02/01/25: Agreed! Let's encourage Don to run more past columns. They're too good to be tucked away after their debut, never to be seen again. As for P.N., I've written her off so completely, it always surprises me when she resurfaces ("she's still alive?!"). And this time, logically, on the show with a man who's the perennial* broken-clock of the American media, Bill Maher.
*"mid 17th century (in the sense ‘remaining leafy throughout the year, evergreen’): from Latin perennis, ‘lasting the year through’ + -ial."
Lucianne G. nicknamed Noonan the Eternal Ingenue. Glad all that booze Peggy is accused of drinking has finally mellowed her out a bit. Imagine being chewed up and spit out by a 27 year-old press secretary. That's gonna leave a bruise. And while we're on the subject of miracles, thank you, merci beaucoup and mil gracias for saving us from a Surber-less Weekend. This is not only chocolate for the soul, but a plump cherry on the top!
The best funniest parody of Noonan ever written!! Had a really good laugh. I yell at her column every time I read it. It's good exercise! Thanks for making my weekend great!
I quit reading her several years ago but the best thing she ever wrote was Reagan’s tribute to the astronauts who “touched the face of God”. Trumps was equally as poetic
Speaking of American history, here's a fresh take on the 'special relationship' between the U.S.A. and England, the British Empire, and the deep state tools of the murdering oligarchs.
It discusses in detail the British Establishment’s longstanding interest and efforts in undermining and controlling American foreign policy to benefit the UK. Additionally it adds some background to the propagation of Communism which was facilitated by the British Empire in Russia to weaken the Russians and the French. Fascinating book.
Communism was born out of a hatred for, and attempt to replace monarchical /oligarchical forms of government, with the end aim being an all powerful state, the end-all-be-all determiner of the people’s fates.
Communism’s popularity only intensified during the years leading up to the Second World War largely because of those opposing the rise of Fascism and Nazism, and its adjacent and flagrant AntiSemitism.
Antisemitism was not new, but it made for a convenient scapegoat for both these respective groups having a common and singular enemy.
It was also not coincidental, because Jews represented the closest thing to a cohesively thriving, wealthy, intelligent community, who also happened to be overtly religious, all of which qualities were deemed to be the single greatest threats to both Fascism’s and Communism’s desired ends.
It was also not coincidental then, that an outsized number of Jews aligned with Communism during that same period as Fascism presented the more immediate and overt threat to their very existence, although Communism contained the very same threat, just in a far more subtle and discrete form, yet to fully manifest.
Both these ideologies represent the constant struggles familiar throughout history of efforts to create some perfect utopia in which to control and rule over the people. Also, as born out throughout history, is the fact that nearly all of these efforts inevitably ended up creating a more awful existence for more people of every station in life, than even the ones they replaced.
The simple truth is that the only form of government that has ever been proven to create the best possible outcomes for the most amount of people is the Republican form of government constituted in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Thus, at an accelerated pace and in a conscious covert effort over the last 70-80 years, both fascism and communism have aligned themselves together, implanting themselves within the very organs of our own government and commerce, in a coordinated effort to tear down and destroy our own form of government here in the USA. They have been present, most concentratedly on the Left, but in pockets of the Right as well, for decades, working tirelessly to shatter every right, and every pillar of every institution that has been designed to adhere to and is enshrined in the Rule of Law and the Constitution.
In short, freedom of the people to rule over themselves by virtue of their God-given inalienable rights is enemy Number One to both these fanatical groups, Communism and Fascism, whose sole interests are absolute control and absolute power of the masses.
It just has had a new name in its most recent iteration: Woke.
It's a very good comment. And as with any generalization, some things are more true than others. I agree with your conclusions. The impetus for European Jews to sympathize with the Commies in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, particularly within Russia, was that they were tired of being second class citizens and periodically massacred.In the case of the Russian Communists, the Jews were sucker punched. Once the party took power it purged the Jews ( often murdering them) from positions of authority over several decades, and used them as figureheads to try to destroy religious Judaism in Russia.
