Keep your eye on Senator Grassley

** Silverfiddle Dispatch **

Senator Grassley, in partnership with Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein, has been doggedly attempting to get to the bottom of the Russian Dossier and the Obama Administration's surveillance of Candidate Donald Trump's campaign. Byron York has been following the story.

The allegations of official malfeasance are not far-fetched. Remember when the criminal bunglers in the CIA were caught spying on congress a few years back?

What in the world is a US Ambassador to the UN doing unmasking people and consuming raw intelligence?

Why was Obama's National Security Advisor wading through raw intelligence? She has whole armies of intelligence analysts at her service.

The whole thing stinks, and it may be slowly unraveling, albeit slow enough for the Obamaites to control the narrative, with willing aid and abetting from The Establishment and the Infotainment Media Complex.

Lawsuits swirling around the golden shower prostitutes Russian Dossier are also peeling back the layers and endangering the anti-Trump narrative.

The Justice Department and FBI have been stonewalling Grassley and Feinstein's Judicial Committee's request for documents and testimony. They have just issued another subpoena., and Justice continues their slow roll.

A Question that goes to the Crux of the Matter:

Grassley sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday asking if the bureau had given "defensive briefings" or otherwise alerted Trump officials about "potential connections between campaign officials and the Russian government."

"If the FBI did provide a defensive briefing or similar warning to the campaign, then that would raise important questions about how the Trump campaign responded," wrote Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

 If the FBI didn't brief the campaign, Grassley wants to know why not and who was involved in the discussions and if a controversial opposition research dossier — which has been a frequent target of Grassley's — impacted the decision.

This is important. In a world of straight-up responsible government, if official government agencies detect foreign influence or attempted suborning of American citizens who are part of government or conducting a national campaign, the appropriate agency brings in the targets and gives them a secret counter-intelligence "defensive briefing" on what's going on and what the threats are so they can adjust their behavior and be aware of such attempts to compromise them.

Bottom line:

A responsible government treats them like loyal Americans, not criminal suspects. The Obama Administration actions were predicated on the premise that Donald J. Trump and/or members of his campaign were willing traitors, enemy spies working for a foreign government and against the United States.  

This predicate provided legal cover for all the Obama government police state spying directed at Donald Trump and his campaign. Manafort's "Russian connections" were a bonus, even though the Podesta's were actively doing business with Russia during the campaign (which isn't against the law anyway).

Keep your eye on Senator Grassley.

All of Your Internets are belonging to Me!

[Note from AOW: for those who wish to discuss yesterday's mass slaughter in Las Vegas, please see my blog post today at Infidel Bloggers Alliance. At the time of this posting, what happened in Las Vegas does not appear to be Islamic terrorism]

  *** WARNING: Silverfiddle Dispatch ***

In the wake of the latest “New Normal” Islamic terror attack in London, shameless blame-shifter Theresa May issued an ultimatum to social media and blamed them for the spread of Islamic terror. You can go read the article yourself, but I’d like to turn her words back on her and her fellow failed “world leaders” who aided and abetted this crisis by inviting in Islamic extremists, giving them wide latitude, and making apologies for them.

If only We the People could issues such stern threats to the slimy, criminally incompetent fumblers who run our governments...

Western “Leaders,” listen up!

Theresa, Mutti Merkel, Donald, Chuck and Nancy, you have only a month to make progress. If you don’t, the People will sue you and make YOU liable for extremist content on western soil. Delay in eradicating extremists will trigger huge fines that you must personally pay.

We The People call on the Western government “giants” to develop technology to block terrorists before they kill, not arrest them afterwards.

Any extremists detected would have to be imprisoned or removed from Western Civilization within two hours at most.

In the linked article, Mrs May said: ‘We need a fundamental shift in the scale and nature of our response – both from industry and governments – if we are to match the evolving nature of terrorists’ use of the internet.’

Bravo! I agree. 

But blaming the internet is like blaming oxygen for fires... 

Look in the mirror, Theresa old girl. Your feckless, brainless official malfeasance has caused this. Sure, you, Barack, and the other slimeball political operators of your generation didn’t start this fire, but you ignored it and shamed anyone who pointed out the smoke and flames and the Muslims fingering the gas cans and matches.

But anyhoo, back to our statement:

Western “leaders:” This threat is designed to put pressure on the all-powerful governments to use their technological prowess to counter sophisticated efforts by Islamic State and other terror groups to radicalise impressionable youngsters and spread DIY terror.

Your police state spying apparatus can be put in motion to surveille and attempt to destroy a political enemy’s presidential campaign, while exonerating the Establishment candidate. Your brilliant espionage brains can confect kompromat involving chorus lines of urinating hookers, but you cannot protect us and our way of life from invaders attacking us from the inside.

Here is the one statement from Madame Prime Minister we can all agree on:

‘When I think of the hundreds of thousands of victims of terrorism in countries across the world, I think of their friends, their families, their communities, devastated by this evil. And I say enough is enough.’

Yes. Enough is enough, so get off your dead ass, stable your high-horse, call this threat what it really is, roll up your sleeves and start eradicating it from the West.

