Slow-Motion Suicide of the West
Posted By: earlybird, 4/25/2021 3:19:04 PM
I have been thinking a good deal recently about Arnold Toynbee’s much-quoted observation that “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” As an historical proposition, (Snip)And yet we all see the pertinence of Toynbee’s point. While there are, as a matter of historical fact, plenty of civilizations that succumb to invasion, occupation, and subjugation, there are also many that wither from within from a failure of self-confidence, of (for the Bergsonians out there) élan vital, of what your philosophy graduate student likes to call thumos: spirit, gumption, “heart,” manliness. (Snip) But that was a long time ago. Nowadays, “liberalism” is distinguished above all by its illiberalism and intolerance.
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Propelled by growing voter frustration over California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Republican-led drive to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office collected enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, state officials reported Monday, triggering for only the second time in state history a rapid-fire campaign to decide whether to oust a sitting governor.
Recall backers submitted more than 1,495,709 verified voter signatures — equal to 12% of all ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election — meeting the minimum threshold to force a special recall election, according to a tally released by Secretary of State Shirley Weber. Barring intervention by the courts, Newsom will face a statewide vote
‘Military-Civil Fusion’ Information Secretly
Removed by the Chinese Regime, Leaked
Documents Shows 0 replies
Removed by the Chinese Regime, Leaked
Documents Shows 0 replies
A series of internal documents responding to a municipal internet censorship authority reveals that information related to the Chinese Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy was removed from a local bureaus’ official websites in June 2018, only months after a trade war had broken out with the United States.
The Epoch Times recently obtained documents from a trusted source issued by various departments in Anshan City of northern Liaoning province reveals the requirement to remove information about MCF on departments’ websites and from official accounts on social media platforms.
However, the MCF strategy is a national-level strategy that the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has emphasized.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on April 23 vetoed election reform legislation and a measure that would have let more people carry guns.
Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed two bills that would have changed election laws, such as requiring counties to verify signatures on early voting ballots and making it illegal for any person to knowingly alter a postmark on a mail-in ballot.
The bills were House Bill 2183, which the state House passed 80–42 and the state Senate passed 27–11, and House Bill 2332, which the state House passed 83–38 and the state Senate approved 27–11.
Thanks, Jurors! You’re Safe Now. We Aren’t
10 replies
To watch the hours of celebratory fist-pumping from government officials and black activists after the guilty verdicts against police officer Derek Chauvin this week, you’d think Minnesota had just won the NCAA tournament.
One man is dead and another will be spending up to 40 years in prison. How about Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison show a little dignity, with something like: “We had the trial; we’ve got a verdict; I’m not taking any questions”?
Nope! We got a one-hour spirit rally for the championship team. The key was teamwork. Our guys practiced every night — staying even after the gym had closed! We couldn’t have done it without the fans.
Washington — Congresswoman Val Demings, a Democrat from Florida and former chief of the Orlando Police Department, said Sunday the police officer who fatally shot 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant in Ohio last week appears to have responded in accordance with his training.
In an interview with "Face the Nation," Demings reflected on her time as a patrol officer and said those working in the community have to make split-second decisions.
"Everybody has the benefit of slowing the video down and seizing the perfect moment. The officer on the street does not have that ability. He or she has to make those split-second decisions and they're tough,"
A media influencer who attended the Trump rally in Washington DC on January 6, says two FBI agents came to her home to investigate a couple of tweets she posted on that day. In one tweet, she had joked that she was “storming the Capitol.” In the other tweet she had apparently responded a troll.
Dr. Karlyn Borysenko said she was out of town at the time, and the agents spoke with her husband. When she got back, she said that she arranged to have an attorney present with her for the FBI interview,(Snip) The FBI agents, she said, were apologetic, and told her that they were having to investigate a
Slow-Motion Suicide of the West
11 replies
I have been thinking a good deal recently about Arnold Toynbee’s much-quoted observation that “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” As an historical proposition, (Snip)And yet we all see the pertinence of Toynbee’s point. While there are, as a matter of historical fact, plenty of civilizations that succumb to invasion, occupation, and subjugation, there are also many that wither from within from a failure of self-confidence, of (for the Bergsonians out there) élan vital, of what your philosophy graduate student likes to call thumos: spirit, gumption, “heart,” manliness. (Snip) But that was a long time ago. Nowadays, “liberalism” is distinguished above all by its illiberalism and intolerance.
