This vintage image depicts three musicians playing Yankee Doodle Dandy during the American Revolution.
Every now and then, especially when things are intolerable, something breaks which brings things to a head. Sometimes it’s a political event, other times it’s a military defeat. And then other times, it’s something from the cultural sphere.
In 1770 for instance, five Americans were shot to death in Boston. It became known as the Boston Massacre. Three years later, several dozen Bostonians dressed up as Indians and perpetrated the Tea Party. Although the majority of the American populace was more or less indifferent to the revolutionaries, additional missteps were taken by the British government which increased the likelihood of secession.
The facts of the actual massacre were less inflammatory than was commonly thought. When the British soldiers who fired upon the protestors were brought to trial, their legal counsel was John Adams, and he was able to convince a local jury that the soldiers were firing in self-defense. Still, the incident ignited the flame that became the American Revolution.
In 1282, the people of Sicily rose up and slaughtered some 10,000 French men, women and children because one Frankish knight made a pass at a peasant woman. This resulted in the overthrow of French control of that island in a war known as the Sicilian Vespers.
Other historical examples abound. Sometimes, it’s a piece of literature. Consider for example Sir Walter Scott’s epic novel Ivanhoe, this encouraged the officer class of the Confederacy to feats of valor never before seen in American history.
Songs can also play a part in stirring the emotions of people. Examples abound, from “Ye Jacobites by Name” to “La Marseillaise”. That’s why most countries have national anthems, almost all of which are martial in nature.
Things like these strike a nerve, especially when society become unsettled, when one side is aggrieved and the other side is indifferent.
Recently, in America, two songs have been released which can rightly be called anthems. Both have “gone viral” (i.e. become overwhelmingly popular). Both have most definitely touched a nerve.
It’s not for me to predict what’s going to happen to the body politic because of these songs. Maybe nothing, maybe they’ll just fade away.
But maybe, just maybe, they portend something momentous. Why do I say this? Well, for one thing, the Establishment has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at these singers (Oliver Anthony and Jason Aldean). They’ve even tossed out the “R” word. As in Racist, Redneck or Right-winger.
And it hasn’t worked, not one bit. Neither Anthony nor Aldean have apologized for their songs. There’s no need to; the songs may be right-wing, they may be rednecks, but they’re not racists. Neither are the lyrics.
Nor are the people whom these artists are singing about. They aren’t hunkering down in embarrassment because their betters have scolded them. We’re just not buying it anymore. We know who the “rich men north of Richmond” are. The scales have fallen from our eyes.
Why? Because the present paradigm is untenable. As Yeats said over one hundred years ago
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”
In other words, to quote another, much earlier anthem, “the times they are a-changing”.
I did not listen to these two songs. I will not be influenced by emotional lamentations about the snakes in power or violence. It’s real simple for me. I will not comply with the rich bastards trying to capture global control of humanity.
Powerful words from a member of the European Parliament, Christine Andersen, about the state of affairs in our world: “You cannot comply your way our of a tyranny.”
In the entire history of mankind, there has never been a political elite concerned about the well-being of regular people,” said Andersen.
“ The world is not taken over by the big bomb or the great battle anymore, right now, in the 21st Century, it’s won or lost in the smallest of things, because they’re signals, signposts that direct the tyrants to impose worse and more and heavier restrictions on a daily basis.
They’ve been eating away at that resistance, that American spirit for a century. They know the weaknesses and the practical nature of the American citizen. They’ve corrupted all of the institutions that had been put in place to defend the people from the most egregious totalitarians that might be elected and now, we’re on our own. They come after the individual, because they’re weak and without moral support. They stand before the big building and the faculty of engineers and managers and have to hold that ground themselves. Often they buckle.” I will not buckle.
https://tldavis.substack.com/p/the-tyranny-of-authority
Is anyone going to answer my question about the possible reinstatement of covid mandates and what is the PLAN of ACTION (actual deeds, not just words)????
My guess is that they have realized that deaths have spiked big time bc of the vax and now that ppl are asking questions, boom, new deadly variant. I would have bet that it would have either started in Canada, Australia or England, those seem to be the places where excess deaths have been more noticeable.
They can have all the mandates they want, I’ll do the exact same thing as I did the first time…ignore them.
Constantine,
In my own case the plan is simple: Do not comply.
And if my bishop insists upon what I consider to be practical blasphemy in terms of the administration of Holy Communion I will go elsewhere. Fortunately, we now have a different bishop from the one we had during the pandemic, so I have hope that this will not happen again.
I also will continue to not comply.
@Constantine, with Pfizer and Moderna stocks down over 30%, guess who needs more money in their coffers?
Here’s a good podcast by Korean American that is almost always spot on.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwSn6PipFQq/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
I am absolutely indifferent to the “racist” label. If what I believe is racist in someone’s eyes, so be it. I simply do not let it affect me in any way.
Now, it is a fact that Black America has been weaponized by the Democratic Party against whites, particularly white males. It is also a fact that as a group they perpetually score significantly lower on intelligence tests than whites, Asians or Latinos and that, if you disregard the black and Latino populations, crime rates here in America are on par with Europe, while crime rates among Black Americans are on par with Central Africa. Black on white crimes of violence are much more prevalent in America than the reverse, totally out of proportion to the relative size of the black population.
Here is an attempt to “debunk” the book The Bell Curve from the Scientific American. Notice, it focuses totally on the alleged racial animus of the authors rather than the fact that the data in the book is rock solid. The point of the author seems to be that “anti-racism” is a higher value than reality, which should be suppressed and/or not investigated so as to protect the narrative.
