Walt wishes the People's Cube: Happy 13th anniversary

As one who is totally opposed, always and everywhere, to totalitarianism, groupthink and imposed conformity, Walt wishes the People's Cube a very happy 13th anniversary.

Comrade Red Square writes: Time flies like sputnik! It was only 13 years ago that our founding members posed for this daguerreotype, but it seems like yesterday. Nothing has changed. Back then the token enemy of the people was Bush; today the token enemy of the people is Trump. The struggle is the same, and so are we. This picture has aged well....

The struggle for equality of results has claimed some of our comrades over the years. But our ranks have only grown with new comrades. For our old and new members, we offer a retrospect of our old photos, for some comrades to learn from them, for some others to bring back good memories.

Walt adds: Comrades, in spite of your valiant efforts of the last dozen years, the original five-year plan (B) has yet to be fulfilled! Be like our glorious Canadian leader, Neil Macdonald, and work tirelessly for the overthrow of the fascist populists and the populist fascists! Glory to Hillary in the highest and a piece (of the action) to her marginalized people on earth!

VIDEO: Is Trump funny? SNL alumnus Norm Macdonald answers

Norman Gene Macdonald, better known as Norm Macdonald, is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, producer, actor and all-round funny guy, eh! (Why so many of these funny guys are Canucks is one of the Great Mysteries of the North.) He is known for his five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, which included three years as anchor of the "Weekend Update" segment. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne and made appearances on shows including The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio. He starred in The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001. Paste named him #31 of their 50 Best Stand-up Comics of All Time.

Norm has a brother, Neil Macdonald, an arch anti-Trumper and all-round liberal who masquerades as a journalist with CBC News. I wanted to find out if Norm shared his brother's gene for progressive bullshit, so tuned in to an interview he gave to Joyce Napier on rival CTV's Question Period earlier today. Turns out Norm has a better opinion of President Trump than does brother Neil, and shares Walt's opinion of Hellery Clinton. He has comments, too, on the Prez and Alec Baldwin's unfunny impression of President Trump. Give a listen.



Note from Poor Len Canayen: I trust that all you hockey fans noticed the CH on Norm's cap.

A year of accomplishment under President Trump

As we hit the 11-month mark in the first presidency of Donald J. Trump, let's be clear about one central truth. MAGA was never going to happen overnight. It will take years to undo the damage done by previous administrations, particularly that of President 0, and realize the hopes and dreams that inspired Americans to elect Mr Trump POTUS. That said, even the lamestream media must admit (although they probably won't) that President Trump has done a tremendous amount of good in the first year of his first term. In Walt's opinion, he fully deserves two thumbs up!

His many detractors, like CBC's Neil Macdonald, want President Trump to fail, even if America goes down with him. They can't bring themselves to admit or even talk about the many good things he's accomplished in less than a year: the small ones (like making it OK to say "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" again) or the big ones, like pushing through a much-needed tax reform in spite of the opposition of Democrats and the Republican establishment. The fact is that Mr Trump has, in less than a year, done more than his predecessor did in eight years and more than the Republican Establishment did in a decade of controlling Congress!

The aforementioned tax cut and simplification bill will excuse a majority of Americans from personal income tax altogether. 80% of taxpayers will be able to file their returns on a post card. The top personal rate goes down to 37% the corporate rate to 21%. Americans will be able to keep more of the money they earn and put that money back into the economy.

The Democrats keep saying the tax reform will drive the budgetary deficit out of sight. Walt calls BS on that. According to the Federal Reserve, the annual deficit will be eliminated in less than three years and the national debt (as a percentage of GDP) will start to shrink. GDP growth should be close to 4% -- roughly double that of Canada -- generating nearly a trillion dollars of additional production and transactions in 2018 with only minimal inflation.

The result will be the revival of the spirit of entrepreneurship and capitalism, and the end of the Prez's defeatist warnings that the USA must learn to live with a mere 1% annual growth rate and ever-rising numbers of Americans surviving by sucking on the government tit. And, even better, the gap between the USA and China will finally stop narrowing, as America increases its lead as the world's largest economy.