Kinda Related:
Oops! Russia Didn't Hack our Elections
CNN: Russia Hacked Black Lives Matter
False Facebook Meme: National Anthem & NFL 2009

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Enjoy Claude Debussy's Trois Nocturnes, consisting of three movements: "Nuages" ("Clouds") @ 0:00, "Fêtes" ("Festivals") @ 7:28, and "Sirènes" ("Sirens") @ 13:44, at the last two of which a change in image will occur:


About the above piece: Debussy's Trois Nocturnes was inspired by a series of impressionist paintings, also entitled "Nocturnes", by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, of Whistler's Mother fame. The version above is that of noted pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the Cleveland Orchestra:

More information about the above piece:

Bonfire of the Sanities

Posted by Silverfiddle

The Left is on a Savonarola Roll...

The left excels at propaganda and the rhetoric and symbolism that powers it. Those on the right should study and learn from the masters. At VH1's Hip Hop Honors, Pharrell delivered a very effective message, and he did it in his characteristic nice way

Let's break it down and analyze it:

“They keep talking about a wall. But the enemy is this divisive mentality. It’s on this side of the wall… The white nationalists are walking towards your future. What you gonna do?”

First, he used the undefined “they” allowing the listener to fill it in for herself. This gives the message the broadest appeal possible.

Next, he uses the word “enemy.” Who in this country has ever called Mexico or Mexicans “the enemy?” This is a wickedly effective double-rapier strawman. Pharrell avers--with no evidence whatsoever--that “they” call Mexicans the enemy, but this is just the setup.

Next, he flips over the term “enemy” and applies it to those with a “divisive mentality,” which by implication means anyone who believes in enforcing the nation’s borders and following UN-approved immigration controls.

The conclusion: 

 Anyone wanting immigration control or, ¡Dios mío!, a wall, is a “white nationalist.”

See how he just called half the nation racist without sounding like he called them racist? Brilliant.

Here’s his next sentence. Note the echoes of Martin Niemöller...

“Don’t think just because they’re coming at the African-Americans, and they’re coming at the Jewish community and they’re coming at the Hispanics that it can’t be you.”

In these dark days of dangerous white nationalists “coming at” “the African-Americans,” “the Jewish Community” and “the Hispanics,” these entertainers exercise some very American, help-your-neighbor benevolence.

Learn something, conservatives and Republicans! Not just words. Action:

Williams is set to headline a concert for Charlottesville with Dave Matthews Band, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande and The Roots...”

While tickets are free [...] Beneficiaries of the fund include victims of the events in Charlottesville on August 11 and 12, their families, first responders and organizations devoted to the promotion of healing, unity and justice locally and nationwide.

The sharp eyes in the audience will notice Ariana Grande’s name. Imagine if she, Pharrell and other leftwing entertainers--after Islamic terrorists murdered teenage girls and their parents at that concert in England, or slaughtered all those people in the Florida nightclub--had talked about Muslims being the “real enemy,” “walking towards your future,” and “coming at” the LGBTQ community, girls who like pop music, and those not sufficiently Muslim…

This is why the left owns the commanding heights, while conservatives are mired in the bogs, shouting themselves hoarse to no avail.

A Ray of Hope

Despite Barack Obama being elected twice by healthy margins (victories powered by white people, btw--43% in 2008, 40% in 2012), elections over the past decade make it clear half the nation is disgusted with this crap and vote Republican (the only other game in town, such as it is) either out of strong conviction, or as a nose-holding reaction to the Democrat Party, which is the home of brown supremacist La Raza, Islamic supremacist CAIR, black supremacist Black Lives Matter, fascist antifa and the entire squirming scrum of hatred stirring, race-baiting Maoist vandals.

SPLC estimates there are 5,000-8,000 kkk members, and 917 total hate groups (including 193 black separatist groups) in the US.

Q: Why does the Leftwing Infotainment Media Complex fixate on the 0.0001% of the population who are openly racist?

A: The societal vandals want clear lines of demarcation, and clearly-defined enemies. They hope to provoke angry "whitelashes" to further fan the flames. Like all provocateurs, when they don't get the desired response, they will egg on their loonies to greater and greater acts of incitement.

They are noisy, but they are not the majority. The majority of good, hard-working people in this nation of all races, creeds and colors--who don’t hate anybody--have learned that the only way to win this game is to not play.

Jesse Watters: "Liberalism is about guilt"

The scolding finger

And the liberal also says:

"I will control everyone else's life. I'll tell you what to drive, how to eat, how to live and I'll be your savior."

More in the short video HERE.

The Left = control freaks who are also pickpockets.

I, for one, am weary of being scolded and being robbed in the name of the greater good.

Welcome, Autumn 2017

(For politics, please scroll down)

God's paintbrush:

Photo credit

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, the 2017 Autumnal Equinox arrives today at 4:02 P.M. EDT.

Related: best fall recipes from the Old Farmer's Almanac.

Pelosi And "The Dreamers"

At a recent press conference, San Fran Nan was shouted down by the very people for whom she is advocating. The footage below makes me think of a substitute teacher who has lost control of a rowdy middle-school class:


According to The Hill and, in some ways, reminiscent of the flawed 1986 amnesty [which failed by almost any measure]:

...The protesters who interrupted the conference were calling for a “clean” DREAM Act — one that didn’t make concessions to Republicans on border security — and protections for a larger group of immigrants in the U.S. illegally than that bill would confer....

