In 2004, Harper’s editor Lewis Lapham famously wrote a column describing his disgust with the appalling speeches he had just watched at the Republican National Convention.
I watched some presstitute or another (CBS I think) claim it was THE WORST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH EVER....and I wondered if there was a speech that Trump could have given that would have changed that post-speech analysis.
If Donald Trump had flown into the convention on a shimmering cloud of magical bees, with the voice of a choir of angels emanating from his flying bee-borne radiant body, they would have sighed and said that it was boring. That was the assignment.
This rather explains why so much of the establishment media is dying. If you already know what they are going to say, why bother to read or listen?
As it used to be with Pravda and Izvestia, one reads neither the Washington Post or the New York Times for either truth or the news, but to see what the official wisdom is. After all, if you do not know what the truth received from Congress, the "President," or somewhere in the bowels of Homeland Security is, you might get hurt.
I attended the Defense Language Institute for Basic Russian in 1991-92. We were there when the Putcsh happened--about halfway through the year long course.
Great school, terrific experience. All the instructors were native Russians, ex-pats--mostly Jews I think--they were the only ones who could get out easily...anyway they had a saying.
Oh-not to be patronizing--but Pravda=truth and Izvestia=news. The Russians would say, "There is no truth in Pravda nor news in Izvestia".
The Russians have known for 75 years how it works. Talk to any Eastern European who now lives in the States--100% conservative. All go to church. All see what is happening right in front of us--and they think we are so damn dumb it hurts.
I personally know a few who also come from China, as well as former Soviet republics. They are aghast at the submission and acquiescence of so many Americans to tyranny and the nanny state, especially here in the Communist Republic of California.
100%. Ask anyone under 40 if they have read any of the dystopian literature we all grew up on (I'm GenX). 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead...zero, nilch, nada--by design IMHO. They want us fat, dumb, distracted, titililated, and finally manipulated/controlled.
Yes, I was forced to read Nineteen Eighty-four, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451; I did not like reading them at the time, but the older I get, the more I appreciate having to do so. Of course, that was over forty years ago.
Personally, I believe that this dumbing down of education is an ongoing group project of the elites, using both the putatively "liberal" democrats and the putative republican "conservatives." Whatever their stated ideologies, and to be fair there are honest believers, the less money and effort is spent on education, this making the population less informed and therefor more controllable.
The Republicans get to tax and spend less, but both parties play games with the curriculum. That means more power, status, and money for the people running things. That this ultimately destroys both the American economy and society is not important to them.
This process has been going for forty or more years. It will take decades to reverse it.
Exactly. But ironically, if they DON'T say those things, the people who actually watch/listen to them will stop.........rock and a hard place when you make your name lying.
Trump got positive notices a couple of times during his term, mostly associated with launching cruise missiles into Syria. I expect the media is still willing to hail such “presidential” actions, and I think he’ll give them some further opportunities to do so once back in office.
I remember the "MOAB" being dropped on Afghanistan. Even staunch critics seemed to soften their orange man bad posture for a brief bit. Nobody could actually answer why the biggest non-nuclear explosive in the military arsenal was dropped on stone age people but folks were excited.
Hey, that's Biden's thing: except it was a Neal Kinnock speech. Still, Joe broke rock in Wales with the best of them.
That's one of the funniest things, if not the single funniest thing, in American political history. ( I do know a funnier one, but will save it for another time. ) What made it so funny was Biden's slowness to realize a staffer had screwed up badly and that he needed to improvise. ( Contrast this with the teleprompter failure during one of Clinton's State of the Union speeches. Clinton spoke extemporaneously, and flawlessly. )
It reminded me of the particularly glorious moment in A Shot in the Dark when there is a knock on Inspector Clouseau's door, he answers, a hand holds out a round anarchist's - style bomb with a lit fuse, Clouseau takes it, shuts the door, and stands there just looking at it.
Now that would be funny! Wish someone with experience in AI would have Obama do just that, then we could clip it endlessly and hopefully go viral? 😎 The MSM would be absolutely apoplectic! It'd be glorious! 😁👍
I always wait to read the transcript of speeches and 'debates,' and never read or listen to the 'commentaries.' I do so just in case someone flubs a line and inadvertently lets a bit of truth slip out. They all know the truth and the true agenda, and despite their rigorous training, they can't stick to their lies all of the time.
Trump has managed to do three things, which is pretty extraordinary. He turned the Rs into the party of the working class. He made the Rs the big tent party. And he made the Rs the anti-war party.
Sad but true, that will count for a lot in courting the emergent generation.
Consider this: will 20-somethings, for whom cool is the gold standard, be more likely to think that Biden, or his putative successor Harris, is cooler than an old dude who got shot at and missed dying by .5 inches, and who had the presence of mind to raise his fist and say "Fight!"?
My favorite meme from the assassination attempt was one guy who tweeted Trump just got shot in the head and he jumped up like a gangster and fist pumped
Both parties have seen changes. But remember that Lincoln's republican party was very common-man oriented. The democratic party was the party of aristocratic people.
My personal opinion is that, even with the morphing, the republican party has always been more of a people's party, and the democratic party is the aristocratic party. Yes, the democratic has been the party of unions and socialists, but it's the party of unions controlled by aristocrats and socialists controlled by aristocrats.
I think he has done what he can to move in that direction and for what the man and his family have endured, I cannot disparage him. I never liked him, but his speech was a refreshing take--and the entire convention was as diverse and refreshing as any I have seen in my lifetime. I give DJT credit for creating that vibe.
Let's say the tent looks bigger because he has done a great job selling it--he is a salesman after all. But it ain't that much bigger--it is almost the same tent. And Lincoln project ain't in it--which is fine.
But I wouldn't say he has done all those things you listed yet. We are still a nation of two almost evenly divide pluralities, with a third piece that leans kinda left or kinda right, depending on the issue. Or the wind. Unlike Reagan, or even--gulp--HW Bush, he won't be winning California...nor his home state of NY for instance.
I think he is closest on the antiwar part--which is wonderful, but to say he has transformed the party to the anti-war party--that ignores most of the sitting congress and US foreign policy then, now, and likely moving forward. He isn't exactly Lew Rockwell or Murray Rothbard with a pacifist philosophy.
Let's also remember his go-to is big government programs propping up favored private interests. To wit, the first phase of covid--ie, empowering bureaucrats, removing liability from pharma, and throwing a lot of money at everything, was started by DJT. Biden happily took the baton and would have done all that anyway, but still not like it was a wholesale change of course.
Not correct--it was case-by-case practice since 2005 and is not automatically incorporated to contract clauses. It was an additional specification for the covid shots as a part of warp speed and the follow-on contracts. The contracts did not have to adhere to the prior Prep Act. But that was part of the deal. Was applied to these shots in Feb 2020.
I am not sure why there is such a visceral rejection of anything less than perfection when it comes to the behavior of DJT. The link above is objective proof. I didn't say he created the Act--not the role of the executive. He simply did what every other president has done since. If he were really different, he wouldn't have allowed his administration to apply the PREP Act to Covid shots. But he explicitly did. And that has nothing to do with the 1986 Act that Reagan signed which was limited to childhood vaccination schedules
He had a full plate. Sorry he didn't get to everything you wanted, but the entrenched Deep State isn't, and fought him harder than any president we've had, and they're more powerful than ever, using things like plandemics to get their way.
Plus, is that the sum total reaction to all the other things I pointed out--I think that alone speaks volumes.
Now what I would have anticipated would have been a reaction like, "well the shots could not have been developed without liability protections, so DJT took a gamble given the stakes at the time."
That is at least rational and a reasonable point of view.
But arguing about Acts that have no relevance, and arguing that he didn't do what he did when explicit proof was shared, is just silly.
FT, I see that everybody's explaining to you how the vaccine liability has worked for a long while, and I also want to point out that the Dem agenda to transform CA into a Dem stronghold through waves of unfettered immigration started in 1965 with Ted Kennedy, resulting in today's CA where 47 of the 54 congress are Dem and Governors such as Reagan and Wilson would no longer be elected; it took a Trump to make the inroads he is with the immigrants who have poured into the US in droves since '65 and during Obama's 3rd term, a calculated and completely illegal usurpation of citizens' rights. Trump will stop it and make inroads among those people simultaneously, something Bush couldn't and wouldn't do.
Explaining is a funny way of putting it Fred. Explaining with feelings and But But But and unrelated strawmen when presented with facts. For pete's sake--we went from the actual Act in 2005--back to 1965. Trump has always been a big government guy--not a big deal but to make him out to be the next messiah is nauseating because it is the same thing the Left does--annoints.
Trump is culpable, though this all came from above his pay grade. This psyop was clearly globalist run and in the US came through the DOD who rolled out the plan and told Trump after. Did Trump tell us any of this? nope. He's team cabal.
