The Peasants Are Revolting

If citizens can’t defend their freedom, then they are not citizens. They are subjects.

The Canadian truckers have shown us that if they don’t have the ability to defend their personal finances from government opporession, they are not citizens. They are subjects.

And against even more drastic threats?

The Peasant Revolt of 1381 – in which peasants in what would now be the eastern suburbs of London rebelled against onerous taxation and government overreach (figuratively and literally) may or may not have been an impetus for the Second Amendment – but it certainly should instruct any study of the issue of popular power versus government authority.

This video explains the event; if you ignore the presenter’s obvious left-wing bias (trying to connect Margaret Thatcher and King Richard II is the kind of thing that plays better in a faculty lounge than in reality), the lesson is fairly clear:

And for people with ears to hear, the lesson remains clear: Ukraine, responding to a Russian invasion, has “granted” their citizens a right that can not be legitimately taken away in the first place.

Preparing for the possibility of a large-scale Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government has moved to declare a 30-day state of emergency, grant citizens the right to bear arms, and conscript military reservists between the ages of 18 and 60, adding nearly 200,000 troops to the country’s defense as Russian troops continue to enter the Donbas region.

Of course, the Ukrainians are implementing under duress what the Estonians have made a part of their national culture (although not, alas, in the sense of being an inalienable right, but more a matter of duty to state and people). Defending their freedom from Russia is an actual national hobby even in whatever passes for “normal times” on the Russian border (I’ve written about the article linked above in the past; it may be even more worth reading today).

This is the lesson: today, as in 1381 and 1776 and 1939, and in Ottawa today, your freedom is only as secure as your ability to defend it; legally, in courts via the Marquis of Queensbury rules of the legal system…

…or otherwise.

59 thoughts on “The Peasants Are Revolting

  1. The point of this post is good and is also strong enough to stand on its own without the need to drag in the faux war going on in Ukraine.

    And, by the way, you neglected to include this bit from the article: Meanwhile, the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday took steps toward giving civilians the right to bear arms, though the final vote has not yet been conducted.

  2. That is such a bullshit article, you should be ashamed Mitch to take it seriously. From Politico yet? You do not think it is slanted and propagandist? Have you read anything about Estonian history? Have you been there and talked to real Estonians – both of Russian descent and actual Estonians? For the umpteenth time, get a clue and stop putting out Estonians as some kind of nationalistic force willing to fight at a drop of a hat. Read their history, educate yourself. The reason Tallinn is the oldest surviving walled city in Europe is because they always opened the doors to invaders so there was no need to destroy the city. What changed now after literally a thousand year and some change? If Russians come knocking, those castle doors will fly open once again. Geez Mitch, but you can be so thick and obtuse sometimes.

  3. The motorized peasant revolt we know as “the truckers protest” is headed to DC as we speak. I’ve seen video clips of dozens of trucks and cars pulled off to the shoulder of freeways along the planned route, waiting for the convoy to pass and join.

    This is obviously a very well planned and executed event with excellent comms. It will be very interesting to see how they defeat the barriers Pedo Joe’s Stazi has been erecting around DC.

  4. First, over the weekend the Police put on a textbook demonstration of responsible understated policing in Ottawa. Organized. Slow. Steady. Careful. Patient. It was outstanding. The Police should be congratulated.

    Second, it is fairly clear the government was right to spell out the powers it was going to use, and to limit them to a very small, well-defined geographic area.

    Third, it is also fairly clear Canada needs something more finely calibrated than a bi-modal choice between the initial passivity of the municipal force and the phenomenal cosmic powers of the Emergencies Act.

    Finally, we need to address the problem of the spreading of mis-information.

    The premise of democracy is that reasonable people of good will and good faith can be guided by facts and logic to sift for truth, and therefore to make better public policy, on the basis of open discussion in the marketplace of ideas.

    In the age of big data and the internet, polarization, mis-information, and dis-information, are destroying the good will, good faith, reasonableness, and adherence to fact-based decision making required for the marketplace of ideas to function.

    It is destroying Democracy.

  5. ^ the concerned, oh-so reasonable authoritarian supporting police-state tactics because you don’t have put anything on the line yourself. It’s quite the role you play, Mr “Honk-honk is an acronym for Heil Hitler”.