In the first year of President Trump's term, 2,500,000 jobs have been created -- 228,000 jobs last month alone. The jobless rate is at a 17-year low. In 2017, 171,000 manufacturing jobs were created, compared with 16,000 lost in 2016.The unemployment rate is at its lowest this century! And that's not just for whities like Walt, but for Latinos too. Their unemployment rate is down to 4.7%, the lowest since recording started 45 years ago.

And how about the stock market? Since Mr Trump was elected, the Dow has risen by some 5000 points -- almost 30%. New highs have been hit over 15 times, and Walt predicts the Dow will hit 25,000 by New Year's Eve. (Lifetime pct .988.) Energy production has been drastically deregulated and imports of petroleum reduced to a third of the country's needs and falling steadily. And just this week, the bunkum of "climate change" -- the "global warming" that was -- has been taken off the list of threats to America.

Getting the costs of America's so-called health care "system" under control has presented a challenge, sure enough. President Trump said he would sign any health care bill Congress could pass. They tried twice to come up with a replacement for Obamacare, and failed twice. That's not the President's fault, but that of the Republicans in Congress, some of whom (Hello! Mitch McConnell) are working against the President's agenda, for reasons which we can only guess.

In his draft report card on the first year of POTUS' administration, Scott Adams writes that the only way to get a good health care bill is by letting the Republican Congress fail a few times so they become flexible (more bipartisan) later. He predicts that President Trump's potential influence over health care will grow over time as both sides look at a failing Obamacare system and don't want to explain their failure to voters next year.

And finally -- this is just a partial list of achievements -- there's immigration. Prototypes for the components of the Wall have been built and displayed. It will be built! The Department of Homeland Security reports border patrol arrests have dropped to a 45-year low, down 25 percent from this time last year. The millions of aliens who are in the USA illegally or on sufferance are getting nervous and are starting to go home or, like the Haitian "refugees" who've been in America for a decade, heading for Canada, where they'll be welcomed by the Trudeau government, if not the Canadian people.

Neil Macdonald and the other bleeding hearts in the media should realize that American voters didn't elect Donald Trump to be nice. They elected him to get things done. And that's exactly what he's doing.

Footnote from Ed.: The source of most of the statistics presented in this post is this week's (16/12/17) issue of The Economist. Even they, guardians of the liberal progressive ideal, are forced to admit that the outlook for the USA in 2018 is, errr, positive.

White lives matter! Another police killing goes unchallenged

Very disturbing story today out of Fairfax VA, as reported by Neil Macdonald, CBC News's man in Washington. The only place you'll find it in the US mainstream media is the Washington Post, which published this photo of a Fairfax cop about to shoot an unarmed white man, standing with his hands up in front of his own home.

Here are the facts, as laid out in the CBC report:

In April 2013, John Geer's common-law wife, who was breaking up with him and moving out, called police to report he was angrily throwing her possessions onto his front lawn. Asked whether Geer had weapons, the woman answered yes, but they were legally owned and secured. No, he hadn't been drinking.

Two squad cars — four officers — initially responded. Geer, on seeing them, retreated into his home, refusing to answer questions. A few minutes later, Officer Rodney Barnes, a trained police negotiator, arrived, and as the four other policemen stood close behind him with weapons drawn, he began trying to coax John Geer out onto the porch.

Barnes would later recall that Geer was polite, but reluctant to leave his home, saying repeatedly he was frightened of being killed. He said "I don't want anybody to get hurt," the negotiator told investigators a few months later. "I don't want to get shot."

Barnes asked Geer if he owned a pistol. Geer said yes, and fetched it. He held it up, holstered, for Barnes to see and set it aside, raising his hands again. He offered to let Barnes come into the house and retrieve the weapon. He asked for permission to scratch his nose, Barnes said, and did it slowly, then raised his hands again. He asked to reach into his pocket for his phone; Barnes asked him not to, and he obeyed.

"He said 'I know if I reach down or drop my hands I can get shot," Barnes told detectives later. "I said, hey, nobody's going to shoot you…" But Geer pointed to one nearby officer in particular: Adam Torres, who kept raising his Sig Sauer pistol from the "ready" position (pointed at Geer's legs) to aim at Geer's chest.

"Please ask him not to point his gun at me," Geer begged Barnes. Geer even offered to come out and be handcuffed voluntarily if Torres and the other patrolmen would agree to move "way back." Then he asked to scratch his nose again. Barnes consented. And Torres fired.

