Spanish Birthday

Back in Spain to "celebrate" my birthday. Relatives here make a big deal out of a birthday, while I would rather ignore the date. No such luck. Big lunch is scheduled for later today at a nice restaurant in San Sebastian. I will be forced to smile, while secretly looking at my watch.

My son is here with his kids and they are seeming to enjoy Spain. It's still a good country for raising kids. The numerous parks are full of the little ones and dogs until very late at night; parents sitting on benches or at near-by terraces having drinks and snacks. The parks get power washed every morning. Quite amazing.

The news from home is not cheery. The methodical destruction of the American nation continues apace.

The imbecilic mummy in the White House and his giggling VP put out a steady stream of delusional tweets and press releases about "wins" and progress that nobody in his right mind could possibly believe. All very Orwellian. There is a constant distortion of inflation data which belies what one sees with his own eyes in supermarket, gas station, and retail stores of all kinds. Mortgage rates are through the roof, along with car loans. Meanwhile criminal gangs have the OK to steal and loot, with those seeking to protect their property made out as the villains. 

The border? Not even mentioned anymore. Millions pour across, and hardly a peep. 

The power elites continue their Stasi-like war on the political opposition, locking up opponents, hitting them with outrageous sentences, and a docile press goes along.

What will the next few years bring? 

I kinda hope not to be around to see. I feel great sorrow for my grandkids; they are going to inherit a collapsed Western civilization, worthy of a Mad Max film.

The Debate . . . Meh . . .

I violated the rules. I watched last night's GOP debate AND I watched the Tucker Carlson interview of President Trump. I never understood why some were making it into an either/or proposition. 

Let me start with the Trump interview. It was fine. No new developments. It would have been better if the interview had been recorded after the debate, so Trump could react to the debate, but, that's what we have. Trump was mellow, funny, and perceptive, but didn't say anything we haven't heard before. I think his explanation for not participating in the debate was good enough, i.e., why give those other guys too much publicity? I am sure Biden will use the same excuse for not debating Kennedy, or whomever else emerges from the DNC swamp to "challenge" him.  

The debate. Well, before I start, let me pass along the Diplowife's words of wisdom: it's the first debate, give the participants time to develop their debating tactics and messaging. OK. Fine. Now let me state that it was kind of a bore. I am not sure there was a "winner," but Ron DeSantis did not hurt himself, which was probably his main goal. He did come off as stiff, and clearly free-wheeling debate is not his forte. He does fine on the stump and in one-on-one interviews. I'll come back to RDS. 

I thought Vivek Ramaswamy came off as just too clever: he's obviously smart and would have been a terror on a college or high school debate team. He, however, was too cute, too much of "I am the smartest guy here," for my taste. He needs to calm down a bit, show more gravitas, and not jump around so much. I don't think he hurt himself, but it's just not clear if his is a serious candidacy. Nikki Haley? I don't know. She reminds me of Mitt Romney. She's got the establishment foreign policy talking points down pat, but I couldn't discern any particular vision for how to get us out of our current mess. Her words on abortion I found vapid, just empty. Tim Scott, was a nice guy who had memorized a lot of economic data, but didn't give me a feel that he has a plan. The big loser, I think, was Chris Christie who at times seemed to forget that he is running for the GOP, not the DNC nomination. His attack on Trump did not go over well, and will gain him nothing. I think he burned himself. Mike Pence? Nothing to say about him. People weren't buying his explanation for his actions on January 6. The other two were basically nothing-burgers who couldn't explain what it was they were doing on the stage. 

Back to RDS. He did well when explaining what he's done as Florida governor and in laying out a tough approach to illegal aliens and drug smuggling. He, however, let himself get overrun by Ramaswamy and Christie and needs to get into the fight a bit more. I like RDS, but not sure this is his time. Who knows?

OK. What did it all mean? Not much right now. I doubt these debaters ate into Trump's lead for the nomination. I would be surprised if Trump picked any of them as VP.

OK. About to head back to Raleigh from Wilmington. I'll write a word or two about falling planes in Russia.

The Republic Dies in Plain Sight

I have proven reluctant to weigh in with commentary on the avalanche of indictments against President Trump: I am not a lawyer, certainly not a Constitutional expert, I don't play either on the internet, and so many others already have commented to the point of nausea. 

But, of course, weigh in, I will.

I have read the indictments, and, as I said, am not a lawyer. That said, the indictments don't pass the smell test, and seem clearly driven by an overwhelming political animus not only against Trump, but against any questioning of the "liberal orthodoxy." Even more troubling is the "burn the witch" caterwauling coming from so many in the media, precisely the industry which should serve as the most jealous guardian of the freedom of expression and political activity. The bottom line comes down to they don't like what Trump says, especially about them, so, put him in prison. They are aided by a "weaponized" FBI that from even BEFORE the first day of Trump's presidency conspired against him and his inner circle. Other federal agencies protect the Biden crime family and persecute any whistle-blower brave enough to sound the alarm.

This little post is a request for help from those who know the laws better than I. The Georgia indictments have me particularly outraged. They seem to be nothing burgers of the most empty kind, but then the punishment is the process, the process is the punishment. Just wondering does a County DA have the authority to indict a person who was President at the time he committed the alleged offenses? Shouldn't he have been impeached and convicted by Congress first? If not, this opens a whole can of worms for hundreds of DAs, all across the land, to start seeking indictments at a state, county, or city level. Chaos.

Let me know.

Whatever Happened to Ukraine?

I know I've written before about the mystery stealth war in Ukraine, but I must return to this 21st century version of Big Foot.

What happened to the war into which we and our European friends have poured billions of dollars and euros in cash and fancy equipment? Where are the results? Where are the intrepid embedded journos ready, willing, and able to risk life and limb to tell us all about Russian perfidy in the wild East? 

What happened to the much ballyhooed Zelensky offensive that would retake the eastern provinces of Ukraine, and recapture Crimea? We sent a bazillion dollars (minus the ten percent for the Big Guy?) and our latest awe inspiring artillery and tanks . . . so?

This sounds more and more like Orwell called it. The endless war in some far off place, with occasional reports of great victories which mean our chocolate ration must be increased from 50 grams to 35 grams! "Inflation is down to three percent from its previous one percent! Gasoline has dropped in price from $1.50/gallon to $4.00/gallon! We are winning!"

Does Ukraine join the ever-lengthening list of modern hoaxes?

Just asking for a friend . . . and my grand kids.

Biden Special Counsel: The Joke Grows More Elaborate & is Joe Heading for the Door?

OK, folks. 

We all know it's a joke, a joke worthy of that all-time jokester and comedian, Lavrenti Beria.

Beria would have appreciated AG Garland's "sudden" naming of a Special Counsel (SC) to look into Hunter Biden, this after years of saying none was needed. He also would have appreciated that the SC named is none other than US Attorney David Weiss (another miserable Trump appointment), who "investigated" Hunter for the past three-plus years: remember the laptop? On top of it all, Beria would have appreciated how Garland has violated the law by picking Weiss; the law requires that the SC come from outside of the government, certainly not be a DOJ Attorney, and the one who has protected the Biden Crime Family (BCF) for all these years. Let us not forget that Weiss masterminded that other joke: the "plea deal" for Hunter which would have allowed the crackhead to skate on serious tax fraud and gun charges that would have put any of us in the slammer for years.

Well, of course, it turned out some honest judge threw out the plea deal as it contained promises of, in essence, permanent immunity for Hunter from any other prosecutions. 

The Republican-controlled Congress, in its stumbling at times inchoate manner, in the meanwhile, has put together an impressive portfolio of Hunter's crimes, all of which implicate the "Big Guy," your "President." It is now beyond clear that the BCF runs a giant influence peddling and money laundering operation to benefit the Big Guy and his clan. The BCF sold foreign governments and oligarchs access to then Vice President and now President Biden. It's an outrageous scandal which the press seeks to minimize and ignore, much as they did with the Clinton money-laundering and influence peddling scandals.

Now, Garland has stepped in to complicate, and try to stifle further investigations by the Congress; you know, "Sorry, Congressman, but I can't answer that question because we have an open investigation." I hope the Congress doesn't fall for it.

