Kurt Schlichter, and I haven't even finished reading the whole thing.
[Townhall] The idea of a republic is that the people, through their representatives, get to make the laws that govern the country, but it appears that’s no longer a thing. What if you made a law, and no one enforced it? Is there even any point to the exercise? And if we can make all the laws we want and not have them enforced except in the limited manner that the people hired to enforce them choose, are we even a free country?
Well, it appears that our garbage elite does not think so, and it’s ecstatic about it.
Remember that dancing scroll on Saturday mornings, if you are of a certain age, and how it sang its ode to the democratic process? "I’m just a bill," it yodeled. The whole premise is that folks we elect go through this rigorous process of review and analysis and, after much work and debate, it pumps out a bright, shiny new law. The underlying assumption is that this actually matters, that when we make a law it gets treated like a law and not a suggestion.
It’s all a lie.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/08/2021 08:09 ||
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#1
Wrong question. The correct one is, can we ever get it back?
#2
For those who feel all is lost, How did that 1000 year Reich work out? How bout the USSR? How would NKor or Cuba or Venezuela be doing today without outside help from True Believers™ at the US DoS?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/08/2021 9:04 Comments ||
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#3
Makes me thing of Star Trek, 1967 - Mirror, Mirror
Mirror Spock: I shall operate the transporter. You have two minutes and ten seconds.
Captain James T. Kirk: In that time, I have something to say. How long before the Halkan prediction of galactic revolt is realized?
Mirror Spock: Approximately two hundred and forty years.
Captain James T. Kirk: The inevitable outcome?
Mirror Spock: The Empire shall be overthrown, of course.
Captain James T. Kirk: The illogic of waste, Mr. Spock. A waste of lives, potential, resources, time. I submit to you that your Empire is illogical because it cannot endure. I submit that *you* are illogical to be a willing part of it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/08/2021 10:05 Comments ||
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#4
An imperfect Republic is still a Republic. We have trappings of oligarchy for sure but I think the label Republic still applies.
Posted by: Cholulet Spawn of the Munchkins5110 ||
03/08/2021 11:22 Comments ||
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#7
When the Speaker of the House becomes effectively a Parliamentary Prime Minister, when the US Senate is made into a rubber stamp and when the Electoral College is made irrelevant ... then we will no longer be a Republic.
...And they are really, really pushing for these changes in the interests of (Quote) Democracy (Un-Quote).
"Democracy? You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."
#8
Start by restoring the fundamental underpinning of the republic: The Constitution. Repeal the 17th amendment, audit the Fed, and then repeal the 16th amendment. Those were the “progressive” amendments and have slowly poisoned this nation into mob rule by oligarchs who manipulate the mobs.
#9
I certainly would not say I feel that all is lost, by any means. But as the result of a misspent youth I have been on multiple, yea numerous compass courses. If there's a lesson I believe it is that no amount of wishing will put you in the desired location; you are exactly where you are like it or not.
I don't know what you call this at the moment, but plainly we departed the issue map altogether. There is certainly partial, historic overlap with many situations. For my part I'm not interested in naming this cluster conjugation, just getting the greatest country on Earth out of it.
They make one law for us and keep another for themselves. From the ongoing destruction of Seattle vs the 7th grade field trip that got out of hand on 6 JAN to the working man's centi-milionaire Bruce Springsteen.
Even as I write they are manufacturing new law and regulation to control and confine us to the greatest extent possible. I'm sorry, that is not a republic and if in some way it still has some trappings to be found here and there it sure isn't OUR republic.
I'm not trying to tell anybody what to think, I don't own the country or the experience. But these are a few of the reasons I think what I think.
#11
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I certainly would not say I feel that all is lost, by any means.
Darkest before the dawn and all that. Yes. The late 60s and early 70s were pretty scary. Carter's last year in office was shaky too. Many people feared we wouldn't come through it, but we did.
I don't know what you call this at the moment, but plainly we departed the issue map altogether.
