 |
| Click above for the video |
Please note: there is literally nothing happening all along the Pacific Coast Highway here, and nothing being done to clear the debris. After five weeks isn't this some kind of scandal? Some kind of incompetence?
Thursday, 20 February 2025
Nothing happening in LA after the fires. Nothing.
“Germany in Revolt” | Katja Hoyer
 |
| Click above for the video |
She describes the problems with the proportionate voting system vs the first past the post of the U.K. and the U.S. where you can get genuine change. Whereas in the proportional system as in Germany, you just get a ashufflimg of the parties and no real change. The populations of Europe consistently want to have secure borders, control of illegal immigration, with numbers from 75% to 90% demanding this, but never getting it. Hence the rise of parties like the AfD. Which the Left, of course, calls “far right” because they have the temerity to reflect the will of the people.
But when these truths are shown to them by JD Vance — as at the recent Munich Security Conference— the political establishment and media go mental. Katja tells all.
From the intro:
Germany’s ruling Social Democrats(SPD) are facing losses the party has not seen since the 19th century in this weekend’s federal elections, while the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is set to double its vote share.
Here, historian and journalist Katja Hoyer explains how a failing economy, out-of-control migration and intrusive Net Zero policies have led to mass disaffection with the mainstream parties. She also discusses the growing class divide, the rise and fall of ‘left-conservatism’, and why JD Vance’s warnings about free speech resonated with East Germans.
Who has been running the U.S. presidency in the last four years? A: Not Joe...
 |
| Click above for the video |
In this video above Lindy Li gives names of who it was running the Biden administration. Actual names. Mostly of people we hadn’t heard of, other than Jill and Hunter.
Spoiler: It was not Biden.
Lindy Li, is a former campaign advisor and prominent commentator on U.S. politics who’s made significant contributions to the political landscape. After moving from China to America at the age of five, she eventually attended Princeton University where she became the first woman to serve as class president for all four years.
Her early career included roles as a financial analyst at Merck and Morgan Stanley before pivoting to politics, where she served as the Women's Co-Chair and Mid-Atlantic Regional Chair at the Democratic National Committee. She was also involved in the Asian American outreach team for Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.
Li has recently transitioned from her Democratic roots to align with conservative politics, citing a toxic culture within her former party as one of many reasons for her departure. She has been vocal in criticising both President Biden and Vice President Harris, claiming that their leadership has stifled dissent within the party.
She currently co-chairs the Justice Unites Us Super PAC, focusing on increasing Asian-American voter turnout, and has been recognized as one of Pennsylvania's most powerful women. In January 2025, she was appointed to President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural fundraising committee, marking a significant shift in her political affiliations.
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
"5 Harsh Truths About Decluttering for Seniors..."
I think about this a lot, coming up to 80, as I am. I do keep ongoing decluttering, but still have stuff that I can't bring myself to get rid of. Mainly old letters, for example. Imagine! People writing in longhand. Puttng the paper in the envelope, writing on the address, and putting a stamp on it, then taking it to the post office. Then there's the memory of the excitement of seeing familiar writing on the envelope when you get it in your far clime. And sometimes to go back and reread some old favourites.
How can you get rid of that?
Still, the thoughts in the above video are somewhat interesting. The thing I don't like about it is that the voice, I'm pretty sure, is AI. Don't like this trend.
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
“JD Vance’s message at Munich” | Dominic Green
Vice President JD Vance’s Friday speech at the Munich Security Conference was the most significant American address in Germany since 1987, when President Reagan declared: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The U.S. saved Europe from itself three times in the last century, in World War I, World War II and the Cold War. Mr. Vance offered to save Europe from itself again. But this time, the cavalry won’t be coming.
In Munich, a historic byword for appeasement, Mr. Vance issued a call to arms. The most worrisome threat to Europe, he said, isn’t from Russia or China. It is “the threat from within.” Really, this is a threat from above. Europe’s governing class has eviscerated the “fundamental values” that Europe shares with the U.S. It has reneged on its military commitments to America and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It has opened its gates to mass immigration and Islamist terrorism. To evade the electoral reckoning, it censors, smears and suppresses the objections of the lawful majority: a “surefire way to destroy democracy.”
