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The cat election A theme appears to be building in this splendid US Presidential election.
JD Vance, the running mate for Mr Trump, has been beaten up for talking about “childless cat ladies”; Taylor Swift, the singer, has come out for Harris and proudly declared herself to be a childless cat lady. Mr Trump, meanwhile, apparently made comments about illegal immigrants eating the moggies.
Meanwhile, 10 Downing Street, the official UK residence in London of the Prime Minister, is renowned for also being home to Larry, a cat who has lived through and endured various prime ministers. A benevolent dictatorship behind the scenes?
(Full disclosure: I drive a Jaguar.)
Question: Where do the dog-owners enter this election cycle?
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“Where do the dog-owners enter this election cycle?”
We don’t.
Who needs this tedious nonsense when we can just go for a walk to the pub with our dogs instead?
@Johnathan Pearce, who wrote “I drive a Jaguar” –
Question – what colour is your other Jaguar?
I’ll get me coat . . .
llater,
llamas
November 5th.
The memes of Trump defending pets and ducks have been hilarious and clever. If you come across the one that’s a take off on Gollum in the pool, please post.
During the debate, I wondered if DJT misspoke and said cats and dogs, instead of cats and ducks. I don’t know the truth about animals disappearing in Springfield. The media’s Dem apologists seem unaware that they are blundering around in a minefield and this topic is upsetting to many people. They failed to utterly quash it but did trigger more stories and claims.
This has thrown a grenade into the shady dispersal of 3rd worlders into small American communities. You’d think American media would be aware of the Streisand effect, but, in their effort to debunk the story, they’ve brought more attention to it and to the plight of Springfield, so that the governor has pledged $2.5 million and state police assets to the community.
Then there is the Atlantic cover, a real backfire.
We’re so rich that we adopt ambulatory hunks of protein as pets.
We ought not be surprised when people from cultures that are constantly hungry might see them differently than we do.
In parts of Minneapolis, it’s well-known that you shouldn’t let your pets wander outdoors. I have no doubt that the stories out of Ohio are true.
I am incredulous what a lousy campaign Trump/Vance are running in what I’d have expected to be a slam dunk.
To repurpose Henry Kissinger’s quote: “It’s a pity they both can’t lose.”
That’s been sort of your election theme recently. 😉
Truly!!!
I thought Vance handled this extremely well in a recent CNN interview by pointing out that the media’s knee-jerk reaction to the cat-eater trope has served to bring the sudden appearance of 20,000 Haitians “in a town near you” to the forefront of voters minds. For every dyed-in-wool-democrat revelling in yet another confirmation of orange man’s stupidity there are far more undecideds in swing states who are concerned about the infinitely bigger picture.
Meanwhile over here the synchronised sneering in the telegraph has been most entertaining.
I think Trump’s reference to cats allegedly being eaten in Springfield, Ohio might be an unusually well-named example of the “Dead Cat Strategy”, as famously practised by Dominic Cummings during the Brexit referendum campaign in his “slogan on the side of the bus” about the amount of money the UK sent to the EU every week. The Telegraph ran this story about Springfield:
The story infuriatingly blurs the distinction between legal and illegal migration, but, even in the act of condemning Trump, the writer cannot avoid mentioning the fact that:
Estimates of the size of the influx and the original population of Springfield differ, but it clearly added between a quarter and a third to the original number of inhabitants in three years. Just as a lot of people read how the figure on the side of the Brexit Bus should have been £250M, not £350M and thought, “£250 million pounds is still a hell of a lot of money”, so a lot of people will read about the influx of migrants to Springfield and will think “Maybe the claim about cats being eaten is false, but I still don’t want my town to change like that.”
This will be reinforced by the fact that the name “Springfield” is so common for towns across the U.S. that the makers of the Simpsons picked it as the Everytown where Homer and family live.
Jaguar jokes aside – what Natalie Solent said. I don’t know whether Trump does this kind of thing 100%-consciously, but he’s done similar things in the past, getting the Democrats to hare off hysterically ‘fact-checking’ him on trivia while effectively spreading the underlying, real message. In this case, I think it was completely deliberate, as J.D. Vance was pounding the real message just a few hours later – because the media feels compelled to badger him about it (because they think it makes him and Trump look foolish), he gets to press the real message on an ever-larger stage. It reminds me of the old story about the Russian media trumpeting the fact that there was so much poverty in the West that seniors were forced to live on pet food, only the message that their peoples heard was ‘wait a minute – the Westerners are so well-off that they have special food just for their pets?’
He’s getting the media to spread his message far-further than it would have ever gotten by itself, at no cost to him, and they don’t even realize they’re doing his work for him. Whether or not he does it conciously, Sun Tzu would be proud of him. As an added bonus, now that more reporting seems to be showing that maybe there are some elements of truth to the stories of pets getting et, the media are exposed – again – for their bias and unreliability.
llater,
llamas
“Maybe the claim about cats being eaten is false,”
If it were the other way round, the left would be trumpeting about the higher truth…
Exactly, Natalie. Couple that with the reality that it’s impossible for Trump to get an objective and fair hearing by the corporate press, as was exposed by the recent debate. The MSM is wall to wall Trump “gotchas”. The media avoids positive Trump coverage so he is compelled to rely on his highly attended rallies, Town Halls, and long format interviews on alternate media. Recall that Trump’s campaign spent less than half of the billion dollars spent by HRCs campaign in 2016. Chris Cuomo, a former CNN anchor, has projected the cost of this election cycle could reach 10 billion.
