Rebane's Ruminations
August 2026
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George Rebane

Democrat Xavier Becerra (54%) leads Republican Steve Hilton (37%) in the polls for California governor.  Becerra is demonstrably unqualified for the office, having literally accomplished nothing in his 40 years in politics and now promises to keep taking our state down the road to social and commercial ruin with time-tested ruinous policies.  California’s dimwit Democrat voters will again vote for another dose of incompetence while expecting something better this time.  Besides being a successful free market capitalist, Hilton’s political experience has been as director of strategy for British prime minister David Cameron.  The bottom line is that Hilton will bring some new and diametrically different governance to our state, which it sorely needs.  Meanwhile, socialist Becerra is predictably starting to promise free giveaways to lock in his constituents – this time free electricity for the needy.  

America’s adults (16 to 65) are to a high degree illiterate and innumerate.  This fact has been reflected for years in my writings and is a fundamental tenet of Rebane Doctrine.  The assertion is supported by PIAAC (q.v.) testing conducted by our NCES and the OECD, and confirmed by the National Literacy Institute.  Bottom line, 54% of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level, and roughly 21% are considered functionally illiterate; 50% of American adults read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple, vital tasks like reliably reading prescription drug labels.  34% score at the lowest level in numeracy, only able to add and subtract with whole numbers, struggling with multi-step calculations, solving proportions, or extracting information from charts and graphs.  Overall, about one in four US adults score in the lowest proficiency levels across literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving simultaneously, and the trend is markedly downward.  The Left denies all of this because they have been in charge of the country’s education system for two generations.

Latin America goes capitalist.  After decades of ‘pink tide’, flirting with socialism and communism influenced by Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, several South American countries are beginning to rediscover the blessings of free market capitalism.  Key Latin American countries visibly shifting away from collectivist governance include Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, and El Salvador.  Still having to shake leftist governance are Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, and Guatemala.  Firmly in the grip of authoritarian socialist regimes remain Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

Hormuz will remain effectively closed until the November election.  It is now clear that President Trump is not willing to spend either military or political capital to restore the strait’s traffic to pre-war levels.  During this time we will continue to be subjected to the administration’s bullshit that the US is in “complete control” of the waterway – “it belongs to us”.  To show the heights of Trump’s unrequited and diversional triumphalism, the man claims preparations to make Hormuz a US territory.  Hubris maximus.

When shit happens on our streets, obviously fomented by activists from a multitude of extreme leftwing outfits, the Dems and the lamestream immediately claim that extremism is a symmetrical aspect of America’s political life.  Their go-to argument is to position the Tea Party as the equally extreme counter of their own Democrat Socialists of America.  On its face that is a facetious lie that anyone can confirm by looking at the platforms of both organizations and the politicians they support.  The TP’s platform replicates a stable set of conservative policies embraced by the Republicans for decades.  The DSA platform outlines a clear rush to socialism/communism that is giving old-time Dems maximum indigestion as November approaches.

[18aug26 update] Miss to our modestly read locals who consider being labeled socialist, Marxist, communist, … as pejorative and even libelous.  These are legitimate ideological appellations proudly acknowledged and worn by millions of leftwing Americans.  Recent polls show that 2 of 3 Democrats are either socialists or view socialism favorably.  And the DSA, today the party’s most active and organized faction, is led by people over half of whom declare themselves to be communists.  So, we should understand and acknowledge the provenance of the tenets that we include in our published screeds.    If it walks and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

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17 responses to “Scattershots – 15aug26 (updated 18aug26)”

  1. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    A little bit ago there was an article noting how many flips happened after the end to USAID money to leftists and pushing trans ideology down their throats.

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  2. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    Apparently George R. thinks that Steve Hilton’s resume is far superior to Xavier Becerra’s! 😂
    George must be wearing his Trump Goggles.
    —
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Hilton

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  3. Rebane Avatar

    RH – Apparently you are unfamiliar with what Einstein said about doing the same thing and expecting different results.

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  4. fish Avatar
    fish

    RH – Apparently you are unfamiliar with what Einstein said about doing the same thing and expecting different results.

    .

    He is. But it’s not really his fault…..apparently his fontanelle never closed leading to muddled thinking and oh so many photos of him in ski helmets.

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  5. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    As if we did not already know, but he did get fired for challenging the group think bubble of the left.

    Terry Moran says ABC News is liberal and lacks political diversity | Fox News

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  6. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, Republicans should be fine with being referred to as would be Tsarists.
    The Bolshevik Democrats are getting pissed at the Romanoff Republicans.

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  7. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “RH – Apparently you are unfamiliar with what Einstein said about doing the same thing and expecting different results.”

    Falsely attributed, but a good line.

    I was amusing myself today thinking about both the ‘Billionaire’s Tax’, which allows the legislature to change the law on the fly, watch out for asset taxes going forward, and the new rules on what sorts of tires you can buy. Given that illegal alien health care is a Prime Directive in CA, along with public employee unions, I guess I can see the irresistible force behind the movable object though.

    All brought to you by The Party of No KIngs naturally.

    psul sure bitches a lot about Trump when you consider that practically every policy that influences his life comes from a Democratic state government and a local government run by Democratic activists. It’s peculiar, maybe a sort of mancrush.

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  8. fish Avatar
    fish

    The Bolshevik Democrats are getting pissed at the Romanoff Republicans.
    .

