Like the Jacobins of revolutionary France‚ leftist elites in America were diabolically prepared to use mob violence to advance their presidential ambitions in the mad year of 2020. Indeed‚ the very first protesters at the White House gates the Friday following George Floyd’s May 25 death in Minneapolis were calling for President Donald Trump’s resignation.  Protesting soon turned into rioting. That evening‚ anxious Secret Service agents ushered the president and his family into an underground bunker. The rioting resumed on Saturday and grew more serious. Rioters tried to push through security barriers‚ damaged six Secret Service vehicles‚ and threw bricks‚ rocks‚ fireworks‚ bottles‚ and other objects at Secret Service personnel. In some instances‚ they kicked‚ punched‚ and threw bodily fluids at the officers. By Sunday morning‚ 60 of the officers had been injured. RELATED from Jack Cashill: How George Floyd Actually Died The major media coverage of these riots bordered on parody. New York Times reporter Shawn McCreesh quoted a young black protester as saying‚ “I think it’s nice that people are still coming out to push for change.” McCreesh immediately followed this bromide with the observation that “a Chevy Suburban on I Street was in flames” and the crowds were “smashing windows and trying to wreck as much as they could.” Amid the carnage‚ organizers managed to get their point across: “We want charges. We want convictions. No more acquittals. We want these people to be held accountable.” This was Jacobin justice at its purest. In Minneapolis‚ these demands would rattle the jury pool‚ but in Washington‚ they rattled Congress‚ maybe even the Supreme Court. Derek Chauvin and his fellow officers would have no chance to secure justice in Minnesota. In the years ahead‚ Trump and the J6ers would have even less chance in Washington‚ D.C. (RELATED from Jack Cashill: Chauvin Did Not Murder George Floyd) Watching the rioters in Washington‚ or any of the 140 other riotous cities‚ those who would go to Washington on Jan. 6 — the J6ers — could not help but see that the corporate media‚ locally and nationally‚ sympathized with the rioters. Journalists did not hesitate to scold the police for using tear gas or firing rubber bullets or making mass arrests.  There would be no such sympathy for the older woman who police pushed down the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 6; or for Rosanne Boyland‚ who was also pushed down the steps‚ in her case fatally; or for Ashli Babbitt‚ killed in the least justifiable police shooting ever captured on video. In the months and years after Jan. 6‚ the media would use all manner of verbal jiu-jitsu to deny the obvious‚ namely that the “justice” dished out to the J6ers was far harsher than that applied to the Floyd protesters. On Aug. 30‚ 2021‚ for instance‚ the Associated Press ran an article headlined‚ “Records rebut claims of unequal treatment of Jan. 6 rioters.” This was nonsense. A DOJ report from Sept. 24‚ 2020‚ set a baseline for federal offenses. As of that date‚ some 80 individuals had been charged “with offenses relating to arson and explosives.” No J6er was charged with either offense.  Fifteen Floyd rioters were charged with damaging federal property‚ but that damage included a $2 million‚ month-long siege on the federal courthouse in downtown Portland and the complete destruction of the Third Precinct Police Station in Minneapolis. The J6ers‚ at their worst‚ broke windows. They set no fires‚ overturned no cars‚ toppled no monuments. The state and local authorities were even more lenient than the Feds. A record review by U.K.’s left-leaning Guardian found that the “vast majority” of charges against the Floyd rioters were “dropped‚ dismissed‚ or otherwise not filed.” In Dallas and Philadelphia‚ more than 95 percent of citations were dropped; in Houston‚ 93 percent; in San Francisco‚ 100 percent. Even for felonies like looting and assault‚ local authorities dropped the majority of charges. (READ MORE: Will the Real Election Interferers Please Stand Up?) The leniency belies the gravity of the Floyd rioters’ crimes against police and property. Their unhinged violence cost insurers as much as $2 billion‚ all for a cause as counterfeit as the money Floyd was arrested for passing. Even with the most inflated accounting‚ Jan. 6 caused only about $2 million of real damage‚ a good chunk of which was caused by the Capitol Police’s promiscuous use of tear gas and other toxic sprays. Lisa Eisenhart waded through the pepper spray as she walked into an open Capitol on Jan. 6. Her son Eric Munchel urged Lisa to put on her bandana. “It’s going to get spicy‚” he said. After 30 years as a registered nurse‚ Lisa was undaunted. There was little she had not seen or experienced. Still‚ as a precaution‚ the 57-year-old Eisenhart and her son were wearing tactical gear. This was not illegal. Lisa had gone out the night before wearing it for safety reasons‚ this being Washington and all. As the court acknowledged‚ Lisa “was not a member of any suspect group‚ did not do any advance planning‚ nor did she use force to enter the Capitol on January 6.” Although accused of threatening members of Congress by yelling “treason‚” Lisa encountered no members to threaten‚ and no individual was identified as a potential target. What triggered the authorities is that Eric found a bunch of zip ties lying around — he was accused of stealing them — and gave one to his mother.  