Category Archives: Politics – international

Once Moore unto the breach, dear friends, once more

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This is from Paul Mirengoff at Powerline whose views I tend to shy from for reasons such as this at the start of his post:

Over the years, I’ve probably learned as much, if not more, from George Will as from any columnist or political commentator. These days, his antipathy towards the U.S. president far exceeds mine, but I continue to learn from Will.

Not quite a #NeverTrumper but close, but here he enters some new territory, even seeing Trump’s point. Will has described Trump as the worst president in history because he had supported Roy Moore for the Senate in Alabama. This is what Mirengoff writes:

Will cites nothing in Trump’s presidency remotely comparable to the failings of the Johnson and Buchanan presidencies. Rather, as noted, he relies almost entirely on the Roy Moore endorsement.

Will calls Moore a “credibly accused child molester.” These are weasel words.

What does it mean to be “credibly accused” of misconduct that allegedly occurred 38 years ago with no witnesses other than the accuser and the accused? It means that the accusation is not a physical impossibility or contradictory on its face and that it can’t be disproved (because it happened 38 years ago and there were no witnesses). That’s all.

A credible accusation is not necessarily a true accusation. It is an accusation that can be believed or disbelieved. If all of my witnesses who gave credible testimony had been believed, I would never have lost a case.

Bill Clinton was truthfully accused of sexual misconduct while in office and credibly accused of rape. Under Will’s analysis — divorced as it from substantive presidential policy — why would Trump’s endorsement of Moore support a claim that Trump is a worse president than Clinton?

Will cites “the Everest of evidence” against Moore. But nearly all of that mountain consists of evidence that Moore dated teenagers. That’s bad form, but not criminality. Will makes no attempt to show that it should disqualify Moore from holding public office.

Trump Derangement Syndrome is indeed a form of madness. No one was more against everything Obama did and stood for, and there is a case for choosing him as the worst president ever, but all of it is based on policy decisions, such as his traitorous attempts to undermine the United States with pallets full of cash for the Iranian mullahs and much much else. But for Trump to make an effort to see a Republican senator elected in Alabama whom he didn’t choose and had actively opposed the nomination is about as straightforward a decision for the leader of a party with an agenda to achieve as ought ever to be made. The anti-Trumpers truly are insane.

A house divided against itself cannot stand

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It’s from The Washington Post and it is posted purely because they think it’s funny, someone from a different age trying to bring Christian morality into the governance of the United States. Roy Moore turns refusal to concede into religious crusade: ‘Immorality sweeps over the land’. This no longer has resonance with the largest part of the population of the United States.

“We are indeed in a struggle to preserve our republic, our civilization and our religion and to set free a suffering humanity,” Moore said. “Today, we no longer recognize the universal truth that God is the author of our life and liberty. Abortion, sodomy and materialism have taken the place of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” . . .

“We have stopped prayer in our schools,” Moore said in his statement. “We have killed over 60 million of our unborn children. We have redefined marriage and destroyed the basis of family, which is the building block of our country. Our borders are not secure. Our economy is faltering under an enormous national debt. We have a huge drug problem. We have even begun to recognize the right of a man to claim to be a woman, and vice versa. We have allowed Judges and justices to rule over our Constitution, and we have become slaves to their tyranny. Immorality sweeps over our land.” . . .

“Even our political process has been affected with baseless and false allegations, which have become more relevant than the issues which affect our country,” Moore said. “This election was tainted by over $50 million dollars from outside groups who want to retain power and their corrupt ideology.”

This statement is dead to most Americans, particularly among those who manage the American Republic, the supposedly educated elites who represent no moral virtue of any recognisable kind. Their system of beliefs is a marriage of Marxist ideology with a pretend Christian charity that is nothing other than a means to power without principle or justice.

And if you would like to see the contrast, the world we now inhabit, read the comments thread on this article, with the “viewing option” set to Most Liked First. I have listed a number from the most liked down and placed one of the comments in bold since it is particularly sickening.

