Monday, June 27, 2022

More Than a Stalinist Show Trial; Beyond the January 6 committee hearings, Stalinism advances on other fronts.

That regime rejected the rule of law, the presumption of innocence, and so forth, as so much “bourgeois” formality. The January 6 proceedings in Washington violate fundamental and longstanding norms of American justice. Witness the summary arrests, detention without trial, solitary confinement, denial of bail, withholding of evidence, and a lot more.  

(Updated) See also: Soviet Show Trials come to American college campuses

 Lloyd Billingsley  "As Thaddeus McCotter contends, the reproduction of a “Stalinist show trial” is now live in Washington. That invites a look at the original production of 1936-1937, from one of the keenest observers at the time. 

"The Moscow trials, and the purges that followed them, were a turning point in the history of American liberalism, for it was irrevocably polarized by the controversies to which the trials gave rise,” explains the late philosopher Sidney Hook in Out of Step: An Unquiet Life in the Twentieth Century, published in 1987. As Hook recalled, “news of the trials burst like a bombshell.”

"The principal defendants were “all old Bolsheviks, Lenin’s comrades in arms, who had been glorified as heroes of the October Revolution until they fell out of favor with Stalin. Chief among the defendants was Trotsky, acknowledged by Stalin as the architect of the Petrograd insurrection that had placed the Bolsheviks in power.” 

"As Hook wondered, “had architects of the great experiment been agents of the Western secret police?” The notion was “inherently incredible,” and the charges against Trotsky, Bukharin, Radek, and others were “mind-boggling.”

"The heroes of the October Revolution, Stalin contended, had assassinated Kirov in 1934, planned the assassination of Stalin under the direction of Trotsky, and “conspired with fascist powers Germany and Japan to dismember the Soviet Union, in exchange for services rendered by the Gestapo.” They were also charged with “sabotaging five-year plans, putting nails and glass in butter, inducing erysipelas in pigs, wrecking trains” and so forth. ". . .

Lloyd Billingsley is the author of Hollywood Party and other books including Bill of Writes and Barack ‘em Up: A Literary Investigation. His journalism has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Spectator (London) and many other publications. Billingsley serves as a policy fellow with the Independent Institute.

What the Victory of Mayra Flores Portends for the Democrats

The lesson to be drawn from the shift in Hispanic voting is that the Democrats need to moderate their platform while the Republicans should preserve theirs. . . 

 The American Spectator  "The victory of Republican Mayra Flores in a historic Texas Democratic stronghold on Tuesday punctuates President Joe Biden’s problem with Hispanics. His woke agenda appears to be driving them into the arms of Republicans. Born in Mexico, Flores won the special election for the 34th Congressional District on a staunchly conservative platform of “God, family, and country” — a repudiation of Biden’s fixation on secularism, libertinism, and identity politics.

"Her victory is no doubt setting off alarm bells in Democratic circles, but it can’t come as a complete surprise to the party’s strategists. Some of the shrewder ones have been fretting recently over the party’s alienation of Hispanics.

"Liberals deluded themselves into seeing Hispanics as a permanent Democratic constituency.

"Clearly, this constituency does not harbor particularly radical views on the nature of American society and its supposed intrinsic racism and white supremacy,” wrote Democratic strategist Ruy Teixeria last December. “They are instead a patriotic, upwardly mobile, working class group with quite practical and down to earth concerns. Democrats will either learn to focus on that or they will continue to lose ground among this vital group of voters.”

"That sums up the appeal of Flores. Openly patriotic, she poured scorn on Biden’s plans to transform the country fundamentally. Hispanics, she argued, want a traditional, not woke, America.". . .

In 2020, Joe Biden was the Great White Hope for Democrats

 That was then...


Democrats praise Biden on CBS, ABC and CNN for ‘very good job:’ Doing well ‘by any metric’ except inflation (msn.com)   . . ."Throughout CNN’s “State of the Union,” Brian Deese, director of the president’s Nationwide Financial Council, instructed host Dana Bash, “We really feel superb about the place America is.”

"Bash pressed Deese about the opportunity of a recession.

"He stated that whereas there are a sequence of “international challenges” the nation is going through proper now, “there is no doubt that the US is in a greater place than every other main nation around the globe to deal with inflation with out giving up all of the financial good points we have had.' ”. . .


