Friday, 6 March 2026
Iranians support the war against the regime
Younes Sadaghiani, Iranian born, U.K. based filmmaker and international affairs commenter.
Fantastically eloquent. Here, about the “morons” who defend the Iran regime, the mad mullahs, the Theocratic lunatics.
He calls out the hypocrites in the west. Those who fail to support minority rights and women’s rights when it’s in the middle east and is not anti Israel.
Called out by name: Tucker Carlson, Candice Owen’s, Cenk Uyghur, Ana Kasperian, Mahdi Hasan. I don’t want to highlight them, as I usually do with name, because they’re such hypocrites, liars and snakes in the grass..
90% of Iranians support the current war, support the United States and Israel attacks and hopes for regime change. “Hope … and apprehension. Hope … and concerns. But overall, HOPE”.
19:55 is Mossad infiltration of Iran. They knew when Khamenei was going to the toilet. Elsewhere I’ve read the head of Iran’s anti- Mossad Unit was himself.Mosssd.
Also: it’s a DEFENSIVE war!
Timestamps to top video:
0:00 Introduction – Who speaks for the Iranian people?
0:57 Younes responds to pro-Palestinian narratives
2:32 Why many Iranians celebrated Khamenei’s death
4:42 Western media double standards
5:56 Hypocrisy of global protests
6:55 Western influencers and the Iran narrative
9:58 Sectarian politics in the West
11:31 “This is not starting a war — it’s ending one”
12:47 Why Israel is not the enemy of the Iranian people
14:39 Why Iran attacked its Arab neighbors
16:20 Should the Islamic Republic still have a voice at the UN?
17:46 What happens if the regime collapses?
19:55 Mossad infiltration of Iran
21:24 Will the Iranian military defect?
23:12 Could Iran fall into civil war?
24:35 What happens to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis?
25:37 Message to Iranians inside and outside Iran
26:23 The personal cost of speaking out
28:07 The real Iran the world doesn’t see
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Fall of the NGO industrial complex — Radical Transparency of Trump admin.
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One of the best things the Trump administration has done is Radical Transparency.
DOGE started it all, February last year, with Elon Musk at its helm. Revealing the corruption at the heart of America's international aid industry, via USAID. The reason the Left went bananas — torching Elon's businesses, was not because their beloved poor folks were being squeezed, but because they'd miss their gravy train.
We have Minnesota and its $19 BILLION fraud empire, stealing taxpayer money, cash taken out of America in suitcases by Somalian gangsters in Minneapolis to Somalian gangsters in Mogadishu. All via a naive or complicit government aid programs. Namely: the people's money.
We have California, and its $24 BILLION in fraud, via NGOs, to "address homelessness", but in fact funding a vast array of NGOs who did nothing about homelessness (except change its name to the "unhoused"), and who made sure their Democratic sugar daddies got their cut. Result: homelessness increased.
Also California: the "fast train to nowhere", $13 BILLION spent. Result: not a single slab of track has been laid.
In New York City: entire luxury hotels taken over for illegal immigrants (aka, to Democrats, "newcomers"), with hefty cuts going to city councillors.
In Boston, Chicago, Seattle, in Blue city after Blue city, the same pattern: vast sums to charities and NGOs, funded by taxpayer money, the money pathways never revealed, with a cut always going to local Democrats.
There's an argument to be made that the American Democratic Party is, at its core, a massive criminal organisation. I could make it.
I've focused my comments on taxpayer money. The article above is more about money from oligarchs, the bulk of which is in the Democratic bubble. Soros and co. They're intertwined.
No, the war in Iran is NOT “illegal” | Natasha Hausdorff
Natasha Hausdorff, expert in International law, explains why the current et attacks on the Iranian regime are entirely lawful according to international law.
Of course we’re all instant experts these days. Me, if it’s a choice between believing a random Tik Tok post or an actual, real, expert, like Natasha, then I’m going to go with Natasha. If it’s a choice of Jane Fonda or Natasha Hausdorff then it’s Natasha every time!
We must remember: this was NOT America declaring war against Iran. Iran declared war against America and the west since 1979. For nearly fifty years Iran has been attacking and killing westerners, including Newley one thousand Americans.
