The results in both France and Belgium indicate a growing political move in Europe toward the right as economic issues, unfettered immigration, and other concerns are turning off voters: //

Oli London
@OliLondonTV
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Belgian Prime Minister appears to be on the verge of TEARS after his liberal party suffered a staggering defeat in the EU elections.

Alexander De Croo, who is vocally anti-Israel, RESIGNED after his party received just 5.8% of the votes.

6:04 PM · Jun 9, 2024 //

End Wokeness
@EndWokeness
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Today is the start of a new era in Europe:

🇫🇷 France: National Rally wins a historic 31.5% of the EU vote, forcing Macron to dissolve the national parliament.

🇩🇪 Germany: AfD surges to become the 2nd largest party, liberal parties tank.

🇧🇪 Belgium: Prime Minister resigns after his crushing defeat against the right.

Italy: Meloni's Brother of Italy wins in a historic landslide

Austria: FPÖ doubles their seats and becomes the largest party in the nation.

Spain: Right beating the left by 10%.

Luxemburg: First ever seat for ADR.

It's almost as if Democrats don't want Republicans protected. Hmmm. //

anon-ev27
12 hours ago
Deja Vu all over again. We have Milwaukee city hall, (the mayor and chief of staff), the Milwaukee police chief, and the Federal US Secret Service all refusing to properly protect an event. They claim they are not expecting any violence, but they want violence, they want another riot to ensue so they can blame MAGA again. The free speech zone for the DNC convention is 3 miles away so you can be sure no main stream media cameras will be filming "that mostly peaceful protest". Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. The GOP is being setup again. They should move the convention or force the USSS to change their plans. //

anon-u50m anon-ev27
4 hours ago
GOP always brings marbles to a gunfight.

Andrew Breitbart famously asserted that politics is downstream from culture, implying that cultural values and norms prefigure and shape political outcomes. The conventional interpretation seems true on its face, that by the time a political issue comes to the fore, it has already been shaped and conditioned by the cultural milieu.

This perspective resonates widely, particularly among conservatives, framing politics as a passive arena, shaped by the stronger currents of cultural change. However, this viewpoint, while compelling, merits a closer examination to explore the possibility that the relationship between politics and culture may be more reciprocal than it appears.

This conventional framing of Breitbart's claim implies a sequence where cultural values and norms evolve independently of political influence, subsequently molding political outcomes. //

As political mastery involves both the subtle nuances of personal skill and the broader application of power within institutions, it becomes a critical component in the bidirectional influence between politics and culture. This understanding reveals that mastery of political processes is essential for maintaining and expanding influence within any arena, political or otherwise. //

Whether dealing with ideological shifts, mundane administrative adjustments, or crafting overarching policies, the fundamental processes are consistent. This universality underscores that the strategies used to sway opinion, garner support, or suppress dissent in politics are akin to those used across all those where process itself applies.

Moreover, understanding "Culture" as a type of influence rather than a static set of values or norms reveals its dynamic nature. Culture is not just a backdrop against which politics happens; it is a malleable field that can be shaped and reshaped through deliberate actions. Recognizing culture as a learnable, manipulable, and masterable process allows for a more proactive approach to cultural engagement and political success, challenging the traditional perception of culture as merely a byproduct of societal evolution.

The notion that everything from casting a ballot to crafting a policy involves manipulable processes highlights the need for a deep understanding of these mechanisms. //

Andrew Breitbart famously posited that politics is downstream from culture, suggesting that cultural forces shape the political landscape. However, the evidence we've examined presents a compelling case for a more nuanced relationship, where political processes actively sculpt and redefine cultural realms. This dynamic interplay reveals that political actors, through deliberate strategies and mastery of processes, have not only influenced but reshaped cultural institutions to align with specific ideological goals.

The 'Long March Through the Institutions' and tactics like those outlined in Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals exemplify how deeply political mechanics can penetrate into areas once deemed apolitical, such as education, media, and even personal social networks. These strategic infiltrations demonstrate the capacity of political forces to engineer cultural environments that perpetuate their ideologies, challenging the notion that culture merely influences politics and underscoring that politics can, indeed, flow upstream.

This realization invites readers to reconsider the traditional views of cultural influence and encourages a deeper exploration into how political processes are intricately woven into the fabric of societal norms and values. The implications of this analysis are vast, suggesting that understanding and mastering these political processes is not merely an academic exercise but a necessary endeavor for anyone looking to build victory.

