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Archive for August, 2016

What is “alt-Right” in this year’s election ?

Sunday, August 28th, 2016

There is a new theme for the Democrats in this year’s election. Hillary calls it the “Alt-Right.”

The New York Times is alarmed.

As Hillary Clinton assailed Donald J. Trump on Thursday for fanning the flames of racism embraced by the “alt-right,” the community of activists that tends to lurk anonymously in the internet’s dark corners could hardly contain its glee.

Mrs. Clinton’s speech was intended to link Mr. Trump to a fringe ideology of conspiracies and hate, but for the leaders of the alt-right, the attention from the Democratic presidential nominee was a moment in the political spotlight that offered a new level of credibility. It also provided a valuable opportunity for fund-raising and recruiting.

Jared Taylor, editor of the white nationalist publication American Renaissance, live-tweeted Mrs. Clinton’s remarks, questioning her praise of establishment Republicans and eagerly anticipating her discussion of his community.

According to Hillary and the Times, Donald Trump is defined by those who say they support him more than by what he says himself.

If Hillary and Bernie Sanders are supported by communists, does that make them communists ? This is an odd year and will get worse.

A better explanation of “alt-Right” is provided by two spokesmen for another view.

A specter is haunting the dinner parties, fundraisers and think-tanks of the Establishment: the specter of the “alternative right.” Young, creative and eager to commit secular heresies, they have become public enemy number one to beltway conservatives — more hated, even, than Democrats or loopy progressives.
The alternative right, more commonly known as the alt-right, is an amorphous movement. Some — mostly Establishment types — insist it’s little more than a vehicle for the worst dregs of human society: anti-Semites, white supremacists, and other members of the Stormfront set. They’re wrong.

I wasn’t even aware of this controversy until Ann Althouse put up a post on the subject after Hillary raised it.

She quotes a man who was ejected from the Hillary speech.

“I call myself alt right because the conservative establishment right in this country does not represent my views, they are just as much to blame for the disaster taking place in America as the left, the alt right to me is fiscal responsibility, secure borders, enforcement of immigration laws, ending the PC culture, and promoting AMERICA FIRST (Not Sharia First)… If you come to this country legally, follow the laws, learn our language, and love the country, you are equal, no matter your color, or religion. Basically alt-right is to separate ourselves from the failing establishment right.“

That post led to over 300 comments on her blog. She then posted a survey. The results were interesting.

I voted for the choice “I’m most of all of what it stands for but I don’t use that term, myself.”

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Tags:economics, politics
Posted in economics, History, immigration, politics, racism, social issues | 1 Comment »

A day on Vashon Island.

Sunday, August 14th, 2016

I have been visiting Seattle since my first trip there in 1959. At the time it was a pretty city but not too prosperous. The saying at the time was that “If Boeing gets a cold, Seattle catches pneumonia.” Boeing was the only large employer. Now, it has Microsoft and Amazon and a bunch of internet spinoffs.

In 1987, I bought five acres on Vashon-Maury Island. Actually the two islands are connected by a man made isthmus called “The Portage.” My lot was on Maury Island and I later bought a lot next to it so that my property was ten acres. It had a well that I owned two shares of five and there was a large storage tank that serviced the only structure, a house next door. I owned those lots for ten or twelve yrears, always anticipating moving there in retirement. I had an architect named Nora Jaso, who was going to design a custom home. The property had 60 blue heron nests on one corner and I agreed to make that portion a preserve. This photo may be of that rookery.

ACross the street, 248th street, there was a gravel quarry which is now a park.

I sold the ten acres in two parcels about 15 years ago and wish I had kept at least one. Now, I am looking at the island again.

The island is reached only by ferry boat. There is a ferry landing at each end of the island. The north end terminal serves West Seattle and then Seattle across a bridge. The south terminal serves Tacoma.

Ferry to Vashon

Here is a photo taken from the ferry on the way over.

North Ferry Terminal

The north ferry terminal is under repair and this view shows it as I was waiting to go back to Seattle.

Downtown Vashon

Here is a view of “downtown Vashon” which does not have a stoplight.

I had lunch at a cute restaurant called “The Hardware Store” which is about at the spot the camera is in that photo.

I talked to a real estate lady who showed me two houses, one of which we went through in detail. Houses on Vashon are not cheap.

Manzanita Beach Road

We looked at a small house on the island which I liked a lot but we are months from any decision to move there. That is the view from that house.

Beach House.

Here is that house. It is two bedrooms and one and one/half baths but quite nicely finished inside.

We will go up again in a couple of months when we are back from Alaska. We also looked around Oregon near where Rick lives.

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Trump and the disconnected elites.

Friday, August 12th, 2016

Peggy Noonan has an excellent column today suggesting she understands why Trump is popular with the non-elite countrymen (and women).

She discusses Angela Merkel and her invitation to Muslims to invade Germany.

