As I have written several times, governments have a habit of creating a new program funded by your tax dollars, then when the programs do not work out, decide that taxpayers need to pour more subsidies into the bad program to “rescue” their failure.  Wouldn’t it be wiser to re-examine the failing program, figure out why it is failing and then insist that those who manage the disaster fix the problems which are creating failure?  Sorry, I said a word that is verboten in government speak; wise.

For years the government has been taking your taxes to subsidize an idea whose time (and technology) has not really come, but they continue to create government made millionaires who receive subsidies for a concept that is not especially popular with consumers.  They also have decided that in the name of “green” energy, they have all but taken over another one-seventh of the U.S. economy, the auto industry (thanks to Obamacare they took over that one-seventh of the economy and it is working so well).  Watch on the horizon for more government bailouts funding by borrowing which you, the taxpayer will have to fund. 

Read the linked article below and count the days.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/brace-for-the-wind-and-electric-vehicle-bailouts-506383a8?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

Many tens of millions of people have flocked to the United States to lead a better life for themselves and their families.  Most have succeeded but not all; in fact, up to thirty percent of immigrants went back to their native land when they found that the streets were not paved with gold.  This meant that overall, we retained the best, the most stubborn, the most determined and as a result, we all prospered. 

Somehow that has changed.  There are those who come here to enjoy our wealth but who do not realize that one must adapt to the standards and norms of the nation as those were the forces that helped us to create that wealth.  There are those who wish to share in the national wealth but who do not contribute to the creation of wealth and who demand to be respected even though they have fled from their native lands due to the poverty in those lands.  Unfortunately, due to geography and poor political leadership, Western Europe has come to see the worse of that type of immigrant.  Increased crime, expanding welfare costs and less services to those who have adhered to the norms and laws has created increased tension and disillusionment.  That means political instability and that seldom ends up well. The article linked below should be a warning to all; actions have consequences when pushed enough, the State can use its power to a terrible effect.  The major errors of Western European leaders have consequences and the longer those leaders refuse to take appropriate action, the more difficult and the more extreme will be their choices.  Somehow the lesson we all know, address a problem when it is small and it is easier to correct, seems to have been missed by our political leaders.  Their desire to please all and retain power only goes to create larger problems.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20103/europe-civil-war

In an abrupt about face interview, Henry Kissinger has reversed his earlier support of massive immigration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe.  Unfortunately, this about face comes too late for the nations of Western Europe (Poland and Hungary have never subscribed to the promised but failed benefits of mass immigration).  No one likes to admit they are wrong, but Kissinger unlike Germany’s Merkel says in the connected article, that the inability of the immigrants to make attempts to assimilate to the dominate culture/laws/morals of their new homelands, have created an ever-expanding problem for most of Europe.

How so? 

• In France there are over 750 “no-go zones”, which house about eight percent of the population of France.  The central government and local services have little if any authority in these zones.
• Sweden’s number of rapes has exploded so that only Lesotho in South Africa has a higher per capita count (Lesotho 91.6/100,000, Sweden 53.2%/100,000, USA 28/100,000, Denmark 7.3/100,000).  Of those convicted of rape, nearly 60% have a non-European background.
• Throughout the EU, because of the ease of travel from one country to the next, even court orders for extradition are difficult to enforce as immigrants order to be expelled simply cross-national borders and start anew in a neighboring country. 

Additionally, the cost of housing, schooling, and feeding the increased number of immigrants is being felt by the citizens who are the taxpayers and who are witnessing a decrease in their services.  The old social welfare agreement between the governments and the citizens is breaking down.  With no work requirements, there is little incentive for the immigrants to learn the local language, seek jobs, etc.

How Western Europe will resolve these problems is a topic for an upcoming EU conference on immigration.  Sweden for one has put forward a proposal to use its military to augment the local police who are overwhelmed by the growing crime rate. 

