Despite what some people think, since the world is arguably 75% water that is not carbonated...
One could accurately say that it's technically flat.
*.*
To further pander to the G-PLT+Q-PEDO-XYZ crowd, Disney released a statement that Eeyore, from Winnie the Pooh, has changed s/h/it’s pronouns.
The pronouns are now He/Haw.
*.*
I was at a job interview today when the manager handed me his laptop and said "I want you to try to sell this to me."
So I put it under my arm, walked out of the building, and went home.
Eventually he called me and said "Bring my laptop back here right now!"
I said "$200 and it's yours."
*.*
Conversation between a guy and a salesperson during the new Tesla roadster drive test.
"Excuse me, sir, I see on the specs that the new Tesla roadster comes standard with a defibrillator?"
"Are you ready to hear the price?"
*.*
I’m really excited for the amateur autopsy club I just joined.
Wednesday is open Mike night!
Quote of the Times;
If they were REALLY afraid of COVID, they wouldn’t be sitting on an airplane or in a restaurant in the first place. - William Hall
Link of the Times;
https://pjmedia.com/culture/athena-thorne/2022/04/16/baskin-robbins-shocking-new-re-branding-campaign
Issue of the Times;
What’s Exceptional About American Exceptionalism? by Allen C. Guelzo
The nation was founded on natural law and natural right, not myth or tribal legend.
Americans like to believe that they are an exceptional people. We speak of ourselves as a nation lifting our light beside the golden door, a people who “more than self their country loved and mercy more than life,” in the words of “America the Beautiful.” The first person to apply the term “exceptional” to Americans was a Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, in his prophetic survey of American life in the 1830s, Democracy in America. But the germ of the idea had been around even longer, and it has never lost its grip on our imagination. Rallying Americans to his program for a new “Morning in America,” Ronald Reagan described America in almost mystical terms as a “shining city on a hill.” The light it shone with was like none that lighted any other nation. “I’ve always believed that this blessed land was set apart in a special way,” Reagan said in 1983, “that there was some divine plan that placed the two great continents here between the oceans to be found by people from every corner of the Earth who had a deep love for freedom.” In his 2012 presidential bid, Mitt Romney hailed America as “an exceptional country with a unique destiny and role in the world.” By contrast, the man who defeated Romney pointedly spoke of America in unexceptional terms, explaining to the Financial Times that if America was exceptional, it was only in the same sense that “the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” American exceptionalism has almost become a modern political litmus test.
But what is “American exceptionalism”—and what is exceptional about it? Reagan’s invocation of the “shining city on a hill” echoed what many commentators have assumed is the basic statement of American exceptionalism: John Winthrop’s layman’s sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity,” which he delivered to the colonists he was leading to find refuge for English Puritans in Massachusetts in 1629. But none of the British North American colonies—not even Winthrop’s Massachusetts—saw itself as an exception to the basic European assumptions about how a society should be organized. All the colonies, in varying measures, believed that societies were organized as hierarchies—pyramids, if you will—with the king at the top, the lords and nobility beneath, and the common folk on the bottom. Like all good pyramids, the colonial one was supposed to be static; each layer was to work reciprocally with the others, not in competition. The idea that people could start small and poor and work their way up to the top was considered dangerous. Those who did make it to the top did so, not through work but through the patronage of those already there. There would remain differences between England and its colonies—as native-born Englishmen would remind their colonial brethren—but those distinctions existed within the same recognizable European hierarchy of kings, lords, and commons.
That might have been the way America developed, too, if not for two events. The first was the Enlightenment, which proposed a radically exceptional way of reconceiving human societies. The Enlightenment began as a scientific movement, and especially as a rebellion by scientists like Galileo and Isaac Newton, against the medieval interpretation of the physical world. Medieval thinkers viewed the physical universe as no less a hierarchy than the political world, with Earth at the bottom, and ascending in levels of perfection through the moon, the planets, the stars, and finally, the heavens. This structure had already begun to come apart in the 1500s, when Niklaus Copernicus insisted that viewing the solar system in this way was contradicted by observing the motion of the planets themselves. But it took its greatest blow from Galileo, who trained the newfangled telescope on the moon and observed that nothing about it looked like the next step up in a hierarchy from Earth. It remained for Isaac Newton to show us that the various parts of the physical world were not related by order or rank but by natural laws and forces, like gravity, which were uniform and equal in the operation.
Eventually, people wondered whether the new rules that described the operations of the physical world might have some application to the political world, too. Taking their cue from the revolution in the physical sciences, philosophers sought to describe a natural political order, free of artificial hierarchies such as kings, lords, and commons. They dared to talk about equality rather than pyramids, about universal natural rights rather than inherited status, about commerce rather than patronage, and to question why some half-wit should get to wear a crown, just because his father had done so. But all the Enlightenment’s political philosophers could offer as alternatives were thought experiments about desert islands or ideal commonwealths, and the kings continued to sit undisturbed on their thrones.
The second event was the one that really gave birth to American exceptionalism: the American Revolution. For in one stupendous burst of energy, Americans overturned the entire structure—political, constitutional, legal, and social—of hierarchy and applied the Enlightenment’s thought experiments about equality and natural rights to practical politics.
The confidence that Americans displayed in the existence of a natural political order based on natural rights and natural law was so profound that Thomas Jefferson could describe the most basic of these rights—to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—as “self-evident.” The Virginia Declaration of Rights—another product of the year 1776—explained that “all men . . . have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” Americans did not merely demand a corrected version of British common law or Britain’s hierarchical society; they proclaimed that they were creating a novus ordo seclorum. Their voice, said Frederick Douglass, “was as the trump of an archangel, summoning hoary forms of oppression and time-honored tyranny, to judgment. . . . It announced the advent of a nation, based upon human brotherhood and the self-evident truths of liberty and equality. Its mission was the redemption of the world from the bondage of ages.”
Creating a new politics in America that broke decisively with the past proved surprisingly easier than we might have expected. Whatever lip service they had paid to the old theories of hierarchy during the century and a half before 1776, the colonists, in everyday practice, had developed their own consent-based civil society, created ad hoc legislatures, written their own laws, and spread landownership so broadly across the North Atlantic seaboard that, by the time of the Revolution, 90 percent of the colonists were landowners. Benjamin Franklin remembered that his father, a tallow chandler in Boston, had no particular education, “but his great Excellence lay in a sound understanding and solid judgment in prudential matters, both in private and publick affairs. . . . I remember well his being frequently visited by leading people, who consulted him for his opinion in affairs of the town or of the church he belonged to, and showed a good deal of respect for his judgment and advice: he was also . . . frequently chosen an arbitrator between contending parties.” Americans like Franklin’s father were, in effect, already desert islands and ideal commonwealths; the political philosophy of the Enlightenment gave them a theory that matched the realities they had been living.
The American mix of Enlightenment theory and practical experience in government produced a result that was seen from the first as—there is no other word for it—exceptional. In revolutionary America, reveled Tom Paine, Americans are about “to begin the world over again. . . . The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the events of a few months.” That “portion of freedom” would be a political order with no ranks, no prelates, no hierarchy; a government that limited itself, and confined itself by a written Constitution; and an identity based not on race or blood or soil or ancestry or even language but on a single proposition as relentlessly logical as it was frighteningly brief, that “all men are created equal.”
In European eyes, this was folly. The American decision to license equal citizens to govern themselves invited anarchy. Too many areas of public life, argued Otto von Bismarck in 1870, required an authoritative government to intervene and direct, and the more that authority was based on hierarchy and monarchy, the better. “Believe me,” prophesied Bismarck, “one cannot lead or bring to prosperity a great nation without the principle of authority—that is, the Monarchy.”
Americans compensated for whatever vacuum was made by limiting government through the invention of private, voluntary associations, “little communities by themselves,” as Pennsylvania leader George Bryan called them, to manage their affairs, without the need for a swollen imperial bureaucracy 3,000 miles away. And so they did: in Philadelphia alone, newly independent Americans created the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Free Negroes, the Guardians of the Poor of the City of Philadelphia, the Female Society of Philadelphia for the Relief and Employment of the Poor, the Hibernian Society, the Magdalen Society for the Shelter and Reformation of Fallen Women, the Society of the Free Instruction of Female Children, the Philadelphia Society for the Free Instruction of Indigent Boys, the Indigent Widows and Single Women’s Society—all without government sanction. Americans took association to the level of an art. Tocqueville surveyed the proliferation of American self-help groups and concluded that “the extraordinary fragmentation of administrative power” in America was offset by the multiplicity of “religious, moral . . . commercial and industrial associations” that substituted themselves for European lords and chancellors.
Thus, American exceptionalism began as a new kind of politics. Americans had not merely done something different; they had captured in living form a natural order that made the old political systems of Europe look as artificial and irrational as fully as Newton’s laws had made medieval physics irrelevant. “We Americans are the peculiar chosen people,” wrote Herman Melville, “the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world.”
But establishing a novel political framework was to create only the first leg of what became a three-legged stool of American exceptionalism. If it was not inherited rank and titles that gave authority in society, then it was up to the free initiative of citizens to make of themselves what they wanted, and with government itself so deliberately self-limited, their energies would run instead in the direction of commerce. They would create not only a new politics but also a new economy—the second leg.
“What, then, is the American, this new man?” asked transplanted Frenchman Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur in 1782. “He is an American,” Crèvecoeur replied, who has stopped doing what others tell him he must do. He has escaped “from involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless labour” and has “passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence.” Inside the stiff boundaries of hierarchy, Europeans looked down upon labor as slavery and trade as the unsavory pursuit of the small-minded bourgeoisie—in America, there was almost nothing except a bourgeoisie, and it gloried in labor and commerce. British novelist Frances Trollope was appalled to listen to Americans “in the street, on the road, or in the field, at the theatre, the coffee-house, or at home,” who never seemed to talk “without the word DOLLAR being pronounced between them.” But other Europeans were enchanted by the liberty of American commerce. J. C. Loudoun’s Encyclopaedia of Agriculture recommended that its British readers emigrate to America, since the American “form of government” guaranteed that “property is secure, and personal liberty greater there than anywhere else . . . and both maintained at less expense than under any government in the world.” In America, wrote the French evangelical pastor Georges Fisch, in 1863, “There is no restraint whatever on the liberty of business transactions.” Nor did it matter much who succeeded on a given day and who didn’t, because the next day those who were down were likely to be up.
Abraham Lincoln captured this dynamic when he said that in America, “every man can make himself.” There would always be extremes of wealth and inequalities of enterprise. What mitigated those inequalities was an incessant tumbling-up and tumbling-down, so that one man’s wealth achieved at one moment could pass into the hands of others at another. “The prudent, penniless beginner in the world,” Lincoln said in 1859 (with his own history in mind), “labors for wages a while, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land, for himself; then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him.” This, Lincoln believed, represented a “just and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way for all.” Not all would prosper, but that was no argument against the “system” as a whole.
American free enterprise, Lincoln believed, was a “just and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way for all.”
Significantly, the energy with which Americans threw themselves into unfettered commercial exchange was soon seen as a primary obstacle in the path of a newer enemy of hierarchy—socialism—which emerged out of the self-inflicted wreckage of nineteenth-century aristocracies. Socialism’s great architect, Karl Marx, believed that every society would move out of the old world of hierarchy into capitalism; inevitably, capitalism would yield to socialism; hence, the more advanced a nation becomes in capitalism, the closer it must be to embracing socialism—and eventually Communism.
But Marx was baffled by how the United States defied this rule. No nation seemed more fully imbued with capitalism, yet no nation showed less interest in becoming socialist. This became one of the unresolved puzzles of socialist theory, and it gave rise to frustrated socialists (like Werner Sombart) who struggled with the question: Why is there no socialism in America? Sombart blamed it on the drug of material abundance: socialism, he complained, had foundered in America “on the shoals of roast beef and apple pie.” But another socialist, Leon Samson, had seen better than Sombart that the real enemy of socialism was exceptionalism itself, because Americans give “a solemn assent to a handful of final notions—democracy, liberty, opportunity, to all of which the American adheres rationalistically much as a socialist adheres to his socialism.”
Actually, Marx and Sombart were wrong. There had been an American socialism; they were reluctant to recognize it as such because it came not in the form of a workers’ rebellion against capital but in the emergence of a plantation oligarchy in the slaveholding South. This “feudal socialism,” based on race, called into question all the premises of American exceptionalism, starting with the Declaration of Independence. Nor were slavery’s apologists shy about linking this oligarchy to European socialism, since, as George Fitzhugh asserted in 1854, “Slavery produces association of labor, and is one of the ends all Communists and Socialists desire.” What was extraordinary about this vast step away from American exceptionalism was the titanic effort that Americans made, in the Civil War, to correct it. That struggle—a civil war that (as Lincoln said) understood the American republic to be “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” and aimed at the completion of the project of political equality for all its people—may be the most exceptional moment in all of American history, for there is no record of any other conflict quite like the war that Americans waged among themselves, to “die to make men free.” And everyone, down to the slaves themselves, knew that freedom and equality were means toward social mobility and economic self-transformation, not a frozen egalitarianism. “We have as a people no past and very little present, but a boundless and glorious future,” said Frederick Douglass, himself once a slave—one who nevertheless believed that American opportunity was without a copy anywhere else. “America is not only the exception to the general rule, but the social wonder of the world.”
The third leg of the exceptionalist stool was the attitude and relationship that the United States was to adopt toward the rest of the world, where hierarchy still ruled. This has proved a wobbly leg—it divides even exceptionalists—if only because Americans’ notions of what exceptionalism dictates in terms of policy toward other nations have changed since the Founding.
The novelty of exceptionalism’s first two legs—politics and economics—was so great that it was hard for Americans not to see them as part of a deliberate plan. Even before the Revolution, Jonathan Edwards, the architect of American religious revivals, had viewed America as the linchpin of a scheme of divine redemption for the world. “We may well look upon the discovery of so great a part of the world as America, and bringing the gospel into it,” he wrote, “as one thing by which divine Providence is preparing the way for the future glorious times of the church.” Timothy Dwight, Edwards’s grandson, took to poetry to translate these expectations about America’s role in redeeming Earth from Satan into a sacred mission to proclaim an American political gospel:
As the day-spring unbounded, thy splendor shall flow,
And earth’s little kingdoms before thee shall bow;
While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurl’d,
Hush the tumult of war, and give peace to the world.
