Our stereotype of the banana republic dictator is that he/she does their oppressing from above – with the military, the secret police, the “legal system” and so on.

And that’s all true – the KGB, the Gestapo, the Pasdaran, were or are all pretty effective at making life miserable, nasty, brutish and short for those who didn’t toe the authorities’ lines (and, often enough, for those who did, just to be safe).

But Americans are blessed to live in a place where, for the most part, we haven’t had to learn about how authoritarians subjugate us from “below” – by weaponizing the “underclass” against the middle.

History is chock full of examples, of whom most Americans are blissfully uneducated.

The Soviets weaponized envy against the closest thing that existed to a “middle class” in much of the USSR, the “kulaks” – which, like “counterrevolutionary”, was a fungible, malleable term that ould be expanded to include pretty much anyone those in power disdained. Sort of like “racist”, “misogynist” and “fascist” today.

The Nazi Sturmabteilung – popularly “the Brownshirts” – were a popular way for people with no particular talent or skill to fit into something, by being a thug and smacking down the opposition (and the Communists’ Rote Fahne, which lives on as “Anti”-Fa today, were the same thing for the communists).

The “Red Guards” in China certainly weaponized class envy, along with a parallel groups in Cambodia.

Former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega enlisted his “Dignity Battalions” – a “paramilitary” mass of down-and-outers and slum-dwellers who beat down opposition without a whole lot of ceremony.

Iran’s Basiji – basically a theo-political militia reporting to the Revolutionary Guards – serve much the same purpose in Iran; they are “Karen” with firearms. ]

And Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Militia of Venezuela” – basically a half-million-strong mob of thugs that bypasses the military chain of command to report to Maduro? Same exact model – a mass of characters with no particular stake in life other than upholding the regime/s that gave, or give, them any status at all.

All of them were threats looming out there, awaiting anyone who spoke up, who demonstrated, who were seen to be thinking about being a threat to the various regimes. A nervous knot in the stomach that everyone needed to keep in mind, and keep happy.

The lesson is obvious – a population that’s nervous about getting pummeled in the street, and publicly castigated out of public life by a drooling mob of (usually armed, always legally-supported) people, can’t do mundane (to Americans) things like organize, speak, oppose the regime. It ratchets the consequence curve outside the range of more and more people’s abilities to accept.

Nervous people are politically passive people.

I thought about that reading the news that Los Angeles County is decriminalizing a wide swathe of offenses:

In a new policy directive entitled “Declination Policy Directive,” Gascon has directed his subordinates not to enforce Penal Code Section 602 (trespass), Penal Code Section 415 (Disturbing the Peace), or Driving without a Valid License (Cal. Vehicle Code Section 12500).

Social justice warriors believe these are all statutes the white aristocracy uses to subjugate members of minority communities, institutionalizing racism. Resisting Arrest will also no longer be prosecuted.

Gascon will end the practice of charging minors as adults for murder and other serious crimes. He will extend victims services to the families of anyone shot by police. He will eliminate gang enhancements in criminal complaints, a practice Republicans initiated in the 1990s. He will have no cash bail, and the death penalty will no longer “be on the table.”

So – if you’re a “normal” in LA County, you have to worry about your city/county regime arbitrarily shutting down your livelihood. You have to worry about “Anti”-Fa and the cancel mob coming after your personal and professional reputation. And even without all that, you have to be concerned about the ongoing decay in your community that these sorts of policies inevitably bring.

LA County is doing de jure, by the way, what Minneapolis is doing de facto today. Watch for the student senate that runs Minneapolis to keep up with the Joneses before too terribly long.

You may find yourself looking back at the past four years.

You may find yourself wondering “why did the Democrats spend so much time and effort pushing the “Russian Collusion” hoax?

And you may say to yourself “Russia? They’re a paper tiger in a demographic spiral, keeping themselves afloat with arms sales and natural gas exports. They exert a tiny shadow of their influence compared even to thirty years ago”.

And you may ask yourself “Why does this make sense?”

And you may answer that question with a hearty “Berg’s Seventh Law explains it all”, as is usually the case.

Chinese intelligence has apparently been cultivating contacts among American politicians for years:

A suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including a U.S. congressman, in what U.S. officials believe was a political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015, Axios found in a yearlong investigation.

