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To the Barbarians Who Toppled George Washington’s Statue:

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You live in the country that Washington founded. Did he found it single-handedly? No, but he was the indispensable man. His efforts were not alone sufficient, but they were necessary, and without him there would have been no founding.

Every single person in this country owes him an eternal debt of gratitude for the indispensable role he played in founding a country that, while far from perfect, would in the fullness of time become the greatest nation that has ever existed in the history of the planet.

244 years later you people stand on his shoulders. And from that vantage you shit on him because he was not perfect and failed to found a leftist egalitarian utopia. Your ingratitude is staggering

Comments
PS: As if on cue, Lafayette Square etc across from the White House again became a focus of street theatre. St John's Church was defaced with graffiti and an attempt was made to pull down a statue commemorating US President Andrew Jackson's military service at the Battle of New Orleans. This is the same church that is called, church of Presidents, which was earlier targetted for arson and it is where current president Trump walked to with entourage and held up his mother's Bible (which he keeps in the Oval Office, it seems). I suspect, that was a moment of silent oath and symbolic declaration.kairosfocus
June 23, 2020
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F/N: Above, I noted on how Mao, a smart strategic operator, sponsored and protected the Red Guards who expended considerable effort on despoiling or destroying monuments of Chinese culture. Why is that? Answer comes back: our monuments are symbols of what we revere, remember [grave markers . . .], honour. So, desecration as we look on helplessly is street theatre of shaming, humiliation, subjugation and literal de-valuing. It is also imposition of a new metanarrative that reverses heroes and villains. In short, from the range of targets, we are looking at an anti-civilisation radical insurgency. What they are likely ignorant of, is that the democratic, constitution-backed freedoms they enjoy are inherently unstable [hence Plato's warnings in Ship of State] and were stabilised by the cultural advances promoted through the rise of printing, creation of a broad based increasingly literate public familiar with and respectful of the key book . . . the Bible, the linked ferment of the Reformation, the rise of a widely accepted understanding of law as grounded in our built-in morally governed nature based on intelligible first principles and duties including truth, justice, prudence, sound conscience etc, and more broadly gospel ethics undergirded by respect for scripture. So, de-valuing and hollowing out the heritage of Christendom ("warts and all") removes stabilising buttresses that make sustained constitutional democracy possible. This leads to a threat of chaotic anarchy and a snap back to "safety," i.e. tumbling into the vortex of autocratic or oligarchic tyrannical domination. Those are the fires that are being played with. KFkairosfocus
June 23, 2020
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Vivid, sadly yes. A 4th Gen Civil war, even at low kinetic operations scale, is a very dirty war. On war Mohammed said, war is deception. 4th Gen war can be so subtle that part of the fog is to keep hidden the reality of there being a war. Someone has contrasted kinetic high intensity violence operations and information ones. A classic move is exploitation of real or perceived atrocities to keep polarisation going, multiplied by turnabout accusations that to the polarised make what is aggressive seem a justified retaliation. In that context there is talk of the strategic corporal, any blunder made is blown up propagandistically into a major crisis, paralysing deployment of forces for fear of such or at least retarding until crisis. Notice how arson of an historic church across from the White House and mass wounding of riot police was downplayed while pushing out a protective perimeter was portrayed as though in order to promote a mere photo op, peaceful protesters were violently attacked by police using chemical agents and out of control violence. A key sign is we are not allowed to hear a responsibly balanced report. The watershed, is that the call to defund/abolish police (and courts) is on the table, a crossing the Rubicon anti-civilisation demand that reveals misanthropy. So, yes, absent a miracle, very dark days are ahead. KFkairosfocus
June 23, 2020
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KF We are entering a very dark time and I don’t see how we recover as a country. We have sowed the wind and now we are reaping the whirlwind. Hard to see things not devolving into even more violence. Vividvividbleau
June 22, 2020
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Maybe, he should bear in mind what happened 79 years ago today?kairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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He's known as "Talcum X" by critics, for obvious reasons.daveS