Geer, grabbing his wound, screamed in pain and stepped back, slamming his door. "And I'm like, who the fuck shot?" Barnes told detectives later. "I kinda got a little pissed."

Torres acknowledged it had been him, and began muttering how he was sorry, and that his wrist was hurting. Then, unbidden, he told Barnes how he'd had a fight over the phone with his wife just before arriving on the scene.

Asked by Barnes why he'd fired, Torres said Geer had dropped his hands to his waist suddenly, that he appeared to be going for a weapon. "I said I didn't see that," said Barnes later. "You know, and I never took my eye off him (Geer)."

The other three officers who'd been present told investigators the same thing. So did two civilian witnesses. But prosecutors and police commanders and county officials buried the case. Fairfax County's top prosecutor declared a conflict of interest and referred the shooting to federal authorities. Federal investigators did investigate, and have reported to the US attorney in Virginia, who has done nothing.

All this was done under a cloak of secrecy, until, earlier this month, a judge finally ordered disclosure of nearly 11,000 documents, containing interviews with nearly everyone involved. According to those official documents (including audio of the witness statements), now available on the Fairfax County website, the shooter — a cop with significant anger issues (he once screamed and cursed at prosecutors in open court) — is contradicted by four fellow officers and two civilian witnesses. That sort of rank-breaking is practically unheard of.

And yet [Mr. Macdonald continues] there has been no judicial action, and almost no public uproar. Most politicians have remained silent. Those who have marched against police shootings in the past have been largely uninterested. A protest at Fairfax police headquarters drew a couple of dozen people. Only the Washington Post has taken a serious interest in the case.

But the killing of John Geer should frighten everyone. It is the best example yet that while police often target minorities disproportionately, their basic and overriding demand is total and unquestioning submission to their authority. Resist, however peacefully and even in your own home, and heaven help you, no matter what your skin colour.

That, dear readers, is the stone truth about the police state Americans (and Canadians too) live in today. Cops do not discriminate. You can be black, white or striped; they'll shoot you anyway.

Here are the links you need to read the complete stories.
CBC News - "In Fairfax, Va., a different, no-less-scary police shooting" - I've copied most of Neil Macdonald's well-written piece above.
Washington Post - "Seven unanswered questions in the Fairfax police shooting death of John Geer" - This article is a follow-up to the original reports, and there are a couple of updates since. Search "Fairfax police" or "John Geer" on the Post website and you'll see all the stories.

The religion that must not be satirized... on pain of death!

In yesterday's second post on the assassination of Charlie Hebdo, Walt drew attention to the craven refusal of the lamestream media to draw attention to the fact that the terrorists being hunted for the murders of a dozen people are Muslims of North African ancestry. Instead, all we hear is calls for brotherhood and unity, as if the massacre had nothing to do with the perps' ethnicity or religious motivation.

Why is the fact that the murderers are Islamic extremists being downplayed? Political correctness, of course! The Taliban, al-Qaeda and now IS have bullied Western politicians -- including Francis the Party Pope -- and media into fearing to say, let alone do anything which might possibly give offence to followers of the Prophet.

Such is the post-Christian, post-religious Western world today. It's OK to make fun of Christianity, particularly the Catholic Church and fundamentalist Protestants. Scientologists, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons have all been satirized in South Park and other TV comedies. Even Judaism is fair game. The Eastern religions -- Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism -- don't even get a laugh. But the one religion that can't be touched, or even mentioned, is... dare we name it... Islam!

Islam is untouchable because our "leaders" and chattering classes have got The Fear. This goes back at least as far as 1989 (before the word "Islamophobia" was coined), when Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (an order to Muslims to kill someone) against Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses. English writer Hanif Kureishi called the fatwa -- which is still in effect -- "one of the most significant events in postwar literary history."

The controversy over The Satanic Verses may be said to have divided Muslims from Westerners along the fault line of culture. The core Western value of freedom of expression -- that no-one "should be killed, or face a serious threat of being killed, for what they say or write" -- is now confronted by the Islamic fundamentalist commandment that no-one should be free to "insult and malign Muslims" by disparaging the "honour of the Prophet" Mohammed.

