News review November 11

Football punishment
The English Football Association has fined West Ham and Chelsea, £40,000 and £50,000 for 'failing to control their players' during their recent encounter.

Seriously?  These amounts are utterly meaningless to clubs of their size.  Also, there is no punishment for the causers of the loss of control - the players!

Surely all of the players, should each be fined - something substantial, say £100,00 each - and they should all have a yellow card assigned- something that adds up and leads, if repeated,  to a 3 match ban.  I do mean all.  The whole team, not just those that get involved in the melee.

As for the clubs, make the punishment meaningful.  An instant deduction of 3 points and, of 9 points if they are a repeat offender.  I can't help but think that this would concentrate the minds.  Points and league positions equate to serious money and money-making opportunities.

While we are on the subject.  If the manager/coach is punished, then again, the club should have points deducted.

In English football, today, monetary punishments are useless.  It's points that matter!

Refugees again
European and African leaders are meeting in Malta, to discuss the problem of economic migrants that are currently flooding into Europe.

We can expect the usual claptrap about developing Africa so that people will stay in their home country, etc., followed by European throwing money, Africa's way.

However, as in the past, this will be totally irrelevant and won't solve the problem.

African economic migrants want to come to Europe because their economic prospects, in Europe, are better.  Some will claim that this is because of European welfare programmes.  This then becomes a useful foil for pro-immigration liberals to attack and use against immigration controls, by screaming 'racist'!  Whatever the truth, the migrants come because they will have a better economic life in Europe than they would have in Africa.

The only real solution is to close the door.  And seal it!  In practise this would mean returning all of these immigrants to their home country.  All of them.  Returned.  No half measures - all of them, returned.  We have to turn back the flood at the source.   To let these people know that they simply cannot come in.  That, if they do make it to our shores, then each and every one of them, each and every time, will be returned from whence they came.  And, to keep on sending them back.

Any half-measures or anything less than complete repatriation means that Europe may as well do a 'Merkel' and just tell all of Africa to come on over.

US GOP Debate
The latest debate has taken place.  I didn't see the TV show but there is dispute over who performed well and who didn't.

From what I can gather:

Ben Carson was fairly quite but escaped unscathed, with no mud, about his memoir mis-rememberings.

Donald Trump was noisy as always and found to be severely wanting on his foreign policy platform and ridiculed for his plans to repatriate 11 million illegal immigrants.

Ted Cruz, when he got the chance to speak on any subject, seems to have 'knocked it out of the park' and showed not just his very strong debating skills but also the depth of his policy proposals.

Rand Paul and Marco Rubio also seem to have performed well, though Paul's isolationist stance is, rightly, unpopular.

The others?  Well Kasich behaved boorishly and interrupted a lot, Bush got a couple of good hits in but no killer quotes.  Fiorina showed competence but at times seems fixated on Trump's anti-female slip-ups.

Overall,  Cruz and Rubio looked and sounded like winners and of course Trump and Carson are still there but we should soon start  ti see the others, falling away.m  As they do, we can expect Trump's shortcomings to become ever more apparent.  

America's bureaucrats
I can't believe I am alone in being outraged that senior bureaucrats that are supposed to serve the American people, can 'take the fifth' and, then continue in their well-paid roles.

John Koskinen, the current Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service,  has 'taken the fifth' while testifying to Congress concerning the wholesale shenanigans that went on, under the earlier Commissioner, Lois Lerner.

Think about that.  He is employed by the US government.  Congress, on behalf of the US taxpayer, exercises oversight of, among other agencies, the IRS.  Congress is there to make sure that the IRS carries out its work in accordance with the wishes of, and on behalf of, the US taxpayer.  Yet, when Congress want to question the head of the IRS, he is able to 'take the fifth' and he still gets to keep his job!!  Can anyone imagine being able to do that in the private sector?