"The [May 15th, 2020] press conference revealed Trump's brief and ultimately failed attempt to yank the DOD’s leash that he naively thought he had. The brave fake Pee-3 warriors were charging ahead with their fake battle with the fake virus for very real profits and power and did not feel the need to involve POTUS in minor things like authorize $ billions for this activity. It appears that on March 25th, without getting the go-ahead from President Trump, Jennifer Santos, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, proceeded to utilize the Defense Production Act in relation to directing United States private industry, including defense contractors (Title I) and commercial domestic industrial base (Title III). This move likely pissed off the Boss, as, at least according to the theory of the US government, only POTUS can invoke the Defense Production Act. Specifically, the President can issue executive orders specifying which provisions of the act will be utilized in response to a national emergency. At this point, Trump had not authorized the use of the Defense Production Act in relation to private industry in the United States. The only Executive Order that was issued in relation to the Defense Production Act at the time was "Executive Order 13909 — Prioritizing and Allocating Health and Medical Resources to Respond to the Spread of COVID–19" (March 18, 2020).
"The Pentagon simply charged ahead in the fake battle by showering real money on their bioweapons manufacturing consortium, screw the formal command structure, who needs it. ... The Defense Production Act was used in violation of the chain of authority to distribute billions of dollars in no-bid contracts (including to fake-adversary nation of China) by the DOD’s clear insubordination to the POTUS authority."
I see what you mean, and as I said, I don't know if anyone could have or would have proceeded differently. So I am not sure why stating such a fact (and it is one) that he was culpable, is met with denial. If he was railroaded through his own naivete of how the establishment works, he was still culpable. That's part of the problem, which you partly describe. I saw with my own eyes his lack of appointments (non Senate confirmed appointments) that he was behind on at historic rates--thousands of positions that were holdovers from the prior administration and thwarted everything. He could have made those non-senate confirmed appointments in a single day. But took years.
Yes they thwarted everything--BUT HE HAD THE AUTHORITY to appoint new people. Problem is he assumed they were all in his camp and allowed the big R apparatchiks to install their own people in positions like COS which should have had a handle on that part.
oh I'm not denying, I'm agreeing. I'm just pointing out the blame / guilty parties doesn't stop there ... that's all. I don't give him a pass. He did have the authority to appoint non-cabal members. And he could've told us the truth on live TV.
Yes. Emphasis on number three. No two ways about it, Biden’s been a war pig forever. No secret. Also, he never saw an anti-constitutional bill he didn’t love.
I don’t watch conventions either, but I have it on good authority that after Trump’s 93-minute acceptance speech that lasted late into the night (described by my source as “bloviating”) an opera singer came on to sing one of the greatest tenor arias of all time, from Puccini’s Turandot, which begins (excuse my colloquial translation from the Italian) “Nobody’s gonna sleep” and ends with “I will conquer!” three times. That’s some quality insider humor right there.
I bounced over here after watching a couple of minutes of a Trump rally in Michigan on Rumble. The next president of the United States was apologizing to the crowd for his hideous combover, which he had just caught sight of on the Jumbotron. Is there a single, solitary public political figure on the other side who could climb out of his own backside long enough to make a self-deprecating joke like that? Can you imagine Joe Biden even ever thinking such a thing about his hair plugs in the solitude of his own brain?
You obviously did not see Joy Reid's stunning and clearly well-thought-out rebuttal to your insane conclusion that the RNC, simply because it includes more people who are not phenotypically white, is in fact not a dangerous hotbed of white nationalism (https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1814424218005590206).
Thank for sharing this clip. He is great at pushing past the labels they apply to everything and everybody and getting down to the heart of the matter.
It wasn't just white hair color, it was basically a Trump cut. I must be white adjacent, because I think she looks even more hideous without it, though maybe in part it's Ozempic shrinking her face.
Well maybe they're "not phenotypically white," but dammit, they're white adjacent. And they all have trad wives. God knows what Joy Reid is adjacent too--nothing in nature.
I almost feel bad for Jen Psaki. Her expression says, “My god! How did I get here?!?!? How did I end up on stage with this lunatic? Where have my morals gone? I used to be a good person!”
By the way, MSNBC did not physically attend the convention. It was all in-studio in Manhattan. Those “live” images of conventioneers behind Reid’s talking head? Green screen! As if they needed to undermine their own credibility even further!
Many of these journos are quasi-functional drug users and/or alcoholics. I doubt Alex Shepard even remembers having written that article about Tucker Carlson.
Tucker is a hetero white male who is skilled at what he does while loving his wife and children. Unacceptable values to the Dems…the prophets of doom, gloom and, mostly, outrage!
Old saying; liberals think conservatives are evil, conservatives think liberals are stupid. Also, Lin sounds like this administration talking to Russia.
I’m always amazed. You have people of good intelligence, good grades and so on, but it is as you say. Anyway, I didn’t come up with that old saying myself.
I had a personal interaction today that mirrors, somewhat--at least in the blind-rage, willful blindness, hate-filled mindset of the legacy media.
We do this cool race up and down stairs at these really cool 125 year old school/stadium. Epic. Iconic. Vomit-fest--every year a few people hurl, guaranteed. It is brutal. By design. I love it.
This year will be our 14th year, but last year we added an event for mil/fire/LEA wearing 40lb vests (men) 20lb vests (women). Super inspiring. Without hyperbole, it was probably the best medicine our community has had since the evil COVID lockdowns. Average time to do our event is 22 minutes (anaerobic, bent-over, mouth-breathing/gasping kind of race). I told the Heroes Race teams that I needed the men/women who can run sub 22 with a load.
Last year everyone came in under 20--just after the main race had happened. People were screaming/cheering so loud they lost their voices. When we took a photo of all the participants--the last finisher (from the race that started an hour before the Heroes Race) was coming down the stairs. A buddy of mine, a Command Sergeant Major, helped me as the Heroes Race director. He says to me, "Brian, why don't we ask these guys to come in with the last finisher?"
I say, "Hey guys, see that dude? Would you..."
Everyone jumps up to race to this guy's side. Of course. If there is one common thread running between all of the fire fighters, cops, and Soldiers/Marines--it is "We protect the vulnerable."
There was not a dry eye in the bowl. Tears of joy flowed down cheeks. This feeling had legs--I was getting emails weeks/months later. I do not have the words...it was all that is good, true, and beautiful in one action. The meaning of life distilled into a moment.
So--long intro, but it matters for context.
One of my sponsors has rented the bowl every Saturday in July so people can come into the bowl without jumping the fence to train. It is awesome. Over 120 people in the bowl running the stairs, the track, doing sprints--it was great.
Oh--and this matters as well. There are probably 300-500 people who regularly 'break the law' or 'go thug' to hop the fence to run these particular stairs. IMHO it is the best workout in town.
So I see this guy who is a retired fire fighter. We've seen each other dozens and dozens of times over the years--and most of us eventually get to know each other somewhat. At least we chat at one point or another.
So, during the lockdowns, I make some comment about 'this illegal fbomb unnecessary lockdowns for a manufactured cold...'
He, uh, loses his shit. He then starts popping off about how I'm the devil as are all people who are not socialist--really crazy kinda shit.
I'm like, 'whatever dude. I don't agree, but I'm not the devil.'
I don't think I've seen him since then. I usually run on Sunday, and it seems he's a Saturday guy.
SO. I see him today and say, "Hey man, aren't you a fire fighter?"
Yes.
What's your name again?
Bob
Hey man, I'd like to invite you to this event. The Heroes..blah blah blah--all I wrote above.
I really thought this dude would dig on it. It would make him happy. It would lift his spirits.
I remembered his crazy outburst--but genuinely wanted him to experience the event.
So I hand him a flyer tell him all this stuff--hes acting like he gets it. I say, 'Yeah man, this is how we build community..blah blah blah.."
I do remember some of the things you said previously, and I don't think I can support that.
What are you talking about?
I'm done talking with you...as he walks away.
Me: "Do you know where this ends right?"
Asshat: "What? I don't care"
Me: "It ends in war. When we cannot talk, it ends in war."
Asshat: "Then war it is."
SERIOUSLY
Me: "Have you been to war? Do you even know what you're talking about?"
Asshat: "Ive seen more people die than you. They died of COVID, and you don't believe in it..."
Me: "Bro, this is why we do hard things together--because we learn to trust each other for difficult conversations...like this is why I'm doing this..."
AssHat: "Your side is insane.
Me: "MY SIDE?!?!? You know nothing about me."
AssHat, is now getting all gesticulaty--waving arms--voice rising, "I cannot trust the team you want to build..."
I walk away.
Guy is out of his mind--but likely center of mass of the leftist bell-curve of madness.
We cannot live with them.
AND...it has stuck in my craw all damn day. So much of me wants to go and truly slice him apart rhetorically--another part wants to punch his sickly ass in the face--another part saddens me so deeply--you know that in his heart, he hoped Trump was killed.
I am beginning to think that most, and I write this with deep regret, of the leftists actually wanted Trump to die. It is insane.
A man almost getting his head blown off for his beliefs is not enough to pull some people back from the precipice of madness. Asshat couldn’t even try to be reasonable or respectful, just ideological and hard headed. A real shame. You offered him an olive branch and he spit on it. He doesn’t deserve any more space in your head . Purge him forever.
