And People Think Trump is Bad?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Rodrigo Duterte, the leading candidate in the Philippines presidential race, was busy showing that country why he was the best candidate to lead it and deal with some of the difficult issues facing it like the Chinese taking over Filipino territory in the South China Sea, social issues, crime, etc. 

Exuding confidence, Mr. Duterte told his audience that he would "personally jet ski in the South China Sea" to defy China. Then he turned to the subject of the out-of-control crime in the Philippines, where he vowed that his would be:

"... a “bloody” presidency 'I will use the military and the police to go out and arrest them, hunt for them and if they offer a violent resistance… I will simply say, ‘kill them all so we can finish this problem,'” To criminals listening, he said bluntly, “I will kill you,” to applause. He also vowed “1,000 pardons a day” to police who kill criminals, and a special pardon to himself: “Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte.”

Lest anyone in the room doubt his cojones, he then went on:

"... to call everyone in the room “womanizers” and defending his reputation for no-strings-attached trysts. “I was separated from my wife. I’m not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever,” the 71-year-old said, adding confirmation that “when I take Viagra, it stands up.”

Is there some weird virus afflicting American and formerly pro-American governments around the world? Not that the Philippines has ever been the epitome of stability, but this guy makes Trump look like Abraham Lincoln. The prognosis for world stability is about to take another hit.

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/04/28/next-president-philippines-admits-viagra-use-murder/

Garbage Police Sacked

Our daughter and family live in Seattle which, along with Portland, have become true blue members of the Left Coast. Even so, we were dumbfounded last year to learn that Seattle trash collectors routinely filch through the garbage of the citizenry and fine people if there is more than 10% food waste in their garbage. The Refuse SS? The Offal KGB? In America? Mais non, zut alors, it was true! Until now. 

A Washington court has now ruled that this offal policy is a violation of Washington's 4th Amendment equivalent against unreasonable searches and seizures. No big surprise there. Courts had long since ruled that criminal investigators cannot go through someone's trash without a warrant, so one does not have to be a legal scholar to connect the dots. Except in Seattle. Except for those who are just there to help us - or else! Score one for freedom and common sense.

http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/citys-garbage-snooped-kicked-to-curb/

Humanity in the Inhumanity of War

Occasionally I recommend a book and I would like to do so now for one recommended to me by my grandson, Joey. It's a well-told tale about how even in the inhuman hell of war, an act of humanity can restore hope. 

A Higher Call by Adam Makos tells the story of A Luftwaffe Me109 fighter pilot who had a turkey shoot in front of his guns with a badly shot-up American B-!7 that was passively awaiting its final fate at his hands. Instead of dispatching it with his cannon and machine guns, however, he guided it back to England and spared the crew. The story is about the German pilot and the American crew and their backgrounds and puts a very human face on what happens when a moment of grace enters the hell of combat. 

A big tip o' the hat to Joey for his recommendation and a big thumbs up to any readers for a great read that shows us that good is possible even in the worst of circumstances. 

No Peeking!

A shocker from Canada - the University of Toronto has recently gone back to separate men's and women's bathrooms after men were reported to be using their cellphones to film coeds taking showers in the previously coed facilities. Imagine college men doing something like that! It really is a shame that ideological blinders gets so messed up by real world behavior.

www.dailywire.com/news/330/university-toronto-dumps-transgender-bathrooms-pardes-seleh

Biting Off More Than They Can Chew

Breitbart reports that the Chinese Communist Party had its first symposium on religious freedom in 15 years and to cap it off celebrated a Christian woman getting run over and killed by a bulldozer while standing in front of their church with her pastor husband. The church had not been exercising its religious freedom the "right" way and party goons had issued orders to knock it down. 

Christianity is growing explosively in China, particularly amongst students and intellectuals, and the Church has always thrived when persecuted. I don't think the Chinese Communists know what, or rather with Whom they are dealing. One is reminded of Josef Stalin's dismissive quip about the Pope, "How many divisions does the Pope have?" So how's that working out for you Joe? May the same fate await the current masters of China. 

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/04/25/chinese-president-calls-improved-religious-work/

Turning His Back

President Obama has been on his 2016 Farewell World Tour and stopped by England to lecture them about why leaving the EU is a bad idea. Coming from a man who removed a bust of Churchill from the Oval Office on his first day and unceremoniously dumped it at the British Embassy, and has rarely missed an opportunity since then to diss the Brits, the reaction was not, as you might imagine, rapt and enthusiastic attention. 

The best riposte to the President's meddling makes the most telling point about this man - that unlike a long line of American Presidents before him, Barack Obama is profoundly anti-democratic. As Andrew Roberts, the author of the essay below, puts it:

"Almost alone amongst US presidents, Obama has turned his back on this fundamental duty, and instead showed peoples who are struggling for sovereignty the superior sneer of the cold, haughty academic that he really is."
Roberts' article is worth reading in whole. What he describes has been the touchstone of President Obama's entire time in office - "We are your betters and we know better than you." Enough. 

I rejoice that the British people are turning their backs on the socialist EU Superstate. I hope that the day will soon come when we have a President who will resume the long and honorable tradition of of supporting the right of peoples around the world to be free of tyrannical oppression and choose their own leaders. A time when the torch on the Statue of Liberty will really mean something again. 

capx.co/barack-obama-has-turned-his-back-on-democracy/

Brussels After the Pre-Apocalypse

Mark Steyn, who wrote After America in 2011 predicting that the U.S. is going down the same road as Europe and what the world will look like as it does, had this revealing comment after the recent Brussels airport bombing:

"There is certainly not much sign, amid the candles and teddy bears, of turbulence in Belgium. In my 2011 bestseller After America, I quoted from an interview in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard with the writer (and Brussels gallery owner) Oscar van den Boogaard:

"Mr van den Boogaard is a Dutch gay "humanist", which is pretty much the trifecta of Eurocool. He was reflecting on the accelerating Islamization of the Continent and concluded that the jig was up for the Europe he loved. 'I am not a warrior, but who is?" he shrugged. "I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it.' "

And there's the problem of the West in a nutshell, whether Belgium, Germany, or as is rapidly becoming the case in the U.S. Samuel Huntington, the Harvard professor, published the book Who Are We? in 2004 about the clash of Western, Muslim and Asian civilizations and concluded that the Muslims win in the long haul. Now you know why. 

www.steynonline.com/7495/i-was-only-good-at-enjoying-it

Thoughts on the Republican Primaries

I see that the usual Republican circular firing squad is now firmly in place in the Presidential primaries. The GOP is opposed by a crook and a Communist and is giving every indication that it is once again going to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Some thoughts:

• John Kasich bears a lot of responsibility. Even Rubio finally dropped out when it became clear that he could not win, but not Kasich. N-o-o-o! He continues to fracture the vote of the non-Trump forces making The Donald's nomination more probable. Is he on Trump's payroll? That would be truly Machiavellian! 
• Enough of the garbage throwing! Trump can't help himself, but Cruz? C'mon Ted. It would be nice if someone would intelligently go after the crook or the geezer instead of each other. 
• The Republican Establishment. Erp! Definitely had it with those guys - and gals I suppose to be fair. All they care about is their power and position which produces pork and the hell with the rest of the country. I don't doubt for a minute that they would rather see Hillary win than either Trump or Cruz. We are one Supreme Court justice appointment away from totally rewriting the legal and political landscape of this country permanently and they don't give a rat's arse. They are what is propelling Trump to such rarefied heights. 

Can anything good come from the GOP? Color me a huge skeptic at the moment.