June 22, 2020
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1.1 million Twitter Followers, it seems. Cat out of the bag moment. PS: From Wiki, this seems to be our man: >>Jeffery Shaun King (born September 17, 1979) is an American writer, civil rights activist, and co-founder of Real Justice PAC. King uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. King was raised in Kentucky and attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. While at Morehouse, King was elected President of the student government association and was awarded the Oprah Winfrey Scholarship.[1] After college, he worked as a high school teacher in Atlanta. He then went on to work as a pastor and founded a church in Atlanta called Courageous Church. During this time, King launched a number of internet campaigns, such as aHomeinHaiti.org, TwitChange.com, and HopeMob.org. King is currently a writer-in-residence at Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project and contributes to The Intercept and The Appeal. Previously, he contributed to the New York Daily News, Daily Kos, the Tom Joyner Morning Show and The Young Turks. In 2018, King co-founded Real Justice PAC, which supports progressive candidates running for district attorney offices, and re-launched Frederick Douglass's The North Star. >> The emerging pattern of networks is interesting.kairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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EG & DS, a look at even Wiki would give it to DS in one: >>Cleopatra VII Philopator (Koin? Greek: ????????? ?????????, Kleopátra Philopát?r;[5] 69 – 10 or 12 August 30 BC)[note 2] was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.[note 5] As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.[note 6] After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the Hellenistic period that had lasted since the reign of Alexander (336–323 BC).[note 7] Her native language was Koine Greek, and she was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.>> Greek, possibly with slight Egyptian infusions, and BTW if the Berlin statue is near accurate, not exactly a beauty contestant. But, the metropolitan character of Egypt, especially Alexandria, is underscored. Decisively undermining the excuse to rant clipped above. KFkairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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More from the same: >> Shaun King @shaunking Yes. All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda. They should all come down. 2,060 1:07 PM - Jun 22, 2020>> Incitement to hate and further vandalism, anyone? This is what we are dealing with. KFkairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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Greek? Edit: After googling, Greek and perhaps some Egyptian.daveS
June 22, 2020
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KF
Riddle me this, as Queen, what was Cleopatra, ethnically?)
The product of incest? :)Ed George
June 22, 2020
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U/D: The tear them down agenda has no limit. Twitter: >>Shaun King @shaunking Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been. In the Bible, when the family of Jesus wanted to hide, and blend in, guess where they went? EGYPT! Not Denmark. Tear them down.>> On slanderous pretence that historic artistic representations of Jesus are racist, they now wish to erase that history, which is a major part of our civilisation's artistic heritage. KF PS: Just for record, Egypt at the time was metropolitan, especially the likely place of refuge, Alexandria; which had a large Jewish Quarter. Where being named after Alexander of Macedon is a big clue. (Riddle me this, as Queen, what was Cleopatra, ethnically?)kairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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Vivid, indeed and the US was exploring hemispheric defence. By degrees it was in a naval sub war with Germany to the point where Greenland was occupied, 50 bases were exchanged for 4-stacker destroyers on a 1:1 basis, and there were active engagements not just escorting. IIRC, an American spotted Bismark at a key point. KFkairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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EG “Neither did the Americans. It took Pearl Harbour to get them involved.” This is false. First we sold them supplies on a cash basis then when Britain exhausted their cash FDR with much opposition got “lend lease” passed. Vividvividbleau
June 22, 2020
