Dakota Beacon

This column could easily have been titled “Grist for Ridicule”. There is a way to deal with liberal-progressive change agents who would force their aberrant views on us. Laugh at them. Laughter is the best medicine in more ways than one. Laughter is neither prohibited nor hate speech.

Ridicule typically uses humor along with satire to trash an opponent. It is one thing to laugh with a person. It is quite another to laugh at them. To laugh at a person, movement, or ideology is a kiss of death. Ridicule portrays individuals, movements, philosophies, and ideologies as the ridiculous pantomimes that they are.

Today’s news abounds with a never-ending list of candidates for ridicule. Take your pick: anti-ICE demonstrations, Minnesota fraud, Somali illegal aliens, New York City electing a Communist Mayor. The list goes on. Start with one – the Maduro capture.

Here are a few choice quips and observations gleaned from social media about Maduro’s capture. Some are humorous. Some are serious. Some are laughably ludicrous.

Maduro’s capture was a “no leaks” operation. That was not a coincidence. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth long ago barred the media from wandering the halls of the Pentagon. Consequently, there were no leaks of Operation Absolute Resolve (Maduro’s capture). Nor was there any need to brief Congress on this highly limited and sensitive non-war “snatch and grab”. That further reduced the chance of  “leaks” by congressional staffers. In fact, there is no war with Venezuela. There was only the arrest of an indicted criminal. That’s it. Relax.

War Powers Act did not require Congressional involvement. Obama killed Osama Bin Laden with no Congressional approval. Obama invaded Libya and killed Gaddafi with no congressional approval. Biden killed an Al Qaeda leader in 2022 with no congressional approval. Trump swoops in and brings the indicted man [Maduro] alive back to the US to stand trial (due process) and Democrats go nuts. Democrats give a whole new meaning to the term “hypocrite”.

China and Russia became targets of ridicule. A military observer writing on defense matters said, “In the 3-hour operation to capture/arrest Maduro, US forces not only proved Russian air defense useless but also proved Chinese technology useless. The Chinese JY-27 ‘anti-stealth’ radar, of which Venezuela bought 9, did not detect a single incoming US aircraft.”

Maduro’s extraction produced more derision.

Democrats before Maduro’s capture – “NO KINGS!”

Democrats after Maduro’s capture – “FREE MADURO!”

Watching white liberals, particularly middle-aged white women, freak out over Venezuela, while the people of Venezuela wave American flags and don MAGA hats generates a good belly laugh.

“Look on the bright side, lefties, we could have waited for Maduro to board a ‘fishing vessel’ and then blown it out of the water.”

Funny! Watch the libs trying to explain why removing a narco-terrorist dictator is a bad thing.

I found this barb. “It must be exhausting being a Democrat. One day you are defending Somali daycare fraudsters. The next day you are defending a narco-terrorist dictator. You are in bed with both.” And this one. “Libs, just after displaying the Somali flag, must now find a Venezuelan flag to fly in support of Maduro.” (As an aside, the Somalia Ambassador serves as President of the UN Security Council. More grist for ridicule.)

Two days after New Yorkers celebrated the beginning of socialism, Venezuelans were celebrating end of it. “We’ll replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” said Mamdani. A voice responded, “Hey Mamdani, have you noticed how the Venezuelan people rejoice now that they no longer have the ‘warmth of collectivism’?”

Collectivism’s advocates include the following. Ridicule them and you are dead. “The individual is nothing; the collective is everything.” - Stalin “The interests of the individual must be subordinated to the interests of the collective.” - Mao “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” - Mussolini

“Now let’s liberate Minnesota, California, New York, and a few other states from communist dictators that threaten the security of the United States.”

“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon” said Saul Alinsky in his “Rules for Radicals” Rule Number 5. “...you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral arguments.”

Authoritarians cannot tolerate a good laugh at their expense. The thickness of their skin is inversely proportional to the size of their egos. As George Orwell pointed out, “Every joke is a tiny revolution.”

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)