Patterico's Pontifications

10/19/2017

Another World Leader Seeks to Solidify His Cult of Personality

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:00 am



The major countries of the world increasingly seem to gravitate towards cults of personality. Some leaders’ cults are more successful than others, of course. Vladimir Putin enjoys an approval rating of greater than 80% — aided by the fact that if you vociferously disapprove of him in public, you may go to jail or worse. Donald Trump, hampered by the annoying free-speech features of our republic, must slog on through with a decidedly less impressive 38% approval rating, forcing him to depend on a hardcore set of rabid partisans to carry the torch.

China’s Xi Jinping is more authoritarian and more successful. Judging from the results of the Communist Party’s 19th National Congress so far, Xi is well on his way to becoming the next Chairman Mao. The Guardian reports:

China’s communist leader, Xi Jinping, looks to have further strengthened his rule over the world’s second largest economy with the apparent confirmation that a new body of political theory bearing his name will be written into the party’s constitution.

On day two of a week-long political summit in Beijing marking the end of Xi’s first term, state media announced the creation of what it called Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

“The Thought is … a historic contribution to the party’s development,” Zhang Dejiang, one of the seven members of China’s top ruling council, the politburo standing committee, told delegates at the 19th party congress, according to Beijing’s official news agency, Xinhua.

Liu Yunshan, another standing committee member, said the elevation of Xi’s Thought into the party’s list of “guiding principles” was of “great political, theoretical and practical significance”. “All members of the party should study hard Xi’s ‘new era’ thought,” he was quoted as saying.

Xi has made it quite clear that, despite the expansion of free market activity in China, there will be no concomitant expansion of political freedom. Xi has consolidated power by jailing his political opponents under the guise of an anti-corruption campaign. Now, with this Maoist establishment of a school of thought in his name, Xi will effectively be an emperor.

In unrelated news, Xi and Trump are reported to get along well.

I recently read Red Scarf Girl, a book recommended to me by Mark Hemingway. The book is Ji-li Jiang’s memoir of experiencing Mao’s Cultural Revolution as a young girl of 12. The book is incredible for its description of the wave of utter insanity that washed over China in those years. The country had already experienced the Great Leap Forward, Mao’s Orwellian name for the economic program that killed over 50 million people. But of course nobody talked about that — and while the threat of going to jail and being tortured loomed over everyone’s heads, one should not minimize the genuine love that many people seemed to feel for Mao. You either loved him or pretended to love him, and Mao didn’t much care which. Even if you loved him, a neighbor who didn’t like you might make up a story about you — and if that happened, you were done. You would be made to confess thoughtcrimes you had not committed. You would be tortured until you fabricated stories about the guilt of friends and neighbors who had never helped you do anything.

I highly recommend the book. After I read it, my daughter chose it as a book to read and report on for school. Children need to learn about such cults as they begin to form their opinions about the world.

Cults of personality are real things, and you don’t just read about them in history books. They are going on in the world right now, as we speak. If I seem to worry about even a hint that one could be developing here, it is only because I have read Red Scarf Girl, or Bukovsky, or Solzhenitsyn.

Xi rules over a population of 1.4 billion people. That’s over four times the population of the United States. Information is tightly controlled. By contrast, some of the things we rail about here in the U.S. — a biased news media, leftist protests, and the like — are imperfect signs of the strength of our republic. As bad as our #FAKENEWS!! media often can be, Chinese dissidents can only dream of having a media as free and independent as ours. As annoying as it can be to see people “take a knee” to convey disrespect for our country, in China conveying that same disrespect will get you tossed in jail.

Public opinion polls show that a plurality of Republicans would give the federal government the power to shut down news organizations that the government determines are fabricating stories. One of our states is poised to elect a man to the U.S. Senate who believes it is illegal for football players to kneel during the national anthem.

This is insanity. It is not Cultural Revolution level insanity. But it’s inching along that path.

If you love liberty, now is the time to let your voice be heard. Don’t be a cultist. Join the group that believes in freedom.

