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JULY 7, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

TAKE IT SERIOUSLY – FROM BBC:   The heads of UK and US security services have made an unprecedented joint appearance to warn of the threat from China.  FBI director Christopher Wray said China was the "biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security" and had interfered in politics, including recent elections.  MI5 head Ken McCallum said his service had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years and would be doubling it again.  MI5 is now running seven times as many investigations related to activities of the Chinese Communist Party compared to 2018, he added.

The FBI's Wray warned that if China was to forcibly take Taiwan it would "represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen".  In response, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said British intelligence was trying to "hype up the China threat theory" and he advised the head of MI5 to "cast away imagined demons".  He said the FBI director had also been "playing up the China threat to smear and attack China" revealing a "Cold War mentality" and urged him to stop making "irresponsible" remarks.  The first ever joint public appearance by the two directors came at MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London.  McCallum also said the challenge posed by the Chinese Communist Party was "game-changing", while Wray called it "immense" and "breath-taking".  Not to be ignored.  Obviously, these are serious warnings.  But there are powerful forces in the West, driven by dollars or some quaint left-wing ideology, who think China is just fine, and a source of great soup.  Be afraid.

July 7, 2022       Permalink

BORIS, WE HARDLY KNEW YE – Boris Johnson has resigned as Britain's prime minister.  A man of many faces and moods, he was a superb friend of America, a well-read man of letters, and a defender of Western values.  He was also an undisciplined eccentric, consummate partygoer and occasional jerk. 

He was finally brought down because his own Conservative party turned against him following a series of embarrassing scandals.

Some compared him to Churchill, also a flawed man.  But Churchill was a key pivot in the Allied victory in World War II.  Johnson was never handed such a grand canvas.  From Fox: 

Boris Johnson announced plans to resign as prime minister of the United Kingdom on Thursday in a tumultuous end for a government that once enjoyed a strong democratic mandate.

Johnson’s roughly three-year tenure ended in disarray after he threatened a standoff with his party and a possible general election following the resignation of 42 ministers who deemed his position "untenable." He says new leadership is "clearly now the will" of Parliament.
Johnson hopes to remain in a caretaker position as his Conservative Party elects a new prime minister, a process that may take roughly two months.

"I have appointed a new cabinet who will serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place," he said. "When the herd instinct moves, it moves."

Conservative ministers declared that they had lost confidence in the prime minister after news emerged he had elevated Chris Pincher to the powerful role of deputy chief whip despite allegations of sexual misconduct.

But it was not the only scandal that Johnson’s government had to wrangle with. It was merely the final one that ministers could tolerate, bringing an end to his sole ambition and goal in politics. 

"Boris Johnson’s place in history is assured given his stewardship of Brexit, vaccine rollout during the COVID-19 crisis and staunch defense of the free world in Ukraine," Alan Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital. 

"His personal foibles were known to all before he came to office and have always been part and parcel of his offering. They will not affect the reality that he has got the big calls right and has always confounded his critics in doing so."

The prime minister also had displayed Churchillian support for Ukraine during the Russian invasion, earning him plaudits at a time when he otherwise struggled for positive press. The highs and lows of his run to the leadership — and his eventual fall — will ensure he remains a figure of enduring fascination and interest in both British and global politics. 

Johnson rose to prominence as a political columnist for The Daily Telegraph and later editor of The Spectator before winning the election to Parliament in 2001 as the Member of Parliament (MP) of Henley. He won the election for Mayor of London in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012. During that time, he enjoyed a healthy public image as an affable man of the people. 

COMMENT:   And of course he might be back some day.  Churchill lingered in the political wilderness for decades before being called to the prime ministership in the early days of the Second World War. 

The priority now is for Britain to find a prime minister who will keep the Conservatives in power. 