If you combine all that with the fact that we are discovering that multiculturalism does not work and is destructive to everyone involved, citing as examples Muslim immigrants in Europe and blacks and Latinos in America, you will likely be labelled as a racist.
However, it is all verifiably true.
So what about the Byzantine Empire? Rather than being an example of “multiculturalism”, it had a single distinct imperial culture in which everyone educated and relevant spoke Greek and moreover, shared its Hellenistic culture. Same with the Russian Empire except that it had large regional communities of other cultures but did not mix them in the Russian heartland.
It used to be taken for granted that birds of a feather flock together and that this was natural and healthy. You see it dramatically on display in the animal kingdom and throughout human history.
Where is this obsession against “racism” coming from? Politics, obviously. It is nothing more, and nothing less, than the efforts of the Democratic Party to divide and rule in America. Everything that is actually, genuinely bad about “racism” boils down to violence which is otherwise objectionable regardless of the racial component.
I wish everyone well in their own homelands. But we whites in America have destroyed our own and there appears no way out but collapse, partition or perpetual torment. It should be a cautionary tale for homogenous populations of other countries.
Misha, I mostly agree.
A gentleman on the Duran commented, ‘We’re really beyond the Pale, now.’
This offhand comment struck me like a lightning bolt. The historic context is obvious (to me) and the urgency to address it palpable. What I’m talking about is a stubborn conflict that was made evident at the foot of the Cross.
If we’re indeed (and it seems likely we are) headed toward or in the midst of World War III, there is a clear bridge connecting these world wars. The attack and dissolution of monarchs gave way to democracies, nation states gave way to Marxist laboratories, which in turn are giving way to a one world government.
Someone wise once said, where “the votes of two fools equal more than one wise man,” and the results of the mob toward two puppets are counted by their shadowy masters, democracy doesn’t hold its illusory power anymore.
One (among many) concerns that the COVID narrative exposed was the total farce of democracies and their collusion with tech companies, universities, media, the banks, and others. I might point out, however, the while we speak of these entities as separate entities, they are, beyond appearances, a single organism of the State.
This is evident.
Indeed, we’re beyond the Pale. Is there is no putting the genie back in the bottle?
I would propose another model of linear political development. It is becoming clear that “democracy” is only a station on the way to whatever form of government will prevail on earth. We had monarchies, revolutionary governments from the French to the Soviet, fascist governments and liberal democratic government. But none of it will pass the test of time except some form of monarchial or limited monarchial arrangement.
Various forms of authoritarianism prevailed for many centuries and will be revived by mankind most everywhere due to necessity. Oligarchic fascism does not produce a viable political system and this is what “democracy” has degenerated into. MNC’s simply create consent through control of the media.
It is similar to the problem with pure capitalism. There must be an authority at the top, unbeholden to the oligarchs, who is moved by the national interest, not the interest of global capital. Otherwise, the economy of the general populace will be despoiled and they will be reduced to poor serfs.
This is what Putin and Orban have spearheaded in their respective countries. The notion is spreading far and wide. Trump is a very weak, milquetoast version of the “strongman government’ which seems to be materializing.
You may recall that Star Trek TOS actually predicted such a political development on earth in the late 20th century spurred by genetically enhanced supermen (“Khan”). Roddenberry, of course, considered such people to be fascists, as do contemporary progressives, so their rule had to be overcome to evolve and get to the Federation.
But the mere projection of such a possibility is a bit prescient.
So where do we get monarchs? In the USA? We have already overthrown one.
I’m sure Queen Victoria has plenty
of German descendants going spare.
Why not Prince Harry and Princess Sparkle? They live here and she’s an American. The tabloids would have a field day.
Snark off.
One of the good things about hereditary monarchy is that it takes the politicking off at the uppermost level. Neither you nor I nor anybody else could ever hope to be king so we would concentrate our efforts of our own little corner of the world.
Wanna take even more money out of the equation?
Repeal the 17th Amendment and go back to the States electing their respective Senators.
As for the House, go Ancient Greek: have the nominees gather in each precinct within a Congressional district and have them place their lots in a sortition machine. That would be the “primary”. Whichever lot is pulled, then the winners of ever precinct would meet at the capital city of each state and place their lots in another sortition machine. That guy would be the Congressman for that biennium.
Or how about this: whoever wants to run for office, upon winning, would have to place all of his wealth and resources (except for his primary residence) in a blind trust. No more “play it like Pelosi”.
In either case, the States should subsidize the housing for the representatives in the Congress, both House and Senate.
The closest living relative to George Washington who can command the respect of the nation.
In mediaeval Ireland, The Pale (Irish: An Pháil) or The English Pale
(An Pháil Shasanach) was controlled by the English invaders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pale#/media/File:Ireland_1450.png
Forted up inside the Pale (ie: inside the palisade), the English were safe.
Beyond the Pale (ie: in free Ireland), they were not necessarily so.
I’m of the opinion that we are currently already in WW3, however, in the beginning stages of it. This war is not only a hot war (and probably soon to be hotter), but also economic and political. Look at BRICS, look at the governments who have collapsed across Europe. Like how WW2 was fought against Nazism, WW3 is being fought against the tyrannical liberal democracy promulgated and forced down the collective worlds throat by the U.S.
The genie is out of the bottle and it’s not going back in any time soon.