Said Lisa’s attorney: “The Government claims the ‘logical inference’ is that Munchel and Eisenhart wanted to use the zip tie handcuffs to capture their enemies‚ described generally as ‘the members of Congress voting to certify the election.’ But the Government’s problem here is: they never threatened to do that.” Like so many J6ers‚ Lisa and her son respected the police. On leaving the Capitol‚ Eric told the surrounding officers‚ “Sorry‚ guys‚ still love you.” If Lisa had been following the case of Urooj Rahman‚ she had some reason to be hopeful about her sentencing.  In the early morning hours of May 30‚ 2020‚ Rahman drove with her friend and fellow attorney Colinford Mattis to a police precinct in the Clinton Hill section of New York City. There‚ Rahman threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of an empty NYPD patrol car‚ setting it on fire. She and Mattis were arrested and spent a few days in jail before being released to home confinement. By contrast‚ Lisa Eisenhart was held in pre-trial detention for a few months.  In November 2022‚ a federal judge sentenced Rahman‚ the 30-something daughter of Pakistani immigrants‚ to 15 months in prison. “She was the primary caretaker of her aging mother‚” a pair of weepy New York Times reporters observed. Judge Brian Cogan sounded almost apologetic for having to sentence Rahman. “You are a remarkable person who did a terrible thing on one night‚” Cogan told her. Praising her “lifetime of hard work‚” he explained that hers was one of “the most difficult” sentences “he ever had to impose.” There was‚ however‚ much the New York Times did not report about this “remarkable person.” The day before the attack‚ Rahman and Mattis exchanged a series of menacing texts in which Rahman boasted of her accomplishments. “Set a police car on fire‚” she said in one text. “My rock hit someone. A cop of course‚” she wrote in another‚ this one capped with a smiley face. “Molotovs rollin’‚” she wrote in still another. “I hope they burn everything down. Need to burn all police stations down and probably the courts too.”  Unfortunately for Lisa and Eric‚ Rahman’s sentencing had no predictive value. At the New York Times‚ editors chose not to notice the disparity in a cold-hearted article headlined “‘Zip Tie Guy’ and His Mother Get Prison Terms in Jan. 6 Riot.” The Times summarized their offense as follows‚ “A Tennessee man and his mother were sentenced to prison on Friday for seeking to intimidate lawmakers by marching with matching tactical vests and carrying zip tie-style handcuffs.” That’s about it. Lisa got 2.5 years‚ twice what Urooj Rahman got for firebombing a police car. Eric was sentenced to nearly five years‚ four more than what Mattis got for aiding and abetting.  As of last count‚ more than 1‚200 J6ers have been arrested and 450 incarcerated‚ the great majority for crimes no more serious than Lisa Eisenhart’s. Unequal treatment? No. That’s just another Trump lie. Jack Cashill’s newest book‚ Ashli: The Untold Story of the Women of January 6‚ will be released this summer. On sale now is his book Untenable: The True Story of White Ethnic Flight from America’s Cities. READ MORE from Jack Cashill: Racism‚ Revenge and Ruin: The Hellish Forces of Barack Obama Who Are the ‘Apes’ in Obama’s Poem ‘Underground’? The post The Un-American Inequality of Jan. 6 ‘Justice‘ appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

It might have failed to generate news as recently as 10 years ago‚ but an Orange County‚ California‚ city making conservative noises has captured the attention of no less a stalwart of progressive thought than the Los Angeles Times. According to that paper‚ Huntington Beach is “sticking it to ‘woke’ California.” MAGA is alive and well in Surf City! (READ MORE: Newsom’s California: Latest Evidence of a Death Spiral) This northern Orange County beach community has run afoul of the “woke” code in numerous egregious ways. Since being elected in November 2022‚ a new city council has: refused to fly the gay pride flag from city hall; declared itself a “no mask and no vaccine mandate city”; appointed a review board to screen children’s books in the city library for sexual content; removed references to “hate crimes” from a human relations document but added to the document references protecting children from “exploitation” and “sexual grooming” and pledged the city to “recognize from birth the genetic differences between male and female and respect the strengths and benefits of each” (see old document here and new