Read the rest at Pelosi shouted down by protesters during DREAM Act conference.

At last, she was chased out of her own press conference:

Recommended Reading

See White males need not apply for this $10,000 social justice journalism grant: Open only to women and journalists of color at The College Fix.

PJ Media offers THIS COMMENTARY on the aforementioned essay:

...Once again, we see what matters most to progressives. They don't care about much else other than what's only skin deep. You can be a horrible person and a crap journalist, but if you're a "woman of color" then you deserve a better shot than an excellent and dedicated white male.

Read the rest of the commentary HERE and the original essay as mentioned in the first link in this blog post HERE.

Can we ever become one indivisible nation?

Related reading...Activist: 'Light-Skinned' Minorities Don't Belong in 'People Of Color' Safe Spaces.

An Antidote For Politics

(For politics, please scroll down)

Another of my Facebook finds and worth six minutes of your time:

"We Are In the Midst Of An Information War In This Country"

(hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

Contrary to the prevailing narrative about race in, we have this:


If you're pressed for time, here is the shorter version:

pic.twitter.com/5VJooR92MB

— DemExit Abolitionist (@jetrotter) September 4, 2017

One of her recent posts at Facebook:

It is young people like this young woman who give me hope during these times of great divisiveness in America.

21st Century Germanistan

This Tweet makes me so grateful for the halcyon days of my childhood, when my parents often took me to ride one of the various carousels here in the greater D.C. area, back in the day:

Multicultural Germanistan...

Police guard children's playground from the "Religion of Peace". #Enriched #Hannity pic.twitter.com/iSQHIqWrPP

— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) September 6, 2017

Mind-boggling: the latest polls show Angela Merkel in the lead.

And this: Germany Heading for Four More Years of Pro-EU, Open-Door Migration Policies, which states:

The policy positions of Merkel and Schulz on key issues are virtually identical: Both candidates are committed to strengthening the European Union, maintaining open-door immigration policies, pursuing multiculturalism and quashing dissent from the so-called far right.

Merkel and Schulz both agree that there should be no upper limit on the number of migrants entering Germany.

(hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance for the above video)

9/11: Never Forget

The flight paths of the 9/11 hijacked planes

Adagio For Strings, Op. 11, sound track from a recording conducted by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990):

From the YouTube blurb:

A slideshow tribute to the events of September 11, 2001. Focus is on people, their connection with the towers, past and present, and not simply a play by play of news footage. Communicating the full range of expression from terror to sacrifice, compassion, and sacrifice...as well as the ways in which people responded as friends, neighbors and as Americans. Set to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, which was played at Ground Zero during the memorial service the same week as the tragedy.

Graphic by Stogie:

Pray For Florida

Hurricane Irma has struck the Keys and is making its way up the west coast of Florida (at the time of this posting, at the rate of approximately 8 mph, NNW):

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

Enjoy The Lark Ascending (1914), composed by (Ralph) Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with David Nolan on violin and Vernon Handley conducting (image: The Cornfield, 1826, by John Constable):


[about the above tone poem]
Vaughan Williams inscribed these lines from George Meredith's 1881 poem "The Lark Ascending" on the flyleaf of his published tone poem:

He rises and begins to round,
He drops the silver chain of sound,
Of many links without a break,
In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.

For singing till his heaven fills,
'Tis love of earth that he instils,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup
And he the wine which overflows
to lift us with him as he goes.

Till lost on his aerial rings
In light, and then the fancy sings.

The Art Of The Deal

😜 The photo of Trump and Schumer cutting a deal and cutting out the RINOS's - https://t.co/iOXVUp4vt5 via @bi_politics

— Always On Watch (@Always_On_Watch) September 6, 2017

This morning, various talking heads, including some politicians, are whining because President Trump cut a deal with the Democrats.

From GOP livid after Trump cuts deal with Democrats, at Politico (dated September 6, 2017):

President Donald Trump's and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's tête-à-tête on Tuesday — after a summer of sniping between the two — lifted Republican hopes that the GOP was finally back in sync ahead of a brutal fall of fiscal deadlines.

Not 24 hours later, the president cut a deal with Democrats on a short-term debt ceiling increase opposed by McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Just Wednesday morning, in fact, Ryan had scoffed at the Democratic offer that Trump accepted minutes later....

Read the rest HERE.

Well, GOPe, in your hurry to go on yet another of your recesses, you didn't fulfill your promise to repeal ObamaCare. And you are dragging their feet on tax reform and, of course, the Wall. Did you really expect President Trump to wring his hands and do nothing?

President Trump calls out the GOPe.

Related? McCain Throws Support Behind Graham-Cassidy Obamacare Repeal Effort.

Back To The Classroom

(Please scroll down for politics: a discussion of DACA)

The homeschool classes that I teach resume today. This 2017-2018 school term may well be my last year to offer courses to groups of homeschoolers. We shall see.

The Art of the DACA

WRITTEN BY SILVERFIDDLE

President Trump has been teetering for months on the brink of a decision on what to do with President Obama's illegal and unconstitutional DACA, which has millions of illegal immigrants in limbo. Reports say he has pulled the trigger, deciding to end the program, but giving Congress six months to come up with meaningful legislation.

