Profiles in Toxic Masculinity, Part 13 – Saburo Sakai
With last week’s presentation being an American hero of the Pacific War, it seemed appropriate this week to present a figure from the other side.
Appearances Can Be Deceiving
The gentleman to the right looks, by any standard, to be a respectable, middle-aged businessman. He was that, more or less, at the time this photo was taken; a conservative, respectable sort of man that Japan produces in great quantities. He was, however, much more than that; this is Imperial Japanese Navy Lieutenant Saburo Sakai (or, as in the traditional Japanese form, Sakai Saburo), one of Japan’s highest-scoring fighter pilots of the Second World War, a man of steadfast courage and today’s Profile in Toxic Masculinity.
His Maculate Origin
Born on August 25, 1906 in Kyushu’s Saga Prefecture, Sakai was the third son of four sons. His name, in fact, translates more or less into “third son.” History notes that Sakai also had three sisters, but little is known about them.
The Sakai family, like many Japanese families of that time, claimed descent from samurai stock, and they did have some evidence that ancestors of their had taken part in the invasion of Korea in 1592. Nevertheless, by 1906 the family was farming in the hills of Saga Prefecture.
Sakai’s father died when the boy was only eleven, and the family’s reduced circumstances resulted in Saburo being sent to Tokyo to stay with an uncle; there, he attended Aoyama Gakuin High School for two years before his lackluster grades resulted in him being sent back to Kyushu.
With few other prospects besides farming, on May 31, 1933, the sixteen-year-old Sakai volunteered for the Japanese Imperial Navy and entered that service as a Sailor Fourth Class. This decision was to have far-reaching consequences for the young Saburo.
His Adventurous Career
Sakai in flight gear.
Initial entry training in the Imperial Navy in 1933 was nothing short of brutal. Japan was, at the time, rushing to catch up to Western military standards, and did so ruthlessly. Sakai described the disciplinary tactics: “The petty officers would not hesitate to administer the severest beatings to recruits they felt deserving of punishment. Whenever I committed a breach of discipline or an error in training, I was dragged physically from my cot by a petty officer. ‘Stand tall to the wall! Bend down, Recruit Sakai!’ he would roar. ‘I am not doing this because I hate you, but because I like you and want you to make a good seaman. Bend down!’ And with that he would swing a large stick of wood and with every ounce of strength he possessed would slam it against my upturned bottom. The pain was terrible, the force of the blows unremitting.”
Sakai persisted, and eventually graduated, was promoted to Sailor Third Class, and assigned to the battleship Kirishima. In 1935, he was accepted to and completed the Naval Gunnery School, after which he was assigned to the battleship Haruna as a turret gunner. After being promoted through the ranks to Petty Officer, Third Class, he was accepted into pilot training in 1937. Graduating at the top of his class, Sakai was personally presented with a silver watch by Emperor Hirohito, promoted to Petty Officer Second Class and assigned to a group of A5M fighters in Formosa. His unit, the 12th Kokutai (Air Group), was providing support for Japanese forces in China.
Sakai’s first air-to-air victory came in October of 1938, when his flight was ambushed by Chinese pilots in Russian-built Polikarpov I-16s. Sakai broke formation and shot down an I-16, but in the process allowed another to get on his tail and was almost shot down himself, earning Sakai a public dressing-down from his flight leader. In 1939, Sakai was wounded in a Chinese bombing raid and returned to Japan for treatment, not returning to flight duty until 1941, when he was sent back to Formosa and assigned to a Kokutai flying the new A6M “Zero.”
His One-Man War
On December 8th, 1941, Sakai’s group was ordered to depart Formosa to escort a flight of G4M “Betty” bombers to Clark Field in the Philippines. At the time, this was the longest flight ever attempted by single-seat fighters. Sakai himself described how this was accomplished: “I personally established the record low consumption of less than 17 gallons per hour; on average our pilots reduced their consumption from 35 gallons per hour to only 18. To conserve fuel, we cruised at only 115 knots at 12,000 feet. We lowered propeller revolutions to only 1,700 to 1,850 rpm and throttled the air control valve to its leanest mixture. This furnished the absolute minimum of power and speed, and we hung on the fringe of losing engine power at any time and stalling.” On his arrival in the Philippines, Sakai shot down an American P-40 fighter and strafed two B-17 bombers on the ground, destroying both.