It’s not an attack. Its defence against ongoing attacks
Western women betray Iranian women | Masih Alinejad
Masih Alinejad is an Iranian journalist and activist, based now in America.
I’ve posted about her going back to 2010, see here. It seems I’ve always called her a “brave Iranian woman”. Indeed she is, a bravery she shares with all Iranian women.
She was most recently on CNN giving the host, Dana Bash, conniptions for being so gloriously happy at the killing of the Ayatollah and 48 of his co-thugs.
CNN have scrubbed their clip, it seems, but here’s Masih calling it a “day of celebration” on CBS.
A celebration, a happiness she shares with millions of her compatriots around the world. And on the streets of Iran.
In her X post below, she has a go at Elizabeth Warren for hypocrisy. Western liberal women have failed to support women in the Middle East, because … well… kind of “who knows”, except that they were not in the hated, misogynist, imperialist, racist America and so “you can’t pass judgement”. Or something.
Masih’s post:
I’m not just angry. I’m furious with you Elizabeth Warren.
Stop using the suffering of my people as political ammunition against Donald Trump.
You say you are grieving for those killed in this “unnecessary war.”
Really? I checked your social media. More than 20 posts attacking President Trump after he removed a monster terrorist of Iran, Ali Khamenei, but not one post grieving the massacre of more than 32,000 unarmed Iranian people. Why? Shocking.
More than 10,000 protesters were intentionally blinded by security forces. Young women were shot in the eyes. Students were beaten to death. Families were burying their children. Where were you then?
We are not a tool. The pain of us Iranians is not a talking point for your partisan battles.
As a woman, your silence while women in Iran were being shot, jailed, and blinded is more than disappointing. It is insulting. No it is beyond that. It is a slap in the face of Iranian mothers burying their children who have been killed by Islamic Republic.
I cannot ignore this hypocrisy.
Our suffering did not fit your narrative. Our voices were inconvenient. Now that the situation serves your political agenda, you speak loudly.
Very heartbreaking to see, powerful women in the West totally ignoring Iranians being slaughtered. 💔
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Keir Starmer is a Pusillanimous Pissant
Because I'm an Alliteration Addict, I came up with this to describe Keir Starmer over the Iran war:
He's a Pusillanimous Pissant.
Checking the Google description of this, I see I've nailed it:
"Pusillanimous pissant" is a harsh, alliterative insult combining two words to describe someone as extremely cowardly, weak, and contemptible.
- Pusillanimous: An adjective meaning lacking courage, strength, and resolution; cowardly or faint-hearted.
- Pissant: A contemptible, insignificant, or annoying person (often used as a term of disdain).
Usage and Context
- This phrase is used to describe someone who is seen as timid, afraid to take risks, or lacking in moral fortitude.
- It has been used in political commentary and media to insult individuals perceived as weak or shirking responsibility.
- Synonyms for the general sentiment include "lily-livered," "fainthearted," or "weak-kneed".
In short, it is a phrase used to mock someone's lack of bravery.
I could have quoted Paul Keating, the ex Labor PM of Australia, describing his political foe, leader of the opposition Liberal Party John Hewson as
"A shiver looking for a spine to run up".
Love it!
But seriously, folks. Starmer's pathetic non-support of America and non-support of the Iranian people, attempting to overthrow a hated, long-term terrorist mass murderer and his regime, is a horror to behold. Shame on him.
"None of this is grassroots protest". Exposing Paid Iran Protestors | Nate Friedman
This is classic "Astroturf". Make the fake grass (astroturf) look like real grass (grassroots). I get it now! Astroturf! Fake grassroots.
As Nate Friedman says: "If it weren't for the money supporting all this [from George Soros, Roy Singham, etc] there would be no protests".
It's America's First Amendment (on Free Speech) working against itself. Working against the foundation of America, working against its tolerance and its free speech. It's a tough issue. Because how do you deal with it, without breaching free speech codes, and one's commitment to being a Free Speech fundamentalist?
