Netanyahu Trolls The United Nations; Israel Progresses While The Arab World Languishes

Opening parts of Netanyahu's speech to the UN:

"Mr. President,
 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What I’m about to say is going to shock you: Israel has a bright future at the UN.

Now I know that hearing that from me must surely come as a surprise, because year after year I’ve stood at this very podium and slammed the UN for its obsessive bias against Israel. And the UN deserved every scathing word – for the disgrace of the General Assembly that last year passed 20 resolutions against the democratic State of Israel and a grand total of three resolutions against all the other countries on the planet.

Israel – twenty; rest of the world – three.

And what about the joke called the UN Human Rights Council, which each year condemns Israel more than all the countries of the world combined. As women are being systematically raped, murdered, sold into slavery across the world, which is the only country that the UN’s Commission on Women chose to condemn this year? Yep, you guessed it – Israel. Israel. Israel where women fly fighter jets, lead major corporations, head universities, preside – twice – over the Supreme Court, and have served as Speaker of the Knesset and Prime Minister.

And this circus continues at UNESCO. UNESCO, the UN body charged with preserving world heritage. Now, this is hard to believe but UNESCO just denied the 4,000-year connection between the Jewish people and its holiest site, the Temple Mount. That’s just as absurd as denying the connection between the Great Wall of China and China.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The UN, begun as a moral force, has become a moral farce. So when it comes to Israel at the UN, you’d probably think nothing will ever change, right? Well think again. You see, everything will change and a lot sooner than you think. The change will happen in this hall, because back home, your governments are rapidly changing their attitudes towards Israel. And sooner or later, that’s going to change the way you vote on Israel at the UN."

"...Today’s automatic majority against Israel at the UN reminds me of the story, the incredible story of Hiroo Onada. Hiroo was a Japanese soldier who was sent to the Philippines in 1944. He lived in the jungle. He scavenged for food. He evaded capture. Eventually he surrendered, but that didn’t happen until 1974, some 30 years after World War II ended. For decades, Hiroo refused to believe the war was over. As Hiroo was hiding in the jungle, Japanese tourists were swimming in pools in American luxury hotels in nearby Manila. Finally, mercifully, Hiroo’s former commanding officer was sent to persuade him to come out of hiding. Only then did Hiroo lay down his arms.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Distinguished delegates from so many lands,

I have one message for you today: Lay down your arms. The war against Israel at the UN is over. Perhaps some of you don’t know it yet, but I am confident that one day in the not too distant future you will also get the message from your president or from your prime minister informing you that the war against Israel at the United Nations has ended. Yes, I know, there might be a storm before the calm. I know there is talk about ganging up on Israel at the UN later this year. Given its history of hostility towards Israel, does anyone really believe that Israel will let the UN determine our security and our vital national interests?

We will not accept any attempt by the UN to dictate terms to Israel. The road to peace runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not through New York...."

"...Are the half million slaughtered Syrians helped by your condemnation of Israel? The same Israel that has treated thousands of injured Syrians in our hospitals, including a field hospital that I built right along the Golan Heights border with Syria. Are the gays hanging from cranes in Iran helped by your denigration of Israel? That same Israel where gays march proudly in our streets and serve in our parliament, including I’m proud to say in my own Likud party. Are the starving children in North Korea’s brutal tyranny, are they helped by your demonization of Israel? Israel, whose agricultural knowhow is feeding the hungry throughout the developing world?"

The sooner the UN’s obsession with Israel ends, the better. The better for Israel, the better for your countries, the better for the UN itself.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If UN habits die hard, Palestinian habits die even harder. President Abbas just attacked from this podium the Balfour Declaration. He’s preparing a lawsuit against Britain for that declaration from 1917. That’s almost 100 years ago – talk about being stuck in the past. The Palestinians may just as well sue Iran for the Cyrus Declaration, which enabled the Jews to rebuild our Temple in Jerusalem 2,500 years ago. Come to think of it, why not a Palestinian class action suit against Abraham for buying that plot of land in Hebron where the fathers and mothers of the Jewish people were buried 4,000 years ago? You’re not laughing. It’s as absurd as that. To sue the British government for the Balfour Declaration? Is he kidding? And this is taken seriously here?"

"...I am hopeful about what Israel can accomplish because I’ve seen what Israel has accomplished. In 1948, the year of Israel’s independence, our population was 800,000. Our main export was oranges. People said then we were too small, too weak, too isolated, too demographically outnumbered to survive, let alone thrive. The skeptics were wrong about Israel then; the skeptics are wrong about 

Israel now.

Israel’s population has grown tenfold, our economy fortyfold. Today our biggest export is technology – Israeli technology, which powers the world’s computers, cellphones, cars and so much more."

Good stuff.

***

Obama, for his part, also addressed the UN and he spoke of a commitment to cooperation and multilateralism and took his usual subtle criticism of the U.S. characterizing it as 'my country'.

In other words, more blah, blah, blah.

The President is all for 'cooperation' unless it's domestic. Then he's all for bypassing Congress (apparently this is okay because they refuse to work with him) and attack countries like Libya, topple governments in Egypt; to say nothing of itching to bomb Syria. 

 

Thoughts On Vin Scully

The voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers Vin Scully is retiring and I've been taking in my fair share of Scully stories on sports radio.

Scully's stunning career began in 1958 and stretches back still further to the old Brooklyn Dodgers in the early part of the decade. All told 67 years of Dodgers history runs through his veins.

Now some may be wondering why a Montrealer would be talking about Scully.

A couple of reasons actually.

First off, this city has had its fair share of wonderful play by play broadcasters. For me, Dave Van Horne and Dick Irvin come to mind having telling Scullyesque tales in baseball and hockey respectively. Some of those years we had the pleasure of a Van Horne-Duke Snyder tandem and later Ken Singleton. On the French language broadcast we had Jacques Doucet.

Which makes me wonder about CJAD's decision to drop Irvin given how long Scully has gone. The day the Habs lost Irvin, was the day I lost all interest (among other reasons) in listening to the team on the radio. 

Through Snyder we begin to see the connection of Montreal to the Dodgers via the Montreal Royals who were the farm team.

Which brings me to another reason. Because of the Royals-Dodgers lineage and reading about the history, I decided to follow the Dodgers after the Expos moved to Washington.

Along the way, besides playoff games over the years, I caught my share of Vin Scully called games.

So, given this, the story and celebration around Scully is not lost on me.  As I write I'm listening to Scully call the Rockies-Dodgers game.

There's an incredible poetic cadence to Scully's layered style one in which comes with powerful imagery and authenticity.

Now if you don't mind, rather than delve deeper into this, I have a ball game to listen to.

Make that, Vin Scully to listen to.

Failed American Foreign Policy In The Middle East

Hillary keeps yapping on about how it was necessary to intervene in Libya leaving the country in civil war tatters. Another area where American foreign policy has completely lost its direction is in Syria.

If the American position or strategy makes little sense to you that's because it doesn't. It has no real effective plan in place.

Obama may have fooled sycophants, supporters, fans and a lap dog media into believing he was engaging in a game of chess but the facts of his decisions involving not just Syria and Libya but Egypt and Iran as well have for the most part failed.

And spectacularly.

In fact, the decisions undertook are every bit as dangerous as invading a nation outright.

Obama and Hilary have essentially engaged in sloppy and cynical version of 'war by other means' foreign policy.

He may have inherited a mess (which is part and parcel of taking over a nation) but he proceeded to create his own mess.

And then some.

Disney Capitulates

I said stop apologizing and pandering to the insane!

You will never win where SJW are concerned and I find it disturbing as it is ghastly Disney capitulated ans apologized for Moana.

Basically, you've effectively given more power to a minority of shrill and ignorant voices to continue their cultural appropriation buffoonery.

The proper response would have been: FUCK. YOU.

Stop Ignoring Islams Role For The Rise Of The Crusades

I happened upon this in The Straight Dope:

"...Throughout the Crusades, which began in 1095 when Pope Urban II called upon Christians to wrest the Holy Land from Muslim control, one side might reasonably have been described as civilized, tolerant, and progressive, while the other was by and large a bunch of backward, ignorant, bloodthirsty fanatics. Hint: It wasn't the Muslims who, upon capturing Jerusalem in 1099, gleefully slaughtered everyone there."

Yeh. I got a problem with this part in what otherwise was a response I agreed with for the large part.

Why? Mostly because it gives the impression Christianity undertook The Crusades for the heck of it and it enjoyed spilling some blood; Songs of Roland notwithstanding.

