Forum: What Was Your Reaction To Trump’s Acceptance Speech?

Tags

2016 Republican National Convention, Donald Trump, Election 2016, Forum Responses, RNC, Watcher of Weasels

 

Every week on Monday, the Council, members of the Watcher’s Council Community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: What Was Your Reaction To Trump’s Acceptance Speech?

Stately McDaniel Manor : Donald Trump’s Convention acceptance speech embodied everything I like about him, and everything I fear could easily derail his campaign and allow Hillary Clinton, the most hateful, angry and corrupt harridan imaginable, to seize the White House at a time when the Supreme Court, and the future of Western Civilization are up for grabs.

I suspect Trump’s popularity comes from his willingness to say, loudly and even a little crudely and clumsily, what so many Americans think and feel. There is no politically correct filter there. He is a self-made man, a genuine American success story, and he does get things done when others can’t. His deal-making skills may be of great value, as might his stubbornness and self-assurance.

But what scares me more than a little are the same things, and more. His speech was ridiculously long. People inexperienced in public speaking often try to throw everything into every speech as though it’s the only chance they’ll ever get. Some just love the sound of their own voice, even though they, like Trump, tend to endlessly repeat themselves, and fill their speeches with verbal fillers, particularly when they speak without notes or a teleprompter.

Trump also tends not to focus on the issues of the moment, and flies off on tangents, particularly when he thinks someone has personally slighted or attacked him just as he did today when he went after Ted Cruz. He earlier tweeted that Cruz’s failure to endorse him was no big deal. He should have left it there and looked magnanimous, but nooooo! He just has to go after people personally, and when he does, he runs his mouth and might say anything. If he can’t drop that habit, he won’t become president. And if he does it as president, that’s all he’ll be doing. George W. Bush had that part of presidential temperament right. He knew everyone and their dog would go after him, and he just let them have at it. To do otherwise, elevates ankle biters to the level of President of the United States.

Trump has to learn, and very soon, to stay on message. He can do it without becoming wooden and inflexible. Learning to prioritize, to focus on what is most important, is an essential adult skill that Trump has seemingly yet to master. Being outrageous is cute and endearing for a time, but eventually, presidents have to identify big problems, explain how they are going to solve them, and do it.

We’ve had eight years of Barack Obama’s personal references. Today after the attack in Munich, I heard him on radio saying he knew nothing about what happened, but proceeded to rattle on anyway mouthing meaningless platitudes that did nothing to suppress terrorism or further international relations. Sometimes presidents accomplish most by saying least. A trumpian version of that kind of meaningless twaddle will get old very fast. We really don’t need to hear from the president every day, about everything that happens, and when we do, we quit listening. He becomes the boy that cried wolf, and isn’t heard or believed when it really matters.

It’s time for Donald Trump and his advisors to sit down and lay out a coherent plan for the rest of the campaign. That plan has to include focus on specific issues, particularly those on which Hillary is uniquely vulnerable–there are more than enough of those–Trump’s solutions and how he’ll implement them, and little or nothing else.

One other important issue: someone needs to whack Trump upside the head and convince him the President can’t “make” anything happen alone. Donald Trump, businessman, can do that; Presidents can’t. They can set agendas, cajole, guide, maneuver, use the moral bully pulpit for good and to support the Constitution. He has to learn how to play the political game for the benefit of America.

“I’ll make America great again, “ “I’m the only one that can do it,” is meaningless without answers about how that’s going to happen, and after the conventions, people are going to demand those answers. If Trump can’t provide them, if he can’t incorporate presidential demeanor without abandoning the personal qualities that have thus far inspired so many, enough people are going to go with the devil they know to elect Hillary.

Always, it’s important to remember if it’s not close, Democrats can’t win through vote fraud. We’re going to see unprecedented vote fraud in this election. Trump and the Republican National Committee need to be very concerned, and very focused, on that issue too.

The Razor : He scares the living daylights out of the Left, quite a few centrists and even a smattering of conservatives. Given the Left’s demonization of every Republican candidate since Nixon as a demagogue along the lines of, well, Nixon – it’s refreshing to actually have a candidate that lives up to their hateful rhetoric.

One thing’s for sure: if he becomes president the next 4 years are going to be interesting. Very interesting.

Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason : Donald Trump’s acceptance speech appealed to the concerns of many if not most Americans. He promised to be the law and order president and would keep us safe, build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants, and return jobs to our country.

He recited a litany of the failures of the Obama administration and the Clinton State Department, which have made us less safe at home and is leaving us a less safe world. Under the current administration we have higher rates of unemployment in minority populations, poverty, people relying on food stamps, and crime in the inner cities.

In several attacks on his Democrat opponent, he said Hillary’s greatest accomplishment might be getting away with the many crimes she committed during her term as Secretary of State.

Trump explained that “nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” He promised the American people that “I am your voice.” While it would have been better to say “I hear your voices” hopefully that is merely a quibble over semantics. Time will tell.

When he becomes president Trump promised we will defeat the barbarians of ISIS and we will defeat them fast. It would have been preferable to have given some specific details of his plans to defeat this radical Islamic terrorist group whose barbarism is growing and reaching across the globe.

Trump’s speech was well delivered and well received. The main stream media outlets all focused on how dark it was but unless you have not been paying attention to national and world events we truly do find ourselves in a dark place.

