National Review has a new "feature." It tells me my ad blocker is preventing it from functioning properly. Yes. I use one. So I turn it off. Then I get the same message. Not impressed.
It tells me to login. But doesn't show a login screen!
So because it remembers that the ad blocker once blocked it won't allow me to log in. I paid $50 a year for this.
This analysis of the unholy alliance of the left and Muslim exremists by Charles Lipson of U of Chicago is very good. But the defense of Western civilization toward the end is outstanding. Especially three paragraphs toward the end that highlight the huge difference western/Christian values made in...
1) Lifting mankind out of poverty was due to Western (Christian) values and actions.
The idea that the West is responsible for the world’s poverty has a [small] core of truthful criticism next to a mountain of lies. One doesn’t have to apologize for colonialism to note that almost everyone on planet Earth lived in grinding poverty until the cumulative effects of industrialization began to take hold after 1800. That process began in northwestern Europe and gradually spread across the world, lifting income, health, diet, and life expectancy. Where it failed was in countries racked by civil unrest or governed by rapacious regimes that didn’t provide public order or secure property rights and stole the revenues needed to provide essential public goods.
As for human liberation, no societies voluntarily ended human bondage [slavery] until the West did it, mostly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Britain spent enormous sums stationing its navy off the African coast to prevent the transshipment of slaves, which had been captured and sold by local tribes. Britain gained nothing financially from that effort; it did it for moral reasons. In America, “free states” in the North and Midwest abolished slavery well before the Civil War. The war itself ended slavery, though blacks were still oppressed for another century by Jim Crow laws (in the South) and segregation (everywhere). Those practices were always inconsistent with the Western ideal of human equality and were finally outlawed in the mid-1960s by the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.
It’s high time Americans went beyond revulsion and defended their basic, liberal ideals and the constitutional democracy founded upon them. We don’t have to accept the mantle of “oppressors” because of events that happened long before we were born, for which we are not responsible, and from which we never profited. We don’t have to accept the damning slur that our success is due to “privilege” rather than hard work, time-tested values, and a good education. The greatest “privilege” is not inherited wealth or status. It is being raised in a stable home by loving parents, living in an orderly community, and growing up in a country where each of us is free to pursue our own goals and define ourselves as we choose.
Traitor king - Edward VII told Germans where France's defenses were weak. Over 100,000 British soldiers died as a result. This was after he abdicated - gave up - his throne and was again Duke of Windsor.
Who can imagine that a king - an ex-king - would knowingly cause the deaths of his subjects?
“If they had known that a member of the Royal Family had helped to supply information that led to that rout, to Dunkirk, that led to that evacuation, it would have been utterly galling.”
... The military secrets given to the Nazis by Britain’s former King are seen as being instrumental to Germany’s invasion of France.
Dr Lownie explained: “When the attack comes, it is the very weak spots that the Duke has identified, which the Germans actually attack.”
This was disclosed in 2022 in a British TV show.
I wonder who left cocaine in the White House. Secret Service tracked down grandmas in Kansas who spent 5 minutes in the Capitol on January 6, 2021. But they say they won't be able to find who did it. Yeah, sure. Tough assignment.
Indeed they are too busy on the Jan. 6 investigation to look into unimportant things like crimes committed in Joe Biden's White House.
Am I the only person on crutches? In three weeks on crutches I have only seen one other person - in the doctor’s office - on crutches. It’s not fair (whining).
Three weeks ago on 6/10 I fell on my injured hip (more of the history below) with all my 175 lbs. Oh, my. I was a half block from home and had to be picked up by car; I couldn’t walk. An hour plus in urgent care and (my blood pressure was 70/something) 5 1/2 in the ER. “Nothing broken; all the hardware is in the right place. It’s soft tissue damage and will (or should?) heal. My goal was to be mowing the lawn in a week. Ha!
The trip to doctor 10 days later was the one-year check on my knee replacement (pretty good) and I show up on crutches!
Yesterday after 19 days I was starting to go around the house using one crutch, which means 90% weight bearing and occasionally 100%. Two crutches when going places. And I am a semi invalid - long naps. But even with that progress my hip still says “uncomfortable" with every step!!. A few more days to walking. Current goal: mowing the lawn in a week.
