Roundup
Another big news day, so another roundup.
(1) North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature manages to override its Democratic governor’s veto of a bill blocking medical treatment of children who identify as trans. And, as Legal Insurrection author Mike La Chance points out, the MSM covers this by saying the bill would ban “gender affirming care” for minors, which is an Orwellian euphemism.
The bill also protects women’s sports.
By the way, back in May a Democrat in the North Carolina House switched to the GOP, which gave Republicans a veto-proof majority in that body. They already had a veto-proof majority in the North Carolina Senate.
(2) One Georgia state representative has done this:
Republican Georgia state Senator Colton Moore just became a political icon… The first Republican to punch back by moving to impeach DA Fani Willis.
“I’m not going to sit back and watch as radical left prosecutors weaponize their elected offices to politically target their…
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) August 17, 2023
The same article at RedState mentions this, too:
Back in April, after Trump’s New York indictment, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer stated that he received two calls from Republican D.A.’s from Kentucky and Tennessee, both looking at ways to charge Joe Biden — and possibly other Biden family members — related to the ongoing investigation into family business dealings overseas.
(3) Rep Comer is requesting that NARA turn over some documents that are potentially extremely interesing:
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today is calling on the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to provide then-Vice President Joe Biden’s records regarding his duties as Vice President that overlapped with his son’s activities in Ukraine. Chairman Comer is requesting all unredacted documents and communications in which then-Vice President Joe Biden used a pseudonym; Hunter Biden, Eric Schwerin, or Devon Archer is copied; and all drafts of then-Vice President Biden’s speech delivered to the Ukrainian Rada in December 2015.
“Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware” appear to be among the pseudonyms used.
(4) Hawaiian Electric may be on the hook for failing to repair its aging power lines.
(5) Eighteen million views on YouTube and counting:
God, I’m glad we retired to North Carolina.
Back in April, after Trump’s New York indictment, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer stated that he received two calls from Republican D.A.’s from Kentucky and Tennessee, both looking at ways to charge Joe Biden — and possibly other Biden family members — related to the ongoing investigation into family business dealings overseas.
_______
About time. Massive retaliation is the only possible way to stop this s***.
So the NARA will have a small fire in certain sections of the archives. The Stone Wall that they will build will be longer than the Great Wall of China.
I read that the only thing that might slow down the Left is Lawfare used against them. I would like to see some but it is doubtful that it will happen.
Yes I am pessimistic about everything right now. And it will get worse.
Hawaiian Electric considered it much more important to develop climate change “alternate energy” than to save 1,000 lives of their subscribers. This will get more common. Kamala just commented that as they get population down by 50% life will get nicer for those left.
The White House, of course, corrected her remark to fit the narrative,
If the new emails reveal how corrupt Joe is, I would hope something would happen, but I’m not optimistic. The last few years have shown just how good the Democrats are at burying news that reflects badly on them.
a bill blocking medical treatment of children who identify as trans
I know what you mean. Everybody does. But still … phrasing …
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/08/17/christianity-today-takes-its-shot-at-oliver-anthony-and-rich-men-north-of-virginia-n2162761
Of course Christianity Today is such a shell of what it once was…Jesus weeps.
@ John Guilfoyle > “Of course Christianity Today is such a shell of what it once was”
Cue Iowahawk’s Skin Suit Maxim.
That observation also applies to more than just the magazine, witness any recent story about transgender preachers and same sex marriages in some denominations, and the Church of England on any woke topic.
The tone of the complaints about Oliver’s lyrics reminds me of the pseudo-pious demands to “wear a mask or you hate your neighbor” from the Covid years.
Note also that the author wanted to hear …
…and then totally ignores the lyrics that do that very thing to focus on the lines about welfare abusers (which, as RedState says, are a real thing even if there are many deserving people who make use of temporary “government” help as they call the transfer payments from the taxpayers to the recipients, taking a cut off the top for bureaucratic overhead and not a little graft).