" Tom, I want to speak to you about the performance of your department"  "Sir" responds Tom, "I refuse to answer your questions on the grounds of potential self-incrimination"  "Oh!", says Tom's boss,  "okay then, let's move on".

If these bureaucrats were doing a great job, you could maybe feel some sympathy at them having to face, what might possibly be politically inspired questioning.  However, many, at the top simply aren't.  Look at the Environmental Protection Agency, that polluted the Colorado River.  Look at the Veterans Administration, that continues to mistreat and intentionally delay treatment to America's veterans.  Look at the IRS, that targeted organisations that were anti-Obama.  Look at the Justice Department that went after General Petraeus for having classified documents on a personal computer but has done nothing, about Hillary Clinton's use of, and then wiping cleaning of, a personal e-mail server.  The list goes on and on and the 'tone from the top' is so inappropriate that it is no wonder that these agencies are so out of control.




  

The good news from Ferguson

First, the bad news, I'll come to the good news in a moment. 

A black youth was killed by a police officer, in Ferguson.  That is an accepted fact.  And it is of course, very sad that yet another life has been violently ended.  It is not clear if the police officer will be charged for the death.

The youth, Michael Brown, certainly won't now be tried for the violence and intimidation that he inflicted upon a shopkeeper from whom he stole, immediately prior to the shooting event.  As we have seen in recent days, the almost cherubic image that is portrayed by the photograph displayed on British media, is now transitioning to a more complete picture.   This is a picture of a 6' 4" individual weighing 290 lbs (130Kg).  You get a good sense of what those bare statistics mean when one views the confrontation between Michael Brown and the diminutive shopkeeper.  Michael Brown was a powerful young man and seemingly was prepared to use that power in furtherance of criminal activity.

Indeed, the circumstances surrounding the shooting are in dispute but Darren Wilson, the police officer that shot and fatally wounded Michael Brown, was assaulted by Brown.  The degree of Wilson's injuries is disputed - some saying a swollen and bruised face and others saying a fractured eye-socket.  What isn't disputed is that Wilson did suffer injuries.  Also that prior to this, Wilson had a clean disciplinary history in his 4 years with the police department.

There is a clamour for Officer Wilson to be tried for the 'murder' of Michael Brown.  It will come as no surprise that the usual suspect, race-baiter (and sometimes FBI snitch) Al Sharpton is leading the charge for Wilson's arraignment.  Sharpton, you may recall, led the campaign related to the case of Tawana Brawley, in 1987.  This, then 15 year-old girl, made accusations that she was raped by 6  white men.  These allegations were found to be entirely without foundation though not before Sharpton whipped-up community anger and garnered much media attention by insisting that the alleged rape was racially motivated.

This time, Sharpton has a black president in the White House and a black Attorney General and these two now come onto the scene.  President Obama's comments have been reasonably moderate as he needs to be mindful of not prejudicing the ongoing inquiries (and also no doubt his plunging poll ratings).  Eric Holder has been somewhat cautious in his remarks but has shown by his visit to the family of Brown and comments about his experience as a black man, where his sympathies lie.

Eric Holder though, is the good news we have all been waiting for.

Eric Holder has discovered that he has jurisdiction over the FBI.  Indeed such power that he can order that the FBI sends 40 investigators to look into the shooting of Michael Brown and 'establish the truth'.

Now I think this is very encouraging.

I am heartened by Holder now finding out that he can order the FBI to conduct investigations.  Perhaps he can now move away from such issues as the Michael Brown case, which stir so many negative memories from his own youth, and move on to other matters which pre-date Michael Brown's death.

I am talking about, Holder setting the FBI loose on the IRS scandal or the deaths in Benghazi  of 4 American citizens.  Or investigating the scandal surrounding the porous southern US border or the flagrant disregard for human life shown by personnel within the Veterans Administration.  Other than the IRS scandal, these issues have all generated far more deaths than the single tragedy that was Michael Brown.