Mr. Vance’s Munich speech came three days after his equally devastating address at the Paris AI Action Summit. The European Union, he said, has fallen behind in tech development because it manages artificial intelligence through risk aversion and regulatory restriction. Mr. Vance called this a “terrible mistake” that America “cannot and will not accept.” Europe’s self-imposed incapacity will create markets for “autocratic governments” and technologies of repression. The alternative is to embrace the future with “optimism rather than trepidation.”
Combine the two speeches and you have the classic American one-two. Economic and individual freedom support each other. Innovation, competitiveness and risk-taking are the natural partners of liberty, free speech and democracy. Europe should be the natural partner of the U.S. and a key link in the emerging American-led alignment. But Europe is divorced from reality. President Trump and Vladimir Putin’s negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine will, like many recent heavyweight boxing bouts, be held in Saudi Arabia. While Mr. Vance was dispensing tough love in Europe, the president had more important things to do, such as hosting a state visit by Narendra Modi of India.
Friends don’t let friends drift into the strategic twilight. Nor do they censor American social-media companies, as British and European politicians frequently threaten. They don’t petition the legislature to ban their country’s second most popular political party, as 124 German lawmakers did in January; or overturn election results, as recently happened in Romania; or, in a British case that Mr. Vance described, arrest people for silent prayer across the road from an abortion clinic. Liberalism was born in Britain. It will die there if this goes on.
The recent contraction of speech rights in the U.K. and Europe is as undeniable as its causes are obvious. No one voted for mass immigration or to dissolve freedom and national identity into an unelected bureaucracy in Brussels. No one chose to live in societies where keeping the peace means the return of de facto blasphemy laws amid constant irruptions of Islamist terrorism. When Europe’s voters back parties that oppose out-of-control migration, official Europe calls them “far right.” As Mr. Vance said in Munich, no democracy can survive “telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief, are invalid or unworthy of even being considered.”
The Afghan asylum seeker who rammed his car into a crowd of union demonstrators in Munich the day before Mr. Vance spoke—killing a 2-year-old girl and her mother and injuring more than 30 people—made the vice president’s argument for him. So did German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who said Mr. Vance’s Munich speech was “not acceptable.” Kaja Kallas, a vice president of the European Commission, accused Mr. Vance of “trying to pick a fight.” Senior European diplomats were quoted calling the speech “mad,” “dangerous,” and “outrageous.” While Britain’s Labour leadership ducked from sight, a “government source” told London’s Times that Mr. Vance was “bat s—.”
Mr. Vance caused snobbish panic in all the right places. In reality, not all the gaps between Europe and the U.S. are as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. Defense spending in Europe has risen steadily since Barack Obama started complaining about “free riders” in NATO. A U.S.-Russian agreement on Ukraine offers a chance to rebind Russia and its energy sector to Europe under American supervision. On the other hand, the gap on China is wide and set to widen further. Germany is committed to a pro-China export policy, and the import of Chinese-made solar panels and electric cars is a European Union policy priority.
Another commonality between the U.S. and Europe is the popular search for what Mr. Vance called a “new direction.” When Mr. Vance connected the dots among “end of history” vanity, swollen welfare budgets, speech controls and a willed failure to defend borders, he could have been describing his own country under the leadership of Mr. Obama and Joe Biden. Like Americans, Europeans are in revolt against illegal immigration, Islamism, rule by bureaucracy, judicial activism, media bias and government censorship. Europe’s leaders fear this popular Atlanticism. Of course they want to censor it. The last thing they want is another American revolution.
But the people of Europe may get the deciding vote. They, not their failed rulers, are Mr. Vance’s real audience. Like Reagan in 1987 and John F. Kennedy in 1963, Mr. Vance went to Germany to give hope to the beleaguered.
