Fools all who seem it, and half of those who do not. Gracian #201
George Rebane
Executed anti-Nazi cleric and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer correctly maintained that “stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil.” In America, we overwhelmingly confirm this daily. Now I admit, sometimes it’s hard to accept this as the better of the two alternatives, but for the most part one can embrace Bonhoeffer’s observation because there are way more stupid people in the country than evil ones. This has also been a Rebane Doctrine tenet for many years. (more here)
Democrat politicians and lamestream ‘journalists’ demonstrate this with their audacious and ongoing stream of lies – e.g. the $4T+ BBB cost “will not raise the national debt by one penny.” - they constantly use to convince their cognitively impaired constituents who make up almost half of the country’s voters – without an adequate knowledge base and critical thinking skills, they’ll believe literally anything their favorite information sources spout.
Bonhoeffer went on to say –
Against stupidity we have no defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it. Reasoning is of no use. Facts that contradict personal prejudices can simple be disbelieved – indeed, the fool can count by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied. In fact, they can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make them aggressive. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reason, for it is senseless and dangerous.
This why so many of today’s conservative and libertarian writers, along with moi, see no common ground across which a trail may be blazed to the unification of our polarized population. The only solution being a negotiated Great Divide or barricades in the streets.
Historically this post is quite true. We have however a new layer of disfunction in the matrix.
That is widespread untreated mental and emotional illness. Witness the exploding amounts of adults needing "safe spaces" from obviously perfectly harmless people whose crime is simply holding differing views. These damaged peoples' psyches block a proper accumulation of information and a rational thought process. Emotions become the master and increasingly we see that arguments are based on 'personal truths' and feelings instead of facts and reality. "I feel" pushes aside "I think" as a precursor to argumentative statements. This insulates the person who states it from having to bolster their argument with facts and reason. How are we to argue against what a person feels?
Posted by: Scott O | 24 November 2021 at 06:35 PM
ScottO 635pm - Methinks you're being too kind to such people in their 'safe spaces'. In my simpler taxonomy, their aberrant snowflake behavior is just another manifestation of stupidity wrapped in psychobabble.
Posted by: George Rebane | 24 November 2021 at 07:33 PM
George 7:33 - I wasn't trying to be kind, just making note of current trends. Did colleges and universities have safe spaces with color crayons and teddy bears when you were in school? They sure didn't when I was at Sac State and Davis. I'm sure there were some fragile creatures even then but they were politely told to get their heads straight or maybe just go home to mommy and daddy. When you have a system that enables mental illness, you get a new level of stupidity that never once existed. It is a fact that society now supports and succors far more people who have lost touch with reality than ever. There was never such a load of stupid people in "higher" education when I was there as there is now. And the added layer of untreated emotional and mental problems is the principle reason. The most left wing radical of the 70's would be embarrassed at the insanity now embraced by today's leftists.
Posted by: Scott O | 24 November 2021 at 08:13 PM
Might go here.
Media Calls Waukesha Fatal Car-Ramming A ‘Crash.’ They Called 2017 Charlottesville Car-Ramming An ‘Attack.’
https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-calls-waukesha-fatal-car-ramming-a-crash-they-called-2017-charlottesville-car-ramming-an-attack
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 24 November 2021 at 10:57 PM
Stupidity, ignorance, or pure evil? Whatever, no common ground.
Think I will spent the day with family, counting my blessings, and turn out liberal media.
‘Liberal Media Claim America’s Thanksgiving Holiday Promotes Genocide, White Supremacy’
https://www.dailywire.com/news/liberal-media-claim-americas-thanksgiving-holiday-promotes-genocide-white-supremacy
——————
‘University Vice Chancellor Claims Rittenhouse Verdict A ‘Chilling Message’: Black Lives Don’t Matter’
https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-vice-chancellor-claims-rittenhouse-verdict-a-chilling-message-black-lives-dont-matter
————————
And finally, as the smash and rob hordes continue their violent criminal acts against persons, property, and luxury goods, the biggest concern of our enlightened ass hats is what to call the group of looters? How is that for a kicker.
“Meanwhile, a debate has broken out about what to call the thefts.
Police and law enforcement “experts” in California are saying that the recent surge of smash-and-grab thefts in California shouldn’t be called “looting” because that term carries racial connotations.
That has prompted a spokesman for the San Diego Police Department to call the thefts “organized robbery,” according to a new report.“
https://www.dailywire.com/news/thieves-target-l-a-area-nordstrom-in-another-smash-and-grab
Canoga Park? Canoga Park! What’s next? Pebble Beach?
