lewrockwell--2020-02-15--Bloomberg and the ‘Hate’ Trap

Bloomberg and the ‘Hate’ Trap

Establishment Democrats who had hoped that Michael Bloomberg could ride to their rescue might need to start looking for another plan .
The former New York mayor got kneecapped this week when recordings surfaced of his previous remarks about race , crime , and economics that make Bloomberg look guilty of the kind of “ hate ” that Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of perpetrating .
Desperate to stop socialist Bernie Sanders from winning the party ’ s presidential nomination , Democrats are now reckoning with the consequences of their habitual rhetoric of racial blame .
Having endorsed the anti-police agenda @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement , Democrats won ’ t find it easy to defend Bloomberg ’ s record as mayor .
Even if the billionaire ’ s lavish spending could buy him the party ’ s nomination — an untested proposition — Bloomberg ’ s record on racial issues would make it difficult for him to play the race card against President Trump in the general election campaign .
Does anyone really think Democrats can win without the race card ?
Against the Left : A Ro ... Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr Best Price : $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Bloomberg ’ s recorded defense of “ stop and frisk ” policies triggered still more panic among Democrats already in a frenzied state of fear ( see “ The Great Liberal Freakout Has Begun ” ) over the success of Sanders .
The Vermont senator emerged victorious in Tuesday ’ s New Hampshire primary , where the establishment candidate , former Vice President Joe Biden , finished a weak fifth place .
Not since Ed Muskie got blitzed by George McGovern in the 1972 New Hampshire primary has a Democrat front-runner fallen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The ripple effects of Biden ’ s failure were succinctly described by liberal journalist Jonathan Chait : Biden has run for president three times .
He has not yet managed to finish higher than fourth in any primary or caucus.… If not for Biden , a mainstream liberal Democrat might well have begun to consolidate support of a party establishment that is not looking for a candidate who will embrace wildly unpopular policies and a wildly unpopular socialist label while emphasizing transformative economic change in the midst of the best economy in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 2008 ended in disaster for Biden .
His 2020 campaign is going to end in a disaster for the whole party .
Like Biden , Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ’ s campaign is now obviously doomed after New Hampshire , where she finished a dismal fourth place .
With Sanders very likely to win the next contest , the February 22 Nevada caucus , the “ Anybody But Bernie ” faction within the Democratic Party is running out of time to find a consensus alternative before the March 3 “ Super Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar both did well in New Hampshire , beating Biden for the “ mainstream ” Democrat vote .
But each of those candidates has weaknesses , and they are splitting the opposition to Sanders .
Thus , the idea of Bloomberg as the white knight to rescue the party has a certain appeal to many Democrats who think Sanders can ’ t possibly beat Trump .

Establishment Democrats who had hoped that Michael Bloomberg could ride to their rescue might need to start looking for another plan. The former New York mayor got kneecapped this week when recordings surfaced of his previous remarks about race, crime, and economics that make Bloomberg look guilty of the kind of “hate” that Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of perpetrating. Desperate to stop socialist Bernie Sanders from winning the party’s presidential nomination, Democrats are now reckoning with the consequences of their habitual rhetoric of racial blame.
Having endorsed the anti-police agenda of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, Democrats won’t find it easy to defend Bloomberg’s record as mayor. Even if the billionaire’s lavish spending could buy him the party’s nomination — an untested proposition — Bloomberg’s record on racial issues would make it difficult for him to play the race card against President Trump in the general election campaign. Does anyone really think Democrats can win without the race card?
Against the Left: A Ro... Rockwell Jr, Llewellyn H Best Price: $2.85 Buy New $8.00 (as of 07:59 UTC - Details) The release of Bloomberg’s recorded defense of “stop and frisk” policies triggered still more panic among Democrats already in a frenzied state of fear (see “The Great Liberal Freakout Has Begun”) over the success of Sanders. The Vermont senator emerged victorious in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, where the establishment candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, finished a weak fifth place. Not since Ed Muskie got blitzed by George McGovern in the 1972 New Hampshire primary has a Democrat front-runner fallen so far so soon as Biden. The ripple effects of Biden’s failure were succinctly described by liberal journalist Jonathan Chait:
Biden has run for president three times. He has not yet managed to finish higher than fourth in any primary or caucus.… If not for Biden, a mainstream liberal Democrat might well have begun to consolidate support of a party establishment that is not looking for a candidate who will embrace wildly unpopular policies and a wildly unpopular socialist label while emphasizing transformative economic change in the midst of the best economy in a generation.… Biden’s campaigns in 1988 and 2008 ended in disaster for Biden. His 2020 campaign is going to end in a disaster for the whole party.
Like Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is now obviously doomed after New Hampshire, where she finished a dismal fourth place. With Sanders very likely to win the next contest, the February 22 Nevada caucus, the “Anybody But Bernie” faction within the Democratic Party is running out of time to find a consensus alternative before the March 3 “Super Tuesday” contests. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar both did well in New Hampshire, beating Biden for the “mainstream” Democrat vote. But each of those candidates has weaknesses, and they are splitting the opposition to Sanders. Thus, the idea of Bloomberg as the white knight to rescue the party has a certain appeal to many Democrats who think Sanders can’t possibly beat Trump.
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lewrockwell--2020-02-15--The EU is Now Deaf to Their Coming Defeat