There might be another aspect of this SC stunt which I haven't heard commented upon. I think we MIGHT be seeing the opening move to get rid of Joe Biden. I am pretty sure we will see some indictment of Hunter and perhaps a conviction in an effort to steer the investigation away from Joe. That, however, doesn't mean Joe has not become a liability. His crookedness, manifest incompetence, and cognitive decline have become just too obvious. 

Don't be surprised if Joe "suddenly" decides not to run in 2024 so he can "take care of his family." Just a thought. I might be wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time or the last.

Got to go feed my dogs. They are being exceptionally rowdy this morning.

Back in NC: Cars, Guns and Politics

Got back from sweltering Madrid a couple days ago to sweltering North Carolina. That damn climate change! You know, the change from Spring to Summer: it gets me every time.

First order of business was, of course, ensuring that my cars would start. Only one failed to launch, and I now have it on the ol' trickle charge. 

Just before I had left for Spain, my 2013 427 Corvette began flashing the "check engine" light and the "Service Traction System" warning. I could also hear a "tick" coming from the engine. Sigh. I slowly drove over to a nearby mechanic who gave me a double dose of bad news: It would be about $3000 to fix, and he didn't have the right equipment to work on a Corvette. So I took it back home, cursing all the computerization of cars. Back in my day (snap of suspenders), a clever lad and his friends could fix most cars with the use of a wrench, hammer, screwdriver, and duct tape. Nowadays, I open the hood, and have to call Bill Gates. I have little idea of what I am seeing. Anyhow, got back and, with trepidation, slowly drove the beast over to the Chevy dealer. Turned out to be a very nice and honest fellow. He put his trained ear to the engine, and said, "Wait a minute." Took the Vette into the back and returned a few minutes later. "Fixed it. Loose wire on cylinder number 6." I gave him $100 and he was happy. My faith in humanity restored. My Vette now, again, prowls the boring streets of my boring suburban existence.

Another order of business, but of course, was picking up my gun from the dealer in Wilmington. I had won the thing last month in a raffle at a GOP dinner. Glock 19, Gen 5. Got it, and--meh--don't know what the big fuss is with Glocks. It seems fine, a bit light and small for my taste, but OK. Nothing special. Put it in the safe with the Glock 17; they can discuss the old days in Austria. Still prefer my Arkansas-built Wilsons, my Texas-built Staccato 2011, or my Czech-built CZ-75. To each his own.

Politics. The state of US politics has become nothing less than disgusting. 

The endless filing of charges against Trump smacks of Soviet Russia. Read the charges and they are ridiculous. I have no doubt that some anti-Trump jury, presided over by some anti-Trump judge will find Trump guilty of some absurd charge. I also have no doubt that it will be all thrown out by the Supreme Court as violations of Trump's First Amendment rights. The punishment is the process; the process is the punishment. Tie him up in court; subject him to an endless barrage of leaks from the prosecution; countless court appearances to interfere with his campaigning; drain him of millions of dollars; grind him down in the press; make it a danger to work for him. 

It's horrible what's being done to him and his family. Beria would be so proud.

In the meanwhile, naturally, we see an effort to bury, ignore, or minimize the real criminal activities by the Biden Crime Family, and to hide Joe's increasingly obvious mental incapacity. I am sure the DNC/Obama are preparing to substitute Joe so that he can "take care of his family." Kamala Harris will get pushed aside, maybe given some lucrative job (SCOTUS?), and replaced by some slick-haired clown such as Gov. Newsom--the man who has destroyed California. The full election-rigging machinery will kick into high gear.

I despair.

Spanish Elections: The Sorta Right Wins a Sorta Victory

 You can resume breathing. The Spanish election results are in. 

The Partido Popular, the major "conservative" party, has won the most seats of any other party but fallen short of a majority in the 350 seat House of Parliament. The PP did "defeat" the Socialists of the PSOE, winning more seats (136), and becoming the largest contingent in the Parliament, but will have a tough time gluing together a coalition to reach 176 seats. 

The PSOE (122 seats) also will have rough time putting together a ruling coalition, and the regional independence parties already have signaled that they will not support the PSOE without a price. 

The PP has called on the PSOE not to block the formation of a PP government despite the lack of a clear majority, noting that no party has ruled after losing an election. We'll see about that, but the "experts," the same ones who called the election generally wrong, predict a caretaker that will call for new elections before the end of the year. 

Will the results be different?

We had a grand old time in a mountain top restaurant near the French border. The restaurant is owned by a Colombian and his British partner from the Falklands--never met a person from the Falklands before, and we had an interesting conversation about Colombia, the Falklands, and that the EU has now officially adopted the name Malvinas for the Falklands.

Anyhow, it's now raining like hell, and I hope to have a peaceful day with minimal activity. 

Spain's Elections: A Swing to the Right?

Went and watched part of the show by the Village People at the San Sebastian "jazz" festival. Pretty good crowd on the beach watching the, frankly, kind of boring show. Every song sounded the same, and everybody was there for one thing: YMCA! It was the last song, and the Euro youth went wild. BTW, a well-behaved crowd, no fights, no trash, and regardless of from whence they came, they all spoke English. Pretty impressive on all counts.

Anyhow, Spain's national elections take place this Sunday, July 23. The opposition is up in arms over the date, given that the 25th is a national holiday, and most people seem to be traveling or making plans to travel.  That will, it seems, keep the voter turn-out lower than usual, something which the opposition suggests will benefit the unpopular socialist government now in power.  

There will also be widespread use of mail-in ballots, something about which Spaniards have a great suspicion. Despite all that, the pundits and my highly unscientific interviews suggest the socialists (PSOE) will lose their government to the conservative Partido Popular and its various allies. 

We'll see. 

I have been invited to an election night dinner with a gaggle of friends and relatives from all over the political spectrum to watch the returns. Might be fun.

I will report developments. I am sure you can't wait. 

Fitbit, Jazz, YMCA, and Whistleblowers

Still in San Sebastian. We had a wonderful lunch yesterday overlooking the Concha Beach. Wonderful weather to along with the food and conversation--no politics. 

Today, I have already put some 10,000 steps on my Fitbit before 11am. This is very much a walking town, and it's rare to go to bed without some 18-21000 steps on the ol' Fitbit. Walking around last night, noticed that the parks were full of moms, dads, grandparents, running children, and dogs well past 11pm. Not many places in the world nowadays where you see that.

The tourist horde continues to arrive as we head into the weekend and the International Jazz Festival. That event is now a very big deal, and not at all what I remember from some 50-plus years ago. Back then, it took place in a small square in the old part of town, was free, and drew amateur and b-level musicians. It was fun. 

Now, the thing is a monster, takes place at different large modern venues, and not free. Too crowded for me; I was never a jazz connoisseur, to start, much less knowledgable about that art form. The names of the artists coming from all over the world don't mean much to me EXCEPT for one. Yes, the Village People (YMCA!) are coming to town. I never realized that that gay quartet was consider part of the jazz world, but there you have it. I report, you deride. 

I spent a lot of time listening to the testimony of the IRS whistleblowers. In a sane and just world, it would prove devastating for the Biden crime family and the DOJ/FBI. The Democrats at the hearing, and on social media, made clowns of themselves, trying their hardest to ridicule and ignore the powerful testimony and evidence of how the IRS, the DOJ, and the FBI sought to suppress the case against the Biden criminals. 

Now, the question is, of course, what will the Republicans do about it? Strong letter? Couple of interviews on NewsMax? 

This is the test of the party. Will it fight back against a weaponized Federal bureaucracy out to destroy what remains of our democratic republic?

I am not optimistic, but pray that I am wrong. 

Hanging out in San Sebastian

I love this town of San Sebastian. The geography is spectacular, the food is the best in the world, and, despite all the tourists as San Sebastian overtakes Monaco as the place to be, the people here have retained their culture, history, and language, and remain friendly to the wave of outsiders hitting the beaches, bars, and restaurants. The violence of the ETA-era is gone; it's a remarkably safe and orderly city. Bravo to the politicians of left and right, who, despite their disagreements, have come together to make this a wonderful place. 

I have received no reimbursement for above paean to San Sebastian.

