Free Republic

“If you have to believe in something,” said a wise old uncle, “believe in science. But only if you have to believe.” Science isn’t all it is cracked up to be since many shady shamans pose as scientists in order to pluck money from someone’s pocket (typically taxpayer purses). Their magic trick is trade upon scientism, one definition of which is “the uncritical belief that scientific or quasi-scientific methods expose indisputable facts.” Political pitchpeople peddle such prattle knowing that the majority of non-scientific neighbors will accept as gospel conclusions published by seemingly sane institutions. Yet much of it is buncombe....

Who knew that Joe Biden was divinely omniscient on tactical weaponry? This is indeed a Gawd send. For millions of years bad actors have been stalking good folks, and good folks have devised numerous tools with which to defend themselves. In just the field of firearms dozens of categories exist, offering a bewildering choice to people needing to forestall beatings, rapes, riots and hot home invasions in settings rural, urban, suburban and hellish (e.g. Chicago). And yet Old Joe has triangulated all scenarios and concluded that everyone can defend themselves with a single firearm and tactic. “Get a double barreled...

Honest Abe hasn’t been resting in peace. Abe’s institution of emancipation has devolved into a rancorous mess, with its members divided into three factions. Unlike their competitor party, which is 90% aligned on policy, the GOP has become an indoor shooting range. I have long said Republicans are marksmen because it takes this much skill to repeatedly shoot yourself in the foot. The elephant’s carcass is carved-up into three hefty chunks. There is the Lincoln Legacy faction – the original progressives if you will – who have libertarian leanings. Marginalized for decades, they have recently been rejuvenated by the relative...

If you really want to annoy somebody, do their job for them in a very public way. This is an angle of the growing separation between American localities and the federal government. From general discontent, to increasing non-participation, to open calls for secession, the public in most states have had enough and are actively driving wedges between themselves and Uncle Sam. When states and local law enforcement join the party, then it is only a matter of time before realignment or divorce becomes reality. After calling for inept, unworkable and unproductive gun control laws (forgive the redundancy), Barack Obama has...

What is the difference between Barack Obama and Ignatius Loyola? Not a hell of a lot. I’m thumbing through a copy of The Ten Commandments of Propaganda, a book by my academic buddy Brian Patrick. Aside from being a well-rounded review of the dark art, Brain illustrates historical cornerstones of propaganda, which includes Ignatius. The Roman church originated modern techniques for thought control with their Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, known in Latin as “Congregatio de Propaganda Fide” and hence the modern perversion of the word ‘propaganda’.  In its purest form, ‘propaganda’ means to propagate information. It took...

Ironic it is that “anti-trust” is a very common phrase inside the beltway. It is growing outside as well. When applied to people and institutions, “trust” means the confident expectation of them doing something specific, such as keeping their word, being honest, not stealing from you and deferring to your personal prerogatives. The antithesis of trust – or anti-trust, to abuse the term – requires either violating the basic principles of trust or being of such low character as to never earn trust. Congress doubled down on their anti-trust personae. One should never trust any politician. By their nature, they...

Welcome to a world where one man can shout as loudly as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox. MSNBC doesn’t count, as their ratings indicate. About a decade ago citizens took control of the national conversation away from traditional media. As I said in the epilog to Shooting The Bull, “When a few million intelligent but bored individuals are given a unified platform for research, analysis and sharing, power shifts from the organized Fourth Estate to the unorganized Fifth.” Nothing ticks off people in power than to have it taken away, hence the growing mobs of surly unemployed journalists. This...

Twenty eight corpses hadn’t even cooled before Michael Bloomberg found a TV camera. (Seriously – it takes about several hours for a human body to reach room temperature, but Bloomberg needed less than three to stammer about what he did not know). Ignoring my rule for waiting two news cycles for solid facts to emerge, New York Mayor and perpetual odd job Michael Bloomberg sought to make political hay out of lifeless children before knowing even the most basic elements of last Friday’s Sandy Hook slayings. “Not even kindergarteners learning their A,B,Cs are safe,” was one Bloomberg bromide. Then again...

“Washington is a fine place for journalists to live as well as to brown-nose. It has plenty of the only type of people who can stand journalists -- other journalists -- and plenty of the only kind of people journalists get any real information from -- other journalists. — P.J. O'Rourke” All the media is an echo chamber and all its reporters are merely mimes. This truism was confirmed by my friend Brian Patrick, a tenured professor of communications and the charming chap who penned the academic foreword to my book Shooting The Bull. Brain speaks eloquently about the “cloud...

Don’t worry about the so-called 1%.  They allegedly came by their wealth honestly. Congress on the other hand ... During the Great Recession, the wealth gap between congress and their constituents grew at a spritely pace. At the high end, congress’s cornucopia continued growing by 14% while you and your neighbors’ prosperity plummeted about 39%. On a good day it is damn difficult to like your average congress critter. Knowing that their holdings grew as the world economy imploded illuminates two well known facts: that being connected is profitable and that pitchforks remain viable corrective implements. Crony connectivity accounts for...

