A perfect parallelism
From Sadie: The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient gave a state dinner in honor of the leader of China. The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo, is imprisoned in China. All conclusions are obvious.
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Animal Farm hits Britain in the guise of sexual orientation equality
I’d like to think this is a joke, but modern Britain being modern Britain, I’m actually sure it’s not. One can only hope that at least some people will give the correct response to such an intrusive, inappropriate question: “Bugger off!” Are you straight or gay? Police and nurses to
Continue readingA demographic shift that keeps shocking me
Thirty years ago, I went to England through my university’s junior year abroad program. Although I had visions of walking across Cambridge’s or Oxford’s sun-dappled lawns, I actually ended up in the north of England. My disappointment swiftly turned to pleasure when I discovered that the north of England was
Continue readingApropos Mexico
Dafydd, at the inestimable Big Lizards, weighs in — intelligently, of course — on Mexico’s problems with narcoterrorism and its own military. I think this is a perfect companion piece to my own post about Mexico.
Continue readingWhat’s the matter with Mexico?
Up until two weeks ago, my contacts with Mexico had been very limited. When I was four, my parents spent a day in Tijuana, at which time I allegedly stood in the middle of the mercado and cried out “I want to go back to my own civilization.” Fast forward
Continue readingBecause, really, who cares about the dead?
Two stories out of Europe. First, the European Union ruled that Ireland’s abortion ban violated a woman’s rights. Second, the British have given permanent asylum to an Iraqi man who, while driving without a license, killed a 12 year old in a hit and run accident, on the grounds that
Continue readingA small thing to do to counter an attack against Israel
Greg Gutfeld calls it “Students Against Hummus, Not Hamas,” which is a very funny description of something that’s not funny at all: Anti-Israeli students at Princeton, offended that two Israeli companies are provided the hummus sold in school-run stores, are making a lot of noise about “expanding” the hummus selection.
Continue readingThe hand is quicker than the eye — or, are we mis-reading Arab misdirection?
Many, myself included, found it heartening that the Wikileaks cables showed that Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries, were talking tough to American diplomats when it came to Iran. That proved, we said, that, no matter what the leaders said on the streets, behind the scenes they were sensibly aware
Continue readingReality checking Tom Friedman on the Middle East
I really shouldn’t pick on Tom Friedman. If he was the average idiot holding forth in a bar or living room, I probably wouldn’t. But this average idiot has a forum — the New York Times — that gives him license to spread his stupidity to a much wider audience
Continue readingNo air of verisimilitude to this otherwise unconvincing narrative
It turns out that the young man who hung on the Union Jack flag in order to climb a cenotaph dedicated to the dead of WWI, a cenotaph that has inscribed on it in large letters “the glorious dead,” has apologized, claiming he knew not what he did. Hogwash. First
Continue readingBritish women escaping Western nihilism
In past posts, I’ve noted that it isn’t surprising that British women are converting in surprisingly high numbers to Islam. In a secularized, socialized, de-moralized Britain (and, by de-moralized, I mean a place remarkably free of traditional morality), the women are pickled in alcohol, and encouraged to have sex at
Continue readingIsrael, American Jews, American Christians and a whole bunch of other stuff too
I struggled for a few minutes to find a clever title for this post that would convey the volume of information I’m about to download from my brain, but realized I couldn’t. A laundry list description will just have to do. You see, last night, I had the pleasure of
Continue readingPeople who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones
An Austrian MP has finally had enough of the way the Turkish government complains about the treatment Turks receive in Austria. I have no idea what kind of treatment Turks receive in Austria, although if it’s like the rest of Europe, they get welfare, and they do not integrate, both
Continue readingOnline tutorial creates new country: Golan Heights
This past summer, I blogged about the fact that the Marin YMCA had created a brand new country called East Jerusalem. That was foolish but, in terms of reach, relatively innocuous. The Marin County Fair, while well attended, is not quite big enough to change the way people think. But
Continue readingChanging American expectations
When I was a child, filling the gas tank was the cheapest part of owning a car. Houses were also warm. As long as my father was earning money (which wasn’t always the case), during the winter we heated our house to a comfortable 72 degrees. Then, in 1974, the
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