A very wise contributor to this forum recently said:
“I’m convinced that the best way to gauge the temper of the times in any particular place is to live there oneself’ “
He is absolutely right. And so I hope that he will understand that I am writing as someone who has lived in two countries that are not in the U.S.A – but are independent, democratic countries who elect their own Prime Ministers to do the bidding of their electorates.
The best thing about ‘The Only President we Have’ was, for me, as an English / Australian woman, was that that particular person seemed to be more interested in dealing with some of the problems in the Middle East than interfering in the internal matters of countries who have always thought of themselves as U.S. allies.
It was with much dismay that I listened to Biden’s first speech when he declared he intended to return to the U.S.A. being the ‘Leader of the Free World’.
U.S. Presidents are not my Leader – I cannot vote for them – and I do not recognise their authority. And my immediate reaction was: OMG! Here we go again.
One of the few journos I trust wrote this:
“the Biden team includes people who are deeply hostile to Great Britain and believe – incorrectly – that Brexit in some way abandons our commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.
It isn’t just the Democrat Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi who takes this ignorant, anti-British view. Senator Chuck Schumer will shortly be the majority leader in the new Democrat-run Senate.
Last year, Schumer gave a speech for Sinn Fein, alongside Gerry Adams and others, in which he declared that while ‘the road to Irish unity’ is ‘long and winding’ it is ‘now more within reach today than at any time’.
Sinn Fein was delighted to re-post that speech in the past few days, along with a message from Schumer to the Irish republicans: ‘I wish you the best in your critical efforts to build support for a truly united Ireland.’
The terrorists and former terrorists who run Sinn Fein are thrilled by such talk. After years of pro-terrorist sentiment being anathema in Washington, it appears that it is back at the heart of American politics.
This is bad for America – and bad for Britain, too.
With people such as Schumer at the top table, our nation is at a tricky juncture.
Remember, these people are dedicated to the break-up of our country – to the secession of Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
US politicians in the mould of Schumer and Biden (who loves to boast about his Irish ancestry) would be appalled if British politicians campaigned to break up the United States.”
I add here a personal note. I lived in London when the IRA were littering bombs everywhere. I, like most Londoners, simply carried on. I never learnt to hate the Irish – only those who thought they could intimidate me.
The morning after 9/11 I went in to the Public Records office in the U.K. to be greeted by an American friend who was ranting about the U.S.A’s right to nuke any country that harboured enemies of his country. His, German, wife asked if I could say anything to calm him down. My comment: ‘and when can the U.K. nuke New York?’ stopped him and he asked why I said that. My answer was quite simple – America harboured the enemies of the U.K. and allowed Irish-Americans to fund the IRA who also killed thousands of innocent people. I’m quite sure that 9/11 brought home to many Americans just what home-terrorism meant.
Northern Ireland voted to remain part of the united Kingdom. They may, at some time, vote to do otherwise – but the U.S.A has no right to comment or interfere in that matter. That the present U.S. Government is cosying up to Sinn Fein is a very worrying development.
As a colony who fought to free itself from the domination of a government which did not recognise its special needs how dared Obama tell the U.K. to stay in the EU – who were overriding the very principles of Magna Carta – the basis of the U.S.A’s constitution? Or so I have been told!!
And I now read that Biden is threatening to withhold trade agreements with Australia if we don’t sign up to his version of climate change requirements.
Just at the moment I’m asking myself what is the difference between President Xi Jinping of China who is using trade sanctions to make us change our policies and President Biden who is threatening to do the same?
Not a lot from where I stand at the moment.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Boadicea: “Very wise?” Aw, shucks, Ma’am, me an’ my horse is plumb grateful (blush, shuffle).
I’m not sure that He Who Once Was Our President was intent on meddling in the internal matters of our allies. He did, however, mess with their *external* matters such as the WHO, the Paris Climate whatsis, etc..
I do hope you won’t take Biden’s speech to mean that he intends the USA to be *the* Leader of the Free World. *A* Leader, surely, but only one to be numbered among various other rich, powerful and probably overpopulated nations. What do we want with any of those other places when we’ve got so many problems of our own? The USA has never had colonial aspirations and I doubt very much that we’re leaning in that direction now. My own take on this is that he was just reading from the script of tradition and saying the kind of thing that the masses expected to hear him say.
It’s difficult for me to believe that Biden has put together a team that includes those “deeply hostile” to Great Britain. Frankly, I’d want to see ironclad proof of this. Ditto Biden’s allegedly boasting about having Irish roots. (What about the French and, yes, English parts of his family?)
Chuck Schumer’s speech, to me, expressed an admirable sentiment but his actually saying so in public was, shall we say, a trifle naive. These days the IRA have pretty much given up on bombs but are playing international politics instead. I’m sure that many of their old-timers still remember bombings with a certain fondness. I also have a memory, which is refreshed every time I see that dreadful picture of a street full of dead horses. If the North and South of Ireland can’t come to terms and unite, or at least coexist in perfect peace, then what do I need from either of them?
I believe that pro-Irish sentiment in the USA is due to the very large number of Irish immigrants we took in. The fact that some of them spout Sinn Fein-oriented thoughts and/or contribute to the IRA says much about the Irish character, yet so many people will see the Irish as being somehow quaint, cute or whatever, without ever pausing to consider what may be lurking inside. We’ve had no such nonsense here from Italians, Mexicans et al.
Not everyone is blind to what American citizens of Irish descent may be up to. Although Franklin D. Roosevelt found Joseph P. Kennedy useful, two unsubstantiated extracts from their relationship may be telling: (a) When appointing him to be Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, FDR said, “Set a thief to catch a thief,” and (b) When appointing him to be the USA’s Ambassador to Great Britain, FDR refused to meet with Kennedy.
