Socialism to blame for making American workers "lazy, fat, stupid"

So says Bernie Marcus, who, together with Arthur Blank [seriously, that's his name. Ed.] founded Home Depot. In an interview with the Financial Times (reported from behind the paywall by Breitbart News), Mr Marcus said that "Nobody works. Nobody gives a damn. 'Just give it to me. Send me money. I don't want to work — I'm too lazy, I'm too fat, I'm too stupid." Like this, maybe?

   

How did things get like that? Mr Marcus puts it down to the economic agenda of socialism. He recommends capitalism as the better alternative, because capitalism is based not on entitlement, but on merit. 

"Capitalism is the basis of Home Depot [and] millions of people have earned this success and had success," said the entrepreneur. "I'm talking manufacturers, vendors and distributors and people that work for us able to enrich themselves by the journey of Home Depot. That’s the success. That’s why capitalism works."

Mr Marcus argued that business is meant to make a profit from offering a service or product, explaining that a business's ability to generate profit benefits employees and customers. He also slammed those who believe business exists for “social purposes. "The role of a business is to sell a product and make a profit. The whole idea that a business is set up for social purposes doesn't make sense to me."

He added that if the founders of Home Depot tried to launch such a business in the society and regulatory environment of Brandon's America, it would be less successful, "ending up with 15, 16 stores." That's because big government's love of red tape, along with a lackluster labor force, especially hurts small businesses’ ability to compete with big business.

A longtime conservative donor, Bernie Marcus supported President Donald Trump and became one of his largest donors. His continued support of Trump in the 2020 election cycle triggered a boycott of Home Depot, even though Mr Marcus no longer worked with the company.

Mr Marcus told FT he makes no apologies for backing Republicans such as Mr Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying, "I give money to them because I hope they’re going to do the right thing." 

He described President Trump's policies as "spot on"” but did not say if he would support one man over the other for the GOP nomination. "It's going to be very interesting in `24." Mr Marcus said, "because I think DeSantis will challenge [Trump]. And may the better man win!"

Pope Benedict XVI - RIP

Joseph Alois Ratzinger, born 16 April 1927, the son of Josepoh and Mary Ratzinger, died as Pope Benedict XVI on 31 December 2022.

The reasons for his purported resignation in February of 2013 remain shrouded in mystery. Unlike Abraham Lincoln, he lived long to see the awful consequences of his decision.

Worse is yet to come, and thank God he will be spared the earthly sight of the final act in the fall of the Catholic Church. 

Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Newly listed by our sponsor - "Lincoln's Gamble", by Todd Brewster - the truth behind the Emancipation Proclamation

On New Year's Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln (with William H. Seward, his Secretary of State) signed the Emancipation Proclamation, earning himself the soubriquet "The Great Emancipator", because he freed the slaves. 

So goes the hagiography. The truth is that the Proclamation didn't go nearly that far. It broadened the goals of the Union war effort. It made the eradication of slavery into an explicit Union goal, to be achieved not on that day but after the conclusion of hostilies. 

President Lincoln justified the Emancipation Proclamation as a war measure intended to cripple the Confederacy and reunite the United States of America. Being mindful of possible challenges on the constitutionality of the Proclamation, the President applied it only to the Confederate states then in rebellion. 

Why President Lincoln issued the Proclamation, at the time he did, is the subject of Lincoln's Gamble, by Todd Brewster (Simon & Schuster, 2014), now available by mail from our dear sponsor's e-store, used, in very fine condition, at a great price.

Mr Brewster is a certified liberal journalist, having written for HuffPost and the NYT. But, as a professor of oral history at West Point, he has to admit that President Lincoln's motives were not altogether altruistic. Although he was no racist, he was a man of his times, recognizing the now politically unrecognizable, i.e. that there is a difference between the races. 

He thought it unlikely that the two races could live together in a harmonious society, and was an advocate, even as he signed the document, for the establishment of a black colony, in central America or Africa, to which freed blacks could be sent... if they wished, of course.

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Declaration as a matter of military necessity. On New Year's Day of 1863, the Union was losing the war, and the tide of public opinion in the North was running against the President. He could think of no alternative but to roll the dice -- Mr Brewster's words -- and hope the freeing of the slaves (sort of) would bring would bring victory in its wake.

President Lincoln lived long enough to see the victory he hoped for, but not long enough to see the realization of his fears for the aftermath. This book will give you some food for thought, and fuel for debates with your friends, both liberal and conservative. If you buy it, tell `em Walt sent ya! 

Twitterverse reacts to Scientific American tweet about BBBWs

On December 28th, Scientific America tweeted a promo for "The Racist Roots of Fighting Obesity", an article published in 2020 which portrayed BBBWs (Big Beautiful Black Women) as victims of racism, fat-shaming, yada yada yada. Click here to read excerpts from the controversial article.

Predictably, there has been not a little blowback, along the lines of Bill Burr's rant about overweight people (not just blacks or women) having no-one but themselves to blame. "You put those cookies in your own mouths. How about trying an apple instead?!" (It was funnier than that but this is a family publication.)

Among those snickering about those addicted to Snickers [geddit? Ed.] was Gad Saad, quoted in WWW not long ago. His tweet is at left.

Breitbart News published some others.

Donald Trump Jr.: "You know what seems way more racist? Ignoring science and common sense information that is literally killing people under the guise of protecting them from ‘racism!"

Sara Gonzales, conservative host: "Telling people not to be fat is not racist."

Ron DeSantis campaign spokesthingy Christina Pushaw: "This is literally 'public health disinformation' that would have real-world potentially fatal consequences, if anyone took it seriously. Yet it is published by Scientific American and promoted on social media platforms while real science is censored."

Professor Peter Boghossian: "This is exactly what ideological capture looks like and why being more intelligent isn't a prophylactic against moral fashions. Once venerable legacy institutions have become irredeemably corrupted. I see no way out of this other than building parallel institutions.

Dr James Lindsay, conservative commentator and author: "[T]he racist roots of fighting obesity’ -SCIENTIFIC American"

John Hawkins, author: "Congrats on doing your part to destroy all respect for science."

Auron MacIntyre, political commentator: "Remember when New Atheists thought abandoning Christianity would free science from the shackles of religion?"

Meanwhile (writes BN's Joshua Klein) "obesity continues to be encouraged by many on the left and in the entertainment industry, despite it being a condition that puts adults of any age at an increased risk of severe illness.... In October, entertainment giant Disney unveiled its first 'plus-sized' heroine in a short film about an oversized ballet dancer dealing with 'body dysmorphia'."

Before our readers in Canada snicker smugly, they should stop and think about who bears the cost of medical and other care for the consequences of obesity. It's YOU, dear Canuck taxpayer -- all part of the ever-inflating [geddit? Ed.] cost of going woke.

