February 22, 2022

"When it comes to distant and adversarial countries, we are taught to recognize tyranny through the use of telltale tactics of repression...."

"But when these weapons are wielded by Western governments, the precise opposite framework is imposed: describing them as despotic is no longer obligatory but virtually prohibited. That tyranny exists only in Western adversaries but never in the West itself is treated as a permanent axiom of international affairs, as if Western democracies are divinely shielded from the temptations of genuine repression. Indeed, to suggest that a Western democracy has descended to the same level of authoritarian repression as the West's official enemies is to assert a proposition deemed intrinsically absurd or even vaguely treasonous. The implicit guarantor of this comforting framework is democracy. Western countries, according to this mythology, can never be as repressive as their enemies because Western governments are at least elected democratically. The implicit guarantor of this comforting framework is democracy. Western countries, according to this mythology,

can never be as repressive as their enemies because Western governments are at least elected democratically.... More inconveniently still, many of the foreign leaders we are instructed to view as despots are popular or even every bit as democratically elected as our own beloved freedom-safeguarding officials. As potent as this mythological framework is, reinforced by large media corporations over so many decades, it cannot withstand the increasingly glaring use of precisely these despotic tactics in the West. Watching Justin Trudeau — the sweet, well-mannered, well-raised good-boy prince of one of the West's nicest countries featuring such a pretty visage (even on the numerous occasions when marred by blackface) — invoke and then harshly impose dubious emergency, civil-liberties-denying powers is just the latest swing of the hammer causing this Western sculpture to crumble...."

Writes Glenn Greenwald in "The Neoliberal War on Dissent in the West/Those who most flamboyantly proclaim that they are fighting fascists continue to embrace and wield the defining weapons of despotism" (Substack).

Adding tags to this post, I noticed the rhyme of "democracy" and "hypocrisy" and wondered how many songs had used that rhyme. A search at Genius.com produced a list so long it kept adding new items as I scrolled. 

Not everything there is a song, though. Some things are speeches, and the one I clicked on was a July 26, 1959 speech by Fidel Castro. I know you won't resist saying the thing you always say about the aforementioned Justin Trudeau, but I will leave that in my notes for a modern "Dictionary of Received Ideas." 

What I want is to quote what Castro had to say about the democracy hypocrisy: 

For those abroad who defame us, to those who speak of democracy and slander us, we could offer no better argument than the million and more Cubans who have gathered here today. To those who speak in the name of democracy or who hypocritically invoke the word democracy to slander us we can say that this is democracy. Democracy is the fulfillment of the will of the people. Democracy is, as Lincoln said, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. A government not of the people is not a democracy; a government not for the people is not a democracy.

And what has the government of the Cuban revolution been since Jan. 1, 1959 but a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? A government of the people, not for a privileged group of people; a government of the people, not of an oligarchy; a government for the people, not for a group of politicians or military people we have as always had in Cuba....

We are ruling with the people and for the people and for this reason the people support us and will continue to support us. Those who wish to find out what a real democracy is should come to Cuba. Those who wish to find out what a ruling people are like should come to Cuba. Those who wish to find out what a ruling people are like should come to Cuba. Those who want to find out what the real word democracy means should come to Cuba....

87 comments:

CWJ said...

Greenwald's pull quote rings so true. I believed the it can't happen here because Americans will jealously guard their freedoms as will those we elect myth for the first sixty years of my life. But in the end, once we stopped believing the myth, the power to resist faded with the belief. People are people. We are no more immune than anyone else.

tim in vermont said...

The ruling elite in the West has been waging war on the working class for many years now, but here it has come out into the open.

Name the other well respected leaders who suspended civil liberties over a peaceful demonstration, forced labor, in this case tow truck drivers, to work against their will, and impressed the banks into his vendetta against his political opponents. I'll wait, but I won't hold my breath.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Holy crap Greenwald hits the nail on the head there, connects the dots and tells the truth.

hawkeyedjb said...

Here's a prediction: within a year, Substack will be gone.

mezzrow said...

