Yes, I do care

 I've just read another article saying that anything "transgender" people want to do to their bodies after the age of 18 is fine, just stay away from the children.

By all means stay away from the children, but as for the rest? It's not fine with me. I don't believe doctors should get into the business of removing or mutilating healthy body parts, no matter the age of the patient. I don't believe it is the business of the medical establishment to cater to patients' delusions.

Whatever happened to "First, do no harm?"

HOT FLASH: As Of Today...

Liberty’s Torch V2.0 is now the main site.

     This site will be for archival purposes only. So:

• To our Gentle Readers: Please edit your bookmarks.
• To other sites that blogroll us: Please edit your blogrolls.
• To my Co-Conspirators: Get with the program! Start posting at the V2.0 site!

     I'll take a full backup of this site late this afternoon. Moving the contents to Liberty’s Torch V2.0 may present some challenges, but we shall see.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

What's That Alinsky Saying?

"Make them live up to their own book of rules".

Calling all blue-collar workers! Change your terms of service; declare their opposition to people in need of defence having access to guns a HATE CRIME!

H/T to Ace of Spades for the idea.

Call Your Senators

There are SOME in the GOP who are arguing for a secret ballot, so we won't know they are Quislings.

Screw that.

Make the cowardly little traitors show their side, on camera, in public.

Call your two, and make it clear that a secret vote is cause for them to get NO SUPPORT, NO VOTES.

Ever.

Link here. Enter your state and find their office numbers. Emails are good, letters are better, but phone calls are best (faxes if they can't be reached by phone).

The more staff time that has to be dedicated to dealing with our displeasure, the better - they will take notice of that effort, and conclude that, no, they will NOT get our votes.

Good Thing They Aren't Nazis

Or, are they?

Depression-Era Songs

     There’s a legend of sorts about the Federal Music Project (FMP), a subdepartment of the Works Progress Administration of FDR’s New Deal. That legend holds that many of the songs that became popular during that era were actually commissioned by the FMP – i.e., their composers were paid to compose popular songs. It could be true. Consider these titles:

• We’re In The Money
• Red Red Robin
• The Sunny Side Of The Street
• Brother, Can You Spare A Dime
• Pick Yourself Up
• Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
• No Depression In Heaven

     All these songs were composed and became popular during the Depression years. There were others, of course, but these are the ones I can remember offhand. (No, I wasn’t alive then, but my father was, and he used to hum all of the above until Hell wouldn’t have them.) I’m not sure whether they were FMP-funded tunes, but their association with those years is strong.

     One of my more unusual college classmates was addicted to several of the above songs. He had a habit of bursting into one or another of them in public, and regardless of the circumstances. It made the rest of us consider him a trifle odd...not the sort of bloke who’d enjoy a Led Zeppelin concert, don’t y’know. But then, his favorite band was Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, so he probably didn’t give a damn about the tastes that prevailed among the rest of our generation.

     Considering the tremendous effort the Usurper Administration is putting into returning America to the conditions that prevailed during the Great Depression, it wouldn’t surprise me if Depression-era songs were to experience a renewed popularity. In fact, just this morning I woke up with “Red Red Robin” playing in my head. Not a pleasant awakening, I must tell you...especially as the clock read 2:15 AM, an early arising hour even for your humble Curmudgeon. But then, I probably would have enjoyed the experience more were it not for the Newfoundland puppy (at ten months of age, well over 100 pounds) drooling into my left ear at the same moment.

     Bread lines and soup kitchens...25% unemployment...indigents with their hats out on every corner...gangland warfare and blood running in the gutters...hairy nuisances in sandwich boards proclaiming that “the end is near”...

     Ah! The memories!

Loss of Reverence for God

To Leftists, God is - at best - a collaborator in their impious schemes to gain power. That irreligious basis at the core of their revolutionary thinking is what dooms them to failure.

Former VP Mike Pence has his detractors - he was a mild-mannered and civil man, and that sometimes seemed like a rebuke to Trump. There were things he could have said, things he could have done.

But one of his last actions as VP serves as a Red Flag to the rush to embrace China, and clearly sets him apart from the RINO contingent - he formally recognized the policy against the Ughurs as genocide.

A New Plan for Thursdays

The fifth day of each week, henceforth, will be know as No Politics Thursday.

I will not read about politics, write about it, or watch any news show containing any mention of it.

It's my way of carving out a respite against Politics 24/7, which the Left has decreed will be the New Standard for all social interactions.

If someone brings up any topic that touches on politics, I will inform them (quite politely) that I do not discuss that subject on Thursdays. I may have to repeat myself quite a lot, at first, as SO many conversations seem to devolve into endless discussions on that very subject.

ALL is political, proclaims the Left. And, in fact, it is true - for them.

For myself, I will abstain.

