About Last Night

 

Random thoughts about the Trump victory:

1. I am way too damn old to stay up until 4 am. Whatever Florida does now should be done everywhere. After closing out the editor’s election thread at 3:30, my youngest started texting me from the middle of the Atlantic wanting to know what was going on. (Thanks, Elon… I think.)

Welcome to this week’s special Election Day coverage episode! Of The People and Generally Irritable with Ericka Redic are teaming up together to provide on the ground interviews, live election coverage, and surprise special guests for this 2-hour special.

Brash, irreverent, and mostly peaceful!

A Modest Suggestion on Dealing with Civil Servants

 

Everyone is calling on Trump to drain the swamp.  I want him to do so.  But while he can replace those who serve at the pleasure of the president, I am sure many of those with civil service protection will be able to retain their jobs due to the difficulty of firing civil servants (an oxymoronic term, in my opinion, as few are civil and many believe they are our masters, not our servants).

So how to deal with them?  Especially those in regulatory agencies that will try to block Trump’s agenda.

For our many regular listeners who were not able to join us last night for our live taping of this special mid-week episode that included Scott Johnson and (very late) John Hinderaker (hence the “Five Whisky Happy Hour”), much of what we talked about has been overtaken by subsequent vote counts and other results. But we did have a number of questions and issues that should still be of interest even after the dust settles today, such as why the polls were wrong again, what’s wrong with the exit polls, why the legacy media looks increasingly mediocre as well as biased, why the big winner of this election cycle—and an important harbinger for the future—is Joe Rogan.

On the Power Line main site for this episode over-eager listeners will be able to listen to a bonus “overtime” recording where we brought in a number of listeners to comment widely on a number of things, some of them beyond just the election.

The View from Europe

 

So, fewer than 24 hours ago, I was watching the noontime news show “MiMa” (“Mittagsmagazin”/Midday Magazine) on ZDF here in Germany, where a self-important political hack with The Brookings Institution went on about how Trump absolutely could not win Pennsylvania.

Hahahahaha!

This week on The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of DFER and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview Dr. Helen Baxendale, the chief of staff and vice president of strategy at Great Hearts Academies. Dr. Baxendale discusses how her global educational experiences inform her perspective on K-12 policy and Great Hearts’ mission to integrate the humanities, math, and science for intellectual and character development. She explains how Great Hearts uses classical texts by Plato, Aristotle, and African-American thinkers like W.E.B. Du Bois and MLK to teach justice and democracy amid today’s social divisions. Dr. Baxendale also shares the school’s approach to teacher preparation, navigating regulations, and competing in choice-rich, historically lower-performing NAEP states. She concludes with insights into the importance of the classical liberal arts for preparing students for both higher education and the workforce, and her vision for improving U.S. K-12 outcomes.

Gosh – I wonder if there will be Democrat riots this time?

 

Any projections on this years riot season?  Are you expecting Black Lives Matter style riots in cities across America, destroying entire neighborhoods?  Or just some bored Georgetown undergrads throwing rocks at DC police?  Will this go on for months, or perhaps just long enough for the news cycle to get the pictures they need?  Will Democrat leaders openly encourage death and destruction, like they did with Antifa and BLM?  Or will they be more discreet this time?

Hard to say, I suppose.  But the only thing that would surprise me is if there were no Democrat riots at all.  That’s just how they do politics.  Violence is not an unintended consequence of Democrat politics.  That’s just how they do politics.  They destroy cities and assault bystanders, then scream that Republicans are violent.

The news is getting boring.  It’s too predictable. 

Better To Win Now than 2020?

 

Trump was unfocused last time, and did not manage to drain the swamp (and much else besides).

But now he has an executive team of people who have achieved great things through leadership: Elon and Vivek chief among them. I think that, in hindsight, Trump may save America because he lost in 2020, only to win in 2024 with a mandate, and a deep hunger to get the job done. Destroying the Deep State, fixing elections, maximizing cheap energy, restoring pride in American culture and the entrepreneurial spirit…. so very much to get excited about!

We often look at our divisive, shrill, and angry politics as somehow outside of some vague norm, or worse than at any time in our past. Go back to go forward as we look at the Election of 1800 and how two parties reduced themselves to name-calling and lies, and still agreed to the first peaceful exchange of power between opposing parties in history.

