Wednesday morning links

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Wednesday, February 17. 2016

Photo: Westminster winner

1950s car quiz

Turning Anthropology from Science into Political Activism

The Best Of Antonin Scalia: The Justice's 10 Most Insightful Quotes

Black History Month: The real George Jefferson

Is This The Edgiest Magazine Cover Of All Time?

News: Print’s dead — but so is digital

Climate Models Botch Another Prediction

Snake Hunt - Stalking Pythons In Florida With A Team Of Cold-Blooded Killers

Why she changed her mind on abortion

Larry Summers Launches The War On Paper Money: "It's Time To Kill The $100 Bill"

Pope Francis Puts Responsibility for Immigration Problem Back on Mexicans

"in a recent analysis it was determined that the United States now ranks 12th among the nations of the world in economic freedom (6th in 2008) but a dismal 31st in personal freedom (17th in 2008).

Is there any way Obama can fill Supreme Court vacancy?

The Right Kind of Class Warfare: Workers vs. Looters

Can Congress Keep Its Hands off Anything?

Sally Pipes' 'The Way Out of Obamacare'

The 'White Privilege' Lie, And why it does great harm to blacks.

Obama's Final Budget to Nowhere

Bernie Supporters React to Hillary's Astronomical Delegate Count

Is America already back in Clinton Scandal Fatigue?

‘Ma Lips Ah Sealed!’ Hillary Uses Black Accent In Chat With Sharpton

The Clintons really don’t get it: False attacks and failed strategies as Hillary repeats 2008

Trump, Lies, and Bankruptcy

The Decline of Angela Merkel

Anti-migrant force builds in Europe, hurting Merkel's quest

Turkey seeks allies' support for ground operation as Syria war nears border

The little-understood connection between Islamic terror and drug profits

Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Politicized UN

Lessons From Al Capone On Countering Islamist Violence

ISIS relying on child soldiers, drugged fighters as grip on Mosul slips

Wall Street Journal Columnist Says Israel ‘Diversifying Partnerships,’ Joining Sunni States in ‘Disenchanted With America’ Alliance

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:08 | Comments (31) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Angela Merkle -

I think it's pretty clear, despite the suppression of the news media here in Germany (and across Europe) that Angela basically committed political suicide with this one. We all know the media is biased and influenced and/or controlled by government and special interest groups. America is really no different in this regard. Anyone with an education beyond kindergarten knows much of the so called "truth" isn't. The idea of a free press is on the same level as the idea of a free market; both are up there with unicorns and fairies.

With Germany being about 1/3 the size of Texas, these are huge numbers which no one could have imagined showing up. The do-gooders cheered them on, oblivious to the scale of this problem or the political or social ramifications of helping people in need. While I am not against helping people, the scale is unprecedented no one was prepared. And to be quite frank, the respective European governments (especially Germany) failed to to their job; which is to uphold the constitution, enforce the laws and protect our borders.

Sound familiar?

Angela will pay a heavy price for this especially after her 2004 comments about multiculturalism being a total failure here in Germany and which has been well documented across Europe. And no one has a clue why she made this 180° change in attitude. Our concern isn't her possible demise, it's what's going to replace her and her party. Not so different concern for your own leadership.

As in America, there are some topics that are not allowed to be discussed. The truth in the west has collapsed under the weight of PC correctness and fear of offending anyone. This isn't a German issue, this is a western issue. Germany, everyone else...including America...is not immune from this problem.

I guess we will see how this turns out as the weather warms up and the flow of refugees starts up again. I suspect this will not bode well for the German people any more than it has in Sweden. The larger issue is whether or not we as a collective of intelligent, conservatives who love our countries and our families, can sort it out for our immediate security and our children's future.

.

#1 Karl Horst (Germany) on 2016-02-17 08:24 (Reply)

Merkel befuddles me. She's fighting to keep the EU together while facing another economic crisis that just might be bigger than the last one, so she welcomes millions of "refugees" who don't speak the language and/or are unemployable, not to mention in need of services such as housing, healthcare and education. In my very urban city, one of our schools now has a "refugee" population speaking 27 different languages. Try educating that crew in any subject! Not to mention the youngsters have not had vaccinations for many diseases covered by the U.S. suggested inoculations prior to entering school! Time organizing such medical services takes away from class time for everyone else. The entire school suffers.

