February 28, 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to Be Indicted for Bribery

Dana Mathewson

This doesn't mean he actually "did it." Israeli politics are as labyrinthine as ours, maybe more so, since they have more political parties and are obliged to form coalitions in order to govern.

Lawfare is alive and well in Israel. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed through his attorney that he will be indicted on charges of bribery and breach of trust.

Prosecutors must conduct a pre-indictment hearing so charges are not 100% certain. But Netanyahu's opponents, who have been after him since he took office, may have finally succeeded in bringing him down.

Do you think the fact that it's six weeks before the election had anything to do with the timing of the announcement?

NBC News:

With elections just six weeks away, Netanyahu called the prosecution's announcement "outrageous" and an "unprecedented witch hunt" carried out by his liberal opponents.

The prime minister vowed to refute all allegations which he said are "blood libel."

Police have previously recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different cases.

Netanyahu claimed his predecessors have received small gifts similar to what he has been accused of taking, but were not charged.

"If it not Bibi — there’s no investigation," Netanyahu said, referring to himself by his nickname.

This isn't Netanyahu's first go-around with prosecutors. Police recommended indicting him on two other occasions during his four terms as prime minister.

Do they have a case this time?

The most serious allegations against Netanyahu involve his relationship with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Israel's telecom giant Bezeq.

Police recommended an indictment in the case based on evidence collected that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulatory changes worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Bezeq. In exchange, they believe Netanyahu used his connections with Elovitch to receive positive press coverage on Bezeq's popular subsidiary news site, Walla. Police have said their investigation concluded that Netanyahu and Elovitch engaged in a "bribe-based relationship."

Police also recommended charges be brought against Elovitch, members of his family and members of his Bezeq management team.

This all seems very iffy, considering they apparently have no evidence that the the prime minister himself promoted regulatory changes. They only have evidence against his "confidants." And if it was a crime to ask the media for more favorable coverage, we'd have an awful lot of politicians in jail. [emphasis mine]

Still, the tit for tat arrangement would be a crime -- if authorities could prove it. But if timing is everything, those pushing this indictment probably don't care if the case ever goes to trial. They've accomplished their goal of smearing the prime minister on the eve of elections.

There will definitely be calls for the prime minister to step down, considering the time frame for his legal situation to resolve itself:

Legal experts in Israel say it could take up to a year for a hearing process into the charges to end and an additional two years for a court case to be heard.

While Israeli prime ministers are not required by law to resign if charged, the prospect of a prime minister standing trial while simultaneously running the country would be unchartered territory.

Personally, I just hate to see this. I have always admired Mr. Netanyahu, and especially during the early stages of the Obama Administration, when he spoke out strongly on some global issue or other, after Obama was showing his "lead from behind" weakness, and our Eastern States editor Jack Kemp told me "Now Bibi has taken over the position of Leader of the Free World." I agreed, and as far as I was concerned, he held that position until he handed it over to Donald Trump.

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The Winds of War on the Indian Subcontinent

Timothy Birdnow

Things are heating up between India and Pakistan. According to Itar-Tass:

Tensions are running high along the contact line separating Kashmir’s Indian and Pakistani zones following a terrorist attack on an Indian military convoy in the Jammu and Kashmir state on February 14. Forty-five people were killed in the attack. Jaish-e-Mohammed (The Army of Muhammad) claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Tuesday, India’s aviation bombed this group’s camp in the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. On Wednesday, the Pakistan Air Force responded with air strikes on military installations in Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi and Islamabad also stated that they downed each other’s plans in the air fight.

Both nations have nuclear weapons. This could get very serious very quickly.

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Ozark Wisdom

Timothy Birdnow

Arkansas is just about thirty miles from the Ozark Hilton. Just sayin...

https://www.foxnews.com/us/arkansas-church-says-heaven-has-strict-immigration-laws-sign-was-not-meant-to-be-political

"Heaven has strict immigration laws," the sign read. "Hell has open borders."

Just a quick note; Springdale, Arkansas, is home to Tyson foods and experienced a 133% growth rate between 1990 and 2010. Why? The meat packing industry is infamous for hiring illegal aliens, and Tyson was a huge supporter of Bill Clinton, who gave us NAFTA and opened the floodgates on Hispanic trespassing.

