Tags
Abraham Lincoln, Charlottesville, civil rights movement, Donald Trump, Durham, George Washington, Huckleberry Finn, Jason Kessler, Leftists, racism, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson
*The President of the United States is not the Comforter In Chief, nor is he the Denouncer In Chief. It is not his job to deliver remarks that please the most vicious and irrational elements of the Left—including the media–after every protest, crime or incident that occurs anywhere in the nation.
*The noble aspirations of the Civil Rights Movement were long ago realized. Its battles have been won. Today’s “protests” seek to tear down those accomplishments and divide Americans into warring factions based on identity and eternal victimhood.
*In any argument about the evils of the South, it must be remembered it was ruled by Democrats, and it was Democrats that violently and viciously resisted the Civil Rights Movement. It was only Republicans that eradicated systemic racism.
*In all of those protests, crimes or incidents, a denunciation issued by a politician in a distance city or state is never a substitute for local government equally and immediately upholding the rule of law.
*White Supremacists are the fringe of a fringe of a smaller fringe. Their numbers are tiny, and they, like racists of every color, are rightfully social pariahs.
*The media treat this fringe of a fringe as though it is an imminent threat to the nation, because it supports some of their favorite narratives. Most Americans ignore them–the fringe groups and the media.
*Some non-white people can be—are–racists.
*The Left is never interested in peaceful protest or a frank, honest and non-violent exchange of views. Their entire debating strategy amounts to “shut up.”
*When the police refuse to enforce the law in the face of blatant, premeditated and violent crimes, they lose all respect of the normal, law-abiding Americans they most need to support them. The Leftist thugs committing most crimes at “protests” hate the police. It is from their ranks the maniacs that attack and kill police officers come.
*When the police will not do their jobs, honest, law-abiding people will assume their role to protect themselves, their families, symbols and communities. Facing real consequences for violent crimes, the Left with scream in outrage.
After the events in Charlottesville, VA, and the destruction of the statute of a generic Confederate soldier in Durham, NC much has been said, little of it rational. Supposed conservatives support the Left in its destructive designs, and the Left move ever more into outright communism.
This is only the latest, and most destructive, manifestation of the culture war the Left has been waging for decades. The election of Donald Trump was merely a reaction to the war, and an indicator actual Americans, rather then Americans in Name Only—AINOs—are finally waking up and beginning to fight back. Whether we fight a second Civil War, or something like it, will depend in large part on President Trump’s success and the degree Republican politicians choose sides. There will be no declarations of allegiance on their part, but by their fruits, as perhaps never before, will we know them.
The defacement and destruction of monuments is criminal. The bizarre spectacle of Durham police standing by, actually allowing idiotic Leftist thugs to tear down a statue is a harbinger of the coming conflict. It’s bad enough when they do nothing. When they take sides, we slide another yard down the slippery slope into anarchy. We elect politicians to represent the public will. It is up to them, through the rule of law and the legislative process, to establish monuments—which are paid for by public monies—and to change or remove them by the same process.
The current attempt to destroy the symbolic heritage of the South is yet another manifestation of the supremacy of individual feelings. That statue of Robert E. Lee makes me feel oppressed, so it must be removed. In many cases in recent history, actually removing the monuments was not sufficient to salve bruised feeling; they had to be destroyed as well. That statue is about white privilege, man! It must be destroyed or I can’t feel safe! Some Mensa candidates have even suggested Monticello must be razed because Jefferson–or something.
Some have, without any sense of irony, whined that some of the southern monuments were erected in the 1900s as a means of taunting or oppressing blacks, of celebrating the glory days of segregation. To whatever degree that was true, it was, again, the work of Democrats, the very Leftist allies of the leftists whining about the matter.
Obviously there is no one, not local politicians, not local police, not even the Denouncer In Chief, to tell such people to grow up, get a job and get a life. Who are these people with their body armor, snappy black attire, masks, balaclavas, clubs, baseball bats, shields and body armor? Are these people who occasionally take a day off from their jobs to try to tear asunder the social fabric that supports their families? Or is suiting up as the Masked Marxist their job, and if so, who is paying their checks? Such people don’t just decide to take a road trip on a whim, they have larger, longer-ranged goals, and are moved about, like chess pieces, by the money men of the Left. They are the shock troops, the vanguard of the Resistance, the new revolution.
There is even evidence Jason Kessler, the force behind the so-called White Supremacist group behind the Charlottesville rally, may not be who he seems to be:
Unite the Right’ organizer Jason Kessler was reportedly an Obama supporter involved in the Occupy movement as recently as November 2016, before establishing his white supremacist group ‘Unity & Security for America’ in January, 2017.
It’s certainly possible for people to change ideologies, but it’s equally possible to run false flag operations, which is also a time-tested tactic of the Left.