I blame specific religious communities who make many millions off their immigration services and encourage the government to drop them at their centers. In our area, the center gets $1000 per immigrant with another $800 going to that person to cover immediate expenses such as clothing and food. During a phone call last week, one administrator admitted that their volunteer population for serving these immigrants was down (teaching English; finding schools, housing, social services for legal aid and drivers licenses, etc.), so they were having to hire people to help them out. No planning, no controls, no budget. Now we have 10,000 Cubans waiting in Central America for transport over the Mexican border and all the goodies and citizenship that come with the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which is still in effect!!!!

"As in America, there are some topics that are not allowed to be discussed." Sounds like you need a Mr. Trump squashing all those PC rules and regulations.

#1.1 jma on 2016-02-17 11:46 (Reply)

@ DMW - Thanks, but we'll pass on Herr Trump. We have enough media control with out his nonsense. :-)

.

#1.1.1 Karl Horst (Germany) on 2016-02-17 13:59 (Reply)

I don't know, Mr. Horst, but the televised programming I see from European media and other nations is much more revealing than the propaganda pushed in the U.S. or the stories simply not covered. As a former journalist, I find this disheartening as every one is involved in op-ed, but facts are hard to unearth. All want to win a Pulitzer, but hate the hard work of investigative reporting.

#1.1.1.1 jma on 2016-02-17 14:27 (Reply)

@ JMA - As with any discovery of real value, the truth is always hard to find. Blogs and forums either right or left, tend to lean towards one bias or another to support their agenda. I must agree that finding honest, unbiased reporting is difficult to find anywhere. As I pointed out to Z-Man, he had noted the Russians reporting a kidnapped girl in Berlin and were storming the streets. When in fact Spiegel reported later that it was all a hoax; she was never kidnapped or raped and she admitted it herself.

This is similar to another post I received from a colleague in the US about weapons in a storage container destined for a refugee camp in Germany. Turns out it wasn't at all what was reported. But a enough sites had posted it as true, so everyone jumped on it without the most basic fact checking.

Having said that, the two most reliable (not infallible) sources here are Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung (South German Newspaper). These are really the most serious publications we have. They will even admit that on a few occasions, they have been pulled over the table when they failed to do their homework or investigating properly, but I would say they are both quite up front and more reliable than the Bild or Stern which are garbage.

As with any story that is brought to light, one must really look at the source, even on this site. As I have found several posts about Germany and Europe that were half-truths. Unless you can read German, you're depending on someone else to tell you what's going on.

And even then, you really need to verify the source as reliable or not.

We have an old saying: "Kinder und Betrunkene sagen immer die Wahrheit." (Children and drunks always tell the truth)

.

#1.1.1.1.1 Karl Horst (Germany) on 2016-02-18 02:35 (Reply)

Karl Horst (Germany): As I pointed out to Z-Man, he had noted the Russians reporting a kidnapped girl in Berlin and were storming the streets. When in fact Spiegel reported later that it was all a hoax; she was never kidnapped or raped and she admitted it herself.

The story was being pushed by Russian propaganda organs, and not a few Americans believed it without skepticism because it confirmed their preconceptions.

#1.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2016-02-18 08:25 (Reply)

Turning Anthropology from Science into Political Activism

This is a most excellent read. This is why I can barely read anything in the supposed "science journals" anymore.

This book:
http://www.amazon.com/War-Before-Civilization-Peaceful-Savage/dp/0195119126

is also a good read that crushes that noble savage myth.

#2 fjord on 2016-02-17 08:41 (Reply)

I like idea behind this piece - that the concept of white privilege is harmful to blacks and is just another way of keeping them on the welfare plantation. Instead of educating young black children that a traditional family, working parents, education, and drive are keys to a successful start in life, the social justice warriors want blacks to believe that the game is rigged. All this does is to perpetuate poverty among those that buy into the message.