They Don't Seem to Realize They're Admitting the Crime

The Left spent 4 years screamng that Donald Trump was "Not MY President" (and change - they were proclaiming this even before he was inaugurated).

They went so far as to impeach him, and try him in the Senate - at which point, he was acquitted.

They bided their time, ran their Muppet-Wannabe Biden, and lost. But, then, by virtue of holding their breath until they turned blue, getting their allies in the media to prematurely declare, and using both quasi-legal maneuvers, abbreviated hearings (practically ignored by the media), and questionable court decisions NOT to intervene, got their Muppet installed in office.

They had pre-emptively impeached Trump before he left Washington, while he was still president - with the shameful collusion of the RINO contingent.

Now, they have taken the Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate, with pomp and cameras, determined to vanquish the Trump-Beast, at last.

What they have forgotten:

Impeachment is reserved SOLELY for removal of legally elected office-holders from those offices.

If Trump can be impeached, he must be the legally-elected President.

So, he is right, that he was elected President in 2020. Not Biden - the FICUS (Fraud-in-Chief-of-the-United-States).

Further discussions of the extra-legal shenanigans of this Congress:

In Ann Althouse - some very good comments, as well - points that I had not considered.

From a legal blog - what is a Bill of Attainder? One positive aspect to this Leftist crap, it gives high school teachers of Government classes something current to hang discussions of antiquated concepts upon.

The BIG Announcement

Liberty’s Torch V2.0 is up and running.

     Eventually it will have a second domain address ending in “.us,” but I have yet to figure out how to arrange for that.

     Mind you, it’s not what I’d like. The host (Hosting Matters) is painfully slow. Also, it’s a WordPress-powered site, and I detest absolutely everything about the WordPress interface. But it will have to do for now. I was far too anxious about getting out of Google’s clutches.

     I’ve just posted to the new site for the first time. I’ll be mirroring those posts here until I’ve finished configuring it and have seduced persuaded my Co-Conspirators to move there, at which point this site will be for archive purposes only. So mosey on over and have a look.

     Many thanks to Mike Hendrix of Cold Fury for the initial installation.

All my best,
Fran

The Return of the Blogs

 I've been kinda checking out the stats lately on this and other blogs over the last few months - the numbers are up over last year, and it looks like still rising.

And, commenting is up (on the other blogs, too).

So, I think the Much Heralded and Proclaimed "Shutting Up of the Disgusting Right" - long a goal of the Left - is pretty much kaput (as my German ancestors would say).

The latest from According to Hoyt would seem to support that assessment.

Ya' know, the Official Elite and Destined Rulers of the World don't seem to have gotten the message. That 'insurrectionary' pack of Good Ol' Boys that made their marks in the Capitol were the Gentle Ones. Hell, they didn't even bring in much in the way of weapons - I know people who could have grabbed better equipment out of the back of their truck.

If we get pissed off enough, there WILL be Blood on the Floor. There's too many who are too old to kowtow, and too proud to beg.

So.

It's time for the state governors and legislatures to show their teeth. Next time the DC Elite try to impose unconstitutional mandates on the country, we need to have some people in charge that will bare their own chompers, and bark back, too.

We can hope that'll learn 'em, but I doubt it. Don't forget, they're dumber than a box of rocks.

The 13th Day

     The world has been taught to scoff at that which it cannot see, hear, and touch. It has paid a heavy price for its scoffing. I trust I need not enumerate the many tragedies men have inflicted on one another, as faith has retreated and secular humanism, with its innate arrogance and vaulting ambition, has advanced to fill the void.

     Matthew Arnold captured it in verse of crystalline brilliance:

The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

     But while the Sea of Faith has retreated...or has been pushed back by overweening human pride...it has not vanished utterly. The divine Immanence still manifests to those who are willing to believe what they see and hear...even if no one else can see or hear it.

     In 1917, World War I was raging across the length and breadth of Europe. Millions had already died; millions more would follow. The flower of European manhood would fall to the war and to the influenza pandemic that followed. Russia had fallen to Communism, with consequences that would impoverish and oppress three generations. The faith of the Old World had taken a terrible blow. For many, it seemed an illusion the war had disproved.

     On May 13th, 1917, at noon local time in Fatima, Portugal, Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto, and Francisco Marto, three shepherd children innocent in every sense, were granted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was the beginning of what is known today as the Miracle of Fatima: a series of Marian apparitions, each of which occurred on the 13th day of the calendar month. It culminated on October 13 with the Miracle of the Sun, a supernatural event witnessed by some 70,000 persons in which the Sun seemed to gyrate, dance across the sky, and as its finale dive menacingly near to the earth.

     It happened. It was not mass hypnosis, nor mass hallucination, nor some kind of enormous hoax. At Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917, seventy thousand onlookers witnessed what could only have been a manifestation of divine power: a miracle.