We have cookies.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

121 Responses to “Another World Leader Seeks to Solidify His Cult of Personality”

  1. it makes you wonder

    maybe if harvartrash ted could have just mustered up a personality nevermind the cult maybe we’d be in a different place today

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  2. The problem is the structure the secret police, which as they pointed out in kingsman,
    has no set official name, the laogai sustem, it is fed by their building up an industrial bases, which can be turned to war production, rather readily. It feeds off the oil in the Sudan and Iran, gorges on north Korea resources and is the mayor player in the rakhine province of bursa. So what is to be done?

    narciso (d1f714)

  3. Human beings will do almost anything to survive..https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
    This includes political/cultural survival.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  4. the secret police … has no set official name

    we’ve called ours “the fbi” for some time now

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  5. Like Gorbachev I don’t think it will work, but the fear of centrifugal forces like that
    which allowed colonial domination is strong in their minds, also such things as the
    Taiping revpbellion of the 1840s

    narciso (d1f714)

  6. Xi controls media/ internet so his cult dwarfs Trumps in percentage. Is that why Trump attacks Press? Heh..

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  7. I mentioned this fellow:
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/spy/spies/four.html

    The emperor tag is apt, certainly going back to 18th and early 19th century,

    narciso (d1f714)

  8. But it begs the question, what has the china policy since 1972 wtought.

    narciso (d1f714)

  9. Great Leap Forward touted as Populism and failure was assured. Grass roots steel smelters suck!

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  10. Just because xi signs the Paris accord it doesn’t commit him to anything. Raul Castro likes the Chinese model of development, the gaesa gaviota system copies the pla set up to a great extent

    narciso (d1f714)

  11. The major countries of the world increasingly seem to gravitate towards cults of personality.

    this seems a terribly inexact formulation at best

    seem to gravitate?

    in America we were able to elect a president in complete and utter defiance of the expressed desires of the establishment ruling class

    whereas the dirty chinesers merely promoted a quintessentially establishment (and exceedingly uncharismatic) flunky

    do they really fit comfortably under the same umbrella, these two vastly different situations

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  12. Right nit enough eggs for the omelet, like year zero

    The new York times things it was a good try though. My pet theory is these mandarins and siloviki see the robber baron as the only view of capitalism and act accordingly

    narciso (d1f714)

  13. n America we were able to elect a president in complete and utter defiance of the expressed desires of the establishment ruling class

    Flim-flam

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  14. It is interesting because his father was caught up in that great leap, and he himself subject to the cultural revolution, so I don’t think he has illusions about Marxism per se

    narciso (d1f714)

  15. I got yer cult right here… http://ace.mu.nu/archives/Chinese.jpg

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  16. The New York Times reports that Xi JinPing has found someone else to make into a cult figure, someone not a Communist but not very ancient either, and some wonder about why he should have picked him as a role model – isn’t that bad for the dictatorship?

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/world/asia/china-guiyang-wang-yangming-confucian.html

    Born in 1472, Wang was a scholar with a promising career in the imperial court in Beijing when, in 1506, he spoke out against the cruelty of a well-known courtier. That offense earned him banishment to faraway Guiyang.

    During his years here, Wang ran a post house on the edge of town. That gave him time to meditate on the philosophical problem that would define his legacy: understanding how people know right from wrong. His conclusion: People have an inborn conscience that they must act upon, regardless of the consequences.

    It was this advocacy of moral action that apparently appeals to the no-nonsense Mr. Xi, who has cracked down on vice and corruption within the party’s ranks. Mr. Xi frequently refers to Wang, who regained favor in 1509, and then loyally served the emperor as a military leader who quashed a rebellion.

    However, some see Wang, with his emphasis on following one’s internal moral compass, as a risky thinker for an authoritarian state to embrace.

    “Wang Yangming can pave the way for a philosophy of autonomy — that standards don’t come from outside. that they are inner,” said Sébastien Billioud, co-author of a recent book on Confucian thought in today’s China. “And of course autonomy is always dangerous for authoritarian regimes.”

    But it is not the real Wang Yangming that he is promoting, or maybe we should say the posthumous unreal Wang Yangming that he’s promoting, but one of his own creation.

    He wants people who act against local corruption, but not people who go against what the top officials say is right, or who challenge the right of the emperor to rule

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  17. The guardian link leads to Roy Moore, an oversight.

    In order to deal with these leaders its important to know where they come from, and
    what they believe, so what x’s grand philosophy?

    narciso (d1f714)

  18. 10, narciso (d1f714) — 10/19/2017 @ 9:29 am

    ust because xi signs the Paris accord it doesn’t commit him to anything.

    The Paris accord doesn’t commit China to do one thing it wasn’t planning to do anyway, because of air pollution. and China tends to buy into western expertise so they do worry but I think they’re approach is more to keep other countries poor by making sure they have misrule.

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  19. What you really need is books that tell of how bad were in China before the Cukltural Revolution.