But if God did have a special role for America, it was one that America was strictly charged to keep safe on its own shores; its role would be passive and self-protective. Far from any desire to share their nation’s redemptive culture, Americans tended to regard the rest of the world as a potential threat, eager to strangle the American experiment by the reimposition of empire or by association with more unstable attempts at revolution—as in France. “Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will [America’s] heart, her benedictions, and her prayers be,” promised John Quincy Adams in 1821. “But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.” So when the Hungarian revolutionary Louis Kossuth came to America in 1852 to drum up support for his rebellion against the Austrian Empire, Lincoln spoke of him cordially, based on “our continued devotion to the principles of our free institutions.” But Lincoln made it plain that “it is the duty of our government to neither foment, nor assist, such revolutions in other governments.”
We were not, however, always consistent in this. The outsize influence of Southern slaveholding interests in American politics in the 1840s helped drag us into a war with Mexico, for no better reason than to acquire large stretches of territory that Southerners hoped to convert into slave states. We half-blundered into the Spanish-American War in 1898 and found ourselves with a colonial empire on our hands, in the form of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and, for all practical purposes, Cuba. And in 1917, we thrust ourselves into World War I behind President Woodrow Wilson’s notion that American democracy ought to be exported to Europe. These attempts to convert American exceptionalism into a missionary endeavor nearly always met with sabotage by other nations, which resented our claims to some unique political virtue; and they met with serious criticism by other Americans—even outright rejection, as when America declined to join the League of Nations.
But even those criticisms disappeared after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which not only thrust us again into a worldwide conflict but also presented the question of how we could prevent such world crises from erupting. It had been demonstrated one too many times to American policymakers that the European states, left to themselves, were incapable of establishing a peaceful continental order; so we have found ourselves, ever since, forced into the role of savior of civilization, whether through the Marshall Plan, NATO, NAFTA, the Security Council, or sometimes through simple unilateralism.
We have accepted this role since World War II, often because we believed we had little choice. But this role has had an adverse effect on American exceptionalism by repeatedly involving the United States in foreign-policy projects that do not yield easily to American solutions—and that then raise doubts about the exceptionalist assumptions behind those solutions. When we have turned to multilateral or multinational solutions, we find ourselves yoked to European and other allies, which, even if they have long since shucked the mantle of aristocracy and inherited hierarchy, have often replaced it with vast social bureaucracies that serve much the same purpose. If we act unilaterally, we find ourselves hounded by international condemnations of American claims of arrogance based on exceptionalism. If we fail to act, we are accused of isolationism.
The third leg is not the only one to suffer the wobbles. We are, for one thing, becoming less reliant on voluntary associations to accomplish the tasks of American society. We often see this illustrated in statistics showing how millennials have staged an unprecedented withdrawal from American churches, so that the share of Americans who refuse any religious affiliation has risen from one in 20 in 1972 to one in five today. But this is only part of a larger American withdrawal from a broad range of voluntary associations, from the PTA to bowling leagues. Between 1973 and 1995, the number of Americans who reported attending “a public meeting on town or school affairs” fell by more than a third; PTA membership fell from more than 12 million in 1964 to barely 5 million in 1982. Even mainline civic organizations, such as the Boy Scouts and the Red Cross, have suffered declines since the 1970s. In the most general sense, Americans’ trust in one another has declined from a peak in the mid-1960s (when 56 percent of survey respondents affirmed that “most people can be trusted”) to a low today, in which only one in three Americans believes that “most people can be trusted.” Among millennials, it’s as low as one in five.
In the place of voluntary association, we have come to rely on state agencies and administrative law. This development has roots leading back to the Progressivism of the past century, which believed that American society had become too complex to be left to ordinary citizens, who lack the expertise to make government work efficiently. The same conviction animates modern progressives, as illustrated by the notorious 2012 campaign video The Life of Julia, which casts the life of one American as an utterly unexceptional progress through one European-style bureaucracy after another.
We have also seen the rise of identity politics, which has made us shy of asserting the old exceptionalism because every identity is now considered exceptional in itself. One’s identity as an American fades—even becomes optional—beside one’s identity as part of an ethnic, racial, religious, or cultural minority. This moves us a world away from Lincoln’s belief that the proposition set out in the Declaration trumped all other identities.
We’re no longer even sure that the Declaration has persuasive power. We are, writes Peter Beinart, “products of an educational system that, more than in the past, emphasizes inclusion and diversity, which may breed a discontent with claims that America is better than other nations.” Even conservative jurists like the late William Rehnquist allowed that U.S. courts should “begin looking to the decisions of other [nations’] constitutional courts to aid in their deliberative process.”
But nothing in our national life has so undermined confidence in American exceptionalism as the erosion of economic mobility. From the time we began measuring gross domestic product in the 1940s until 1970, American GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.7 percent; from 1970 to 1994, it slid to a growth rate of only 1.54 percent, recovered briefly to 2.26 percent, and then began sliding to its pre-Trump level of 1.21 percent. From 1948 until 1972, Americans in the lower 90 percent of income-earners saw their incomes rise by 2.65 percent annually—almost twice the income growth experienced by the same group between 1917 and 1948. Since 1972, though, the growth rate for the 90 percent has collapsed—in fact, turned negative—and middle-class workers who began their careers in the center of the earnings curve have seen their fortunes decline by 20 percent since 1980. The United States has become as economically immobile as the United Kingdom, where the top 10 percent calcify into a self-perpetuating aristocracy that sees itself as part of global networks of communications and exchange and feels little sympathy for those left behind.
Is American exceptionalism merely an artifact of an earlier, more confident time in our history, which should now yield to the blandishments of globalization and conformity to multinational expectations? Only, I think, if we regard the ideas of the American Founders as being mere historical artifacts, too. What made the American experiment exceptional was precisely that it was not founded (like other national identities) on some myth or tribal legend but on the discovery of natural laws and natural rights as unarguable as gravity and born from the same intellectual source. Unhappily, natural law philosophy has been bumped from its place as the American philosophy by the pragmatism of William James and his heirs, and even more by the values pluralism of John Rawls and literary postmodernism. These approaches were supposed to liberate the mind from the restraint of fictitious narratives of honor, truth, and law—but overthrowing these principles merely became a platform for egotism and unfettered lust for power.
To discount American exceptionalism is to suggest that the American political order itself was only a figment of one nation’s imagination, at one time. If there is no such natural law, then, yes, let us discard exceptionalism; but let us then say that neither the old hierarchy nor the new bureaucracy is wrong, either, and accept that all politics is merely an arena in which power, rather than law or right, determines our future.
I believe that the American experiment, based on the Declaration and embodied in the Constitution, belongs to an exceptional moment in human history, and remains exceptional. I believe that the U.S. economy is flexible enough to recover its mobility and astonish the world with its capacity to disrupt artificial barriers. And I believe that we can repair the deviations we have sustained from an overconfident mission-mentality without needing to accommodate ourselves to the mores of globalization. Globalization, after all, has been no great success; its main accomplishment, as Christopher Lasch reminded us in his final book, The Revolt of the Elites, has not been international peace or prosperity but “the cosmopolitanism of the favored few . . . uninformed by the practice of citizenship.”
The task of restoring confidence in our exceptionalism will nevertheless be a daunting one. Exceptionalism will have to become what Lincoln called a “civil religion,” to be “breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap . . . taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges . . . written in Primmers, spelling books, and in Almanacs . . . preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.” The task will require a determined pushback against progressive unexceptionalism and the idea that only government can ensure efficiency and happiness. It will involve the revival of the rule of law (rather than agencies), the rejuvenation of our voluntary associations, and the celebration of their role in our public life. And it will force us to lift the burden of economic sclerosis, not merely with the aim of producing simple material abundance but also with the goal of promoting a national empathy, in which, as Georges Fisch saw in 1863, Americans rise and fall, and rise and fall again, without the stigma that consigns half the nation to a basket of deplorables.
Can this, realistically, be done? Can we disentangle our public life from the grasp of the new hierarchy of bureaucrats and, overseas, pull back from foreign-policy crusades? Can we, in short, recur successfully to our first principles?
Well, we did it once before.
News of the Times;
https://americanfaith.com/french-journalist-claims-ukrainian-citizens-have-been-targeted-killed-by-ukraine-govt-since-2014-i-have-proof-watch/
https://www.independentsentinel.com/its-earth-day-the-co-founder-encased-a-woman-in-a-trunk-to-die/
https://www.mindingthecampus.org/2022/04/20/gibsons-bakery-v-oberlin-college-the-warning-to-wokesters/
https://wearethemutants.com/2017/03/13/look-it-up-check-it-out-rex-84-and-the-history-of-an-american-conspiracy/
https://news.yahoo.com/blm-silent-confronted-data-showing-153212387.html
https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-04-20-under-80-covid-vaccines-deadlier-than-covid.html
https://neonnettle.com/news/18875-woke-professor-pedophiles-are-not-predatory-kids-to-blame-for-relationships
https://www.witsnews.com/ryan-campbell-50-year-old-triple-vaxxed-australian-cricketer-turned-coach-in-critical-condition-coma-after-suffering-massive-heart-attack/
https://rumble.com/v11qcta-unbelievable-blood-clots-video-from-embalmer-richard-hirschman.html
https://notthebee.com/article/guams-high-school-rugby-league-is-reconsidering-allowing-trans-players-to-participate-after-a-trans-girl-injures-3-players-during-the-same-game
https://vdare.com/articles/whites-responsible-for-less-than-3-of-all-mass-shootings-in-2022-so-far-but-black-attacks-skyrocket
https://dailycaller.com/2021/10/17/nebraska-ranchers-beef-slaughterhouse-united-states-department-agricuture/
https://russia-insider.com/en/russia-making-high-budget-high-quality-christian-cartoons-imagine-if-disney-were-christian-soon
https://redstate.com/bradslager/2022/04/21/taylor-lorenz-is-not-the-only-problem-washington-post-cannot-keep-its-own-story-straight-n553678
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/ms-13-long-island-massacre-verdict
Exceptional?
Reset?
I always order a plain cheese pizza.
It can’t be topped!
*.*
I always wanted to be a Gregorian monk.
But I never got the chants.
*.*
A young Arab boy asks his father “What is that strange hat you are wearing?”
The father said: "Why, my son, it is a 'chechia.' In the desert it protects our heads from the intense heat of the sun.”
"And what is the long flowing robe you are wearing?” asked the boy.
“Oh, my son!” exclaimed the father “It is very simple. This is a 'djbellah.' As I have told you, in the desert it is not only very hot, but the sand is always blowing. My djbellah protects the entire body."
The son then asked: "But Father, what about those ugly shoes you have on your feet?”
"These are 'babouches' my son,” the father replied. You must understand that although the desert sands are very beautiful, they are also extremely hot. These babouches keep us from burning our feet."
"So tell me then," added the boy.
"Yes, my son…”
"We live in Detriot, why are we still wearing all this shit?"
*.*
What do gay horses eat?
Haaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaay!
*.*
What happened when dog went to the flea circus?
He stole the show!
Quote of the Times;
What part of “the Official Story is always wrong” is hard to understand? What part of “never, ever, trust the Narrative” is difficult to grasp? What part of “modern science is less reliable than a coin toss” is beyond your intellectual capacities? If the government-media complex tells you X, about the only thing you can be certain of is that Not-X is much more likely to be true. Never forget that you are dealing with spiritual wickedness that glories in deception and despair. They will tell you that you have no choice, then blame you for making the very choice they made you feel you didn’t have. It’s the coercion that is the clue. - Vox Day
Link of the Times;
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/fire/
Issue of the Times;
What Exactly Is This “Great Reset” People Keep Talking About? by Jeff Thompson
For those who may not know, (and those who do) here is a primer: https://www.theorganicprepper.com/reset-on-your-terms-great-reset/
Buckle your seat belts for this one because it’s more chilling than any horror movie you’ve ever seen. You’ve heard your “crazy” friend at work bring it up in conversation. Perhaps you heard it briefly mentioned on TV the other day. And now you’re left wondering, “Just what on earth is The Great Reset?”
Meet the World Economic Forum (WEF)
You’ve heard of the WEF before. They’ve been in the news quite a bit for the past year or so. The reason? The Great Reset initiative. It is there that a man by the name of Klaus Schwabb runs the show. Schwabb founded the WEF and is one of the most powerful men in the world.
Each year the World Economic Forum hosts an event at a ski resort in the mountains of Switzerland where “the self-proclaimed global elite” meet to discuss global problems they can all work together to “fix.”
Generally, WEF invites 1500 people from roughly 70 countries to attend. All the attendees play major roles in various sectors of society, with a large portion of those invited being major players in the worlds of politics and business.
In 2020, Schwabb released a book titled COVID-19: The Great Reset, in which he lays out his plans for what he believes needs to happen next.
Now, let’s talk about Agendas
First, you need to understand one thing: the World Economic Forum and the United Nations march together hand in hand. In short, they’re two sides of the same coin.
The United Nations previously announced two separate agendas eerily similar to The Great Reset that contain many of the same components. These two UN agendas, Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030, include plans for what needs to happen on earth by 2021 and 2030 (there’s also an Agenda 2050, by the way).
Agenda 2030 has publicly stated goals of promoting racial and gender equality, eradicating global poverty, and abolishing violence, hate, and war from the globe. It also states it will reduce natural resource use in every country and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in every industrialized country.
And how do you suppose Agenda 2030 would accomplish those goals?
Suppose you’re a lumberjack. A global organization has just stated you’re no longer permitted to cut down trees to “reduce natural resource use.” You’re now out of a job and can’t afford to feed your newborn daughter.
Or, let’s say you’re a farmer. A global organization has just stated that your cows produce too much methane. They’re all slaughtered and left to rot in a field (we’ll get to why later). You’ve now lost a significant investment, your primary source of income, and are out of a job. Farmers in non-industrialized nations are permitted to raise cattle. But you’re an American, so you are not.
Why? Because we need to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions in every industrialized country.”
Here’s another example. You’re an American with unalienable rights, a Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. You have the Declaration of Independence and a long history of fierce protection of freedom. Protection of freedom necessitates the possession of arms.
But now, a global organization has landed troops on your shores. Why? To “abolish violence.” The organization deems your possession of arms as a hindrance to such. Therefore, the organization will take measures against you to abolish violence.
The Great Reset incorporates all these ideas into its plans
Publicly, the WEF states The Great Reset is going to be about completely revamping capitalism.
“Every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.” – The WEF [source]
The WEF particularly likes to say they want to instigate “stakeholder capitalism,” where the bulk of the private sector works hand in hand with the government. They say that such “will require stronger and more effective governments.” According to the WEF, there are human and financial costs of capitalism not being addressed. [source]
What do you call it when the government owns and controls all private business?