Paul Ryan is concerned, after all his years of go along to get along while Emperor Obama was issuing imperial dicta:

"President (Barack) Obama does not have the authority to do what he did ... we've made that very clear," Ryan said in the radio interview. "Having said all of that, there are people who are in limbo. These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home. And so I really do believe there that there needs to be a legislative solution."

Hold Them Hostage -- No Immigration Reform, No DACA Reform

President Trump claims to be the greatest deal-maker in the history of humankind, so he should hold those DACA people hostage and threaten to deport them all if congress does not do the following:

* Revamp immigration law to stop chain migration (there is legistation pending that proposes this)

* Implement a nation-wide, nobody-exempt worker verification system similar to verification for gun purchases. We have the technology, we can do it, and we can catch social security number fraudsters and identity thieves while we're at it.

* Same identity verification system for all forms of public assistance. With no way to work and no way to get public assistance, it becomes much less attractive to pay a human trafficker to get you here illegally.

* Impose a five year moratorium on immigration

* Build the damned wall!

The last two are bargaining chips, giving the other side some wins by forcing the President to cede some ground: A wall in some places, other places natural barriers, technology, etc. And instead of a total moratorium, slashing immigration by 50%.

Immigration Reform's Last Stand

President Trump should demand congress do its job and include his demands in the legislation, or he will not sign it. The future of the millions of DACA people (most of them are now adults) is in the hands of congress. Do the wrong thing, Mitch and Paul, and you condemn them. Do the right thing, and you are heroes.

President Trump holds the high cards--he can veto the legislation, and he controls the Justice Department.  President Trump has the Dems over a barrel, and that is a rare position for a Republican. The GOP needs to take full advantage of it.

Democrats and some Republicans want to legalize the DACA people? Full, comprehensive and legally-enforceable immigration reform is the price.


Related: DACA immigrants terrified as President Trump decides their fate

Musical Interlude

This Labor Day Weekend, enjoy this classic of Retro easy listening composed by Max Steiner (1888-1971), "the father of film music," and conducted by Percy Faith (1908-1976):

The above recording of "Theme from A Summer Place" won the Grammy Award for record of the year in 1961 and was the first movie theme and the first instrumental to win a Record of the Year Grammy.

The SPLC Calls For Bloodshed?

Click directly on the map below to enlarge it:

SPLC website screenshot, a map listing "Confederate monuments," including elementary and middle schools

From the Southern Poverty Law Center's website (dated August 15, 2017):

More than 1,500 Confederate monuments stand in communities like Charlottesville with the potential to unleash more turmoil and bloodshed.

It's time to take them down.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is overtly calling for lawlessness, the destruction of public and private property, violence, and terrorism.

Has the SPLC become a de facto organized crime ring?

Related reading...PJ Media offers this essay on the above: SPLC Warns of 'Turmoil and Bloodshed' With New Map Identifying Confederate Monuments, Cities, MIDDLE SCHOOLS, which states:

...[The] SPLC...warns of "more turmoil and bloodshed" unless the statues are removed.

The group does not only list statues, either. Its Confederate map includes counties named after Confederate generals like Lee County, Fla., in the Fort Myers area. It also includes parks like Confederate Park in Demopolis, Ala. It lists cities like the city of Fort Bragg in California.

Most dangerous of all, the map lists dozens of schools, including: Jeff Davis Middle School in Hazlehurst, Ga.; Lee Elementary School in Tulsa, Okla.; Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Columbia, Mo.; J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School in Richmond, Va.; Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Petersburg, Va.; and Stonewall Jackson Elementary School in Bristol, Ga.

This listing of schools is utterly vile behavior, given the SPLC's track record of inspiring politically motivated violence.

Read the entire essay HERE.

On the good new front:

...Looks like the Charlottesville to DC march has fizzled. Down to 35 participants at the close yesterday. Police escorts, pep talks, and provisioning from liberal churches along the way can't seem to make it work....

See The Charlottesville March to DC Lost Almost All of Its Marchers After One Day. My question: Why have they disbanded?

Erratum Iocosum

A moment of levity amid tragedy:

Laughter thru the heartache! From Houston Walmart h/t a flooded out radio fan. pic.twitter.com/t9V3rSEipQ

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 28, 2017

Pray For Texas (With Two Addenda)

(For politics, please scroll down. Active thread below)

The August 27, 2017 photograph that went viral:

La vita Bella nursing home in Dickinson Texas is almost underwater with nursing home patients pic.twitter.com/oCNkrgoRZY

— Timothy J. McIntosh (@DividendsMGR) August 27, 2017

Article: Nursing home residents evacuated from Harvey flood waters.

ADDENDUM 1

Facebook photo posted by the Louisiana Cajun Navy:

Remember the picture of patients at an assisted living center that flooded in Dickinson TX sitting around in waist high water?. Here is a new picture. All safe,warm, and dry.

One of the many comments to the photo update:

These ladies lived through the years after the Depression and WWII. I tell ya, there won't be another generation as resilient as they are. God bless the rescuers still respecting our elders. Thank you.

ADDENDUM 2

Hurricane Harvey: First Person Witness. Excerpt:

The Last English Prince [Tammy Swofford] has a friendship with a general manager of a country club near the city of Houston. These images were taken by my friend and permission has been received to populate them on this site. I have also included an image from a news grab which provides a strong metric for what the region has endured thus far.