One problem though - perhaps unwittingly - spelled out in the sentence itself: wrest the Holy Land from Muslim control.

That part is key to me.

The Crusades were as much a reaction to Islamic expansion and desire to conquer European lands as much as any reason or explanation put forth.

Between the 7th and 15th centuries and until the fall of The Ottoman empire in the early 20th century, Islam was on the march and Europe - being poorer - was defending itself and used The Crusades to launch its own offensive to merely recapture lost Christian lands - which by the way were permanently lost in some cases. Ask yourself this. Why did so many Europeans pull back away from the shores during this period? Retrenching back to the hills and into castles as a means of protection.

So yeah. I'm not on board with the 'we went and attacked the peaceful Muslims'.

To assert this is to deny the fact Islam was ascending and it wanted to exploit and expand.

Next they'll try and tell me Islams role in slavery was more humane by us dirty Christians, right?

Time To Clean Up Or Disband The SQ

Growing up, we knew the Surete du Quebec (a strange 'off' police force) were a police detachment we wanted no part of. They exuded racism and possessed an unsettling swagger. We called them the 'le, le maudit ostie' police because we always got the feeling they were one slip up away from calling us 'wops' and we knew this is what they thought in the back of their minds.

Yes, shades of the Deep South when cops called blacks 'boy' in derogatory disdain.

Alas, this is the perception but we did hear stories from time to time.

Here's one story.

"Police officers trading money and cocaine for sex, a missing persons case that collected dust for months, and allegations of wanton cruelty against vulnerable women.

These are what indigenous people say they have encountered first-hand in their dealings with the Sûreté du Québec in the remote mining city of Val d’Or.

The allegations come from 12 aboriginal people, mostly women, from Algonquin communities around Val d’Or in northwestern Quebec, and they range from sexual to physical abuse."

No matter how you dice this, it's awful and appalling. It literally cuts to the heart of who we are and what we want our police officers to be.

We shut down a proud military regiment for this sort of behavior with the Somalia Affair involving the Canadian Airborne Regiment.

The came this story which came as very little surprise to me:

"Benaouda's cellphone camera was still rolling and recorded the conversation in the patrol car between Benaouda and Guénette. Benaouda protested that he did nothing wrong.

According to the police ethics board decision, Guénette then told Benaouda: "Check les lunettes mon ostie d'arabe," referring to his own glasses. 

This translates loosely as, "Look at my glasses, God damn Arab."

Guénette is then heard sarcastically trying to mock an Algerian accent, and suggesting that Benaouda had a Mafia lawyer."

Nice. Professional. 

Either the SQ cleans house, makes meaningful changes or the government must disband it.

Stop Apologizing To SJW; Trolling Dumbass SJW

Aw, a bunch of nationalist Mexican student association assholes (ugh, Student Associations) at Cornell are upset because a coach had the temerity to post a picture wearing a sombrero citing cultural appropriation.

Gee, I wonder if these clowns are aware Cornell is pretty much an Ivy League WASP institution or I'm guessing they enjoy the occasional egg roll and pizza.

Seriously. Stop apologizing to these idiots. The only appropriate response is FUCK OFF IGNORANT TURDS.

Now it's time to troll:



***

I'm still surprised no one has has pointed out about another absurd story involving Marc Jacobs that dreadlocks are not Jamaican but in fact have a history that goes back to the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians.

How's that for irony, eh?

But what do you expect from people who are historically deficient?

Stop apologizing and coddling them. You only enable and encourage their retarded behavior.

Of Change And Doughnuts And Cultural Appropriation

This ridiculous editorial in The Globe and Mail about Rogers Sports NET terminating Hockey Night in Canada's host George Stromboulopolous got me thinking about a bunch of stuff including cultural appropriation.

Here are some snippets:

"Sports fans are creatures of habit. Innovation just isn’t part of their vocabulary."

Alrighty. We're off to a bad start. This sets the mood for where this is gonna go.

"Rogers executives thought the old CBC Hockey Night in Canada approach was staid and out-of-date, and undoubtedly they were right. In particular, they focused on HNIC host Ron MacLean, whose insider status and intimacy with hockey lore weren’t enough to compensate for his forced folksiness, excruciating puns and deferential encouragement of Don Cherry’s simplistic rants."

I wonder what wine they were drinking and the color of their ascots the day they wrote this.

I've said this in the past and will say it again, Don Cherry is a sports phenomena. People embrace him - including myself- for whatever reasons. I find it appalling and annoying as I do hilarious having been subjected to media rail against him over the years. It's a classic case of 'We can't believe people like this guy. How can they not be enlightened like us? We'll have to fix them up' smugness to which I cared little for.

Also, more importantly, I've learned more about hockey from his 'simplistic rants' than I have from the vast majority of hockey writers through the decades. More often than not, Cherry has been bang on about what ails hockey and what makes it interesting; from his thoughts on equipment to rules to general insights (insights that have proven to be subtle in their usefulness making mockery of the claim he's simplistic) often overlooked by the mainstream press.

"Mr. Stroumboulopoulos, despite or indeed because of his skinny suits and hollow-eyed ex-rocker gaze, is reportedly out as a host, to be succeeded by the staid, outmoded icon he toppled."

We get it. It was outmoded. You open-minded trend-setters you. Jesus, I would love to meet and slap this person off the side of the head with a Brontasaurus rib.

And what is this? A teeny-bopper show? As an alternate and personal take, I consider myself a man of good taste and sharp dressing and those skinny suits didn't exude professionalism or hipness to me. It just didn't transfer well on television.

"Hockey broadcasting didn’t need some corporate idea of the latest thing, it turns out, and who’s surprised? The pleasures of being a fan are grounded in a conservatism that is hard to explain or justify in a culture of innovation but easy to recognize in a more intimate sports milieu that thrives on familiarity and predictability."

Ah yes. Let's get to the lazy portion of the argument and blame 'conservatism'.

Hockey as a whole, as the G&M knows, is an old boys network where innovation among teams and coaches tends to be limited and copy cat. They circulate and shuffle the same people around when in sometimes, it's probably best to bring in someone from the outside. I get this point.

However, this editorial could have made this point without the dreary and typical disdained arrogance all too common among media today.

And let's not over blow George here as some leitmotif for 'culture of innovation.' He just didn't connect. Why, I don't know and it sounds as though the G&M doesn't either preferring to blow smug steam out of its ass.

I admit to not paying much attention to intermission where sports are concerned. It doesn't interest me to sit and watch a bunch of heads just gargle stuff I pretty much deduced on my own. They all sell themselves as providing real insights but not really. You could have had a muppet hosting and it wouldn't change much.

I was indifferent to George. Not because I didn't like him, I just didn't see the point. But I can see why people may like him.

Michael Strahan on the other hand. Jesus, what is the attraction?

"Mr. MacLean, like the bombastic, irascible Mr. Cherry, has held court for decades, and that very longevity, however imperfect, became part of the draw for hockey regulars."

But you repeat yourself.

Is this a new writing-style technique? To rinse and repeat?

"In a world where change is a little too relentless and beyond our control, hockey can still supply stability and connect people across cultures and generations who otherwise have little in common.

Marketers, for their own mercenary interests, want to shunt us off into demographics and sell us on change. But the habits of hockey are powerful, and every now and then they provide this useful reminder: Sometimes the old ways are the good ones."

Aaaaand then they shift gears a little.

Yeah, sometimes the classics are great but too bad you're to ignorant to see innovation!

Bah humbug.

***

I've grown tired of the 'wagging finger' style of media where some journalist incredulously tells their readers what's good for them. The media does seem to think itself as some sort of gatekeeper to 'good tastes' of some sort.

A few years back, and for some reason The G&M article above reminded me of this, the media strangely went hard after Krispy Kreme's incursion into the Canadian market. It was almost as if they were offended that an American company was stepping on Tim Horton's turf. Heck, that probably was exactly why. I digress.

Everyday they were pounding away at how much fat and calories a KK doughnut had vis-a-vis its competitors. It became a farce. 'KK d'nuts have 800 calories versus "just" 770 for a Timmy'! leaving the viewer with the impression KK was *bad* for you when in fact both are basically junk food.

I don't know the details as to why KK has, what, just one location here, but maybe the stupid scare-mongering worked.

Yet, somehow, I doubt they turn down going to Tim Hortons for a doughnut, right?

***

Which, in turn, again with not real rhyme or reason led me to 'cultural appropriation' which I've discussed before. In a nutshell, if you invoke it or believe it to be a legitimate form of intellectualism, you're an idiot. No other way to put it.