Sinistra Delenda Est! //

emptypockets
8 hours ago
"Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity. … In the new order, Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches and the media by transforming the consciousness of society."
-- Antonio Gramsci
(1891-1937) Italian Marxist theoretician and politician, “class warrior”
Source: 1915 //

Cafeblue32
18 hours ago edited
No, Breitbart was not wrong. The proof is in the people we elect from the culture. It's why everything Trump did was undone overnight once he left- you can change the leaders 50 times, but unless you change the culture that produces them and votes for them, nothing changes for long. Politics doesn't create culture, it capitalizes on it. Politics didn't create the divisions we have. It merely exploited them and grew them as a means to political power. The academics and elites who benefit from a divided culture are the ones who drive the culture, not politics that arise from it. Cultural problems are always made and fixed from the bottom up, never the top down. The government we get is a symptom of it.

American politics did not create the war in Ukraine nor the Gaza conflict. Both predate America by many centuries. But it does feed it and capitalize from it. When there is power and money to be found in division and conflict, there is every incentive to make sure it continues. //

emptypockets
19 hours ago edited
As one Leftist pundit phrased it, the Left, the "Democrats have mastered Process"...which is where you ended up. I hadn't looked at it that way till she said it but she...and you are right. They are collectivists, doing everything in groups attracted by "activists"/"community organizers"....or in plainspeak, rabble rousers. They pontificate how if you are with them in lockstep you, too are "on the right side of history". Those not there will find increasing discomfort at their hands...even unto lengthy prison sentences. Or worse. The history they believe they're directing tells us they always go too far. If we don't stop ours now, we'll be worse than Venezuela before another 4 years have passed.

The "cure" for the politicization of all that was never supposed to BE political but has been captured by the Left's processes is to shrink gov't, pull it out of areas completely. But that would gore herds of oxen, each with several elected and appointed "defenders". It will have to get worse yet before we can effect changes to make it better. //

Indylawyer
19 hours ago
I agree it works both ways. However, as conservatives we need to recognize that government provides a very clumsy tool for any building project. We are not going to be able to use government to rebuild a free society, but we do need to start attacking the government projects that are actively undermining the free society we inherited from our ancestors. Some of the most poisonous government projects at work are (1) "anti-discrimination" laws - these effectively force every institution to over-consider race in order to avoid being accused of "discrimination" or "bigotry". (2) Government schools - regardless of the curriculum, the existence of this institution establishes the principle that government is a provider of important services. It also does a lousy job of educating, and necessarily establishes some sort of religious views. (3) our byzantine system of welfare programs and tax credits which reward bad choices in the name of determining "need." Biggest impact of this is to discourage marriage, but it also punishes work and savings.

Thomas… described Washington as a place where “people pride themselves in being awful.”

“It is a hideous place as far as I’m concerned,” Thomas said.

“It’s one of the reasons we like RVing,” he added. “You get to be around regular people who don’t pride themselves in doing harmful things merely because they have the capacity to do it or because they disagree.”

Thomas should know—he was at the center of the Anita Hill fiasco—overseen by then-Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Joe Biden—where he was subjected to evidence-free, humiliating claims of sexual harassment during his SCOTUS confirmation hearings in 1991. Biden not surprisingly—in a preview of what has befallen us—utterly failed to control the proceedings, and they became a national embarrassment that decades later led to the equally clownish Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process.

For all its chronic corruption, patronage, and nepotism, the Chicago Democratic political machine has always interested me as an example of legendary political success. //

It was the 1970s when Mayor Richard J. Daley, the portly Chicago native whose 74-year-old heart was weakening, unbeknownst to him. For 21 long years, he would rule the Democrat machine of The City That Worked by being publicly jolly but internally iron-fisted.

As with most dictators, Daley permitted no potential rivals to flourish. Which resulted in considerable chaos when he suddenly died in 1976. //

I was a newspaper correspondent in Chicago in the 70s and 80s. I had an office assistant I’ll call Evie. One autumn evening she was walking home on the North Side, grocery bags in both hands, when a mugger with a long knife leapt from the bushes.

Terrified, she relinquished her purse. The assailant ran off. //

Which reminded him to remind her that the election for mayor was on that coming Tuesday. She probably knew that Mayor Daley was seeking his sixth term and the precinct captain hoped she’d support the man who employed the men who had taken such good care of her.

The result, which helps explain nearly a century of one party’s political dominance there, was that on Tuesday Evie cast her ballot to reelect the same man who presided over Chicago that scary night when she got mugged on a dark stretch of city sidewalk.

