VIDEO: The Remnant's Michael Matt on what happens next

We haven't posted much recently about religion, the culture wars, and the New World Order, because these worthy topics were subsumed by the big issues of the Presidential election. Now that it's over and the right candidate [Geddit? Ed.] won, what happens next? Here are some thoughts from our old friend, Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper, and animator of Remnant TV's "Underground".

So there's not going to be a Te Deum. That's it for this week then. Absent any major news event, Walt will be taking the weekend off.

VIDEO: 10 warning signs that you might be a MAGA, far right, extremist

Full disclosure: This is actually a promo piece for Mike Lindell's line of MyPillow products. Here's what the folks at the Babylon Bee have to say about this video.

 

As the country slowly increases in racism and right-wing bigotry, it’s important to ensure you don’t get caught up in their evil MAGA ways. Here are some early warning signs to look out for that will help you nip any potential extremism in the bud.

 

Pragmatism trumps progressivism in Ontario election

Ed. here. Walt has sent us this report from somewhere north of the longer of America's undefended borders. 

As Ed. told you yesterday, the politics of the Canadian province4 of Ontario has been dominated for most of the post-WWII 20th century by a party with the oxymoronical name of "Progressive Conservative". A 42-year dynasty began just three days after Walt was born, ending only in June of 1985. 

The Liberals had their longest run from 2003 until 2018, when the government of proudly lesbian Kathleen Wynne was defeated by a political novice named Doug Ford, the little big [hardly! Ed.] brother of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. The Liberals finished third, losing official party status. 

The question to be answered in yesterday's provincial election was: could Doug Ford, in spite of struggles with a faltering economy and the Covid "crisis", hang onto power? Here's the answer.

The "Ontario PCs" (the monker preferred by Mr Ford) won a second majority government, with twice as many seats as all the other parties combined! But wait, there's more.... The crushing victory forced the resignation of the leaders of the parties of the left and more-left. The Greens' Mike Schreiner held onto his own seat, and his position as "leader" of a party of one.

Andrea Horwath, leader of the socialistic "New" Democratic Party, was re-elected, but is stepping down as leader despite the party regaining Official Opposition status. Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca failed to regain the Vaughan-Woodbridge riding, and announced his immediate retirement. Although the Liberals won one (1) more seat than last time, they didn't meet the threshold for official party status in the Onterio legislature.

So what happened to the "progressive" parties who were touted by the lickspittle media as likely to reduce the Ford "Conservatives" to a minority? Goodness knows they pulled out all the stops in their efforts to bribe Ontario taxpayers with their own  money.

The Liberals, who occupy a place on the political spectrum roughly equivalent to that of the American Dumbocrats, offered a lengthy shopping list, free of any concern about cost, because of course the rich would pay "their fair share", and "efficiencies" would make up any shortfall. Their promises included: 

- a "buck-a-ride" for mass transit anywhere in the million-square-km province

- billions for "affordable" housing (especially for Indigenous people, to make reparations for the misdeeds of the evil colonizers)

- more billions for "assisted-living" and "social and community" housing (like council flats in the UK or "projects" in the USA)

- and still more for elder care, home care and hospital care.

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's even more! Rent controls for anyone not covered by all the new housing; cheaper food; cheaper gasoline; cheaper daycare; new and better schools; a "dementia care" network to help people like Sleepy Joe Biden (if he moves to Canada after his long overdue retirement); more nurses, more surgeries, more mental health workers; more money for seniors, a possible four-day work week and "living wage" for all. All this would be paid for by, errr, someone else.

The NDP offered similar slices of pie in the sky, while saying that they thought of it first, and that they were the only party with a chance of defeating the "Conservatives". (Ms Horwath didn't specify the odds of that happening, which were about 100-1.)

For his part, Doug Ford, simply promised to get things done:

- build a new superhighway to make it easier to go around rather than through Toronto (a pretty good idea!)

- train more future workers, particularly skilled tradesmen [tradespersons? Ed.]

- make it easier for educated immigrants (with degrees) to practise their professions (there are enough "refugee" Uber drivers already)

- build more hospitals and expand the capacity of the province's health-care system.

The beauty of the PC plan -- if you could call "more of the same" a plan -- was that it consists primarily of things that are already budgeted for and in progress. Mr Ford promised no radical changes in policy or priorities. That's not who he is. He's uninterested in policy, and certainly not ideology. He's a politician of the "extreme centre", a middle-of-the-road guy, the epitome of pragmatism. And that, it seems, is exactly what the people of Ontario want.