I know that most people would expect that any investigation of these scandals would bring hard times for the Obama administration but, when Holder isn't playing the race card -given the frequency that he does play this card, he must surely be using two decks - he insists that the integrity of his office requires that he act properly etc. and so we can surely expect that now that Holder knows he has an investigative arm, he will use this on these scandals?  Do you think??

I know that former IRS chief, Lois Lerner, keeps taking 'the fifth' but surely a concerted effort by the FBI can discover or recover some or all of those deleted e-mails?  In this digital age, our electronic 'prints' go far, deep and wide!

Similarly, the premier investigators at the FBI could uncover the conspiracy at the heart of the maladministration of the VA?  Shinseki fell on his sword and was replaced but the fundamentals - veterans being denied medical treatment for extended periods of time - continue.  The head has been changed but the cancer at the heart of the administration carries on eating away and causing the unnecessary deaths of former military personnel.

Maybe the investigators could also look into the activities of the race-baiter, Al Sharpton.  This man has made an industry out of his hatred of white people.  He loses no opportunity play the blame game - the one where all of the ills of society are the fault of the white man!  In a world where children get suspended from school, because they abuse another child by calling their actions 'gay', surely the hatred that spews from the maw of Sharpton is an actual crime, in addition to being an aural one?

Take heart though!  Holder now knows he can investigate!!

Biden better?

Firstly, if you've been reading recent blogs you might think I don't like America or Americans.  You would be very mistaken.  I do like them both and especially the spirit that they have shown and love of life and freedom that has epitomised the 'American way' for so long.

However that doesn't mean I can't be critical.  The criticism comes from a good place though maybe a little bit of a selfish place.  Selfish because right thinking people look to America for leadership and, I suppose, robust leadership, at that.  As in, until recently, America and Americans could be relied upon to do the right thing and support the right thing, up to and including physical material support..  Now though we see different.

We see an America that is too weak to confront Russia over the Ukraine.

We see an America that, in spite of Obama's much vaunted 'pivot toward Asia', allows China to flex its very large military muscles against its neighbors, unchallenged.  Maybe though, that is the price America must pay for being so much in China's debt?

We see America failing to wholeheartedly support Israel against the Hamas terrorist group.  Israel's PrimeMinister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is bang on the money when he says that no nation can stand by and let rockets rain down on its people, day after day, without defending itself.   Let's be clear, these rockets are not like the fireworks that are set-off on 4th of July or New Year.  These pack a warhead of around 20 Kg of explosive material.  That they have not killed thousands of Israeli civilians - Jews and Arabs - is down to the early warning systems, air raid shelters and the so called Iron Dome anti-missile defence system.

Incidentally one positive outcome of the recent campaign by Hamas, is that the main stream media seems to now be spending time and reporting on the effect of those rocket attacks on Israel and reporting on Hamas' use of civilian shields and civilian targets as launch sites!  Previously, the MSM were solidly in the terrorists camp.

But I digress.

We see an America not even able to secure its own border.  Don't worry, there isn't a flood of Canadians swooping down on the Northern states with all of their guns,better hockey players and maple leaf decals.  No, it is the Southern border that is being flooded with illegal immigrants from Central America.  By many accounts, these visitors are bringing serious communicable diseases with them alongside Latino gang members and drug syndicate criminals and, who knows, maybe the odd terrorist or twenty!

It doesn't take too many clicks, on a Twitter feed to find oneself in conspiracy lalaland but.....  There are stories circulating that the Obama administration anticipated this 'invasion' as far back as January 2014 and certainly the availability of all of those Homeland Security buses, which are being used to transport the illegals around the country, suggests a prescience not usually apparent in the administration!

We see an America that allows a decorated US Marine (Andrew Tahmooressi) that made a mistake while driving (took the wrong road and couldn't U turn) and now languishes in a Mexican jail, to remain so, while swapping five very dangerous Taliban terrorists for a certainly damaged and likely a deserting US soldier (Bowe Bergdahl).

