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Here we are in the lead-up to Christmas (not "holidays," thank you very much, but Christmas), a mere fourteen days away. But you wouldn't know it by the way some people act.
Anyone who hasn't been brainwashed by Mary Poppins or any Hugh Grant movie you care to mention knows that London has its fair share of downright nasty people, the sort you find yourself wishing would get a pistol-whipping sometime soon. You can't help but think, how did they get this far in life without once having had the bejesus beaten out of them?
Standing in line at the Marks & Spencer Simply Food store at Liverpool Street last night, I heard a man who was probably in his 40s raising his voice at one of the check-out points. The cashier had made the decision to deny him the purchase of a bottle of wine because he already appeared too loaded.
Predictably, in the manner of a spoiled, entitled, elite-educated schoolboy, he kicked off. "What do you mean I can't have this?" Then, a flurry of curse words and ad hominems. And the accusation that the cashiers—by this time, three of them were present to confront this "gentleman"—were the type "to join and fight for ISIS." More curse words, more insults, more crybaby behavior. And finally, for the parting shot, "Marks & Spencer, run by Jews!"
At one point, he pulled the ol' "Do you know who I am?" schtick, identifying himself as working for The Evening Standard. Ah, The Evening Standard. The same rabble-rousing rag owned by a former KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev. No wonder the paper is free; no sane person would pay a penny for it.
Why exactly am I relating the tale of this shit smear on two legs? Good question, dear reader.
Firstly, I guess it's to demonstrate that there are bad apples on any position on the political spectrum. I would postulate that he and I would agree on many things. He may have voted for David Cameron. I would have done so as well, had I the vote here. He also may have voted for Boris Johnson, loathes Ken Livingston and bristles at the way his taxes are being used to fund layabouts. Again, same here.
But I am not going to defend a loud-mouthed bully. I don't know if the workers at the M&S food store are all Muslim. They do seem to be predominantly Pakistani or Indian. Some of them could be Hindu. At least they're working. I don't care if they break out the prayer mats at certain times of the day. They're fellow tax-payers.
I'm often tough on the Muslim community myself. But only when it displays intolerant or jihad-sympathetic behavior or appears to be on the receiving end of special treatment. In this sense, I regard them no differently than gay militants, black militants, feminist militants, et al. These people talk about celebrating diversity, but it's just a means to an end, and a very convenient one at that, for them. They don't live by their rule at all, but will tell me that I have issues with diversity and acceptance.
I have three simple rules by which I abide. One, that you get your butt out of bed and out of the house and contribute to society in some meaningful way. Two, if you're OK living next door to me, I won't give you any attitude either. Three, that you aren't possessed of a desire to kill me. That's it. Simple, is it not? Work. Show me respect (and expect to receive it in return). And don't advocate the death of me or others like me. That's all I ask.
If you're going to break one of my cardinal rules by being disrespectful and not taking responsibility for yourself, then I will not befriend you. I don't care how much we may have in common. I really like German Shepherd dogs. That does not make me a fan of Adolf Hitler.
Secondly, I wanted to demonstrate that I am not blind to the jerks of the world who may so happen to hold conservative views. Again, there are bad apples in every group, every walk of life. When was the last time a liberal, anywhere, told off the idiots in their midst who go too far? One of the biggest reasons why the Occupy protests quickly became so infamous was due to the fact that no standards were maintained. They absorbed any bum with a grievance and a penchant for hard drugs or alcohol abuse into their camps.
Any Lefty protest anywhere is going to have a very sizeable contingent of black-clad anarchist creeps in Guy Fawkes masks. You can bet the house on it. But do these cretins ever get called out or challenged by the protest leaders?
Here's another rhetrocial question, just for the hell of it: If you didn't wipe your behind, would it stink? (Just ask an Occu-pooper.)
As for you, Mr. Evening Standard guy: You're lucky that I was headed into work after making my purchases and didn't have the time for a confrontation. Otherwise, I absolutely would have taken you to the woodshed.
Happy days are here again, dear reader!
For the first time in six years, I can be proud to be an American again.
The Republican wave which failed to materialize in 2010—though Nancy Pelosi did have to give up her gavel—has occurred. Talk about cutting it finely. These mid-term elections were the last chance Americans had at saving their country from becoming a Bolivarian-style banana republic.