Today, the Diplowife's birthday, we went to the little town of Guetaria (Getaria in Basque) on the coast about 45 minutes from San Sebastian by bus. 

This town's claim to fame is as the birthplace of Juan Sebastian Elcano, the first man to sail around the world. It also was the birthplace of fashion designer Balenciaga, and his house is a very nice museum.

 Great little town with a fabulous array of restaurants and a beautiful harbor and beach. We had very nice, although expensive, meal at the Elcano restaurant. We made reservations two months in advance at what is ranked as one of the world's best restaurants. 

It was nice to get away from politics and revel in the history of the West.

Absurd

The only word that can describe what's transpiring in the West: Absurd.

We have an absurd "President," one who 75% of the time has no idea where he is or what he is supposed to be doing wherever it is hat he is. His performance at the recent NATO meeting was a classic example. 

About that meeting, we note that after all the hype about Ukraine joining NATO, that venerable organization has decided, "Nah. Not today Mr. Z, not today." The whole idea of admitting Ukraine to NATO is, of course, absurd. Kind of like an insurance company selling a homeowner fire insurance while the house is on fire. All liabilities.  

I see that our absurd "President" is also making some sort of absurd pledge to "liberate" Belarus, as well. Yes, just what we need: even more involvement in the complex issues of easternmost eastern Europe. Is somebody from Belarus paying the Biden family? Yes, another area for a possible do-nothing absurd investigation.

All this absurdity, of course, while China eats our breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and Western officials go along with it.

In Europe, of course, the full-scale invasion by hostile forces goes unabated; NATO nowhere to be seen on that threat. Major European cities have joined the San Francisco Club, becoming third world wastelands. On this July 14, Bastille Day, France finds itself succumbing to this invasion by people who have no idea of French history or culture, except a twisted one which drives them to destroy the very country that takes them in. 

In the UK, we see a similar process underway with a criminally inept political class blathering on about nonsense, e.g., climate change, while the Channel is a clogged, one-way highway of "asylum" seekers. The Brits have become as absurd, stupid, and self-destructive as we.

And, of course,  in DC, "whistle blowers" find themselves "suddenly" charged with all sorts of nefarious crimes while Hunter skates, and we have the continuing mystery of the "coke bag" that suddenly appeared in some (variable) secure location in the White House. The Secret Service has closed its investigation telling an increasingly non-believing public, "We just don't know how it got there and who brought it." 

I guess our super-duper Jetsons security machinery is actually from another Hanna-Barbera production, "The Flintstones." Yes, "we just don't know." Inspector Clouseau could have solved this one.

I am sitting in my place in San Sebastian. It's a beautiful day outside, although way too many tourists. I am going to have a coffee and try not to think about the "absurd."

Happy Bastille Day to my friends in France watching their country be destroyed.

 

Hot Time in Madrid

Well, the Diplowife and I are back in our little place in Madrid, and will head off for our place in San Sebastian later today. We will be in Spain for about three weeks. 

It is hot here. It is currently 230 am and in the mid-80s. No A/C, of course, not with European energy prices. The temp will break 100 again later today. This, of course, has the chattering classes going on about Global Warming, you know, this is "the hottest it's been in 125,000 years"! Right. So why was it hotter 125,000 years ago? Nonsense, of course. It's summer in the northern hemisphere; that's all.

Anyhow, I see the Great Mystery of the "Cocaine in the White House" has yet to be solved even with the WH now trying to push the coke off on some workers who were refurbishing a part of the WH. Yeah, yeah. All the while Uncle Joe depletes our ammunition supplies, even giving away our stocks of cluster munitions, the same ones the lefties decried as inhumane not that long ago. I guess, when it comes to giving stuff to Joe's Ukrainian masters, everything is fine, nothing is too good. 

This, of course, taking place while our idiotic Secretary of the Treasury does her best imitation of one of those Perpetual Drinking Birds while meeting PRC officials: bow, I must bow repeatedly to our New Lords . . . Disgusting.

The Stumbling Biden Mummy has taken his show on the road to London, where he met the almost as stumbling King Charles. 

What a crazy pair! 

The West is coming apart at the seams as our economies sputter; we edge closer to nuclear war with Russia over something not of our concern; and our cities become vast wastelands thanks to unfettered immigration from hostile nations. These two intellectually limited grifters talk about climate change.

Dark times for the West.

At the NC Lincoln-Douglass-Reagan Gala: Listening to LTG Robinson

The Diplowife and I attended the annual NC GOP Abraham Lincoln-Frederick Douglass-Ronald Reagan gala in downtown Wilmington. Must have been well over 1000 people at this sold-out event. The big attraction was an address by current North Carolina Lt. Governor and candidate for Governor Mark Robinson. I have mentioned him before (here) when I heard him speak at the NC GOP Convention where he blasted one out of the park  with a real barn-burner of a speech. 

Well, he did it again. 

The man is a genuinely awesome speaker, can speak for well over an hour with no notes, no teleprompter, and deliver a powerful conservative message. He is a wonderful throwback to the Black Southern preachers who could speak and rouse a crowd. He is patriotic, funny, humble, biting, witty, etc., everything you want in a speaker. I am voting for him to be the next governor of North Carolina. I recommend you get his speeches--unedited, if you can--on YouTube. 

My only concern is his health. He is very overweight, and clearly seems to have high blood pressure, and, probably, diabetes. He needs to take better care of himself, as he is the sort that is a liberal Democrat's nightmare.

Good Movie: "Sound of Freedom"

The Diplowife and I went yesterday to see "Sound of Freedom." All the evening tickets were sold out in our first choice of theater, and we had to go a bit further away, and take an afternoon show before we could get in. 

Let me say that I was reluctant to see it. I don't like heavy-handed propaganda regardless of where on the political spectrum it emerges. Local contacts here in Wilmington, however, who seem reasonable, kept saying we should go. So, we went.

It proved a pretty good little film. The acting from all was excellent, especially the little kids, and it had a good tight direction and pace. The film is based on a true story, but I don't know to what extent it remained faithful to that true story. The film stars Jim Caviezel as a somewhat rogue Homeland Officer, Tim Ballard, who decides to take on child trafficking at one of its sources in Latin America. Parts of the film, frankly, are hard to watch, but it does avoid the soft-porn into which it easily could have degenerated. Ballard and some shady but ultimately decent folks set up a giant sting in Colombia, and nab some serious traffickers and free dozens of children. There is, I suspect, a Hollywoodized account of Ballard's confrontation in the jungle with a major drug trafficker and rebel who also deals in children. Well done and not overly violent. 

It is worth sitting through the credit roll at the end, as some interesting information is provided about Ballard and what he achieved. There is also a heartfelt two or three minute monologue by Caviezel asking us to support efforts to end child trafficking and slavery. He also notes that the movie was shot five years ago, but no distributor could be found until now. Hollywood, I guess, doesn't like criticizing pedos.

The movie is good and deservedly is kicking the box-office butt of "Indiana Jones," despite being shown on far fewer screens.

I would note, further, that whatever progress was made in combating child trafficking has been largely undone by the Biden open border. The traffickers of drugs and people, including children, have little to no difficulty crossing the border. The Democrats apparently favor drug and children traffickers. Surprised?

Coke is It: White House, White Lines, White Lies

Just a quick one before I head off for lunch.

Looks like the Biden Crime family has decided that, "Coke is it!" As you all know," a "bag" of a white substance was found somewhere in or near the White House. The story has changed repeatedly: the initial account reported that a "bag"--size, weight never given--with a "white powder" had been found "near" the White House, and would be tested to see if it was "toxic." 

When that story would no longer hold because of the leaks, then the bag was found to contain cocaine, and had been located in the "library," no, no, well, in a common work area accessible to staff and "tourists." Oh, by the way Hunter was at Camp David; well, no, he had been at the White House for part of Friday, but since the bag was found a day or so later it couldn't have been his, because, well, you know, the place is intensely searched every day, except how did it get there in the first place?  