Yanis Varoufakis once described negotiating with the European Union like you ’ re singing the Swedish National Anthem .
No matter what proposal you put in front of them , they acted like they didn ’ t understand and simply reiterated terms .
But , at least then they heard something .
It may have been gibberish to them , but at least sound waves made it to their ears .
Today , these people are like overwhelmed autistic kids needing noise canceling headphones to blot out the unwanted stimuli .
It may be therapeutic but it doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is complete the EU has gone one step further , blocking out the very real strategic and tactical disadvantage they are in dealing with the United Kingdom in trade deal talks .
The arrogance and intractability of the EU when it comes to negotiations is supposed to be their biggest weapon .
They project a strange combination of strength and indifference that can only come from people thoroughly insulated from personal accountability for their mistakes .
Against the Left : A Ro ... Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr Best Price : $ 13.57 Buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revealed to be inept , Michel Barnier has laid out his negotiating stance using the same language that was thoroughly rejected by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in October , the so-called “ level playing field ” of “ regulatory alignment ” as the basis for any kind of trade deal .
Has Barnier learned nothing from his last failure ?
Does he really think he can cover his ears , curl up in the corner and hope this all goes away ?
Because if he does then he ’ s catastrophically misread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moreover , he ’ s convinced the European Council and Parliament that the way to ultimately win is to keep doing the same things that just failed .
Since they just overwhelmingly approved Barnier ’ s strict negotiating demands to the U.K. further signaling that they have no idea of the hornet ’ s nest they ’ ve just whacked with a baseball bat , oblivious to the buzzing and warnings coming from the U.K. Mr Barnier said : “ Any future agreement will need approval from MEPs .
The deadline for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UK is still insisting on a deal being done by December 31st.
” { Tom ’ s response : because it ’ s now U.K. Law Mike , or did you miss that too ? }
He again warned that if there ’ s no agreement by then , the UK will leave the customs union and single market and go back to WTO terms , meaning quotas and tariffs on British products .
{ Tom ’ s response : and so what ?
Y ’ all run a trade surplus with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well as stupid ? }
Michel Barnier said : “ I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear to certain people in the United Kingdom bearing authority that they should not kid themselves about this – there will not be general , open-ended , ongoing equivalence in financial services.
” The EU would “ retain a free hand to take our own decisions ” .
{ Tom ’ s response : Free to ignore reality at your own peril } Barnier threatening the financial sector is an empty threat to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pressure Johnson into standing down .
They were the loudest complainers during the fight over Brexit .
But Johnson understands something Barnier refuses to admit , because , as always , he doesn ’ t listen he just demands .
Brexit was won in spite of London .
Its political power is waning .
Without the support of the Midlands and the hollowed-out industrial north , Johnson isn ’ t Prime Minister .
Barnier tried for three years to leverage City of London and failed .
Ladies and gentlemen I give you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This is an empty technocratic threat issued by a career bureaucrat with an over-inflated sense of his own relevance .
The U.K. holds all the negotiating levers here and they ’ ve accelerated the time table while Barnier is oblivious .
Barnier has until the end of June to take off his headphones and let information into his brain that comports with reality .
The collapse of the Remain coup in October was a strong message to the EU that they are vulnerable and that Barnier ’ s schtick is tired .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ not only hardened his tone but also gone further than he did on the campaign trail , saying that even a Canada-style free trade deal may not be enough .
Now he ’ s invoking Australia as a proxy for a WTO-style ‘ hard Brexit.
’ And all Barnier can do is threaten tariffs and trade war .
This is exactly the kind of idiocy that the British just fought three and a half years to divorce themselves from .
And this is coming from a political body with no hope of passing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paralyzed Germany takes over the Presidency of the European Commission .
A budget , I might add , that is staring at a €10+ billion hole thanks to the loss of the U.K .
The possibility of German political upheaval is causing the euro to crash uncontrollably .
After a massive move up on the final day of January to avoid a technical breakdown the euro is not flirting with a crash to the 2017 low of $ 1.034 The fear here is a quick steepening of the German yield curve which is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years .
No wonder Mario Draghi restarted QE before he blew town to leave this mess to Christine Lagarde , without that in place there would be real trouble in European sovereign debt markets .
Left of Bang : How the ... Patrick Van Horne , Jas ... Best Price : $ 12.13 Buy New $ 14.63 But a political disunion that is deaf not only to what its external critics are telling it but its internal ones as well has a limited self-life of invest-ability .
Once momentum traders stop front-running the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forces the unwinding of carry trades at that point someone will have to tap Barnier on the shoulder and tell him to listen to something approximating reason .
By this point , to be honest , it will likely be too late .
The Irish elections were a huge rebuke of the EU and how it handled Brexit negotiations .
It was an outright embarrassment to have Sinn Fein coalesce the Irish Euroskeptic vote .
And yet , the EU hasn ’ t learned a thing because they refuse to listen .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ morning and Angela Merkel is no longer Chancellor of Germany , the Yellow Vests overthrow Emmanuel Macron in France or Matteo Salvini wins an Italian snap election from a jail cell in Rome ?
Will they hear the populist barbarians at the gates then or will they continue to console themselves with dreams of Sweden ?
The Best of Thomas Luongo

Yanis Varoufakis once described negotiating with the European Union like you’re singing the Swedish National Anthem. No matter what proposal you put in front of them, they acted like they didn’t understand and simply reiterated terms.
But, at least then they heard something. It may have been gibberish to them, but at least sound waves made it to their ears.
Today, these people are like overwhelmed autistic kids needing noise canceling headphones to blot out the unwanted stimuli. It may be therapeutic but it doesn’t solve the situation.
Now that Brexit is complete the EU has gone one step further, blocking out the very real strategic and tactical disadvantage they are in dealing with the United Kingdom in trade deal talks.
The arrogance and intractability of the EU when it comes to negotiations is supposed to be their biggest weapon. They project a strange combination of strength and indifference that can only come from people thoroughly insulated from personal accountability for their mistakes.
Against the Left: A Ro... Rockwell Jr, Llewellyn H Best Price: $2.85 Buy New $8.00 (as of 07:59 UTC - Details) Lead negotiator, the revealed to be inept, Michel Barnier has laid out his negotiating stance using the same language that was thoroughly rejected by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in October, the so-called “level playing field” of “regulatory alignment” as the basis for any kind of trade deal.
Has Barnier learned nothing from his last failure? Does he really think he can cover his ears, curl up in the corner and hope this all goes away?
Because if he does then he’s catastrophically misread the state of the game board.
Moreover, he’s convinced the European Council and Parliament that the way to ultimately win is to keep doing the same things that just failed.
Since they just overwhelmingly approved Barnier’s strict negotiating demands to the U.K. further signaling that they have no idea of the hornet’s nest they’ve just whacked with a baseball bat, oblivious to the buzzing and warnings coming from the U.K.
Mr Barnier said: “Any future agreement will need approval from MEPs. The deadline for the transitional period can be extended but the UK is still insisting on a deal being done by December 31st.” {Tom’s response: because it’s now U.K. Law Mike, or did you miss that too?} He again warned that if there’s no agreement by then, the UK will leave the customs union and single market and go back to WTO terms, meaning quotas and tariffs on British products. {Tom’s response: and so what? Y’all run a trade surplus with the U.K. Or are you economically ignorant as well as stupid?} Michel Barnier said: “I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear to certain people in the United Kingdom bearing authority that they should not kid themselves about this – there will not be general, open-ended, ongoing equivalence in financial services.” The EU would “retain a free hand to take our own decisions”. {Tom’s response: Free to ignore reality at your own peril}
Barnier threatening the financial sector is an empty threat to get City of London bankers and traders to pressure Johnson into standing down. They were the loudest complainers during the fight over Brexit.
But Johnson understands something Barnier refuses to admit, because, as always, he doesn’t listen he just demands. Brexit was won in spite of London. Its political power is waning.
Without the support of the Midlands and the hollowed-out industrial north, Johnson isn’t Prime Minister. Barnier tried for three years to leverage City of London and failed.
Ladies and gentlemen I give you Mike Barnier, walking Einstein quote machine.
This is an empty technocratic threat issued by a career bureaucrat with an over-inflated sense of his own relevance.
The U.K. holds all the negotiating levers here and they’ve accelerated the time table while Barnier is oblivious.
Barnier has until the end of June to take off his headphones and let information into his brain that comports with reality. The collapse of the Remain coup in October was a strong message to the EU that they are vulnerable and that Barnier’s schtick is tired.
And because of this Boris Johnson has not only hardened his tone but also gone further than he did on the campaign trail, saying that even a Canada-style free trade deal may not be enough.
Now he’s invoking Australia as a proxy for a WTO-style ‘hard Brexit.’ And all Barnier can do is threaten tariffs and trade war. This is exactly the kind of idiocy that the British just fought three and a half years to divorce themselves from.
And this is coming from a political body with no hope of passing a budget this fall when a politically paralyzed Germany takes over the Presidency of the European Commission. A budget, I might add, that is staring at a €10+ billion hole thanks to the loss of the U.K.
The possibility of German political upheaval is causing the euro to crash uncontrollably. After a massive move up on the final day of January to avoid a technical breakdown the euro is not flirting with a crash to the 2017 low of $1.034
The fear here is a quick steepening of the German yield curve which is now flat to inverted out to 7 years. No wonder Mario Draghi restarted QE before he blew town to leave this mess to Christine Lagarde, without that in place there would be real trouble in European sovereign debt markets. Left of Bang: How the ... Patrick Van Horne, Jas... Best Price: $12.13 Buy New $14.63 (as of 08:15 UTC - Details)
But a political disunion that is deaf not only to what its external critics are telling it but its internal ones as well has a limited self-life of invest-ability. Once momentum traders stop front-running the ECB and the euro’s weakness forces the unwinding of carry trades at that point someone will have to tap Barnier on the shoulder and tell him to listen to something approximating reason.
By this point, to be honest, it will likely be too late.
The Irish elections were a huge rebuke of the EU and how it handled Brexit negotiations. It was an outright embarrassment to have Sinn Fein coalesce the Irish Euroskeptic vote. And yet, the EU hasn’t learned a thing because they refuse to listen.
So what happens when we wake up one morning and Angela Merkel is no longer Chancellor of Germany, the Yellow Vests overthrow Emmanuel Macron in France or Matteo Salvini wins an Italian snap election from a jail cell in Rome?
Will they hear the populist barbarians at the gates then or will they continue to console themselves with dreams of Sweden?
Reprinted with permission from Gold Goats ‘n Guns.
The Best of Tom Luongo