Republicans now own the Senate and they have increased their presence in the House of Representatives. Republicans have not had this much control since 1946.
As spineless as Republicans can be, and have proven to be, I believe that will change once they take their seats in January. They will get to work—and there's a lot of that to be done.
Finally, we have a majority, and a mandate, to stop this President dead in his tracks. No more amnesty. No more increasing of the debt. No more butchering of our military. No more ineffective and illegal wars in the Middle East.
Let Obama veto legislation presented to him. Republicans will overturn it. Let him issue executive orders. Republicans will nix them.
Even in the moonbat's moonbat state of Taxachusetts, voters said no to an automatic rise in the gas tax. In Charlie Baker, we have a Republican governor once more. With Martha Coakley sent out to pasture, and the long-anticipated departure of Deval "Mini-Me" Patrick, the dirt and grime of Democrat corruption in the state, most notably in the areas of welfare and social services, can be cleaned up.
It is disappointing that Scott Brown lost to Jean Shaheen in New Hampshire. But Shaheen's victory could well be a Pyrrhic one. She will be under investigation for her role in the IRS scandal à la Lois Lerner. She was a signatory to a 2012 letter that asked IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman "to immediately change" the tax code to enact punitive measures against conservative non-profit groups. She is one of many corrupt Democrats that Republicans are going to be gunning for.
Futhermore, Shaheen used illegal voting to win in New Hampshire. As talk-show host Jeff Kuhner said on his Wednesday program, "You have buses rolling in and out of Manchester, they're staying at hotels. Nobody speaks English, everybody speaks Spanish. They all come in and vote, and then, by the next day, they're gone. So, was there voter fraud that took place in New Hampshire? I'm telling you, I'm 99.999 percent sure it did. I do not believe that Jean Shaheen won the election [yesterday] fair and square."
Benghazi will be persued. Fast & Furious will be persued. The aforementioned IRS scandal will be investigated. By the time Republicans are done, Obama will be begging for impeachment. At which point, the answer should clearly be, "Oh, no, Mr. President. You wanted this office, you're here till the end." Enjoy your time out on the golf course while you still can, Barry.
Congratulations Governors-elect Scott Walker, Charlie Baker, Doug Ducey, Rick Scott, Bruce Rauner, Paul LaPage, Larry Hogan, Rick Snyder, Senators-elect Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton, Cory Gardner, David Perdue, Joni Ernst, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis and Represenatives-elect Mike Coffman, Renee Ellmers, Michael Grimm and Carlos Curbelo.
Special congratulations to Representative-elect Mia Love and Senator-elect Tim Scott. Tim Scott is the first black man to be elected to the Senate from the South. Mia Love is black and female, the first such Republican to be elected to Congress. A historic night for them and for African-Americans. Don't count on the media to fawn over them the way they do for Obama. Scott and Love escaped the plantation; they have subsequently and predictably been ignored by those who don't matter.
What does matter is that we are now finding our way out of a socialist, anti-American wilderness sowed and tendered by truly bitter, immature people. Six years of being lost in the Impenetrable Bolshevik Forest has come to an end. A path to freedom has been blazed by level-headed people who embrace life, not victimhood.
I had lost faith in the the system our Founding Fathers had concocted. I thought, "no-one is following the Constitution anymore and elections get stolen through illegal voting and gerrymandering. All is lost." Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton: they are not turning in their graves anymore. Right now, the brilliance of their brainchild is shining brightly for all to see. The Fathers could predict the rise of a would-be dictator and the form of government they gifted us with locks down on that like white blood cells on a virus. These elections were the ultimate civics lesson.
It is truly morning again in America. (And what a gift for my 45th!)
I don't know if you're aware, dear reader, but I like airplanes. I am interested in makes and models of airplanes, and seeing them up close is always fascinating for me.
So when my wife proposed a day out at Brooklands Museum, I agreed. In addition to being the site of the world's first motor circuit in 1907, British airplanes, such as the Vickers range of aircraft, were built here from the 1940s right through to the 1970s. In fact, a BAC 1-11 and Vickers VC-10 are displayed on site. They are both huge planes, definitely comparable in size to an A340 and B747 respectively, with massive "whale fluke" T-tails. Check out the tail from the VC-10:
The VC-10 is second only to Concorde in having achieved the fastest transatlantic flight time.
