Conrad Black does a summary of the situation in the US that other media outlets forgot to mention:
Whatever anyone thinks of Trump, he’s the first president since Franklin D. Roosevelt for whom people in any part of the country will stand outside in falling snow for hours to see and hear him. No one who saw the immense ovation given Trump at the Kentucky Derby of Churchill Downs earlier in May by 150,000 people across all socio-economic groups could doubt the force of his political popularity. All but three of the approximately 70 candidates he endorsed have been elected.
Even the Great Replacement may have run out of voting power
For some reason Democrats assumed that immigrants would always vote for infinite continuing immigration after they arrive (thus creating exactly the conditions they had escaped from).
The policy area where they seem most satisfied with the administration is immigration, where all will concede, except the surrealistically implausible Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, that the administration is getting on admirably in allowing anyone who wishes to enter the country to do so. The presumed underlying ambitions for this policy of national suicide are to admit enough permanently grateful Democratic voters to produce an almost one-party system, and to reduce whites to a minority of Americans, to facilitate the seizure and redistribution of their wealth to others. This goal is only specifically espoused by the peppiest of the new members of the 2020 Democratic coalition, but it’s hard to find any other plausible motive to impute to the supporters of the current administration policy of a completely open southern border. The latest polls indicating that only 26 percent of Hispanic Americans now approve of the Biden administration indicates this catastrophic policy is backfiring.
Don’t miss those signs of success —
We regularly see the collapse in defeat of key supporting individuals and organizations in the anti-Trump movement: the unmasking of Black Lives Matter as an allegedly massive tax cheat operation that effortlessly swindled witless American big businessmen out of hundreds of millions of shareholders’ dollars, the collapse in the ratings of CNN and MSNBC, the resigning of CNN’s Jeff Zucker, the folding of Chris Wallace’s CNN streaming service after it attracted only a few thousand viewers in all of America and after only three weeks, the unmasking of Twitter and specifically of the president’s Twitter account as largely frauds, and the apparent loss of control of Twitter to ex-Democrat Elon Musk. Hillary Clinton has been finally revealed as approving the mighty Trump–Russia smear job and the suborning and politicization of senior ranks of the FBI and CIA: the dirtiest political trick in American history.
h/t Rafe Champion
We are very hopeful for the visit by President Trump, endorsing Harriet Hageman to replace Liz Cheney in the Wyoming Republican Primary in August. President Trump visits here in Casper on Saturday, 28 May. My younger grandson and I have (free) tickets to attend the rally.
I may try to post a brief note after the rally to let those interested know the level of support for Mrs. Hageman to displace Cheney. We have multiple reports that many DemonCrats will ‘switch’ parties at the polls to vote for Cheney, not because they will vote for her in the General Election in November, but just to keep one of Nancy Pelosi’s lap dogs in place.
Wish us luck,
Vlad
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Vlad,
No luck needed. Cheney has near zero support among MAGA Republicans in Wyoming, even if all voting Demoncrats were to, as you say switch parties it will not be enough to get her over the line. It’s bye bye Cheney.
Further out, my prediction come November, 75+ seat gain in Congress for Republications & better still the demise of the establishment RINO’s. The rise of ultra MAGA is afoot. Out with McCarthy & McConnell a good place to start.
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Is your grandson ‘lad, the impaler’?
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You CRACK me up!!!!
I’d have to say, he’s a ‘cut’ above me … … …
When he was seven, we started doing some firearms training (our State Motto is, “Welcome to Wyoming. Consider everyone armed.”). He’s now thirteen, and regularly breaks 49 out of 50 clay pigeons when we go out. He downed the only Canada goose we got this past season (“Papa” is getting old, and is not the shot he used to be — — actually, he was not the shot that he keeps thinking he was; “Papa” was always just a ‘legend in his own mind … … … ‘ ).
I’m going to have to tell him that one, Tony. He’ll get a kick out of it!!
VtI
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Hope the lad doesn’t hold any grudges against his local school.
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I’m an Aussie so I don’t understand but, I’d like to take an educated guess as to why the gun is such a fiercely defended icon in USA.
Is it because America had to go to war with Britain to gain independence? All reasonable talks had failed and Britain kept milking the wealth of America. Guns were the only way to break free.
So the gun might symbolize America’s freedom and thus any attempts to ban it look suspicious to many Americans. Having said that though, I wounder why antique guns aren’t more popular as they more accurately represent that episode in history.