No one cares what you think. You are the immorality sweeping over our land and the fact that you do it under the cover of being a god fearing man makes it even more reprehensible.

That’s the way these scum operate. Go read the story in this paper about the Kentucky rep who shot himself today after it was discovered he molested a 17-year-old friend of his daughters who was sleeping over. His suicide note is full of bible-thumping, holy-rolling garbage. It’s pretty clear now that the louder they proclaim how pious they are, the bigger the perv they are.

he was also an outright racist.

These folks were never religious/pious to begin with. They just use religion to browbeat, force, and indoctrinate others into following whatever they say. Religion to them is simply tool to take advantage of others. “Do this, because God says so. Give me more money, because God will reward you. Vote for me, because it is God’s will.” There are some really good religious folks out there. But they don’t go around “wearing their religion on their sleeves”. Even their own bible says not to trust folks who do so (Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18). Yet Republicans always, almost without exception, wear their religion on their sleeve. TL;DR: Wearing your religion in your sleeves is as trustworthy as when Trump constantly says “trust me” whenever he’s obviously lying to you.

Yes. I consider myself a devout Christian and try to live my faith as best I can (though imperfectly). Moore makes me think of this warning from Jesus: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Fellow travelers, let us not be deceived. Extremists like Moore tarnish an entire faith, but I am grateful for those who see through this and avoid sweeping generalizations when it comes to Christianity or any faith tradition.

Be damned if I am going to be lectured on morality and godliness by a child molester …

We need to give Roy Moore credit when he’s right. “Immorality sweeps over our land.” That statement is true. Forty-eight percent of Alabamians voted to send a child molester to the Senate. That’s immoral. Felons in prisons have better ethics, they hate child molesters. Obviously more than white evangelical Christians in Alabama. Our Republican Senate thinks it is far more important to give billions of dollars in tax breaks to their wealthiest donors than provide healthcare for poor children. That’s immoral. We have a self-proclaimed serial sexual predator and ogler of naked teenagers elected to the Presidency. That’s immoral. We have committed $700 billion to spend on the military, but can’t find the money to provide healthcare for all of our citizens. That’s immoral. I could go on. But, Roy Moore doesn’t see those things are being immoral. Instead he thinks that it is immoral NOT to discriminate against people for their religion, or their sexual identity, or their sexual orientation, or their gender. Bottom line, Roy Moore and people like him are the immorality sweeping this country.

And so on.

Accusations are not proof

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A very dark, tragic story from today: Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson dies of ‘probable suicide’ in Mt. Washington. The question you are to ask yourself as you read the story is how exactly was Johnson supposed to clear himself of the accusation if it was actually untrue?

Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson, who was under investigation for alleged sexual molestation, died of a “probable suicide,” the Bullitt County coroner said.

Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell said Johnson drove onto the bridge over the Salt River on Greenwell Ford Road in Mt. Washington, parked on the north side of it and shot himself in front of his car. His body was found on the bank of the river, just past the bridge.

Just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted the following message on his Facebook page:

The accusations from NPR are false GOD and only GOD knows the truth, nothing is the way they make it out to be. AMERICA will not survive this type of judge and jury fake news . Conservatives take a stand. I LOVE GOD and I LOVE MY WIFE, who is the best WIFE in the world,My Love Forever ! My Mom and Dad my FAMILY and all five of my kids and Nine grandchildren two in tummies and many more to come each of you or a total gift from GOD stay strong, REBECCA needs YOU . 9-11-2001 NYC/WTC, PTSD 24/7 16 years is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. IT Has Won This Life . BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME. “PLEASE LISTEN CLOSELY, Only Three things I ask of you to do,if you love me is (1)blame no person,Satan is the accuser, so blame the Devil himself. (2) Forgive and Love everyone especially yourself .(3)most importantly LOVE GOD. P.S. I LOVE MY FRIENDS YOU ARE FAMILY ! GOD LOVES ALL PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT !

On Tuesday, Johnson held a press conference at his church on Bardstown Road, where he denied the molestation allegations. According to court documents obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the alleged molestation took place on New Year’s Eve in 2012. The alleged victim, who was 17 at the time, told authorities that she was staying in a living area of the Heart of Fire City Church where Johnson was pastor, when Johnson, who had been drinking a lot, approached her, kissed her and fondled her under her clothes. . . .

Johnson was never criminally charged.

People will laugh at his suicide note because the atheist left thinks everyone is expendable in the pursuit of power and it’s pretty cornpone. You might, on the other hand, think that given his religious beliefs he was more likely to be telling the truth and is less likely to have molested some 17 year old at a church where he had been pastor.

None of this is about paedophilia. Paedophiles should be hunted down and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. What this is about is ruining people’s lives with malicious lies. I don’t know what the right word is to use about people who are not suspicious when such matters are raised for the very first time about a public figure who has been in public life for thirty years and just before an election, but sensible and shrewd do not come to mind. Innocent and naive, if not just straight out stupid, seem a much better fit.

It’s come to this

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A truly sickening story, that comes with this just the other day: Porn star August Ames commits suicide after bullying for refusing to have sex with man who did gay porn.

Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson dies of ‘probable suicide’ in Mt. Washington

Posted: Dec 14, 2017 12:02 PMUpdated: Dec 14, 2017 2:28 PM

Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson died of ‘probable suicide’ on bridge in Mt. Washington

Rep. Dan Johnson (R-Mt. Washington)Rep. Dan Johnson (R-Mt. Washington)

Johnson was found on a bridge over the Salt River on Greenwell Ford Drive.Johnson was found on a bridge over the Salt River on Greenwell Ford Drive.

Investigators have focused on this SUV parked to the side of the bridge.Investigators have focused on this SUV parked to the side of the bridge.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson, who was under investigation for alleged sexual molestation, died of a “probable suicide,” the Bullitt County coroner said.

Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell said Johnson drove onto the bridge over the Salt River on Greenwell Ford Road in Mt. Washington, parked on the north side of it and shot himself in front of his car. His body was found on the bank of the river, just past the bridge.

Just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted the following message on his Facebook page:

The accusations from NPR are false GOD and only GOD knows the truth, nothing is the way they make it out to be. AMERICA will not survive this type of judge and jury fake news . Conservatives take a stand. I LOVE GOD and I LOVE MY WIFE, who is the best WIFE in the world,My Love Forever ! My Mom and Dad my FAMILY and all five of my kids and Nine grandchildren two in tummies and many more to come each of you or a total gift from GOD stay strong, REBECCA needs YOU . 9-11-2001 NYC/WTC, PTSD 24/7 16 years is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. IT Has Won This Life . BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME. “PLEASE LISTEN CLOSELY, Only Three things I ask of you to do,if you love me is (1)blame no person,Satan is the accuser, so blame the Devil himself. (2) Forgive and Love everyone especially yourself .(3)most importantly LOVE GOD. P.S. I LOVE MY FRIENDS YOU ARE FAMILY ! GOD LOVES ALL PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT !

The coroner said police were alerted after someone saw that Facebook post by Johnson. Officers then pinged Johnson’s phone and found his body.

On Tuesday, Johnson held a press conference at his church on Bardstown Road, where he denied the molestation allegations. According to court documents obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the alleged molestation took place on New Year’s Eve in 2012. The alleged victim, who was 17 at the time, told authorities that she was staying in a living area of the Heart of Fire City Church where Johnson was pastor, when Johnson, who had been drinking a lot, approached her, kissed her and fondled her under her clothes.

Michael Skoler, the president of Louisville Public Media, which owns the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, released a statement after Johnson’s death:

“All of us at Louisville Public Media are deeply sad to hear that State Representative Dan Johnson has died, apparently of suicide. We grieve for his family, friends, church community and constituents.