There are lessons for both liberals and conservatives in Mr Ford's crushing of the leftist ideologues. Canada's federal Liberals and their NDP hangers-on should learn that large numbers of voters are fed up with ideology-driven tax-and-spend policies that benefit every minority and pressure group in sight, but not the silent majority who (along with their children and grandchildren) must pay the bills.

There are implications for the federal Conservatives too, as they search for a new leader. The current front-runner is Pierre Poilievre, who holds himself out as a real conservative, although "social conservatives" snort when they hear that. Mr Poilievre is the attack dog type, snarling and going for the throats of the feckless liberals, not a folksy retail politician like Doug Ford. 

If Canadian Conservatives are interested in beating the Trudeau Liberals, rather than just scoring debating points, they might look again at Jean Charest, l'homme d'hier. He's the type who would appeal to the mushy middle, and those are the people who gave Mr Ford two massive victories in a row, the second even greater than the first. 

The trouble is that if M Charest were to become prime minister, the people of Canada would be only marginally better off than they are now, through not having endure any more Trudeau virtue-signalling. What should you do if you're a conservative Canuck? Is a dilemma....

Quote of the day: "The premier’s guiding philosophy of Ford Nation combines populist rhetoric and conservative principles. It’s a concoction of lower taxes, reducing government interference, supporting individual rights and freedoms — and giving more power back to the people. These are ideas that many Ontarians, both conservative and non-conservative in ideology, strongly believe in and support." Michael Taube, in the National Post, 3/6/22.

Further reading: "Lessons from the Ontario election", by Warren Kinsella, Toronto Sun, 3/6/22. Subhead: Doug Ford won -- and won for his party and team -- because he is a HOAG: A Hell Of A Guy.

VIDEO: Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes sets the record straight

Gavin McInnes, the founder of Proud Boys, has been taking a lot of heat lately. His alleged organization -- which isn't an organization really -- has just been declared a terrorist organization by the alleged government of his native Canada. 

In addition to being labelled as terrorists, the Proud Boys and Mr McInnes are being demonized for being white supremacists, neo-Nazis,alt-right monsters, yada yada yada. In this video, which is nearly three years old, Gavin discusses his 15 most controversial moments (to that point). 

In almost every case, he says, his destractors are taking a phrase or sentence completely out of context, and/or failing to recognize that he is indulging in the millennia old technique of hyperbole -- exaggerate for effect. In other words, what he says is not be be taken all that seriously.

 

Putting his self-defence another way -- and he would probably say that he wasn't defending himself, just explaining -- Mr McInnes likens himself to Walt's favourite stand-up comedian Bill Burr. What he and Bill do is to say out loud stuff that a large percentage of us "regular people" say in bars. 

A few of the Proud Boys may be genuine right-wing fanatics, but Walt reminds those who are crying for the censorship of every expression of politically incorrect thought that there are plenty of loony left nutbars out there too. 

Those who are already "beyond the fringe" don't need Gavin McInnes or (for that matter) President Trump to incite them to the acts of violence that may be characterized as "terrorism" (in the case of the right) or "mostly peaceful protests" in the case of Antifa and BLM.

VIDEO: The life and thought of Thomas Sowell

Things are quier... too quiet! Well, maybe not. After all the brouhaha and foofaraw of the last year -- the "anus horibilis" --, it's nice to have a few days or weeks with nothing to do (thanks to the Nanny State) to reflect on where we've been and where we're going. The "we" in this case refers to those of us with a conservative turn of mind. 

The other day we reposted a video in which Dr Thomas Sowell -- American economist, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution -- talked about black culture, a subject about which he is qualified to speak since he is black. (No, he doesn't insist on "black" being capitalized.) 

Just by coincidence, the Free to Choose Network yesterday posted a biography on Dr Sowell which we think is well worth watching. Here it is.

If only America had more Thomas Sowells and fewer professional Blacks like "Rev." Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Maxine Waters. Keep talking, Prof. Maybe as we "progress" into the era of "Black entitlement", more people will listen.

Footnotes: 

- Did you notice that Prof. Sowell's name is pronounced as one syllable, "Soul"?

- Key thought: It's amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.

VIDEOS: Conservatives! Vote for truly conservative candidates!

How I wish Canadian conservatives would figure out how to unite the right! Canada doesn't have a two-party system, like the Excited States of America.

Since the Dirty Thirties it has had third and fourth parties of the (somewhat) left (the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and it successor, the No-longer-new Democrats) and the right (Social Credit). More recently the federal Parliament has seen members elected from the Parti Québécois, which then became the Bloc Québécois, and the self-styled Green Party, both of them left (and really left) of centre.