July 7, 2022       Permalink

JULY 6,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

MAJOR SOCIAL ADVANCE, FROM FOX:   The National Education Association proposed a resolution that would change the word "mother" in contracts to "birthing parent" for the purpose of being inclusive to the LGBTQIA+ community.   The resolution would be voted on Wednesday by the Representative Assembly (RA), comprised of 6,000 educators, in Chicago as well as virtually. NEA's resolutions represent the teachers' union's opinions and beliefs. It was unclear whether the resolution passed. Fox News Digital reached out to the NEA for comment and asked whether the resolution passed but did not immediately receive a response.  "Using this contract language, members need not worry about how a Board of Education/solicitor defines ‘maternity leave,’ ‘mother,' and/or ‘father’; the language is an inclusive reflection of how LGBTQIA+ members build families," the proposed resolution said.  Well, that certainly secures America's future.  I feel a sense of relief.  I will rush and inform my birthing wife.

SERIOUS WARNING – FROM FOX:  Every area of the U.S. could be in danger of experiencing power outages this summer amid a push to convert to renewable energy sources while taking traditional sources of power offline.  "I think the entire country is incredibly vulnerable, because the entire country is facing a huge energy shortage and I don’t think there is any place that is truly safe," Daniel Turner, founder and executive director at Power the Future, told Fox News.   At issue are blackouts that could become widespread across the country this summer as grid operators struggle to meet the increased demand, a problem that has plagued some states for years but now could threaten much of the country.  Turner said some states are under increased threat this year, especially those that have made political pushes to switch over to so-called sources of "green energy."  "The areas of the country I’d be most concerned about are the ones that already have inherent weaknesses," Turner said. "Texas, California, New Mexico, New York, all of New England. These are areas whose policies and political decisions have weakened their electric grid."  This is what happens when common sense surrenders to "science."

July 6, 2022       Permalink

KAMALA, WHO ARE YOU? Rarely have we seen a vice president talked about as much as the president.  I mean, what do vice presidents actually do?  But Kamala Harris is the exception, for two reasons:  First, it's clear that the president may not be able to serve out his term, so the focus will be on his successor.  Second, Harris is blatantly and obviously unfit to be that successor. 

As William Bendix used to say in the old "Life of Riley" radio and TV shows, "What a revoltin' development this is."

In fact I can't think of anything similar – an obviously impaired president whose approval rating is in the 30s, and a vice president who has a lower approval rating than even the president.   Consider this latest, about Harris, from the New York Post: 

Vice President Kamala Harris was “seriously” skewered online for a repetitive, meandering statement at the site of the July Fourth parade mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where the veep repeated an earlier call for federal gun control legislation.

Harris, 57, spoke in the Chicago suburb Tuesday evening after demanding Congress pass a new assault weapons ban while addressing a teachers union gathering earlier in the day. She vowed that suspected shooter Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, would be “brought to justice,” but then “seriously” repeated herself during her remarks.

“And we got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are – because you have been forced to have to take it seriously,” Harris told Highland Park residents.

“The whole nation should understand and have a level of empathy to understand that this can happen anywhere, in any peace-loving community,” Harris continued. “And we should stand together and speak out about why it’s got to stop.”

Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Sheridan posted video of Harris’ speech on Twitter, along with her repetitive quote.

“Did someone write that for her??” one reply read.

Another critic said they thought the quote was a “joke,” while a third questioned whether Harris’s comments were the product of “first-generation” artificial intelligence software.

“Word salad,” read another take on Twitter. “Means absolutely nothing.”

“Unbroken streak for like nineteen months now of never making a single coherent statement as VP,” still another tweet read. “Almost admirable in its consistency.”

One detractor insisted Harris could even star in a remake of HBO’s award-winning political satire “Veep,” sarcastically praising the “cheap production,” authentic film clips and “great dialogue.”

“Does she seriously think we should take what she said seriously?” another social media critic mocked.

COMMENT:  So sad.  At a time when we need another Churchill, we get Donald Duck.

July 6, 2022       Permalink