the common man and therefore must be replaced in full and completely!
Ergo, the Trump Agenda must succeed.
We all wail and moan that Trump Agenda supporters in Congress are far, far, too few. True. But here’s a route to leverage their increase! And re-shape public perceptions in a Presidential election.
Finally, consider this hard, fast fact. If people cannot be roused from their slumber and delusions of lying propaganda, then we absolutely deserve the whirlwind of tyranny.
This is the Last Stand for a sacred Patriotic cause, the quest to punish and extirpate America Treason.
On Fox the other night saw reports of a couple of instances in which the supposed “protestors” persuaded the cops and military personnel arrayed against them to “take a knee,” as some sort of sign of their solidarity with protests against the death of George Floyd.
As Tucker Carlson rightly pointed out, that meant that the supposed protestors—very ideologically savvy–were now a long way toward “turning,” toward gaining control over these cops and military personnel.
The cops, and particularly the military personnel involved, should be very clear about, and made very aware that they are fighting to preserve civilization against an enemy which wants to “fundamentally transform” and essentially destroy it; to rule over the ashes, to take over.
And that this is not just a physical battle, but a psychological and ideological one as well, and that by not adamantly and vigorously opposing—at every turn, and in every way possible–these violent people trying to loot and destroy our civilization but, instead, “taking a knee” as these protestors demanded, they were already part way to losing the battle.
TJ on June 3, 2020 at 10:17 am said: Fractal, Barry, I’m in Complete agreement. We’re in a Cold Civil war gone…from Luke warm to hot. Not yet scalding, though.
I completely disagree… overmagnification of the chicken sh*t protestors is the problem of why it may SEEM this way…
did you notice that open carry states did not have riots this way or as much, as people were going to get shot attacking businesses and persons?
did you notice the sale of guns went through the roof
did you notice that compared to the population in any single place, the protestors were a very small minority and the looters even smaller?
did you notice that these protestors attacked in locations that were their friendlies? but also focused on damaging the poor? that by far, each person watching the looting in their neighborhood wasnt seeing black folk tearing apart the landscape in anger (even less so in UK, France, Australia, and Germany). They were seeing college educated anarchistic social justice warriors who really wanted to look cool and have a story but didnt really care about the reason they protested or what they did to protest:
11 – 13 dead
2 cops murdered by a van that opened doors shot them and drove off
poor sections of town destroyed and left w damage that wont get repaired
poor sections noticing that ATMs, Drugstores, Phone shops, Jewelry stores were targeted more than other things? oh, and liquor stores…
in the tremont section, grand concourse section of the bronx where i grew up, the news reported it looked like a tornado hit… they talked to a liquor shop owner who is obviously an immigrant, who is very poor, and whose business was destroyed… as they filmed people walking around with bottles stolen from him and with no recourse.
you see, there is a huge contingent of people who dont mind authoritarianism because they dont do anything in their lives that let them think it would be directed at THEM. Like the third rail they just wont touch it and would go through their lives mostly unmolested, even if they lived in communist China.
then lastly… the protestors did not get any politician of any side way means or shape to promise to reform the police departments… but you can be freaking sure that these same politicians are thinking up legal code that will put such in their place next time. Christ Cuomo part of a really asshole family, said where is it that it says protests have to be peaceful, being completely ignorant of the first amendment that allows him to be a news personage.
The over 40 percent of democrats who say its ok to use the national guard to stop this, and the other large percentage (not as much as the not right) saying go ahead use the military, have insured that we will have a more authoritarian state going forwards.
rather than fix the police, your going to see a military presence all over the place.
The behavior of the rioters looting have resulted in a less free state with more police and you can be sure laws to be drafted which will allow them to use more force in such situations without punishment because it will then be legal not questionable.
when the real force showed up, not one protestor fought… none, zero, zilch, nada
no one stormed the police lines… at worst they acted like babies who would throw a water bottle or some item and try to run away… this is not like the days of rage in any way shape or form… these are not impassioned people who, knowing they will be arrested, go whole out to attack the opposition… these are poseurs and posturers who once real force shows, run to their cars and drive away… who are shocked when they are hit with a rubber bullet and go to the news cameras as if the world which saw them standing there making an ass of themselves protesting for no reason (as there are no demands to be met that were not met already), would give them sympathy
and lets not forget that wonderful black woman, who i think might have served in the military… she may have worked at Mount Sinai hospital as a nurse being let go… (her giving her life portion of her rant)… she was shaming those white middle class assholes going into alphabet city (2nd ave and 12th, i know it well from its heroin days and cocaine crack eras of the 70s then 80s), destroying poor peoples only resources like charging stations
as this went on the 9 million slated to be unemployed as a number came in at 2 million… the stock market has been rallying through all this… if ANYTHING can tell the future, or be panicked easy as a barometer of uncertainty, its the stock market… seriously… it plummeted on Covid, its rallying through the riots..