Mr. Green is a Journal contributor and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
"DOGE Is America's Most Important Project" | Farzad
 |
| Click above for the video |
She describes herself as an "Elon Fan Girl", as I'd describe myself as Elon Fan Boy. Feeling privileged to live in the Age of Musk. The entrepreneur and manufacturing genius of the millenium. Working, for free, for the government, to try to make it better, leaner and more efficient.
Monday, 17 February 2025
"CBS's Margaret Brennan BLAMES free speech for the HOLOCAUST" | The Based Conservative
 |
| Click above for the video |
For the record; first time I've posted something by "The Based Conservative".
I watched J.D. Vance's recent speeches in Europe and thought them pretty good. Straight shooting. Clear. Well delivered.
Turns out that the elites in Europe didn't like them one little bit. Watching the audience, all in their uniforms and finery, the likes of Macron, Scholtz, Starmer, Gueterras, von der Leyen, Noses turned up, as at a fart in an elevator.
Especially the one about Free Speech. For them it's "free speech for me, but not for thee". The Germans -- in the shape of Boris Pistorius -- did their best to debunk his thesis but only thereby proving it. Not realising the irony, obviously. Which the Germans are not known for. Irony....
An old leftie friend of mine asked me, as Elon Musk was buying Twitter, "are you a Free Speech absolutist?", the question dripping with venom. Clearly, to her, my only virtuous answer would have been "no". Even though Free Speech absolutism of the Voltaire sort -- "I may not agree with you, but will defend to my death your right to say it" -- was the position of the Left until five minutes ago.
Also: no way the AfD leader, Alice Weidel is a "far-right activist". Which the European elite claime, as J.D. Vance went to meet her. The American media were also against her. But she's middle of the road. She's a conservative who believes in:
- Euroscepticism: which many Europeans do, including all of the Left until five minutes ago.
- Immigration control: which 75-85% of Europeans also demand (but never get...)
- Free Market economic policies. "Far Right"?? Hardly.
- Social issues: she holds views that the majority of Americans voted for last November. Are they all "far right"? By the way, Alice Weidel is an out lesbian. For the record.... (no virtue points for that??). She doesn't believe in transing children. That's a view of the vast majority of both the United States and Europe.
- On what earth is Weidel "far right", except in the perfervid minds of the far left?
"Qatar's WAR against Israel & The U.S. (Dominating the media and academia with oil money)" | Oran Cahanovitc
 |
| Click above for the video |
Surely the west, led by the US, should do something. Like stop their funding of U.S. universities. Like pulling out the U.S. base there. Like not giving it the next World Cup. It's a rotten, corrupt, Jihadist country. Working its best to bring about the downfall of the west. But pretending otherwise.
They're a major promoter of the evil Muslim Brotherhood. A Jihadist, Islamist organisation hat's so wicked, they've been banned in many surrounding Arab countries, including Egypt.
0:00 - Intro 0:51 - Qatar 3:35 - Using the media against Israel 13:05 - Sponsor 14:00 - Using academia against Israel 19:00 - Summary
"... I rather resent being called a 'swamp thing'..."
"... I prefer the term 'wetlands-challenged mutant'"
Sunday, 16 February 2025
Democrats are crying wolf about the "constitutional crisis"
 |
| Click above for the video |
They tried various versions of trying to stop him. "Trump and Musk are criminals". "They mush be arrested!". "Musk is the actual president!". "Musk and Trump are stealing our secrets for their own profit!".
And then "We have a constitutional crisis".
Which 60-year Constitutional Professor at Harvard, life-time Democrat, Alan Dershowitz, debunks.
And so now on to their latest: "There's no transparency!" Which is a complete lie, or a complete ignorance, for I've been following all of what they're doing, with DOGE and Trump with everything, and this is the MOST transparent administration I've ever seen. That we've ever seen. Go figure.
Saturday, 15 February 2025
"Ana Kasparian DEBUNKS Rachel Maddow CONSPIRACY Trump Gave Elon Musk $400 Million Tesla Contract!" | Greg Foreman
Not much to say here, save for this:
1. I know quite a lot about the Cybertruck, which doesn't seem to be the case with any of the people reporting this story.