lewrockwell--2020-02-15--America and Israel Against the World

America and Israel Against the World

My Spotify workout playlist is a time warp .
Growing up in a blue-collar neighborhood of New York City in the 1990s and early 2000s , listening to popular East Coast hip-hop was practically required .
So on a recent morning in which I had planned to write a column about Israel/Palestine , I jammed out to Jay-Z & Beyonce ’ s famous power-couple-jam , “ ’ 03 Bonnie and Clyde.
” The song revolves around a former street dude and his loyal girlfriend , ready to face off against the world like the title ’ s outlaw couple .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. and Israel , President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ( Bibi ) Netanyahu .
Because , if we ’ re honest with ourselves , the ditty could just as easily describe the still-fresh political romance of “ B and D , ” as well as the 70-year relationship between the U.S. and Israel .
Prime Minister Netanyahu has recently , and probably accurately from his perspective , called Donald Trump “ the best friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.
” Netanyahu has proven himself all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gifts , and perhaps no one has offered him more than the 45th president of the United States .
These include , but are not limited to : moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem , recognizing Israel ’ s sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region ( after which Bibi cutely named a Golan ghost town settlement for The Donald ) , and reversing 50-plus years of U.S. policy by declaring that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not in violation of international law .
In light of these giveaways , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ peace ” deal for the Holy Land should come as no surprise .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 10.00 In characteristically bashful style , Trump has dubbed his Israel-Palestine plan the “ Deal of the Century.
” But even a cursory reading of the lengthy proposal , and an elementary understanding of the contested region ’ s history , reveal that it ’ s nothing more than a “ raw deal ” that effectively erases the Palestinian people .
“ Scam , ” “ Betrayal , ” “ Deceit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Century ” would all be more accurate descriptions .
The U.S. has never been an “ honest broker ” in the Holy Land , having provided more financial support to Israel since World War II than to any other nation .
So it ’ s no surprise that it ’ s the Palestinians who stand to lose the most in this proposal : all semblance of a contiguous sovereign state , control of their own borders , an equal-status capital in East Jerusalem , any “ right of return ” for expelled refugees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ settlers .
Trump , ever the corrupt real estate tycoon , seems to believe he can buy off Palestine ’ s unconditional surrender with a few modest subsidies for a rump statelet .
It ’ s Extortion 101 , and yet another example of Trump ’ s toxic negotiating style .
Alliances are meaningless , and everything is transactional .
That the deal ’ s terms were negotiated by Jared Kushner , the president ’ s 39-year-old son-in-law and a billionaire with no expertise in diplomacy or the Arab world , makes it @ @ @ @ @ @ @

My Spotify workout playlist is a time warp. Growing up in a blue-collar neighborhood of New York City in the 1990s and early 2000s, listening to popular East Coast hip-hop was practically required. So on a recent morning in which I had planned to write a column about Israel/Palestine, I jammed out to Jay-Z & Beyonce’s famous power-couple-jam, “’03 Bonnie and Clyde.” The song revolves around a former street dude and his loyal girlfriend, ready to face off against the world like the title’s outlaw couple.
Ironically, this got me thinking about the U.S. and Israel, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. Because, if we’re honest with ourselves, the ditty could just as easily describe the still-fresh political romance of “B and D,” as well as the 70-year relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has recently, and probably accurately from his perspective, called Donald Trump “the best friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.” Netanyahu has proven himself all too willing to exchange political loyalty for gifts, and perhaps no one has offered him more than the 45th president of the United States. These include, but are not limited to: moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region (after which Bibi cutely named a Golan ghost town settlement for The Donald), and reversing 50-plus years of U.S. policy by declaring that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not in violation of international law. In light of these giveaways, the terms of the administration’s newest “peace” deal for the Holy Land should come as no surprise. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $10.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
In characteristically bashful style, Trump has dubbed his Israel-Palestine plan the “Deal of the Century.” But even a cursory reading of the lengthy proposal, and an elementary understanding of the contested region’s history, reveal that it’s nothing more than a “raw deal” that effectively erases the Palestinian people. “Scam,” “Betrayal,” “Deceit,” or “Shame of the Century” would all be more accurate descriptions.
The U.S. has never been an “honest broker” in the Holy Land, having provided more financial support to Israel since World War II than to any other nation. So it’s no surprise that it’s the Palestinians who stand to lose the most in this proposal: all semblance of a contiguous sovereign state, control of their own borders, an equal-status capital in East Jerusalem, any “right of return” for expelled refugees or restitution of lands stolen by Israeli settlers.
Trump, ever the corrupt real estate tycoon, seems to believe he can buy off Palestine’s unconditional surrender with a few modest subsidies for a rump statelet. It’s Extortion 101, and yet another example of Trump’s toxic negotiating style. Alliances are meaningless, and everything is transactional.
That the deal’s terms were negotiated by Jared Kushner, the president’s 39-year-old son-in-law and a billionaire with no expertise in diplomacy or the Arab world, makes it all the more cynical and insulting.
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lewrockwell--2020-02-15--After Attending a Trump Rally, I Realized Democrats Are Not Ready For 2020