Our Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting released a report on Johnson this week. Our aim, as always, is to provide the public with fact-based, unbiased reporting and hold public officials accountable for their actions.

As part of our process, we reached out to Representative Johnson numerous times over the course of a seven-month investigation. He declined requests to talk about our findings.”

Johnson was never criminally charged.

Do you know why the left treats Republicans like idiots? Because they are

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Two stories work for me.

First this: GOPe Spent $500,000 to Defeat Roy Moore and Campaigned Against Him — Then Trashes Steve Bannon When He Loses!

And then this: MASSIVE DEMOCRAT TURNOUT In Alabama — GOP Turnout 50% of 2016; Democrat Turnout 92% of 2016.

You know what it shows? It shows that Republicans are no smarter than the Swedes. The Democrats must laugh at the simpletons who have voted in someone whose values are at the far end of the Democrat extreme. The probability that Moore did any of what has been alleged is zero other than what should not matter in the slightest, that he dated young but over the age of consent girls when he was in his thirties (with the permission of their parents as well). To let this influence a vote towards the Party of Bill Clinton and Al Franken is grotesque.

Speaking of which, just when will Franken leave the Senate exactly?

Roy Moore the night before the vote

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roy moore

There is a disgusting anti-Roy-Moore post at Instapundit where all the comments are not just pro-Moore but hugely irritated that such a post should be written and put up now. This is one of the comments which captures my sentiments quite well.

Mitch McConnell spends millions of dollars to defeat Moore. And fails.

Four women appear in a Washington Post story reporting misdeeds from 40 years ago that they happened not to remember until someone waved a hundred dollar bill under their snouts.

Minutes later – less than an hour – every GOPe in Washington glommed on and denounced him. Disowned him. Cut off the NRSC money. Warned people he wouldn’t be seated. Demanded he drop out. Ran a write in ringer! Literally within the hour.

These are the Republicans in Washington, mind you. All of them. There might have been ten who didn’t, but I can’t read every story personally so even that’s doubtful.

There has never been a more craven, coordinated, transparent, and evil attack on a man, not ever, and that includes against our president.

This isn’t cowardliness. This is the hill they’ve chosen to die on. This hill. And Bernstein’s there waving the bloody shirt right along with the rest of these traitors.

Traitors. As in, attempting to overthrow the government. At war with America.

God damn. I don’t care one way or another about Roy Moore personally. But when I see someone who is on my side being destroyed, you bet I’m going to be as mad as hell about it and I won’t forget.

If you didn’t know there was a coup on before, by God you should know now. And everyone’s dropped the mask yet again.

God help you, but I don’t think He will.

And then there was this:

Leftists and the GOPe are all about style over substance. I am sure Moore, whatever his multitudinous failings, would be a much more staunch defender of Jews and Israel than his opponent. But this matters less to the crowd which considers themselves nuanced and sophisticated than what words someone’s wife chooses to indicate that support. Trump was not elected for being eloquent. He was elected because a harsh truth poorly told is worth more than a host of well polished, and gloriously uplifting lies.

Our elite are shallow, unsophisticated rubes. One of the many ways you know this is by how high a priority they put on pretending that they aren’t. That is why I always use that insult against them. They really hate it because it is accurate, and it is what they fear the most — being seen as ordinary and no better than any other man. Because if they are ordinary, then how do they justify making decisions for everyone else?

And for interest, this is Roy Moore’s policy on Israel:

On Foreign Affairs, Candidate Moore states:

“We must remember that Israel is the United States’ most important ally and partner in the Middle East and should reject agreements or policies that undermine Israel’s security. We should pass the Taylor Force Act and move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.”

Moore clearly understands the importance of our strategic partnership with Israel.

Roy Moore also issued a separate two page position paper on Israel in which he gives the Biblical case for support of Israel as well as five detailed policy positions.