See the photo essay HERE.

Are We Still a Nation?

CAUTION: Silverfiddle Guest Post

Nation: A large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular state or territory. (Oxford Dictionary)

What binds us together as a nation?

Are we still a nation, or are we a competing collection of identity tribes sharing the unhappy circumstance of all squatting on the same piece of global real estate?

Are we more fractured now than...

... during the revolutionary war?

... during the civil war?

... Vietnam era?

... Civil rights movement?

... "the sixties?"

What bound us together then? Do those ties still exist today?

What values do we all share?

What does it mean to be an American?

What does America represent?

What distinguishes the United States of America from other nations?

Are we still a nation?

Jason Kessler (Only a Big Hairy Question Mark)

POSTED BY WARREN:

Originally, I was going to do some research and post my findings.

I've got nothing but questions that can't be answered in a fashion that I find believable or reliable.

Everyone seems to agree that Mr. Kessler is a 2009  graduate of the University of Virginia and is a "journalist, activist and author from Charlottesville, VA,". Even that is suspect because the information appears to have came from Mr. Kessler's
LinkedIn account.

His first appearance in "White Nationalist" circles seems to have been about January of 2017 but his notoriety precedes that date in his attempt to unseat  Wes Bellamy,  the only Black member of the Charlottesville city council and a member of the Virginia Board of Education. Mr. Bellamy's position on the city council is that of Vice-Mayor.

Mr. Kessler unearthed several Tweets by Mr. Bellamy forcing him to resign from the Virginia Board of Education and caused him a great deal of embarrassment (bad blood there). Mr. Bellamy, still the Vice-Mayor of Charlottesville, entered upon a campaign to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee, (which by this time we are all familiar with), and Mr. Kessler seems to have organized the protest.

This begins to look like a couple of tireless self-promoters trying to make a name for themselves on a national level. 

But wait, there's more!

Amrika's Long March

Guest post by Silverfiddle

"Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda." -- Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951

We are witnessing North American Maoism on the march, the...

"total destruction of the traditions and values of the past."

Human nature does not change, and history repeats itself, but in new and interesting ways contoured to time and place, so no historical analogy is perfect. The neonazi racists and Orwellian-named antifa street fascists are indeed 21st century avatars of demons that have plagued humankind throughout our history.

The neonazis are about as subtle as a club to the face; any analysis of them would be uninteresting.

The unfurling of Maoism right here right now is fascinating, starting with how the rural/urban conflict is flipped, as it was in Argentina by the Peronists: 

America's urban ant heaps are the revolutionary vanguard, fighting the rural demons and small-minded traditionalists who prevent "progress,"

"Cultural Revolution directed against traditionalism"

"People's War"

"Revolutionary struggle of the vast majority of people against the exploiting classes and their state structures."

Hate Totems

Its not enough to disagree with the dissidents and stubborn nonconformists. You must demean them and make your enemies objects of hatred. They are a threat to the hive. Has anyone on the Maoist left said anything charitable about any person who diplomatically opposes gay marriage, transgenders in the military, or climate change?

Speech Codes

Maoism demands forced public mea culpas & compulsory statements that echo the ideology and include zombie-like repetitions of approved words, phrases and credos. Just ask President Trump or Governor McAuliffe following their incorrect statements in the wake of Charlottesville neonazi-leftwing fascist riot.

Only a Progressive Icon like Barack Obama, on the event of yet another assassination of police officers, can issue a double-message: condolences to the families of the officers bla bla bla, and in the same breath, suggest it was all justified by police oppression.

Taliban-like Iconoclasm

Once the Maoist mob has toppled the last confederate statue, do you think they will clap the dust from their hands, exchange satisfied smiles and flop down for a nice nap? Anyone who believes that is a fool, is not paying attention, has not studied history, and is ignorant of human nature. Washington and Jefferson are next. The red brigades would love to jackhammer those white slaveowner faces off Mount Rushmore.

Next, a great wave of renamed streets, universities, whole neighborhoods. Even town and city names will fall in the great purge.

All this will be aided and abetted by dissidents being banned from twitter, facebook, YouTube, blogs and other social media, all in the name of stopping "Hate Speech," which is whatever the People's Councils say it is.

"Control the Language, Control the Debate"

Leftwing deconstructionists are also hijacking the vocabulary for the purposes of putting certain dangerous and "incorrect" concepts off limits.

Repeating "White Nationalism" (an academic term, just like black nationalism) over and over, using it to besmirch the age-old and non-racist concept of nationalism.

The goal is to paint everyone outside the hive as evil and racist, goading those caught in the middle to take sides.

Take Sides! There is no middle ground.

Do you voice incorrect opinions about gender, immigration, pop culture? You're a bigot

Keeping your own counsel won't protect you. You must mouth the platitudes and credos: If you do not give vocal support to high school men who think they are women showering and using the toilet with your daughter, you are a homophobe, transphobe cisgendered troglodyte and you cannot be trusted.

Better to "Go Green!" than be thought an anti-science moron by the cool kids (who will out you for "triggering" them)

So, good people throw up their hands and allow themselves to be frog marched into the hive...

