The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

FMJRA 2.0: Night Train

Posted on | November 26, 2023 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

A good week for Senators fans. Took two out of three from the Twins and then went to Busch Stadium, where we swept the Cardinals. Pat Dobson notched his 13th and 14th wins, Joe Coleman got his 13th, and Moe Drabowsky & Darold Knowles picked up wins in relief. At this point, we’re two wins short of the 86-win season of the 1969 Senators IRL, and doing FAR better than the 1971 Senators who were burdened with Denny McLain and Mike Thompson in their rotation. We’ve closed to within six games of Oakland. and if we’re lucky, might even catch them.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas esse delendam.

Fly the Curly W flag!

Rule Five Sunday: Meanwhile, In The Mountains
Animal Magnetism
Average Bubba
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL





‘Young People … Taking an Interest in Peace and Social Justice’
Flopping Aces
Flappr
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

‘Real Wrath of God Type Stuff’
357 Magnum
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: New York. Feh.
A View From The Beach
EBL

But Is It ‘Actual Truth’?
Average Bubba
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 11.20.23
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 11.21.23
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

‘Progressives’ Become Hitler Youth Targeting the ‘Zionist War Machine’
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Thanksgiving and the Meaning of America
First Street Journal
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 11.23.22 (Thanksgiving Edition)
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Police Have Not Named Suspect in Stabbing That Sparked Dublin Riot
First Street Journal
American Free News Network
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 11.24.23
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Top linkers for the week ending November 24:

  1.  EBL (13)
  2.  357 Magnum (11)
  3.  A View From The Beach (10)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Category: FMJRA Award

The Swampeoisie are the Colonial Occupiers

Posted on | November 25, 2023 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

So, if Michael Hayden is equating armed, religiously faithful Americans with Hamas, does that mean that Hayden and the Swampeoisie are the Colonial Occupiers?

While I reject General Hayden in general (heh) and his cheap smear in particular, if he’s stipulating a false equivalence between patriots and terrorists, at some point, it could become needful to move the accusation a bit closer to reality.

Just because we lack even the tiniest interest in fomenting violence does not mean that violence mirrors that disinterest in us. Peace sells, but who’s buying? The well-prepared purchase that peace.

I wonder if Hayden has the self-awareness to grasp that he and the Swampeoisie are the baddies?
Probably the response is some variation on the theme of Jessup:
“Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by Experts armed with studies.
Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Mr. Patriot?
I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom.
You weep for the First Amendment and you curse the Swampeoisie.
You have that luxury.
You have the luxury of not knowing what I know; that liberty’s demise, while tragic, probably saved lives.
And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that cable news channel.
You need me on that cable news channel.
We toss out words like honor, code, loyalty.
We use variations on these words as the backbone of a life spent managing something.
You use them as traditionally intended, for some reason.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the managed freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it!
I would rather you just said “thank you” and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a social media account and spread a meme.
Either way, I don’t give a *damn* what you think you are entitled to!”

Category: Uncategorized

Geert Wilders Wins; Left Freaks Out

Posted on | November 25, 2023 | 3 Comments

Stunning news this week from the Netherlands:

Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) have swept to a stunning victory in Dutch elections, with exit polls predicting that his populist anti-mass migration party will become the largest force in the House of Representatives in the Netherlands. . . .
Performing in a way that many would have considered unthinkable just a week ago, the populist party is now projected to have more than doubled its representation over the previous election in 2021 when the PVV only managed to secure 17 seats in the House.
The PVV was followed by the leftist-green coalition GL-PvdA of Great Reset proponent Frans Timmermans at 26 seats, the centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) at 23 seats, and the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) at 20.

