७ फेब्रुवारी, २०२१

"Like Stalin’s regime during the Great Terror, the Party doesn’t fear heretics; it needs them, because its power is renewed by crushing them."

"Malcolm Muggeridge called this the 'continuous performance' of power: 'A government based on terrorism requires constantly to demonstrate its might and resolution.'" 


ADDED: I'm suddenly remembering the old line, "Conservatives are always looking for converts, whereas liberals are always looking for heretics." I've heard that discussed many times, usually with the assumption that conservatives have a better strategy, and liberals are hurting themselves (the old "circular firing squad" problem). But reading the passage quoted above, I saw the looking-for-heretics strategy in a new light. 

"The Ministry of Truth" continues:
The perfect citizen is boring, a closed case; the challenge is to tear a free mind to pieces. Only that way can there be “victory after victory” in the bowels of the Ministry of Love: victory over the past, over the individual, over reality itself.

८९ टिप्पण्या:

rhhardin म्हणाले...

So you can't say the n-word.

David Begley म्हणाले...

Exactly why we are having the Fake Impeachment trial and MTG had to be kicked off her committees.

rehajm म्हणाले...

Lotsa that crushing is coming...

Wince म्हणाले...

Here, this will not end well.

stevew म्हणाले...

I happened upon a short video of Orwell, an interview of him about 1984. He was sitting up in bed, fully clothed, I guessed due to the affects of TB. At the end of this video he said this:

"In the future there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph and self abasement... There will be no loyalty but loyalty to the party, but always there will be the intoxication of power... Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of tramping on the enemy and helpless... If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever. The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one: don't let it happen, it depends on you."

I understood this last bit to mean that we, the people, won't be the ones doing these bad things but we are responsible because the only way they happen is if we let them.

Jaq म्हणाले...

It’s a hell of a world where you can’t really understand what’s going on without consulting commies like Orwell and Glenn Greenwald, people who understand their tactics from the inside.

But yeah, it’s the Reichstag Fire playbook, and I have been saying it a lot because it’s true. Democrats have been following it to the letter since Jan 6. Adam Schiff is even writing a new law to create our American Gestapo.

In fact, the more unreasonable they are in cancelling people for the slightest perceived infraction the greater the chilling effect is that they are seeking to create.

Jaq म्हणाले...

It’s like what Solzhenitsyn wrote about in Gulag Archipelago. There is a point where you can still stop them if you grow a spine, and a point when it is too late.

Browndog म्हणाले...

Althouse coming in hot this morning. Sunday Morning.

Rusty म्हणाले...

Well, duh. Got to keep their slack jawed foot soldiers , the ingas, the howards, the gadflys, scared all the time. There has to be an 'isurection'. The country is teeming with 'white supremacist's'. The meme now among my leftist associates,(they no longer want to be friends.)is that the country needs some form of draconian gun control. They seem to think the Army will help them and after this past week I'm inclined to agree with them.
But like Rick told Major Strasse. There are some parts of Illinois that it would be smart for the army to stay out of.

wendybar म्हणाले...

Antifa and BLM marched in DC last night as the Guard stood down. "Burn it all down, and Whose Street?? Our Street" were yelled at diners trying to enjoy dinner and other people out and about. That kind of intimidation is okay because Democrats little Brown Shirts are the ones doing it. Of course...there were some at the Capitol "uprising" but of course...you won't hear about that from the Media, probably like you may not have heard about last night.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

Althouse, I’ve tried not to get riled up over your refusal to support Trump. You’re just one person, and despite the success of your blog, you can’t change the direction of the ship of state all by yourself.

But, I do remember you asked some months ago how this descent into tyranny could be avoid.

The answer was: “Return Trump to office.”

How did you miss that?

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

I read 1984 back in high school. Had a 50s Sci Fi flavor as I recall. I'm trying to re-read it but it is a hard go. I get, maybe a page or two before I think, God Damn!, and have to put it down.

Eric the Fruit Bat म्हणाले...

I guess it's insufficiently provocative hence insufficiently remunerative to say it's rewarding friends, punishing enemies, nothing more, and everyone does it.

Browndog म्हणाले...

wendybar said...