I think those of us on the left need to take a long look in the mirror and have an honest conversation about what ’ s going on .
If you had told me three years ago that I would ever attend a Donald Trump rally , I would have laughed and assured you that was never going to happen .
Heck , if you had told me I would do it three months ago , I probably would have done the same thing .
So , how did I find myself among 11,000-plus Trump supporters in Manchester , New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it all started with knitting .
You might not think of the knitting world as a particularly political community , but you ’ d be wrong .
Many knitters are active in social justice communities and love to discuss the revolutionary role knitters have played in our culture .
I started noticing this about a year ago , particularly on Instagram .
I knit as a way to relax and escape the drama of real life , not to further engage with it .
But it was impossible to ignore after roving gangs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after anyone in the knitting community who was not lockstep in their ideology .
Knitting stars on Instagram were bullied and mobbed by hundreds of people for seemingly innocuous offenses .
One man got mobbed so badly that he had a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the hospital on suicide watch .
Many things were not right about the hatred , and witnessing the vitriol coming from those I had aligned myself with politically was a massive wake-up call .
Against the Left : A Ro ... Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr Best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8.00 You see , I was one of those Democrats who considered anyone who voted for Trump a racist .
I thought they were horrible ( yes , even deplorable ) and worked very hard to eliminate their voices from my spaces by unfriending or blocking people who spoke about their support of him , however minor their comments .
I watched a lot of MSNBC , was convinced that everything he had done was horrible , that he hated anyone who wasn ’ t a straight white man , and that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I witnessed the amount of hate coming from the left in this small , niche knitting community , I started to question everything .
I started making a proactive effort to break my echo chamber by listening to voices I thought I would disagree with .
I wanted to understand their perspective , believing it would confirm that they were filled with hate for anyone who wasn ’ t like them .
That turned out not to be the case .
The more voices outside the left that I listened to , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bad people .
They were not racists , nazis , or white supremacists .
We had differences of opinions on social and economic issues , but a difference of opinion does not make your opponent inherently evil .
And they could justify their opinions using arguments , rather than the shouting and ranting I saw coming from my side of the aisle .
I started to discover ( or perhaps rediscover ) the # WalkAway movement .
I had heard about # WalkAway when MSNBC told me it was fake and a bunch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started to meet real people who had been Democrats and made the decision to leave because they could not stand the way the left was behaving .
I watched town halls they held with different minority communities ( all available in their entirety on YouTube ) , and I saw sane , rational discussion from people of all different races , backgrounds , orientations , and experiences .
I joined the Facebook group for the community and saw stories popping up daily of people sharing why they are leaving the Democratic Party .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are not Russian bots .
Moreover , it felt like a breath of fresh air .
There was not universal agreement in this group — some were Trump supporters , some weren ’ t — but they talked and shared their perspective without shouting or rage or trying to cancel each other .
I started to question everything .
How many stories had I been sold that weren ’ t true ?
What if my perception of the other side is wrong ?
How is it possible that half the country is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump derangement syndrome is a real thing , and had I been suffering from it for the past three years ?
And the biggest question of all was this : Did I hate Trump so much that I wanted to see my country fail just to spite him and everyone who voted for him ?

I think those of us on the left need to take a long look in the mirror and have an honest conversation about what’s going on.
If you had told me three years ago that I would ever attend a Donald Trump rally, I would have laughed and assured you that was never going to happen. Heck, if you had told me I would do it three months ago, I probably would have done the same thing. So, how did I find myself among 11,000-plus Trump supporters in Manchester, New Hampshire? Believe it or not, it all started with knitting.
You might not think of the knitting world as a particularly political community, but you’d be wrong. Many knitters are active in social justice communities and love to discuss the revolutionary role knitters have played in our culture. I started noticing this about a year ago, particularly on Instagram. I knit as a way to relax and escape the drama of real life, not to further engage with it. But it was impossible to ignore after roving gangs of online social justice warriors started going after anyone in the knitting community who was not lockstep in their ideology. Knitting stars on Instagram were bullied and mobbed by hundreds of people for seemingly innocuous offenses. One man got mobbed so badly that he had a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the hospital on suicide watch. Many things were not right about the hatred, and witnessing the vitriol coming from those I had aligned myself with politically was a massive wake-up call.
Democrats have an ass-kicking coming to them in November, and I think most of them will be utterly shocked when it happens.
Against the Left: A Ro... Rockwell Jr, Llewellyn H Best Price: $2.85 Buy New $8.00 (as of 07:59 UTC - Details) You see, I was one of those Democrats who considered anyone who voted for Trump a racist. I thought they were horrible (yes, even deplorable) and worked very hard to eliminate their voices from my spaces by unfriending or blocking people who spoke about their support of him, however minor their comments. I watched a lot of MSNBC, was convinced that everything he had done was horrible, that he hated anyone who wasn’t a straight white man, and that he had no redeeming qualities.
But when I witnessed the amount of hate coming from the left in this small, niche knitting community, I started to question everything. I started making a proactive effort to break my echo chamber by listening to voices I thought I would disagree with. I wanted to understand their perspective, believing it would confirm that they were filled with hate for anyone who wasn’t like them.
That turned out not to be the case. The more voices outside the left that I listened to, the more I realized that these were not bad people. They were not racists, nazis, or white supremacists. We had differences of opinions on social and economic issues, but a difference of opinion does not make your opponent inherently evil. And they could justify their opinions using arguments, rather than the shouting and ranting I saw coming from my side of the aisle.
I started to discover (or perhaps rediscover) the #WalkAway movement. I had heard about #WalkAway when MSNBC told me it was fake and a bunch of Russian bots. But then I started to meet real people who had been Democrats and made the decision to leave because they could not stand the way the left was behaving. I watched town halls they held with different minority communities (all available in their entirety on YouTube), and I saw sane, rational discussion from people of all different races, backgrounds, orientations, and experiences. I joined the Facebook group for the community and saw stories popping up daily of people sharing why they are leaving the Democratic Party. This wasn’t fake. These people are not Russian bots. Moreover, it felt like a breath of fresh air. There was not universal agreement in this group — some were Trump supporters, some weren’t — but they talked and shared their perspective without shouting or rage or trying to cancel each other.
I started to question everything. How many stories had I been sold that weren’t true? What if my perception of the other side is wrong? How is it possible that half the country is overtly racist? Is it possible that Trump derangement syndrome is a real thing, and had I been suffering from it for the past three years?
And the biggest question of all was this: Did I hate Trump so much that I wanted to see my country fail just to spite him and everyone who voted for him?
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-02-15--A Cup of Hot Chocolate a Day

A Cup of Hot Chocolate a Day

Drinking hot chocolate could help over 60s stay on their feet after a study shows cocoa boosts blood circulation in the legs .
Those who drank a mug of cocoa three times a day for six months were able to walk significantly further in a walking test at the end of the study .
Cocoa is abundant in a compound called epicatechin , also found in dark chocolate .
Researchers think it ’ s epicatechin that may improve blood flow to participants ’ calves , allowing them to go the extra distance .
The study was done on people with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PAD , ’ which is a narrowing of the arteries .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 10.00 A fifth of people over 60 in the UK have some degree of PAD , causing pain , tightness and cramping in leg muscles while walking .
Commenting on the findings , study author Professor Mary McDermott , at Northwestern University in Chicago , US , said : ‘ Few therapies are available for improving walking performance in people with PAD.
’ Dr Naomi Hamburg , chair of the American Heart Association ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : ‘ Patients with PAD have difficulty walking that is as bad as people with advanced heart failure .
‘ Leg muscles don ’ t get enough blood supply in PAD leading to injury and in this study , cocoa appeared to be protecting the muscle and improving metabolism .
‘ We know that exercise therapy helps people with PAD walk farther , and this early study suggests that cocoa may turn out to be a new way to treat people with PAD .
‘ We will need larger studies to confirm whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but maybe , someday , if the research supports it , we may be able to write a prescription for chocolate for our patients with PAD .
’

