CDR Salamander on the last few days- with numbers https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/063-moa-away-thats-it And possibly the best video meme from the last few days discussing reaction to Trump standing up after being shot and reassuring the crowd: https://x.com/LibertyCappy/status/1812692442916999575
"The building where gunman Thomas Crooks scrambled onto the roof and opened fire was the staging area for the local police tactical team doing overwatch of the crowd, two law enforcement officials told ABC News."
Investigators are trying to figure out how Crooks was able to get roof access.
Ann - I hope you saw the sunset just now, it was so intense! the entire sky was orange - and the southern lightning is still awesome to see out the window.
I have watched the video, more than a few times, of Trump getting shot, dropping below the podium, rising up bloodied and then shaking his fist yelling "fight". I suspect Putin and Xi watched it more than once also.
Trump getting up, defiant and angry, shaking his fist. It is iconic, and will go down as such. Being able to do that, at a time of confusion, chaos, and knowing little of what the coming seconds might bring, he made a choice, a conscious choice to rally his troops. Any politician in the world would have let the SS bundle him away.They let him stand up-or he did so by force of will. It wasn't, as leftist say, a performance. It was his true character coming out. His courage turned a horrific event into something we all could see and understand. One man, under fire, exhorting his people to fight for what is right. Nothing the leftists on this blog, or in the MSM can ever change that. And many people, at that moment, decided that yes, Trump is my guy. It was brave, and a very American thing to do. Perhaps that is why the left can't understand it at all.
Provides $3.015 billion, which is $192.6 million above FY23 and $5 million above the request. $1.811 billion for Special Agents, Uniformed Division Officers, technical law enforcement, and support personnel. $190.5 million to prepare for security during the 2024 Presidential Campaign.
It's been two days since Trump was shot. How much rioting, arson and looting has resulted from that assassination attempt? There's probably more on a regular weekend in Democrat run cities. If the media is to be believed, it's the right that is violence-prone and a threat to public safety. I'm not seeing it.
The scariest thing about the assassination attempt was what I’ve seen so far of the interview with Kim Cheatle, head of the US Secret Service. I haven’t seen the whole interview, just excerpts, but from what I’ve seen she has little to no interest in learning any lessons from what almost happened. Scary if true. But it would not be out of character for the Biden administration. Strange that Democrats, strong believers in big government, have come to care so little about any obligation to make government work.
A fox knows a little bit about a lot of things. A hedgehog knows a lot about one thing. Ron Johnson is neither a fox nor a hedgehog, he’s as dumb as a stump.
"Strange that Democrats, strong believers in big government, have come to care so little about any obligation to make government work."
Government is a jobs program for them. "Making it work" means securing pay and benefits for themselves, with the side benefit of having the power to boss people around. Taxpayers? Fuck 'em.
Did anyone have "Massachusetts-born President of the Teamsters Union gives a stemwinder against corporate greed at the Republican National Convention--and gets constant applause" on their Bingo card, because I certainly didn't.
There is a massive political re-alignment going on in this country that is separate from the personality-based discussions we have been having. For my entire lifetime the Democrats were a Middle/Lower coalition and the Republicans an Upper/Middle coalition. The never-ending fight was over which party could attract more votes from the lower-middle class.
But that dynamic is finally gone.
The Democratic party is well on its way to becoming a Top/Bottom coalition of corporate and government managers and the more abstract professions (people whose compensation and power is determined by where they are located on a org chart) allied with all the people who receive government salaries or benefits.
The Republicans are becoming a Working/Middle party. The upper echelon will be made up of people whose compensation and power comes from their owning smaller firms rather than managing giant ones, the middle is the skilled trades and their equivalents (people who are paid based on technical ability rather than org chart placement) and unionized labor in physically-focused industries (energy, shipping, construction), and the bottom is workers who draw a paycheck from a private entity rather than from the government.
This realignment is the only thing I can think of to explain the otherwise insane and politically suicidal practice of keeping the border open and flooding the country with refugees. Although paying to take care of these people is wrecking city budgets--and therefore qualities of life--in the blue states and cities in particular, it keeps going on because it's a win/win: if the Democrats temporarily gain enough power EVER to grant mass amnesty and citizenship, they get millions of votes; but even if they don't, they have a giant mass of clients that THEIR votes and donors get paid to service--permanently.
The old system worked reasonably well because parties were competing for the same voters, so that too much polarization was electoral suicide (see the fates of Goldwater and McGovern). It's not clear that the new system will be stable, or if it will lead to Venezuela, in which a gigantic recipient class bled the middle-class of the country absolutely dry, leading to poverty and misery for everyone but the government-favored elite, who can live like medieval barons surrounded by a sea of peasants.
On Saturday the U.S.A. just barely avoided an irreversible path to becoming like the former Yugoslavia, and that fate could still be ours if some cooler heads don't prevail, and quickly. But if we do dodge that bullet, we could end up as an enormous Venezuela, a rulers and peasants dynamic rather than the middle-class country we have been since our founding.
"Did anyone have "Massachusetts-born President of the Teamsters Union gives a stemwinder against corporate greed at the Republican National Convention--and gets constant applause" on their Bingo card, because I certainly didn't."
Took me aback. Seems like Trump made sure he was there, too.
"if the Democrats temporarily gain enough power EVER to grant mass amnesty and citizenship, they get millions of votes; "
It's inevitable; they will get that power at some point, if for no other reason than political Brownian motion.
A fox knows a little bit about a lot of things. A hedgehog knows a lot about one thing. Ron Johnson is neither a fox nor a hedgehog, he’s as dumb as a stump.
You fuckers tried to kill Trump, and this is the best you've got 48 hours later?
You're extremely fortunate our side is slow to boil. That may change should you try it again.
Second one. Morning on the Mekong. The sun is not going to be visibly dominant today. Small convective tower on left interests - Shrinking ghost of last night's light show or an early riser?
Mutaman: "I suspect you're drinking too much bleach."