     The Miracle of Fatima brought millions to the Faith, and renewed the Faith in millions who had fallen away. God does this sort of thing when the world slips perilously close to the edge of the Great Abyss. And note: He doesn’t deliver it to kings or premiers, but to the lowest and humblest of our kind.

     There have been other miracles. Many have attracted scoffers certain that they could prove that nothing miraculous – that is, nothing inexplicable by what we think are the laws of nature – had occurred. But many alleged miracles have withstood every test the scoffers have rained on them. Including Fatima.

     The Miracle of Fatima is now more than a century in the past. Yet it continues to inspire men to faith...and to works of art and drama. Including producer-directors Ian and Dominic Higgins, who made of it a movie of exceptional beauty and emotion.

     See The 13th Day. I just did, and I promise you won’t regret it. It’s available on DVD from Amazon, or directly from Ignatius Press.

     And have faith.

The Cone of Silence Descends on America

Not just Trump is being silenced - so are a whole lot of other NLDs (Non-Leftist Dissidents).

Guys, this is bad, and getting badder. I don't see a lot of those so-called defenders of Human and Civil Rights standing up for us. They don't seem to see a problem with declaring a whole group of people to be not deserving of participation in American life.

We need to basically do the equivalent of Slapping the Deniers, full in the face, to get them out of their paralysis of inaction that could cost the rest of us our very existence.

OK, so no 'Impenetrable Barrier" - then, governors should give sheriffs the authority to deputize volunteers and send them to the border - with weapons - to hold the line. Make the border states NON-SANCTUARY STATES.

The individual states need to step up, and act in ways that limit the power of the Federal government. They have the superior right; they need to man up.

And, found on Peace or Freedom (picture is archived here to reduce the load on his site).

The One-Way Door

     People die. All of us, eventually.

     Yeah, yeah, I know: In other news, sitting in a comfortable chair for an hour or two will rest your legs. But the above is among the truths we strive hardest not to think about.

     Just yesterday, Ragin’ Dave wrote of the passing of Larry King:

     Dude was 87. What the hell did you think happens to people, folks? Yes, he was famous. Had a TV show. And he got old, and he died, which is what happens to people. Why the hell do random people freak the hell out whenever some celebrity dies? I'm not saying I'm happy about it, I'm saying that he was an old man and old men die.

     When my father kicks the bucket, I'm going to be weeping and wailing, but he's MY FATHER, not some celebrity that I never met.

     Dave has a point. We routinely attribute excessive importance to celebrities. Most of them are “famous for being famous,” and very little else. If the touts and columnists had never mentioned them, they’d lack significance to the rest of us.

     However, now and then a celebrity becomes emblematic of an era and its values. His passing acquires extra significance from that association...perhaps far more than his achievements, whatever they may have been, would have brought him on their own.

     Consider the 1999 death of “the Yankee Clipper:” Joe DiMaggio. Joltin’ Joe was a fine player, arguably the best center fielder and one of the best hitters of his time, but baseball is merely a sport. It has entertainment value, but little other significance. DiMaggio’s passing acquired extra significance from the era in which he played, 1936 through 1951, and from his excellent personal qualities. The importance of those years to American and world history, added to his superb play and his fine character, gave him a stature unavailable from baseball alone. His admirers’ memories of him come with all of that and more besides.

     Subsequent sports stars who’ve departed this vale of tears haven’t borne the glow that surrounds DiMaggio. Mickey Mantle, DiMaggio’s center-field successor and himself a fine player, doesn’t share it. Ted Williams has a fraction of it, even though he played for (shudder) Boston.

     I know little of Larry King, but I doubt that his memory will have anything like it. King was a capable commentator and interviewer. He occupied a high place among his colleagues for many years. But he didn’t impress the nation in an emblematic way.

     So yes: we generally attribute an absurd degree of importance to celebrities, living or dead. But there are a few exceptions. They stand apart from the rest not because of their achievements, but because of their personal qualities, their association with eras of great events, and with other persons who characterized them. They become emblems of times that we old ones, our rose-colored glasses never far from us, remember as “the good old days:” the days whose values we honored and whose passing we lament. The days when the streets were safe...when homeowners rarely locked their doors...when neighbors looked after their neighbors’ children, properties, and other interests...when immigrants were expected to assimilate and were happy to do so...when the schools taught rather than indoctrinated and propagandized...when journalists reported the news without slanting it toward their preferred political positions...when lawyers counseled their would-be clients not to sue...when politicians occasionally told the truth and didn’t regret it afterward.

     Forgive me, Gentle Reader. I must turn away from this subject at once. Have a nice day.

Our petty, vindictive, manipulative, scheming Navy.

