A great deal of ignorance was expressed on television over the death of Prince Philip. Many comments were along the lines of “I don’t see the point of it all,” a view of the monarchy that shows appalling ignorance. I remember an article in Newsweek magazine twenty years ago, on the occasion of the Queen’s 5oth anniversary. It was written by an American and claimed that the Queen had done more to advance the cause of democracy than any other personage on the global stage. Whereas Americans had sent thousands of troops to their deaths, with little or nothing achieved, the queen went everywhere preaching that democracy is best and nudging countries in the right direction. She did this in Ghana to great effect in November 1999, successfully facing down the dictatorship of Ft. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings. She constantly pushes Commonwealth nations to follow the democratic path. The Commonwealth comprises 54 of the world’s 195 nations. (Admittedly, she never went to Afghanistan and I doubt she would have gotten very far!) She could not have done this without the support of Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years.
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STEYN ON PHILIP
Mark Steyn is one of my favorite commentators. He is often interviewed on FoxNews (which we don’t even get, as we don’t have cable) and replaced Rush Limbaugh frequently as host of his radio program. Mark Steyn is a native of Canada, but now lives in New Hampshire. As a Canadian, he retains a soft spot for constitutional monarchy, claiming that it’s a good thing for the politicians to have somebody over them. (Amen to that!) I remember a story he told of a dinner he had at Buckingham Palace. During the course of the evening, he and Prince Philip discussed the merits and otherwise of the Canadian and Australian political systems. It should be remembered that the Queen is Head of State of both countries. He was amazed that the Prince was so well versed in the subject. Could there possibly be any other person in the world who would be that knowledgeable? Prince Philip will be greatly missed.
YouTube showed an excerpt from a Germen television program in which the late prince spoke fluent German. He also spoke French and English.
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TRUMP ON PHILIP
“Prince Philip defined British dignity and grace. He personified the quiet reserve, stern fortitude, and unbending integrity of the United Kingdom,” Mr. Trump said.
The former president lauded Prince Philip for “serving Britain honourably and courageously as a naval officer in the Second World War” and for “putting his life on the line for God, country, and the values of freedom and self-government that forever unite America and the United Kingdom.”
Mr. Trump added that Prince Philip’s “greatest legacy” will be “his exceptional example of service, constancy, and patriotism.”
He also mentioned the duke’s wartime efforts with the Royal Navy during battles in the Mediterranean and “the pivotal Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.” “For seven decades, Prince Philip brought the same sense of duty and purpose to his role as consort and husband to the Queen. He was admired by his fellow citizens, and respected by everyone around the world,” Mr. Trump said.
The de facto leader of the Republican Party said that the Duke of Edinburgh was “a man who embodied the noble soul and proud spirit of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.”
The 45th president of the United States said that during their visits to the UK, he and former First Lady Melania Trump “saw firsthand how the Monarchy epitomizes and carries on the virtues of the British People – and no one did so more than Prince Philip.”
The statement concluded: “As we grieve his loss, we celebrate his memory and rededicate ourselves to the values to which he devoted his extraordinary life. He will be greatly missed.” (Gustav Kilander, Independent, 4/9/2021)
LINGUISTIC RIVALRIES
Not for the first time the EU is upset with the Brits. They are insisting that all forms be in one of Europe’s four languages. It has been suggested that the British require all forms to be in the 300 languages spoken in the UK!!!
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AUSTRALIAN MP TRIES TO REIN IN POWER OF FACEBOOK
Barely a day after being banished from Facebook, Australian MP Craig Kelly has acted swiftly to propose a new bill that will seek to rein in the power of Big Tech companies like Facebook.
The Independent Member for Hughes is basing the Bill on a similar law passed overnight in Florida that will penalize social media companies if they remove political candidates from their platform, a practice also known as de-platforming.
According to the Florida law, tech giants like Google, Facebook, or Twitter face fines of around $100,000 per day for each day a state-wide candidate is banned from their platform, and $10,000 fines for other candidates.
“The market power of the foreign controlled tech-giants and their ability to censor political speech is an immediate and direct threat to our democracy,” Kelly told The Epoch Times.
“We have seen in Australia Facebook acting as a media thug and bully, who believes they are above the law and are arbiters of truth. Governor De Santis of Florida has acted to hold these social-media giants to account.” (The Epoch Times, 4/27/2021)
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UK FOREIGN AID CUT
Somebody once defined foreign aid as money taken from poor people in rich countries and given to rich people in poor countries.
The UK has released the first details of how it intends to impose £4bn worth of cuts to international aid, with critics complaining the vague plans were “slipped out at the end of the day.”