It is a terrible thing to be elderly like Dr. Kissinger and realize that your advice was so poor.  Being an immigrant himself, perhaps he assumed other immigrants would realize the opportunity offered to them.  He did not however, consider the entirely different mentality of immigrants who arrive from nations and areas where Western liberalism is often viewed with mistrust and disgust.

https://notthebee.com/article/100-year-old-henry-kissinger-says-that-mass-migration-was-a-grave-mistake-in-response-to-seeing-arabs-celebrating-hamas-in-europe

The other day I was in a liquor store purchasing some liquid refreshment for a celebration and all around the store were signs warning that you had to be at least eighteen to purchase any alcohol.  Not eight years old, or fourteen, but eighteen.  Yet, there are those who walk among us who believe that children eight years old or younger can determine their “true” sex and demand that those children be treated with life altering drugs and operations.

The attached article by Christopher Rufo is shocking to read for he describes the hideous operations which are performed on children by licensed medical doctors. One immediately draws a parallel between those operations and the “war crimes” performed by Nazi doctors on children and adults in the concentration camps from 1940-1945.  Just as shocking and disgusting is the fact that many operations on performed on children who have the least amount of protection in our world, minorities from broken homes in the lowest income brackets.  Where are the advocates for those children whose lives are permanently altered and who will suffer pain for the rest of their lives, all in the name of “trans-genderism”?

I advise you to be prepared to be disgusted and outraged but read the article to fully understand the pain and perversity that some people are capable of inflicting on others.

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Imprimis_Sept_8pg_9-23web.pdf

When is science not science?  Apparently when you read about science in a “scientific” journal. It is one thing when demigods proclaim that science and math is racist, it is another thing when professional journals whose articles can impact people’s care and life decide to slant or exclude information which the editors dislike or dispute.  It seems unfortunately, that there are, indeed, individuals who willingly distort scientific papers that do not conform to their individual prejudices and/or political beliefs.

There is a great deal of pressure to publish in the academic and scientific community, and it appears that certain “professionals” have diluted or even changed the results of their studies to conform to these pressures.  That is bad enough, but what is even more ugly is when previously trusted professional journals set out informal or even formal guidelines for approved narratives. And, with the demand for more spectacular findings, a perfect storm is created between the pressure to publish and the demand for adhering to the “correct” narrative.

The attached link will take you to a sad tale that simply fuels the increasing mistrust of our governmental and social institutions.  Printing the truth of findings is not enough; findings must be exciting and adhere to the ideology of the editors.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-preapproved-narratives-corrupt-science-false-studies-covid-climate-change-5bee0844?page=1

Following on the publication of the prize-winning history, Mao’s Great Famine, Dr. Dikotter’s history of the first twelve years of the seizure of China by the Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong is the tale of brutality, cruelty, starvation, beatings, executions not of thousands, not of hundreds of thousands, but of millions.  The dream with the ending of WWII for the average Chinese, be they in the cities or as most lived, in the countryside of some sort of return to normality was not to be, and that average Chinese was the one who paid the price for the failure of that dream.

There can be no doubt that the regime of the Nationalist under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the various warlords was vicious, cruel, and corrupt.  Young men were dragooned, chained together, and marched off to fill the armies of both the government and the warlords.  Taxes were high and corruption existed at every level.  The occupation and war forced on China by the Empire of Japan extended and multiplied the suffering of the Chinese people.  The promises and strict discipline of the Communist forces under Mao created an image of stability and hope for the masses. Once in power however, the Communist regime exhibited every fault and cruelty that each Communist regime, be it the Soviet Union, Cuba, Albania, etc., has practiced since 1917.

Once in power, Mao mirrored the same tactics of the Soviet seizure of power; one by one, the landlords, the richer peasants, the small shop owners, the larger company owners and directors, the intellectuals, the students, and so forth were targeted for separation from the mainstream of society and persecuted.  Who did the persecuting?  Each of the other targeted groups who hoped that by joining the mob punishing the targeted group de jour that they would not be the next target, or if they were, that their willingness to show their zeal in supporting the purges would somehow buy them either a period of grace or a lesser punishment.  They found however, that there would be no mercy coming from Mao and his circle as they moved to create a “new man” in their idealized image.