  6. My… my,,, my,,,

    Facing Financial Peril and a Pending Senate Rebuke, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Revokes Emergency War Measures Act

    In the bigger picture, the Canadian banking and financial system was hit hard by the deployment of the Emergency Act which highlighted the ability of the government to arbitrarily freeze and seize money, assets and financial investment capital without any due process.

    There are also strong rumors in the financial sector, that in addition to Canadians removing money from the banking system, previous investment funds from Hong Kong had been moved – and, making matters even worse, digital currency exchanges were no longer offering secure services in Canada.

    Simultaneous to the mounting domestic and international backlash against the financial system, the Canadian Senate was likely to rebuke the government of Justin Trudeau and not support the invocation of the Emergency War Measures Act against Canadian citizens.

    As a result of multiple issues of backlash with severe consequence, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are trying to save face, and yet walk away from the Emergency War Measures Act by revoking it before they faced the humiliation of a public defeat in the Canadian Senate.

    After his prepared remarks about his reversal in position, Trudeau was softly questioned about internal documents discovered by the Canadian Senate that point toward Trudeau’s cabinet discussing the political benefits they would gain by invoking the Emergency Act. The prime minister dodged the question twice, instead saying a parliamentary investigation will review why the Emergency Act was needed.

    Keep an eye on the story of this Senate discovery. From all indications, even the liberal allies of Trudeau in the Senate were unable to support the Emergency Act after they reviewed the non-public documents. There’s something very damaging in those documents, likely internal emails between Trudeau and his various ministers.

    My… my… my…

  7. My… my… my…

    ‘They were as dumb as a bag of hammers.’ Arrested trucker says police who broke up Ottawa’s Freedom Convoy protests acted ‘like the Keystone Kops’ from silent movies

    fascinating read on dailymail – too long to post here, a lot of details about textbook demonstration of responsible understated policing in Ottawa. Organized. Slow. Steady. Careful. Patient. It was outstanding.

    You… can’t… make… this… shit… up…

  8. rAT hailed: First, responsible understated policing in Berlin. Organized. Slow. Steady. Careful. Patient. It was outstanding. The Sturmabteilung should be congratulated.

    Second, it is fairly clear the Reich was right to spell out the powers it was going to use, and to limit them to a very small, well-defined geographic area.

    Third, it is also fairly clear the Reich needs something more finely calibrated than a bi-modal choice between the initial passivity of the municipal force and the phenomenal cosmic powers of the Zum Schutz von Volk und Staat act.

    Finally, we need to address the problem of the spreading of mis-information. I have set Reich Minister Goebbels to the task.

    Zeig Hail, rAT

  9. Pingback: In The Mailbox: 02.23.22 : The Other McCain

  10. The Timeline series is good overall, but this episode had more than the usual dose of presentism. The episode imposes a Marxist narrative to explain an event that preceded the birth of Marx by more than four centuries.
    It is difficult for Europeans to shake off the Enlightenment tendency to see the Middle Ages as a uniquely awful time in human history. We imagine ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome as being glorious, but those civilizations were built on a form of slavery that was far worse than what was experienced by Medieval serfs. Warfare, disease, and starvation were facts of life for just about everyone in the world until early modern times. “Giving the workers a fair shake” is not the engine of history, because, unless you are religious, history has no engine. It’s just people doing things that do not matter.

  11. In Roman times agriculture was done by slaves. They worked these slaves from sun up to sun down with whips to their backs, fed them as little as possible, and locked them in a crowded pit each night.
    Day in, day out, til they died.
    Any of them would have traded places with Dennis the Peasant in a second.

  12. We’ve now reached the stage where Trump supporters and Russian supporters are indistinguishable.

    Anyone who thinks Putin is the chess master strategist must be holding their heads in their hands. It turns out he is just another fanatic.

  13. Want to know who is very nervous right now? Taiwan

    Amazing how so many of the self-proclaimed American nationalists talk such a big game about the importance of nationalism, the morality of nationalism, the necessity of nationalism, just don’t care very much when an imperial power tries to erase a nation. Whatever it takes to own the libs I suppose…

  14. Maybe Putin read Sun Tsu: To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

    Not chess — GO.