WWIII began in 2008 when US armed Georgia attacked.
Maybe WW2 was fought against Nazism, but perhaps a more accurate way to put it is the Second World War was between nationalists and internationalists. The victors were freemasons and communists.
Lord have mercy, looks like Germany has fully embraced democracy: https://www.infowars.com/posts/disturbing-german-daycare-centers-provide-masturbation-rooms-for-children/
But, and hey, “At least we aren’t speaking German.”
Petros, I think you and Brendan are correct.
To understand why, you have to step back and ask what is the scope of the conflict and the stakes and not get too hung up on the weapons being employed. To many people, WWIII means nuclear exchanges. However, between great powers, that is most unlikely. Mutually Assured Destruction still retains an enormous deterrent effect.
So much so that it is actually unreasonable to think about WWIII being a nuclear conflict. It is a fear that sells because humans, for some reason, enjoy a certain amount of jeopardy as entertainment. But it is bad business, and that is decisive to the point of being dispositive. Better to call a nuclear exchange between great power “The Last War” rather than WWIII because any subsequent wars will be waged “with sticks and stones”, as one wit observed.
Hybrid, asymmetric and proxy warfare are the means of WWIII. They are being employed by the US, Europe, Russia and China as we speak. Contrary to prevalent memes, it is not really a war between unipolarity and “multipolarity”. One should not believe anyone’s bullshit, even that of the good guys. It is a war between those in Washington and Brussels who want a continuation of the Euro-American Empire to go global and those in Moscow and Beijing who want a Eurasian Empire, controlled by them, to economically dominate Asia and Europe (at the least). What the players say is irrelevant. Those are the capacities that each side is seeking and whatever the present intention of the current leadership, fallen human nature is aggressive and all leaders will eventually be displaced.
The stakes of this are being obscured in the United States and Europe for political reasons. First of all, there is a constant downplaying of the Russian position. This is simply delusional denial. The narrative is always that China is the real threat and Russia is a gas station with nukes. This is a pale attempt at pseudo-sophistication. “Finance rules, thereafter manufacturing, thereafter the production of resources (energy, food, etc.) and only then, finally, raw military power”, according to the Western narrative. That is actually an inversion of the truth. In the short term, raw military power is supreme. Thereafter production of resources (one can’t eat or burn consumer goods or money). Thereafter manufacturing and then, finally, finance. Now finance can be used as a powerful club against lesser powers. But among great powers it is not particularly effective.
The West has it exactly bass-ackwards and has, partially for this reason, resorted itself to being the Empire of Lies, masking all the mistakes and failures with a constant stream of juvenile quality disinformation.
The key to the acceleration of what might have been inevitable anyway is the Western treatment of post-Soviet Russia. Brendan is correct in a sense that the Russo-Georgia war of 2008 was a sort of turning point marking the onset of irreconcilable differences and therefore inevitable conflict. After that and America’s reaction, it was only a matter of time until the Ukraine debacle commenced and the Russians began preparing for a large-scale conflict and simultaneously growing ever closer to the economic powerhouse/neighbor to the south, China.
Keeping Russia and China unallied was always the key. And that ship has sailed. Together, they are a juggernaut and we are simply fortunate that they only have regional aspirations, not a taste for global hegemony. But since global hegemony is the desire of the Euro-American Empire, we have a world scale conflict, every bit as decisive as WWII in redrawing the economic map of the planet.
In a sense, the future was decided when the Soviet Union collapsed and capitalism returned to Russia. Capitalism had already made great inroads in ostensibly communist China. Once Russia shook off the yoke of Western interference in the post-Soviet Russia, all one needed to do is look at a map, the economic capacities (including natural resources) of the respective parties and their evolving military capacities to see that Russia was going to surpass its former status as one of the two great superpowers. After all, it achieved this status under the yoke of Bolshevism. Liberated to engage in capitalist economic expansion, given its resources and military capacity, there was nothing to hold it back and a proven track record of global influence.
Sir Nicholas Brown penned a book on introductory Russian back in the mid-nineties called Russian Course. The cover should be all the clues that a savvy person needs to put two and two together. You have a shot of the Kremlin cupolas in the background and a street level shot of Moscow with Russian troops in formation marching past an ad for Pepsi.
Religion, military and capitalism.
Lot’s of very effective kill-shots here Misha. I would add only this: the turning point in my opinion was Syria. Russia played a very crafty, decisive strategy in pushing back against Uncle Neocon. This woke up the rest of the world that the Ledeen Principle has come up empty.
(For those who don’t know, Michael Ledeen, a notorious neocon, once said that “it’d a good idea for the US to take some small nation by the scruff of the neck every now and then and slam them against the wall”.) Why these people aren’t pounding rocks at Leavenworth is beyond me.
Just as a note, I’m beginning to see a bit more clearly regarding the Prigozhin thing. It was initially murky, but I’m inclined to believe it was an inside job by Wagner mercs. They killed the top three people in the organization and were one of the few groups of people who knew that they would all be together on that particular plane at that time. The mental picture of the second plane circling the crash scene and then heading back to Moscow piqued my curiosity. If it were a SAM, why would you go near there? A cleverly placed bomb could blow off one or both wings and make it look like a missile hit from a distance.
I’m told there is a succession protocol inside Wagner and I suspect that whoever is directly below the three top guys killed, who may have been in the second plane, likely did it. I’d say it was with approval from the RF and the investigation will lead anywhere but to the actual culprit.