In international relations, any country – the USA and China among others – will, if no military option is to be pursued, use such “muscle” as it has. In today’s world, this is nearly always trade. I’d ask why trade shouldn’t be left entirely up to free market forces, but then what do I know? Less every day, I fear.
I rather agree with cog that Biden is merely parroting crap that is expected to be heard. Let’s see what the bastard actually tries to do!
Don’t like Biden, too old and laden down with too many years of oleaginous crud, BUT is definitely the lesser of two weevils in the current mess.
When, oh when will all these geriatrics retire? So tired of them ALL.
One remembers history so fondly, corpses hanging from lamposts and festooned on castle walls being pecked clean by ravens, wouldn’t it be fun to be one of the tricoteurs under the guillotine? That is how wannabe dictators and tiresome old politicians should depart and at least give the populace an entertainment on the way out of this mortal coil, instead we get sanctimonious crap endlessly repeated with alzheimers.
(Shudders and twitches off to greenhouse)!
‘Leaders of the free world’ my arse! Put your own house in order FIRST!
Meanwhile, this was forwarded to me: I do not have the link, but I suspect there is a pay wall. If I have broken rules, please feel free to delete. The long and the short of it is, I feel, that the USA is going to have to face some stark home truths. The liberal establishment’s obsessive war on Trump may turn out to have resulted in a very Pyrrhic victory.
Taking Stock of a Most Violent Year
Some blamed the mayhem on the pandemic, but persistent cop-bashing emboldened criminals.
By Heather Mac Donald
Jan. 24, 2021 5:05 pm ET
WSJ
The year 2020 likely saw the largest percentage increase in homicides in American history. Murder was up nearly 37% in a sample of 57 large and medium-size cities. Based on preliminary estimates, at least 2,000 more Americans, most of them black, were killed in 2020 than in 2019. Mainstream media and many politicians claim the pandemic caused this bloodbath, but the chronology doesn’t support that assertion. And now the criminal-justice policies supported by President Biden promise to exacerbate the current crime wave, while ignoring its actual causes.
The local murder increases in 2020 were startling: 95% in Milwaukee, 78% in Louisville, Ky., 74% in Seattle, 72% in Minneapolis, 62% in New Orleans, and 58% in Atlanta, according to data compiled by crime analyst Jeff Asher. Dozens of children, overwhelmingly black, were killed in drive-by shootings. They were slain in their beds, living rooms and strollers. They were struck down at barbecues, in their yards, in malls, in their parents’ cars, and at birthday parties. Fifty-five children were killed in Chicago in 2020, 17 in St. Louis, and 11 in Philadelphia. In South Los Angeles alone, 40 children were shot, some non-lethally, through September.
Why this mayhem? The St. Louis Post-Dispatch expresses the conventional wisdom: because of the “economic, civic and interpersonal stress” from the coronavirus pandemic. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed pandemic-related “frustration, anger . . . trauma and mental health challenges.” But crime fell during the first months of the pandemic shutdowns, both in the U.S. and globally. Only at the end of May did that trend reverse itself, and only in the U.S., thanks to a surge in drive-by shootings.
Eighteen people were murdered in Chicago on May 31—the city’s most violent day in six decades, according to University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell. Other American cities saw similar spikes in mayhem, all tied to the street violence unleashed by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The political and media response to Floyd’s death amplified the existing narrative that policing was lethally racist. The ensuing riots received little condemnation from Democratic leaders and a weak response from the criminal-justice system.
Cops now face a poisonous environment. Since the summer, they have been shot in the head, firebombed and assaulted with lethal projectiles. An officer providing first aid at a crime scene may be met with a hail of rocks and bottles. Resistance is now the norm. Officers believe they face a political and legal environment that is eager to sacrifice them in the name of racial justice.
As a result, the calculus for engagement has changed. An Oakland, Calif., officer who has arrested dozens of known murderers and gang members over his career tells me he is scared for the first time, “not because the criminals are necessarily more violent, even though they are.” But if he has to use force on a resisting suspect, he could lose his career, his life, or his liberty, he says. A “simple cost-benefit analysis” recommends simply responding to calls for service and collecting a paycheck. “All cops now understand this.”
“Every day you have to decide whether to get out of your patrol car and do something or do nothing,” a veteran Chicago detective reports. If you opt for real police work, you may end up in jail or without a job if an interaction goes off script.
“Proactive police work is dead,” says Lt. Bob Kroll of the Minneapolis Police Department. The data bear him out. In Minneapolis, police stops fell more than 50% over the summer. The number of police-civilian contacts plummeted in Philadelphia, Oakland, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere. Across the country, specialized police units that got guns off the street were disbanded, since they were said to have a disparate impact on African-Americans. Police chiefs and prosecutors have refused to enforce low-level quality-of-life laws for the same reason.
The consequence: More gang members are carrying guns, since their chances of being stopped are slim. They are enthusiastically killing each other and innocent bystanders out of opportunism, not economic deprivation or existential angst.
The anarchy of 2020 has continued into 2021. Shootings in South Los Angeles rose 742% in the first two weeks of the year. In Oakland, homicides were up 500% and shootings up 126% through Jan. 17. In New York, murders were up 42% and shooting victims up 15% through Jan. 17. Carjackings, already up 135% in Chicago in 2020, are spilling into the city’s suburbs. On Jan. 16, a woman was pulled from her car in Aurora, Ill., and shot in the back by carjackers who had already stolen two vehicles earlier that day. Four other Chicago suburbs were hit that weekend. In Chicago proper, there have been 144 carjackings through Jan. 21, with 166 guns recovered.
Mr. Biden’s presidency augurs no turnaround. During the campaign, he claimed without justification that African-Americans rightly feared that their loved ones could be killed by a cop every time they stepped outside. His criminal-justice blueprint promises to eliminate racial disparities in law enforcement. Given vast racial disparities in the commission of crimes, that can be done only by eliminating law enforcement itself.