Last summer when Europe was engulfed with increasing waves of migrants and refugees from Muslim countries, Ms. Merkel, moving unilaterally, announced that Germany would take in an astounding 800,000. Naturally this was taken as an invitation, and more than a million came. The result has been widespread public furor over crime, cultural dissimilation and fears of terrorism. From such a sturdy, grounded character as Ms. Merkel the decision was puzzling—uncharacteristically romantic about people, how they live their lives, and history itself, which is more charnel house than settlement house.

Germans are unhappy about the behavior of Muslim men, the majority of the immigrants.They are not at all happy.

The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the third-most popular political party in Germany, adopted a manifesto calling for curbs to migration and restrictions on Islam. The document calls for a ban on minarets, Muslim calls to prayer and full-face veils.

May 2. Hans-Georg Maaßen, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, revealed that around 90 “predominately Arabic-speaking” mosques in Germany are under surveillance. He said they involve mostly “backyard mosques” where “self-proclaimed imams and self-proclaimed emirs” are “inciting their followers to jihad.” He called on moderate Muslims to work with the government to fight extremism and defend the constitutional order. Maaßen was speaking ahead of a security conference in Berlin at which he said that his agency we receiving on average four terror alerts every day: “The Islamic State is committed to attacking Germany and German interests.”

Missus Merkel is unmoved.

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Tags:election, politics
Posted in media, politics | Comments Closed

Is Trump losing it ?

Sunday, August 7th, 2016

This has been a “bad week” for Trump. What it has been is a week of unrestrained hatred by the left wing media.

First there was the the saintly Khan family, which is being lionized by the left. The son was killed by a car bomb by another Muslim. Donald Trump opposed the Iraq War.

Mr Khan also has been accused of being a Muslim Brotherhood agent.

Khan is a promoter of Islamic Sharia Law in the U.S. He was a co-founder of the Journal of Contemporary Issues in Muslim Law (Islamic Sharia). Khan’s fascination with Islamic Sharia stems from his life in Saudi Arabia. During the eighties Khan wrote a paper titled Juristic Classification of Islamic [Sharia] Law. In it he elucidated on the system of Sharia law expressing his reverence for “The Sunnah [the works of Muhammad] — authentic tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).” A snapshot of his essay can be seen here:

I don’t know how valid this is but he is certainly a supporter of Islam and is attributing to Allah, Trump’s “mistakes.”

The father of martyred United States (US) soldier Captain Humayun Khan, Khizr Khan, has on Thursday said that the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is unacceptable to the US. He said that Allah makes people like Trump to make mistakes to discredit them in public eyes forever, reported Dunya News.

The Khan imbroglio was not the only controversy. Nude photos of Trump’s wife, Melania, appeared all over the internet. This began during the primaries, which Trump attributed to Ted Cruz.

Now, her immigration status is being questioned.

But immigration attorney Michael Wildes, who worked for the Trump Organization, told Univision that the GOP nominee’s wife obtained the green card in 2001 “based on marriage,” though she did not marry Trump until January 2005.

I have no idea where this is going but “immigration lawyers” will no doubt make a big deal of any issue they find.

There was a “crying baby” issue raised by leftists until they were forced to admit it never happened.

The enterprising fact-checkers at the Washington Post tracked down two sources — an eyewitness to the proceedings and the mother of said baby — and determined that Trump was, in fact, telling the truth Friday about how he treated the bawling infant.

The media has been cheering the news that Hillary widened her lead in polls.

However, more recent polls suggest the lead has returned to a tie.

What now ?

Trump has to get his campaign back on track. Everybody knew the media would demonize him, just as they demonized Romney in 2012.

NPR didn’t like his speech on Economics much, although they did provide a transcript.

He has made a gesture toward Republican unity by endorsing Ryan, McCain and Kelly Ayotte although I doubt voters care much about this.

I think McCain might lose his primary and I have donated to Ryan’s opponent in Wisconsin. Now what ?

The Hillary campaign is still worried about an “October Surprise” and her lies have kept the issue of her trustworthiness in public view.

Another terror attack would probably elect Trump. At present, I think it is a tie and we will see what happens.

Tags:politics
Posted in economics, politics | 1 Comment »

Oregon.

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016

We spent the last week in Oregon about 40 miles from Portland. It is the Oregon wine country.

The country is hilly and beautiful with so many wineries that it looks like Napa Valley.

My wife’s son lives there with his family on a 48 acre compound near the town of Mcminnville.

Their home is at one side and there are other homes there for the other family members who live there..

Not far away is a very nice aviation museum.

evergreenmuseum-29

They have a great collection of WWII warbirds with another collection of jet fighters outside.

The museum has had a few financial troubles since the founder died a few years ago but seems to be OK now.

As I watch the election, I am thinking of a bolthole and rural Oregon might fit the bill. Housing is pretty cheap and the country is very pretty. Lots of rain in the winter and a bit of snow, so we will take another trip in a few months.

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