Canberra 2012

Mother (aka Mutti) -- 91 at the time; now 103 and still going strong -- Dad (me), sister and daughters. January 2012, Canberra, Australia. 

Media Bias Chart

 

A reference tool. 

Many other of the "Media Bias" charts out there, are themselves biased. Making like those in the Centre are the most "reliable", but where those in the Centre should be moved half way along to the left and downgraded in terms of reliability. IMO. The above doesn't try to also rank "reliability". The only way to get reliability, in my view, is to look at a number of sources. 

The Truth About Apartheid in South Africa | Rob Hersov

Click above for the video

Rob Hersov has good, sound, solid, historical, truthful takes on what's going on in South Africa. 

A country I lived in for a year and have visited a number of times since. That I've driven over from north to south, from east to west. And I've many South African friends. 

So... If you happen to have visited the wine region in Stellenbosch, in the Cape Province, you've seen only the best of the place. The one run by the opposition.There's a lot more. A lot different. Shops have mesh grates. Houses have electric fences. 

It's way, way worse than when I was first there. And that's all down to the corruption and racism of the African National Congress. 

Farmers are indeed under threat. I know a number that have been attacked. Who sailed with me. And then moved to Australia. Because he knew personally friends, farmers, who'd been killed. It is absolutely an attack on white people. 

Why the Media Keep Getting It Wrong | Becket Adams

I was going to write this: i.e. "Why the Media Keep Getting It Wrong". Aka: "why the Dems keep getting it wrong."

Then Becket Adams did it for me. Link below.

What got me going was this clip from the ex Obama boys at Pod Save America, one of the most leftie of left wing podcasts. 

Look at the bit I've highlighted in red. I gasped. Imagine being so in a bubble that you actually believe you're the party of "truth, facts and science, while the Republicans are the party of spin, lies and authoritarian delusion". Imagine!

I mean, this is the party that dreamed up the Steele Dossier, Crossfire Hurricane and the whole Russia Collusion thing, which their own man, Robert Mueller comprehensively debunked.... but which they nonetheless still  cling on to. Russia delusion.

This was the party that believed that Donald Trump had said Nazis were "fine people", when he said the exact opposite: ".... I'm not referring to Neo-nazis and white supremacists, who must be condemned absolutely", he said in Charlottesville. Yet Joe Biden told us that that was the reason he entered the race for the presidency. On the basis of a lie. 

This was the party that spun and lied about the Hunter Biden laptop and decided to believe -- whether or not they did -- that 51 intelligence officials had said it was "Russian disinformation", when we know and knew then that the laptop was real and had disturbing info about Hunter and his dad's dodgy dealings with dodgy governments. 

That's the party that claims the moral high ground? Somehow I'd assumed that behind closed doors they knew something, at least, about the facts. The truth. But no, apparently. They were the ones in a delusion. 

I let Adams take it further, more gracefully:

Bali, releasing baby turtles, 2017

What's with the immigration thing? Why have Democrats flip flopped?

The Democrats used to believe in controlling immigration. You have to secure the borders. You need to vet who's coming into the country. Because if you don't you harm the interests of our working class. 

The Dems had empathy for their own citizens. The ones who would be most impacted by unrestrained, uncontrolled, immigration. That was their virtue signal. Then.

And it was right. Any country is right to have more empathy for its own people. Especially if the ones you have empathy for are the poorest in your society. 

Then things changed. I'm not sure when. 

But for sure, by the time Joe Biden was in the White House, the Democrats -- not necessarily Joe himself, who was suffering from brain meltdown, as we on the Right knew all along, but now even the Democrats know from books like "Original Sin" -- had decided that they really, really, wanted Open Borders. 

In the first few years of Joe Biden's administration, the numbers of illegals crossing the borders increased tenfold. All due to specific policy. 

All while the legacy media paid no attention. So the only people that knew about it were on the Right. 

The question is: why did they do this? Why did they abandon their policy of controlling immigration, a policy that luminaries like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had followed?