Look, it's been years since I have visited the White House or the Old Executive Office Building. When I worked at State, and especially for Maureen Reagan, I went there many times; every time I got thoroughly searched, briefcase opened, pockets emptied, metal detector, pat down, the works. Cameras everywhere. So, all that now has stopped, and anonymous tourists roam as at some sort of Safari park? Yeah, right. The only people not searched--drum roll!--family! 

I love the media's attempts at helping with the cover-up. A tourist did it, in an area not covered by CCTV. Staff did it.  My favorite, "We likely will never know who brought the coke into the White House . . . " 

Stop. 

We all know some poor low-level employee is going to get the blame.

This White House is a total disgrace.

July 4, Happy?

Not a cheery Fourth. 

Our country and the West have sunk to Mariana Trench depths. Our friend from the War of Independence, the one we all love to hate and then love, again, France, is burning; its stores, schools, cultural centers, automobiles, all ablaze in an outburst of violence. Cops injured. This time not from some Prussian or German attack, but from people from North Africa and elsewhere to whom France rolled out the welcome mat. We see the same grim outlook throughout most of Europe, a place where the elites have decided that they so hate their civilization that will turn it over to savages. 

We, of course, see the same forces at work here in the USA on birthday number 247.

Western civilization, the greatest the world has ever known, is dying: poisoned, bludgeoned and set afire by the creatures who have emerged from its schools of "higher learning" in alliance with some of the most retrograde elements of the most retrograde civilizations on earth. I wrote years ago, that our progressive elites have entered into a Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the jihadis, but it is a much more inclusive Pact than that. 

If you hate your culture, your country, your history--although you might not know it--and have serious personality disorders, e.g., think you're a woman when you're a man, you are welcome in the club. Pick up your mask at the gate.

Above all you must be a racist: you must hate white people even if you're white. 

The mentally disturbed have the controls.

All that said, we will have our July 4 BBQ; we will toast the nation we thought we had. 

I will look at my grandkids and wonder what kind of a Fourth they will have in not too many years. 

Do NOT go see the Horrid new Indiana Jones

In the midst of all the bad news, here's some more. 

We went with some close friends to see the latest "Indiana Jones." 

What can I possibly say except, what we all thought at the end, "DON'T GO! Save your money!" Dreadful film. I hope it goes bust. Yeah, Disney another winner from you. 

I had been warned not to go because the thing was a woke travesty. I found, however, that the woke crap, e.g., a badass black Guyanese woman as a top FBI agent in 1969, proved the least objectionable aspect of "Indiana Jones." It had so much more to detest.

Let's start with the major casting. Harrison Ford is Harrison Ford, and Indiana Jones is his, much like James Bond belonged to Sean Connery, or Dirty Harry to Clint Eastwood. You could replace him, but, nah. Ol' Harrison, however, has gotten rather old so it might be time to hang up the fedora. He, nevertheless, was fine in this film to the extent that anything was fine. 

There was a total waste of some fine actors such as Mads Mikkelson who played a weird Werner von Braun type hard-core Nazi--lots of Nazis in the film; also wasted was Toby Jones who didn't get much to do except be surprised by everything. Most of the other actors, meh, nothing to write home about.

The one who absolutely, positively ruined the film almost from the start was the extremely unfunny, uncharismatic, and just goofy-looking British "comedienne," Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She is not funny, charming, or appealing in any way. Who thought she would fit into this film? She was supposed to be Indiana Jones's goddaughter and, oh, who cares? She was awful. Madame Tussaud could have produced a better actor. She alone is the reason to avoid this film.

The producers obviously spent a lot of money on the movie, lot of location shooting, and some of the CGI was quite impressive, especially the de-aging of Harrison Ford. Most of the film, however, was just boring nonsense interspersed with seemingly endless chase scenes: on foot, in trains, in cars, on horseback, on motorcycles, on tuk-tuks, on boats, in airplanes, YAWN. Some good movie sets, e.g., the train, and some terrible ones, e.g., NYC in the 1960s. Then when they ran out of every other idea, TIME TRAVEL! Yes, we need Romans and ancient Greeks, yeah, that's the ticket . . .  Just a total lack of imagination. The give-away on that, by the way, is that the writing "credits" go to several people including the director. When you see that, almost always means the film is in trouble.

This franchise is dead.

Anyhow, avoid.

That is all.

Paris: The Beirut of Europe?

The riots in Paris apparently now have spread to other French cities and even to the French Caribbean. YouTube has run videos of rioters, not only burning cars and buildings but carrying and firing what appear as fully automatic weapons. Reportedly, police have arrested some 2600 persons for rioting and looting. The silly President Macron, pulled away from an Elton John concert, has deployed 45,000 police across France to contain the violence, and has cancelled another of his thousands of official visits to Germany.

It makes difficult reading about and viewing these events because one knows that about fifty percent--at least--of what one gets is either a lie or presented in such a convoluted way as to hide bare and brutal facts. The initial reports seemed very similar to reports in the US involving a police shooting: a definite St. George Floyd vibe to it all. You know: vague as to whom was shot and why exactly. We learned, of course, that the cop was white and the dead "youth" of "Algerian descent," not clear, of course, whether legally in the country--can't ask. The shooting took place at a traffic stop, with some of the action caught (of course) on video; the tape seems to show two policemen leaning into the car through the open driver side window, one officer has his weapon drawn. The car suddenly jerks forward and the policeman shoots. 

You have to dig around to discover that the "youth" had a long criminal record, was "known to police," and was driving, without a driver license, an expensive unregistered Mercedes with Polish plates when the cops stopped him. 

Was the car stolen? Why did the car suddenly jump forward? Did the cop fear for his life? Why did the officer have his weapon out and aimed at the "youth"? The policeman has been charged with homicide, and all but convicted by the political establishment and the media. Despite that, we get riots  "demanding justice," and, well while we're here, let's take stuff from the Apple Store, some Nikes, a Louis Vuitton handbag, or three, etc. Let us not forget to burn down the cultural center.

The rioters appear to be mostly "minorities," as the press so delicately puts it, supported, of course, by scraggly white "youths" and cheered on by fat white girls--I didn't know France had so many fat girls . . . live and learn. Oh, and, naturally, the UN has to chime in berating France's cops as racist.

Does all this sound familiar to American readers?

We've lived through many cycles of this here in the USA. In the end, the facts are rarely as initially presented by the media, e.g., Kyle Rittenhouse, Trayvon Martin, "hands up don't shoot," and on and on.

Beyond this particular story, will we ever hear about what is really happening in France and Europe? There is an invasion underway that is dramatically changing the social and political scene in Europe. France, Germany, Belgium, Norway. The demographics of European cities have been permanently altered. Go to Paris or London, and whole swathes of those cities look like Timbuktu or Marrakesh. I won't be visiting those places again any time soon; if I want to see urban rot, I'll go to San Francisco.

The Trojan horse has entered the gates and disgorged its contents, and 1980's Beirut is the result.

Corruption

Very hot and humid day in Wilmington, North Carolina. Leads me to wonder about the Hell we are creating right here in the USA. And since I am in Twitter jail for the next few days, I turn to this little blog to express my outrage. (BTW: Twitter is gradually returning to its old ways.)

As you seven readers know, I spent nearly 34 years working for the State Department, most of it overseas as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO). Many if not most of those years were spent fighting the State bureaucracy. It was during those years that I finally understood how the Deep State works, or as I prefer to call it, the Big Hive. There is no single order that comes down to the drones; it is an understanding that quickly spreads as to what is to be done and said and where and when. Dissent is not tolerated and dealt with in a variety of ways; no KGB executions, just a slow-down in promotions, deadly dull and meaningless assignments, and, eventually, "selection out." State is not unique in this, and the means to deal with dissent are similar in most of the rest of the civilian bureaucracy. Original thought is discouraged, and few opportunities exist to offer up some idea to turn the ship around. 

Anyhow, that's an old story. What got me thinking about this was the mounting evidence, a Mt. Everest of evidence, coming out thanks to a handful of brave whistle-blowers in the FBI and the IRS (of all places), of the staggering Biden family corruption. I thought the Clinton's had mastered the art, but I might have to take my hat off to the Biden Clan. I won't repeat it all that's been revealed, but suffice it to say that those whistle-blowers have incredible courage; we don't know yet if their sacrifices will pay off. It takes guts to go openly against the Hive.

