Gail made me promise to not gloat. So I wont.
I will though, comment on what happened other night. And it ain’t gonna be pretty. For those who are happy, read what follows as a first draft of history. (That’s what real journalism is supposed to be.) For those who aren’t happy, now would be the time to do some serious introspection.
There’s no way I’m gonna be able to digest the 2024 election other than to say it was positively historic. It was in fact, one of the most historic events in all of human history. More will be said in due time. Please be patient.
That’s not an overstatement. Far from it. We will always remember where we were yesterday.
Let’s get some of the preliminaries out of the way. Trump is only the second President in history to win two non-consecutive terms. The only other one was Grover Cleveland. (For a brief overview of his presidency, please go here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/grover-cleveland/)
Cleveland was an interesting fellow in his own right. Historically speaking, Trump is orders of magnitude more significant than Cleveland. One would have to go back to Reagan to find a President as consequential as Trump. That said, now is not the time to write his valedictory. Instead, I want to write about how he changed the world. Not just America.
First, he exposed the ugly face of the Deep State. He was especially hated for that.
Second, he destroyed the entire neoliberal paradigm. No longer do we have to accept the moral superiority of Left. He has shattered it for all time. Feminism? I guess there weren’t enough childless cat-ladies to go to the polls. We all found out that there are millions more women who haven’t had an abortion than those who have. And guess what? Thanks to Bidenomics, neither demographic can make ends meet.
It’s especially delicious to watch the morons on MSNBC blame white women for not showing up and voting for her. I also like that they are now saying that black and Latino men are misogynistic. That was on Wednesday. Now it’s the American people as a whole who are to blame. The Left has long hated the Electoral College. Now they hate the popular vote. I’m sorry, these people are cray-cray.
Third, he destroyed the neoconservative paradigm. He started taking down the neocons in his first term when he threw a wrench in their war machine. Now, he needs to complete the process. We will know he has succeeded when neocons are unfit for polite society and their place will be somewhat between that of child pornographers and communists.
Fourth, he destroyed the Corporate Media. Not only did he expose them for the Establishment shills they are, he helped create a new information space that is dominated by podcasters. These content creators are closer to the people and have helped push the Overton Window further to the populist right. They’ve also expanded the dissemination of information, bypassing the Establishment gate-keepers. Trump’s chances improved when he went on the Theo Von podcast and he sealed the deal when he sat down with the Big Kahuna himself –Joe Rogan. Kamala was exposed as a snotty elitist when she demanded that Rogan come to her and only for an hour.
In addition, by not going on his show, she solidified the notion that she wasn’t able to engage in an honest interview. Her interview with Brett Baier was so disastrous that she couldn’t risk another one. And the cherry on top of all this? We are watching the Corporate Media die before our very eyes.
<—Can any of my liberal readers explain this for me? I’m genuinely stumped.
Finally, her brazen incompetence will help bring down the entire DEI enterprise. Let us be frank: she was a diversity hire from the start. The American people in their collective wisdom saw right through her and decided that they couldn’t trust her with the nuclear codes. She was a moron, pure and simple. (Another silver lining: Boeing has fired their vice-president in charge of DEI and is banning this entire sorry enterprise.)
So, what’s the Democrat Party to do?
Well, for one thing, stop having a quota system. Go back to merit. You wanted a woman of color? What was wrong with Tulsi Gabbard? She checked all the right boxes.
Honor the primary process. If the current President was incapacitated (and he was), then remove him by means of the 25th Amendment. At least then Kamala would have been Acting President and have an excuse for not going through the primary process. Coups are the stuff of Third-World banana republics and unbecoming of America.
That doesn’t mean that party bigwigs couldn’t have gotten to Biden a year or so ago and impress upon him the necessity of him stepping down. In an open field, people of some accomplishment could have vied for the Presidency. Think about it: had Biden announced last year that for the “good of the country,” he would not seek reelection, then Bobby Kennedy would probably have won the nomination. And quite possibly the Presidency. Instead, because of Biden’s arrogance, the Democrats are now facing a time in the political wilderness.
Will they use that time to rethink their presuppositions? Not likely. Mainly because as St Paul said about sodomites, they have been given over to their delusions. Everybody else is to blame, everybody but themselves.
So, what about us? The long-suffering normal, patriotic Americans who have had to put up with their villainous nonsense for several years now? Do we owe them any magnanimity? Not at all. We would if they were contrite and willing to engage in good faith dialogue. But they are anything but contrite. And as for good faith dialogue, like true Marxists, they don’t believe that they are wrong. Just like the neocons who think that the reason we didn’t win in Iraq (or Afghanistan or Yemen) is because we didn’t try “hard enough.”
Their governmental malpractice has been stupendous. People like Hillary Clinton, Anthony Fauci and others too numerous to mention have committed crimes against humanity. Retribution is called for; justice demands it.
So what How the rest of us? Should we gloat? Not really. But when it comes to people on our level, we don’t owe them anything more than a cursory greeting whenever we have the misfortune to meet one on the street. The diversity hire in the HR department? Give her the rhetorical back of your hand. When your company says you will be celebrating “Pride Month” ask them what do they have to be proud of? If you go to your child’s school board meeting, ask why the Iliad or Huckleberry Finn have been removed from the shelves but not Heather Has Two Mommies.
Since they can’t “get it” we don’t need to waste our words on dialogue. Will they continue to call us names? Of course. But you know what? Their epithets have lost all their sting. Thanks to Trump’s epic landslide, that’s obvious to everybody now. Even to them. They have decisively lost their moral authority. Call them out for it.
Reality always asserts itself. Always.
And never forget, God has been merciful to us. We didn’t deserve to be delivered from the clutches of the Left. But we were. Let’s be thankful for that. And let us march forward boldly.
GCU Ultimate Ship The Second says
Unfortunately my prediction was wrong, and America has indeed voted in a new right-wing fascist authoritarian political order that will be very difficult to dislodge, and turbocharge a corrupt oligarchy. Of course, a large chunk of people who voted for Trump didn’t know or didn’t believe that was what they were voting for, but they are getting it anyway. However, a large chunk of people voting for Trump desired exactly that. In the end, Trump looks to be drifting below 50% of the popular vote, but don’t expect think pieces about how he has to reach across the aisle to the other half of America from the shambles of our political media.
So what now? Nothing good I’m afraid. It’s hard to tell exactly which of the bad plans will come to pass given the incompetence of the incoming crew attempting to implement them. The one safe assumption is that we are about to enter an era of governmental corruption without parallel in modern American history. The Federal government used to be much smaller and less powerful, but more corrupt. The latter took many decades to gradually address even while the size and power of the government grew. The Federal government isn’t actually going to relinquish any of its power in this new era. But a civil service that serves, however imperfectly, the American public must be purged in place of political lackeys with a charter to pick the pockets of the country for the oligarchy and get their own beaks a little wet along the way.
I think there are two particular things I would note as indicative of what to expect. First was that I recall someone on here happy that they were able to get a bank to back off some late charge or other kind of fee by quoting a CFPB rule at them on the phone. Something along those lines. Well, I’m sorry to say that the banks and Chamber of Commerce found a friendly Trump-appointed judge to freeze that rule pending the inevitable lawsuit, the bank isn’t obligated to follow it at this point. If they did it for you, they didn’t actually have to. But don’t worry, next year you’ll be freed of the tyranny of the government telling a trillion dollar bank they can’t bend you over on fees, or make it impossible to cancel your gym subscription. The CFPB, the FTC et al will either be disbanded or the foxes will be put in charge of the henhouse. I suppose you’ll just have to take a Second Amendment remedy to Planet Fitness or something.
