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Home » Open thread 6/14/23

Open thread 6/14/23

The New Neo Posted on by

This is turn-of-the-century or even earlier. She’s got a corset on, and her pointe shoes are nearly unblocked. But she’s got an impressive jump with clean beats. The film part starts around 1:08:

Comments

Open thread 6/14/23 — 40 Comments

  1. Question: has anyone seen anything from a lefty that makes an honest argument in favor of the Trump indictment?

    That is, 1) honestly deals with last 7 years of persecution of Trump with lies and crimes by FBI, CIA, DOJ, DNC, Clinton, Obama, and Biden.
    2) addresses the banana republic argument (evidence has to be overwhelming and crime so serious it can’t possibly be ignored),
    3) ably distinguishes the FBI/DOJ whitewashing of serious criminality by various Democrats.

  2. Lovely. It is amazing that the film has survived. I see that in her later years it looks like she became a teacher.

  3. There is so much to America’s political system that is insane that we tend to minimize or ignore huge fundamental flaws in order to go about our lives. If we don’t ignore most of these things most of the time the cognitive dissonance would be so disruptive we’d be incapable of functioning.

    Here’s just one example based on the immense control the two parties have over our elections. I’ll use data from the 2016 Presidential primaries to make my point.

    About 5% of eligible voters choose our President.
    In 2016 there were about 259,000,000 U.S. citizens aged 18 or older.
    16,914,722 voted in the primaries for Hillary Clinton to be the Democrat candidate.
    14,015,993 voted in the primaries for Donald Trump to be the Republican candidate.
    So, about 11% of eligible voters liked one of these two people enough to vote for them in the party primaries.

    Then, what happens? ”You must vote for one of these two candidates! It’s a binary choice! Not voting for one is voting for the other!”

    Among Democrat primary voters Bernie Saunders received about 3.7 million votes fewer than Hillary (and, the way primaries are rigged, especially that year’s DNC primary, the eventual loser gets few votes towards the end). That 3.7 million is about 1 ½% of the electorate. It gets even worse on the RNC side. A majority of Republican primary voters chose someone other than Donald Trump for their party’s nomination!

    So 89% of eligible voters either did not like either candidate enough to vote in a primary, or voted for someone else in a primary or did not like either party enough to vote in the DNC or RNC primary. That’s not just a majority, that’s an enormous plurality! 90% of American voters did not want either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump when given the choice before the election. And then, after the primaries, those were the only choices we had.

    This is not the way free people elect an Executive leader. It is a completely rigged system. The DNC and RNC are just private, political factions. They are not codified into the Constitution. We should not be limited in our choices due to the whims of Ronna McDaniel or Jaime Harrison. There are hundreds, thousands of people I would have preferred over Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump and I think most Americans felt that way in 2016. And many of those people I would have preferred were willing to run for the job, but they could not get on the ballot, or there was no point in getting on the ballot due to this rigged, two party system. What would have happened had Bernie Sanders been on the ballot along with those two? Jeb Bush? Ted Cruz?

    It is sheer, utter, madness.

  4. stan @9:38am,

    Yes. Neuroscientist Sam Harris publicly stated what many others believe; Donald Trump is such a threat to our nation that no tactic is unreasonable to eliminate him from office, or the pursuit of the Presidency.

    James Comey has said as much.

    MSNBC hosts and guests state it daily.

  5. This is not the way free people elect an Executive leader. It is a completely rigged system.
    ==
    It’s not a ‘completely rigged system’. It’s a messy and stupid system. There’s more popular participation than there was in 1948 or 1968 and more than is typical abroad. About 58 million people voted in party primaries and caucuses in 2016, or about 27% of the adult citizen population not excluded for felony convictions. You have supply-side issues (only mediocre and immoral people run) and you have demand-side issues (electorates perfectly fine with mediocre and immoral people). See the Democratic contest in 2020. You had three accomplished businessmen who were not sectaries (Bloomberg, Yang, Delaney), a candidate who had been both a business executive and a state governor (Hickenlooper), a state governor who knew how to appeal to red state voters (Bullock), and someone willing to go off script (Gabbard). Democratic voters took no interest in any of these people. Instead, they favored Amy Klobberherworkers, Pete Bootygag, Princess Spreading Bull, an ancient Trotskyist who could hardly earn a living before being elected to public office, and a crooked and sociopathic sexual pervert with early stage dementia. You can see what Democratic voter value. There are lots of procedural improvements you could make, but your most abiding problem is a cr!p electorate.

  6. The Diplomad served as a delegate to the North Carolina GOP convention, and his report is here: https://tinyurl.com/3vxh8exa.

