Media don't know how to spin White Settlement church shooter story

As the Babylon Bee points out, the gun control (read: seizure) crowd and the lamestream media are having a tough time dealing with the killing of an attacker who started shooting up the Church of Christ in White Settlement [sic] TX yesterday. The Bee sez: News outlets...reminded the nation that they reserve the right to immediately bury mass shooting stories that don't help push their agenda. Outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and ABC News confirmed that they carefully look over the facts of a given case to see if it lines up with the correct opinions before deciding to push it incessantly for weeks on end.

If you think the Bee is making all that up, check out this "correction" which appeared this afternoon on the website of Canada's Global TV News.

That's really all ye need to know about liberal media bias. But anyhoo... The correct version of the story goes like this.

During the Sunday morning service at the church, a man identified today as Keith Thomas Kinnunen, 43, of River Oaks TX, a small city near White Settlement, got up from his pew and approached someone at the back of the church before pulling out a gun and opening fire. Congregants screamed and ducked under pews, but one had the presence of mind to keep shooting video.

Another worship decided that shooting a gun would be better than shooting video. The hero of the day was Jack Wilson, a gentleman who is both a member of the church security team and a candidate for Hood County commissioner. He fired a single shot which killed the attacker instantly. Two members of the congregation, were also killed during the incident.

The late Mr Kinnunen has been described by an FBI official as a "relatively transient" person (whatever that means) with roots in the area. The TX Dept of Public Safety said he was from River Oaks, a suburb of Houston.

The FBI say he had a previous arrest record, but have not given any details. His motive is still "under investigation". Stay tuned... but don't hold your breath. You won't hear any more unless Mr Kinnunen turns out to have been a "white supremacist", of the type who would shoot up a white church in, errr, White Settlement TX.

Suspect in attempted murder of NY Hasidic Jews identified

Just a quick update on this morning's post about Saturday's stabbing of five Hasidic Jews at the home of a rabbi in Monsey NY, one of several in the Hudson Valley that has seen an influx of Hasidim in recent years.

The attack was the latest in a string of violent incidents targeting Jews in the region, including the massacre, on December 10th, at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey. Last month in Monsey, a man was stabbed while walking to a synagogue.

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo told the meeja that one of the five was very seriously wounded and remained in critical condition, the governor told reporters. The rabbi's son was one of those injured. His status and that of the other victims was not clear. Authorities have not provided a motive for the attack, but the Gov said it was an example of "larger problems".

Pictured here is Grafton E. Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake NY. He is presently in the custody of the Ramapo NJ police, facing five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. He was arraigned earlier today and pled not guilty to all charges. Bail was set at $5 million. According to an unnamed official, Mr Thomas's criminal history includes an arrest for assaulting a police horse [Ed., please check this!].

A lawyer representing Mr Thomas at the arraignment said he had no convictions. Whether he meant "convictions" in the criminal sense or in the sense of beliefs, a moral compass, is unclear. Also unclear is whether Mr Thomas, who appears to be a Person of Colour, has any connection with the Black Hebrew Israelites. Stay tuned.

NY Jews get swart gevaar

Swart gevaar. You can look it up. It's an expression I learned over my years in southern Africa. Oxford calls it "a threat perceived as being posed by black people to whites." Negrophobia. Or in the Jewish neighbourhoods of New York City, fear of the schwartzes, the shtarkes.

But (I hear you ask), why would the Jews be afraid of blacks... or African-Americans or whatever the PC term is this week? Surely what they're afraid of is anti-Semitic racists! After all, in metro New York, police have gotten at least six reports this week (and eight since the 13th of this month) of attacks possibly propelled by what the lamestream media are calling "anti-Jewish bias".

Just last night, the last day of Hanukkah, a man attacked a Hanukkah celebration at the home of a rabbi in Monsey NY, about an hour's drive north of NYC, one of several Hudson Valley towns that have seen an influx in large numbers of Hasidic Jews in recent years. The assailant, whose colour has not yet been disclosed by the police, stabbed and wounded five Jews before fleeing in a vehicle. The attack is the latest in a string of assaults targeting Jews in the New York area, including a massacre at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey earlier this month.

Top New York state officials, including Governor Andrew Cuomo, released statements condemning the attack. The Gov called the stabbings a "cowardly act", and directed the State Police hate crimes task force to investigate the attacks. "Let me be clear," he said. [Why do all politicians use that expression? It's been done to death! Ed.] "Anti-Semitism and bigotry of any kind are repugnant to our values of inclusion and diversity [Aaaaargh! Ed.] and we have absolutely zero tolerance for such acts of hate. In New York, we will always stand up and say with one voice to anyone who wishes to divide and spread fear: you do not represent New York and your actions will not go unpunished."

The Gov, responsible only for his state, not New Jersey, didn't refer to the Jersey City murders. The perpetrators in that case were themselves vizmins from the so-called African-American community. They were identified as coming from an extremist religious group called Black Hebrew Israelites, making them a minority of a minority. The attackers in that case were described as a "militant fringe" within that minority.

The authorities are now looking at the case as "domestic terrorism fueled by anti-Semitism". But that's not how the (((controlled media))) are playing it. They're dismiss the murders as "isolated incidents" and therefore unimportant. The New York Times described the Black Hebrew Israelites as being "known for their inflammatory sidewalk ministers who employ provocation as a form of gospel." Yeah, well, there's a bit more to it than that. The Black Hebrew Israelites describe Jews are described as "white" and "fake". The way they see it, the "real Jews", and all true prophets and religious figures, are black... black as the ace of spades.

According to the (((Anti-Defamation League))), this group views itself as the real "chosen people", and sees people of colour as the real descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel. They were in the media earlier in the year in Washington DC, when they shouted insults at Catholic high school students. The lamestream media wants to call BHI's actions "provocation", because if they admit that the BHI is part of a burgeoning violent movement targeting Jews, then they would have to confront it and ask tough questions of why it is tolerated in a community.

A self-proclaimed expert on racism told AP that in fact this group takes pride in "confronting Jewish people everywhere and explaining that they are evil." The trouble is that in American society only far-right white supremacists, Republicans and conservatives can be called "racist". Everyone else gets a pass. To keep the focus on the white supremacists, the (((controlled media))) rabbits on about how "right wing terrorists" have killed more than jihadists. Other types of terrorism are watered down a bit.

While the Prez was in office, Islamist-inspired terror was even rebranded as "violent extremism" so as not to mention the religion of the perpetrators. Even though Islamist terror is also a far-right ideology, it is portrayed as something else. For instance, when Jews were targeted at a kosher supermarket in France they were called "random folk in a deli". They weren't random! They were targeted, like the Jews in Jersey City, but they needed to be "random" or else we'd have to discuss the anti-Semitism that permeates Islamist terror.

