Superannuated pseudo-intellectual Marxists telling themselves that they are gods.
I’m waiting for them to go to the rictus-grimacing, vibrating, screaming “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!” mode.
When anyone asks “Whose heads”, their response will of course be “EVERYBODY’S!!”
Maybe when they’ve fallen down, and are lying flat, convulsing as if in a grand mal’ seizure, and babbling incoherently, their fawning acolytes will finally realize that they’ve been worshiping delusional lunatics all these years.
Nah. They’ll just conclude it’s the new style of ultimate governance and start doing it themselves.
clear ether
eon
March 8, 2016 at 12:21 am
Kafiroon
That reminds me of the somewhat mysterious death of Stalin.
It can always happen.
March 8, 2016 at 12:28 am
eon
There wasn’t much real mystery about Uncle Joe’s death. His paranoia extended to doctors. So he wouldn’t let them see him. He died of a heart attack that could have been prevented.
Same thing happened to my father. For the same reason. Which is why I listen very carefully to my doctor.
clear ether
eon
March 8, 2016 at 12:42 am
Kafiroon
That is true. It did hold up any medical help. Well I always had some thought on Beria’s role. The Surgical Neurology International published an article on Stalin’s death.
According to Vyacheslav Molotov, the Foreign Minister, Beria said: “I did him in, I saved all of you!”
March 8, 2016 at 12:54 am
H_B
If that happened, Beria saved Beria.
March 8, 2016 at 1:42 am
Polly Cy
Not a heart attack, a cerebral hemorrhage. And Beria’s protest came months later, when he was being arrested on Khrushchev’s orders. He didn’t say “I did him in,” he said, “Don’t you understand? I saved you all.” The remark could have been self-serving, could have been true. And of course, Molotov was purged at the same time, although he wasn’t arrested. With an exquisite sense of the nature of punishment, Khrushchev made him permanent ambassador to Mongolia.
What we do know is that Stalin’s paranoia was so great by that time that he would not sleep in the same room for two nights in a row. He wandered through the dacha, sleeping in a different bedroom each night. Everyone was so terrified of him that no one went looking for him to wake him or to check on him for hours. He could have laid there for a full day or even longer, so even if Beria had smothered him or poisoned him, the probability was that Stalin was beyond recovery anyway.
The justification for an assassination was certainly there. He had recently announced the appointment of a large number of new appointments to the Politburo, something he always did before removing/purging large numbers of sitting full and candidate members. But that doesn’t mean it happened.
(My personal area of specialization is using cluster and block modeling network analysis to explore transitions in communist party leadership, so this is something I’m pretty familiar with)
March 8, 2016 at 2:40 am
H_B
Interesting, do you do Chinese as well as Soviet? Have any thoughts on Xi Jinping’s “anti-corruption” purges?
March 8, 2016 at 1:19 pm
interventor
Doubt they could operate as sedation would kill him. My 90 year old mother has same problem.
I thought it was reasonably well known that Berea used his infamous skills with a sap, striking a blow to Stalin’s left occipital process to cause his fatal ‘brain hemmorhage’. He hoped to be made the new General Secretary, but he was squeezed out by someone else. Georgi Malenkov, which led within several years to Kruschev. Interesting link here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_the_Soviet_Union
March 8, 2016 at 3:57 pm
Polly Cy
See, this is why Wikipedia is forbidden as a source in any scholarly or academic forum. It is simply not reliable. No, take it from someone who has taught Soviet and Russian politics at the college level for 30 years: that story is nothing more than creative fiction with a bit of wishful thinking tossed in. Beria wasn’t “squeezed out” in some Machiavellian political machinations. It is significant that he was the only high-ranking party member to be executed after Stalin’s death. Stalin’s lifestyle, including decades of chronic heavy drinking, as well as film of some behaviors that strongly indicated the onset of some form of dementia, make a stroke or cerebral hemorrhage not only reasonable but the most likely scenario. These stories of Beria assassinating Stalin have been around for years. Some say he poisoned him. Some say he smothered him. Your suggestion that he whacked him over the head is new to me, and I’ve been in the field for two thirds of my life. The only opportunity Beria would have had was in those moments when high ranking party members were given a few moments alone with the stricken leader to pay their respects. But by then is was anywhere from 24-48 hours since Stalin had been stricken. People rarely recover from cerebral hemorrhages today with the excellent sophisticated treatments available. In 1953, for Beria to attack Stalin would be the equivalent of “abusing a corpse.”
Conspiracy theories always abound when there is a mysterious death. But the reality of Soviet politics was more complex than any scenario these theorists could devise.
March 8, 2016 at 5:42 pm
interventor
No matter, slices of Stalin’s brain look like Swiss cheese — syphillis.
March 8, 2016 at 12:51 am
H_B
You may actually get your wish. If vulgar, unsophisticated, political-norm-breaking Donald Trump is her opponent and he connects with hotdog-munching, work-a-day, blue collar Reagan Democrats he could reallistically take the election from her. If he does that, she will have the purpose she has bent her life towards (her apotheosis as the gender-perfection of the US Presidency) stolen from her – a second time! – by her social, intellectual, and moral inferior – A Second Time!
If that happens, I seriously expect a public “break with reality” or violent explosion from her.
March 8, 2016 at 6:43 am
Bill G
Trump is not at all likely to win. Cruz is correct in positing that the media is holding back on him. Juan McCain primaried with the media fawning over him only to be shocked that they savaged him in the election cycle.
Well, Donny Boy isn’t being fawned over, but there is a lot that’s not being said now but would/will be later.
March 8, 2016 at 8:10 am
Larry J
While I voted for Cruz on Super Tuesday, if Trump wins the nomination fair and square, I’ll vote for him in November. Afterwards, I go home and weep for the future of my country and my grandchildren.
As for the media playing their usual hit games, I wonder what effect that would have on Trump. For some of his supporters, I think they’ll see through what the press is doing and strengthen their support. I don’t see Trump pulling any punches on Hillary and she has a lot of baggage, too. The press may not want to talk about her issues but Trump most definitely would. She’ll come out of the election cycle with her background fully exposed and her reputation – such as it is – completely ruined.