Working on this right now - Taibbi is a must read this morning as well on basically the same subject. Here's his capper:

Open-ended preventive autocracy, in Canada. Who had that on a Bingo card? Justin Trudeau? Chrystia Freeland? Christ, it’s like waking up to learn the cast of The Office has declared the Fourth Reich. Boring people are dangerous, too.

Apparently he knew Freeland back in his Russian days. Much more at TK - he's on fire.

Iman said...

Blame Canada.

Enigma said...

Any person or culture tends to see itself as "good", have willful or inherent blind spots about its flaws, and tend to imagine its own problems also apply to others.

This is known as psychological projection -- the world is seen as you wish it to be. Hillary Clinton's "Vast right-wing conspiracy" actually followed from her participation in the mirror "Vast left-wing conspiracy." [See Carl Jung.]


Many democracies have done evil things. Many monarchies/oligarchies have been innocuous (at least during the reign of a specific king/leader). When democracies drift toward hereditary leadership (e.g., USA: Kennedy, USA: Bush, USA: Clinton, Canada: Trudeau) their behavior starts to resemble inherited monarchies and 20th Century Communism (N. Korea: Kim family, China, USSR).

Ideology lets us project and thereby feel good, but often doesn't connect to gray area pragmatic reality.

tim in vermont said...

They stand in place of thought, but we proclaim them each time—due to laziness, prejudice, or hypocrisy—as though they were fresh insight.

I don't know, I didn't believe, at first, that Castro was Justin's biological father, but the evidence is overwhelming, including a honeymoon visit to an "undisclosed island" in the Caribbean, 8 1/2 months before the birth of little Justin, which is officially recorded, but never acknowledged in any "debunking," so yeah, the more people who look into it, the more will believe it. It's kind of a movement thing, like the Alice's Restaurant thing. The idea is not yet "received" enough. Is it a "received idea" that man has landed on the moon? Aren't there holdouts?

Kevin said...

I believed the it can't happen here because Americans will jealously guard their freedoms as will those we elect myth for the first sixty years of my life.

The question has never been would we fight for our own freedom, but would we fight to protect someone else's?

Particularly when their freedom is not in alignment with our own.

David Begley said...

Tucker discussed Canada last night. The key takeaway is that Canada can just seize money and freeze bank accounts without a court order and no judicial review.

If true, that is tyranny. Tucker’s guests likened it China’s social credit system.

rhhardin said...

Democracy depends either on women not voting or at least upping their game into the big leagues.

rehajm said...

Throwing caution to the wind and embracing the vacuousness of a post that meanders from western despots to yacht rock song lyrics (and that’s just for starters)…

…I for one have no problem resisting the irresistible Castro mythology. Given Margaret’s early predilections it is easier to imagine Justin as composite character created from what have you from the floor of Studio 54 and not some steamy Havana nights. More Goldman Sachs than a Cuban peso…

rehajm said...

Open-ended preventive autocracy, in Canada. Who had that on a Bingo card? Justin Trudeau? Chrystia Freeland? Christ, it’s like waking up to learn the cast of The Office has declared the Fourth Reich. Boring people are dangerous, too.

Letterkenny explains a lot….

J L Oliver said...

In the end, it is truly about God-given rights. We supposedly elect people who will recognize and defend them. Thoughts on equity and not equality destroy the definition of rights. Definitions matter.

Humperdink said...

"Particularly when their freedom is not in alignment with our own."

First they came for the truckers, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trucker.

Then they came for the those who supported the truckers, and I did not speak out— because I did not support the truckers.

Then they came for those with unacceptable views, and I did not speak out—because I held acceptable views.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

rehajm said...

…a pheasant like Trudeau oot fer a rip and creating his own superpowers because he can…not much of a stretch…

Humperdink said...

When I read the Canadian parliament voted to extend Trudeau's tyranny, I thought maybe our beloved Mitch McConnell had moved north. Look over the horizon and what does one see? January 6 redux.

RMc said...

describing (democracies) as despotic is no longer obligatory but virtually prohibited.

Unless they're run by Republicans/conservatives, of course, in which case we're back to "obligatory".

Temujin said...

