A Symptom Of Being Human

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

I was going to write about the power of love. Mostly because I’m realizing the depths of depression I’d fallen into and the kittens are bringing us back to life. Little Circe, particularly, really loves her daddy and it’s healing his heart.

BUT– But lately I’m running into the narrative on Jews that is really just anti-antisemitism in glad rags. “All Jews are commies, destroying western civ. Why should we support their war.”

It’s…. interesting, shall we say? Because in the end, it comes down to “we support their war because we’re next on the Hamass menu, regardless.” But a lot of this is, bizarrely, taking organizations like ADL and claiming it speaks for all Jews, and therefore…. Which is like La Raza, or the more deranged (yes, they exist, they’re just small) Portuguese orgs in the US speaking for me. They don’t, just because I come from a vaguely allied culture, if you were wondering. I don’t think that Latin culture is superior to all others, or that the West of the US was stolen from us, and I’m not, of course, a Marxist.

I do have some insight, coming from having acculturated to the US as an adult though. Sometimes I wonder if that’s why I seem to be the only person, even among the writers and artists, who was aware of the political color bar, and what you had to do to succeed, and how you could get cancelled on suspicion of not singing fully in the progressive choir, even back in the eighties and nineties.

It was plain as the nose on my face, to me. Perhaps this was because in Portugal, by the time I hit my teen years, that political color bar was drawn in bright red and the penalties were also very obvious. The fact that some teachers spelled it out, by telling me outright if I wanted to have an A and get into college I’d best get with the program, probably didn’t hurt.

But I could see it even as an exchange student in the early 80s. It was “subtle” in a way, but you could see it. Say something outside the leftist media narrative, and everyone in the room looked at you like you were an idiot. And then it would start circulating how very not smart you were, and how you might be a little nuts. From there to social pariah was a step, though the odder and less sensitive to others’ responses might not get it and just think it’s an unfriendly group or whatever.

Note later, when I was involved in Mensa, a society that is entered by showing proof of IQ, the same mechanic applied. Open your mouth with a non-approved non-leftist narrative, and you “weren’t very bright” at best, and were a potential terrorist/racist/sexist/homophobe at worst.

The line was very clear to me, as was the assumption: All smart people; all educated and well informed people were leftist. Therefore, if you didn’t want to be judged as one of those stupid hicks and uneducated and maybe with a screw loose, you’d repeat whatever. And yeah, a lot of times, you’d end up being more left than you’d otherwise have been, because — look up cults — there is a mechanic to repeating what you don’t believe that’s used in indoctrination.

By this mechanic, most of the US upper class by the 40s (if you believe bios, and also Heinlein’s opinion) had essentially become Marxists, though unaware of it themselves. It was a function of what books were published, what programs were broadcast (radio first) and what memes were deployed. I THINK it started in the colleges, probably around and just after WWI. By WWII the only fight was German Marxists or Russian Marxists. And because of FDR the overclass went all in on the Russian side. (It might have been for the best, too, who knows? I just wish they’d woken up earlier.)

Note this was completely invisible to people who hadn’t come from another culture, be it immigrants or “working class/under class who made good.”

Leftism was a positional good. It’s actually been interesting and surprising how fast that’s falling apart since 16. It’s partly the fact that leftism is no longer holding it together to the extent of sounding even vaguely sane. And partly the fact that the masks have all come off, and the mechanic become incredibly obvious. Partly because we have access to the media of other places, times, and un-gate-kept media too.

I’m hoping this breaks both the immigrant comes in and becomes hard left, and the “lower class who makes good” becomes hard left. Because if you think about it, that’s been true for a long time. And it’s a poison pill. We all want our kids to do well/acculturate. But that means we lose them to Marxism because they want to fit in with their new circumstances. It’s been a meme in the culture forever, and yet people don’t seem to GET it. Not really get it. Makes me feel like the man with one eye.

But I never expected this effect to be held PARTICULARLY against the Jews. It’s all immigrant groups who came in during or after the 20th century. All of them. I always cringe at “oh, Hispanics are hard working, family oriented. They’ll be right wing.” No. they won’t. Because leftism is a positional good. And they want to fit in and sound high class. The effect is so strong that third generation of families escaping Communists: Russians, Chinese, Cubans, are often hard left. (And even the ones who think they aren’t, buy into a lot of the bullsh*t.) The only defense seems to be a strong religion. Hence Muslim immigrants aren’t becoming hard left, though their political culture often allies them with the Marxists. But that’s because their culture is their religion and they tend to stick in tight communities that all police each other on religion.

No, not like Jews or Catholics. Walk away from that religion, and your parents might stop talking to you. They are, however, highly unlikely to slit your throat. So, Italians, Hispanics, etc, all become Marxists to fit in. Yes, so do the Jews. Arguably some of them were Marxist (both kinds, though Jews will read danger when it almost kills them (takes a while) and soured on the German model really quickly) when they came here, because they were European upper class “d’industrie” not of birth, but those lines also blurred because noblemen like money, etc.

All of these 20th century and later immigrants, as well as the organizations that cater to them are all hard left. It’s not a coincidence. It’s because integrating in the culture involved becoming increasingly harder left. Unless you were stubborn enough that what you said out of your mouth didn’t taint your mind (grins in being me) and/or so religious that you wouldn’t go over. (Some Christians were protected, yes, but often not their kids.) It’s one of the risks of massive and uncontrolled immigration. Though to be fair, in the Jewish case, there wasn’t much they could do. They were genuine refugees and terrified. Which made their assimilation more so.

Look, we have a lot of work to do healing our culture. But the bullshit was already in our culture that pushed these people left. It’s nothing inherent in Jewishness, except the twin desire for safety and being accepted to the extent those operate. (Yes, there’s also separatedness, but that is driven from the inside only to the extent that Jews stay religious.)

I was going to paste a screen cap of a comment on Wretchard’s FB page that used ALL the talking points, about how this guy would support Israel, but frankly the Jews, as exemplified by ADL and Soros were responsible for anti-white, anti-Christian, anti-western initiatives, so let them burn, etc.

I decided not to give the asshole screen space, besides the fact I want to set him on fire.

First, Soros maybe was once upon a time a Jewish boy. Maybe. I honestly don’t know how religious his family was originally or if they tried, but he reminisces mistily about selling out other Jews for profit as a young teen. He’s evil, but he’s not Jewish in the religious sense. He might be an “Ethnic Jew” but so are a lot of people. Due to the fact that Jews are not a collective entity with a shared brain, it means nothing for Jews or Israel as a whole.

The ADL is now just a leftist organization. Yes, sure, Jews work for it. Again, leftism is/was until very recently a positional good. And? Other large organizations, including the ACLU that started as non leftist have all become screamingly leftist. This has nothing to do with Jews, and everything to do with “Our culture was already very infected when most Jews immigrated which led to all sorts of pathologies.”

“But Jews have all the power, reeeeee.” Jews in general do well, particularly when semi-assimilated. I have friends who believe it is the effect of generations selecting for who does best at professions that are mostly intellectual and portable. And they might be right. I’d like to point out though, that I think it’s also FEAR. Converso families in Portugal tend to do very well, because there is safety in wealth and position, and family trauma tends to echo through generations. That thing about culture persisting beyond genes.

Take it from the neurotic who managed to stay employed in trad pub for 30 some books, when the average career was 2 when she came in. Scrambling on your torn fingernails out of utter terror can give you a lot of lift.

So, yeah, Jews are more visible than other minorities, in some ways. Some. Though I’ll also point out a lot of people assume we’re Jewish because Biblical names and last name that sounds German (It’s actually British from the border with Wales, originally, but hey. Dan does have a ton of German, via an Amish Great grandmother.) I’ve seen this happen more than once. Prominent person in entertainment or arts, German last name, the finger pointing begins, and then you find they’re Lutheran or Catholic. (Though usually background only.) Bah.

The point here is, yeah, a lot of Jews are leftist. They also suffer from targeting issues. To understand why you need to understand that generational trauma, again. There was a post recently on how the Jewish community as a whole kept identifying Christians as the enemy, instead of the left. That’s partly because they assimilated into the left for safety, and partly because they’re hearing the words not the actions. Yes, it’s stupid. They’re not the only ones making that mistake.

This also goes to “but they exaggerate their victimhood.” Bitch, if you were retraumatized through history every few generations, and always hit when you felt safe, victimhood would also be at the center of your identity. That it is a belligerent victimhood is probably to the good. It’s how Jews survive. That it makes them then try to help everyone who proclaims himself a victim…. well, oy vey iz mir gevalt!

Though the last month and change has made a lot wake up to how they’re being used.

There is a wakening set in motion in 2020 that went further with October 7th, and a lot of masks have come off. We’re seeing a massive realignment across the lines, and not just for Jews. But it will take time, and the results might surprise even you. But these things are always slower than you think in working through.

Right now everyone is still in shock from 2020 and the masks coming off, and stumbling around punch drunk.

None of which has anything to do with the fight between Israel and Hamass. First what Hamass (the Pork Loin Brigades) did was true savagery and horror, a declaration of war not on Jews, but on all of civilization. Their doing what they did and broadcasting it amounted to “We will subdue you with violence and evil, till you bow to us.” The answer to that is always not only no but hell no, preferably with missiles, if you want to keep any civilization and decency.

Second, it’s purely in our best interests. If you think allowing Hamass to do this to Israel and destroy it utterly — which will happen if there’s a cease fire with no surrender first! — won’t result in their trying the same in our lands, you’re out of your mind. And while I don’t think they’d succeed in America, looking at Europe makes me doubtful they wouldn’t succeed there. At least enough to make the rest of the world hazardous to America.

Third, the axis of evil, totalitarian regimes is real. And it doesn’t include Israel. Which is why our evil would be totalitarians much love China, and only reluctantly pay Israel lip-service and play f*ck f*ck games on aid. BTW all the totalitarians are in major economic and other trouble. Part of their recent belligerence is an attempt to save themselves. And like our home grown Bidenmites, the more they try to flail around and fix things, the deeper they dig.

It is in the best interest of CIVILIZATION to back Israel. Because Hamass is the opposite of civilization. And will take us all down given a choice.