Canada's quasi-conservatives, who after WWII styled themselves "Progressive Conservatives" -- an oxymoron if there ever was one -- saw the more conservative of their number split away from the "Red Tories" to form the Reform Party, which then merged with what was left of the PCs to form the Canadian Alliance which then restyled itself the Conservative Party. Got it?

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more. In their 2017 leadership contest, the Conservatives rejected the truly conservative candidate, Maxime Bernier, and chose a nebbish named Andrew Scheer. "Mad Max" went off in a huff (or a minute-and-a-huff) and formed his own People's Party of Canada, who drew off just enough votes from the Conservatives to rob them of what should have been an easy victory against Mr Socks' ultra-Liberals.

One of the leading lights of the People's Party of Canada was (note past tense) Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, a very personable and dynamic woman who has been seen speaking up for conservative Christian values in a number of videos posted here on WWW. (Click on the tag to see those posts.) Just this Sunday, in my post about Twitter's censorship of Republican Senate hopeful Lauren Witzke, I asked if anyone else noticed the resemblance between Ms Witzke and Ms Thompson. And noooo, it's not that I can't tell one attractive blonde lady from another. Lauren and Laura-Lynn are saying the same things! 

Imagine my surprise then when, just today, I discovered this video in which Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson identifies herself as leader the the Christian Heritage Party of British Columbia!

   

There will be a provincial election in Canada's Lalaland any day now, and Ms Thompson is standing for election in the riding of Abbotsford South. If she succeeds, she will be the first member of the Christian Heritage Party ever elected to any Canadian legislature, let alone the House of Commons. Here's a longer video in which she talks about why she's running, and about racism and "white privilege". Listen up, Americans! This applies to you... in spades!

 

I wish Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson well and encourage British Columbians to vote for her (in Abbotsford South) or other Christian Heritage Party candidates in the rest of the province. Right now, the CHP is the only conservative party in BC. 

And that's the problem in the Great No-longer-white North. There is no truly conservative party in the Parliament of Canuckistan. As Max Bernier says in "Is there any hope for conservatives in Canada?" (WWW 2/9/20), The NDP and the Greens prop up the corrupt Liberal government in Ottawa. The leftists are united in everything but name, while the conservatives attack each other. 

It's high time that Canadians [and Americans! Ed.] who cherish the values on which their country was built got together behind one truly conservative party.

What happened to our society: Pat Buchanan's view

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post in which British writer Pat Condell summarized in under four minutes what went wrong with the society of the AABC countries (America, Australia, Britain and Canada). If you haven't seen the video, be sure to check it out. Today I want to share another summary, using the printed word this time, by another Pat -- Patrick J. Buchanan.

Mr Buchanan has been described as "America's leading populist conservative". He has been a senior advisor to three American presidents, ran for the Republican nomination in 1992 and 1996, and was the Reform Party's presidential candidate in 2000. What follows is excerpted from "The Last Chance", the final chapter of his best-selling book Suicide of a Superpower: Will America survive to 2025? (St. Martin's Press, 2011).

Our intellectual, cultural, and political elites are today engaged in one of the most audacious and ambitious experiments in history. They are trying to transform a Western Christian republic into an egalitarian democracy made up of all the tribes, races, creeds, and cultures of planet Earth.

They have dethroned our God, purged our cradle faith from public life, and repudiated the Judeo-Christian moral code by which previous generations sought to live.

They have declared men and women to be basically the same, that all voluntary sexual relations are morally equal, that the traditional family is but one social option, that men can marry men and women can marry women, that race is a social construct invented by bigots bent on repressing others, that all are endowed with the intelligence and ability to succeed in the most competitive society on earth.

All religions and all "lifestyles" are equal and all are to be equally respected. These elites will fight to ensure that a mosque is built at Ground Zero with the same ferocity as they will to ensure that no Nativity scene ever appears on the National Mall. If there is an inequality of rewards in our society, they believe, this is the residue of a reactionary America, the fruit of societal injustice, and it is the moral duty of our modern state to rectify that injustice and mandate equality. Those who reject these truths are benighted or bigoted.

Our secular elites believe in this revolution. The people never did. Middle America detests it. Thus it has had to be imposed from above, by judges, bureaucrats, professors, and those who control the content of our culture. One part of America believes we are headed for a wonderful new age. The silent majority thinks the country has lost its mind....