History: In 2008 I fell riding my bicycle down a steep hill in the rain a few blocks east of Bill Gates’s office in Redmond (before he retired). I refused help from passersby, but it took me a few minutes to move my butt 3 feet to the curb so I accepted a ride to my car. Next to Evergreen Hospital. But when they saw I had smashed the acetabular (hip socket) they sent me to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. Waited a day in traction. 6-hour surgery. 6 days in the hospital. We hired a cabulance to get me home (“but your insurance won’t pay for it”). Then 7 days without leaving home. I was so weak that they didn’t put me on crutches, but I used a walker as crutches. I have never seen another person doing that. The walker is an amazing combination of light and strong, but it’s not designed to carry one’s weight. (I got excellent care at Harborview.)
Three months off work and 3 months on crutches, non-weight-bearing. When I returned to work I worked in the morning and slept in the afternoon. By Christmas that part-time schedule cost me 200 hours of work at my expense. After 5 months I quit making progress; surgeon didn’t believe me on my next check, but on the one after that he showed my on the X-ray that my injured side was 3/8 inch shorter. After 10 months to Valley General in Renton for full hip replacement. Another month off work and 2 months on crutches again. But this time I was 50% weight-bearing. It’s a big difference to be able to stand with weight evenly divided instead of the strong leg having to do all the work. Using crutches after hip replacement is unusual. It was because they did a bone graft. Another: Why didn’t they tell me before!?
Three months after the second surgery I gave up the cane and walked on my own. Maybe a month after that I realized that no one was noticing how I walked. I had no limp; didn’t expect that. That was a big victory!
I only worked another 6 months until I retired. Did no business trips those 6 months versus several per year. At that point Boeing had moved so much work to California that meetings that used to be a 15-mile drive became a 2-day trip.
For the 14 years since I have kept walking every day. I am slower and go at my own pace but am a little jealous of people who obviously are on longer walks. And I love to walk beaches which always are uneven and require more energy. Bonus: I saw three bald eagles across the street this morning. Two landed in a tree 200 feet away, but I failed to get a pic.
Gov. Jay Inslee logic: Shut down electric power plants at the same time you require more use of electricity.
He is rejoicing the shut down of the state's last coal-fired power plant in Centralia, WA in 2025. How will Puget Sound Energy cope? It gets 14.5% of its electricty from Centralia. 2025 is not far away. What will they do? They say they are studying options in Seattle Times 5/30/2023. (PSE provides electricity to 1.1 million customers - households and businesses - in Western Washington.)
So in the future we will have less electricity from coal. Less electricity from natural gas. Less from hydroelectric dams. Gov. Jay also wants to tear down four dams on the Snake River that provide hydroelectric power. Less electricity.
You say: solar and wind will provide more than enough. But the sun doesn't shine at night. And the wind? On and off. And the dream of batteries storing energy and providing it at night is a dream. For all the talk no one has done this at the scale required. Oh, Germany has some batteries... Yes, building toward 1 per cent of the load (and for several days of outage). For all their talk the UK is in the same situation. More on this below.
So we need power plants that can run at any time, not dependent on sunlight or the wind, as back up to solar and wind.
The next step by Jay Inslee logic is to require stopping use of gasoline, natural gas, biomass and any source that can emit CO2. And replace them by electricity - of which there will be less.
Electric cars required, not gasoline-powered. Cooking by natural gas: make it illegal. Heating by natural gas? No. Must be electric.
Uh... Gov. Jay, how will you keep the lights on and the cars running?
Frances Menton of the Manhattan Contrarian blog did an in-depth study on the energy storage problem - storing power for when solar and wind provide no power. It is the source of data on Germany and UK. See The Energy Storage Conundrum at Global Warming Policy Foundation.
[https://www.thegwpf.org/publications/lack-of-energy-storage-makes-renewables-only-grids-a-pipedream/]
The Washington Legislature finally passed a law to continue that crack, heroin, meth and fentanyl possession and use remain illegal. It was a close call; if no action was taken by June 1 drugs would have been wide open. Oregon did so two years ago and it's ugly.
The law they passed is cumbersome; an incredibly simple fix was available. But they did something.
But the Seattle Demos are mourning the lost opportunity. They wanted full legalization.