    The problem for him is that the Soviet Union had both Lenin and Stalin so they could say lenin was good but Stalin was bad, but Communist China has only MAo in both roles.

    Do you know that the Chinese Wikipedia has less kind words for Mao than the English one?

    I think The Chinese government would like to pretend one day that Mao never existed.

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  20. narciso (d1f714) — 10/19/2017 @ 9:47 am

    so what x’s grand philosophy?

    You mean: What’s his pretend philosophy?

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  21. To compare xi with Mao as with putin and Stalin is erroneous

    http://www.gradesaver.com/1984/study-guide/summary-part-three-i-iii

    narciso (d1f714)

  22. Interesting. It seems to be a pattern in that part of the world that a general/warlord takes the throne with bloody hands (that would be Mao) but the power soon gravitates to the palace eunuchs/bureaucrats (that would be the Communist Party). Has the PLA become a papertiger, and is now like the Red Army was, under the thumb of the Party by way of the kommissars and the machine guns of the Cheka?

    nk (dbc370)

  23. “The corruption allegedly included bribery, kickbacks, extortion, money-laundering, and Russia getting 20% of our uranium against the better judgement of just about everybody.

    D.C. Attorney Victoria Toensing, a former chief counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is representing the informant, an American businessman who worked for years undercover as an FBI confidential witness.

    Toensing said that when he attempted to bring some of the allegations to light in a lawsuit last year, “the Obama Justice Department threatened him with loss of freedom. They said they would bring a criminal case against him for violating an NDA.”

    https://pjmedia.com/trending/lawyer-obama-doj-blocked-fbi-informant-talking-uranium-one-deal/

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  24. No i don’t think so, because the pla still runs much of tube infrastructure in china,

    Yes sammeh before the cultural revolution 20 to 30 million people were still alive.

    Fidel had a much smaller arrangement called the ump.

    narciso (d1f714)

  25. Yeah, the last time China “reformed” the PLA was still left with 50% of the manufacturing, officially. But that could mean that it really owns 50%, still owns it all, or it owns nothing.

    nk (dbc370)

  26. Barack Obama, Mummm, Mummm, Mummm!

    Democrats, establishment media, and public school teacher’s unions tried to bring forth a cult of personality right here in River City. Don’t you remember?

    Pretty girls swooned, TV talking heads welcomed delightful chills coursing in their trousers, dreamy eyed fans far and wide rushed to tattoo parlors to permanently ink their unbridled devotion to The Awaited One.

    Restless waves across the seven seas ceased their intemperate fury, the sun arose anew to warm the reborn planet, and a grateful Earth at last began to heal itself.

    Remember? Barack Obama, Mummm, Mummm, Mummm.

    ropelight (bbe920)

  27. interestingly though if there’s anything that the dirty chinesers are famous for it’s their wacky dynasticism, and America rejected dynasticism not once but twice last year:

    first by rejecting a filthy trashy scion of the notorious Bush Klan, secondly by rejecting the stink, criminal and porcine representative of the Clinton Crime Family

    so that’s an interesting point

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  28. oops

    secondly by rejecting the *stinky*, criminal and porcine representative is what that should say

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  29. Barack Obama, Mummm, Mummm, Mummm!

    good point Mr. ropelight

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  30. But seriously what is the guardians complaint they cheered every bullet and chopped head of may AMD Stalin, they probably thing great helmsman corbyn can get it right.

    narciso (d1f714)

  31. Mmm mmm…

    Today’s Special: Roadapple sammich.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  32. Actually, the Chinese are a very clean people.

    What they have is a superstition that demons can only travel in straight lines. So they strategically place screens that demons cannot circle around. That also applies to foreign devils. It’s hard for us to know what really goes on behind the screens.

    nk (dbc370)

  33. nk (dbc370) — 10/19/2017 @ 9:59 am

    Has the PLA become a papertiger, and is now like the Red Army was, under the thumb of the Party by way of the kommissars and the machine guns of the Cheka?

    The leaders of the Communist Party have always held high military rank,
    that’s true for Xi Jinping as well. Deng retained his military role even after he gave up his other positions. They are doing that now, because it’s a bit of a collective leadership now and they don;t want to have someone incompetent at the top. There is a standard retirement age for Politburo members: 68.

    The government of China can be described as a military junta, disguised as a Communist dictatorship, which is in turn disguised as a government with a President and a legislature.u

    The only thing to note though is, Xi Jinping is now the head of the junta.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-military-commander.html

    Mr. Xi, who is general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, which runs the country’s armed forces. After his visit on Wednesday, a new title was unveiled in the state and party news media: commander in chief of the joint battle command center.