Famines, floods, plagues and more were forced upon China not by nature, but by the ignorance and grandiose schemes of the ruling elite, all of whom were controlled by Mao.  Although Mao faced an awkward period after Khrushchev’s four hour “secret” speech against Stalin, he managed to maneuver himself and fool his potential rivals into giving him more power so that he could launch the infamous Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom campaign which led once again to a purge and murderous slaughter of those Mao felt could be against him.

A read of this book can be exhausting due to the excellent scholarship and information provided by Dr. Dikotter.  It seems somehow that the history of the CCP has not received the same type of public exposure as that of Hitler’s regime or the more murderous Soviet Union.  This excellent volume is a real contribution to a realistic public airing of the price that will be paid again and again if the lessons of history are ignored.  I know the old argument, “this time it will be different”.  Only a fool mouths those words.  Mao once declared that experience “has taught us to lean to one side”; every time I hear words like those, such as “lean in”, I fear that history has not been learned.

I believe that most Americans (citizens of the U.S.), view Canada as I use to; a beautiful country filled with polite citizens who are just like us.  The reality, however, is very often much different.  Many Canadians dislike the U.S., seeing us as being rude and crude, tending to throw our weight around too much.  That perception comes from watching our television programs who display far too often the absolute worse of American “culture”.  Being until recently, a relatively homogenous nation, Canadians could not grasp the problems of being a multi-ethnic nation where “minorities” number in the tens of millions (remember the population of Canada is slightly less than the population of California).  They marvel at our level of gun violence, and to a large degree, resent the fact that so much of their trade is centered on the U.S. They mock our health care system (while leaving Canada’s long wait times for treatment and coming to the U.S. for life saving operations) and cannot understand why we put up with a Bill of Rights which often flies in the face to Canadian policies.  In a way, over time, I have found many Canadians to be rather defensive, as if they are in awe of the giant next store to them.

The article linked below presents a recent overview of why we Americans should be so proud of our Bill of Rights, for it helps to protect us not only from the worse abuses of government but helps to limit the types of hoaxes which arise in Canada from time to time.  The Indigenous children who supposedly died (killed?) at various religious schools in Canada is an example of the weakness of the Canadian “commissions”, “inquiries” and “councils” and the semi-persecution of Jordan Peterson shows that no one in Canada is safe from the self-righteous anger of those who oppose honesty and blunt truth saving. I am hoping that at the very least it will make you investigate some of the examples mentioned in the article.

https://www.nysun.com/article/drive-to-re-educate-jordan-peterson-over-his-online-comments-underscores-growing-threats-to-freedom-of-expression

How did we (the United States) come to this point where our politicians and the highest institutions in the land have come to be viewed by so many Americans with such suspicion, cynicism, and disrespect?  By Americans, I am not including the youth of the country, for they do not know any better having been indoctrinated, not educated. Their excuse is that they do not know any better.  No, I am speaking about most adults who lead productive lives, working, raising a family, and paying their taxes.  These adults have been able to observe and judge the actions of our nation’s leaders at so many levels and have found them wanting over the course of their everyday lives.

While the article does point out a series of faults, the beginning of our disillusionment began earlier, notably in the mid-1960’s, during the Viet Nam war. It did not take long for the average person to see that the two wars being fought, in View Nam and the one on poverty were being managed poorly and were leading to multiple disasters; the hollowing out of our military, the destruction of the Black family, the rise of a bureaucracy which did not have any degree of accountability, the shrinking ability of the middle-class to survive, the ability of politicians to openly lie and their belief in the gullibility of the voter, etc. all started us on the path to what we see today.

