So, Anything Exciting Happen Today?

Here I am, just minding my business.  And what do you know?  People are storming the Capitol. 

Can you believe it?  I hate to say it, but I can.

You see, sometime around early November 4th, 2020, the Missus and I retired to sleep.  Unfortunately, we woke up in a Third-world Banana Republic.  Where things like steeling votes is par for the course.  Everybody does it!  It’s all the rage as those sophisticated Continentals like to remind us poor, naïve Americans.  What’s that French phrase?  Tout le monde!  Yes, that’s it!  “All the world is doing it!”

Anyway, now us Americans are doing it, as well.   

I guess we should hang our heads in shame but what good would that do?  From a purely cynical standpoint, the utter brazenness of the steal was a sight to behold.  It was as sophisticated as a plan as anything out of the old Mission: Impossible series.  First, Soros sunk a lot of money into buying just enough secretaries of state in certain key swing states.  Then he got some judges to change the election laws willy-nilly.  That was more or less Step One. 

Next came the great Pandemic.  The world’s economy was shut down, and America’s election laws were rejiggered to make election frau mail-in ballots easier. 

But there was a problem.  Trump was on to them.  Remember those 13 rallies he did in the immediate run-up to the election?  That was to make sure that the Trumpistas overwhelmed the system.  And they did.  However, the Democrats were on to him.  This time, they decided to see how many votes he actually got and then by hook or crook, they came up with just enough to beat his share.   They waited before they showed their hand, something they didn’t do in 2016.  And they put all their eggs in the electoral basket of four, horrendously corrupt, Democrat-controlled cities. 

Think of it:  in 2008, Obama won 96% of the black vote and carried about 800 counties, out of  a total of 3,143.  In 2020, Biden carried 85% of the black vote and only 400 of all American counties.   Likewise in 2008, Obama carried eighteen of the 19 bell-weather counties; in 2020, Biden only got one.  Trump carried the same number as Obama.  In 2008, Obama got the trifecta of Florida, Ohio and Iowa.  Ditto Trump in 2020. 

We were told by the media that the white woman share of the vote would be depressed because Trump is a Bad Orange Man.  In 2016, he got 52% of the white woman vote.  In 2020 instead, he got 54 percent.  

I could go on:  Trump was the first incumbent president in history to get more votes than he got in his first term.  Twelve million more in fact.  Never happened before. 

And then there’s Creepy Joe.  A senile, possibly pedophiliac and accused sexual hair smeller/groper, who hid out in his basement and could barely string two sentences together got 11 million more votes than Obama?  If you believe that, then I’ve got some ocean-front property in Arizona I can sell you for real cheap. 

So what’s a self-respecting political party known for creating modern machine politics to do?  Why, harvest for ballots!  And boy, did they!  And in the end, it looks like they may have outplayed us if the country falls for this latest farce. 

Look at the picture below.  If you’ll look closely, you’ll see one of them has a pass around his neck which makes sense since there are no breached doors, broken windows or security people around.  If  a “buffalo guy” really walked into the Capitol with his posse, I think he’d be noticed.

See how all of them are standing?  They’re not moving forward.  They’re posing for the picture!  The Misses tells me “Buffalo Guy” is standing like models do at the end of a runway as part of an 11 point count.

But there is more.

The guy who is playing with his fingers, “Sickle Guy,” wants you to see something!  He wants you see the Communist Sickle on his left hand.  This isn’t something Trump supporters usually sport.

This is antifa and this was planned.

Finally, if you look closely enough, you’ll see something that looks like plastic film in the back of the American flag and behind “Sickle Guy.”  Those are police shields and the guy below the picture hanging on the back wall is a cop who stripped down to his vest and put a mega hat on.  He has on a white buttoned down shirt with his shirt sleeves rolled up.  Not something you would wear to a protest, but something you’d wear to the Capitol if you’re in security. 

Their intent was to storm the Capitol and embarrass Trump supporters.  They shouldn’t have shot that woman, though.  Guess they had to keep it “real” and it wouldn’t be real if there was no violence.    

Folks, this is what goes on in Third-World countries.  But you know what else goes on in Third-World countries?  Exactly what we’re seeing today in Washington, DC.  A staged uprising.  An uprising within an uprising.  And there was Biden all prepared with his little, “I’m the leader and listen to me” speech.  He couldn’t have put those words together if they had given him a year! 

But rather than let antifa/BLM steal the thunder, I am also sure that the overwhelming majority of the people who were in DC today were there peacefully.  Just like we witnessed a few weeks ago when we were there.  There were no “buffalos guys” walking around.       

This was a scam and if the American people don’t look a little deeper, we’re headed for a lot more of this:Mao-Biden

 

Comments

  1. cynthia curran says

    I still think they are zealot Trump supporters some had American flags. Most supporters of Trump would not have done this. They scale the wall and probably belong to Charlie Kirks\’s Youth group Turning Point USA.

    • Gail Sheppard says

      I agree, Cynthia, but they wouldn’t do something like this or go against the “blue.” This is out of character.

      • “I agree, Cynthia, but they wouldn’t do something like this or go against the ‘blue.’ This is out of character.”

        From the comments I see on conservative websites, you and Cynthia are both wrong. “Back the Blue” is over. Even if Trump conceded and “confessed” that Biden won fairly, it wouldn’t undue the loss of belief in free elections and rule of law among the Right.

  2. You do realise that the tattoo on the man’s hand has nothing to do with communism? This tattoo is from the 2012 computer game “Dishonored”.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishonored

    These are Trump supporters and to blame Antifa is simply false. These people are a disgrace and should be fully prosecuted.

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Of course. To us it looks like a hammer and sickle, hence the quotes. As I understand it, it’s the Outsider’s Mark. Never saw it on a Trumpster.

      • Nate Trost says

        Did you crib that Outsider’s Mark reference from my earlier post? LOL

        I think it entirely understandable that you don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of the tattoos of young male Trump supporters. If you did, I imagine your husband would be a little disconcerted!

        • Gail Sheppard says

          The fact is, I don’t often read your posts which is why it takes a few days for you to see them. Even when they’re addressed to me, I leave them for George and if he doesn’t get around to approving them, they drop off.

          • George Michalopulos says

            Nate, you are being a churl. If it was up to the Fair Galina, you would’ve been banned several years ago.

            Even though all day yesterday the MSM/Punditocracy were up in arms about the supposed “MAGA coup”, opinion has turned around almost completely. Gail called me at 2pm and was shocked at what she was seeing. I wrote something preliminary by 4pm but it was based on the false knowledge that it was indeed Trumpsters who were storming the Capitol. By 5pm she called me and told me that there were certain discrepancies in the photos that I had posted which showed the storming in a completely different light.

            She was correct. Now the rest of the media has come to her point of view (for the most part).

    • Johann Sebastian says

      If BLM can get away with it, why not them?

      Still too bad Nancy was nowhere in sight.

    • “These are Trump supporters and to blame Antifa is simply false.”

      The buffalo guy seems to be the real deal.

      https://mobile.twitter.com/brieannafrank/status/1346936893418610691

      Even if Antifa/BLM was there, and even if those types were intentionally let in, real Trump supporters followed, because arresting Congress for treason was/is exactly the mood.

      “These people are a disgrace and should be fully prosecuted.”

      Why is ok to kill a unarmed woman in cold blood (shot through a window of a closed door) for a mostly peaceful protest suddenly? Defund the police, bro. Just property, bro. When will they schedule the five minutes of silent kneeling to represent the time it took for a woman to bleed out, in those very chambers?

      • Gail Sheppard says

        I don’t think he is the real deal. He’s a down and out actor from Phoenix. What was he doing in the Capitol building? Did you see his picture at a BLM march? The guy is probably paid to make the rounds.

        • “What was he doing in the Capitol building? Did you see his picture at a BLM march? The guy is probably paid to make the rounds.”

          If you have Amazon Prime, watch the 2020 American version of Utopia, season 1, episode 6, 26:45 to 33:10.

        • George Michalopulos says

          Myst, I must agree with Gail here. There are a lot of losers/paid infiltrators –i.e. agents provocateurs–that Soros and his ilk employ. The buffalo hat guy was one of them, of that I’m sure.

          Listen, when Gail and I were in DC last month, we saw thousands of MAGA people. They were as normally dressed and as non-threatening a bunch as you could imagine. Even the bikers (who admittedly dress in biker gear) were for the most part retirees/professionals.

          Otherwise, you overall critique regarding double standards is spot-on.

        • “Did you see his picture at a BLM march?”

          Cropped to hide the Q sign?

          https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErFJ6CLXAAAPtTM?format=jpg&name=large

          The other guy:

          https://phillyantifa.org/keystone-united-exposed-day-15-jason-tankersley/

          Do you remember the nurse that fainted on camera from the vaccine, the media gave a weird excuse that would’ve made no sense for her to be able to be an RN in the first place, and then seemed to vanish from the Earth?

          That powers that are pushing Biden can edit internet histories (backgrounds), images (thus apparent body tattoos), and even government records in real time. All our research can be used against us to find what they want us to find, and waste time/energy on, and sound like nutters talking about.

          The whole thing is a snipe hunt. It was over when Pence disavowed the desire, and even the ability, to perform the functions laid out for this scenario in the 12th Amendment. Then it was safe for Congress critters to claim they’d lodge complaints, hear evidence, etc, because they knew it would go nowhere. All the push inside the building did was save everybody hours of farce to arrive at a determined outcome.

          The only viable play from Trump, I can imagine, was to ride the wave, embrace the storming as the genuine will of the people, and roll with it. Telling people that we’re “law and order” and “go home” afterwards wasn’t going to cut it in any scenario, whereas if he pushed through to victory then anything and everything he’d needed to do would’ve been “law and order.”

          • Gail Sheppard says

            Demonstrates how delusional some people are to suggest that people like this are typical “young Trump supporters.”

            • “Demonstrates how delusional some people are to suggest that people like this are typical ‘young Trump supporters.’ ”

              Was Crispus Attucks and his goons that surrounded and attacked a squad of British soldiers, typical young American patriots? No, which is why future 2nd President of USA, John Adams, was able to successfully defend the British from murder charges. However, as relations with Britain continued to worsen, Sam Adams, John’s cousin, rebranded this event as the “Boston Massacre” and recast Attucks and associates as martyrs. It doesn’t matter who they were, or what their real motivations were, what matters is how we could have used their actions to our own advantage.

              Unless, Trump has something up his sleave, he let the critical moment pass. Insurrection Act should’ve been enacted, ALL citizens deputized to arrest Congress, lockdown/masking governors/mayors and any police defending them, etc. There would’ve been some violence, some people would’ve died, more would’ve been executed. Nope, the Right isn’t allowed to use violence these days, not even in self defense from BLM/Antifa street violence, so here we are, game over.

    • cynthia curran says

      Actually, you are wrong. Some of the rioters are apart of Boogaloo Bois, a group allied with antifa last simmer. Also, Nick Fuentes, of the Groyers that booed Trump Jr. Not apart of Antifa but another right wing group that doesn’t like Trump.

  3. Johann Sebastian says

    Too bad they didn’t find Nancy, Chuck, or Dianne there.

    Bet they had advance notice.

    • Well, this guy sat down at Nancy Pelosi’s desk, took a selfie, wrote her a nasty note, and took one of her letters addressed to a congressman:

      https://www.yahoo.com/news/protester-pictured-feet-nancy-pelosis-123737447.html

      Richard Barnett is definitely not Antifa.

      • Gail Sheppard says

        When I hear antifa, I think agitator; like a paid mercenary, only they’re not formally trained to do anything except cause trouble. We will have to come up with another name that lumps skinheads into the same category as antifa in that they are both paid to create a spectacle.

        There is no way these white supremacists could have made it into the Capital without help. The last big thing they did was in Charlottesville which was years ago. Someone took them out of the closet, dusted them off and put them back in front of the media.