Drinking hot chocolate could help over 60s stay on their feet after a study shows cocoa boosts blood circulation in the legs.
Those who drank a mug of cocoa three times a day for six months were able to walk significantly further in a walking test at the end of the study.
Cocoa is abundant in a compound called epicatechin, also found in dark chocolate.
Researchers think it's epicatechin that may improve blood flow to participants' calves, allowing them to go the extra distance.
The study was done on people with the common peripheral artery disease or 'PAD,' which is a narrowing of the arteries.
A fifth of people over 60 in the UK have some degree of PAD, causing pain, tightness and cramping in leg muscles while walking.
Drinking hot chocolate could help over 60s stay on their feet after a study suggests cocoa boosts blood circulation in the legs, study shows
Commenting on the findings, study author Professor Mary McDermott, at Northwestern University in Chicago, US, said: 'Few therapies are available for improving walking performance in people with PAD.'
Dr Naomi Hamburg, chair of the American Heart Association's Peripheral Vascular Disease Council, added: 'Patients with PAD have difficulty walking that is as bad as people with advanced heart failure.
'Leg muscles don't get enough blood supply in PAD leading to injury and in this study, cocoa appeared to be protecting the muscle and improving metabolism.
'We know that exercise therapy helps people with PAD walk farther, and this early study suggests that cocoa may turn out to be a new way to treat people with PAD.
'We will need larger studies to confirm whether cocoa is an effective treatment for PAD, but maybe, someday, if the research supports it, we may be able to write a prescription for chocolate for our patients with PAD.'
The study involved 44 PAD patients over the age of 60.
Study participants were randomly assigned to drink either a mug of cocoa or a placebo powder packet without cocoa three times daily over six months.
The cocoa was unsweetened and contained 15 grams of cocoa and 75 mgs of epicatechin.
Walking performance was measured at the beginning of the study and at six months. Participants walked up and down a corridor for six minutes.
The test was done twice, at two and a half hours and 24 hours after drinking the beverage. They also did a treadmill test.
The participants also had the blood flow to their legs measured using an MRI scan, and those who consented had a calf muscle biopsy to evaluate muscle health.
The cocoa drinkers were able to walk up to 42.6 metres further in the final six-minute walking test completed at the end of the six month study.
But patients who drank the placebo beverage suffered a 24.2 metre decline in their walking distance at the end of the six-month period.
The authors said cocoa flavanols, including epicatechin, that are present in dark chocolate, have 'therapeutic properties that may improve walking performance in people with PAD'.
The finding was consistent with other studies, in which PAD patients experience a deterioration in their walking distance over time, if they go untreated.
The team also discovered other improvements to muscle health - boosts were observed in both mitochondrial activity, which helps cells to convert the energy from food, and capillary density, a vital factor in delivering oxygen to tissues during exercise.
Professor McDermott said: 'If our results are confirmed in a larger trial, these findings suggest that cocoa, a relatively inexpensive, safe and accessible product, could potentially produce significant improvements in calf muscle health, blood flow, and walking performance for PAD patients.'
The researchers highlighted that regular chocolate - often laden with sugar - would not be expected to have the same effect as the cocoa they used, which is commonly available.
The study was published today in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation Research.


