TBT: Trump Stands for Us

With the 2020 election still on the ropes, it’s easy to get discouragedWe’ve witnessed Democrats get away with voter fraud for decades, so what makes this election any different?  Add to the mix the moralizing self-rationalization that surely must motivate many of the poll workers perpetuating the fraud (remember, these people think they are saving the country by doing everything possible to remove Trump from office), and the situation seems dire at times.

But we can’t give up on our man.  Donald Trump didn’t give up on us.  Yes, I know he mildly denounced the Proud Boys, but as even Gavin McInnes noted, Trump probably doesn’t even really know who the Proud Boys are.  Maybe he should, but if he knew the PBs, he’d probably applaud their patriotism.

Leave that aside.  President Trump delivered—big time—for his supporters.  Three Supreme Court justices.  Hundreds of lower court judges.  Lower taxes.  No more critical race theory training for federal employees.  Substantial protections for religious liberty.  A roaring economy.  And, quite frankly, common sense.

In looking back to November 2019’s archives, I found this post from 4 November 2019, “Trump Stands for Us.”  It’s a powerful reminder for why we love Trump, and how he’s fought for us.  Now it’s our time to fight for him:

Read More »

Wayback Wednesday: Memorable Monday: Veterans’ Day 2018, Commemoration of the Great War, and Poppies

While preparing a separate post on hymns (which I will likely post Friday), it occurred to me that today is Veterans’ Day in the United States, the observance formerly known as Armistice Day.  I’ve never thrown back to past posts on a Wednesday before, but it seemed fitting to recognize our fallen heroes on the day.

Last year I looked back at a Veterans’ Day post from 2018.  The post itself was originally delivered as remarks to the Florence County (SC) Republican Party, and was the most affecting of my old “Historical Moments” I’ve ever delivered.

It’s hard to believe that the centennial observance of the Great War has already passed, yet we’re still dealing with the fallout from that terrible war just over a century later.  The more I’m learning about the great Baroque, classical, and Romantic composers of Europe, the more the senseless loss and nihilistic destruction of that conflict weighs on me—and that the shimmering, confident civilization that fostered those composers also destroyed itself.

Read More »

Hand it to Handel

One nugget of wisdom I’ve heard before is “if you want to learn something, teach it.”  As a private school educator who taught pretty much every course in the standard high school social studies curriculum and a plethora of music courses, I can attest to the Truth of this statement.  I essentially taught myself, for example, the highlights of Western philosophy from teaching a Philosophy course for many years (a course I very much wish the school would revive).

I’m shifting increasingly towards teaching music exclusively (though I’m still teaching a couple of American History survey courses), and teaching a Pre-AP Music Appreciation class has been one of the great joys of that transition.  Years ago I created and taught a course called “History of American Popular Music,” which covered the early Tin Pan Alley tunes all the way through blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, and beyond.  This Pre-AP course is focused on the great works of Western music, going back to the medieval period.

Currently, we’re wrapping up a big unit on Baroque music.  The Baroque style—as epitomized by greats like Bach, Monteverde, Corelli, Handel, and others—delights in contrasts.  Just as Baroque paintings highlight stark contrasts between light and dark, Baroque music revels in sudden contrasts in dynamics.  It also loves to play around with complexity, as any Bach fugue will quickly demonstrate.

The last composer in our unit is George Frideric Handel.  Handel, a German-born composer, made a major splash upon his arrival in England in the 1710s, where he sought to introduce Italian opera to sophisticated London crowds.  What was meant to be a temporary visit turned into over four decades, and Handel is interred at Westminster Abbey—a huge honor.  It’s one of those delightful twists of history that Handel the German became one of the most English composers in history—and one of the greatest composers of all time.

Read More »

Rest in Peace, Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek, the long-time host of Jeopardy!, passed away at 80 after a long fight against pancreatic cancer.

Trebek seemed to have the perfect attitude for a high-brow quiz trivia show that was also hugely popular with audiences:  one of almost passive-aggressive superiority, a certain smugness that was just elusive enough a viewer couldn’t accuse him of it based on a transcript of what was said.  Trebek routinely mocked—but can it really be called mocking?—guests who flubbed questions he believed to be easy.  But he also possessed a Canadian niceness that made him easy-going, albeit curt, with contestants.

None of that is meant to speak ill of Alex Trebek, or to make light of his passing.  Everyone reading this post knows exactly what I’m talking about—Trebek’s ability to get in a subtle jab at a player $1000 in the red, while then glad-handing with them after the return from the commercial break.  Saturday Night Live picked up on it in its playful Celebrity Jeopardy! send-ups, which featured the hyper-masculine (and also recently deceased) Sean Connery goading on a flustered Trebek. 

Read More »

Lazy Sunday LXXXVI: Questions, Part I

With the major networks calling the election for Joe Biden, a number of questions are swirling about, chiefly—“what comes next?”  photog and I have been hashing this question out in the comments of his posts “The Question Has Been Answered” and “Camaraderie is Key.”

