Category Archives: Conservatism

NEW COLUMN: Self-Ownership & The Right To Reject The Pharma-State’s Hemlock

Conservatism, COVID-19, Critique, Democracy, Democrats, Government, Healthcare, Individual Rights, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, libertarianism, Private Property, Republicans

Leave a reply

NEW COLUMN is “Self-Ownership & The Right To Reject The Pharma-State’s Hemlock.” It’s currently on WND.COM, The Unz Review, Townhall.com, The New American and American Greatness.

Excerpt:

It matters not that the few “Republican governors crusading against vaccine mandates are [allegedly] facing significantly lower approval ratings on their handling of the coronavirus pandemic than their counterparts,” as Politico purports. (Don’t believe Politico!)

What matters is that governors like Texas’ Greg Abbott, who “flat-out banned vaccine requirements, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, followed up by vowing to sue the Biden administration.”

These two governors are unique in upholding natural, inalienable, individual rights—the right of self ownership, bodily dominion; the stuff mocked by President Joe Biden, wearing a ghoulish grin.

The Biden reference is to a recent, highly contrived CNN townhall, during which “moderator Anderson Cooper noted that as many as one in three emergency responders in some major cities are refusing to comply with city vaccine mandates.”

“I’m wondering where you stand on that,” inquired Cooper. “Should police officers, first responders be mandated to get vaccines? And if not, should they be mandated to stay at home, let go?”

“Yes, and yes,” replied the president.

Disinterred for the day, Biden went on to mock the quaint notion of bodily autonomy with a demented quip, “I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID. I mean, come on, freedom.”

Bodily autonomy, self-determination and self-ownership: Were our representatives to frame the vexation of vaccine mandates in the correct language of natural rights—we’d get the right answers, more likely to be followed by rights-upholding legislation.

But are Republican representatives doing so? Are our representatives who art in D.C. doing anything but wait in Tucker Carlson’s green room?

When it comes to Covid-19, only the following arguments are permissible as an objection to the Covid vaccine mandate. “Exemptions from employer-mandated coronavirus vaccines [are] in [these] three general areas“:

* natural immunity
* religious objection
* medical objection …

… READ THE REST. NEW COLUMN is “Self-Ownership & The Right To Reject The Pharma-State’s Hemlock.” It’s currently on WND.COM, The Unz Review, Townhall.com, The New American and American Greatness.

UPDATED (11/16/021): No-Information, Me-Me, FoxNews Broadcasters

Celebrity, Conservatism, Critique, Culture, Ethics, Etiquette, Journalism, Media, Republicans

Leave a reply

One of the biggest egos in an anchor’s chair at Fox New—she lives for the sound of her own voice—is Laura Ingraham. She generally monologues over her guests at length, and then informs them, “Hurry; you have 30 seconds to say your piece.” (a WND reader is on to her.) Although we’re living in grim times—the demented grin never leaves the face of zero-information Ingraham.

Almost as bad as Ingraham is Fox’s Jesse Watters. He absolutely blankets a guest’s input with his own self-important bloviation. The saving grace of Watters is that he is rather amusing.

Another strike, however, against Watters is that he was made BIG by Bill O’Reilly. O’Reilly kindly introduced Watters to viewers of “The Factor.” The younger man, however, has never publicly given O’Reilly credit, not least during the 25th anniversary celebrations of the network.

Watters, moreover, is not telling the truth when he says “The Five” was his first big gig on Fox News, as claimed. O’Reilly gave him a gig. Any gig on “The Factor” was big, because “The Factor” was huge. This makes Watters an ingrate.

UPDATED (11/16/021): Laura Ingraham can’t imagine or comprehend that a Netflix show called “You” is not about her.

This is a great clip of The Ego and Idiocy of Ms. Ingraham.

Actually Raimond Arroyo is the only person loud-mouth Laura ever lets talk without interruption.

UPDATED (9/7): Outsized And Excessive In Every Way: The Immorality Of The Empire And Its Military

America, Conservatism, Democracy, Foreign Policy, Globalism, Homeland Security, Military, Nationhood, Relatives, South-Africa

Leave a reply

Fox News celeb anchors continue to trip over one another to talk up the wonders of our Afghan allies and the affront of failing to lift them to safety.

Between the Republicans and the Democrats, there isn’t a country in the world that could not be a target for resettlement in America. (“DHS Official: Afghans Without Visas Being Brought to U.S.” On what moral basis are the lot at Fox News objecting?)