I've come down to three answers: 

1. The Indentured Servants reason. 

2. The John Lennon "Imagine" reason.

3. The Make America California reason. 

The "indentured servants" reason is this: that we need our illegal immigrants (aka "undocumented migrants") to come mow our lawns. To trim our hedges. To serve our tequilas.  To cater our cocktail parties. 

There's a thing called "they said the quiet part out loud". And boy was that the case with Bishop Miiam Edgar Budde, who spoke at Trump's inauguration. She told herself she was going to Speak Truth to Power, I guess. But in reality gave us the best example of “saying the quiet part out loud”. 

. "Who's going to pick our crops", she asked the new president, who sat glowering in his seat. "Who will clean our offices?". "Who will labour in our poultry farms, and our meat packing plants?". "Who will wash our dishes and pick our blueberries?". Who will do the nightshifts at our hospitals?". Yes, she said all that! The noble pastor, this woman of God. All apart from: Who gonna pick our cotton?  

The answer to these questions is: resident working class Americans will do the jobs if we just pay them well enough. That is, increase their real wages, which have been flat for decades. And which used to be an aim of the Democrats before they decided to shift their empathy from fellow citizens to illegal non-citizens.

The John Lennon “Imagine” reason comes down to the line “imagine there’s no borders… it’s very easy to do”. There’s a whole lotta people out there who genuinely believe the world would be a better place with no borders. OK. Then fight an election over it! You’d be up against the 80% of people — around the western world — who don’t agree with you. What you can’t do -- at least, what you shouldn't do --is pretend you’re for national borders, as Biden did in the campaign — and then have the radical open-borders wing of the administration, the Bernie’s, the Ilhan Omar’s, hijack the policy and promptly open the borders. 

The making America into California reason. This is the Democrats' idea that bringing in vast numbers of illegal immigrants will strengthen their electoral base. The ultimate aim being “Californication” of America. A state, a country, so Blue, so Democrat that Republicans can’t ever win again. A One Party State. We then have a monopoly of the Left. 

How do we know this is one of the Democrats’ aims? Because they tell us, again and again. Democrat luminaries like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, AOC, Ayanna Pressley… all tell us. Gleefully so, when the border is wide open, as it was during the whole of the Biden administration. 

Anyway, that’s my summary. Any others you think of, let me know. 

Happens that 80% of folks are against open borders and unchecked illegal immigration. Folks want a secure border, as Dems used to stand for. But elites today don’t care. For they are, they see themselves, as Thomas Sowell has pointed out, as “The Anointed”. 

"I'm a big fan of Chinese capabilities" | Elon Musk

Click above for the video

Elon Musk: "China energy growth is exponential. The US's is flat`'. 

ME: the next decades are all about Energy, Energy, Energy. He with the most, wins. 

"The number of smart hard working Chinese is phenomenal. The rest of the world doesn't understand'. 

"The United States still has the advangage in Breakthrough technologies." China has the advantage in making things better, quicker and cheaper. 

In AI: "We're in the Big Bang stage of AI. Things are going to get real interesting". 

They could also go bad; are we going to be in a Gene Roddenberry movie or a James Cameron movie? Star Trek, or Alien. We want to be in a Gene movie, thinks Musk. Incredible technology, but optimistic. Not dark. Good outcomes. 

Musk founded xAI in 2023. It's now worth $120 Billion. Go figure that one. 

By the way: Elon is hammering the Republicans for their "Big Beautiful" spending bill. Not enough cuts. Now saying that the only way to succeed for the US is to grow GNP, since no government seems capable of cutting spending. 

Boxing Day 2022, Fussball tourney winners

Why do we still embrace socialism? | Thomas Sowell

 

The most succinct views in the danger of socialism, from Thomas Sowell. 

Who used to be a Marxist. 

Australia just had an election. Does it matter?

Since 1960 the average GNP growth is 3.2% pa, with both parties
performing roughly the same

"Australia just had an election. Does it matter?"

