Monthly Archives: December 2018

From the Wall to Wall Street

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TRUMP VOWS VETO OVER WALL!
FRUSTRATION BUILDS
SHUTDOWN LOOMS

Meanwhile, in The Oz, this is the headline story in the paper – allies warn as Trump pulls troops out of Syria – but it’s no news anywhere else, including at The Jerusalem Post, where the top story at the moment is “SODASTREAM TO OPEN FACTORY IN GAZA”. In fact, you can already barely find the story in the online edition of The Oz.

Then in the realm of manufactured news, we have this:

GOODBYE 23,000: STOCKS CONTINUE ROUT...
DOW -464...
WORST MONTH IN DECADE...
WIRE: Recession near? 

I am hardly the only one who wonders whether this is an anti-Trump fit of hysteria, in part through a Deep State effort in selling off shares, and in part through the Fed having raised rates for the seventh time since Trump was elected. They really are out to get him, and they are utterly indifferent who ends up paying the price.

Plenty of laughs and few rules

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A depraved story – Woody Allen’s Secret Teen Lover Speaks: Sex, Power and a Conflicted Muse Who Inspired ‘Manhattan’ – but this is the best bit.

Despite the initial shock of jealousy, Engelhardt says she grew to like Farrow over the course of the “handful” of three-way sex sessions that followed at Allen’s penthouse as they smoked joints and bonded over a shared fondness for animals. (“When Mia was there, we’d talk about astrology, and Woody was forced to listen,” she laughs.)

They sat around talking about astrology!!! But come on. Woody was born on December 1 and look at what it says:

A Sagittarius born on December 1 is theatrical and flamboyant, with all-too-human flaws. They use their sense of humor to showcase their bubbly personality. They are impulsive, sometimes to their detriment. Despite warnings from loved ones, these feisty people are determined to live life on their terms. That generally means plenty of laughs and few rules.

As for her, whatever her start, she seems to have come out all right. Must have been in her stars.

MY OWN BIRTHDAY HOROSCOPE: The science is settled:

You are unpredictable and friendly, thus a charming companion, especially when it’s time to party. At the same time however, duty is duty and this is often shown in your persistence and determination to make things right.

Here’s the rest:

People born on this date are loving, loyal and aiding of those around them and this makes them a great go to help when others have obstacles of all kinds. They appreciate confidence and have a great sense of justice therefore they try to surround themselves with people who carry the same values as them. They are amicable but not extremely social because they are often put off by immaturity and vanity. They enjoy spending time in peaceful places, away from noise and disruptions.

Positive traits: Relentless, neat and orderly, these natives have great self control. Capricorn people are usually active task achievers but also very calm and accommodating persons. Those born under this sign are also diligent and honest. They tackle everything they have to do with great attention and always having in mind the people around them.

Negative traits: Narrow minded and often prone to mood swings, these natives are hard to deal with at times. They are fixed in their ways and when things show the slightest sign of unpredictability they transform themselves altogether. They also have suspicious natures and are reticent to change although once things are being explained to them properly and they accustom themselves to novelty, they are quick to promote it everywhere.

Love and Compatibility

Lovers born on this date are dependable and romantic. They seek for a lifetime partner to whom they can commit and create a balanced and accomplishing relationship. They are attracted to enthusiastic and imaginative people that are as reliable as they are. You can conquer the heart of Capricorn if you are trustworthy and energetic. When they are single they are in no hurry to enter a relationship if they don’t feel it’s the right thing to do, they focus instead on their own self development.

They’re a gentle and reserved lover that would rather suffer from unrequited love than fight to win the heart of the one they love. Their relationships are likely to grow on friendships as they need time to know the person that stays beside them. Despite the fact that they are friendly and a generally happy person it is quite difficult for them to settle for someone, probably because they are expecting things to happen instead of making them happen. They are most compatible with those born on 1st, 2nd, 10th, 11th, 19th, 20th, 28th and 29th.

People born on this date are most attached to the other two earth signs: Taurus and Virgo as they tend to share the same vision of life. In love, Capricorn is in a constant search for an attractive and creative companion who can enrich their life and the best to offer them this is the native in Cancer. The least compatible with people born on January 16 are those born under Sagittarius. As for the rest of compatibilities between the other star signs and Capricorn, you know what they say, stars predispose but people dispose.

