Greetings, friends, from the beautiful Netherlands! This week's Newsmaker Show includes some reflections on the state of politics in Britain and Holland, and especially on European attitudes to America and President Trump (it ain't pretty!). The U.S. mainstream media does us a tremendous disservice in informing the rest of the world that Americans are a bunch of racist troglodytes. Be that as it may, Brian and I also discuss the first explosion of an atomic bomb in 1945, the Apollo moon landing in 1969, the Potsdam Conference, and other historical topics. In terms of current events, we cover the brouhaha over Trump's tweet regarding "the Squad" and how they should "go back" to where they came from (my guess would be that it's basically toxic academia that spawned that lot). We also talk about Brexit and Boris Johnson, plus other hot topics. Don't miss a moment!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRxYENDdr7Q&feature=youtu.be
Thanks Brian for the laugh. {{grin}}
ReplyDeletePresident Trump-I also read the tweet carefully. I agree, the "squad" (I refuse to call them the four women) need to relearn and appreciate what America has to offer. Yes, it behooves them to understand. It is sad how much the MSM period has a influence on peoples thoughts/impressions of Americans in Europe--even here in America.
Boris Johnson/Jeremy Hunt- I agree, Boris Johnson will be the next PM. Unfortunately, I also think the government will collapse. Way to many anti Brexiters'---which is sad because the people voted for Brexit.
Potsdam Conference-Indeed, Germany was and probably would still be on the front line if WW3 would break out, which is a scary thought (WW3). I tend to think, though some sort of civil/social war will break out here in America due to the turn / of the talk of Socialism and the anti Constitutionalist movement we are seeing now. We had discussed that at some point in class (a few years ago). I better leave it at that. That is another subject for another time.
Enjoy the rest of your vacation. I have been enjoying the photos you have posted on FB, smiles.
Dr. Waddy: Was just reading about 17th century British history and of course the Netherlands played a major role. Must be great to actually be there.
ReplyDeleteThe "Squad": what that bunch of ingrate, vulgar youngsters need is for the real America to get right in their faces. Where do they get off with that? They need to show some respect. Rep. Omar is of course, particularly obnoxious in her snide anti Americanism, in that she came to our good life from a hellish place. And the rest of them, snearing at our country and trashing it at every step! You are right; those "loose cannons" have struck a vein of virulent antiAmericanism and antisemitism which is profoundly offensive. And they actually, really think the real America will stand for it? We will show them in 2020. I applaud President Trump for his brusqueness with them and I'm confident, so do the majority of Americans.That juvenile "Squad"can dish it out but they can't take it! That is ONLY because far too much of our country tolerates their, yes, insolence. President Trump's tweet was as you said and the MSM persists in its unprofessional and shameful misinterpretation of it;they will until we drive them out of business.
I'm concerned at your observation that many in the UK believe Brexit can be disrailed. Maybe Johnson has a bit of Churchill and Thatcher about him and he'll General it through.
Why is Islam the only religion for which the left has regard? David Horowitz's book Unholy Alliance: Militant Islam and the American Left, explains it well. Perhaps the politically correct left admires Islam's often ferocious reaction to criticism and takes a lesson from militant Islam's success in intimidating so very many in the far too conscientious and apologetic West. Since Islam is primarily a religion of the third world that earns it the left's okay for all manner of offense against the West for which the left shares such withering contempt. Objectively speaking: Islam is one of the world's great religions, offering spiritual guidance and consolation, together with advocacy of many very positive social doctrines (eg. intolerance of crime). But it has hard edges and like Christianity did, it could well benefit from a Reformation and Enlightment like those which chastened and bettered Christianity from the 16th century on. I have heard well spoken Muslims speak and write in support of this. I wish them well; they display great courage in defying both the totalitarian left and those Muslims who would excoriate them.
D. Waddy: Russia and the Romanovs: Your description of Russia's incalculable misfortune in the 20th century is very accurate, if that tragedy can ever be manifested in words alone. The Romanov family's hideous end may be a suitable symbol because it demonstrated the still yet to be, unimaginable inhumanity of Marxism unleashed. The very worst of all human aspiration, worse far than the Nazis, that history can show us, was at the hands of the subhumans who shot down the Romanovs. I do admire the dignity that royal families can lend to some lands in which their reigns are tempered by well tried reforms. Britain and Japan come to mind. Pre WWI Russia was tending in that direction: Nicholas II was not very bright but he was of good intent, by his lights at least.Much of good will might have been done but. . . The assassination of the wise and cautiously progressive minister Pyotyr Stolypin and the staggering impact of the beyond catastrophic WWI, opened the door for history's most presumptuous, and ill advised opportunists.Damned on earth forever be such reckless idealists! Russia was their laboratory and playground and the unprecedentedly destructive results of their tyranny are fully recorded and accessible and they condemn, out of hand, any who express any admiration for them. And those people bustle today, in unrepentant presumption.Let's recognize them, wherever we find them today.