    Although predecessors like President Hu Jintao delegated operational responsibilities to professional soldiers, the new title reflects Mr. Xi’s desire to have a more direct role, said You Ji, who oversees the department of government and public administration at the University of Macau.

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  34. the FBI – at the behest of the ex-president – covered up the obvious criminality of the Clintons’ grand larceny of our uranium to the Russians.

    Sounds like recusal for Mueller?

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  35. Thank you, Sammy. That was my impression too.

    nk (dbc370)

  36. Meh! Any hoochie who gets uptight about little kiddies going potty is an uptight hoochie who should not have little kiddies of her own.

    nk (dbc370)

  37. they tried doing potty in the streets in dirty san diego now they have hepatitis all up in it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  38. Xi has consolidated power by jailing his political opponents under the guise of an anti-corruption campaign.

    this is similar to how the sleazy FBI and their turdboy Robert Mueller are trying to jail their own political opponents right here in America

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  39. Behind Closed Screens

    Teh Chinese make me laugh
    Lord, don’t they make me laugh
    They eat teh strangest food
    Snake blood toasts and balls from giraffes
    ‘Cause teh Chinese like to f*ck
    Lord, don’t they love to f*ck
    And when they turn out the lights
    I know they’ll be gettin’ busy

    And when they get behind closed screens
    I betcha that’s a crazy scene
    One million or more Gangs of Four
    One kinky scene, what goes on behind closed screens

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  40. 35. Colonel Haiku (6c3d91) — 10/19/2017 @ 10:28 am

    the FBI – at the behest of the ex-president

    We don’t know on whose instructions this was.

    Trump’s now tweeting about this thing.

    https://twitter.com/realpresssecbot?lang=en (Trump’s tweets, all dressed up)

    He also thinks (or claims to think) it’s a new revelation that Comey started wriing his speech about why Hillary should be prosecuted long before. The only thing new is some documents. He began planning the speech in May.

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  41. He began planning the speech in May.

    this was over two months before he sent some of his sleazy corrupt fbi agents to interview Hillary

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  42. * about why Hillary should NOT be prosecuted.

    Trump claims that that means Comey lied under oath.

    http://nypost.com/2017/10/18/trump-says-comey-lied-and-leaked-to-protect-clinton/

    I think the lie is supposed to be that he attributed his decision to make the statement to events that happened after he first began preparing it.

    But I think another issue is when did he get told that he should do that – because he surely didn’t decide on his own because the FBI never doe anything like that.

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  43. Xiguan means drinking straw in Mandarin. That’s first tone neutral second tone falling and rising. Just in case you go to China and want to talk in code about dear leader.

    I imagine not knowing a tonal language well could land you in jail.

    Bruce Lee was visiting some of his family in Hong Kong, I believe. They were playing a game where they had to call out certain words. One of his American friends thought he was saying “shrimp” but he got so excited he was calling out something Donald Trump might grab.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  44. Human beings will do almost anything to survive
    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 10/19/2017 @ 9:11 am

    You mean like mitigate the effects of “Global Warming”?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  45. I’m guessing all future posts will now find a way to work the name “Trump” in them, regardless of subject matter. Gotta admit, the man is a marketing genius.

    CFarleigh (5b282a)

  46. Trump’s a party in your mouth!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  47. 42… so Sammy, help me understand… you think it’s very possible the orders weren’t from the Capo or you think it’s possible but highly improbable they weren’t?

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  48. BeenBurned Butt Paste® now at a drugstore near you…

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  49. 42… Colonel Haiku (6c3d91) — 10/19/2017 @ 11:55 am

    so Sammy, help me understand… you think it’s very possible the orders weren’t from the Capo or you think it’s possible but highly improbable they weren’t?

    I think it’s improbable that the decision actually emanated from Obama. Obama is someone who plays along – he’s not directing a conspiracy. I would place the origination point lower in the Justice Department, and include some law firms also maybe.

    DOJ protected Hillary, but how much was this in the interest of Obama?

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  50. I think China promoted spam ten yeas ago, just so that we would write anti-spam software so people couldn’t e-mail strangers in China..

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  51. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostorm#Plot

    dear god that’s silly

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  52. 36/38, in India adult women doing that in public is what is blamed for the high incidence of gang rape.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  53. oh who knew

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  54. You are quite charitable toward the Smartest Man Evah to grace the oval orifice, Sammy.