Liberal media are trying to portray Wilders as a Trump imitator, when in fact Wilders long preceded the Trump phenomenon. When I heard the news of Wilders’ victory, the first person I thought of was Pamela Geller, who brought Wilders to CPAC in 2009. Wilders was also the keynote speaker at a Geller-organized 2015 event in Garland, Texas, that was attacked by two ISIS-inspired terrorists. These headlines give a taste of how Wilders’ victory inspired panic among liberals:

Dutch election winner Geert Wilders is
an anti-Islam firebrand known
as the Dutch Donald Trump
— Associated Press

Far-Right Populist Geert Wilders Scores
Major Victory in Dutch Election
— Wall Street Journal

Dutch Election Results Deliver
a Turn to the Far Right
— New York Times

Opposition to mass immigration is “far right,” the media declare flatly, even though polling shows that a majority of U.S. voters believe (and have believed for many years) that the border is out of control, that illegal immigration is a serious problem, and that the overall level of immigration is too high. Most Americans want less immigration, and especially want stricter enforcement to prevent illegal immigration — but such opinions are “far right,” according to the media. This is an interesting example of media manipulation, whereby a mainstream (majority) opinion is transmogrified into an “extremist” position, while the fringe beliefs of the Left are treated as if they were mainstream.

Geert Wilders was ahead of his time, calling attention to immigration-related problems that most politicians (and their media allies) don’t want people to notice. When the 2015 “refugee crisis” hit Europe, suddenly what had been seen as a “far right” fringe became the voice of a majority. The left-leaning “elite” in politics and media tried to prevent this majority from gaining power, but as the victory of Wilders shows, a determined people can overwhelm elite resistance. Congratulations!



 

Category: Immigration, Islam, Netherlands

In The Mailbox: 11.24.23

Posted on | November 25, 2023 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Usual weekend deadlines for the usual weekend posts.
SOTD
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas esse delendam.

A musical interlude.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: He Suffered A Failure Of The Victim Selection Process
Director Blue: Mark Levin – Congress Must Investigate The Traitor Anthony Blinken
EBL: New York Times’s Nick Kristof and his “Sweet” Palestinian Lady, Ireland is not smitten with open immigration, and The Girl Next Door
Twitchy: Democrat Boosting Account Gets Blasted Using His Own Tweets, PETA’s Annual Thanksgiving Vegan Push Goes As Well As Can Be Expected, and Grinch Alert – Canada’s Human Rights Commission Says Christmas Is “Colonialism”
Louder With Crowder: Woman gets told she can’t use airplane bathroom, responds like a normal person…well actually, no,
Vox Popoli: Earning His Keep, Micro-weaponization, Happy Thanksgiving, Up Your Game or Else, and Migration is Rape
According To Hoyt: Buckets of Icy Water, Delayed due to Internet Hamsters, and Brain Died And Stuff
Monster Hunter Nation:
Jon Del Arroz: Kickstarter Banned This Comic For Dumb Reasons, And Then…
Gab News: It’s Never Over

