I used to have a sidebar notice stating that all comments here are monitored by me personally. I see that notice is no longer present, although I didn't remove it. Perhaps it somehow fell into the category of things that Blogger no longer enables. Who knows?
In any event, I do actually still read all comments before enabling them. Some comments I don't enable, although I try to err on the side of enabling. I've never enunciated a policy, and don't plan on doing so now. However, a few related categories of comments that I do regularly reject are those that advocate violence, assassination, or the view that one segment of the American population is planning to nuke some other segment. I'm not explaining why I reject those comments, beyond the view that they don't add anything to the blog and may detract. In that connection, I note that the PTA/NAACP woman who got her 15 minutes of fame by shouting "Let them die!" re anti-CRT people has been forced out of the PTA. The NAACP continues to defend her, but will IMO end up regretting that decision.
Regarding Ashli Babbitt. My view is that she's dead--just in case anyone was wondering what my view is. Not long ago I commented in agreement with another commenter who wrote to the effect that, There's a reason Ashli Babbitt's family is suing for wrongful death, and it's not because she's alive and well and in hiding. Obviously, if there are developments in the Ashli Babbitt story I'll try to cover them if I have some perspective to offer. In the meantime, I won't be enabling comments that link to theories about Babbitt's continuing life. As in other areas, I try to err on the side of legitimate and wide ranging commenting, but sometimes have to draw a line.
Regarding the January 6 Event and the witchhunt against participants, you probably are aware that one participant was sentenced yesterday. Here are some Twitter comments that cover various aspects of our currently dysfunctional state of being in America, including the January 6 Event:
Glenn Greenwald:
Watching the same people who drowned the country for 5 years in deranged conspiracy theories -- Putin had taken over the US through clandestine sexual blackmail -- now declare themselves competent to censor the internet to stop "misinformation": the audacity is almost impressive.
Cernovich:
Was any Kavanaugh rioter sentenced to even a day of jail?
Remember that those attacks actually obstructed the Senate confirmation process by days, unlike January 6th which did not delay any vote by days.
Quote Tweet
Julie Kelly:
Hodgkins sentenced to 8 months in prison by Judge Moss. DOJ accused him of participating in domestic terrorism but charged with obstruction of official proceeding.
No violent charge, first time offender. Working class man took bus from FLA to DC.
Now loses everything. twitter.com/julie_kelly2/s…
Hans Mahncke:
An FBI lawyer fabricated evidence in order to spy on the president of the United States. He got zero time.
Quote Tweet
Glenn Greenwald:
Today, Paul Hodgkins will be the first 1/6 defendant sentenced on a felony guilty plea. He engaged no violence. His crime: entered the Capitol wearing a Trump t-shirt, held a Trump flag, took a selfie with Q Shaman. Prosecutors want 18 months in prison:
https://huffpost.com/entry/ap-us-capitol-breach-sentencing_n_60f55de5e4b0b2a04a25ff90
No doubt you'll see former prosecutors and such like suggesting that the judge "sent a message" to DoJ by giving Hodgkins 8 months instead of the 18 months DoJ was asking for, that other judges will follow suit, etc. All I can say is that everyone involved will have to live with their participation in a grotesque mockery of justice. Can't imagine how it feels to be addressed as "your honor" after that.
I found Julie Kelly's comment telling: "working class man," traveled by bus, etc. Isn't that the point? He was exactly the kind of guy the Power Elite feels they need to make an example of. Remember the two Lefty NY lawyers who tried to fire bomb an NYPD car? Out on bail while mostly peaceful protesters languish in durance vile.
No wonder Lady Justice wears a blindfold. I would too, in her position.
“Years”? Shouldn’t that be “months”?
ReplyDeleteYikes! Thanks.
Delete"the judge "sent a message" to DoJ by giving Hodgkins 8 years instead of 18 years:
ReplyDeleteMonths not years.
Months not years on sentence
ReplyDeletegot it.
DeleteSometimes its good to have someone not enable your comment. I consider it a favor.
ReplyDeleteI got the message they're sending. They're going to come down hard on you so make it count.
I've always held that anyone participating in the Jan 6 riot who engaged in violence needs to be held accountable. But there should be a blanket pardon for any conviction where the actions of the participant were nonviolent once a GOP president is elected again.