After that, Sakai flew missions in Burma, the East Indies, and New Guinea, against not only American but also Dutch and Australian pilots. His toll of air-to-air victories climbed to fifty.
On June 9th, 1942, Sakai had an indirect encounter with another, perhaps less honorable person from today’s history books. On that day Sakai’s flight encountered a two-pronged assault on the air base at Lae, New Guinea, by American B-26 bombers. The Kotukai downed two of the fast, tough B-26s in return for one Zero downed. But history’s footnote on that action was notable for what didn’t happen.
One of those bombers was supposed to contain an “observer” in the form of Representative Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas), who had been given a “commission” as a Navy Reserve officer to allow him to tour the theater of operations. Johnson’s B-26 turned back early in the flight due to a “generator failure” and, while Johnson was awarded a Silver Star by General MacArthur for his “coolness under fire,” other members of the flight crew insisted that the craft never came within eighty miles of the action. That didn’t stop Johnson from extensively using the medal to further his political career.
Consider for a moment the differences in those two men: One was a courageous, dedicated serviceman devoted to his country while the other one was Lyndon Johnson.
Sakai, badly wounded yet still giving his report.
Later that year, Sakai’s group was assigned to the airfield on Rabaul. While attacking a large flight of American Wildcat fighters and Dauntless dive bombers, Sakai’s Zero was caught in a crossfire. A .30 caliber machine-gun bullet from one of the dive bombers shattered Sakai’s canopy and tore a gash across his head.
Blind in one eye and with blood running down his face, Sakai left the melee and flew almost five hours back to his base. There he was lifted from the cockpit, and found to have fragments in his left arm, leg, and chest in addition to his head wound. Nevertheless, he demanded to be presented to his flight leader and delivered his report before being taken to the hospital for treatment.
Following his recovery, Sakai spent most of 1943 and early 1944 training new pilots. On his return to combat duty, still blind in one eye, Sakai was assigned to Iwo Jima and was horrified at the capabilities of the new American F6F Hellcat fighters. The Hellcat was faster and even more maneuverable than the Zero, while being bigger, tougher, and more heavily armed; if the Zero was a rapier, the Hellcat was a war-hammer. New pilots fared poorly against the new American fighter, and in two days, Iwo Jima’s fighter squadron was eliminated.
In August 1944 Sakai was recalled to Japan to aid in building the island’s defenses against invasion. He continued flying, eventually being promoted to Ensign and then to Lieutenant (Junior Grade) and assigned to fly the new N1K2 “George” fighter, which was supposed to be a match for the American Hellcat.
Sakai in fact flew the last aerial mission of the Imperial Japanese Navy. On August 17th, 1945, two days after the Emperor agreed to the terms of surrender, Sakai was flying a patrol with several other craft when a Consolidated B-32 reconnaissance plane appeared. Sakai fired on the bomber, damaging it but inflicting no casualties.
Sakai and Harold Jones
His Golden Years
With the war over, Sakai converted to a strict Buddhist worldview, vowing that henceforth he would harm “not even a mosquito.” He did, however, speak plainly on the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saying that “Had I been ordered to bomb Seattle or Los Angeles in order to end the war, I wouldn’t have hesitated. So, I perfectly understand why the Americans bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima.”
Peacetime proved difficult. His service with the Imperial Navy and his resulting assignment as a “militarist” precluded him from many civilian occupations, and his partial blindness precluded any further military service. Sakai’s wife died in 1947. He opened a print shop after he remarried in 1952 and managed a modest living from that.
His career was documented in the book Samurai! American author Martin Caidin copyrighted the English translation in his name, and embellished the original version a great deal; about one action involving the shoot-down of an American B-29 described in the English version, Sakai angrily replied that “…what was written in Samurai! was totally false. I never flew at night and there was no Ensign Jiro Kawachi!”
He was remembered, however, by fellow veterans from both sides of the Pacific Theater. His daughter attended college in the United States, and Sakai traveled to the land of his former enemies several times. On Memorial Day, 1982, he even met, face to face, Harold Jones, the SBD “Dauntless” gunner who had so gravely injured him years before. The two discussed the event and, by all accounts, parted as friends. Sakai had also met and befriended American ace Joe Foss, who Sakai described as “his most valued American friend.”