The really big draw to Brooklands is the supersonic Concorde herself. Specifically, the G-BBDG, the first production type for the British model Concorde aircraft, used to test the design before the aircraft was certified for passenger service. G-BBDG debuted in February 1974 and was retired on Christmas Eve 1981, having notched up 1,282 hours flight time in total, and has been at Brooklands since 2003.
Squirrel has a real soft spot for Concorde and I was keen to visit her too. She is, after all, a legend. This was the plane that, from 1976 to 2003, travelled at twice the speed of sound, achieved a maximum height of 53,500 feet (over 10 miles high) and got you from London or Paris to New York in three hours.
The thing you hear about Concorde is that she is "diminutive". She is quite graceful, and admittedly on the small side as far as commercial aircraft go. Having said that, she is much larger than most people anticipate before seeing her in person. She drew my breath away upon first sight. I don't think diminutive is an accurate way to describe Concorde at all.
The Concorde Experience at Brooklands allows you to enter the aircraft and take a seat for a 10-minute flight simulation. Squirrel and I were both honored to have claimed some space, even for a short time, on this beautiful bird.
As you have probably guessed, given that this aircraft achieved a speed of Mach 2, the cockpit is a cluster of superfine gadgetry:
And there you go, our date with lady Concorde!
During the past fourteen years that I have been living in the U.K., I have often been asked by people if I miss "the States".
I used to answer, "no offense, but yes."
But now, I would answer an unequivocal "no." Does that no longer make me a patriot?
Readers who know me well, especially those who remember my days on Diaryland, would acknowledge that I was so blisteringly angry about the anti-Iraq War—and, by proxy, anti-American—fervor taking place throughout the world ten years ago that I seriously considered joining up (I was 34 at the time). Only a long conversation with my father, a former Marine, held me back and convinced me not to do so.
What heady days those were. I was a pro-pot, pro-Bush neocon with a love of language, especially if it was salty. Above all, at all times, I considered myself a true patriot. One of the memes I had at the end of every entry announced "America For True Americans!"
I missed Boston. I missed the Charles River parkway. I missed the Watertown Stop & Shop supermarket. Of course, I especially missed my family. I longed for everything that defined my life from the '70s right up to 2000, when I moved here for good. And I did not have cause to think twice about boarding a Boeing 747 bound for the American east coast whenever I could afford such a flight.
Fast forward to November 2008. I thought the America I knew and loved was over when Barack Obama got elected to the highest office in the land that year. The rot had, in fact, started much earlier, during the Clinton adminstration. It was only with hindsight that I eventually realized this. After all, only a nation of TV-addicted mushheads could discount the bombshell that was Gennifer Flowers.
Mr. Obama ran his first term as a somewhat accountable politico, although there were signs of what was in the works that the usual asleep-at-the-wheels electorate failed to notice, or failed to care about. To use just one example, his fellow Democrats in Congress began to complain that he wasn't engaged enough with them, that he showed no desire to roll up his sleeves and engage in politics. Bill Clinton talked, held discussions, scrapped with the opposition, made deals, the whole lot, to get things accomplished. From the beginning, Obama was spookily disengaged from the whole process.
In his second term, Obama not only totally unleashed his pit-bull attorney general Eric Holder, he blamed Republicans for a government shutdown—during a time when John Bonehead ... er, Boehner, showed something resembling a spine (an illusion, obviously)—blamed TWPs (Typical White People) for the deaths of Trayvon Martin and "Big" Mike Brown, picked up the pace of covering up Benghazi and Fast & Furious, supported the so-called Arab Spring, better known as the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and used executive orders to launch not only wars on Libya, Syria and ISIS-controlled Iraq, but to enact the full-scale invasion of the United States by illegal aliens through a concept that liberals adore: amnesty.
We now have a president that will not, in any conceivable way, protect our borders. Muslim terrorists can stroll in. Central American "children" can skip in, bringing "Enterovirus"—otherwise known as polio—with them, not to mention MS-13 gang culture. And, now, the mother of all controversies: As Thomas Eric Duncan proved, Ebola victims are making it in with no questions being asked other than, "Have you got any tobacco or alcohol?"