Keeping Berg’s 7th Law, and four years of chanting points about “collusion with Russia” in mind, any guesses which party their efforts were aimed at?

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

Governor Walz has ordered restaurants closed for dine-in service. So on Saturday morning, I buzzed over the new Highway 36 bridge to eat breakfast at a cafe near Somerset.

Dine-in service. Normal table separation. Packed with customers. Cheerful wait staff running non-stop. Generous portions. Reasonable prices. No masks required.

If Minnesota doesn’t want my business, I’ll take it elsewhere. Because that’s The American Way, right? Maybe that will get the Governor’s attention.

Joe Doakes

I don’t know. His paycheck isn’t going anywhere.

This is Cynthia Johnson – a Democrat Michigan state representative, and her message to “Trump supporters”.

I’m done with asking questions like “can you imagine what would happen if a Republican, no matter how obscure, no matter how far removed from any actual political clout, were to say something like this?”.

We can’t. There’s no point in trying. Even asking for a pretense of “fairness” in the mainstream media’s reporting of these things is as pointless as wondering “wouldn’t it have been cool if the Japanese didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor” while climing down the cargo net into a Higgins Boat off Utah Beach; fun to think about, but utterly pointless in light of current fact.

There’s a civil war afoot – and a lot of Democrats are pretty happy about it.

Make this your mission. Whatever it takes.

Please see to it that Tide Pod Evita has a role to fit her, er, capabilities at least a year before midterms.

Thanks in advance.

I occasionally look over the traffic numbers for this blog.

The top five posts in this blog’s history – at least in terms of hits since I installed a hit counter, probably 10 years ago – were pretty steadily the same for much of that time; a piece on Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä, an article about the Gordon Kahl shootout, a few others.

But over the past year or so, a piece I wrote in 2007 about Saint Thomas University’s early adoption of cancel culture against itself seems to have run away from the pack – as in, gotten nearly triple the hits of its nearest competitor. As in, 80,000 hits to something like 30,000.

Used to be you could Google for links to individual web pages, but that seems to have been discontinued (or I’m doing it wrong).

On the one hand, immortalizing the perfidious moral cowardice of St. Thomas’s former administration is a feather in my proverbial cap.

On the other?

Who the hell is still citing an article from 13 years ago to tens of thousands of people?

Governor Walz [last Tuesday] announced a new Executive Order intended to save Minnesotan lives from the deadliest virus ever known, Covid-19.

“More than 100 people died of Covid-19 the day after Thanksgiving.  It’s sad, but it’s their own fault.  They failed to follow my instructions to cancel Thanksgiving and they paid the price for it.  I’m only sorry the scofflaws took so many of their aged neighbors with them.  This blatant disregard of my Executive Orders cannot continue.   Effective immediately, all Christmas parties are banned during the month of December.  And since we now know I cannot depend on people to voluntarily obey the arbitrary rules, I’m announcing a new compliance program.  You’ve heard of Toys for Tots?  Well, this is Cash for Christians.  Report your neighbor’s holiday gathering and receive a check from the state.  The more violators, the bigger the reward.”

In response to Republican claims that such an order would somehow violate the “Constitution,” a spokesman for Attorney General Ellison stated, “Since the Governor’s order is authorized by statute and has not been overturned by the Legislature, it is presumptively valid. There is ample legal precedent to take action against people who threaten public peace under pretext of religion, particularly Executive Order 44 issued by the Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri in 1838. The notion that the Governor lacks the authority to suspend people’s so-called “Constitutional rights” during the time of state-wide emergency is absurd on its face.”

Local ministers called a press conference to protest the order but were summarily arrested and have not been heard from since.  An aide to the Governor confirmed he has reserved the Xcel Center for several events in coming weeks and also has instructed the Minnesota Zoo to stop feeding the big cats, but rumors of plans to feed Christians to the lions on pay-per-view were denied.

In Saint Paul, Joe Doakes, reporting.

Given that the state owns a freezer morgue that is empty (since Ken Martin let John Thompson out after the election), I suppose it brings new meaning to “putting suspects on ice”….

Ilhan Omar has been paying her husband’s firm $2.7 million in campaign donations.

Under most of your community property laws, that means she’s been paying herself a whole lot of money.

