Quote of the Day - Seen at FB

Commentary on the absurdity of calling the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion an “insurrection” or “attempted coup:”

...if we wanted to really be violent, there would have been special elections. - Christopher Greenstein

Quote of the Day - The Left Singularity

From the archives, a blog post at "Jim's Blog" from April of 2013.  This is just an excerpt.  Read the whole thing.

The Left Singularity:

Leftism leads to more ever more leftism, ever faster. If the process was not interrupted by dictatorship, civil war, or social collapse, it would end with everyone torturing each other to death for insufficient leftism, Khmer Rouge style, and the last torturer committing suicide for his failure to inflict infinite torture in finite time.

Quote of the Day - Larry Correia Edition (again)

From his excellent piece Election 2020:  The More Fuckery Update - (Read the whole thing.  Seriously.)

I believe most people on the right already believed that fraud happens in these machine cities, because duh. But I think most of us also believed that our votes still mattered because we could win by beating the margin of lawyer. But after this audacious fuckery? If they can pull off this level of blatant, clumsy, in your face bullshit and get away with it, no amount of regular votes will ever matter again. Even if we overcome Big Tech and the media controlling most information and get more people on our side, they’ll just stop the count when we are too far ahead and make more votes appear until they win. Then the media and Big Tech will declare nothing weird happened. Shut up.

So I can’t say how this is going to go, but none of the ends from this point will be good. At best this marriage goes back to an abusive relationship with irreconcilable differences, and at worst it ends in a murder suicide.

If they get away with it this time the United States of America becomes the People's Democratic Republic of America, and - by definition - a banana republic.

 

Quote of the Day - Jennifer Fitz Edition

Ms. Fitz wrote an op-ed for Patheos entitled Feeling Pushed Towards Trump.  It's an interesting piece, but this quote is what leaped out at me:

From the right, I continue to see the usual callous indifference to the lives of ordinary people, but it’s just indifference.  The message I am getting from the left is that I am a target they mean to destroy.

I’m not real comfortable with that.

Nor should she be.  Nor should anyone.

The Hunter Biden Revelation that Bothers Me Most

 ...is this one:

If Hunter "gave" his father half of everything he got paid, Burisma, the Chicoms, the Russian oligarch's wife, what are the tax implications for his father, not to mention the foreign influence questions?  That should be the real story.  And when was the last time Joe Biden got audited by the IRS?

Them's Fightin' Words (Quote of the Day - Glenn Reynolds Edition)

 I have said repeatedly that some time beginning in the 1960's the Left's infiltration of education, media and politics kicked into high gear.  A few years later, they had control of all three.  That was the period when the Right stopped being their "loyal opposition" and became "The Enemy."  Opposition to Leftist ideology and policy wasn't from ignorance or misunderstanding, not because those on the Right were too stupid to understand (though that was part of it), it was because the Right was evil.  Only an evil person could oppose such obviously correct thought.

What do you do with evil? 

You don't debate with evil. You don't negotiate with evil.  You certainly don't compromise with evil.

You placate evil while you look around for a rock sufficient to bash its head in.  You DESTROY evil.

We're past the placation stage.

The Left has been "Othering" the Right for at least the last forty years, basically since Reagan was elected.  The evidence is everywhere.  Here's an example:

There's lots more.  Andy Ngo, Aaron Danielson, Bernell Trammell, Adam Haner, and many others have been the recipients of the tolerance, caring and acceptance of the Left, and I imagine that after November 3 there will be a whole lot more.  

Today at Instapundit was this post by Stephen Green comparing 2020 America to 1917 Russia, but Prof. Reynolds tacked on the QotD:

I don’t think it’s 1917. But in 1917, it’s obvious in retrospect that the only moral and practical thing to do was to kill Bolsheviks, starting at the top. An unparalleled human tragedy could have been prevented, had the Czarists, or the Mensheviks, been willing to act appropriately.

Quote of the Day - Victor Davis Hanson Edition

From his recent piece Year Zero at NRO, but do read the whole thing:

Gun sales are at record levels. I supposed the revolutionaries never investigated the original idea of a police force and the concept of the government’s legal monopoly on violence? It was not just to protect the law-abiding from the criminal, but to protect the criminal from the outraged vigilante.

Only police can stop blood feuds such as the ones we see in Chicago or like the medieval ones of Iceland’s Njáls saga, or the postbellum slaughtering of the Hatfields and McCoys. We are already seeing a counterrevolution — as the Left goes ballistic that anyone would appear on his lawn pointing a semiautomatic rifle to protect mere “brick and mortar.”

