To paraphrase Hamlet, there is “something rotten” in the state of Delaware. Filings in the Delaware Supreme Court this week were made public in the litigation involving Mac Isaac, the owner of the computer repair shop where Hunter Biden abandoned his now infamous laptop. Miranda Devine at the New York Post has a detailed story on the new evidence. It appears that Hunter Biden is terribly embarrassed by a laptop that may not be his and pictures that may not show him. I previously wrote how his countersuit against Isaac would go forward on this bizarre basis in claiming privacy harm. Well, Hunter’s performance has proven positively Shakespearean as he tries to maintain these conflicted legal and factual claims.
Isaac is seeking to dismiss the countersuit and his motion reveals the convoluted and conflicted effort of Hunter to maintain his position in court. Hunter continues to refuse to even confirm that he visited the shop twice and signed the standard form that waived any rights to the computer if it were not collected within the stated period. These refusals continued despite the fact that the Isaac team forced the disclosure of “frequent uses of Wells Fargo ATMs within a few miles of Mac Isaac’s shop.”
For most people, these arguments seem . . . well crazy. An FBI computer expert reportedly assessed the laptop and found that it “was not manipulated in any way.” The authenticity of the information was further confirmed “by matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID.” Emails and messages have been confirmed by third parties who were the recipients.
Yet, as Polonius said in Hamlet, “though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”
The Biden team wants, in my opinion, to grind Isaac and delay the litigation as much as possible. It is using the Delaware courts to exact that sweet revenge against a now defunct computer shop owner. Moreover, the absurd court arguments are largely being ignored by the media while an acknowledgment would force major media to fully cover the story.
So, Hunter simply continued to disclaim knowledge of voicemail messages and emails from Isaac about an external hard drive, paying his repair bill and picking up the computer. However, he is crystal clear that he did not give consent to Isaac about gaining access to the laptop that may not be his.
This is why Shakespeare wrote: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” Hunter has to challenge the terms of an agreement that he refuses to admit that he signed.
Instead, he criticized the “boilerplate terms of the Repair Authorization” on the work order as being “well below the signature line” and referred to the Repair Authorization as a “typical small-print adhesion clause for which there was no proper notice or opportunity to bargain or negotiate.”
Biden is equally clear that he is terribly “embarrassed” by publication of private material that would be “highly offensive to a reasonable person,” in exposing pictures and communications that may not be him or his.
That view was slammed by the Isaac team that noted that it seemed off that Hunter was deeply offended by the disclosure of pictures that were “voluntarily shared by [Hunter] Biden with others through the website, ‘Pornhub’ … the use of the ‘reasonable person’ standard should clearly not apply to Biden … It seems what would embarrass a reasonable person does not embarrass Biden.”
What is most striking is how this story continues to be effectively buried by the media. It is not hard to imagine the coverage if one of the Trump kids tried to maintain this combined claim of ignorance and outrage in a court — or tried to continue to question the authenticity of files established by the FBI and other witnesses.
Devine and her colleagues at the New York Post (as well as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal) have pursued this story since the beginning when it was suppressed by social media companies before the election. They have pursued the story for years as the media went through a series of false denials and narratives. Instead, the media endlessly pursued every allegation in the now-infamous Steele dossier and the New York Times and Washington Post received Pulitzer Prizes for a story that not only has been debunked but shown to be the product of Hillary’s Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Yet, in pursuing a true story with sweeping implications of corruption and deceit, the New York Post remains the media’s persona non grata. It embarrassed not only the establishment but other media. That is not how you get a Pulitzer. Indeed, as I discussed in an earlier column, the denial of true stories can be “the stuff that Pulitzer Prizes are made of.”
Instead, Hunter will continue his performance of Hamlet on the Delaware in continuing to question reality. It is the ultimate “to be or not to be” pitch when everyone knows exactly what the true question is. . . and it is not the authenticity of this laptop.
At some point, the Delaware court will have to recognize that, for a man who is not sure if anything on the laptop is authentic, Hunter Biden “doth protest too much, methinks.”
Delaware State is not actually “on the Delaware”. Rather it’s on the Brandywine.
The Hamletish conundrum is easily understood when you realize that Hunter is not acting independently. It is impossible to believe that Joe and his handlers are completely unaware of, and aloof from, Hunter’s troubles. You can bet that they are working closely with Hunter and his defense team to obfuscate and delay. There is an important election in 14 months. They just have to get past that then Hunter can be prosecuted and sentenced and Joe can pardon him. It’s really that simple and the Republican-hating, Democrat-fawning press willingly ignore where the mounting pile of evidence obviously leads.
Fingerprints?
Years back the Ravinia Festival on the North-side of Chicago combined Symphony Music and Shakespeare Theater together.