Truth be told, I’m deeply repulsed by legions of Americans, ex-soldiers and other emotional sniveling wrecks, rushing to bring Afghanistan to the US. I’m an American. Who’s rescuing  people I love in South Africa? Many are subjected to race-based depredations and all are far more compatible with life here, although my South Africans have a comorbidity: they’re white.

One of the networks interviewed one Tim Kennedy, a teary, hardened military man from Special Forces. On August the 26th, as he packed his bag, Kennedy waxed fat about dying for anyone who wants to fight for a freer world. And off he went to fight for his people, the Afghans. (He is on Twitter, too, promoting the Special Visas AfghanSIVApplication@state.gov.)

I find it hard to respect this kind of deracinated soldier of empire.

I can’t listen to Kennedy’s pat neoconservative rants (never with any journalistic proof) about the Taliban and their crimes. These soldiers of empire remain so vested in homelands not their own, this as their own homeland is being invaded and is filled with poor, sad people.

If members of the US Military had a moral core, they’d disobey orders en masse and head to the THEIR OWN COUNTRY’S South-western border.

Or, help such pathetic, helpless and hopeless Americans like “The Whittakers: An Inbred American Family,” living like animals in the United States of America. There is so much unutterable suffering in the US.  The bravado of the typical, tough-talking military man, gushing over—and rushing to—Afghanistan not only doesn’t impress, but turns my stomach.

As I watch the wretched of the world living within America’s borders, I think of the words of Cullen Murphy, superb author of “Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of Rome”:

“Imperial overstretch” is “the idea that one’s security needs, military obligations, and globalist desires increasingly outstrip resources available to satisfy them” (Are We Rome, p. 71).

Outsized and excessive: The above is a perfect description of the improper and misplaced exhilaration of this Kennedy ex-Special Operations, on his private mission to Afghanistan. Everything about it is outsized and excessive. Such a military sickens, as a military is designed to defend the homeland and the homeboys.

UPDATE (9/7): “Here’s another ex-Special Forces guy bragging about the massive global effort he and a GOP Congressman put forth to import foreign Muslims into our neighborhoods,” writes a Twitter friend. He is Cory Mills.

MAGA and America First didn’t stick to the GOP, did it? That’s why I say, “GOP, RIP.”

*Image vis Reuters.

Who Are The ‘Trapped’ ‘Americans Living In Afghanistan’? Nobody Has Asked

America, Conservatism, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Islam, Journalism, Media, Terrorism

5 Replies

Who the hell are these “Americans living in Afghanistan”? What are they doing in such inhospitable climes, in a country most of whose people hated the American presence?

I can’t find a thing on their nationalities, origins, whereabouts, and occupations, although my guess is that U.S. citizens in Afghanistan lived within army erected green zones, paid for by American taxpayers.

And what is their business in Afghanistan? The incurious moron media never ask (although watch conservatives who monitor dissident content miraculously come up with these questions following publication of this material).

Growing up in Israel, I recall many Israelis, in those days, went to Africa to help a few friendly nations learn how to … farm in the desert, something Israel had perfected. What are our citizens doing in Afghanistan? Is nobody curious?

The blowhards on Fox News have been whooping it up with partisan battle cries such as, “Hostages, Americans behind enemy lines. Teach the Taliban a lesson, Corn Pop.”

Dare I ask if these Americans are making money off military contracts, the spoils of the military-industrial-complex?

My colleague, David Vance, did some digging. He sends a likely breakdown of “Americans in Afghanistan,” via “Danger Zone Jobs, which tracks more than 300 companies with overseas contracting jobs in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.” It reeks:

“US troops remain in Afghanistan and as many analysts pointed out, the military numbers, whatever they end up being, have typically been supported by even more private contractors. As long as troops are on the ground in Afghanistan, civilian contractors will be there with them. …The two primary sources of jobs in Afghanistan are with private contractors supporting the military and companies who subcontract to various international relief and development efforts.”

“Approximately 29,389 DoD contractors supported operations in Afghanistan during 1st quarter FY19, an increase of 16.4% from 4th quarter FY18. Local Nationals comprise 21.5% of total contractor force; 23,078 US/TCN remain to redeploy.”

The distribution of contractors in Afghanistan by mission category are:

Base Support 4,140 (14.1%)
Construction 2,113 (7.2%)
IT/Communications Support 951 (3.2%)
Logistics/Maintenance 9,271 (31.5%)
Management/Administrative 1,881 (6.4%)
Medical/Dental/Social Services 88 (0.2%)
Other 690 (2.4%)
Security 4,842 (16.5%)
Training 1,372 (4.7%)
Translator/Interpreter 2,138 (7.3%)
Transportation 1,903 (6.5%)
Total: 29,389

MORE.

*Image care of WSJ.