When a million people knock on your door, you should pay attention. Since FDR’s dark days, the divide between Americans who keep faith with the Constitution and those who use it for personal hygiene has grown deeper. Many like to blame Barack Obama for our perpetual political antagonism. Yet he is merely the latest manifestation of that eroding evil known as concentrated power. The backlash Barack suffers from those who seek enforcement of America’s express written will started its current fevered pitch via bank bailouts under Bush the Lesser. His errors were preceded by Clinton not serving time for perjury,...

(direct link in case embedded video does not work = http://youtu.be/rzx9U7qkVGA) (transcript of video follows) Jon Stewart is the most interesting propagandist working today. After Shooting The Bull, my book on propaganda analysis came out, I watched how many in the professional agitprop business have evolved. Stewart is more interesting than most not because of any new method of propaganda he has invented, but because of how he knits together standard techniques to completely mislead his viewers. Let’s have a look at a couple of examples in which Jon skews your understanding of politics. {Daily Show clip – Romney bash}...

I don't have time to dig for comparison videos, but I think I see a facial and behavioral similarity between Joe Biden and Dan Rather. As we know, Rather has suffered depression (I would too if I had worked for CBS News). In his post-career medicated state, Rather is prone to sudden facial changes, instantly switching from somber looking to an overly wide smile, with little input to trigger it. I saw the same thing with Biden during the VP debate against Ryan. I wonder if Joe is swallowing the same brain candy as Dan.

If the first presidential debate were a boxing match, Romney would have won on points. Being neither Democrat nor Republican, liberal or conservative, I have no champion in the ring. But being the modern pied piper of propaganda analysis and having spent way too much of my life in marketing, I can see when a product pitch works or doesn’t, even when the product is a politician and their promises can be placed in the circular file cabinet before November. Last night was a match between a mechanic and a brand. Romney was studied and prepared, repeatedly bringing the debate...

What do Hillary Clinton and Algerian Islamists have in common? No … they don’t both report to Muslim bosses. Hillary and Algeria's foreign minister both recently showed a preference for institutionalized ignorance. By perverting or masking information contrary to their respective religions, both have subjugated fact, theory and freedom. Granted, Hillary’s God is socialism evangelized via class warfare whereas the Algerian’s God is more organic and promoted using traditional warfare. Both are about controlling you. While speaking her alleged mind, Hillary warned some of her fellow United Nations nightcrawlers about the vaporous “elites.” Reclassifying the term as “people with means”,...

“Don’t judge me!” shouted to obese mother of what I estimated to be a dozen ill-mannered proto juvenile delinquents. Her charming tats aside, she otherwise was a model of incivility, bordering disheveled as she stashed a poorly covered ’40 into a bag while fishing for her EBT card. Had she been talking to me I would have politely informed her that, yes, I’ll judge her and everyone else. I damn well hope people judge me as well. This modern disinclination to judge is as antithetical to normal social functioning as is socialism, and perhaps as evil. Relying on quaint tools,...

I have seen some bad movies, but none so horrid that I wanted to kill the director. Not even Woody Allen. It may have caught your attention that gaggles of enraged Muslims executed a U.S. ambassador plus a few other folks, and continue rioting around the world. Their current fit of pique was provoked by a laughably low-budget film that critiques Islam and takes a swipe or three at Muhammad (no, not the fellow who drives the taxi that takes me to the airport … the other and slightly more famous Muhammad). No person of sound mental condition could take...

When ideas fail, words come in very handy. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Words are a poor substitute for understanding, as the above cynical statement about words relates. In politics, words lie louder than actions, which is why you cannot get the average politician to shut up. Many are the means for misusing morphemes. Some are as delicate as dew drops while others are as subtle as a Russian invasion. Fine words butter no parsnips but they do propagandize and polarize people heading to polls. Just ask the American Association for Justice, who was originally called the Association of Trial...

It took a Qatar-based news organization to pit me against the princess of propaganda. Whenever there is a public shooting, Al Jazeera English dials me up to explain to English speaking countries why Americans dislike gun control. Al Jazeera picks on me because I have been debunking gun control myths for more than a dozen years. This makes me an odd choice because Al Jazeera always frames the story as mystification over America’s lack of draconian gun laws. It’s like a drag queen walking into a biker bar and asking “why don’t you like me?” During discussions with the producer,...

Barack Obama may be staring down a long, dark hallway of unemployment. “Welcome to the club,” says 15.1% of the voters. It is unappetizing to agree with Gollum’s older brother, but proto-demon James Carville was correct in 1992 when he said “It's the economy, stupid.” Any president seeking reelection during a recession faces dismal prospects. Any President who campaigns on hope and declares that a lack of economic change in three years equates to a single term in office is fulfilling his prophesies. American voters rebel against nearly everything, but economic hardship and anything that slows traffic top their lists....