It ran through out the summer, This Post awoke those memories. Hunter like Prince Hamlet has come to the precipice and must decide:
“To be, or not to be” is the opening phrase of a speech given by Prince Hamlet in the so-called “nunnery scene” of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. In the speech, Hamlet contemplates death and suicide, weighing the pain and unfairness of life against the alternative. [wikipedia]
And by: extension, affiliation, and status, So does the Democratic Party. The DNC must decide now if this charade is “To be, or not to be”. The Plot is out, the redemption of a spoiler alert is gone. They have no cohesive recourse and refrain from Hunter’s climactic and anticlimactic rolls he played in Influence Peddling.
It should weigh heavily on the Voter mind come November 2024, Is the Democratic Party “To be, or not to be”.
That is the question.
𝐑𝐅𝐊 𝐉𝐫. 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 “𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 & 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚”
On a steamy summer morning, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. strode into a hotel conference room in Columbia, South Carolina, amid a barnstorming town hall tour of a state where Joe Biden won close to 49 percent of the vote in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Mr. Kennedy spoke about his 2024 presidential campaign. Democrat pundits say he is a fringe candidate who spreads conspiracy theories. Polls show him with the highest favorability rating of any presidential candidate. …
By: Tyler Durden – Sunday, Sep 10, 2023
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rfk-jr-wants-his-party-back-american-people-are-tired-being-lied-government-media
Dear Prof Turley,
Whether tis nobler of the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of Hunter’s outrageous Pornhub photos or take up a DoJ Special Counsel plea agreement and by so doing, end them. That is the question.
Do you know where The Laptop is, or not?
* the FBI refuses to comment about ‘ongoing investigations’ .. .
The media seems to misapply Polonius’s line in Hamlet that “Brevity is the soul of wit” as they “cover” the Hunter Biden laptop story. “Brevity” is not the same thing as avoidance. And there’s nothing witty about the media today.
However, Hunter Biden does seem to be following the Biden tradition epitomized in Polonius’s line from Hamlet, “To thine own self be true.” Hunter Biden has been trained since his youth to deny any responsibility and eschew any accountability for his actions. These things have been ingrained in his personality, as Hunter follows these rules set down by the “Big Guy” Joe many long years ago. And Hunter has remained true to himself.
Please watch this news release. APlease watch this news release. AMAZING!! The TRUE facts behind the JUDGE chasing Trump
https://youtube.com/shorts/7Av6y-uVca4?si=-VSRjQcowa974jhX
Jonathan: Just one last comment before I have to go out and help the wife pull up the turnips. Back in 2015 in a CNN interview you said: “You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center. I plead guilty”. I have just one Q. When exactly did you decide to join the MAGA crowd?
Turnips for her potions? What delusion is your mage cooking up for you next, Denny?
I think it’s a euphemism.
“I think it’s a euphemism.”
I was hoping it was a euthanism.
“When exactly did you decide to join the MAGA crowd?”
Since Jonathan will never even read your narcissistic wet dreams, Dennis, let me answer this one for him, because its kind of at the heart of your delusions.
Jonathan didnt go anywhere. The lunatic fringe has taken over his party. You are a perfect example. Your values are not even close to aligning with his. Your arguments are mostly detached from reality, you make irrational deductions daily that are easily parodied and caricatured by Dick Head, and you exhibit an utter lack of self awareness. There is no room for civil libertarians on the left anymore, and their principals look like alt-right conservatism to you lefty loons. There are still a large number of us stuck in the middle in this country and we are sick to death of the likes of you and Ralph arguing two sides of the same sh!tty coin.
Dennis – your use of the term “MAGA crowd” to caricature Trump supporters is similar to the use of the term “Bernie Bros” to caricature Bernie Sanders supporters. It is a way of avoiding confrontation with the unconfomrable fact that miilions of people have rejected the Washington DC Uniparty. If you want to know why many of us reject both vile Democrats and cowardly Republicans, consider: endless Neocon wars in the Mideast and Eastern Europe; rampant govenment debt that will choke off the standard of living of Americans in not too many years; shameless corruption at the highest levels of government; big city riots whenever Demos find it useful; uncontrolled property crime in big cities; constant racialization of political life; gross violation of our sovereignty by the refusal to enforce our borders; decline in the quality of our goods and services; decline in public manners; decline in the all institutions, esp the schools; use of the legal system to destroy political opponents; and use of the mass media to control the flow of information to Americans and ultimately to control their thoughts. Not even baseball is as good as it used to be. You would be able to see this if you pulled your head out of your private turnip patch.
@Denise
Uhm your MAGA crowd now comprises the Republicans, the Independents, and now even 60% of the those that still call themselves Democrats.
Its only the 30-40% hard core Dems that support Biden. Everyone else is member of MAGA.
Does that help put things into perspective?
Ian,
You summed up the loony leftists pretty well.