Springdale is part of the Fayettville/Springdale/Rogers Metropolitan area in northwestern Arkansas. The Ozark Hilton isn't close to this church, alas, or I would drop by for Sunday services...

Still, this shows us the good old Ozark common sense.

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Wherever Tyranny is establish’d, Immorality of every Kind comes in like a Torrent

Is it not High Time for the People of this Country explicitly to declare, whether they will be Freemen or Slaves? It is an important Question which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than any Thing in this Life. The Salvation of our Souls is interested in the Event: For wherever Tyranny is establish’d, Immorality of every Kind comes in like a Torrent. It is in the interest of Tyrants to reduce the people to Ignorance and Vice. For they cannot live in any Country where Virtue and Knowledge prevail. The Religion and public Liberty of a People are intimately connected; their Interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this Reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the People’s Liberties, practice ever Art to poison their Morals. How greatly then does it concern us, at all Events, to put a Stop to the Progress of Tyranny\

Samuel Adams 1772

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The Progressives Reconstruction

Timothy Birdnow

Pat Buchanan wrote a logical article about reparations for slavery at The American Conservative, and I was going to ignore it (having covered much of this myself here at the Aviary) but then I came across this comment and I had to reply.

First, we have this:

Daniel (not Larrison) says:
February 27, 2019 at 7:43 am

Pat rightly points out the inherent difficulties in such a scheme, even if one accepts the premises.

A far more practical system would be an inheritance tax that is not based on race. This tax could then be used for general government (which benefits all), or, if you like, to provide "leveling” benefits for those born into poverty (regardless of race): such as funding public schools in poor communities/give educational vouchers to the poor, college tuition/trade schooling, provide assistance for small business start-ups, etc.

If conservatives truly preach the "by your bootstraps” narrative, benefiting from unearned inheritance doesn’t fit well with a pure meritocracy. And if liberals truly preach racial equality, giving to the poor regardless of race would seem consistent.

People benefiting from the good deeds of their ancestors–or being punished for their bad deeds–is completely unethical in most people’s views (as well as blatantly unconstitutional "corruption of blood”).

But for years Republicans have decried the "death tax”, and for years Democrats have preached racial discrimination with programs such as affirmative action.

But please Democrats, preach such a blatantly discriminatory, unconstitutional, and totally unworkable program where a simpler solution (that, though resisted by many wealthy, could be supported by the majoriity). Keep preaching it, and keep losing elections because of it. You make it an actual dilemma to choose if Trump is worse for the country than you.

Then my reply:

Ah, now we have it! Basically Daniel (not Larrison) is calling for backdoor socialism as a form of reparations. Is that what the Media and their Democratic allies are really plotting here?

There's no workable way to do it, so we have to take from everybody and give to everybody who hasn't earned it!

Indeed, that is likely the only way to go about this; restructure America into a more communal society so as to pay our debt to former slaves through a new type of reconstruction.

In fact, Reconstruction was the physical effort to rebuilt the South after the Civil War and it never really succeeded as well as the radicals in new England and elsewhere in the North had planned; they wanted to fundamentally transform the South, ending the old agrarian and aristocratic society, to make it into a subservient clone of the Progressive North. They had big plans. But economic and political pressures largely ended the scheme, and eventually the South - now impoverished by the plucking of her feathers by carpetbaggers and a radical Republican Congress - reasserted itself. Oh, it was not the Antebellum South; the aristocracy was largely dead and gone. It was a new South, and it came to embody the values and virtues of the United States. But the Progressives in New England and the other north eastern states continued to slide to the Left and they continue to seek to reimpose Reconstruction. Now they want to make us into an European style socialist state. And Reparations are a fine way to do it!

Remember, Obama spoke of his love for America then promised to fundamentally transform her. Strange kind of love, that. But it is exactly the kind of conditional love a Progressive has. Do as I say and we'll be the best of friends! Obama was only elocuting an old, old policy of the people who gave us Reconstruction. In fact, these are the same people who ultimately gave us the Salem Witch Trials and everything else. They were the Puritans, the austere, rigid religionists. They simply removed God from their religion and placed the State in His stead.

