Sunday's video: Elections in Spain......Canada and NATO...US Women's soccer team...and more

Sunday's video: 

Elections in Spain......Canada and NATO...US Women's soccer team...

and more

 

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

It's time to send Justin Trudeau to NATO purgatory

 (My new American Thinker post)

Like some of you, my father would say "it's time for a frank talk" whenever he needed to tell me something I did not want to hear.   

 

Back then, it was often a reminder that filling the gas tank was part of driving his car on Saturday nights.  

 

Well, it's time for a little frank talk with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada because he's been eating too many free lunches lately.  

 

Canada is not paying its "fair share" as the liberals like to say.  

 

This is the story:    

 

In 2014 all NATO members agreed to spend 2% of GDP on defense by 2024. Eleven out of 31 countries now make it, but Canada still isn’t close at 1.38%. That’s up from 1.01% in the nine years since 2014, but it still falls between those exemplars of muscular self-defense Italy (1.46%) and Slovenia (1.35%).

 

Canada ranks sixth from NATO’s bottom in spending on defense as a share of GDP, and its spending on military equipment—i.e., weapons—is seventh lowest. Canada is a member of the G-7 democracies but spends less on defense than the other six.

 

Canada was an important contributor to the Allied effort in World War II and is a founding member of NATO. But somewhere along the way it began to think of its membership as largely a place to rub shoulders with global powers and a platform for making moral pronouncements. Last week Ottawa put in its two cents against cluster munitions. But asking its citizens to meet their actual obligations to the cause of freedom is apparently too much to ask.

 

One explanation may be the Trudeau government’s view that its military is more of a social project than fighting force. In his December 2021 mandate letter to the new minister of defense, Mr. Trudeau wrote: “Your immediate priority is to take concrete steps to build an inclusive and diverse Defence Team, characterized by a healthy workplace free from harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct and violence.” See how that cultural manifesto works on the Ukrainian front lines.

 

I guess that Prime Minister Trudeau wants his armed forces to fight social injustice or something like that.  He wants to turn Canadian soldiers into social workers.  Not sure that will work with Chinese submarines interested in Alberta oil.

 

I see a couple of problems here:

 

First, Canada, like others in NATO, has grown accustomed to the U.S. protecting them.   It's nice to have a neighbor with a huge military and a self-interest in keeping North America free of bad guys.

 

Second, the "free ride" has to stop.  We all love Canadians but sooner or later they have to carry their weight on defense spending.   It's nice for Canadian liberals to boast about social programs but not when they are taking defense money to do it.

 

Pay up, P.M. Trudeau or we may have to keep away from the big boys' NATO table and move you to purgatory.

 

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Why is President Lopez-Obrador sticking his nose in US elections?

 

(My new American Thinker post)

What do you know?  We learned that the president of Mexico wants his "compatriots" to oppose Governor Greg Abbott.  Here is the story:

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday urged Mexican-Americans not to vote for Texas Governor Greg Abbott in response to Texas putting a barrier of orange buoys in the Rio Grande to stop migrants crossing into the United States.

Mexico's incoming foreign minister, Alicia Barcena, said last week that the barrier violates a water treaty and may intrude on Mexican territory.

"We don't have to do much, just tell our compatriots not to vote for the governor of Texas or for lawmakers of the Republican Party who support these measures," Lopez Obrador said in a press conference when asked about the Texan initiative.  Barcena said Mexico had sent a diplomatic letter to the U.S. last month on the issue as she explained her government is dispatching a mission to inspect where the buoys are located.

Lopez Obrador, a leftist, has hit back against Republican moves to toughen immigration policy by encouraging voters of Mexican origin to reject the party at the polls.

In May, he accused Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of going after migrants, and called on Latinos in the United States not to support the American's presidential ambitions.

Wow.  We are in new territory, aren't we?  We have never seen anything like this before because Mexico has had a tradition of staying away from other countries' elections.  My longtime Mexican friend told me months ago that Mexican presidents stay away from commenting on the other countries because they don't want anyone talking about their elections. It's the idea that we won't say anything and you won't say anything about us.

Enter AMLO.  He injected himself into Peru's internal matters, publicly challenging an impeachment of his leftist friend President Pedro Castillo. Now he is calling on his "compatriots" here to vote one way or another.

It's an outrage but it's happening because no one fears President Biden.  No one is afraid of getting a phone call threatening direct action.  I guess President Biden has other things to get involved with.  Or maybe he does not mind because AMLO is calling on Mexicans to vote Democrat.