I look forward in the coming months to hear more substantive comments on exactly what his plans entail and how Trump will Make America Great Again.

I reserve my concerns that Trump is just another big government politician. He appears to believe he alone can do all the things he promises. Hopefully that is just ego, for if that were the case we no longer live under the laws of our constitutional republic; a Constitution which provides a balance of powers to keep despots in check.

GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD : The speech hit mostly high notes: the country is on the wrong track.

Crime and violence are serious concerns. Trump promised to be a “law and order” president, specifics to come. Many believe race relations have deteriorated since 44 took office. Cops are under attack. Poor kids are trapped in failing public schools and Democrats won’t let them escape. Trump promises school choice.

Terrorism is on the rise at home and overseas. Instead of focusing on battle readiness, our depleted military focuses on goofy fakebelieve stuff like Climate change or worse, the inclusion of transgender and women soldiers. Veterans are not being adequately cared for.

Bad trade deals are notorious for helping certain elements at the expense of the country and Democrat policies are the reason for the sorry shape the nation is in.

JoshuaPundit : Honestly, I’d give the speech a B++ if there is such a thing. By that I mean it was a really good speech with some flaws.

I’ve always loved hearing Donald Trump speak. His rallies didn’t involve scripted, jowl shaking oratory but a sort of down to earth conversation between him and say, 30,000 people. He was so relaxed, so comfortable in his own skin it was almost eerie. Unlike most pols, he wasn’t talking at them, but with them. He’d come up to the podium, take that sheet of folded paper out of his pocket and have at it. He’d get the talking points out at each spot and say what needed saying, but he’d mix them in with anecdotes about the campaign, or whatever else was on his mind, and there were always a few jokes at his own expense. And then there was the impromptu audience responses, like singing along to your favorite singer’s hit songs. Going to his rallies was fun!

Trump’s acceptance speech was different. The content was just fine, and it mirrored what a lot of Americans are concerned about right now, with outreach to a lot of groups who Trump is going to get more votes from than most people think. I mean, if you were LGBT and in your right mind, would you vote for Hillary who wants to bring boatloads more unvetted Muslim ‘refugees’ into America and take away your guns too? Ditto if you’re a young woman unless you enjoy the thought of being raped.

And his attack on Hillary Clinton was bone-crushing, which is why a lot of the Democrat media ignored it.According to pollster  Frank Luntz’s Democrat and Republican focus groups, that part of Trump’s speech was off the charts as far as approval went.

The problem was that it was about 20-25 minutes too long, and it needed to touch the bases in a more succinct, sound bitey way. It reminded me of some rock concerts where things start out energetic, hit a lull in the middle with the drum solo and then pep up for a high energy finish.

And that relaxed, natural Trump wasn’t visible enough, although it was there. One of my favorite bits was when Trump was talking about the rigged system we have and how he was going to fix it and then looked at the audience, grinned, spread his hands out and said ” And who would know better than me?”

It broke the audience up, and it broke me up watching the stream.

I also was a little uneasy about his refrain that he was going to fix this and that and ‘we’re gonna do it fast.’ Government doesn’t work that way, and especially not for this outsider taking on entrenched interests in both parties. Things need to be parsed, refined and done by consensus. That, by the way is why I’ve never been bothered by Trump’s not getting into too many details but focusing on goals. That’s how business gets done. The goals come first and the mechanisms come later after the pros and cons have been weighed and agreed on.

And while Ivanka was absolutely wonderful, I couldn’t help wondering if a real fire breather like the Reverend Mark Burns as an opener might not have been better. The Rev reminds me of a clerical Howlin’ Wolf, and that’s some heavy duty praise. It would have gotten that crowd fired up like nobody’s business and perhaps then The  Donald would have felt able to be a bit less strident in places.

All in all though, a really good job. And as we’ve seen in the past, it will likely get better because if nothing else, we’ve seen that Trump has an astonishing ability to recover, step back and learn from his mistakes.

Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

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Forum: What Was Your Reaction To Donald Trump’s Speech This Week?

Tags

anti-Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Election 2016, Forum Responses, National Security, Watcher of Weasels

 

Every week on Monday, the Council, members of the Watcher’s Council Community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: What Was Your Reaction To Donald Trump’s Speech This Week?

Don Surber :My reaction, courtesy of the late Mister James Brown :

GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD: Powerful meds for Americans!

Trump nailed HRC’s hair to the floor so tight – she’s unable to even blink!

“The Hillary Clinton foreign policy has cost America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars – and unleashed ISIS across the world. No Secretary of State has been more wrong, more often, and in more places than Hillary Clinton. Her decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched.”

Like a torpedo strike, the speech blasted great gaping holes in HRC’s curious blend of failed progressivism, unbridled globalism and self enriching international crony socialism that may very well be criminal.

Trump’s first 100 Days agenda should totally close the deal with many including any stand offish cats.

 Stately McDaniel Manor: The Republican Party has a well-deserved reputation of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The “Stupid Party,” routinely violates Ronald Reagan’s 11 th Commandment, and brilliantly attacks its own,leaving Democrats unscathed. But this election year, Donald Trump may serve as a Republican red on red force multiplier beyond imagination.

For perhaps the first time since his campaign began, Trump delivered a professional, rational, and necessary speech in which he actually attacked Hillary Clinton by telling the truth about her. What’s that you say? He’s done that before? Yes, but not consistently, coherently, and primarily by tweeting.