VIDEO: "Snowflakes" by Tom MacDonald

You won't be suprised, eh, to learn that Walt is no fan of "rap music" -- an oxymoron if ever there was one. However, every rule has its exception, and in view of what I said eaerlier about sleeping through the suicide of Western Civilization, now seems like a good time to post this "anti-woke rap" by Tom MacDonald. All you snowflakes, listen up!

 

Rapper Tom MacDonald is preaching to spineless Americans who won't stand up and fight to take back their country from the Forces of Wokeness. But he actually grew up in Alberta and British Columbia, and should also direct his message to the sheeple of Canuckistan. I'm sure some apathetic frostbacks may be among the 21 million people who've viewed this. 

Walt sez... wake up America... and Canada... and Britain... and France... and [add your own country here]. The New World Order hasn't yet been established. Walt predicts that the liberal elites who run the USA and Canada -- perhaps even the Vatican -- will be ousted from the halls of power by this day in 2024. (Lifetime pct .989.) Do your part to make it so.

Scientific American says telling BBBW to lose weight is racist

To understand the firestorm of criticism over Scientific American's December 28th tweet promoting "The Racist Roots of Fighting Obesity" (Scientific American, 4/6/20), let's start with this.

Nooo, it's not a panel of "real people" who recently appeared as litigants on Judge Judy. Shown in the photo are Toronto-based singer TiKa Simone and four other BBBW (Big Beautiful Black Women) who took part in a photo shoot way back in 2017. 

On Instagram, this photo bore the caption "We are everything the world hates. Fat. Black. Woman. And yet, we exist. Unapologetically and without shame. F*** you. We love on ourselves. [sic]"

Right. We got it. We mustn't "fat-shame" TiKa and her friends or anyone, regardless of race, colour, or creed. But the facts remain unchanged. (1) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is a condition that puts adults of any race at an increased risk of severe illness. (2) Black women "have also been identified as the subgroup with the highest body mass index (BMI) in the U.S., with four out of five classified as either 'overweight' or 'obese'."

Fact No. 2 is a direct quote from "The Racist Roots of Fighting Obesity" (Scientific American, Vol. 323, No. 1), authored by Sabrina Strings, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and Lindo (formerly Linda) Bacon, a self-proclaimed "genderqueer" who serves as an associate nutritionist at the University of California, Davis. 

Apparently the article didn't get wide readership, so two days ago SA posted the Tweet at right to gain some publicity. [Say, that might be an idea for WWW! Ed.]

According to them, [we hope that's the right pronoun. Ed.] the fight against obesity is rooted in racism. They claim that black women "consistently experience weightism in addition to sexism and racism", and the prescribing of "weight loss" has "long since proved to be ineffective." Here are some more excerpts from the article.

The heightened concern about black women's weight reflects the racist stigmatization of their bodies. It also ignores how interrelated social factors impact black women' health. 

Black people, and Black women in particular, face considerable health challenges. Compared with their rates in other racial groups, chronic cardiovascular, inflammatory and metabolic risk factors have been found to be elevated in Black women, even after controlling for behaviors such as smoking, physical exercise or dietary variables.

Many doctors have claimed that Black women’s "excess" weight is the main cause of their poor health outcomes, often without fully testing or diagnosing them. While there has been a massive public health campaign urging fat people to eat right, eat less and lose weight, Black women have been specifically targeted.

Though the heightened concern about their weight is not new, it reflects the racist stigmatization of Black women’s bodies. Nearly three centuries ago scientists studying race argued that African women were especially likely to reach dimensions that the typical European might scorn. 

Many medical practitioners in the late 19th century viewed black women as being destined to die off along with the men of their race because of their presumed inability to control their "animal appetites" -- eating, drinking and fornicating. These presumptions were not backed by scientific data but instead embodied the prevailing racial scientific logic at the time.

Later, some doctors wanted to push Black men to reform their aesthetic preferences. Valorizing voluptuousness in Black women, these physicians claimed, validated their unhealthy diets, behaviors and figures. The idea that weight is the main problem dogging Black women builds on these historically racist ideas and ignores how interrelated social factors impact Black women’s health.

Social determinants have been shown to be more consequential to health than BMI or health behaviors. Though doctors frequently tell fat people that dietary control leading to weight loss is the solution to their health problems, many studies show that the stigma associated with body weight, rather than the body weight itself, is responsible for some adverse health consequences blamed on obesity, including increased mortality risk.

[The essay declares that] black women — regardless of income — frequently experience "weightism" on top of "sexism and racism." From workplace discrimination and poor service at restaurants to rude or objectifying commentary online, the stress of these life experiences contributes to higher rates of chronic mental and physical illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, depression and anxiety.

[It also cites an opinion piece arguing that] bias against fat people is actually a larger driver of the so-called obesity epidemic than adiposity itself.... Living in racially segregated, high-poverty areas contributes to disease risk for Black women, due to a lack of potable water and higher levels of environmental toxins and air pollution, as well as an abundance of fast-food chains and a dearth of grocery stores offering more nutritious food choices.

The authors conclude that, by "blaming Black women's health conditions on 'obesity'," [doctors and others] are ignoring "critically important sociohistorical factors." Initiatives to help people reduce weight are overwhelmingly unsuccessful."This weight-focused paradigm fails to produce thinner or healthier bodies but succeeds in fostering weight stigma.... The predominant reason Black women get sick is not because they eat the wrong things but because their lives are often stressful and their neighborhoods are often polluted."

So there. BBBW are victims, so stop pointing fingers and making mooing or oinking noises. Later todasy we'll have some reaction from the Twitterverse.

Walt is considering his options

Ed. here. For some reason Walt's readership stats tanked this week. Our "hits count" is down approximately 98% from our average over the first 51 weeks of 2022. We don't know if The Alphabet People (not the LGBTQXY+++ but the really dangerous ones at Google) have shadow-banned us -- we don't even knowo what that means -- or if our regular readers have abandoned us. 

Anyhoo... Walt says he's tired of

so if the people of the AABC countries and western Europe want to sleep through the suicide of Western civilization, why should we keep trying to wake them up? A decision will be made by 3 January 2023.

Walt has been censored... maybe???

Not sure what we said, but something has got Walt shadow-banned. Either that or there's a problem with the Blogspot counter. That happened a few months ago. 

If you're reading this, please leave a comment and let us know. Of course you needn't do that if you're not reading this. I trust I make myself obscure. Ed.

2022 Wally Awards: Worst TV commercial

Think about this. You're a creative genius at the agency that handles AirBnB. For your punishment, the account exec hands you, just in time for Christmas Winter Holiday, a problem that "only you can solve": create a message that will overcome the negative publicity about guests wrecking hosts' short-term rentals, and persuade them it's safe to list their homes.

