Tag: Foreigners

Rich Bastards Not Wanted Here

Gummint, Travels

I’m not quite sure what to think of this situation:

New Zealand is set to ban foreigners buying homes after a spate of millionaires creating luxury doomsday bunkers has apparently pushed property prices up for local buyers.
It comes after purchases by PayPal founder Peter Thiel and disgraced former NBC host Matt Lauer, who lost his job after allegations of sexual misconduct.
The country’s centre-left government, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has blamed the wealthy expats for their major housing crisis with homelessness rates being among the highest in the developed world.
Yet David Parker, Minister for Trade and Economic Development, said the bill, for which he is responsible, isn’t only about house prices.
‘In this world of concentrating wealth, we don’t want this coterie of ultra-wealthy people overseas being able to outbid successful New Zealanders for what is our birthright, not theirs,’ he said.

From a free market perspective, it’s not right;  but on the other hand, seeing how Californians have done pretty much the same thing Over Here when fleeing their home state for other, less burdensome ones, I can sort of see the Kiwis’ point.  It’s also happened in Britishland, where wealthy Londoners have bought themselves country pieds-à-terre and have driven up real estate prices beyond the reach of the locals.

Here in north Texas, we’re facing a similar situation with regard to both Californians and Yankees moving into the area — real estate prices are constantly increasing — but there’s so much land around here for expansion that we haven’t yet reached that stage of feeling “trapped”, so to speak, by soaring prices.  That’s not the case in tiny Britain and New Zealand, of course and as I said, I can sympathize with the KiwiGov for wanting to at least arrest the phenomenon somewhat.

That said, New Zealand is prone to having some humdinger earthquakes from time to time, so the rich farts’ “doomsday bunkers” may ironically not be quite the secure bolt-holes their owners believe them to be.

Make Up Your Fucking Minds

Crime

As we saw earlier, people in Britishland are being told to arrest petty criminals rather than waiting for the cops to show up and do their job.  (In the local parlance, this is known as a “have a go” action.)

So these two yoofs steal a scooter and after injuring a cop, speed off into the sunset.  All seems to be going well until a delivery truck driver sees what’s happening and “has a go” by swerving his truck into the path of the criminals, with predictable results:  they crash, and the pursuing rozzers are able to arrest one (age:  15!).

[pause to let cheering and applause die down]

Here’s the good part:

The lorry and driver were inspected by officers and the driver was not reported for any offences after [he] fully cooperated with the investigation.

I should bloody well hope not, even in Britishland.  And here’s the bad part (from a clueless bystander):

The person who took the footage was critical of the truck driver’s decision to take the law into their own hands.  [She] said: ‘We are a nation who prides ourselves to the preservation of life and we must allow the police to do their jobs and not take other people’s lives into our hands.’

Shut-up-shut-up-shut-up just shut the fuck up.  The cops were trying to do their job, except that the little sociopath rammed the cop and crushed his leg.

Just one last thought — and it’s as true in Britishland as it is in Murka (no matter how much the Britcops have tried to suppress it):  the law has never left our hands.  We deputize the police to enforce the law on our behalf, but if they are unable to do so (e.g. because they’ve just had their leg crushed) then We The People are perfectly entitled to take said enforcement back into our own hands.

And if that’s too much for some people to handle, then I have but one piece of advice:  get the fuck out of our way while we perform our public duty.

I just hope that Our Hero isn’t fired by his employer for doing just that.

At Last, Some Sanity

Behind Enemy Lines, Gummint, Seen On Campus

…even if it’s coming from the French, surely one of the loopiest nations on Earth.

Smartphones and tablets have been banned from all French schools ahead of the academic year, after a new law was voted through Parliament yesterday.  The phone ban will apply to all pupils in France up to the age of 15, as of the start of the new term in September.

I’ve always thought that giving kids smartphones was a recipe for disaster — similar to letting them go play all day and night in a mall, unsupervised.  And I don’t want to hear whines of “What about their securityyyy?” either.  If that’s so important to Mumsy (or actually, Madamesy), she can buy little Francine or Jacques a flip (dumb) phone.  Calls and texts only (and only a few of those, too).

Perhaps — and I know this is a radical thought — the schools can actually keep a closer eye on the little dears for a change.

And if the kids go all whiney at the indignity and the oppressive injustice of it all, we can call it a cheap life lesson.

Falling Apart

Crime

Here’s a good pointer as to when a society starts falling apart:  when the police don’t bother to arrest petty criminals.

[British]  Police are encouraging shop workers to detain thieves themselves with a ‘citizen’s arrest’, sparking an angry backlash from critics who accuse them of asking civilians to do their job for them.
Several forces have outlined how employees can take the law into their own hands, saying shoplifters can be detained if they are ‘reasonably suspected’ of committing a crime.
There is a suspicion that a spike in offences is being fuelled by hardcore shoplifters who have little fear of being caught.
Shocking figures have revealed thefts from shops have risen by almost a third over the past decade. Businesses across England and Wales recorded more than 382,100 last year – more than 1,000 every day. Yet the majority of police forces refuse to attend incidents if the goods stolen are worth less than £200.
Victims are instead told to report the crime online or via the non-emergency number 101 for ‘intelligence’ only, meaning it is unlikely to be investigated.

Of course, even if you do catch one of these criminals and make a citizen’s arrest — why would the Brits put the expression in quotes? — there’s no guarantee that the rozzers will show up anyway:

Have-a-go heroes who chased and caught a suspected thief were forced to let him go because police they were ‘too busy’ to arrest him.
The shopkeepers were bemused to be told by a police control room operator there was no-one to send despite the village’s police station being less than a mile away.
The business owners detained the man for up to 40 minutes in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, before releasing him.

Should have zip-tied the little prick to a parking meter and left him there to rot till the cops showed up.

And of course, gawd forbid that anyone should actually lay a hand on a criminal (e.g. by beating him with a cane) because oh no: only the police can beat people up in custody.  Thus my own remedy (two days in the stocks followed by a severe whipping) would probably cause these pussies to clutch their pearls and faint.  And ditto any attempt to take matters into your own hands in any other way:

A shop manager has put up posters of suspected shoplifters in his window after becoming fed up with a lack of action to the petty crime by the police.
John Keppie blew up CCTV images and placed home-made posters bearing the word ‘thief’ in his Bournemouth shop window after he says three girls spat in his face and stole drinks.
The Sweet Thoughts boss in Dorset said he took action after police failed to investigate, despite being offered the footage. But he claims officers have now warned him he could be fined for the posters.
Mr Keppie said that since the three posters appeared he has received a telephone call from the police telling him he isn’t allowed to have them up. He could be in breach of the Data Protection Act (2018) and liable to a fine.

And by the way: if you have a blood pressure problem, you will not want to read the rest of this linked article.

So yeah:  if you take away fear of punishment, of course the crime rate is going to rise.  Only in a failing state would this not be self-evident.

If you’re trying to reduce crime, what’s needed is not less, but even more prosecution — see then-NYC-AG Rudolph Giuliani’s “broken windows” policy, and its results.

It’s sad to see a once-great nation degenerate into one big chaotic crime scene.

Then And Now

Weather

I spoke a couple of days back about how England’s Green & Pleasant has turned into Brown & Hellish (and no, I’m not talking about their immigration problem, but their equally-problematic weather this year).

What many people seem to have forgotten is that earlier in the year Britain was gripped by an incredible winter storm — the so-called “Beast from the East” which practically froze the entire country solid.

So I invite you to go here and swipe the pictures right to left and vice-versa, just to make the comparison.  (I like the feature, by the way.)

And for the before & after pics of Britain’s recent heat wave, here.

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