As for the anti-Semites…. they’ll always be with us, I guess. However, before you buy their idiocy, do pay attention to the logic and how this affects other groups.

There is a concerted propaganda effect going on to leave Israel out in the cold. And for various reasons, the right always falls for this. ALWAYS. The right in the US are so susceptible to propaganda it’s a miracle we survive at all.

Again, as yesterday, don’t echo malicious propaganda, and do make an effort to identify what is propaganda and aimed at winning by other means the war started with savagery and horrible crimes against civilians.

Be not afraid and be not stupid. Stay safe out there.

234 thoughts on “A Symptom Of Being Human”

  1. The antisemites know they are outclassed byt Jews, in multiple ways. Rage-hating jews isn’t helping them. So the idiots hate harder.

    LOL.

    My foray into Mensa circles was amusing. I was shocked at some of the stupidity expressed at those few sample gatherings. And the credential-oids were the worst. ick.

    Not that I am without -epic- stupid life choices. nay, not so. -Epic- stupid…. ouch.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. As I’ve said, we joined because we couldn’t make other friends, being weird. The first chapter was left but actually fun. It was all puns and beers. Then…. then we left, and left Mensa. And found out own weird.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I made a brief foray into Mensa in my early thirties. Mostly looking for friendship. Being seriously introverted and painfully shy made it hard to make friends the “normal” way so I tried Mensa. I really tried.

      It wasn’t the leftist politics. I figured out the joke about God by the time I was 16 which eventually combined with my perception that Popular Mechanics was a more puissant guide to reality than the Bible to, I like to think, make me more resistant than normal to leftist drivel.

      What got me was the woo. The stupid, damned magical thinking. Perhaps illustrated best by an incident at the last meeting I attended. This is recounted from memory so I probably come out much more clever and erudite than I deserve.

      An attractive young woman approached me and asked, “What’s your sign?”

      I knew what she meant — I was shy not ignorant — but I was young so I responded as if befuddled, “My sign?”

      “You know. Your astrological sign.”

      “Oh, you mean what sign was I born under?”

      “Yes, exactly.”

      “Well I don’t remember anything about the incident but, based on what my mother told me, I think it was Yellow Cab.”

      Needless to say that was my last foray into the jungle of Mensa. I may have missed meeting some remarkable people but astrology? I just couldn’t take that kind of crap then.

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      1. In fairness, some people use it as an ice breaker. They don’t believe it, but it is something frivolous that creates an opening for things like, “But you’re so $FOO, you don’t seem like you’d be a $FEE”.

        So, on a first meeting I give it a pass.

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    4. I can see the appeal of Credentialosis. Once they have obtained one, should their Great Wisdom be questioned, they need only invoke the Holy Credential and be automatically Smarter and Right all the time on every subject — unless their opponents have Credentials themselves. Even then, it’s merely a matter of evaluating the Credentials against each other, modified by grade points and class standing, to determine who is Right.

      If that sounds suspiciously like a dick-measuring contest to you, what can I say?

      Thus the Credentialed can avoid that whole tiresome business of presenting logical arguments based on facts that have been proven valid and relevant to the topic.
      ———————————
      Facts do not depend on opinions. Unfortunately, for far too many people, opinions do not depend on facts, either.

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  2. Just like every dog with a flat head that bites a person is a pit bull. Jewish people are pit bulls. And yeah colleges were leftist in the 80s. Among the reasons I bounced from college in the 80s. Senator McCarthy was right.

    Liked by 1 person

    3. Yeah…leftism per se isn’t why I drank my way out after a year in the 80s, but a leftist professor at orientation pretty much dashed my hopes of university being about actual study and intellectual pursuits before my first class during orientation with a “there are no facts” and when I said “we have to agree ‘In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue’ and he immediately went to “on whose calendar”.

      I pointed out we had to agree on the meaning of things to even talk and bowed out of the conversation. Despite loving my Intro to Philosophy class that fall (with a professor not that sold out leftist…and young and blond to boot) I think I bowed out of the humanities for years when I bowed out of that conversation.

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      1. That’s true, though. The fact is that Columbus sailed from Spain. The year in which he did it is a matter of perspective. That has nothing to do with leftism. That seems like a lost opportunity to discuss frames of reference.

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        1. Maybe that is what he was getting at, but if so his approach sucked. In a US university the standard western calendar is assume not for some sense of superiority but because everyone uses it.

          Leftists love to render communication impossible by word games so in freshman orientation he doesn’t get a pass he might in a class for history or sociology majors.

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      2. “No facts? Then you are irrelevant and useless.”

        That did not win me an A. But the applause of my peers was more valuable.

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  3. I went to several of my local SF/F and Mensa-type groups when I was living in the SF Bay Area.

    They were some of the most insular, foolish people I’ve ever met. Fully capable of holding completely contradictory positions on the same subject and believing in both of them. Oh-and antisemitism and anti-Catholicism as well.

    And the unspoken assumption that if you’re not a flaming leftist, you can’t be creative doesn’t make me happy, either.

    Liked by 3 people

      1. There’s a lot of work to do in a lot of places.

        I know that I’m on the first plateau of a new career.
        We’ve got house renovations to get done.
        I have to start acting more like a Professional Writer and getting stuff out.
        But…I think this is all the desperate flailing as these idiots are shown to be completely naked.
        (And not even pretty naked, either.)

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Somehow, the people who want to be naked are rarely the pretty-naked ones. I thought nude beaches would be awesome. Not so much. On the bright side, it is a good “p0rn is not real” reminder; those people are hired because they are pretty-naked.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Yeah, the people in those videos are NOT normal, and perspective tricks apply.

            Behind the scenes, the director yells, “Cut!” and calls for the stunt c#%k. [insert sweat/grin emoji here]

            (I got decades of quotes and references out of that stupid movie; thought about trying to find it somewhere again, but I don’t think I will. It probably wouldn’t hold up.)

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          2. One trip to the Pennsic “clothing optional,” swimming hole (Yes, I had clothes) will disable you of the idea the pretty-naked people are the ones without their garb.

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            1. Resort in Jamaica the wife and I went to a couple times had a nude area. I found it amusing that the “pretty people” all hung out on the clothed beach while the “could be your grandma and grandpa, or at least your parents” cheerfully went to the nude area.

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              1. Makes perfect sense if you think about it. Related to the same dynamic that public swingers club have “ugly” people while private/invite only ones are mostly “pretty” people.

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    2. I sometimes wonder how much subtle or not-so-subtle anti-Catholicism inoculated me against leftism in general. ‘Cause I never did the fall-away part, and seeing or hearing that folk think I’m stupid because of my faith is not a way to make me well-inclined towards them.

      (I already wasn’t fitting in too well, so there’s a certain element of “well, they won’t like me anyway.” Similar reason for not starving myself to make myself smaller—my skeletal structure is such that when I was a skinny string bean of a teenager, I was still in 8-10 jeans because my hips physically could not shrink. Amazing the value of “that really is impossible”.)

      Liked by 3 people

      1. I was struggling to respond to Sarah’s post, and you posted for me. My first experience of anti-Catholicism was in first grade. I came off the “Catholic bus” and headed for the public transportation. A crossing guard asked if I went to Catholic school (hard to tell; no uniforms). I said yes; he pushed me in a mud puddle. That was my introduction to anti-religious abuse by authorities (albeit an eighth-grader and possibly a member of the local Church of the Nazarene or nondenominational church).

        By the time I settled in an area with VERY active supporters of the nonprofit Freedom From Religion, I was used to it.

        In some ways, though, it made me more tolerant of intolerance. Honestly, I maintained friendships with people who hated “Jesus-talk” and “God-botherers” (aka ME) for far too long.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Despite being brought up Southern Baptist, I got very little anti-Catholic crap. My dad made it clear that we were all brothers and sisters, and that included Jews and Moslems as fellow People of the Book.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. I was raised Catholic and encountered some anti-Catholic crap for real about the fifth or sixth grade. My mom enrolled me in a boxing class at the local parish church — Father O’Reilly wasn’t always a priest :) — and I actually got pretty good at it. It didn’t make me a badass or anything but it did teach two important things about a fight: how to give and how to take a punch. Kids at school didn’t give me too much trouble after that.

          I am sure part of that was I kept my head down and didn’t start trouble but I also knew that, if trouble came calling, I could give as good as I got. Maybe the predators saw that.

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      2. I don’t remember much anti-Catholic stuff growing up. Perhaps I was just oblivious to it (I was oblivious to quite a lot of things) or maybe it was just the area and the fact that the Lutherans and Catholics get along well. But I’ve seen more anti-Catholic memes, and just overhearing people talking, in the last ten years than I had in my previous 40+. The antisemitism was always around, it just got louder at certain times. And I really don’t understand either one very well. My guess is that most of it is rooted in jealousy.

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  4. There is a degree of “blend in to not be the nail sticking up” that has tripped up Jewish people living a couple generations in other cultures several times now. The “But I have medals from the Kaiser in the Great War!” gentlemen getting beaten on the street by brownshirts or loaded onto the cattle cars with their families have a major echo in the “but I marched for BLM!” folks getting whacked to death with bullhorns now.

    And on:
    “ I’m hoping this breaks both the immigrant comes in and becomes hard left, and the “lower class who makes good” becomes hard left.”

    I an not sure, but it seems to me that the hard left I have seen going all in for team-baby-beheading, if one separates out the obvious exchange students who are simply representing their home cultural biases in those crowds, are getting more and more selective, basically consisting of more and more Caucasian females. They shriek really well, but I am not sure a new immigrant family from Guatemala or the guy who brought his family over from Mexico 15 years ago would see those female shriekers as an attractive argument for supporting Ham-Ass.

    And that sets completely aside what folks from rural conservative Central American villages think about the various “lgtbqxxx for killing all the jooos” groups they see featured prominently in those marches.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Those white women who simp for Hamass, better not expect help from us when their oppressed pets turn on them.

      White leftist women are the dumbest group in existence on Earth right now.

      Liked by 2 people

      2. Which is why I’m afraid of the backlash, because when it comes the backlashers won’t distinguish between liberal and conservative, it will be all women.