The second was a preview of things to come, except on a far more grandiose scale. It was the story about the guy running the Oklahoma public schools, who attempted to sneak requirements in the RFP for a mandated bulk purchase of Bibles so that only Trump’s $60 Bible qualified. This was so egregious that the RFP got amended after public outcry, but his only real mistake was he jumped the gun and was a year early.
The irony is Trump could once again coast and take a lot of credit he doesn’t deserve. Just as he inherited a calm smoothly ticking over economy from Obama the first time around, this time he’s inheriting a lot of infrastructure investment from IRA and CHIPs that would continue to pay off in the coming years. And the deficit can just keep on growing as long as the reason it is still growing is massive tax breaks and giveaways to the plutocrats. But if he actually enacts large, widespread tariffs and throws a large piece of the construction and agricultural workforce in concentration camps, everyone who voted with him out of a mistaken belief he’d be good for the economy, or were mad about post-COVID inflation are in for a rude surprise.
George Michalopulos says
Curious, had Trump been allowed to win in 2020, would we be staring at WWIII right now? Please be honest.
Seriously, you guys on the Left had better start doing some self-reflection. Calling everybody to the right of you a “fascist” or leaders you don’t like “Hitler” is not going to work out well electorally speaking.
Michael Martin says
Before the election, I predicted the following, hoping that I would be wrong.
1). Trump would win by a fraud-proof landslide
2). The Deep State would try to stir up riots and strife to prevent him from taking office.
3). If that failed, they would start a nuclear war, and destroy the world rather than live in a world they do not rule.
Sadly, it looks like #3 is coming to pass as we speak.
George Michalopulos says
Sadly, you are correct.
I’m going to take some Hopium here: That there are some level headed people in the Pentagon who are speaking through back-channels to the Kremlin right now. (And perhaps a coup brewing to take out the Cocaine Kid of Kiev as well.)
St Louisan says
“Can any of my liberal readers explain this for me? I’m genuinely stumped.”
Since you asked—I can!
Here are the national vote totals for the last four elections, rounded to the nearest million (with updated numbers for 2024; the chart posted above is from before the West Coast vote totals were in):
2012:
61 million Romney
66 million for Obama
2016:
63 million for Trump
66 million for Clinton
2020:
74 million for Trump
81 million for Biden
2024:
76 million for Trump
74 million for Harris
So in 2020, about 26 million more people voted than the previous two presidential elections. That doesn’t seem very surprising, since Nov 2020 was in the midst of a pandemic and government policy on shutdowns, public assistance, vaccination, school closure, health care, etc. was extremely important to day-to-day life, whether your business survived, etc. etc. Add in Trump pulling in new voters at a higher rate than any other recent major party nominee, and this spike in the national vote doesn’t seem like a mystery.
Those 26 million broke for the out-party by about 3-to-2, which also doesn’t seem very surprising for a people in the middle of a national crisis that shut down the economy and shut down or severely disrupted most social life. It’s to be expected that a lot of people would want to vote themselves out of the pandemic conditions, and that most of them would try doing so by voting for the party not already in the White House.
In 2024, Trump kept his 2020 coalition and expanded it slightly, while Harris lost 7 million votes from Biden’s total. Neither seems strange to me. Trump’s rebuilt GOP coalition holds strong, while Harris can’t run as the outsider hanging a national crisis on the incumbent, has less credibility among both the Obama coalition and the broad working class than Joe Biden did, and is in general a narrower candidate.
The overall story I see here is that Trump is leading a realignment that redefines and expands the Republican coalition; that this Trump coalition was swamped by Democratic enthusiasm and anti-incumbency bias during the 2020 pandemic election, but prevailed when the Democratic vote total drifted back down under a weaker nominee running in less favorable circumstances.
George Michalopulos says
Or, those 11 million extra votes that Joe Biden got in 2020 were because of all the mail-in ballots & printing machines that went “whrrrr“?
On another note, Joe & Mika made the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and bent the knee to the God-Emperor. (I guess they were lying all this time when they called him Hitler? Someone please help me.)
George Michalopulos says
Or, those 11 million extra votes that Joe Biden got in 2020 were because of all the mail-in ballots & printing machines that went “whrrrr“?
On another note, Joe & Mika made the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and bent the knee to the God-Emperor. (I guess they were lying all this time when they called him Hitler? Someone please help me.)
Misha says
Naaaaaaah . . . they cheated like it was free. That’s much more plausible. “81 million” my white tail.
It will all come out, so don’t get too comfy with that rationalization. They did it in this election too, but were shut down in the battleground states. Kamala won not a single state with mandatory voter photo ID. Not one. Virginia is sometimes given as the exception. But Virginia does not require a photo ID and even with no ID you can sign an affidavit and vote. Trump won every single state with voter ID and a couple without.
They can’t stay competitive at the national level without massive fraud.
All of this will be investigated under the new administration. People will go to prison. Voter ID will end up being mandatory across the board. And the Dems will have, at the least, a nice, long sojourn in the wilderness.
George Michalopulos says
Satan’s take on the election: https://youtu.be/sncGpcfC2eg
Brendan says
Lawfare à la française:
* Marine Le Pen says prosecutors ‘on a mission’ to sink her 2027 election run *
https://archive.ph/ACRJl#selection-2461.4-2461.82
‘ Marine Le Pen and her allies have accused prosecutors of being on a “mission” to sink her presidential bid by calling for her to be barred from public office for five years over embezzlement charges.
If judges heed the call, the ruling would prevent Ms Le Pen, who is among the favourites to win the 2027 presidential election, from running.
Ms Le Pen, and 24 other members of her hard-Right National Rally (RN) party are on trial accused of using EU parliament funds in a fake jobs scheme. They deny the charges.
On Thursday, a wider political row erupted within the camp of Emmanuel Macron, the president, after Gérald Darmanin, his former interior minister, criticised the prosecutors’ stance, saying Ms Le Pen should be “fought at the ballot box, not elsewhere”.
Ms Le Pen’s accusations of being forced “out of the political game” provoked howls of disapproval and prompted Didier Migaud, the justice minister, to state “magistrates are independent” and “judge on the basis of the law passed by the legislature”.
In France, misuse of public funds automatically carries a penalty of ineligibility for elected office.
Patrick Maisonneuve, the lawyer for the European Parliament, said the cost of the suspected embezzlement is estimated at €4.5 million (£3.6m).
Ms Le Pen, 56, has already stood for the presidency three times since taking over as head of the RN party from Jean-Marie Le Pen, her father, in 2011.
“What kind of country would we be living in if we prevented the leading politician, the most popular politician in the polls, Marine Le Pen … from being able to stand for election?,” Sébastien Chenu, RN vice-president, told RMC-BFMTV.
“The will of the system to try to prevent us from doing our political mission is quite disgraceful,” he added.
Prosecutors say the funds were intended to pay for the National Rally MEPs’ assistants. But in practice the assistants worked for the party and rarely set foot in the European Parliament, the court was told.
Beyond the public office ban, Nicolas Barret, the state prosecutor, on Wednesday also urged the Paris criminal court to fine the populist right figurehead €300,000 and to give her a five-year jail sentence, with three years suspended.
