Will the the 21st Century See The Dismantling Of Centralized Power?

“The story of the 21st Century will be the dismantling of centralized power.“ : Richard Bledsoe

I can’t think of any evidence for this. Are there any governments on earth which are smaller than they were ten years ago? Is Google’s power shrinking? Amazon’s? Big banks? Has Giant Faceless MegaCorp decided to break itself up into independent twenty employee segments?

We have seen in the last couple decades the creation of a global surveillance state of intertwined governments and private businesses which not even the Stasi could have dreamed of in their wildest drug induced fantasies.

We in the US have evolved from a nation of independent small business owners aka farmers and artisans, into a nation of employees trained to take orders. Our fundamental mindset has changed from that of owners into obedient order takers.

I see no evidence whatsoever that anyone in either major American political party would even consider overturning the foundation of the modern regulatory state -Wickard vs Filburn (look it up)- much less return our government to only those activities authorized by the Constitution.

The UN and leading politicians around the world are working openly to end national sovereignty, criminalize free speech including criticism of Islam and of immigration. Merkel may lose her office, but she has succeeded beyond the dreams of the mullahs in Islamizing Germany, and those people are not going to leave. Nor are those in France, Britain, Holland, Spain, or Italy.

Islam is hardly a force for decentralization, nor is the wave of socialism sweeping Americans who have been taught to despise individualism, capitalism, and the bourgeoisie.

Quite the contrary to decentralization: I think we are far more likely to see the complete politicization of economic activity coupled with a surveillance state like the world has never seen.

White and Black, Jews, Nazis, and Enemies

There was a good, if somewhat rambling columnabout the difference between US and British views on race and Jews by Robert Koerner at the Foundation for Economic Freedom site, to which I replied. It got marked by someone as spam, perhaps by accident or perhaps to hide it, but I asked it be revealed. we’ll see. In any case, my comment:

That was a thought provoking column. Thank you.
“And no, I’m not your enemy, whatever you tell me.” I’m not sure that I agree with that.

At one level it makes sense, in that German Jews/Jewish Germans weren’t enemies of Germany: they were Germans. Same with Austrians, Poles, Dutch, French Jews. However, the Nazis didn’t allow them to be other than enemies, and it didn’t matter as a practical issue if the Jews didn’t consider themselves enemies of the the Nazis.

I was in a voluntary organization many years ago in which two rival factions were running things. The arguments between them were largely over ideological purity vs political practicality. The practical faction considered the pure faction impractical and personally abusive, both of which had some truth to them. The pure people considered the practical people evil, and were quite outspoken about that.
I wanted to stay on the sidelines on that debate, but the pure people would not allow that. One was either on their side or an enemy. Take your pick, but those were the only options. No Sidelines Option was available. Ally or enemy. Take your pick.

While I eventually decided to simply leave the organization, I did decide that while people may not want to be other’s enemy, the decision is not up to them: it is up to those who demand all be either allies or enemies.

So, it seems to me that if BLM, the DNC, the RNC, or any other group declares me to be an enemy, then I am in fact their enemy. It doesn’t matter that I don’t want to be their enemy: it isn’t my choice. It’s theirs.

European Jews of all nationalities WERE enemies of the Nazis, not because they wanted to be but because the Nazis designated them as such. It wasn’t in the Jews’ power to not be enemies. It simply wasn’t up to them. It was up to the Nazis.

It also seems to me that one of the biggest failures of European Jews was the majority’s failure to understand that, internalize it, and act on that sad realization, either by fleeing or taking up arms and fighting their genocidal enemies.

There may not be much we can do to lessen the power or growth of the virulent racists on the left. Apologizing, self-flagellation, and submitting will be no more effective than it was for European Jews.

We can keep an eye on them, and we can in most states consider arming ourselves against overt violence. I think we should do so, because the time to prepare against assault is not after the assault has taken place but before. Steve Scalise was prepared with armed guards, and that preparation saved not only his own life, but those of the other Republicans at that soft ball practice.

