Quotable Quote

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” — Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 22 October 1945

(And as it turned out, England wasn’t listening. Are we?)

Headlines

Mulvaney on cusp of permanent status upgrade

Elon Musk never sought approval for a single Tesla tweet, regulator tells judge

Poll: Sanders tops Trump in Wisconsin ...

Donna Brazile hired as Fox News contributor

Rep. Devin Nunez suing Twitter for $250 million

Deutsche Bank reportedly loaned more than $2 billion to Trump over two decades

6 people in audience for DeBlasio in NH ...

Democrats worry Census citizenship question could endanger House majority

Warren calls for ‘full-blown conversation about repararions’

‘Jaws of death’: England could face water shortages within next 25 years

Poll: 71% say economy in good shape ...

Donald Trump donates first quarter, 2019 salary to Homeland Security

England, Then and Now

1918

2018

Tommy Robinson

The English people can be stalwart and noble knights (like during World War II) ... and they can be knock-kneed knaves (like when they turned away from Churchill and toward Socialism after the war). I suppose this Jekyll and Hyde national personality flaw is what inspired our founders to cut the cord to this then power ... otherwise we may be wallowing in an even-deeper swamp than we mow find ourselves.

The current head-scratchier from Britain involves Muslim rape gangs, a resister to this mayhem, Tommy Robinson (a pseudonym), and his attempt to mobilize his countrymen against this degenerative behavior. There is a growing outrage over how the English judicial system is manhandling this patriotic protester ... now labeled from the "far right" (shades of our Charlottesvile reporting.)

In order to fill yourself in on the details of this case, see: Powerline Comments.

And to appreciate the push back that is beginning to develop, see:  Diplomad's Comments who can be  rough on Muslims and their apologists ...which, in this case, seems justified.

Note that, since this reporting, the outrageous press gag order has been lifted.

Dunkirk

Saw "Dunkirk" yesterday at a local IMax theater (no, not owned by Apple). It is the story of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from France at the beginning of World War II. It is a big film with not a lot of dialogue  (nor women). But I was actually a little disappointed given the hype it has received. I was expecting a Cecil B. DeMille epic and got a Jennie Craig reduced-down version. Everything seemed too thin. Not enough soldiers on the beach. I expected 300,000. I got maybe 3,000. Not enough airplanes. I expected hundreds. I got maybe a dozen. Not enough small English rescue boats. I expected thousands. I got maybe a dozen. But what was there was very well done ... authentic and convincing.

Also, the Diplomad blog has a very interesting review of this film along with a number of comments which both add and detract from the art and history of this important film ... see: Brexit, 1940. Accordingly, the upsides are the cinematography and aerial combat. The downsides are the lack of a historical perspective, the poor character development, and the singular perspective.

On the singular perspective ... to fully tell a story like this you would need to cover it from 100 angles ... which is impossible to do in one book or in one movie. The best one can hope for is one or two highly polished facets through which to look at this pivotal point in World War II. This movie does do that and so should be seen. But you won't leave the theater loving war or the Germans.

Trump Around the World

France

England

Germany

USA

Norway

Iceland

Mexico

Canada

Airline Roulette

The crash of the Egyptian airlines this morning now looks very much like it was brought down by a bomb placed aboard by Muslim terrorist(s) ... killing 66 people. Now the Paris authorities are focusing in on the service personnel at Charles de Gaulle airport as a possible source of the smuggling on of an explosive. Now, France has quite a few immigrants from Muslim countries working in its services industries there ... and, since it seems that a portion of such immigrants have ISIS leanings, the chances for more such airline bombings seem to be significant and growing.

Conclusion: flying on airlines these days seems to carry with it a non-zero probability, sometime during your flight, you will hear a large bang and realize, as your stomach moves into your throat and you see your plane disintegrating around you, that you are in for some serious pain ere you are no more. Can we call this airline roulette? Of course the chance of such a catastrophe is not one out of six like with a gun ... at least not yet. But the chances are large enough ... particularly if flying out of France, England, Germany, Belgium, Egypt, or many other countries where liberals might have convinced themselves that loving all Muslims ... and not admitting that some might be jihadis ... is the Christian thing to do.

I know that Donald Trump is xenophobic and is claimed to be a chief reason why ISIS is recruiting many new terrorists. But, on the other hand, I suspect that Josh Earnest, John Kerry, President Obummer and many more of our Washington pajama boys who insist on more Muslim immigration ... and on wearing Islam-terrorist blinders, are far more dangerous than The Donald for increasing the bad airline-roulette odds for the next time I (or you) fly.

Reproductive Rights

In England only one half of the surveyed women ages 26 to 35 could locate the vagina on a diagram of a woman's reproductive organs ... see: UK Daily Mail Article. I suspect that the results would be equally disturbing here in the United States.

(This reminds me of an old construction worker's put down of an inept fellow worker, "He is so stupid, he can't find his ass with both hands!")

Perhaps this might be a eligibility test for women to vote on their much-vaunted reproductive rights issues?

Extra! Extra!

London (CNN) -- With fanfare fit for a prince, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and husband Prince William welcomed their first child Monday. The baby boy was born at 4:24 p.m., weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces. A name has not yet been announced for the child, who is third in line to the throne.

It's a Barnum & Bailey World

Just as phony as it can be.  This is my assessment of the supposed "gaffs" that Mitt Romney made on his three nation foreign tour from which he just returned.  These malapropisms were all manufactured by a increasingly desperate left-wing press to tarnish what was a very successful trip for the presumptive Republican candidate for President.  According to these knee-jerkers, they were:

- In England, when specifically asked, Romney questioned just how prepared this country was for its summer Olympiad.  These were not harsh critiques, but just repetitions of headlines that had graced the London tabloids for days prior to his visit.

- In Israel, Romney noted that the economic progress that Israel has made since its independence was a reflection of its culture.  He did not specifically contrast this with the fiscal malaise that the Palestinian people are subjected to, but this didn't stop the main-stream media from jumping to this conclusion and attributing it to Romney.

- After a robust reception in Poland by its leaders and its adoring people, Romney was slimed by proxy when one of his aides brusquely asked screeching reporters to please respect the solemn nature of the site that was being visited (the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier).

This clearly ushers in the silly season for the U.S. (and British) Fourth Estate ... and, given the direction of The Barry's sinking poll numbers (see: Rasmussen Poll), I suspect it will continue to get even more make-believe as our days shorten into the fall elections. 

Ever since the Watergate scandal, many of our nation's reporters have felt that it was their solemn duty to pick our Presidents ... and then guide the narrative so that their readers knew for whom to pull the voting-booth levers.  This time I do believe they will be foiled ... and saddened as their readership continues to dwindle.  (As it ceases publication, Newsweek's final cover story is that Romney is a wimp ... how indicative ... how sad.)