Interviewer: Did he really [Robin Hood] steal from the rich and give to the poor?
2000 Year Old Man: No, he didn’t
Interviewer:He didn’t?
2000 Year old man:He stole from everyone and kept everything.
Interviewer: Well How did legend spring up that he was…
2000 Year Old Man: He had a fellow Marty, Marty the press agent, ran in all the papers he wrote in scrolls. ‘He took from the rich and gave to the poor’ who knew? He’d give you such a knock in a head when he robbed you you wouldn’t remember a thing.
One of the things I have argued for years is that nothing really changes because the things that drive humans haven’t changed, the only difference between a courtier of 1000 years ago and a deep state person of today is tactics and what the reward can bring.
A great example of this is USAID. The left is screaming that they are cutting live saving programs when what in fact is happening is the discovery of the giant Chicago style grift that’s been going on for decades but I suspect was accelerated greatly by the elevation of a corrupt Chicago pol to the highest office in the land.
The best way to understand how this grift works is compare what’s happening to something similar and I can’t think of anything that serves this purpose than one of Tip O’Neill’s stories concerning his relationship the legendary Boston mayor, Massachusetts Governor and US Congressman James Michael Curley.
O’Neill had been a protégé of Curley and knew him well. Ironically it was his decision to not expose Curley’s theft of a delegate election against his own group in 1948 that cemented his place within the Democrat party which aided his advancement. He tells many stories about Curley in his autobiography Man of the House (1987). This was the final one:
It happened in 1954 while I was in Congress. I came home for a few days to come home to campaign for reelection, and I ran into Curley on Beacon Street. He was, as people said in those days “on his uppers,” which meant that he didn’t even have enough money to fix the heels on his shoes.
Curley was a notorious thief but was also known for being a soft touch and giving money away particularly to the poor, so once he no longer had influence to sell things began to go hard for him. Tip continues:
Still he gave me a warm greeting. “How are you Tip? You’re going to win easy.”
“I hope so Governor, but I’m not taking any chances.”
“That’s smart of you, Tip and I’d like to give you a hand. Do I have your permission to raise a few dollars for your campaign?”
I assured him that would be fine.
Given that Tip O’Neill was an up and coming man in congress the idea that Curley was part of his fundraising crew would give the old man some clout in the area. Tip picks up the story…
The following Monday, he came to see me. “I raised five hundred dollars for you,” [a little over $5800 in 2024 dollars DTG] he said as he handed me an envelope. I thanks him and put it in my pocket. But when I counted the money I found that the envelope contained only $450. [$5250 in today’s dollars DTG]
The very same thing happened the following day, and the next, Curley didn’t show up on Thursday, but on Friday he cam in and said. “Here’s a thousand bucks for you.” By then I wasn’t surprised to she that his 10 percent commission had already been removed. I didn’t really mind because he obviously needed the money, Besides, I didn’t want to quarrel with my best fund-raiser.
So at that point we’re talking $2500 or in today’s dollars just under $30K with Curley presumably taking $3k for himself. Tip continues:
“By the way Governor.” I said to him the following week, “I’d like the names of these people so I can send them a thank-you note.”
“Oh you’re getting too smart. They’ve already been thanked.” And that was the last time I saw Jim Curley.
Now you might be thinking at this point: “Hey DaTechGuy. What’s the big deal. O’Neill got what he wanted, about $4500 bucks or $52 grand in today’s money and Curley got $5800 out of the deal? That’s doesn’t seem very significant, it certainly wasn’t to Tip who was happy to get that $4500 bucks.” And if the story ended here you might have a point but the story didn’t end here as Tip explains:
Several months later I was back home one weekend when a fellow came into my office to ask for help in straightening out a problem with one of the government agencies.
I’d never seen the man before so I asked if he lived in my district.“No.” he said. “I live in John McCormack’s district.” [House majority leader who would become speaker after Sam Rayburns death DTG]
“Then why don’t you go and see Mr. McCormack?” I asked.
“Well that’s a fine way to treat a friend.” he said, “after all I’ve done for you!”
“Excuse me,” I said “but what are you talking about?”
“Are you kidding? I gave you a big contribution during your last campaign.”
We had a list of every contributor, so I excused myself and asked my secretary to look up the fellow’s name. But there was no sign of him in our records. “You know,” I told him when I got back to my desk. “I don’t run my office on a quid pro quo basis. I do favors for people because they need my help, not because they contributed to my campaign. But the funny thing is I don’t even have your name in my book. Would you refresh my memory?“
“Sure.” he said “In your last election I paid for your television ads on the final two nights of the campaign.”
“You must be mistaken, ” I said. “You never paid for my television ads. I’ve never heard of you.”
“What do you mean?” he said. “Jim Curley came ot me and said he was raising money to put Tip O’Neill on television. And I’m the one who paid for your TV time the night you went on. Didn’t he give you my name?”
