September 18, 2022

Sunrise — 6:45, 7:03.

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Open thread in the comments.

42 comments:

tim in vermont said...

A very long and difficult essay which explains some things. The first few paragraphs and the last few are the best. It explains why they call us "fascists," it's because we are not under their complete control, basically, not following Open Society etiquette, it has nothing to do with actual fascism, which they are happy to arm to the teeth. But there is a lot more here, and insightful commentary about how MAGA is the only real working class party in the United States. Which I also agree with. It's what frightens the 'gadflys' etc. We are scary. We have had our childen dragged off to war, and then had their sacrifices utterly disrespected and all they had fought, maybe been maimed, or even died for, thrown away for a speech Biden wanted to make.

Our way of life swept away, for the sake the higher profits flowing to the coasts that were to be had from globalism. Let's not even get into the obvious lies, the pandemic bullshit, the weaponizing of the security state and IRS against us.

https://showinfrared.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-maga-communism

It's kind of a Russel Brand take. Let's face it, they hate us, we should not fight their wars, support their bullshit woke movies, (he makes the point, obvious to you and me, maybe, but not to those on the left, that LBGTWRRWOU+++^2 is more nazi than anything Trump is doing. I think that the "lockstep" comment was a clue to that. Anyway, it's interesting, if you arre of a mind.

Buckwheathikes said...

Joe Biden's presidency ended tonight when he told 60 Minutes he's not running for re-election.

He can see the writing on the wall in less than 2 months. He knows he will no longer have the Congress and that they're going after not only him, but his wife, his kids and every crooked fucker who got him in there. He knows that Republicans are going to seek to put him in prison. And his wife. And his meth-head children (at least the one's he hasn't raped.)

The only thing left for him to do is to die, and thus get a state funeral along the lines of Elizabeth. You know, to garner sympathy. Take the pill, bro. Take it.

If he won't do it himself, then somebody is probably going to have to do it for him.

And they will. He's a dead man walking.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I fear the Oops broken blog anomaly is sending some of my comments to the ether in the twilight zone, or our hostess is becoming more selective.

I don't mean to come across as whiny. I think I'm beyond that now. Saturday's TikTok #7 has it just about right. The meaning of life in eating your toast.

As profesor John Vervaeke put it to Lex, when asked if he thought about his own mortality; ... part of it as I'm older and your temporal horizon flips, somewhere in your 30s or 40's, you don't live from your birth, you live towards your death...

Link to the rest of that part of the conversation

Wa St Blogger said...

Like many issues of political importance, the debates about the issue are not debates about the issue but rather debates about how people might or might not use the issue in a sleazy manner. I find this extremely off-putting and destructive to our nation. We don't talk about how our politicians are cowards and would rather create pain and suffering for political gain than solve the problem.

The most recent is the the immigration issue. We talk about how one side or the other is doing bad things, exploiting the immigrants, are racist, treating them like cattle, imprisoning them, violating their human rights, etc. We never talk about how we got into this situation and what the consequences are for the policies that exist at the root.

At the very root is our national policy on immigrants. How many should we allow into the country and from what locations and under what criteria? If the Democrats really want 2 million immigrants from the south each year, why don't they simply pass the legislation that adjusts the limits? Why do they instead keep the quotas as they are, restricted by numbers, restricted by skills? It is immoral to make the default policy that we wink and nod and let them come across illegally and then when people protest, call them racists. Cowardly.

If we do allow 2 million immigrants from the south, the politicians should pass legislation to fund the facilities needed to receive them and process their paperwork in a timely manner. If they can't do that, then they should not let them across. Cowardly.

If we allow 2 million new people immigrate, then there should be a policy of placement equally distributed across the various states apportioned by population rather than force certain states to bear the entire burden. If people in Mass. support immigration, they should be willing to pay their fair share of the burden. If they are unwilling, then they should not vote for it. They should not off-load the externalities of their policies on disfavored communities. Liberals do not tolerate when businesses do it, they should put their money where their mouths are. Cowardly.

When we debate whether Fl or Tx governors are scum for their stunts to elevate the problems they face, we are avoiding the real problem. Why will we not do legal immigration and why will we not distribute the burden? Cowardly.

My position is that if you are appalled at how these people have been treated, why are you not demanding a root cause solution rather than blaming the people who are affected by the policy for their reactions to it? Cowardly.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If the Russian troll farms were as powerful as the democrats make them out to be, Kiev would have fallen by now. Just saying.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

A work around the Oops broken blog glitch might be to first preview your comment and then click publish from the pop-up therein.

I await my nobel prize in blogocrinology at your earliest convenience.

Gahrie said...