Antifa and BLM marched in DC last night as the Guard stood down. "Burn it all down, and Whose Street?? Our Street" were yelled at diners trying to enjoy dinner and other people out and about. That kind of intimidation is okay because Democrats little Brown Shirts are the ones doing it. Of course...there were some at the Capitol "uprising" but of course...you won't hear about that from the Media, probably like you may not have heard about last night.


I just saw that over at Posobeic and was certain it was an old video. Nope.

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

What's the leftie motto? "Do It For The Children".

Jeff Brokaw म्हणाले...

The folks on the right and even some in the middle get this, mostly.

The folks on the left either like it because they are committed authoritarian state progressives, or they are open to being convinced this is a bad path.

How big is that last group? We need to get them to switch sides, essentially, or at least prioritize against the growth of the totalitarian state.

Matt Sablan म्हणाले...

Where was the phrase "Never be the first to stop clapping" coined? It's kind of true, but I think both parties are prone to uniting against an enemy, and if they are internal enemies, like, Blue Dogs or RINOs, all the better.

Lloyd W. Robertson म्हणाले...

Karl Marx never seriously discussed what utopia was supposed to be like after the violence was all over. It was kind of a joke to him. But one can infer that under both theoretical and practical communism, there is an ideal of a somewhat dull peasant who wants to be more comfortable than his ancestors. When you attack anything and anyone who stands in the way of this, you may tell yourself you are attacking "evils"; many of the things the old elites did do not hold up well in the light of day. But doesn't there have to be more to life than attacking everything bad from the past? Slippery slope, I know, but aren't some people heading down a road of saying either we change human nature into something it has never been, or we might as well commit mass suicide?

Jeff Brokaw म्हणाले...

Remember a few months ago when some people warned that we were headed towards civil war, and then some Establishment Big Thinkers (and others who think like them) ridiculed that idea?

Here’s the thing about civil wars: they build up over decades with various types of aggression until something pops. Later we assign “official start dates” to them based on something that looks clear in hindsight, but in real time that’s not at all how it works.

John henry म्हणाले...

I like orwell a lot. 1984 was a good book, not my favorite Orwell though.

Currently reading ministry of truth on Ann's recommendation of a week or so back.

Very good. $4.95 on kindle

John Henry

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

I ask (petulantly) again:

How did you not see, professor, that returning Trump to office was our only defense against the DNC/CCP alliance?

Temujin म्हणाले...

Yes, the Nazis did this to perfection. The Soviets under Lenin did this in a less efficient way, under Stalin they got much more efficient in how they did it. The Democrats, well, the last four years or so, they've been working the media hard to create this one sided symphony of theirs. The population is asked to pay no attention to what you see with your own eyes or hear with your own ears- simply listen to what the Party spokespeople on TV, news, social media tell you, and obey. Submit. Kneel.

YES...they are trying to provoke an uprising. They are literally begging for a part of the populace to show just a smidgen of an uprising. And when that happens- and it will- there will be an enormous removal of individual rights. Our Constitution will be a relic (it pretty much has been for years now anyway).

We are at that point. This is the time. We are literally down to one last election in 2022 to remove Democrats, or hand our kids a foreign country. I have been saying for 8 years, that no Democrats should be elected for 2 generations. Who couldn't see where they were headed? It's time now. The Left throughout history has shown who they are. They cannot help themselves. They are totalitarians, through and through. All the nice talk is bullshit. They are about power- gaining, keeping it, and removing those who disagree.

I somehow don't see that working across America.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Ask if Trump had a free mind.

narciso म्हणाले...

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/02/rigging_the_election_for_china_and_profit_.html

narciso म्हणाले...

Orwell based his minitrue on his exoeeience with the bbc world service as much as stalinism.

mikee म्हणाले...

If only Monty Python had been at the BBC at the same time as Orwell, oh, what a world we might now have!

Big Mike म्हणाले...

The perfect citizen is boring.

Where’s your “I’m for boring” tag, Professor?

JPS म्हणाले...