No, wait. I apologize.

A profoundly ignorant idiot.

Cultural appropriation (of which there have been many examples), really, at its roots, is a form of insular thinking. It's a metaphor for the current intellectual dark age we're witnessing.

The rise of the welfare state has helped to contribute to the closing of the mind -a shrugging atlas if you will. It leaves people to their own devices locked up in a world of their own vomit and nonsense susceptible to stupidity and quackery.

It's easy to buy into all the crazy shit about climate change, vaccines and patriarchy when you're shut off from facts and reality. And when your little bubble of retardation is threatened, lash out incoherent assertions of 'racism' and 'sexism'. And when that's not enough, just censor and call for people to be imprisoned.

How can it be but a product of intellectual isolation to believe in cultural appropriation?

I personally find the thing about 'dreadlocks' to be interesting. Dreadlocks go back thousands of years and were originally found in Northern European cultures. Only later on did it become connected to Rastafarians. Is this not cultural appropriation? Ironic, no?

Whatever you do, never apologize to these idiots. Ever.

In any event, welcome to humanity. One big Amazon shelf of cultural appropriation.

***

I know there's a way to link all of these to form a full circle....but I'm just too lazy at the moment.

Now where's my doughnut?

Of Change And Doughnuts And Cultural Appropriation

This ridiculous editorial in The Globe and Mail about Rogers Sports NET terminating Hockey Night in Canada's host George Stromboulopolous got me thinking about a bunch of stuff including cultural appropriation.

Here are some snippets:

"Sports fans are creatures of habit. Innovation just isn’t part of their vocabulary."

Alrighty. We're off to a bad start. This sets the mood for where this is gonna go.

"Rogers executives thought the old CBC Hockey Night in Canada approach was staid and out-of-date, and undoubtedly they were right. In particular, they focused on HNIC host Ron MacLean, whose insider status and intimacy with hockey lore weren’t enough to compensate for his forced folksiness, excruciating puns and deferential encouragement of Don Cherry’s simplistic rants."

I wonder what wine they were drinking and the color of their ascots the day they wrote this.

I've said this in the past and will say it again, Don Cherry is a sports phenomena. People embrace him - including myself- for whatever reasons. I find it appalling and annoying as I do hilarious having been subjected to media rail against him over the years. It's a classic case of 'We can't believe people like this guy. How can they not be enlightened like us? We'll have to fix them up' smugness to which I cared little for.

Also, more importantly, I've learned more about hockey from his 'simplistic rants' than I have from the vast majority of hockey writers through the decades. More often than not, Cherry has been bang on about what ails hockey and what makes it interesting; from his thoughts on equipment to rules to general insights (insights that have proven to be subtle in their usefulness making mockery of the claim he's simplistic) often overlooked by the mainstream press.

"Mr. Stroumboulopoulos, despite or indeed because of his skinny suits and hollow-eyed ex-rocker gaze, is reportedly out as a host, to be succeeded by the staid, outmoded icon he toppled."

We get it. It was outmoded. You open-minded trend-setters you. Jesus, I would love to meet and slap this person off the side of the head with a Brontasaurus rib.

And what is this? A teeny-bopper show? As an alternate and personal take, I consider myself a man of good taste and sharp dressing and those skinny suits didn't exude professionalism or hipness to me. It just didn't transfer well on television.

"Hockey broadcasting didn’t need some corporate idea of the latest thing, it turns out, and who’s surprised? The pleasures of being a fan are grounded in a conservatism that is hard to explain or justify in a culture of innovation but easy to recognize in a more intimate sports milieu that thrives on familiarity and predictability."

Ah yes. Let's get to the lazy portion of the argument and blame 'conservatism'.

Hockey as a whole, as the G&M knows, is an old boys network where innovation among teams and coaches tends to be limited and copy cat. They circulate and shuffle the same people around when in sometimes, it's probably best to bring in someone from the outside. I get this point.

However, this editorial could have made this point without the dreary and typical disdained arrogance all too common among media today.

And let's not over blow George here as some leitmotif for 'culture of innovation.' He just didn't connect. Why, I don't know and it sounds as though the G&M doesn't either preferring to blow smug steam out of its ass.

I admit to not paying much attention to intermission where sports are concerned. It doesn't interest me to sit and watch a bunch of heads just gargle stuff I pretty much deduced on my own. They all sell themselves as providing real insights but not really. You could have had a muppet hosting and it wouldn't change much.

I was indifferent to George. Not because I didn't like him, I just didn't see the point. But I can see why people may like him.

Michael Strahan on the other hand. Jesus, what is the attraction?

"Mr. MacLean, like the bombastic, irascible Mr. Cherry, has held court for decades, and that very longevity, however imperfect, became part of the draw for hockey regulars."

But you repeat yourself.

Is this a new writing-style technique? To rinse and repeat?

"In a world where change is a little too relentless and beyond our control, hockey can still supply stability and connect people across cultures and generations who otherwise have little in common.

Marketers, for their own mercenary interests, want to shunt us off into demographics and sell us on change. But the habits of hockey are powerful, and every now and then they provide this useful reminder: Sometimes the old ways are the good ones."

Aaaaand then they shift gears a little.

Yeah, sometimes the classics are great but too bad you're to ignorant to see innovation!

Bah humbug.

I look forward to Coach's Corner whenever I'm around. Guess that makes me a conservative dolt. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!

If this pisses the media off all the better.

***

I've grown tired of the 'wagging finger' style of media where some journalist incredulously tells their readers what's good for them. The media does seem to think itself as some sort of gatekeeper to 'good tastes' of some sort.

A few years back, and for some reason The G&M article above reminded me of this, the media strangely went hard after Krispy Kreme's incursion into the Canadian market. It was almost as if they were offended that an American company was stepping on Tim Horton's turf. Heck, that probably was exactly why. I digress.

Everyday they were pounding away at how much fat and calories a KK doughnut had vis-a-vis its competitors. It became a farce. 'KK d'nuts have 800 calories versus "just" 770 for a Timmy'! leaving the viewer with the impression KK was *bad* for you when in fact both are basically junk food.

I don't know the details as to why KK has, what, just one location here, but maybe the stupid scare-mongering worked.

Yet, somehow, I doubt they turn down going to Tim Hortons for a doughnut, right?

***

Which, in turn, again with not real rhyme or reason led me to 'cultural appropriation' which I've discussed before. In a nutshell, if you invoke it or believe it to be a legitimate form of intellectualism, you're an idiot. No other way to put it.

No, wait. I apologize.

A profoundly ignorant idiot.

Cultural appropriation, really, at its roots, is a form of insular thinking. It's a metaphor for the current intellectual dark age we're witnessing.

The rise of the welfare state has helped to contribute to the closing of the mind -a shrugging atlas if you will. It leaves people to their own devices locked up in a world of their own vomit and nonsense susceptible to stupidity and quackery.

It's easy to buy into all the crazy shit about climate change, vaccines and patriarchy when you're shut off from facts and reality. And when your little bubble of retardation is threatened, lash out incoherent assertions of 'racism' and 'sexism'. And when that's not enough, just censor and call for people to be imprisoned.

How can it be but a product of intellectual isolation to believe in cultural appropriation?

I personally find the thing about 'dreadlocks' to be interesting. Dreadlocks go back thousands of years and were originally found in Northern European cultures. Only later on did it become connected to Rastafarians. Is this not cultural appropriation? Ironic, no?

In any event, welcome to humanity. One big Amazon shelf of cultural appropriation.

The SJW movement is one big backlash against the values and cultural patterns that have made Western civilization from Athens and Rome onward what it is. Now that we've amassed all this wealth in finance and cultural patrimony it's time to deconstruct it and demand it somehow makes amends to all those offended in the past, present and future.They loathe our values and culture but they sure want the money and wealth it produced to give them what they want.

It's a strange and shameless if not irrational pulsating instinct is it not?

***

I know there's a way to link all of these to form a full circle....but I'm just too lazy at the moment.

Now where's my doughnut?

What's A Leppo?

A leopard-hippo.

And yes, it's as awesome and magical you imagine it to be.

America's Stunning Unfunded Liabilities

"Combining the figures above with the national debt and subtracting the value of federal assets, the federal government had about $76.4 trillion ($76,438,000,000,000) in debts, liabilities, and unfunded obligations at the close of its 2015 fiscal year."

I've heard and read over the last little while  the number actually crashes pass $100 trillion.