Regardless, the important thing is that the traitor who staged the mutiny appears dead and that restores some semblance of balance to the state of affairs in the Kremlin, which cannot abide betrayal at that level.
And here’s the kicker: The guy in the second plane who wanted to get rid of the three top guys killed who was likely the one who did it is. . . Prigozhin! He is much more valuable to the RF “dead,” now that BRICS has past the finish line. As a ghost, he can leave the distractions and the enemies of his past, behind, and start anew.
Putin is neither forgiving or unforgiving: He is strategic and Prigozhin is an asset he wouldn’t want to lose. He would respect Prigozhin for trying to play him if that is indeed what happened. But I don’t think it went down that way. I still believe the CIA stepped in it by offering Prigozhin as high as a billion dollars, some say, to betray and humiliate Putin. Who stages an attack that includes walking down the middle of the street where everyone can see you?! Russia has snipers with weapons! If it weren’t a ruse: (1) Putin would never have seen it coming because it was such a stupid plan and (2) Prigozhin would have been executed on the spot, neither of which happened.
This, “Ah, gee, I wish you wouldn’t have done that, Prig, but you take a little time off, do some cooking, and pack for a little trip to Bellerose for some R & R ’cause you deserve it.” – This is crazy IMO. I don’t see it.
I think it went down more like this: “I can’t believe they tried to pull something like this off, boss. Do they really think I would be stupid enough to walk down the middle of the street to stage a coup?! With all the satellites Trump’s got up there, the idea that they could succeed with my help and rub your nose in it shows how stupid they are. You and Trump are not at war. It’s Biden who’s unhinged. He thinks American troops are like GI Joes that he can play with in his backyard. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when they realized we played them . . . again! So, thanks for the laugh, boss, but it was almost too easy. The West has got nil for brains these days. Trump has got to get back in the saddle again before the lunatics run themselves into the ground. – And thanks for letting me keep the money, boss. When I told you about it, I wasn’t sure how you were going to take it. I’m glad you believed me because it was the stupidest plan known to man. And now it’s onto Belarus for a little R & R before heading to South Africa to convince the natives that BRICS is the best thing since sliced bread. They’re not used to things going their way. It’s not going to be an easy sell in the beginning, but they’ll come around when they see cash in their hands.”
Misha, what you’re describing can be summed up in one word: matriarchy.
The pathologies which are present in the black community now are unprecedented. Daniel Patrick Moynihan predicted them back in 1965 in his seminal book. They were not yet evident but the trajectory was still there.
Presently, Charles Murray is predicting the exact same thing happening among whites as well. Again, it’s all because the government is propping up matriarchy (which is unsustainable on its own).
There is a great deal of truth to this. There is a sense in which the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) and the rise of the welfare queen have utterly corrupted the black community. It is matriarchal, as you say. And that type of organization is a host for all manner of pathologies. But the CRM created a certain consciousness, one of an oppressed minority with its own separate culture entitled to all sorts of remedies and entitled to hate “the man”. That is the essence of multiculturalism. This happened at a time when blacks had made significant strides toward assimilation in white culture.
Perhaps that was the point, not of the rank and file in the CRM, but of the elite leadership.
What it led to is the present “gangsta” culture.
Please help. If everyone kicks in 20 bucks it can make a huge difference
https://orthochristian.com/155552.html
https://www.fundforassistance.org/pakistan
I think (and hope) you’re right on the money, George!
The times when the populace was happy to stay in their lane because those in power were doing their job responsibly and as best they could – those days are kaput.
Most of the population doesn’t trust anyone in charge – I think the past few years took the wool off of too many eyes. David Brooks wrote a column a few weeks ago where he self-relfected that “may we (the elite class) are the bad guys.”
Ya think? They’ve created a system that totally benefits the elite class at the expense of the American population. Rs and D’s combined – the Uniparty. That’s why Trump – who isn’t even campaigning and is stitting out any Repub debates — has like 60% support. This fact is astounding! And they’re pretending that he doesn’t exist and that it doesn’t matter.
Trump has so much power not because he’s a statesman but because he’s the guy who went to the elite class cocktail party and peed on their floor and punched the host in the nose – and people love him for it! That’s how much the American elite class is now despised.
This stupid neocon war in Ukraine is exactly the same – it only benefits the neocon elite class, at the expense of everyone else. No one outside the neocon class wants it, not even most Ukrainians, from what I hear. President Zel tried to negotiate peace with Russia last year — and he, too, was used as a peens-piano-playing tool by the neocon elite class when they told him to shut up and stand down. About 350k Ukrainian men and women have died in the past year or two – for what? To make Victoria Nudelman (aka Nuland) and the Kagan cabal happy?
Americans are done playing that game. Tucker’s recent interview with COL Macgregor touches on all of this and is fantastic.
The elite neocon game is going to crash down fairly hard and fairly soon…. many are pretending that it ain’t coming, but it certainly is.
The internet has many faults, but it has at least enabled Americans – and many others worldwide! – who still maintain senses of self-worth, of family, and of patriotism to unite and not be used as schmucks by the ruling class anymore.
The days of the populace being used by the Nudelmans, Kagans, O’Bidens, Bushies, Clintons etc cabal as useful tools and hapless morons will soon be gone.
What you wrote holds true for me.
What is being described is the collapse of the social contract. When that happens the ruling class loses legitimacy.