On September 22, 2000, Sakai was an honored guest at a formal dinner held by the U.S. Navy at Atsugi Naval Air Station in Kanagawa Prefecture. Later that night, after the dinner, he succumbed to a heart attack. He was 84.
Having served on the losing side in a war does not preclude one from laudable character traits such as courage, determination, and steadfastness. Sakai Saburo had these and to spare.
Disregard bitches, acquire Firsts.
That was way cool, Animal, war is Hell, no matter what side your on,
Good one. Always been a WW2 and warbirds buff, and have always found Sakai’s story very interesting.
Terrific story. An impressive man.
Thanks for sharing his story, Animal.
Thanks Animal, good read.
We don’t control where we are born or the families we are born to. We can only control our own behavior.
Completely fictional, but highly recomend The Eternal Zero (also released under The Fighter Pilot). It has that same theme.
This trailer doesn’t do it justice.
https://youtu.be/123ihd2TcFQ
i find it incredible that the WWII militaries were able to jointly identify so many air-to-air combatants, enabling them to meet each other after the war. I’ve heard several stories about such meetings.
Another good one, Animal.
You did one on Foss already? I think I remember it, but was going to suggest him if you hadn’t.
Not yet, but he’s on the list.
Love the series. It always makes for good lunchtime reading.
Thanks Animal!
Sometimes WWII seems like two wars to me. 1941-42, just holding on with the military we had. 43-45 – beating the fuck out of Germany and Japan with the military we wanted.
That had to have been a shocker to go back from shooting down Wildcats to facing Hellcats and Corsairs (and American pilots trained to deal with Zeros). The Germans didn’t appreciate it when Thunderbolts and Mustangs showed up either.
One thing I seem to remember also was that Japan kept their best pilots on the front lines to shoot down as many planes as they individually could, while the US brought their best pilots back to train other pilots to better deal with the fight they would face. So when the better planes started rolling off the assembly lines, the average pilot was better equipped to utilize them.
America treats war like the industrial enterprise that it is. There’s a bit in one of Ambrose’s books about a German infantry officer complaining that “In the German Army, the infantry solves its own problems. The American infantry just takes cover and calls in artillery and air when you shoot at them.”
One of my “what ifs” of history is if the Japanese Navy had been able to build on their success in the Russo Japanese War to permanently place the Japanese Army in the position of second service. The Japanese Army soaked up an absolutely enormous amount of manpower and industrial resources in the Chinese quagmire. If Japan had modeled their national military posture more on Great Britains, with a small but effective army married to a dominant naval, and later aerial fleet, things might have gone differently for them.
The Japanese built a very good navy with a good air wing. The Japanese Army was still using most of the same equipment they used in that Russo Japanese War. I have a 6.5mm Arisaka, an absolute antique by 1942 – rushing at GI’s with M1 Garands, Carbines, BARs, Browning machine guns, Thompson and M3 submachine guns – in other words an absolute wall of fire.
The lesson they learned from all that mid-war? They didn’t copy a captured M1 Carbine, they decided they needed a bigger bullet for their obsolete bolt-gun, so they upped the Arisaka to 7.7mm.
“beating the fuck out of Germany” thanks to the Soviets kicking the shit out of them in the East,
With a lot of stuff we gave them.
of course, but it’s sure nice to have a couple million guys around to kind of you know, kill Nazis?
The Red Army would have withered and died without Lend-Lease. The only thing they could make for themselves was tanks, and every single tank needs 10 or more trucks to be viable. The tanks were T-34s, best tank of the war. The trucks were all made in Detroit, and shipped in Anglo hulls escorted by Anglo warships.
As Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his autobiography, “Without Spam, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army.”
The Nazis overbid. Had they actually gotten Britain out of the war, they would’ve had more men/materiel for Barbarossa; not that that would’ve balanced out the overly aggressive objectives. German mistakes and hubris were the primary source of German defeat(s).
That said, the Russians just flat out were willing to fight harder than the Germans – contrary to Hitler’s beliefs. It’s a bit like the NVA/VC in Viet Nam – they were willing to endure what the French and U.S. wouldn’t.