So you do some research, maybe some polling or focus group stuff, to find out what people are afraid of. Turns out people are afraid of "strangers". Specifically, people who aren't from the same "community". Most short-term rental homes are owned by racist colonialist white people, who are afraid of renting to, errr, other-complected people.

The evil white supremacists are afraid to rent to black people because those BLM types will trash their homes. And they're afraid that people who they call by a name that rhymes with "lackeys" will leave their homes smelling of curry... or worse. 

What can we say that would overcome this innate fear of The Other. How about showing some of them renting out their own million-dollar homes to some white folks? Nahhhh. How about... well, damn! No matter which races we show, it's gonna be misinterpreted. Political correctness means we can barely mention the fears we're addressing. Even the word "stranger" is verging on the improper, because, as we all know, there are no more "strangers" in the Brandon's Woke America.

Then, rising from somewhere in your subconscious, you remember a grainy old photo which was said to show a... a... a sasquatch, crashing through the brush. Perfectly PC because a sasquatch is obviously (d) none of the above!

And so you pitch, and AirBnB buys this... the winner of the coveted Wally Award for the Worst TV Commercial of the year 2022.

 

If the idea of having a family of sasquatches stay in your house for a week or two doesn't disturb you, you won't agree with our judges' decision, but frankly, Walt et al. found it just plain stupid.

Footnote: Some nigglers may say, rightly, that this commercial has been around for a year. We know that. It was flighted just over a year ago, too late for inclusion in last year's nominations. So we carried it forward, and with the only competition being the numberless commercials showing black bankers, brain surgeons and billionaires, it was an easy winner.

2022 Wally Awards: Best pictorial explanation of "our" foreign aid policy

Sometimes it's hard to understand government policies, particularly foreign policy and the trillions spent on foreign. For a clearer understanding of how your tax dollars are spent to help the development of third world shitholes, check out this photo, taken somewhere in the Middle East.

One picture may be worth 1000 words, but is it worth $1000? You be the judge. And be sure to let the rulers of your country know how proud you are of their wokeness.

Footnote and protest alert! Organizers of the original Freedom Convoy protest that paralyzed the capital of Canuckistan (Prime Minister McBlackface's residence is pictured above) for three weeks in early 2022 say they're planning on bringing a new convoy to Winnipeg MB next month. 

In a Facebook post reported by CTV, Canada Unity shared a live video in which they proclaimed that a "world unity convoy” would be held in Winterpeg, so named because of its insalubrious climate, from the 17th to 20th of February, to coincide with the Whitewash Rouleau Commission report into last year's protest.

Mr Socks is said to be making reservations for a skiing holiday at "an undiscosed location" (read: NOT Winnipeg) for the 16th through 21st.

2022 Wally Awards: Photo gag of the year

It's that time of the year when the meeja post endless lists of things that happened, people that came and went, things that might happen next year... or not... and similar stuff that fills space. WWW stats show that no-one cares much about these things, so we'll content ourselves with a few end-of-the-year honours.

The first of our coveted Wally awards goes the Babylon Bee, for the best photo gag of the year.

Click here to read the article, but frankly, the headline and photo is enough. Many thanks to the good Christian folks at BB for the never-ending stream of satire. Especially in the Paranoid States of America, life is too short to take too seriously.

VIDEO: Христос родився! Ukrainian Christmas carols

Христос Раждаєтся! Christ is born!

 

A Christmas wish

Walt, Poor Len [and Ed.!] wish you a

Happy and Holy Christmas

and for 2023, peace and prosperity.

Stained glass window celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Christ, by Leo Mol, 

Saints Vladimir and Olga Cathedral (Ukrainian Catholic), Winnipeg, Canada

 

Note: The Ukrainian Churches, Catholic and Orthodox, follow the Julian calendar, by which Christmas should be celebrated on January 7th. The Russian Orthodox Church does likewise. As a protest against Russia's illegal and unjust war on Ukraine, many Ukrainian churches are celebrating Christmas day on the Gregorian calendar date, December 25th.

Whethiour

= a bad spell of "weather". That's what we're having at the moment. Walt is trying to get out to the county road

or the bootlegger's shack, whichever comes first. So don't expect anything more than a Christmas greeting until this all blows over.

VIDEO: "Carol of the Bells", in Ukrainian and English

Thanks to Agent 5, we are able to share with you an encore performance of this lovely Christmas song, "The Carol of the Bells", given by a massed choir of American and Ukrainian singers at Carnegie Hall on 11 December 2022.

 

The song is actually Ukrainian, an arrangement by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych of an ancient polyphonic folk song. The song was adopted by western culture, with new English words about bells, which are lovely enough in their own way, and which preserve the spirit of good cheer in the original.

The Ukrainian song, though, is not about Christmas at all, since it refers to pre-Christian traditions. It is about about spring, about the favorable signs brought by animals, about present love and coming prosperity. It is a song of affirmation and encouragement. Its very name, "Shchedryk," suggests generosity and abundance. 

"Shchedryk" was performed in Carnegie Hall in October 1921 by Ukrainian musicians seeking support for a Ukrainian republic. Its composer had been murdered by the Bolshevik secret police earlier that year. Most of what is now Ukraine would soon thereafter be incorporated into the Soviet Union. 

The song was Americanized in 1936, not long after the Holodomor, the great famine in Soviet Ukraine, just at the beginning of Stalin's great terror. Its origins were forgotten, as was Ukraine in general. The Ukrainian children's choir that travelled to New York this month to perform the song came bearing a gift, their presence and their performance, one that gently echoed back to us our appropriation of a song, but without resentment, only with generosity. 

(Notes adapted from "Gratitude to Ukraine", by Timothy Snyder, 11/12/22.)

Click here for the schedule of Christmas/Rizdvo & Theophany celebrations at Saint Elias Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church, Brampton ON Canada.

VIDEO: Want to stay a priest? Don't speak against abortion... or Biden!

There was still more news late last week. What better time to release bad news than in the ten days or so before Christmas the Winter Holiday, when people have their minds elsewhere, thinking about presents and turkey and travel and (maybe) the coming of Jesus the Christ, to bring light into a dark world.

Speaking of the dark world, the Vatican chose the peak of the Christmas holiday rush to send out a notice to anyone who might care that Father Frank Pavone, the head of the advocacy group Priests for Life, and sometime spiritual advisor to President Trump, was "laicized" -- removed from the priesthood -- in November, and should now be referred to as just "Mr Pavone".

What could Father Pavone (who remains a priest even though he may be barred from priestly office) have done to deserve such a punishment? Even Father Nicholas Gruner, the Fatima Priest, whose voice the Vatican tried to silence for decades, was never "laicized".