The Pharisees ye have always with you.
The “Rich Men” music video Neo linked has many approving comments, which is my primary interest in most of that kind of thing:
What is the reaction of the listeners who are willing to speak out?
Caveat that these reactions will differ according to the channel on which a video is found.
Also, the man ain’t Barbra in musical technique, but he is generating a great Streisand Effect.
Last point: why is it that someone’s “lived experience” is only meaningful and politically important if it’s from one of the Left/Democrat’s favored identity groups?
Rhetorical question, of course.
The Commenters:
@B25gunship I’m 75 years. I worked overtime for bullshit pay my entire life and I approve this message.
@MostlyPeaceful-zi5eq As a man who works his ass off all day and hates what this country has become…. I’m with ya brother. This gave me chills. Fantastic performance.
@murndak One of the most powerful things about the phenomenon happening around this song this week is that it’s showing folks they are not alone. The system wants us to feel like we are the only one who has these thoughts. It thrives on people feeling isolated. Isolation fuels the demoralization and hopelessness they want us to feel. This song and folks reaction to it is a huge middle finger to those rich men. Unifying folks from all kinds of backgrounds and solidifying the reality that this has always been a class war.
@ryanme2230 I’m a locomotive engineer. I’m gone 90 to 100 hrs a week. My boy asks me if I love him or my job more. My heart aches. This song hits home for me
@OccamsRazor393 Showed this to my dad who’s a Vietnam Vet, he teared up. He said the 2% shouldn’t be controlling what the other 98% do. That’s not what we fought for.
@ruralroute312 I’m 66 years old and fixin to retire after 35 years with the same company and this kids song hit me right in the mouth !! I like so many are just tired… tired of watching the politicians drive this country into the ground and this song couldn’t have said it any better, and he can make that resonator talk too !!
@kylestoyko5144 I lost my dad to suicide last month. I know he was so tired of trying. Worked his whole … life with nothing to show for it except making someone else rich. This song makes me think of him. I miss you dad. I miss you so much.
@nathanrutherford1930 As a 93 year old man I’m starting to like this new generation of songs if it’s the truth like this… I worked on my ranch from nine years old to sixty eight years old and it was because I was a working man providing for my family. Politicians ain’t what they say they are. God bless Oliver Anthony and thank you for this song.
@timothybayless9587 Our household thanks you for this. I respect you for turning down the record deal and agree with your reason. You must know though, for you giving us a voice that is heard, we will make sure you are looked after. Be it by messages like this or making you the most comfortable blue collar, we have your back brother. Again, thank you and we always have your back.
(Watch for YouTube to demonetize or ban him soon.)
The Left does not like this song.
The Guardian is really reaching for criticism.
https://notthebee.com/article/this-is-a-real-headline-from-the-people-paid-to-report-the-news-
Matthew Cantor “Rich Men North of Richmond punches down. No surprise the right wing loves it.”
NTB deconstructs the entire post well, of course, but I thought it odd that Mr. Cantor of The Guardian obviously got the same memo as Ms. Anderson of Christianity Today.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/16/rich-men-north-of-richmond-oliver-anthony
Christianity Today:
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/august-web-only/oliver-anthony-song-rich-men-north-richmond-love-neighbor.html
Christians shouldn’t be disdainful of anyone, including country singers who have to make their points in considerably less space than is allotted to writers on a periodical payroll.
To be fair to the CT writer, her personal story is about her own family, who were NOT welfare cheats, and most of her observations about the feelings of people who deal with insufficient income to care for their families even while working are very real, but she is obviously transferring her experiences and feelings into the song without genuinely acknowledging the central point Anthony is trying to make, as Bonchie of Red State explained:
Anderson’s post strikes me as being in the same format as other leftist straw-men arguments, such as, “The undocumented workers I know are all nice people just trying to make a living, so any claims that the people crossing the border include criminals are untrue and mean.”