The weirdness is almost entirely cultural - a kind of cultural Marxism, supported by elites. China's a threat but we're not at war with them; China's less menacing than the USSR was at its height - see Carter era above. The economy's not nearly as shaky as it was in '79.
There is certainly partial, historic overlap with many situations.
The biggest parallels are with weird moments of mass hysteria. Salem Witch Trials, medieval pogroms against Jews, the late 80s collective madness about phantom daycare child murderers etc.
They make one law for us and keep another for themselves.
Yes. This is by far the greatest threat. The Q of Qatar at this point is which way our law enforcement and National Guard and rank and file AD military will tilt.
Will they enforce these obviously illegal and unconstitutional dictates? How will they respond to a thousand little acts of defiance by the citizenry? Where do their loyalties lie?
Even as I write they are manufacturing new law and regulation to control and confine us to the greatest extent possible. I'm sorry, that is not a republic
Agree 100%. This is an Oligarchy in league with rapacious, extortionist Cultural Marxists.
#14
It hasn't been for a couple decades. You just noticed? When special interests and self promoting minorities strip the vast majority of their rights, its not even near a republic. There is a fundamental difference between tolerance and demanding submission.
#16
Lewis H. Lapham 'The Wish For Kings' page 11, Grove Press, NY, Copyright 1993.
Measured as a percentage of the population, the presiding oligarchy is small - probably no more than between 2 and 5 percent - but measured as an absolute number of ambitious and well-connected individuals, the oligarchy is large - possibly as many as 4 million people united in their devotion to the systems in place and the wisdom in office. By and large they are the people who manage the government, own the media and the banks, operate the universities, print the money, and write the laws.
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Yasin Aktay, advisor to President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... and deputy chairman of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), wrote a column titled "What’s Biden trying to do in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ?"
His essay was against the background of a CIA report on the beloved martyr of journalism Jamal Khashoggi ......who was simultaneously a very well paid Washington Post columnist and a long time propagandist for the Moslem Brotherhood and Al Qaeda — he died while on the Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i payroll, but previously wrote at the behest of then-Saudi intel chief Prince Turki al-Faisal...... murder case.
"The report, which was ignored with dirty plans during former US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... ’s term, being sensationally brought up on the agenda during Biden’s term does not show that the new US administration is seeking justice," wrote Aktay.
"On the contrary, it is very clear that it wants to use the Khashoggi case against Saudi Arabia as a trump card," he added.
"Our aim in the Khashoggi case, on the other hand, has never been to corner Saudi Arabia in any manner," explained Aktay, but went on to confirm that "the Biden administration is not seeking justice or humanitarian values in the Khashoggi case."
"On the contrary, it wants to use this case as an instrument for its own Middle East policies," he argued, concluding that "due to such approaches, the US is not a convenient authority to seek justice on any grounds in the world."
Aktay’s statements leave readers wondering if they stemmed from strongly held principles, from a logic followed by a country with sense of rationality, or political opportunism.
Given Turkey’s awareness of its involvement in human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations, Aktay’s argument is undoubtedly anchored in political opportunism.
Ankara realized it could be targeted by Washington’s selective practicing of human rights defense. It is hard to believe that the US truly cares for human rights when it continues to reject the international court’s findings on Israeli crimes against Paleostinians and ignores Iranian crimes in the region.
Aktay’s words go to show that Turkey perceives that it is being pursued by Washington’s choosy human rights defense policy. Ankara is also now trying to warm up to La Belle France and Egypt.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2021 00:00 ||
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[NRO] ...I do not think the United States is headed toward a civil war — civil wars are too much work. But it does matter that the dominant American political fantasy of our time is a dream of civil war. The mass arrests dreamt up by Q and the massacres envisioned by its rivals may be exercises in wishful thinking, but what Americans are wishing for matters.
So why this?