Thanks, George for clarifying what I could not. The social contract is collapsing in America. Of course, I did some reading about what you defined which helped me a lot.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-01-13/social-cohesion-is-vital-and-were-losing-it/
* * Breaking * *
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin aboard plane involved in fatal crash
https://www.rt.com/russia/581729-wagner-chief-plane/
It can be argued that Putin wanted rid of him,
but the same may be said of NATO and the US,
particularly with regard to the trouble in Niger.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
My guess is that it was the Russian military with Putin’s approval:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkavDVG10l0
Having broken the agreement to accept exile in Belarus, his days were numbered. And Putin actually did the right thing, just two months, to the day, after the mutiny. No doubt the military had wanted to kill him after he sent the convoy toward Moscow and killed all those Russian aviators on the way. Putin doubtlessly had restrained them up until now. They probably shot the wing off the aircraft with a surface to air missile. There will be an investigaion, but I would guess that it was munitions that could be traced to either Russia or the Ukrainian armed forces to preserve deniability.
Russia is not America. This cannot be stressed enough. It is not American custom (Hillary notwithstanding) for American leaders to off rivals. This is not true in Russia and Russia has a long history of violent contests for power. This cultural phenomenon means that open challenges to leadership authority simply cannot be permitted. Doing so signals weakness and invites repeat performances and is seen by old school Russians (most importantly, the siloviki, the powerful men who surround Putin) as a failure to accept one’s responsibility to safeguard the stability of the government.
This is what disturbed me about the whole Prigozhin affair in general. Though exile is, of course, a traditional punishment, in the modern world it is meaningless due to the prevalence of technology and media. A rebel can do just as much damage from abroad as internally. So I was suspicious of that remedy to begin with. But I just figured that either Putin agreed to it to keep the internal peace in Russia OR that he would inflict justice at the appropriate time.
Let me be frank, it is un-Russian to let treason/betrayal go unpunished. It’s that bad a cultural offense. Prigozhin got what he deserved.
Now, of course, it could be the CIA or the SBU. I wouldn’t exclude that possibility. But the simple explanation is usually the best and I can certainly understand the motivation of both Putin and the Russian high command to eliminate him.
“Ye Jacobites By Name” is not a song about resistance, George.
The original lyrics formed an anti-Jacobite tirade,
later rewritten by Robert Burns as antiwar song.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Jacobites_by_Name
The song explicitly repudiates the method of war
and effectively admits the Jacobite cause is dead:
Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state,
Then let your schemes alone in the state.
So let your schemes alone,
Adore the rising sun,
And leave a man undone, to his fate, to his fate.
And leave a man undone, to his fate.
The ‘rising sun’ refers to the House of Hanover.
The ‘man undone’ is Prince Charles Edward Stuart
(or possibly his brother Cardinal Henry of York,
who inherited the Claim on Charles’ death in 1788).
It is a rattling good tune, but not pro-resistance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeVdejmRqRw
For a fine Scots song of defiance, you want Robert Burns: Scots Wha Hae
(Bruce’s Address to the Scottish Army before the Battle of Bannockburn).
Burns’ lyrics were written around 1793 to the tune Hey Tutti Taiti
which tradition insists was played at the battle on the day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKT7qxk9-pw
The same tune, as: Marche des Soldats de Robert Bruce
is also a staple in the French military tradition.
This is because it was played by the piper of Ste Jeanne d’Arc
when she raised the Siege of Orléans and entered the city itself
at the head of her guard of sixty Scottish men-at-arms in 1429.
Here it is by a French Marine band (plus a pair of pipers):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WulAWn_N_O0
Brendan, thank you for the correction.
No problem, George.
PS: It’s a trio of pipers. 🙂
PPS: There was another famous young Jeanne,
Jeanne Hachette (or Hatchet Jean) of Beauvais;
who, in 1472, saw off the Duke of Burgundy’s army.
Her story can be found at:
http://historyheroines.com/2020/03/27/jeanne-hachette/
I have been to Beauvais (about 50 miles north of Paris).
The statue of Hatchet Jean is very impressive.
The woman who wrote this story is as inventive the heroine. As a manager, I used to scour the universe looking for people like her. What people didn’t know wasn’t important to me. I once made in guy who was a word processor (typist) a system analyst. I can teach people skills, but it’s a lot harder (and takes a lot longer) to teach critical thinking, creativity, and bravery in terms of hatching a plan and having the courage to try it. In this young woman’s case, she defines the problem thusly: “How do I get people invested in my storytelling so I can make a little money to continue doing what I love to do?”
So she comes up with this jewel of a plan. . .
If you’d like to help with my research, you can buy one of the books from my wishlist. This will give me access to a broader range of sources which means more information. This is going to result in posts with a higher quality – and more of them!
It’s not just a good story, it’s also well told.
I heard the Aldean song, and it’s a firm “meh” from me. It’s still a slick corporate deal, pushing at the line a bit, but staying quite safe with most of the content. I don’t even think it was really noticed when it was released; it’s just when he put a video out with it. Yeah, sing about “Try this in a small town” after Kenosha and Rittenhouse being rightfully acquitted. See how even small places get destroyed, and how many cowards are willing to get along to go along.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” is something completely different. A man and a guitar, singing his heart out. Someone who knows working. Was the last really successful singer/songwriter who did that Jim Croce? I’ve probably watched 30 reaction videos to “Rich Men North of Richmond” and one thing that happens in almost every one is the mouth of the person listening drops open in disbelief with the Jeffrey Epstein reference. Usually the song is just stopped, and the commentator is in disbelief of what he or she just heard. That is how much of a taboo JE is in “polite” company. As one of the women I watched said, it doesn’t matter how popular this song gets online, how many millions of views it gets online. It will probably never be heard on the radio for that line alone.