Matt Sablan, 7:46:

Solzhenitsyn told the story of a Stalin speech where the audience was on its feet, applauding wildly. It went on and on, and it became obvious that no one wanted to be the first to stop. Finally one tired old man simply did, and sat down. Others, relieved, followed. The old man wan’t seen in public anymore.

I’m going roughly, from memory. I’ve seen it suggested that the story is apocryphal, but anyway captured something of that spirit of terrified enthusiasm.

Narayanan म्हणाले...

How much does heretics/converts in teaching and grading strategy apply!?
Eg CRT, wokism etc

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

"Conservatives are always looking for converts, whereas liberals are always looking for heretics."

Always? When you feel like you are on the upswing you look for - and get - converts. You saw that with liberals in the Thirties and the Sixties. You saw it with conservatives in the Eighties. When you feel that you are dominant and empowered, you may start looking for heretics. You may also hunt for heretics if you think your position is shaky and threatened. Democrats are in power now and feel like they can afford to shake off the uncommitted to pursue their goals with more zeal.

There is a tradition of sectarianism on the left that led to frequent schisms and persecutions. Today's political correctness and doxing crusades are high-tech heresy-hunting, and owe much to the idealistic, puritanical, censorious spirit of the left. You could relate this to predominance of intellectuals in leftwing movements and their intellectualized style as well as to the self-righteousness of radicals and progressives. But as that intellectualized, combative, absolutist style spread from the left to the right, so did did the heresy-hunting spirit. Left-wing sectarian purges of the Thirties were followed by McCarthyism on the right in the fifties. When conservatives were still attracting some converts twenty and thirty years ago there were those, like David Frum, who were busy hunting heretics.

It does seem like there are different styles of infighting on the left and on the right that make people act and react in different ways, but I'm not really sure that the generalization is really as true as some people think.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

Orwell points out that dumb proletarians are seen as “beneath suspicion” and only need to be distracted by the State with sports and fictional stories. It is Trump’s Deplorable middle class that must be re-educated and their free thoughts eliminated by the re-writing of history under the Ministry of Truth. As we speak the Memory Hole is busy canceling our culture at warp speed under BIG BIDEN who is using tech companies that are watching and are erasing your content so all will forget historical truth ever existed.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

So, AA, starting to rethink your liberal ways?

Progressives don't believe in God, so they worship the State.

Conservatives rightly fear the State, and worship only God.

The State is a cruel master...

Choose wisely.

sterlingblue म्हणाले...

Althouse is 100% on point and on fire today. A Sunday morning tour de force.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

“ The perfect citizen is boring”/“Where’s your “I’m for boring” tag, Professor?”

You misunderstand the tag if you think it represents a desire for boring citizens. I want office holders to be boring. We the people then have more room to be the interesting ones.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

The fact is, many of us saw this coming and yet we remain ill prepared to deal with it.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

"The perfect citizen is boring, a closed case; the challenge is to tear a free mind to pieces. Only that way can there be “victory after victory” in the bowels of the Ministry of Love: victory over the past, over the individual, over reality itself."

Charter of Democrat Woke Elite Party.
Also available at Rachel Maddow dot com.

Rory म्हणाले...

"...aren't some people heading down a road of saying either we change human nature into something it has never been, or we might as well commit mass suicide?"

Yes, that's the New Soviet Man:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

I want office holders to be boring. We the people then have more room to be the interesting ones.

But, you've already been proven wrong. Biden is boring as hell. And he's ushering in the Red Guards.

Trump was boisterous and exciting, and he stood in the way of the Red Guards.

Your thinking about Trump over the past four years has been totally screwed up, prof. I don't get how you have screwed up so spectacularly here.

I think that the start is that you basically view the presidency as a revolving identity politics trophy, and you are unconcerned with or sublimely unaware of managerial competence.

I ask for the third time: How did you fail to see that the re-election of Trump was all that was standing between us and the Red Guards?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

The modern democrat party -the hack press and the corrupt Tech oligarchs are our new Soviet masters.

Jim म्हणाले...

Educators are always in the forefront of inventing new jargon in their field. Its their way of concealing lack of content. My wife took a course from an Ed. School prof in grad school who always spoke of "learnings," i.e. the topics covered in each class.

John henry म्हणाले...