Anything and anyone to the right of their wokeism is MAGA to include the likes of Bill Maher, Elon Musk and the good professor.
They would call JFK a Trumpist that is how far left they have gone.
Jonathan: One of the things I like to do Sunday afternoons is spend time on this blog pointing out things you missed in your weekly columns. I know it drives some of your loyal followers crazy–and that’s partly why I do it. The other reason is that I can avoid digging up the garden with She Who Must Be Obeyed. Digging in the dirt is her “Zen” time when she gets to meditate while she pulls up all that remains from her spring/summer garden. I really can’t complain, though, because we had tomatoes this summer the size of soft balls! Now I do like walking along the creek and through the woods behind our home where I occasional run into deer. But digging in the dirt is not one of my favorite past times. But I digress.
What you missed this week is that Jack Smith’s grand jury in DC is quietly going about its business of investigating the crimes of DJT. And you thought that was all over after Smith brought his indictment of DJT over Jan. 6.? Not by a long shot. I have it on good authority the DC grand jury is looking into two areas. One relates to the 6 unnamed co-defendants involved in Jan. 6. DJT is the only named defendant but there could be others–like John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and others. The grand jury is investigating whether they could also be charged.
In addition, the DC grand jury is also investigating possible campaign violations by DJT’s Save America PAC–that it raised millions for DJT 2024 campaign but used the money to pay DJT’s legal bills. If the grand jury can show there was fraud involved, Smith could get pretrial seizure orders–freezing the assets of the PAC. That would deal a severe blow to DJT’s 2024 presidential run as well as his use of other people’s money to pay his legal bills. It’s called a twofer!
How do I know what the DC grand jury is doing? I won’t disclose my sources. So let’s say you will just have to trust me. But based on my impeccable track record of predicting how and when DJT would be charged in all the other cases, how could you possibly not trust me? DJT is learning a hard lesson–just when you thought things couldn’t get worse–they do–get worse!
Delusional narcissist Dennis on a Sunday afternoon, hiding from Dick Head. Not to worry, he’ll be back tomorrow to make you look stupid again.
And why dont you admit that other than feeding your narcissistic wet dreams, posting your ridiculous keyboard diarrhea to see who’ll take the bait and waste their time refuting every useless word of it, is the ONLY reason you do it. Why else would someone continue to make themselves look so incredibly dumb? I am glad that you finally admitted that your motives are no better than bug face the lawn boy. Well done
Poor little Dennis and his peeps are so upset that DJT isnt running out of money, AS HE PREDICTED.
LMAO at Denny’s tantrums.
Rather than reading more political rhetoric about Hunter Biden, I’d have been more-interested in reading Professor Turley’s informed thoughts about the Court of Appeals partial affirmation of the trial court’s ruling last Friday concerning the Missouri v Biden censorship case:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67563473/238/1/state-of-missouri-v-biden/
Specifically, I’m curious about the Appellate Court’s finding related to claims against “all other officials” on page 74 of the appellate decision:
“The district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED with respect to the White House, the Surgeon General, the CDC, and the FBI, and REVERSED as to all other officials.”
Does this mean that those “other officials” are DISMISSED as parties to the action as it returns to the lower court? Or does it mean that the prosecution still has an opportunity to make its case against them as named Defendants?
I think – though I could be wrong – that in order to proceed against the “other officials,” the plaintiffs would have to succeed on appeal against the reversal. I suspect they may file such an appeal. Potentially also re: the pulling of virtually all the injunction’s teeth.
I don’t know. As far as I can tell, this had to do with Preliminary Injunction, not dismissal. To me, this is a very sloppy ruling that doesn’t really make clear what its ramifications are.
As I said, I could certainly be wrong, and you have a point that this was only about the Preliminary Injunction, so to that extent I likely was.
Or you may be correct. One thing I’m pretty sure of, as I said, is that it’s a pretty sloppy ruling on its face. Maybe that was semi-intentional due to the fact that there’s a significant expectation that this will go straight to the Supreme Court, so they may have been more concerned about laying out a few issues for SCOTUS to consider and getting it ready to move on up to that Court than honing a proper final ruling, since they KNEW this would not be the final ruling. It’s definitely an unusual case, as the ruling states.
The similarities between Al Pacino and Hunter Biden (post dental implants due to crack induced dental decay) are striking.
The Hunter Biden lawsuit against MacIssac is a legal version of quantum mechanics. In QM, an object can both exist and not exist at the same time. When it is observed, it “chooses” one of those states. Thus, the laptop may be Hunters or not-Hunters. It is only when the trial starts, or at some other time, will the decision be made by the laptop whether it is Hunter’s or maybe something else, e.g., Russian disinformation.
Meh.
Not quite.
The observation has been made so the position and spin is known.
The ship has sailed.
The state was known when the laptop was handed over to the FBI. They authenticated it. Furthermore the external authentication of the data on the laptop also could be considered to be an observation. So again your analogy failed.
