All too often we forget that we live in an incredibly diverse and beautiful nation. With the craziness that is going on around the world, I am thankful that I visited different nations that would require a second thought today. In discussing potential travel with my favorite wife (who is from Canada), expressed an interest in seeing more of the U.S. The little she has seen has impressed her and so we decided to do a small driving tour to visit some of the Old South. I had fond memories of visiting the South with my parents when I was in my early teens and so I planned a short driving tour of a section of the South.

I hope the following description of our trip will encourage you to explore our beautiful land, especially in a time when so much of the world is in turmoil.

Day 1: Fly to Memphis

I picked our starting point as an easy flight (complicated only by the ineptitude of United airlines). Why? Memphis’s Beall Street is known as a wonderful place to hear southern blues; it is a cleaner, safer version of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street and as we were only going to be in Memphis for one night, it seemed like a wonderful way to start our tour.

 Unfortunately, that evening many of the locations were only using recorded music, which was not what we sought, but to make the best of what we had, we had an excellent meal at Itta Bena which is located above B.B. King’s House of Blues. The restaurant specialized in “low country) cuisine and there is no better start to such a meal than the she-crab soup. It has a unique taste (sherry, cream, chives, and red pepper flakes) which makes clam chowder boring while the shrimp with grits (a hint of bacon) is more sophisticated than you would expect.

Driving through Memphis is interesting as the city’s population is in decline and there are many vacant buildings. It is an introduction to the South as having lived in Chicago, New York and now in L.A. I am used to a mass of traffic. Throttling down to driving at the speed limit is an indication that you are in the South.

Day 2-3: Vicksburg

During a three ½ hour drive to Vicksburg, we drove through Greenwood Mississippi. It is a town like so many in the South, a once lovely town that is slowly dying as the youth leave for better opportunities. Industries which once supported these towns have left as markets have changed and their individual products are no longer in demand. Empty stores attest to the problem, yet such towns managed to avoid the graffiti which only makes a tough situation worse, and the old municipal buildings point to better times. Yet the population is over 15,000 and like so many other small towns, they do their best to present a positive face to the traveler. Greenwood is known for two things to this day.

1. The burial place of Robert Johnson, the legendary blues artist who, legend says, sold his soul to the devil to become a great blues performer only to die at the age of twenty-seven.
2. The town has the largest number of traffic lights which are hung across traffic intersections. Long out of production, they are lovingly cared for and refurbished and they give a distinctive look to the town.

 Driving along well maintained and smooth roads (including the lesser travelled roads which help one get a feel for the South, we arrived in Vicksburg, a town of about 20,000. The city is on a high bluff, and it attempted to withstand a siege by General U.S. Grant. Grant was not to be denied however, and eventually the town fell.

There are a number of key points to visit in the town such as:

• National Cemetery: We tend to think of Arlington as “the” national cemetery, but the 70,000 men who fought at Vicksburg have their own. The cemetery is in the Vicksburg Military Park, a beautiful sprawling area that is best view via a driving tour which can take 2-3 hours. Monuments remembering the various state’s regiments and the northern states themselves are numerous and impressive. An example is the Illinois monument which on bronze plaques has the names of every Illinois soldier who fought at the battle listed by their regiment, etc. Many beautiful panoramas hide the fact that thousands of men fought and died along those hills and vales.
• Vicksburg Civil War Museum: An excellent museum, it is the work of Charles Pendleton, an individual who spent seven years and a fortune to create the best private museum I have ever visited. An amazing collection of weapons, personal artifacts, pictures, etc. will bring you into the mindset of the times. The cruelty of slavery can be measured in an exhibit of a “breeding cell” where slaves were forced to have sex (with bags over their heads to eliminate any sense of intimacy). These cells were in response to the law implemented in 1808 which outlawed the importation of slave. This is worth a tour and as Mr. Pendleton (who will greet you with a fun quiz) says, his goal “is not to educate you, our aim is to inspire you to want to become more educated.”  If you are ever in Vicksburg, do not miss this museum!

If you are driving to Natchez, you have a difficult decision; you can go down the Natchez Trace Road which is a beautiful two lane highway originally used by traders, natives and frontiersmen moving between the two cities, or, you can go down Highway 61, the fastest route.  What is the problem? If you go down the Trace, you will miss the Old Country Store in Lorman Mississippi. This treasure offers a nice and well-known chicken buffet, which includes BBQ ribs, pigs’ knuckles, meatballs, and all the fixings plus an excellent choice of cobblers. Mr. D lives for his store and feeding people, plus, if you are lucky, he will sing a song especially for you! The store is loaded with all manner of goods, I really do not know if any of them are for sale as everyone goes there for the food. Remember, if you use the Trace, this treat is only a 40-minute drive from Natchez and worth the effort.

