More on the travesty that was Spygate
Most of the readers here already know the gist of the Russiagate/Spygate story, and have long been outraged at what happened. But to everyone else I would love to say, Yoo hoo, does anybody care about the long-running attempted coup of a duly-elected president?
I suspect the answer for a lot of them would be “no.” For many, Trump has been so demonized for so long that they would approve of any method that promised to get him out of office. Quite a few would include assassination.
I first noticed this quite a few years ago, when it apparently became acceptable (to a lot of people, although not to me) to casually wish for Trump’s assassination or death in what was otherwise an ordinary conversation. The fanning and encouragement of this kind of toxic hatred leads to a willingness to say that the ends justify the means.
Most people are not Sir Thomas More in that respect. Most people don’t understand that following the rule of law protects us all.
I have come to the conclusion that most people agree with Roper in the above clip (and of course, we know what happened to Sir Thomas More, with the other man in the video, Richard Rich, testifying against him). This recognition has led me to a sense of despair, which I struggle against.
My Wife is getting physically sick over what is happening in the US right now.
We just had our Trump sign stolen last night and we live in a quite country “estate”.
And things are going to get worse.
If Trump wins in November the left will become more feral. What we are now witnessing in cities like Portland, Seattle, NYC, etc. will look tame in comparison. Arm yourself. There will be blood in the streets.
I’ve never been a real pessimist. But I will confess to feeling quite a bit of that despair that Neo mentioned.
Neo,
The emergency we are now under is completely open ended. The “pandemic” goalposts keep getting moved to allow what should have been a very temporary shutdown to continue. There appears to be no end in sight. Those in charge have become utterly drunk with power. Making their own personal preferences the law of the land. And it appears there is no legal recourse to stop them.
Look at what just happened with NY. Cuomo makes an edict that bars must serve food to sell drinks. Bars then comply. Now he changes it to personally approved food. Chicken wings are out, sandwiches are in.
Any thing you do is subject to the whims of our supposed betters. This is tyranny pure and simple
And if Trump doesn’t win, then by this time next year the US will not exist as we know it anymore. My wife tells me I’m making myself sick over this. She refuses to say things are bad, but spends a large amount of time looking for a puppy to adopt. I think she knows things are bad and is trying to find something positive and life affirming to hang on to.
physicsguy-
I never thought I would say this four years ago. But Trump is literally the only thing even slowing the tyranny train. The Democrats have become complete Marxists admitted or not.
Reminds me of what I read in City Journal today about Portland:
“the protests feel more performative than substantive: activists pump their fists in the air and stare defiantly into the row of 15 or 20 police officers on the other side of the street as photographers snap pictures from a safe distance; well-to-do middle-aged women wax poetic on the importance of social justice as a background narration to their iPhone videography; and undergrads pose with handmade signs—“No justice, no peace!”—for their friends’ Instagram postings. Protest signs range in subject from anti-Trumpisms (“Reelect Putin 2020”) to anti-police sloganeering (“There’s no such thing as good cops in a racist system”) to the desecration of the American flag. A teenager on a skateboard flashes the middle finger to a line of cops in riot gear.”
Those are our peers, who will vote. Middle-age women, teens, defiant activists.
They are all airheads, poseurs, bit-players in plays they do not comprehend nor care to understand. Anti-police and anti-flag, all willing and eager to take a knee with Kaepernick.
I feel a strong sense of desolation and despair.
See “Wolf Hall” for another view of Sir Thomas More. I’ve not read the novels, just seen the BBC adaptation, which was really good.
More: I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I think none harm. If this isn’t enough to keep a man alive…
Cromwell: You do nobody harm? What about Bilney? What about Bainham? You remember James Bainham who you had racked in your own home? That you had beaten and abused? His body was so broken they had to carry him, carry him in his chair to Smithfield to be burned! And you say, Thomas More, you do no one harm? You just be grateful, sir, that we have spared you the methods you use on others.
“Most people don’t understand that following the rule of law protects us all.” neo
Indeed. Yet the Left is committed to teaching that lesson.
And that slim majority is proving that they deserve that lesson “good and hard”.
“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.” C.S. Lewis
If Biden wins and the dems regain control of the Senate, representative government will be effectively ‘canceled’.
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” Abraham Lincoln
Frederick:
My post is not some sort of blanket approval of everything More ever did. I’m well aware of the claims about torture, etc.. I’m writing about the stance he takes about law in that scene, which I admire.
