Plus Ça Change…

I’ve just finished re-reading Barbara Tuchman’s The Proud Tower — which, if you haven’t read yet, I urge you to do so — and despite the fact that Tuchman was a tired old Lefty, she still was of an era where historians relied on facts, uncomfortable though they may be.  Unlike today’s crop of Newspeak toads, for whom the old adage “If the facts don’t conform with the theory, they must be eliminated” is carved into their stony little hearts.

Here’s one such fact, and it’s a quote of then-Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed (R-Maine), who said of the Progressives of his era:

It was true of Progressives back then, and it’s still more true of their philosophical descendants of today, whether politicians, Greens or the Gender Studies Brigade [some considerable overlap].

Seriously:  think of Guam “tipping over”, the “trillion-dollar coin”, “defunding the police”, “anthropomorphic climate change”, “ESG”, “patriarchal hegemony”, “DEI”, “Green New Deal” and all the other modernist, oh-so fashionable tropes and tell me that these “philosophies” (actually more like religions because they rely on belief rather than substance) are not doing today exactly what Reed ascribed to the mountebanks of his era.

Actually, today’s “progressive” tropes are even more antithetical to knowledge than before, because they insist on ignoring or worse, destroying the fundamentals of civilization’s accrued wisdom — because it’s obvious that it’s only without that wisdom that their policies can survive the first question or challenge.

Even worse, when the time comes to write the history of their many failures, the historians, being of the same tribe, will almost certainly lie and ascribe the causes thereof to “fascists”, “counterrevolutionaries” (an old Marxist standby), “revanchists”, “Trumpists” or whatever their fevered little imaginations can devise — anything other than admit to the inherent fallacies of their policies and the crashing, grinding failures and concomitant miseries caused thereby.

Even Tuchman would weep.


[stupidity erased because embarrassing]

Pushing And Shoving

It is worth noting that almost every instance of an ordinary citizen going crazy and killing government agents has come as a direct assault on his property rights.  In some cases it’s been linked to eminent domain seizures — e.g. that farmer in Missouri who gunned down two local government surveyors (and then shot himself immediately after)  over a “right of way” infringement on his land.  (I can’t find a link to the incident, but it happened at least ten years ago and I still remember the salient details.)  Here’s a more recent situation of Gummint getting too big for its britches (although as yet, there’s been no gunplay because Amish).

Anyway, all that’s unimportant to this post, because enter Fuckface Kerry:

John Kerry claimed that US farm confiscations are not off the table, as he stated that small farms contribute significant greenhouse gasses.

And no doubt he got his loony idea here:

Recently, the governing body of the European Union officially endorsed measures to compel farmers to vacate their lands as part of the EU’s Natura 2000 scheme, which categorizes farms as significant emitters of nitrogen. Under the plan, farmers would be offered 120 percent of their farm’s value through a “buyout” program. However, those who decline this offer would face the risk of being forcibly removed from their land without any financial compensation.

Farmers in Holland are undergoing the most radical regulations that are causing the culling of herds and destroying crops.

Because the Dutch farmers are unarmed, of course they have to resort to peaceful protests by blocking highways with their tractors.

Our American farmers (and their many supporters) are not similarly disadvantaged, and I think that anything that Fuckface starts is going to make the Cliven Bundy episode look like a Sunday church picnic.

Pass the popcorn, Simon.

Predictable Commie Response

As many people know, Chile is one of my favorite countries on Earth;  so when I saw that the Commies had been routed in the last elections there, I did a little Happy Dance:

Chile’s most prominent right-wing party has romped an election on Sunday night aimed at selecting members for the constitutional assembly responsible for drafting the country’s new constitution.

The assembly was tasked with creating a new constitution to replace the one that was implemented during the military rule of General Augusto Pinochet which many credited for making Chile the most prosperous country in the region.