one here); and written a ballot initiative to require voters to provide identification at the polls. On top of this‚ consider pro-Trump parades and rallies (even a cameo fly-by from the former president at a recent air show); demonstrations protesting the former president’s federal indictment‚ wherein protesters gathered at the pier waving flags saying “Make America Great Again” and chanting “God bless Trump”; and the strident pushback against lockdown provisos back in 2020‚ including beach closures‚ wherein thousands clogged the Pacific Coast Highway in protest‚ some refusing to don — gasp! — masks. Make no mistake‚ the town that calls itself Surf City is still an outlier in what is a fast-purpling Orange County. Long one of the most stalwart and reliable Republican redoubts in the country — it launched Richard Nixon’s political career‚ served as a springboard for Ronald Reagan’s‚ sent to Congress the likes of “B-1 Bob” Dornan and Dana Rohrabacher — this suburban county has fallen victim to the same demographic and ethnic forces that have swept through its Southern Californian peers. Now‚ apart from enclaves like Yorba Linda‚ San Clemente‚ Newport Beach (and Huntington Beach)‚ the O.C. leans left. County voters in the 2016 presidential election gave the nod to Hillary Clinton‚ and‚ in 2020‚ 53.5 percent of voters went for Joe Biden and 44.4 percent for Donald Trump‚ with 2.1 percent voting independent. The four presidential elections prior to 2016 all went for the Republican candidate. Huntington Beach‚ which went for Trump over Biden by fewer than 4‚000 votes‚ looked to veer left as well. The election of two liberals to the city council in 2020‚ along with the surprise resignation of a conservative mayor in 2021‚ and the subsequent appointment to the council of a liberal in his place‚ Rhonda Bolton‚ threw the city council’s majority to the left. (READ MORE: San Francisco Swings and Misses on Crime‚ Theft‚ and Shohei Ohtani) The new council’s failure to fight hard enough against state-mandated high-density housing in the city and anger over the appointment of Bolton sparked a 2021 recall effort against the new liberal council members. That recall effort failed‚ and that failure stoked general angst in Republicans that they were losing their community. For the 2022 election‚ hoping to avoid the sort of vote splitting that eventuated in past Democrat victories‚ the Republicans responded with a unified four-person ticket and‚ when voters convincingly swept all four into office‚ took back control of the council. They now command a 4–3 majority on the panel. Said one local conservative activist‚ Cari Swan‚ to the Los Angeles Times: “[The previous council] came on so aggressive with a massive government intrusion” that they “pushed us so far to a bigger government footprint” and “created this pendulum swing.” She added‚ this to CalMatters: “The left kind of brought it on themselves. They were poking the bear and the bear fought back.” Said City Attorney Michael Gates‚ elected to a third term last November‚ to LAist‚ “Our voters have no more appetite for progressive governance or the wokeism.”  Some are complaining‚ however‚ about the disconnect between campaign promises of the four Republicans and the actions of the council in its initial months in office. The four new members ran on issues important to locals‚ like cracking down on homeless encampments‚ ensuring that regulations are business-friendly‚ and concerns about housing density and preserving the town’s beach vibe. Once in office‚ however‚ the council has embraced culture-war issues in their council actions. Opined the Orange County Register: “Little did we suspect that the most widely attended meetings would focus on pointless culture battles rather than the nuts-and-bolts issues — infrastructure‚ parks‚ budgets‚ policing — that are the mainstays of local governance.” Conservative council members say they’re merely acting on citizen concern. Tony Strickland‚ one of the four new members‚ admitted that while the matters taken up by his peers were not the usual fare of city councils‚ “they are issues that have been brought to us by constituents.” We’ll know more about the mind of Surf City in March 2024 when the ballot measures regarding flags over city hall and voter IDs come before voters and the three liberal council members stand for reelection. The post MAGA Wave Hits Small-Town California appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