Trump’s biggest problem thus far, beside the fact that he is a dangerous narcissist, is that his entire focus has been on maintaining the purity of being Donald Trump. He absolutely, pig-headedly refuses to adapt to the demands of a presidential campaign. He does not work and play well with others, and behaves like a cheap, prickly street thug: “who you lookin’ at? You dissin’ me? You dissin’ me?!” This leads him to continually go off message– as though he has a consistent, coherent message from which to deviate– attacking primarily potential friends and supporters, including Republicans of all stripes, and ignoring his actual political enemies. He whines that this person, or that group, hasn’t been nice to him or treated him with proper respect. He threatens to take his marbles and go home if he isn’t treated in the manner to which he has become accustomed.

Grow the hell up, Trump.

He seems incapable of realizing that the thousands that come to his rallies are already in the bag. He doesn’t know that their numbers aren’t sufficient to elect him president, and that it is the far, far larger numbers of Americans that he never sees that he must convince to vote for him. He thinks he can get away with ignoring the Republican Party and he can win without it, despite the fact that he has built no national mechanisms to get out the vote and November is coming–fast.

Trump thinks vacuous slogans like “make America great again,” are all he needs. How will you make America great again Mr. Trump? “I’ll make America so great you won’t believe it!” But how? “Because I will; you’ll see.”

Part of his arrogance has been his insistence on not using a teleprompter, on winging it onstage, which at this stage of the campaign ensures not only that he won’t consistently communicate coherent, rational policies and principle, he’ll ramble, make idiotic gaffes, and fail to effectively define Hillary Clinton, the most corrupt, weak, and dangerous candidate the Democrats may have ever put forth. Trump need not use a teleprompter all the time– Ronald Reagan often spoke from notes he wrote — but Trump needs it. That he is not a professional politician has aided him to this point, but no longer.

The speech was a good start. It framed Hillary Clinton as the liar, criminal and national security disaster she already is, but those messages must be driven home again and again and again, consistently, every day, every week, not only with speeches, but clever ads.

Trump can’t do it himself. He has no consistent principles that inform policies. His life has been dedicated to deal making, to doing whatever is necessary to make more and more money. Those skills can be an asset for any president, but only if he makes the adjustments necessary to obtain advantage for America instead of Trump. It’s time to discover those principles, to pledge belief in and adherence to those policies, and to shut down the ego machine and spin up the political machine.

It’s time, over and over again, and absolutely consistently, to tell America exactly how Trump intends to make America great again. If Trump can’t do that, he’ll lead the Stupid Party into being the Insanely, Terminally Stupid Party. We’ll end up with a progressive Supreme Court, a Progressive Congress, and a Progressive President.

The Republicans have been able to do almost nothing when they hold majority control of Congress. If they lose even one house, they’ll have the perfect excuse to do nothing but help Progressives enact their agenda. America will be no more, but by all that is holy, Trump will still be, pure and shining, Trump.

He needs to decide– yesterday– which is more important: America or his ego?

The Glittering Eye: The speech was pretty good. Mr. Trump certainly can play offense. Whether he can play defense or needs to remains to be seen. He clearly understands Sec. Clinton’s defects and what his supporters think of her. I don’t think he’ll convince anyone because everyone’s already made up their minds. The only real question is who will turn out and vote?

As to whether he can win, I genuinely have no idea. As I’ve repeatedly said over at my place, I find this election cycle completely baffling. I think that everyone has lost their minds. We have a corrupt, incompetent criminal running against a hipshooting blowhard.

I also think that lying to pollsters has become incredibly commonplace.

Bookworm Room : The speech showed four things that I think are all to the good:

1. Trump did what his supporters wanted, which was to go directly to Hillary’s jugular.

2. He’s working his way towards slightly more conventional statesmanship in his speeches. If he could just learn not to use every speech as a business promo, he’d be more effective.

3. He was smart to fire Lewandowski, who was the right man for the primaries, but too much of a mafia enforcer type for the general campaign.

4. If it was indeed his children and their spouses who urged him to fire Lewandowski and become more disciplined, he should continue to listen to them.

If Trump can master discipline and statesmanship, while keeping close to his primary promises (blogging illegal immigration, greater protections against the Islamist threat, supporting Israel, knocking the pins out from under the media, getting things done, etc), I think he will — as Scott Adams promises — run a successful campaign. To the extent Hillary’s polling higher now, I see three things at work: the post-primary bounce now that Bernie is gone; slanted polls from the Dems, the media (but I repeat myself), and the GOP, all of which weight Democrats too heavily; and the Shy Tory effect, which is to say that many people are embarrassed to admit, even to a pollster, that they like Trump. I suspect that the Shy Tory effect was at work in England again, explaining the ruling class’s absolute shock that the Brexit vote went to “Leave.”

JoshuaPundit:The speech itself was so on target that it shocked a lot of people…a sign of how used we’ve become to our political figures  lying to us and avoiding the obvious. The Clintonista media tried to downplay it of course, but failed miserably. CNN in particular wound up with egg all over its porcine face when they ‘fact checked’ Trump’s claim about Mrs. Clinton okaying the sale of  a large chunk of America’s uranium uranium holdings to Russia, in exchange for the funneling of $145 million from nine investors to the Clinton Foundation as ‘false’. They later had to eat their words publicly.