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Wilder’s Victory and what it means for Democracy
American Conservative: The (Real) Reason Trad Influencers are Having a Moment, also, Our National Disgrace in Iraq and Syria
American Greatness: Pentagon Demands $114M in Funding for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives in 2024, also, Charleston Elects First Republican Mayor Since 1877
American Thinker: The Binary Choice: If Trump Were Our President Today, Taking Action on J6 Video Footage, My Journey from Frustration to Outrage to Seething Anger, and My Journey from Frustration to Outrage to Seething Anger
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News, Happy Thanksgiving, and Rule Five Jurassic Park Friday
Babalu Blog: JFK’s tainted legacy with Miami’s Cuban exile community, Hunger forces Cubans to create collective garden in pothole-riddled street, Cuban dictatorship arrests 12 Ladies in White on their way to church, Russian store stocked with unaffordable goods to open soon in Havana, and The Spanish version of Trump Derangement Syndrome
BattleSwarm: Pre-Black Friday Prepping/Shopping Guide, Happy Thanksgiving! Don’t Set Yourself On Fire!, and LinkSwarm for November 24
Behind The Black: SpaceX launches 23 more Starlink satellites, NASA laser communication experiment succeeds in sending data from beyond Moon, Red China launches classified satellite, Ariane-6’s core stage completes full 7 minute engine test, Did the Capitol police instigate violence by firing on peaceful January 6th demonstrators? and Real pushback: Soldiers punished by Biden for refusing jab now sue for billions
Cafe Hayek: Who’s “Anti-American”?
Chicago Boyz: A Reprise Post: Thanks Giving, also, Thanksgiving
Da Tech Guy:  A Primer on Real Life Pt Two: “I was poor when Poor was POOR”, Thanksgiving Thoughts Under the Fedora, The Pilgrims nearly starved to death because of an ill fated experiment with Communism, Two Interesting Tweets That Speak Volumes, and Analyzing the Pope’s Dubia on Transgender Individuals
Don Surber: How Republicans Win
First Street Journal: Even now, Jayana Webb is catching a bit of a break, That for which I am thankful, and You in a heap o’ trouble, boy!
Gates Of Vienna: Alice Weidel – They Bring This Affinity for Violence With Them, Robert Fico: “Such Nonsense Could Only Have Been Invented by Greedy Pharmaceutical Companies”, Knife Play at the Winter Ball, Giving Thanks, Almost Time to Cash In, and Landslide Victory for the PVV!
The Geller Report: CEASEFIRE/HOSTAGE HORROR: Qatar Says Hostages Being Released “Aren’t Necessary Alive”
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, Two Views of the Moon, Kimberlin v. Reality News, From Earth to the Galactic Center, Shapley 1, and Tangled Up Holidays
Hollywood In Toto: Fall of Minneapolis Crushes 1 Million Views on Rumble, ‘SNL’ Alum Victoria Jackson: ‘Why Are We Whispering That We Love Our Country?’, Spielberg Rallies for Biden, Silent on Hamas Atrocities, and Matt Rife KOs Woke Left, Media with One-Two Punch
The Lid: LMAO! PETA’s Pro-Turkey Thanksgiving Post An Gets EPIC Community Note
Legal Insurrection: Women’s Rights Organizations Still Stunningly Silent About Attacks on Women on October 7th, Palestinians in ‘West Bank’ Celebrate Terrorists Release By Hanging Alleged Collaborators While Waving Hamas Flags, Presbyterian Chaplain at Rhodes College Planned BDSM Workshop on Campus Featuring a Dominatrix, Manchin Thinks Winning as a Third-Party Presidential Candidate ‘is Really a Long Shot’, Judge Rules Oregon Gun Control Law Violates the State Constitution, Derek Chauvin Stabbed In Federal Prison, and Netherlands: Geert Wilders’ Victory Shocks EU Establishment and Mainstream Media 
Nebraska Energy Observer: Novembr 22, 1963, Luke 12:2-3, and March to the Sea, Again
Outkick: ‘We’re Not An ATM’: Deion Sanders Says Colorado Will Not Buy Players, New Movie Helps Tell The Tale Of Why No Game Is Better Than Football , To The Surprise Of No One, Roger Goodell Is Pumped About Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce, Top Free Agent Starter Has ‘10-15 Teams Interested’, NFL Office Changes Thanksgiving ‘Faith, Family, Football’ Expression By Excluding Faith, Bartolo Colon Makes A Triumphant Return To The Mound At Age-50, and Dolly Parton Wears Cowboys Cheerleader Outfit, Gets Massive Reaction On Social Media
Power Line: Thoughts from the ammo line, First Argentina, Now the Netherlands, Forget It, Jake. It’s ABC News, and Where Are the Americans?
Shark Tank: Gimenez Says “Complete Destruction Of Hamas” Is Israel’s Avenue To Peace
Shot In The Dark: False Flags II, Submitted With Comment, Omission, Grateful, and Rush
The Political Hat: Happy Thanksgiving for 2023!
This Ain’t Hell: And you thought your hitch sucked, Three More Accounted For, A Navy surveillance plane overshoots the runway, ends up in the water, 5 time draft exempt ‘asthmatic’ says he woulda played for Navy, and Valor Friday
Transterrestrial Musings: Morning Joe Crosses The Line, The Counterrevolution Continues, The Catholic Origins Of Thanksgiving, and Last Week’s Starship Test
Victory Girls: Susan Sarandon Gets Sacked From Talent Agency, Biden In Nantucket For Billionaire’s Mansion Thanksgiving Vacation, and Nazis Look Like Amateurs Compared to Hamas
Volokh Conspiracy: 90-Day Suspension of Colorado Lawyer Who Filed ChatGPT-Written Motion with Hallucinated Cases
Watts Up With That: Major Setback for German Green Transformation as Top Court Rules Funding Unconstitutional! Now Will You Support Green New Deal!? ‘Climate Change is Threatening Your Thanksgiving’, and Historical Dutch Election Results are a Victory for Climate Realism 
The Federalist: Republicans Must Get Serious About Using Political Power If They Want To Win On Abortion, The Biden Administration’s Electric Vehicle Subsidies Are Becoming Another Solyndra, The U.S. Military Is Having A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week, Even Though Unparalleled Deeds Offend Today, Great Men Did Shift History, St. Louis Archdiocese Closes Thriving Traditional Latin Mass Parish, and Spaniards Aren’t Afraid To Protest, So Why Are American Conservatives?
Mark Steyn: De-Colonizing, De-Civilizing, De-Westernizing, SteynOnline Turns Twenty-One! , Live Around the Planet, and Diversity Stabbing of the Day