ReplyDeleteWhere to start? Mark Steyn has a good take in a recent Imprimus article and podcast. The 1.6 protesters had every right to expect that they would be held to equal protection of the law, i.e., the same standard they saw play out throughout 2020 in Seattle and Portland and Minneapolis etc.. He continues that the worst aspect of 1.6 is the atrocious (but all too predictable) reaction of Republicans who completely validated the Regime narrative that 1.6 was domestic terror and somehow worse than any other protest we've seen where people scuffle with police. (Really, if it turns out that the FBI played a hand in fomenting this it's unconscionable).
DeleteToo many conservative pundits do the same old Trump Shuffle ("well of course Trump is rude and sexist but...") viz the 1.6 protesters-- "well of course they should be fully prosecuted but..."
No, as Steyn says, unless you are prepared to give up everything to marxists, you dare not give up anything. We make a grave error by not demanding that our people be held only to the standard that Regime people are held to. In this case, it's not even close. Solitary confinement for *months* for ordinary people who did less than what Code Pink used to do all the time in Bushie days. Gateway Pundit has another story of a Sarasota man looking at 20 years merely because he was in the Capitol for 10 minutes and a member of Oath Keepers. Solzhenitsyn would be livid that America has sunk so low.
I am entirely demoralized and sickened by my country and the lack of outrage over this treatment of political prisoners.
Ding
Agreed Ding.
DeleteI would take it a step further than just avoiding the "yeah but" or "don't give the marxists an inch." Internet spies be damned, to be blunt:
1/6 should have been embraced as a proud moment, and we should not have accepted one ounce of their BS narrative. For the first time I can remember (I may be younger than some of y'all), those who love individual liberty were willing to show up and protest the right place/city, the right time, and the right group of people who have so completely wrought this countries destruction. DC deserved it, and it deserves a lot more of it.
What is so embarrassing about that?
If you want to get the full flavor of America nowadays, read the subtweets responding to Greenwald, Cernovich, and Manhcke. Most mock and approve whole-heartedly the persecution of the 1/6'ers while claiming that the difference between them and BLM/Antifa mayhem was that the latter was constitutional protest while the former was an attempt to overthrow the government. SMDH is the acronym that springs to mind. It is what we are up against:
ReplyDeleteFrom CJ Hopkins latest:
"The New Normals — i.e., those still wearing masks outdoors, shrieking over meaningless “cases,” bullying everyone to get “vaccinated,” and collaborating with the segregation of the “Unvaccinated” — are not behaving the way they’re behaving because they are stupid. They are behaving that way because they’re living in a new “reality” that has been created for them over the course of the last 17 months by a massive official propaganda campaign, the most extensive and effective in the history of propaganda."
The 1/6 propaganda is every bit as pervasive and pernicious as the Covid variety--and all with the same intent.
https://consentfactory.org/2021/07/19/the-propaganda-war-and-how-to-fight-it/
You only corrected one instance of Years.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Greenwald quote:
Prosecutors want 18 months in prison:
Oh, man, bad morning.
DeleteThank you for all that you do to keep us informed!
DeleteI just do not understand how anyone in their right mind thinks this country can continue. Everything is now political. We have few real judges, few real journalist and few real statesmen/women. Just politicians occupying seats. Just like the USSR, it will slowly fail, until suddenly it just implodes.
ReplyDeleteIt's a discouraging situation.
DeleteOur original form of government was created by moral and religious men explicitly and only for a moral and religious people. We are no longer a moral or religious people. Everything we are seeing is symptomatic of that. Until that changes I fear you are correct in your prediction.