This is a $19 trillion economy. 

Yeah. That's not good.

Not good at all.

Quote Of The Day

"If I had my way, I would build a lethal chamber as big as the Crystal Palace, with a military band playing softly, and a Cinematograph working brightly; then I’d go out in the back streets and main streets and bring them in, all the sick, the halt, and the maimed; I would lead them gently, and they would smile me a weary thanks; and the band would softly bubble out the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. "

D.H. Lawrence (1908).

Nice.

Those progressive intellects really knew how to get in touch with their humanism, huh?

Know who else thought a lethal chamber was awesome?

Never mind.

Freest Economies

According to the Fraser Institute.

Quick word. Canada once again out ranks the United States.

The U.S. has continued it's slow decline. I believe it was first or second right around Bush II took over and it sank to 6th by the time Obama came into office. It currently sits in 16th.

Not surprising given who has been running the U.S. in the last eight years.

I suspect it's going to further drop once Hillary (or Trump) take over. I don't see a single idea or thought that gives me much hope to think otherwise. It's really that bad.

How Obama can claim the economy is healthy is beyond me to comprehend.

America's leadership problem reminds me of Rome's succession problems that led to all sorts of instability, violence and unrest until Augustus came along. The thing that saved Rome at that time was that despite become an Emperor pretending to run a Republic, Augusts was actually pretty enlightened where matters of free trade and markets were concerned. The Pax Romana was no mistake. It was directly connected to Augustus's wise policies where state control and taxes (and duties) were kept at a minimum.

It's just that, just we're witnessing today, once the money rolls in, the government takes it and makes a mess of it. Think modern progressives like Democrats, Liberals and the NDP. Or more poignantly and starkly, Venezuela. Where there's a source of cash, they raid it.

Thoughts On Tipping And Rethinking Dining Out; Stop The Taxi Permits Racket

We've had to scale back going out to restaurants a little. It's become way too expensive.

It's one thing for inflation to increase prices but the sales taxed charged with the expectation of a tip has made dining out somewhat of a ridiculous exercise.

In Montreal, we're hit with an insidious 15% sales tax which in of itself should be enough to discourage customers. I'm sure it does for some but to what degree I have no clue. However, it doesn't stop there. Then comes the odd notion of entitled tipping where once upon a time 15% was the standard but now (because cost of living!) has inched up to 20%. In another few years, a quarter of the food bill will go to the server.

It's absurd.

First off, living in Quebec is double the expense anywhere on the continent. I have no idea how we tolerate Revenue Quebec. We already pay Revenue Canada but in the la-la of a wannabe independent rebellious child, we have Quebec masking as a 'nation' collecting taxes. This alone has me strongly considering leaving now that I've come understand it's actually eroding my wealth. How anyone who earns good money hasn't arrived at this rational conclusion is beyond me to comprehend. I marvel at people who can up and leave on a dime stay here. I'd be gone in a flash. I understand the family roots angle but even then...pas sur.

Second,  tipping basically amounts to the customer subsidizing the restaurant owner. It's not my job to give a tip because they're not paid enough and need to earn a 'living wage'. Aside from the fact no one forces anybody to take a job in that industry, they can demand their employers pay them more. And if they did succeed, this would have to come with the understanding the culture of tipping is over.

It's also a strange exercise in guilt tripping where if you're seen as a bad tipper you're a bad person. I've swung the other way now. Too often mediocre and sub-par servers just expect to get their tip. Lost is the art of exchange whereby the server provides optimum service to justify an added financial perk. But with the guilt associated with an implicit sense of entitlement, we've removed this right accorded to the customer. Often, the person just tips even when poorly served.

Not me anymore. You treat me poorly or at least to the level I expect (and lemme tell ya it's not a high standard. Wouldn't want people to actually push harder) you're gonna get 10% - and be lucky you get that because if the guilt train didn't run so deep, it would be nothing.

Mathematically it's become untenable. A meal that costs $40 becomes $55 because the government and restaurant tipping culture have their hands in it.

So for us it's come down to take-out from restaurants we like and in some cases food trucks (where the idiot government doesn't involve itself destroying it through impossible regulations while protecting its cronies).

In doing so, we get back to a rational customer-restaurant relationship and exchange we prefer.

***

Which indirectly, where customer service, brings us to Uber and the war with traditional Taxis.

Seems to me this whole episode is easily avoidable as it is tiresome.

That is, stop the artificial barrier to entry through charging for a permit.  Supply-side economics is about as rational as a racoon with  rabies. Taxi drivers, it goes, are upset Uber is not playing by the rules by not paying a fee to enter the racket market. I understand the frustration but they should be directing their anger at the government.

Get rid of the license fees and go compete for consumer dollars. 

To me this is the crux of the debate, the government doesn't want to lose that money and Taxis don't want to compete. 

People are mistakenly conflating the granting of a monopoly with 'safety' and 'service'. All a permit does is just that, distort a market.

You can have a healthy market environment with sensible laws, rules and regulations without paying $250 000.

Uber is crucial to the notion of an innovative market. People need to feel they can come up with a product or service without having to face onerous and artificial obstacles.

Uber, to me, is the market of free people smashing up an unhealthy monopoly.

Wednesday Night Music

The Wells Fargo Scam

Elizabeth Warren is gonna chime in on this right...right?

Of course not.

"Wells Fargo has habitually tried to cultivate a reputation as “the good bank.” Its executives maintain with pride that they stay away from high-risk investment products, and focus on traditional banking, with the highest ethical standards. 

Except for the part where bank employees created over 2 million fake accounts in their customers’ names."

Buffett owns so much stock in this and is the right kind of people. Not like those 'deplorables' or 'crazies' as Greenspan worries. 

Lord me, they can't hold back their contempt for people.

Straight up securities fraud from a miserable ward of the state this Wells Fargo.

Quite the shocking story.

Compost This

They're enforcing composting in the municipality (a small town with a menacing government not above using Mafia-like tactics) where I own my business.

While composting is not a bad thing (my grandfather was doing it before it was cool), it is a pain in the ass particularly with my business.

Of course, like everything else in North America, I don't have a choice. Do it...or else.

Which made me think about voting. I'm moving more and more towards the camp that believes voting is a waste of time. Bureaucrats run the show. Not the politicians. And you can't vote civil servants out.

An efficient and (hopefully) enlightened bureaucracy is necessary for the administering of a country.

Except, we don't have an efficient or enlightened bureaucracy.

Far from it. It's often petty and vulnerable to the shrill fads that afflict a particular era (ie climate change).

Basically, I vote in a face who then sits on a council making decisions on our behalf (regardless if they campaigned on it or not) that we must follow or face a consequence.

In other words, I give them the honor of using force against me.

That's all it is.

Composting is simply not for everyone. It's a preferred activity for sure but to use government force (ie fines) via inspectors is, as I've often argued here, invalid to a free society.

The more you rely on force to 'progress' a society, the weaker it is.

Modern Media: Weep

Marching orders. Shut up and do as we say.

Truly pathetic.

These are not journalists.

They're sycophants.

As useless as they come.

More Twitter Classics

Josh Barro ✔ @jbarro
I'm not sure it's right, but there's an argument to be made that this episode will improve Clinton's image.
Follow
Josh Barro ✔ @jbarro
It shows her doing her best to grit her teeth and work hard even with pneumonia. And it's humanizing, relatable.
6:11 PM - 11 Sep 2016 · New York, USA, United States

Yes, very humanizing.

Or.

It could show she has a complete disregard for others. Which, knowing what we know of her, is in complete character.

Let me know if you ever get pneumonia how your employer reacts if you show up like an irresponsible ding-a-ling, Josh.

Deep Thoughts With Yglesias

Matthew Yglesias Verified account ‏@mattyglesias

"You don't see people overheating in Canada and Sweden where they have single-payer health care and less inequality."

How's that for an Yglesiasism?

Could you be anymore ignorant, vacuous and banal?

Les Deplorables

“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” she said to applause and laughter. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”

Gee, whatever happened to uniting a nation and civil discourse, eh?

This kind of progressive arrogance should surprise no one. It's par for the course really.

I'm not sure what's to be gained by attacking voters rather than the candidate. Again, it's just another example of the breathtaking contempt for people living between New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles; the so-called fly over country.

I don't know what it's going to take for people to realize the left aren't on the side of the people, their liberty or small business. Rather, they revere government and big business.

It's interesting to note the same people who chastise Americans (and Canadians for that matter) for being stupid are the product of the progressive education system they seek to preserve and enhance. Is this not an admittance of failure?

