Random Thoughts for August 2021

 

Random Thoughts for August 2021

Robert A. Hall

Feel free to post or forward.

 

Health update: August started well, then went rocky. About two weeks ago I was sitting in my lift chair and had a coughing attack. It led to a stabbing pain when me new hip join is. It was so bad I thought it was out of the socket. I went to the ER next morning and they took an x-ray. Fortunately it still looks fine. They think a muscle spasm. Gave me pain pills which have led to constipation. So been battling floating pain in the area and an upset stomach. Feel tired and sick a lot of the time, but I continue to march. Had to cancel our vacation in Ocean City NJ, where we should be now.

 

Because of my arthritis, I haven’t driven my SUV for 8 months. Having had hip replacement I can drive. Today I filled it up. Sticker shock—I was still driving on pre-Biden gas.

 

Sold our canoe. At 75 and after three operations I can no longer lift my end to get it on the car. Have to rent now.

 

From Facebook: “This entire presidency is like being tied to a chair and watching a toddler play with a loaded revolver.”

 

They can hide history, but they can’t really destroy it.

All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope.
— Winston Churchill

 

"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! " ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s the times. But the Columbus WI 4^th of July parade seemed flat and small this year.

 

My super power is that I’m invisible to waiters.

 

A black vet started a conversation with me at the VA, asking how I was. Fine I said, and you? “I’m blessed,” he said, “Blessed that my family and I live in this country where we have it so much better than other people.” We need more people like him.

 

Guinness is actually healthier than light beer — here's why

https://www.insider.com/guinness-is-healthier-than-light-beer-2017-7

Does God hear the prayers of atheists?

 

Nothing is forever. Everything is for now.

 

I came from a long line of dead people. Every one of my ancestors is dead.

 

My superpower is that I’m invisible to waiters.

 

Both parties love pork, just with different spices.

 

If Facebook or email tells you that you are getting something free, you can bet there will be a charge, probably for shipping and handling.

 

The more urgent an email sounds, the more likely it is begging for money.

 

I’m going to write an essay on what God thinks and wants. I have no idea, but neither do all the other folks pontificating on the subject.

 

Looking at what they are trying to ban now, imagine the restrictions on free speech, guns, religion, meat, travel, etc. they would put in place if they had all the power.

 

“Show me how multiculturalism helped solve the pandemic, and how it could have been done without western civilization” –George

 

To be a progressive, you must believe fervently in policy items that you opposed fervently a year or two ago.

 

"If you haven't done anything wrong, don't apologize." –Jordan Peterson

 

I think we should start now establishing safe houses for conservatives.

 

If you are a politician, it doesn’t matter if you are right or wrong as long as you have someone to blame.

 

Isn’t Critical Race Theory how progressives account for the 50-year failure of their Big Gummint schemes? The trillions of dollars in Great Society giveaways, set-asides, quotas, forced school busing, midnight basketball, etc. Result: only 10% of black kids in Madison’s public schools can read at grade. Fire white administrators who discipline black kids (as at Whitehorse middle school)? Teenagers in Madison WI, Milwaukee, and Chicago are shooting each other to death. How to spin?  --Dave Blaska, Blaska Policy Werks Blog.

 

“Democrats in general have a much thinner skin,” (observed the prominent White House reporter). “This is not unique to Trump but Republicans never expect a fair shake, so if you cover them fairly, you can have a good working relationship with them. Democrats de facto expect you to be on their side and are horrified when you hold them to account as you would any other administration. It goes back to the Obama years. [Obama staffers would be] like, ‘Don’t you realize that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition?!’ And I would be like, ‘Yes, but I’m writing about why your website keeps crashing.’” -- Julia Ioffe of GQ 

 

The more veterans use “Community Care” under the mission act, the fewer resources your local VA hospital has to give care to the general veteran population in your area.

 

The Biden administration wants to stop Cuban immigrants because they might vote Republican. Other illegals from Mexico and south are welcome.