Eh…the Russians fought because the Germans left them with no alternative. Plenty of Russians would have surrendered if it didn’t mean death, anyway. The genocidal campaign the Nazis fought left no alternative.
And even still, the Russians greatest strength was simply in numbers. They employed a meat grinder strategy.
something something quantity has its own quality
Distance as much as numbers. The Germans wound up fighting hundreds of miles inside of Russia with perhaps the longest supply lines in the history of warfare, no meaningful objectives, and completely insane orders coming out of Berlin.
VDH also mentions the insanity of not turning Ukraine as they did Croatia; that given the Holodomor, the Ukrainians very likely would’ve thrown in with the Nazis against the rest of the Soviets.
Yeah, you can’t rationalize what was irrational. I guess we can all be happy about that.
Ukraine had the most fertile land in the Soviet Union. That’s where Hitler wanted to send German farmers. There was no option to keep millions of Ukrainians on the German side.
That doesn’t mean you couldn’t lie to them first. Split them off from Stalin, save the betrayal for after the war.
This – in the middle of a desperate war, the Germans couldn’t hide their craziness or even fake kindness to their “liberated” populations.
“perhaps the longest supply lines in the history of warfare”
Um….
Berlin to Moscow = 1,100 miles
How far was the Burma Hump…. or the US to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan?
Not even close.
Speaking of wars with no meaningful objectives…
The objective was to keep money flowing to defense contractors, and that objective has succeeded spectacularly.
If Hitler hadn’t of been a psychotic mad man, we might all be speaking German now. At the time, the Nazis had an edge in technology. Then they decided that fighting a war on several fronts at one time, invading Russia and getting bogged down in the middle of winter, and getting the US involved was a brilliant idea. I mean Hitler thought it was, I think his generals advised him against a lot of that, but he was a psychopath.
Watched Victor Davis Hanson on our WWII mobilization – it seems unlikely we could ever accomplish that again.
We’re too big of pussies to even open up college campuses because of Covid. Of course it would be impossible.
I did read the article – nothing really to comment on it.
I’ve been endeavoring to interpret similar toxicity in text, and the words are starting to come again. just be wary who you accept a drink from.
Has anybody tried the Lovecraft series on HBO?
I’m hesitant to piss myself off if it turns out to be another promising series ruined by constant woke signaling.
I’ve watched the first two – and yes the wokeness is unrelenting. The Lovecraft part isn’t bad, the over-the-top segregation stuff takes me out. I complained last week about the crazy racist southern sheriff chasing the Negroes – down dirt roads in mid-1950’s Marlboro Massachusetts.
I mean, in defense of the show, that’s what was in the source material as well…
What I’ve heard from the show doesn’t match with what I read in the source material.
It’s as if someone read a synopsis of Lovecraft, heard he was racist, then mixed what they picked up from the synopsis with the tropes they knew of racism, ie dixicrat jim crow stylings, rather than either what was in the source material or what was going on in the region during the time they chose to set the show.
It’s not based on Lovecraft per se, but on a novel that was written a few years ago.
Then take his name off of it.
Lovecraft Country is also the name of the novel the show is based on.
Take your complaints to the author of the novel.
They can fix their title too.
It’s fine so far. It’s for sure woke but at least it’s somewhat relevant given the time period. I don’t hate it. At this point finding a show that isn’t complete agitprop is nearly impossible.
All it is is woke signaling. With an incomprehensible plot, horrible dialogue, and bad acting. It’s bad. Not sure why the glowing reviews. HBO is supremely overrated right now.
Not sure why the glowing reviews.
Because the reviewers are woke leftists.
To be honest, that part is not that what the problem is. I mean it’s a setting where the white people are scarier than the Lovecraftian monsters. And I thought it was meant to be campy. But I just think the execution of the show is not very good. I am so confused after the first 2 episodes.
Very interesting, and great article Animal. I know you have a list of people to look into, but i might suggest Jose G Artigas as a possible candidate for a future profile
There is only one movie quote sufficient to describe a warrior such as Sakai Saburo – “…Worthy fucking adversary.”
I’m still waiting for Walter Sobchak’s spinoff movie.