Communism. You call it communism.
And, what happens when capitalism dies?
As Ayn Rand pointed out in her excellent book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, man on this earth without capitalism is bound. It’s inseparable from true human freedom. Collectivism leads to further and further slavery every single time.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
A significant component of The Great Reset is a term Schwabb coined back in December 2015 – The Fourth Industrial Revolution. The best way to describe it is to combine The Matrix, Minority Report, and Will Smith’s I, Robot.
According to Schwabb, the goal of The Fourth Industrial Revolution is “Ubiquitous, mobile supercomputing. Intelligent robots. Self-driving cars. Neuro-technological brain enhancements. Genetic editing. The evidence of dramatic change is all around us, and it’s happening at exponential speed.”
In short, Schwabb wants to turn the world into a digital mecca
Perhaps you don’t care about the above “improvements” – they don’t bother you? Well, let’s continue to delve deeper.
As it is, the WEF has already alluded to the possibility of using an AI to govern humanity. Humans would no longer have elected representatives in office (not that the US has that now, but I digress). Instead, super-powerful AI would determine what supplies went where and what prices would be, and so on.
It’s the surrender of humanity to a machine.
Furthermore, what about these brain enhancements and genetic editing?
Look around at the world before you and what “the powers that be” have forced upon society. In a world full of brain enhancements and genetic editing, do you genuinely think you would still be free to choose?
Remember that The Fourth Industrial Revolution heavily ties in with The Great Reset, which seeks a one-world government. In such a world, should it be decreed under the guise of law that overpopulation is a problem, the ability to genetically edit sterility into 20% of the population becomes a reality. Let’s say the lottery system selects both of your kids. Do you really think they would grant you a say?
Freedom would have long been rotting in the grave in such a world.
Further aspects of The Fourth Industrial Revolution include digital surveillance everywhere, made possible worldwide by 5G (with the hope of utilizing 6G eventually). [source]
There would be no privacy in such a world. It would be Nazi Germany on steroids. Have you read Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We (in many ways, the inspiration for 1984)? Practically, you’d be living in a world of glasshouses.
It’s worth noting that there are several other aspects of TGR that bear mentioning. Consider the following:
Rural populations will be forcibly coerced into urban environments
Allegedly, to combat climate change. In reality, it is to have easier control over potential dissidents. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to leave your farm. The good of the whole compels you, and men who have heartily devoured Mao Zedong’s philosophy on power (“Political power only grows out of the barrel of a gun.”) will be happy to assist you in your mental transition here. [source]
Citizens now rent everything because they own nothing
Aden Tate wrote about what the world would be like without personal property: https://www.theorganicprepper.com/world-without-personal-property/ Aden writes, “Within the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset, the mantra has come out that by the year 2030, ‘you’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.'”
The government now owns everything, as a group of men comes in to tell you they are stealing what is rightfully yours. The world falls back to a system of feudalism. The Irish are well-familiarized with how such a system works out. [source]
All media is digital
If everything is digital, it is censorable. This serves as the ultimate means of wholly controlling what it is people read and say. [source]
A Chinese-style social credit system
Good global citizens of the one-world government will have a higher social credit score than the older American who supports those fighting against foreign invaders. These higher scores will permit access to travel “privileges,” better food, and better jobs. And in a world full of brain implants and genetic editing, I wonder what some of the punishments for low-scoring Americans could be? [source]
A digital blockchain currency is now the way forward
Cash becomes a vector of disease, expensive to produce, and inefficient. Of course, this means they can track every purchase you ever make. [source] There is no anonymity of purchases any longer. Given the new ability to pay for food with your palm, the push for using a QR code to pay for anything, and quantum dot tattoos that may be able to store your financial data, this may not be too far off.
What’s for dinner? Bugs and fake, food-like lab products
According to The Great Reset, animals are a “resource-intensive” form of protein. The GR seeks to steer you away from such foods and “towards four main categories of alternatives – aquatic, plant-based, insect-based, and laboratory-cultured.” [source]
The Great Reset and the World Economic Forum are NOT your friends
Should The Great Reset succeed, the world will firmly fall into the grip of a totalitarian government. You will be a slave in every sense of the word, liable to medical experimentation and forced treatments. The state will own your children, and if history serves as a guide, you won’t get to keep them for long. Should the AI determine it’s convenient, your family will be uprooted and transferred to a newly created ghetto.
Forced to ingest chemicals rather than food, you will never know what genetic-altering agents and medications are in those foods.
Your lifelong dream to be a parent could be vaporized as mandates of forced sterility begin. Should woke culture decide masculine men are an issue, would it be outside the scope of the power of a government that owns everything to mandate the creation of eunuchs throughout your town?
Though the rest of the world may have fallen, Americans can never let their country follow suit.
Too much depends upon it.
News of the Times;
https://joemiller.us/2022/04/whos-in-charge-of-america-right-now-because-it-isnt-the-man-getting-wrangled-by-a-giant-easter-bunny-video/
https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/world/finnish-supreme-court-rules-sex-with-10-year-old-not-rape/story
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/retired-california-middle-school-teacher-arrested-rape-child/
https://neonnettle.com/news/18826-hollywood-actor-arrested-on-child-sex-abuse-charges
https://dailyvoice.com/pennsylvania/york/news/pa-ex-con-who-raped-children-charged-with-115-felonies-police/829356/
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/17/traitor-zelensky-assassination-kidnapping-arrest-political-opposition/
https://morningporridge.com/blog/blains-morning-porridge/we-worry-about-the-wrong-things-its-energy-food-and-commodities-that-matter/
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2022/04/18/if-the-left-wanted-to-save-black-lives-theyd-teach-young-black-men-to-not-resist-arrest-instead-of-making-heroes-out-of-dead-thugs-n1590677
https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/19/more-than-221k-migrants-were-caught-illegally-crossing-u-s-border-in-march-as-bidens-crisis-escalates/
https://national-justice.com/missouri-black-career-criminal-murders-white-baby-and-his-father
https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/04/12/border-patrol-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-haitian-incident/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/hillary-clinton-pal-dem-megadonor-ed-buck-sentenced-30-years-prison-connection-meth-overdose-deaths-two-black-men/
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2022/04/21/networks-continue-blackout-of-the-hunter-biden-laptop-story-even-after-the-ny-times-confirmed-its-authenticity-n554059
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10698143/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-long-woke-spell-broken.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-nMlMU48wI
It can’t be topped!
*.*
I always wanted to be a Gregorian monk.
But I never got the chants.
*.*
A young Arab boy asks his father “What is that strange hat you are wearing?”
The father said: "Why, my son, it is a 'chechia.' In the desert it protects our heads from the intense heat of the sun.”
"And what is the long flowing robe you are wearing?” asked the boy.
“Oh, my son!” exclaimed the father “It is very simple. This is a 'djbellah.' As I have told you, in the desert it is not only very hot, but the sand is always blowing. My djbellah protects the entire body."
The son then asked: "But Father, what about those ugly shoes you have on your feet?”
"These are 'babouches' my son,” the father replied. You must understand that although the desert sands are very beautiful, they are also extremely hot. These babouches keep us from burning our feet."
"So tell me then," added the boy.
"Yes, my son…”
"We live in Detriot, why are we still wearing all this shit?"
*.*
What do gay horses eat?
Haaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaay!
*.*
What happened when dog went to the flea circus?
He stole the show!
Quote of the Times;
What part of “the Official Story is always wrong” is hard to understand? What part of “never, ever, trust the Narrative” is difficult to grasp? What part of “modern science is less reliable than a coin toss” is beyond your intellectual capacities? If the government-media complex tells you X, about the only thing you can be certain of is that Not-X is much more likely to be true. Never forget that you are dealing with spiritual wickedness that glories in deception and despair. They will tell you that you have no choice, then blame you for making the very choice they made you feel you didn’t have. It’s the coercion that is the clue. - Vox Day
Link of the Times;
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/fire/
Issue of the Times;
What Exactly Is This “Great Reset” People Keep Talking About? by Jeff Thompson
For those who may not know, (and those who do) here is a primer: https://www.theorganicprepper.com/reset-on-your-terms-great-reset/
Buckle your seat belts for this one because it’s more chilling than any horror movie you’ve ever seen. You’ve heard your “crazy” friend at work bring it up in conversation. Perhaps you heard it briefly mentioned on TV the other day. And now you’re left wondering, “Just what on earth is The Great Reset?”
Meet the World Economic Forum (WEF)
You’ve heard of the WEF before. They’ve been in the news quite a bit for the past year or so. The reason? The Great Reset initiative. It is there that a man by the name of Klaus Schwabb runs the show. Schwabb founded the WEF and is one of the most powerful men in the world.
Each year the World Economic Forum hosts an event at a ski resort in the mountains of Switzerland where “the self-proclaimed global elite” meet to discuss global problems they can all work together to “fix.”
Generally, WEF invites 1500 people from roughly 70 countries to attend. All the attendees play major roles in various sectors of society, with a large portion of those invited being major players in the worlds of politics and business.
In 2020, Schwabb released a book titled COVID-19: The Great Reset, in which he lays out his plans for what he believes needs to happen next.
Now, let’s talk about Agendas
First, you need to understand one thing: the World Economic Forum and the United Nations march together hand in hand. In short, they’re two sides of the same coin.
The United Nations previously announced two separate agendas eerily similar to The Great Reset that contain many of the same components. These two UN agendas, Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030, include plans for what needs to happen on earth by 2021 and 2030 (there’s also an Agenda 2050, by the way).
Agenda 2030 has publicly stated goals of promoting racial and gender equality, eradicating global poverty, and abolishing violence, hate, and war from the globe. It also states it will reduce natural resource use in every country and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in every industrialized country.
And how do you suppose Agenda 2030 would accomplish those goals?
Suppose you’re a lumberjack. A global organization has just stated you’re no longer permitted to cut down trees to “reduce natural resource use.” You’re now out of a job and can’t afford to feed your newborn daughter.
Or, let’s say you’re a farmer. A global organization has just stated that your cows produce too much methane. They’re all slaughtered and left to rot in a field (we’ll get to why later). You’ve now lost a significant investment, your primary source of income, and are out of a job. Farmers in non-industrialized nations are permitted to raise cattle. But you’re an American, so you are not.
Why? Because we need to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions in every industrialized country.”
Here’s another example. You’re an American with unalienable rights, a Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. You have the Declaration of Independence and a long history of fierce protection of freedom. Protection of freedom necessitates the possession of arms.
But now, a global organization has landed troops on your shores. Why? To “abolish violence.” The organization deems your possession of arms as a hindrance to such. Therefore, the organization will take measures against you to abolish violence.
The Great Reset incorporates all these ideas into its plans
Publicly, the WEF states The Great Reset is going to be about completely revamping capitalism.
“Every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.” – The WEF [source]
The WEF particularly likes to say they want to instigate “stakeholder capitalism,” where the bulk of the private sector works hand in hand with the government. They say that such “will require stronger and more effective governments.” According to the WEF, there are human and financial costs of capitalism not being addressed. [source]
What do you call it when the government owns and controls all private business?
Communism. You call it communism.
And, what happens when capitalism dies?
As Ayn Rand pointed out in her excellent book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, man on this earth without capitalism is bound. It’s inseparable from true human freedom. Collectivism leads to further and further slavery every single time.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
A significant component of The Great Reset is a term Schwabb coined back in December 2015 – The Fourth Industrial Revolution. The best way to describe it is to combine The Matrix, Minority Report, and Will Smith’s I, Robot.
According to Schwabb, the goal of The Fourth Industrial Revolution is “Ubiquitous, mobile supercomputing. Intelligent robots. Self-driving cars. Neuro-technological brain enhancements. Genetic editing. The evidence of dramatic change is all around us, and it’s happening at exponential speed.”
In short, Schwabb wants to turn the world into a digital mecca
Perhaps you don’t care about the above “improvements” – they don’t bother you? Well, let’s continue to delve deeper.
As it is, the WEF has already alluded to the possibility of using an AI to govern humanity. Humans would no longer have elected representatives in office (not that the US has that now, but I digress). Instead, super-powerful AI would determine what supplies went where and what prices would be, and so on.
It’s the surrender of humanity to a machine.
Furthermore, what about these brain enhancements and genetic editing?
Look around at the world before you and what “the powers that be” have forced upon society. In a world full of brain enhancements and genetic editing, do you genuinely think you would still be free to choose?
Remember that The Fourth Industrial Revolution heavily ties in with The Great Reset, which seeks a one-world government. In such a world, should it be decreed under the guise of law that overpopulation is a problem, the ability to genetically edit sterility into 20% of the population becomes a reality. Let’s say the lottery system selects both of your kids. Do you really think they would grant you a say?
Freedom would have long been rotting in the grave in such a world.
Further aspects of The Fourth Industrial Revolution include digital surveillance everywhere, made possible worldwide by 5G (with the hope of utilizing 6G eventually). [source]
There would be no privacy in such a world. It would be Nazi Germany on steroids. Have you read Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We (in many ways, the inspiration for 1984)? Practically, you’d be living in a world of glasshouses.
It’s worth noting that there are several other aspects of TGR that bear mentioning. Consider the following:
Rural populations will be forcibly coerced into urban environments
Allegedly, to combat climate change. In reality, it is to have easier control over potential dissidents. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to leave your farm. The good of the whole compels you, and men who have heartily devoured Mao Zedong’s philosophy on power (“Political power only grows out of the barrel of a gun.”) will be happy to assist you in your mental transition here. [source]
Citizens now rent everything because they own nothing
Aden Tate wrote about what the world would be like without personal property: https://www.theorganicprepper.com/world-without-personal-property/ Aden writes, “Within the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset, the mantra has come out that by the year 2030, ‘you’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.'”
The government now owns everything, as a group of men comes in to tell you they are stealing what is rightfully yours. The world falls back to a system of feudalism. The Irish are well-familiarized with how such a system works out. [source]
All media is digital
If everything is digital, it is censorable. This serves as the ultimate means of wholly controlling what it is people read and say. [source]
A Chinese-style social credit system
Good global citizens of the one-world government will have a higher social credit score than the older American who supports those fighting against foreign invaders. These higher scores will permit access to travel “privileges,” better food, and better jobs. And in a world full of brain implants and genetic editing, I wonder what some of the punishments for low-scoring Americans could be? [source]
A digital blockchain currency is now the way forward
Cash becomes a vector of disease, expensive to produce, and inefficient. Of course, this means they can track every purchase you ever make. [source] There is no anonymity of purchases any longer. Given the new ability to pay for food with your palm, the push for using a QR code to pay for anything, and quantum dot tattoos that may be able to store your financial data, this may not be too far off.