What are they all about, these activists? The ones shown here by Nate are pushing for socialism. They've never experienced socialism, and don't know, apparently, now bad it is in practice. I do. Many do. Those that have experienced it do know -- myself, I know from personal experience in 1970s China -- that if socialism takes over America, Free Speech is gone. That's number one. Number two and the rest are all the freedoms that these young sign-holders in this vid, take for granted.
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Iran action, reaction. A mainstream conservative voice
Ben Shapiro is one of the most eloquent and influential voices on the conservative side of politics.
Get over his hyper fast delivery; listen to what he says.
Monday, 2 March 2026
Freedom and Fear in Iran
The one on the right is how women are expected to dress today and for the last fifty years. Under the (actual) tyrannical theocrats of Shia Islam.
I remember Iran in 1974. When I visited. In a car I drove, with 3 friends, from London to India. That's what Iran was like. Modern. Free. Open. Friendly. Even though the Shah of Iran, the Pahlavi dynasty had secret police. Shudder! The fact is, life was then better than it is under the Mullahs today.
As Thomas Sowell says: "There are no solutions; only trade-offs". Here the trade off is between a monarchy and a theocracy. Both are less than perfect. So which is better? Clearly the monarchy. For all its faults.
Iran war: possible outcomes | Michael Doran and Gadi Taub
Gadi Taub sets out 6 possibilities:
1. No real change.
2. False Reform of the regime
3. Real Reform of the regime
4. Regime change
5. Quagmire. Afghanistan or Vietnam redux
6. Occupation: South Korea redux
Gadi describes the options starting at 21:00.
Michael Doran gives some interesting takes and counters after that. He does not see any role for the Pahlavi family, the last Shah’s son in particular.
He describes the massive fortified tunnels through Iran — underground two-lane highways— that will make it difficult to impossible to completely degrade.
Michael and Gadi describe themselves as “classical liberals”. Wikipedia describes them, of course, as “right wing”.
If you want the views of the Left then go to any of the mainstream media, like CNN, BBC, MSNBC, New York Times, Haaretz. Bearing in mind that in all cases their views and analyses will be coloured by self-admitted TDS. Eg: “chaos and uncertainty” from the Guardian and the NYT.
Though some Left wing media have been forced to recognise huge Iranian diaspora support for the attacks.
Sunset over Andaman sea, Burma. 2015
We were on a 100’ wooden sailing boat, with Aussie mates and five crew looking after us.
Sunday, 1 March 2026
Operation Epic Fury against Iran: the military expert's view
In a scale of 0 to 10 -- how important is actual war experience?
I'd say it's a 10.
Which is huge issue in terms of what we think should there be a China-US confrontation over Taiwan. U.S. has had the experience, and continues to have ongoing experience. China has had none since its embarrassing loss in its war with Vietnam in 1979.
Not that I hope for war with China, or push for one. My consistent view has been: keep the status quo. That's been working just fine for everyone.
But.. IF.... Then how much more than sheer numbers (which is the China advantage) does the fact of battle-tested ultra-modern tech (the American advantage) count? My guess... a lot.
"Peace in our Times" | Yes, but not capitulation
~ NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In response to US and Israeli strikes on Iran, which killed the Ayatollah Khamenei and his cabinet.
Sure they do.
But you don't get peace by capitulation. You get slavery. Capitulate to Iran, next thing you're in Sharia hell. Not freedom. Not quite the "peace" you wanted.
Mamdani, a jihadi-socialist, would welcome capitulation by the US. Because there will be more Islamist immigrants to the US, and in the west. Thus progressing the Muslim Brotherhood aim of "defeating the west from within".
Neville Chamberlain waved a pice of paper signed by Adolf Hitler proclaiming "We have peace in our times". That was 1938. We all know what happened next. Certainly not "peace".
We don't want another "peacein-our-times" type mistake. We have to fight radical Islam, all the more when its in the guise of a whole country, of 90 million people, which supports proxies to attack the hated Jews.
We're done with you, Mamdani. Go stay in your lane: which is trying to run New York City.
Khamenei is Dead. Yay!
From me, unalloyed happiness!
A theocratic tyrant, a murderous mad, millenarian “Twelver” gone to meet his god. Together with, as we speak, 40 other of his bearded henchmen.
