Angelo Codevilla: Clarity in Trump’s Wake
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Angelo Codevilla: Clarity in Trump's Wake
Clarity in Trump's Wake
by Angelo Codevilla
Texas v. Pennsylvania et al. did not deny setting rules for the 2020 election contrary to the Constitution. On December 10, 2020, the Supreme Court discounted that. By refusing to interfere as America's ruling oligarchy serves itself, the court archived what remained of the American republic's system of equal justice. That much is clear. In 2021, the laws, customs, and habits of the heart that had defined the American republic since the 18th century are things of the past. Americans' movements and interactions are under strictures for which no one ever voted. Government disarticulated society by penalizing ordinary social intercourse and precluding the rise of spontaneous opinion therefrom. Together with corporate America, it smothers minds through the mass and social media with relentless, pervasive, identical, and ever-evolving directives. In that way, these oligarchs have proclaimed themselves the arbiters of truth, entitled and obliged to censor whoever disagrees with them as systemically racist, adepts of conspiracy theories. Corporations, and the government itself, require employees to attend meetings personally to acknowledge their guilt. They solicit mutual accusations. While violent felons are released from prison, anyone may be fired or otherwise have his life wrecked for questioning government/corporate sentiment. Today's rulers don't try to convince. They demand obedience, and they punish.
Russians and East Germans under Communists Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in the 1970s lived under less ruling class pressure than do today's Americans. And their rulers were smart enough not to insult them, their country, or their race. |
Valediction Contradiction
by Jay Whig
President Donald J. Trump delivered his farewell address Tuesday afternoon over YouTube. At least that is how it came into my feed. Twitter, I presume, was not available for distribution. This tradition of a formal goodbye from departing presidents goes all the way back to George Washington. Then, in the early days of the country, Washington did not have to leave the office. There was no constitutional limitation on terms, and if Washington had chosen to run, he would have been reelected, again and again, until the fading end of his days. The country loved Washington, and Washington loved his country, so he declined to run again. The nation must choose a person to succeed him. Washington knew his countrymen would take this as hard news. A republic, with its deliberative forms inducing a people to govern themselves by reflection and choice, is no easy thing to sustain. Washington's stature had held the early republic together. And for this reason, Washington chose to retire to private life after two terms. His last public act was to tell Americans, like it or not, you will govern yourselves. And since they would be governing themselves, Washington offered a few tips about how to do it. Avoid foreign entanglements, he admonished. Further, he added,
| | Our Democracy™
by Peter D'Abrosca
Have you heard about Our Democracy™ lately? If you have, you've probably heard that President Donald J. Trump is the biggest threat to Our Democracy™ in history. Second only to President Trump in the threat department are his supporters, who tried to end Our Democracy™ with their so-called seditious, insurrectionist siege (formerly known as "mostly peaceful protesting") at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6. And it's not just Trump and his supporters who want to destroy Our Democracy™. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin called Saturday for House Minority Leader and noted danger to Our Democracy™ Kevin McCarthy (D-Calif.) to resign from Congress. McCarthy, known for his reputation as fascist strongman (read: empty suit), failed to protect Our Democracy™ by not cheering on Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) while she voted to impeach President Trump. Now, I know what you're thinking. Jennifer Rubin is very smart, and the Washington Post is very reliable, so we should always defer to her opinion columns and their reporting as gospel. But in case you're not convinced, plenty of others share Rubin's sentiment about Our Democracy™. Pollster Matt McDermott recently observed, "As the Trump presidency comes to a close," Our Democracy™ "is at the brink of ruin." And he's right, obviously. As we begin the transition of power to democratically-elected Joe Biden's presidency, it's clear that Our Democracy™ is in its death throes. In fact, nothing says "death of Our Democracy™" like Our Democracy™ working the way it has worked for nearly 250 years.