Joe Biden's presidency ended tonight when he told 60 Minutes he's not running for re-election.

Kamala Harris did not commit suicide.

Beasts of England said...

Our weekend weather was exceptional - highs in the mid-eighties, low humidity, light winds, and abundant sunshine. Saw for the first time a trio of great blue herons sweep down the lake, and this afternoon we watched a juvenile bald eagle drifting over the boat until it finally decided on a bass appetizer. Ain’t life grand…

Humperdink said...

Then: sanctuary city, noun: (in North America) a city whose municipal laws tend to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation or prosecution, despite federal immigration law.

Now: sanctuary city, noun: (in liberal cities), a city with numerous signs proclaiming their love of illegal immigrants, but when they arrive without leaf blowers, usher them out of town under National Guard escort.

Owen said...

Second pic of sunrise is clearly a rip-off of Turner’s most ecstatic work.

Thanks!

Josephbleau said...

“ Wa St Blogger said...“

Very well stated.

wildswan said...

I did an analysis of murders in Milwaukee trying to see what my chances are in this town which used to have 2130 police (1995) and now has 1652, which used to have 124 murders in a year (2017) and now has 212 (2021). Surprise. My risk of being murdered has not increased at all. in 2017 there were 15 homicides in the white community and in 2021 there were 16. The number has fluctuated around 15-16 for years. The Hispanic community has a similar story. There were 17 homicides in 2017 and 13 in 2021.
The homicide increase related to the lack of policing is concentrated in the black community. There were 115 homicides in the black community in 2017; there were 166 in 2020 the year George Floyd died and it's been like that ever since. There have been 135 homicides in the black community in 2022 as of September 16. Last year at this time there were 152 homicides among all races; this year as of September 16 there have been 167 in total.
It was terrible watching George Floyd die in the street; it is terrible knowing that every year since George Floyd's death 30 to 50 members of the black community have died due to changed police practices which were supposed to benefit the black community in particular. It's terrible knowing that the left, the Black Caucus and all the liberals support the changes in policing and that all continue to say that the changes benefit the black community. It's terrible knowing that the black community will vote for the left because the Black Caucus says left works on behalf of the black community. A sharp change of course is needed to save lives and I do not see the political will. I see a deep moral blindness on the very issue sincere people are the most concerned about; I don't really know how such a situation is caused or cured.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

'The horror of what DeSantis did was to drop off the migrants at Marthas Viniard AFTER the season was over.' - hilarious Tim Dillon clip

link to video

gadfly said...

Ted Cruz was forced to admit by Sean Hannity that the transportation of undocumented migrants from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard by Ron DeSantis was . . . illegal.

Hannity . . . asked him if the law was clear on human trafficking, to which Mr. Cruz uncomfortably admitted, “It is clear.”

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Tom Brady is 2-0. Incredible.

Remember that show That’s Incredible?

I think it was on ABC.

Gospace said...

Total blackout in Puerto Rico. No John Henry tonight. Lots of flooding from the rain.

Drago said...

LOL

The Hopeless gadfly returns again to the Walls Are Closing In....but this time its Abbott, DeSantis and Democrat Mayor Oscar Leeser of El Paso in the crosshairs!

Its so easy for the lefty masters to spool up their Army of Morons comprised of thousands of gadflys.

gilbar said...

wildswan said...
The homicide increase related to the lack of policing is concentrated in the black community.

sorry, but; what's your point? Haven't you read the signs, that white people put up in their yards?
(of course, you have to Read Between The Lines

Black Lives
{don't}
Matter

I'm just being snarky wildswan, i totally get your point

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Coffin funny.

Casket not funny.

MadTownGuy said...

From NYT's "The Morning" newsletter, which I receive due to a trial subscription from years ago. Can't link, so here's the gist:

"It is our deep and ongoing commitment to expose the cancers eating away at democracy, as well as joining the search for solutions. We have been gathering our coverage in a collection called Democracy Challenged.

An overview
The latest piece in the collection, by David Leonhardt, covers the two biggest threats to American democracy: first, a movement within the Republican Party that refuses to accept election defeat; and, second, a growing disconnect between public opinion and government power. Below, we summarize the main points:

The Jan. 6 attack on Congress was only the most obvious manifestation of the movement that refuses to accept election defeat. Hundreds of elected Republican officials around the country falsely claim that the 2020 election was rigged, suggesting they may be willing to overturn a future election. “There is the possibility, for the first time in American history, that a legitimately elected president will not be able to take office,” Yascha Mounk, a political scientist, said.
"

MadTownGuy said...

Continued from preceding comment...