Ten days after the 2020 election, Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of RealClearPolitics, received an email from a New York Times reporter who covers the media. The reporter, Jeremy W. Peters, advised Bevan that his newspaper was working on a story about RCP and asked for responses to various questions and accusations. Four days later, Peters’ critique was published under the headline “A Popular Political Site Made a Sharp Right Turn. What Steered It.”

The sleight-of-hand was right there in the headline. The New York Times simply declared that RCP “made a sharp right turn,” and suggested it will document how this happened.

Here is how parents are winning:

School district attorneys are the biggest obstacle to school districts making change. As my insider said, "The lawyers are a huge, huge problem in every school district." California public records requests in several pending lawsuits show where lawyers have counseled school districts on ways to circumvent the Constitution at the state and federal levels. So, when you get your board members installed, move to fire the district lawyers.

A fish rots from the head. Do like OUSD did: move to get rid of the superintendent and their assistants. "This is the most local control that any municipality has," my insider said.

Parent-first activists, pro-parent boards, and candidates must get their own public relations and social media arms. Every public entity—especially the unions—has a communications apparatus. If money is an issue, someone's savvy teenager can do this for their pro-parent school board and school board candidates. Part of the reason the unions get all the attention is that they have the legacy media in their pockets and they have activists on hand to work social media to their advantage. Pro-parent advocates and school boards need to pay greater attention to getting their message out.

The pro-parent agenda is winning in the courts.

So why is Ford back in the news? On the surface, it's to make money off her new memoir, but that only speaks to her motivation. The motivation of ABC News and other outlets to once again platform her is not some book that likely won't sell well. It's to ramp up attacks on the Supreme Court during an election year.

Members of the press and the Democratic Party are currently in the midst of a war against the nation's highest court, and the goal is to discredit it by any means necessary heading into November. The more anger is driven at the Supreme Court, the more the left feels it will benefit from voters who disapprove of recent decisions spanning abortion to gun rights. Marching Ford back into the spotlight is yet another way to act as if the current makeup of the court is illegitimate.

Americans live in a country full of people who truly believe their political opponents should be killed for disagreeing with them. Worse, they've convinced themselves that such a position is righteous. After all, when you aren't just instituting policy but are "protecting democracy" from "fascists," pretty much anything is on the table. In their minds, there won't be a country left if they don't do whatever it takes to retain power.

Would Olbermann and the millions of other deranged leftists who think like him throw everyone in the image headlining this article in gulags if they had the chance? You can bet your house they would. That's what makes them so insidious as a political force. They have no boundaries because, in their minds, they are saving the country. //

The problem for Olbermann and many on the left is that they have nothing else in their life providing them with a sense of purpose. They don't believe in God. They don't have families to go home to. That leaves them deriving their purpose from an ever-escalating delusion of "defending democracy." What does Olbermann have other than shouting like a lunatic on social media about killing his political opponents?

His behavior is a warning we should all heed. There's a difference between caring about politics and making it the very foundation of one's worth and being. A person who does the latter is teetering on the edge, and it's a long way down. //

KJSpeed
37 minutes ago
Anyone who puts their faith in politicians and political solutions to the problems in this world faces a lifetime of frustration, disappointment and despair. Fighting these spiritual battles with political weaponry is about as effective as bringing a water pistol to a gunfight. It is good to stay engaged, but not consumed. //

St. Joseph, Terror of Demons KJSpeed
25 minutes ago
That’s why unless Trump becomes a committed Christian, he will not be able to beat the globalists and leftists who are anti-God.

This is a spiritual battle that simple politics cannot overcome.

Republican Mark Robinson's rise in North Carolina politics has been nothing short of spectacular.

It all started in the spring of 2018 when Robinson, a Greensboro resident who at the time worked in furniture manufacturing, appeared before the city council to speak his mind on gun rights as the city considered canceling a gun show. //

AirdaleNavy_AX3
11 hours ago
In 1969, a tome was published by Canadian business professor Dr. Laurence Peter that primarily talked about people being promoted to their level of incompetence, but the real take-away found in the later chapters is Dr. Peter's exposure on how human hierarchies actually operate. We warns his readers that the No. 1 Rule of every hierarchy is the 'preservation of the hierarchy.' Had DJT been aware of this warning when he took office in Jan. 2017 and cleaned out every department in our government of entrenched deep-staters we wouldn't have the mess we do today. Mark Robinson is a hierarchy crusher... The Dems know it, the RINO's know it and those buried deep in U.S. and North Carolina gov't know it. The hierarchy "preservation" has already begun in N.C. and Robinson is just the man to stand up and crush it.