At the same time, on this military theme, the scandal at the Veterans Administration, continues.  Indeed, President Obama wants Congress to approve $3.7Bn for aid for the illegal immigrants but isn't asking for an extra cent to provide decent care to those veterans who have loyally served the US.

Do you start to see what I am getting at?  America has lost its way! 

And that is before we look at the Administration's inability to manage its data!  It must be incredibly worrying for Americans to know that the NSA and who knows how many other organisations are snooping upon them and to also know that agencies like the IRS are so incompetent that they can operate computers without damaging hard drives and losing e-mails etc.

Of course there are other scandals that are plaguing the USA, today.  Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Bureau of Land Management, Common Core and ObamaCare, to name just a few.

I keep expecting the US Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives to stand, almost as one (Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and some of the other drinkers from Obama's Kool Aid stand excepted) and start impeachment proceedings against Obama but it isn't happening.  I can only come to one conclusion.

The Congress is scared.

They are scared that there would be such a groundswell of opinion (not that they pay too much attention to that) and Obama would be removed from office.  Their fear?  When Obama goes, he is replaced by Joe Biden!  On the 'right' the fear is that if Biden was also impeached, then the succession would fall to John Boehner, who many see as a 'RINO'.

Surely though, Biden has to be better than Obama?  Biden would have to see Obama's impeachment as a chastening experience and a sign that the leftward lurch of America and its abandonment of its superpower role and responsibilities needs to stop.  Don't you think?  I just think that America has to take a chance on Biden.  I am apprehensive but look at it this way.   Biden is a Beltway politician.  he understands that he needs to work both sides of the aisle to accomplish anything.  He knows that America has been pulled in an un-natural direction by Obama, Jarret and the Alinsky followers that populate the White House.  Joe also knows that politics isn't just about getting elected because of your skin colour, playing golf and taking vacations.  He understands what America needs far better than Obama ever could.  Can you imagine Biden going to a fund raiser, when a passenger plane containing US citizens is shot down over Eastern Ukraine?

 Go on America, be bold (can't believe I am saying this!) - impeach Obama and get Biden - it has to be better than continuing downwards.

The power of Twitter and the Anglosphere

I have been thinking about Twitter recently (apologies if not using the copyright symbol is somehow wrong!) and its power for good.

I am also reading a book called "How we invented freedom", by a UK Member of the European Parliament - Daniel Hannan - highly recommend the book and Dan's tweets and articles - very 'sound' on Europe and the freedoms that 'Anglosphere' democracy brings.

The book (is that the right phrase for a Kindle version?  I dislike putting e in front of everything!) brings to the fore all those things which many of us almost take for granted - the primacy of the rule of law, no one being above it,  property rights and the importance of contracts and above all, freedom of speech, religion and assembly.   The book tracks the establishment of common law and the basic principles of same, from the pre-Norman invasion of England  through to the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights and onto the US Constitution and eloquently shows, the flow of these basic principles runs common to all of these documents and to those ideals that the Anglosphere hold dear.

It seems to me that those basic rights are under threat as never before.  Now the threat isn't National Socialism from the German Nazis or Communism from the Soviet Union, no the threat comes from within.

Part of the threat comes from a comfortable place called complacency - long established rights are taken for granted by 'indigenous' Anglosphere peoples and the slow erosion of these isn't noticed or widely remarked upon.  Arbitrary punishment is meted out by governments , especially the US's, via drone attacks, for example, and people move past that news item or, if they stop to think, justify it on the grounds of national security.  Similarly, people are stopped and searched at airports around the world and have various petty restrictions put upon them, in the name of security.