    Both DeSantis and Trump spoke. Looks like Trump will be the nominee. Neo’s formulation of the Democrat’s strategy is working like a charm. Charge Trump with assorted crimes. This will raise his popularity with the GOP base, and lower it with moderates and independents. The result: Trump beats DeSantis and Biden beats Trump.

    Four more years of increasing power for the deep state. How far are we from a left-wing techno-authoritarian government? Sadly, I’m in the camp that blames Trump’s ego and narcissism for what may be a tragic decline in our country. In the end, this will far outweigh his achievements as a president.

  7. About two and a half-years ago, Neo took a stab asking “Why does propaganda work?” https://www.thenewneo.com/2021/01/14/why-does-propaganda-work/

    This old favorite here struck me as I noticed an Instapundit headline now up, reading that networks spent 291 minutes covering Trump’s arrest, and zero on Biden’s impeachable, rank corruption. https://instapundit.com/589784/#disqus_thread

    No news here. True. But one commenter reiterates our plaint. He or she raises a criterion of “durability” in gauging the aging of propaganda’s value to the Ruling Class.

    Here’s the formulation:

    1984–1776
    18 minutes ago
    “This is all a fascinating experiment in the durability of propaganda. How long can the Democrats and their fellow-travelers continue to cover up and lie, before the truth about Biden and their entire party cracks through?

    “Apparently, a long, long time. Propaganda works. That’s why they keep lying to our faces.“

    I believe this is same conclusion we’ve reached here.

    OK. But how does Trump himself — just being himself — alter that durability?

    How much does Trump REFUSING to act as Democrats wish he would change the collective, effective ignorance of pertinent facts. Such as Biden’s corruption?

    In short, CAN THAT VIEL OF mass IGNORANCE BE PIERCED? And if so, what will the signs be? Collapsing Biden job approval numbers in polling, perhaps?

    What other indicators would you add?

  8. Did you not notice that by using rigged voting machines the states of WA, NV, AZ, IL, and others have had rigged elections for at least 30 years now? Of course, that has all been “fixed” by using new machines–are you insane? What about AI? How will that play into our “Clean election” next year? Ohh, I almost forgot what about those extra 2 million voters the Dems just brought into this country–do you really think they will not be “voting” in some way? Are you sitting here right now doing nothing in your community to help reverse these problems before the election? Shame on you! Get up and get organized. The least you can do is form a community committee preparing some way to confront this issue now!

  9. Art Deco,

    You’re missing the forest for the trees. Many people participate in the primaries because it’s the only route they now have. That doesn’t mean that’s what they want.

    If we had a dictator everyone would participate in one primary. By your logic that’s even more preferable. 100% congruence!

  10. There are lots of procedural improvements you could make, but your most abiding problem is a cr!p electorate.

    I tend to agree. This is especially true regarding the Dem party electorate, but it’s also certainly true for the Republican electorate unfortunately. But the system seems to enhance the worst qualities of the electorate.

    Systemically the primary process for both parties tends to discourage all but the most determined voters from participating. And these very determined voters tend to be the most irrational sorts of people, easily swayed by the emotional appeals of reprobates and conversally bored by any sort of sober analsys presented by more even keeled candidates. So you end up with a bad system that favors bad voters that inevitably leads to bad candidates and eventually bad presidents.

  11. Cornflour @10:27,

    I agree, especially with your final paragraph. The repeal of Roe v. Wade is such a unique and wonderful thing I’m not sure it’s big enough to be erased by Trump’s ego, but otherwise I agree.

  12. And Art Deco,

    I don’t disagree about the cr!p electorate, but the two, immensely huge and powerful and corrupt (K Street) political parties exacerbate that, rather than helping it.

    If one doesn’t feel in lockstep with either party; what’s the point? To your point about Gabbard (Hillary herself told me Tulsi is a Russian asset), you get squashed like a bug.

    Even people who get immensely popular like Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders or Ross Perot get squashed like bugs by the system. A significant percentage of the population liked the policies of those three, but they got little to no traction.

    There is a specific reason there are two and only two; it is much, much easier to control the narrative and the populace. Oceania and Eastasia.

  13. The American novelist Cormac McCarthy has died. He was a great writer, but I could make a long list of things I don’t like about his books. The New York Times obituary helpfully reminds us:

    “Acclaim for Mr. McCarthy’s work was not universal, however. Some critics found his novels portentous and self-consciously masculine. There are few notable women in his work.” (https://archive.is/8SysH#selection-823.0-823.173). I wish this were a joke.

    The New York Times obituary does contain a scrap that was news to me: McCarthy wrote a screenplay for a move entitled “The Counselor.” The movie was generally hated by both the professional critics and the amateur public. I plan to watch it tonight.

    McCarthy didn’t do many interviews, and some were painful, but I liked the one he did with David Krakauer, President and Professor at The Santa Fe Institute, where McCarthy served as a trustee. Here’s a link: https://youtu.be/HrUy1Vn2KdI.