Biden, the "Big Guy," has removed classified information from secure areas since about 1974--as he admitted in a press interview. He had no legal right to do that; he was not President. It seems clear that he gave his crackhead son, Hunter, access to that information for use with clients. Even more shocking is the growing proof of the complicated Biden extortion and money laundering effort which, apparently, has raked in tens-of-millions of dollars and made the family quite wealthy. While FBI, IRS, and DOJ have sought to cover for the clan, thanks to the whistle-blowers, the infamous laptop, new WhatsAp messages from Hunter, and, frankly, some diligent work (credit where credit is due) by a handful of Republican Congressmen and their staff who have dug up dozens of bank "Suspicious Activities Reports (SARs), we now see that the Biden crime family used a variety of means to pull in the crooked bucks. What we still haven't seen, although we can speculate, is what exactly the Biden Crime Clan (BCC) gave its foreign and domestic clients in return. 

Well, let me back up on that: we can see what it got Ukraine.

Let me put it this way: the evidence seems so compelling that EVEN legacy media outlets such as CBS and (Smelling salts!) CNN, have begun reporting on it, albeit cautiously, and trying to give Biden the benefit of the doubt, but it's out there. 

Might we be seeing the beginning of the big move to push senile Biden out of the 2024 picture? 

Thoughts?

Julius Caesar, Redux? C'Mon, Man, It's Russia!

OK. Please forgive what might comprise gibberish from an amateur with access to a keyboard, a working internet, and time to kill on a sunny, hot Raleigh morning after walking the dogs. 

Do the events of the past few days in Russia make sense to you? If they do, tell me. They don't make sense to me, but that'll not going to stop me from expounding. I don't charge a cent for this, right?

Hanging out on Twitter, I saw the usual "Slava Ukraini!" crowd most of whom have shown themselves  wrong about everything from Trump-Putin collusion, the Hunter laptop as Russian disinformation, the effectiveness of the Wuhan jab, climate change, etc., etc. and etc, now cheering the Prighozin Wagner thugs as some sort of liberators. Prighozin as Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC . . . yeah, yeah, yeah. Then, almost as suddenly as it all began, Prighozin announced he had negotiated a "deal" via Belarus President Lukashenko in which Wagner, now supposedly only 200 Kms from Moscow, would return to its "bases," and Prighozin would fly off to "safety" and exile in Belarus.

The press and the "experts" have loads of speculation about what all this means. Nobody knows, and neither do I, but . . . for what it's worth . . . let me lay out a few possibilities, with more questions than answers. 

How about an ill-conceived plot by Western intelligence agencies and money (the mysterious $6.2 billion of accounting error fame?) trying for Iraq-type regime change on the cheap? Could be. It certainly looked muddled enough. Let's put that aside, for now, because if it were, our leaky intel services will soon let us all know, anyhow. Seymour Hersh, call your office.  

Or, Prighozin had a genuine antipathy for Russian senior commanders and the Mindef? He felt disrespected, unsupported, and even betrayed when it was Wagner that had achieved Russia's wins in Ukraine. Possible. He might well have thought that his populist anti-corruption message combined with a "let's win or get out" theme would draw widespread support, and that mid- to lower-ranks of the military, at least, would refuse to block him, and perhaps even a few senior commanders might join. He might have envisioned a triumphal march on the capital taken from another figure in Italian history, Benito Mussolini. In the end, however, it would seem, he did not get the support he wanted, especially from the air force which could have wiped out his column; he decided to give in. Maybe.

That brings us to another issue. 

What sort of offer did Lukashenko, acting for Putin, make Prighozin that got him apparently to yield his prized and profitable Wagnerians? A plomo o plata deal (lead or silver) a la Mafia and cartels? If Prighozin is really an enemy of Putin and his claque, will Belarus under Lukashenko, a Putin puppet, prove a safe place for Prighozin? Stay away from tall buildings, buddy. What about the thousands of Wagner mercs who followed Prighozin? Will the Russian military honor their safety? I don't know, but they better keep looking over their shoulders.

There, of course, exist many other scenarios, including a combination of the two above, that you can conjure up. Including, that this was all some bizarre theater, undertaken for mysterious Kremlin reasons.

Who won? Well, on the surface it appears as a messy Putin win. Lots of chapters yet to follow, but we can speculate that Putin might have had to make deals with and concessions to the power elite around him that will cost him in the medium to long run. For now, however, he stays. Perhaps embarrassed and weaker, but he stays, well, as I said, for now. 

The PRC leaders, too, might rethink their support for Russia under Putin: a whole other issue worthy of much speculation. What does this do, for example, to their grand BRICS scheme? Anything?

More immediately, what does this do to the Russian "Special Operation" in Ukraine? Will that continue? Will Putin declare victory, and call it a day? Can the Ukrainians take advantage, and get their floundering offensive in gear? Will Zelensky ask for tons more of money? Well, that one's a given. The rest, we'll see. 

Russia is endlessly fascinating. No debate on that.

Russian for the Exit? Careful What You Read

The news coming out of Russia and Ukraine gets more and more garbled. I have no idea, as stated many times before, what is or is not true. The information, in general, seems to come from partisans of both sides and has an agenda.

The latest from the conflict seems to indicate that Yevgeny Prigozhin and his brutal Wagner Group mercenary army of convicts and former Soviet/Russian military have turned on their Moscow masters. 

Following days and days of statements from Prigozhin blasting the Minister of Defense and other senior officials, including lately his former pal President Putin, for incompetence in their handling of the "Special Operation" in Ukraine, the Wagnerians have left, apparently, some key positions in Ukraine and marched into Russia. Prigozhin, as you know, is known to exaggerate and, well, lie like a rug. So take whatever he says with a fistful of salt.

There are garbled accounts of fighting between Wagner and Russian military units. Not clear how much fighting and where exactly Prigozhin's troops are heading. To add to the mess, a tired looking Putin gave a rambling speech apparently accusing Yevgeny Prigozhin of trying to pull a coup and committing treason. Some sort of military checkpoints reportedly have been set up on the outskirts of Moscow, although, as far I can tell, the Wagnerians have not brought their opera to Moscow, as of yet.

Is this the beginning of the end of Russia's misadventure in Ukraine, or something else? Who has the nukes, for example?

Moscow has used the Wagner Group to conduct operations without the official stamp of the Russian government, providing a flimsy and rather easily seen-through "plausible" deniability. They have been reported in places such as Africa and, of course, in Syria. They are famous for their brutality. 

As you will remember, in Syria, in February 2018, the Wagner Group clashed with US forces; SecDef Mattis gave his famous order, "Annihilate them." Our forces apparently did that, with perhaps 200 (or more) Wagner mercenaries slaughtered by US artillery, drones, and aircraft. Supposedly, Prigozhin felt betrayed by Moscow's non-response to the beating his troops took. 

I would think, but I know little, that Moscow could beat Wagner. Russia's military, however, has a demonstrated capability for incompetence that is quite staggering.

Supposedly. 

Keep that word in mind when reading anything about Russia, Ukraine, and Wagner.

And, remember, there are no good guys in this horrid movie.

Anybody with a clearer view of what's happening, please jump in.

Juneteenth

Well, we just officially celebrated our third "Juneteenth Day." 

This holiday allegedly honors the day, June 19, 1865, when U.S. General Gordon Granger, upon arrival in Galveston, Texas, read "General Order, no. 3," informing the people of Texas, "that in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free."(https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/general-order-no-3). 

In other words, he and his troops brought word to Texas that the late Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of some two-plus years earlier, freeing the slaves in the Confederate States, applied to Texas and would be enforced by Union troops. This freed approximately 225, 000 slaves still held in that state, the last of the Confederate States with slaves. Slavery, of course, was not totally banned in the US until the adoption of the 13th Amendment some six months later.