ReplyDeleteI can just picture the Potsdam Conference: the international tenderfeet Truman and Attlee vs an experienced national leader under exceedingly strenuous conditions and ,to boot, a man of inhuman malevolence such as they could not, being of civilized origins, have fully comprehended, seeking for his country what he, yes, justly regarded as his maimed nation's war spoils but also, a base for his horde's descent upon Western Europe and a Japan of which he was primitively ignorant. Churchill said "only a servile people endure servility"; the Japanese are not that and MacArthur knew it.But the Russians would not have and they would have triggered anarchy in Japan with their mindless brutality.
P.S. Jack, we were watching Tucker Carlson and on came Sen. Kennedy (R LA) and he had some pretty cool thoughts of the "squad"- "the four horsewomen of the Apocalypse" and "whack jobs". I think I might just have to start calling them "whack jobs". I agree with your thoughts on this.
ReplyDeleteLinda, it is heart-wrenching how much power the media has to mislead not just Americans, but people the world over. But no one ever said life was fair, right? :(
ReplyDeleteAgreed: Boris Johnson could easily reach a dead end. The U.K.'s political elite seems bound and determined to frustrate the will of the British people. Absolutely shameless!
Glad you're enjoying the photos, Linda! Jack, you're just a Facebook account away from all that and more... Ha ha.
"Insolence" is a good word for what the Squad is dishing out. Before the 60s it would have been inconceivable that any self-respecting society would have put up with this nonsense. Now we've been trained to be ashamed of our own civilization and nation, so that gives these ingrates some cover. Not for much longer, I hope.
Jack, the Left's fondness for Islam is, in my eyes, totally incomprehensible, given that modern Islam is, by and large, much less tolerant and much more fundamentalist than modern Christianity. To put it another way, the ideology of the Left is completely at odds with Islam. No matter, though -- facts are of little account to hardcore liberals.
How much better off Russia could have been, if it had kept the Romanovs on the throne and transitioned gradually to constitutional democracy... Minus WWI, I believe it could easily have happened that way.
Dr. Waddy: I think Colin Powell said we need to regain a sense of shame. I think we need to overcome this awful temerity about criticizing which the left has somehow imposed on so much of our society and reimbrace a fully and freely expressed sense of OUTRAGE when our proven and cherished values are trashed. In open declaration and in action (eg. defunding state supported schools which exhibit obvious leftist bias)we should manifest this.
ReplyDeleteStill, in its demonstrated murderous totalitarian essence the left in power is of a kind with very militant Islam. Then again the Nazis and the Commies shared that little flaw and it didn't keep them from each others' throats.
An interesting analysis, Jack. What you're saying, I suppose, is that militant Islam and modern leftists have one thing in common: intolerance. True. That's seldom enough to forge a durable alliance, though. Islam and the Left may have crafted their own Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but I would be shocked if it survived for long. In fact, just as Western Christians have forged a strong relationship with Jews in Israel, I think there's a chance conservative Christians and conservative Muslims could someday be allies. What do you think? This would split the anti-Western Islamic fundamentalists from those willing to make common cause with the West, but to a large degree that's already happened.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy:I don't doubt for a minute that either the left or militant Islam, were it to think it had the power do so, would annihilate the other. If I am consistent in my reasoning that virulent intolerance is their common ground then it behooves me to consider some common ground between such seemingly disparate groups as conservative Islam and conservative Christianity. Certainly they share a concern for "living right" and the profoundly corrosive effects so obvious in the West, of unrestrained license.I knew a Muslim prison chaplain from Iraq who told me "what these men need, more than anything, is to fear the wrath of God, as I do". Conservative Christians would probably be put off by conservative Islam's apparent hostility to Israel though.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: The current conflict in the United Methodist Church has shown the growing power of conservative Christians in Africa and could lead to a schism. Possibly that conservative clergy might find common cause with conservative Islam on those social issues which have brought it into disagreement with liberal American Methodists(?). I think your thought about the antiWest fundamentalists and those willing to make common cause with the West is plausible.
ReplyDeleteWell, Johnson is PM; may he experience many Churchillian or Thatcherite days and lead Albion to "sunlit uplands" of sovereignty and freedom.