The (Daily) Vent 2

( In-Decision 2022) What takes place eight days before an election, especially as profound as this one might prove to be ? Partisans are crisscrossing the country, speaking on behalf of one candidate or another. Rallies here and there and endless prognosticators on TV and in print. And, in the candidates themselves, they are in the process of making the final pitch to voters, hoping it will be their name that pulls the lever. Or, however the thing goes. This year, however, there seems to be a conversion among several of those running for Office. Two examples stand out. Two Democrats have had what could be called an election year conversion. Now, just over a week out, positions vehemently held previously have now been altered in the wake of declining poll numbers. One would be Pennsylvania Senate Candidate, John Fetterman, who now believes that fracking is now a good idea. The other would be Democrat Stacy Abrams, who wants to be Governor or Georgia. It had been her stance that police d

(Revised & Extended. . .) Anyone who has been a regular viewer of these pages have known the opinions of the author. In this time, twelve years come January, there has never been any attempt at self-censorship and material has been published that many would consider offensive. The  only solace to be offered is to "get over themselves." Snowflake feelings such as they are, do not pose a problem. That being said, Elon Musk has the right idea. While The ( Daily ) Vent has no Twitter presence and that will probably stay the same. As much was said a few weeks ago when there would be no Tesla nor any Twitter account. Musk then is doing with Twitter what has been policy here from the beginning. So, what is free expression ? It has been the ability to savage Biden Administration and its Hill allies. Taking the President to task over the whole spectrum of his failed policies. The reason the GOP will be doing well in nine days is that the Administration did so badly with regards

( Dark Ages, , ,) There is a reason why the Dark Ages were called "dark." After the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, what had been imperial control, not just in Rome but across Roman territory, what had been progress and day to day living as an average Roman, there was a break. Trash was no longer collected. Water systems failed to be maintained. Art, literature, were all curtailed. The barbarian hosts that had absorbed the Empire, especially in the West, did not immediately subsume what had been the role of Roman authority. The end of Rome was also the end to Antiquity. Humanity would have to re-lean the fundamentals of civilization all over again and it would take the next Millenium for that education to be effected. Europe would now seem to be on the precipice of a new Dark Age and it will be dark. To expand on the analogy, the Continent, especially in the East, is looking at the approaching winter with the same dread as any Game of Thrones episode. Like the weakened

(Other Interested Parties. . .) In a piece of theater, Elon Musk walked into the Twitter headquarters carrying a kitchen sink, as the Tesla founder announced he "had just bought the building." Immediately, Musk discharged two senior Twitter executives, people who apparently did not share Musk's vison for the company, namely that it had been their tendency to censor speech where it has been Musk's intention to open the platform up to freer expression. Access to narrative creation that is no longer dependent on official policy or media influence. Yesterday, it was remarked that Democrats with an impending loss of political power will be losing the ability to control the narrative. The same will be true with the national media across all spectra. It had been a relationship where the Administration and Democrat story could be "explained" in a favorable light. That is the reason why there was there is little coverage at the border. That is why crime in major Demo

(Worse-Case Scenario ?) Colonel Reinhard Gehlen was the intelligence officer for the German  Ostheer (Eastern Army) in World War II. It was his job to keep the German armies apprised of Soviet intentions and capabilities and help plan operations to counter Soviet activities. Gehlen is most known as being a bad intelligence officer because he and his department failed to notice the massive Soviet build-ups on the Don and off the steppes southeast of the Volga. On November 19th. 1942, these forces were unleashed and in a matter of days, converged at a point some miles west of the Volga. And Stalingrad. So, because Colonel Gehlen was bad at his position, he was partly responsible for the greatest disaster to befall German arms. Like Gehlen who missed the Soviet offensive that would doom the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, so there seems to be a surge of Republican electoral strength that had not been evident till recently. It is true that polls have been narrowing in Republicans' fa

(All Things Being Equal. . .) One can begin today by saying that every nation deserves the government it puts in power. That is now most relevant in Great Britain where the opportunity existed to place fastidious Albion on a path of economic growth with tax cuts and supply side policies. At least, that had been the idea of Liz Truss. But as she was not ready for prime time and her "Conservative" Party had no sense of direction, Truss was pushed out and her replacement, Rishi Sunak, the current British Finance Minister will now stand for Prime Minister but apparently without any of Truss' policy prescriptions. If anything, Sunak seems set to run in the opposite direction, promising to raise taxes and fortify regulation. Sunak is adopting the directions of the Biden Administration that have no interest in promoting growth in this country either. In any event, people are still discussing the Fetterman-Oz debate where the former just barely held his own. Was that sufficient ?