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        1. why I’m afraid of the backlash, because when it comes the backlashers won’t distinguish between liberal and conservative, it will be all women.
          ………………

          Agree. Damn it.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. I’d say too late…it’s been building and will be mainstream by 2030 at the latest.

          And it will be prettied up to fix the collapsing birth rates.

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          1. The people cosplaying “Handmaid’s Tale,” are creating the conditions in which it could happen.

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            1. I tend to ask where their children are…because I’ve read their favorite erotic novel and know the requirements.

              Most would be EconoWives or Unwomen, not Handmaids. It was also set in Cambridge so they best be wary of male feminists more than the already religious.

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            2. Reflecting on what the book claims was driving it you’re probably right but not by their cosplay.

              General infertility was the driver behind it, hence the requirements that Handmaids be women who’d given birth (proven fertile) outside of a marriage recognized by the state (Offred was married to and had a daughter with a divorced man and early on was fine but tried to flee when second marriages were declared invalid).

              I won’t live to be called on it, but not only do I think some backlash on women out of the home is coming, but before that open, exclusive homosexuality will be out and perhaps illegal, certainly gay marriage will go away, due to the demographic crash either as a direct response to lack of children or cultural replacement by more likely to have children cultural people (either internal or immigrants) become the plurality.

              Euphemistically concealed exclusive homosexuality (Boston Marriages, “confirmed bachelors”, etc) might survive although I suspect even that will be under some new monastic form (yes, I think monasticism was, as a secondary or tertiary thing, a way to manage homosexuality).

              If gays want to keep gay marriage they need to get straight to start pumping out the kids.

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              2. In the TV series, Offred/June had slept with her neighbor’s husband and got him to divorce in order to marry her. And people gushed online about how ordinary she is.

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        3. Five bucks says the backlash will largely be by the folks who were previously pushing it, and “just happen” to catch mostly folks they already hated.

          That seems to be how these mobs go.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Bingo.

            I suspect if you dig hard enough the current woke busybodies are either the same people or the children of the worst of moral majority busybodies in the 80s.

            People who refuse to just live and let live glom onto the current moral crusade not because they believe it but because it facilitates their running everyone else’s lives.

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            1. If they lived in the 19th century they would have been staunch members of the Temperance Union and been writing Edifying Stories for Young People about teetotal, non-smoking, hard-working children who always obey their parents and enjoy going to Sunday School.

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              1. Yep…like the Poor, Pharisees have always been with us.

                There is a reason the first week of preparation for Lent in the Eastern Orthodox churches is focused on the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee and no fasting is allowed.

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            2. I remember reading a Craig Kennedy story set in the early 1900s, where one character stated as a matter of fact that women getting the vote would be good because then the upper-middle-class matrons’ moral superiority and spiritual refinement would elevate politics into higher, more moral plains. Because men would have to live up to their standards, don’t y’know.

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              1. I’d argue the history of women’s voting proves he was right on who would take over and wrong on how much more enlightened said voting would be.

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                1. I’d argue that before women had the vote, men voted their best interests, which, for the smart ones, started in the home. If not married, then could argue, mom and dad. Women getting their own vote should have freed the men and sons to vote their own votes.

                  Hilary blamed women for voting how their men voted. That is laughable. Not this household. I can guess how my men folk vote, but in the end, I have no actual clue. But, other households? I’d speculate mom holds the votes before majority of the men folk, in other households.

                  Liked by 1 person

                  1. I think men still vote their perceived best interest. I think women do too.

                    The change in policy with women voting is a sign of how, on average, those perceptions differ.

                    I’d also argue as welfare expanded and sexual liberation occurred those interested diverged more than they were in 1920.

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        4. So I’m not the only one who’s noticed more talk in the right leaning blogosphere about “the 19th amendment was a mistake” and how everything bad that’s happened to America in the last century is because women were given the vote.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. That worries me, too. I know at this point it’s only half-joking, but looking at the antics of various professional capital-F feminists, and how obnoxious the movie/TV trope of the pervasive all-perfect Mary Sue girl-boss has become…
            Too many women confused being a fully-realized human being with being a nickel-plated bitch, to the great embarrassment of the rest of us.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. Not even close. The 16th, 17th and 18th Amendments were passed before women were allowed to vote. The 21st Amendment was passed after.

            Can’t blame all the stupidity on women. Just about 50%, I’d say.

            Liked by 1 person

        1. Biden’s handlers will help them. The more I see him, the more I think he’s an empty shell.
          Of course, in many ways that worse.

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            1. I hope he’s an empty shell. I DESPISE this man, he’s pure evil sold his soul and his country to be President. He deserves to realize none of it and be exposed as a senile drooling scum.

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              2. Biden’s soul was sold piece by piece over the last 50 years. By 2020 there wasn’t enough of it left to fund a political campaign, so we got the Basement Bunker Shadow Campaign.

                What we’ve got now is another dummy for the same ventriloquists that had their arms up 0bama’s backside for 8 years.

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  5. Just a thought: “Being Human very often means Believing In Stupid/Crazy Ideas”. :wink:

    One of those Stupid/Crazy ideas came from a so-called historian concerning “Palestinian thought” explaining “From the River to the Sea”.

    She was claiming that some Palestinians view that as meaning “we’ll all get back the property we had before the West/Jews came in”.

    Mind you, this involved “getting back our family property”.

    While she didn’t see this as “wanting Israel destroyed”, IMO that’s just her stupid idea.

    IMO the best way to view this “idea” is to imagine all the land in the US has to be returned to the American Indian Tribes that “originally owned it”.

    Hopefully, I don’t have explain why that’s a Stupid/Crazy Idea. :wink:

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I’m not sure they’d have a legal standing (quit laughing) to get back “their land” since they voluntarily abandoned it, or in some cases it was spoils of war. The Arabs that didn’t leave upon request of the other Arabs still hold their family plot. But you know, truth has never been a necessity for narrative.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. A lot of that land was purchased from the Palestinians that used to live there.

        But now the money’s spent, so they want ‘their’ land back.
        ———————————
        It takes a lot of smart, competent people to design and build a car. Only takes one idiot to wreck it.

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        2. Bills of Sale and Deeds are an artifact of colonialism and do not outweigh the family legend that great-great-great-uncle-Achmed got all that money he obviously had after he moved away to Jordan the 1930s from his shrewd business sense, not selling his miserable plot of dirt for an inflated price to those new folks.

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          1. They don’t have any money; they spent it all on rockets and suicide bombs. If loaned money to buy land, they will spend it all on rockets and suicide bombs, and never pay it back.

            No, after spending 50 years proving that they are incapable of living in a civilized country, all that can be done with them is to remove them from Gaza entirely and permanently. Either by killing them where they are, or by transporting them to someplace that deserves them. I suggest Iran and Qatar, the primary sponsors of Ham-Ass.
            ———————————
            Those who do not remember the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the mistakes. Those who do remember are doomed to watch everybody else repeat them.

            Liked by 1 person

    2. One reason “some” Gazans and west-bank-ers (should we just call them abandoned Egyptians and Jordanians, respectively?) think that they wuz robbed is that assertion is in the official curriculum of the schools in both areas, especially including those schools run by the UN in Gaza in which the IDF is documenting finding all the weapons and such.

      It’s all they’ve ever heard: Kill all the Jews, who are not actually really people, and take “back” their stuff, improvements since 1948 included.

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      1. ” improvements since 1948 included.”

        Which they will then proceed to destroy because they were made by Jews, and leave them right back where they started.

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        1. Yep – like the state-of-the-art greenhouses, that were bought for the Gaza goblins by oh-so-concerned-sympathizers and turned over to the locals when Israel withdrew … and were promptly trashed and the remnants looted by the very grateful Gaza goblins.

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          2. Exactly. I’m not sure if that’s Arab, Islam, just tribal (ruin what isn’t ours, just in case), or something else. It may be “loot what I can before someone else loots it” zero-sum mindset, too. Or “Yes.”

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            1. It’s a fundamentally dysfunctional culture. Amoral familialism.

              And it’s not just a Muslim or Arab phenomenon. It was originally documented in Italy, a Western, Catholic country, when sociologists asked why Northern Italy (Milan, Genoa, etc) is so much richer than the south, especially Sicily.

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            2. It’s a low trust society thing – within the society I can take it on behalf of my family/clan/tribe, as long as it does not belong to a stronger family/clan/tribe that might come after my family/clan/tribe for mine taking their stuff.

              The Israelis were outside that society, and the new “owners” had no standing in the family/clan/tribe calculus of mad max Gaza. If they had been given to one of the major clans it might have been different, but probably not since it was from teh jooooos and therefore tainted.

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    3. Side track to that. Something I’ve been mulling over recently is how otherwise normal, rational people believe so hard in things that a little bit of introspection would demand a bit of skepticism from. Specifically, court cases.

      Much how the left has been “we totally got him this time! Trump is going down!!eleventy!” some on the right (what ought to know better by now) have been nattering on about how this democrat or that one has been (or there’s a ghost of a chance they might be) charged with a crime, and they’re totally going to jail this time!

      E.g. Hunter Biden. Or Joe, for that matter. Or the Clintons. And so on.

      Any charges brought in a district with proven lefty judges, prosecutors, and lawyers will go nowhere. They’re party hacks. So long as there is even the slightest figgy leaf to hide under, they’ll skate off without so much as a slap on the wrist. Just as the “firey but mostly peaceful protesters” get reduced sentences vs the January political prisoners, no democrat is going to use the full force of the law against another Democrat In Good Standing.

      This isn’t “the law is against us, we’re doomed!” The law and the courts still more or less work everywhere else. Just don’t expect justice where liberals are thick as fleas on a stray cat. Don’t expect the courts of DC, Portlandia, New York, and the like to ever put down one of their own. Not as long as they can get away with not doing so.

      Not saying there’s no hope there. Just that it’s not going to change overnight. Conservatives need to put in the work to make a change. Keep their promises. Police their own. Take the political fight to the other side, and don’t play “honorable fight, we lost, but we’re totally still on your side guys!”

