From Harper’s Weekly:
Illiberal Values by Walter Kirn
“Puritanism,” Mencken said, is ‘the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.’ But liberal puritanism is slightly different. It fears that the wrong sort of people might be happy, or that their happiness might be of the wrong kind.“
“I see evidence that certain liberal principles, the ones that impressed me in the Seventies, have eroded. Back then, for example, the CIA was understood to be a nest of liars and psychopaths who toppled democratically chosen leaders, lied to the public to start wars, and ran sick experiments on innocents using drugs and mind-control techniques. In Three Days of the Condor, a thriller from the period, Robert Redford plays a lowly CIA officer who discovers that the agency is nothing more than a crime ring. These days, however, with Trump playing the heavy, the CIA is revered by many liberals as a bulwark of integrity, its missions sacred, its conclusions unimpeachable, and its former director, John Brennan, worthy of a high-profile cable news job. The FBI draws similar adulation, never mind its history of spying on the likes of Ernest Hemingway, John Lennon, and Martin Luther King Jr.
“This great liberal switch from skepticism to sanctimony about the most powerful arms of the Establishment is matched by a viral fear of Russia that reminds me of the John Birch Society pamphlets I’d come across now and then when I was young. Somehow, instinct told me then that they were crazy, exaggerating the cunning of the enemy, the depravity of the collaborators, and the vulnerability of America. The liberal comedians who lampooned such claims on shows such as Laugh-In were my idols. They dared to speak the most radical truth of all in a time of panic and paranoia.”
Trump
The nation showed that things were changing at a tectonic level when President Trump was elected. He smashed Hillary Clinton in the electoral college, shaming the polling companies who are supposed to predict wins and losses before they occur.
Today there is the “daily hate” on the elite, corrupt, filthy, sly, lying mainstream media. Billions are spent to try and damage President Trump, and still his approval numbers improve. Progressives are bewildered. They predict that the Democrats will take back the House of Representatives in November. Look at the map and take note that President Trump is more popular now than when he was elected. It’s Donald Trump and not the Republican Party that people tended to vote for. They hate the swamp, they hate the faceless, heartless bureaucracy and they wanted hope and change. They wanted to see an end to the old political way of doing things.
Remarkable.
Lee Ho Fook (London)
LSP mentioned this restaurant (right) on his blog that deals with fishing, pastoral life, and progressive space aliens among us. I recommend the food at Lee Ho Fook, particularly the beef chow mien. There was no unicorn on the menu last time that I was there… Try not to go in the later evening. A little old lady was mutilated down the street…werewolves of London again.
Iran
President Trump offered to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani personally and without conditions to avert a war. It seems that they’ve been building a nuclear weapon. Don’t be shocked. The Saudis and the Jews are the targets and they are very uneasy. Follow these events in Iran very closely.
That beet red map says much. We'll see if the pollsters have egg on their face (yet again) this coming November. Dr. Larry Sabato (he of the Crystal Ball) was wildly wrong last presidential election. He is now touting this massive Blue Wave, and predicts the Democrats will win the House and maybe take back the Senate.
I wonder if Larry gets tired of all of that egg on his face. Apparently not.
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln
Line three proving true, yet again?
I've enjoyed LHF but it's been a while… in the meanwhile, let's see if Ocasio and the hatemongering media can turn us into a socialist utopia in the midterms.
And all eyes on Iran.
If liberals tired of being wrong, they wouldn't be liberals.
I'm sure that all of them would savor Aunt Sally's fruitcake, or chipping teeth on her spaghetti.
I think that most American people see the situation for what it is and disregard the histrionics of the corrupt media.
All it would take for the Socialists to make America into a worker's paradise would be ALL of the money and wealth in the world. But even at that, they'd screw it up.
As to Iran, crack open a fortune cookie from Le Ho Fook, because the future for them is murky at the moment. I wouldn't sell any of the mullahs life insurance if I owned stock in the company.
Watching some of the channels covering the US e.g. CNN it becomes obvious that the US do have a lot of well dressed socialists. I do not think they self-identify as communists but listening to what they say makes it hard to see the difference. I guess the Russians and the Chinese must be satisfied when they see where so many inner city people are heading. I guess as long as the politicians do not support education of engineer but prefer liberal arts you will continue to produce people wanting more government, higer taxes and regulations. The day when the D manage to scrap the electoral system the US is doomed since inner city people will take over.
Good advice, LL. I'm not betting the fighting monkey on their continued survival.
In a country where there are 300 million privately owned firearms and 5 trillion rounds of ammunition in the hands of conservatives – it will only tip so far. It explains why liberals are hysterical on the subject.
They have a pathway to peace… or can rest in pieces. It's a choice.
Heh. Thanks for the ear worm. Rock on.
Eyes on Iran, indeed. And this blog. And those privately owned firearms? Yup. Have been tinkering, and I think I have settled on where I want the light mounted on my AR.
> tired of all of that egg on his face
There's an obvious joke to be made about what that ilk might prefer on their faces, but this being a classy, family-oriented blog I shall refrain.
Mike_C their recreational pastimes and those of their heroes like John Podesta and Stormy Daniels are not a subject of this blog, but your point is well taken.
It's tough for the libs to consider conquest when they are facing the largest irregular army on the planet.
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