The article provides ideas of how we can regain our footing, but each one comes down to the need for the average citizen to hold the press, politicians, educators, and others accountable.  It all starts at the grass roots level and can only grow by a day-to-day attention from the voters. I once had a political science professor who had fled to the U.S. during the Hungarian Revolution who wondered why we would expect our leaders to be any better than we were in our everyday lives.  I believe it would be nice to at least expect our leaders to be equal to each of us, as it would be a step up.  All that we need to do to lift them to our level is to hold them as accountable as each of us tries to be in our everyday lives; we try to live within our means, we don’t treat others as being stupid and gullible and we tell the truth.  Is that really so much to expect?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/american-institutions-went-from-trust-to-bust-media-schools-business-promises-43c8d18?page=1

What is the correct number?  Thirty-Two million?  Thirty-Seven million?  Forty million? The correct number of those who died during the period of 1958-1962 as Mao and the Communist Party of China instituted a command economy will never be known.  The exact number will never be known because so many people were dying, primarily of starvation but also because of beatings, executions, and torture that records could not be kept.  The millions did not die because they were some foreign enemies or, as is the case with the Holocaust because of some racial theory; they died because of government incompetence, bureaucratic lying and ignorance of the basic laws of nature.

What exactly is a “command economy”?  The “phrase comes from the German Befehlswirtschaft. It was originally applied to the Nazi economy but was later used to describe the Soviet Union.  Instead of allowing dispersed buyers and sellers to determine their own economic activities according to the laws of supply and demand, a higher authority would issue commands determining the overall direction of the economy following a master plan.  The command principle entailed that all economic decisions were centralized for the greater good, as the state determined what should be produced, how much should be produced, who produced what and where, how resources should be allocated and what prices should be charged for material, goods, and services.  A central plan replaced the market. (Mao’s Great Famine, pp 127).

A “command economy”  then is a top-down system by which the leaders provide objectives and quotas for the amount of grain to be produced, how many tons of steel will be produced, what type and how many shoes, socks, shoelaces, etc. will be produced in what time period, etc.  Operating in a totalitarian system like Communism, each layer below that top simply takes the quota they are given and adds a little more to please the powers that be.  By the time the quotas reach those who produce any given item, the numbers are so large that they are totally unrealistic.  Rather than argue against the numbers (and labeled a right-wing reactionary), the producers “fudge” the numbers to meet the quota.  And an example is the production of rice, a staple of the economy.  If the actual quota is not met, the rice crop is soaked in water to increase the weight as the rice absorbs the water.  Amazing, the quota is met!  The problem with that technique however is that the rice quickly rots and as the price of rice goes up (inflation), the consumers literally have to sell the clothes off their backs to pay for rotting rice.

Ever since the unification of Germany in 1870, the Germans have enjoyed a steady move up in their standard of living.  For decades Germany has been the economic engine that has driven Europe to greater wealth and a lifestyle that is envied by many in the world.  That economy has provided the German people with a welfare state that seemed to know no limits.

Welfare states, however, depend on a common consensus as to values and acceptable activity; each member of the society fulfills their function through work and obedience of the laws and societal norms.  The inclusion of millions of individuals who do not accept those norms, who are a cost not a benefit to the state upsets the smooth running of the state and creates friction which is outside the ability of the average citizen to correct.  Germany faces a challenge to its very existence from a large number of immigrants whose very value system is diametrically opposite to that of the German state.

Additionally, Germany faces an economic power that has learned quite a bit from the German model and who has the finances, education and will to challenge Germany.  That economic power is Communist China.  For decades China has studied, copied, and committed crimes against the intellectual property of Germany (and other states) and suddenly the student is rising up against the teacher as China begins to strike at the very basis of German strength.

The attached interview and overview of the problems Germany faces, economically and politically should be viewed at a minimum by every German.  It should be viewed by every citizen of the Western World as Germany’s problems and challenges are the same faced by every other Western state. 

Can Germany rise to the challenge or has the will of the German people been stifled by decades of easy living.  We can only hope.