"Death to those who insult the Prophet!" is what the Islamists preach, and their followers -- including the two North African Muslims who killed the journalists of Charlie Hebdo -- are walking the talk. With a vengeance. Literally!

These thoughts have occurred not just to Walt but to others, including numerous cartoonists, commentators, journalists and writers. But so far I've heard only one make the point that political correctness to the point of fear has silenced public discussion of the issue. The CBC's senior correspondent, Neil Macdonald, spoke out on last night's edition of The National. Click here to watch "Religion, satire, and where we draw the line". Bravo, Neil, for breaking the politically correct silence.

Walt also recommends: "Terrorists have cowed us all into a ridiculous self-censorship", by the deliciously un-PC Crusty Blatchford ["Christie", surely. Ed.] in the Notional Post. ["National Post", surely. Ed.] Sample: You want to talk about common or "shared values", as just about every Western leader has done since the attack? The value most shared in the West, and perhaps in this country in particular, is timidity.

"Once more unto the breach" (not Henry V, but Obama I)

Walt usually tries to write his own commentaries on the issues of the day, or at least append a few pithy [sp? Ed.] comments to the opinions of others. But today I'm feeling lazy. Besides, I can't think of a single word to add to or improve on " U.S. is off to a war that doesn't make sense – again" by Washington-based Neil Macdonald, senior correspondent for CBC News. I'll give you just the first few lines, for the flavour of his insightful piece, and leave you to read the rest on your own.

"America is going to war again. People are scared again.
"The American news media have a scary monster in the Middle East again, and commentators are practically saluting on air. Again.
"Dick Cheney, smirking, is back onstage. Last week, at a speech in Washington, he called for immediate military action, 'sustained … across several fronts.'
"'The president must understand we are at war,' he declared, relishing the new moment. 'We must do what it takes, for as long as it takes, to win.'
"At about the same time, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was speaking in Manhattan.
"'At present,' said Johnson, who is actually in office and whose entire job is protecting America, 'we have no credible information that ISIS is planning to attack the homeland of the United States.'
"Johnson may as well have been dancing a jig, for all anyone noticed."

What are you waiting for? Click on either of the links above, and read the whole piece.

And please...don't get me wrong. I hold no brief for ISIS or Al-Qaeda or Al-Shabab or Boko Haram or any other fanatical, barbaric Muslims. See "Islam 'the religion of peace'? Politically correct madness!" Damn the lot of them and damn their jihad!

But... and I believe this is what Mr. Macdonald is driving at... half-measures are not going to win this round of the war between the Muslims and the rest of us, no more than they did in Iraq (the first time) or Afghanistan. You (Mr. President!) cannot say, let others -- preferably other Muslims -- do the fighting, and we'll hold their coats (or turbans). If we -- the coalition of the willing (???) -- are going back into the sandpit, we'd better go in with everything we've got...go in to win!

Note from Ed.: That turned out to be a pretty pithy comment after all.

What Obama DIDN'T say -- the REAL state of the union

Walt was very pleased by last night's major event, which he watched in its entirety on satellite TV. Carey Price definitely deserved the first star, with a fine performance in the Canadiens goal, and the team played much better than on Saturday.

Ohhhh... Apparently there was something else on TV last night -- a lengthy exercise in excuse-making by the Prez. Some are calling it a "State of the Union Address". Neil Macdonald, senior Washington correspondent for CBCNews, was obliged to watch the whole sick-making speech, and by way of commentary wrote an alternative speech -- the one that Obama would never give. Here's his introduction:

"With few exceptions (such as Gerald Ford's blunt 1975 assessment that "the state of the union is not good") the president's annual report to Congress is an exercise in reassuring Americans they are exceptional, blessed by God, leading the world, and headed for better things.

"Last night's was no different; at best, it amounted to an optimistic statement of intent by a president who has been thwarted constantly by other arms of government since assuming office. So, let's imagine what an outsider like, say, me, might submit if asked for a more succinct, less varnished assessment of the state of the American union."

The imaginary "real state of the union" speech penned by Mr. Macdonald is simply excellent, worth reading in its entirety. We are unable to publish it here for reasons of space [not to mention copyright! Ed.]. So click on this link and get the cold, hard truth about what the Obama maladministration has done to America.