Read Jefferson’s First Inaugural: https://tinyurl.com/3ymdeh6d

Post Election Withdrawal

 

I can see it now: when it’s all truly over (which could be days or weeks from now), what will we rant, complain and protest about? The Progressives have been in our sights for so long that I can’t even imagine a day of not targeting them for their lies and misrepresentations. Every day my husband has rolled his eyes and clucked his tongue about their deceptions, their commitment to deceive the populace. Their hatefulness has been legion, destroying any hope for balance or fairness. I’ve been steeling myself for months to protect myself from their onslaughts and greed. Their determination to take out Donald Trump (perhaps in more ways than one) is despicable and disgusting.

But I’m worn out.

The Election – Pretending It’s Like It Used to Be When People Could Say What They Think

 

Have you ever felt nudged to write, but the topic you feel inspired to wax prolific about is an incendiary one that will certainly raise the hackles of most readers? That’s me… today. But lest I live with an acute awareness of my own cowardice, I’ll give it the old college try.

I think I might have been a weird kid. After I saw my mother fall apart when JFK was assassinated, politics grabbed my five-year-old imagination. I became obsessed with watching the news, including the unfolding of Johnson’s swearing-in, the funeral procession, and the nightly footage about the war. Later, I would sit on the floor right in front of our Zenith black and white TV to watch the Democrat and Republican conventions with my parents; two people who were never on the same page about anything, let alone politics.

We were taught civics in school, frequently given assignments to read the newspaper and look for articles about the work of the administrations’ various agencies, and then write an essay about it. In fourth grade I dressed like a hippy and protested the Vietnam War because my mother was a Democrat who’d married the wrong man so she started hanging out with young people who were into the 60s scene. I wanted to support her, plus I thought I looked cool in a headband and a fringed leather vest.

One If By Land…

 

I drink Jim Beam because it’s a cheap, serviceable bourbon and, well, I pour a pretty stiff glass most nights. I went out today and bought something better: If Trump wins, as I hope and expect, then I’ll open this and toast to the Republican victory. If he doesn’t, then the bottle will go back on the shelf until that happy day when Democrats are out of the White House.

They’ve Been Doing This for Decades

 

I watched this happen twice in Northern Virginia, and I’ve heard it explained before, but this is the first time I’ve seen an expert brief it in a shareable format. And he focuses on Philadelphia, a jurisdiction as shameless as any other. I have been told by Democrats that it is just how business is done. I have been told by Republicans that it would be more harmful to diminish faith in the electoral system than to oppose permanent, systemic voter fraud. Journalists have told me their editor won’t let them, their lawyers won’t let them, or management outright admits the city prosecutors would wage withering lawfare if they did. Factors that have always helped keep “journalism” locked down. It’s part of the “narrative” discipline. The city prosecutors and police objected to me about wasting finite resources needed for the prosecution of violent crimes and gangs on corrupt party operatives and their gang buddies.

Viva Frei interviews Mark Groubert starting at 22 minutes. He is worth a listen. NSFW (they also discuss Bill Clinton). The opening is Viva Frei’s take on the Peanut scandal, and worth a listen.

The New Face of White Supremacy

 

The Conservative Party (UK) has elected a new leader, Kemi Badenoch.  Born in London to Nigerian parents, she was raised in Nigeria and the USA (she actually worked at a McDonald’s!!) before coming to the UK at age 16.  It is officially OK for enlightened leftist opinion to say hateful and racist things about her because she is a Tory:

  • “the most prominent member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class”
  • [the chief representative of] ‘white supremacy in black face’
  • “shining ebony example that the Psychosis Of Whiteness is not reserved for those with white skin”

(See this by Brendan O’Neill in The Spectator on the unhinged reaction.)

At what point does the entire Western world realize that leftism has become a pathological mental state that holds the victim hostage by replacing genuine grounds for self-worth and self-esteem with membership in an empty narcissistic cult threatened by reality and anyone who accepts reality?

So Look as Ugly as You Can

 

Some online video shorts ooze bitterness over the alleged large-scale mistreatment of females in this country by, say, medical professionals (one of these series was called “an apple a day keeps misogyny away”). But the video I’m describing in this post wasn’t one of those; the hostess was engaging and seemed sweet in relating her story.

It went something like this: she had a friend who’d learned how to enhance what was hitherto an unsuspected natural beauty lying latent beneath a mousy, big-glasses type who worked at a lab.  After this blossoming into her inheritance of good looks, everyone with whom she interacted began treating her differently. For example, if she boarded a bus and realized she didn’t have the fare, the driver would waive the payment with an “It’s all right, go ahead and take a seat.” Before her transformation, she would never have encountered such generosity.