..But in the hive, some drones have more privileged than others by virtue of their special victim status.

They may insult others, but to insult them is to commit a grave transgression.

They may self-segregate, but you may not.

They can start and stop conversations at will, force you to participate, but you may not ask inconvenient or embarrassing questions.

They can call names, casually slipping derisory pejoratives like "Old white men" into our cultural mainstream, giving the proles a good laugh as the "old white people" "die off," ushering in a glorious progressive tomorrow.

The protected classes also enjoy full license to stereotype whole groups of people by race, religion, etc as bigots, racists, murderers, usurpers of privilege, etc.

Often, this linguistic vandalism slips into petty, catty revenge: Calling an act of violence by a white person Christian terrorism, white nation terror or some such clunky formulation. That'll teach those white devils to defame Muslims!

Will we end up like Mao's China or Pol Pot's Cambodia?

No. No one will be marched to the country to be machine-gunned or worked to death in the rice paddies. No mountains of conservative skulls.

Dissidents will simply be cut off from Twitter and Facebook (having their tongues cut out) or get their websites shut down (printing presses smashed), and the red hordes will cheer the "progress."

We are a cloven nation, most likely permanently.

The feel good pheromones of urban ant heaps will continue to attract.

But rural and small town America's intangible benefits of lifelong friend and family ties, tradition, and community will keep that half of America from wasting away. Also, there will always be jobs there. You can't drill for oil, mine and farm in the city, and although some dumbarrogant urban hipsters don't realize it, they wouldn't last a week if the trains, trucks and tankers from the hinterlands stopped rolling in.

Will we end up like Mao's China?

No. We are becoming Argentina built upon a Tower of Babel, with DC politicians dividing us up and pitting us against one another, while they get fat and rich off "public service." 

 Argentina: Once government corruption, regulation, and debt have hobbled our economy, and social engineering has reduced our military to the level of the average NATO nation, we'll be there.

Related Links:
http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/23/how-anti-white-rhetoric-is-fueling-white-nationalism/

Recommended Reading

To this inanity we have come! See How Serena Williams’s baby shower helped those who want to make America great again: The shower's nostalgia for the 1950s encourages the restoration of the politics and hierarchies of the era, written by Karen Dundak and appearing in the August 15, 2017 edition of the Washington Post. Comments posted thereto have thus far ridiculed this "analysis."

For those of you without a subscription to the Washington Post, the entire ludicrous essay is below the fold.  My brief commentary is also below the fold.

This morning MSNBC reported that...

......President Trump stated on Tuesday, August 15, 2017, that some of the torch bearers in Charlottesville were good people. The MSNBC report included the word torches in quotation marks.

I went to YouTube and listened to the entire speech:


Did President Trump state what MSNBC reported as mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog post?

He did say (emphases mine):

Jason Kessler: Agent Provocateur?

[The second blog post today! Please scroll down, and, if you can, address the question posted there]

From the Southern Poverty Law Center (emphasis mine):

...Rumors abound on white nationalist forums that Kessler’s ideological pedigree before 2016 was less than pure and seem to point to involvement in the Occupy movement and past support for President Obama.

At one recent speech in favor of Charlottesville’s status as a sanctuary city, Kessler live-streamed himself as an attendee questioned him and apologized for an undisclosed spat during Kessler’s apparent involvement with Occupy. Kessler appeared visibly perturbed by the woman’s presence and reminders of their past association.

Kessler himself has placed his “red-pilling” around December of 2013 when a PR executive was publicly excoriated [NYT] for a tasteless Twitter joke about AIDS in Africa.

Regarding the incident, Kessler stated '… so it was just a little race joke, nothing that big of a deal, she didn’t have that many followers, she probably didn’t think anybody was gonna see it,'

Regardless of Kessler’s past politics, the rightward shift in his views was first put on display in November, 2016 when his tirade against Wes Bellamy began....

The SPLC page also states:

...Arrest records indicate that Kessler was convicted in 2005 for shoplifting, obstructing justice and for a string of failures to appear and register, in addition to numerous traffic violations and citations....

On a different web page (August 14, 2017), Zero Hedge offers the following screenshot (Click directly on the image to enlarge it):

At the same post, Zero Hedge also offers the following:

Nothing smells right about any of this. In fact, Lee Stranahan has connected the “Unite the Right” rally to an identical Neo-Nazi movement in Ukraine supported by John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

POLITICAL THEATER!

And...

Help me out here. I have a question.

2003 photo

Why aren't we hearing the mainstream media thumping U.S. District Court Judge Glen E. Conrad, the judge who cleared the way for Unite the Right so that the group had the right to protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, August 12, 2017?

Thought For Today — And Beyond

My reaction to the recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia...

Independent of President Trump's statements about these events, I am concerned that too many in our nation have descended into the Cult of Victimology.

Self-pity, whatever the topic or cause — be it a legitimate or an illegitimate cause — is unhealthy for the body of our republic.

Furthermore, in my view, such victimology-identities predate the arrival of Donald Trump upon the political landscape.

We are watching the devolution of America.

Musical Interlude

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Asturias, composed by Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (1860-1909):


The above piece was originally written for piano, but the transcription for guitar is particularly beautiful and captures the spirit of Asturias, Spain, and has become one of the most important works of the classical guitar repertoire.

