Archive for the ‘culture’ Category

Trump, Scarborough, Lori Klausutis, Jacksonian Jujutsu

Posted: May 26, 2020 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, culture, media, News/opinion, politics
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“For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Luke 6:38

Today at both Twitchy & Powerline the attempt to have the president’s tweets concerning the Lori Klausutis deleted.  Her husband appeal to have it pulled gave the story further legs and now the AP, via the Star Tribune has weighted in:

No one in Klausutis’ family would talk about Trump’s tweets for this article, fearing retaliation by online trolls of the type who went after parents of the Sandy Hook massacre victims. Their grief has been disrupted by conspiracy theories before — not only over the past few years from the White House, but from some liberals who at the time of her death sought to portray then-conservative Republican congressman Scarborough as a potential villain.

“There’s a lot we would love to say, but we can’t,” said Colin Kelly, who was Klausutis’ brother-in-law.

Scarborough, who was 900 miles away in Washington, D.C., on the day Klausutis died, and his co-host and wife, Mika Brzezinski, have both expressed outrage on the air in recent days — saying that Trump’s false accusations were most hurtful to Klausutis’ family. Brzezinski called Trump a “cruel, sick, disgusting person” and said he was using the episode to distract from the pandemic.

emphasis mine

That throw away line in the piece is actually the key to this case. as I brought up last week here:

Does anyone think for one moment that the mainstream media, still angry over the Bush victory and the Clinton Impeachment (that Scarborough voted for) would not have jumped all over this story and made it national news (particularly given Scarborough’s Sept 5th resignation) and a talking point to hit Republicans over? After all here you have a GOP congressman representing one of the most republican districts in his state, A republican who voted for Slick Billy’s impeachment with a dead female intern in his office. It would be a Godsend for the left Would this have not lead on CNN or MSNBC? Would not the New York Times and Washington Post used this as a club asking every GOP member of congress or the cabinet with devastating effect? Would they not when that congressman resigned seven weeks later suggest it was proof that something was up? Would this not be made a campaign issue in the special congressional election with demands that GOP candidate call for a fuller and deeper investigation?

You bet your ass they would!

And remember this was BEFORE he transformed himself into the type of Republican that Democrats like the most, the type willing to attack the GOP.

bold in original

in a long twitter thread that started here: a sample

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And even on my livestream podcast:

This is the argument to kill this entire thing, but it’s not a argument that anyone on the left wants to make because said argument could concede the media bias that even today they pretend doesn’t exist.

I suspect Joe Scarborough, who certainly doesn’t need this, wishes he could use this point, but instead they are stuck with the “conspiracy theory” card. Powerline notes a tad of irony:

This is an example of the kind of dumb thing I wish President Trump wouldn’t do. I assume there is no reason to think that Joe Scarborough had anything to do with Ms. Klausutis’s death. But isn’t there a larger point here? What has Joe Scarborough done for the last 3 1/2 years but spread “debunked conspiracy theories” about Donald Trump–most notably, but by no means limited to, the Russia hoax–“speculated without evidence” about the Russia hoax, the Ukraine kerfuffle and other matters, and “unleashed a torrent of false allegations, mischaracterizations and baseless rumors” about the president? That sounds like Scarborough’s job description at MSNBC.

And what about the Washington Post? Despite its high and mighty tone in describing the president’s “spread[ing a] debunked conspiracy theory,” hasn’t that been the Post’s own stock in trade for years, when it comes to Donald Trump? Speculating without evidence, spreading conspiracy theories that turn out to be false, and unleashing a torrent of false allegations, mischaracterizations and baseless rumors sums up very well the Post’s coverage of the Donald Trump campaign, and of his presidency since January 2017.

So, while I am critical of tweets like the ones the Post is complaining about, I have a hard time working up a lot of sympathy for Joe Scarborough, and I can’t read the Post’s self-righteous account with anything but derision.

I think this is worthy of critique but “dumb” is not the word here. Trump understands that every cry of “conspiracy theory” by the media, given what we saw over the last three years make the left look ridiculous , even to some who dislike the President, and of course if they speak the obvious truth that I’ve laid out here they confirm all the President has said about them which is even worse for the left.

POTUS can’t lose here that’s why he picked this fight. He is a Jacksonian whose entire philosophy can be summed up by this sentence written nearly twenty years ago by the late great Steven Den Beste one of the greatest bloggers who ever lived

The whole point of Jacksonianism is “You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. You play fair with me and I’ll play fair with you. But if you fuck with me, I’ll kill you.”