Journalist Lee Smith hits the sweet spot in his discussion of the U.S. Postal Service conducting surveillance on Americans. As Smith notes the targeting is not to identify the political ideology of “all Americans”, rather the objective is surveillance of people who likely did not vote for Joe Biden. (Snip) this type of activity is one long continuum. The IRS was previously used; federal contractors for the FBI have previously been used; allied Big Tech companies have been used; and now the United States Postal Service is running a covert surveillance program against Americans that sounds suspiciously like the prior DHS announcement.
So when you put
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh was arrested for using her authorship of a book as a pay-to-play scheme for personal financial gain {Go Deep}. In what appears to be a similar situation, unaccompanied alien children (UAC’s) are being given a book authored by Kamala Harris.
CALIFORNIA – Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t been to the border to address a crisis she was tasked to help fix — but a children’s book she wrote is waiting there for young migrants who are being welcomed into the country.
Unaccompanied migrant kids brought from the U.S.-Mexico border to a new shelter in Long Beach, Calif., will be given a copy of her 2019 children’s book,
The 9/11 attacks gave us the heightened security theater now on display in all U.S. airports. Day after day for the last two decades, Transportation Security Administration agents have patted down travelers from teens to the elderly, looking for weapons that nobody expects to find. While airplane cockpit doors are now locked to prevent hijackings, the pat-downs remain.
And now we have pandemic hygiene theater to give uninformed people a false sense of control and sustain their fear of the virus.
Think of the number of hours that schools, restaurants, and other businesses spend wiping down surfaces to prevent COVID-19 transmission even though we've known since last July that this wiping isn't
Tucker Carlson is saving journalism
26 replies
I should not have to write this, but journalists should accept criticism. Largely they don't. And lately they are upset because Tucker Carlson is taking them to task on his nightly Fox show.
Speaking from personal experience, your critics do you a valuable service. His criticism is golden because Carlson grew up in journalism.
He told Outkick, "When I was a kid, my dad worked in print in the newspaper and then in television. He had a sound guy, a cameraman, a producer. They’d come over to our house a lot. And I remember thinking, “These are truly open-minded, courageous guys.” They took no bullshit from anybody. They were also skeptical.
Cailtyn Jenner has been slammed over her announcement she is running for governor of California with LGBTQ+ community members saying they won't be backing her 'vanity campaign.'
Jenner, 71, filed paperwork to launch her campaign and formally announced her run on social media Friday under the slogan 'Caitlyn For California'.
While she is yet to confirm if she is running as a Republican or as an Independent, Jenner has surrounded herself with a team of former Donald Trump aides including his ex-campaign manager Brad Parscale and Caroline Wren - one of the organizers of the Stop The Steal rally on January 6 that escalated into the Capitol riot.
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Orlando - House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney is not ruling out a potential presidential bid, The Post has learned.
“I’m not ruling anything in or out — I’ve been here a long time,” she told The Post when asked if she would ever consider running in the future.
The Wyoming Republican — who has been a frequent target of former President Donald Trump — said there are a number of contenders she sees as having potential for the 2024 nomination, adding that she believes the lawmakers who led the efforts on challenging the election on Jan. 6 should be out of the running.
Black Caucus chair Rep. Joyce
Beatty: Police could ‘shoot in
the air’ to stop would-be killers 49 replies
Beatty: Police could ‘shoot in
the air’ to stop would-be killers 49 replies
COLUMBUS, OH – The Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus has joined hordes of untrained armchair quarterbacks, in order to render her opinion on police procedure after the officer-involved shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant.
In Columbus, Ohio on April 20, 2021, Officer Nicholas Reardon had to make a split second decision to intervene as Ma’Khia Bryant rushed toward her potential victim with a knife, after ignoring lawful orders to “get down.” Reardon fired his pistol, striking Bryant and ending the attack.
Aid was rendered at the scene, but Bryant was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Neighbors reported that Bryant “was in full attack mode” and also said:
The howl was loud, prolonged, anguished and animated.Actress Frances McDormand's bizarre imitation of a wolf was comfortably the most surprising and interesting part of this year's Oscars.And although there was a heartfelt story behind it – she was paying tribute to a sound engineer on her movie Nomadland named Michael Wolf Snyder who took his life earlier this year – the howl perfectly encapsulated my own feelings watching the most unwatchable Academy Awards in history.Honestly, if there was an Oscar for Worst Horror Story, it would go to whoever decided it would be a good idea to hold this year's event in a train station.