If you don’t believe me… just ask the cat who was found alive after I opened the box. ;-P
-G
That settles it! I will NEVER vote for Hunter Biden.
Wally why not just vote for Joe Biden and be complicit in the corruption of the entire Biden family !!!
This progressive clown will vote the big guy!
“BLACK MEN ARE BEING JAILED ‘YEARS’ FOR ‘SAME CRIMES’ AS HUNTER BIDEN: REP. WESLEY HUNT”
WASHINGTON — Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) said Wednesday that he was outraged by first son Hunter Biden’s probation-only plea deal for tax and gun crimes, saying that black men are serving prison sentences for similar offenses.
“The American people are sick and tired of this two-tiered justice system and as a black man, I’m tired of seeing this kind of discretion used to favor people like Hunter Biden because he’s white and the son of a president,” Hunt said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
“While Hunter Biden will serve no jail time for these charges, black men across this country are in prison for years for the exact same crimes,” the 41-year-old said.
The committee was hearing testimony from special counsel John Durham about his findings that the FBI improperly investigated former President Donald Trump for possibly conspiring with Russia to win the 2016 election.
– New York Post, June 21, 2023
Jonathan: Yes, Hunter Biden is being treated differently than your average Joe–no pun intended. Apparently, David Weiss is going to charge Hunter with a single criminal charge under 18 USC Section 922(g)(3) because he lied on his gun registration application. Never mind Hunter was in possession of the gun for about 11 weeks when his girlfriend threw the gun in a dumpster. Never mind Hunter never used the weapon to engage in any criminal activity. Never mind Hunter has no history of criminal activity involving the use of a gun. Never mind that millions of people who own guns also use drugs. Normally, the DOJ doesn’t waste money and time in prosecuting people like Hunter. But Weiss, a Trump appointee, is feeling the heat to charge Hunter with something.
Which brings us to Hunter Biden’s counter claim against Mac Isaac, the owner of the computer repair shop. It sets out a case for invasion of privacy. If you look at the filing it alleges “Reputable computer companies and repair people routinely delete personal data contained on devices that are exchanged, left behind or abandoned. They do not open, copy, and then provide that data to others, as Mac Isaac did here”. What did Isaac do? He copied the data and gave it to Rudy Giuliani and others in the Trump camp who wanted to use it to attack Joe Biden. Isaac admits he is a DJT supporter.
The Hunter filing also also points out, something important you left out of your column, that Delaware law provides that personal property can be deemed “abandoned” only after one year. And then the person in possession has to file a petition with a court to claim the property (See Del. C. Section 4003). Therefore, the 90 day limit on the repair form did not confer on Isaac the right to access the data on the laptop. In fact, Isaac admitted he accessed the data before the expiration of the 90 days. The repair states Isaac will make every to “secure your data”. Isaac didn’t do that. He copied it and gave it to Giuliani!
The only thing “crazy” here is all the attempts by the MAGA Republicans in the House to use the data from the laptop to attack Hunter–and in turn, Joe Biden. Marjorie Taylor Greene wants Hunter charged under the Mann Act. She used the data from the laptop, the self-porn, to show posters of the pics, in a House hearing–a clear violation of House ethic’s rules. MTG and Jim Comer are still pushing their spurious claims about the Hunter pics with the DOJ–telling it should be “upholding the rights of the victims”–falsely claiming Hunter was flying women across state lines for sex. Now that is really “crazy”.
Hunter is not Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. And he will not be on the ballot next year. The guy likely to be on the ballot is DJT who is facing 83 criminal counts. A single count of lying on a gun registration form does begin to compare to what DJT is facing. No. I rather compare Hunter’s situation to Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”!
Dennis the one year stipulation is for disputed possession. Hunter signed a document that volunteers his abandonment. If he left his car with a mechannic, and signed no paperwork, the year would apply. Just like you need a warrant to search…unless the person agrees to a search.
He will never accept or agree to that which is right and correct – the communists write the rules and the rules say the communists must win.
That’s like trying to convince Karl Marx that his Communist Manifesto is actually unnatural, arbitrary, despotic and dictatorial enslavement.
Karl has no understanding of or appreciation for a society of laws, self-governance, freedom, free enterprise, free markets, competition, individual endeavor or success.
To Karl it’s the “dictatorship of the proletariat” – it’s my way or the highway.
To Karl and his present, slavering acolytes, sycophants, zealots and enforcers, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, freedom, creativity, industry, wealth creation and original thought are anathema.
What a great description of the ( D) Democrat Party !!!
Dennis’ whining reminds me of the same outrage the lefty nuts had over the DNC emails. They didnt care that it proved that the dems would do anything or betray any principal to get what they wanted. They only cared how the emails were obtained. Isaac did everyone who cares about fairness and justice a huge favor. If the laptop hadnt led us to the Biden crime family, i am certain Dennis would not “protest too much”.