Trump successfully manipulates the media to spread his message for free. There is a metaphor for this. It’s not poison pill but something similar, like when insect pests pick up a poison and carry it back to the nest.
I expect many voters now know the plight of Springfield and how sneaky TPTB are. There is reason to wonder if the Biden administration was retaliating against Springfield for partisan reasons. The side by side of Trump earnestly publicizing the Springfield story, and Kamala laughing and sneering over it, is priceless.
llamas gets it too.
The debate rigging by ABC News was so egregious, so blatant, so in your face that former Clinton advisor, Mark Penn, is calling for an internal investigation and release of any emails relevant to the debate.
Natalie, others: Yes, I understand that the media is dishonest, biased, in the tank for the Democrats, etc. This is a familiar, and largely true, complaint. The problem is that Trump, given his nature and inability to control himself when rattled (not good traits for someone running for POTUS), falls into the traps laid for him. He could have stuck to the general, largely true, line that the US has a big issue with illegal immigration, that large-scale defiance of the law is corroding American society, that it devalues the efforts made by legal immigrants, and that it puts strains on infrastructure, etc, and that some of them are potential security threats.
Trump could have said all of that. But he raised the issue of people eating pets. https://news.sky.com/story/how-trumps-claims-of-immigrants-eating-pets-started-and-spiralled-online-13213476 Anyone with an ounce of IQ could have realised that this sort of detail would be picked up, adding fuel to the fire that Trump is a nutcase, or weird, or has strange obsessions about the behaviours of foreigners. And so the cycle continues. The Democrats and their media toadies will add more traps, and hope, with some confidence, that he will walk straight into them.
It is mean, it is nasty, and it says quite a lot about the kind of person Mrs Harris is that she goes along with it, cackling away. But the question remains: why does Mr Trump, having been in the political theatre for a while now, not wise up? Why did he not do in that face-off with Mr Biden, and let Sleepy Joe destroy himself?
This is basic stuff in television debates and politics. For the former host of the Apprentice, Mr Trump is looking like an angry old man. It’s not working.
Republicans, or at least those not in the cult, must surely realise that they needed a younger, smarter and more composed candidate. But the Grand Old Party chose differently. So here they are.
The authorities in Springfield Ohio (one of the many places that could have inspired “The Simpsons”?) went through the ritual of denying all the reports from local residents – “these reports spread hate” the authorities said – which is code for “the reports are true, but we are going to deny them to show that we are antiracists”.
There is still a difference between the United States and Britain – in Britain there would also have been threats that if local residents continued to complain, they (the residents) would be arrested and imprisoned, indeed some local residents might already be in prison – with Quango appointed judges playing “think of a number – then double it” for the number of months or years they would spend in prison.
The United States is lagging behind in the punishment of “Hate Speech” – but if there is a “President Harris” a couple of appointments to the Supreme Court will soon get rid of the 1st Amendment (and the 2nd).
Taylor Swift has Corporate opinions – and has done for a few years now.
It is a shame as when the lady first entered entertainment she kept out of politics – but T.S. was told that she had to express certain opinions (the standard list of corporate opinions – such as being PRO ABORTION) so she did. Depressing but predictable.
J.D. Vance is a Catholic – not a “Catholic” (like so many in American politics) he is a convert to the Catholic church because he believes in its teachings – most importantly he believes that this life is not the end, and that we will have to give an account of our individual actions after death and be judged by God (this Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews and so on – also believe).
This makes him “weird” according to the “Woke” forces who dominate American culture. People who will commit any atrocity.
The people who do not regard the totalitarians Harris and Walz as in any way “weird” – because they are also totalitarians, they worship the state and believe it should control all aspects of human life.
“Anyone with an ounce of IQ could have realised that this sort of detail would be picked up, adding fuel to the fire that Trump is a nutcase, or weird, or has strange obsessions about the behaviours of foreigners.”
Of course it was picked up, it was meant to be; that was the point.
Johnathan Pearce.
President Trump told the truth (even on the cats – he merely repeated what local residents had already said) – and was repeatedly “fact checked” by the liars of ABC. Vice President Harris endlessly lied – and was not “fact checked” for her endless lies.
As for “angry old man” – J.D. Vance is younger than you are Sir, and he has said the same things, in rather stronger language, as President Trump. Stronger language – NOT softer language.
By the way there is a rather good article in the Wall Street Journal (your favourite source) about just how biased the debate was – and why President Trump should not agree to another one – not one controlled by the “mainstream media”. The article is written by two ex Democrats – one of whom served the Clintons for years.
So please spare us talk of “the cult” – as you know that any Republican who actually challenged the establishment regime (whether they were J.D. Vance, or Ted Cruz, or anyone) would have been treated in much the same way that Donald J. Trump was.
I repeat – J.D. Vance (and just about everyone else on the right) has said the same things, and in stronger (stronger – not softer) language.
Are they all “angry old men”? Including the women?
Ironically the policy positions that Vice President Harris accused President Trump of holding are ones he should hold, but sadly does not hold (and has never held) – as he is actually a moderate (the reason I was against him in 2016). He is anti establishment – but far too moderate for my taste – not likely (sadly) to take the steps that are required.
So much for “the cult”.
If even a moderate anti establishmentarian like Donald J. Trump can not be President it is time to give up on this politics thing.