McConnell did not care about my complaints or your complaints. He did not care about those who vilified him or his own popularity. He did not care that Republicans would attack him on the campaign trail and denounce him on TV. He did not care that Democrats made McConnell the most disliked national politician in America. Real Clear Politics’ political average for McConnell has him with a 21% national approval rating — lower than any other national political figure, including Kamala Harris.

But Mitch McConnell does not care. He is elected by the people of Kentucky who have been returning him to the Senate more than any other senator in the commonwealth’s 232 year history. He cares about Kentucky, not national opinion polls.

Mitch McConnell does not care that Republicans or Democrats dislike him.

McConnell not caring about those things made him dangerously successful at his job. He had to care about a majority of the Republicans in the United States Senate, not you or me.

As an appropriator, he knew how to cobble together deals and build coalitions. He took that skill to the Republican Leader’s office. He often sacrificed things we conservatives wanted to instead make life comfortable for Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, or any number of other liberal to moderate Republicans who sometimes then made deals that conservatives hated.

They kept McConnell in charge and, in turn, McConnell kept the GOP mostly in the majority and, through that, blocked Democrat judges and rapidly confirmed Republican judges.

Mitch McConnell did not care about your or my temper tantrums and demands because he has long understood that a Republican majority, for better or worse, had the power to block the administrative state and build a judiciary that has no term limits or elections for its members. He has cared very deeply about that.

It will take 270 electoral votes to win the 2024 presidential election. Click states on this interactive map to create your own 2024 election forecast. Create a specific match-up by clicking the party and/or names near the electoral vote counter. Use the buttons below the map to share your forecast or embed it into a web page.

A true leader who understands politics is someone who understands his voters’ priorities and then maneuvers electorally at the ballot box and within his party caucus to deliver on those priorities. That is the exact opposite of Mitch McConnell’s legacy. The people he represents, the nation, and the GOP are all weaker because of his “leadership.” The GOP will pick a new leader, and we can only pray he doesn’t even vaguely resemble McConnell.

Mitch McConnell was correct in saying he has many faults. Misunderstanding politics was perhaps the worst of them.

Remember Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign slogan? "I'm with her." Not "I'm in favor of her proposals or political track record." No, it was, "I'm with her." How modest.

No matter how much I may respect any given politician, I'm not "with" them. For them, yes. But not "with."

The new Cephas Hour discusses this and other matters, including doing the right thing and a certain amount of longing for heaven, or the Lord's return to earth. Whichever comes first. //

Ofttimes in recent years, I have seen people become caught up, be it pro or con, with the false god of identity politics. For this definition, identity politics consists of over-association with an individual politician, becoming so enveloped and enraptured with them that there is at least in part an identity fusion, an overidentification with the person. The flip side is when we run across a politician we oppose so profoundly that even when their actions and views mirror our own, we immediately run in the other direction for fear of any association with that individual. Said positive or negative opinions can become so enmeshed in our being that they can stretch far beyond the realm of rational discussion regarding political ideology, policies, platforms, and practices.

This is dangerous in the extreme. Over-identification with a politician is a form of cultism. Be alarmed when someone professes themselves to be a leader, yet instead of preaching, “These are truths we must follow,” preaches, “Follow me,” and people do so. //

The only human being worthy of true devotion, following, and emulation is Jesus. //

They, like us, are sinners in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Our prayer should be they know this and act upon it. Everything else is secondary. Not unimportant, mind you. But it’s still secondary. //

I do not welcome death, but nor do I fear it. My faith and trust is in Christ alone. Despite my stubborn, failing, and often misspent humanity, He has remained faithful throughout. He is faithful today and will be faithful through all the tomorrows. To Him, and Him alone, belongs all the praise and glory.

George Soros is pouring money into local Democratic parties in Texas in a ploy to help Democrats turn the state blue, according to the Texas Tribune. //

This is yet another reason why I always preach the importance of focusing on local politics. The government closest to the people tends to have the most impact – positive or negative. But, focusing on local politics will also help conservative and libertarian voters become aware of the game progressives are playing and alert their communities to what will happen once another “woke” district attorney gets into power.

In many ways, Johnson didn’t bail out Democrats from a tough political predicament as much as he did his own Republican members.

Otpkr2 coyotewise
2 hours ago edited
Sorry, but that just won't wash in terms of facts. "Alcohol" drag engines actually run on methanol with a significant percentage of "additives" to increase the volatility, thus, energy release. In the parlance it is known as "moon juice".
Auto fuel is ethanol and an "extender" of petroleum based gasoline with some noticeable deficiencies - primary among those being corrosivity to metal engines and parts. Ethanol is a boondoggle of epic proportions. So called "bio-diesel" is similar in terms of effective fuels for actual usage. Both are a kind of an equivalent to Kwanza - a government invention without merit, foundation, or actual substance. Both are great ways to obfuscate useless and expensive government initiatives with unduly loud claims and unicorn flatulence.

