The Left's Operation "Blue Crush"
The Campaign to control the Narrative. If you want to Feel the Rush you need to Take the Risk.
They know they are the people who create the transformative values of American culture. They live in Hollywood, a magical place where traditional American values were cherished, broadcast across the land, across the globe. They are beloved still. It was a Wonderful Life.
But then the magic went away, along with a lot of the traditional American culture, with the '60s revolution. Now Hollywood is full of guys like Harvey.
Sorry, not that one. That Harvey is invisible, like this Harvey:
and this Harvey:
and this Harvey:
What happened!, you ask? Why is it getting hotter on the left left side of the swamp than Fahrenheit 9-11 Harvey Weinstein; (yeah he produced that one). Anything to say about that Michael Moore?
"Democrats need to embrace Hollywood because this is where they need to come to learn how to tell a story.” – And what a tale you weave.
What was that line from that little known flick: "You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany". Just check all the news that's fit to print:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html
"He employed Malia Obama, the oldest daughter of former President Barack Obama, as an intern this year, and recently helped endow a faculty chair at Rutgers University in Gloria Steinem’s name." Gloria, Gloria. "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."
"A job with Mr. Weinstein was a privileged perch at the nexus of money, fame and art, and plenty of his former assistants have risen high in Hollywood."
And from the West Coast we get more:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/weinstein-lawyer-repped-ny-times-sexual-harassment-probe-secretly-worked-stop-story-report-1055600
My, my where have you heard that name – David Boies – before? "a celebrated attorney who represented Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential-election dispute and argued for marriage equality before the U.S. Supreme Court. Boies personally signed the contract directing Black Cube to attempt to uncover information that would stop the publication of a Timesstory about Weinstein’s abuses, while his firm was also representing the Times, including in a libel case."
Black Cube? "Black Cube, an enterprise run largely by former officers of Mossad and other Israeli intelligence agencies." Former officers from intelligence agencies of our allies. I wonder if any of them are named Christopher Steele? "Weinstein’s relationships with the private investigators were often routed through law firms that represented him. This is designed to place investigative materials under the aegis of attorney-client privilege, which can prevent the disclosure of communications, even in court."
Now using a lawyer to pay for a dossier so it won't come out in court because of attorney-client privelege, now who <perhaps John Podesta, brother of well known lobbyist Tony Podesta?> would ever suggest such a thing. Does anyone wonder if a member of the Executive Branch of government would use a dossier to request a FISA warrant to unmask…… ah, the plot thickens swamp thickens…..
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/10/10/a_list_of_sexual_assault_and_harassment_allegations_against_harvey_weinstein.html
That about sums up the swamp.
Why are you no longer seeing Harvey? What is so newsworthy as to drive that scandal off the front pages you ask? How about the great honor the Chinese gave the United States by inviting the President to dine in the Forbidden City?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/president-trump-granted-rare-dinner-china-forbidden-city-article-1.3618735
How about the President showing America recognizes China's importance now and in the future by the most persausive means available, showing that we are teaching our own children Chinese:
No, we won't see that, it is Fake Forbidden News. How dare we have Good News about America when the land of the True and Good and Beautiful – Hollywood – is being shown as a cess pit of sexual assualt, where corrupt institutions have for decades waged a War on Women? Enabled all the while by those who became rich with the wages of collussion.
The response of the Hollywood Values wing of the Democratic Party of the Resistance will be making its presence felt by finally calling in the police.
Just what will they tell us to do? Round up the usual suspects! And…..
Just in time, thirty days before election day, comes the Scoop of the Century by the Washington Post. An "investigative journalist" just happens to find a woman with an allegation. Did I say a woman with an allegation, I meant Two Woman. Wait, it's better, it's Three woman. No, no, even better it's – the Fantasic Four! Wow oh wow where have these women been all these years. Now the Resistance Truth Justice and the American Way will be making its presence felt in a concerted campaign against – the usual suspects a Southern White Male Christian who had the audacity of hope to put the Ten Commandments in the foyer of the Alabama Judicial Building.
I'm shocked, just shocked, to find an example one of the inspirations of the founding principles of American jurisprudince in a judicial building.
But it gets even better.
When you read the story you find "None of the three women say that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact." Whoa. No force, no sexual contact? Rupt Roh. Just what is going on down there in Alabama? Again from the WAPO article:
"Neither Corfman nor any of the other women sought out The Post. While reporting a story in Alabama about supporters of Moore’s Senate campaign, a Post reporter heard that Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls. Over the ensuing three weeks, two Post reporters contacted and interviewed the four women. All were initially reluctant to speak publicly but chose to do so after multiple interviews, <wasn't that a tactic of Harvey Weinsteins agents from Black Cube?> saying they thought it was important for people to know about their interactions with Moore. The women say they don’t know one another."
So two reporters from the Washington Post- just happen to be in Alabama for a story about campaign staff – when they discover not one, or two, or three, but four women who don't know each other a month before the Senatorial election and just coincidentally while the Orgy of Hollywood Values is front page news across the planet and lo-and-behold a White Male Christian Conservative is #metoo. No one should think that this kind of superlative journalism would be the result of an investigation like the ones done by Black Cube or some other type of campaign smear research. It's just world class reporting. And now, to defend those who are thought to be defenseless, – women, there is only one thing for the establishment to do:
Call out the legislative heavies. Oh look, Swamp Thing
He gets it. Seven years to craft a repeal and replace plan and the rubes Trump supporters got more Swamp. "I choose not to dwell on situations where we come up a little bit short," McConnell said, according to WFPL. But now he's defending women! He's calling on the man who won the primary against a Trump endorsed candidate to withdraw. The Swamp doesn't have seven years to beat that darn upstart, better get crack'n, better call a true and couragous leader the Creature from the Black Lagoon:
Boy he sure taught those rubes who voted for Trump a lesson with that one, didn't he. Can you feel it? You want some more of that feeling, sticking it to the people of Alabam who won't toe the Swamp line Trump. Yeah, he's calling on Roy Moore to withraw.
