Rest In Peace, Dennis O’Keeffe

Family, Ilana Mercer, Intellectualism, Liberty

I met Dennis O’Keeffe, of blessed memory, at a Liberty Fund colloquium entitled “History, Citizenship and Patriotism in Liberal Democracy,” where Dennis—a professor of sociology at the University of Buckingham and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs—was in his element.

David Conway, a mutual friend and a stellar scholar too, had invited me to partake in an exchange of ideas with some of the finest minds in Britain. With his twinkling blue eyes, sonorous voice, and beautiful mind, Dennis was the star. Not only was he a beautiful mind; Dennis was a beautiful person to know and be around. A patrician, the dashing Dennis was also kind, sweet, humble; with an uncanny ability to engage intellectually and personally with interlocutors.

Needless to say, that the idyllic and breathtaking setting of the Ockenden Manor in Cuckfield, West Sussex, England, and the intimate quorum—only fifteen people partook—was conducive not only to the exploration of ideas, but to the forging of an enduring friendship.

Dennis and I were in epistolary contact until That Fateful Day, also the beginning of the end. From May 2006, until Dennis’ last missive to me, on November 11, 2010—we exchanged close to 100 emails. In his last letter, Dennis wrote:

Dear Ilana

I will happily write a foreword to your book, “Into The Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa.” You can send me the text electronically I guess. … I suspect you are up against a mix of fear and sentimentality. This is much the same in the British case. The issues are of vast importance, both philosophically and practically. If South Africa goes down the toilet, down the Zimbabwe road, the outlook for Africa will be even grimmer than it is already.

Love
Dennis

Upon the publication of his last book, “Edmund Burke,” also in 2010, I introduced Dennis to my readers, via a two-part conversation. The titles should give you an idea of what fun Dennis and I had:

* “Thomas Paine: 18th Century Che Guevara” (10/22/2010)

* “The ‘Moronizing’ Of Modern Culture” (10/29/2010)

I love you, Dennis O’Keeffe.
Preach It in Heaven.

Backfires: Blah, Blah, Blah De Blasio & His Racism Bugaboo

Barack Obama, Crime, Justice, Law, libertarianism, Race, Racism

From the point of view of the state-hating libertarian, it is better than marvelous to see politicians and their hangers-on having a really hard time of it. And Bill de blah, blah, blah de Blasio is squirming.

When they attacked and killed policemen, the “monkey see monkey do” protesters and cop-killers got their cues directly from leaders like de Blasio. For it is one thing to examine police action, case-by-case to determine wrongdoing; quite another to accuse law enforcement of harboring (and acting upon) endemic racism, as De Blasio, Al Sharpton and Barack Obama have been habitually doing.

Police brutality? Yes! Militarization of the police force? You bet! “A Government of Wolves”? Yes again! “The Rise of the Warrior Cop”? No doubt! But racism? Nonsense on stilts!

(From “Rand Paul Opportunistic—And Wrong—On Race.”)

“Among other grievances,” admitted the New York Times, “the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union, has in recent weeks criticized the mayor for invoking his biracial son, Dante, after the Garner decision. At the time, the mayor described his experience instructing Dante to ‘take special care’ during any police encounters. Some union leaders suggested that Mr. de Blasio was conveying that police officers were to be feared.”

The sinner and his sin eater, Obama and AG Eric Holder, are as complicit in inciting violence against their own police force, by implicating it, en masse, in the racism bugaboo. Ditto Sharpton, the civil rights industry and the protestor rabble.

Meanwhile, another police officer, Charles Kondek, 45, was shot and killed in Florida. The culprit is suspected to be one Marco Antonio Parilla Jr., 23.

You already know who the accessories to the commission of the crime are.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Barack Obama, Crime, Criminal Injustice, Race, Racism

Two New York Police Department officers will not be joining their families for the Christmas festivities, next week. They were gunned down today, Saturday. The culprit was “a black man while the two police officers were Asian and Hispanic, police said” (BBC News.) More about cop-killer Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, at Mediaite.

It’s fair to say that Brinsley had been incited by race agitators Al Sharpton and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who “have blood on their hands,” contended former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik.

Recall that “de Blasio announced that he had warned his 17-year-old, mixed-race son, Dante, to be careful around police officers, which caused The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch to claim de Blasio had thrown NYPD officers ‘under the bus.’ … New York City’s rank-and-file police union is urging cops to tell Mayor Bill de Blasio not to attend their funerals in the event that they are killed in the line of duty.”

(Fox News.)

Let us not neglect AG Eric Holder’s contribution to unrest among the perpetually restive. Holder had rushed to Ferguson, Missouri, to racialize the shooting of Michael Brown (but has said nothing about the murder of a string of white girls by, allegedly, one Jesse Matthew, a black man).

Another pimp in the pod was President Barack Obama, who has been mum about “cops and soldiers coming under attack,” but couldn’t put a sock in it when it came to his personal affinity for Trayvon Martin. Obama immediately and ridiculously saddled a “deeply rooted” racism plaguing the US for the mishaps between cops and the communities of color they police.

“This is something that is deeply rooted in our society, it’s deeply rooted in our history,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with BET, a portion of which was released Sunday, December 7. “When you’re dealing with something as deeply rooted as racism or bias … you’ve got to have vigilance but you have to recognize that it’s going to take some time, and you just have to be steady so you don’t give up when we don’t get all the way there.”

(Washington Times.)

Hollywood Hack Hysteria

Film, Free Speech, Hollywood, Private Property, Technology, Terrorism

From their citadels of stupidity, the US mainstream media went into full St. Vitus mode over an attack by hackers on Sony Pictures. The Apoplectic Press tell those they gull on a daily basis that North Korea is behind the hack, “which,” by BBC News’ more measured report, “exposed embarrassing emails and personal details about some of the world’s biggest movie stars,” escalating “after the supposed hackers made threats against cinemas showing the film.”

The moron media have shared speculations but not much credible evidence as to the source of the hack. Still, the president and his press corp assure everyone, no evidence required, that the crazy communist regime is the culprit: “US media quoted anonymous officials as saying that the FBI had linked North Korea to the attacks.”

Well, that settles it, now doesn’t it?!

It’s quite possible, maybe likely, that North Korean hackers were set loose on Sony Pictures and employees for the impending release of the “satirical comedy The Interview, which involves a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.” But the onus is on the moron media to present the evidence.

The film’s New York premiere was cancelled and cinema chains cancelled screenings, leading Sony to announce that it had “decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release”.

No great cultural loss. The same can be said of the decision by the Sony cowards to cancel the screening of yet another five of their crap products, among these Black Annie, a concept almost as alien as a white Kunta Kinte (of Roots fame).

So can anyone tell me what the histrionics are all about? Aren’t there clever, calm ways by which smart Americans can ward off hack attacks?