DeleteMark, while I fully respect your decisions on which comments to publish or not publish, I must confess to you that I was beyond mystified when you failed to publish several of my comments citing the 1/6 video that you eventually it appears allowed commenter Mike to post. I'm sure not everyone finds the video as fascinating as I do, but surely it warrants examination and discussion. Do you think the footage is genuine and accurately depicts the events surrounding Ms. Babbitt's demise? If not why not? it seems to me nothing short of incredible that someone would manufacture this footage (through crafty editing?) Yet is has neither been widely circulated nor fully suppressed. Kinda like other testimony in other contexts in which we get snippets of plasuible information or claims but absolutely no follow-up or investigation by anybody in or out of media. Which makes it seem like something is being covered up and invites one to ask what that something is. Is it not odd that no one depicted as being in the room and later seen on national reporting (curious what they did broadcast eh?) as having witnessed the shooting has stepped forward to offer any evidence one way or another about the the identity of the shooter, the circumstances as they experienced them, was it justified was it not? - Jayden X or any of the other civilians who were there - any one? I think it would add to the blog to ask some pointed questions about that video, either questioning its authenticity or questioning the narrative it calls into question. Because in my opinion, if that video is authentic, then , contrary to your assertion, there is no way Ashli is dead. Mark A
ReplyDeleteIf ...
DeleteAs for "I was beyond mystified when you failed to publish several of my comments" I'm just one guy. It may have been the day of the week, wandering attention, whatever. Not personal.
I just addressed a comment to devilman = dm. It should also have been addressed to Mark A.
Delete@Mark thanks for the response, which you didn't have to give. I get a little vehement sometimes, but you are one of two blogs I go to for honest commentary. The other is that Sundance guy. So as you can see, for reasoned, meausred, long view apprpoach, you're it for me. Can't bear anything else. I appreciate what you do and understand it can't be easy but you are performing an invaluable service. Please don't stop. Mark A
DeleteMark A,
DeleteGreat attitude, your understanding of Mark W's wishes is very commendable.
The internet needs more more of what this blog offers but also could use more of the same user base.
@Mark A, I think the video makes at least a credible argument that the 'shot heard round the oligarchy' was the culmination of a ruse. Certainly worth debate.
DeleteBut I don't think it follows that Babbit is alive because it's not necessary to their plans that she be alive.
I commented on Mike's post saying it was inconceivable that Trump followers were involved. But I was wrong. It's entirely conceivable that Babbit was a Trump supporter who was brought in as a dupe.
The scenarios necessary to sustain belief that she is alive would make fine theatrical entertainment. Not impossible, but extremely difficult. (I workss be interested to hear an expert react to the blood commentary.)
But the same cannot be said about the idea that everything leading to that moment might have been staged.
@ bebe
Delete"I just addressed a comment to devilman = dm. It should also have been addressed to Mark A."
Day 2, still looking for the comment. It may have got missed, can you repost your thoughts please?
The Ashley B thing... I loathe censorship, it's something I've asked about before or even disagreed with.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of "ma'feewins" on the subject... I have to respect your digital living room.
It's your blog, your work, your content and we're all obviously here because of that product and it's quality.
Thank you for the PSA and your thoughts / explanation. IMHO and as a guest in your house it was a fair way of saying ...my coffee table is not a foot prop.
I feel for these Jan 6th people but I was also screaming "bad idea" before it happened. So far most of the pleas we've seen are all the same. Working class Joe's that are stuck with a PD who are a work product of the den of thieves to begin with. They don't stand a chance of fighting DC.
There are things in this story that are noteworthy and bug me in the larger picture.
Trump invited these people to DC, I've still yet to see a public defence of his supporters from him. That is pissing me off, something stinks there.
Trump has the ability to raise millions in cash for defense funding with just a little bit of work on his behalf. Yet I see go-fund-me type accounts begging for $350k+ and nothing from him or his people. Something stinks there!
His reaction / response between Jan 6th and Charlottesville just don't add up.
The RNC collected $200M off of the subject, yet not a dime given in help any of them. That's the equivalent of $400k per person... Something stinks there as well.
Some notable things...
They have video of 800+ being waved into the capitol doors by the capitol police. I've yet to see a case where that's come up or into play. Something stinks there as well!
We've seen groups, organizations and individuals attacked and discredited in this via speculation on being a CHS or Agent, Oath Keepers / Stewart Rhoades comes to mind. I'm still holding ground on not believing that (JMHO based on prior experience). Right or wrong on my belief/disbelief, something still stinks there as well.
In a hearing this week one of the capitol police admitted that the house building was shut down and evacuated in advance of the crowd. Not because of the crowd but because of a bomb threat linked to the RNC and DNC pipe bombs. I find it pretty astounding that's not been discussed more widely. I also find it disturbing that in light of that reasoning they then opened the doors and invited / waved civilians into the building??? Something definitely stinks there.