“We believe in objective truth. We believe that there are often right and wrong,” Woodruff told me when asked about its editorial process. “There are many times when our entire staff agrees on a specific issue, but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to only present that side. We trust our readers to be able to be discerning.”

That purported neutrality is built on the hope that Christians avoid “falling into culture wars that promote hate of the other group” and instead seek greater understanding and love for “political enemies.” Concerned by how Christians, and Americans in general, are becoming siloed in ideological media echo chambers, Woodruff wants Pour Over readers to understand what “both sides” are saying about the news of the day.

But Woodruff’s philosophy conflates the understanding of other political opinions with the belief that they should hold equal weight, a fatal conclusion that misleads and misinforms his readership. While I resonate deeply with the idea that all Americans need an accurate view of what their political others believe, these perspectives shouldn’t be framed in an amoral vacuum. Political neutrality has never been the silver bullet that some presume it to be. //

Presenting all perspectives as equal creates a false binary and results in an unwillingness to hold firm, journalistic principles for the preservation of democracy and human rights, all while eroding public trust. According to reporter Sean Illing, “The issue for many people isn’t exactly a denial of truth as such. It’s more a growing weariness over the process of finding the truth at all. And that weariness leads more and more people to abandon the idea that the truth is knowable.” //

In these ways, The Pour Over is not so different from the mainstream outlets it’s seeking to distinguish itself from. In chasing the biggest news of the day, The Pour Over magnifies the vices of the mainstream press by framing its own view of objectivity as in line with the divine. The daily news is not all-encompassing, and holding a long-term perspective is important, but it also has real material and spiritual consequences. Good journalism should inform readers not only of the facts but also of the stakes.

By framing the news as all-but-equal, The Pour Over pushes readers toward an unbiblical political indifference.

If Kirk were alive today, he would agree with those who are now critical of the neocons for having abandoned their conservatism in favor of an imperialistic and globalist ideology. //

We are told, repeatedly, to keep God and morality out of politics. Yet, as Eliot insisted, society is bound together by common religion and a common ethical outlook. Without the recovery of the ethics of kindness and compassion, rooted in the Christian God, Western society runs to its own destruction under “the cult of the colossal.” //

Kirk defines culture as customs and traditions that operate in society. Culture is the emotional and ethical wisdom that customs and traditions within society communicate. They principally communicate through art, music, literature (especially poetry), and spiritual practices that teach us emotional and ethical wisdom.

The conservative, then, is concerned with preserving the wisdom of relational love that has been passed down generationally and developed by great thinkers, great artists, and great writers. This understanding of conservatism is broad in scope and invites those of us who may otherwise not share in conservative politics to be included in its ranks. And as Kirk implies throughout, there really isn’t an ideology of conservatism precisely because conservatism is not ideological in its political construction. //

Kirk reminds readers who have not yet been indoctrinated into that ideology that democracy can be tyrannical too. There is nothing intrinsically noble about democracy — what makes a democracy noble is the virtuous citizens in a democracy.

Out of the ashes of democratic decline lay the possibility for democratic renewal with the recovery of that ethical, theological, and emotional wisdom to begin building again a humane society rooted in awe, wonder, and love. That is the struggle of the conservative in the 21st century.

So why did I put "removed" in quotes at the beginning of this piece? I did so because it's obvious what's actually going on here. Just as with the Colorado Supreme Court ruling removing Trump from the ballot, Bellows stayed her own decision (meaning it doesn't go into effect), giving the final say to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

What does that tell you? It tells you that none of these cheap stunts are meant to succeed technically. It's essentially a foregone conclusion that the U.S. Supreme Court will not only keep the stays in place, but they will ultimately rule against the states trying to use the 14th Amendment without any due process to bar Trump from the ballot. 

In the end, Bellows doesn't believe she'll win. She just wants her name in lights while setting up the U.S. Supreme Court to play the bad guy for half the country. It's a tactic the Biden administration has used over and over, enacting illegal measures with an eye on passing the buck to the judiciary so they can cry foul when they lose. 

The same thing will happen here. The nation's high court will eventually make a common sense ruling to reinstate Trump on these ballots, and then the far left will call them tyrants who want to destroy democracy. What does that accomplish? It helps juice Democrat turnout. It's all so predictable, and it's a blatant abuse of the system to influence an election.