What’s for dinner? Bugs and fake, food-like lab products
According to The Great Reset, animals are a “resource-intensive” form of protein. The GR seeks to steer you away from such foods and “towards four main categories of alternatives – aquatic, plant-based, insect-based, and laboratory-cultured.” [source]
The Great Reset and the World Economic Forum are NOT your friends
Should The Great Reset succeed, the world will firmly fall into the grip of a totalitarian government. You will be a slave in every sense of the word, liable to medical experimentation and forced treatments. The state will own your children, and if history serves as a guide, you won’t get to keep them for long. Should the AI determine it’s convenient, your family will be uprooted and transferred to a newly created ghetto.
Forced to ingest chemicals rather than food, you will never know what genetic-altering agents and medications are in those foods.
Your lifelong dream to be a parent could be vaporized as mandates of forced sterility begin. Should woke culture decide masculine men are an issue, would it be outside the scope of the power of a government that owns everything to mandate the creation of eunuchs throughout your town?
Though the rest of the world may have fallen, Americans can never let their country follow suit.
Too much depends upon it.
News of the Times;
https://joemiller.us/2022/04/whos-in-charge-of-america-right-now-because-it-isnt-the-man-getting-wrangled-by-a-giant-easter-bunny-video/
https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/world/finnish-supreme-court-rules-sex-with-10-year-old-not-rape/story
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/retired-california-middle-school-teacher-arrested-rape-child/
https://neonnettle.com/news/18826-hollywood-actor-arrested-on-child-sex-abuse-charges
https://dailyvoice.com/pennsylvania/york/news/pa-ex-con-who-raped-children-charged-with-115-felonies-police/829356/
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/17/traitor-zelensky-assassination-kidnapping-arrest-political-opposition/
https://morningporridge.com/blog/blains-morning-porridge/we-worry-about-the-wrong-things-its-energy-food-and-commodities-that-matter/
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2022/04/18/if-the-left-wanted-to-save-black-lives-theyd-teach-young-black-men-to-not-resist-arrest-instead-of-making-heroes-out-of-dead-thugs-n1590677
https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/19/more-than-221k-migrants-were-caught-illegally-crossing-u-s-border-in-march-as-bidens-crisis-escalates/
https://national-justice.com/missouri-black-career-criminal-murders-white-baby-and-his-father
https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/04/12/border-patrol-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-haitian-incident/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/hillary-clinton-pal-dem-megadonor-ed-buck-sentenced-30-years-prison-connection-meth-overdose-deaths-two-black-men/
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2022/04/21/networks-continue-blackout-of-the-hunter-biden-laptop-story-even-after-the-ny-times-confirmed-its-authenticity-n554059
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10698143/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-long-woke-spell-broken.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-nMlMU48wI
Gottfried?
What’s the difference between a comma and a coma?
The duration of the pause.
*.*
Why are trannies great at carpentry?
They’re experienced with cutting off excess wood.
*.*
According to sources close to the ancient Jewish sect known as the Pharisees, the group of legalistic religious zealots was delighted to learn about this new "wokeness" thing going around, as it gives them the power to judge others, one-up each other in virtue-signaling and feigned morality, and make everyone else feel guilty about not living up to their manmade standards.
"Oh man, this wokeness thing is just what we've been looking for!" said one leader of the Pharisees after he obtained a copy of White Fragiliity. "We get to look down our noses at everyone else, constantly tell everyone to do better, and constantly move the goalposts and make up rules to make ourselves look holier without actually changing anything about our behavior. This is what we've been trying to say all along!"
Pharisees were seen gathering in reading groups to pick up copies of How to Be an Antiracist, White Fragility, and other seminal holy books of the woke movement. The religious zealots sewed approved patches and symbols on their clothing, such as rainbow flags, Ukraine flags, and BLM fists, their version of customary religious regulations such as not wearing mixed fabrics.
At publishing time, the newly woke Pharisees were seen loudly trumpeting their righteousness and virtues on the street corners, praying out loud and thanking God that they're not like "these other unwoke people, these white men, and these problematic oppressors."
*.*
Are there any words in the alphabet?
NO.
*.*
Which bird is always out of breath?
A puffin.
Quote of the Times;
Liberalism is like a nude beach, it sounds good until you get there - Dennis Miller
Link of the Times;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3rgdTr71Qg
Issue of the Times;
Gilbert Gottfried on His Infamous 9/11 Joke and ‘Too Soon’ by Gilbert Gottfried
It was a couple of weeks after 9/11. There was a weird feeling in New York. People were walking around in a daze. I was at the roast of Hugh Hefner, and I just wanted to be the first person to make a really-poor-taste joke about September 11. It was impromptu; I don’t remember thinking about it beforehand. I said, “I have to leave early tonight, I have a flight to California. I can’t get a direct flight — they said I have to stop at the Empire State Building first.”
I don’t think anyone’s lost an audience bigger than I did at that point. They were booing and hissing. One guy said, “Too soon!” He was just a face in the crowd, but now I wish I knew who it was, because his comment became part of the language. “Too soon.” I had never heard that before. I knew there were times where people wait to make jokes about something, but I always thought that concept was ridiculous. Is there an office with a guy behind a desk who decides when it’s not too soon anymore?
You can do jokes about the Lincoln assassination and the Titanic, and no one says anything because everyone involved is dead, and their grandchildren are dead. I actually think that’s in worse taste. You’re saying, “Screw all those people who died, I waited for it to become unimportant to us.” When I do a joke about September 11, or the Japanese tsunami, what’s funny is that it shocks the audience. They are responding to the fact that it’s tragic, and you’re acknowledging it.
With the Challenger explosion, or any other tragic event pre-internet, there were always a bunch of jokes that would come out immediately. Everyone was in a rush to tell their friends, everyone was laughing about it, and it was okay. Now, with the internet, it makes me feel sentimental about old-time angry mobs. In a mob you actually had to throw on your jacket, go outside, use your hands. Now you can join a mob sitting on your couch in your underwear. I feel like people who get outraged like that are patting themselves on the back. “You see, I was offended.”
But I’m as hypocritical as anybody else. I remember when all those stories came out about Mel Gibson: A woman cop had stopped him, he called her “sugar tits,” asked her “Are you a Jew?” and said the Jews were responsible for all the wars in the world. Then news came out about his girlfriend: He smacked her when she was holding her baby, told her, “If you get raped by a pack of niggers, it will be your fault.” “I’ll put you in a fucking rose garden, you cunt.” And after all that, I was like, Wait, he said what about the Jews?
News of the Times;
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/jordan-peterson-clean-your-room/
https://somebitchtoldme.com/joe-bidens-repeated-lies-about-the-circumstances-of-his-wife-and-daughters-deaths/
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/disney-expanding-operations-to-10-anti-gay-countries-as-they-go-woke-in-the-us
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2022/04/10/no-jail-for-nyc-prankster-who-told-diners-he-had-a-bomb-and-would-kill-them-for-allah-n1588611
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2022/04/10/i-really-do-hate-these-leftists-n2605691
https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/yes-the-dunning-kruger-effect-really-is-real/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10708317/Tory-MP-Imran-Ahmad-Khan-guilty-sexually-assaulting-15-year-old-boy.html
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-inflation-hits-61-climbing-20-year-high-83858160
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/free-the-criminals-new-york-governor-releases-8000-felons-from-parole-obligations-under-new-state-law/
https://www.redvoicemedia.com/2022/04/new-york-democrat-lt-governor-arrested-in-alleged-campaign-finance-scheme/
https://nationalfile.com/judge-that-gave-light-sentence-to-child-porn-offender-is-a-boy-scouts-of-america-leader-according-to-his-bio/
https://conservativebrief.com/turn-back-61972/
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/how-much-radiation-emitted-popular-smartphones
https://theconversation.com/early-humans-in-africa-may-have-interbred-with-a-mysterious-extinct-species-new-research-131699
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uinema17UPA
The duration of the pause.
*.*
Why are trannies great at carpentry?
They’re experienced with cutting off excess wood.
*.*
According to sources close to the ancient Jewish sect known as the Pharisees, the group of legalistic religious zealots was delighted to learn about this new "wokeness" thing going around, as it gives them the power to judge others, one-up each other in virtue-signaling and feigned morality, and make everyone else feel guilty about not living up to their manmade standards.
"Oh man, this wokeness thing is just what we've been looking for!" said one leader of the Pharisees after he obtained a copy of White Fragiliity. "We get to look down our noses at everyone else, constantly tell everyone to do better, and constantly move the goalposts and make up rules to make ourselves look holier without actually changing anything about our behavior. This is what we've been trying to say all along!"
Pharisees were seen gathering in reading groups to pick up copies of How to Be an Antiracist, White Fragility, and other seminal holy books of the woke movement. The religious zealots sewed approved patches and symbols on their clothing, such as rainbow flags, Ukraine flags, and BLM fists, their version of customary religious regulations such as not wearing mixed fabrics.
At publishing time, the newly woke Pharisees were seen loudly trumpeting their righteousness and virtues on the street corners, praying out loud and thanking God that they're not like "these other unwoke people, these white men, and these problematic oppressors."
*.*
Are there any words in the alphabet?
NO.
*.*
Which bird is always out of breath?
A puffin.
Quote of the Times;
Liberalism is like a nude beach, it sounds good until you get there - Dennis Miller
Link of the Times;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3rgdTr71Qg
Issue of the Times;
Gilbert Gottfried on His Infamous 9/11 Joke and ‘Too Soon’ by Gilbert Gottfried
It was a couple of weeks after 9/11. There was a weird feeling in New York. People were walking around in a daze. I was at the roast of Hugh Hefner, and I just wanted to be the first person to make a really-poor-taste joke about September 11. It was impromptu; I don’t remember thinking about it beforehand. I said, “I have to leave early tonight, I have a flight to California. I can’t get a direct flight — they said I have to stop at the Empire State Building first.”
I don’t think anyone’s lost an audience bigger than I did at that point. They were booing and hissing. One guy said, “Too soon!” He was just a face in the crowd, but now I wish I knew who it was, because his comment became part of the language. “Too soon.” I had never heard that before. I knew there were times where people wait to make jokes about something, but I always thought that concept was ridiculous. Is there an office with a guy behind a desk who decides when it’s not too soon anymore?
You can do jokes about the Lincoln assassination and the Titanic, and no one says anything because everyone involved is dead, and their grandchildren are dead. I actually think that’s in worse taste. You’re saying, “Screw all those people who died, I waited for it to become unimportant to us.” When I do a joke about September 11, or the Japanese tsunami, what’s funny is that it shocks the audience. They are responding to the fact that it’s tragic, and you’re acknowledging it.
With the Challenger explosion, or any other tragic event pre-internet, there were always a bunch of jokes that would come out immediately. Everyone was in a rush to tell their friends, everyone was laughing about it, and it was okay. Now, with the internet, it makes me feel sentimental about old-time angry mobs. In a mob you actually had to throw on your jacket, go outside, use your hands. Now you can join a mob sitting on your couch in your underwear. I feel like people who get outraged like that are patting themselves on the back. “You see, I was offended.”
But I’m as hypocritical as anybody else. I remember when all those stories came out about Mel Gibson: A woman cop had stopped him, he called her “sugar tits,” asked her “Are you a Jew?” and said the Jews were responsible for all the wars in the world. Then news came out about his girlfriend: He smacked her when she was holding her baby, told her, “If you get raped by a pack of niggers, it will be your fault.” “I’ll put you in a fucking rose garden, you cunt.” And after all that, I was like, Wait, he said what about the Jews?
News of the Times;
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/jordan-peterson-clean-your-room/
https://somebitchtoldme.com/joe-bidens-repeated-lies-about-the-circumstances-of-his-wife-and-daughters-deaths/
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/disney-expanding-operations-to-10-anti-gay-countries-as-they-go-woke-in-the-us
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2022/04/10/no-jail-for-nyc-prankster-who-told-diners-he-had-a-bomb-and-would-kill-them-for-allah-n1588611
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2022/04/10/i-really-do-hate-these-leftists-n2605691
https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/yes-the-dunning-kruger-effect-really-is-real/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10708317/Tory-MP-Imran-Ahmad-Khan-guilty-sexually-assaulting-15-year-old-boy.html
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-inflation-hits-61-climbing-20-year-high-83858160
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/free-the-criminals-new-york-governor-releases-8000-felons-from-parole-obligations-under-new-state-law/
https://www.redvoicemedia.com/2022/04/new-york-democrat-lt-governor-arrested-in-alleged-campaign-finance-scheme/
https://nationalfile.com/judge-that-gave-light-sentence-to-child-porn-offender-is-a-boy-scouts-of-america-leader-according-to-his-bio/
https://conservativebrief.com/turn-back-61972/
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/how-much-radiation-emitted-popular-smartphones
https://theconversation.com/early-humans-in-africa-may-have-interbred-with-a-mysterious-extinct-species-new-research-131699
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uinema17UPA
Prevent?
Marriage is like a railroad sign.
First you stop, then you look, and then you listen.
*.*
What’s the difference between USA and USB?
One connects to your devices and accesses all of your data.
The other is a hardware standard.
*.*
Due to Russia’s ongoing attacks against Ukraine, the U.S. military has forbidden service members from playing Russian Roulette.
“This is the Department of Defense’s own kind of sanction, a sign of solidarity,” Col. Andrew McDowell told journalists while pouring a bottle of Mr. Boston vodka down a drain. “History will remember how well the United States military supported our ally at the onset of World War III.”
Service members have also been banned from other popular off-duty activities, such as playing Russian characters in Call of Duty and marrying Russian mail-order brides.
*.*
Smoking will kill you.
Bacon will kill you.
But smoking bacon will cure it.
*.*
There’s a fertilizer shortage because of Sleepy Joe’s policies and we couldn’t get enough for our crops.
I guess we’ll just have to make doo.
Quote of the Times;
“Accomplishments matter, and no one “accomplished” their race.” - Derek Hunter
Link of the Times;
https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/8853
Issue of the Times;
The State Department Failed To Prevent The War. Will It Now Prevent The Peace? by David Sacks
The following piece is the transcript of a keynote address entrepreneur and investor David Sacks gave at The American Conservative and American Moment’s “Up From Chaos” conference in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 2022.