Some of this is like wet dog crap on your shoe, you just can't wipe it off in the wet grass no matter how hard you try to.
Fair commentary.
DeleteWell...I sympathize with your anger, but I can't bring myself to agree.
DeleteTwo reasons:
One, we assume that Trump knows everything that we know. But why? Who among his circle of advisers is reading Revolver or watching Wooz (or whoever they are)? Trump probably has not come close to realizing that OK is possibly an FBI op.
Two, it was really stupid of people to enter the capital in that way on that day. We can deride the prosecutions all we want, but those people were not just stupid - they stopped any possibility of a legitimate popular uprising in its tracks. And many of them put it on their FB pages (!) as though they had never heard that the Z-man had it in for them.
@mistcr
DeleteI am going to hope that you will reconsider your comments and see better of things. not the Trump bit (because who knows what's going on there but the 1.6 part).
First, were *you* there? No, i guess not because you were too smart, huh? You knew it was all useless, that Pence would betray his oath of office, you knew that Trump had nothing up his sleeve, you knew that protesting in the same way that we have all grown accustomed to seeing Lefties protest for the last...?10-15 years was verboten for patriots, you knew that going to dc at the express invitation of Trump despite the risks and weather and expense was for *suckers* and boobs, wasn't it? You're so clever and the appellation "stupid" falls from your lips so easily as these poor people suffer in stinking jails while their families are impoverished, while they suffer solitary confinement and physical and mental abuse. How dare you call any of these stupid? I wonder if you don't decry the lack of civic involvement out of the other side of your mouth when people fail to protest because you know when that's smart.
But no, you double down and blame these people for being an obstacle to...what? A "legitimate uprising"? What does that even mean and how did the 1.6 protesters obstruct that? (And your insinuation is that 1.6 was illegitimate, so nice twofer there).
Yes, they put it on facecrook and talked to neighbors and family and coworkers, almost like they actually believed they lived in a country with free speech and the right to petition the government for redress of wrongs like oh i don't know a stolen election. These good people didn't think they did anything wrong. No, you see, it took #^#^@^×_# Republicans in Congress and pundits and smarties like you to edu-macate them that such behavior directed at their betters and rulers was stoopid and worthy of Soviet prison treatment.
I'm sure bebe will be mad at this comment and i fully expect that Mark won't post it (not because he's unreasonable, he is extremely fair in his moderating but because it's so emotional I'm tempted to delete it now).
Obviously you've hit a nerve, mistcr. I hope you repent of the arrogance towards these poor people held as political prisoners. One day i hope they will be held up as heroes of an American rebirth. And you will regret your slurs upon them.
Flint
@Flint,
DeleteCome to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. (Matthew 5:25-26)
You're conflating the legitimate and peaceful gathering that occurred on the 6th with what happened after, which was entering the Capitol under conditions that can only be described as unruly.
You should not presume to condemn me for my opinions on both when I have only expressed an opinion about the entering of the Capitol.
Entering the Capitol under those conditions was stupid on January 5th, it was stupid on January 6th, and it will be stupid tomorrow. And anyone doing so while posting on FB is akin to suicide-by-cop. It was the height of folly and they truly should have known better.
Should they have expected better of their country? Of course! Was there any justification to expect better of their country after the previous 4 years? Hell no!!
Patrick Byrne wrote in Deep Rig that he had planned on the 6th to speak about the need to stay nonviolent and avoid a false flag trap. But his speech got canceled by whomever was in control of that event (I take issue with him blaming Trump for the same reason I stated above). It is to our credit as Americans that we are completely naive about false flag events, but our government is well practiced at it.
We have only just begun our national journey down a very dark path. It's not getting better in 2022 or 2024. Didn't we just learn that we can't vote our way out of misery?!
I don't have an answer for the political prisoners, except to affirm that they are in fact political prisoners. Money won't solve their problem; justice is far from them. I pray that they will turn to the Lord of history who has decreed that our generation should live to witness our country's descent into madness. He alone can bring light to this dark place.
OK, you've both had your say so let's leave it there.