“He could have stuck to the general, largely true, line that the US has a big issue with illegal immigration, that large-scale defiance of the law is corroding American society, that it devalues the efforts made by legal immigrants, and that it puts strains on infrastructure, etc, and that some of them are potential security threats.”
It seems to me that he has, but do you think that would resonate, that it would explode on social media, that people would be arguing about it, that people would look it up and see, for themselves, the plight of Springfield, OH, and that it’s not out of the question, that migrants are preying on local animals.
Seriously.
Springfield is the hometown of the singer, songwriter, John Legend. He has weighed in to urge his hometown to be tolerant of the food preferences of the new arrivals and with a thinly veiled accusation of racism. Except, we all know it’s cultural. We have only to compare Dominicans to the often feral Haitians
John Legend may have been born in Springfield, OH, but as he and his supermodel wife, whose combined net worth is estimated to exceed $200 million, now live in a secure $19 million mansion in Beverly Hills, I’m not inclined to give a single solitary fuck about what he thinks the residents of Springfield OH should or should not think about the reality of their daily lives.
llater,
llamas
The Haitian immigrants in Springfield are there legally. They’re still a total disaster for the town though, whatever their legal status.
Trump isn’t the crazy one. The whackjobs are those who want immigrants from places like Haiti, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Gaza, Kosovo, and so on.
Desperate stuff, Paul.
As for “angry old man” – J.D. Vance is younger than you are Sir, and he has said the same things, in rather stronger language, as President Trump. Stronger language – NOT softer language.
Okay, he’s an angry younger man. How is that better?
Are they all “angry old men”? Including the women?
No, some are younger, and female. Many appear to be riled up.
President Trump told the truth (even on the cats – he merely repeated what local residents had already said)
Why mention it at all? By repeating the claims, he sounds like a nut. He fell into the trap.
It is interesting that you call Mr Trump a “moderate anti-establishment” guy, because the truth, when you get past the anger and the stuff about the Southern border, immigrants, etc, is that Trump has little to say about the massive rise of the state, apart perhaps from his executive orders against regulations. In that case, he should have got Congress to do this job, because presidential edicts can be rescinded by another president, which is what Biden has done.
Martin, legally or not, the point is that by focusing on this specific issue (eating domestic animals), people come across as nuts and downright unpleasant unless there is clear evidence of widespread criminality, in which case they should be deported under the law. If that is the case, then Mr Trump can make the case with his customary enthusiasm.
It’s always interesting to read about how a man who was President of the USA once – an achievement few of my friends and acquaintances can boast – who was almost President again, and who now is arguably slightly in the lead for another term in that most-powerful-in-the-world role – is a naif. A rube. Impetuous. Clearly not ready for prime time.
He should be far more conventional! He should act the way the press expects! What a failure!
I remember the debate between Governor Newsom of California and Governor DeSantis of Florida
Governor Newsom lied – he claimed that more people leave Florida to go to California than the other way round.
This is the exact opposite of the truth – but the “moderators” did not “fact check” the Progressive, and Governor DeSantis did not know how to respond, surely the Governor of California would not just lie – and surely the media would not back him up in his lies?
It would make no difference of Governor DeSantis were the candidate – the media, and the rest of the establishment would treat him just the same as they treat President Trump.
As for how immigrants are behaving in Springfield Ohio – I think I will take Senator Vance’s word for it, as he actually knows the area.
No doubt Trump could have been stolid and staid, ala Mitt Romney. Of course the real world consequences of irresponsible, maybe even malevolent, immigration would have been barely a blip on anybody’s radar. Here we are, still discussing it 3 days later, and the people of Springfield have been humanized, their plight highlighted, and the Biden dirty laundry aired
Johnathan Pearce – yes people are angry, but they are containing, controlling, their anger.
I remind you that the only killings (contrary to the lies of Vice President Harris and the media) have been from the other side.
The enemy have, so far, been responsible for the only killings.
Exactly. Weird bombasticism is what Trump does best. This discussion so far reminds me why Trump does so well even when the “experts” say he’s messing up. It’s a buggy-whip kind of expertise.
Some people absolutely despise South Park, but it sells well. Trump is a South Park kind of guy.
I vaguely seem to remember reading about the cat problem in Springfield OH, 1 or 2 days before the debate.
If my recollection is correct* then we can be confident, whatever the truth of the matter, that Trump did not just make this up.
But i entirely agree with Vance’s take: the press should investigate, rather than waste time asking him about this; and most importantly, the press would not pay attention about the very real problems of Springfield OH, were it not for claims about missing cats.
* and please let me know if it is — of course, in this case, you cannot show evidence that it isn’t.
In his last comment, bobby proves that subtle irony is not the preserve of the British.
…….is that Trump has little to say about the massive rise of the state, apart perhaps from his executive orders against regulations. In that case, he should have got Congress to do this job, because presidential edicts can be rescinded by another president, which is what Biden has done….”
If you get your news from the MSM, you don’t know much of anything about Trump. The media makes sure Trump’s proposals don’t come to light, or they are obfuscated, or the media outright lies, for example: abortion ban, or tagging him with Project 2025. Not that there is anything wrong with Project 2025, it’s just not linked to Trump. Safe to say, the media knows this and knows nobody is going to read it.
Those, who actually pay attention to Trump, are aware of his conversations with Elon Musk, and his partnership with RFK Jr regarding the paring back of the regulatory state and regulatory capture.