Most Eastern European Jews were impoverished and excluded from many occupations, geographically isolated, and treated with contempt. Before the Nazis there was two thousand years of Jews being massacred by Europeans: Roman Pagans, Christian Crusaders, monarchs, popes, tsars, and town rabble. Blood libels and conspiracy theories were generated to blame Jews for all of society's ills when it suited the people running things. This trend has never ended, which is why there are very few Jews in Europe today. After WW2 and the Holocaust when some homeless Jews mistakenly tried to return to their houses in Poland, two thousand of them, homeless and starving, were murdered by their Polish countrymen. The Poles handed over millions of Jews to the Nazis during the war, despite their protestations to the contrary. Most of my dad's family was wiped out, including my great grandfather who had a horse farm that at one time raised cavalry horses for the Polish Lancers ( Look them up if you need to).
Jews tend to be educated and prosperous in more advanced societies when given the opportunity, and even impoverished Jews can all read. We don't do illiteracy. We are the people of the book. I suspect that a lot of people on the American Right don't know that a lot of their ideology was created by Jews. Libertarians, who I think have mostly lost their minds and whose fringe wing now borders on being Nazis btw, basically almost all their useful ideas came from Jews- Austrian Economist like Mises and Hayek, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman to name a few. Even the stupid alt-right in America gets a lot of its ideas from Jews ( crazy Jews, but Jews nonetheless) like Curtis Yarvin. The Jews have been in America since the seventeenth century, and played important roles in the Revolutionary War and every conflict thereafter. For some recently uncovered history you might enjoy "The Levys of Monticello" documentary.
The Jews in America are learning what the Jews in Russia learned under the Communists. The Fascists tell you up front they hate you. The Commies lure you in and then stab you in the back, which is where we are now. Israel used to be much more Socialist than it is now. It was mostly settled by Russian Jews, many of whom were Leftists ideologically, even as they escaped Russia. Many of them had fought in several wars ( WW1, WW2, Russian Revolution), and were battle hardened. As a percentage in fact, a higher percentage of Jews fought in the Russian Army than many other groups, in part because the Russians would conscript young Jewish boys against their will into the Armed Forces. (My great uncle was a General in the USSR. He was disappeared in the early 1950's by Stalin during a purge of the military.) So these were tough people. What they've learned though after 76 years of warfare with the surrounding Arabs and the economic growth brought on by capitalism and high tech industry is that Socialism doesn't work and Israel is leaning much farther to the Right, which is creating a big schism in the society. The Mizrachi Jews, expelled from surrounding Arab nations after the state of Israel was formed, also understand the realities of the neighborhood and are Right leaning.
The Left in Israel are mostly descended from Western European Jews who unrealistically maintain luxury beliefs and think themselves elite in comparison with their countrymen. In America we have the same group of unrealistic people in league with the other Leftists. Remember that in the USA Jews are less than 2% of the population and everywhere else but Israel an even tinier percentage. But now the Democrats ( Commies) have stabbed Jews in the back and the move to the Right has started. No, it's not overwhelming yet, but people are finally waking up.
The Right and the Left at the extremes are not the way. America and a Center Right capitalist republic are the best system. We have to defend it. We have to stop being stupid and allowing subversive ideologies like Islamism and Communism to undermine our country. Many democratic states have taken this type of action in the past. It's a question of national survival. We almost lost our country. We have to take it back. I don't think America is fundamentally a racist or Jew-hating country. Of course there are racists and anti-Semites and right now we are seeing a lot of disgusting behavior on our college campuses. But this stems from the Left, woke, intersectional nonsense that has to be stamped out. Most Americans aren't represented by this ideology. The good news is that Jews no longer have to rely upon the whims of others as to whether they get to survive or not. In this country I have the 2nd Amendment. In Israel they have a powerful military and nuclear weapons. Life is a struggle and that can't be avoided. Most anti-Semites are stupid people with emotional problems. The others are political opportunists looking for scapegoats or religious fanatics. But despite all the recent troubles, I am optimistic that we can make things better under Trump.