China calls it the “Polar Silk Road.” It’s the “northern wing of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.” It consists of four maritime routes that traverse the Arctic: the Northern Sea Route‚ the Northwest Passage‚ the Transpolar Sea Route‚ and the Arctic Bridge Route. Climate change is thawing the Arctic ice at the same time that China and Russia have deepened their strategic partnership — a partnership aimed at the U.S.-led world order. The Polar Silk Road has been characterized as a new “strategic frontier” for China and described as “the heart of Moscow and Beijing’s play for the high north.” It’s about shipping‚ trade‚ energy resources‚ and geopolitics. In the long term‚ it’s about control of the World-Island. READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa: Back to the Future With Nicaragua In 1919‚ British geographer and statesman Halford Mackinder wrote Democratic Ideals and Reality in an effort to warn the Western democracies that they needed to adjust their foreign policies to the “lasting realities of our earthly home.” World War I had recently ended. The Allies defeated the Central Powers‚ but that victory was not a foregone conclusion. It was‚ as the Duke of Wellington remarked about Waterloo‚ a close-run thing. “Had Germany elected to stand on the defensive on her short frontier towards France‚ and had she thrown her main strength against Russia‚” Mackinder wrote‚ Germany would be in a position to control key parts of the World-Island and “establish[] her sea-power on a wider base than any in history‚” and the “British and American insular peoples would not have realized the strategical danger until too late.” Mackinder’s concept of the World-Island stemmed from his study of geography and history‚ especially the conflicts between peninsular Greece (under the Dorians) and Crete in the 12th century B.C. and Rome’s conquest of southeastern Britain after 43 A.D. In each case‚ the peninsular power based on greater resources overcame the insular sea powers. Importantly‚ the Dorians in Greece and the Romans astride the Mediterranean had no serious land power challenges at the time and thus were able to translate their peninsular land-based resources and energies into predominant sea power and‚ thereby‚ defeat their insular foes in their own element. Updating his analysis to the early 20th century‚ Mackinder pictured the joint landmasses of Europe‚ Asia‚ and Africa as a geopolitical whole that he called the World-Island. Mackinder’s World-Island power (or alliance of powers) potentially boasted the three features that prefigured a global empire: incomparable resources (both human and material)‚ insularity (it was surrounded by water on three sides and ice to the north)‚ and few‚ if any‚ land-based distractions from other powers. The insular powers of Great Britain and the United States‚ Mackinder explained‚ “must no longer think of Europe apart from Asia and Africa. The Old World has become insular‚ or in other words a unit‚ incomparably the largest geographical unit on our globe.” Mackinder included a figure or drawing in the book that pictured a large round circle as the World-Island surrounded by the much smaller circles of Britain‚ Japan‚ North America‚ South America‚ and Australia. The foreign policies of the Western democracies‚ he wrote‚ must ensure that no power or alliance of powers achieves effective political control of the World-Island‚ or a large part of it‚ from whence it could use the vast resources of the “Great Continent” to defeat the surrounding insular powers in their own element (sea power). In 1919‚ however‚ the World-Island was not yet insular. The polar ice caps of the Arctic prevented complete insularity and modern globalization was still in the future. That is now changing. As Robert Kaplan has so brilliantly pointed out‚ the 21st century has brought with it a new strategic geography where “the interactions of globalization‚ technology‚ and geopolitics‚ with each reinforcing the other‚ are leading the Eurasian supercontinent to become‚ analytically speaking‚ one fluid and comprehensible unit.” And further‚ “because of the reunification of the Mediterranean Basin‚ evinced by refugees from North Africa and the Levant flooding Europe‚ and because of dramatically increased interactions across the Indian Ocean from Indochina to East Africa‚ we may now speak of Afro-Eurasia in one breath.” The thawing Arctic provides an exclamation point to Kaplan’s analysis. Mackinder’s World-Island is here. And China and Russia have expanded their strategic partnership to the Arctic‚ which includes energy‚ shipping‚ and infrastructure projects. One observer concludes that the “tightening Sino-Russian relationship has influenced the geopolitical environment” in the Arctic region. With this growing strategic relationship in the Arctic‚ China has expanded its Belt and Road Initiative to every corner of the World-Island. “What if the Great Continent‚ the whole World-Island or a large part of it. Were at some future time to become a single and untied base of sea power?” asked Mackinder in 1919. “Would not the other insular powers be outbuilt as regards ships and out-manned as regards seamen? Their fleets would no doubt fight with all the heroism begotten of their histories‚ but the end would be fated.” Perhaps this is why President Xi Jinping is so confident about China’s future takeover of Taiwan. Image: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. The post The Arctic Thaw‚ Sino-Russian Partnership‚ and Control of the World-Island appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