Great story. Yea, this is the challenge. The other side has completely lost their minds. I was driving with my wife 25 years ago and a news story came on the radio and it was about Nancy Pelosi doing something insane. I told my wife, “This only ends in civil war,” and she was totally shocked. “What are you talking about? Why are you saying that?” And so I laid it out… “If two people basically agree on the nature of reality, they might disagree as to how to solve a problem, but they won’t have a strong reason to fight. But if they disagree about reality, one side or the other are crazy. When the crazy people demand the sane ones live in a crazy world and accept the crazy version of ‘reality,’ many people will say ‘No!’ And the only outcome is a fight. So, unless these crazy Democrats turn around and stop this nonsense, there is going to be civil war.” And so here we are 25 years later and now the idea of a second civil war is quite mainstream thinking.
Deeply saddening, frightening, and feels so nearly predictable.
I forgot to add: That, my friend is some serious prescience, without sounding kooky or sacrilegious, but that is a prophet kind of insight 25 years ago.
I have been thinking about this interaction, and how I could have handled it better--maybe tried to explore why I was so quick to anger. What iceberg, value, virtue, or--I'm beginning to understand much better--a bruise, an old wound that hasn't properly healed...
If I was totally honest with him, in the moment, but I need to be quicker to see what's underneath my own reaction--I would have said, "Bro, don't you see? I'm doing this for you! I'm building this for you too! I don't want you to be alone. I know this works. I know this makes people feel much better. Please join me. You matter.
Bro this is to honor you and your fellow fire fighters. To showcase your values and virtues to our community. It makes us feel safe. It makes us feel protected. It is for you. Please join us. Can't you see? We're in this together. We don't have a choice. We've even assigned to the same unit, there is no amendment to our orders, no PCS, no move--we're in it together. Can't you see that? Don't you get it? Please. Please come out. I promise. You'll see what I'm saying. We need you. Please. People were crying. We need this. It is soul medicine. Please. Come out. Please."
Maybe, maybe if I see him I'll say that one more time. Maybe I'll have the guts to do that. I hope and pray I do. We cannot go to war.
I read this interesting book years ago--Click by the Brafman brothers Rom and Ori--about what they called 'quickset intimacy' (great writing-that paints a very clear picture IMHO) to describe those times when we just immediately hit it off with someone.
There are 5 steps--cannot remember them all--but the first one is essentially show your belly first. I know Brene Brown's TEDx talk and multiple books/trainings are mostly shame and vulnerability. I don't know--but maybe this is what Christ means when he says turn the other cheek. It is to not stop trying.
Paul writes in the possibly the greatest thing ever written-or at least in the top 10. 1 Corintiians 13. "...Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others (I wrote asshat above...), it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered (within nano-seconds I flushed...at least in my mind), (biggie here:) IT KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS...It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
So I batted about zero for fourteen. Who is going to take the responsibility on to keep trying to connect if it isn't a guy who is putting a race together that is explicitly saying we want people to connect.
...just gave myself some journal therapy--Thank you David.
bsn
Shit. I just figured it out. I felt rejected. He rejected my invitation and it hurt my feelings. Better dig a bit to see what's underneath that--but I owe him an apology. He doesn't have to come to anything I invite him to anymore than I am obligated to attend whatever he does.
It was me. I need to apologize. I think this is how it is supposed to work...if we don't want war.
Sorry for the lag. I read this a few days ago, but got sucked into personal things and didn't get a chance to respond. I'm glad to see that you can process this through a Christian worldview. I think that's important. In fact, I write a Substack titled Simple Christianity (https://simplechristianity.substack.com) that talks about some of these issues.
A couple of points:
1. Yes, some of the issue is probably on your side. None of us like to be rejected or hurt. To the extent that you can work past that yourself, that's great. You'll be a better person for it, regardless of anything else.
2. But that said, sometimes other people are jerks and there's nothing we have done to deserve it and nothing we can do to prevent it. So, make sure that you aren't just taking all the guilt on yourself. God is truth, and so view things through the lens of truth.
3. Now, all that said, Christ calls us to love even those that we're in conflict with here in this world. That's because ALL people are made in the image of God. They ALL bear his mark. They ALL received his breath of life. So, God commands us to love them as he loves them.
4. Loving means accepting the worst that people have to offer and still desiring the best for them. I think that's what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13, particularly when he says that it "always perseveres." If you love somebody, you don't give up on them, even when they give up on themselves, even when they hate you for not giving up.
The final thing I'll say is that wanting the best for people doesn't mean that you want what they want. It means that you want for them what they need, even if they can't see it themselves. Ultimately, in a Christian context, I want repentance, acceptance, and salvation for everyone, even the most vile of human beings. Love perseveres because it says, "I know that God is bigger than this situation, and he can change even the hardest of hearts, and so that's what I want for you. I love you and I want you to be my brother or sister in Christ."
In any case, I think you're doing well to think through all your motives and feelings.
Thanks David. I'm going to re-read your post later today.
Years ago, I think it was in grad school, we did a full deep dive into the Meyers-Briggs temperament test. I don't remember much, but one was about how extroverts often 'think out loud'--which I fit to a 'T'--capitalized, bolded, underscored.
Not sure why this is--but I am often able to write more clearly and honestly when on a blog than in a journal--weird, could be simply lack of diligence with journaling--but I also think I must absorb something, learn something from the interaction with others that heightens my own ability to think/process/analyze/and eventually learn.
So--thank you for being a backboard onto which I processed an interaction.
1. Great advice about the book--and now as I see what I wrote above--it might be wise for me to write the book on Substack as entries--getting real time feedback and improving the editing/production--and even better understanding what I'm trying to say.
2. Subscribed to your substack.
Have a great day--and again, thank you for the thoughtful response. It helps. My choice in Christianity--wasn't a Heaven's opening/earth shattering experience. It was more like--"Fbomb it. Every single time I try to drive this life, I end up in a ditch and hurt others. Maybe I should give Christ the wheel."
Writing your book on Substack is a great idea. Yep, most people find Jesus in the ditch. You're not alone in that. In fact, even if you recognize Jesus when you're driving on the road, you won't actually give him the wheel until you're in the ditch. 😀
That is the tragic fallout we will see more of as time goes by. People whose brains have calcified from the conditioning of MSM and the other psyops that want humanity immobilized in mental straight jackets and activated at the drop of a hat to turn on each other.
I’m hopeful that the tough times to come could still shatter the programming of many, but there will be some for whom there will be no going back. They will cling to their “precious” till the bitter end.
I chewed on that bone all weekend. It bothered me more than it should have and I think I had a more mature insight Sunday night. I found the plank in my own eye. It has sucked much if not most of the anger out of me. I was rejected, and it hurt my feelings. When I questioned COVID 4 years ago--and he obviously never forgot about it--does lead me to believe he is likely unwell, unstable, and very unhappy. Backfire effect, I knew this, but 'in the heat of the battle'--I also fell into an emotionally triggered trap I have inadvertently set for myself all over the place.
Check this out, it explains a lot about our unreasonable neighbors, friends, family members, countrymen:
We cannot go to war. There will be casualties of those, like you said, whose brain's are simply too calcified, too afraid to question their own beliefs, to broken/brainwashed--but we have to keep our hearts open.
I realized that failed at every single aspect of love according to Paul in 1 COR 13. That is not how I want to live. I want to bring people together.
Thanks for the article you shared as well. I particularly like the advice at the end about how we should be aware of this in our own mind, and what to do to combat it; as well as the advice to be less confrontational in how we share information.
Oh yes, there are many ways in which our minds can erect traps for ourselves.
I think the Dunning-Kruger Effect and Normalcy Bias are close cousins as well.
I’m concerned too that the bad people who have worked so hard to program us all (thanks Edward Bernays!) are doubtless aware of this effect too, and likely spent time trying to compensate for it, so their propaganda more easily slides into all our minds.
Glad to hear you were brought past the initial response.
As a fellow Christian I know all too well how often we fail to live up to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Thankful all the time that it is not my righteousness that delivers me, or anybody else, but Christs atoning work.
I'll DM you our event website. I absolutely love it. I have come to understand that, and it took 12-13 years of doing the race before I uncovered my motivations - underneath the scar tissue, the callousness of life, my own self-protecting lies to myself--that this race is what I've really been trying to say all my life but didn't have the words--or even more honestly--the courage to say those words out loud.
1. I'm afraid and fear being alone. I don't want anyone to feel alone. I know how that feels. I was kicked out of the house at 16. It is scary and unbelievably jarring. The world changes forever.
2. Let's do hard things together. This is how we learn to love each other. Anyone who has played sports, served in mil, LEA, fire knows this intuitively--but maybe never articulated it to themselves. The locker room is the best place in the world for athletes. Safest. Most fun. We are best understood. We are valued, loved, protected--and we reciprocate. After we collectively suffer...
3. THEN we can build, solve, resolve problems, live freely, love our neighbors...
4. Lastly, I have come to believe this in the last couple of years, Matthew 18:20 is when Christ says, "whenever two or three or gathered together in my name, I am there amidst them." The feelings I have had and continue to have post-suffering, when breaking bread with my friends after a very hard run or something equivalent--if that is not Divine, then I don't know if there is a Divinity.