Remember when Hugo Chavez mocked President George W. Bush at the UN in 2006?  Who defended President Bush?  Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New York, who said this:    

"You don't come into my country; you don't come into my congressional district and you don't condemn my president...." 

 Well, those were the days, my friend.  What Democrat will defend the country this time around?  It might be a good question for Democrats on the border facing the challenges of President Biden's border disaster.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

2018: A chat with Frank Burke about the Kavanaugh story

2018 podcast:  

A chat with Frank Burke about the Kavanaugh story



P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Friday's podcast: The Texas Repot with George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative

Guest: George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative....Lopez-Obrador vs Governor of Texas.....New York City and sanctuary cities.................and other stories..........

click to listen:

Friday's video: The Texas Repot with George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative

Guest: George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative....Lopez-Obrador vs Governor of Texas.....New York City and sanctuary cities.................and other stories....

 

NYC doesn't 'sanctuary' anymore

 

(My new American Thinker post)

The mayor of New York has a new tune on the political charts.  It's his remake of that old tune by Teddy Pendergrass:

"I don't love you anymore

It's just that simple

No, no, no, not like before  

Such a shame, dirty shame"

Yes, it's a "shame, dirty shame" but Mayor Eric Adams can't sanctuary anymore. The mayor is learning that the whole thing about sanctuary cities was a lot more fun when he was talking about Texas than having to implement it in NY City.   

So the formerly "sanctuary city" is now sending a message that goes like this:   

“Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the U.S.,” the flier, published in English and Spanish, suggested.

Yes, I remember when such a message would have been labeled "racist" and "not inclusive".    

The problem is money, as the mayor faces a perfect storm.  The state's tax revenues are reportedly 20% down and no more money is coming from Washington.

So it's up to New York, New York. The mayor wants to make a brand-new start of it and old New York "sanctuary city" is no more.   

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Thursday's podcast: Sanctuary city and Mayor Adams, Apollo 11 half a century ago & Snow white

Sanctuary city and Mayor Adams.....Apollo 11 half a century ago.....Snow white and woke...and other stories....

click to listen:

Thursday's video: Sanctuary city and Mayor Adams.....Apollo 11 half a century ago.....Snow White......

Sanctuary city and Mayor Adams.....Apollo 11 half a century ago.....Snow white and woke...and other stories:

  

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Remember when when Doc, Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful and Sneezy didn't push their sexual orientation?

 (My new American Thinker post)

In the interest of full disclosure, as they say, we have three sons and they were never into "Snow White."   

 

We were more of a "Power Rangers" or "Sandlot" family.

 

But I remember that my sister and mother liked "Snow White."  

 

I'm sure that my five nieces watched and loved it, too.  It's a nice Disney movie about a girl called Snow White and that's the story.  The bottom line is that I never heard anybody complain about her skin color, the prince's kiss violating her space or that her seven friends didn't tell us about their sexual orientation.  I guess people didn't get worked up about those things before.   People used to watch movies, enjoy them and wait for the next generation to request the film.  

 

The latest Disney movie should remind everyone why the studio is in trouble, i.e., go woke go broke.   

 

This is from Piers Morgan:

 

First, she was called Snow White because her skin was very white, so obviously, that was branded racist.

 

Second, the handsome prince didn’t get her consent before delivering the magical kiss — so in the wake of the #MeToo campaign, he was condemned as a sexual predator.

 

Kazue Muta, a Japanese sociology professor and supposed “expert on workplace sexual harassment,” accused Snow White of promoting “quasi-compulsive obscene sexual acts on an unconscious partner,” and added: “You might think I’m ruining the fantasy of it all, but these stories are promoting sexual violence, and I would like everyone to be aware of it.”

 

How thoughtful.

 

Yes, what a mess, a totally self-inflicted mess by writers and producers who obviously don't care about Disney's finances.   They’re on a mission but the ticket buying public is tired of funding it.  Maybe they can think about that now that they are on strike and contemplating the collapse of a once amazing industry.

 

In the meantime, save a copy of "Snow White" for future girls before they are taught in schools that the movie is this or that.  Of course, “home schooling” or “school choice” may prevent that.

 

We are in decline when something as simple as Disney's "Snow White" becomes something to remake because someone gets worked up.  Too many sensitive people with too many senses easily offended.

 

P.S.:  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.