LOL
Mutaman fully ensnared in hilariously failed New Soviet Democratical Hoax Mesh Network!
The smart libs/left have already migrated to the right and can be found from silicon valley to the industrial heartland and VC leaders on the East Coast.
"Channel 11′s Nicole Ford confirmed that Beaver County’s ESU team had eight members at the rally, including snipers and spotters. According to Ford’s sources, one of them noticed a suspicious man on a roof near the rally at 5:45 p.m., called it in and took a picture of the person. We have learned from our sources the person in that picture is Thomas Crooks. We’re told it’s not clear if Crooks had a gun with him at that point. Then at 5:45, just before the program was to begin, the same counter-sniper spotted Crooks again, this time on the roof. He took a second picture and called it into the command center. Twenty-Six minutes later those shots rang out…"
“You reap what you sow”— Galatians 6:6-10 8:03 AM · Jul 15, 2024
The Dank Knight 🦇 @capeandcowell
Replying to @tribelaw Tell us Laurence Tribe why exactly you think the President deserved to be shot and an innocent bystander murdered. In detail 9:41 AM · Jul 15, 2024
Kevin M. Nelson @KevinMNelsonUSA · Follow Replying to @tribelaw Quoting the Bible to justify an assassination attempt where a fire chief lost his life.
You and I do not serve the same God.
Repent. 9:14 AM · Jul 15, 2024
Duke of Toxic Masculinity @LeviathanLeap
Replying to @tribelaw I feel sorry for any students subjected to such an ignorant, pedantic buffoon. 5:16 PM · Jul 15, 2024
Here's the part of the article where he engages in confession by projection:
"Was there anything that would fill this void of meaning? Was there anything that could give people a shared sense of right and wrong, a sense of purpose?
It turns out there was: identity politics. People on the right and the left began to identify themselves within a particular kind of moral story. This is the story in which my political group is the victim of oppression and other groups are the oppressors. For people who feel they are floating in a moral and social vacuum, this story provides a moral landscape — there are those bad guys over there and us good guys over here. The story provides a sense of belonging. It provides social recognition. By expressing my rage, I will earn your attention and respect.
In public discourse, identity politics is more associated with the left. Progressivism used to be oriented around how to make capitalism just; but now in its upper-middle-class form, it’s oriented around proper esteem for and inclusion of different identity groups.
But as Hunter notes, Donald Trump practices identity politics just as much as any progressive. He tells the story of how small-town, less-educated Christians are being oppressed by elites. He alone is their retribution. That story resonates with a lot of people. In the 1950s, Billy Graham assumed that his faith was central to American life. By the 2020s his son Franklin considered himself a warrior under siege in an anti-Christian culture.
The problem with this form of all-explaining identity politics is that it undermines democracy. If others are evil and out to get us, then persuasion is for suckers. If our beliefs are defined by our identities and not individual reason and personal experience, then different Americans are living in different universes and there is no point in trying to engage in deliberative democracy. You just have to crush them. You have to grab power and control of the institutions and shove your answers down everybody else’s throats.
In this climate, Hunter argues, “the authoritarian impulse becomes impossible to restrain.” Authoritarianism imposes a social vision by force. If you can’t have social solidarity organically from the ground up, then you can impose it from top down using the power of the state. This is the menace of Trumpism."
20 years. They will stab us in the back, first chance they get.
"The people who said George W. Bush was Hitler, that John McCain was Hitler, that Mitt Romney was Hitler, that Donald Trump was Hitler, and even Ron DeSantis was Hitler are now pretending to be interested in toning down political rhetoric because one of their followers believed them, and I’m supposed to unify with that?" https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2024/07/16/im-not-interested-in-unifying-with-leftists-right-now-n2641979
Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 @TulsiGabbard The hypocrisy of Biden and Co is infuriating. They are now calling for national unity saying they’re against political violence, wishing Trump well, and so on. Yet, they’ve spent the last 4 years doing everything they can to divide us for their political gain and power, trying to convince the American people that Trump is another Hitler who will turn America into a dictatorship, and his supporters are traitors. Do they really think that we, the American people, can’t see through their hypocrisy?
The Commies scoff that Trump's potential assassin was a Republican. So is Steve Schmidt.
"He is best known for working on Republican political campaigns, including those of President George W. Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arizona Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign." (wiki)
This video is making the rounds. Schmidt makes a guest appearance.
"Crooks was four years old when Obama became president. That was one hate that was given license in our Republic in every medium that contains any news, whether in print or on the internet and the airwaves. For his entire life, he heard that conservatives are the enemy of the people. Those anti-conservative, pro-progressive Democrat views have saturated the airwaves.
This is America at the crossroads, with a legion of little Crooks who have no respect for our Constitution or Rule of Law and who think that extreme violence is the answer. You can thank a Democrat…
The Trump destroying democracy theme never made any sense. He’s one of the most patriotic presidents we’ve had. Thoroughly loves our country. He would never seek to break down the country he loves so much, and the hard working people in it who just want to live in peace with their family and community, supported by a good job.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas (yesterday): "I have 100% confidence in the director of the United States Secret Service. I have 100% confidence in the United States Secret Service."
To my eyes what you've described is basically the Thatcherization of the GOP which goes along with the Corbyninzation of the Democrats (H/T Instapundit). I don't know that we'll be looking like Venezuela as that country started from a very different set of circumstances. Revolutionaries (not necessary violent ones) are usually from the disaffected UMC which is another dynamic at work here. The Democrats have been a Top/Bottom coalition for a long time. I think it was as early as Bill Clinton's election that the Democrat's high-income/low-income dichotomy became apparent. There's probably a generational shift going on as well. One thing Peter Zeihan mentions in his talks is that the Boomer generation was fairly well distributed among all classes of labor but due to our economic policies in the 1990s the Millennials are concentrated in management and abstract professions (as you put it). As Boomers have started to age out of politics the Millennial tilt towards those professions, and towards the Democrat Party, have shifted the focus of the two parties.