Here's someone from the other side of the Swamp:
Oppsie daisy, that's the Senator under indictment on trial for corruption. I wonder if the Senate majority leader is calling for his expulsion before the trial is over and the verdict returned? Ah, no. We wouldn't want a rush to judgement though, not for a member of the establishment person accused of multiple crimes but who has not yet recieved a fair trial.
In keeping with the international flavor of the readership of the "Committee of Correspondence" I now offer an example of avoiding a rush to judgement and providing for fair trials. America The world learned a bit about justice from this example:
If there is one thing we know about justice in America it is that accusation is not guilt. Just ask Paula Jones or Jennifer Flowers or Bill Hilary Clinton. It might be useful to have an actual investigation rather than a, how did Clarence Thomas put it, "A high-tech lynching."
What we are seing in what I call "Operation Blue Crush" is a high tech lynching by the media establshiment in full collusion with members of the US Senate. In Hollywood they don't do lynchings, they are too full of Diversity and concern for women. Here's the spouse of world renowned Human Rights Activist Amal Clooney:
Oh crap #metoo
Here's a very successful entertainment mogul not #metoo
and another not #me too they just didn't hear or see anything; really.
Don't worry East Coasters Ivy Leaguers, we got you covered: W.E.B. Debois must be turning in his grave over that one.
Here is Hollywood's official special spokesperson making a brief announcement:
What is the media story of the day, what with #metoo revealing the true values of secular Hollywood and the American Left?
Monday evening PBS Newshour had on Tamara Keith of NPR, coworker of the senior editor accused sexual misconduct, Michael Oreskes, discussing the impact of the allegations on the credibility of NPR and its reporting Moore campaign for the Senate seat from Alabama.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-roy-moore-scandal-raises-gop-concerns-for-2018
NPR is a fine #metoo organization. It fired allowed Michael Oreskes to resign after accusation of sexual harrassment. Of course the WAPO put the NPR allegations in —- the Lifestyle section. Talk about burying the integrity lead.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/nprs-top-editor-accused-of-sexual-harassment-by-two-women/2017/10/31/a2078bea-bdf7-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html
Then there are other centers of news integrity:
Mark Halpren of MABC/MSNBC /Unemployed.
Lockhart Steele of Vox Media/Unemployed
Leon Wieseltier of the Altantic/New Republic/….
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/us/list-of-accused-after-weinstein-scandal-trnd/index.html
also here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/harvey-weinstein-scandal/weinstein-here-s-growing-list-men-accused-sexual-misconduct-n816546
Now did you see extensive coverage of the use of having lawyers pay for the dossier for the head of the DNC could have plausible deniability?
"The funds to Fusion GPS were secretly paid through the Perkins Coie law firm, a Democratic law firm. Both former Obama White House counsel Robert Bauer adn Marc Elias head up the “political law” section of the firm." Perkins Cole was paid millions for "legal services" by the DNC and Hilary Clinton campaign:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/us/politics/clinton-dnc-russia-dossier.html
Did you read about the use of former intellegence from foreign governments working on the Russia Trump dossier? Like the ones hired by Fusion GPS?
Did you read that Tom Podesta, brother of John Podesta, resigned as head of thier lobbying firm "… to prepare for possible legal action against him and his firm by Special counsel Robert Mueller." Naw. Me either. They don't do the Daily Caller. Who do those guys they think they are? They apparently are not NPR/MSNBC/#metoo news.
What does America's Community Organizer in Chief have to say:
"The movie mogul also helped raise millions of dollars for the Democratic Party, hosting fundraisers during Obama’s presidency. "
http://people.com/movies/barack-and-michelle-obama-say-harvey-weinstein-needs-to-be-condemned-following-sexual-harassment-scandal/
Just a few years late sir. But you got yours and you don't need Harvey any longer. Or the establishment left, either, but that's another story. Besides, Operation Blue Crush. Somewhere in America there is a Southern White Male Christian who done wrong. And the Media Establishment is gonna tell us about it 'cause they sure don't want you to read about the Hollywood Values of the Party of the Resistance and the Swamp Establishment. They are pulling out all the stops, using all the media and legalistic tactics possible to provide cover for thier ongoing collusion in undermining the constitutional order in the American Republic.
Will a school massacre be sufficient distraction? These things happen with increasing regularity and never with much real reason or motive other than ‘becuz guns’. MK Ultra never went away. It just got a new name after the typically convenient fire destroyed all the records Congress was asking about.
But…But…the Rooshins spent $250 big ones on face book ads!!!! The evil dastardly despicable Rooshins are wrecking our democracy!
Hindy,
Got some evidence that the shooting in that highly regulated state of California was done at the behest of the Left? Just because James Hodgkinson was a “Bernie Bro” does not mean Bernie approved his attempting to assasinate James Scalise and numerous members of the US House of Representatives. Now you might posit that the “Resistance” and the media narrative ginned up enough emontion in some people on the edge that they went right on over; but that would be a different story altogether.
If you Google it you can find photos of Weinstein Trump and their wives looking all happy to gather. What do any of these photos prove, Nothing. If you like the Rooshins so much, go live there for a few years.
NancyK,
How about Yankees?
http://defamer.gawker.com/remember-when-38-year-old-jerry-seinfeld-dated-a-17-yea-1714153938
Hi Fred,
I’m a little baffled by this posting.
I’m not sure what the point is except perhaps to note that people in positions of authority or power often abuse that authority or power in ways both evil and wrong. I think that Weinstein is a despicable man. Although Moore has not been proven to have behaved as despicably, I’ve heard enough to decide that he is a man of low character. In my opinion, anyone in their thirties, man or woman, who makes sexual advances on a teenager needs to take their moral compass in for repairs.
mongo
Fred,
I think we’re seeing a seismic change in how our society is viewing the boorish behavior of powerful men. This is just the beginning and it’s going to entangle a lot more dirty old bastards. Weinstein’s dead. Spacey’s dead. Moore’s a zombie who just doesn’t realize he’s dead. Four accusers from the WAPO investigation. Then another one with a signed yearbook. Two former cops talking about banning a creepy thirty something DA from a mall to protect girls. It’s the pompous hypocrisy that’s really over the top. Of course, pompous hypocrisy seems to be the norm among the rich and powerful.