On the whole, No.  It doesn't matter. 

As I said here, Australian elections hardly influence the way Australia goes. Go back to 1960 and up to today, 60-plus years. Let's look at GNP growth as a simple (if simplistic) measure of how a country is doing. 

When the Labor Party (the "progressives") were in power they averaged 3.1% GNP growth.

When the Liberal Party (the "conservatives") were in power they averaged 3.2% GNP growth.

That's not a statistically significant difference. 

Each party offered this or that. Tweaks and twiddles. They tweaked tax rates and retirement funds. They twiddled health policy and public housing. But overall, they did about the same. Their foreign policy was usually bipartisan. 

So, overall, no, no really difference, and any one election doesn't really matter. 

But the most recent election did matter more than most for one reason: Energy policy. 

The Labor Party: All-in on renewables. Wants zero to do with Nuclear. Aiming for "Net Zero" carbon emissions.

The Liberal Party: Fine with renewables, but also wants to include Nuclear energy, currently illegal (!) in Australia.

The Labor Party was disgraceful the way it smeared Nuclear. They put out childish memes with three-eyed koalas and other fear-mongering nonsense. 

But the Liberal Party didn't present a good case for nuclear either. They were coy about the costs, when they could have simply said: "they'll be around 10 billion per installed Gigawatt". 

And they suggested we could roll out reactors quickly, when they should have been more cautious, pushing for first of all a repeal of the stupid laws that literally ban nuclear energy in Australia. This makes no sense. Australia is the only country in the world that bans civil nuclear energy, and yet we're one of the biggest exporters of uranium for nuclear power, which at the very least makes us a big time hypocrite. 

Let's not forget that there are 450 reactors around the world, that nuclear countries are saying they're going to ramp up new reactors and that there are dozens of countries who are planning to do so. The IPCC says we need to increase nuclear power five fold. 

Just us Aussies that are scared of nuclear power. Weird, weird. 

[Despite the fact that an Aussie icon, Australian of the Year, entrepreneur and environmentalist, Dick Smith, is patron of Nuclear for Australia.]

The scaremongering of the Labor Party was echoed by the Australian Conservation Foundation, that I've been a member of since 1969 to today. The ACF also ran a scare campaign along the lines of "nuclear is dirty, dangerous and expensive". It is none of those things. The Labor Party and the ACF are both guilty of monster "misinformation" that they claim they're so worried about in the public sphere. 

By the way, we here in Hong Kong, our household has 20 kW of solar panels on our roof. This is Feed in Tariff power we "sell" to the grid. Our grid electricity, from Hong Kong's China Light and Power is nuclear, from the Daya Bay Nuclear power station about 20 miles to our north east. 

So we are both nuclear and solar. Let no one say we're hypocrites! 

Our house in Discovery Bay.
Rooftop is 20kW of FiT solar. Grid power is nuclear, from Daya Bay

Hong Kong has about one quarter the per capita carbon emissions as Australia at 3T/capita/year vs 12T/capita/year for Australia. We here in Hong Kong achieved this level -- one that Australia is struggling to get to by 2030 -- many years ago, by a combination of nuclear and natural gas. Australia is struggling with getting its carbon emission number down, despite committing billions to renewables. Which have only led to more expensive electricity with lower reliability. Because they're All-in with renewables and insist on No Nuclear and No Natural gas. 

And that's why the last election mattered. Growth is all about energy. I fear Australia is down a path to penury, not to energy affordability and security. (As a side note: expensive electricity is extremely regressive, as it affects the working class far more than it does the laptop class of pollies and journos). 

To me, the last election went the wrong way. Because the Labor Party is going to continue with its Net Zero mania, with its anti-nuclear mania, with its anti-gas mania. Even though a big part of the blame I can put on the Liberals, for an incompetent campaign. 

I'll bet that in ten years Australian carbon emissions will still not at the level of carbon emissions per capita that we are here in Hong Kong. 