Candidate Moore’s Policy Positions on Israel include

  • Opposing Economic Warfare against Israel, including “opposing all efforts to boycott Israeli companies and products as a means to isolate and delegitimize Israel.”
  • Supporting Israel in the United Nations; “I oppose all efforts in the United Nations to isolate, sanction, and delegitimize Israel. The United States should veto all anti-Israel resolutions.”
  • Supporting Direct Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations; “I oppose the imposition of outside solutions upon Israel and instead support direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that allow Israel to control decisions about its borders and safety. As long as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority wrongly refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist, such negotiations have scant chance of success.”
  • Supporting Military Assistance to Israel; Moore supports the current Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Israel. “This commitment includes layered missile defense, joint military exercises, and sharing of technological innovations.”
  • Protecting Israel from Iranian Aggression; In addition to closely monitoring Iran’s actions regarding future nuclear development, Moore states; “The United states should also take all steps necessary to prevent Iranian financing and supply of terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas whose aim is to annihilate Israel.

“A shocking column of bias, vitriol and singular ignorance”

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It’s getting to be as regular as the rising sun that the only value from most of the columnists at The Australian is so that they provoke replies from their readers. And so again, yet another anti-Trump screed, this one by Graham Richardson whose only skill has ever been to count heads in Parliament and present whatever is the latest version of the lies of the left. This one on Donald Trump’s singular moment of lunacy alienates the US further. To quote:

Barack Obama left office as a very popular President despite some obvious shortcomings. On the domestic front he was an undoubted success. . . .

If you thought that American foreign policy had hit rock bottom you were wrong. Donald Trump’s blunder this week leaves Obama and Bush looking adequate by comparison. When Trump released his bombshell statement that America would recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel he managed to alienate every US ally around the world, he gave live ammunition to every US enemy and Middle Eastern terrorist group.

I’ve left in the opening words, the bit about Obama’s “undoubted success” in domestic policies, as a kind of benchmark for what follows. Anyway, the comments thread starting from the top and going down right to the end without a single one in support of Richardson.

So the arabs are upset and threaten violence. What has changed exactly?

Well Richo after many years of appeasement failure maybe its time to do something different. Your side of politics will be horrified if this succeeds.

What you are forgetting G Richardson is that not only Obama, George Bush but also Bill Clinton declared that Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel. Trump has been the only President to keep his word. Long live Trump in the White House.

…but Richard, you’ve failed to mention that Jerusalem being recognised as Israel’s capital was also the policy of Obama and Clinton. You knew that. Hence you have been caught out again. Fake news indeed.

You really have this wrong. It was a masterstroke.

Time to hang up the pen, Richo.

I think that you summed it up in one sentence. 5 decades of sensible US policy has produced nothing because the Palestinians have no benefit in making peace. Better to infect the UN and continually deride Israel until such time as Iran goes nuclear. North Korea is another problem that needed to be tackled years ago but Clinton and Obama just sat back. It’s about time someone stood up to the likes of the Palestinians and Kim. Doing nothing doesn’t work.

Genius move by Trump and US.

Sheesh. Obama was not an “undoubted” success on domestic policy. That’s not even close to being accurate.

Clinton, Bush (GW) and Obama Presidencies ALL made public, on the record statements that recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and there’s PLENTY of video evidence to support this. Why is THIS instance so different from every other?

Western Jerusalem has been capitol of Israel since 1948. Russia and the Czechs also have recognized that reality. The recognition changes nothing for final state negotiations. Finally the entire world at UN voted as per UNESCO that there is NO Jewish presence , history or emotional ties for Jerusalem. Palestinians wanting to pressure jerusalem /Israel without actually having face to face negotiations. It is fitting that they all now feel the reverse in the actual final recognition of reality…and that they feel what Israelis felt from the put downs and prejudice in denying any jewish connection to jerusalem. Palestinians are very noisy when it does not go their way, aren’t they!