BTW, I like your new avatar. Did you score some quality shrooms lately?
TTG,
I figured if I was going to write about the media coverage of the Utopia at the end of the rainbow that is La La Land what could be more symbolicly harmless than an avatar of me as a little kitty carrying a peacemaker while out riding a Unicorn. Not sure where I found that thing actually, but it is rather cool. Don’t know much about Moore other than what is now in the press. The uniformity of the coverage, and memory holing of everthing else, sure is timely.
Pacifica,
Quotation marks look like this ” ”
“British Common Law, which was a common oral tradition of law developed in the pre-Christian era.”
How should one understand what all that fuss was with Sir Thomas Moore and who was that guy with the Church of England? Then there’s Charles I and the Lord Protector. (I seem to think even he got a statue at some point. I’ll have to write about that.) But that’s all a few centuries into the Christian era in Britian. There were plenty of additions to British Common Law over those centuries. Here’s a convenient and entertaining place to start to un-revise your history:
http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/2013/09/001-the-kingdoms-of-charles-stuart.html
Fred,
Moore got caught in the wake of SS Weinstein as it plowed into the reef at flank speed. The victims are emboldened by numbers and are finding the courage to step forward and speak. If Weinstein didn’t happen, Moore’s accusers would still be silent. He was a piece of work long before this latest revelation, but this was just the icing on the cake. You’re right. These kinds of stories are going to dominate the news for some time.
“British Common Law, which was a common oral tradition of law developed in the pre-Christian era.”
No, It wasn’t.
SEWER, not Swamp
Sewer, not swamp, is the most accurate description of US political institutions. Sewers are fetid, putrid environments that breed every type of disease, virus and bacteria. It is home to rats of the most degenerate and vicious kind that live and procreate in the excrement of mankind. How do you clean a sewer? You can’t! Like a cesspool, it must be thoroughly flushed out and neutralized, and even then it infects the greater ocean of humanity since it travels the ocean currents and touches every shore.
It is patently unfair to compare the US political establishment to a swamp. Swamps are vital ecosystems, vibrant with life and essential to the well being of the earth’s ecosystem. Swamps harbor unique wildlife and organisms as well as serve as a filter for land based detritus. Moreover, swamps serve as a sink against the worst inundation and run-off in times of flood. When connected to the ocean, they serve as an essential breeding ground for fish and other marine lifeforms, and are an important buffer against destructive oceanic tsunamis.
I don’t understand this at all.
On the subject of English Common Law – What we know today as Common Law emerged in England after the Norman conquest and evolved through the middle ages.
Looking further back 9th century England was divided. We had English England and Danish England (north & east England). When king Alfred beat the Danes he developed a code of law that was based on the bible but Danish England effectively continued with Danelaw. Even the kings after Alfred recognized Danelaw due to the language, cultural and custom differences between the two parts of the land. Danelaw was still predominate in many parts well into the 11th century.
PA
I should have added that there is no such thing as British Common Law only English Common Law.
Nancy,
if you like Weinstein so much, go live with him for a few years. Suddenly these evil Rooshins don’t look all that bad anymore…
I think men and women from all parts of the country are quite capable of behaving horribly.
“British Common Law, which was a common oral tradition of law developed in the pre-Christian era.”
This is yet another instance of you asserting complete, total, and absolute twaddle as fact.
Wrong – about as far wrong as it’s possible to get.
British common law developed during the Middle Ages as a part of the drive to centralise political authority and justice. In other words it took place after the Norman conquest and was part of a concerted effort to replace Saxon law with Norman law.
English common law has its roots in Germanic tribal law- which is pre-Christian by a long shot as the pagan Germanic tribes were not Christian until much later than the Celts or Latins. (Only the Balts resisted the destruction of their pagan Gods and sacred oak groves for longer). I’ve always thought the promotion of the Ten Commandments as the root of our laws as historical revisionism – just plain ignorance.
Now the US Constitution was written mostly by deists – who are considered far from Christian by the Bible thumpers – so I think ascribing the Ten Commandments as fundamental to our constitutional order is also ridiculously false.
Anyway good old Roy Moore will probably be elected, imho. Did he break a commandment? Or two? Or is his sin of another kind?
Mathiasalexander, yes Fred’s style is always a real challenge. No doubt. For instance what about the visibly present editing? Symbolism?
In a nutshell, he is suggesting the “cherry blossom emperor”(Tyler), the upstart (in Fred’s diction), is prevented from draining the swamp. Guess by whom? Of course by the swamp. It’s an operation that started in California or Hollywood and thus is called:
Operation “Blue Crush”. It is the making of a sinister Democratic network trying to shorted the emperor’s reign. In this case preventing the election of Moore.
Darkening the light thus threatening to make the rainbows of hope visible on US horizons everywhere since the emperor’s election disappear. Created by the Tears of the multitude in flyover America that refracted, reflected, and dispersed the light once the emperor ascended to his throne. Tears both from decades of suffering since the fifties and tears of joy about the real chance, the hope to turn back the nutters-clocks*, to make America great again.
* the democratic elites, and aligned misguided creatures like the left, multiculturalists, cultural Marxist ….
Another nutshell, the whole evil may well have started when Eva tempted Adam with an apple. …
********
If you check Wikipedia’s Roy Moore article you’ll get an idea about the more specific source of anger, apart from what he describes as me-too-responses. They surface here too. Headline: Sexual allegations. He was a leading voice in the larger Obama’s birth certificate too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Moore#Early_prayer.2FTen_Commandments_controversy
According to Moore. Homosexuality should be illegal again. Concerning Putin:
Moore has strongly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, stating that he is maybe “more akin to me than I know [myself].” When asked whether he believed whether Russia interfered in the 2016 United States elections, Moore stated “Everybody else thinks it’s the Russians. I think it was the providential hand of God.”[175][176]
Weinstein is not running for office. Even Hannity has demanded that Moore get out of the race.
“In Search Engine results, the Meta description for Sic Semper Tyrannis is as follows, “military. Middle East. South Asia. Intelligence. Islamic culture.”