Fentanyl kills - the Demos want its use fully legal.
Heroin kills - the Demos want its use fully legal.
Methamphetamine ruins lives and families - the Demos want its use fully legal.
Danny Westneat leads the mourners at Seattle Times
Another Amazon, Costco, Starbucks, AT&T Cell or Boeing? - Not in Washington
Washington politicians inherited an incubator for successful business start ups. And they are determined to destroy it. What??
WA has no income tax -- one of only six states -- and a good workforce. Entrepreneurs want these conditions, so they come here and succeed - not all, but more than elsewhere - and a few grow up here and return here, like Bill Gates.
Washington politicians want an income tax and want it so badly that they ignore the fact the our constitution does not allow a graduated tax on property and income is property. Oh! They say this is an excise tax, not income tax. But the IRA says it is. And all 49 other states says it is.
Our leaders are determined, but the "State Supreme Court will rule against it next month." Not likely, sadly. They always rule in favor of the Seattle big money.
Goodbye entrepreneurs; Tennessee is ready for you.
President S Joe Biden is hurting those he claims to help those w/ student loans. And is hurting you and me.
First, he knows he cannot “forgive” the loans. That is giving away taxpayer funds and only Congress can do that. And saying he will do what he cannot gives the borrowers false hope.
Second, Due to this false hope some students are now borrowing more than they would have. Because it’s “free money.” So they are taking risks with their own futures. Risks they would not have taken without Joe’s false promises.
Third, Many borrowers now say they refuse to pay; false hope again. But that puts them deeper in the hole, another risk.
[First law of holes: When you are in a hole stop digging.]
Fourth, In September he proudly declared the pandemic over. CBS News Later, when he announced this forgiveness he said it was for relief from the pandemic. Not a true statement. (I have heard that Since #4 was shot down in court now he is using a law to give relief to post-9/11 soldiers in war zones. Uhhhh, Joe!? Source uncertain)
Fifth, He got votes with this false promise, knowing the courts should/would kill it. They voted for his candidates!
The scary part is that the students fell for it - American Thinker:
That is the damage to current and future borrowers. How about us? Joe is making you pay for someone else’s loan. Joe is making truck drivers pay the loans of highly paid medical doctors and attorneys. (At least let me meet the person I am sugar daddy to.)
Chinese are outraged/jealous seeing maskless crowds at Qatar World Cup. Their government has kept them in the dark, but had to let in some light because it couldn't block showing the World Cup.
Maskless Qatar World Cup Outrages Locked-Down Chinese:
China’s exhausted and terrorized population was outraged by images of massive crowds cavorting maskless at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar this week.
Social media users wondered why they must continue living under dungeon conditions while the rest of the world has moved on from the Wuhan coronavirus.
Some Chinese citizens professed shock at getting a peek beyond China’s censorship walls and seeing just how free the rest of the world has become, while more than a quarter of China’s immense population is still suffering through coronavirus lockdowns.
.
Our energy infrastructure which took a century and huge investment to build (and is reliable and affordable) is being torn down by (what do you call a person who knows nothing) ignoramuses who have no idea how huge the job was to create it. And they have no idea how to make a new system to replace THAT ACTUALLY COULD WORK.
I leave this to one of my favorite writers/analysts, Francis Menton, a retired NYC attorney at his blog Manhattan Contrarian.
A Comprehensive Roundup Of Official Energy Madness —:
Now comes along a guy named Joseph Toomey, who has published a relatively long piece at RealClearEnergy with the title “Energy Inflation Was By Design.” Toomey is identified as a “career management consultant” in the energy field, and author of a 2014 book with the title “An Unworthy Future,” that critiqued the Obama administration’s energy policies. Other than that, Toomey has not been a regular contributor to the energy policy debates. But he makes up for an extended absence with this comprehensive roundup.
At 35 pages in length, Toomey’s piece is a seemingly endless litany of one intentionally destructive policy after another. Even if you follow this issue regularly, as I do, you can’t help but be astounded when you see the full extent of the destruction organized into one piece. An energy infrastructure built up over a century and more that actually provides reliable and affordable energy to millions of people — a true miracle of human ingenuity! — is being systematically and intentionally attacked and wrecked by ignorant fools who have no idea how difficult the existing system was to create, and equally have no idea how to make something to replace it that might actually work.
