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News/Politics 4-9-13

What’s interesting out there today?

Open Thread, as always.

I guess we start with the sorry treatment from the left at the news of Margaret Thatcher’s death. Respected by conservatives, vilified by the left. Just a horrible display by the intolerant left.

How bad does it have to get for this to happen? Pretty bad I imagine.

From WeaselZippers

“UK’s Daily Telegraph Shuts Down Comments On Every Margaret Thatcher Story After Libs Flood Comments Section With Abuse…”

Even the online tributes. Disgusting.

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More on these horrible displays here, from TheGuardianUK

“Several hundred people gathered in south London on Monday evening to celebrate Margaret Thatcher’s death with cans of beer, pints of milk and an impromptu street disco playing the soundtrack to her years in power.

Young and old descended on Brixton, a suburb which weathered two outbreaks of rioting during the Thatcher years. Many expressed jubilation that the leader they loved to hate was no more; others spoke of frustration that her legacy lived on.

To cheers of “Maggie Maggie Maggie, dead dead dead,” posters of Thatcher were held aloft as reggae basslines pounded.

Clive Barger, a 62-year-old adult education tutor, said he had turned out to mark the passing of “one of the vilest abominations of social and economic history”.”

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If you have the stomach for it, more here from Twitchy

But CONTENT WARNING!!!  big time.

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For how the AP treated news of her death compared to Hugo Chavez, it’s back to WeaselZippers

“Compare And Contrast: AP Equivocates On Margaret Thatcher, Lionizes Huge Chavez…

Yes, liberal media bias is a myth.”

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Now here’s a look at how the left has ensured another Thatcher never gets a chance again. Boy, this is starting to sound familiar too. From NationalReview

“Margaret Thatcher couldn’t be elected today. It’s not just that she was a great woman and such people don’t come along every day. Rather, the British Left made sure of it by altering the electorate through mass immigration.

This isn’t conspiracy mongering. Andrew Neather, a former Labour-party speechwriter, admitted in 2009 that the immigration boom engineered after 2000 was specifically intended to import a new people:

The huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and “rub the Right’s nose in diversity”, according to Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett.

He said Labour’s relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to “open up the UK to mass migration” but that ministers were nervous and reluctant to discuss such a move publicly for fear it would alienate its “core working class vote”.”

Hmmm……. Now where else did I see this being attempted?

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This one you’ll love. It appears we have millions for university studies on snail and duck sex, but not for less important matters like this. Priorities people, as always. From Bloomberg

“A Manhattan federal judge said it was “extremely troublesome” that the terrorism trial of Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law could be delayed by across-the-board federal budget cuts.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan made the comment during a hearing today in the case of Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, Bin Laden’s former chief spokesman. Abu Ghayth is charged with conspiring to kill Americans before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He pleaded not guilty last month.

Lawyers for both sides suggested trial be delayed until 2014, in part because federal public defenders said they don’t have the ability to properly defend their client in such an international case given budget cuts and mandatory furloughs under so-called sequestration.”

The judge found it “stunning”. I don’t. They’re intentionally making decisions like this. Just like the decision to release criminal illegals.

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This one I find amusing. In fact, if PETA is successful, I may take up hunting again. 🙂

From USNews

“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is actively shopping for a drone that would “stalk hunters,” the organization said Monday.”

“The group says it will “soon have some impressive new weapons at its disposal to combat those who gun down deer and doves” and that it is “shopping for one or more drone aircraft with which to monitor those who are out in the woods with death on their minds.”

The group says it will not weaponize the drones, but will use them to film potentially illegal hunting activity and turn it over to law enforcement.”

Hey Bob, did you get a buck this morning?

Nope. But I did get me 2 PETA drones, so it wasn’t a total wash. 🙂

You know I’m right.

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Speaking of shooting aerial targets……..

The Navy has introduced it’s newest high-tech weapon system. No, not the Rail gun, but a close relative. No projectile in this one. Interesting too considering Israel says it will only be weeks before Iran faces consequences for it’s nuke program. But the Pentagon insists it won’t be operational until next year. Things that make you say Hmmmmm…. indeed! From TheNYTimes

“The Navy is going to sea for the first time with a laser attack weapon that has been shown in tests to disable patrol boats and blind or destroy surveillance drones.

A prototype shipboard laser will be deployed on a converted amphibious transport and docking ship in the Persian Gulf, where Iranian fast-attack boats have harassed American warships and where the government in Tehran is building remotely piloted aircraft carrying surveillance pods and, someday potentially, rockets.

The laser will not be operational until next year, but the announcement on Monday by Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, the chief of naval operations, seemed meant as a warning to Iran not to step up activity in the gulf in the next few months if tensions increase because of sanctions and the impasse in negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program. The Navy released video and still images of the laser weapon burning through a drone during a test firing.”

And here is that video.

All for the price of a pack of gum. More here from USNews

“The Navy’s top officer unveiled new technology Monday that allows ships to shoot down drones or other vehicles for about the cost of a pack of gum.”

“The USS Dewey tested an onboard laser weapons system in July 2012, in which it successfully shot down a test drone. Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of Naval Operations, screened video of the event while speaking at the Sea-Air-Space expo.