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 25 November 2021 at 09:29 AM
Looting sounds like exactly the right word to use regardless of the looters' skin color. My Viking ancestors did a lot of 'organized robbery' on the Russian rivers and northern European coastal towns. But that didn't make the sumbiches organized robbers, they were looters. If you want to use another word, then try 'pillage' like in the recommended order of 'rape, pillage, then burn'.
Posted by: George Rebane | 25 November 2021 at 11:52 AM
Maybe 'mostly peaceful' robbery is the key phrase.
Given that this is all state-sanctioned to a certain extent, at least the Viking's customer base was allowed to fight back. Your town might get sacked, the men killed and the purty women carted off but it would be somewhat rare to have the city fathers arrest you for the crime of self-defense.
Speaking of the death of manliness, you do have to wonder about all of the words you hear about the saintly Native Americans come Thanksgiving time. A pre-Columbian era dude would be horrified by the stories cooked up their chroniclers, white hippy women. It's not only that their land gets taken by invaders, but their dignity gets stolen by Democrat hausfraus.
We live in embarrassing times.
Posted by: scenes | 25 November 2021 at 12:29 PM
Building on scenes 1229pm. Revisionist woke history will never teach kids that North America's 'noble savages' were so much engaged in centuries of internecine warfare (i.e. enthusiastically killing each other), that they didn't have the time or energy for much else to advance their civilization. And without the wheel or metals (save gold), even their southern cousins were not able to lift themselves into what for Eurasians was the Bronze Age. With the arrival of the rapacious Europeans (almost 5,000 years after start of our Bronze Age), it was their self-inflicted ignorance that killed them. Today our new woke elites would like all of us to return to those days of uniformly compliant helplessness while they keep the guns.
Posted by: George Rebane | 25 November 2021 at 01:50 PM
@ 12:29 pm
speaking of the death of manliness....her is a woman who likes lumberjack sports and writing columns.
'Kyle Rittenhouse and Every Able-Bodied Man Had a Moral Obligation to Protect Kenosha'
Any able-bodied man over 16 years old had a moral obligation to defend Kenosha against vandals, looters, and arsonists attacking while police stood down.
https://thechicagothinker.com/kyle-rittenhouse-and-every-able-bodied-man-had-a-moral-obligation-to-protect-kenosha/
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 25 November 2021 at 07:34 PM
re: Organized robbing, looting, and smashing. Heather MacDonald
WILL DISPARATE IMPACT DESTROY AMERICA?
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/11/will-disparate-impact-destroy-america.php
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 25 November 2021 at 07:56 PM
"'Kyle Rittenhouse and Every Able-Bodied Man Had a Moral Obligation to Protect Kenosha'"
The irony of all this is that the only thing that keeps the hair of the Blue Mob's chinny chin chin safe is the full force of the state crashing onto anyone protecting Kenosha.
It's all a deeper game than people realize I think. Private companies are used to remove rights or privacy in ways that are not allowed by government, Blue Mob Street Armies punish jus' regular folks in ways not allowed by government. Private armies are used overseas in ways not allowed by government. People implementing countermeasures end up pauperized or in the oubliette of a federal prison.
Once you radicalize the bureaucracy, all things are possible. Outsourcing allows basically unlimited force.
Posted by: scenes | 26 November 2021 at 07:55 AM
Scenes 755am - Good points Mr scenes - “outsourcing allows basically unlimited force.” The only hope is that it is still the political leadership that can stifle the radicalized bureaucracy, but even that does not always work. However, you did embarrass me with your “oubliette of a federal prison.” No complaint though since it undoubtedly burnishes the intellectual trappings of RR.
Posted by: George Rebane | 26 November 2021 at 09:21 AM
I have no defense against this stupidity. I need to focus first on getting my jaw off the ground after seeing this and can’t seem to muster a reply. I am defenseless, disarmed, and gobsmacked.
‘Black Lives Matter claims America is 'stolen land' in Thanksgiving tweet’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/black-lives-matter-stolen-land-thanksgiving-hot-take
The only thing I can recall that left me without argument and totally defensiveness is the story of my association with a non-profit that was seeking a renewal of a use permit.
*—-Sorry in advance to the reader for repeating a story for the third time on these pages.
Things were going fine with the renewal and all requested changes (many unreasonable and some expensive to the outside grounds with aesthetic low lighting in the front grounds, etc.). Things progressed swimmingly until a resident on the street showed up. She said she felt “apprehensive” about people walking by her house on the street.
