Posse Incitatus

Democrat Incompetence and State's Rights

The stupidity of liberal/progressive arguments continues to stagger the mind.

These delusional leftists have had their hands full trying to defend Democrat policies when dozens of cities that have Democrat mayors, city councils, police chiefs and prosecutors have turned into dystopian hellholes in recent weeks. Rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults -- a general breakdown in law and order -- are ridiculously dubbed "peaceful protests" by the idiot media parrots.

Reasonable people can debate the circumstances of police shootings that resulted in the deaths of black people (i.e., some were outrageous abuses, such as the George Floyd murder; others were justified, such as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.) But what is beyond dispute is that the vast majority of notorious cop killings that helped trigger the current unrest have occurred in Democrat strongholds -- cities under Democrat control for many decades.

One of the arguments leftist partisans use to deflect blame about violence in big cities is it's Republicans' fault because they are beholden to the NRA and opposed to strict gun control. Never mind that gun violence is usually worst in the cities with the most draconian gun control laws. Forget about the fact that such restrictions on the Second Amendment disproportionately harm poor minorities living in dangerous inner city neighborhoods who need guns for self-protection. And disregard the fact there are already about 300 million firearms out there (recall the expression about closing the barn door after the horse is gone).

The bottom line is that trying to stop crime by restricting firearms is like attempting to make water run uphill. It bears repeating: If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Simple-minded naiveté, ignorance, and often just plain stupidity are the roots of the fervent belief that more and better gun control will do the trick. I guess I shouldn't be shocked or appalled that tens of millions of people believe this swill, when you consider that millions of Americans can't even name the three branches of government.

But let's move beyond the gun control argument. Another talking point of the leftists (e.g., Chris Hahn, the so-called "Aggressive Progressive" and a frequent, annoying guest on Laura Ingraham's Fox News program), is that Republicans and conservatives are supposed to be all about state's rights and respecting the autonomy of local communities. How DARE they send in federal agents to help quell the riots in Portland and other cities.

Well, Chris, it's like this. Cities, counties and states are adjuncts of the federal government. They do retain a certain amount of autonomy when it comes to adopting their own laws and regulations. No one in his right mind thinks Baptists in Valdosta, Ga., should have a say in regulating x-rated video stores or prostitution in Portland, Ore., or that Chicago's gun control laws should apply to Russellville, Ark. Oh, but when blatantly illegal and/or unjust activities occur, or when incompetence and corruption vitiate a city or school board, there definitely is a role for the feds to step in.

For example, federal agents have been present in Portland since last week, defending the U.S. District Courthouse from violent anarchists who hope to burn it to the ground. Yet shameless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the gall to refer to them as "stormtroopers." The unhinged Democrats are claiming Gestapo-like tactics, and using the ludicrous term "kidnapped" to describe federal authorities arresting lawbreakers and taking them off the streets. It just gets crazier by the minute.

And here's a little refresher for Democrats: Over the past 30 years or so, it has become commonplace for federal authorities to assume control (or at the very least, exert a heavy regulatory hand) over corrupt, incompetent and criminal local enterprises. Police departments, school boards, city halls, special education, water and sewer departments. That's just a cursory list.

Here in Michigan, we have become very familiar with federal decrees meant to remedy grotesque incompetence and criminal activities in Detroit, Flint and other cities. Indeed, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently that Detroit's public schools were violating students' right to a quality education (a right codified in the Michigan Constitution). Under the ruling, the students have standing to sue the state for alleged violation of that right. This was but the latest in a decades-long struggle between grossly inept and corrupt Detroit public schools and the state of Michigan.

As for the Detroit Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016 ended 13 years of federal oversight intended to clean up management with audits and greater transparency, improve training and ultimately benefit the people of Detroit with higher quality and more competent police services.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department was under EPA oversight for a whopping 35 years! The EPA has been keeping an eye on Flint, Mich., because the local incompetence and corruption preceded the tainted water fiasco by decades. And then, of course, there was the important move by President Dwight Eisenhower to federalize National Guard troops during the tumultuous desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

The fact is, no right is absolute, and that includes states' and cities' rights. If the Democrat mayors and governors refuse to fulfill their obligation to keep residents secure on their own streets, and to protect private property, Uncle Sam is fully justified in intervening. 