March 8, 2016 at 9:43 am
RooftopVoter
Trump is more likely to wipe the floor with Hillary than Cruz is.
All Hillary has to say is Abortion and Cruz will go off like a rabid dog and run 10 to 15 percent of the votes we need to win away.
Cruz is indeed a better candidate, except his path to victory is tenuous at best at this time.
March 8, 2016 at 3:02 pm
H_B
I doubt it. Trump has been a public figure for longer than Hillary has. People know him – whether they like him or not. And if Cruz knew some scandal on Trump beyond innuendo, why not trot it out himself to capture the nomination right this moment?
March 8, 2016 at 8:11 am
Polly Cy
Sorry, HB – no reply option on your inquiry re: China so I popped over here. I primarily focused on the USSR, along with Romania, Czechoslovakia, and the DDR. Constructing the initial matrix requires lots of lots of biographical information on all members of the leadership, from primary sources as much as possible, so I had to confine myself to places where I spoke the languages. Sadly, that meant excluding the Asian parties. It would be fascinating to try it today, though. North Korea would be especially interesting, although I suspect there’s already been a palace coup and the military are actually in charge. NK is very similar to Romania in the 70s and 80s, although Ceausescu’s attempts at establishing “dynastic socialism” were unsuccessful.
March 8, 2016 at 2:51 pm
H_B
(You can just go up the stack to the next comment that has a “reply” button and your statements will be dropped at the bottom of the no-reply stack.)
Ah well, that’s the same story I’ve heard elsewhere; China’s just really hard to read the internal people on.
Kind of fascinating of late, though. The current head of the party, Xi Jinping, has turned out to be a more…energetic…leader than was anticipated when they settled on him. To the point they never would have picked him if they knew what he was going to do…
Someone quoted yesterday, “Shiny badges don’t grant extra rights.”
True, but shiny badges backed by shiny guns can just take them.
Which is why “Only the police should have guns.”
March 7, 2016 at 11:21 pm
Old Codger
Put a bullet into one of those shiny badges and see how far “self defense” goes as a defense. Of course that presumes that you live to stand trial. In many (most?) jurisdictions somebody who shoots a cop is lucky to live to be booked.
Remember, Law Enforcement automatically gets the benefit of any doubt. There is a legal presumption that whatever they do in uniform is lawful.
Shiny guns, and shiny badges for that matter, are just tools.
It is those as depicted in panel two who wield both against citizens that are deserving of a bullet.
They know that. Which is why “Only (their) police should have guns.”
March 8, 2016 at 2:07 pm
Old Codger
It occurred to me sometime back that those shiny badges would make pretty nice aim points. Actually, I suppose you’d want to aim just to your left of the badge. Still & all aiming for the badge wouldn’t be all that bad. A 150gr .30 cal projectile @ 2,800 ft/sec to the lung is likely to take the target out of the fight – even if the target is wearing body armor.
March 8, 2016 at 4:09 pm
B Woodman
“Hips and head, boys and girls, hips and head.”
March 8, 2016 at 8:25 am
Mark Matis
Once you put the first bullet into that first shiny badge, you might as well go after EVERY shiny badge out there. And don’t wait for them to come to you. If you can’t smell them, you can at least hear them coming. Be where they don’t expect you to be, give them a present, and then move again.
March 8, 2016 at 9:45 am
RooftopVoter
Yep, once the first one is sent, you can’t get any more dead, make it worth it.
Mr. Matis, since your comment is in response to mine let me take a second to disavow the stupidity and evil of not only this comment but the one downthread, and to say that you apparently did not actually read or understand mine at all.
There are a lot of leo’s who shouldn’t be but are because of their own predilection to power-tripping and control freakery, but there’s a pretty high percentage of their type in the general population too. The ones that are leo’s got the job due to systemic flaws and an hierarchy that actively psych-evals for those who will blindly follow the orders of their elite patrons.
And as I thought my comment made clear, it is those patrons, elites who place themselves above all else and all others, who are deserving of being removed from our politics by whatever legal means are available…unless and until they unleash their armed enforcers onto free Americans, in which case you may need to destroy a lot of fire ants to get to her, but the queen of the colony has to be neutralized to prevent an endless and insurmountable stream of mindless workers.
Having been in the gun and pawn business for near 40 years, I have had a lot of contact with individual leo’s, from patrolmen to detectives to the brass and the sheriff himself at the local level, to state FDLE and fed ATF agents. The main thing that I have noticed is that the old guys are disgusted with what has happened in law enforcement, devolving from peace officers into the paramilitary us/them mentality that has become so prevalent, so I do understand your attitude, but it is critical to remember that the badges and guns are just accoutrement for the real people behind them, who are for the most part just men and women with lives and families like the rest of us doing a job on the orders of those who control them. And it is those giving those orders, twisting the definitions and enforcement of existing laws (remember executive orders/actions?), that have to be fought and defeated, or physically destroyed, depending on just how far they and their hired thugs are willing to push Patriots.
And that last is why they so want your guns, why those executive orders amount to defacto gun control, and why we all have to be constantly vigilant, aware, and prepared when push comes to shove.
Another damn book, sorry Chris. But the commenter calling for the indiscriminate murder of law enforcement without focusing on or understanding the need to get to the source, needed refuting.
March 8, 2016 at 2:11 pm
Old Codger
Here’s a thought. Think about what the acronym for Federal Law Enforcement Agent would be. That’s right FLEA! How’s THAT for truth in advertising? 😉
March 8, 2016 at 2:55 pm
Chris Muir
chill,matis.
March 7, 2016 at 11:26 pm
Old Codger
Chris, I don’t recognize the kiss-ass in the first panel. Who is he?
March 7, 2016 at 11:32 pm
jackdeth72
My guess, Paul Ryan.
But, I’m not Chris.
March 7, 2016 at 11:36 pm
Chris Muir
Josh Earnest, White House Spokeshole.
March 8, 2016 at 9:46 am
RooftopVoter
Only difference is the name, both are traitors.
March 8, 2016 at 2:01 pm
Old Codger
Ah! Josh (tries to look) Earnest. I gotcha. Thanx. I never watch what passes for “news” any more so I didn’t recognize him.