Think of the so-called protests in Portland a few weeks ago, in which leftists blocked traffic, re-directed vehicles, and beat on vehicles. Suppose it had gone a bit further, and people were dragged from their cars and beaten. Would the time to prepare be the next day? Ask Reginald Denny after he was dragged from his truck and a cement block dropped repeatedly on his head. Minding his own business, until he was surrounded by people who designated him their enemy.

I don’t know how violent these leftists will get, nor how many allies they will attract, but it does seem important to keep an eye on them, and to prepare for worse violence than they are now committing, because at some point it may be too late to prepare. We won’t have the option of not being their enemy. It will be their decision, and by their own statements they have already made it.

There Was A Reason We Seceded From Britain...

...and there still is.

Pam Geller, if you don't recall, organized the Mohammed Cartoons show in Garland, TX, at which Muslim murderers arrived to slaughter the crowd, only to be gunned down by security.

It didn't get nearly the news play which was accorded far less important events.


Secretary of State Kerry believes mass murders by Muslims, such as in Paris, have a certain "legitimacy" because they are offended by cartoons. This, of course, may be extended to those who cut off Christians' heads and sell Christian girls into sex slavery. Christians who protest are anti-Muslim bigots.

But we already knew that.


http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/18/geller-the-nation-that-gave-the-world-the-magna-carta-is-dead/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29

Bundling

How different life could be if we re-established THIS custom amongst the young.

Sew 'em into a sack, sez I! Yes, you! You know who I'm talking about.

Seems to Me the Proper Response is...

...a loud "Go to Hell!" followed by dropping every magazine and book onto the counter and walking away. Repeat.

Country sports enthusiasts are furious at a decision by Britain's biggest newsagent to ban children from buying shooting magazines after a campaign by animal rights activists.

WH Smith says youngsters under 14 will not be sold shooting titles, even though it is legal to hold a shotgun licence below that age....

Earlier this year, Animal Aid, Britain's largest animal rights organisation, published a report which claimed that the "lurid, pro-violence content" of country sports magazines could have a "corrosive, long-lasting effect on impressionable young minds".

The report, Gunning For Children: How the gun lobby recruits young blood, argued that titles promoting guns should be put on the top shelf alongside pornography, and banned for sale to under-18s.

A spokesman for WH Smith said it did not wish to act as a censor...

As a private company, WH Smith has every right to act like everyone's nanny, and everyone has a right to fire that nanny.

'This Is Cornwall' has more here.

A Page Three Girl of About 1669

It turns out her name was Nell Gwyn -yes, THAT Nell Gwyn- and the artist was Sir Peter Lely.

Indiana Supreme Court: No Right to Resist Illegal Police Entry

I suppose Hoosiers should be glad the State Supremes didn't extend the protection to all other criminals illegally entering homes.

Dan Carden at NWI.com has the pathetic story.

INDIANAPOLIS | Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

Saddam Hussein agrees wholeheartedly with "Justice" Steven David. Or he would if he hadn't been hanged.

For what little it is worth, two Justices voted to uphold the right to resist illegal entry:

"In my view the majority sweeps with far too broad a brush by essentially telling Indiana citizens that government agents may now enter their homes illegally -- that is, without the necessity of a warrant, consent or exigent circumstances," (Justice Robert) Rucker said. "I disagree."

Rucker and (Justice Brent) Dickson suggested if the court had limited its permission for police entry to domestic violence situations they would have supported the ruling.

But Dickson said, "The wholesale abrogation of the historic right of a person to reasonably resist unlawful police entry into his dwelling is unwarranted and unnecessarily broad."

The Magna Carta: another one of those outmoded documents over 100 years old. The Indiana Supreme Court has taken the state back to pre-Magna Carta days.