Nevermind I and other volunteers produced traffic reports from the CHP showing no impact. Nevermind that there was a liquor store on the street, two churches, a furniture repair shop, and a HVAC business on the multi use street. The woman felt apprehensive about people walking down the street by her house. Put the monkey wrench in the gears and stopped everything. I had no reply. We tried kissing her behind. Volunteer contractors came over and built a brand new redwood wheelchair ramp. She complained that the new redwood wheelchair ramp was not painted to match the color of the building (an old house, formerly a dentist office in years gone by.) She then complained that their were too many new ground level soft lights in the parking lot, so we removed about half of them. Yet, when she said to the BOS she felt apprehensive, was was left defenseless. One cannot argue with feelings. Silly me was armed with facts.
Well, turns out she was right. After I left the organization a few years later a man walking in front of her house went in a murdered her. It was her ex-husband to done did it. Ironically, we offered services that may have helped her ex.
The silver lining of this whole thing is it got me into the Constitution. When the BOS asked to see the rental agreement with the landlord, he raced up to the BOS and told them it was none of their beeswax, citing the Constitution clause about private contracts between private individuals and told the BOS they ain’t ever going to look at his rental agreements with his properties (several) and told them to take a flying leap and go ahead and sue him. Stay in your friggin lane.
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 26 November 2021 at 10:24 AM
lmao.
"...One of the reasons for these errors, the researchers discovered, was that Facebook’s “race-blind” rules of conduct on the platform didn’t distinguish among the targets of hate speech...."
I love watching the logic convolutions here. Training an AI to have the official bias is like watching a juggler dealing with more and more balls.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/21/facebook-algorithm-biased-race/
https://dailycaller.com/2021/11/22/facebook-hate-speech-white-people-men-joel-kaplan/
I have a new plan for Facebook. Allow anything that isn't illegal.
Posted by: scenes | 26 November 2021 at 12:01 PM
Is this what AOC was trying to convey when she said, “You can be factually correct and morally wrong? Stupid is as stupid does.. What, me argue with dat?
“In a prophecy 14 years in the making, the Milwaukee prosecutor whose office let Waukesha parade massacre defendant Darrell E. Brooks off on $1,000 bail for an earlier serious offense admitted his steadfast support for bail reform would one day have deadly consequences.
"Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into a treatment program, who is going to go out and kill somebody?" Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm asked in an interview with the Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel in 2007. "You bet. Guaranteed. It's guaranteed to happen. It does not invalidate the overall approach."”
‘New evidence in parade massacre shines uncomfortable light on media, bail-reforming prosecutors’
https://justthenews.com/accountability/new-evidence-parade-massacre-shines-uncomfortable-light-media-bail-reforming
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 26 November 2021 at 05:54 PM
Lies, damn lies and bald face lies are the tool of choice for creepy grampa joes gang of misfits -
"That means you’ve got 73,000-plus that you really should have been vetting and that takes time," Charles said.
He called the situation a "double tragedy."
"We’ve left Americans and visa holders and [Special Immigrants Visa] holders and permanent residents and former employees of the embassy back in Afghanistan and we pulled out 73,000 that we really had no basis for pulling out."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-vow-afghanistan-evacuees-no-vetting-interviews
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 26 November 2021 at 09:34 PM
speaking truth to 'trans-women'
https://www.facebook.com/100044171722408/posts/478693180279735/
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 26 November 2021 at 09:52 PM
Light reading from the Ammo Grrrll. Dovetails nicely (IMHO) with Dr. Rebane’s post. She does bounce around a bit before nailing her point.
THOUGHTS FROM THE AMMO LINE
Ammo Grrrll knows the supply chain has not made even the slightest dent in the surplus of DELIBERATE, WILLFUL IGNORANCE. She writes:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/11/281612.php
Trying to be less white is a heavy burden to carry through life, palefaces.
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 27 November 2021 at 02:26 PM
The rules are for you and not for the creepy grampa joe socialists -
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-spotted-in-nantucket-shopping-indoors-without-a-mask-despite-sign-mandating-them
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 27 November 2021 at 04:55 PM
It looks like the canary is dying but is cali listing? The luddites are happy to destroy society and we warned that creepy grampa joe was the real putin cuddler selling out the eu and cutting our ability to send LNG for national security issues!
Oh did ya hear that vlad has 100k troops massed next to our treaty country Ukraine? JUST SAYIN! --
A super price spike in the U.K. last month forced some industrial companies to cut production and seek state aid, a harbinger for what could play out widely in Europe just as it contends with a resurgence of the coronavirus. For governments, it could mean tension with neighboring countries by moving to protect supplies. For households, it could mean being asked to use less energy or even plan for rolling blackouts.