 

"While slavery was common to all civilizations, only one civilization developed a moral revulsion against it — Western Civilization. “--Thomas Sowell

 

If gender is a “social construct” how can there be a gender wag gap? If there are 64 genders as some progressives claim, is the gap between 24 and 37 larger than the gap between 13 and 56?

 

Every slave owner was a Democrat. Except maybe the black slaveowners who couldn’t vote.

 

From Facebook: “And when the white guys take a knee during the Black National Anthem?”

 

Problem with cougars is they are too young for me.

 

I notice Facebook never fact checks all the scam ads they take money to promote.

 

Every day I thank God I was born in the United States. I wonder if future generations of Americans will do that.

 

Multiple tattoos make young women look like porn stars.

 

Some days I think of God as a computer with unlimited memory.

 

They can’t get enough humans to take the vaccine so they are giving it to zoo animals.

 

“The deep state is so deep that, if we dig far enough, we'll get to China.”  Tom Kratman, bestselling author of military science fiction.

 

It seems as if half my phone calls, emails, and letter are from someone wanting money from me by fair or foul means.

 

“People who are high achievers in one field mistakenly believe that they possess a kind of generalized cleverness applicable to other areas of endeavor — call it Krugman’s Fallacy.” National Review

 

Enjoy life…. The  “Check Engine” light could come on at any moment

 

Get the collection! My “Random Thoughts” from 2009 through July, 2013 are collected in this book: The Old Jarhead's Journal: Random Thoughts on Life, Liberty, and Leadership by Robert A. Hall

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Jarheads-Journal-Thoughts-Leadership/dp/1490500162/ref=sr_1_1?s=booksandie=UTF8andqid=1373907206andsr=1-1andkeywords=Old+Jarhead%27s+Journal

The Old Jarhead’s Journal is a collection of Random Thoughts on politics and life and Conservative Political Essays, mostly published on the author’s blog, including the essay “I’m Tired” which went viral on the Internet in 2009, “The Hall Platform,” “This I Believe,” and “Why I’m a Republican.” While they will be of interest to conservative thinkers, they are collected here in book form as a service to readers who wish to give a copy to favorite liberals and watch their heads explode. All royalties are donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

 

*****

 

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=booksandie=UTF8andqid=1304815980andsr=1-5 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s twelve books are listed here: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com. He currently works part-time as a writer-editor in the My Life, My Story program as the Madison VA hospital, interviewing vets and writing up their life histories. During the crisis he is working from home.

When ‘Terrorists’ Aren’t Terrorists: The Danger of Twisting Words to Suit Our Politics

 When ‘Terrorists’ Aren’t Terrorists: The Danger of Twisting Words to Suit Our Politics

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/07/when-terrorists-arent-terrorists-the-danger-of-twisting-words-to-suit-our-politics/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Saturday%20New%202021-07-31&utm_term=NRDaily-Smart

Excerpt: I use the scare quotes advisedly. Though it’s the same word — murder — any honest person would acknowledge that it means markedly different things in the different contexts.

In their political messaging, when BLM devotees inveigh about police murders of black suspects, the intended connotation is Ides of March-style murder — premeditated, willful, driven by a combination of fear and loathing. But if prosecutors had tried to charge Derek Chauvin with that kind of murder, he’d have been acquitted.

In reality, Chauvin was found guilty of an unintentional homicide. There was not even a claim that he intended to kill Floyd. The statute under which Chauvin was convicted explicitly applies when the defendant acted “without the intent to cause the death of any person.” The medical experts repeatedly explained, moreover, that homicide, as they used that word in their findings, is a term of art meaning that death was caused by another; it is not a finding that death was caused intentionally, let alone with malice aforethought.

Chauvin was convicted because Floyd died in the course of what the jury found was a criminal assault. It reflected a theory that what began as a lawful police detention evolved, through the use of excessive force, into a lawlessly reckless act resulting in Floyd’s death. That is not murder in the common, colloquial sense of the word. It was, however, murder in the technical statutory sense. The statute (state penal law section 609.19) is titled “Murder in the Second Degree.”