I suspect the majority of Americans see it that way, and recognize moronic straw man arguments when they see them. But then, the high percentage of Democrats who are utterly obsessed with hatred of Donald Trump may well blind them to such reason. After all, many of them still believe the Steele dossier was truthful, and a good percentage of them believe that the Russians actually hacked into American voting machines to alter the results of the 2016 presidential election. 

There are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see.

 

The Biden Paradox: We'll get a Return to Normal *and* Revolution

For some reason this blog is like a honeypot for left-wing talking point bots.  Not sure why that is, since our traffic is but a shadow of its greatness during the Golden Age of Blogs.

Anyhow, it's interesting to see the latest example of Leftist Doublethink:  Joe Biden will bring a return to peaceful normalcy and usher in the Revolution the left has been longing for.

It's a fascinating argument to make, but the Dems are world-class experts at arguing contradictory things.  "Freedom is Slavery," "War is Peace" and now "Green New Deal is Return to Normal."

Obviously, one of these things is not true, and it's obvious that the claim of returning to normal is the lie.

The Left hates this country - it hates its history, its traditions and its greatness.  Joe Biden's ghost-written Independence Day speech was all about how disappointing the United States has always been to him.

If we simply blow up the energy industry, repeal half the Constitution and create Green Workers' Soviets, then we will get what we truly deserve.

I suppose at this late date arguing specifics is pointless because it's painfully obvious that the Dems don't mean anything they say.  Once they get power, they'll do whatever they want with it.

As they always have.

 

From Utopia to Dystopia

Gotta admit, I never did read "Utopia," but maybe I should, since I'm named after its author, Sir Thomas More (1478-1535). The British lawyer and counselor to King Henry VIII clearly understood human nature centuries before the Marxists and Bolsheviks began perpetrating their murderous fraud upon the world.

Sadly, there are millions of Americans who still believe in the perfectibility of man through government policies. Just get the right legislators and bureaucrats in power, and let them work their magic. The right formula of regulations, taxes, mandates, programs and incentives  / disincentives will gradually eradicate all inequality, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, gender bias, hunger, poverty and every other blot on American society. This is nothing new; Woodrow Wilson believed in unleashing the elitist micromanagers on America a century ago. How did that work out?

We still haven't learned our lesson about the failures of liberalism and progressivism. Many examples proliferate.

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing is just one of the leftist meddlers' grandiose schemes to restrict and eventually eliminate single family zoning. In the minds of its advocates, it's not "fair" that some people can live in better housing and safer communities with better schools than others do. Never mind that people do different things with their lives. Some work hard, sacrifice, save money and strive to better themselves. Others choose to be layabouts, drug addicts and alcoholics. They feel entitled -- from the government and the people in their lives. Of course, there's a massive gray area in between these two extremes. In short, the notion that everyone should have equal housing is preposterous beyond belief.

But perhaps the most obvious example of left-wing insanity taking a heavy toll on the people who are struggling the most -- i.e., poor and vulnerable inner city residents -- is the defund the police movement, in conjunction with prosecutors who won't prosecute, police who stand down and absurd policies such as letting suspects go immediately after their arrest without requiring bail.

In New York, San Francisco, Chicago and other cities, we have seen an explosion of lawless and disgraceful behavior. Anarchists, looters, drug-addicted homeless people, vandals -- all of them commit transgressions with impunity. Even thugs who attacked several New York police officers with clubs and baseball bats a few days ago were released without bail.

In St. Louis, the George Soros-supported prosecutor is going after a homeowner who defended his home from a raging Black Lives Matter mob that had broken down the gate to enter their subdivision. And in Atlanta, ethically challenged Prosecuting Attorney Paul Howard announced he was charging former Atlanta Police officer Garrett Rolfe with felony murder and aggravated assault after Rolfe shot and killed Rashard Brooks in late June following a scuffle outside an Atlanta Wendy's. He did so before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation wrapped up its investigation. Video shows it will be far from a slam dunk case; many of Howard's critics contend he's simply trying to deflect negative attention away from himself during a difficult re-election campaign. He's accused of misusing funds and sexual harassment.

When looters and vandals get away with smashing windows, spray painting graffiti, tearing down statues, doing drugs on the street, defecating in public and taking over blocks of a downtown area for weeks at a time, this is all clear evidence of the dystopia that results from the nihilistic "government knows best" central planners who make up a big chunk of the Democrat Party.