Here's a story that will fry your frazzle:

"USNA Cancel Culture: Update on MIDN 1/C Chase Standage, USN." By Stu Cvrk, RedState, 1/24/21.

This to skewer a Naval Academy midshipman with "an exemplary record." And note the part about having the man repay $174,753, the cost of his education at the Academy.

Book Club Update

Our group is small, but hanging in there. We picked Machievelli's The Prince for our first selection. It has turned out to be a fascinating springboard for discussing current events (which do come into our meetings, as well).

The virtual framework has worked fairly well (although I have not been able to get Zoom working with my headphones for some idiot reason - they work fine with other apps). It's nice to know that we were able to manage the meetings, despite the issues of distance and isolation.

And, the opportunity to meet, socialize, and network is a wonderful secondary aspect to this activity. We've gotten to know each other fairly well, in this limited time and framework.

One thing we discovered is how important knowing about the politics and culture of the time is for these older books. Fortunately, we all have different areas of knowledge, and have been able to share that with each other, which has made this a rewarding experience.

We're currently about 1/4 of the way through the book; we'd have made more progress, but we decided to take the holidays off. We should finish by Easter.

The Fashions Of The Age

     Enough of politics and current events. These things are the source of much agony and fear, especially just now. Let’s have a day away from them. Perhaps more than one day; we shall see.

---

     This therefore I say, brethren; the time is short; it remaineth, that they also who have wives, be as if they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as if they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away. [1 Corinthians 7:29-32]

     Read superficially, the passage above seems to express a belief that was common among the Christians of Saint Paul’s day: i.e., that “the world”–a vague and expansive term, difficult to define then as now–would soon be no more. That message seemed to be consistent with Jesus’s own proclamation that the kingdom of God is “at hand.”

     Yet a more literal reading of the passage suggests that Paul had another meaning in mind. It would not be “the world” but the fashion of the world that would soon pass away. And it was so. Christ Himself had caused it: by preaching the Gospel to the Jews of Judea for three years; by going to Jerusalem to face death by torture; and by rising from the dead and returning to His followers in demonstration of His divine authority. The Christian message changed the world. The simplicity and directness of Jesus’s teachings made it possible for ethical monotheism, the great religious / philosophical achievement of God’s Chosen People, to reach every part of the globe.

     Christianity first transformed Europe. The pagans of the continent rapidly absorbed and accepted the Faith as superior to their previous ways. As Christianity spread through the Roman Empire, it changed every fashion the Old World had known before it. Europe became Christendom: a continent united by faith in Christ’s Gospel. Though Christian political unity eventually dissolved, the Gospel message continued to spread, finding converts in every part of the globe. It continues to spread today.

     Yes, the Faith has known setbacks. The Great Schism of the Sixteenth Century was one such. The efforts of totalitarian regimes to stamp out Christianity knew a great deal of temporary and superficial success. Militant atheists, who claim to oppose all religious belief, concentrate their preaching, as they always have, against Christianity. Yet it continues to grow, for it is a living truth.

     A living truth—a truth tied not to any particular population, locale, or conditions–is unkillable. It will grow regardless of what forces are marshaled against it. And as it grows it sweeps all contrary fashions from its path. For Christianity isn’t a fashion, but a transforming force. It wields no weapon other than the truth. It penetrates men’s hearts through an innate power that no other message or dispensation has ever possessed.

     What is the secret of Christianity’s power? A simple set of interlocking ideas that sit at the heart of Christ’s Gospel:

1. God loves you, so you should love Him back.
2. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
3. Repent of those times when you’ve departed from #1 and #2 in this list.

     That triad of ideas continues to change the world.

---

     Christianity’s core precepts constitute a message of hope. Hope dispels fear. Fear not, said the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem. Let not your heart be troubled, the Redeemer said to His Apostles on the eve of His Crucifixion. Be not afraid, He said to them when He appeared to them after the Resurrection. Christ’s Gospel is from end to end an exhortation to hope.

     The world and its fashions will strive to make you fear. Yet with the Faith for your guide and armor, you can withstand all terrors and all threats.

     The message of hope is particularly important today. Massive institutions do all they can to promote fear: to smother all hope and joy under a blanket of terror. The threats they brandish at us are many: political threats, economic forces, social disruptions, family instability, aging, abandonment, disease, and infirmity. The only tool with which we can combat those forces is hope—and there is no greater source of hope than the Christian message.

---

     Many years ago, there was a remarkable woman named Aimee Semple McPherson. She was the best known and most effective Christian evangelist of her time. Her methods were the modern ones of radio, movies, and the stage, coupled to the mass revival meeting. However, her message was classically simple: Christ’s Gospel. In a terrible time characterized by warfare, economic depression, advancing moral dissolution, and a decline of faith in Mankind itself, she garnered converts by the tens of thousands.