Shit--I could go on and on and on and on...I have a few chapters in a book I've been writing on and off about this--I love it.
Brian, I would like to read that book when you are finished.
I must confess that I probably spend too much time alone and have all my nearly 72 years. Between striving to escape from the financial burdens of my childhood, having much of my unit turn against me after I took an unpopular stance during Vietnam, and taking care of a sick wife and children while dealing with the challenges of building not one, but two high pressure careers, I have rarely experienced the closeness that you so eloquently describe.
There was the camaraderie of a group of 5:30 a.m. runners in my 40s until nearly everyone got injured. That feeling was also there during some of my military years before I became disillusioned. But I am usually doing the hard workouts all alone and have only one close friend, who lives 2,000 miles away. He stood by me when we were in the Army and I became “robed in dishonor” for calling out the lies.
But your comment inspired me to start looking for more.
My eyes are filled with tears as I respond to your post.
Your story breaks my heart.
The monsters under the bed disappear, when our parents or brother or sister, come in the room with us.
From quantum entanglement (which I honestly have no true understand, but it intuitively makes sense to me) , to families, to teams, to tribes, to nations, I have come to believe that the entire point of this often painful experience we call Life or the human condition is to connect.
(edit: Siri thought 2 when I meant to)
The only scalable way to connect is true love, agape. Hate works, but it cannot be universal. We need an object to hate. That object is always a person. The scapegoat. See how the left has responded to the assassination attempt.
That is hate fueled connection. It is not only gross and deplorable, but it is how wars start.
Your fellow soldiers in the army could not see the truth. To see the truth would undermine their entire world view, the ground beneath them suddenly becomes unstable.
They are the same people who are on Covid booster 20 today.
After moving to a different state just prior to covid, I have become pretty isolated. It’s hard, as I left a wonderful circle of friends who are now thousands of miles away. We do have some family out where we now reside, but don’t get together as much as I’d like for various reasons. I stay in touch with friends, and they with me, as best we can. It’s hard though, missing the physicality of our friendships, apart from a few visits we have been able to share.
Karen Hunt here on substack penned a really great article about the perils of A.I. a few days ago (https://khmezek.substack.com/p/beaten-by-a-chimpanzee). At the end, as an encouragement and ray of hope, she shared a passage from Kurt Vonnegut.
“ I love this little story about Kurt Vonnegut. One day he tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope:
“Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope.
I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is - we're here on Earth to fart around.
And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance at all anymore."
20 years ago or so I read Malcolm Gladwell’s “the tipping point“. It’s a great read, talks about how stuff ideas, movements, disease move through populations, epidemically.
Oh, I should say I’m using Siri, so expect some odd spellings and grammatical errors and unusual punctuation.
He describes three types of people that help things become epidemic, or in his parlance tip. They are connectors, mavens, and salesman. He gives a little test from the phonebook, and if you know, a certain number of people that share that last name, he defines you as a connector.
Turns out, I’m a connector at the tip of the bell curve. Maybe hyper connector. It is how my brain works.
When I was in the army, I needed to go to the headquarters, I always walked through the G1, the personnel office. I walked in one door and through the labyrinth of desks and cubicles saying hi to people, slapping high-fives bullshitting, making jokes, and left through the back door on the other side of where I entered. I just like to say hi to people.
I didn’t realize I was spiritually connected to Curt Vonnegut! Thank you for that story, it made me smile.
I was saddened about your physical “isolation“.
My first suggestion to everybody who moves to Tacoma, is to join our YMCA.
It’s ridiculously fantastic. Numerous branches. World class for Silletti’s. But it’s the people. The Y pants, their values on the wall, and tries very hard to live up to them. The members do as well. It is our communities best reflection. It is where everybody meets and find new friends.
I would gently ask you if there is a YMCA in your new community?
Thank you for the YMCA suggestion! The senior centers and city park and recs nearest to us leave a lot to be desired out here.
There is YMCA not too far away. Money right now is tight (and getting tighter), but I’m optimistic that next year Hubs and I will get some relief from that pinch. I will definitely look into the Y next year.
I had read that Gladwell book years ago. I do need a refresher course though! But from you description of your passage through your army personnel office, I think I can safely say I’m a connector as well. Or as my hubby coined it, l’m a golden retriever as I wend my way though life.
I think maybe Lapham was on to something…ahead of his time.
Maybe we should simply have all the “journalists” write their assessments of whichever political party or candidate they adamantly oppose ahead of time, because we already know that nothing that happens, or nothing that anyone says is going to change a single word they say or thought they have. They could then post their screeds a year in advance and then we could read them whenever (or if) we choose.
A light note because you covered some of the finer, darker points. I watched the entirity of Trump's Michigan rally today. If a guy gets shot in the ear, regardless of if I have heard his speeches a hundred times and know what they are going to be, I am going to tune in to his next rally out of direct spite for the shooter who did it, and the people who cheered the shooter on posthumously. My favorite part was him riffing about his hair and apologizing for his horrible combover. "That screen *points left*...not so good. I'm sorry for doing that to you. That one though *points right* that one though, look at that one, not bad right? Watch that one." I couldn't find it in his sprawling monologue but it was perfect. Through hysterical laughter, a memory popped into my head. Remember that time he went and picked up a Marine's cover (hat) that blew off and he went and retrieved it, and the media cracked and admitted it was a nice thing to do? I do.
That was 2017. We still kind of sort of had a media. They would briefly try to find a singular bit of praise to give the guy. This is 2024 and things are very different. Joe Biden gets Marines killed. Trump doesn't. The media has been complicit and cannot implode fast enough.
Trump is not an ideologue. He’s a pragmatist and an entertainer. Nobody reads the room like the Don.
Look- let’s dispense with the politesse. Chris Christie is a bad person. First off, he ate all the guacamole and he double dipped. Secondly, like born again Opus Dei stunt double Mike Kence he’s a disloyal turncoat. Since you’re ordering Chinese tonight, where do you think “lingchi” came from? What is lingchi you ask? Lingchi is the death by 1000 cuts, ancient Chinese secret— no not Calhoun bath beads. More like sliced up, stabbed through the heart, and dismembered. That was the penalty for treason in old China. You lingchi traitors, Tanto love you long time.
(That is so racist!) I’m kidding. I’m half Chinese, half Blackwater.
Which half, top or bottom you have to guess.
Trump is an original, not a stamped tin replica of a man, the genu-wine article. He has become legend. He is the person the country wants in office. Let’s get him there.
My hubby just shared some of those YouTube shorts with me over the weekend. They are hysterically funny! Like Ricky Gervais level stuff. Whoever is doing them really nails the Richard Attenborough-like voiceovers. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I watched some presstitute or another (CBS I think) claim it was THE WORST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH EVER....and I wondered if there was a speech that Trump could have given that would have changed that post-speech analysis.
I guess not.
If Donald Trump had flown into the convention on a shimmering cloud of magical bees, with the voice of a choir of angels emanating from his flying bee-borne radiant body, they would have sighed and said that it was boring. That was the assignment.
This rather explains why so much of the establishment media is dying. If you already know what they are going to say, why bother to read or listen?
As it used to be with Pravda and Izvestia, one reads neither the Washington Post or the New York Times for either truth or the news, but to see what the official wisdom is. After all, if you do not know what the truth received from Congress, the "President," or somewhere in the bowels of Homeland Security is, you might get hurt.
I attended the Defense Language Institute for Basic Russian in 1991-92. We were there when the Putcsh happened--about halfway through the year long course.
Great school, terrific experience. All the instructors were native Russians, ex-pats--mostly Jews I think--they were the only ones who could get out easily...anyway they had a saying.
Oh-not to be patronizing--but Pravda=truth and Izvestia=news. The Russians would say, "There is no truth in Pravda nor news in Izvestia".
The Russians have known for 75 years how it works. Talk to any Eastern European who now lives in the States--100% conservative. All go to church. All see what is happening right in front of us--and they think we are so damn dumb it hurts.
bsn
I personally know a few who also come from China, as well as former Soviet republics. They are aghast at the submission and acquiescence of so many Americans to tyranny and the nanny state, especially here in the Communist Republic of California.
100%. Ask anyone under 40 if they have read any of the dystopian literature we all grew up on (I'm GenX). 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead...zero, nilch, nada--by design IMHO. They want us fat, dumb, distracted, titililated, and finally manipulated/controlled.
bsn
Yes, I was forced to read Nineteen Eighty-four, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451; I did not like reading them at the time, but the older I get, the more I appreciate having to do so. Of course, that was over forty years ago.
Personally, I believe that this dumbing down of education is an ongoing group project of the elites, using both the putatively "liberal" democrats and the putative republican "conservatives." Whatever their stated ideologies, and to be fair there are honest believers, the less money and effort is spent on education, this making the population less informed and therefor more controllable.
The Republicans get to tax and spend less, but both parties play games with the curriculum. That means more power, status, and money for the people running things. That this ultimately destroys both the American economy and society is not important to them.
This process has been going for forty or more years. It will take decades to reverse it.