    The FBI continues to stonewall about its own involvement with the Fusion GPS dossier… they won’t say anything about it. Helluva thing when the nation’s top law enforcement organization is pulling this sort of crap… but… but… but Trump’s an A-hole!

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  55. Just in from my better half… “Omg Kelly is making an awesome speech at press conference regarding congress women’s remarks about Trumps call to mom!!!”

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  56. I never would have thought that I would feel the need to say this, but thank you former President George W. Bush for standing up for what we value and against this perverse politics of late.

    Well, you can chalk up another #WIN Captain Chaos. At least to my knowledge, never has a sitting president every been so completely condemned from a former president from the same party. Another first! But he didn’t even mention your name.

    Tillman (a95660)

  57. A sergeant told my dad any kid he shot would turn out to be an honor student on his way to class.

    And shooting a rifle that close to a wall is a good way to lose an eye. Walls don’t work anyway, right?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  58. it’s important not to get carried away

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  59. What you really need is books that tell of how bad were in China before the Cukltural Revolution.

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0) — 10/19/2017 @ 9:52 am

    The Painted Veil W Somerset Maugham Via Mr P’s Amazon

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  60. @58. =Haiku!= Gesundheit.

    Frankly, you can cut him some slack on it but it’s a little arrogant: “If you’re ‘not in the family’ you don’t know how to make these calls…’ says CoS Kelly at the WH Briefing presser today.

    With all due respect to Kelly, and his own personal loss, military personnel aren’t the only walk of life to suffer sudden loss, as first responders climbing into the WTC know all too well, and pretty much all of us w/family and friends know the horrible pain and difficulty facing us when we have to ‘make that call’ at a passing. It’s never, never easy– whether you’re in uniform or civilian.

    “We don’t look down you who haven’t served. In fact, we feel bad for you…” says Kelly.

    Really, sir? Really???? That’S surely an insular line. Because, as the President of the United States of America said: you knew what you signed up for.

    It’s never, never easy– whether you’re in uniform or civilian– to have to “make that call.”

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  61. Donyang, China

    Urine soaked eggs NSFL

    You were warned

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  62. I’m guessing all future posts will now find a way to work the name “Trump” in them, regardless of subject matter. Gotta admit, the man is a marketing genius.
    CFarleigh (5b282a) — 10/19/2017 @ 11:35 am

    At the end of every Trump tweet add,” In bed”.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  63. Tune in tonight for an update on the Trump Border Wall prototypes in bed!

    MUSLIM CONVERT DAOUD WRIGHT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS OF PLOT TO BEHEAD PAMELA GELLAR IN BED!

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  64. @65. PP, what makes you think he’s in bed? More likely, the little ‘reading room’ w/t brass fixtures and clean towels.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  65. P&P, before you get too sanctimonious, you do know what all’s in Hot Dogs, right? I’d rather eat a hot dog than that, but we eat gross food too. Can you say chitterlings, by the way? How ’bout some good ol’ Rooster Fries?

    Tillman (a95660)

  66. If Conservatives trust God, why do they need so many guns in bed?

    Because they DON’T TRUST Democrats in bed.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  67. 63. That’s the 1920s. It is good to know anyway what happened in the 1920s. 1920s and 1940s (all of which went into the memory hol – pretty much every important thing written in China after 1898) but what;s important is 1944 or 1949 through 1966.

    There were a few famous books which told something of this. It was really Orwell’s Eastasia, without
    the television sets.

    One good book is Escape from Red China now available for free on the Internet:

    https://archive.org/stream/escapefromredchi013588mbp/escapefromredchi013588mbp_djvu.txt

    Mao began by discussing the Hungarian “revolt” and the events which had followed it in China. He fully admitted that student agitation, workers’ strikes and peasant unrest had occurred. He even described, as a specific example, how a highly placed official had worked hard at night to prepare and distribute anti-Soviet posters. He also mentioned a famous professor who had publicly stated a desire to kill thousands of Communists “for the good of the people.” Such incidents, Mao said, were regrettable, but were not necessarily the fault of the people who had instigated them; most of these people were not counter-revolutionaries and thus did not require to be arrested. Instead, the
    incidents were apt to be the result of “bureaucratism,” a fault which had become serious among some of the cadres. Because of this fault, suppression had been used to deal with some of the people’s legitimate dissatisfactions, when education and persuasion should have been the proper instruments. The Party cadres themselves, therefore, needed to be shown their mistakes in order to correct them.