  14. Stan, see my comment from last night at 9:43 on the previous post. There’s really no getting through to these people. When it comes to Trump all sense of right and wrong are thrown out. Here’s some of the choice comments made to me:

    “Well, you know, trumpf and his gang had 4 years to indict Hillary, and they could, or did not, so either they were imcompetent, or she was innocent…”

    “So 8 investigations by rabid republicans that found nothing is not enough proof for you?”

    “Hillary testified to a republican led house committee for something like 12 hours and they were never able to charge her with anything. Trump had 4 years to charge her and didn’t (or couldn’t) – even with Bill Barr as attorney general. How do you overlook stuff like that???”

    “now talk about how the two Republicans Secretaries of State before her used private emails as well. I assume you want Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell arrested as well? Not to mention Trump’s children, for the numerous ways they violated the Hatch Act and profited off of their father’s official position? And not allegedly like Hunter Biden, but actually, documented and proven? Get out of here talking about double standards if you aren’t even willing to hold your own people accountable.”

    Thank you Neo, for this “sanctuary” where I can at least find people who I have some common ground with. In today’s political craziness, it’s an oasis.

  15. Related:
    “Let’s apply the Jack Smith standard to Biden and Hillary Clinton”—
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/lets-apply-the-jack-smith-standard-to-biden-and-hillary-clinton
    Key phrase:
    “Selective prosecution”
    + Bonus:
    “Ric Grenell to Newsmax: Those That ‘Left Fascism’ Love Trump”—
    https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/ric-grenell-joe-biden-doj/2023/06/13/id/1123490/
    “Greta Van Susteren: Base Justice on Fairness, Not Politics”—
    https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/greta-van-susteren-donald-trump-indictment/2023/06/14/id/1123532/

  16. it was pretty faithful to the book, it had fewer even pseudo heroic characters like
    tommy lee jones, in old men,

  17. Barry, even if one would send those links to the people I interacted with, they would ignore it all. I’ve seen it many times…because these quite factual articles appear in the Examiner, and Newsmax, they would be immediately dismissed. I guess it’s much the same as we dismissing much showing up on MSNBC.

    What bothers me, and we’ve talked about it here before, is the level of vitriol and hate that comes through from these people. I know, I know….we are the truly evil ones who must be destroyed, so all is justified. Still astounds me.

  18. Yes, I know, I know …
    Demonization works.
    (But it is appalling that “they know not what they do…”…and that they are encouraged in their seething hatred by those who really ought to know better…)

  21. P.S.—I wouldn’t be surprised if several other major news stories broke in the next few days.

    The pattern seems to be that, when some major development happens—like Trump being charged and AF whistleblower Grusch’s UFO information, the powers that be take the opportunity to release news of other major things, hoping that these revelations will be overlooked by a lot of people who are focused on the other major stories.

  22. Cormac McCarthy wrote what many consider to be the grimmest, bloodiest, and bleakest novel of all time: Blood Meridian. The main villian of the book is a character called “The Judge”, a really well written highly intelligent and purely evil character, He’s such a complete monster that he makes Hannible Lector seem pretty tame in comparison. He’d spout all sorts of sophistry like:

    “It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.”

  23. Neo:
    How do you come across these great videos; referred, search, ???

    I really like those old tutus. They’ve always reminded me of inverted Monkey Tree flowers, light and feathery and (here in lower Mo) a lovely pale pink.

  25. Anne:

    WA has been using Vote By Mail (not electronic voting machines) for about 30 years (Governor Christine Gregoire benefitted muchly from boxes of misplaced mail in votes discovered during a recount). WA voters have been unable to defeat the Democrat machine since then. Too many Uniparty voters in the Puget Sound region?

  26. it’s true that not much can be said for the electorate or the candidates they choose. In 2020 messiness and corruption merged with mail-in voting and ballot harvesting, and fraud can’t be excluded as the determining factor in the swing states that really mattered.

    I’m curious about the “documented and proven” evidence that Trump’s son’s benefited financially and violated the Hatch act. Also curious about the belief that there’s no evidence that Hunter was corrupt. Some people believe this stuff as an article of faith. They’re going to keep going after Trump and make everything he did a felony.

    FWIW, I watched the 1967 Russian version of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina last night. Not a great movie, but it tells the story well enough. Maya Plisetskaya has an acting role in it (no ballet dancing). I can’t say how good her acting was, but she was certainly a striking presence who stood out from the rest of the cast. There’s also a 1975 video of her dancing with Godunov in the opera Anna Karenina somewhere.