Needless to say, the Commies wanted to get rid of this horrible thing because Commies:

A draft by a predominantly left-wing assembly was overwhelmingly rejected in a national referendum. The draft had proposed numerous changes, including replacing the Senate with a Chamber of Regions and recognizing Chile as a “plurinational state,” granting indigenous groups additional rights and guarantees.

It also guaranteed several social benefits and environmental standards, making it one of the most progressive constitutions worldwide.

But unfortunately for them:

The proposal was turned down by 62 percent of voters in September 2022, prompting the latest election.

The Republican Party, led by conservative firebrand José Antonio Kast, emerged victorious with 22 seats after winning over 35 percent of the votes.

Here’s what happens next:

The assembly will now face the challenging task of reconciling the conservative majority’s ideas with the demand for change that sparked the process. Starting from June, the newly appointed constitutional councilors will have a four-month window to deliberate, converse, and implement alterations to a new constitution.

A final decision from the voters on the redraft will be made via another vote in December. If Chileans reject the updated constitution, the country will retain its previous Pinochet-era constitution.

Looks good for our side, huh?  A decisive (conservative) majority is about to set about making changes to the national constitution, if needed.

Well, the Left aren’t going to let a little thing like a popular majority interfere with their plans, of course.  So in typical fashion, they’ve responded the way they always do in such situations:

Unidentified hooded men attacked the home of conservative Republican Party lawmaker Héctor Urban on Tuesday evening. Urban was recently elected to help draft a new constitution for Chile.

The attack at Urban’s residence took place hours after a group of unidentified men set a vehicle on fire that belonged to the local Victoria Municipality and opened fire on the government official that drove the vehicle, seriously injuring one of his legs. Urban’s father, René Urban, a farmer who was presently working at the scene of the fire, also had his truck shot at but suffered no injuries.

Unknown assailants also attacked a police station in the town after the attack on Urban’s residence on Tuesday evening. Two members of Chile’s Carabineros law enforcement gendarmerie were reportedly injured with pellets. 

Yeah, “unidentified gunmen” — probably some of those White Christian supremacist groups that we’re always hearing about.

These scumbags are the brothers-in-arms of those Leftist bastards who violently demonstrated outside the homes of our conservative Supreme Court justices and made death threats against them around the time of the Dobbs (anti-Roe v. Wade) decision.

Cuius Emptat?

As the border crisis goes from crisis to catastrophe, I was struck by a pic that Breitbart News  used to headline this article:

Simple question:  Who paid for all those t-shirts?

I really, really think we should be told — and not just the name of the organization itself, but also where it gets its funding.

Of course, that would require some actual, you know, journalism.  So don’t hold your breath.

Quote Of The Day

From Steve Kruiser:

“The radical leftists don’t have the numbers on any issue, they merely have volume.”

He’s writing in the present tense specifically about the trannie issue, but the truth of the matter is that the radical Left has never had the numbers on any issue, ever.

Which is why they try to rule with a Vanguard, or an unelected Politburo, or by bureaucratic regulation when they can’t get their laws passed.

Always a minority, posing as a majority — just another of their parade of lies ever since they began.

Contempt

One of my favorite cartoon strips of all time was the late (and much-missed) Johnny Hart’s B.C. series.  The single cartoon which tickled me most when I first read it, maybe forty years ago, was this exchange:

“Oh Great Guru, what is the definition of contempt?”
“Winning the Husband Of The Year Award, and sending your mistress to give your acceptance speech.”

I have a new definition of contempt, and there’s nothing funny about it.  Try this one:

A key lawmaker reacted in disbelief Tuesday when a Biden cabinet official said the climate change agenda took priority over the livelihoods of blue collar workers because “there’s a lot of jobs.”

You have to read the entire exchange to get the full flavor of the contempt that senior government employees people (like this watermelon Deb Haaland) have for the working class.

And we know that they despise the working class even more because they support someone like Donald Trump, who actually does care about blue-collar jobs.  So the Greens get a double win:  ecology “protection” and punishing Trump voters.

How nice for them.