      Pfu. Fight, you motherless bastards. Fight like you believe in something for a change. Like you’ve got something personal to lose. Like losing is something dishonorable. When it’s the liberty and property of a free people, by all that’s good and great, FIGHT.

      And if that offends you, good. Have a spine for once in your misbegotten life. The people you are to represent deserve better from you than excuses.

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      2. They do believe in something.
        Their power, and their perks.

        When the GOPe went to war with the Tea Party movement, they went scorched earth, fought dirty, and coordinated with the political machines of the democrats to do it.

        (Shrug) I wasn’t at ground zero of the effort to Primary Mike Simpson, but I was with a couple of degrees. Consolidating vote counting under total party control, overtly shaking down businesses, and cheerfully throwing our hard-won educational reforms overboard was just the tip of the iceberg. They meant to demonstrate their mastery, and they made the rubble bounce.

        That they are never willing to do so against the democrats speaks to whom they consider an enemy.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. What MAY work is the old classic, Divide and Conquer. Start splitting off vulnerable allies – Jews, old folks who might be ‘encouraged to choose” self termination by a government entity that would prefer a dead would-be voter to a live sick person that is likely to cost the government a lot of money to keep alive.
        Play upon Black voters, already suspicious that everyone is out to ‘get’ them, who fear of being replaced by Hispanics and other ‘kinda-legal’ voters and workers. Yes, that is low, but I don’t care – I want to freaking WIN!
        And run a boot camp for would-be candidates and their advisors, in which they learn to repeat their carefully crafted side-step of volatile issues, and NOT say something stupid. If they can’t/won’t, refuse them support, and make them run 3rd party.
        The ONLY issues for GOP should be:
        – Reducing the National Debt – not just growing it slower, but actually getting the numbers running in the opposite direction.
        – Security of our Borders – if the responsible entities in the Federal government won’t act, reduce their funding, and encourage the states to set up blockades/walls/training. Let any agents who actually want to stop the invasion transfer over to the state agencies that are doing that, and let them convert their pension/seniority rights to the state’s system. Establish a system of rewards to the state for reducing the numbers coming over their border.
        – Letting loose the investigatory dogs on Fraud, Waste and Abuse of Federal money.
        Asking about any issue should be responded to by saying, “I’m focusing on my priorities, and that of the majority of the country”. Repeat until they stop asking.

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        2. Those ‘investigatory dogs’ are in reality lap-dogs for the enemy. They won’t find anything the Democrats don’t want them to find.

          As for finding out that Mike Johnson’s ‘Scandalous $18,000 Rolex’ is actually a $50 knock-off — where’s my Shocked Face? Must be still recovering from over-use.

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      4. What MAY work is the old classic, Divide and Conquer. Start splitting off vulnerable allies – Jews, old folks who might be ‘encouraged to choose” self termination by a government entity that would prefer a dead would-be voter to a live sick person that is likely to cost the government a lot of money to keep alive.
        Play upon Black voters, already suspicious that everyone is out to ‘get’ them, who fear of being replaced by Hispanics and other ‘kinda-legal’ voters and workers. Yes, that is low, but I don’t care – I want to freaking WIN!
        And run a boot camp for would-be candidates and their advisors, in which they learn to repeat their carefully crafted side-step of volatile issues, and NOT say something stupid. If they can’t/won’t, refuse them support, and make them run 3rd party.
        The ONLY issues for GOP should be:
        – Reducing the National Debt – not just growing it slower, but actually getting the numbers running in the opposite direction.
        – Security of our Borders – if the responsible entities in the Federal government won’t act, reduce their funding, and encourage the states to set up blockades/walls/training. Let any agents who actually want to stop the invasion transfer over to the state agencies that are doing that, and let them convert their pension/seniority rights to the state’s system. Establish a system of rewards to the state for reducing the numbers coming over their border.
        – Letting loose the investigatory dogs on Fraud, Waste and Abuse of Federal money.
        Asking about any issue should be responded to by saying, “I’m focusing on my priorities, and that of the majority of the country”. Repeat until they stop asking.

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    4. And remember, the narrative NEVER includes anything for the 800K Jews evicted from Arab nations in 1948 where their families had lived for >2000 yrs. For example, Bagdad was 40% Jewish in 1920. I wonder why there’s none there now? But only Arabs displaced in 1948 matter for some reason. Oh wait, those Jews aren’t still living in towns that are called “refugee camps” and managed by a special UN agency. But to hear the Hamas Nazi supporters tell it, all Jews came to Israel from Eastern Europe.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Leftism is also the refuge of the lazy and dull. You don’t have to defend your ideas in open debate, or study history and politics, or really do anything at all. You declare yourself a leftist, and you are automatically smarter and better than anyone else. Anyone who challenges your views can be dismissed instantly as a racist, bigot, etc. It’s so easy to be a leftie!

    This is why they rip down posters of the missing. This challenges their views, and it cannot be allowed. They cannot tolerate dissent, because their belief system is built on the fantasy of their own superiority.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. I have a feeling that this may become a sub-theme in the next story arc of the ‘Republic of Texas Navy’ series, since certain events in my current WIP will leave the Texans very ill-disposed against anybody’s terrorists. We shall see.

    And BTW, for those who are going to ask, I’m hoping to get it out by the end of the year, ideally for Christmas.

    Liked by 3 people

  8. I knew about that “color bar” when I was in high school (early 1980s) and I’ve called the ACLU “Anti-Christian Leftist Union” for a similar amount of time. Born and raised in the US. But I could be a rare exception.

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    1. I’m glad someone else sees it. I get really tired of “No. This is all recent. There was nothing of this.” My MIL became a raging leftist due to “working class kid makes good.” It was obvious. And she was born in the 30s.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. It’s all very odd. Statistically speaking, I should be a raging left-winger. But I hate the left and I’ve only grown more conservative over time.

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  9. Sadly, if we killed all the imperfect humans, we’d be gone too.

    So we just do our best to spread the good news and let God do the heavy lifting.

    And we keep our heads down when possible. No need to paint ourselves like a target…

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Related but off topic slightly.

    I see new polls with a flaw that’s been used to push agendas in polling forever.

    “A Marist poll conducted for public broadcasters NPR and PBS NewsHour and released Wednesday found that 53% of registered voters disapprove of how Biden is handling the war while 41% approve. A Quinnipiac University poll released the same day found that 54% disapprove and 37% approve.”

    I noticed this the first time in the Iraq war polling: Pollsters publicize a “disapprove of how Joe’s handling X” number, but in this case, just as in the Iraq War polling on GWB, there is no distinguishing between “disapprove because Joe supports Israel at all” and “disapprove because he’s not asking Israel to make the rubble bounce higher”.

    They could easily do this and they don’t, so it’s on purpose.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. The other interesting chunk of this “don’t ask why they disapprove” polling story to me is the R breakout (I am looking at the Times of Israel story that headlines the Jewish voter polling breakout at https://www.timesofisrael.com/polls-us-jews-approve-of-bidens-handling-of-gaza-war/ )m

      “ Only 22% of Republicans, who otherwise tend to strongly favor Israel, approved of Biden’s handling of the war in the Quinnipiac poll, while 77% disapproved. The Marist poll showed similar numbers: 72% of Republicans disapproved and 23% approved of Biden’s handling of the war.”

      Again, they don’t ask why, so no telling how many of these disapprove of the endless “islamophobia” junk from the WH, or not asking the IDF to make the rubble bounce higher, vs. disapproving of any support for Israel, or just mindlessly disapproving of the wonderfulness that is Joe, the way the stories pitch it.

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  11. You have two points here, so two comments. First:
    I see your point about “acculturate to the Left”, but I’m not terribly sympathetic.

    Another example is all the gay and lesbian activists who are bent out of shape by the trans movement. What did they THINK was going to happen? They deserve what they get – to a point.

    I feel the same way about Leftist Jews. What did you THINK was going to happen? The college “free Palestine” movement is hardly new. It’s been going on since at least the late 1980s (when more people thought they were idiots than now, but see above and “trans”). They supported these people, who were obviously going to turn on them. I have very little sympathy.

    That said, no one “deserves” to be raped and tortured. I did say “to a point”. But the “OMG! How can they march against me? I’m one of them?” trauma? Schadenfreudalicous.

    That said, it’s even better when they don’t take the time to whine and just strike back. Such as all the pulled university donations and “we’re not hiring your students” letters to law schools. That is how these things are supposed to work: You support idiots, fine, but I’m not supporting you. Better late than never.

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      2. Granted.

        That said, there’s the context of Ukraine to consider.
        Pretty much everyone supported their efforts to fight off the Russian invasion.
        Which our political class took as an invitation to loot the treasury, and have used as attempts to rope us into a direct conflict with Russia. (While the kleptocrat we’re supporting imprisons political rivals, outlaws political parties not his own, oppresses the Orthodox Church, makes it illegal for citizens to gather together, cancels elections, etc.)

        Israel has the right to defend itself.
        The proportionate response to war crimes on a massive scale, are war crimes on a massive scale.
        Hamas (and Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad, and the PA, ad nauseum) are hostis humani generis.
        None of that is a blank check for our political class to do what they want. (Which experience shows would be both massively counter-productive and ruinously expensive.)
        Our role, so far as we have one, is simply to keep the rest of the world off of Israel’s back while they do what they need to. And I have absolutely no confidence that the current administration will do so.

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        1. Pretty much everyone supported their efforts to fight off the Russian invasion.
          Which our political class took as an invitation to loot the treasury

          This, very much this.

          Plus, a new war would allow them to cover cheating with “clearly the public didn’t want to change horses in the middle of the stream” bs.

          At this point if we found out the Biden Admin knew before hand this was happening and didn’t warn Israel (and possibly knew without funding Iran again it would have to be delayed/called off) they’d have let it go to get us into a war.

          I think they’d do more than Johnson or FDR to provoke a war at this point.

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      1. Sarah, there was an episode where there was a march supporting Hamas over 10/7 and this Trantifa member wanted to harass someone there to attend, so he turned to a couple of Muslim women in traditional garb who were marching in “solidarity” and asked them to harass this bystander too. They said “We’re on his side, we don’t support trans either!”

