Less than three weeks after the horrific mid-air collision at DCA (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport), Delta Connection flight 4819 -- a Bombardier CRJ900 operated by Endeavor Air, a subsidiary of Delta Airlines -- crashed on landing at YYZ (Pearson International Airport in Toronto), overturning and winding up upside down on the runway.
As we reported in the DCA story, there was a lot of speculation by people right up to President Trump that DEI -- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion -- was a contributing factor to the tragic accident. People said that either the air traffic controllers or the pilots of the military helicopter, or both, were (possibly) DEI hires, not competent to perform their assigned duties.
The same conclusions were jumped to in the aftermath of the crash of 4819, with people demanding to know who the pilots were and their qualifications and experience. In this video, which has received over 2.8 million views since it was posted eight days ago, Taking Off analyst Dan Millican reveals the identities of the pilots and details their qualifications. And he offers his best guess as to which of them -- the male or the female -- had the controls as the plane crashed and burned.
Miraculously, everyone on board Delta 4819 survived. Mr Millican points out that this was by the grace of God, not the actions of the "heroic pilots", as the plane would have been uncontrollable a second or two after crashing. And his guess as to who was in control is just that, a guess. Suspicions will be confirmed... or not... once the relevant inquiries have been held and their reports released.
Still... one has to wonder about the safety of American skies when people with minimal qualifications, if any, are hired on the basis of race, gender or other politically-determined criteria. Don't be fooled, people. Wokeism can kill!
Today is polling day (the proper name for "election day") in Ontario. Voters are expected to brave the crappy weather to give Mr Ford and his "Progressive Conservatives" (read: cuckservatives) an unprecedented third majory government.
Walt sez: that's better than the liberal Liberals or the pinko "New Democrats", who are neither new nor democratic. Many good lucks to you, Doug.
We apologize for not having posted anything much in the last few days. We have been preoccupied with the Bergoglio death watch, which seems today to be a bit premature. Lord have mercy on him, and let your will be done.
There is also the dizzying pace of the changes being wrought by President Trump. It's hard to keep up. And frankly, some things the Donald is doing -- the threatened tariffs, the apparent sell-out of Ukraine -- look wrong-headed. There may be method in his madness, but we'll wait and see. For now, we'll hold the applause.
We cannot, however, delay our congratulations to Alice Weidel and her Alternativ für Deutschland party for their best-ever showing in last weekend's election.
See that huge aqua-tinted area, roughly corresponding to the old East Germany, on the map? Those are seats in the Reichstag won by the AfD!
Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU/CSU got more seats -- those coloured in black -- but Germany's 2025 election has revealed a strong trend to the hard right.
It is notable that the AfD's strength is mainly in the east, where millions of people remember what it was like to be governed by Communists. Their rejection of the socialism and liberalism of Angela Merkel and her successor Olaf Scholz.
AfD doubled its support from 10.4 to 20.8% in just four years, and is now the second biggest political force in the German parliament.
Meanwhile, outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's socialist SPD had its worst performance in decades, only securing 16.4% of the vote. The loony left Green Party, once considered the "coming thing", drew only 11.6% of the vote.
No wonder "Fred" Merz and Frau Merkel are seen here watching in horror as the results came in. The AfD dominates eastern Germany, apart from pockets like Berlin and half of Leipzig. In the west, the vast majority went conservative black, especially in Bavaria where Herr Merz's conservative sister party, the CSU, swept the landscape.
Alternativ für Deutschland is spreading in the west too, and loyalty to the old mainstream parties is a thing of the past. The AfD, demonized as "far-right" by the (((controlled media))), has, for one in five Germans, become "normal".
Even though it came second, the AfD is blocked from being part of the next government because of a "firewall" constructed by Germany's main parties, who have refused to co-operate with any party seen as "extremist".
The same strategy -- refusing to join in any coalition with any right-wing group -- has been employed to keep Marine Le Pen's National Rally out of power in France. The firewall -- Brandmauer in German -- has worked since the end of WWII, but AfD joint leader Tino Chrupalla says, "Anyone who erects firewalls will get grilled behind them."
The cuckservative CDU/CSU did not win enough seats to form a majority government. Herr Merz must therefore find a coalition partner, but has vowed to keep the firewall in place. He told the meeja that he believes the only reason the AfD exists is because of "problems such as migration and security that need to be addressed:" Ya think?! "We need to resolve these problems," he said, "then that party, the AfD, will disappear."
AfD leader Alice Weidel insists it is a libertarian, conservative movement, not racist. Its big increase in public support has coincided with a series of deadly attacks in the past nine months, all by Islamic extremists who Angela Merkel's minions welcomed into the Fatherland as "refugees" and asylum-seekers. What the AfD wants to do is send them back where they came from, in a policy dubbed "remigration".
Herr Merz will now go into talks on forming a government with the Social Democrats, who came third. He has already flirted with the AfD in the Reichstag, relying on their votes to push through a motion on migration. Now that the AfD has more than 150 seats, many CDU/CSU supporters believe it is time for the firewall to go. Stay tuned.
Ed. here. I admit that we're just filling space, and give full credit to The Patriot Post for publishing this and other excellent work from the Memesters Union. There's been a lot going on the last couple of days and Walt is busy "processing it"... as they say...
Message from our National Sports (As Long As It's Hockey) Editor, Poor Len Canayen, to President Trump and any others who want to make Canada the 51st state of the Disunited States of America: No way, eh!
Vocabulary.com defintes "bathetic" as something that's full of bathos -- overly sentimental, gushy, and worse yet — insincere. Soap operas, for example, are known for their bathetic emotionalism, because the characters cry and wail and scheme over the silliest things.
Another example was foisted on a gullibale public on Sunday night's episode of 60 Minutes. The subject of the propaganda exercise was the Trump administration's attempt to reduce wasteful and unnecessary federal spending by, among other things, shutting down USAID. The shrieks of horror from the loony lefties at 60 Minutes were a laughable attempt to turn public opinion against President Trump and DOGE because those poor bureaucrats at USAID lost their oh-so-vital jobs.
The star turn was an interview with Poor Kristina Drye and Poor Adam Dubard, who said they were being fired by USAID and had no idea where their next meal was going to come from. According to Breitbart News's John Nolte, Ms Drye and Mr Dubard are not USAID employees.
"Granted (he writes), 60 Minutes doesn't identify them as USAID employees, but there is no question the interview is rigged to make it sound as if they were. And nowhere in that clip or in the CBS News write-up are we told who they really are. Mr Drye was a USAID contractor who wrote speeches for Samantha Power, who was appointed to run USAID by the Biden administration.
"Same with Adam Dubard. He was a contractor, not a USAID employee. They both worked for a company that did partisan work funded by USAID, which was funded by taxpayers.
Maybe they can now add 'crisis actors' to their resumes."
If you watched the piece -- I nearly broke my wrist changing channels -- you know, now, what bathos is. Our friends at The Patriot Post posted this little gem of satire.
Let all the Karens weeping for the fired USAID employees and other "victims" of the Orange Man think about this: President Trump has been in office for only four week. There's 204 weeks still to come.
Still catching up after much time spent amongst the winter's snows. In Munich, Germany, on February 14th, Vice-President Vance delivered one of the best speeches of his life. This was within hours of yet another Islamic terrorist attack, and J.D. pulls no punches in speaking truth to the European liberal elites about "the enemies within" our Western civilization. Only 20 minutes, a must watch.
This video is closing on 1.5 million views on YouTube, and deservedly so. You'll find a transcript on the YT page, useful in following along.
Were the Euro-wienies paying attention? We're coming down to crunch time on Russia's war of aggression against the Ukraine, and on the vital question of European security. Thanks to President Trump's new approach to foreign policy, we're on the verge of a new Cold War. Time for the fence-sitters to jump one way or another.
Further viewing (added 18/2/25 at 1830 FMT) "Listen to Your People, Don’t Go Hard Left: - Victor Davis Hanson summarizes and adds a hearty "Amen" to Vice-President Vance's Munich speech.
Ed. suggests we create a new standing headline: "Your jihadis today". There seems to be a lot of jihadism -- holy war against uf infidels -- going around these days.
In Munich, Germany, this past Thursday, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker was arrested after deliberately driving a car into a trade union demonstration. See "'Allahu akbar!' in Germany... just in time for the election", WWW 13/2/25, and "Munich Islamic terror attack UPDATE", WWW 14/2/25. A two-year-old girl and her mother died on Saturday from injuries suffered in the attack, which left 37 others injured.
If Ed. had been on the ball, instead of watching the Canada-USA hockey game, we'd have posted another story about Islamic terrorism last night, for it was just yesterday that a 14-year-old boy was killed and four other people injured in a knife attack in the southern Austrian city of Villach.
Die Polizei were Fritzie-on-the-spot, quickly arresting a 23-year-old Syrian who they say was... wait for it... an asylum seeker.
Pictures of the arrest show him smiling as a cop covers him with her weapon. For those who can't read German, he's saying (or at least thinking) "You can't arrest me! I'm a refugee!"
A spokesthingy for the local police tolld the meeja, "A man randomly attacked passers-by with a knife. One victim, a 14-year-old boy, died."
Two other men suffered serious injuries, while another two men suffered less serious wounds.
The incident happened in the centre of the city, the capital of the Carinthia province, at just before 1600 local time. A food delivery rider saw the attack and rammed his vehicle into the attacker, who was arrested right after the attack.
The arrested man is a Syrian asylum-seeker with a valid residence permit and without a criminal record, according to preliminary information Police said he may have had Islamist extremist motives for the attack. No shit, Schultz!
UPDATE ADDED at 0850 FMT. The good folks at Blazing Cat Fur have a later version of this story. The words "ISIS death cult" leap off the screen.
Some readers of liberal disposition [Yes, we do have a few of those. Ed.] have asked why we keep starting the headlines with "Allahu akbar!" when we don't know... yet... anything to suggest that the attackers are Muslims, let alone Islamic terrorists. Well, we go with our suspicions, which haven't yet been found to be unfounded. [Trust that's clear. Ed.]
The latest case in point is the horrific attack in Munich described in "'Allahu akbar!' in Germany", WWW 13/2/25. We noted that the German cops quickly identified the perp as an asylum-seeker from Afghanistan, welcome to the Fatherland by Angela Merkel's minions. However, they said at that time that they didn't know what his motivation was.
Were we wrong to jump to the usual conclusion? NO! Today, The Times (UK) fills in the blanks in a story headlined "Munich attack suspect named as Afghan fitness influencer". Yeah, so? The truth comes out in the lede: "German authorities have arrested Farhad Noori — who flexed oiled muscles in Instagram and TikTok posts — and believe car-ramming was motivated by Islamism." Quelle surprise!
In case you're behind the paywall, here's more of the Times story. The emphasis is Walt's.
"A man suspected of attempted mass murder after a car was driven into a crowd in central Munich has been named as Farhad Noori, a competitive bodybuilder with tens of thousands of followers on social media. The authorities say they believe the car-ramming was motivated by Islamism.
"Noori, an Afghan who came to Germany in 2016, described himself online as a 'fitness model' and posted selfies flexing his oiled muscles and posing with cars including a white Mini Cooper similar to the one reportedly used in Thursday's attack.
"He has 68,000 followers on Instagram and 32,800 on TikTok, and his grinning persona online does not appear to fit the profile of a radical Islamist with a grudge against the West.
However, Munich’s top prosecutor, Gabriele Tilmann, said on Friday that she believed there was an “Islamist motivation” to the attack.
Noori faces possible charges of attempted murder in 36 cases and causing dangerous bodily harm.
"'After the crime, the accused said 'Allahu Akbar' to police officers and then prayed after his arrest,' Tilmann told a news conference in Munich on Friday. She said that during a two-hour interrogation on Thursday he admitted he had driven into the crowd deliberately. 'He gave a reason for this, which I would now summarise as a religious motivation. I can’t quote from the interrogation of the accused here...but what he said about it suggests a religious motivation for the crime.'"
Footnote: Readers familiar with the cult classic Repo Man should note the presence of the pinetree air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.
At the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, award-winning author Matt Taibbi spoke passionately about government efforts to censor free speech. Here's what he had to say.
Just because Donald Trump won the election [honestly! Ed.] doesn't mean that the fight against the Deep State and its controlled media is over.
A federal election will be held in Germany on February 23rs to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag. German lefties, wokesters and "anti-Nazis" are soiling their shorts in fear that Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) will emerge strong enough to form a government, even without the co-operation of other parties.
The lickspittle press, especially DW (the state broadcaster), characterizes AfD as "far right", "neo-Nazi", yada yada yada, because the main plank in their platform is to repatriate -- send back where they came from -- the hordes of Muslim invaders who have flooded into the Fatherland thanks to Angela Merkel and her successors.
Why do they want the follwers of the Religion of Peace (TM) to go back to the Middle East and Africa? Because of incidents such as happened last night in Munich, when a 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker drove straight into a group of people injuring at least 28, some seriously.
Die Polizei, usually politically correct about crimes committed by Muslim invaders, were quick to say they are treating the incident as a "suspected attack". No shit, Schultz! The car accelerated before running into the crowd at a trade union rally. An officer fired one shot at the suspect before he was arrested.
Just a union-buster, maybe? Errr, no. The suspect, who police now say was known to them, was a poster boy for DEI and mass immigration. The unnamed [Shurely not "Mohammed"? Ed.] driver was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker with a record of theft and drug offences.
Walt is sure Mohammed (or Abdul or Omar...whatever) is not typical of the millions of poor and oppressed Muslims making their way towards Europe (and America too!) in search of a better life. Please don't listen to the Islamophobic tirades of the AfD and other racists and white supremacists. The followers of the Prophet come in peace... don't they?
Further to "What does 'the end of woke' look like?", WWW 11/2/25, we have more good news to report. [Notice he didn't say "share". Ed.] The Executive Orders are coming so fast that it's hard to keep up.
First of all, President Trump has announced that it's OK for people to use plastic drinking straws again. "We’re going back to plastic straws," he told the meeja at the White House as he signed the order. "Paper straws don't work. They break," he said, adding, "I don’t think plastic is going to affect a shark very much, as they're munching their way through the ocean." More common sense, not to mention trees saved.
Even more important are indications that Google has given up trying to toe the politically correct line. Their online and mobile calendars no longer include references to the first day of Black History Month or Pride Month, among other events.
The company previously had those days marked at the start of February and June, but they reportedly don’t appear for 2025.
"We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing, and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable. So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments."
The company, which has also removed the first day of Women’s History Month in March and Indigenous Peoples Month in June, has stepped back from its diversity, equity and inclusion goals after President Trump signed an executive order to dismantle federal DEI programs. The EO was titled "Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing."
Has the President got the wokesters' attention yet? Looks like it, but there's lots more to come. Stay tuned...and give thanks!
It's been a while since we featured a video by the good doctor. Agent 6 alerted us to this one, posted on February 5th, in which Dr Peterson reads from his recent article in the National Post, wherein he outlines the case for Trump’s Canada. [Eh? Ed.] He analyses what the Donald is seemingly offering, why provinces like Alberta might just take the deal, and how the Great No-longer-white North can still align itself for a "new era of triumph".
What isn't clear to me, though, is what President Trump really wants. Surely it's more than decent beer -- DJT doesn't drink -- or a 51st star on Old Glory. For an alternative theory, check out the video in "Why does DJT have Canada in the cross-hairs?", WWW 3/2/25.
Yes, seriously. This is the reality of the new Golden Age of America. What?! You do not believe?! Consider this...
A memo from defense secretary Pete Hegseth, filed in court yestereday, says that the US military will no longer allow trannies transgender individuals to join the armed forces and will stop performing or facilitating :procedures associated with gender transition" for service members.
The memo comes after President Trump signed an executive order in January that took aim at transgender troops in a personal way, saying that a man identifying as a woman was "not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."
In his memo, Secretary Hegseth cited the President's EO, thus: "As the president clearly stated, expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."
Therefore, "All unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for service members are paused....
"The department must ensure it is building 'one force' without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence. Efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated."
It's a bit hard to read the lede, in the smaller type. It reads "A 52-year-old man from Acton, Ont. has died following a four-vehicle collision on Highway 410 in Mississauga."
Which is it then? 401 or 410? Well?
That's all you need to know about journalistic standards today. Proofreader? Wozzat?
"Common sense is illegal in Washington DC!" So says Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), in this speech, which every American taxpayer should listen to.
The solon is talking about Elon Musk and the mandate of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to audit the spending of US government departments and agencies to find out what they've been doing with the trillions of taxpayer dollars which seems to vanish down rabbit holes every year.
Senator Kennedy's particular target, in this speech, is USAid, which Mr Musk has discovered is sending to organizations promoting the LGBTQ agenda, gender ideology, Islamic terrorism, and other woke causes, not around the world. (USAid = foreign aid, remember.) His catalogue of how your money was spent is shocking, just shocking. Listen up.
As DOGE starts digging into education and other departments, there will be more... and worse... Stay tuned. As Senator Kennedy says, Mr Musk should get a medal!
President Donald Trump recently announced that he has instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to have the Treasury Department stop making new pennies, explaining that it costs more than two cents to make them!
"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents," DJT wrote in a post on Truth Social. "This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time."
Actually it costs more than three cents per cent. Last month, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) wrote in a post on X, "The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023. The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced."
It's worth noting too that the quality of the ersatz copper cents -- they're actually zinc with a thin veneer of copper -- ain't what it used to be, just like everything else in today's America. Check out the example at left.
So full of flaws and errors are America's coins that Lincoln Memorial pennies with errors or in high grades can be rare and valuable. The one pictured is offered on eBay for a mere $25,000.
A 1986 penny with the text "In Sod We Trust" instead of "In God We Trust" is rare and sought-after. A 1986 penny missing the layer of copper cladding is rarer still. Even a cut or nick or extra piece of metal (known as a "cud") on the rim of the coin, also known as a cud can be worth hundreds of times the coin's nominal value.
Although production of new pennies has been halted, the cent has not yet been officially demonetized as it was in Canada in 2012. See "Canada doesn't make cents any more", WWW 20/12/12.
In that piece, Walt had made a very sensible suggestion, which he now passes on to Elon Musk [who we assume reads WWW. Ed.] If the US government, ever decides to follow the lead of the frugal frostbacks, here's Walt's can't-miss cost recovery plan.
Sell the old pennies to Zimbabwe! They use US dollars there but they have no coins because they can't afford to import any. So ship them Amereican pennies at, say, half their face value, plus S+H, plus taxes and tariffs, and they should fetch pretty close to... well, millions and millions -- way more than the expected revenue from recycling.
You're welcome, Mr Musk! No need to write a letter of thanks. A check will do nicely.
Hey, how about that Super Bowl LIX! If you're a KC fan, or a KC bettor (even worse), you didn't have a lot to cheer about, as the Chiefs failed to cover the spread. As defending champions, sportsbooks had the Chiefs as 1.5-point favourites before the game. The game was expected to be high-scoring, with an over-under of 48.5. And so it was, but unsophisticated people [like Walt. Ed.] who just look at the raw scores, thought it was a pretty unexciting contest.
Of course nowadays there's a lot more to bet on than the scores.but there were plenty of bets that were very close. The national anthem, for example, was right at the line for the time but was officially scored just under the 120.5-second line. From the coin toss to how many times Taylor Swift was on camera to the Gatorade bath and the MVP, the New York Times has the results of all the major Super Bowl prop bets in a "party props sheet". [You didn't think it would be free, didja|? Ed.]
And how about that half-time show? Walt switched to a rerun of I Love Lucy on a cable channel, but according to the lengthy and fulsome NYT review, it came down to another round in the fight the star attraction, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake, the alleged Canadian, who was somewhere else.
Mr Lamar (né Kendrick Lamar Duckworth) made his Drake diss ÈNot Like Us" the centerpiece of his set. He wore denim-on-denim, often called a "Canadian tuxedo", a potential dig at Drake, who was actually born ion the Great No-longer-white North. While performing recently in Australia, Drake told fans, in a possible allusion to the fallout from his feud with Lamar, that he is still "very much alive." Just not in the USA or Canada, though.
Some display of "American culture", eh. I might have written "Black culture", but in truth present-day American culture is Black culture. In its review, the NYT reminds us that Kendrick Lamar is a Pulitzer Prize winner. That there tells you all you need to know.
Agent 78, whose native tongue is not English, said, "Am I supposed to talk like that? I have no idea what he was saying." Agent 3, who is a dual citizen residing in Canuckistan, wrote, "If this is what Canada will be like if it becomes the 51st state, fuggedaboutit!"
At least one person who was part of the halftime show had a different idea of how to use the performance to advance an agenda. Toward the end of the set, he pulled out a banner combining the flags of Palestine and Sudan that featured a heart and a fist. Was this part of the performance, another level of commentary woven into a show already packed with it? Thanks to the Times of India, we have video.
In footage captured from inside the stadium but not broadcast, that individual was chased off the main stage just a few seconds after whipping out the flag. He ran around the field for a spell before he was tackled by a coterie of security guards in suits and carried off the field. That revolution, at least, would not be televised.
Another aspect of American culture was on display after the game, as 1000s of Eagles fans spilled out of bars and onto the streets of Philthydelphia after watching their team humble the Kansas City Chiefs. [Isn't "Chiefs" kind of racist, like "Redskins"? Ed.]
The city had opted not to grease the light poles even though a fan died two weeks ago after falling from a light pole after the NFC Championship Game. Despite that tragedy, Eagles fans showed no hesitation in climbing to the top of light poles, cars, construction vehicles, garbage trucks, small buildings, and almost anything else they could find.
Some fans clashed with and taunted police as officers attempted to keep the crowd confined to certain areas and under control. Dozens of fireworks were set off in the streets. However, it seems as though most Eagles fans wanted to climb things. Pole greasing and pleas to "PLEASE not climb them" didn't work.
However, the joyful demonstrations were mostly peaceful, with not a lot of "reparations shopping", possibly because many businesses in the City of Bruvverly Love have been closed permanently because of... you know... something white people did.
That's enough. No more football until next year. Ed.
An excerpt from today's reading (St. Luke 2:25-32, DRV):
25. And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghose was in him.
26. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
27. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law;
28. He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said:
29. Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to they word in peace;
30. Because my eyes have seen they salvation,
31. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
32. A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
We apologize to anyone who was offended by yesterday's "Ultimate click-bait" post... including those who clicked on the image or the text and were disappointed to find that it didn't lead anywhere! Here's something more edifying.
Walt was in South Africa in the mid-90s when the white-run country was handed over to the Marxist African National Congress. Predictably, it has slid downhill ever since, and is now just a small cut above Zimbabwe in terms of standard of living and everything else that matters. Now they want to seize white farms -- what took them so long? -- to ensure starvation.
South Africa is also (and again predictably) home to one of the world's worst epidemics of HIV/AIDS. At least 8.5 million of its people are living with HIV, and Sky News (the woke British version, not the painfully honest Aussie site) is whining that their treatment is in doubt thanks to President Trump's executive order freezing foreign aid for 90 days.
Until the introduction of Dubya's President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, African sufferers from the deadly disease were at the mercy of their witch doctors (not kidding -- look it up!) there was no medication. Nelly Zulu, an activist and mother living with HIV in Soweto told Sky News, "The government would tell us to take beetroot and garlic. It was very difficult for the government to give us treatment but we fought very hard to win this battle. Now, the challenge is that we are going back to the struggle."
In this video, a prostitute walks up to the security guards outside a shuttered USAid-funded sexual health clinic in Johannesburg's inner-city district. She looks around with confusion when she is told the clinic is closed. She tells Sky's reporter it has only been two months since she came here to receive her usual care. Now, she must scramble to find another safe place for her sexual health screenings and pre-exposure prophylaxis. Like many sex workers, free sexual health clinics are her lifeline. "You don't have to quit working. Just keep taking these pills, provided by those nice Americans."
Too bad, eh. But ask yourself why South Africa, still a comparitively wealthy nation -- compared with Zimbabwe, say -- should be receiving handouts from American taxpayers to mitigate the poor lifestyle... and political... choices of its citizens.
Meanwhile, South African boers (white farmers) say they are deeply worried by a land seizure bill has been signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Basically, this bill gives the government power to take the farmers' land, and even their domestic houses, and not pay any compensation, if there is "good reason" for so doing. What constitutes "good reason" has not been stated, but "to give it to blacks" is Walt's guess. (Lifetime pct .989)
Farmers who choose to move to someplace where they won't experience reverse racism will be looking to Australia, Canada, maybe even the US of A, where their agricultural expertise will be welcome. Souoth Africa's loss will be our gain! And here's a shining example...
Susanna Heystek's family migrated to Canada around the turn of the century. Things have gotten worse in South Africa since then. They're getting worse in the Great No Longer White North too, but for the time being, it's a better bet than the land they left.
You do realize, don't you, that the US of A and Canada are quite different in many ways. That's why our national holidays in July, although only three days apart, are celebrated differently. That's why President Trump's talk about Canada becoming the 51st state is just trolling the gliberals and never-Trumpers like Andy Coyne and Dave Frum. Chill, baby, chill!
It's the drugs, stupid! That's the thesis of Samuel Cooper, an investigative journalist and author of Willful Blindness: How a network of narcos, tycoons and CCP agents infiltrated the West. I haven't read this book -- just heard of it now, in fact -- therefore can't recommend it, but Mr Cooper certainly puts forward an interesting... and very scary hypothesis.
In this intereview with Daniela Cambone, Mr Cooper says, "There are very deep concerns that Canada is being used by China in a very sophisticated economic and truly criminal way." And that's the reason, he says, for President Trump's recent rhetoric about tariffs and Canada becoming the 51st state.
It's not a tactic to get Canada to renegotiate the trade deal with the US of A, he says, but a ploy to curb the massive illegal fentanyl trade originating from Canada. "China ships the precursors to the West Coast of Mexico and the West Coast of Canada," he says, "so Vancouver is used as a hub for these precursors." He also details how elite Chinese politicians involve Canada in illegal money laundering, while Canadian politicians turn a blind eye to it.
In just a couple of hours, President Trump is scheduled to have a telephone conversation with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of All Canuckistan. Walt wonders if this is what they will talk about! Will we ever be told? Don't bet on it.
Good grief! Groundhog Day again! Walt got up at the crack of dawn, compiled this report on the festivities, then sealed up the crack and went back to bed.
North America's famous prognosticating rodents were split over spring’s arrival on Groundhog Day.
In rural Pennsylvania, hard by the Moshannon State Forest, Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog weather watcher, was pulled from his warm burrow this morning and saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter.
On the other side of the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM), Ontario's Wiarton Willie, pictured, reportedly did not see his shadow, which is good news for people tired of wintry weather. But Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam and Québec's Fred la Marmotte saw their shadows, predicting a long winter ahead.
Tradition holds that if a groundhog doesn't see its shadow on Groundhog Day, springlike weather will soon arrive. But if a shadow appears, winter's icy grip won't let go for quite some time. Walt places more trust in Wiarton Willie [because he's white? Ed.], but cannot overlook the majority opinion -- 3 to 1 for more winter. Back to sleep.
Breitbart News reports today on an interview between Bill Maher and Peggy Noonan on yesterday's broadcast of HBO’s Real Time. Mr Maher stated that younger people have fallen into a dangerous level of self-loathing about America. A significant part of this is because, he said, "older generations read about Communism and socialism" and today's generation doesn't.
Mr Maher added, "Another, I think big gap between generations...is that the older generations just have a more positive idea of this country.... And kids today, I don’t know what they’re teaching them in school, it doesn’t seem like a hell of a lot, but they have this idea, that they live...in a bad country that has only done bad things and is probably the worst place in the world, if they could only find a way to get out."
Ms Noonan responded that while America is "not perfect. To say the least, it’s had an uneven history. But it is a great country, and, historically, has been a good country." To which her host responded, "And it does self-correct. It does correct more than other places."
"Self-criticism is good," the WSJ columnist agreed. "Self-hatred is sick. Self-criticism could get you to a good place. Self-hatred is going to stop you dead."
On reading this, I immediately rememberted George Carlin's special "Life Is Worth Losing", made for HBO in 2005. In the video, the stand-up comedian covers the downfall of America from our "inheritance" of "this beautiful country" to consumerism and today's politicians, "It's a big club and you ain't in it!"
As you watch this clip, ask yourself: Is this self-hatred, self-loating, or self-correction?
Mr Carlin isn't alive (RIP) to answer my question. I doubt that he intended it to be a recipe for self-correction, since his cynicism -- he was the ultimate kitchen cynic (geddit?) -- would suggest that self-correction is impossible for today's Americans. QED. This clip has had over 31 million views over the 19 years since it was made. I don't see anything or anybody changing. Do you?