        • George Michalopulos says

          That’s a very good point, Gail. The Capitol is a heavily-fortified govt building. If you can storm it then you can storm the airport. In other words, it can’t be done.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Rufus, Anon, etc: not everybody who stormed the Capitol was Antifa. Nobody said it. The overwhelming number of the 100,000 or so people who were there marching were peaceful. Not “mostly peaceful” but peaceful. Some did get a little revolutionary in spirit (kinda like the original Tea Party –the 1773 one). But the really violent ones were on the whole Antifa.

        Do you want proof that this was staged? Remember how some of them posed with Capitol Hill police?

        That’s all you need to know.

      • Johann Sebastian says

        Whoop-dee-doo. He took a selfie.

        So scare, so many trouble. Waaaaaaa!

        She should have been the one that was taken down. I hold Pelosi personally responsible for letting the Chinese virus into this country.

  4. nicholas sandoukas says
    • Gail Sheppard says

      Yeah, I think we’ve covered that in another comment. Forgive George if “Buffalo Guy” is really wearing the horns of bison. That is SO not the point. – “Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”

        • Gail Sheppard says

          Apparently he is a paid actor from Phoenix. He says he is adept at “singing, screenwriting, public speaking and accents, among other attributes”. He doesn’t know who he is. Here he is at a BLM protest. https://twitter.com/jessiprincey/status/1346937240660762626/photo/2

          • Johann Sebastian says

            György Schwartz knows who he is…

            • Gail Sheppard says

              Apparently. – I just saw a picture of “Sickle Guy” with Matt Heimbach. This just keeps getting better and better.

              • Nate Trost says

                “In July 2017, Heimbach pled guilty to second-degree disorderly conduct for an incident when he repeatedly pushed an anti-Trump protester at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky”

                • Gail Sheppard says

                  He’s done a whole lot more than that. Did you know he claims to be Orthodox?

                  • “Did you know he claims to be Orthodox?”

                    The names Jake Angeli and Matt Heimbach are new to me , never heard of them before today , but an internet search easily turns up that Heimbach was excommunicated by the Antiochian Orthodox Church because of his white supremacist views. So he may “claim to be Orthodox” (like Nathanael Kapner and assorted other nuts ) , but it appears that he is not in communion with any canonical Orthodox jurisdiction.

                    On this page is a photo of Heimbach hanging out with Jason Tankersley ,founder of Maryland Skinheads and a longtime neo-nazi. It looks like Tankersley may be the same person as the “Sickle Guy” (with the tattoo on his hand) https://phillyantifa.org/keystone-united-exposed-day-15-jason-tankersley/

                    I still think it is plausible that there may have been Antifa agitators mixed in with the mob who broke into the Capitol , they might have been encouraging the mayhem , but these guys like Jason Tankersley and Jake Angeli are not Antifa.

                    • Gail Sheppard says

                      I think you’re 100% right, David.

                    • Brother Nathanael is in communion with canonical Orthodoxy. I was visiting another city on business once and he was in the church I attended. He received Holy Communion and there was no trouble. I said hello to him. He is a very sober and intelligent man in person, even if his videos are a little wacky.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Trust me: Capitol Hill cops would never be posing for selfies with Trumpists.

                    • Basil says:
                      “Brother Nathanael is in communion with canonical Orthodoxy.”

                      That is news to me , although I would be glad to hear it. (everyone , a little — or a lot — wacky , should be in the Church, the ark of salvation) . What canonical jurisdiction does Bro. Nathanael belong to and who is his bishop ?

                  • Matt Heimbach is definitely not Antifa, and if this guy in yellow is associated with Matt Heimbach, then he’s definitely not Antifa either.

                  • cynthia curran says

                    Really, but blaming Trump doesn’t mean he is the best Trump supporter.Matt H , I mean. Nick Fuentes, did attack Don JR at UCLA. The Groyers go back and forth on supporting Trump. Not a super pro-Trump group. In fact these people caught in the pictures are fringe groups that sometimes support Trump and others don’t. Not your mainstream Trump supporters.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Indeed he does.

              My earlier comment regarding Buffalo Guy stands. A paid, agent-provacateur. Trust me, the whole thing was staged from soup to nuts. Especially the photo.

              If things were really that violent and tumultuous in the Capitol, do you honestly think that they would have had the time to pose like that?

              Let’s be serious.

              • “Buffalo Guy” just seems like someone who craves attention and the photo-op. Paid agitator? His payment is simply all the press he’s received. He’s still probably a sincere Trump supporter, but so what?

              • cynthia curran says

                Well, the woman who died was killed by a cop but since she is a Trump supporter three is no protest. Leftist tell me this is far worst than the summer protest but what they leave out is the Left was able to take over a section of a city for a moth, the Chaz.Chop zone. The left seems to think that if you do a coup at the local level it doesn’t count. In fact the media makes this much worst when most of the deaths were those that broke in, and explosives were found as home made pipe bobs. Some cops injured but small number of officers compared to the total last summer.

              • cynthia curran says

                here was some pipe bombs but they were removed. Also, most of the people killed were protesters. One by a police officer. There was no more violence compared to last summer, and less vandalism In fact as mention the left succeeded with a real coup in Seattle and somewhat of a coup in Portland. The Chop/Chaz was automatous zone from the rest of the US and Antifa bulled the city government in Portland to take little action usually against them.

    • Anon Poster says

      Why is it that when wild Trumpists storm the Capitol there is so much equivocation regarding tattoos, hats, rolled up sleeves, skinheads/shamans, patriots, etc? When it’s the most extreme fringe component of the left burning stuff you folks don’t spend an extra second trying to figure things out before you pronounce that the “extreme communist Demoncrat party is at it again”. Have some of your own medicine for a change. This is what the world associates you with now, whether you like it or not. Own it.

      • Gail Sheppard says

        It WAS the “extreme communist democrat party at it again.” There is nothing to figure out. The world is seeing what we’re seeing. The mask is off. – You know what the best medicine is? To own your own name. Then you don’t look like such a weenie when you throw a handful of sand and run away.

        • cynthia curran says

          Well, the woman who died was killed by a cop but since she is a Trump supporter three is no protest. Leftist tell me this is far worst than the summer protest but what they leave out is the Left was able to take over a section of a city for a moth, the Chaz.Chop zone. The left seems to think that if you do a coup at the local level it doesn’t count. In fact the media makes this much worst when most of the deaths were those that broke in, and explosives were found as home made pipe bobs. Some cops injured but small number of officers compared to the total last summer.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Because Anon Poster, the vast majority of Trumpsters are Republicans and/or Conservatives. They most definitely are not like your typical BLM/SJW loser-types. We have jobs and lives and families. You don’t acquire that kind of stuff by getting a worthless degree at Bryn Mawr or Oberlin and then working as a Barista and living in your mother’s basement.

      • George Michalopulos says

        I’ll “own it” when you “own” Portland and Seattle; Kenosha and Milwaukee; the the hundred other cities that your pwecious wittle SJWs vandalized. Oh, and the people they killed.

        Ready to take me up on that? I’ll even let you hide behind your anonymity.

        • cynthia curran says

          Yeah, in the case of Seattle it was real sedition. The left broke off from the city government in the chaz area. It took a month for the government to get it back In the case of Portland, the federal building was vandalized and set on fire for a two month period. In Seattle 2 people died and 1 in Portland. So, the left says this is far worst when as far as I know only one more person died at 4 people.. I;m not the biggest Trump supporter but know there is a double standard in the media between this and the summer protest.

  5. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” – JFK

  6. Nicholas of New York says

    The whole thing was a very well scripted and staged event by the political machine.
    One cannot get thru the airport nowadays ( and for a long time since 9/11) but a mob can storm up the stairs and into the Capitol building and saunter through its halls without a problem!?
    C’mon!
    It’s like leaving the front door of your house unlocked and posting a sign, that says – “walk right in, feel free to vandalize and rob my home”.
    All of this has been purposely conjured two weeks prior the Presidential Inauguration to instigate unwarranted condemnation, fear, hate, and chaos. The perfect recipe for national division.
    Enter stage left – the hero; the saviour!
    Has anyone noticed the recent photo still utilized and circulated by the Media showing Biden with a “halo” behind his head!?
    Actually an excellent angle shot of him standing in front of his President Elect Seal, in front of the seal’s circular cartouche.
    The Senate like a Greek chorus voices their lamentations to the American public on television
    penned during their afternoon recess.
    Nancy Pelosi invoking the religious Christian Feast of the Epiphany, and quoting St Francis, melds church and state ( a big no-mo) in a speech worthy of an Oscar platitude.
    After all, she is from California.
    Thank goodness, i can switch to a T.V. Game Show re-run.

    • George Michalopulos says

      BTW, yet another reason to “cancel” the Inaugural Parade. The one that only 800 people were going to show up to anyway.

      Cue Aesop’s Fable about the fox and the sour grapes.

    • If the Trumpsters were BLM or Antifa you would see the cops open fire, and other means to put down the attempted surging of the Capitol with extreme prejudice. The following week the comment section of this blog would be full of people saying they got exactly what they deserved, and they will riot of any of the cops is so much as charged with a crime.

      That’s the difference.

      Instead we saw cops taking selfies with Trumpsters, throwing their shields on the ground, and escorting people down the stairs as they left.

      • the Ossetian says

        Guess you forgetting those white cops kneeling in front of the BLM protesters over the summer… also the democrat mayors ordering the police to stand down during those riots which CNN said were peaceful protests…

    • anonsayswhat says

      Did anyone notice the police officer after the woman was shot gave a “thumbs up” signal to those behind the doors? Shooter had his mask really high up on his face to conceal his identity extra nice. Was it all staged? Police then proceed to tell people to back up, ignoring the camera recording everything. Camera angle and everything just right for that one moment?

      Then the media all day hypocritically reports it as the most horrible event ever. As if the public is really going to feel sorry for politicians that were shaken up and delayed to certify a fraudulent election.

      The Trump card has to be the military, otherwise, the United States is forever finished.

    • Absolutely. I think that these were (mostly) real Trump supporters of the slightly out-there Q Anon variety. Q Anon was a psyop from the beginning and it was used to create a large number of volatile and militant Trump die-hards. The low level of security at the Capitol, as well as a number of presumed Feds and agents provocateur, was like candy in front of the proverbial fat kid for these guys.

      End result: Republicans disown Trump. Trump concedes under pressure. Social media now has carte blanche to suspend all Trump accounts. Possible criminal charges can be filed against Trump when he leaves office. Middle America disassociates with the Trump movement. Open door for hard legislation against “far-right” groups, or even possible anti-terrorism legislation against “conspiracy theorists” etc. The boot is going to come down after this, just as the Dems hoped.

  7. Nate Trost says

    Huh, one of the protesters storming the interior wearing an ‘antifa-like’ helmet is…a newly elected Republican member of the West Virginia state house.

    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/briannasacks/west-virginia-republican-delegate-storms-capitol

  8. Vesperal liturgy for the wonderful Feast of the Nativity in my older-calendar parish tonight.

    Here I am, American born and bred, today wishing that I didn’t live here anymore. Like many of you, I live that paradox every day of being fully American and fully Orthodox Christian. Metropolitan Jonah told me that it’s possible to be both; however I struggle to do both daily.

    Our country may not stick together much longer, or maybe more likely Biden and crew will make us the 78th province of the People’s Republic of China. Who knows.

    But right now I will simply focus on being so thankful that we offered to God a Virgin Mother as the vesperal stichera say, and that our God loves His people so much to come live as one of us, among us, to show us His Way.

    And I’m so thankful for having a such a wise, stable archpastor in Patriarch Kyrill – if only we had such wise, stable leaders in America. I will gladly be part of the American Rus’ if that means Orthodox Christianity growing in this land.

    I encourage all to read the Patriarch’s encyclical: https://orthochristian.com/136606.html
    Milque-toast American “faith leaders” just don’t write stuff like this.

    Christ is born! And for you Russian speakers, Христос раждается!

    • Michael Bauman says

      FTS, thank you for posting the link. Two things in particular hit me (paraphrasing)
      1. It is impossible to break the human spirit as long as we submit to our Lord;
      2. We must endure our present difficulties without murmuring.

      #2 especially goes against both the spirit of the times AND many sentiments expressed here including my own.

      It seems that many historic elders of the Church teach that there is joy in afflictions if we offer them to God.