Why should I decide that the Wolf Hall author is the big truth-teller, by the way? See this.
The hate filled lunatics on the left are not my fellow country men – women – trannies. They are enemies of the union. The insurrection will need to be put down hard, or the Republic is lost. Then it is every man – woman – tranny for themselves.
On a very different note…. my friend and lover of 48years, 7 months, and 19 days died a few days ago from a massive heart attack. This was out of the blue. The memorial is on Sunday.thankfully I have a large family surrounding me. I feel lost.
Her scent lingers in the house reminding me on a visceral level of her calm, wonderful prescience.
I’ll survive, my kids and grandchildren need me. Just in grief.
“This recognition has led me to a sense of despair, which I struggle against.”
You struggle against it well, having fought the good fight with your words and ideas for 16 years! Bless you.
I sign on to look up restaurant reviews, check Neo’s blog in passing, and discover this awful news.
Your love for your wife was obvious every time you mentioned her, Parker. Never a word to reflect badly upon, nor minimize, much less dishonor her.
Condolences to you, and to your family.
And, whether you believe or not, may Almighty God, be with you both.
My post is not some sort of blanket approval of everything More ever did.
Didn’t claim it was, or think it. I think the “Wolf Hall” mention actually reinforces your point. In “A Man for all Seasons” More warns that the methods you use may come back to bite you later; in “Wolf Hall” you see it happen to More.
Why should I decide that the Wolf Hall author is the big truth-teller, by the way?
No more so than Bolt surely. More was a complicated person and there was more than one side to him. As Solzhenitsyn said, the line between good and evil runs through every human heart.
You might be reacting to much in my comment that I never intended. I like a “Man for all Seasons” a lot, and I like “Wolf Hall” a lot. At least the movies, I never read the originals. Learned a lot from both.
While I appreciate the sentiment, it is naive to believe that law or precedent will protect us from the devil when he inevitably turns on us. St Thomas, I think, understood this; his statement was for his children. His adherence to the law was as much out of obedience to God (render unto Caesar) as to his king. If he were a mere legalist, he would not be a saint.
We are learning, too late I am afraid, that the law is only as good as the men enforcing it. Our enemies have no love for it except when it provides cover for their actions. If we allow ourselves to be perpetually hamstrung out of fear of “setting a bad precedent,” we will find ourselves hunted in our own land before this is through.
@ Mythx, on “Trump is literally the only thing even slowing the tyranny train.”
Last nite, Laura I. was vivid enough about the consequences of a Biden win, see
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6174561822001#sp=show-clips :
Ingraham: Portland today, America tomorrow Jul. 24, 2020 –
8:10 – If Joe Biden is elected, Antifa will consider it their victory.
Key segments start c. 3:30 (on antiFa power), and 4:40 (on Biden’s DoJ teeing off vs. ordinary citizens).
parker-
So sorry to hear of your loss! Something similar happened to me 6 months ago.
We weren’t together as long, but it was a still a very long time.
I will keep you in my prayers.
And, another hint from the Left, as to likely events when they get power:
“Fox News temporarily pulled its coverage of a White House press briefing on Friday, as press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was showing a video of rioting in Portland….
Ms. McEnany was showing video of the rioting on screens behind her at the White House podium, when a scene played out of a demonstrator taunting police officers.
“I hope someone kills your whole f—ing family,” the woman told officers. “I hope someone BURNS down your whole precinct, with all Y’ALL INSIDE. Can’t wait to see it….”
See https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/24/fox-temporarily-cuts-away-white-house-briefing-vid/ .
That clip should be in a Trump 2020 ad.
Maybe it should follow the 2012 Oprah agitprop quote, about *”millions”* of lynched blacks.
parker,
Anything I try to say won’t say it, if you know what I mean. When I read your note, I felt a stab in my gut — ’cause that’s a mere hint of how I would feel if I were confronted by what you’re now contending with. I’m so sorry. God be with you, friend . . .
Sincerely,
M J R
parker:
I am so so sorry for your enormous loss.
parker—you are in my heart and prayers. I need to echo M J R’s comment: it shocked me when I read your statement. I am so very sorry.
I am so glad that you have relatives in your life!
Oliver T—I am truly sorry for your loss, too.
Parker and Oliver – unexpected losses are very hard – deepest condolences to you both.
Thank you for this scene. I can’t ever get enough of this play generally, or of this scene in particular. The play and the movie version of it are masterpieces and, despite having been written, directed and portrayed by people “not-of-colour”, are gems of western civilisation.