And yet while prospering mightily from Omar’s campaign (they grossed $4 million in the 2020 cycle, a nearly 25-fold increase on the firm’s 2018 billings), they received Covid payroll stimulus money:

Public records show that E Street Group, co-owned by Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, received nearly $135,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and $500,000 in Economic Injury Disaster loans. …

Public records show that E Street Group, co-owned by Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, received nearly $135,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and $500,000 in Economic Injury Disaster loans.

Federal Election Commission filings also show that the firm received payments for other campaigns, including $175,000 from the committee of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and nearly $130,000 from the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

When Democrats say “never waste a crisis”…

Is Saint Anthony resident got this letter recently, about their Christmas light display:

I wonder if the Karen who wrote this realizes they live in…

Wait for it…

… Wait for it…

… Saint Anthony.

There’s been a lot of chatter about Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s announcement last Thursday that his office won’t be asking bail for the following offenses starting next year:

It’s not that Henco is legalizing these activities.

It’s merely providing no direct consequences for skipping trial for accused forgers, felony-level vandals, burglars, porch pirates, kiters, shoplifters, frauds, drug dealers, counterfeiters or welfare cheats.

If they skip trial, a warrant will be issued for their arrest, and if they eventually come into contact with the law, the warrant will be on their record when they are arrested for the next offense that they won’t be charged bail for before skipping trial.

Glad we settled that.

For the last few years, I’ve secretly left candy in the grandkids’ shoes on St. Nicholas Day, a family holiday tradition which stretches back five generations (that I know of) and possibly more. This year, my daughter decided the oldest grandson could take over the role. I’m no longer needed.

I said it was fine with me so long as she gave him the lecture I received from my Mom when I took over as St. Nicholas: He must keep the secret. The little kids are entitled to the magic of Christmas as long as it lasts, same as he was. Never break the spell. Allow them to believe.

I know in my head this is a good thing, passing the torch and involving the next generation. I know the oldest grandson will do a fine job. I didn’t really want to drive all the way over there in the cold and dark anyway.

So why do I feel like crying?

Joe Doakes

I hear ya.

Background: “Cultural appropriation” is one of the few sins actually recognized by the Wokemob. One can not, it seems, be white and wear african jewelry or cook mexican food, at the risk of inciting the Wokemob.

They seem to be more tolerant of people of non-Western descent using things invented in the west, like free speech and respect for the individual (as long as they are that individual), but let’s not get carried away in technicalities, here.

Foreground: The actress formerly known as Ellen Page – most famous for starring in Juno, the inescapable and insufferable indy sensation that put former Minneapolitan “Diablo Cody” on the map way back when – is now Elliot Page, and has asked to be referred to by the pronouns “he” and “they”.

And the media – mainstream and social – have complied with that demand at a clip that would have terrified Orwell, and probably Emmanuel Goldstein as well.

Elliot Page was never a woman, Winston.

Appropriated: Brendan O’Neil has an excellent piece at Spiked on the subject, focusing on three subjects – the Orwellian completeness of the “transformation”, the deleterious effect of the Transgender mafia on gay kids…

…and the bit that caught my attention: Page’s cultural appropriation. I’ll add some emphasis.

The disappearing of Ellen Page, and the demonisation of anyone who dares to mention that woman’s name, matters because it tells us a great deal about the increasing instability and elitism of identity politics. There are many reasons we should have a frank, legitimate discussion about Ellen Page rather than robotically repeating that she is now a he and that anyone who says otherwise is a moral reprobate. First, is it really the case that Page is male? A he? How can someone who doesn’t have male biology and who has had no male experiences – boyhood, male puberty, masculine impulses, being a brother, an uncle, a father – be a ‘he’? How does that work? Is it magic? Or have words like male, he, brother and father been so denuded of meaning thanks to the cult of genderfluidity that anyone can adopt them as their preferred identity? It is not prejudiced to ask these questions; it is reasonable, and important.

And the same goes the other way, for “women” who grew up male as well. If eating a burrito made by a white woman is genocide, what is being an insta-male or female?

It’s not you. It’s not even your identity. It’s the costume of the day.

To: Democrats
From: Mitch Berg, Unruly Peasant
Re: Your Marching Orders

Dear Democrats

Consider it your moral duty to do exactly this. As much as you can, and then some.

Preferably right out of the gate in the next session of Congress.