The denial that situations can encompass both ends of an “either-or” statement– and everything in-between — is characteristic of the left’s rhetorical narrative.
My bottom line: you can simultaneously support assistance to people genuinely in need while criticizing abuses of that assistance, and at the moment we are heavy on systemic, organizational, official abuses that are very real, on top of the individuals who milk the system unrighteously — yes, they do exist, even if Ms. Anderson’s family was not among them.
And it’s odd that two such widely differing publications homed in on the same verse of the song.
Neo: This looked possibly of interest:
https://hereistheevidence.com/
}}} The denial that situations can encompass both ends of an “either-or” statement– and everything in-between — is characteristic of the left’s rhetorical narrative.
As I have noted on other occasions, for all the left’s purported love for “nuance”, they are remarkably binary in their thought processes. Either you are with them or against them utterly. If you don’t love something, you clearly can only hate it. If you object to our methods, clearly you must despise the objectives.
…And so on.
And I assert this ties in, once more, to that 3yo “wisdom” level they maintain. Children see things like this, too. No capacity to comprehend a spectrum or a complex and actually nuanced position.
Many of us have enjoyed the Babylon Bee video series about the Californians who go to Texas and get converted to conservatism.
I learned today that the male actor, Siaka Massaquoi, is one of the J6 victims of our alleged justice system.
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/08/17/ninth-circuit-cancels-oral-arguments-in-fbi-lawsuit-blocks-jan-6s-plaintiffs-chance-to-speak-n2162757
This is a post he wrote for RedState, and it makes a fine companion to Oliver Anthony’s song.
https://redstate.com/siaka/2023/08/16/the-discarded-american-n790401
The news about mismanagement and misplaced priorities in Hawaii’s fire on Maui keep getting worse.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2023/08/17/maui-wildfire-survivors-claim-hawaiian-electric-utility-trucks-blocked-passage-to-safety-n2627171
AesopFan…re Maui
And the water resource manager who figures “sure we share water, but there’s the question of equity” while the bloody fires are raging!
Democrats are going to impeach every Republican, unleash lawfare hell on all opponents and steal elections forever. Offering peace sacrifices to the Dem gods will not put an end to our dystopian nightmare. Our rulers have lots of plans for our complete subjugation. They don’t act in good faith. How much evidence do people need?
There are idiots who are so brain dead that they really believe that Trump brought all this on himself. It’s all Trump’s fault that Hillary and the DNC unleashed the dossier, FBI, CIA, NSA, DOJ and the news media to destroy him before he was ever elected.
It’s all Trump’s fault that the Democrat spies have been trolling through the NSA databases for blackmail material on opponents since the early Obama days. It’s Trump’s fault that only Republicans ever get knifed by DC justice going back decades.
Thank God all of this will stop the moment Trump cultists stop their silly support of him. Then we can all go back to happy days. Yeah, right.
These worthless, spineless cowards on the floor begging the Democrats to please stop kicking them and promising to stab Trump in the back if only the kicking will stop — they make me sick. They suffer from a deep psychological problem. They know the Democrats are evil. They know the Democrats have been lying, stealing and cheating for decades. They know that lawfare started long before the Donald. Yet, they are so afraid to challenge Big Brother and fight for America, they have convinced themselves that peace and harmony can be purchased by giving up Trump to be burned at the stake.
—
Powerful song. How many votes will it change? How many changed votes will be tallied accurately?
stan – Once again, you leave a field of blazing strawmen in your wake:
“There are idiots who are so brain dead that they really believe that Trump brought all this on himself. It’s all Trump’s fault that Hillary and the DNC unleashed the dossier, FBI, CIA, NSA, DOJ and the news media to destroy him before he was ever elected.”
The number of people who I have seen argue that “Trump brought all of this on himself” is precisely zero. The argument against Trump is that his behavior and poor public standing make it much easier for left’s tactics to succeed. That argument is not rebutted by claiming that the left will go after any Republican.