Day 4-5: Natchez

About one ½ hour drive from Vicksburg, and with a population of only about 13,000, Natchez is a more prosperous town than Vicksburg. Prior to the civil war, Natchez had more millionaires than New York City and was a popular destination for Americans and Europeans. A center for the lumber, cattle and grain trade, Natchez had large and impressive ante-bellum homes high above the Mississippi. Having a late evening libation along Silver Street which runs at the foot of the bluffs, the Mississippi is at its best: wide, strong, and irresistible.

It can get a bit of taking use to when you begin to realize that you can drive from one end of the town to the other in 6-10 minutes, but one realizes that because of that, the pace of life is much different, especially when we often spend five minutes just trying to get past two sets of stop lights within five hundred feet of each other. Throttling back becomes enjoyable.

Our first tour in Natchez was of Stanton Hall, built in 1857 and remarkably, a survivor of the Civil War. Taken over in 1938 by the Pilgrimage Garden Club (a group of fifteen women), it is a showcase of the glory that the house would have been as built. Gold leaf mirrors, Italian marble mantle pieces and furniture shipped from Europe have been reassembled to present a wonderful opportunity to step back in time. And, it even had an indoor, flush toilet! Of particular interest are the bronze gasoliers, each of which represents a unique motif. Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974, it is a must see in Natchez.

One thing that is fascinating about the state of Mississippi is that so much of the land near the Mississippi is basically swamp. The water table is so high that you can be driving down a road and see a cemetery where caskets are on top of the soil, encased in concrete holders. We are so used to the custom of placing the dead in the ground, that seeing rows of those concrete casket holders above ground can give quite a start. In the ground, forgotten, buried above ground and one must feel that the dead never really left.

Day 6: New Iberia

Unfortunately, the interesting attractions were closed (they seem to only be open Thursday-Sunday). This was the first time we have run across this, so we visited the sleepy old downtown section which is trying to make a comeback. The locals seem a bit more standoffish but friendly, so we used the day for catching up on long distance business.

7-11: New Orleans

What can I write about New Orleans that I have not previously written? The 11AM sazeracs at the carousel bar at the Monteleone hotel, the excellent Po’boy sandwiches at Johnnies, the excellent lunches at Mr. B’s, etc., etc. Everything is still in place although during our stay the Rolling Stones were in concert. Tickets were $1100 and up (the first time I saw the Stones the tickets were $3.50-6.50 in Chicago), so needless to say, we did not attend the concert, but folks came from surrounding states to see the act.

The one big change was our favorite bar tender (he is so much more than that), has moved from Mr. B’s to the Eliza Jane Hotel on Magazine St. Very classy! You get the feeling of NO without craziness and as usual, Brian is the master of his domain. He is still the best of the best!

As usual, we spent hours in a couple of old-time bookstores (no Barnes and Noble), complete with elderly gentlemen who knew where every book was shelved and who could compare various authors no matter what the subject, plus of course, the store cat who one must pet. The biggest problem with such explorations is the load of books one must lug back when you leave the Big Easy.

The pace of the French Quarter can be quite hectic during the late afternoon and evening and quite different from the old warehouse quarter just across Canal Street. The warehouse quarter has many new hotels, and some excellent restaurants so do not hesitate to extend your visit to NO by making a visit to that section.

Overall, it was a great trip. The old Southern traditions of a slower life, kindness and courtesy are still alive and doing well. Yes, you must put up with the humidity, but the people make up for the discomfort and you will leave with many wonderful memories.

Thank you.

Many years ago, just out of University my parents and I travelled to Spain.  We took a side trip to Morocco and joined a group which was sheparded around by a local Muslim guide, complete with robe and soft slippers that curled upward at the toes.  As we progressed, the guide pointed out mosques, libraries, beautiful plazas, etc. always noting that when they were built during the tenth or eleventh century, Europe was in a Dark Age.  After several such episodes, my father, always the diplomat raised his hand and asked the guide if the Muslims had done anything in the last thousand years.  There was much laughter and the guide stopped making references to Europe’s Dark Age.