Biden’s interview with Lester Holt was god awful. The Big Guy has no self awareness. Said he met with Cheatle. He has no idea how to take action, no instinct.
My take is that Trump has decided he is not even going to try to get the female suburban vote, or moderate Independents or Democrats. He is doubling down on his base, thinking he doesn't need any other group to win. He may be successful, but I think it has risks.
From the New York Post: Helen Comperatore, whose husband, Corey, was shot and killed by a sniper at a Trump rally, said she wouldn’t take President Biden’s condolence call.
Prof. M. Drout said... "paying to take care of these people is wrecking city budgets" That is a very lucrative industry.
As Mason G said... "Government is a jobs program for them. "Making it work" means securing pay and benefits for themselves, with the side benefit of having the power to boss people around."
“the authoritarian impulse becomes impossible to restrain.” Authoritarianism imposes a social vision by force. If you can’t have social solidarity organically from the ground up, then you can impose it from top down using the power of the state. This is the menace of Trumpism."
Is *always* projection with these guys, and here proof. All Trump supporters want is to be left alone by the government. Q.E.D.
@lonejustice, he’s going after everyone who’s been screwed by Biden’s economic policies, every city dweller who has been a victim of the Democrats’ soft on crime policies, every Jew who has been harassed by their former allies just for being Jewish. And that’’s got to be a good bit north of 75% of the electorate.
From the Whitehouse transcript of Biden’s speech Friday night at Renaissance High School in Detroit.
“Trump is even more dangerous now. No, I’m serious. He’s unhinged. He snapped. And he refuses this time around — he — he refuses this time around to say he’ll accept the election — of this election — the results. Can you imagine that?
“Look, he says, if he loses, there will be a “bloodbath” when he loses.
And the United States Supreme Court said there’s virtually no limit on the power of a president. Trump said if he wins, he’ll be a dictator on day one. He means it, folks.
We’re not going to let that happen.
AUDIENCE: Nooo —
THE PRESIDENT: Over my dead body will it happen. (Applause.)”
Aside from the three clear lies in these short three paragraphs, some might call this incitement.
Here is an article in the Guardian: ‘He is borrowing from Trump’ from just after the assassination attempt by a "lone wolf" on Fico in Slovakia. This stuff is not random, that's what "stochastic" means, statistically determined, this is stochastic terrorism invoked by the Biden regime.
ll;dr: "He had it comin'," like the song from Chicago.
The Guardian's sister newspaper, the Sunday Observer published an editorial which ran the morning of the assassination attempt calling Trump a tyrant and a threat to all that is good and decent in the entire world.
When she releases it from the span filter, can you point out which one it was? IF that's what happened, because I am curious if the thought police, sorry, I mean the CTIL is using the "spam filter" as a way to invoke viewpoint discrimination.
LLR-democratical lonejustice: "My take is that Trump has decided he is not even going to try to get the female suburban vote, or moderate Independents or Democrats."
LOL
During the very campaign where Trump is expanding in every one of those demograpic sub-categories and others: blacks, Latinos, unions, etc.
Pity our lefty gaslighting LLR-democraticals! With a teammate like lonejustice pushing BS that wouldn't fly on a middle school playground!
Thanks lonejustice! Your position as the Runt of The LLR-democraticals is solidified and unassailable, despite Rich's many efforts to be as pathetic in his "hot takes" as you.
Big Mike, Blogger eats comments from time to time. My suggestion is to copy your comment before you hit the Publish My Comment button and wait to see if it gets published. Easy to do. Problem solved.
Tulsi: "Do they really think that we, the American people, can’t see through their hypocrisy?"
They don't really think, they only react to propaganda and vitriol. There is nothing but hate in their hearts, which is why it is pointless to reason with them - witness mutaman. Eventually, they will become so enraged they will start trying to kill the likes of me and mine rather than a politician they have been taught and encouraged to hate. It seems inevitable that this ends in violence, and I intend to be ready for it.
Some guys at Powerline for the most part are Never Trumpers that still haven't gotten over that Trump is the candidate. They want the Uniparty...and the Karl Rove types back. Haven't you ever read the comments?
The Democrats have been a Top/Bottom coalition for a long time. I think it was as early as Bill Clinton's election that the Democrat's high-income/low-income dichotomy became apparent.
It may have become apparent at that time to those paying attention, but it seems to me that now it's impossible to ignore. For the intervening decades, Democrats in power have continued to call themselves the party of the American worker, have continued to castigate Republicans as nothing but blindingly conventional country club snobs with cardigans knotted around their necks or Baptist men whose womenfolk and children were secretly chafing at the yoke, but I can't see how anyone can believe those characterizations today.
Also, my goodness, for anyone who didn't click on the X link from Wendy bar, do yourselves a favor and do it! But put down your coffee first, and swallow!
Blogger Big Mike said... Strange that Democrats, strong believers in big government, have come to care so little about any obligation to make government work.
I think this is one of the most significant problems of our time. To be fair, it is not just Democrats, but all those that believe in a powerful government yet fail to see the character flaws in the people that run it that make them no better than “some corrupt corporatists or CEO”. Well for one thing, it is much easier to dismiss a CEO than a bureaucrat when they have lost the plot. I think there is a significant role for government in handling high risk situations that businesses cannot do. But when those responsible for managing such risks don’t care about that obligation, it is more than just problematic.
Wendybar: "Some guys at Powerline for the most part are Never Trumpers that still haven't gotten over that Trump is the candidate."
They are all total Bush/Rove squishes. Even Hinderocker whose daughter was the President of the Young Republicans at St Olaf in 2016 when Trump was elected. She was harrassed like other conservatives on campus, including a couple of Jussie Smollett "incidents" (I think I'll have a tuna melt for lunch) which amped things up.
All that FINALLY got a few of the powerline guys a bit more animated but not for long.
Face it: the GOPe is hardwired for surrender and on top of that many are fully compromised by the deep state.