Looking at the race and the ideology of the perpetrators of the attacks on Jews makes people, especially Jews, uncomfortable. The liberals and apologists for the Islamists want all the anti-Semites to be "far-right" and "white". Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) blamed "white supremacy" for the Jersey City attack, but her tweet was deleted when it was discovered that it wasn't "white supremacists" after all, therefore didn’t fit the narrative.

The fact is that it was the Jews themselves who orchestrated and funded the "civil rights" movement of the 60s, because, after all, the Jews, like "people of colour" were the victims of centuries of discrimination of persecution. Right? Now, it seems, the beneficiaries of all that enforced diversity and inclusivity are biting the hands that fed them. What a surprise.

UPDATED: Eric Ciaramella -- whistleblower?

Meet Eric Ciaramella, a career CIA analyst and the Ukraine director on the National Security Council from 2016 until the summer of 2017. Mr Ciaramella is a registered Democrat. He previously worked for then-NSC adviser Susan Rice, as well as Old Joe Biden when the former Veep was the Prez's point-man for Ukraine. In October 2016, he was Mr Biden's guest at a State Department banquet.

So what? Well, Mr Ciaramella has now been named by the New York Post as the whistleblower at the heart of the Trump impeachment saga! Here's what the Post said.

Whistleblower lawyers refuse to confirm or deny Ciaramella is their man. His identity is apparently the worst-kept secret of the Washington press corps. In a sign of how farcical this has become, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said his name as part of a series of names during a live hearing Wednesday night aired on television. He never called him the whistleblower, just said he was someone Republicans thought should testify, yet Democrats angrily denounced the "outing". If you don't know the man's name, how do you know the man's name?

The Post goes on to pose some questions that Mr Ciaramella, if he is the whistleblower, should be asked to answer, viz: What, if anything, did he leak? Did he work with Biden on Ukraine, apparently Ciaramella’s area of expertise? Did he know about Burisma and Hunter Biden? Who told him about the call, and why did that person not complain instead of him? How did Schiff’s staff help him tailor the complaint?

And the Post concludes: This is only the fourth time in our history that a president has faced impeachment. Shouldn't we know the answers to these questions now, and not in two or three years when the inevitable official reports and tell-all books come out? Why must we wait for the truth?

UPDATE ADDED 30/12/19: FURTHER READING: "The real reason Eric Ciaramella is being protected so fervently", by J.D. Rucker in NOQ Report, 29/12/19.

Religion of Peace kills >6 dozen in Somalia. "Allahu akbar!"

While (some) Christians were celebrating the birth of our Saviour, life... and death.. went on as usual in the Muslim shitholes of the Middle East and North Africa. An explosion today at a busy checkpoint in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, killed at least 72 people and wounded dozens, including women and children.

Rescuers carried dead bodies past the twisted wreckage of a vehicle and minibus taxis smeared with blood. The director of a private ambulance service told the meeja, "The number of casualties we have confirmed is 76 dead and 70 wounded, it could still be higher." Witness Mohamed "the Inevitable" Abdi said, "I saw many dead bodies lying on the ground. Some of those dead were police officers, but most of them were students."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab often carries out such attacks. The Islamic extremist group was pushed out of Mogadishu several years ago but continues to target high-profile areas such as checkpoints and hotels in the seaside city. Today's blast took place at the Ex-Control checkpoint, a "tax" collection (read: extortion) centre in Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October 2017 that killed more than 500 people. The group never claimed responsibility for the blast that led to widespread public outrage. Another witness told AP, "This explosion is similar like the one...in 2017. This one occurred just a few steps away from where I am and it knocked me on the ground from its force."

Earlier this year a spokesthingy for the Disunited Nations said the jihadis are now able to make their own explosives -- their "weapons of choice. The followers of the Prophet previously relied on military-grade explosives captured during assaults on an African Union peacekeeping force. Today's attack again raises concern about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for security from the AU force, which is scheduled to withdraw in 2020.

Christians, Christian culture attacked across Europe, world

On Christmas Day in the Year of Our Lord 1000 (or New Year's Day of 1001 AD, depending on which calendar you use) Stephen I (aka King Saint Stephen) established Hungary as a Christian Kingdom. On that day he was crowned king with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II.

Over 1000 years later, the government of Hungary, unafraid to call the country "Christian", has warned that Christians are increasingly being persecuted around the world, and driven out of public life in Europe, more viciously than any people of any other faith.

So concerned are the Hungarians about the persecution -- even to the point of death -- of Christian minorities that they have created Hungary Helps, an assistance programme for persecuted Christians and other victims of humanitarian crises, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.

The aim of the programme is not to help Christian minorities migrate to the West -- a process which has seen the Christian populations of countries like Syria and Iraq collapse at an alarming rate -- but to help them where they are, in order to preserve their ancient communities and way of life for posterity. According to Hungary's ambassador to the Disunited Nations, Hungary Helps has so far spent $35 million supporting Christian communities, and helped 70,000 refugees to return to their ancestral homes.

According to a report on Breitbart News, Tristan Azbej, the Hungarian state secretary with particular responsibility for Hungary Helps, recently tweeted some examples of the ongoing attacks on Christians and Christianity. "There are places where it's illegal to display a Nativity scene and you can get fired for wishing 'Merry Christmas'", he wrote, "and this happens in the name of  'liberalism, inclusivity and freedom.'

"Some years ago, at the Brussels City Hall, it was decided not to set a Christmas tree, and in Santa Monica, California, a ban on nativity screening was made on the grounds of world neutrality," he wrote. "Meanwhile, in Germany, Christian songbooks have been burned, and in France, churches have been attacked every year, and Christian symbols and religious objects, such as crucifixes, have been damaged."

"Christianity is the most persecuted religion, with about a quarter of a billion Christians worldwide being persecuted or discriminated against, and thousands of people killed last year because of their Christian beliefs," the minister continued. But, he added, "The Hungarian Government stands with Christian values and communities. [We are] committed to the protection of Christian culture and strengthens it in the world by, inter alia, combating migration. [We] hope that over time, Europe will realize the importance of this."

Now there's a declaration we haven't heard lately -- if ever -- from any Western government. Sadly, we don't even hear it loud and clear from Pope Francis. Today, December 26th, if the feast day of the first Saint Stephen, the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity. Saint Stephen was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings.

Accused of blasphemy at his trial, he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him, and was then stoned to death. Let us ask him to help all those who today are being discriminated against, persecuted and even martyred for their Christian Faith.

BEATAM NATIVITATEM!