lewrockwell--2020-02-17--Painting a True Christ

Painting a True Christ

There ’ s an early scene in Terrence Malik ’ s masterful new film – what I would call a moving painting – where the central character Franz Jägerstätter , an Austrian peasant farmer from an isolated small mountainous village who refuses to take an oath to Hitler and fight in the German army , is talking to an older man who is restoring paintings in the local Catholic church .
Franz , a devout Roman Catholic , is deeply disturbed by the rise of Hitler and the thought of participating in his immoral killing machine .
The older man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ admonished that he has a duty to defend the fatherland ( homeland ) – that he makes his living painting pretty holy pictures for the culturally conditioned parishioners for whom God and country are synonymous .
He says .
Malik ’ s “ someday ” has arrived with “ A Hidden Life , ” where the older Malik shows the younger Malik – and us – a moving picture of what experience has taught him is the complex essence of a true and simple Christ : out of love of God and all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ To watch this film is to undergo a profound experience , an experiment with truth and non-violence , a three-hour trial ( Latin : experimentum – trial ) .
While Franz is eventually put on trial by the German government , it is we as viewers who must judge ourselves and ask how guilty or innocent are we for supporting or resisting the immoral killing machine of our own country now .
Hitler and his Nazis were then , but we are faced with what Martin Luther King called “ the fierce urgency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Franz , “ What has happened to the country that we love ?
” But how many look in the mirror and ask , “ Am I a guilty bystander or an active supporter of the United States ’ immoral and illegal wars all around the world that have been going on for so many years under presidents of both parties and have no end ?
Do I support the new cold war with its push for nuclear war with its first strike policy ?
Do I support , by my silence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say that “ A Hidden Life ” is a moving painting because its form and content can not be separated .
A true artist , Malik realizes that what non-artists call form or style is the content ; they are one .
The essence of the story is in the telling ; in a film in the showing .
The cinematography by Jörge Widmer , a longtime Malick collaborator , is therefore key .
It is exquisitely beautiful as he paints with swiftly moving light the mountains and streams of the Austrian countryside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their thunder and lightning roll in across the mountains .
The ever-recurring dramatic scenes of numinous nature and the focus on the sustaining earth from which our food comes and to which we all return and in which Franz , his wife Fani , and their young daughters romp and roll and plant and harvest and dirty their hands is the ground beneath our feet , and when we look , we see its marriage to the sky , the clouds , the light , the shadows , which in their iridescent interplay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interrogate our existence and ask with Franz what is right and what is wrong and what is our purpose on this beautiful earth .
That question is especially focused when between the beauty comes the terror in the form of interspersed documentary footage of Hitler , his fanatical followers , and horrifying scenes of war and violence .
Like the movie , I think you would agree that we are always moving , asking , wondering , if we are not the living dead .
All is now , and now is nevermore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behind us .
The light is always pointing into the future , so we can see where we are going .
We don ’ t look at the light but by the light , as the great South African preacher , Alan Storey , puts it .
But what is our light ?
Where , asked Nietzsche , was the lightning before it flashed ?
To which the answer comes : it wasn ’ t .
It is its flashing .
Only a doing , an act , just like love , not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the word God , theόs in Greek , which has no vocative sense , as Roberto Calasso has pointed out in Literature and the Gods .
“ Theόs has a predictive function : it describes something that happens.
” God is a verb ; God is happening .
God is happening when humans are happening , acting .
Only then .
“ What you do ( or don ’ t ) speaks so loudly that I can not hear what you say , ” was the way Emerson phrased it .
The filmic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dilemma , his action , and the embodiment of Christ in the natural world , the body of Christ ( Corpus Christi , not the erstwhile American nuclear submarine by that name ) , is its genius , one that might be lost on one impatient for action and garrulous dialogue .
“ A Hidden Life ” is far from Hollywood .
Silence and natural beauty permeate it , as if to say the only way to grasp the mechanized and conscienceless brutality of Hitler or today ’ s killers and grasp why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a contemplative space where the love of the incarnated world awakens our consciences to our responsibility to our sisters and brothers everywhere .
For in the silences one can also hear the screams of the millions of innocent victims beseeching us to heed their cries and intercede .
Malik shows us that the “ true Christ ” must be experienced as all of creation .
No divisions .
We must feel this in our flesh and blood , as does the rather inarticulate Franz , who speaks very little .
His silence , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ August Diehl , speak volumes .
Valerie Pachner , as his supportive wife Fani , is gripping in every sense of the word , as Franz and Fani grip and grasp and hold each other in a fierce struggle to stay united in the face of the evil forces that threaten to separate them .
It tore me apart to watch their struggle , and I left the theater shaking .
In one of his marvelous essays , “ A Kind of Sharing , ” John Berger , writing about painting , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ motto , his faith .
Or perhaps “ to reveal a presence that is the appearance.
” The body is the soul .
We are the world .
When I was young and in the U.S. Marines , seeking release as a conscientious objector , I read a book by Gordon Zahn , a sociologist and Catholic peace activist , called In Solitary Witness .
It was the book that first brought Franz Jägerstätter to the world ’ s attention .
I found it deeply inspiring to learn about someone else who felt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to fight in war .
Unlike Franz , who had been a wild motorcycle-riding young man prone to fighting , I had tried to be an upstanding , Jesuit-educated , patriotic , Irish-Catholic boy .
Tried but didn ’ t completely succeed .
I prided myself on my toughness and sensitivity .
Don ’ t laugh .
It ’ s not that uncommon .
We are often strangers to ourselves , complicated creatures , even the worst among us open to redemptive change .
But as I said then and say now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it in my soul , as Franz clearly did , even if all he could say was , “ I have this feeling inside me that I can ’ t do what I believe is wrong.
” War is a racket , as Marine Major General Smedley Butler put it .
It is waged for the tyrannical oligarchs and always kills mostly civilians .
Over ninety percent now , probably more .
Innocent people .
War is immoral .
It is not complex .
It is simple .
Like the gospel message .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the price .
I paid no price since I was released from the Marines to “ take final vows in a religious order , ” which was a complete lie , something I had never mentioned or considered but which allowed them to get rid of me .
But I vividly remember the spiritual sustenance I got from Franz ’ s witness as I awaited the ruling , for I was unequivocally determined to go to prison before ever donning the uniform again .
But I got off easy and still feel guilty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my merry way .
Watching “ A Hidden Life ” reminded me of my cowardice .
Despite feeling “ he had no one to turn to , ” despite being urged “ to say the oath and think what you want , ” despite the advice of family and Bishop to compromise , despite the animosity of the villagers toward him and his family , despite being alone with his conscience , Franz remained faithful to his soul ’ s promptings .
He lived forward by the light .
Malik shows us the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the agony for him and his wife , who , ironically , seems to have been instrumental when they married in his spiritual awakening and whose suffering is palpable as she supports his decision to the end .
It is not easy to watch .
Aside from Franz , who remains steadfast throughout all the abuse and suffering that he undergoes when jailed by the Nazis , the viewer is not fed a simple story of good against evil but instead is invited to examine one ’ s own life , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to wonder whether Franz was right or wrong to subject his family to such suffering .
Even the humanity of the Nazi judge is shown when he privately tries to dissuade Franz from not signing the oath , telling him that no one will ever know of his sacrifice , that “ the world will go on as before ” and “ someone else will take your place.
” We see the torment on this man ’ s face and in his harrowed hands when he is left alone after Franz tells him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know everything ” but “ I can ’ t do what I believe is wrong , ” despite knowing the consequences , and Franz is taken off to his solitary witness and his death .
The viewer is left to interpret the meaning of it all .
Afterwards , we hear Fani says that “ the time will come when we ’ ll know what all this means.
” Has that time come ?
In 2007 the Catholic Church declared Jägerstätter a martyr and beatified him .
The irony of making a saint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was opposed by the institutional church authorities can not be lost on a thinking person .
Long dead , safely in his grave , a monument can be erected to his memory .
Or is it a monument erected to the church itself , the church whose silence was in those days deafening ?
When I was leaving the theater with the seven other attendees , a man engaged me in conversation .
I asked him what he thought of the movie .
He said only that “ it was beautiful.
” I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but I thought of Rilke ’ s words about beauty from the Duino Elegies : “ A Hidden Life ” is like that .
Near the end we see Franz and a group of prisoners sitting on a bench awaiting their turns to be beheaded by the executioner in a black coat and bowler hat .
A man just doing his job , a bored look on his face , loping off heads one by one , anxious to get the mornings work done and get to lunch .
The terror on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt sick .
While some prisoners struggled as they were led into the shed that housed the guillotine , Franz walked calmly in .
Malik spares the viewer the details .
All we are shown is the aftermath – a floor awash in blood .
And as I recall , the light streaming in a high-up window .
Always the light to show us the way .
The Best of Edward Curtin