Where does this nonsense post fit in any of that?
Robert,
I’m taking flak, must be on target.
LeaNder,
“Blue Crush” is the title of the NY Post article describing Northam’s victory over Gillespie that is linked to in my post. The term is currently in vogue with my democratic friends.
All,
The history of the common law of England, on which the American legal system was based, was rewritten by the late Patrick Wormald. An obituary in the ‘Telegraph’ following his premature death in 2004 summarises very briefly the conclusions of his 1999 study ‘The Making of English Law’:
‘In itself, this is a masterpiece. It lays the palaeographical foundations for a more interpretative second volume, most of which exists in polished draft. Nevertheless, its bold conclusion is already clear: that English common law was, in effect, founded by King Alfred of Wessex. The conventionally vaunted 12th-century legal reforms of Henry II’s reign did no more than build on the strengths of a system which had already been created in the ninth century.
‘Wormald showed elsewhere how King Alfred had capitalised on Bede’s earlier presentation of the English as a new chosen people, forged from the Angle and Saxon invaders of post-Roman Britain. Alfred conceived of his role as their king in providential terms. It sometimes seemed as if Wormald implicitly endorsed this view.’
Of the revolution in Anglo-Saxon studies of which his work was part, the obituary writes:
‘Thirty years ago, English medieval history for undergraduate historians often began in 1066; only specialists attempted to peer back into the earlier gloom. It is inconceivable that this could happen today.
‘The band of historians of which Wormald was one has brought Anglo-Saxon England out of the shadows, and presented a compelling case for the precocity of its civilisation in general and of its governmental institutions in particular. If England before the Norman Conquest was precocious, it was also, by definition, already exceptional, even unique.
‘The implications of this argument in the final quarter of the 20th century were clear, although Wormald was never a historical Little Englander: he was keen to demonstrate cross-Channel links in the early Middle Ages, and wrote extensively on continental history.’
So elements in American history may indeed go back a long way, and have complex roots, in which Christianity was always central.
(See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1475130/Patrick-Wormald.html .)
Himself a devout Roman Catholic, Patrick Wormald was also a depressive and a drunk. God rest his soul.
Fred:
I enjoyed your piece, but Amal Clooney is not a “Palestinian human rights activist.” She is a Lebanese Druze.
British common law is primarily a result of the Norman Conquest. Before then, British law was based on Anglo-Saxon traditions, which was also after Britain was Christianized. (Alfred the Great….)
Are you familiar with the Venerable Bede?
Matthew,
Thanks for the clarification. I should make and edit and delete “Palestinian” from the caption.
TTG,
yes, the Media Narrative is that left leaning Hollywood is not a cess pit of moral decay. Why just yesterday CNN reported that there are a couple of abusers in the legislative branch: “… Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, did not name either member, but noted that one is a Democrat and the other, a Republican.”
So rather than exposing thier conduct to the light of day we have a McCarthyesque moment where the press can proudly go to every male member of the Legislative branch and ask, “Are you now or have you ever sexually harrassed a woman”. Don’t look at the hundereds of Democratic contributors and enablers who the press has showcased as beings of moral courage with the right stuff to serve as examles of correct conduct whose politics are the correct politics.
Are you mixing up customary law with common law? Thought in the early days of the evolution of states common law was based on the precedents of cases tried by LOCAL customary law.
The Salic Law was not devisêd for the realm of France.
What say the SST legal people?
Re: English Common law
a bit of nuance in to the debate, there is a huge difference between “creating” and “codifying” codifying the common law implies its pre existence, no king or any central power could create common law because that is not the definition of common law, the only thing kings and rulers could do was codify existing common law.
RE: the 10 commandments and american law
yes ask any american and they will tell you that the fondation of our society lies in
not making any imagages of anything alive.
and not coveting your neighbors goods.
also remembering god took the jews out of egypt
PA
I may be biased as Roman Catholic but Calvinist & Calvinist-leaning Protestants banned dancing, gambling, drinking, colourful clothing, and sports. Oliver Cromwell even banned Christmas festivities.
If a Wahabbi was to be transported back in time to 16th Century Zurich or 17th century Salem he would have found just one thing objectionable the presence of unveiled womem.
The Christian Evangelical Right have much in common with the the Wahabbi.
oh shit. Almost always add the stop format code first. Sorry, fred.
it’s here http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/11/the-swamp-strikes-back-the-medias-operation-blue-crush-in-the-campaign-to-control-the-narrative-an-a.html#comment-6a00d8341c72e153ef01bb09d7601f970d
The light is shining and an act of redemption is in the cards. Rush says the man was a Democrat when he was chasing those young ladies but while seeing that light turned his life around and joined the Republican Party washing out all those impure thoughts typical of the Democratic Party stereotype. Well the election is a few weeks out so the MSM can continue running through all the trailer parks of Alabama to find a few more stories but Roy will climb the mountain and ask for Redemption from those good voters of Alabama and he will win as long as the MSM don’t find a boy.
In reply to Pacifica Advocate 15 November 2017 at 09:12 AM
Try to get your facts right Common Law was the development of a law common to the people of England, controlled by the Royal courts. It specifically replaced the previous Saxon system of a patchwork of local jurisdictions.
“it was formulated entirely on the basis of the prior habits of the various tribes of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Celts, Romans, Vikings”
No it wasn’t It was formulated to replace and override customary law . It was the mechanism that replaced and overrode the uncentralised Anglo-Saxon law where as well as the Court of the King, witenagamot, each county would separately rule in disputes, in their own courts, according to their local customary law, through the Shire and Hundred Courts. Typically this would involved issuing a writ of quo warranto which would be met with a pleading of ancient usage which pleading would be disallowed. The Church courts didn’t come into it.
Try to get your (very basic) facts and legal history straight.
“You shouldn’t bring a pillow to a gun fight.”
As before, I needed neither a pillow nor a gun to correct your incorrect assertions. Just the facts.
The notion that Hollywood was free of the sexual harassment and exploitation of women and girls before the sexual revolution of the Sixties is an amusing one.
