The weak horse

Mark Steyn on The Ghosts of Charlie Hebdo – One Year On.

What happened on January 7th 2015 was terrible. But our response to it made it more terrible, and emboldened civilization’s enemies. With respect to the late Charb, the choice is not between dying standing up or living on our knees – for those who choose to live on their knees will die there, too, cringing and craven. As I said a year ago:

The weepy passive candlelight vigils – the maudlin faux tears and the Smug Moral Preening overdose – aren’t enough. If you don’t want to put out the fire, it will burn your world to the ground.

We are very brave when it comes to junior ministers and international cricketers. About everything else, not so much.

You want crazy, I’ll give you crazy

Trump’s protectionist beliefs are old news but this has shown up on Instapundit today: Trump wants a 45 percent tax on Chinese imports.

“I would tax China on products coming in,” the Republican presidential front-runner told the New York Times. “And the tax, let me tell you what the tax should be … the tax should be 45 percent.”

The savvy [!!!] New York businessman released a policy paper on U.S.-China trade reform in early November that detailed his plans, as president, to take action against China’s currency manipulation and intellectual property theft, and to strengthen America’s negotiating position with the potential U.S. adversary.

Until now, however, none of Trump’s rhetoric on U.S.-Chinese relations has included any mention of a 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports to the U.S.

I know history is bunk and all that, but do we really want to bring back Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression? The story inserts the mildest, virtually non-existent criticism of such an idea, that makes you worry that this may well be an idea whose time has come, even if it will be a idea whose time will have gone a year after it would be put in:

According to David Dollar, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution’s China Center, Trump’s suggested tariff could open the door to negative implications for both countries, if instituted.

“Negative implications” – that’s really nailing it. On top of everything going on already, to stop international trade in its tracks would be a policy as devastating as it is possible to have. Even the comment at Instapundit – “As Tom Nichols tweets, ‘I bet this sounds awesome to people who have no idea how much stuff they buy from China.’” – gives the impression that they have little idea what the effect would be. In so many ways, this is the 1930s all over again.

The miracle of human existence

It’s not possible that we arrived by random selection. The evidence has been stacked up so clearly that it requires a major effort of wilful ignorance to avoid it. The video is convincing since I already believe it. Why it is not obvious on its face that we are here by design is unknown to me. In my childhood home there was no religion. But even so, what has always mattered to me is my own weighing up the facts as I am able to understand them. What does in particular amaze me is the resistance to the idea that it may be true, that it is obviously true. Beyond, it is all mystery and no answers. An amazing video.

Ted Cruz on border control

This is a Ted Cruz ad which his polling must show will be effective in the constituency he wishes to reach. You can make your own judgement.

But let me add this. Trump has started down the path of doubting Cruz’s eligibility for the presidency since he was born in Canada of an American mother and a Cuban refugee dad, similar to Obama having been born of an American mother and a Kenyan dad, even though within America. Whatever else may have made Obama unfit to be president, it was not where he was born or who his parents were that mattered. John McCain, so far as that goes, was born in the Canal Zone of an American mother and father which also would not have disqualified him. Trump is already a loose cannon without obvious impulse control and not everyone’s first choice for President, even in a post-Obama era. If he wins on policy, that’s one thing, but if he tries this kind of shoddy nonsense, then he will have difficulty holding his constituency together since he will have alienated a substantial proportion of those whose support he will need.

I am now interested to see that Obama has joined in: Team Obama Joins Donald Trump’s Attack On Ted Cruz’s Citizenship. Is there now an Obama-Trump axis trying to defeat Ted Cruz? It’s getting as hard to follow as the battle lines in Syria.

Turnbull, Bishop have seen the error of their ways

The actual headline to the story is Jamie Briggs, Peter Dutton see error of their ways: Julie Bishop but that is not the real point. It is the PM and his Deputy who have seen the error of their own ways. The opening para:

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop says fallen junior minister Jamie Briggs and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton have “recognised the error of their ways” over a late-night bar incident and accidental text, insisting it’s time to “move on”.