Nevertheless, the Biden Justice Department will treat disparate stop or arrest rates as evidence of police bias and seek to put as many police departments as possible under costly consent decrees. It will even try to extend its oversight authority to local prosecutors’ offices, should district attorneys generate racially disparate charging data (an inevitability, in light of the reality of crime).
The Biden policing agenda is based on a false conceit, however. In 2020 the police killed 15 unarmed African-Americans and 21 unarmed whites, according to the Washington Post’s database of fatal police shootings. The Post defines “unarmed” to include suspects fleeing the cops in stolen cars who attempted further carjackings en route, who then appeared to threaten the pursuing officer with a gun, and who violently resisted arrest. Those 15 “unarmed” blacks will represent 0.17% of all black homicide deaths in 2020, assuming a black murder toll of about 8,600 victims in 2020, as seems probable.
The police aren’t the problem in the black community, criminals are. The many law-abiding residents of troubled areas know this and beg for vigorous law enforcement. High-profile homicide trials of police officers will take place this year in Minneapolis, Atlanta, Louisville and Rochester, N.Y. If there are acquittals, more riots—followed by an even greater shooting surge—seem likely. It is urgent that public officials stop demonizing the police.
Ms. Mac Donald is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “The War on Cops.”
Chariot management comment for Sipu- Possibly a minor commercial irregularity, but let’s cross our fingers and leave it here pro tem.
Thank you!
Sorry Cog, I have listened to far too many presentations of U.S. Presidents being introduced as ‘THE Leader of the Free World’ to accept your interpretation.
Christina, it may be ‘that Biden is merely parroting crap that is expected to be heard’, and it might well be that Americans like to hear it – but it doesn’t go down too well with peoples who are proud of their own far longer democracies.
After many years of seeing U.S. Presidents being introduced with the words “All Stand for the Leader of the Free World’ it became an ambition to be in that crowd – and to remain seated.
With Great Power, and the U.S. has that in bucket loads, should come some humility and responsibility. It seems to me that the U.S. needs to learn that.
I’m particularly fed up with the many Americans I’ve met in my travels telling me that “the U.S. saved Britain’s a*rse” and I should be grateful. They frankly do not believe me when I tell them that Britain had to pay all their war debts from both World Wars to the U.S. And that occurred very recently. In the meantime America poured money into Germany and Japan. It seems quite clear to many British historians that the U.S. only entered the war when it knew that the British Empire was in ‘hock’ and would crumble. Its interference in the independence negotiations with places like Indonesia has led to considerable problems in that country.
The U.S.A. did miss out on the colonial enterprises of European Countries – it was too late and was not of sufficient power to participate in the ‘Great Scramble’ for colonisation. But it was, nonetheless, interested in colonisation – it had the whole of North America to colonise – and it did very successfully. But, having done that, it seems to me that the U.S. has tried to exert ‘colonisation’ in a different way – most especially by trying to enforce its laws (eg. copyright, a subject dear to my heart, et al.) on other countries. The latest ‘war’ with American super -companies is just the tip of the iceberg.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m pleased that America seems to be on the side of Australia and the U.K. Who, in their right minds would think otherwise? But, I’m well aware that American governments will do what they think best for America. And why not? But I don’t trust them to stand by their allies through thick and thin. Where are they now with our problems with China?
As for your comment re the number of Irish immigrants to the U.S., we, in Australia, also had very large numbers of Irish immigrants – made even larger by their propensity to pro-create more excessively than non-Irish immigrants – I worked with the guy who researched that particular aspect of Australian immigration. We never had collections in Australia for ‘The Cause’.
That you thought Schumer’s comments ‘expressed an admirable sentiment ‘ tells me that you have been seduced by the I.R.A. I repeat: Northern Ireland voted to remain in the U.K. and those who refuse to accept that decision are no friends of democracy. I do believe that there will be another referendum on that – and should N.I. decide to unite with S.I. Britain will recognise their decision – and I think to the relief of many in mainland Britain. Have you any idea how much defending N.I’s wish to remain part of the U.K. has cost? Clearly not – and a sort-of-referendum in the Republic of Ireland (the other bit!) made it quite clear that the majority there did not want to ‘re-join’ since N.I. needed too much money to be a valuable asset.
Christina: Your last comment says it all!!
Sipu: A very interesting article indeed. Thank you for reproducing it. Somehow or other that business with George Floyd (who was far from being a model citizen but certainly didn’t deserve to die as he did) captured the imagination of the nation’s darker-skinned inhabitants. Our illustrious leaders, cowardly in the extreme, fell all over themselves trying to pacify the black mob, resulting in an unnatural and unhealthy focus on blackness. Our new Secretary of Defense happens to be black and, although nobody seems able to tell me what difference that might make to his performance in the job, that fact is mentioned every time his name comes up.
To she-who-will-not-be-named: What Earthly difference does Biden’s age make, so long as he is able to perform his job adequately? You of all people must realize that I’m only two months younger than he, yet my mind still works OK on alternate Tuesdays. Do you want to chuck me out of office as well?
Boadicea: It seems to me only prudent that any national leader should speak first to that nation’s own citizens, telling them what they want to hear, and leaving it to the Foreign Service to cozy up to others. I think this has become pretty much the norm and would be very surprised indeed if all national leaders didn’t understand – and disregard – it. What country would not say and, yes, do what appears best to its own population?
Yes, of course the USA had to recover war debts from Britain. The USA was strongly isolationist before Pearl Harbor and the only way FDR could get any help at all to the UK was through the “lend lease” program – which required repayment. Or would you rather we’d done nothing at all? As for all the assistance we gave Germany and Japan, I take that to be something of a guilt trip, due to the numerous civilian deaths resulting from our carpet bombing.
You’re right about the USA’s colonization focusing on North America. Just ask the Native Americans, who in my not-so-humble opinion were treated very poorly.