In his closing statements, he suggested that she could serve the remaining two years at home with an electronic ankle tag if the court upheld his demands when it gives its judgement next year.
She is said to be resigned to a tough sentence but had been hopeful of avoiding being barred from office.
Ms Le Pen reacted to the “outrageous” motion, saying: “I think the prosecutors’ wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for who they want.”
Her woes were compounded by the fact that her ailing 96-year-old father has been in hospital since last Thursday for what she described as “routine tests”.
After being defeated by president Macron in the second round run-offs in 2017 and 2022, she hopes to make history as its first female president as populism is gaining traction in western democracies.
She would also be the first hard-right ruler of France since the Vichy regime collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War.
Jordan Bardella, 29, her protégé and the present party head, would be likely to take her place if she was ruled out of the race. But he could face competition from Marion Maréchal, 34, her niece, who has political ambitions herself.
The most controversial criticism to the prosecution’s demands came from Mr Darmanin, a Right-winger who lost his cabinet post after Mr Macron’s disastrous snap elections in July.
“If the court finds that she must be condemned, she cannot be condemned electorally, without the expression of the people,” Mr Darmanin argued on X.
“Fighting Madame Le Pen is done at the ballot box, not elsewhere. Let us not be afraid of democracy,” he added.
Xavier Bertrand, the Right-wing Republican head of the Hauts-de-France region and a close friend of Mr Darmanin, said: “He shouldn’t have said that…The law exists, it applies to everyone and no one is above the law.”
Olivier Faure, the Socialist Party leader, warned Mr Darmanin’s remarks amounted to a “breach of the principle of separation of powers”.
However, Laurent Marcangeli, the parliamentary leader of the conservative Horizons party, allied to the Macron camp, backed Mr Darmanin, warning a ban would “fuel the conspiracy machine”.
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, also waded in to offer support to Ms Pen.
“I could not believe yesterday’s news…Marine, please remember we are with you in this battle! And don’t forget: being harassed by the judiciary was a crucial step towards victory for president (Donald) Trump,” he wrote on X. ‘
Anything the Yanks can’t do,
the French can do worse…
George Michalopulos says
A good interview regarding Pete Hegseth’s nomination as SecDef. Go to minute 17, he calls himself a “recovering neocon.”
Good enough for me.
https://youtu.be/vHTyPGdgMt4
George Michalopulos says
This insight is from Jude Russo, over at The American Conservative:
“Second, Rubio has shown himself adaptable to the Trump-era line on a variety of policies. (You can read him on a variety of his evolved positions in this excellent little magazine, The American Conservative—well worth a subscription!) I tend to subscribe to the theory that it is in fact the president, Donald Trump, who will be calling the tune and his cabinet that will be dancing; I do not think Rubio will be doing much moonlighting as a warlord, nor do I think he is especially inclined to do so. The thrust of the campaign and early transition has been toward avoiding the establishmentarian frustration of the second-term agenda, as happened in the first term. In the words of the greatest political sage of the 19th century, Humpty-Dumpty, “The question is, which is to be master—that’s all.” I tend to think the master is Trump, not Rubio or Waltz, and that they have been selected in part because they will toe the line.”
My sentiments exactly.
Brendan says
Here’s another Orthodox country they are trying to smash:
* The West wants to break Georgia *
https://katehon-com.translate.goog/ru/article/zapad-hochet-slomit-gruziyu?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
‘ The EU, the US and the puppet opposition have no intention of acting according to fair rules
On October 26, 2024, parliamentary elections were held in Georgia, which were won by the ruling party. The voting results are as follows:
“Georgian Dream” – 53.92% of the votes;
“Coalition for Change” – 11.03%;
“Unity – National Movement” – 10.16%;
“Strong Georgia” – 8.81%;
“For Georgia” – 7.77%.
According to the scenario of color revolutions, where Georgia was one of the first states in the post-Soviet space, where in 2003 this Western political technology was successfully tested under the name of “Rose Revolution”, the opposition did not recognize the election results. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called on the population to come out to protest on October 28. In addition, the leaders of the opposition parties “Unity – National Movement” and “Coalition of Change” stated at separate briefings that since they do not recognize the official results of the parliamentary elections announced by the Central Election Commission, they are giving up their parliamentary mandates.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili accused the country’s president of misinforming the population and organizing unrest. ” When the president misinforms people, misleads them and plays on emotions, this is certainly not accidental, and you see that Ms. Salome is directly involved in the opposition’s scenario leading to chaos in the country, which is called unrest ,” he said.
The West responded to the election results in typical fashion. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “we condemn all violations of international norms and join calls from international and domestic observers for a full investigation into all reports of election-related irregularities.” Among the violations, he listed “the ruling party’s abuse of state resources, vote buying, and intimidation.”
And in a statement, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said: ” We call on the Georgian Central Election Commission and other relevant bodies to fulfil their duty to promptly, transparently and independently investigate and address electoral irregularities and allegations. These irregularities must be identified and addressed.” Among the concerns, he cited “violations of the secrecy of the ballot” and “concerns about the impact of recent legislative amendments” on the vote.
Obviously, if the pro-Western forces had won with such a result, the EU and the US would have started praising the country for ensuring transparency and all the necessary democratic procedures for the expression of the will of the people. But the fact is that the Georgian Dream is trying to pursue a sovereign policy, for which it is called “pro-Russian” in the West.
In this regard, the recent presidential elections and referendum in Moldova are indicative, where the results were clearly falsified. Nevertheless, the West pretends that everything was done according to the norms and also expects to get the necessary figures in the second round of the presidential elections in this country.
Russia’s position is fundamentally different from the West’s attempts to interfere. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian Presidential Administration, noted that ” the choice of the Georgian people is now very important that no third countries interfere with the results of these elections. By the way, the same Madam President (Zurabishvili) said that she does not recognize the results of these elections. Here I do not know for sure whether it is within the powers of the President of Georgia to recognize or not to recognize the elections, but in any case, this is all an internal Georgian matter .” And with this, Russia once again confirmed the policy of non-interference in the affairs of other states.
It should be noted that the West currently has few tools to put pressure on Georgia. Earlier, due to the adopted laws banning LGBT and the introduction of a register of foreign agents, the EU abandoned a number of cooperation programs with Georgia, and also hinted that Georgia would not join the EU and NATO. The United States also suspended some programs. But in economic terms, they will not be able to undermine the economy of Georgia, where large infrastructure projects are being implemented. In addition, there are investments from China and Arab countries, which are much more attractive compared to the political conditions imposed by the EU, the United States and the IMF. In other words, the Georgian authorities may well ignore the threats of the West and suppress an internal rebellion if it begins at the call of President Salome Zurabishvili, who is a direct Western agent.
It should be noted that her term ends in December this year and the next president will be appointed by parliament. Therefore, her motivation is quite understandable, since the current balance of power in parliament is not in her favor. In addition, she may face impeachment before December. And with a paralyzed parliament, she can hold out at least until the end of this year, and then flee to the West.
Therefore, despite external pressure and blackmail from the opposition, the Georgian Dream party has only one option left – confirmation of the official election results and the application of necessary measures against those who incite the overthrow of the government. With a clear majority of votes, available power and administrative resources, as well as support, if necessary, on the streets, the opposition has no chance of a coup d’etat.