The campaign itself has taken an interesting turn.  Here we have a Republican nominee who won overwhelmingly with record numbers and did it in part by doing exactly what the GOP always claimed it wanted, getting more black, Hispanic and crossover Democrat support. But of course, all that became insignificant when it involved  an outsider insurgent candidate who couldn’t be bought and controlled. So Trump’s biggest problem isn’t defeating Hillary Clinton – given how the publicly released polls are being cooked, I’d say  the real numbers are a lot different than the six point average spread Real Clear Politics is showing.  His real problem is the ‘friendly’ fire at his rear from the GOP establishment. And the narrative they’re pushing is strikingly familiar to me.

Trump is being criticized for not being able to raise money or put together a campaign staff. Isn’t it logical that a candidate who wants to end the flow of cheap labor coming across the border, clamp down on outsourcing and and renegotiate ruinous trade deals and globalization might have trouble getting support from the donor class who profit from these things and  from the politicians and pundits they own? The only big ones willing to publicly put country before their own greed and self interest so far are Sheldon Adleson, Rupert Murdoch  and some of Trump’s friends like Carl Icahn.

The same thing applies to building a campaign staff. In the face of  threats  from the GOP establishment that their careers are over if they sign on to Trump’s campaign, a lot of  political operatives and potential staffers  have decided that employment opportunities  with down ticket campaigns  and even anti-Trump organizations funded by the donor class like Free The Delegates that are a lot safer for them.

Trump’s also being urged to make concessions ‘to unify the party.’ But what if they don’t want to be unified? What if they’d rather see business as usual with a President Clinton? All of the candidates signed a pledge early in the campaign that they would all support whoever the eventual nominee was. Out of the major candidates, the only one to keep his word was Marco Rubio, and the Republican National Committee (RNC) has done nothing about it. 

A quarter of a billion dollars was spent to stop Donald Trump from getting the nomination, much of it in the form a relentless negative attack ads. Yet in his victory speech in New York, Trump went out of his way to extend an olive branch to his opponents, especially Ted Cruz. Imagine how different the current climate might be if Ted Cruz had accepted that, swallowed his bitterness and kept his word.

When I say that what’s going on here is strikingly familiar to me, it’s because it reminds me of what’s been happening in the Middle East. Israel was and is the victim of aggression, terrorism and constant incitement, yet it is Israel whom is repeatedly being asked to make concessions, release convicted murderers and to give up land no matter how many genuine offers of peace get slapped away by the Arabs. And when that happens, it’s usually Israel who gets blamed for not being ‘flexible’ enough. If they were as ‘flexible’ as President Obama wanted, they would soon no longer have a country.

Trump’s getting a similar treatment. Any Republican nominee could count on being labeled as a racist, a homophobe and a hater of women by the Democrat minions in the media no matter what he did or didn’t say, but here, they’re getting ample assistance from the GOP establishment.  Because Trump’s real crime is exactly what got him the nomination…his willingness to  look at Islamist terrorism, globalization and illegal migration as problems that need desperately to be solved, along with plain speaking about Obama’s agenda and the damage it has done to America.  For him to change that stance significantly would destroy him as a viable candidate for those whom support him.

If Trump gets the nomination – and I put the odds at 60-40 in his favor, just because he won by such a huge majority – I predict that his acceptance speech will remind Republicans of the consequences  if they fail to unite and allow the Clintons back in the White House again. Here’s hoping they listen, but based on their usual behavior, The Donald will likely have to fight that battle without them.

We’ll see…

Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason :If Donald Trump continues to speak as well as he did last week he could well become our next president. He did well and appeared more presidential than he has in the past. Trump needs to continue to stay on point; focusing on jobs, the economy, making sure we do not allow refugees into our country without a comprehensive vetting process, and preventing illegal aliens from coming here and draining our limited welfare programs and threatening the safety of Americans.

He should keep talking about Clinton’s corruption and untrustworthiness going as far back as her and her husband’s career in “public service.” He needs to attack her on her ties with Wall Street, her exorbitant speaking fees, her setting up a private server for her emails during her term as Secretary of State which jeopardized our national security, and her dealings and receipt of monies personally and through The Clinton Foundation from countries with horrific records of human rights violations and barbaric Islamic shari’ah in exchange for obvious favors granted through her position in government.

Hopefully he will stay focused and keep from making any comments the media will perceive and publicize as racist, bigoted, misogynistic and vulgar, especially going into the Republican National Convention next month. Trump must present himself as the president he promises he will be if elected; restoring the power to the people and tearing down the “rigged system” our government has become.

Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?

Forum: What Do You Think Europe’s Future Looks Like?

Tags

Brexit, EU Migration, EUROPE, Forum Responses, Islamic Terrorism, Islamization of the West, Jihad, Watcher of Weasels

 

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: What Do You Think Europe’s Future Looks Like?

Don Surber: Arabia.

Stately McDaniel Manor : I suspect that Europe’s future is Islam. Not only are European–and Scandinavian–countries importing the very means of their destruction through more or less unrestrained immigration, they have, as Mark Steyn has often noted, sown the seeds of their own demise by failing to plant the seeds necessary to produce sufficient Europeans to replace themselves. When the birthrate falls below replacement level, as it has in much of Europe, it’s merely a matter of time.