Bobo,
“The light is shining and an act of redemption is in the cards.”
You mean all those supporters on the Left are going to give up all the money they made by enabling Harvey and denying opportunities to all who brought forward the truth of his conduct? All those elected officials, appointed officials, university employees, etc, are going to resign as an act of redemption? This is Hollywood’s Waterloo and they hope the Old Guard can slow down the charge of the uncivilized hordes long enough to escape to fight again.
Yes, but at that time Hollywood had “Stars” and not tramps with stamps…
“Christianity was always central.” very good – so we can admit to the centrality of religion. From this we could move forward based on the Rumi’s adage: “Jesus to his religion, Moses to his.”
David,
Thank you for clarifying the issue. I’ve been of the opinion that the common law had its genesis in Anglo-Saxon England since I began considering such things. The Normans contribution to the development our laws seems to have been in the area of administration and codification. Can we not thank (or blame) both Saxons and Normans for the result.
Do you have an opinion concerning the effect of the shire reeve (sheriff) as an officer of the king on the development of feudalism in England? (Particularly in comparison to France and the Holy Roman Empire).
WPFIII
Roy is gonna cry, scream and beg for forgiveness while Harvey is gonna do some hard time as his sin does not allow for Redemption from that crowd as they need a martyr and old Harvey fits the bill. It’s just life and how it works. Some live above the ground and some below the ground.
” what we now know as Britain is all part of the Common Law system.”
Not really. Scotland had its own distinct legal system, which is only very partially based on common law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_law
Bandit,
It believe a whorehouse is a better metaphor, and it doesn’t exclude sewers..to which whorehouses have been compared. The Augustinian perspective on the subject:
https://books.google.com/books?id=HrikDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=sewers+and+prostitution&source=bl&ots=UJJuUtvXYm&sig=-wvQvlfbrkIdGQRpDDnCOOWb5kk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibq6uq2sHXAhVD8WMKHTg-BpAQ6AEIKTAB#v=onepage&q=sewers%20and%20prostitution&f=false
We must bear in mind that our political class also serves a function, and must be graded in context. Some systems require constant maintenance..we tolerate the chore for lack of viable better alternatives.
Fred: I had thought Trump labeled the revolving door between public service and the investment sector of our economy as the Swamp. Are you sure he was referring to Democrats?
Bobo,
2 down and 9,998 renew their loyalty oaths to feminism, LGBT and the cause of identity politics.
Babak – “Christianity was always central” is what you find significant in David Habakkuk’s summary.
The difficulty is that any religion contains in it much that is universal. We can therefore look either to pre-Christian cultural norms in Europe, or to Christian precepts, as the foundation of what we are now. It comes to much the same because of that essential universality of religious precepts.
This is particularly the case with Christianity because Christ and those who developed his doctrines laid down few specific modes of conduct. The Jew or the Muslim can if he wishes organise his life around what he finds or chooses to find in his sacred writings. The Christian cannot, though some might try to a limited extent. Disentangling what we Europeans owe to Christianity and what we owe to pre-Christian culture or its later development is therefore a matter of opinion.
My opinion is that the coming of Christianity in Northern Europe changed for good the way we think about and the way we talk about our public and private norms of conduct. Put simply, for a thousand to fifteen hundred years, depending what part of Northern Europe you’re talking about, there was no language to use for that other than than the language of Christian theology. But those norms themselves? They were scarcely touched by the new religion and nor was their development.
An eighth century land dispute in England would not have been settled by reference to the Bible or to anything derived from Christian precepts. It would have been settled by customary or traditional law dating back to pre-Christian times, or by reference to the king-made laws that were beginning to circulate that we may assume to have been digests or modifications of customary law. After that time, working out what in the development of law is due to the development of customary law and what is due to Christian precepts is again a matter of opinion. Mine again is that the forms and the terms may have changed but the underlying drive to the development was not a result of the application of specifically Christian precepts.
So what I am saying is that we narrow things down too much when we talk of the “centrality of religion” in the development of Northern European cultural norms. Because Christianity does not seek to prescribe cultural norms we don’t know how much of what we are is due to religion and how much due to natural development. It is purely a matter of opinion. Therefore it is safer to substitute for the term “centrality of religion” the term “centrality of culture” and leave open to argument how much of that culture is due to specifically Christian teaching.
Politics has become a Morality Play with the left, right and with crazy running through both, each side trying to prove its goodness and the other sides degeneracy. The issues aren’t even mentioned in the press, whether Alabama, POTUS or Congress. I’m glad to see sexual predators busted and humiliated (though humility is not part of their character.) Nobody mentions Bouncee, Madonna, Miley and the other female role models to young girls that they teach their fans to be sluts. Personally, I have no grudge against sluts but think some behavour belongs in a strip club, or my living room, and not on a stage in front impressionable teens.
I’m glad Roy Moore had to take down the 10 Commandments. The Supreme Court Building only lists the more secular final six commandments. Since I do not believe in the Hebrew god, I do not want to enter a courtroom worried I will be judged a heretic.
Fred,
re: “ feminism, LGBT and the cause of identity politics”
Looking from here, I think these folks have truly lost their minds
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/11/13/uc-berkeley-student-told-friend-fatal-stabbing-time-now/
What is wrong with these people?
Ishmael Zechariah
Operation “Blue Crush”. It is the making of a sinister Democratic network trying to shorten the emperor’s reign. In this case preventing the election of Moore.
Ok, this needed editing anyway. Yes, I did take a look at the first two paragraphs. Finished reading it now.
How should I best amend the above passage?
And what else was wrong about my, admittedly ironica, attempt at reading your contribution or trying to not to get distracted inside the storm (it felt) of words and images.
LeaNder
Trump supported Strange, not Moore. pl
I am much to old, 70 years, for either Weinstein or Moore to be at all interested in me. I guess age does have some benefits.
I have always believed in dissent.
Thank you for your comments.
I disagree with the central thesis of your comments:
” that we narrow things down too much when we talk of the “centrality of religion” in the development of Northern European cultural norms”.