It's not that hard to see the source of all things said to be bad in our society. Where there's an epidemic of obesity, scratch and find the government's irrational war on fat that led to people over loading on carbs. McDonald's gets to be the scapegoat in this ridiculous scenario.

Indeed, the whole point of progressivism is to run contrary to human nature and the course of history (ironic given they claim classical liberalism/libertarianism is not practical) by redesigning, redefining and revising all the parts that don't fit the narrative of how they conceptualize what constitutes a great civilization - and all the distortions that came with it.

This is the core of progressive principles.

Les deplorables indeed. 

Social Media Presidency: Get Used To The Selfie Way

Obama is the first social media president. What does this mean?

If social media remains in its current state. Not much. In fact, it's a troublesome development.

Social media feeds into our worse superficial desires. Just Tweet and away you go. Nothing substantial needed to back it up.

Gone are the days of the 'philosopher-king' type leader (if it ever existed or at least a time when we hoped and strove to have such leaders) pondering deeply about their decisions.

Obama is the master at feigning being a 'chess player' but really engaging in Connect Four. I see little in his foreign policy that can be construed as enlightening or as supporters in the base like to claim 'paradigm shifting'.

Egypt? If you claim, I guess, knocking Mubarak out for the Muslim Brotherhood and unleashing a wave of violence as success. The little hole in that logic, though, is it's usually asserted that taking out a dictator like Hussein in Iraq was a mistake. Of course, little else about the human rights abuses he committed are discussed.

Libya? How did Hillary put it? We came, we saw, he died about Khaddafi?  Libya was probably worse to the extent it further destabilized North Africa (while doing a favor for France and Sarkozy as the story goes and let's not bring up Benghazi) for no real purpose other than to say 'Arab spring' all without Congressional approval. 30 plus years of careful diplomacy erased. Just like that. And with no plan to replace him!

Boy, talk about a short season that was.

Then along came Syria with its red lines and outright bizarre decisions by the Obama administration. In sum, basically, all they accomplished was to go head to head with Russia (and lose) in wanting to oust a third dictator in Assad while supporting the Syrian rebels who, in turn, were backed up by ISIS, in which were getting American arms through the former.

And we're to think Gary Johnson is the ignorant and crazy one for not knowing where Aleppo is?

Let's not focus on the President who made a real mess but let's go after Johnson! Never mind Obama's own gaffes in the last eight years.

I highly doubt the moronic pundits - supremely and disturbingly comfortable in their pitifully partisan ignorance and arrogance - knew much about the history of Aleppo.

Leaving aside its long and interesting history (from Silk Road to Ottoman control) ask people like Joe Scarborough why is Aleppo important where the Syrian civil war is concerned? Who have a stake and who are the players? Who controls what and why? How do the EU, USA and Russia play into this? 

Remember, Aleppo is an ancient city pretty much reduced to an existential identity. Why is it an issue all of a sudden?

Heck, I bet Obama didn't know half this crap and likely had to be briefed about how Aleppo is Syria's oldest and longest inhabitable city standing at the crossroads of many cultures throughout the centuries not unlike Sicily and perhaps Venice.


Of course, you see, it's not Obama's fault because Iraq. And Bush. This singular action forced his hand.

Is this true?

On the balance, the short answer is no. Iraq didn't have any bearing on North Africa. Syria kinda indirectly does but lest we forget Obama wanted to intervene militarily!

Moving over to the non-Arab portion of the Mid-east comes the Iran deal.

A vainglorious endeavor if there ever was one. Iran is a theocracy that was, simply and frankly, not in a stage of its political existence to negotiate in good faith which would lead to a path to normalized relations. I suspect the Americans knew this but Obama didn't care is my hunch. What he understands is the 'snap shot' superficiality of sound-bite history. This is what matters now.

It is of little or no consequence what the actual results will be. And judging by how Iran is acting, pretty much as expected. It's just a piece of paper to them with no real binding glue to compel them to honor it.

Obama wanted another legacy deal to go along with Cuba and Obamacare.

The former likely to get nowhere as long as Castro is in power and the former being a spectacular spectacle of failures and another showcase of government corruption and ineptness.

This is the new pattern of governance.

Lest we be confused, Canada under Trudeau has undertaken the same exact path. The selfie prevails over the substance.

Have mercy on the United States.

And Canada.

Excluding Quebec Residences

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is frustrated when it comes to wanting to participate in various contests across North America only to read the fine print 'Excluding Quebec residences'.

I have no idea what the reason or origins of this are but I have a suspicion it may be language related.

It's quite disappointing (and somewhat embarrassing). Over the years my wife and daughter would listen eagerly to Radio Disney hoping to enter contests only to be told 'not open to Quebec residences'.

What else is new with this province? It all funnels through into the prism of language.

Really, it's like railing against the wind. But it's curious as it is instructive as it is not surprising.

Quebec cuts itself off from the continent in several ways.

I want to feel a part of this continent; not cut off from it.

Then they wonder why this place trails and lags in so many areas.

Quote Of The Day

"Theodore Dalrymple unmasks the hidden sentimentality that is suffocating public life. Under the multiple guises of raising children well…and doing good generally, we are achieving quite the opposite — for the single purpose of feeling good about ourselves."

Book review. 

Reminds me of the shrill hysterics displayed by people whenever they freak out seeing a kid walking alone or Harambe or Cecil the Lion or whatever. That is, they act with indignant faux moral rage.

It's nauseating.

I wonder how many of them first instinct is to whip out their little stupid iPhone cameras and take to Twitter (land of the twits) to publicly shame rather than, you know, actually help a fellow human out.

Nah. Easier to play nanny on the internet. 

 

 

Quebec Continues To Act Like A Banana Republic: Living On A Linguistic Prayer

Why Quebec is a laggard in North American reason 394959566:

"An eye specialist has been temporarily barred from practicing in Quebec because he failed the OQLF's written French proficiency test.


Le Devoir reports Dr. Amer Omar was suspended by the College of Physicians on July 1, after he spent the previous three years practicing under temporary work permits.
 
He's the only eye doctor in the province specializing in genetic retinal disease, and he won't be able to practice again until at least next month, when he gets another crack at the exam.
 
The 37-year-old doctor, originally from Egypt, has lived in Canada for the last 15 years, is married to a French Quebecer, and speaks fluent French. He has also spent the last year brushing up on his written French — without success."

And that my friends is Quebec lunacy in a nut shell. How's that for building an advanced society!

Nationalists keep telling me Anglos politicize everything. But it's usually the 'reaction to something stupid' kind and here's a prime example of it. Think of it. He's the only doctor of his kind in the province and the province is putting a lousy proficiency test before the health of patience.

We should be proud of this and working to bring more like him here.

Instead, we're full-throttle stupid. We have no business making fun of Trump on any level because we are a Trump inspired place. It's right there in action.

Is Couillard, as a physician, even paying attention? Decent and sensible Quebecers need to really speak up at this point lest 'la chute de Montreal' continues unabated.

The OLF are an embarrassing blithe on the province's landscape with way too much power who offer nothing.

Worse that that, Quebec is out of its fricken mind if it thinks this has no impact on potential talent relocating here. Last I checked, we're not exactly a hub of innovative activity at the moment and there's plenty of reasons for this. Superficial barriers to entry based on language is one of them; an entry NO JURISDICTION in North America demands I might remind. Proficiency exams are as productive as they're discriminatory.

Le Journal de Montreal recently ran a couple of articles about how successful Anglo education institutions are. Minority and Anglo graduation rates have always been higher than they are on the Franco side and much of it is standards as it is cultural. The same can be said of English hospitals.

How absurd are things? As if French hospitals aren't in need of serious upgrade, nationalists think it's a swell idea to enter English institutions and demand there's 'too much English.'

Let's race to the bottom! All for language.

It's only something old immigrants figured, what, 100 years ago and proceeded accordingly.

Apart from the staggering display of cultural dissonance whereby they seem to act as though the Anglo community are an obscurity, it never occurs to them to say, 'Hey man. What are you guys doing right?'

Even within itself Quebec is insular.

No wonder Toronto blew Montreal right...out...of...the...water.

Wilder Passes; It's Frankensteen!

Gene Wilder passed away. One of the funniest movies ever made:

Late Monday Night Music

Quote Of The Day

"The attempts to place holding property in the soil—on the same footing as holding property in man, was most lame and impotent. And the wonder is that anyone could listen with patience to such arrant nonsense."

Frederick Douglass on socialism.