#3 DMW (Link) on 2016-02-17 08:47 (Reply)

Car quiz - 90% - Fun, and hard on a few, trip down memory lane...

#4 XRay on 2016-02-17 09:10 (Reply)

73%.

(I have a running '47 Jeep)

#4.1 Jay on 2016-02-17 09:36 (Reply)

Cool. I learned to drive in a '46'.

#4.1.1 XRay on 2016-02-17 09:57 (Reply)

Piece of cake here. I was in my late teens-early twenties at the time, and like all my peers, ate, dreamt, talked and generally lived for cars. Amazed I can still recall all that 60 years later.

#4.2 BillH on 2016-02-17 10:12 (Reply)

It was somewhat fun until I started realizing how many of those cars I recognized and how old I must be to recognize them. (Hope you didn't get lost and wander off on that trip down memory lane.)

#4.3 Jerryskids on 2016-02-17 21:33 (Reply)

RE ‘Ma Lips Ah Sealed!’ Hillary Uses Black Accent In Chat With Sharpton

Dat am appallin' dat de Hildabeest be using 'bonics ta curry po-litical favor from Rev'run Al.

#5 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-02-17 10:33 (Reply)

Hey BD--if you do a search in your data base you will see that I first pointed out the "white privilege" idea several years ago. I pointed to the new committee in Seattle who was tossing around the idea. WHAT A SURPRISE--the women of Seattle and their cowed down white males, not only have the power to put Obama in office, they also had the power to dream up "white privilege" and then put enough into it to make it a national ideology. Is anyone listening yet? Do you want to take a look at the terrible corrupt state of Seattle yet?

#6 faculty wife on 2016-02-17 10:42 (Reply)

GSP wins. Unusual for a working dog to win Westminster but there is always hope. I've hunted behind GSP's and they can be awesome. And they are good house dogs too.

#7 rocdoctom on 2016-02-17 10:47 (Reply)

black labs matter

#7.1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-02-17 12:13 (Reply)

agree...Labs Rule. I've got a couple that rule the roost at my house. My personal choice for hunters.

#7.1.1 rocdoctom on 2016-02-17 14:23 (Reply)

Finest dog I have ever met was a German Shorthair. What a dog! They can often be a bit high-strung and too fond of barking to be excellent house dogs but the good ones are good, gotta give 'em that.

All that said, the mongrel we had to put down a year ago was one heck of a good dog. A real sweetheart.

The show, what I saw of it, was amusing. Foofoo dogs everywhere.

#7.2 Knucklehead (Link) on 2016-02-17 19:28 (Reply)

Re: Why she changed her mind on abortion

Great piece! I had some minor disagreements. For example, she says the pro-life position is unpopular (from what I understand, a slim majority are pro-life which means that after you discount the undecideds, the pro-abortion position is solidly minority). She also didn't discuss the old argument that women should be able to have sex without consequences just as men are thought to have (rather than encourage men to behave more morally, feminists encouraged women to behave equally as immorally). And I would have prefered her to more directly address the pro-abortion lie that a woman should be able to control her body (the baby is not her body, it is another body inside her body). I especially appreciated her pointing out that future generations may be unkind to those who were pro-abortion as the left choose to be view past slave-owners.

I found it very powerful, logical, and heart-breaking.

#8 mudbug on 2016-02-17 11:01 (Reply)

Re: Can Congress Keep Its Hands off Anything?

From the first comment: No. Next question.

I might point out that while while government will tend to meddle in areas that is not its business (as our forefathers predicted), The congresscritter in this case (and a majority of other similar cases) is a Democrat. So they are not only liars (http://www.democrats.org/about/our-history), they are controlling. A really bad combination.