As for his first term, he was up against the Rhino clique in Congress. Yes, this could be a problem going forward, unless he is able to carry enough seats with MAGA people.
Weird bombasticism is what Trump does best. ”
I like that, it’s spot on. It drives me nuts, but it works. I winced when he brought up the pets, but, I’ve learned to be careful second guessing Trump. Do you think it is intuitive or calculated?
Republicans, or at least those not in the cult, must surely realise that they needed a younger, smarter and more composed candidate. But the Grand Old Party chose differently. So here they are.
The Grand Old Party hates the guy – there is no Republican Party “cult” for Trump.
The GOP put up all kinds of young, smart, more composed talent in 2016 – the media decided Trump was the guy to beat. Then when he got the nomination, he became the usual New Hitler, just like Mitt Romney, John McCain, the Bushes, and Reagan before him.
In 2024, the GOP again put up young, smart, more composed talent – they even had their own Kamala Harris, although with less cackle and more brains. The fact that this is forgotten does not speak well for the young, smart, more composed talent.
The problem for all these young, smart, more composed talents is that in the US there’s the primary system. The party nomination (usually) is chosen by the people, the voters, the unwashed masses, by some kind of voting mechanism – kind of like the playoffs in football. Only the top candidate from each party goes up for the national election. So if there’s a Trump “cult”, it’s not the GOP, it’s the Deplorables, the proles, the Great Unwashed.
The only party in the US who seem to have cults for their candidate is the Democrats – Obama, Harris, Clinton, maybe. Biden didn’t really inspire anybody to worship, but he was a Democrat vs the Republican Orange Hitler, so he was in by default and flash drives and boxes of ballots.
So if there’s a Trump “cult”, it’s not the GOP, it’s the Deplorables, the proles, the Great Unwashed.”
And, now, some Kennedy Democrats, or should I say additional Kennedy Democrats cuz MAGA already had displaced Democrats, and, lest we forget, Lefty Populists.
I wish my brother were alive to witness this.
What ties everyone in this “weird” coalition together? A desire to preserve the American Dream and the American Ethos. The captured, unaccountable, surveillance, regulatory state has to go.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/
Here we have the gold standard of snivelling fact-checkers and interestingly enough the claim is rated “unfounded” – which is odd because usually they come up with a stentorian “FALSE” for anything remotely controversial said by a Republican.
Putting aside the numerous self-owns littering this article, plus the inclusion of an excellent meme of DJT protecting a duck and a cat, their debunking of the photograph of the man carrying a large flying bird is interesting for what it doesn’t say. There is no denial that he is a Haitian or certainly of Haitian appearance, nor of the fact that in best John Cleese fashion what he carries is no more, bereft of life it rests in peace, has ceased to be and is an ex-goose.
No their conclusive piece of evidence is that the photo was allegedly taken nearly a month ago (oooh) in Columbus Ohio which is nearly 43 miles away (aaah). So take that bigots.
Jonathan
Just to be clear, your criticisms of Trump have merit. Unfortunately, I can’t think of anyone who could have withstood the onslaught of unfounded and manufactured legal and personal attacks, like he has, much less found ways over, under, and around the media to get the message out. In demeanor and approach, I am more attuned to DeSantis, but would he have been able to combat the relentless smears and sneers of the Blob. Frankly, it’s amazing that Trump is still standing.
You may not be aware, that many people came to sympathize, and even support Trump, because they were compelled to defend him against one preposterous hoax, meritless accusation after another. Maybe this is what you identify as cultish attitudes.
Something to ponder, who is using who? Is Trump using MAGA, or is MAGA using Trump?
Exasperated – my criticism of Donald J. Trump remains what it has always been, he is far too moderate – and not just on economic matters, such as on government spending – ending services and benefits for illegal immigrants, ending the money given to international organisations, and ending the overseas wars is NOT enough, although it is a start.
But also not hard line enough on firing the vermin (and they are vermin – such as the “dedicated public servants” of the “Justice” Department than Mr Garland goes on about) who infest the Federal Government – the Civil Service “protections” need to go (they have turned out to be exactly what Senator Conklin warned they would be so long ago, a dagger at the heart of constitutional elected government) – but many of the principle scumbags were NOT even covered by the Civil Service protections, and President Trump did not even fire them – at least he did not fire them at first, he tried to “work with them”, which is the same as try to “work with” rabid dogs.
But I also agree with you that his personal strength in standing up to endless personal attacks, and corrupt “legal” persecution (which had one positive effect – exposing the American “justice” system as the sick farce that it is, in both Civil and Criminal Law) is astonishing.
No other person would have stood up to the sort of attacks that Donald J. Trump has managed to withstand – that is what Johnathan Pearce, I think, does not grasp.
As for the “trap” of animals being eaten in Springfield Ohio.
If President Trump had said the invaders were eating people, as SOME (not all) do back in Haiti (Commander Barbecue and others) then he could be criticised – as there is no evidence that the invaders are, yet, eating people. But he did NOT say that – he merely repeated what everyone else had already said, the eating of animals, including pets, by the invaders.
Invaders who are aided (directly aided – welcomed into the country) by the American government – which is acting in much the same way as Vortigern (the British leader) is said to have acted in 5th century Britain – welcoming in the Germanic tribes who were going to destroy his country.
So I do not see what Johnathan Pearce means – as any other candidate would have said the same thing on this matter.
