When it rains the worms come out and for the political class the steady rain is promising to become a deluge. The latest bit of bad news in the forecast is the leaked opinion from the Supreme Court regarding Roe. There have been a lot of hot takes on the implications of the ruling but lost in the media churn is the fact that this is another sign that things are getting ugly in Washington. A civilized political class run by sober-minded adults would never have allowed this to happen.
The fact is, Washington is in chaos. The Biden administration is a balkanized mess with Joe Biden as an embarrassing figurehead. His handlers are running out of patience or ability to keep him from having “senior moments” in public. In announcing some new justification for seizing Russian property, Biden slipped into confusion and struggled to say words that may or may not have been in the script. He looked like a man who should be at an assisted living facility, not the White House.
These events are becoming common, which underscores the fact that he is not actually in charge of his administration. It is a balkanized cabal that lacks coordination with the other parts and is disconnected from the party. The old neocons are running the war in Ukraine, while packs of deranged social justice warriors push through nutty ideas like the ministry of disinformation. There is no one sheepherding economic policy, which has been abandoned in the face of record inflation.
This is why Biden’s popularity is about as low as it can go. Amazingly, there is always about 30% of respondents who will say they support the president. Bush bottomed out around this number and now Biden is doing the same. It means his party is in desperate shape for the midterms. The first midterm is never good for the party of the president, as buyer’s remorse sets in at this stage. Trump was a mess, but he presided over peace and prosperity, two things lost under Biden.
Then there is the brewing disaster in Europe. The happy talk coming from the foreign policy camp is just a way to keep the politicians from asking too many questions, but everyone senses a looming disaster. The hope was this would be a great distraction from the economic mess, but that has not worked. Now the economic cost of the war is starting to bite. America is looking at a summer of record fuel and food prices and you cannot hide five dollar gas with a Ukraine lapel pin.
The recent elections tell the story. J. D. Vance staked out a non-interventionist position on Ukraine, basically telling voters he does not care about it. No one wants to admit it, but this may be what pushed him over the top. Both parties have attacked this position, but it is looking like the winning hand with voters. For Democrats, who now own the war in Ukraine, this could turn out to be Vietnam all over again. They are the party championing a very unpopular war.
This is probably why Bernie Sanders is telling people he plans to run in 2024, despite Biden people saying Biden 2024 is not a punchline. A disaster in November and more Joe Biden senior moments in public means the lid blows off the whole thing. Everyone will be talking about what comes after Joe Biden. In politics, it pays to be the first at the scene of the disaster, so Sanders is making sure his name is going to be in stories discussing the demise of Joe Biden.
This also reflects the growing anger of the fringe crazies at their party. In the Trump years, the Democrats weaponized these people against the country. The riots, murders and mayhem were part of the color revolution. The crazies and the more legitimate fringe players in mainstream politics took this to mean that they would get a seat at the table, but that was never happening. Not even the hardest thumping Trump haters want these lunatics in their political camp.
That is why Elizabeth Warren was doing the angry chicken dance outside the Supreme Court when the draft opinion was leaked. Her choreographers did not have enough time to train her for the show, so she was left to wing it and the result was a comical reminder that the 19th amendment was a mistake. Warren is a craven simpleton, but she does reflect the growing frustration of the fringe-left in Washington. They are getting nothing and they are incredibly angry about it.
They think abortion can be their vehicle back to the main stage, but in reality, abortion does not matter all that much to people. Abortion was always a middle-class white woman issue. “The woman’s right to choose” was the cover for promoting eugenic policies in the black community. Now that middle-class white women are past childbearing age, it no longer has emotional appeal. Nonwhites, of course, have been hip to the reality of abortion for a long time.
Taken together, with the looming elections, it reflects a political class that no longer has a reason to exist. It is a collection of geezers trying to relive their salad days, along with hand-picked acolytes selected for their lack of intelligence. The old baby boomer politics, like the old baby boomers in charge, is breaking down. That is the crisis we are seeing in Washington. The old framework is no longer salient and no one has a clue as to what should replace it or even if it can be replaced.
This is also why politics has descended into information war. In business, when you do not have a new product or a new version of the existing product, you roll out a new marketing campaign instead. This is what has happened with politics. They have nothing to offer, so they rollout one media campaign after another. We are bombarded with an endless series of alleged crises so that we do not notice that the people in charge have no reason to be in charge.
There are, of course, long term trends that promise to make these short term problems look like a golden age. People do not live in the long term, so the next six months will be what occupies the minds of people. Given the condition of the political leaders and the mood of the country, they may want to think about putting those razor wire barriers back up and declaring martial law in the city. Just about every constituency has a reason to storm the city and demand a redress of grievances.
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I spent the last two days sort of going against the grain with my contrarian personality. But on a more conventional note – if Clinton had basically kept quiet when Trump was president – would Trump have been more low key the past fifteen months?
She is an actor doing as she was told. Beside, they needed the ukraine war ro cover up the destruction o the food supply
The USA is entering a period roughly similar to the Roman Empire in the Third Century AD — i.e., a period of inexorable decline, with one crisis after another, though it did take the western part of the empire roughly another two centuries to bite the dust. Empires and civilizations follow their own trajectory as both Spengler and Toynbee have discussed in their books.
The Archdruid has written on this phenomenon at length over the years and his blog post of yesterday continues to develop the theme and might be worth a glance:
https://www.ecosophia.net/whispers-of-the-fall/
I think were entering a period roughly equivalent to peak Hank Jr’s descent into the bottle:
The interest is up and the Stock Market’s down
And you only get mugged if you go downtown
Hank is like 73. Wouldn’t a better comparison be his dad and his “road trip” to west virginia?
Meanwhile, official regime organs have begun pontificating about Cash for Clunkers v2.0 to stop Putler and save goddess Gaia:
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/3478315-cash-for-clunkers-can-cut-gas-prices-climate-change-and-putins-income/
I swear, I despise these sobs. They’ll do anything and everything in their power to F up our lives.
Wild Geese: Damn I wish we’d been able to buy in 2020. They really are determined to make standard car ownership available only to their approved lackeys. I wouldn’t buy new even if prices dropped, which they won’t, due to all the neon and chip shortages etc. Those new vehicles are moving surveillance systems with every possible move of the purported driver/operator monitored, automatic remote shut off, etc. The problem is not being able to find or afford a decent used vehicle for those of us who are not mechanics. Those with the necessary knowledge and parts and equipment to… Read more »
From July this year all EU and UK vehicles are fitted with speed limiters that have forward facing scanners for speed limit signs and will constantly harass the driver until it slows under the limit.
Removing them will void your insurance, and is also illegal.
This is combined with GPS tracking, and I believe the ability to slow and stop the car automatically.
No more traveling at will for the population.
I raced mountain bikes semiprofessional in the 90’s, I had a few nice mid level sponsors hook’n me up with tires, seats and frames. One year a got my two frames and was shocked that the pivot points of the suspension had moved several millimeters. Not good…crapy ride. Almost catapulted me off the seat on some courses. I asked the sales rep why they were moved. We needed something new for the industry show in Vegas this year. Couldn’t show up with the same bike we had last year or people ( magazine’s) would write about it. I found myself… Read more »
I think it will be a very “interesting” Summer. The Pentagon is crowing and releasing info that they have provided targeting information (and likely the missiles) that killed 12 Russian generals. The message to the Russian generals being that the US can kill them any time. We have also almost certainly seen SEALs or other Spec Ops dudes responsible for the fire and explosion that destroyed the Russian Defense Ministry Research lab and a munitions plant deep inside Russia and also an oil refinery. My view is that the Ukranian forces can barely tie their shoelaces but the US still… Read more »
They’re going to use this summer’s street action to implement the Insurrection Act.
Their hysterical response any time Trump considered it in 2020 was yet another instance of Leftist predictive projection.
I still think they need a new incident to create a martyr that can shift the mobs into emotional overdrive.
You can bet the Antifa phone trees are in spring bloom as I type this.