Leaving the Truman Show

 

I watched the Truman Show (again) on local TV a couple of days ago. I’m certain that many of the people reading this post have already seen the film with its brilliant performance by the comedian Jim Carrey, but if you’re not familiar with the movie, I’ll give you a brief rundown.

Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a man in his late twenties who has lived his entire life in the picturesque seaside town of Seahaven. What Truman doesn’t realize initially is that his idyllic life is being played out on a gigantic, enclosed soundstage and that he’s the star of the incredibly popular Truman Show. He has been since birth. All the people around him, his wife, his parents, and even his best friend are actors tasked to create a realistic life for the unsuspecting Truman and the show’s millions of devoted viewers.

The Dismal Choice, Ver. 3.0

 

So, gentle readers, here we are again.

With apologies for my extended absence from Ricochet, as I did four and eight years ago, I return to offer my thoughts on Tuesday’s election. And even as I write that Election Day is Tuesday, I am gripped by the fear that the accompanying sturm und drang will likely extend days, weeks, or even months beyond Tuesday, and if Donald Trump should ultimately prevail we can expect four of the sturm-iest and drang-iest years we’ve seen since, well, his first term. One shudders at the thought.

Abortions, Abortions and more Abortions!

 

Before I ever set foot in this country, I viewed America as the land to be for anyone who values liberty. Even more so, to me, America was the apex of the civilized world. Then, after my first month on an American college campus, I learned about “women’s right to choose.” It turned out that Americans kill babies on an industrial scale. Talk about culture shock!

As November 5th approaches, all I see on TV are pro-abortion ads. Granted, I only watch 30 minutes of TV in the breakroom at work each day, but that’s still one too many. What’s with Democrats and abortion? What about the women who vote on the basis of it? Do they have nothing to worry about besides abortion? Economic security? Physical safety? Or even world peace? It’s all abortions, abortions, and more abortions. Do they have no agency over their own bodies at all? It’s like an obsession with them.

The three things for you to know at the beginning of the week and the end of the campaign:

  • It’s still 50/50. So vote and don’t be overconfident.
  • More whole cloth bile from The Atlantic 
  • The Democrats Insanity Defense (A great article by Park MacDougald)

 

Memories of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 10-5-24. A surprising disappointment

 

Ricochetti with more time than judgment will recall that since October 2019, I have made a hobby of posting classical orchestra music reviews here. This was originally an attempt to train my critical ear for the Mahler Festival, to be held at Amsterdam’s fabled Concertgebouw in May 2020. Just imagine what it would have been! “Ten symphonies played by six orchestras, four of them among the world’s finest. The New York Phil, Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Phil and Vienna Phil on successive nights. What a show!”

https://ricochet.com/735129/memories-of-the-amsterdam-mahler-festival-may-2020/

Israel and the World: Nothing Changes

 

After the 1973 war, which Israel almost lost, the great Norman Lamm wrote a biting analysis of the world order. I include the tastier bits below.

What blew me away about this is that, since 1973 to the present day, nothing has changed. Nobody has learned from their mistakes or moved on. Nobody has grown out of earlier sillinesses. The very same posture Lamm describes: “When you are out of the government, you are a pro-Israel Zionist, and when you are in the government, you are pro-Arab.” It describes every American president who promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem – starting with Reagan in 1984, Bush in 1988, Clinton in 1992, (Hillary in 1999!), George W, and then even Obama. All promised to do this. Each and every one reneged on that promise when they were in power. Until Trump.

Will the Left Call Off Their Dogs?

 

Most of us hope that if (or hopefully, when) Kamala loses, the Left will tell their constituents to stand down. You can be sure that they are arming with bricks, pipes and matches to protest, although most of them may not be political people at all. I’ve intentionally called their rioters “dogs,” since violent protests show their primitive nature and behaviors.

During the protests in 2020, the Leftist leaders and media tried to pretend that nothing serious was actually happening—we couldn’t trust our lying eyes, as windows were broken and businesses went up in flames. Kamala contributed to a fund that let violators out on bail. And I suspect that this time around, since they had a trial run four years ago, the chaos will be more devastating.

My Cruise

 

I was a speaker on a 20-night cruise from Liverpool to the Adriatic on the Fred.Olsen ship Bolette. It’s a mid-size cruise ship with a capacity of about 1,350 passengers. I’ve been on cruises down the Nile and the Mississippi but have never been on an ocean trip. I was one of four speakers from Past Preservers, which matches up academics with (mostly) people making documentaries. Recently, they have added opportunities to be speakers on cruises. Fred.Olsen caters to a mature audience, and its three ships each have a capacity of about 1,300 passengers. The crew was friendly and there were plenty of activities.