The opposition protest on the evening of October 28 passed peacefully and its participants went home. Nevertheless, it is known that Ukrainian provocateurs with combat experience have arrived in Georgia. There are probably also Georgian mercenaries ready for extremist actions. And here the Georgian special services and security forces must act preemptively and not allow the opposition through some provocation to force them to act according to a certain scenario, the worst for the Georgian statehood. ‘
George Michalopulos says
Brendan, Gail and I have been banging the drum incessantly to our Georgian friends and acquaintances about the evils of cozying up to the West. I’m not going to say they listened to us, but it doesn’t matter as long as they do the right thing.
That said, the Georgian govt has some strategizing to do, given that the West is going to get them to “see the light” whether they like it or not. And that strategizing leads on a path straight to the Kremlin.
Brendan says
Meanwhile (lest we forget) back at the ranch:
EXPOSING THE DARKNESS
* Jeffrey A. Tucker: The CDC Planned Quarantine Camps Nationwide *
https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/jeffrey-a-tucker-the-cdc-planned?utm_source=substack&publication_id=581065&post_id=151363933&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=bmunh&triedRedirect=true
No matter how bad you think Covid policies were, they were intended to be worse.
Consider the vaccine passports alone. Six cities were locked down to include only the vaccinated in public indoor places. They were New York City, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. The plan was to enforce this with a vaccine passport. It broke. Once the news leaked that the shot didn’t stop infection or transmission, the planners lost public support and the scheme collapsed.
It was undoubtedly planned to be permanent and nationwide if not worldwide. Instead, the scheme had to be dialed back.
Features of the CDC’s edicts did incredible damage. It imposed the rent moratorium. It decreed the ridiculous “six feet of distance” and mask mandates. It forced Plexiglas as the interface for commercial transactions. It implied that mail-in balloting must be the norm, which probably flipped the election. It delayed the reopening as long as possible. It was sadistic.
Even with all that, worse was planned. On July 26, 2020, with the George Floyd riots having finally settled down, the CDC issued a plan for establishing nationwide quarantine camps. People were to be isolated, given only food and some cleaning supplies. They would be banned from participating in any religious services. The plan included contingencies for preventing suicide. There were no provisions made for any legal appeals or even the right to legal counsel.
The plan’s authors were unnamed but included 26 footnotes. It was completely official. The document was only removed on about March 26, 2023. During the entire intervening time, the plan survived on the CDC’s public site with little to no public notice or controversy.
It was called “Interim Operational Considerations for Implementing the Shielding Approach to Prevent COVID-19 Infections in Humanitarian Settings.”
“This document presents considerations from the perspective of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for implementing the shielding approach in humanitarian settings as outlined in guidance documents focused on camps, displaced populations and low-resource settings. This approach has never been documented and has raised questions and concerns among humanitarian partners who support response activities in these settings. The purpose of this document is to highlight potential implementation challenges of the shielding approach from CDC’s perspective and guide thinking around implementation in the absence of empirical data. Considerations are based on current evidence known about the transmission and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and may need to be revised as more information becomes available.”
By absence of empirical data, the meaning is: nothing like this has ever been tried. The point of the document was to map out how it could be possible and alert authorities to possible pitfalls to be avoided.
The meaning of “shielding” is “to reduce the number of severe Covid-19 cases by limiting contact between individuals at higher risk of developing severe disease (‘high-risk’) and the general population (‘low-risk’). High-risk individuals would be temporarily relocated to safe or ‘green zones’ established at the household, neighborhood, camp/sector, or community level depending on the context and setting. They would have minimal contact with family members and other low-risk residents.”
In other words, this is what used to be concentration camps.
Who are these people who would be rounded up? They are “older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions.” Who determines this? Public health authorities. The purpose? The CDC explains: “physically separating high-risk individuals from the general population” allows authorities “to prioritize the use of the limited available resources.”
This sounds a lot like condemning people to death in the name of protecting them.
The model establishes three levels. First is the household level. Here high-risk people are“physically isolated from other household members.” That alone is objectionable. Elders need people to take care of them. They need love and to be surrounded by family. The CDC should never imagine that it would intervene in households to force old people into separate places.
The model jumps from households to the “neighborhood level.” Here we have the same approach: forced separation of those deemed vulnerable.
From there, the model jumps again to the “camp/sector level.” Here it is different. “A group of shelters such as schools, community buildings within a camp/sector (max 50 high-risk individuals per single green zone) where high-risk individuals are physically isolated together. One entry point is used for exchange of food, supplies, etc. A meeting area is used for residents and visitors to interact while practicing physical distancing (2 meters). No movement into or outside the green zone.”
Yes, you read that correctly. The CDC is here proposing concentration camps for the sick or anyone they deem to be in danger of medically significant consequences of infection.
Further: “to minimize external contact, each green zone should include able-bodied high-risk individuals capable of caring for residents who have disabilities or are less mobile. Otherwise, designate low-risk individuals for these tasks, preferably who have recovered from confirmed COVID-19 and are assumed to be immune.”
The plan says in passing, contradicting thousands of years of experience, “Currently, we do not know if prior infection confers immunity.” Therefore the only solution is to minimize all exposure throughout the whole population. Getting sick is criminalized.
These camps require a “dedicated staff” to “monitor each green zone. Monitoring includes both adherence to protocols and potential adverse effects or outcomes due to isolation and stigma. It may be necessary to assign someone within the green zone, if feasible, to minimize movement in/out of green zones.”
The people housed in these camps need to have good explanations of why they are denied even basic religious freedom. The report explains:
“Proactive planning ahead of time, including strong community engagement and risk communication is needed to better understand the issues and concerns of restricting individuals from participating in communal practices because they are being shielded. Failure to do so could lead to both interpersonal and communal violence.”
Further, there must be some mechanisms to prohibit suicide:
Additional stress and worry are common during any epidemic and may be more pronounced with COVID-19 due to the novelty of the disease and increased fear of infection, increased childcare responsibilities due to school closures, and loss of livelihoods. Thus, in addition to the risk of stigmatization and feeling of isolation, this shielding approach may have an important psychological impact and may lead to significant emotional distress, exacerbate existing mental illness or contribute to anxiety, depression, helplessness, grief, substance abuse, or thoughts of suicide among those who are separated or have been left behind. Shielded individuals with concurrent severe mental health conditions should not be left alone. There must be a caregiver allocated to them to prevent further protection risks such as neglect and abuse.
The biggest risk, the document explains, is as follows: “While the shielding approach is not meant to be coercive, it may appear forced or be misunderstood in humanitarian settings.”
(It should go without saying but this “shielding” approach suggested here has nothing to do with focused protection of the Great Barrington Declaration. Focused protection specifically says: “schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.”)
In four years of research, and encountering truly shocking documents and evidence of what happened in the Covid years, this one certainly ranks up at the top of the list of totalitarian schemes for pathogenic control prior to vaccination. It is quite simply mind-blowing that such a scheme could ever be contemplated.
Who wrote it? What kind of deep institutional pathology exists that enabled this to be contemplated? The CDC has 10,600 full-time employees and contractors and a budget of $11.5 billion. In light of this report, and everything else that has gone on there for four years, both numbers should be zero.
Source: brownstone.org
[Jeffrey A Tucker: EXPOSING THE DARKNESS is a reader-supported publication.
To support my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.]