I happen to agree with Chuck Schumer’s statement that the road to Irish unity is “long and winding” and “now more within reach” but am not convinced as to whether that would be altogether desirable. Is that wrong? Time perhaps for me to admit that I grew up in a heavily Irish neighborhood in NYC, where I had only two real friends (one Yugoslavian and the other Swedish), which says much. Enough on that score. Some might say that northern and southern Ireland should be unified in a particle accelerator; I’d just as soon forget them both. I can’t account for the difference in pro/con-IRA sentiment between Australia and the USA.
Now, then, where should the USA set up its regional headquarters in Australia?
I didn’t find your post at all offensive, Boadicea, just very sensible. I am not at all convinced that the senile leprechaun will be of much use to the USA. The speed with which he has set about cancelling Trump’s laws is horrifying. I suspect the next muslim atrocity in the USA will bear this out and people will begin to wonder. The fact that Biden seems so in hock to the “woke” is also worrying. As a Brit I bow my head in shame at the stupidity of Just Call Me Harry, spouting vaccuous garbage about “violent extremism” on the subject of the Capitol riots. Did he mention anything of the sort about the BLM violence? I accept that it’s the pressure of his unpleasant wife that pushes him to read these illiterate scripts but he should have the guts to stand up to her.
Thank you Sipu for posting Ms MacDonald’s article. Unfortunately it would take a hammer to get the sense of it into certain heads. The same is true in the UK where black on black violence seems to be the norm. So come on Lewis Hamilton and instead of prancing around virtue signalling, get to work in black communities trying to get their ideas straight. Explain to them why stop and search disproportionately targets black youths.
Sipu: As ever, a very interesting post.
Hmm Cog! So Americans like to hear that their President is ‘The Leader of the Free World’! I don’t hear any other Heads of State make such claims – not even the Queen who is the Head of the Commonwealth, population some 2,418,964,000.
It’s not the paying back of the debt that I’m referring to – of course it had to be repaid. The debt from WW2 was finally paid up in 2006, and that from WW1 in 2015. It’s the fact that so many Americans assume that that Britain didn’t and that America paid for it all.
I’ve never had any problems with the devastation caused in places like Germany and Japan – but then I will own up to being brought up in London surrounded by boarded up bomb sites. I saw, at first hand, the effects of what was unleashed on Britain. I have no doubt that if Germany had had the capability to carpet bomb Britain it would have done. If carpet bombing was necessary to end the war – so be it.
As to your last question…
… there’s a little empty place in the middle of Australia called Maralinga!
Sheona: Thanks for the comment. As for “Call Me Harry” – I take a different view in that, as far as I’m concerned, he and only he is responsible for the rubbish he spouts!
It’s not often that I get a chance to educate both Boadicea and Cog at the same time, so imagine the big grin on my aged face, right now. The US of A has for decades possessed a firm foothold in Strayia, at a place called Pine Gap, which is not far north of Canberra. Here’s your starter for 10.
I haven’t visited our installations in the NT for many years, but I’m pretty certain you have some substantial, gently covert, establishments there too, nowadays. 😎
Sheona, the geriatric has not reversed any laws, that needs Congress, he has reversed presidential directives which he can do.
And, to be fair, they needed to be! Trump had sold off drilling rights and mining rights to National Parks and virgin Alaskan territories that he had no right to despoil as they belong to all the American people and are the last pristine reserves of habitat for God knows how many species.
That creep would flog anything to his ghastly friends to buy influence etc etc. disgusting
Another stopped his stupid wall, again, destruction of habitat, flooding and interruption of migration patterns of various animals.
Stupid cretin didn’t seem to realise that you can have far better border control electronically than actually a wall, especially out in the country. We have no wall up here with Canada but try walking across and the guards will be there PDQ!
Another directive stopped that pipeline, all the above again plus going straight over Indian sacred lands, haven’t the white man stolen enough already from them? (The Canadians are notorious for their poor treatment of Indigenous people, much worse than the USA believe it or not)
The orange cretin only loves money and power, everything, but everything, in our world was up for destruction to that end. We have no right to destroy our planet or allow it to happen.
One despairs, unless some remedial work is done for our planet PDQ, the cockroaches will be the only ones left! But one supposes that they couldn’t make a worse job of it than humanity could they?
Everyone I know, including Republicans are rather glad all those directives have been reversed. Now all we need is a major hurricane to slam straight into MAR a Lago!
Bo, agree, pity they didn’t glaze a bit more of Japan! And don’t talk to me about the guilt trip Marshall plan!!!
Boadicea: The Queen is the last person on Earth who would say such a thing. She satisfies herself and her people by quietly making recommendations to her PM in their weekly meetings (and letting said PM take the heat). Certain other peoples (oh, alright, like we Norteamericanos) like to feel pumped up, I’ll admit. Maybe that arises from an inferiority complex. I don’t know; my degrees were in other fields.
I wouldn’t say that most Americans *assume* that the USA and not Britain paid for all that war stuff. Rather, I strongly doubt that many of them ever think of it at all.
It must indeed have been terrible growing up amidst destruction caused in the Blitz, more so because the economic situation (yes, that includes having to repay the USA) made British recovery even slower than it might have been. Cheer up, things could have been worse: the Germans never developed a four-engine bomber and had to make do with smaller planes with less bombload capacity.
Bearsy: Thanks for the info. I knew we had a satellite center over there somewhere but never troubled to pinpoint the location. A good place from which to find out what the Chinese and North Koreans are up to. Too bad, though, that the Gummint sees fit to monitor those of us here at home from another installation.
Christina: Thanks for the clarification re Executive Directives. I’ve often thought of them as the sort of Royal Prerogatives such as earlier monarchs had… and which, no doubt the queen still has, but doesn’t use. I rather thought you might agree with my comments on carpet bombing and the rest!