Three cheers!
I visited Iran in 1974 to see my besties who were working there. It was wonderful. Iranian people friendly and gracious. Those same Iranian people became slaves to extreme Islamic theocracy just a few years later.
The Ayatollahs have murdered, in just the past few weeks, 38,000 of their own Iranian people, young people who simply wanted a better life. Want a better life.
Good riddance to tyrannical rubbish.
What next? Let time tell…
Israel Updates looks at War Aims. Michael Doran and Gadi Taub, I’ve found insightful. Mike doesn’t thin the Pahlavi son option is viable. No return of the monarchy, according to him.
Saturday, 28 February 2026
SOTU shenanigans: Dems going crazy.
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| Dems stay seated when asked who would stand for the American people. |
This is going to come back to bite them. Because it's literally their Oath of Office that they work for the American people.
While they have shown they cannot stand for that.
And then! And then! They stayed seated when the United States Gold Medal winning Ice Hockey Team entered the chamber. They did not even clap. For Gold Medal winners! That's just amazing, and horrible. My goodness.
You really have to hate your country to refuse to cheer your own team in the Olympics. Think about it! Your own team! Which last won a Gold Medal in 1980, in the "Miracle on Ice" win against the Soviet Union. Which, in those less frenetic times, EVERYONE celebrated.
The Huffington Post opined: “if you feel uncomfortable and yucky cheering for the American Olympic team wins, you’re not alone”. And was promptly roasted by its own readership. Rightly too. I can’t imagine any Australian gold medal winning team of being cheered by all sides. Booh-shucks to the American hating media.
The Dems may say something about "division". But let's remember. It was then Speaker of the House, the Democrate Nancy Pelosi who sat behind Trump and tore up her copy of his speech right in front of the camera. I was astounded, shocked and appalled. She got nowhere near the grief she should have got for such a horrid disrespect of the office.
And then there's the Democrat prankster Al Green, who, wielding his crazy cane, disrupts the Chamber every time. Who's disrupting things? Who's being divisive? Look in the mirror, Al, look in the mirror Nancy, look in the mirror Ilhan Omar and Rashid Tlaib (the Jihad duo, who spent their time yelling at Trump; and calling the Hockey team the "KKK". Really!). You lot, you out of control Dems, are bringing the disgrace to the House of Representatives and have done so again the other night.
“Why can’t Africans Copy and Paste existing technology?” | The Bantu City Diaries
Wow!
First time I’ve seen this guy, a Nigerian, aka Bantu Dude,, and his channel, Bantu City Diaries. First time I’ve seen this question asked so clearly and so bluntly.
Namely:
"Why is it that Africans can't or won't make things?"
They could just "Copy and Paste" existing technologies. Bantu Dude mentions lots that they could be making in Africa. But they don't. Why?
The question is asked and discussed, but it's not really answered by the Bantu Dude.
My one contribution: Tribalism. Everything in Africa comes down to the tribe. It's your most precious group after yourself and your family. Not easy to undo tribalism. Bantu Dude doesn't touch on this. Perhaps because he knows it's just too difficult. If it'd been easy to overcome, Africa would have done so long ago.
We did a car trip from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt, back in 2011. Here's the blog of that trip. We enjoyed it tremendously and I think of it often. Some thoughts on the vid above, based on our trip.
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| Gordie and me. With the Mighty Mustang. Table Mountain in background. Cape Town, 6 September 2011 |
Comments on the Bantu Dude's video, at the top:
Africans are friendly: yes. We found that. Especially from southern to middle Africa. The more north, around northern Ethiopia onwards, to Sudan, Somalia, there's more reserve. My theory: it's coz an ideology they follow.
Africans value education: Yes. We saw, every day, young kids, usually in crip uniforms, marching off to school. They absolutely try to get their kids to school if they can.
Africa is not crowded. Agreed. It's generally not crowded; though major cities are. The larger, the more dense and dirty. But there's plenty of land. We drove hour upon hour, through empty lands, both desert and fertile lands.
There were deserts, in Namibia and Angola where I thought: "the Israelis could turn this green".