Brendan says
A thoughtful view from Russia:
* Trump’s Victory: A Global Conservative Revolution
By Dr. Alexander Dugin7 November 2024 *
https://arktos.com/2024/11/07/trumps-victory-a-global-conservative-revolution/
* Alexander Dugin argues that Donald Trump’s presidential victory marks a seismic shift in the global order, signaling a conservative revolution that challenges liberal globalism, deprioritizes the conflict in Ukraine, and promotes a multipolar world. *
‘ The victory of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential elections is a historic event of global significance, comparable to the events of 1917 or 1945. It marks the beginning of a fundamental shift in the world order, requiring deep analysis and explanation. Yes, in Russia, many consciously attempted to downplay the importance of these elections. However, this was done to avoid “jinxing” it, as Russians are very mindful of their words and prefer not to say everything they think. Sometimes, they even go to great lengths to conceal it.
“Someone like Putin”
We were awaiting Trump’s victory, hoping for it, though we did not often admit it openly. On the contrary, we often veiled our expectations in various ways, including efforts to avoid harming Trump himself.
I believe this explains our president’s statement about supporting Harris: to “knock on wood” and avoid jinxing, he said the opposite instead. It was also intended to avoid exposing the candidate who represented for us a chance at a fundamentally different, new perspective on relations with the West, with the U.S., and a new balance of power in the world.
Trump is not just a candidate from the Republican Party (and he is far from an ordinary candidate for America, for Republicans, or for global politics). Trump is a world revolution. A conservative revolution. And the fact that he managed to come to power once, then withstand all the blows during Biden’s presidency, and now triumphantly win the presidential election again, means that he is no accident. Now, no one can dispute this by saying it is just a “system malfunction.” No, this is a trend, a fundamental line.
Trump cemented this trend by choosing J. D. Vance as his vice president, the first figure in American politics at this level to openly declare that his ideology is that of the “post-liberal right.” Nothing is more significant than this statement by Vance. The “post-liberal right” represents the true right, those who stand for traditional values, not big capital. They are right-wing in the fundamental sense: conservative right, “illiberal” right, or, as Vance himself puts it, “post-liberal.” The fact that Trump won alongside Vance, who is young and ideologically committed to a conservative revolution, indicates that this trend is here to stay.
The events that have unfolded are not merely a coincidence, especially given that over the years, Trump was not jailed, killed, or destroyed — despite being relentlessly labeled a “fascist” and “Putinist” by democratic fanatics for eight years. Today, we can confidently say that “Putinism” has triumphed in the United States: America voted for… “we want someone like Putin.”
Do Not Expect Miracles, but Kiev Must Be Taken
Russia should not expect miracles from Trump and his new administration. We need to win the war in Ukraine, to free the entire territory of that former country from the Nazi regime. Regardless of Trump’s victory or any other factors, this imperative remains. As the ancient Roman consul Cato the Elder used to say, “Carthage must be destroyed”; in our case: “Kiev must be taken.” Our forces must reach as far as Lviv, liberating the entire former territory of Ukraine from the Nazi yoke.
Of course, the terms Trump might offer us are also very important. But that is still a secondary issue, concerning how we formalize our further advance towards victory. Here, we must act subtly, cleverly, and wisely, all while understanding that victory is paramount.
We should also pay attention to how Trump is perceived in Kiev. After all, Trump’s son, Donald Jr., as well as Vance, Elon Musk, and especially Tucker Carlson — some of the most prominent figures supporting Trump — openly despise the Ukrainian Nazi regime. They rightly believe that Zelensky and his junta were entirely created by the Democratic administration and that behind them stand globalists who have dragged the West and the U.S. into a failed adventure in Ukraine.
And Kiev Responds in Kind
Kiev pays them back in kind. Many of the individuals mentioned are listed in the “Myrotvorets” database, which is banned in Russia, where Kiev’s Nazis delight in publishing information about their enemies with calls for their physical elimination through terrorist methods. Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson are already listed there. This means that, from the perspective of Kiev’s Nazi regime, a significant part of Trump’s future administration is subject to elimination.
I believe that all this will soon come to an end. No, it will not be an outright withdrawal of support for Kiev. It is unlikely that Trump will immediately stop everything and tell the Russians to deal with this riffraff however they want. But the Republicans who come to power will forget about the Ukrainian war, at least temporarily — and perhaps permanently. They will say, “We have other, far more pressing issues at home: the decay of American society, the degradation of the ruling class, rampant corruption, and the assault on traditional American values.”
Meanwhile, Trump will likely continue supporting Netanyahu and his aggressive actions in the Middle East, which is, of course, unfortunate for the Arab population there. The U.S. will also intensify its trade war with China and may more actively support South Korea in its confrontation with North Korea. So, Trump’s victory certainly does not mean that all problems will be solved. But it is clear that he will shift focus away from the Ukrainian conflict, simply due to basic pragmatic considerations, since it brings no benefits to America or Trump himself.
Trump will obviously place the blame for everything that has occurred on Biden. It is even possible that Biden, Kamala Harris, and their entire clique that incited the bloody carnage in Ukraine will be put on trial. Or perhaps they will be spared. But that is another matter. Under Trump and Vance, Ukraine will drop to around the 15th priority for White House policy. This gives us an opportunity we must seize.
Hypothetically, Trump might issue a rather tough ultimatum to Moscow to immediately end the Special Military Operation. But this is unlikely, as being a realist and pragmatist, he knows full well that Putin will not comply. And what would happen then? He promised to stop the war but did not deliver. So it is better to forget such promises until our victory.
Trump will not be focused on casting out the “demons” of the frenzied Kiev regime. We ourselves must fight this real Nazism — it is our burden, our fate, our test, and our tragedy. We must resolve it ourselves. As for the world, Trump’s coming to power is the only way to avoid a world war, a nuclear apocalypse, and move towards building a multipolar world without direct conflict with Western hegemony. Trump has his own vision for how America can become great again — not through globalism, democratic imperialism, or imposing a single model on all peoples, which liberals and democrats first tried to impose on American society itself.
A Split in the “Deep State”
Trump could not have won, or rather, no one could have acknowledged his victory, if there had not been a split within the U.S. “deep state.” On the eve of the election, my article about this divide was published in the popular American conservative magazine Man’s World. I discussed how the globalist “Plan A,” followed by all previous Democratic and Republican candidates, had reached a dead end.
Now, Trump has a unique opportunity to implement “Plan B,” which is linked to a just multipolar world order. The recent successful BRICS summit in Kazan was not only a splendid gesture but also an effective intervention in the American elections. Trump has received a blank check from the “deep state” to try an alternative strategy for maintaining America’s global leadership, one that does not involve direct confrontation with a multipolar world.
Trump is neither a liberal nor a globalist; he stands in opposition to the trend that today’s global West follows: LGBT+, post-humanism, lack of morality, and total degeneration. Powerful ideological, economic, financial, and cultural centers are invested in this trend toward a post-humanist, post-gender reality. Figures like Bernard-Henri Lévy, Yuval Harari, Klaus Schwab, as well as not only American Democrats but also the globalist liberal elite of all countries, are driving it. It is no coincidence that Yuval Harari said that Trump’s victory would mean “the end of everything.” For liberals, this would be a global catastrophe, as they see it as the only path of development. And this catastrophe has already begun — a disaster for those pushing a Satanic course.
What Does This Mean?
In these conditions, it is essential that we do not forget ourselves, strengthen our sovereignty, and decisively eliminate the “sixth column” of supporters of global liberal development. We must redouble our efforts to defend our values and build a multipolar world based on the sovereignty of civilization-states.