My husband is one of the people who thinks Trump missed an opportunity to attract suburban women. I told him, as a suburban woman myself, that's nonsense - they (we) all already know whom we're voting for and the VP pick isn't going to change that.
Now, I mean, it's not actually nonsense. There will be a few of us who didn't make up our minds months if not years ago, some of us on the basis of presidential performance since we're in the unusual situation of having those data for both candidates, some on the basis of feelings (yes, yes, rhhardin, I see you over there). But do you choose a VP for that handful of persuadables when there are both larger numbers elsewhere and obvious strong support for a certain platform that you will undermine by dilution if you make an identity-politics pick?
Drago said... Wendybar: "Some guys at Powerline for the most part are Never Trumpers that still haven't gotten over that Trump is the candidate."
They are all total Bush/Rove squishes. Even Hinderocker whose daughter was the President of the Young Republicans at St Olaf in 2016 when Trump was elected. She was harrassed like other conservatives on campus, including a couple of Jussie Smollett "incidents" (I think I'll have a tuna melt for lunch) which amped things up.
I said some because I was leaving out LLoyd Billingsly and Elizabeth Stauffer (whom I haven't seen there in quite a while now)
dreams said... This is kind of weird via Facebook concerning JD Vance.
"Oh, I’ve got a lot more to say about JD Vance, born JD Bowman. In case you missed it— yes, we share some ancestors."
https://www.facebook.com/markedmelungeon
Every family has it's own unique history- sometimes completely garbled and sometimes accurate.
I've occasionally run across the term Melungeon to describe some from Appalachia. I'm more familiar with the term Jackson Whites to describe a group of people from NJ. Having grown up in that area. A mythology has grown about both groups simply because their origins are, well, not documented. Their ancestry can be traced so far back and then- boom- nothing but hearsay and stories.
My own family story is that we were descended from Richard Stockton, Governor of NJ during the Revolution, who lost virtually everything. Turns out we're not. And according to a few genealogical sites devoted to pre-revolutionary war lineages- no one is. He has no living descendants. However, we are descended from his grandfather and a different Richard Stockton who died in 1775,
The most prevalent family myth today is "We're descended from Indians!" No one says native Americans when saying that... That one never appeared in my family. But appears to be part of both Melungeon and Jackson White mythology. On my father's side- every line can be traced back to Great Britain or elsewhere in Europe. On my mother's side a few lines that trace back to pre-revolution- but nothing before that can be confirmed. But we had my grandfather's insistence that "No damn (his surname) would ever marry no damn Indian!!!" He was, of course, wrong. I've documented a few of his cousins who did...
I'm certain that Facebook poster will surface in the news. And- "So what?" will be my response. People grow up on their family myths. Doesn't matter if they're accurate. On a writ large scale- nations live off their shared national myths- which are always sanitized. It's the way of the world.
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८४ टिप्पण्या:
CDR Salamander on the last few days- with numbers
https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/063-moa-away-thats-it
And possibly the best video meme from the last few days discussing reaction to Trump standing up after being shot and reassuring the crowd:
https://x.com/LibertyCappy/status/1812692442916999575
Look in a mirror. Put a pencil behind your ear. See how far your ear bends out. Less than the width of a pencil was the miss.
I like these.
Great photos. Wonderful sun and shadows
A doe and her fawns came into the yard passing within 12 feet of me and stopped 20 feet away.
My backyard is a deer highway.
"The building where gunman Thomas Crooks scrambled onto the roof and opened fire was the staging area for the local police tactical team doing overwatch of the crowd, two law enforcement officials told ABC News."
Investigators are trying to figure out how Crooks was able to get roof access.
the roof, the roof is on fire
Ann - I hope you saw the sunset just now, it was so intense! the entire sky was orange - and the southern lightning is still awesome to see out the window.
Negotiations.
I can see JFK getting more actual votes from voters than Biden in November.
I'm going to move my comment to the previous post to keep this one about the beautiful pictures!
I have watched the video, more than a few times, of Trump getting shot, dropping below the podium, rising up bloodied and then shaking his fist yelling "fight". I suspect Putin and Xi watched it more than once also.
The secret service went DE&I
I hate that when that happens. Now all you need is a bit of wind and that dock ramp is gonna be sideways along the shore somewhere.
YouTube: notice how the Trump assassination attempt didn’t have a stampede?
It was as if the crowd instinctively understood they were not the target.
Trump getting up, defiant and angry, shaking his fist. It is iconic, and will go down as such.
Being able to do that, at a time of confusion, chaos, and knowing little of what the coming seconds might bring, he made a choice, a conscious choice to rally his troops.
Any politician in the world would have let the SS bundle him away.They let him stand up-or he did so by force of will.
It wasn't, as leftist say, a performance. It was his true character coming out.
His courage turned a horrific event into something we all could see and understand. One man, under fire, exhorting his people to fight for what is right. Nothing the leftists on this blog, or in the MSM can ever change that.
And many people, at that moment, decided that yes, Trump is my guy. It was brave, and a very American thing to do. Perhaps that is why the left can't understand it at all.
The “inconceivable” was a known unknown, as Rumsfeld may have put it if he had been alive.
Oh look, the thing people suspected, it’s happening now. Just duck and it will pass.
“Look in a mirror. Put a pencil behind your ear. See how far your ear bends out. Less than the width of a pencil was the miss.”
If that ain’t divine intervention, it’ll do ‘til one gets here.
Secret Service budget:
Provides $3.015 billion, which is $192.6 million above FY23 and $5 million above the request. $1.811 billion for Special Agents, Uniformed Division Officers, technical law enforcement, and support personnel. $190.5 million to prepare for security during the 2024 Presidential Campaign.
It's been two days since Trump was shot. How much rioting, arson and looting has resulted from that assassination attempt? There's probably more on a regular weekend in Democrat run cities. If the media is to be believed, it's the right that is violence-prone and a threat to public safety. I'm not seeing it.