March 8, 2016 at 2:05 pm
interventor
Sounds like a name from Ayn Rand.
March 7, 2016 at 11:31 pm
Crotalus
Joy is a warm Patriot’s gun.
March 8, 2016 at 2:16 pm
Old Codger
True so long as you remember that there are TWO subspecies of Police. There’s “Cops” who enforce the law and then there’s “Pigs” who think they ARE the law. The former are the good guys. The latter are the ones who will most likely convert to targets when the SHTF.
March 7, 2016 at 11:45 pm
Spin Drift
“Always return fire first” my Dad.
Spin
Molon Labe
March 8, 2016 at 12:20 am
Kafiroon
Absolutely! Always learned a lot from my elders. (The intelligent ones.)
My priorities are learned and correct for me. I went to Church. Then to the range.
March 8, 2016 at 3:35 am
Grapeshot
Two birds, one stone. Go to church regularly. Practice at all distances, maintain proficiency.
March 8, 2016 at 11:25 am
Toolrat
The four rules for fighting:
1 Don’t start nothing and there won’t be nothing…
If a conflict is imminent and unavoidable, rule 1 is suspended to increase odds of victory.
2 Do it first!
3 Do it faster!
4 Do it dirtier!
Remember, winners write the history.
March 7, 2016 at 11:48 pm
B Woodman
Political power grows from the barrel of a gun.
Thanks, Chairman Mao. Words to live by. Even if conservative patriots use them as a last resort (the cartridge box) against the statists (by whatever name they call themselves).
March 8, 2016 at 12:01 am
B Woodman
BoDaPrez wants to speak “truth to power”? Really?
First off, he is (supposed to be) the one in power, the highest elected office in the land. Is Josh saying there’s a higher power? Val? Soros? Mecca? Or, does MomJeans think he’s a god, and he’s going to speak to himself in an echo chamber?
Second, this $_():;!!## wouldn’t know “truth” if it came up and bit “him” in the ass.
March 8, 2016 at 12:33 am
eon
You reminded me of this;
This is the ballad of Boh Da Thone,
Erst a Pretender to Theebaw’s throne,
Who harried the district of Alalone:
How he met with his fate and the V.P.P.*
At the hand of Harendra Mukerji,
Senior Gomashta, G.B.T.*
OT, but vaguely relevant
Dilletante to blonde at uptown cocktail party; “Do you enjoy Kipling?” Blonde; I really don’t know, I’ve never kippled.” [bahhrump – shhhh]
March 8, 2016 at 6:48 am
Bill G
I think his suck-up there is saying that Obola is speaking the truth of Realpolitik to the power of Rule of Law.
March 8, 2016 at 7:27 am
Peet
ISTR that Mochelle said on moving-in day at the white hut in 2009 “Now we are going to begin speaking truth to power.” (Or very nearly those words.)
You *are* power you stupid bint!
March 8, 2016 at 2:40 pm
Old Codger
My “favorite” Mooshelle quote is:
“All this for a damned Flag!”
Makes me mad since my kin have been fighting (and dying) for that flag since before Betsy Ross sewed the first one (French and Indian War).
March 8, 2016 at 1:14 am
Calvin
I have always wondered what the people of Belgium and rural France thought when they looked to the east in 1940 and could see the Germans preparing. Were they afraid? Did they believe it when their governments told them all was well? Did they have a plan to get out of Dodge when the time came? Did they just live one day at a time and hoped….
And remember, power coming from the barrel of a gun also depends whose hand that gun is in.
March 8, 2016 at 6:49 am
Bill G
Yes, and the left depends on being the one to bring a gun to a knife fight.
March 8, 2016 at 2:29 pm
Old Codger
I prefer to bring a gun to a “FIST” fight. If one is available, I bring a full-auto assault rifle to a knife fight. If I had m’ druthers, I’d drive a Striker (with a 20 mike mike mounted vulcan on top) or a Bradley (with that cute 20 mike mike auto cannon) to an out and out gun fight. There’re only 2 ways to fight – to win and to lose. Fair doesn’t even enter into it. Do not engage unless you are prepared to sweep the OpFor off the field of battle. Actually, that works pretty well with young ‘uns, too. And never Never NEVER bluff. If you aren’t prepared to sweep the opponent off the field, do not accept battle.
March 8, 2016 at 4:34 am
Bren
I’ve always wondered at the disdain so-called conservatives have for that line. The fact that Mao said it does not make it less true. Government is the projection of force– all government. There are always guns along the line of projection, and it is ultimately people with guns who enforce it, whether for good or ill.
In the old country (south side of Chicago) we used to paraphrase the police demands as “Halt and I will shoot!” in various forms.
Everyplace I go, and particularly in libertarian/conservative forums, the LEOs insist on their uprightness and trustworthiness. At the same time defending their privilege to run anyone they contact through NCIC just in case.
Here’s the thing, though. I grew up with cops. While not one myself, and while nobody in my family will admit to ever having been one, we have operated in close proximity, both socially and professionally with many, in many jurisdictions. Some are okay, some are good folk honestly trying to do a good thing. Far too many are just in it for the power trip and the ability to skirt the law. FAR too many.
I don’t know if Fincum was drawing down. If he was, though, I suspect that I might know why. I have a feeling that his dealings with LEO in the past had convinced him that he would not survive being taken into custody, and so he decided to go out on his own terms. We all need to pay attention to that. In the times that are coming, more than a few of us may need to make that decision at some point.
And for those who still doubt Mao’s statement, .gov didn’t take those guys into custody at carrot point.
You’re adopting as your standard on truth an article by a New York Times racist columnist who lied to her own young son that Officer Wilson murdered that poor innocent black child in Ferguson?
I was hoping for Scott Walker. But given that this IS what the Statists on the left are all about now, I’ll go with anyone else.
March 8, 2016 at 7:41 am
John T
Her Thighness, the Cankle-in-chief has been putting away the groceries…
March 8, 2016 at 8:00 am
NotYetInACamp
I believe Solzhenitsyn wrote that maybe if those cadres would have known that going out to arrest someone (for their political and regulation violating reasons) in their home or apartment that many of them would not go home themselves that night might have brought about a better result.