The man who calls himself Pope Francis must have either approved the decision or stepped aside to allow it to happen. Priests don’t get defrocked every day, and a well-known priest like Father Pavone must have transgressed beyond a few curses on Twitter to force the hand of the Unholy Father and receive the ultimate priestly punishment.

The Vatican said merely that Father Pavone was "found guilty in canonical proceedings of blasphemous communications on social media, and of persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop."

No specifics were given, but it is well known that Fr Pavone frequently clashed with his superiors over some of the language he has used in his social media postings. In 2020, in the heat of the election campaign, a tweet he authored referred to "supporters of this goddamn loser Biden and his morally corrupt, America-hating, God hating Democrat party."

Aha! The real sin was criticizing the apostate President Brandon! Was there more? We hand the narrative over to our old friend Dr Taylor Marshall.

Father Pavone promises to keep fighting. And he has some powerful supporters. Most Rev. Joseph Strickland, Bishop of Tyler TX, tweeted: "The blasphemy is that this holy priest is canceled while an evil president promotes the denial of truth & the murder of the unborn at every turn, Vatican officials promote immorality & denial of the deposit of faith & priests promote gender confusion devastating lives…evil."

Just  so. Let us pray, once again: "Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen."

The Day of the Vow

Also forgotten (momentarily) in Walt's rush to get ready for Christmas Winter Holiday was the commemoration by Afrikaners around the world of the Day of the Vow (Geloftedag, in Afrikaans) , December 16th.

The Vow refers to a promise to God made during the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838. About 400 Voortrekkers vowed that if God rescued them out of the hands of the approximately 20,000 Zulu warriors they were facing, they would honour that day as a sabbath day in remembrance of what God did for them. 

Originally called Dingaansdag (Dingaan's Day), December 16th was made an annual national holiday in 1910, before being renamed Day of the Vow in 1982. In 1994, after the end of Apartheid, it was officially replaced by the Day of Reconciliation, an annual holiday also on December 16th. But, as noted above, many still celebrate it unofficially.

So you'll be ready for it next December 16th, or in case you've forgotten, Walt is please to present here Die Stem van Suid-Afrika, also known as "The Call of South Africa" or simply "Die Stem", the national anthem of South Africa from 1938 to 1994. It is sung here first in Afrikaans, then in English. 

 

That South Africa is now gone with the wind -- the ill wind of anti-colonialism that swept through African in the second half ot the 20th century, bringing good to no-one, including those the fight for majority rule was meant to help. The colour of the rulers changed, but the lot of the ruled only got worse. "Mother Africa Wins Again."

VIDEO: Who do YOU think killed President Kennedy?

Blame it on the Christmas winter holiday rush. We're a bit late in posting Tucker Carlson's interview with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, which some have called the most courageous newscast in 60 years.

On December 17th, Robert F. Kennedy Jr tweeted @TuckerCarlson: "The CIA’s murder of my uncle was a successful coup d'état from which our democracy has never recovered." Check it out.

Here's what a source told Mr Carlson:

Dear reader, knowing what you do now about how the US "intelligence community" (read: Deep State) operates to control just about everything, don't you think it's about time that the truth be told -- the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That's what Walt thinks. How about you?

Just in time for Christmas! Get `em while they're hot!

Assiduous readers will know that Walt is a hyuge fan of President Donald J. Trump. Hyuge. No-one else could have done what he did in the last decade, i.e. turn American politics upside down and give the conservative, America first movement new life. Good on yer, sir!

However... as I suggested in "As Georgia goes, so goes the nation" (WWW 7/12/22), it may be time for The Donald to throw his hat out of the ring and make way for a Republican candidate who can (without abandoning conservative principles) bring in some of the Democrats and independents [like Krysten Sinema! Ed.] who are fed up with Brandon's new, woke America. 

Having declared his candidacy for reelection in 2024, the chances of President Trump withdrawing appear to be slim and none. Especially today, now that he has launched his own exclusive digital trading cards. 

This morning, less than 24 hours after the launch, the Collect Trump Cards website claimed all of the cards had sold out!

Announcing his latest self-promotion, Mr Trump wrote, "These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career!" He likened the cards -- which are also NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to baseball cards

There are 45 different cards currently available [or not. Ed.], a nod to The Donald's tenure as "#45" -- the 45th president of the Excited States of America. The cards include depictions of Mr Trump as a cowboy, and giving the raised fist salute in front of Mount Rushmore.

Earlier this week, President Trump posted a 15-second video in which he said, "America needs a superhero." And there he is, in full Captain America regalia, complete with a "T" on his manly chest. On the official Collect Trump Cards website, Mr Trump refers to himself as "hopefully your favorite president of all time; better than Lincoln; better than Washington." 

Well... "hopefully" says all ye know and all ye need to know. Seems to Walt that President Trump really believes his own stuff, the way a WWE does when he steps into the squared circle. It's good to believe in yourself, but better not to delude yourself.

Note from Ed.: Walt uses the term (NFT)  as if we all know what it means. For those who don't, a non-fungible token is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded. NFTs can be created by anybody, and require few or no coding skills to create. NFTs typically contain references to digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because NFTs are uniquely identifiable assets, they differ from cryptocurrencies, which are fungible. Got it? You're welcome.

VIDEO: Canuck socialist leader dreams BIG!

Some things are still funny, even in Canuckistan, the wokest country on earth. [Seriously? Woker than Britain or France or the USA? Ed.] The House of Commons, the lower house of the Canadian Parliament, is about to take its annual two-month Christmas vacation [should read "Winter Holiday vacation". Ed.] but there's still time for a little give-and-take during the daily Question Period. 

Here's a clip showing Canuck solons in high spirits [about a quart, I should say. Ed.] listening to the Hon. Jugmeat Singh, leader of the pinko New Democratic Party, trying three times to ask Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface a simple question.  

Dream on, Mr Singh. But don't forget to order your parachute -- a pink one, perhaps -- for after the next election. Maybe instead of aiming to be prime minister of all Canuckistan, you should be looking towards your homeland, Khalistan.They won't laugh at you there... will they? 

VIDEO: "Made in China" - maybe you have to be Chinese to geddit?

Agent 6 sent this hilarious stand-up comedy clip, an audition for Australia's Got Talent. Spoiler alert! The comedienne's name is He Huang.

   

Agent 78 assures us that He speaks the truth! But do you geddit? 78 always tells me, "You wouldn't understand. You're not Chinese!"

Too fat to fly!?

America is the land of the free, right? A land where you can't be discriminated against for being the wrong race, the wrong religion, the wrong gender or even... weight for it... the wrong size. Fat-shaming is not allowed in the new, woke USA. Stuff your face full of that junk food and don't be afraid  of being called names, or of having people make mooing or oinking noises behind your back.

What about losing your job? Can they fire you for being obese? Well, we're going to find out. 