Their current path of destruction and political cleansing is a basic tactic of Communism: the revision of history. It’s a battle I fight every year to one degree or another in teaching Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. Many different ideologies want to ban the book, but most cite the incidence, some 219 times, of “nigger” in the book. Yes, I use the actual word. What do you think of, dear readers, when you see “n-word”? The brain automatically translates the euphemism into the word, doesn’t it?
Among the points I make to my students is when we try to erase the past, we lose the ability to learn from it. We are far more likely to have to make the same mistakes over and over again. And of course, there is no book in American history that has been more successful in portraying the essential humanity of black people than Huck Finn. Our generation knows the boy and the controversy, but if it is banned, the next, and all that follow it, start from scratch.
In the same vein, remember these words from Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address, delivered only a little over a month before his death:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Some on the Left want to banish all mention of Abraham Lincoln. Why? Because racism, or white privilege, or something.
Just for fun, gentle readers, who said this:
These antifa thugs are descendants of the Weather Underground, Symbionese Liberation Army and other Left Wing terrorists. And we’ve reached the point where these communist anarchists are eagerly enabled by a media that become enraged if anyone even suggests they might have played a part in the violence with their piss balloons, mace, 2 x 4s and baseball bats.
It was President Trump at a recent press conference, where, beset by the infantile and grotesquely biased press, he also said:
This week it’s Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?
Where does it stop indeed? Mr. Trump is absolutely right, though anyone listening to the media would never know it. Leftists are indeed demanding all mention of Washington be expunged, as they are for Thomas Jefferson, and even Teddy Roosevelt. The list of symbols hated by the Left is endless. They’ve always reviled the United States flag, and burn and desecrate it at every opportunity. Why not try to destroy Mt. Rushmore? Everybody at least some of them hate is there.
The ultimate problem is there is no end to it. The Left can never be appeased. Whatever they are given, it’s never enough, and we have the lessons of history to teach us. Even if the Left gained absolute power and established its worker’s paradise, there would be no peace, because then would begin the eternal battle to protect the revolution. We’d have to participate in the two-minute’s hate, mandatory rallies against the enemies of the state, and everyone would be spying on everyone else to find those enemies, who are always everywhere. Leftists always eat their own, and everyone else. Leftism cannot survive without rage, hatred and conflict against those that keep it from the ultimate success its own policies deny it.
The only hope is equal and assured enforcement of the rule of law, that and honest journalism. Unfortunately, we generally get the police forces we deserve. But that kind of neglect will not stave off a civil war, nor will denunciations of criminal behavior from the President–any president.
Appeasement only invites greater aggression, and thugs respond only to greater force. We live in increasingly perilous times.
UPDATE: 08-17-17, 1745 CST: The Daily Caller provides motive:
One of the activists who toppled a Confederate statue in Durham, N.C., on Monday night is a member of an extreme leftist group that supports the totalitarian regime in North Korea and wants to abolish capitalism.
Taqiyah Thompson, a student at North Carolina Central University, was arrested Tuesday following a press conference in which she defended the actions of the demonstrators and equated police officers ‘o Confederate soldiers and Ku Klux Klan members.
“I did the right thing,’ she said. ‘Everyone who was there — the people did the right thing. The people will continue to keep making the right choices until every Confederate statue is gone, until white supremacy is gone. That statue is where it belongs. It needs to be in the garbage.’
Thompson is a member of the Worker’s World Party (WWP), a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist group originally formed in 1959 as a hard-line offshoot of the more moderate Socialist Workers Party. In addition to supporting a wide range of far-left causes, the group also defends the North Korean regime of dictator Kim Jong-un against alleged U.S. imperialism.
I believe I mentioned something about that sort of thing… A Marxist supporter of North Korea eh? Well, as long as she had such noble intentions and was working for the people and all…
You have your “hopes” and I have mine
And I hope they get arrested and sit in a jail cell for a very long time ✌
Dear hocuspocus 13:
What you said! And in an enlightened act of penology, they should throw away the key.
Hannity and Herman Cain really nailed it Wednesday night, with a long list of things the media should report, but doesn’t! 😡
I always find it interesting that those peaceful, caring, non-violent protesters known as “antifa” feel the need to wear masks to conceal their identities. And equip themselves with baseball bats, axe handles, and the odd 2×4. All in the interest of non-violence, of course.
It’s always reassuring to see a masked individual carrying a club, as it’s a sure sign of their peaceful intent.
Dear navy vet:
What makes this sort of thing so dangerous is attacking another with a weapon, such as a baseball bat or other impact weapon is a felony virtually everywhere. It can also, easily justify the use of deadly force–firearms–in defense. While I have long experience in martial arts and am still in reasonable shape, I’m actually what most would consider elderly, and with a bum shoulder and a heart problem, would be a fool to try to run from or go hand to hand with a younger, masked opponent determined to bash my head in. Forced into such a situation, I’d be more than justified in shooting, and precisely that sort of thing is going to occur, sooner rather than later.