Let's hope "on the fence" independents and the many voters who dislike Donald Trump's bombastic style will think long and hard about the consequences of putting Joe Biden in the White House. Because Biden, with his diminishing mental capabilities, will be a marionette puppet for the far left during his few weeks in office. He's destined to be a short-term placeholder while a rigid leftist VP such as Elizabeth Warren or Michelle Obama waits in the wings. Once the V.P. takes over, it's Katy-bar-the-door.

Utopia is impossible in this world. But Dystopia -- not to mention mountains of skulls -- is a very real possibility. We know it can happen, because it already did happen.

Is Trump Weary? Does He Secretly Want to Lose?

During the 3-1/2 years of Donald Trump's presidency, many of his supporters have marveled at his ability to keep forging ahead despite enduring a 24/7 pummeling from the corrupt news media, academia, the entertainment and tech worlds, and tens of millions of progressive Americans spewing nonstop bile on social media.

Impeachment, lawsuits, bitter political battles, pandemic politics, vicious name-calling, raw hatred flowing from the left and amped up by the social media sewer and diabolical cable network news... How can Trump get out of bed each morning and face the day? Why is he willing to put up with this shit? Most of us would explode with rage, resign in a huff, sink into deep depression, or possibly all of the above. 

Through most of his term, the president has fought back with a vengeance. His utter contempt for the corrupt media, with whom he spars regularly, has been one of his best qualities, in the eyes of his supporters (including me; I loathe the media). Ditto for his criticisms of academia, the K-12 education establishment, and leftists in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. 

But he's long had a bad tendency to shoot himself in the foot with ill-advised statements and ridiculous tweets; to wallow in the gutter with insignificant nobodies on Twitter, about inane pap such as beauty pageants and entertainment. Four years ago, many of us wondered whether he would be able to rein in his destructive tendencies, stick to the script and eek out a victory over Hillary Clinton. He succeeded in doing so. This time around, it's getting late in the ballgame, and he's still the loose cannon.

Granted, the Mt. Rushmore speech was a winner, and the Washington Post, among others, was exposed with an avalanche of harsh criticism for brazenly lying about the speech's content. But at the same time, Trump has committed some boneheaded moves, such as getting in a Twitter tiff with NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace (way to go; that'll help shore up black support!). He also retweeted video of Trump supporters showing one of them proclaiming, 'White power!", then deleted the tweet a few hours later. (Who knows? Maybe these yahoos were fake Trump supports paid by George Soros to perpetuate the image of the president's supporters as racists, just like the thugs sent to Trump rallies to pick fights in hopes of portraying Trump supporters as violent and aggressive.) But even if the video was contrived, the damage was done.

But beyond ill-advised statements and tweets, plus petty arguments with Hollywood nobodies, Trump's biggest weakness might be his failure to back up tough talk with action. Many of his supporters were sorely disappointed six weeks ago when, while gang-bangers, Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters and anarchists ripped down statues and tore apart cities from coast to coast, little was done to stop them.

Trump threatened to use federal troops, but often fell back on the excuse that he had "offered" to send in the troops, but local mayors and governors had refused his offer. Defense Secretary Mark Esper openly defied the president when he said it would be a bad idea to use federal troops to quell the riots, and several high profile generals including the retired James "Mad Dog" Mattis, former Secretary of Defense) have also gone on record stating they would not carry out such orders.

A caller to the Savage Nation radio program the other day painted a bleak picture of the military top brass, and his explanation was plausible. This man said he had served in the military for 33 years, and he witnessed many top generals retiring or resigning in disgust and protest during the Obama administration because of their distaste for Obama's policies, including using the military for social engineering. The generals who were elevated to replace the departed leaders never would have attained the rank of four-star, this man said, because of their lack of leadership abilities and leftist bent. But suddenly, many of these officers were thrust into leadership positions, and now we're seeing the results.

Joe Biden and the Democrats have made some major errors with statements and policy choices. The Republicans failed to capitalize on Biden's stupid "You Ain't Black" statement a few weeks ago; the GOP also hasn't emphasized enough the irresponsibility and craziness of defunding or abolishing police departments. To use a favorite term of the progressives, "Systemic" failure and idiocy of liberal/progressive mayors and governors from coast to coast have been evident. Conservatives need to keep pounding that drum, day in, day out. Keep reminding the public that if the Democrats win the White House and Senate, dystopia will metastacize. Coming soon to a town near you.