One of those bombers was supposed to contain an “observer” in the form of Representative Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas), who had been given a “commission” as a Navy Reserve officer to allow him to tour the theater of operations. Johnson’s B-26 turned back early in the flight due to a “generator failure” and, while Johnson was awarded a Silver Star by General MacArthur for his “coolness under fire,” other members of the flight crew insisted that the craft never came within eighty miles of the action. That didn’t stop Johnson from extensively using the medal to further his political career.
LBJ is asshoe.
Having served on the losing side in a war does not preclude one from laudable character traits such as courage, determination, and steadfastness. Sakai Saburo had these and to spare.
Yep.
Nice write-up!
Thank you Animal! Another winning article.
Good read.
if the Zero was a rapier, the Hellcat was a war-hammer</em
Going in combat knowing that, certainly ups one's toxicity stat.
Thanks, Animal.
I just took the Libertarian type quiz that has been floating around here.
One True Libertarian.
Of course.
A lot of ya’ll got that. I should made it harder. Now you all have to fight to the death.
I’m ready
No True Libertarian would ever take a quiz, you pretender!
You summoned me?
No.
We cant both be, McNukes at dawn?
The Bro is clearly the One True Libertarian. The one who Firsts. First among Firsters.
I was were I screwed up to not get that, as I am the One True Libertarian?
And by I, I mean “Fuck Off, Slaver”, as I ddin’t use my real name.
Yeah, you and everyone else.
I am not drunk, despite that sentence I wrote. I have no idea exactly what I was asking.
Could you possibly have expected otherwise?
No. It warms my heart.
So, you’re saying we finally got him?
A very cold dish of revenge.
Consider for a moment the differences in those two men: One was a courageous, dedicated serviceman devoted to his country while the other one was Lyndon Johnson.
That aint no shit. Thanks Animal.
[i]Born on August 25, 1906 in Kyushu’s Saga Prefecture,
…
On September 22, 2000, Sakai was an honored guest at a formal dinner held by the U.S. Navy at Atsugi Naval Air Station in Kanagawa Prefecture. Later that night, after the dinner, he succumbed to a heart attack. He was 84.[/i]
Was he 94? or were his birth/death dates mistaken?
Born 1916.
Court of appeals reverses the mandamus for Flynn. I don’t know much else
Every damn journalist is saying that they decision to drop the case has been overturned, which isn’t the case beecause that decision hasn’t been made. I don’t see how this doesn’t generate a big FU to the supreme court after they 9-0 smacked the 9th circut over judges galavanting and appointing prosecutors and amicus.
It was apparently an 8-2 decision. Which is odd because the initial decision had been 2-1.
Yeah the 2 who were for it vs the 8 that were against it. As far as it sounds the Appeals court has said that a district court judge can 1). Appoint a Special Proscutor, via an amicus. 2). Investigate the Prosecutorial Power of the Exectuive and 3). Make himself a party to the case no problem.
The justice system is a joke, and depending on it is like being a battered wife, hoping that the husband might not be drunk tonight.
They do it because they love us.
Come on Supremes!
This basically means Flynn is relying on Roberts, previous precedence the entire court set be damned.
pretty much. Even though it was 9-0, they will say “this is different” and go 5-4 one way or the other.
Pushed beyond the election.
Achievement attained
What a fucking joke.
Nailed it.
I think they must’ve tossed one of their own District precedents to do this – unless they finessed it somehow (because I believe the original appellate decision relied on it).
Viva Frei said it. “When you know how the judges will vote based upon who put them on the court, it’s a political system not a legal system.”
Excellent read, I really enjoy seeing the other side’s perspectives and experiences to events like this.
Thank you, Animal!
A little good news from KY
https://reason.com/2020/08/30/kentucky-ag-government-cant-shut-down-in-person-teaching-at-religious-schools/#comments
TW: TOS
So we are about a week away from confirming here that opening up the schools didn’t increase Covid. This will be an interesting narrative spin.
My kid’s school is still doing ok, though I did get an email about kids at school and parents at sporting events being lax about mask use. One town over, there was some party and some kids got exposed to Covid, and 4 tested positive so now they’re thinking about going online. My kid has about 3 more weeks of volleyball season, so I hopefully we’re still in-person that long and she can finish all her games. There were 3 or 4 games that were cancelled because the schools are online and all sports were cancelled.