I don’t think the election is over—not by a long shot—as recounts are still be done, and the voter fraud is so blatant, it can’t help but lead to legitimate legal challenges.  But even if these mysterious early-morning ballots for Biden are thrown out and President Trump is duly re-elected, the whole debacle suggests that conservatives need to wake up to the folly of depending upon purely electoral solutions to our problems.  Winning elections is just one facet of the larger culture wars in which we find ourselves.

To that end, I’m dedicating a few editions of Lazy Sunday to going back through old posts that, in their titles, pose some kind of question.  These posts range from the philosophical to the political to the cultural, but also cover some fun stuff (like whether or not Saturn is the creepiest planet).  I’ll look at three or four posts every Sunday, which should take several weeks to get through (so we might take a break with some Christmas Lazy Sundays in the middle).

That said, here’s our first round of Questions:

  • TBT: Ted Cruz – Conservative Hero, or Traitor to His Party?” (originally at the old TPP Blogspot Page) – Back during the 2016 RNC, Senator Ted Cruz refused to endorse candidate Trump explicitly in his convention speech, which earned him jeers and scorn.  At the time, there was still real tension between clear-cut Trumpians (I was moving in that direction, but was a Cruz man myself) and the rank-and-file Republicans, never mind the Never Trumpers.  Cruz went on to be one of President Trump’s staunchest supporters and defenders, and even seemed to be a contender for a SCOTUS position.  One thing that’s clear, though, is that Democrats will back their candidate to the hilt, even if they don’t like him, but Republicans will scatter at the least whiff of controversy around a candidate.  Hopefully Trump has changed that to some extent.
  • Fire Furloughed Feds?” – Remember the much-ballyhooed government shutdown in early 2019?  Looking back on it, it seems like a big missed opportunity for President Trump to clear the decks and do some swamp draining.
  • TBT: Transformers 2: Conservatives in Disguise?” (originally at the old TPP Blogspot Page) – I wrote this post way back in 2009, when I was a very different (and much, much portlier) man.  It’s amazing what eleven years of working and living will beat into you.  Anyway, the post looks at what I perceived to be some pro-military and pro-limited government messages in the second Transformers film, in which a meddling government bureaucrat retards the fruitful cooperation between American military personality and powerful transforming space robots, which ultimately helps the bad transforming space robots.  There’s a similar plot device in Ghostbusters, in which an EPA functionary releases a bunch of contained ghosts into Manhattan because he thinks the Ghosbusters’ containment unit is an environmental hazard.  Yeesh!

That’s it for this Sunday.  More questions—and, perhaps, answers?—to come.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Tip The Portly Politico

Support quality commentary on politics, education, culture, and the arts with your one-time donation.

$1.00

SubscribeStar Saturday: What Next?

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

Also, I will be posting last Saturday’s post sometime today or tomorrow.  As I noted in last week’s delayed edition of Sunday Doodles (posted now), the combination of hosting the Spooktacular, playing a four-hour gig the following night, and staying up late on Election Day really sapped my energy this week, on top of my normal teaching duties.  I’m playing catch-up on multiple fronts, but hope to have everything posted and done by the end of this weekend.

We’re still in an uncomfortable state of limbo as we await inexplicably slow vote counts in key States (well, we can explain them—Democrats are slow-walking returns to figure out how many fraudulent ballots they need to manufacture in those States).  President Trump is right to challenge suspicious vote totals in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, etc., as those sudden bumps for Biden in the wee hours are statistically so improbable, there’s a better chance of finding an inhabitable planet within human reach.

That said, the race is going to be a close one, and conservatives ought to consider what comes next in either a second Trump term or—shudder—a Biden-Harris administration.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

01-red-question-mark

Tip The Portly Politico

Support quality commentary on politics, education, culture, and the arts with your one-time donation.

1.00 $

Quick Friday Morning Fraud Update

Today is my busy day in the unorthodox rotating schedule at my little school, and I didn’t have the foresight or energy to post something last night.  So before that first bell rings and the long day of mind-molding begins, here are some reflections and thoughts on the latest election news:

It’s looking more and more like the election is going to drag on for weeks to come.  The deliberate slow-walking of vote counting in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina just opens up the door for more and more fraud in those States, though the Trump campaign and its internal pollsters seem optimistic about all four States.  There will be a recount in Wisconsin, and almost certainly in Michigan.  Pennsylvania seemed clearly in the win column for Trump until corrupt Philadelphia officials started stuffing the ballot boxes.  Even the sheriff there has refused to enforce the court order allowing—requiring!—the Trump people to observe the vote counts.

The gall of the progressive Establishment at all levels is appalling, but it suggests their utter contempt for the rest of us.  These people hate us because we don’t embrace their kooky weirdness and abnormality—because we just want to live quiet, peaceful, God-fearing lives.