“$190.5 million to prepare for security during the 2024 Presidential Campaign.”
Money ill-spent.
The scariest thing about the assassination attempt was what I’ve seen so far of the interview with Kim Cheatle, head of the US Secret Service. I haven’t seen the whole interview, just excerpts, but from what I’ve seen she has little to no interest in learning any lessons from what almost happened. Scary if true. But it would not be out of character for the Biden administration. Strange that Democrats, strong believers in big government, have come to care so little about any obligation to make government work.
A fox knows a little bit about a lot of things.
A hedgehog knows a lot about one thing.
Ron Johnson is neither a fox nor a hedgehog, he’s as dumb as a stump.
"Strange that Democrats, strong believers in big government, have come to care so little about any obligation to make government work."
Government is a jobs program for them. "Making it work" means securing pay and benefits for themselves, with the side benefit of having the power to boss people around. Taxpayers? Fuck 'em.
Ron Johnson is so stupid he's worth $80M.
Did anyone have "Massachusetts-born President of the Teamsters Union gives a stemwinder against corporate greed at the Republican National Convention--and gets constant applause" on their Bingo card, because I certainly didn't.
There is a massive political re-alignment going on in this country that is separate from the personality-based discussions we have been having. For my entire lifetime the Democrats were a Middle/Lower coalition and the Republicans an Upper/Middle coalition. The never-ending fight was over which party could attract more votes from the lower-middle class.
But that dynamic is finally gone.
The Democratic party is well on its way to becoming a Top/Bottom coalition of corporate and government managers and the more abstract professions (people whose compensation and power is determined by where they are located on a org chart) allied with all the people who receive government salaries or benefits.
The Republicans are becoming a Working/Middle party. The upper echelon will be made up of people whose compensation and power comes from their owning smaller firms rather than managing giant ones, the middle is the skilled trades and their equivalents (people who are paid based on technical ability rather than org chart placement) and unionized labor in physically-focused industries (energy, shipping, construction), and the bottom is workers who draw a paycheck from a private entity rather than from the government.
This realignment is the only thing I can think of to explain the otherwise insane and politically suicidal practice of keeping the border open and flooding the country with refugees. Although paying to take care of these people is wrecking city budgets--and therefore qualities of life--in the blue states and cities in particular, it keeps going on because it's a win/win: if the Democrats temporarily gain enough power EVER to grant mass amnesty and citizenship, they get millions of votes; but even if they don't, they have a giant mass of clients that THEIR votes and donors get paid to service--permanently.
The old system worked reasonably well because parties were competing for the same voters, so that too much polarization was electoral suicide (see the fates of Goldwater and McGovern). It's not clear that the new system will be stable, or if it will lead to Venezuela, in which a gigantic recipient class bled the middle-class of the country absolutely dry, leading to poverty and misery for everyone but the government-favored elite, who can live like medieval barons surrounded by a sea of peasants.
On Saturday the U.S.A. just barely avoided an irreversible path to becoming like the former Yugoslavia, and that fate could still be ours if some cooler heads don't prevail, and quickly. But if we do dodge that bullet, we could end up as an enormous Venezuela, a rulers and peasants dynamic rather than the middle-class country we have been since our founding.
Original Mike said...
"Ron Johnson is so stupid he's worth $80M."
Maybe he can kick in part of Trump's bond.
Prof. M. Drout said...
" allied with all the people who receive government salaries or benefits."
Let's leave Althouse out of this.
"we could end up as an enormous Venezuela, a rulers and peasants dynamic rather than the middle-class country we have been since our founding."
California is well down this road.
"Did anyone have "Massachusetts-born President of the Teamsters Union gives a stemwinder against corporate greed at the Republican National Convention--and gets constant applause" on their Bingo card, because I certainly didn't."
Took me aback. Seems like Trump made sure he was there, too.
"if the Democrats temporarily gain enough power EVER to grant mass amnesty and citizenship, they get millions of votes; "
It's inevitable; they will get that power at some point, if for no other reason than political Brownian motion.
A fox knows a little bit about a lot of things.
A hedgehog knows a lot about one thing.
Ron Johnson is neither a fox nor a hedgehog, he’s as dumb as a stump.
You fuckers tried to kill Trump, and this is the best you've got 48 hours later?
You're extremely fortunate our side is slow to boil.
That may change should you try it again.
Quit your day job, Ann. You should be a photographer.
Jim at said...
"You fuckers tried to kill Trump, and this is the best you've got 48 hours later?
You're extremely fortunate our side is slow to boil.
That may change should you try it again."
"our side is slow to boil." Particularly when you read the wrong speech. I suspect you're drinking too much bleach.
Second one. Morning on the Mekong. The sun is not going to be visibly dominant today. Small convective tower on left interests - Shrinking ghost of last night's light show or an early riser?
Mutaman: "I suspect you're drinking too much bleach."
LOL
Mutaman fully ensnared in hilariously failed New Soviet Democratical Hoax Mesh Network!
The smart libs/left have already migrated to the right and can be found from silicon valley to the industrial heartland and VC leaders on the East Coast.
Adios Mutaman!
Tell me again they weren't aware of the killer.
"Channel 11′s Nicole Ford confirmed that Beaver County’s ESU team had eight members at the rally, including snipers and spotters. According to Ford’s sources, one of them noticed a suspicious man on a roof near the rally at 5:45 p.m., called it in and took a picture of the person. We have learned from our sources the person in that picture is Thomas Crooks. We’re told it’s not clear if Crooks had a gun with him at that point.
Then at 5:45, just before the program was to begin, the same counter-sniper spotted Crooks again, this time on the roof. He took a second picture and called it into the command center. Twenty-Six minutes later those shots rang out…"
https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/alleged-trump-shooter-spotted-by-law-enforcement-nearly-30-minutes-before-shots-fired-sources-say/Q6GIK5RP6RBY5PHIMYBNXRTEBI/
James Woods
@RealJamesWoods
Got to hand it to you, George. At least you’re not a hypocrite.