That’s Trump all over.

Update: Instalanche thanks Ed. If you like this post tune in tomorrow for a post on how Steve Den Bestie back in 2002 accidentally laid out how Trump would govern. Don’t miss our livestream podcast every Friday morning at 9:30 AM EST You can watch the latest edition on Judge Jackson,US foes buying US Universities (the last of the Monday 12:35 AM Edition ones) here.

Update 2: I was reading the comments at Instapundit I was shocked to read at least one person say it was unclear if the media jumped on this at the time or not. While I can’t see how someone would not figure it out from this post let me say explicitally that they did not and again refer to DaTechGuy’s 4th law of Media Outrage which states:

The degree of media exposure of the corruption or illegality committed by any individual or organization under investigation is directly proportional to its distance from the media’s ideology.

If this had happened in 2018 involving NEVERTRUMP Scarborough I could see the MSM ignoring it as they did, but it happened in 2001 involving conservative GOP Scarborough no chance they don’t jump on it if there was any there there.

Update 3: Quick FYI I work 3:30 to Midnight and don’t have a cell so I’m offline during that time and all comments are moderated so I apologize to anyone who had to wait for their comment to be approved.

Update 4: The sequel to this post is titled The Late Steven Den Beste on Trump (Accidentally)

My wife and daughter escaped the Illinois lockdown and traveled to Wisconsin

Posted: May 24, 2020 by John Ruberry in business, culture, economy, News/opinion, politics
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By John Ruberry

As I wrote a couple of posts back the unemployment rate is 67 percent in the Marathon Pundit home here in suburban Chicago. Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, they were furloughed from their jobs.

Obviously in possession of free time Mrs. Marathon Pundit and Little Marathon Pundit decided to travel on this holiday weekend–they headed to Wisconsin. I stayed here to work.

Illinois, run by a Democrat from Chicago, J.B. Pritzker, remains under lockdown. You cannot enter supermarkets or any store with out a mask. Up in Wisconsin, its state Supreme Court struck down its shelter-in-place order made by its Democratic governor, Tony Evers. And its mask requirements.

Wisconsin is a free state. Illinois is a lockdown state. It’s that simple. My wife and daughter’s money is being spent not her3 but north of the Cheese Curtain. In a way they remind me of Poles in the last years of the Cold War visiting West Germany.

Illinois, according to WalletHub, has the most restrictive COVID-19 restrictions in the nation.

I just got off the phone with Mrs. MP. She enthusiastically told me about her first dine-in restaurant experience in two months. The restaurants in Illinois that are open are open for take-out only. On Friday outdoor dining will be allowed in the Prairie State. What if it rains? What if these diners aren’t equipped for al fresco serving? What if they don’t have the necessary permits? What if the restaurant owners can’t apply for an outdoor dining permit because their village hall is closed because of the coronavirus lockdown? Thanks for next-to-nothing, Pritzker.

Then my wife told me about their arrival yesterday in the small town of Mineral Point in the southwestern part America’s Dairyland. There was–wait for it–a parade! One for recent high school graduates. While the graduation ceremony was cancelled, grads in Mineral Point received their moment of glory on the streets. As far as I can gather all parades scheduled in Illinois in spring or early summer were cancelled. “A few people wore masks,” she told me of the people participating or viewing the parade, “but most didn’t.” Some stores are open–mostly the locally-owned ones as opposed to the big chains. “When you go in those places, you don’t have to wear masks,” she enthused.

My wife and daughter went inside, yes inside, a coffee shop, and drank coffee, although a sign outside of that establishment said, “Masks are recommended.” But masks weren’t even recommended when they entered an ice cream parlor.

Many other Illinoisans have escaped to Wisconsin too. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel spoke to one refugee from the Pritzker Lockdown who journeyed to Lake Geneva. “‘All for it,” said Dave Gragnani of McHenry, Illinois, who said he planned to visit a coffee shop and skatepark without any mask or hand sanitizer. “People should have a choice. I’m having a wonderful time.'”

Good for you, Dave!

As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.”

Not as much as Wisconsin, but Indiana is opening up too. And of course the welcome mat is open there for Illinoisans fed up with the lockdown. I’m sure Iowa, where my family traveled last month, as well as Missouri and Kentucky, the other states that border Illinois, are enjoying an influx of cash-flush Illinoisans.

Yes, I’m aware that nearly 100,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the United States, although nearly every one of them already had serious health problems. Nursing homes, hospitals, and senior centers need extra protection. 