Cog: You are undoubtedly right that most Americans don’t think about it – but you’d be amazed at the sort of topics that come up between total strangers from different countries.
Did you look or did you know about Maralinga?
The Bidenazi is a friend of no one. He is the worst sort of Irish-American. The USA has a long history of seeing the situation in Ulster through the emerald-tinted lenses. Irish-Americans, with often fossilised views, have long supported the worst elements of Irish society. There is ongoing irritation in all 32 Irish counties about American self-importance. There are so many who think that, because some of their ancestors left Ireland 100, 150 years ago, that they are somehow relevant to Irish concerns. They’re not. They simply don’t grasp that the likes of Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald and, by extension, Nicola Sturgeon don’t like or care about the USA. Rather, they see the USA as cash dispenser and convenient source of support for their interests. The likes of Adams and McGuinness were more than willing to work with terror groups targetting the USA and Americans. McDonald and Sturgeon only see the USA as the home to gullible, naive idiots who can be useful for expanding their interests. The Bidenazi, a long-standing Anglophobe, is merely a weak-minded cretin whose Anglophobia is a convenient shared interest.
But that’s the problem with the United States. At times, there are broad-minded leaders leaders like Reagan who have good instincts and respect for allies. There are sometimes men like Trump who are deeply flawed, but do get far more right than wrong if their personalities can be put aside. In Trump’s case, that’s sometimes, okay, often, difficult. Then, there are those like Bush who aren’t antagonistic, but are a bit too “what’s in it for us”. But there are also those like Pelosi, Schumer, Obama and the Bidenazi who are consistently wrong. They back those who are most hostile to the US. They’re like a geriatric version of Jacinda. They speak of allies and the importance of good relations with them, but they ultimately act against them. At a time when Australia is being garrotted by Beijing, Jacinda is busy signing trade and investment deals with China. Bidenazi is buckling and going soft. At a time when the UK is being subjected to the worst pettiness at the hands of the EU, at a time when the EU has showed that it doesn’t care at all what US interests are, he is kissing their bums. If you want a sense of what is coming, consider the example of Armin Laschet. He is Merkel’s successor as head of the CDU. It is not yet known who will lead the CDU/CSU coalition into September’s general election. That won’t be known until March when two states, Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Wurttemberg, hold state elections. He’s a Putin and Xi shill. He is also adamant that the USA continues to underwrite European defence. He is a staunch supporter of Germany’s parasite economic model in which countries like France, Italy, Spain, Greece, etc. decline ever more so that Germany can take more and more of a shrinking market. Yet, Bidenazi and Laschet get on well.
Adopted Trump’s childish name-calling now, have we? And at the same time speaking well of the name-caller, while ignoring what he’s really like. It seems like every day some other bit of unpleasantness about him bubbles to the surface. There’s an interesting article in today’s Washington Post, saying that the Ukraine, now that he can’t bully them anymore, are finally speaking the truth about him and his unsavory schemes.
Why do some people persist in seeing President Biden as an IRA-supporting Irish-American (even though his ancestry is also part English and part French)? Where’s the evidence of that? And why describe him as an “Anglophobe” and a “weak-minded cretin?” Again, some degree of verbal neutrality and careful fact checking would seem to be called for. For my money, President Biden’s tenure has begun rather well, with him focusing on (a) undoing some of the damage due to his predecessor’s policies and (b) building an administration of genuinely competent people rather than political cronies and “yes-persons.”
Boadicea: I knew about what went on at Maralinga but never had the name of the place in memory. Now that I’ve looked it up, I can’t get over how the Australian Government magnanimously gave it, even though it may still glow in the dark, to the Aboriginal people – *who had owned it anyway*. At least this is one thing nobody can pin on the USA.
Christopher, I shall refrain from pejorative adjectives, but when I saw the epithet with which you anointed the Only President America Has, (well maybe not technically an epithet yet, but who knows how history will remember him) I immediately thought of this chap.
I don’t wish to be offensive, Boadicea, but can any Aussie explain why Tennis Australia has insisted on strict quarantine for some of the competitors in the Australian Open – to the disadvantage of more than 70 of them – yet is willing to allow 30,000 spectators in?
Thanks for correcting me, Christina. Presidential directives, I shall try to remember that
Hi Sheona – not offensive at all!
All visitors to Oz have to quarantine for 14 days. There have been exceptions – but those loop-holes have been closed. For some time the only cases here have been from international travellers – which have been picked up while they are in quarantine. When the virus ‘escapes’ from quarantine centres – we put whole areas into lockdown until all contacts have been found.
Here in Queensland, we had an instant 3-day lock-down – masks and all non-essential places closed – because of that. It’s happening just now in WA for one case.
The Tennis players (and hangers on) were all aware that they would be tested on arrival and would have to quarantine with special arrangements for them to train whilst in quarantine.
However, they were also told that if anyone on their plane tested positive the whole plane load would have to go into strict quarantine. No ifs-buts – they were the rules. The 70 odd who were locked up were ,unfortunately, on one of three planes which carried covid-positive passengers. And that meant total isolation of all those passengers – no contact with anyone outside of their hotel rooms. If you are in contact with anyone with the virus you won’t get the chance to give it to anyone else and the one room you are in can be easily disinfected.
Needless to say the whinging got very short shrift from the general public – most of whom thought that running the event was unnecessary anyway. Especially those in Melbourne who were under lockdown for many months after appalling mismanagement by their Premier which accounted for some 800 of the just over 900 deaths we’ve had here.
For those who say lockdowns don’t work they need look no further than NZ or here. It’s how we have virtually returned to ‘normal living’. There are limits on the numbers of people in any venue – the shops in my local shopping mall all display the numbers of people allowed in at one time. The 30,000 people you talk of represents half the capacity of the stadium.