After creating quite an unnecessary tempest over an “incident” that has still not been detailed, they have decided to “move on”. Good, and I hope they have learned some useful political lessons in the process about how to manage a party supposedly on the right side of the divide. Hopefully, they will also now move on to doing something useful, like getting public spending under control or trade union reform, the kinds of things that may not run so well on the ABC.

North Korea has exploded its first hydrogen bomb

An atomic bomb is a tactical nuclear device for use in a wartime environment. A hydrogen bomb, which uses an atomic bomb as a trigger, is near enough a doomsday device which offers no battlefield or tactical advantage to its possessor. It’s only use is to comprehensively destroy. This is just in, except you will hardly see it mentioned anywhere at all: North Korea Says It Conducted Successful Hydrogen Bomb Test. And to give their statement evidential support, there is this:

North Korea said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, the fourth time it has detonated a nuclear device and a move that dramatically escalates tensions on the peninsula with neighbors South Korea and Japan.

The regime in Pyongyang detonated a hydrogen device for the first time at 10 a.m. local time, its official Korean Central News Agency said. The explosion was initially detected as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake by the U.S. Geological Survey.

But in case you are worried that this will merely pass by without some sort of response from the West, the story does conclude with this:

The Korean won declined as much as 0.8 percent to 1,197.85 per dollar, the weakest level since September. The Kospi index of shares dropped 0.6 percent as makers of defense products such as Speco Co. surged. Ten-year bonds advanced, pushing their yield down one basis point to 2.05 percent.

We are in Act I of what has all the makings of being the most destructive era in human history.

Is he all there?

President Barack Obama wipes away tears from his eyes as he speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, about steps his administration is taking to reduce gun violence. Also on stage are stakeholders, and individuals whose lives have been impacted by the gun violence. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama wipes away tears from his eyes as he speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, about steps his administration is taking to reduce gun violence.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

This is a disturbing picture where we find the President of the United States has teared up over some policy issue. I cannot recall a single instance of a major politician ever being brought to tears except when attending a funeral. I think he is coming apart at the seams. Meanwhile, compare and contrast. Make sure you watch it all.

As was once rightly said, it is not the colour of one’s skin that matters but the content of one’s character.

Terminal decline

fallof rome

The picture of The Fall of Rome comes with this story, Our spoiled, emasculated, de‑spiritualised societies in the West are in terminal decline. We live in a complete bubble of vacuousness, and when the barbarians finally break through it will be brutal. You can see our future in the far off Middle East even as we let these invaders enter within our walls. Do the inhabitants of our former Christian civilisation really believe they have anything to offer other than a bit of technology which will be scooped up with the rest of the booty? The story is by Christopher Booker and this is how he concludes:

The reason why we do not see just how far our spoiled, emasculated, de‑spiritualised societies in the West have lost the plot is that they are the bubble we live in. But these days there is a great big world out there, much less sentimental and much tougher than what we have become used to. Over the coming years, our world is going to change more than we can imagine.

It always changes more than we can imagine but this time it will be a change for the far worse. The picture, you see, is us.

This, too, might help to see where we are headed: Islam v. Free Speech: Twitter Surrenders.

The top agenda item of Islamic supremacists has long been the imposition of sharia blasphemy standards on the West. This campaign is not waged exclusively or even primarily by violent jihadists. Instead, its leading proponents are the Muslim Brotherhood’s network of Islamist activist groups in the West and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (a 57-government bloc of, mainly, majority-Muslim countries).

The West should be fighting these anti-Western Islamic supremacists in defense of our core principles. Instead, the Obama administration — particularly the president and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton — has colluded with them. So have other left-leaning governments and institutions that are naturally hostile to free speech and open debate. One prominent result is U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18. This blatantly unconstitutional provision, co-sponsored by Obama, Clinton, and OIC members, calls on all nations to ban speech that could promote mere hostility to Islam. Essentially, this is a codification of sharia, which prohibits all expression that subjects Islam to critical examination.