“Barack Obama left office as a very popular President despite some obvious shortcomings. On the domestic front he was an undoubted success.” Well obviously. The Democrats lost 1,030 seats in state legislatures, governor’s mansions and Congress during Obama’s presidency. They lost control of Senate and House of Reps. The Republican dominance was greater than it had been since 1860. Undoubted success. Obama, Bush and Clinton all promised to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel before reneging. Trump promises it and delivers. An “act of lunacy”. Sorry Richo, but your leftism is showing.

Garbage. The city of Jerusalem has been the traditional capital city of the country we now call Israel since the beginning of recorded history. Pandering to the Arab movement has never achieved one single thing as they are solely focused on the destruction of Israel. He has called a spade a spade.

Richo, you are aware that recognising Jerusalem as the capital and moving the US embassy there, has been part of every presidential election campaign for decades, right? Barack Obama’s policies included recognising Jerusalem. So did George W. Bush, Bill Clinton. In 2008, then Democratic candidate Barack Obama called Jerusalem the ‘capital of Israel’. In 2000, then Republican candidate George W Bush promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. In 1993, former president Bill Clinton also came to office saying he supported ‘the principle’ of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. In fact, the US Congress even passed a law in 1995 called the Jerusalem Embassy Act which described Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said it should not be divided. Trump is just the first one who is not all talk and simply gets the job done. I know that must be a very strange, almost alien, approach to a politician, but that’s how stuff is done outside politics. In the real world.

Tell me if I am not correct: The US Congress has acknowledged (by vote), for some time, that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, but no President has acted on that decision in an administrative sense, and say they will move the US embassy to Jerusalem, until now? A President enacting the will of Congress is how things should work in a democracy (and thankfully does most of the time, until lately, perhaps). Right or wrong, if it is a will of Congress, it is the will of the people.

What Mr Richardson knows about foreign affairs and geopolitics, you could write on a small postage stamp. All his knowledge is local, parochial and partisan. Not a single idea in this article is explored beyond its bald assertion. He is out of his depth on this subject, and is only parroting what he has heard–and what he has heard is essentially the Democratic/U.N. party line.

In his last two columns, Mr Richardson has sadly revealed that moments of lunacy are becoming his personal trademark. A shocking column of bias, vitriol and singular ignorance.

So Israel are just bombing Gaza for no reason? No provocation Richo?

Maybe spend 30 seconds researching what successive POTUS policy has been on recognition of Jerusalem. Yes, even the messiah Obama. But then of course, the narrative is more important then the facts in the post-truth age.

Oh Richo – so poorly informed on this one. 90 -0 the US senate voted for this issue only 6 months ago. So, its all Trumps decision, thought the President followed the government, not dictated to it. This decision (finally some one makes one, and sticks to it) forces the Truth to be faced. There is no peace process, not while the Arab world desires jus tone thing, the genocide of Israel. Also, you might want to ask why did Congress, on the same day, announce that the 887 million, yes, that’s 887 million dollars of aid it gives to the Palestine authority” will cease after Christmas unless the 334 million it “gives to its “martyrs” also stops. The Children in the room, and that appears to include you, need to understand, this is a message to the Arabs, recognise Israel, face the Truth, and then maybe, just maybe, a real peace can begin. There can be no peace when one side teaches its children, and has as part of its constitution the death of a its neighbour. Lunacy, I think not, Trump derangement syndrome, I think, on your behalf, yes.

Excellent and game changing move by Trump – executing a move that previous presidents promised, but never delivered.

Trump has signaled the USA – remember he is the President, like it or not, Richo -backs the only functioning democracy in the region, which Barack ‘Red Line’ Obama abandoned. Whose side are you on, Richo? Bob Carrs’?

Past Presidents had dithered for 25 years, delaying a decision every 6 months.(Bush & Obama). Along comes a President (Trump) who does what he promises and some get upset, but he made a decision. Go Trump, Make America Great Again, that helps the world.

Sorry, but the Israelis founded Jerusalem in BC, Christians in Anno Domini, and Islam barged in in the 7the century. So ,having driven a million or so Jews out of their countries since 1948, the Arabs should give them their s bit of their middle east land, that is now Israel, permanently. The Catholics have the Vatican, the Muslims have Mecca, and quite justly , the Jews should have Jerusalem.

