The Austin Veterans Parade Foundation canceled the city’s parade honoring military veterans due to its inability to fulfill Austin’s COVID-19 rules.
From the comments:
Category: Politics
Trying not to start the public floggings
Something Wrong
Down in Ozland, the Melbourne Cup Race is probably the only occasion where the entire country shuts down for the day. It is one of the biggest horse racing events in the world — indeed perhaps one of the biggest sporting events, period.
So last weekend this monster took place Down Under in, as its name would suggest, in Melbourne, and here are a few pics of the festivities:
Anyone notice anything missing?
Face masks.
And lest we forget, this is the city which saw thuggish cops teargas old ladies, arrest people for walking in parks without a mask, check to see that people were locked up in their homes, and all the other WuFlu-related atrocities brought to them courtesy of the Victoria state government.
There was, however, this:
Punters at the track had to be fully vaccinated and they were separated into three zones which they were not allowed to leave.
Sort of house arrest at the track.
One might have expected at least some of the attendees to be wearing a face condom, but as far as I can see: none.
I don’t know what this means, if anything, but it sure is interesting.
Well, Now
Here’s an interesting piece of news coming from Seffrica:
Members of the the South African men’s cricket team competing at the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates have been ordered to “take the knee” before every match. A directive issued by the Cricket South Africa (CSA) Board late Monday night outlined the new requirement.
The move follows the team’s T20 World Cup opener against Australia on the weekend when players were seen variously standing, kneeling or raising a fist during the statutory pre-match BLM protest.
And then this subsequent situation:
South African cricket star Quinton de Kock withdrew from a major international competition Tuesday rather than follow a new policy requiring players to kneel for the country’s national anthem in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
De Kock, who was named South Africa’s “Cricketer of the Year” in 2020, and who has served as the team’s captain, made himself unavailable for the team’s T20 World Cup match against the West Indies on Tuesday, rather than be forced to kneel.
I know that few Readers on this here back porch would be familiar with the game and players of cricket, so let me tell you: this is a big fucking deal. Quinton de Kock is one of the best cricketers in the world — ask anyone who follows international cricket — and as he’s the team’s wicket-keeper (catcher, in baseball terms) and a first-class batter who has more than once won games all by his own efforts, his loss to the SA team will be incalculable.
That said, Cricket South Africa is more of a political institution than a sports governing body, so they’re not going to make an exception — CSA is the bunch of fools who mandated that all SA cricket teams have to consist of x number of White players, y number of Black players, and z number of “other races”, regardless of talent. So the teams are picked almost exclusively by color.
Anyway, De Kock has decided not to follow this BLM kneeling bullshit, and good for him. His courage in putting it all on the line for his beliefs will not be forgotten.
Quietly Seething
After reading this, I think I can safely say that I’m with the author.
We Americans have been asleep for a long time now, failing to surveil our politicians and bloated bureaucracy. As our Declaration of Independence tells us, “…all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
In the very next sentence, however, this same document states that when the people suffer from “a long train of abuses and usurpations,” then “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government.”
I think we’re getting very close to that point, but what interests me, from a philosophical standpoint, is whether we’re going to do the “Irish democracy” type of rebellion — whereby laws are just generally ridiculed or ignored:
I don’t think we’ll go for the French “Aux barricades!” stuff; that’s more the Pantifa style, and we ain’t them:
…which leaves the American kind of rebellion:
It sure is going to be interesting, and if I were our modern-day tyrants, I’d be hoping for the Irish kind. The last would be… interesting.
Gratitude
On behalf of Deplorables everywhere, I would like to thank the Left for giving us a family-friendly, safe-for-work expression that we can use to show our support for the current President: 
(link in pic)
Mencken’s Promise
Over at Ace, there’s this little story:
Perhaps some of you more well-informed morons know about flying a black flag, but I had not. Fortunately, the stoopid article has an explainer:
According to the people on Tik Tok and the Sun (British tabloid), the black American flag originated in the civil war and was flown by the Confederates.
It means that they will not surrender, will not take prisoners, and are willing to die for their cause. It means they will execute their enemies.
Actually (says this well-informed moron), it originated during the 17th century. Pirate vessels would fly a black flag to warn that they would take no prisoners, as a means to terrify the crew of the prey ship so they would surrender without a fight.
More recently, however, we have H.L. Mencken’s wonderful quote:
“Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
Note the “normal man” qualifier, because it’s important. What Mencken means is that at some point even ordinary men will be driven to drastic measures, when their situation becomes too dire or too much for their patience to endure.
I see it as a warning rather than a threat. Call it “free market research”. And they should be glad that it’s only flags, as opposed to the sequel.
Anyway, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to a fabric store.