Another false dichotomy was cooked up by the British at the Fabian London School of Economics. A series of debates in 1932 created a false opposition between the economic philosophy of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich August Hayek. Again, Matthew Ehret does the heavy lifting to make it plain:
Also, "Mr. Sammler's Planet" published in 1970 by Saul Bellow, is an artful novel describing the general human condition of that day with particular emphasis of how the cultural revolution of the Sixties affected Jewish life in America. Mr. Bellow is a master at condensing a great deal of meaning into a very few words. "Mr. Sammler's Planet" is a short read with big, big punch.
While I heard about the prisoners from Venezuela, I haven't heard what they did. Given Maduro, I'd think they were trying to help people, but that hell hole is also at the heart of drug smuggling and human trafficking because of the economic devastation. What were they convicted of?
02/01/25: What is pertinent is that Maduro is now running the RCO ("Reverse-Coyote Operation"). Make money going AND coming back (Hunter Biden's banging on his door, demanding his cut. Trump on Monday deports the entire Biden rat's nest to Greenland).
I'm surprised Bill Maher came out AGAINST birthright citizenship last week! Stunning for a liberal to say that! Literally 95% of nations on earth don't have it and there is NO WAY the authors of the 14th amendment intended it to apply for the children of ILLEGAL aliens when it was meant for the kids of freed slaves!
There is no sadder spectacle than that of someone who fails to recognize that their time has passed attempting to claim relevance. There was a time when Ms. Noonan was relevant and even influential. That time is long past. Peggy, please exit, stage right.
Of course, I enjoyed your piece. Wanted to ask if you are aware of a retired Air Force General running for Congress in WV. Listened to him once and liked what he had to say. Forgot his name (LOL) only remember his nickname "Mookie". Set off any bells?
"Ferber, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, the Knopfs & Mencken (the last of whom left us the imperishable legacy of his unique wit: 'President Harding writes the worst English I have ever encountered; it reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.' "
Page 153, from the highly recommended "The Literary Decade, A Panorama of the Writers, Publishers, & Litterateurs of the 1920s," by Allen Churchill [1912?-1988] (Design by Janet Anderson); Prentice-Hall (1971 hardcover).
Example: "Originally, members [of the Algonquin Roundtable] referred to the luncheons as Board Meetings. At the time the nation was in the throes of the Ouija Board craze. A [dining room] waiter named Luigi was assigned to the table, & the wits then dubbed themselves The Luigi Board."
She’s consistently terrible. Actually I thought she was senile when I subscribed to the Wall Street Gerbil, but I think she’s just always been a pompous dud. However, I did not know that she started writing in 1860. Good genes.
Hah! Don, that was brilliant! Peggy Noonan, the perennial broken clock of American politics.
But she’s not as accurate as a broken clock.
02/01/25: Agreed! Let's encourage Don to run more past columns. They're too good to be tucked away after their debut, never to be seen again. As for P.N., I've written her off so completely, it always surprises me when she resurfaces ("she's still alive?!"). And this time, logically, on the show with a man who's the perennial* broken-clock of the American media, Bill Maher.
*"mid 17th century (in the sense ‘remaining leafy throughout the year, evergreen’): from Latin perennis, ‘lasting the year through’ + -ial."
Too True! I sort of zeroed in on the Meg Nooner aspect of her journalism career.
Lucianne G. nicknamed Noonan the Eternal Ingenue. Glad all that booze Peggy is accused of drinking has finally mellowed her out a bit. Imagine being chewed up and spit out by a 27 year-old press secretary. That's gonna leave a bruise. And while we're on the subject of miracles, thank you, merci beaucoup and mil gracias for saving us from a Surber-less Weekend. This is not only chocolate for the soul, but a plump cherry on the top!
Me oui monsieur. Senor Surber es muy bueno! Danke shoen Herr Surber!!
The best funniest parody of Noonan ever written!! Had a really good laugh. I yell at her column every time I read it. It's good exercise! Thanks for making my weekend great!