Several other issues will accelerate the decline: Europe has essentially turned away from Christianity and the societal and moral cohesion it provides. There will be no modern crusade, figurative or literal, because far too many Europeans no longer think their faith, or the freedom to practice it as they choose, worth preserving. They simply lack the will to fight–in any way–militant Islam, and have all but invited it to conquer them.

Paris will no longer be the fashion center of the world as female fashions will never again change from year to year.

Some Europeans are beginning to understand that their economic and political systems are abject failures, but it will likely be too late to turn them around, particularly with the European Union still in place. They have, in the name of sophistication and equality of outcome, thrown away the national pride and social ties that might have compelled them to fight their conquerors. Soon, Europe will be too old, too weak, and too morally corrupt to fight. Millennia of civilization will end with a whimper, and a bloody whimper it will be. A shared faith and national pride are two of the main forces that hold any nation together. Europe has essentially abolished all three.

It won’t take long for Germany to run out of money to bail out the rest of the EU, and when they beg America for help, they’ll discover that we are truly the brokest nation in history. If England backs out of the EU, they may have a chance, but the rest of Europe is in real trouble, and until and unless we have a genuine conservative in the Oval Office, and the American people wake up to our very real troubles before it is too late, future nations, Lord knows who or where, will be writing histories about the fall of Europe and America, about how the noble experiment in democracy failed, falling to the barbarian hordes like all before it.

Individual liberty is not the natural state of man. When we forget, as Europe has forgotten, that it must be taught, cherished, and fought for every day by all free men, it is lost. Europe, as a nation of more or less free people, is doomed. Many know it, but as with everything else, they won’t admit it, even to themselves, and they won’t do anything about it.

JoshuaPundit : It really depends. In spite of the failed EU experiment, Europe remains very diverse, so I think we’ll see various outcomes depending on several factor.

The UK’s Brexit vote in June could signal the beginning of the end for the EU. Multiple polling indicates that if the UK leaves,a majority of voters in other countries will want to as well. The EU also didn’t do itself any favors by having its unelected bureaucrats attempt to impose a fine for any EU country refusing Muslim refugees of – wait for it – ‎€ 300,000 per head!

Needless to say, a number of EU members were quick to say that under no circumstances were they going to pay anything like that, especially with a number of members in fiscal chaos. Nor were they going to accept the arbitrary quotas of ‘refugees’ assigned them.

So whether and in what form the EU survives is a big factor, especially when you consider the issue of schengen visas which allow open borders for citizens or legal residents like refugees between member nations. If it survives the present crisis, I think it’s a question of the water circling the drain.

As it is right now, the EU and its currency, the euro primarily benefit Germany because it allows Germany to ship its exports cheaper than it could if the were valued in Deutschmarks. That’s why the Germans have been so willing to bail out other EU members. But even Germany has its limits to what its taxpayers will put up with and that is fast approaching, which brings us to the second factor – massive migration from the Muslim world.

This problem actually began some time ago, in different ways in different countries. Tony Blair in the UK saw bringing vast amounts of Muslims in from places like Pakistan as a source of Labour voters and workers whom would finance the UK’s welfare state. He was right about them being Labour voters, but sadly mistaken about both their ability to assimilate into British society and about their being tax contributors as opposed to being tax money consumers. Similar things contributed to this same situation elsewhere in Europe, particularly in France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands,with the problem being exacerbated by their liberal asylum programs. Most of these people were not actual refugees, but economic migrants as stories spread in the Muslim world about the lavish benefits available.

In Germany as in some of the other countries, the influx was also driven by low birth rates and the need for new workers to finance their massive welfare states. Germany, Italy, Scotland, Greece and a number of other nationalities are actually in danger of becoming extinct in a generation or so. Many of the countries that saw military age young Muslim males as an easy solution to their demographic problems are now finding out to their horror that they’ve imported something very different.

I see Western Europe responding in different ways. It’s an open question whether the UK will avoid becoming a Muslim state no matter how the Brexit vote goes, especially if Charles become King. Sharia is already established there, with Sharia courts mandated for Muslims handling domestic matters. Scotland, which will probably break away from the UK soon seems well on the path to becoming Scotlandistan.

France will probably survive. It has a strong sense of nationhood, a well organized nationalist movement and I could see them,at the least, deporting a fair amount of France’s Muslims. The same is likely true of Denmark and Switzerland, whom have also imported comparatively few Muslims and maintain a stubborn degree of independence.

Norway and Sweden might also survive simply because the tipping point has been so obviously reached. Non-EU Norway at this point is actually offering Muslim migrants money to leave,and if that doesn’t do it they will simply start deporting them. And in Sweden, even the asylum friendly Swedes are finally beginning to fiercely pressure their government.

Belgium will likely split along ethnic lines, with Flanders becoming an independent country. The Netherlands, like the UK is an open question. They have one of the largest percentages of Muslims in Europe, around 6%. Geert Wilder’s Rightist PVV continues to get more and more support in each election and may even take over the government, so we may yet see the Dutch maintain their independence.

Germany is at the point France is. They have a government that is totally unresponsive to them importing people into Germany,a million of them, most of whom make no attempt to assimilate and see Germans, particularly German women as prey. Two things enabled Mutti Merkel to get away with this so far, the traditional German obedience to authority and German experience of the previous Muslim migrants to Germany, mostly from Kurdistan, Turkey and Iran. These migrants assimilated and behaved quite differently from the kind of people Merkel has now foisted upon the country. The Germans are revolting, and their rightist, Euro-skeptic nationalist party, AfD “Alternative for Germany” is doing quite well politically.