When we adopted this new Federal holiday, I had hopes--faint ones--that it would serve to educate people on the Civil War, the most dramatic and traumatic event in American history. That it would also lead people to the realization that the party that freed the slaves was the Republican Party; Lincoln was Republican, many forget, and the party that fought to keep slavery, and split the union, was, well, the other guys: the world's oldest political party, the Democratic Party. That same party, the Democratic, later fought to institute Jim Crow, founded the KKK, resisted civil rights laws, and went on to base much of its appeal, even to this day, on issues of race. They cannot let go of the racial issue, the world's most boring AND dangerous obsession. But, no, Juneteenth provides just another opportunity for Democrats to rewrite history.

Let me know how your Juneteenth went; hopefully better than it did in Chicago.

Ukraine: You Crane for the Truth

Does anybody in the public square know and will reveal what is happening in Ukraine? 

I have never seen, heard, or read about any major war with as little verifiable information out for the public, a public which is expected to support Kyiv, condemn Russia, and put up with a devastated global economy that benefits China, and greatly weakens the West's military posture. We see and hear little debate about major events, such as the demolition of the Nord stream pipeline, the blowing up of the Kakhovka dam, and the much ballyhooed and well-advertised Ukrainian offensive undertaken with, supposedly, a bazillion dollars worth of Western military equipment.  

Reading between the lines of the scant reports coming out on that offensive, it, no surprise, does not seem going too well, appearing to consist of a massive waste of lives and treasure with little to show in the positive column. Even amateur military historians such as my son and this humble blogger wondered about an offensive of this type given Russian air and artillery superiority, and the amount of time the Russians have had to prepare their defenses--e.g., minefields. As I noted, what little information--a bit in the Wall Street Journal--does emerge reveals that the Ukrainians have run into precisely those Russian strengths.  

Meanwhile, the West piles on more and more sanctions on Russia with undetermined effect on Russia, but a negative effect on Western firms and economies. We continue to strip our military forces, all to the benefit of China.

You want a sanction on Russia? One that will actually bite? Easy. Resume US oil production, and make the US energy independent again. So many problems will vanish . . . 

The truth remains elusive, and our lying leadership and bureaucracy will not let us get more than a glimpse of it. They are too busy quashing political dissent, flying Pride flags, and pushing ahead with destructive DEI and ESG policies. 

The Indictment

I debated whether to chime in with my paltry two cents on the Trump indictment. Don't know if my comments provide any value, and doubt the chirps coming from this little blog will break through the roar we hear re that indictment. That said, and with all humility, this, after all, is why I blog. 

Here goes . . . 

While at State, I spent some 34 years handling classified info all the way to the top of the classification chain. Ninety percent of it rubbish of no real consequence when written and classified, and certainly not after two or three years have passed. 

The prosecutors in Biden's DOJ have leaked photos of bankers' boxes piled up in various rooms of Trump's residence, implying that those boxes brim with classified material. We have no idea if that's true. I suspect most of that stuff consists of newspaper clippings, inconsequential memos, and, oh, newspaper clippings, and letters to and from Trump, and--did I mention?--newspaper clippings. The sort of stuff former government officials keep to write barely readable memoirs.

Actually, friends, and this point bears repeating and repeating, the content of those boxes is irrelevant. 

We might not like it, and our allies might and should get nervous about it, but under our system the President has absolute authority to declassify material AND to take it home as personal records. Beaten into us at the State Department was the knowledge that our ability to classify material, and I shamefully admit that I classified a lot, comes FROM and ONLY from the President. He can override any classification. The President can grab a binder of the most "sensitive" material, and read it out at a press conference; perhaps politically not wise, but legal. The famous Bill Clinton "sock drawer" case emphasized that: an Obama-appointed judge ruled that Clinton had the authority to declassify AND take home as his personal records ANY material produced by the Executive branch. No exceptions. Full stop. The President, in our structure, DOES NOT COME UNDER the authority of some faceless bureaucrat in a government archives office.

I find tiring to hear that the Trump case differs from those of Pence and Biden because they "immediately" returned to the archives the classified material once that material was found in their possession. First, we don't know if that's true in the Pence case, and it's certainly not true in the Biden case; second, most important, neither man had the authority to take classified to his home or his office. The cases, in other words, are different because neither Biden nor Pence was President at the time they took the classified material! Biden had been taking material for decades. Neither had the authority to declassify and remove classified documents. In Biden's case, it seems about 100 percent certain that he shared still-classified material with his crack-addled son who used it to "write" papers about Ukraine and European politics for clients. 

Has Trump handled this in the best way possible? You decide. I think, maybe, he could have handled the request from the archives office to return documents in a better, less confrontational way, while still saying, "Sorry. No. Those are my papers." Maybe. Maybe.

Now, you will rightly note, that what I just wrote naively assumes the request as well-intentioned; it, of course, was not. It was a trap to persecute Biden's main political rival, and along with the bogus charges filed by local Democrat DAs, to tie up Trump in an endless legal siege, cripple him politically and financially, and--very important--distract from the growing evidence of the criminality of the Biden family. 

The attack on Trump also has sucked the air out of the Republican primary process. How can, say, DeSantis get a word in when all we talk about is Trump, Trump, Trump? How can we get anybody to focus on the blatant criminality of the Bidens, when we all focus on the irrelevant debate over what is or is not classified?  

We have become a banana republic with nuclear weapons. My apology to banana republics; they, at least, provide bananas.

NC GOP Convention, Part II: Odds & Ends

Just a minor add to my earlier post on the 2023 NC GOP Convention.

While at the convention, we attended an excellent interview of John Solomon, who along with Miranda Devine, Lara Logan, Mollie Hemingway and maybe a couple of others, comprises one of a handful of true journalists working in America. He runs a very good website Just the News (https://justthenews.com).

He was savage in his critique of the Biden regime's weaponization of the justice system. He, very troubling, said that we are maybe only two or three years away from a full-blown "political police state," where dissent will not be tolerated. He saw the 2024 elections as crucial but seemed pessimistic that the Biden regime could be forced out. He was critical of President Trump's failure to deal with the FBI and the DOJ deep state. His comments criticizing Trump, however, brought forth (undeserved in my view) boos, and shouts of "Come on!" from the staunchly pro-Trump audience. 

Not a good look.

Those of us who are pro-Trump have to acknowledge Trump's failure to realize that the Deep State was as deep as it was, and even more hostile than he imagined. The Deep State actively worked against him while he was President.

Just a cheery thought.

Back from the NC GOP Convention

As I mentioned before, the Diplowife and I got "elected"--fourteen candidates for fourteen openings--to help represent New Hanover county at the North Carolina GOP convention held in Greensboro, June 8-11. Very nice hotel in a very good convention center. The food, however, was crappy. 

At the convention we got to attend a dinner--rubber chicken, semi-frozen salad--for Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. He addressed the 1000 or so people at the sold-out dinner event for nearly an hour. He was excellent. He's become quite a polished speaker, although he had a tendency to step on his applause lines (pause, Governor, pause, when people are clapping and cheering). He gave a very tight, well-written speech packed with information. He laid out his considerable accomplishments in Florida, especially in his battle for economic freedom against the Woke corporations and mandates from Washington DC. He came out strongly for the second amendment, parental rights, and low taxes. He was a bit light on foreign policy, other than noting that his state has banned the purchase by the CCP of property in Florida, and arguing for a closed southern border. Nothing on Ukraine or relations with Europe, et al. He never mentioned Trump except by referring to a weaponized double-tier of justice which goes after a former Republican President, but ignores the Bidens. He got a standing ovation from what clearly was an overwhelmingly pro-Trump crowd.

Did he move the needle? I don't know, but don't think so. From my totally unscientific polling of fellow delegates, the vast majority remains for Trump. A couple or more even acknowledged that they liked DeSantis, but would vote for Trump in the primary, even if he were going to lose the general election. Is that healthy? You tell me. I found a few who said they had been wavering on Trump until the federal indictment. Now, they would be for Trump, hell or high water.

We couldn't get into the Trump dinner the following day--sold-out almost instantly--and had to watch him on a screen. I don't know. Long-time readers of this inconsequential blog know that I am pro-Trump. He was the best president of my lifetime, and could have been even better if he hadn't been handicapped by a four-year long coup attempt carried out by the DNC, the permanent bureaucratic government, key GOP officials, and aided by big tech and the media. He spoke to the dinner crowd and got his usual applause and ovations. I, however, found his message and him a bit tired, and not very inspiring. He has been persecuted of that there is no doubt. The outrageous use of the DOJ and the FBI, again, aided by big tech, loopy local DAs, and the media, to try to cripple Trump politically and personally is one the greatest travesties in American political history. Will that story, however, resonate with the average voter? I don't know. 