School sports are canceled here, but all club sports are active. Making it all relatively pointless. My kids have been playing competitive soccer since May.
“some kids got exposed to Covid”
And yet by some miracle if there is a Covid vaccine the people getting the vaccine won’t be exposed to covid?
A bit rant-y, but y’all get it: Even going off of the state of Georgia’s own numbers, know how many of the Covid deaths were student-aged and a “No” on complications?
3 out of 5631. We’re homeschooled, so aren’t really impacted by stupid decisions, except the oldest who’s at a college. They’re “hybrid” but are supposed to wear masks when not alone. And the state’s own numbers say very, very clearly that the absolute smartest thing to do (and has been for awhile) is to let this go as fast as you can through the “safe” part of the population while isolating the “at risk” part. And they just won’t do it.
And without doing any math to prove it, I’m also convinced that this “drag it out” thing is plainly MORE dangerous to the at-risk group, just because of the time factor involved. Nobody thinks enough about time (Russia discussion above as example).
Get done.
Space Force gets horses
https://www.horseillustrated.com/air-force-horse-first-american-mustang-joins-u-s-air-force/amp
(Ok, technically the horse unit is AF)
IT’S JUST LIKE STTAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSS!
So, air cavalry?
I’m confused. The article says the horse is “the latest member of a unique program of the United States military”, but then goes on to talk about the Air Force.
The Air Force is not part of the military.
Can confirm.
Former Chairforce member.
So in oregon i guess “She was asking for it” is fine reasoning? The governor blaming the Trump supporters who came in for the violence, in which one of them was executed by Antif vermin, is beyond disgusting. Fuck that bitch.
Of course it’s Trump’s fault. We all know people who go absolutely insane whenever you mention his name. His mere existence makes people lose control of themselves.
What I find funny is that Patriot Prayer is consistently referred to as a “far-right” group while BLM and Antifa are just anti-racism protesters.
It’s going to be fun when the Antifa scum who shot the Trump supporter is convicted and Rittenhouse walks.
Supporting Trump and free speech = far right.
Being no shit Marxists who advocate for the end of capitalism = peaceful protesters.
Also, there have been riots for 90 days that included arson, looting, and assault right in the open, but they’re still looking for some secret cabal of boogaloo boys.
…caused by racist infiltrators. 😉
My sister in law really truly believes that.
Are we the crazy ones? How can you believe that and not know you’re a helpless hack?
The Portland shooter was apparently a regular participant in the riots. And calls himself 100% antifa. And this is from the Oregonian, which has largely been in the tank for the riots.
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/08/man-under-investigation-in-fatal-shooting-after-pro-trump-rally-allegedly-took-loaded-gun-to-earlier-portland-protest.html
And even though his name is all over the internet, PPD has no idea who fired the shots.
One can only wonder.
You are an optimist, aren’t you? I admire that about you.
The scumbag isn’t in jail, so it looks like the exact opposite is going to happen.
Well, the last time an antifan was caught being violent on video PPD decided to apprehend him by calling and leaving voicemails.
PPB. Portland Police like other city administrative units there, is a bureau not a department.
/shibboleth
Do you want death squads?
Because this is how you get death squads.
I thought Obamacare already introduced death squads.
She might be the most repugnant politician in office in the US today, which is really saying something.
Just got on FB, saw someone repost the mayor’s statement about it being Trump’s fault, got off FB.
Gov’s statement
https://www.myoregon.gov/2020/08/30/governor-kate-brown-announces-unified-law-enforcement-plan-to-protect-free-speech-bring-violence-to-an-end-in-portland/
Its disgusting that she blames the patriot prayer group (as white nationalists of course) for causing people to be afraid to walk the streets. It’s their fault. Not the murderers dancing and fundraising off of murder.
Yesterday was the last day to collect signature for the second recall petition against her. Will see if that was successful.
Antifa apologists on Twitter and in the media are saying that organizers told people to come armed. What they actually said was asking people not to open carry and concealed carry only (logical assumption would be IF someone decided to arm themselves).
https://twitter.com/catalinagaitan_/status/1299771352069545984?s=21
And the governor smears pro-Trump rally participants as white supremacists, who cannot demonstrate in Portland.