  27. Abraxas — Re fraud can’t be discounted in swing states. Too many swing states. And even R “moderates” like Kemp in GA are quite happy to keep it way.

    physicsguy says how unbearable “the level of vitriol and hate that comes through from these people. I know, I know….we are the truly evil ones who must be destroyed, so all is justified. Still astounds me.”

    Have you tried putting them on the spot? We normies and Rs generally just want to be left alone, unmolested by the state.

    They, by contrast, REJECT THAT!

    IT’S incommensurables like the latter that make blood lusting Civil War inevitable.

  30. Welcome to another day at “Rinos-R -Us”

    20 House Republicans just voted NOT to censure Adam Schiff. Two voted present and 4 didn’t vote at all.

  33. Florida can always use more cops… and they’ll like the FL winters.

    The Boston City Council narrowly passed a $4.2 billion operating budget that cuts roughly $31 million from the police department. The spending plan was approved Wednesday via a 7-5 vote, and will now be submitted to Mayor Michelle Wu, who can choose to veto or accept the amendments the Council made

  34. Om, the Gregoire cheat was in 2004. Mail balloting was passed in 2011. Some WA counties use Dominion machines to count the mail in ballots. The certification was done by the only Republican in state-wide office who just happen to pull out an overnight win in the last election. Now she works in DC for the Biden Admin on election integrity. I don’t know if her Army husband was posted to DC or retired or what. I read the Dominion certification documents. They are crap. I wouldn’t have accepted them from an intern.

  35. yes the only actual evidence from a dominion whistleblower, was discounted, instead opinions by people who had no inside knowledge was taken as gospel

  36. A recent news story–admittedly in the English newspaper, The Daily Mail, which tends to run sensational stories–talks about a downed UFO that our military tried to investigate.

    They hooked a recovery vehicle to the outside of the craft, and when they pulled on it a wedge shaped portion of the UFO where the attachment was made was pulled out, and it looked as if this UFO was meant to come apart in this fashion.

    Moreover, when someone entered the small, wedge shaped part of the craft he discovered that the inside was as big as several football fields i.e. that the inside of this small volume was far larger than it’s outside dimensions.

    Then, the investigator started to get dizzy, and after he exited the craft he found that, while subjectively he experienced being inside of the craft for only a only few minutes, he found that outside four hours had passed.*

    I am not a scientist, but it does seem to me that these two pieces of information are very useful clues about the forces involved in how this UFO operates.

    P.S. Somewhere along the line I’ve read science fiction stories which had alien spaceships which had these two characteristics, particularly a couple of stories in which the interior dimensions of a spaceship were gigantic, while the outside dimensions were much smaller.

    So, could these ideas be some other nuggets of truth which have leaked out of these crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs, or, could they perhaps even be some nuggets of the truth deliberately released as part of the overall rogue government/contractor organization’s disinformation operation?

    * See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12175195/Crashed-UFO-recovered-military-distorted-space-time.html

  37. Re: Carlotta Zambelli

    Maybe it’s the French, but I find myself so moved by beauty these days.

    The last time I saw my hippie uncle, who once went by the name Peter Pan, he lent me his collection of family photographs so I could scan them for digital posterity.

    Which I did. Among them were some professional photographs of my grandmother as a young 20s flapper. Those photographs reminded me of the stills of Zambelli.

    I strongly recommend the SilverFast software for scanning photographs, especially old photographs. It made a big difference in speed and quality from generic scanning software.

    I wonder what unblocked pointe shoes are.

  38. Re: Reverse-engineering UFOs

    Snow on Pine:

    “The Day After Roswell” (1997) by United States Army Lt. Colonel Philip J. Corso was a tell-all memoir of exactly that. It made the NY Times bestseller list for several weeks.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Roswell

    Corso really was a Lt. Col who worked for the people he said he did. He was part of an official effort to reengineer tech from the Russians and other foreign sources. Though not UFO-foreign.

    Who knows? Plenty of people make such claims. Something IMO is going on, but I can’t tell what. I was excited for years that The Story Was About To Bust Wide Open.

    It hasn’t … yet. Maybe it will.

    But I’m not waiting up nights.

  39. Re: Hunter Biden’s laptop contents [REDACTED]

    The Hunter Biden Id is an Id which is fascinated with itself:

    https://bidenlaptopmedia.com/index.php?/categories

    I doubt it will scar anyone for life or even more than ten minutes, but it is truly a raw bizarre historical tour. I suspect one could reconstruct the Biden years on their basis.

    These are the Trump footprints Democrats expected to find in their pursuit of the Bad Orange Man,.

    But Lo! The footprints are their own.

  40. BigD – Theodore Dalrymple stated it with less, uhhhh, vitriol, than Razorfist:

    Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.
    ——————-
    https://heidelblog.net/2015/02/the-purpose-of-political-correctness-is-to-humiliate/

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