I quit reading her several years ago but the best thing she ever wrote was Reagan’s tribute to the astronauts who “touched the face of God”. Trumps was equally as poetic
What a pleasant surprise!!
Nice surprise on a Saturday night. For the poll I have it a tie for all of them.
me, too Richard Lowe!
Please enter my name as the first subscriber to the forthcoming „History of the United States of America“ by Don Surber, the Sage of Poca.
02/01/25: The Pocahontas*-haunting man from Poca, flown in this weekend by Quantas.
*Elizabeth Warren, jealous of Vivek, the authentic Indian-American.
Speaking of American history, here's a fresh take on the 'special relationship' between the U.S.A. and England, the British Empire, and the deep state tools of the murdering oligarchs.
DJT should burn'em all a hot new one:
THE BRITISH ARE LEAVING! https://badlands.substack.com/p/the-british-are-leaving-the-british
Apropos of the post you reference, Read this: “How the British Invented Communism (And Blamed It on the Jews)”
https://a.co/d/b8PU5HX
It discusses in detail the British Establishment’s longstanding interest and efforts in undermining and controlling American foreign policy to benefit the UK. Additionally it adds some background to the propagation of Communism which was facilitated by the British Empire in Russia to weaken the Russians and the French. Fascinating book.
Communism was born out of a hatred for, and attempt to replace monarchical /oligarchical forms of government, with the end aim being an all powerful state, the end-all-be-all determiner of the people’s fates.
Communism’s popularity only intensified during the years leading up to the Second World War largely because of those opposing the rise of Fascism and Nazism, and its adjacent and flagrant AntiSemitism.
Antisemitism was not new, but it made for a convenient scapegoat for both these respective groups having a common and singular enemy.
It was also not coincidental, because Jews represented the closest thing to a cohesively thriving, wealthy, intelligent community, who also happened to be overtly religious, all of which qualities were deemed to be the single greatest threats to both Fascism’s and Communism’s desired ends.
It was also not coincidental then, that an outsized number of Jews aligned with Communism during that same period as Fascism presented the more immediate and overt threat to their very existence, although Communism contained the very same threat, just in a far more subtle and discrete form, yet to fully manifest.
Both these ideologies represent the constant struggles familiar throughout history of efforts to create some perfect utopia in which to control and rule over the people. Also, as born out throughout history, is the fact that nearly all of these efforts inevitably ended up creating a more awful existence for more people of every station in life, than even the ones they replaced.
The simple truth is that the only form of government that has ever been proven to create the best possible outcomes for the most amount of people is the Republican form of government constituted in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Thus, at an accelerated pace and in a conscious covert effort over the last 70-80 years, both fascism and communism have aligned themselves together, implanting themselves within the very organs of our own government and commerce, in a coordinated effort to tear down and destroy our own form of government here in the USA. They have been present, most concentratedly on the Left, but in pockets of the Right as well, for decades, working tirelessly to shatter every right, and every pillar of every institution that has been designed to adhere to and is enshrined in the Rule of Law and the Constitution.
In short, freedom of the people to rule over themselves by virtue of their God-given inalienable rights is enemy Number One to both these fanatical groups, Communism and Fascism, whose sole interests are absolute control and absolute power of the masses.
It just has had a new name in its most recent iteration: Woke.
It's a very good comment. And as with any generalization, some things are more true than others. I agree with your conclusions. The impetus for European Jews to sympathize with the Commies in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, particularly within Russia, was that they were tired of being second class citizens and periodically massacred.In the case of the Russian Communists, the Jews were sucker punched. Once the party took power it purged the Jews ( often murdering them) from positions of authority over several decades, and used them as figureheads to try to destroy religious Judaism in Russia.