Chelsia Blackmon (who is actually Blackwoman), is taking legal action against Spirit Airlines, her former employer, claiming she was wrongfully terminated for being too overweight to buckle the seat belt on the jumpseat on an Airbus 319 operated by the Florida-based airline.

She accuses Spirit of discrimination for not being offered the same treatment as a white colleague who could not "fit" in the jump seat. 

The claim filed on her behalf in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, stipulates that when Blackmon was hired, she'd completed and passed all training and compliance protocols, including being strapped into a jump seat (not the one in the picture). 

However, when she was assigned to one of Spirit's A-319s on September 3rd, she failed to strap herself into the seat, and was not allowed to get an extension belt to accommodate her great girth. In fact, she was asked to leave the plane and was put on administrative leave.

Ten days later, according to her complaint, Ms Blackmon was asked to meet with airline managers, and prove she could buckle into a jump seat. When she tried again, on October 8th, she found the jumpseat to small for her. She was suspended from service for five days [to go on a crash diet? Ed.], and fired a month later.

Ms Blackmon accuses the airlne of discriminating against her not just because she's observably obese, but also because she's black -- your classic BBBW. Her complaint alleges that a Caucasian flight attendant -- only a BBW -- who was also in the early stages of her career at Spirit had the same problem but was given several months before she had to prove she could strap herself into a jump seat.

The complaint claims that, because of "discriminatory and illegal differential treatment based upon her race," Ms Blackmon has suffered "lost wages, compensatory damages, mental anguish and suffering." The flight attendant also says that Spirit's actions "were in willful and malicious and in reckless disregard of her civil rights." 

Ms Blackmon is seeking back pay, damages, including punitive damages (of course) and legal costs (more of course) in a trial by jury. Spirit Airlines and Ms Blackmon's attorney didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Agent 3, our resident legal beagle, says jury selection for the upcoming trial ought to be really entertaining. He adivses Ms Blackmon to withdraw the Florida action and file a new claim in Louisiana, where whoever has the biggest alligator wins.

Seen today on Blazing Cat Fur

Who (Walt hears you ask) is Gad Saad? Here's the bio from his website: Dr. Gad Saad is Professor of Marketing at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), and former holder of the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption (2008-2018). 

He has held Visiting Associate Professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and the University of California–Irvine. Dr. Saad received the Faculty of Commerce’s Distinguished Teaching Award in June 2000, and was listed as one of the ‘hot’ professors of Concordia University in both the 2001 and 2002 Maclean’s reports on Canadian universities. 

Dr. Saad was appointed Newsmaker of the Week of Concordia University in five consecutive years (2011-2015), and is the co-recipient of the 2015 President’s Media Outreach Award-Research Communicator of the Year (International), which goes to the professor at Concordia University whose research receives the greatest amount of global media coverage.

Fighting racism with racism: Segregated study hall opens at Canuck U

I must be getting old. [What do you mean, "getting"? Ed.] I can remember when protests like this (left), calling for an end to segregated schools, were commonplace in the Excited States of America, particularly in Dixie. 

You didn't see them so much in Yankeeland because in places like Connecticut Persons of Colour knew their place and didn't want to go to school wif the white chilluns. And in Canada, back then, there were no coloured people (except the Indians, of course), so segregation/integration wasn't an issue.

Along came Brown v Board of Education and, later, the Civil Rights Act, and separate-but-equal came to an end. Governor Faubus got out of the doorway, and white and black students across the land have studied together in peace and harmony ever since. You know how true that is!

But lately there has been a push by "progressives", SJWS and assorted wokesters to de-integrate schools, and reintroduce segregated classrooms and even residences. Can you believe it? How come? Was integration some sort of ghastly mistake? Why turn back the clock to the bad old days of racist America?

Last month, Brock University, a small public university in Saint Catharines ON, set up a racially segregated study hall!

The school's Learning Services Department said the initiative is "part of many ongoing efforts by Brock to address inequity in post-secondary learning, and [was] developed in collaboration with the University's Hadiyaˀdagénhahs First Nations, Métis and Inuit Student Centre, and BIPOC Caucus."

OK, but why?! A spokesthingy for the university told the meeja, "We know BIPOC students are historically under-represented in academic spaces in general and had less opportunities in terms of getting to university. Feeling welcomed and supported academically in the study hall and throughout the University is just one of the ways we are trying to address that.”

Could we  have some specifics please? Well, the "BIPOC Study Hall", which takes place every Tuesday and Wednesday evening at the school's "Student Success Centre", offers participants (not you, whitey!) free tutoring from fourth-year students, and "an exclusive study space". 

"The twice-weekly gatherings will also welcome various on-campus units to provide more tailored resources during specific weeks, as well as partners to donate snacks and refreshments." What kind of snacks and refreshments? Surely not fried chicken and Colt-45!

Jonathan Kay, the well-known author, editor and contributor to the National Post, Tweeted,  "Brock University in Ontario has set up a racially segregated study hall. (Please) check out the first sentence [highlighted in green above] from the in-house university mag article announcing how proud they are of t heir new race-restricted amenity."

Mr Kay, who has written before about Brock's swan-dive into progressive politics and dysfunctional nature, then added this comment, which was followed by another from Sue-Ann Levy.

The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, which has a local chapter at the woke university and just held a Brock event featuring its national president at the end of October, asked its followers “Is the future a segregated one?"

Speaking in reference to someone who commented that Brock "clearly recognizes Black Indigenous People of Colour need all the help they can get to keep up," SAFS replied, "A rather uncharitable explanation would be either 1) the presence of white people is some sort of threat, or 2) the other groups can’t succeed without extra supports, or 3) both. None of these sound good."

Indeed. Well, Ed. tells me that's enough social justice commentary for one day. I'm going to go visit my alma mater (not Brock) to see if the doors are still labelled "blankes" -- that would be me -- and  "nie-blankes". I'll be talkin' at ya.

From Johnny Carson to Trevor Noah: the decline of American comedy

Trevor Noah? Who he? Breitbart News' John Nolte writes that 329,632,000 people across America asked that question when they heard, yesterday, that Trevor Noah was leaving The Daily Show. 

Mr Noah was the diversity hire (formerly known as "token") who replaced Jon Stewart as the show's host in 2015. Mr Stewart, whom Family Guy called "America's most important Jew", was a ratings failure, gathering only a little over a million viewers every night. Writes Mr Nolte: "Mr Noah...seemed determined to prove there is a number less than zero and proceeded to lose about 75 percent of Stewart’s already minuscule audience."

My guess is that Mr Noah was hired not just because he's black, but because he's not an American black, of which the country already has a surfeit. Mr Noah is from South Africa, and seems to be one of those mid-Atlantic guys, like Piers Moron, whom liberals think is funny and clever because he denigrates the USA and its people.