There aren’t many literally militant homosexuals willing to throw their lives away for Ukrainian gay pride parades. Russia just has to avoid a Pearl Harbor incident jingoism generator and (ironically) get better at the spy game to keep the neocons away. Russia does have a large Muslim population…
With all due respect, you’re falling for Uncle Shlomo;s narrative. They need WW111 to hide the crimes. Everything has been stolen. People and their children are being poisoned, their immune systems destroyed. Every fucking thing you’ve been told is a lie. You’re in the Endgame, the last scene in a theatre run by psychopath hebrew satanists. We are here, right now for a reason. go with God.
>> Interestingly there seems to be a Gates – Musk war brewing
Gates was Buffett’s designated successor, yet the other week Buffett said nice things about Musk on the Charlie Rose website. Gates has shot his bolt with the vaccine fiasco, and this may be Buffett’s way of signaling a change.
It appears the crazy old bags and their affiliated soyboys are planning to protest at churches on Sunday (Mothers Day).
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/may/5/ruth-sent-us-activists-plan-abortion-protests-chur/
I say “bring it.”
The Summer of George (Floyd) worked last time, so they will run that playbook all summer long. And of course, their crazies as noted have got nothing so far, so a good summer of that stuff again might well have them energized and satisfied and a force to be used against Normie over and over again until he complies. It looks btw like the CDC was mass spying on individuals using cell phone data and that’s another “loophole” I expect them to exploit to the fullest this summer and fall. Imagine the summer all long being a replay of 2020,… Read more »
Common sense would suggest you leave your phone at home if you are out doing stuff.
Anyone who has seen a single episode of any crime show knows this.
I hate to break the news here, but, near all of the world are democracies now, and all of them are a mess. It did seem like a good idea at time.
So, now that all are tottering, who is going to overthrow whom? We’re no longer a world defined by warring kingdoms. Is this world peace?
Hardly any of the world is a democracy. They may camouflage as democracies – some, like the US, a little better than others although it is slipping as of late. But yes, nearly all of them are a mess.
“demand a redress of grievances”
Some of them might prefer a sundress of grievances.
Just sayin’.
Just when we thought the USG could not get dumber and more evil, they’ve decided to implement legislation permitting them to sue OPEC:
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/us-senate-passes-nopec-antritrust-bill-paving-way-biden-sue-opec
Seize the oligarch’s assets, Lord Biden! That, or we’ll bomb the oil fields!
Sanctions are the US and EU’s Fatwa.
Of all of the social issues that really make me disgusted with this country, it is the abortion issue. I am not opposed to abortion because of any kind of deep religious conviction. I do have spiritual repulsions in regards to it, but I understand some of the practical aspects surrounding some kind of social-level regulation of population and demographics. However, placing it in the hands of women to make it a “personal choice” issue instead of a practical issue has been the single most destructive and corrosive force in western society that I can point to. Making it about… Read more »
Ginsberg to see it through, taking the power away from the states and the voters; Kagan to extend it to late term, Singer to promote it “post-birth”; Freidan, Steinem, Abzug to get the wave rolling.
Add: So, of course, the white lady Sanger gets blamed, when she was resolutely against abortion.
Alarmed by black broods and rampant baby mamas even amidst Great Depression poverty, she advocated contraception.
They wouldn’t listen, anyways, so at least the small hats were better judges of character. Blacks have different standards.
Asking as a non-American, won’t blacks get their abortions, one way or another, regardless of the legality of the thing?
Everybody will have abortions as before. They will be available—if only a bus ticket away. However, some of those folks are too stupid or lazy to even handle that and we may see such abortions decline within those groups. However, since abortion is a Leftist sacrament, we may see a cottage industry develop which seek out these folk and arrange for them travel and lodging so they may partake of this.
I don’t know how complicated a “dilation and curettage” is.
(That’s insurance company codespeak for a cetain ‘covered medical procedure’.)
Could we have trave some guy showing up at the house, black bag in hand, like midwives and doctors used to do?
Gee, nobody told me it was ‘my body, my choice’ when I was drafted to fight in the infantry in Vietnam. I guess that bogus ‘muh rights’ notation was all used up by the time the vaccine mandates rolled around.
[…] ZMan puts the boot in. […]
As I’ve said before the country is an apartheid state against the Democratic party. To gain control of the court and ungerrymander the legislatures they would have to win another three presidential elections in a row since the oldest conservatives on the court are like 72 or 73. But if they keep the white house they might be down to under 40 Senate seats. While it is true that dem controlled senates gave republicans justices such as burger Thomas Rehnquist Powell etc it’s like the gop asked to be let in the door and closed it back in there face.… Read more »
The only advantage to the Dems getting a majority in the SC is to accelerate the timeline for the boogaloo.
Aside from that it is madness to wish for a Dem SC.
Which is why it is no surprise that this post is from you.
Well I hate the right but I hate the left too. But I can’t oppose the left with basically the Dems being discriminated by the electoral design of our country.
Now if it’s a situation where it’s a blue state and the Dems have been given the keys and have proven themselves undeserving of power, then I’ll vote republican. Like in Virginia I would have voted for youngkin.
How are the Dem’s discriminated against via the electoral design? Inquiring minds want to know.
a 52% PV win in the senate over three cycles usually is a minority for democrats but a majority for republicans. When we had the filibuster for the SC – it didn’t matter. But since it went away – it allows for a type of “minority rule”.
I think you’re on the wrong website, bud, unless you just want to pour gasoline on the fire or pederasts legalized. Why is it that the arrested Antifa turds are always wife beaters or pedos?
Your writing is incoherent. What does ” the country is an apartheid state against the Democratic party” even mean? What do you mean when you say the GOP closed the door back in their face? “Mike Flynn” treatment? Are you saying the Dems need to surveil someone and then un-mask them so they can then throw fake charges of Russian collusion? Or do you mean the Democrat party arm of justice , the FBI, will use Talmudic word twisting to charge someone with a “process” crime?
By apartheid state I mean it’s effectively impossible for the Dems to wield a majority even though they usually win the vote more often. As for the door closed in there faces, the Dems allowed 12 republican nominated sc justices from 1955-1991 to go through, sometimes unanimously. The last time an r Senate allowed a dem sc nominee was 1895. Given the Senate seats up in 2024 the Dems are locked out of basically any power. So to control the sc the Dems would have to gamble and assume Thomas and alito are unacquittable in the district of Columbia jury.… Read more »
Lol seriously.? . lmfao.
It’s just trolling. Don’t feed.
Must be right. The information is incorrect and the logic is incoherent. No place to start an argument.
Hate is good.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hLqsIPHsFFg
Thank you, for not letting the truth get in the way of a cute story.
““The woman’s right to choose” was the cover for promoting eugenic policies in the black community.”
Really?? This sounds like a conspiracy theory you’d hear on Fresh FM. Could I get some sources?
Never bothered researching the demographics of abortion because it wouldn’t have moved the needle for me, but 60 million seems a little high if the point was controlling the black population.
Justice Ginsburg let this slip in an interview several years ago…that the main notion was that minorities would abort themselves in large numbers….
Make sure to get boosted!
Geez, listening to all the anti-abortion protesters one would think all the abortions are the result of incest and rape. Thats a whole lot of incest and rape. In the virtual world of text from half a word away that is now violence. I wish we could abort some of our leaders. Maybe suck them feet first from one end of a 1″ diameter pipe to another using some heavy duty commercial class pump. Listen to see if they feel pain. This is only an experiment. Please don’t question the science.
And you’ll notice how there’s never any requirement that a woman claiming that her pregnancy resulted from a rape actually, you know, report that rape to police so that the rapist can be taken out of circulation and thereby save other women.
Feminist “outrage” over rape is at best skin deep. If it was more than that, rape would be classed a hate crime. But feminists don’t dare push for that lest they inadvertently illuminate the ugly reality that the vast majority of rapes in AINO are committed by male Hutus.
I find it exceptionally hard to believe that the most prog-left of types were in fact trying to remove prenatal black bodies.
Results matter more than intentions, and the ones at the top were quite bright enough to predict the results. The intentions of useful idiots are irrelevant.