     Powerful forces, including the clerics of established churches, strove to destroy Aimee McPherson. She withstood them all by sticking tightly to her message. Her faith protected her. It withstood all sectarian squabbles, political controversies, and personal attacks. Christ’s Gospel was what mattered; all else was triviality and dross.

     Here’s what the Boston Evening Traveler said about Aimee’s message:

     Aimee's religion is a religion of joy. There is happiness in it. Her voice is easy to listen to. She does not appeal to the brain and try to hammer religion into the heads of her audience. Rather, she appeals to the hearts of her hearers. She radiates friendliness. She creates an atmosphere that is warming. She is persuasive, rather than forceful; gracious and kindly, rather than compelling.

     At a time when hope was what Americans needed most, Aimee Semple McPherson brought them hope from the one unfailing source: the love of God and the truth of Christ’s Gospel. The fashions of the day could not stand against it.

     Neither can the fashions of our day: the threats, the terrors, and the uncertainties that beset us. They will all pass; Christ’s Gospel will not.

     May God bless and keep you all!

And, So it Begins - The Takeover - UPDATE

I found this link on Instapundit - it's chilling.

The Bill would turn the USA in a Hard-Core Democratic Enterprise. It will make it IMPOSSIBLE to mount any challenge to rule by the Dem Mob.

Worse, it will categorize any resistance to that control as terrorism.

(b) Considerations.—The national strategy required under subsection (a) shall include consideration of the following:

(1) The threat of a foreign state actor, foreign terrorist organization (as designated pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189)), or a domestic actor carrying out a cyber attack, influence operation, disinformation campaign, or other activity aimed at undermining the security and integrity of United States democratic institutions.

(3) Potential consequences, such as an erosion of public trust or an undermining of the rule of law, that could result from a successful cyber attack, influence operation, disinformation campaign, or other activity aimed at undermining the security and integrity of United States democratic institutions.

How DARE you imply that we are stealing the election! To the Gulag with you!

Some of the other parts of the bill are said to have OTHER worthy causes, such as:

 reduce the influence of big money in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and implement other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy, and for other purposes.

 (Link is to the full bill on Thomas.gov). I've downloaded the pdf, and will be looking at it over the next week. So far, it looks as bad - if not worse - than the bill is reported to be.

And, in other news, it's official - we are Seditionists.

What the hell is that?

From The Atlantic (Anne Applebaum):

As a group, it’s hard to know what to call them. They are too many to merit the term extremists. There are not enough of them to be secessionists. Some prominent historians and philosophers have been arguing for a revival of the word fascist; others think white supremacist is more appropriate, though there could also be a case for rebel. For want of a better term, I’m calling all of them seditionists—not just the people who took part in the riot, but the far larger number of Americans who are united by their belief that Donald Trump won the election, that Joe Biden lost, and that a long list of people and institutions are lying about it: Congress, the media, Mike Pence, the election officials in all 50 states, and the judges in dozens of courts.

Sedition? Isn't that one of those old-fashioned words, last used in the early days of our participation in WWI?

Yes, it is - AND it is defined below:

Sedition the federal crime of advocacy of uprising or overthrow against the government or support for an enemy of the nation during time of war, by speeches, publications and organization. Sedition usually involves actually conspiring to disrupt the legal operation of the government and is beyond expression of an opinion or protesting government policy. Sedition is distinguished from treason, which requires actual betrayal of the government, or "espionage."

The federal Sedition Act of 1918 states, in part, as follows:

"Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports, or false statements, . . . or incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct . . . the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, or . . . shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States . . . or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully . . . urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production . . . or advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both...."

The earlier Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by President Adams, a proponent of a strong Federal government.

With the Naturalization Act, Congress increased residency requirements for U.S. citizenship to 14 years from five. (Many recent immigrants and new citizens favored the Republicans.)

The Alien Enemies Act permitted the government to arrest and deport all male citizens of an enemy nation in the event of war, while the Alien Friends Act allowed the president to deport any non-citizen suspected of plotting against the government, even in peacetime.

Most importantly, Congress passed the Sedition Act, which took direct aim at those who spoke out against Adams or the Federalist-dominated government.

Even as the bitter debates between the two fledgling political parties were being played out in rival newspapers and other publications, the new law outlawed any “false, scandalous and malicious writing” against Congress or the president, and made it illegal to conspire “to oppose any measure or measures of the government.”

Could the Federal government make such commentary as we post on this blog illegal? Sure they could. By use of the term 'sedition', the Left has clearly indicated their aim to Shut Us Up! (this calls for the addition of that famous phrase - By Any Means Necessary).

Surprisingly, after that stormy beginning, Applebaum calms down, and suggests that toning down the rhetoric, and finding things to talk about other than divisive politics might be a move that could lead to the opponents integrating and working together.

