The left is about as willing and capable of cleaning its own house(s) as Germany circa 1938.
The part of the audience that can't abide that comparison or is redirected into "Godwin!" or other conditioned responses is the problem. They will never see themselves as the problem. Decades of evidentiary support that they are the problem has not convinced anyone or anything. The dark money lawfare proceeds apace - in fact, it's cranked up.
The house-cleaning is going to come only from the outside. The US and its institutions is Signapore, to use another WW2 metaphor. All the defenses are outward-facing; the battleships are not up to the task. We're just preparing POWs.
Along the way, I'm happy for such clear-headed appraisals. I just wish the people who need to grok this were capable or willing of grokking it. Like I've told many a morally bankrupt chronic consumer of progressive class-1 narrative since October 7th, you're being awfully slow with your escape; sooner or later, that's going to cost you. Doesn't mean I don't love you, but there's only one ending.
What's happening on the Left is a fracturing. I've made the distinction between leftists and liberals many times - the "Left" is not monolithic (nor is the Right). Leftists have, for various reasons, come to dominate Democratic politics as well as what the average Joe thinks of when pondering the party's views and positions. Of late, however, more and more people on that side of the aisle are rejecting the leftists' extremes, and once a few brave liberals opted to risk the leftists' wrath, the ball started rolling.
I've heard it said that, once you've been punched in the face, you no longer have an existential fear of it. I think that more and more liberals are realizing that they can reject the leftists' insanities and survive, and that's the "house cleaning" I write of.
They're not going to become conservatives, that's for sure, but since I'm not down with many conservative ideas, I won't mind.
But this is about more than right-left. Government as an institution is a whole lot more than right-left - there are things it does (for better or worse - I'm looking at today rather than a dream of a sharply pared down govt) that are "nonpartisan" and affect all of us, and those things don't go so well when the people doing them forget that they serve us, rather than the other way around.
I know that politics is all about power, but if a few liars could be outed and thrown out, it'd be a start.
I think after October it's a distinction without a difference re: the liberals and the leftists who hijacked their party/ leadership positions. Maybe you're seeing different folks. 9 out of 10 people just swerve as needed and never add it up. I've heard from many of the ones in my friends/ family and that's what they're telling me, anyway.
So I must regretfully disagree, here. I don't think brave liberals exist; the ones that do are excommunicated and I've seen little to change my mind on that. Like I say, since October 7th, it's been the opposite: bravery is certainly not on display.
The house cleaning will come from without. But I'm not optimistic.
I continue to hope others will follow their example. But again, most of the left I directly observe simply swerved to suddenyl discover Bari Weiss and Bill Maher were racists, etc. It's not like there's ever a "Hey wait a minute... Bill Maher's not a right wing nutjob, what gives?" moment that is allowed in, say, higher education, anywhere. Or media. I don't see AOC losing any networking or influence or money. Nor Claudine Guy - it just gets plugged into the matrix elsewhere.
It will undoubtedly take the deliberate smashing of the existing infrastructure from all sides. I welcome the addition to the non-woke ranks of anyone capable or willing to see it. After the 7th, though, I think we're at war. Honestly, that's how I see it. One side has been waging it for a long time and occupies all the high ground; they ain't leaving just because Bill Maher suddenly gets it (despite not, with all the same evidence laid out for him, for so long.)
Not arguing with you or being defeatist, I'm just telling our side hey: there's no counteroffensive against CREW, that I can see. Time to build an air force and roll up the pontoon bridges, so to speak. One side has been moving troops into place for an awful long time and just tells us they aren't. "How did the Nazis invade Poland? They walked in backwards and said they were leaving." That's the left, everyday, -"they can't possibly be Nazis/ invading...." And the reverse as well ("It's got to be insurrection!")
But! I certainly continue praying for the good guys to win and place all my efforts in that direction.