People are finding that freedom of speech or religion is being curtailed, except that most politicians and main stream media shy away from negatively commenting on Islam and it's adherents.  Look at what happened to Phil Robertson.  He is a reality TV personality on an American TV show called Duck Dynasty.  In an interview he stated, amongst other things, that he wasn't attracted to men and he likened homosexuality to sin.  Cue outrage from the homosexual lobby in the USA and their supporters in the media at his 'hate crime'.  Now, Phil espouses Christian values and for those that believe in the right of free speech - something on which America was founded - his freedom to say such things is exactly that - a right.

A right as in something that he inherently has - not something that he (or you or I) is given. 

I have never seen the Duck Dynasty show but all I have read about Phil Robertson and his espousal of deeply held Christian beliefs suggest to me that nothing that he said, in the magazine interview, could be construed as being in any way surprising or controversial.  Similarly if Ayatollah Khameni, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said the same things I wouldn't be surprised.  In fact the only thing that would surprise me is if the media actually reported or in any way commented upon Khameni's speech.  The teachings of both Christianity and Islam consider homosexuality a sin.  Whether you agree with that or not, is your opinion and I for one am happy to support your right to hold such an opinion - that's what free speech is about!   What free speech isn't about is stifling the saying of things with which you or I disagree. Period as they say in the US!

So back to Twitter and its power for good.  The A&E TV channel that broadcast Robertson's show, suspended him for a period, after disassociating itself from his comments.  Normally, that would be the end of Phil's TV show and fame.  However, right-thinking people got to work on Twitter and brought the story to a far wider audience than would have normally been the case.  A petition was raised and boycotts of A&E and its advertisers and sponsors were organized and, low and behold, Phil's suspension was lifted.  Encouragingly, he did not have to refute his beliefs or sayings, in order to achieve this.  The right to his free expression of speech was met.  In my humble view, Twitter played a great part in spreading the message and generating the climb-down by A&E.  Now I do not think for one single minute that the war is over and the 'powers that be' have seen the light and will 'allow' free expression.  I think that this is a battle won but this will need to be continuously fought for these cherished freedoms to be retained.  Incidentally, the 'allow' with is because I am uncomfortable in considering that someone allows another person to exercise a right.  No one can give you something which you already have!

Problem is though, that Twitter and other social media are under attack.  There are the overt attacks, where those that would deny freedom, talk-up so called trolls and make the attacks from these people, a justification for the curtailment of the liberties of all.  Then there are also the less obvious methods of attack - such as the USA's Internal Revenue Service using social media to identify groups and individuals from the Tea Party or other anti-Obama administration tweets, and then subject them to special attention from their audit teams. 

Dan Hannan, in his book, rightly confronts the facade of rights that some countries have or had and posits that it is the historical depth of these rights, within the Anglosphere, that gives them meaning.  He talks about the constitution of the former Soviet Union granting it's citizens all sorts of rights but no means for the citizen to actually exercise them.  I hope though that he is wrong in suggesting (I haven't yet finished the book, so maybe he does change his view later) that the places where the fundamental human rights can survive are restricted to those places that have historical links back to England and it's Magna Carta and older common law antecedents.  Hope, because these places (and this isn't meant to show an anti-immigration stance) are fast becoming a cosmopolitan mix, where the inhabitants do not all share the historical connection with England.  Hope, because I want those people who look to the UK, America, Canada and Australia and want to emigrate to those countries, look not just at the material benefits that settling in those countries will bring, but also at the traditions of individual freedoms, that have made these countries, what they are!

Changing views on EU

They say that a week is a long time in politics, so the time I have had to reflect since my blog on May 4  - here -  http://bit.ly/15fBz73  should be ample to overcome any claims of hypocrisy.

Here goes.

Not just in the above blog but also in earlier ones, I have strongly suggested that David Cameron needs to have a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU and to have it in this parliament.  In some ways that would still be my preference but considering the politics of the matter - and the mathematics - I am coming around to seeing why that isn't possible and perhaps maybe not even desirable.  Don't worry, the Europhiles have got to me and compromised me into changing my fundamental opinion of the flawed state that is Europe.