"Even many Republicans who do not repeat the election lies have chosen to support and campaign for those who do. Representative Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House leader, has gone so far as to support colleagues who have used violent imagery in public comments, such as calling for the killing of Democrats.
But there are also many senior Republicans who have signaled they would be unlikely to participate in an effort to overturn an election, including Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate. He recently said that the United States had “very little voter fraud.”
This combination suggests that the risk of an overturned election remains uncertain. But the chances are much higher than would have been fathomable until the past few years. Previous leaders of both parties consistently rejected talk of reversing an election outcome.

In addition to this acute threat, American democracy also faces a chronic threat: The power to set government policy is becoming increasingly disconnected from public opinion.
Two of the past four presidents have taken office despite losing the popular vote. Senators representing a majority of Americans are often unable to pass bills, partly because of the increasing use of the filibuster. And the Supreme Court is dominated by an ambitious Republican-appointed bloc even though Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections — an unprecedented run of popular-vote success in U.S. history.
Parties in previous eras that fared as well in the popular vote as the Democrats have fared in recent decades were able to run the government and pass policies they favored. Examples include the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson’s time, the New Deal Democrats and the Reagan Republicans.

The growing disconnect from federal power and public opinion generally springs from enduring features of American government, some written into the Constitution. But these features did not conflict with majority opinion to the same degree in past decades. One reason is that less populous and more populous states tended to have broadly similar political outlooks in the past.
A sorting of the population in recent decades has meant that the less-populated areas given outsize influence by the Constitution also tend to be conservative, while major metropolitan areas have become more liberal. In the past, “the system was still antidemocratic, but it didn’t have a partisan effect,” said Steven Levitsky, another political scientist. “Now it’s undemocratic and has a partisan effect.”
Over the sweep of history, the American government has tended to become more democratic, through women’s suffrage, civil rights laws, the direct election of senators and more. The current period is so striking partly because it is one of the rare exceptions: The connection between government power and popular opinion has become weaker in recent decades.

tim in vermont said...

Gadfly's desire to throw all opposition politicians in jail doesn't suggest a lot of confidence in the electoral prospects of his favored policies of sending our boys off to wars for the rich, sending our jobs overseas, and the silencing of all meaningful dissent.

wendybar said...

More proof that the Biden is has lost it. He thinks we should be happy that he opened up the borders, tanked the economy, and divided us more than we have ever been divided before??? DELUSIONAL.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/joe-biden-people-disapprove-psychologically-unable-happy-video/

Christopher B said...

gadlie, again.

Hannity went on to ask Cruz, who previously worked as a lawyer, about the legality of transporting migrants, posing a hypothetical scenario in which he personally drove a truck to the border and collected immigrants and transported them across the country.

Hannity said: "Would I or would I not likely be arrested for human trafficking, and would it be illegal to do that?"

"For you, a citizen, you could easily be arrested, although to be honest, Joe Biden's Justice Department wouldn't arrest you," Cruz said.

wendybar said...

Maybe THIS is why we are psychologically unable to be happy (like the Delusional one claims) THIS is what a progressive utopia looks like, and most of us hate it.



https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/axe-wielding-man-smashed-nyc-mcdonalds-threatened-diners-freed-jail-without-bail-gloats/

Humperdink said...

Watching the highlights of Biden's interview with 60 minutes last night, we can be comforted in knowing there will never be another one.

Humperdink said...

Watching the highlights of Biden's interview with 60 minutes last night, we can be comforted in knowing there will never be another one.

wendybar said...


Victor Davis Hanson is brilliant. This article says it all....

"We are now a revolutionary society in decline using the courts, prosecutors, the administrative state, and the law itself to punish enemies, help friends, and declare such asymmetry “social justice.”"

https://amgreatness.com/2022/09/18/equal-justice-they-said/

tim in vermont said...

"The connection between government power and popular opinion has become weaker in recent decades."

The Kennedy assassination shrunk the balls of every succeeding president, with the exception of Trump, and you can see what they are doing to him, "six ways to Sunday."

That assassination took issues of war and peace away from the electorate, Nixon ended the Viet Nam war, opened relations with China, and look what they did to him; Deep Throat was an FBI official mad at Nixon. Those two presidents both held Eisenhower in high esteem, and doubtless took his warning about the military industrial complex seriously. Thought they were actually president. Both paid the price.

Achilles said...

That 60 Minutes Interview is an impressive piece of work.

Inside the demented mind of Joe Biden he knows he is being used for evil purposes.

Odds are better than 50/50 he is pushed out before Republicans take control in 2023.

I really wonder how they are going to get Kamala to resign.

They are setting Newsome up to take over right now.

tim in vermont said...