The social-justice warriors who demanded murder . . . so that they could peddle a narrative of murder . . . ignore such nuance. [Andrew McCarthy has long been one of the columnists I’ve most admired. Like most of his current columns, this is one that National Review restricts to “Plus” members–which I am not one of. For peons like me, we are allowed two articles monthly for free. So, I’ve copied a bit more of it than usual so you can get the real idea of his argument. It’s well worth reading. It’s also the second or third article I’ve seen in the past week pointing out that a lot of our “culture war” depends on how we choose to define things. Definitions can be tricky, especially when they’re purposely blurred as they are here. Ron P.]

Diversity vs. Unity

 Copied this from a MeWe post:

Has the time come?

We know Dick Lamm as Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington D.C., filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor [and farmer] by the name of Victor Davis Hanson talked about his latest book, Mexifornia, explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal - was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America.

The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'

"Here is how they do it," Lamm said:

"First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bi-cultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, Corsicans and Muslims.'

Lamm went on:

"Second, to destroy America, invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal; that there are no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

"Third, we could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multi-ethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricacy and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.'

Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, un-assimilated, under-educated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school.

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority.

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precept. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. 'E. Pluribus Unum' -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will 'Balkanize' America as surely as Kosovo.

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits. Make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bi-cultural country, having established multi-culturalism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America , it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, "Last, I would censor Victor Davis Hanson's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. Unless you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate "diversity." American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states To date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book, 1984. In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."

Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.

If you care for and love our country as I do, take the time to pass this on just as I did for you.

NOTHING to counteract this is going to happen if you don't!

Adding Human Gene Boosts Crop Yields by 50 Percent

 Adding Human Gene Boosts Crop Yields by 50 Percent

https://reason.com/2021/07/29/adding-human-gene-boosts-crop-yields-by-50-percent/?utm_medium=email

Excerpt: Adding the human gene that produces the FTO enzyme to rice and potatoes boosts yields of those crops by 50 percent in field tests, report a team of researchers associated with the University of Chicago, Peking University, and Guizhou University. Their report in the journal Nature Biotechnology says the modified plants grew significantly larger, produced longer root systems, and were better able to tolerate drought stress. In humans, the FTO enzyme erases certain markers that regulate the production of proteins associated with cellular growth. In plants, the FTO enzyme similarly erases markers that inhibit their growth. "The rice plants grew three times more rice under laboratory conditions," reports the accompanying press release. "When [the researchers] tried it out in real field tests, the plants grew 50% more mass and yielded 50% more rice. They grew longer roots, photosynthesized more efficiently, and could better withstand stress from drought." [While I’m not sure I’m comfortable with “adding human genes to plants,” improved photosynthesis and better resistance to drought certainly sounds like something useful–especially if one is worried about a higher atmospheric CO2 level. Climate alarmists ought to be all over this development like white on rice, pardon the expression. I added emphasis. Ron P.]

'Their hands are tied': San Francisco locals demand change to stop brazen crime

 'Their hands are tied': San Francisco locals demand change to stop brazen crime

https://www.foxnews.com/us/their-hands-are-tied-san-francisco-locals-demand-change-to-stop-brazen-crime?test=11778088d8341ee071955f544e1736b2

Tidal Wave of Theft, Shoplifting in San Francisco.

 Video- Tidal Wave of Theft, Shoplifting in San Francisco. When there is no law enforcement and everyone knows it, and you cannot defend your own property forcefully because then you'd be sued, etc, then the psychology of "hey, let's just go and grab anything we want" takes over and grows exponentially. And even gets to be really pointless, like breaking into cars that don't have anything valuable in them. San Francisco is now on the steep downward slope of lawlessness, plus of course massive drug use and rampant homelessness. The effects of all this on business, tourism, and people deciding to move out will be building up. How far will it go? Damifino, but right now there doesn't seem to be anything coming to even slow it down. Maybe next election someone will run on the basis of resoring law&order? What a challenge that will be.