Exactly. But ironically, if they DON'T say those things, the people who actually watch/listen to them will stop.........rock and a hard place when you make your name lying.
I read neither.
When I flew across the country for work, I would buy a Sunday NY Times, (you know, when it was 2" thick).
That was 20 years ago.
The Gray Lady is no more.
I still do the crossword puzzle, though it has been dumbed down considerably over the years.
The best analysis I’ve read in years!!😆😆😆💫💕😆😆😆
As noted, the speeches were written in advance, waiting only the appropriate sound bite.
Trump got positive notices a couple of times during his term, mostly associated with launching cruise missiles into Syria. I expect the media is still willing to hail such “presidential” actions, and I think he’ll give them some further opportunities to do so once back in office.
I remember the "MOAB" being dropped on Afghanistan. Even staunch critics seemed to soften their orange man bad posture for a brief bit. Nobody could actually answer why the biggest non-nuclear explosive in the military arsenal was dropped on stone age people but folks were excited.
Hulk Hogan was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen all year.
But Chris, what did you think of Hulk Hogan? Hulk Hogan was the most crass, unpretentious and entertaining thing zi’ve seen all year.
He could have stolen one of Barack Obama's speeches and they still wouldn't have liked it.
Hey, that's Biden's thing: except it was a Neal Kinnock speech. Still, Joe broke rock in Wales with the best of them.
That's one of the funniest things, if not the single funniest thing, in American political history. ( I do know a funnier one, but will save it for another time. ) What made it so funny was Biden's slowness to realize a staffer had screwed up badly and that he needed to improvise. ( Contrast this with the teleprompter failure during one of Clinton's State of the Union speeches. Clinton spoke extemporaneously, and flawlessly. )
It reminded me of the particularly glorious moment in A Shot in the Dark when there is a knock on Inspector Clouseau's door, he answers, a hand holds out a round anarchist's - style bomb with a lit fuse, Clouseau takes it, shuts the door, and stands there just looking at it.
Now that would be funny! Wish someone with experience in AI would have Obama do just that, then we could clip it endlessly and hopefully go viral? 😎 The MSM would be absolutely apoplectic! It'd be glorious! 😁👍
Presstitute! Genius! 😂👏👏👏👏
If Sleepy Joe makes it to the convention, he might top his last speech, making that one the second worst acceptance speech, ever.
Oh, Sleepy Joe's acceptance speech will be stupendous, glorious, best ever, the veritable voice of a god. Maybe the worms will follow.
I always wait to read the transcript of speeches and 'debates,' and never read or listen to the 'commentaries.' I do so just in case someone flubs a line and inadvertently lets a bit of truth slip out. They all know the truth and the true agenda, and despite their rigorous training, they can't stick to their lies all of the time.
Mostly that's a solid strategy, but these days you don't even know if the transcripts are real.
Trump has managed to do three things, which is pretty extraordinary. He turned the Rs into the party of the working class. He made the Rs the big tent party. And he made the Rs the anti-war party.
And he made (or is making) the Rs actually kinda cool.
Sad but true, that will count for a lot in courting the emergent generation.
Consider this: will 20-somethings, for whom cool is the gold standard, be more likely to think that Biden, or his putative successor Harris, is cooler than an old dude who got shot at and missed dying by .5 inches, and who had the presence of mind to raise his fist and say "Fight!"?
What does your life experience tell you?
My favorite meme from the assassination attempt was one guy who tweeted Trump just got shot in the head and he jumped up like a gangster and fist pumped
Can’t get cooler than that!
I liked Van Jones, of all people, ‘Trump got up after being shot, and kept going. Biden is down for days after getting COVID.’
By getting shot Trump completed all the requirements to become a rapper.
They will like the tough guy.
Both parties have seen changes. But remember that Lincoln's republican party was very common-man oriented. The democratic party was the party of aristocratic people.
My personal opinion is that, even with the morphing, the republican party has always been more of a people's party, and the democratic party is the aristocratic party. Yes, the democratic has been the party of unions and socialists, but it's the party of unions controlled by aristocrats and socialists controlled by aristocrats.
I'd say it should be clear by now both "parties" are controlled by the uber aristocrats ... the globalist cabal ... or we'd never be where we are.
Always. But over the last while it was run by bow tie Beltway tyoes. They did not represent their base.
I think he has done what he can to move in that direction and for what the man and his family have endured, I cannot disparage him. I never liked him, but his speech was a refreshing take--and the entire convention was as diverse and refreshing as any I have seen in my lifetime. I give DJT credit for creating that vibe.
Let's say the tent looks bigger because he has done a great job selling it--he is a salesman after all. But it ain't that much bigger--it is almost the same tent. And Lincoln project ain't in it--which is fine.
But I wouldn't say he has done all those things you listed yet. We are still a nation of two almost evenly divide pluralities, with a third piece that leans kinda left or kinda right, depending on the issue. Or the wind. Unlike Reagan, or even--gulp--HW Bush, he won't be winning California...nor his home state of NY for instance.
I think he is closest on the antiwar part--which is wonderful, but to say he has transformed the party to the anti-war party--that ignores most of the sitting congress and US foreign policy then, now, and likely moving forward. He isn't exactly Lew Rockwell or Murray Rothbard with a pacifist philosophy.
Let's also remember his go-to is big government programs propping up favored private interests. To wit, the first phase of covid--ie, empowering bureaucrats, removing liability from pharma, and throwing a lot of money at everything, was started by DJT. Biden happily took the baton and would have done all that anyway, but still not like it was a wholesale change of course.
No liability for Pharma was NOT started by him. It had been in place for decades.
Not correct--it was case-by-case practice since 2005 and is not automatically incorporated to contract clauses. It was an additional specification for the covid shots as a part of warp speed and the follow-on contracts. The contracts did not have to adhere to the prior Prep Act. But that was part of the deal. Was applied to these shots in Feb 2020.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10443
1986 was the year the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was introduced, shielding Big Pharma from pretty much all liability.
I am not sure why there is such a visceral rejection of anything less than perfection when it comes to the behavior of DJT. The link above is objective proof. I didn't say he created the Act--not the role of the executive. He simply did what every other president has done since. If he were really different, he wouldn't have allowed his administration to apply the PREP Act to Covid shots. But he explicitly did. And that has nothing to do with the 1986 Act that Reagan signed which was limited to childhood vaccination schedules
He had a full plate. Sorry he didn't get to everything you wanted, but the entrenched Deep State isn't, and fought him harder than any president we've had, and they're more powerful than ever, using things like plandemics to get their way.
Not relevant to my comment nor to the proof above
Plus, is that the sum total reaction to all the other things I pointed out--I think that alone speaks volumes.
Now what I would have anticipated would have been a reaction like, "well the shots could not have been developed without liability protections, so DJT took a gamble given the stakes at the time."
That is at least rational and a reasonable point of view.
But arguing about Acts that have no relevance, and arguing that he didn't do what he did when explicit proof was shared, is just silly.
True—the 1986 NCVIA was specific to scheduled childhood vaccinations.
FT, I see that everybody's explaining to you how the vaccine liability has worked for a long while, and I also want to point out that the Dem agenda to transform CA into a Dem stronghold through waves of unfettered immigration started in 1965 with Ted Kennedy, resulting in today's CA where 47 of the 54 congress are Dem and Governors such as Reagan and Wilson would no longer be elected; it took a Trump to make the inroads he is with the immigrants who have poured into the US in droves since '65 and during Obama's 3rd term, a calculated and completely illegal usurpation of citizens' rights. Trump will stop it and make inroads among those people simultaneously, something Bush couldn't and wouldn't do.
Explaining is a funny way of putting it Fred. Explaining with feelings and But But But and unrelated strawmen when presented with facts. For pete's sake--we went from the actual Act in 2005--back to 1965. Trump has always been a big government guy--not a big deal but to make him out to be the next messiah is nauseating because it is the same thing the Left does--annoints.
To do that in a Bray substack is irony.
Trump is culpable, though this all came from above his pay grade. This psyop was clearly globalist run and in the US came through the DOD who rolled out the plan and told Trump after. Did Trump tell us any of this? nope. He's team cabal.
https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/who-was-really-in-charge-of-the-covid
Sasha Latypova:
"The [May 15th, 2020] press conference revealed Trump's brief and ultimately failed attempt to yank the DOD’s leash that he naively thought he had. The brave fake Pee-3 warriors were charging ahead with their fake battle with the fake virus for very real profits and power and did not feel the need to involve POTUS in minor things like authorize $ billions for this activity. It appears that on March 25th, without getting the go-ahead from President Trump, Jennifer Santos, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, proceeded to utilize the Defense Production Act in relation to directing United States private industry, including defense contractors (Title I) and commercial domestic industrial base (Title III). This move likely pissed off the Boss, as, at least according to the theory of the US government, only POTUS can invoke the Defense Production Act. Specifically, the President can issue executive orders specifying which provisions of the act will be utilized in response to a national emergency. At this point, Trump had not authorized the use of the Defense Production Act in relation to private industry in the United States. The only Executive Order that was issued in relation to the Defense Production Act at the time was "Executive Order 13909 — Prioritizing and Allocating Health and Medical Resources to Respond to the Spread of COVID–19" (March 18, 2020).