You are being too literal-minded or what Z has termed “bourgeois-objectivist.” Steve Sailer pointed out years ago that (at least some) progressives love gun control because it is a socially acceptable way to demand the police put violent black and brown POC (Pillars Of Community) in their place, under cover of regulating Michigan Militia boogeymen or whatever. There is no law of nature that the reason people give for supporting some policy is their actual reason for supporting it. I think he also argued this explains environmentalism in the Pacific NW because it wards off Mexican quinceaneras and generic spring-break… Read more »
Margaret Sanger approves this comment.
Voluntary eugenics is good for society. Only voluntary.
As gross as it is the kind of people these days who get abortions, low impulse control types and Leftists are the sorts no society needs.
If approximately 80% of abortions are blegs and other undesirables…
Well then I can live with it.
Fact is neither guns or abortions are going to go away period.
As our esteemed host has said, I am a second amendment absolutist and will take up arms to preserve it.
Ending unwanted pregnancy one way or another has been going on as long as humans have existed and will continue one way or another.
I suspect the “morning after pill”
already has highly reduced the number of surgical abortions.
It would be interesting to know.
To compound matters the Fed found the perfect sweet spot in interest rates. Just high enough to crash the economy,, just low enough to do little to nothing about inflation. No one shows the world how to fail like the Fed.
The Fed is not near done with interest rates. The “low” rate hike this time will be followed by several more to come. The economy won’t land as softly as they hope, but once the midterm elections are over, it’s gloves off, hard recession. This is exactly what we saw when Reagan was elected. However, things were great in time for Reagan’s re-election and it was “morning in America”. This could happen again, except a Biden (or some other Dem) is at the helm until 2024. That will prolong the recession, perhaps making it a record for the books. The… Read more »
The goal is to crash, ,the economy as this is a genuine shortage driven inflation. the EU has the same goal
Keep the economy in the doldrums till the supply chains are fixed is what is planned but its not going to work.
At this point the best thing that could happen is we just dissolve the federal government and revert to 50 individual states. Some have functional governments and will do fine, others do not and will fail. Each state can go in its own direction and we let the freaks and normal people part ways to their separate states. Without an overarching government and supreme court there is no way for coalitions of freak interests to force their way upon the normalish states, and the same is true the other way. Nobody knows how to fix the federal government, including me.… Read more »
“Nobody knows how to fix the federal government.” Yes, yes, yes — to the 112th power! I know that Jordan Peterson is quite spotty/hit-or-miss, but he once made a comment that I thought was brilliant. He must have been referencing the ‘08 financial crisis, specifically the notion that some corporations/financial institutions are “too big to fail.” Peterson stated that maybe some of these organizations are “too big to succeed.” That how the fed’l gov’t is these days. It’s a leviathan monster with far too many tentacles, incapable of maintaining any internal consistency and simply beyond the ability of any one… Read more »
All that will happen is that failed States offload their problems to other (non-failed) States. For example, in the 60’s there was a movement of welfare recipients from poor Southern States to more wealthy Northern States. NYC for example tried to prohibit these folk from joining the welfare roles, but were overruled by the courts.
As long as people within the US can freely move about, a failed State is every other State’s problem.
But that is with a federal government able to enforce federal court decisions. If (when) the federal fails, there won’t be any “US” around to prevent state border enforcement.
Yes. with 50 sovereign states with absolute control over their borders it will be up to them to define who gets to live in their states. There also won’t be the enormous welfare system in place that fedgov had. This might be a problem short term when the EBT cards stop working. Will require frequent and furious applications of lead to mitigate, which may be beyond the capabilities of current state leadership but it’s gonna happen sooner or later anyways.
Rando – Get out of my head! lol. I’ve been screaming for everything you wrote for years now. I’m much more harsh, however. I firmly believe that the borders of these balkanized states must be protected. Any attempt to cross a state border of which you are not permitted should result in instant incarceration (or worse). Eliminating leftists (which are easy to identify), would clean up some of our homeland and allow for the decent, reasonable people to go about their lives. The left wing states will burn in a sea of anarchy, murder, rape and drug addiction. As far… Read more »
“At this point the best thing that could happen is we just dissolve the federal government and revert to 50 individual states.” Actually, this is what the country originally was. The only reason the victorious colonies wanted a “federal” government at all was for the free movement of trade among the States, a common currency, and a strong enough military to protect themselves from European powers. They sort of believed that human beings were rational creatures that wouldn’t promote self-destructive policies (See Franklin’s comment about “A Republic, if you can keep it.”). If they knew what would happen in the… Read more »
Z Man and some of the commenters have downplayed the importance of abortion to liberal white women, primarily because the older feminists are all barren now.
Do you guys interact with liberal white women? From my experience, abortion is their fundamentalist religion, their deepest inspiration for political engagement. It is even more important to them than hating traditional white men. If Roe is overturned, I expect my 50 year old liberal sister to light herself on fire in protest. (And I will assist her.)
I guess we’ll see whether Z Man or I am correct.
Line: A man after my own heart. And for all the stories about women who’ve suffered years of guilt after their abortions, the only woman I knew personally that I knew for sure had an abortion (actually two, I believe) never regretted them. She went on to require reproductive drugs to eventually conceive and birth one child with her husband (father of the two she had killed). Although our youthful friendship had been distant for years, I finally terminated it in 2008. I’d be willing to bet money she’s already out there demonstrating (she’s a resident of Northern Virginia just… Read more »
3g4me;
What a truly horrific story..
Child: “Mom, why don’t I have any brothers or sisters?”
Mom; “Why, I killed them”.
It’s almost unbelievable.
These women get all vocal and militant in promoting abortion because it is their way of expiating their guilt A man can yell at a young woman and bring her to tears. A man she dreams about can turn around and laugh at the way she looks and bring on a mental breakdown. Women, especially the young, are very sensitive and vulnerable creatures. There is ZERO chance that having an abortion doesn’t fuck them up mentally. Zero. Their entire childhood is a coming to terms with the fact that they are the way babies come into being. They babysit. They… Read more »
Perhaps in another ten years, things will run their course, and you won’t need to serve as your sister’s catalyst or accelerant. But, yes, the fervor–or hangover–following an emotionally charged issue may well outlast demographic reality. Maybe your sister’s “passion” (some cruel types would call it rage) will, burn itself out after a not-too-decent interval.
Crabe;
“Burn itself out”
I see what you did there.
Well played.
I haven’t seen much interest in the issue except from Boomers who think we’re still in the ’70s…In fact, striking down Roe, already partially overruled in Casey, will simply return abortion to the State legislatures, and nothing much will change in most States…But liberals don’t want democracy, they want a judicial dictatorship…
Line;
I request the popcorn concession.
I’ll give you a nice cut, but I want a good seat.
It has been sold as empowerment, like many other aspects of feminist snake oil. Unfortunately, too many weak-minded women swallow said snake oil.
What could possibly be more empowering and liberating for an Oppressed Woman of Color than to get pregnant and kill the baby on the taxpayer dime?
Nowadays more and more people ponder the ongoing collapse of the America Empire. We know all is crazy and nothing is going to get better for any of us dirt people. The Cloud People continue to run every thing into the ground, completely oblivious of the common people outside their big city hives. How the collapse will proceed I think should be the big question. I think inflation and a collapse of the supply chain is what will lead to people completely giving up on the so-called American Ideal. We know right now inflation has no limits, and once people… Read more »
you’ll see a lot more local production, and more bartering. and a concomitant reduction in mindless consumerism. grilling, funny enough, will continue unabated as it only requires charcoal and meat, both of which can be produced locally. the big cities will de-populate, a process which has already begun; it won’t be possible to support large concentrations of people. nigs will die out and be replaced by mexicans. immigration will end, and a lot of 3rd worlders will return to their home countries (or get killed over time).
Are you saying that grillers like cockroaches will be the only thing standing after a full collapse?
A Mad Max with grilling?
My great grandfather made a living as a charcoaler for the Bellefonte Blast Furnace in Ashland, Kentucky, His job was to take hardwood and turn it into charcoal, the fuel used at that time to smelt pig iron. He evidently prospered in that line of work.