The BLM and company did keep the revolution from spreading that evening because they did prevent them speaking to a crowd of over 400 at the nearby village where the local sheriff and government was all waiting for them to listen and discus the issues with them..
They shut them up that night.
March 8, 2016 at 8:07 am
NotYetInACamp
The government used it’s overwhelming power to unjustly write new regulations on property rights, then used it’s overwhelming power to enforce their theft. It happens every day. Wrongly.
Nothing but old time might makes right n play.
Our rulers (Not leaders) are in a very evil place. Just ask Europe which has had the oil bred Morlock inbred clone army driven from North Africa and the Middle East into Europe to destroy that section of Western Civilization.
Power from a gun or jet can be very evil in it’s results, though they all claim the legitimate power of government and good in its implementation. So does evil act.
Evil is most dastardly when it cloaks itself in the majesty of the law.
March 8, 2016 at 8:32 am
Polly Cy
Chris, I know that the strip is plot driven right now, but it would be nice to see at least a brief nod to Nancy Reagan. I met the Reagans in Kansas City at the ’76 convention. I was manning the checkpoint on the Reagan’s floor in the hotel, making sure that anyone getting off the elevator was stopped while the Secret Service verified them. Right after the nomination was lost, when they came back, (up the back elevator of course) they took the time to come up front and chat with the two little nobodies by the elevator. Even in one of the most disappointing moments of their lives, they took the time to thank us and make US feel appreciated. They were both so gracious and generous, inviting us to join them in their suite with a few “other friends” for munchies. Of course we couldn’t accept, the look in the Secret Service guys’ eyes made it pretty clear that if we took one step in that direction, we’d be dead. So we stammered out “thank yous” and declined. Ten minutes later, a staffer appeared with a cart full of delicacies, “with the compliments of the Governor and Mrs. Reagan.” I will never forget that, and any time anyone criticizes Nancy Reagan as cold or elitist I think of it. I’ve always believed that the chat was his idea, and the goodies were hers. What a wonderful team they made.
March 8, 2016 at 1:04 pm
MasterDiver
I forget who said it, but someone gave a very good touchstone for a politician’s true character being how they treated someone who was NOT in a position to do them a favor or make a donation. The Mrs. Reagan was a true Lady, and Ron was a Gentleman in the finest sense of the word. RIP for them both.
(and here is how I hope Ron is enjoying the hereafter)http://www.andythomas.com/grandolgangnotecards.aspx
March 8, 2016 at 3:41 pm
H_B
Both their surface and their substance are why we love them both so. Nancy Reagan is still my standard of what a First Lady is supposed to be like.
And while it was mocked then and now, Nancy’s “just say No” campaign literally kept me from making horrible mistakes when I was a child.
March 8, 2016 at 7:58 pm
Bill M
I’ve read so many times about how gentlemanly President Reagan was and how gracious Mrs. Reagan was that I wish mightily that I could have met them in person. We were truly lucky to have them in our lives. If only the ‘current occupant and spouse’ could approach the Reagans’ level for even an instant. Alas, that is not to be. I just hope we don’t continue down the path we currently trod. Neither Cankles nor Bernie even remotely approach the level of the ‘current occupant’ and he is so far below Reagan’s level as to not even be seen.
March 8, 2016 at 9:50 am
Arkelk
Polly Cy, Thank you for your insights into Stalin’s and the Soviet Union’s ways. I studied the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in college, although not in serious depth, and it is always interesting to read informed comments and articles on that period.
I also appreciate your comments about the Reagans. Over the years I have heard nice things about Mrs. Reagan’s concern for others. People with true class, I think. We need more like them.
March 8, 2016 at 5:10 pm
Polly Cy
That is very kind of you. Thank you!
March 8, 2016 at 11:43 am
Spin Drift
Hey Chris, is that a port side .45 in a righty’s embrace? When I discharge my Gold Cup all the brass comes out the other side.
Spin Drift
Molon Labe
RIP Mrs. Reagan, you were one classy First Lady.
March 8, 2016 at 1:49 pm
Unca Walt
Empties are bouncing offa the closed car window??
More likely artistic license… with Chris fully aware that us fans scrutinize every panel. 🙂
March 8, 2016 at 7:57 pm
Septic the Sceptic
Not a 1911. Looks more like a Smith.
March 8, 2016 at 2:51 pm
Old Codger
Every time I watch the video of the feds murdering LaVoy Finicum, it looks to me like, instead olow on Finicum’s left side f reaching for a gun, that he is butting his to a just-suffered bullet wound. The video has no sound and you can bet the Feds were well aware of that. There would be no way to know if a sniper deliberately shot him in a place where it would look – on the video – like he was going for a gun. Once the Feds commenced firing there would be no way to know when a wound low on Finicum’s left side occurred.
Damn! I sound like one of those conspiracy nutjobs. Don’t I?
March 8, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Old Codger
What I meant to write in that first sentence above was “Every time I watch the video of the feds murdering LaVoy Finicum, it looks to me like, instead of reaching for a gun, that he is putting his hand to a just-suffered bullet wound. “
March 8, 2016 at 3:03 pm
Chris Muir
The actions and track record of the U.S. government against Americans these last 20 years makes cogent, simple observation of those actions sound like a conspiracy-essentially, a free man, using reason and logic, can no longer give this government the benefit of the doubt, and must ascribe intent matching those actions.It’s been declared before, of course… “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
(meant this to be here if you want to delete the other one Chris)
That’s a rare dead-on written commentary from a man who does most of his dead-on commentary with his “cartoons”.
“…makes cogent, simple observation…sound like a conspiracy…”
Indeed. And it makes discussion of imminent insurrection sound empty and extreme. But as enumerated in that original Declaration, the time may be near to embrace that right and accept that duty.
March 8, 2016 at 5:27 pm
West Rhino
HRT not yet re-defined from hostage roasting team, check Branch Davidians or Vince Foster
March 8, 2016 at 5:49 pm
interventor
Drudge has a link. FBI agents being investigated.
March 8, 2016 at 6:46 pm
S Hooks
I had the same thought. In addition, I always thought the standard for using deadly force was that the suspect had to actually show, i.e. brandish the weapon. The fact that Finicum “might” have had a pistol is not sufficient justification to shoot him. It was a bad shoot, no question about it.