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Have you checked out the guns of tyrannical governments, lately?
“If you find yourself in a fair fight, you have done something wrong”; that cuts BOTH ways.
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The NRA rose up after the Civil War as a mainly training and sefety group. The defending the second amendment only began in the 1970’s
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and his son must be Dad the Impaler then?
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I am only a couple of hours south of you, but I figure the place will be mobbed. So, I will await your report.
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If there is one thing that might inspire us to have hope for the future it’s the Trump Phenomenon.
Trump had the insight to turn the “offshoring” of American jobs and manufacturing back around and revitalise the country.
Stories of people being employed for the first time ever, thanks to Trump, were common and overall that turn around was seen and appreciated and not forgotten.
The rallies show that people understood and appreciated the change in their lives and would be more than a little unhappy with the collapse of reason, decency and common sense over the last two years of O’Biden.
It seems like a long road back but the fact is that Trump is still around and vast numbers of people appreciate his leadership and want a return to the America they had just a few years back, before BLM.
All Lives Matter.
KK
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Trump has been a very welcome hurricane of common sense in the world of politics world-wide. So many of Australia’s deplorables still admire what he did and what he’s doing still. We would love to have him shake up our conservative “forces” and show them how to stand tall.
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America has a growing number of endemic problems. A declining military. Serious racial divisions. A huge immigration problem and growing mass violence epitomised by today’s shooting.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10850557/Active-shooter-loose-Texas-elementary-school-campus-plunged-lockdown.html
Not sure that Trump dealt with any of that. Has anyone got a solution or is it Americas fate to play second fiddle to China?
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China or to be more precise Xi Jinping’s problems. Make America’s look like a walk in the park.
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Our racial “problems” are largely a different problem — Democrats electoral needs. For two hundred years that political party has pitted one group of Americans against another, fanned hatred of one group against another, and won elections through their tactics. It may be different people who run the party now than ran it, say, 80 years ago; but tactics are the same.
Many things could change for the better if people would simply stop voting for Democrats in the hope they may develop an honest sense of self. Unfortunately many Americans see Democrats as Santa Claus.
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🙂
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Nancy was there 80 years ago; she probably knew FDR
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Yes Tony,
that’s something I’d intended raising: 14 children, dead, and one teacher.
A little earlier there was a report of 4 boys, “friends”, gone in the space of 24 hours.
This issue can be resolved when we can trust governments, but sadly that’s increasingly further out of reach.
In Switzerland nearly every household has a gun and yet it’s completely different to America. If the U.S. could implement the Swiss system??
A world without discipline is unliveable, but discipline will only be accepted from decent, trustworthy, managers who seem to be in short supply all round the world at the moment.
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The only truly worthwhile form of discipline is self-discipline.
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” self-discipline “.
Is that by the population as a whole, politicians, public serpents, the swamp, vote counting officials in the tally room or just gun owners?
It’s a big issue is self discipline.
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It is indeed a big issue KK. What I had in mind was individual self-discipline but to an extent it applies to organisations as well.
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Kalm Keith
I am a frequent visitor to Switzerland and I was never more freaked out than when a young army conscript got on the train and sat opposite me clutching a rifle! They have discipline and strict rules however and gun outrages are extremely rare.
As regards America, I genuinely thought that at least some gun controls would be brought in when John Lennon was gunned down. But nothing. The litany of disasters continued but still almost anyone it seemed could buy lethal weapons, some of which, mercenaries in other countries would look enviously at. I understand that Texas recently brought down the gun age limit from 21 to 18.
I have never wanted to go hunting etc but accept other people find it enjoyable. That’s fine, have a rifle. This desire to own multiple, highly lethal weapons leaves me baffled and that the authorities collude with it leaves me even more baffled.
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tony
Here is one way of looking at that problem which I doubt BBC et al brought to mention –
“”Gun violence”: putting the blame where it’s due”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/05/gun-violence-putting-blame-where-its-due.html
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Worth reading.
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Another Ian
Fair points
Parts of the black community have a disproportionate amount of violence and that is epitomised by the extremely violent nature of the lyrics much of their music. I understand that more white people are killed by police than black people but all these things tend to get sidelined.
It doesn’t get away from the fact that black white or hispanic, no one private individual needs to own numerous lethal weapons many of which would not look out of place in an army.
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Greetings, Mr. Tony (b):
Much as I try to refrain from ticking comments, I ‘upticked’ your comment, but I would like to try to respond.