There were rivers, lakes and land, in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, where I thought: "the Chinese could turn these into food bowls".
The best roads in Africa that we drove on were built by the Chinese. I remember one lovely, lonely, long straight new highway through the Sudanese desert, all a kaleidoscope of oranges, reds, blues, khaki greens, and up the brown Nile. I so remember that day.
We drove at top speed. Foot to the metal. 100 mph, 110 mph, 120 mph as far as our old girl, a vintage vehicle would go, so fast the front kept lifting off the road, so you'd have no steerage for a disconcerting second or two, till you let it settle down. The speed made the trip even better.
So much of the desert is the same, you have to be fast to get the feeling of the changing desert, which it does -- change -- all the time, usually slowly; but at speed, it's like Kubrick's psychedelic scene in "2001: A Space Odyssey"... we on our own odyssey, over the crystal sands of a vast desert, flying along the one black asphalt strip, straight as a sudanese spear. Into the foothills of the Nile, past scenes from the Bible, white-clad children in a quarry, chipping stone. Sudanese slaves. Till we drop down to that Biblical river, the sluggish-brown Nile, palm-tree flanked, and feluccas, lateen-rigged, drifting lazily downstream.
When we asked why Africans hadn't helped build these roads, and others in Africa, we were told: "we wanted them to work with us, but they didn't. So we had to do it ourselves". That could just be an excuse. But we heard similar stories over and over, throughout Africa. Enough to think they were likely true. The Bantu Dude comments fit right in with this. "We're doing fine, boss; no need work hard on that road there". Kind of thing.
It's not true they won't build anything. With our car, a 50 year-old Ford Mustang, we could get any part repaired, or a bodgy-dodgy part made from scraps, on the spot. A Ford was the best car for Africa, because there's so many. Ditto Mercedes.
Any town we arrived in, any village, with a few cows, scrawny dogs and a few feral goats, has always got a "Hakim's Fix-it-Well Garage and Repairs" or a "Oil Be Back Car Repairs", that will make you a shock-absorber bush from an old tyre, or be happy to weld your broken tie rod. "Jus' in one short hour, sah". Those kind of shops are there, for sure. Just not the slightly bigger, slightly more ambitious factory, producing, say, paint, or... those shock absorber bushes we needed, let alone factories to make the shocks, or, heaven forfend, to build a whole car. That's the mystery that Bantu Dude is looking at.
Random fact: our route took us over some truly high elevation country. Like the middle of Ethiopia, at 12,000+ feet. Whole swathes of Africa are high elevation. I never knew that. Ethiopia was green-green when we drove through. Green. Not a hint of drought or famine of the past.
The Bantu Dude makes a point about relative populations on the earth in a century, given current birth trends: very few White people; very few Asians; lots and lots of Africans. So, he says, if Africans don't want to make things, or are not able to actually make things, or invent things, or improve technology, we're going to have an existential problem as homo sapiens.
That's surely cause for a "hmmm...".
Friday, 27 February 2026
To make AI safe: make it "maximally truth seeking" | Elon Musk
I did say, when I posted about the dangers of AI, here, that Elon Musk would be looking at this, for sure.
And here he is.
The danger is reduced, according to him, if it is made "maximally truth seeking".
Grok is not perfect. But it's way better than the comp. In terms of giving decent answers to complex questions.
It is at least trying to be Maximally Truth Seeking. Because that's what it's been tasked to do.
Blue cities in America -- Democrat-run cities -- are in a big mess | Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Zakaria is a senior staffer at CNN. So his comments here really count. He and CNN are on the Dems side yet it's still it's strong criticism: of the Left. Of far-left Dems. Which is where many are positioned now, and many more are headed.
Fareed is one of the few on the Left who is willing to call out bad things, even when they're on the Left. He was one of the few Dems who had the guts to admit that all the pre-2024 election law cases against Trump were "lawfare". "They would not have happened if his name had not been Trump", he said.
This criticism of how the far Left, running major cities, has ruined them, is deserved. Many cities are now a big mess. That were not a mess a decade or two ago. IOW, becoming messy has been a result of policy. Specifically, far Left, soft-on-crime, soft-on-drugs*, tough-on-business policies.