This is a battle that has been fought far longer than we have had labels for it, and it has been an endless one-way aggression. There was a time when at least the Left promoted some decent things - like an end to slavery. But now they promote power for power's sake only. Their dreams of fundamentally altering America mean altering her People and in fact eliminating them so we are all citizens of the World, so there will be no borders, no Heaven or Hell, no Religion (as John Lennon said). These are real goals, and a few eggs will have to be cracked to make that particular omelet.

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America is Ready for a Socialst President - Be Afraid!

Timothy Birdnow

At the American Conservative Robert W. Merry argues that America may well elect a socialist in the next Presidential election.

From the article:

Lately we have seen numerous conservative commentators posit the thesis that the Democrats are disqualifying themselves from a 2020 presidential victory by lurching too far left on key economic and social issues. The idea is that the American people simply aren’t prepared to follow the Democrats into the leftist territory that seems to be their nesting place these days. Ergo, the party is in the process of ceding the White House to the incumbent Republicans, meaning a likely Trump reelection triumph.

This may be comforting to conservatives, but it is based on faulty political analysis. There is a strong prospect that 2020 will see the emergence of a new leftist president who represents democratic socialism of the European style—a brand of politics eschewed by America since at least the end of World War II.

He goes on to explore four axioms that are pertinent in the upcoming election:

1.Elections are about the incumbent and the incumbent's party.
2In politically unsettled times, such as we’re experiencing today, the nation often opts for experimentation.
3.Socialism is on the rise in America.
4.In today’s divided America, political decision making resides on a knife’s edge of parity.

He's right on all particulars. What is happening in the Democratic Party right now is the old order is giving way. The Democrats had many socialists in their party long before now, but they kept quiet. These were the Fabian Socialists, the guys who wanted to creep along, slither socialism in through the back door. It was an entirely valid way to approach the problem, since they were selling something the American People (and the British People before them) did not want. So they couched it in compassionate terms, addicted the public to welfare programs little by little, and eventually managed to create Ingsoc in Britain and now are going for it here in the U.S.

The Fabian approach was the hallmark of "coat and tie radicals" during the sixties and seventies. Bill and Hillary Clinton were "coat and tie radicals", people like Van Jones who stated; "I'm willing to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends." Obama was another such.

But there has been tensions between the two, and there are those who think it's time to put forth their hands and force the Revolution rather than continue to chip away. And given the favorability of the concept of socialism to the younger generation, they may not be wrong. Waiting could lead to a renewal in Middle America. It could perhaps be better for them to act now.

Right now America is a jump ball. While Conservatives outnumber liberals in most states the left is more active, more aggressive, more determined. And those who don't pay attention can be moved more easily, especially with the American media solidly on the side of the socialists these days. It means that, yes, an avowed socialist could indeed win in the next election.

I never dreamed Barack Obama could win either.

Consider; Obama was a radical leftist in his college days, and he openly admitted it in his autobiography. He was a member of the New Part in Chicago, a communist entity not associated with the CPUSA. His father was a Muslim and so was his stepfather, and he was raised in a madross - this at a time when America had been attacked by radical Muslims and was fighting in several places overseas against Islamists. Obama worked for Saul Alinsky's radical organization, and his job was primarily to steal votes. His social security number was for Connecticut, a place he had no ties to, and there was some ambiguity as to whether the man actually was Natural Born. He promised to bankrupt the coal industry and put those people out of work. He called a large share of the country "bitter clingers" who "clung to their God and guns". He didn't promise to address problems but to fundamentally transform America. And America voted for him - twice.

You bet this country is ready to put an avowed socialist in power.

We all should be terrified at the prospect. Donald Trump may not be my dream President, but he's a veritable George Washington compared to what we could wind up with.

And already the people of this country have forgotten the economic stagnation Obama bequethed us. That is the hallmark of socialism; no growth. Socialism treats people like children and the end result is eternal childhood, a Peter Pan syndrome. That is most obvious in stagnant economic activity, and much of that stagnation stems from generous social programs which make work and risk-taking unattractive. But there is a price to be paid for accepting the nice farmer's grain in your stall.

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February 27, 2019

Some idiocy from our Neighbor to the North

Dana Mathewson

Canada’s ‘Climate Barbie’ Blames Arson Fires on ‘Climate Change’


From Breitbart.com:

Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change has blamed "asthma-inducing smoke from B.C. forest fires” on climate change, while the Canadian Mounted Police claim the deadly string of fires in British Colombia was started by arsonists.

