Displaying posts published in

September 2019

MEDIA Comments turned off

Max Boot reaches peak narcissism By Nicholas J. Kaster

By on September 10th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/max_boot_reaches_peak_narcissism_.html

Writing from his gilded perch at the Washington Post, Max Boot reflected on frustrations of being a #NeverTrump columnist:

“I love what I do and realize I am supremely lucky to be able to make my living by writing and speaking about the news of the day. I find contentment in the craft of writing and fulfillment in self-expression. But I do sometimes wonder what I am actually accomplishing. Much of my journalism for the past four years has been devoted to critiquing President Trump and opposing the spread of Trumpism. But no matter how many columns or sound bites I produce, he remains in office, acting… more erratically than ever. Sure, he’s not terribly popular — but he could still be reelected. I am left to ask if all my work has made any difference.”

This utter lack of self-awareness drew a response from National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke, who tweeted that “Max Boot is genuinely beyond parody.”

From the confines of the bubble, Boot keeps churning out the same column over and over and yet Trump has not been driven from office. How unfair!

Continue reading →
ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE, POLITICS Comments turned off

Elizabeth Warren’s Daft Fracking Scheme

By on September 10th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/elizabeth-warren-democrats-fracking-bans-bad-for-economy-bad-for-environment/

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts promises that if she is elected president, she will issue an immediate unilateral prohibition — based on some presidential power that she’ll invent as soon as she gets around to it — on the method of natural-gas production known colloquially as “fracking.” Other Democratic contenders, including Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris of California, have made similar promises.

Another way of saying this is that the Democrats promise to induce artificial scarcity in the energy market. Yet another way of saying this is that the Democrats promise to create effective subsidies for such relatively high-pollution energy sources as coal and diesel at the expense of a relatively low-pollution energy source in the form of natural gas. And yet another way of saying this is that the Democrats propose to subsidize petroleum producers from Russia to Iran at the expense of small to midsize businesses in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Mexico, Texas, and other energy-producing states.

Why?

What we call “fracking” relies on two relatively old technologies: hydraulic fracturing, which is used to break up underground shale formations to release oil and gas trapped therein, and horizontal drilling, which allows for the efficient recovery of that released oil and/or gas. Combining those two technologies with recent advances in everything from materials development to seismic imaging has revolutionized energy production in the United States — and that gets up the noses of certain people, prominent among them so-called environmentalists who are categorically opposed to all new development of conventional energy sources — even when that development comes with important environmental benefits. Their opposition is ideological and quasi-religious. It is based only very loosely on genuine environmental concerns.

Continue reading →
WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Belgium MP climbs atop Antwerp’s City Hall to demand “an end to Islamic occupation” By Arthur Lyons

By on September 10th, 2019

https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/09/belgium-mp-climbs-atop-antwerps-city-hall-to-demand-an-end-to-islamic-occupation/

Filip Dewinter, a well-known Flemish MP and city councilor, climbed the roof of Antwerp’s 500-year-old city hall building to call for an end to what he referred to as the “occupation of the city by Islam”.

The leader of the right-wing populist Vlaams Belang party in the Flanders part of Belgium, Filip Dewinter, posted a video on Twitter of himself delivering an Islam-critical message while he stands on top of Antwerp’s city hall roof beside a golden eagle. 

“At the beginning of the political year a special initiative: a statement from the roof of the Antwerp town hall, flanked by a recently restored eagle!” Dewinter wrote in the tweet.

During his message, Dewinter gives a short history lesson about the city, the city hall building, and how both relate to the idea of freedom. Dewinter also cites all of the different outside forces who have, at one time, occupied the city.

“This town hall has been around since 1565,” Dewinter said. “In those five centuries that the town hall has existed, it was besieged, set on fire and has experienced countless revolutions, wars, and invasions of our city. This town hall symbolizes the freedom of Antwerp.”

“It is not without reason that the office of the mayor of Antwerp is made of the wood of the tree of freedom that used to stand just in front of the town hall on the Grote Markt. Freedom is the essence of what the people of Antwerp believe in.”

Continue reading →