does that sound like they are crazy thinking there is going to be a insurgency that will last beyond the next few days or week or so?
no.. this is not going to be what it seems to be as people focus so close they cant see the big picture… just as i said covid wasnt going to be that big cause the slope of the line was not enough to reach escape velocity vs time… and the bs around it… i can call this out too…
i have seen it in history when real protests happen with real concerns, and people are not paid, and real fights go on… this is nothing like that.. the news may want to make it into that, but you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear
the democratic party may have committed intergenerational suicide
as their mostly more moderate supporters realize that they supported this
that they supported the press to do this, and the state people elected
i dont know if they will realize that they were taught to be the targets!!!!!!!!
That their pacifism, their trust in the left, their bleeding heart socialism, their willingness to ignore a insurgency as a protest… made them all victims!! that they have been taught to be weak, and so, be attacked as their own side as the weakest point to do so.. they been disarmed, they been unprepared to fight thinking that what they support would go after the ‘other side’, they thought their support would garner the spirit of death passing over their doorways covered in lambsblood… it didnt… they are confused… they may even still support things… but they are no longer going to be so set and easy to be the target of their own side!!!
Re: My post above at 11:43 this morning–
Here is someone else who very publicly “takes a knee” in surrender, Joe Biden.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/06/02/biden-takes-a-knee-media-ignore-photo-op-narrative/
They felt the same way a generation earlier, when Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. “Oh that’s right. Those are our planes now.” When Newt Gingrich et alia came along in 1994, it was viewed as a retrograde rebellion, a denial of history, a kind of thievery. The close election of 2000 was viewed similarly. It was seen as thievery, not because of real facts, but because things weren’t supposed to be this way. The objections they raised were answered, usually quite easily, but it did not matter. The election of Obama was an even greater sigh of relief. At last the world was coming to its senses, and the Right Tribe was going to rule again, this time even more fully.
If you trace backward, you will see much of the same tribalism and March of History rhetoric around the election of JFK as well. The New Frontier. While historic inevitability is ascribed mostly to communists and true leftists, one can see a milder version in mere liberals.
Populists and Trump supporters insist that they are angrier because of DJT. Maybe a little, but I have seen this too many times to agree. Had Ted Cruz or even more traditional Washington Republicans been elected they would have been just as infuriated. They aren’t angry at anything about who is in power. They are just angry that they are not.
If you say this sounds like childlike behavior I will nod and spread my hands.
Artfldgr, points to the stock market. I’ve been watching that as well. Why is it going up? Does the smart money see the riots as street theater? Or do they think this is the end for DJT? Many big time investors don’t like his anti-globalist policies. They may think the riots will turn voters against the Donald and GOP. IMO, they’re not seeing the affect on the silent majority. 68% favor using the military to quell the riots. That’s the silent majority speaking.
For sure, things are moving toward a point where people will take more notice than usual. That usually leads to big voter turnouts.
I watched some of the Judiciary Committee hearings his morning. Rod Rosenstein under the gun. He played the Sgt. Schultz card. He KNEW NOTHING about a plot to get rid of the President. What a pipsqueak! The Dems put on quite a show. The Mueller Report showed collusion. There was Russian interference in our elections and they favored DJT. Cohen, Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulos, and Flynn were all convicted of crimes. Ergo, DJT is an unindicted crook. The GOP senators didn’t do much except for Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham. But I didn’t see it all. I hope some of the other GOP senators asked some probing questions and put Rosenstein on the hot seat. Anyhow, the Obamagate evidence is starting to come out. Are the riots intended to drown that out? We’ll see.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/06/the-forgotten-man.php
Another item for the “Democratic politicians are scum” file.
AesopFan said “If it were not for McCarthy, I wouldn’t read that rag at all any more, and it used to be one of my top sites.”
I mostly agree, except I think some of Victor Davis Hanson’s pieces are worth reading.
OK -VDH is also on my list, but he writes for several other publications now.