Obama has given up on the job of POTUS. He's the Golfer-in-Chief.
For anyone paying attention, or not being brainwashed by the international liberal media elite, it seems foolish to ask me if I'm still homesick.
For all the bullshit that Prime Minister David Cameron may be full of, he is much more of a true leader of a nation than Barack Obama could ever hope to be. And for all its faults and its own political correctness—which, for instance, made the child grooming scandal in Rotherham possible—Britain is a place I absolutely prefer to stay put in.
Yes, the 2011 riots were frightening and indicates a serious problem with young people, especially minorities, in this country. But similar riots in France and Sweden during the past decade shows that at least we're not alone.
Over here, I don't have to watch some EBT layabout with an MS-13 tattoo at the checkout lane at the supermarket. I don't have to worry about polio starting to run rampant throughout U.K. schools, carried by Central American yout's with no right to be here, infecting my neighbors' children. God willing, I don't have to worry about Ebola as British immigration agents appear to be taking it seriously. Mr. Cameron doesn't constantly lecture me or any other denzien of Albion about race or how valuable Muslims are to our society.
Furthermore, if massacres like at Ford Hood or Moore, Oklahoma ever occur here, I can feel confident that they would be classified for what they are: terrorist incidents. Not "workplace violence." If some bitter Chechen immigrants bombed the London Marathon, I have enough faith in this country's leadership that it would be classified as TERRORISM. Not a "man-made disaster".
The difference between the way the U.K. and the U.S. want treat jihadists who so happen to be citizens of their respective nations that they travelled to Iraq or Syria from could not be starker. David Cameron has proposed to strip British ISIS fighters of their U.K. citizenship. Even though he might run into trouble with the usual suspects—human rights judges—he is trying his best, as the country's leader, to define what it means to be British and that it surely does not involve embracing terrorism.
Compare this with what FBI director James Comey said with regard to Americans who fought with ISIS returning to the homeland: "Ultimately, an American citizen, unless their passport's revoked, is entitled to come back. So, someone who's fought with ISIL, with an American passport wants to come back, we will track them very carefully." Let me parse this for you: So, someone with an American passport who has fought with ISIL will be let back into the country. They're entitled to it. God forbid we should strip an American of their U.S. citizenship for committing treason. But don't worry, we will monitor them.
Golly gee, isn't that enough to make the average American living in America feel safe? What more do you want, what more could you need? The FBI has assured us that those who feel that others should die for not worshipping the moon will be tracked. American citizenship is so sacrosanct, it can't possibly be taken away from anyone without their blessing!
I have to admit, this is consistent. If we're going to bestow American citizenship on millions of people who have done nothing for the country but break the law by sneaking in, then why take citizenship away from another class of criminals? Although I would argue that committing treason goes beyond mere criminality, that's just me. I'm just a native-born American citizen who believes in following the law (a strike against the illegals) and live-and-let-live (a strike against jihadists). What do I know?
The only laudable thing about contemporary American life is that guns are still available. People have been purchasing them in a veritable flurry, convinced that they will be necessary to ward off swarthy illegals or jihadists coming at them with a scimitar. More power to them. In Britain, we can't even have pepper spray.
However, if you do manage to combat your assailant in a way that guarantees no future recidivist activities on his part while on American soil, you will be hounded relentlessly by the media for shooting an aggrieved member of society, a valuable person we failed to understand and embrace because we are, y'know, racist. Just ask Mark Vaughan who equalized the "workplace violence" committed by Alton Nolen, a.k.a Jah'Keem Yisrael. (Strange name for an Islamofascist, isn't it? That's Isreal with a "y".)
My home country has a totally open southern border and a Federal Bureau of Investigation that has just given the green light for further terrorist atrocities in on American soil.
Now, seriously, ask me if I wish I was still living in the U.S., especially the "sanctuary state" of Massachusetts run by that Obama rumpswab Deval Patrick.
If you have even a half-decent working brain, you won't bother.
I'm in Great Britain, and I'm staying put.
I apologize in advance for the intemperate language, dear reader. Ben Affleck is a pussy. There, I said it.