And our go-to source for Democrat praise:


This is now: Why the Left Will Cut Biden Loose; Victor Davis Hanson

. . .The point is not just the asymmetrical treatment that has shielded Biden’s cognitive decline, his rude outbursts, his outrageous racialist slurs, and bizarre sexual aggressiveness.

Instead, the Left now fears Biden’s terrible polls and a worse record — and the resulting damage he is doing to the Democratic Party.

In such a losing political context, Democrats will soon find no further reason to cover for Biden’s own serial abhorrent personal behavior on matters of financial probity, sex, race, and truthfulness.

No wonder they are growing desperate to find ways to cut him loose — without making Vice President Kamala Harris his successor.


Will The Republic Soon Be Only A Distant Memory?

AND Magazine   "In 27 BC Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus became Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The Roman Republic, plagued by violence and civil war, for years was dead. It would never return. The Romans, who had built the Republic into the dominant Mediterranean power had killed their own creation.

"We may not be far from a similar fate."


"Ultimately, a republic is built on the bedrock of respect for institutions and the rule of law. At the end of a long, bitter political campaign the backers of the losing candidate go home peacefully only because they trust the result of the election and they respect the institutions of government. They do not concede and accept the rule of a party or individual they oppose out of fear. They do this because their belief in the sanctity of the system is more powerful than their belief in a political party or any one man.
"In America, this respect for our institutions and the rule of law is rapidly eroding. We are transitioning at breakneck pace from a democratic system to one based on mob violence and the abuse of the power of the state. If we cannot reverse this trend, we too will soon find that a republic we believed immortal is a thing of the past.
"The Democratic Party, increasingly under the control of oligarchs and ideologues, made a conscious decision years ago to seek political power via a variety of extra-legal mechanisms. Believing the ends justify the means, the Democrats decided that reliance upon free and fair elections was too risky and began to employ a series of measures that would allow them to seize and exercise power without the vagaries of free and fair elections:". . . Full article here...

Dem Rep Ocasio-Cortez Says Pro-Lifers Not Welcome In Today’s Far-Left Democrat Party…

Weasel Zippers



Police in Riot Gear Arrive at Supreme Court As Crowd Grows and Is Spurred On by AOC  "Speaking through a public address system to protesters, Ocasio-Cortez called for abortion’s supporters to get “into the streets.”


Mayra Flores Says Yes, Nancy Pelosi Shoved Her Child During Photo-Op

But as Flores said, good on her daughter for standing in there like a champ. Flores herself shows that she’s not going to take things lying down, that she’s going to be vocal and she’s already not been shy about speaking out. 

 RedState  "When I first saw the video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appearing to shove the little daughter of Rep. Mayra Flores (R-TX) with her elbow during a photo-op for her swearing-in, I thought perhaps it was a manipulated video or maybe the angles weren’t clear. But then I saw a video taken from C-Span that seemed to show the same thing.

"As we reported, Nancy looks at her, moves her elbow, and the child moves to her right.

"Now Mayra Flores herself is confirming it. Actor James Woods commented on the incident and Flores responded."

 

Media no longer trying to deny hostility toward Republicans

 Eric Utter  "Mainstream media bloviators have increasingly begun to state that Republicans do not deserve equal coverage alongside their Democratic counterparts. These figures often falsely claim that Republicans seek to “end our democracy” and that they routinely traffic in falsehoods. Ergo, there’s no need to be fair and balanced.

"For example, on a recent edition of MSNBC's "The ReidOut,” Joy Reid and her guest, political analyst Mathew Dowd (Bush-Cheney 2004 chief strategist turned Democrat), preposterously asserted that media outlets in general were too neutral in their reporting on the Republican Party and should instead ramp up the hostility. Reid also urged reporters to "tell voters" that the GOP was a "threat" to freedom. 

"Remarkably, Reid queried Dowd on how the media might "get out" of this ill-advised "‘both sides’ trajectory.” Dowd replied that the media should start acting like they were living in a society that wasn't free -- and treat Republicans accordingly. Like state-run mouthpieces in Russia, China, and North Korea? Great idea!

"A week prior to the Reid-Dowd fiasco, CNN primetime host Don Lemon stated that journalists no longer live in a "Walter Cronkite society” and that he should therefore be able to “state [his] truth.”

"During a recent discussion with Los Angeles Times columnist Jackie Calmes (on her piece condemning "both-siderism”), CNN host Brian Stelter also questioned whether Republicans should be given the same coverage as Democrats. ". . .