| | Section 230 Empowers America's New Ku Klux Klan
by J.B. White
My longtime friend and former college roommate recently asked me a thought-provoking question: if America's Big Tech platforms can blatantly and with impunity discriminate against a readily identifiable class of patrons, then why couldn't Woolworth's back in the day, or the bus companies in Montgomery or Tallahassee? That's a damn good question, I thought to myself. I had already written 80 percent of what would have been a multiple thread Twitter post about the wrongs Section 230 allowed our Big Tech titans to inflict on Americans, but this question drew a compare and contrast I knew would trigger left-wingers everywhere with its juxtaposition of 1950s violations of equal protection by corporate giants with 21st century violations of the same by equally wrong corporate giants. So, as our national civics lesson continues to unfold an examination of why Big Tech is representative of America's New Ku Klux Klan orthodoxy is in order. Little recognized facts today include this: the 20th century KKK was actually bigger in the North than it was in the South in the 1920s, and progressive Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, formerly the head of Princeton University, seriously boosted the popularity of the KKK by screening the 1915 film, "Birth of A Nation." Progressives, most often through the auspices of the Democratic Party, historically have wreaked havoc upon our nation and successfully hidden their role in the damage done.
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How to Restore Faith in the Constitution
by Stephen B. Presser
In one of the most extraordinary passages of his most extraordinary book, C.S. Lewis, the 20th century's greatest Christian apologist, wrote of Jesus Christ, that he was either the son of God, as he claimed, or a madman. In the Christmas season, believers take comfort in their faith and joyfully embrace the first alternative. The United States has a tradition of separating church and state, but there is a competing tradition, equally venerable, that our government is only fit for a religious people, one that understands there is a divine order to which humankind ought to conform, and that, as Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett once explained, it is our task to contribute to the building of the Kingdom of God. If a higher power holds sway on earth, however, it was difficult (as it often is) to discern a celestial hand in the ordering of American politics at the close of this last annus horribilis. Many, if not most, of our Constitution's framers believed that their task of establishing a government freed from the European tyranny of monarchy and hereditary aristocracy was a providential one. Still, in our jaded and secular time, with society caught in the grip of a horrific pandemic, and with draconian social restrictions still in place, optimism and faith are severely challenged. | | Morning Greatness: Trump's Final Day
By Liz Sheld
Two minutes of hate: The alleged rioter who purportedly stole a laptop or a hard drive from Nancy Pelosi's office to sell to the RUSSIANS has been arrested. I called BS on this yesterday in the Greatness and I stand by that. The FBI's information came from Williams' ex who claims he saw the theft in a video and also, somehow, knows she was going to sell the laptop to the RUSSIANS. "Riley June Williams, of Pennsylvania, who was seen on video taking part in the Capitol siege, was charged with entering a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to Department of Justice records," reports the New York Post. The Post also reports "The FBI is also investigating the laptop theft claims, though there is no indication that one was actually pilfered from the speaker's office. Williams has not been charged in connection to that allegation." Solid. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) went off on an insane riff while peacocking on derp state-sponsored media. Speaking to CNN's new clown influencer-anchor Jim Sciutto, Cohen said, "the [National] Guard is 90 some-odd percent male, and only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden. You gotta figure that in the Guard, which is predominately more conservative … there are probably not more than 25% of the people that are there protecting us that voted for Biden." And your point is? What should be done to Trump voters? I'd like to see more concrete solutions to this "problem" rather than vague allusions signaling concern. Should we lock them up? Should we remove them from their jobs or associations? Should we deny them food and electricity? How can we expect to solve this "Trump voter problem?" Don't be shy, Democrats, start talking. Meanwhile, the acting Pentagon chief says there's no intelligence of an insider threat from the National Guard. | |
Our American Treasures Hidden in Plain Sight
by Salena Zito
"The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced," wrote Carl Schmitt, "is that between friend and enemy." It seems self-evident enough that one ought to reward friends and punish enemies. Nevertheless, Schmitt's dictum remains relevant because it is so often ignored. Donald Trump is famous for demanding loyalty. To the Left, that trait is proof positive of his autocratic tendencies. On the Right, it is a badge of honor, indicative of an old-fashioned moral code. Both miss the mark. Trump demands loyalty but gives little or none. And when he does, it's often to the wrong people—or at least, the wrong people in the context of his role as the leader of a nationalist-populist movement. Starting with Steve Bannon in August 2017, virtually every staffer aligned with "America First" as a political concept exited the White House. "I like Mr. Bannon. He's a friend of mine," Trump said at the time of Bannon's resignation. "But Mr. Bannon came on very late. You know that. I went through 17 senators, governors, and I won all the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than that," he added. The president had struck a very different tone just a year earlier. Bannon, said Trump in November 2016, helped lead the campaign to a "historic victory" as an "extremely capable, highly qualified" individual. Bannon went from indispensable chief strategist and senior counselor to expendable latecomer.