Why pay $24 to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when soon it will cost $75? or more!! Ask Honorable Sen. Chuckie Schumer.
The Democrats' oil folly | Washington Examiner:
Way, way back, in March 2020, then-President Donald Trump proposed to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its maximum capacity with U.S.-produced crude oil. That would have involved the purchase of 77 million barrels of oil. Trump wanted to act because oil was cheap, about $24 a barrel, and the United States could effectively top off the tank for a very good price.
At Trump's behest, Republicans put money for the oil purchase in a big spending bill that was then under consideration on Capitol Hill. That's when their efforts were stopped cold by Democrats, who labeled Trump's plan a "$3 billion bailout for big oil." This is from Roll Call on March 25, 2020: "The Trump administration's plan to top off the Strategic Petroleum Reserve ran into a blockade ... after lawmakers excluded $3 billion in funding for oil purchases from the massive stimulus package before Congress. Senate Democrats took credit for stripping out that money from the Senate bill ... calling it a 'bailout' for the oil industry." In particular, then-Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) took personal credit for killing the measure.
Sen. Chuckie "took credit" for the folly. He was in a dangerous situation. If he didn’t kill the deal President Trump might get credit for saving taxpayer money.
And Pres. S Joe takes the folly even farther:
Biden hates Republicans so much, he would rather give oil money to the dictators in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia than Texas. NY Post
Three of Seattle’s heavy weights took unfair shots at Tiffany Smiley’s Washington US Senate campaign this week. A sport team, a coffee company and a newspaper all made unsubstantiated claims against her campaign. An ad showed her husband wearing a shirt with colors that same as a sports team. It didn’t show a logo or their name. But the team is so impressed by Patty Murray that they claimed violation of copy right or something, For what? For nothing.
Smiley showed a coffee shop that closed due to crime. (We all know that is true.) No logo. No identifying marks. But Starbucks claimed a violation. For what? A photo of a building on a public street? For nothing.
And her ad quoted a newspaper and properly identified it and showed their logo. Seattle Times allows other candidates to do the same. Wouldn’t it be worse if she didn’t identify the source? But they are so in love with Senator Patty that they sent a “cease and desist” letter. If their charge is fair then it must apply to all candidates, not just all but the establishment favorite. [I hear Monday morning that a Washington representative puts Seahawks logos on her campaign web page. Will they complain about her?]
Play fair? Not Seattle’s heavies. Are they really impressed by Murray? The only superlative I have seen for her was winning the “Not a rocket scientist” award from Senate staff, also known as the 100th smartest senator.
To add to the fun. This triple stunt brought national attention to how weak Murray is in her attempt to stay in the Senate until she becomes like Sen. Diane Feinstein now is.
Kimberly Strassel covered this in the Wall Street Journal, but it is for subscribers only. A shorter version at RedState.
Have you been told that election tampering never happens? So when Republicans try to clean up the voter roll by removing dead people and those who moved to other states the big Demos say “they are taking away your right to vote.”
Never? 30 months in prison:
Former Philly Democrat Sentenced to Prison for Election Fraud Scheme:
Former Democratic Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers (PA) was sentenced to 30 months in prison for federal election fraud, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
In June, Myers, 79, pleaded guilty to illegally stuffing ballot boxes in Philadelphia by digitally “ringing up” votes from 2014 through 2018, which Katie covered. Myers also bribed a former Philadelphia Judge of Elections, who was indicted in 2020 for rigging several elections.
Seattle teachers closed the schools on September 7, for three days now and counting, on strike. But...
This hurts the kids. They have been hurt by time out of school and away from their friends due to covid. Hurt both in academia and socially. Why choose to hurt them more?
Every teacher who walks out of school on strike is violating Washington law. Why are there no consequences to this violation?
When there is a illegal strike the school district can go to court for an injunction to apply penalties unless the schools open. The district always wins and the strike always ends. But the teachers union leaders say “No injunction to end a strike has ever been upheld on appeal.” That is true because the union has never appealed! Is that a self-fulfilling prophecy? … the equivalent.
Does Gov. Inslee support this strike? He didn’t say he opposes it in his appearance on Thursday 9/8, so it appears he supports this illegal strike.
