Conservative Conversation and Community
What does that title evoke? I’ll bet it’s not what this post is about. Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? Not sure that works here either. Maybe ‘quote of the day’ would fit, but what I am going to present is a quote of a fictional passage in a novel. It struck […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
If push comes to shove, could American air power lay waste to the Iranian regime in a cake walk, a turkey shoot? Consider what we know, publicly, of Iranian military capabilities in the air. They have aircraft from the pre-stealth era, drones, and extensive surface-to-air missile defenses. Perhaps, however, their best “air” assets are computer coding and diplomatic shuttle flights.
It was not big news when fairly rag-tag forces shot down a low and slow flying armed MQ-9 Reaper drone. After all, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has a wing dedicated to advising foreign forces, including the Yemeni forces fighting other Yemeni forces backed by Saudi Arabia. This is not secret, so the U.S. Central Command was willing to claim Iranian participation in the June 2019 shoot-down:
More
Mitch McConnell is calling on Republicans to take a stand against socialism to fight the Democrat party in the 2020 election: ‘We need to have a referendum on socialism,’ the Kentucky Republican told reporters. ‘I’m going to be arguing, and I’m encouraging my colleagues to argue, that we are the firewall against socialism in this […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Exhibit A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjrFw3MASGc&feature=share also known as “An architect’s subversive re-imagining of the border Wall” More
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to. – Theodore Dalrymple
You can replace the word communist with progressive and it explains a lot of the ridiculousness being spouted today: gender fluidity, the patriarchy, the joys of socialism. Whatever the current cause de jour for the woke folk, it has to be ridiculous on its face, yet asserted with total sincerity. It is not enough to have you state the ridiculous is true. You must believe what you state. Otherwise they will devour you the way the demons devoured Wormwood at the end of the Screwtape Letters.
MoreI think I heard the start of this with today’s substitute for Rush on his show so I hope whoever listened for more details can fill them in. Somewhere in the northeast, it was discovered (?) that a group of history teachers were in email contact about making a “pact” to HIDE their liberal progressive […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve felt ill-at-ease about the shootings at Parkland in a way that went far beyond the deaths and desperation that has followed the episode. I finally put my finger on my perceptions. And it raised great concern for me. Let me summarize first what has been happening nationwide regarding the shootings, students, and protests.
Students are obviously in great emotional pain and are motivated to take action following the traumatic experience of the shootings. They have come together for a primary cause. They have made the National Rifle Association their primary focus/scapegoat, and secondarily the legislature. They are saying to everyone that you are either anti-gun or against their teens. Companies have boycotted the NRA. Those who didn’t support the calls for new legislation are the enemy. Hundreds of students and adults all over the country have organized protests. Millions of dollars have been donated to their cause, including GoFundMe sites, many of which are for the survivors and their families; included with the donors are Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, and his wife.
More
“‘Beware!’ said Poirot, shaking an admonishing finger at Hastings. ‘The symmetry, it is everything. Everywhere there should be neatness and order, especially in the little grey cells of the brain.’ He tapped his head as he spoke. ‘If you would use your little grey cells and attempt to see the whole case clearly – as I attempt to do – you would perhaps perceive the truth, my friend.'” — Detective Hercule Poirot, from the novel Black Coffee.
The long, drawn-out Mueller investigation is finally revealing some rotten fruits from the tree of appeasement that was cultivated, pruned and well-watered by the last administration. History has shown that the hidden roots of such a tree grow deep and in many directions, under the covering of thick layers of dirt. Lies, deceit, suffering, loss of life and arrows to the heart of freedom are the result. Then something happens … the roots bulge and eventually burst through the dirt to the surface, revealing themselves.
More
Always one to watch and critique medical dramas, I sat down with a beer to watch the newest entry to the genre. “The Resident” is the Fox network’s answer to other edgy shows that promote liberal agendas.