The Pity-for-Osama Lobby

Brendan O'Neill in Spiked:

It is extraordinary, and revealing, how quickly the expression of concern about the use of American force in Pakistan became an expression of values superiority over the American people. The modern chattering classes are so utterly removed from the mass of the population, so profoundly disconnected from ‘ordinary people’ and their ‘ordinary thoughts’, that they effectively see happy Americans as a more alien and unusual thing than Osama bin Laden. Where OBL wins their empathy, American jocks receive only their bile.

American jocks are take-charge kind of people. Since they tend not to be sympathetic to the politics of such as Red Ken Livingstone, communist* former mayor of London, they are inherently bad people.

Thinking of Red Ken, O'Neill says:

Watching Americans celebrate OBL’s death, Ken Livingstone said: ‘I realised that it would increase the likelihood of a terror attack on London.’ This is really a call to elevate precaution over action, meekness over passionate political feeling, staying at home over taking risks, all in the name of protecting ourselves from any possible future action by a hot-headed Islamist. In this sense, the disdain for America and its people is really an expression of angst about what America is perceived to represent: confidence, cockiness, self-possession, a willingness to take risks (little of which is actually accurate). The post-OBL ‘uncomfortable feeling’ is really a quite craven sentiment, a fear-fuelled desire for self-preservation over anything else, which is dolled up as a principled critique of American militarism.

So, is anti-Americanism simply self-loathing masking as political principle?

And just my own observation, of course, by an American non-jock who is unabashedly delighted that Osama bin Laden died a violent death at the hands of Americans: What did Red Ken and his bien-pensant cohort say about the people celebrating by the tens of thousands in the streets of Gaza and other places when the Twin Towers filled with thousand of innocents were knocked down? Did Red Ken proclaim "I realised that it would increase the likelihood of a terror attack by the Americans on Kabul or Baghdad"? Or does he refrain from moral indignation over Muslims, or Arabs, or Afghans because he thinks they just aren't up to being held responsible for their actions? Does Red Ken really ascribe to the credo of the White Man's Burden?

Do Red Ken et al believe that Americans of all colors can be held morally accountable, but their 'Little Brown Brothers' can't be? Are the bien-pensants the real racists here?

* Livingstone calls himself a socialist, saying: "I still believe one day that the idea that the main means of production are owned by private individuals... will be considered as anti-democratic as the idea serfs could be tied to the land." This is the sort which Londoners elect to be Mayor.

Lying on one's back whilst squealing like a drunken hedgehog

Well, yes, the English WOULD be concerned about such behavior, and they have thoughtfully provided just the place for hedgehog rehabilitation. Yes, the Brits have provided the Prickly Ball Hedgehog Hospital in South Devon for just such events.

As reported in the This is North Devon.co.uk ("At the heart of all things local"):

A HEDGEHOG had to be rescued in Braunton after getting drunk by eating fermenting apples.

The animal — now named Tipsy — was discovered in an orchard on his back and squealing loudly last Wednesday.

Hedgehog honcho Ann McCormack was called in.

"The hedgehog kept falling over and was on its back with its legs up in the air for most of the time.

"This is definitely the first drunk hedgehog I have found."

Tipsy was taken home by Ann and given painkillers, antibiotics and some non- alcoholic apple juice.

Ann said: "The next morning I came in and turned the light on and she squealed really loudly. She obviously still had a big headache."

Either that or she wasn't very happy with that non-alcoholic apple juice.

Mightn't cutting off Tipsy's supply of naturally fermented apple juice constitute hedgehog abuse? Shouldn't the traditional values of the hedgehog community be taken into account? Why isn't the RSPCA stepping in on Tipsy's side? Say it not: Alas, the RSPCA has been taken over by wowsers.

Also to raise concern, and likely far more so than a tippling hedgehog's toppling in the privacy of an orchard, Tipsy is here referred to both as him and she.

So now the ultimate questions are: Is Tipsy sexually confused? Could Tipsy be a tippling, toppling, hung over, transgendered hedgehog? What treatments are available for such, even in the United Kingdom?