After that interview, I am guessing that the 25th Amendment has crossed the minds of a few. I will say it again, Harris could not be worse. Usually it's the enemy that inflicts a second front on you in a war, but Joe is a master strategist and has decided to put China on a military footing and drive her into Russia's arms. India knows that the United States is a long ways away, and can't protect her should she choose to undermine either Russia or China.

Handing Afghanistan over preemptively, before starting these conflicts, was a master stroke too. Joe Biden is like a dog playing chess.

gilbar said...

wildswan said...
The homicide increase related to the lack of policing is concentrated in the black community.

here's gilbar, being NOT snarky
Egg on the Face for Black Lives Matter Supporters

Josephbleau said...

Beiden reminds me of the dancing bear. You don’t expect him to dance well, the remarkable thing is that he dances at all.

Jefferson's Revenge said...

I agree with Achilles on his point about Biden/Harris. They have to replace Harris first before Biden is pushed out. Harris can be bought off with money and/or a prestige job- maybe a Supreme Court appointment if the D's keep the Senate. With Harris as sitting VP, Biden can't be pushed out because she is less popular than him so she must go first.

It does seem that someone is promoting Newsome but maybe it is just Newsome seeing a weakness and being proactive. I can't see Newsome winning in 2024 unless he is anointed prior by moving from VP to President. A few years as President will make him a national figure and immune to a real primary threat so they might be comfortable.

I would love to see a Newsome/DeSantis 2024 campaign. I think DeSantis would win 45 states.

However, I think that unlike Achilles, I am nervous about a Newsome/Trump match. I would vote for Trump but the winner would be harder to predict.

Of course, if the D's win in 2022 it won't matter who they run in 2024 because they will own the election process anyway and the country will be a one party nation like CA, Illinois, Philly, NYC. etc.

jaydub said...

The really important question is did Slow Joe declare all the Covid emergency measures null and void when he stated the pandemic was over, and if not, why not? What happens to the various mask, vaccine and other mandates if there is no pandemic? Do the fired people get their jobs back? Are the armed forces personnel who refused vaccination to be recalled?

The next questions of importance are who is the fool that let Joey talk to the press on TV and has he been fired yet?

Lurker21 said...

After the big rumpus about supposed racial slurs at a BYU-Duke volleyball match, slurs that nobody actually heard, the media is giving the "Fuck the Mormons" chant at a BYU-Oregon football match a good leaving alone.

The growing disconnect from federal power and public opinion

The disconnect the Times sees is because the rural states have too much power. Is that really the problem now? Are the small states really calling the shots?

In a country split 50-50 between the parties why should democracy demand that the big cities and the older urbanized states always dictate what government does? Wouldn't that also be unrepresentative and undemocratic?

It looks to me more like the disconnect is because most people don't believe the government or the media.

tim maguire said...

gadfly said...Ted Cruz was forced to admit by Sean Hannity that the transportation of undocumented migrants from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard by Ron DeSantis was . . . illegal.

Good effort, but you haven't yet found the formula that successfully hides your hypocrisy on this issue.

wildswan said...

gilbar said...
wildswan said...
The homicide increase related to the lack of policing is concentrated in the black community.
here's gilbar, being NOT snarky
Egg on the Face for Black Lives Matter Supporters"
7:29 for link

Gilbar, I probably am coming late to the realization of the consequences of the lack of policing. I knew the black community suffered the most but I actually thought the increase in homicides was more spread out across the population than it is. No increase in homicides in the white and Hispanic communities. The whole increase in the black community. All of it the result of policy decisions specifically intended to help the black community, policies supported even now by the Black Caucus. I just want to turn away and think about something else.

Narr said...

Self-destructive people gonna self-destruct, whether as individuals or as a demographic.

So it goes.

Jim at said...

He knows that Republicans are going to seek to put him in prison.

Oh, please. The Republicans aren't going to do shit. They'll talk and talk and talk - and maybe write a sternly worded letter or hold a hearing or two - but at the end of the day they won't do jack.

lonejustice said...

Wendybar reposted several posts from from Gateway Pundit, as he regularly does here and elsewhere. Gateway Pundit is not a reliable source. Jim Hoft, its author, has been sued so many times for false reporting, that he has told his writers to be more careful: "I don't want any more lawsuits so we have to be really careful with what we put up."

I read the Gateway Pundit, but I do so with a large block of salt.

Jim at said...

I read the Gateway Pundit, but I do so with a large block of salt.

I used to. Several years ago. But time and time again he would post things that were clearly false ... and his readers (myself included) pointed out just how wrong he was and to make corrections for credibility's sake. He never did.

Haven't been back.