The one constraint for a lot of Germans with wholesale deportations is memories of Germany’s actions under the Nazis. To steal a line from the always superb Spengler, if that’s a problem, they can just do what they did last time – hire Ukrainians.

Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece aside from stagnant economies and poisonous demographics have another misfortune…they’re geographically close to the Muslim world. Young native Greeks, Spaniards and Portuguese whom are able to are actually fleeing these countries because there are no jobs or futures for them there. Spain is so desperate for taxpaying residents that they have, ironically, started a special ‘fast track’ program for Jewish migrants whom have ancestors whom were expelled in 1492. There haven’t been many takers. i think there’s a distinct possibility of a reverse Reconquista in at least Southern Spain and Portugal unless things change. Italy may see the same.

New Europe is an entirely different proposition. These countries have taken in few Muslims, are relatively new to freedom after decades of Soviet tyranny and have functioning militaries. In response to what they quite rightly see as Obama’s treachery, some of these countries have joined together in a military alliance outside of NATO known as the Visegrád Group, consisting of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Don’t be surprised if you likewise see co-ordination with Germany,Romania, the Baltic states and perhaps even Russia.

The reason is the third factor in Europe’s future, Turkey. Tayyip Erdoğan and his Islamist AKP have assumed a virtual dictatorship over the country, and even his erstwhile partner, former Erdoğan loyalist and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has been forced out of office after a few disagreements with Erdoğan.

Turkey also has a relatively stagnant economy with a huge credit bubble on the verge of bursting, a growing population and the largest conventional army in Europe. Don’t be surprised if you see Turkey do exactly what the Ottomans did in the past,attempt to expand and plunder Europe via the historic route through the Balkans, hooking up with Muslim enclaves in Bosnia, Albania and Kossovo.

Since Erdoğan and the AKP took over, Turkey has never taken its role as a NATO ally particularly seriously. Since the road to the Caucasus is now blocked by Iran and Turkey’s historic antagonist Russia, Europe is the other alternative. Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria lack the military power to stave off the Turks and the Serbs would be outflanked on three sides. While this would call for an Article 5 intervention from NATO, I doubt that an Islamist friendly Obama or Clinton administration would do more than token military assistance.

The last thing Russia wants is the Turkish military on its borders, so Russia might very well intervene. Certainly the Visegrád Group would and we could literally see another major battle at the Gates of Vienna.

What Turkey does will be the third major factor in Europe’s future, and it might even be a positive, uniting one if the scenario I’m exploring here becomes reality.

 GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD : “A large Mohammedist minority is in Europe to stay. Persisting with the establishment’s approach makes a certain sense: keep a lid on prejudice, tamp down extremism, and hope that time will transform the zealous Mohammedism of recent immigrants into a more liberal form of faith, and make the conflict go away.

Or least keep it manageable … The most likely scenario for Europe isn’t dhimmitude; it’s a long period of tension, punctuated by spasms of violence, that makes the Continent a more unpleasant place without fundamentally transforming it.”

Skippy Lipchitz’s happy happy version not so long ago.

Between the financial crisis and the migration of a million combat age males from Mohammedist world, Europa will face an ever scary future of uprisings, successions, unification battles, independence battles a probably a few wars
Start with continuing concerns about the finances of so-called southern peripheral countries. The Greek bailout of 2015 created strong and lingering resentments in Germany and other creditor nations of northern Europe. This bailout was the third in five years, and it will not be the last. Some are now forecasting a new Greek default early this summer. Portugal’s sinking economy may also need rescue soon. The Portuguese and Greek governments united recently to denounce what they view as the European Union’s relentless, draconian austerity measures. Meanwhile, Italy struggles to manage its own excessive debt, low growth, high unemployment, and severe banking crisis. Spain is on the verge of breaching its deficit targets  for the ninth consecutive year. A familiar refrain in Germany goes, “We shovel money south, while they pretend to reform, and we pretend to believe them.”

The refugee crisis may well become a serious threat to Europe’s cohesion and security. Amid the hundreds of thousands of displaced and suffering, there are jihadist infiltrators, with the number of suspects now so large they are nearly impossible for authorities to track. German authorities have confirmed that roughly 3,800 blank Syrian passports are in the possession of Islamic State. The probability of fresh attacks in the next few years will remain high.

But there’s another daunting problem: how to integrate such large numbers of Mohammedist refugees? Germany alone has already taken in roughly 1.1 million homeless from Syria and elsewhere since the summer of 2015. While it’s difficult to obtain precise data, a decent number of refugees are apparently poorly educated; by some estimates, as many as 20 percent may be illiterate. Even if most are able to join the workforce over time, can they become part of European society?

It’s foolish and dangerous to deny the fact that many Europeans will not welcome these newcomers, just as it is obvious that many of these newcomers — largely from socially conservative and in some instances militantly illiberal backgrounds — will have little enthusiasm for joining life in liberal, progressive Europe.

So far, Europe’s success in integrating Mohammedists has been mixed at best. A senior Central European politician LOL’d the current problem in a semi private communique as, “the land of full mosques invading the continent of empty churches.”