Okay – I found another guy at NR who seems to have his head on straight.
Don’t remember reading his posts before.
It’s a good analysis of why the Democrat cities seem to be the hotspot for police abuse and “racism” — police unions bribe politicians to overlook problems.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/obamas-blindspot-on-police-unions-and-police-abuse/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=blog-post&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=more-in&utm_term=first
Xennady is correct. This is not the activity of winners. Winners wrap up their wins with legislation and filling the bureaucracy with their people. Neo is also correct, there is no end in sight and the election won’t quiet them down.
This is a Blue Bubble phenomena that is more extreme because they are losing the normal people who would be a check on the types that are doing the damage. The absence of normal people has allowed them to act out their fantasies without restraint.
The Blue Bubble unionized cities are lost. They will end up like much of the South after the Civil War, desolate wastelands for decades with occupants at subsistence level, avoided and ignored as nearby areas flourish and the self-sufficient leave. Detriots and Baltimores, constantly electing incompetent leaders and hopelessly corrupt.
The communications revolution is changing everything. Musk’s Starlink is going live this fall bringing broadband Internet everywhere. Cities are obsolete.
I can’t even begin to count the number of prominent, and supposedly hugely impressive and talented people who, in the last several years, have been praised to the skies by the MSM and others–and were appointed to the Trump Administration–only to turn out to be huge disappointments–and nowhere near as impressive, as knowledgeable, as Conservative, as able, or as wise as they were made out to be.
Now we see why President Trump fired his former Secretary of Defense, General Mattis.
I can’t imagine how someone who is touted as a true American patriot, as a very successful war fighter and high ranking military officer, can have such a warped, leftist view of history and the world.
Perhaps, if Marine General Mattis’ statement and viewpoint are any indication, the rot may run a lot deeper than I thought in our military.
See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/06/former-trump-secdef-mattis-joins-resistance-blasts-president-handling-riots-nazi-slur/
Snow on Pine:
Yes, if it wasn’t for feet of clay most of them would have no feet at all.
No wonder Diogenes went around with that lamp for a long, long time.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try.” – Mattis
Obama is not the only Democrat with a blindspot — and it’s not really a blindspot at all; they know what they are saying.
Note that in the excerpt linked, Mattis clearly conflates the legitimate (mostly black) peaceful protesters and the illegitimate (mostly white) violent rioters.
And pretends Trump wants to attack the former, when he is clearly referring to the latter.
Charlottesville propaganda on steroids.
I greatly admired Mattis as a general and leader, but I think SecDef was his Peter Principle. He was probably better staying at a level where he was constrained by the tradition of not getting involved in politics.
Bryan – when I first learned about the Peter Principle, in the seventies, I realized that it meant that NEARLY ALL of our top leaders in business, community, and government eventually are in over their heads.
https://ricochet.com/764334/james-mattis-compares-donald-trump-to-nazis-in-statement-to-the-atlantic/
By Max Ledoux June 3, 2020
And that Democrat fainting-couch-bit about it not being cricket to use military against citizens is rubbish —
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/06/02/mayor-de-blasio-used-national-guard-to-quarantine-neighborhoods-during-virus-now-refuses-national-guard-to-prevent-mob-violence-looting-and-arson/
PowerLine –
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/06/mattis-mush.php
“Mattis states: “We do not need to militarize our response to protests.” We didn’t. The military was deployed in response to riots.
In Washington, D.C., the local police, guardsmen, and secret service members were outnumbered and outmatched by Antifa agitators and their thug shock troops. According to this report, more than 60 US Secret Service Uniformed Division officers and special agents were injured between Friday night and Sunday morning near the White House. They were injured because some protesters threw projectiles such as bricks, rocks, bottles, and fireworks at them. In addition, personnel reportedly were directly physically assaulted — kicked, punched and exposed to bodily fluids.
If Mattis considers attacks on Secret Service a mere distraction, he’s become too clueless to be taken seriously. Maybe we should be thankful he’s no longer our Secretary of Defense.
Mattis also sniffs, “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try.” But Trump’s response to recent events is what, broadly speaking, we should want from a president. He condemned the killing of George Floyd, calling it a tragedy, and members of his Department of Justice have been assigned to Minnesota to investigate. When rioting broke out, he condemned the rioters, urged mayors and governors to protect American citizens effectively, and deployed a small military presence to protect the nation’s capital.
American should be able to unite behind this response. It’s not Trump’s fault that we can’t.”