    This would be more disturbing if America’s Bolsheviks were composed of other than flouncy overweight closet queens or senile dimwits from the cottage music and educational industries. The young cannon fodder (who’s that rat faced Turkish lad who spends too much time offering his opinions on line) they mean well but…..well they always get killed during the revolution or murdered by the regime shortly thereafter. Lord knows you can’t keep them around. They might eventually figure out that the largesse promised by the flouncy overweight closet queens and senile dimwits from the cottage music and educational industries isn’t meant for them and take issue!

    .

    Socialism is now and has always been a mugs game!

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  9. fish Avatar
    fish

    Comments going into the hopper again George!

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  10. Rebane Avatar

    fish – looks like all the comments have been posted here. There are none in the spam folder.

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  11. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    America: What Went Wrong?
    by Donald L. Barlett (Author), James B. Steele (Author), 1992

    In America: What Went Wrong?, investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele conclude that the decline of the American middle class was not an accident, but the result of deliberate policy choices by Washington and Wall Street that systematically enriched the wealthy at the expense of average workers.

    Core Conclusions

    Rigged Economic Rules: Lawmakers in Congress and successive presidential administrations—across both political parties—rewrote tax codes, labor laws, and trade policies to favor corporations and the ultra-wealthy.

    Decimation of Job Security: Corporate raiding of employee pension plans, stagnant wages, and the shipping of manufacturing jobs overseas devastated working-class stability.

    Widening Inequality: The chasm between the super-rich and everyone else grew into a catastrophic economic divide, dismantling the traditional American Dream.

    Proposed Solutions

    Tax Reform: Rebalance the federal tax code so that corporations and high earners pay a fair share instead of receiving carve-outs.

    Public & Infrastructure Investment: Direct government investment toward rebuilding national infrastructure, supporting domestic manufacturing, and encouraging good-paying jobs.

    Strengthening Labor: Raise the federal minimum wage and protect worker benefits to restore purchasing power for everyday families.

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  12. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    Trickle down theory is bullshit.

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  13. Resurrected Hillbilly Avatar
    Resurrected Hillbilly

    The Lessons of Public Choice
    https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PublicChoice.html

    “One key conclusion of public choice is that changing the identities of the people who hold public office will not produce major changes in policy outcomes. Electing better people will not, by itself, lead to much better government. Adopting the assumption that all individuals, be they voters, politicians, or bureaucrats, are motivated more by self-interest than by public interest evokes a Madisonian perspective on the problems of democratic governance. Like that founding father of the American constitutional republic, public choice recognizes that men are not angels and focuses on the importance of the institutional rules under which people pursue their own objectives. “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself” (Federalist, no. 51).

    Institutional problems demand institutional solutions. If, for example, democratic governments institutionally are incapable of balancing the public budget, a constitutional rule that limits increases in spending and taxes to no more than the private sector’s rate of growth will be more effective in curbing profligacy than “throwing the rascals out.” Given the problems endemic to majority-rule voting, public choice also suggests that care must be exercised in establishing the domains of private and collective choice; that it is not necessarily desirable to use the same voting rule for all collective decisions; and that the public’s interest can be best protected if exit options are preserved by making collective choices at the lowest feasible level of political authority.”

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  14. fish Avatar
    fish

    You need to be careful dug/jeffski….that article referred to the work of James Buchanan and referenced the thoughts of Condorcet….you keep going down this road and they’ll tar and feather you and ride you out of Quainty Town on a rail!

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  15. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “Some guys from 30+ years ago conclude that the decline of the American middle class was not an accident, but the result of deliberate policy choices…”

    I’ll buy that, although I doubt it resulted from tax law. I admit that taxes are gamed quite a lot but I think most truly large fortunes are built on economies of scale, intellectual property law, and other sorts of monopoly/monopsony behavior. Asset extraction from the rich to hand to your special friends is a bug, not a feature.

    The big, and obvious changes since 1980 or so? Unlimited immigration. Movement of manufacturing and useful work generally overseas. Metastasizing of bureaucrazy/legal and FIRE overhead in economy.

    You are left with a nation of non-profit grifters, government bureaucrat and HR Department/’Project Manager’ Karens, various sorts of symbol manipulators, local economy made up of old people, coffee shops, and a half-assed tourist industry.

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  16. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    Being subjected to Jerry Cirino on KNCO this fine morning. Great googly moogly.

    I mean, you can’t blame the guy for wanting to turn a buck, but can’t say that taking over local AM radio with hectoring does your cause much good.

    What I find funny about these hand-waving exercises in property development, bespoke buildings for a certain special use that represents everything that is good, is that it never lasts. Building use becomes what it becomes over time as conditions change, sooner rather than later, and God knows there’s enough vacant commercial space in the area.

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  17. Rebane Avatar

    RH 20aug26 – Well, it will be interesting to read your arguments supporting trickle up as the commercial activity that creates wealth and improves overall QoL.  Imagine how many people could afford cars, TVs, computers, air travel, toasters, groceries, … if they were produced by thousands of small businesses instead of large corporations heavily capitalized and operating at scale.  Think of all the investment capital available from the discretionary savings and investments from the lower two thirds income earners.

    Regarding public choice, I have long promoted a constitutional limit for the share of GDP that government can extract from its citizens.  My considered limit is 15% of GDP.  The only way to curb ever higher taxes, burdensome regulations/laws, corporatism, and the growth of government (i.e. incompetent bureaucracies) is to limit the amount of money that it can forcibly collect and spend.  Bottom line, governments at all levels should be kept as small as possible, but no smaller.

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