If you succeed, Wellstone will smile down on you.

That is all.

Of course we are.

Well, except for the difficult stuff.

Suicides balloon by 31% in Minnesota since the beginning of the lockdowns.

See the doll with yellow hair and green pants? He is in Har Mar Mall in one of those machines where you use the crane to win the stuffed toy.

How many kids today know who that boy is?

Joe Doakes

I imagine that’s more to entice the parents to wager a quarter.

Or…grandparents, I guess.

The March for Trump is coming to Blaine Airport on Sunday. Come on out!

Here’s that piece in Scientific American, The Covid Science Wars.

Dennis Prager notes that everything The Left touches, it destroys.

If you’re a conservative, in a well-run conservative state like the Dakotas, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Carolina, Idaho, Utah or most of Montana, Texas, Oklahoma or Indiana, be careful.

All these people fleeing the mess their own politics have made do screw up your politics. You’ve seen it in rural New England, where Boston refugees pretty much zorched everything forty years ago.

Colorado? Virginia? Lost to refugees from California and DC over a decade ago.

Arizona?

It’s becoming mini-California.

The Seattle Times reports that the refugees from California, Washington, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Minnesota, Nevada, Florida, and Utah, in that order, fled to the state with Cactus League baseball, more conservative politics, the Grand Canyon, and the Red Rocks of Sedona. And then they approved legal pot, the state’s highest tax increase ever, and put Democrats in the highest offices – the Senate and White House – to ensure their new home will be every bit as expensive and over-regulated as the one from which they fled. Toke up, ‘Zonies!

You’re seeing this in Fargo and Grand Forks, as colonies of academics from all over the blue-o-sphere set up residence, and then start turning the area into everything they fled.

Watch out, Hudson.

In the world we live in, going out in public wearing a swastika will get you pretty roundly reviled. Even Finland, which has been using the swastika as a national symbol since well before the Nazis stole it, finally had to cave in and stop using them.

History will have a way of doing that.

Of course, wearing a MAGA hat might get one reviled, or physically assaulted, by the #Unity “In This House…” crowd. Like it or don’t, but that’s the way things work.

But wear a red star – a symbol associated with more death and suffering than the swastika, by a serious multiple?

Why, you get a job with the Biden campaign, that’s what.

And it’s your fault for bringing it up:

She – the incoming State Department spokesperson – is rocking genocide-wear and turning around and pleading victimhood.

Gotta say, that’s the kind of talent a Democrat PR pro needs.

That, and the knowledge that Democrat voters just don’t think that critically about things, and the in-the-bag media either doesn’t care, doesn’t know any better themselves, or bet on the other guys all along.

I keep hearing journalists say the reason the public isn’t going along with mask orders and closures is Covid fatigue. We’re exhausted from the strain of trying so hard to comply.

No, it’s not fatigue. It’s fury. We’re furious at being lied to, talked down to, scolded, belittled, insulted. We’ve been hearing dire warnings about piles of bodies in the streets but looking around, we don’t see them. We hear about skyrocketing case numbers but looking around our circles of acquaintances, we know nobody who died from it; maybe one or two people who tested positive but they are fine. We hear those things cited as justification for arbitrary rules causing massive disruptions in our lives, our family finances, our children’s education – rules our own leaders unashamedly flaunt – and it pisses us off.

We’re not stupid. If Covid is deadly serious, then rules shouldn’t be just for little people, they should be for everybody to follow, to keep everybody safe. But since we’ve seen the rules ARE just for little people, then Covid must not be deadly serious. It must be a political hoax. That’s not a good enough reason for it to continue.

End the rules, already. Stop the ride, we want to get off.

Joe Doakes

I’ll believe it’s a crisis (for relatively healthy people below age 60) when the people telling me it’s a crisis (for relatively healthy people below age 60) start acting like it’s a crisis (for relatively healthy people below age 60).

Put another way – when I see people like Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, Lori Lightfoot, and that lightweight mayor of Denver flouting the rules because they can, and then I look at my parents (in their eighties, both vulnerable in a variety of ways), I want to jam a swab full of virus up their noses myself.

Think of it as a “Ghost of Christmas Future” story.

If we’re smart.

Unfortunately, “we” are not smart.