2. The Cybertruck is indeed the only bulletproof EV truck on the market.
3. It is a good choice for any organisation that needs a bulletproof EV. In fact, the only one.
4. MSNBC is showing yet again, how they outright lie. They must have known that the purchase was made under the Biden admin.
Good on Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks for calling out Rachel Maddow. Maddow, the serial liar. A non-stop purveyor, for example, of the Russia Collusion Hoax. While it remains the likes of MSNBC who demand the censorship of Social media for alleged Misinformation and Disinformation. Which remains, mostly, on the side of the Left. Really.
Meantime, The Young Turks is a far-Left pod, but becoming something like "woke" itself, as in woke in the good sense. Being a bit red-pilled. As has been Ana Kasparian. Who now calls out the lunacy of the far Left. As does, sometimes, her boss, the founder of TYT, Cenk Uighur.
Friday, 14 February 2025
The USAID Drama | The NatCon Squad
 |
| Click above for the video |
USAID was a cold war thing. Then came the nineties, end of the cold war, and they flailed. They found their way again in the 2000s, with the international woke program, of DEI, Trans, etc.
Good analysis. Recommend a watch.
My take: Despite the clear cases of fraud and mismanagement, now in USAID, and soon to come in the Departments of Education and Defence, the Dems are solidly against what's being done here by the Reps to root out graft and corruption. Because their snouts are deep in the trough. Is the only explanation.
Nothing like they were a few decades ago, when Clinton did a housekeeping, and canned 400,000 public sector jobs.
It must be up to the Executive to decide how money is spent and how staff are deployed.
Thursday, 13 February 2025
President Trump & Elon Musk Take Multiple Questions From Reporters In The Oval Office
 |
| Click above for the video |
"President Bill Clinton's efforts to reduce the size of government..."
The Dems have gone hysterical over the cuts Trump wants to mae to government services and staff, based on an audit being conducted by Elon Musk and his DOGE team. They have clearly forgotten -- or don't want to remember -- that Bill Clinton did the same bac in 1993, and that it was done with bi-partisan support. It's very telling that they now freak out over the determination of Trump & co, to get rid of waste, fraud and crime in the system. Here's what DeepSeek has to say on the subject;
President Bill Clinton's efforts to reduce the size of government were part of his broader agenda to create a more efficient, fiscally responsible federal bureaucracy. Here's a breakdown of key aspects of this initiative:
1. Federal Workforce Reduction- **Scope**: Approximately 300,000 federal jobs were eliminated during Clinton’s presidency (1993–2001), reducing the federal workforce to its smallest size since the 1960s.
- **Agencies Affected**: Cuts were concentrated in defense-related departments (e.g., the Department of Defense) post-Cold War, as well as agencies like Agriculture, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). However, some departments, such as Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice, expanded.
2. Reinventing Government Initiative (NPR)
- **National Performance Review (NPR)**: Led by Vice President Al Gore, this 1993 initiative aimed to streamline government operations by eliminating red tape, reducing waste, and emphasizing customer service. Examples include:
- Cutting 16,000 pages of federal regulations.
- Modernizing processes (e.g., moving services online).
- Closing redundant offices and consolidating functions.
3. Welfare Reform
- **1996 Welfare Reform Law**: The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act replaced federal entitlement programs (like Aid to Families with Dependent Children) with block grants to states (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). This shifted responsibility to states and required beneficiaries to work, reducing federal welfare rolls by over 60% by 2000.
4. Economic and Fiscal Policies
- **Deficit Reduction**: Clinton’s 1993 budget raised taxes on higher incomes and cut spending, contributing to a budget surplus by 1998—the first in decades.
- **Economic Growth**: A booming 1990s economy (fueled by tech innovation and globalization) increased tax revenues, reducing pressure on federal spending.
5. Privatization and Outsourcing
- The NPR encouraged outsourcing services to private contractors, which reduced federal employment but raised debates about whether this truly "shrunk" government spending.