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Democrats; the party that destroyed America as a noble nation

Radical Leftists Attack Crisis Pregnancy Center... Try To Set Police On Fire... Multiple Arrests Made

..."The Los Angeles police department, rather than supporting their own officers who were brutally beaten and hospitalized, released a statement saying that the majority of the rioters were “peaceful” and thanking them for not engaging in violence.  Astounding.

The response comes as Los Angeles’ District Attorney, George Gascon, faces a recall effort for allowing violent crime to skyrocket due to his “soft on crime” policies.  Gascon has unsurprisingly received backing from progressive billionaire George Soros.". . .

The Pentagon Has Stated That Any Abortion Laws Enacted as a Result of the Supreme Court’s Decision Will Not Be Recognized

Two University of Georgia professors have published a map of pro-life clinics for their students to vandalize

Why are Democrats so violent when something doesn't go their way?  . . ."To waste life is inexplicably sad. But that is how the left sees human beings, as resources to forward their agenda. They may claim to want a classless society devoid of discrimination, but they are the biggest believers in a permanent hierarchies structure where they remain on top. The system will need a total overhaul for this madness to end."

Justice Clarence Thomas Had Predicted And Aspired To Achieve This Exact Reaction From Leftists

The Blue State Conservative

"Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, like most of us, is many things. Among others, Thomas is brilliant, prudent, hard-working, and deeply religious. He’s also been a painful thorn in the side of American leftists for over thirty years now. But something else Clarence Thomas is, obviously, is a human being, which means he’s someone who can be affected by traumatic and emotional experiences.

"There are many influences that can motivate us: Financial benefit, security for our families, and self-preservation are just a few. But there’s also the issue paybacks; vengeance. And sometimes revenge can be the strongest of all motivators. Such is the case, apparently, with Justice Thomas.

"What’s different about the vengeance which is driving Clarence Thomas’ is that it isn’t affecting his decision-making and jurisprudence. Quite the contrary. Justice Thomas is a staunch conservative and had been long before he was nominated to SCOTUS by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. Thomas isn’t casting votes with the goal of retaliation against political opponents, he’s conducting himself as he would have even if he hadn’t been brutally attacked during those Senate Confirmation Hearings over three decades ago. But the vengeance in Thomas’ heart isn’t driving him to stick it the left with hate-tinted legal opinions, it’s merely motivating his longevity.

"According to Business Insider:

“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told his law clerks he intended to serve on the highest court of the land to make the lives of liberals ‘miserable,’ according to a 1993 report from The New York Times.”

“In a conversation with his law clerks two years following his confirmation, The New York Times reported Thomas expressed his desire to serve on the court until the year 2034. ‘The liberals made my life miserable for 43 years,’ a former clerk remembered Thomas – who was 43 years old when confirmed – saying, according to The New York Times. ‘And I’m going to make their lives miserable for 43 years.’”

"By making leftists’ lives miserable, Thomas was undoubtedly referring to how he would vote on key issues being considered by the court, and using that criteria, Clarence Thomas has been remarkably effective and consistent. For thirty-one years now, Thomas has stuck to his Constitutional constructionist values. On issues ranging from religious freedom, government overreach, Second Amendment rights, and states’ autonomy, Thomas has served as a Justice committed to the true meaning of the Constitution, which is what brings that misery to our friends on the left. And Friday’s landmark ruling in the Dobbs V Jackson case may have been his most painful vote cast yet.". . .

The Truth is “Bad Optics” | J6 Committee’s Failures

 Religio-Political Talk

Here are three points the J6 Committee wish to make their endeavor both controlled and illegal.

. . ."That something is discussed in a previous post, just updated a couple of days back but posted originally in February 2021, “Trump Offered 10,000+ Troops Prior To J6.” You see, they cannot claim that Trump wanted this to happen, or directed it, or any other charge if they allow the fact… the fact that Trump — upon hearing chatter of violence — wanted to ensure that this type of scenario didn’t happen. The FEDERALIST reports on a new Congressional investigative report of this failure (RIGHT SCOOP hat-tip):

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi shoulders much of the blame for the security breakdown at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a preliminary report from Republican investigators Reps. Jim Banks and Rodney Davis determined.

The Capitol Police (USCP) were HALF-STAFFED ON JAN. 6, Pelosi’s House Sergeant at Arms DENIED MULTIPLE REQUESTS FOR NATIONAL GUARD ASSISTANCE FROM THE PENTAGON AND THE USCP CHIEF in the days leading up to Jan. 6, OFFICERS WERE POORLY EQUIPPED and had insufficient riot shields and helmets, and they were NEVER TRAINED TO HANDLE A RIOT EVEN AFTER THE RIOTS OF 2020, the investigation shows, according to Banks.