“Al Capone, who per Google was "directly or indirectly responsible for over 200 murders, including the St. Valentine's Day Massacre that gave rise to the first national infringement of the Second Amendment (the National Firearms Act), was convicted not of those murders but of tax evasion. Sentenced to eleven years, he served seven, and was paroled because syphilis had turned his brain to pudding. He was never punished for those murders, and the families of his victims, while likely taking some solace in his imprisonment and mental degradation, never got true justice.”
“A post-script. Claudine Gay serves as yet another example of the “selective diversity” I recently discussed. Wealthy parents, elite private school education, et cetera. Certainly not of the socioeconomic ranks the Left claims to champion via its affirmative action and other “leg up” efforts. Keep that in mind when people talk about helping the disadvantaged. Gay’s combination of 1%er upbringing and intersectionality puts her squarely in the “advantaged” column, and therefore doubly undeserving of a pass for her plagiarisms.”
I have a hypothesis that plagiarism is a much more widespread problem among academics than anybody realizes. I don't think academic rigor is that important to academics anymore.
Both Cuomo and Gay served a purpose with the wording of their "resignations," whether intended or not: The political hierarchy underpinning them and the ideologies for which it stands were left blameless.
As a person who is constantly aware of his shortcomings, I always wonder if these people (meaning the ones who don't seem to see in the mirror what the rest of the world sees) actually know they are evil and purposely play the victim, or are they so self-unaware that they actually believe they are victims. I mean, even when George Costanza admitted "it's not a lie if you believe it" actually did know when he lied; he was just able to convince himself of an alternate reality.
I think that many are indeed true believers. Thomas Sowell has written of the "unconstrained" vision, where anything is possible if only the right people are in charge. With time and the various motivating factors we have today, the true believers gather, affirm each other, and descend into a state where everyone not like them is not only wrong, but evil. Tribalism at its finest.
The left is about as willing and capable of cleaning its own house(s) as Germany circa 1938.
The part of the audience that can't abide that comparison or is redirected into "Godwin!" or other conditioned responses is the problem. They will never see themselves as the problem. Decades of evidentiary support that they are the problem has not convinced anyone or anything. The dark money lawfare proceeds apace - in fact, it's cranked up.
The house-cleaning is going to come only from the outside. The US and its institutions is Signapore, to use another WW2 metaphor. All the defenses are outward-facing; the battleships are not up to the task. We're just preparing POWs.
Along the way, I'm happy for such clear-headed appraisals. I just wish the people who need to grok this were capable or willing of grokking it. Like I've told many a morally bankrupt chronic consumer of progressive class-1 narrative since October 7th, you're being awfully slow with your escape; sooner or later, that's going to cost you. Doesn't mean I don't love you, but there's only one ending.
What's happening on the Left is a fracturing. I've made the distinction between leftists and liberals many times - the "Left" is not monolithic (nor is the Right). Leftists have, for various reasons, come to dominate Democratic politics as well as what the average Joe thinks of when pondering the party's views and positions. Of late, however, more and more people on that side of the aisle are rejecting the leftists' extremes, and once a few brave liberals opted to risk the leftists' wrath, the ball started rolling.
I've heard it said that, once you've been punched in the face, you no longer have an existential fear of it. I think that more and more liberals are realizing that they can reject the leftists' insanities and survive, and that's the "house cleaning" I write of.
They're not going to become conservatives, that's for sure, but since I'm not down with many conservative ideas, I won't mind.
But this is about more than right-left. Government as an institution is a whole lot more than right-left - there are things it does (for better or worse - I'm looking at today rather than a dream of a sharply pared down govt) that are "nonpartisan" and affect all of us, and those things don't go so well when the people doing them forget that they serve us, rather than the other way around.
I know that politics is all about power, but if a few liars could be outed and thrown out, it'd be a start.