Quite the defunct anti-humanist ideology to behold. 

Statists Begin Attack On Alcohol

Ha, ha You actually thought Prohibition was a thing of the past? Think again. It can and probably make some kind of come back.

Ha, HA! You actually thought government is run by highly efficient academics looking out for our interests?

The sooner you understand it's all about control while excusing this ambition under the guise of 'public health' the sooner you'll stop buying into progressive gibberish and become truly free thinking.

"For decades, beer, wine and liquor producers have been helped by a notion, enshrined in a number of governments’ dietary advice, that a little alcohol can provide modest coronary and other health benefits.


Rapidly, that advice is shifting as health-policy officials around the world scrutinize their previous advice in the light of research pointing to possible cancer risks.


The change is pressuring the alcohol industry in some of its biggest markets, including the U.S., the U.K. and Russia. Its response is as expensive and sprawling as the threat it perceives, including attacking anti-alcohol advocates’ research and working with governments to formulate policy. Alcohol companies are also funding their own research, including a plan by four companies to contribute tens of millions dollars toward the cost of a rigorous study."

Ah, there it is. What better disease to focus on than cancer? Never mind there's no proof (that never stopped them before for *insert righteous cause here*) Here's how it's gonna go down. The government is going to slowly start pulling the same crap they did with cigarettes thus creating a black market (and more crime). And all this will be fully supported by the brain-dead left who will lose their minds on industry research dismissing them because of profits and greed. But here's the kicker. They're all gonna find a way to get their booze and the poor will get screwed.

This is EXACTLY how interventionism and paternalism works.

"...Said Beer Institute President Jim McGreevy, addressing executives at an April conference about the alcohol critics: “We can’t let them gain traction.”

Absolutely.

“There is no safe level of drinking,” U.K. Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies told a British television interviewer."

Fuck off, Sally, you slaver.

What is it with the British and their nannyism anyway?

"The threat to the alcohol industry isn’t as sharp as that faced by tobacco, which shrank due to rapidly changing public attitudes and government policy after it was determined that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease and other ailments."

It can be sharp hence the need to stop these morons in their tracks.

Smoking has never conclusively been found to cause lung cancer.

And now they're heading down the same deceptive path. It will evolve into 'alcohol causes cancer'.

"...Nonetheless, governments’ alcohol advice matters, even if few would-be bar patrons ever consult it. It filters into policy on liquor taxes, retail-sales hours and advertising restrictions. More subtly, it can inform public attitudes toward drinking. Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV BUD, +0.85%  now includes in its corporate risk statement that the WHO seeks to reduce what it calls the harmful use of alcohol by 10%."

Of course they do. And not necessarily in a good way. Nothing worse than a panel of academic researchers fully backed by the potentially violent power of the state.

As for calculating risk, I do the same. I call it the 'Parasite Slider'. Except I go with 5%. You never know what kind of lie they throw at you. In Canada, the Liberals increased costs by at least 3% to my business. But they claim it's good for business looking at their big picture. Their picture is too skewed for my taste.

Last, this is exactly how you slow economic growth. Just put regulatory burdens.

Save this post.

"The near-consensus the industry enjoyed until recently—that light drinking can actually improve health in some ways—dates back to research four decades ago. A California cardiologist named Arthur Klatsky was trying to figure out what lifestyle factors might affect cardiovascular health. In what he says was a surprise, he discovered that light drinkers had fewer heart attacks than abstainers, as well as a lower statistical risk of dying from coronary heart disease.


It “changed the paradigm for studying the effects of alcohol,” according to the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, whose precursor organization at times funded Dr. Klatsky.
In 1995, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revised its alcohol guidance, eliminating the statements that alcohol had “no net health benefit” and that drinking “is not recommended.” 

/Places reader on T.C.'s lap. See how they do it?  Re-read carefully.

They're going back to their sham science.

Anyone who listens to 'government guidelines' is a fool for a client - or something like that.

“Science is on our side,” a beer executive told an industry conference the next year. Patti McKeithan of Miller advised convention-goers to start every meeting with legislators by saying that “alcohol can be part of a healthy diet,” according to documents in tobacco-litigation archives, where they can be found because Miller was owned by tobacco company Philip Morris MO, +0.20%   at the time.
Now, newer research is once again shifting the consensus.

Science has nothing to do with it. It in the 1920s. It didn't with cigarettes and doesn't with climate change.

It's all about managing vices and virtues. Power that is. They don't need science for that.

"One of the first signs came when WHO officials set out nearly a decade ago to develop a new alcohol policy. They planned to focus on “global burden of disease,” assessing a broad range of possible effects, including indirect ones such as rates of accidents and certain infections.

We're now ONE world now. It's all global, you see? It's complicated.

You can't kick these people in the ass hard enough.

Quote Of The Day

"Most civilization is based on cowardice. It's so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which would lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame. ”

—Frank Herbert

Olympic Stats Of The Day

Now that the Olympics in Rio are over how fast will those venues fall into disuse?

What a clusterfuck of taxpayer waste the Olympics are.

Anyway.

I'm not a fan of the per capita medal ratios as a method to prove which country is the *most athletic* for a plethora of reasons and thought to prepare a whole bunch of reasons why but then it took too much time I don't have at the moment.

Sooooo.....

Here are the updated all-time Gold to Silver medal ratios (gold medals divided into of silver and gold medals) among countries. That is, how successful are countries at seizing a gold medal. Gold into total medals in parentheses :

UAE  - .1000% (50%)
Panama - .1000% (33%)
Bahamas - .750% (43%)
Cameroon - .750% (60%)
Ethiopia - .710% (42%)
Dominican Republic - .600% (43%)
New Zealand - .590% (39%)
Turkey - .588% (42%)
Georgia - .571% (25%)
India - .563% (32%)
China - 562% (40% gold)
12 - USA - .555% (40% of medals gold)
Russia - .547% (38%)
Morocco - .545% (26%)
Estonia - .542% (32%)
16- Hungary - .540% (12th - 35%)
17- Italy - .534% (13th - 35%)
South Korea - .532% (37%)
Ukraine - .529% (28%)
Thailand - .529% (29%)
Cuba - .527% (35%)
Norway - .521% (36%)
North Korea - 500% (29%)
Lithuania - .500% (24%)
Tunisia - .500% (21%)
Israel - .500% (11%)
Ivory Coast - .500% (33%)
Bahrain - .500% (33%)
Burundi - .500% (50%)
Tajikistan - .500%
Costa Rica - .500%
Pakistan - .500% (30%)
Syria - .500% (33%)
Uruguay - .500% (20%)
Japan - .498% (31%)
Finland - .495% (31%)
Germany - .494% (33%)
Netherlands - .484% (31%)
Croatia - .484% (34%)
Sweden - .481% (31%)
Australia - .478% (30%)
Great Britain - .477% (31%)
Romania - .476% (29%)
Ireland - .474% (29%)
France - .472% (30%)
Czech Republic - .468% (28%)
Switzerland - .465%  (30%)
Iran - .462% (26%)
Slovakia - .458% (33%)
Argentina - .456% (28%)
Brazil - .455% (24%)
Kenya - .449% (31%)
Kazakhstan - .444% (26%)
54 - Canada .442% (27%)
Poland - .439% (24%)
Egypt - .438%
South Africa - .439% (29%)
Greece - .434% (28%)
Zimbabwe - .429%
Belgium - .421% (26%)
Spain .417% (30%)
Jamaica .411% (29%)
Austria - .410%  (25%)
Venezuela - .400%
Uganda - .400%
Colombia - .385% (19%)
Denmark .375% (23%)
Belarus .373% (19%)
Bulgaria - .371%
Azerbaijan .368% (16%)
Indonesia .368%
Slovenia - 368%
Mexico- .351%
Serbia - .333% (20%)
Portugal - .333% (16%)
Singapore - .333%
Puerto Rico - .333%
Taiwan - .300%
Armenia - .286%
Trinidad - .286%
Nigeria - .273%
Vietnam - .250%
Peru - .250%
Luxembourg - .250%
Latvia - .167%
Malaysia - .000
Namibia - 000
Philippines - 000
Niger - 000
Moldova - 000
Barbados - 000
Iceland - 000
Iraq - 000
Paraguay 000
95 - Lebanon 000

Progressives Way Behind The Curve Of Reality

Someone forwarded an article titled "The Culture Of The Smug White Liberal".

It's always interesting to read liberals come to some sort of epiphany already made obvious to others. It's like they live in a shell and when they come out realize 'this is not Pismo beach!'