Aside from that, of course, we must ask, what has the GOP done to prevent another stolen election? Except in a few states, such as Florida and a bit here in North Carolina, not much. Who, for example, doubts that huge numbers of the illegal aliens pouring across our borders will vote in 2024? In addition, the Democrats are undermining the electoral college by getting several states to pledge their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote, thereby nullifying their own voters and letting the crooked electoral systems in California and New York decide for them.

On a more upbeat note, the current Lt. Governor of NC, Mark Robinson, spoke to the convention and absolutely rocked it. He is running for Governor, and I think (hope) he will win. He is the Democrats' nightmare: a black man from an impoverished background who is unabashedly a patriot, against wokeness, is pro-second amendment, and for school choice. He ticks all the policy boxes and has an appealing personality, with a compelling personal story, and is a terrific orator. Keep on eye on this guy. We are going to a dinner for him next month, and I have--full disclosure--donated a few hundred bucks to his campaign, and will donate more as the Diplowife allows.

OK. Heading off from Raleigh to Wilmington for a few days, to let the dogs run wild and for me to go to doctor appointments (sigh).

Let's Try this Again

 Back from two more trips to Spain, and heading off in July for another.

I, however, haven't neglected the home front.

The Diplowife and I decided that just whining about the state of affairs was insufficient. We have become involved in the local GOP, and got ourselves elected as delegates to the North Carolina GOP Convention next month. It was a hard fought election for the fourteen slots allocated to our part of the county: we had fourteen candidates for fourteen slots. Stalin and Castro would have been proud. We also got made GOP poll watchers for the upcoming autumn municipal elections and the 2024 national elections. We snagged, in addition, a couple of tickets to hear the GOP candidate for Governor, our current Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, at the Lincoln Douglass Reagan Gala, and tickets for a dinner for Governor Ron Desantis, who will speak at the convention. Trump will also speak, but tickets for that were gone in minutes. Mike Pence will be there, too; there are lots of tickets to hear him still available. 

We'll see if any of this can make a difference.

I have been writing quite a bit on Twitter, trying to recoup my old followers.You can join in following and/or attacking me at Lewis Amselem@TheDiplomad.

In a couple of days, I want to reflect on the Durham Report.

See ya soon!

The Apocalypse: No More One Dollar Diet Coke at McDonald's

The world has ended officially and thoroughly. 

This week I went to my local McDonald's to partake in one of my few guilty pleasures, a large Diet Coke. I have enjoyed this beverage for years, paying one dollar plus tax. No more. I got hit in one McDonalds with $1.20, and when I went to another in a different town, assuming there was a mistake at the first, I got hit for $1.30. I am not a genius with math, but that, my friends, is a 20-30% jump in price. Thank God, Biden's inflation reduction bill got passed by the Congress. 

Oh, my other guilty pleasure? Dirty Harry--the original, the sequels, well, meh. I suppose the cancel wokesters will eventually ban that film or re-edit it to remove "offensive stereotypes."

Can things get worse? Yes, they can. Biden's ill-thought-out adventure in Ukraine brings us ever closer either to nuclear war or, at "best," to a rebalancing of global power much to the detriment of the West. To point this out, as I have on Twitter, gets one accused of being a "Putin clown." 

Our woke/prog masters want no dissent, no reflexion on the wisdom of the path taken. We get almost no independent news out of Ukraine--no intrepid journalists reporting from the front lines, for example--and must do with the "news" as approved by Kyiv, Washington, and London, e.g., staged photo ops, and billions of dollars, pounds, euros on the way to Kyiv--well, we think, to Kyiv. We have few real journalists willing to ask real questions of the powerful.

Meanwhile, of course, the US and the West continue under assault from a ceaseless wave of "refugees" fleeing from . . . well, we are not allowed to ask. They arrive, with assistance from so-called NGOs--many of them getting public funds--and powerful Mexican drug cartels, full of demands which our struggling cities struggle to meet. Our own infrastructure goes to ruin, e.g., disaster in E. Palestine, Ohio, and our own citizens get taxed and "inflated" out of their earnings, and their jobs go overseas or to the newcomers. We continue to refuse to adopt successful policies of the recent past to control these "migrants," criminal aliens, really. 

We also refuse to adopt recent policies which produced US energy independence, and had freed us from the Middle East, Venezuela, and the kleptocrats of Russia. None of this makes sense except that we are governed by people who hate us, want us poor, subservient, hungry, or dead. 

Tomorrow, I go on another of my periodic visits to Spain for a couple of weeks. I will try to disconnect, but that is not really possible. I will see if I have the mood to write. I do write a lot on Twitter, whenever I want to get insulted. 

"Normal or Crazy" The New Battle Cry?

Despite vows not to watch it, I did. 

I am too much of a political junkie to avoid a free dose of Biden dope via his second State of the Union (SOTU) address. And? Horrible. Absolutely horrible. I hope never to go through a similar experience again. Must get myself to rehab. Maybe Hunter can pay for it?

This was the worst SOTU address, and the worst Joe Biden speech I have ever heard. I don't know where to begin. 

The lies and half-truths spilled out non-stop from start to agonizing disjointed finish. He lied about Social Security, Medicare, and then had to retract it right in front of us. He rambled on and on about airline baggage fees and hidden resort charges. What? This is a priority with the challenges we face? 

His comments about some McDonald's cashier being forced to sign a "non-compete agreement" was pure fantasy. Delusional.

He also used the line, again, about poor mothers having to park in the McDonald's parking lot so their children could use the free WiFi to do their homework. Obsession with McDonald's! So these poor people have cars and computers but don't have access to WiFi except in the McDonald's parking lot? Right. Why not Starbucks? You know, where the cool people go.

He glossed over the threat from the China, ignored Iran, ignored the disaster at the border, mumbled about some inconsequential program to fight the ravages of fentanyl, and lied and lied and lied. 

He stole whole chunks of his address--he, after all, is a known plagiarist--from Trump: his "Made in America" spiel was pure Trump but without any conviction. His description of the "booming" economy was absurd. He lied about his tax program, which will affect every American negatively. His claims about inflation and the energy industry were bald-faced lies. He virtually ignored the disaster in Ukraine except to state briefly we will continue to support Ukraine, "we will finish the job!" He bought the anti-police line of the left, and basically threw the cops under the bus. Shameful. 

I could go on, but won't. 

Governor Sanders' reply was pretty good. I thought the first one-half to two-thirds excellent, the end, however, fell into platitude territory--I can forgive that, I guess. 

She was clearly presenting herself as a serious candidate for President, never mentioned Trump by name but noted her youth and called for a new generation of leaders. Her line that the choices we now face are not between right or left, but between "normal or crazy" was brilliant. She said the quiet part aloud. That is the real division in the US and the West. To have a major politician state this so clearly is liberating and should embolden the normal people of the West to take up the fight against the crazies. I note that much of the MSM/DNC echo chamber is attacking her stark description and warning the GOP not to make it a slogan. That, of course, means that is exactly what should be done.  

Well, gotta go. Preparing for another lightning visit to Spain and the work on my Taj Mahal apartment. Got doctors to see before I go, and taxes to pay. Zelensky and the illegals in NY hotels need my money.

What is Real?

Back in North Carolina from Spain. Will be heading off to the DC area in a couple of days to take care of some business issues. Having to deal with leaks of the water kind, two heat pumps out, and a car with bad brakes, and two with expired tags. The joys of returning to the "real" world.

Ah, yes, "real." 

Reading the political sites and press, and watching the TV news, leaves me with no strong sense of what is or is not real in American politics and society--and the West, in general. 

The Biden classified mess. I've dealt briefly with it before (here). 

I remain perplexed as to what is really going on. Why is this issue coming up now? It seems every other day or so, more classified material is "found" in non-secure Biden locales by, well, I don't know: Biden's lawyers; DOJ personnel; FBI. Who knows? Who has sent them to the treasures?