So THAT was it! I told him the story of how Curley had asked me for permission to raise money and how he had skimmed a little off the top. We both had a good laugh over that.
“Now I understand why you’ve never heard of me.” he said, “But I remember how much money I gave to Curley to pay for those ads, and let me tell you something. Jim Curley made out just fine. I’m afraid you were the one who was working for ten percent.”
In short Curley didn’t hit up this guy for $5000 and then give Tip O’Neill $4500. He hit up this guy for $50,000 ($583,000) in today’s money and kept $45,500. ($535,000) for himself. In other words 91% of that money was skimmed and only 9% actually went to Tip for his campaign
That’s pretty much what Elon Musk and his team is finding out. The Democrats and their press allies are screaming to the press and claiming with a straight face that useful items are at risk without acknowledging that they’re not worried about the 9% that might actually do good, they’re trying to protect the 91 cents out of every dollar that they are using as a slush fund. And believe me unlike Curley they aren’t given a portion of that 91% to the poor unless you count the portion given as tips given to waiters after an expensive meal or valets after parking the cars your tax dollars are paying for.
Closing thought. I highly recommend O’Neill’s autobiography if you have any interest in what of the leading figures of the Democrat party during they years when they actually gave a damn about regular people thought.
Consider too what undesirable deaths occur in wartime. Men are killed in places where they knew they might be killed and to which they go, if they are at all of the Enemy’s party, prepared. How much better for us if all humans died in costly nursing homes amid doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie, as we have trained them, promising life to the dying, encouraging the belief that sickness excuses every indulgence, and even, if our workers know their job, withholding all suggestion of a priest lest it should betray to the sick man his true condition!
C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters #5 1941
The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself
St. Augustine of Hippo
I noted yesterday that there was very little reporting on the Ukrainian incursion into Russia but Redstate has a pretty informative article:
The Two big developments:
The Sudzha axis sits one of the primary rail lines that goes to Belgorod which is the main logistics depot for Task Group North in Kharkiv. Having direct fire control over this rail line shutting it down. pic.twitter.com/lgmFv04Gnk
That means troops to the south don’t get resupplied and in a war of attrition that’s deadly. Think of it as if Jubal Early’s Force had taken the rail hub at Harrisburg PA in 1864. If I’m Ukraine I’m destroying this ASAP
This however is even bigger:
Ukrainian Armed Forces control the Sudzha gas metering station in Russia. Nearly 50% of all Russian gas exports to the European Union flow through this station. It is the only operational Russian gas pipeline supplying the European market. pic.twitter.com/lDbZ5AAaWq
That means that Ukraine can hold or destroy this state which would cripple Russian exports of gas (and not do any favors to Europe that needs it) at any time. In fact when the Russian Counter attack comes this will likely be the first place blown up.
I’ll let Redstate tell that story but there was a bit of info that I think goes beyond the bounds of the war into something fundamental:
11/ Veterans' Notes says that Russian commanders in the field are lying to the General Staff about the true state of manpower and reserves (likely another example of the Russian military's institutionalised lying, discussed in the thread below).https://t.co/og6uxqXf5e
For Russia this institutional lying has two purposes. For those doing it in peacetime it allows the diversion of funds that are necessary for anything from training to equipment to the person committing the graft, people below either are intimidated or get their share and the people above are told all is well as are the people. This of course leads to disaster when you actually needed troops or equipment to work.
The second of course is the classic problem of delivering bad news. When dealing with a leader who makes people disappear or whose enemies have interesting “accidents” this can really hurt your life span so you do not tell the truth, particularly an uncomfortable truth and have to spin a lie to cover when disaster strikes, to wit:
Russia has accused the United Kingdom of the offensive in Russia's Kursk region, Russian media report.
It took them two whole days. They used to be quicker.
Russian MP Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a member of the State Duma Security Committee, said that "Britain participated in all such… pic.twitter.com/mq3CtX7lcO
This by an odd coincidence was both the same problem that the Arabs had in their various wars with Israel reporting “glorious victories” to their people while Israeli was routing their armies, in fact the “Britain did it” was the same line that both Nasser and King Hussain used in the Six Day War because it obviously couldn’t have been the Jews who destroyed their jets on the ground and neutralized their air forces in a single day.
Because it CAN’T be the mere Ukrainians successfully pulling off this attack, it HAS to be a major power like Britain attacking them, which is of course ridiculous as the government of Britain right now is too busy attacking their own citizens who tweet or retweet the wrong things.