Russia must firmly establish itself as a pole, and then, sooner or later, the realist Trump will have no choice but to acknowledge this. This will be our victory and the guarantee of our future — a challenging but sovereign Russian future. ‘
(Translated from the Russian)
George Michalopulos says
I’ve been saying for several months now that there was a “split in the Deep State.” Alexander Dugin concurs:
“A Split in the “Deep State”
Trump could not have won, or rather, no one could have acknowledged his victory, if there had not been a split within the U.S. “deep state.” On the eve of the election, my article about this divide was published in the popular American conservative magazine Man’s World. I discussed how the globalist “Plan A,” followed by all previous Democratic and Republican candidates, had reached a dead end.
“Now, Trump has a unique opportunity to implement “Plan B,” which is linked to a just multipolar world order. The recent successful BRICS summit in Kazan was not only a splendid gesture but also an effective intervention in the American elections. Trump has received a blank check from the “deep state” to try an alternative strategy for maintaining America’s global leadership, one that does not involve direct confrontation with a multipolar world.”
You can read the entire piece (and I suggest you do) here: https://arktos.com/2024/11/07/trumps-victory-a-global-conservative-revolution/
Misha says
Consider that the WP withheld endorsement for Kamala. WP is the voice of the CIA.
George Michalopulos says
I forgot about that!
George Michalopulos says
So, according to Larry Johnson, Biden worked with Trump to sabotage Kamala:
“Finally, let me present you with a rumor that is circulating. We now know that prior to Biden’s debate with Trump, his team had internal polls showing that he would lose in a blowout. What to do? Four weeks ago, a good friend with connections in Republican circles told me that Biden and Trump had communicated sometime after the debate. Biden essentially promised to sabotage the election steal (he knew how he gamed the system to get 16 million mystery votes in 2020) in exchange for Trump’s assurance that he and his family would not face prosecution. Did that happen?”
Makes sense:
1. Biden wearing the red MAGA hat,
2. Biden giving the “garbage” speech at the EXACT same time Kamala was speaking before 70 people on the White House ellipse,
3. Dr Jill being photographed wearing a bright red pantsuit on Election Day.
Brendan says
I have no idea if the following is true – and I am not an American.
However, given the past performance of General Milley, I wonder…
* There Appears to be a Cancer in the Pentagon with Sedition on its Mind. *
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/there-appears-to-be-a-cancer-in-the-pentagon-with-sedition-on-its-mind/
‘ If this story of a cabal of Pentagon officials meeting to undermine the incoming constitutional commander-in-chief of the U.S. military had been a rumor circulating on X or I’d received in an email from some random source, I would have discounted it. But that’s not the case; it comes from CNN. This suggests that something is deeply wrong in the Pentagon—the same Pentagon that “forgot” to send absentee ballots to U.S. troops serving overseas, a gross violation of their civil rights, and one that ought to result in courts-martial all the way up to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
According to CNN, Pentagon officials are trying to figure out how to block any orders Donald Trump might issue to protect the Southern border or remove from U.S. soil the millions of unvetted illegal aliens currently occupying the U.S.:
Pentagon officials are holding informal discussions about how the Department of Defense would respond if Donald Trump issues orders to deploy active-duty troops domestically and fire large swaths of apolitical staffers, defense officials told CNN.
Trump has suggested he would be open to using active-duty forces for domestic law enforcement and mass deportations and has indicated he wants to stack the federal government with loyalists and “clean out corrupt actors” in the US national security establishment.
Trump in his last term had a fraught relationship with much of his senior military leadership, including now-retired Gen. Mark Milley who took steps to limit Trump’s ability to use nuclear weapons while he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The president-elect, meanwhile, has repeatedly called US military generals “woke,” “weak” and “ineffective leaders.”
Officials are now gaming out various scenarios as they prepare for an overhaul of the Pentagon.
“We are all preparing and planning for the worst-case scenario, but the reality is that we don’t know how this is going to play out yet,” one defense official said.
Trump’s election has also raised questions inside the Pentagon about what would happen if the president issued an unlawful order, particularly if his political appointees inside the department don’t push back.
First, it’s clearly within the federal government’s purview to protect the American border from foreign invasions, whether terrorists, cartels, or the economic refugees amongst whom they hide. That means the president has the authority to order troops to the border. If people in the Pentagon conspire to refuse that order, in the best case, it’s a seditious conspiracy to undermine the president’s constitutional authority. In the worst case, it’s treason. And in any case, if they’re military, that would begin with a court martial.
Second, the president clearly has the constitutional authority to protect Americans on American soil from invaders who have already breached the border. The punishment for obstructive Pentagon officials would range from courts-martial to trials for seditious conspiracy or treason.
Third, the president has the authority under the Enforcement Acts to send troops to hot spots on American soil if there is unrest that is depriving citizens of their civil rights. In addition, even the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the federal government’s power to use the military on American soil to enforce domestic policies, has several compelling exceptions.
For example, the Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy troops to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, or rebellion. The Attorney General also has the authority to request that the Secretary of Defense provide emergency assistance to ineffective domestic local law enforcement.
Nor is any of the above airy-fairy theory. In the past seven decades, presidents have often called in the military:
1957: Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to desegregate Little Rock’s schools.
1962: JFK federalized Alabama’s National Guard to force Gov. George Wallace to admit two African-American students to the University of Alabama.
1965: LBJ used Alabama’s federalized National Guard to quell the Bloody Sunday protests in Montgomery, Alabama.
1967: LBJ called in the Army and National Guard to quell the Detroit riots.
1968: After MLK, Jr. was assassinated, Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley approved calling in the Army when riots broke out. In D.C., 13,600 troops occupied the city to quell riots. National Guard troops were also deployed across Baltimore.
1970: Richard Nixon called the National Guard to New York City after U.S. postal workers went on strike.
1989: After Hurricane Hugo struck the U.S. Virgin Islands, George H. W. Bush called in the National Guard to stop looting.
1992: Reserve soldiers headed to Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict sparked rioting.
2021: The National Guard occupied D.C. for Joe Biden’s inauguration.
For a president to quell civil unrest is normal. And for a president to use the military as needed to oust invaders from American soil is common sense. If anyone in the Pentagon blocks the president from doing so…back to those courts-martial, and sedition and treason trials.
The bottom line is that what is allegedly happening within the Pentagon—something that was obviously an authorized leak to a friendly outlet; i.e., CNN—represents the complete breakdown of our non-partisan constitutional military, one that the Founders established to be controlled not by a cabal of officers but by a president whom the American people elect.
When President Trump cleans out the Augean stables of D.C., what’s happening in the Pentagon had better be among the top ten items on his list. ‘
This scenario has been gamed before. See:
* Seven Days In May (1964) Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Fredric March *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4MZ7R_rVRk
[Video – 01:57:54]
Gail Sheppard says
You know what we know. It’s impressive.
Brendan says
A question that might be asked here is whether Gen. Milley
took steps to limit Biden’s ability to use nuclear weapons,
given that Biden is both senile and has a filthy temper,
while neither of these conditions apply to Trump;
against whose authority Milley did so act?
Failure to have done so may perhaps serve as evidence
that the General was participating in partisan politics
rather than protecting the nation from disaster.
George Michalopulos says
President Trump can fire anybody in uniform. I suggest he do so.