The left’s game is to take advantage of a Republican who is uniquely vulnerable to their lawfare and chicanery because of his assinine behavior and low public standing. They’ll use him through November 2024 and then, after that, they’ll let him rot in prison for the rest of his life. That’s cosmic justice to them. Let Trump deliver political victory to the left (again) and then send him to jail.
And frankly, Republicans who vote for Trump in the primary are the left’s best friends right now.
btw–
In 2000, Gore lawyers specifically instructed Dem county election commissions to throw out legal military ballots in direct violation of a Federal Court injunction requiring them to be counted.
I imagine that a prosecution for conspiring to deny civil rights is beyond the stat of limitations (idk and not going to check). But every Democrat involved in the 2000 abuses needs to be held up as an example of genuine election crime.
Rub their noses in their own, real sh&t.
Bauxite, you need to get out more. The numbers are legion. Saw some just this morning.
And I note that you choose to ignore the reality that awaits. Removing Trump from the field will destroy the party and the country. There will never be an honest election. There will never be any pushback to Big Brother. Because Dems will have proven that they can use their government gestapo to get anyone.
AesopFan,
In your survey of comments of Oliver song, I noted a heavy preponderance of us old farts.. Any sightings of the Millennials or Gen Z, or even 50yrs+ ??
Megyn Kelly:
What are the odds if Donald Trump is the nominee that the Republicans keep the House?
Newt Gingrich:
Trump will deliver a tidal wave of voters and win the House significantly and win the Senate.
James Carville, the loudmouth, in-your-face demonkrat operative speaks:
“Ideologies aren’t all that important. What’s important is psychology.
The Democratic constituency is just like a herd of cows. All you have to do is lay out enough silage and they come running. That’s why I became an operative working with Democrats. With Democrats all you have to do is make a lot of noise, lay out the hay, and be ready to use the ole cattle prod in case a few want to bolt the herd.
Eighty percent of the people who call themselves Democrats don’t have a clue as to political reality.
What amazes me is that you could take a group of people who are hard workers and convince them that they should support social programs that were the exact opposite of their own personal convictions. Put a little fear here and there and you can get people to vote any way you want.
The voter is basically dumb and lazy. The reason I became a Democratic operative instead of a Republican was because there were more Democrats that didn’t have a clue than there were Republicans.
Truth is relative. Truth is what you can make the voter believe is the truth. If you’re smart enough, truth is what you make the voter think it is. That’s why I’m a Democrat. I can make the Democratic voters think whatever I want them to.”
? James Carville
Just confirms that the demonkrats care only about obtaining and maintaining power. The ends justifies the means.
@AesopFan re “Rich men north of Richmond.”
You may want to watch this, which was posted on Twitter aka “X,” to see, “listen,” to what individuals are saying about Oliver’s song. The emotions evoked speak louder than words.
Here.
lets be blunt about this, how many people that the deep state was willing to kill, darpa niad, were willing to kill, their blood price, to terrorize people into the mail fraud, which the carter baker commission acknowledged, the helderman reports which were trumpeted on state tv, frontline a month before the election,
as I say I can go for any of the top three, but that’s not the quintessential issue of the day, whether we have a republic or we don’t, currently we don’t, we have a soft oligarchy, with indications of fortifying,
I’m using the template of athens in the late pelopennesian war
@John Guilfoyle:who figures “sure we share water, but there’s the question of equity” while the bloody fires are raging!
This did not happen. This is textbook media narrative creation, where they say true things that leave you with a false narrative they intended, but this is a right-leaning case.
The “equity” statements were not made while the fires were raging, but quite some time before. The article that brought this comment to light carefully presented it in order to leave the impression that he said it “while the bloody fires are raging”.
Whether it’s left-leaning media or right-leaning media, remember that they make money by getting you to believe things.
it illustrates his mindset, or lack there of, its bad enough to have a fool in charge, it’s worse when his performance leads to catastrophe
Except that Biden is NOT “Biden”…(and Biden’s NOT in charge).