A great movie on Netflix is "Death of Stalin"

It's played as a comedy which makes it all the more chilling

Steve Buscemi stars as kruschev and does a great job.

Molotov is played by Michael Palin and captures the pathetic nature of him and his wife. Stalin sent the wife to the gulag on trumped up thought crime charges. Both thought stalin was right to do so and worshipped him til their deaths.

Also on prime but not for free.

John Henry

robother म्हणाले...

Lately I've been considering how Trump's 4 years has made it easier for the Woke Left to identify the heretics in the US society, high (Kanye, Cruz, Cotton) and low (folks being identified and prosecuted or fired for being at the DC protests, whether or not they invaded the Capitol).

Thus, despite the "Return to Normalcy" Biden fiction, we can expect the Left to continue provocations (impeaching an ex-president, BLM demonstrations and destruction, show trials of Trump supporters) as a way of getting more heretics to self-identify. Perhaps Molly Ball's Time article is best understood as such a provocation.

Mr Wibble म्हणाले...

Boring is a bad characteristic in a leader. It means a lack of passion, when passion is crucial for getting people to trust and follow you. It means a tendency to stick with the status quo, even if the status quo doesn't work.

Boring yet another tax cut, "pathway to citizenship", and useless DOJ investigation which produces no indictments. Boring is Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney and Martha McSally: the GOP establishment who want to manage the massive federal apparatus, not dismantle it.

Rory म्हणाले...

"...and yet we remain ill prepared to deal with it."

The Constitution has to be the focus, to buttress individual rights and federalism.

We can't get the coasts to agree to fix the Constitution. We have to be willing to go our own way.

JPS म्हणाले...

john henry, 10:04:

The Death of Stalin was well done. The scramble to find a doctor was pretty funny.

I quite enjoyed Jason Isaacs hamming it up as Zhukov, and Simon Russell Beale was captivatingly loathsome as Beria.

I already admired Armando Ianucci from The Thick of It. He's a man of the left, but decidedly not of the "pas d'ennemis a gauche" variety.

Lem Vibe Bandit म्हणाले...

The perfect citizen is boring, a closed case; the challenge is to tear a free mind to pieces. Only that way can there be “victory after victory” in the bowels of the Ministry of Love: victory over the past, over the individual, over reality itself.

"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves, the guy known for playing the best non-conforming characters in out lifetime. :-)

Gahrie म्हणाले...

How did you not see, professor, that returning Trump to office was our only defense against the DNC/CCP alliance?

There are none so blind as those that will not see.

Night Owl म्हणाले...

Don't be boring. We must never stop talking about the 2020 election fraud, if we ever want to get election reforms implemented. The left don't want to talk about it? Too bad. Make it the start of every conversation.

And if you hear about someone losing a job because they dared to speak about that which must not be spoken about-- ie that the election was rigged-- if you are in a position to do so offer that person a job. Buy products that the left try to ban. We need to stand up to cancel culture, not fear it.

We, the productive members of society, who have jobs and keep things running while leftist children are in the streets throwing temper tantrums, have a lot of power. The Democrat leadership know it, and they fear it. They should.

LA_Bob म्हणाले...

Beware of boring. It often rhymes with acquiescence.

Jamie म्हणाले...

When you feel like you are on the upswing you look for - and get - converts.

Methodology matters. The ascendant left, ISTM, tends to gain "converts" by building a "consensus" (more accurately a loud public voice, not necessarily a majority) that not to conform to their ideas is to be evil - and who wants to be evil? In other words, they still seek heretics, and point at them and shout, "Shame!" in order to cow others into conversion (which may or may not be sincere - how many of us have heard racist slurs uttered at parties by drunken progs, for instance?).

The right (possibly with the exception of the McCarthyites - I don't know enough about that period) tends to try to convince people of the correctness of its ideas, admittedly sometimes by pointing out the clearly bad consequences of leftist policies. But the right seems still to believe they have to persuade others to think about, and then join, conservatism (or I suppose libertarianism). So, again ISTM, conservative conversions tend to stick.