"The Pentagon simply charged ahead in the fake battle by showering real money on their bioweapons manufacturing consortium, screw the formal command structure, who needs it. ... The Defense Production Act was used in violation of the chain of authority to distribute billions of dollars in no-bid contracts (including to fake-adversary nation of China) by the DOD’s clear insubordination to the POTUS authority."
I see what you mean, and as I said, I don't know if anyone could have or would have proceeded differently. So I am not sure why stating such a fact (and it is one) that he was culpable, is met with denial. If he was railroaded through his own naivete of how the establishment works, he was still culpable. That's part of the problem, which you partly describe. I saw with my own eyes his lack of appointments (non Senate confirmed appointments) that he was behind on at historic rates--thousands of positions that were holdovers from the prior administration and thwarted everything. He could have made those non-senate confirmed appointments in a single day. But took years.
Yes they thwarted everything--BUT HE HAD THE AUTHORITY to appoint new people. Problem is he assumed they were all in his camp and allowed the big R apparatchiks to install their own people in positions like COS which should have had a handle on that part.
oh I'm not denying, I'm agreeing. I'm just pointing out the blame / guilty parties doesn't stop there ... that's all. I don't give him a pass. He did have the authority to appoint non-cabal members. And he could've told us the truth on live TV.
https://leohohmann.com/2024/02/28/catherine-austin-fitts-shreds-trump-acolyte-in-the-most-brutal-7-minutes-you-will-find-on-the-internet/
Yes. Emphasis on number three. No two ways about it, Biden’s been a war pig forever. No secret. Also, he never saw an anti-constitutional bill he didn’t love.
I don’t watch conventions either, but I have it on good authority that after Trump’s 93-minute acceptance speech that lasted late into the night (described by my source as “bloviating”) an opera singer came on to sing one of the greatest tenor arias of all time, from Puccini’s Turandot, which begins (excuse my colloquial translation from the Italian) “Nobody’s gonna sleep” and ends with “I will conquer!” three times. That’s some quality insider humor right there.
Vincero!
Nossum Dorma was sung at the closing of Sum of All Fears when all traitors are getting executed as US and RF are signing some treaty.
I bounced over here after watching a couple of minutes of a Trump rally in Michigan on Rumble. The next president of the United States was apologizing to the crowd for his hideous combover, which he had just caught sight of on the Jumbotron. Is there a single, solitary public political figure on the other side who could climb out of his own backside long enough to make a self-deprecating joke like that? Can you imagine Joe Biden even ever thinking such a thing about his hair plugs in the solitude of his own brain?
You had it in the first seven words.
"Can you imagine Joe Biden even ever thinking?"
Eight words.
After consulting with the demoncrat Bureau of Ridiculous Excuses, I can declare, :"Uh ... I'm missing a finger."
I'll bet he can't even remember that he got hair plugs.
"I dreamt last night about Commissioner Lin’s letter to Queen Victoria." Yeah, you and everyone else, Chris. 🙄
P.S.: "Laphaming" better become a real word. Too good.
You obviously did not see Joy Reid's stunning and clearly well-thought-out rebuttal to your insane conclusion that the RNC, simply because it includes more people who are not phenotypically white, is in fact not a dangerous hotbed of white nationalism (https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1814424218005590206).
(Excellent post by the way. I love the history.)
LOL this exact video is in the article I'm working on :)
If you have time, you should watch the Hotep Jesus video responding to this clip (https://x.com/SmashCarm/status/1814422303935000737). It has this wild article from Roots entitled Straight Black Men Are the White People of Black People (https://www.theroot.com/straight-black-men-are-the-white-people-of-black-people-1814157214).
Will do, thank you!!!
Thank for sharing this clip. He is great at pushing past the labels they apply to everything and everybody and getting down to the heart of the matter.
You're welcome.
I enjoyed the “Joy Reid needs to stop culturally appropriating white hair colors” response
It wasn't just white hair color, it was basically a Trump cut. I must be white adjacent, because I think she looks even more hideous without it, though maybe in part it's Ozempic shrinking her face.
Well maybe they're "not phenotypically white," but dammit, they're white adjacent. And they all have trad wives. God knows what Joy Reid is adjacent too--nothing in nature.
“Trad wives,” I love that new “buzz” word. If you’ve seen Usha Vance’s bio, it’s far from “traditional.”
For Dems, if you're not trans or pedo, you're trad.
I almost feel bad for Jen Psaki. Her expression says, “My god! How did I get here?!?!? How did I end up on stage with this lunatic? Where have my morals gone? I used to be a good person!”
By the way, MSNBC did not physically attend the convention. It was all in-studio in Manhattan. Those “live” images of conventioneers behind Reid’s talking head? Green screen! As if they needed to undermine their own credibility even further!
I know. Wasn't that the perfect summation of what MSNBC has become? Just playing pretend.
Many of these journos are quasi-functional drug users and/or alcoholics. I doubt Alex Shepard even remembers having written that article about Tucker Carlson.
Tucker is a hetero white male who is skilled at what he does while loving his wife and children. Unacceptable values to the Dems…the prophets of doom, gloom and, mostly, outrage!
Old saying; liberals think conservatives are evil, conservatives think liberals are stupid. Also, Lin sounds like this administration talking to Russia.
Liberals aren't stupid; they just believe so much that isn't so.
I’m always amazed. You have people of good intelligence, good grades and so on, but it is as you say. Anyway, I didn’t come up with that old saying myself.
Nor did I. h/t to Ronald Reagan.
Reagan was too polite to use the phrase "mentally ill".
Who needs Lin when you've got Blinken, Milley and Austin. Rotten in the "free" world.
I had a personal interaction today that mirrors, somewhat--at least in the blind-rage, willful blindness, hate-filled mindset of the legacy media.
We do this cool race up and down stairs at these really cool 125 year old school/stadium. Epic. Iconic. Vomit-fest--every year a few people hurl, guaranteed. It is brutal. By design. I love it.
This year will be our 14th year, but last year we added an event for mil/fire/LEA wearing 40lb vests (men) 20lb vests (women). Super inspiring. Without hyperbole, it was probably the best medicine our community has had since the evil COVID lockdowns. Average time to do our event is 22 minutes (anaerobic, bent-over, mouth-breathing/gasping kind of race). I told the Heroes Race teams that I needed the men/women who can run sub 22 with a load.
Last year everyone came in under 20--just after the main race had happened. People were screaming/cheering so loud they lost their voices. When we took a photo of all the participants--the last finisher (from the race that started an hour before the Heroes Race) was coming down the stairs. A buddy of mine, a Command Sergeant Major, helped me as the Heroes Race director. He says to me, "Brian, why don't we ask these guys to come in with the last finisher?"
I say, "Hey guys, see that dude? Would you..."
Everyone jumps up to race to this guy's side. Of course. If there is one common thread running between all of the fire fighters, cops, and Soldiers/Marines--it is "We protect the vulnerable."
There was not a dry eye in the bowl. Tears of joy flowed down cheeks. This feeling had legs--I was getting emails weeks/months later. I do not have the words...it was all that is good, true, and beautiful in one action. The meaning of life distilled into a moment.
So--long intro, but it matters for context.
One of my sponsors has rented the bowl every Saturday in July so people can come into the bowl without jumping the fence to train. It is awesome. Over 120 people in the bowl running the stairs, the track, doing sprints--it was great.
Oh--and this matters as well. There are probably 300-500 people who regularly 'break the law' or 'go thug' to hop the fence to run these particular stairs. IMHO it is the best workout in town.
So I see this guy who is a retired fire fighter. We've seen each other dozens and dozens of times over the years--and most of us eventually get to know each other somewhat. At least we chat at one point or another.
So, during the lockdowns, I make some comment about 'this illegal fbomb unnecessary lockdowns for a manufactured cold...'
He, uh, loses his shit. He then starts popping off about how I'm the devil as are all people who are not socialist--really crazy kinda shit.
I'm like, 'whatever dude. I don't agree, but I'm not the devil.'
I don't think I've seen him since then. I usually run on Sunday, and it seems he's a Saturday guy.
SO. I see him today and say, "Hey man, aren't you a fire fighter?"
Yes.
What's your name again?
Bob
Hey man, I'd like to invite you to this event. The Heroes..blah blah blah--all I wrote above.
I really thought this dude would dig on it. It would make him happy. It would lift his spirits.
I remembered his crazy outburst--but genuinely wanted him to experience the event.
So I hand him a flyer tell him all this stuff--hes acting like he gets it. I say, 'Yeah man, this is how we build community..blah blah blah.."
I do remember some of the things you said previously, and I don't think I can support that.
What are you talking about?
I'm done talking with you...as he walks away.
Me: "Do you know where this ends right?"
Asshat: "What? I don't care"
Me: "It ends in war. When we cannot talk, it ends in war."
Asshat: "Then war it is."
SERIOUSLY
Me: "Have you been to war? Do you even know what you're talking about?"
Asshat: "Ive seen more people die than you. They died of COVID, and you don't believe in it..."