#9 mudbug on 2016-02-17 11:15 (Reply)

QUOTE:

The Best Of Antonin Scalia: The Justice's 10 Most Insightful Quotes

Antonin Scalia: "This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/scalia-death-penalty_n_5756362.html

#10 Zachriel on 2016-02-17 13:01 (Reply)

Leave it to huffpo (and many others) to take things out of context:

“This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.” Justice Scalia may already be well known for a strict approach to statutory construction, but his dissenting statement in the 2009 Supreme Court decision, In re Davis, caused quite a buzz among national media. Although callous in appearance, Justice Scalia’s words provide a technically correct reading of Supreme Court precedent and federal habeas corpus law: actual innocence is not a recognized claim of constitutional error that would allow federal courts to review a prisoner’s habeas petition. Georgia State University Law Review.

Perhaps his ultimate point is to change the law to allow for the recognition of actual innocence in a habeas petition. That would be more in character from what I know of him.

#10.1 DMW on 2016-02-17 13:40 (Reply)

DMW: Although callous in appearance, Justice Scalia’s words provide a technically correct reading of Supreme Court precedent and federal habeas corpus law: actual innocence is not a recognized claim of constitutional error that would allow federal courts to review a prisoner’s habeas petition.

There is no reasonable way to argue that the original intent of the Founders was to allow for the execution of a provably innocent person. The Supreme Court has never made such a finding because it's never been raised as a legal issue. Who in their right mind would argue that the Constitution allows for the government to knowingly execute an innocent person?!

While the Supreme Court has not explicitly made a finding that executing an innocent would be unconstitutional, Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote in Herrera v. Collins, "We may assume, for the sake of argument in deciding this case, that in a capital case a truly persuasive demonstration of 'actual innocence' made after trial would render the execution of a defendant unconstitutional, and warrant federal habeas relief if there were no state avenue open to process such a claim."

The very example Scalia chose turned out to be of an innocent man, wrongly accused.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/us/2-convicted-in-1983-north-carolina-murder-freed-after-dna-tests.html

#10.1.1 Zachriel on 2016-02-17 14:32 (Reply)

Just for the record, I was quoting The Georgia State Law Review, FYI. I'm not an attorney. I prefer honest work instead!

#10.1.1.1 DMW on 2016-02-17 15:32 (Reply)

speaking as someone who has defended death-penalty eligible cases, not allowing factual innocence as a part of habeas law is a gross perversion of justice. divine justice, natural law, whatever.

killing someone who is factually innocent enshrines rules over substance.

for the record, I am pro-death penalty.

#10.1.2 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-02-17 16:32 (Reply)

I agree that when a person's life is at stake legal technicalities should be bent to allow evidence of innocence to be introduced. Is there any way that Scalia's dissent could be viewed as a prod to get the law changed?

#10.1.2.1 anon on 2016-02-17 18:17 (Reply)

Scalia's statement is correct. To change this,

extend the Innocence Protection Act, codify the case called House v. Bell (which is about DNA evidence) by amending the USCode and overturning Herrera in the same law.

all technical stuff, but the wikipedia articles on the IPA and House are pretty clear.

#10.1.2.1.1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2016-02-17 20:17 (Reply)

On the subject of digital

For you techno-geeks who follow this forum, you may find this interesting; now they can store 360-Terabytes (1 terabyte of data would require about 1400 CD-ROMs) onto a disk of quartz glass about the size of a Euro coin. Amazing stuff!!

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-storage-update.page

#11 Karl Horst (Germany) on 2016-02-17 14:13 (Reply)

We've had German Shepherds, Springer Spaniels, etc. But the best of all is the Maltese--we have had several now. Currently, the little guy is a real cowboy. Can round up and move a herd (6)bulls by himself with a little human help ! He's smart, determined and brave--nice combo. Actually, come to think about it-- just the way I like my men !

#12 Apple Pie on 2016-02-17 15:03 (Reply)

I actually do accept as true with most of the ideas you could have provided on the publish. They may be very convincing and will undoubtedly do the job. However, the actual discussions are too limited to begin with. Might you make sure you stretch them somewhat through pursuing moment? Thanks for the posting.. abaya dress

#13 abaya dress (Link) on 2016-02-21 10:50 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Wednesday, February 17. 2016

Wednesday morning links