Del

https://www.kienthucmang.com/view/BU6o2MIuMQc/san-francisco-locals-react-to-rampant-shoplifting-breakins-fox-news-digital-ori.html

The Biden Way becomes The Chicago Way, so shut up and take it, America. By John Kass

 The Biden Way becomes The Chicago Way, so shut up and take it, America. By John Kass

https://johnkassnews.com/the-biden-way/?fbclid=IwAR1j7RkPsRj8i92UescjZT6Ayfcd6nDlkXGHVSpTjOvCAg3QHwUJ5uAPzsc

Bjorn Lomborg: Climate change and deaths from extreme heat and cold

 Bjorn Lomborg: Climate change and deaths from extreme heat and cold

For now, global warming reduces more deaths than it causes, saving possibly 100,000 lives each year

https://financialpost.com/opinion/bjorn-lomborg-climate-change-and-deaths-from-extreme-heat-and-cold

 

The American Descent into Madness

America went from the freest country in the world in December 2019 to a repressive and frightening place by July 2021. How did that happen?

By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/18/the-american-descent-into-madness/

How Republican Vaccine Opposition Got to This Point

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccines-republicans.html

 

Let's Celebrate America's Black Patriots

https://www.newsweek.com/lets-celebrate-americas-black-patriots-opinion-1608963

Pakistan: Muslim teacher rapes 8-year-old Christian girl, school blames Christian boy, protects rapist

 Pakistan: Muslim teacher rapes 8-year-old Christian girl, school blames Christian boy, protects rapist

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/07/pakistan-muslim-teacher-rapes-8-year-old-christian-girl-school-blames-christian-boy-protects-rapist

When Did Moderna Know About COVID-19?

When Did Moderna Know About COVID-19?

https://patriotpost.us/articles/81327?mailing_id=5992&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.5992&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body

Excerpt: If a report disseminated by a UK website called The Daily Expose is accurate, the world may have a major scandal on its hands. “A confidentiality agreement shows potential coronavirus vaccine candidates were transferred from Moderna to the University of North Carolina in 2019, nineteen days prior to the emergence of the alleged Covid-19 causing virus in Wuhan, China,” the website reports. The Expose produced the agreement itself, which can be viewed here. Page 105 is titled “Material Transfer Agreement” between the providers, named as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (“NIAID”) and Moderna TX Inc. (“Moderna”), and the recipient is named as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The agreement states the providers will give the university “mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidates developed and jointly owned by the NIAID and Moderna.” The agreement further states the research material may not be used on human subjects or used for “commercial purposes such as screening, production or sale, for which a commercialization license may be required.” (...) The dates accompanying the recipients’ signatures are December 12, 2019, and December 16, 2019, respectively. The dates under the providers’ first two signatures remain blank, while the second two are both dated December 17, 2019. (...) The Daily Expose reminds us. “It wasn’t until December 31st 2019 that the World Health Organisation (WHO) became aware of an alleged cluster of viral pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. [That very first word–IF–becomes critical, if this document is real, doesn’t it? I think I want to see a lot more evidence before calling for the pitchforks and torches. But, if it is real, maybe we should bring some rope, too. Ron P.]

While Survey Shows Californians Would Prefer Life Elsewhere, Media Report California Doing Just Fine

 While Survey Shows Californians Would Prefer Life Elsewhere, Media Report California Doing Just Fine

https://www.hoover.org/research/while-survey-shows-californians-would-prefer-life-elsewhere-media-report-california-doing

Inflation Surged to 5.4 Percent in June in Biggest Jump Since 2008

 Inflation Surged to 5.4 Percent in June in Biggest Jump Since 2008

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/inflation-surged-to-5-4-percent-in-june-in-biggest-jump-since-2008/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=breaking&utm_campaign=newstrack&utm_term=24436878

 This is the kind of thing that a lot of people should see, because so many don't really understand how extreme and vicious the super woke activists are.  Their passion and aggression are not a bit less than the Gestapo or Cheka/NKVD/KGB were.  When you know that there's a cadre of people who will come at you like ravening wolves with horrendous character assassination in a neverending crap storm if you dare to hit one tiny trip wire of their program, it tends to make the great majority of people decide that staying head down and quiet is really the way to go.

