Bookworm Beat 10/22/18 — the Honduran invasion edition and open thread

This Bookworm Beat is about more than the slo-mo Honduran invasion, but that figures largely here, hence the post’s title.

Bookworm Beat Honduran InvasionA round-up of ideas and information about the Honduran invasion. When thousands of military age men threaten to storm your border, there’s only one proper description: “an invasion.” All that other stuff — economic migrants, refugees, huddled masses — is euphemism intended to obscure the reality that inherently dangerous people [i.e., military age men and men from terrorist-supporting and non-Latin American countries] are announcing loudly and clearly that will ignore American sovereignty and invade our country.

I don’t doubt that women and children are sprinkled throughout this horde to make good television when Trump (God willing) stops them at the American border but, again, that’s not the bulk of the group. Instead, those women and children will find that, just as the Palestinians like to place children front and center for maximum propaganda impact when Israel finally fights back against deadly provocation, so too are these women and children unwitting tools in the Leftist war to destroy American sovereignty.

As it happens, we don’t need to guess what this invasion will look like. First, we saw a trial run with the children’s invasion on Obama’s watch, an invasion that came complete with diseases, MS-13 and other criminals, and a new cohort of anchors for chain migration. We’ve also seen the adult version play out in Europe over the past three years and it has, at best, strained Europe’s economy and, at worst, led to sexual assaults on women and children, increased property crimes, murders, racially-based violence, and terrorism.

Immigration should be based upon the capacity and desire of the receiving country, rather than the demands of those unfortunate enough to be residents of countries distinguished by corruption, theocratic dictatorships (that the immigrants want to bring with them), and economic failing. If these military-aged young men want to improve life, let them turn back home to Honduras and take a stand against crime and corruption there, rather than bringing those society-destroying vices here.

One of the things that may have struck you is that those young man are moving at a bizarrely rapid clip. Could it be that they’re not marching at all but are getting a little help? Why, yes it could:

However many trucks are working the convoy now, they’re going to need more — while Mexico made some ineffectual efforts to stop the original invasion at its own borders, that failure has emboldened others to join:

New estimates cited by El Universal, a Mexican newspaper, say the caravan now has 14,000 people, many of them already in Mexico while others still wait. {Emphasis mine.)

Another thing that someone found noteworthy is the clothes these “spontaneous” refugees are wearing:

And then there’s the flag under which they’ve chosen to march, as well as the flag they’ve chosen to burn:

(As always, the Daily Mail has a great gallery of photos, showing the marching mob’s testosterone, child pawns, and violent impulses.)

Again, this is not a “migrant movement.” It is a full-fledged, planned invasion of a sovereign nation.

Moreover, as Don Surber notes, an invasion of this size, complete with transportation and publicists, is bigger than George Soros funding it by his lonesome (although I’d be very surprised if he were not involved):

Caravan adults will work for under-the-table wages that are off the books. This allows them to collect welfare. Their employers don’t have to pay the 7.65% employer match to payroll taxes or provide health insurance.

Illegal aliens can live in America working for less than minimum wage if it is off the books. That is because they still collect welfare and get Medicaid in addition to their untaxed pay.

They do better than legal citizens who make minimum wage.

The Chamber of Commerce does not want to stop this because it provides cheap labor.

Mexico does not want to stop this because so many illegals send lots of money home.

This is why other nations, nominally allies, allow the caravan to head north.

[snip]

This is a well-financed caravan aimed at using women and children to hide the real intent of this movement. Corporate interests are with cheap labor. Conservatives only fool themselves if they think George Soros is alone in this venture.

Wolf Howling contends (and I agree) that those Americans funding this enterprise need to be found, arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for extended periods of time.

By the way, if any Leftist says to you “but Posse Comitatus,” ignore him or her because that person is ignorant. The Posse Comitatus Act exists to prevent a president from using the military against Americans. It cannot possibly be extended to prevent using the American military to protect Americans from an external invading force.

I’ll wrap up with Trump’s tweets on the invasion:

I hope Trump means it about cutting off funds to the countries allowing this to happen (something Roger L. Simon thinks, as I do, will benefit these same countries by forcing them to address their internal failings) — and I hope he has the balls and the spine to do what it takes to block this invasion at the border. Continue reading →

If Elizabeth Warren is Native American, then so am I

Elizabeth Warren’s claim to be Native American ignores the ancient historic forces that dispersed Native American DNA over three continents and many races.

Elizabeth Warren, Native American, Indian, DNAI’d meant to post this earlier, but what with the Japan trip and jet lag, I’m just getting around to it — with “it” being the fact that I am at least as Native American as Elizabeth Warren.

Those of you who know my family history, about which I’ve written here, may be a bit confused. I’m a first generation American, both of whose parents came from Europe, where they have deep roots. How in the heck, then, can I be part Native American?