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JVL, let me make a little comment on discrete time dynamic-stochastic systems, state increment on state vector dX, with current state vector X in general involving memory of the past and f, g and e are modifying operators on current state X, current input Y and noise W: dX = f*X + g*Y + e*W X_0 = original state Next state, X+ = X + dX, defining a trajectory across time from initial state. Feedback and memory can give infinite impulse response, i.e. once excited change continues indefinitely. We may define an output vector Z on X and dX, simplest case being Z+ = X+ f, g and e in general are time varying and may be sensitive to where X sits in a space of possibilities S. That just captures the concept. For a computational system the architecture would determine behaviour. The key thing is, the only autonomous element within the system here is noise. Inputs are environmental, exogenous to the system. Just to touch base with Algebra. KFkairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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ET, actually, Germany was less un-ready for war when it came. That lack of readiness translated into initial operational victories but inability to rapidly resolve the neighbouring states conflicts. With Britain unconquered, US had an unsinkable carrier and base for intervention -- hence, leaned neutrality. On the other side, Russia was just a matter of time. So, poisoned victories leading to strategic overstretch. KFkairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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And the USA did help GB. Without our supplies the Germans would have taken the island.ET
June 22, 2020
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LoL! The USA was NOT ready for another World War, when Germany started its BS back in 1938-39. And why should we have been, we had our own problems to take care of. Great Britain wasn't ready either. That's why Chamberlin did what he did. Look how easily Germany got started in its conquering. That's because they were the only country ready for war.ET
June 22, 2020
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VB
Well Ghandi did not .want to help the British in the fight against the Nazis...
Neither did the Americans. It took Pearl Harbour to get them involved.Ed George
June 22, 2020
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There is a town in Massachusetts named Berlin. There are 6 United States that are collectively called New England. These still exist.ET
June 22, 2020
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Acartia Eddie:
Why do we have to erect statues and monuments to anybody? Of what benefit are they?
It's called a memorial. Why have a memorial day, then, right Acartia?ET
June 22, 2020
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Vividbleau: Mahatma Ghandi Is who I was referring to. I thought that would be obvious since I referred to the British in WW2 You said 'she'!! And then India was not independent until 1947. But yes, Mahatma Ghandi opposed participation in WWII but I don't think it had anything to do with Churchill; he wanted India independent.JVL
June 22, 2020
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RP, do you really believe those who so readily accepted and promoted the defend/abolish the police agenda will respect others and their rights? KF PS: I again point to the key issue: why did Mao, a smart strategic operator, push the Red Guards to attack the four olds, with a lot of emphasis on attacking symbolic monuments? Where, the range of targets (including, abolition of lawful policing) implies an anti-civilisation, misanthropic agenda. The resources and obvious operational-strategic coordination points to ruthless power centres backing that agenda. motivated by destructive nihilistic ideologies. And as for oh the involuntarily celibate [on the Right seems to be the subtext] it seems rather that something has been going very wrong for several decades, across the political spectrum. People willing to attack civilisation and to demand removal of those who man the thin blue line cannot be reasonably educated and balanced, they have been miseducated and manipulated, from K to BA. The media failure to rebalance points to the rot being in central power and influence centres. With that, the puzzle pieces begin to fit together in an ugly strategic and even geostrategic pattern. 4th gen war, led by the ruthless and targetting the centres of the most progressive, productive, genuinely liberating civilisation in history. Which, is destabilising the cultural buttresses that make democratic, constitutional self government of a free people possible. That opens up deterioration into mobs running riot and manipulated by power centres to their own nihilistic ends. Where, we have a known ideological frame with a proved track record of hostility to our civilisation backed by expertise in agit prop and subversion: Marxism, here in cultural form working through so-called Critical Theories (and the wider lower case version). Such is known to be dominant in the academy and very influential in media and other power centres. Where, the insurgency operations now afoot look a lot like updated Red Guard and Alinsky tactics, with echoes of fomented revolts over the past decade. What happened in the Levant, the Maghreb and Eastern Europe has now been moved to operational level in the USA. Geostrategic centre of Western Civilisation. That in turn triggers the threat of the repeller pole, anarchic chaos and the snap back to domination by effectively unaccountable rulers, with either autocratic or oligarchic ruling class. Where, abolish the police and obvious pathological hostility to our civilisation and its heritage drawing on Jerusalem, Athens and Rome (with the Fertile Crescent and key river valleys behind) point to lawless tyranny. Absent a serious rethink, we are heading for the vortex of tyranny. This points to serious need of reformation. For that, I am concluding . . . doubts and hopes lurking in the benefits of doubts have been hammered flat by events . . . that we need to start from core built in moral government and law:
We can readily identify at least seven inescapable first duties of reason. Inescapable, as they are so antecedent to reasoning that even the objector implicitly appeals to them; i.e. they are self-evident. Duties, to truth, to right reason, to prudence, to sound conscience, to neighbour, so also to fairness and justice etc. Such built in law is not invented by parliaments or courts, nor can these principles and duties be abolished by such. (Cf. Cicero in De Legibus, c. 50 BC.) Indeed, it is on this framework that we can set out to soundly understand and duly balance rights, freedoms and duties; which is justice. The legitimate main task of government, then, is to uphold and defend the civil peace of justice through sound community order reflecting the built in, intelligible law of our nature. Where, as my right implies your duty a true right is a binding moral claim to be respected in life, liberty, honestly aquired property, innocent reputation etc. To so justly claim a right, one must therefore demonstrably be in the right. Thus, too, we may compose sound civil law informed by that built-in law of our responsibly, rationally free morally governed nature; from such, we may identify what is unsound or false thus to be reformed or replaced even though enacted under the colour and solemn ceremonies of law.
If we fail at this kairos, the abyss yawns open before us.kairosfocus
June 22, 2020
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“Ummm . . . Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984. I don’t think she had much to say about Churchill” Mahatma Ghandi Is who I was referring to. I thought that would be obvious since I referred to the British in WW2 Vividvividbleau
June 22, 2020
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Vividbleau: Well Ghandi did not .want to help the British in the fight against the Nazis and honestly I can understand why she would dislike Churchill however he stood alone against Hitler amidst great opposition, even FDR. Would she rather India exist under Nazi rule if England caved? Ummm . . . Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984. I don't think she had much to say about Churchill.JVL
June 22, 2020
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Vivid: "Well Ghandi did not .want to help the British in the fight against the Nazis and honestly I can understand why she would dislike Churchill however he stood alone against Hitler amidst great opposition, even FDR. Would she rather India exist under Nazi rule if England caved?" When did FDR oppose Churchill? Citation please. FDR struggled to help England, but he was fighting isolationist conservatives who controlled congress and a public that was overwhelmingly opposed to getting entangled in another European war. Even then he managed to get Lend-Lease going and became England's armorer.MatSpirit
June 22, 2020
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RP: Those who tear down statues will never see Dolly Parton as any other than a rich, white person, who represents racist music from a racist state. There is no reasoning with a mob and no controlling their fury. It is just a matter of time before the mob turns on you and people like you.BobRyan
June 22, 2020
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No statue should be torn down. They show people and symbols of history, both good and bad. If history were taught, instead of the propaganda filled textbooks, people would know why the Fire Eaters were. The Fire Eaters should have a memorial to remind us of those who opposed the United States almost from the very beginning. They were a powerful group of people who had been trying to bring about their own country for a great many years. They were instrumental in the Amistad case, just as they were instrumental in guaranteeing Lincoln won the presidency. They had the southern Democrats support a different candidate than the northern Democrats to ensure the vote was split, since they wanted to be free of Jeffersonian democracy, which they hated.BobRyan
June 21, 2020
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For those who don’t know, Dolly Parton was so moved by her father’s inability to read that she started a book program that has distributed something like 100 million books to kids. Maybe the single greatest act of generosity in the history of the world.Retired Physicist
June 21, 2020
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I can’t recommend William Langewiesche’s longform piece enough though. Columbia’s Last Flight is the article I return to every few years and read and think about.Retired Physicist
June 21, 2020
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