Strangely, most people I meet misunderstand the meaning of the title itself: “A Man For All Seasons”. Even very sophisticated and principled people.
I was reminded of this play just a few nights ago when, over a drink (or three), with an old friend, (a newly-appointed judge,no less), he ventured that Sir Thomas’s merit flowed from his ability “to shape himself as he needs to; to adapt to all circumstances, demonstrating the strength of flexibility that changing seasons demand”.
Surely it’s the reverse, no? Sir Thomas’s principles are absolute. They’re fixed, “locked in place” and do not change – regardless of political fortune. His merit is that he sees all too clearly the perils for him in holding to his principles and clearly wishes he could disavow them – but he does not.
This scene is a pithy and powerful assertion of an important truth: adhering solidly to a principle is imperative since bending it once to your own advantage implicitly affords to others the very same right to bend it, perhaps in the opposite direction, to their own.
I also love how Scofield’s physical portrayal of Sir Thomas in this scene accords with the play’s theme of constancy: economy of physical movement and minimal gestures; slow, hesitant and low, deliberate speech. It suggests that all the other characters are merely orbiting about him as the central and fixed point of the action.
parker,
Like many other regular readers of Neo’s blog, I’m left speechless by the awful news of your wife’s death. I wish I could think of something more helpful to say.
Please accept my condolences.
parker. I’ve never been where you are so there’s not much I can offer but prayer.
More’s okay as far as he goes But he presumes to presume on his opposition’s need to be consistent and to have a moral underpinning for their actions.
The left in this country has no need of either. They have no hesitation in squandering any appeal to moral authority, which means they have no intention of being bound by it.
Arguing with them–and I include relatives–on a basis of morality, or “I didn’t do it to you do you shouldn’t do it to me” is chilling.
“no justice, no peace” presumes some common understanding of justice. But there is none. “justice” is used as a smokescreen as long as we believe it means something. They don’tl
Was in a gun shop a couple of weeks ago A guy came in looking for 22LR. Cabela’s was out of stock. He and his wife livedin a big condo building which was in the middle of some Floyd fuss, mild by some standards, and got their CCL immediately. So let me say, Cabela’s was out of stock on 22LR. Lots and lots of people have, perhaps inherited the little Twenty Two. So whether they have other weapons or not, even if they do, they’re stocking up on ammo for the gopher plinker, too.
On a very different note….
Keeping you in mind.
parker:
So sad to hear of your wife’s death. Praying for your and your family.
Parker:
My deepest condolences. It may help in some way for you to know that your loss makes the rest of us stop for a moment to reflect upon, and appreciate, how valuable our loved ones are to us.
I am so sorry for your loss, Parker. Your love for your wife came through in your comments. She was your anchor, your lovely and loving life’s companion. Your good heart, your family, and faith will be your bulwark in the months ahead. Prayers for you and your family. May you find some comfort in the memories of the many good years you shared with your her.
parker,
May God be with you both, and bless you both with the peace “that surpasses all understanding.”
Parker- I’m so sorry for your loss. All I can say is I will be praying for you and the rest of your family.
Dear Parker: please accept my sympathy on your loss. Your posts from a few years back about you and your wife’s courtship were wonderful. They brought both of you to life. They will keep her there for many of us. Mrs. Parker: zikhronah livrakha. May her memory be a blessing, and may all go well tomorrow.
2020 has been a heartbreaking year, in so many ways.
Parker,
Sincere condolences.
Parker and Oliver T.,
My deepest condolences to you both. You are in my prayers. May you find comfort in happy memories.
Parker: I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I admire your courage and your resolve to fiercely protect what you often call “me and mine.” I’ve been reading Neo’s blog almost every day since the summer of 2012 and you are among my favorite ‘regulars’ here.
Stay strong.
Sincerely,
Carl
Parker and Oliver T, you are both in my prayers.
More on the Spygate travesty breaking news.
Pay particular attention to Fiona Hill and Rod Rosenstein.
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/07/24/meet_steele_dossiers_primary_subsource_fabulist_russian_at_us_think_tank_whose_boozy_past_the_fbi_ignored_124601.html
This is a good critique of Hilary Mantle’s treatment of St. Thomas More in her Wolf Hall trilogy:
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/08/the-mirrors-and-the-smoke
Parker,
Auwe. My deepest sympathy on your loss.