"Will of the people" is another phrase that should be viewed with skepticism. The people will act according to their own well being. If they are threatened, if their families are threatened, their business, their very lives- for not showing up at a speech by The Grand Master Leader- they tend to show up. And they will give the correct applause at the correct time for as long as most of the people abide by the terror. So the 'will of the people' can be part of a show or it can be real. One has to look under the surface.

As for Democracy. Well...in Cuba, Castro killed those or jailed those who did not agree with 'the will of the people'. So often people found it best to just shut up and go along.

In the US Democracy is often misused. I don't want to bore any of you with this but the key point is that we're not a Democracy, but a constitutionally limited Republic. Or at least, that was the plan, the blueprint. Alas, that train left the station years ago. But how can we even speak of the will of the people when in our own country our leaders offer up laws by edict, not by legislature with the overuse of Executive Orders, Bureaucratic Decrees (see CDC). No one elected the Director of the NIH or CDC, CIA or FBI. Yet they make their decisions and go with it- with or without the consent of Congress, or the people.

And what of the leaders who open our borders wide up, and then proclaim that illegal aliens can vote? How does that dilute the 'will of the people', the actual citizens? And how about mass mailings of ballots coupled with ballot harvesting, open ended, month-long election cycles, and ballots coming in and counted after the election is over? That completely dilutes the will of the people. Moreover- it actually manipulates the results, overturning the will of the people.

Unlike Canada, the US is the most heavily armed country in the history of the world. The founders, with the 2nd Amendment, knew the folly of human nature. They knew that power creates tyranny. And they knew the only way to keep a tyrannical government in check- in theory- is to allow the citizens the final recourse of taking action. I cannot help but view this as I would a slow-motion car accident. It seems as if our 'leaders' are asking for a skrimish so that they can do what Trudeau has already done- confiscate freedom in the name of freedom.

Tank said...

When I first saw the truckers I thought maybe Canada is not as far gone as I thought, I see now that was a mistake.

Sebastian said...

"Those who wish to find out what a real democracy is should come to Cuba."

As Canada now shows, he was not wrong. For progs, Cuba is real democracy.

iowan2 said...

Here in the US, and now in Canada, the clear message is, Leftist politicians fear the people they are supposed to represent. Fear is a good thing, but fear embracing the left results is stupid.

farmgirl said...

Is Letterkenny in the same genre as Trailer Park Boys? It’s kinda sad I know of both “shows”…

Constitutionally limited Republic- is that even taught anymore? I had a conversation last night w/a farmer wife/accountant friend. She mentioned the NH teachers loyalty bill or something and was pretty pissed about it- her take being teachers cannot teach that racism existed back in the days of slavery and to mention in a class slants about that will get you fired? Idk- I’d never heard of this bill-but, maybe it’s creation is to prevent confusion of revisionist history and projections of today’s culture into yesteryear, was my understanding. And other countries- what is their representation of the same historical events?

When did making an honest living get so twisted?

tim maguire said...

I'm American by birth and Canadian by choice (well, family circumstances, but I filled out the paperwork), but I've never felt less Canadian than I have in the last few weeks. Greenwald is absolutely right that Canadians' certainty that they represent freedom and democracy has allowed them to openly trample freedom and democracy.

It has been pointed that the left define themselves as sophisticated because it's easier than being sophisticated. They define themselves as good to avoid the tedium of being good. They define themselves as nuanced so they don't have to question their black and white world view.

A leftist is someone who, having put an X next to "brotherhood of man" on the checklist of life, is thereafter free to be the biggest asshole they want to be.

Howard said...

Like grade inflation, participation trophies etc, people are defining tyranny down. That said, it is true that parliament democracies don't have the same level of rights, liberties, checks and balances. Injustice and unfairness isn't tyrannical. Playing the boy who cried wolf card over and over is just as hysterical and meaningless as the woke fraudsters trying to cancel every sarcastic asshole.

I do agree that at the endemic stage of Covid that vaccine and mask mandates no longer makes sense. However it's very hard to get worked up over such a minor thing as getting a couple shots and wearing a face diaper.

What does the good book say about straining gnats and letting camels pass?

Tina Trent said...