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

The other reason the Party needs "heretics" is the same reason it also needs "hoarders, wreckers, spies, saboteurs, and counterrevolutionaries" --- they all are the true reason the Party fucks up everything it touches. If it wasn't for these forces of evil, everything the Party does would be an outstanding success, doncha know.

With this thought in mind, maybe we here in the commenteriat can form a band: AA & the Running Dog Lackeys.

Rory म्हणाले...

"We must never stop talking about the 2020 election fraud, if we ever want to get election reforms implemented."

But that's not a normal life. The reason to have elections is so that people don't have to look over their shoulders every day, always, to see if the have to re-join the fight against someone who's trying to take their rights away. We have to re-form the government so that the loonies are consigned back to soap boxes in public parks, and the rest of us can go about our lives until the next election.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

The Constitution has to be the focus, to buttress individual rights and federalism.

I fully agree, Rory, but more than half of the original Bill of Rights has been dismantled already.

Night Owl म्हणाले...

But that's not a normal life.

No kidding. We're already beyond normal. People fear losing jobs and getting labeled domestic terrorists because they exercise their constitutional rights.

We have to re-form the government so that the loonies are consigned back to soap boxes in public parks, and the rest of us can go about our lives until the next election.

And how do we do that if we allow ourselves to be censored? If the powers that be want us to shut up about a topic, that's precisely the topic we should talk about. It's a topic they fear.

narciso म्हणाले...

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6229885050001#sp=show-clips

Mark म्हणाले...

What Wendy was talking about and Browndog was covering her eyes to --

Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters march through DC surrounding diners, skirmishing with police, and chanting 'burn it down'
by Andrew Mark Miller, Social Media Producer | | February 07, 2021 09:46 AM

Black Lives Matter protesters and antifa protesters marched through Washington, D.C., on Saturday night threatening to burn down the city and intimidating people while they ate dinner.

“Burn it down,” the protesters could be heard yelling as they marched through D.C. following an afternoon rally labeled the "DC Queer and Trans Black History Month March and Rally.”

"We are here tonight because black lives matter," the group could be heard reciting. "Despite black lives mattering, black people are still dying at the hands of the police paid for by our tax dollars."

At one point, antifa members could be seen skirmishing with the police, who were attempting to keep them away from people eating outdoors at various restaurants.

One video from the scene showed protesters shining bright lights at the police while verbally accosting them.

Roughly 26,000 National Guard troops were sent to Washington, D.C., to provide security following the riot on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, with at least 5,000 of them reported to be staying through March.

The Metro Police said no arrests were made on Saturday night due to the protests.

Night Owl म्हणाले...

BTW I'm not saying I know the election was stolen, I just know it sure looks that way. And I sure as hell am not going to stop mentioning it and allow our so-called representatives to do nothing about it. We need transparent, auditable elections, or we don't have a republic. If this is not important enough for you to talk about, then what is?

As I said in another comment thread, when I ask my Democrat voting relatives if Trump had been elected the way Biden was-- with vote counting resumed in the middle of the night after observers were sent home-- would they accept the result, they look away and go silent. They know it looks bad.

What happened in the 2020 election cannot be allowed to ever happen again. We need to talk about it.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

I wanted to like The Death of Stalin, but it seemed like it was just the same joke over and over again. Also, when comedy gets frenetic, you are either onboard with it and enjoying it or left standing and looking on with increasing impatience.

Narr म्हणाले...

The Dims have Trotsky-envy. They long for a permanent ongoing worldwide revolution--and might get it.

If I heard correctly, it is now the policy of the USG to protect LGBTQ rights all over the world. I hope that enough patriotic young LGBTQ-Americans can be found to fill out the ranks when the shooting starts!

Narr
Trots to the left of me, Neocon Trots to the right

Mark म्हणाले...

If there is any good that might come from the public school teachers refusing to reopen the schools, perhaps it will be to instill in kids a much-needed and substantial distrust of the entire thought-control education/indoctrination system.

Josephbleau म्हणाले...

“Black Lives Matter protesters and antifa protesters marched through Washington, D.C., on Saturday night threatening to burn down the city and intimidating people while they ate dinner.“

I am sure that no Congress people were out eating and were made afraid by this particular riot.

