An election map of the Brexit referendum shows everywhere in England except London, voting Leave, whereas every place in Scotland voted Remain. The dividing line between Scottish Remain and British Leave is very sharp and follows the old border between England and Scotland.
The TV newsies have been yacking about how the Leave voters were all working class blue collar people and the Remain voters were all London financial system operators. Maybe. But why does all of Scotland want to remain, whereas most of England wants to leave? I haven't heard any TV newsies pontificating about that.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016
The McLaughlin Shouting Hour
There were on for their usual half hour this morning. And not a word was said about Brexit. I guess the show was taped sometime before Friday, when the British referendum results came out. They did talk quite a bit about Venezuela's collapse. The liberal members of the show (most of 'em) tried to explain the Venezuela problem as anything but socialism. Yeah right.
The also talked about NATO's plan to station ONE battalion (1000 men) in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. Total 4000 troops. This is nothingness. Four divisions, 40,000 men would be more like it. Hitler launched a hundred divisions in 1941. Then there was some yellow belly talk about how the Baltic states don't really matter and we should not be risking war with Russia over them . I'll admit that war with Russia is a real downer, but letting the Russians take over free and independent countries sticks in my craw.
The also talked about NATO's plan to station ONE battalion (1000 men) in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. Total 4000 troops. This is nothingness. Four divisions, 40,000 men would be more like it. Hitler launched a hundred divisions in 1941. Then there was some yellow belly talk about how the Baltic states don't really matter and we should not be risking war with Russia over them . I'll admit that war with Russia is a real downer, but letting the Russians take over free and independent countries sticks in my craw.
Who is Tim Kaine?
I never heard of him. Beat the Press was pushing him as Hillary's VP this morning. They had him on the show. He sounded like a perfectly ordinary middle aged pol from Virginia, nothing outstanding. But he surely has a name recognition problem. I'm a political junkie, and I never heard of him before.
Good luck Tim. You will need more support than just NBC to make it.
Good luck Tim. You will need more support than just NBC to make it.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Let's Drive ISIS/ISIL/IS off the internet
Radical Islamic Terrorists use the internet for propaganda, radicalizing, recruitment, fund raising, and communication. ISIS/ISIL/IS is the worst of 'em right now, but there are plenty of others. Al Quada, Boko Haram, the Wahabis, and more.
We (the US and it's allies) ought to make a serious effort to drive them off the Internet. Their web sites ought to just disappear, their email should be intercepted, read, and discarded. Like wise their text messages. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogspot pages ought to self destruct. Plus anything else we can detect.
This is censorship, but I submit that censoring murderous terrorists is better than getting shot by them. And more effective than trying to take guns away from law abiding citizens.
We (the US and it's allies) ought to make a serious effort to drive them off the Internet. Their web sites ought to just disappear, their email should be intercepted, read, and discarded. Like wise their text messages. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogspot pages ought to self destruct. Plus anything else we can detect.
This is censorship, but I submit that censoring murderous terrorists is better than getting shot by them. And more effective than trying to take guns away from law abiding citizens.
Friday, June 24, 2016
The Brits did it.
The polls had it close, and it was. The London bookies were wrong, they were quoting 84% to remain. American investors didn't think Brexit would happen, and yesterday they were happily buying stocks on the assumption that Brexit would not happen. Today, with the US market opening in a few minutes, I, and the TV newsies, expect a wave of selling. European markets, already open, have taken a nosedive.
The interesting question, after the first ripples settle out, it what happens to Britain in the long term. Something like 50% to 60% of Britain's exports go to the EU. Right now, or at least yesterday, those exports go duty free. The EU may decide to force Britain to pay full EU tariffs, which will hurt a lot. They may decide other things. There are a couple of countries like Norway and Switzerland that are not EU members, but enjoy tariff free entry to the EU market. I don't see why the EU would cut Britain any favors, but what do I know? The Brits may seek entry to NAFTA, and I have no idea how that would work out.
The EU has it's own troubles, the Euro is shaky, they are still paying off the Greeks, and they have the humongous refugee problem. Britain was the second strongest member (after Germany) and a lot of Europeans will miss the Brits. They served as a counterweight to the Germans, who are the biggest and richest country. With the Brits out, Germany will pretty much run the EU.