March 8, 2016 at 4:07 pm
NotYetInACamp
Please vote.
if it can be won with votes, I believe that we must try. If they steal votes, we must attempt to make the groundswell greater than their theft capabilities.
This is the time to vote. That is our weapon at all of our hands.
Thank you if you vote. We have more guns than “they” do. Most of “their” guns are still our guns, no matter what “they” think. Our guns will back us up if we win control away from them.
That’s a rare dead-on written commentary from a man who does most of his dead-on commentary with his “cartoons”.
“…makes cogent, simple observation…sound like a conspiracy…”
Indeed. And it makes discussion of imminent insurrection sound empty and extreme. But as enumerated in that original Declaration, the time may be near to embrace that right and accept that duty.
March 8, 2016 at 8:21 pm
Lyle
Conspiracy; two or more people working toward some (nefarious) goal.
How did it come to mean “insane theory” or “that which is not happening”?
Are we to believe that no two people ever work together for nefarious purposes any more? Or is it that we just can’t talk about it anymore?
Answer THAT and you’re starting to get somewhere.
March 8, 2016 at 8:57 pm
Pamela
Chris- Are you having Omar the Tent maker provide couture for Hilly?
Looks like Harry and Josh have been outfitted with something from the local mortician.
These are the days when oaths sworn to God are forsaken, and bonds are forged in blood and vice with Evil.
83 Comments
Mao would be so proud of them.
Superannuated pseudo-intellectual Marxists telling themselves that they are gods.
I’m waiting for them to go to the rictus-grimacing, vibrating, screaming “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!” mode.
When anyone asks “Whose heads”, their response will of course be “EVERYBODY’S!!”
Maybe when they’ve fallen down, and are lying flat, convulsing as if in a grand mal’ seizure, and babbling incoherently, their fawning acolytes will finally realize that they’ve been worshiping delusional lunatics all these years.
Nah. They’ll just conclude it’s the new style of ultimate governance and start doing it themselves.
clear ether
eon
That reminds me of the somewhat mysterious death of Stalin.
It can always happen.
There wasn’t much real mystery about Uncle Joe’s death. His paranoia extended to doctors. So he wouldn’t let them see him. He died of a heart attack that could have been prevented.
Same thing happened to my father. For the same reason. Which is why I listen very carefully to my doctor.
clear ether
eon
That is true. It did hold up any medical help. Well I always had some thought on Beria’s role. The Surgical Neurology International published an article on Stalin’s death.
According to Vyacheslav Molotov, the Foreign Minister, Beria said: “I did him in, I saved all of you!”
If that happened, Beria saved Beria.
Not a heart attack, a cerebral hemorrhage. And Beria’s protest came months later, when he was being arrested on Khrushchev’s orders. He didn’t say “I did him in,” he said, “Don’t you understand? I saved you all.” The remark could have been self-serving, could have been true. And of course, Molotov was purged at the same time, although he wasn’t arrested. With an exquisite sense of the nature of punishment, Khrushchev made him permanent ambassador to Mongolia.
What we do know is that Stalin’s paranoia was so great by that time that he would not sleep in the same room for two nights in a row. He wandered through the dacha, sleeping in a different bedroom each night. Everyone was so terrified of him that no one went looking for him to wake him or to check on him for hours. He could have laid there for a full day or even longer, so even if Beria had smothered him or poisoned him, the probability was that Stalin was beyond recovery anyway.
The justification for an assassination was certainly there. He had recently announced the appointment of a large number of new appointments to the Politburo, something he always did before removing/purging large numbers of sitting full and candidate members. But that doesn’t mean it happened.
(My personal area of specialization is using cluster and block modeling network analysis to explore transitions in communist party leadership, so this is something I’m pretty familiar with)
Interesting, do you do Chinese as well as Soviet? Have any thoughts on Xi Jinping’s “anti-corruption” purges?
Doubt they could operate as sedation would kill him. My 90 year old mother has same problem.
I thought it was reasonably well known that Berea used his infamous skills with a sap, striking a blow to Stalin’s left occipital process to cause his fatal ‘brain hemmorhage’. He hoped to be made the new General Secretary, but he was squeezed out by someone else. Georgi Malenkov, which led within several years to Kruschev. Interesting link here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_the_Soviet_Union
See, this is why Wikipedia is forbidden as a source in any scholarly or academic forum. It is simply not reliable. No, take it from someone who has taught Soviet and Russian politics at the college level for 30 years: that story is nothing more than creative fiction with a bit of wishful thinking tossed in. Beria wasn’t “squeezed out” in some Machiavellian political machinations. It is significant that he was the only high-ranking party member to be executed after Stalin’s death. Stalin’s lifestyle, including decades of chronic heavy drinking, as well as film of some behaviors that strongly indicated the onset of some form of dementia, make a stroke or cerebral hemorrhage not only reasonable but the most likely scenario. These stories of Beria assassinating Stalin have been around for years. Some say he poisoned him. Some say he smothered him. Your suggestion that he whacked him over the head is new to me, and I’ve been in the field for two thirds of my life. The only opportunity Beria would have had was in those moments when high ranking party members were given a few moments alone with the stricken leader to pay their respects. But by then is was anywhere from 24-48 hours since Stalin had been stricken. People rarely recover from cerebral hemorrhages today with the excellent sophisticated treatments available. In 1953, for Beria to attack Stalin would be the equivalent of “abusing a corpse.”
Conspiracy theories always abound when there is a mysterious death. But the reality of Soviet politics was more complex than any scenario these theorists could devise.
No matter, slices of Stalin’s brain look like Swiss cheese — syphillis.
You may actually get your wish. If vulgar, unsophisticated, political-norm-breaking Donald Trump is her opponent and he connects with hotdog-munching, work-a-day, blue collar Reagan Democrats he could reallistically take the election from her. If he does that, she will have the purpose she has bent her life towards (her apotheosis as the gender-perfection of the US Presidency) stolen from her – a second time! – by her social, intellectual, and moral inferior – A Second Time!
If that happens, I seriously expect a public “break with reality” or violent explosion from her.