I said earlier: “And it’s odd that two such widely differing publications homed in on the same verse of the song.”
It’s not really all that odd,\; it’s very apparent if you follow multiple media outlets, which is possible with the crowd-sourced aggregation here at Neo’s Salon, since we have so many people with different interests and media favorites.
However, if you are a limited media consumer, you would never know that two such disparate places are following the narrative almost to the word, and I am sure there are many more topics where that happens.
For example, the large number of video collages of news “reporters” parroting the exact same lines in their broadcasts was made excruciatingly clear over the last year, and could probably be replicated for print/online outlets if someone took the time to do it.
yes they use the same meme, that usually tells you its a bunch of bollocks, pardon my french,
‘rich men’ is a cri de de couer, against the zysgy that rules the Capital, (hunger games connotation intended)
much like the three witches, in the scottish play, who has the eye,
that sounded suspicious
https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1692544357268672620
I have a simple idea for the Republican National Committee to really cut down on the other side’s election fraud. Have Republican volunteers get jobs in their state’s election system. Even to the point of subsidizing them. Simple idea, but as von Clausewitz said “Every thing in war (politics) is very simple, but the simple things are very difficult”.
Ah, yes, the leftist media in North Carolina are complaining about denying “gender-affirming care” and also about “targeting transgender youth.” The truth is we’re outlawing chemical and physical mutilation of children, and protecting girls and women.
Welcome to North Carolina, Eeyore. We may leave the Triangle in a few years, but likely for the mountains, not for another state.
Kate and eeyore, I find it extremely interesting that, even in a state like North Carolina, the Democrats are supporting the most radical of the transgender radicals. I am surprised Cooper was elected twice. Perhaps the governor party will change now that the legislature has passed a good election reform bill. Cooper successfully vetoed a previous bill but the Republicans may now be able to override the veto.
https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-elections-absentee-ballots-legislature-1c9b1fc9379ff26269b1d03621ea768a
One of my sons plans to retire to South Carolina, just close to the border with north, to avoid the NC politics. If the governor changes to R, he might even reconsider as he has friends in NC. I now have kids planning retirement.
Bob Wilson, I have concerns about election procedures in Durham County. Also, Democrats here have milked the abortion issue, switching from moderately pro-abortion to favoring the radical abortion policies of places like California. That worked in the 2022 elections, to some extent, but now that a 12-week ban has been passed, it may not work so much any more. Our election procedures were already fairly good, and the newly-passed reforms will help. (The override of a Cooper veto is likely.)
@ physicsguy > “Any sightings of the Millennials or Gen Z, or even 50yrs+ ??”
I just took samples of the first couple of pages.
That is an interesting question, though.
See what huxley found here:
https://www.thenewneo.com/2023/08/17/open-thread-8-17-23/#comment-2694363
“Here’s an amazing “Rich Man” remix by a black rapper:” LINK
And this reaction video from John Venlet below is mostly youngsters (less than 50 best I can tell).
https://twitter.com/0rf/status/1691957955250331924
@ Frederick > “Whether it’s left-leaning media or right-leaning media, remember that they make money by getting you to believe things.”
Very true, which makes the X link by miguel very pertinent.
Paul Sperry @paulsperry_
BREAKING: Reuters reporting that “Advance Democracy, a non-profit research organization” is tracking alleged “threats” to Fulton County grand jurors, but fails to note Advance Democracy is run by Soros-financed Democrat activist who spread the Trump-Alfa Bank hoax on Capitol Hill
More on Anthony Oliver.
https://notthebee.com/article/rich-men-north-of-richmond-is-now-at-the-top-of-the-itunes-global-charts
“(P.S. – How many “journalists” do you think the Rich Men North of Richmond have employed sifting through every detail of his life in an effort to destroy him right now?)”
I would wager on a goodly number.
In fact, I’m surprised he hasn’t already been either demonetized, banned, or both.