The worst thing about being from Boston is knowing that this bozo hails from the same stomping ground. In case you missed it, Mssr. Affleck appeared on a recent episode of Bill Maher's "Real Time" program. Maher and his guest Sam Harris, the New Athiest author of the book Waking Up, were discussing the threat posed by radical Islamists and the varying degrees to which Muslims worldwide support, at least in theory, ideas anathema to the liberal Western way of life.
Affleck was incapable of distinguishing between the moderate Muslims which Mr. Harris correctly pointed out are the people in the Islamic world that we need to support and encourage with the hope that they, not the jihadists, Islamists or fundamentalists, become the face of Islam globally and the Islamofascists and those who agree with or remain silent on them.
Comparing Maher's and Harris's points to calling someone a "shifty Jew," Affleck threw a hissy fit. He spoke in a tone of voice that nearly reached the ultrasonic register. He addressed Mr. Harris with a combative, "So, are you the person who understands the officially codified doctrine of Islam?" (To which Harris replied, "I'm actually well-educated on this topic.") I wish Harris had shot back, "Are you, Ben?"
At one point, while former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele spoke, Affleck can be seen rubbing his temples and running a finger across his stubbly upper lip. You would have a hard time arguing that he didn't look like a schoolboy who'd just been admonished by his teacher. Poor little mite was just so distressed. All this Islamophobia emanating from his fellow progressives! Oh me, oh my!
Bill Maher may be a punk—that will never change if his disparaging comments about the Boston bombing are any indication—but at least he gets it with regard to the threat posed by radical Islam. He is not like other Lefties in denying it. He does not think that Christians are the monsters. There are far worse liberals in the media than Bill Maher.
That said, you still have to be pretty damn far to the Left to disagree with him from a liberal point of view. Affleck doesn't want to hear that there are bad Muslims in the world—that, out of the four concentric circles of Islamic belief and practice that Mr. Harris explained, only one represents the reformers, the good Muslims. It's just so discriminatory!
Ben Affleck, you are a disgrace. But, though I disown you as a fellow Beantowner, the difference between a Westerner like me, who agrees with and will defend basic liberal values such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and the majority of the practitioners of "the doctrine of Islam" is this: I don't want to kill you. I'm happy for you to be alive, to wake up each morning to a brand new day (which is more than can be said for animals you shoot on some of these mornings).
However, this is a point I don't expect you to comprehend.
There is a saying: "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't". I wonder if that observation will ring true given the announced resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder.
It is difficult to imagine a worse attorney general than Holder. It is noted in a BBC news piece that Obama "praised his prosecution of terrorism suspects and his protection of voting rights".
Let's break this down, shall we? (Especially since "breakin' it down" is a favorite pasttime of "Holder's people"):
● Prosecution of terror suspects:
Holder opposed waterboarding which has been proven to be a very effective but non-life-threatening way to obtain information from suspects, wanted to give Guantanamo suspects federal civilian trials in New York, and supported the exchange of five "high-risk" Guantanamo inmates for Sargeant Bowe Bergdahl, a deserter "who cost soldiers' lives" according to fellow soldiers.
● Protection of voting rights:
Holder did not prosecute members of the New Black Panther Party for intimidating voters in Philadelphia in 2008. When questioned about this during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, Holder said that the threatening of white voters at the polling station did not compare to "what people endured in the South in the '60s" and that making a big deal out of it disgraced the legacy of the "people who put their lives on the line, who risked all, for my people".
My people. Can you imagine a white assistant to the assistant to the sheriff of East Bumhump saying this sort of thing, never mind a white attorney general? And, regarding the South in the 1960s, Mr. Holder? You weren't there. You were attending junior high and high school in New York City while the struggle for equality raged in Alabama and Mississippi. Yet, he talked as if he personally witnessed one moment of it for himself. But then, that's the sort of honesty and "transparency" we have come to expect from Obama and Company.
Like nearly everything else in this squalid executive office, ultimately, it was all about race. Holder treated both the Zimmerman case and the incident in Ferguson, Missouri with such compelling intensity and urgency that it was almost like Alger Hiss redux. Yet what everyone knows but won't say is that if Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown had been shot by another black person, officer or not, neither case would have come close to garnering national attention.