The good news (Mr Nolte writes) is that the tens of Daily Show fans will still be able to enjoy their cherished program... The Daily Show legacy will continue. It's a legacy of failure, but whatever…

Commenting on the sad news via Disqus, "Jason Morton" writes, "I'm old enough to remember when I could turn on an American late night TV program and feel like an American in America." to which "Avatar Jababa" adds, "I'm old enough to remember when everyone tuned into the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and he didn't try to change your opinion on any subject. Nor did he try to persuade you that he was a paragon of virtue."

Now that comment hit home! I'm even older than Jababa, and have fond memories of Johnny Carson, and Jack Paar before him, and even Steve Allen before him. It was Mr Allen who originated the running gag known as "the Question Man", in which the eponymous character asked a question to which the answer had been given. Mr Carson's version of the same skit was "Carnac the Magnificent". Here is the funniest ever tag line ever uttered by the Great Carnac.

  

Ah, but that was long ago, in an America far away. I doubt we will ever see that kind of comedy again. Nothing's funny in America, any more.

UPDATED: "Dark times ahead!" warns Canadian Conservative MP

"Welcome to the future of Canada!" So said Michelle Rempel Garner, the Conservative Member of the Canadian Parliament for Calgary Nose Hill (AB). 

In what she herself called a "Cassandra speech" to the House of Commons on December 6th, Ms Rempel Garner warned against the debt crisis caused by unrestrained government spending, and the eneregy crisis caused by the continued importation of oil from hostile foreign powers. (Hello, Saudi Arabia, to name just one!) 

We've heard those arguments before, and the honourable member is right in what she says. But the shocker -- something I'd barely heard of and hadn't considered -- is the threat posed by failure to regulate the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Machines -- computers -- which can think for themselves and speak for themselves are being built right now! 

In her address, Ms Rempel Garner reads a speech which was written by a computer, using software which is freely available (she tells you where to find it) with no more human input than a few words about the topic and position to be taken. Pretty soon, she warns, people will no longer have to think for themselves, and will become mere cyphers, even more useless than predicted by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley in their dystopian novels.

 

Agent 6, who sent us the link to this video (thank you, 6!) calls the speech "very moving [and] passionate... talking of bleak times ahead thanks to Trudeau and Bill C-32.  Haven’t heard many speeches in Parliament like this one during the last seven years."

Bill C-32 is titled "An Act to implement certain provisions of the fall economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 3, 2022 and certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022". Sounds like pretty dull stuff, but the importance of Ms Rempel Garner's point -- that legislators are failing in their duty to protect Canadians from a very bleak future -- cannot be overemphasized.

Note to American readers: Canada has the misfortune to be ruled by Blackie McBlackface and his gang of venal and incompetent cronies and sycophants. Americans are no better off. For "Canada" and "Blackie McBlackface", please subsitute "The USA" and "Joe Brandon", and try to tell me the same warnings don't apply to you... in spades!

UPDATE ADDED 10/12/22 - Click here for more information about ChatGPT, the scary AI text generator to which Ms Rempel Gardner refers.

"Fair trade", à la Brandon

Let's suppose, just for the heck of it, that you're the President of the Disunited States. (See "As Georgia goes, so goes the nation", WWW 7/12/22.) Vladimir Putin's minions come to you with a deal... an offer you can't refuse.

They want to repatriate a Russian citizen, Viktor Anatolyevich Bout, aka the Lord of Death, a former Soviet military translator who became a very successful arms dealer. Mr Bout used multiple companies to smuggle weapons starting during the collapse of the Soviet Union from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s.

His luck ran out in March of 2008, when he was arrested in Thailand on terrorism charges. He was extradited to the US of A, and on 2 November 2011 was convicted by a jury in a Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to kill US citizens and officials, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and providing aid to a terrorist organization.

He was sentenced to the minimum 25 years' imprisonment because the crime was due to a sting operation. Until this week, he was languising in the United States Penitentiary, Marion (IL).

For some reason, the Russians want him back, and are offering in exchange one (only) of two Americans, imprisoned in Russia, about whom the State Department and President Brandon have been making a fuss. 

One is Paul Whelan Paul Nicholas Whelan, a Canadian-born former United States Marine with no fewer than four passports: American, British, Irish, and Canadian! He was arrested in Russia on 28 December 2018, and accused of spying. On 15 June 2020, he received a 16-year prison sentence.

The other is Brittney Yevette Griner, a lesbian who plays professional basketball player for the WNBA Phoenix Mercury. She is the only NCAA basketball player to both score 2000 points and block 500 shots. In 2012 she was named the AP Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Ms Griner led the United States women's national basketball team to victory at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Having been named to the US national women's team for the 2020 Olympics, Ms Griner protested the Star Spangled Banner and stated she would not be on the court while the national anthem was played during game openers. She completed her move to the dark side by signing a contract to play in the Russian Premier League during the WNBA off-season.

Alas for her, when she entered Russia in February 2022, Ms Griner was detained by customs officials after cartridges containing hash oil were found in her luggage. Last July, she pled guilty to smuggling charges. and  was sentenced to nine years in prison. 

Cue the SJW outrage! The usual suspects -- the alphabet people, the BLM types, the feminists, et al. -- and  whined to the State Department that she was "wrongfully detained"... even after her plea of guilty. The White House took up the cause because, well, mid-terms, and sure enough, a deal was reached earlier this week.

Pop quiz: Which of the two prisoners do you think President Brandon ransomed, to dramatize his commitment to fighting for freedom and justice?

Kinda warms the cockles of your heart, doesn't it? If your cockles get too warm, rub them with ice.

Recommended reading: "Biden Decides To Read 'Art Of The Deal' After Getting Ripped Off In Griner Trade", Babylon Bee (of course!),  9/12/22.

VIDEO: "Christmas Crisis for Willow Deer", by Christina Dodwell

Christina Dodwell,  FRGS (Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society -- even though she's not a "fellow" LOL) is an English explorer, travel writer, and lecturer. She is Chairman of the Dodwell Trust and was awarded the Mungo Park Medal in 1989. 

Like Walt, Ms Dodwell travelled in the country formerly known as Rhodesia. Unlike Walt, she has also journeyed through west Africa, Papua New Guinea, Turkey, China, Afghanistan, Madagascar, Siberia, and Kurdistan, by horse, canoe, elephant, camel and microlight. She has published books and articles about many of her travels.

Now happily retired from her explorations, she is settled in a lovely country home where she passes the time farming and, inter alia, creating stories for children about willow-work reindeer characters, crafted by herself!   

Christina has sent along her latest video, released a few days ago. It's a Christmas special, which she says is definitely her best to date. She writes: I made one final willow deer this year who was rejected by my older deer. However she refused to give up. The story is packed with action, drama and emotion. As for the villainous Mrs Alice Malice – so wicked. My friend who portrayed her is massively proud of her performance!