      That seems to be echoed by Pat. Krill.

      Lord have mercy on us and save us.

    • Amen FTS. What a joy to hear Patriarch Kirill’s homily read in our ROCOR Church this morning first in English and then in Russian. And I love the second line of the Eirmos of the Canon of the Nativity from his homily, new to me, and an apt call to action:
      Christ is born; glorify Him.
      Christ comes from heaven; go out to meet Him!

    • Amen, FTS. Beautiful to hear Patriarch Kyrill’s substantive homily read in English and Russian in our ROCOR parish on this joyous day. His homily quotes an Eirmos of the Canon of the Nativity with a second line new to me and an apt call for action for us today:
      Christ is born; glorify Him!
      Christ comes from heaven; go out to meet Him!

  9. Apparently, all roads still lead to Rome…
    https://intelreform.org

    Christ is born!
    Glorify Him!!!

  10. A Joyous Theophany NS! An Orthodox Christian Carol of Theophany from the Island of Patmos https://youtu.be/XihKmza1LVA
    Good day to you!

  11. Greetings of Joy and Peace from and to those of us who celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord on the Julian calendar.

    And may those of us mature in the Faith see it as a poignant gift the insight into the chaos and horror the United States is now experiencing is that same horror and chaos its rulers bring to other innocent peoples around the world, including our Orthodox brothers and sisters!

    • Johann Sebastian says

      I want to steal this quote of yours:

      “the chaos and horror the United States is now experiencing is that same horror and chaos its rulers bring to other innocent peoples around the world, including our Orthodox brothers and sisters!”

      • No theft needed when it’s freely given, friend Johann.

        No attribution required, either.

        Blessed Nativity to you, sir.

  12. Christine Fevronia says

    Beloved brothers and sisters, Christ is born!

    Waking up this Nativity morning in a world that seems more and more to be spinning off its axis, what an incredible blessing to have the Church! What would we be without Her? We would be lost, sinking, caught up in the anarchy and chaos of the times without knowing it for what it actually is, and worse yet, we would not know our purpose for living in such insane times. The Church is the only institution that will stand on the rock through all time and eternity. Let’s continue to trust in Her while the Evil One, that father of lies, spins his webs around us.

    I often like to say that, as an American raised in Montana, most of my knowledge of European history comes from watching The Sound of Music hundreds of times while growing up. It wasn’t until I became Orthodox nearly 20 years ago that I started learning more about Russia, Greece, and Eastern Europe. And it was not until recently that I began studying the history of Ukraine, partly to determine what Pat. Bartholomew’s actions were and, honestly, what the fuss was all about.

    On this holy day of the Nativity of Our Lord, and on this seemingly unholy day in the ongoing social upheaval in the United States, the ever-unfolding story of the Svyatogorsk Lavra (also called Sviatohirsk Lavra) in the eastern part of Ukraine brings me clarity and hope. The story of the Svyatogorsk Lavra is almost like an icon of what it means to be Orthodox in our fallen times. It is a story of Christ in our midst, in the dark night.

    Orthodox monastics settled in the Holy Mountains of eastern Ukraine in the 1300s or 1400s (specific dates are unknown), and people began mentioning the monastery in the 1500s. From then on, it has endured cycles of destruction and renewal, destruction and renewal, destruction and renewal. At one point after it was partially destroyed by the barbaric, socialist revolution of the early 1900s, it even became a movie theatre that served alcohol. While I was living a carefree life in Montana having just graduated from high school, across the world there were monks hard at work building and restoring that spiritual center. In 2004, the monastery was officially granted the status of a Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Throughout its history, it has been the size of a village at times and is now around 100 monks under the Moscow Patriarchate. Holy Saints have sought refuge there, prayed there, died there. Only the Lord knows the future of the Svyatogorsk Lavra, as the politics of Turkey and Russia and even America are played out in the Ukrainian lands. Will it stay under the Russian Church’s protection and continue its renewal, or will it fall into the hands of the Phanar’s imposter?

    Three years ago, a recording was made of some of our brothers, the monks of the Svyatogorsk Lavra, chanting a Nativity song “In the Dark Night.” It is a Nativity song that echoes in my heart this morning, haunting because it is both sorrowful and beautiful at the same time. For me, the story of the Lavra and its monks is a reminder to step back from the illusory chaos of our times, to curb my passions, to be in Church at prayer. It is reminder that always, throughout history—the past, present, and future—Christ continues to lead the Church, no matter what cycle of destruction or renewal in which we find ourselves.

    Link to “In the Dark Night” sung by Svyatogorsk Lavra monks:
    https://youtu.be/2h5YBrcbEHY

    English Translation:

    In the dark night over Bethlehem
    The clear dawn was gone, the earth covered with light.
    Holy Virgin, Holy Bride,
    In the cave of the poor, she gave birth to the Son.

    Sleep Jesus, Sleep my Little One, Sleep, my Star.
    Your fate, my dear, I will sing to you.

    She gently kissed and covered Him with a cloth.
    She put Him to sleep, and quietly began singing:
    You will grow up, My Son, You will become a Man.
    Into the world you will go, My Infant.

    Sleep Jesus, Sleep my Little One, Sleep, my Star.
    Your fate, my dear, I will sing to you.

    The love of the Lord and God’s Truth
    You will bring to your people.
    The Truth will live, the chains of sin will be broken.
    But You, My Infant, will die on Calvary.

    Sleep Jesus, Sleep my Little One, Sleep, my Star.
    Your fate, my dear, I will sing to you.

    Sleep Jesus, Sleep My Little One!
    Sleep, my beloved pink blossom!
    With expectant hope in You,
    The whole world is watching.

    • Love your revery word and that carol sung by the Ukrainian monastics is sublime! Thank you!

    • GKChesterton wrote something similar to this. The Church is like its founder, it dies and resurrects again.

  13. St Louisan says

    Here’s what I don’t understand:

    If there is clear evidence of vote fraud, enough that the election result was wrong, it means Pres Trump’s own appointees at DOJ weren’t willing to investigate and publicize their findings; yet Pres Trump wasn’t willing to fire those appointees and promote or hire new people who would; and ditto for other Federal law enforcement agencies;.

    Giuliani/Powell/other lawyers acting on Pres Trump’s behalf weren’t willing to put this evidence on the merits on the record at court, instead agreeing to the State’s stipulation of fact or withdrawing suits entirely. Yet Pres Trump didn’t or couldn’t find lawyers willing to argue the merits.

    If the election was stolen and substantial evidence of this exists, it seems to me that either Pres Trump is a singularly ineffective President, unable to even get his own top-level appointees to bestir themselves to prevent his re-election being stolen. Is there a way to reconcile these things?

    • One man can’t beat the system. I’m not the biggest Trump supporter, but I do think that he is/was genuine. The powers that be were never going to let him win.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Or there’s yet another explanation: the Swamp is as deep as it is wide and will be there forever (or until it is destroyed, root and branch).

  14. “If the election was stolen and substantial evidence of this exists, it seems to me that either Pres Trump is a singularly ineffective President, unable to even get his own top-level appointees to bestir themselves to prevent his re-election being stolen. Is there a way to reconcile these things?”

    Yes, but it is very ugly though obvious: There is a political class that is completely invested in the Democratic Party as the sun party and the Republican Party as the moon party. The sun party really runs things and constitutes the Deep State and the Establishment. The moon party’s function is to act as loyal opposition to keep the sun party as honest as possible (pause for laughter). That is the system we have lived under since FDR. It matters not who is in the White House or who controls which chamber of Congress, the Liberal Establishment still ultimately rules here, the sun party, the Democrats.

    Trump attempted a revolution to displace the Democrats as the sun party – or at least they thought that was his intention.

    They goofed in 2016, underestimating his appeal and not engaging in enough voter fraud to swing the election to Hillary. In 2020, they resolved not to make the same mistake. So everything was rigged to the teeth. Mail in ballots from nowhere, votes being switched by election workers, votes being switched by voting machines, statistically, wildly impossible results, all concocted in the dead of night. Reams of affidavits of eyewitnesses of illegal ,fraudulent activity. Most of this is demonstrable with hard evidence.

    So the courts won’t hear it and, in the end, the American people won’t hear it because of the demonstration at the Capitol and the “invasion” which postponed counting and changed the climate to one where Republicans were on the “guilty defensive”. Do you recall seeing all the evidence of voting fraud laid out from Georgia, Pennsylvania, etc?

    I don’t either.

    I assume that was the real purpose of the “riot”, to squelch the Republican case for voter fraud being presented to Congress and before the American people on C-Span, etc.

    You cannot salvage a republic which is this corrupt. It is a Liberal/Progressive Borg. McConnell was in on it. Most senators dropped their objections after the “riot”. It could not have been arranged better. Now, they will either get the Republicans to remove Trump under the 25th amendment or attempt to impeach him again.

    I still believe God raised up Trump. But God does not overrule human free will. Trump’s fall is not a reflection on him but a reflection on an America too corrupt to salvage. Of course, perhaps we’ll get our $2000 stimulus checks. Gotta look for a silver lining . . .

    . . . we have Trump to thank for one thing: Many of us were unaware that we lived in Soviet America until Trump exposed both parties as agents of totalitarian rule.

    Now we know. Plan accordingly.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Misha, everything you have written is correct. I must heartily congratulate you on paragraph #7. This was clearly a staged riot to defang the certification process.

    • I have suggested here before that a close historical analogy
      to Trump might be found in Gaius Sempronius Gracchus.
      I have seen nothing recently to disabuse me of the notion.

    • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

      Christ is born! Glorify Him!

      Misha, you and I have not agreed on the question of Orthodox “holy war.” For quite some time I have had my hands full engaging the many Orthodox scholars on the left who dismiss the Orthodox justifiable war tradition with simplistic falsehoods such as “there is no just war in Orthodoxy” or “war may be a ‘lesser evil’ but never a good, lesser or otherwise.” Perhaps this year we can resume our much more friendly debate over your advocacy of “holy war,” particularly the Hebrew concept herem (or the annihilation of Israel’s enemies in total war).

      But I do concur completely with these comments in your post here:

      “I still believe God raised up Trump. But God does not overrule human free will. Trump’s fall is not a reflection on him but a reflection on an America too corrupt to salvage. . . .

      “. . . we have Trump to thank for one thing: Many of us were unaware that we lived in Soviet America until Trump exposed both parties as agents of totalitarian rule.

      “Now we know. Plan accordingly.”

      I say this, to be sure, with some reluctance. It is a dire, sobering picture that you paint. But it is also a necessary splash of cold water in the face of all of us Orthodox who have struggled to live our Orthodox lives as both American patriots and faithful followers of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

      The time has come for each of us to take the same stance as the Prophet Joshua in ancient Israel: “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

  15. Ashli Babbitt, woman shot and killed while she was trying to break into the U.S. Capitol, was definitely not Antifa. She was a fervent Trump supporter:

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/07/ashli-babbitt-woman-shot-and-killed-in-storming-of-us-capitol-named

    • George Michalopulos says

      Rufus, this was a tragedy. Yet was it a Trumpist who shot her? No, it was a policeman. Why?

      And almost as important: why aren’t conservatives rioting all over the US burning down police precincts?

      • George, just wait until King Joe is enthroned. Then it will probably be him that invokes the Insurrection Act.

        The “Not My President” meme is alive and kicking. Ashli Babbitt is perhaps the first tragic example, but we’ve probably seen nothing yet compared to what’s coming.

      • Johann Sebastian says

        I think we conservatives have to rethink what seems to be unconditional support of police and military. There are deep-seated problems in both–different from those that leftists like to whine about–but problems nevertheless.

      • Because conservatives have dug themselves into a hole in supporting the police and military since Nixon… Liberals are in the same hole with all the ‘support the troops’ nonsense from Clinton and Obama.