And with the Latin American invaders, who are invading in vastly greater numbers (orders of magnitude greater – there are MILLIONS of invaders from Latin America) than the Haitians, the problem includes Death Cults – vast gangs (with thousands of members) who mix Marxism with spiritual beliefs. “Spiritual beliefs” sounds nice – but it is not, because the beliefs include ritual killing (the killing of human beings).
Some governments in Latin America, such as that of El Salvador, have taken very stern action against these gangs/cults – and been condemned by the “international community”, including the media, for doing so. If journalists ever left the comfort zone of government and corporate press conferences and actually encountered these gang/cult members (and there are vast numbers of them) I suspect they would change their tune very quickly – being tied down with someone about to cut your heart out, has a way of concentrating the mind.
As with Vice President Harris supporting the “Trans” medical abuse of children and all the rest of it – the temptation is to just stick one’s head in the sand and say that President Trump and Elon Musk and so on are all “insane” for mentioning it – but that would be a fatal mistake.
Evil is on the attack and it must be opposed.
This is no ordinary election campaign – this is live or die, a matter of life and death.
There is nothing to laugh “joyfully” about, nothing to smile about, nothing to be light hearted about – the Republic faces evil, total evil – which has great influence in almost all institutions, public and private. And either that evil will be destroyed – or America will fall.
But there is hope – even the most flawed human being can, at any time, turn against evil – even evil they have been personally involved in. Yes even if they have committed murder.
Whilst someone is alive it is NOT too late for them – and not too late for them to help others.
“Why do Vice President Harris, and many others, support forces that are destroying America?”
Very simple – because they themselves want to destroy “Reactionary” America, they want to take what is presently still (just) “reactionary” America – and make it part of a Progressive World Community – i.e. a world Hellscape.
It really is that brutally simple.
Given their objective, the actions of Vice President Harris, and all the rest, are entirely logical.
Exasperated:
Actually, the reason i support Trump (if “support” is the right word for a non-US-citizen) is because he defends himself, not because i defend him. I used to think that Bush, McCain, and Romney did not defend themselves because that would only make things worse for themselves. Now i regret defending them, because they look pathetic compared to Trump.
HOW Trump defends himself, is not always to my taste.
But it is not my vote that he needs.
Anyone know what the over-under is for reports of pet-eating being verified before the election?
Not that anyone will care.
Good point Snorri.
I was thinking of the wide swath of Americans who hate piling on, hate snark and are pro the underdog.
Meanwhile I hope you get a chuckle from Nicole Shanahans (RFKs VP) latest.
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/09/13/who-really-are-the-maga-people-n3794462
If I had any talent, I’d do a venn diagram MAGA in one arc, MAHA, in the opposite arc, with a big circle in the middle that was a patriotic image including amber waves of grain.
Paul:
Just a few days ago, i came across a very good essay by the late Angelo Codevilla that elaborated on the same weakness of Trump.
There is something seriously wrong in Codevilla’s essay, when he talks about covid, but i’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader.
Exasperated:
My understanding is that RFK Jr is opposed to the consumption of wheat — although he can hardly be more opposed to it than i am!
As for the video: it is nice and short, but i am afraid that i do not detect the humor. It appears to have been made by Brits, not by Shanahan.
Snorri, I didn’t realize that RFK is opposed to wheat per se. There is wheat, and then there is wheat. We still use wheat in baking, but it is organic and ground fresh. The commercial wheat, in the grocery store, has been subjected to folic acid treatment, not to mention that making it shelf stable renders it
Dead.
Apologies to Jonathan, I’ll shut up, way to far off topic.
Paul,
I understand your concerns and your sense of urgency, but we are fighting for our economic lives. We have to stop the bleeding first.
Exasperated: as i implied above, i am not sure about RFK Jr’s position on wheat. So i just checked the transcript of his speech endorsing Trump, and found this:
I’d have written ‘refined sugars’ rather than ‘processed sugar’, but leave that aside.
The question is: what is the ultra-processing of grains that RFK complains about?
I have no idea. But my personal experience is that life is better without wheat.
It also seems that people got shorter, shorter-lived, and smaller-brained after the invention of agriculture.
And apologies for staying off topic.
Snorri
Quickly
Wheat berries are very nutritious (44 nutriments) and have a very long shelf life when stored properly. The steel roller mills began to process wheat berries into wheat flour in the 1880s. Unfortunately freshly milled wheat goes rancid quickly, so to combat this problem, they denatured the wheat by removing all the nutrition located in the germ and hull. They didn’t realize, that they were removing the nutrition from wheat until the 1920s. That’s when they realized the uptick in B vitamin and iron deficiency diseases ( pellagra, beriberi, anemia) were caused by the processing of wheat. By the 1940s, millers were mandated to replace 4 of the 44 nutriments. Today’s commercial wheat flour is gluten and starch “enriched with synthetic vitamins. A wheat berry is a living thing; what’s sold in the store is dead. A paper towel is to a tree, what grocery store flour is to a wheat berry.
Jonathan and Paul
I know you are looking for more reassurance than this but here is RFK Jr explaining that his role will be to drain the swamp.
https://x.com/EndTribalism/status/1833183097904398422
Age has nothing to do with being “an angry Old Git”. It is more a state of mind. Much the same way being a “childless cat lady” is.
Exactly! Even those viewers with no cats or dogs are likely to prick up their ears at the news that hundreds of third world era are being established in a town near or like theirs.