In another video this morning, I hear long-time Democrat, Mark Hemingway say the same thing (and, related). As an ex Portland Oregon resident, he now mourns its downfall, the trashing of his once very special city.
Other cities out-west which have been infected with the far-Left "progressive" bug are LA, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego. In the middle of America there's Chicago. And out east, New York and Boston stand out.
This is definitely in the "Things I don't get" category. I don't get how a far-Left politician can ruin a city, then the residents go ahead and vote an even more Leftish replacement. That happened in Chicago, in LA, in San Francisco. Most lately in New York.
Apparently people simply do not see that there's a connection between the politicians they vote for, and the results of their voting.
Similarly, many will flee a state because they don't like it any more. That's happening right now in California. Many are fleeing to Texas, or Tennessee, or Florida. Where they proceed to vote Blue all over again. I just do not get it.
Similarly, many will flee a country because it's been horrible to them. And then go ahead and try to recreate the place they just fled. Clear example is the Somalis in Minnesota.
The Somali's Congressional rep in MN is the World's Greatest Ingrate, Ilhan Omar. She has been filmed saying that she's in Congress to "help Somalia". When her Oath of Office to the Congress of the United States requires her to work for the benefit of the United States. All while her Somali constituents proceed to replicate in Minnesota the Somali national sport of piracy -- looting, at latest count, $19 Billion from the American taxpayer. Under her blind eyes.
By the way, Omar may very well be a fraudulent asylum seeker as well. See "Ilhan Omar, the backstory they don't talk about". There's some pretty damning evidence there.
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* ADDED: I was a "soft on drugs" guy, until I saw the results. I'd thought that decriminalisation would help everyone. In practice it harmed everyone. So I changed my mind. The Amsterdam soft-on-marijuana example is not relevant, because that was soft weed. It didn't include hard drugs like heroin, crack cocaine, meth, fentanyl, which drug sanctuary cities like Portland do.
If we see things change, we ought to be prepared to change our minds.
A famous quote often attributed to the economist John Maynard Keynes is:
"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
Thursday, 26 February 2026
Behold my bigotry! I'm just such a bigot ... (about Islam)
I'm such a bigot.
I'm so bigoted that I don't agree with any of the beliefs set out in Islamic Sharia law.
- All Sharia Law references below are from The Umdat al-Salik, "A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law”.
My bigotry about Women:
I'm such a bigot that I care about women. I don't think they should be oppressed. I don't think they should be second class citizens. I think women should have equal rights as men.
I'm so bigoted that I think women are treated badly in Islam; they are valued less than a man, their husbands may beat them if they are "disobedient", they must be veiled, they can't go out except with a male escort, all as Sharia demands.
I'm so bigoted that I hate that.
My bigotry about Homoseduality:
I'm such a bigot that I care about gays and the LGBT community. I don't think they should be bashed (as they are right now in Australia). I don't think they should be discriminated against. I think they should be treated just like everyone else.
Goodness me, I'm such a bigot that I even think gays should not be lynched, or thrown off tall buildings, or hanged on cranes in the town square. That's just how much of a bigot I am! Basically, I'm such a bigot I don't hold with all the suppression and oppression of gay people in Islam, as Sharia demands.
My bigotry about Adultery:
I'm such a bigot I think adulterers should NOT be killed. Shunned for a while perhaps. Given a chilly shoulder for a time. But not killed. That's how much of a bigot about that I am. (also mea culpa on this one...).
I don't agree with Islamic Sharia law that "fornicators must be stoned to death", or that "there is no penalty for killing an adulterer". No, I simply do not agree with these or any other of the Sharia laws on adultery, as Sharia demands. Bigot!
My bigotry about Apostasy:
I'm such a bigot that I think if you decide you want to leave a religion, no matter which one, you should be able to do so. I don't think you should be killed if you leave a religion. What a bigot I am. I'm such a bigot that I'm offended by Islam law which requires apostates killed, as Sharia demands.