Exactly Graham! WE MUST APPEASE, APPEASE, APPEASE, hey comrade?

Seriously tho, when did Australian politics devolve into a bunch of wimps frightened of upsetting anyone? And before anyone calls me an armchair general, I have more time in uniform than anyone in parliament, including Mr Hastie.

You just can’t make some people happy no matter what you do

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You won’t believe it when you read it but this is a criticism of PDT and a lament over what he has achieved. From The Huffington Post, bless ’em.

Trump is winning. In the brief space of a week, he won a brief court fight to shove Mick Mulvaney to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mulvaney wasted no time in unhinging a spate of consumer protection rulings, regulations, and personnel hires made during the Obama years.

His SCOTUS pick, Neil Gorsuch, eagerly cast a vote to impose the Muslim travel ban. His EPA head, Scott Pruitt, delivered a couple million acres of public monument land in the West to oil, gas, and coal industry developers. Trump busily continues to pack the federal judiciary with a parade of ultra-conservative, strict, constructionist Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia clones.

He switched gears and backed alleged pedophile Alabama judge Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race, who almost certainly will win. The Republican National Committee, which had practically declared Moore a pariah, quickly jumped in and said it would back him. He got another sweet perk when Senate Democrats turned with a vengeance on Minnesota Senator Al Franken and virtually ordered him out of office. His subsequent resignation got rid of a pesky thorn for Trump. Franken had a big voice, lots of name recognition and popularity, and was not afraid to take shots at Trump.

He pooh-poohed the guilty plea of his former National Security Advisor Mike T. Flynn as no big deal while shouting “no collusion, no collusion” and got away with it.

He got his tax heist for the rich and corporations through the Senate, and as an extra bonus, brought his long-held dream of dumping the Affordable Care Act closer to reality when the Senate tacked on a provision to the bill wiping out the mandate requirement. When the markets took another tick up he crowed even louder that he was the man who brought the good times rolling to America. As always, he did all this with the sheepish connivance of much of the mainstream media, which is always off to the races in giving round-the-clock coverage to his self-serving, vapid tweets as if they were the word from the Mount.

Trump’s biggest win, though, has come on three fronts. One is the GOP. It can rail and curse at him publicly and privately, but it needs Trump. He is more than the titular head of the GOP. He is the point man for GOP policy and issues and, in a perverse way, the spur to get action on them.

The second front he’s winning on is the continuing love fest that his devout base has with him. While polls show that his overall approval ratings consistently wallow under forty percent, buried in the polling fine print is the numbers that mean the most to him and the GOP. That’s Republican voters. The overwhelming majority of whom back him. Even though his approval rating has dropped among white males without a college degree and Christian evangelicals, polls show that he still gets majority approval from them. These are the voters that the GOP will need Trump to rev up in the key swing districts in 2018. They’ll look to him to do just that. This is the voter loyalty that buys a lot of support from the GOP establishment even as they flail him or shake their head in disgust at his antics.

The third winning front for Trump is his perennial ace in the hole: the media. He remains a ratings cash cow for the networks and makes stunning copy for the print media. He knew that from day one of his presidential bid and he knows it even more now. He will continue to suck the media air out of everything that the Democrats do and try to do. Take his phony war with the NFL owners over the national anthem protest by a handful of Black players. A couple of tweets from him knocking the owners for alleging caving into the players was more than enough to distract from his bumbling, inept, and dangerous handling of the North Korea nuclear threat, and his clueless saber rattle of Iran over the nuclear curtailment pact with the U.S.

This has been his patent ploy, distract and deflect. The public and networks take the bait every time. Other than in the New York Times and other liberal print publications, there is no real sobering, in-depth discussion of the dangerous and destructive consequences of his administration’s policies. But those publications are anathema to Trump devotees in the heartland and the south anyway. So the withering criticism of Trump in these publications is tantamount to a wolf howling in the wind.

