I have often railed against the stupidity of Daylight Savings Time in the past, so you can imagine my amusement at this headline:
Britain could be banned from changing its clocks in autumn and spring after Brexit negotiators tie country to Brussels plan to end ‘daylight saving’
Note to the Brexiteers: this is not a hill to die on. In fact, abolition of this stupid institution is probably the only thing the EU has proposed in the past thirty years that I agree with.
I post this without comment:
Russian authorities are encouraging farmers from South Africa to move abroad in the hope of boosting the country’s agricultural industry.
I just hope they pack their winter woollies.
Roger Simon, that eeeevil rayciss, thinks we should Let Central America Sink.
For as long as any of us can remember, those Central American nations have been failed states teetering on the brink of civil war (or over it) or awash in corruption and gangsterism, their peoples impoverished.
Foreign aid, of which they have had plenty, hasn’t helped. After all this time, it is likely that in these instances the reverse has been true. Foreign aid has hurt the development of these countries, creating a dependency that impeded progress. It also — inadvertently, one hopes and assumes — encouraged conditions that allowed the corruption and drug dealing to flourish.
…
The best hope for Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and even Mexico is that they learn to fend for themselves. In most of the cases, it could take a long time with considerable pain, but it is the only path that will succeed. Further aid, with exceptions for emergencies, physical and medical, will only make matters worse.Most of all, it will continue to support and deepen a dependency culture that is terrible psychologically for the recipients The aid is not loving. It’s self-interested on the part of the donors in a variety of ways for a variety of goals, few of them beneficial.
Now… where have I heard a similar sentiment before?
Oh, and by the way, Roger old buddy: ixnay on the mergency-ay. All the (good) drugs sent to Africa haven’t done diddly in terms of fixing anything; I very much doubt that Central America would have a different outcome.
So it looks like the U.S. is about to be invaded by thousands of unwelcome foreigners:
Central American migrants advancing toward the U.S. border in Mexico has swelled to 7,000 people
Thousands of mostly Honduran migrants rose at dawn on Sunday and continued their trek northward
They walked towards the Mexican town of Tapachula, 10 abreast in a line stretching approximately a mile
Police in riot gear were deployed at highway junctions and a military helicopter circled overhead
Mexican immigration authorities only allowed some 640 migrants through the border crossing Saturday
The slow process prompted several thousand to cross the river illegally by rafts or even swimming
President Donald Trump has threatened to halt aid to Honduras and Guatemala, and potentially close down the U.S. border with Mexico if the march is not stopped
I wish he would, and I wish he would send the U.S. Army (and not just the Guard) to seal off our southern border.
Also, I wish he would carry out his threat to impose some kind of sanctions against Mexico for just allowing this rabble to pass more or less unhindered through their country en route to El Norte; and frankly, if he were also to suspend foreign aid to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, I’d be just fine with that too. There should be consequences for this nonsense, and considering that one of the primary functions of the federal government is to preserve our territorial integrity, and our nation from unwelcome incursions, it’s about time Washington fucking D.C. woke up to this duty.
Apparently, the Democrat Party leadership and their sponsored mobs are in full support of these illegal immigrants — of course they would be: this invading mass consists of mostly future Democrat voters, both legal and illegal — and it provides current U.S. voters yet another reason to vote Republican in the upcoming mid-term election.
Let’s just hope that Trump follows through with his rhetoric — which, considering all his bluster about walls and protecting American workers, he bloody well should — and stops this bullshit in its tracks.
Enough, already.
The next time some dreamy pinko starts whining about how wonderful Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is, feel free to show him or her this article (when you are done kicking their ass, of course):
The NHS waiting list in England is the longest it has been in 11 years, official figures have revealed today.
A staggering 4,154,559 people – around six per cent of the entire UK population – were waiting to start hospital treatment at the end of August. This number is the highest it has been since August 2007, and more than 3,000 people have been waiting more than a year for routine treatment.
A&E [ER] departments are also getting busier and cancer treatment waiting times have been missed for the 32nd month in a row, NHS data showed. Experts today warned ‘alarm bells’ are ringing and the health service is heading straight for another winter crisis as it buckles under ‘relentless pressure’. An ageing population and shortages of doctors and nurses have been blamed for increasing strain on the NHS and it taking longer to treat patients.
But hey… as long as it’s free, right?
And speaking of free, of course it turns out that “free” also means “rationing” (emphasis mine):
Shortages of Fluad, a new super-vaccine offering better protection for over-65s, means pensioners across the country are being turned away by GPs. Deliveries of the vaccine to surgeries and pharmacies are being staggered due to supply problems and 40 per cent of the 7.8 million doses will not be available until next month.
The Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended Fluad last December, but it took NHS England until February 5 to tell GPs and pharmacies they needed to buy it. Clinics that failed to order by the April 12 deadline have had no stock delivered, forcing them to beg for supplies from others.
So if you’re (say) 63 years old, British and catch a potentially-deadly strain of flu, that’s just too bad. Life’s lottery — or, to be more precise, the NHS lottery — just gave it to you between the cheeks.
Wear boots when kicking.
OMG — this past hot summer has caused a problem of serious dimensions over in Britishland:
The price of fish and chips is expected to soar this winter – due to a potato shortage that threatens to put some chippies out of business.
The cold snap early in the year followed by a long hot summer has hit potato crops in the UK, and a sack of spuds now costs double what it did last year.
And the situation has been worsened by increases in the price of cod and haddock due to scarcity caused by warmer sea temperatures.
Crops in northern Europe have been affected by similar weather, meaning the situation cannot be solved by imports.
I’m not big on government intervention, as a rule, but if ever there was a time when the BritGov needs to step in with a little relief (e.g. no sales taxes on fish ‘n chips, no import duty on foreign-grown potatoes, or reduced business taxes for chippies?), this would be the time.
Because if I go back Over There later next year and find no chippies in my favorite towns (e.g. Devizes, Wilts), there will be trouble.
We’re talking a national crisis, folks. The nearest parallel I can think of for us Murkins would be if hamburger meat were to be similarly affected Over Here.
Are there any Idaho potato farmers listening? I sense an export opportunity.