The Laser Weapon System or LaWS only costs roughly $1 per shot and could be employed against fast attack ships or even be used in the future for missile defense.”

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And the Louisville Cardinals are your NCAA Tournament winners, defeating the Michigan Wolverines 82-76.

A good night for Coach Pitino and his team. From FoxSports

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18 thoughts on “News/Politics 4-9-13”

  3. rickyweaver,
    If you ever read any of James Delingpole’s books, you will understand exactly how England swirled so far down the tubes so quickly…

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  4. What’s the deal with the sound on the video Drivesguy posted? I can’t hear what she is saying, no matter how much I turn up the volume. I’ve tried it on my computer, my daughter’s tablet, watching it here, going to YouTube. Nothing works.

    Do you have a summary, JoeB, or anyone else who’s heard it? Or maybe I’ll have to take up lip-reading. 😉

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  8. Where to begin??? two non-Thatcher notes. I came across an article a few days back (no longer have the link) which linked the mating habits of snails to the water borne pathogens and viruses. Apparently, increasing our knowledge of the mating habits of snails would increase our ability to prevent viruses and pathogens in children who lived near wetlands. So there — think of the children. (and yes I’m being slightly sarcastic)

    I also came across an article detailing the use of private correctional facilities personnel during high school drug raids. A bit of a conflict of interest in my opinion. Are they collecting new workers for the American gulag? I lost the link traveling between ballet and soccer, but if you google you find stories from 2012. Gulag is a bit of a harsh word but it seems apt with the exception that original was state created while the present gulag benefits the corporate state.

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  9. I read the two AP obits on Thatcher and Chavez and didn’t notice any bias. In fact, they were incredibly similarly. I imagine a Chavez supporter is equally upset as a Thatcher supporter in that the two have such similar obits. The Guardian ran a column yesterday describing why death is not a reason to stop speaking ill. I agree — Chavez’s death was greeted with joy by many. An old friend of Thatcher’s, General Pincohet, also left huge divisions in death. Pincohet’s death is a better description of how polarizing Thatcher’s death is than Reagan or even Chavez. People celebrated the death of Pinochet and Chavez and thus its not unexpected they celebrate the death of Thatcher.

    I said yesterday that its hard for Americans to fully understand how polarizing Thatcher really was. Reagan is not an apt comparison. Reagan is not as conservative nor as ideological. Reagan also appears as a moderate when viewed in light of today’s Republican party. Thatcher still looks conservative today.

    Many here might question Reagan as a moderate, however, some leftist sites have taken to quoting Reagan on gun control, social security etc in opposition to Obama. My favorite was a list of quotes in which the viewer was invited to guess the speaker — Obama or Reagan.

    Back at WORLD, we were instructed not to be personal but public figures are/were fair game. At this time, Thatcher is fair game. I’ll keep myself to one semi-smart aleck remark — In keeping with Thatcher’s principles, I hope the funeral is privatized and not a dime of the public purse is spent.

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  10. Ricky, your article hints at Thatcher’s greatest failure (from an economical point of view). She transformed the economy from manufacturing to financial services and the quasi-public sector (the private-public mix that is banking and insurance – private profits public guarantees). The public sector continued to grow and there was no vibrant private sector other than finances which requires gov’t guarantees.

    Her fight with the coal miners is legendary but mostly told on the surface level. She argued the mines needed to be shut down on economic efficiency grounds (she had a case there) but the fashion in which she did it suggested a more political motivation. She needed to crush the unions to defund (old) Labour. She could’ve slowly closed mines through attrition, consolidation etc but this would’ve kept old Labour alive.

    Scargill, head of the coal miners, was indeed a communist and he did go to Moscow for money. However, as my working class Welsh friend once told me, the working class had no problem with that. It was only when the Soviets felt it was no longer in their best interest to fund the Miners and Scargill went to Libya did he lose public support.

    Her other failure was to waste the North Sea oil royalties on tax cuts with no long term vision for how to survive post-oil. No manufacturing, no refinery or other second tier resource extraction, absolutely nothing — she left it to the market and the market took the money to the British Virgin Islands and other tax shelters. The UKs economy is now reliant on FIRE (finance, insurance and real estate) and similar to the US this has created huge inequality creating a plethora of social ills and an unstable economy relying on boom and living with bust.

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  13. I followed them both very closely. Reagan was as conservative as Thatcher. The difference was style. Reagan was very likeable. He only acted harsh or tough when he needed to make a point. Thatcher was all business and her style was as tough as her policies.

    The UK was also further down the road to socialism when she took office than was the US. If Reagan took office today, he might not be so genial.

    If anyone doubts how conservative Reagan was, remember the two Bushes are birds of a feather. Reagan ran against and defeated Big Bush in 1980 by demonstrating he was just a typical country club moderate.

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  18. hwesseli,

    “I said yesterday that its hard for Americans to fully understand how polarizing Thatcher really was.”

    Oh, but we do understand. When socialists lose it is unfair, someone cheated, the other side ran a crooked election. Look at the reaction of our US anti-war posses. Bush=Hitler, Obama=Nobel Peace Prize, Cheney=the Devil, Biden=Uncle Joe.

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