And before anyone starts complaining about the ‘hit’ to the economy – sure it has cost a fortune – but, with the return to a sort of normal life where people can go out and spend their money it’s not as big a hit as the alternative. But, then, I firmly believe that the best way to deal with such problems is to keep the money circulating.
Sipu: It’s all good-natured piss taking. George W Bush was referred to as “Bushitler” or “Bush is Hitler” for years. McCain was accused of being a bigot, Romney was accused of being a country club racist. The deranged, unhinged hatred of Trump for the past four years was simply shocking. There was no limit to the personal attacks on him and Melania. I disliked Obama, but I refrained, by and large, from attacking him personally and I did not hesitate to say something when Michelle Obama was attacked. But the same people who attacked Laura Bush, who were completely bigoted in their treatment of Melania Trump, were did far more than anyone else to tear up the USA’s social and constitutional settlement over the last four years, should not expect that Dementia Joe be treated with any respect. If I had to hear Bushitler and Trump is Satan for years, then I’m sure you’ll understand that I will be sure to treat Dementia Joe Bidenazi with the same respect.
Boadicea: In Spain and France, there was near-martial law for months. The same in Italy. It was far more brutal than anything experienced in Australia or New Zealand. Within months, the virus had returned and hit even worse than before. Most of Europe had effectively been locked-up. There was precious little intercontinental travel. Few Europeans travel internationally. Few people are allowed to travel to Europe. Yet… We’re in even worse shape than we were before lock-up. Australia and New Zealand are small, remote countries. They could break transmission and then fully isolate their populations. It’s impossible impossible to do that in Europe. There’s far too much cross-border travel. There population density is far too high. Lock-ups were a complete and utter failure in Europe. They were a complete and utter failure in California and New York. Taiwan, nota bene, never had a lock-up. They simply stopped international travel. The Taiwanese have a lot of experience dealing with corona viruses of Chinese origin. South Korea, likewise, had a relatively light-touch approach. They learnt many lessons from the MERS outbreak a few years ago in which South Korea was badly impacted.
I am not sure if this will show up, but it reflects my thoughts on the prevailing policy towards Covid.
Christopher, in case you thought that I may have been, I was not wagging my finger. I find the hypocrisy shown by the anti-Trumpers to be somewhat baffling, but I have become increasingly accustomed to the fact that it is my destiny to be baffled by others. No, I was merely pointing out that it is my view that not only is there ‘nothing straight’ about Biden, (no sexual innuendo intended) but also, just as Lt Gruber was pretty ineffective and an object of derision, I imagine JB will be as well. Though I think the consequences of JB’s achievements will be less amusing.
Sheona: Having read my comment to you – I think I did not emphasis the most important reason why 30,000 people can attend a sporting event here in Oz: we are pretty certain that no-one at that event will have the virus.
Christopher: Yes, of course, Australia is small, remote and probably quite unimportant in the greater scheme of things. You might like to remember that Australia, like Taiwan, also shut its borders to international travellers well before the WHO admitted that Covid was a pandemic – and have incurred the ongoing wrath of the Dragon ever since.
We did not have Taiwan’s experience of Chinese type viruses and did what we thought was right. Well done the Taiwanese for their more informed knowledge. Most of Australia’s ‘lockdown’ lasted no more than six weeks and was no way as severe as those experienced in European countries. And because of that we were able to rapidly resume a limited, but liveable life style – which has saved many small businesses from going bust and are keeping the economy ticking over. Of course, the tourist industry is screaming for help – but I have no sympathy for them since they are still refusing to refund the money they had from me and mine in October 2019 for a trip that they cancelled in March last year. They are insisting that I can cancel and will, thus, get only a small percentage of what we paid.
I well understand that it was far more difficult for Europe to shut its international borders. But in one breath you say that ‘Few Europeans travel internationally’ and in the next ‘There’s far too much cross-border travel.’ Which is it? You can’t have it both ways.
From this side of the world, and I could, of course be wrong, it would seem that no country in Europe was prepared to shut its borders to international travel – and deal with the consequences. The same applies to the U.S. as far as I’m concerned. Internal border closures and lockdowns could have at least slowed down the spread of the virus – but, of course we shall never know – especially since the U.S.’s President didn’t take the virus seriously.
Sipu: I loved your picture – but I hope you are aware that Knut’s attempt to stop the sea was not for real. He wanted to show the sycophants in his court that he was not all powerful!
Sipu: Biden is among the most corrupt politicians in the USA. There is so much evidence of corruption, bribery, influence peddling, selling of access, etc. that a first year journo student could have a field day writing an exposé. They seem to, however, have circled the wagons early on and don’t much to protect him through a policy of silence. His popularity rating was never particularly high, but it’s gone down 5% since taking office. It’s going to be a catastrophic four years for the USA. I wish my friends and family there well, but I’ve made it know that I won’t be sharing in their misery. Boris gives me enough to worry about.
Boadicea: It’s all a terrible muddle in Europe. There is a lot of cross-border travel in Europe, that cannot be avoided. However, what constitutes “international” travel in Europe is quirky. Strictly speaking, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and das Reich are four different countries with their own heads of state, passports, laws, etc. But they share a common visa policy and a common currency. In theory it should be considered international travel, but in practice, it’s little different than travelling from Dorset to Somerset, from Texas to New Mexico or from Hiroshima to Okayama. In fact, California has a harder border with Nevada and Arizona than France has with Spain. The common visa and open border policy has blurred international and domestic to the point that “international” travel in the European sense means travelling to Africa, the Americas and parts of eastern Europe like Ukraine or Russia. Even Switzerland and Norway, non-EU members, have effectively open borders.