Temujin said it. The first thing Castro did was seize manufacturing plants and homes of the well-off. Those crowds knew perfectly well the consequences of not showing enthusiasm. We have identical fascism in grade schools and board rooms now. And then, like now, the real or imagined treatment of black and sometimes other minorities was the tinder used to justify revolution as the sole response. Workers as workers has always been a second-run.

If you read a couple decades of Worker's World from the 20's (Now morphed into People's World) you would find articles about strikes but much materials condemning the U.S. as racially fascistic. Today, there's a little feature here and there about a Starbuck's striking, but it remains startlingly consistent in churning up race rage, their eternal and effective modus operandi. Once fascism crept in on tiny cat's feet. We're well past that point now as it lumbers in like a bull in a china shop, as it were. Nobody will escape it as we fracture along racial and ethnic lines into a hierarchy of identity.

SoLastMillennium said...

"my notes for a modern "Dictionary of Received Ideas""

Should update that to "Dictionary of Tired Meme's" as that says the same thing better even if you violates the phrasing of our better's class in doing so.

Gravel said...

Howard said...
Like grade inflation, participation trophies etc, people are defining tyranny down.

Seizing people's bank accounts for the crime of supporting a completely peaceful protest is pretty tyrannical.

rcocean said...

They can seize your money and freeze your bank account for giving $50 to the Truckers. They've arrested people under the charge of "mischief" or "conspiring to do mischief".

There's zero reason for any of this "Emergency and tyranny". This was just a handful of truckers protesting. I loved how the NDP - the party of the working man - supported trudeau. What a bunch of fucking frauds.

narciso said...

They supported stalin that is kiefee sutherlands grandpa tommy douglas

rcocean said...

Here's what mischief conviction could mean in Canada:

Kicking a wall could result in a fine, while mischief to a war memorial or blocking significant portions of downtown could see up to 10 years of jail time, Toronto criminal lawyer Karen McArthur said.

In the most severe cases the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, Peters said.

While Peters said counselling to commit mischief should carry similar consequences to mischief itself, McArthur said this case could see prosecutors push for harsher penalties.

The counselling charge could be taken more seriously, as it puts organizers like Tamara Lich and Chris Barber in a leadership role of “an organization that had lots of tentacles,” she said.


What insane tyranny. Its Jan 6th all over again.

Gravel said...

Let me add to that. Sending the police to people's homes to question them about their political contributions is very tyrannical. Threatening to seize even more bank accounts is quite tyrannical. Threatening to steal and possibly euthanize your pets if you get arrested and nobody is able to come and get your pet is extremely tyrannical. Arresting, and threatening to arrest, people who are filming police activities in broad public daylight is tyrannical.

Michael said...

Here's what's coming. People terrified of having their assets frozen will actively join in the denouncing their neighbors as a signal that they are on the correct side. Done in the hope they'll be left alone by the powers that be.

Browndog said...

This isn't a Canadian issue. If your country is a member of the G7, it's you too.

The Great Reset/Build Back Better/World Economic Forum is real. Nobody wants to bother with it, including me. "You'll own nothing and be happy" is just a conspiracy theory...right?

Klaus Schwab. Google him...if you dare.

All the conditions that allowed Canada to turn tyrannical overnight exist in America. And U.K., Germany, France, Australia, Belgium, Spain..etc.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Gravel said...

Seizing people's bank accounts for the crime of supporting a completely peaceful protest is pretty tyrannical.

So is arresting them at gun point when they've done little to warrant it and getting written up in the NYT.

And the cherry on the fascist sunday? The Canadian press is calling the NYT liars.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Browndog said...

Last week while driving I was listening to a talk radio station out of Traverse City. They were taking calls from listeners. They took a call from an old woman named Greta who lived in Sault Ste Marie. The host wanted her to talk about how proud she must be of the Canadian women's hockey team.

She wanted to talk about the protest in Ottawa.

She said (Heavy accent) "If we would have spoken up against Hitler, we could have stopped him. We were too afraid to speak up. We unleashed Hitler on the world because we were afraid to speak. God bless these truckers."

Rusty said...