My story about my father’s comment strikes at the very heart of the problem around Islam today; massive hurt feelings that a once proud and conquering force is today among the most backward in the world.  Many Muslims in the Middle East resent the failures of their leaders and governments since Islam was turned back in 1683 at the gates of Vienna.  A society which, when the first printing press was introduced into Ottoman territories in 1450 banned it as a tool of the devil, simply failed to move with the world as created by the Europeans.  Piece by piece, the Islamic world was picked apart and subjugated by the West and the feeling of anger and frustration grew until it was believed by even some of the educated that radicalism and terrorism was the only answer.  Instead of looking forward, the radicals looked backwards trying to lead the Muslim world bravely backward into the 8th century.

Ed Husain, a former radical Islamist who has rejected extremism and is now a noted fellow at several excellent Western think tanks.  He has an excellent understanding not only of Islamic history, but also a solid foundation in the beliefs of the various factions that exist within Islam today.  He carefully outlines the Sunni-Shi’a schism, what is Sharia, who is a Sufi, the foundations of Wahhabism as well as in depth discussions on the various views on women, sex, education, Jews, etc.  Overall, you can feel him objective about the factions within Islam and this book is an excellent primer on Islam.

As a former radical, he knows and understands the rationale of the radicals in their view of where Islam has gone wrong and what they believe justifies their actions.  His discussion on the difference between the Quran and supposed comments and guidelines from Mohammed is very interesting.  As Muslims believe that the Quran is sacred as created by Mohammed, they are a perfect way to live life.  The supposed saying and guidelines from Mohammed are open to interpretation; were they in fact made by Mohammed or by others many years after his life.  Are these saying supported by the Quran or in violation of the Quran?  According to Husain, such injunctions as the veiling of women, not allowing women to be highly educated, and the rules by the likes of ISIS come from these supposed comments and have no basis in the Quran.  Due however, to the low level of education of many Imams, arguments against the likes of ISIS are weak or not capable of convincing Muslims to move away from such practices.

The author loves Islam, but he also has a rather distorted history of Islam.  According to his view, the warriors of Islam spared women and children as they swept across the land, but if they did, it was only to save them for the slave market.  Or, he mentions that the natives of India converted to Islam because they loved Islamic poetry and not because literally tens of millions were slaughtered by various Islamic rulers.  Yet, aside from these examples of glossing over of history (there are others), the book remains an excellent one that Westerners would do well to read.  Unlike other books on Islam, he does offer concrete suggestions on what can be done to reverse the trend towards radicalism and to move Islam forward in the real world.  He pushes hard for the Islamic world to accept Israel and to see what can be done with education, unity and hard work.  Would the Islamic world be willing to learn from Israel?  Can the Arab countries put aside their tribalism and move against (especially in Saudi Arabia) against Wahhabism?  Would the West be willing to create a Marshall Plan for the Islamic world in conjunction with the oil rich Arab world who would contribute to the development of lands outside of their own?  If not, then the path away from radicalism will be longer and harder than necessary.

Even though we are surrounded by scores of information sources, the sheer number is enough to make one go numb.  Factoids will be posted periodically to bring you bits of news which may or may not catch your fancy.  Most of the Factoids will be posted to bring you counter-intuitive information which may not be covered by traditional news sources; Question: why aren’t they covered?  Possibly they may go against the grain of political or cultural “acceptable” thought.  Or, perhaps because they cannot fit into the thirty-second sound bites without raising more questions than they answer.  Hopefully you will find some of them of interest!

1.  Definition: The trade-to-GDP ratio is an indicator of the relative importance of international trade in the economy of a country. It is calculated by dividing the aggregate value of imports and exports over a period by the gross domestic product for the same period. Although called a ratio, it is usually expressed as a percentage. Definition source: Wikipedia

The US’s trade-to-GPR is only 25%.  Other nations have a larger ratio, such as China, Russia and Japan which vary from 38 to 47%.  Western Europe is in worse condition with France and the U.K. at about 70% and Germany is at 100%. (FT, 2/17-18, pp18)

What does that mean?  The smaller the percentage, the less a nation is dependent on foreign trade; the old dream of national autarky (a policy of national self-sufficiency and non-reliance on imports or economic aid) could be realized. The downside of autarky is a smaller economy but a smaller percentage means that a nation has more leverage over trading partners, and they are less likely to give into a weaker nation demands. Since WWII, the U.S. has built numerous institutions (the U.N., NATO, the IMF, etc.) which has been more of a benefit to other nations than to the U.S.. Given the frictions in the world today, it is clear that our allies need the U.S. much more than we need them and that is a power that the U.S. will continue to wield as long as the U.S. is seen as a stable shelter for capital and investments.  Politicalization of national institutions, such as the FBI, CIA, DOJ is a threat to the perception of a stable national order.