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Black Friday Deals




Category: Linkagery

Police Have Not Named Suspect in Stabbing That Sparked Dublin Riot

Posted on | November 24, 2023 | 2 Comments

Various online sources say it was an Algerian immigrant, but I’m not finding that from any official source:

Gardaí [i.e., Irish police] investigating the stabbing attack on children in Dublin city centre have searched the accommodation of the chief suspect in the case.
The man’s laptop and telephone have also been seized for searching as gardaí try to establish a motive for the attack.
The suspect, who is in his late 40s and is a naturalised Irish citizen, has lived at different addresses around Dublin.
Gardaí believe he is a single man with no children in Ireland, where he has lived for about two decades. As the motive for the attack, at about 1.30pm on Thursday on Parnell Square East, has not been established, gardaí have not ruled out a mental health episode or a terror-related link.
Garda sources said the suspect for the stabbing at lunchtime in Parnell Square East was seen loitering in the area and when children were being brought into an aftercare centre, he lashed out at them with a knife. He stabbed a five-year-old girl in the chest and an aftercare worker was also stabbed as she attempted to use her body to shield the children from the attack.
Two other children, a boy aged five and a six-year-old girl, were also injured and taken to Crumlin children’s hospital. The boy was treated and quickly discharged while the girl remains in hospital.
The five-year-old girl who was stabbed in the chest has undergone emergency surgery at Temple Street hospital and remains in a serious condition while the injured woman is also in a serious condition in the Mater Hospital.

The stabbing provoked a riot, which Irish politicians and media denounced as “far right,” as if being angry about immigrants stabbing children is some kind of extremist political position, rather than an entirely natural attitude. The fact that police have not named the suspect or said what country he is from could be interpreted as confirmation that he’s a Muslim/Arab, but it’s best to avoid such speculation.



 

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Category: Ireland

In The Mailbox: 11.23.22 (Thanksgiving Edition)

Posted on | November 23, 2023 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Of the many things I am thankful for in these wretched and depressing times, I am most thankful for two things: first, the commentariat here at The Other McCain, who extended a host of helping hands a few years ago when I was living in the barracks for homeless veterans after being evicted from my apartment here in Las Vegas and have continued to reward me for mongling the links here. Right up there with you readers, I am thankful that 14 years ago Stacy took a chance and hired me as a (we thought) temporary fill-in for Smitty, who was being sent off to Asia to serve as the Admiral of the Afghan Seas. I’ve been filling in for almost a decade and a half, and been blessed to do a lot of stuff I wouldn’t have otherwise: CPAC, The Other Podcast, my first exposure to Vegas during the 2012 primary debates…it’s been quite a ride, and I thank all of you for it. Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving; I’ll be hitting the buffet at Main Street Station next door to the Plaza before the long holiday drive home to Tonopah.