Me: "Bro, this is why we do hard things together--because we learn to trust each other for difficult conversations...like this is why I'm doing this..."
AssHat: "Your side is insane.
Me: "MY SIDE?!?!? You know nothing about me."
AssHat, is now getting all gesticulaty--waving arms--voice rising, "I cannot trust the team you want to build..."
I walk away.
Guy is out of his mind--but likely center of mass of the leftist bell-curve of madness.
We cannot live with them.
AND...it has stuck in my craw all damn day. So much of me wants to go and truly slice him apart rhetorically--another part wants to punch his sickly ass in the face--another part saddens me so deeply--you know that in his heart, he hoped Trump was killed.
I am beginning to think that most, and I write this with deep regret, of the leftists actually wanted Trump to die. It is insane.
bsn
A man almost getting his head blown off for his beliefs is not enough to pull some people back from the precipice of madness. Asshat couldn’t even try to be reasonable or respectful, just ideological and hard headed. A real shame. You offered him an olive branch and he spit on it. He doesn’t deserve any more space in your head . Purge him forever.
You're 100% correct...need some floss to get that rotting food from between my molars.
I go back and forth between wanting to bash the ever-loving crap out of him--and sitting down with him and helping him.
These people cannot be reached until something so dramatic happens in their lives that the veils fall away completely.
Have a great week Brian!
bsn
Great story. Yea, this is the challenge. The other side has completely lost their minds. I was driving with my wife 25 years ago and a news story came on the radio and it was about Nancy Pelosi doing something insane. I told my wife, “This only ends in civil war,” and she was totally shocked. “What are you talking about? Why are you saying that?” And so I laid it out… “If two people basically agree on the nature of reality, they might disagree as to how to solve a problem, but they won’t have a strong reason to fight. But if they disagree about reality, one side or the other are crazy. When the crazy people demand the sane ones live in a crazy world and accept the crazy version of ‘reality,’ many people will say ‘No!’ And the only outcome is a fight. So, unless these crazy Democrats turn around and stop this nonsense, there is going to be civil war.” And so here we are 25 years later and now the idea of a second civil war is quite mainstream thinking.
David,
Deeply saddening, frightening, and feels so nearly predictable.
I forgot to add: That, my friend is some serious prescience, without sounding kooky or sacrilegious, but that is a prophet kind of insight 25 years ago.
I have been thinking about this interaction, and how I could have handled it better--maybe tried to explore why I was so quick to anger. What iceberg, value, virtue, or--I'm beginning to understand much better--a bruise, an old wound that hasn't properly healed...
If I was totally honest with him, in the moment, but I need to be quicker to see what's underneath my own reaction--I would have said, "Bro, don't you see? I'm doing this for you! I'm building this for you too! I don't want you to be alone. I know this works. I know this makes people feel much better. Please join me. You matter.
Bro this is to honor you and your fellow fire fighters. To showcase your values and virtues to our community. It makes us feel safe. It makes us feel protected. It is for you. Please join us. Can't you see? We're in this together. We don't have a choice. We've even assigned to the same unit, there is no amendment to our orders, no PCS, no move--we're in it together. Can't you see that? Don't you get it? Please. Please come out. I promise. You'll see what I'm saying. We need you. Please. People were crying. We need this. It is soul medicine. Please. Come out. Please."
Maybe, maybe if I see him I'll say that one more time. Maybe I'll have the guts to do that. I hope and pray I do. We cannot go to war.
I read this interesting book years ago--Click by the Brafman brothers Rom and Ori--about what they called 'quickset intimacy' (great writing-that paints a very clear picture IMHO) to describe those times when we just immediately hit it off with someone.
There are 5 steps--cannot remember them all--but the first one is essentially show your belly first. I know Brene Brown's TEDx talk and multiple books/trainings are mostly shame and vulnerability. I don't know--but maybe this is what Christ means when he says turn the other cheek. It is to not stop trying.
Paul writes in the possibly the greatest thing ever written-or at least in the top 10. 1 Corintiians 13. "...Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others (I wrote asshat above...), it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered (within nano-seconds I flushed...at least in my mind), (biggie here:) IT KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS...It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
So I batted about zero for fourteen. Who is going to take the responsibility on to keep trying to connect if it isn't a guy who is putting a race together that is explicitly saying we want people to connect.
...just gave myself some journal therapy--Thank you David.
bsn
Shit. I just figured it out. I felt rejected. He rejected my invitation and it hurt my feelings. Better dig a bit to see what's underneath that--but I owe him an apology. He doesn't have to come to anything I invite him to anymore than I am obligated to attend whatever he does.
It was me. I need to apologize. I think this is how it is supposed to work...if we don't want war.
bsn
Sorry for the lag. I read this a few days ago, but got sucked into personal things and didn't get a chance to respond. I'm glad to see that you can process this through a Christian worldview. I think that's important. In fact, I write a Substack titled Simple Christianity (https://simplechristianity.substack.com) that talks about some of these issues.
A couple of points:
1. Yes, some of the issue is probably on your side. None of us like to be rejected or hurt. To the extent that you can work past that yourself, that's great. You'll be a better person for it, regardless of anything else.
2. But that said, sometimes other people are jerks and there's nothing we have done to deserve it and nothing we can do to prevent it. So, make sure that you aren't just taking all the guilt on yourself. God is truth, and so view things through the lens of truth.
3. Now, all that said, Christ calls us to love even those that we're in conflict with here in this world. That's because ALL people are made in the image of God. They ALL bear his mark. They ALL received his breath of life. So, God commands us to love them as he loves them.
4. Loving means accepting the worst that people have to offer and still desiring the best for them. I think that's what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13, particularly when he says that it "always perseveres." If you love somebody, you don't give up on them, even when they give up on themselves, even when they hate you for not giving up.
The final thing I'll say is that wanting the best for people doesn't mean that you want what they want. It means that you want for them what they need, even if they can't see it themselves. Ultimately, in a Christian context, I want repentance, acceptance, and salvation for everyone, even the most vile of human beings. Love perseveres because it says, "I know that God is bigger than this situation, and he can change even the hardest of hearts, and so that's what I want for you. I love you and I want you to be my brother or sister in Christ."
In any case, I think you're doing well to think through all your motives and feelings.
Thanks David. I'm going to re-read your post later today.
Years ago, I think it was in grad school, we did a full deep dive into the Meyers-Briggs temperament test. I don't remember much, but one was about how extroverts often 'think out loud'--which I fit to a 'T'--capitalized, bolded, underscored.
Not sure why this is--but I am often able to write more clearly and honestly when on a blog than in a journal--weird, could be simply lack of diligence with journaling--but I also think I must absorb something, learn something from the interaction with others that heightens my own ability to think/process/analyze/and eventually learn.
So--thank you for being a backboard onto which I processed an interaction.
1. Great advice about the book--and now as I see what I wrote above--it might be wise for me to write the book on Substack as entries--getting real time feedback and improving the editing/production--and even better understanding what I'm trying to say.
2. Subscribed to your substack.
Have a great day--and again, thank you for the thoughtful response. It helps. My choice in Christianity--wasn't a Heaven's opening/earth shattering experience. It was more like--"Fbomb it. Every single time I try to drive this life, I end up in a ditch and hurt others. Maybe I should give Christ the wheel."
bsn
Writing your book on Substack is a great idea. Yep, most people find Jesus in the ditch. You're not alone in that. In fact, even if you recognize Jesus when you're driving on the road, you won't actually give him the wheel until you're in the ditch. 😀
That is the tragic fallout we will see more of as time goes by. People whose brains have calcified from the conditioning of MSM and the other psyops that want humanity immobilized in mental straight jackets and activated at the drop of a hat to turn on each other.
I’m hopeful that the tough times to come could still shatter the programming of many, but there will be some for whom there will be no going back. They will cling to their “precious” till the bitter end.
I chewed on that bone all weekend. It bothered me more than it should have and I think I had a more mature insight Sunday night. I found the plank in my own eye. It has sucked much if not most of the anger out of me. I was rejected, and it hurt my feelings. When I questioned COVID 4 years ago--and he obviously never forgot about it--does lead me to believe he is likely unwell, unstable, and very unhappy. Backfire effect, I knew this, but 'in the heat of the battle'--I also fell into an emotionally triggered trap I have inadvertently set for myself all over the place.
Check this out, it explains a lot about our unreasonable neighbors, friends, family members, countrymen:
https://effectiviology.com/backfire-effect-facts-dont-change-minds/
We cannot go to war. There will be casualties of those, like you said, whose brain's are simply too calcified, too afraid to question their own beliefs, to broken/brainwashed--but we have to keep our hearts open.
I realized that failed at every single aspect of love according to Paul in 1 COR 13. That is not how I want to live. I want to bring people together.
Have a great day.
bsn
Thanks for the article you shared as well. I particularly like the advice at the end about how we should be aware of this in our own mind, and what to do to combat it; as well as the advice to be less confrontational in how we share information.
Oh yes, there are many ways in which our minds can erect traps for ourselves.
I think the Dunning-Kruger Effect and Normalcy Bias are close cousins as well.