• Government “Improper Payments”:  According to the GAO (3/26/2024), for FY 2023 the federal government made an estimated $236,000,000,000 (billion) in “improper payments”.  They roughly break out in the following manner:
  • 74% or $175 billion to deceased individuals or those who no longer qualify for government programs.
  • $11.5 billion were underpayments.
  • $44.6 billion were unknown payments, meaning the government has no idea is the payment was in error or not.
  • $4.6 billion where a recipient was entitled but the incorrect statute or regulation was used.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

• The good news is that this figure is about $11 billion less than the prior year.
• The bad news is that over the past 20 years, the government has made about $2.7 trillion in such improper payments.

About 79% ($186 billion) was concentrated in five program areas: Medicare, Medicaid, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Paycheck Protection Program.  It is not clear how many billions went to federal prisoners, foreign individuals, foreign corporations, etc.

The federal government is seeking to hire tens of thousands of individuals for the IRS; perhaps we would all be better off of instead of focusing on U.S. taxpayers, those agents focus on the individuals/corporations/etc. who scammed us and on tightening up the sloppy bookkeeping and management at the various federal agencies.  When the employees are unionized, protected by civil service and contribute to the politicians who control the budgets of the agencies, don’t be surprised that this type of sloppy work is allowed to continue.

As Illinois Everett Dirksen of the U.S. Senate use to say: “A billion here, a billion there and soon you are talking about real money”.

Winston Churchill once said, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”  Those were dangerous times. Our times are also dangerous, so to paraphrase Churchill, perhaps we should say, “Never have so many had to accommodate so few.” 

The attached link will take you to an excellent article about, yes, J.K. Rowlings takedown of Scotland’s Hate Crime & Public Order Act, but will examine the shallow thinking behind the act, the sloppy lawmaking, and the driving forces behind a heinous law. If you have any interest in preserving our Constitutional right to free speech, read on and see how those who set themselves over the rest of society and the common values work to overturn your individual rights.

Queen of the Gender Crits (quillette.com)

If you are a minority, a felon and currently serving time for a crime you committed, you will now be able to get a new trial or sentence.  All you need to do is to “demonstrate that in the past, criminal suspects of his race were arrested, prosecuted or sentenced more often or more severely than members of other racial groups”.  It does not matter if members of your race actually committed more crimes, in fact, if that is the case then that is actually better for you.  This flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that stated that a defendant had to show that “decision makers acted with discriminatory purpose; statistical disparities aren’t enough”. Thus, if a police office stops a suspect and uses the phrase “high crime area”, the officer has shown a “bias against people of color”, even if the area is in fact a “high crime area”. 

How exactly does this law protect law abiding citizens?  It does not as in Los Angeles, “blacks are 21 times as likely as white to commit a violent crime, 36 times as likely to commit a robbery and 57 times as likely to commit a homicide”. And who are the victims?  In Los Angeles for example, blacks are 17 times as likely to be victims of homicide.  Being lenient on predators only harms the law abiding.

One final point on this new law is that it may enhance the number of pleadings to lesser charges. Using “government speak”, this will mean that politicians will be able to point to a decrease in more serious crimes.  Everyone except the average citizen is a winner.

Use the link below for more details.

https://manhattan.institute/article/california-finds-a-new-way-to-be-soft-on-crime

In the posting of February 14 (The New Sick Man of Europe), I pointed out some of the severe challenges facing Germany. China is successfully challenging Germany’s old business model, they face deindustrialization due to the excessive cost of energy as they ship jobs and technologies to China and the U.S. and there is no common front among the captains of industry in Germany.

The article linked below takes us one step closer to realizing the problems that face this traditional powerhouse of Europe. With a projected growth rate of 0.1%, everyday Germans are facing a period of challenges they have not faced in decades. How will they respond? If they begin to seriously cut back on their commitment to “green” energy to become more competitive in the areas of their traditional strength, they could face a major political struggle.