Anyone willing to take on that bet? 

Megyn Kelly CALLED OUT Jake Tapper | Stephen A. Smith reaction

Click above for the video

"I respect the hell out of that woman", says Stephen A. Smith, talking of Megyn Kelly giving it hard to Jake Tapper, over his book "Original Sin", which covers the declining mental cognitive abilities of Joe Biden.

"She does not play. She does not pull punches". 

"She lives and dies by the facts". He says. True 'dat. If you want to know what's going on in the pol sphere, and you only have one choice, that's gotta be MK. 

Defending Elon (again) | "I don't like Elon Musk". Tell me why!

The full poll is here.

People used to love Elon Musk. Less than a year ago, he had the highest Net Favourable rating of any public figure, which I reported here. 

Now he's the least popular. His net has turned around no less that 21 percentage points to the negative. See above. Or here. 

I've assumed that most of the hate was from Democrats, who love to hate on Trump and so now hate on Elon, Trump's main man to cut government waste, fraud and abuse via the DOGE. I've seen them in Vox pops from various demos around the country, my own demographic, aging white baby boomers, mostly full of it -- misinformation that is, that they're regurgitating from MSNBC and CNN. 

They'll say things like "Teslas are not good quality and they've got safety issues", when the opposite is the case. The Tesla model Y is the best selling car in the world, of all types, EV and ICE and they constantly top the safety charts. They'll moan about "killing veterans, impoverishing the elderly, going after Medicare and Medicaid", all wrong and provably so. 

I'd thought that those leftie baby boomers were the main haters on Elon. 

Turns out though, that there are some haters on Elon much closer to home. And to them I say: "What is your beef with Elon? Why don't you like him?" Give me a few reasons. I'll wait. 

Meantime, I'll set down my reasons why I do like Elon. Why I'm a fully paid up member of the Elon Fan-boy club.

1.  The number of companies that he's established

Since 1995 he's established 11 companies, all of them life-changing. He has created almost $US 2 Trillion dollars in value. 

SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, is a trailblazer in making space accessible and advancing humanity’s cosmic ambitions, slashing launch costs with reusable rockets like Falcon 9 (~$62–67 million per launch vs. $1.5 billion for the Space Shuttle), landing 246 rockets in 2024 and deploying Starlink’s 7,500+ satellites. Its Starship, aiming for Mars missions to build a city of 1 million by 2050, has already achieved milestones like the 2024 orbital test, saving NASA billions through contracts (e.g., $1.6 billion for ISS resupply) while employing 20,000 innovators.

2.  The number of people he has given employment to

Nearly 200,000 people are employed at his companies, in jobs that pay well above the average. 

3.  The number of investors he's enriched

Just from TSLA alone he has enriched the 12 million people invested in that company. Since its IPO in 2010, Tesla stock has grown an unprecedented 28,089%. This comes out to a CAGR of 86%, well above the next highest performing companies in their first 15 years since IPO: 

4.  His impact on climate change abatement

Tesla and SolarCity (now part of Tesla) have reduced the amount of annual carbon dioxide released into the air by around 25 to 27 million metric tonnes per year. 

I have not been able to find another single individual who has had comparable practical impact on the warming emissions of the globe, which we are constantly assured by the Left is a "climate emergency". To the extent that it is indeed an emergency, the single most impactful person in facing that emergency is Elon Musk and his companies. But folks on the left hate on him anyway. 

5.  Starlink gives internet to the masses

Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation provides high-speed, low-latency internet globally, especially in underserved areas.

It transforms humanity by delivering high-speed connectivity to over 2.6 million users in 100+ countries, especially in remote and disaster-stricken areas, enabling education, economic growth, and emergency response. 

Starlink bridges the digital divide, supports scientific research, and enhances national security, with its 7,500+ satellites saving lives (e.g., Ukraine, Hurricane Helene) and driving ~$500 billion in potential GDP growth by 2030.