The experiment is failing and will continue to fail. For it is based on a theory which runs counter to reality, an ideology whose tenets are at war with the laws of nature. Like the Marxists who were going to create a new man and a new society, our establishment is attempting the impossible.

Our elites have created a concept of the ideal nation -- the most egalitarian, diverse, democratic, and liberated that ever existed. And they have mobilized the vast power of government and law to force America to conform to that concept. They will fail, and this great and good country will die of their experiment.

VIDEO: Jordan Peterson: How far is too far? Conservatives know, liberals don't

Here's a video to make our left-leaning readers [Both of them? Ed.] uncomfortable. Dr Jordan Peterson argues that we on the right side of the political divide have learned how to "box in" the extremists who preach such things as white supremacy. The left, on the other hand, can't draw a line in the sand to exclude the radical socialists and communists who advocate such things as forced equality. The failure to keep out the antifa types, Dr Peterson says, is the fatal flaw of leftist American politics. Something to think about before the football games come on...

VIDEO: "Mad Max" Bernier at Rebel Live in Calgary - full speech

Ed. here. We no sooner posted "Bernier's People's Party of Canada wows Toronto 'deplorables'", earlier this morning, when an assiduous (and sometimes acidulous) reader e-mail to say it was nice to see the positive comments from those who heard Maxime Bernier speak at Toronto. But (he asks) don't you have the speech itself? Errr, no. But I've found the video from M Bernier's speech to a conference organized by The Rebel in Calgary, earlier this month. Here it is.



Gotta love the line about "politically correct nonsense"!

VIDEO: Bernier's People's Party of Canada wows Toronto "deplorables"

One of Walt's agents was in Toronto -- the font of all evil in Canada -- a few days ago to take in the first rally in that "world-class city" of "Mad Max" Bernier's People's Party of Canada. Here's a ten-minute video from The Rebel showing the reactions of people who came looking for a real conservative leader... and found it!

CBC News didn't cover the PPC rally very fully. The comments of some of those interviewed by The Rebel make the reason clear.



The PPC followed up the Toronto rally by holding organizing meetings for some Ontario riding associations (or "Electoral District Associations", as they're called in Newspeak). A regular reader of WWW was elected to the executive of one such group. He reports that those assembled in the meeting room of a local library were indeed a "basket of deplorables"... and proud of it!

VIDEO: Bannon vs Frum: The future of Western politics is populist - COMPLETE Munk Debate

On November 3rd Walt posted "Bannon vs Frum debate goes on despite antifa near-riot", a video showing the lengths the NPC and antifa types went to in their effort to silence the voices of conservatism (David Frum) and populism (Steve Bannon), who were scheduled to have a debate on "The future of Western politics is populist, not liberal" the previous night.

In spite of the violent protests of the leftists, the debate went ahead anyway. Thanks to CPAC, we now have video of the complete debate. Running time (skipping the introduction) is under an hour and a half.



Who won? You can't participate in the "rolling poll" that the moderator talks about, because that was two weeks ago, but you can judge for yourself. Enjoy.

VIDEO: Jordan Peterson: "What could possibly go wrong?"

Dr Jordan Peterson, "the only extant right-wing psychologist" (his own little joke on himself) answers a question posed by a Canadian student following his address to the Oxford Union in June of 2018. To Canadian Prime Minister Just In Trudeau and other well-meaning liberals, he poses the question: Have you considered the possibility that your well-meaning intervention might have unforeseen negative consequences? Under 7 minutes and well worth every second.

Max Bernier quits Tories, will form new "truly conservative" party

Maxime Bernier, whose tweets that diversity is killing Canada are resonating across the Great No-longer-white North, has just announced that he is leaving the so-called Conservative Party.

He said he will, in the next few weeks, will discuss with real conservatives the founding of a new party prepared to stand up for conservative and Canadian values.

This is a breaking story. I'll have more within the next 24 hours. Right now I'm going to visit M Bernier's new website. If you're a Canadian conservative (note the small C), I urge you to do the same. Tell `em Walt sent ya!

Further reading: "Why I Am Leaving the Conservative Party of Canada", by Maxime Bernier, published just a few minutes ago.

Wynne loses, conservatives win in ON -- a warning to "progressives"

It's taken me a few hours to get going this morning, following a night of toasting [marshmallows? Ed.] but a small serving of Ma Nifkins' jellied gin has me almost back to normal, so let me share some thoughts from yesterday's provincial election in the Canadian province of Ontari-ari-ario.