We are being sold down the Tiber and it is almost certainly too late to do a thing about it. If you still have doubts, then contemplate this: Germany stunned by rash of New Year’s sex assaults. The refusal to face reality in the opening para is borderline insane and if you want to read more, you can go here:

The German government Tuesday condemned dozens of apparently coordinated sexual assaults against women on New Year’s Eve in the western city of Cologne blamed on Arab men but warned against anti-migrant scapegoating.

Today’s migrant is tomorrow’s European. Just as after 476 AD, the barbarians became the new Romans. The subsequent Dark Age lasted almost a thousand years.

The present is a foreign country, they do things differently here

The older I get, the less I understand the culture I am part of. She is a sports reporter and he is a world class cricketer. In the middle of the interview, he asks the reporter if she would like to join him for a coffee. A hanging offence apparently: Chris Gayle faces Cricket Australia sanctions over controversial interview with Channel 10s Mel McLaughlin.

CHRIS Gayle has apologised for his comments to Channel 10 presenter Mel McLaughlin during last night’s Big Bash League match.

Speaking at Melbourne Airport this morning after touching down with his Melbourne Renegades teammates, Gayle said he didn’t mean to offend McLaughlin and his comments, which have drawn criticism from across the globe, were simply a joke.

“It seemed to be blown out of proportion. There wasn’t anything at all meant to be disrespectful to Mel,” Gayle said.

“It was a simple comment, a simple joke.

“If she felt that way, I’m really sorry for that. There wasn’t any harm meant in that particular way, to harm any particular person in any particular way like that. It was a simple joke … I don’t know how it reached this far, to be honest. It is one of those things.”

At the link, in answer to the question, “Should Chris Gayle be sanctioned for his comments to Mel McLaughlin?” the replies are (at 3:00 pm):

No 70.98%
Yes 29.02%

Life is a never-ending mystery.

A seat with a 12.5% margin at the last election is now at risk

It is hard to believe that Malcolm is the leader of any political party of significance. The latest instalment of the Jamie Briggs saga in The Oz defies belief. This is from the latest episode.

As the fallout from Mr Briggs’s resignation continues to rattle the Coalition, The Australian can also reveal that Right-aligned MPs in South Australia will today discuss potential replacement candidates for the blue-ribbon seat of Mayo held by Mr Briggs on a 12.5 per cent margin. The move comes amid heightened speculation that Mr Briggs, 38, may not want to recontest the next election and as Liberal strategists fear losing the seat, which is threatened by Nick Xenophon’s decision to run lower house candidates in South Australia.

Supporters of Mr Briggs say he is considering his future in par­liament and “waiting for the dust to settle”, but feels aggrieved by the process put in place by Mr Turnbull.

The Australian understands that on December 10, after the formal complaint had been lodged by the consular staffer about Mr Briggs’s “inappropriate” behaviour at the Stormies Bar on Nov­ember 27, Mr Turnbull phoned the then cities minister to discuss the complaint against him and his decision to launch an independent investigation.

In the phone conversation, it is understood Mr Turnbull suggested to Mr Briggs that while the investigation would run its course, it was likely that he would need to consider resigning his frontbench role. . . .

While some MPs say this is evidence that the investigation was a “stitch up”, others suggest Mr Turnbull made the assessment that there was little room for leniency because Mr Briggs had failed to apologise to the consular staffer before she complained formally. . . .

There was also an assessment that it would have been more damaging for the government if Mr Turnbull had not acted decisively against Mr Briggs for the breach of ministerial standards, which may have later come to light. . . .

Another senior federal Liberal MP said the Right faction needed to prepare a contingency plan. “One of the things that genuinely has to be discussed is the likelihood of the state executive reopening preselections in Mayo, because I don’t think Briggs will hold the seat.”

How could the fallout have been any worse than it now is? A seat with a 12.5% margin is now at risk. For me, whatever the PM may say, this is political stupidity of the highest order which has destabilised his own side.