Tough sh!t, Denny boy!
By the way, MTG produced the airline receipts and the texts/emails. Her claims were not false. Might want to spend less time on snopes, McInlyre.
He also wrote those sex payments off as “golf membership”, as if even that were deductible lmao.
Smartest person you know next to Fani, eh Denny?
“THOUGH THIS BE MADNESS, YET THERE IS METHOD IN’T.”
– POLONIUS
___________
What kind of judge and what kind of court entertains, nay, allows, this preposterous convoluted equivocation by Hunter Biden?
The British colonists in America refused “taxation without representation”—how long before Americans refuse corruption in their system of justice?
At some point, rational people are going to reject the corrupted American system of “justice.”
How might society persist beyond that point?
By brutal Lincolnesque dictatorship and Karl Marx’s “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
That won’t go over well.
____________________
LINCOLN DENIES FREEDOM, FREE ENTERPRISE, INDIVIDUAL ENDEAVOR AND SUCCESS, WHILE ESPOUSING THE PERVERSE AND CONTRIVED COMPULSORY ECONOMICS OF KARL MARX
“Labor is prior to and independent of capital.”
“Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.”
“Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
– Abraham Lincoln, First Annual Message, December 3, 1861
If we don’t know how we got here,
how do we know how to get out of here?
Lincoln and Marx got us here,
the literal, clear meaning and intent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights will get us out of here.
“Lincoln and Marx got us here, the literal, clear meaning and intent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights will get us out of here.”
Lincoln and Marx took different paths. Lincoln took the right one. Had Lincoln not been there to preserve the union, there would be no Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Lincoln was a committed communist who high-criminally and unconstitutionally seized power, imposed martial law, suspended habeas corpus and abrogated the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Lincoln terminated American freedom after a mere 71 years by his own admission in his Lyceum Address.
Every act of Lincoln and his communist successors subsequent to Lincoln’s illicit and unconstitutional denial of not prohibited and fully constitutional secession, is and remains illicit, invalid, illegitimate and unconstitutional to this day.
Where did the “Reconstruction Amendments” come from?
“They consider…that it fell to the lot of Abraham Lincoln…to lead his country through…the reconstruction of a social world.”
– Congratulatory Letter From Karl Marx To Abraham Lincoln, 1865
_____________________________________________________
“You know who was into Karl Marx? No, not AOC. Abraham Lincoln.”
The two men were friendly and influenced each other
It was December 1861, a Tuesday at noon, when President Abraham Lincoln sent his first annual message — what later became the State of the Union — to the House and Senate.
By the next day, all 7,000 words of the manuscript were published in newspapers across the country, including the Confederate South. This was Lincoln’s first chance to speak to the nation at length since his inaugural address.
He railed against the “disloyal citizens” rebelling against the Union, touted the strength of the Army and Navy, and updated Congress on the budget.
For his eloquent closer, he chose not a soliloquy on unity or freedom but an 800-word meditation on what the Chicago Tribune subtitled “Capital Versus Labor:”
“Labor is prior to and independent of capital,” the country’s 16th president said. “Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
– The Washington Post, Gillian Brockell, July 27, 2019
“Lincoln was a committed communist “
I proved you wrong multiple times with quotes and letters showing that not only were some of your statements wrong but also out of context. You do not repeat the story about the letters supposedly between Marx and Lincoln because I proved you wrong with the historical accounts proving Lincoln never responded to Marx and that the reply to Marx was a polite acknowledgment of receipt of communication sent by an underling.
Provide your proof Lincoln was a communist. You will not and cannot. Your mutterings have become the type we hear continuously from the left.
You quote, “Labor is prior to and independent of capital” True.
You continue: “Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.” True.
The emphasis of the speech had nothing to do with Marxism. (Lincoln never met Marx or ascribed to his theories.) It had to do with labor and slavery!
You continue the quote: ” Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
True. Lincoln continues, “Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights.”
Maybe you believe in slavery. That is where we differ. I do not, but that does not make anyone a Marxist.
The text continues below:
“Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class–neither work for others nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor masters, while in the Northern a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men, with their families–wives, sons, and daughters,–work for themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands and also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class.
A woman cannot be half pregnant and Lincoln was not half communist.
To focus on and emphasize “labor” is to disparage limited and restricted government, freedom, free enterprise, free markets, competition and “capitalism,” per Marx’s pejorative. Labor must be respected and paid, not elevated above its magnitude and import (BTW, UPS delivery boys make $170+K not by value but by intimidation, criminal threats, and violence, try crossing the picket line – the competition is insufficient and in need of a capable and creative entrepreneur).