You’re right up front with the same poisonous vitriol Joseph Biden has been spewing his entire corrupt career.
Hard to believe, but we finally agree on something. We don’t want any bogus “unity” with you either.
George Takei
@GeorgeTakei
Sorry, Donald. “Unity” doesn’t mean uniting behind a two-bit, lying, stupid, bloviating, fascist, rapey, would-be dictator like you.
Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️
@tribelaw
“You reap what you sow”— Galatians 6:6-10
8:03 AM · Jul 15, 2024
The Dank Knight 🦇
@capeandcowell
Replying to @tribelaw
Tell us Laurence Tribe why exactly you think the President deserved to be shot and an innocent bystander murdered. In detail
9:41 AM · Jul 15, 2024
Kevin M. Nelson
@KevinMNelsonUSA
·
Follow
Replying to @tribelaw
Quoting the Bible to justify an assassination attempt where a fire chief lost his life.
You and I do not serve the same God.
Repent.
9:14 AM · Jul 15, 2024
Duke of Toxic Masculinity
@LeviathanLeap
Replying to @tribelaw
I feel sorry for any students subjected to such an ignorant, pedantic buffoon.
5:16 PM · Jul 15, 2024
I suspect you're drinking too much bleach.
Huge lol
Let's say I am drinking too much bleach.
And we still run circles around you.
What's that say about you?
Yeah.
Exactly.
David Brooks gets it colossally wrong;
The Deep Source of Trump's Appeal
Here's the part of the article where he engages in confession by projection:
"Was there anything that would fill this void of meaning? Was there anything that could give people a shared sense of right and wrong, a sense of purpose?
It turns out there was: identity politics. People on the right and the left began to identify themselves within a particular kind of moral story. This is the story in which my political group is the victim of oppression and other groups are the oppressors. For people who feel they are floating in a moral and social vacuum, this story provides a moral landscape — there are those bad guys over there and us good guys over here. The story provides a sense of belonging. It provides social recognition. By expressing my rage, I will earn your attention and respect.
In public discourse, identity politics is more associated with the left. Progressivism used to be oriented around how to make capitalism just; but now in its upper-middle-class form, it’s oriented around proper esteem for and inclusion of different identity groups.
But as Hunter notes, Donald Trump practices identity politics just as much as any progressive. He tells the story of how small-town, less-educated Christians are being oppressed by elites. He alone is their retribution. That story resonates with a lot of people. In the 1950s, Billy Graham assumed that his faith was central to American life. By the 2020s his son Franklin considered himself a warrior under siege in an anti-Christian culture.
The problem with this form of all-explaining identity politics is that it undermines democracy. If others are evil and out to get us, then persuasion is for suckers. If our beliefs are defined by our identities and not individual reason and personal experience, then different Americans are living in different universes and there is no point in trying to engage in deliberative democracy. You just have to crush them. You have to grab power and control of the institutions and shove your answers down everybody else’s throats.
In this climate, Hunter argues, “the authoritarian impulse becomes impossible to restrain.” Authoritarianism imposes a social vision by force. If you can’t have social solidarity organically from the ground up, then you can impose it from top down using the power of the state. This is the menace of Trumpism."
No: this is what wokeness hath wrought.
20 years. They will stab us in the back, first chance they get.
"The people who said George W. Bush was Hitler, that John McCain was Hitler, that Mitt Romney was Hitler, that Donald Trump was Hitler, and even Ron DeSantis was Hitler are now pretending to be interested in toning down political rhetoric because one of their followers believed them, and I’m supposed to unify with that?"
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2024/07/16/im-not-interested-in-unifying-with-leftists-right-now-n2641979
First part of my statement got cut off... Personally, I don't trust them. They have been spewing hate, violence and lies over 20 years.
Tulsi Gabbard 🌺
@TulsiGabbard
The hypocrisy of Biden and Co is infuriating. They are now calling for national unity saying they’re against political violence, wishing Trump well, and so on. Yet, they’ve spent the last 4 years doing everything they can to divide us for their political gain and power, trying to convince the American people that Trump is another Hitler who will turn America into a dictatorship, and his supporters are traitors. Do they really think that we, the American people, can’t see through their hypocrisy?
The Commies scoff that Trump's potential assassin was a Republican. So is Steve Schmidt.
"He is best known for working on Republican political campaigns, including those of President George W. Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arizona Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign." (wiki)
This video is making the rounds. Schmidt makes a guest appearance.
https://x.com/i/status/1812330719743488169
"Crooks was four years old when Obama became president. That was one hate that was given license in our Republic in every medium that contains any news, whether in print or on the internet and the airwaves. For his entire life, he heard that conservatives are the enemy of the people. Those anti-conservative, pro-progressive Democrat views have saturated the airwaves.
This is America at the crossroads, with a legion of little Crooks who have no respect for our Constitution or Rule of Law and who think that extreme violence is the answer. You can thank a Democrat…
God Help Us!"
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/07/the_pennsylvania_shooter_and_the_left_s_zeitgeist.html
The Trump destroying democracy theme never made any sense. He’s one of the most patriotic presidents we’ve had. Thoroughly loves our country. He would never seek to break down the country he loves so much, and the hard working people in it who just want to live in peace with their family and community, supported by a good job.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas (yesterday): "I have 100% confidence in the director of the United States Secret Service. I have 100% confidence in the United States Secret Service."
Mayorkas (2021-2023): "The border is secure".
@Prof. M. Drout
To my eyes what you've described is basically the Thatcherization of the GOP which goes along with the Corbyninzation of the Democrats (H/T Instapundit). I don't know that we'll be looking like Venezuela as that country started from a very different set of circumstances. Revolutionaries (not necessary violent ones) are usually from the disaffected UMC which is another dynamic at work here. The Democrats have been a Top/Bottom coalition for a long time. I think it was as early as Bill Clinton's election that the Democrat's high-income/low-income dichotomy became apparent. There's probably a generational shift going on as well. One thing Peter Zeihan mentions in his talks is that the Boomer generation was fairly well distributed among all classes of labor but due to our economic policies in the 1990s the Millennials are concentrated in management and abstract professions (as you put it). As Boomers have started to age out of politics the Millennial tilt towards those professions, and towards the Democrat Party, have shifted the focus of the two parties.