Yet, despite the ample low hanging fruit, Trump seems asleep at the wheel. One wonders if he's grown tired and weary; if the fires have died down and he's throwing up his hands. Maybe he secretly just wants to live out his remaining years enjoying the fruits of his labor and not mud wrestling in the swamp of reprobates. Or will he rally with an intensity that grows as we move into August and September? For our nation's sake, for the sake of liberty and the future of our republic, we'd better hope and pray it's the latter.

 

The Vanishing Moderate Left

In the comments, the question was raised:  Why do I paint the left with so broad a brush?  What about the moderate left, which is open to appeals to reason?

My answer is simply this: it's gone.

Look at the furor surrounding an attempt to by prominent writers to stand against "cancel culture."  The old liberal wing - based on free speech, individual liberty - has collapsed completely.

Slow Joe Biden, who was once something of a centrist (certainly he favored banking centers in Delaware), has now embraced every radical policy pushed by Bernie Sanders.  He was pitched in the primaries as the "safe, reasonable" choice, but his positions are indistinguishable from the radical "Squad" on the far left of the Democrat Caucus.

Even if the moderates hadn't immediately folded on their abortive letter in opposition to cancel culture, a close reading of it showed they didn't object to censorship by the mob, they merely objected to it being applied to them.

Leftist institutions are nothing more than front organizations pushing for the radical overthrow of the existing order.  The ACLU no longer supports free speech, the ADL is comfortable with anti-semitism so long as it supports their cause of Orange Man Bad.

Maybe these people will come out of their bunkers on election day, but I get a sense that they also dislike Trump and figure once he's gone, then they can take back their party.

But history shows that it won't work like that. 

Once the radicals gain the summit of power, they go into overdrive and their first victims will be the people on their own side who might get in their way.

You'd think the right wouldn't have to explain the left to itself, but I guess that's where we are.

Happy (belated) Birthday, America!

As all normal people should, I took a break from the flickering screen yesterday and enjoyed Family, Faith and Freedom.

After a refreshing session of recreational firepower, it was time to fire up the grill and then set off some fireworks as the evening closed in.  The neighbors complimented us on our display, which was nice.

Seasoned readers have no doubt noticed that I'm not posting as often as I used to, and part of this is that things are getting too stupid for words.

Even the trolls are transparent idiots, on the one hand maintaining Antifa doesn't exist, and on the other claiming that no black businesses have been harmed in widespread rioting.

Given the prevalence of damage (and black-owned enterprises in city cores), this is not only patently false, but insultingly so.

It's on part with a Monty Python sketch in its absurd denial of observable truth.  With such people, discussion is pointless.

This blog has lasted far longer than I thought it would, and it provides a written record of the left's utter degeneration from credible political philosphy to a nakedly illogical movement bent purely on the seizure of absolute political power.

Gun control is a great example of this.  Back in 2004, there was still a serious discussion over whether it was necessary or effective.  This was based on actual evidence, and a particularly telling piece of it was that more and more states allowed concealed pistol licenses and yet the crime rate continued to fall.  Clearly the more guns = more crime theory had been disproven.

Tellingly, this is was the signal to move away from any association with logic and to pure insult and social punishment.  Gun control - like so much of the leftist agenda - became couched in moral terms and those who opposed it were evil.

So it is with Black Lives Matter, whose policies have destroyed lives and livelihoods.  Crime is soaring across the country and it is the black community in particular that is suffering.

The "autonomous zone" in Seattle claimed the lives of two young black men, but no one knows or cares about them, because their deaths don't advance 'the cause.'

Another example:  Remember when George W. Bush was a warmonger?  Remember the peace movement?

Where did it go?  Donald Trump is trying to pull out US forces from pointless and unwinnable wars and yet the Democrats are now demanding that they continue!  It's fascinating to watch the same people who denounced General Petraeus as "General Betray-Us" now quoting him as a wise sage who wants unending death and destruction.

Also disappeared - wrenching stories of civilians killed by US bombs, or the struggles of wounded veterans.  BTW, do those black lives matter - the ones in uniform being wasted in sandpits across Asia?