Without a functioning police force, do we really believe that the stockbroker is going to walk home in the evening in New York City without a firearm, or that the suburbanite in Minneapolis in an expansive home will not have a semiautomatic rifle, or that the couple who drives to Los Angeles with the kids to visit Disneyland will not have a 9mm automatic in their car console? The Left has energized the Second Amendment in a way the NRA never could, and for the next decade, there will be more guns in pockets, cars, and homes than at any time in history.

Truth

Quote of the Day - Ed Driscoll Edition

Of course, as with all previous revolutions, eliminating statues of dead people is merely the precursor to eliminating living people deemed by the left to be, as Hillary would say, “deplorable.” And as her former colleague Susan Rice recently added, deserving of being placed in “the trash heap of history.” Recent events would imply that Rice was not speaking metaphorically.

Link.

A Repeat

From October 26, 2019, the Quote of the Day, possibly more valid now than it was then.  I went looking for the Codevilla part of the quote, and forgot about the rest of it.  If you are unfamiliar with Professor Angelo Codevilla, please read his supremely important July 2010 essay America's Ruling Class--And the Perils of Revolution. Please do give it, and the link, a read:

From Interview with Angelo Codevilla, a two-fer - one from the interviewer, David Samuels:

...there is no such thing as America anymore. In place of the America that is described in history books, where Henry Clay forged his compromises, and Walt Whitman wrote poetry, and Herman Melville contemplated the whale, and Ida Tarbell did her muckraking, and Thomas Alva Edison invented movies and the light bulb, and so forth, has arisen something new and vast and yet distinctly un-American that for lack of a better term is often called the American Empire, which in turn calls to mind the division of Roman history (and the Roman character) into two parts: the Republican, and the Imperial. While containing the ghosts of the American past, the American Empire is clearly a very different kind of entity than the American Republic was—starting with the fact that the vast majority of its inhabitants aren’t Americans. Ancient American ideas about individual rights and liberties, the pursuit of happiness, and so forth, may still be inspiring to mainland American citizens or not, but they are foreign to the peoples that Americans conquered. To those people, America is an empire, or the shadow of an empire, under which seemingly endless wars are fought, a symbol of their own continuing powerlessness and cultural failure. Meanwhile, at home, the American ruling elites prattle on endlessly about their deeply held ideals of whatever that must be applied to Hondurans today, and Kurds tomorrow, in fits of frantic-seeming generosity in between courses of farm-to-table fare. Once the class bond has been firmly established, everyone can relax and exchange notes about their kids, who are off being credentialed at the same “meritocratic” but now hugely more expensive private schools that their parents attended, whose social purpose is no longer to teach basic math or a common history but to indoctrinate teenagers in the cultish mumbo-jumbo that serves as a kind of in-group glue that binds ruling class initiates (she/he/they/ze) together and usefully distinguishes them from townies during summer vacations by the seashore. The understanding of America as an empire is as foreign to most Americans as is the idea that the specific country that they live in is run by a class of people who may number themselves among the elect but weren’t in fact elected by anyone. Under whatever professional job titles, the people who populate the institutions that exercise direct power over nearly all aspects of American life from birth to death are bureaucrats—university bureaucrats, corporate bureaucrats, local, state and federal bureaucrats, law enforcement bureaucrats, health bureaucrats, knowledge bureaucrats, spy agency bureaucrats. At each layer of specific institutional authority, bureaucrats coordinate their understandings and practices with bureaucrats in parallel institutions through lawyers, in language that is designed to be impenetrable, or nearly so, by outsiders. Their authority is pervasive, undemocratic, and increasingly not susceptible in practice to legal checks and balances. All those people together comprise a class.

And one from Prof. Codevilla:

(T)he Democrats (are) the senior partners in the ruling class. The Republicans are the junior partners. The reason being that the American ruling class was built by or under the Democratic Party. First, under Woodrow Wilson and then later under Franklin Roosevelt. It was a ruling class that prized above all its intellectual superiority over the ruled. And that saw itself as the natural carriers of scientific knowledge, as the class that was naturally best able to run society and was therefore entitled to run society. The Republican members of the ruling class aspire to that sort of intellectual status or reputation. And they have shared a taste of this ruling class. But they are not part of the same party, and as such, are constantly trying to get closer to the senior partners. As the junior members of the ruling class, they are not nearly as tied to government as the Democrats are. And therefore, their elite prerogatives are not safe.

I Identify with This

Quote of the Day - Charles W. Cooke Edition

From his National Review op-ed This is Why We Need Guns:

During the coronavirus lockdown, there was a public debate over whether gun stores should be deemed “essential.” During this outbreak of rioting, such an inquiry seems quaint. Now, as ever, there is no greater prophylactic against a criminal on the rampage than a loaded firearm in the hands of a free man.

Read the whole thing.