Paul Marks,
It turns out that Donald Trump did not tell the truth on the issue of immigrants eating pets, but then again, in your eagerness to defend Mr Trump for perhaps understandable reasons, it is easy to get carried away.
It turns out that the criminality of Haitians is below the national US average:
Legal Haitian immigrants have an incarceration rate of 282 per 100,000 legal Haitian immigrants, which is 26 percent below that of all legal immigrants who have an incarceration rate of 380 per 100,000 legal immigrants. Illegal Haitian immigrants have an incarceration rate of about 4.4 percent above that of all illegal immigrants. We don’t have estimates of Haitian crime in subsequent generations. Regardless, Haitian immigrants have a relatively low incarceration rate.
From Reason magazine (not some sort of far-left rag):
Mr Trump has a predisposition to believe bad stories about immigrants, illegal and for that matter, legal ones. As with tariffs and dislike of foreign goods, Mr Trump has a fear, mostly misplaced, about foreign goods, services and foreigners. (Ironic, really, given he is a third-generation immigrant, but I am guessing he is the right kind, so that does not count.) It was easy for Mrs Harris and those at ABC and elsewhere to prod him on this topic, and as predictably as a wet day at cricket, Mr Trump jumped into the mire. And now my social media feed is full of people poking fun at Mr Trump about cats, dogs, ducks, and quite possibly, goldfish.
Exasperated:
What ties everyone in this “weird” coalition together? A desire to preserve the American Dream and the American Ethos. The captured, unaccountable, surveillance, regulatory state has to go.
,
Well, a coalition that includes RFK, JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, Margorie Taylor Greene and the like may be trying to protect the “American dream”, but then again, I wonder what the Founders, and those in the following decades, would make of this collection of characters. RFK, for example, has views on the environment that are batshit insane. So how does he square these with support for Mr Trump, and the latter’s support for fracking and hostility to Net Zero?
There are “big tents” in politics, and yes, sometimes you have to cozy up to people you might otherwise not break bread with. But still, the Trump tent seems to have a lot of mad and in my view, bad people in it. As does the Harris tent.
To repeat an earlier point, the GOP needs to clear the MAGA crazies out of the party, but I fear that might take a while.
We’ve been admitting legal immigrants from Haiti for decades. Prior to throwing the borders open, they came in as the fed statutes directed. They were vetted. There were requirements and qualifications and record-checks.
They had sponsors, people who guaranteed their good behavior. We were admitting the cream of that particular nation’s crop. That’s the cohort that makes up the long-standing bulk of Reason’s misleading examination.
That ended. Now we’ve merely opened the doors and stood back. No vetting, no checks. No one is turned away. Everyone comes in, and then gets shipped to places that the Dems dislike.
Find the data that compares the recent arrivals with the decades of vetted arrivals and you’ll see a huge difference.
Now do “fine people.”
I think it’s far more likely that the MAGA people will be clearing out the GOP crazies, but I fear it might take awhile.
At some point, the GOPe and the Tories can get together and pine for the old days and wonder where it all went wrong.
I don’t know. But I do know what they thought about Haitians, reflected by the fact that no US government would recognise the Haitian state until 1862. FWIW, I suspect all of the founders would have opposed any Haitian immigration to America, legal or otherwise.
No Bobby, you do the data if it’s as damning as you claim it is.
Otherwise I’m going with the sort of evidence in the article until someone shows me compelling evidence to the contrary.
Bobby, maybe. Maybe the future of the Right is blood-and soil nativism, protectionism, indifference to huge debt, indulgence of Putinism, conspiracy enthusiasm.
Make no mistake. If that’s what people want, I’m their enemy.
To repeat an earlier point, the GOP needs to clear the MAGA crazies out of the party, but I fear that might take a while”
What Bobby said…
Re: MAGA crazies? I guess, if stereotypes are your jam. I don’t know where you get the idea that MAGAs aren’t your everyday Americans. Oh, wait; that’s it, they’re Americans. So no matter how staid, sober, and conscientious, they are crazy. To be fair, I’m priggish too, so I get why Trump is annoying. But, this isn’t about Trump, it never was, it predates Trump’s ride down the elevator in 2015.
Talk about your crazies, it would be crazy to vote for politicians who despise you.
Donald Trump is what happens when both major parties sacrifice the interests of Middle America, Working America, and lie about. More than that, they seem outraged that Middle America rejects them, isn’t grateful for scraps, or doesn’t embrace a future that is creepy, dystopian, and bleak, very bleak.
Who else has taken up the cause of Middle America, you know the crazies, the workers, the entrepreneurs, the small businesses, the regional businesses, the family farms, the gig workers? Aside from Trump, you have to go back to Ross Perot.
It is morbidly fascinating to see how eager journalists are to make fools of themselves; whether it is cat-barbecuing deniers like Johnathan Pearce and e.g. Dana Bash (at opposite ends of the “spectrum”) or Churchill-greatness deniers like Tucker Carlson (and surely one could find others at the opposite end of the spectrum).
Johnathan Pearce, maybe. Maybe the future of the Right is open borders, a forced equalization of global wealth that leaves us all with the income of Pakistani bricklayers, prohibitions on associational freedom, forever wars, and a cementing-in of the “we got ours, screw you” attitude of the professionally set, insulated class.
Make no mistake. If that’s what people want, I’m their enemy.