I think after October it's a distinction without a difference re: the liberals and the leftists who hijacked their party/ leadership positions. Maybe you're seeing different folks. 9 out of 10 people just swerve as needed and never add it up. I've heard from many of the ones in my friends/ family and that's what they're telling me, anyway.
So I must regretfully disagree, here. I don't think brave liberals exist; the ones that do are excommunicated and I've seen little to change my mind on that. Like I say, since October 7th, it's been the opposite: bravery is certainly not on display.
The house cleaning will come from without. But I'm not optimistic.
I look at Bari Weiss and Bill Maher and others who have broken with the orthodoxy, and I also see how AOC and her ilk have lost a lot of cred.
I continue to hope others will follow their example. But again, most of the left I directly observe simply swerved to suddenyl discover Bari Weiss and Bill Maher were racists, etc. It's not like there's ever a "Hey wait a minute... Bill Maher's not a right wing nutjob, what gives?" moment that is allowed in, say, higher education, anywhere. Or media. I don't see AOC losing any networking or influence or money. Nor Claudine Guy - it just gets plugged into the matrix elsewhere.
It will undoubtedly take the deliberate smashing of the existing infrastructure from all sides. I welcome the addition to the non-woke ranks of anyone capable or willing to see it. After the 7th, though, I think we're at war. Honestly, that's how I see it. One side has been waging it for a long time and occupies all the high ground; they ain't leaving just because Bill Maher suddenly gets it (despite not, with all the same evidence laid out for him, for so long.)
Not arguing with you or being defeatist, I'm just telling our side hey: there's no counteroffensive against CREW, that I can see. Time to build an air force and roll up the pontoon bridges, so to speak. One side has been moving troops into place for an awful long time and just tells us they aren't. "How did the Nazis invade Poland? They walked in backwards and said they were leaving." That's the left, everyday, -"they can't possibly be Nazis/ invading...." And the reverse as well ("It's got to be insurrection!")
But! I certainly continue praying for the good guys to win and place all my efforts in that direction.
I should mention that what I wrote is what *needs* to happen, and isn't a prediction of probability that it will happen.
“Al Capone, who per Google was "directly or indirectly responsible for over 200 murders, including the St. Valentine's Day Massacre that gave rise to the first national infringement of the Second Amendment (the National Firearms Act), was convicted not of those murders but of tax evasion. Sentenced to eleven years, he served seven, and was paroled because syphilis had turned his brain to pudding. He was never punished for those murders, and the families of his victims, while likely taking some solace in his imprisonment and mental degradation, never got true justice.”
“A post-script. Claudine Gay serves as yet another example of the “selective diversity” I recently discussed. Wealthy parents, elite private school education, et cetera. Certainly not of the socioeconomic ranks the Left claims to champion via its affirmative action and other “leg up” efforts. Keep that in mind when people talk about helping the disadvantaged. Gay’s combination of 1%er upbringing and intersectionality puts her squarely in the “advantaged” column, and therefore doubly undeserving of a pass for her plagiarisms.”
She comes from a very wealthy family, in fact.
I have a hypothesis that plagiarism is a much more widespread problem among academics than anybody realizes. I don't think academic rigor is that important to academics anymore.
Both Cuomo and Gay served a purpose with the wording of their "resignations," whether intended or not: The political hierarchy underpinning them and the ideologies for which it stands were left blameless.
As a person who is constantly aware of his shortcomings, I always wonder if these people (meaning the ones who don't seem to see in the mirror what the rest of the world sees) actually know they are evil and purposely play the victim, or are they so self-unaware that they actually believe they are victims. I mean, even when George Costanza admitted "it's not a lie if you believe it" actually did know when he lied; he was just able to convince himself of an alternate reality.
I think that many are indeed true believers. Thomas Sowell has written of the "unconstrained" vision, where anything is possible if only the right people are in charge. With time and the various motivating factors we have today, the true believers gather, affirm each other, and descend into a state where everyone not like them is not only wrong, but evil. Tribalism at its finest.