I think those P words, like Patriot and Prayer, triggers her.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/betting_odds/2020_president/
I’ll admit I find the betting odds very interesting, if not confusing. Biden is still poling +6 percent nationally IIRC.
National polls don’t mean much until the Marxists ram National Popular Vote through. CA, NY, IL, MA, and MD were +8.6 million for Hillary, and that’s 2.6 points right there. The election comes down to FL, NC, PA, OH, MI, WI. Blue and Red still have their hardcore bastions, but the swing states are where the election is won. If a bettor thinks that the rampant violence pushes those Midwest states to Trump, then he would bet Trump to win.
I honestly think the leftist ideologues running the Democratic Party have fooled themselves into thinking: “These stupid fucking hicks just want to vote for a white man who goes to church, so we will give them Biden, and they’ll fall right in line.” They actually are high on their own supply, and think that the only reason churchgoing, gunowning, business friendly white moderate Democrats voted for Trump over Clinton was sheer sexism.
Poor Joe.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/dozen-people-show-outside-bidens-big-speech-pittsburgh-video/
But Joe clearly had something to say? I think? I can’t disagree.
I can’t wait until the debates.
Is that some kind of deep fake? The man can’t spit out a sentence.
Worse: he’s peering at a teleprompter, and still struggling.
This is sad. And frightening, that he has a good chance of winning a Presidential election.
I don’t know how we as a society pull out of this tailspin.
Eh, I actually don’t blame Democrats at all for supporting Biden. The truth is, a vote for the Democrats is a vote for rule by the Deep State, the permanent bureaucracy. There’s no hypocrisy here. They don’t actually want a Chief Executive, they want a friendly smiling face to sign off on all the legislation and do the White House Correspondents Dinner.
They openly say this. They talk about having a President who will “follow the science”, they don’t talk about having a President who will listen to advice and make his own decisions. Remember, to a leftist, there are no thorny problems, only obstructionist wrongthinkers who stand in the way of progress.
I suspect you are onto something.
So I hear Biden knocked one out of the park with a historic speech and Trump is on the run?
“Biden succeeds where Trump has failed in the era of COVID: Keeping rallies socially distanced”
– CNN
He starts fucking up his speech right around 1:18 in the clip.
Also, is telling something ‘straight from the shoulder’ some old guy thing? What the fuck does that mean?
The hell was the point of going to Pittsburgh just to give a short speech, anyway? Unsurprisingly, refused to take questions yet again.
So the media can say Biden is out on the campaign trail.
Damn Uncle Toms! Listen to Uncle Juan, or you ain’t black!
Go fuck yourself Juan.
There you have it. Majority rules and everything.
Consensus!
WTF happened to Juan Williams? He used to be halfway decent. Was it the sexual harassment claims after Anita Hill that spooked him?
Not to discount his hard work, but his own life story puts to lie this is a fundamentally racist country. Here’s a guy who literally came to this country on a banana boat and has been given opportunity after opportunity, and is now paid to write opinion pieces in national media and on tv.
Juan seems worried. Why are you worried, Juan? Everybody thinks Trump is a racist, right? So why worry?
TALL CANS!
If you were wondering whether Barr and Durham are going to do anything more with the attempted coup, here’s a clue that they are not.
My translation: These don’t get released unless they are not relevant to any active criminal investigation. A big document dump = not much going on in the criminal investigation.
I read Sakai’s book a long time ago. Not to nit pick but I could have sworn Sakai said the type of plane that shot him up was the newly introduced TBF-Avenger. None the less that was quite a feat to navigate all the way back to Rabaul with a shot up plane, blind in one eye and leaking blood. His account of first tangling with US Navy Hellcats over Iwo Jima and the tactics they employed was was riveting, he admitted he was lucky to escape with his life. Few Japanese pilots did. Good story about LBJ, too.
Nice guy? Shooting at a recon plan two days after the war was over. On Aug. 17th, my local paper did a story on the local boy from Pottstown PA who was on that plane and died. He is known as the last casualty of WWII. Sakai should have been tried as a war criminal or 1st degree murderer.