Also there is the the enduring strategic problem of Mitteleuropa, a fragmented region suspended between larger powers by virtue of geography, language, and culture. As it emerged from the last age of empire, Woodrow Wilson sought to re-anchor the region through self determination, a short experiment as weak states were preyed upon by more capable neighbors. A perpetual source of instability at best, Tim Snyder described it as the “Bloodlands” at its worst. Robert Kaplan, quoting Josef Pilsudski, founder of the second Polish Republic, refers to the need for an “Intermarium” group of unaffiliated democratic states between the Baltic and Black Seas.

While it is obviously desirable if these countries are also democracies, it would mark an important step towards a sustainable security system if they had a reasonable ability to defend themselves and were at least not constantly in play between larger alliances. At a minimum, this could buy time, giving Russian strategic culture an opportunity to mellow, grow beyond its post-imperial ambitions, and learn to live within the boundaries of a modern nation state.

The Glittering Eye : Beats me. The people of the ethnic states of Europe have choices to make. They can retain the ethnic identities they’ve built for themselves or they can accept mass immigration from the Middle East and Africa. They can’t do both which is what they’ve been trying do to.

Don’t think they can’t put the ethnic identity Humpty Dumpty together again. It would require expelling and or killing millions. They’ve done it before. Multiple times.

The idea of Europe seems to be dying a painful death one way or the other.

Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason :The future of Europe looks much like the rest of the Western world as progressives prey on the emotions of its citizens to gain power through democratic means. Although not familiar with the grooming of young Muslims to aspire to positions in government and elected office in Europe, it is happening in America locally, across every state and nationwide. I assume the same forces promoting civilization jihad in America are also behind the efforts in Europe.

Just this last week the city of London elected its first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, of the Labour Party. His platform of making London more “fair” for all and tackling the issues of affordable housing, freezing commuter fares, creating jobs, and pushing for cleaner energy could well be the platform of any progressive mayoral candidate in any large American city. Populists appeal to the emotions of the voters, who don’t see the emptiness of their promises until it is too late.

As more Muslims are elected to office in Europe they will pursue acceptance of shari’ah over existing laws under the guise of “fairness” and understanding of cultural differences. We are already seeing reports of sexual attacks by Muslim men against European woman, and government officials are telling women to dress more modestly or stay indoors to avoid attacks. This sends a message that the victims are somehow responsible for these attacks. This is shari’ah. In addition, we have to remember these countries have very strict gun control laws so self defense is difficult.

The experiment of the European Union is failing as some countries and their people are bearing a disproportionate financial burden and resentment continues to build. There will be a backlash of Europeans who will attempt to reassert their cultural dominance… kind of a “Make (insert country here) Great Again” platform which will eventually lead to internal chaos and violence as these factions clash. Europe is becoming ripe for a despot or dictator.

Our Weasel Of The Week Nominees!

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Watcher of Weasels, Weasel of the Week Nominees

It’s time once again for the Watcher’s Council’s ‘Weasel Of The Week’ nominations, where we pick our choices to compete for the award of the famed Golden Weasel to a public figure who particularly deserves to be slimed and mocked for his or her dastardly deeds during the week. Every Tuesday morning, tune in for the Weasel of the Week nominations!

Here are this weeks’ nominees….

Former Actor, Dirt Highway Explorer, Professional Victim And Racist George Takai!!

The Noisy Room : My nomination this week goes to raving moonbat, George Takei, who frankly should have stayed in space, his last frontier. Uber Leftist actor and activist George Takei, known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in “Star Trek,” said that he and his husband are “overjoyed” by the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage. But his shocking comments about conservative Justice Clarence Thomas were just over the rainbow on this one:

“He is a clown in blackface sitting on the Supreme Court. He gets me that angry,” Takei said, visibly flustered as he railed against the African American justice. ”For him to say slaves had dignity … I mean, doesn’t he know slaves were chained? That they were whipped on the back?”

Takei shows his idiocy in all its glory here. He was railing against Thomas’ dissent on the gay marriage ruling:

“Human dignity has long been understood in this country to be innate. When the Framers proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence that ‘all men are created equal’ and ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,’ they referred to a vision of mankind in which all humans are created in the image of God and therefore of inherent worth. That vision is the foundation upon which this Nation was built.
The corollary of that principle is that human dignity cannot be taken away by the government. Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them. And those denied governmental benefits certainly do not lose their dignity because the government denies them those benefits. The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away.”

Thomas, who is unarguably a brilliant litigator and a great man, made a compelling dissent on the ruling. It was epic. Takei’s comment were just profoundly biased and stupid. He called Thomas an “embarrassment” who doesn’t deserve to serve on the Supreme Court, citing in a separate op-ed his own experience living in an internment camp as a child. He would have done better to actually study constitutional law and parse his words more judiciously rather than coming unglued in a Liberal frenzy of incoherence and uninformed lunacy. I agree with one young black conservative woman out there who did a video after the Supreme Court ruling in answer to racist Liberals: “It takes a certain kind of racist to decide that black people can’t have their own opinion.” For being an unconstitutional racist and bigot, Takei has earned a Golden Weasel. Damn it, Jim! He’s earned it!!

 

Puma By Design :One of actor and member of the gay gestapo, George Takei’s pink jackboots ended up in his mouth after missing the throat of Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, last week when Takei went on a racist rant against Thomas for his dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing same sex marriage in all fifty states.