To set the stage, and get our American readers up to speed, Ontario is one of the more "progressive" provinces in one of the most liberal nations on earth, outside of Scandinavia. For the last 15 years it has been misruled by the Liberal Party -- the party of Big Government and social justice for all (except for straight, white, Canadian-born males). For the last five years, the Premier (head of the provincial government) was Kathleen Wynne, pictured at left below, the image on the right being that of her sister.

Ms Wynne is proud to be a lesbian, and is largely responsible for the much-reviled dirty sex education curriculum imposed on Ontario schools (including Catholic schools) in 2015. See WWW passim.

After 15 years of the Liberal nanny state's social engineering and tax-and-spend mismanagement, the people of Ontario were crying, begging for change. But who would change what the liberal elites and the (((controlled media))) keep saying is the natural order of things? Could anyone promise to turn back the clock?

Two other parties -- three, if you count the Green Party -- said they would do things differently. The socialist New Democratic Party (NDP), led by Andrea Horwath -- another short, shrill lady (?) -- promised to tax more and spend more, to give Ontarians free drugs, free dental care, and the sun, moon and stars, all by making the corporations and the rich, pay for it. As part of that, Ms Horwath said she would declare Ontario a "sanctuary province", so the bounties of socialism would be available to the huddled masses entering Canada illegally, at a cost of a mere C$2.5 billion (about $1.93 billion in real money).

The alternative -- and quite a stark choice it was, according to Ms Wynne herself -- was the oxymoronically named Progressive Conservative Party, led by Doug Ford, brother of the late Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, famous for having appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Like his brother, Doug Ford portrayed himself as a tax-cutting warrior, a fiscal conservative who believes governments waste too much taxpayers' money. Over and over, he repeated a simple message: a Ford government will be a responsible steward for taxpayers' money, and that "help is on the way for hard-working families!"

Mr Ford said he would cut taxes, cut the price of gas, cut hydro rates, cut the price of beer and eliminate the deficit while spending billions on transit and infrastructure projects. He had a simple product, and he was selling it at a lower price than anybody else in terms of tax cuts and other commitments of reduced prices. Those are tangible things that people understood and -- after 15 years of liberalism -- very much wanted.

And guess what, folks? It worked! The simple small-C conservative message, delivered by a straight white male -- the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with -- carried the Progressive Conservativess to a solid victory over lefties. Here's Doug Ford celebrating going to Queen's Park today as the head of a majority government.

Any resemblance to Donald Trump is purely coincidental, don't you think? Mr Ford's detractors say otherwise. They accused him of cultivating the same image to win the same voters -- the plain people of Ontario, ignored for so long by liberal chattering classes of downtown Toronto. Whether he did so deliberately or not doesn't matter. It worked! Don Guy, a veteran Liberal political campaign strategist and former chief of staff to Kathleen Wynne's predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, said "[Mr Ford] was the ideal candidate because he gave small-c conservative voters a very comfortable home, a very comfortable archetype and a very strong message."

Kathleen Wynne had a mutual love affair (philosophical, not physical!) with Canuck Prime Minister Justin "Mr Socks" Trudeau. She shared Junior's "progressive ideals", and could be counted on to support his view of government as an agent for change. Doug Ford? Not at all! A price on carbon? He's against it. Asking the wealthy to shoulder a greater tax burden? He's against that, too. Free drugs for all? Social housing, especially for "refugees" and the idle poor? Gender-based analysis of government initiatives? Such entitlement programmes weren't at the bottom of Mr Ford's to-do list. They weren't on it at all! The priorities of a Ford government, he told voters, begin with "A" for "austerity".

A political scientist at Queen's University, in Kingston ON, said, "I think the fact that he came across as sensible during the debates really helped him a lot. He didn't get upset during them. It was a very controlled campaign. He was very much in control as well. He had his key messages. He stayed on point. He repeated them." Mr Ford's message that he would find "efficiencies" in government resonated with Ontario voters, she said. "People do see government as being wasteful in some ways. Everybody's got a story about that, so that kind of hits home."

As well as a warning to the libtards, progressives and SJWs, Doug Ford's victory -- and it's very much his, personally! -- is a good lesson for small-C conservatives everywhere. Keep the message simple, stay focussed on bread-and-butter issues more than ideology, and you will win. Next target for Canadians -- turf Trudeau in 2019! If I were "Mr Socks", I'd be quaking in my loafers.

Note from Ed.: For American readers who are wondering what's with all the blue in a conservative celebration... party colours in Canada are, like those of Britain, the reverse of what you're used to in the Excited States of America. Liberals wear red. Conservatives wear blue. The Greens favour green -- DUH! As for the NDP, who you'd think would be in the pink... their colour is orange. Go figure.