It now seems that some of this stuff is years, perhaps decades old, and that Joe had been squirreling it away since he was a Senator. Who gave it to him? What was his personal interest in having it? Just curiosity? A source of funds? A guide to his (and his son's) business dealings? Who revealed the presence of the documents? Why? Somebody out to get Biden from within his inner circle? An attempt to cover-up a bigger scandal, e.g., the $50K/month he received from Hunter who got it from the PRC? A well-planned DNC effort to push the old mummy out of his White House sarcophagus? The questions are endless, the answers scarce.

The COVID vax has turned out to be a hoax, an expensive and destructive one, as many of us suspected and wrote about at the time. The lunacy on our southern border continues unabated, despite cheery claims from the White House that the US-Mexico line is secure, nothing to see here, move along, move along. Our cities burn and rot, and not just in the USA; crime and chaos have gone through the roof, and, again, not just here. I just got back from Europe, and can testify that the rot is spreading there, as well.

And, lest we forget, Ukraine. Nobody knows what's going on there, except that we keep pouring billions into it. No clarity.

The Woke assault also continues unabated, with all of us required to sing the praises of the transgender mental misfits, and allow our children to be sexualized by narcissistic, pedophilic school teachers. This is crazy. This can't be real. 

I hope, and pray that it is not real, but . . .   

Biden in the Classifieds (update)

Sitting in my half-painted, partly rewired apartment in San Sebastián, trying to keep up with the news from home. Not easy. Spanish media basically repeats the DNC/Mainstream Media talking points. It's quite frustrating to have to be here yelling "Lies!" at the TV set, well, "¡Mentiras!" Fortunate for me, my son, Daniel, calls from the US every day with the proper news.

It seems that the mummy who occupies the White House has hidden classified materials for several years at a couple of locations associated with something called the U. Penn Biden Center (?) The initial story, of course, is convoluted, and will change as more facts emerge, and the DNC spin cycle increases its speed. 

I had never heard of the Biden Center, although it seems to be referenced in some Hunter emails (what isn't?) as a way to get money from foreign governments akin to how the Clintons did it with their own fraudulent center and initiatives. The Biden Center apparently has received some $100 million from foreign sources/governments, most notably China and Ukraine. Where did that money go? No news, yet. What did donors expect to receive in return? We can only speculate. What seems true is that a "closet" at the center contained classified materials as did another container elsewhere. The materials apparently dealt with, inter alia, Ukraine and China. The Biden Crime Family and the Democratic Party, in general, seem to have a fixation on Ukraine and China. Wonder why? We can only speculate.

It would seem that these documents were SUDDENLY discovered by Crime Family lawyers on November 2, or less than a week before the mid-terms in which the GOP was expected to take the lower house. Coincidence? We can only speculate.

Now, of course, I don't expect any FBI raids on Biden Crime Family locations. The DNC-controlled media is already down-playing the find, noting that this happens ALL THE TIME, don't get excited, move along. In addition, we all know this is much less serious than Trump having classified at his place because, well, REASONS! 

In fact, of course, Trump had his material in an approved safe, with Secret Service protection, and under the eye of a camera. In addition, of course, Trump had been President and had the power to declassify material. None of that seems the case with the Biden trove.

Will the DNC trot out Obama who will claim he declassified the material? That avenue seems closed given that Biden claims not to have known the material was there, but . . . .

We will see how they try to spin this away into the ether. 

Back to the fumes.

UPDATE: We now learn that the head of the Biden Crime Family had classified material "stored" in his garage at his Wilmington, Delaware home. It was stored next to his Corvette, which means, of course, that it was safe. We all know that any place safe enough for a classic Corvette, is safe enough for our nuclear codes. In addition, of course, the Capo di tutti capi has SUV-level clearance. I completely trust the Special Counsel, who used to work for the head of the FBI, to get to the bottom of this . . . no, not one bit. I am sure we will hear, a la Comey, that Biden had no malicious intent in stealing these documents. 

In Spain: New Year, Three Kings Day, Paint Drying, and Stuff In-between

Well, we left Raleigh December 31; that's a good day to travel if the weather holds up--and it did. Fairly empty airport, no delays, and then an eight-hour lay-over in Philadelphia. We ate lots of stale peanuts and warmed-over taco meat in the Phili Admiral's Lounge, while we waited for our flight. One positive development was we got upgraded to business class from our premium economy seats, for free. Good flight with surprisingly good food for an airline. Arrived early in the morning of January 1, to Madrid, and a nearly empty airport. No lines, no waiting, baggage at the belt, and off in a taxi to what appeared a deserted city.  

We enjoyed walking around in what looked like a set for a dystopian future, post-nuke, or post-pandemic film. No zombies or Mel Gibson, however. 

The night brought back the old Madrid magic. Huge festive crowds appeared and packed the sidewalks and plazas. It was great. Some things, however, still did not make sense. Out on the streets, we were jammed in with a bazillion maskless people, shoulder to shoulder, but when we boarded a bus or train, we had to put on our little paper masks, or risk getting fined. What's the science behind that?

Early on the 2nd, we caught the fast train to San Sebastián, not crowded but had to wear our masks for over six hours. The train did not prove so fast; car no.3 caught fire as we crossed the Ebro River. We came to a halt over the river; the peasants from car no. 3, insisted on escaping the smoke by moving into our previously serene car no. 1. 

Don't they know that on the Titanic the steerage passengers had to die? These folks should have jumped off the bridge into the frigid river below. Sigh. What has happened to Western Civilization? 

We eventually got towed off the bridge, and transferred to a train obviously just removed that day from the salvage yard. No bathrooms, no food, no drink, no first class. Got into San Sebastián over three hours late, but learned we would get a full refund on our tickets. Not bad. Worth risking my elderly life over the Ebro for free tickets. 

Had a wonderful Three Kings Day. Watched the parade from a friend's balcony. The Kings appeared, tossing hard candy at the crowd, but also making an appearance were clowns on unicycles, giant dancing squids, seahorses, and sharks--and a loud fire truck. Don't remember those in the liturgy, but, maybe I didn't read it closely. 

We then took a gaggle of friends and relatives to our not-yet ready apartment in San Sebastián, and continued the party with the help of several bottles of champagne, Danish beer, La Rioja wine, and, of course, blue bottles of Bombay Gin. I stuck to fizzy mineral water--don't like alcohol since my Foreign Service days. 

One of my wife's cousins, a drum major in past parades, insisted on re-enacting the role. While his brother played music from a phone, he drum majored around the apartment, weaving among the paint cans, ladders, and other debris, singing--quite well, actually--at the top of his lungs while directing the invisible marching band behind him with a long broom handle. This at 3 am; no neighbor said even a peep of protest then or the following day. Gotta love Spain. David would have enjoyed it.

Spent the next couple of days visiting some wonderful rustic farm house restaurants out in the beautiful countryside. Foggy, rainy mountain landscape. No tourists. Spanish barely spoken. 

The Basques love their farmers, and treat them with great respect. The farmers, in turn, produce some fantastic food and chefs.

Also spent a lot of time sitting in our apartment as various handymen did a lot of rewiring, switching out of appliances, painting, and delivering and assembling furniture. The Diplowife passed much of the day today with lawyers, hashing out all sorts of inheritance and property registration and taxation issues. 

In other words, I literally watched paint dry, and kept wondering if this place will ever be ready. There is always something more. 

I also followed the battle for Speaker of the House. 

All things considered, I thought it turned out pretty well. The score of hardcore stalwarts played their hand about as skillfully as could be expected, and extracted what seem some significant concessions from the McCarthy wing of the party. Look, as I have noted before, I am a disaster at predicting US politics, but think we got a good result given the lackluster midterms. If we can get some action to restrain the outrageous behavior of the FBI, correct the narrative on J6, revisit our Ukraine policy, see some movement on securing the border, get some accountability for the COVID disaster, and hold down spending, that's a lot. Impeachment of Biden and his cronies would also be quite nice--but I won't hold my breath.

It's 2 am, and I guess should try to get some sleep. I don't want to say anything too stupid at this late hour. I will wait for daylight to do that.

Happy New Year, again.