But, when she makes that suggestion, she ignores some things:

• She suggests using this as a ploy, enticing those awful seditionists to work on community projects (Willingly? Unwillingly? She doesn't say).
• She talks of the violence of the 'Seditionists' but never once acknowledges that the Left has its own 'Resistant' folks - and, ones that have shown considerable violent activities over the last few years. Totes different.
• "Clearly we need regulation of social media, but that’s years away."
• Her last few sentences are the most chilling:
• Some might even prefer an American version of de-Baathification: track down every last Capitol-riot sympathizer and shame them on social media, preferably with enough rigor that they lose their jobs.
• I know how they feel, because I often feel that way too. But then I remember: It won’t work. We’ll wake up the next morning, and they’ll still be there.

Somehow, I fear that she wishes she could wave her hand, and - Poof! We'd disappear.

UPDATE: I found this piece about the proposed censure and removal of Senators Cruz and Hawley, for the high crime of questioning the validity of the 2020 presidential election. The writer makes a good argument for fighting this effort.

The Dems are FURIOUS - how DARE anyone question the rightness of the vote?

And, from their viewpoint, they are correct. We, the American people, have allowed that sad state of fraud, corruption, and Plantation Politics to occur; we failed to uproot it when it reached the blatant levels that it hit in 1964, when LBJ "won in a landslide". He did not. Fraud was obvious and on record - as it had been in every election he'd ever been since he first took office.

Election after election, the GOP squeaked out some victories, while conceding the effort in city after city. Over time, their FAKE voters rolls grew, until the numbers reported were so at variance with the numbers of actual residents, that the Census figures had to be 'adjusted', lest the fraud become even more obvious.

We let it happen. We shrugged, moved to the suburbs, and tried to ignore the corruption, abuse, and dirty politics of the city.

And, the cities descended into the hellholes/shitholes they have become.

In some cities, there are "good neighborhoods" and "bad neighborhoods" - in Charlotte, NC, Cleveland, OH, and Chicago, IL (3 cities I know something about) - you can see where the crime, the poverty, and the shady deals that enrich the councilmen/women without touching the lives of their residents are the most concentrated.

Look. Lots of very good people also live in those neighborhoods that have been written off. If the cops and the council are not going to do their jobs, let's stop pretending that they are part of the USA. Let's declare them independent nation-states, with the right to govern themselves as they please. But, let's also stop the flow of money to those places, as it never reaches the people who need it. Maybe that will encourage the leeches who live off the blood of their fellow citizens to leave.

It's only a movie.

Thankfully, we have Silicon Valley fact checkers and corporate media commentators to lead us to the valley of truth, which informs us that all those Trump “insurgents” who invaded the Capitol building on January 6th were motivated by pure evil intentions rooted in racism, sedition and white supremacist ideology. And as Hillary Clinton suggested during an off-the-rails interview with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Trump and his motley crew of deplorables may have taken their marching orders from none other than Vladimir Putin himself. Who needs fiction writers these days when we have the Democratic Party?

"Is The Dis-Uniting Of America Now Inevitable?" By Robert Bridge, ZeroHedge, 1/23/21 (emphasis removed).

More Cr@p from the Educational Nazis

I like City Journal - they have long, thoughtful, and well-researched stories.

This one is about a Diversity Training in the Southern state of Missouri. In my experience, this is Leftist indoctrination brought in - in most cases - by White Women, often whose origins are in the North. The Native Southerners really hate this stuff - both Black and White.

Loyalty Oaths from the Military

I'm opposed. I agree with Ace, this smacks of a fraudulently elected, Banana Republic president's concern about the possibility of his country's military having a Higher Loyalty to the Constitution.

...that has NEVER been the way we do things in this country. When you join any branch of our armed forces, you don't sign a loyalty oath to the president or any elected-official, you sign an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, period. That should be sufficient. The fact that it is apparently not sufficient enough for the incoming Biden administration speaks volumes.

I'm old enough to have seen some cheats, grifters, cons, politicians, and other assorted crooked knaves. This is just the sort of behavior that would have my Mom Antenna swivelling madly, sure that my Dearly Loved Offspring are lying their asses off, again.

There's a reason for the old answer to a question:

How do you know that a teenager is lying?

is answered by:

His/her/zir lips are moving

Same is true for Leftists. They lie, they lie, they lie. Just about every word coming out of their lying mouth is a lie.

Now, please remember: someone who votes Left is not necessarily a Leftist. Sometimes, they're just another sheep following the flock.

Women - and Women-ish Men, are particularly prone to this. They assume that what their flock's leaders are saying is, at a minimum, BASED on truth. In that, they are wrong.

But, they aren't lying, merely repeating a lie, that they believe to be the truth. They TRUST the people telling them those lies. They seem so relatable, so polished, so respectful of their culture.