In a February 22 Tweet, Minister Catherine McKenna said that "Canadians are feeling the impacts of climate change on their health, from deadly heatwaves in Quebec last summer to asthma-inducing smoke from B.C. forest fires.”

The message was intended to motivate Canadians to accept the nation’s notorious carbon tax aimed at punishing those who generate greenhouse gas emissions.

"Learn how putting a price on carbon pollution will apply in your province or territory,” said McKenna, the 47-year-old Trudeau appointee from Canada’s Liberal Party, referencing an article on the subject.

Curiously, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said last summer that the string of forest fires in British Colombia was caused by arson, not climate change.

According to the Vancouver Sun, the RCMP said "arson is behind as many as 29 wildfires that scorched large swathes of the Okanagan Valley during the past four years.”

"Mounties believe the fires, which were reported in Naramata, Okanagan Falls, Osoyoos, Oliver, Penticton, Summerland and Lake Country, were all deliberately set and all connected,” the newspaper reported.

If both the police and the climate minister are to be believed, one must infer that climate change induced the arsonists to set the fires, which, while not impossible, stretches belief.

Last March, Ms. McKenna called on her Twitter followers to "consider the gendered impacts of climate change on women, girls and children” while praising Canada’s leadership in training "women negotiators” in the fight against anthropogenic global warming.

Apparently, at least in the minister’s mind, the weather is waging its own "war on women.”

Continue reading to find the lowdown on the "Climate Barbie" nickname, which, obviously, the minister does not appreciate. The story is found here: https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2019/02/27/canadas-climate-barbie-blames-arson-fires-on-climate-change/

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Bring Back the Golden Fleece

Dana Mathewson

All politics is local, so your North-Central States editor offers up this one, courtesy of the excellent Power Line site.

Back in the days when some Democrats actually cared about government waste, Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin became famous for his "Golden Fleece” award, which exposed absurd federal spending boondoggles. Since then, the government’s hemorrhaging of our tax dollars has only gotten worse.

The same thing is going on at the state level. Democrats consider all spending, no matter how stupid, to be an "investment” and therefore desirable. My home state of Minnesota is even worse than most, which is why our State Arts Board hands out an unbelievable amount of money to "artists” for just about anything. In 2018, the Arts Board gave Jim Denomie a $10,000 grant:

Denomie will create a series of large paintings in response to Standing Rock and other contemporary events from a Native American perspective.

"Standing Rock” refers to left-wing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which begins in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota and continues through South Dakota and Iowa to a terminal in Illinois. The pipeline is being built because people need oil. The protests occurred because…I’m really not sure why. Maybe because protesters were paid by leftist and "green” interests? I don’t know.

It's a long one and has some quite unbelievable detailing of misuse of taxpayer money in it. Go here: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/02/bring-back-the-golden-fleece.php

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This is Beyond Belief

Dana Mathewson

To think that elected members of Congress are allowed to get away with this crap! Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib First to Sign Pledge to Impeach Trump

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Fighting for energy and human rights equality in Africa

Paul Driessen

My dear Ugandan friend Fiona Kobusingye passed away in New York City last week. She served for years as co-chair for Congress of Racial Equality Uganda, mentored young people, co-hosted conferences, and fought tirelessly for disease control, energy development, modern agriculture and clean water. Her late husband, Cyril Boynes, shared and stoked her passion for helping Uganda and all of Africa achieve energy, health, human rights and living standards equality with Europe, America and other industrialized economies.

Her eloquent articles, and those by Cyril and their young mentee Steven Lyazi, touched many people around the world.

This article pays tribute to them – and recalls some of the passionate, prophetic messages they had for Africa and developing countries everywhere.


more...

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Anthony Weiner finds his calling

Dana Mathewson

I don't know whether to file this under humor, satire, or actual straight-ahead reporting. I'll let you decide. Anyhow, it appears that Carlos Danger is back in the news. This is from Power Line.

Anthony Weiner has always had an eye for the main chance. Now, with his options rather limited, Weiner’s main chance apparently resides in the marijuana business. This, at least, is what the Daily Mail is reporting:

Anthony Weiner is swapping politics for the marijuana business and told a potential investor to downplay his ‘sexual stuff’, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively.

The convicted sex offender, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to sexting a 15-year-old girl after DailyMail.com exposed his sexual correspondence with the teen, was pictured on Friday having a breakfast meeting in downtown Manhattan.