    I listened to these comments in utter astonishment. They indicated that the Hungarian uprising had left an impact on the regime and that the authorities were genuinely disturbed by its
    implications.

    Mao next proceeded to explain patiently his point about “contradictions.” There were two types, he said contradictions among the people themselves and contradictions between the people and the enemy. Contradictions among the people resulted from misunderstandings; they posed no threat to the people’s regime and did not require suppression. Contradictions between the people and the enemy, however, were maliciously instigated from evil outside sources; they did pose a threat to the people’s regime and thus required a “solution by force.” Many cadres, Mao said, failed to differentiate between the two types of contradictions. The result was that force instead of persuasion had been sometimes erroneously used. Several of the campaigns, especially the Elimination of Counter-Revolutionaries, had been carried too far and injustices had occurred. Mao promised that
    these errors committed by overzealous cadres would be corrected and that many people who had been sentenced to labor reform would be released. He even expressed regret that some innocent people had been executed as counter-revolutionaries, but he took the opportunity to deny the “imperialist claims” that the regime had killed a total of 20 million people for this crime. The number “was not much greater than 700,000,” he said.

    Sammy Finkelman (3915d0)

  68. P&P, before you get too sanctimonious, you do know what all’s in Hot Dogs, right? I’d rather eat a hot dog than that, but we eat gross food too. Can you say chitterlings, by the way? How ’bout some good ol’ Rooster Fries?
    Tillman (a95660) — 10/19/2017 @ 12:46 pm

    I’m a proponent of it’s not so much the food item but how it’s prepared. But harvesting virgin boy urine is gross, ok?

    I tend to avoid hot dogs. I might could survive a bout of fried chittlin’s with enough ketchup. I used to have to work with people who bought boiled chittlin’s from Pop on Saturdays and would eat them plain on top of white bread. Which contaminated the whole break room.

    I grew up on lamb and calf fries, as my family called them. My grandma snatched lamb testicles away from the donors with her teeth and spit them into a big mixing bowl.

    And before you try to get sanctimonious about rhinos try to have ED in China.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  69. MUSLIM CONVERT DAOUD WRIGHT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS OF PLOT TO BEHEAD PAMELA GELLAR IN BED!

    ha it’s like a fortune cookie

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  70. Link to Guardian piece fixed, thanks, narciso.

    Patterico (bd09f6)

  71. Deceptive poll question. It asks whether the government should have the power to shut down “major news organizations”. Try asking if the government should have the power to shut down Rush Limbaugh. I bet more Democrats than Republicans will agree.

    David in Cal (2b55d5)

  72. Mmm mmm…

    Today’s Special: Roadapple sammich.
    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 10/19/2017 @ 10:22 am

    I bought some of these for my edible landscaping

    Peruvian Ground Apple

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  73. it’s important not to get carried away [in bed]
    happyfeet (28a91b) — 10/19/2017 @ 12:25 pm

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  74. Let’s see the Chinese build a better one of these:

    Apios Americana

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  75. apparently the Peruvian ground apple isn’t suitable for Chicago

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  76. 58 – I posted this on the “Monstrous Insensitivity” piece, but am sure it will not be seen as I would assume that most don’t hang around the older threads.

    For posterity, here is what General Kelly had to say about Trump’s phone call, which he witnessed. He is very clear with respect to the circumstances around the phone call and the way in which Trump comported himself.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps5ttDzWBaY

    There was no “Monstrous Insensitivity” on the part of Trump. I am not holding my breath that those words will be retracted.

    Lenny (5ea732) — 10/19/2017 @ 1:49 pm

    Lenny (5ea732)

  77. Chicago didn’t leave the Peruvian Ground Apple, the Peruvian Ground Apple left Chicago. I bet the bulbs could be overwintered inside or purchased in the spring for a fall harvest.