There’s an early scene in Terrence Malik’s masterful new film – what I would call a moving painting – where the central character Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian peasant farmer from an isolated small mountainous village who refuses to take an oath to Hitler and fight in the German army, is talking to an older man who is restoring paintings in the local Catholic church.
Franz, a devout Roman Catholic, is deeply disturbed by the rise of Hitler and the thought of participating in his immoral killing machine.
The older man tells Franz – who has already been admonished that he has a duty to defend the fatherland (homeland) – that he makes his living painting pretty holy pictures for the culturally conditioned parishioners for whom God and country are synonymous. He says.
I paint their comfortable Christ with a halo over his head. We love him, that’s enough. Someday I’ll paint a true Christ.
Malik’s “someday” has arrived with “A Hidden Life,” where the older Malik shows the younger Malik – and us – a moving picture of what experience has taught him is the complex essence of a true and simple Christ: out of love of God and all human beings to refuse to kill.
To watch this film is to undergo a profound experience, an experiment with truth and non-violence, a three-hour trial (Latin: experimentum – trial).
While Franz is eventually put on trial by the German government, it is we as viewers who must judge ourselves and ask how guilty or innocent are we for supporting or resisting the immoral killing machine of our own country now. Hitler and his Nazis were then, but we are faced with what Martin Luther King called “the fierce urgency of now.”
Many Americans surely ask with Franz, “What has happened to the country that we love?” But how many look in the mirror and ask, “Am I a guilty bystander or an active supporter of the United States’ immoral and illegal wars all around the world that have been going on for so many years under presidents of both parties and have no end? Do I support the new cold war with its push for nuclear war with its first strike policy? Do I support, by my silence, a nuclear holocaust?”
I say that “A Hidden Life” is a moving painting because its form and content cannot be separated. A true artist, Malik realizes that what non-artists call form or style is the content; they are one. The essence of the story is in the telling; in a film in the showing.
The cinematography by Jörge Widmer, a longtime Malick collaborator, is therefore key. It is exquisitely beautiful as he paints with swiftly moving light the mountains and streams of the Austrian countryside, even as the storm clouds with their thunder and lightning roll in across the mountains. The ever-recurring dramatic scenes of numinous nature and the focus on the sustaining earth from which our food comes and to which we all return and in which Franz, his wife Fani, and their young daughters romp and roll and plant and harvest and dirty their hands is the ground beneath our feet, and when we look, we see its marriage to the sky, the clouds, the light, the shadows, which in their iridescent interplay of light and darkness beseech us to interrogate our existence and ask with Franz what is right and what is wrong and what is our purpose on this beautiful earth.
That question is especially focused when between the beauty comes the terror in the form of interspersed documentary footage of Hitler, his fanatical followers, and horrifying scenes of war and violence.
Like the movie, I think you would agree that we are always moving, asking, wondering, if we are not the living dead. All is now, and now is nevermore, as it disappears into the darkness behind us. The light is always pointing into the future, so we can see where we are going. We don’t look at the light but by the light, as the great South African preacher, Alan Storey, puts it. But what is our light?
Where, asked Nietzsche, was the lightning before it flashed? To which the answer comes: it wasn’t. It is its flashing. Only a doing, an act, just like love, not a thing but action. Just like the word God, theόs in Greek, which has no vocative sense, as Roberto Calasso has pointed out in Literature and the Gods. “Theόs has a predictive function: it describes something that happens.” God is a verb; God is happening. God is happening when humans are happening, acting. Only then.
“What you do (or don’t) speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say,” was the way Emerson phrased it.
The filmic interplay between Franz’s agonized moral dilemma, his action, and the embodiment of Christ in the natural world, the body of Christ (Corpus Christi, not the erstwhile American nuclear submarine by that name), is its genius, one that might be lost on one impatient for action and garrulous dialogue.
“A Hidden Life” is far from Hollywood. Silence and natural beauty permeate it, as if to say the only way to grasp the mechanized and conscienceless brutality of Hitler or today’s killers and grasp why some resist it, is to enter a contemplative space where the love of the incarnated world awakens our consciences to our responsibility to our sisters and brothers everywhere.
For in the silences one can also hear the screams of the millions of innocent victims beseeching us to heed their cries and intercede.
Malik shows us that the “true Christ” must be experienced as all of creation. No divisions. We must feel this in our flesh and blood, as does the rather inarticulate Franz, who speaks very little. His silence, however, and the marvelous acting of August Diehl, speak volumes. Valerie Pachner, as his supportive wife Fani, is gripping in every sense of the word, as Franz and Fani grip and grasp and hold each other in a fierce struggle to stay united in the face of the evil forces that threaten to separate them. It tore me apart to watch their struggle, and I left the theater shaking.
In one of his marvelous essays, “A Kind of Sharing,” John Berger, writing about painting, said,
The act of faith consisted of believing that the visible contained hidden secrets, that to study the visible was to learn something more than could be seen in a glance. Thus paintings were there to reveal a presence behind an appearance.
This could be Malik’s motto, his faith. Or perhaps “to reveal a presence that is the appearance.” The body is the soul. We are the world.
When I was young and in the U.S. Marines, seeking release as a conscientious objector, I read a book by Gordon Zahn, a sociologist and Catholic peace activist, called In Solitary Witness. It was the book that first brought Franz Jägerstätter to the world’s attention. I found it deeply inspiring to learn about someone else who felt alone in his spiritual decision to refuse to fight in war.
Unlike Franz, who had been a wild motorcycle-riding young man prone to fighting, I had tried to be an upstanding, Jesuit-educated, patriotic, Irish-Catholic boy. Tried but didn’t completely succeed. I prided myself on my toughness and sensitivity. Don’t laugh. It’s not that uncommon.
We are often strangers to ourselves, complicated creatures, even the worst among us open to redemptive change.
But as I said then and say now, war is another matter. I felt it in my soul, as Franz clearly did, even if all he could say was, “I have this feeling inside me that I can’t do what I believe is wrong.”
War is a racket, as Marine Major General Smedley Butler put it. It is waged for the tyrannical oligarchs and always kills mostly civilians. Over ninety percent now, probably more. Innocent people. War is immoral. It is not complex. It is simple. Like the gospel message. Jägerstätter grasped that long ago and paid the price.
I paid no price since I was released from the Marines to “take final vows in a religious order,” which was a complete lie, something I had never mentioned or considered but which allowed them to get rid of me. But I vividly remember the spiritual sustenance I got from Franz’s witness as I awaited the ruling, for I was unequivocally determined to go to prison before ever donning the uniform again.
But I got off easy and still feel guilty that I pocketed their lie and went my merry way. Watching “A Hidden Life” reminded me of my cowardice.
Despite feeling “he had no one to turn to,” despite being urged “to say the oath and think what you want,” despite the advice of family and Bishop to compromise, despite the animosity of the villagers toward him and his family, despite being alone with his conscience, Franz remained faithful to his soul’s promptings. He lived forward by the light.
Malik shows us the anguish that was involved in his decision, the agony for him and his wife, who, ironically, seems to have been instrumental when they married in his spiritual awakening and whose suffering is palpable as she supports his decision to the end. It is not easy to watch.
Aside from Franz, who remains steadfast throughout all the abuse and suffering that he undergoes when jailed by the Nazis, the viewer is not fed a simple story of good against evil but instead is invited to examine one’s own life, to ask what would one have done, to wonder whether Franz was right or wrong to subject his family to such suffering.
Even the humanity of the Nazi judge is shown when he privately tries to dissuade Franz from not signing the oath, telling him that no one will ever know of his sacrifice, that “the world will go on as before” and “someone else will take your place.” We see the torment on this man’s face and in his harrowed hands when he is left alone after Franz tells him simply that “I don’t know everything” but “I can’t do what I believe is wrong,” despite knowing the consequences, and Franz is taken off to his solitary witness and his death.
The viewer is left to interpret the meaning of it all. Afterwards, we hear Fani says that “the time will come when we’ll know what all this means.”
Has that time come?
In 2007 the Catholic Church declared Jägerstätter a martyr and beatified him. The irony of making a saint out of a man whose spiritual witness was opposed by the institutional church authorities cannot be lost on a thinking person. Long dead, safely in his grave, a monument can be erected to his memory.
Or is it a monument erected to the church itself, the church whose silence was in those days deafening?
When I was leaving the theater with the seven other attendees, a man engaged me in conversation. I asked him what he thought of the movie. He said only that “it was beautiful.” I was startled and had no response, but I thought of Rilke’s words about beauty from the Duino Elegies:
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we still are just able to endure, and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
“A Hidden Life” is like that.
Near the end we see Franz and a group of prisoners sitting on a bench awaiting their turns to be beheaded by the executioner in a black coat and bowler hat. A man just doing his job, a bored look on his face, loping off heads one by one, anxious to get the mornings work done and get to lunch. The terror on the victims’ faces is palpable. I felt sick. While some prisoners struggled as they were led into the shed that housed the guillotine, Franz walked calmly in. Malik spares the viewer the details. All we are shown is the aftermath – a floor awash in blood. And as I recall, the light streaming in a high-up window.
Always the light to show us the way.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.
The Best of Edward Curtin


lewrockwell--2020-02-17--Google Is What We Would Have Called ‘A Mooch’ in Third Grade