Walt and Poor Len [and Ed.!]
wish all our readers
A HAPPY AND HOLY CHRISTMAS!
BEATAM NATIVITATEM!

and for the New Year 2020
PEACE AND HAPPINESS

William-Adolphe Bouguereau: Virgin Mary with Angels

VIDEO: Faith Goldy talks about the de-Christianization of Québec

Faith Goldy (who is not Jewish, by the way), reports on a letter sent by a group of young French-Canadian Catholic men to their bishops, asking them to teach the traditional Catholic Faith -- the faith of our fathers -- and give the spiritual leadership they say is essential to combat the nihilistic culture that tempts many to despair. That includes allowing access to the traditional Latin Mass.

Twenty-nine men between the ages of 18 to 44, including university students, a doctor and two lawyers, calling themselves "The Disinherited", signed the open letter titled "We Ask for Faith: Open Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church in French Canada". Ms Goldy says the message of the letter "will stir your soul." It stirred mine, and so I share it here.



If God has spoken to you through this message, please pass it on by sharing the link to this post. And do it quickly, before YouTube takes the video down! Saint Joseph, patron of Canada, pray for us.

Thanks to Poor Len Canayen for alerting us to the publishing of this fine video.

UPDATED: "Believe It Or Not!" for Catholics

Under the headline "Pope Francis warns Christianity is becoming 'increasingly irrelevant' and targets 'rigid' conservative Catholics for creating a 'minefield' of hatred in Christmas address", the UK Daily Mail reports on another essentially anti-Catholic utterance from the mouth of Jorge Bergoglio, giving traditional Catholics yet another reason to doubt the validity of his election.

The supposed head of the Roman Catholic church spoke today in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, reminding cardinals, bishops, priests and members of staff that the Church no longer enjoys the authority it once did. "Today we are no longer the only ones that produce culture, no longer the first nor the most listened to," he said. "The faith in Europe and in much of the West is no longer an obvious presumption but is often denied, derided, marginalised and ridiculed."

This year, on Francis' watch, the papacy has been rocked by historical sex abuse claims and financial scandals this year. And the Pope's leadership has been challenged after he called for married men to be ordained as priests, and was seen with the Pachamama, a pagan statue of a pregnant woman ("Mother Earth"?) while in the Amazon.

Walt wonders how these things could have come to pass, if not for the apparent derangement of he who sits in the Chair of Peter. But alas, there is no impeachment process in the Catholic Church. Only God can take the necessary corrective action, for which let us pray.

FURTHER READING, added 22/12/19: "Pope Francis's Hermeneutic of Anti-Continuity", by Peter Kwasniewski, in The Remnant newspaper, 22/12/19. Devastating commentary on the massive scandal of Francis' Christmas address of December 21 (the traditional feast of the doubting Thomas the Apostle). Could anyone need more evidence that the Church is being ruled by someone who is barely, or not at all, Catholic? He wouldn’t even make a good Muslim!

Canadian joke of the year [CBC please copy]

The "year-end round-up" season is almost upon us, so I thought I'd beat the Canadian controlled media (Hello CBC!) by declaring Justin Trudeau the Canadian joke ["newsmaker", shurely! Ed.] of the year. The joke is on the stupid Canucks who voted this oleaginous, metrosexual, narcissistic fraud into office for the second time. Are you frostbacks masochists or what?

Dear Canadian readers, I wish you a wonderful winter solstice and a politically correct new year. And may your border remain open to the flood of refugees, asylum-seekers, and dispirited never-Trumpers who will be coming your way in 2020.

Footnote: What you're just read is something you won't read or hear or see anywhere on the CBC, the state-owned Canadian Broadcorping Castration. The CBC is publicly funded, which means that the taxpayers of Canuckistan are paying for the steady stream of politically correct, leftie drivel than emanates from studios high above the common people of downtown Toronto.

I refer in particular to The National, the CBC's nocturnal emission which passes off propaganda as a newcast. This is not just my opinion, but that of the Financial Post's William Watson. Check out "CBC's The National brings Canadians all the news that's woke", published today. Subhead: "There are four essential components to The National: something climate, something anti-Trump, something Lefty-heroic and something Indigenous".

The alternatives -- the national newscasts of CTV and Global -- are still part of the Canada's lamestream media, but better than the Canuck version of the Clinton News Network. Adjust your watching accordingly. You're welcome.

UPDATED: Impeachment: Democrats afraid to take the next step?

Those readers (especially foreigners) who think that anything major happened in Washington yesterday are advised to review "How the impeachment process is supposed to work", WWW 24/9/19. What you witnessed yesterday [Walt was watching "Judge Judy". Ed.] was merely the end of Act I of the pantomime. Donald J. Trump is still President of the Excited States of America, and likely to remain until 3 November 2020... and likely for another four years after that!

That the House of Representatives voted to impeach the President is hardly news. What is interesting is Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement at a presser this morning that before raising the curtain on Act II -- the trial in the Senate -- she will wait to see what procedures will be adopted for the trial. Ms Pelosi (D-CA) said this was because she fears that the Republican-controlled Senate may be incapable of holding a "fair trial".

That's a loaded term that she and her Dumbocrat colleagues in both housess have been throwing around a lot lately. On Wednesday evening she was noncommittal about whether she would ever transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate. After last night's vote, she told the meeja, "We'll make that decision as a group, as we always have, as we go along. So far we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us."

A "fair trial"??? What a steaming load of horseshit. The real reason for Ms Pelosi's reluctance to get on with the next act of this farce was stated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who denounced the impeachment vote and blasted the Speaker for being "too afraid" to send "their shoddy work product to the Senate."

Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Mr McConnell said, "The framers built the Senate to provide stability, to keep partisan passions from boiling over. Moments like this are why the United States Senate exists." Mr  McConnell is meeting today with his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), to establish the parameters for the trial in the upper chamber.

Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) have now all floated the idea of freezing the House vote where it is, rather than sending the impeachment articles to the Senate, where President Trump would undoubtedly go down in history as being vindicated.

This morning, President Trump took aim at Ms Pelosi for not sending the impeachment articles to the Senate right away. He tweeted, "The Senate shall set the time and place of the trial. If the Do Nothing Democrats decide, in their great wisdom, not to show up, they would lose by Default!"

UPDATE ADDED at 1710 (scraped from Breitbart News): During a press conference on Thursday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is "admitting defeat" by not sending articles of impeachment over to the Senate.

McCarthy said, "Now, we have the own speaker of the House who is so embarrassed that she admits the failure of this impeachment that she will not even send it to the Senate.… She's admitting defeat by not sending it, by refusing to send the impeachment over, she knows this outcome is not good. She knows the facts are not there. There's no basis for it."

Polls show Americans split 50-50 on impeachment; Dems say proves Trump is losing because numbers aren't moving

John Diefenbaker, the late, unlamented prime minister of Canuckistan, used to say that dogs know what to do with poles. I'm pretty sure he didn't mean "Poles", so guess he meant "polls". I think of his little joke every time some pundit tells me that the latest polls prove this, that or the other. And I remember how right the pollsters were (NOT!) about the 2016 election.

Yesterday I heard several members of the commentariat trying to explain away the latest Clinton News Network poll which, according to CNN's headline, shows that "The nation remains divided on impeachment as House vote approaches". I'll get to that in a moment, but first some other recent poll results.

According to Breitbart News, a Quinnipiac Poll released last Tuesday showed registered voters oppose impeachment and removal from office by 51% to 45%. A Monmouth University Poll released last Wednesday showed almost the same result: 44% in favour, 51% opposed. And even an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll released on Monday showed voters opposing impeachment and removal from office by 49% to 46%.

In contrast, a poll released Sunday by Fox News (high on President Trump's fecal roster at the moment) showed registered voters support impeachment and removal from office by a 50% to 46% percent margin.

Breitbart says Fox News Poll respondents (if not the pollsters themselves) have been consistently left-leaning for some time. For instance, in the poll conducted between September 11 and September 14, 2016 -- less than two months before Donald Trump was elected president -- 55% of respondents opposed building a wall along the US-Mexico border, while only 41% supported it. Despite those poll results, Mr Trump easily won the presidency in the electoral college vote, even though he lost the popular vote by two points. Neither Fox nor any other major pollsters saw that coming!

The poll that really counts, though, IMHO, is one conducted for CNN from the 12th to the 15th of December. It shows that support for impeaching and removing President Trump from office has decreased, even as the House prepares to take a full vote on the articles of impeachment this week. 45% of Americans told CNN they support impeaching and removing the president. That represents a 5-point decrease from a poll conducted in mid-November after the House Intelligence Committee finished its public hearings. But opposition to the impeachment and removal of the President increased in the new survey from 43% to 47%!

The survey found that support for impeachment and removal fell even among Democrats, with 77% now in favour, compared with 90% in November. Moreover, the majority of Americans surveyed also said they do not think anything will come up during the looming Senate impeachment trial to change their minds on the removal of Still-President Trump. Just 24% said it is "likely" or “very likely” a Senate trial could push them to change their minds, but 22% said it is "not too likely" and 50% of those surveyed said it is "not likely at all."

Do the math. Add and divide as you will the polls show a nation deeply divided, split right down the middle, give or take a percentage point or two between the supporters of the President and the anti-Trumpers and never-Trumpers. So how are the lamestream media pundits playing this? The official party line is that because the numbers haven't changed over the weeks and months of the impeachment witch-hunt, obviously the President's campaign against the Democrats and the media is failing!

Seriously... that's what they're saying. It's not their campaign to get Mr Trump out of the Oval Office that is failing... it's his campaign against them! It's the Goebbels strategy: keep repeating the Big Lie, loudly and often, and people will eventually believe it. Doesn't look to me as if it's working. Not all Americans are as stupid as the Dumbocrats take them to be.

Bottom line: Even Fox News concedes, as the headline over their report on their poll says, "Impeachment needle not moving as majority of voters oppose removing Trump." That's all ye know and all ye need to know. Impeachment? Fuggedabahtit and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Boris pulls it off! Brits OK Brexit, reject EU, hard-left socialism

Yes, folks, another step on the road to the status quo ante, and another defeat for the liberal, progressive one-worlders. In yesterday's "Brexit election", the British Conservative Party, led by Boris Johnson -- Britain's version of Donald Trump -- won a commanding majority of seats in the UK Parliament.

Mr Johnson now has a clear and strong mandate to fulfill his plan to take Once-great Britain out of the European Union next month. In other words, he will, as promised, "get Brexit done!" Speaking to his supporters last night, the Prime Minister said, and I quote, "We pulled it off!" In his speech last night he said he would work "flat out" and lead a "people's government". Gotta love that expression of populism!

With just one constituency (St Ives, in Cornwall) left to declare, the Conservatives have 364 MPs, Labour 203, the Scottish National Party 48, Liberal Democrats 11 and the Democratic Unionist Party (Ulster Protestant baskets) 8.

Labour was swept aside by the Conservatives in its traditional heartlands in the Midlands and north-eastern England, and lost six seats in Wales. The increase for the Scottish Nationalists is interesting, as they have promised to push a referendum on Scottish independence. Mr Johnson has suggested he might allow that, keeping in mind what happened in Canada when the Québécois were given a chance to opt out of confederation, and decided they'd rather keep their Canadian passports and Canadian dollars.

In a result which I found very satisfactory, Nigel Dodds, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party at Westminster, lost his Belfast North seat to Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein has 7 MPs, Plaid Cymru (the Welsh nationalist party) 4, and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (= Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre -- a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland) 2. The Green Party and Alliance Party have one each. Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, which triumphed in the summer's European Parliament elections, failed to win any Westminster seats.

Jeremy Corbyn, the neo-Marxist leader of the Labour Party, did not resign, but said he would not fight another election as Labour leader. Britain's commentariat, along with many in his own party, lay the blame for last night's defeat squarely at Mr Corbyn's feet. He steered the party hard aport (= to the left, landlubbers!), and was accused of tolerating, if not abetting the wave of anti-Semitism which has splashed Britain in recent months. Strange for a party covertly funded by George Soros, but the cliché -- politics makes strange bedfellows -- is true enough.

All in all, a very satisfactory result. Walt congratulates Mr Johnson, and suggests that American Dumbocrats take note. The Prez was not wrong when he said recently (see "Featured Post") that the majority of Americans will not support a party which espouses extreme socialism. Let's see if any of the Democratic presidential wannabes are paying attention.

Further reading, including a comment on the sudden resignation of Canadian "Conservative" "leader" Andrew Scheer: "Boffo Boris", by our old friend Mark Steyn, 12/12/19.

Bablyon Bee reacts to Saint Greta "Person of the Year"

Ed. here. I don't think you people (Hello, Don Cherry!) know how hard it is for me to refrain from reposting the bogus articles that the Babylon Bee runs regularly. BB is one of the funniest, and most trenchant (look it up!) blogs extant. Here, unabridged and unedited, is their take on Time magazine's naming of climate alarmist Greta Thunberg as its "Person of the Year".

Poll Finds Most People Would Rather Be Annihilated By Giant Tidal Wave Than
Continue To Be Lectured By Climate Change Activists

A new study found that most people would rather be annihilated by a giant tidal wave caused by climate change than continue to be lectured by climate change activists.

Study participants were given the option of having the earth flooded by massive tidal waves or listening to virtue-signaling, smarmy lectures by environmentalists for the next decade. Over 87% of respondents selected, "Bring on the tidal wave." A few people said they'd rather take the lectures, but after hearing a few minutes of the lectures, quickly changed their minds. Several respondents rushed straight to the ocean, arms outstretched, and asked the sea to take us all.

"Come, sweet death," one man scrawled on the survey response form after hearing just 30 seconds of a Greta Thunberg lecture. "O, sweet release that ends my suffering on this mortal plane! Embrace me in your salty arms, great wave of destiny."

"Honestly, between Greta and the climate change, I'll take the climate change," said one man in Minnesota. "Heck, it's Minnesota, don't ya know. We could use a little warming. But even if it turns out to be catastrophic -- I'll take the tidal wave."

Fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, and bees also polled higher than the activists.

The Aghanistan war: It was all for nothing

When I began this blog in July of 2009 [! How time flies when you're having fun! Ed.], the two countries closest to my heart (and other organs), the US of A and Canada, were heavily involved and invested in the Afghanistan "mission".

It looked like a war to me, but politicians of both blue and red stripes, on both sides of the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM), kept assuring us that it was a peacekeeping mission. Or maybe a peace-making mission. Or how about "nation-building"? I called BULLSHIT on that from Day One of WWW, as did many skeptics including Dr Ron Paul.

No-one paid attention. Many demonized Dr Paul and other anti-war thinkers and writers as "unpatriotic". The pro-war types told us that this was, after all, part of the war against terrorism. (Back then, some even dared to use the phrase "Islamic terrorism".) "If we don't fight them there, we'll have to fight them there!" "Nation-building is the best way to defeat the Taliban!" More bullshit, piled higher and deeper.

Those who opposed the war argued that the Taliban weren't out to get us, so much as to get us out of their country. It was a Muslim civil war, we said, in which we had no business meddling... no dog in that fight. Let them duke it out.

This week, the Washington Post is serializing "At War With the Truth: a secret history of the Afghanistan war", a massive report, based on hitherto secret military documents, proving that... wait for it... the whole Afghan war was a blunder from the getgo -- a colossal waste of money and lives. Putting it another way, we who opposed the war were right, after all. Lifetime pct .979.

MSN carries Monday's part of the WaPo report under the headline "Wasteful spending and half-baked ideas: U.S. officials reveal how massive rebuilding projects in Afghanistan backfired". The newly revealed government documents raise profound questions about the execution and results of the war in Afghanistan and the massive nation-building effort that surrounded it. No wonder, then, that the American government tried to shield the identities of the vast majority of those interviewed for the project and conceal nearly all of their remarks. The Post won release of the documents -- 2000 pages of interview records -- under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.

In the interviews, more than 400 insiders offered unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the United States became mired in nearly two decades of warfare. With a bluntness rarely expressed in public, the interviews lay bare pent-up complaints, frustrations and confessions, along with second-guessing and backbiting.

Through the interviews we hear the voice of Gen. Lute and scores of others who detail the core failings of the war that persist to this day. They underscore how three presidents -- George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump -- and their military commanders have been unable to deliver on their promises to prevail in Afghanistan. Here's a sample.

In 2015, US Army Gen. Douglas Lute, who served as the White House's Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations, told government interviewers, "We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan -- we didn't know what we were doing. What are we trying to do here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.... If the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction...." He blamed the deaths of 2400 American military personnel on bureaucratic breakdowns among Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department.

Since 2001, more than 775,000 US troops have deployed to Afghanistan, many repeatedly. Besides the 2300 (that's the Dept of Defense number) who died in that shithole, 20,589 were wounded in action.

The number of Canadians who went to Afghanistan and didn't return was much smaller -- 158 soldiers and seven civilians died -- but proportionately greater than US casualties. 40,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces served in Afghanistan. 158 soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Walt ran a body count, in those first years of WWW, each time asking the question "Why did they die?"

Another 2000 Canucks were wounded in a "peace-keeping/nation-building mission" (read" war) which began under a Liberal government and was then enthusiastically embraced by a Conservative government. In 2006 and 2008, Conservative and Liberal Members of Parliament voted together to extend the "mission", at a projected cost of as much as C$18 billion. The Canadians finally realized the war was unwinnable, and bailed out (of military involvement, at least) in 2014. The Americans are still there.

The conclusions of the Post's report -- that the war lacked clear direction and purpose, that the American government misled the public about the war's progress, that the effort to establish a new government in Afghanistan was misguided and quickly corrupted, that billions of dollars in aid and development money were mishandled -- should trouble not just Americans, but citizens and taxpayers of every country meddling in the Muslim civil war. Can our politicians please just cut the BS, bring the trooops and "foreign aid" personnel home, and leave the Islamists to make of their countries what they will. Please!!!

UPDATED: Poor Len Canayen not so worried about Habs now

Our sports editor, Poor Len Canayen, craves space to re-evaluate yesterday's piece, in which he expressed doubt as to the future of Canada's team, the Montréal Canadiens. Have at it, Len.

Pass the crow, please. After receiving an e-mail from a Habs fan asking why I was so negative about the Habs' prospects, and after watching last night's thrilling (after the first period) 4-1 win over the Pittsburg Penguins, I must give kudos do the dozen solid and stout-hearted performers who have carried the Habs through a difficult stretch, from which they now seem to be recovering nicely. [What have I told you about run-on sentences? Ed.]

Let's start with the defence corps. While reiterating the need for one or two more reliable D-men, I can express nothing but admiration for:
Captain Shea Weber: 1 goal (a wraparound, or in French un tourniquet) and 1 assist, 4 hits. Jeff Petry: 1 assist, 8 (count `em, 8!) hits. Ben Chiarot: no points but another 8 hits. Chiarot was picked up this summer from the Winnipeg Jets (well done, Marc Bergevin) and has proved a valuable addition to the team.

These three "older men" have been playing upwards of 20 minutes every game, and as much as 29 or 30 in a couple of recent games. My only question is how long they can keep up that pace and still have something left for the playoffs. Helping out and deserving of mention is rookie Cale Fleury, still growing but not afraid to throw his weight around, with 4 hits last night and smart play in his zone. He's a keeper!

Up front, les Glorieux have a solid first line:
Tomas "Tuna" Tatar: 1 goal and 1 assist last night, and has learned to stay out of the penalty box. Brendan Gallagher: the small-but-mighty sparkplug of the team, also 1 + 1, so that's half the scoring right there. Phillip Danault: one of the most under-rated centres in the NHL, IMHO, got a well-deserved assist on the Tatar goal.

Other forwards who contribute consistently are:
Joel Armia: 1+1 last night, playing the best hockey of his career. Arturi Lehkonen: 1 assist, and developing into the key man on the penalty kill. I take back the unkind words I wrote last year. Nick Suzuki: Rookie-of-the-year, on this team at least. Beautiful stick-handler and play-maker. Another great trade by Bergevin. Nate Thompson: the old pro at centre, increasingly trusted by coach Claude Julien on important face-offs, and does more than his share as a support player.  Nick Cousins: Had my doubts early on, but was impressed with his effort and tenacity in the last two games.

So the Habs have a good core, 4 good defencemen, 8 good forwards. That's 2/3 of a starting lineup. And yes, there's still Carey Price. Allowed just one goal last night -- a 2-on-1 rush following a defensive miscue -- and just one the night before. Is the all-star Price back? Hope so!

Summary: Last night's whole-team effort in a road game against a tough team was great to see... Warmed the cockles of this old man's heart. In fact they got so warm I had to rub them with ice! Keep up the good work, guys, and you'll make the post-season for sure!

UPDATE ADDED 12/12/19: Les Glorieux ont remporté la victoire hier soir! The Habs beat Ottawa 3-2 in OT. Goals by Cousins, Tatar, and Chiarot had the overtime winner! Rookie goalie Cayden Primeau stopped 35 of 37 shots, for a save pct of .946, and got the first star. Not an oil painting, but a sign that Canada's team's recovery for the recent slump is real indeed.

Democrats press on with impeachment

Scraped from Blazing Cat Fur. Gotta love that blog!

Poor Len Canayen worries about the Canadiens

From the Great No-longer-white North, our sports editor, Poor Len Canayen, shares his inquietude over the future of the Montréal Canadiens.

The last month has been distressing for fans of la Sainte Flannelle. Of the last 10 games, they've won only 2, lost 6 and lost in overtime twice, for a total of 6 out of 20 possible points. You don't get to the playoffs that way, and the Habs are currently fourth in the very tight Atlantic Division, close to a wild card spot... but not close enough.

What's happened to le bleu, blanc et rouge? IMHO their problems all amount to the same thing -- lack of depth. Ten or twelve games before the last 10, they iced a pretty good, nicely balanced team. Four decent forward lines and four or five reliable defencemen, plus, of course, Carey Price, when he was on his game. Then came the injuries.

Top forwards Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron fell in one game against Washington. And last week sophomore hopeful Jesperi Kotkaniemi was concussed by a vicious hit from Colorado's Nikita Zadorov. (See "NHL's Department of Knuckleheads disgraces itself again", by Jack Todd, in the Montreal Gazette, 8/12/19.) A couple of games earlier, Victor Mete, Captain Shea Weber's defence partner, injured his ankle during a game against Philthydelphia. That's four of the Habs' best/better players gone, likely until the new year.

To make matters worse, former all-star goalie Carey Price has been, shall we say, less than stellar so far this season. He allowed only one goal in Friday night's 2-1 over the Rangers, but over 24 games in which he's played, his GAA is 3.04 and his save pct just .902. That's in the bottom quarter of active (20 games or more) NHL goalies. It would be OK if backup Keith Kinkaid had been able to pull a couple of games out of the fire, but he wasn't and has now been sent down to Laval.

Who has come up from Laval to backstop Price and the four skaters? Well, Charles Hudon, for one. Hudon is the king of coulda/shoulda/woulda. He's been up and down like a toilet seat at a mixed party, always being given yet another chance to prove that he's capable of playing at the NHL level. Yet he never quite succeeds. Too bad for him. Other call-ups like David Gustafsson, Otto Leskinen and Matthew Peca (another up-and-downer), all of them Europeans, have similarly failed to impress. Too bad for them, too bad for the team.

I am still hopeful, though, for Cayden Primeau, brought up from Laval to give Carey Price a rest, especially in back-to-back games. Primeau's first start was against Colorado last week. He look at a bit shaky at first -- the nerves of a 20-year-old playing his first game with the big team -- but settled down and was not solely responsible for the 3-2 loss. His save pct so far is .914.

Conclusion? Les Glorieux need some new players who can score and/or defend, and, with the possible exception of Ryan Poehling, they're not going to come from the Laval farm team. So it's up to GM Marc Bergevin to find some new talent, and he'd better do it PDQ because if the Habs miss the playoffs again, his head will be the first to roll. He's made some good moves in the last three years, notably the Weber-for-Subban trade, but also some bad moves, like failing to resign Alex Radulov and Andrei Markov.

The Canadiens have lots of cap space -- some $8 million -- but to trade for top players they'll have to be willing to give up some top players. Such as... Drouin? Maybe. Max Domi? Possibly; he's off to a poor start this year. Weber or Price? Unthinkable? They're both getting older and slower, but are still at the very core of the team. And they both have hyuge contracts which few other teams would want to take on. So, is a puzzlement, but unless fresh forces are found, unclear the future is.

VIDEO: Patrick Coffin names and shames those who put the kibosh on beatification of Ven. Fulton Sheen

As if the sad news of the "postponement" of the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, which was scheduled for Peoria on December 21st, wasn't bad enough, comes now an announcement that the beatification has been postponed "indefinitely". Which is Catholic Churchspeak for "not going to happen." In this short(ish) video, Patrick Coffin names those responsible for throwing a spanner in the works, and explains why there's a silver lining to the liberal cloud.



Mr Coffin asserts (and Walt concurs) that Fulton J. Sheen is clean. He says the screeching halt to his Cause was orchestrated by Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester, abetted by liberal modernist Cardinals Cupich of Chicago and Dolan of New York. Walt predicted that the name of Cardinal Cupich would be mentioned at some point. Lifetime pct .979.

Mr Coffin asks if the silence of Cardinal Dolan, in particular, has anything to do with the fact that he lost four different legal appeals trying to keep Archbishop Sheen's earthly remains in Saint Patrick's Cathedral, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the faithful of New York.
And, he asks, will no US bishops stand up in defence of their brother bishop and sainthood candidate?

In the end, though, traditional Catholics should be glad the Cause was halted. In in this video, Mr Coffin explains why. He concludes thus: Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, ora pro nobis.

UPDATED: Pensacola shooter was Saudi airman! 6 others detained

Cazart!!!

The gunman who opened fire inside a classroom at the US Naval Air Station at Pensacola FL this morning, killing three people and injuring seven others, was reportedly a Saudi aviation student. The suspect has not yet been identified by authorities, nor will they admit that the mass murder was an act of Islamist terrorism. But according to the Clinton News Network (!), the shooter was a member of the Saudi military who was in the United States for training.

The suspect fired a handgun in the attack, which played out over two floors in a classroom building at a base whose main function is training. The FBI has taken over investigation into the shooting. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national attending training at the base as part of a long-standing Navy program open to US allies, of which the medieval Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one, apparently.

The motive for the violence was still under investigation. With his usual facility for ignoring the obvious, the Gov told the meeja, "There is obviously going to be a lot of questions about this individual being a foreign national, being a part of the Saudi Air Force and then to be here training on our soil. The government of Saudi Arabia needs to make things better for these victims. They are going to owe a debt here, given that this was one of their individuals."

Innocent question: Wasn't Pensacola "the cradle of aviation", where the 9/11 attackers (most of whom were Saudis) learned to fly planes into big buildings? Yet more of them are being allowed into the Paranoid States of America to learn the same things... for the same purpose??? Just askin'....

UPDATE ADDED 7/12/19: Late yesterday, Fox News reported that six (count `em, 6) Saudi nationals were detained for questioning Friday near the naval air station which was the site of the shootings. The FBI, which is leading the investigation into the shooting declined to reveal the identity of the shooter in the early stages of the investigation, but an unnamed US official told Fox News the gunman was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia named Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. Ah yes, another "Mohammed" but of course his religion -- Muslims used to be called "Mohammedans" -- has nothing to do with his motives.

As the picture shows, the late Mohammed was a student in a US Navy training program for foreign military personnel. That program is aimed at "immersing international students in our US Navy training and culture" to help "build partnership capacity for both the present and for the years ahead," Commander Bill Gibson, the officer in charge, said in 2017. "These relationships are truly a win-win for everyone involved." Well, maybe not for those who were killed by Mohammed yesterday.

Vatican-China agreement "terrible, terrible, terrible": Cardinal Zen

There is another prelate of the Roman Catholic Church -- still alive, thank God -- whose reproaches to the mainstream Church are in the news today. He is Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, S.D.B., who is one of only two living Chinese cardinals. He served as the sixth Bishop of Hong Kong, and was made a cardinal in 2006. He has been outspoken on issues regarding human rights, political freedom, and religious liberty, often attracting criticism from the Communist Party of China and, sadly, highly placed people in his own church. (Hello, Cardinal Parolin!)

In a recent interview with New Bloom, Cardinal Joseph Zen describes Vatican policy toward China as "terrible, terrible, terrible!" The prelate says that he strongly suspects that a diplomatic agreement between the Holy See and the Chinese government, which has never been made public, is substantially the same as a previous draft accord with Pope Benedict XVI refused to sign. (See "Vatican bends the knee to Chinese commies in secret accord", WWW 23/9/18.)

The Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, who has warned frequently about the campaign by the Chinese government to exert control over the Church, told New Bloom that his own recent relations with the Vatican have been "simply disastrous." He revealed that when he first became a bishop, he worked closely with Cardinal Jozef Tomko, who at that time was prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization, in efforts to ease tensions between the Church and the Beijing regime. He said that these efforts had borne fruit, with the Vatican regularizing the status of several bishops who had been appointed by the government but were ready to pledge loyalty to the Holy See.

However, Cardinal Zen continued, the Vatican's involvement took a different path when Cardinal Tomko was succeeded by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, whom he bluntly characterized as "no good." Cardinal Sepe in turn was succeeded by Cardinal Ivan Dias, who (Cardinal Zen commented) was a disciple of the late Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the Secretary of State from 1979 to 1990. Cardinal Casaroli was noted for his willingness to seek accommodations with (read: sell out to) Communist regimes.

Still more recently, Cardinal Zen said, Vatican policy toward China has been driven by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the current Secretary of State. The Chinese cardinal has frequently criticized Cardinal Parolin for failing to see the dangers in an agreement with Beijing. As for his relations with Pope Francis, Cardinal Zen said that they are "personally wonderful." However, he said, "he doesn’t answer my letters." No surprises there! He also accused Francis of having "low respect for his predecessors" and "shutting down everything done by John Paul II and by Pope Benedict."

Will Pope Francis and Cardinal Parolin pay any attention to what Cardinal says, or to the ever-increasing persecution of Chinese Catholics by the Communist dictatorship? Errr, no. Our Lady of China (Simplified Chinese: 中华圣母, Traditional Chinese: 中華聖母), pray for Cardinal Zen, for all Catholic Chinese, and for all who hold and teach the True Faith.

Liberal Catholics stall beatification of Ven. Abp. Sheen

Traditional Catholics who read WWW rejoiced in the news that the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen was to be beatified, at last, on December 21st in Peoria IL. Archbishop Sheen, the greatest Catholic evangelist of the 20th century, did leave the mainstream church following the disaster that was Vatican II.

Towards the end of his life, though, Archbishop Sheen is said to have expressed regret at the dubious "reforms", particularly the suppression of the Mass of All Time. Thus he made himself the enemy of the "reformers", particularly the liberal bishops of the United States.

They and their powerful friends in the Vatican held up the cause for Abp Sheen's beatification for centuries, through such devices as a very unseemly wrangle in the courts over where the prelate's earthly remains should be buried. All this has been reported in WWW, passim; enter "Archbishop Sheen" in the search window at top right to check past posts.

Now, it seems, Archbishop Sheen's enemies have succeeded in delaying his beatification yet again. The Catholic Post, the newspaper of the Diocese of Peoria, published a press release dated December 3rd, excerpted here:

With deep regret, Bishop Daniel Jenky, C.S.C., Bishop of Peoria, announces that he has been informed by the Holy See that the Beatification of Fulton Sheen will be postponed. On November 18, 2019, the Diocese of Peoria received formal notification that Pope Francis had approved the Beatification of Fulton Sheen to take place on December 21st of this year. However, on December 2nd, the Holy See decided to postpone the date of Beatification, at the request of a few members of the Bishops' Conference who have asked for further consideration.

In our current climate, it is important for the faithful to know that there has never been, nor is there now, any allegation against Sheen involving the abuse of a minor. The Diocese of Peoria observes that the life of Fulton Sheen has been thoroughly and meticulously investigated. At every stage, it has been demonstrated definitively that he was an exemplary model of Christian conduct and a model of leadership in the Church. At no time has his life of virtue ever been called into question....

This development is unfortunate especially because there continue to be many miracles reported through Sheen’s intercession. Several have even been reported since the announcement of the Beatification date two weeks ago. It is undoubtedly further proof for those who truly believe in this Cause that these miracles will be credited to the intercession of the Venerable Fulton Sheen in the future.

Bishop Jenky is deeply saddened by this decision. In particular, Bishop Jenky is even more concerned for the many faithful who are devoted to Sheen and who will be affected by this news. He is firmly convinced of the great holiness of the Venerable Servant of God and remains confident that Sheen will be beatified. Bishop Jenky has every intention of continuing the Cause, but no further date for Beatification has been discussed. The Diocese of Peoria will offer no further comment at this time.

Walt wonders who were the "few members" of the USCCB who requested "further consideration". And what prompted them to intervene? In keeping with the culture of secrecy which pervades the hierarchy and affairs of the Roman Catholic Church, the USCCB has declined to provide any details or any comment of any kind. But the truth will out, one of these days. And don't be surprised if the name of Cardinal Blase Cupich, ninth Archbishop of Chicago, is mentioned. Lifetime pct .977.

New for the "winter holiday"! Greta on the shelf!

A fun new "Greta on the Shelf" doll will watch you every day and fly back to the UN each night to report your climate sins to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The doll is equipped with eye sensors programmed to detect activities that are harmful to the environment. "Greta sees you when you're sleeping, she knows when you drive your SUV to the store instead of taking public transportation," the manufacturer said. "She knows if you've been bad or carbon-neutral, so be carbon-neutral for goodness' sake!"

One couple in Portland OR proudly displayed their new doll and lectured their children on the true meaning of Christmas: fighting climate change. "We're gonna play a fun game for the holidays this year! Try to be good little carbon-neutral children, or Greta will tell on you!"

"How dare you!" the doll chanted as the kids of the household left the door open while the heater was on. "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood." The doll then blasted off toward UN headquarters using its jet engines to report on the naughty children, who will receive coal in their stocking. They will be snitched on again, however, if they burn the coal for warmth.

Greta is programmed to detect activities including these:
* Leaving the light on when you exit a room
* Leaving the fridge open
* Driving an SUV
* Parents participating in illicit activities that may lead to the creation of more humans
* Using a plastic straw instead of sticking your face in a beverage and slurping
* Forgetting your reusable grocery bags at home
* Getting a cut-down Christmas tree
* Getting a carbon-heavy plastic Christmas tree
* Turning on any electric appliances
* Using the heater instead of rubbing two sticks together for warmth

Children have responded enthusiastically to the doll so far, saying things like, "Mommy, I'm scared," and "Make the bad girl go away."

Credit-where-credit-is-due Dept.: This brilliant satire was written by Mark Scheffler for the Babylon Bee. Walt visits their site regularly for such goodies as "Kamala Harris Demoted To Meter Maid After Failed Campaign" (3/12).

Quiz: Which American city has been occupied 3 times by the US Army?

Got nothing? OK, I'll give you a hint. It's not Atlanta or New York or even Washington DC.
Nope, not Honolulu either.
The answer is... drum roll please... DETROIT!

In 1863, in the middle of the Glorious War of the Secession, a 10-year-old Detroit girl accused a swarthy-skinned tavern owner of rape. The barkeep claimed to be of Spanish and Indian descent, but that was close enough for a white mob who went berserk after his conviction, putting an axe in one black man's skull and burning down 35 buildings. Union troops were called in.

Detroit burned again in the race riots of 1943, in the middle of WWII, after a group of white teenagers got into a brawl with a group of black yoofs. Rumours of a white girl being raped by a gang of blacks fuelled the mobs. The black quarter of town (Detroit was 83% white at the time) was set on fire. After three days of rioting and 34 casualties, federal troops quelled the violence.

And then there were the race riots of 1967. After five days of violence, with 43 dead, more than 7000 arrested and 2000 buildings burned, the National Guard and the US Army's 82nd Airborne were brought in to restore some semblance of order. That's three -- count `em -- 3 times in just over a century that the Army has occupied an American city in the wake of racial conflict. It's always about race, isn't it.

This little bit of American trivia -- not so trivial, when you think about it -- is adapted from Detroit: An American Autopsy, by Charlie LeDuff, Penguin Press, 2013. I hadn't heard of Mr LeDuff when I picked this book up at a sale, but was intrigued by the title. Is Detroit really dead, I wondered. What killed it? Anything to do with race or the Democratic Party?

I was expecting a scholarly dissertation on such things as sociology, politics, city planning, and public administration, complete with charts, tables. I am very pleased to report that I got none of that! What I got was an intensely personal account of a reporter's journey through the wasteland that is today's Detroit, written by a native son.

To quote the dust jacket: Charlie LeDuff searches through the ruins for clues to its fate, his family's and his own.... With the steel-eyed reportage that has become his trademark and the righteous indignation only a native son possesses, LeDuff sets out to uncover what destroyed his city. He embeds with a local fire brigade struggling to defend its city against systemic arson and bureaucratic corruption.

He investigates politicians of all stripes, from the smooth-talking mayor to career police officials to ministers of the backstreets, following the paperwork to discover who benefits from Detroit's decline. He beats on the doors of union bosses and homeless squatters, p0owerful businessmen and struggling homeowners, and the ordinary people holding the city together by sheer determination.

Detroit: An American Autopsy is not a book by a liberal professor who has studied Detroiters like animals in a zoo. Charlie LeDuff writes real stories, about real people, of whom he is one. Like Studs Terkel and Ben Hamper (I was reminded of Rivethead), Mr LeDuff gives a powerful voice to those who are not listened to by the academics and the liberal media. I recommend the book most highly!

There's a bonus at the end of the book -- a photo essay of Detroit, so that when you close the book, you're not closing off your connection to the very real plight of the city. The images are imprinted into your head so that when you think of Detroit, you have something to remember it by. Here's just one of the evocative and provocative photos.

This photo, titled "Packard Plant, East Side", was taken by Danny Wilcox Frazier. Charlie LeDuff grew up on Joy Street, named after the founder of the now-defunct Packard Motor Car Company. Click here to find out more about the photo.

Further reading:
"Site contaminated with uranium partially collapses into Detroit River", Windsor Star, 4/12/19.
Autopsy of America, by Seth Lawless, Artivist Publishing, 2014. Haven't read it myself, yet, but looks like a good coffee-table book to give to your liberal friends for Christmas... oops, "winter holiday".

Identity of The Hague attacker revealed - not a Mohammed

Walt is pleased to welcome back (after a long absence) Agent 69, who helps us keep on top of the news from the Islamic States of Europe. [Be careful. I don't think that's been officially announced yet! Ed.] He speaks Dutch and has verified and amplified the comment added to the comment appended to "Allahu akbar! in London... now The Hague too!" (WWW 29/11/19), in which the attacker who stabbed three people in The Hague was described as "licht vertint". Here's Agent 69's report.

"Licht vertint" is a term used by the police when they mean "black as the night". And usually "North African descent" means Muslim. But in the case of The Hague it turned out it wasn't a Muslim, but a psychologically disturbed tramp who looked dark because he hadn't washed for weeks. You could probably smell him from 200 meters away! Police don't yet have any idea why he did what he did.

A few weeks ago the head of a national assistance unit said that we should stop with this bullshit and acknowledge that most crimes are committed by dark people and the children born here from Muslims parents. You can probably guess what happened: all political parties were shocked and bewildered. Not because he told what we all know for years already, but because he said it out loud! As head of a important police unit he should know better.