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Whatever happened to Brandon? — 13 Comments

1. He’s from Nebraska and was arrested in Omaha.

2. Can we learn the name of the judge and the prosecutor(s) who handled his case? Presumably they’re proud of the work they do.

3. Cornhead:

   In case you misunderstood – and I’m not saying you did, but it occurs to me that you might have – I didn’t say he was arrested in DC, I said he was arrested for actions he committed while in DC.

   The phrasing was a bit confusing, perhaps.

4. Stratka’s sentencing is December 17, 2021, 2 pm.

   He’s represented by Stu Dornan who was the former county attorney here in Omaha, GOP. Stu was also an FBI agent.

   But as co-counsel is Big Fire Law Group which is owned by Native American Lance G. Morgan, Democrat. Lance runs Ho-Chunk, Inc a significant minority company here in Nebraska that cashes in on minority set-aside programs. Tribalism in its finest form.

   Straka is from O’Neill and that name doesn’t sound Native American. I can’t figure out the Big Fire connection at all. And that law firm has no criminal law experience.

   Lance is building three giant casinos in Nebraska. He will make millions. No competition. And I think he will be in the sports betting business.

5. I was wondering about Brandon the other day too. It’s good to hear he managed to get a plea agreement down to a misdemeanor. Still a miscarriage of justice, of course. But it could be a lot worse.

   I hope he will not be deterred from further activism. But it is more than understandable if he is.

6. I had not heard of the ‘Let’s go Brandon’ meme before, but I like it.

7. Ackler:

   It’s really funny, and it’s taken off with t-shirts and other merchandise.

8. The leftist democrats are following the old Japanese saying, “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.”

   In following that tactic, they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction and courting a terrible reckoning.

9. @ Geoffrey > hammering down the nails.

   The same concept is the core of an ancient Greek anecdote about Thrasybulus of Miletus, and has migrated to other tyrants.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrasybulus_of_Miletus

   Thrasybulus was an ally of Periander, the tyrant of Corinth. He features in a famous anecdote from Herodotus’s Histories, in which a messenger from Periander asks Thrasybulus for advice on ruling.Thrasybulus, instead of responding, takes the messenger for a walk in a field of wheat, where he proceeds to cut off all of the best and tallest ears of wheat. The message, correctly interpreted by Periander, was that a wise ruler would preempt challenges to his rule by “removing” those prominent men who might be powerful enough to challenge him; this story gave the name to Tall poppy syndrome.

   More than you probably want to know:
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome

   The concept originates from accounts in Herodotus’ Histories (Book 5, 92f), Aristotle’s Politics (1284a), and Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita Libri, Book I,[8][non-primary source needed] with reversed roles, referring to Periander’s advice to Thrasybulus via a herald.

   The specific reference to poppies occurs in Livy’s account of the tyrannical Roman king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. He is said to have received a messenger from his son Sextus Tarquinius asking what he should do next in Gabii, since he had become all-powerful there. Rather than answering the messenger verbally, Tarquin went into his garden, took a stick, and symbolically swept it across his garden, thus cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies that were growing there. The messenger, tired of waiting for an answer, returned to Gabii and told Sextus what he had seen. Sextus realised that his father wished him to put to death all of the most eminent people of Gabii, which he then did.

   The earliest English-language example of Tall Poppies being used as a metaphor for notables may be found in Roger L’Estrange’s newspaper, The Observator, in 1710. One party to a dialogue relates the tale of Tarquin, and later observes approvingly of his Royalist allies, “If you’ll have but a little Patience, you may see them make very noble Efforts towards striking off the Heads of the tall Poppies.”

   What I find interesting is its connection to the “equity” concept that’s driving the left’s ideology these days, especially when you look at the modern day treatment of TPs (Tall Poppies).

   Tall poppy syndrome is often used describe an Australian cultural phenomenon in which those who are perceived to be more accomplished are mocked and criticised. It is often described as being the by-product of Australia’s cultural value of egalitarianism, and as a ‘national characteristic’ of both Australia and New Zealand. Use of the phrase is first documented in 1864, with the common usage appearing after the publication of Susan Mitchell’s best-selling book “Tall Poppies” in 1984 in which Mitchell interviewed nine successful Australian women.