Gravel;
They've frozen peoples bank accounts. Not just truckers but other protestors as well. They've impounded trucks and the province is going to sell them outright. The owners have no recourse. The RCMP has gone to people homes who have donated and questioned them. The RCMP have gone to the homes of live streamers and have threatened them with arrest. This is what the "democracy" looks like that the left wants for all of us. Trudeau is saying the silent part out loud. The Canadian senate has to vote on the act. If they agree then the act is in place for 30 days unless parliament votes to extend,(wink).

tim in vermont said...

"I do agree that at the endemic stage of Covid that vaccine and mask mandates no longer makes sense."

But it was not possible for Trudeau to admit this, and avoid the confrontation, because it's about power. Two weeks to crush the trolls.

tim in vermont said...

Instead Trudeau made up some crap about these people being Nazis. What a leader.

Joe Smith said...

The biggest problem is that the last two years have proven that the majority of Americans don't want to be free.

Most seem to want daddy government to run their lives.

Once that bridge is crossed, it's all downhill...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

“ First, remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye.”

Somewhere in the Bible.

Bilwick said...

Gravel, you have to remember that for a chronic State-fucker like Howard, tyranny is a feature, not a bug.

Jupiter said...

"For those abroad who defame us, to those who speak of democracy and slander us, we could offer no better argument than the million and more Cubans who have gathered here today."

Really. Gathered, and prepared to stand in the hot sun for hours, while Fidel blathered on and on and on. Truly, a convincing display of democratic feeling.

Critter said...

If you hadn’t told us that the quote was from Castro I would have believed it could be from Trudeau but modified to sound like it came from Cuba. The quote could well have been created for Trudeau by his masters in the Party of Davis.

Michael K said...

They can seize your money and freeze your bank account for giving $50 to the Truckers. They've arrested people under the charge of "mischief" or "conspiring to do mischief".

Most of the January 6 political prisoners are charged with "trespassing."

I think what we are seeing is the consequences of "financialization" of our economy. The rich are no longer people like Andrew Carnegie who built industries, like steel. Roosevelt got Knudson to run the war industries in WWII. Now, the rich are money manipulators. Industry is all in China. The people who run this country (and Canada) are talkers who have never built anything or run large organizations. The super rich are people like Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin and Larry Page who took an idea and monetized it.

Now, that super rich cluster of money handlers, like Larry Fink, are planning to run the world for their own benefit with the World Economic Forum, which has mostly been a joke with all the Climate fanatics flying their private jets to Davos. As it happens, Freeland, the Canadian #2, is on the WEF Board. Her Nazi grandfather would be so proud of her. They may have some goofy ideas, like Climate Change, but they are going to force those ideas on us peasants.

Howard said...

Tim: It's not like Trudeau just now turned into a cunt.

Douglas B. Levene said...

They don’t call communist dictatorships “peoples democracies” for nothing. The Leader implements the true will of the People. That’s democracy, right? Dissent is unlawful because it opposes the true will of the people, i.e., democracy. That’s how our tech overlords think. That’s how Margaret Sullivan thinks. That’s how all the Good people think.

Howard said...

Physically blocking public roadways isn't peaceful. It's disturbing the peace. Disturbing the peace is an age-old tactic to try and make a political point and effect change. However, civil disobedience has consequences. It's not surprising you pussy snowflakes are screaming bloody murder when government restores the peace. Of course, government may over-react in some areas. That's what the Leviathan does. That's exactly what the protestors hope for to help make their point. But please, Nancy, take your medicine like a man. Because your over the top hysteria is embarrassing, unseemly, chickenshit, cowardly and ultimately hurts your cause.

minnesota farm guy said...

I have been shocked by both the Australian and Canadian response to vaccine/lockdown protests. Once you lived under a monarchy I guess you feel justified acting like you are the king. We certainly have experienced some of the same attitude by our public health officials and "leaders" in government. Fortunately, in our system, elections occur on a frequent and regularly scheduled basis so our "leaders" are always aware that their window of opportunity is very short and revenge is apt to be harsh.

Skeptical Voter said...

Putin looks at Trudeau and thinks the True Dough Boy is just a little wussy. An old KGB guy would tell him to step aside, and let the KGB guy show you how it's done.

Achilles said...

Howard said...

Tim: It's not like Trudeau just now turned into a cunt.


True.

He has always been a fascist prog.