Brendan says
* Trump says Haley, Pompeo won’t join new
administration as cabinet shortlists emerge *
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2e7jdjdmplt
‘ Donald Trump says he won’t re-hire his former administration officials
Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo for his second White House term
after winning the US presidential election on Tuesday ‘
As Margaret Thatcher said, following
victory in the Falklands War: “Rejoice!”
blimbax says
I generally agree with much of what you’ve written here, with one important exception. You write, “Third, he destroyed the neoconservative paradigm. He started taking down the neocons in his first term when he threw a wrench in their war machine.”
Mike Pompeo is a neocon and followed Trump closely on the campaign trail during the last portion of the campaign. He is rumored to be on the short list for an important cabinet position. Tom Cotton was also someone whose name was mentioned for an important post. In general, I have the impression that neocons will try to slither back and infest the forthcoming Trump administration.
If the only major foreign policy issue were the Russia-NATO war in Ukraine, I might not be too worried. But the situation in the Middle East/West Asia presents an opportunity for the neocons, who are very pro-Israel (κώλος και βρακί) to use Trump’s stated position and attitudes about Israel as a lever to get into his good graces and push even more of their agenda.
Gail Sheppard says
I’m glad Trump put out this Tweet. Otherwise, I would have had to go to Mar‑a‑Lago and have a talk with him!
“President-elect Donald Trump announced he will not offer cabinet positions to Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo, thanking them for their service. Trump is set to nominate new officials as Republicans gain control of the government, with a meeting scheduled with Joe Biden on November 13.”
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/donald-trump-says-he-won-t-invite-nikki-haley-mike-pompeo-to-join-administration-11731199424236.html
blimbax says
I found out about that tweet after I’d made my comment. It was very good to hear that Trump was “disinviting” Pompeo and Haley. But I fear that there are still many neocons who are trying to slither into the administration in one way or another, and that some of them will succeed.
George Michalopulos says
One thing I’ll give the neocons is that they are tenacious. Lower level ones will find a way to slither their way into power but regardless, the handwriting is on the wall.
Brendan says
…tenaciously trying to slither up the greasy pole
to achieve the nothingness of their ambitions.
Hilber Nelson says
George, your last paragraph hits home: “And never forget, God has been merciful to us. We didn’t deserve to be delivered from the clutches of the Left. But we were. Let’s be thankful for that. And let us march forward boldly.”
With the Left in full-on meltdown mode, finger-pointing at everyone but themselves, leftist newsrooms tossed into the dust bin of dinosaur media, and replaced by the likes of Joe Rogan (one billion viewers watched his Trump interview), there is absolutely NO better time than RIGHT NOW, as George says, to “…march forward boldly.”
Caution! No less dangerous than Trump Derangement Syndrome, is falsely believing Trump will fix it. If only. No, it is the duty of We The People to keep up the pressure Trump and Company started, roll up our collective sleeves and drain the swamp, starting with right in our own backyard. Run for school board, health board, city council, local office, or support anti-deep staters, or help them get elected in 2026.
Yes, Trump won the election, but we have yet to win the war in that the Left is still very much in power. For “our deliverance” to be realized he needs all of us to enlist in the liberty movement, as does your community, state and country, in this very real battle between The Glob vs We the People.
With the blessed headwinds of liberty blowing in our favor, let us have the courage to put on the full armor of God, pick up our cross, anoint our head with oil, read and follow the lives of the courageous saints we venerate every day, and get in the fight of our lives. Your church, neighbors, kids, grandkids and nation are depending on you. It is nothing less than our duty before God.
Brendan says
Elrond Halfelven: “Look not to far ahead! But go now with good hearts!
…and may the blessing of Elves, Men and all the Free Folk go with you.”
George Michalopulos says
Hilber, you’re absolutely correct. It’s not so much Trump’s victory as it is ours.
Case in point: upon hearing that Cocaine Mitch was trying to rig John Cornyn or John Thune as his successor, a furious writing campaign commenced. I myself, wrote a terse but respectful letter to both my Senators and told them that now is not the time to resurrect The Swamp.
So yes, it’s up to us, at every level to go forward from school board on up to take the reins of power. Even if we don’t succeed at every turn, we can still push the Overton Window further to the populist Right.
George Michalopulos says
Can you feel the meme magic?
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/11/the-week-in-pictures-election-elation-edition.php
Fr. Demetrios Carellas says
Dear to Christ, George,
Thank you for this example of true journalism! I hope that your article is read by thousands of Orthodox Christians.
Permit me to add my comments on another issue, that I feel is of paramount importance. Both Russia and the USA – and the whole world, for that matter – will greatly benefit, if Russia and the USA become allies, rather than enemies. Russia is the largest Orthodox Church in the world. And a friendly relationship between our two countries can open the door to more citizens in the USA to finding – and embracing – the Holy Orthodox Church. They can see how the Orthodox Church has had such a profound impact on both the Nation and people of Russia in the past 30 years. For example, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, here are some of the positive impacts of the Orthodox Faith upon the Russian Federation and her people:
5 million abortions a year have been reduced to 500,000. And the government gives financial support when the family has three or more children. Unlike our Nation, Russia is encouraging large families!
LGBTQ cannot be taught in schools. You are free to have a homosexual lifestyle, but it is forbidden to promote its unchristian goals.
Transgenderism and gender “corrective” surgeries are illegal.
The number of Orthodox Seminaries went from one to fifty.
The number of Othodox Churches has increased from 5,000 to 35,000.
When Americans learn about things things, I feel that many will be drawn to seek out the Orthodox Faith for themselves.
Grant this, O Lord!
Gail Sheppard says
Russia and Trump (I can’t speak for the US) are already allies. The “capitulation tour” was possible because of information Trump gleaned from Space Force and information that purportedly came from Putin in a soccer ball. After he tossed the ball to Trump, he smiled and said, “The ball is now in your court, Mr. President,” or something to that effect. https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/politics/trump-putin-soccer-ball-chip-transmitter/index.html
Trump said he could end the war in Ukraine overnight. What did he know then that we didn’t know? Well, probably that Elon Musk was going to be part of his team. I’m guessing Trump offered Zelensky a way out and perhaps sweetened the deal by finding a way for Ukraine to keep Starlink (there was a significant funding issue), as long as it’s not used against Russia. Just a guess.
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/08/musk-trump-zelensky-ukraine-call
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War
George Michalopulos says
Fr Demetrios, thank you for this brilliant insight! I too, agree that our two nations should be allies. And I also agree that by being so aligned, Orthodox evangelism throughout the world can be accelerated.
If you don’t mind me asking, do you think this opinion is shared by other Orthodox priests of your acquaintance?
bob karp says
Fr Demiterios is daydreaming. No way would Evangelicas convert to Orthodoxy. They consider us less than Christian. Out liturgy is alien to them. The priests’ rassa are anathema. They will want to convert us, not the other way.
Brendan says
“No way would Evangelicas convert to Orthodoxy.”
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware did – in 1958
from the Evangelical wing of the Church of England
https://www.premierchristianity.com/obituaries/kallistos-ware-1934-2022-the-evangelical-convert-to-orthodoxy-was-a-father-in-the-faith-to-many/13734.article
Jaroslav Pelikan did – in 1998
from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaroslav_Pelikan
Hank Hanegraaf (the Bible Answer Man) did – in 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Hanegraaff
I’m sure you can find many more,
if you can be bothered to look…
George Michalopulos says
Not to brag, but many Evangelicals are finding their way into my local parish. And it looks like your run-of-the-mill Russian parish in the countryside.