Quote of the Day - Larry Correia (Again)

This is not a short one.  I'm quoting the whole damned thing:

A friend of mine posted about seeing this: "Where are all you gun owners now that the federal government and police are attacking citizens in the streets?? Now that the National Guard is out oppressing citizens? I thought this was the moment you're waiting for? So why aren't you out there fighting them with your guns? You're nothing but a bunch of fucking cowards!"
My response was the GIF of Nelson Muntz going HA HA. :-D
But I've seen this sentiment a lot too over the last few days, so please if you are so incredibly fucking dumb that you are actually wondering why America's gun culture aren't commuting into the democrat cities you have banned us from in order to get into gun fights with the National Guard on your behalf, allow me to elaborate.
Hypothetical Liberal "Ally" Who Lives in the Suburbs Which Aren't On Fire - "Hey, gun owners! Here is some civil unrest! Why won't you come and help us?"
Snort. Fuck off.  :-D
"Pussies! Why not?"
Well, every single gun nut in America has spent their entire adult life being continually mocked, insulted, and belittled by the left. You've done nothing but paint us as the bad guys.
In Hollywood, we're always evil, stupid, violent, malicious, redneck, racist, murderers. That's so ingrained in the liberal religion that when "ally" Harvey Weinstein was trying to get out of being a sleazy rapist, his repentance consisted of promising to make more movies about how the NRA is bad.
In the news, everything is always our fault. If there is a mass murder, we can always count on the vultures to swoop in and blame America's gun culture. They flog it for weeks on end, 24/7 coverage, hoping for gun control. And if the identity of the shooter doesn't fit the narrative, it drops off the news in mere hours.
And then at the local, state, and federal level, legally speaking, the left fucks us at every opportunity. You ban everything you can get away with. You ban things that literally make no sense. You ban shit just out of spite.
When we fight back against gun control laws, you declare we are stupid because only the police should have guns (hey, aren't those the guys you are protesting right now?)
"Stupid racist rednecks! We live in a civilized society! Don't you realize the police will protect us?" until when your democrat cities are on fire, and you call 911 and the operator tells you sorry, the police can't come to your house right now, please try not to get murdered... How is that strict gun control working out for you?
Then you did everything in your power to chase gun owners out of your sainted liberal strongholds. You passed laws. You banned everything we like. Forced all the shooting ranges to close. Forced most of the gun stores to close. And just generally let us know that our kind is not welcome there.
But now you've started some shit, YOU want US to go into democrat cities, with democrat mayors, and democrat police chiefs enforcing democrat policies which cause strife among democrats, in order to get into gun fights on your behalf?
How fucking gullible do you think we are? :-D Like holy shit. Damn dude!
Because we all know that literally 30 seconds after a gun nut blows away a government employee on your behalf, then all the national media coverage of the riots will instantly cease (sorta like the Corona Virus coverage did) and it'll be back to the news breathlessly reporting about right wing extremist gun nuts, and all you useless fucks would go back to whining for more dumb ass gun control.
You've already thrown the black community under the bus, cheering as their neighborhoods get burned and yours are safe. Seriously, white liberals are the shittiest "allies" in history, and your moral foundation has the consistency of Play-Doh. Your moral compass is a wind sock.
Just a little while ago, gun nuts had a massive peaceful protest in Virginia. Tens of thousands of people turned out to protest gun control proposals from a democrat with a penchant for wearing black face (he still considers himself an "ally" though!) They didn't break any windows. They didn't kill any puppies. They didn't burn any horses. They didn't flip any police cars or murder any security guards. They were downright boring. They were polite, and even cleaned up their litter.
Except then you called them domestic terrorists, and were super sad that they didn't get massacred by the government (said government you are now mad at for killing people, because again, you fuckers ain't exactly consistent)
Liberal "allies" are quick to call gun nuts the bad guys, but we're not trying to disarm people. We want everybody to be able to defend themselves. It's a common thing to see some meme on the internet, showing a black family shooting or posing with their guns, with some caption like "bet this offends the NRA", which is liberal projection, because in reality in my social circles everybody is like, "fuck yeah, good for them". And the harshest complaints I've seen have been about trigger finger discipline or lack of eye protection.
My side isn't the one that wants the state to have a monopoly on force. We know the 2nd is for everybody, regardless of skin color or where you live. You fuckers are the ones who keep declaring we can't fight the government with AR-15s because they have tanks and nukes, but then you bumbling fuckheads try it by throwing rocks?
So not only no, but hell no.

 
Can I get an "AMEN!"?

From the comments to the FB thread:

Quote of the Day - Re: George F. Will

I've read some of George F. Will's work, and generally found it worthy.  In fact, I transcribed one of his speeches here at TSM, titled "Learned Feudalism" from the 2010 Cato Institute Milton Friedman Prize dinner.  It was witty, erudite, and absolutely accurate.