One of the functions of conspiracy theories — and of the histrionic mode of political discourse more generally — is that they give us something to talk about while we are assiduously not talking about what is actually going on. And what is actually going on is, more or less, this: The two main currents of American life — the rural-religious-conservative and the urban-hedonist-liberal — have always been at bottom incompatible, but that incompatibility seldom was felt urgently when those two ways of life were in effect independent sovereignties within the context of a regime that was federalist, local, and customary. But the big changes of the 21st century — globalization, political centralization, and the transformation of cultures by the Internet — have all pushed community life in the direction of standardization and homogeneity: Where there had been hundreds of wildly diverse newspapers there is now a handful of likeminded technology giants; where there had been tolerance and even celebration of regional variety in both public administration and personal manners, there is now an exacting political and social puritanism, so vicious that it cannot even leave room for Dr. Seuss; where there had been a complex ecosystem of institutions and relationships, there is a series of crude symbiotic oppositional pairs: Donald Trump populism and Bernie Sanders populism, Fox News and MSNBC, QAnon and people who get their political news from Saturday Night Live.
Whether that state of affairs amounts to a series of relatively trivial social rivalries or an existential threat to national coherence depends largely on how much the two tribes sincerely hate each other. And right at this moment, the evidence suggests that the mutual hatred is both intense and widespread. That’s good news for such entrepreneurs as Elizabeth Warren, the po-faced Jim Jones of punitive tax policy, but it is bad news for the country.
What worries me is a small collection of Lone Wolfs
attacking Far Left or Blue Rhino Congressional types. Thus giving the Nancy-crats and excuse to use Biden's mindless hand to issue emergency orders to allow them greater controls.
I would not put it past the Nancy-Crats to offer up a few Sacrificial Lambs by conducting such an operation to further their Socialist Goals.
#2
I think the alarm we are seeing from the left as more states end the lockdown charade is a sign of their realization that they are not going to have an easy time making all of America look like San Fran Nan's insurrection theater Washington DC.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/08/2021 7:39 Comments ||
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#3
Ref #2: But that will not stop them, if the past 25 years are any measure.
#4
A radical rearrangement would help. Cede the west coast, excepting military access lanes, to Mexico and fence it off. Cede New England back to Europe. Move the US government to the central US, say Kansas. Allow 9 reps total from each state. Provide secure land lines from the US government to each state for congressional voting and conferencing. Cede the DC back to Virginia and Maryland retaining the museums and office space. Require that federal executive appointees reside in and operate out of the new federal capital. Whew!!
#5
I don't think dreaming of mass arrests is civil war, not if you truly felt they committed crimes and aren't just being arrested because they are the opposition party. The Q believe these folks are human-trafficking pedophile satanists after all.
#8
not much left of the West: Idaho,Wyoming,Utah,Montana (kind of), N. and S. Dakotas,Nebraska,Kansas,Oklahoma and Texas.
the rest are now RINO states (Ariz.New Mex.Colo.Nev.Ore.WA.CA.HI.AK)
#9
irish rage boy, a better answer is to allow the blue states to join Canada and invite the central Canadian provinces to join the red states in the USA.
Having said that, the Democrats will have a civil war between their socialist and corrupt wings and the GOP will win in 2020 and 2024 setting things more or less back to normal for another decade.
[TOWNHALL] Five accusers have now stepped forward claiming New York Governor Andrew Sonny Cuomo touched them in ways that were inappropriate and personally invasive.
A journalist, an assembly member, and three former aides say he threatened to destroy them, and was verbally abusive.
This particular governor, at an early point in the 2020 presidential race, was rumored to be the savior of the Democratic Party ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... , to swoop in and replace a frontrunner who is visibly deteriorating before the eyes of the nation.
At that time, in what will go down as one of the most dishonest eras of journalism in all of history, Cuomo was being propped up by all as a miracle worker in the fight against COVID.
In truth, he mishandled the crisis by every measure. More deaths, hospitalizations, and infections on top of the most severe closures and economic ruin coupled with mental anguish, anxiety and devastation, outcomes so tragic that even now any sign of hope is still projected as months away. And this in spite of the fact that he is finally beginning to peel back his measures bit by bit.
It’s also not just him...