VIDEO: Mark Steyn: Is Canada the exception to a worldwide trend?

It's been a while since we had some straight talk from Mark Steyn. Last week the erstwhile citizen of the Anglosphere was in Canada for the Manning Conference, a conservative get-together akin to the CPAC conference in the USA. The Rebel's Brian Lilley cornered him for a wide-ranging interview on Trump, Brexit, Le Pen, and the trend to populism. How much longer will Canadians stand for the Trudeau government's liberal elitist nonsense? Check it out. Running time: 13 minutes.

Seriously, this time: Ron Paul explains why Brexit matters to us

If you skipped over yesterday's post -- "Catholic prelate says South Sudan 'ruled by monkeys'" -- because you thought it was just about Africa, please click on the link and check out the first couple of paragraphs, because I started with some musings about Brexit.

A revolution against the prevailing orthodoxy of globalism strikes me as being a Good Thing. The idea of one big happy worldwide family is the veriest bullshit, contrary to human nature. Everyone knows this, but the liberal elites who dominate our media, universities and political parties refuse to admit it. Now we "ordinary people" are starting to get up on our hind feet and say we've had enough. About time!

A couple of days earlier I posted a piece on American reaction to Brexit, the gist of which was that Merkans were struggling to understand why a democratically elected head of government -- British PM David Cameron -- would relinquish control simply because he had been shown to have made a spectacularly bad judgment call. That post, dear readers, was lifted from The Onion, as I thought I made clear. It was satire, a joke, funny haha.

Apparently some of you mistook it for a real op-ed piece, so, to get serious, I refer you to "After 'Brexit', Can We Exit a Few Things Too?" by Ron Paul. As usual, Mr Paul has some very common-sensical things to say about why the Brits voted themselves out of Europe, and what lessons America might usefully learn from their decision. Here's are key excerpts. The emphasis is mine.

Last week’s UK vote to leave the EU may have come as a shock to many, but the sentiment that led British voters to reject rule from Brussels is nothing unique. In fact it is growing sentiment worldwide. Frustration with politics as usual, with political parties that really do not differ in philosophy, with an economy that serves the one percent at the expense of the rest of society is a growing phenomenon throughout Europe and in the United States as well. The Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump phenomena are but one example of a frustrated public sensing something is very wrong with society and looking for a way out....

Is Brexit the first victory in a larger freedom movement? Can we get out of a system that creates money out of thin air to benefit the ruling class while impoverishing the middle class? Can we get out of a central bank that finances the wars that make us less safe? Can we exit Executive Orders? Can we exit the surveillance state? The PATRIOT Act? Can we exit NDAA and indefinite detention? Can we exit the US worldwide drone program, that kills innocents overseas and makes us ever-more hated?...

The act of exit is liberating. We should make a longer list of those things we would like to get out of. I am only getting started.

Note from Ed.: I trust Mr Paul won't mind my showing his words in blue. Unlike in the Excited States of America, blue is the colour of conservatism in Britain, Canada and many other democratic countries. Red is the colour of socialism, communism and the extreme left. Think The Red Flag. The reversal of these colours in the politics of the USA is yet another example of "American exceptionalism". Think weirdness.

LGBTQ... but wait, there's more!

Poor Len told you yesterday about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to Canada's biggest city (and fount of all evil), Toronto. We learned that Himself Jr. is a fan of the Montréal Canadiens, and that he has no hesitation in upstaging Toronto Mayor John Tory in the inevitable photo op.

You would think that with a name like "John Tory", hizzoner would be a loyal, true-blue, conservative Conservative. Indeed he was all of that, eons ago, when he was leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. He learned the hard way that being conservative doesn't pay off in the new liberal, multicultural Toronto, where straight white males like his goodself are almost an endangered species. In his last provincial campaign he was defeated by Kathleen Wynne, now Ontario's Premier, who is white enough, but better-known for being not male and not straight.

After sitting on the sidelines for a few years, Mr. Tory jumped back into the political pool, being careful to remove his party label before running successfully for the mayoralty. Now that he's MOAT (Mayor Of All Toronto), Mr. Tory has embraced diversity in all its forms, including, it would seem, gender ideology.

Since his election, Mayor Tory has never missed an opportunity to pander to the LGBT crowd. At least, "LGBT" is what he called the rainbow coalition at first. Then they added a "Q" (for "Queer"), and so did the mayor -- LGBTQ was the new politically correct acronym.