6. Neuralink gives back independence for people with disabilities

There is the very real prospect of Musk's Neuralink company restoriging sight for the blind, hearing for the deaf, mobility for the quadriplegic. 

Neuralink’s primary focus is helping those with severe neurological conditions, like quadriplegia, ALS, or spinal cord injuries, regain control over their lives. The N1 implant allows users to control devices (e.g., computers, phones, wheelchairs) with their thoughts alone.

Neuralink could revolutionize treatment for conditions like Parkinson’s, epilepsy, depression, and Alzheimer’s by precisely stimulating brain regions or restoring lost neural connections.

And that's just one of Musk's companies! One that is rarely mentioned. What have you done today, you Musk haters?

7. The Boring company is revolutionising transport

Building underground tunnels to reduce traffic congestion, cut commute times, and lower carbon emissions, making cities more livable and sustainable for millions. 

Its Vegas Loop, operational since 2021, has transported over 2 million passengers by 2025, proving efficient, electric-powered transit, while projects like the proposed D.C.–Baltimore hyperloop aim to connect regions, boost economies, and align with Musk’s vision of a greener, faster future.

And now... drum roll.... to Musk's BIG VISION

8.  Elon Musk's driving vision is to make life multiplanetary

All of the above fit into that overall vision: 

Elon Musk’s vision to make humanity multiplanetary, to ensure our species’ survival by building self-sustaining colonies on Mars. SpaceX’s Starship is designed to ferry 100+ people and cargo for a city of 1 million by 2050, powered by reusable rocket tech that’s slashed launch costs (e.g., $62–67 million per Falcon 9 vs. $1.5 billion for the Space Shuttle) and Starlink’s revenue from 2.6 million users. 

His vision is driven by his fear of existential threats like asteroids or AI. It leverages Neuralink to enhance human cognition for space exploration, Tesla’s sustainable energy for Martian habitats and The Boring Company’s tunneling for underground Mars bases, uniting his 186,000-strong workforce in a cosmic endeavour.

Tesla’s Optimus robots will build habitats on Mars to mine resources. Production of Optimus is scaling from 2025 to deploy thousands of human-like bots capable of 200+ tasks, reducing human risk and accelerating colony growth. By integrating Optimus with SpaceX’s logistics, Neuralink’s brain-machine interfaces, and Tesla’s energy systems, Musk aims to create a robust Martian economy for humanity to become a “spacefaring civilization”.

==================

That's it for me. That's my case for why I'm a fan of Elon Musk.

He's created Trillions of dollars in wealth. He's changed to the world for the better. His companies will continue to do so. He has employed nearly 200,000 people in high-paying, rewarding jobs. He has enriched the shareholders of his public companies beyond imagination.

And he has a big, a huge, vision that all of this is part of. What's not to like?

What? You still don't? Still don't like? Well, over to you, you "I don't like Musk" people. What is it you don't like? That he sends silly tweets. That he likes Donald Trump? That he's a Nazi??

If you think you might come up with the "Elon Musk has just made his money from government grants and subsidies; he's no great businessman" line, be prepared for I have the rebuttal!

Byron at Bay

Our Labradoodle, Byron, marching by the Bay, at Discovery Bay, Hong Kong. Auberge Hotel in the background. Yesterday. 

Saudi Politician EXPOSES What NO OTHER Arab Will Admit About Qatar | Adel al-Jubeir

Click above for the video
https://youtu.be/JWV51rjmSvU?si=Wv6MAJf4hWzgFsCp

The Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir lays it out. The case against Qatar. With some humour. 

Sometime there's no "best" choice. There's only a bad choice and a less bad choice. Here it's going with Saudi -- otherwise a thoroughly execrable regime -- rather than going with Qatar, which today, is far worse. 

The Saudi Foreign Minister is amazingly open about he duplicity, the two-faced-ness, the terrorism supporting Qataris. We in the west really need to be onto this. I've been onto it here on this blog for a decade or more, but never as strongly as now, that they are supporting Hamas, Hezbollah and even the Shia Iranians. 