 

I haven't made many donations to what are Liberal based groups in decades, but I contributed to her case because what happened to her is so unfair and to let it go unchallenged is unacceptable.  I pray this goes to court and the people who persecuted her get slammed and slammed good.

 

Del

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https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/a-witch-trial-at-the-legal-aid-society

A Witch Trial at the Legal Aid Society

Maud Maron was a model public defender. Then she was forced out of her job because of her political views and her race.

 Here's the kind of input that seems very worthwhile to me.  The other two were good, this one is more detailed.  The writer is VERY clearly not on the Right or anywhere near it, but he has an operating brain not totally fuzzed over by fanatic commitment to an ideology.  He can still look at things and see them for what they are.  What we need on the Right is for more of the Independents to see this kind of thing so it will move them away from the Left.

 

Del

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https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-you-e5f

What Happened To You?

The radicalization of the American elite against liberalism

A ‘News’letter About Nothing—and Everything

 A ‘News’letter About Nothing—and Everything

https://gfile.thedispatch.com/p/a-newsletter-about-nothingand-everything?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0Mjk2OTU3LCJwb3N0X2lkIjozODU4Mzk5NCwiXyI6InZXSmtPIiwiaWF0IjoxNjI1OTE4MDA2LCJleHAiOjE2MjU5MjE2MDYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNzgxOSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.5bKBUBQaccOx4KFJPEfwk6mpNhF7DYAI2kF3iMEqEp8

Excerpt: Whenever I try to understand quantum mechanics I get a similar headache to the ones I get when I try to figure out the plot of the movie Syriana or resolve the contradictions of Lost. I also get a newfound appreciation for Arthur C. Clarke’s third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (...) I think a lot of our problems today can be attributed to the confusion of words for things. When I started working on Liberal Fascism, a philosopher acquaintance of mine gave me some advice: “Don’t confuse words for things.” What he meant is that there are many labels people use to distort reality rather than describe it. If you compare what fascists did to what communists did, it quickly becomes apparent that the two things, while not identical, are far closer to identical things than opposite ones. [This Goldberg essay starts out slowly, but it’s absolutely brilliant as he diagnoses a consistent problem in modern communication. And, once you’ve seen the problem, it’s difficult to un-see it. It’s everywhere. Curse Schrodinger! Ron P.]

Jaw-Dropping: Police Chief Association Releases Number of Officers Injured During Violent Riots

 Jaw-Dropping: Police Chief Association Releases Number of Officers Injured During Violent Riots

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2020/11/30/police-chief-association-releases-jawdropping-numbers-of-injured-officers-during-n2580844

Excerpt: During the riots cities experienced, the MCCA said their survey found at least 2,000 police officers were injured:

"In cities where violence did occur, assaults on police officers, looting, and arson were the most common criminal activities. Approximately, 72% of major city law enforcement agencies had officers harmed during the protests. This included nearly every agency that experienced at least one violent protest. In total, over the course of the civil unrest from May to July, more than 2,000 officers sustained injuries in the line of duty. One agency reported 50 officers being injured in a single week of protests. Another agency reported that 462 of their officers were injured during the protests in their jurisdiction. "Looting was also a common occurrence (2,385 instances), with 62% of major city law enforcement agencies indicating that at least one incident of looting occurred in their cities. This activity was primarily clustered during the first few days of protests. Of note, several agencies reported that in some instances, the looting appeared to be coordinated and organized. For example, some cities encountered 'looting caravans' that moved throughout different neighborhoods. One agency reported 115 commercial burglaries occurred in just one day. Two other agencies reported $927,000 worth of damage as a result of looting in each of their jurisdictions, and another agency reported a single looting event at a shopping mall that resulted in over $70 million in damage."