Also, if you run short of good reading this weekend, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday Based Book Sale is on! Many books for 99 cents, and a lot of free stuff! Check it out! (h/t L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright at Wright’s Writing Corner)

 

Turkey with all the trimmings!

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Vintage Thanksgiving, Rainbow Bridge Explosion at Niagara Falls, Geert Wilders heading for a massive win in the Netherlands? and Happy Thanksgiving and Give Thanks!
Twitchy: Journalist Gets Community Noted & Dogpiled For Claiming American-Israeli Soldier Is U.S. Marine, OK Department Of Wildlife Tweets About Watching For Deer & Hilarity Ensues, and Memesgiving – Feasting On Thanksgiving Belly Laughs
Louder With Crowder: Woman Has Epic Melt Down Over Gas Prices, Yet Believes The Christian Right Is To Blame For Some Odd Reason, ‘As God as my witness…’: Start your Thanksgiving with the infamous ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ turkey drop, and Matt Rife reacts to haters trying to cancel his Netflix special with something that will REALLY trigger them
Vox Popoli: The Payments Never End, You Never Were, Kemosabe, and BASED BOOK SALE 2023
Stoic Observations: The Stoic Samurai
Gab News: How Christmas Music Went From Sacred To Secular
Flappr: The First Thanksgiving

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
CDR Salamander: Happy Thanksgiving, 
Dana Loesch: Happy Thanksgiving
Don Surber: Chicago may quit being a sanctuary city, also, Highlights of the holiday
Glenn Reynolds: Happy Thanksgiving

And let’s not forget the boys on the Group W bench.
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Category: Linkagery

Thanksgiving and the Meaning of America

Posted on | November 23, 2023 | 2 Comments

What are you thankful for, this holiday? Personally, I’m thankful for gluten. Our oldest daughter has been on a gluten-free diet for some time, and because she’s visiting us for Thanksgiving — with her husband and two sons, Franco and Luca — my wife bought some gluten-free bread. Not realizing it was gluten-free, I accidentally used this to make a sandwich the other day and, wow. Thank God for gluten. I’d never realized how much I loved gluten, until I didn’t have it.

Ingratitude is a sin. God does so many things for us — the wonderful miracle of gluten! — that we ought to express our gratitude often, but if we only say thanks once a year, it’s the least we can do.

Everybody knows the story of the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In the fall of 1621, the surviving English colonists had their first harvest of corn, and invited a group of Wampanoag Indians to join them in a three-day feast to celebrate this success. Fewer are aware that the colonists in Virginia had celebrated Thanksgiving even earlier:

Thanksgiving services were routine in what became the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607; the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, held a thanksgiving in 1610. On December 4, 1619, 38 English settlers celebrated a thanksgiving immediately upon landing at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia. The group’s London Company charter specifically required “that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God”. This celebration has, since the mid 20th century, been commemorated there annually at present-day Berkeley Plantation, the ancestral home of the Harrison family of Virginia.

For that matter, the claim to the first Thanksgiving in what is today the United States actually belongs to St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565.

All of these observations remind us that our nation was founded by Christians, who considered the blessings of God necessary to the success of their dangerous adventure in attempting to establish colonies in what they described as the “wilderness” of America. It is little appreciated now how perilous life was for those early settlers. Captain John Woodlief, who led the expedition that founded the Berkeley plantation in Virginia, was a survivor of the “starving time” in the Jamestown colony. During the winter of 1609-1610, three-quarters of the Jamestown settlement perished, leaving just 60 survivors of the 240 who had begun the winter inside their fort, besieged by hostile Powhatan Indians. The hazards involved in crossing an ocean to establish those first English settlements in America made the colonists keenly aware of the need for divine protection, so their “thanksgiving to Almighty God” was quite sincere.