From an Occasional Reader: 

The Qatar Lobby Is Exactly What the Israel Lobby Never Was 

By Abe Greenwald

When visiting several struggling U.S.-allied countries, I’ve been approached by well-meaning, pro-Israel officials and foreign-policy thinkers who ask me some version of the question: “How do we get an ‘Israel lobby’ of our own?” And each time, I’ve explained: You don’t. Because the Israel lobby isn’t what you think it is. First, the supposed money and power of the Israel lobby is wildly exaggerated by anti-Semites. Second, the American connection to Israel is unique. Its roots are deep and complicated. 

The affinity between the two nations goes back to the Founding of the U.S., our self-conception as a New Jerusalem, and our destiny as a beacon of God-given liberty. That feeling has grown and spread and been bolstered by the many bilateral ties and shared interests between the U.S. and the modern State of Israel. Pro-Israel organizations and networks in the U.S. aren’t buying political favors; they’re strengthening the longstanding and wide-ranging organic links between America and the Jewish state. That’s impossible for another country to recreate. 

It turns out, what these people really wanted to know was how to create their own version of a Qatar lobby. An explosive and insightful article by Frannie Block and Jay Solomon at the Free Press reveals that Qatar has done exactly what Israel has long been accused of doing. It’s paid nearly $100 billion to purchase American power and permission, and it has ingrained itself in American media, energy, real estate, education, foreign policy, and more. As a result, it’s getting its way.

To say there’s no organic connection between the U.S. and Qatar doesn’t suffice. We’re a democratic republic, they’re a dynastic kingdom. We believe in liberty, they’re theocratic slaveowners. We strive to maintain global security, they menace our allies, finance Islamist terrorism all over the Muslim world, and provide terrorists safe haven inside Qatar. To be sure, it’s been costly to smooth over all this dissonance and get Washington to look the other way. Which is why, according to the piece, “Qatar spent three times more in the U.S. than Israel did on lobbyists, public-relations advisers, and other foreign agents in 2021.” That’s just one year. In total, it’s worked. We’ve been bought by the enemy. 

Anti-Semitic paranoiacs claim that the Israel lobby has shut down criticism of Israel in the U.S. Meanwhile members of Congress talk about “evil” Israel pulling the strings of American policymakers, and seas of protesters flow through the streets calling for Israel’s destruction. 

Qatar, on the other hand, has successfully tamped down unwanted criticism. It bought off one of its most vocal critics, Republican adviser Elliott Broidy, for more than $150 million. Think about what the Qataris have spent on people you’ve heard of. And Qatar has purchased the acquiescence of many others, Republicans and Democrats, with investment contracts and campaign donations.  The article reveals that after one university professor denounced Qatari terrorist support, he received a reprimand from a “very senior” Pentagon official who told him that such criticism “endangers” the Al Udeid Air Base, a massive U.S. military facility built in and paid for by Qatar. Yet Al Udeid itself endangers American security. As Block and Solomon report, “maintaining the air base in Qatar comes with a significant string attached: The Gulf monarchy has said it would oppose military strikes on Iran from its soil.” So Qatar has a say in critical U.S. military policy. 

There’s so much more. From grade schools (over $1million paid to the New York Department of Education in three years) to the presidency (the airplane, the resort deal, and beyond), Qatar has bribed its way into vital American institutions. One result is this: When you see students, media personalities, politicians denouncing the nefarious Israel lobby, you’re watching what the Qatar lobby has paid for. And if you’re parroting those voices, it’s purchased you as well. 

Abe Greenwald is the executive editor of COMMENTARY.