Coalclinker: Depends on when and how it truly hits home for each individual. My husband’s clueless coworkers have recently been blindsided by the theft of 3 catalytic converters from vehicles parked in the lot of the company’s subsidiary downtown storage location. In broad daylight, even with camera coverage. My daughter-in-law, who rather sneeringly dismissed my earlier expressions of concern about inflation and supply shortages, has suddenly admitted meat is becoming unaffordable and expressed grave concern about the infant formula shortage (we placed an order to remedy the latter – we don’t want our grandson to go hungry). Right now in… Read more »
Heh. Down London way, and in the wealthy suburbs, catalytic converter thefts were all the rage. Now, back when I lived there, I heard of the following incident: A car was jacked up on the driveway, at around dusk, by three ‘foreign’ men (probably Albanians). Two men went to work on the car, and the third, armed with a metal pole stood by the front door. When the occupants of the house realized what was happening, the man of the house rushed to the front door. He saw the yob with the pole, and didn’t venture outside – a wise… Read more »
You damn well in the UK that you would be arrested for assault if you did such a thing.
I had someone half in my 1st floor window one night and he jumped down when I grabbed a kitchen knife. If it had been 10 secs later the only way out would have been via me.
The cops who arrived hours after the fact were only interested in whether I had stabbed him or I used “excessive force” to make him leave.
They did not even bother to record the incident.
i couldn’t live in a shithole like that.
Well, here in most States, you don’t go out to stop a pole carrying thief with a brick, you grab your gun. There are even videos making the rounds of exactly that. The pole in a thief’s hand is a decided liability here as it will be interpreted as a deadly weapon used in an attempted burglary.
“Some meth producers have been known to use the components (in a cat converter) to reduce toxins that are emitted during the cooking process.” I am a school teacher (private school), and last Thursday our sports bus had both of its catalytic converters removed. In my county here in Dixie the meth angle makes a lot of sense. I asked the headmaster about the expense of replacing the converters, and he said, “Well, I guess we can just straight-pipe it.” The bus will actually run better that way. That’s one of the advantages of living in fly-over country; there’s no… Read more »
Why steal catalytic converters? Do they contain some huffable substance? Do they convert Kias into Cadillacs? Do they contain copper wire?
Ostei: $$$. Catalytic converters contain platinum, rhodium, and palladium.
I was wondering that too, so I had to do some research on it. Apparently, your higher IQ meth producers have a way of filtering the fumes produced during meth production through the purloined catalytic converters.
It seems like a lot of work to go through just to keep from getting a job.
The 4th turning crowd , the militia crowd and the various prognosticators figure it will all come to a head by the mid 2030’s, maybe because of COVID a bit sooner
It will either be reboot into something tolerable, civil war or collapse. Some combination is also possible , who knows.
“This is probably why Bernie Sanders is telling people he plans to run in 2024, despite Biden people saying Biden 2024 is not a punchline.”
No, its not a punchline. Its a punch bowl. With a really big turd floating in it.
Anyway, Bernie is no problem for anyone. Everyone already knows his price is another vacation home, preferably ocean front property.
For those of a certain age – E Warren is Gladys Kravitz
Abner!! Abner!!
“That is why Elizabeth Warren was doing the angry chicken dance outside the Supreme Court”… Excellent rhetoric! It’s bizarre that a Harvard Law School Professor and Senator would voluntarily turn herself into a laughingstock, but certainly fun to watch…
Given she is not seen as such for such clown antics by the Harvard faculty probably tells you what you need to know about the institution.
A caller to Howie Carr’s yesterday opined that Granny Warren hasn’t been this upset since she got her 23 and Me results back…
The boomers I know are increasingly bewildered. They are also nearing exhaustion, physically and psychologically.
I don’t know how you reach these people, but I am certain that it is a bad idea to stop trying.
But I have stopped telling them that this is only the beginning. They tend not to respond well to that.
I barely see old people out in public anymore. When I do, they are scurrying around masked up, looking thin, frail, terrified, angry, and depressed.
Live by the TV, die by the TV, I guess. The people unable to unplug from the TV/MSM/ruling class brainwaves will be the worst off. They might even be worse off than reality – just go for a walk and life is still good, if you don’t think about everything around us – you still need to enjoy life.
Looks like the collapse came before the Boomers passed, which is sooner than we expected.
Go to the supermarket on Sunday morning.
There are plenty of busted up, fogged out oldsters that can no longer navigate the checkout line.
Boomers tend to be maligned as those rich f**ks who robbed all the goodies before others got their chance at the pie. What you are seeing is the reality, those rich f**ks you decry are the minority. Those supermarket Boomer zombies are the norm—broken down after a lifetime of hard, manual labor trying to figure out how they’ll survive on SSI in an era of inflation and civil strife.
They literally can’t unhook themselves from the TV. Literally every single time I visit my parents I methodically debunk everything they heard on the news, but when I come back again every single time they’ve reset back to “they say there’s a new covid variant” and “those poor Ukrainians”.
But in this red State of AZ, a surprising number are quite jolly…they don’t seem to be interested in the Ukraine or the bogus threat to abortion “rights” that abolishing a judicial dictatorship represents to the crazies…
Boomer(’49 model)here. I live in the rural South and i plan on going into the woods with my rifle and handguns and do some shooting today. i can fix stuff, grow my own food, hike for miles, drive tractors and heavy trucks, sail a boat, fly a single-engine plane, and i drive better backwards than most people can forwards.
If you all think Boomers are bad, wait until these sorry-ass Millennial pukes take over. Practice your “uptalk” and “vocal fry” while you wait for the help that will never come.
Many Boomers are hitting their 60’s and 70’s and have all the neuroplasticity you’d expect from people in general poor health. I.E very little
With exceptions, simply they don’t matter. Take care of the ones you can reach , learn from the ones who are screwheads and move on.
They have plenty on offer: Expanding the SC; federalizing elections on a “y’all come” basis; universal basic income; banning the use of fossil fuels. But the money boys don’t want to hear it, at least at the present time. It might be interesting to give the electorate an up-or-down vote on these things. In an un-rigged election (which is something we’ll never again see at the federal level).
But even though MPAI, dramatic changes seldom have a constituency…and of course, abolishing fossil fuels would just be suicide…
Ask the EU about that. The politicians are repeatedly drilling into their own head with a power drill just to show the Russians who is boss and for the Green Death Agenda.
There is a certain “decline of Rome” quality to all this over which I cannot help but worry. Even desiccated and corrupt institutions can be useful as the crumbling mortar loosely binding a society in decline, or at least arresting the pace of decay. Most bemusing is the Alanis-like irony involved: one day the Court are heroes for giving the loonies gay marriage; the next day the Court should be torched for messing with the holy vajajay. And on top of it all, “our Democracy” produced the abortion laws in the first place! The problem is that “our Institutions” in… Read more »
Captain Willard: Well said. Institutions and systems of government are all mere veneers. As Infant noted yesterday, reality always has been that men rule over other men. The more ardent and coordinated, however irrational, will always triumph over the more thoughtful and prudent. And quantity has a quality all its own, as the plethora of aliens in our midst demonstrates.
” … while packs of deranged social justice warriors push through nutty ideas like the ministry of disinformation.”
Speaking of which, this:
https://www.theblaze.com/news/oregon-schools-menstrual-products-for-boys
Also, all forms of animal protein are being withdrawn. Last week it was chicken. Now this:
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/japanese-encephalitis-detected-in-30-nsw-piggeries-pork-supply-set-to-plunge/ar-AAWowb1?ocid=st
Yeah. “Piggeries.” Who knew? Will we now see doggeries and catteries? Will nurseries mean a place where nurses are slaughtered?
We are SO doomed.
They know full well meat builds muscle, which is why they don’t want us eating any.
Infant: I saw that a few days ago. Since pork is the only reasonably priced meat left, this should prove interesting, Although they have, at least in my area, introduced a mother’s day sale of bone-in steaks (t-bones and ribeyes) for $4.77 – $5.97 a pound. Whereas boneless, skinless chicken thighs (useful mixed with breasts for tastier stir-frys, casseroles, salads, etc.) are ‘on sale’ for $4.99 a pound.