        If you watch the video I posted, it is supporters within the crowd that encourage the storming onto Capital Hill. I believe that all the people in the crowd were working on their own with no infiltration. What is suspicious is the lack of security personnel. That ‘mistake’ is an easy one to manufacture and ignore. The heads of Capitol security are being blamed as fall guys. I suspect this ‘mistake’ is higher up. Just watch or read about any of the coups the US government has supported (Ukraine, Bolivia, Venezuela, Serbia, etc.). Strategists know how people will react. They just have to remove the right piece or take advantage of a surprise tragedy. Then everyone responds with their predictable behavior and the higher ups can deny everything. Remember the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK. It’s like those reality tv shows but more hands off. Plausible deniability is the real game. Trump will be blamed and we will never know what really happened. God will judge.

  16. Security surrounding the Capitol was lacking. They even brought in the cyclist police to act as riot police. Watch clips of what happened by journalists who were actually there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmUgBTBkuek and a good analysis what the end result of allowing these rioters in, further suppression by media companies https://www.rt.com/op-ed/511797-mainstream-media-censorship-washington/

    Here is the DC’s mayor’s address arguing that DC did not want any help on Jan 5th for security https://twitter.com/MayorBowser/status/1346530358674792466?s=20 and the police (who are greatly outnumbered) initially letting in the protestors https://twitter.com/cevansavenger/status/1346920924310867968

    I believe the long-game was to allow these protestors in, the start going after anyone associated with their ideas. Trump will probably be prosecuted for inciting violence (though in his speech he called for people to march to Capitol Hill not storm it https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6), and Trump’s case will be dragged through the courts and will be used to go after conservatives. This whole tv drama is just being used to distract us of the real evil being done in our name: our horrendous foreign policy in which our government constantly supports insurrections like the mini one that we saw (only about 50 people actually got inside the Capitol and were easily gotten rid of).
    Stay tuned…

  17. Christ is Born! Glorify Him! What care we for the troubles of this world, Christ is among us!

  18. On the Radiant Feast of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
    Christ is born; glorify Him!
    Christ comes from heaven; go out to meet Him!

    ~ Hirmos for the Canon of the Nativity of Christ

    Our Homily today at St. Nicholas:
    Christmas Message by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the Archpastors, Pastors, Deacons, Monastics and All the Faithful Children of the Russian Orthodox Church

    Beloved in the Lord archpastors, all-honourable presbyters and deacons, God- loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters,

    From the depths of my heart I congratulate you all on the radiant feast of the Nativity of Christ.

    Today the Church in heaven and on earth is triumphant as she rejoices at the coming into the world of our Lord and Saviour and lifts up praises and thanksgiving to God for His mercy and love for the human race. It is with spiritual trembling that we listen to the words of the hymn: “Christ is born; glorify Him! Christ comes from heaven; go out to meet Him” (Hirmos for the Canon of the Nativity of Christ). With reverence and hope we set our gaze upon the cave of Bethlehem where the Divine Infant lies wrapped in swaddling clothes in a lowly manger.

    Truly, today there has been revealed the great “mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels” (1 Tm 3:16). It is not possible for the human intellect to penetrate the depths of the mystery of the Divine Incarnation. It is not possible to comprehend fully how the One Who is the fount of life for all that exists is now warmed by the breath of animals! The Creator of the universe humbles Himself in taking upon Himself the image of creation. The Son of God becomes the Son of Man! “And ask not how,” St. John Chrysostom exhorts us, “for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed; He had the power; He descended; He redeemed; all things yielded in obedience to God. This day He who is, is born; and He who is, becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His” (Homily for the Nativity of our Saviour Jesus Christ).

    As we celebrate the world-saving feast of Christ’s Nativity, we contemplate its unsurpassed spiritual meaning and fundamental significance for all of humankind. All of this is true; yet it is also important to grasp the personal dimension which the mystery of the Divine Incarnation has for each one of us, for it is not fortuitous that we turn to the Lord in prayer and call him our Saviour.

    We know from experience that we cannot vanquish of our own accord the evil which is within ourselves, no matter how desperately we may try. Sin, which has so deeply smitten the human soul and distorted human nature, is impossible to overcome with spiritual practices and psychological trainings. God alone is capable of healing and restoring all of the human person to his or her original beauty. “For what purpose did God become clothed in human flesh?” asks St. Ephrem the Syrian and answers, “In order that the flesh itself may taste the joy of victory and be filled with and come to know the gifts of grace…, in order that people may ascend to Him as though borne aloft with wings and find comfort in Him alone” (Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron, Chapter One). Christ’s incarnation liberates us from slavery to sin and opens up the path to salvation. “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness,” the Lord proclaims (Jn 12:46). Like the bright star of Bethlehem, which led the wise men from distant lands of the East to the Divine Infant, we Christians, being true sons and daughters of light (cf. Jn 12:36), are called upon to enlighten this world with the light of faith (cf. Mt 5:14) so that those around us, in seeing the example of our steadfastness and courage, long-suffering and spiritual nobility, magnanimity and unfeigned love for our neighbour, may “glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Pt 2:12).

    Today, when the peoples of the earth are enduring the arduous trial of a new disease, when peoples’ hearts are overwhelmed by fear and anxiety for the future, it is especially important that we strengthen our collective and individual prayer and offer to the Lord the diligent labours of good works. Many of our brothers and sisters, as a result of the devastating pestilence, no longer enjoy the opportunity of visiting churches. Let us lift up our petitions to the Merciful Lord that He may renew their bodily and spiritual strength, grant the soonest recovery to those who are sick and send down His help to the physicians and all medical workers who with self- sacrifice are doing all they can for peoples’ health and lives.

    Let us recall that no problems are ever capable of breaking the human spirit if we retain our living faith and place our hope in God for all things. Let us therefore accept without murmuring the afflictions that have befallen us, for “if I put my trust in Him, He shall be my sanctification: for God is with us” (the Office of Great Compline), as Christ’s Church sings during these holy days of the Nativity. Let us pray that the lowly cave of our life be illumined by the incorruptible light of the Godhead, so that our contrite and humble hearts, like the manger in Bethlehem, accept with reverential awe the Saviour Who has come into the world.

    God finds an expanse in the human heart if it is filled with love. “The one who labors in love will live with the angels and will reign with Christ,” St. Ephrem the Syrian tells us (Homily on the virtues and vices, 3). May these holy days of the feast become for us a special time for the accomplishing of good deeds. Let us use this grace-filled opportunity, too, to glorify Jesus Christ, Who is born, by displaying kind-heartedness to our neighbours, by rendering help to the needy, and by comforting the afflicted and, perhaps above all, those who are suffering from the coronavirus infection or its effects.

    May the Lord illumine with the light of knowledge of Him the peoples of the earth, may He bless them with peace and may He help each and every one of us to be aware of our special responsibility for the present and future of the planet. May the Divine Infant send down His love and accord into our families and protect our young people and all of us from sin and dangerous errors. Once again, I cordially greet all of you, my dear, with the radiant feast of the Nativity of Christ and wish you all good health, unceasing joy and the bountiful aid from God Who is “the true light that enlightens every man… coming

  19. Jane Tzilvelis says

    I watched Trump’s speech yesterday. Invigorating as always! Stupendous! The news provides clips and distorts what he said. I advise anyone and everyone to watch the entire speech .
    Trump wanted an audit by the Electoral Commission.
    Look where we are today.

    • Where can I see it?

      • Jane Tzilvelis says

        Entire Trump Speech! ?? Skip music.

        https://youtu.be/pa9sT4efsqY

        • Every free speech supporter should consider saving links to info they care about such as Trump’s speech to their computers or mobile devices, as it is being scrubbed from the internet. FB and Twitter are in the process of removing all footage of what happened at the Capitol from their users accounts under the guise of public safety. George and Gail, I am praying that Word Press doesn’t start restricting your site. LifeSite News released a statement that their online host has started attempts to censor their forum.

          • Gail Sheppard says

            Something may already be happening. We’re getting a lot of legitimate stuff in spam. I can release it but it’s incumbent upon the contributor to ask me to do it.

            We used to just post this stuff but because we have gotten in trouble for making this call, we now wait and hope someone gets back to us before it drops off.

      • This was Trump’s call to sedition: (full transcript of his speech https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trumps-jan-6-full-speech-we-will-never-concede-when-theft-is-involved)

        “And after this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down anyone you want. But I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol.

        And we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen-and-women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.

        We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.

        I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today, we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country. Our country has been under siege for a long time, far longer than this four year period

        So we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give — the Democrats are hopeless, they’re never voting for anything. Not even one vote — but we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you. And God bless America. Thank you all for being here. This is incredible. Thank you very much. Thank you.”

        • Gail Sheppard says

          Sounds to me like he wanted to take a walk.

          • Me too. Since when has that become a crime?

            My prediction? That our elites are going to learn the wrong lesson & double down on their elitism.

            End result? Washington DC will become even more entrenched and fortified. It will become America’s Forbidden City.

            And then, once the people are completely alienated from the Federal govt, it will collapse.

          • Exactly!!! And he called for those in attendance to “peacefully and patriotically” walk with him and “make their voices heard”. For this, he will be removed from office? Impeached? Imprisoned? I have combed this speech and this peaceful walk was his only call to action. It’s called sedition now apparently.

        • There is absolutely nothing seditious there. That is a president encouraging his followers to exercise their right to demonstrate outside the Capitol and let their representatives and senators know they expect them to do the right thing. There is no call to overthrow anything, no call to storm the building or enter it, etc. And he explicitly called them to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.

          He bears no blame whatsoever for the foolish actions of a few.

  20. cynthia curran says

    These people tend to be on the right but don’t support Trump take Richard Spencer. Spencer mention that he voted for Biden. A lot of the alt right types don’t like Trump and voted for Yang.

  21. One thing is true though, after yesterday’s disaster no one is talking about election integrity anymore. The Ds couldn’t have asked for a better script.

    Some say Biden now actually has a mandate. Wonderful. Makes one wonder why would the anti-Biden crowd shoot themselves in the foot so stupidly.

    Also, why is it so easy for a crowd to overrun the Capitol building – Shouldn’t that be a “never event”?

    This entire event seems a little too perfect – like a gift plopped in the Ds lap – for it to be all attributable to Trump and some crazy Trump supporters’ stupidity.

    Good people who are against Biden/Harris policies are now shamed into silence.

    I don’t know. Blessed Nativity!

  22. cynthia curran says

    spoke to him. The story on 2 News at 10. His most often used hashtags: #blm #antifa #burn #fuckthesystem #abolishthepolice #fucktrumpOne of the men who was part of the siege of the Capitol building is John Earle Sullivan, an extreme BLM activist from Utah. He was arrested & charged in July 2020 over a BLM-antifa riot where drivers in Provo were threatened & one was shot. https://deseret.com/utah/2020/7/10/21320220/organizer-of-provo-protest-arrested-accused-of-rioting-making-threats

    • https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/01/07/306481-n306481

      https://nypost.com/2021/01/07/known-antifa-members-posed-as-pro-trump-to-infiltrate-capitol-riot-sources/

      Antifa was there, to what extent we won’t know til the backgrounds of those arrested become available. Some of the barriers were down before the demonstrators even arrived, Capitol police were told to stand down, some to go home.

      If you use common sense, you can see this was staged. MAGA types arent prone to instigate this type of thing. However, if others whom they didn’t know were Antifa or BLM led the way, they might have been naive and angry enough to peaceably join in. They didn’t damage or burn anything or harm anyone.

      Now they’re being accused of insurrection and sedition which is so ridiculous that it constitutes further evidence that this is nothing more than a setup to be fully exploited through hyperbolic, emotionally charged, rhetoric.

  23. This wasn’t Antifa. As Basil posted, this was extreme elements in the Trump movement (EVERY movement has them—just because you “didn’t see them,” doesn’t mean they don’t exist). All of this proves one thing: Incendiary Rhetoric sometimes starts real fires.
    President Trump said the wrong thing to the wrong people at the wrong time, and they decided to “mess some stuff up.” When you convince people that America is doomed if Biden gets in, and that America is being stolen from them, how do you think some people will react? It was the same with George Floyd. People said some inflammatory things, and stirred people up. Demagoguery swings both ways.

    A crowd can turn into an angry mob at a moments notice. You say that Trump supporters would not act like that—-perhaps that is what the Capitol Police thought too.