Delete@Flint:
Delete'I'm sure bebe will be mad at this comment”
Huh? How did I get into this? I am baffled...
Roger that, Mark.
DeleteI add my voice to the chorus of those thanking you for what you do.
Events rarely happen in a vacuum. The Democrats committed fraud on a massive scale and stole an election. It’s obvious now and was Jan 6. Trump supporters reacted to a illegal government. Everything after the fraud is the product of the poison tree. The exact opposite people are in jail it’s the election plotters that need jailed. 86/46 because he ain’t.
ReplyDeleteVehemently agreed, but I would humbly point out that the 1/6 ruse had the desired result. Most of us are standing on the sidelines dismayed instead of taking to the streets to demand this be made right.
DeleteGOP has a history of not defending their supporters, and letting them hang out to dry.
ReplyDeleteCapitol Demonstrators are just the latest. Flynn was another. I can’t remember, but a female Trump nominee was almost bankrupted hiring attorneys.
Contrast to the lefts support of the Aswan Brothers, blm, antifa, etc.
And agree with Devilman, I’m very unhappy with Trump in this area.
It seems the GOP overall strategy is conservative to an extreme: wait for Dems to screw up and alienate voters, but avoid taking firm positions. Do they know something about the feckless and uninterested nature of the electorate?
DeleteThose who groove on GG, e.g. on "now declare themselves competent to censor the internet to stop "misinformation", should like Taibbi today, on
ReplyDelete< NPR's Brilliant Self-Own:
National Public Radio complains about a media figure who *tells* people "what their opinions should be", and uses political "buzzwords".
Yesterday’s NPR article, “*Outrage* As A Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using Facebook To Build An Empire,” is among the more *unintentionally funny* efforts at media criticism in recent times.
The piece is about Ben Shapiro, but one doesn’t have to have ever followed Shapiro, or even once read the Daily Wire, to get the joke. The essence of NPR’s complaint is that a conservative media figure not only “has more followers than The Washington Post”, but outperforms mainstream outlets in the digital arena, a fact that, “experts worry,” may be “*furthering polarization*” in America.
NPR refers to polarizing media, as if they’re making an anthropological discovery of a new and alien phenomenon. >
The above from Substack.
DeleteRegarding censoring of comments ...
ReplyDeleteIt’s one thing as a social media owner to censor of his own free will, it‘s another thing entirely to censor at the behest of the federal government.
The latter makes one a de facto federal government agent.
It’s also another thing to coordinate messaging via censoring or promotion of certain viewpoints with others, in concert, like Journolist, especially if one tells the world they are non biased
I’m astonished a non government agency could do this tracking:
ReplyDeletePillar Investigates: USCCB gen sec Burrill resigns after sexual misconduct allegations
Which means a government agency knows exactly where you go based on your phone. A surveillance society. Think of the black mail opportunities with those hiding a mistress, grinder assignations, drug issues, etc. All easily picked with the location data.
The Catholic angle of the article I don’t know enough to comment on.
No word on whether he wore a mask and maintained a "social" distance ...
Delete"According to commercially available records of app signal data obtained by The Pillar, a mobile device correlated to Burrill emitted app data signals from the location-based hookup app Grindr on a near-daily basis during parts of 2018, 2019, and 2020 — at both his USCCB office and his USCCB-owned residence, as well as during USCCB meetings and events in other cities."
I believe the gov most often uses commercial sources for their information, i.e., the phone companies.
Also of interest, this guy is from the diocese of La Crosse, WI, where a conservative priest was recently suspended for being outspoken during the election and for being just generally conservative. So I think we can count on it that this character wasn't a Latin Masser, either.
DeleteA while back someone here commented that they wondered what had happened to Michael Anton. I just came upon this piece, which made me smile. Commenters here are not the only ones who get into food fights over their opinions/positions. Anton’s & McClanahan’s is a doozy:
ReplyDeletePaleontology
To make a long story short, Brion McClanahan attacked the 1776 Commission report. I thought that was imprudent and said so. Now he’s back. So I am too.
But I’d prefer not to be fighting with paleoconservatives, above all not with Chronicles. I have many reasons not to want to.
More here: https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/20/paleontology/