Weiner, casually dressed and wearing his favorite Mets baseball cap, chatted for around 30 minutes with an unidentified man at Peet’s Coffee in Union Square, just steps from his former luxury apartment building.

Weiner, 54, is currently living at a halfway house in the Bronx after being released early from jail for good behavior. He was sentenced to 21 months in a Massachusetts prison in November 2017.

A source told DailyMail.com: ‘Weiner was advising the other man on how to approach investors and said, ”Tell them you have this great venture and then be like, I know the perfect guy”.

‘Weiner appeared to be referring to himself and explaining how to get other money on board but conceal his involvement.’

The entire Power Line article is here: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/02/report-anthony-weiner-finds-his-calling.php

I love Paul Mirengoff's last two paragraphs:

"From politics to pushing weed. I can’t say it’s a natural progression, but it’s not an unnatural one either.

"In Weiner’s case, I agree with a friend who quips that with so many scumbags already in the marijuana business the sexting former congressman will fit right in."

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An Important Survival Story

Dana Mathewson

It's very disturbing that Congressional Republicans are too weasely to support the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act. You'd think it would be a matter of conscience, but alas, apparently Democrats are not the only ones who are obliged to undergo a conscience-ectomy when entering Congress.

Here is a story (hat tip to Eddie Engebretson) that illustrated just why we need this Act:

At age 14, Melissa Ohden learned that her biological mother was forced to have a saline abortion, one that she defied the odds by surviving despite being in the womb only an estimated 31 weeks.

Years later, a nurse who cared for her in the NICU told Ohden: "A tall blond nurse rushed me in, and she shouted, ‘That darned [abortion doctor] messed up. She just kept gasping for breath, and I couldn’t just leave her there to die.’”

Even more incredible, Ohden, who had been "gasping for breath” but is now 41, says she survived an ordeal that lasted five days instead of the usual 72 hours for that type of procedure in 1977.

An unborn baby normally "would soak in that toxic salt solution being poisoned and scalded, and then they would induce labor to expel that deceased child from the womb,” Ohden says in an interview with The Daily Signal.

"Through my medical records, we actually have learned that I soaked in that toxic salt solution not for three days, but five,” she says.

Ohden, who later was adopted, says she has spent the past 12 years speaking out to share her story and connect with others who had similar experiences.

"I’ve never intended to live this public life as a survivor,” she says. "But I have learned that that’s my purpose.”

She met last week with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

An historic moment: to have the survivor of a failed abortion in the West Wing of the White House https://t.co/H7sCgPaTui #abortionsurvivors @melissaohden pic.twitter.com/SVQNf21Qkm

— Right to Life (@nrlc) February 18, 2019

Ohden recalls in the interview with The Daily Signal:

It was our opportunity to share our stories with the president, to help him understand the impact that late-term abortion has had on our lives, and really for each of us to thank him for his commitment. … I shook his hand and said, ‘On behalf of the 269 survivors that I’ve connected with, through my work, I want to thank you for your commitment and all that you do for life.’

And I meant that. I wasn’t there for myself that day, I was there for all of the survivors that I work with, who are so grateful for President Trump and all that he’s doing, and for those children who are going to lose their lives to abortion.

Ohden says she is troubled by the recent debate over infanticide and failed Senate votes to provide medical care to abortion survivors, especially when she is just one of many with a similar story:

The way that I’ve described it to some people is we’re living in this time right now where it feels like everybody is having this conversation about abortion and children who survive. They’re having this conversation not realizing that we’re out here.

It’s really interesting that the Democrats are introducing this really aggressive legislation [to allow abortion] through the third trimester, yet at the same time wanting to delete the protection for children like me that survive abortions. The more they introduce this kind of legislation, the greater the likelihood it’s going to be that children like me survive.

"And so we desperately need that Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act to ensure that we’re provided medical care,” Ohden says, using "we” to put herself in the company of all abortion survivors.

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February 26, 2019

Federal Judge Rules Missouri Abortion Law Legal

Timothy Birdnow

Good news! A federal judge has ruled that a Missouri law banning abortion clinics from offering abortions without a physician with admitting privileges in nearby hospitalsis legal.