I want to thank the American Moment for the invitation to speak here today. As I appear before you, I’m reminded of the immortal words of Admiral James Stockdale: “Who am I? Why am I here?” As a tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I cannot claim to be one of those “experts” in foreign policy that we are constantly being told to listen to. However, my area of expertise does involve placing intelligent bets on future outcomes and identifying existential risks. And I’d trust in our expert class more if what I heard from them sounded anything like intelligent forecasting and risk assessment.
We face the most dangerous situation in American foreign policy since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Russians have put their nuclear arsenal on high alert and warned us to stay out of their invasion of Ukraine. Our “experts” in government and the media feed us a stream of information oscillating between fear-mongering and hopeful arrogance: They tell us on the one hand that Russia’s territorial ambitions won’t stop at Ukraine and will eventually threaten all of Europe, but on the other hand that the Russian army is bogged down and on the brink of humiliating defeat. They tell us in one breath that we can safely escalate our involvement, but in their next panicked breath declare that Putin is a madman who is capable of anything. They reassure us that a “No Fly Zone” won’t precipitate World War III, while sometimes openly declaring that we’re already in World War III so let’s just get on with it already.
How can any American citizen listening to these contradictory and reckless statements have confidence in our expert class? We’ve just lived through more than two years of another group of experts giving us a constantly-shifting set of theories and guidelines around Covid, only to see many of those confident predictions and pronouncements unravel.
But while those health experts got a lot wrong, our foreign policy establishment has gotten everything wrong for over two decades. They spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya and only made all of those situations worse, unleashing staggering death and destruction. In every case, they told us we were winning and our policy objectives were being achieved, up until the very moment when our withdrawal laid bare the extent of our total failure. This is the same foreign policy establishment that gave us the policy of Constructive Engagement towards China, feeding that baby tiger until it became a dragon that can challenge us for global hegemony. So maybe it’s time to listen to some new voices.
And that’s why I’m here. Perhaps a voice from outside the Beltway needs to remind our experts, especially at the State Department, that their job is to keep us out of war, and one way to do that is through effective diplomacy. I realize that after two decades of nearly continuous wars, they may not have much practice at this. Their diplomatic skills may have atrophied from lack of use. This has made the current situation much worse than it needed to be for many brave and innocent Ukrainians. It has also placed us at risk of a wider war, rising inflation, a steep recession, massive food insecurity, and even a potential nuclear confrontation if this war spins out of control. So we should all be very concerned at the incompetence that’s been on display, first in the months leading up to the war, and now as the combatants attempt to negotiate peace. I want to speak to each of these two situations.
This War Was Preventable
First, it is my belief that the war in Ukraine could have been prevented. Asserting this in no way implies that anyone other than Vladimir Putin is responsible for starting this war. He ordered this invasion, and the blood spilled is ultimately on his hands. But just because his actions caused the war doesn’t mean it was inevitable or that we couldn’t have taken steps to prevent it. Years ago, a number of academics—albeit not ones favored by our foreign policy establishment—predicted a future crisis in Ukraine that would wreck the country. If a war is predictable, shouldn’t it also be preventable?
There are two ways to prevent conflict: strength and diplomacy. Consider the American Eagle depicted on the Great Seal of the United States that’s also on our dollar bill. In one talon, the eagle clutches 13 arrows, and in the other it clutches an olive branch. This reflects our nation’s understanding of how to make and maintain peace since our founding: strength and diplomacy. This administration failed on both fronts.
First, President Biden failed to project American strength when he gutted our energy independence, canceling the Keystone pipeline on his very first day in office and restricting domestic energy production. Meanwhile, other NATO countries like Germany made themselves even more dependent on Russian gas by shuttering their nuclear power plants. Putin must have concluded that the West needed his gas too much to sanction him effectively. Next, the Biden administration botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Afghan army that we had spent many years and countless billions of dollars to “stand up” was exposed as a fraud in a matter of days. Then our troops and their local allies beat a chaotic retreat from the country that revealed tactical incompetence in the general corps, with zero accountability to follow. Lastly, in the crucial days and weeks leading up to the war, Biden appeared to give the green light to a “minor incursion” into Ukraine by Putin’s forces, suggesting that wouldn’t necessarily trigger the sanctions and other penalties.
But of course in Washington there is never a shortage of those who will chide an administration for failing some test of strength in foreign policy. What is rarer and therefore more vital is to point out failures of diplomacy, which can just as easily lead to unnecessary war. And I believe our State Department failed in its diplomatic mission in the run-up to the Ukraine invasion.
Ever since the Bucharest Declaration of 2008, when NATO opened the door to membership for Ukraine and Georgia, the Russians have indicated that membership for these two border nations was an unacceptable “red line” for them. They quickly proved their seriousness later that year by invading Georgia and securing territory where predominantly-Russian populations were located. (Doesn’t that sound eerily familiar?) For the last 14 years, Putin and the entire Russian elite have spoken with one voice: NATO membership for Ukraine was an intolerable security threat. We ignored this red line, continuing to push for NATO expansion and transitioning Ukraine’s military onto a NATO platform even before official membership.
In response, a Russian troop buildup began on Ukraine’s border around the beginning of last year. This had the intended effect of getting the new president’s attention. Biden called for a summit and met with Putin in Geneva in June last year. We don’t know exactly what was said in the room but we do know that Biden said publicly at that time that corruption in Ukraine prevented its entry into NATO. Putin seemed mollified, and tensions seemed to abate. According to recent reporting by The Intercept based on U.S. intelligence sources, the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border started to subside after the Biden-Putin Summit and did not increase again until October/November. So what happened in between to upset the apple cart?
On September 1, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky visited the White House. This was the first such visit by a Ukrainian head of state, fulfilling one of Kiev’s long-standing diplomatic objectives. On that day, the U.S. and Ukraine issued a “Joint Statement” affirming deep economic and military ties between the two nations, including support for Ukraine’s NATO membership. This likely reflected weeks of back-channel negotiations that preceded Zelensky’s visit, suggesting Biden’s reassurances to Putin were dead-letter virtually from the day he made them. On November 10, Secretary of State Blinken and the Ukrainian foreign minister signed a massive 10-year Charter Agreement, which was the long-form version of the Joint Statement issued earlier.
Predictably, the Russians hit the roof. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said they had reached “the boiling point.” They delivered a virtual ultimatum to the U.S. in December demanding written assurance that Ukraine would not become part of NATO. A month of furious negotiations began in January between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Lavrov, during which Blinken gave no ground on NATO membership. In fact, he seemed proud of western intransigence, making statements like “There has been no change; there will be no change.” And: “NATO’s door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment.”
Yet that’s not what Blinken was saying privately. We now know, thanks to a stunning recent interview by Fareed Zakaria, that Zelensky was privately told that Ukraine wasn’t going to be admitted into NATO but that the door had to remain publicly open.
What could possibly be the rationale for this diplomatic approach? We refused to accede to the Russians’ most long-standing and important demand even though we privately admitted to Ukraine that we had no intention of following through. In other words, we refused to give the Russians “the sleeves off our vest,” a concession that was largely meaningless to us but of paramount importance for them.
Was it really so hard for us to imagine that the Russians might have a genuine concern about being encircled on a 1200-mile border by what they regard as a hostile military alliance? Aren’t diplomats supposed to be able to put themselves in the other guy’s shoes? Even if we see NATO purely as a defensive alliance, is it really inconceivable that Russia could see that vast military power as having offensive potential? After all, they watched NATO take offensive action to topple Moammar Ghaddafi in Libya and to bomb their Serbian allies during the Kosovo War. Is it really so hard to understand Russian paranoia about having American troops, weapons, and bases on their Ukrainian border, from which they’ve been attacked throughout history? The United States itself was willing to risk a nuclear confrontation with the Soviets over offensive weapons placed ninety miles off our shores in 1962, yet we treat the same concern by the Russians as crazy or a bluff.
But let’s say I’m wrong. Let’s say you believe that NATO expansion was not a real concern of the Russians but rather just a pretext for Putin’s invasion. We should still have been willing to give that guarantee to take it off the table as a casus belli. Polling of the Russian people showed that they favored an invasion to prevent Ukraine joining NATO by 2 to 1, but a majority did not favor attacking Ukraine for reunification. Even if it was just a pretext, we should have robbed Putin of that pretext in order to drive up his negatives among the Russian people. Just today, a new poll by Levada Centre showed that 80 percent of the Russian people support Putin so obviously we failed at that.
Nobody can claim that American negotiators didn’t know the Russians’ key demand. The Associated Press headline on January 19 practically screamed it: “Russia says it will take nothing less but NATO expansion ban.” Yet we never relented on the public assertion that Ukraine would join NATO while privately saying that it wouldn’t. It’s as if Blinken trained at some Bizarro World school of diplomacy where you say publicly what you should say privately, and privately what you should say publicly.
What was our goal? The degree of our State Department’s obtuseness has caused some commentators to speculate that American intransigence was a deliberate ploy to goad the Russians into an Afghan-style quagmire. I suspect that’s giving the administration too much credit. As Hanlon’s razor states, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
Whether we thought the Russians were bluffing, or were hoping to goad them into a mistake, we know what happened next. The talks broke down, and after a two-week pause for the Beijing Olympics so as not to upset his buddy Xi Jinping, Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Let me reiterate what I said earlier for any media types determined to twist my words. The invasion of Ukraine was solely Putin’s decision. He had other options. The repercussions for that criminal decision—the war, the deaths, the humanitarian disaster—fall entirely on him. I’m not seeking in any way to diminish his culpability for the monstrous atrocity of this war. But I do believe that, by not giving Putin the sleeves off our vest, the State Department failed to do everything it could to avoid this war.
It was diplomatic malpractice, pure and simple. Of course, incompetence like this always has to be covered up. So as soon as the war began, administration officials started claiming that the invasion of Ukraine had nothing to do with NATO expansion, and anyone who said differently, according to Jen Psaki, was “parroting Putin talking points.” Their goal was to create a taboo around the subject that has lingered to this day. Nobody was even allowed to discuss the causes of the war without having their loyalties questioned.
Following Psaki’s logic, were George Kennan, Henry Kissinger, Bill Bradley, and Sam Nunn all parroting Putin talking points when they warned years ago that expanding NATO up to Russia’s front porch would eventually result in disaster? Was former defense secretary Robert Gates parroting Putin talking points when he wrote in his memoir that trying to bring Ukraine into NATO “was truly overreaching” and a case of “recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests”?
Are we to conclude that Biden’s own CIA director Bill Burns was parroting Putin talking points in his famous 2008 memo, “Nyet Means Nyet,” when he wrote to then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, that NATO expansion to Ukraine is “the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin)”?
It became necessary to memory-hole all of these warnings and many more by a long litany of eminent foreign policy thinkers to cover up the administration’s diplomatic incompetence prior to February 24.
Will Peace be Prevented Too?
That brings us to the present day. We can all agree that we sympathize with the Ukrainians in their desire to defeat Russian aggression and to be free of Russian domination. The Ukrainians have fought fiercely and bravely for their sovereignty. While opposing U.S. military involvement, I have supported arming the Ukrainians under Cold War rules so they can fight for their own freedom. I also believe that targeted sanctions can create pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table. But it must be our objective now to help achieve a ceasefire and negotiated peace rather than protract the conflict.
Peace negotiations have been underway for a few weeks now, and the broad contours of a potential deal have been clear for some time: Ukrainian neutrality in exchange for international security guarantees; the recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which has been a fait accompli since 2014 and which is supported by the vast majority of people who live there; and some form of independence for the Russian-speaking areas in the Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk, which would bring an end to the bloody civil war that has been raging there.
The United States should do everything it can to support such a deal. We don’t have a vital national interest in the details of who rules the Donbas. We do have a vital national interest in avoiding the existential risks of a protracted war. These risks include escalation into a wider war that could even involve nuclear weapons, the escalation of economic warfare or inflation that tips the West into recession, and damage to the global food supply chain causing potential famine around the world.
Of course, Antony Blinken and his State Department will be forced to eat a lot of crow given his many public declarations that we would never close NATO’s door or recognize Crimea. It’s only because of these previous statements that perfectly reasonable accommodations to achieve peace—that are really just the status quo—will be seen as appeasement by the Washington war machine. That’s not a reason to let our diplomatic corps fail us again. As President Obama said, “we have to be very clear what our core interests are and what we’re willing to go to war for.”
It’s bad enough that we aren’t leading the effort to reach a peace. We don’t even seem to be participating in it. Blinken and the U.S. seem curiously absent while France’s Macron, Israel’s Naftali Bennett, and even Turkey’s Erdogan step into the peacemaker roles. If anything, Blinken seems to be throwing cold water on the progress of the peace talks, harrumphing at a press conference Tuesday that he has seen “no signs of real seriousness” from the Russians in pursuing peace. Of course, “trust but verify” has always been good policy when making any deal with the Russians, but a more optimistic public stance is typically what American diplomats who are trying to lead two warring nations to a settlement would offer.
Are we sandbagging a deal because we want to bog Putin down in a long Ukrainian insurgency that bleeds his regime? It’s not wild speculation to conclude that, as Niall Ferguson and others have done. The ultimate aim of such a strategy would have to be the destabilizing and toppling of Putin’s regime. It’s clear that elements in Washington, particularly at the State Department, not-so-secretly want that. This faction believes that Biden’s “gaffe” last weekend that Putin “cannot remain in power” should be official U.S. policy and was a gaffe only in Michael Kinsley’s famous definition of the word: when a politician in Washington accidentally tells the truth.
All our attempts at regime change over the past 20 years have failed spectacularly, leaving humanitarian catastrophes and power vacuums in their wake. There is no reason to think regime change in Russia will be any exception. Our diplomats should be agents of peace, not agents of regime change.
If it is true that the Russian invasion has stalled, the policy choice we now face is akin to Bush 41 vs Bush 43. George Herbert Walker Bush had the wisdom to stop on the road to Baghdad after repulsing Saddam’s aggression. George W. Bush kept going, pursued regime change, and created an epic disaster.
Restraint never feels as good as maximalism. When Bush 41 stopped, he was widely called a wimp, whereas Bush 43 got to declare “Mission Accomplished” on an aircraft carrier. It took years to prove that Bush 41 had been right.
In his final days, George Herbert Walker Bush, heartbroken over the way that Cheney and Rumsfeld had ruined his son’s presidency, warned against that style of diplomacy: He called it the “iron ass view of everything”; he called it “arrogant”; he said it “doesn’t care what the other guy thinks,” it “just wants to kick ass and take names.”
I can’t think of a better description of our State Department’s intransigence before the war, and its disinterest in peace now. I can’t imagine a more toxic combination than a State Department that only conducts iron-ass diplomacy while defining American interests so broadly that it includes checking aggression virtually anywhere in the world. That is a recipe for an America that is permanently at war.