If you’re interested, I did a post about the reactions, including international ones, over here:
https://breathofhallelujah.com/2023/08/19/people-like-me-people-like-you/
After watching both the Republican Debate & the Trump interview with Tucker, I think the Democrats may get another 4 years. All of those candidates were more than under-whelming – they were embarrassing.
I imagine everybody would underwhelm us at this point. As a population, we have experienced a lot of trauma. I don’t even remember what it was like to be dazzled.
I finally got the memo. The marginal people have pushed the crazy people to the top by sitting on the bench and not getting in the way.
I would rather see a second Biden term that anyone else but Trump. It’s just more honest that way. The real dichotomy is between the globalists and nationalists, between the Uniparty and those dedicated to dismantling it, between the old arrangement of fake wrestling and a New Arrangement.
The odds of a New Arrangement are low, but they depend completely on Trump 2.0 if there is any chance of even partial success. The rest is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic and even with Trump it’s a longshot.
If Trump can’t fix it, let it burn.
Unfortunately Misha, your analysis is the only realistic one. A coup took place in 2020 and the plotters aren’t going to give up their little racket. Outside of Trump, there is no other viable alternative because after four years of Trump, the scales fell from our eyes. We now know that it’s a rigged system and that Trump was able to throw a spanner in the works and get elected. Any Republican going forward is part of the wrestling match, it’s just that now we know it.
They’re going to do everything in their power to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
Of course they don’t realize that if they succeed in keeping Trump out of office, then it’s only going to accelerate the demise of our nation as a united, national enterprise. Why do I say this? Because the ultraleftists who make up the Executive branch (Blinken, Mayorkas, Garland, et al) are committed to destroying American normalcy. Unfortunately for them, they can’t govern. As you yourself have stated, they don’t have the cruelty needed to govern in a totalitarian fashion.
The best that we could hope for would be a gentle fracturing along state lines or more likely, a concatenation of several states forming regional blocs.
Agreed, Fr David.
I haven’t watched TV news, nor any political debates in decades. So, most of the things I saw last night, between Trump’s interview and then the debate was a shock to me.
I really had no idea how out of touch the GOP is with its own base. I knew it was bad, but they’re not even trying at this point. Forget just trying to run out the clock, it appears the elites realize the clock no longer needs to run out and at this point they are just mocking us.
Trump is world’s better than anyone else in the GOP, the problem is, he still is no where close to where we need to be to even turn this thing around, much less fix it. He is still on the “as long as they come legally” nonsense, which is much better than a wide open border, but with the current average income, the last thing this country needs is more people. And his “I would end the war in Ukraine on day one” comments. Great, but how?
By ending the funding to Zelensky, by letting Russia have the territory they captured, by working with our Orthodox brothers in the East for peaceful relations and against our own satanic elite, which your son in law is a prominent member of? Or by sending our military over and thinking that will cause Putin to back down and walk away? No one knows and his vague answer is uninspiring…and deeply concerning.
But at least Trump has some ideas of how bad things are.
Vivek has some ideas too, he is like the minor league version of Trump in that he brings some sense of reality to it all. But he is not a fighter, lets people talk over him, and it is hard to articulate we need to stop funding the endless wars and Ukraine if you then want to turn around and harass China over Taiwan when China already owns Taiwan and even our govt. says it is a one state policy.
DeSantis sounds like a guy who knows as well. He is young enough and seen how bad the GOP policies are, but at the same time, he knows where his bread is buttered. He very weakly will signal an “outsider” view like Trump, but not enough to commit to it, just enough he hopes he isn’t asked further about it. When pressed on it, he will worm his way from it back to GOP failed policies. He wants to end the war in Ukraine, yet he wants to increase military spending to project “strength to the world”, as if this is still the 1980’s. He wants to cut taxes to help the middle class, when for most the American people, saving an extra 5% on taxes isn’t going to improve their situation any longer, we are way past that.
The rest of the gang are either just put up there to make DeSantis look good, because he is really the choice of the GOP, or the GOP is THAT out of touch with reality. I don’t even want to waste time typing up about the rest of them gang. They are clowns, complete clowns, who even got boo’ed in an audience stacked to make them look good. How bad do you have to be to have an audience stacked to make you look good and they still boo you?
Ask Pence or Christie.
What a failed life they have lived! I think that is the anger in their voice, not that they are not going to win but the realization that they have sold themselves out for so little in return has to be frustrating. Haley is a typical anti-White girl boss. It is all about empty platitudes, climbing the ladder, to hell with everyone else. The rest are already forgotten by me.
Vivek might be a good best for your average person weighing whether they ought to hedge bets against Trump but also don’t want Clown World. Trump’s empty answers and his extremely dangerous cult of personality rule him way out. DeSantis is obviously scripted to sell America to the middle class one last time and he doesn’t have any ideas or solutions. The rest have no chance anyway.
Vivek will cause the evil GOP headaches the longer he sticks around poking holes in their worthless ideas, and at the same time, he has no cult of personality because he is so soft-spoken and calm. If he were to somehow win and life gets worse under him, he will not have 60,000 people waiting in cold weather to hear him give an empty platitude speech. So there’s that.