We ourselves are cursed to live in an age of ingratitude, with idiotic intellectuals demanding we “decolonize Thanksgiving.” The Left has persuaded our intelligentsia that success is something to be ashamed of — to succeed is to become an oppressor — rather than something for which we should be grateful to God. The beneficiaries of college education are nowadays indoctrinated with this destructive nonsense, wherein the success of English colonists in America is viewed as a bad thing, and we’re supposed to feel guilty that any of them survived.

Recall what I said last month about Gaza:

Liberals make the same mistake about this situation that they make on every other issue: Having made an idol of “Equality,” liberals decide that members of a less-than-successful group are victims of “oppression,” and then accuse their more successful neighbors of perpetrating this oppression.

This obsession with victimhood produces a mentality that sees “oppression” everywhere, and results in a rhetoric of demonization, making scapegoats of people in order to justify retaliatory measures against them. This mentality explains how many on the Left actually celebrated the terrorist massacres that Hamas perpetrated on October 7: Those Israelis deserved to die, according to this perverse leftist worldview, because all Israelis are complicit in the “oppression” of Palestinians. My friend Marty Seiff’s book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East, is a solid rebuttal of the Palestinian victimhood myth, but the Left doesn’t care about facts. They’re just trying to provoke a lynch-mob mentality, and rely upon the ignorance of their followers, who are too lazy to discover the truth for themselves, and instead regurgitate whatever pro-Hamas propaganda they are fed.

Excuse me for bringing up the Gaza war, but you see that the people who tell us Israel is guilty of “genocide” are the same people who think Americans have nothing to be grateful for at Thanksgiving.

Well, I’m grateful for gluten, among other things, and nobody’s going to make me feel guilty for enjoying today’s feast.

The first English colonies in America were founded during the reign of King James I, the Scots-born great-great-grandson of Henry Tudor. The Jamestown settlement was named in honor of the king, whereas the Virginia colony was named in honor of his predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, who never married and thus was known as “the virgin queen.” It is a source of some amusement to me that those “social justice” activists who complain about Confederate memorials seem to have no problem with place names that honor British monarchs. If you ever visit Alexandria, Virginia, you’ll notice King Street, Queen Street, etc., and none of the liberals who claim to venerate “democracy” seem to have any qualms about these historical tributes to British royalty. But I digress . . .

The English came late to the colonial enterprise in the New World. Beginning with the voyages of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish led the way, first in the Caribbean islands and later in the mainland of Central and South America. Mexico was conquered by Cortez in 1521, and by 1532 Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru, all of these conquests preceding by many decades the first English colonies in North America. These Spanish conquests, however, were sequels to the beginning of the Age of Exploration. In the second volume of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill writes about how the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople set this age in motion:

The destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the Turkish occupation of Asia Minor imperilled the land route to the East. The road which had nourished the towns and cities of the Mediterranean and founded the fortunes and the greatness of the Genoese and the Venetians was now barred. . . .
Portugal was the first to discover a new path. Helped by English Crusaders, she had achieved her independence in the twelfth century, gradually expelled the Moors from her mainland, and now reached out to the African coastline. Prince Henry the Navigator, grandson of John of Gaunt, had initiated a number of enterprises. Exploring began from Lisbon. All through the later fifteenth century Portuguese mariners had been pushing down the west coast of Africa, seeing for gold and slaves, slowly extending the bounds of the known world, till, in 1487, Bartholomew Diaz rounded the great promontory that marked the end of the African continent. He called it “the Cape of Storms,” but the King of Portugal with true insight renamed it “the Cape of Good Hope.” The hope was justified; in 1498 Vasco da Gama dropped anchor in the harbour of Calicut; the sea-route was open to the wealth of India and the Farther East.