3g:
It’s part of UN Agenda 21, now rebranded as Agenda 2030 or as the Green New Deal, and it’s about population reduction.
I’m sure you know that Bill Gates has bought up lots of farm land and has invested heavily in meat substitutes.
They will not stop until somebody stops them.
huh, chicken thighs are $2.46/LB here ibn florida, and that is at a somewhat pricey store (Publix)
karl: Standard bone-in chicken thighs I can still get for $1.98 a pound (whereas I used to get them on sale for $0.99). It’s the boneless, skinless ones that are costly – I generally only use them for making my husband Chinese food (he finds chicken breast alone too tasteless and dry). I don’t know what everyone else buys them for, but they are what’s pricey.
” … but they are what’s pricey.”
And pretty soon, they won’t even be pricey b/c they won’t be available at any price.
We’ll hafta eat the globalists.
What I’ve noticed is that the only reasonably priced meats left are the ones with genuinely unappetizing names, like “Pork Cushion” and “Beef Flap Meat”.
I still think that last one was slipped in by some joker running the butcher at winco.
I wouldn’t eat chicken thighs for free. The texture of them is what I imagine cat or dog meat texture to be. Disgusting, stringy, sinewy slop.
“Disgusting, stringy, sinewy slop.”
Maybe you ought to cook them properly.
Ja, they are killer in slow cooker recipes. They go really well in recipes with pidgeon peas. Also good in recipes with barley.
Chicken breast oven baked should be coated with a little olive oil to keep it from getting all dried out.
Maybe you’re right. I shall try JJ’s suggestions below.
“The old framework is no longer salient and no one has a clue as to what should replace it or even if it can be replaced.” This. Part of the reason why our elite keep recycling old issues is because they’re Boomers who don’t want to let go, but the other reason is that no one wants to face the realities and problems of what America is becoming and will be soon. The US is a divided, broke fading empire. The country is comprised of various peoples who not connected by culture, politics nor blood. Our elite adhere to an… Read more »
“Future political battles will reflect a racially, culturally divided country … .”
The country will break apart. Its present form will not last. A “union” (so called) that is held together at gunpoint (since 1865) is no union at all. It is an abusive relationship that the abused partner will leave at the first real opportunity.
In fact, the country has already broken apart. It remains now only to draw new maps.
There was never a time when Massachusetts and South Carolina were going to be subject to the same government as a *permanent* arrangement.
Not sure about that completely?
Lindsay Graham would fit right into Massachusetts progressivism
“Lindsay Graham would fit right into Massachusetts progressivism.”
No. You are mistaken.
Funny how not one of you lives in or even near South Carolina, but you know all there is to know about Lindsey G.
He’s a fruitcake and a shore, yes, but “thinking” that he would fit into New England is just stupid.
And
abysmally ignorant.
Stop getting your info from TeeVee, kidz.
Which shows why this all collapsed. The Founders famously created a system of competing interests. Which cracked after the war. What finally destroyed it was Ivy league schools. Now EVERY major player goes to five or six institutions conveniently located in Yankeedom.
It’s been that way for a long time: the training grounds for those who rule. It worked well enough from a civilizational stability perspective when the vast majority of their student intake was WASP. Letting Jews in was the first mistake. Now all of them have as institutional mission the minimization of WASP admission and their replacement by diverse capable young predators drawn from the rest of humanity.
Diversity is never a strength, but diversity in the ruled class can be (expensively) managed. Diversity in the ruling class is certain civilizational death.
Is “Massachusetts progressivism” some form of US euphemism for sodomy?
Yes butt sex wearing a Red Sox shirt.😊
“Is “Massachusetts progressivism” some form of US euphemism for sodomy?” No. That is absurd. Massachusetts–and Boston in particular–is the wellspring of Puritan nuttiness. It gave birth to “our enemies, the -isms”: Puritanism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Unitarian-Universalism, Transcendentalism, Abolitionism, The Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science), etc. They were the only people in the history of America to try and condemn people for witchcraft. They are the descendants of the P uritans who foisted the Commonwealth on England under Cromwell (“Hector Protector”). Regicides. Fanatics. Horrible people. Their descendants account for the nuttiness on display in Oregon and the northern tier of US… Read more »
it’s hard to find a good comparison since the internet and social media has made things more postmodern and dumber in general. If crap was to hit the fan in the U.S. what would the best comparison be?
1930s Spain?
1917 Russia?
Irish Troubles?
Italian Years of Lead?
Mao Great Leap Forward /Cultural revolution?
Jonestown?
Abortion is an interesting topic. I’ve never been super pro life which I take alot of heat for from the right. In a sane society I don’t really see an early trimester abortion as a problem (ie. Stable married couple with 3 kids, has an accidental pregnancy, and gets an abortion at 8 weeks). Of course in our society, it’s become a disaster among everything else. But I’d argue that our sexually liberal culture, the collapse of the family, and collapse of religion is far worse than legal abortion. Also the promotion of abortion as a “good thing” and even… Read more »
Looking at the RvW situation, I’m not sure they will be able to spool it up to the necessary level of rage.
They need to stage another Floyd-type incident in the next few weeks to really kick off the summer riot season.
Wild Geese: I’m not certain. Certainly seems as though it’s a rite of passage for every empowered young womyn to chant ‘my body my choice’ (whereas if you forced her to view pictures of aborted babies she’d curl up in a fetal ball herself). Many boomer suburban women will don their pussy hats and join them. A certain percent of blacks will be there (can’t be a protest without them) but the majority of orientals and subcontinentals will not (not because they don’t believe in or practice sex-selective abortions, but because they generally ignore laws they find inconvenient anyhow and… Read more »
The only sane position is that abortion is good when non-whites do it and bad when whites do.
Which is why I’ve always “agreed and amplified” the issue.
Privileged white women should be charged more in order to subsidize oppressed POC women’s abortions. Oh, and Planned Parenthood clinics should be almost exclusively on MLK drive.
Where do you get your info on other countries’ laws? At least in Europe, i have always heard their abortion laws are far more restrictive than the US.
“But I’d argue that our sexually liberal culture, the collapse of the family, and collapse of religion is far worse than legal abortion. ”
I’d argue that in a burning room, the burning couch and burning curtains are far worse than the burning carpet.
I saw the ad twice where they tried to hit Vance for his Ukraine comments. I never it saw it again. It must have polled horribly.
Probably because the ad against him turned into an ad for him. Did he report it as a contribution in kind?
“Everyone will be talking about what comes after Joe Biden. In politics, it pays to be the first at the scene of the disaster, so Sanders is making sure his name is going to be in stories discussing the demise of Joe Biden.” If you need someone to be first at the scene of a disaster, Bernie’s your man! ™ So Z (or anybody else), what’s your take on Bernie “Yes, I’m STILL here” Sanders? I originally thought he was running the Upton Sinclair strategy from the 1934 California Gubernatorial election (Dyed-in-the-wool Socialist joins Democratic party and wins party nomination)… Read more »
I vote #2. Bernie is just the type to be bought off by a “dacha on the Black Sea”
Barack and Michele will cut out a building lot for Bernie at one of their Global Warming resistant ocean front estates
I am rooting for two things: 1) A catastrophic Pacific Tsunami; 2) A Cat 4-5 hurricane rolling up the east coast, or failing that, at least a hurricane-strength Fall or Winter Nor’easter. In both cases with the Power Couple in residence when they hit.
What does the popular theory say? Every 80 years or so there’s a crisis that wipes out the old arrangement and brings in the new. Here we are, safe to say.
Not sure it must be so, but letting things fester and pop seems to be the American Way.
> . In business, when you do not have a new product or a new version of the existing product, you roll out a new marketing campaign instead. This is what has happened with politics.
They can’t even do Marketing right. Imagine how out of touch you have to be to brand your enemies “Ultra-Maga” like Biden did in that press conference. It’s even better than the Dark-Maga meme running around in dissident circles.