Interview with the Israeli Ambassador to the United States | Yechiel Leiter

Gaza will never become an independent nation, Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter says. “There's not going to be an independent sovereign state other than Israel west of the Jordan River,” Leiter told The Daily Signal. “There could be all sorts of autonomous arrangements,” he said, “but there's not going to be an independent sovereign Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. It's just not going to be.” The nation of Israel extends from the Jordan River west to the Mediterranean Sea to form the narrow country that is roughly the size of New Jersey. Since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, pro-Palestine protesters in America and round the world have chanted, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” referring to Palestine fully occupying the land between the Joran River and the Mediterranean Sea, in turn eliminating the nation of Israel. Following Oct. 7, there is a “complete absence of bandwidth” in Israel for the creation of a Palestinian state next to Israel. There is, however, a great deal of interest in Israel to expand partnerships with nations in the Middle East through the Abraham Accords, according to Leiter.

Not only that. The Palestinians, as represented by Hamas, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah, has never wanted a Palestinian State. Check out their Charters. Check out their position papers. Ask them: where is the map of what you would accept in a two-state solution? There is none. Because they never wanted a Two-state "Solution". Never wanted to live in peace with a Jewish neighbour. They have only ever wanted, and still only want, to eliminate Israel and kill all the Jews. That's the fact of the case. That's the TRUTH.

Stick through to the end. Ambassador Leiter talks movingly of his eldest son, who was killed recently in northern Gaza.

Wedding couple on recent visit to Xiamen, China

Free Trade, free trade, free trade...

"Free Trade, free trade, free trade!... "

That's what I'm told, over and over, by Occasional Readers. And I agree, from my 1972 Bachelor of Economics (Pass... just...) I learned in Eco 101 that "Free trade is good". 

And I've believed it all my life. 

But... you know who doesn't believe it? China. It has a raft of tariff and non-tariff barriers on the rest of the world, and has done since it joined the WTO in 2001. As does the EU.

Why do they think it's good to have tariffs? But, uniquely, the US should not. Because, you know... Trump. 

Professor Thomas Sowell has apparently changed his mind. This great mind, once the pure free trader. Now seeing the logic of using tariffs as a brickbat. 

Loving Hamas hating Jews

Click above or go here

I'm putting the above for reference. It's a collection of articles, pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, anti-Jew, by John Menadue, now 90, in his time a senior Aussie bureaucrat that I kinda knew, via my then senior partner, Steve FitzGerald, both old time Aussie Labor Party luvvies. 

John seemed a nice and reasonable guy when I knew him. He swung pretty far left over the years, as I occasionally dipped into his rawwther pretentiously named "Pearls and Irritations". Which tended to give me the toe-curls and irritations. 

I've read a number of the essays in the e-book above. For now I'm just posting it. If you're convinced by these essays, and have been sitting on the fence till now, well heaven help you. 

Still... I'll get back to it in due course. It does need a counter. 

For now, I'll just say that I'm not on the fence. I'm very much on the side of Israel in the current war in Gaza, along the lines of Brendan O'Neil, here. And I find much to fault in the collection. So much fault that I'll need time to sort it all out. 

Net Zero is bankrupting the U.K.

Click above for the video

I look at the countries that have tried hardest to get to Net Zero carbon emissions. Germany, Spain, the U.K., Canada and Australia. In all of them, the cost of electricity has gone up, in some cases to highest in the world, while the reliability has gone down. 

The politicians promised cheaper and more reliable. The opposite is the experience of those that have been longest at it, like Germany and the U.K.. 

This talk with Dr John Constable is long-ish but worth it. He knows his stuff. Stay for the denial (of reality) by the Starmer government at the end. 

“A Battle for Civilisation” | Brendan O’Neil

 

Click above for the video 

Brendan O’Neil chief political correspondent for spiked, speaks at a Jewish Chronicle conference in London. 

“Israel is at war with fascism”. True.

It’s a battle between civilisation and barbarism. Not a “battle of civilisations”. True.

The Left and Islamists are allied to wipe out the Jewish state, attack and  kill Jews. True.

I’ve been saying the same things for 16 years on this blog. Others have said the same things for longer. More and more people in the U.K. are becoming aware of the threat of islamisation. Maybe too late for the U.K. IMO.