GEORGE TAKEI: “He is a clown in blackface sitting on the Supreme Court. He gets me that angry. He doesn’t belong there. And for him to say, slaves have dignity. I mean, doesn’t he know that slaves were in chains? That they were whipped on the back. If he saw the movie 12 Years a Slave, you know, they were raped. And he says they had dignity as slaves or – My parents lost everything that they worked for, in the middle of their lives, in their 30s. His business, my father’s business, our home, our freedom and we’re supposed to call that dignified? Marched out of our homes at gun point. I mean, this man does not belong on the Supreme Court. He is an embarrassment. He is a disgrace to America.”

In fact, Takei’s rant was so reprehensible that CNN’s Communist race baiter, Marc Lamont Hill, criticized Takei for his “black face” rant on CNN and Twitter (see below) while making it clear that Hill was in no way standing up for Thomas considered by Hill and other Blacks on the left to be a sellout to his race and the Progressive plantation.

https://twitter.com/marclamonthill/status/616734483056861184

On Friday Takei walked back his remarks by posting an apology on his Facebook page (excerpt below):

I recently was asked by a reporter about Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent in the marriage equality cases, in which he wrote words that really got under my skin, by suggesting that the government cannot take away human dignity through slavery, or though internment. In my mind that suggested that this meant he felt the government therefore shouldn’t be held accountable, or should do nothing in the face of gross violations of dignity. When asked by a reporter about the opinion, I was still seething, and I referred to him as a “clown in blackface” to suggest that he had abdicated and abandoned his heritage. This was not intended to be racist, but rather to evoke a history of racism in the theatrical arts. While I continue to vehemently disagree with Justice Thomas, the words I chose, said in the heat of anger, were not carefully considered.

Takei’s apology is nothing more than quintessential dribble typical of Marxist antagonists whose jackboot of bigotry and intolerance ends up in their mouths instead of on the neck of their targets.

 

Nice Deb: George Takei deserves mega weasel points for calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a “clown in blackface. ”

Takei went on the racist rant Monday during an interview in Phoenix, in response to Thomas’ comments regarding the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage:

“He is a clown in blackface sitting on the Supreme Court. He gets me that angry. He doesn’t belong there,” Takei said, later adding, “This man does not belong on the Supreme Court. He is an embarrassment. He is a disgrace to America. I’ll say it on camera.”

He eventually “apologized” on Facebook in the most weaselly fashion imaginable – by claiming victimhood himself.

I recently was asked by a reporter about Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent in the marriage equality cases, in which he wrote words that really got under my skin, by suggesting that the government cannot take away human dignity through slavery, or though internment. In my mind that suggested that this meant he felt the government therefore shouldn’t be held accountable, or should do nothing in the face of gross violations of dignity. When asked by a reporter about the opinion, I was still seething, and I referred to him as a “clown in blackface” to suggest that he had abdicated and abandoned his heritage. This was not intended to be racist, but rather to evoke a history of racism in the theatrical arts. While I continue to vehemently disagree with Justice Thomas, the words I chose, said in the heat of anger, were not carefully considered.

Very badly done – and weaselly to boot.

 

CongressWeasel Alan Grayson!!

The Independent Sentinel : With so many weasels to choose from, Alan Grayson came up as my winner. I based that on his July 4th article in Huff Po in which he declared his new leftist Declaration of Independence.

He wants freedom from bigotry, the narrow-minded, the greedy, misinformation, hubris, fake trade et al. He has absolutely no idea what this country is about.

Thanks Alan, but no thanks! Most of us would like freedom from people like you however.

 

DHS Head And Illegal-Alien-Enabler-In-Chief Jeh Johnson

JoshuaPundit : San Francisco, like several other cities in California and in Blue States everywhere label themselves ‘Sactuary Cities.’ That means that they openly break U.S. law and do not cooperate with ICE or immigration authorities in any way. They will not arrest illegal aliens even if they have deportation orders against them, they will not notify ICE when criminal aliens are released from prison or cooperate in any way. And the Obama regime allows them to do so.

Last week in San Francisco, there was a cold blooded murder of this woman, Kathryn Steinle:

Her murderer, Francisco Sanchez, shot her in the back for no apparent reason. He’s already confessed, and has a long criminal history in America. In fact, he was actually on probation when he committed his latest crime. And here’s the kicker… he’s been deported five times before, but simply came back since we have no borders, and was never turned over to ICE because of San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy.

When reporters asked Jeh Johnson why he wasn’t cracking down on this blatant disregard for federal law, he simply played weasel and dodged the question, simply admitting there’s ‘been some resistance in some communities.’ The real resistance is in Washington DC, where Jeh Johnson and his boss are essentially doing nothing to protect our borders.

And this is just one instance, but it gives the lie to their statements that they’re concentrating on criminals. Currently, according to the DOJ’s own statistics, 17% of the population in our Federal prisons are illegal aliens, an amazing statistic. I have no figures for those in state prisons, but thousands of illegal aliens who have committed serious felonies have simply been released by the Feds.

In fact, over 121 murders have been attributed to illegal aliens released by President Obama and Jeh Johnson – that we know about.

Kathryn Steinle and others like her are simply sacrifices to President Obama’s plan to radically change the American electorate.

A man with any honor whatsoever would simply resign rather than go along with these policies. Instead, Jeh Johnson is content to follow orders and be a Good German. And for that, I think he deserves some special recognition.

Well, there it is. What a despicable group of Weasels…ANY OF THEM COULD WIN! Check back Thursday to see which Weasel walks off with the statuette of shame!

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