    “A mob doesn’t cease to be a mob just because they are with you.” The worst part of this crisis, was not the violence itself (as horrible as that was), but Trump’s reaction to it. THAT is what has sunk him. Instead of making the clear distinctions that you all are trying to make here, he kept on about the stolen election and applauded those people, albeit in a mealy mouthed way.

    “Trumpism” has been destroyed, and Donald Trump himself is the man who did it. It is interesting that the “QAnon was a Deep State Psyop” narrative is making the rounds (saw it on WND also). The circular firing squad is already beginning. Soon, Donald Trump himself will be disavowed as a Deep State plant, who hijacked the Patriot message to sabotage it, a Manchurian President who whipped up the “nutters” to permanently destroy the Conservative Movement. All of Trump’s “accomplishments” will be denounced as window dressing, as those Justices are “liberals in disguise.” That narrative is coming.

    And like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, all of this will go down the memory hole, and the “Conservative Media” will move on to the next “big thing,” pretending like they never supported Trump in the first place—back pedaling, spinning, equivocating, gaslighting—-Whatever it takes to untangle themselves from the Trump disaster (which was a “Liberal Plot” all along).

    ‘Right message, Wrong messenger” will be the spin going forward.

    • ” ‘Trumpism’ has been destroyed, and Donald Trump himself is the man who did it.”

      You’re correct, but I disagree with your reasons why. Trump didn’t arrest governors/mayors when they stripped hundreds of millions of Americans of their civil rights, took away their means of earning a living, and effectively imprisoned them in their own homes, not when domestic terrorist groups set the cities on fire and police were made to stand down and even arrest those who defended themselves, not when they openly stole the election, and not when Pence made obvious that the steal would be confirmed. No, instead, he told everyone “no violence” (meaning we’re in the wrong, because otherwise violence would be required) and “go home.” He could’ve said, “I deputize any and all Americans to perform citizen arrests of (names), and any police, military, or otherwise defending them, lethal force authorized if they resist.”

      Here’s some predictive programming from Hollywood about what 2023 will look like:

      https://youtu.be/sKFPgd4j5k8?t=21

      • President Trump could not have done such a thing even if he wanted to, as that would be illegal, not to mention the horror of what you are suggesting.

    • cynthia curran says

      Well, the left wing media still sees Antifa as basically peaceful even though a member 2 years ago tried to blow up an ICE Facility in Washington. The left spins things as well. Like the capital happening would have been different if it was BLM. It is. one woman that broke into a window was shot while hundreds of BLM demonstrates were not shot by the cops. In fact Joe Biden tried this spin about BLM being treated differently, what nonsense.

      • It isn’t nonsense, because of one simple fact: If it was Antifa/BLM, they would not have been let anywhere NEAR the Capitol building.

        George, Gail, and others have said that “Trump people wouldn’t act like this.” I think that is exactly what the Capitol Police thought. Why could such an assumption be made? Any large group of people can become a mob at a moments notice. That is Policing 101.

        It may not be racism, but the optics of it are not good, and gives fuel to those who wish to “stir the pot” more. The “spin” is going both ways, like this whole “Antifa infiltrator” narrative.

        • Gail Sheppard says

          Don’t talk to me about “stirring the pot.” Stealing an election is like turning the burner on high. The nation is going to boil over without Trump. Who do you think kept the lid on for 4 years?

          Antifa was there. Check out BLM agitator John Earle Sullivan who was interviewed by CNN.

          Buffalo Guy, the actor, has a picture of himself hanging out at a BLM protest. (Ask yourself how an out of work “voice over” actor gets from Phoenix, AZ inside the Capitol during an uprising.)

          Then there is “Sickle Guy,” who has had a few pictures with his buddy Matt Heimbach of Charlottesville. These people are radical agitators. Any affinity they say they have for Trump is contrived.

          • “Stop the Steal!” is stirring the pot. “Defund the Police!” is stirring the pot. This type of rhetoric cuts both ways, and as we see now, has tragic consequences in both directions. There is no real evidence for a stolen election, or that the Police are racist, other than isolated anecdotes blown up out of proportion by ideologues who have an agenda, and distorted by a fervent “alternative media.”

            This was not an Antifa conspiracy. Were there agitators who just like to “break stuff”? No doubt, as there are at every “protest” (which has become an industry in itself since the 60s).

            I think you will see things quiet down once Biden is inaugurated. The Trump protesters will be strong at first, but it will die out, as the truth about “the Golden Don” is revealed—-and then he too will be denounced as a “Deep State Fake.” There is already murmurings of that by hardcore Trumpists who feel betrayed by his “surrender.”

            • Gail Sheppard says

              My daughter used to think the same thing when she was a toddler: that if she closed her eyes really tight and couldn’t see you, that you would disappear and not see her!

              Too much, Harry Potter, my friend. There is no such thing as an invisible cloak.

              The election was stolen from us. We’re not going to get over it.

            • Brandon, I agree with your assessment. I do not believe the election was stolen. I most certainly do not believe that the protesters who entered the Capitol were Antifa/BLM. However, I am SO GRATEFUL that we still retain some ability to speak freely and share these ideas.

              Things will “calm down” after Biden’s inauguration as small, rural militias quietly strategize. Biden and Harris will push an agenda so extreme (we’re kicking off 2021 with the erasure of the terms mother and father!) that violent pushback is inevitable. 2021 will, unfortunately, not be calm.

              Endure without murmurings, sure.
              Yet there must be a network of communication among the faithful that takes place offline.

              • I don’t believe that Biden is as radical as people here fear. I think he will surprise many people.

                Some perspective: In every other country in the Western world, the Democrats would be a Moderate Party (maybe even considered on the Right). The political lense of this website skews hard Right (I didn’t say “radical”), so a Left of Center Party is seen as too Liberal, and a standard European Leftist is seen as a Radical lunatic.

                I would echo the same thing conservatives said in 2016—-“yeah, you hate the guy, but why not give him a chance?”

                • Oh Brandon, I wish I could borrow your rose colored lenses. I am a liberal feminist and I voted for Trump. Everything is moving left… far, far left.

                  I do not think that this is a “far-right” website. Instead, I think this is one of the last “safe spaces” for free thought. George and Gail are patriotic Southern sweethearts. They allow for more free speech than other interactive platforms but strictly limit anything that could be far-right (e.g., Neo Nazism).

                  Neo Nazis represent the far right, and unfortunately, their numbers are growing. This is due to an obsession with the “1%” and the idea that Jews are somehow a genetically distinct group of people.

                  BLM / Bolsheviks represent the far left, and unfortunately, the Democratic party condoned the BLM riots this summer. As a matter of fact, the current Democratic platform IS Big Tech Censorship, BLM, and LGBT.

                  If I am mistaken about the Democratic platform, please do let me know! The only good news I’ve heard from that party recently is Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to allow student debt to be discharged in bankruptcy court, which would put an end to the liberal university indoctrination system.

                  Hope you are having a good night.

                  • Michelle, can you please tell me how you would define a liberal feminist? To see an Orthodox woman describe themselves in such a way is somewhat disconcerting, since both liberalism and feminism are inherently antithetical to the Orthodox worldview.

                    • Basil, sure.

                      Liberal: I have a liberal arts degree, I believe our country benefits best from a mixed (both planned and free market) economy, I spend my spare time reading/discussing ideas, and in real life, I am known for my tolerant attitude towards others. I enjoy abstract art and post-punk music. I spent my 20s as a vegan environmental educator. Most people in my social milieu outside of my parish (e.g., my family and pre-conversion friends) are liberal, as are some of my friends from within the parish.

                      Some even describe themselves as feminists! Matushkas! You would be surprised.

                      Feminist: I believe that women should receive special rights and protections: exclusion from military service, sex-segregated spaces in public for privacy purposes, sex-segregated sports, etc. Women should be given accommodations for childbearing: women should be able to physically be with their children for at least 2-3 years to promote breastfeeding and healthy child development. I believe porn should be illegal, people who employ prostitutes should be arrested, and no fault divorce is a travesty. I sense that we have at least three generations of women who are traumatized from killing their own children, but at the same time, imagine the trauma of miscarrying (so common!) and being accused of murder. My experience is that men and women communicate in different ways, and in order for women to operate in society, women must alter their natural ways of relating to communicate in the ways that men do, which is utterly exhausting. I cherish my time in sex-segregated spheres. Women are better at keeping women in line than men are. Grandmas are necessary.

                      While all of this is a wonderful ideal, the truth is that war in particular has always left a large group of widows. There have always been, and will always be, single mothers. Now, what do we do about single mothers?

                      Of course, it would be marvelous if we all had Josephs to marry us so that we could live as brothers and sisters in safety and perpetual virginity. This does not happen. Saint Paul suggests that some single mothers remarry and start new families, but IMO, this second marriage often occurs as an attempt to find a “Joseph” (e.g., caretaker) and second marriages with young children involved tend to end poorly.

                      The best course of action for single mothers has been laid out by St. John Chrysostom here:
                      https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1904.htm

                      and by Saint Ambrose here:
                      https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3408.htm

                      Clearly, the church advises that single mothers must earn their own income, raise their children, as well as perform the social duties expected of married and childless women. Shall I mention: there is a special honorific to the women who endure this life into old age.

                      In order to account for single motherhood, *all* women must be prepared from childhood to operate independently, productively, and yes, competitively in the public domain. For this reason it is indeed good for girls and women to mix with men as equals in public. (The fantasy of sex-segregated spheres may have worked with legal mechanisms in place to marry single mothers off to brothers in law, in a polygamous culture, but *cannot* work now.)

                      We must acknowledge and accommodate for the very real, pressing need to provide avenues for women to succeed and to care for their children in various circumstances.

                      And that means that, unless the Church specially, financially supports single mothers, or unless Communism intervenes to support single mothers (which it may, in the absence of the Church doing so), that we as the Church must balance both special protections for women (promoting breastfeeding) and women’s ability to compete with men in public life (so single mothers can support their children).

                      The notion that women should be granted equal status in public life is feminism, as far as I can tell.

                      (As an aside, we once had this discussion on this website and I was advised that the term “feminism” has been so thoroughly tied to “third wave feminism” that I should discard it altogether. I am glad in a sense that women have gained so much status that we take for granted how abused women have been in the past and continue to be in other parts of the world, solely on the basis of sex. Since this abuse always remains a possibility (or probability absent Christianity), I believe that it is imperative that we always carry the banner of “different in body, same in dignity and in soul” e.g., feminism.)

                    • Oh, Lord. You’re no liberal feminist; you’re sane. Glory to God.

                    • A more pressing request that I should return to: how would you define post-punk music?

                  • Thank you for your kindness. I chose my words carefully, “Far Right” and “Radical Right” are epithets, whereas my “Hard Right” is taking the blogger and comment section into consideration and speaks only to the firmness and immovable positions.

                    I don’t think I have rose colored glasses. I see America as it actually is. “The Swamp” will never be drained, because that is what political power IS, in all of its iterations. Any notion of “draining it” is just as utopian as the Socialist ideology that is deplored here. It is ideological, which once was the province of the Left, but now Conservatism itself has become an ideology, rather than a set of principles (Russell Kirk comes to mind). I think it is THAT shift that has become dangerous.

                • A chance? He was VP for 8 years under Obama. We know what to expect.

                  • As Bush 41 demonstrated (and Nixon), actions as VP and as President may vary.

                    The Vice Presidency is a hamstrung office, and has only as much reach as the President allows. They could hang around the Senate, but the Senate leadership would likely bristle at that.

                    The idea of a powerful VP is very recent, and not even close to a given.

                • Some more perspective:
                  “Amazon to Remove Parler From Its Web Hosting Service”
                  https://www.theepochtimes.com/amazon-to-remove-parler-from-its-web-hosting-service_3650535.html

                  “This comes after Apple and Google said they were suspending Parler, which has attracted a large following of classical liberal and conservative-leaning users…”

                  This smacks less of Social Democracy
                  and more of Democratic Socialism.
                  In case you are unfamiliar with the terms,
                  think ‘East Germany’ not ‘West Germany’.