So, when I say that there is a vast amount of cross-border travel in Europe, that is exactly what I mean. You cross a border, but it doesn’t function the same way as travelling between Australia and Singapore or New Zealand would. I do not wish to sound dismissive of Australia or New Zealand. I wouldn’t consider either irrelevant. Rather, comparing the two to countries like the UK or Spain is difficult. The land borders and supply chains connecting Spain and Portugal and Spain and France are so vast, so integrated, that closing them is exceptionally difficult. Even when there have been effective closures — such as between Sweden and Denmark — there are so many loopholes that the measures look more like slices of Swiss cheese than walls. European countries have followed a different method. For example, travellers from France and the Netherlands can, of course, visit das Reich. However, there will be no museums, no restaurants, no interesting shops, no landmarks, no theatres, no cinemas, no hotels and no national parks open. It’s completely pointless so people don’t bother coming unless they have a particular reason to.
The US shut its borders to most travellers from China in January, to travellers from Europe not long after. I believe Trump acted in this respect before Morrison or Ardern. Biden accused Trump of xenophobia for doing this. Pelosi effectively said that this was anti-Chinese racism and encouraged people, in March, to congregate at Chinatown. De Blasio, Cuomo, Schumer, etc. did much the same. Trump actively supported an initial national lock-up and also supported an extension. He was highly critical of some governors who ended lock-ups earlier or did not impose any at all. Trump did take it seriously, his actions bear witness to that. However, you would not necessarily always think it because of the amount of gas-lighting in the press. That Trump knowingly underplayed the scale of what was to come was an unpleasant choice that many leaders have to make. The panic buying, the social hysteria that we saw last Spring was bad enough as it was. There would have been even worse information manipulation in the media. Trump was accused of terrible things for doing what he did, imagine if he had said that over 400,000 would die “with”, not necessarily “of” the virus, etc. Relatively few people are travelling to the USA right now, anyway. Of the main tourism states, only Florida isn’t a prison camp. Not that they’re doing any worse than California or New York — neither is the case. Trump was astute enough to recognise that some things wouldn’t fly. For example, the odds of someone arriving in the US from abroad actually staying under arbitrary house arrest is nil. So why even bother? Dementia Joe the Bidenazi might wave his magical pen around, but there’s almost no chance of enforcement.
Taiwan was given a blessing. After their election last January, in which Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected in a landslide and her party, the DPP, maintained a comfortable majority in the legislative yuan, Winnie the ‘Flu imposed a ban on individual Chinese travelling to Taiwan. The sudden collapse of tourist numbers just as the numbers started to climb bought Taiwan enough time. They closed their borders except to Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese with approved reasons (for example, people moving to Taiwan to work long-term, study, or provide medical assistance) and implemented a crack track-and-tracing system. So, gyms are open, but there are temperature checks at the door. Anyone with any cold of ‘flu symptoms will be turned away. Taiwan could do it for the same reason that Australia and New Zealand could.
“Sipu: I loved your picture – but I hope you are aware that Knut’s attempt to stop the sea was not for real. He wanted to show the sycophants in his court that he was not all powerful!”
Hi Boadicea, yes, I did know that. This despite the fact that Private Eye once published a cartoon of similar picture, that had one not-so-sycophantic courtier saying to another, “Silly Knut!”. Of course in that illustration, the king’s name was spelled with a “C” rather than a “K”. I suspect the modern spelling has more to do with avoiding embarrassing typographical mistakes than anything else.
I think Knut was a better leader than BoJo.
‘ Dementia Joe the Bidenazi’
Christopher, I am rather tired of this soubriquet for Joe Biden.
May I suggest that with your somewhat fascist views you are far more likely to be a ‘nazi’ than he is.
CO: Oh dear. Typical hypocrisy. I clarified my point already. The Democrats have referred to even the most liberal, polite Republicans as fascists. After years of having to put up with your side’s trash, I’ve shrugged my shoulder and concluded that maybe, just maybe, giving you lot a watered down taste of your own medicine might be worth it just to have a laugh. But you can’t take it. Your lot can’t take it. It’s the typical bloody hypocrisy that galls. Now don’t you have something better to do like occupy a police station in Seattle or tear down a statue or two in Portland?
PS: As I recall, you have supported all sorts of highly unpleasant organisations including the BNP. As I recall, you were the one who remarked that the sound of jackboots was reassuring. I never did, nor have I ever supported anything of the sort. I’m slightly disappointed that you lack the sense of irony to understand the point that I was making. The Democrats have no right to expect that their president be respected, not after the stunts they’ve pulled for… Oh, as long as I remember. Even Reagan was roundly insulted and he was the polar opposite of Trump in terms of style. You can hit, you can insult, you can degrade but you can’t take a flippant remark. If you can dish it out, be prepared to take it. If you can insult, be prepared to get a middle finger in response.
Christopher: What are you on? Such unfounded flights of fancy make me suspect that the Orange One’s minions slipped something into your food supply that promotes untruthfulness and childish name-calling.
President Biden corrupt? For the nth time, I say: WHERE’S THE PROOF? That accusation is in the same league as, and possibly concocted by, those who claimed that the election was “stolen.” Also, I don’t know and don’t care whether President Biden’s popularity has diminished a bit. Surely a knower of all things, as you hold yourself out to be, must be aware that such a change is not unusual in the wake of an election. More so in this case, when a number of Republicans are recovering sufficiently from their shock to remember that they are in fact members of the opposing party and probably ought to act more the part. Those who haven’t come to hate him overnight will recognize that, in the short time since his election was confirmed, President Biden has concentrated on repairing damage, building a competent Administration and, probably most visible to all, doing exactly what he had promised to do.
Here’s a little something for free: the “harder border” between California and Arizona/Nevada is as it is for scientific reasons, with incoming shipments of agricultural goods inspected for diseases and parasites that could potentially have a dire effect on California’s farm industry.