Bobby and Johnathan: when considering “the future of the “”Right”” “, you should also ask yourselves: is this future sustainable, or is it something like 15 minutes of fame?
The self-destructiveness of the NeverTrump “”Right”” seems obvious to me. I cannot believe that, should it recapture the GOP, it would survive for long; not even 4 years.
Short of radical reform, pretty much the same could be said for the Tories in the UK. However, in my opinion Farage is not a viable alternative; which is why i think that Perry was wise in moving out.
Snorri Godhi:
A very good point. Honestly, I don’t consider Trump to be a sustainable model for leadership in the US, partly for the same reasons I don’t see Farage in that way either.
But a transition leader – a disrupter – can be valuable when things need to be disrupted.
Had Hilary won back in ’16, the Long March would almost be over here today. Thankfully, Trump interrupted that march, and so we still have a chance. Biden was the panicked pushback on that on the part of the Marchers. Instead of arguing their intellectual case, they argued that Trump was Satan. Fear won.
So now we see Disruption Part 2. If Trump wins, we’ll have slowed the March down significantly. If Kami wins, we’re back to where we were when Biden won. Gated communities will be safe, the rest not so much.
The people on the Right fighting against Trump are really fighting to preserve the chances of the Long March, but with a few conservative overtones. That socialist system with perks for the Eloi works well for them.
Beware of socialists with expensive cars, I guess is what it comes down to.
And, AFTER I typed what I typed above, I read this.
Seems pertinent.
(A quick blurb:
“TDS is an especially unpleasant form of affluenza, and follows easy affluence, while widespread affluence follows a bunch of foundational behaviors and unearned structural supports built by earlier generations. We’re losing those. Systems that mostly run in the background, properly unnoticed in healthy times, are degrading. A form of political expression based in social class — we hate the stupid poors in flyover country, those Trumptards — is grinding down the country with its relentless symbol focus: Haitians DO NOT eat cats, racist, because all immigrants are invariably wonderful. But when the country is worn down, the technocratic managerial class, the laptop class, loses the foundation of its easy comfort. The people who are engaged in this endless symbol-performance are sustaining the forces that are grinding away the foundation of their affluence and ease, which gives them the comfort to sustain the symbol-performance.”
Exasperated: I don’t know where you get the idea that MAGAs aren’t your everyday Americans.
Oh I am sure many of them are, and many have been driven to distraction – become “exasperated” – by certain political and culture developments in recent years. But – and this is the key – the MAGA GOP voters don’t seem to be in the majority in the US, if you throw in non-MAGA, more old-style Republicans, independents, Democrats, libertarians. And take away Mr Trump, and go for a younger generation of GOP senior figures (Cotton, Hawley, Vance, DeSantis, and more moderate ones) and the picture is a lot more varied. MAGA voters are a major block, but are they are big majority? Unless they are, the approach that the MAGA wing adopts (bashing immigrants, foreign imports) has strictly limited appeal to those who understand free trade, etc.
The MAGA slogan was genius marketing by Trump – that is his unquestioned skill – but peel away the onion, and apart from protectionism and building a wall on the southern border, there’s nothing much else. In the years ahead, the Republicans need to get serious about cutting the State down to size, and not just the “Deep State”, but perhaps even more so, the Administrative State.
For instance, consider education and the recent controversies about university campuses, and the revelations about the sort of garbage taught in schools when parents were able to view their children’s online lessons. Has Mr Trump called for the Dept of Education to be shut down and education devolved to the states/localities? Or, take Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? Has Mr Trump suggested the change – which drew Democrat fury at the time – of the kind that Paul Ryan proposed more than a decade ago? (It had its flaws, but at least Ryan talked about it.)
Take another policy idea: why don’t Trump and other MAGA Republicans call for a drastic scaling back in US higher education debt, by reducing the credentialism of many jobs today, and encourage many more young people to go into technical and vocational employment instead that does not saddle young folk with lots of debt? Or, adopt a radical deregulation agenda in various states where the GOP holds sway to enable more home-building so that young people can have a family, etc? If MAGAism is about “everyday Americans”, then that is the sort of idea they should be pushing for.
Bobby:
My objection is that i do not see Farage as a realistic short-term leader, either. Too much bullshitting.
But he can be an effective disrupter even without becoming PM.
By contrast, i see Trump as the most effective POTUS after Reagan (chronologically).
And i am doubtful that Reagan could be as effective against wokeness as Trump has been; even though the latter could have done better, see my link to Codevilla’s essay above.
(Equally, i do not think that Trump could have been anywhere as effective as Reagan was, in dealing with the problems of the 1980s, and the media of the 1980s.)
PS: The broader point, in my claim that Reagan and Trump both were/are the saviors for their times, is that there is no leader that is fit to fight against every possible threat to liberty. Different threats require different leaders; which might be what bobby had in mind, as well.
Other saviors who come to mind include Thatcher, Truman, Churchill, and Lincoln.
Whatever their flaws.
You posed some fair points, Jonathan. There is too much to respond to, so I’m going to focus on immigration, since it’s in keeping with the cat memes.
Are you under the delusion that the immigration to the USA is, a genuine, spontaneous, organic, response to authentic economic forces. Some of it is, yes, but it is also concealing an invasion that is meant to undermine the USA. Authentic economic Migrants are manipulated, deceived, and encouraged to come to the USA with false and unrealistic promises. The US government outsources immigration policy to the Drug and Human trafficking Cartels, in addition to NGOs, and Foundations. Most of the costs are underwritten by the USA. It is a money laundering scam on steroids, a revenue stream, for these organizations, .and a source of employment for amoral people. In addition, the cartels exploit and rob the “migrants”.Adversarial governments and malignant ideologies support and participate in this invasion, as well.