   Australia has scientifically studied TPS more than any other country, kept the definition very narrow, and is accessible in their dictionaries which also includes the definition of a TP. Most of their studies center on the behaviors of the individual cutter and cuttee. The cutter often has low self-esteem and envy of the TP and cuts the TP down to their size which gives their self-image a boost. If a TP’s behavior is deemed egregious for any variety of reasons, the cutter feels justified in cutting the TP down. They also linked Schadenfreude (joy from someone’s pain) to the cutter’s envy which drives both phenomena.

   The term is used in the same manner in New Zealand – people are expected to be humble and self deprecating, “as though excellence or superiority in a particular field somehow represented a rebuff to ideas of equality”.

   Any of that bolded part sound familiar?

   In Ireland it is prevalent within the culture to encourage humility in yourself and others. People perceived to be tall poppies will often be described as “getting notions about themselves” and the cautionary words of “don’t go getting notions about yourself” will meet any boastful remarks. This culture is most obvious in the Irish people’s cutting-down of Irish celebrities.

   This is effectively identical to the American version that I have observed, and heard of, in the Black and Hispanic communities. My mother, a teacher, was always livid when she told us about a promising minority student who would suddenly go from making straight As to nearly flunking because of being criticized at home or by peers for acting you-know-what or “thinking you’re something special” sort of thing.
   Fortunately, I also knew several exceedingly capable students in my HS who managed to ignore their community lobsters (Jordan Peterson’s analogy) and did very well.

   Now: if you are always cutting the wheat or the poppies to the same level, eventually you have no competent people left beneath the tyrant (who isn’t competent either, or he would learn how to make use of the people who would otherwise challenge him).

   Which also sounds familiar.

10. I have a black friend and former neighbor who drove back to the neighborhood where he grew up once a week to help tutor and mentor black kids. He was a sales manager for a Fortune 500 company.

    He was always frustrated that the kids refused to do their homework or study because of their determination to avoid acting white. Black kids were brutal in their teasing and harassment of anyone who tried to do school work. No matter how much he tried to show them how they were trashing their futures, they wouldn’t budge. The peer pressure was just too strong.

11. He was always frustrated that the kids refused to do their homework or study because of their determination to avoid acting white. Black kids were brutal in their teasing and harassment of anyone who tried to do school work. No matter how much he tried to show them how they were trashing their futures, they wouldn’t budge. The peer pressure was just too strong.

    Sequester the incorrigibles no one else will take in schools run by the Sheriff’s department. On the curriculum: sit down, shut up, and prepare for an ass-whipping. As for the other 3/4 of the slum youth population, private schools financed with donations, endowment income, and vouchers redeemable from a dedicated fund maintained by the county government. The fund would be financed with a foundational grant from the state treasury and from local tax proceeds. Such schools would be debarred by law from charging tuition or fees or making benefits conditional on donations. Parents who wanted to homeschool or whose child had won a scholarship at a tuition-financed private school could cash out their voucher for a fragment of it’s face value (say, their household’s contribution to the county fund divided by the number of school-age children in the household). Extant public schools could be granted corporate charters and placed under the authority of a board elected by a stakeholder body defined by law. Market choice by producers and consumers will act to sort each youth to a school with an institutional culture to which they are best adapted. Quality control can be maintained with requiring all students to submit to statewide regents examinations twice a year.

12. About cutting off their heads:

    During the reigns of Suleiman and Selim II, the Haseki Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: ????? ?????) or chief consort rose to greater prominence. Gaining power within the Imperial Harem, the favourite was able to manoeuvre to ensure the succession for one of her sons. This led to a short period of effective primogeniture. However, unlike the earlier period, when the sultan had already defeated his brothers and potential rivals for the throne in battle, these sultans had the problem of many half-brothers who could act as the focus for rival factions. Thus, to prevent attempts at seizing the throne, reigning sultans practiced fratricide upon accession, starting with Murat I in 1362.[15] Both Murad III and his son Mehmed III had their half-brothers murdered. The killing of all the new sultan’s brothers and half-brothers (which were usually quite numerous) was traditionally done by manual strangling with a silk cord. As the centuries passed, the ritual killing was gradually replaced by lifetime solitary confinement in the “Golden Cage” or kafes, a room in the harem from where the sultan’s brothers could never escape, unless perchance they became heir presumptive. Some had already become mentally unstable by the time they were asked to reign.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_dynasty#Succession_practices

13. This is good news indeed. He still has a web page.

    https://www.walkawaycampaign.com/

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