You have a fair point, both this one and #3.3.2. I would refer you to Honk’s comment at #3.5.
I do own multiple arms. My ‘stash’ would be the ‘envy’ of some armies; many, many years ago, some colleagues were doing some Geology work in Paraguay, and had to be “protected” by the local Army group for the several weeks they were doing their reconnaissance; when they got back, they commented on how much better armed I am, compared to these regular soldiers. Of course, I can’t think of the last time Paraguay was engaged in a major conflict, so, there you are.
Now, as to what might be behind the seeming differences, primarily cultural, between some places (die Schweiz, for example) and the U.S., I think it really comes down to this current dust-up over Roe vs. Wade, the ruling that created abortion on demand in the U.S.
Overtly, or subtly, consider the fact that it becomes part of one’s psyche to realize that the most innocent, vulnerable citizens of a nation are not protected. Overtly or subtly, the message that gets into one’s mind is that life is cheap, and for all practical purposes, meaningless, and disposable. There is no crime in extinguishing a life, because life itself is nothing; it is not important. Again, the message is either realized on a conscious or unconscious level, so taking a life is inconsequential; it’s perfectly OK to dispose of a life that you consider to need disposing of.
As a famous radio talk show host commonly said, “Abortion is the Sacrament of the Democrat Party.”
I’m currently watching The Fifth Element (again), and it was remarkable to recent events, where the Priest, Vito Cornelius, describes the character, “Mr. Black” (who communicates with Jean-Baptiste Zorg [Gary Oldman]), as, ‘… where there is life, it brings death‘. I can think of no better comparison between that fictional character and the DemonCrat Party than this: they are the Party of Death, and Destruction, and Misery. “You will own nothing, and be happy,” is their guiding principal. Seems like I’ve heard that Jacinda Ardern (sp?) is an acolyte of Klaus Schwab as well. Take heed.
Once you have made it clear to the general population that life is not sacred, then there’s no protecting anyone. I was in school in the ’50’s, and we did not seem to have events like this take place. Any number of secondary schools had shooting teams, and taught firearms training and safety.
And we did not have ‘abortion on demand’. Seems like there was respect for life, and for each other. Seems like there was respect for an alternative point of view, and, ” … while I disagree with what you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
I do not think it is a matter of the firearms themselves; I think it is the culture that has ingrained a sense of ‘life is disposable; do so as you see fit … ” is the leading cause of things like this. As far as the annual sales of firearms and ammunition, asked elsewhere, it is at least in the hundreds of millions of US dollars. Let’s Go Brandon is a fantastic salesman for the industry.
The current situation is likely very close to what the Founding Fathers had envisioned as a possibility: the Federal Government becoming ever more dictatorial, and the citizenry needing the means to ‘reign in’ (no pun intended) that government.
Much as I hope it does not come to that, I think the “Ministry of Truth” and other associated events are leading us down a path that will not be easy to leave. Perhaps we shall see, after the November mid-term elections.
I would point out, again, that along with Alaska, Wyoming has one of the highest rates of firearms ownership. Texas is right up there also, but there is additionally a cultural aspect between Texas and other parts of the nation. Texas is on the ‘front-line’ of the illegal immigration problem (not that Arizona and other places are not, but Texas is getting a lot of the attention).
I do apologize for the overly-long, rambling rant, but there’s a lot here I did not say. But this comment is already much too long. And may not get past the mods, for whom I have great admiration.
Peace, health, and prosperity to all,
Vlad
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Vlad
I find the reply from Ian and yourself to be genuinely interesting and illuminating. Thank you.
There are very many liberal democracies who permit abortion yet have very strict gun control and don’t have regular mass murders. We in the UK are one of them. I have no problem with rifles for hunting but can not begin to understand how a 50 year old US abortion law somehow means that private individuals can arm themselves to the teeth and-as we find far too often-go out to kill their fellow citizens.
In this resect there is surely a difference between a fully formed human being going to school and a weeks old foetus who has no knowledge at all as to what is happening round them?
Personally I think that abortion laws need to reflect the increasingly young age at which a foetus might become viable life and would much rather other methods of birth control be practised. However, women very rarely undertake abortions lightly but go through agonies of guilt and indecision.
They may have been forced into sex, might experience problems giving birth, find another baby would affect family finances or the education of existing children.
So I think it inappropriate to conflate abortion and gun control as they are not really related.