Most Eastern European Jews were impoverished and excluded from many occupations, geographically isolated, and treated with contempt. Before the Nazis there was two thousand years of Jews being massacred by Europeans: Roman Pagans, Christian Crusaders, monarchs, popes, tsars, and town rabble. Blood libels and conspiracy theories were generated to blame Jews for all of society's ills when it suited the people running things. This trend has never ended, which is why there are very few Jews in Europe today. After WW2 and the Holocaust when some homeless Jews mistakenly tried to return to their houses in Poland, two thousand of them, homeless and starving, were murdered by their Polish countrymen. The Poles handed over millions of Jews to the Nazis during the war, despite their protestations to the contrary. Most of my dad's family was wiped out, including my great grandfather who had a horse farm that at one time raised cavalry horses for the Polish Lancers ( Look them up if you need to).
Jews tend to be educated and prosperous in more advanced societies when given the opportunity, and even impoverished Jews can all read. We don't do illiteracy. We are the people of the book. I suspect that a lot of people on the American Right don't know that a lot of their ideology was created by Jews. Libertarians, who I think have mostly lost their minds and whose fringe wing now borders on being Nazis btw, basically almost all their useful ideas came from Jews- Austrian Economist like Mises and Hayek, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman to name a few. Even the stupid alt-right in America gets a lot of its ideas from Jews ( crazy Jews, but Jews nonetheless) like Curtis Yarvin. The Jews have been in America since the seventeenth century, and played important roles in the Revolutionary War and every conflict thereafter. For some recently uncovered history you might enjoy "The Levys of Monticello" documentary.
The Jews in America are learning what the Jews in Russia learned under the Communists. The Fascists tell you up front they hate you. The Commies lure you in and then stab you in the back, which is where we are now. Israel used to be much more Socialist than it is now. It was mostly settled by Russian Jews, many of whom were Leftists ideologically, even as they escaped Russia. Many of them had fought in several wars ( WW1, WW2, Russian Revolution), and were battle hardened. As a percentage in fact, a higher percentage of Jews fought in the Russian Army than many other groups, in part because the Russians would conscript young Jewish boys against their will into the Armed Forces. (My great uncle was a General in the USSR. He was disappeared in the early 1950's by Stalin during a purge of the military.) So these were tough people. What they've learned though after 76 years of warfare with the surrounding Arabs and the economic growth brought on by capitalism and high tech industry is that Socialism doesn't work and Israel is leaning much farther to the Right, which is creating a big schism in the society. The Mizrachi Jews, expelled from surrounding Arab nations after the state of Israel was formed, also understand the realities of the neighborhood and are Right leaning.
The Left in Israel are mostly descended from Western European Jews who unrealistically maintain luxury beliefs and think themselves elite in comparison with their countrymen. In America we have the same group of unrealistic people in league with the other Leftists. Remember that in the USA Jews are less than 2% of the population and everywhere else but Israel an even tinier percentage. But now the Democrats ( Commies) have stabbed Jews in the back and the move to the Right has started. No, it's not overwhelming yet, but people are finally waking up.
The Right and the Left at the extremes are not the way. America and a Center Right capitalist republic are the best system. We have to defend it. We have to stop being stupid and allowing subversive ideologies like Islamism and Communism to undermine our country. Many democratic states have taken this type of action in the past. It's a question of national survival. We almost lost our country. We have to take it back. I don't think America is fundamentally a racist or Jew-hating country. Of course there are racists and anti-Semites and right now we are seeing a lot of disgusting behavior on our college campuses. But this stems from the Left, woke, intersectional nonsense that has to be stamped out. Most Americans aren't represented by this ideology. The good news is that Jews no longer have to rely upon the whims of others as to whether they get to survive or not. In this country I have the 2nd Amendment. In Israel they have a powerful military and nuclear weapons. Life is a struggle and that can't be avoided. Most anti-Semites are stupid people with emotional problems. The others are political opportunists looking for scapegoats or religious fanatics. But despite all the recent troubles, I am optimistic that we can make things better under Trump.
MAGA
Excellent synopsis, and your own personal history sounds fascinating, the stuff that would make for a most interesting book!
L’Chaim!!
P.S. have you hear that Caroline Glick has just been announced as Senior International Affairs Adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
How’s that for awesomeness?!!