There is no easy answer but as the article says, the clock is ticking.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/germany-passed-its-first-chinese-testthis-one-is-trickier-740ae21b?page=1

Factoids That Should Make You Think

Even though we are surrounded by scores of information sources, the sheer number is enough to make one go numb.  Factoids will be posted periodically to bring you bits of news which may or may not catch your fancy.  Most of the Factoids will be posted to bring you counter-intuitive information which may not be covered by traditional news sources;  Question: why aren’t they covered?  Possibly they may go against the grain of political or cultural “acceptable” thought.  Or, perhaps because they cannot fit into the thirty-second sound bites without raising more questions than they answer.  Hopefully you will find some of them of interest!

1. The Worse Polluter in the World:  Who is the worse polluter in the world? Is it the United States?  Try again.  Wait, I shall let you know; it is China.  In fact, China’s emission level of carbon dioxide is 50% greater than those of the U.S., Europe, and Japan combined!  So much for Xi Jinping’s claim to be building an “ecological civilization”.  One would think he would be concerned as 75% of China’s surface water supply is contaminated and undrinkable while much of China’s farmland is polluted with salinization and heavy minerals.  No wonder China is the world’s largest importer of food grains. (WSJ, 4/8/24, ppA17)

• Gender-Reassignment and Suicide: According to a report from The Journal of Urology, transgenders attempted suicide rates have doubled after they have received a vaginoplasty.  “The study analyzed the rates of psychiatric emergencies before and after gender-altering surgery among 869 males who underwent vaginoplasty and 357 females who underwent phalloplasty in California from 2012-2018”. (The Epoch Times, 4/3-9, 2024, ppA2)

• Good Intentions, Poor Results: From 2018-2023, the State of California has spent an amazing $24 billion to battle homelessness.  The result?  California has 30% of the nations homeless (about 171,000) and the number keeps growing.  Even more amazing is that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CICH) which is responsible for coordinating and allocating resources stopped tracking outcomes in 2021! (WSJ, 4/10/2024, ppA2).  The CICH is part of the Business, Consumer Services & Housing Agency which has a staff of over 8,000. Does it make you wonder if they want to solve the problem or are these just another set of government make work/busy jobs?

• U.S. No Go Zones:  France has over 700 no go zones.  These are areas throughout the country where police escorts are often needed to protect emergency services such as fire and others responding to calls for help.  Recently “Death of America” was chanted in Dearborn Michigan.  Is this the formation of our own no-go zones and how will we respond to such a threat?  So far, nothing from the Governor of Michigan regarding those calls demanding our destruction. Is that leadership?

 Have a good day!

We seem to be living in a time when a goodly portion of humanity, the white portion, should be, according to many on the Left, walking around with ashes on our heads while we practice self-flagellation for the sins which our race has done to most of humanity. This is especially true of the ignorant and those who seek to make a name-and money, from this narrative. Unfortunately for them, there are those who question if these ignorant and self-righteous have any idea about what they are talking about. One such person is Nigel Biggar, the Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford. His excellent book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning looks openly and honestly at the charges of those who claim that colonialism, specifically that practiced by the British Empire have a grounding in fact. He looks at various questions such as, what was the driving force behind the Empire? Was it greed? Was the Empire basically racist? Was the Empire violent in that it imposed terrible conditions on its colonial subjects?

Although not a professional historian-he holds a BA in Modern History from Oxford while his Ph.Ds. are in Christian Theology and Ethics in Christian Theology and Ethics from the University of Chicago, his knowledge and research is excellent and he brings a balanced view of history as he includes the ethical component which in this case adds more depth to the book.

He initially raises the question of the concept of colonialism in that colonialism is as old as humanity. The empires of the Assyrians over four thousand years ago practiced colonialism. They were followed by the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians. The Athenians, Romans, Muslims, Asantes, etc. all were colonial powers. Some brought value with their overlordship, some only brought suffering, so how and where did the British Empire stand in relationship to all those who had gone before them? How did they stand against their contemporaries, such as the French, Russians, Dutch, Moguls, etc.? The problem and challenge are to not only read those who attack colonialism, but to look at their research to see if their writings are based on facts.

One such example is a famous quote which is attributed to Cecil Rhodes, when he is reported to have said, “I prefer land to the n—ers..the natives are like children. They are just emerging from barbarism…one should kill as many n—ers as possible.”  A terrible statement, often quoted by eminent historians as an example of the mindset of the British Empire. There is a problem however, for there is no evidence that Rhodes ever made that statement. Much of the statement was written by a former Rhodes scholar who is a director of a major Pan-African university in Johannesburg while more of it was “made up from three different elements drawn from three different sources” including a novel. Hardly scholastic proof. In fact, Rhodes supported the franchise in the Cape Colony that gave blacks the vote on the same term as whites, he funded a black newspaper, and his scholarship was color-blind from the first. Such minor details escape those who use Rhodes as an example of the British mindset.