America has an appalling record of mass gun murders and it is terrifying that, with minimal checks, private individuals-often mentally unstable- can arm themselves to the teeth. It is not unreasonable to scale back on the number and type of weaponry that private individuals can own and to carry out much more extensive checks.
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I still think there’s the culture aspect. Having not been there, I suspect the cultural diversity of the UK is somewhat lower than the US; in particular, there are places in the United States that English-speaking residents are in the minority, or absent all together.
A fertilized egg is viable; left alone, it becomes a complete human. The life is there from the moment of conception. If that life is expendable, then who is safe?
As of right now, there are some 20,000 (or more) State, Federal, and local firearms ‘control’ laws and regulations. If I understand you, then if we pass, ‘ … just one more law … ‘, somehow the problem will be solved?
OK, so maybe ‘abortion’ and ‘firearms’ have nothing in common, but from your comment, you and others are using the seeming excess violence within our society as a cudgel to advocate for more ‘gun control’. In Post-WW II America, the rate of firearms ownership was higher than it is today (fewer firearms total, but more commonly owned, along with fewer laws). Yet, somehow that society was less violent than today. There’s some significant difference, and it is not the types of firearms available, the rate of ownership (Wyoming – second highest, Alaska – highest), and the number of firearms owned within a residence — — there just has to be something else entirely. What I see, on almost a daily basis, is that it is now culturally ingrained that there is no concept of a respect for life, and what that source is, I posited. If you have an alternative idea, please post. Something happened along or about the time of the 1970’s; if you have a better idea, I’m all ears. But please, do not blame some inanimate object, that can do nothing on its own, but requires a sentient operator to make it do what it does.
One of the messages I omitted from the previous post is that John Lennon was murdered in a place with some of the toughest ‘gun control’ laws on the books. Search “Sullivan Law” and see how hard it is to even purchase a firearm in New York City.
Or Chicago.
Or California.
But, where do a lot of crimes take place? Of all types? There’s something more than just ‘access’ to firearms, or seeming ‘lax’ laws (by the way, I can conceal carry without a permit in Wyoming; same in Utah; I’m not sure about other places, but I’ve heard non-permit concealed carry is expanding). It’s not just the ‘type’ to which you keep referring. There’s something else.
You enjoy what you have in the U.K. I’m fine with that. I enjoy what I have in the U.S. Or at least that part of the U.S. where I am. There are places in my own nation I would not go to, because of the disease which is present in those places (hint: think ‘red’ and ‘blue’ … ).
I also refrained from mentioning, in response to whether my younger grandson has any issues with his school, I know for a fact that in the event of an active shooter, he would be placing himself between an intended victim and the shooter, if it came to that. He would also, even at the tender age of thirteen, be making every attempt to disarm and disable the attacker, due to his training (with me) and his character. His older brother is a firefighter in our local area, and has done much to influence his younger brother.
I’m glad you think that more laws, and fewer types, are the solution. I do not see it this way. Such a suggestion might work somewhere, but there’s no evidence to suggest that it will work here. It will take a cultural change (see the post about the violent lyrics in certain music) to have any real effect.
For a time after two faculty members were murdered (by archery equipment) on our local college campus (and, by the way, I was on the first floor of the building, while the murders were taking place on the third floor), there was discussion about arming the faculty as a prophylactic against another occurrence. There was much discussion; the issue was resolved, and not everyone was happy, but the Administration accepted the decision (to their credit, they mostly stayed out of the discussion, letting the faculty decide).
OK, I’m waaaaaaaaaay long again; in case you have not noticed, we’ve hijacked this thread. With any luck, I’ll have a post on the Trump rally on Wyoming Sunday (Monday for y’all Down Under … ).
Vlad
Vlad
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How does one acquire the godlike status whereby one can designate and apportion “needs”?
Asking for a few friends.
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Interesting comment.
What’s behind it?
How much are gun sales worth every year in the U.S.?
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In the late 50s I was a School Cadet under officer, the school boy officer. I was in command of one of two platoons with 76 kids from 14 years in our country town high school corps.
4 times a year we had rifle range shooting days. The kids were issued with their WW11 303 rifles on our Thursday afternoon parade. They took these home to bring to the range on Saturday.
Thus we had 76 kids walking, riding bikes, or catching a bus home with their WW11 rifle slung over their shoulder. No one even noticed this as something special.
What chance the petals of today, who would probably hide under the bed at such a sight, have of defending this country, as a bunch of kids, not much older did at Kokoda?