Logic test: If there are fewer students do you need fewer school employees? Seems obvious. Obvious!! Fewer kids, fewer teachers!! But Seattle teachers demand the district hire more! And are keeping the kids out of class for it.
Educators have found that kids were significantly set back by schools being closed or “on line.” The US Department of Education found that 9-year-olds lost average 5 points, from 220 to 215, on reading tests. That’s the average. They found that it was worse for “virtual” schooling and keeping the kids out of the classroom. It will take years for them to catch up and … tragically some probably never will. And, of course, poorer reading skills affects all other subjects. In Tennessee they are making large, expensive effort to help those kids who need the most help. But in Seattle the teachers closed the classroom doors on the kids. Newstalkers & WSJ
See also Liv Finne of Washington Policy Center writing in the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
Because I saw the first!
When I was in college at University of Washington I worked for Boeing for 3 years. Boeing had a program for engineering and science majors of UW and Seattle U to work part-time and had an office near University Village where we worked. There we did boring, but necessary, drafting work. And Boeing engineers who wanted a sharp student to do some work for them would come the recruit us for a temporary assignment. These were always more interesting than the bread-and-butter work, though much less convenient for travel time.
It was the best student job. During school we could work 12 or 16 (or more) hours per week. During breaks we could continue part-time, work full-time or take off. And we got a raise every year. Perfect.
In the winter/spring of 1968 I was sent on a temporary assignment at Boeing’s Everett plant and we walked through the huge building where the first 747, RA-01, was being assembled. Wow! So… I would like to see the last one being assembled for Atlas Air in that same giant building.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/boeing-is-currently-assembling-the-last-ever-747-jumbo-jet/ar-AA1113t8?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=bee49251896e425394b203a34ebfe7ed
Slow Joe’s top priority is to give a mortal enemy of the US hundreds of billions $ and the ability to have nuclear weapons. Irán has said “Death to America” for decades. An Iranian has been indicted for trying to kill US diplomat John Bolton - and kill him in the US! And ex-Sec of State Mike Pompeo is under 24x7 security due to threats from Iran.
So, Joe, is this the time to REWARD Iran for these crimes? Remember how Iran blatantly violated Pres. Obama’s proud agreement? Uh…Mr. President S Joe, think about it. Joe?(The Center Square) – Is Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal trying to cancel some state assessments of student learning? That's what the Washington Policy Center think tank is alleging in a blog, and what Reykdal's own office is vehemently denying.
In the Monday blog post, Washington Policy Center education director Liv Finne quoted Reykdal as saying, “…Higher Ed has never believed in them. Higher Ed has never accepted that Smarter Balance [state tests] mean anything to them…this experimenting with tests, Smarter Balance, End of Course, the WASL, that keeps coming and going because it [testing] actually means nothing…
“I am trying to figure out if I have the authority to exit us [from testing] on my own, or if that needs something else.”
The quote came from the most recent Washington State Board of Education meeting in Spokane. Reykdal was answering a question from board member Kevin Wang about state testing.
A recording of that meeting is available on the TVW website, with Wang asking Reykdal at 55:49. [end of quote]
But... our whole K-12 education system is built upon testing to prove the kids have accomplished the knowledge and skills of a high-school graduate. But who likes to be held accountable? When kids fail the question is - what did the system do for 13 years? So Reykdal is looking for a way out. And denies it.
Hate crime? On Sunday President S Joe Biden solemnly promised solidarity with the Muslim community of Albequerque, New Mexico, after 4 Muslim men were murdered.
Today S Joe is silent. The murders were committed by a Muslim. And the hatred is between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Joe, who were you accusing of these horrible crimes? Do you owe an apology to every American you implicated in these murders? Joe?
Afghan Suspect Arrested in Killings of Fellow Muslims in New Mexico
The US economy is in a recession. As announced today last quarter (Q2) it shrank by 0.9% after shrinking 1.6% in the previous quarter. That is what a recession is - two successive quarters of shrinking.
Everbody knows that is a recession Everybody has always known that. But now the Joe Biden machine people are trying to redefine recession. Uh... No. Can't do that. Just face the facts, Joe, and get moving.
(And they all know they are lying, except for a young woman whose job it is to defend what can't defended on camera every day.)