DINKY DAU 45 म्हणाले...

3 months later ,trumpeters still can't get off the mat from the knockout, time to head back to double A ball. Send the $$$ Joe, one more reconciliation to go, use it wisely. The Sunday only Christians seem to be holding the foul vernacular out of usual name calling ,out of reverence I guess? Let the games(GAME) begin, going for my($100.00) POOL SQUARE NUMBERS, lets go 7 and 3.No loyalty here, fair weather gambler. :)

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

I am sure that no Congress people were out eating and were made afraid by this particular riot.

You have no idea how much it pisses me off to see this stuff. In the first video, the protestors are marching towards 18th & Columbia in Adams Morgan and on the right side of the street you can see a building where one of my good friends used to live in a basement apartment. It reminds me of how terrified he was during the riot that happened down there under the Pratt admin. He was a hard lefty of the old school, but he knew that would cut no ice with a mob if he was ever caught out in it. He approved of the local Adams Morgan shop-owners who defended their shops with guns when the police wouldn't.

This may be "news" to you, but this is the stomping grounds of my young adulthood they're rampaging through.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"liberals are hurting themselves"

Only if they are actually liberal and lack power.

But in fact there are few liberals left, and progs hunt heretics as they please. It enhances their power, it encourages the others, and it thus solidifies prog hegemony. They really couldn't care less about what anyone else thinks. You'd think the NYT would hesitate to can McNeill, or that theSF board person would hesitate to sound asinine--but no, they don't give a damn, and they can afford not to give damn.

As this was happening, we got cruel neutrality and abstention from even the bravest of the few liberals still alive.

John henry म्हणाले...

I had a bet with Dick about *being inaugurated and paid it the same day.

I also had a $5 bet with my daughter that I've not yet paid because I'm traveling. Last night I offered her double or nothing.

Trump back in the white house by year end.

Probably sooner but I wanted to allow enough time

Legal is assumed

John Henry

Jaq म्हणाले...

They present BIden as boring while the junta that is running our government, whoever they are, plays a giant game of Jenga with our economy.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"I want office holders to be boring"

Well, the regime is giving you boring -- the Gleichschaltung, 24/7 propaganda, the silence of the cowed populace, brought to you by the most boring twosome in American history, Joe and Kamala, neither of whom has ever said anything "interesting" in the Althousian sense.

The boring sameness of the scorched earth.

Aided and abetted by cruel neutrality of the few brave liberals left, and the active fellow traveling of nice women.

effinayright म्हणाले...

robother said....

Thus, despite the "Return to Normalcy" Biden fiction, we can expect the Left to continue provocations (impeaching an ex-president, BLM demonstrations and destruction, show trials of Trump supporters) as a way of getting more heretics to self-identify. Perhaps Molly Ball's Time article is best understood as such a provocation.
**********

I've considered signing up for Mark Steyn's Mediterranean cruise this coming fall, and have wondered out loud if by doing so I will self-identify myself as one such heretic. With him will be notorious Class Enemies Michele Bachmann and Conrad Black.

I can easily imagine someone getting the passenger manifest and doxxing the living bejeesus out of us.

Karen म्हणाले...

Thus the call to disavow. Disavow, disavow, show your virtue by disavowing yourself right down to your very inner thoughts. And then you disappear. Poof. Problem solved for the overlords.

alanc709 म्हणाले...

I bet life in Soviet Russia was very boring. Why I think anyone wanting boring politics is whistling past the graveyard.

Richard Dolan म्हणाले...

There's something about comparisons between the overwrought partisan rhetoric in the USA with Stalin and his Great Terror that sticks in the craw. At one end, it's all just unserious yak, the stuff that you see on those ubiquitous requests for political contributions -- you can't believe how evil and crafty the other side is, send money now to save us all!!! At the other was evil itself, matched with the power and an unflinching will to carry it through to the end. The difference between the two is many orders of magnitude.

It's not that today's partisan crazies aren't capable of wreaking havoc on the body politic. But it's more posturing and virtue-signaling than a return of the Jacobins, and the purveyors of that stuff are too committed to their own comfort and position in life to be ruthless revolutionaries.

Ken B म्हणाले...