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Most of these are created problems by you know whom.
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Men?
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Remember this?
Guy of wrong demographic drives over 18 children in a Christmas parade.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/waukesha-wisconsin-christmas-parade-car-injuries_n_619acf99e4b044a1cc092801
No visit from a POTUS.
Little press interest.
Yet, the right to terminate a pregnancy up until the last moment, even after, for any reason, …
https://thewashingtonstandard.com/maryland-senate-bill-669-legalizes-infanticide-up-to-28-days-after-birth/
is considered essential to women’s constitutional rights.
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When the reports of such crimes carefully avoid mentioning who the culprits are, we immediately know who the culprits are.
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Tonyb…..did you have your eyes and ears closed for the four years ?
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If Trump gets back in he’d better: 1) pay attention to detail, 2) be nice – don’t go around pissing people off. We are living in very dangerous times on all fronts – economic and political – and it will need very nifty manoeuvring to fix it up. The Wokies are trying to drag society back 500 years to prior to the 1st Reformation – to feudal times. Davos a thousand years – “You’ll own nothing but you will be happy” – destruction of property rights – ie to prior to the Magna Carta.
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Trump’s main failing the first time around was he was way too nice.
He also seems to have great difficulty judging the character of the people in Washington, and ended up trusting that at least some of them would do the right thing under pressure. It’s unlikely he will get a second term, but if he does then firing a lot more people would be his best strategy. Hire new ones from as far away from Washington as possible.
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Trump underestimated the extent and depth of the swamp and only drained small parts of it before he got distracted by the swamp dwellers themselves.
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What drives both the Trump dislike/fear and the MAGA crowd is not his personality-it is his policies, and his effectiveness. The ongoing diasaters now unfolding were supposed to have happened 2017-18.
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But do you think enough Americans will be smart enough to understand what they need to do and actually hold their nerve under a fierce onslaught from the MSM and their enablers? The Aussies have just failed.
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The Trump supporters will, and they are the majority. Even those who are not Trump supporters are now motivated because the Biden Illegitimacy is worse than they ever thought possible. The real question is if the elections will be fair and honest.
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2) be nice – don’t go around pissing people off
You mean he should govern as a Democrat?
But then his own base would be pissed off.
When a nation is as divided as the USA someone is bound to be pissed off.
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Yes Mark ….. Trump was ASSAULTED by the media, the swamp and the elites relentlessly starting from before his election and continuing through to now. How dare he stand up for the great unwashed ….and build a strong immigration system, a strong economy, increase low income earners wages, renovate the disastrous trade deals sending jobs overseas, help black businesses, get European countries to start paying for NATO properly, ceased US support for the Nordstream 2 project, cancelled the deal with Iran, got the US out of Syria, halted the missile testing by North Korea, stood up to Chinas bullying on US-China trade……etcetc ….
And the RINOs and democrats didn’t like him because of his “mean” tweets…… was it their head that was held up bloodied by the “comedian”? or was it their innocent actions distorted by crazed MSM activists eg the fish pond incident in South Korea……who had to deal with the weaponised senior ranks of the CIA and FBI and the disloyal military commanders…?
And the most common reason given to justify hounding him out of office was “mean” tweets. And apparently he isn’t humble enough too. There is world out there where actions mean less than words. It’s the world of Republicans and conservatives who say nice things to people who are saying nice words while knifing you in the back.
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Even though he achieved much as #45, Trump’s main problem is that he’s a braggart. A little humility and gravitas would not go astray although I don’t think he’s capable of it. His children should talk him out of standing again and instead back a real intelligent, articulate heavyweight ie de Santis.
ps Peter Navarro’s “In Trump Time” is a great read.
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I could already see the pandering to Hispanics backfiring. Nobody can predict the future unless they are extremely intuitive. Progressive ideas always fail or backfire.
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I thought Biden would move toward more traditional political rhetoric.
I perceive the opposite is happening.
Seems to me to have two possible reasons …
they are hoping to mitigate disaster by coalescing the base with Us vs. Them solidification.
Or ..
they feel confident in their control of election outcomes and have no need to persuade political moderates.
Of course, it is also possible that the political elite have evolved into culturally and intellectually inbred lunatics.
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As Biden said …it’s not who votes that counts it’s who counts the votes ….
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Hispanics cannot be happy at the trans-degeneracy of the Neo Liberals
Also woe betide the black population under an hispanic USA majority
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