Fortunately, even if Biden wins, Republicans look poised to hold the Senate, and even picked up seats in the House.  If we can pull out a majority in the House, a Biden presidency will be a lame duck from day one.  Voting all over the nation suggests a repudiation of radical progressivism—defund the police, Antifa riots, etc.  When I have more time, I’ll write further about the potential future of national conservatism.  This Rod Dreher piece does a good job of summing it up, though (indeed, that’s my source!).

More to come.  Keep praying, and remain ever-vigilant.

—TPP

vote-1286584_960_720

Tip The Portly Politico

Support quality commentary on politics, education, culture, and the arts with your one-time donation.

1.00 $

Reblogged: It’s not who votes, it’s who counts the votes…

Great post here from my blogger buddy (and IRL friend) Bette Cox (www.bettecox.com). If voter fraud seems far-fetched, just consider the potential for duplicity. We vote with machines now in most States (at least, we do here in South Carolina), but that seems to multiply the opportunities for fraud, while also limiting it to those with the know-how and resources to alter electronic ballots. I wonder how many of those 138,000 “found” ballots in Wisconsin—all miraculously for Joe Biden—were surreptitiously filled out by frantic, sweaty-palmed Democrat election commission workers in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, just in time for a 4 AM dump. —TPP

Bette Cox's avatarBette Cox

In the 1960 John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon presidential election, I volunteered to help count votes, by hand. At age 17 I was too young to vote but I wanted to help any way I could, so I signed up.

A large group of us met in the cafeteria at McKenzie Elementary School where the “adults in the room,” that is the regular poll workers, were in charge. Soon they began bringing in box after box of paper ballots, dumping them out on the long tables.

Each of us counters were handed tally sheets listing the names of the candidates for each office, and lead pencils. No ballpoint pens.

President wasn’t the only race that year of course, there were other names on the ballots, but Kennedy and Nixon were the political stars, the ones whose names stuck in your mind.

The poll worker assigned to our area of…

View original post 183 more words

TBT: The Invasion and Alienation of the South

Sheldon_Church_2

Tip The Portly Politico

Support quality commentary on politics, education, culture, and the arts with your one-time donation.

1.00 $

With the election still in the balance—it may be decided by the time you read this post—and two formerly conservative Southern States up for grabs, I thought it would be timely to revisit this piece, “The Invasion and Alienation of the South,” which looks at Leslie Alexander’s post “Stranger in a Strange Land.”  In that piece, Alexander writes about the hollow, joyless cosmopolitanism of living in Dallas—a stark contrast to the tight-knit cordiality and tradition of her native Louisiana.

While watching the election returns, it occurred to me that Georgia and North Carolina should not be risky toss-ups, and Virginia never should have been lost to hordes of Swamp People.  It’s an irony of history that Washington, D.C., was placed next to Virginia so the ornery planters, suspicious of federal power, could keep a closer eye on the national government.  Now, that bloated national government dominates politics in Virginia through its largess.

Meanwhile, transplants from up North have infested previously conservative States.  Charlotte, North Carolina has become a wretched hive of globalist scum and villainy.  During my online dating days, I would routinely get matched with babes from Charlotte; invariably, they were always from Ohio, or New York, or California—never actually true North Carolinians.

It’s one thing when local blacks vote Democratic.  Fine—we’re at least part of the same(-ish) Southern culture, and we’ll help each other out.  But then gentry white liberals start coming down here, ruining our politics and our cities.

Now, we live in a world in which Joe Biden might win Georgia, and North Carolina—NORTH CAROLINA—has become a nail-biter every four years.

Such is the price of our addiction to economic growth and convenience.  What we’ve gained in luxuries we have lost in heart.  We have paid for them with our souls.

Here is November 2019’s “The Invasion and Alienation of the South“:

Read More »

President Biden?

Things are looking bleak for Trump’s re-election, though there are some promising signs that Arizona and Pennsylvania could go for Trump.  The majors called Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden last night, but both States have incredibly fishy returns, such as Wisconsin’s 4 AM dump of 138,000 votes—all for Biden.  Trump’s campaign has already called for a recount in Wisconsin, which could help Trump.

We’ll see.  Nevada is supposed to report results today, but they’ve been putting machinery in place to make fraud easier.

The takeaway:  local and State elections matter.  Having good Republicans staffing seemingly mundane positions makes a difference in running clean, fair elections.  Consider:  when most progressives believe that they are noble warriors fighting against Trump the Fascist, it becomes easy for them to rationalize unethical, immoral, and illegal behavior, like throwing out Trump ballots and withholding vote totals from pro-Trump counties.

The Republican Party can’t compete with the Democrats for gentry white liberals.  We must become the party of the working class—“blue-collar nationalists,” as my brother put it.

Black Pill

Tip The Portly Politico

Support quality commentary on politics, culture, music, and the arts with your one-time donation.

1.00 $