To be clear, I’m not a dove. War is sometimes a necessary evil when our vital national interests are truly threatened. In those narrowly defined cases, you will find me to be as hawkish as anyone in Washington. But perhaps the bird we should strive to be is neither hawk nor dove, but the American Eagle depicted on our Great Seal: flying above the fray, avoiding unnecessary conflict, willing to reign down arrows like Tomahawk missiles when our vital interests are truly threatened, but only after we have fully exhausted the olive branch of diplomacy and seized every last opportunity for peace.
Thank you.
News of the Times;
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/the_unrestrained_influx_of_illegal_aliens_continues_on_the_texas_border.html
https://neonnettle.com/features/1602-under-obama-us-became-world-s-number-1-for-sex-trafficking-and-pedophilia
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2022/04/03/a-victim-too-far-how-transgenders-will-bring-down-the-lefty-marxists-who-want-to-destroy-america-n1586542
https://moonbattery.com/maxine-waters-tells-homeless-to-go-home-reporter-not-to-report/
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/04/05/colorado-gov-polis-signs-into-law-radical-and-disturbing-abortion-up-to-birth-bill-report-1221791/
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/398529.php
https://pjmedia.com/columns/paula-bolyard/2022/04/06/beware-wikipedia-is-not-the-neutral-source-it-pretends-to-be-heres-how-we-know-n1587285
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/confused-puppet-biden-ends-speech-asks-handlers-now-finding-little-girl-crowd-creep-video/
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2022/04/06/the-federalists-rachel-bovard-hopes-youll-remember-when-joe-biden-voted-for-an-actual-dont-say-gay-bill-video/
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/05/eu-commission-triggers-financial-sanctions-against-hungary-for-electing-wrong-candidate/#more-231191
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2022/04/06/liberals-freak-out-over-being-called-groomers-n546263
https://fee.org/articles/inflation-tax-will-cost-families-this-many-thousands-this-year-bloomberg-analysis-warns/
https://www.theepochtimes.com/cdc-survey-44-percent-of-us-high-school-students-felt-persistently-sad-or-hopeless-in-2021_4383041.html
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/update-jaw-dropping-769-athletes-collapsed-competing-past-year-avg-age-players-suffering-cardiac-arrest-just-23-video/
https://nypost.com/2022/04/14/driver-repeatedly-runs-over-woman-in-shocking-road-rage-attack/
First you stop, then you look, and then you listen.
*.*
What’s the difference between USA and USB?
One connects to your devices and accesses all of your data.
The other is a hardware standard.
*.*
Due to Russia’s ongoing attacks against Ukraine, the U.S. military has forbidden service members from playing Russian Roulette.
“This is the Department of Defense’s own kind of sanction, a sign of solidarity,” Col. Andrew McDowell told journalists while pouring a bottle of Mr. Boston vodka down a drain. “History will remember how well the United States military supported our ally at the onset of World War III.”
Service members have also been banned from other popular off-duty activities, such as playing Russian characters in Call of Duty and marrying Russian mail-order brides.
*.*
Smoking will kill you.
Bacon will kill you.
But smoking bacon will cure it.
*.*
There’s a fertilizer shortage because of Sleepy Joe’s policies and we couldn’t get enough for our crops.
I guess we’ll just have to make doo.
Quote of the Times;
“Accomplishments matter, and no one “accomplished” their race.” - Derek Hunter
Link of the Times;
https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/8853
Issue of the Times;
The State Department Failed To Prevent The War. Will It Now Prevent The Peace? by David Sacks
The following piece is the transcript of a keynote address entrepreneur and investor David Sacks gave at The American Conservative and American Moment’s “Up From Chaos” conference in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 2022.
I want to thank the American Moment for the invitation to speak here today. As I appear before you, I’m reminded of the immortal words of Admiral James Stockdale: “Who am I? Why am I here?” As a tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I cannot claim to be one of those “experts” in foreign policy that we are constantly being told to listen to. However, my area of expertise does involve placing intelligent bets on future outcomes and identifying existential risks. And I’d trust in our expert class more if what I heard from them sounded anything like intelligent forecasting and risk assessment.
We face the most dangerous situation in American foreign policy since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Russians have put their nuclear arsenal on high alert and warned us to stay out of their invasion of Ukraine. Our “experts” in government and the media feed us a stream of information oscillating between fear-mongering and hopeful arrogance: They tell us on the one hand that Russia’s territorial ambitions won’t stop at Ukraine and will eventually threaten all of Europe, but on the other hand that the Russian army is bogged down and on the brink of humiliating defeat. They tell us in one breath that we can safely escalate our involvement, but in their next panicked breath declare that Putin is a madman who is capable of anything. They reassure us that a “No Fly Zone” won’t precipitate World War III, while sometimes openly declaring that we’re already in World War III so let’s just get on with it already.
How can any American citizen listening to these contradictory and reckless statements have confidence in our expert class? We’ve just lived through more than two years of another group of experts giving us a constantly-shifting set of theories and guidelines around Covid, only to see many of those confident predictions and pronouncements unravel.
But while those health experts got a lot wrong, our foreign policy establishment has gotten everything wrong for over two decades. They spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya and only made all of those situations worse, unleashing staggering death and destruction. In every case, they told us we were winning and our policy objectives were being achieved, up until the very moment when our withdrawal laid bare the extent of our total failure. This is the same foreign policy establishment that gave us the policy of Constructive Engagement towards China, feeding that baby tiger until it became a dragon that can challenge us for global hegemony. So maybe it’s time to listen to some new voices.
And that’s why I’m here. Perhaps a voice from outside the Beltway needs to remind our experts, especially at the State Department, that their job is to keep us out of war, and one way to do that is through effective diplomacy. I realize that after two decades of nearly continuous wars, they may not have much practice at this. Their diplomatic skills may have atrophied from lack of use. This has made the current situation much worse than it needed to be for many brave and innocent Ukrainians. It has also placed us at risk of a wider war, rising inflation, a steep recession, massive food insecurity, and even a potential nuclear confrontation if this war spins out of control. So we should all be very concerned at the incompetence that’s been on display, first in the months leading up to the war, and now as the combatants attempt to negotiate peace. I want to speak to each of these two situations.
This War Was Preventable
First, it is my belief that the war in Ukraine could have been prevented. Asserting this in no way implies that anyone other than Vladimir Putin is responsible for starting this war. He ordered this invasion, and the blood spilled is ultimately on his hands. But just because his actions caused the war doesn’t mean it was inevitable or that we couldn’t have taken steps to prevent it. Years ago, a number of academics—albeit not ones favored by our foreign policy establishment—predicted a future crisis in Ukraine that would wreck the country. If a war is predictable, shouldn’t it also be preventable?
There are two ways to prevent conflict: strength and diplomacy. Consider the American Eagle depicted on the Great Seal of the United States that’s also on our dollar bill. In one talon, the eagle clutches 13 arrows, and in the other it clutches an olive branch. This reflects our nation’s understanding of how to make and maintain peace since our founding: strength and diplomacy. This administration failed on both fronts.
First, President Biden failed to project American strength when he gutted our energy independence, canceling the Keystone pipeline on his very first day in office and restricting domestic energy production. Meanwhile, other NATO countries like Germany made themselves even more dependent on Russian gas by shuttering their nuclear power plants. Putin must have concluded that the West needed his gas too much to sanction him effectively. Next, the Biden administration botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Afghan army that we had spent many years and countless billions of dollars to “stand up” was exposed as a fraud in a matter of days. Then our troops and their local allies beat a chaotic retreat from the country that revealed tactical incompetence in the general corps, with zero accountability to follow. Lastly, in the crucial days and weeks leading up to the war, Biden appeared to give the green light to a “minor incursion” into Ukraine by Putin’s forces, suggesting that wouldn’t necessarily trigger the sanctions and other penalties.
But of course in Washington there is never a shortage of those who will chide an administration for failing some test of strength in foreign policy. What is rarer and therefore more vital is to point out failures of diplomacy, which can just as easily lead to unnecessary war. And I believe our State Department failed in its diplomatic mission in the run-up to the Ukraine invasion.
Ever since the Bucharest Declaration of 2008, when NATO opened the door to membership for Ukraine and Georgia, the Russians have indicated that membership for these two border nations was an unacceptable “red line” for them. They quickly proved their seriousness later that year by invading Georgia and securing territory where predominantly-Russian populations were located. (Doesn’t that sound eerily familiar?) For the last 14 years, Putin and the entire Russian elite have spoken with one voice: NATO membership for Ukraine was an intolerable security threat. We ignored this red line, continuing to push for NATO expansion and transitioning Ukraine’s military onto a NATO platform even before official membership.
In response, a Russian troop buildup began on Ukraine’s border around the beginning of last year. This had the intended effect of getting the new president’s attention. Biden called for a summit and met with Putin in Geneva in June last year. We don’t know exactly what was said in the room but we do know that Biden said publicly at that time that corruption in Ukraine prevented its entry into NATO. Putin seemed mollified, and tensions seemed to abate. According to recent reporting by The Intercept based on U.S. intelligence sources, the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border started to subside after the Biden-Putin Summit and did not increase again until October/November. So what happened in between to upset the apple cart?
On September 1, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky visited the White House. This was the first such visit by a Ukrainian head of state, fulfilling one of Kiev’s long-standing diplomatic objectives. On that day, the U.S. and Ukraine issued a “Joint Statement” affirming deep economic and military ties between the two nations, including support for Ukraine’s NATO membership. This likely reflected weeks of back-channel negotiations that preceded Zelensky’s visit, suggesting Biden’s reassurances to Putin were dead-letter virtually from the day he made them. On November 10, Secretary of State Blinken and the Ukrainian foreign minister signed a massive 10-year Charter Agreement, which was the long-form version of the Joint Statement issued earlier.
Predictably, the Russians hit the roof. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said they had reached “the boiling point.” They delivered a virtual ultimatum to the U.S. in December demanding written assurance that Ukraine would not become part of NATO. A month of furious negotiations began in January between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Lavrov, during which Blinken gave no ground on NATO membership. In fact, he seemed proud of western intransigence, making statements like “There has been no change; there will be no change.” And: “NATO’s door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment.”
Yet that’s not what Blinken was saying privately. We now know, thanks to a stunning recent interview by Fareed Zakaria, that Zelensky was privately told that Ukraine wasn’t going to be admitted into NATO but that the door had to remain publicly open.
What could possibly be the rationale for this diplomatic approach? We refused to accede to the Russians’ most long-standing and important demand even though we privately admitted to Ukraine that we had no intention of following through. In other words, we refused to give the Russians “the sleeves off our vest,” a concession that was largely meaningless to us but of paramount importance for them.
Was it really so hard for us to imagine that the Russians might have a genuine concern about being encircled on a 1200-mile border by what they regard as a hostile military alliance? Aren’t diplomats supposed to be able to put themselves in the other guy’s shoes? Even if we see NATO purely as a defensive alliance, is it really inconceivable that Russia could see that vast military power as having offensive potential? After all, they watched NATO take offensive action to topple Moammar Ghaddafi in Libya and to bomb their Serbian allies during the Kosovo War. Is it really so hard to understand Russian paranoia about having American troops, weapons, and bases on their Ukrainian border, from which they’ve been attacked throughout history? The United States itself was willing to risk a nuclear confrontation with the Soviets over offensive weapons placed ninety miles off our shores in 1962, yet we treat the same concern by the Russians as crazy or a bluff.
But let’s say I’m wrong. Let’s say you believe that NATO expansion was not a real concern of the Russians but rather just a pretext for Putin’s invasion. We should still have been willing to give that guarantee to take it off the table as a casus belli. Polling of the Russian people showed that they favored an invasion to prevent Ukraine joining NATO by 2 to 1, but a majority did not favor attacking Ukraine for reunification. Even if it was just a pretext, we should have robbed Putin of that pretext in order to drive up his negatives among the Russian people. Just today, a new poll by Levada Centre showed that 80 percent of the Russian people support Putin so obviously we failed at that.
Nobody can claim that American negotiators didn’t know the Russians’ key demand. The Associated Press headline on January 19 practically screamed it: “Russia says it will take nothing less but NATO expansion ban.” Yet we never relented on the public assertion that Ukraine would join NATO while privately saying that it wouldn’t. It’s as if Blinken trained at some Bizarro World school of diplomacy where you say publicly what you should say privately, and privately what you should say publicly.
What was our goal? The degree of our State Department’s obtuseness has caused some commentators to speculate that American intransigence was a deliberate ploy to goad the Russians into an Afghan-style quagmire. I suspect that’s giving the administration too much credit. As Hanlon’s razor states, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
Whether we thought the Russians were bluffing, or were hoping to goad them into a mistake, we know what happened next. The talks broke down, and after a two-week pause for the Beijing Olympics so as not to upset his buddy Xi Jinping, Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Let me reiterate what I said earlier for any media types determined to twist my words. The invasion of Ukraine was solely Putin’s decision. He had other options. The repercussions for that criminal decision—the war, the deaths, the humanitarian disaster—fall entirely on him. I’m not seeking in any way to diminish his culpability for the monstrous atrocity of this war. But I do believe that, by not giving Putin the sleeves off our vest, the State Department failed to do everything it could to avoid this war.
It was diplomatic malpractice, pure and simple. Of course, incompetence like this always has to be covered up. So as soon as the war began, administration officials started claiming that the invasion of Ukraine had nothing to do with NATO expansion, and anyone who said differently, according to Jen Psaki, was “parroting Putin talking points.” Their goal was to create a taboo around the subject that has lingered to this day. Nobody was even allowed to discuss the causes of the war without having their loyalties questioned.
Following Psaki’s logic, were George Kennan, Henry Kissinger, Bill Bradley, and Sam Nunn all parroting Putin talking points when they warned years ago that expanding NATO up to Russia’s front porch would eventually result in disaster? Was former defense secretary Robert Gates parroting Putin talking points when he wrote in his memoir that trying to bring Ukraine into NATO “was truly overreaching” and a case of “recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests”?
Are we to conclude that Biden’s own CIA director Bill Burns was parroting Putin talking points in his famous 2008 memo, “Nyet Means Nyet,” when he wrote to then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, that NATO expansion to Ukraine is “the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin)”?
It became necessary to memory-hole all of these warnings and many more by a long litany of eminent foreign policy thinkers to cover up the administration’s diplomatic incompetence prior to February 24.
Will Peace be Prevented Too?