For whatever reason, I find this piece particularly-evocative listening on a summer's evening.

Bonus music/video below the fold:

Flashback To 1999: Donald Trump And North Korea

(with a hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

Tim Russert interviewing @realDonaldTrump in 1999 about launching a pre-emptive strike against North Korea. pic.twitter.com/V9L5wh6Wsb

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) August 8, 2017

Transcript below the fold.

A Warning For Our Ever-Connected Times

Thus opined my good friend Silverfiddle of the now-archived blog Western Hero, in response to this blog post at FreeThinke:

[W]e're pestered on all sides by mass consumers who wouldn't have a thought in their heads were it not for the Infotainment Media Complex.

We are being poisoned.

Let us remember that many of these "mass consumers," who do not have a single original thought in their heads, will vote in future elections. Therefore, we should not expect the onslaught of the "Infotainment Media Complex" to discontinue.

I'm hitting the Off Button more and more frequently.

Moreover, I find that Watership Down, the novel I'm reading right now, is much more interesting than anything on a screen. Another excellent novel by Richard Adams (May 9, 1920-December 24, 2016 ): Traveller.

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

The Rondo Capriccioso For Piano, Opus 14 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), a German composer of the early Romantic Period (performed by Cuban-born, virtuoso pianist Jorge Bolet):

[about the Rondo Capriccioso, at Musical Musings]

Felix Mendelssohn may be best known for his connection to the music of the Christmas carol Hark! The Herald Angels Sing:

In 1840—a hundred years after the publication of [Charles Wesley's] Hymns and Sacred Poems—Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, and it is music from this cantata, adapted by the English musician William H. Cummings to fit the lyrics of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, that propels the carol known today.

Recommended Reading

See Why Trump Is Right about Immigration: An immigration plan that serves the national interest, an essay by Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, and published in the National Interest on August 2, 2017 (hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance).

A little something that I haven't heard mentioned anywhere else and quite interesting:

Ford Cobra Kit Car

(For politics, please scroll down)

Posted by Warren

This is a replica (kit car) of the original Shelby Ford Cobra, a show car. It belongs to a friend of mine and I did the body work and painted it for him.

That means that you get the unfinished body, with some parts for the exterior, sent to you and you provide everything else including all the labor involved in the process. It took the owner twelve years to complete only working on it as time allowed.

I finished the rough body, removed and repaired the imperfections and fitted the doors, bonnet and boot lid. I also prepped and painted the car.

More pictures and commentary below the fold.

Paul Harvey's 1964 Prophecy

Worth the less-than-three minutes needed to watch this video (homily published in 1964 and broadcast on ABC Radio on April 3, 1965):


The YouTube blurb for the above:

Published on Mar 22, 2012

Dear American Citizen: Most would agree the reach of the Federal Government is simply too big, and has lacked true accountability by the press - Yet now the mainstream media (seemingly) is beginning to show signs of investigative journalism. And they should! Admittedly, the IRS has been targeting "Pro-America, Patriot, less Government, more God" non-profit groups. Using Paul Harvey's words and images from our current culture, this video has a message that clearly speaks into the souls of American citizens.

America is not lazy. America is not apathetic. America is not complacent. Yes, some American's are lazy, complacent and apathetic. Some choose laziness and complacency over hard work and creativity. Some stumble through this life completely dependent upon the government, faith based organizations, and the kindness of neighbors...and as American's we support them, not because we have to - but because we want to. We want to help our fellow countryman. But their comes a point where a line must be drawn. There comes a time when we say, "We will go this far, but no further." We cannot carry you forever. You must "want it" yourself. You must begin to walk...and run - on your own. And in time, you will see, that you must begin to help others as well.

And the hard workers? Yes, we dream. We work. We keep the country rolling. We give financially to our churches. We help our neighbors. We pay our taxes. Not out of any sense of shame or compulsion but because we WANT to...

Between the two Paul Harvey Videos I have made they have been viewed over 2,000,000 times. Not bad for a video I put together for our student ministry...but future America needs your help today in spreading the message of this video.

Please share, post, embed, re-post, email and get this message into the hands of Americans. This is not about an election. This is about fighting for the Heart of America...Freedom. You would be surprised who may watch this video and begin to reject complacency and dependency upon the government...together we can slowly rise to rebuild America.

Paul Harvey lived from September 4, 1918-February 28, 2009. He received the Medal of Freedom in 2005.

Go to Paul Harvey ~ The Rest of the Story to listen to more of Paul Harvey's homilies.

Break From Politics

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

I'll never again complain about the price of bananas!


Since his stroke of September 15, 2009, Mr. AOW is required by the doctor to eat at least one banana a day. Here's why:

Video: Ball of Confusion

Kid recently stated at Z's blog (emphasis mine):

Yes, a lot of people would love to be poor in America. Many have poured across the border now for decades, and if we didn’t have oceans separating us from the rest....

Still Democrats do maintain the lower standard of living areas in America.

From 1971. You’d think it was today.

Then Kid quoted the lyrics from the Temptations' tune "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)."

Here is the "Ball of Confusion," with lyrics (apologies to FreeThinke, who will, no doubt, wish to silence the sound track):


Truly...