Moreover, it's immensely startling - despite the fact the author pretty much admitted progressivism (there is no liberalism in the modern Democrat party; just progressive paternalism) has destroyed not just the black community but communities at large - is every single thing she asserts in the article has been already discussed by conservatives (in publications like NRO and The New Criterion), thinkers like Parker, Williams, Friedman and Sowell and, of course (take a bow) libertarians (particularly where gay rights are concerned. The Democrats weren't ahead of that curve and neither is Obama) for decades.
Because of this head start, I believe they've come to be more thought-provoking and refined in their criticisms and are far more adept and willing to offer alternative solutions since they've already identified the problems mentioned in the article. As such, progressives are so behind the curve, they're obsolete and don't even know it.

Ever notice how utterly banal, boring and predictable their *solutions* or interpretations to social, economic (whatever) ills are? It always seems to add up to 'more taxes' or 'more regulations' or calls for more restrictions (e.g censorship) on personal liberties. 

Yet, this sort of epiphany is not getting traction for some odd reason. It's hard to truly educate and offer differing views when companies like Google, Apple and Facebook actively suppress free speech by playing censorship games where conservative and libertarian view points are concerned.

Rather, they're taken to uproot, rewrite, and deny history. Stuff like 'The Republicans were liberals!' and 'the right to bear arms means militia!' and 'up is down and down is up!' Then they turn around and quietly wreck the black family by removing choice, espouse eugenics, prolong the depression and continue to create prohibitionist laws to this day (if not alcohol, go after e-cigarettes or sugar or soda for whatever bull shit reason they come up with (ie obesity, climate change etc.).

Um, who are the real 'extremists' again?

***

Small excerpt:


"Suggesting that blacks stop being Democrats or Liberals would be a waste of my time, but what I am suggesting is that we require white liberals to do more than pat us on the head and tell us they know better."

Actually, yes. You should stop being Democrats or NDP/Liberals. They're not liberals - they're progressives. The latter holds not a skeptical view of humanity with a tinge of envy but a highly cynical outlook that demands the government involve itself in almost all matters as managers of our vices and virtues.

The entire progressive structure relies on 'panels of experts' and academics to command in a heavy top-bottom approach fully backed by state power (ie violence).

Progressives are just, pretty much, Marxists by other means. 

Liberalism is dead to the extent modern progressives claiming lineage, as I've read once too many times, to The Enlightenment is preposterous.

But classical liberalism and the heritage of The Enlightenment lives in the libertarian ranks.

***

I mentioned deniers of reality.

The left only accept their conception of reality and what they face in the present. They talk of posterity but don't seem to recognize they're demands 'of now' only wreck the future.

Take debt for example. I can't think of a more perfect subject than debt (and banking) that epitomizes the shallow depths of their thoughts on the subject.

Debt is an abstract thought to them in the sense they rack up the debt and then realize they can't repay it ergo they come up with all sorts of arguments trying to convince it's actually good for society to eradicate the debt they incurred of free will.

Free will to charge the card, but greater good to pay for it if you prefer.

Time and again they reveal it's less about the community and collective and always about their personal needs.

In a sense, a debt is 'abstract'. But that existential outlook quickly ends when the person on the other side whom the debt is owed has to face the reality.

Debt finances many things from pensions to homes. Big ticket items are often funded with debt. You just have to make sure you can cover the principal plus the interest rate. It's not a complicated transaction. It only becomes complicated when you don't want to pay it.

So if government or banks were to forgive their debt (an instrument that can be traded. Think bonds. Oh, don't bother explaining the difference between a secured/unsecured bond or callables. That's of little interest to them) it doesn't just disappear. They seem to have some vague idea that banks are profits = gambling schemes.

Someone, somewhere is going to pay for it thus driving the cost of loans to sky rocket. And when that happens, guess what? It's that much harder to buy a car or a home. How? The cost I'm referring to comes in the form of interest and money down. In other words, the lender will ask for 80% of the purchase price while the cost of borrowing goes, for example, from 3% to 10%. And when that happens, their screams for government intervention will intensify.

You can't just 'erase' debt without it having a massive, unseen impact on someone else. And when that impact hits, it shouldn't be left to the government to step in.

Alas, it's all about them. Ironic, no? Given their ideology of the collective that is.

Concealed Permit Holders Least Likely To Commit Crimes

No kidding.

Stuff you won't hear in the media about guns much less among progressives and left-wing academics:

“We find that permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at less than a sixth the rate for police officers,” the report says. “Among police, firearms violations occur at a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 officers. Among permit holders in Florida and Texas, the rate is only 2.4 per 100,000.10. That is just one-seventh of the rate for police officers.”

Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott, a noted economist, said the finding is not surprising considering the rigorous process it takes to get a concealed-carry permit.

“The type of person that would go through the process, one in which you can often lose the license for fairly trivial offenses,” Lott told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “They are reluctant to use the the guns in a wrong way because they have a lot to lose if they do something wrong.”

No surprise here.. Since I've been blogging this is pretty much in line with what I've learned and researched over the years.

Gun control advocates rely on misrepresentation of facts and are deceitful about what their end game is.

Americans should fight to the end defending the Second Amendment. The mere fact the government and progressives want it so bad to the point of revisionism should be enough for skeptical people to protect its rights to bear arms.


***

I submit one small, insignificant but telling assertion about how full of shit people like Bloomberg and his cohorts on the left are.

They're more than willing to go after foods alleged to be bad for people under the guise of protecting them. From sodas to sugar from salt to cigarettes from guns to whatever - they have selected the stuff they don't like.

But ask them to go after coffee, booze and gambling.

Different ball game because A) they fucking love coffee and B) plenty of cronies to protect with alcohol and gambling.

Never mind politics has its fair share of drug users and sexual abusers. 

They go after the shit that doesn't affect them.

And even if it does, they have all the connections in the world to avoid or evade them. Think Canadian politicians who don't wait in the the health care queue while convincing the rest of the population it's good for them.

Eat your pablum folks. 

I have no problem calling them out for their outright hypocrisy and bull shit.

Regressive $15 Minimum Wage Fortunately Not In The Plans Here

It's been a while since a Canadian politician has made any sense about the economy and business (the Liberals under Finance Minister Morneau have been extremely disappointing on this front) let alone one from Quebec. But lo and behold even statists get something right from time to time.

Don't expect - thankfully - for $15 minimum wage to be coming here anytime soon. As a small business owner, I truly held my breath hoping the nonsense that has gone on in the USA in places like Seattle and San Francisco wasn't coming here. Luckily, I don't have to face the implications of such an arbitrary and counter-productive measure.

"In response, Carlos Leitao told reporters the $15 number was "arbitrary" and that it didn't make much sense.

"As an economist, what I want is a relationship between the minimum wage and the median wage," he said.


"Whether it is $15, $14, $13 or $17, it depends on the reality of each state, each jurisdiction. The minimum wage in Quebec doesn't need to be the exact same as in Ontario, the United States or elsewhere."

Though a welcomed, it is indeed arbitrary and thus pointless, it's best to remember this is the government and they do still cling to the (antiquated and stale) theory of minimum wage.  Here's a thought. Let those jurisdictions determine what that 'minimum' is.

Alas, what they giveth they taketh as I have to remind myself that this is the same bunch that brought in a carbon tax (which is just as negative a measure) and Bill 74.

CBC Drops Ball Big Time With Olympic Boxing

One of my preferred sports to watch at the Olympics is boxing. But this year it seems a little, well, off. I couldn't put my finger on it for a while. Then it hit me. For the first time in a long time there's been a lack of overall Canadian content in boxing. Usually, there's a Canadian somewhere making some noise legitimately aiming for a medal.

Alas, that didn't quite put the finger on it.

And then I realized Russ Anber isn't calling the fights. For some odd reason, the CBC in its infinite wisdom (and I use the term lightly) decided to use an international feed for boxing.

The rest is history. It's just not the same without Anber.

What a shame and comically terrible decision by the CBC.



 

Bill 74: Quebec One Step Closer To Full Censorship

Quebec continues to feed its tyrannical impulse.

A little-publicized bill that is making its way through Quebec's legislative process has digital-law experts and others worried that the concept of a free and open Internet is being threatened in the province.

Bill 74 includes a provision that seeks to force Internet service providers to block Quebecers' access to online gambling sites that aren't approved by the government.

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The province's finance minister says the bill is necessary to protect the health and safety of Quebecers because illegal sites don't apply the same "responsible gaming rules" as sites run by the government and pose a "risk to the population."