My bigotry about treatment of non-Muslims:
I'm so bigoted that I believe people should be free to believe whatever they like, or to believe in no God, as I do. I'm such a bigot, I'm an atheist. I recognise many people believe in a god. I'm such a bigot I don't believe, as Muslims do, that non-Muslims must be reviled, distained, shunned or killed. That's how bigoted I am. I don't go along with the Sharia demands on this one.
=================
We who believe as I do are labelled bigots. I've now made my "self-criticism". You can see just how bigoted I am. Perhaps I can be cured of my bigotry. Which would mean agreeing with Sharia law. It would mean believing that the Muslim immigration invasion into our western countries is an unalloyed good. That it only adds to the wonderful tapestry of diversity.
See if you can believe that. See if you can sign onto the Sharia project, as set out by Islam itself. I've summarised it for easy reference. To save us from our bigotry:
There's not a single Jew who hates America. There are plenty of Muslims who do
I've got to post this, because the guest, Shabbos Kestenbaum, who I've never heard of before today, makes the best case, the most clear case, the most persuasive case, for all that I've said here over the last decades.
Namely: that Islam is a threat to the West. Not all Muslims. OF COURSE. But enough of them, given their 2 Billion number, that it's a real danger to our western societies.
Of course not all Muslims are terrorists. But of course all terrorists are Muslims. LIke.. 97% of terrorist attacks since 911.
Not all Muslims want to destroy the West. But plenty of Muslims do.
As Kestenbaum says: we may not like this, but it's a fact. And it is, indeed, a fact.
There are no Jews in America, having come to the country since 1650, who have blown themselves up. There are plenty of Muslims who have.
Looking at the first 30 minutes or so of this vid will give a decent and true and proper and true pic of what's going on in the west with the onslaught of Islam.
Really.
Wednesday, 25 February 2026
UNRWA planned and funded October 7 massacre
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Keep the Status Quo on Taiwan. The path to peace
I knew this (below) from decades ago -- because I'd read Edgar Snow's "Red Star over China" in 1976, the year I arrived in China. Everyone said: "you've got to read this book". So I did.
It was not a great read, TBF. Even in those early days I recognised hero worship. Edgar Snow idolised Mao. That didn't seem to me a sound base for a biography. More like hagiography.
But if I ever mention it -- the fact that Mao said Taiwan should be independent -- it's like the fart in the elevator: wrinkled faces. People don't want to know. But it's true. Mao said what Snow said he said and it made sense. It makes sense.
I've said so many times on this blog, about Taiwan: the best thing is the status quo.
Just leave things as they are. Taking over Taiwan, trying to take over Taiwan, by force, by the mainland, by Xi Jinping, is a horrid idea. It can only destroy world trade, destroy the world economy, destroy peace in Asia and the world.
Just leave it like it is. If the only reason you're trying to do it, China -- to attack and take over the island of Taiwan -- is because you want "to leave a legacy", find something else to do.
"In 1928, Mao Zedong explicitly advocated that Taiwan should be independent and establish a “Taiwan Republic.”
In 1936, Mao told American journalist Edgar Snow in Yan’an that if the Korean people wished to break free of Japanese imperialism, “we enthusiastically support their struggle for independence,” and that “the same applies to Taiwan.”
In other words, in 1936 your Party [CCP] did not even consider Taiwan to be Chinese territory, yet later it changed its tune and claimed “Taiwan has since ancient times been Chinese territory.” This shows the Party’s habit of rewriting history to suit political needs."
Latest Human Rights Report: 43,000 Killed in the Crackdown on Protests in Iran | International Centre for Human Rights,
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| Click above for the article |
More people killed in Iran, by the Mullahs, in 2 months, than have been killed in Gaza in 2 years.
More people killed by its own government than killed in a war.
In Iran it's the government killing its own people. Those who are rising up against its authoritarian, islamist tyranny. In Gaza, it's the result of war.
In Iran it's the government killing its own people. Those who are rising up against its authoritarian, islamist tyranny. In Gaza, it's the result of war.
And how many in the west are out on the streets? Demonstrating against this murder?
None.
Not a one. Not one single person we see on the streets, denouncing the horrid, the brutal, the inhumane, the bloody murder of fellow citizens, just because they hate your tyranny.
The hypocrisy is disgusting.