Criticisms and Nuances
- **Contractor Reliance**: Critics argue workforce cuts masked growth in contractor use, potentially inflating costs.
- **Mixed Impact**: While some agencies downsized, others grew (e.g., Medicare/Medicaid due to demographic shifts).
- **Service Concerns**: Some argue cuts led to understaffing in critical areas like veterans' services or IRS enforcement.
Legacy
- Clinton’s policies contributed to a smaller federal workforce and a temporary budget surplus, reflecting a pragmatic approach to government efficiency. However, debates persist about whether this represented a true reduction in government’s role or a restructuring of its functions. His administration balanced fiscal discipline with targeted investments in education, healthcare, and technology, leaving a complex legacy on the size and scope of government.
Wednesday, 12 February 2025
"Welcome to Gaz-a-lago"
Mark Regev and Ruthie Blum will unpack all the details and questions surrounding the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump, from JNS’s studio in Jerusalem. Join them for a discussion diving into Trump’s possible plan for Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East.
Ruthie, as usual, is solid. Mark, not so much.
IMO, Trump's plan is to shake the box, so that people can think out of it. Though on Airforce One to the SuperBowl, he talked more about his Gaza "plan" saying the US would "buy" Gaza and then subcontract out the rebuild. As he says, "we'll see".
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
"Liberals RAGE Over JD Vance & Elon Musk Rehiring DOGE Staffer With Racist Social Media Posts!" | Greg Foreman
 |
| Click above for the video. By Greg Foreman |
This is all about race politics in the U.S. and as an old straight white dude, I'm not allowed a view. Or, if I did express one, I'd be complicit in white privilege, if not outright White Supremacy.
So, I let Greg Foreman do the talking here, above. Where he hammers the hypocrisy of the Left, in hammering J.D. Vance over a recent DOGE-related issue. All explained in the video above.
The short story is one of the super-young DOGE guys, who goes by the handle "Big Balls" made some racist comments on X. No-one denies they were racist. He got a lot of flack, because a Congressman, Ro Khanna, himself an Indian-American (in that horrid way Americans have of being hyphenated), attacked him for the racist X post which was anti Indian-Americans. Veep J.D. Vance came to the defence of Big Balls, not on the racism of the X post, but on the principle that one should have the grace of forgiveness. Relevant here is that J.D. Vance is himself married to an Indian-American woman.
I leave the rest to Greg, above.
As an aside, I note this: that Ro Khanna says "I'm proud that Usha Vance, the Second Lady of the United States is an Indian-American woman".
I ask: why is he proud? What exactly did he contribute to her becoming the second lady? Apart from some, presumably, similar ethnic genes? Biden regularly boasts that he's "Irish-American" because his granddaddy was Irish. Well, my granddaddy was Irish too. Should I be proud of that? Be proud of a connection to the American president? On what grounds? I'm Australian. I'm happy when Australia wins the Ashes cricket series. But proud? What have I done, me personally, to achieve the win? Other than share a passport.
If Ro Khanna is "proud" of the Indian bit of Indian-American, is he then ashamed when India does something horrible? How does he feel that India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, unleashed his Hindu hordes on the Muslim minority in Gujarat, when he was governor there, leading to the massacre of 2,000 Muslims? Does Khanna have shame? If not why not? I mean, consistency, right? You can't only be "proud" but never "ashamed".
Hypocrisy, hypocrisy soup to nuts.
Monday, 10 February 2025
Trump's First Fortnight Frenzy
[Note to American friends: a "fortnight" is English for "two weeks"]
Out last night, bumped into a friend who said "how are you handling these first weeks of chaos?"
Knowing he's talking of America -- who isn't? -- I answered "I'm super happy." At which my friend moved to other topics, remembering, I presume, that we had different feelings about politics in the U.S., and that we'd maintained our friendship by a mutually assured decision not to talk politics.