        The look on his face was PRICELESS. I’ll see if I can track down the video.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. The other point: Standing with Israel is standing with civilization.

    I see your point here, too, but also only sort-of agree. You’re not wrong, but why this and why now?

    The only thing that Hamass did that is not widespread (e.g. Russians “relocating” Ukrainian children, China and the Uighurs, slave markets in Libya, mining in the Congo, Ethiopian Christians being slaughtered, etc…) is publicize it on social media.

    If that’s your red-line, I have no issue with that, but it’s not my red-line.

    While I do not want to deny Israel support and I do want to honor any agreements we may have with them (there’s a first time for everything – see agreement with Ukraine about their nukes or promises to Afghanistan), I don’t see anything particularly interesting about yet another atrocity halfway around the world.

    I’m far more concerned with what’s going on in US colleges than I am about Israel, which has been pretty good about taking care of itself, so far.

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    1. You seem to be forgetting a couple of things.

      First, this is not “Just another atrocity” halfway around the world. This is people screaming for the Jews blood even here in the US. Show me marches against the Uighurs in the US demanding that they be exterminated. You can’t, because it’s not happening.

      Second, this is a horrific atrocity and the perpetrators have essentially lifted the middle finger to the US and said “You’re next.” That makes it rather personal.

      Third, the Israelis neither want nor need our help. All they have asked is that we butt out. The world, including our own so-called leadership, seems determined to bring Israel to its knees at any cost, demanding their utter surrender to depravity. Which would be genocide.

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      1. The Israelis do want more ammo, which wise logisticians know you never have enough of. In particular, they’ve been turning to the US for more interceptors for the Iron Dome system.

        But aside from that, nearly all of their equipment is home-built and supplied via their home industry. The most notable exception is probably their custom version of the F-35, the F-35I. But I suspect they handle most of the spare parts even for that

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    3. I think the fundamental issue with Ukraine is the administration wants to have it both ways: they want to not lose, but they don’t want to win either so they have succeeded in creating a giant money and man pit that suck in people and cash and burns both.

      The problem with the US and Israel is the administration wants Israel to deal with Hamas in the same ‘split the baby’ way. And they’re willing to embargo Israel to get it.

      Which means the bare minimum support for Israel is getting out of their way and letting them do what they need to do. So of course the State Department folks can’t possibly do that…

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    4. Israel is a fully modern, and for the most part Western, civilization. They believe in rule of law, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Israel is not and occupier or apartheid state. Most of the Arab/Muslim states, from the Atlantic to Central Asia, are stuck in the 15th century trying desperately to claw their way into the 13th century with a few modern conveniences like automobiles, repeating firearms, and computers. They’re almost exclusively run by totalitarian regimes. Their idea of modernity is large publicly ostentatious displays of building projects or hosting events. How often do you see these nations adopting policies that allow their citizens to be prosperous and develop the means to support themselves to a point that they have ample free time to try new ideas? So yes, standing with Israel is standing with (modern) civilization.

      As for your other point about what’s happened in other areas? That’s classic whataboutism. But even then, many of us have been complaining about what red China has done to the Uighurs, Tibetans, and others, for many years. And we pointed out the problems with Hillary’s grand foreign policy win in Libya that increased terrorism, brought back open slave markets, and reduced the prospects of the Libyan citizens. You know why there’s no black-African diaspora in the middle east and central Asia, even though more black Africans were sent there than the Americas? The muslims, particularly the Arabs, brutally castrated the males. And I mean brutal to the point that less than half survived the procedure. Ethiopia has more problems than just violence against Christians and Jews. They’ve had centuries of governmental abuses and civil wars. IIRC, the last time Ethiopia was a true power was the 14th century, though they did hold their own pretty well against the Europeans in the 19th and early 20th century. As for the sub-Saharan countries, they’ve been barbaric perpetrators of gross atrocities and genocide for millenia. Slicing open the bellies of pregnant women, then making them boil and eat their babies? Check. Slicing hunks of flesh off prisoners, then roasting and eating it in front of them? Check. Open meat markets where parts of slaves are bid on for eating? Check. Prisoners drawn, quartered, and gutted? Check. And that’s just the ones I can think of off the top of my head from the 20th century. I find apartheid abhorrent, but compared to what the non-European populations were doing to each other it was a far better life. And what came after the various apartheid regimes in southern Africa lowered their standard of living, and increased starvation by orders of magnitude. As one Zimbabwean noted on television years ago, “I wish the whites would come back. At least we had meat and clothes.”

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    5. The atrocity committer folks halfway around the world have fellow belligerents here.

      You are not top of their to-do list, but you are on their list.

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    6. The only thing that Hamass did that is not widespread (e.g. Russians “relocating” Ukrainian children, China and the Uighurs, slave markets in Libya, mining in the Congo, Ethiopian Christians being slaughtered, etc…) is publicize it on social media.

      Well, not quite.

      They did all of it, and more than they’d ever done it before, and all at once, AND publicized it on social media. Even the hijacking of victim’s social media to inflict the greatest harm wasn’t unique.

      Even trying to frame themselves as the victims of what htey are still actively trying to inflict, WHILE THEY HAVE HOSTAGES, isn’t new.

      Escalation isn’t only doing things new, it’s doing things bigger, and it’s doing things all at one time.

      So, if you object to that laundry list of outrages…why would you not prioritize a situation where there is a violent outbreak of all of them, at the same time, being bragged about by those doing them? It’s low hanging fruit.

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    7. It’s not just Hamas though. Its Hezbollah, Fatah, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Iran, and Erdogan’s Turkey, all of which want not only global genocide of Jews but ultimately seek to impose a global caliphate that is ruled under strict Sharia and which infidels are either outright killed or pretty much serfs or outright slaves. The big fight between Iran, the MB, the other Sunni Jihadists, and Turkey, is over who rules that caliphate. Have no doubt that there end result for everyone else is the same.

      This is nothing less than a battle in the war for the survival of Western Civilization itself.

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    8. It took me days to get up the courage to look at the responses. All are fair, thank you. I agree with most them.

      The two best: “If not now, then when?” and “We’re next”.

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  14. Without disagreeing on your main point (support for civilization against savagery at all costs), I’m afraid you are at least a little wrong on “Jews don’t go leftard commie any harder than other immigrants”.

    In my reading and experience, a particular strain of them do. Secular Jews, for whatever reason, do it up in pink with bells and ribbons on.

    Prime example: Israel Epstein.

    Epstein supported Mao in China, learned Chinese (and wrote and published books in the language), became a citizen of China in the 1950s, was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution essentially for not being Chinese, and died in 2005 still committed body and soul to communism in general, and Chinese communism in particular.

    I know of no gentile that committed to communism.

    (Possible counter-example: Agnes Smedley, spy for three different communist regimes [USSR, India, and China]. But she died in 1950, outside of both China and the USSR, so while her being a commie is in zero doubt, whether she would have suffered imprisonment by her ideological allies for years without changing her views is impossible to know. And there is at least an argument to be made that Smedley, commie though she was, was mostly a shit-stirrer who delighted in tearing down whatever institutions she came across.)

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    1. (And today, for some reason, can only post comments from dayjob computer through WordPress.com. That’s a first, usually my personal computer is the one that gives me trouble, due to all my paranoid settings and adblockers and such.)

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        1. There is a truism – a Jew who does not believe in the God of Israel will believe in anything, but they will believe.

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      2. Re: Secularity

        Considers late BIL’s ex-wife, who thinks she should get a major chunk of his estate (hey, they were only divorced about 15 years…). Secular Jew, former hippie, major grifter, huge PITA.

        “What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable, but it should be mine.”

        OTOH, while I’m not fond of my brother’s wife (he converted and they go Conservative), she’s religious, and I have respect. (From a distance. Infrequent communication works best. Shrugs.) There’s a cross between Jewish Mother and Mama bear there.

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    3. In my reading and experience, a particular strain of them do. Secular Jews, for whatever reason, do it up in pink with bells and ribbons on.

      I suspect it’s a failure-state of the “cultural” form of more rigorous religions.

      Cultural Catholics—Biden and Pelosi, for example—do it as well.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Not to that degree, that I’ve seen. Certainly, there is a point, much like certain atheists have enormous chips on their shoulders because they were raised, say, strict Catholic. But going to prison, seeing the worst of communism, and still supporting it full tilt boogie? Pelosi would drop it the moment her vodka and luxury ice cream ran out.

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        1. I have a theory that it strikes religions that have a culture the hardest– see, for example, the new complaints about Evangelicals that are culturally Evangelical, but… not so much on the theology anymore. They’re rather new, but there was a definite Evangelical culture when I was a kid, defining itself in opposition to the general culture.

          Not sure how principled Pelosi is, but if she’d embraced it like a religion rather than embracing the Dem party, I suspect that would be “not real communism.”

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        2. A certain percentage of the Chosen People have been going after false gods since they bugged Aaron into making thr golden calf. It’s just now the gods have names like, “Social Justice,” and “socialism,” instead of Moloch and Ba’al.

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          1. Arguably, worship of abortion is just worship of Moloch, with a new coat of paint and some minor interior redecoration…

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    4. Foreigner Shill is a lesser subset of fandom. Some people are fans of countries or their governments, and a subset of those people are rabid fans to the point of imprisonment and death.

      A lot of foreigner shills die in prisons, or end up first against the wall when the revolution comes, even if they funded and helped and fought for it.

      I mean, look at Lafcadio Hearn. He was kinda fortunate in dying before WWII, because he would have been stuck there in Japan and was not even reading newspapers (because he became a Buddhist monk).

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  15. “But a lot of this is, bizarrely, taking organizations like ADL and claiming it speaks for all Jews, and therefore…. “

    There’s also the old saw about “two Jews, three opinions.” I’ve heard arguments swerving between what I assume was Yiddish, German, French, and English. Thought it was at least four people.

    Turns out, no. Just two old Jewish ladies. They seemed to be swapping sides in the argument as it progressed, too.

    A strange people. Almost Odd. There’s some good ones around, though. I especially liked Bibi’s promise to hold accountable all the ones who participated in atrocities. Go get ’em, says I. The less barbarous thugs in the world, the better.