The Constitution and Bill of Rights ARE conservative and conservatism. The Constitution and Bill of Rights provide citizens with the freedom to establish a business or work a job. That is all. The product of the Constitution and Bill of Rights is, per Marx’s pejorative, capitalism. I much prefer the correct, American form, free enterprise, derived of freedom, the freedom of individual endeavor and the “pursuit of happiness.”
The difference is not “capitalism” and labor, it is acumen, capacity, merit and success compared with the basic, simple “work” of physics.
What Lincoln and Marx argue, the essence of “labor,” is that to covet and steal other people’s money (i.e. “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”) is honorable and noble when it is perverse and unnatural.
Thou Shalt Not Covet
Thou Shalt Not Steal
That is precisely what dictatorial and unnatural communism does—that’s what Lincoln advocated with his “superiority of labor” claim. Labor has value, and that is the nature of paying commensurate wages. Clearly, capability, acumen, creativity, and endeavor are superior and are always more highly compensated logically and naturally by free market dynamics.
Lincoln was wrong. Marx was wrong. The American Founders and Framers and their Constitution and Bill of Rights were correct, constituting the definitive work on self-governance in the history of man. Those documents of fundamental law must have been supported and preserved at all costs. Lincoln and Marx subverted and nullified them.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.”
– Abraham Lincoln, from his first speech as an Illinois state legislator, 1837
___________________________________________________________
“Everyone now is more or less a Socialist.”
– Charles Dana, managing editor of the New York Tribune, and Lincoln’s assistant secretary of war, 1848
____________________________________________________________________________________
You ignore the true history of Marx and Lincoln, and Lincoln’s appointees and successors – try reading it.
https://isreview.org/issue/79/reading-karl-marx-abraham-lincoln/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/07/27/you-know-who-was-into-karl-marx-no-not-aoc-abraham-lincoln/
aier.org/article/was-lincoln-really-into-marx/
“A woman cannot be half pregnant and Lincoln was not half communist.”
For once, you are correct, but without knowing it. Lincoln wasn’t half communist., but you are showing yourself to be a half-wit. He wasn’t communist at all. Everything you wrote about Lincoln and communism has been proven wrong.
There is no need for me to correct the rest of your argument because I quoted from the Lincoln speech. Anyone can divine from your response that you have difficulty reading and remain ignorant where Lincoln is concerned.
I take note that you are now commenting based on socialist news media that wants to make everyone into a communist. Only a dullard cannot recognize that. The ideas behind your second source were debunked by me a couple of months ago.
Stop, George, before you look in a mirror and lose all self-respect.
why does no one CARE that the Democrats are funded by the Enemies of America? Soros, Russia, Gates, Soros, etc?
Conservatives have not learned how to seize power and enforce the conservative Constitution and Bill of Rights as Lincoln and the communists did.
Lincoln illegally and unconstitutionally seized power as the communist Deep Deep State “Swamp” has illegally and unconstitutionally seized power – he started by denying fully constitutional secession to free Americans (in 1900 there were 57 countries, in 2023 there are 192; secession is a natural and God-given right).
Lincoln ended American freedom after a mere 71 years and commenced the incremental implementation of the principles of communism in 1860 in the name of his ally and/or ideological mentor, Karl Marx.
“Conservatives have not learned how to seize power and enforce the conservative Constitution and Bill of Rights”…
As a great leader, Lincoln did exactly what you said conservatives should do. He judiciously seized power to preserve the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. When the time comes to act, instead of behaving like Lincoln, you cannot be found.
Stalin, Castro, Mao, Kim Il Sung et al. were “great leaders” too, according to you. Conservative, actual Americans have not learned how to counter the high criminal communist dictators, such as Lincoln, and implement the literal, conservative, clear meaning and intent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights for the benefit of what were intended to be free Americans. Apparently, they don’t know they are at war. Look around you at the wholly unconstitutional, communist central planning, control of the means of production (i.e. unconstitutional regulation), redistribution of wealth, and social engineering. That has nothing to do with America, American fundamental law, or American freedom.
You are a supporter, not of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but of despotism and dictatorship, the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” as aberrant, abnormal and unnatural as that is.
In a society of laws, the laws must be adhered to and/or amended legally – high-criminal Lincoln was having nothing to do with that, nothing to do with obeying the law.
“Stalin, Castro, Mao, Kim Il Sung et al. were “great leaders” too, according to you. “
All of them enslaved their people. On the other hand, you supported only some enslaved people and excluded those who were black. I support the individual rights of all people of any color, race, or religion. You are a bigot.
“Look around you at the wholly unconstitutional, “
You think yourself a great American who fights for the Constitution and liberty, but you are not. When difficult decisions are made, you cower, and to justify yourself you lie about history while quoting things out of context.
Apparently, you had full confidence in the CSA and consider that it had a bright future. The CSA and reprehensible slavery were without a future and on their way out. After its failure, the CSA would have seen the benefit of reuniting with the United States, of course, under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. “Crazy Abe” threw the baby out with the bathwater – the Constitution out with slavery, while killing one million Americans and wreaking havoc on the nation.