Well, I am married to a Taurus and we are heading towards our 40th! But as I like to remind people, being a Capricorn means one is generally sceptical which means we don’t take astrology seriously.

He may have half the country with him but it’s the wrong half

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Quite a day for news. First the economy.

FED RAISES RATES; DEFIES TRUMP

MARKETS PLUNGE

The aim is to sabotage the American economy. No one in the deep state, whether they are in the “public service” or George Soros, will be affected. I think higher rates are a positive over the longer term, but everything is now aimed at the next election in 2020. Instability is the aim, so we shall see.

Then there’s this.


WALL STALL…
TRUMP IN RETREAT…
Judge blocks asylum crackdown…
Chinese nationals smuggled across U.S. border in ultralight plane…
GALLUP: Government, immigration top problems…

The Republicans in Congress could have built the wall and at more or less negligible cost. Will not do it. Border protection is the last thing on their minds.

And if you want more transformative news on the day, not even mentioned at Drudge. From The BBC.

Syria conflict: US officials withdraw troops after IS ‘defeat’

US troops in Syria on 4 November 2018
Image captionAround 2,000 US troops are believed to be stationed in Syria

The Trump administration says US troops are being withdrawn from Syria, after the president said the Islamic State (IS) group had been “defeated”.

I can only hope this is an accurate reflection of circumstances on the ground. The limited coverage in the American media might even mean this is a positive story that could even reflect well on the President.

 

How to turn A Life Untold into a living personal history

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What I know about my grandparents today are hit and miss memories of people who were already really old by the time I entered into their lives (although around 25 years younger than I am right now). What I truly wish is that I could have somehow captured their life stories while they were still amongst us. Very late in the piece I was able to video my parents and get them to tell at least some of their own stories before a camera. It wasn’t systematic and it wasn’t comprehensive, but at least for them and for posterity we have that.

And while some may think this is shameless advertising, I will bring this to your attention because my son has put together a business idea so remarkable that it would be a major error of omission not to let you know this business of his exists as we head into the Christmas-present season. And what we have here is something that will be as much a potential treasure for those who receive the gift as it is for those who give the gift to others.

My son has begun a business in which anyone at all can be guided through a process at the end of which they have written their own entire life story which has then been published as a book with as many photos and artefacts from the past included as those who are actually doing the writing have the presence of mind to include. Everyone, it is said, has one great story in them. Most people do not know how to get that story down onto paper. This is how it can be done. And if those to whom you give this gift are not happy to do the writing themselves, this will provide you with the opportunity to sit with them, you at the keyboard, and hear them tell their own life story while you record it for yourself, and for every descendant who will be forever grateful for having these details for them to know.

So much of the problem is that we live in a present that we think will be largely unchanged only a few years from now. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, is less true than that. Everything will change and what is commonplace now will become a precious recollection of memories of time past. This is a present you will never regret giving, and which everyone who receives this gift will see the opportunity it has presented to them.

The business is A Life Untold, with their web address here. I have read the many letters my son has received from people all across the world who have completed their own autobiographies and are happy beyond imagination that they have been given this opportunity to tell their story to their children and their wider family.

For many it may be the best present they ever gave and for as many others it may be the best present they have ever received.

In The News there is no truth and in The Truth there is no news

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That was the old soviet joke when the two major papers of record were Izvestia [The News] and Pravda [The Truth]. Nowadays our own equivalent is Fake News which is everywhere. We are living in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four which for most people seems quite a comfortable way to travel. We get our three-minute hate and we re-calibrate by the day who our enemies supposedly are and on we go. The Emmanuel Goldstein of our time is Donald Trump, and everywhere I go, these same three-minute hate sessions show up, with my main effort to try to contain them to three minutes. Truth, what truth? We live in a post-modern age where no such thing any longer exists. So why all this? Because this has just shown up today: ‘Junk News’: Russia Report Done By Anti-Conservative Academics:

A new study has claimed Russia’s online interference tried to aid the conservative movement and Donald Trump. There’s a big problem with that assessment. It comes from a left-wing operation that previously classified more than 11 different conservative outlets as “junk news.” And two of those authors were also involved in this report.