That brings us to the present day. We can all agree that we sympathize with the Ukrainians in their desire to defeat Russian aggression and to be free of Russian domination. The Ukrainians have fought fiercely and bravely for their sovereignty. While opposing U.S. military involvement, I have supported arming the Ukrainians under Cold War rules so they can fight for their own freedom. I also believe that targeted sanctions can create pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table. But it must be our objective now to help achieve a ceasefire and negotiated peace rather than protract the conflict.
Peace negotiations have been underway for a few weeks now, and the broad contours of a potential deal have been clear for some time: Ukrainian neutrality in exchange for international security guarantees; the recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which has been a fait accompli since 2014 and which is supported by the vast majority of people who live there; and some form of independence for the Russian-speaking areas in the Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk, which would bring an end to the bloody civil war that has been raging there.
The United States should do everything it can to support such a deal. We don’t have a vital national interest in the details of who rules the Donbas. We do have a vital national interest in avoiding the existential risks of a protracted war. These risks include escalation into a wider war that could even involve nuclear weapons, the escalation of economic warfare or inflation that tips the West into recession, and damage to the global food supply chain causing potential famine around the world.
Of course, Antony Blinken and his State Department will be forced to eat a lot of crow given his many public declarations that we would never close NATO’s door or recognize Crimea. It’s only because of these previous statements that perfectly reasonable accommodations to achieve peace—that are really just the status quo—will be seen as appeasement by the Washington war machine. That’s not a reason to let our diplomatic corps fail us again. As President Obama said, “we have to be very clear what our core interests are and what we’re willing to go to war for.”
It’s bad enough that we aren’t leading the effort to reach a peace. We don’t even seem to be participating in it. Blinken and the U.S. seem curiously absent while France’s Macron, Israel’s Naftali Bennett, and even Turkey’s Erdogan step into the peacemaker roles. If anything, Blinken seems to be throwing cold water on the progress of the peace talks, harrumphing at a press conference Tuesday that he has seen “no signs of real seriousness” from the Russians in pursuing peace. Of course, “trust but verify” has always been good policy when making any deal with the Russians, but a more optimistic public stance is typically what American diplomats who are trying to lead two warring nations to a settlement would offer.
Are we sandbagging a deal because we want to bog Putin down in a long Ukrainian insurgency that bleeds his regime? It’s not wild speculation to conclude that, as Niall Ferguson and others have done. The ultimate aim of such a strategy would have to be the destabilizing and toppling of Putin’s regime. It’s clear that elements in Washington, particularly at the State Department, not-so-secretly want that. This faction believes that Biden’s “gaffe” last weekend that Putin “cannot remain in power” should be official U.S. policy and was a gaffe only in Michael Kinsley’s famous definition of the word: when a politician in Washington accidentally tells the truth.
All our attempts at regime change over the past 20 years have failed spectacularly, leaving humanitarian catastrophes and power vacuums in their wake. There is no reason to think regime change in Russia will be any exception. Our diplomats should be agents of peace, not agents of regime change.
If it is true that the Russian invasion has stalled, the policy choice we now face is akin to Bush 41 vs Bush 43. George Herbert Walker Bush had the wisdom to stop on the road to Baghdad after repulsing Saddam’s aggression. George W. Bush kept going, pursued regime change, and created an epic disaster.
Restraint never feels as good as maximalism. When Bush 41 stopped, he was widely called a wimp, whereas Bush 43 got to declare “Mission Accomplished” on an aircraft carrier. It took years to prove that Bush 41 had been right.
In his final days, George Herbert Walker Bush, heartbroken over the way that Cheney and Rumsfeld had ruined his son’s presidency, warned against that style of diplomacy: He called it the “iron ass view of everything”; he called it “arrogant”; he said it “doesn’t care what the other guy thinks,” it “just wants to kick ass and take names.”
I can’t think of a better description of our State Department’s intransigence before the war, and its disinterest in peace now. I can’t imagine a more toxic combination than a State Department that only conducts iron-ass diplomacy while defining American interests so broadly that it includes checking aggression virtually anywhere in the world. That is a recipe for an America that is permanently at war.
To be clear, I’m not a dove. War is sometimes a necessary evil when our vital national interests are truly threatened. In those narrowly defined cases, you will find me to be as hawkish as anyone in Washington. But perhaps the bird we should strive to be is neither hawk nor dove, but the American Eagle depicted on our Great Seal: flying above the fray, avoiding unnecessary conflict, willing to reign down arrows like Tomahawk missiles when our vital interests are truly threatened, but only after we have fully exhausted the olive branch of diplomacy and seized every last opportunity for peace.
Thank you.
News of the Times;
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/the_unrestrained_influx_of_illegal_aliens_continues_on_the_texas_border.html
https://neonnettle.com/features/1602-under-obama-us-became-world-s-number-1-for-sex-trafficking-and-pedophilia
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2022/04/03/a-victim-too-far-how-transgenders-will-bring-down-the-lefty-marxists-who-want-to-destroy-america-n1586542
https://moonbattery.com/maxine-waters-tells-homeless-to-go-home-reporter-not-to-report/
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/04/05/colorado-gov-polis-signs-into-law-radical-and-disturbing-abortion-up-to-birth-bill-report-1221791/
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/398529.php
https://pjmedia.com/columns/paula-bolyard/2022/04/06/beware-wikipedia-is-not-the-neutral-source-it-pretends-to-be-heres-how-we-know-n1587285
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/confused-puppet-biden-ends-speech-asks-handlers-now-finding-little-girl-crowd-creep-video/
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2022/04/06/the-federalists-rachel-bovard-hopes-youll-remember-when-joe-biden-voted-for-an-actual-dont-say-gay-bill-video/
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/05/eu-commission-triggers-financial-sanctions-against-hungary-for-electing-wrong-candidate/#more-231191
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2022/04/06/liberals-freak-out-over-being-called-groomers-n546263
https://fee.org/articles/inflation-tax-will-cost-families-this-many-thousands-this-year-bloomberg-analysis-warns/
https://www.theepochtimes.com/cdc-survey-44-percent-of-us-high-school-students-felt-persistently-sad-or-hopeless-in-2021_4383041.html
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/update-jaw-dropping-769-athletes-collapsed-competing-past-year-avg-age-players-suffering-cardiac-arrest-just-23-video/
https://nypost.com/2022/04/14/driver-repeatedly-runs-over-woman-in-shocking-road-rage-attack/
Cesspools?
It's been six months since I joined a gym and still no results.
I'm going to actually go there tomorrow and see what's going on.
*.*
The big joke going around on Facebook is someone claiming they were just robbed.
When police asked for a description of the robber, the person says, "It was Pump 9."
*.*
In a devious 4D chess move, Vladimir Putin has ordered all his armored divisions to fly Planned Parenthood flags so no one will criticize them for committing unthinkable genocide against innocent people.
"It is very simple," said Putin. "Eliminating Ukrainian civilians is healthcare. I am just a pro-choice activist exercising my right to eliminate all lives that inconvenience me in any way."
At the first sight of Planned Parenthood flags waving in the breeze, Ukrainian forces were ordered to lay down their weapons and celebrate the brave, powerful Russian army for standing up for their right to autonomy.
"We are so sorry for this misunderstanding," said Ukrainian President Zelensky in a statement. "The Russians are just living their truth as they slaughter our population and we will not stand in their way. We are not bigots, after all."
*.*
Oneliners:
Apparently, "Tequila" isn't a proper response when the boss asks for an idea to improve team meetings.
Whoever has been in charge of keeping a hot dog and a soda $1.50 at Costco, let's put them in charge of gasoline.
I hope when I die, it's early in the morning so I don't get up early or go to work that day for nothing.
Some of my friends exercise every day, meanwhile I'm watching a TV show I don't like because the remote dropped on the floor.
At my age, happy hour is a nap.
My friends are tired of Linkin Park references, but in the end, it doesn't even matter.
Tuesday was Apple's first product event of 2022. Product events are designed to introduce what's new and exciting and to make you feel that no matter how new your iPhone is, it's inadequate.
VISA has suspended service in Russia. Just last week, they had changed their official slogan in Russia to "Everywhere you want to be... except Ukraine."
How do our brains remember that we forgot something when we can't remember what that thing was?
*.*
SIGN AT A SONIC:
Chicken loses job.
Chicken is broke.
Chicken strips $3.79.
Quote of the Times;
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.” Isaiah 5:20
Link of the Times;
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/governor-abbott-directs-texas-to-send-illegal-migrants-to-d-c-on-charter-buses/
Issue of the Times;
Public Schools Are Cesspools of Debauchery. Get Your Kids Out Now, Before It's Too Late by Paula Bolyard
If there’s one thing we’ve learned during the pandemic it’s that many parents had no idea what was going on in their kids’ schools. Oh, parents knew there was crazy stuff going on in other schools, but by and large, there was a sense of NIMBY — it’s not happening in my backyard. Sadly, we’ve become increasingly aware of the abuses and indoctrination children across the country are suffering at the hands of unhinged teachers — teachers pushing their left-wing political agendas, encouraging children to be sexual deviants, and treating parents like they are not qualified to raise their own children without the state intervening in their families.
Here are but a few examples:
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/03/23/warning-these-pics-from-a-book-in-a-georgia-school-district-will-shock-and-disgust-you-n1568584
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/03/22/think-your-deep-red-county-is-safe-from-radical-k-12-curriculum-think-again-n1567810
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/jeff-reynolds/2022/03/11/desantis-goes-beast-mode-on-woke-culture-disney-and-the-media-lies-about-the-dont-say-gay-bill-n1565768
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/01/26/do-you-still-dont-think-lgbtq-is-a-cult-n1553143
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/01/21/teacher-caught-taping-a-mask-to-the-face-of-a-young-student-n1551528
https://pjmedia.com/culture/megan-fox/2022/03/12/chasten-buttigieg-leads-kids-in-pledge-to-the-gay-flag-n1565901
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/gwendolynsims/2021/10/01/concerned-parents-are-immediate-threat-says-national-school-boards-association-president-some-are-even-domestic-terrorists-n1521073
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/03/23/how-one-bad-teacher-almost-destroyed-a-new-mexico-family-using-the-state-as-a-weapon-n1583540
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/03/29/florida-teacher-says-shell-break-the-law-to-keep-secrets-about-sexuality-from-parents-n1585274
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/03/07/loudoun-county-school-district-called-cps-on-dad-for-asking-questions-about-bad-teachers-n1564479
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/02/10/parent-livid-after-school-instructs-8th-graders-to-describe-sex-acts-using-pizza-toppings-n1558165
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/02/09/parents-sue-after-12-year-old-daughter-attempts-suicide-at-school-twice-after-secret-trans-counseling-n1557937
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2022/02/02/leftist-loudon-county-wants-to-suspend-maskless-kids-but-not-a-transgender-rapist-n1555527
Ok, that was more than a few. But you get the point.
And, of course, we all know the damage that has been done to children as a result of lockdowns, forced masking, and sub-par education delivered by local schools. Kids have shown serious declines in both education and their mental health.
Many parents are completely fed up with the nonsense being shoved down their kids’ throats in public schools. Not only that, many realized during the lockdowns that they enjoyed having their kids home and overseeing their education and began to seriously consider homeschooling as a viable option.
The results are simply stunning. The homeschool population, as estimated by Dr. Brian Ray at the National Homeschool Education Research Institute, has grown from 2.6 million school-aged children in 2019 to a whopping 3.7 million in 2021.
Homeschooling had been growing steadily from 2016 to 2020, but the explosive growth in the educational option is staggering.
“Over the last two years, with government lockdowns of schools and parents becoming much more aware of the limitations of institutional schooling and how much the institution called school controls children’s and families’ lives, many thousands more parents have been awakened to the freedom space that is parent-directed home-based education,” Dr. Ray told PJ Media. “Rather than education being controlled by an institution that is often non-accommodating to a student’s needs and dreams or hostile toward a family’s values, homeschooling opens up many more possibilities, freedoms, dependabilities, and joys. Parents are learning that homeschooling is associated with academic success, strong social development, children with a joy to learn, and family life that is not controlled by the vicissitudes and dubious values of a state-run institution.”
At the end of the day, I believe that parents know what’s best for their own children and that God has entrusted them and them alone to make decisions about education. And I’m fully aware that not all parents are able to homeschool for a variety of reasons (more on that in a minute). But at what point do we say it’s abusive to force a child to spend 6.64 hours per day, 180 days a year, being indoctrinated by people who don’t have your child’s best interest at heart and who are actively recruiting them into a radical left-wing ideology, not to mention the LGBTQLMNOP cult?
Of course, there are still a lot of good teachers out there — including my daughter-in-law and several good friends — who aren’t abusing and indoctrinating kids, but they are fewer and farther between with each passing year. America’s universities are hotbeds of radicalism, and the teachers coming out of them are products of those regressive indoctrination machines. They’d rather teach kids to be woke, to question their gender, and to disregard the authority of their parents than teach the three Rs. It’s appalling — indeed, terrifying — to see the lengths many teachers will go to in order to subvert the will of parents. Every sane person knows it’s wrong, but we’ve now had several generations of children who have suffered through such abuse and indoctrination. A quick glance at any social media platform will give you a glimpse into the world of teens and college students. It’s a sea of delusion, mental illness, and downright evil.
The notion of truth itself is in dispute. The wokesters are telling your kids that if they can imagine it, they can make it true. Don’t like what God did when you were conceived in your mother’s womb — when he wrote your gender into every cell in your body? Then change it! Are you a male who can’t succeed in men’s sports? Put on a skirt and crush the real women in competition! The sky’s the limit!
But that’s not even the worst of it. It’s one thing for a bunch of people with mental problems to deny reality, but it’s another thing completely to force children to go along with their delusion and then punish them when they refuse to repeat the lies. Several generations of anti-bullying programs in schools have conditioned children to remain silent when confronted with statements that go against their faith and their families’ values. There are dire consequences for dissenters. Go against the grain and you will be punished, branded a bigot, a racist, or worse.
Can America even survive this? It’s hard to imagine how — unless parents step in to stop the madness. And one of the best ways to stop the madness is to pull your kids out of public schools and homeschool them.