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    1. There seem to be quite a lot of Jews that simply like debating one another. Quite a few people of German ancestry as well. My grandfather would have a coffee break in the morning and argue one side with the people at the donut shop. Have another coffee break in the afternoon (sometimes it’s nice to run your own business) and argue the other side. He just like to argue.

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    2. I’d tease you about it being fewer barbarous thugs, but they’re both accurate.

      Showing goblins that the worse they are, the more likely they are to die is a good thing.

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  16. For me, the mind-boggling thing about the post Oct. 7th Pogrom is all the Jew-hate on display on American (and European) streets and most especially on college campuses … and the sheer mind-numbing ignorance on offer from students … about history in general and the Holocaust in particular. I mean, I grew up marinated in the history of the 1930s, the rise and fall of the Third Reich … I thought it was common cultural knowledge. there were movies about it, for pete’s sake! … and here we go, mobs of 20-somethings all ready to fall in with the new Einzatzgruppen. It’s enough to make one despair.

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    2. Some of that cultural knowledge might have fallen away just from sheer length of time. Most of us here grew up on stories about WWII and Korea not just because there was so much media about it (all kinds of movies and TV shows taking place during that period) but because our grandparents, and to a lesser extent parents, actually lived it and were primary sources for us. Vietnam was an ongoing concern in our childhoods, possibly even for us. WWII is still taught to some extent at my daughter’s school, but those events are nearly a century old now. This year’s college graduates weren’t even born yet when 9/11 happened.

      They don’t even teach history in 1st and 2nd grade around here. Those grades were my first introduction to non-mass media information about the European discovery and colonization of the Americas up through the Revolutionary War. She’s in 8th grade now, and all they’ve touched on is that it was about slavery. “In 1492 ________ sailed the ocean blue.” They can’t fill in the blank. Our education system has become a lame joke.

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      1. At least all my students know about Columbus. (Too many also know all about 1619 [they think…] but that’s a rant for a different place and time.) I suspect one of the attractions of home-schooling and micro-schooling is curriculum control – you can teach real history, English, science and so on without all the intersectional junk. I’m fortunate to be allowed pretty much free rein as far as curriculum and additions to what’s on the official list.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. I was raised Reform Jewish in New York City. My mother was practically the stereotype of the Upper West Side Jewish Liberal. She was a staunch Zionist (as am I) who visited Israel several times. But never saw how the policies of the left she supported were actually bad for the Jews.

    Some of our worst fights were political. Not because I’m some far right conservative, but because I believe in small government, low taxes, and individual freedoms and responsibilities. Which should be moderate beliefs. She believed the government’s job is to take care of people.

    Since October 7, most Saturdays you’ll find me sitting guard outside my synagogue, even though some members would prefer I wasn’t armed. I’ll gladly miss services to make sure they are safe to worship.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Before I hack-off folks unintentionally, if I (Baptist) put a genuine Mezuzah on my doorpost, to deceive our common foe, any religious objections?

      Likewise wearing the Kippah.

      I figure if lots of folks do, the lunatics will have a more difficult targeting problem. And I might be, ahem, a bit more than they meant to bite off.

      Again, no disrespect intended. But apparently some jackasses in NYC are trying to dox folks, like Krystalnacht crap, and my former Infantry self is saying “Oh BLEEP no you dont.”

      I -will not- just watch this happen.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Tongue in cheek You might check your state laws about hunting over bait if you do that. Tongue out of cheek

        In all seriousness, I’d check with your local synagogue. I know that some catalogues were selling Mezuzah a few years ago, and suggesting putting a “generic house blessing” inside.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Hunting? Over bait? Why no Mr Game Warden, not at all. I am just peacefully going about my lawful business, showing solidarity with, and providing cover for, some folks having a bad time.

          Not my fault at all if someone mistakes this former Infantryman for a target. Nope.

          Liked by 2 people

        2. I thought Dennis Prager has been promoting that idea. I’ve seen the promotion (something like “This box will change the world”) on some sites that bypass the ad blocker.

          Like

          1. In WW2, near the end, the commandant of a POW stalag demanded our men self segregate if Jewish. The senior man defied the commandant, loudly saying “We are all Jews!” With a gun to his head, he remained defiant, refusing the order repeatedly and promising the survivirs would ensure retribution for war crimes.

            The Krauts folded. There was no massacre.

            When I was a child, there were two families of Japanese origin in my church. Both were ordered interred for WW2. The T family dutifully obeyed. So did the O family. However, the O family neighbors came running, -armed-, and ran off the Army detailed to pick them up. At one point, a platoon of soldiers were facing dang near every man in town.

            The army backed down. The O’s were officially “Irish” after that. “Your clerks dropped the apostrophe. They are from Cork. ”

            I never forget those examples.

            No. Not here.

            Like

            1. That GI was Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds of Knoxville, Tennessee. He is one of only a few Americans counted Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem, the International Holocaust Museum in Israel.

              Like

      4. I lived in a couple of places that came already supplied, being an NYC kid and all. It was considered bad luck to take one down. Sheer probability makes it likely that a fair few of the idiots running around about the Jooos in NYC have one by their front door and don’t know what it is.

        Like

      5. We have a Mezuzah on our doorpost. My parents got it when they visited Israel. We aren’t at all Jewish so I hope we aren’t being disrespectful.

        Like

      6. I an unofficial representative of the Jewish people, here’s my take.

        Yes, feel free to put a Mezuzah on your doorpost. But do it properly. Place it in the right position, on the correct side, and say the proper prayer when you do.

        As for wearing a yarmulke, that’s an item of more specific religious observance and personally, I wouldn’t be comfortable with a non-Jew wearing one outside of services.

        But I certainly appreciate the place where your question comes from, and thank you for your willing support.

        Like

        1. When I think of yarmulkes, I remember my Jewish supervisor in New Jersey and his bright green one, worn on St. Patrick’s Day.

          Like

    2. “…I believe in small government, low taxes, and individual freedoms and responsibilities.”

      The Reader believes those are some of the most radical (in the original sense of the word) concepts in the history of humanity. Expect people not to like them. Stand up for them anyway.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. As I said on Minds:

      “Now, for the first time, we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are giving you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places. My friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty; let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about the January 6 Insurrection!?”

      Liked by 2 people

  19. “I THINK it started in the colleges, probably around and just after WWI. ”

    I think it really, rapidly expanded after WW2. Twenty-million servicemen were demobilized and a percentage of them used their GI Bill to go to college. I don’t know what the percentage of people was going for higher education prior to the war, but it undoubtedly expanded significantly with Uncle Sam footing the bill.

    Liked by 3 people

  20. I THINK it started in the colleges, probably around and just after WWI.

    Preachers and (advanced) teachers (or going to college to be a doctor and similar high-need jobs) were ways to get out of being drafted.

    Was a known bias against them when my mom was a kid– knowing who’d gone into those jobs just to avoid the Army.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Kitties…..

    My sweet lovable little gray tabby Miz Kitty….

    She hates getting covered up. H.A.T.E.S. Makes that “not like!” noise. Growls.

    So of course when I try to make the bed, she will hear the flooph of a sheet, wake from her slumber in another room, sprint to the bed, and leap into the middle before the sheet lands.

    Scold! Growl! Not like!

    Shoo cat from under sheet. Repeat … and dang she is fast.

    Scold! Growl! Not like!

    Shoo!

    Now the blanket and … dangit!

    Scold! Growl! Not like!

    Same noises made when the wrong person picks her up, right before she pops claws and goes Wolverine.

    Goofy freaking cat…

    Liked by 1 person

      1. She knows how to push her way out from under. Bitching the whole time.

        -This- cat very quietly clawed her way out of a soft-carrier on a road trip, churred proudly and loudly to announce it, then hid under the passenger seat. Dang near had to remove the seat to extract her.

        Like

  22. The correct term for Soros is collaborator. He has claimed that he helped the Nazis because he had no choice. B. He had a choice. He made the wrong one, and has continued to make the wrong choice his entire life.

    There is no hatred worse than self-hatred, and that is what the Jews who hate Israel’s existence and hate other Jews for being Jews rather than Marxists have-self hatred.

    Liked by 2 people

  25. And now the less important if longer comment:

    BUT– But lately I’m running into the narrative on Jews that is really just anti-antisemitism in glad rags. “All Jews are commies, destroying western civ. Why should we support their war.”

    It’s…. interesting, shall we say? Because in the end, it comes down to “we support their war because we’re next on the Hamass menu, regardless.”

    So, a lot to unpack here because support has been so abused and become so open ended.

    What does support here or for the war in Ukraine mean?

    Sticking with just Gaza examples it could mean:

    Demanding the US government stay out period and let Israel do what its leaders want. That seems pretty reasonable.

    Going to a pro-Israel rally. No, for a few reasons. One, I’m not a go to rally kind of guy. Two, I do not trust for my safety both from Hamas supporters and my own government’s LEOs and court system if something goes wrong.

    Providing intel to Israel. Well, given our intelligence services are more interested in destroying Trump and his supporters I’m not sure if sharing intel is support or not but in the abstract, sure.

    Neutralizing Hamas elements in the US. Sure, stop funding and arrest people, but see the priority on get Trump again.

    Provide munitions. Well, given we choose to do that in the Ukraine war to the point we drew down some stockpiles designated for Israel and other Middle East allies, I have to say no to the particular. Plus, a lot of the other things we gave Ukraine (if left) wouldn’t be of that much value in Gaza. In the abstract I’m okay with it but that’s about my limit.

    US airstrikes. No.

    US ground forces. Hell, no.

    Extend the nuclear umbrella over Israel. No because it’s pointless. If Israel falls no Islamic nation between Tunisia and Pakistan will be spared the Temple Weapons and they may now be able to strike further west than they could in 73 when the missiles were launch readied and the nuclear F-4s were armed and on the tarmac…want to know why the Syrians turned north instead of heading straight for Tel Aviv? I think the Soviets knew Meir had the weapons ready (she and the cabinet had been issued cyanide pills in case the Syrians reached the city).

