Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Random Thoughts

On Trump and the "Russia Investigation" 

Short version: it's not about Russia.

I don't follow every development in this story like my American friends and readers do for obvious reasons. First of all, I don't have the time or interest in every last detail and secondly, the story is at the same time both interesting and boring. I'm also really a far cry from expert in any of the technical, legal or constitutional matters inherent in the story.

I am, however, a pretty good observer of trends. So, I'm trying to look at the big picture on this story. I'm trying to observe the overarching idea and I'll share what I see.

I think that the Trump presidency is a real challenge to the political left in many, many different ways. The left is not happy about having lost the White House, and it certainly is not happy with Netanyahu in Israel either so a lot of rage and a lot of money and effort is going to keep going into trying to take these guys down. And the left has a lot of money to spend on this quest-money gained by personal and private enterprise and then of course, our money-tax money, the bottomless pit.

What we are seeing is the political left flexing its muscles and throwing a collective tantrum.

And what are the muscles? The media, the arts, the judiciary, the left-leaning bureaucracies, and of course "public" systems like unions, teachers unions, librarians, etc. Then there's the entire educational system from JK to university-the teachers, the administrators, the government bureaucrats and the faculty members of various colleges and universities. It's pretty much an all out war. So Trump is the figure head that they are aiming at, he's the general, and he's the target but so many of the really truly minor foot soldiers are being persecuted and prosecuted as well.

The left wants to destroy you and your family.

So many individuals who have even held tiny bit parts in this Trump movie are being brutalized-totally and utterly tormented.

Mark Steyn has often said of his legal troubles that the process is the punishment. And that is certainly true.

But his pithy and truth-filled observation is applicable not just to actual legal battles, but to the entire attempt to live freely and not under the ever-encroaching tyranny of the left. The left never rests. 

What we are seeing, and what is also directly reflected in the leftist dominated social media landscape, is the determination of the political left to de-legitimize and essentially criminalize and actually eliminate all forms of political dissent and 'diversity' of political opinion. The big wigs of the media, arts, academe, judiciary and "civil" service lead the charge, and therefore the terrorist tactics filter all the way down to regular people who are afraid to crack a joke, afraid to say they are conservative, afraid to dissent from any of the leftist political orthodoxy for fear of losing their jobs, their livelihoods and yes-their homes and all of their worldly wealth and possessions.

Social media is basically the highly successful and highly effective Manhattan Project of the political left.

The left has truly weaponized social media and nukes the living daylights of anyone it deems a challenge, "offensive", conservative, agnostic or simply truthful or contrarian.

People of the left don't have this same worry. They can freely express even the most repulsive "jokes" or insults, they can be serial woman-abusers ("male feminists") and they will get a free pass time after time after time. They can waste our money, use our money to torment us, fly about the world romancing dictators and murderers, congratulate one another in their particularly masturbatory fashion about how enlightened they are as they build higher and higher fences around themselves, armed with the power of the state on their side.

They also have the best real estate in town. It's called Safe Space.

You want to know what real "safe space" is? Real "safe space" is the space, the growing, burgeoning, space that the political left occupies in our lives and in our brains. The real "safe space" of the political left lets you be crude, vulgar and even a serial abuser, to do illegal and immoral things and to never have to pay a price. The real "safe space" of the political left is where human evil festers and thrives where human indulgence is encouraged, where the absence of G-d is well noted and celebrated and conquered by base nihilism and limitless appetite for the truly non-meaningful things in life. Their Safe Space real estate empire is ever-encroaching and has a voracious insatiable appetite. No, there will never be a time when they will say 'ok now we can live and let live'. They cannot be placated so just stop trying. There is never a limit to the moral, philosophical, practical or personal ground you will be required to cede.

This has always been the case with the left, however it is more pronounced now because of the stranglehold that the political left has on information, the control of the flow and the control of the narrative. Social media and the internet have liberated millions of minds and trillions of bytes of information, but now there is a terrifying ebb and flow as we witness how these great giants of information and information control are enslaving the minds of millions as well.

The left is very clear about all this. One of the reasons that President Trump was elected was precisely to punch back against this, without fear, his own person moral baggage notwithstanding.

The Trump presidency is a litmus test of our (that is to say non-leftist) resolve. They laughed when he said that soon, there would be demands to take down statues of George Washington, but that was quite a prophetic comment. Something about President Trump, again, with all his very human failings, understands the insatiable nature of his enemies.

Do you understand the insatiable appetite of your enemies? Are you looking at reality or living on Planet Fantasy?

How much ground are you willing to cede?

It's really not at all about Russia. It's about you, and your personal liberty and freedom.

Lastly:

Excellent move from President Trump. 

And this, this is simply magnificent. President Trump, in one fell swoop, has taken the wind out of the terrorists sails. Permanently. And it looks good on them and all of their Jew-hating fanboys.

And here's what's next. 

Food for Thought:

Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web.

This is an excellent piece from the very thoughtful Bari Weiss at the NY Times.

It's amazing that holding civil conversations, armed with facts makes one a renegade. Regardless-it's worth a read. One thing that these folks are is courageous. And they show that you can still say the truth and have a life, which gives me some hope.