Necessary? Carlos Leitao is now just insulting us to our faces with this tripe. What a joke. This is all about Quebec protecting its turf like mobsters do. 

Critics say the Internet-censoring legislation — unprecedented in Canada — is a way for Quebec's state-owned gambling authority to block competition and could lead to governments across the country deciding what citizens can and can't view online.

No shit. Voters better come to the realization through cynical crony laws like this one are designed not to protect people but to further the financial needs of the state. 

In a province that prevents people from freely choosing access to education in the language of their choice and home to laws that restrict freedom like Bill 22 and Bill, Bill 74 keeps in Quebec's long tradition of anti-liberty behavior.

A shameful, backward law indeed and one in which I hope no province follows. Though I have little hope the Little Red Liberals are not that far off with this sort of thinking.

Saturday Night Music

Love this rendition of The Godfather:

Daily Derp: There Is A Rape Crisis

Just not in the way you think.

Hillary care sooo much for you, she will rape you by having you pay for all the 'free stuff' she promises to give you.

In other words, sigh, as is always the case with progressive Democrat policies, the Middle class will get reamed; as it did with Obamacare.

Democrats aren't that into you.

***

She's also reckless.

***

Ever notice the odd disconnect where people don't care about the plight of people in places like Cuba always generally overlooking their misery (and often actually romanticizing and defending it)? Yet suddenly believe in the concept of the greater good at home thus permitting them to tolerate more government welfare programs?

***

Thinking about the irrational hysteria against building pipeline. I guess it's better to have more port catastrophes?

People who oppose the pipeline and politicians who support it are directly negatively impacting our economy. 

***

"Belgium's Prime Minister condemned the attack on Twitter: "I condemn the attack in Charleroi with force."

You tell 'em!

Don't forget the angry emoticon! Grrrr!

***

Excuses, excuses

If you're lazy, you just may be intelligent!

Meh. I was told it could also be related mental disorders like depression.

I tend to procrastinate but I was the kernel kicked off the cob.

I hate eating corn on the cob. The kernels get all stuck in my teeth and then I look like more of an idiot.

***

Every generation thinks itself smarter (and with this particular generation known as millennials, they believe to be more virtuous and righteous) than the last. and if by 35 they haven't figured out they're no different than previous generations, cut 'em loose.

Quote Of The Day

"I divide my officers into four classes as follows: The clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities.

Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. 

But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous."

General Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord 1933

*Read in German accent. Makes it more, erm, poignant. 

U.S. Politics: Sanders Deserves Criticism; Commies For Hillary

No, Bernie Grandpa Gulag Sanders richly - excuse the pun - deserves to be chastised and shamed for buying a $600 000 home. Personally, good for him - hopefully it wasn't on credit given his debt level woes.

On the scale of things, this is likely his least objectionable thing (progressives naturally pick and choose how they will apply enjoying the fruits of capitalism) given his terrible takes on the economy, creating a behemoth welfare state, and historical appreciation for dictators. In other words, your run of the mill left-winger.

Had his outlook not been one of demonizing capitalism or choice (and yes, his *democratic* socialism is all about taking from the productive classes to hand over to other people) he'd be free and clear of the criticism.
Alas, he did not as he never let up questioning the very system that permitted him to make such a purchase.

Next time don't say insipid things like 'no one needs 23 types of deodorant' to make some esoteric vapid point about consumerism. Especially when you know damn well you break that line of logic in private life.

I mean, who needs a second home, right Bernie? Or, to borrow from Obama, how much is enough?!

***

Speaking of commies.

The Communist Party throws its support behind Hillary.


Naturally.

Their new motto? This time it'll be different!

***

Seth Conrad Rich adds fuel to conspiracy theories about dead bodies in and around the Clinton mafia.

What makes this one especially interesting is that Julian Assange claims he was Wikileaks' DNC insider.

***

Nothing seems to knock Hillary out. Not emails. Not laughing at dead dictators. Not past rape cases. Not crooked foundations. Not Benghazi. Nothing.

She's like a virus. The political equivalent of a Plantar Wart.

***

Boy, no shortage of celebrities weighing in on politics these past few years, eh?

Not sure how much stock and weight to put into an insulated class that likely can't tell the difference between Weber and a Weber.

On Liberty: Mike Ward Must Appeal

I'm thoroughly disgusted with the decision by the - shudders - Quebec Human Rights Tribunal (an un-elected fascistic board that exists it seems to monitor newly and speciously ordained protected classes or groups) - ordering comedian Mike Ward pay $42 000 in damages to a kid (who by the way claimed to be terminally ill but isn't) known as Petit Jeremy.

Once again, Quebec shows how things ought NOT be where freedom of speech is concerned. Recall, this is the home of Bill 22 and 101 where they, being a sufficiently insecure and somewhat insular lot, fine you for having the temerity to post - gasp! - English words in your place of business.

This is the face of *enlightened* and *balanced* free speech? So we're clear for the overly sensitive minded who think they have an enlightened view on this. That his joke flopped and was in poor taste is irrelevant and inconsequential. What matters is our right to free speech and expression. 

This is not a path we want to go down.

Fuck petit Jeremy and fuck any bull shit human rights tribunal.

***

But Quebec is not alone where matters of liberty are concerned.

Take Germany.

I have no idea what's happening there but from afar, it seems to be undergoing some sort of existential inner-civil war and it's not pretty.

Germany is a prime example of a nation unhinged before the gods of political correctness where it will consider prosecuting, fining and/or imprisoning its own citizens for...well, basically bull shit.

"...Thomas Salbey, 57, saw the shooting happening from his balcony in the Bavarian capital on July 22. 

In an attempt to stop 18 year old Ali Sonboly from further slaughtering people, he swore at the shooter as he was standing in a car park below...."

"...Now, in a twist of German justice, Mr Salbey is now facing charges for standing up to the killer who shot himself in the head.

Florian Weinzierl, spokesman from the Munich State Prosecutor’s office, confirmed the Munich resident is being investigated."

"...What will be included in the charges remains to be established, as it whether they will be brought forward.

But Mr Weinzierl, suggested they could include “insults to the detriment of the dead.”

/face palm.

Oh FFS grow a pair Germany.

Fuck prosecutor Florian Weinzierl.

 

Islamic Terrorism: Get Used To It?

I'm hearing more and more politicians telling their respective citizens to 'get used to terrorism' in their countries.

This is unfortunate as it is disturbing.

No. People shouldn't have to accept 'getting used' to murder and mayhem. The ONE legitimate function of government every single ideology agrees upon is it is the duty of government to protect its citizens in the national interest.

Listening to European leaders from Sweden, Germany, the UK, Belgium, France leaves me unimpressed with their cowardly rhetoric on the subject. While the problem is especially big in Europe, it's by no means isolated to it. We hear similar comments here in North America. The other on CNN Gary Johnson said the same thing which disappointed me greatly.

Strongly worded rebukes are just that: Words. Terrorists don't give a hoot about rhetoric. They respond to action.

Which makes me wonder if government is failing their peoples, will vigilantism be on the rise?

And if civil war does occur, it will unleash the dark side of European civilization in the name of defending itself. History has shown Europe is more than willing to engage in violence.

The sad thing is, it doesn't have to be this way. If only government would just do their bloody jobs.

1984 German Style

Hello Germany. Can you give an account of the acid trip you're currently experiencing? Spare us no details. It would help nations who do not wish to turn into cowards.

Man oh man does Germany loathe freedom or what?  I can't make any sense of what they're up to.

Maybe The Beatles can help:

Phrases I Hate

Black business.

What, there's a line on the books that reveals 'black profits'?

Business is business just like profits are profits.

Are You In?

Come on America. Get Gary Johnson to 15% and have a three candidate debate!

What have you got to lose? Seriously.

Hillary or Trump?

Get real.

There has never been a better time to uproot and revamp American politics than now. Americans can truly make a difference by choosing the Johnson option.

Libertarians are disappointed that Johnson has shied away from libertarian principles on some issues and they fear once in power he'll eschew it altogether.

Personally, it's better than nothing. Let the general population see in action how a libertarian leaning politician operates. It's not like there's no track record as his time as Governor of New Mexico shows.

Bill Weld is even less libertarian but I can see why Johnson chose him as running mate. Also experience having governed Massachusetts, he presents a professional account for libertarian perspectives.

Baby steps. People have to be weened off progressivism that is naturally embedded in the psyche.

It'll take some time but first...15%.