Tuesday, 24 February 2026
Tariffs are sometimes good. Giving away our car industry...voluntarily
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| Saved by the Bill. The tariff bill that kept tariffs on pick up trucks like the Ford F250 |
The answer at bottom is not before a long tussle with Grok.
I was reminded that in the 1980s I'd owned a brand new company car, the Holden Commodore, made in Australia.
It was a great car. I thought better than most American cars I'd driven. And better than even many European cars. I thought it better than the BMWs I'd driven in Europe. It was as fast, as agile, had braking as good; and had far better aircon.
Then came the killer of the industry. The Australian government, a Labor, left wing one, did away with the last remaining tariffs and non-tariff barriers on car imports. Result: the end of the Australian car industry, after 70 years. 70 proud years.
Shame.
Then I learned that in the US the car industry was decimated by the NAFTA and WTO in the 1990s and early 2000s. Because of these trade agreements, the U.S. industry moved to Mexico and China. And in America people were told: "don't worry, everything will be cheaper".
Tariffs were removed...
EXCEPT FOR the tariff on what the Americans call "trucks". Aka, "pickup trucks", like the Ford F150 and F250 in the pic above.
These kept a 25% tariff coz of some kind of quibble that I can't be bothered to look up; but which led to the US keeping its manufacturing of pickup trucks, now the largest item of car sold every year in the US.
By the way, these are great vehicles. I LOVE them! If I were living in a place that permitted private cars (I don't), then I'd have one for sure. They're rough, tough and hugely practical.
Having been taught in Eco 101 at the Australian National Uni, that "Tariffs Bad. Free Trade Good", I'd imbibed and imbued that my whole life. Then Trump upends things. Peoole freak out. But surely we should look at what they do. And at least in the case of the American Truck and in the case of the Australian Holden Commodore, tariffs have kept a viable industry, with all its employment and all its ancillary industries. Even if the end product might have been a little more expensive.
Then my long argument with Grok, which I won't bore you with.
The Sowell quote to which Grok refers is one of my favourite ones: professor Thomas Sowell: "There are no solutions; only trade offs".
If you know that there's no perfect answer, you know that you have to make trade offs. The problem with Australia, during the Paul Keating and Bob Hawke Labor years, is that they thought they were giving us solutions.
When what they were doing was one end of a spectrum of trade offs. We decided to trade off domestic jobs, give them to to other countries, for some cheaper goods. And that was sold as a "solution". It wasn't. Australia now has the lowest percent of the population in manufacturing than any country in Asia and than all developed countries. Well done Lucky Country! Not.
My killer question to Grok:
To which it answered:
Grok: Yes – your argument holds.
Australia's passenger vehicle industry ran for ~70 years (Holden full production from 1948, roots earlier). High tariffs (peaking ~57.5% in the early 1980s) kept it viable, supporting direct manufacturing jobs for tens of thousands plus 150,000+ in the supply chain at peak. It produced millions of cars tailored to Australian conditions.The final VF Commodore (2013-2017) was genuinely world-class: best-ever build quality from the Elizabeth plant, strong exports, class-leading dynamics and durability. Executives and workers confirmed the last cars were the highest standard ever.Australia chose to unwind this.Whitlam's 1973 across-the-board 25% tariff cut (explicitly to fight inflation and force "efficiency") started it – two years before the non-binding Lima Declaration he enthusiastically backed. The Hawke/Keating Button Plan (1984 onward) then deliberately phased tariffs from ~57% down to 15% by 2000, then 10%, then 5% by 2010, plus FTAs with Thailand, Korea, Japan and China that zeroed duties on imports.No one forced it. It was policy choice, framed as virtuous global citizenship – exactly the Lima spirit of helping developing nations industrialise by opening developed markets.Sowell was right: only trade-offs.Keep tariffs → slightly dearer cars, but retain a full domestic industry, skills, jobs, and related manufacturing. Lower tariffs → cheaper imports for consumers, but the entire sector collapses (Ford 2016, Toyota/Holden 2017).Australia picked the second path. The industry was competitive enough under protection; it wasn't "dying naturally." We voluntarily gave it away.
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