As you note appeasement just breeds more aggression. The Left is never satisfied, as the saying does “give them an inch (cm) and they will take a mile (km)”.
“It’s never enough,” because the professional activists and community organizers will always need an issue to justify their sinecures.
Sen. Tim Kaine, with his usual honesty and perspicacity, tweeted, “Charlottesville violence was fueled by one side spreading racism, intolerance, and intimidation. Those are the facts.”
Wrong. The facts are:
The Alt Right/White Nationalists/whatever had a permit to stage their demonstration. The leftists had a permit for their counter-demonstration, at a different site.
The right-wing demonstration started. It was peaceful. No laws were broken, no property was damaged, and no one was injured.
The leftists went to the right-wingers’ location and started a fight. It escalated. An African-American woman was reportedly beaten up by five white supremacist men. A man crashed his car into a crowd, killing one person and injuring others.
The governor revoked the right-wingers’ permit before the trouble started. The police failed to keep the two groups separated.
Those are the facts.
President Trump was right to condemn the violence on “all sides,” and he was right to point out that there were well-intentioned protesters (“fine people”) on both sides. He specifically said that “fine people” did not include the white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
But the MSM want Trump to single out the Alt Right, and to ignore the assaults committed by Soros’ Rent-A-Mob (aka Antifa). Which is exactly what the cuckservatives (McCain, Rubio, Romney) are doing. They have even implied that violence by Antifa was justified, because it’s OK to punch Nazis. A “Nazi,” (or a “racist” or “sexist”) is, of course, anyone to the right of Michael Moore.
I cancelled my subscription to Care2, because they wanted me to sign a petition calling on Trump to specifically condemn the “Nazis,” while ignoring Antifa. And they want Trump to condemn the car crash as a “terrorist attack.”
Got that? After eight years of ISIS attacks being labeled as “gun violence,” “workplace violence,” and “spontaneous protests,” suddenly the POTUS has an obligation to use the phrase “terrorist attack.”
Update/correction: I’ve read accounts that the right-wingers did not have a permit, but that the ACLU sued the city, and got a court order allowing the Unite the Right protest to proceed. Either way, it appears that both groups had a legal right to stage their demonstrations, and the governor had no justification for declaring the Unite rally an unlawful assembly before it even started.
I saw a YouTube video in which some of the right-wingers appeared to refuse to disperse at first , but even they apparently intended to submit to arrest, without a fight. And it looked as if the violence started when Antifa attacked Unite protesters who were trying to leave.
I have heard claims that the Unite people went to the counter-protesters’ designated site, but I have also heard allegations that the police deliberately herded the right-wingers (who were trying to disperse) to where Antifa was waiting.
Dear Tom:
We don’t see one obvious truth: if the Antifa thugs didn’t show up, the event would have received little coverage, lasted an hour, and dispersed without any violence whatever. They don’t go to events intending to listen politely and engage in meaningful dialogue.
I just watched Newt Gingrich spend 1/2 of his facebook video condemning Neo-Nazis and the like. Why is it that we have to do that? Why is it assumed that any normal, respectable citizen would not find Neo-Nazis and the like unacceptable? Instead, it would be far more useful to spend time reporting how the perps had been arrested and charged for inciting a riot – on both sides of the fight.
Dear Phil:
As often as Gingrich is right, he’s very much a product of conventional beltway thinking and culture. Even he fails to recognize how much things have changed. Virtually no one but the media and beltway animals found anything wrong with President Trump’s comments, and most would have been entirely happy if he said nothing at all. We don’t need the pronouncements of Washington politicians in our lives; we’re better off with as little of them as possible.
The old saw about the most important politican should be the one within buggy whip distance applies here, I think.
My 7th grader came home today very upset because of how bad things have been in the last few days. I tried to explain that she has not even come close to bad. That what has been happening is over hyped, and while tragic for those killed, is small on the scale of bad.
Dear Phil:
Quite so. We often write about what is unusual and alarming, rather than the enormous good of daily life. I do try to rectify that from time to time.
I have no problem with any statues coming down, as long as that is the will of the people lawfully carried out within our system of law and government, but the Left wants far more than we should be willing to give them — the silencing of any and all dissent by abuse of governmental power or by violent criminal acts by organized groups or mobs.
Dear Char Char Binks: Their eternal response to all criticism or debate is always: shut up!
Very well assessed, Mike. I don’t often care to interfere with my “enemies” when they’re discrediting themselves, nor do I care to offer them corrective advice, but I do contemplate their end-game — and I’m drawing a blank.
They’ve generally been successful strategists, but I wonder if their fringe has finally outflanked their base.
Dear Fabi:
Thanks. I suspect they may be on the verge of doing themselves in, but not before more blood is shed.