The 6th film in the Willow Deer series introduces "Star". Will she be accepted as part of the team. She is stronger than she looks and determined to show what she can do. Share this with your children and anyone who may enjoy. With best wishes from Christina Dodwell.

Trudeau discovers another threat to national security

What follows is a true story, not something made up by the good folks at the Babylon Bee. Clever as they are, they couldn't make up something as ridiculous as this.

Assiduous readers will remember that the Liberal government headed by Emperor Trudeau II were quick to see a "threat to national security" in the peaceful protests of the Freedom Convoy last winter. The Emergencies Act, aka Son of War Measures Act, was invoked, and dissent was quelled.

Apparently, however, they had the blinders on when it came to the awarding of a contract worth C$549,637 (just over $400,000 in real money) for the building and maintenance of a radio frequency (RF) filtering system for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The contract went to the lowest bidder (surprised?), a company called Sinclair Technologies, based in Aurora ON, just north of Toronto.

Sinclair Technologies? Who they? Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the sinecure for Liberal appointees in charge of awarding government contracts to firms with the left right connections should have asked that question, but apparently didn't. Radio-Canada, a state-owned broadcaster, found the answer on... wait for it... Wikipedia.

A Wiki that mysteriously disappeared overnight said that, while Sinclair is based in Ontario, its parent company Norsat International has been owned by Chinese telecommunications firm Hytera since 2017. The Communist Chinese government owns "about 10 per cent" of Hytera through an investment fund. Well, that's only a minority interest, so... no problem, eh! 

Errr... well... hmm... maybe it could be a bit of a bother, if the Chicomms were dishonourable enough to install spyware on the Mounties' radio systems, and use the intelligence ["police intelligence"? Ed.] gained for nefarious purposes. 

Although the Chinese are Canada's friends (unlike those Nazi racist truckers), that could indeed pose a threat to national security. Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface called the revelation of Sinclair's ties to the People's Republic "disconcerting" and promised a "review" of the contract and the process by which it was awarded. 

In a scrum outside the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Socks told the meeja that while security agencies were "advising us as a government and as Canadians that we have to be very careful about foreign interference in our institutions ... other parts of the civil service were signing contracts that have questionable levels of security for our operations and our national security institutions like the RCMP."

Marco Mendocino, the Minister of Public Safety said the government is looking at the contract "very carefully." A bit late perhaps, since Sinclair is already installing its equipment at RCMP bases, but never mind. Said Mr Mendacious, "We're eyes wide open about the threats that are posed by hostile state and non-state actors, and that includes [China]."

Coming next... an investigation into the threat to national security posed by TikTok? Stay tuned.

"As Georgia goes, so goes the nation"

Can you imagine any political pundit writing that headline until, say, 2016? Yet last night's victory for Raphael Warnock in the run-off election for the Georgia Senate seat suggests that the Peach State is now a metaphor for the Disunited States of America.

In times past, bellwether states -- the ones that usually voted for the party of the man who would be President -- included: Pennsylvania – one miss from 1800 to 1880 (in 1824); Indiana – one miss from 1852 to 1912 (in 1876); Wisconsin – one miss from 1860 to 1912 (in 1884); and New York – one miss from 1880 to 1944 (in 1916).

But that was one or two centuries ago, in the days when Georgia was reliably Republican -- during Reconstruction -- or Democrat [or Dixiecrat! Ed.] in the mid-20th century -- or Republican again, after the disaster that was Jimmy Carter until the turmoil of the last decade or so.

With 99% of the vote counted, Senator Warnock was re-elected with 51.4% of the vote as against 48.6% for Herschel Walker. A look at the map tells you all ye need to know.

Mr Walker carried the rural areas, but lost the big(ish) cities, including the university town of Athens, and Savannah, the last bastion of the genteel old south.

And he lost Fulton County. As of the 2020 census, its population was just over a million, making it the state's most-populous county. Its county seat is Atlanta.

Today's Atlanta, which also happens to be Georgia's capital, is much differt from the city where, in the 1960s, Governor Lester Maddox sold pick and axe handles to bar "coloured people" -- the phrase seems so quaint now -- from entering his Pickrick Chicken House restaurant.

A stroll [for the brave, only! Ed.] through today's Atlanta, a microcosm of the "New South", reminds one of nowhere more than Philthydelphia. Atlants, like every other Democrat-run city, is seedy and rundown. "Persons experiencing homelessness" squat (and you can take that two ways) on sidewalks and in parks and abandoned buildings. The city is a mess -- a Democratic mess, especially on polling day. Hence the result

But that's the way it is in America as a hole. [Please check your spelling. Ed.] Demented Joe Biden accused President Trump of dividing the nation, and there was some truth in that. He promised to unite America and heal the wounds of the past four years. He failed. In fact he made things worse by upping his game of identity politics to the point where we have 50% of Americans opposing the other 50%, just as Georgians did yesterday.

Just like Georgia... The state of the disunion is such that Americans who live in cities despise rural people, and vice versa. The elites, especially those in the ivory towers of academia (Hello, Athens!) look down on those who never got brainwashed in college. And the great unwashed rightly distrust the elites and their bought-and-paid for media.

It is somewhat heartening to note that Americ is not hopelessly divided along racial lines. That one black man should be pitted against another, blacker man is telling. Lots of white folks, even in rural Georgia, voted for Senator Warnock, whereas many black folks voted for Herschel Walker because they rejected the old Baptist pastor, Uncle Tom stereotype of the "house nigger". Given a white candidate who actually had some qualifications to be a lawmaker, black people might have voted for him/her, rather than a barely literate football player.

Walt hopes that the Republicans will learn one more lesson from the mid-term elections of 2022. The US of A remains deeply divided over President Donald J. Trump. Half of America loves him. The other half hates him. And those percentages don't look like changing any time soon. 

The Republicans should learn that just because President Trump endorses a candidate doesn't make him/her a sure winner unless he/she can campaign and win on his/her own merit. [You can just say "he"; this "he/she" thing is getting tiresome. Ed.] The Republicans should have been able to win in a walk over John "Lurch" Fetterman, had they not chosen a candidate who is a Muslim and a dual citizen because he's a celebrity and The Donald likes him. 

I don't believe that many Americans are aching for a rematch of Trump vs Biden. Both Presidents have had their time, and by 2024 the nation will be in even worse shape than it is now. (Lifetime pct .990.) The time for vengeance has passed. The time has come for the GOP to let President Trump sit quietly [Is that possible? Ed.] by the pool at Mar-a-Lago, and unite behind a leader who can move the party and the country forward into economic and political recovery.