[….]

“This inaction left the Capitol unnecessarily vulnerable,” Banks and Davis noted.

Banks and Davis pointed to an After-Action Report from Capitol Police showing that the law enforcement department reorganized its intelligence without authorization which left it without essential “open-source intelligence capabilities” and caused staffing changes that “may have contributed to the tragedy” on Jan. 6.

In light of this information, Banks and Davis added that “the USCP intelligence unit had knowledge of the potential for violence yet failed to adequately communicate the threat or take the necessary steps to protect the Capitol.”….

"John Solomon explains the new revelations that show Pelosi’s sergeant-at-arms refused the support of the National Guard ahead of Jan 6th due to “bad optics.' ”. . .

Nancy Pelosi is Trying to Incite an Insurrection  "Serious questions remain about why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t properly protect the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when President Trump ordered National Guard troops.

"This lady is a political insider of the most elite kind; she knows government inside and out. That’s also part of why her latest comments are so disturbing.

"After helping lead the witch hunt against America First, Pelosi is now trying to incite an insurrection against a co-equal branch of our government, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

"Her hate-filled comments come in the wake of SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade.". . .

There is pure, unadulterated evil in the ranks of this Democrat Party. TD

Left Has Mental Breakdown Over Abortion


Spectator

Nearly fifty years of trying to ram Roe down America’s throat has backfired on the Left.

"After a half century, Roe v. Wade, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions — and there have been several doozies — is history. The ruling was controversial at the time and generated increasing political opposition over time.

"The opening paragraph of the majority opinion, authored by Harry Blackmun, a legislator-wannabe, was social science blather, unconnected to the Constitution. The ruling, based on trimesters and such, read like a congressional enactment, not a constitutional decision. As Jeremy Bentham claimed of natural rights, Roe’s legal arguments were “nonsense upon stilts,” an embarrassment for America’s most important court.

"In 1973 the Left expected judges to cut through the complications and resolve the issue. A half century of increasingly bitter political warfare later, that illusion has been shattered.

"Even some liberals, later restyled as progressives, had their doubts. My constitutional law professor liked the ruling’s substance but doubted its constitutional justification. Yale’s John Hart Ely made a similar point, complaining that the decision didn’t even pretend to be constitutional law. To the shock of some pro-abortion activists, the progressive saint Ruth Bader Ginsburg also expressed doubts about Roe.

"However, a half century ago seven justices thought the law should be liberalized. So they voted to liberalize it. There was no compromise, no serious assessment of countervailing interests, and not the slightest consideration of the baby’s life. What had been an emerging debate in multiple states across the nation — then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the liberalization of California’s law, an action he later regretted — was cut short. And a culture war was ignited.". . .

Nancy Pelosi is Trying to Incite an Insurrection

An 18-year-old explains why young White men are becoming radicalized

  Andrea Widburg  


"In the neighborhood in which my kids grew up, none of the high school–aged boys wanted to date.  The problem was that the high school girls were too difficult.  They were in the early stages of becoming the screaming, woke feminists who were so prominent during the George Floyd rallies.  On Twitter, a girl like that, only now grown up to be a mother and academic, tweeted something generically nasty about the "alt-right" hatefulness of White boys in middle school — and an 18-year-old decided to explain exactly why White boys are embracing non-woke standards."...

. . ."Thought experiment:

Imagine you're an 8th-grade boy. You're beginning to be told by teachers, the media, and maybe your parents that you're privileged because you're a boy. It's a basic truth, you're told.

But this just makes you confused. You start asking yourself questions. If boys are privileged, why do the girls in my class tend to get better grades?

Why are there more girls than boys in my advanced classes?

Why are the girls more well-behaved and focused?

Why are some of the girls preparing for college applications already? By the time you get to high school, your confusion only grows.

Your friend, who used to go to church with you, has become addicted to porn. Another friend, whose parents have recently divorced, has started using drugs.

Your friends start appearing unmotivated and demoralized. Meanwhile, the girls at your school continue to be over-represented in honors classes, get better test scores and grades, obtain more leadership positions, and participate in more extracurriculars.

But you're still repeatedly told that boys are privileged. How could this be? Then, when college acceptances come out, you notice many more girls than boys get into top universities. More girls are going to college in general, for that matter.