          • George Michalopulos says

            BRANDON, Gail said it best: stealing an election is the ultimate stirring of the pot. If you can’t see that then there’s no hope .

            And no, there’s no way that the Capitol Hill police are secret Trump sympathizers who let their guard down because they were OK with all the MAGA people. Trust me, Trump got less than 5% of the DC/Beltway vote.

            DC is the ultimate company town. Hell, now we know that several GOP Senators didn’t vote for Trump: Cornyn, Loeffler, Sasse, etc.

    • You are right, Brandon. Trump was his own worst enemy and history will not treat this episode or much of his tenure as positive contributions to society. Stalwarts like McConnell, Lindsay Graham and other senior administration officials (many submitting their resignations in disgust) are finally realizing it’s over and there was no widespread fraud, only irregularities that should be reviewed in future.

    • George Michalopulos says

      BRANDON: please allow me to dismantle your arguments seriatim:

      1. Even if these were Trumpists, so what? Was this type of deadly force used against BLM/Antifa during the Floyd Festivities?

      2. Let’s take a tally: one pro-Trump protest (which was mostly peaceful, btw) compared to how many Floyd riots over the past eight months? Thousands?

      3. Trump condemned the fracas. Has any Democrat condemned all the mayhem of last year?

      The last one is a fairly easy softball for you to answer.

      I’ll wait.

    • “‘Trumpism’ has been destroyed, and Donald Trump himself is the man who did it.”

      I don’t think Trumpists got the memo. Trump’s popularity has actually risen three points to 48% in the last couple of days:

      https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_jan08

      But, by all means, rave on . . .

      • “I don’t think Trumpists got the memo. Trump’s popularity has actually risen three points to 48% in the last couple of days”

        Trump is almost irrelevant to what is coming, from the standpoint of stopping it that is, he would’ve been useful leading it, if he had actually done what Democrats are accusing him of. Trump could’ve conceded on Nov. 4th and done nothing but dismiss any questioning of the validity of the election, and it wouldn’t have changed enough minds on the matter, those with eyes to see, saw it.

        Jeff Rense Interview With Intel Veteran Mitchell Henderson:

        http://mediaarchives.gsradio.net/rense/http/MP3Download/Jan2021/D33pS4/rense_010721_hr2.mp3

  24. Amazing how the only reporting these last 2 days are on the “bad” Trump attendees at the rally. What happened to the so called Wuhan Coronavirus hourly updates? Where are the numbers of yearly deaths by Flu, Pneumonia, Cancer, Heart Disease etc? All seem to have vanished from the spotlight.

    • Johann Sebastian says

      Everything must take the back seat when a pet cause of the Left makes its entrance.

      Case in point: BLM riots. I had one SJW nut job have the gall to tell me that “this is bigger than Covid.”

    • Johann Sebastian says

      The good news is that no one can blame Russia for this. A friend sent me a picture of someone draping a Ukrainian flag over a Capitol balcony alongside a banner of the Odin’s Cross so favored by Banderists and US-supported Euromaidan hooligans.

  25. My working theory is that there were Antifa at the protest dressed as MAGA who spearheaded the entry into the Capitol, followed by real MAGA people who knew no better. John Sullivan, the BLM supporter who filmed the police shooting of the young lady who was killed, had entered the Capitol before her in order to film the protest. How did he know they would storm the building?:

    https://thepostmillennial.com/extreme-blm-activist-identified-as-one-of-the-capitol-rioters

    He’s not the only one:

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/01/worrisome_signs_the_capitol_breach_was_planned_to_discredit_trump_supporters_an_eyewitness_account.html

    The truth will come out eventually. There were over 50 people arrested. They have backgrounds and affiliations. It’s only a matter of time.

    The other thing to bear in mind is that the Republican Establishment is in on this. Even the Wall Street Journal called for Trump to resign – for no reason at all. Now is the time when you will see who was for the Revolution and who was for the Democratic Establishment continuing to rule.

    The sad part is that much of his own administration was always against him. Perhaps he had no alternative if he wanted qualified people but to turn to swamp dwellers, or perhaps it was his own foolishness. Regardless, Pence does not seem agreeable to oust him via the 25th Amendment and there’s no time to remove him through impeachment, even if they could get the 2/3 of the Senate vote to do it. Granny Boxwine may have time to impeach/indict him again, but so what? It will be as frivolous and fruitless as the last time.

    He’ll run out the clock, go home to Mar-a-lago and circle the wagons – cause they’ll probably still be coming for him. If you strike a king (in this instance, the Democratic Establishment), make sure you kill him. He exposed the extremity of their election corruption. That truth too will come out and it will deeply injure the perceived legitimacy of the Democratic Party – but this too is a matter of time, and patience is a virtue.

    BTW: Trumpism hasn’t been destroyed. Fire tempers steel. Trumpista’s throughout the country demonstrated at their respective Capitols the same day as the trespassing incident (for that’s really what it was) at the US Capitol:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9119837/Georgia-Secretary-State-Brad-Raffensperger-evacuated-MAGA-fans-surround-office.html

    You are confusing the sentiments of the MSM and the Republican Establishment with that of Trump supporters, who remain steadfast. Why do you think the MSM is talking about “cleansing” the US of the Trump movement? No one kicks a dead dog.

    • The government doesn’t have to “cleanse,” it will do that on its own. Trump made it all about himself, and that is what doomed him (and “Trumpism”). That is why the GOP survived the election, because it really was all about Trump. Many Republicans likely voted for Biden, and then straight R down the line.

      I think you will find that the majority of America is not on board with your “Revolution.” That is why Biden won, and why “Hey, calm down!” has become a mainstream political talking point. Trump sabotaged himself and the movement he claims, and it will disintegrate, as the GOP does the emergency surgery necessary to separate the ideals from the man. It has already begun.

  26. The GOP has not survived this election. The Dem victory in Georgia effectively puts us in one-party state territory. The naturalization of millions of illegals in Biden’s first hundred days is going to guarantee the Dems a few more years of electoral success through sheer numbers. What legislation they enact in the coming weeks and months is going to destroy the conservative movement in this country – don’t forget the ‘Trump Accountability Project’ that surfaced after the election. These people want blood. I’m thinking the Patriot Act on ‘roids. NY state is already working on a bill to put suspected ‘health risks’ in concentration camps, for God’s sake. These things are all connected.

    Trump has just been deleted from all social media on a permanent basis. If they can do that to a sitting president on the flimsiest of bases, just think what’s in store for any and all dissident/conservative media. Not to mention other private enterprises ‘exercising their rights’ by banning conservatives and pro-Trump actives from stores, business, services, etc.

    We’re all going to feel Biden’s dark winter in the coming years.

    • As Princess Leia (kind of) said, “The more you tighten your grip, the more America will slip through your fingers.”

      I’m not a “the worse, the better” kind of guy — who has the heart for such? — but I see the strategic wisdom of that route. But we need not harm our souls by calculatedly making things worse — the enemy is content to boil frogs on their own. The Fabians are all dead or senile (or #LookAtMeToo’ed) . . . and the fools who run the left now will turn the country into a dumpster fire. They just can’t help themselves. They daily look more like the haughty freakshow of Panem . . . and they’re completely clueless that the country sees them for what they are.

      • Yes, they are fools and yes, they will turn America into a dumpster fire. But it’s a dumpster fire that’s full of brainwashed conformists that have spent that better part of the year ratting on their neighbors for thoughtcrimes/not wearing masks/having family over/being anti-vaccine/you name it, and throwing their weight behind revolutionary movements sparked by the death of a violent petty criminal.

        It’s not the state apparatus that worries me – as perturbed as I am about the possibility of COVID camps springing up over the USA – but the psychopaths that it will enable. No one prosecuted the looters and rioters this summer – under a “conservative” government – so, when mob ‘justice’ comes, it’s coming hard. They know where you live.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Basil, you paint a very bleak, yet accurate, picture of the coming dystopia. On the other hand, Joseph, you present a very plausible case, not for renewal so much as for the incompetence of the Left in being able to hold the coming Thunderdome together.

        Already, I saw where the stock market exploded. This will continue to happen at the expense of Main Street. One of Trump’s signature accomplishments was to elevate both Wall Street and Main Street at the same time. Under the Clinton-Obama years, Main Street suffered. Trump was an interruption in this process with both streets flourishing.

        What this means is that as during the Clinton, W, Obama years, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. In other words, social and economic inequities will be exacerbated. The coming Brazilification of the US will not sustainable. And let’s be honest, the only reason that the Third-world oligarchies have not collapsed into permanent revolution is because the US and the EU have functioned as a safety-valve for the poor of the Third-world. Once the white majority in America slips into a type of permanent Appalachia, then it’s “Katie bar the door”.

        If I may add one thing: the Left does not appear to be confident. Not at all. The banning of POTUS’ accounts from most social platforms is a sign that these people are running scared. Now they want to shut down Parler.

        This is not unlike the last days of the Warsaw Pact nations.

    • Michael Bauman says

      Basil, historical point:
      During FDR’s time in office the Demoncrats controlled 3/4 of the House and Senate.

      • Yes, but those congressmen and senators were born in the late 19th century, for crying out loud. FDR’s era was not the “current year.”

  27. The majority voted for the revolution and when it was stolen from them by unprecedented, massive voter fraud they showed up in Washington to air their grievances. Perhaps you saw them? They also demonstrated at capitols around the country.

    Trump’s popularity has only increased in the last two days; according to Rasmussen he is again up to 48%.

    Biden couldn’t get a crowd to his speaking events. How can you even imagine he got more votes than Trump who exceeded his 2016 numbers? Its absurd on its face. They shut it down when it looked like Biden was losing and proceeded to manufacture the necessary number of votes. The data stream from the vote tallies show statistically impossible activity. There’s no way around it, or the thousands of affidavits, the video, the witnesses, etc.

    “. . . voted for Biden and then straight R down the line.” You know Trump’s popularity among Republicans hovers around 90% so you can’t really seriously believe that.

    Live on in your dream world but the American people know already. It’s not going away and neither is MAGA. Best selling books will be written documenting exactly how the election was stolen. The Right will never, ever let this rest.

    • Again, not a single court in the United States saw any merit in your assertions. You claim it’s a “conspiracy,” which again, no real evidence or proof, just anecdotes and stuff taken out of context/proportion, with all manner of insinuations (the whole thing rests on the premise that there is a “Deep State Conspiracy”)

      I did see them. I also saw what happened in the Capitol. There are two sides to the “Trump movement”: disaffected Republicans and those who I will charitably say are “out there.” The disaffected Republicans will fall away, as this “movement” further goes off the rails. Another Republican figure with less baggage will take up the mantle and the reasonable folks will follow him/her, disowning Trump. The more, shall we say, “fervent,” will stay with Trump, and be relegated to the fringes. Sure, WND, this website and others may sing their praises (maybe not though), but in the end, the “New Republican Party” will seize on the popular bits of Trump’s agenda with fervor, and “the Golden Don” will be left outside.

      Perhaps the die-hards will come along too, though. Q-Anon is being renounced, and as I said a few times, it will be “the Golden Don’s” turn soon enough.

      • Your argument is disingenuous, to say the least.
        The courts refused to hear the evidence.
        Assertions of fraud were dismissed without examination.
        Arguments of unconstitutionality were dismissed
        on grounds of lack of standing – again, without test;
        which, in the Texas suit especially, is scandalous.
        The Courts, including SCOTUS, simply abdicated.
        The Republic will no longer be governed by Law,
        unless Trump acts to restore it in the next few days.

        • Maybe there was nothing to examine. The court had to make at least a cursory examination of the case before dismissing it. Maybe there was no “there there.”

          Unless you believe that every judge and court, including Republicans and the one’s Trump appointed, are “in on it.” Which, forgive me, is not credible.

          Fortunately, there is a Billion Dollar reason to examine the facts now, but I have a feeling that the “evidence” will not say what you think it will say.

      • I think that you are coming from a place where there is still some reasonable expectation of fairness in the way it all works. As far as I can see, those days are over. Trump is the last freely elected president of the United States. We are no longer free and sadly most of us little frogs will tread lightly in the comforting warm water of disbelief until it is too late.

