The Secret Service is no longer so secret

From the comments to the video which I happen to think is accurate:

Why would she be worried about what this guy got to say. He is only repeating lies about the Clinton’s that has been going around the right wing for years. It not going to change anyone minds but it will get a bunch of conservative to go out a spend their money on the same book just with a different cover.

That is, it’s an old story, untrue, and even if it were true is anyway irrelevant. How will it change anyone’s mind about her fitness for President? First there needs to be people on her side who are willing to believe any of this matters, and on her side there is hardly a one.

Is it possible to be too cynical in politics?

We shall see what Brexit means to this modern generation even among those who supported it. When it comes to politics one can never be too cynical. See below.

From John Derbyshire:

@hen Britain is at last out of the EU, will her leaders finally get control over Third World immigration? It’s by no means certain.

Following the announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron that he will resign, there is speculation that he’ll be replaced by Boris Johnson, the former Mayor of London, who campaigned for Brexit.

Well, it’s nice that Johnson helped to make Brexit happen. But on immigration in general, he apparently favors open borders. When Mayor of London he made gushing speeches about what a gorgeous ethnic tapestry the city has become. [Boris Johnson’s acceptance speech after being declared mayor of London, The Guardian, May 3, 2008]

We must now wait upon events.

In a Brexit silo

I’m in a Brexit silo of some kind. To my astonishment, every single one of the websites and blogs I habitually follow has charmed and made happy by the British exit from the EU. Normally, there are a range of views and I can get to both sides of a question, which I then get to mix with the normal MSM news reporting. But on this occasion, everyone has been on the same side, and this is my side. The very opposite of how it’s been with Donald Trump, say. So let me pick a few choice bits from the things I have been reading.

Firstly, subtitled The vote to leave the EU began as a cry for liberty and ended as a rebuke to the establishment via Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit we read:

The world is looking at Britain and asking: What on Earth just happened? Those who run Britain are asking the same question.

Never has there been a greater coalition of the establishment than that assembled by Prime Minister David Cameron for his referendum campaign to keep the U.K. in the European Union. There was almost every Westminster party leader, most of their troops and almost every trade union and employers’ federation. There were retired spy chiefs, historians, football clubs, national treasures like Stephen Hawking and divinities like Keira Knightley. And some global glamour too: President Barack Obama flew to London to do his bit, and Goldman Sachs opened its checkbook.

And none of it worked. . . .

The Brexit campaign started as a cry for liberty, perhaps articulated most clearly by Michael Gove, the British justice secretary (and, on this issue, the most prominent dissenter in Mr. Cameron’s cabinet). Mr. Gove offered practical examples of the problems of EU membership. As a minister, he said, he deals constantly with edicts and regulations framed at the European level—rules that he doesn’t want and can’t change. These were rules that no one in Britain asked for, rules promulgated by officials whose names Brits don’t know, people whom they never elected and cannot remove from office. Yet they become the law of the land. Much of what we think of as British democracy, Mr. Gove argued, is now no such thing.

Instead of grumbling about the things we can’t change, Mr. Gove said, it was time to follow “the Americans who declared their independence and never looked back” and “become an exemplar of what an inclusive, open and innovative democracy can achieve.”

This amazing statement is from Senator Geoff Sessions, Donald Trump’s number one supporter: NOW IT’S AMERICA’S TURN. This is his statement in full.

The British people, our special friends and allies, deserve our full support following their sovereign and considered decision to leave the European Union.

The people spoke from their hearts and with conviction. They considered deep and critical issues never discussed by the international elites. Their strong vote arose not out of fear and pique but out of love for country and pride of place. Their experience with a distant government in Brussels was given a long and fair chance to succeed. In the end, however, they concluded that the costs outweighed the benefits. Often, Britain makes changes that precede U. S. action. The Thatcher movement preceded the Reagan revolution. Both were victories for the people over outdated and corrupt forces. Both were achieved against powerful and determined establishment forces. Both resulted in historic and positive periods in their nation’s history.

Now it’s our time. The period of the nation state has not ended. No far off global government or union can command the loyalty of a people like their own country. Vague unions have no ability to call on the people to sacrifice for the common good. They seem incapable of making decisions and when they do, they have difficulty executing the decision.

Far better to celebrate the wonder and proven worth of good nation states and to work hard to use that foundation to build harmonious political and trading relations among the nations. This is the best basis for peace and prosperity.

In negotiations and relationships, national leaders should first ensure they have protected the safety and legitimate interests of their own people. This principle has been eroded and Brexit is a warning for America. Our British friends have sent the message loud and clear.

The interests of powerful international corporations, media, special interests, and leftist international forces are not coterminous with those of our people. This we must understand. The ultimate interest that our government is legally and morally bound to serve is that of our people.

Just as in the U.K., our November presidential election presents a stark contrast. The establishment forces, the global powers, are promoting their values and their interests. They want to erode borders, rapidly open America’s markets to foreign produced goods, while having little interest in advancing America’s ability to sell abroad. These forces have zero interest in better job opportunities and higher wages for our citizens.