"But wait!", as Vince Offer used to say, "there's more!" Today, Agent 3 informs us, Mayor Tory announced the opening of a shelter for youths (16-24) of uncertain sexual orientation. And what did he call these poor, shelter-less queer people? "LGBTQ2S"! No kidding. Apparently the "2S" means "two-spirited", whatever that means. Maybe it means you're whichever "spirit" you feel like being at any given time. Or maybe it's what we used to call "AC/DC". No, wait... that's the "B", right?

It's all very confusing to us straight people. Whether we're more confused than the LGBTQ2S folks is another question entirely.

Bill O'Reilly's latest "book" disappoints

Let's get a couple of things straight. I like Bill O'Reilly. I watch The O'Reilly Factor and enjoy seeing him expose the hypocrisy and barrenness of the the "secular progressive" agenda. Watching him skewer the Prez before the Superbowl was a treat.

You may take from this that I agree with Mr. O'Reilly's point of view on matters political, social and religious. You would be right. (So is he. So am I.) What I wish, however, is that he would restrict his "bloviating" -- his word -- to the airwaves, and leave the polemical writing to someone else.

Why? Because, sadly, Bill O'Reilly is no writer. For him to tout his latest opus, Keep It Pithy (Crowne Archtype, 2013), as "a literary highlight reel" is just wrong. It could be called a book by virtue of being printed on paper and bound in a hard cover, but it is not literature. I'll give him "highlight reel" though, for the "book" is really a collection of snippets from his TV scripts and transcripts. He shares with "my pal Charles Flowers" credit (or blame) for the compilation of the print equivalent of a TV "clip show".

A better compiler or editor might have attempted to impose on the collection some order or coherence. As it is, Mr. O'Reilly covers all the ground from abortion to [Ed., please insert a noun that begins with "Z"], in the zigzag fashion of a drunk wending his way home from the pub. He goes from "a little manual for dealing with the opposite sex" (pp. 102-104) to an argument against the death penalty (pp. 105-106) and onward to how to create your own "No Spin Zone" (pp. 106-109). The transition from the the first topic to the second is handled in that one-liner beloved of stand-up comics, "But, more seriously..." The ellipsis is his.

The ideas are there, all right, but they are neither original nor well-expressed. One wonders if Mr. O'Reilly's thinking is any deeper than shown by such profundities as:
- "Bottom line: Terrorist killers and those who support them are evil. Period." (p. 54)
- "The more stuff I have, the more stuff I want. And so I looked around and saw that everyone else was the same way. It was not until I had a few things that I noticed how this works. The material stuff is addicting!" (p. 57)
- "Why is there so much drug and alcohol abuse in America today? Simple: Alcohol and drugs make huge profits for legal and illegal organizations." (p. 60)
- "Here's the takeaway: If you are after success in America, substance abuse can be your downfall." (ibid.)

How's that for in-depth analysis? I've seen deeper puddles on sidewalks after a summer shower in Arcadia FL! And Keep It Pithy is full of that kind of pith. There's a fair bit of vinegar too, but the whole effect is like listening to a junior high school valedictory speech.

I am a social conservative, a religious traditionalist, and a foe of secular humanism/progressivism and political correctness in all their forms and guises. But I do spend time reading and thinking about issues such as same-sex "marriage", the campaign against public expressions of Christian Faith and the failure of Western foreign policy.

Sometimes I write about these things. So do thinkers who can write much better than I...and much, much better than Bill O'Reilly. Keep It Pithy makes me long to read the deep and well-articulated thoughts of Enoch Powell, or, closer to home, William F. Buckley Jr. If it's a compilation you're after, I recommend Freedom and Reality (a collection of Enoch Powell's speeches: Arlington House, 1969) and/or Quotations from Chairman Bill (self-explanatory: Arlington House, 1970). Both volumes occupy places of honour in my working library here at my cabin in the woods. As for Keep It Pithy, I wouldn't give it shelf space.

Sad footnote: Whatever happened to Arlington House? From 1964 to 1988 it was a publisher of jazz discographies, as well as conservative and anti-communist books. It is now defunct, but you can probably find the titles recommended on Amazon.

Ron Paul to visit Canada, with some advice

"Big Ideas for Conservatives" is the title of a yak-fest to be held in Ottawa, Canada later this week. The sponsor is the Manning Centre for Building Democracy: Presto Manning, Prop. Mr. Manning was the founder and one-time leader of Canada's Reform Party, the conservative movement that later got hijacked by "Call me Steve" Harper.