Well, I am (either that or Asian):

Native American DNA

How’d this happen? My friend Jeffrey A. Friedberg, whose writing you can find at Watcher Of Weasels, American Thinker, Conservative Right Wing News, and Intellectual Conservative, made the connection for me: It’s because I have so much Ashkenazi DNA in me. Continue reading →

Two Movies: “A Wrinkle in Time” and “The 15:17 to Paris”

Having watched back-to-back both A Wrinkle in Time and The 15:17 to Paris, I explain in detail why the first is garbage and the second truly uplifting.

Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, 15:17 to ParisMy trip to Japan involved a lot of airplane time, during which I was able to watch two movies that came out earlier this year: A Wrinkle in Time and The 15:17 to Paris, one of which I hated and the other of which I loved. That means it’s time for another one of my belated movie review posts. (Belated because I seldom go to theaters to see first run movies, instead catching them when I fly or when they show up on television.)

A Wrinkle in Time

I really, truly loathed this movie. I didn’t loath it because of the superficial changes it made to Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved 1962 book, but because of the deep changes.

Indeed, many of the superficial changes made sense, either for visual reasons, time constraints, to address some modern sensibilities, or to resonate more strongly with today’s teenagers. For that reason, although I adore the book and know it well, it didn’t trouble me that the Murry family was now mixed race (white father, black mother, adopted Asian son); that the Murry twins were missing (they add nothing to the plot); that Calvin has black hair not red; that Mrs. Whatsit turns into a giant leaf, not a unicorn (choosing visual pretties over magnificence); that Aunt Beast only made a one-second cameo (again, those time constraints); that the Happy Medium was male, not female (although Zach Galifianakis is horrible in the role); or even that Reese Witherspoon played Mrs. Whatsit as a glamorous bitch, rather than a daffy, loving bag lady (a choice clearly made to pander to Witherspoon’s ego).

I also tried hard not to be bothered by Oprah’s presence in the film. I loath the woman because I believe that she’s been a significant contributor to the dumbing down of America, replacing reason with feelings. Still, she’s not an awful actress and I even took a certain twisted pleasure in the bizarre make-up and costume choices, all of which, rather than making her look like a star (of the celestial, not the Hollywood, type) whose spirit took human form, instead made her look like a really bad drag queen: Continue reading →

If you’re an absentee voter, don’t forget to mail in your ballot

In California, if you’re a conservative, your choices are very limited — but you should still vote, just to remind Progressives that you’re out there.

I voted. You should too. (And a reminder to California voters that my suggestion for U.S. Senate, given that we are denied the right to do write-in votes, is to vote for Kevin de Leon. Yes, he’s a very hard Leftist, but Dianne Feinstein is too — and as she showed during the Kavanaugh hearings, her seniority in the Senate gives her way too much power.)

vote voter voted

Random thoughts regarding my visit to Japan

This is my last post about Japan, and it contains a few random thoughts tied to my visit to Kyoto and Osaka. And when I say random, I do mean random….

Japan Golden Temple Kyoto Kinkaku-jiJapan is exquisite — and its people compulsive. There are a few obvious things to say about Japan. It is an exquisite country on every level. It’s rich in natural and historic beauty, of course, but the exquisiteness transcends that. It’s the people who make it the unique place it is. And about those people. . . .

I have never seen a greater collection of people with what I can only characterize as “obsessive compulsive disorder” (OCD) and I mean that in the nicest possible way. To begin with, they are obsessively clean. I never saw a speck of litter anywhere. This was true not only in the shiny tourist areas, but also in the rundown area we walked through in Kyoto to get from one shrine to another or in the insanely busy, bright, noisy Osaka food and shopping district. There are almost no public garbage cans (I believe their absence is to avoid terrorist bombs and chemical attacks), but the Japanese do not litter. Like conscientious hikers who make sure to pack everything out of the backwoods, Japanese citizens make sure to leave nothing behind on public streets.

My favorite aspect of this OCD cleanliness is the public bathrooms. Whether you’re at a minor shrine, a major temple, a train station, a bus station, a shopping area, or anywhere else, the bathrooms are always immaculate. The toilets are clean, there are no scattered sheets of toilet paper littering the floor, the counters are dry and clean, and everything works. Most of the bathrooms have the awesome hi-tech toilets one quickly comes to love in Japan, complete with warmed toilet seats, sprinklers for cleaning oneself, and music for those too shy to do their business around others. When the bathrooms are located in a temple or shrine that mandates people take their shoes off, the public restrooms have slip-on shoes so people don’t have to walk in their socks over public bathroom floors.

I’ve always believed one can measure how civilized a country is by the state of its public restrooms and, by that metric, Japan is the most civilized country in the world. Continue reading →

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