Biden’s interview with Lester Holt was god awful. The Big Guy has no self awareness. Said he met with Cheatle. He has no idea how to take action, no instinct.
I see the lefties around here are chiming in with their usual erudite comments.
It's been a rough 72 hours for y'all. How about taking a rest and coming back when you aren't drunk?
Citizen Free Press
@CitizenFreePres
Funniest moment of the night. Look at that smile from President Trump.
https://x.com/i/status/1813102652814660051
...notice how the Trump assassination attempt didn’t have a stampede?
The right understands grace under fire.
Citizen Free Press
@CitizenFreePres
Amber Rose killed it tonight for Trump.
One of the best speeches of the night at RNC in Milwaukee.
https://x.com/i/status/1813060917715669496
I like J.D.Vance, partially because I'm reading his book "Hillbilly Elegy."
But not all conservatives are on board, as seen over at Powerline Blog.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/07/a-disappointing-choice.php
My take is that Trump has decided he is not even going to try to get the female suburban vote, or moderate Independents or Democrats. He is doubling down on his base, thinking he doesn't need any other group to win. He may be successful, but I think it has risks.
From the New York Post:
Helen Comperatore, whose husband, Corey, was shot and killed by a sniper at a Trump rally, said she wouldn’t take President Biden’s condolence call.
She knows whose rhetoric made her a widow.
Biden identified the Secret Service Director as “him” on NBC yesterday.
"Is it acceptable that you have still not heard, at least publicly, from the Secret Service Director?"
BIDEN: "Oh, I've heard from him."
The Director of Secret Service is a woman.
Prof. M. Drout said...
"paying to take care of these people is wrecking city budgets"
That is a very lucrative industry.
As Mason G said...
"Government is a jobs program for them. "Making it work" means securing pay and benefits for themselves, with the side benefit of having the power to boss people around."
“the authoritarian impulse becomes impossible to restrain.” Authoritarianism imposes a social vision by force. If you can’t have social solidarity organically from the ground up, then you can impose it from top down using the power of the state. This is the menace of Trumpism."
Is *always* projection with these guys, and here proof. All Trump supporters want is to be left alone by the government. Q.E.D.
Is anybody sure that RFKJr *wants* Secret Service projection?
Watch as these Democrats/media dance around, telling lies as they prop up the demented old grifter Biden.
Amusing, if you discount their mental illness.
@lonejustice, he’s going after everyone who’s been screwed by Biden’s economic policies, every city dweller who has been a victim of the Democrats’ soft on crime policies, every Jew who has been harassed by their former allies just for being Jewish. And that’’s got to be a good bit north of 75% of the electorate.
From the Whitehouse transcript of Biden’s speech Friday night at Renaissance High School in Detroit.
“Trump is even more dangerous now. No, I’m serious. He’s unhinged. He snapped. And he refuses this time around — he — he refuses this time around to say he’ll accept the election — of this election — the results. Can you imagine that?
“Look, he says, if he loses, there will be a “bloodbath” when he loses.
And the United States Supreme Court said there’s virtually no limit on the power of a president. Trump said if he wins, he’ll be a dictator on day one. He means it, folks.
We’re not going to let that happen.
AUDIENCE: Nooo —
THE PRESIDENT: Over my dead body will it happen. (Applause.)”
Aside from the three clear lies in these short three paragraphs, some might call this incitement.
Here is an article in the Guardian: ‘He is borrowing from Trump’ from just after the assassination attempt by a "lone wolf" on Fico in Slovakia. This stuff is not random, that's what "stochastic" means, statistically determined, this is stochastic terrorism invoked by the Biden regime.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/15/robert-fico-rise-of-slovakia-populist-leader
ll;dr: "He had it comin'," like the song from Chicago.
The Guardian's sister newspaper, the Sunday Observer published an editorial which ran the morning of the assassination attempt calling Trump a tyrant and a threat to all that is good and decent in the entire world.
"Blogger just now ate a comment of mine"
When she releases it from the span filter, can you point out which one it was? IF that's what happened, because I am curious if the thought police, sorry, I mean the CTIL is using the "spam filter" as a way to invoke viewpoint discrimination.
LLR-democratical lonejustice: "My take is that Trump has decided he is not even going to try to get the female suburban vote, or moderate Independents or Democrats."
LOL
During the very campaign where Trump is expanding in every one of those demograpic sub-categories and others: blacks, Latinos, unions, etc.
Pity our lefty gaslighting LLR-democraticals! With a teammate like lonejustice pushing BS that wouldn't fly on a middle school playground!
Thanks lonejustice! Your position as the Runt of The LLR-democraticals is solidified and unassailable, despite Rich's many efforts to be as pathetic in his "hot takes" as you.
So, congrats?
Big Mike, Blogger eats comments from time to time. My suggestion is to copy your comment before you hit the Publish My Comment button and wait to see if it gets published. Easy to do. Problem solved.
Tulsi: "Do they really think that we, the American people, can’t see through their hypocrisy?"
They don't really think, they only react to propaganda and vitriol. There is nothing but hate in their hearts, which is why it is pointless to reason with them - witness mutaman. Eventually, they will become so enraged they will start trying to kill the likes of me and mine rather than a politician they have been taught and encouraged to hate. It seems inevitable that this ends in violence, and I intend to be ready for it.
lonejustice said...
I like J.D.Vance, partially because I'm reading his book "Hillbilly Elegy."