Some of us saw through the mask.

Now the mask is completely off.

There is no excuse for supporting the State.

I want to know what Biden and Trudeau said to each other.

Gravel said...

Assuming you're responding to me, Howard, I'll simply reiterate - nothing the trucker protests did warrants seizing assets, canceling insurance (not by the insurers, mind you, but by the state), visiting the private homes of individual donors whose private information was illegally exposed, or harassing, assaulting, and arresting anyone who filmed police activity in public. You'll note that at no time did I say that it was tyrannical to charge the truckers with violations of the specific statutes that they may have been violating, or any reasonable efforts to remove illegally parked vehicles.

If you find this hysterical and unseemly, I congratulate you on your innocence.

Browndog said...

In response to reports of a U.S. trucker convoy going to Washington D.C.:

Ruben Gallego
Member U.S. Congress, 7th district AZ

Perfect time to impound and give the trucks to small trucking companies looking to expand their business.


Browndog said...

Most of the January 6 political prisoners are charged with "trespassing."

Sentencing hearing at 11 a.m. for Jan. 6 defendant Jeffrey Smith. DOJ wants five months of imprisonment. DOJ asking for prison for a Class B misdemeanor of “parading” in the Capitol.

Dude1394 said...

Trudeau is just following the fascist J6 model. Ramping it up to anyone related or associated with the wrong political party.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Howard said...
Like grade inflation, participation trophies etc, people are defining tyranny down. That said, it is true that parliament democracies don't have the same level of rights, liberties, checks and balances. Injustice and unfairness isn't tyrannical. Playing the boy who cried wolf card over and over is just as hysterical and meaningless as the woke fraudsters trying to cancel every sarcastic asshole.

I do agree that at the endemic stage of Covid that vaccine and mask mandates no longer makes sense. However it's very hard to get worked up over such a minor thing as getting a couple shots and wearing a face diaper.

What does the good book say about straining gnats and letting camels pass?


You are such an evil and pathetic little shit.

The tyranny is the government destroying people for their refusal to bow to the government.

This is not about protecting teh public health, because even you've agreed that the measures do not do that.

This is simply about forcing people to bow down because you have teh guns, and they don't

That you find nothing wrong with that shows just what an utter pile of shit you are

tim in vermont said...

Now both the US and Canada have run the Nazi's Reichstag Fire playbook.

I think the real test of whether these protests were genuine grass-roots phenomena is that they were so stupid, tactically. This was a collection of people who have a genuine fear of the COVID vaccines and they were being forced to either give up their livelihood, and maybe their health insurance, or accept it. I think they are wrong about the jab, but I think that forcing people to take it is unconscionable. Especially when viral evolution had already obsoleted the jabs they were trying to force on these people.

hombre said...

Canada is just the beginning. Read “The Great Reset,” both the Schwab and Beck versions. The WEF goals, scofflaw judges, the Trump impeachment’s, Deep State corruption, the 2020 election fraud - whether dispositive or not - the Jan. 6th travesties and hidden videos, censorship, the Royal Canadian Mounted and Ottawa Stasi are all telltale signs.

We’re toast and we lack the means and the national will to resist. Even ethical lefties like Greenwald are concerned.

Achilles said...

Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois ruled Tuesday morning that Lich poses a “substantial likelihood” of re-offending and placing public safety at risk if she is released on bail. Bourgeois also concluded Lich’s continued detention is necessary to preserve public confidence in the justice system.

Lich's offense was organizing a peaceful protest.

The tighter the fascists squeeze, the farther they pull the pendulum back.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Howard said...
Physically blocking public roadways isn't peaceful. It's disturbing the peace.

Now do BLM and Antifa, you hypocritical slime bag

Do point us to all the times in the Summer of 2020 when you demanded that teh police arrest all those BLM "protesters" blocking the streets.

If it was an acceptable tactic when BLM did it, then it's acceptable now

And you're just an authoritarian jock-strap sniffing scumbag

Achilles said...

But democrats are letting violent criminals out of jail without bail everywhere they can.

Mark said...

Michael K, I thought you were against holding white people guilty for the crimes of their ancestors.