But the election of Donald J. Trump seems to have unhinged him.  He is the Never-Trumper's Never-Trumper.  Over at Instapundit Ed Driscoll comments on a XiNN piece about Will's most recent Washington Post op-ed calling for a rout of the Republican party to -- one assumes -- "restore" the REAL "Conservatives."  But that's not the QotD.  That honor belongs to a commenter, DoggerelPundit, who I think has accurately described what has happened to Will:

Pierre Boulle drew this man's exact caricature in Col. Nicholson. He was oh so British and so the pinnacle of Civilization with a capital C. Though their prisoner, with his men forced into slave labor, Col. Nicholson would show his uncivilized captors a thing or two about British superiority. He built their "unbuildable" bridge, furthering their war effort in the process. Only at the end did he realize.
Yes, Mr. Will would fit right into Bridge Over the River Kwai.

Quote of the Day - Sarah Hoyt Edition

From a post at Instapundit:

Two things, before my calm gets damaged further.
a) most businesses are not insured against civil unrest. Most will get nothing.
b) when you say “are your possessions worth a human life?”  Most people’s possessions are their lives. They spent days of their lives and strength and health to acquire them.
As for their being “worth” a human life…  Humans who think it’s okay to hurt people and take their stuff are only going to cost more lives in the long run. The right to be secure in your possessions is part of what made America great. Who will work, invest, innovate, if at any minute the government can decide their work is non-essential and brownshirts at the service of the democrats can burn it all down?
You allow this to continue, you have Mogadishu, not the US.

Quote of the Day - Larry Correia Edition

From Facebook:

If you want to have an economy it is because you want grandma to die, except when Cuomo signed off on an order that actually literally killed thousands of grandmas that is okay because they were going to die anyway, so nobody should be held accountable, and while we are at it should run Cuomo for president because he looks more presidential than Biden, who is senile, and quite possibly a rapist too, but the rapey bits don't count anymore because we only hash tag believe all women when they accuse republicans, because everything is okay when we do it and nothing is ever our fault, even when things directly under our watch spiral terribly out of control, but also how dare you politicize these tragic events, you cold hearted republican bastards who love money more than people, unless that money is being donated to democrat causes, because then it's good again. - sincerely the Party of Science, Morality, and Goodness.

I'm going to call this kind of train-of-logic stream a Walshing, after Matt Walsh who wrote the first one I came across:

Gender is a social construct, but “I am woman, hear me roar,” but anyone can be a woman, but no uterus - no opinion, but transwomen are women, but “I demand women’s rights!”, but men are women, but men are scum, but drag queens are beautiful, but appropriation is evil.

Nasim Nicholas Taleb

I first heard about this man on a Joe Rogan podcast where a guest mentioned him in relation to this quote:

With my family, I am a Communist.  With my friends, I am a Socialist.  With my community, I am a Democrat.  With my State, I am a Republican.  With the Federal government, I am a Libertarian.

That got my attention.

Talib is the author of the 2007 book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Looking into him a little deeper brought me these quotes:

Only the autodidacts are free.

Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love.

Prediction, not narration, is the real test of our understanding of the world.

Failure saves lives. In the airline industry, every time a plane crashes the probability of the next crash is lowered by that. The Titanic saved lives because we're building bigger and bigger ships. So these people died, but we have effectively improved the safety of the system, and nothing failed in vain.

I think I need to read his book.

Quote of the Day - Robert Heinlein Edition (reprise)

There are two ways of forming an opinion. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all-important, and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything, and facts are junked when they do not fit theory. - Robert A. Heinlein

Quote of the Day - Robert A. Heinlein Edition

[T]here seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously - after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important ... so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth. - Robert A. Heinlein

We've been seeing a lot of this attitude lately, mostly from entertainers.

Quote of the Day - James Lileks Edition

I need to start reading The Bleat regularly again.  Today's gem comes from today's post:

My favorite term is "free-dumbs," which marks the latest continuation of the word "freedom" as a signifier of idiocy. At some point "liberty" fell into disfavor with these people, because the wrong people were insisting that it applied to them as well.

Quote of the Day - Democrats Edition

From Jeff Greason, seen on Facebook:

There's a scene in one of the Lord Darcy books, where Darcy uncovers the spy. They are discussing who might have turned traitor, and the other party discounts the suspects, because they have money, and so wouldn't sell out. From this, Darcy correctly concludes the other party must *be* the traitor, and must *have* sold out for money, because he can't think of any other motive for turning traitor.

For decades, the Left has talked about this or that adversary of the moment is to be feared, because they want power, crave power, would abuse power, and would not peacefully surrender power.

From this, you can correctly deduce what the Left dreams and obsesses about.

It's called "Projection," and the Left does it in 70mm IMAX with full Dolby sound.