Trump is not at all likely to win. Cruz is correct in positing that the media is holding back on him. Juan McCain primaried with the media fawning over him only to be shocked that they savaged him in the election cycle.
Well, Donny Boy isn’t being fawned over, but there is a lot that’s not being said now but would/will be later.
While I voted for Cruz on Super Tuesday, if Trump wins the nomination fair and square, I’ll vote for him in November. Afterwards, I go home and weep for the future of my country and my grandchildren.
As for the media playing their usual hit games, I wonder what effect that would have on Trump. For some of his supporters, I think they’ll see through what the press is doing and strengthen their support. I don’t see Trump pulling any punches on Hillary and she has a lot of baggage, too. The press may not want to talk about her issues but Trump most definitely would. She’ll come out of the election cycle with her background fully exposed and her reputation – such as it is – completely ruined.
Trump is more likely to wipe the floor with Hillary than Cruz is.
All Hillary has to say is Abortion and Cruz will go off like a rabid dog and run 10 to 15 percent of the votes we need to win away.
Cruz is indeed a better candidate, except his path to victory is tenuous at best at this time.
I doubt it. Trump has been a public figure for longer than Hillary has. People know him – whether they like him or not. And if Cruz knew some scandal on Trump beyond innuendo, why not trot it out himself to capture the nomination right this moment?
Sorry, HB – no reply option on your inquiry re: China so I popped over here. I primarily focused on the USSR, along with Romania, Czechoslovakia, and the DDR. Constructing the initial matrix requires lots of lots of biographical information on all members of the leadership, from primary sources as much as possible, so I had to confine myself to places where I spoke the languages. Sadly, that meant excluding the Asian parties. It would be fascinating to try it today, though. North Korea would be especially interesting, although I suspect there’s already been a palace coup and the military are actually in charge. NK is very similar to Romania in the 70s and 80s, although Ceausescu’s attempts at establishing “dynastic socialism” were unsuccessful.
(You can just go up the stack to the next comment that has a “reply” button and your statements will be dropped at the bottom of the no-reply stack.)
Ah well, that’s the same story I’ve heard elsewhere; China’s just really hard to read the internal people on.
Kind of fascinating of late, though. The current head of the party, Xi Jinping, has turned out to be a more…energetic…leader than was anticipated when they settled on him. To the point they never would have picked him if they knew what he was going to do…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixc5j6VoY_c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6-eo6bh87g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PexMAJIa6C4
Outside your area of focus, but you may find it interesting.
(Middle link is the first of a series of three)
Someone quoted yesterday, “Shiny badges don’t grant extra rights.”
True, but shiny badges backed by shiny guns can just take them.
Which is why “Only the police should have guns.”
Put a bullet into one of those shiny badges and see how far “self defense” goes as a defense. Of course that presumes that you live to stand trial. In many (most?) jurisdictions somebody who shoots a cop is lucky to live to be booked.
Remember, Law Enforcement automatically gets the benefit of any doubt. There is a legal presumption that whatever they do in uniform is lawful.
Shiny guns, and shiny badges for that matter, are just tools.
It is those as depicted in panel two who wield both against citizens that are deserving of a bullet.
They know that. Which is why “Only (their) police should have guns.”
It occurred to me sometime back that those shiny badges would make pretty nice aim points. Actually, I suppose you’d want to aim just to your left of the badge. Still & all aiming for the badge wouldn’t be all that bad. A 150gr .30 cal projectile @ 2,800 ft/sec to the lung is likely to take the target out of the fight – even if the target is wearing body armor.
“Hips and head, boys and girls, hips and head.”
Once you put the first bullet into that first shiny badge, you might as well go after EVERY shiny badge out there. And don’t wait for them to come to you. If you can’t smell them, you can at least hear them coming. Be where they don’t expect you to be, give them a present, and then move again.
Yep, once the first one is sent, you can’t get any more dead, make it worth it.
Also, Generals are worth much more than Privates.
Mr. Matis, since your comment is in response to mine let me take a second to disavow the stupidity and evil of not only this comment but the one downthread, and to say that you apparently did not actually read or understand mine at all.
There are a lot of leo’s who shouldn’t be but are because of their own predilection to power-tripping and control freakery, but there’s a pretty high percentage of their type in the general population too. The ones that are leo’s got the job due to systemic flaws and an hierarchy that actively psych-evals for those who will blindly follow the orders of their elite patrons.
And as I thought my comment made clear, it is those patrons, elites who place themselves above all else and all others, who are deserving of being removed from our politics by whatever legal means are available…unless and until they unleash their armed enforcers onto free Americans, in which case you may need to destroy a lot of fire ants to get to her, but the queen of the colony has to be neutralized to prevent an endless and insurmountable stream of mindless workers.
Having been in the gun and pawn business for near 40 years, I have had a lot of contact with individual leo’s, from patrolmen to detectives to the brass and the sheriff himself at the local level, to state FDLE and fed ATF agents. The main thing that I have noticed is that the old guys are disgusted with what has happened in law enforcement, devolving from peace officers into the paramilitary us/them mentality that has become so prevalent, so I do understand your attitude, but it is critical to remember that the badges and guns are just accoutrement for the real people behind them, who are for the most part just men and women with lives and families like the rest of us doing a job on the orders of those who control them. And it is those giving those orders, twisting the definitions and enforcement of existing laws (remember executive orders/actions?), that have to be fought and defeated, or physically destroyed, depending on just how far they and their hired thugs are willing to push Patriots.
And that last is why they so want your guns, why those executive orders amount to defacto gun control, and why we all have to be constantly vigilant, aware, and prepared when push comes to shove.
Another damn book, sorry Chris. But the commenter calling for the indiscriminate murder of law enforcement without focusing on or understanding the need to get to the source, needed refuting.
Here’s a thought. Think about what the acronym for Federal Law Enforcement Agent would be. That’s right FLEA! How’s THAT for truth in advertising? 😉
chill,matis.
Chris, I don’t recognize the kiss-ass in the first panel. Who is he?
My guess, Paul Ryan.
But, I’m not Chris.
Josh Earnest, White House Spokeshole.
Only difference is the name, both are traitors.
Ah! Josh (tries to look) Earnest. I gotcha. Thanx. I never watch what passes for “news” any more so I didn’t recognize him.