This is why I've cycled down, because arguing with idiots gets old.  I have not yet closed the comments, but I have blocked trolls and recently deleted a comment that violated our long-standing policy against substituting links for commentary.

If you have something interesting to say, say it, don't spam my comments with your links.

 

Satan's Having a Field Day!

It's been well-known for years that liberals, leftists and progressives tend to be atheists, agnostics, or persons of weak, if any, faith.

Just look at the policies they advocate, and it's easy to tell their respect for natural law and the dignity of life are practically non-existent: Abortion up until birth (with the added atrocities of organ harvesting and profiting from the sale of fetal tissue); a preposterous dogma that there are not two genders, but rather, 50 or 60 (and this coming from the same people who lecture us about "science"); government mandates trampling First Amendment religious rights; and in recent weeks, a shocking contempt and disregard for law enforcement.

Up is down; down is up; left is right; right is left. This Orwellian insanity is laced with a vicious hatred for authorities; the impatience and petulance of a two-year-old, and an anger that cannot be mollified. Hence the tearing down of not just confederate statues and monuments, but even those of abolitionists, Abraham Lincoln and Christopher Columbus.

It's a huge mistake to try to appease these people, because they're never satisfied with incremental progress or compromise. They want it all -- NOW! I'm not normally one to judge a person's spiritual condition, but when it comes to the anarchists plundering our cities, it sure seems like Satan is running the show. Yet there are politicians on both sides of the aisle who are quick to kiss the asses of these vermin. Ditto for many corporations that embarrass themselves with their obsequious behavior toward the raging mobs.

The cesspool of Seattle's CHAZ/CHOP compound, which thankfully was disbanded earlier today, shows what happens when the devil runs wild, nihilism prevails and people have contempt for the concept of a higher power and the accountability that comes with it. Two people were murdered in the past two weeks, and several others have been injured by gunfire. There were rapes, assaults, vile cursing at police and paramedics, rampant drug use, and a general fetid atmosphere (not just the feces, urine, syringes and garbage; also the horrendous demeanor of so many of the losers who occupied this encampment).

The Black Lives Matter Marxists are anti-family, anti-police, and full of distorted propaganda about police brutality. Many of the Antifa and other caucasian feral youth who join in on the marches and riots are spoiled rotten rich kids who need to virtue signal and fulminate in self-righteous rage just to rise above the self-loathing that plagues them deep down inside.

"Defund the police" has been the mantra, and New York City has done just that. Two weeks after the NYPD disbanded its 600-person plainclothes units, the New York City Council voted to cut a whopping $1 billion from the police budget. In the first six months of 2020, homicides in New York are up 21 percent compared with Jan.-June 2019, while shootings are up 46 percent. Those who can flee New York are doing so; the city is unfortunately headed for a dystopian future. This is what happens when gullible voters elect and re-elect a stone cold communist like Bill de Blasio. As the old song says, "When will they ever learn?"

Elsewhere across the nation, many cities are enacting laws prohibiting police officers from using a chokehold to restrain a suspect. This is a move that is rarely used, but in some cases may be necessary if the suspect is much larger and more powerful than the arresting officer. Incredibly, the Virginia Legislature is considering making it a misdemeanor rather than a felony to assault a police officer. And several cities are considering removing the longstanding protection of qualified immunity from police officers. If officers can be sued and risk financial ruin, this is just another reason why fewer and fewer people will want to be police officers.

Reducing funding, emboldening bad guys by changing assault from a felony to a misdemeanor, banning chokeholds, eliminating immunity... All of these steps are tying the hands of police, worsening police morale, and reducing the number of people who will choose law enforcement for a career. So Black Lives Matter thinks it's going to improve the quality of police? No; quite the opposite. The quality of applicants and recruits is guaranteed to go down. And when crime rises, it will be poor blacks who suffer the most. Do THOSE black lives matter?

Many of America's cities are going to become unlivable. It all starts with the gang bangers, anarchists and radical Black Lives Matter thugs, and is perpetuated by kid gloves treatment by the likes of de Blasio and Seattle's idiot Mayor Jenny Durkan (remember her inane "Summer of Love" comment?)

Let's hope voters remember this when Nov. 3 arrives. When it comes to the lunatic progressives and leftists, I'm going to quote scripture from Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Indeed. Who can understand it?