It’s time to open up the rest of America. And the world. 

Dennis Prager earlier this month wrote that the worldwide COVD-19 lockdown might be biggest mistake in history. 

John Ruberry regularly writes at Marathon Pundit.

The Unexpectedly Chronicles: Trained in Fear & Helplessness

Posted: May 19, 2020 by datechguy in culture
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One of the least surprising things that I’ve seen in the last few weeks has been people so willing to jump on the fear of re-opening bandwagon.

Despite the data, despite what we’ve seen in Florida, Texas and elsewhere there is a solid population that are terrified of the thought of re-opening the country.

Now I’m not talking about those driven by political considerations, (a economy that comes back helps Trump) I’m talking about actual people afraid of what might happen if we do.

Some might be surprised at this development but I’m actually shocked it’s not worse.

For a generation we gave out participation trophies because we were afraid of hurting feelings of those who didn’t win.

You people pushing the idea that grades and tests were bad because it might affect the self esteem of some.

In fact we reached the point where in colleges, places of supposedly higher education we had grief counselors assigned not only over election results that people didn’t like, but also over people who dared utter opinions that differed from the status quo.

And in the last year the use of a pronoun that one didn’t like caused people to crumble

In short we spent twenty years training people not to be able to cope with little things, in fact think of the fairly new word “microaggressions” it’s very name this suggests something small and meaningless, yet for thousands it represents something unbearable.

And now take these people weaned on fear and panic and introduce a virus that can actually kill you.

Do you really expect people who have been weaned on abject panic concerning trifles to be able to cope when faced with the prospect, however small of dying from an actual deadly disease?

So if you find yourself shaking your head over their fear that chunks of the country have over re-opening consider, the surprise isn’t that so many people are gripped with fear, the surprise is that after a quarter century of conditioning more aren’t

Under the Fedora Irish Democracy, The “New Rules” , the Sullivan Precedents, the Obama Precedents, and a realistic Mass Livestream

Posted: May 18, 2020 by datechguy in business, catholic, crime, culture, economy
Tags:

I oppose the whole sanctuary City business as a violation of the rule of law, however if there is one thing you can say about the Sanctuary City movement is that it is in keeping of the American Tradition of completely ignoring laws that they don’t like.

We’re now seeing a glimpse of this in NYC:

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When you have a one party state or city it usually takes an “I’m mad as hell and can’t take it anymore moment. I’m wondering if this might become the case in blue states that remain locked down as other places open.

One other thing about Sanctuary Cities is they work both ways.

“A resolution of the city council of the city of Atwater affirming the city’s commitment to fundamental rights of life, liberty, and property, and declaring the city of Atwater a sanctuary city for all businesses,” the resolution read.

A statewide shelter-in-place order has been in effect since March 19, with gradual easements happening this month. While some counties were reportedly approved to move to “Phase 2” of the state’s reopening plan, which would allow some non-essential lower-risk business to reopen, Atwater’s Merced County was not included.

It will be fun to see the left object to these thing as they’ve objected to sanctuary gun counties. Perhaps they should have thought about the “new rules” as Kurt Schlichter calls them, before imposing them.

The same thing applies to liberals rushing to cheer Judge Sullivan who is doing all he can to pretend that he’s in a Soviet Courtroom rather than an american one. In one respect given how this entire Mike Flynn business has gone such actions by the left should be unsurprising but I’d remind our friend on the left that Donald Trump has appointed a 3rd of the judiciary at this point and you might not like the Sullivan Standards if they are applied to their allies.

The left will not consider these tactics an outrage until they are used against them and under a Jacksonian president, I’d not be surprised to see it, except for the fact that he’s not to my knowledge appointing Jacksonian judges. As Razor put it on twitter:

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It’s not often that I disagree with President Trump but I think this is a VERY bad idea:

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It’s worth noting that the reason why President Trump has been able to so effectively pack the courts with conservatives is that Harry Reid changed the rules when he presumed that the left would hold the Senate forever.

It’s also a bad political move. I suspect that while Black Americans intellectually know that Barack Obama was a disaster in the White House for America in general and them in particular they cling to the myth of the light-bringer culturally to the point where they might actually turn out to defend that fantasy.

Turned on a livestream of a Sunday Mass on the Roku (I keep ending up finding different ones) and I noticed that there was a chat option.

I thought this was odd considering you aren’t supposed to be talking in Mass but if nothing else said option is an exercise in realism.

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