By boring I think Althouse means undemonstrative muddling through and adherence to commonly accepted standards. It’s a lower standard than “calm efficiency”. It is a rejection of the infusion of a cult of personality. Pretty much the same thing you look for in a barber.

Mr Wibble म्हणाले...

I also had a $5 bet with my daughter that I've not yet paid because I'm traveling. Last night I offered her double or nothing.

Trump back in the white house by year end.

Probably sooner but I wanted to allow enough time

Legal is assumed


That ain't happening. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump is the favorite in 2024, and that Dem internal polling is horrific enough that there are plans to primary her.

Mark म्हणाले...

Over ONE MONTH later we still don't know. The military occupation of our nation's capital (and capitol) continues, but the Biden Police State still will not say.

Who killed the unarmed Ashli Babbitt, unperson?

The boot will stamp on her unface forever.

n.n म्हणाले...

The governing spectrum is from anarchist to totalitarian, where the left-right nexus is leftist. An Ouroboro effect in practice.

Libertarianism is self-organizing. Liberalism is divergent. Progressivism is monotonic. Conservativism is moderating. Principles matter.

Mr Wibble म्हणाले...

Gah, I meant to say that "Dem internal polling is horrific enough that there are plans to primary Harris."

n.n म्हणाले...

Who killed the unarmed Ashli Babbitt, unperson?

Who and why? The apology fielded is for a novel self-defense.

Mark म्हणाले...

You poor, naive, deluded people crying, "We have to do ____."

Go ahead. Knock yourself out. Close the barn door now.

Mark म्हणाले...

TOO

Mark म्हणाले...

DAMN

Mark म्हणाले...

LATE

n.n म्हणाले...

Like Mao's Great Leap (i.e. Planned Population) that progressed with one-child (i.e. minority choice) to selective-child (i.e. delegated choice) with cancel culture, re-education classes and concentration camps. Surely, a double-edged scalpel, but with the establishment of the Progressive Church, perhaps not.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

Most of the Trump signs in my neighborhood are still up.

Mark म्हणाले...

Washington Post embraces anti-Asian RACISM --

We’re still missing the origin story of this pandemic. China is sitting on the answers.

Narayanan म्हणाले...

wholelottasplainin' said...

I've considered signing up for Mark Steyn's Mediterranean cruise this coming fall, …
With him will be notorious Class Enemies Michele Bachmann and Conrad Black …
--------------================
is dictionary / thesaurus included with cruise ticket?

n.n म्हणाले...

is dictionary / thesaurus included with cruise ticket?

A Maritime Dictionary a la Urban Dictionary.

n.n म्हणाले...

Washington Post embraces anti-Asian RACISM

Diversity [dogma] is a many Pro-Choice selective, opportunistic, relativistic ("ethical"), politically congruent ("=") quasi-religious philosophy.

अनामित म्हणाले...

There does not need to be a civil war. We have the majesty of a creaky system that shows the way out.

Attend to your State. Federalism has become a rusty old relic, discarded to gain the easy money that can be had by begging the Leviathan...FedGov.

Federalism still exists though. It needs some elbow grease. It requires a people who believe what they say and are willing to reject the DaneGold of the Leviathan.

First, stop taking money from the US Dept of Ed, a vipers nest Of Marxists and Globalists.

Reject the curriculum forced on your State's Teacher's Colleges. We've had 40 years of the deviance and sickness that the US Dept of ED. insinuated into our children's' lives through the teachers that choked down the deviance and sickness required for a Teacher certificate.

Let's take this 'Supreme Law of the Land' out for a spin. Let's open up the throttle and see if our 'Supreme Court' recognizes the 9th and 10th Amendments in our Bill of Rights.

Those Amendments are rusted and crumbling, like anything that is not used.

We, the American people...inheritors of what was the greatest hope in this World, need to be the WD40 that this moment calls for.

WD40. Let's unlock this thing, and take it for a spin.










mockturtle म्हणाले...

Hercules, I agree that the best, perhaps the only, way out of this mess is by using and strengthening the powers of state and county governments. As you observe, we can't keep taking the federal dollars if it means playing by their rules.