Here are three headlines:
…and it is:
…but wait!
U.S. Govt spin: “See? We’re ten times better than the Euros!”
Ordinary Americans: “In so many ways. Now shuddup and fix our economy — or better yet, get out of the fucking way and let us fix it ourselves.”
We’re going to need 3-4% quarterly growth just to catch up with the Trump years, and there’s no way we’re going to achieve that under the current Administration.
Now it’s the Sudan which has exploded:
Fighting has erupted across Khartoum and at other sites in Sudan in a battle between two powerful rival military factions, engulfing the capital Khartoum in warfare for the first time and raising the risk of a nationwide civil conflict. The fighting between forces loyal to two top generals has put the nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders. Both sides have tens of thousands of fighters, foreign backers, mineral riches and other resources that could insulate them from sanctions. It’s a recipe for the kind of prolonged conflict that has devastated other countries in the Middle East and Africa, from Lebanon and Syria to Libya and Ethiopia. The fighting, which began as Sudan attempted to transition to democracy, already has killed hundreds of people and left millions trapped in urban areas, sheltering from gunfire, explosions and looters.
Even better:
Sudan borders five additional countries: Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, Eritrea and South Sudan, which seceded in 2011 and took 75% of Khartoum’s oil resources with it. Nearly all are mired in their own internal conflicts, with various rebel groups operating along the porous borders.
In other words, same ol’ Africa. Here’s a map, for a little perspective:
Most notably, every single African country on this map can most charitably described as a “shithole”.
Anyway…
Forgive me if I don’t give a shit, about any of them.
From Reader Tony H. comes this little bit of realism, South Africa’s Brave New World. It’s a long but very clear-headed look at what has happened in post-apartheid South Africa since the sainted Nelson Mandela came to power, and his political descendants’ activities. Here’s a brief taste:
That whole “sophisticated economy and infrastructure” that got “handed over intact” now by and large no longer exists. Consider something as basic as running water: in 1994, South Africa had some of the most sophisticated water infrastructure on earth, with a whole system of dams, reservoirs, and long-distance inter-basin conduits working together to conquer the geographical challenges of having several major cities and mining centers located on an arid plateau. All of this water was safe, drinkable, and actually came out of the tap when you turned the handle. This picture was marred of course by poor delivery to black rural communities and squatter camps, but in the early 90s the government was making rapid progress towards serving more of those people too.
That water system is now basically non-functional. It’s estimated that something like 10 million people no longer have reliable access to running water. When the water does run, it’s frequently filthy and contaminated with human sewage. South Africa had its first urban cholera outbreak in the year 2000, and they are now a regular occurrence. Again, this isn’t for lack of money or effort. The state has spent billions on trying to fix the water problems, and the government’s water bureaucracy has tripled in size since 1994. Something else has gone wrong.
And that’s just part of the story. I urge you to read the whole review.
And now, part 2. With the above reading in mind, please read Victor Davis Hanson’s Life Among The Ruins. Again, a taste:
How did all of this so quickly erode our great country? Our crisis was not the next generation of foreign Hitlers and Stalins. It was not earthquakes, floods, or even pandemics. It was not endemic poverty and want. It was not a meager inheritance from past generations of incompetents. Nor was it a dearth of natural resources or bounty.
Instead our catastrophe arose from our most highly educated, the wealthiest and most privileged in American history with the greatest sense of self-esteem and sanctimoniousness. Sometime around the millennium, they felt their genius could change human nature and bring an end to history—if only they had enough power to force hoi polloi to follow their abstract and bankrupt theories that they had no intention of abiding by themselves.
Feel free to draw the many parallels between South Africa and the United States, as the two nations have become similarly degraded. The methodologies may have been somewhat different, but the outcomes are eerily similar.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the range.
Looks like even the placid Dutch have had enough with the Gree Nude Heel:
The upstart populist pro-farmer party FarmerCitizenMovement (BoerBurgerBeweging, or BBB) shook the foundations of politics in the Netherlands overnight, securing a significant victory in Wednesday’s provincial elections on the back of growing resentment against the globalist government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his plans to introduce Great Reset-style environmental policies.
At the time of this reporting, BBB is expected to pick up an astonishing 16 seats in the 75-seat Senate, after previously holding zero. With 94 per cent of the vote counted, turnout is projected to have been around 57.5 per cent, the highest since the 1980s.
…and with good reason:
The driving factor for the groundswell of support for the pro-farming party was opposition to the government’s plans to implement EU-mandated cuts on the use of nitrogen fertilisers by as much as 70 per cent in some areas of the country by the end of the decade, with 92 per cent of BBB voters citing the policy as a motivating factor for their vote.
The elections, which also will determine the makeup of the provincial governments, could see the BBB take power in the very regions that the government is trying to impose its green agenda, potentially spelling more problems for the globalist governing coalition, which saw its total number of seats fall from 32 to 24.
However:
Despite the trouncing in last night’s elections, the government’s minister for nature and nitrogen policy, Christianne van der Wal signaled on Thursday morning that the controversial nitrogen policy will continue to be on the agenda because the government believes it is mandated to push it through under EU law.
From the newcomers:
In response, the BBB leader Van der Plas said that her comments were “complete bullshit” and that “everything can change, if you want.”
We could use some of that plain language Over Here.
Well done, Dutchies!
Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, wherein all people with Irish blood more diluted than a ripoff bar’s house gin can get together and get shitfaced.
Also, there are the traditional parades in Irish ghettos like Boston, New York and Chicago to contend with.
I’m not “Irish” in any way, shape or form except on occasion that I have been known to enjoy blowing things up. I hate corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew (just the mention of which makes me want to gag), their soda bread is inedible and I don’t care much for Guinness either.
Don’t even get me started on unpronounceable names like Aisling, Saoirse, Eoin, Eoghan, Líadain, Aoibheann, Aoife, Meadhbh, Caoimhe, and Tadhg.
Mr. Free Market has been known to opine that if ever there’s a 1,000-ft tsunami heading east from the mid-Atlantic Ocean, at least the doomed English will get to live a half-hour longer than the Irish.
Which says it all, really.
And that goes for their poxy holiday as well.
Here’s a headline which made the news recently:
BBC star Gabby Logan and her husband Kenny were paid more than £500,000 to promote major tax avoidance scheme to their celebrity friends
…followed by:
The tax avoidance scheme sparked a huge public backlash when it was exposed
…followed WAY down the page by this little admission:
There is no suggestion of illegality on the part of Mr or Mrs Logan, or any other celebrities mentioned.
In other words, these folks used their popularity and names to pimp a legal product to their friends. Happens every day, so why the fuss?
Because some most people in Britishland seem to think that tax avoidance is the same as tax evasion — which they aren’t of course; the first is not only legal but praiseworthy, while the second is a crime, ask Boris Becker — the lovely Gabby and her handsome hubby are going to be “called as witnesses” in a court case which they aren’t involved with.
And let’s not even talk about the “public backlash” from the Perpetually Envious Set, who think that the government is “owed” tax money (when in fact it’s extorted at gunpoint).
Anyway, the pics of Gabby in the linked article are total crap. Here are a couple of good ones, from my files:
All part of the service, no need to thank me.