There is no new thing under the sun. — Ecclesiastes 1:9b (KJV)

Recommended Reading

In at least this specific case, there appears to be a connection between illegal immigration (human trafficking) and drug cartels. One also wonders if some of these immigrants are drug mules or other gang operatives. See People close to notorious Zetas cartel helped immigrants found in truck in Walmart parking lot cross the Rio Grande, according to survivor.

Excerpt:

Survivors of Texas migrant truck have told of how they came to be locked inside

One said smugglers connected to Zetas cartel charged $700 to take them across the Rio Grande, before they were locked inside the tractor-trailer

Group of up to 200 people sat in there from Saturday morning until 9pm when they set out for San Antonio where they were later discovered, source said

Driver James Bradley Jr has been charged with transporting migrants illegally

About Los Zetas:

The Zetas gang, also known as Los Zetas, was originally part of the Gulf cartel, one of Mexico's largest and deadliest criminal organizations which was established in the mid 1980s.

Zetas was formed in 1997 by a group of Special Forces defectors which served the larger cartel and acted as enforcers for them. They were hired, predominantly, as bodyguards and assassins and there were 31 of them in total to begin with.

Their name translates to 'The Zs' and is derived from the code names given to their leaders - all of which start with the letter Z.

Because of its members advanced military training, they brought a new level of sophistication to the underworld and created fresh challenges for US law enforcement agencies trying to crack down on the Mexico's drug gangs.

In 2002, they struck out on their own.

Unlike other gangs which navigated large parts of the underworld through making deals with violence a collateral side effect, the Zetas MO is torture and terror.

They are responsible for the 2010 massacre of 72 illegal migrants whose bodies were found dumped in a mass grave in San Fernando.

Images of the victims, who were from other Central and South American countries, shocked the world and illustrated the brutality of the Mexican cartel world.

They were savagely killed after refusing to work for Los Zetas or give them money to be released.

Frank G. Fuentes

Related Washington Post sob story: He was brought to Virginia as a toddler, deported at 19. He died in an overheated tractor-trailer trying to return.

Note that this young man had both a criminal record and a deportation record — never mind that he was a fine-looking young man and educated in the United States, at the expense of the Fairfax County taxpayers.

Certainly some illegal immigrants are good people. But the fact remains that some are not, and this ugly reality applies to some protected by DACA, established by the Obama administration in 2012.

Close our porous southern border!

Find and vet the illegal aliens in our midst!

About 21st Century Sweatshops

As I was catching up on emails, I found this article in my inbox: Smug College Kid Shut Down After Professor Hits Him With a Truth Cruise Missile. A portion of the video below was embedded in the article. Please watch and, if you can recover from noting the cocky attitude of the students (Exeter University), offer your thoughts about what Yaron Brook said:

Open Thread: Help Me Out Here

So, what's been happening while I was on blog break during Warren's visit to the AOW household and the D.C. area? All of us were having too much fun to be much concerned about politics!

Please bring me up to date about what happened from July 14 through July 22.

When commenting, please observe the guidelines below:

We welcome civil dialogue at Always on Watch. We will delete comments that include any of the following:
1. Any use of profanity or abusive language
2. Off topic comments and spam
3. Use of personal invective
4. We do not respond to anonymous comments

Blog Break

Comment moderation intermittently enabled.

Real life, this time, pleasurable real life, supersedes virtual life!

Warren is coming for a visit — his first visit to Washington, D.C.!

There's too much going on here to work on publishing blog posts. Former blogger TMW and I are readying the house, and Mr. AOW is tidying up his man cave.

Then, once Warren arrives, we're off to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and whatever other attractions we can manage to squeeze into our schedule.

During this blog's hiatus, enjoy Preludes For Piano Book One by Claude Debussy (1862-1918):


List of preludes:

1) Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi)
2) Voiles (Veils or Sails) 3:46
3) Le vent dans la plaine (The wind in the plain) 7:47
4) Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir (The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air) 9:48
5) Les collines d'Anacapri (The hills of Anacapri) 14:26
6) Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the snow) 17:44
7) Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (What the west wind has seen) 23:10
8) La fille aux cheveux de lin (The girl with the flaxen hair) 26:17
9) La sérénade interrompue (The interrupted serenade) 28:57
10) La Cathédrale engloutie (The engulfed cathedral) 31:23
11) La danse de Puck (Puck's dance) 37:39
12) Minstrels 40:36

For detailed information about Debussy and these preludes, go to Musical Musings.

Summertime In Washington

Today, here in the Washington, D.C., area, we should all be singing the praises of American capitalism!

One of my Facebook finds:

Read more about Willis Carrier HERE.

Willis Carrier didn't change the weather, but he gave us the means to cope with these hot-as-Hades days.  Long live American ingenuity!

Quotation from 1921 Ford calendar card from the Dave Thomson collection

Once again...Long live American ingenuity!

And long live American capitalism!

On Days Like This...

...I'm glad that I am not, and never have been, a member of the GOP.

I'm referring to my disgust with the GOP's failure to keep their long-standing promise to repeal (and replace?) ObamaCare — not to Donald J. Trump, Jr.'s emails and his meeting with the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Note: please read the second link above, GOP cave on Obamacare repeal is the biggest broken promise in political history, before commenting on the topic.