The last thing you want to do is galvanize and make your enemies feel powerful, and that’s what the elites are doing with their hilarious rhetoric.
What comes after Ultra?
on May 5, 2022 at 9:51 am said:
“What comes after Ultra?”
Depends.
“What comes after Ultra?”
“Depends.”
Now that right there is funny!
Mega-Maga? It does have a nice ring to it.
“Oh no! The Mega-Maga Men have come for our taxpayer-funded reproductive rights!”
Just about every constituency has a reason to storm the city and demand a redress of grievances.
—
Had that thought with the Pussy Hat Brigade raging about how the establishment should be put to the sword. “Let me open the door for you” was what came to mind..
Evil Sandmich: And then lock them all in together. Forever.
Opening up the door for them?
Bucko, that there’s Patriarchal Oppression in a nutshell. That’ll get you dirty looks.
Roe is the latest hysteria to gin up the freaks and lunatics, but I doubt it’ll have any sticking power. Covid is fading, though not entirely – the cdc is trying to keep the f-ing mask mandate in place in perpetuity and some clown in Rhode Island has introduced mandatory vax legislation for the state. I figure most normal people are pretty much sick of it now. I see hardly anything on Ukraine lately – again most people don’t give a s***, unfortunately we will have to live with the economic backlash from DC’s dips*** Russian sanctions. Speaking of the… Read more »
Abortion for the left is passe in the face of racial justice and gender ideology. It will not affect most of the young and stinks a the battle of a previous generation.
For the right, this could get more interesting, and just depends on whether they rest on their laurels at the victory, or start to play offense. Though gay marriage is now supported by a clear majority, it’s shocking how fast this can change with an aggressive and fanatical base. Especially now that right-wing media beginning to lose their grasp on gatekeeping.
My reading of the tea leaves indicates they are going to start trying to make it a statutory crime to dissent from regime orders and ideology. Relying on corporations to impose forms of internal banishment and house arrest aren’t working well enough. They are still suffering some set backs in satellite courts and now apparently one in the temple of the holy city so packing that court and neutralizing the renegades that Trump installed will be a priority I suppose.
The usual suspects are trying to push a study claiming the new Omicron variants are just as severe as the original Cv.
In the clown market, yesterday’s print up so Blackrock can go buy more houses at 50% above ask has been destroyed by Shopify’s poor results, which seem to be driving the entire market.
Cue a total market reversal and some today – wild Wednesday followed by tank Thursday. Day to day moves basically make no sense anymore.
I think it’s to destroy retail accounts and trust in the market, thus forcing them back to work in the corporate salt mine.
There is no safety, much less income potential in what were conservative, nearly set and forget positions for retail.
No point in hedging because they’ll blow your hedge out into a loss.
Holding anything overnight or over the weekend is pure folly at this point.
Of course, the MMs and their AI algos are able to grift even more funny money out of these crazy swings.
They’re also really good at pocketing retail option premium.
There’re still good dividend paying stocks, but the crazy swings don’t make them the stress free holdings they used to be, that’s for sure. It is getting to be much more if a crapshoot as you’ve said. No market for old men…
“some clown in Rhode Island has introduced mandatory vax legislation for the state.” California already tried this year. The legislation was pulled by its sponsor the day before hearings were scheduled to begin. She cited “early feedback” as the reason for the abrupt stop. It was framed as an employer mandate. If your employee doesn’t get vaxxed and register with the NGO running the State database, then you the employer get a hefty fine. Per employee. I’m sure the intent was to divide employers against employees, but the practical result was all those retail/high turnover employers realizing the paperwork that… Read more »
My most tinfoil hat belief is that it really is Obama and his wrecking crew running a third term behind the scenes, and much of the confusion and crossed wires on just about everything is not being able to do it openly.
Looks like it’s going to be Cloward-Piven after all, and maybe by sheer accident.
Outstanding commentary. I’ve had some interesting conversations in the last couple weeks with lefties (Gen X) who are starting to break out of the cognitive dissonance fog. Things are just too chaotic and weird for above average intelligence people with little free time to research and question the dominant narrative to effectively defend it. Hopefully the worm is starting to turn. Although my tax accountant of all people just added pronouns to her emails so it could just be the inevitable schism coming into focus.
” Although my tax accountant of all people just added pronouns to her emails so it could just be the inevitable schism coming into focus.”
Get a new accountant, stop giving these people money. They’d boycott you in a heartbeat over one verbal slip.
Indeed. Propaganda following dickheads should be punished, not rewarded with business.
Tucker has an interesting economist on his streaming channel for an interview, basically what I hear him saying is that we are trying the same game plan as shortly after WW2 when we had a huge defect, run it down by using inflation. The stealing of Russian assets and the Ukraine war are complicates things.
The other thing that complicates things but not mentioned is that the people running the ship on the political side are no longer the people of 1946 to1952 but instead look more and more like a Jim Jones cult.
Yep, it’s called Financial Repression. Let inflation run hot while holding interest rates well below inflation. Because of inflation, nominal GDP increases quickly, bringing down debt to GDP, assuming you keep deficits well below nominal GDP growth. It worked in the 40s and early 50s, but the US had several things going for it then that it doesn’t now, such as: 1. Very strong real economic growth. (Real, i.e., above inflation, GDP growth has only been ~2% annual for the past decade or so.) 2. Capital controls 3. Very low consumer and business debt 4. Politicians that kept the budget… Read more »
That is exactly what was discussed minus why it probably will not work. This works into the essay today, the childishness and chaos in our leadership class is going to compound our problems.
You missed the key difference.
The US had a real economy making real goods.
We now have a digital economy making digital goods, i.e. Nothing.
Bingo! And I would add, the quicker we get back to making our own goods, the better we will be for it In the long run.
Yep. Off the top of my head, 40% of the US economy is government (half Fed, half other) and 20% of it is FIRE sector.
Of those maybe 15% of government (excluding retirement) is essential and of the FIRE sector 5% and that generous
The useful parts of the economy are maybe 60% and to be honest probably not that much since the government props up a lot of the other sectors.
If we were to crash seriously our real economy would be something like 40% of what we have, maybe less if we lose reserve status.
Post-WW2 the US had something like 60 to 70% of the world’s entire industrial base.
Not to mention the Dollar had just be crowned the king of the Western world after WW2. Today we’re bankrupt, that is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to address. I don’t even think its entitlements that are ruining the system, it was greed. 2008 was bankruptcy and we refused to acknowledge it. Everything since has been kicking the can. Their is no escape from a crackup boom. “The boom brought about by the banks’ policy of extending credit must necessarily end sooner or later. Unless they are willing to let their policy completely destroy the monetary and… Read more »
In pilot terms we had all the favorable tailwinds in 1946, today we have a hurricane of consequences to deal with.
After WW2 the trust in .gov was at its peak and its been slowly fading since then. 2008 was a big dent in trust because those who caused it were not held to account, covid was an even bigger loss in trust. How much trust do you think is left?
Last comment: Did we even win WW2? Think about it, how many Americans were killed in WW2? Where did the majority of the fighting occur? I would argue it was the Russians who won WW2 (sorry guys, the majority of German causalities were on the eastern front)
Mr. House: Entitlements are synonymous with greed. I am so terribly tired of reading about “MY social security” or “MY pension” or “MY disability.” And it seems every other commenter on vlogs about inflation and shortages begins with “I am elderly and disabled.” Well bully for you. I’m an old lady with creaky knees, too, but damned if I’m sharing anything with them so they can feed their cats.
House, no apologies needed. Russia bled the Germans dry. WWII would have ended badly for the Germans without any US help in the effort, but would have taken longer. Where the US shined was in the Pacific. One for the history books as an endeavor.
MY social security” or “MY pension” or “MY disability.”
In theory, it should be yours because you paid into it through SS and employment taxes, etc. Problem is it has been stolen. If rather than paying the government you paid those same amounts to a private investment account, no one would argue it’s not yours.