The study was released by the Oxford University Computational Propaganda Project and Graphika. It argued that fake accounts, ads, and tweets “all clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party — and specifically Donald Trump”

The Oxford University Computational Propaganda Project had attacked several conservative outlets as “junk news” in previous studies. Those targeted outlets include Drudge Report, NewsBusters, CNSNews, MRCTV, Breitbart, the Daily Caller, Free Beacon, LifeNews, National Review, the Federalist, and the Red State. (Three of those are operated by the Media Research Center, which runs NewsBusters.)

So here it is reported as straight news by the venerable Associated Press and no doubt everywhere else: Russia social media influence efforts ongoing, report says.

Russia’s sweeping political disinformation campaign on U.S. social media was more far-reaching than originally thought, with troll farms working to discourage black voters and “blur the lines between reality and fiction” to help elect Donald Trump in 2016, according to reports released Monday by the Senate intelligence committee.

And the campaign didn’t end with Trump’s ascent to the White House. Troll farms are still working to stoke racial and political passions in America at a time of high political discord.

The two studies are the most comprehensive picture yet of the Russian interference campaigns on American social media. They add to the portrait investigators have been building since 2017 on Russia’s influence — though Trump has equivocated on whether the interference actually happened….

The reports were compiled by the cybersecurity firm New Knowledge and by the Computational Propaganda Research Project, a study by researchers at the University of Oxford and Graphika, a social media analysis firm.

And so on and so forth. And to cap it off we have this: Why ‘Truth’ Is James Comey’s Word of the Year. It’s that very same Mr Comey formerly of the FBI who wrote this:

The media has been working, in fits and starts, to report the truth, and the lies. Their reward has been a constant stream of attacks from the President, attacks designed to destroy the media’s credibility and the very idea that truth is knowable, but they have kept at it. In part, the media has stayed on the case because the American people have kept at it. Rather than withdrawing, numb, they have stepped forward. An overwhelming majority support the work of a special prosecutor to find out what is true about the conduct of the President and his associates. More people voted in the 2018 midterm elections than in any similar election in memory. Those voters handed control of the House of Representatives to the opposition party. The design of the Founders — that crashing of interests to get at truth — will work to protect our democracy.

In 2018, we defended our values. And that’s the truth.

Not even Orwell could have imagined it, and that was just fiction. This is the real thing, and if you are not actually astonished by just how brazen and corrupt this is, perhaps you too are now part of the problem.

“For whatever reason, the EU wants to become an Islamic state”

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To have been born after WWII and in the West means I have lived my life in the best time and best place in World History. I doubt those who come next will be so fortunate. From Last Days of the European Christmas Markets.

The EU honchos knew — from experience — that periodic terror attacks would be part of their refugee mandate. I contend that this is a feature and not a bug in their plan. They don’t “lack the will” to do anything about it; what we are seeing is their will.

The Christmas Markets will disappear, as will all the other even nominal acknowledgments to the God of the Bible. For whatever reason, the EU wants to become an Islamic state.

The socialist mafia think they can improve on our Judeo-Christian ethic and civilisation. They cannot, and to adapt a phrase from the past, they shall inherit the whirlwind.

NOT TO MENTION THIS: Newly Elected Muslim Congresswomen Ridicules VP Pence’s Christian Faith.

It appears that the two newly elected Muslim Congresswomen are already bringing anti-Christian hate into our federal government with a broadside directed against Vice President Mike Pence’s Christian religion.

The two Muslims ridiculed Pence with a Tweet containing a photo of the VP along with a snide caption reading, “Jesus take the wheel!”

Evil to the core

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These people are savages and beyond disgusting, but they are on a mission to destroy the president that, if successful, would also destroy their very own country.

On CNN’s “New Day” Saturday, hosts Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul put up a graphic showing every Trump-related entity known to be under investigation. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

CNN

The half-dozen entities include the Trump Foundation, the Trump Organization, the Trump presidential campaign, the Trump transition team, the Trump inaugural committee and the Trump administration itself.