But yet ... "As it happens, Freeland, the Canadian #2, is on the WEF Board. Her Nazi grandfather would be so proud of her."

So, when do we get to talk about your slave holding great grandparents?

It's funny how much hypocrisy you display for someone who claims to be so smart.

n.n said...

The precedent is Kosovo, but the semi-autonomous regions did not attack Kiev, did not attack its residents, but rejected its authority when democracy was aborted in darkness with a violent, Western-backed coup.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

Castro, 1959: "And what has the government of the Cuban revolution been since Jan. 1, 1959 but a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? A government of the people, not for a privileged group of people; a government of the people, not of an oligarchy; a government for the people, not for a group of politicians or military people we have as always had in Cuba...."

It was already a lie. The beauty of being a leftist is that you can hear this complete and utter lie and just will yourself to believe it. Rather like Vladimir Poutine up in Ottawa could just lie about the protests and protestors, and his lackeys in Parliament and the US left wing just believed him.

rcocean said...

I knew if we didn't stop Putin, we'd be fighting Tyranny in North America. And here we are.

rcocean said...

liberal fascism.

God how they love to smash the "little people" and destroy their lives. You could see all those fat, well-fed Liberals and NDP PM's reveling in their power. You think you can inconvience us, you plebes? Think again.

Michael K said...

So, when do we get to talk about your slave holding great grandparents?

Unlike you, I know who my great great grandparents were. My Great Great Great GPs were Irish immigrants about 1805. They were farmers in upstate New York and then Illinois. My other set were Pennsylvanians who were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. None were slaves or slave owners. Several great great uncles were in the Union Army in the Civil War and both died. I have the letters from one of them to his wife.

If you knew who your grand parents were maybe you would sound less dumb.

Michael K said...

It's not surprising you pussy snowflakes are screaming bloody murder when government restores the peace.

You lefties love this kind of "Peace." Khrushchev restored the peace in Ukraine, as I recall.

I just wonder why the "peace makers" are locking up people for years for such horrors as "trespassing" or "Mischief?" Then, of course, innocent BLM "protestors" are ignored for arson and murder.

Mark said...

Nice to know you have no problem with holding white people to account for the crimes of their ancestors, Michael.

Seems like most here would disagree with you.

And while you're acting so smart, how come you only have two sets of great grandparents? Most people have four.

Rusty said...

Now we know what the left thinks of the working class of the world.

Achilles said...

Mark said...

Michael K, I thought you were against holding white people guilty for the crimes of their ancestors.

But yet ... "As it happens, Freeland, the Canadian #2, is on the WEF Board. Her Nazi grandfather would be so proud of her."

So, when do we get to talk about your slave holding great grandparents?

It's funny how much hypocrisy you display for someone who claims to be so smart.



The point is she is just as much a fascist as her Nazi grandfather because of what she is doing right now.

This is how stupid you have to be to support fascists.



Stephen St. Onge said...

        Howard's little rant is exactly what you one typically gets from the cowardly and petty totalitarians.  What matters are not principles and the rule of law, what matters is your obligation to shut up and obey, you motherfucking peasant.  The policy makes no sense, but YOU are being unreasonable when you refuse to go along.

        Feh!

Stephen St. Onge said...

Douglas B. Levene said...
They don’t call communist dictatorships “peoples democracies” for nothing. The Leader implements the true will of the People. That’s democracy, right?
______________

        Yup.  The evil Rousseau called it the “General Will,” and defined it in just that way.  See Wikipedia, and Jacob Talmon’s superb book The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy.

        Rousseau made the idea especially disgusting by asserting that everyone “really” agrees with the General Will.  So when you’re dragged to guillotine to be executed, you’re really committing suicide, because your death is ordained by the General Will, embodied in the leader.

Stephen St. Onge said...

        I wish the word “democracy” could be outlawed.  As Carl P. Wrighter wrote in I Can Sell You Anything, “democracy” is a buzz word, which he defines as something that has no legal meaning, but which elicits a desired emotional response.

        “Democracy” originally referred to a system of govt. in ancient Greece, a system nowhere in use anywhere in the world that I am aware of (and yes, that includes New England town meetings).  How many of you have any idea of what offices existed in Greek democracies, or how their occupants were chosen?