Sounds like a name from Ayn Rand.
Joy is a warm Patriot’s gun.
True so long as you remember that there are TWO subspecies of Police. There’s “Cops” who enforce the law and then there’s “Pigs” who think they ARE the law. The former are the good guys. The latter are the ones who will most likely convert to targets when the SHTF.
“Always return fire first” my Dad.
Spin
Molon Labe
Absolutely! Always learned a lot from my elders. (The intelligent ones.)
My priorities are learned and correct for me. I went to Church. Then to the range.
Two birds, one stone. Go to church regularly. Practice at all distances, maintain proficiency.
The four rules for fighting:
1 Don’t start nothing and there won’t be nothing…
If a conflict is imminent and unavoidable, rule 1 is suspended to increase odds of victory.
2 Do it first!
3 Do it faster!
4 Do it dirtier!
Remember, winners write the history.
Political power grows from the barrel of a gun.
Thanks, Chairman Mao. Words to live by. Even if conservative patriots use them as a last resort (the cartridge box) against the statists (by whatever name they call themselves).
BoDaPrez wants to speak “truth to power”? Really?
First off, he is (supposed to be) the one in power, the highest elected office in the land. Is Josh saying there’s a higher power? Val? Soros? Mecca? Or, does MomJeans think he’s a god, and he’s going to speak to himself in an echo chamber?
Second, this $_():;!!## wouldn’t know “truth” if it came up and bit “him” in the ass.
You reminded me of this;
This is the ballad of Boh Da Thone,
Erst a Pretender to Theebaw’s throne,
Who harried the district of Alalone:
How he met with his fate and the V.P.P.*
At the hand of Harendra Mukerji,
Senior Gomashta, G.B.T.*
http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_bohdathone.htm
The Boh thought he walked on water, too. He was wrong.
cheers
eon
Gotta love Kipling. His “Gods of the Copybook Headings” still bear a strong lesson for modern times..
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2011/08/the_revenge_of_the_gods_of_the_copybook_headings.html
SIG
PWOR
FAB
OT, but vaguely relevant
Dilletante to blonde at uptown cocktail party; “Do you enjoy Kipling?” Blonde; I really don’t know, I’ve never kippled.” [bahhrump – shhhh]
I think his suck-up there is saying that Obola is speaking the truth of Realpolitik to the power of Rule of Law.
ISTR that Mochelle said on moving-in day at the white hut in 2009 “Now we are going to begin speaking truth to power.” (Or very nearly those words.)
You *are* power you stupid bint!
My “favorite” Mooshelle quote is:
“All this for a damned Flag!”
Makes me mad since my kin have been fighting (and dying) for that flag since before Betsy Ross sewed the first one (French and Indian War).
I have always wondered what the people of Belgium and rural France thought when they looked to the east in 1940 and could see the Germans preparing. Were they afraid? Did they believe it when their governments told them all was well? Did they have a plan to get out of Dodge when the time came? Did they just live one day at a time and hoped….
“Oh, not this again…”
I have disliked many things, many people, in my time. True hatred is hard to achieve. This fits.
And remember, power coming from the barrel of a gun also depends whose hand that gun is in.
Yes, and the left depends on being the one to bring a gun to a knife fight.
I prefer to bring a gun to a “FIST” fight. If one is available, I bring a full-auto assault rifle to a knife fight. If I had m’ druthers, I’d drive a Striker (with a 20 mike mike mounted vulcan on top) or a Bradley (with that cute 20 mike mike auto cannon) to an out and out gun fight. There’re only 2 ways to fight – to win and to lose. Fair doesn’t even enter into it. Do not engage unless you are prepared to sweep the OpFor off the field of battle. Actually, that works pretty well with young ‘uns, too. And never Never NEVER bluff. If you aren’t prepared to sweep the opponent off the field, do not accept battle.
I’ve always wondered at the disdain so-called conservatives have for that line. The fact that Mao said it does not make it less true. Government is the projection of force– all government. There are always guns along the line of projection, and it is ultimately people with guns who enforce it, whether for good or ill.
In the old country (south side of Chicago) we used to paraphrase the police demands as “Halt and I will shoot!” in various forms.
Everyplace I go, and particularly in libertarian/conservative forums, the LEOs insist on their uprightness and trustworthiness. At the same time defending their privilege to run anyone they contact through NCIC just in case.
Here’s the thing, though. I grew up with cops. While not one myself, and while nobody in my family will admit to ever having been one, we have operated in close proximity, both socially and professionally with many, in many jurisdictions. Some are okay, some are good folk honestly trying to do a good thing. Far too many are just in it for the power trip and the ability to skirt the law. FAR too many.
I don’t know if Fincum was drawing down. If he was, though, I suspect that I might know why. I have a feeling that his dealings with LEO in the past had convinced him that he would not survive being taken into custody, and so he decided to go out on his own terms. We all need to pay attention to that. In the times that are coming, more than a few of us may need to make that decision at some point.
And for those who still doubt Mao’s statement, .gov didn’t take those guys into custody at carrot point.
Here’s my take on cops being so truthful.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/why-police-officers-lie-under-oath.html?_r=0
You’re adopting as your standard on truth an article by a New York Times racist columnist who lied to her own young son that Officer Wilson murdered that poor innocent black child in Ferguson?
Damn, dude.
So, Ms. Wolfe, when do you think it’ll be time to shoot the bastards?
I was hoping for Scott Walker. But given that this IS what the Statists on the left are all about now, I’ll go with anyone else.
Her Thighness, the Cankle-in-chief has been putting away the groceries…
I believe Solzhenitsyn wrote that maybe if those cadres would have known that going out to arrest someone (for their political and regulation violating reasons) in their home or apartment that many of them would not go home themselves that night might have brought about a better result.
The BLM and company did keep the revolution from spreading that evening because they did prevent them speaking to a crowd of over 400 at the nearby village where the local sheriff and government was all waiting for them to listen and discus the issues with them..
They shut them up that night.
The government used it’s overwhelming power to unjustly write new regulations on property rights, then used it’s overwhelming power to enforce their theft. It happens every day. Wrongly.