    I wonder if Mr nk has ever heard of Judge Dee

    Dutch diplomat Robert van Gulik wrote the Judge Dee mysteries (in English!) to introduce the West to the Chinese version of the mystery story, which arose centuries before the English detective story. Judge Dee is an actual historical person, a magistrate of the seventh century during the T’ang dynasty, who was renown in China for his ability to solve crimes. In Judge Dee at Work, van Gulik presents us with eight short stories each of a single case (the novels, in the Chinese tradition, involve 3 intertwined cases) that take place throughout the judge’s long career (magistrates were usually moved to a new post every three years). A table at the back of the book, places each case and all the novels within the timeline of Judge Dee’s life.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  78. nk has read every Judge Dee story by Robert Van Gulik, and has seen both Detective Dee movies by Tsui Hark and is looking forward to the third one.

    nk (dbc370)

  79. New you add this instance:
    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamyang-norbu/who-created-pakistans-nuc_b_864124.html

    Along with the nuclear capable Cs 27 missiles that they provided to Saudi Arabia, and you see this real with china isn’t what its cracked up to be.

    narciso (d1f714)

  80. The quoted officials sound like Trump’s cabinet members being forced to say how great it is to work for the great Trump.

    Mitch (341ca0)

  81. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/19/frederica-wilson-trump-niger-benghazi-243959

    She believed the ambush that led to four deaths two weeks ago resembled the 2012 attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that also left four dead, including a U.S. ambassador. The attack led to criticism of former President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by conservatives who said the facility was unprepared for such an incident and also took issue with their handling of the aftermath.

    Will the Circle be unbroken?

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  82. maybe we shouldn’t have people prancing around niger to no good purpose but i seriously doubt President Trump had anything to do with this and as things go this wasn’t nearly as tragic as the average everyday cargo ship episode

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  83. Xi Jinping is a lot farther from a cult-of-personality than he might like to be. Too many Chinese have been comparing him to Winnie-the-Pooh on social media, so the government has had to crack down on Pooh.

    Frederick (64d4e1)

  84. I never would have thought that I would feel the need to say this, but thank you former President George W. Bush for standing up for what we value and against this perverse politics of late.

    I agree with Tillerman. But I forgive Obama, as well.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  85. Light weapons no armored vehicles sounds like an ambush in the wings, hf.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  86. nk (dbc370) — 10/19/2017 @ 2:05 pm

    I know what I’m spending birthday/Christmas money on in Mr P’s amazon link.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  87. Ambush in the wings

    Inviting an ambush…

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  88. Do not waste your time with that horrible Jackie Chan John Cusak movie. But I would like to see Judge Dee. I think I read one story back in college, and enjoyed it.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  89. You mean Owen Wilson, or the ne w one with pierce brosnan.

    A number of groups operate in the region aqim, which I referenced a few steps from the Mali. Link, book one of those groups whom affiliates with Islamic state

    narciso (d1f714)

  90. Rage, rage at the dying of the right

    Rip Van Dubya woke up after only eight years

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  91. The Jackie Chan JC movie posits Rome’s lost legion on the Silk Road. Just three Hollywood guys hammering a check. Also Adrian Brody.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  92. Greetings:

    So you see, I haven’t been a big Han Chinese fan for the last three thousand or so years. You know that whole Middle Kingdom thing has never gone away. Maybe it gets stronger, maybe weaker but it’s always there like the simmer when the rice is almost cooked. Then you throw in a bunch of Confucianism and some Maoism and you got yourself a throbbing borg of a country.

    To wit, the last two days the BBC World News America broadcast has been showing its reporters rudely approaching the Chicoms as they come and go from their meeting place. Unlike our homegrown American elite, those folks know how to keep their mouths closed.

    Disappointed reporters are one of my joys to behold.

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  93. Oh yes, yippie, the great juggernaut of white supremacy and nationalist/nativist characterization of people who only wish for sensible immigration policy. I never thought I’d have to say this either, but…

    You suck, GWB, ya Texas sh*theel ya!

    Colonel Haiku (6c3d91)

  94. “The Battle Rages On”

    His fist was raised with fury
    The signal came at dawn
    An army at the ready
    Their vengeance will be strong

    The kingdom – will always break its word
    The mighty – will soon fall on their sword
    For freedom – the battle rages on
    The righteous – will be here when you’re gone

    The Forces clashed with courage
    The two worlds did collide
    It echoed through the ages
    They bravely gave their lives

    The kingdom – will always break its word
    The mighty – will soon fall on their sword
    For freedom – the battle rages on
    The righteous – will be here when you’re gone

    The battle rages on!
    We’ll be here when you’re gone!
    His fist was raised with fury
    The signal came at dawn
    An army at the ready
    Their vengeance will be strong

    The kingdom – will always break its word
    The mighty – will soon fall on their sword
    For freedom – the battle rages on
    The righteous – will be here when you’re gone

    Dropkick Murphys

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  95. More than half the GOP strongly dislikes the Democrat Party and the feeling is returned by a majority of Democrats. Nearly half (45%) of GOP members view the Democrats as a threat to the nation’s well-being, and 41% of Democrats think the same of the Republicans.