"Like who?", I hear you ask. The names Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence spring to mind. So does that of Senator J.D.Vance. Who would the Democrats put up against a ticket headed by any of those three? An 81-year-old who is already so far over the hill that he can't see it in his rearview mirror? And if not him, then who? 

VIDEO: Walt is dreaming of a White Christmas

While we wait to see who's going to win the Georgia Senate run-off -- the dark horse or the darker horse -- here's some nice Christmas music sung by Clyde McPhatter, Bill Pinkney and the Drifters.

Walt assures you there's no political message here. Shame on you if you detected one!

 

If you remember this version of the beloved song, you're at least 68 years old (!) and can remember a time when the disclaimer above wouldn't have been necessary.

At last: new law prohibiting abortion, extra-marital sex, and more!

Who'd have thought we'd see the day when a legislature would pass laws to reverse society's slide into immorality... or, worse, amorality. But it's going to happen! Not in the AABC countries (America, Australia, Britain, Canada), which are not Christian even in name these days, but in... wait for it... mostly Muslim Indonesia. 

Although it's not officially an "Islamic republic" like, say, Iran, Indonesia is the world's biggest country, by  population, in which Muslims are the majority, with Hindus and Christians tiny minorities. Reuters reports that Indonesia's government is introducing a new criminal code which, according to Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, deputy justice minister, will be "in line with Indonesian values."

The  new code will ban sex outside marriage. It also carries stiff penalties for abortion, “black magic” and insulting the president. The punishment for extramarital sex is up to one year in jail. And that's  just the punishment in this world, never mind the next.

The usual suspects have long warned the new law, which has been decades in the making, would violate the rights of women, minorities, and the alphabet people, as well as undermine freedom of speech. And, they say, it will be bad for business too! The law applies to foreigners as well as Indonesians, so there'll be no more going to Indonesia for a dirty weekend!

Bali, in particular, has traditionally been a top holiday destination, attracting millions of tourists every year. A spokesthingy for Indonesia's Employers' Association told Reuters the morality clauses of the new criminal code would "do more harm than good," especially for businesses engaged in tourism and hospitality. "For the business sector," she said, "the implementation of this law will create legal uncertainty and make investors reconsider investing in Indonesia."

The legislation also bans expressing any views contrary to Indonesia's state ideology -- that would be Islam -- and criminalizes abortion, with the exception of rape victims. Insulting the president, a charge that can only be reported by the president, carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. [Don't tell Brandon or Trudeau about this! Ed.]

The draft,which looks set to be passed into law next week, has the support of many conservative Islamic groups, whose influence is growing across the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. Indonesians who feel that their right to be immoral is being infringed are advised to move to any of the aforementioned AABC countries, where that right is enshrined in law.

Further reading: "Indonesia ranks among most religious countries in Pew study", Jakarta Post, 30/7/20.

Wisdom for today from legal decisions of the Dirty Thirties

Americans and Canadians are going through hard times. The slowdown of business and other activity caused by the Wuhan flu pandemic sent our economies into a tailspin, from which we have not yet recovered, no matter what President Brandon and Prime Minister McBlackface tell you. Not only have we not recovered, but we are teetering on the brink of recession. 

More people are working than was the case two years ago, but more people are not working, too. Some folks, having discovered that our liberal governments will pay them not to work, have simply dropped out of the work force. Thus the same liberal governments are now telling us we need to import hundreds of thousands of third-world migrants to meet "staffing challenges".

Bidenflation has pushed prices up to the point where a lot "working poor" can barely afford to drive to work. The federal governments of both countries desperately need more revenue to cover the deficits they incur by shovelling money out to the special interest groups they rely on to keep them in power. But they are afraid to raise taxes, so the liberal cry today is "Make the rich pay their share...and more!"

And there is civil unrest, notably in Canada where Mr Socks invoked the Emergencies Act (aka Police State Act, aka Son of War Measures Act) to quash last winter's Freedom Convoy by, among other draconian measures, freezing dissenters' bank accounts without notice! That'll teach them to cling to their "unacceptable views"!

The United States went through a similar bad patch during the Great Recession of the 1930s. The Presidents of those days were mile aheads of both Demented Joe and the Emperor of Canuckistan in arrogating to their governments unprecedented powers of taxation and repression of dissent. 

Walt wonders if M Trudeau's handlers studied President Herbert Hoover's response to the 1932 march on Washington of the Bonus Army -- 1000s of war veterans demanding the bonuses which they had been promised at the end of WWI, which had never been paid. This is how it went down.

On 28 July 1932, Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the "Bonus Expeditionary Force" removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shot at the protestors. Two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the U.S. Army to clear the marchers' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded a contingent of infantry and cavalry, supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.

Such heavy-handed tactics became the norm under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who used whatever means he could to force Americans -- particularly rich Americans and their businesses, large and small -- to submit to his New Deal. Those who dissented had the G-men sicced on them. After all, Roosevelt declaimed, this is an emergency!

One business which FDR's Treasury Dept. tried to coerce was a firm owned by three Jewish brothers who butchered chickens. They balked at Roosevelt's National Industrial Recovery Act, which allowed the President to regulate certain industries by distributing authority to develop codes of conduct among business groups and boards in those industries -- i.e.to control private businesses. The Schecters fought the feds all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in their favour. (A.L.A. Schecter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935)) 

In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the unanimous Court exercised a check on the Legislative and Executive branches of government, declaring the Act and actions of the President an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority. 

SCOTUS ruled that the President cannot be allowed to have unbridled control to make whatever laws he believes to be necessary to achieve a certain goal. Justice Hughes wrote: "Extraordinary conditions may call for extraordinary remedies. But the argument necessarily stops short of an attempt to justify action which lies outside the sphere of constitutional authority. Extraordinary conditions do not create or enlarge constitutional powers." 

Here's another piece of wisdom from a famous judge, which may give some comfort to President Trump as he fights to avoid a too-public audit of his tax returns. In Helvering v. Gregory, 293 U.S. 465 (1935).69 F.2d 809 (2d Cir. 1934), Judge Billings Learned Hand, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, ruled that: "Anyone may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.... To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant."

The emphasis is mine. For some 65 years, beginning with the Court of Chief Justice Earl Warren too long (1953-1969), the Supreme Court was dominated by judicial activists intent on rewriting the laws of the USA, including the Constitution itself, to bring about "social justice" and equality of result, as opposed to the equality of opportunity which was the aim of the founding fathers. That is still the mindset of the Supreme Court of Canada.

However, the times they are a-changin'. Ordinary people, real people on both sides of the World's Longest Open Border are waking up to the fact that the liberal democratic state of Roosevelt-Johnson-Clinton-Biden and King-Pearson-Trudeau (Senior and Junior) is not their friend, but their enemy. Walt says: be like the Schecter brothers -- fight back! You can fight and beat city hall!