Then we have the infamous 2009/10 Fast and Furious fiasco, in which the ATF in Arizona oversaw a sting operation to sell firearms to Mexican drug cartel leaders in the hopes that it would lead to their arrests but has, if you'll pardon the expression, backfired. Holder was held in contempt of Congress in 2012 for refusing to release Department of Justice documents related to the operation. Fortunately, a U.S. District Court judge has recently denied further executive privilege to continue stonewalling on the release of a list of Fast and Furious documents, so we will eventually get to the truth. Some pundits have theorized that Holder is getting out while the gettin' is good.
Holder will also be remembered for increasing the levels and powers of the surveillance state. Under his tenure, the National Security Agency has analyzed and stored an increasing collection of the public's electronic communications—thank you for blowing the whistle, Edward Snowden—while the Internal Revenue Service subjected conservative groups to stringent, over-the-top scrutiny.
Can Holder's replacement be any worse? I cannot imagine how the Attorney General's office could get any lower, but the Obama administration, as with life, knows no limits on levels with which to free-fall. The point-of-view of whomever occupies the position is not likely to change. Sources say that possible replacements include a Hispanic (to assist with enacting amnesty for illegals), a woman (to fight the "war on women") and an openly gay U.S. attorney (a gift to the LGBT community who idolize Holder).
I am gladdened by Holder's departure and the door can't swing shut on him fast enough for me. I also know that conservatives, including myself, will not be happy with whoever ends up in the AG's chair. That would be expecting the impossible. I just pray that Holder's legacy will not prove to be lightweight compared to that of his successor.
Recently, according to accusations, a 15-year-old boy torched the Manchester Dogs' Home, a canine rehoming charity. Over 50 dogs died as a consequence of the blaze. It is thought that the teenager committed this act of arson because he was previously bitten by a dog.
Some locals risked their lives in saving some of the animals. Area residents Jason Dyer and Dean Rostock charged into the burning kennel, sparing 20 dogs from death.
In the wake of the fire, the boy, who was later bailed after his arrest, was the recipient of many angry missives, including death threats. One Twitter user wrote that the adolescent arsonist "doesn't deserve protection. He deserves a very painful punishment".
Does that go a little too far, dear reader? Yes, he is fifteen and perhaps he can be rehabilitated, if he did cause the fire.
But, if it was him, then this was an act of pure evil. Please don't give me this "he only killed some dogs" claptrap.
Here's the kicker: Would this kid torch an old-age home if he clashed with a senior citizen? You have to wonder.
Psychopaths and animal cruelty are definitively linked. Time and time again, killers from Ian Brady to the Boston Strangler, Dunblane shooter Thomas Hamilton to Mary Bell, have displayed cruelty to animals as children. Prison cells in every nation contain murderers who worked their bloodlust out on animals first.
Dr Alan R. Felthous, Professor and Director of Forensic Psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, held studies in the 1980s that demonstrated a strong link between animal cruelty early in life to aggression against humans later on. The result of Felthous's study "showed that those men with a high rate of recurrent and serious aggression had histories of a larger number of episodes of animal cruelty in childhood in comparison with those who were non-aggressive, based on independent ratings."
The public felt intense sadness, anger and disgust at the death of innocent pets by a deliberate act of destruction. The outpouring of support for the dogs' home was so large that police were reportedly overwhelmed by it.
It makes the threatening messages aimed at the boy easier to understand, doesn't it? We know where this might lead. On a certain level, the abuse the boy has been receiving can be seen a subconscious way of protecting ourselves from a possibly deranged individual who could become the next Raul Moat, a crazed killer.
Although the family of the teenaged boy initially refused to move, they were eventually convinced by police to be rehoused. Is there going to be a thorough psychiatric evalution of this kid with the police involved every step of the way? Or is he just going to serve a little time in a juvenile detention home and walk back out into the world with a new identity?
Are we going to heed the danger signals, the same ones that have been a constant for the whole of human history? Or are we just going to say that he paid the price and leave him to possibly slaughter an innocent person in the future?
If this kid eventually goes beserk (again), we can't say we weren't warned.
But, then, we never seem to learn from history, do we?