George Michalopulos says
I most heartily disagree with you. While it is true that the John MacArthur wing of the Evangelical movement views us as animists, I can safely say that there is more sympathy for Orthodoxy among many Protestants than is presently known.
I say this as someone who was born in the Buckle of the Bible Belt. Growing up, I heard more than one friend ask me if “I still believed in Zeus.”
Helena says
Evangelicals are converting to southern mission churches.
Brian says
Northern churches, too. And not only in mission parishes. My parish is over 100 years old, and we’ve had over 30 converts this past year, as well as quite a number of current catechumens.
George Michalopulos says
A very perceptive, measured analysis: https://www.unz.com/ghood/the-age-of-trump/
LonelyDn says
Donald jr is floating Candace Owens and Alex Jones as temporary White House press secretaries! Really! This is awesome.
Gail Sheppard says
They would both do well. Candace Owens is an “up-and-comer,” but I’d love to see Alex Jones as press secretary. He’s sort of calmed down his rhetoric, looking more professional, and being more measured (fewer rants). I thought it was because of his financial woes but maybe he’s already been offered the job. – Alex Jones’ mind works very quickly and he’s used to perusing a ton of information and being able to connect the dots. One thing is for sure: A lot more people would tune in just to see what happens!
Maybe they could both try out the job and then Trump could pick one of them.
The former press secretaries sounded like kindergarten teachers: “Now, children, the American people made the decision. There was an election two nights ago. There was! And it was a free and fair election and we respect the election process. We do. And Americans spoke. And so the job of the president is to make sure we respect that. The job of the president is to make sure that we have a peaceful transfer of power. That is what the American people deserve. And that’s what we’re going to—it’s really, it’s not complicated. It’s truly, truly as simple as that.”.
Brendan says
Kamala: “The people have spoken. The b*stards!”
George Michalopulos says
I’d be happy with either Candace or Alex. If for no other reason than to see the Swamp Creatures heads explode.
Brendan says
…but it was Harold Wilson, not Harold Macmillan,
who refused to send British troops into Vietnam;
to the consternation and fury of Lyndon Johnson;
though the Australians did send special forces in.
Brendan says
* Full Video | Episode 139 | Col. Douglas Macgregor (ret.) *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxO7aKj2OGI
[Video – 01:26:59]
Col Macgregor: “We misinterpret things to flatter ourselves
…and we suffer from an acute case of national narcissism.”
An hour and a half of Colonel Macgregor.
It’s two months old, but utterly relevant…
Misha says
This is the death knell for the Democratic Party. Before, I must admit, I looked at the evidence with a healthy dose of wishful thinking and predicted as much. Now I’m sure.
312-226, that will be the official Electoral College count. However, though it is a larger number of electors than he got in 2016, it does not tell the whole story.
Once again, many Democrat operatives in the election machines of the blue and swing states cheated or attempted to cheat like their lives depended on it. Often, in the swing states, they were stopped or at least stymied into limited interference. But consider that Trump won every single state with voter ID and that all the states he lost lacked voter ID.
This is no coincidence.
It is becoming clear what has been happening in the American electorate since Obama’s second term. They have largely rejected the Democratic Party. If the Democrats behaved the same way in 2016 as they did in 2024 and 2020 – and they surely did – then they tried to steal that one two and the results in blue states were deeply skewed like they are in this election. 2020, of course saw the mysterious appearance of about 15 million phantom votes for Biden. Bear in mind, the margin was 40,000 votes in three swing states that decided the election. This was 15 million.
You may recall that Mike Lindell did a symposium after the 2020 election composed of experts in elections, machines, election fraud forensics and mathematician/statisticians. His contention was that Trump even one California in 2020 and that it was a total blowout, absent the fraud.
We can now see he was dead on correct.
I believe all of these elections, especially 2020 and 2024, were complete tsunami landslides for Trump on the order of Nixon-McGovern and Reagan-Mondale. The reason they do not appear so is the astounding, mind numbing extent of Democrat cheating in all of them. 15 million.
What this actually means is that the Democratic Party has not been nationally competitive since Obama left office. And they have been masking it with election fraud successfully all this time.
However, Trump won yet again. We know they’re still at it as indicated by reports of open cheating in California and the travesty in Arizona. It was certainly ubiquitous in blue states. That’s the only reason they stayed blue. But even that failed to stop some New England states from moving into the competitive column, notwithstanding the open license to cheat the Dems have up there.
You institute national voter ID and you will have a one party, Republican government for decades if not longer. And it dovetails nicely with things that are happening in the red South where you have Republican supermajorities in a number of legislatures. The red states are getting redder and the blue states are getting redder as well. And if the cheating were eliminated, the extent of the reddening would be breathtaking.
The good news is that it looks like Republicans will control all three branches of government. Election integrity therefore has a chance of prevailing nationwide. And if it does, bye bye Tammany Hall.
George Michalopulos says
Bingo!
LonelyDn says
Can Trump, at the federal level, make voter ID law of the land?
Misha says
This is the best attempt I’ve seen to refute my point about voter id, but it fails:
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/verify/elections-verify/harris-did-not-win-all-states-with-no-voter-id-laws-fact-check/536-f3fb6225-b35a-41ab-911d-e2a977e222e0
It does not matter whether Harris won EVERY state that lacked voter id. It only matters that she ONLY won states that lack it. A couple of the states she won have weak id requirements involving affidavits or with the poll workers taking a picture of the person and then them signing an affidavit. But that is not really voter id. Voter ID is where you have to show a driver’s license or some other government photo id to vote.
Trump won all of those.
Gail Sheppard says
In some states, they were giving out driver’s licenses to migrants. Maryland, Minnesota, and Massachusetts come to mind, but there are others.
Frankly, I think you should prove who you are and place of residency to the Election Board, before the fact, to qualify to vote in an upcoming election. You wouldn’t necessarily have to do it in person. You could check a box on a driver’s license application, allowing the DMV to share your information with the Election Board. That way, people could be vetted before the elections.
Helena says
I think all of the states that allow illegal immigrants, asylum seekers, green card holder, etc to have a driver’s license or state id differentiate the id from legal citizens.
Most of these driver’s licenses say right on them “cannot be used for voting” or “not valid or accepted for official federal purposes.”
Some states differentiate with different background colors.
Most states also cross reference voter rolls with DMV records. Others have AVR in place which confirms voter info automatically through their interactions with gov’t agencies (including DMV)
George Michalopulos says
Helena, this is true –as far as it goes.
Even if these millions of illegal aliens cannot vote (or be able to vote), their very presence in the states in which they reside augments the states’ respective populations as recorded in the decennial census. This means that the states in question get extra House seats. So you see, even if they don’t/can’t vote, the fact remains that their numbers increase the political clout of a particular state, needless to say to the detriment of those that don’t have as many illegal aliens.
Christine says
Check out the map of California. Trump turned it Republican. That is the major story no one is covering in MSM. I’m super proud of this state for its bravery in starting the process of taking this state back. Fight, fight, fight!
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6364402713112
Brendan says
I laughed out loud at this.
Thank you, Christine.
Christine says
Right? And California voters absolutely kicked to the curb a statewide minimum wage, protected landowners rights, and brought back arresting criminals and throwing them in prison. Lots of votes still not tallied, so we are still waiting to learn the outcome of some seats and propositions, but the red wave has flooded California this year. Just look at that amazing map!