    So it doesn’t surprise me that large numbers of Republicans don’t trust the Democrat-dominated media and do not view it as part of the “free press.” At times, the mainstream media seems to be marching to message in a way that is, itself, dangerous.

    Pat Caddell says it much better than I ever could, in this from Sept 27, 2012.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApH4C7QPB_U

    Kevin M (752a26)

  96. I thought that was gonna be The Mighty Casey has struck out!

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  97. T either the guatduan nor the telegraph suggest a new policy course by zipping, it does raise the question what really binds the former middle kingdom, would a social crisis need to a bit of warlordism as happened in the eArly 20th century.

    narciso (d1f714)

  98. I very much doubt that we’ll have the kind of personality cult that other countries have seen, but if we do, it will be a CREATION of the press, not something they are a bulwark against.

    Barack Obama is probably the most recent offender, but even he could not get much more than his core base to believe every word. The press aided and abetted this to a great degree.

    Some of Trump’s supporters behave like the truly anointed, but both the press and Trump himself prevent that from escaping its IQ potential well.

    FDR was the closest we have had in the 20th century and even he could have been challenged; Huey Long would have tried had he not been so unfortunately* killed. The press, again, was his shield not his enemy. How many people knew he couldn’t walk?

    So, let’s not laud the Free Press and set them up as the Watchers. They’ve shown several times they bear a lot of watching themselves.

    ——-
    * please excuse the laughing man behind the curtain

    Kevin M (752a26)

  99. Deceptive poll question. It asks whether the government should have the power to shut down “major news organizations”. Try asking if the government should have the power to shut down Rush Limbaugh.

    Or just “talk radio” which is as GOP-dominated as the MSM is by the Left.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  100. Matter of fact, some Obama stooges at the FEC tried several times to get the power to shut down political speech on the internet. So, this is hardly a one-sided thing, nor is it suddenly happening in the “Age of Trump.”

    Kevin M (752a26)

  101. .How many people knew he couldn’t walk?
    More people than you may think. My mother saw him as a girl when he visited Boston and insisted that it was obvious to everyone who could see him that he could not walk. Possibly those times when he knew he was being filmed for newsreels were stage managed, but events which were seen only by the immediately present crowd were not.

    kishnevi (5a999e)

  102. A bureaucrat doesn’t really have a cult of personality, one might mistake erdogan as having one but that is mire the islamist word view, combined with an animus toward the city dweller, the Latin channels of which I have complained a fair bit have bought a number of well produced Turkish soaps that they have translated,

    narciso (d1f714)

  103. if another world leader seeks to solidify his (or her) cult of personality it’ll for sure be a trend

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  104. @103. Apparently you slept through the Reagan years. And it wasn’t a press creation- but a media manipulation, directed and produced by the likes of Deaver and Nofziger w/actors Mommie and Ronnie finding their marks and delivering their scripted lines, often quilled by the likes of Peggy Noonan.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  105. do you really want to hurt me

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  106. with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era u get eggroll

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  107. What we lack in numbers, we make up for in mouth foam.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  108. And the last administration saw no problem dealing with this time of regime:
    http://babalublog.com/2017/10/19/tampa-city-officials-travel-to-apartheid-cuba-parrot-castro-dictatorship-talking-points

    Even after the murder of osvaldo paya

    narciso (d1f714)

  109. florida’s looking more and more like a risky investment these days

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  110. This is the specter that they fear:

    https://www.britannica.com/event/Taiping-Rebellion

    narciso (d1f714)

  111. Apparently you slept through the Reagan years

    Reagan deserved the support he got. A towering figure on the world stage. He destroyed socialism.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  112. the Reagan years

    dynasty 2.0 episode 2 should be on… i think tonight no?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  113. oops no it was last night

    -27% off its debut 🙁

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  114. Welĺ, I’ll read your post, as i watch the Cubs go down in flames.

    I’m not sure either case is a cult. I think people see trump as an imperfect messenger except for his small but loud base. He was elected only because of what he wasn’t, part of the establishment. The Chinese prez added to the party’s code so my two cents not seeing it.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  115. A modern cyber punk afficionado David Williams wrote a modern update to the Gibson tales, called mirrored heavens one interesting detail in the burnhamite of three superstates, the Chinese one arose after 60 years of civil war, ocassioned by economic collapse.

    narciso (d1f714)


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