Notice how African slaves merit just a passing reference in Churchill’s account of these Portuguese explorations in the 1400s. The whole point of the enterprise, after all, was to find some way to reach Asia by sea, after the Muslim conquest of Constantinople had “barred” the overland route to the Far East. The first African slaves were brought back to Europe from these expeditions in the 1450s by Portuguese mariners who, sailing up the Gambia River in search of a route to Asia, hadn’t found the fabled wealth of the East, but had found natives who were willing to exchange their slaves for trade goods. All of this activity was in response to the loss of Constantinople and, as Churchill remarks, Portugal itself had spent decades fighting to escape the Moorish Islamic conquest.

When I was a schoolboy, we learned about the history of the Age of Exploration, and I recall the names of Diaz and de Gama as answers on multiple-choice questions in fifth-grade history class. Do they still teach this kind of history in schools? Are young people imbued with the sense of this historical era as one of great adventures and rivalries between European powers? The Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch, the French — all of them were competitors in this colonial game, and the English didn’t make their entry until quite late. Decades before the English founded their colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts, for example, Jean Ribault had sought to establish French colonies, first building a fort on the South Carolina coast, and then getting into a disastrous fight with the Spanish in Florida. Growing up in Georgia, I was taught that one of the main reasons this colony was founded was to create a buffer between the Spanish in Florida and the English colonies in the Carolinas.

History gives meaning to our lives. If we study this history, we understand that the success of the English colonies in America was by no means certain, and that the colonists who survived the many dangers of those early years had reasons for their “thanksgiving to Almighty God.” (Perhaps not least of which, they didn’t have to eat gluten-free bread.) The specifically Christian nature of their belief ought to be acknowledged, and while some may scoff at such beliefs, I myself don’t doubt that God’s help was necessary to the success of these colonies that have since grown to become the United States of America.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.



 

Category: History

‘Progressives’ Become Hitler Youth Targeting the ‘Zionist War Machine’

Posted on | November 22, 2023 | Comments Off on ‘Progressives’ Become Hitler Youth Targeting the ‘Zionist War Machine’

Nineteen-year-old Calla Walsh was already notorious before Monday’s protest violent attack against a Jewish business in New Hampshire:

Protesters voicing support for Palestine were arrested in connection with vandalism Monday at Elbit Systems of America, a defense contractor in Merrimack, police said.
Three people were arrested on several charges, including riot.
Police before 8 a.m. were called to 220 Daniel Webster Highway for reports of protestors blocking the driveway and multiple people believed to be on the roof.
The fire department also was sent for a report of smoke coming from the roof.
Police found protesters blocking the driveway voicing support for Palestine, according to Merrimack police.
They eventually vacated the roadway and allowed officers to access the property.
Officers discovered the front of the building had been spray painted with red paint, windows had been smashed, and at least one of the main lobby doors had been locked shut via a bicycle anti-theft device, police said.
Officers also confirmed that at least three people accessed the roof. They were charged with riot, sabotage, criminal mischief, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.
Arrested were Sophie Marika Ross, 22, of Housatonic, Mass.; Calla Mairead Walsh, 19, of Cambridge, Mass., and Bridget Irene Shergalis, 27 of Dayville, Conn., according to police
Police said the smoke was caused by an incendiary device similar to ones later located on one of the suspects. Officers on the roof found more spray painting, smashed skylights and damage to HVAC equipment.
The three were held on preventive detention and will be arraigned in the Hillsborough County Superior Court – South at 1 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said.
The FBI is working to determine who else might have been involved.
Elbit Systems of America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd., which is headquartered in Haifa, Israel. . . .
Gov. Chris Sununu condemned the attack.
“The antisemitism, hate, and significant damage protesters brought to Elbit America’s campus this morning has no place in our state and will not be tolerated,” he said. “I am confident law enforcement will work to bring those responsible for this vile act of hate to swift justice. The people of New Hampshire stand with Israel and with Elbit Systems of America.”