How the hell do you uproot that nest of misinformation, and restore them to normal thinking capacity?

If I had that answer, I wouldn't be surrounded by my loving family, just about all buying into the Leftist Line.

They are - at heart - good people - generous, hard-working, living in a Godly manner (no matter what their religious beliefs). They wouldn't commit a crime for any reason. They focus on their family and neighbors. They obey the traffic and other laws (I'm not as good about obeying the speed limit - I regularly exceed it).

They pay their taxes (although, they DO take advantage of any allowable deductions to minimize them).

They vote - unfortunately, for Dems. But, they only vote ONCE, so there is that.

But, no matter what I posted on social media, no matter what I said, or how careful I was to focus on logical reasoning, they had closed their minds to the possibility of any deviation from the Officially Accepted Truth, According to the Left.

The BEST I could squeeze out of them is that they thought the riots that took over cities and burned the businesses of small entrepreneurs were bad, and should stop. In that, they are much like the rest of the country.

I'm thinking that we who want/need to affect the thinking/emotions of those in thrall to the Left, need to change tactics. We need to begin looking for ways to treat this like an egg stuck in the pan - first, remove the heat. Then, chisel around the edges, very gently. Move around the pan, easing up under the egg, careful not to go too fast, lest you break the yolk. Back and forth, moving when you encounter serious resistance, and tackling the job from another position.

Eventually, the egg will be able to be lifted, without breaking. Of course, by that time, it may be stone cold and inedible.

But whole.

Whatta you think?

Bills Come Due

     If you’ve been paying attention to the caperings of the Usurper Administration, you’re already aware of some of the Usurper-in-Chief’s lunacies: e.g., letting China back into our national power grid; sending a large force of troops and armor into Syria; legitimizing “transwomen” in women’s and girls’ sports; yanking the Keystone XL pipeline’s construction permit; suspending all deportations of illegal aliens; and so on. The irrationality of these “policy decisions” is self-evident. You hardly need to think about them to realize it. Yet they’re a critical component of the Left’s initiative to cement itself into federal power.

     They’re payoffs, you see. The successful practice of coalition politics requires payoffs to the various components of the coalition. A component group that deems itself inadequately rewarded for its contributions will withdraw its support and look for a better deal elsewhere. And in this dynamic lies the greatest vulnerability of power-for-power’s-sake coalition building. For as soon as the coalition reaches a size that allows it to contend for majority status, the members of the coalition will all experience a strong incentive to increase their demands.

     The above makes a political coalition uniquely fragile—certainly more so than a politics of conviction. Even so, successful coalitions have been constructed, and have succeeded in wielding power for some time. But the natural fractiousness of a majority or near-majority coalition can be amplified greatly by another condition. I wrote about it here: the interests of the various components to the coalition must not be mutually antagonistic.

     At the time, I was concerned with the self-defeating behavior of Republican power brokers. Their behavior these past four years suggests that they thought the “If you don’t vote for us, you’ll get them” gambit would assure the continued support of sincere conservatives, constitutionalists, Trumpists, and America-Firsters. They were wrong, as they’re learning today.

     The Democrats are about to learn an even harsher lesson.

     The Usurper Administration has put itself in a bind. Several of the more important components to its coalition are mutually antagonistic to others. That makes payoffs to some component groups inimical to the interests of others—and that puts a strain on the coalition that such assemblages have seldom withstood. If you think the recent actions of AntiFa against Democrat offices are a harbinger of danger for the Usurpers, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

     Consider as an example the Usurpers’ action against the Keystone XL pipeline and their open hostility to hydrofracturing, a.k.a. fracking. This is a payoff to the militant environmentalist groups. But there are an awful lot of jobs and an ocean of money involved in both the pipeline and fracking. Big Labor especially loves fracking, as it produces copious amounts of both oil and natural gas. The Usurpers’ strokes against those enterprises will cost the Democrats a significant fraction of their traditional support: the American blue-collar worker.

     There are other, similar clashes between other components of the Democrat coalition. The feminist Left will not sit still as transwomen and transgirls flood into women’s sports. That’s to say nothing of their contention with actual women for elevation in corporate America. Big trouble brewing there.

     The most interesting area is in the enforcement of the immigration laws and border control. Low-wage jobs have been going preponderantly to illegal aliens for quite some time. President Trump’s policy of intensified enforcement of the border damped that trend for the first time in decades. Real progress was being made at not merely apprehending illegals and deporting them but at discouraging them from entering the country in the first place. Low-skill Americans were finding that those jobs were open to them once again, while the employers of low-skill workers were finding that one of their illicit controls over their workforce was slipping from their grasp. The Usurpers intend to reverse that course...but you can’t incentivize illegals, thus implicitly penalizing American workers, and expect both groups to support you.