But not all conservatives are on board, as seen over at Powerline Blog.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/07/a-disappointing-choice.php
Some guys at Powerline for the most part are Never Trumpers that still haven't gotten over that Trump is the candidate. They want the Uniparty...and the Karl Rove types back. Haven't you ever read the comments?
Serious question. Exactly which actions while Trump was President for 4 years were "like Hitler"?
The Democrats have been a Top/Bottom coalition for a long time. I think it was as early as Bill Clinton's election that the Democrat's high-income/low-income dichotomy became apparent.
It may have become apparent at that time to those paying attention, but it seems to me that now it's impossible to ignore. For the intervening decades, Democrats in power have continued to call themselves the party of the American worker, have continued to castigate Republicans as nothing but blindingly conventional country club snobs with cardigans knotted around their necks or Baptist men whose womenfolk and children were secretly chafing at the yoke, but I can't see how anyone can believe those characterizations today.
Also, my goodness, for anyone who didn't click on the X link from Wendy bar, do yourselves a favor and do it! But put down your coffee first, and swallow!
Thanks for the belly laugh!
Blogger Big Mike said...
Strange that Democrats, strong believers in big government, have come to care so little about any obligation to make government work.
I think this is one of the most significant problems of our time. To be fair, it is not just Democrats, but all those that believe in a powerful government yet fail to see the character flaws in the people that run it that make them no better than “some corrupt corporatists or CEO”. Well for one thing, it is much easier to dismiss a CEO than a bureaucrat when they have lost the plot. I think there is a significant role for government in handling high risk situations that businesses cannot do. But when those responsible for managing such risks don’t care about that obligation, it is more than just problematic.
Wendybar: "Some guys at Powerline for the most part are Never Trumpers that still haven't gotten over that Trump is the candidate."
They are all total Bush/Rove squishes. Even Hinderocker whose daughter was the President of the Young Republicans at St Olaf in 2016 when Trump was elected. She was harrassed like other conservatives on campus, including a couple of Jussie Smollett "incidents" (I think I'll have a tuna melt for lunch) which amped things up.
All that FINALLY got a few of the powerline guys a bit more animated but not for long.
Face it: the GOPe is hardwired for surrender and on top of that many are fully compromised by the deep state.
That will never change.
LLR-democratic lonejustice: "I like J.D.Vance, partially because I'm reading his book "Hillbilly Elegy."
LOL
[Shakes LLR-democratical Magic 8 Ball]
LLR-democratical Magic 8-ball reads "Not Bloody Likely!" and "Pull The Other One" and "Chuck Is Watching You"
My husband is one of the people who thinks Trump missed an opportunity to attract suburban women. I told him, as a suburban woman myself, that's nonsense - they (we) all already know whom we're voting for and the VP pick isn't going to change that.
Now, I mean, it's not actually nonsense. There will be a few of us who didn't make up our minds months if not years ago, some of us on the basis of presidential performance since we're in the unusual situation of having those data for both candidates, some on the basis of feelings (yes, yes, rhhardin, I see you over there). But do you choose a VP for that handful of persuadables when there are both larger numbers elsewhere and obvious strong support for a certain platform that you will undermine by dilution if you make an identity-politics pick?
JD's grandmother was quite the character. She was the key person in his life. I read the book, but have not seen the movie/series.
Chicks dig scars. Just sayin'
Drago said...
Wendybar: "Some guys at Powerline for the most part are Never Trumpers that still haven't gotten over that Trump is the candidate."
They are all total Bush/Rove squishes. Even Hinderocker whose daughter was the President of the Young Republicans at St Olaf in 2016 when Trump was elected. She was harrassed like other conservatives on campus, including a couple of Jussie Smollett "incidents" (I think I'll have a tuna melt for lunch) which amped things up.
I said some because I was leaving out LLoyd Billingsly and Elizabeth Stauffer (whom I haven't seen there in quite a while now)
“Serious question. Exactly which actions while Trump was President for 4 years were "like Hitler"?”
You won’t get an answer from our Lefty friends here, planetgeo.
Many have tried.
Jamie.
Any woman who has to feed a family is going to vote for Trump. All anyone needs to do is look at their grocery receipts.
Beautiful pictures.
This is kind of weird via Facebook concerning JD Vance.
"Oh, I’ve got a lot more to say about JD Vance, born JD Bowman.
In case you missed it— yes, we share some ancestors."
https://www.facebook.com/markedmelungeon
.
And the trolling begins…
dreams said...
This is kind of weird via Facebook concerning JD Vance.
"Oh, I’ve got a lot more to say about JD Vance, born JD Bowman.
In case you missed it— yes, we share some ancestors."
https://www.facebook.com/markedmelungeon
Every family has it's own unique history- sometimes completely garbled and sometimes accurate.
I've occasionally run across the term Melungeon to describe some from Appalachia. I'm more familiar with the term Jackson Whites to describe a group of people from NJ. Having grown up in that area. A mythology has grown about both groups simply because their origins are, well, not documented. Their ancestry can be traced so far back and then- boom- nothing but hearsay and stories.
My own family story is that we were descended from Richard Stockton, Governor of NJ during the Revolution, who lost virtually everything. Turns out we're not. And according to a few genealogical sites devoted to pre-revolutionary war lineages- no one is. He has no living descendants. However, we are descended from his grandfather and a different Richard Stockton who died in 1775,
The most prevalent family myth today is "We're descended from Indians!" No one says native Americans when saying that... That one never appeared in my family. But appears to be part of both Melungeon and Jackson White mythology. On my father's side- every line can be traced back to Great Britain or elsewhere in Europe. On my mother's side a few lines that trace back to pre-revolution- but nothing before that can be confirmed. But we had my grandfather's insistence that "No damn (his surname) would ever marry no damn Indian!!!" He was, of course, wrong. I've documented a few of his cousins who did...
I'm certain that Facebook poster will surface in the news. And- "So what?" will be my response. People grow up on their family myths. Doesn't matter if they're accurate. On a writ large scale- nations live off their shared national myths- which are always sanitized. It's the way of the world.
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