It’s a 21st-century Kristallnacht, and the perpetrators are “voicing support for Palestine,” to borrow the media’s euphemistic language. At least WMUR-TV did some actual reporting:

The protesters in front of the building identified themselves to News 9 as a group called Palestine Action U.S. They posted a photo on social media stating that their goal is to dismantle Elbit Systems and what they referred to as the “Zionist war machine.”
“We’re a direct-action network targeting Elbit Systems, their U.S. chapter specifically,” said Fergie Chambers, of Palestine Action U.S. “They are Israel’s largest weapons supplier. Eighty-five percent of the drones being used in Gaza right now are produced by this company. This location here in Merrimack, New Hampshire, produces display systems for fighter jets.”

Say hello to James “Fergie” Chambers:

The 38-year-old cop-hater is the decadent heir of a media fortune, “the first-born son of James Cox Chambers, the co-owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks with a net worth of $5.65 billion.” What happened to him? Well, his grandmother was good friends with Jane Fonda back in the day. And as for the notorious Calla Walsh . . .

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Calla Walsh in 2020

When she was in high school, Walsh became an organizer for the reelection campaign of Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who faced a Democratic primary challenge from Joe Kennedy III. Somehow — it’s rather mysterious — Walsh and other left-wing youth were persuaded that Markey was a “progressive” hero (when, in fact, he’s a nondescript party hack) and believed that the young Kennedy was some kind of “right wing” menace. If anything, Calla Walsh’s role as a teenage leader of the “Markeyverse” illustrates just how naïve young leftists can be, but since then, she’s gone on to become a fixture in radical activism. And by “radical activism,” of course, I mean, Iran-sponsored Jew-hating:

In December 2022, a coalition of 28 organizations asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement over its extensive links to terrorist groups. Of particular concern was the BDS movement’s links to a mysterious “Mapping Project” that published an apparent hit list of targets linked to the U.S. government, Israel, and the Jewish community.
An investigative report by the Zachor Legal Institute exposed the Mapping Project’s links to supporters of terrorists, the BDS movement and, in all likelihood, the government of Iran.
The Mapping Project’s content makes it clear that its anonymous creators’ intention is to inspire violent attacks on the listed sites. The project’s website states, “Our goal in pursuing this collective mapping was to reveal the local entities and networks that enact devastation, so we can dismantle them. Every entity has an address, every network can be disrupted.” . . .
The project openly supports Palestinian terrorists, putting to rest any notion that the Mapping Project is merely a provocative academic exercise. “Glory to the martyrs! Free Palestine from the River to the Sea! Free All Political Prisoners!” the website proclaims in a statement expressing solidarity with Palestinian terrorists seeking the destruction of Israel. . . .
The identities of the project’s creators remain murky. However, one name has been reportedly linked to the project: Calla Walsh, a member of BDS Boston, Democratic Socialists of America and, as of April 2022, Office Manager for Massachusetts Peace Action. An investigation by the Canary Mission found four tweets by Walsh that idolized the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group.
Walsh says she’s simply a promoter of the Mapping Project and denies having worked on it. However, Al-Jazeera reported that she “participated” in it and, in an apparent slip of the tongue, referred to the project as “we” in a tweet. She’s also implied that she knows the authors of the project who, she says, “have been working on it for years.” . . .
The common denominator among the groups that appear closest to the Mapping Project is support for the Iran-backed PFLP terrorist group.
The first PFLP connection comes through BDS Boston, whose Twitter account was the first to report the project’s debut. As mentioned, BDS Boston member Calla Walsh posts pro-PFLP material. . . .

So, they’re making a list of Jews, and putting them on a map, and they’re doing this while supporting an Iran-backed terrorist group. Move along. Nothing to see here. Just “young people who are taking an interest in peace and social justice,” as Jamie Raskin might say.



 

Category: Israel, New Hampshire, Progressivism, Terrorism
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