To something 3g4me said, you have a choice here. You can pay for social security and medicare so people can spend money when younger with less worries (in theory) or you can have the consequences of 30% savings rates and elder poverty Ignoring the later, that much savings means that much less consumption and as an added bonus, in modernity children are consumption , a luxury good for most. We’d get roughly Japan with stagnant economy and a TFR of like 1 r so. This is a product of an efficiency trap , we don’t need that many people as… Read more »
I don’t believe there was serious inflation after WW2. I think most of the deficit was serviced by more tax revenue with industry going through the roof in the 50s and the high Eisenhower tax rates. Milton Friedman himself said budget deficits are inflationary if, and only if, they are financed largely by money printing.
For the people who were alive then – how skeptical was the public after Kennedy was assassinated? I always thought that people were generally trusting of the official story initially. It was only after the twin trust-killers of vietnam and watergate that people realized the warren commission was a snowjob.
That’s how I remember it with 9/11. It wasn’t until the later years of the Bush administration (07 or 08) with the financial collapse, disillusionment with foreign excursions and the first ron paul campaign – that 9/11 skepticism became en vogue.
The Boomers are Sampson Option-ing the country. The Covid thing was the first stage of this. Social Security becoming insolvent and Medicare becoming Medicaid will be the last. They will not go quietly into this good night.
Biden, Pelosi, McConnell are not boomers.
Correct.
There are plenty of Silents/WW2 babies still clinging to key positions.
Yeah, but Boomers, man!
These comments are from kidz that got booted from Vox Popoli by the Dark Lord.
What outcome is more equitable than global thermonuclear war, which grows more likely by the day as the decrepit fools running the West continue poking the Russian bear?
It’s not fair really, the filth that live in the cities get to be vaporized instantly instead of slowly dying of radiation poisoning, starvation, or STD via sexual slavery to a post-apocalyptic homoerotic leather-bound raider gang.
Oh, I think Uncle Vlad has plenty of canned sunshine deliveries planned for the good folks living in the missile fields of places like Minot, ND and Great Falls, MT.
What about those after them? Will Genx and others just accept no S.S. and taxes on their retirement funds, if they have any.
Yes, yes, to all of this. And it’s a good thing! Muddle-through has been killing us in slow motion for several decades now and the slow descent to the bottom means that it will take longer and be deeper as a result. And the longer it takes, the higher the probability that a serious amount of destruction and death will be left in its wake. For example, when the smoke clears in Ukraine, the casualty toll will likely number in the hundreds of thousands dead or seriously wounded, the economy will have fully collapsed, and recovery will take decades or… Read more »
If America has any sacred principles left, it’s that the only solution to losing a war is to start another one as soon as possible.
I believe this is what Reagan did in Granada. I still remember newspaper headlines, “We’re Back!” The talk was about American assuming world stage and once again using its military after defeat in Vietnam and Iran. Neocons were orgasmic.
Churchill once said the definition of success for some people is to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
“For example, when the smoke clears in Ukraine, the casualty toll will likely number in the hundreds of thousands dead or seriously wounded, … .? What?? Where on earth do you get such figures? Six hundred thousand was the *combat* death toll of the War to Prevent Southern Independence, and that figure tops the dead of *all* other wars in which the US has ever engaged. Where do you get this “hundreds of thousands”? WHO are these casualties? Nancy Pee and Boris J have visited Zelinsky and strolled around Keeve with him in broad daylight. The Russians have established multiple… Read more »
First, the US Civil War produced about 1.5 million casualties, and fatalities are not the same thing. Second, the Ukraine military started out with about 450,000 men in uniform and will likely suffer about a 40% casualty rate because of the way that Russia fights its ground war strategy. Namely, they use artillery and rockets to saturate enemy positions before conducting direct assaults. This produces a lot of shrapnel wounds. Third, Russia is probably going to kill all the Nazi battalions (take no prisoners), which alone could produce tens of thousands of casualties. And despite the forbearance of Russian forces… Read more »
Good analysis. I suspect high civilian casualties are also a result of the Ukrainian army units hiding among civilians. Russia is not inclined to go building by building flushing out military units thus trading Russian lives for Ukrainian civilians. Stand off and use artillery to level any area shooting back—which I would note is little different than what we did in WWII, despite our romanticized accounts in the movies.
“Good analysis.”
No. It’s as series of opinions (from where?), and TomA made no attempt to answer my question, which was “Where are you getting this info?”
“First, the US Civil War produced about 1.5 million casualties, and fatalities are not the same thing.” Oh, please. “Third, Russia is probably going to kill all the Nazi battalions (take no prisoners), … .” The Russian government’s officially stated position is that the nazis will be taken to Russia for trial. Russia does not have capital punishment. “And there is also the possibility that … .” Possibility? All I asked you was where you were getting the info in your initial post. That’s all. ” … a lot of “volunteer” mercenaries have crossed the border into Ukraine and are… Read more »
Elizabeth Warren was terrible. She had that old lady, thin, voice with an old lady bent walk and old lady skinny, angry, flailing arms. The footage of an aide holding her arm while she walks over the curb also doesn’t help. It’s also true that their lackeys are selected for their stupidity. Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor, being one of the more obvious examples. My guess is that this is because, as in the tv game, Survivor, as you get close to the end of the game, you want to make sure only the weakest and stupidest players stick… Read more »
I don’t think it is a money grab. I have seen this in the work world. Retirement is terrifying to the baby boomer generation because of how youth culture loomed over their development. I really think what we are seeing with these geezers is a refusal to accept the reality of age.
I had a conversation with a Boomer who should retire about that earlier this year. He saw hanging onto work as what he had to live for, in his words if he retired, he would go home, get sloppy and die.
What an absolute loser that Boomer must be. What sort of sad, pathetic person can’t find something to stay busy with after retiring. Just off the top of my head: fly fishing, gardening, wood work, travel…
Hell, my father retired and became a competitive body-builder.
You’re on to something there. I had not the slightest plan what to do when I retired. I now don’t have time enough in a day for all I want to accomplish. Hell, this damn group keeps me busy. 😉
The gerontacracy is not just Boomers which, their being the elders, should be the norm at this stage. Biden, Pelosi, Sanders and some others leading this disaster are pre boomers which in turn shows how thin the Democratic bench is these days. the squad, mayor homosexual and other crazies and weirdos are what is waiting in line to take over. Only Newsom would be recognizable as a normal candidate 30 years ago.
Expanding on what Barnard said Z, how much of this is like the athlete, actor, or singer who holds on forever because “Outside of this, what’s left?” You’re absolutely right that if these were normal people, they’d hit their 60s, and begin planning on downshifting, putting their feet up, and moving away from the cares of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I know and knew people who work because it’s part of their “life force”. My best friend’s late father worked daily, at a reduced number of hours a day, into his 80s. I once asked him why he… Read more »
mmack: It’s not even that they ‘love’ their work or that work defines them. It’s that without power or recognition or adulation (even from the fringe group du jour) they have no existence. Their entire sense of self is in their perception of superiority to others. Take away that public name recognition, the special privileges of age and seniority, and they become ‘deplorable’ nobodies. They truly fear that as death.
Agreed, and that was what I was driving at. These people can’t give up the power because without the power, they have nothing.
– No family
– No community
– No hobbies/interests
– No fawning respect
Great observation 3g4me. Yep, took me a while to get used to the realization that most of us are 2-3 generations from oblivion—it’s as if we never existed.
The children will remember, the grandchildren somewhat, then we are forgotten. Oddly, I can live, and die, with that.
Agreed. This isn’t about the money. These people fear retirement because, in their mind, it means death.
The past few months have been like a terrible reunion show. First a conflict with Russia and now Roe. But like all reunion shows, it’s sad to watch. Everyone just looks old and silly playing the same roles as they did when they were younger, and the jokes are lame and dated.
You might be surprised by the number of boomers who just don’t want to stay home all day with their spouses. I heard that a lot from my working contemporaries. Also, don’t discount the money factor. We were the generation that invented the personal finance industry, 401k’s, IRA’s, etc. and ditched pensions. Financial insecurity has been preached to my generation for decades. Will a million be enough? 2 million? What about long term care? Social Security will be so much better if you wait until 72. Etc. Etc. Etc. Funny that all those systems are gradually failing now that the… Read more »
Warren is a good example of how the world of politics is the reverse of the real world. In the real world, Warren is that tiresome busybody everyone avoids. In politics, she is a member of the elite.