| | Antifa-Supporting Army Vet Arrested on Federal Charges After Threatening Election Protesters in Florida
by Debra Heine
An antifa-supporting Army vet was arrested on Friday for plotting a violent attack against Trump supporters at Florida's State Capitol. The FBI arrested 33-year-old Daniel Alan Baker on federal charges after he allegedly tried to recruit other "hardcore leftists" to "violently confront" conservative demonstrators at a protest in Tallahassee on Sunday. Baker was charged with violating a federal law that makes it a felony to "transmit in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another." According to the criminal complaint, Baker had created a Facebook event titled "Defend Tallahassee," which called for fellow leftists to take up arms and help fight the "armed racist mob" protesting in Tallahassee. On Jan. 14, Baker posted the "Call to Arms January 20th!" image below as a comment to a news article by a local Tallahassee-based television station, the complaint alleges.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Lawrence Keefe said in a statement: "(Baker) threatened to kidnap and injure others, and he recently issued a call to arms for like-minded individuals to violently confront protesters who are expected to gather at the Florida Capitol. Extremists intent on violence from either end of the political and social spectrum must be stopped, and they will be stopped."
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Former Head of Facebook Security Demands Deplatforming of OAN and Newsmax
by Eric Lendrum
The former Chief Security Officer of the tech giant Facebook called for major cable companies to silence conservative television networks over what he claims to be misinformation, according to The Daily Caller. Former Facebook official Alex Stamos made the statements in an appearance on CNN, after host Brian Stelter falsely claimed that questioning the results of the 2020 election had led to a "crisis," partially fueled by platforms such as Facebook. Stamos responded by singling out the cable news networks One America News (OAN) and Newsmax, claiming that these networks have been "trying now to outflank Fox on the right" after Fox "introduced any kind of realism into their reporting," so that some viewers could "put themselves in a sealed ecosystem." Stamos even compared the networks to the radical Islamist terrorist organization ISIS, suggesting that Big Tech companies should "collaborate" and "make it impossible for them to use the internet" just as they did with ISIS. After calling on Big Tech to censor such networks, Stamos then turned to the cable providers of such channels, saying that "I'm not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and such to be bringing them into tens of millions of homes."
| | Time to Fight
by Ned Ryun
If you had any doubts about how much the swamp hates, loathes, fears, and despises Donald Trump, the fact that it has impeached him twice in roughly 13 months should remove all doubt. Mind you, neither of the impeachments has anything to do with facts. Both were about power and who wields it. Neither had anything to do with the Constitution or the republic or the betterment of the American people. Oh, no. This was the deeply corrupt D.C. system we have let run rampant for far too long, flexing its muscle, giving the middle finger to the American working class and taxpayer, who, of course, funds the system that funds the swamp. It was a warning shot to the American working class and taxpayers to mind their betters: anyone who champions their cause will be dealt with in like manner. This was entirely about setting the bar—warning any other American, any outsider who seeks even to try to restore the American republic or challenge the administrative state and ruling class—that there will be massive personal and financial costs for such activity. The latest impeachment should also put to rest the farce that somehow Democrats and Biden desire unity. Spare me!