The Lib Dems are wedded to Europe.  As a party, this is probably the only unifying policy for them.  On other issues the leadership gets pulled between leftist policies and loony leftist policies but Europe?  No, they all row in the same direction.  To be clear that is row as in a boat not as in an argument!

Labour faces the biggest dilemma over Europe and I sense that David Cameron understands this and is in fact, banking on it.   The dilemma is that many voters are opposed to continuing as a member of the EU, as it is currently constructed.  Maybe they don't all want to leave but many want the rules re-written.  UKIP and the BNP both inhabit the ground where that is most vitriolically espoused - anti-immigration.  Possibly the psephologists and focus group handlers would dispute this but I don't believe that it is only white and blue collar Tories where UKIP's policies resonate.  My life experience suggests that 'natural' Labour supporters would be as anti-immigration as these Tories sometimes appear.  One piece of evidence to mull over - in spite of the economic situation (more on that in a moment), Labour supporters didn't exactly come out in their droves to vote in the recent elections.  Nor, in the national opinion polls, can Labour get to a reasonable level of lead or votes.  Getting around 35 to 38% isn't what anyone would call a massive mandate for change!

The BBC and some other media would have it that the 'Europe question' will do for Cameron and that the Tories are split.  I am coming around to the view (and not just because the BBC is usually wrong on most things) that Europe offers an opportunity for the Tories.

The political system in the UK doesn't favour parties like UKIP.  Their local election showing of mid 20%  will most likely not be sustained in the 2015 General Election (my guess is somewhere around 7-8%) but whatever they get the first past the post system just doesn't work for them or for any small party.  UKIP will have some impact in marginal seats but I think this will equally affect all three parties with perhaps just a bit more impact on Lib Dem marginals!.

So how an opportunity?  Well, consider (and I am sure that David Cameron has), at the next election, voters would be faced with a choice between Labour and the Lib Dems - both pushing policies that say, 'we don't believe the people need to be asked about our country's future and its relations with the EU' - and the Tories saying - 'we think that the EU project needs fixing and, if it can't be fixed in a manner that we believe is acceptable, Britain should leave the EU, however, this is far too important a decision for politicians, the choice needs to be made by the people of Britain'.  I know which policy would get my vote. 

Forget anything else about this but remember this - the British have an instinctive dislike of things non-democratic.  They may not bother to vote, but just try taking away their right to vote.  The British look at the EU and see gaping holes where democracy should be representing them and instead they see elsewhere a fat and corrupt elite, lording it over them.  The European way of dealing with tyrannies and out of touch elites is often through revolution, the British way is through the ballot box. 


For the Tories then, keep Europe on the agenda, push and support the Private Member's Bill that enshrines a 2017 referendum and then push the 'we trust the people' line, time after time.  It is a very simple but no less powerful message and one which will find the Labour and Lib Dems, wanting and struggling to say why they do not trust the people.

So, keep that one bubbling away - be thankful that UKIP will also keep it on the boil - but then focus, focus, focus on the economy in a holistic way (sorry Roberto!).  Taxes, welfare education and spending.  Get these under control and keep banging on about the inherited mess.  On the latter the Tories are pushing against an open door.  Any sane person can see that the Brown-inspired and debt-funded party was unsustainable. 

Oh, and on the NHS - go for Labour.  Mid Staffs is the symptom of all that is wrong with the NHS.  Every time Andy Burnham speaks - every time - ask him why he hasn't resigned over the 1,200 deaths - every time.  Fix Labour's central mis-management as the core issue around the NHS.

Not quite a convert to Cameron's coalition but now facing in the same direction, I suppose.

And Mr Cameron, if you read this, a bit more muscular with the Lib Dems, please.  The occasional slap-down won't hurt them or you.  Finally, suggest you start to distance yourself from Obama, he is tainted by Benghazi and the IRS scandals, as will be his second term.