She reminds me of a loathsome female attorney who lived a few floors down from us in our old apartment building when my wife and I first got married. My wife helped out the co-op board with some accounting now and then and one night this female shows up at our door at around 9:30 at night and announces that she has to speak to my wife about something urgent and attempts to push past me at the front door. I physically stopped her from getting past me and the expression in her eyes told me that at that moment,… Read more »
“I gently push her back out of the doorway, closing it.”
For which I shall burn incense at your shrine.
Well done!
“Loathsome female attorney” There are very few female attorneys not meeting this description. Even in comparison to loathsome male attorneys, its typically no contest.
The Lovely 🥰 Mrs. is an attorney and through her I’ve met plenty of attorneys, male and female. The biggest difference is: – The male attorneys people hate are either 1) The stereotypical “slimy, unethical” lawyer who lies, cheats, and steals or 2) An arrogant a-hole who believes he’s an uber-Alpha and is completely insufferable. – The female attorneys people hate are the ball-busting harpies who have no Off switch. As with the example in the above post EVERYTHING is important and EVERYTHING needs to be handled NOW! And EVERY interaction is a case that NEEDS to be won. On… Read more »
MMack,
Yes. This is most female attorneys. Poor time management and then want it all instantly, with a bad attitude to boot. Like I said, not all, but most of them easily lean or fully land in this category.
Funny how this came up. One of my best friends growing up, his dad was an attorney and from the Korean-War generation. Once I had to go with his son to help bail him out of jail (His dad got into a scuffle with another attorney in court down in The Bronx and the judge threw them both in the clink.) After posting bail we went to an eatery a few blocks away where his dad bought us a late lunch. The other attorney he got into it with came walking in to the same place around ten minutes after… Read more »
“Elizabeth Warren was terrible. She had that old lady, thin, voice with an old lady bent walk and old lady skinny, angry, flailing arms. The footage of an aide holding her arm while she walks over the curb also doesn’t help.” Senator Auntie Karen from Taxachusettes. “Warren is a craven simpleton.” Commentary like this is why I visit Z’s site. I did laugh out loud reading this. Anybody who grifts on being an American Indian and is stupid enough to get pulled into a trap by Donald Trump that exposes her grift deserves ALL the derision we can send her… Read more »
And what was the consequence for her decades of fraud and lying?
Like she cares. She gets the invites to the Masters’ shin digs and the TV time where she gets to harangue normal people from the bitterness of her shriveled soul.
At the same time she gets to line her and her family’s pockets.
as an aside, did anyone else notice the Biden ringer used at the journalism dinner and roast? The moment I saw “Biden” on screen, I said to myself, that’s not Biden, his lower jaw is too narrow, he has different teeth, the earlobe patterns are different, and his head is a different shape, also he was waaayy too alert. on another note, since the abortion debacle is merely the same old red rag dusted off and waved, at this point, I simply don’t care any longer. I received and immediately shredded my local ballot, because even if I did vote,… Read more »
It’s been obvious for some time that there are at least two Bidens. One has pendent earlobes, one attached. Aspect ratio ( width between ears / Height of lower lip to eyebrows) is very different.
How long before Joe A starts referring to the other Joe?
Elizabeth Warren and Jeb! are the same person. Have you ever seen the two of them in the same place at the same time, just look at that face, it’s the same person
Do you really think abortion for boomer white ladies was getting rid of blacks? I have thought so, too, but my reasoning was purely anecdotal. When I was a little girl in the eighties my Reagan-loving, pro-life dad was having an argument with his high-school female friend who also happenes to be a.big volunteer at our city’s local Plannes Parenthood. When my dad asked her if she really thought it was acceptsble for our nice, beautiful (white) daughters to have abortions, she said that abortion is not for people “like us”, but for the blacks and Mexicans. I do wonder… Read more »
I think the feminist mythology of abortion was a useful coping mechanism. It is a good example of the power of being for something versus against something. Abortion was always about eugenics. When sold as such, it did not do well, but when sold as female empowerment, it became a mass movement.
Abortion was probably about eugenics for the elite. For white women an abortion was an opportunity to unburden themselves of the child of a man who had lower status than she feels she deserves.
Upper and middle-class elites have many such useful fictions. “We picked this neighborhood for the schools” is one such fiction. I’ve noted too how readily upper and middle-class elites promote degeneracy and poor life decisions for others that they would never abide by themselves. It’s a curious survival strategy that bears being exposed more often.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg almost came out and said once, although I think she used the term “undesirables.” Margaret Sanger was open about it, which is why Planned Parenthood has had to distance themselves from her. It isn’t just blacks, they don’t want working class whites reproducing either. According to 2019 data, blacks had 38% of abortions compared to 33% for whites and 21% for those true social conservatives the Hispanics. This data is interesting, it appears the typical woman to get an abortion is a childless woman in her 20s. That is a sign of an unhealthy society.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/ss/ss7009a1.htm
The abortionist heroine Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, was always a eugenicist.
This piece makes it seem like a bad thing.
https://www.hli.org/resources/the-difference-one-racist-made-margaret-sangers-world/
“This is also why politics has descended into information war. In business, when you do not have a new product or a new version of the existing product, you roll out a new marketing campaign instead.” Even if voting were to make a difference, assuming the Dems can’t rig the elections, what do the Dems have to fear if their opposition consists of the Pubs? And folks will say, “Who’s Bernie front running for this time?” Abortion could be an issue around which the millenials and post-millenials could rally. Hating on white men is still a good marketing strategy among… Read more »
“Now that middle-class white women are past childbearing age, it no longer has emotional appeal….” ———————————————– Hmmmmm. Ya think so, Z? Now that you mention it… I am seeing the worst of the abortion hysteria coming from the old fat cat ladies, the howling ugly lesbians and the usual cast of pink haired morons that will probably never get laid in their lives. The young normal people seem to be totally tuned out of it and completely indifferent. I suppose I could be wrong… I have kinda been pounded numb by all the ‘current things’. I have noticed too, that… Read more »
I have talked about the trajectory of Boomer politics in the past. Probably should do something on it again. Think back to the main issues of the 1960’s for the Left. It was the war, college stuff and crotch issues. Things important to young people. In the 70’s this started to change as Boomers got into the work world, get married and buy homes. Reagan rode economic angst of the Boomers to the White House, while Democrats obsessed over education and daycare. In the 90’s the focus shifted to college affordability and health care. Boomers did not want to pay… Read more »
This is a good point, the women most hysterical about overturning Roe are post menopausal. I dug into the abortion data on the CDC website yesterday. The total number of abortions has been dropping along with the birthrate. Almost 93% of abortions happen in the first trimester, meaning accepting the Mississippi 15 week ban would do almost nothing to reduce the number of abortions in the country. Bringing the restrictions in line with most of Europe would be a way to make the Democrats look like they made a reasonable compromise most of the voters would accept and would do… Read more »
Yet continue to remember to get screwed every evening.
“ We have a class of women in this country who are so undisciplined they are unable to remember to take a pill every morning.”
Impulsivity and low IQ are a bad mixture.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/j7njz2/the_betting_pool_monster_list_from_cabin_in_the/ The plot of the movie, “Cabin in the Woods,” is that the teens heading to the cabin are going to accidentally select one monster from a whole menu of possibilities – while the whole thing is managed by a shadowy government hell-squad. It’s a new group of teens every month, or whatever, so there is a betting pool and each division gets to place their bet on which monster will be selected. Choices include werewolf, witches, sexy witches, angry molesting tree, and so on. Finance bet on werewolf, for example. Whole thing is genius and, near as I can… Read more »
From Mars or Mexico?
Zman’s prologue to his coming book, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire with a forward by Pat Buchanan.
Sounds great, but if Pat can’t do it, let’s recruit Derb for the foreword.