But, Paula, I can hear you thinking. I can’t afford to homeschool! Our family needs two incomes to survive! Besides, I would go crazy having my kids home all day. And anyway, I’m not qualified to teach my own children (the stuff you allegedly learned when you were in school). And perhaps for many families, that is true. But maybe you could do without the second car or give up fancy vacations or buy your clothes at the thrift store, or shop at Save-a-Lot instead of Whole Foods — or all of the aforementioned, as many, many homeschooling parents do. As our family did. What’s it worth to you to protect your kids from what’s going on in public schools? Is any sacrifice too great? Our family went without a lot of things so I could stay home with our kids. It wasn’t always easy and sometimes it was downright scary, but do you know what I learned? That God provides for those who are faithful to Him and He gives us what we need when we need it. Note the use of the word “need” rather than “want.” I’m here to tell you that the sacrifices are worth it.
One thing I know for sure is that there’s a lot of bad stuff going on in public schools and kids are spending the majority of their waking hours with people who are not their parents — who couldn’t possibly love them as much as you do.
If you’re worried about how your homeschooled kids will turn out, there’s plenty of research demonstrating that they’ll do just fine — and probably even better on any number of indicators than their peers in public schools. Like, way better.
Dr. Ray told PJ Media that the reasons for the explosive growth of homeschooling in recent years “are deep and fundamental, such as a desire for stronger family relationships, better academic achievement than in state/public schools, more pedagogical freedom, treating children as individuals rather than as a homogeneous group, a safe and friendly environment, and for passing on values and beliefs dear to a family rather [than] allow the state-run school [to do] the values-teaching.” Who wouldn’t want that for their family?
Look, I’m not here to tell you what to do. What you do with your own children is none of my business. But I urge you to at least consider homeschooling. There are so many resources out there to assist parents and support the decision to homeschool that it’s easier than ever to teach your kids at home. What have you got to lose?
News of the Times;
https://rairfoundation.com/australian-senator-stuns-parliament-unmasks-klaus-schwab-and-his-marxist-world-economic-forum-video/
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/04/four-more-years-hungarys-orban-declares-victory-over-international-left-soros-empire-mainstream-media/
https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/ronan-manly/russian-ruble-relaunched-linked-to-gold-and-commodities-rt-com-q-and-a/
https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-04-04-basf-warns-germany-collapse-without-russian-oil.html
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/german-retailers-increase-food-prices-20-50-monday
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/really-disgusted-republicans-telling-us-move-base-feel-though-massive-civilization-injustice-done-charlie-kirk-turning-point-usa-2020-elect/
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/05/man-arrested-connection-sacramento-shooting-released-early/
https://freebeacon.com/courts/ketanji-brown-jackson-granted-covid-release-to-defendants-in-serious-crimes/
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/04/03/the-nyc-health-official-birthing-people-vs-mothers-debacle-n459745
https://thewashingtonstandard.com/former-disney-star-bella-thorne-i-was-molested-from-6-to-14-everyone-around-me-saw-did-nothing/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/disney-cruise-ship-employee-caught-camera-molesting-11-yr-old-girl-elevatordisney-security-guard-investigating-sexual-assault-told-keep-mouth-shutdisney/
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/disney-vp-gets-six-years-prison-child/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10684161/Hundreds-New-York-City-prosecutors-quitting-low-pay-long-paperwork-hours.html
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/03/30/army-reducing-its-numbers-in-face-of-recruiting-difficulties/
https://summit.news/2022/04/04/mask-wearing-has-left-a-generation-of-toddlers-struggling-with-speech-and-social-skills/
I'm going to actually go there tomorrow and see what's going on.
*.*
The big joke going around on Facebook is someone claiming they were just robbed.
When police asked for a description of the robber, the person says, "It was Pump 9."
*.*
In a devious 4D chess move, Vladimir Putin has ordered all his armored divisions to fly Planned Parenthood flags so no one will criticize them for committing unthinkable genocide against innocent people.
"It is very simple," said Putin. "Eliminating Ukrainian civilians is healthcare. I am just a pro-choice activist exercising my right to eliminate all lives that inconvenience me in any way."
At the first sight of Planned Parenthood flags waving in the breeze, Ukrainian forces were ordered to lay down their weapons and celebrate the brave, powerful Russian army for standing up for their right to autonomy.
"We are so sorry for this misunderstanding," said Ukrainian President Zelensky in a statement. "The Russians are just living their truth as they slaughter our population and we will not stand in their way. We are not bigots, after all."
*.*
Oneliners:
Apparently, "Tequila" isn't a proper response when the boss asks for an idea to improve team meetings.
Whoever has been in charge of keeping a hot dog and a soda $1.50 at Costco, let's put them in charge of gasoline.
I hope when I die, it's early in the morning so I don't get up early or go to work that day for nothing.
Some of my friends exercise every day, meanwhile I'm watching a TV show I don't like because the remote dropped on the floor.
At my age, happy hour is a nap.
My friends are tired of Linkin Park references, but in the end, it doesn't even matter.
Tuesday was Apple's first product event of 2022. Product events are designed to introduce what's new and exciting and to make you feel that no matter how new your iPhone is, it's inadequate.
VISA has suspended service in Russia. Just last week, they had changed their official slogan in Russia to "Everywhere you want to be... except Ukraine."
How do our brains remember that we forgot something when we can't remember what that thing was?
*.*
SIGN AT A SONIC:
Chicken loses job.
Chicken is broke.
Chicken strips $3.79.
Quote of the Times;
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.” Isaiah 5:20
Link of the Times;
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/governor-abbott-directs-texas-to-send-illegal-migrants-to-d-c-on-charter-buses/
Issue of the Times;
Public Schools Are Cesspools of Debauchery. Get Your Kids Out Now, Before It's Too Late by Paula Bolyard
If there’s one thing we’ve learned during the pandemic it’s that many parents had no idea what was going on in their kids’ schools. Oh, parents knew there was crazy stuff going on in other schools, but by and large, there was a sense of NIMBY — it’s not happening in my backyard. Sadly, we’ve become increasingly aware of the abuses and indoctrination children across the country are suffering at the hands of unhinged teachers — teachers pushing their left-wing political agendas, encouraging children to be sexual deviants, and treating parents like they are not qualified to raise their own children without the state intervening in their families.
Here are but a few examples:
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/03/23/warning-these-pics-from-a-book-in-a-georgia-school-district-will-shock-and-disgust-you-n1568584
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/03/22/think-your-deep-red-county-is-safe-from-radical-k-12-curriculum-think-again-n1567810
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/jeff-reynolds/2022/03/11/desantis-goes-beast-mode-on-woke-culture-disney-and-the-media-lies-about-the-dont-say-gay-bill-n1565768
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/01/26/do-you-still-dont-think-lgbtq-is-a-cult-n1553143
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/01/21/teacher-caught-taping-a-mask-to-the-face-of-a-young-student-n1551528
https://pjmedia.com/culture/megan-fox/2022/03/12/chasten-buttigieg-leads-kids-in-pledge-to-the-gay-flag-n1565901
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/gwendolynsims/2021/10/01/concerned-parents-are-immediate-threat-says-national-school-boards-association-president-some-are-even-domestic-terrorists-n1521073
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/03/23/how-one-bad-teacher-almost-destroyed-a-new-mexico-family-using-the-state-as-a-weapon-n1583540
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/03/29/florida-teacher-says-shell-break-the-law-to-keep-secrets-about-sexuality-from-parents-n1585274
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/03/07/loudoun-county-school-district-called-cps-on-dad-for-asking-questions-about-bad-teachers-n1564479
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/02/10/parent-livid-after-school-instructs-8th-graders-to-describe-sex-acts-using-pizza-toppings-n1558165
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/02/09/parents-sue-after-12-year-old-daughter-attempts-suicide-at-school-twice-after-secret-trans-counseling-n1557937
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2022/02/02/leftist-loudon-county-wants-to-suspend-maskless-kids-but-not-a-transgender-rapist-n1555527
Ok, that was more than a few. But you get the point.
And, of course, we all know the damage that has been done to children as a result of lockdowns, forced masking, and sub-par education delivered by local schools. Kids have shown serious declines in both education and their mental health.
Many parents are completely fed up with the nonsense being shoved down their kids’ throats in public schools. Not only that, many realized during the lockdowns that they enjoyed having their kids home and overseeing their education and began to seriously consider homeschooling as a viable option.
The results are simply stunning. The homeschool population, as estimated by Dr. Brian Ray at the National Homeschool Education Research Institute, has grown from 2.6 million school-aged children in 2019 to a whopping 3.7 million in 2021.
Homeschooling had been growing steadily from 2016 to 2020, but the explosive growth in the educational option is staggering.
“Over the last two years, with government lockdowns of schools and parents becoming much more aware of the limitations of institutional schooling and how much the institution called school controls children’s and families’ lives, many thousands more parents have been awakened to the freedom space that is parent-directed home-based education,” Dr. Ray told PJ Media. “Rather than education being controlled by an institution that is often non-accommodating to a student’s needs and dreams or hostile toward a family’s values, homeschooling opens up many more possibilities, freedoms, dependabilities, and joys. Parents are learning that homeschooling is associated with academic success, strong social development, children with a joy to learn, and family life that is not controlled by the vicissitudes and dubious values of a state-run institution.”
At the end of the day, I believe that parents know what’s best for their own children and that God has entrusted them and them alone to make decisions about education. And I’m fully aware that not all parents are able to homeschool for a variety of reasons (more on that in a minute). But at what point do we say it’s abusive to force a child to spend 6.64 hours per day, 180 days a year, being indoctrinated by people who don’t have your child’s best interest at heart and who are actively recruiting them into a radical left-wing ideology, not to mention the LGBTQLMNOP cult?
Of course, there are still a lot of good teachers out there — including my daughter-in-law and several good friends — who aren’t abusing and indoctrinating kids, but they are fewer and farther between with each passing year. America’s universities are hotbeds of radicalism, and the teachers coming out of them are products of those regressive indoctrination machines. They’d rather teach kids to be woke, to question their gender, and to disregard the authority of their parents than teach the three Rs. It’s appalling — indeed, terrifying — to see the lengths many teachers will go to in order to subvert the will of parents. Every sane person knows it’s wrong, but we’ve now had several generations of children who have suffered through such abuse and indoctrination. A quick glance at any social media platform will give you a glimpse into the world of teens and college students. It’s a sea of delusion, mental illness, and downright evil.
The notion of truth itself is in dispute. The wokesters are telling your kids that if they can imagine it, they can make it true. Don’t like what God did when you were conceived in your mother’s womb — when he wrote your gender into every cell in your body? Then change it! Are you a male who can’t succeed in men’s sports? Put on a skirt and crush the real women in competition! The sky’s the limit!
But that’s not even the worst of it. It’s one thing for a bunch of people with mental problems to deny reality, but it’s another thing completely to force children to go along with their delusion and then punish them when they refuse to repeat the lies. Several generations of anti-bullying programs in schools have conditioned children to remain silent when confronted with statements that go against their faith and their families’ values. There are dire consequences for dissenters. Go against the grain and you will be punished, branded a bigot, a racist, or worse.
Can America even survive this? It’s hard to imagine how — unless parents step in to stop the madness. And one of the best ways to stop the madness is to pull your kids out of public schools and homeschool them.
But, Paula, I can hear you thinking. I can’t afford to homeschool! Our family needs two incomes to survive! Besides, I would go crazy having my kids home all day. And anyway, I’m not qualified to teach my own children (the stuff you allegedly learned when you were in school). And perhaps for many families, that is true. But maybe you could do without the second car or give up fancy vacations or buy your clothes at the thrift store, or shop at Save-a-Lot instead of Whole Foods — or all of the aforementioned, as many, many homeschooling parents do. As our family did. What’s it worth to you to protect your kids from what’s going on in public schools? Is any sacrifice too great? Our family went without a lot of things so I could stay home with our kids. It wasn’t always easy and sometimes it was downright scary, but do you know what I learned? That God provides for those who are faithful to Him and He gives us what we need when we need it. Note the use of the word “need” rather than “want.” I’m here to tell you that the sacrifices are worth it.
One thing I know for sure is that there’s a lot of bad stuff going on in public schools and kids are spending the majority of their waking hours with people who are not their parents — who couldn’t possibly love them as much as you do.
If you’re worried about how your homeschooled kids will turn out, there’s plenty of research demonstrating that they’ll do just fine — and probably even better on any number of indicators than their peers in public schools. Like, way better.
Dr. Ray told PJ Media that the reasons for the explosive growth of homeschooling in recent years “are deep and fundamental, such as a desire for stronger family relationships, better academic achievement than in state/public schools, more pedagogical freedom, treating children as individuals rather than as a homogeneous group, a safe and friendly environment, and for passing on values and beliefs dear to a family rather [than] allow the state-run school [to do] the values-teaching.” Who wouldn’t want that for their family?
Look, I’m not here to tell you what to do. What you do with your own children is none of my business. But I urge you to at least consider homeschooling. There are so many resources out there to assist parents and support the decision to homeschool that it’s easier than ever to teach your kids at home. What have you got to lose?
News of the Times;
https://rairfoundation.com/australian-senator-stuns-parliament-unmasks-klaus-schwab-and-his-marxist-world-economic-forum-video/
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/04/four-more-years-hungarys-orban-declares-victory-over-international-left-soros-empire-mainstream-media/
https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/ronan-manly/russian-ruble-relaunched-linked-to-gold-and-commodities-rt-com-q-and-a/
https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-04-04-basf-warns-germany-collapse-without-russian-oil.html
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/german-retailers-increase-food-prices-20-50-monday
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/really-disgusted-republicans-telling-us-move-base-feel-though-massive-civilization-injustice-done-charlie-kirk-turning-point-usa-2020-elect/
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/05/man-arrested-connection-sacramento-shooting-released-early/
https://freebeacon.com/courts/ketanji-brown-jackson-granted-covid-release-to-defendants-in-serious-crimes/
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/04/03/the-nyc-health-official-birthing-people-vs-mothers-debacle-n459745
https://thewashingtonstandard.com/former-disney-star-bella-thorne-i-was-molested-from-6-to-14-everyone-around-me-saw-did-nothing/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/disney-cruise-ship-employee-caught-camera-molesting-11-yr-old-girl-elevatordisney-security-guard-investigating-sexual-assault-told-keep-mouth-shutdisney/
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/disney-vp-gets-six-years-prison-child/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10684161/Hundreds-New-York-City-prosecutors-quitting-low-pay-long-paperwork-hours.html
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/03/30/army-reducing-its-numbers-in-face-of-recruiting-difficulties/
https://summit.news/2022/04/04/mask-wearing-has-left-a-generation-of-toddlers-struggling-with-speech-and-social-skills/
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And someone shot a duck.
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And someone shot a duck.
An Images & Ideas, Inc. Service.
No Vegans were harmed in the making of this site. We're looking for a new provider.