According to romantic legend, besieged by war and famine the wise men of ancient Carthage naturally saw fit to sacrifice their children to Moloch.
Every time that a child was placed in them the priests of Moloch spread out their hands upon him to burden him with the crimes of the people, vociferating: “They are not men but oxen!” and the multitude round about repeated: “Oxen! oxen!” The devout exclaimed: “Lord! Eat!”
-Chapter Thirteen, “Moloch,” Salammbo, Gustave Flaubert (1862)
I mean, what else are you supposed to do? Wisest and noblest of all, Hamilcar, general and defender of the city, sent a slave’s child in place of his own son. The entire spectacle was said to horrify the barbarians.
In place of a gallant Hamilcar, America has Virginia Governor Ralph “Coonman” Northam. He took the nickname “Coonman” back in his blackface days. More recently, he’s been offering up the Commonwealth’s children to Baal Cronus Virginem via infanticide. “Not men but oxen!” Coonman has also set his sights on disarming Virginians. Last week, he declared a state of emergency in Richmond and prohibited the carrying of guns at a pro-gun rally. Allegedly he had heard of a plot by “white nationalists” to celebrate the Second Amendment or something. “White nationalists” are obviously people who do things like mockingly wear blackface and sanction child murder. Right? In what appeared to be a setup of another Charlottesville, the government has raced around making some highly dubious advance arrests - including three in GA.
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| gadsenandculpeper.com |
In reality, the rally, held Monday, was planned and organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League and was attended by average, ordinary NRA types - people, of all races, creeds, etc. who tire of state tyranny and who wished to demonstrate a reminder to the machinery of government that it is they, the people, who still hold power. This faction is generally thought of as leaning politically to the right. However, unsurprisingly, the right-wingers courted a few leftist allies. Forms of liberty being of at least nominal interest to more than one ideology, and with almost everyone (outside of the government) adopting the Second Amendment for what it is, Antifa joined the celebration, marching side-by-side with the NRA. Yes, Virginia, it is a weird world. Hey! I like to get these things in on a somewhat tenable schedule. Therefore, I’m wrapping this writing process up early on Monday afternoon. The rally appears to be peaceable, and that is excellent. Should anything develop, I’ll add a comment note - if needed - hopefully not. But still,
Watch Virginia
The reliably “red” state went “blue” recently due to an influx of non-native Virginians clumped up in great numbers outside of DC and in Richmond and Norfolk. Many of the new blues wear US Military uniforms. Thank them for their service? At any rate, real Virginians have just about had it with the woke-a-thon.
Virtually every county in the state, outside of those in the big urban areas, have vociferously defied Northam and his cronies. The whole map has suddenly become one giant Second Amendment sanctuary zone, surrounding the decayed urban islands. Threats of National Guard confiscation have been made - to little avail. The Virginians are not backing down on this one. In fact, they’re ramping up the pro-freedom agenda. Not satisfied waiting for another election, the good people have instituted lawful petitions to recall and dismiss Northam and the associated political machinery. The petitions debuted instantly with half or more of the required number of signatures. Rumor has it that the machinery is striking back, with the General(ly useless) Assembly dropping emergency legislation to raise the bar for such petitions. “Oxen! Oxen!”
Here, we see the convergence of several things: tyranny justifying and defending tyranny for tyranny’s sake; a people literally up in arms, and; the coalescence of normally putative enemies around a central idea. It all starts to look like a formula. “Lord! Eat!” In not-unrelated news, I’ve been contemplating a separate column about bearing arms, something utterly different than what we’ve had here and from what you may read elsewhere. (Cogitating on that one). For now, watch Virginia very closely for a preview of where the other forty-nine may soon venture, civilly and uncivilly. And, speaking of civilly, it’s,
Impeachment 2020!
At long last, after three or four years of dreaming, the Democrats have their impeachment trial in the Senate. Two articles of such:
Article One - Trump abused the power of his office, by doing his job, aka by negotiating with foreign leaders as the nation’s chief diplomat and by concurrently investigating a possible crime as the chief law enforcement officer.
Article Two - Trump obstructed Congress. That’s also part of his job. The three separate and opposing branches and all that.
You can, if you’re utterly bored and not currently Gutenberg-ing Salammbo, read the ARTICLES, as voted upon by the House. My call, if it doesn’t come to pass prior to press time, is an acquittal followed by more of the tedious same business as usual. Some sources now say the process could drag on for some time. (Yawn)
The World Lost a Literary Legend
Christopher Tolkien, son and literary executor of his father’s estate, has died at the age of ninety-five. It was his genius that brought to light so much of the corpus or legendarium of Arda that we would have otherwise missed: The Silmarillion, The History of Middle Earth, The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin. He, last of the Inklings, was in his own right a master translator and philologist. The debt cannot even be calculated, let alone paid. Certainly, he has now spoken “Friend” and entered.
Remembering the Dream
Monday was our national holiday honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He would have been ninety-one this week had his time not been cut short nearly fifty-two years ago in Memphis. I find it somewhat sobering that I have outlived him by a number of years now. But! What he did accomplish in that lifetime. I know, I know, FBI files, BU, and the Helms record - he wasn’t perfect, just like the rest of us. I admire him if, for nothing else, three small reasons: 1) he meant what he said, 2) he was a member of the Jailhouse Authors Club™, 3) the state considered him a radical (not unlike the Virginians). Oh, four - I’m sure he’s by now met Christopher Tolkien, likely at a celestial gathering of the Inklings.
Thank you for another intrepid foray into the affairs of a nation and the world.