90 Miles From Tyranny

Monday, May 31, 2021

Do Heroes Capitulate To Totalitarian Regimes?

Nope.

Now You Wait Your Turn, You Know There's No Return....

What you gonna do

Time's caught up with you

Now you wait your turn

You know there's no return

Change your empty rules

You join the other fools

Turn to something new

Now it's killing you

The New Regressive Dark Ages

Arrogance, wealth, and received authority are always the super-spreaders and force-multipliers of false knowledge, and none more so than in the present age.

Once upon a time long ago, we agreed there were certain immutable laws of human nature. These laws were based on facts, reality, and data.

In other words, we accepted common sense about the way the world worked according to logical and even “scientific” principles. That assumption defined us as “enlightened” rather than Dark Age reductionists and ideological- or myth-driven zealots.

Not now. “Progressives,” especially the media, are most often regressive, anti-Enlightenment, and intolerant people, who start with a deductive premise and then make the evidence conform to it—or else.

Regressives

For example, we used to believe that if the government printed more money without commensurate sudden rises in population or economic output, inflation followed. And money cheapened in value all the more so if the government simultaneously both incentivized labor non-participation through over generous entitlements, and promised or enacted higher taxes and more regulations. The latter inevitably would discourage production as demand from a stimulated economy rose.

In 100 days, we’ve either done all of those things or, at least sent messages to producers that we shall do so shortly. Why then are we surprised that monthly consumer prices are spiking after nearly 20 years of very low inflation? Why are our essentials such as lumber, gasoline, housing, appliances, and food skyrocketing? Is the current idea that there is no science of economics? Or is inflation good by “spreading the wealth” through decreasing the value of money for those who have too much of it?

Deterrence is also an ancient law. Humans make instant cost-benefit analyses and act accordingly—from nation states that weigh the advisability of war to potential criminals who gauge the chances of their arrest and punishment.

In deterrent terms along the border, what happens if the United States signals Latin America and Mexico that it will cease construction on an effective border wall, promise in advance blanket amnesties, reinstate “catch and release” rules, stop prior efforts to recalibrate easy “refugee status,” and pull back from detaining unlawful border crossers? Logically, would not potential illegal immigrants believe that the rewards of U.S. healthcare, safety, housing subsidies, entitlement support, education, and even affirmative action outweigh the increasing unlikelihood of meeting resistance at the border—or any later consequences for residing illegally in the United States?

The result is now true “chaos” at the border. Tens of thousands of unvetted immigrants illegally stream into the United States, in a fashion that is not diverse, not legal, not meritocratic, and not measured—the old foundations of rapid melting-pot assimilation.

Did the Biden Administration simply by fiat declare that such obvious human laws did not apply to their superior moral impulses? Or did it deliberately violate them to change the demography of the American southwest in ways that eventually will benefit the hard Left? Likewise, could it be that rising crime is due to efforts to defund or cut back police forces, or allowing criminals to be freed without bail, or district attorneys not prosecuting crimes deemed matters of social justice.

Nation-states, like people, acknowledge the laws of deterrence. Signal to the Middle East that crippling sanctions against Iran are ending. Assure the world that the United States will be cutting back on domestic fossil fuel development and thus inevitably will become more dependent on others who produce “dirty” oil and gas. Assume that America now trusts Iranian negotiators and thus will reenter the Iran nuclear deal. Attest that the Palestinians are again front and center in all Middle East diplomacy. Act as if Israel no longer enjoys the full support of the United States, as money pours into Palestinian coffers without audit. Deride the Abraham Accords. And, finally, treat Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas as if they are the Middle East intersectional counterparts to marginalized people of color in the United States (Israel playing Derek Chauvin to Hamas’s George Floyd). Is not all that logic assurance that there would be a war within 100 days?

Surely, even the woke Biden Administration knows something about deterrence. So was it naïve—or simply “leveling the playfield” to ensure Shiites and Persians were affirmed to receive their “fair share” of Middle East respect and influence, while Israel and the Gulf States surrendered their unearned privilege?