One argument that you supply, that Christianity lacked a few specifics rules of conduct could be made also in Islam: in cases of adultery, consumption of alcohol, hijab, usury there are no – none, nada, zilch – rules in the Quran. All of those rules were adopted, it seems to me, from Judaism (which had itself adopted them from Din Behi).
In cases of prayers and fasting, there are exhortations in the Quran but they were extended and expanded based on the Sunna of the Prophet – as far as I understand the history. In fact, the 3 obligatory prayers, Morning, Noon, Evening, were also present in Christianity. And I think fasting, by both Christianity and Islam, has Judaic roots.
Furthermore, the custom of the circumcision of males comes not from the Quran – which is completely silent on it – but on the widespread custom of people in the Near East – it seems that even Ancient Egyptians practiced that. But, of course, now, circumcision – as a true sign of being a Muslim, is so entrenched that only another credible Revelation could remove it as an obligatory practice of being a male Muslim!
So this interpenetration of Custom and Religion has been going on in Islam as well – sometimes for the better, sometime for the worse – not exactly like Christianity but in an analogous manner.
Specifically about Northern Europe, I think it is very important to recall the civilizing labors of Carolingian Empire; just like in California or in Paraguay, the Crown and the Cross worked together to civilize the Heathen and to bring them into the Community of the Believers. It was in this manner that the Diocletian Line was moved East to include the areas inhabited by the Germanic Tribes – where it remains frozen to this day.
I would agree that the shallow – or non-existent – roots of the Classical Civilization in Northern Europe, in addition to their more recent conversion to Christianity, made it possible for more of their pre-Christian Heathen Culture (the way things are done) to enter their Christian Culture.
One such cultural trait was the idea of Personal Liberty – shared by tribal people of North America. Another one – related to that – was the status of women – I read that in what is now called Scandinavia women participated in tribal councils, at certain times and places they could even vote in the decisions.
But all of that, in my opinion, was subject to Christian doctrines and religion.
You may have seen the following report:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/woman-marry-mother-incest-conviction-oklahoma-comanche-county-misty-spann-patricia-a8048191.html
This can only be understood as a battle of cultures between Paganism and Christianity for as many of our neo-Pagan friends argue: “Government should not be in the business of upholding morality or legislating it.” Or a more clever one: “What happens among consenting adults should not be a matter for Law.”
This is not an argument that could be settled in the courts of law or through scholarship; it goes to the heart of what is the Purpose of human life and the aims thereof.
I would like to end by stating what seems to be obvious to me:
There is a religious battle over the disposition of Palestine. The Orthodox and the Catholic Churches are not taking sides in that war.
thanks Pat, helpful,
still struggling to understand (?) within my limited mental means.
Babak – agree. You point out that there is a two way influence – “So this interpenetration of Custom and Religion has been going on in Islam as well – sometimes for the better, sometime for the worse – not exactly like Christianity but in an analogous manner.” It is because it is so difficult to evaluate this interpenetration that I believe it is safer to talk of the “cultural identity” of Northern Europeans rather than to ascribe Northern European characteristics solely or mainly to Christianity.
You also point out that there was more to conversion than transference to another belief system. It was a spread of a different type of culture – “Specifically about Northern Europe, I think it is very important to recall the civilizing labors of Carolingian Empire; just like in California or in Paraguay, the Crown and the Cross worked together to civilize the Heathen.”
Exactly. The “cililizing labors”, with the Irish and the English getting done earlier. I believe we may see one facet of the conversion of Northern Europe almost as akin to the modern process of technology transfer. But more than that. It was not so much transfer of agricultural and other techniques, though that inevitably followed. It was the transfer of administrative techniques, of a different way of organising a ruling structure.
This is seen most clearly by looking at the spread of the various monastic orders. At first the founding of a new monastery had to be done by means of physically transplanting personnel from the founding monastery to the new. Like starting up oil wells in Saudi you couldn’t just tell the locals how to do it and hope it would work. You had to send experienced staff out to get the thing running and to supervise it. Later this changed. The ground had already been broken and Christianity was not so foreign. The rules for running a monastery were set out with more precision and it was then only necessary to send those rules, those blueprints, out. So instead of a monastic order slowly growing by transfer of personnel it was possible for one order to “seed” many more new outstations without needing so much to deplete its own trained staff. It’s a fair speculation that it could only have been then that true conversion of the people could be taken in hand. Earlier I suspect it might have been more something the bosses got up to.
But that example is from later. Earlier, with the accounts of thousands of presumably puzzled pagans going to some river and being converted en masse under the sword, it’s more that the rulers of those pagans were often eager for their realms to become Christianised. Those rulers may indeed have experienced what we would now recognise as a religious conversion. The Christian faith offers a route to the Transcendent that they may have explored gladly. But it’s unlikely many of them felt that way, don’t you think? What they were after was a better way of running their increasingly large kingdoms and maximising the output of the lands under their control. It wasn’t just the literacy they were after, though it’s obviously easier to run an estate if there’s someone around to write the records down. It was the administrative structure they needed, and the senior Bishops and Abbots of those early times were the key men in those new administrative structures.
And like the “backward” countries of today, you’d better get up to speed pretty fast because if you hadn’t the neighbour who had would come and grab your stuff. In the early Northern Crusades the Wends used to hang outsize flags with crosses on them on the town walls, to tell the marauding Crusaders “Don’t attack us. We’ve already been done!” Didn’t always work but the incentive to modernise and show you’d done so was as necessary to defence then as it is today.
So again we’re looking at another area where non-religious motives and imported religious beliefs were mixed up in the process called conversion. It’s because of that that we can’t look at Northern Europe today, even with Church spires dotted around every few miles and us now only able to use the language of Christian teachings, and say that Christianity is central. It was never the sole centre. It came from outside and slowly interpenetrated with the local cultures and practices; and, because that process is, as I have said, open to so many different ways of looking at it it is safer to talk of culture as being central to Northern Europe rather than religion. Your Diocletian line, particularly since Christianity is losing its go around here, has to be regarded as a cultural rather than an exclusively religious marker.