By your logic, the British colonies in America should have never seceded from Great Britain and scores of seceded countries should not exist around the globe.
Most people realize the importance of adherence to the law in a society of laws and the fact that – don’t take it so hard – evolution is inexorable.
“The CSA and reprehensible slavery were without a future and on their way out.”
Then, there was no reason for the South to fire on Fort Sumpter.
The deaths you describe above occurred because of the hotheaded morons that liked to shoot things up. This is not criticizing many on the Southern side who were great men, nor am I criticizing the ownership and use of guns. Your type of hotheadedness and guns don’t get along. The South had legitimate issues, as did the North. No war should have broken out, but perhaps it was the divide in government permitting it to happen.
“By your logic, the British colonies in America should have never seceded from Great Britain and scores of seceded countries should not exist around the globe.”
Learn your history. It was called the American Revolution.
In the past, I took enough of your crap and smiled. No more.
Abraham Lincoln unconstitutionally conducted a war of aggression, not one of common defense, and invaded a sovereign foreign nation.
Abraham Lincoln “led” the nation after brutalizing the nation into submission – that’s a “great leader” according to you and Karl Marx.
Lincoln was the “hot head” who commenced an invasion and occupation of a sovereign foreign nation and, ultimately, killed one million Americans.
The CSA invaded no country and killed no person.
You still have not cited the Constitution for a prohibition of secession.
The CSA acted legally and constitutionally.
Lincoln acted illegally, unconstitutionally and high-criminally; Lincoln must have been impeached and convicted for direct and demonstrable violations of the Constitution.
You keep repeating yourself, George. It is time to find new data and skip your out-of-context quotes and lies. You fail to understand what they mean.
Provide facts and data instead of acting like the leftist morons on this blog.
Please cite the Constitution for a prohibition of secession.
Everything Lincoln did after his illegal and unconstitutional denial of secession was and remains illicit, invalid, illegitimate and unconstitutional.
The Marx/Lincoln principles of communism in America – central planning, control of the means of production (i.e. unconstitutional regulation), redistribution of wealth, and social engineering – are similarly illicit, invalid, illegitimate and unconstitutional.
The Declaration of Independence spells out what you are trying to say. It wasn’t the secession of a portion of Britain’s eastern empire. It was the American Revolution.
You have dug a 6 foot hole. Is that your next stop?
You say revolution, I say secession.
You say tomotto, I say tomato.
Most secessions have been peaceful – the exceptions have been when despotic dictators, such as yourself, have decided to violently oppose something that has been democratically decided by, in this case, majorities in the States involved.
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Please cite the Constitution for any form or fashion of a prohibition of secession.
You haven’t. You can’t. You never will.
Secession was and is fully constitutional.
The CSA legally seceded and American history must have been made and written reflecting that reality, no matter how unfortunate it may or may not have been according to Smeyer – the world according to Smeyer – that’s the New Law, right? I go with the world according to the law.
Have you ever encountered the following concept:
“Powers not prohibited by the Constitution to the States, are reserved to the States.”
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10th Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
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Please objectively argue the law, not your subjective, personal desires.
Thank you so much for your continuing patronage of my comments.
“Most secessions have been peaceful “
Is that so?
Are you familiar with the news of the day? Perhaps not, so I suggest you check out Ukraine 1 and Ukraine 2, the Middle East, and numerous other so-called secessions.
The Civil War was not peaceful because there was no agreement.
On your level, the terms revolution and rebellion are reasonable. Unfortunately, the revolution or rebellion involved armed forces, and an initial attack on a government military installation caused the Civil War. The country won over the rebellious ones, and as an added prize, slavery ended.
It was your type of ignorance that caused the war. Live with it.
Smeyer’s caterwauling procrastination and duplicity.
You say tomatto, I say tomato.
Congratulations!
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Friday, August 21, 2020
Secession versus revolution
Sandy Levinson
Several readers object to my insistence on describing 1776 as a “secession from the British Empire” instead of “The American Revolution.” I am basing this on the argument of David Armitage, the historian at Harvard, and his book on “Civil War.” Quite briefly, he defines “civil wars” as contests over who will control the government of a country. Think, e.g., of the Spanish Civil War or, for that matter, the English Civil War in the mid-17th century. The Americans never had the slightest intention of moving on London to place George Washington in control of the British Empire. They wanted out, and they were willing to engage in a very violent struggle to do so. Everyone recognizes that the Quebecois, for example, do not envision themselves as engaging in a civil war to take over the government in Ottawa and thus rule Vancouver, but, instead, to leave Canada and establish their own independent country. Ditto Scottish or Catalonian secessionists. On the other hand, the Russian or French Revolutions were “real” revolutions in that they were all about who was going to control the entire country in question.