Brexit surely hands the whole European unity project a big setback European unity got started right after WWII, with the object of welding Europe together into a single country to prevent another World War from breaking out. It's been on a roll ever since. All of Western Europe joined up, they started up the Euro, and all the Russian satellite countries joined right up as soon as the Russian's iron grip slacked off. What happens next is hard to predict.
What the EU ought to do is tighten up their financial system, tell the dead beat countries like Greece no more handouts. Create bank deposit insurance, and come up with a uniform set of banking regulations to prevent setting up banks in places with no regulations, that proceed to do all sorts of shady deals. And loosen up labor laws, permitting lay offs when business drops off, fewer holidays, less vacation, and a 40 hour work week.
Whether the EU will do this is anybody's guess.
The interesting question, after the first ripples settle out, it what happens to Britain in the long term. Something like 50% to 60% of Britain's exports go to the EU. Right now, or at least yesterday, those exports go duty free. The EU may decide to force Britain to pay full EU tariffs, which will hurt a lot. They may decide other things. There are a couple of countries like Norway and Switzerland that are not EU members, but enjoy tariff free entry to the EU market. I don't see why the EU would cut Britain any favors, but what do I know? The Brits may seek entry to NAFTA, and I have no idea how that would work out.
The EU has it's own troubles, the Euro is shaky, they are still paying off the Greeks, and they have the humongous refugee problem. Britain was the second strongest member (after Germany) and a lot of Europeans will miss the Brits. They served as a counterweight to the Germans, who are the biggest and richest country. With the Brits out, Germany will pretty much run the EU.
Brexit surely hands the whole European unity project a big setback European unity got started right after WWII, with the object of welding Europe together into a single country to prevent another World War from breaking out. It's been on a roll ever since. All of Western Europe joined up, they started up the Euro, and all the Russian satellite countries joined right up as soon as the Russian's iron grip slacked off. What happens next is hard to predict.
What the EU ought to do is tighten up their financial system, tell the dead beat countries like Greece no more handouts. Create bank deposit insurance, and come up with a uniform set of banking regulations to prevent setting up banks in places with no regulations, that proceed to do all sorts of shady deals. And loosen up labor laws, permitting lay offs when business drops off, fewer holidays, less vacation, and a 40 hour work week.
Whether the EU will do this is anybody's guess.
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Words of the Weasel Part 31
"Sexual Assault". The proper, long established word is rape. That's a felony in every state that I am aware of. Rape is forced sexual intercourse. And, it has been a felony for a couple of thousand years. Law enforcement should be called in the event of rape. There are standards of evidence that must be met to secure a rape conviction.
"Sexual Assault" is a new phrase which can mean anything from unwanted touching, to stealing a kiss, up thru rape. College administrators are judging cases of "sexual assault" and universally finding the man guilty, and expelling him from the college, in kangaroo courts, where the accuser is not required to be present, and where the accused is denied a lawyer, and denied a chance to confront his accuser.
By my lights, the entire concept of "sexual assault" should be discarded. In cases of rape, the accuser should go to law enforcement. The college should offer transportation to and from the police station. College administrators are incompetent to deal with rape, and mostly too biased to give a fair hearing, even if they were competent. Rape should always be handled by law enforcement.
"Sexual Assault" is a new phrase which can mean anything from unwanted touching, to stealing a kiss, up thru rape. College administrators are judging cases of "sexual assault" and universally finding the man guilty, and expelling him from the college, in kangaroo courts, where the accuser is not required to be present, and where the accused is denied a lawyer, and denied a chance to confront his accuser.
By my lights, the entire concept of "sexual assault" should be discarded. In cases of rape, the accuser should go to law enforcement. The college should offer transportation to and from the police station. College administrators are incompetent to deal with rape, and mostly too biased to give a fair hearing, even if they were competent. Rape should always be handled by law enforcement.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Selling cars with pussy cats
Land Rover is running a TV ad for their Range Rover. Said ad features a large white pussy cat as a sort of mascot/symbol/hood ornament/whatever. Used to be, back in the day, cars that couldn't run strong, were called pussy cats. Guess the Range Rover ad team didn't know this.
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