U.S. Western District Court Judge Brian Wimes ruled that this does not impose an undue burden on women and that the law can be allowed to stand. An abortion mill in Columbia fiiled suit after being shut down for endangering the lives of women and their unborn children by having inadequate medical resources. Naturally, this was a Planned Parenthood clinic.

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UCLA Students support concentration camps for Trumpers

Jack Kemp



13 minutes long on Youtube...

Watch: UCLA Students Support Concentration Camps For Trump Supporters


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India Bombs Pakistan

Timothy Birdnow

India has launched airstrikes into Pakistani space in what could escalate into an Asian nuclear exchange.

The Indians were attempting to destroy a terrorist camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, killing over three hundred militants.

With a hotly contested national election coming, the Indian PM wanted to show he's not weak. He sent a message. Unfortunately, now Pakistan has to send a message back.

his could be a wild ride.

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You May not; PM May Kills Brexit

Timothy Birdnow

Theresa May, after the failure of her no-exit Brexit, has now taken her ball and gone home, paving the way for Internationalist Remainers to stop Brexit.

According to Breitbart:

Prime Minister Theresa May has paved the way for Europhile MPs to stop the UK leaving the EU in a clean break and to delay the Brexit date.

Mrs May has said that should the House of Commons not back her Withdrawal Agreement in the second ‘meaningful vote’ scheduled for March 12th, she will allow MPs in the Remain-dominated lower house of Parliament to vote on whether it backs the UK leaving the EU without a deal — an already-agreed legal default position if London does not come to a deal with the Brussels by March 29th.

The prime minister also said that should the House vote down her bill and later vote against leaving without a deal, Parliament will be asked to vote on a "short” extension to Article 50, the legal mechanism for leaving the EU.

The decision to allow the possibility of two votes in the House of Commons that could delay the country’s exit from the bloc came after reports in the media that Mrs May was being pressured to make the concessions by her own Remainer Cabinet ministers.

During a statement in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon, Mrs May said that she would make three "commitments”:

"First: we will hold a second meaningful vote by Tuesday the 12th of March at the latest.

"Second, if the Government has not won a meaningful vote by Tuesday the 12th of March, it will, in addition to its obligations, table a neutral, amendable motion under section 13 of the EU Withdrawal Act by Wednesday the 13th of March at the latest asking this House if it supports leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement and without a framework for a future relationship on March 29th.

"So the UK will only leave without a deal on the 29th of March if there is explicit consent in the House for that outcome.

"Third, if the House, having rejected leaving with the deal negotiated with the EU, then rejects leaving on the 29th of March without a Withdrawal Agreement and future framework, the government will by the 14th of March bring forth a motion on whether Parliament wants to seek a short, limited extension to Article 50, and if the House votes for an extension, seek to agree that extension approved by the House with the EU and bring forward the necessary legislation to change the exit date commensurate with that extension” to a date estimated to be mid-June.

May has never wanted to implement the will of the British People, and her deal was a "soft brexit" meaning they would essentially remian in the Union, at least in terms of economics. Britain wanted out, and the elites in Britain want to continue the systematic erosion of British culture under the internationalist banner. So a big show was held, a kabuki dance, and in the end those who oppose Brexit wind up winning.

Doesn't that sound like America these days? Big show, big fight over a border wall which won't be built, or a Kabuki dance over eliminating Obamacare which is still the law of the land.

In the eend a minority of elites wind up getting what they want.

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February 25, 2019

Civilizational Collapse and Willful Ignorance

Timothy Birdnow

I found this linked at the Drudge Report today. It is an analysis of how our civilization may be on the verge of collapse. Sadly, it is running in the BBC, which means it misses the point entirely.

Author Luke Kemp (no relation to our East Coast editor) is a " researcher based at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge". Not sure how you get such a job, but it apparently is what appears on the man's resume'.

At any rate, Kemp argues:

I would argue that they are. Societies of the past and present are just complex systems composed of people and technology. The theory of "normal accidents” suggests that complex technological systems regularly give way to failure. So collapse may be a normal phenomenon for civilisations, regardless of their size and stage.

We may be more technologically advanced now. But this gives little ground to believe that we are immune to the threats that undid our ancestors. Our newfound technological abilities even bring new, unprecedented challenges to the mix.