I’m concerned too that the bad people who have worked so hard to program us all (thanks Edward Bernays!) are doubtless aware of this effect too, and likely spent time trying to compensate for it, so their propaganda more easily slides into all our minds.
Glad to hear you were brought past the initial response.
As a fellow Christian I know all too well how often we fail to live up to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Thankful all the time that it is not my righteousness that delivers me, or anybody else, but Christs atoning work.
Keep on fighting the good fight. 👍🏻
Where and when can we find this next competition? I would love to attend.
Outsider,
I'll DM you our event website. I absolutely love it. I have come to understand that, and it took 12-13 years of doing the race before I uncovered my motivations - underneath the scar tissue, the callousness of life, my own self-protecting lies to myself--that this race is what I've really been trying to say all my life but didn't have the words--or even more honestly--the courage to say those words out loud.
1. I'm afraid and fear being alone. I don't want anyone to feel alone. I know how that feels. I was kicked out of the house at 16. It is scary and unbelievably jarring. The world changes forever.
2. Let's do hard things together. This is how we learn to love each other. Anyone who has played sports, served in mil, LEA, fire knows this intuitively--but maybe never articulated it to themselves. The locker room is the best place in the world for athletes. Safest. Most fun. We are best understood. We are valued, loved, protected--and we reciprocate. After we collectively suffer...
3. THEN we can build, solve, resolve problems, live freely, love our neighbors...
4. Lastly, I have come to believe this in the last couple of years, Matthew 18:20 is when Christ says, "whenever two or three or gathered together in my name, I am there amidst them." The feelings I have had and continue to have post-suffering, when breaking bread with my friends after a very hard run or something equivalent--if that is not Divine, then I don't know if there is a Divinity.
Shit--I could go on and on and on and on...I have a few chapters in a book I've been writing on and off about this--I love it.
bsn
Brian, I would like to read that book when you are finished.
I must confess that I probably spend too much time alone and have all my nearly 72 years. Between striving to escape from the financial burdens of my childhood, having much of my unit turn against me after I took an unpopular stance during Vietnam, and taking care of a sick wife and children while dealing with the challenges of building not one, but two high pressure careers, I have rarely experienced the closeness that you so eloquently describe.
There was the camaraderie of a group of 5:30 a.m. runners in my 40s until nearly everyone got injured. That feeling was also there during some of my military years before I became disillusioned. But I am usually doing the hard workouts all alone and have only one close friend, who lives 2,000 miles away. He stood by me when we were in the Army and I became “robed in dishonor” for calling out the lies.
But your comment inspired me to start looking for more.
Outsider,
My eyes are filled with tears as I respond to your post.
Your story breaks my heart.
The monsters under the bed disappear, when our parents or brother or sister, come in the room with us.
From quantum entanglement (which I honestly have no true understand, but it intuitively makes sense to me) , to families, to teams, to tribes, to nations, I have come to believe that the entire point of this often painful experience we call Life or the human condition is to connect.
(edit: Siri thought 2 when I meant to)
The only scalable way to connect is true love, agape. Hate works, but it cannot be universal. We need an object to hate. That object is always a person. The scapegoat. See how the left has responded to the assassination attempt.
That is hate fueled connection. It is not only gross and deplorable, but it is how wars start.
Your fellow soldiers in the army could not see the truth. To see the truth would undermine their entire world view, the ground beneath them suddenly becomes unstable.
They are the same people who are on Covid booster 20 today.
I wish you had been in my unit.
bsn
“ I have come to believe that the entire point of this often painful experience we call Life or the human condition is to connect.”
Beautifully put. Amen!🙏🏻
Never give up on that!
After moving to a different state just prior to covid, I have become pretty isolated. It’s hard, as I left a wonderful circle of friends who are now thousands of miles away. We do have some family out where we now reside, but don’t get together as much as I’d like for various reasons. I stay in touch with friends, and they with me, as best we can. It’s hard though, missing the physicality of our friendships, apart from a few visits we have been able to share.
Karen Hunt here on substack penned a really great article about the perils of A.I. a few days ago (https://khmezek.substack.com/p/beaten-by-a-chimpanzee). At the end, as an encouragement and ray of hope, she shared a passage from Kurt Vonnegut.
“ I love this little story about Kurt Vonnegut. One day he tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope:
“Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope.
I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is - we're here on Earth to fart around.
And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance at all anymore."
Let’s all keep dancing.
"Let’s all keep dancing."
Amen!
NanaW,
20 years ago or so I read Malcolm Gladwell’s “the tipping point“. It’s a great read, talks about how stuff ideas, movements, disease move through populations, epidemically.
Oh, I should say I’m using Siri, so expect some odd spellings and grammatical errors and unusual punctuation.
He describes three types of people that help things become epidemic, or in his parlance tip. They are connectors, mavens, and salesman. He gives a little test from the phonebook, and if you know, a certain number of people that share that last name, he defines you as a connector.
Turns out, I’m a connector at the tip of the bell curve. Maybe hyper connector. It is how my brain works.
When I was in the army, I needed to go to the headquarters, I always walked through the G1, the personnel office. I walked in one door and through the labyrinth of desks and cubicles saying hi to people, slapping high-fives bullshitting, making jokes, and left through the back door on the other side of where I entered. I just like to say hi to people.
I didn’t realize I was spiritually connected to Curt Vonnegut! Thank you for that story, it made me smile.
I was saddened about your physical “isolation“.
My first suggestion to everybody who moves to Tacoma, is to join our YMCA.
It’s ridiculously fantastic. Numerous branches. World class for Silletti’s. But it’s the people. The Y pants, their values on the wall, and tries very hard to live up to them. The members do as well. It is our communities best reflection. It is where everybody meets and find new friends.
I would gently ask you if there is a YMCA in your new community?
Everyone there dances!
Have a wonderful day.
bsn
Thank you for the YMCA suggestion! The senior centers and city park and recs nearest to us leave a lot to be desired out here.
There is YMCA not too far away. Money right now is tight (and getting tighter), but I’m optimistic that next year Hubs and I will get some relief from that pinch. I will definitely look into the Y next year.
I had read that Gladwell book years ago. I do need a refresher course though! But from you description of your passage through your army personnel office, I think I can safely say I’m a connector as well. Or as my hubby coined it, l’m a golden retriever as I wend my way though life.
High praise indeed! 😀
I think you need to finish your book. For you, if for nobody else.
"Laphaming." Excellent new word. The media is Laphable.
When a tweet such as the one you quote is so off-planet I assume the tweeter may be bot. Sadly, I know, sometimes they're not.
I think maybe Lapham was on to something…ahead of his time.
Maybe we should simply have all the “journalists” write their assessments of whichever political party or candidate they adamantly oppose ahead of time, because we already know that nothing that happens, or nothing that anyone says is going to change a single word they say or thought they have. They could then post their screeds a year in advance and then we could read them whenever (or if) we choose.
A light note because you covered some of the finer, darker points. I watched the entirity of Trump's Michigan rally today. If a guy gets shot in the ear, regardless of if I have heard his speeches a hundred times and know what they are going to be, I am going to tune in to his next rally out of direct spite for the shooter who did it, and the people who cheered the shooter on posthumously. My favorite part was him riffing about his hair and apologizing for his horrible combover. "That screen *points left*...not so good. I'm sorry for doing that to you. That one though *points right* that one though, look at that one, not bad right? Watch that one." I couldn't find it in his sprawling monologue but it was perfect. Through hysterical laughter, a memory popped into my head. Remember that time he went and picked up a Marine's cover (hat) that blew off and he went and retrieved it, and the media cracked and admitted it was a nice thing to do? I do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAbgc41pksE
That was 2017. We still kind of sort of had a media. They would briefly try to find a singular bit of praise to give the guy. This is 2024 and things are very different. Joe Biden gets Marines killed. Trump doesn't. The media has been complicit and cannot implode fast enough.
Clearly these pundits haven't been unburdened by what was.
Good one!
Trump is not an ideologue. He’s a pragmatist and an entertainer. Nobody reads the room like the Don.
Look- let’s dispense with the politesse. Chris Christie is a bad person. First off, he ate all the guacamole and he double dipped. Secondly, like born again Opus Dei stunt double Mike Kence he’s a disloyal turncoat. Since you’re ordering Chinese tonight, where do you think “lingchi” came from? What is lingchi you ask? Lingchi is the death by 1000 cuts, ancient Chinese secret— no not Calhoun bath beads. More like sliced up, stabbed through the heart, and dismembered. That was the penalty for treason in old China. You lingchi traitors, Tanto love you long time.
(That is so racist!) I’m kidding. I’m half Chinese, half Blackwater.
Which half, top or bottom you have to guess.
Trump is an original, not a stamped tin replica of a man, the genu-wine article. He has become legend. He is the person the country wants in office. Let’s get him there.
NSFW, funny AF:
https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1814531929074536933
My hubby just shared some of those YouTube shorts with me over the weekend. They are hysterically funny! Like Ricky Gervais level stuff. Whoever is doing them really nails the Richard Attenborough-like voiceovers. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I went to the link. It is perfect!
Like!