You should already know (if you were paying attention) that CO and I have had harsh words for those who would destroy our history by pulling down statues. And why would we ever want to occupy a police station when there are so many nicer places to be? And has it somehow been lost on you that I proudly consider myself politically independent, having been around long enough to know from experience that neither of the major parties is perfect and that goodness or badness may alternate between them as Administrations come and go. FYI, CO cannot vote in this country (being still a British Citizen and not a USA Citizen) and keeps her election-oriented political opinions to herself, sharing them only with yrs. truly and a very few close and trusted friends. It’s good to know who are your friends – and who are not.
So sorry, but more than that I can’t bear to think about. I have great difficulty reconciling “hypocrisy” with “having a laugh.” Have a nice day.
I’m in agreement with the general Australian public, Boadicea. I think the Open should have been postponed, as the Australian Grand Prix has been.
I certainly do not wish to fight with any of the 3 Cs, but I do have one point to make about the demands for proof. It is rather like saying for example, that Mafia dons are not criminals as there is no proof of their activities. Were there proof, they would be convicted. Many criminals are not convicted or even tried, despite the efforts of law enforcement agencies. It does not meant that they have not committed crimes. Proof is even harder to establish when the establishment itself is conducting the investigations.
The steps taken by social media to censor debate or de-platform those who speak out against the left in general and the Dems in particular, e.g. the removal of all references and links to Hunter Biden’s missing laptop and the silencing of Parler, does rather indicate that there is something amiss. As a wise person once said, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, there is a good chance that it is a duck.
Sipu: There is a reason why administrations do not investigate each other in the USA. It is a very simple reason. Absolutely no administration can operate without bending laws routinely and breaking them with regularity. It’s the allegorical sausage. You might enjoy the sausage, you might not enjoy the sausage but the last thing you want to do is know how the sausage is made. The former understanding was that pointing fingers was par for the course, making a lot of noise was part of the package, but under no circumstances were you to cross that Rubicon and start serious investigations unless something truly awful transpired. By “truly awful”, I mean do something so obvious that it couldn’t be overlooked and ignored by a seriously cynical and jaded coterie of functionaries. Obama did a lot of dodgy things. Both Bushes did a lot of dodgy things. Clinton did a lot of dodgy things. Reagan did some dodgy things. Trump wasn’t free of dodgy business, either.
In a way, I’ve given up on the USA. Biden can brag on video about threatening to withhold aid to Ukraine to pressure the Ukrainian government (massively corrupt as it is) unless the prosecutor who was investigating the company that was employing his son was fired and it’s ignored or whitewashed. As you said, discussion of Hunter Biden’s leaked documents has effectively been shut down in social media. The senior Biden would not have engaged in the dodgiest practices himself. His brother or son would have done that, but he would have still benefited financially. Politicians of all stripes do this — Democrat and Republican. The fall of Duncan Hunter was a classic example of that.I’ve given up on the tendentiousness of American debate. I’ve seen so many people claim that Trump won by a landslide. No chance of that. It would never have happened. Some are insane enough to claim that Trump won California. Seriously? That’s a special kind of dim. Trump’s bombastic personality, as usual, overshadowed serious — and credible — points. I doubt very much that there was industrial-scale voter fraud. This isn’t a Zimbabwean situation. But that in a country with over 10,000 electoral authorities, run by sometimes very corrupt municipalities, some fiddling of numbers in tight races could happen is very realistic. A fraction of a percent here, a fraction of a percent there. “Misplace” a few ballots here, “find” a few ballots there. Have some irregularities here, have some irregularities there. Not much. Say, 5% in one voting station, 2% in another, no real issues in 30, 1% here, 1% there, accept problematic provisional ballots in Phoenix and Atlanta, but reject even sound ballots in suburban Wisconsin and rural Michigan. Allow all sorts of seriously dodgy last-minute election law changes to stand in Pennsylvania, etc. We’re talking about no more than a million votes at the very most when there were well over 100 million cast, less than 1% and that’s spread out over multiple states and many, many authorities. That’s within the margin of error and very plausible.
Likewise, I’m perfectly happy to acknowledge the problems and flaws of Trump. I’m perfectly happy to accept that in many ways, he was temperamentally better suited to be a showman than a head of state. The way he carried on at times was an embarrassment. His brittleness and narcissism were not exactly endearing. Elements of his supporters are appalling. Something resembling a cult sprung up around Trump. That isn’t healthy and it isn’t normal. People criticised that among some of Obama’s most ardent supporters, the rallies with the “O” hand sign, people carrying on about Obama being some sort of Messiah. It was arguably just as bad, if not worse, under Trump. I’ve likened the choice last year to being between orange syphilis and grey AIDS. Neither was especially appealing, but the orange syphilis ultimately being easier to handle and cure. Biden has a long record and it isn’t a good one. It isn’t simply that he has made errors or that he had failures. Everyone has those and the longer someone is in office, the more they have. But Biden has been consistently wrong. I’m yet to find a single achievement, a single triumph. Biden, nota bene, was also behind the Bork and Thomas fracases. It’s easy to overlook that, but that really caused serious problems that continue to manifest themselves.
Sipu: I agree that proof is key to conviction, as made clear in just about every detective show we watch – unless, of course, we’re speaking of an individual’s own inner convictions, in which case the search for proof goes right out the window. How few trouble to seek out the real facts or even to question their own beliefs! “Removal of all references and links to Hunter Biden’s missing laptop,” you say? Just one quick and easy search using Google (not my favorite search engine but it’s convenient) turned up page after page of links. I’m afraid I’ve never had any inclination to check out Parler. The recent firing of their CEO could be interesting but, alas, I lack the time and the energy to pursue that.
Christopher: In another thread (Bearsy’s), you seem to be apologizing to everyone except the one person you genuinely insulted, but I have at least been able to calm my dear wifeperson down. As for me, I’ve come to expect no better and so will endeavor to ignore the nasty bits and maintain a relaxed tone.