And while our scale may now be global, collapse appears to happen to both sprawling empires and fledgling kingdoms alike. There is no reason to believe that greater size is armour against societal dissolution. Our tightly-coupled, globalised economic system is, if anything, more likely to make crisis spread.

View image of Building falling into sea

If the fate of previous civilisations can be a roadmap to our future, what does it say? One method is to examine the trends that preceded historic collapses and see how they are unfolding today

Dr. Kemp lists the following as causes of societal collapse: more...

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Res-Idiotica

Timothy Birdnow

Here is the must-read essay on "education" in modern America by Patrick J. Deneen. Daneen is a professor at Notre Dame.

Here are a few excerpts:

My students are know-nothings. They are exceedingly nice, pleasant, trustworthy, mostly honest, well-intentioned, and utterly decent. But their minds are largely empty, devoid of any substantial knowledge that might be the fruits of an education in an inheritance and a gift of a previous generation. They are the culmination of western civilization, a civilization that has forgotten it origins and aims, and as a result, has achieved near-perfect indifference about itself.

It’s difficult to gain admissions to the schools where I’ve taught – Princeton, Georgetown, and now Notre Dame. Students at these institutions have done what has been demanded of them: they are superb test-takers, they know exactly what is needed to get an A in every class (meaning that they rarely allow themselves to become passionate and invested in any one subject), they build superb resumes. They are respectful and cordial to their elders, though with their peers (as snatches of passing conversation reveal), easygoing if crude. They respect diversity (without having the slightest clue what diversity is) and they are experts in the arts of non-judgmentalism (at least publically).

[...]
more...

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:08 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Women now Enjoy the Right to be Drafted

Timothy Birdnow

The Army is coming for your daughters!

A Bush appointed judge ruled male-only draft registration is unconstitutional and that girls must register for the draft.

This is just more of the thinking that the government owns your body, and can compel you to do things. America has no need of a draft in this high-tech era, as the need for boots on the ground is shrinking as technology makes soldiers more efficient. But that is not the purpose of the Selective Service Act; rather, it's to get the citizenry to accept a yoke around the neck. It's the bit in the horse's mouth.

So instead of ruling registration unconstitutional this imbecile judge rules gals have a right to be forced to obey too. Gee; that's justice for you!

Be careful what you wish for, ladies.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Why is Gitmo Empty?

Timothy Birdnow

Despite all his tough talk Donald Trump has failed to keep another campaign promise - to refill Gitmo with terrorist thugs.

From The Washington Times:

Even as Mr. Trumppleads with other nations to take back foreign-born Islamic State fighters now held in Syria, the White House hasn’t offered any serious proposals to move those militants to Guantanamo.

In his 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump vowed to refill the prison with "bad dudes” captured abroad.

Guantanamo now has about 40 detainees, down from a 2003 peak of 680 and down from the 41 detainees there when Mr. Obama left office, according to figures compiled by Human Rights First.

I don't know why we aren't using Gitmo for it's intended purpose. If we aren't going to use it for captured terrorists, at least let us put it to constructive use in other ways. I advocate using the prison to hold illegal aliens who have committed crimes; why should they enjoy the luxury of an American prison? Send them to Gitmo, and then even if they escape so what? They're still in Cuba.

Jimmy Carter detained tens of thousands of people at Guantanamo during the Mariel Boatlift era. For those who do not remember, Carter offered to take "refugees" from Castro who emptied his prisons and sent all the drgs of society to America, triggering the infamous Cubanm crime wave. (See the movie Scarface with Al Pacino for what is perhaps the only treatment of the issue in popular culture, even though it was a way-over-the-top movie.)

Also, Haitian refugees were temporarily housed at Gitmo, to the tune of 12.500 in 1991 and 50.000 in 1993. So And 30,000 Cuban refugees were detained there in the mid nineties.

So why don't we use it to detain illegal aliens from Central America?

(BTW, I love this line in the WaPo article from 1995; "Work turned from setting up Bible classes to setting up barbed wire." Can you imagine Bible classes for anyone now? And at the time it seemed normal even to the Washington Post.Bible classes are exactly what is needed in this Godless post-modern world.)

If Camp x-ray is to remain open we should return to her former mission. But if Trump doesn't choose to do that then there is a very useful thing it can be repurposed to.

Walls aren't always helpful just along borders, Mr. Trump...


Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:07 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 400 words, total size 4 kb.

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