 

Democracy's Last Stand

Erick-Woods Erickson Jul 8

Six months ago, President Trump’s supporters went to Washington to protest his defeat. Many of them still are convinced the election was stolen. Some of those who went to Washington stormed into the United States Capitol. Others, having seen people headed into the Capitol, wandered in assuming they could be there. Someone planted pipe bombs at the Republican and Democratic headquarters. Some erected a noose to hang members of congress. Some went in looking for Mike Pence to cause him harm.

Over seventy-five million people voted for Donald Trump and the media and Democrats have sought to define them all and every other Republican by those who stormed into the United States Capitol. Some have claimed it was worse than 9/11. Others have compared it to a Nazi uprising. Noted political strategist James Carville has insisted Democrats tie all Republicans to that day and that group — numbering less than 500 — that shattered windows, stole objects, and tried to break through doors towards fleeing members of Congress.

Last summer, the same media aghast and in therapy over January 6, informed a viewing public that protests around the country were fiery but mostly peaceful. As storefronts burned, CBS brought on Nikole Hannah-Jones to inform America that destroying a person’s livelihood and business was not actually violence. CNN dismissed Antifa as not really a thing. MSNBC defended the rioters. The New York Times pretended none of it was happening. Innocent passer-byers trying to drive away from violent protestors were condemned by the press and progressives for not sitting there and letting their cars be smashed.

In Portland, OR, rioters have continually, nightly, attempted to burn down a federal courthouse. The media and Democrats blamed Donald Trump and federal law enforcement. Law enforcement left and the rioting continued, but the media stopped covering it.

In Chicago, the mayor who now wants federal law enforcement to protect her city, just last summer denounced federal law enforcement and refused President Trump’s offer to have them come help calm the city. The media defended her decision.

At Donald Trump’s inaugural, rioters marched through the streets of Washington smashing windows, burning cars, and beating up Republicans. They did the same just last year, including attacking Senator Rand Paul and his wife. Speaking of Senator Paul, various Democrats and comedians on television have used him as the butt of their jokes after his neighbor violently attacked him.

A few years ago, progressive agitators stormed Texas’s State Capitol attempting to shut down the legislature as it met to pass pro-life legislation. The media took the side of the protestors. It was, after all, understandable that the protestors were trying to protect a woman’s right to choose against fundamentalists. The very media that condemned the January 6 protests were on the side of the disruptive protestors shutting down democracy in Texas.

Before that, in Wisconsin, progressive activists stormed the Wisconsin State Capitol attempting to block Republican reforms and redistricting plans. Having lost the election, they attempted to barricade themselves in the Wisconsin State Capitol. The media passively, dispassionately covered it. It was, after all, understandable because those Republicans were trying to gerrymander.

A media that even now insists every Republican and Trump voter be held accountable for January 6 has always deflected, defended, and massaged the facts about the protests of last summer, the violence, the crime wave, the repeated attempts by progressives to block democratic actions, etc. Progressives, Antifa, and Black Lives Matter agitators are always the protagonists. Law enforcement, Republicans, and conservatives are always the antagonists.

Each of the incidents was appalling. Each should be denounced. The American mainstream media, however, seems fixated on one while having ignored all the others. Some will say January 6 is uniquely bad. It was really bad and condemnable. But also January 6 probably never would have happened had the media and Democrats together not spent so many years defending violent protestors disrupting democratic institutions and burning down businesses when the protestors were progressive.

Democracy’s last stand is not actually about accountability for January 6, a commission and a need to fight Trump’s voters. Democracy’s last stand is whether the American press can free itself again from left-wing group think and actually be a fair and impartial press. Democracy depends on that very thing and the media itself, through its own biases and partisanship, is abandoning the democratic ship in favor of a Democratic Party just as, if not more, authoritarian than the GOP.