The situation is already so dire this early in the winter season because of a blistering rally in natural gas prices. Stores of the fuel, used to heat homes and to generate electricity, are lower than usual and are being depleted quickly. Analysts have warned that gas stores could drop to zero this winter if cold weather boosts demand.
On the supply side, what Russia does next will be key. President Vladimir Putin signaled he would help Europe with more supplies to stabilize the market, but while shipments have recovered after a slump at the start of November, they are low compared with last year. How much gas Russia sends to Europe in December remains an even bigger mystery.
If things get really bad, countries could resort to curbing sales of natural gas to other regions. An even more extreme scenario could see them halt flows of gas and power to one another, sparking political acrimony and hitting economies.
The European Union has what it calls solidarity principles that are supposed to prevent any state blocking exports of power or gas and leaving another member short, especially when it comes to supplies for households.
The solidarity, though, has never been tested in a wide-scale crisis and grid operators say that they’re allowed to stop or alter power flows through inter-country cables if they have security of supply issues. When the nicknamed “Beast from the East” hit at the end of February 2018, it was quite late into the heating season. This year, it’s likely that a less severe weather event could have a similar impact.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/europe-energy-crisis-worse-winter-073032817.html
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 28 November 2021 at 07:10 PM
That did not take long -
Oakland police to increase presence amid crime wave, city leaders seek to reverse planned cuts
https://www.foxnews.com/us/oakland-police-crime-cuts
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 29 November 2021 at 06:34 PM
Looks like fredo is finally going to pay the price for being himself and protecting his bro the govna groper -
However, the new revelations from the NY AG probe are fueling calls for the CNN anchor's firing.
"If this story is accurate, it describes a series of shocking ethical breaches — fireable offenses at any other news outlet," Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Schachtman wrote.
"Just to be clear, if anyone else on CNN's roster did this, they'd not only be fired but blacklisted from journalism period," MSNBC columnist Eric Michael Garcia insisted.
"It's hard to imagine any news executive keeping Chris Cuomo on staff after today's revelations. Then again, as CNN likes to say, ‘THIS is CNN,’" Columbia Journalism School professor Bill Grueskin tweeted.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-statement-chris-cuomo-investigation
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 29 November 2021 at 07:24 PM
When will the peasants rise up against their luddite green bad new deal? -
"If the weather gets cold in Europe there's not going to be an easy supply solution, it's going to need a demand solution," Adam Lewis, a partner at trading house Hartree Partners, told Bloomberg.
Some energy-intensive industries using a lot of natural gas—including ammonia, fertilizer, and steelworks—have curtailed operations in Europe in recent months as record natural gas prices made their production unprofitable.
Demand could drop if more industries reduce operations in the coming months.
For consumers, apart from soaring gas and electricity prices, the natural gas crunch could mean rolling power outages if the winter is really cold, Jeremy Weir, CEO at one of the largest commodity traders, Trafigura, warned earlier this month.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/finance/news/happens-europe-runs-gas-000000832.html
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 29 November 2021 at 07:53 PM
Meme
https://www.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913/10158610624705914/
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 29 November 2021 at 10:19 PM
"It is easier to fool a man, than it is to convince him he's been fooled"
Mark Twain
Posted by: Wayne Hullett | 30 November 2021 at 03:30 PM
Speaking of stupid, fredo goes down in flames like his bro govna groper -
CNN suspends Chris Cuomo 'indefinitely' pending evaluation of his involvement in brother's scandals
The suspension comes as calls for Cuomo's firing grow
CNN continued, "these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother's efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-suspends-chris-cuomo
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 30 November 2021 at 04:05 PM
Tavel bans, vax mandates and open borders flooding the country with God knows who and not a vax among them. -
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/12/01/east-african-middle-eastern-migrants-apprehended-in-texas-near-border/
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 01 December 2021 at 07:19 PM
'Twitter Labels American Heart Association Site Link ‘Unsafe’ After Vax-Warning Study: Report'
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/catherine-salgado/2021/12/03/twitter-labels-american-heart-association-site-link
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 03 December 2021 at 09:12 PM
Can he do anything right? Apparently not-
Bidens late to Christmas tree lighting ceremony; crowd told to redo applause
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/bidens-christmas-tree-lighting-ceremony-141309832.html
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 03 December 2021 at 10:07 PM
why the left does not cover stories they got wrong
https://fb.watch/9GNVCsmUh0/
Posted by: Bill Tozer | 03 December 2021 at 10:45 PM
Thank GOD! -
U.S. and Iran pessimistic about reviving nuclear deal
https://news.yahoo.com/iran-gives-european-nuclear-deal-091128471.html
;-)
Posted by: Don Bessee | 03 December 2021 at 10:58 PM