Should s/he be brought to America for gender reassignment surgery? And should Stimulus Monies be used? Rather...How much Stimulus Monies should be used?

Obviously, as much as it takes. With pre- and post-surgical counseling, until Tipsy is at peace with his/her self.

Hedgehog happiness: our collective responsibility.

Go, Maurice Sendak!

Imagine, a chilrens' book author having the temerity today to tell parents to "Go to Hell!"

The book is 'too scary' for the poor things?

"I would tell them to go to hell," Sendak said. And if children can't handle the story, they should "go home," he added. "Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like.

Go for it, Maurice!

Sendak also recalled a fight he had with his publisher about Where the Wild Things Are, with the safety-conscious publisher keen to change the word "hot" to "warm" at the end of the book, when Max returns from his reign as king over the monsters to find his dinner "was still hot".

Allison Flood has more in the Guardian.

Oh, just clik on it!

The State Department really ought to issue travel advisories warning visitors to the United Kingdom about cage-fighting transvestites and poisoned curries from gay tripedal-catnappers.

Right here.That's right, just clik here. Or here, of course. Clikking here would get you somewhere as well, but elsewhere.

President Pantywaist?

"New surrender monkey on the block?"

Sounds like prosecutable hate speech in Canada to me.

More on Daniel Hannan

It turns out that he would have voted for Ron Paul.

Unfortunately, Ron Paul comes across to too many as the sort of fellow you avoid sitting next to in a bus station.

Too bad this guy can't run for president of the US

So remind me: Just what is wrong with glorifying or glamorizing the use of guns?

The trailer for Angelina Jolie's film "Wanted" has been banned from the British telly:

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the advert gave the overall impression "that using guns was sexy and glamorous" and breached the code for television.

"We concluded the ad could be seen to condone violence by glorifying or glamorising the use of guns," its adjudication said.

Mustn't let the wee tykes think it is OK for women to shoot criminals. That American virus must be stopped until it can be sent the way of small pox.

UPDATE: Ah: Possibly this explains in small part the blatant hoplophobia:

The film stars Jolie and British actor James McAvoy as a pair of assassins.

I guess I'll have to see it to find out if they are good guy assassins or bad guy assassins.

Fascists to the left of them, Fascists to the right of them...

Into the Valley of Fascisti rode Geert Wilders. At least he is trying to, at the invitation of Members of Parliament. The Home Secretary has something else in mind:

Government bans Dutch MP Geert Wilders from entering Britain after Muslim leaders threaten to organise mob protest.

...Geert Wilders..., has been told he cannot enter the UK. Wilders was due to speak to fellow Parliamentarians at the House of Lords tomorrow and show his film ‘Fitna’...

Yesterday Wilders was presented with a letter written on behalf of the Home Secretary stating that she ‘is satisfied that your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.’

Perhaps threaten the harmony of the community of violently fundamentalist Islamists which the British government preemptively bends over for at every opportunity.

Numerous extremist clerics still come into this country each year and numerous others...remain happily untroubled by our authorities despite being filmed calling for the murders of Jews, homosexuals, Hindus, Muslim apostates and others. This country hosts many ambassadors – official and unofficial – for terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah who call for the annihilation of whole peoples. These people do not find themselves deported, nor barred from entry or re-entry into the country.

Yes, well, you see, Jews, homosexuals, Hindus, and Muslim apostates don't run around killing people who disagree with them, so it is SAFE to insult, threaten, and assault them.

Not so the enemy, to who Her Majesty's Government so eagerly presents the preemptive bend over (PBO).

Crime in Britain, and why it flourishes

Worried about criminals breaking into your garden shed to steal your tools?

Don't lock it.That, anyway, is what the Bristol City Council recommends:

London, October 1: Bristol City Council is urging people to leave their sheds open because padlocks could lead to thieves forcing their way through doors and windows of the council-owned sheds to steal garden equipment.

The council said that its new initiative could save taxpayers' money because fewer sheds would have to be repaired or replaced.