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'Trump Nation' Numbers At Least 150 Million Americans
by Edward Ring
This sums up the sentiments that inform America's establishment media, its corporate elite, Big Tech, academia, most of the public sector, the entire Democratic Party, and most of the Republican Party leadership. What do we do with 74,222,593 people? How will we reeducate these troglodytic haters? How will we control these dangerous insurrectionists? Despite virtually every powerful special interest lined up against them, this "cleansing" will indeed be tough. Because, first of all, we are not talking about 74 million Trump supporters. We're talking about over 150 million Trump supporters. To say that only 74 million Americans support Trump rests on an impossible assumption: that every American who didn't vote for Trump, or for Biden, automatically is supposed to have supported Biden. Unfortunately for the tastemakers and kingmakers of America, that's not how reality works. A careful examination of the official election results by state yields several fascinating facts. For example, assuming the 1.8 percent going to third party candidates splits equally between Trump and Biden (with such a small fraction, it doesn't matter much anyway), then Trump voters spoke for 47.7 percent of the population, and Biden voters spoke for 52.3 percent of the American population. That would be, for Trump, over 157 million people.
| | Democrats Cling Desperately to Trump Hatred
by Conrad Black
These are among the darkest days of American democracy. With nearly airtight totalitarian uniformity, the American media robotically repeat that there is no possible argument to be made that the 2020 presidential election produced an unjust result. In the same magical spirit of post-electoral unanimity, President Trump has been condemned for his remarks to hundreds of thousands of his supporters in Washington on January 6, and it is now a political commandment that he is responsible for the ensuing illegal forced entry and fatal violence at the United States Capitol. He actually told his supporters that they should "peacefully and patriotically make your voices be heard" when they proceeded on to the Capitol; this is a minor inconvenience to the confected consensus that the president shouldn't serve out the last week of his term. There remains no conclusive evidence that Richard Nixon broke any laws in the Watergate affair, though some members of his entourage did. But it was not hard to foresee that driving him from office (a very capable president who had been reelected by what remains the greatest plurality in U.S. history) would addict the American political system to the criminalization of policy differences.
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"My longtime friend and former college roommate recently asked me a thought-provoking question: if America's Big Tech platforms can blatantly and with impunity discriminate against a readily identifiable class of patrons, then why couldn't Woolworth's back in the day, or the bus companies in Montgomery or Tallahassee?
ReplyDeleteThat's a damn good question,I thought to myself.
Not even back in the day--NOW.Why can't private businesses and store owners dictate who they choose to serve and who they don't ?
--GRA
Bolsheviks are on the ascendency. Silence you now, kill you tomorrow. A major wish might become a major reality.
ReplyDeleteBIDEN BROKEN PROMISE ALREADY--NO IMMEDIATE $1400 STIMULUS CHECK
ReplyDelete(Breitbart)Democrat lawmakers expect to fail on providing another round of coronavirus relief until March despite President Joe Biden outlining a $1.9 trillion relief measures last week, Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman reported Wednesday.
“In @PunchbowlNews AM — Democrats do not expect to be able to send @JoeBiden a Covid [coronavirus] relief bill until early March,” Sherman reported the morning of the inauguration:
Biden unveiled his $1.9 trillion measure in a speech last week, which he said would address key issues in the battle against the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. That includes “speeding up the vaccine rollout, and providing financial help to individuals, states, and local governments and businesses struggling with the prolonged economic fallout,” as Breitbart News reported.
Members of the far-left have expressed concern over one key aspect of Biden’s proposal, which provides $1,400 stimulus checks to the American people rather than the $2,000 key Democrat legislators promised. Biden and his team, however, contend the proposal does, in fact, uphold the party’s promise when combined with the $600 provided in the $2.3 trillion government spending and coronavirus relief measure former President Donald Trump signed last month.
GRA:Biden's a lying politician,Trump was not.$1400?Now that Biden's in office(and assuming he can remember)maybe we get the money,maybe we don't.They may call the virus vanquished and cancel the money entirely.
--GRA