But I thought; you know what? You folks on the Left, Dems 'n all, who hate on Trump, you all (y'all) really need to watch beyond CNN, MSNBC. If you're Aussie, you need to watch beyond the ABC. If you're a Brit, you need to watch beyond the BBC.
I do watch beyond all those. I watch all those, and then some. But if you only watch, as my friend above does -- he's told me -- CNN, then you're going to think that the first two weeks of Trump's presidency are "chaos". Because that's what they're saying. And therefore that's what my friend believes is the Truth.
Which it most assuredly is not. Trump's first weeks, his first fortnight, is a triumph.
For those of us who were excited by the Trump landslide win, these first two weeks -- a "fortnight" for us English speeakers -- have been exhilarating.
What President Trump has done is just what he said he'd do. It's the speed that he's done these that's surprised everyone, supporters and the Dems alike. For supporters, it's been full on adrenalin. For the Trump haters, it's been discombobulating. Their reactions disconcerting. Conniptions all around.
CNN has reverted to full-on hate-on-Trump, despite hints from senior management that they would try to be more balanced. The talk shows are all about how crazy this man is, how authoritarian, how fascist all his supporters are. How much "chaos" there is. Back to what they did all along before -- projection.Theirs is the chaos, now projected on Trump.
What Trump has done in the first weeks of his presidency has never been done before. We won't see its like again, surely not in my lifetime.
Just a quick run-through. From memory. The border is now effectively closed. There's miles of new fence up. The National Guard on the American side, an extra 10,000 Mexican troops on the Mexican side. Border Czar Tom Holman is rounding up illegal immigrant criminals, the worst of them, the murderers, rapists and gang members, and sending them back to their home countries. This is something Trump campaigned on, and which 75% of the population supports.
There's even more support for his Executive Order to ban genetic males from female sports. That's supported by 79% of the population, including 67% of Dems and 94% of Reps.
His tariff policies -- as much weapons of trade as revenue sources -- have led to early and clear victories. Mexico is stopping the flow of illegals through its territory and sent 10k troops to the border, and promises more to control fentanyl. Canada has established its own Border Czar and a Fentanyl Czar to boot. Trump has delayed the tariffs in response. Rather than acknowledge the Win, CNN call it "flip flopping". And, of course, "chaos". Which Australia's ABC dutifully parrots.
Trump has launched the DOGE team on the bureaucracy and the Dems have gone bananas. As if he didn't say that's what he was going to do (which the DOGE team did, in detail, in the New York Times) and as if reducing the size of government is not something that all sides agree needs doing to control the deficit and overall debt. Really, really crazy stuff. Which is proceeding as it should, but which CNN, in addition to calling it "chaos" regularly calls it "illegal" (it's not) and platforms people calling for the arrest of the DOGE team. It's truly crazy.
But to my liberal friend, it's all "Chaos", because CNN -- the news -- says it is.
Which is why you need, we all need, to watch and read more widely. Watch beyond CNN, MSNBC, ABC, BBC. Read beyond The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian.
Watch podcasts of credible people on the Right.
Here's my "Reading list for liberals" and some more here.
Like Megyn Kelly, The All-in pod, Victor Davis Hanson, The Spectator, The Nation Review, Greg Foreman (that I posted about here), DeVory Darkins.
And there's always Fox.
I can't count the number of times liberal friends have asked me "do you watch Fox?", expecting that to be a gotcha. I mean, if you watch Fox -- Fox! -- you must be a fascist!
To which the answer is "yes, of course I do, as well as CNN, MSNBC, etc. If I didn't I'd only have one side of the picture". That remains the case. It's crazy to me that people simply refuse to watch and read on "the other side", because it's too uncomfortable (I know it is; you have to force yourself). Liberals, including my dear relatives, will say "I never watch Fox. It's terrible!". How do you know if you don't watch it?
Back to the main story. Trump is having a busy and productive time. He's getting stuff done. It's done in a planned and logical manner. It's just confounding the Left, who have no word for it than "chaos". They're wrong. And the sooner they realise this, the sooner they might become a credible alternative. For the moment they are not.
====================
Related
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)