(Bored Of Education) No one can fail to notice that, in the wake of pandemic inspired school closures, various deficiencies in math or reading were detected among several grades, most pronounced in third, fourth, fifth grades and eighth. Each metric showed a marked decrease in the quality of education. After billions of dollars ostensibly to retrofit schools in order to "safe" them, the effects of the lockdowns and the distant learning have all been contributing factors in this bad report card. One can say that the situation has changed, however. Reading, writing or math are less now important than the need to become "woke." Such educational norms as have existed in the past have been perpetuating that systemic racism and gender bias that abounds in American society. It is true that an educated society is an independent society, one less conditioned to conform. It is the reason teachers' unions have been exercising so much power. It is the reason why critical ra

  (Low End East River Real Estate. . .) The Cold War did not necessarily need to happen. In the last days of the Second World War there was a collapse of Western, specifically American leadership. FDR passed in April 1945, a month before the end of the War in Europe. Winston Churchill had been voted out of Office just as the Potsdam Conference was convening. That left only Josef Stalin. One can remember the Atlantic Charter where the United Kingdom and the United States and the United Kingdom in setting aims for the coming conflict promised no territorial aggrandizement. They also made plans for an international body that would "police" nations and construct a framework for global peace. Peace of what ? This concept became known as the United Nations and it can be said that its international jurisdiction compromised the immediate aftermath of V-E Day, namely that the Western armies would be withdrawn from the most advanced positions because, that territory had been given to t

(Who's In Charge ?) It can be lonely at the top, especially if one has a position of authority. If one has to assume absolute power, in that position of authority, competition to that position would need to be removed. That had been the practice of Stalin when he purged the Soviet Union. In the Nazi rise to power in Germany, there was also a trail of political prisoners. When Saddam Hussein came to supreme position in Iraq, in a televised spectacle, members of the Ba ' ath Party that could possibly threaten Hussein were hauled away. to be immediately executed. And in China after the death of Mao, there was a struggle within the Chinse Communist leadership led to imprisonment and perhaps a few executions. It is happening again in China. China's current Premier. Xi Jinping has just secured an. un-precedented third term. However, in order to make the post un-assailable, Xi publicly had his immediate predecessor,  Hu Jintao, removed from the Communist Party Congress. The symbo

(Propaganda Ministers. . .) Every government needs a mouthpiece. Every regime in history, including some of the more despised, needs someone to deliver the Party Line. For Nazi Germany, the role of " Propaganda Minister fell to Dr Josef Goebbels, an ardent, if not fanatical, Nazi. It fell to him to keep the   morale German population "elevated," even though later in the War, with all but nightly bombing raids, the increasing compression of the Reich from the West and the East with Soviet artillery being heard in Berlin. And Dr. Goebbels had to sell these turns of events to the average German ? At the end, that average German was not listening to Goebbels. Or Hitler. Or anybody else in the Nazi leadership. What they had been telling each other was just to "survive" till the end. One would think that President Biden is his own propaganda minister. Like Josef Goebbels in the last days of World War II, so Biden has give people the impression that things are not as

 (Notch On The Belt ?) Steve Bannon can be seen as one most responsible for the election of Donald Trump. It had been his influence on the former President that comported Trump's behavior on January 6th. In the investigating Congressional Committee of those events, Steve Bannon had been called as a witness, even being subpoenaed to which the former Presidential adviser ignored, citing executive privilege. The not amused Committee have held Bannon in contempt, sentenced him to four months in prison, and have fined him over eight thousand dollars. Hardly the devastating outcome for the one who put Trump in the White House. Bannon was supposed to be chastened. He was supposed to realize the errors of his ways. But, and with s defiant tone at his press conference, Bannon said he accepted the judge's decision and admonished the Committee members that their time was perhaps limited. Bannon will be going forward, however, with the conviction as a badge of honor. Bannon's convictio