"Don't padlock your shed; it can save the shed being damaged if someone does try to get into it. If there is a break-in, always inform the police," the Telegraph quoted its guide as reading....

A spokesman...admitted that leaving the sheds unlocked could leave expensive equipment uninsured.

Details. The important thing is to not inconvenience the burglars. It's the new British Way.

Stonehenge Reloaded

Wally Wallington has some ideas about how the pile of rocks was piled up (Hint: Good ol' American ingenuity):



Thanks to Jamie K. for the link.

London, the Cotswolds, and Market Bosworth

There are some problems with having a camera memory capable of holding over 1300 pictures: the result is a bit daunting. Herewith though are a few photos from our trip to England this summer.

In the courtyard of the Victoria & Albert Museum:

 

Here is a small part of one of the cast rooms at the V&A. The big cylinders are a cast of the Emperor Trajan's Column in Rome, side by side rather than one upon the other as the ceiling is too low for that. Still, it is very handy for those who can't make it there for the original, which in any case is now the worse for wear from acid rain. American universities once had cast collections, but the German architecture profs who fled the Nazis took over the architecture departments and, having decided that the past was worthless, threw them all in dumpsters. This collection managed to survive the Blitz, despite bomb damage to the outside of the building.

 

On the walk from St Paul's Cathedral to the Millenium Bridge we chanced on this memorial to the firefighters, both men and women, who lost their lives trying to save London from the Nazis.

 

Here a mudlark prospects for treasure along the muddy banks of the Thames in front of Tate Modern:

 

Appropriately dressed to check out a Pollock at Tate Modern:

 

Admiral Lord Neslon atop his column at Trafalgar Square. It seems a shame there isn't something to Lady Emma Hamilton for keeping his morale up along the way. She had a hard beginning and a hard end, but Nelson must have seen something in her. And, yes, I am a flaming liberal, but she played the hand she was dealt, which wasn't much, and did rather well with it.

 

One must pay attention to one's foundations:

 

The interior of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, so named because it was, when built, indeed in the fields. Now the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square are across the street.

 

A few yards from St Martin stands one of the memorials to Nurse Edith Cavell, shot by the Germans on October 12th, 1915 for helping soldiers escape from occupied Belgium. Putting a nurse in front of a firing squad proved to be one of the larger German PR debacles of the war. Posters, postcards, and little china statuettes of Cavell sold by the thousands, helped fuel British rage against the barbaric Huns, and made a negotiated peace all the less likely.

 

These are some Victorian era chimneys along Charing Cross Road, across the street from the London Silver Vaults. Unfortunately, the later do not allow photography. They are pretty neat tho, if you like tons of second hand sterling silver.

 

Here's Valerie at the British Museum, checking out the Rosetta Stone:

 

Still at the British Museum, with a granite statue of Ramesses II from 1270 BCE. It was a present in 1818. Must have been a great time to be a collector, altho even then one had to accept the odd nick or scratch.

 

One day while driving through the Cotswolds we came across an old manor called Stanton House (that's the gate in the background, not the house itself) with a church next to it. The church was being re-roofed for the first time since 1856, and there were a lot of discarded old stone shingles which the roofers said we could take. My sister Judy snapped this one of us dumpster diving in the Cotswolds. The shingles are now here, in the side garden. Nothing like going to England and bringing back used shingles.

 

Here are a couple shots in the churchyard at Guiting Power, which we checked out during the music festival Judy treated us to:

 

 

More pics later.

There will always be an England Department

More or less:

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word "cult" to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion...

...Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous,...were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was "abusive and insulting".

This wouldn't have anything to do with it, of course:

The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology.

Anil Dawar has the story in the Guardian.

"Bomb, bomb Denmark. Take their wives as war booty" seems to be OK*. Apparently the Scientologists' critics aren't so scary to the police as Islamists are. Or just more abusive.

*The link goes to a no longer available location. Try here.