In fact the Labour party who are all in for radical Islamists in their nation are also using “institutional lying” to deny the Two Tiered Justice system that has arisen there
I have never seen so many arrested at a protest in the UK! And I have seen some violent ones! This on the other hand was unlike the BLM protests really and truly “largely peaceful “! Whoever sent the orders did a fantastic job in polarising Britain further and deepening the… pic.twitter.com/Gi62aqYT6y
This is also why control of the internet is so important to the left in general and anyone wanting to sell a big lie in particular because you can’t sell the “big lie” if anyone can look on twitter and see the reality happening before their eyes
Meanwhile if Croydon:
🇬🇧 Last night in Croydon – counter protestors to the imaginary Far Right turned out in force.
Of course there were no ‘Far Right’ thugs anywhere – so instead they trashed their own community themselves.
Their problem is that you have access to information. They want to restrict your access to information. Without this censorship, you will see what they are doing to this country. https://t.co/7JEnnlGfju
This “institutional lying” is one of the basic MO of the left/media making it a point of telling an untruth that they either want to advance over and over and accusing others of “disinformation” if they contradict it.
Consider less that 50 days ago if you suggested to anybody that Joe Biden was not able to function you were called the spreader of disinformation and assured by everyone from Joe Scarborough to Kamala Harris that Joe was as sharp as a tack. It was only when this was publicly revealed in the Debate to be a life that this fell apart, sort of like the Russian defenses and the big push to get Biden out began.
The media was shocked SHOCKED that they had fallen for the “institutional lying” that they at best had enabled and at worst had committed.
And then once Joe Biden was forced out the institutional lying pivoted stating that old Joe had dropped his campaign of his own free will and that Kamala who just a few weeks earlies people were wondering aloud how to get rid of was suddenly portrayed as the most competent person on the planet.
“I don’t know if [Biden is] happy about that decision [to quit]. The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden. And I’m no Biden fan. But I’ll tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint, you’re looking at they took the presidency away.”
That’s Donald Trump saying the truth out loud and publicly which is why the left has spent so much effort trying to shut him up over the last few years.
Bottom line Institutional Lying is the primary tool of any group trying to oppress you, you can either pretend it isn’t happening or fight, your choice.
I’ll give the last word to Christ:
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 9:32
Update: Glenn Reynolds makes a true historical point about the Russians that I forgot about:
Of course, the Russians have a history of carrying on when their logistics are shot. But that’s what they’ll have to do, if they are to carry on at all.
Vorshak: But should you remain stubborn, it’ll be a long and painful business, so start talking. Turlough:I’ve told him, and now I’m trying to tell you. We are not enemy agents, saboteurs Nilson: Then why were you attempting to destroy the reactor? Turlough: If the Doctor had intended to destroy it, it would be lying in pieces at your feet.
The slaying of Ismail Haniyeh one of the heads of Hamas in what should have been practically the safest place in the Islamic world for him to be is a sold reminder of an inconvenient pair of facts that all in the Arab World know is true but none will admit aloud due to the nature of their “face/shame” culture but that many of the useful idiots in the left seem to forget.
Fact One:
The only reason why there is any Jew left alive in Israel is the Arabs inability to kill them. They will never forgive Israel for repeatedly beating them in 1947, 1954, 1967 and 1973 and in their minds that embarrassment can only be removed by the destruction of Israel and the end of the Jewish state. If the Arabs could they would slaughter every single Jew in Israel and celebrate the Genocide they dream of producing.
Fact Two:
The only reason why there is any Arab alive in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank is that Israel does not want to kill them. They have the military might and the logistical ability to completely annihilate every single Arab in general and Palestinian in particular and have had that ability over half a century. If Israel wanted to commit Genocide against those Arabs who wish them dead they would be dead.
I strongly suspect due to their culture of shame the only thing that angers and embarrasses the Arabs more than the first fact is the truth of the second.
I think the only people in the media left whose opinion on Joe Biden should be considered are Cenk Uygur & Bill Maher as they were the only two people willing to acknowledge Joe Biden’s state before June 27 2024.
Given that Joe Biden is the exact same man today as he was on June 26th 2024 when the entire media/left except Maher & Uygur insisted he was fine and dandy and the utilitarian nature of leftist’s like him, can anybody explain to me what is Joe Biden’s incentive to voluntarily surrender either the Democrat Nomination or the presidency?
It hit me today that Joe Biden mental state being what it is might all the lawfare against Conservatives in general (Bannon, Praying Grandmothers etc) and Donald Trump in particular be a function not so much of the Biden Administration/campaign and it’s mentally failing leader but Merrick Garland himself taking personal revenge on those he blames for keeping off of the Supreme Court?
If the left embracing and protecting people who want them dead has only cost the Democrats ten points among Jews, why would anybody think that the revelations about media lies concerning Joe Biden would make a big difference to an electorate whose lives are not at stake?
Finally Boston fans enjoying a young and dynamic RedSox team surging into the final wild card spot and prepare to surge perhaps even higher should not forget this would not have been possible if the now fired Chaim Bloom had listened to all those folks in the media who wanted him to deal away these prospects who are now making their mark.
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