     Oh, the fun we’re going to have as the cracks in the Usurper coalition widen and spread!

     Yes, it will take time to produce perceptible results. But those results are on their way. No one can long maintain a coalition of groups whose interests are mutually antagonistic. Some component groups will decide that they’re being shafted by the payoffs being delivered to others. They’ll cajole. They’ll threaten. Some will depart the Democrat flock. And the Usurpers, caught between many competing fires, won’t know what to do.

     Stay tuned.

Totalitarian Rule - How it Happens

I found this breakdown of how it has happened at other times (and, yes, including the Nazi Era). It certainly gave me a different perspective.

People may forget - yes, there were directives or edicts that aimed to move the German society in the direction of the Nazis wishes.

But, a lot of the implementation depended on the actions of a few - brownshirts, who caused public chaos, the neighbors, who would report those violating rules, and business, who ignored blatant abuses - all for the sake of a smooth-running business.

It took a lot of people who either feared the consequences of speaking out, or were greedy to profit at the expense of those others who'd been caught up in the Nazi maw.

Like those who won't defend people who've been Cancelled - because, you know, they want to express really ooky ideas.

Like those who won't speak out at work against policies that violate their conscience - because, they realy NEED that job.

Like those that advise their kids to just suck it up and tell the teacher what she wants to hear.

That see evidence of anti-Deplorable action, and turn their heads away.

That cave, little by little, until they look around, and see no one that would speak up for them.

Conversations 2021-01-22

     Just a moment ago, the C.S.O. declared her intention to have meatball heroes for tonight’s dinner. Thereupon, she went to our freezer and extracted from it a loaf of Italian bread and a bag that contained four meatballs. She proceeded thence to arrange two meatballs and half a loaf of the aforementioned bread on each of two plates. And the conversation proceeded thus:

FWP: Thus are the limits of the ancient wisdom revealed.
CSO: Huh?

FWP: Well, each of us is getting two meatballs and a hunk of bread, right?
CSO: Yeah, so?

FWP: That clarifies the scope of an old, well known bit of folklore.
CSO: What are you thinking of?

FWP: “You get no bread with one meatball.”
CSO: (scowls in disgust) Oh, for... (unprintable)

     Sometimes I wonder how I’ve lived this long.

Working hypothesis.

Here:

. . . I hope, with all my heart, they [Americans] wake up to the psychopathic, sadistic, predator class that truly rules them before it is too late for all of us . . . .^[1]

Completely unrelated development:

It only took Joe Biden 24 Hours to begin screwing up world affairs. The United States military is moving a MAJOR military convoy INTO eastern Syria. Russia is now moving their own MAJOR Convoy to intercept the US Convoy.^[2]

Russian military moves in response to said U.S. movements would be a major response. CIA-Simulation Warlord has a video of Russian military vehicles backed up on a road where a very large number of semis are also lined up. Whole lotta shakin' goin' on. The video shows only the tail end of whatever the Russians had on the road and that consists of eight heavy trucks, an ambulance, and an armored personnel carrier. That was yesterday and supposedly the convoy was heading east toward Al Hasakah in the northeast. We shall see.

However, I'm sure the part about U.S. movements is accurate.

Vanessa Beeley notes below the recent uptick in terrorist activity, which means ISIS activity I presume, but then that's just a semi-educated guess. Given evidence of prior U.S. solicitousness toward ISIS, I don't doubt "our" secret cooperation with them lives on. John McCain's chin wag with the "opposition" filth in Syria a while back didn't exactly take place in a vacuum. The "rat line" from Benghazi to Syria was not what you'd call a rogue operation and then there's the enormous support for the White Helmets that the United States and the United Kingdom provide. Because . . . why?

So this uptick in opposition activity has nothing to do with the new U.S. move? Sure.

Beeley:

I have been talking about the Biden administration for some time now in relation to Syria and I have predicted that the aggression against Syria will now be escalated. Since the New Year we have seen an increase in US-backed, trained and equipped terrorist attacks on Syrian Arab Army and civilian convoys including fuel convoys. This is a deliberate strategy to push the Syrian people further into food insecurity and depravation (sic) with the coldest winter months now here.^[3]

With luck the U.S. will exercise its previous restraint when confronted by Russian forces, if it comes to that. Perhaps this supposed Russian response will be enough of a message to keep oligarchic forces from making fresh moves.

Notes
^[1] "Israeli war crimes in Syria – the Trump/Biden strategy." By Vanessa Beeley, The Wall Will Fall, 1/22/21.
^[2] "It only took 24 Hours: US Sends MAJOR Convoys Into Syria; Russian Moving Convoys to Intercept!" By Hal Turner Radio Show, 1/22/21.
^[3] Beeley, supra.