It has been known for years that the European Union has often served as a barrier to its members taking action that would serve their own interests. Perhaps nothing proves this more definitively than the current migrant crisis, where the EU has clearly been part of the problem, not the solution.

And, consider the promotion of radical trade policies that erode the power of the people to control their lives. Millions upon millions of dollars from around the globe are being spent to get America to agree to the massive, twelve-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. While sold as a trade deal, in reality, the TPP is a Trojan Horse for yet another sovereignty-eroding global pact. If implemented, it would create a new governing body that would exercise power and make decisions that the United States Congress would be effectively powerless to block. Like the EU, each nation gets one vote. Brunei and Vietnam get one vote as does the President of the United States.

We must remember that the European Union began as a seemingly benign economic agreement, and we must not forget, that as Secretary of State, with negotiating responsibility for the TPP, Hillary Clinton promoted it and called it the ‘gold standard’ for a trade deal. That should give us all pause. This sovereignty eroding trade deal is in perfect accord with her globalist agenda.

Too many politicians and pundits here in America have been woefully oblivious to, or in some cases complicit in, what is going on around us. The failed European Union experiment, and Great Britain’s rejection of it must serve as a wake-up call for all of us in America.

I applaud yesterday’s strong and patriotic action taken by America’s special friend, retaking its independence. I know that moving forward the deep and historic ties between Great Britain and America will grow ever stronger. I believe the American people too will choose independence this November.

This is Gerard Baker of the Wall Street Journal via Steve Hayward at Powerline: UNITED KINGDOM ANOTHER “SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD”?

Levels of dissatisfaction with leadership have reached revolutionary levels. It’s a paradox of mass modern democracy that voters feel themselves governed by rulers who “neither see nor feel nor know,” a political-business nexus that feeds on itself and promotes its own interests while mouthing platitudes at election time to keep the populace at bay. In Europe and the U.S. today, traditional political authority is worn like a scarlet letter. . .

The very idea that the state has a primary obligation to its native citizens has become unfashionable and virtually unsayable within the tightly controlled bounds of political correctness. . .

The stunning reality of Brexit needs to be understood as simply the most dramatic development yet in these trends. The British people have spoken, the first to break publicly from the institutional structures that define our modern, integrated international system.

They are very unlikely to be the last.

We all seem to see the same thing. The other side, when I run across something they say, has no purchase on anything I think since they don’t seem to have any sense of what is at stake.

Donald Trump’s statement on Brexit

This is ​DONALD J. TRUMP STATEMENT REGARDING BRITISH REFERENDUM ON E.U. MEMBERSHIP:

The people of the United Kingdom have exercised the sacred right of all free peoples. They have declared their independence from the European Union and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy. A Trump Administration pledges to strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain, deepening our bonds in commerce, culture and mutual defense. The whole world is more peaceful and stable when our two countries – and our two peoples – are united together, as they will be under a Trump Administration.

Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today’s rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people. I hope America is watching, it will soon be time to believe in America again.

For the contrasting response from Barack Obama, who had supported Remain, you can go here. In April, Hillary had supported Remain as well:

Hillary Clinton believes that transatlantic cooperation is essential, and that cooperation is strongest when Europe is united. She has always valued a strong United Kingdom in a strong EU. And she values a strong British voice in the EU.

And from the BBC, Five reasons Brexit could signal Trump winning the White House. It begins:

The two most surprising political phenomena of this year have been the rise of Donald Trump and the success of the Leave Europe camp in Britain’s referendum on Brexit.

Few pundits saw either coming (and full disclosure, I include myself here, particularly on Trump) – but we should have and now would be a good chance to make up for past oversight by looking at how the two are linked.

Cameron has just resigned

Cameron speaks.

No immediate changes in anyone’s circumstances.

We must now prepare for a negotiation with the EU. But above all it will require strong and determined leadership. I have also believed we must confront issues. I fought this campaign by saying what I felt. Clear about my belief that the UK was better off in the EU.

The country requires fresh leadership, but it would not be right for me to be the captain to steer the country to its next destination. Aim to have a new leader by the next Conference in October.

The negotiation should take place under a new Prime Minister.

And to help you make this day really special: This was picked up by Baldrick and uploaded into the comments but this really needs to be shared. As he says, a billion dollars later and the ABC still can’t get it right.

live canberra

See EU later – they’re out

brexit headlines

The papers of the left – the Mirror and Guardian – clearly wanted to stay while The Times stayed neutral. The rest wanted to leave. A definite left-right split.

And on the morning after? Listening to the BBC commentary, it is Labour and the Greens who are most downcast while it is the UKIP and the Tories who are obviously pleased beyond measure, although David Cameron might be in a spot of bother. Listenting to the grizzling on the BBC, the left even admits how hard it is to get medical services or to buy housing but just think they ought to increase medical service and have built more houses without a thought to the migration that had been a big part of the problem. And, of course, Obama wanted the UK to remain, so add that to the total.

And while they are different parts of the Anglosphere, the results do have a bearing on the American presidential election, and even on our own. National sovereignty still matters.

No comments here, but continue on the main Brexit thread.