You do realise, Babak, that had we been discussing this subject in any far-out Progressive European or American University we’d probably have got the sack? The idea that an entire set of people can possess a culture that is radically different from the culture of another set of people – so much so that it’s a difference as marked and as enduring as any outward physical characteristics – may be obvious enough but it is so outlandish and heretical to the Progs that they’d probably hang, draw and quarter us after they’d fired us. “Cultural identity”, “Diocletian line” (though I’m a little hazy about where it goes these days), those aren’t terms that are going to earn us Brownie points with the Progs.
IZ,
ABC News had a report on Ben Shapiro’s speech at the University of Florida. They quote the organizer of the protest against that speech who says that even though UF is a public institution the Constitutional guarantees to free speech, – “I don’t care. That isn’t a relavant document right now”. 4:20 into the video:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/outspoken-conservative-ben-shapiro-free-speech-place-college/story?id=50610394
Mao’s red guards in action.
Pacifica,
Your anti-Christian bias is quite clear. All those men who wrote the Constitution knew precisely what the Ten Commandments were even if they did not quote them.
Fred,
Wow!
It is amazing what those devious Russian social media AI programs can get people to believe!
And the AI bots are so convincing that even college profs can overcome the effect to set the kids straight. Amazing!
Yes, the process you describe is exactly what happened under Fr. Junipero Serra in California; as the poet says:
“…to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro’ soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.”
Indeed it is often difficult to separate the Religious and the Profane: women procured for the Conquistadors in Mexico had to be baptized before fornication could begin – as protection against demonic spirits that possessed them.
The Diocletian Line could be placed either on the 17 or 18 longitude; if you chose 17th, almost all of Slovakia lies to its East.
I think it is not just progressives that would find all of this discussion offensive; all of those who have this forlorn hope to someday approximate Western Europe will be upset as well, this would include many among the thought-leaders of Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, the Arabs, Africans and many many others.
Eric,
RIght now the bots are trying to convince me that the Democratic party will not be calling on Senator Al Franken to resign because his #metoo moment was just a joke and that makes it okay.
Fred,
those busy little bees…I mean bots. They’re convincing me to knock off work a little early and enjoy three fingers of top shelf Bourbon…..or maybe that’s a thought from my own head….who knows anymore…bots are so sneaky and prevalent that they have infiltrated our every thought…..their worse than Illuminati …or maybe the Illuminati are running the bots…only we don’t know it because the Illuminati are programming the bots to tell us that there are no Illuminati…or bots….all I know is that I liked bourbon before there was an internet…so probably ok…but then how do I know when there was – or wasn’t an internet….could be bots messing with my memories….wasn’t there a movie or two having to do with inability to recall because of stuff the deep state did to one’s mind….bots man…I hate ’em
Fred,
Not everyone attains the high art of preventing their emotions from affecting perception. Socrates, I believe, was perhaps the first guy in Western civilization to get on the right bus, his method was to question everything. A most annoying fellow, may he rest in peace.
It’s most unfortunate this must include our own emotions. It’s one thing to have that inner two year old nagging “WHY? to information and events, but quite another to have that applied on our basic natures. So few attain this divide and rule will remain a key tool in the herding our species for the foreseeable future.
Regarding Roy Moore, it appears that the “Yearbook” evidence may have been fabricated:
http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=232578
One of the benefits of old age is wisdom, but I guess that is a generalization that is not true in every case.
Stephanie,
You forgot to mention the exploitation of men and boys. Kevin Spacey wasn’t the first paedophile in Hollywood.
Hollywood, and Broadway prior to the former’s incarnation had “casting couches”; completely unrelated to fashions in interior decor.
Just a footnote – I’m not sure about the Voelkerwanderungen. I could never believe that that much people transport was practicable. Certainly in England the older history books, with their talk of this tribe settling here and this there and physically displacing or killing all the natives, always looked unlikely. You need modern technology and modern means of transport to do population replacement and genocide the way we’re used to it. DNA testing is beginning to sort out who went where and seems to indicate more continuity than was thought.
The Continentals neglected to provide themselves with a moat so things are a bit different there but even so, I do wonder whether it might be more realistic to think in terms of spread of technology, small bands of nobles with their retinues pushing the old bosses aside, and the occasional irruption from outside, still leaving most people where they were.
Babak and I have been happily bashing Progs up above so I don’t want to get too political again here, but I do wonder whether the old scholars who set the scenario that the new ones still, I suspect, sometimes think in terms of, weren’t too heavily influenced by German Romantic Nationalism with its emphasis on sharply delineated national identity. Also the only real hard evidence they had available then for analysis of people movements, apart from the ancient texts that were just as good at re-writing history as we are now, was language and dialect. They were extraordinarily good at that. I came across a grumpy remark from a late nineteenth century English scholar saying well they would be, wouldn’t they. Seems the German universities of the time made much better provision for such studies. They were indeed good at it but language is one of the more fragile markers. A decent length of time and the presence of a foreign elite and a people can switch languages without that necessarily meaning that there was a substantial population shift.
So even in Continental Europe I think one might be justified in taking full-on Voelkerwanderungen with a pinch of salt.
You may have seen the following report:
amazing, Babak. You aren’t kidding, are you?
you never fail to surprise …
How exactly could that story be fitted into your two central theses? Signs on the horizon?
The Diocletian Line could be placed either on the 17 or 18 longitude
Ok, I see you may have adjusted/moved your “Diocletian line” slightly:
https://tinyurl.com/17-meridian-East
https://tinyurl.com/18-meridian-East
Problem is, I felt quite comfortable as barbarian outside your ‘culture borders’ so far. Partly, maybe based on nomen est omen. Who knows? 😉
The woman, not 24 year old girl, does not think he should resign. She stated she wanted an apology and feels Frankens apology was sincere. Moore has not admitted wrong doing and definitely has not apologized.
NancyK,
Moore did not grope a sleeping employee, photograph the event, and joke about it during and afterwards.
I meant 14 year old girl. Franken didn’t do anything more than what Trump has been accused of. I think Moore, Franken and Trumps behaviors towards women are disgusting. However Moore’s accuser was a child at the time, being a pedophile is another level of wrong.