        • That is kind of you to say, but there never has been “fairness” in the United States of America. I don’t mean race, or any of the usual talking points (although that was there too).

          There has always been a “Deep State.” In the old days they were called “Kingmakers.” “Powers behind the throne.” The Swamp? Heck, that is the natural habit of any seat of power. If you look past the grade school hagiographies of “the Founders,” you will see that they too were their era’s “Swamp Creatures” (Alexander Hamilton in particular).

          Nothing new under the sun. The only thing that is different is the scope and scale, but “court politics” remains as ever. Since when did the conservative movement become ideological and utopian? “Drain the Swamp?” Just as much a pipedream as the “Socialist Utopia.”

          Once upon a time, Americans had a health cynicism towards politics. A certain level of corruption was accepted and even considered necessary for government to function: Pork spending, soft money, government appointments, and the like. The people for the most part accepted this, because they too “got something out of it”—-American nobless oblige, “bringing home the bacon.”

          Now it is all about ideological “purity.” Bi-partisanship is dead, because all of the incentives I listed above (which was the currency of government) have been stripped away. The parties ceased to be big tents, because it was no longer about geography and common interests but “the cause” (whatever that cause is).

          MAGA and “The Squad” come from the same syndrome——ideology. Chasing an America that exists only in their heads. Once upon a time this sort of thing was viewed as ludicrous and dangerous (there have always been ideologues, but the Party system kept their excesses in check for the most part—-that check and balance through the RNC/DNC has disappeared).

          In short, Tanya: Those days never existed. I see America as it is,where there is no “ideological purity.” We are a mix of ideas, and the old Party System took that into account. I’m not saying corruption is a good thing, but that people used to remember their own frailty and that “politicians,” even the good ones, “played a game.” It has always been this way, and the idea that we can “overthrow” that system is deluded, because another one will quickly take its place.

          Our “freedom” was always a gentleman’s agreement between powered interests. There was always an asterix next to it. The “minuteman delusion” has bewitched many on the Right, with disasterous results.

      • cynthia curran says

        Yeah, but I never understand people on the fringes being strong Trump supporters ,when Ann Coulter dump him. As mention Jeff Sessions was stronger against illegal immigration than Trump, but Trump dumped him. In fact under Trump the southern states did better than the upper Midwest. Why, well the southern states didn’t have a strong labor union like Michigan does. This is why South Carolina and Alabama created more car manufacturing jobs than Michigan. Foreign car companies like Toyota expanded in Alabama In fact you tell this to the the populist that Trump didn’t help the much in the Midwest. In fact the same thing happen under Reagan. The Southern states benefited by Japanese auto companies setting up shop in southern states while the Midwest continue to decline in manufacturing.

  28. “Biden didn’t win. He cheated. There’s a difference.”

    “stealing an election is the ultimate stirring of the pot. If you can’t see that then there’s no hope.”

    And yet there was not a single court in the United States of America—–Not one who agreed with this assertion, and in some cases they were almost laughed out of court. Now the Voting Machine company is bringing a huge Defamation lawsuit (over a Billion dollars), and perhaps there the truth will come out, although probably not in the way you would intend.

    Saying “they are all in on it” may be red meat for the “alternative media,” but the United States still has laws and a process. Donald Trump could have addressed all of this before the election (Ann Coulter made this same point in her scathing take down of the President after the election), but instead he attempted to de-legitimize the whole process, because he knew he would lose if people could do it from home (those 18 year old, “low information voters” casting ballots en masse), so this “stolen election” thing was a gambit, a Hail Mary to stave off what he feared would be a landslide defeat (the fact that it was so close and the GOP gained was not something many pundits expected).

    • George Michalopulos says

      Brandon, the courts you cite did not adjudicate the claims of Trump. They simply refused to hear them in the first place. Their arguments was not that they didn’t have any merit, but that the people who brought them forward had no standing.

      That’s a big difference.

      As for the assertions that there was fraud and criminality, those still stand. I myself have brought up the macro elements to this argument. (Increased share of the black, Latino and women vote, significant increase in the votes for an incumbent, etc.) Others have dug deep into statistical analysis and probability theory to show that there was no logical way for Biden’s vote to magically spike, Michael Jordan-style into to lead.

      Then there are the thousands of affidavits filed by poll-watchers who swore under oath that they actually saw fraud taking place.

      Nor should we forget Dominion voting machines automatically switching Trump votes to Biden votes.

      Etc.

      • George, and why didn’t Trump’s legal team anticipate that problem? There is a process here, that many Trump supporters are so quick to throw out. If their CASE was solid, a court would have heard it. The fact that every single court threw it out shows that: It is groundless, OR the legal team was incompetent.

        It is like with the (first) Impeachment. I believe that Trump was guilty of everything they accused him of, but I staunchly opposed his removal. Why? Because of how the Democrats did it. It is like the OJ Trial—-yeah he was guilty, but the way the prosecution handled the case made a conviction impossible. They played a political game, too.

        Fortunately, all of the “evidence” you cite can get a hearing in the Defamation Lawsuit Dominion is bringing. A Billion Dollars is a very expensive lesson on where not to point fingers.

        • “There is a process here, that many Trump supporters are so quick to throw out. If their CASE was solid, a court would have heard it. ”

          No, they wouldn’t, if it was fake, then they’d hear it and dismiss on merits. Instead, everyone refused to hear it because: “Treason doth never prosper, what’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.”

          All of those judges were looking at Trump as an idiot and/or coward, or at least impotent, for not using force immediately to put down Covid hoax treason, the BLM insurrection, and then the openly stolen election.

          Pence and other Republicans traitors also took Trump’s measure, that he wouldn’t approve the violence needed if they sided with the Steal, and they were right, but this will be the rest of their lives:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAo-rWoTJug

          Trump at this point may be dead, either side may killed him when he arrived at that base in Texas. The loyalists/patriots because a MIA or dead President makes a better martyr than a traitor who may have been about to strike a deal in exchange for conceding. Either or both sides may be faking communications from him.

          Lin Wood Interview: Why VP Mike Pence Didn’t Stand Up for President Trump:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtSb-X3dXTA

      • Well, it’s over now. Don’t expect much from any continuing court cases, etc. The courts made a conscious decision to disregard the evidence and dismiss these cases for “standing”, laches, etc. Essentially they said neither the American people, nor they as a consequence, could “handle the truth”.

        There is a silver lining to this, however. Trump had an excellent run in office. But both he and his supporters were never aggressive and tough enough to deal with the cutthroats of Tammany Hall. And so the dragon won. Sometimes the dragon wins.

        Yet, with the Democratic control of government, media, the Deep State, etc. that we have now, they will doubtless be vindictive and overreach and that may forge the steel in the MAGA movement and among conservatives and Republicans to become absolutely ruthless. I hope it’s not too late. The Dems have the potential to permanently shut the Republicans out of the national stage. If they continue to rig elections, there’s nothing the Right can do but engage in a true revolt.

        They simply did not see what I’ve been saying for months: After this, there will be one party rule. It’s just a question of which party. The reason is the Democrats have decided to stack the deck unalterably in their favor and the only way the Republicans could have won after the election was to either flip the election and lock out the Dems or to seize power and put down the resulting insurrection. They failed to do either of those things, not appreciating the position they were in: dominate or die.

        But the Coup d’Etat is accomplished. As of January 20th we will have unelected one party rule.

        May God have mercy on us all.

        Always remember that the Democrats are mortal enemies – like ISIS. They have proven their bona fides. Do not argue with them; simply destroy them by any means necessary.

        • Après Trump, le déluge?

        • Misha,

          Curious as to why you expected the Rs to do anything. It became blatantly clear this week that we have a Uni-party at the federal level. The Rs and Ds agree to disagree on a few things for political theater. But in essence, it’s oligarchic rule by flip sides of the same coin that have their own power-sharing agreement, which disenfranchises most Americans.

          McConnell’s wife’s family is tied to the upper echelons of the Chinese elite, just to give one example. Did anyone ever think that that the “R” McConnell would ever support Trump’s countering of China’s ambitions?

          America is the same country as it was 10 days ago. The difference is that now everything is out open on the table, for everyone to see. The oligarchic elite is scared, and they are now clamping down. They are now on sanctimoniousness-overdrive on all of their public forums.

          When freedom of speech is cancelled and opponents are silenced, and we see that the “Rs” don’t give a damn, well that tells you all you need to know.

          The Ayatollah of Iran is allowed to tweet that Israel should be wiped from the face of the earth. China is allowed to tweet justifications as to why it forcibly sterilizes Uighur women and throws Uighur men into concentration camps. But Trump (and anyone who agrees with him that the oligarchic American establishment is corrupt) and Co. are forcibly silenced — well, then you know that the Left’s information blackout is not about “protecting American democracy” but rather about circling the wagons around their own power.

          Trump has never been an establishment politician. He’s not a politician at all — he’s a businessman who gets things done. Which is why so many support him and why he got elected — twice. And why the establishment Deep State hates him.

          Trump’s political affiliations are fluid — previously a D, then an R — I’m guessing that he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about political affiliations. Another reason why the Deep State hates him.

          The one blessing from all of this is that the Republican party will now be destroyed. Trump is its de facto leader, and when he is thrown out like yesterday’s trash, those who vote Republican won’t suddenly start lining up again behind Romney or McConnell. I expect to see a real, viable American 3rd party now form in the wake of all of this.

          The Left is so sanctimoniously pleased with itself that they are beyond dangerous at this point. It’s not an exaggeration to say that CNN would get cheap thrills seeing Trump guillotined in the lawn by the Washington Monument, and they’d gush over it as a “victory for freedom.” They and their ilk are our modern Leninists and Maoists, without any doubt. That the Patr of C’ple and the GOAA side with Biden/Harris and these nincompoops should terrify all of us who call ourselves Orthodox Christians.

          It is pointless to try to “reason” with these sanctimonious types anyway, since once you get to that point of being so convinced of your own virtue and of the “other side’s” alleged evil, then you can justify any action. Just ask Robespierre, or Nancy Pelosi, or a slew of CNN anchors.

          Trump very well may have sacrificed himself to bring the entire oligarchic Uni-party and the debauched American elite down. At the very least, he made their deep, ingrained corruption fully visible to the American people. For that, we should be thankful.

          The Left is delusional that with Trump gone, his supporters will get in line and shut up. They won’t. The Americans who support Trump support not a person but a cause. They will not go quietly. It will be messy, I expect.

          • A measured analysis.
            Thank you.

            • Brian Van Sickle says

              FTS,

              Yours is among the most cogent comments I have read here in recent times.

              • George Michalopulos says

                An excellent analysis, FTS!

                I will add another silver lining (or two) if you permit me:

                1. Yes, the Republican Party effectively committed suicide. Good. However, the Democrat Party is not long for this world either. I follow some honest hard-Left and believe me, they are spitting mad at Biden, Pelosi, and even AOC. When they don’t get their goodies (Medicare for all, cancellation of student debt, abolition of the Electoral College, etc), they will be demanding their heads as well.
                a. And then when Beijing Biden sends American boys off to war in Crapistan for “democracy” then it’s Katie, bar the door!

                2. The Purge of alternate sources/platforms (e.g. Parler) has shaken even some of the RINOs. And perhaps even the Wall Street branch of the Oligarchy. Twitter has lost 10% in valuation overnight. And this is where it gets juicy: several weeks ago, Twitter went hat-in-hand to Amazon to bail them out (it’s complicated).

                3rd point (forgive me). The Oligarchy is panicked by what happened last Wednesday. While I do agree that the average Biden voter (all 60 million of them) are sheep, I can’t for the life of me believe that the 80 million people who voted for Trump (he had 80 million followers on Twitter) are as complacent. And now that Biden is doubling down on the NRA, I foresee a tumultuous future.

        • Beyond the fact we have seen video of Antifa hammering at Capitol windows with MAGAns shouting them down and stopping them, as well as an Antifan hanging from the balcony in one of the chambers, there also remains the fact that the Capitol police welcomed some of the protesters into the building as is being acknowledged by even Democrats:

          https://www.westernjournal.com/house-dems-wonder-capitol-incursion-inside-job/

          You have to be really gullible or ideologically jaded not to see this as a setup – call it the Democrats’ Reichstag fire.