  15. So, “American nationalists” are supposed to care about other nations? I don’t think this term means what you think it means. And adding a trite meaningless adjective like “self-proclaimed” defies logic. What other kinds of nationalists are there if not self-proclaimed?

    You really need to, as you say yourself, send that comment back for a re-edit.

  16. Emery,
    Please get help for your TDS and you might also want help with your crack addiction. Your screeds are now as nonsensical as those of your left wing heroes, Pedo Joe and Kameltoe. Sheesh!

  17. I guess I was wrong. Putin went after Kiev after all. Because he can and nobody will stop him. Everybody will forget about this fracas in a couple of weeks when Xi occupies Taiwan. Because he can and nobody will stop him. Jughead will in the meantime continue to enjoy his pudding and announce deterrent sanctions – after actions have taken place. Let that sink in for a minute. Adults in the White House™.

  18. ^ Sadly, sometimes that massive invasion force of 190,000 troops is actually an invasion force.

    At least the White House is occupied by a diplomat instead of a traveling salesman in search of his next mark. Small victories are nice, too.

  19. “Anyone one who thinks Putin is the chess master strategist must be holding their heads in their hands. It turns out he is just another fanatic.”

    There is nothing saying he can’t be both.

    He certainly ran rings around our President.

  20. Small victories? [T]he White House is occupied by a diplomat?

    I’m can’t remember any victories. I can remember Our Diplomat telling Putin that a small incursion is not so bad, no problem, as it were. Obama was right about one very key thing: never underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up. But Our Diplomat will always have the Emery Collective to defend him.

  21. The US intel was spot on. It’s rare that we get to see the capabilities of the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Seeing everything unfold in real-time has been a sight to behold.

    This is a world changing moment. From the comments it seems that not many people get that point.

    Putin is basically threatening to nuke any country that “interferes”, which is as close to a declaration of war that you can get. The only solution is for the rest of the world to totally isolate Russia — from finance, any business transactions including energy, travel, communication, etc. All Russian oligarch & family assets should be seized — the owners will then become motivated to dethrone Putin.

    There will be short term pain, but that has to be accepted, since the probable next step will be invasion of the Baltic States — clearly Putin does not believe that NATO will take any action there either, since there is the overhanging threat of nuclear strikes by Russia in retaliation of legitimate defense.

  22. Nah, if Russia makes a move on any NATO country, all of Europe will rush to the recruiting offices and lie about their age to volunteer to fight the commies. Overnight, production of tanks, bullets and land mines will skyrocket. The French and Belgians aren’t patsies, just look at their colonial record, together with the Dutch, Italians and British, they’ll kick Putin’s behind and he knows it.

    No need for America to get involved at all. They’ve got this.

  23. There will be short term pain

    Funny how CBS jumped the gun on this a few days ago and declared that all the present domestic problems like inflation, supply shortages, etc, are due to the Ukraine crisis. D’oh!

  24. ^ You’ve been defending Russia a lot this week.

    History is clear. Appeasement doesn’t work. You have to take a hard stance with aggressive autocrats. It’s the only language they understand.

  25. Ah-ha! I wonder where the troll got the idea that conservatives are somehow “Putin supporters” or at least “Putin defenders.”
    The WaPo Live Youtube channel just spent ten minutes informing me that Trump said that Putin invading Ukraine was a “genius move,” that J.D. Vance says he doesn’t care about Ukraine, and that Tucker Carlson said something about the US media being unfair in its reporting on Putin. Also, wasn’t it just a few years ago that congressional republicans claimed that Putin did not collude with Trump to “meddle” in the 2016 election?
    Those dastardly republicans!
    Well, there you have it! Obviously every conservative, including every conservative commenter at SITD hearts them some Putin!

  26. Random comment generator seems to have stripped a gear. Either that or Emery’s understanding of how language works is awfully broken.
    Did you know that Russia has a parliamentary system — JUST LIKE CANADA!!

  27. Do any SITD commenters recall me ever making a pro-Russia or pro-Putin statement?
    The last time I opined on the topic I wrote that people who want the US to become isolationist may not like the results.

  28. ^ Remember, MP. It’s easier to understand a (leftwing troll) if you think about him like a robot. He doesn’t really “think” in the traditional sense of the word. All “thoughts” comes from the hive mind.

    He can lie, insult, or change the subject. But those are the limits of his software.