Did not know that. Caroline is great. Very articulate and persuasive. Knows how to build an argument.
That's just a small snippet of the family history. Thanks for the suggestion to write a book. I've thought about it.
If you do, I’ll gladly buy a copy!
You’re on your way!! 👍
Another false dichotomy was cooked up by the British at the Fabian London School of Economics. A series of debates in 1932 created a false opposition between the economic philosophy of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich August Hayek. Again, Matthew Ehret does the heavy lifting to make it plain:
https://matthewehret.substack.com/p/thinking-in-times-of-crisis-part
Also, "Mr. Sammler's Planet" published in 1970 by Saul Bellow, is an artful novel describing the general human condition of that day with particular emphasis of how the cultural revolution of the Sixties affected Jewish life in America. Mr. Bellow is a master at condensing a great deal of meaning into a very few words. "Mr. Sammler's Planet" is a short read with big, big punch.
While I heard about the prisoners from Venezuela, I haven't heard what they did. Given Maduro, I'd think they were trying to help people, but that hell hole is also at the heart of drug smuggling and human trafficking because of the economic devastation. What were they convicted of?
Appears to be radio silence on what the 6 were doing there in Venezuela and why they were held.
They were convicted of being Americans
02/01/25: What is pertinent is that Maduro is now running the RCO ("Reverse-Coyote Operation"). Make money going AND coming back (Hunter Biden's banging on his door, demanding his cut. Trump on Monday deports the entire Biden rat's nest to Greenland).
Mayhaps they were in the petroleum business when Maduro nationalized the foreign corporations/
I'm surprised Bill Maher came out AGAINST birthright citizenship last week! Stunning for a liberal to say that! Literally 95% of nations on earth don't have it and there is NO WAY the authors of the 14th amendment intended it to apply for the children of ILLEGAL aliens when it was meant for the kids of freed slaves!
There is no sadder spectacle than that of someone who fails to recognize that their time has passed attempting to claim relevance. There was a time when Ms. Noonan was relevant and even influential. That time is long past. Peggy, please exit, stage right.
So good! Sooo good 🤣🔥
Of course, I enjoyed your piece. Wanted to ask if you are aware of a retired Air Force General running for Congress in WV. Listened to him once and liked what he had to say. Forgot his name (LOL) only remember his nickname "Mookie". Set off any bells?
MOOKIE WALKER! Big fan. Huge
Got clobbered in 2024 primary by Riley Moore, grandson of Arch
Maybe he runs again but once in, it is hard to get them out
That HL Mencken quote describes Joe Biden to a T.
Mencken is richer for not ever having to suffer Biden's words.
We still living suffered both Biden's words and worse, policy.
"Ferber, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, the Knopfs & Mencken (the last of whom left us the imperishable legacy of his unique wit: 'President Harding writes the worst English I have ever encountered; it reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.' "
Page 153, from the highly recommended "The Literary Decade, A Panorama of the Writers, Publishers, & Litterateurs of the 1920s," by Allen Churchill [1912?-1988] (Design by Janet Anderson); Prentice-Hall (1971 hardcover).
Example: "Originally, members [of the Algonquin Roundtable] referred to the luncheons as Board Meetings. At the time the nation was in the throes of the Ouija Board craze. A [dining room] waiter named Luigi was assigned to the table, & the wits then dubbed themselves The Luigi Board."
Is that of Ferber college? ‘Knowledge is Good’…..
02/02/25: Close, but no cigar. Edna Ferber, novelist and free-lance fire alarm.
She’s consistently terrible. Actually I thought she was senile when I subscribed to the Wall Street Gerbil, but I think she’s just always been a pompous dud. However, I did not know that she started writing in 1860. Good genes.
I for one am looking forward to another dose of her insight in her next column
“Noonan” ( to be read as the Seinfeld characters used to say, “Newman”)
Hardly anyone, (except Paul Krugman), has been wronger longer!
https://youtu.be/u-O9xFnhlfM?si=2fFlfa1ZpSMAS2Pn