    And also, hell no. Why is the umbrella still over NATO allies who refuse to see for their own defense to protect them against an enemy who probably can’t launch more than a handful of weapons anyway.

    And the answers on airstrikes and ground forces are related to the history of the reason you bring up “we support their war because we’re next on the Hamas menu, regardless.” A straightforward variation on “better to fight them over there than over here.”

    Which was salable in 2001 and 2003. It isn’t in 2023 in part because of how badly the license to do just that was squandered, especially in Afghanistan. It is a hard no sell with the current administration given their handling of Afghanistan and Iran plus the border.

    Even if we trusted the government to actually stop them over there as you have pointed out given our policy of “anyone who wants in illegal is welcome to come…those obeying the rules, however, BOHICA”.

    And that gets to yet another reason reluctance is high which isn’t really Israel related.

    The US government actively refuses to defend the US. There is a reason the Babylon Bee published a story about states putting up “now entering Ukraine” signs in an attempt to get Biden to care about the border. The US government is negligent enough that I’ve been saying we need to assume Biden is Honorius because he is telling us the same thing Honorius told the Britons with his actions. To be honest, any other Democrat or Republican candidate not named Trump is lined up to do the same.

    It did not help that asking about our border and suggesting Europe should take care of Europe when Russia invaded Ukraine meant you were a Putin stodge. The same happened if you pointed out putting Ukraine in NATO would be unacceptable to any realistically conceivable Russia leader even if Putin was deposed.

    Now not “supporting” in the sense of “yet another blank check” for Israel is “antisemitism” in too many circles. And like racism, sexism, homophobia, etc the account on that is getting overdrawn among people with sympathy for the Israeli cause.

    There is a price to pay for lying so much and so openly people like me are questioning if their Cold War service was a sham and if any vote they ever cast mattered. And that price is an increasing number of people who as late as 2020 probably would have been “rah rah” for this saying, “The US is too f*cked right now for us to have the time or energy for anywhere else. Fix home first.”

    Shaming will only deepen that not stop it.

    This also goes to “but they exaggerate their victimhood.” Bitch, if you were retraumatized through history every few generations, and always hit when you felt safe, victimhood would also be at the center of your identity. That it is a belligerent victimhood is probably to the good. It’s how Jews survive. That it makes them then try to help everyone who proclaims himself a victim…. well, oy vey iz mir gevalt!

    True in general, but right now tactically disadvantageous on the right due to everyone centering their identity on how they were victimized even if they have other things to base it on much less if they don’t. Is that fair? No. Is that reality? Yep.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “-Defeat- them over there, instead of here” was absolutely correct.

      “Fight them endlessly, without victory, trying to change them and nation build” was MIC/Neocon stupidity.

      We crushed Afghanistan. We should then have ostentatiously executed Taliban leadership, preferably in Koranic methods, total crush barbaric. Then openly bribe someone we like, say Northern Alliance, to run things. Warn all that if we ever come back it’s behind a wave of nukes with artisans to make decorative things out of Trinitite. Then GTFO. Care not what the do at home, just that they stay home.

      Probably would have needed one or two tactical nukes as warnings around 2010.

      But -done-.

      Every other nincompoop regime on the planet goes “perhaps we should avoid angering those lunatic Americans.”

      It’s a humiliation culture. So is the Levant. They do not respect “nice”.

      Announce that US-captured Hamass terrorists, as outside the laws of war, will be turned over to San Francisco BD/SM gay and lesbian bars as slave-toys. With particular egregious cretins going to the trannies.

      Note the specific text of amendment 13, folks. It’s -legal-.

      Getting the picture?

      Like

      1. Sadly, “defeat them” was removed from the American military’s lexicon no latter than 1991 when Bush I shut down the first war in Iraq over the press screaming about the “Highway of Death”.

        The attitude behind that is covered in the Wikipedia article on the war with one line:
        Although they were retreating, this convoy was bombed so extensively by coalition air forces that it came to be known as the Highway of Death.

        That sentence describes the new American way of one, one that rejects the earlier one embraced by Jackson, Scott, Grant, and most notably Sherman and carried on in both World Wars.

        In fact, I can not remember anyone who was a public figure who talks about “fighting them over there” talk about “defeating them over there”. Certainly we refused to in Iraq in 1991 and Afghanistan this century. One could also bring in Korea and Vietnam.

        Note, in one of these case am I criticizing the US military as a whole, although the brass intentionally screwed up Afghanistan to spite Trump and then when Biden kept the timetable couldn’t pull something out of their behinds either due to no time or general incompetence.

        In fact, given the feckless nature of US politicians I am open to the idea that putting ground troops in Gaza, Lebanon, or the West Bank might help Hamas and hurt Israel in the long run.

        Like

    2. For the most part I would agree. One particular part I disagree with is your ‘no airstrikes’ policy. I think we should be conducting airstrikes on any rocket/drone launch sites outside of Gaza/West Bank targeting Israel or US troops in the region.

      Like

        1. As a note, on your long list of caveats: Israel isn’t asking for our help in the actual fighting. I’m not sure they trust our government. And any ammo they buy they pay for. THEY PAY FOR EVERYTHING WE SEND actually.
          They just want us the fuck out of the way and not pressuring them.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. And I’m fine with that.

            I’m just saying “support” has been often open ended and abused.

            The Biden Admin would love a war. Open ended support for that would be great cover for one.

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          2. Oh, and two things:

            My list of caveats is mostly about not trusting our government if that wasn’t clear.
            Two, on the main things it was about, lack of resources, it isn’t about money but about stockpiles. You don’t sell your last chicken if that’s all the food you have. It should be the same with artillery shells (the biggest thing Israel would want to buy for this in all probability). It isn’t Israel that raises the objection. I’d have the same with Taiwan and would with most of NATO (although there we’d have treaty obligations and American forces in the field using the shells and thus not for sale either).

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          3. They just want us the fuck out of the way and not pressuring them.
            …………………………………

            We should be. Both. Stay out of their way. No pressure. Their problem. Their solution. We should be their cheerleaders. Nothing more.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Only 2 US actions needed by Israel:

              Being big and intimidating to keep everyone else out of it as well, keeping it between the IDF and Hamas
              A very clear message that this is not likely to affect US/Israel relations

              Like

          4. Sarah, the Reader notes that we do provide a significant amount of military aid to Israel. Most of it wraps back to our defense contractors, which adds to their volume which has a marginal impact on our costs, and some of it (collaboration on Iron Dome and other things the Reader knows but can’t discuss) provides useful technology back to the US defense community. In the context of the Federal budget it is pretty small but it is there. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL33222/40

            Like

            1. If memory serves they are consistently the single largest recipient of foreign aid although that was not true for the first few years of my life (Israel was not an ally really, much less a close one, before the 70s…see the USS Liberty for the relationship during the 67 war).

              But that not really my point on that…unlike money, where the printer goes brrrrr (and now it’s just electronic anyway), you have to actually make munitions and to “save money” Congress has always been bad about the tail side even during the Cold War (somewhere I have a book from the Reagan era about how bad tooth vs. tail was under Reagan and even then the book admits it was a high point) and it’s been really bad since the “Peace Dividend”.

              We’ve burnt through stockpiles set aside for various allies supplying Ukraine on certain items (artillery shells is the biggest I’ve read about) and we’re approaching the “not a square to spare” point with a lead time of 2-3 years if reports are to be believed to kick replenishment up to expenditure levels, assuming Congress gets off its *ss and does it.

              Like

              1. FWIW, last time I tried to track down the claim about shells– it dead-ended at something like a 2019 article that listed their “bare minimum we can make and keep the systems functioning” production that matched a claimed normal output in the article I started at, and the while-they-were-actively-building-new-facilities and under-COVID – restrictions uptick as the highest possible amount, but the (Army owned) places haven’t updated their output numbers since then, folks just keep repeating those as the highest possible amount without citation.

                Also caught some articles that couldn’t tell artillery-shell production from bullet-shell production and some others that acted like they didn’t know the “company” they were reporting on is literally the US Army. (Own the facilities, contract the work.)

                So, I don’t know how much is folks not doing research, using bad sources, using the only information they have and pretending it’s the best (which is honestly my bet, it seems the most popular), and how much is folks just trying to get folks freaked out.

                Liked by 1 person

    3. “Providing intel to Israel. Well, given our intelligence services are more interested in destroying Trump and his supporters I’m not sure if sharing intel is support or not but in the abstract, sure.”

      Given that Biden/Obama and crew hate Netanyahu as much as Trump, it’s easy to believe they would feed them false info.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Precisely…in the abstract I’ll all for sharing intel with Israel (and recognize historically they’ve been good at getting it anyway), but I’m not sure they’d want from our intel community as it currently stands.

        Like

  26. Note later, when I was involved in Mensa, a society that is entered by showing proof of IQ, the same mechanic applied. Open your mouth with a non-approved non-leftist narrative, and you “weren’t very bright” at best, and were a potential terrorist/racist/sexist/homophobe at worst.

    Duh, Mensa is a society for people with high IQ mad the world hasn’t prostrated at their feet and given them their every desire but expected them to do something with said intelligence. Is there any mindset more purely Marxist?

    Like

  27. I do have some insight, coming from having acculturated to the US as an adult though. Sometimes I wonder if that’s why I seem to be the only person, even among the writers and artists, who was aware of the political color bar, and what you had to do to succeed, and how you could get cancelled on suspicion of not singing fully in the progressive choir, even back in the eighties and nineties.

    One, you weren’t the only one.

    Two, it was not nearly as bad then because the left had marched through mass media they still hadn’t replaced everyone and were only starting to make inroads outside of media and acadamia. Even the Democrats weren’t fully compromised as the Leftist putzch of 1972 had blown up badly.

    The sad reality is Tip O’Neil was less left comprised than most of the modern GOP leadership is.

    Like other things this happened slowly then all at once. In the 80s and 90s you might make extra work to get ahead being openly right in most fields, although the military I served in was quite the opposite. It accelerated in the aughts and Obama I and by the end of Obama II turned into the modern exclusion and hunting down across America.