Every one a fishing expedition with no actual identified wrong-doing being looked into. Just hoping that something will turn up. People evil to the core since they are undermining everything they supposedly stand for as ethical and just in a free and democratic society.

Meanwhile: Trump’s Accomplishments. These are the ones listed under The Economy.

  • Decreased black and Hispanic unemployment to a record low.
  • Decreased jobless claims at the lowest level since 1969.
  • Black business ownership jumped 400 percent.
  • Increased consumer confidence to the highest level in 18 years.
  • Decreased youth unemployment to 52-year low.
  • Increased median income to highest in history.
  • Increased business investments 39 percent.
  • Decreased food stamp use by 500,000 in one month.
  • Increased homebuilding permits to the highest since 2007.
  • Increased oil production to 10 million barrels a day for the first time since 1970.
  • Increased the stock market to an all-time high.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “In one and a half years, President Donald Trump and his policies have been done more to advance life, religious liberty, the economy, deregulation, government reform, and Israel in the history of America. More pro-life and pro-religious liberty policies have been implemented in this short time than all previous presidents combined. It is no wonder certain segments of the media would rather focus on a negative narrative than these accomplishments.”

 

Marrakesh express derailed

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Migration is not a solution to world poverty. Economic growth and development is the only solution. Make poor countries less poor, not make wealthy countries also poor. This is the final para in a post by Judy in The Weekend Oz: World in no hurry to board the Marrakesh Express on migration.

The principal roles of a sovereign government are to protect the nation’s borders and to act in the best interests of its own citizens. To do otherwise is to invite internal dissent, something Macron is beginning to learn. There are lessons for other world leaders.

Such as our own! A few more quotes for those who are paywalled out.

Individual countries are more than capable of sorting out the size and type of immigrants they require….

The final version was belted out across 18 months of expensive consultations. But note that many ­parties who made suggestions to rework the document — to ­emphasise the importance of countries’ sovereignty, for example — essentially were ignored.

Last week, a spokesman for the US government summed up that country’s refusal to sign the compact by labelling it “an effort by the United Nations to advance global governance at the expense of the sovereign right of states”….

The central aim of the compact is to convert illegal migration into regular migration, with all the ­assoc­iated privileges accorded to legal migrants…. Economic migration is seen as an inalienable human right….

The compact then dives into equally dangerous water by stating that one objective is to “eliminate all forms of discrimination and promote evidence-based public discourse to shape perceptions of migration”. In other words, descriptions of migration that are not positive and fulsome should not be permitted….

If we look at the attitudes of ­ordinary citizens to migration around the world, it is clear that a rising proportion is opposed to high migrant intakes. Indeed, in many countries, the largest proportion of citizens would prefer ­reduced or zero migration.”

One is too old and the other is too young and both are mortal dangers

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One is too young to think of herself as president. But she does. The other is too old to take on the job but wants it anyway.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has not spent so much as a second in a legislative role anywhere, and will only enter the House as a junior Democrat in January, the youngest female ever elected. Do you therefore think she is out of the running come 2024? Ha!

Meanwhile: Too old to run? Biden wrestles with age as he eyes 2020 run.

As he considers running for president, Joe Biden is talking with friends and longtime supporters about whether, at 76, he’s too old to seek the White House, according to several sources who have spoken with the former Democratic vice president.

The real issue is this: Don’t Underestimate Dumb Voters’ Appetite For Idiot Leftist Politicians. From which:

Of course, Ocasio-Cortez blabs about “socialism,” but her rantings are straight out of Marxism for Dummies. Nothing she says threatens the rice bowl of the zillionaire donor base Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have cultivated. Free college, free medicine, free this, free that – it’s all just more graft for the Democrats to distribute, and it will all come from the pockets of people like you. Do you think the people who write the checks to the DNC are going to end up paying the bill for this nonsense? Really?

I wish it were only money at stake. I’m afraid the future will just have to take care of itself, since you may be sure that these are the sorts of people who will continue to rise to the top on the left. If there is going to be an actual resistance, preventing such people from rising to the top is where it will have to be found.