( STILL No Time To Find Religion. . .) One can start today with a word on the resignation of British Prime Minister Liz Truss. Her departure was sudden, and from this perspective, un-necessary. What the now defunct resident at Number 10 had tried to accomplish was to alter Britin's economic direction, looking to generate growth as opposed to the staid and stale policies of Tori, and Labour alike. Truss was offering a direction that failed to garner broader support. If one remembers, the same thing happened to Donald Trump. The GOP Conference in Congress at the time was able to pass his agenda, the tax cuts and so on. But President Trump was an anomaly and Republicans, especially in the House and those that had no special affinity for Trump, like then Speaker of the House and former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan (R-WI), allowed over forty House Republicans to retire, setting up the Democrat take-over in 2019 and the impeachments of President Trump. Of course, the

  ( How NOT To Mix A White Russian. . .) Those who have known over the years that the author used to mainline White Russians. A basic understanding of how to make this cocktail is one shot of Kaluaha, one shot of Russian vodka, and, if one so desires, a shot of something extra. The preference here was a 101° Wild Turkey Straight Kentucy Bourbon. Add ice. Finally, and this is important, top off with whole milk. Some people have used low-fat milk with disastrous consequences. President Biden has been mixing White Russians with low-fat milk. It has been this allegorical practice that have brought his Party to the precipice of what could be a very bad-Mid-Term. Presidential gimmicks abound, the latest would be another discharge from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That along with the loan forgiveness program is an attempt to "buy" votes. If relevant polling is any indication, however, this Biden approach does not seem to be working. One of the things to look for with any new Re

 (Migratory Patterns. . .) It is three weeks from today that people will go out and vote. Depending on who one talks to, either the GOP will have a blow-out night or one can take the more measured approach. that Democrats will hold the Senate and the reasons for maintaining that conclusion have not changed. In Senate races, all Republican candidates are still behind their Democrat challengers and the Democrats hold an over-whelming funding advantage, Certain Republicans like Dr. Oz has just announced that his campaign is "going dark," meaning that it is out of money and Pennsylvanians are realizing that they don't need a prospective Senator Fetterman, functional mute that he might be, his actual utility on the Senate Floor would be just to cast a vote, and, if he is assigned a Committee, all he would have to do would be to "yield time." Hershal Walker is still behind Senator Rafael Warnock and the Republican contender missed an opportunity to participate in anot

(Spelling Relief. . .) Once more, showing an age, those old Alka Seltzer antacid commercials: plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief (it is. Take two of those white tablets and dissolve, and then drink an evervessing solution that should deal with a sense of heartburn. That deep burning in the chest area that can be brought about by the dining habits of most Americans. One can see that there is a global sense of heartburn that would require several tons of the stuff per person. Heartburn can also be caused by daily life, life that politicians have been making difficult either by design, or ignorance. When Prime Minister Truss assumed Office a few weeks ago, it was announced that she would begin to seek supply side economic policies and would also seek to increase energy production. Now, for various reasons, her plans have collapsed to the point where her vey tenure could be in jeopardy. Why ? Truss is having the right idea which has the potential to offer some respite to stressed Briton

  ( A Team Effort. . .) One could say it is like a classic spy thriller; it reads like one. A former member of MI6 by the name of Christopher Steele is paid a million dollars by the FBI, Steel's source Ivor Denchenko, netting some two hundred large on his own., And, with the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign, released what has emerged to be a fabricated dossier on then Republican Presidential contender, Donald Trump. The genesis of what has since become known as the Russian Hoax. Well, it is clear that these collective efforts have been rewarded in that Trump is out of office and shan't return. That anybody would still be surprised that there could be this level of collaboration between what ostensibly are supposed to be separate entities, the Clinton campaign and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But removing Trump from Office was seen as God's Work. The Bureau had known from the beginning that the dossier was false, that there was in reality no real collusion betwe

(Shackled To A Corpse ?) Firstly, allow an explanation as to the new address. A new computer was acquired but the "compose" button was lost. So, the new account was fashioned with the address "ventometoo.blogspot/com," with the title The ( Daily ) Vent 2. In any event, Hew Straithen was a World War I historian and author, He compiled a ten chapter volume on that conflict titled The First World War which was then made into a ten episode documentary on what was then known as the History International Channel. One chapter/episode was called "Shackled to a Corpse" that basically described the decrepit state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the other "sick man of Europe," and how its alliance with Germany did much to curtail the latter's operational freedom. Over time, as Austian fortunes continued to wane, the German command took control of all Austro-Hungarian activities. Had Germany been able to detach itself from Vienna, and commit more forc