Nothing but old time might makes right n play.
Our rulers (Not leaders) are in a very evil place. Just ask Europe which has had the oil bred Morlock inbred clone army driven from North Africa and the Middle East into Europe to destroy that section of Western Civilization.
Power from a gun or jet can be very evil in it’s results, though they all claim the legitimate power of government and good in its implementation. So does evil act.
Evil is most dastardly when it cloaks itself in the majesty of the law.
Chris, I know that the strip is plot driven right now, but it would be nice to see at least a brief nod to Nancy Reagan. I met the Reagans in Kansas City at the ’76 convention. I was manning the checkpoint on the Reagan’s floor in the hotel, making sure that anyone getting off the elevator was stopped while the Secret Service verified them. Right after the nomination was lost, when they came back, (up the back elevator of course) they took the time to come up front and chat with the two little nobodies by the elevator. Even in one of the most disappointing moments of their lives, they took the time to thank us and make US feel appreciated. They were both so gracious and generous, inviting us to join them in their suite with a few “other friends” for munchies. Of course we couldn’t accept, the look in the Secret Service guys’ eyes made it pretty clear that if we took one step in that direction, we’d be dead. So we stammered out “thank yous” and declined. Ten minutes later, a staffer appeared with a cart full of delicacies, “with the compliments of the Governor and Mrs. Reagan.” I will never forget that, and any time anyone criticizes Nancy Reagan as cold or elitist I think of it. I’ve always believed that the chat was his idea, and the goodies were hers. What a wonderful team they made.
I forget who said it, but someone gave a very good touchstone for a politician’s true character being how they treated someone who was NOT in a position to do them a favor or make a donation. The Mrs. Reagan was a true Lady, and Ron was a Gentleman in the finest sense of the word. RIP for them both.
(and here is how I hope Ron is enjoying the hereafter)http://www.andythomas.com/grandolgangnotecards.aspx
Both their surface and their substance are why we love them both so. Nancy Reagan is still my standard of what a First Lady is supposed to be like.
And while it was mocked then and now, Nancy’s “just say No” campaign literally kept me from making horrible mistakes when I was a child.
I’ve read so many times about how gentlemanly President Reagan was and how gracious Mrs. Reagan was that I wish mightily that I could have met them in person. We were truly lucky to have them in our lives. If only the ‘current occupant and spouse’ could approach the Reagans’ level for even an instant. Alas, that is not to be. I just hope we don’t continue down the path we currently trod. Neither Cankles nor Bernie even remotely approach the level of the ‘current occupant’ and he is so far below Reagan’s level as to not even be seen.
Polly Cy, Thank you for your insights into Stalin’s and the Soviet Union’s ways. I studied the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in college, although not in serious depth, and it is always interesting to read informed comments and articles on that period.
I also appreciate your comments about the Reagans. Over the years I have heard nice things about Mrs. Reagan’s concern for others. People with true class, I think. We need more like them.
That is very kind of you. Thank you!
Hey Chris, is that a port side .45 in a righty’s embrace? When I discharge my Gold Cup all the brass comes out the other side.
Spin Drift
Molon Labe
RIP Mrs. Reagan, you were one classy First Lady.
Empties are bouncing offa the closed car window??
More likely artistic license… with Chris fully aware that us fans scrutinize every panel. 🙂
Not a 1911. Looks more like a Smith.
Every time I watch the video of the feds murdering LaVoy Finicum, it looks to me like, instead olow on Finicum’s left side f reaching for a gun, that he is butting his to a just-suffered bullet wound. The video has no sound and you can bet the Feds were well aware of that. There would be no way to know if a sniper deliberately shot him in a place where it would look – on the video – like he was going for a gun. Once the Feds commenced firing there would be no way to know when a wound low on Finicum’s left side occurred.
Damn! I sound like one of those conspiracy nutjobs. Don’t I?
What I meant to write in that first sentence above was “Every time I watch the video of the feds murdering LaVoy Finicum, it looks to me like, instead of reaching for a gun, that he is putting his hand to a just-suffered bullet wound. “
The actions and track record of the U.S. government against Americans these last 20 years makes cogent, simple observation of those actions sound like a conspiracy-essentially, a free man, using reason and logic, can no longer give this government the benefit of the doubt, and must ascribe intent matching those actions.It’s been declared before, of course… “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
(meant this to be here if you want to delete the other one Chris)
That’s a rare dead-on written commentary from a man who does most of his dead-on commentary with his “cartoons”.
“…makes cogent, simple observation…sound like a conspiracy…”
Indeed. And it makes discussion of imminent insurrection sound empty and extreme. But as enumerated in that original Declaration, the time may be near to embrace that right and accept that duty.
HRT not yet re-defined from hostage roasting team, check Branch Davidians or Vince Foster
Drudge has a link. FBI agents being investigated.
I had the same thought. In addition, I always thought the standard for using deadly force was that the suspect had to actually show, i.e. brandish the weapon. The fact that Finicum “might” have had a pistol is not sufficient justification to shoot him. It was a bad shoot, no question about it.
Please vote.
if it can be won with votes, I believe that we must try. If they steal votes, we must attempt to make the groundswell greater than their theft capabilities.
This is the time to vote. That is our weapon at all of our hands.
Thank you if you vote. We have more guns than “they” do. Most of “their” guns are still our guns, no matter what “they” think. Our guns will back us up if we win control away from them.
That’s a rare dead-on written commentary from a man who does most of his dead-on commentary with his “cartoons”.
“…makes cogent, simple observation…sound like a conspiracy…”
Indeed. And it makes discussion of imminent insurrection sound empty and extreme. But as enumerated in that original Declaration, the time may be near to embrace that right and accept that duty.
Conspiracy; two or more people working toward some (nefarious) goal.
How did it come to mean “insane theory” or “that which is not happening”?
Are we to believe that no two people ever work together for nefarious purposes any more? Or is it that we just can’t talk about it anymore?
Answer THAT and you’re starting to get somewhere.
Chris- Are you having Omar the Tent maker provide couture for Hilly?
Looks like Harry and Josh have been outfitted with something from the local mortician.
These are the days when oaths sworn to God are forsaken, and bonds are forged in blood and vice with Evil.