During the campaign, Trump loved to shout to his adoring throngs that, with him in the Oval Office, they’d win so much they’d get tired of winning. The giveaways to the rich, the gutting of Obamacare and the coming whittling away of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security is hardly winning for many of his backers. They benefit from these programs and won’t get a dime’s more relief in their tax bill. But for Trump so far this has been a win-win.

You would almost think he’s a Trump supporter but the first words of the post are “This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to write and admit” and the last words are “for Trump so far this has been a win-win, and a sad one to admit”. And the longer it lasts, the better it will get. The strangest part is that these types pretend that all those Democrat programs are for the lower half of the income distribution but those who actually live there know it is absolutely untrue.

Via Instapundit

Sunshine conservatives revisited

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LIQ has raised the ridiculous and entirely spurious condition that my failure ever to criticise Donald Trump is somehow proof that my defence of PDT is beyond reason. What really can one make of this?

Trump is a false messiah who is leading many so-called conservatives down a dead end. If you can’t accept the flaws in Trump and argue rationally rather than dogmatically you really have no place in conservative thought. Because such behaviour is the antitheses of western critical thinking and logic.

Cultural warriors for Trump are no better than those idiots chanting and disrupting speakers at universities.

Some people are just too stupid to see what’s right before their eyes and going further, are too stupid to change their minds in the face of more evidence than anyone could have imagined to have been presented in even less than a year since the inauguration. The following is the article I wrote that was posted at Quadrant Online on October 16 last year, which I titled Sunshine Conservatives. I might better have titled it Idiots and Morons. And if you would like 390 additional pages of the same kind of material on Donald Trump, warts and all, you can go here.

This is the article I wrote then.

“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer blogger and the sunshine conservative will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

This has been a fearfully clarifying US election. There are people who declare themselves on the right side of politics, who are in truth sham defenders of freedom and our way of life, and who will be forever shunned by those of us who stood for saving the American Republic and the Western world at this moment of great peril.

The American election will determine the fate of the West. An America with open borders, unprepared, unwilling and unable to defend our freedoms from predators of every kind, from Islamic terrorists, from economic vandals, from those who masquerade their profound ignorance as concern for the environment — it is from these we must defend ourselves against or our way of life will be lost. The American Republic as it has been since 1776 will disappear. We will live to see our own fall of Rome.

Sunshine conservatives: those who pretend to represent freedom, individual rights and personal responsibility, but who refuse to stand with the only person who could make a difference. They are people whom history will recognise as the enemies of freedom, who refused to stand for the right when the moment arrived. It is Trump alone, the most improbable candidate in American political history, who provides even this sliver of hope. He is elected or Hillary is elected. There is no other possible outcome.

The mounting hostility among those supposedly on his own side is a disgrace. The array of enemies who have been uncovered from within what is nominally his own side of politics has demonstrated, better than anything else might have, that the Republican Party as it has become is a rotting curse on everything it is supposed to represent.

Those who stand with Hillary in this dark hour will have revealed they cannot be trusted and their counsel is without value. They are enemies of freedom. If you support Hillary Clinton in this election, nothing you write and say will from this time forward be worth the slightest attention. Your judgements will have been revealed as eternally worthless.

So, You Thought He Was a Choir Boy?

Donald Trump has not yet lost this election. If anything, this latest attempt to distract voters from the genuine issues which confront us may finally have focused the election on what actually matters. No one defends Trump’s words, or his attitude to women, least of all Donald Trump. This was his own assessment.

Let’s be honest, we’re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we’re facing today.

We are losing our jobs, we are less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground. I’ve said some foolish things, but there’s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days.

The American election is not about who has lived the most blameless life. It is about who can best protect our collective interests. Trump has been from the very beginning the only person running in this election who has understood the nature of the times in which we live and the actions that must be taken. You are either a sunshine conservative, or are instead prepared to fight this to the very end which means supporting Donald Trump for president.