Saint Paul, Minnesota
November 22, 2020
For Immediate Release

Dictator-for-Life Walz today announced a new Executive Order intended to save Minnesota lives from the deadliest virus ever known, Covid-19.

“Some have questioned the wisdom of my Executive Orders, citing downstream consequences as reasons why the Orders should not have been issued and should not be obeyed. These questions undermine public confidence in the government and put everyone at risk of dying in agony. Therefore, effective immediately, no person shall question any of my Orders at any time, for any reason, on pain of imprisonment or deportation.”

In response to Republican claims that the order constituted a prior restraint on free speech which somehow violated the “Constitution,” a spokesbeing for Attorney General Ellison said, “Since the Governor’s order is authorized by statute and has not been overturned by the Legislature, it is presumptively valid. There is ample legal precedent for this measure provided in the Alien Friends and Sedition Acts of 1798. The notion that the Governor lacks the authority to suspend people’s so-called “Constitutional rights” during the time of state-wide emergency is absurd on its face.”

Local ACLU officials called a press conference to support the order, pointing out that Republican Hate Speech is not Protected Speech.

From Saint Paul, Joe Doakes, reporting

The ACLU bit is so close to “not satire at all” that it’s a little scary.

Nancy Pelosi’s haircut and blowout was more important than the public health measures whose jamdown she supported – after which the speaker and masses of her droogs took it upon themselves to try to defame the stylist for apparently fooling the hapless speaker of the house and Powerful Woman into acting like Marie Antoinette.

Chicago mayor Lori “Walker” Lightfoot also needed a haircut denied to mere proles – and figured hobnobbing with masses of people celebrating a Biden win would be immune, because “relief” conveys immunity, apparently.

Gavin Newsom’s swanky and flagrantly non-compliant dinner, with his public health authorities, was apparently not only an exception to the rule but so awesome that the Mayor of San Francisco did the same thing, the next night, at the same $400-a-seat San Fran restaurant.

The Mayor of Denver got on a plane not 30 minutes after telling his subjects…er, constituents not to even think about traveling. As did the Mayor of San Jose.

Not to be outdone, an LA County supervisor went to a big dinner, right after voting to shut down outdoor dining.

I’d ask “what do they all have in common?”, but after almost 19 years on this blog, we all know, don’t we?

SCENE: Mitch BERG is waiting for takeout at a near-eastern restaurant on Snelling Avenue when Avery LIBRELLE walks in. Trapped, BERG tries to ignore…er, Avery. To no avail.

LIBRELLE: Merg!

BERG: Oh, hey, Avery. What’s new…

LIBRELLE: Republicans reject science!

BERG: Is that so?

LIBRELLE: That’s right. You don’t wear masks.

BERG: Huh. So – just to be clear, if you conduct an experiment, and the theory succeeds, and succeeds repeatedly, then it’s an indication that one’s theory is holding up well.

LIBRELLE: Of course. Science is awesome.

BERG: OK. So – theory: defending against ballistic missiles would remove a key area where a hostile foreign power can blackmail the US by threatening millions of American lives. Hypothesis: modern technology makes point defense against incoming missiles not only feasible, but reliable enough to incorporate in foreign and defense policy.

LIBRELLE: Nonsense. It’s impossible. That science was settled back in the 1980s.

BERG: This ain’t the eighties, and the science is settling in the direction of “set ’em up, we can shoot ’em down”.

LIBRELLE: Not only is it impossible to shoot down missiles, but even considering it is destabilizing, actually making a nuclear attack more likely, which would disproportionally affect People of Color, Latinx, gay and transgender people.

BERG: So we’ve gone from science to intersectional sociology.

LIBRELLE: Intersectional sociology is science.

BERG: Huh. And queer gender theory?

LIBRELLE: Science.

BERG: The 1619 Project?

LIBRELLE: Science.

BERG: Vox.com?

LIBRELLE: Scientists, every one of ’em.

BERG: Shooting down missiles using a 50-year-old missile and guidance technology that’s been steadily improving since Jimmy Carter was in office?

LIBRELLE: Pure emotion.

BERG: Gotcha.

LIBRELLE: Hey, could you buy me a gyro?

BERG: When can you pay me back?

LIBRELLE: What do you mean?

BERG: Right.

And SCENE.

To bring to baseball games, obviously.