I was very naïve when I left the military. I’d spent years concentrating on “leadership‚” daydreaming about how I would perform under threat of gunfire and IEDs‚ scanning the daily news from Iraq‚ reading Medal of Honor citations‚ devouring memoirs of young officers in World War I and Vietnam‚ wondering if‚ when my time came‚ enlisted men would see through me as a fake‚ a coward‚ someone not worthy of my title. Robert Graves. Ernst Jünger. James Webb. These were my friends and teachers. Their lessons were grand‚ but my wartime experience and those wartime heroes didn’t prepare me for life at home. READ MORE: Learn of Heroes at a Young Age When I started at the law firm‚ my first job after 10 years in the military‚ it seemed everyone knew something I didn’t. How to ask a partner for work. How to ask a client for money. I took a phone call once from a widow who told me she paid $100‚000 for home improvements only for the contractor to abandon the project after he’d squeezed her for the money. He was supposed to be building a pool for her kids. I took the case and poured myself into it until‚ months later‚ a senior partner informed me the widow hadn’t paid her bills. You’re not much for business‚ the partner said. “Ask me next time … before you pull the trigger.” In a combat unit‚ you don’t like everyone‚ but you trust them with your life. We wanted guys who were strong enough to carry another Marine’s weight‚ determined enough to go to their physical limits‚ to not pass out if someone was shot or lost his legs. In civilian life‚ though‚ the key is whether people like you‚ while trust hardly enters into their equation. Out here‚ everyone knows the stakes: Business is competitive‚ and so are relationships in your profession‚ your company‚ the market. “This isn’t personal‚ it’s just business‚” people say. You want trust? See a priest‚ or a therapist‚ or go back to the military. I used the GI bill to pay my way through law school‚ then packed up my house‚ moved back to my childhood neighborhood‚ and started working at that large corporate law firm. The firm kindly gave me the one office in the building that didn’t have a window. But I did get the “puppy pot.” The lawyers there had a tradition of enshrining the firm’s porcelain candy dish‚ shaped like a puppy‚ on the desk of a new lawyer‚ who for one year would have to fill it with M&;Ms and Snickers bars for the partners. I was game because I thought it would help me get acquainted with my colleagues. But my colleagues were busy — billable hours never took a break. “I’m just here to get candy‚” they would say. They might forget my name‚ but they were serious about the beagle-shaped war chest of treats. That same partner who told me I didn’t have a mind for business sent me emails complaining about the candy selection‚ the lack of chocolate‚ the dwindling amount in the pot. Another newish guy down the hall stopped by with some bombshell advice: “Pssst‚ take your candy duties more seriously … or else.” But that was then. Today‚ all those hard times have passed on like water under the bridge. After a few years and (several) job changes‚ I’ve taken my licks‚ shaken off old preoccupations with heroism and cowardice‚ and learned important lessons about succeeding in the real world‚ where the competition over candy and likes is coldblooded and deadly serious — a battle‚ if you will. Yes‚ I’m pleased to report that‚ for this particular veteran‚ the old war has finally and happily faded away … into a precious memory. John J. Waters is the author of the postwar novel River City One (Simon and Schuster)‚ and a former deputy assistant secretary of homeland security. READ MORE: May the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Never Die Veterans Day War Stories The post Out Here‚ War Is a Precious Memory appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

by Dr. Pierre Kory‚ Global Research: Recent FOIA-obtained data from the Department of Emergency Services in Westchester‚ NY reveal a shocking number of vaccine emergency calls as well as requests for ambulances to be “on standby.” Right before the recent Christmas holiday‚ I received a call from a friend and colleague named Louis Conte regarding […]

by Marie Hawthorne‚ Activist Post: What if you lost a whole lot of money? Can you imagine the horror and desperation you’d feel? Well‚ the US government has lost $21 trillion‚ and they don’t seem to care. But the rest of us have to care about our own budgets. Planning to save money is at […]

from The Alex Jones Show: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

by Michael Snyder‚ End Of The American Dream: Every inch of our planet is being watched‚ and incredibly sophisticated “artificial intelligence solutions” make it possible for those that are watching our planet to find whatever they want in just minutes.  You can try to run‚ and you can try to hide‚ but if they really […]