        Orwell said in “Politics and the English Language”, that “democracy” effectively means ‘praiseworthy,’ ‘a country/political system/regime/policy I approve of, and refer to as “good.” ’  Do yourself a favor and don’t use it.

Kevin said...

You think this is bad?

Wait til you see what Justin has planned for people who use plastic straws!

Michael K said...

And while you're acting so smart, how come you only have two sets of great grandparents? Most people have four.

The stupid here is almost mind boggling. I have 4500 people in my family tree. Would you like a link ? None owned or were slaves. None were Nazis, either. Freeland is just carrying on the family National Socialist tradition.

Tom said...

Australia falls to tyranny. New Zeeland is falling to tyranny.

Now Canada.

Everyone knows we’re next, right? And it’s happening right now.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Mark said...
Michael K, I thought you were against holding white people guilty for the crimes of their ancestors
It's sad, but unsurprising, to know that you're a racist piece of shit.

So, when do we get to talk about your slave holding great grandparents?

It's funny how much hypocrisy you display for someone who claims to be so smart.


I do not have any ancestors who ever owned slaves anywhere in North America (every human has ancestors who owned slaves somewhere, sometime in the last 3000 years)

If we're going to play skin color games, then the group in the US with the most people who have slave owning ancestors is lighter skin colored "black" people.

Yep, one of their ancestors was a slave owning rapist. Which means if "reparations" are going out, they should be paying them, not receiving them.

Far more so than anyone whose ancestors all came to America ofter teh Civil War, or whose ancestors fought in the Civil War for the North.

So, Mark, is that problem that you're an ignoramus as well as a racist?

Or are you just a liar?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Tom said...
Australia falls to tyranny. New Zeeland is falling to tyranny.

Now Canada.

Everyone knows we’re next, right? And it’s happening right now


Nope, we're not next.

All the countries that are falling to tyranny now, fell to "gun control" first.

Bunkypotatohead said...

"Unlike Canada, the US is the most heavily armed country in the history of the world. The founders, with the 2nd Amendment, knew the folly of human nature. They knew that power creates tyranny. And they knew the only way to keep a tyrannical government in check- in theory- is to allow the citizens the final recourse of taking action. "

When President Harris seizes the bank accounts of everyone who voted for her opponent, what good are those guns gonna be. You won't even be able to fill up the gas tank and drive to DC to shoot the bastards.

Rusty said...

"If we're going to play skin color games, then the group in the US with the most people who have slave owning ancestors is lighter skin colored "black" people."
The Portugese invented the European slave trade. They acquired slave from African rulers who sold their own slaves to the Europeans. They later went in search of wars with other tribes and weaker tribes to obtain slaves for the Europeans. It was proven to be pointless for the white Europeans to go to the interior of Africa to get them themselves. Little known fact. The rise in the textile industry in France was in response to the insatiable appetite of the African elite for brightly colored cloth.

You can't protest in Ottawa. But if you gave money to GiveSendGo to help the truckers your name will be posted at convenient places on the streets of Ottawa.
Advantage? Trudeau.

Rusty said...

"When President Harris seizes the bank accounts of everyone who voted for her opponent, what good are those guns gonna be. You won't even be able to fill up the gas tank and drive to DC to shoot the bastards."
You really don't know how this works, do you?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Bunkypotatohead said...
"Unlike Canada, the US is the most heavily armed country in the history of the world. The founders, with the 2nd Amendment, knew the folly of human nature. They knew that power creates tyranny. And they knew the only way to keep a tyrannical government in check- in theory- is to allow the citizens the final recourse of taking action. "

When President Harris seizes the bank accounts of everyone who voted for her opponent, what good are those guns gonna be. You won't even be able to fill up the gas tank and drive to DC to shoot the bastards.


I've got over a thousand dollars of cash at home, because you should always have cash.

I've got more than enough to get to DC

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Hey Howard, climate activists are blocking roads leading to Germany's 3 biggest airports!

You want to throw the book at them, right?

Right?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

So, the Canadian Senate actually had members with spines, and so Trudeau quit before they could vote against his power play.

It will be interesting to see what happens next