With this long post wrapped up…
Can you believe Bush 2004 talking points are still used by the GOP? I mean, for real, who is running that clown show? “Putin is an evil thug” “America is the greatest country on the planet” “Our Judeo-Christian values” “we must project strength” you might as well have an AI device do the debate next time, I think even it would do a better job.
I agree with you, Fr. While Vivek cut a more impressive figure, rhetorically speaking, he does have a Soros-aligned past that is worrying to me.
He does have two things going for him: 1) he’s a billionaire (or darn close to it), and 2) he got the memo that the old RINO way of doing things is defunct.
I also like the fact that he’s anti-war. Still, there are those things from his past…
Yes, but Trump has a Clinton-aligned past and has a record of surrounding himself with the wrong people…and taking their advice.
He started off well enough but quickly veered into RINO territory himself.
And much of the meddling with our Church affairs happened under his watch with the blessing of his appointees.
Ramaswamy seems friendly toward our values and beliefs. No Russia-bashing, no kowtowing to certain foreign policy interests that are detrimental to Orthodox abroad. From a pagan Hindu no less who dares to tell the rest, “God exists.”
Brings to mind another pagan who is quite dear to us—and fought under the banner of the Cross.
I’ll vote for Trump again, but I do feel he squandered the perfect chance. Too bad his son-in-law wasn’t Ramaswamy instead of Kushner.
Re Kushner, his Achilles Heel was Ivanka. She’s just as much a libtard as her hubby. True story: originally Trump wanted her to marry Tom Brady.
Well, like I said, unless for some reason he’s thrown out of the race, I’ll still favor him. But if he does somehow get in again and we see people of the Pence/Pompeo/Bolton ilk in top positions, then I’m sorry to say that we’ve been had big time.
And not to veer into identity politics, but as someone with Asian background, it wouldn’t hurt to have a brown man as the mouthpiece for this ideology as a counter to pandering white Wokeists who seem to know us colored
folk better than we know ourselves. Growing up in well-to-do communities that were predominantly Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern, it brings to mind the values and political positions I remember of family members and friends’ parents. Far more conservative (on the most fundamental) than any Anglo-white, black, or Latin that I’ve ever encountered. This new generation of Asians seems to have embraced the woke agenda because they think they’ll get something out of it.
One of the unintended consequences of identity politics is that all sorts of people are starting to wake up and realize that they too, have identities.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Asian-Americans make California purple.
Vivek is probably the best we can reasonably expect.
Part of the dumpster fire against Trump is to scare off anyone outside the political class who might think of being the next Trump (the Trump who actually does what Trump ’16 talked about doing).
Anyone who is going to actually take up the MAGA banner after Trump is going to have to be a lot more hardcore with a lot more follow-through.
Leftists were saying Vivek sounded fascist. That is just… LOL. The only one who has a prayer at accomplishing actual MAGA stuff post 2020 is going to have to be an actual fascist. If Trump accomplished anything it’s pushing the overton window much further in the direction it needs to go, but the actual candidate will need to go a lot farther if this country has any hope in its present form.
I don’t hold much hope for it. But I’m less concerned about Vivek’s old ties than I’m concerned about the other candidates. Let’s not forget that Trump was a Democrat and on many social issues he is pretty moderate if not on the more leftish side.
I don’t think we can count out an outsider based on priors alone. Although it’s an easy way to get fooled again too, so there’s that. With Desantis-Christie-Haley-Pence I know what I’m getting, for good or for ill. With a chaos candidate there is a greater risk, but also a greater opportunity for reward.
AS, one of the points that Gail and I made in our latest essay (“Ragnarok”) is that there is nobody else in the GOP field. Assuming someone like Pence or DeSantis is nominated, he will be branded “Hitler” as far as the DS/MSM is concerned.
The ironic thing is that during the pre-Trumpian era, any one of these candidates would be attractive and somewhat effective POTUS. Consider the Bushes, we got some great Federal judges and SCOTUS appt’s from them. Even tax cuts. However, they were still part of the kabuki theater that is national politics. So was McCain and Romney. Same with these guys.
Trump, for all his faults, exposed the DS once and for all. It’s not possible to go back to those days. ‘Murrica doesn’t exist anymore.
For me, the reality is that stark.
“For me, the reality is that stark.”
This one?
https://www.pixelstalk.net/iron-man-comic-cartoon-wallpaper-hd/
Trump aside, the Ramaswamy-Pence interaction at the recent debate was a fascinating clash of Millennial-Boomer fundamental worldviews.
> Americans have no identity. We need to rebuild it.
> Nay! American identity is God and country!
> Okay Boomer.
> Ronald Reagan said it’s morning in America and by gum we’re the greatest in the world!
> It is not morning in America.
Pence really did come across like a relic of 40 years ago. “Muh Reagan” has very little relevance today (did you know he’s been dead for almost 20 years?). It’s a lie that people tell themselves in their older years to feel comfortable, while the rest of us raising young children in this world actually have to deal with the realities of.
I’m, of course, a Bommer and Pence comes across as a relic to me! He speaks to people like he’s the dad and we’re the little kids who need to listen. If it were Thanksgiving, we’d all be sitting at the little table.
Yes, he talked like he was running in the 1988 election.
At the end of the day, talk is cheap. However, when you can command an audience like Trump, it’s hard to argue he’s not talking a great game.
So many of his supporters, like me, are having A LOT of fun watching him flummox the “intellectuals.” Like Rod Dreher, whom we support. He had a conniption fit when he saw George and I on stage in Washington. That we were chosen and he wasn’t must have bothered him because he tweeted over 50 times his complete distaste over the whole thing! (He was about to launch a new book whose title was the same as George’s speech which probably didn’t thrill him.)