    For example, BoA only included reporting co-workers posting bad think on their personal social media to the ethics hotline in 2020. It has since disappeared although it was one reason I focused more on the Discord than blog comments. Then again, I had enough at Insty long before 2020 to hang me if they want.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I believe you about trad publishing. As I said they had the media which was core to getting other things, but they weren’t in positions of power in most places yet…simple proof is how well businesses did in the 80s and 90s.

        What happened to trad in the aughts from their failed is happening everywhere now because of that 20 year delay.

        Liked by 1 person

  28. “All Jews are commies, destroying western civ. Why should we support their war.”

    You see this one quite a bit. On the Right side of the political equation there do seem to be a sizeable bunch of retards who just plain hate the Jews. They hate’ em. Always did, and they’ve never been shy to say so on the Interwebz.

    What’s so entertaining to me lately is the LEFTIES who have -always- hated the Jews, and women, and gays, and Asians, and Arabs, and trans (like poison, that hate them) and always lied lied lied about it… until now. Now, after the atrocity of Oct. 7th, some frigging switch seems to have flipped in their heads. They’re ranting like lunatics all over social media.

    Earlier in the week our Jew-hating Prime Minister made some ill-considered remarks about the IDF killing babies in Gaza.

    Toronto the Good, land of Lefties and Diversity!!! has had some serious riots against the Jews. Yesterday and today credible bomb threats were made against several Jewish schools in Toronto. People have thrown Molotov cocktails at the odd synagogue and a school. Shots fired at a school in Montreal two days in a row.

    NO ARRESTS so far of any note. Given the speed with which truckers and Covid protesters got arrested and had their bank accounts frozen etc. one is forced to accept that this Jew-hatred is approved by the government. And probably -created- at least in part by the government. Hamas-linked “charities” are still functioning, for example.

    For myself, nothing has changed. I am a leaf.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. They scream about hating the Jews now. But if the Israelis were to suddenly pull out of Gaza, within a month the lefties would all be right back to insisting that the only anti-semitism is on the right.

      The wildcard in that is just how far the Israelis go in dealing with Hamas, and how effective they are.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Chait wrote an article mentioning one of the Jew Haters on the squad, and concluding that the GOP has a much much worse tendency towards Jew Hatred.

        Dude may be a wee bit partisan.

        Like

    2. I see Alberta has a bit more spine, having fired the director of the Sexual Assault Centre for spouting off that of course Hamas didn’t rape anyone.

      Liked by 1 person

  36. Trajectory nominal. So far, so good, and a heck of a lot better than last time. Aiming for one orbit, then splashdown in Pacific.
    God is being invoked (in the OMG!) sense about every five seconds. And you’d never hear a NASA engineer say, “Holy cow,” during a countdown.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. More seriously, my questions from the outside are: What parameter going out of range on Starship triggered the autonomous FTS to blow it up when it was very close to completing the suborbital insertion burn; Why didn’t they disable the Starship FTS once it was high/fast enough that an uncontrolled entry would presumably* cause it to break up anyway, and was it the FTS that caused the RUD on the Booster stage.

      or does this mean the thing has significant naturally stable modes on reentry that it would not for certain tumble and break up?

      Like

      1. Update: YT has a couple analyses of the SpaceX coverage video split seconds before the booster RUD showing the booster relight had a bunch of Raptor shut downs during the boostback burn relights on the central steerable motors. Enough of those shutting down, even safely doing so instead of coming apart, basically made the booster not controllable, so the entire first stage started veering off pointing in other than the direction it was supposed to point. When the autonomous FTS saw those rates going the wrong way out of limits it fired the termination charges, which fully terminated the booster.

        One vid theorized, noting there’s no telemetry from the coverage showing such, that the Starship had the same problem, with too many shutdowns on the steerable Raptors which sent it out of control. A tumble right at the end of the burn would explain the loss of telemetry as well as the autonomous FTS blowing it up even though it had largely made its targets.

        Like

    1. The Reader hoped they’d get further but is pleased with the progress. And the cheerfulness of the commentary from SpaceX contrasts greatly with what the Reader remembers of the NASA failures in the 50’s.

      A side note – for some reason the Reader can comment on the blog via WordPress but not directly on the side. WDE.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Some of the MSM have headlines re:Failure of Starship launch. No bias there.

        I mean, WTF? 2nd attempt not only cleared the tower, but got 1st stage separation, and orbit. No, it didn’t do everything they were hoping for in a perfect scenario. But it made it much farther than attempt 1, and they got a heck of a lot more data back. How many rockets did NASA blow up before they considered even putting monkeys in a capsule? Heck, even today, new rockets tend to blow up with actual very expensive cargo.

        This isn’t a failure. This a huge success. The MSM needs to pull its head out of its waste disposal unit

        Like

        1. The Reader offers a brief history of Project Vanguard in support.
          The Vanguard rocket launched three satellites out of eleven launch attempts:

          Vanguard TV3 – 6 December 1957 – Failed to orbit 1.36 kg (3.0 lb) satellite – low tank pressure caused engine cutoff T+2 seconds
Vanguard TV3 Backup – 5 February 1958 – Failed to orbit 1.36 kg (3.0 lb) satellite – control failure caused vehicle breakup T+55 seconds
Vanguard 1 – 17 March 1958 – Orbited 1.47 kg (3.2 lb) satellite
Vanguard TV5 – 28 April 1958 – Failed to orbit 9.98 kg (22.0 lb) satellite – 3rd stage separation failure
Vanguard SLV-1 – 27 May 1958 – Failed to orbit 9.98 kg satellite – 2nd stage attitude control failure prevented the 3rd stage from entering the correct angle for orbital insertion
Vanguard SLV 2 – 26 June 1958 – Failed to orbit 9.98 kg satellite – 2nd stage lost thrust after only 8 seconds of burning due to fuel line obstruction
Vanguard SLV 3 – 28 September 1958 – Failed to orbit 9.98 kg satellite – 2nd stage insufficient thrust for orbital insertion due to fuel line obstruction
Vanguard 2 – 17 February 1959 – Orbited 10.8 kg (24 lb) satellite
Vanguard SLV 5 – 13 April 1959 – Failed to orbit 10.3 kg (23 lb) satellite – 2nd stage hydraulics failure led to loss of control
Vanguard SLV 6 – 22 June 1959 – Failed to orbit 10.3 kg satellite – 2nd stage exploded due to stuck helium vent valve
Vanguard 3 –18 September 1959 – Orbited 22.7 kg (50 lb) satellite

          Liked by 1 person

    2. The data must be amazing! I was talking with a family friend about the launch, and we were commenting on how much Musk has accomplished, and how important even failures can be. (He’s in the skilled trades, and materials failures ARE part of his business.)

      Like

  39. I joined Mensa at a young age (16) to try to meet people. I did meet my first real girlfriend there, so that was a plus.
    But other than that, I’ve joined again a couple of times since then and have found that the people who actually go to the meetings aren’t very interesting.
    My theory about this is that people who are even slightly above average in IQ, and are otherwise fairly competent socially, have a reasonable social life, so the people who show up at every meeting are those who are way below average in other ways. They then drive off the new members who show up hoping to meet reasonably interesting and sane people.

    Like

  40. Thank you, Sarah.
    And yes, the ADL is a political whore of a joke, and even the leftist Jews of my current synagogue (which means the majority of it) no longer argue with me about it.

    On your other point, in my case, growing up in the USSR, my parents absolutely taught me to succeed in STEM as a path to survival. There was no confusion about it. The mantra of “professional success == survival in a hostile environment” followed me all my life there.

    One more reason why especially Eastern European Jews were leftist is because socialist revolutionary movements were pretty much their only way to fight the official and very real anti-Semitism of the Russian Empire.

    Like

  41. On a closely related note, I see that the latest attempt to stampede people off Twitter is in full swing, with the media and government (pardon the redundancy) pretending that Elon Musk retweeting a criticism of the racial rhetoric of left-wing Jewish organizations is anti-Semitism. Meanwhile actual anti-Semites are on a rampage across the Middle East and to a slightly lesser degree the Western World. That Musk has also called “decolonization” cultspeak aimed at the Israelis as being genocidal against Jews has not gotten as many headlines, for some reason.

    To show you how effed-up this all is, a trans Tor author named Gretchen Felker-Martin, who in the past has publically declared his desire to slit the throat of J K Rowling, has been amplifying anti-Semitic crap about Jews stealing organs and the response from our self-proclaimed moral superiors has been . . . silence.

    Liked by 1 person

  42. My late daughter was a lifetime Mensa member. I am still getting the local and national magazines. I (a non-member) am not entitled to these but I can’t find anywhere who to write/call etc. to request stop. Anybody know?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. There should be, in the back, the address of the local SIG. If not call the library and ask for the address of the local group. (They’ll have it.)
      For national, it’s in the back. BUT both are bizarrely unorganized.

      Like

  43. Leftism has been the default position in Academia for the past increasing to the point where it is now basically the only position. Jews are probably the single most educated population in the west. (I am not willing to do the research to quantify this but think it should be fairly apparent). People who start out hostile to Jews will assume the causation arrow points from them to the academy, but I think it is the reverse. The original ‘progressive’ and socialist movements were full of upper class wasps. Wells, Russell, Nesbit, and the other Fabians in Britain, Holmes and Dewey etc in the US all had far more to do with the leftist takeover of the academy than any Jew.

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  44. Israel needs to destroy Hamas completely and I absolutely support them. I’m praying for Israel and the hostages daily. With regard to Jews in America, I have no issue with their success and I do understand their history. But I’m not about to forget the hostility towards Christianity and whites that I’ve seen coming from many of them over the decades. It has caused much harm to my nation. I’m not going to support the pro Hamas retards either, they may be mostly evil. If Jews change course and demonstrate this with their actions, I’ll be happy to see them as fellow patriots. I don’t want to see American troops on the ground over there either, but I’m sure some already are.

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    1. It’s not Jews. It’s the hyper-educated. So get that out of your head.
      All of my husband’s WASP patrician family, with rare exceptions, and he was on the same track till he married me. (So much loud arguing on politics first three years.)
      So, no. You’re still being an anti-semite by concentrating on a religious persuasion/sub-race and NOT the rot of the over class.

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