  29. Pompeo Lifts Restrictions on US Contact With Taiwan Officials
    https://www.theepochtimes.com/pompeo-lifts-restrictions-on-us-contact-with-taiwan-officials_3650370.html

    ‘The United States will remove all “self-imposed restrictions” on contact with Taiwanese officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Jan. 9,
    laying the groundwork for closer relations with the democratic island.’

    Now what is going on here, at this late stage?

    • johann sebastian says

      Pompeo is actually doing some good!

      Give a big fat finger to Red China!

      • If Trump leaves office, how will this benefit Taiwan?
        How will it benefit the USA? Won’t Biden renege on it?
        If it provokes China into actually invading Taiwan, what then?

        It only makes sense if Trump is not planning on leaving.

        • Johann Sebastian says

          There is one bright side to China invading Taiwan, and the US allowing it to happen.

          If the USA sits back and does nothing should China invade Taiwan, no one can legitimately argue that Russia doesn’t have a right to retake her own renegade provinces of Ukraine and Belarus.

          Taiwan, after all, is just an island whose indigenous population isn’t even Chinese–they are Austronesians. It’s basically a Chinese colony (mostly Hokkien/Amoy), and has been the refuge of free Chinese exiled from their oppressed mainland Chinese homeland. It is in no way a core or essential part of the Chinese lands and is not integral to the identity of the Chinese nation (bit of a sidetrack/footnote here–technically China could lodge a more convincing claim to parts of Vietnam and Laos on the basis of historical, ethnolinguistic, and cultural ties than they could to Taiwan).

          Ukraine and Belarus, on the other hand, constitute the birthplace of Russian civilization. Big difference.

          I’d say we have a win-win in either case. I’d feel bad for the Taiwanese, of course, but there’s a bigger game to be played here.

          • George Michalopulos says

            Interesting, JS, very interesting.
            Brendan, as to your question, as I understand it, the revocation of Trump’s/Pompeo’s declaration re Taiwan will not be able to go forward smoothly.

        • The U.S. has been interested in China for a long time. We hoped to use them in the 70’s and 80’s to be our workshop for cheap goods. We hoped that China would change and become like Japan and South Korea. Complacent and under our thumb. However, China went their own way by growing their own economy on their terms. Much like the situation in the Ukraine, nothing fundamentally will change in our foreign policy (Trump sent more weapons and money to the Ukraine that Obama did in eight years). Biden will still go after China. The whole ‘pivot’ to the East started under Obama and continued under Trump. Just look at any map of U.S. military bases that surround China. How are they even a threat to the American people?

          The U.S. might trigger a war in Taiwan (who was more a part of China than Hawaii was a part of the U.S. during WWII) or create a proxy war in the Philippines or another Southeast Asian country. But I pray that it won’t happen. Both powers have nuclear weapons. And though we have torn up every nuclear deal that kept peace under Trump, Obama, and Bush, I still hope that calmer heads will prevail.

          Here is a documentary highlighting U.S. involvement in the Pacific and the costs of the American Empire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAfeYMONj9E&t=2s Or just read Foreign Affairs https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ if you want to know what the Deep State is thinking.

    • It sounds like Mr. Pompeo is trying to start a war while he still can.

      “We wish to remind the United States that whoever plays with fire will burn himself. The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action,” a spokesman for China’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement.
      “China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-US relations and the two countries’ cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on the wrong path.”

      https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3116908/china-us-tensions-beijing-warns-un-envoys-mission-taiwan

      • Johann Sebastian says

        China is perhaps the only nation the US is antagonistic toward that actually deserves a good beating.

        The People’s Republic of China is the True Evil Empire and commits mass murder and mayhem while idiots make excuses for her.

        • Perhaps, but do a billion-plus ordinary Chinese deserve this?
          They have no more say over the government of their country
          than Trump voters now seem to have in the United States.

          • Gail Sheppard says

            That’s the difficult part of the equation. The Chinese people have no control over the Chinese Communist Government.

            • Michael Bauman says

              I live near a rail line on which run trains carrying shipping containers. Probably from the gulf coast. Two containers per car. I was stopped by one this morning. 200 cars. At least three of those per day. 60% to 75% are of Chinese origin.

              • Gail Sheppard says

                I hate when that happens!

                • Michael Bauman says

                  The wait is not a problem. But doing arithmetic that means there are roughly 300000 containers a year that flow through McPherson, KS to be distributed throughout the US. As many as 250000 to 270000 of those containers have a Chinese origin. I am sure there are massively higher numbers coming through the west coast ports.

                  Lord have mercy, but this is a real failing of our modern economic system. It is analogous to Stalin creating famine in the Ukraine.

                  • Klaus Scharwtz from the World Economic Forum on “Year Zero,” aka the Great Reset 2021 — ‘there might be a global cybersecurity attack that disrupts power lines, financial institutions, etc. that makes Covid look like a minor disruption.’

                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHdGenx4d44

                    I am officially donning at tin hat now! But also buying a generator and several large tubs of peanut butter this weekend.

                    Be safe, all.

          • Johann Sebastian says

            Sadly, that’s what happens in war. It’s becoming clear that the other options have failed.

            Have seven billion people worldwide deserved the events of the past year? Have two million deserved to lose their lives as a direct result (and who knows how many more indirectly) of what they’ve unleashed?

            It wouldn’t be unreasonable to compare this to World War Two, to be quite honest. How much death and destruction was brought about, yet we really only hear about the six million that were murdered by the Nazis and are admonished never to forget? There you’re talking about a period of six years, juxtaposed against a worldwide population of two billion at the time, and you get something that on a percentagewise basis that is less significant than what we’re seeing now. Yes, there were many more millions killed, but we don’t remember those.

            Only difference is that no one wants to touch the CCP. And those that do have taken a course that really leaves no justification for doing so.

        • The problem with China is that it is trying to out America in American style. I lived there for four years and can tell you that it is one of the most capitalistic countries I have ever lived in. All my students and their parents wanted come to America to study American economics to get ahead socially in China. All people ever talk about is money and how they are going to make more money. There is little to no government regulation on most businesses with social media and boycotts being the only regulator. China is essentially America during the Gilded/Progress Age just over a hundred years ago with more closed borders and a rigorous immigration system. I could never become a citizen of China even if I married there and wanted to.

          Yes, China is a police state with a massive surveillance network and the social credit system is horrendous. But our credit and prison systems are also pretty bad, too. I would say that China has worse bureaucracy but then they are the ones who invented it. Evil empire opposed to the U.S.? Or the pot calling the kettle black?

          • Johann Sebastian says

            Oh, believe me, I know. The mistake I made was that I always thought the Chinese were concerned primarily with making money and otherwise minded their own business. Any exploits beyond their borders were purely pragmatic and tied to economic ambitions.

            My dad (a Filipino) warned me, however, that Chinese aspirations are inextricably tied to their history and are simultaneously more ambitious and covert than those of Japan during the Second World War.

            • I happened upon this book last night, whose author was a defected KGB agent and deemed the most important source of Soviet intelligence by our CIA. He claimed that Perestroika was a ruse so that Western nations would let their guard down and that the Sino-Russian communist alliance was strong, in secret, with eventual plans to create a communist UN.

              http://chinhnghia.com/GOLITSYN(Anatoliy)-Perestroika_Deception_(1998).pdf?fbclid=IwAR3Nu9Rz-exdYtS0qAXufOyxhIV8UoFRF_O5z09evv0NcCPevY41aGaQUEs

              I had dinner conversation last Thursday with an Orthodox academic more intelligent than me who said something like, “If you’re a Democrat you fear Russia, if you’re a Republican you fear China.” It was funny, but clearly it is more complicated than that.

              Surely someone here has read this book?

              • Gail Sheppard says

                Very interesting observation.

              • I think it’s a far-fetched theory. Perestroika and the subsequent collapse of the USSR completely destroyed Russia; there was no way anyone could predict the recovery that has occurred under Putin. The (China-supported) KGB coup in 1991 was a total failure.

                A certain person told us that “you will know them by their fruits.” I don’t think Russia, or any of the former Soviet republics, are planning a communist UN any time soon. They are too busy building churches, resisting the new world order, and leading relatively normal lives.

                My theory is that the same powers held the reins in both the USSR and USA and, like rats fleeing a sinking ship, sucked all the usable capital out of the dying USSR, left Russia a dying husk, and fled to the West, where they have since consolidated their control over global finances and capital along with their friends on Wall Street and in the City of London.

                Golitsyn writes as if the USA is some innocent, gullible, “gee, shucks, golly” good guy that’s getting hoodwinked into this, rather than the main source of state-sponsored terrorism, diplomatic bullying, and economic-financial manipulation it is, and has been since before the USSR croaked. The Cold War had no good sides; the USA has invaded and attacked more nations than the USSR ever did.

                • Happy Namesday!

                  • I wish. My family and I actually use the new calendar, so that we are in sync with our local parish, so we celebrated a ‘happy temporarily-tolerated name day’ as my wife christened it, two week ago. One day we’ll be on the Church calendar, one day.

                    I appreciate your kindness, though. God bless you.

      • George Michalopulos says

        So what to do, Rufus? Kow-tow before Biden’s new overlord?

        I’d say Biden (or more precisely, his handlers) are going to be served a dish called revenge, which the Chinese say is “best served cold”.

        And besides, it’s not like anybody wanted Biden to run. Obama himself practically begged him not to run. Oh well.

        Of course, Biden is immaterial. His passing from the scene is already a fait accompli. Our oligarchy long ago figured out that the best way to destroy the anti-war movement in the US and to propagate needless wars abroad was with a minority at the helm. This came to their attention during the Bush 43 administration. Obama, a biracial Muslim was their ticket. And boy did it work well! Bush gave us 2 wars while Nobel Peace Prize Winner Obama upped it to seven!

        Under Kamasutra Harris, we can expect to see more useless wars.

        Buckle up, people! It’s gonna be fun.

  30. Why on earth do you have such an avatar? I’m no prude, but come on… we need to have standards.

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Agreed. Needs to change, ML, if you want to comment again.

      • Molon Labe says

        Hmm… very curious. I did not notice this. I never chose an avatar, nor uploaded one. The email I used was similarly a throwaway (not for any reason having to do with this blog, or any concerns regarding its proprietors). I can’t help but find it pretty amusing, haha!

        Not a specialist on WordPress, but my guess would be that another poster in years past used the same name, or even provided a similar address (I used anon@gmail I think), and as a joke used this ridiculous image. Then when I posted, it was pulled up. So believe me, I wasn’t trying to scandalize any of the good Orthodox folks here with a cartoon pin-up.

        • Gail Sheppard says

          You are absolutely right. People ARE using other people’s names. If you could create a unique email for use on our system and send in a comment to me, I won’t post the comment, but I will make sure that I only post things from you with this new email address.

  31. “FBI Claims Jurisdiction and Yesterday [Friday] Took Control of
    Shredded Ballots Being Analyzed in Georgia – Sends Them Back to Shredder”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/breaking-fbi-claims-jurisdiction-yesterday-took-control-shredded-ballots-analyzed-georgia-sends-back-shredder/?ff_source=Twitter&ff_campaign=websitesharingbuttons

    FBI: There is no evidence of election fraud.
    How do they know? They destroyed it all…

  32. Pompeo speech at VOA today:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbzkPNvPYw

  33. China Develops Helmets for Soldiers With Self-Destruct Button
    https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-develops-helmets-for-military-soldiers-with-self-destruct-button_3651136.html

    “The Chinese military is equipping soldiers stationed in Tibet with newly developed helmets embedded with a self-destruct button.

    The button will trigger an embedded bomb to go off, killing the soldier.

    “At a battalion or brigade level command center, a commander monitors a soldier who is far away by using the navigation system. The commander can activate the self-destruct function of the soldier’s helmet if he can’t get in contact with him,” state-run media China Observer reported on Dec. 27.”

    What could possibly go wrong?