The “long awaited statement” on the government’s international aid spending for 2021-22, which was set out by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in a written statement on Wednesday, did not fully outline cuts or future spending commitments to specific countries or programmes. But, says The Guardian, “its new classifications for how it plans to distribute £8.1bn in aid imply massive reductions in key areas.”
The government is acting on plans to temporarily cut its spending commitments on foreign aid from 0.7% of the national income to 0.5%, in order to mitigate economic pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a reversal of a manifesto spending commitment made by the Conservatives in 2019. (The Week, 4/27/2021).
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INDIAN REALITIES
The British are persisting in seeing India as a poor country, when its GNP is actually higher than the mother country. Note the following statistic.
The report said, “India’s economy is the fifth largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion, overtaking the UK and France in 2019 to take the fifth spot.” The UK economy amounts to $2.83 trillion and France with $2.71 trillion. … Since 1995, the country’s nominal GDP has jumped more than 700 per cent.” (Feb 23, 2020)
So why then the frantic push to give them foreign aid? Do we want them to remain poor forever?
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KERRY BETRAYS ISRAEL
Former Secretary of State John Kerry was a disaster during the Obama administration for many reasons. One of his flaws was his disastrous handling of relationships in the Middle East, which is now reportedly worse than previously thought.
“Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed in recently leaked audio that John Kerry, when he was serving as Secretary of State during the Obama administration, informed him of more than 200 Israeli operations in Syria,” Fox News reported.
It doesn’t take a foreign relations expert to see the issue with that. Israel is an ally of the United States, while Iran is not. (Western Journal, 4/27/2021)
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BIDEN RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
US President Joe Biden has ended decades of US appeasement of Turkey by recognizing the genocide carried out 106 years ago against Armenians by a previous Turkish government.
The symbolic recognition comes decades too late for any survivors. It is a testament to the will of Joe Biden and his administration that the blackmail Ankara has imposed over just using the term “genocide” has finally ended.
For many years, Turkey not only was able to prevent the US leadership from using the word genocide, but was able to threaten US soldiers in Syria, kidnap and detain Americans, harass US consular employees, even possibly get security clearance revoked for Americans, and get people banned from the US as “terrorists.” (Seth Frantzman, The Jerusalem Post, 4/25/2021)
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MCDONALDS PAYS PEOPLE TO INTERVIEW
McDonald’s in Florida is finding it so hard to get new employees they are paying people $50 to come to an interview. This is not unique to the golden arches. Apparently, thousands of companies cannot find employees as people are finding that staying home is a preferred option. Government handouts are so generous ($600 a week was mentioned) that it’s just not worth working.
What’s going to happen when we all live on “welfare?” Wait and see!
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UNSUSTAINABLE SYSTEM
Whenever I watch an old movie (old is defined as black and white), I marvel at some of the differences between then and now. But one thing always stands out and that is the difference between families then and families now. We have destroyed the family in the last sixty years. Perhaps it would be closer to the truth to say that we “deliberately” destroyed the family. I believe it started with welfare, designed to mitigate failings in the family but which, rather, helped lay the foundation for a post-familial system.
Thomas Sowell has written about this in the context of African-American families, how women started to find they could get more on welfare than by living with their husbands. The result is the increasing violence we see in our cities.
The problem is that the whole system is ultimately unsustainable.
The book “1965” by James T. Patterson looks back at the year the Great Society started.
“At the beginning of 1965, the U.S. seemed on the cusp of a golden age. Although Americans had been shocked by the assassination in 1963 of President Kennedy, they exuded a sense of consensus and optimism that showed no signs of abating.“
Then we got the Great Society and the massive deterioration in every aspect of our culture.
We now see dozens of fathers killing their children, thanks to divorce and the subsequent custody arrangements.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)
If you watched any of the Covid reports from India, you will have noticed the strong family connections that exist in that country, in stark contrast to us here in the West.
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COVID – PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Michigan is reportedly going through a surge in Covid cases. I became the latest statistic when I was admitted to the hospital on Friday April 16th from severe dehydration because I was coming down with a cold and malaria jumped in there (as it usually does) and dehydrated me. This had gone on for three days. Of course, they tested me for Covid and I did test positive (rapid test). My oxygen hovered around 90 but they decided to admit me to get it up to 94. I was in ER for 15 hours waiting for a room, which I finally entered just before 4am. I remained there for four more days and was not allowed to see anybody, including my wife. I was put on Remdesivir and a steroid and my oxygen level got back up to 94-95. I was released at noon on the fourth in-patient day.
One week later, I’m still a bit weak and occasionally have some difficulty being winded. I’m also trying to stabilize blood pressure/blood sugar. I never thought I would die while I was in the hospital, but the whole experience literally knocked the wind out of me and I hope it never happens again. Also, a week later I’ve received a letter from the local health department telling me to self-isolate, which I had already done anyway.
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