The number of people who tuned in to watch the three-hour long 'wokefest' that was the Oscars has hit an all time low with just 9.85 million viewers. The television ratings for the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday night is a 58 percent drop compared to last year's already record-low 23.64 million viewers, according to early Nielsen numbers. The huge drop in ratings for Hollywood's biggest night continues an overall multi-year downward trend for the Academy Awards, which were above 43 million as recently as 2014. It comes after the Grammys, Golden Globes and SAG Awards all experienced more than 50 percent declines
A few videos are making the rounds showing a wild brawl taking place at one of the gates in Miami International Airport. We don’t know what started the brawl, although the media are reporting that the police did eventually arrest one person for disorderly conduct. The primary victim, however, does not want to press charges, so the matter will almost certainly disappear.
What makes one of the videos so compelling is the fact that it seemly represents the breakdown of law and order across American cities.
Fox News Poll: Biden approaches 100-day milestone As Joe Biden closes in on the 100-day mark of his presidency, a Fox News poll finds a 54 percent majority of voters approves of his job performance. That's lower than Barack Obama's 62 percent and George W. Bush's 63 percent approval at their respective 100-day points, but higher than the 45 percent Donald Trump received four years ago. CORRECTION*
The Biden administration is refusing to weigh in on the Iranian foreign minister claiming in a leaked recording that former Secretary of State and current Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry told him about secret Israeli operations being carried out in In response, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) called on Kerry to resign during a speech on the Senate floor. It's become clear...that our adversaries, whether Beijing or Iran, like it when John Kerry is in charge of foreign policy and national security. Why? Because they know how to use him to their advantage," Sullivan said.
'Bill and I got pretty friendly':
James Patterson on writing with
Clinton and clashing with Trump 25 replies
James Patterson on writing with
Clinton and clashing with Trump 25 replies
Having a direct line to at least two former US presidents would seem almost a requirement for achieving the status of world’s bestselling author. But it’s not the “former guy” who lives two decent golf swings along Palm Beach’s swanky Ocean Boulevard that James Patterson has a lot of time for these days. It’s Donald Trump’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, who has become a trusted friend, confidante and business partner.(Snip) Patterson, who claims to be a left-leaning political independent, was no fan of the Trump administration, and admits the pair haven’t spoken since. “There’s a lot of bad stuff that went on there.
President Biden is signing an executive order Monday to start an unprecedented, coordinated push by the federal government to encourage more workers to unionize. Mr. Biden will create a White House “task force on worker organizing and empowerment”—led by Vice President Kamala Harris—to mobilize Cabinet agencies and other federal offices to help workers “organize and successfully bargain with their employers,” the White House said. The administration’s statement cited a “steady decline” in union membership in the U.S., from more than 30% of the workforce in the 1950s to 10.8% in 2020. “As the president has said: America was built by the middle class, and unions built
Michigan Democrat seen resisting DUI arrest,
threatens to call Gov. Whitmer in bodycam footage 24 replies
threatens to call Gov. Whitmer in bodycam footage 24 replies
Michigan Police released bodycam footage on Sunday of an incident involving Democratic state Rep. Jewell Jones, who was reportedly charged with driving under the influence, resisting arrest, and weapons possession following a collision last week on Interstate 96 in Fowlerville. The video shows police tackle a combative Jones to the ground after he physically resisted arrest and threatened to call Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Jones can be heard reminding the officers that he had oversight of their budget as they attempt to put handcuffs on him.
Iran's foreign minister says John Kerry
told him about Israeli covert operations
in Syria 23 replies
told him about Israeli covert operations
in Syria 23 replies
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed in recently leaked audio that John Kerry, when he was serving as Secretary of State during the Obama administration, informed him of more than 200 Israeli operations in Syria. Kerry has previously been accused of colluding with Iranian leaders to undermine the Trump administration. Kerry is now a part of the Biden administration and has a seat on the National Security Council as the special presidential envoy for climate. Kerry shocked Zarif by revealing that Israel had attacked Iranian targets in Syria more than 200 times, according to leaked audio obtained by The New York Times and other outlets.
At least 52 people from a single flight from Delhi to Hong Kong have tested positive for Covid-19, despite all passengers presenting a negative coronavirus test before boarding. All of the passengers who tested positive flew into Hong Kong on a flight from India's capital, run by Indian airline Vistara on April 4. Hong Kong as a whole has been recording fewer daily new infections than the total number detected on the flight, since it brought a fourth wave of infections under control in January. Meanwhile in India, the country's healthcare system is collapsing under a devastating second wave of coronavirus that is killing