I’m really not clear why people are so resistant to recognizing the analytical difference between those fighting civil wars as against those fighting to secede from an existing polity and thus to recognize as well that the American Patriots are accurately described as secessionists instead of revolutionaries, even if one wants to go on and say that some of their political ideas were “revolutionary.” Perhaps it’s because we falsely identify “secessionism” exclusively with Jefferson Davis and his friends. As I note, had things taken a different turn earlier in our history, we might all be aware of the Hartford Convention secessionists or, for that matter, the Abolitionist secessionists. As I’ve written on earlier occasions, I’m sure that every single reader has supported at least one secessionist movement and/or one revolutionary movement and that every single reader has opposed at least one of each. Why resist the analytical clarity that Armitage brings to understanding events?
– Balkinization https://balkin.blogspot.com/2020/08/secession-versus-revolution.html
Smeyer,
Since you refuse to provide any citation of the Constitution wherein secession is prohibited, why don’t we change the conversation to a discussion of the communism ultimately derived of Lincoln and Marx’s acts, including Social Security and Medicare – we can keep it down to two for the time being, maybe throw in Obamacare.
Clearly, Social Security and Medicare are products directly of Marx’s motto: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” clearly unconstitutional and clearly communism. Why in the world are those giveaway programs of covetousness and stealing extant in the United States of America?
Please cite the Constitution for any power to forcibly impose on Americans a retirement investment plan and healthcare coverage only for elderly people, distinctly not “general Welfare,” but individual, specific, particular Welfare, favoritism and charity – citizens over 65 being a very small percentage of the “general” population.
You have a point without meaning regarding the substance of the discussion.
“Since you refuse to provide any citation of the Constitution wherein secession is prohibited”
Since you wish to play like a six-year-old, I will provide an answer that an eight-year-old will understand. Show a citation in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or a logical reason why secession is permissible when such agreement fails to exist.
” Lincoln and Marx’s acts, including Social Security and Medicare “
Ridiculous. Medical insurance didn’t exist. Your head is on backward and exploding.
George you’re obviously right regarding secession and the Constitution (better yet, the Articles of Confederation and the Deceleration) but you do come off as a read dink with stuff like “Conservatives have not learned how to seize power and enforce the conservative Constitution and Bill of Rights as Lincoln and the communists did.” The Constitution, for all its flaws (and there are many vis à vis the Articles & the Deceleration), was a profoundly liberal document and the antithesis of conservative thought. Now before you have an aneurysm look up the word liberal in conjunction with Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Payne, et al.
“Tickle us, do we not laugh? Prick us, do we not bleed? Wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
Methinks the Bidens, doth protest too much’: about everything they are accused of!
I thought it would be extremely hard to be worse than Jimmy Carter, but, the Obama’s & Bidens have sadly proven it to be all too real.
But, it’s not too unexpected, as the immoral decay of our world proves.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Mut be time for Trump to be arrested in Delaware by the Fascists!
Anyone go to jail for the BIGGEST Conspiracy in US history…the Russian Hoax.
The Democrats weren’t this bad when the STARTED their FIRST CIVIL. Voting Democrat is like voting for the National Socialists in Germany 1930’s…. The outcome will be similar….ask the January 6th protestors being sent to Concertation Camps! Auschwitz had been established as a concentration camp for political prisoners
Not exactly correct. Dachau, established on March 22, 1933, would be more to your point. It was the longest running camp and established to imprison political opponents (Communists mostly) and opposition journalists. The first prisoners in Auschwitz were political prisoners, but its purpose always was to be part of the Final Solution. I don’t dispute the similarities with early National Socialist rule in Germany on many levels, but to me it seems more like Mussolini’s Italy mid-1930s. Either way, the country is not headed in a good direction.
Funny,
My dad was at Dachau. Or rather one of the sub camps in ’45-46.
He was an MP assigned to guard suspected Nazis.
Prior to that he was 14th Armor.
I feel like I live in the USSR….where you know your government lies to you…but NO ONE Does anything but punish the truth tellers.
The US is in FREE FALL!
Yes, we are. As all great nations and empires, the end eventually comes. The sad thing is Millennials on down are clueless about early 20th century history (history in general, unless it’s revisionist history). They don’t know about National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy where neighbors ratted on neighbors for petty reasons or for payment.
What I can’t understand is why the Dems and the MSM continue to support the corrupt and inept Biden crime syndicate? Even the most retarded retard can see how much better off the country and world would be if Biden vanished. I guess hanging on to power at all costs is the only thing that matters. Let the nation go down the toilet.
They are one and the same !!!
It is hard to say which progressive clowns are more entertaining – hunter or the progressive clowns that won’t vote for hunter, but will vote for the big guy. It doesn’t really matter, the show is excellent.