From the BBC: The US government requires all agencies, individuals and organisations controlled or funded by international governments and undertake political activity, to be registered with the justice department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara). More
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
The title of this OP was a clue in my morning crossword puzzle. It made me angry. I can’t even escape the leftist propaganda with my morning coffee, Crunch cereal with almond milk, raisins, and bananas. I have to be reminded that this term (which now has many more letters nowadays) has become part of our everyday lexicon.
My reaction is not just about the term LGBTQ; it’s about everyone trying to normalize those lifestyles which once were considered out of the norm. Don’t get me wrong: I love the diversity of my crossword puzzle — What’s a port in Yemen? Name a Wall Street index? What’s a desert plant used to make tequila? Who was the screenwriter, James, who wrote “The African Queen”? (Tuesday’s puzzles are pretty easy.)
More
What are we to make of the strangely incurious reaction by most media outlets and commentators toward the charges levied by the North Korean regime against Otto Warmbier? Even if one accepts that civilized countries should tolerate the manhandling of their citizens by thug regimes for such ridiculous “crimes,” I find it odd that nobody is really questioning the facts surrounding his arrest.
Most of the articles and commentary I’ve read (including those by people sympathetic to his plight as well as the “white frat boy had it coming” crowd) accept uncritically that Mr. Warmbier took down a propaganda poster in a restricted area of his hotel (to their credit @jaynordlinger and Jim Geraghty appear to be notable exceptions, but the Smart Girls and many other Ricochet podcasters appear to have accepted the factuality of Mr. Warmbier’s offense). This despite the fact that:
More
The US should be dropping care packages all over North Korea, but especially in and near population centers: Food. Information sheets. Windup radios. And small-caliber firearms.
The battle for hearts and minds starts with stomachs, especially within a starving nation. It continues with information (printed and over the air). And a citizenry that might have small arms, is a citizenry that may well be able to effectively distract the regime. By doing nothing more than dropping nice things for people, we can drive the government crazy.
More
I’ve long felt that referring to ABC, NBC, CBS or CNN as ‘mainstream media’ grants them unearned credibility and effectively accepts their claims to be professional journalists and honest brokers of news, even though they often push false, leftist narratives and agendas. But to respond by calling them ‘lamestream’ strikes me as a juvenile insult. […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
April is the cruelest month in many ways, including being the anniversary of a terrible act of savagery. In this case, the savage act also led to the creation of one of the best known paintings of the Modern era, 80 years ago. In the late 1930s, Spain was undergoing the turmoil of civil war. […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Is it just me, or did the Ricochet Member Feed start being flooded with ridiculously pro-Russian pro-Putin propaganda sometime after November 8, 2016? I mean, I have only been reading sporadically lately thanks to Christmas and New Years, but it feels like I keep tripping over threads that could have come straight from Putin’s desk. […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Radical academia strikes again at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and an angry Republican state assemblyman has had enough.
We are all aware that the curriculum of many universities has little to do with education, and everything to do with Leftist propaganda. This course is part of a long list of attacks on undergraduate education, and yet little has been done to stop the damage.
More
The two most controversial conspiracies to grow out of the emails obtained by Wikileaks are eerily similar to the conspiracies about early Christianity. In the early second century, an otherwise unremarkable Roman governor named Pliny etched his name into history by recording his interactions with and observations of early Christians. His letters to the Roman emperor, […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Juan Cole — a left-wing professor and pundit known for his vituperative opposition to George W. Bush —– is rather skeptical about the Russian Hacker Conspiracy Theory the Democrats and their media allies are pushing as part of a strategy to delegitimize Donald Trump’s presidency. He sees in this strategy echoes of past propaganda efforts. […]
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Setting aside the propriety of a presidential candidate’s company doing business with a Russian bank (cuz that’s a whole different topic), I find it kinda hilarious how all the stories I’m reading keep referring to the Trump Organizations’s use of a “private server”. More
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s growing community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