Sure there are legitimate families coming in, intermixed with and providing cover for criminal gangs, the mentally ill and handicapped, as well as companies of military aged men.
From a MAGA POV, the problem is the numbers are out of control and unsustainable, the migrants unvetted, and it’s a significant National Security threat. The Dem party and Entrenched bureaucracy benefit from 1) social disruption 2) the economic burden that undermines Middle America, 3) skewing of congressional seats that favor one party. 4) payoffs from the cartels and corporatists..
Genuine migrants are subjected to grotesque abuse, rape being favored, and murder. It is hard to understate how cruel, inhumane, and cynical the last 3+ years have been.
Bret Weinstein, Michael Yon, and Chris Martinson have visited and reported on the Darien Gap. It is eye opening, mind boggling, and horrifying. Most MAGA people are aware of these happenings and are justifiably alarmed. I don’t see why the USA is required to commit economic and social suicide.
https://www.youtube.com/live/bwmwxo3iMAs?si=9wnmTNENpVAcYgm0
Johnathan:
Yes.
See also my previous remark about journalists making fools of themselves.
What’s the difference??
Trump on Trade and Tariffs
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-cementing-fair-and-reciprocal-trade-with-the-trump-reciprocal-trade-act
Trump on the Deep State
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-trumps-plan-to-dismantle-the-deep-state-and-return-power-to-the-american-people
Snorri
Some clarification on RFK and junk food.
He makes the claim that the same strategies and tactics used by Big Tobacco were adopted by Big Food
It involves obfuscation of the ingredients, deceptive marketing, and the incorporation of ingredients that make the product hyper palatable, and some say these foods are addictive or trigger over eating, or spike blood sugar. This is above and beyond food preservation, which is arguably justified. If he has concerns specific to wheat, it is likely because so much junk food is based on grains.
Thank you for the clarifications, Exasperated.
Are you suggesting that wholewheat bread & pasta are safe and nutritious, or should one look for something even harder to find?
In any case, you have said nothing about phytic acid and other toxins found in grains; nor did you mention gluten, which according to David Perlmutter is bad for the brain. (This seems to be controversial, but why run the risk?)
I’ll provide a few links later on.
Don’t know whether anybody is still interested, but i promised a few links to Exasperated, and i like to keep my promises.
Grains and Human Evolution
Dangerous Grains
That is altogether too complicated for me, so i just avoid wheat, and limit even rice to a minimum.
PS:
I am drinking fermented barley right now.
Lager, because it is lowest in gluten: wheat beer has about 400 times more gluten.
Not 400%, 400 times.
Thank you Snorri, very thoughtful. I’m largely in agreement with the article you linked.
I was just trying to explain my understanding of RFKs position. I’m not an advocate for wheat, in fact I live a low carb lifestyle. When we do eat carbs, we try to make the most of it. Probably only 1-2% of the population follow the protocol, that we do, making baked goods. It’s time consuming, expensive and the end product has a short shelf life, so not for the faint of heart. In other words, yes, you are right it is complicated.
I’m linking an interesting video on prehuman dietary evolution.
https://youtu.be/iSCV_XFcVPU?si=4tf71AHfp3lUdo4w
Johnathan Pearce it turns out that Donald Trump DID tell the truth about the complaints from Springfield Ohio. Yet you say the opposite – and you have had plenty of time to check with the people in Springfield who complained.
As for your social media feed – I suspect it is made up of media people (and other such).
Still you have made your choice, and been public about it – received and understood Sir.
The accusations against Trump are unclear:
1) Did he invent, out of thin air, the story of pets disappearing and being killed in Springfield?
2) Did he see reports or hear rumors and amplify the story that pets were disappearing and being killed in Springfield, without concrete proof?
3) Did he conflate pets with feral animals and wild life?
4) Did he inadvertantly scapegoat immigrants to draw attention to the larger picture?
Setting aside the pets being eaten story, some wrinkles in the Springfield story have been emerging over the last week.
Apparently Springfield is awash with kickback schemes, property tax manipulation, price gouging and shady, very shady, and exploitive labor practices. Some residents and officials of the community , including an NGO, are raking in a lot of money, millions, profiteering on the backs of tax payers and on the backs of the immigrants.
What i read is that
(1) employers are firing Americans to substitute them with Haitians, because the Federal gov. pays the benefits for the Haitians, thus saving money for the employers;
(1a) Haitians work hard because they risk being extradited if they are fired;
(2) landlords are evicting Americans to make room for Haitians, because the Federal gov. pays 3 times the rent (through an NGO) to accommodate Haitians;
(2a) nonetheless, Haitians are so crowded that in some places they have to sleep in shifts.
Thus, a scheme to make employers and landlords rich by exploiting Haitian labor, at US taxpayers’ and local workers’ and tenants’ expense. And of course the NGO gets a cut.
Refero relata: I cannot vouch for the above. But it would be easier to check than stories about Haitians eating cats and waterfowl. Nonetheless, journalists like Johnathan insist that the latter stories are false, based solely on the word of the mayor of Springfield — who, incidentally, seems to be getting rich out of this scam.
Perhaps Karl Marx had a point.