You ’ re in third grade .
You and your buddies have a friend with some cool toys .
He lets you play with them at recess .
You guys have a good time .
It gets to be lunchtime and you and your buddies pull out your brown paper bags .
Everyone starts to dig in , except for the kid with the cool toys .
He didn ’ t bring a lunch .
He wants some of yours and some of your buddy ’ s and some of your other buddy ’ s food .
Well , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to play with , and he brought these cool toys with , and you don ’ t want him to go hungry , so you guys all share .
But then the next day the same thing happens .
And then the same thing the day after that .
And then he starts to get a little entitled about what ’ s for lunch , like your lunch is suddenly his or something .
So then one of your buddies calls him out on this behavior .
And the kid with the cool @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all in the EULA , and how it ’ s your fault if you didn ’ t read the EULA carefully enough , and how there is implied consent to all that is in the EULA , as soon as anyone starts playing with any of his toys .
And the three of you look at each other like , what is this kid talking about .
When Google Met WikiLeaks Julian Assange Best Price : $ 3.80 Buy New $ 1.99 You thought he was a nice guy doing you a favor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had a really nice time together .
Then once you let down your guard , he comes and tries to collect on the bill he thinks you owe him , but he never brought up to you before that moment .
Not only is it a surprise to you when he brings up this ulterior motive that he had in mind the whole time , but it also feels kind of creepy the way he turned your time together into a gimmick by which he could profit .
And nothing against profit – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at the baseball card store down the street , instead of riding your bike all the way to the mall , where they are cheaper .
You understand profit ; you like certain conveniences .
The kid with the toys knew all along that this was the plan , and he told you plenty about the toys here , and about his toys at home , and about some people he knows who like his toys , and a lot of positive stuff about himself , but in all of that marketing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you the most obvious information that he knew you would want to hear .
Maybe it was buried in a EULA somewhere , and maybe there was some implied consent when you picked up his toy .
Maybe you even said a cursory “ yes , ” when he said “ If you play with my toys , you have to be sure to follow the rules.
” And you probably should have asked more questions .
But the kid with the cool toys really could have been a lot more straightforward with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ free lunch isn ’ t really part of the deal when you go play with some toys that someone brought to recess .
It ’ s kind of weird really .
And if someone wanted to change the rules of the game to something weird , to be anything but straightforward about that change is really , really weird .
It ’ s a creepy thing to do to someone .
And by the next day , the kid has a nickname , and you sure don ’ t want to play with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after that , the whole class knows his nickname , and word ’ s gotten around about his creepy EULA , and what he does after you ’ ve played with his toys .
And before you know it , he ’ s crying to his mom , who ’ s a lawyer , about the fact that they all call him “ a mooch , ” and won ’ t play with him anymore .
Then his mom talks to the rather judicatory principal at your school , who works for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and she ’ s a lot like a police officer – this teacher – with how she acts , and before you know it , his creepy EULA becomes what the authorities around you say you ’ ve got to comply with , and they don ’ t let you call him a mooch anymore , and they tell you how important it is to share with others .
But no matter what those authorities all say , every 9 year old in that class knows a mooch when they see one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off about that kid .
The Best of Allan Stevo

You’re in third grade. You and your buddies have a friend with some cool toys. He lets you play with them at recess. You guys have a good time. It gets to be lunchtime and you and your buddies pull out your brown paper bags. Everyone starts to dig in, except for the kid with the cool toys. He didn’t bring a lunch. He wants some of yours and some of your buddy’s and some of your other buddy’s food.
Well, he’s been a lot of fun to play with, and he brought these cool toys with, and you don’t want him to go hungry, so you guys all share.
But then the next day the same thing happens. And then the same thing the day after that. And then he starts to get a little entitled about what’s for lunch, like your lunch is suddenly his or something.
So then one of your buddies calls him out on this behavior. And the kid with the cool toys starts saying how it’s all in the EULA, and how it’s your fault if you didn’t read the EULA carefully enough, and how there is implied consent to all that is in the EULA, as soon as anyone starts playing with any of his toys.
And the three of you look at each other like, what is this kid talking about. When Google Met WikiLeaks Assange, Julian Best Price: $4.99 Buy New $1.99 (as of 01:25 UTC - Details)
You thought he was a nice guy doing you a favor, and enjoying your company. You had a really nice time together. Then once you let down your guard, he comes and tries to collect on the bill he thinks you owe him, but he never brought up to you before that moment.
Not only is it a surprise to you when he brings up this ulterior motive that he had in mind the whole time, but it also feels kind of creepy the way he turned your time together into a gimmick by which he could profit.
And nothing against profit – you buy the marked up baseball cards, at the baseball card store down the street, instead of riding your bike all the way to the mall, where they are cheaper. You understand profit; you like certain conveniences.
The kid with the toys knew all along that this was the plan, and he told you plenty about the toys here, and about his toys at home, and about some people he knows who like his toys, and a lot of positive stuff about himself, but in all of that marketing, he never bothered to share with you the most obvious information that he knew you would want to hear.
That’s a lie of omission.
Maybe it was buried in a EULA somewhere, and maybe there was some implied consent when you picked up his toy. Maybe you even said a cursory “yes,” when he said “If you play with my toys, you have to be sure to follow the rules.” And you probably should have asked more questions.
But the kid with the cool toys really could have been a lot more straightforward with you and your buddies.
Providing a free lunch isn’t really part of the deal when you go play with some toys that someone brought to recess. It’s kind of weird really. And if someone wanted to change the rules of the game to something weird, to be anything but straightforward about that change is really, really weird.
It’s a creepy thing to do to someone.
And by the next day, the kid has a nickname, and you sure don’t want to play with his toys anymore. By the day after that, the whole class knows his nickname, and word’s gotten around about his creepy EULA, and what he does after you’ve played with his toys.
And before you know it, he’s crying to his mom, who’s a lawyer, about the fact that they all call him “a mooch,” and won’t play with him anymore. Then his mom talks to the rather judicatory principal at your school, who works for the government, and the teacher gets involved, and she’s a lot like a police officer – this teacher – with how she acts, and before you know it, his creepy EULA becomes what the authorities around you say you’ve got to comply with, and they don’t let you call him a mooch anymore, and they tell you how important it is to share with others.
But no matter what those authorities all say, every 9 year old in that class knows a mooch when they see one and knows that there’s something off about that kid.
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