Brendan says he’s “no fan of Netanyahu”, but it would be wrong to try to change the PM during war. I agree with the latter half of this. But I’m more of a fan of Bibi. He’s been saying for decades that a two-state solution is not possible, while the rest of us were pinning our hopes on it. Turns about he’s been right all along. Not because Israel doesn’t or didn’t want it. But because the Palestinians never wanted it. All along what they’ve wanted is the destruction of the Jewish state and the death of Jews. As October 7the made crystal clear. 

https://youtu.be/ZE7fW7QaNpE?si=xdjbHasYFXoZFTFR

12 Nations. 2 Soldiers Each. One Proud Salute. 💂‍♀️

Islam's threat to the U.K. (and the World) | Momus Najmi

Click above for the video

Momus Najmi an apostate from Islam, because he could not be on side with his classmates who were cheering and whooping the death of innocents on 911. "These are not my people", he said to himself. 

And who says now that to be a good person you have to be a bad Muslim. [True]

That Muslim is an ideology. A system of thought and government that is based on victimhood. And based on the belief that being a Muslim is the highest calling on earth. That you can't be a good Muslim and also a loyal British subject. [True]

That "moderate muslims" are Muslims who do not say openly that they don't follow the tenets of Islam. [True]

"The Islamic Conquest Of Europe & Why It Was COVERED UP" | Raymond Ibrahim

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I first knew of Raymond Ibrahim with his book "The Al-Qaeda Reader" in 2007. Eg, here. 

This is the best book to understand the duplicity of the Jihadist narrative. What they tell the West vs what they tell the Muslim world. 

Here he is again, talking to Winston Marshall, so many years later, talking with knowledge and wit, about what really happened in the millenia+ of battles between Islam and Christianity. 

Right down until today. Where in the U.K., in Europe, they will openly say that they are just awaiting their numbers to be right, and they'll take over and that there will be no more opposition, because they will  be dominant and require subjugation by all non-Muslims. Yes, this is said openly. 

00:00 – Introduction 01:37 – Who is Raymond Ibrahim? 02:21 – Personal Background: Egyptian Heritage and Academic Journey 05:00 – From Academia to Writing: A New Path 06:08 – Key Works: Sword and Scimitar and Christian Persecution 07:12 – The Impact of His Work and Public Controversy 10:00 – The Battle of Yarmouk: Turning Point in Islamic Expansion 12:10 – The Expansion of Islam: From Arabia to the Christian World 17:07 – The Battle of Tours: Stopping the Islamic Advance 20:00 – The Dark Ages: How Islam Shaped Europe’s Future 25:00 – Why Was the Muslim Conquest So Successful? 28:50 – The Reconquista: A Slow and Steady Christian Resistance 33:13 – Andalusia: Myths of Peaceful Coexistence 40:00 – The Seljuk Turks and Pre-Crusade Persecutions 44:10 – Pope Urban II and the Call for the First Crusade 50:00 – The Crusades: Misunderstood or Justified? 55:30 – The Battle of Manzikert and the Beginning of the Crusades 1:00:00 – Charlemagne and the Rise of Christian Defensiveness 1:05:00 – Early Relations Between Islam and the West 1:10:30 – The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East 1:15:00 – Crusades: Religious Wars or Defensive Actions? 1:20:00 – The Myths of Islamic Golden Age Contributions 1:25:00 – Crusades and Their Aftermath: The Long-Lasting Impact 1:30:00 – The Religious and Ideological Roots of the Conflict 1:35:00 – Western Misunderstanding of Islamic History 1:40:00 – The Rise of Jihadism and Modern Conflicts 1:45:00 – The Importance of Historical Context in Modern Conflicts 1:50:00 – The Ongoing Persecution of Christians 1:55:00 – Reflections on Western Values and Islamic Influence 2:00:00 – Conclusion: Understanding the Past to Navigate the Future