The governors of New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Washington and Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, are not far behind him.
Grabbing and exploiting emergency powers they plunged their states into some of the most severe conditions not seen since the 1930s. They have almost universally been denounced as unconstitutional by the courts. They have ruined the lives of their constituents. And, most stunning of all, the governors feel arrogantly insulated against consequence.
Few New Yorkers believe Cuomo will face justice—despite his power grab sending nearly eight times the number of people to their death as Osama bin Ladin did on 9/11.
Even though California has two million signatures on a petition to recall Gavin can't be Bee'd Newsome ...mayor of San Franciscoas it transformed itself into Poopville, currently governor of Californiaas it transforms itself into Cinderland... as governor, it is far from clear that a recall will be successful.
With added confusion about the genuine possibility of any actual voting integrity measures being put in place in some of these states, it is beginning to appear as though no matter how corrupt, dangerous and deadly these tyrants appear to be, they have either the power, mechanisms, or both, to prevent paying a real price.
And why wouldn’t they?
Look at the leader of their party. Defying 100 years of tradition. No actual press access. A press secretary who is as useless as an answering machine. And a codger so befuddled by his daily activities that even when he has note cards in his suit pocket to use, he can’t seem to make heads or tails of where he is, what he’s doing or even who he’s speaking to.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2021 00:00 ||
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Finally, they are starting to notice.
[ToddStarnes] Cancel culture is coming to a symphony hall near you. And Todd Starnes predicted this in his new book, “Culture Jihad: How to Stop the Left From Killing a Nation.” Click here to read.
The Washington Post issued a call to arms on Thursday to the angry mob after publishing a report that showed a troubling percentage of white musicians in orchestras and – even though we don’t exactly know how to respond— something needs to change faster than a pianist’s fingers in Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata (3rd movement).”
Michael Andor Brodeur, the classical music critic at the paper, argues that it is high time that the country examines its iconic music chambers due, in part, to its reawakening on social injustice after recent killings by police in the U.S. More at the link
#2
They tried this about 20 year ago . They got push back from Black musicians . It seems that all the major orchestras use "blind" auditions for chair positions to prevent nepotism and other forms of bias. When a Black musician passes a blind audition it is very hard to "punish" him for being black.
Was in McDonough, GA. a few weekends ago at the outdoor Flea Market. When we got to the upper end for the weekend setup tables, we had to turn around and leave. A table had RAP songs blaring MF this, MF that, P,N,H words, and other explicit words etc... etc....(NC-17+++).
Last weekend we did the Augusta Ga. Barn Yard Flea Market. Very mixed race and 99% respectful with all around good Southern manners and courtesy. Except for one 30 year old 'ish extra heavy-set Black Guy walking around with a portable Blue Tooth Boom Tube Speaker, blaring filthy worded RAP.
I figured he was just trying to get a rise out of certain people types as he would stop for extended times around them and turn up the volume.
If this is WOKE?
Then maybe we need to introduce WOKE to the Real World which still requires respect, proper decorum and behavior in Public. Especially when in Family environments.
Instead of just appeasing them for things that 99.999999% of us never did in the last 4 generations.
#11
I have listened to some SCA reenactors doing skaldic verse, to Gregorian Chants and ... Rap. Normally my theory is "whatever floats your boat", but Rap (and Italian Operetta for some reason) joins Heavy Metal as "noise pollution" to my tastes.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/08/2021 9:44 Comments ||
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#13
I liked Elton John's music for quite a while before I realized he was "colorful" to watch. Later, his preferences were thrust upon me, but I still like Crocodile Rock.
Close you eyes while listening to any music, and the performers can be anything you want them to be.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/08/2021 9:57 Comments ||
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#14
If people don't want to do something (STEM majors, Classical Music) how is it bad that there aren't many of them doing that thing?
There are very few asian rappers, there are few blacks in Heavy Metal, is this a problem? No.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
...mayor of San Franciscoas it transformed itself into Poopville, currently governor of Californiaas it transforms itself into Cinderland...