His book is chapter after chapter of not whitewash, but a review of the times, norms, attitudes, and actions of both the British and the people’s they ruled. He discusses the abuses of colonialism as well as the benefits which provided the locals to better their lives and futures. The Empire stopped abuses such as the burning of widows, instituted a legal system where for the first time, the poorest of the poor could confront those who had previously exercised power as they wished. More rail mileage was built in India than existed in Great Britain with the result that freedom of movement, increased trade and food was more readily available than before their arrival.

And yes, there were abuses. Most abuses came at the local level, by the soldiers, local traders, etc. rather than from the governors, magistrates, and administrators. He quotes the proclamation of governors and provides details on their actual achievements. Those governors who exercised a great deal of freedom in their area seldom abused the great power they had and there are instances quoted when the locals feared a return to the old days where power was used arbitrarily when the governors were withdrawn. There was racism in many instances, especially in India after the Sepoy Rebellion when old loyalties and trusts were torn apart.

Because the author has a background in ethics, he broaches the question of compensation, one which is heard as a drumbeat. On one hand, were the natives justly compensated for their goods and land? Did they suffer to a greater or lesser extent from racism? How many locals were killed when they demanded independence or during times of famine? On the other hand, what was the value of immunization against disease which saved millions of lives? What was the value of freedom from slavery as practiced by local rulers? What was the value of instituting an educational system and the values of that system which allowed the locals to be able to step into power once independence was achieved?

This book may not convince the rabid anti-colonialist that the British empire experience had any positive worth. The author did however achieve one of his goals in that any reader who approaches the subject with even an inkling of an open mind will realize that the pros and cons, the costs vs. benefits, of colonialism as practiced by the British require a serious weighing on the scales of if not justice, at least intellect.

It never ceases to amaze me how individuals and governments can pursue and believe in policies that have 1) failed throughout history, such as Marxism, socialism, etc. and 2) continue to follow a policy in the “name of science” when the totality of “science” is directly opposed to the promises of that policy. There are “believers” both in government and out who stumble along through life, claiming that “this time it will be different” or clearly choose to deny inconvenient facts.

The German policies regarding the “greening” of that economy has met with failure after failure yet the government seems more committed than ever to additional failures. From the huge investment in solar and wind power which has led to higher CO2 emissions, skyrocketing energy costs which has led to the fleeing of industries and increased unemployment, masses of Germans continue to believe that somehow physics and nature can be ignored and altered to fit into their naïve mind set.

The attached link points out the German commitment to failure and the price which will be paid by Germans and most of Europe. This at a time when a very real and immediate threat from Putin’s Russia is starting all of Europe in the face. The “green” policies of the Germans threaten the needed rearmament of the German military and thus pose another dagger aimed at the heart of Europe.

Germany’s Murder of Europe :: Gatestone Institute

What do you call a country where 70% of prison inmates are from one group, where there are two hundred rapes a day mostly committed by that same group, where 25% of the population one group rejects the national name, and where there are over seven hundred “no-go zones”? You call it France.

France is disappearing; a nation which has given the world so much beauty in literature, music, architecture, food, and more is slipping away. France is not alone in the challenge it faces as the same problems faced by Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and others. Yet somehow it is sadder because of the hundreds of years France stood for all that was good about European culture.

The greater question is why is it being allowed to happen? Where is the political leadership that can stop the deadly challenge of France? Are we to believe that French politicians for example, wish to see all that is good in France to disappear? Are French political leaders afraid of a minority which often seems to wish to march bravely back into the seventh century and who insist on the fruits of those they despise but reject the cost? Where is the modern day De Gaulle, Clemenceau, or Richelieu?

And what about the average French citizen? Are they so cowed, so weak, so blind that they do not see and do not care about the threat to their way of life? How can they continue to elect politicians who seem to care more about maintaining their lavish perks of power rather than face the very existential threat that grows stronger with every day? Where is the pride of the average citizen?

There are options and solutions to answer the threat but where is the will? Can France and Europe be saved? Or is it too late?

France’s Skyrocketing Threat :: Gatestone Institute