Walt may just strap on the snowshoes and head for the world's second-coldest capital* for the conference, since the line-up of speakers includes some real conservatives, including Walt's favourite libertarian, Ron Paul.

If the weather forecast looks iffy, Walt may have to be content with rereading the interview given by Dr. Paul to Paul Koring of the Globe and Mail. [That would be a "Paul-to-Paul" interview, eh. Ed.] [That's apauling! Walt.]

Dr. Paul thinks Canada and the USA could learn from each other and do more in concert to free the people from big government. For one thing, he says, the border should be more open, the way it used to be. As one who can recall hassle-free trips across the bridges and tunnels as recently as the `70s, Walt agrees.

Dr. Paul thinks too much is being made of the distinction between liberals and conservatives. Labels, including racial labels, are divisive, he told Mr. Koring. "To me the message of limited government is universal -- that is the message of liberty and why it is beneficial, not only to our personal lives as well as our economic lives."

You won't be surprised to learn that Ron Paul has not time for Canadian approaches to gun control and universal health care. He thinks Obamacare should be scrapped, and that health care should be left to the private sector because government doesn't do a very good job. "Obamacare is in chaos, prices are going up, there are shortages, doctors are quitting, so I don't see that government delivering a service or a good is of any benefit to the people."

Dr. Paul does think America could learn some budgeting prudence from north of the border. And he thinks NAFTA should be scrapped in favour of even freer trade. In all things, he says, let the people – and the market – decide.

Click here to read the Globe and Mail's longer version of the interview.  

* Ulan Bataar, Mongolia. You're welcome.

Wildrose wilts: a cautionary tale for conservatives - Part I

The Canadian province of North Texas [Alberta, surely! Ed.] elected a new legislature on Monday. The result contains a lesson for American Republicans and Canadian Conservatives (big-C and small-c alike), the lesson being: don't go to extremes.

All you need to know about AB is that it's about as conservative a place as you can find north of the 49th parallel. Like TX, it's cattle country, and under the cattle is oil -- lots of it -- when enterprising multinational oilcos will sell to China if Obama holds up construction of the pipeline which should be shipping it south. The province is awash in oil money which it shares only reluctantly with poorer places like Ontario.

As Walt explained in "Campaign bust raises eyebrows in Alberta", Alberta is staunchly conservative, politically and socially. As of this spring, it had been ruled for 41 years, by a centre-right party oxymoronically called the Progressive Conservatives. This time they chose a new leader, Allison Redford, to front for the usual gang of old white men in conservative suits and white stetsons.

But the PCs were a tired lot, bereft of any ideas except to keep the oil flowing out (see above) and never ever have a provincial sales tax. There was a perceived need for change. Unfortunately the other two traditional parties, the Somewhat Liberal Party and the Not-so-new Democrats, didn't have a Chinaman's chance of electing a handful of MLA's, let alone forming a government.

So was born the Wildrose Party, a gang of even older white men in even more conservative suits and white stetsons -- cowboy boots too. They chose as their frontperson a slightly younger and more attractive white woman, Danielle Smith, whose campaign bus wrap drew attention to her assets until lamestream media cries of sexism forced a redesign.

The Wildrose Party's policies were a mixture of populism and conservatism, well to the right of the governing PCs. They promised to share the oil wealth, at least with the common people of Alberta. ("Prosperity certificates" had been tried during the Great Depression by the Social Government -- read "conservative" -- government of Bible Bill Aberhart, and found unconstitutional, but never mind.) There were also hints of a social conservative agenda on such matters as health care, abortion, "gay rights" etc etc.

In the run-up to the election, the pollsters, pundits and national media were loud in their predictions of a Wildrose landslide, followed by the return of Alberta to the dark ages of Social Credit and the Ku Klux Klan. The liberal Globe and Mail went so far as to endorse the PCs, which should have been the kiss of death since no one outside of Toronto and Ottawa pays any attention to the Glob.

True conservatives and libertarians in Alberta and the rest of Canada were peeing in their pants with excitement at the prospect of being freed from the tyranny of "red Tories" -- liberals in conservative suits. The Wildrosers themselves were starting to plan the "On to Ottawa!" campaign to get rid of the faux conservative Steve Harper and put a real right-winger in 24 Sussex Drive.

But... surprise, surprise... the pollsters and other "experts" got it wrong! The Regressive Convertibles (thank you, Allan Fotheringham) won, in a veritable landslide. Later today Walt will tell you why, and what this means for politics in Canada and the USA.