Nancy K
Do you understand the difference between accused by hostile media and proven to be guilty? pl
Obviously not.
Nancy,
The evidence shows the accuser is 52 not 14. She claims the event occurred when she was 14. There is a difference. There is also a difference in media coverage. Has anyone other than the press and the democratic party adjudicated his guilt?
This man’s accusser was 17 at the time. He spent 45 years in jail. “oops” sorry.
http://www.timesunion.com/news/crime/article/Man-seeks-freedom-after-judge-tosses-decades-old-12355157.php
I’m sure there are others who suffered a similar miscarriage of justice.
Pacifica,
Good for you. Perhaps you should double check your sources on who is doing that writing of revisionist history.
Yes I do understand the difference.
Pacifica,
The blog post is about media coverage of Roy Moore vs. coverage of Harvey Weinstein and a multitude of democratic supporters. You have mentioned nothing about either. You have filled the comment thread by extensive comments on subjects far off the topic of the post. That is a quite common troll tactic. A second is being arguemenative with other commenters anda third but by no means last is resorting to victimization when called out.
Stephanie,
indeed, there are many examples in the literature touching upon this topic of sexual exploitation – e.g. Emile Zola’ “Nana” , or Frank Thiess’ “Der Leibhaftige”. The latter is especially interesting because it just predates the Hollywood control of movie industry, and describes the miserable “Twenties” (1920’s) in post WW1 Germany.
EO,
“…their talk of this tribe settling here and this there and physically displacing or killing all the natives, always looked unlikely.”…
If I may qualify, or understand better – I understand that many Celtic tribes were annihilated by Cesar in his conquest of Gallia. The Roman invasion of England was also bloody, maybe not that wholesale eradication of existing celtic people, but the remaining population adopted the roman civilization, willy nilly. In Asia at the time of Mongol expansion, many tribes were also either eradicated or forcefully incorporated into the victorious mass.
“…teach their fans to be sluts.”
more insidious, tho less grotesque, are the role models promoting aspirations to power over as opposed to power to in both [all??] genders.
Pacifica Advocata – always possible. The material we’re referring to is pretty basic though. Well trodden ground. On the other hand there are always fresh studies coming out. In particular it’s a year or two since I read about the DNA side so it’s more than possible I’m out of date. If you’ve come across anything new that changes the picture you might care to give the reference. This is neutral ground and there can be no objection to fresh surveys.
It’w the persistent influence of Wilhelm Reich, and his followers in the Frankfurter School, on the boomer education, media, entertainment elite who promote what they consider the basis of a liberal mindset–orgasmic bliss. At least Hugh Heffner appreciated the art of wooing.
The comedeines Key and Peale did a perceptive skit about a fictional popular female singer empowering young women to free themselves sexually. The singer turns out to be a male grooming young women to lose their inhibitions.
Optimax,
Never discount the influence of Soros.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/18/soros-pelosi-headline-hush-hush-resistance-conference-in-california.html
And how come Soros’ influence in our democratic processes isn’t a crime, but Russia’s is?
Fanto – Thank you for your reply. Could well be you know more about the subject than I do. More than likely, on the Colonel’s site. In any case I’m diffident about pressing my view too far – I’m suspicious even of those who study this subject, when they get too confident, because I’ve so often seen them proved wrong later.
I should say that my approach to this subject is slightly indirect in that it’s an approach through the OE texts. Those I go for. Close enough to our present speech to give confident access after a bit of fussing with the pronunciation and grammar. Remote enough to give unmediated access. The scholars dig around in them for their own purposes and the students groan through them if they can’t avoid it, but few just read them for what they are. The Lit Crit mob keep clear, or at least I haven’t seen them around and don’t propose to go looking for them, so for someone who doesn’t like to be told what to think it’s good territory. Technically I think OE alliterative verse reaches levels seldom matched in English literature since. It fits the language. Just my view.
The history side is moving very fast. That I do know. David Habakkuk’s recent comment shows how radically. Accounts that were accepted as gospel only a few decades ago are now overturned, although those accounts have inevitably left their traces in the current popular view of the period. Above I’ve ventured the opinion, which I hope is not too fantastical, that the heavy duty Voelkerwanderung view is due for revision. Shan’t get too upset if I’m wrong.
But this exchange of comments leads one to ask whether this interest so many of us have in our origins and in the origins of our culture is anything more than stamp collecting. Fun, interesting, but nothing to do with us today, with our political problems, or with our present predicament. I’d accept Henry Ford’s view that history is bunk, at least to the extent of agreeing that much of it is PR, but I would not accept it entirely. It’s not all a form of aimless cultural tourism either.
One perhaps useful function of the reading of history is that it does allow refutation of those who pervert the subject. When the Prog tells us that mass immigration is going to be just fine because Huguenot, or the ultra-Zionist tells us it’s OK to demolish villages because King David, it’s handy to be able to say “Bullshit. Go and get your historical facts straight”, Not that handy though – fake history pressed into the service of an ideology sticks like glue. The Biletsky fan who thinks it his moral duty to clear his country of foreign Vatniks is scarcely likely to sit down with the history books and get himself straightened out on the subject. And you could argue that pressing history into the service of contemporary politics in that way is so wrong-headed that you shouldn’t enter the debate on those terms in the first place.
No, the prime function of this quiet communion with our past that is the reading of history is to enable us to find our way around our present. When a modern lawyer talks of Common Law as a process of discovery rather than the application of prescription, as I have seen done recently, you don’t need to say “What the hell’s all that about?” and give up. The mind goes back to that period when customary law was emerging from its mainly local application and our lot back then were formalising the process of adapting it – “discovering” how their practice, derived from their sense of what was right or usual, had to change to match changing circumstances. So too with constitutional development. It wasn’t “blueprint” stuff, not stuff that we passively accepted from some ideology-ridden theorist or from some cabal of would be do-gooders. It got hammered out by us, and unless we give up on that too and merely let ourselves be jostled into a future we have no part in shaping, it still matters. There’s a point, therefore, in reading how they did it then. Those people lived under our skies and in our skins. They’ll talk to us, from way back, if we let them. We only have to listen.