  29. “Tell Vlad that I’ll have much more leverage after the election”. – the Black Messiah

    Funny, isn’t it, Emery. Every POTUS after Reagan got the Berlin Wall knocked down, every DemoCommie POTUS has tried appeasement of Russia and China, except Trump. Too bad your buddies didn’t learn that along the way. But hey. Keep on supporting then, bot boy!

  30. Oh, c’mon, boss! Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be President. He doesn’t want me to be our nominee. If you’re wondering why — it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him.

  31. I saw a dossier proving Trump was a soviet puppet who stole the election through collusion with Russia. But Putin made no move on Ukraine while Trump was in office.

    “Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be President. He doesn’t want me to be our nominee. If you’re wondering why — it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him.” – Candidate Joe Biden. But suddenly, Putin makes his move on Ukraine while Biden is in office.

    Weird, huh?

  32. Sold uranium to Russia (Democrats), Crimea invaded (Democrats), US domestic pipeline shut down (Democrats), nuclear power halted (Democrats), Ukraine invaded again (Democrats).

    Starting to notice a pattern.

  33. NO! This is Terrible! People buying assault rifles, intending to USE THEM! What are they THINKING!

    Wanting to defend your family comes from a place of white privilege.
    You’re more likely to be shot if you have guns in your house.
    More guns creates more gun violence; stop the madness.
    Leave home defense to the professionals. Call 911 or whatever it is in Ukraine, report the Russian invasion, wait calmly for help to arrive.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10545037/Ukraine-President-vows-confront-invading-army-says-Putin-REFUSED-ditch-phonecall.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

    What is WRONG with these people?

  34. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices plummeted after Russia attacked Ukraine on Wednesday, but have partially recovered. Bitcoin was down as much as 8 percent following Russia’s invasion, but by Thursday afternoon had recovered much of the drop.

    You can’t make this shit up! Shooting fish in a barrel is harder than shutting down trollbots. Another threadjack in three… two… one…

  35. And now Zelensky says Ukraine is going to develop nukes.
    Ukraine can do it. Ukraine built Russia’s nukes during the cold war. And its cruise missiles. And its ICBM’s.
    Back in 1992, after the fall of the USSR, newly independent Ukraine found itself the 4th largest nuclear power in the world. Then the Ukrainians signed the Copenhagen Agreement. They agreed to give up their nukes in return for western guarantees of its territorial integrity. Stupid move.
    Oh, Lordy, what a monumental F*ck up is the Democrat named “Joseph Robinette Biden”! You know, the senile idiot that all the smartest people thought was just the right guy to put in the White House!
    Yet again our elites have beclowned themselves.
    Tony Blinken is even worse a Secretary of State than John Kerry, whose comment on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that he hoped that the Russians would honor their commitments to reduce carbon emissions.

  36. Okay, I concede it looks bad to be routed by goat herders in Afghanistan and left impotently whining as Russia gobbles up its neighbor. I can understand why Lesko Brandon’s handlers are chagrined.

    But hey, No Mean Tweets!

  37. @jpa — again this means it’s a speculative asset with no value tied (unlike stocks, bonds, and commodities) and not currency. Higher risk assets are more volatile. It’s a feature, not a bug.
    Also — Bitcoin doesn’t have aircraft carriers backing it up.

  38. Woolly wrote: “I wonder where the troll got the idea that conservatives are somehow “Putin supporters” or at least “Putin defenders.”

    “This is genius. Bin Laden takes down these buildings with a couple of planes. How smart is that? That’s pretty savvy.”

    “Bin Laden liked me. I liked him. Had I been in office, this wouldn’t have happened.”

    — What former president Clinton did not say on Sept. 11, 2001

    Clinton would never say that, and if he did he would be savaged by the press and pundits universally. Trump says stuff like that and the press mostly shrugs and his fans just laughed and giggled.

  39. So, 9/11 wouldn’t have happened if Trump had been president? That sounds like a win to me. I don’t think your point, such as it is, means what you think it means.

  40. The fact that our enemies advance when we have weak presidents, such as the Iranians taking hostages under Carter, the Russians threatening the Crimea under Obama, and now Putin taking Ukraine under Brandon, is not cause-and-effect. It is mere coincidence.

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