George and I didn’t plan to be up there. We had asked a priest to go in our stead who canceled at the last minute. In any case, we were probably a better fit because it was ridiculously unrehearsed. Just “George and Gail,” with General Flynn, Alex Jones, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, and group of other disparate people! Trump isn’t stupid. He put together quite a team of supporters. Going to a rally of his is like going to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, only we dress up in our t-shirts (can’t wait to wear one with his mug shot) and our MAGA hats.
The requisite boring speeches have been replaced with, “We know he can do the job; He knows he can do the job; So let’s just have a good time, and act like a bunch of yahoos yelling, “Yeah!” every time he says we’re winning. More like a rowdy football game than a tennis match.
Trump is not the nerd who won the spelling bee. He a bull in a china shop and which is exactly what we need. A wrecking ball.
When I heard Pence open his mouth, all I could think was, “Dude, the boat left a long time ago, and you weren’t on it..”
But we did have a prototype for Trump and Ramaswamy back in the ‘80s and ‘90s with a lot more polish and experience: Pat Buchanan. He was calling it before anyone remotely believed our current mess was possible. It’s a shame he never won the nomination.
Yep…. Pence and Asa Hutchinson are very similar…. they act like it’s 40 years ago and America still wants to be led by sort-of-Protestant old white guys who’d play well on “The Lawrence Welk Show.”
That America is long gone…. so strange that Pence and Asa Hutchinson and their advisors don’t grasp this reality? They must realize it, on some level ?!?
FTS. I’m afraid that neither they, nor their advisors “grasp this reality”. Talk about generals fighting the last war.
JS, it is a shame. Buchanan pegged it back in 1992 with his “Midnight in America” speech. I for one, didn’t want to listen to it and became a mental denialist but deep down in my heart, I knew Buchanan was right.
Assuming Trump’s alive and healthy and that he hasn’t voluntarily dropped out, we can say for certain that either he will be the Republican nominee or that the Democratic nominee will win in 2024.
I don’t say that merely because I favor Trump. Many, many MAGA Republicans simply won’t vote for anyone else. In fact, what may happen is that the Republican Party nominates somebody other than Trump and Trump stays in the race, thus handing it to the Democrat. But that would be fine with the RNC. Either that or Trump graciously steps aside and MAGA stays home. Same result.
I mean, I know that I’m either going to vote for Trump or stay home. That much is certain.
If Trump is not the nominee, I will write in his name.
I think a critical part of MAGA stayed home in 2020 after 4 years of Javanka.
Shenanigans happened for certain, but the steal was made easier. I do think Trump lost a critical part of his 2016 base and they won’t come back.
You called it. Javanka, the dumping of Bannon, and poor choices like Bolton and Pompeo made me question whether Trump was serious at all.
He was serious, nobody spends that kind of money and time on a lark. My God! the last week of his campaign in 2016 he was doing 4-5 campaign stops a day! At 76 years old!
Re those appointments, he was operating under the delusion that he could bring together the different factions of the GOP and convince them because of the force of his personality to get to become MAGA/populists/America-firsters. Unfortunately, he needed neocons like Bolton and Pompeo to convince the GOP in Congress that he took their concerns into consideration.
Big mistake? Well, look at what he did get from the GOP-controlled Congress: funding for the Wall, excellent SCOTUS and judicial nominations, huge tax cuts, immigration restriction, massive deregulation, them going along with TPP/Paris Accords withdrawal, etc.
Now the entire neocon project/military adventurism is over. It will be easier in a second term for Trump to dictate the terms of foreign policy in a neo-isolationist manner. The Southern Border is hosting an invasion, even Hispanics want it sealed. In other words, the paradigm has shifted 180 degrees from the pre-2016/Unipolar world order to a America-firster/Multipolar world order. 2017-2025 were the birth-pangs of this movement.
Here we go again!
The HighWire | Episode 334: PANDEMIC 2.0
https://thehighwire.com/watch/
[Video – The Jaxen Report | 27:50 – 01:15:30]
A comprehensive analysis of the plans
for Mask Mandates and Lockdowns…
Forbye the ‘virus’ mince, this looks like a plan to screw
the Presidential elections if the Trump indictments fail.
It will be interesting to see how many will comply.
My father (Dr. Alvin Moss) is the second guest on this show, beginning about 1 hr. 23 min.—talking about his recent article critiquing the COVID-19 lockdowns on the basis of commonly-agreed principles of medical ethics.
Ukraine demands that US and EU stop buying oil
products from countries that refine Russian oil
https://scobricsinsight.com/ukraine-demands-that-us-eu-stop-buying-oil-products-from-countries-that-refine-russian-oil
‘ Ukraine has demanded that the US and Europe stop buying oil products by countries that use and process Russian oil like India despite the fact that Ukraine itself continues to earn revenue on the transportation of Russian oil. If the US and the EU listen to Kiev, then this will reverberate through the entire global oil market. The first countries that will suffer are the major oil importers: the US, the EU states and Ukraine itself. … ‘
Ukraine has demanded…???
That’s rich, considering that the Ukraine is still buying oil for Russia. (And they’re not the only ones.)
My grandchildren demand certain things, too. That’s what makes them childish.
A funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxiPWDtK0cg
A libertarian based site that provides extensive coverage and critique of all things COVID related.