The War Against Science and Logic

To violate natural laws requires mocking empiricism, science, and data, or at least reducing them to irrelevance—for political, careerist, or ideological agendas.

related: Homeschooling - A Great Choice For The New Dark Ages.....

Take the now infamous and pseudo-scientific “Steele dossier” and the “Russian collusion” mythography. From 2016 to 2018 Christopher Steele’s high school-like, jargon-filled, mish-mash folder was cited as near scientific “proof” of Trump’s perversions, treason, and various corruptions.

Steele, we were told, was a Russian “expert.” He was a “seasoned” British intelligence officer, albeit “retired,” with access to impeccable (though anonymous) sources.

CNN and MSNBC wheeled out all sorts of former FBI and CIA “professionals”—headed by ex-CIA chief John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, both previously known for admitting to lying to Congress under oath.

All our experts periodically “confirmed” Steele’s impeccable “credentials.” And then suddenly, 22 months after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was jump started in part by a leaked “dossier,” it folded. There was no evidence of actionable “collusion.” Abruptly, “expert” spy Christopher Steele offered no sources to substantiate his “data” or “revelations.” The cable news heartthrob quietly was reduced to the status of...

Remember: Memorial Day is the day to remember those men and women who died while serving in our nation’s armed forces, whereas Veterans Day is a day to celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Today we remember those men and women who died while serving in our nation’s armed forces.

Marxist Lives Matter

In a free society, the ‘Oppressed’ are the Oppressors.

The Left organizes around oppression. Oppression is a negative and the movement is defined around defining negative phenomena and organizing against them. It’s an outrage machine that depends on finding enough of those negatives to justify its own rise to political power.

But as it gains power, the amount of oppression ought to decrease. And accordingly the Left’s power also ought to decrease in proportion since it has no positive vision only a negative one. Instead, paradoxically, the more power the Left gains, the worse the oppression becomes.

Not only does the general state of things get worse, but every specific area where it claims to be making progress somehow becomes much worse than it was before. After Obama took office, race relations took a dive as the country somehow became more racist during a black president. Last year, every Democrat city was denounced as an outpost of systemic racism where black people were being hunted by the police for sport. That’s when women aren’t being hunted down on some of the most progressive and diverse college campuses and industries in the country.

The nation’s woke corporations are oppressing workers and destroying the planet. The woke governments are imposing systemic racism in between critical race theory struggle sessions. American foreign policy, under one of the most leftist administrations in history, is an imperialist war machine when it isn’t flying BLM flags and advertising for...

How You Can Honor the Fallen This Memorial Day

This extended weekend marks the 154th anniversary of that first “Memorial Day” remembrance, when Congressman James Garfield—who would later become president—addressed a crowd of more than 5,000 at Arlington Cemetery.

The tradition continues to this day at national cemeteries across the nation, with the president of the United States most often delivering the address and laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

To millions of Americans, Memorial Day symbolizes the unofficial start of summer—the opening of the local community pool, baseball games, concerts, barbecues, and trips to the beach.

Regrettably, a Gallup poll in 2000 revealed that only 28 percent of Americans knew the true meaning of Memorial Day, and 40 percent confused it with Veterans Day.

So, what is the meaning of Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is the day to remember those men and women who died while serving in our nation’s armed forces, whereas Veterans Day is a day to celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Why have so many Americans lost sight of the true meaning and observance of Memorial Day? Some would argue it began with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, which moved Memorial Day from its traditional date of May 30 to the last Monday in May.

Many veterans organizations, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, still oppose that move, stating that the creation of the three-day weekend has diluted the focus of the day from solemn reflection on, and tribute to, those who sacrificed their lives in defense of our nation and led to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.

Memorial Day began at the national level on May 30, 1868, as Decoration Day, with a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen Civil War soldiers. This tradition continued to grow, and following World War I, Decoration Day became a day of remembrance of all soldiers, sailors, and Marines who died in service to their nation, not just the Civil War.

It was not until after World War II that the holiday became more popularly known as Memorial Day.

In his 1868 call to celebrate Decoration Day as a national holiday, Maj. Gen. John Logan stated eloquently: