"I went to the fights the other night and a hockey game broke out!"

That's an old Henny Youngman one-liner. I couldn't help but think of it about 20 minutes into last night's so-called "debate" between Still-President Trump and Sleepy Joe Biden. Not that I expected the kind of civilized debate you would hear in Not-so-great Britain or Canuckistan, but not the shouting match presided over last night by Nox News' Chris Wallace, who did a good part of the shouting himself. What did I think of it?

It didn't take Old Joe but ten minutes to start slagging off the President. In the remaining 90 minutes he called Mr Trump a "liar" (several times), a "racist", and a "clown". Those are examples of what members of Westminster parliaments call "unparliamentary language". Those who utter such words during debate can be forced to withdraw and apologize, and if they don't they can be tossed out of the House. But Mr Biden got away with it. I wonder who crafted his ad libs? Perhaps that great writer Ed Hominem? 

To his credit, Still-President Trump did not use personal insults of that kind, nor did he say anything about Mr Biden's physical or mental health problems. What the President did, though, was to interrupt and talk over both Mr Biden and the moderator, in his best bully-boy style. He would have been well-advised to keep cool and try to appear statesmanlike, but that's not really his style, unfortunately.

What about policy? What would either candidate do to address the issues important to me and all Americans, as listed in "What is the main issue in the 2020 election?", WWW 28/9/20. We didn't hear much about those things, although Mr Trump did succeed in forcing Mr Biden to take a position on the radical leftist New Green Deal. Mr Biden said he was for it... I think... even if it cost 100 trillion dollars.

When it came to law and order, President Trump accused Mr Biden of being unable to utter the phrase for fear of alienating his pro-Antifa radical left supporters. Mr Biden replied by trotting out the hoary old line about Mr Trump's allegedly saying there were "very fine people" amongst the pro-America demonstrators at Charlottesville VA. What the President said was that there were "very fine people on both sides". 

The only time Mr Biden handed Mr Trump a stick to beat him with was, I thought, near the end, when the former Vice-President repeated the lie that President Trump had called American soldiers "losers". Mr Biden seguéd into a remark that his son had served in the military and he was proud of him, proud of the military, yada yada yada. 

"Which son was that?", asked the President, "Beau or Hunter?", to which Mr Biden had to reply that it was Beau, and that Hunter had addiction problems which he worked his way through, yada yada yada, prompting Mr Trump to question (again) the Bidens' "business" dealings in Russia and Ukraine.

Chris Wallace, for his part, appeared eager to distance himself from the perceived pro-Trump bias of his employer, Fox News, going so far as to enter into the debate on Mr Biden's side. Rooting for the underdog, I guess.

A hundred minutes of trash-talking. That's what the first of the presidential debates was. President Trump's supporters will be happy, having heard what they wanted to hear. Mr Biden's supporters will be happy that he didn't have a nervous breakdown or even a pronounced "senior moment" during the clash. 

98% of voters have already made up their minds anyway, so the debate was pointless. Worse, it wasn't even good television.

But who won? The funny folks at the Babylon Bee put this up yesterday.

Footnote: Walt gives former V-P Biden credit for having the better tailor. President Trump looked kind of rumpled. 

Further reading: "Debate Recap: Trump Wins, Biden Doesn't Faint, Chris Wallace Goes Down Hard", PJMedia, 29/9/20.

Waiting for the debate

Got yer popcorn made yet?

What is the main issue in the 2020 election?

With the first Trump vs Biden debate scheduled for tomorrow night [Got yer bets down? Ed.], it is high time we (the people) asked: what is the most important issue confronting America today? What is the main thing Americans should want to hear discussed and debated?

Is it the corona virus Dempanic? Although the death ratio is decreasing, 1000s of new cases are being detected every day.

Is it the rioting and mayhem rampant in the streets of America's big cities? The Soros- and Antifa-orchestrated "mostly peaceful protests" have a taken a toll of dozens of deaths and millions in damage.

Is it the economy? Because of the lockdowns and closures, and the Dempanic over Covid-19, there has been a sharp rise in unemployment and a loss of confidence in the American economy.

Is it the loss of our freedoms? Big government, the nanny state, has taken control of every facet of our daily lives (except in Democrat-controlled places like Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis) and is stopping us from going to church, watching a ball game from the bleachers, or even taking a stroll in the park.

All good topics for debate, right? All things which every voter should think about before casting his/her/its ballot(s). But which is most important? According to the New York Times and the Democrats, it's none of those things. Nooooo... It's Still-President Trump's tax returns!   

The Times claims to have had sight of President Trump's tax returns, which, they say, show that Mr Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. And (they claim) Mr Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid just $750 in taxes to the US government the year he was elected, and another $750 in his first year in office, 2017.

Speaking at a news conference at the White House, the President dismissed the report as "fake news" and said he has paid taxes, as we'll see when the feds get through auditing him. 

Walt says... If that's true, I (and most of our readers) paid a lot than did President Trump. But so what? Numerous richer people paid nothing at all! How much did Bill Gates pay? How much did (((Mark Zuckerberg))) pay? How much did Jeffrey Preston Bezos (né Jorgensen) pay? 

The US tax system is incredibly complicated, made so by politicians intent on amassing wealth and protecting the wealthy and powerful. Rich people, including the above-named... and let's not forget (((George Soros)))... hire teams of smart accountants and lawyers to drive cart and horses through the many loopholes inserted in the laws to enable them to avoid (not "evade", but "avoid") taxation. As Mr Trump said in the 2016 debate against Hellery, "That just proves I'm a smart guy!" 

Further reading: "As Biden and Trump prepare for the first debate, the stakes couldn't be higher", by the evergreen Rex Murphy, in the National Post, 28/9/20. 

Footnote: The key question to ask when you're hiring an accountant is "How much is 2 + 2?" If the prospect answers "4", that shows he/she is sensible, law-abiding, risk-averse, and steady. If he/she says "22", that shows creativity, imagination, and a willingness to challenge the conventional wisdom. But if he/she answers "How much do you want it to be?"... that's the one to hire!

VIDEO: Judge Amy Coney Barrett, in conversation, 2019

Earlier today, Still-President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Barrett, a staunch conservative, and a constructionist rather than an activist, was a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia. She said she was "truly humbled" by the nomination and quickly aligned herself with Justice Scalia's conservative approach to the law, saying his "judicial philosophy is mine, too." 

 Trending on YouTube right now is "Evening with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, hosted by the Notre Dame Club of Washington DC on 19 February 2019. Jon Heintz (J.D. 2014) introduced Judge Barrett to the audience, and Megan Wold (J.D. 2011) interviewed the judge in a wide-ranging conversation about her family and professional life. 

Is this the Wicked Witch of the West the Dumbocrats are so exercised about? Listen and judge for yourself!

 

VIDEO: Walt recommends a soap opera. Really? Yes, really!

In case you missed it [and we're betting you did. Ed.], 2017 was the Year of the Indian in Canada. Except it wasn't called that, because there are no more Indians in Canada, except the millions who have immigrated in recent years. [Don't go there. Ed.] In Canada, the people who used to be called "Indians" are now referred to in PC-speak as "First Nations". Terms such as "aboriginal people" and "indigenous people" are also PC, but include the indigenes formerly known as "Eskimos", so "First Nations" it shall be. 

Anyway... 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation, was the year in which the goveernment of Canuckistan (Just In Trudeau, Prop.) decided to make a big show of grovelling in repentance over the shameful treatment of the First Nations perpetrated by the British colonialists over the preceding two centuries. There were profuse apologies, acknowledgment ceremonies in which the stealing of the First Nations' lands was acknowledged, and the obligatory inclusion of First Nations representatives in all the other foofarawa that marked the Sesquicentenary.

That moment has passed. 2020 is the year of the Blacks, with a capital "B". But one thing that endured was the pressure to do more for/with First Nations in the greater society. M Trudeau now has two (2) cabinet ministers charged with keeping the natives from becoming too restless. And the Canadian Broadcorping Castration now features an "Indigenous" tab on its propagands ["news", shurely! Ed.] website.

OK, OK... It's easy to make fun of the CBC (aka CNN North), but from time to time they present some worthwhile programmes. Back in the 90s, before patronizing the First Nations was popular or profitable, they produced North of 60, a "mystery drama series" -- OK, a soap opera -- about the trials and tribulations of aboriginal people in the fictional town of Lynx River, Northwest Territories.

Depicting life in the sub-Arctic northern boreal forest (north of 60° north latitude, hence the title), it first aired on CBC in 1992 and ran through 1997. Lynx River is a primarily First Nations-run village depicted as being in the Dehcho Region, although it was actually shot in and around Bragg Creek AB, west of Calgary. The show explored themes of native poverty, alcoholism, cultural preservation, conflict over land settlements, and natural resource exploitation.

Most of the characters were Dené (a group of First Nations who live in the region), as were the actors who portrayed them. Some non-native characters had important roles: the restaurant/motel owner, the band manager, the nurse and (in the first season) the town's main RCMP officer. That's the way it is in real life, in that part of the world.

The star of the series (as it turned out) was Tina Keeper, who played RCMP Constable (later Corporal) Michelle Kenidi. Tom Jackson played Michelle's brother Peter, the band chief (most of time). The villain of piece, Albert Golo (bootlegger, then band chief), was played by veteran actor Gordon Tootoosis, who should have got an award of some kind.

The "youth interest" was suppied by Dakota House as Trevor 'Teevee' Tenia (teen trouble-maker, then band chief). First Nations people, every one of them. Other First Nations in the cast were: Jimmy Herman as Joe Gomba (elder), Willene Tootoosis (Gordon's daughter) as Lois Tenia (Teevee's mother), Columpa Bobb as Mary Cook (the native nurse, in conflict with the white nurse), and Henry Standing Alone (that's a real Alberta name!) as Sam Kizha. Wilma Pelly was a fan favourite, played Elsie Tsa Che, Teevee's grandmother, a community elder.

Yes, there were white people, notably John Oliver, who played RCMP Corporal Eric Olsen during the show's first two seasons. He left the show when his off-screen relationship with Tina Keeper went south (no pun intended), and was replaced by Robert Bockstael as Corporal Brian Fletcher, who in turn was replaced later by Peter Kelly Gaudreault as Constable James Harper.

Tracey Cook played Sarah Birkett, the white nurse who somehow never quite fit in to the community, in spite of a disastrous relationship with Albert Golo. Lubomir Mykytiuk played Gerry Kisilenko, who ran the motel/restaurant/general store. In spite of his Ukrainian heritage, he couldn't do the accent that would have made him seem "more real", at least to me. Same for Yvan Ponton, who played RCMP, who played Inspector Fortier, who appeared every now and then to set everyone back on the right path. Not a sympathetic character in the lot.

That's enough cast list. How about a sample? Here's Season 3, Episode 9, entitled "The Gift".

   

After North of 60 ended in 1997, five made-for-TV movies were made, featuring various members of the show's recurring cast. They were: In The Blue Ground (1999), Trial by Fire (2000), Dream Storm (2001), Another Country (2003), and Distant Drumming (2005).

The movies and the entire six seasons of the show are in perpetual rerun on APTN (the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, available in Canada), and most of the TV shows have now appeared on YouTube. If you like what you've seen, click here to go to the YouTube playlist for all the episodes of Season 3.

UPDATED: VIDEO: Why some people are immune to Covid-19

 

Thanks a tip of the old straw hat to Agent 6.

Just because the Amish don't have TV doesn't mean they don't know what's going on! Here's a video of a parade held in Fredericksburg ON earlier this month.

"Allahu akbar!" near old Charlie Hebdo office. Terrorism suspected?

Did you think the jihadis would let the fifth anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attack at the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo pass unobserved? Nosiree Mohammed! 

Reports reaching us this morning (Walt's time) say that a man wielding a machete or a meat cleaver [possibly a scimitar? Ed.] attacked and injured four people -- two seriously -- at the same site today. "At least" two people are said to have been arrested, one at the scene and one on the steps of the nearby Opera Bastille. 

No information about the suspects has been released, and the motivation for the attack has "yet to be determined", according to politically correct French government officials, but it's noteworthy that 14 of the suspects in the 2015 attacks at the Charlie Hebdo offices are currently on trial.

The attacks were supposed to be punishment, according to the will of Allah, for the magazine's publication of satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. This is a developing story. Walt will try to bring you an update as soon as the names of the radical Muslims [Hey, don't jump to conclusions! Ed.] have been released. 

Further reading:

"Western leaders finally admit Muslims are waging jihad against us", WWW 10/1/15; 

"Steyn and Murphy on the Charlie Hebdo massacre and free speech", WWW 10/1/15. 

UPDATE ADDED 27/9/20: This story has complete disappeared from the mojo wire overnight. How can that be? Is it possible that the lamestream media are not doing any follow-ups for fear that the assailants may turn out to be Mooselims? Just askin'... 

Further update from AP: French authorities now say they have taken seven people into custody after the stabbing outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo, including the suspected assailant. And... wait for it... they have described the incident as an Islamic extremist attack! 

According to the French Interior Minister, the suspected assailant in Friday's stabbing had been arrested a month ago for carrying a screwdriver but for some reason was not on police radar for Islamic radicalization. The suspect arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor, apparently from Pakistan, but, the minister said, his identity iss still being verified. Might be one of those rare Pakistani Christians, you know!

VIDEO: Michael Matt mounts the soapbox for Still-President Trump

Walt has often reposted videos by Michael Matt, Editor of The Remnant newspaper. In times past he has spoken from the Editor's desk on matters of interest to Catholics. But during the 2020 election campaign he has begun to talk more and more about the important of re-electing President Trump, because he's the one standing up for Christian and American values. 

Now, for the first time, Mr Matt has got up on a soapbox to deliver a speech at a Trump rally in Minnesota last weekend. This event was not organized by Catholics, but rather by Americans who are waking up a bit more every day to the chaos that was inevitable after we threw Christ out of our schools and political institutions. 

It's interesting (Mr Matt writes in an e-mail) to consider that only a few years ago, Traditional Catholics were being dismissed as paranoid conspiracy theorists. Not so anymore! People outside traditional Catholic circles are suddenly very eager to receive the message Mr Matt (and Walt and many others) have been trying to send for years.

   

President Trump is far from perfect, but he's done a good job exposing the anti-Christians, in the Catholic Chuch and out. And he may be America's last best political hope against the demons that want to fundamentally reset our nation and hand it over to an anti-Christian New World Order.

VIDEO: Wm. F. Buckley talks with Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia

Regular readers of WWW will know that I have an abiding interest in Zimbabwe, a dictatorship in southern Africa which went from being the second-most prosperous on the Dark Continent to what Still-President Trump would now call a "shithole".

I lived and worked in Zimbabwe in the 90s, and could see the handwriting on the wall after the former Big Man, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, decided to pay all his "war veterans" gratuities of Z$50,000 each after they had staged a series of protests, claiming that they had not received the "benefits" of their revolt against the "white settler regime", viz: white cars, white houses and white women.

The unbudgeted payouts saw the Zimbabwe dollar lose its value by 70% in one day -- I remember it well -- and analysts say the move signalled Zimbabwe's well-documented economic collapse. Banknotes were issued in denominations of billions and even trillions of dollars and were literally not worth the paper they were printed on.

The Mugabe government abandoned the "Zimkwacha" because of hyperinflation in 2009 -- 1 US dollar was worth around Z$35 quadrillion at the time -- and started using American dollars and South African rand. 

But I digress. I was about to tell you that when I first went to Africa, there was no Zimbabwe. The country was then known as Rhodesia, a former British colony which declared its independence from No-longer-great Britain on 11 November 1965. I went there about four years later, over five years before William F. Buckley Jr. went there to record this interview with Prime Minister Ian Smith. 

I went to Rhodesia on a fact-finding mission, to see for myself whether the Africans (by which was meant "blacks") were so badly off under white minority rule as was argued by the "progressives" at the United Nations, the World Council of Churches and elsewhere. I concluded that it would be a mistake -- detrimental to the well-being of the Africans -- to overthrow the "white settler government" and impose "majority rule". But it was clear even then, in 1969, that the mistake was going to be made, in the name of "freedom and equality, yada yada yada. The mistake was made, and the result is the shithole that is Zimbabwe today. 

In this interview, recorded in April of 1974, Ian Smith makes the case for the continuation of minority rule until the majority population should be ready to govern themselves. Mr Smith was right, but of course that doesn't matter now, does it. 

One thing to note, at about the 38-minute mark, is that Mr Smith asserts that the black revolutionaries were financed and trained by Communist China. Of course today's China would never do that kind of thing.

Further viewing: Thames Television documentary visit to Rhodesia, June 1975. Includes interview with Ian Smith.  

A tale from the part of North America where the sun rises first

Agent 5 has been busy lately... mighty busy... but has taken time from his busy schedule to send us a story from Canada's happiest province, Newfoundland. Truth or fiction? You be the judge!

 

The Newfoundland Department of Employment believed a boat owner wasn't paying proper wages to his help. An agent was sent to the fishing village of Burin to investigate the boat owner.

Government Agent: I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them.

Boat Owner: Well, there's Clarence, my hired hand. He's been with me for 3 years. I pay him $200 a week plus free room and board. Then there's the mentally challenged guy. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, and pays his own room and board. I buy him a bottle of Lamb's rum and a dozen Moosehead every Saturday night so he can cope with life. Also, he gets to sleep with my wife occasionally. 

Government Agent: That's the guy I want to talk to -- the mentally challenged one."

Boat Owner: That'll be me. What'd you want to know?

If there really was a deadly pandemic

Scraped from Blazing Cat Fur. Walt keeps this blog bookmarked!

Dems/liberals/Soros preparing to hijack the election

It's quiet out there. Too quiet. OK, so it's a movie cliché, but it's my impression as I surf the net and (occasionally watch the idiot's lantern) looking for real news about the progress (?) of the 2020 election campaign. 

The anti-social distancing imposed on us by the state in consequence of the Dempanic has something to do with it. It's not just Sleepy Joe Biden who's hiding in the basement. Politicians are simply not out there doing "retail politics". Hands remain unshaken. Babies remain unkissed. Corn dogs are uneaten at state fairs. [What state fairs? They're all cancelled! Ed.] Kamala Harris makes "news" by wearing a certain brand of running shoes. Nothing is going on in public, where we can see and hear what they're doing. It's all in the courtrooms and smoke-filled back rooms. 

The news from the courtrooms is worrisome. A lot of Democratically-elected/appointed judges are laying the groundwork for a presidential election which will be decided not at the ballot box but by judges. Yes, there will be ballot boxes, but, state by state, liberal judges are giving the Big Blue OK to mail-in voting, aka cheating-by-mail. 

Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court extended the state's absentee ballot deadline to three days after the election (!) and approved of the use of mail-in ballot drop boxes, a big legal win for the Dumbocrats in the key battleground state. The case, which was brought by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, is similar to another one being litigated in federal court, which was put on pause while the state supreme court considered the matter.

What's wrong with mail-in voting, I hear you ask. Given the efficiency of the USPS, is it not reasonable to extend the deadline for receipt of the mail votes until a few days after polling day? Dear reader, this is Pennsylvania we're talking about. Stories abound about howvotes are counted in Philthydelphia, where, if it looks like Democrats are trailing, calls are made to certain precincts which haven't reported yet. When polling officials are asked (the story goes) how many votes have been cast for the Democratic candidate, the response is "How many do you need?" 

But (I hear you asking, again) how can they do that if the only envelopes to be opened and counted have to bear a postmark not later than polling day? Walt is a stamp collector [Surprised? Ed.], and can assure you that it's not hard at all to forge a postmark. Or you could even get a real postmark, antedated, from a co-operative USPS employee who "forgot" to change the date on the handstamp. The possibilities for fraud are many and various.

   

But the anti-Trump forces (and that's the right word) aren't going to leave it to cheating-by-mail or compliant courts to ensure that the presidential election is left to the American people, who they think can't be trusted not to repeat the "mistake" they made in 2016. 

According to Breitbart News, a massive network of well funded left-wing activists and progressive groups are training, organizing, and planning to mobilize millions of Americans should President Trump "contest the election results," refuse to concede, or claim an early victory. 

The article goes on to say that more than 80 advocacy groups and grassroots organizations have joined in a broad coalition calling itself "Protect the Results", which proclaims that "we cannot ignore the threat that Trump poses to our democracy and a peaceful transition of power."

Who's behind this? Do you really need to ask? The coalition is a joint project of Indivisible and Stand Up America, two left-wing groups founded in response to President Trump’s 2016 election and whose goals are "to organize and resist Trump’s dangerous agenda" and "to defeat Trump and his enablers." Seeking to "protect" election results by use of its millions of members, the coalition calls to "take coordinated action" and "prepare for a potential post-election crisis."

Both Indivisible and Stand up America are part of the Soros-funded Democracy Alliance, the largest network of donors dedicated to building the progressive movement in the USA. In 2017, DA developed a "resistance map" -- a mix of anti-Trump groups it recommends its members donate to, many of which are now part of Protect the Results. 

Having likened President Trump to a dictator, left-wing billionaire George Soros declared in a recent interview that Trump is dangerous, is "fighting" for his political life, and will do "anything to remain in power." Hardly surprising, then, that Soros-backed groups are leading the so-called post-Election Day "resistance". 

Further reading: How the Underground Press Will Thwart the Media and Re-elect Donald Trump", by Jack Cashill, in American Thinker, 17/9/20.

Media bias? What media bias?

In case you didn't guess, this is another gem from the Babylon Bee. If you're not checking "your trusted source for Christian satire" regularly, you're missing something. They have videos and podcasts too. Highly recommended by Walt!

UPDATED: Someone else doesn't like Blogger's new GUI

Ed. here. "Ed. is baffled by Blogger's new GUI", WWW 5/9/20, got a surprising number of "hits". Walt didn't think many people would care about my/our problems in putting this blog online. And frankly, I think he was inviting loyal readers to beg him/us not to quit now, after more than nine years. We did get a number of exhortations to carry on up the Khyber, so thanks to those who sent same.

I have discovered that I'm not the only one having trouble adjusting to the change. And it's not just me. Nearly three months ago, Katherine Tyrrell, who uses Blogger to write a blog "for artists and art lovers" called Making A Mark, wrote "Google's NEW Blogger interface does not work properly!", the introduction to which follows.

The tech people at Google may be regretting the notion of revamping Blogger. Below I'm itemising the problems I've encountered. There may be more!

If you are an ordinary reader please excuse the VITRIOL - which is included in the hope that somebody from Google Blogger might read it!!

Below are two main faults
* poorly managed change process
* very poor communication and very poor design
plus a section why the new interface is dysfunctional - which contains
* 10 points explaining what is wrong with the NEW BLOGGER interface

Way back then, Ms Tyrell said, as Walt did just now, "It's a big mistake to change what works." Whether Google listens to anyone is debatable, but in response to complaints from Ms Tyrell and others (we assume), they did hit the pause button on making the new GUI the default. It became such at the beginning of this month, which is what prompted Walt's piece of the 5th.

In response to that piece, Agent 3 drew our attention to a little notice, printed in "mouse type" (it's so small you have to be a mouse to read it), to the effect that we can still use the legacy GUI... for now.... You have to scroll down to the bottom of the user menu to switch back to the old version, and before they let you do that they ask you to confirm that you are indeed a dinosaur who can't adapt to change.

Walt and I do so confirm, and wonder if Ms Tyrell is doing likewise. To her, and to ourselves, we wish many good lucks!

UPDATE ADDED 17/9/20: You won't be surprised to know that within hours of our posting this, Blogger took away the option of reverting to the legacy interface. Lesson: you can't fight city hall... or Google!

VIDEO: Enoch Powell interviewed by William F. Buckley Jr.

Over nine years ago, we posted "'I told you this would happen!': Enoch Powell", referencing Mr Powell's "Birmingham Speech" -- that was what he called it -- of 20 April 1968. The speech became better known as "the Rivers of Blood speech", for the Rt. Hon. Mr Powell had the courage to say what had already become politically incorrect. Like what? Britain (he said) would rue the day when it opened the doors to 1000s of third-world immigrants who would not or could not be assimilated into British society.

He was right, of course, but for the sin of telling the truth, Enoch Powell was forever branded as a racist, and drummed out of the British Conservative Party's shadow cabinet. A little over a year later, he appeared on Firing Line, the late lamented TV programme hosted by the also-late, also-lamented Willliam F. Buckley, Jr. Here is the complete interview.

And now for something completely Irish...

Myles na gCopaleen was the nom de plume of Flann O'Brien, a columnist for the Irish Times before and during World War II. That's a bit like saying that Walter Cronkite was a reporter for CBS News. Many Irishmen [and Irishwomen! Ed.] bought the paper for no other reason than to see whose ox was the latest to be gored by Mr O'Brien's alter ego.

Myles na gCopaleen sometimes wrote in Irish, at a time when doing so was neither popular nor profitable. He held that the Irish language had far more colour and richness than the language imposed on the Emerald Isle by the English occupiers. He supported with a heart-and-a-half the movement to revive the language. Here is an excerpt from the section of The Best of Myles entitled "Irish and Related Matters".

Irish...provides through its literature and dialects a great field for the pursuit of problems philological, historical and ethnological, an activity agreeable to all men of education and good-will. Moreover, the language itself is ingratiating by reason of its remotesness from European tongues and moulds of thought, its precision, elegance and capacity for the subtler literary nuances...

True Irish prose has a steely latinistic line that does not exist in the fragmented English patois. Here is a literal translation of a letter addressed by Hugh O'Neill to a hostile captain:-

'Our blessing to ye, O Mac Coghlin: we received your letter and what we understand from her is that what you are at the doing of is but sweetness of word and spinning out of time. For our part of the subject, whatever peson is not with us and will not wear himself out in the interest of justice, that person we understand to be a person against us. For that reason, in each place in which ye do your own good, pray do also our ill to the fullest extent ye can and we will do your ill to the absolute utmost of our ability, with God's will. We being at Knockdoney Hill, 6 februarii, 1600.'

That seems to me to be an exceptional achievement in the sphere of written nastiness and the original exudes the charm attaching to all instances of complete precision in the use of words....

It is...dangerous to discourage the use of Irish because the revival movement...is a valuable preservative of certain native virtues and it is worth remembering that if Irish were to die completely, the standard of English here, both in the spoken and written word, would sink to a level probably as low as that obtaining in England, and it would stop there only because it could go no lower.

Further reading: "Clichés for the age of the coronavirus" (click on the sidebar at right), and "Two Irishmen discuss the coming election", WWW 29/7/20.

Agent 35 vents re the Covid plandemic and the Canuck misgovernment

Ed. here. I don't think we've ever turned this space over to one of Walt's agents, but Agent 35 is so worked up about the Covid-19 plandemic, the closure of the US-Canada border and the all-powerful state that we've decide to publish, mostly unedited, the comments she sent us in response to "Latest TRUTHFUL facts and figures on the Dempanic", WWW 14/9/20.

The first 12 minutes comport with everything I've read, but it took me hours and hours to find what this video has so wonderfully aggregated. I should have relaxed and waited, but I immediately suspected the info we were getting starting in March.

I did run across a Swedish video where one of the doctors planning the Swedish response was quite rational and matter-of-fact about their situation unlike the psychos we are dealing with in North America.

I am sickened by seeing the compliance and even more sickened by seeing small children being trained to wear masks. There is a monstrous physical and spiritual evil at play. My dentist and his assistant don't accept the BS, but they have to comply or they can't do business.

Another evil is the prohibition against Hydroxychloroquine protocol used all over the world. In many countries it is available over the counter. Some European globalist countries took it off the shelves shortly after [President] Trump promoted it after speaking with some of the medical experts using it. The globalists must have investments in vaccines. I don’t know what I will do if that demon PM [Justin Trudeau] mandates vaccines. We have very anti-Canadian people in government.

In the Democrat states the governors and mayors have gone insane as they try to usher in totalitarian communism by allowing their people to be murdered by thugs and won't allow the police to protect the tax-paying public.

The educational BS here is insane. Having retired from the world of secondary education, and watched it decline, I have advised people to go private or Catholic, not public. I for one would like a tax rebate since education is reduced, municipal government is reduced and the federal government is too. Where's our money for services not rendered!?

Australia and New Zealand have gone full bore totalitarian. Governor Cuomo has gone insane. He is a modern day Nero. [Toronto Mayor John] Tory in Toronto has done nothing to remove the tent cities where everyone should be dead from Covid according to government BS. In California, they've got homeless tent cities of 50 thousand. Where's the Covid outbreak?

There is talk in Québec that they will forcibly move people to government settings if they donèt comply with government directions. In some areas of Ireland, you canèt leave your house or go more than a few feet away from your home. I wish a strong protest against this crap would start up....

The everyday citizen can't cross the border without coming home to house arrest, yet people who work in the US as "essential" workers can go back and forth. Thousands of truckers from all over the US and possibly Mexico can come and go.

Protesters can march without masks or social distancing, the same with rioters. They don't die. Even worse the evil powers that be have managed to make citizens enemies of each other. Anger that should be directed at government idiots is deflected toward the mask refusers. Exactly the same manipulation I saw in China when I worked there....

Canada, I am afraid, has been sold out to China while the propagandist media kept Canadians focussed on the bad orange man to the south, one of the few heroes left in world.

"Cuties"

I know I'm gonna be President. I can smell it in the hair!

VIDEO: Latest TRUTHFUL facts and figures on the Dempanic

Jeffrey A. Tucker is Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research. Last week AIER posted this calm, reasoned and fact-filled video by Ivor Cummins, an engineer-trained thinker who has worked to summarize the best science and data. His latest video brings enormous clarity to the topic, based on data and evidence from all over the world, presented without hype or ideology.

Mr Cummins presents lockdown and mandated mask analysis with detailed and documented evidence that these strategies were a massive mistake and had no impact on the virus. Without the imposed lockdowns, which caused more deaths than were ever saved, the virus numbers would have naturally decreased as shown in the stat charts in the video.



Agent 6, who sent this to us (Tanks, bye!) adds: Our nation's future has been and continues to be jeopardized with a lie supported by falsified, fake scientific information.

To which Walt says, indeed so! I just finished reading (and recommend highly) Barbara Demick's Eat the Buddha, an excellent and very recent book (Random House 2020) about the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The author mentions that as the kung flu spread, the Commies quickly devised a plan to have an app that would code everybody green, yellow or red, to determine if they had been infected and where they would be allowed to go. She predicts that the app will continue to be used long after the plandemic passes. Sound like anything you've heard of in your country?

Walt notes the uptick in demonstrations against government regulation and control, even by sheeplike Canucks. I don't totally disapprove of wearing a mask, social distancing and all that, but think our governments have gone waaaaay too far. In the end, isn't it the individual's responsibility to decide how much risk he wants to run? We shouldn't be letting the nanny state run our personal lives so much.

As Mr Cummins writes in his YouTube introduction: Get educated guys and gals -- or keep your head in the sand while your errant leaders destroy society around you.

If CNN had existed in 1941

Any comment would be superfluous. Thanks and a big salute to Agent 35. Noli illegitimi te carborundum!

Let us not forget

Yes, I know what day this is. It's the 19th anniversary of the dastardly, scurrilous, infamous attack on America, which was now call simply "9/11".

On this solemn anniversary, let us not forget who did this. The attackers, who came to the USA to learn to fly just well enough to crash into their targets, were Islamic terrorists -- nationals of Saudi Arabia for the most part -- Muslim jihadis bent on killing as many "infidels" as possible. They are now in Paradise, presumably, being serviced by 72 virgins. But there are hundreds of thousands of them still out there.

The threat of Islamic terrorist attacks is higher today than it was 19 years ago, if for no other reason than that Western politicians (Hello, Angela Merkel! Hello, Justin Trudeau! Hello, Barack Hussein Obama!) have stupidly welcomed millions of Muslims into their countries. See "Merkel reveals she has no regrets over 2015 migrant influx, claims she would let 1 million into Germany again", rt.com 28/8/20.

But surely (I hear you say) they can't all be fanatics. In reply I say, is there any such thing as a moderate Muslim? Those who follow the news from Europe can read every day stories about gangs of Muslim immigrants, "refugees" and asylum-seekers raising hell in the countries that took them in. See, for example, "Sweden's right seizes on crime to warn of 'second pandemic'", ft.com 30/8/20.

But (I hear you say) that's Europe, not America (or, by extension, Canada). Foolish Norte Americanos, take a look around you! Mosques are springing up everywhere, even in the small communities of "flyover country". Parts or all of large American and Canadian cities are majority Muslim, at risk of turning into the no-go zones which already exist in Sweden, France and the Disunited Kingdom.

Right now we are preoccupied with the nonsense of BLM and "anti-Black racism", but when all the pandering is over and the police defunded, who will protect us when the jihad comes to our streets? And who (let me ask you) would you rather have in the White House when the next wave of Islamic terrorist attacks begins?

VIDEO: Mark Steyn & Tucker Carlson on the Oscars' diversity quotas

In "A 'Publicity Stunt' or a 'Huge Step'? Hollywood Is Divided on the Oscars' New Diversity Rules"Time reports on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts' latest ploy in the SJW struggle to diversify (read: dewhiten/emasculate) "the white- and male-dominated film industry." This week the Academy released its new "inclusion standards" (read: rules) for films seeking a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. 

Starting in 2024, if you hope to win the Biggest Oscar, your film will have to meet the standards of two out of four broad groups of criteria laid out in a 1000-word memo: representation onscreen (addressed in Standard A), behind the camera (B) and in audience development (D); and pipelines for young, marginalized talent (C). The new guidelines (read:rules) are supposed to correct the "underrepresentation of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities." 

Time goes on to say that "the announcement received backlash on social media, particularly from right-wing circles." The new rules, these horrible racists and Republicans say, will stifle creativity and/or promote "tokenization". As if we don't already see that in all the meeja, for example Hockey Night in Canada's sudden hiring of Anthony Stewart, who joined former NHL stars Kelly Hrudey and Kevin Bieksa on its panel of studio analysts, just in time for the NHL playoffs and the surge of tokenism in response to the BLM protests. Follow the link to his bio to see why he's obviously a diversity hire. [This example contributed by Poor Len Canayen. Ed.]

Time quotes actor and director Justine Bateman as saying "Honestly, I never want to be hired for these reasons. Ever!" And Kirstie Alley, who called the new rules "disgrace to artists everywhere". In this conversation with Fox News' Tucker Carlson, Mark Steyn points out that under these "guidelines", you could make a film about the "New Black Panthers", because they are almost 100% white (!) yet you'd have to cast black people in something like 30% of the secondary roles. You couldn't make this stuff up!

 

VIDEO: Rex Murphy tells why he won't be silenced by the cancel culture

Ed. here. I've told Walt that I am coming to grips with the new Blogger GUI and that, for the time being, we can still use the "legacy interface". I've also passed along messages from a number of readers [How many? Walt] saying they will be disappointed if we give up now, so close to what may be a pivotal moment in American (and therefore world) history.

Walt has suggested that we put up some videos until he feels like writing again. Fortunately, the premiere episode of Season Two of the True North Speaker Series went live yesterday. In this hour-and-a-quarter video, TN founder Candice Malcolm sits down with the legendary Rex Murphy, whose videos and writings have been featured on WWW several times over the years.

Mr Murphy can be counted on to provide a much needed dose of common sense in a world where good sense is anything but common. In this exclusive interview, he discusses with Ms Malcolm a wide range of issues including the COVID-19 pandemic, the changes in the media landscape over the past several decades and the totalitarian impulses on the left. This is primarily for Canadians, but our American friends should find it even more relevant.



Walt here. This interview has been a great inspiration to me. If Rex Murphy won't be silenced, neither will I!

Ed. is baffled by Blogger's new GUI

"Graphic User Interface" -- isn't that what they call the screen on which you compose and edit stuff for the Internet? Blogger, which is part of Google which is part of Alphabet Inc. (or something like that) has rolled out a new GUI, to replace the one that Ed. took three years to master. Ed. is not pleased. 

It seems the new GUI is designed to make it easier for people to use on their smart phones. Ed. doesn't have a smart phone. Neither do I. We use PCs -- very 20th century but we're old dogs and don't learn new tricks easily or happily. 

So until Blogger realizes that their new GUI is kind of like New Coke, and rolls out "Blogger Classic" (no charge for that!), we're suspending publication... this after more than 11 years and over 4000 posts. Thanks and `bye... at least for now... from Walt, Poor Len Canayen [and Ed.! Ed.]

VIDEO: Is there any hope for conservatives in Canada? Max Bernier

As reported here a few days ago, Canada's so-called Conservative Party elected a new leader to replace the hapless Andrew Scheep. The one who now holds the poisoned chalice in his hand is Erin O'Toole. Some Canuck cuckservatives applauded -- quietly -- because (they said), at least he wasn't the establishment candidate, the Red Tory Peter McHackey. But real conservatives withheld their approval because their choice, Derek "Conservative Without Apology" Sloan, finished fourth in a field of four.

The result is discouraging for real conservatives. The Canadian Conservative Party is CINO -- Conservative In Name Only -- in reality a party of the centre, differing only slightly from the Liberals of Prime Minister Blacky McBlackface. That is not just my opinion but that of the runner-up in the previous Conservative leadership race, Maxime "Mad Max" Bernier, who quit the Tories in disgust and founded the People's Party of Canada.

Walt has a lot of time for Maxime Bernier. I call him "Mad Max" not because he's crazy, but because he's mad at the so-called Conservatives, and rightly so. You can read his scathing comments on Mr O'Toole and his faux conservatism in our previous post. Yesterday he joined The Andrew Lawton Show to respond to talk about the state of conservatism in Canada and the future of the PPC. Here's the video.

VIDEO: Michael Matt explains W.H.O.'s behind the mask

The latest video from our old friend Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper. I don't know if Mr Matt likes being called a "conspiracy theorist", but he presents pretty credible evidence that Pope Francis, Nancy Pelos, Joe Biden, and of course George Soros, even if they don't talk to each other every day, at least make common cause to promote the godless socialist New World Order. And the continuing Dempanic is part of the plan to rule by fear -- making us all so shit-scared that we obey without question every bunny-brained edict from the liberal elites, because it's "for our own good".